The Lost Fleet – Dauntless

“Give me a link to that!” His display blinked, and the three-dimensional projection of ships and the Corvus Star System was replaced by a panel made up of at least thirty individual pictures ranked side by side and in vertical columns. It took Geary a moment to realize he was looking at video depictions from what were probably each squad leader in the Marine assault force. He reached forward as if to touch one, and the image expanded, pushing the other images to the side. Geary touched another, and it and the first image adjusted so both were the same size, the other small images ranked around their borders ready for access. Wow. That’s a pretty neat toy. I wonder how many commanders have played with it while they lost track of the big picture?

Geary scanned his eyes across the images, searching for signs of prisoners or any obvious indication that one of the images represented a link to the commander of the assault force. His eyes paused on one image, watching the metal of a corridor wall warp as something firing large solid slugs punched numerous holes in it. Symbols flowed across the image, he saw an arm gesturing within the view, then he could see Marines dashing forward, looking inhuman in their combat armor. Two fired some sort of barrage in the direction from which the shots that hit the wall had come, then a third leveled a large tube and fired it.

The view shook. Marines dashed forward, the image Geary was viewing jerking as the Marine broadcasting it ran with the others. Around the corner and down a long corridor with some sort of security station at the end. Geary, expecting to see mass devastation from whatever weapon had been fired from the large tube, instead saw only bodies sprawled about in armor different from that of the Marines. A concussion weapon? I guess the Marines used that because of their orders to limit collateral damage to the installation. That might mean those Syndic soldiers are still alive.

The thought brought Geary’s mind forcefully back to his current mission. He searched the images again, finally noticing one scanning across some sort of large room or hanger with a big crowd of people in it. He touched the image, and it grew. That’s it. Those are Syndics. “Captain Desjani, how do I talk to someone using this?”

She indicated a communications symbol at the bottom of the image. “Just touch that.”

“Have you reached Colonel Carabali yet?”

“No, sir.”

Then I’ll have to bypass her. Geary touched the symbol. “This is Captain Geary.”

The image jerked once. “Yes, sir.”

“Who’s this?”

“Major Jalo, sir. Second-in-command for the landing force. Colonel Carabali ordered me to oversee mop-up operations to secure the main installation while she checked for any pockets of resistance in outlying areas.”

“Are these all the Syndic prisoners?”

“Not yet, sir. The mop-up sweeps are bringing in some final holdouts.”

“What…” How do I ask this? “What are Colonel Carabali’s orders regarding the prisoners?”

“I haven’t received orders on final disposition, sir. Standard procedure is to turn the prisoners over to the fleet.”

That’s interesting. Do the Marines know what happens to prisoners? Or do they pretend everything’s okay to keep their consciences clear? Geary was about to ask another question when the view in his image jerked again. Everyone visible within the image swayed on their feet. “What was that?”

Major Jalo’s voice came faster, hyped and ready for action. “Some sort of heavy explosion, sir. There’s another,” Jalo added unnecessarily as the image jerked again. “Somebody’s hitting the area with heavy ordnance.”

Heavy ordnance? The Marines have already taken the surface around the base, and the ships overhead have taken out the anti-space defenses. Ancestors. The ships overhead. “Captain Desjani! Are any of the ships positioned near the Syndic base firing?”

He watched the image from Major Jalo dance a few more times as Desjani answered. “Arrogant is firing upon an area near the base, Captain Geary. I don’t know what the target is.”

“Hold those prisoners until you get further orders from me,” Geary barked at Major Jalo, then he leaned back and scowled at the array of images. “How do I get the fleet display back?”

Desjani reached over and tapped a control. There was the representation of Corvus System, with the ships of Geary’s fleet spread all over the place. He fumbled at the communications key for a moment, fuming inwardly. “Arrogant! Identify the target you’re firing upon!” Geary waited, his temper rising, as no reply came and Arrogant continued to pound the surface near the Syndic base. “Arrogant, this is Captain Geary. Cease fire. I say again. Cease fire.”

The other ship was only a few light-seconds away, but a full minute passed with no response. Geary counted to five inwardly, thinking through his options. “Captain Desjani. Exemplar and Braveheart. Which has the best commander?”

She didn’t hesitate. “Exemplar, sir. Commander Basir.”