“Then you’ll be happy to hear what I have to say, Captain Gundel. I’ve realized I need someone working on identifying the long-range needs of this fleet. Someone with the experience to put together everything that’s needed into a comprehensive product, even if that takes a long time.” Geary smiled at Gundel, who seemed to be trying to look approving of Geary’s attitude in a patronizing sort of way. “But if that officer is constantly distracted by other responsibilities, they won’t be able to focus on what needs to be done. Therefore, I’m appointing you to my staff, Captain Gundel, as chief engineering advisor.” Geary smiled again.
Gundel seemed shocked now.
“Of course,” Geary continued in a slightly apologetic voice, “you realize that fleet regulations prohibit having anyone in charge of a ship or higher level command being also assigned to a staff position. Too much distraction, too many conflicting responsibilities. A professional like you certainly understands. So in order for me to have the exclusive benefit of your advice, you’ll have to relinquish command of Jinn. You’ll need a good working office to produce your report for me, and I know a smaller ship like Jinn doesn’t have much to spare, so you’ll need to transfer to Titan. I’ll make sure you get a good office on board her. And, also of course, since you’ll not be in command of Jinn anymore, that’ll make Captain Tyrosian of Witch the auxiliaries division commander.”
Gundel simply stared back, speechless.
“No questions, then? Excellent. Since we’re under time pressure here, please ensure you turn over command of Jinn to your executive officer prior to midnight. You’ll transfer to Titan tomorrow.”
At last, Gundel found his voice again. “You…you can’t-”
“Yes, I can.” Geary let his face grow stern and his voice get harsh. “My orders will be transmitted to Titan, Jinn, and Witch as soon as this conversation ends. I assume no officer of your experience would dream of balking at direct orders to proceed to a new assignment?” Geary paused, knowing his words would bring to Gundel’s mind the example of Commander Vebos, former commander of the Arrogant. Then he held his peace a moment longer to let Gundel think through the advantages for an officer like Gundel of no longer holding command responsibility and being able to devote himself to an endless research project without any taint of having been relieved for cause. Geary could see Gundel’s expression shift as the realization hit him that this was a great opportunity for an officer of his limited ambitions. “Will there be any problems?”
“No. Not at all.” Geary watched as Gundel’s eyes shifted again as he thought through the options once more, then as Gundel nodded to himself and regained his composure. “A wise use of personnel. I deeply regret leaving Jinn, it goes without saying.”
“Of course.”
“But my executive officer has been well trained by me. He should be able to benefit from having watched my period in command and make a capable commanding officer for Jinn.”
“That’s good to know.”
“I believe Captain Tyrosian has also benefited from observing me as divisional commander.”
“Then there should be no drawbacks,” Geary stated, eager to end Gundel’s apparently endless stream of self-aggrandizing statements.
“You realize of course that doing a proper job on the report you requested will be a lengthy process.”
“You’re to take however long it requires.” The longer the better, since that’ll keep you out of mine and everyone else’s hair. “Thank you, Captain Gundel.” Geary hastily broke the connection before Gundel could say anything else. With any luck I’ll never have to talk to him again. He can work on that report for however many years it takes until he retires and hands it to whatever poor sap has command of the fleet then.
Geary transmitted the messages he’d prepared, then called Witch and Titan to personally inform their Captains of the new state of affairs. Captain Tyrosian seemed almost as stunned as Captain Gundel had been. But Tyrosian acknowledged the order to quickly produce a plan for possibly exploiting the Syndic mining facilities, and perked up as she realized she was now division commander and Witch was the new division flagship. Geary almost sighed with relief after he ended his conversation with Tyrosian, knowing he could work with her.
Titan’s commanding officer, on the other hand, was clearly thrilled at the prospect of being out from under Gundel’s thumb, but also just as clearly in dread of having his former divisional commander on his ship for an indefinite period. “He’s no longer in your chain of command,” Geary stated firmly. “Keep him supplied with all the research material he asks for and give him a nice place to work. You’ll probably never see the man.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
“Thank me?” Geary prodded. “For what?”
The younger officer hesitated. “For not kicking me out the airlock for going over Captain Gundel’s head to you, sir.”
“If the Syndic mining facilities pan out, it’ll be a very good thing for this fleet. You had good reason. But don’t make a habit of it.”
“I won’t, sir.”
A few hours later he remembered to call the new commanding officer of Jinn. Geary had deliberately moved Gundel to Titan to keep him from harassing his replacement in command. The former executive officer seemed competent enough. In fact, Geary was pretty certain he’d been the one actually running Jinn while Gundel pretended to be constantly busy. Jinn’s new captain managed to hide any happiness he felt at no longer being Gundel’s subordinate, but then after working for Gundel, he probably had a lot of experience with hiding his feelings.
Geary glanced at the fleet’s position within Kaliban. They’d been gliding slowly into the system for some hours. Even if the Syndic force pursuing them through Corvus had somehow made the decision to jump to Kaliban instead of Yuon, it’d still be quite a few hours from arriving in Kaliban. But the more Geary thought about it, the less he was worried about immediate pursuit. If the Syndics had developed even the slightest suspicion that the Alliance fleet would go to Kaliban, they would’ve managed to get something to Kaliban to at least detect the Alliance fleet’s arrival there. The lack of even a scout ship capable of spotting the Alliance fleet and then fleeing to inform the Syndic command told Geary that the Syndics had thought themselves certain of Alliance intentions and put all of their effort into Yuon and Voss.
Unfortunately, reaching that conclusion meant he could no longer put off something that had needed doing since the fleet had arrived in the system, so Geary reluctantly sent orders to every ship for an immediate meeting with their commanding officers.
The conference room felt huge again, the table running off into the distance, with Geary wondering how long it would take his dislike of holding meetings here to mutate into hate. The virtual meeting process made it too easy to hold meetings, but Geary was slowly realizing it also made holding meetings too hard because it was so easy for everyone to attend and put their oar in if they desired. The software recognized anyone who wanted to speak, regardless of Geary’s feelings on the matter, and he couldn’t schedule meetings to deliberately make it difficult for his primary adversaries among the fleet captains to attend.
So here we all are again. One big happy family. Geary tried to avoid looking toward Captain Faresa, whom he was certain would be giving him one of her acidic looks. “I wanted to inform you all that my intentions are to remain in Kaliban for a while. We may be able to find useful materiel here, and there’s little to no chance of rapid Syndic pursuit.”
Captain Faresa interrupted, as Geary had expected her to. “If the Syndics show up here, will the Alliance fleet run away again?”
He gave Faresa a bland look, hoping it would discomfort her. “We didn’t run away at Corvus. We declined battle.”
“It’s the same thing! And to a numerically inferior force!”
Geary tried to judge the attitudes around the table, studying the expressions of captain after captain and getting the feeling that entirely too many of them were betraying sympathy for Faresa’s statements. The impression baffled him, but it seemed unmistakable. “If I may remind Captain Faresa, our sole
