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

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Authors: Jack Campbell

BOOK: The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught
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“Do you know anything about Drakon’s relationship with Iceni?”
“No, sir. I’ll see what I can find out.”
 
 
 
DR
. Setin had a querulous expression. “Admiral, how much longer until we encounter the enigma race?”
“We’re heading for the jump point to a star controlled by them, Doctor,” Geary assured him.
“Many of my colleagues are concerned about the violent nature of much of the human interaction with the enigma race to date.”
“Believe me, Doctor, I’m concerned about it, too.”
 
 
 
ICENI
was smiling again. “I have no hesitation in promising to abide by your conditions, Admiral Geary.”
No further bargaining, just an immediate promise. He was really starting to distrust politicians who quickly agreed to something. But he could always repudiate any claims beyond the terms of what he had agreed to, and Iceni’s words would not bind him if they weren’t true. Who would take the word of a Syndic CEO over his?
“The information you requested is being transmitted separately,” Iceni continued. “That transmission identifies the gift of the design as a thanks for the services your forces have rendered to the defense of this star system. If your experts have any questions about the design or its operation, contact me using this same connection.
“As for CEO Boyens, he’s not here. Not in this star system, I mean. He rode one of the courier ships back to the home star system, where he thought his information and experiences might prove to his advantage with the new government.” Her smile twisted a little. “CEO Boyens is an ambitious man. I’m afraid that I can’t tell you anything else. We have not heard from him since his departure. Our communications with the central government and the home star system have been sporadic over the last few months.”
Her smile faded, replaced by what seemed to be real concern. “I will not attempt to minimize my worries about what might happen to your fleet inside enigma space, Admiral Geary. The Syndicate Worlds has lost many ships there, vanished without a trace. But that was before the discovery of the quantum worms. This time may be different. I cannot dictate your actions, but I ask you to keep in mind the welfare of my people when deciding on what to do, and if you have the opportunity to reach any agreements with the enigmas. I am providing you in another separate transmission with the latest information we have on file for the star systems now within enigma space, not because I must, but because we are allies in this matter, strange as that may seem, whether we will it or not. If you reference on any other communication channel our agreement, anything we have discussed here, or anything I have provided through this channel, I will deny any knowledge of it. For the people, Iceni, out.”
 
 
THE
Syndic flotilla, as hugely outnumbered as it was, had shadowed the Alliance fleet at a distance of two light hours all the way to the jump point. Before ordering the jump, Geary checked again to see if any reply had come from Rogero. But there had been nothing. The fleet’s sensors hadn’t picked up any unusual activity among the Syndics, so whatever Iceni was planning apparently wouldn’t happen while the Alliance fleet was in this star system.
He called Commander Neeson on
Implacable
. “Have you finished analyzing that Syndic collapse-prevention system?”
“Yes, sir. It should work.” Neeson pursed his lips. “I’m surprised that we didn’t hear about anything similar being developed by the Alliance before we left, sir.”
“Me, too, Commander. It could be they’ve already fielded a similar design back home.”
“You’re not sending a ship back immediately with this design, sir? Just in case the Alliance hasn’t developed their own?”
Geary shook his head. “It’s the same problem as the one with our high-ranking liberated prisoners. I’d need to send substantial forces back as escorts, and I don’t want to weaken the fleet that much before we find out what kind of problems we’re going to face inside alien space. Besides, that ship couldn’t get home for weeks, and if the aliens intend collapsing the Alliance hypernet in retaliation, they would do it long before that when we enter their space.”
“Perhaps we should delay entering enigma space until we know the Alliance has the devices installed, Admiral.”
“No,” Geary said. “I considered that, but the travel time alone for voyages back to Alliance space, then returning here would add up to a couple of more months, even if the force we sent was not delayed or blocked. I don’t know that the Syndic central government might not attempt to cut off and destroy a smaller, isolated force whose fate the Syndics could then claim to have no knowledge of. If the design made it home, it would take more time for the Alliance to actually test, manufacture, and install the equipment and receive verification of that from every star system on the hypernet. We can’t afford to wait for how long all of that might require, not even knowing if a reply and confirmation will reach us out here.”
One last transmission. “All units be prepared for combat the instant we leave jump at Pele. All ships jump at time three two.”
 
 
THE
fleet exited at Pele with every weapon ready, every man and woman in the fleet ready for a desperate fight. Instead, they found . . .
“Nothing.”
Desjani glared at her combat systems watch-stander. “Are our systems being scrubbed for the alien worms?”
“Scrubs are under way and continuous, Captain. There’s nothing here.”
Geary kept checking his display, unable to believe that there was no sign of any alien presence at Pele. Tanya’s suspicion about the alien worms had also been the first thing to occur to him. Those worms, using principles unknown to humanity, had been discovered only thanks to an intuition on the part of Jaylen Cresida before her death. Hidden inside the sensor and targeting systems on human ships, the worms had let the aliens control what humans saw of the outside universe, All too often, that had meant that the alien ships had been effectively invisible.
But there didn’t appear to be any alien worms deceiving their sensors this time, and what the sensors could see wasn’t impressive. Two inner worlds of modest size whirled about the star, but this star system lacked the usual array of gas giants farther out. Instead, a single massive planet orbited, so large it had become a brown dwarf, radiating heat but not strongly enough to classify it as a star in its own right. Between the star Pele and the brown dwarf, the two inner planets received an uncomfortable amount of heat, rendering all of them too warm for human habitation even though one of the worlds had some primitive extreme life-forms living on it.
On one of the inner worlds, a new massive crater could be seen, one that didn’t exist on the Syndic records they had been provided. That same planet had once had a large Syndic facility in orbit. “The aliens deorbited it intact, and it made a big bang when it hit,” Desjani commented. “Run the finest-grain analysis of this star system we can,” she ordered her bridge team. “If there’s an alien molecule here, I want to know where it is.”
“Why wouldn’t they at least have some kind of surveillance satellite?” Geary wondered. “Something to monitor the system and know if anyone else came here? Why don’t they have a picket ship watching to give warning that someone was heading into their territory?”
“Over-confidence?” Desjani suggested. “Maybe they only wanted this star system as a springboard to attack Midway, not as part of their own security buffer.”
“Maybe. As soon as the fleet’s systems confirm the location of the jump point for Hina, we’ll head for it.”
“Hina? Not Hua?”
“Hua is a more direct line toward what we think is alien territory,” Geary agreed. “But the Syndics had placed a colony at Hina. It looks like they intended to use Hina as a source to seed other colonies and base their forces out here. I want to see what’s at Hina.”
Another window popped up. “Admiral,” Dr. Setin said, “there are no aliens in this star system.”
“We’ve noticed that, Doctor. We’ll be proceeding directly to another star system deeper in alien space.”
“Will there be aliens there?”
“I hope so. How are you and the Marines getting along?” Geary asked to change the subject.
“Very well! These Marines have a unique and fascinating way of processing, evaluating, and understanding information. Their intellectual mechanisms are distinct from those I have encountered in the past. In some ways it’s almost as if they were a separate variant of the human race.”
“I’ve heard other people say much the same thing, Doctor. Please give my regards to General Carabali.”
They had only been at Pele for an hour when Geary’s display flickered, then a few moments later flickered again. Desjani’s must have done the same, because the instant after the second flicker, she was spinning in her seat to snap a question at her watch team. “What happened?”
The communications watch answered. “Our systems carried out automatic resets in response to attempts to override controls. Someone put a worm into our systems, but it’s an old design, so the security protocols were able to block it immediately.”
“How did the worm get into
Dauntless
?” Desjani demanded.
The lieutenant on communications watch shook his head. “It couldn’t have come in remotely, Captain. Our systems would have blocked it there. Someone aboard
Dauntless
manually inserted it.”
Desjani turned a narrow-eyed look on Geary. “Someone on
Dauntless
, using an old design. Who do you suppose could have been involved?”
He nodded back to her. “Some of our liberated prisoners. What was that worm trying to make the comm systems do?”
“Broadcast a message to the fleet, Admiral. The worm tried to self-destruct the message when it was blocked, but our systems recovered it.” The lieutenant paused. “Sir,
Haboob
is reporting a similar attempt to commandeer her comm systems a few minutes ago.”
“Oh, yeah,” Desjani said sarcastically, “it’s going to be very hard to figure out who was behind this.”
“Can you route to me the message the worm tried to broadcast?” Geary asked the lieutenant.
“Yes, sir. The worm has been deactivated, and the message scrubbed for any other worms hidden inside it. It’s clean.”
“Let me see it, then.” He noticed Desjani giving him another look. “And route it to Captain Desjani as well.”
A window popped open before Geary. Several of the former prisoners, all now wearing new uniforms glistening with their rank insignia, decorations, and awards, stood as if addressing their own command. One of them, Admiral Chelak, launched into a speech about honor, fleet traditions, respect for seniority, and the opinions of other officers, the need to resolve command issues—
He cut it off.
“What took you so long?” Desjani asked.
“I wanted to see if they’d say anything that showed they’d been thinking.” He glowered at his display. “But this appeal to the fleet’s officers means the ones behind this still think they can work against my command even after talking to people in the fleet.”
“Sabotage in a war zone—” Desjani began.
“I can’t just start shooting them, Tanya. Especially since the worm wasn’t designed to actually cause damage.”
“It
was
designed to incite mutiny.”
“That’s true.” He thumped a control. “Madam Emissary Rione, someone aboard
Dauntless
placed a worm in her systems. I will give you the opportunity to speak with Commander Benan about that before he is formally interviewed. If he was aware of or involved in the matter, an admission and cooperation at this point will be taken into account. While speaking with Commander Benan, you might also ensure that he is fully aware of recent history with worms in this fleet, both alien in origin and those created by internal enemies.”
Rione gazed back at him, her expression as stiff as if molded of metal. “Thank you. I’ll speak with him.”
Desjani waited until Geary was done. “As commanding officer of
Dauntless
, I have an obligation to launch an investigation.”
“Do so, Captain Desjani. Please take into account the status of those being questioned. We don’t want to give anyone grounds for claiming they’re being dishonored or disrespected.”
“Yes, sir.”
He gave her a sharp look. “I mean it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Before the day was out, Rione had asked for a private meeting with Geary, bringing along Commander Benan, who stood rigidly at attention as his wife spoke. “He says he placed the worm into
Dauntless
’s systems, Admiral.”
“It was an exercise of our rights to be heard,” Commander Benan said. “I was assured the worm would cause no damage to any ship or system.”
“Nonetheless, Commander,” Geary said, “placing unauthorized software into official systems is contrary to regulations, especially if such software is designed to override normal control functions. Are you aware of what happened to the heavy cruiser
Lorica
?”

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