Tempers still hot, we went to the comm room.
It was Wil Tor, of course. “Admiral, Viceroy, I’m afraid I have a bit of a problem down here. Lieutenant Colonel Ratjek, my CO on Thaeron, has deserted Jonas, and was picked up by my people last night.”
“That doesn’t exactly sound like a problem, Sneaker,” Cord said. “In fact it sounds like a coup. If the CO of Jonas’ Marine Detachment defects, surely others will follow.”
“Yes, Sir,” Wil replied, “You’re right, of course. The problem is that I’m the CO of the resistance unit. Now, the Colonel outranks me. Oh, the Colonel has no real problem with being under my command,” he added hurriedly, “but my marines are used to him being in charge. I’m afraid they’ll look to him every time I give an order.”
Cord looked slightly puzzled, but I understood completely. A CO has to be able to expect instant obedience, especially in combat. This is even more important in a guerilla operation, where uniforms aren’t worn and lines of command can become blurred. If Wil weren’t the senior officer present, it would seriously impair his effectiveness. The trouble was, I could see that Cord didn’t understand the situation.
“You say that the Colonel has no problem with being under your command?” I asked.
“None, sir. That’s not the problem.”
“I understand, Sneaker One,” I replied. “Stand by. We’ll be back with you in a moment. Snooper, disconnect.”
“Yes, sir,” Kaleen replied crisply. “You’re disconnected.” It sounded as though Wil was having an effect on Kaleen.
I turned to Cord. “I can see you don’t understand the seriousness of the problem down there, Viceroy.”
He shrugged. “You’re quite right, Admiral. If we’ve placed Tor in charge, it shouldn’t matter who shows up.”
“In anything but a combat situation, you’re correct, sir. However, in combat, lives depend upon total and instant obedience. You can’t have the troops looking around for the Colonel every time Wil gives them an order. This situation can’t continue. People will die.”
Cord shrugged again. “Very well, let’s promote Tor to full colonel. That should solve the problem, shouldn’t it?”
I was taken a bit aback. Despite my own lightning promotions, I still tended to think in Fleet terms, where majors were not simply booted up to bird colonel. That progression can take up to ten years in the Fleet. I guess I still didn’t understand the power of an imperial viceroy that Cord wielded so casually.
I nodded. “Yes, sir, that should do it, if we can make the promotion public to Wil’s people. How about this: we set up a small promotion ceremony via radio, and have as many of Wil’s people as possible tune in?”
Cord nodded. “I wish all our problems could be solved so easily.”
Wil’s call had stopped our argument. We scheduled the promotion ceremony for that evening, Haven time, which made it the middle of the night on Bolt Hole. By the time all the arrangements were finally complete our quarrel had faded.
However, the underlying reason for the quarrel didn’t go away. Cord wanted immediate action, and I preferred to move more slowly, with better planning and preparation.
I didn’t really disagree that we should attack Relentless. I just felt certain that Jonas would recall her, and I didn’t want to waste a lot of planning on an attack that would most likely never occur.
I kept waiting, but when a week had passed and Relentless showed no signs of leaving Gamma, I began to hope. Could even Jonas be so stupid as to leave a cruiser so exposed?
Evidently, he could. When another week passed and the cruiser was still orbiting Gamma, we began planning.
Captain Vidsen of Fearless was invaluable in planning the attack on Relentless. He’d known her CO, Captain Bon-Lor, on Thaeron.
“He’s one of those that always end up being on the winning side,” Vidsen said with a grimace of distaste. “In any discussion, he could be depended upon to keep his mouth shut until it became obvious which side would win, then jump in loudly with both feet. I don’t think the man had an honest opinion in his life.”
“Well,” I replied. “He’s made a choice this time.”
Vidsen shrugged. “I doubt it. I suspect that he was swept along by circumstance. Relentless was orbiting just ahead of Nemesis when you visited Thaeron. Even if he’d believed you, saying so would have risked getting him and his ship vaporized.”
“Are you saying that he may be looking for a way to switch sides?”
“No,” he replied coldly. “Bon-Lor may be a pragmatist, but he’s no coward. Once he’s committed, he won’t turn his coat. But,” he continued, “He may accept an honorable way out of his situation. He can’t be very thrilled with Jonas for sending him off to Gamma without support. He has to know how far his neck is stretched out.” He shrugged. “I’d suggest launching a genuine attack, but offering him an opportunity to surrender honorably. If it was put to him as a way to save his crew’s lives, I wouldn’t be surprised if he took the chance.”
The boats that had been so effective against the destroyers would be less so against a more heavily armored battle cruiser. We’d need bigger guns; in other words, we had to attack in force, especially if we were to give Bon- Lor a chance to surrender.
That meant Valkyrie, Predator, and more than twenty armed tramps, carrying over a hundred and fifty armed boats.
The most serious disagreements revolved around Predator. I wanted to hold her out of the fight, save her for the attack on Nemesis. Judging by the anguished howls, you’d have thought I was advocating destroying her myself.
“ Predator is the only battle-ready true warship we have,” I argued, “We’re going to need her desperately against Nemesis!”
“We need her desperately against Relentless, Admiral,” Bendo protested. “For the psychological advantage, if nothing else. When Captain Bon-Lor sees a rabble of converted tramps closing on him, that's one thing. But, if they’re accompanied by a destroyer, that's quite another.”
“He’s right, Admiral,” Vidsen put in. “In fact, I think you should take Fearless, too. Yes,” he continued as I started to interrupt, “I know that having a tramp welded to my hull doesn’t improve my fighting trim, but all Bon-Lor will see is another cruiser coming at him. When he sees a fleet that large closing on him, he’ll believe that his position is untenable. As I said, he likes to be on the winning side. I’d almost bet that he’d surrender to a force like that with only a token battle.”
In the event, we all went. Both Valkyrie and Fearless took aboard a load of armed boats.
Relentless was on station in orbit above Gamma when we emerged.
Bon-Lor’s crew was on their toes. They detected us within an hour, and Relentless broke orbit, driving toward us to gain fighting room.
I hailed Relentless, and called upon Bon-Lor to surrender to an obviously superior force.
Bon-Lor was a thin, aristocratic-looking man, but a certain carelessness had crept into his appearance, accompanied by the florid features of a man who drinks too much. “To Sheol with you!” he growled.
“Captain,” I persisted, “I am a Vice Admiral of the Fleet, as you know. By now, you’ve seen the tapes of the Emperor’s visit. You have to know that you’ve chosen the wrong side. Jonas has used you, and used you poorly. What Admiral would put you out here without support? What Admiral would keep you here after losing two destroyers to my forces?”
My tone hardened. “You're not under Nemesis ’ guns now,” I said, “If you persist in making Fleet people fight each other, it will be on your own head. If you survive, I’ll have you hanged!”
That last comment had hit hard. Despite everything, Bon-Lor was a Fleet Captain. The idea of Fleet fighting Fleet upset him as badly as it did me. I could also tell by his eyes that my comment about being under Nemesis ’ guns had reached its mark, giving him a possible defense for his actions.
Still, he temporized as we approached each other. I felt he wanted to surrender, but the idea of surrendering without firing a shot outraged his sense of honor.
Cutting transmissions to him, I flipped on our secure general push. “Flag to all boats. Relentless ’ captain is reluctant to surrender. I want all boats to drive ahead of the flotilla. When you get within range of Relentless, show him what our boats can do. You are cleared to fire on Relentless; I repeat, you are cleared to fire on the battle cruiser. But mostly, I want her CO to see a hundred and fifty boats dance. Try to keep those Fleet gunners from locking onto you. I want to show him that his Fleet weapons can’t keep up with the rim’s boat Fleet.”
