The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Steadfast

by Jack Campbell

  “From what I can see, it appears that the aliens called the Dancers are returning home. I would appreciate confirmation of this. They sent us a message directly. Watch the different stars. We have no idea what that means.

  “I am certain that our current domestic disturbances are the work of foreign agents. I will be focusing my efforts on calming the situation here without resort to Syndicate methods.

  “Please advise me of your plans. I remain your friend and ally, President Iceni. For the people. Out.”

  Geary sat thinking for several seconds after the message ended. “The Dancers told the locals at Midway to watch the different stars,” he finally said.

  “They got a different message than we did,” Desjani said. “Interesting. Too bad we don’t know what either message means.”

  “Iceni claimed she was trying to put down the riots without resorting to Syndic methods. I’m sure I know what you think of that.”

  “No, you don’t,” she replied. “I believe her.”

  He stared at her. “You believe a former Syndic CEO?”

  “That’s right.” Desjani indicated the image of President Iceni that still hung suspended next to their seats. “You see, I know that kind of woman. She doesn’t like being pushed around.”

  “Yeah, I know that kind of woman, too.”

  “Please let me finish, Admiral,” she continued with a sharp look at him. “You heard what she said. This Iceni knows that somebody triggered those riots, that somebody is trying to make her put down the riots using the standard Syndic methods involving lots of dead and wounded demonstrators. And she’s mad enough that she might do that. Except that she knows that’s what the people behind this want. They’re probably working for the Syndic government on Prime. And they’re trying to make her do something.”

  Geary pondered that. “Iceni won’t do it because she knows they’re trying to force her into taking that option.”

  “Not unless she absolutely has to,” Desjani agreed. “Which she might. This isn’t entirely about her being a Syndic. It’s about her being that kind of person.”

  “I hope you’re right. And I hope that Iceni can stop the riots without resorting to mass deaths, or any deaths at all. But we can’t wait around to find out.”

  “So, what are you going to tell your friend and ally?” Desjani asked.

  “Just the truth. And she really is already an ally of sorts. I hope Iceni turns out to be someone we can call a friend as well someday.” Geary took a slow, deep breath, then touched his comm controls. “President Iceni, this is Admiral Geary. We came here only to escort the Dancers back to Midway. They are proceeding home from here on their own. We cannot remain in this star system one minute longer than absolutely necessary because of the danger that the hypernet gate may be blocked before we can leave. I don’t know when any Alliance ships will be able to come through here again. Perhaps not until we figure out how to override that ability to block access to the gates. I regret that we cannot offer any assistance at this time and also that we cannot offer any suggestions as to the meaning of the message the Dancers sent you. Good luck, and may the living stars aid you. To the honor of our ancestors, Geary, out.”

  Desjani rolled her eyes. “You didn’t have to ask the blessing of the living stars for her.”

  “I thought you liked her!” he protested.

  “I understand her. That doesn’t mean I like her. Aren’t you ever going to figure out things like that?”

  “It doesn’t look like it.”

  He sat silently after that and actually dozed a few times in his seat, waking to realize with a guilty conscience that the watch-standers on the bridge had been working as silently as possible so as not to disturb him.

  “Admiral,” Lieutenant Castries reported, “the Dancers should have jumped one minute ago based on our projections.”

  “Thank you.” Geary stared at his display, trying to decide what to do. It would be another six hours before the light reached this part of the star system showing whether the Dancers had actually jumped. He could wait for that confirmation. Maybe he should wait for it. But every hour, every minute, brought them closer to the possibility the Syndics might block this gate and leave his task force stranded at Midway, or once more forced to go home through a deadly gauntlet set up by the Syndics.

  “The Dancers have proven they can take care of themselves,” Geary said out loud. “My responsibilities to the Alliance and to the crews of these warships require me to return now rather than risk them by waiting for unnecessary confirmation of the Dancer ships’ departure.”

  “I concur,” Desjani said.

  He brought the task force around to approach the nearby hypernet gate, wondering if he would ever see Midway again.

  “Hypernet key set for Indras,” Desjani said. “Field size set to encompass all ships of the task force.”

  “Do it,” Geary said.

  And once more the nearly infinite multitude of stars vanished.

  Watch the many stars. Watch the different stars. What the hell did those things mean?

  • • •

  THEY came out at Indras to find a star system under attack.

  “Who is it?” Geary demanded as his display rapidly updated, revealing that numerous Syndic installations had been turned into new craters by bombardments. Dispersing wreckage marked the remnants of several merchant ships and one of the Syndic light cruisers that had been here before.

  “They must have just left, Admiral,” Lieutenant Yuon said, his eyes darting over the sensor findings. “There aren’t any—”

  “A HuK just blew up!” Lieutenant Castries announced. “Something just ripped it apart! Whoever did this is still here.”

  “Enigmas,” Geary said.

  “We can spot enigmas, Admiral,” Desjani reminded him. “I’ll have my security teams sweep our systems for quantum worms again just in case they got some past our last routine scans.” Desjani spun in her seat to face her watch-standers. “If we can’t spot whoever is hitting Indras, we can spot what they’re doing. Track weapons firing, track bombardment projectile launches, track anything that shows where and what these attackers are.”

  Geary hit the command to talk to his intelligence cell. “Lieutenant Iger, I need answers. Who has just hit Indras so hard? There must be something in the comms in this star system that tells us.”

  Iger looked rattled but pulled himself together. “Sir, there’s a lot of chatter about dark ships.”

  “Dark ships?”

  “Yes, sir. Dark warships. There’s— Here’s something else. It sounds like the dark warships showed up and opened fire without any communication or warning. Most of the targets that we can see have been hit were Syndic government or military, but some are civilian. Indras has taken a lot of damage.”

  “Captain,” Lieutenant Yuon called, “our systems are not registering any signs of weapons fire. There are zero indications of any attacking ships in this star system.”

  Geary fixed a hard look on Iger. “Did you hear that? Do you concur that we can’t see any sign they’re still here?”

  “Yes, Admiral. I have to agree.”

  “When did the dark ships leave? Can you tell?”

  “Admiral . . .” Iger shook his head helplessly. “Even though we can’t spot any trace of them, from what we’re picking up from the Syndics, they are still here.”

  FIFTEEN

  “LIEUTENANT Iger,” Geary said with slow force, “do you know anything about this? Anything that could explain this? Even in rumors?”

  “No, sir. I have no idea what’s going on here.” Iger sounded uncharacteristically angry. “There’s something . . . odd. We’re intercepting video that’s supposed to be showing the dark ships, and there’s nothing on it. I would think everyone at Indras has gone crazy, but there’s no doubt that destruction has taken place and is ongoing.
”

  Geary fixed a glare on his display, which continued to report attacks under way but offered no trace of any attackers. “Communications. Set up a conference call for me, Captain Desjani, Captain Badaya on Illustrious, and Captain Tulev on Leviathan.”

  A little more than a minute later, Geary appeared to face Captains Badaya and Tulev in their command seats on their own ships, Desjani also linked in next to him. “Does anyone have any idea what’s happening here?”

  “They’re definitely under attack,” Badaya said. “I recommend we maintain all of our ships at full combat readiness until we figure out who is attacking them and whether they are also hostile to us.”

  “It is like the enigmas,” Tulev said. “But we have rescreened the systems on Leviathan and can find no trace of software of any kind that might be corrupting our systems to hide these attackers from us.”

  “What would the enigmas be doing at Indras, anyway?” Badaya demanded. “This is probably some Syndic secret weapon that has turned on them. Or something one of their rebel star systems is using to hit back.”

  “The locals are reporting that they can see what they call the dark ships,” Geary said. “Why would the attackers of a Syndic star system blind our sensors and not those of the Syndics? The Syndic government itself has no reason to attack one of their own star systems, and from the amount of damage we can see, the attacking force has to be much larger than anything we believe the Syndics or any rebellious star systems have in this part of space.”

  “If it’s a Syndic worm,” Badaya began again.

  “We would have found it already!” Desjani insisted. “My code monkeys are good. As good as they come.”

  “Could the Dancers have planted something in our systems?” Tulev asked. “Something as different from what we know as the enigma quantum-coded worms were?”

  “That’s not impossible,” Geary said. “But why? What possible reason could they have for doing that, and why would the Dancers somehow assist whoever is attacking Indras?”

  “I just double-checked,” Desjani said. “We’ve maintained full isolation of the comm gear that talks to the Dancers. The only way they could have infected our systems is if they have worms that can leave the gear, invisibly crawl across the deck to other compartments, and wriggle into the equipment there. And if they can do that, then we’re dealing with tech so much higher and different than ours that the odds of even spotting it seem impossible.”

  “Then what about the Kicks?” Badaya asked, instantly shifting focus. “We had that ship of theirs with us for a long time. Something aboard that, which leapfrogged through the Marine and Fleet systems, slowly infecting every ship.”

  “A contagion off of Invincible?” Geary considered that, his eyes shifting briefly to his display as another Syndic installation at Indras blew up under the impact of bombardment projectiles that were invisible to the Alliance warships.

  “These can’t be Kick ships attacking Indras,” Desjani protested. “How would they have gotten here? And the attackers are using bombardment projectiles, which as far as we know the Kicks don’t even carry. Besides, according to my people, the stuff we found on Invincible was totally different from our own. How could Kick software have migrated to our systems when their systems and software don’t match ours at all?”

  A momentary silence fell. “We seem to have run out of possible sources for whatever is blinding our systems,” Tulev finally said. “What other enemies does this fleet face?”

  “Do you mean besides our own headquarters and government?” Badaya asked sarcastically.

  Geary stared at him without speaking for a few seconds. “Tanya, you say your code monkeys are absolutely certain that there’s nothing in our systems that isn’t supposed to be there?”

  “Yes, sir,” she replied forcefully. “Not unless it’s something totally new and unusual, using principles totally different from anything we’ve used or considered or encountered or imagined up to now.”

  “Captain Tulev? Captain Badaya? Do the system security people on your ships concur in that?”

  Both of them nodded. “I wish we still had Captain Cresida here to address the problem,” Tulev added. “But I do not think even she would have any answers.”

  “There goes another HuK,” Desjani said. “He was obviously running from something that caught him. I’ve never been in a fight where I can only see one side. Admiral, what are you driving at?”

  “I used to read old detective stories,” Geary said. “Really old stuff. In one of them, the detective said that once you eliminate all other possibilities, whatever is left must be the answer. I never forgot that. And now, it seems we’ve eliminated the possibility of unauthorized software messing up our systems and even wiping out images of these attackers from Syndic videos that we’re intercepting. What’s left?”

  “Authorized software?” Tulev asked, a rare amount of surprise inflecting his words.

  “Yes. Something that’s supposed to be there that’s causing this and isn’t tripping any security screens because it’s not a worm or a virus or anything else. It’s part of the official system software.”

  “Why would fleet headquarters do such a thing?” Tulev said.

  Badaya began to answer, but Geary spoke quickly to cut him off. “Maybe they didn’t. Maybe the government didn’t. Maybe certain offices or secret programs did it, and a lot of high-ranking people don’t even know it was done. Maybe part of the government did it, maybe segments of fleet headquarters. If my guess is true, that is. Get your people looking.”

  “For what?” Badaya asked, plaintive now.

  Tulev answered with dispassionate logic. “We do not know under what name or subsystem the software can be found, but we do know what it must be doing. If we know what it must do, then we can search for software that carries out such functions, no matter where it is located.”

  “Exactly,” Geary said. “While we search, I’m going to take the task force toward the jump point for Kalixa, but only at point zero five light speed.”

  If he had felt powerless while observing events at Midway, here at Indras Geary felt a sense of bizarre incomprehension watching a literally one-sided battle as the Alliance task force swung along the outer edges of the star system.

  “Admiral, we have a call from the Syndics. An emergency comm routing. They must be using some alternate command systems.”

  That would hardly be surprising given the amount of damage they could see to the regular command systems at Indras. “Bounce it to me.”

  The CEO Geary saw was not Yamada. Neither was she immaculately dressed and displaying a false, calculated expression. She looked, in fact, like someone who had just had her normal routine bombed out from under her. “This is an act of war! The Alliance has blatantly and openly attacked us without any warning, causing immense property damage and loss of life! I demand that you cease all attacks and withdraw from this star system immediately!”

  Desjani exhaled in exasperation. “She thinks we’re attacking them? Can’t she tell we’re not firing, and that this attack was well under way before we even got here?”

  “I wish I knew who or what was attacking them,” Geary said. He tapped reply. “To the leaders of Indras, this is Admiral Geary of the Alliance fleet. We are not attacking you. None of my ships have fired on you, nor will they unless attacked themselves. We are currently trying to determine the identity of the ships that are attacking Indras, but I swear on my honor that they are not under my command and not subject to my orders. To the honor of our ancestors, Geary, out.”

  Over the next hour, there were signs that the attack was tapering off as fewer targets were destroyed. “Captain,” Lieutenant Castries said, “from the pattern of the attacks, it looks like the attacking ships may be withdrawing toward the jump point for Kalixa.”

  “Could they be a threat to Atalia?” Geary wondered. “And will they st
op at Atalia or go on to Alliance space?”

  Desjani kept her voice very low. “If we can’t see them because of something that official sources in the Alliance did, that implies—”

  “I know what it implies. I also know that even if that is true, I can’t assume those ships aren’t a threat to the Alliance as long as I don’t know who they are.”

  Hours later, the same female Syndic CEO replied to Geary, her suit slightly neater and her expression much angrier. Whatever emergency bunker she occupied was overcrowded, filled with both people and a sense of shock that Geary could feel even through the medium of the message. “You must think us fools. The attackers are withdrawing toward Alliance space. I have no idea how many people have died today! Your government had better be prepared to answer for this!”

  Geary looked down, his jaw tight enough to hurt. “If this was the work of someone in the Alliance, they just bought us a lot more trouble then we had before.”

  Desjani sounded more subdued than usual as she replied. “My guys think they’ve found something. They’re seeing what they can do with it.”

  Geary’s display rippled. As it did so, two new contacts suddenly appeared for a moment near the jump point for Kalixa. “What was that? Are they gone?”

  “They probably jumped,” Desjani confirmed. “We’re lucky we caught a glimpse of them. My code monkeys think that they’ve found the answer. There’s at least one subroutine hidden in part of the sensor-system software that seems to be selectively blocking some detection data. It’s— What the hell happened to the images of those ships we spotted before they jumped?”

  “Captain, they’re . . . gone,” Lieutenant Castries said, sounding horrified and mystified. “They vanished from the displays, and I can’t find any traces of them in system records.”

  “Looks like there’s more wonky software to find,” Geary said.