The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught by Jack Campbell Page B

the only logical choice for such an assignment. You’re Black Jack Geary. You’ve already proven to be far better at combat command than any other senior officer in the fleet. And even if you weren’t, there’d be tremendous popular pressure to place you in such an important job.”
    “There are other factors of which you should be aware,” Senator Sakai said, still impassive. “Much military funding is being cut. You will not be receiving more ships.”
    Navarro nodded. “No. The government is canceling most of the warships under construction. They’re not needed anymore, and we can’t afford them. Partially completed warships are being scrapped or placed into preservation status pending any future need to finish work on them. There are a few new warships that were far enough along in construction that canceling them would have cost more than completing them. They’ll go into the Third Fleet until they’re ready to join the Second Fleet.”
    “I understand,” Geary said. It made sense, and it was consistent with the news reports that he had seen. Even the reduced fleet the government was talking about would be a few times the size of the peacetime Alliance fleet a century ago. “But that will mean Second Fleet will be spread out a great deal, with few ships covering a very large region of space.”
    “Well, yes. But that fleet will only have to deal with anything leaking over into Alliance space from the mess in what used to be the Syndicate Worlds.”
    “Then you intend to have the First Fleet often operating outside Alliance space?” It seemed important to get that said up front.
    “Yes,” Suva replied.
    Geary eyed both Navarro and Sakai, but neither elaborated.
    “There are some things you may not have heard,” Senator Suva added. “You should understand the situation that we are facing. There’s a growing faction within the Senate that believes our existing military forces should be cut far more than has been proposed so far. Some of them don’t trust the military, and others want to divert that money to other purposes or use it to cut taxes, and some are motivated by both reasons.”
    “Yet,” Sakai said, “the external threats remain.”
    “So, our problem,” Suva said, “is how do we justify the continued size of the Alliance fleet? We have to be seen using those warships, and using most of them, not just small portions of the existing fleet. Otherwise, there will be unbearable pressure to either decommission or scrap those warships.”
    That, too, made perfect sense, except for the part about Senator Suva expressing concern for the fate of the military during peacetime. During Geary’s one earlier and admittedly fairly brief encounter with Senator Suva, she hadn’t impressed him as being deeply invested in the military. What had changed her mind, that now Suva wanted to provide reasons to keep the fleet at its present size? “Senator,” Geary said, “I do think the Alliance is going to need those warships.”
    “Of course.” Outward agreement but little feeling of real concurrence. “There is another issue, bearing on events that have just occurred. We have numerous agents within the fleet, reporting on morale and other matters vital for the government to know. Loyalty to the government is not a powerful component of the fleet.” Suva turned a look upon Navarro, as if emphasizing some point they had argued before. “Those warships can be characterized as a threat to the government. If knowledge of that grows in the Senate, the pressure to eliminate those warships will become very strong.”
    “ ‘Eliminate’?” Geary asked, surprised by the use of that term.
    “Pardon me,” Suva said. “ ‘Decommission’ is the right term? That is one factor. The other thing our agents report is that the longer the fleet sits in orbit, the more restless its crews might become. If we keep those warships idle, their crews will become harder and harder to control. I assume you see the