screw things up anything like the engagements at Corvus, we could take terrible losses. Can I trust my ships to keep formation and follow orders?
I know what prudence dictates, but these people I’m commanding need to believe I’m the one who can lead them to victory. How long will they follow me if they think I’m afraid of combat? Should I give in to that concern despite my doubts? Or are my doubts greater than they really should be? Am I afraid to risk these ships because of the mistakes they might make, or because of the mistakes I might make?
Run or fight. Which would be right? Which would be best?
Ancestors, send me a sign.
“Captain Desjani,” the Dauntless’s communications watch called out. “Witch reports there’s a dead bird on Ishiki’s Rock.”
Geary took a moment to process the modern slang through his brain. “Bird” was what the sailors called shuttles, and “dead” meant…“There’s a shuttle that can’t rise?”
“Yes, sir. On Ishiki’s Rock. One of the big cargo haulers.”
“Tell them to abandon the cargo. Just get the personnel out.”
“They tried, sir. It’s not a mass issue. Propulsion and control systems went dark when they tried to lift. They’re troubleshooting now.”
“How many of our people are on Ishiki’s Rock?”
“Thirty-one, sir, counting the shuttle crew.”
Geary looked at Desjani. “You know these shuttles better than I do. What’re the odds they’ll get it fixed soon?”
She shook her head. “I wouldn’t place bets on it,” Desjani advised. “Two major systems dead means multiple junction failures.” She gestured toward the engineering watch-stander. “Your assessment, please?”
The watch-stander grimaced. “That bird won’t be going anywhere until a full maintenance unit can get a look at it. Exact time to get it flying again will depend on how many subsystems did a meltdown, but I’d assume four hours minimum once the maintenance team gets there, assuming they’ve got all the parts they’ll need.”
“I had a feeling it’d be that bad.” Geary looked back at the display, running through possible options in his head. Ishiki’s Rock was thirty light-minutes closer to the Syndics than the Alliance fleet’s main body. Titan had finished topping off its raw materials storage a day and a half ago and moved back with the fleet, but Witch was still out there near Ishiki’s Rock.
Five hours transit time at.1 light, and while Witch massed less than Titan, it had less propulsion capability so it couldn’t accelerate much better than Titan. He could order Witch to send another shuttle out to pick up the people on Ishiki’s Rock and abandon the dead bird in place. Or he could send in a maintenance team to fix the bird. Witch was close enough to Ishiki’s Rock that they could probably revive the dead bird and still get it back to Witch in time for the fleet to take off ahead of the Syndics. Though that could well be a close thing. The safest thing to do would be to abandon the bird.
And wouldn’t that look bad in the eyes of people who already didn’t like to see the Alliance fleet “running away” from Syndics.
But staying long enough to try to salvage or fix the bird could run a real risk of having Syndic HuKs catching up with Witch if anything went wrong. He could bring up some ships to defend Witch, but how many would he need? If the Syndics were pushing their propulsion to maximum, they could shave significant time off their transit by accelerating half the way to Witch and then decelerating back to.1 light in time to engage her.
And what would happen to anyone left on Ishiki’s Rock if the Syndics came charging in faster than anticipated? The closer the Syndics got, the less time Geary would have to react.
Thirty-one people. One cargo shuttle. I can get the people out. No problem. Unless something else messes up. Which it could, and then we could face trouble. And if I try to save face by saving the shuttle, too, I’ll be risking more people. If we have to pull out fast…
Pull out fast, Geary? Try running away. Because no matter what label you put on it, that’s what it means. You know it, and so will everyone else. And you don’t really like it any more than they do.
The fleet’s trusted me to lead them this far. I have to trust them. I have to trust them to win if I can lead them competently.
And I can’t lead them unless they continue to believe in me.
And they won’t continue to believe in me unless I show them they can win by listening to me.
And I can’t win unless I take risks.
Captain Desjani was looking at him, having surely reached the same conclusions he had about the options available and wondering how Geary would handle it.
Geary took a deep breath, then activated the fleet command communications circuit. “Alliance fleet, this is Captain Geary. All units, assume Combat Formation Alpha. I say again, assume Combat Formation Alpha. Execute order immediately upon receipt. Take stations relative to fleet flagship Dauntless, formation axis aligned to Dauntless’s long axis. All ships prepare for action. Estimated time to battle is”-he did a quick estimate of how quickly the two forces would come together if the Alliance fleet headed directly for an intercept-“eight hours.” He glanced over at Desjani. “Captain Desjani, please have your communications watch inform the personnel on Ishiki’s Rock that the fleet is coming to get them. Then please bring Dauntless around so her bows point toward an intercept with the projected course of the Syndic formation entering the system.”
“Aye, aye, sir!” Desjani looked exultant, and so did everyone else Geary could see on the bridge.
“Captain Geary!” He hadn’t seen that Co-President Rione had also arrived on the bridge. Now he turned to look as she spoke, her face appalled. “Are you intending to fight a full-scale battle for control of this system?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m planning. I have thirty-one personnel and a fleet cargo shuttle marooned on one of the asteroids in the system.”
“And with the Syndic ships well over half a day away, you believe a full-scale battle is your only option?”
Geary gave her a brief, humorless smile. “I believe it’s the best option for a variety of reasons.”
“You can’t risk the loss of hundreds or thousands of sailors and who knows how many ships for thirty-one people who could be easily rescued and a cargo shuttle that could be easily abandoned on that asteroid!”
“None of the available options are foolproof, Madam Co-President. We don’t know what the Syndics are doing this very minute. Even a simple rescue, if delayed by other unforeseen events, could place Witch or some other ship in peril. Yes, I’m risking the entire fleet to cover those personnel and that shuttle and the ships working to take them off that asteroid. It’s a matter of responsibility and keeping faith. The Alliance fleet does not leave anyone behind.”
Sudden cheers startled Geary and Rione. Looking around, he saw Dauntless’s bridge team holding fists upward as they roared approval.
He turned toward Captain Desjani, catching her just as she finished muttering something into her communications system. “Pardon me, Captain Geary. I was just transmitting the record of your statement to the fleet.” Even after spending almost a couple of months with her, Geary was still shocked to see the admiration shining in her eyes.
But he knew she’d done something right. As much as he hated to admit it, those words he’d blurted out would steel the fleet through this battle. And no doubt be added to the inspirational sayings of Black Jack Geary. Which, he prayed to every ancestor he had, he’d never have to actually hear repeated by anyone else.
Rione looked like she was praying, too, though Geary suspected they were
