"Thank you." Duellos shook his head. "It often comes down to luck, good or bad, doesn't it? I liked Renown, liked her commanding officer, liked her crew. It'll be a long time before I stop expecting to see them in my formation." He sighed. "Most of the crew got off, though. That's something." Duellos saluted. "Let's hope it doesn't get worse."

"That's what I'm praying for." Geary returned the salute, and Duellos left.

Desjani came back up to Geary after Duellos had vanished, giving Rione a slightly apologetic look as the other woman remained seated, watching her. "Sir, I wanted to sayaI could see how hard it must have been watching Renown. After Grendel."

Geary nodded. Of course Desjani had understood. "Yeah. It brought back some bad memories." He paused, letting them come clearly again. The battle had been only a few months ago for him, a century old for Desjani and Rione and the others in this fleet. "I had to give that same order. Nonessential personnel to the escape pods. It's a hard order to give. My executive officer wouldn't go. She said she was essential."

He could see her so easily, the memories so recent in his mind. Lieutenant Commander Decala. A good officer, refusing to leave her post, her eyes determined and tormented. "I told her to go. Ordered her directly, personally. She wouldn't go." He took a long, deep breath, feeling it all again. "I told her that she'd be needed. That the Alliance would need good officers to defend itself from the Syndics, to strike back in response to the surprise attack. I told her that her duty required her to leave. She finally did."

Desjani nodded, her face solemn. "Do you know what became of her?"

"Yes. A month ago I finally got up the nerve to look her up in the Official Casualty Records." Funny how hard it had been to type in her name, wondering and dreading what had become of Lieutenant Commander Decala and all the other members of his old crew who had survived his last stand. "She died five years after Grendel when her ship was destroyed during an Alliance a.s.sault on a Syndic star system." Ninety-five years ago, while Geary drifted in survival sleep.

Desjani bowed her head. "My condolences, sir. She has surely rested with her ancestors in honor since that time."

"I like to think so." Geary composed himself. "Thanks for asking, Tanya. It's one of those things I have to face sooner or later."

She nodded, saluted, and left.

Rione finally stood and walked over to Geary, seeming uncharacteristically subdued. "There are things I will never be able to adequately understand," she stated quietly.

"There are memories no one should have to have," Geary replied. "But that's war for you."

She closed her eyes for a moment. "I have a few more of those memories now, so I know exactly what you mean.

Tell me the truth, John Geary. Do you think this fleet can still make it out of this star system?"

"I don't know. On my honor, Victoria, I just don't know. But we have to try."

IT had been about seven days from the jump point where they'd arrived to the vicinity of the jump point for Branwyn. Now they were heading back the other way, the Alliance fleet's path arcing through Lakota again. Geary had deliberately first lined the fleet up on a course headed for the jump point for Seruta, holding that course for an hour to hopefully get the newest and biggest Syndic flotilla charging in that direction. Then he brought the fleet around, aiming for the vicinity of the jump point for Ixion.

As he had feared, Syndic Formation Bravo had taken up position about twenty light-minutes astern of the Alliance fleet. Close enough to watch and pounce if necessary, far enough off that the Syndic flotilla could accelerate away if the Alliance ships turned to try to bring it to battle.

The only good thing about the current situation was that at least he was regaining a little combat strength for once instead of just having it slowly whittled away. Warrior, Orion, and Majestic had finally completed enough repairs to regain a level of combat capability that would let them serve as escorts for the auxiliaries if necessary. Entrusting the fates of the invaluable auxiliaries to three ships with the shaky records of those battleships would be a major leap of faith, but the spirit of their crews needed to be fixed as badly as the ships themselves had.

By the end of the first day it was clear enough that Syndic Flotilla Delta, the ma.s.sive strike force that had arrived through the hypernet gate, was indeed coming after the Alliance fleet full-bore. "Point one five light," Desjani remarked. "Edging up toward point two light."

Normally there would be a bright side to even that bad news. At that velocity, relativistic distortion easily created minor errors in how a ship's sensors viewed the outside universe. Across the huge distances that Syndic Flotilla Delta was covering, even a tiny error could produce a big difference. Unfortunately in this case, Flotilla Bravo hanging just astern of the Alliance fleet and matching its velocity of point one light could provide accurate information to Flotilla Delta.

"They'll definitely get to us before we reach the jump point for Ixion," Desjani continued. "It's a long haul, but they're coming on hard, and that Flotilla Bravo is letting them know when we try to fool them at long distance."

"They'll intercept us only a couple of hours before the jump point," Geary noted. He didn't add what they both knew, that those could be a very long couple of hours.

"And that's if we and everyone else continues on our current tracks. When we engage the Syndics coming out of the Ixion jump point, it will throw all of these projections off." Desjani leaned back, closing her eyes for a moment. "Sir, it may not be wise to engage Flotilla Delta, even though it doesn't look like we'll have an option."

That was a change, Desjani counseling caution. "You think so?" Geary asked, wondering what her reasoning was.

"We're not in the best position for a fight with a force that big," Desjani explained. "I'm sure you've seen that already, but it took me longer. If we could eliminate Flotilla Bravo as a threat before Flotilla Delta intercepts us, it will make a big difference, but unless that flotilla from Ixion comes in just right, I don't see that happening."

"I was thinking the same thing."

"I knew it." Desjani nodded firmly and opened her eyes again, gazing at him. "We need to fight these Syndics on our terms. You've said that many times. Seeing Paladin die a day agoawell, suddenly it seemed I was seeing fleets and fleets of Alliance warships doing the same thing for decade after decade, throwing away themselves and their crews. I mean, it's honorable and it's brave, but it hasn't been accomplishing much, has it?"

"No." Geary twisted his mouth. "Sometimes the braver course of action is to avoid a fight."

"Because others will accuse you of being scared?" Desjani's face hardened. "Yes. But then I've been accused of other things lately. We're going to jump for Ixion as soon as we can, right, sir?"

"Yeah. If I can get there without fighting Flotilla Delta, I'm going to do it."

"Good." Having shocked Geary by endorsing discretion in battle, Desjani now grinned. "We'll kill more of them if we fight them when and where we want to."

As bottom lines went, it had the virtues of simplicity and truth. "Right."

"HOW about Seruta?" Rione asked, her eyes on the star display in Geary's stateroom. "If we dodge that way-"

Geary shook his head, and she stopped speaking. "The biggest problem with that is that the jump point for Seruta is closer to Syndic Flotilla Delta. They'd intercept us earlier, and we'd have a longer fight to get through to the jump point." He gazed at the star. "Lesser but still significant problems are that we don't know what the Syndics have at Seruta, and the captured star system guides we have say Seruta is a very old and very poor system. No planets at all, just thin clouds of asteroids...o...b..ting a dying red star, and not much in the way of good metals in the asteroids. All the Syndics ever had there was an emergency station that was shut down a long time back. We might find some nasty Syndic surprises at Seruta, and we know we wouldn't find any of the resources we need there."

Rione slumped back, frowning. "We just keep heading for the jump point for Ixion? Even knowing that the Syndics will catch us before we reach it?"

"I'll try some maneuvers to keep them from closing with us."

"Try?" She shook her head. "A very, very weak hope, John Geary. How did we end up stuck like this?"

"Exceptionally bad luck, for one thing. If Flotilla Delta hadn't shown up, we could have finished eliminating Flotilla Bravo as a threat, then left for Branwyn." Geary stared into the depths of the star display. "And bad judgment. My bad judgment. I made the decision to come to Lakota, and it was a very bad decision."

"Was it? Because you didn't know you'd encounter exceptionally bad luck?" Rione moved over and sat down beside him, leaning against his shoulder. "This isn't something you can blame yourself for. And I should know, being an expert on blaming oneself as I am."

"It doesn't feel right to not have you chewing me out for messing up by being too aggressive," Geary remarked.

"I've told you that I don't want to be too predictable." She sat up and made an exasperated sound. "Maybe we're not supposed to get home. Maybe what we've learned is too dangerous."

"I won't accept that."

"Good." She stood up. "I need to make peace with someone, if I can. I might not have too many more days to try."

Desjani? "Who?"

"My ancestors. I'll see you in a while."

"Do you mind if I walk with you?"

Rione frowned at him again. "You're not my husband. You don't belong in the room with me."

"I know. I wouldn't go that far. I want to talk to my ancestors, too."

Rione's face cleared. "Perhaps they'll have some good advice."

"If they don't, I've always got you."

She rolled her eyes. "Advice I have in plenty. Good advice is another thing, it seems."

"You told me that I'd be stupid and insane to bring this fleet to Lakota," Geary pointed out. "You seem to have been right about that."

For some reason that seemed to amuse her slightly. "I think I said you were stupid and Falco was insane. Fine. Walk with me. Let the crew see their hero and his lover being pious and proper. Then, a.s.suming I haven't been blasted into ashes by my shamed ancestors, we can come back here and compare notes on whatever inspirations or warnings we felt."

Geary stood up, laughing slightly. "That's one h.e.l.l of thing to base military planning on, isn't? Signs and portents. Like we're ancients peering up at the stars and wondering what they are."

Rione paused on her way to the hatch and gave Geary a serious look. "The ancients thought the stars were G.o.ds, John Geary. So do we, though in a very different way. But we're not so different from the ancients, who lived but the blink of an eye ago in the sight of this universe and spent their lives trying to understand why they were here and what they were supposed to do with the gifts of their lives. I try never to forget that."

He nodded, wondering once again at the woman inside Victoria Rione.

HALFWAY to the Ixion jump point, Syndic Flotilla Bravo still hung behind them like an ancient sword poised to fall on their necks, and Syndic Flotilla Delta, cutting a curving path through Lakota Star System, would cross the track of the Alliance fleet at a point just two hours shy of the jump point. Syndic Flotilla Alpha still cruised serenely back and forth near the hypernet gate, standing sentry against a desperate and increasingly impossible lunge for the gate by the Alliance fleet. No sign of the smaller Syndic flotilla expected to be coming from Ixion.

Lacking omens or inspirations from his ancestors, Geary sat and watched the slow track of the formations across Lakota Star System. Every example he'd been able to find of a force in the position of the Alliance fleet ended the same way, and it wasn't a good way as far as the Alliance fleet was concerned.

He tried to ignore another stress headache building between his eyes. Why had it come to this? If only he hadn't been constantly thrown off balance and forced to change plans by the arrival of one Syndic force after another. Instead of calling the shots in this system, it seemed he'd just been reacting to a constant series of moves by the enemy.

Reacting to moves by the enemy.

The enemy was faster. Both Syndic Flotilla's Bravo and Delta could out-accelerate Geary's fleet and maintain higher velocities. That was a definite advantage, but slower-moving ships could turn tighter, though tighter didn't exactly mean a small turn radius at even point zero five light. Still, he'd been kept off balance a lot. Maybe if he figured out how to keep the Syndic flotillas off balancea It wasn't a great plan, but it was a plan.

THE face of Commander Suram, acting commanding officer of Warrior, gazed back at Geary warily, doubtless expecting bad news. Suram had been Captain Kerestes's former executive officer, but what was he really like? No one was sure. But Geary had to give the man a chance now. "Commander Suram, Warrior's crew has done an amazing job of repairing battle damage. Your shield capabilities are fully restored, and half of your h.e.l.l-lance batteries are operational again."

Suram nodded. "Yes, sir. We haven't been able to repair all of the damaged armor, though, and propulsion is still at only seventy-five percent."

"That's good enough to keep up with the auxiliaries. I've got a special a.s.signment for Warrior, Commander Suram. I'm putting you in command of Orion and Majestic as well."

That got a startled reaction. "Sir?"

"I need those auxiliaries protected, Commander Suram," Geary stated with grim intensity. "If we lose them, this fleet is dead. You know that. When we mix it up with the Syndics again, those two flotillas are going to be coming at us from multiple directions. It'll be very difficult for me to make sure that t.i.tan, Witch, Jinn, and Goblin aren't damaged or destroyed. I want Warrior, Orion, and Majestic to stick to those auxiliaries like you were tied to them by a short rope. I want you to physically block any Syndic fire at the auxiliaries if necessary and destroy any Syndic warships that try to get at the auxiliaries. Can you do that, Commander Suram?"

Suram's jaw set. "Yes, sir."

"You understand I'm giving you the most important job in this fleet. I don't have a single major warship to spare. No minor warships to spare either, for that matter. I need to know that you'll do whatever it takes and stick with those auxiliaries."

"Warrior will be destroyed before those auxiliaries are harmed," Suram stated. "We know we have something to prove," he added in a rough voice. "Myself and the crew of Warrior. We left Polaris and Vanguard at Vidha. We won't leave these auxiliaries, not while we have any capability left. I swear it on the honor of my ancestors."

Geary knew that anyone he asked would tell him he was insane to trust Warrior, let alone Orion and Majestic, but his instincts told him that no other ships had as much to prove. That didn't mean he would have given this mission to Commander Yin on Orion, of course. That really would have been insane. "If I didn't believe you capable, I wouldn't have given you the mission, Commander Suram. You tell your crew that. I know that Warrior can carry it out or die trying."

Suram nodded again, then saluted. "Thank you, sir. We will regain our honor or die in the attempt."

Geary smiled. "Do us both a favor and regain your honor without dying. I want Warrior back in the front of battle. Are you comfortable with the commanders of Orion and Majestic? Will they follow your orders?"

"Every officer and every sailor on Orion and Majestic will know their mission and the opportunity they've been given, sir," Suram promised. "Thank you again, sir. Our ships will justify your trust in us."

ONE day out from the jump point. He spent hours just gazing at the simulator, where a depiction of the current situation hung, the huge Syndic Flotilla Delta now arranged in what seemed a traditional Syndic box formation, though in this case the box was very shallow. The lid of the box pointed toward the Alliance fleet like a thick wall that overlapped the Alliance formation on all sides.

Syndic Formation Bravo had altered its box formation as well, making it shallow to match that of Delta and tilting it up to mimic the wall of Delta, though Bravo's lesser numbers made for a much smaller wall. Even after getting pummeled by the Alliance fleet near the Branwyn jump point, Bravo still boasted fifteen battleships and ten battle cruisers, though. Bravo had lost a lot of smaller combatants, too, but it only looked smaller compared to the twenty-three battleships and twenty battle cruisers in Delta.

Geary was surprised that Bravo hadn't made any lunges toward the Alliance fleet just to shake up the Alliance sailors and maybe cause the fleet to lose more ground as it dodged the feints. They're confident again, aren't they? They think we're trapped, and the outcome is inevitable.

We'll see.

ONE hour until Syndic Formation Delta intercepted the track of the Alliance fleet. Geary sat down on the bridge of Dauntless and nodded in acknowledgment of Desjani's greeting. Rione sat at the back, only her eyes betraying her tension.

"Syndic Flotilla Bravo is accelerating," the maneuvering watch reported.

"Planning to catch up with us at the same time Flotilla Delta gets here," Desjani remarked, sounding as if she were commenting on a simulation rather than a real tactic by an overwhelming Syndic force.

"No doubt," Geary agreed. "Let's try to mess up their plans." He punched his communication controls. "All units in the Alliance fleet, a.s.sume Formation Omicron; execute immediately upon receipt of this message. Station a.s.signments are being sent to you now."

"Formation Omicron?" Desjani asked. She fixed her eyes on her display, knowing that, as the flagship, Dauntless would be the guide for the rest of the ships to form on and wouldn't be doing any maneuvering herself right now. "Sir? A cylinder?"

"Yes, that's really it." He could understand her surprise. "We've got two advantages. As a smaller force we can make it harder for the Syndics to employ their full numbers against us all at once. Those box formations of theirs can't adjust quickly enough to counter that." I hope. "And since we're slower, we can turn this formation tighter."

The ships of the Alliance fleet collapsed into Formation Omicron. Instead of a number of separate subformations, Omicron held every ship in the fleet in one grouping. And instead of dispersing the warships with plenty of distance between them, Omicron used minimum safe distances. The cylinder was only small by comparison to the big Syndic formations, but most of the Syndic wall formed by Flotilla Delta wouldn't be able to engage his fleet, even if the two forces swept through each other.

Geary had also abandoned the standard practice of having the lighter escorts between the major warships and the enemy. That was what they were for, normally, but he didn't intend to fight a normal battle. The outside of Omicron's cylinder was made up of battleships at the front and back, the battle cruisers forming a belt in the middle between them. Inside the cylinder were the destroyers and light cruisers. Heavy cruisers blocked both ends of the cylinder, one end stiffened by the two scout battleships. Also inside it, as well protected as possible, were the damaged warships and the auxiliaries, Warrior, Orion, and Majestic in close company.

"Thirty minutes to contact with Syndic Flotilla Delta," the combat systems watch announced. "Twenty-eight minutes to contact with Syndic Flotilla Bravo."

The last Alliance warship slid into place in the formation, the cylinder of the fleet pointed down along the track toward the jump point for Ixion.

"The commander of Delta is going to let Bravo soften us up and take the brunt of our first volleys and then move in to finish us off and get the credit," Desjani observed. "I always disliked commanders who did that sort of thing."

"This one's going to be disappointed." I hope. Geary sat and waited, trying to judge the right moment. "All units, reduce speed to point zero seven light."

The Syndic ships were close enough now to have seen the Alliance fleet changing formation only a few minutes after it had begun, but they'd been forced to wait until the shape of the new Alliance formation could be made out before they could make any counterchanges to their own formation. Now Geary saw the formation for Syndic Flotilla Delta compressing, the wall getting shorter and thicker so that more Syndic ships could engage the Alliance fleet at any point. But Geary's speed reduction was causing the Syndics to rush to contact faster than they'd antic.i.p.ated.

"Ten minutes to contact with Bravo. Twelve minutes to contact with Delta."

That was close enough. Bravo, conducting a stern chase, was gaining slowly, while Delta came tearing in from the side, still at point two light. He's going to have to brake now. "All units in the Alliance fleet, pivot formation down nine zero degrees and turn starboard seven zero degrees at time three one." Another very complex maneuver, with ships simultaneously swinging the cylinder so it pointed down, and bringing the cylinder around onto a new course.

"Delta's braking," Desjani noted on the heels of Geary's order as Dauntless swung around to push herself onto the new heading.

At their velocity, Delta had a hard time viewing the Alliance fleet well and, already committed to a hard braking maneuver, they couldn't do much about it anyway.

Bravo, coming on behind the Alliance fleet, tried to turn to match its maneuver but swung wider, losing distance.

A blizzard of missiles and grapeshot fired by the Delta Flotilla tore through the empty s.p.a.ce where their combat systems had predicted the Alliance fleet would be.

Delta's thick box rushed past the place where the Alliance fleet would have been, while the vertical Alliance cylinder swung by to one side at extreme h.e.l.l-lance range.

"Nice," Desjani said approvingly, but she kept her eyes on the display, knowing that this was just the first move.

Geary had his eyes there, too. The Syndics would follow. Bravo will continue around, ready to pounce when we steady out. Delta will go up or down, I think, to simplify coordinating another joint approach. That means I need to take this fleetathere. "All units, turn starboard one nine zero degrees, time four four."

Delta was turning upward as Bravo once again failed to match the Alliance fleet's turn and lost yet more ground. "All units, alter course down two zero degrees time four nine. Pivot formation up seven zero degrees at time five two."