The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Invincible (34 page)

“The one thing I don’t think we need to worry about is the Syndics fighting us.” The need for haste weighed on him now, but he also knew that it would take his fleet five hours to reach the enigma force at its current velocity. Far wiser to figure out the situation in this star system, then act.

Desjani shook her head. “That CEO in charge of their ships when we came through here last. What was her name? Kolani. She was tough and mean. She’d love to fight us, even if that only meant finishing off our wounded after the enigmas had crippled us.”

Three Syndic flotillas—though all three were tiny compared to the Alliance and enigma forces. One battleship and two heavy cruisers at the orbital dock near the gas giant; another battleship along with six heavy cruisers, four light cruisers, and ten Hunter-Killers hovering near the hypernet gate; and two heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, and twelve HuKs on their way toward the gas giant on a vector that indicated they had come from near the inhabited planet.

“If the Syndics can gather all of their forces together, combine those three little flotillas—” Geary began.

“They’d have one little flotilla,” Desjani said. “If you add up the forces coming from the planet and the ones at the gas giant, not counting that battleship, you’d have about what the Syndics had here last time we came through. It looks like it’s been quiet here. Those guys near the hypernet gate must be reinforcements from the Syndic central government at Prime.”

“It’s not much,” Geary conceded, “but two battleships can’t be discounted.” He had barely finished speaking when one of the threat markers on his display altered, changing its message. “Assessed nonoperational? The battleship at the gas giant isn’t in fighting condition?”

“That’s what the fleet sensors say, Admiral,” Lieutenant Yuon confirmed. “From analysis of the outer hull, it looks to be brand-new, but from everything the sensors can pick up in terms of activity and equipment, it’s estimated to still be under construction.”

“That would explain why it’s at Midway’s orbiting shipyard dock,” Desjani said. “The two heavy cruisers must be with it as protection, then.”

Lieutenant Iger’s face appeared near Geary. “Admiral, we’ve intercepted a message that was sent to the orbital dock near the gas giant from the Syndicate Worlds’ flotilla near the hypernet gate. We were close enough to the path of the transmission to grab it. The message identifies the commander of the flotilla near the gate as CEO Boyens.”

“I guess they didn’t shoot him,” Desjani said, sounding slightly disappointed.

“More importantly,” Iger continued, “is what the message said. We couldn’t break it completely, but we can say with confidence that it was a demand to surrender.”

It took Geary a moment to answer that. “Surrender? Was it aimed at the cruisers and battleship or the dock facility?”

“All of them, Admiral. We’re certain of that.”

“Who would be crazy enough to rebel with a battleship that wasn’t operational?” Desjani wondered. “So that force heading toward them from the planet is on their way to deal with the rebels there, too.”

“Perhaps not.” Lieutenant Iger spoke quickly. “Fleet sensors have spotted some indications of damage in several of the cities on the primary world. There’s repair work under way already, but the damage was extensive enough to still be apparent.”

“Bombardment by the enigmas?” Geary asked. “No. There hasn’t been enough time for a bombardment by that force to reach the inhabited world, hit, and repair work to begin.”

“That’s correct, sir. And there are no bombardment craters visible. It looks like the sort of damage that would be caused by serious ground fighting.”

Ground fighting. Who had been fighting whom? “Is there a civil war under way here?”

“No, sir. We’d have seen signs of that kind of fighting right away. Whatever happened is past.”

“Somebody won and somebody lost,” Desjani observed. “If the ships at the gas giant and the orbital dock are rebels, maybe they won there and lost on the planet.”

Iger was listening to someone with him and reading rapidly. “Admiral, there’s a lot of very unusual signal traffic in this star system, messages that predate our arrival and the arrival of the enigmas. That message from the flotilla led by CEO Boyens is in regular Syndic format, but the locals
haven’t
been using standard Syndic codes recently, though they still seem to be sticking to Syndic protocols. The news-media transmissions we’re picking up talk about ‘President’ Iceni and ‘General’ Drakon as if those two are in charge here. From the videos, those are the same people we knew as CEO Iceni and CEO Drakon.”

“Now we know who won,” Geary told Desjani.

“‘President’ Iceni”? Desjani asked. “Like someone elected her? Who are they kidding?”

“Wasn’t there another CEO on the planet?” Geary asked.

Lieutenant Iger answered. “Yes, sir. CEO Hardrad. I can’t find any mention of him in any of the current message traffic. Iceni was in overall charge of the star system, Drakon was the military ground forces commander, and Hardrad was in charge of Syndic internal security in this star system.”

Internal security. On a Syndicate Worlds’ planet, that meant a lot more than simply police. It meant someone who kept the population under control. But if Hardrad was gone . . .

“Hold on,” Geary said. “If the people running things here, Iceni and Drakon, revolted against the Syndics and got rid of Hardrad, then that flotilla with the working battleship in it, the one under Boyens’s command, might not have been reinforcements at all.”

Iger said something rapidly to someone beside him, got an answer, and nodded to Geary. “Yes, Admiral. That’s a real possibility. That flotilla may have been sent here to bring a system in revolt back under control of the Syndic government on Prime.”

“Do we
know
who owns the battleship that doesn’t work?” Desjani asked.

“Yes, Captain,” Iger replied. “From the communications patterns it is under the control of the authorities on the planet.”

Desjani gasped a short laugh. “This isn’t a three-way fight. It’s a four-way fight. Us, the enigmas, the Syndics, and the rebels. All we have to do is figure out what the other three are going to do.”

“I know what Boyens will do,” Geary said, pointing to the Syndic flotilla near the hypernet gate. “When we had him aboard
Dauntless
as a prisoner, he struck me as being deliberate and calculating. He tried to figure out where each possible move would lead before he acted, and even then preferred to wait to see what others did before he committed himself to a course of action. He’s almost certainly here with orders to subdue the rebels in this star system. Getting involved with fighting the enigmas might damage or destroy his own ships, making it harder or impossible to defeat the rebels. So he’ll stand off from any fighting, stay near the hypernet gate, and wait for us to beat the enigmas. Once that is done, he’ll move in on the rebels, who might have lost ships to the enigmas during the fight, and regain control of Midway. To Boyens, that will be a win-win solution.”

“What about the rebels, Admiral?” Lieutenant Iger asked. “Wouldn’t it be to their advantage to also avoid getting involved in the fight so they could conserve their forces for the eventual battle with Boyens’s flotilla?”

Desjani snorted. “Let’s you and him fight. Sounds like Syndics, all right. They’ll just wait to see how much damage we and the enigmas do to each other.”

“If we need them, the rebels will have to act with us,” Geary said, drawing a skeptical look from Desjani. “If we lose, then they face not just Boyens, who wants to bring them back into the Syndic fold—”

“Which doubtless means busy firing squads for weeks and weeks,” Desjani broke in.

“—but they also face the enigmas, who, as far as they know, want to wipe them out.”

“That’s a point,” she conceded.

“They might also want our gratitude,” Lieutenant Iger pointed out. “A reason for us to back them against the Syndicate Worlds’ flotilla.”

Geary sat back, thinking out options, while everyone waited. He could feel them trying not to watch him as the seconds ticked past. “We arrived twenty minutes ago. In ten more minutes, the enigma force will know we’ve arrived. They’re here, they’re waiting here, to destroy us. I fully expect that as soon as they see us, those enigmas will accelerate straight for us and bring us to battle.”

Desjani nodded. “Agreed. So where do we go?”

“We go to meet them, Captain. Meet them and kick them back into their territory so hard they won’t be able to stop skidding until they reach Pandora.”

He knew those words would be repeated around the fleet, or at least the portion of it that had arrived at Midway, and, from the shouts already echoing through
Dauntless
, that they would be greeted with approval. “All units, this is Admiral Geary. Immediate execute, accelerate to point one five light speed.”

Geary called General Charban. “General, that message you put together offering the enigmas an agreement in which we leave them alone, and they leave us alone. Broadcast it to that enigma force here. I don’t expect them to take the offer, but I want to try.”

Charban nodded in sad agreement. “I think they will need at least one more unmistakable lesson that force cannot achieve their goals with us. The message will be sent immediately, Admiral, and I will let you know the instant that I receive a reply, if any reply comes.”

Geary reactivated the window where Lieutenant Iger waited. “Lieutenant, find out everything you can about the situation in this star system. Confirm who really is in charge, what they’ve been doing, and anything else that might influence my decisions on what I should do.”

Iger saluted, his image vanishing.

As the main propulsion units on the battle cruisers, light cruisers, and destroyers of the pursuit force kicked in, Geary saw another large virtual window pop up next to him. The only thing visible inside the window was text, which to his quick glance looked a lot like an official document of some kind. A voice began reciting words as those same words were highlighted in the document. “Fleet regulations mandate that no ship is allowed to go under seventy percent fuel-cell level in the course of operations so as to ensure sufficient power reserves to cope with any outcome or contingency. Any unit reaching the seventy percent level must immediately—”

Geary finally found his fleet commander override and punched it.

The voice stopped. Then it started again.

He hit override once more.

The voice made a third effort and Geary held down the override this time. Once certain that the subroutine installed in the fleet’s systems by headquarters had been choked into a coma by this final effort, he checked the fleet status readouts, seeing that after the dash through Pele his destroyers were either at or rapidly approaching the seventy-percent mark.

“Problem?” Desjani asked, her voice tense at the possibility that Geary’s comms might be acting up again.

“Staff infection,” Geary explained, using the standard fleet term for mandatory subroutines loaded into fleet systems to enforce headquarters rules and requirements. “The destroyers are getting down to seventy percent on fuel cells.”

“Oh, no,” Desjani said in a noticeably insincere way. “What will you do? Halt the battle? Ask the enigmas to hold off until we’re ready to fight in accordance with fleet regulations?”

“No.” Geary tapped his comm controls. “All units, this is Admiral Geary. I take full, personal responsibility for the fuel-cell levels on every ship of this fleet. You will continue operations under my express orders, here placed officially in the record.”

“You can get court-martialed for that, you know,” Desjani said.

“I’ve heard that.”

Desjani’s next statement was cut off by the appearance of Emissary Rione, striding down to stand next to Geary’s seat on the side away from Desjani. “What are you going to do?” Rione asked.

“Defeat the enigmas,” Geary said, his tone as short as his answer. “Which I think will be necessary.”

“And then? CEO Boyens will surely ask your assistance in ‘reestablishing order’ within this star system.”

“I can’t stop him from asking,” Geary said.

Rione glared at him. “Admiral, we
need
this star system. It is not only the gateway to enigma territory, but is also our only known connection to spider-wolf-controlled regions.”

“Believe me, Madam Emissary, I am abundantly aware of that.” Geary drummed his fingers on one armrest. “Are you about to tell me I have to help Boyens and the Syndicate government reassert control here?”

“I am telling you, Admiral, that there is already a major fight under way in this star system, one that could inflict serious collateral damage on everything here. A battle between Syndic loyalists and the rebel forces controlling this star system could easily cause even more damage. We do
not
need a star system blown apart by civil war and destroyed in the name of saving it from the enigmas.”

“Your concerns are noted, Madam Emissary,” Geary said, keeping his own tone of voice cool this time. “I will endeavor to ensure that any destruction is limited to things, people, and places that are not of any particular concern to the Alliance.”

Rione’s expression became like stone, but when she leaned in close to talk to him, her voice held plenty of emotion. “Dammit, listen to me,
Black Jack
. You may think that you can do anything you want right now, but the truth is that a wrong step could destroy everything.”