The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Steadfast

by Jack Campbell

  But that doesn’t mean I should close my eyes to the possibility that there is something else going on.

  Thank you, ancestors. Thank you, Father.

  He snuffed out the candle and left the compartment, feeling oddly comforted by the ambiguous message he might have received.

  • • •

  INSPIRE felt subtly wrong. The same class and type of ship as Dauntless, Inspire had been thrown together as fast as possible, just like Dauntless, in the expectation that she would be destroyed in battle within a couple of years at the most, or so badly damaged that she would be broken up for parts and scrap. The layout of the ship was identical, and the design of the bridge and other critical spaces the same as on Dauntless.

  But Geary had been aboard Dauntless long enough to be acquainted with every rough weld, every sharp edge, as well as every place where damage and repairs had resulted in minor changes from the original. Inspire had different rough welds in different places, different sharp edges in different places, and minor differences in equipment and its placement. It was like looking at an identical twin who wasn’t . . . identical.

  He sat in a fleet command seat that wasn’t exactly like the one he was used to, next to the seat holding Captain Roberto Duellos instead of Captain Tanya Desjani, and tried not to let it all throw him off. I am a fleet officer. It is ridiculous, and wrong, and unprofessional, to be tied to a single ship in the fleet. Besides, Dauntless is Tanya’s ship, not mine, and—

  Dauntless is Tanya’s ship.

  Have I grown too dependent on her advice? Tanya is good. Very good. But I can’t afford to need her support. As good a combat team as we are, I need to be able to handle things on my own.

  Varandal’s hypernet gate was close, Captain Duellos patiently waiting for Geary’s approval to enter it.

  But he paused a moment longer, gazing at his display. Inspire had not yet left Varandal, so he could still see Dauntless there, but already light-hours distant. He hadn’t been so far from her since being awakened in this time, except for his brief honeymoon to Kosatka. Nor had he ever been so far from another “her,” Tanya. I shouldn’t have made her fleet commander. I should have left her free to take some leave herself, to go back to Kosatka and see her parents again.

  Who am I kidding? She wouldn’t have gone. At least making her acting commander of the First Fleet ensures that she’s tied down and can’t come racing after me, with half the fleet at her back. “Captain Duellos, permission granted to enter the hypernet gate, destination Adriana Star System.”

  • • •

  HE had expected to find a mess at Adriana Star System. He hadn’t expected to find a hot mess.

  As Geary’s small task force left the hypernet, his display updated in a rush. It had already shown the seven planets orbiting the star, one of which at nine light-minutes from the star was slightly cold for human comfort but otherwise not bad at all. Another planet orbiting only two light-minutes away from the star was a scorching, bare rock. Farther out past the habitable world, a pair of mismatched planets whirled around each other as both circled the star, producing tidal forces so strong that humans avoided the two. The remaining three planets were gas giants sailing majestically through space, ignoring the human mining and industrial facilities orbiting them like parasitic insects.

  That much matched Geary’s few memories of Adriana. The human population had boomed thanks to the war and Adriana’s position directly behind the fought-over border star systems, resulting in many more towns, larger cities, and more installations in space. There hadn’t been a hypernet when he had last been through this region of space, and Adriana wasn’t a wealthy enough star system to have qualified for one of the extremely expensive hypernet gates on the basis of its economy. But the star’s position near the border with the Syndicate Worlds had made a gate necessary, part of the defensive network built up during the war. For decades, that gate had been used to help quickly shift Alliance forces to wherever the Syndics had launched attacks, or to swiftly assemble Alliance forces for attacks on the Syndics.

  There were numerous new defense installations. From this far out, even Inspire’s sensors couldn’t immediately spot any signs of cutbacks here, but Geary suspected many of those installations were in worse shape than they looked. If his fleet had been ordered to send out inflated readiness reports, very likely the units here had received similar orders.

  Basic bits of information about the star system were confirmed in a rush, then Geary focused on the activity here as new symbols popped into existence to reveal the current situation. What looked like a full squadron of aerospace forces short-range Fast Attack Craft was in orbit about the habitable world, trying to keep a motley collection of civilian freighters and passenger liners corralled. Many of those freighters and liners were aging Syndic models, as were another dozen scattered through the star system, fleeing attempts at being intercepted by more aerospace craft lunging out from the planets and moons on which they were based. Official comm channels were filled with transmissions of orders flying back and forth, as well as with demands, petitions, complaints, arguments, pleas, threats, debates, and explanations.

  “There is a ground forces general in charge here,” Inspire’s comm watch-stander reported tentatively. “But the aerospace forces colonel is issuing orders that contradict the ground forces orders. And the government of Adriana is giving orders to the general, while the general and the colonel are giving orders to the government. There are local police authorities also weighing in, as well as other varieties of local officials. And all of the refugee ships are demanding to be let go or to be granted asylum or pleading for help. That’s just a basic rundown, sir. It’s actually a lot more complicated than that.”

  Duellos ran through several possible expressions before deciding on simple acceptance. “Those aerospace craft don’t have the legs to intercept all of the loose refugee ships. I recommend we send some destroyers after them, Admiral.”

  “Some destroyers? We’re going to send all of them.” He paused, wondering what he was expecting. Oh. This is where Tanya would jump in and start helping assign specific destroyers to specific refugee ships. Duellos is deferring to me on the matter, waiting for orders, because we don’t have that kind of established working relationship. But there weren’t that many destroyers or that many refugee ships, so it was a simple matter for Geary himself to tap units on his display, rapidly designating one or two destroyers to head for each fleeing refugee ship. “All destroyers in Task Force Adriana, execute attached orders. Intercept and round up your assigned targets, then escort them to join the other refugee ships being guarded in orbit. I don’t want those refugee ships disabled or destroyed. Fire warning shots only. Request permission before firing on the ships if that proves necessary.”

  He sat back, watching the destroyers leap away from the formation, their paths forming a spray of graceful curves on the display.

  “They would have preferred being sent to destroy those ships,” Duellos commented.

  “I know. But I don’t have any stomach for massacring civilian refugees,” Geary replied.

  “I doubt they would, either, once they thought about it. You’ve gotten us all out of the habit.” Duellos shook his head, making a face. “From the sound of the messages we’re picking up, no one is in charge here.”

  “How is that possible? Why isn’t the aerospace forces colonel paying attention to the orders from the ground forces general?”

  Duellos shrugged. “Separate services. In a real crisis, they would hopefully cooperate well enough, but without an imminent Syndic threat to focus their attention, they’re fighting for turf. Even though the aerospace commander here is a colonel, that rank is equal to the ground forces general’s.”

  “It is?” Geary asked, eyeing one of the messages from General Sissons, the ground forces commander. The general’s ideas of motivating subordinates and conveying orders appeared to d
epend heavily on yelling, profanity, and threats. Geary had been subjected to a few superiors like that in the course of his career. To their own superiors, they were unfailingly polite and proper, but the living stars help those unfortunate enough to work for them. “I can see why the aerospace forces aren’t giving any ground when it comes to working with that guy, but why can they get away with it?”

  Duellos raised his eyebrows at Geary. “You don’t know?”

  “No. And I want to know because I don’t want this General Sissons trying to pull rank on me if I can help it.”

  “I’m sorry. Sometimes, I forget that your experience with the way things work these days is still limited, and I assume that things always worked that way. Yes, technically, General Sissons is very likely senior to you. Your promotion to admiral was less than a year ago. If you approach him as Admiral Geary to General Sissons, he can walk all over you. He can try, anyway,” Duellos amended as Geary reacted to those words. “But as commander of fleet forces in this star system, you are his equal. See how the aerospace forces colonel is handling it? She always uses her status as aerospace forces commander when dealing with General Sissons, rather than her status as a colonel.”

  “That’s . . . a little screwy. The Alliance has really allowed military command protocols to deteriorate to the point where no one is in charge of a star system?”

  “You saw that at Varandal,” Duellos pointed out. “The ground forces and aerospace forces there don’t answer to Admiral Timbale. But if there is a specific operation, in a combat zone, an overall commander will be appointed. If Admiral Bloch had brought a division or two of ground forces along when we made that ill-advised lunge for the Syndicate home star system at Prime, he would have been in charge of them as well as the fleet units because the assault force would have been organized that way.”

  The implications of that finally sank home. “If we’re equals, I don’t have to do what Sissons says, but I can’t make Sissons provide whatever assistance I need to get those refugees back to Batara.”

  Duellos spread his hands. “You also can’t make the aerospace forces colonel do whatever you want. You might be able to overawe them. You are Black Jack. But you’ll have to convince them that whatever you are demanding is required to carry out the task specified in your orders and that your orders are consistent with their orders.”

  And General Sissons’s orders surely also contained the old phrasing all actions necessary and proper, which offered substantial wiggle room, as well as substantial grounds to declare that anything he was asked to do was unnecessary or improper or both. In order to get this mission done, Geary might have to wheel and deal and convince and implore like some politician. He finally got a good sense of how fleet command processes had sunk to the level they had been at when he took control of the fleet at Prime. “How the hell did we avoid losing the war a long time ago?” Geary muttered.

  “The Syndics are worse,” Duellos said.

  “Yeah. I guess they are. All right. I’ve already acted by sending my destroyers out after those loose refugee ships, which demonstrates my capabilities and my willingness to use them. I’ll contact General Sissons and Colonel . . . Galland and see how they respond. It will take a day and a half for us to reach that habitable planet, which gives us all time to work something out.”

  In his earlier career, he would have been at a loss to formulate a message designed to convince other commanders to cooperate with him rather than either telling them what to do or submitting to their authority. But he had learned a few things since then. “To General Sissons, commander of Alliance ground forces in Adriana Star System, and Colonel Galland, commander of Alliance aerospace forces in Adriana Star System, this is Admiral Geary, commander of Alliance fleet forces in Adriana Star System.” He marveled at the requirement to take a breath after that lengthy beginning to the message. “I look forward to working with both of you to resolve the refugee situation here. Your assistance and advice will be critical to a successful resolution of the issue. To the honor of our ancestors, Geary, out.”

  Duellos nodded approvingly. “Not bad. Spoken with authority, but not with enough force to get their backs up, and extending a hand for cooperation. You always say you’re not good at politics, but that wasn’t bad at all.”

  “I guess I’ve spent too much time around Victoria Rione. She’s always made a point of explaining things like that to me.”

  “Ah. I see. That woman.”

  “Don’t you start calling her that, too. It’s bad enough that Tanya refuses to say her name.”

  Duellos grinned. “I just want you to feel at home.”

  “Thanks.” Geary gestured toward his display. “Can your comm people do some analysis for me?”

  “Certainly. What do have in mind?” Duellos asked, intrigued.

  “According to what we’re picking up so far, all of the ground and aerospace assets at Adriana are still at full strength and ready for action. But First Fleet’s warships were ordered to send out deceptive status reports about their readiness.”

  “And the same might be happening here?” Duellos nodded. “But if it is, analyzing comm patterns will give us an idea of whether or not the external picture we’re getting is a true one. Yes, Admiral, my crew can get you something on that. It will take a while to assemble a good picture, but within a day or so we should be able to tell you whether Adriana’s defenses are still solid or just a hollow shell.”

  • • •

  THE first reply came from Colonel Galland, about six and a half hours later. She looked tired, but her eyes were sharp. “Welcome to Adriana, Admiral. I see that your destroyers are already on the move. I appreciate your assistance in collecting the rest of the Syndic refugee ships. We’ve been overwhelmed by the number of ships and refugees, and my craft aren’t designed for this kind of situation. The fleet always handled things like this, usually intercepting it at Yokai. But the last fleet assets were apparently pulled out of Yokai a couple of months ago. There were two fleet destroyers still here at Adriana, but they were withdrawn three weeks ago. Since then, we’ve been scrambling to handle the refugee problem with what we have on hand.”

  Galland smiled bitterly. “Half of my squadrons were supposed to be decommissioned by now, but I won a reprieve by getting the local government to raise hell with Adriana’s senators at Unity. I’m still expecting the cutbacks to take effect at some point, though, so unless you’re going to be stationed here for the long haul, we need to come up with a solution for what is going on at Batara. Once those squadrons are gone, my headquarters here will probably be downsized as well, and me with them. You might find this seat empty when you get back from Batara.”

  She smiled without visible humor again. “If you don’t know General Sissons, fair warning. He’s a neutron star. No light, no warmth, just toxic radiation that destroys bodies and souls in his vicinity. He’ll want you to do everything, he’ll find reasons not to do anything himself, and he’ll take credit for everything that went right when it’s done. But he sucks up to the right people, so he’ll survive the reductions in force. He’s only got a few months left here before he jaunts off to ground forces headquarters.”

  The sour smile shifted to grim resolve. “Admiral, I spent fifteen years fighting the Syndics and protecting Alliance star systems against them. My predecessor in this job died fending off an assault on this star system while your fleet was fighting its way back home from Prime. And now all that’s left is coping with refugees, getting ready to turn off the lights when the last person leaves this building, and turning in my uniform when I get downsized, too. Which is why I’m being frank with you. I’d rather go out having accomplished something than playing along in hopes of prolonging my career another year or so. There’s not much more I can do with my hands full just keeping the Syndic refugees from scattering into Alliance territory. Whatever else I can do, though, I will. To the honor of our ancestors, Gallan
d, out.”

  The reply from General Sissons came in nearly six hours after that. By checking local planetary time, Geary could see that his message had reached the planet during the night. Sissons hadn’t sent his reply until morning.

  “This is General Sissons. Geary, I want full status updates on all of your ships and a briefing on your plan of action for returning the refugees to Batara using fleet assets only. My own forces have commitments that have stretched them to their limits. I see that you’ve already taken some limited actions to compensate for the lamentable lack of fleet support here in recent months. I don’t approve of unilateral decisions regarding the movements of your forces, which should be coordinated beforehand with my headquarters. For your future information, all communications with local governments, local law enforcement, local aerospace command, or anyone outside this star system, including fleet headquarters, must go through my headquarters using established channels in accordance with existing protocols. If you still have questions about my expectations and your orders, contact my chief of staff. Sissons, out.”

  Geary’s first reaction when the message ended was to say a heartfelt prayer of thanks to the living stars that he wasn’t actually under the authority of General Sissons even though the general had done all he could to create the impression by his words that Geary would have to clear all of his actions and communications through him. Having finished the prayer, Geary mentally ran through a variety of entertaining responses he could send Sissons. But I can’t really tell him off like I want to. Anything I say to him has to appear reasonable and appropriate to others. I don’t want Sissons to goad me into making myself look bad.

  He formulated a reply, imagining that first Tanya, then Victoria Rione were critiquing it. “General Sissons, this is the commander of Alliance fleet forces in Adriana Star System,” Geary began, keeping his tone bland. “In reply to your suggestions, I must inform you that I will abide by standard Alliance fleet communications protocols and communicate directly with anyone I have to contact. I am always open to your suggestions for the most effective employment of the fleet forces under my command, but of course authority for such actions rests with me. Since you have been dealing with the Syndic refugee problem here for some months, and my orders specify that ground forces will provide security for refugee return operations, I am interested in seeing as soon as possible the contingency plans and options your headquarters must have already developed for resolving the problem using your forces. Geary, out.”