Costa nodded, frowning. “Of course.”
“Do you rotate them? Do new units come in periodically, while older ones go out to other assignments?”
A deeper frown. “No. We prefer to have units on hand whose—” Costa looked around, realizing that she had been about to remark openly on fears about the loyalty of some Alliance warships to their own government. “Units which are a known factor,” she said instead.
Geary fumbled at his controls, trying to bring up an old situation display. “Captain Desjani, I need the picture from when I assumed command of the fleet. Not the Alliance ships. The Syndics in this star system back then.”
Desjani gestured to a watch-stander, and a moment later the historical display popped up to one side of Geary. He swung the image away from the massive Syndic warship formation that had been here then, facing the Alliance fleet, ready to destroy it, and which had always occupied his attention before now. Instead, Geary zoomed in on a small part of the display distant from where the Alliance fleet had been. “Look. Orbiting the primary inhabited world.”
“A battleship and three heavy cruisers,” Desjani murmured. “That’s an interesting coincidence.”
“Isn’t it? Can we tell if that battleship and those three cruisers are the same warships now stationed near the jump point for Mandalon?”
“We can try. The hulls of supposedly identical ships tend to have small variations. Lieutenant Yuon, have the sensors do their finest-grain analysis on those Syndic warships at the jump point for Mandalon and see if they can match them to the ones orbiting the planet in this record.” Desjani was clearly curious but held her questions as the fleet sensors mulled the question for several seconds.
“Captain,” Lieutenant Yuon reported, “sensors evaluate the probability of hull matches on the three heavy cruisers of ninety-five percent, eighty-two percent, and ninety-eight percent. Hull match probability on the battleship is ninety-nine point seven percent. There’s a very high probability that those are all the same warships that were orbiting the primary inhabited world the last time we were in this star system.”
“A palace guard,” Geary said. “That battleship and those cruisers might well have been in this star system for years, then.”
Senator Costa’s frown was still present. “That would match our own policies for the defense of our highest level of government, Admiral. Why is this important?”
“Because the Syndic CEO we’re holding as a prisoner aboard Dauntless told me that the Syndics don’t like any of their warships developing personal ties to particular star systems.”
“Of course not! Not when they might be ordered to enforce order in any Syndic star system by bombarding it! But why—”
“They’ve been here for years,” Desjani interrupted. “Girl-friends, boyfriends, families, personal ties of all kinds.”
“Exactly,” Geary agreed. “Those crews were kept here because the Syndic leadership wanted ships on hand whose loyalty couldn’t be questioned. But by keeping them here so long, the Syndics broke their own policies. Those crews must care about the people in this star system. These planets aren’t targets to them, they’re the homes of individuals the Syndics on those warships are concerned about.”
Desjani smiled wickedly. “Somebody ought to tell them what the Syndic leaders are planning to do to this star system and everyone in it.”
“Yeah, somebody ought to do that. When this fleet is safe from the hypernet gate, I believe I’ll make a broadcast to every Syndic in this star system and let all of them know what their leaders planned to do before those leaders ran for safety.”
Rione leaned forward. “Do you think that battleship and those heavy cruisers might mutiny?”
“I think there’s a chance they may help us bring about a change of government in the Syndicate Worlds, yes, Madam Co-President. It’s going to depend on what the other Syndic CEOs in this star system do. They’ll learn that they are expendable, too.”
“The CEO in charge of the flotilla will not support a coup,” Costa insisted. “He knows that he will be thrown to us as a sacrifice by whoever takes over.”
That sounded very plausible. “Then he was given the job of commanding that flotilla because the Syndic leaders can be sure he will support them even though those same leaders regard him as an expendable failure.”
“Damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t,” Desjani commented with another smile. “It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.” Her eyes narrowed, and her expression grew calculating as she looked at her display. “But if the battleship and heavy cruisers mutiny, or declare allegiance to Syndic CEOs setting up an alternative government, that means Shalin will likely go after them. He’ll have to. The current Syndic leaders are his only hope.”
Rione nodded. “Yes. We need to be prepared to go to the protection of that battleship and those cruisers.”
Desjani’s expression changed to disbelief, then revulsion. “Protect Syndic warships?”
Geary blew out an exasperated breath. The orders he would have to give Duellos were getting more complicated by the minute.
Hard as it had been to leave the bridge, Geary had gone down to his stateroom to brief Duellos, not wanting to risk anyone else hearing his conversation or spotting expressions through the privacy fields around his command seat.
Duellos sat back, apparently relaxed, but his eyes were alert and tense. “A three-way fight? That would be … interesting.”
“A mess,” Geary agreed. “Would your battle cruisers protect Syndic warships?”
“Not if I phrased it that way. However, protecting the Syndic battleship would require attacking the Syndic flotilla. That I can order my battle cruisers to do and not worry about their following orders.” Duellos sighed. “Part of me just wants to destroy every Syndic warship in the star system and let the Syndics sort out whatever remains afterward.”
“We need someone to negotiate with.” Geary hesitated, not wanting to say the next thing, but knowing he had to. “If it comes down to a choice between destroying that Syndic battleship or letting it be retaken by the Syndic flotilla, we need to ensure that those Syndic leaders don’t get away.” No, that wasn’t good enough. He had to state his orders clearly, not leave any ambiguities that might protect his own butt and leave Duellos uncertain what was expected of him. “That means destroy the battleship.”
Duellos nodded calmly. “Who decides if we’ve reached the point where the battleship must be destroyed?”
“You’ll probably be light-hours distant from me. It’ll be your call, based on what’s happening. Whatever you decide, I will back you.”
“The last time an admiral told me that, I had my doubts as to his sincerity,” Duellos observed. “But he wasn’t you. I’ll try to ensure that your trust in me isn’t misplaced.”
“Same here.” Geary glanced at the depiction of the strike force floating over the table between him and Duellos’s image. “I’ve given you three squadrons of light cruisers and five squadrons of destroyers to back up your nine battle cruisers. I don’t want to send so many that your strike force seems too attractive a target, but do you think that’s enough?”
“It’ll depend on what happens, but it will certainly be enough to at least deal with anything even if we can’t outright defeat whatever we run into.” Duellos paused. “Depending on what Captain Kattnig does.”
“Try to keep him on a tight leash. He’s way too eager to fight.”
“There’s no such thing in this fleet, Admiral.” Duellos shrugged. “I’ll do my best. The Adroit-class ships won’t do well if they’re thrown into a frontal assault.”