The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Leviathan (9 page)

“A month, give or take a few days,” Smythe said.

“Can we legally spend that money if we’ve been told to send it elsewhere?”

Lieutenant Jamenson smiled. “Yes, sir. There are some amazing loopholes in official regulations. It will take some careful maneuvering, but we can drive a transport full of cash through them. After spending the money, I will inform everyone expecting it that it has already been spent, though saying it in such a way that it will take everyone months to figure out that has happened.”

“I’m glad that you’re on our side, Lieutenant. Is there anything else?”

Smythe looked thoughtful. “There are some critical parts and materials I would dearly like to lay my hands on, Admiral. But there are a few obstacles hindering my acquisition of them. Could you persuade Captain Desjani to loan me Master Chief Gioninni for a few days?”

“A few days?” Geary asked. “I’m sure that can be worked out. What exactly are we talking about doing?”

“Oh, Admiral, do you
really
want to know? Or do you want the parts and materials?”

Geary sighed. “I need to know if this is anything that will get anyone court-martialed.”

“No, sir!” Smythe said, not-quite-successfully feigning shock at the question. “That would mean someone was committing theft. Did you know, Admiral, that legally no one can be charged with theft unless it is proven that they never intended returning whatever they might have taken? Assuming something was taken.”

“You know,” Geary said, “I think I’m going to stop asking questions.”

“Good,” Smythe approved with a grin. “I was about to ask Lieutenant Jamenson to start answering you. By the time she was done, you wouldn’t know your left hand from your right.”

Geary waved dismissal to Smythe and Jamenson. “Thank you, both. Do what we discussed. I’m going to send fleet headquarters a direct and simple message, though, telling them that if they want this fleet to be in any condition to defend the Alliance they need to give it the money to maintain itself.”

“Do you think that will actually produce any results?” Smythe asked.

“Whether it does or not, it will be part of the official record, and no one will be able to claim I never told them there was a problem,” Geary replied.

“They’ll classify it, refuse to admit that it ever existed.”

“Did I mention who the information copies are going to?” Geary asked.

Smythe grinned. “Now it’s my turn not to ask questions.”

—

THE
light showing the arrival of a ship at the jump point from Bhavan had barely appeared when a frantic message from that ship came on its heels. “There are warships cruising through Bhavan Star System! They
won’t answer any comms, they don’t match known Alliance ships, and they have intercepted and destroyed half a dozen freighters and other civil shipping in the days before we managed to reach the jump point for Varandal! We were lucky to get away with our lives! We need assistance!”

“The software patches are spreading,” Desjani said as Geary took his seat next to hers on the bridge of
Dauntless
. “Bhavan is able to see the dark ships, too.”

“But that ship is reporting a half dozen attacks on civil shipping,” Geary said, frowning at his display. “In a few days. The reports that Admiral Timbale had received didn’t reflect attacks with anywhere near that frequency.”

“Can the dark ships tell when we can see them? Maybe that’s what triggered these attacks.”

Geary didn’t answer, gazing at the detailed data the ship from Bhavan had attached to its plea for help. “Four battleships.”

“Damn,” Desjani breathed. “Ten heavy cruisers. Twenty destroyers. Nice round numbers. If they decide to start shooting up Bhavan like they did Atalia . . .”

“There won’t be much left of Bhavan.” He frowned again as he studied the data. “Look at their movements in the days before that ship jumped for here. It’s like the dark ships were enforcing a blockade.”

“A blockade? Of Bhavan?” Desjani squinted at her own display, where the same data was shown, then nodded. “Yeah. If the ship that jumped here hadn’t been positioned well relative to the jump point for Varandal, they never would have made it. There were a couple of dark destroyers on their tail.”

“Which explains why that ship is racing in-system toward us,” Geary said. His hand moved to the comm controls. “All units in First Fleet, be aware that two dark destroyers may be pursuing the ship that just arrived from Bhavan. First Battle Cruiser Division, you are to move immediately to intercept the incoming ship and protect it if necessary from any pursuers. Geary, out.”

“Captain?” the comm watch-stander said. “That message the ship from Bhavan sent. It was a universal broadcast. Every receiver in this star system will get it.”

It took a moment for the significance of that to strike home. Every receiver. Not just Admiral Timbale’s comm systems on Ambaru Station, or the other military and official comm systems throughout Varandal, but every civil and press receiver as well.

“That cat is out of the bag,” Desjani said. “I hope the government surprises me and has already started trying to do something, though from the looks of what’s happening at Bhavan some more of the dark ships are operating outside their intended orders.”

“Maybe a training scenario that they’re implementing as if it were real,” Geary speculated. “Or malware that activated offensive tactics against what the dark ships should recognize as a friendly star system.”

“Whatever the reason, it’s produced a real threat. What are we going to do?”

“The only thing we can do,” Geary said. “Go to Bhavan and lift that blockade.”

“I’m not looking forward to trying to stop dark battleships,” Desjani said in a low voice.

“Neither am I,” Geary replied. He hesitated, frowning again. “Tanya, the dark ships are at Bhavan, right next to Varandal.”

“In terms of a galactic scale, yes, a few light-years is right next to,” she agreed.

“They’re not hitting Bhavan. They’re blockading it. But one ship got away. To here. To let us know that dark ships were hanging around Bhavan.”

Desjani eyed him. “That’s . . . interesting.” She looked back at her display. “Lieutenant Castries, run some quick analysis of what that ship from Bhavan sent us. I want to know if those two dark destroyers could have caught it before it jumped.”

“Yes, Captain.” It only took a minute or so before Castries spoke
again. “Uncertain, Captain. There is a seventy percent possibility that the dark ships could have intercepted that ship before it jumped, but thirty percent uncertainty due to gaps in the data we were sent.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant.”

“Captain? Why would they have let that ship escape?”

Geary answered. “So that we would know they were there.”

“With four battleships,” Desjani added. “So when we came to deal with them, we would come with as much force as we could muster. Sir, they want us to come to Bhavan.”

“It sure looks that way,” Geary said.

“So, what are we going to do?” Desjani asked again.

“The only thing we can do,” Geary repeated. “We’re going to Bhavan.”

“YOU’VE
done this kind of thing before,” Captain Badaya pointed out. “You believe that the dark ships are programmed to mimic your tactics, and you have sometimes waited in ambush at a jump point where you expected the enemy to arrive.”

“It’s not a tactic unique to Admiral Geary,” Captain Armus pointed out, his tone gruff. Never a cheerful man, he had been particularly unhappy ever since the dark battle cruisers had so easily slipped through a screen he commanded.

“No,” Badaya admitted. “Hell, the Syndics have done it, too.” He laughed abruptly. “And you think Admiral Bloch commands the dark ships? What was his last battle?”

“Prime,” Tulev said, his tone carrying no trace of humor.

“Right! Prime, where he commanded the fleet, and waltzed us right into a Syndic ambush that hit us as we exited the hypernet gate there.” Badaya looked around the table. “Many of you know Bloch, too. If he still has control of the dark ships, don’t you think he’d try to copy the last successful battle he experienced?”

“Bloch would certainly want to replay such a fight with him on the winning side this time,” Desjani said.

“Does anyone disagree that this situation stinks of an attempt to lure this fleet into ambush at Bhavan?” Captain Duellos asked. He had arrived very recently, dashing home from leave as word spread through the Alliance of something very wrong that had touched Geary’s fleet.

No one spoke up.

Duellos turned to look at Geary. “But you are planning on taking the fleet to Bhavan?”

“Yes,” Geary said. “Because Bhavan has more than one jump point.”

The faces looking back at him, every commanding officer of every ship in the fleet apparently gathered at one immense table thanks to virtual conferencing software, shifted from disbelieving to realization.

“Hypernet to Molnir,” Badaya said with a grin.

“And jump from Molnir to Bhavan,” Duellos added. “It will take some more time than a straight jump to Bhavan, but neither Admiral Bloch nor the dark ships are likely to expect it. They will think that we are charging to the rescue, hoping to cut off and destroy the dark ships seen at Bhavan.”

“Will they wait long enough at Bhavan for us to take the roundabout way?” Armus asked.

Tulev answered. “If the dark ships are there to ambush Admiral Geary and this fleet, they will wait.”

“But what if we’re wrong about that?” Captain Vitali of the battle cruiser
Daring
asked. “What if they only wait for a certain period determined by whatever probabilities they have calculated, then bombard the hell out of Bhavan before they go home?”

“There isn’t any way to know for certain,” Desjani said. “They’re AIs. They should be a lot more patient than any human commander.”

“Unless Admiral Bloch is there commanding them!”

“Would Bloch bombard Bhavan?” someone asked.

Geary looked around the vast, virtual table again. “Many of you know Admiral Bloch better than I do. Would he take such a step?”

Duellos shook his head. “Mass murder? Not to an Alliance star system. He wants to be seen as the savior of the Alliance, not as someone who did what a Syndic commander would have done.”

“I agree,” Desjani said. “Ambitious as all hell, willing to sacrifice those in his way, happy to smash a Syndic star system that way, yes. But hitting Bhavan like that would be the kind of black mark that would prevent him from ever being accepted as the heir to Black Jack.” She must have noticed the wince that Geary couldn’t suppress. “Sorry, Admiral. But everyone who knows him would agree that Admiral Bloch has a bad case of Geary Syndrome.”

One of the many things that Geary had never expected to have happen was that his name and the legend the government had manufactured around it after his supposed death would be attached to a psychological disorder describing those who believed they were uniquely qualified to save the Alliance. The irony was that he himself, the real Black Jack, had never believed that he was such a person even though it seemed like most of the rest of humanity did. Nor, as far as he could tell, did his grand-niece Jane Geary think so highly of herself. Gearys seemed to be uniquely immune to Geary Syndrome.

“And if Bloch’s not there?” Vitali pressed. “How can we be sure how those dark ships will react?”

“We cannot be,” Duellos said.

“Is there something in particular that concerns you, Captain Vitali?” Geary said. “Something about the dark ships that we’ve seen but the rest of us might not have noticed?”

Vitali glared at the table, though his upset clearly wasn’t aimed at Geary or the question. “If there was one thing I saw that causes me to question how they . . . think . . . it was what the second battle cruiser did just short of Ambaru Station. Falling back to be with its crippled comrade. None of us expected that.” He looked around the table, his grim expression challenging anyone to claim otherwise, but no one did. “How long would you wait, sir?” he asked Geary. “How long before you assumed the enemy was doing something other than what you wanted?”

“That’s a legitimate question,” Geary said. He paused to think, aware of all of the eyes upon him. “There are two things we have to consider. One is that I wouldn’t have set things up that way. If I had the superiority in maneuverability and firepower that the dark ships do, and knew that this fleet had as much maintenance work going as it does, which also means this fleet is spread across a wide swath of this star system and not concentrated for battle, I would have come charging in here to see how much damage I could do.”

Desjani grinned in approval.

Vitali nodded. “That’s true. They’re being more cautious than you would be. That does sound like Admiral Bloch is calling the shots at Bhavan, or at least planned the action.”

“It’s also old doctrine for confronting a strong opponent,” Geary said. “They may just be using that doctrine as a template for action. The second thing we need to remember is that the AIs controlling the dark ships are not really being human. They’re just acting human. Right?” Geary asked of everyone. “That second battle cruiser didn’t fall back to its stricken comrade because of any emotional imperative or loyalty. It did it because its programming told it to do that.”

Captain Casia of the battleship
Conqueror
rubbed his chin. “It wasn’t acting human, it was simulating how it thought a human should act. That’s what you mean, isn’t it? How you, specifically, would act, Admiral.” Casia turned a keen look on Geary. “Would you have dropped back if it had been you commanding that second battle cruiser?”

Geary frowned, thrown off-balance by the question. “I haven’t really considered that.”

“You wouldn’t have,” Captain Badaya announced confidently.

“What makes you so certain of that?” Casia replied, sounding genuinely curious.

“Because we’ve seen it.” Badaya pointed at Geary. “He knows what the mission is. He doesn’t abandon us, but he also doesn’t make futile
gestures. He is willing to accept when losses must be taken to get the job done.”

“Your example being . . . ?”

Badaya, undiplomatic and socially inept as he was, still managed to look uncomfortable as he answered. “
Repulse
.”

It took Geary a few moments to realize that he had closed his eyes and was striving to settle the emotions that had uncoiled inside him. He took a deep breath, opening his eyes and focusing on Badaya, who was frowning in distress but also defiantly.

Tanya looked ready to bite off Badaya’s head.

“You’re right,” Geary said into the silence that had fallen, surprised at how steady his voice sounded. “It is not easy for me to acknowledge that, but you are right. For anyone who is unaware, when I assumed command of the fleet at Prime,
Repulse
had already suffered serious propulsion damage. When I made the decision to lead the fleet in an escape, the commanding officer of
Repulse
”—Michael Geary, his own grand-nephew, Jane Geary’s brother—“volunteered to help hold off the Syndic pursuit long enough to ensure the rest of the fleet escaped.”

“And you accepted what Captain Michael Geary offered,” Captain Tulev said, his own voice as dispassionate as usual. “Because you knew the necessity of it. As you knew the necessity of fighting your heavy cruiser
Merlon
to the end at Grendel. Captain Badaya is correct. The dark ships are programmed to follow a model of your actions that does not give sufficient weight to your ability to recognize when you must do what is required no matter the cost.”

“They still think you’re soft,” Badaya added, rousing himself again now that the wave of disapproval had faded. “I did, too. A lot of us did. You came out of the past and reminded us that our ancestors would never have accepted the practices that we had grown to accept without even thinking. Killing prisoners. Bombarding cities. It took many of us a while to see that your objections reflected wisdom, not softness. But the people in charge of the people who did the programming, to
them who have not served directly under you, they still think you’re too humanitarian, and that’s the model the dark ships are working on.”

“He has an excellent point,” Duellos said, looking at Geary. “How we can use it, I don’t know, but at the least it would imply that the dark ships will assume that you will come to rescue the people of Bhavan no matter the risk.”

“Admiral Bloch would assume the same,” Tulev said.

“What about those two agents?” asked Captain Parr, commanding officer of the
Incredible
. “The ones who tried to take over Ambaru?”

“They’re still aboard
Dauntless
, in our most secure confinement conditions,” Desjani replied. “And they’re still not saying much. We got some initial self-justifying statements, but since then nothing. Our interrogators say they’ve been well trained on dealing with interrogation methods and equipment.”

“If they are legitimate, sooner or later orders will come in telling us we have to release them.”

She smiled at Parr. “We’ll have to ensure the orders are legitimate. It might take a lot of back-and-forth, a lot of time, to be absolutely certain.”

Parr grinned. “Good. I want them aboard our ships when we face the dark ships. Maybe that will loosen their lips.”

“Speaking of loose lips,” Captain Duellos said, “are we certain that the dark ships cannot monitor our own comms, cannot break into our fleet net?”

“They could have at one time,” Geary said. “We’re now operating on a unique set of codes for comms within the fleet. Our code monkeys swear the dark ships cannot break those codes before we do automatic changes at random intervals.”

“How much are you taking to Bhavan, Admiral?” one of the heavy cruiser commanders asked. “How much of the fleet?”

“As much as I can,” Geary said. “Even if we only find the dark ships that were there in the last report, four battleships and their escorts, it
will still be a tough fight. There is a possibility that someone will arrive with the necessary codes to shut down the dark ships before they do more damage, but odds are we’re going to be responsible for cleaning up the mess before it gets a lot worse. Prepare your ships for action at Bhavan.”

As the images of the commanding officers vanished in a flurry, the apparent size of the conference room and the table shrank at a matching rate, until Geary was standing in a moderately sized compartment at a table that could have sat ten people comfortably, the only one left with him the real presence of Tanya Desjani.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

He nodded, not saying anything.

“Badaya shouldn’t have brought that up. He’s a clueless oaf, but he’s not usually that brainless—”

“Tanya.” Geary gave her a rueful look. “He was right. In a critical situation, the dark ships might well assume that I will go for a crippled companion, abandoning the mission in the process. If Badaya hadn’t brought that up directly, I might have shied from considering it. You know as well as anyone how I never like to think about watching
Repulse
die, and wondering whether or not Michael Geary made it off the ship in time.”

She sighed heavily. “I guess Badaya has his uses. That must be why I haven’t killed the idiot yet.”

“That, and it would be against regulations.”

“Yeah. I have to set a good example for the junior officers, who thanks to you have a much better chance of living long enough to grow into senior officers.” She ran one hand through her hair, grimacing. “Badaya is lucky Jane Geary wasn’t here, though. Speaking of which, in case you haven’t noticed, Jane Geary forgave you some time ago.”

“I noticed. She had a lot to be angry about.”

Desjani’s grimace changed into a scowl. “No, she didn’t. You didn’t create the legend of Black Jack that meant every Geary in your family
had to join the fleet in order to carry on the great tradition. You didn’t start the war in the first place. You didn’t choose to get stuck in a damaged escape pod that had nearly exhausted its power when we finally found you after a century—”

“I really don’t like to think about
that
either, Tanya,” Geary objected.

“Sorry. And you didn’t take the fleet to Prime to fall into a Syndic trap that nearly destroyed the fleet and lost the war.” Desjani fixed him with a demanding gaze. “Did you? And you didn’t even ask Michael Geary to cover the retreat. He volunteered, sparing you having to ask him. Jane Geary was angry at Black Jack. She never should have been angry at you, and, eventually, she realized that.”

“Thanks,” Geary said. “It’s still hard . . .” He paused, looking toward the star display floating over the center of the table. “And speaking of hard, I need to call Roberto Duellos back.”

“Do you mind if I stay?” Desjani asked.

“No, I guess not.” Geary tapped the controls, and after a few seconds, the image of Duellos reappeared, standing beside the table.

“Admiral?” His gaze shifted to Desjani. “Personal or professional?”

“Professional,” Geary said. “
Inspire
will take at least another week in dock before she can get underway again.”

Duellos hesitated. “I am going to make that happen faster than scheduled.”