“The shuttle carries Commander Hatherian to relieve Commander Vebos as commanding officer of Arrogant. Commander Vebos has orders to report to Orion as that ship’s new weapons officer.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’re familiar with the fleet tradition of sideboys, Colonel Carabali?”
“Yes, sir.”
“It occurs to me that it would be a nice gesture if your detachment of Marines onboard Arrogant were to give the departing commanding officer a ceremonial send off.”
Carabali, who’d doubtless spent a career dealing with odd requests from superior officers, managed to keep from looking startled. “Sir?”
“Yes.” Geary smiled in what he hoped was a benign manner. “Like sideboys. I think it would be a good thing if your Marines onboard Arrogant reported to Commander Vebos and informed him that they were there to escort him to the shuttle.”
Colonel Carabali nodded slowly. “All of my Marines on Arrogant? You want them to find Commander Vebos and tell him they’re…sort of an honor guard.”
“Yes. Exactly. An honor guard. To escort him off the ship.”
“And if Commander Vebos declines to avail himself of that honor? What should my Marines do then?”
“Should that happen,” Geary stated, “have them maintain position around Command Vebos while they contact you and you contact me. We’ll decide on the proper way to persuade Commander Vebos to accept the honor based on the exact situation.”
“Yes, sir. I will issue the necessary orders, sir. I assume there’s no chance of weapons-release authority being given?”
Geary tried hard not to smile. Colonel Carabali hadn’t forgotten that it had been Vebos who had ordered the bombardment of her troops. “No weapons, Colonel. If we have to, we’ll frog-march him off the Arrogant. But I think even Commander Vebos will realize his options are limited when he’s surrounded by Marines. Besides, he’s going to Orion.”
Carabali’s face lit with understanding. “I see. Yes. That should help. I’ll keep you informed, Captain Geary.” Carabali saluted, and her image vanished.
Geary leaned back to see Desjani watching him and trying not to smile. “An honor guard?” she wondered.
“Yes,” Geary replied with all the dignity he could muster.
“Why to Orion, if I may ask?”
Geary looked around to make sure no one could hear and lowered his voice. “It seemed one way to minimize the number of places I need to keep my eye on. Besides, it gives Numos the opportunity to work with Vebos. And vice versa.”
“I understand. They deserve each other. Orion’s shuttle is on final approach. Arrogant still hasn’t acknowledged it.”
Arrogant, being smaller than Orion, didn’t have a shuttle dock. Instead, the shuttle swung close to Arrogant’s main airlock, extended a mating tube and moored to the outside of Arrogant.
“According to our remote readings, Arrogant’s airlock hasn’t opened yet.”
Geary checked the time. “I haven’t heard anything from Colonel Carabali. Let’s give it a few minutes.”
Five minutes later, Colonel Carabali called in, her expression carefully composed. “Commander Vebos and his honor guard are enroute to the airlock on Arrogant.”
Geary nodded back solemnly. “Any problems?”
“Nothing that a dozen Marines in full dress uniform couldn’t overawe. Though I must admit that the deciding factor was probably that Arrogant’s crew appeared unresponsive to Commander Vebos’s orders regarding the matter.”
“Naturally. They know Commander Hatherian has been appointed their new commanding officer. Commander Vebos no longer has command authority over them.”
“Yes, sir,” the Colonel agreed. “They don’t appear to be in great distress over losing Commander Vebos.”
“Somehow that doesn’t come as a great shock to me, Colonel.”
Geary glanced over at Desjani as she interjected. “Arrogant’s airlock has opened,” Desjani reported. “Commander Hatherian is exiting. Commander Vebos is being marched-Excuse me, Commander Vebos is being escorted aboard the shuttle by his honor guard.” Several moments passed. “The honor guard is leaving the shuttle. Arrogant’s airlock is closing.”
Geary nodded to Carabali’s image. “Thank you for the services of your Marines, Colonel.”
Carabali saluted. “It was our pleasure, sir.”
The shuttle detached from Arrogant and began making its way back to Orion. Geary felt a moment’s pity for the crew of the shuttle, who were confined with a doubtlessly very unhappy Commander Vebos until they could off-load him. Then he pulled back the scale on his display, looking back to see the Syndic pursuers very slowly gaining on the Alliance fleet, and then ahead to where the jump point waited. If only every thing I had to do could be as neatly and quickly done as removing Vebos from command.
In seven more hours, the Alliance fleet would reach the jump point and bid farewell to Corvus. Assuming nothing went wrong before then. Assuming Titan’s propulsion systems didn’t shift into full reverse and then fall off and spiral into a mini-black hole to be lost forever. Geary thought through that scenario twice, realized he’d not only thought of it but was actually taking it half-seriously, and realized just how tired he was. “I’m going to try to get some sleep.”
He stood and headed off the bridge, slightly surprised to see Co-President Rione still in the observer’s seat. She gave him an arch look as he passed. “An interesting show, Captain Geary.”
“You mean the bit with Vebos?”
“Yes. I assume that was meant to encourage the others?”
He frowned, trying to remember where he’d heard the phrase. “Not exactly. Vebos demonstrated he isn’t smart enough to be entrusted with command of a ship. That’s not about me. It’s about looking out for the crew of Arrogant, and looking out for anyone depending on Arrogant for anything.”
Rione gave him back a look with just a trace of skepticism apparent. Geary flicked the briefest possible smile at her, then left the bridge.
He was back several hours later, having ensured the bridge would give him a wake-up call, when the Alliance fleet jumped out of the Corvus Star System, the Syndic pursuit force still far behind them.
HE’D been watching the strange lights in jump space for a while, slumped in a seat in his stateroom, knowing he had a couple of weeks ahead transiting jump space before he and the rest of the Alliance fleet would learn what, if anything, awaited them at Kaliban. So much I need to do, and so little ability to do it in jump since I have only most rudimentary communications capability with the rest of the fleet until we return to normal space. I ought to just rest. Try to regain the strength I’ve never recovered since they woke me up from that survival pod.
The fleet medics, tsking over Geary’s physical state, had prescribed certain medications, exercise, and rest. Try to avoid stress, they’d advised. Geary had just stared at them, trying to figure out if they had any idea how ridiculous the prescription was in his case.
What made it all worse was the fact that he couldn’t be sure how much weakness he could reveal to anyone else. Desjani worshipped the space he traversed, but Geary still didn’t know how she’d take it if she truly came to be convinced that Geary wasn’t a hero sent from the living stars. It’d be different if he had a long-term working relationship with Desjani or any other officer. But having almost literally fallen into the fleet from out of the past, he really knew none of them well.
