The Lost Fleet – Dauntless

“Don’t mention it.” He waved at the display, where the wall of Syndic ships loomed over the Alliance fleet. “The Syndic deadline isn’t more than half an hour away, now. We’re going to need every minute we can get to repair damage and reposition our fleet in readiness to bolt for that jump point. Can you speak to the Syndics, string them along and try to keep them from moving in as long as possible?”

“You mean on behalf of the Republic and the Rift, or of the entire fleet?”

“Whatever works. Whatever will keep them talking. Just buy us some time, Madam Co-President. As much as you possibly can.”

She nodded. “That’s a reasonable request, Captain Geary. I will open the talks with the Syndics as soon as I board my shuttle.”

He stared at her. “Shuttle? You’re not going to-”

“The Syndic flagship? No, Captain Geary. I’m coming here. To the Dauntless. I want to keep a personal eye on you. And on a certain very important piece of equipment. Oh, yes. You told me nothing. But I believe I can best safeguard the interests of my people by being on your ship.”

Geary took a deep breath, then nodded. “I’ll notify Captain Desjani you’re coming.”

“Thank you, Captain Geary.” Another smile, as challenging as her eyes. “Now I shall attempt to frighten the Syndics into giving us all more time.” With that, her image vanished.

Geary sat for a moment looking at the spot that Rione had seemed to occupy. Maybe she can frighten the Syndics into holding off a little while longer. She sure scares me.

CAPTAIN Desjani took the news of Co-President Rione’s imminent arrival as if it were just one more malign event in a day filled with them. “At least we’ve still got those ships with us.”

“Yes.” Geary looked around. “Captain Desjani, where’s Admiral Bloch’s staff?”

“His staff?”

“Yes. All the officers assigned to him as fleet commander. Where are they? I’d think they’d have sought me out.”

Desjani looked briefly puzzled, then her expression cleared. “Oh, I understand. You’re thinking of the old days. I’m sorry,” she added hastily in apparent response to the reaction she saw on Geary’s face, “but much has changed. We’ve been short of experienced officers for a long time. The staffs you knew have been cannibalized so those officers would be free to be assigned to ships.”

Geary shook his head. “Losses have been that bad?”

“Bad?” Desjani hesitated. “We’ve lost many ships over the course of the war. The Syndics have lost more,” she added hastily.

“I was wondering why many of the ship commanders seemed so young.”

“There’s…not always the luxury of allowing officers a long career before they’re needed to command ships.”

“I understand,” Geary stated, even though he didn’t really understand at all. All these young commanding officers, all these new ships…he felt the ice inside him again for a moment as he realized all of the ships whose data he’d examined were new or nearly new. Geary had assumed that was because older ships had been left behind since they were less capable. Now he wondered just how many older ships there were, just what the typical lifespan of the officers, sailors, and ships of the Alliance had dwindled to under the pressure of this war.

Captain Desjani was still explaining, as if she felt the need to personally justify the situation. “Losses haven’t always been bad. But sometimes we lose a lot. A century of war drains a lot of ships and sailors from a fleet.” She looked both angry and weary. “A lot of them. Admiral Bloch did have two senior aides assigned. You may not have seen them board the shuttle with him to go to the Syndic flagship, along with Admiral Bloch’s chief of staff.”

“No.” But then I wasn’t aware of much of anything at that point.

“They’re all dead now, of course. There’s some junior officers who were seconded to the staff, but they’re all ship’s company. They’ve got primary jobs on the Dauntless.”

“I assume they’re needed there right now.”

“Yes, although one of them’s dead and another’s too badly injured to leave sick bay. I would like to continue using the other two in their primary duties-”

Geary held up one hand to forestall further words. “By all means. I’ll see them when conditions permit. Can you tell me how Admiral Bloch ran a fleet with such a small staff?”

Desjani made a face. “By only doing what needed to be done and leaving the rest to his ship commanders, I suppose. And the support systems available to you are very effective.” She checked the time and looked alarmed. “Captain Geary, with your permission, I really must get back to the bridge.”

“Permission granted.” Desjani was hastening away even as Geary’s arm quivered in anticipation of returning a farewell salute that never came. Am I going to have to get used to that, or am I going to have to change the way they do things? He looked over at the Marine, still standing at attention outside the entry to the conference room a short distance away. “Thank you.” The Marine obliged with a rigidly proper salute, which Geary returned.