“Hard to say,” Duellos admitted, his image frowning. “Alone, he’s most likely to do damage by messing up badly. But if he serves as a rallying point for those who want to contest your command, he could be a dangerous figurehead for more capable officers who want to keep their true motivations hidden.”
Unfortunately, that assessment matched Geary’s worst fears. “Would you feel comfortable speculating on who those other officers might be?”
Duellos let his discomfort show. “I would prefer not to do so, sir. If I had evidence or direct knowledge, it would be one thing. But I’m very hesitant to accuse others based on speculation.”
“I understand. Frankly, I don’t want to be the sort of commander who tries to spy out subordinates who might be troublemakers.” He’d never imagined being that kind of commander, actually, because a century ago the fleet’s culture wouldn’t have accepted such behavior.
“It’s not exactly unheard of,” Duellos suggested. “As I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, you’re going against the common practice for a fleet commander by not conducting espionage against your own subordinate commanders to find out who can be trusted and who cannot.”
For some reason, that brought an ironic smile to Geary’s lips. “A century ago a fleet commander was expected to be qualified to make such judgments without spying on subordinates.”
“A simpler time. Like much else, current practice is excused by the fact that we’re in a war for survival.”
“It makes a great excuse, doesn’t it? But I can’t imagine our ancestors look upon it with favor.” Geary shook his head. “I refuse to conduct a witch hunt among my officers.”
Duellos eyed Geary for a long moment. “And if the price for your honor is the loss of this fleet and the loss of the war for the Alliance?”
“Are you trying to convince me to act against my own officers based on suspicions?” Geary asked. “I’m surprised.”
“And disappointed?” Duellos waved one hand in a dismissive gesture. “I happen to believe that if this fleet makes it home, it will be because we remembered the honor of our ancestors.” His gaze shifted to the star field on one bulkhead. “It seems so obvious, really. Deplorable practices adopted during the last century were repeatedly declared necessary if regrettable in order to win the war. Oddly enough, we’ve yet to win. You’d think somebody would have asked before this why the regrettable but necessary measures haven’t actually produced the promised results. Not until you came along and started us really thinking about it instead of just accepting it.” Duellos sighed. “No, I’m just playing devil’s advocate, Captain Geary. Every commander needs someone like that, don’t they?”
“At least one,” Geary agreed.
“And you have not only me but also Co-President Rione.” Duellos gave Geary a speculative look. “How’s that going? If I may ask.”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
“She’s a strong woman, and a hard woman, and as respected as any politician can be among the fleet.”
“I have plenty of experience with the first two descriptions, and I don’t doubt the last.” Geary shrugged. “She’s been distant since Ilion. I don’t know why. She won’t say.”
“The commanders of ships from the Rift Federation and the Callas Republic have confided in me that Co- President Rione has been uncharacteristically disengaged lately,” Duellos observed. “She seems to be more distant with them as well.”
“That’s odd.” I’ve been assuming I did something. But then why would Rione be acting the same way to the ships from her own republic? From all I’ve seen of her, Rione has a lot of personal concern for those ships and their crews. “I’ll see what I can find out. It’s certainly puzzling to see that kind of behavior from someone like Rione.”
Duellos nodded.
“Speaking of puzzles, though, I’ve noticed something that I don’t understand. My latest thorn in my side, Captain Casia, is a battleship commander,” Geary noted.
“Yes,” Duellos agreed, clearly wondering why Geary had brought that up.
“So are, or were, people like Numos, Faresa, and Kerestes. Meanwhile, I’ve got commanders like you, Desjani, Tulev, and Cresida who are excellent officers and all command battle cruisers.” Duellos spread his hands in a self-mocking gesture of humility and nodded. “Why?”
“Why?” Duellos repeated, perplexed now.
“Why are my battleship commanders of lower quality than my battle cruiser commanders?” Geary asked bluntly.
Duellos had the look of a man who’d just been asked why space was dark. “That’s the way the fleet works. The most promising officers go to the battle cruisers. Those who aren’t judged good enough to command battle cruisers go to battleships.”
Geary waited, but Duellos seemed to think the arrangement didn’t require further explanation. “Okay, that’s how things work. But why? In my day, battleships were seen as the highest and most prestigious command. Battle cruisers were important, too, but ranked below battleships.”
It may have been the first time that Geary actually startled Duellos. “Are you serious? But battleships are slow. Ponderous. They’re powerful, but they don’t lead the fleet into battle!”
“Lead the fleet?”
“Yes!” Duellos made a sweeping gesture. “Battle cruisers are fast. They lead the charges, they make the first contact with the enemy-”
“They die faster and more frequently because they lack the same level of protection that battleships have,” Geary interrupted.
“Naturally,” Duellos agreed, still seeming baffled. “We don’t go into battle to hide behind armor. We go to fight. And the battle cruisers are in the forefront of the fight.”
It suddenly made sense. A fleet culture that valued combat above everything else, that saw the highest virtue in coming to grips with the enemy as fast as possible, that had grown to disdain anything that could be called defensive in favor of always seeking to be on the attack. Of course the best officers would aspire to command the most offensive-oriented ships, and the least regarded officers would be sent to the ships that emphasized defensive capability along with their massive armament.
But there was a serious problem with that way of thinking. Geary wondered if he had finally discovered one of the things that had worked to cripple leadership in the fleet. “Captain Duellos, think about what the fleet is doing. It’s been putting its best officers on the ships most likely to die and keeping its worst officers on the ships that are most heavily protected. Doesn’t that strike you as a fairly insane way of doing business in the long run?”
Duellos frowned in thought. “I hadn’t considered it in that light. But the fleet needs its best in the fastest and less heavily armored ships. A less-capable officer can survive in a battleship because they’re much harder to kill, you see.”
Geary couldn’t help a sudden laugh. “The system is designed to protect less capable officers?”
This time Duellos’s frown was deeper. “I’ve never heard it put that way. The usual way of thinking is that the defenses of a battleship can compensate for any shortcomings in its commanding officer.”
That almost made sense in a strange way. “Do the Syndics do the same thing?”
“I don’t know,” Duellos admitted. “I assume so.”
If so, at least both sides had been working to wipe out their best officers as quickly as possible. Once again Geary wondered why an intelligent alien race would need to take measures against humanity when the human race kept demonstrating great skill and enthusiasm at working against itself. “At least now I understand something important. Just between you and me, I think this is a crazy way of doing things, but for now I obviously can’t change it.” If he kept losing battle cruisers, he’d also keep losing his best senior officers. But there wasn’t any way he knew of to keep those battle cruisers out of combat when the fleet clashed with the Syndics. Even his best officers wouldn’t accept that. It was too contrary to the way they’d been trained, the way they believed, the way they’d always fought. But I’d better think of a way to preserve my battle cruisers, or this fleet is doomed. “Is there anything else I should know that I haven’t figured out already?”
Duellos frowned and seemed to hesitate. “You’re aware that your opponents in the fleet continue to spread rumors in an attempt to diminish your standing.”
“Yeah. Old news. Are they saying anything new?”
Another, deeper, frown. “I’m of two minds about telling you, Captain Geary. But you surely noticed the byplay between Captain Desjani and Commander Yin toward the end of the conference.”
