Scaevola's Triumph (Gaius Claudius Scaevola trilogy Book 3) (59 page)

"We have to set off at once!" Lucilla said with a sudden urgency in her voice. "Gaius must be warned."

"No," Antonia said. "It is even more important we wait just a little longer."

"We have to take this information!" Lucilla countered. "Otherwise it's totally unfair to the others there."

"No," Antonia replied. "It's more important we take authority. If we just go there now, it's our word against his, and just stop and think what will happen if a Terran arrives and accuses the Ulsian commander of being a fraud? The Ulsian commanders have to take sides, and where do you think their prejudice will settle?"

"With the Ulsian side," Lucilla nodded."

"It's even worse if the fleet splits," Antonia warned. "They'll end up fighting each other, and the enemy don't have to do anything."

"But he could betray the fleet," Lucilla warned.

"Yes, he could," Antonia agreed, "but even then, at least all the Ulsians will be fighting together against the enemy. It may look no worse than inept command, and in any case, Gaius will have half the fleet. It's better to have half the fleet fighting ineptly than fighting the other half. We must wait to take sufficient authority to remove Gerenthe from command. It will only take an extra day, and it will guarantee that if we do get there in time, we shall be effective."

Chapter 41

For the second time in a month, the citizens of Plotk had their evening skies lit up as a major battle fleet, this time the Ulsian fleet, began to step down from relativistic speed. The Ulsian fleet was so huge they would only be outnumbered by sixty per cent. The Plotkynn bookmakers began to see a rapid increase in self-styled military experts, keen to place bets to back up the positions taken over too much alcohol. And the betting was interesting, as there were many positions to take.

The M'starn outnumbered the Ulsian fleet, but the value of this numerical superiority would depend on how their fleet was deployed. The first problem for the M'starn would be that a relatively high per centage of their fleet comprised the more lightly armed space cruisers. Furthermore, all their ships were over a millennium old, and most had been in battle. Their crews were therefore more battle-hardened, their commanders were familiar with victory, albeit over relatively unprepared opposition, but equally their ships had been repaired sufficiently often that their functionality and their ability to take prolonged punishment could be questioned.

The Ulsians, on the other hand, had relatively inexperienced crews, most of whom had never seen battle. However, they also had the most modern of ships in prime condition. Then, to throw confusion into the pot, rumour had it that they had two commanders, each of which had had a recent victory over the M'starn. Two commanders? That meant the Ulsians might fight two separate campaigns. How could that conceivably work? Nevertheless, while it may seem strange, when the word from the returning Plotkyn delegation to Ulse brought this news, there had been consternation amongst the M'starn. They too had divided their fleet, and had concealed each part.

Overall, the Plotkynn were divided. The majority seemed to be betting on the M'starn. Since their fleet had arrived before the delegation from Ulse, it was clear that their government favoured the M'starn. But there were a minority who felt that the Ulsians had been misled. Since they had been forced to arrive at best almost a month after their enemy they were at a disadvantage. Some felt the Ulsians should be warned. Others attempted to warn the Ulsians. They had taken advantage of the better odds on an Ulsian victory, and they were not going to let a little cheating by their military lose them money.

* * *

The Ulsian ships chose to drop down to an orbit at the trailing Lagrange point of the inner of the two major gas giants. There were no visible signs of the enemy so the question was, what to do next? Gaius was only too well aware that most of the Ulsians in his force were somewhat apprehensive about having an alien as an overall commander, and an alleged primitive at that, so he decided to order the ship's commanders to form committees to discuss what the next action should be. Recommendations from each group of ten ships would be referred to him. In response to Marcellus' query, he pointed out that while he did not expect any important possibilities to be advanced, he would at least have the chance to gain the crew's respect for following Ulsian custom. Following the committee reports, there would be a meeting of all senior commanders.

Soon the reports poured in. Invariably they all suggested hiding the ships, to give the enemy a surprise when they arrived. There was one exception, a group that refused to report. Gaius decided to pay them a visit. When Gaius boarded the ship, the senior officer present, a clearly nervous Wing Commander, greeted him. As Gaius returned the salute, he explained as calmly as he could, that he was there to see why they had not reported.

"It's not that we refuse to obey," the Wing Commander explained very nervously. He clearly felt that he had failed his responsibility as Committee Chairman and that something bad was soon to follow. "It's just that, well, we can't agree."

"That's good," Gaius nodded appreciatively.

"It is?" the officer asked, in something approaching disbelief.

"It means you have two opinions," Gaius smiled, "which is at least one more than everyone else. Let me hear the discussion."

"Sir, I . . ."

Gaius looked at the young officer. "What's wrong?" he asked, in as kindly a tone as he could.

"Well . . ." He paused, and noting a frown start to develop on Gaius' face, he took a breath and blurted out, "There's a couple of older captains, and, well, they're not very polite, and . . ."

"I doubt that'll worry me too much," Gaius smiled, and gave the Wing Commander a reassuring pat. "And I assume you haven't tried to bring them into line."

"I thought the instructions were to reach an agreement," the Wing Commander said. "There's no emergency, so . . ."

"You are doing exactly what I wanted," Gaius nodded. "Now, let me hear the discussion."

The debate, it seemed, had gone along two lines. Some felt, as did the rest of the fleet, that they should hide and prepare a surprise for the fleet. The others, led by an older Ulsian who had apparently seen battle previously, argued that they had no idea whether they were there first, and if they were not, any attempt at hiding under enemy observation would merely immobilize their ships.

"Gerenthe seems to think we're here first," Gaius remarked, without any particular conviction in his voice.

"If he's going to base his strategy on that belief," the older captain said, "he's a prize arse-hole."

There was a stunned silence. That was not the way to address a senior officer, even in absentia.

"I know," the older Captain said to Gaius. "Nobody likes to hear the truth. So demote me."

"You," Gaius turned towards the Wing Commander. "They've made recommendations. Suppose you had to make the decision. What do you do?"

"I'd try to find out whether we are first," he replied cautiously.

"How?"

"I suppose, send reconnaissance ships around all the moons where the enemy could hide. I'd have equipment look for energy leakages, and so on."

"And what would you do?" Gaius said, turning to the older captain.

"Try to bribe a Plotkyn trader."

"Two excellent suggestions," Gaius nodded. He turned to the Wing Commander and said with a smile, "Find a replacement for yourself, and don't appoint him," he added as he pointed at the captain.

"Yes sir," came the resigned look of an Ulsian heading to the brig for something he had not even done.

"And for the sake of the troops, try to look a little bit pleased with yourself."

"I don't understand?" came the puzzled response.

"Field promotion," Gaius grinned. "The two of you are Commodores, as from now. You will control small fleets, which will be designated to you in a few minutes. One of your first jobs will be to organize the execution of what you each proposed." He turned towards the older Captain, and said, "You will find some way of getting someone into position to do what you suggested. I do not wish to hear any details, and you are forbidden to discuss what you do with anyone else. You will enter no details into any logs, and you take particular care that there is no way Space Marshall Gerenthe has any idea that you are even up to anything. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir!" The older new Commodore said, almost in disbelief, but obviously pleased with this unexpected attitude.

"And, er, one more thing. You've got to stop calling Space Marshalls arse-holes," Gaius said, then muttered, with a wink, "even if it's true."

"Yes sir!" came the even more surprised response.

"You," Gaius said to the ex Wing Commander, "will soon receive orders for exercises, which you will carry out around all the moons in sequence. While doing so, observe and try to detect enemy. If you do, give absolutely no indication. Neither of you will send any messages back unless you are under attack, and there is no other option. If attacked, you will evade and try to return, and when you return you report solely to me. Understand?"

"Yes sir!" came the bemused replies.

"Good!" Gaius said, then grinned as he said, "Well, don't just sit there. Get on with it!"

"We're onto it," the older soldier nodded, "and you can count on us not letting you down."

* * *

The commanders of all ships saluted as Gaius entered, and then sat down. Gaius returned the salute, then began to speak. "I have brought you all here to announce the further drills. Not a moment will be wasted, and we must get into the best operational condition that we can, so I am sorry, but your days are going to be extremely full." He paused and saw a look of irritation over the faces of his recent promotions. "Any objections?" he pointed at the older Commodore.

"Sir, is it wise to show the enemy . . ."

"Indeed it is," Gaius nodded appreciatively. "It's what we show them that counts. What you will get are orders to carry out some fairly standard manoeuvres very incompetently. The drill is to do them precisely in the designated fashion, so that will tone up your skills, but any of the Plotkynn that see them and report to the enemy will convey the message that we're easy beats. That might make the enemy careless.

"Yes, I know this might not work, but it costs nothing. Now, you are all forbidden to use true communications. During the exercises you will receive scripts of what to transmit, which will include various complaints, swearings, obscenities, whatever. Everybody will know these are for deceptive reasons only, but, and this is imperative, nobody is to discuss this with anybody, including the other fleet. Only you who are involved must know, and you are all forbidden to enter Plotkyn territory without specific authorization. We must not give the opposition any inkling of what we are trying to achieve. Understand?"

"Sir?" a young pilot stood up. "What if Marshall Gerenthe asks us to explain ourselves?"

"You inform him that I have specifically required you not to discuss these exercises with anybody, even amongst yourselves. The only discussion is this one, which explains to you why you are being asked to do what doesn't look right. You have to know why you are doing it, but nobody else does."

For some reason Gaius did not understand, this order to ignore Gerenthe, which he thought the most likely to lead to near revolt, was accepted almost with pleasure.

* * *

Two days later, Marcellus brought him a report. Word of the 'arse-hole' incident had shot through the fleet like wildfire. With the exception of half a dozen ships known to be totally loyal to Gerenthe, the troops were wildly in support, and for the first time in Ulsian history, an alien commander had far more respect than the Ulsian. Gerenthe had sent a message of protest, which he, Marcellus, had replied, 'Point noted'. He assumed that Gaius did not wish to be troubled with such a message.

* * *

When Gaius received the first message from Plotk, informing him that the enemy had arrived a month previously, he was hardly surprised. He informed the Prime Delegate, who immediately called a meeting on Gerenthe's ship. Gaius explained his desire to find the enemy to the two of them, without divulging exactly what was being done.

"I'd like to know where these reconnaissance troops are," Gerenthe said sourly.

"Why?"

"So I can give them instructions," Gerenthe said, even more sourly.

"Then why not send some of your own scouts?" Gaius asked. "From my point of view," he added for the benefit of the Prime Delegate, "I give my scouts initial instructions, then neither I nor anybody else contacts them. They report when they feel it is safe to do so."

"That's not very efficient," Gerenthe snorted. "You might want them to investigate something newly discovered."

There was something in this point, but Gaius was in no mood to concede it. Instead, he pointed out, "Efficiency depends on your point of view. If you are the scout, you want the least information as possible available to all and sundry as to where you are, assuming you want to stay alive."

"But it might be important to get a message."

"Nothing is more important than giving my troops the best chance of staying alive," Gaius stated simply.

The report of this interchange somehow fed through the fleet, and Gaius became even more popular with the troops.

Gaius also took a risk. He met the Prime Delegate and informed him that he should ignore reports about the ability of his fleet, and he should not mention this meeting to Gerenthe.

"Why not?" the Prime Delegate frowned.

"The order is to keep as little information from the enemy as possible."

"Are you implying that Gerenthe . . ?"

"It has always been a principle under my command," Gaius said, "that to gain surprise, only those who absolutely need to know, know. You may have noted that Marshall Gerenthe had been informed about reconnaissance vessels from Plotk. That meant that information was not being kept as tightly held as it should be. From now on, I am putting a total prohibition on my troops from saying anything, and I would recommend the same for Marshall Gerenthe, but of course as an equivalent commander, he must have the freedom to do whatever he wished."