“You looked like a zombie,” Desjani agreed, her voice much softer now. “I remember wondering if Black Jack really still lived.”
“I don’t know about Black Jack, but I did.” Geary looked down at his hands and inhaled deeply before being able to speak again. “But I had to put that aside when I had to assume command of the fleet. I put it aside. I don’t think I really resolved it. What’s going to happen when we get home, when the reality of everyone I once knew being dead and gone hits me because I’ll see the changes and know that I’m alone?”
Desjani’s voice was very low, but he could hear her very clearly. “You won’t be alone.”
That statement came far too close to a subject they could never speak of or even acknowledge existed. Startled, he looked up and caught her eyes.
Desjani looked away. “You needed to hear me say that.” She stood up, straightening her body to the posture of attention. “By your leave, sir, if there’s nothing else, I have some matters I should attend to.”
“Certainly. Thank you, Captain Desjani.”
He checked the time after she left. Five hours to jump for Varandal.
THE ball of wreckage that had been the last Syndic battle cruiser in Atalia Star System fell away in the wake of the Alliance fleet as it neared the jump point for Varandal.
“Captain?” The face of
Dauntless
’s systems-security officer floated in a window before Desjani. “There’s been some uncleared transmissions from our ship.”
“Uncleared transmissions?” Desjani asked mildly.
“Yes. Unencrypted broadcasts to anyone in this star system. I’m trying to identify the source within
Dauntless
.”
“Is the information within the broadcasts classified?”
The systems-security officer blinked as he considered the question. “No, Captain, not as far as I can tell. There’s no formal classification attached, and the security review scans didn’t match the contents of the broadcast to any known classified material.”
“Then I don’t see any need to make it a priority,” Desjani said. “We need to ensure the ship’s systems are as close to optimum as possible when we arrive in Varandal.”
“But . . . Captain, any broadcast to the enemy is prohibited.”
“Of course,” Desjani agreed. “But since no classified material is involved, the damage assessment from this incident will surely place it as a low-priority matter. Let’s focus on preparing for battle, Commander.”
“Uh, yes, Captain.”
After the security officer’s image vanished, Desjani gave Geary an enigmatic look. “I wonder what that could have been about.”
“Probably nothing important, like you said,” he replied.
She was studying the information forwarded to her by the systems-security officer. “The same records from Lakota that this fleet already broadcast, a description of something at Kalixa, plus some kind of equipment schematic and a narrative. No transmission authorization code.” Desjani tapped her controls. “Nothing that threatens my ship or the fleet. I have more critical issues to deal with.”
“Agreed.” He wondered how Rione had managed to trick the communications system on
Dauntless
into sending a broadcast without an authorization. Despite the things that Rione had already admitted she could do with the supposedly secure systems throughout the fleet, Geary suspected there were plenty of other capabilities available to Rione that she had never disclosed.
He studied his display, taking a last look at the situation in Atalia. Task Force
Illustrious
, now a good two light-hours behind the fleet’s main body, was still collecting escape pods. The survivors from
Intractable
weren’t far from the fleet’s main body, but picking them up would be impossible at the speed the fleet was traveling. They’d have to wait for
Illustrious
and her companions to get here.
Fuel-cell reserve levels were hovering around 20 percent on most of the warships, though some like
Rifle
were significantly lower. Only three specter missiles were left in the fleet. Grapeshot inventories were at 60 percent.
On the fringes of Atalia Star System, Syndic HuKs, couriers, and merchant ships were still heading for jump points, racing either to escape or carry word of the Alliance fleet’s movements. Most of them would receive the broadcasts from
Dauntless
before they jumped.
There hadn’t been any communications from the Syndic authorities in Atalia. No demands for surrender. Nothing. He wondered if the highest-ranking CEOs in this star system knew about the reserve flotilla’s mission, if they had been told about Kalixa. They’d know now.
“Five minutes to jump.”
Geary tapped his controls. “Captain Badaya, we’re about to jump for Varandal. We’ll see you there. Good luck.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say, and in any case Badaya wouldn’t receive the message for close to two hours.
“Four. Days.” Desjani closed her eyes in resignation.
“Yeah. It’s going to be the longest four days in jump that I’ve ever spent,” Geary agreed. The Syndic reserve flotilla was still in jump space, still headed for Varandal. So were the Alliance warships ahead of the Syndics. Now the fleet would join them. The maneuvering system flashed an alert, and Geary sent another message. “All ships, jump at time two zero four nine. We’ll see you in Varandal. Be prepared for combat immediately upon arrival.”
A few minutes later the stars vanished, and Geary was gazing upon the drab gray of jump space again. Thinking of the Syndic reserve flotilla’s mission and their superiority in numbers, and the state of the Alliance fleet, he couldn’t help wondering if this would be his last jump.
FOUR apparently endless days later, they sat in their seats on the bridge of
Dauntless
again, counting down the minutes until they left jump. Geary took long, slow breaths to relax, rolling his shoulders as if preparing for hand-to-hand combat. Desjani sat with her eyes glued to her display, her face calm, her eyes lit with excitement. At the back of the bridge, Rione remained silent, but tension seemed to radiate from her. The watch-standers were poised at their stations.
Dauntless
’s entire crew stood on duty throughout the ship, ready for action.
“All weapons ready. Set to fire on automatic,” Desjani said with a coolness that felt eerie amid the stress-filled atmosphere.
Ahead of them, in the gray emptiness of jump space, one of the mysterious lights seemed to bloom across their path. It could have been close or immensely distant, but it hung there a moment as if waiting for
Dauntless
. Geary heard almost everyone’s breath catch at the mystifying omen.
“Exiting jump space.”
The endless gray and the inexplicable light before them vanished as the stars appeared.
Dauntless
yawed around, seeking to avoid possible mines and enemy fire.
Braced against the maneuver, Desjani was still eyeing her display. “They’re not at the jump point.”
Geary stared at his display, unable to speak for a moment as he looked upon Varandal Star System.
After so many jumps, so many light-years crossed, so many Syndic-controlled star systems transited, the Alliance fleet had finally reached Alliance territory. Varandal, home of a regional fleet headquarters and many fleet installations along with strong defenses. He’d studied the database on
Dauntless
, seen how those installations and defenses had multiplied since the last time he had been to Varandal a hundred years before, but seeing it now for real still felt disorienting. Familiar and yet greatly changed.
Alerts sounded and symbols pulsed. Geary watched updates rapidly proliferating across his display as the fleet’s sensors evaluated everything they could see. “We’re in time.”
The hypernet gate still stood, just under six light-hours distant.
Three light-hours away, the Syndic reserve flotilla orbited the star Varandal. Seven light-minutes from the box of enemy warships a small formation of Alliance warships hovered, the survivors of those who had attacked Atalia, then tried to defend Varandal. “Two battleships, one battle cruiser, six heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, nine destroyers,” Desjani read off. “That’s all that’s left.”
Geary looked at the display, feeling a growing sense of unease. “Why haven’t the Syndics destroyed everything? A lot of the defenses in this system have been hit by kinetic bombardment, but the Syndics haven’t hit a lot of other things. All of the other facilities seem intact.”
“What are they up to?” Desjani muttered.
“Alliance fleet!” The incoming transmission surprised Geary, who only then realized that a destroyer had been positioned near the jump point as a scout, the lone Alliance ship lost in the midst of the scores of warships that had just arrived. Now the voice of
Howitzer
’s commanding officer rang out. “Praise the living stars!”
Desjani turned to her operations watch. “Get a full record from that destroyer of what’s happened here since the Syndics arrived. We need to see it now.”
“Linking to their combat systems now,” the watch reported. “On your display.”
“Maintain station,
Howitzer
,” Geary ordered, then concentrated on his own display, where historical events were playing at an accelerated pace. The Alliance defenders had made a stand half a light-hour from the jump point, losing another battle cruiser and a battleship along with numerous escorts. “Odds that bad, and they charged right at the enemy again,” Geary grumbled.
Admiral Tethys had commanded that action, but had died when
Encourage
was destroyed. Captain Deccan on the
Contort
had assumed command then, until
Contort
was blown apart during another Syndic firing pass. Then Captain Barrabin on the
Chastise
took charge, but
Chastise
’s power core had overloaded during another clash well over two light-hours from the jump exit.
According to the records from
Howitzer
, since the destruction of
Chastise
, the remaining warships in Varandal had been commanded by Captain Jane Geary on
Dreadnaught
. Aside from
Dreadnaught
, only the battleship
Dependable
, the battle cruiser
Intemperate
, and their surviving escorts still faced the enemy.
Between those events, the Syndic reserve flotilla had launched kinetic bombardments, leveling the Alliance defenses in the star system. But they hadn’t launched any subsequent bombardments, nor had the reserve flotilla yet closed with the few surviving Alliance defending warships even though to Geary it seemed that there had been opportunities to do so.
Why hadn’t the Syndics finished off the defenders? Why hadn’t they destroyed more of the Alliance facilities here? Of course the images they were seeing of the enemy were three hours old. It was possible that had happened by now.
“What the hell.” Desjani had been watching her display intently, and now her hands moved rapidly, replaying part of the record. “Look at this. After the last clash with the Alliance defenders here.”
Geary peered at the detail she was highlighting, zooming in on the Syndic reserve flotilla. The fleet’s optical sensors were sensitive enough to pick out small details across immense distances of airless space. “Shuttles? What are they doing?”
“From heavy cruisers to other ships,” Desjani murmured, then she entered more commands, and the view tightened even more, showing the access points where shuttles had been next to one of the heavy cruisers. “Personnel. See? They’re taking personnel off the heavy cruisers.”
“Why?”
Rione answered, her voice stressed. “Automated controls. You told me the Syndics can automate their ships and command them by remote.”
“But why would they want to automate heavy—” The reason hit him and Desjani at the same moment.
“They’re going to use those heavy cruisers to take down the hypernet gate,” Desjani said. “It makes sense. It all ties together. Look. The Syndics have penetrated deep within the star system, but they haven’t wiped out the Alliance defenders or heavily bombarded the Alliance facilities here.”
“Bait,” Geary breathed.
“Right. If they’d wiped out the defenders and destroyed most of the facilities in this star system, we might well hang around this jump point when we arrived, knowing that the Syndics would have to come back here through us sooner or later. But if there’s still someone and something to save—”
“We’re going to come charging at them.” Geary ran a finger across his display, imagining the fleet movements. “When they see us, they wait until the right moment, then they hit the remaining defenders hard enough to wipe them out and send those heavy cruisers toward the hypernet gate. The rest of their force heads for the jump point, tearing past us. By the time we know what’s happening, the shock wave is on its way, and the Syndics can jump out just ahead of it. If we hadn’t already figured out they intended to collapse the hypernet gate here, their plan might well have worked.”
“They get us and the entire star system.” Desjani looked ready to kill Syndics with her bare hands. “How can they be sure the gate does enough damage though? That’s the flaw in their plan.”
“It’s possible to scale up the level of an energy discharge from a gate collapse just like it’s possible to scale it down,” Geary replied. He didn’t look back at Rione. When Cresida had worked up the calculations on how to scale down a gate energy discharge, she’d had to work up the reverse solution as well. Geary had entrusted that doomsday program to Rione, hoping it would never be used by anyone. “We have to assume the Syndics have figured out how to do that, too.”
They’d already been here for fifteen minutes. The enemy wouldn’t see the fleet for another two hours and thirty minutes, but he couldn’t afford to waste another second of that time, since any orders he sent would require the same amount of time to reach the remnants of the defenders in this star system.
The first priority had to be orders to the remaining defenders of Varandal. “This is Captain John Geary, acting commanding officer of the Alliance fleet, to Captain Jane Geary, commanding the Alliance task force defending Varandal. The Syndic objective is to collapse the hypernet gate in this star system by destroying enough of the tethers on the gate. If the gate collapses, the resulting energy discharge will annihilate everything within this star system. We assess that the Syndics plan to collapse the gate using uncrewed heavy cruisers operating on automatic controls since any ship near the gate when it collapses will be destroyed. You are ordered to protect that gate,” his voice caught for an instant before he could say the next part, “at all costs. Protection of the gate takes priority over all other actions, including the destruction of Syndic warships not menacing the gate and protection of other Alliance assets within this star system. Do not allow your force to be eliminated as a threat unless that is required to protect the gate. Hold out. Help is on the way. To the honor of our ancestors. Geary out.”