The Lost Fleet Beyond the Frontier Invincible

“You used your ‘command voice.’ You don’t have to use your command voice with me. You know that.” She hit a control. “Commander Benan has authorization for comms with his wife. Video and audio. I don’t care. Just make it happen. Tell the medical staff that the admiral ordered it, and if they don’t like it, they can debate the matter with him.”

“I’m sorry, Tanya,” Geary said. “Commander Benan’s actions, his lack of self-control, are the result of something that was done to him.”

“I know,” she shot back. “The Syndics—”

“And the Alliance. I told you that.”

“Fine. You didn’t tell me what was done.” Her gaze challenged him.

“It’s very highly classified, Tanya. If I tell you, it could cause difficulties for you.”

“Difficulties?” She laughed. “Oh, mercy, no! Difficulties? Whatever would I do without my guardian and protector to keep difficulties from me?”

“All right,” Geary admitted. “That did sound a little condescending—”

“Duh.”

“—but it’s not as if you don’t already have enough to worry about.”

Desjani snorted derisively. “Speaking of things I need to worry about, we both agree that Commander Benan is an accident waiting to happen. Since he is on my ship, and if he flies off the handle it will imperil my ship, perhaps it would be a good idea to let me know exactly what’s going on aboard my ship so that I can help control the situation.”

“You’ve got a point, even if you are driving it home with a jackhammer. Once we reenter jump space, I’ll tell you.”

Her eyebrows went up. “You can’t tell me in real space?”

“I just think I’ll be too busy,” Geary said. “Speaking of which . . .” He put in a call to Captain Smythe.

“It’s still twelve more hours,” Smythe announced before Geary could say anything. “Not a minute less.”

“Our escorts are waiting,” Geary pointed out.

“Unless our escorts intend helping to haul along that monstrosity you call a superbattleship, I suggest they continue waiting until I’ve gotten rigging the tow job done properly.”

“That wasn’t actually why I called. There’s an update on Orion.”

“Oh.” Captain Smythe nodded. “She’s been hit too hard, too often. The repair patches are what’s holding Orion together more than anything now.”

“Is she or is she not capable of facing combat? This update hedges and avoids giving a straight answer.”

The senior engineer frowned, checking his own readout. “It looks straightforward to me. Points in the structure where stress has accumulated, areas of the hull where armor is judged weak, cumulative effects of multiple repairs on systems . . . What is the problem, Admiral?”

“It doesn’t tell me whether or not Orion is still combat capable,” Geary repeated.

“That’s not our call to make, Admiral. We tell you what state the ship is in. You decide how and when to risk it. Orion has not exceeded any of the measures by which a ship is definitely declared unsafe or unable to carry out its basic functions. But it has a great many measures by which the ship is marginal. Another volley from the Kicks at Orion in that last engagement, and we would very likely have been salvaging pieces of her after the battle. I didn’t pick her as one of the battleships for towing the captured bear-cow ship because I was worried about Orion’s ability to survive the extra stress on her structure.”

Smythe was right, unfortunately. This was a case where Geary couldn’t defer to the judgment of the engineers. He would have to make the call himself. “Very well, Captain Smythe.” He paused, unable to resist his next words. “It’s still twelve hours?”

“It’s only eleven hours and fifty-seven minutes now, Admiral.”

Geary called Commander Shen, seeing him in one of the passageways of Orion, where Shen had answered on the nearest comm panel. “How is your ship, Captain?” Geary asked bluntly.

“She’s been in better condition.” Shen looked around. “I could not ask for a better crew, nor a harder working crew, but there’s been a lot to do.”

“Do you consider Orion to be combat capable?”

Shen paused, eyes hooded as he considered his reply, his usual dissatisfied expression no clue to his thoughts. “Orion is not front-line capable,” he finally said. “She can fight. We have our shields back on maximum, and about one-third of our weapons operational.”

“I saw that,” Geary said. “A remarkable achievement given the damage that Orion has sustained in the last two fights.”

“Thank you, sir. However, we have numerous patches on our hull armor, and two-thirds of our weapons are not operational.” Shen looked around again, viewing those of his crew who were in sight. “We are understrength as a result of battle casualties even though we have received a number of replacements who are former members of the crew of Invincible. They have rendered good service even though most seem to consider reassignment to a battleship from a battle cruiser to be the equivalent of being banished to the third ring of hell.”