The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Guardian (31 page)

“That call was from
Reprisal
,” Tanya noted, as they started toward the conference room, walking briskly but not so fast as to arouse alarm among the crew members who saw them.

“Right. You can guess what this is probably about.”

She nodded with a slow deliberation that startled Geary. “They want to go home.”

“We all do.”

“Not as bad as them. And we are home, in the Alliance. Those ships are from the Callas Republic. They haven’t been home in a long time.”

“I know.”

A few minutes later, the hatch to the room sealed behind Rione as she joined them, the lights above the hatch came on declaring the room and its communications to be as secure as current fleet hardware and software could achieve, and Geary gestured to Tanya to open the link to Captain Hiyen.

Hiyen did not appear happy to see the others present but then sighed heavily in acceptance. “Admiral, I will trust in your judgment on including these others. Madam Co-President, I still call you that, but many of our people no longer trust you.”

Rione took that news impassively, but Geary could see the hurt in her eyes. “I did not write the orders that kept you here. I was called on to deliver them, but I never approved of them.”

“I believe you,” Hiyen said. “Admiral, to put it bluntly, I have the sad duty to report that mutiny is imminent on the ships of this fleet from the Callas Republic and, I believe, on those from the Rift Federation as well. In my professional opinion, at any moment, my officers and crew, and those of the other ships from the republic and the federation, will cease responding to orders and break away from the fleet en route their homes.

“There is nothing,” Hiyen added, “that I can do to stop this. It is in some ways a miracle that we came this far without mutiny. But now it is inevitable.”

Desjani clenched one fist. “If those ships mutiny and take off on their own, the rest of the fleet is going to go unstable really fast. But if you send Marines to subdue the crews, or order our ships to fire on those ships, the result might be even worse.”

And, of course, Geary knew that even though he had not created this situation, the decision on what to do was his, and his alone, just as the blame for any negative consequences would be his.

“You’ve tried everything to keep a lid on the situation?” Geary asked Hiyen.

“Everything except mass arrests,” Captain Hiyen replied heavily. “I fear attempting that would cause the entire situation to go nova.”

“He’s right,” Rione said, her voice quiet but full of certainty. “We can’t contain this any longer.”

“But Captain Desjani is right,” Geary said. “If I just let those ships head for home, every other sailor and Marine in this fleet is going to start wondering about taking decisions like that into their own hands. A lot of them don’t want to mutiny, they want to be fleet, but they’re feeling badly used. Trying to stop any of them by force would produce even worse results.”

“Talk to them,” Desjani urged.

“Force is the only remaining option to stop this,” Hiyen said. “They will not listen, not even to Black Jack. They are grateful to him, but they have been through too much. I will be removed from command by my crew if I try to stop them, and they will fight back if you try to stop them.”

If only Hiyen had been incompetent, a bad leader whose assessments were not to be trusted and whose removal could stabilize the situation. But Captain Hiyen was capable enough. Not the finest officer in the fleet, but a good officer who knew how to lead. Geary looked at Tanya and saw his assessment mirrored in her eyes.

“How is the fleet supposed to handle such situations?” Rione asked.

Geary shrugged. “The traditional response is to shoot the messenger. Blame Captain Hiyen for telling us about the problem, blame him for the problem, and do nothing else until everything blows up.”

Desjani nodded and bared her teeth in a humorless smile. “At which point, we blame Captain Hiyen’s subordinates, the most junior ones possible, for the entire problem.”

“We cannot stop the explosion,” Rione said. “What can we do to . . . minimize its effects? To . . . what is the right word . . . redirect it?”

Hiyen shook his head in despair. “You cannot redirect a mutiny, Madam Co-President.”

Desjani leaned forward, her eyes intent. “Wait a minute. Redirect. Those ships were told to stay with this fleet by their government, Admiral Geary, but they are under
your
command.”

“Isn’t that the problem?” Geary snapped.

Her saw Desjani flush at his tone and knew he would pay for it later. But for now her voice stayed level. “You are their commander. Send them somewhere. Send them
now
.”

“Where could I order them,” Geary demanded in frustration, “that wouldn’t make them just as unhappy? They want to go home—”

He stopped speaking as he understood. “Victoria, you know those orders you brought. Can I do that?”

“I . . .” Normally composed, Rione had been badly rattled by this situation, but she got control of herself by an effort so strong it was visible to everyone. “It depends. You can’t just send them somewhere. There has to be an official reason related to the defense of the Alliance.”

Geary called up a display, entered a quick query, then studied the detailed information about the ships of the Callas Republic and the Rift Federation. Names of ships, names of commanding officers, status of ships . . . Old ships, tired ships, and tired crews. “They need repair and refit. And new personnel. Replacements for those lost in battle. Right now the Alliance is paying for all of that. Why shouldn’t the Callas Republic and the Rift Federation be responsible for repairs?”

“Admiral?” Captain Hiyen asked. “Our orders are to remain with the Alliance fleet.”

“Your orders,” Rione said, “are to stay attached to the fleet and respond to the orders of Alliance officers in command.”

“Which doesn’t mean being physically attached to the fleet,” Desjani said.

“Exactly,” Geary added. “If I tell your ships to leave, if I give them orders to return to their home space, they will be following orders when they do leave. It won’t be a mutiny, it will be obedience to orders. Captain Hiyen, all ships of the Callas Republic are going to be formed into a task force, effective immediately, with orders to proceed under your command back to the Callas Republic for refit, repair, and resupply. How soon can you depart?”

Hiyen stared at Geary, then laughed briefly in a disbelieving way. “Probably immediately. We’ve all got enough provisions and fuel for the hypernet hop back to the Republic. But for how long? What if the government of the Republic simply sends us back here? Or
tries
to send us back here right away?”

Rione shook her head. “Captain Hiyen, the government ordered you to follow the commands of the Alliance. You will be back in the Republic by order of the Alliance. If the Republic wants to counter the orders of the Alliance, it must first revoke the orders placing you under command of the Alliance.”

Captain Hiyen nodded, his eyes bright. “Yes. But how long?”

“What is the right wording?” Rione asked Geary.

“Until further notice,” he replied. “Proper military phrasing, proper orders, all in keeping with the requirements that placed those ships under Alliance authority.” Geary turned to Desjani. “Help me get the orders put together as fast as possible. We’ll use the boilerplate wording for detaching part of a force.”

“We can get it done in five minutes,” Desjani said. “Captain Hiyen, get the word spread of what’s happening just in case we don’t have five minutes. Admiral, you need to talk to the Rift Federation ships, too.”

“Who is the senior officer from the Rift now?” Geary asked, scanning the display.

Hiyen answered. “Commander Kapelka on the
Passguard
.”

It took a moment to review Kapelka’s record before calling
Passguard
. Kapelka had a decent record, too. She probably never would have risen beyond command of the heavy cruiser
Passguard
, but among the few star systems belonging to the Rift Federation, that was a substantial command.

Geary put in a high-priority call to
Passguard
.

Less than a minute later, the image of Commander Kapelka appeared. She was sitting at a conference table, too, and had a harried look to her. Geary wondered who else was sitting at that table and what they had just been arguing about.

“Your pardon, Admiral, for taking this call here, but it was marked for immediate reply,” Kapelka said. The stress in her voice was obvious, and that stress clearly wasn’t because the admiral had just called.

“That’s fine,” Geary said, trying to sound calm and routine. “I wanted to notify you of orders for all ships from the Rift Federation. Effective immediately, you are appointed commander of a task force composed of all of the ships from the Rift Federation. That task force is to detach from the main body of the fleet and proceed as soon as possible back to the Rift Federation for refit, repair, and resupply. Your ships are to remain in the Federation until further notice.”

Kapelka’s jaw literally dropped, hanging there for several seconds until she managed to recover enough to snap it shut. “Immediately? You are ordering us to go home immediately?”

“As soon as possible,” Geary corrected. “Your ships need a lot of work. Ensure all of your ships have the necessary provisions and fuel for the trip home before you depart, but I don’t want any unnecessary delays.”

“Thank the living stars!” Commander Kapelka looked around, though not at those with Geary. She was plainly looking at the others at her own conference table. “You heard?” she told them. “Get the word to all ships.
Now.
”

“You will be receiving your formal orders within a few minutes,” Geary continued, as if this was all routine, and as if he hadn’t noticed Kapelka’s reaction. “Let me know if there are any difficulties.”

Ending that call, Geary looked back at Captain Hiyen’s image. “You’ll get the detailed orders within a few minutes as well. Notify your crew and the other Callas Republic ships.”

An unexpected reprieve had occurred, a pardon had appeared at the last minute, the rifles of the firing squad had jammed. Captain Hiyen smiled in wonderment as he saluted, then his image vanished.

“Not to throw a monkey wrench into the only solution we had, but are you certain this won’t make you look weak?” Desjani asked. “Everybody in the fleet knows how the ships from the republic and the federation felt. They might well guess that your hand was forced.”

He gave her an irritated look. “What else was I supposed to do?”

“Every other option was worse. A lot worse. But do we know this solution won’t still create some problems?”

Why was she—?
Because she can read my attitude. I’m so relieved that we defused this situation that I’m not thinking about possible consequences. Trust Tanya to keep me grounded when I was ready to bask in the glory of disaster averted.
“It might,” Geary conceded. “How do I handle that?”

“I’ll handle it,” Rione said, pretending not to notice Desjani’s reflexive frown. “All we have to do is start the right rumors on your Alliance warships. I have people in place who can do that.”

“Which rumors?” Geary asked, wishing he knew more about the agents that Rione had scattered through his fleet.

“Rumors that Black Jack is tired of the governments of the Callas Republic and the Rift Federation not pulling their share in supporting their own warships. You’ll remember I told you that funding for upkeep and repair would not be forthcoming in the expectation that the ships would wear out and eventually be useless.”

“In the hopes of that, you mean.”

Rione inclined her head in a small nod of agreement, her expression betraying no feeling. “But you, Admiral, are unhappy with this. You made the decision that you would force the issue when you returned to Alliance space.”

“No,” Desjani put in, her voice sharp. “Admiral Geary would be primarily motivated by the mistreatment of the crews of those ships who have been allowed very little time at home since the end of the war. The maintenance and funding issue would be secondary.”

“That’s true,” Geary agreed.

After a pause, Rione nodded. “That additional reason will only strengthen your position. You have made up your mind, you have the authority, and the decision is now being implemented by you, without anyone else having a say in the matter. It’s just what would be expected of Black Jack, isn’t it?”

“I hope so. That legend makes Black Jack a better officer than I’ll ever be.”

Desjani broke off her work on the orders to glare at him. “You are
better
than that legend.”

“Your Captain is right,” Rione said, then faced Desjani squarely. “You found the solution. I am deeply in your debt again.”

“That’s . . . all right,” Desjani mumbled, unsure how to respond.

“Don’t worry, Captain. I won’t start acting like we’re sisters.”

“Good. I couldn’t handle that.” Desjani grimaced. “Thank you for the assistance you have given the Admiral.”

Rione looked back at Geary. “I’ll go do my part.”

She left, and both Geary and Desjani bent back to frantically crafting the necessary orders. Fortunately, those orders could be fairly simple and fairly short, with the bulk of them made up of standard phrasing. “I think that’s good,” Geary said. “Let’s read them over slowly one more time.” He did, spotting a misplaced word and correcting that, then looked to Tanya. She nodded, and Geary hit the transmit command.

“Four and a half minutes,” Desjani said with satisfaction. “Even with the interruption.”

“The interruption? When Rione thanked you?”

“Whatever.”

Geary slumped back and rubbed his eyes with the palms of both hands. He had a feeling Rione would be similarly dismissive if he brought the matter up with her. “That was close. From the way Kapelka was acting, her crew was about to give her an ultimatum.”

“Yup.” Desjani leaned back as well, smiling. “And Hiyen was expecting you to shoot the messenger.”

“I’ve seen that done, Tanya. Too many times. Compared to now, they were about pretty minor issues, I guess. Problems being covered up with equipment on a single light cruiser, a destroyer commander whose own officers were reporting him as dangerously incompetent, that sort of thing. Sometimes the messenger is really exaggerating or even making things up, but all the more reason to find out if what you’ve been told is true or not.”