Hector asked.
<Cordelia will communicate to you when the fleets arrive,> Alex replied. <We’ll wait until they cross the outer belt. I want them to gain confidence in their superior force. You’ll receive the word on when to transit.>
<Isn’t it reasonable to assume that the governors’ fleets will abandon the ecliptic, evade our ships, and sail for Toral?> Hector asked.
<That’s a possibility, Hector, but I don’t think Toral is their primary objective. They aim to displace President Sargut. To do that they must eliminate his support.>
<Which are our fleets,> Hector finished.
<Precisely,> Alex sent.
<Hector, are you carrying any weaponry or armament other than Tridents and travelers?> Tatia inquired.
<I ordered the Sardi-Tallen platform to arm the Our People in the same manner as the Freedom. My ship is beam capable,> Hector sent. His comm transmitted his pride, and his emotions elevated when he heard Alex laughing.
<Okay, Hector,> Tatia said, adding to the laughter. <Anything else like minelettes, banishers, or Libran-X?>
<Nothing in that regard, Admiral,> Hector replied. <I reviewed the supply lists of the super freighters, and they’ve nothing explosive in their cargo containers.>
<Hector, I’m aware that you haven’t any battle-experienced commanders,> Alex sent. <So, I want you to follow your orders carefully. If the governors’ fleets attack you, then you’re to retreat. If necessary, you’re to transit. Am I understood?>
<Alex, I thank you for your concern for our safety. If it comes to that, your orders will be followed,> Hector replied.
<Hector, I know you,> Alex sent with power. <What aren’t you saying?>
<I’ve an option to pursue, but I’ve no idea about its outcome until I investigate it. It might prove to be of great value to us,> Hector replied.
<Prepare your forces, Admiral,> Alex sent. <Noncombatant ships must have a Trident squadron for protection. We hope this confrontation can be defused, but we’ll have to wait and see.>
<Understood, Alex,> Hector replied, and Cordelia closed the comm on Alex’s signal.
Alex regarded Julien and then Tatia with a questioning expression. Each of them shook their heads. They had no idea what Hector was talking about.
* * *
Hector stood on the Our People’s bridge. He was proud of what he’d achieved. He’d retrofitted the city-ship, armed it, and gathered a huge reinforcement force for Alex.
Now, when his fleet was to play a crucial role in protecting the nascent society that so many had died to create, Hector felt totally inadequate. That feeling fueled his emotional algorithms, and anger roiled in his kernel.
There was no doubt that the torment Hector had suffered at the hands of ex-Council Leader Mahima Ganesh had generated responses in him that were uncharacteristic of SADEs. He understood that and refused to edit them out. In some ways, he thought they made him more alive — more human.
The anger, the drive he sensed led to a decision, and he sent, <Captain Plummer, please see me aboard the Our People at your earliest convenience.>
An hour later, Hector tracked the arrival of the captain via her implant.
“Greetings, Captain,” Hector said, as Adrianna entered the bridge.
“Good morning, Admiral,” Adrianna replied.
“Have you had morning meal, Captain?” Hector asked.
“There wasn’t time,” Adrianna replied.
Hector smiled. He’d hoped that would be the case. “Come, Captain, we’ll remedy that.”
Adrianna had never been aboard a city-ship. She followed Hector, as he led her along more corridors and down lifts until they arrived at the grand park. She stopped to admire the lush greenscape. Residents and crew flowed through the beautiful space.
“Come,” Hector gently urged, pleased by the captain’s reaction.
They walked through the beautiful landscape along meandering streams to the other side.
“I’m told this eatery is a favorite of heavy worlders, Captain,” Hector said pleasantly. “I hope you’ll enjoy the fare. We’ll talk after you eat.”
Adrianna was starving, and she ordered immediately. As she ate, her mind dwelt on the circumstances. When she received Hector’s summons, she’d wondered what he might want. Now, she no longer felt it was to be a casual conversation. She recalled a vid in the Trident’s library. There was an ancient custom that prisoners condemned to die received a hearty final meal of their choice.
A server cleared Adrianna’s trays, and she took a few moments to enjoy the view. Finally, she said, “I’m ready when you are, Admiral.”
“What’s our role if the governors return with fleets?” Adrianna asked, and Hector launched into a further explanation.
As Hector spoke, Adrianna ordered thé. She finished her first cup by the time Hector concluded his update.
“That gives you a complete image of Talus, its recent history, and its present circumstances,” Hector summarized.
“Thank you for the meal and the information, Admiral,” said Adrianna, her stomach pleasantly full. “Perhaps now, you’d like to tell me why I’m enjoying this special attention.”
“I was curious how you might deploy twenty Trident squadrons after we transit,” Hector said.
“That depends on what you want to accomplish, Admiral,” Adrianna replied, pouring herself a second cup of thé.
“That’s the problem, Captain. You’ll have noticed that I’m a SADE,” Hector said, a wry smile twisting his lips. “If you ask me to imagine formation options, I can produce as many variations as you like. That doesn’t mean any of them will have value when confronting four or five battleship fleets. Furthermore, how am I supposed to comprehend what alien fleet commanders might think about what I’m doing?” Hector ended his comments in a tone of exasperation.
Adrianna wasn’t quick enough to hide her smile.
“And the reason for your humor, Captain?” Hector asked with pique.
“Apologies, Admiral, I’ve never met a SADE who displayed so much emotion,” Adrianna replied. “Your kind is always so self-contained, so unflappable.”
“It’s a long story, Captain,” Hector replied. He sighed and reordered his emotional algorithms.
“I understand your anxieties, Admiral. Prior to my encounter with the alien fleet at the water world, I’d never engaged in ship-to-ship combat,” Adrianna said. “Once it started, I had to make it up as I went along.”
Hector brightened. “That’s interesting that you should say that, Captain. Alex thinks that way. He watches, intuits an opportunity, and stays a step ahead of his adversaries.”
“I’m no Alex,” Adrianna protested.
“I don’t think any individual is,” Hector allowed, “but you have the makings of an Admiral Tachenko.”
“Perhaps in ten or twenty years,” Adrianna riposted.
“Let’s return to your advice about our initial formation,” Hector requested. “Suppose I want an aggressive deployment — one that suggests the governors’ fleets will get severely hurt if they come our way?”
“For that, I could use a holo-vid,” Adrianna replied.
That was the kind of remark Hector was hoping to hear. He led Adrianna back to the bridge and activated the holo-vid. Then he populated it with the data he’d received from Julien, explaining the markers and lines.
Adrianna stared at the display. Her feet were planted wide apart, and her arms were folded across her chest. She tended to stroke her upper teeth against her lower lip, as she thought.
“You said Alex expects the returning fleets to mass together,” Adrianna mused. “They’d be attempting to demonstrate concentrated firepower. The trick would be not to compete with them, not that we could.”
“So, we mustn’t c
onstitute a solid mass of ships,” Hector reasoned. “In that case, we’d appear inconsequential to their bulk. Worse, it could indicate to their fleet commanders that we were novices.”
“Exactly,” Adrianna replied. “We need to spread out our forces but keep the Tridents in squadron formation. Something like this.”
The holo-vid image zoomed into a point in space beyond the outer belt. Adrianna populated it with the fleet’s squadrons. They were spread wide, in a hollow hemisphere, which reduced the attacking fleets’ superior missile capabilities.
“The alien fleet commanders will see that if they sail our way, we can attack them from every point within one hundred and eighty degrees above, below, and to each side of the ecliptic,” Adrianna explained.
“If the governors’ battleships did try to break past us and we did resist, what do you think the outcome would be?” Hector asked.
Adrianna regarded Hector. The problem smacked her in the face. The admiral was anxious to perform well in his position as fleet admiral for Alex. Yet, he used words such as resist. It demonstrated how unprepared he was to fulfill the role that had been thrust upon him.
“Admiral, if the situation unfolded, as you suggest, our fleet would be destroyed, but I think we’d cripple, if not turn into derelicts, a good number of those battleships.”
Hector looked from Adrianna to the holo-vid and back. His kernel warmed with the numerous options he was postulating. “Then the strategy would be to set an aggressive posture and wait to see what the governors’ fleets did. Then we’d need to counter their actions without endangering the majority of our forces,” he mused.
“And that’s how it worked for me,” Adrianna replied. “It was a long running game, pitting my single Trident against a battleship fleet.”
“You’ve convinced me,” Hector announced enthusiastically. “Congratulations, Vice Admiral Plummer.”
Adrianna stared at Hector, as if his kernel had failed. All the while, the SADE was beaming.
Confrontation
Captain Plummer’s acceptance of the admiral’s position cleared Hector’s first hurdle. His next was the fact that he had fleet commanders and captains who had to accept the new vice admiral.
Hector chose to test their receptiveness to the concept first. He contacted the fleet’s commodores and explained the circumstances at Talus. Then he detailed the role they would play in the confrontation that Alex expected.
<Then we won’t be joining Alex’s Trident admirals?> a commodore queried for confirmation.
<No,> Hector replied. <We’ll be operating as an independent force.>
<Then you’d be commanding the fleet and our offensive maneuvers, Admiral?> another individual asked.
<Yes,> Hector replied.
<Do you have military experience that might be unknown to us?> the first commodore asked.
<No,> Hector replied. <Each of you has far more experience with warship maneuvers than me, which is the reason for my call. I was curious if any of you had an interest in acting as the fleet’s battle admiral.
The comms silence told Hector what he needed to know. The commodores had expected to learn from Alex’s renowned Trident admirals. In fact, they were counting on it.
<Is it possible, Admiral, for you to request Alex to change our assignment?> another commodore asked. <Maybe he’d allow us to join the Omnian fleet.>
<Do others of you think Alex would reorder his battle strategy to suit this request?> Hector asked.
Again, the comm was silent.
<Maybe Alex will send one of his admirals to command our fleet,> a fifth individual suggested.
<That’s a credible suggestion,> Hector allowed. <But that would leave a group of his warships without a senior commander.>
<I was curious, Admiral. Did you have an ulterior motive for this call?> a New Terran commodore, who hadn’t spoken yet, asked.
<Suspiciousness is an excellent quality for a warship commander to possess,> Hector replied. <It allows you to look past the obvious actions of your adversaries.>
<And your true reason for the call, Admiral,> the New Terran repeated, unwilling to be put off.
<Before I answer that, Commodore, I’d like to point out that what I just said about a commander’s qualities is something I learned recently from a member of this fleet,> Hector said. <Has everyone reviewed the Guardian’s telemetry in its actions against the alien fleet?>
Hector was relieved to hear that the data was seen multiple times by each commodore, and they’d made it required study for their captains.
<What are your impressions of the Haraken captain’s performance?> Hector asked. He happily listened to the admiration espoused by the commodores of Adrianna. They were impressed by her tenacity and inventiveness.
<I’m pleased to hear your favorable comments about my selection for vice admiral,> Hector announced. <You’ll be receiving her orders for your deployment.>
* * *
The scout ship SADEs kept watch on the dark for eight days. It was a sufficient amount of time for the Toralian and Omnian fleets to recall officers and crews and sail their ships to Alex’s pincer points.
Toral was approximately one hundred twenty degrees spinward from the governors’ exit point from the system. That was a critical factor that bothered Alex. The governors could transit to a space outside the system and above the ecliptic for the shortest distance to Toral, but Alex was counting on the old habits of federacy fleet commanders. Inventive strategies didn’t seem to be their forte. He’d placed the fleets, expecting the governors to return along the vectors where they’d transited away.
On the ninth day, Killian sent, <Dassata, a ship is transiting into our space. It’s arriving along one of the departing vectors.>
<Battleship?> Alex queried, while sending a request to Cordelia to link his staff.
<One moment, Dassata. The transit interference is still dissipating,> Killian replied.
Moments later, Trium added, <Yes, a battleship, Dassata, but it’s a heavy … not a governor’s colony ship.>
<We’ve another transit, Alex, three million kilometers spinward of the first one. It’s also a heavy,> Beryl sent.
A few instants later, Genoa and Linn reported the arrival of two more heavies.
<These are the fleet commanders,> Tatia sent.
<Agreed,> replied Alex. <I think their fleets will coalesce around them.>
<I wonder why the fleets didn’t transit en masse,> Reiko mused.
<Perhaps, there isn’t as much solidarity as we assumed,> Julien postulated.
<Meaning?> Reiko queried.
<I can understand why the fleet commanders arrive first,> Julien replied. <They might want to ensure that we hadn’t set a trap. But their arrival, wide apart from one another, indicates something else. The governors are making a power grab for Talus, which speaks to their greed. These individuals are aware of that. I can’t see how those intentions would inspire trust among them.>
Julien, who’d been keeping Sargut and Suntred apprised of the communication, sent, <Sargut has commented that we might be able to use this against them.>
<Tell Sargut that his thoughts are appreciated,> Alex sent.
<Alex, if these fleets don’t form into a cohesive force, our plan isn’t viable,> Reiko warned.
<Patience,> Alex advised. <Let the fleets arrive. Then the governors will take over, and hubris will reign.>
Omnian bridge holo-vids were active, tracking the arrivals. As time passed, the remainder of the fleets arrived, and they formed around the heavies. The last to arrive were the governors’ mammoth colony battleships.
<Four fleets in wedges of nine, each led by a heavy. Add a governor’s ship to each fleet, and you’ve a total of forty battleships … formidable,> Tatia commented.
<Alex, your intuition about Sunnamis was correct,> Reiko sent.
<Not completely,> Alex sent in reply. <I’d hoped for another outcome.>
When the arriving fleets were complete
, they sailed toward the outer belt.
<Dassata,> Killian sent, <if the fleets’ vectors hold, they’ll meet prior to entering the system.>
Reiko smiled to herself. Alex was correct. It occurred to her that he understood the motivations of others, especially those with dark intentions. She wondered where and when he’d acquired that experience and judgment.
As for Alex, he was breathing with some relief. Not only had the fleets combined, but they’d arrived along the old vectors, when a smarter play would have been to transit to a point that represented the shortest distance across the ecliptic to Toral. Then again, he thought, the smartest move would have been to arrive above or below the ecliptic and threaten Toral.
The governors’ fleets entered the outer belt during the Omnians’ late evening.
<Cordelia,> Alex sent, linking with Tatia, <I presume Hector has our returnees’ present position?>
Alex heard Cordelia’s delicate chimes in response to his question.
<Just making sure. You never know when electronic devices might fail to operate properly,> Alex teased.
<I believe you had something of importance to communicate, Alex,> Cordelia replied tartly. Like Julien, one day she would miss Alex. He and a few other humans treated the SADEs as they did their human friends. It was cherished.
<Request Hector transit the moment those fleets clear the belt,> Alex sent.
<Understood, Alex,> Cordelia replied. <Now get some sleep. Your humor needs some rest.>
Alex grinned. He turned off his desk monitor and sought his bed and the arms of his lover.
In the morning, Alex and Renée entered the meal room together and sat at the table across from Reiko and Tatia. The former hid a smile, and the latter wore an evil grin.
“What did we miss?” Renée asked, as she sent in her order.
“Hector’s fleet arrived a couple of hours ago,” Reiko replied.
“And?” Alex prompted.
“In an unusual formation,” Tatia added.
Alex accessed the Freedom’s telemetry data and linked with Renée. He located the first ship’s arrival in the timeline. It surprised him that the fleet didn’t appear as one. Twenty Trident squadrons arrived, as if timed to the metrics of a chronometer, and they’d formed a broad hemisphere. The final arrival was the city-ship, which occupied the hemisphere’s center.