The Lost Fleet – Dauntless

Captain Tulev broke in, frowning. “It seems to make a great deal of sense to me.”

“That’s hardly surprising,” Numos stated in a disparaging tone.

Tulev flushed but continued to speak in an even voice. “Captain Geary has analyzed the likely enemy reactions to our current situation. I can’t fault his reasoning. The Syndics are not fools. They’ll have a major force waiting for us at Yuon.”

“Then we’ll deal with them.”

“This fleet is still recovering from what happened in the Syndic home system! Our losses can’t be replaced until we reach home. Surely, even you realize we can’t risk getting caught by superior forces again.”

“Timidity in the face of the enemy-” Numos began.

“We aren’t in this situation because of timidity,” Captain Desjani interrupted, ignoring the angry look Numos sent her way. “We’re here because we were more concerned with acting aggressively than with thinking about what we were doing.” She subsided while the other officers stared at her in either disbelief or incomprehension.

Captain Faresa made what was apparently her best attempt to speak in a condescending voice. “Are we to understand that the commanding officer of a ship in the Alliance fleet regards aggressiveness as a negative quality?”

Geary leaned forward. “No. You are to understand that aggressiveness without forethought is a negative quality. That’s my opinion, Captain Faresa.”

Faresa’s eyes narrowed as she opened her mouth to speak, then froze in that position. Geary watched her, not letting his amusement show. You were going to cite fleet traditions, weren’t you, Faresa? Maybe even quote Black Jack Geary. But I’m the one person you can’t use that against.

Farther down the table, a commander spoke, his words rushed. “It’s common knowledge that prolonged survival sleep affects people.” He paused as he became the center of attention, then spoke quickly again. “This isn’t the officer whose example has inspired this fleet for a century. Not any more.”

Everyone looked toward Geary, who realized that the commander had brought into the open something his enemies must have been whispering since he took command. To his own surprise, the charge didn’t anger him. Perhaps because Geary disliked the heroic image of Black Jack Geary so much that he didn’t mind having someone else disassociate him from that mythical construct. Geary could also tell from the expressions around the table that most of the officers present disapproved of what had been said. Many still clearly worshipped Black Jack. Others seemed unhappy with the unprofessionalism of the comments made by the commander. He hoped at least a few were actually trusting him because of his actions so far.

So instead of reacting with passion, Geary deliberately leaned back and looked directly at his opponent. A name tag immediately sprang into view, identifying the man and his ship. Commander Vebos of the Arrogant. Of course. “Commander Vebos. I don’t claim to be more than human. I am, however, the officer who led this fleet out of the Syndic home system when it was threatened with imminent destruction. I know how to command a fleet. I know how to give orders. That’s because I learned how to take orders, a necessary skill in any officer. Don’t you agree, Commander?”

Vebos turned pale at the pointed reference to his actions in bombarding the Syndic base. But he bulled ahead anyway. “Other officers could’ve done better. Captain Numos. He’d have us halfway home by now!”

“He’d have us in Syndic work camps by now,” Captain Duellos noted dryly. “Though he was willing enough to try to get away alone in Orion while the Syndics were busy finishing off our damaged ships.”

It was Numos’s turn to flush red with anger. “I will not-”

Geary slammed his hand onto the table, and silence fell. “I do not wish to have my officers publicly malign other officers,” he stated.

Captain Duellos rose and inclined his head toward the place Numos occupied. “My apologies to Captain Geary and to Captain Numos.”

Geary inclined his own head in return. “Thank you, Captain Duellos. It is critical that we remain focused. This fleet is transiting the Corvus System en route to the jump point that leads to Kaliban. We are currently in negotiations with the Syndic authorities on the second planet. They are being told to provide us with supplies and raw materials as we pass through the system, on pain of having the fleet inflict extensive damage to their world.” Geary thought that of those present, only Captain Desjani would guess that Geary had no intention of actually bombarding an inhabited world simply to punish the people on it. “I am certain that the Syndics will be awaiting us with force at Yuon. I will take this fleet to Kaliban. And our ancestors willing, I will take this fleet home.”