He traced some paths through the star system and saw what Desjani meant. “If we did chase that flotilla, we’d be heading back toward the Syndic leaders, reducing the time lag in which they can see what we’re doing, and we’ll be angling closer to the hypernet gate as well, slightly reducing the time before the shock wave hits. Less uncertainty for them, even if every minute wasn’t bringing their own flotilla closer to safety.” Another thought came to him then. “They’re politicians, mostly, but they’re making a military decision on when to collapse the gate.”
That brought a grin from Desjani. “They’ll probably screw it up, then.” Her smile faded. “Which could be bad for us if they screw it up in the wrong direction.”
“Yeah.” Costa was sitting in the observer’s seat at the moment but seemed to have dozed off. Instead of disturbing the senator, Geary tapped a comm control. “Madam Co-President, I’d appreciate a politician’s perspective on an issue.”
Rione listened, then shrugged. “It could go either way, Admiral. A politician deciding when to spring this trap might hesitate too long in the hope of the situation growing more and more perfect for ensuring success. I would tend to favor that option as being most likely because they must feel very safe in their battleship, able to jump to another star system whenever they want to. But it’s still possible that they might panic and launch the attack too early. It might depend in great part on whatever their military advisers are telling them.”
“What’s that likely to be?”
“Whatever they believe their superiors want to hear, and whatever they think will make their superiors do what they want them to do.” Rione’s image made a gesture in the general direction of the brig. “Look at how the Syndic CEO we’re hauling with us has tried to handle you. He tells you what he thinks will dispose you to act in certain ways and tries to avoid telling you anything else. I guarantee you that our guest CEO is acting out of habit as well as calculation.”
Geary rubbed his chin as he thought about that. “We have no way of knowing what the commander of the Syndic battleship carrying the Syndic leaders wants them to do. Any guesses as to what the CEO in charge of the flotilla might be telling them?”
It was Rione’s turn to think, twisting her mouth and frowning. “My guess, for whatever it is worth, is that he is playing it as straight as he can in an attempt to prove his continued loyalty and make up for allowing this fleet to escape the last time he encountered it.”
“Do you think he knows about the plan to collapse the gate?”
She made a derisive sound. “Would you give that information to him? If nothing else, that knowledge would be something he could try to trade to us or to some other Syndic CEOs in order to sell out his current leaders. Even if he did either of those things, we couldn’t trust him.”
“Because he murdered Admiral Bloch and the other Alliance negotiators.”
Rione shook her head, annoyed. “Because he desperately wants to defeat you. Black Jack Geary, the man who snatched away his perfect victory. If not for you, he might be one of the Syndic leaders right now.”
That brought up a new idea. “Maybe I should taunt him, personally. If we can get that Syndic flotilla to turn around and come for us, it will mess up the plans of the Syndic leaders.”
“That wouldn’t—” Rione paused, her expression thoughtful. “It might work. From the perspective of that CEO, defeating you might seem like the perfect solution. He doesn’t know that he’ll be messing up his superiors’ plan, and he’ll be thinking that if he defeats this fleet, he’ll be the hero he planned on being several months ago. Yes. Stick a knife into his ego and twist it.”
“I’ll try.” Geary leaned back, thinking. Taunting the Syndic CEO might fit in well with the plan to break off the battle-cruiser strike force. “Captain Desjani, aside from the fact that this fleet escaped him once before, what sort of things would torque off that Syndic CEO the most?”
Desjani gleefully offered some suggestions.
Geary activated a transmission aimed at the Syndic flotilla, knowing that every ship in the Syndic force would be capable of picking up his message. That would make it sting the CEO’s ego even worse. “To Shalin, the current commanding officer of the Syndicate Worlds’ flotilla in this star system. I regret that you are unwilling to face this fleet in combat, perhaps due to your failure to defeat it some months ago in this same star system. Your reluctance to fight is understandable, but the Alliance fleet is willing to give you another opportunity to engage in battle if you will cease avoiding action. The people of this star system must be wondering why a CEO with so many decorations for valor is abandoning them to their fate, but for my part I understand your unwillingness to face me again. It’s refreshing to meet a Syndic leader who cares more for the welfare of his personnel than he does for his own honor and prerogatives. If you would simply agree to surrender, I could guarantee the safety of your personnel, while you personally came to my flagship to discuss the conditions for your submission to my terms.
“Think it over, Shalin. A commander with your reputation shouldn’t have any trouble deciding what to do.
“To the honor of our ancestors. This is Fleet Admiral Geary out.”
Desjani laughed. “It might make him want to kill you, but he wants to do that already. Too bad we have to wait four hours for him to get that and see any response, but we can kill time blowing the hell out of the third planet.”
“What are you going to do for fun if you can’t devastate planets anymore?”
“I’ll have to find another hobby, I guess.”
Worlds habitable by humans that had only one climate were very rare, but the planet fifteen light-minutes out from the star was literally an ice world. Large enough to retain its atmosphere and with plentiful water, it had boasted vast oceans and seas during the relatively brief period when the planet was no longer molten but hadn’t cooled too much.
But as the planet grew cooler, and its too-distant star provided too little warmth, the oceans, seas, rivers, and lakes began freezing, and they had been frozen ever since.
Amid the fields of snow and ice were cities and estates serving a population probably numbering less than half a million, but while numerous sport and recreational sites could be seen, very little in the way of industrial locations was apparent. “I guess if you like winter sports, that would be a great place to live,” Geary commented.
Desjani tapped part of the planet’s image. “Look how they’ve smoothed large sections of the ice. They’ve got huge ice plains for racing. Imagine sailing an iceboat across a perfectly smooth field of ice a thousand kilometers long. See right there? An ice yacht. A really big one.” She snorted disdainfully. “It’s a resort planet. The damned Syndic leaders have actually maintained a resort planet next door to their primary world here.”
He tried to imagine how much money it would cost to sustain a planet dedicated to vacationing Very Important People. “We should be grateful that they spent the money on perks for themselves and not on the Syndic war effort. What kind of targets do we have?”
“Spaceports, communications hubs, a few security installations.” Desjani’s derision shaded into disgust. “I guess any industry other than luxury tourism would have spoiled the views.”
“We haven’t seen any labor camps,” Rione commented, “but it would suit the arrogance of the Syndic leaders to have Alliance POWs working at the difficult and unpleasant tasks of keeping that planet neat and pretty. We can’t assume that the Syndic CEO was just playing mind games when he claimed our captured personnel were located at important sites. I would suggest choosing targets with care. Forced laborers could be kept in single buildings, or even portions of buildings.”