Hidden Empire - Kevin J. Anderson [191]
Tal Lorie'nh commanded the red team. The Adar did not consider him a better commander, but Lorie'nh had the good sense to do as little as possible, allowing his Quls, the maniple subcommanders, to perform their duties. And since Tal Lorie'nh chose talented underlings, in the final summary the cohort leader usually looked very good.
Kori'nh sat in the command nucleus of a small observation platform, where he could watch the engagement of his two opposing teams. He activated the short-range transchannel and spoke to the two Tals. "Aro'nh, Lorie'nh—you may commence the engagement."
Tal Lorie'nh acknowledged brusquely, while Aro'nh transmitted a final stiff-sounding objection. "Adar, I must again ask you to cease this divisive activity. The Solar Navy is a single unit, operating together to complete the missions that the Mage-Imperator gives us. Never has maniple fought against maniple, except in the terrible civil war long ago. These exercises can only disrupt military discipline and lead to confusion, make our soldier kithmen feel as if members of their own race are the enemy—"
Kori'nh had no sympathy for the rigid old commander. "Tal Aro'nh, I find it more divisive to hear you publicly challenging my orders. I am your Adar, blessed by the Mage-Imperator. Do as I say, or stand relieved of command."
"Yes, Adar," the Tal said, and switched off the channel.
Kori'nh sat back to observe the ship movements. The two cohort commanders had not been allowed to discuss their respective strategy choices. The objective of the exercise was to have one team capture and occupy a misshapen lump of asteroid, a minor planet that orbited at an extreme angle around the two Qronha suns.
Not surprisingly, Tal Aro'nh flew all the vessels of his cohort in perfect standard formation, a sphere-within-sphere arrangement familiar to all observers of Ildiran sky parades and military pageants. Warliners surrounded the outer perimeter, with escorts and cutters in layers within the circle. Aro'nh moved his ships en masse along a straight line toward the objective asteroid.
A flurry of sentry ships patrolled around the sphere-within-sphere configuration, orbiting in tight rings as they circled the main warliners. It was meant to be a defensive posture, but as the bands of fast streamers orbited in opposing directions, it created a spectacular visual image—designed to evoke cheers from distant audiences, not to demonstrate military proficiency.
Tal Lorie'nh directed his red team in a more chaotic configuration. The seven maniples of his cohort separated into individual groups of forty-nine ships, each maniple rushing forward in allied but discrete swarms. To the critical eye, red team's approach had less finesse and no artistry. Then the seven individual maniples, each containing seven septas of warliners, broke apart and advanced pell-mell toward the objective.
One by one, six of Lorie'nh's seven maniples careened into blue team's complex sphere-within-sphere grouping, sending a ripple of chaos through Tal Aro'nh's carefully choreographed vessels. The cumbersome configuration began to disintegrate, but at the old Tal's barked orders, the captains of each ship in blue team returned to formation. The giant spherical configuration pressed inexorably toward the target, disregarding any threat that red team might make.
However, while six of the red team maniples were harrying the cumbersome but beautiful group of blue team ships, Lorie'nh's seventh maniple accelerated rapidly toward the asteroid. They allowed themselves no diversion, surrendering all other considerations.
It was a simple enough tactic, and obvious in hindsight. By the time Aro'nh's lumbering spherical configuration reordered itself and began to unfold its vessels, splitting open the outer shell of warliners to dispatch the