The Lost Fleet: Fearless

Geary gave his ship commanders a grim smile. “It’ll be a target-rich environment if even half of what we expect is there. That’s why it’ll be critically important that we coordinate our attacks. If ships start blazing away at the most attractive target they see, it could easily result in one Syndic ship getting blown to atoms while a half dozen other Syndics get away. We don’t want any of them getting away.” They liked hearing that, he could tell. It should go a long way to keeping them in check when confronted with a wealth of targets.

“Captain Tyrosian.”

She nodded.

“The fast fleet auxiliaries in your division have done a fantastic job of fabricating new kinetic bombardment rounds and getting them distributed to the other combatants. The crews of Titan, Witch, Goblin, and Jinn are all to be congratulated on their hard work and dedication.” Tyrosian looked pleased, which she had every right to be. Thank the living stars none of the auxiliary ships was foolish enough to leave with Falco. I need those ships and what they can do for this fleet if I’m to get it home.

Captain Tulev frowned. “While we have every reason to assume the Syndics will be caught totally unprepared, we have to also assume that defenses in the Sancere System are up-to-date and numerous.”

“Agreed,” Geary stated. “We’ll have the fleet in a general-purpose attack formation when we jump, but we’ll modify it as soon as I get a feel for the best way to take out the defenses. As you all know from the battle plan outline I provided, the ships in Task Force Furious will be pretending to break formation. They’ll hopefully draw any Syndic warships after them and leave us free to seize the hypernet gate.” He paused, not wanting to crush the enthusiasm he saw at the idea of reaching that gate. “We also have to assume that the Syndics will try to destroy that gate before we can use it.”

“The gates are very robust,” one of the other ship commanders pointed out. “They can take a lot of damage because of redundant components.”

“Yes,” Geary agreed. Built that way, I now know, because if they did fail, the consequences could be huge, but if I tell everyone that, I might end up with panic at a crucial point. “But they weren’t designed to withstand deliberate attack. It may not be possible to get to that gate in time. But we’re going to give it our best shot.”

Several seconds of silence passed, then one of the destroyer commanders spoke up. “Sir, what about the ships that left at Strabo?”

Geary clenched his teeth before he could answer. “There’s not much we can do. Hell, there’s nothing we can do. We couldn’t even go after them to help, because we didn’t know which star they were jumping for.” Because I’d blocked their communications, in which Captain Falco was doubtless trying to tell everyone exactly that, along with his brainless call to battle. “I believe they’re going to run into a Syndic buzz saw and get cut to ribbons. Fighting spirit is all very well, it’s absolutely critical in fact, but it’s a lousy shield against enemy weapons.” He paused, hating to have to say that out loud, but feeling he had to state a truth they all knew anyway. “But they do have one chance.”

“Ilion?” Captain Duellos asked. “You gave them the name of that star system before they jumped from Strabo. I couldn’t help noticing that it’s within jump range of Sancere.”

“Yes.” Geary pointed at the star display over the table. Of course Duellos has already researched that question. “If we can’t use the hypernet gate at Sancere, we’ll jump to Ilion from Sancere.”

“Why Ilion?” the captain of the Terrible demanded. “It’s not the best route back toward Alliance space from Sancere.”

“That’s true,” Geary stated calmly, “but it’s the only star system those ships that left the fleet could reach if they turned back and tried to rejoin us. If they manage to escape the Syndics, they can backtrack to Ilion and rendezvous with us there.”

Captain Tulev was gazing at the display, his face somber. “You mean if any of them manage to escape the Syndics.”

“Yes. If they do, they know where to find us.” Geary looked around the table, meeting everyone’s gaze. “That’s a risk to us. As noted, it’s not the best route back to Alliance space, and we’ll likely need to hang around Ilion longer than I’d like to give those other ships a chance to meet up with the fleet again. But it’s the only thing we can do, and I made the decision to run those risks for the sake of those Alliance ships and crews.”

There was another pause, then Terrible’s captain nodded. “Yes, sir. Thank you, Captain Geary. I know you don’t have votes on decisions, but I’d have voted for that.”

No one contradicted him. Geary nodded back. “Thanks.” What else do I say? Please, no other ship captains take in your heads to run off for another star?