“Is he for real?” Desjani asked.
“Actually, I’m wondering exactly that,” Geary said. “Is he real? Or are we looking at some recorded warn-off message that was triggered by our own attempts to communicate?”
“Automated comms?” Desjani gestured to her watch-standers. “Check with our experts on whether we can tell if that message was live or not.”
The eventual answer was “no.” “It’s digital,” the comm officer lamented. “We can tell when it was sent, but there’s no attached signature to let us know when it was prepared. Without that time stamp embedded in the message, we can’t tell whether it was put together a few hours ago or six months ago.” The officer paused. “But, presenting merely my opinion, I don’t think this was a live transmission. The wording was very generic, just the sort of thing we get told to put into messages intended for long-term use.”
Geary nodded. “But even if the message was prerecorded, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t sent by someone as opposed to being an automated response.”
“That’s true, Admiral. It doesn’t tell us anything except that whoever occupied those facilities did not have a welcome mat out for visitors.”
Six hours after that, urgent alerts sounded. Geary was already on his way to the bridge again and rushed the final distance, almost leaping into his command seat next to Tanya Desjani’s. “What is it?”
“We’ve probably found some of them,” she said briefly.
It took Geary a moment of studying his display to figure out exactly what he was seeing.
Some of the space docks were opening, their vast doors peeling back. Due to the angle at which the Alliance fleet was looking at the docks, they could not see inside yet, but there was only one plausible reason for those docks to be preparing to launch something. “Whatever is in those docks that are opening up should be easy for us to handle. They can’t hold too large a force.”
He had no sooner ceased speaking than another dock began cracking its doors.
“Will you stop doing that kind of thing?” Desjani growled at him.
But no other docks opened. Those which had begun opening finished the process, their doors fully retracted. And then, nothing happened.
“It’s been half an hour,” Desjani complained. “What are they waiting for?”
“Maybe there isn’t anything inside them,” Geary speculated. “Do you think they may have opened up because they saw us coming? Some automated maintenance function preparing to work on our ships?”
“No equipment in any of those docks is going to land one automated finger on my ship!” She glared at her display as if that would produce more information. “Maybe you’re right, though.”
More alerts sounded. “Or maybe I’m not,” Geary said.
The rounded, sharklike bows that began coming into view as they exited some of the docks were unmistakable in their menace. “Battle cruisers,” Desjani said, sounding eager. “Four of them.”
More, smaller warships began appearing at the dock openings. “Six heavy cruisers, ten light cruisers, twenty-one destroyers,” Lieutenant Yuon summarized.
“We can take these down easy,” Desjani exulted.
“If that’s all we’re facing,” Geary said, frowning at his display.
The dark ships had cleared their docks by now, and were gathering into a small, thin, rectangular formation. “Hull feature analysis identifies two of the dark battle cruisers as having been at Bhavan,” Lieutenant Yuon said. “The other two have not been encountered before.”
“The two that missed Bhavan,” Geary said. “I wonder why?”
“Stuff breaks,” Desjani said. “They probably needed something big fixed.”
The dark ship formation was coming around now and accelerating onto an intercept with Geary’s force. “Four hours to contact on current vectors,” Lieutenant Castries said.
Desjani’s satisfaction had faded into suspicion. “They’re making this too easy.”
“I’m glad I’m not the only one thinking that,” Geary said. “If those dark ships charge straight into us, we’ll be able to wipe them out on the first pass. Let’s see if they hold on that vector.”
He hadn’t slept nearly enough since arriving at Unity Alternate and found himself dozing off for brief periods in his command seat. An hour later, more alerts jerked him rudely back to alertness.
“More docks opening,” Desjani said. The same sequence followed, the docks opening, then a long pause, then the bows of warships beginning to appear. But this time the first, massive bows that came into view were blunter than those of the battle cruisers. “Battleships.”
“Four battleships,” Lieutenant Yuon said. “Four heavy cruisers, eight light cruisers, eighteen destroyers.”
Like the dark battle cruisers before them, the battleships formed into a thin, rectangular formation, moving more slowly than the battle cruisers but with a terrible, ponderous assurance. The battleships also came around and accelerated onto vectors aimed at an intercept of Geary’s fleet.
“Tougher, but still nothing we can’t handle,” Desjani said. “They can’t have much more hidden in those docks.”
“I wonder why they didn’t bring them all out together,” Geary said. “Why send out two smaller forces instead of one bigger force?”
“It’s not what you would do,” she agreed. “Their battle cruisers’ vector is still aimed straight at the middle of our formation, which Black Jack definitely would not do under these conditions.”
“What would I be doing?” Geary murmured, trying to put himself in the place of a dark ship commander. “If those dark ships were all I had to defend their installations, I’d try to divert and distract the attacking force, but that would just buy some time even if it worked.” He reached one hand to point to his display. “We’ve got two assets we have to defend. Mistral, and the Dancers.”
“I think the Dancers can take care of themselves,” Desjani objected. “Their ships can outmaneuver even the dark battle cruisers. And if those four dark battle cruisers try to get to Mistral, we’ll blow them apart before they get within range.”
He nodded, thinking. “So why would I be setting up this situation if I was commanding those dark ships? We must be missing some part of the puzzle.”
“There can’t be much more inside the docks,” she repeated. “It’s possible they’ve got something hidden behind one of the stars if they knew we were coming and had time to get into position.”
“Senator Unruh warned me that the dark ships might still be getting information about what we were doing,” Geary said. “And we couldn’t hide our preparations to leave Varandal.”
“But how would the dark ships have known we were coming here?”
“Maybe a leak in Senator Unruh’s camp. Maybe just through thinking what I would do. I realized I had to hit their base. Since they are programmed to think like me, they would realize that I had to hit their base.”
Desjani looked troubled. “Admiral, that makes enough sense that it worries me. They know from Bhavan that they can’t easily force us into an engagement. They would want to choose a new battlefield where they could more easily trap us.”
Like a battlefield without any jump points. One where the only way out was through the hypernet gate—“Oh, no.”
“What?”
“The Alliance was studying how the Syndics were able to block access to their hypernet gates. They were trying to figure out how the Syndics did that so we could counter it. But if some of the Alliance’s researchers figured out what the Syndics were doing—”
“And the people supporting the dark ships found out?” Desjani stared at the depiction of the hypernet gate. “The people who think Black Jack is what stands between them and taking over? Admiral, you are making way too much sense.”
More alerts. “Warships coming out from behind Star Alpha,” Lieuten
ant Yuon said. “It’s a big force. Ten battle cruisers and a lot of escorts. Our systems are still identifying numbers—” He broke off as the alerts redoubled. “Warships detected near Star Beta. Two formations, each holding six battleships and numerous escort vessels.”
“That’s all of the dark ships,” Desjani said, calmer and composed now that the trap had sprung on them. “Every battle cruiser and battleship that they’ve got left. It’s us or them this time. No other options.”
“Then we’ll have to make sure it is them, not us.” Brave words. Geary looked at the dark ship formations converging on the path of his own force, added up their firepower and their maneuverability superior to those of his own ships, and gazed at the depiction of the hypernet gate that very likely offered no means of escape. He could not help wondering if he had finally made the final, critical error that he had been fearing since being thrust into command of the Alliance fleet at Prime.
THIRTEEN
“IS there any way we can confirm whether or not that hypernet gate is blocked?” Geary asked Desjani.
She called up the hypernet key controls. “I’ve never tried to ping a gate from this far away, but I don’t know why it wouldn’t work. We’ll have to wait until the ping gets there and the reply gets back to us, though. At this point, that will take more than eight hours.”
“Do it. I need to be certain whether that option is foreclosed.”
“Yes, sir.” She touched some commands. “I’m asking the gate to identify any available destination gate. If it is completely blocked, the answer will come back as none. Have you considered the strange coincidence of this situation, Admiral?” she asked, keeping her voice very low.
“What strange coincidence is that, Captain?” Geary replied in the same tones.
“The enigmas gave us the hypernet. The Syndics taught us how to block the gates. It’s like those two enemies conspired to get us into this situation.”
“To the benefit of the people behind the dark ships,” Geary said, “who would doubtless be scandalized at any suggestion that they had anything in common with the Syndics. All right. Regardless of whether or not that gate is blocked, we need to destroy the orbital docks and warehouses. That way, no matter what happens here, the dark ships will eventually no longer be a threat if the government can keep them from acquiring any alternate source of fuel cells. And we need to take the Unity Alternate government facility and find out what is there.”
“Taking the facility will require exposing Mistral and hanging the Marines out in a tough situation,” Desjani objected. “Why not wait on that?”
“Because somewhere on that facility there may be the means to lift the block on the hypernet gate if, as we suspect, there is a block.”
“Thinking of that is why you’re the Admiral and I’m not,” Desjani said.
Geary took in the information on his display, where all five dark ship formations were now converging on the projected path of the First Fleet and the accompanying Dancer forty-ship armada. All of the dark ship formations were ahead of the Alliance and Dancer ships. Closest were the four dark battle cruisers which had first appeared and were still rushing toward the Alliance forces. Behind them were the four dark battleships that had also come out of the docks. Both of those formations were just off the port bows of the Alliance warships, and if neither of them maneuvered differently, would remain in that relative position, growing steadily closer until contact.
Just off to starboard of the Alliance bows were the ten dark battle cruisers and the smaller dark warships accompanying them. Those dark battle cruisers were also steadying up for a direct intercept, but one that would take place considerably after the two dark ship formations coming from the docks. Finally, almost directly ahead were the eight dark battleships and the cruisers and destroyers with them, coming on steadily at a rate that would cause them to intercept the Alliance formation a few light-minutes before Geary’s force reached the dark ship docks and warehouses.
“They’re setting this up as if they’re going to hit us with each formation in succession,” Geary said. “I don’t think they’ll actually do that. It would let us whittle them down as each smaller dark ship formation encountered our entire force. But they’re probably hoping I’ll think that’s what they are planning, if ‘hoping’ is the right word to use for an AI’s calculations.”
“You’ve tried that trick more than once yourself against opponents,” Desjani pointed out.
“Yes, but it’s a little insulting for an AI that’s supposed to think like me to think I would fall for one of my own tricks. That first battle cruiser formation could dodge a direct encounter, then harass us until other dark ships get here. And if the dark battleships coming from the docks slow a little, they’ll reach us about the same time as the big battle cruiser formation that was hiding behind Star Alpha. We need something to keep that first dark battle cruiser group busy.” He nodded to himself, then called General Charban. “General, could you and your lieutenants put together a poetic invitation for the Dancer ships to engage that first formation of dark battle cruisers? It would help us a lot if those battle cruisers had the Dancers hitting them while we dealt with the other dark ship formations.”
“We will write them a battle hymn,” Charban said.
“Have the Dancers sent anything since all of the dark ships appeared?”
“Not a word, Admiral. They are definitely waiting on us.” Charban looked thoughtful. “I have the impression now that they regard us as the senior partner when they are in regions of space controlled by us. It may be a territorial thing. I’m not certain. But since we stopped using their version of ‘baby talk,’ the Dancers have been acting less like someone manipulating us and more like someone who is partnering with us.”
“Thank you, General.” Geary paused, then entered another call.
Victoria Rione’s image gazed back, her expression serene but her eyes dark. “It’s a little early for last-minute instructions, Admiral.”
“I may be too busy with other matters at the last minute,” Geary said. “There’s something else that you need to find on that facility. There is a real possibility that the hypernet gate here has been blocked in the same manner that the Syndics blocked theirs. We won’t have confirmation of that for several hours yet, but the tactics of the dark ships make me suspect that has happened. If the gate is blocked, and if there is anything on that facility that would allow us to unblock that gate, we need it.”
“If it is there, I will find it,” she replied. “If you can get us to the facility.”
“Mistral will get you there,” Geary said. “And I’ll make sure that Mistral can get there.”
After he ended that call, Desjani indicated her display. “So, we stay the course?”
“For now,” Geary said. “We still have over an hour and a half before that first dark battle cruiser formation closes on us. I have no intention of holding this vector long enough for all of those dark ships to hit us at their leisure, though.”
She leaned close, ensuring the privacy fields around their seats were active. “Have you noticed that when the dark ships are maneuvering, we’re seeing more judicious use of fuel cells? They’re not going to maximum burn on everything like they did at Bhavan.”
“I noticed,” Geary said. “They never repeat a mistake. This is like Bhavan, but a lot worse.”
“Jack, we’re going to have a hell of a time getting out of this.”
She almost never called him that when they were on her ship.
“I know. But if nothing else, we’ll get those support facilities. Even if we don’t make it out of this star system, the days of the dark ships are going to be numbered.”
“We who are about to die salute you!” she murmured.
“Tanya—”
“It’s all right. I should have died a dozen years ago, and I should have died a dozen times in the years since the
n. Lead on. Even if we lose this one, we’ll win in the long run, and it’ll be a fight they’ll be talking about for centuries.”
—
AN hour later, Geary brought the fleet to full battle readiness again. Just about everyone on every ship was already at their battle stations, since they all knew about the oncoming enemy and had watched the dark ships’ approach for the last hour. As a result, every ship reported ready in record time.
He had spent the last hour trying to think rather than worry. He could outsmart the dark ships. He had done that more than once, with Tanya’s help in many cases because the dark ship AIs had been programmed to think like Black Jack and were confused when confronted by the Black Jack/Tanya Desjani team effort.
But the dark ships had known he had to go for their base. Because he had known that it was his only chance to beat them. Maybe someone had tipped the dark ships off with specific information, but in their place, Geary would have tried to lay just such a trap as this.
But he wouldn’t have given his opponent even a chance to get at the support facilities. The dark ships were still weak on logistics, still thinking in terms of tactics, not in terms of long campaigns. That gave him an opening.
He just didn’t know what to do after destroying those docks and warehouses.
“Twenty minutes to contact,” Lieutenant Castries said. “The dark battle cruiser formation is braking their velocity. Given the angle they will encounter us, projected combined velocity at the moment of intercept will be point two one light speed.”
“A little fast, but close enough for our fire-control systems to get good hits. Still holding the vector?” Desjani asked Geary.
“Still holding,” Geary said. “Just in case they do decide to charge us straight on.”
“If they do, Dauntless and Mistral will be their priority targets.”