i command armies

[autokinetic]

Sue graduates from Tactical School a year early, he's barely fifteen. He's toned down the flirting - he treats Aegis completely platonically, in particular - and has cut down on the unhealthy amount of sleeping-with-everything-that-wants. And he's apparently, via his independent study, gotten far enough through the curriculum that they're nudging him along to Command.

They've given Sue a strange old man for a tutor, who appeared in his room and started a physical confrontation, which Sue won; Sue related this story to her with something between amusement and irritation.

And a quicker-than-average flurry of notes has been piling up in the psych data since about that time, according to the timestamps.

Aegis knows before they tell her that they're going to send her to Command early too. She's just barely fifteen herself when she gets another update of the psych files and sees that Sue's had - well, the files aren't terribly clear, some of the communication is happening via in-person conversation and memos that don't get stored in these folders, but Sue's had some kind of breakdown and the only things they can think of to get him out of it, get him back into shape to train and fight, are her friendship and Howlett. They have mixed feelings about both - Howlett's insubordination problem; their bewilderment that Aegis and Sue can be so close when "she's the one person he can't link!" - but they're desperate.

Bird? They don't talk as often over the long distance, just as there was a lull when he went to Tactical ahead of her; their schedules have nothing in common and their contexts less. But he knows her, and he can reach this far if he tries. And she wants to know what's wrong.

Comments

[pythbox]

"Sure," he says, hugging her.

[autokinetic]

Aegis hugs back, then reports to the bureaucrat's office.

[pythbox]

"My psychologists are screaming," he says conversationally when Aegis walks in. "And my security people are screaming back, but between the two, I'll take the psychologists. You might want to sit down."

[autokinetic]

"I'm not going to fall over if I don't intend to fall over," Aegis points out, "now that I'm in my gear."

[pythbox]

"You just fought and won a real battle against a bugger fleet," he says evenly. "Feel like falling over now?"

[autokinetic]

"...Lightspeed delay," says Aegis. She doesn't fall over, but she does stop swaying.

[pythbox]

"Not a factor," says the bureaucrat. "We've had faster-than-light communications since shortly after the Second Invasion. These are closely guarded I.F. secrets and I can have you court-martialed if you spread them around, by the way. The only reason you're hearing this is because so many people are so very sure that I need to tell your friend this before he loses a sim battle on purpose, and I think you're best placed to judge when and how."

[autokinetic]

"A fucking month ago," says Aegis.

[pythbox]

"If the I.F. had time machines," he says dryly, "we wouldn't need your friend to win this war."

[autokinetic]

"So we're an invasion fleet, get them before they come back and get us, we have FTL communications, the simulators are hooked up to actual ships, fuck, how many men died when Qiaochu's ship got dinged?"

[pythbox]

"I don't have that report yet," he says. "Communications may be instantaneous, but bureaucracy still takes time."

[autokinetic]

"Yes sir." Her hand goes to her forehead and massages her temple. "Fuck. I can tell Sue? Can I tell the subordinates?"

[pythbox]

He looks slightly pained.

"If you think it might leak during battle and throw them off—if you think they'd perform better knowing it—then yes. But minimize the number of people you tell."

[autokinetic]

"Yes, sir," she says quietly. "- If Sue could also link the admirals commanding those fleets where they are -"

[pythbox]

"It's been suggested," he says. "If he has the range, it could be a good idea. Besides, of course, the obvious problem with keeping uninformed students in a mental link with people they aren't supposed to know exist."

[autokinetic]

"Can we communicate directly with the fleet officers before they appear on the sim?" she asks, her mind racing. "Do they even know who's commanding them? How much risk is there of a ship going rogue and just not responding to our controls in the middle of a battle because its pilot thinks we're being idiots?"

[pythbox]

"No more risk than there is in any military operation," he says. "Which is damn little. What would you want to say to the fleet officers before they appear on the sim?"

[autokinetic]

"It's not zero, sir, this operation in particular has already had a problem with getting orders obeyed. As for what to say - Hey, have any of your ships been slightly damaged by space dust? Are all your FTL communicators working normally? Are any of your crews suffering from morale problems that could make them move slower or contradict orders? Do you know more about the terrain than we do, do you have any bright ideas? Who's been in space for forty years and has a baby on board by now, we can put them in the back!"

[pythbox]

He raises his eyebrows.

"The sim shows you any kind of damage you could possibly want to ask about. Except for morale, which is not supposed to be your problem. Graduates of the I.F. don't throw hissy fits because they aren't being told enough classified information for their liking."

[autokinetic]

"Graduates of the I.F. apparently invite sixteen-year-old boys who have recently thrown hissy fits to command distant fleets without telling him that those fleets are anything more significant than virtual toys until after he's already fought one."

[pythbox]

"Unfortunately," he says, "we can't change the schedule of the battles. The fleets arrive when they arrive. Hissy fit included, your friend with you as backup was still our best bet."

[autokinetic]

"Okay. But - we're not buggers, sir, we can use the brains on those ships if you let us talk to them, we can subdivide more and give them their own missions so we're not spread so thin, Sue can link a lot more than eight people if he can reach that far, and I don't share your opinion of their uniform machinelike adherence to their orders regardless of morale anyway."

[pythbox]

"Your simulators can also take direct control of their ships," he says. "You only have to worry about them disobeying verbal orders. And I still don't think you need to worry about them disobeying verbal orders."

[autokinetic]

"Are you actually unconvinced of the usefulness of communicating with them, sir, or are you just not allowed to let me and you're hoping I'll agree with you before you have to tell me flat no so I don't show up to the next battle disgruntled?"

[pythbox]

"I'm unconvinced of the usefulness of communicating with them and not looking forward to arranging it if you somehow convince me," he says. "The simulator system is very well designed, and it's not designed for the kind of communication you're thinking about."