“Pretty much, yeah.”
She gazed at him wordlessly, then laughed. “We owe our miracle to fleet regulations. I will never live that down.”
“Fleet regulations had to be good for something. I’ll take my miracles in any form they care to appear.” Geary spent a long moment contemplating his display, still absorbing the reality that his fleet would not be destroyed here. “It’s tempting to try to send some ships after them, to try to follow them to their base.”
“But?”
“But the dark ships would see them following. It would be far too easy for the dark ships to leave an ambush at Montan. I can’t risk that.”
“Ask for volunteers—” Desjani began.
“No. I will not send people to die for no purpose, no matter how enthusiastically they volunteer for the task. And all of our ships are getting low on fuel cell reserves at this point, too.” Geary sighed and closed his eyes, finally letting what had happened settle into his nerves and relax them. “We’ve saved Bhavan. We’ll follow the dark ships at a distance until they jump to Montan, then head back to Varandal.”
“What if the dark ships work around the fuel cell reserve regulation before they jump for Montan?” Desjani asked.
“Then we’ll be much better positioned to engage them again, and their ships will be increasingly low on fuel cell reserves. That could be our best outcome, if they turn to fight us again with their fuel nearly exhausted.”
“Let’s hope,” she agreed. “Even the dark battleships would be helpless as their power cores shut down.”
But the dark ships apparently failed to overcome their blind adherence to fleet regulations in time. They jumped for Montan half a day later, and Geary led his battered fleet back toward Varandal, ignoring the questions now streaming in from Bhavan asking whether the threat was gone and what would happen now? He didn’t try to answer those questions because he had no answers.
“It sounds like things got pretty bad at Bhavan.” Admiral Timbale grimaced unhappily. “We saw those dark battle cruisers pop out of the hypernet gate and charge for the jump point for Bhavan, but the only things we had close enough to intercept them were a few destroyers and one cruiser. Not wanting to lose any more ships in hopeless fights, I ordered them out of contact. Your Captain Duellos was very upset, but with two of his battle cruisers still in dock, he couldn’t even chase after the dark ships.”
“We survived,” Geary said. He was in his stateroom aboard Dauntless, reviewing the damage to his ships in the long fight at Bhavan and wondering whether Captain Smythe could find the funds necessary to acquire a lot of replacement fuel cells. Timbale’s call had been a welcome distraction. Geary spoke frankly to the image of the other admiral. “Which was a victory compared to what might have been.”
“Well, Black Jack can’t be beaten, right?” Timbale offered with an encouraging smile.
“He damn near was at Bhavan,” Geary said. “They apparently built those dark ships to beat me, and, for once, the government was far too successful in achieving its goals.”
“You’ll find a way,” Timbale said. “The living stars wouldn’t have given you this challenge if they didn’t think you couldn’t handle it.”
“In that case, I wish the living stars had a lot less confidence in me,” Geary said. Everyone says basically the same thing, that surely Black Jack will find a way to beat the dark ships. But Black Jack himself can’t think of a way. I sure as hell can’t beat them in a straight-up fight with what I’ve got.
Timbale smiled as if uncertain whether Geary was joking, then shifted to a resigned look. “Speaking of the government, I wanted to give you a heads-up. Orders have arrived to reassign Tsunami, Typhoon, and Haboob.”
“Why not Mistral as well?” Geary asked. “Why leave me with one assault transport?” Not that the assault transports were any use against the dark ships, but the transfers coming now did feel like adding insult to injury.
“I have no idea,” Timbale replied.
Geary paused to check Mistral’s status on his fleet database. She was in as good shape as the other assault transports. There didn’t seem to be any reason for her to be left at Varandal while the rest of her division of ships was sent off on another assignment. “Do you know where Tsunami, Typhoon, and Haboob are going?”
“Unity.”
“Unity?” Geary stared at Timbale. “Why?”
“Contingency emergency evacuation force,” Timbale explained. “That’s what the orders say.”
“Evac—?” Geary shook his head and tried to speak calmly. “They’re finally taking the dark ships seriously? I guess this is a clear sign the government has lost control of them and is afraid where the dark ships will attack next. I assume that fleet headquarters told the government that every assault transport in the fleet combined wouldn’t be able to lift off the population of Unity.”
“You can’t assume anything with headquarters, but I guess three assault transports have got enough capacity for the important people, and that’s what the government was probably worried about,” Timbale said. “Oh, and they’re supposed to take most of your Marines with them.”
“Most of my Marines? To do what, hold back the crowds trying to find space on the assault transports?”
“I don’t know, Admiral.” Timbale spread his hands. “This set of orders is clear-cut. You either do as ordered or you violate the order. There isn’t any work-around on this one.”
Geary nodded heavily. “I understand. Fine. Tsunami, Typhoon, and Haboob will go to Unity, along with… how many Marines exactly?”
“Two of your three brigades, plus their supporting elements. Two thousand, one hundred in total. General Carabali is to go with them.”
“Do I get to at least choose which two brigades go and which I keep?” Geary asked.
Timbale squinted at something. “Ummm… no. First and Second Brigades go with the assault transports. You get to keep Third Brigade. Are you feeling the love?”
“Not at the moment.” But after Timbale had ended the call, Geary sat frowning in his stateroom for a while, wondering what was really behind the orders. The government has access to a lot more assault transports than the few I had. And a lot more Marines. Why do they want mine at Unity?
He called General Carabali. “Have you heard about the orders for the assault transports and two-thirds of your Marines?”
“Just now, yes, sir.”
“Do you have any idea why the orders designated your First and Second Brigades to go to Unity and the Third to stay here?”
“Yes, sir,” Carabali replied, a slightly apologetic note entering her voice. “While you were detached, I received a request for recommendations on which of my brigades was most effective at assaults. Based on their experience and their commander, I replied that Third Brigade was the most qualified. That may be why it was designated to stay here. I sent you a notification on the matter, but with everything else going on, you might not have noted it.”
“Thank you for being diplomatic about my not seeing it,” Geary said. “So they’re leaving me the best brigade?”
“That’s a relative term, Admiral,” Carabali said, a little stiffly this time. “All of my brigades are the best.”