The Lost Fleet: Courageous

“Syndics don’t usually react that quickly,” Desjani pointed out. “It should have taken them a while longer to get approval to leave T’negu and come here.”

Geary didn’t debate the point, gazing glumly at the size of the new Syndic flotilla. “Eighteen battleships, fourteen battle cruisers, twenty-three heavy cruisers.” Plus plenty of light cruisers and HuKs. The Syndic forces at the hypernet gate and this new flotilla combined now roughly equaled the size of the Alliance fleet. “The odds in this star system just evened up.”

“We still have an advantage over each of those forces individually,” Desjani argued.

“Yeah, if we can bring one of them to action without the other. But that new force is heavy enough to be a big problem.” He thought about what would have happened if the Alliance fleet had arrived at T’negu and run into a maze of minefields plus that big Syndic flotilla. Things could definitely be worse. He took another look at the display. “They must have seen us the instant they entered the system. Why aren’t they headed to intercept us?”

Desjani shook her head. “I don’t know, sir. Smaller Syndic forces have been more aggressive than that when we’ve met them.” She turned to look at him. “Maybe they’re frightened of you.”

He almost laughed, but Desjani appeared absolutely serious. “That’d be nice if true,” he finally noted. “But-”

“They’re turning!” a watch-stander called out. “Syndic Flotilla Bravo is adjusting course and speed.”

Geary’s eyes went back to the display. The Syndic force was a good three light-hours away. They’d seen the Alliance force over three hours before the Alliance fleet had even been aware that the Syndics had arrived. Plenty of time to plan something or to send or receive orders from the Syndic authorities in this system. Yet only now was the new flotilla apparently reacting to the presence of the Alliance fleet.

“They’ve turned past an intercept course,” Desjani noted, surprised. “Where are they going?” Unfortunately, the answer to that became apparent all too soon. “They’re heading for the jump point for Branwyn,” Desjani noted sourly.

“Obviously not to jump that way,” Geary added. The Syndic forces he’d encountered before this had tended to be aggressive, even when that didn’t make much sense. This flotilla wasn’t acting like that. “Are they just going to sit at that jump point like the other flotilla is sitting at the hypernet gate? Is this the new Syndic tactic, to wait us out until we do something dumb?”

Desjani frowned. “They were laying mines at T’negu, we think.”

“Yeah.” The meaning of that got through to him. “They’re going to mine the jump point to Branwyn, aren’t they?”

“I think so, sir. With us trying to leave this star system, they can completely block the jump point so that we can’t reach it without going through part of the minefield.”

“Which we’d have to slow down to do to keep from losing too many ships, thus making us vulnerable to high-speed attacks from that flotilla.” The number of good options was shrinking rapidly now. “Do you think we can lure them away from the jump point for Branwyn by pointing this fleet at the hypernet gate?”

Desjani thought, biting her lower lip, then nodded. “They can’t afford to let us reach that gate with superior numbers, and the commander of that new flotilla will catch hell if he or she forces the first flotilla to destroy the gate by not coming after us. But the gate flotilla can destroy it on their own if need be, and threatening the gate now would mean turning our heels to the new Syndic force. It won’t look right.”

“I want to get this new Syndic flotilla out of position so we can attack it,” Geary pointed out.

“That’s true,” Desjani noted doubtfully.

“They won’t attack rashly,” Rione observed.

Geary turned to look, not having realized that Rione had joined them. “Why not?”

“Because even Syndics learn eventually if hit hard enough.” Rione looked at Geary. “How many Syndic warships has this fleet destroyed under your command? How many battles have you won? Not only won but done so in a one-sided manner not normally seen. You’ve done this again and again.” She waved toward the depiction of newly designated Syndic Flotilla Bravo on the display. “The Syndics have learned. They doubtless have orders to engage you only under favorable circumstances, to force you into a bad position. They can wait us out, but we don’t have the luxury of trying to wait them out.”

“They’re frightened of Captain Geary,” Desjani repeated triumphantly. “But the only way they can stop this fleet from using the jump point for Branwyn is by fullscale battle.”