“CAPTAIN Desjani, I’m afraid I have to agree with your estimate.” Geary totaled up the ships that had so far been seen exiting the jump point. A swarm of HuKs led the way, with multiple squadrons of heavy cruisers right behind. Since the Alliance fleet was looking straight back at the jump exit, the leading Syndic ships tended to obscure those behind them, but several squadrons of battle cruisers and battleships had been confirmed bringing up the rear. “There’s a lot of junk blocking the view of the jump exit.”
Desjani grinned. “You ordered mines placed at the exit, sir.”
Oh, yeah. Geary took another look. “How many did we get?”
“They swept the mines with HuKs and light cruisers, sir. The hard way. We estimate they lost or suffered severe damage to about fifteen ships. The debris fields we can see correlate to the destruction of most of those.”
Coming out of jump space and running right into a minefield. They probably never knew what hit them. “Do you think what we can see is everything?”
Desjani gave him a look that implied she thought Geary wanted more enemies to fight, then studied her display. “There could be a follow-on wave. But if this is it, we can take this force.”
Geary noted that Desjani’s voice seemed torn between excitement and worry at the prospect. All of her training called for charging into action, but the last time the Alliance fleet had faced a major Syndic force, it had gotten its butt kicked hard.
“We could,” Geary stated with a confidence he didn’t really feel. After watching his fleet make a mishmash of the engagement with minor Syndic forces, he wasn’t looking forward to a much bigger battle anytime soon. But he knew he had to outwardly express confidence in the fleet. If word got around (and it surely would) that he’d even implied the fleet lacked the ability to win, it could cripple the fleet’s chances before the next shot was even fired. “But we’d have to turn back to engage them. I don’t see any reason to do that.” He tried to make it sound like the pursuing Syndic forces weren’t worth the trouble. “I hadn’t planned on any more battles in this system.”
Apparently, he succeeded to some extent. Desjani and the watch-standers on the Dauntless’s bridge all nodded knowingly.
Geary fiddled with his controls, trying to make the display calculate the chances of the Syndics catching up with the Alliance force. “Have I got this right?” he muttered to Desjani.
She looked over, then after a moment nodded again. “Yes. We’re only about four light-hours from the jump exit now. Forty hours of transit time if we stay at.1 light speed, but even if we had to slow for some reason, we’ve got a very big lead. We’ll be at the jump point to Kaliban well before they can catch up to us and delay us further.” Desjani grinned. “Some of the fleet captains questioned why we didn’t take more time to loot this system. This should answer them!”
Geary smiled briefly, unsettled both by Desjani’s endorsement of what she clearly saw as Black Jack’s once-again demonstrated infallibility and by the news that some of his captains had been grumbling about his decisions openly enough for someone as clearly loyal to him as Desjani to have heard. Then he finally noticed something else on his display. “What’s this? Who’re these guys?” Geary pointed at a group of ships coming up at an almost leisurely pace from the direction of the inhabited world. Even though the ships were moving slower than the Alliance fleet, they’d been coming from ahead and so were on course to intercept the Alliance force. “They’re Syndic, but they’re marked as nonthreatening?”
Desjani curved the edges of her lips in a very brief smile. “That represents the fruit of our Co-President ’s efforts at diplomacy. Twenty merchant ships, supposedly loaded with food and other materials we asked for.”
“Twenty ships?” Geary couldn’t help grinning. “That’ll be a decent amount of supplies.”
“Yes,” Desjani agreed with visible reluctance at the idea of being in debt to Co- President Rione.
“How are we set up for the rendezvous?”
“They’re merchants, so they can’t accelerate worth a damn, but they’ve been told to use their propulsion systems without regard for economy, and they appear to be doing so. By the time we meet up with them, they should’ve been able to get up close to our speed. If we have to brake, it won’t be by much.” Desjani’s finger raced across the display, pointing out details. “The merchants are headed to join up near the positions of our big auxiliaries. That’ll minimize the time needed to transfer the supplies over.” She paused. “We’ve confirmed their identity as merchant transports by visual and full-spectrum scans. No weapons are visible.”
Geary nodded, feeling a surge of relief that everything had been handled well, even though he’d been dead to the world. “What about security?”
“I took the liberty of contacting Colonel Carabali. Detachments of Marines will take boarding shuttles to each of the merchants, conduct searches for hidden weapons, and maintain a watch on the crews.”
“Very good. That’s exactly what I’d have told the Colonel to do.” Desjani beamed at the praise in a way that seemed incongruous in a woman her age. “Where’s Co-President Rione now?”
“I believe she’s resting.” Desjani made “rest” sound like an unmilitary activity, apparently forgetting that Geary had just spent several hours doing the same. “She did record a report for you.”
“Thanks.” Geary pulled up the file.
On the recording, Rione looked weary. “Captain Geary. After substantial negotiations, hindered by our distance from the inhabited planet, I convinced the Syndicate Worlds authorities that we would be willing to forebear from annihilating them if they would provide suitable tribute. Captain Desjani’s crew provided me with an estimated number of large cargo ships in this star system as well as how many had been seen in time-late images near the inhabited world. This information enabled me to insist on twenty such ships carrying supplies listed on both our real and false needs lists. The Syndicate Worlds authorities provided remote signing of an agreement not to attempt any action using the cargo ships against the Alliance fleet in exchange for our promise not to launch further attacks within the system before our departure. The text of that agreement is attached. Please do not hesitate to contact me if questions arise.”
Geary read through the agreement, finding nothing that raised alarms in his mind. Rione seemed to have covered everything. Then it’s just a matter of trusting the Syndics at this point. And I’d be crazy to trust the Syndics. But what can they pull with Carabali’s Marines breathing down their necks?
He looked back at Captain Desjani. “Those merchant ships are a little farther from the jump exit than we are, but they must’ve seen the arrival of the pursuit force by now.”
“But they’re not altering course,” Desjani agreed, answering Geary’s unstated question. “Perhaps they’re afraid we’ll run them down if they try. They’re close enough and cumbersome enough that by the time they managed to get turned and going away from us, we could have destroyers all over them. Or perhaps they’re afraid that if they run, it’ll provoke an attack on the inhabited planet.”
“Good possibilities.” Despite the appearance of the Syndic pursuit force, everything seemed well in hand. Unfortunately, it’s usually just when you think everything’s under control that everything and its brother starts going to hell in a handbag. So what can go wrong? Titan? She looks like she’s not in trouble for once.
“Sir.” Both Geary and Desjani turned at the operations watch-stander’s hail. “Titan reports she has another primary propulsion unit back on line.”
“Praise our ancestors.” Geary had tensed in dread as Titan’s name came up on the heels of his worries. It had taken him a moment to realize it wasn’t bad news after all. Now he checked the statistics for Titan, noting its best acceleration had improved significantly. But she’s still too damn slow. What idiot labeled those ships Fast Fleet Auxiliaries? The only thing fast about them is how quickly they can get into trouble. “What are the chances Titan can strap on a few extra primary propulsion units at some point?”
The operations watch-stander looked startled, then glanced at the engineering watch-stander, who also looked surprised, then thoughtful. “It might be possible, sir.” His face began to take on the glow of an engineer presented with a complex problem that he might have the means to solve.
Geary leaned back, taking in the entire situation slowly, trying to make sure he
