The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Leviathan (24 page)

“Wait a moment,” Badaya said heatedly. “You are saying that the government, which has been eyeing us with suspicion that we were a threat to the Alliance, is now depending on us to clean up a real threat to the Alliance?” From Badaya’s injured tone, the idea of acting against the government never would have occurred to him. No one listening would have guessed that Badaya had once been at the forefront of those agitating for a military coup.

“That’s right,” Tanya said, absolutely deadpan.

Badaya frowned. “All right. Then we’ll do that. We’ll show them!”

“The Dancers are accompanying us,” Geary added. “They want to help take down the dark ships.”

“What if our paths cross, Admiral?” someone asked. “What if the dark ships head to attack Varandal while we’re on our way to Unity Alternate?”

“We’re going to get the job done at Unity Alternate and get back here,” Geary said. “No delays. It’s far from ideal, but we can’t sit around Varandal or any other place waiting for the dark ships to attack. We have to hit them where they aren’t and where it will hurt the most.”

“We must succeed,” Captain Tulev said. “We will succeed.”

“Exactly,” Geary said.

As the images of the other officers once again vanished in a flurry, that of Commander Neeson lingered briefly. “I guess you don’t need me to find that gate anymore, Admiral.”

“No,” Geary admitted. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you until now.”

“A gate hidden on our own hypernet keys!” Neeson shook his head. “The hypernet was ‘discovered’ by scientists in the Alliance and the Syndicate Worlds almost simultaneously, just in time to keep the war going as both the Alliance and the Syndicate Worlds had begun staggering from the effort to continue it. None of us realized that the enigmas had leaked the technology to both sides for just the purpose of keeping the war between humans going. We’ve never known everything about it. I wonder how many other secrets the hypernet holds?”

“Let’s win this fight, then find out,” Geary said.

Neeson smiled and saluted. “That sounds like a plan worthy of Black Jack, if you’ll excuse me for saying so, Admiral.”

“Just this once.” Geary watched Neeson’s image vanish, then walked with Desjani out of the conference room.

He was surprised to find Victoria Rione waiting for him in the passageway outside the compartment. “I want to transfer to
Mistral
, Admiral.”

Desjani said nothing, but disapproval was obvious in the way she held herself.

“Why?” Geary asked.

“Three reasons,” Rione explained. “One, your Marines are supposed to collect all possible intelligence material stored on the facility there. I have the experience, and a unique set of software tools, to assist in that. Two, if the Marines encounter security or paramilitary forces defending the facilities and want to avoid a pitched battle, I could assist greatly in negotiating a surrender of the defenders. Three, if my husband is indeed being held somewhere on those facilities, I want to be there to get him out.” She looked toward Desjani. “And, fourth out of three, my presence would probably be less disruptive aboard
Mistral
.”

Tanya looked directly at Rione, speaking sternly. “If your presence on
Dauntless
is judged as needed by Admiral Geary, then you are more than welcome to stay here. You will be treated with every professional courtesy.”

“You know how much that aggravates me, don’t you?” Rione said dryly. “Admiral, I cannot help you in a fight against the dark ships. There is nothing to negotiate with. But I can be of great help to the Marines. I am asking to be allowed to assist them.”

“What about talking to the Dancers? You were one of our primary points of contact with them,” Geary pointed out.

“You don’t need me for that now,” Rione said. “The Dancers are finally speaking plainly enough to those with the skill to phrase the questions right. I wouldn’t dream of crowding Lieutenant Iger and that lieutenant with the lovely emerald hair, who seem to prefer being alone together in that comm room.”

It all made excellent sense. There was no reason to object. And yet Geary felt an odd sense of disquiet as he considered his answer. Discounting that feeling as the result of having to face the uncertainties of another battle with the dark ships, Geary nodded to Rione. “You make a good case. There is plenty of room aboard
Mistral
for you since they are only carrying two battalions of Marines. I don’t know why I haven’t already thought to ask you to transfer to
Mistral
.”

“I know how much you personally enjoy having me around, Admiral,” Rione said, smiling as Desjani’s glower deepened.

“I’ll have to do without your immediate company for a while for the benefit of the Alliance,” Geary said. “I will let Colonel Rico and Commander Young know that you are coming to work with them. Captain Desjani, can you arrange an immediate shuttle lift to
Mistral
for Senator Rione?”

“With pleasure,” Tanya snapped. “By your leave, sir.” She saluted, then walked off rapidly down the passageway, crew members scattering as they saw her coming and judged her mood.

“Do you have to do that kind of thing?” Geary asked Rione heavily.

“It may be some sort of compulsion,” Rione said. “I’m sorry. It’s a shabby way to repay your hospitality.” She met his eyes. “Good luck, Admiral. Tell Captain Desjani I regret the difficulties that I have caused her.”

Rione walked off as well, leaving Geary staring after her and trying to recall the last time that Rione had used Desjani’s name.

—

HE
had been wondering what he would do if the dark ships erupted from Varandal’s hypernet gate as his fleet was approaching it. But as the First Fleet and the Dancer armada grew closer to the huge structure humans called a gate, which was actually a vast ring of hundreds of tethers that held a particle matrix in the desired form, no threat emanated from it.

“We’ll be back as soon as we can complete the mission,” Geary sent in a message to Admiral Timbale that would not reach Ambaru Station for hours.

Desjani had already called up the hypernet key controls. “Unity Alternate is selected as the fleet’s destination, Admiral. The hypernet field is set wide enough to include the entire fleet as well as the Dancer ships. We’re ready to go whenever you give the word.”

“Thank you, Captain. Activate hypernet.”

She touched the command, and the stars
vanished.

THERE
was none of the mind-dazing shock of transitioning into and out of jump space, no gray haze filling jump space around them, no mysterious lights. Outside the bubble in which the fleet traveled, there was, literally, nothing. In fact, as it had been explained to Geary, the fleet wasn’t really traveling. It had been at one gate, at Varandal, and after a few days all of the human warships would be at the other gate, at Unity Alternate, without technically having traveled between those gates.

As odd as jump space was, the quantum mechanics behind the hypernet were in some ways even odder.

Geary got up, relaxing with the knowledge that for the next few days nothing could get at them, and they could get at nothing. Whatever was going to happen, would happen. “It’s a relief to be on our way,” he commented to Desjani.

She looked over and up at him. “Are you going to get some sleep?”

“Yes, I am. Even if I have to call Dr. Nasr and ask for a patch to knock me out for a while.”

“Good. That means I won’t have to call Dr. Nasr and tell him to knock you out. Hopefully, you won’t dream about dark ships.”

“I imagine I’ll be dreaming about something else entirely,” Geary said, giving her a look.

She shook her head, exasperated. “You’re still on my ship, Admiral. Keep your dreams professional.”

“You’re kidding, right?” He didn’t wait for an answer because he couldn’t be certain and didn’t want to find out otherwise.

Once he got to his stateroom, he lay down in the bunk, gazing at the overhead, hoping that he had made the right decisions. He couldn’t recall how many nights had been spent like this since he had been awakened after his century of survival sleep. There had been too many. And this night was one more.

—

“SO
the Dancers did jump all the way from their own region of space to that jump point that exited at Varandal?” Geary shook his head in disbelief. “How?”

“We’ve been having some trouble getting the technical explanation rendered into the form of a haiku,” Lieutenant Iger confessed.

“There was a warning though,” Lieutenant Jamenson added. “The Dancers said ‘you should not attempt that jump.’ They were very insistent.”

“Lieutenant, two weeks in jump space is as much as I ever want to spend there in one stretch,” Geary said. “How are you two doing?”

“Sir?” Lieutenant Iger asked, worried.

“I mean working conditions. I want you both rested and ready when we leave the hypernet.”

“We’ll be ready,” Lieutenant Jamenson said. “Admiral, the Dancers are worried. We put this in our reports, but you may not have had time to review them. They say ‘cold minds,’ the sort of thing they call the dark ships, have more than once proven to be much harder to stop than anyone expected.”

“Believe me,” Geary said, “after Bhavan, I’m not expecting any free rides. If we can knock out the support structure for the dark ships, we’ll be able to stop them.”

“What if we can’t knock out that support structure, Admiral?”

“Then it will be much harder,” Geary said.

—

TWO
days later, he sat on the bridge, waiting to leave the hypernet. He wondered what was happening at Unity right now. Had the Senate already moved against the covert structure that had gained too much power in the last several decades? He had no doubt that General Carabali would provide the support that the Senate needed. He wondered whether the dark ships had already launched another attack designed to draw him into battle. Had they gone to Varandal? Back to Bhavan? Or maybe to Unity itself? And he wondered how many dark ships would be awaiting them at Unity Alternate.

At least he would get the answer to one of those questions soon.

“Ten minutes until exit from hyperspace,” Lieutenant Castries said.

“
Dauntless
is at maximum combat readiness,” Desjani reported.

“The Dancers have done this before,” Geary said, talking to fill the time. “They’ve already dealt with this kind of threat.”

“So have we,” Desjani said. “Remember that place with the rocks?”

“Stonehenge. Yes. Maybe we’ll get the lesson this time.”

“I bet you we won’t. For a little while, maybe,” she said.

“You are probably right once more,” Geary said.

“Two minutes until exit from hyperspace.”

They waited silently as the final minutes counted down.

At zero, the stars suddenly appeared again. Behind them was a hypernet gate, and before them were two stars orbiting in what was known as a close binary.

“I have never seen that before,” Desjani said in an awed voice.

The displays updated rapidly as the fleet’s sensors consolidated,
analyzed, and assessed everything that could be seen. Geary saw large installations appearing on his display, their orbits centered on the larger of the two stars, which must sometimes bring them uncomfortably close to the smaller. Six planets, varying in size from a rocky, barren half Earth-standard to what had once been a gas giant but had apparently been losing its atmosphere at intervals to one of the stars. A host of smaller natural objects also orbited within the system, some of them following eccentric orbits that swung them past both stars. “We’re not seeing anything on the planets,” Lieutenant Yuon reported. “There are some very large facilities in orbit. Docks. Warehouses.”

“They could maintain a fleet four times the size of ours here,” Geary said, amazed. “For a long time.”

“They were ready to keep the war going if the worst happened,” Desjani said with grudging admiration. “Look at those orbits! This system is a mess. No wonder they didn’t put anything on the planets. Ah, look what else we found, Admiral.”

He didn’t have to ask what she was referring to. The same symbol had appeared on his display. “
Invincible
. They did bring her here.”

The alien superbattleship, much larger than any human warship, was hanging in its own orbit a few light-minutes from the dockyards. “Even those docks couldn’t hold something the size of that Kick ship,” Desjani commented. “Is this right? The ship is cold?”

“Yes, Captain,” Lieutenant Yuon replied. “Our sensors aren’t picking up any signs of active power aboard
Invincible
, or any other activity. No heat being radiated. The ship is still completely shut down and apparently has no one aboard.”

“What about those tugs?” Desjani asked. The many heavy-duty tugs that had been fastened about the hull of
Invincible
to move her from Varandal were still there, forming two rings about the alien battleship’s hull. “They’re cold, too?”

“Just standby power, from what our sensors can see,” Yuon reported. “Aside from that, all systems inactive and life support not running. No
indications of crews or caretakers present. The tugs appear to have been put into stand-down.”

“They were supposed to be taking
Invincible
somewhere to study the Kick technology and try to learn more about the Kicks,” Desjani complained to Geary. “Instead, they just hauled her here and forgot about her!”

“Maybe they had to shut down research efforts when the dark ships started causing problems,” Geary speculated.

“If that’s the case, they didn’t shut down anything in a hurry. Everything about
Invincible
and those tugs reflects methodical deactivation.”

“That’s so. And they parked
Invincible
a fair ways from anything else, as if they were afraid of the ship.” Geary felt a wry smile on his face. “Maybe they were afraid of the Kick ghosts.”

“It would be nice to know the Kick ghosts spooked whichever human spooks have been busy at Unity Alternate,” Desjani commented, using the common slang term for undercover operatives. She looked over her display again. “But they’re all we’re picking up. No other shipping.”

“There aren’t any dark ships here at all?” Geary asked, staring at his display with a mingled sense of relief and mild disappointment. It would have been nice to catch a small force of dark ships and wipe it out along with their support facilities.

“We’re not seeing anything,” Yuon confirmed. “We can’t see inside the docks, though. All of them appear to have power active but no life support running.”

“And those are a lot of big docks,” Desjani murmured.

“Let’s take them out.” Geary felt a sense of revulsion as he looked at the dockyards and support facilities, apparently empty of life yet continuing to serve the needs of the dark ships. Automated facilities conducting automated war. They were the unfeeling personification of Captain Tulev’s argument against using AIs to control weapons.

Geary called up the bombardment routine on his display and began designating the orbiting support facilities as targets. One very large structure orbiting at a distance from the support facilities looked like the place intended for the exiled government. He left that off the target list, then asked the system for firing solutions.

A process that should have produced almost instantaneous results instead ground on for several seconds, then a minute, then kept going. “Captain Desjani, we seem to have a problem with part of the combat systems.”

“What?” She leaned in, frowning, then entered commands into her own system. “It’s working. Trying to produce a solution. Why the hell—? Oh.”

“What?” Geary echoed.

“The interacting gravitational fields of the stars and the eccentric orbits. The bombardment routines can’t handle that. They can’t direct a precise shot across those kinds of distances under these conditions. We’ll have to get a lot closer to those facilities to launch rocks at them and be sure of hits.”

“I guess that was another good reason to put Unity Alternate here,” Geary conceded. “How have they ensured that the facilities don’t get sucked into destructive orbits?”

“There are propulsion systems on all of the facilities,” Lieutenant Yuon reported in surprised tones. “Not enough thrust for a lot of travel, but enough to adjust orbits in a big way—” He broke off as he realized the implications of that.

“Oh, hell,” Desjani complained. “If they have automated maneuvering systems that powerful, they could spot an incoming bombardment and adjust orbit enough that our rocks would miss. It’s a good thing we didn’t launch. The rocks would have been wasted even if their trajectories had been accurate.”

“How much did they spend building this stuff?” Lieutenant Castries asked in amazement.

The hypernet gate had been constructed far enough from the two stars to be unaffected by their intertwining gravity fields. In this case, that meant an unusually long journey to the facilities orbiting the twin stars. “Almost seven light-hours,” Desjani observed. “We’ve got a long trip ahead. Do we have a good picture of that big facility that looks like it was intended as the command structure and seat of government?”

“Life support and power are active,” Lieutenant Yuon said, peering at his data. “But only in the upper quarter of the structure. Everything below that is dark and cold. We’re not seeing any confirmation that the facility has anyone aboard it, though.”

“You could keep a lot of people very comfortably in something the size of one-quarter of that facility,” Geary said. “We’re not picking up any comm traffic or other signals?”

“No, sir. There is probably a local net running between the facility and those dockyards and support structures, but it would be using highly directional signals that we’re not in the right position to pick up.”

“All right. Let’s see if anyone will answer us.” He made sure his uniform looked decent, straightened in his seat, then keyed the broadcast comm circuit. “Anyone in this star system, anyone occupying any of the facilities of Unity Alternate, this is Admiral Geary of the Alliance fleet. We are here on orders of the Alliance government to occupy and neutralize these facilities. If anyone is in need of rescue or evacuation, we will assist you. Anyone working on the facilities must accept the authority of the Alliance government and also prepare for evacuation. Contact me and provide your status as soon as possible. The First Fleet of the Alliance is on its way to your orbital location. To the honor of our ancestors, Geary, out.”

It would take at least fourteen hours for any replies to come in, and he had no intention of waiting around the hypernet gate until that happened. “All units in First Fleet, come starboard—” He stopped abruptly. “Wait one.”

“What’s the matter?” Desjani asked.

“Starboard. Port,” Geary said. “Toward the star or away from the star. Which star?”

“Oh. It’s a close binary.” She smiled ruefully. “We haven’t had that problem in systems with one star, have we?”

Geary tapped his fingers impatiently as he thought. “It’s all arbitrary anyway. We say one way is up and the other down.” He activated his comms again. “This is Admiral Geary. The brighter star in this system is designated Alpha and the other star is designated Beta. All maneuvering commands and fleet navigational settings will treat Alpha as the reference star. All units in First Fleet, come starboard zero seven degrees, down one zero degrees at time two five. Accelerate to point two light speed.” He was not going to waste time getting this job done.

The ships of the Alliance formation pivoted around
Dauntless
, the cylinder shape reorienting along the long-curving path that would bring the fleet near the orbiting facilities.

“Thirty-eight hours until we reach the orbiting facilities,” Lieutenant Castries said.

“We might as well relax.” Geary activated comms again. “All units in First Fleet, stand down from battle alert.”

Desjani glanced at him. “You’re not relaxing, I notice. Is it for the same reason I’m not?”

“What’s your reason?” Geary asked.

“This situation stinks. We have never encountered the entire force of dark ships at once. They have always apparently left some of their ships here at their base. If nothing else, some of the dark ships we damaged at Bhavan should still be here, and even if they were concealed in the docks, we would be able to pick up indications that repair work was being conducted inside some of those docks.”

“Yeah,” Geary agreed. “That’s my reason, too. I thought we would at least encounter a guard force of some kind.”