The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Guardian

by Jack Campbell

  Geary’s attention jerked back to the scene from Iger’s drone. The view was momentarily obscured completely as small bombardment projectiles launched from the battleships plummeted to contact with the ground. Nothing but rocket-shaped chunks of solid metal, the bombardment rounds gained their destructive power from the immense energy built up as they dropped from orbit.

  Geary shifted his view to an overhead look from Armus’s battleships. Dust and debris now filled the air around the trigger site, but multispectrum sensors could partially penetrate the murk to spot moving objects. More hell lances stabbed down, aimed at targets ranging from individual Syndics to more vehicles screeching to halts at the edge of the bombardment area. More rocks headed down from the battleships, aimed not only at Syndics trying to reach the trigger site but also at forcing anyone near the building to keep their heads down. Rubble from collapsed buildings in the area around the trigger site bounced, producing false moving-target alerts on the fleet’s sensors, as another bombardment plunged home.

  The trigger building itself remained untouched except for scars on its sides where shrapnel from nearby bombardment impacts had exposed the heavy armor beneath the unassuming facade.

  Geary yanked his attention away from that scene, checking on the Syndic warships again. How long until they got orders to intervene? The Syndic leaders would be shocked, trying to grasp what was going on, disoriented by the sudden unraveling of their plan, which had seemed to be going perfectly before the Alliance abruptly altered the game.

  The fleet was well clear of the prison-camp region by now, but the shuttles were dropping back down toward it as fast as they could without coming apart, and three thousand prisoners of war still waited for rescue.

  If the Syndics still controlled the trigger, an apocalypse centered on that prison camp would very soon erupt, taking with it the shuttles, the Marines on them, and the waiting prisoners.

  Alerts sounded as the four Syndic warship groups finally surged into motion, whipping around and accelerating at maximum. Two were coming around toward Armus’s battleships, and the other two were angling toward either the fleet or the shuttles that would be rising back to meet it.

  “They screwed up,” Desjani said with a fierce grin. “They split their effort, and the only way they can make a difference is by coming within range of us.”

  “Yes, they did,” Geary agreed. “Work up an intercept for Group Cable. I’ll tell Duellos to go for it as well, and send Tulev and Badaya after Delta.”

  They would have this, they would totally frustrate the Syndic plans and hit the Syndics hard, if only the Syndic weapon didn’t go off . . .

  “I have comms from the force recon on the surface,” General Carabali announced. “They’re requesting pickup.”

  “What about the trigger?”

  “Commander Hopper says the trigger is Bravo Delta. That’s a slang term, Admiral. It stands for—”

  “I know what it stands for. The trigger is out of commission. That term has been around a lot longer than I have. Captain Geary! The Marines need a ride.”

  “On the way,” Jane Geary replied.

  More alerts on the display. Ground forces on the planet had launched atmospheric combat aircraft, old models that were easy to spot from low orbit. Guardian, almost skimming the stratosphere, took out the aircraft with a series of hell-lance shots, then launched four shuttles that spiraled downward, protected by a wall of fire from Guardian and the other battleships.

  Syndic Group Alpha, already rocketing toward the trigger site, altered vector slightly to skim atmosphere, their hulls glowing with heat as the friction wore down their shields, aiming for Guardian’s shuttles.

  Syndic Group Bravo, higher up, aimed a hopeless firing run at Armus’s group of battleships. Jane Geary was vectoring Conqueror, Dependable, Vengeance, and Revenge to box in Bravo if that group continued its strike.

  The main shuttle force was grounding at the prison-camp site again.

  Syndic warship groups Cable and Delta were swinging wide around the Alliance fleet formation, their goal obviously the shuttles when they lifted back toward the fleet loaded with freed prisoners.

  “Go, Tanya,” Geary said, transmitting similar orders to Duellos, Tulev, and Badaya. “All units in First Fleet, immediate execute formation guide shifts to Invincible. Admiral Lagemann, take any necessary action to provide cover for the shuttles as they return.” There shouldn’t be any action necessary, but if Lagemann did have to order any more ships out of the formation, he had well over two hundred heavy cruisers, light cruisers, and destroyers to play with.

  Desjani whooped as she sent Dauntless, Daring, Victorious, and Intemperate on an angled climb toward an intercept with Syndic Group Cable. Behind her, the other battle cruisers in the Alliance fleet tore away on their own intercept vectors.

  “Shuttles lifting!” Lieutenant Yuon cried.

  Geary checked to ensure Yuon meant the shuttles at the prison camp. Those headed to pick up the Marines at the trigger site were still weaving downward through a hail of fire from Syndic ground defenses that were being knocked out by Guardian almost as fast as they opened up.

  Syndic Group Alpha kept coming, probably still under automated maneuvering control in response to orders from distant superiors, as Guardian and Warspite opened up on the Syndic warships. Captain Armus, lacking enough decent targets in the heavily cratered wasteland around the trigger site, shifted the fire of four of his battleships to engage Alpha as well.

  Their shields already weak from fighting through the upper atmosphere, the ships of Alpha ran head-on into the fire of six battleships.

  The heavy cruiser and four of the Hunter-Killers simply exploded under the hammerblows, coming apart as specter missiles, hell lances, and grapeshot hit in quick succession. One of the light cruisers was shredded by hits and knocked even farther into the atmosphere. Without shields, traveling at tremendous velocity, the remains of the light cruiser dissolved in a flash of heat and light, a ball of plasma forming a brief, fiery streak across the planet’s sky.

  The second light cruiser survived only because it had wrenched onto a new vector seconds before impact, leaping upward and away from the Alliance barrage.

  Syndic Group Bravo, bearing down on Armus’s force, saw the fate of Alpha and also whipped into turns, the Syndic ships sliding through wide arcs as they tried to avoid the fate of Alpha’s warships. The heavy cruiser slid too far, coming deep enough inside the battleships’ missile envelopes to catch a dozen specters that broke it into several large fragments that spun away, some heading out into space and some falling to their doom in the planet’s atmosphere.

  “Marine recovery shuttles are on the ground,” Jane Geary reported.

  “Shuttles lifting from prison camp,” Lieutenant Yuon said. “Half of them are overloaded. They’re requesting the fleet brake to assist their recovery.”

  “Admiral Lagemann,” Geary said as he hit his comm controls. “Brake the fleet formation as necessary to help the shuttles catch you.”

  He felt a sense of liberation despite the chaos of the battle raging from the surface of the planet up into space above it. I don’t have to call all the shots. I have commanders I trust who can manage the details if I give them the job. All I have to do is make sure I keep a handle on the big picture, so everything is coordinated, and every threat is dealt with.

  Syndic Groups Cable and Delta had realized that they were too late to bombard the prison camp, and that the Alliance battle cruisers were going to ensure that none of the Syndic warships made it through to the climbing shuttles. The Syndics bent away, their groups breaking into individual ships as commanders overrode the automated maneuvering controls. One of the inexperienced Syndic commanders overstressed his or her ship’s structure on the turn, the light cruiser shattering into pieces that spun toward the planet below.

  As the Syndics tried to flee, Desjani cursed, altering Dauntless’s vector a bit to close on another one of the light cruisers that was the only
Syndic warship the Alliance battle cruiser still had a hope of catching. “We’re going to get one shot,” she warned her crew. “Make sure it counts.”

  Dauntless tore past the intercept, hell lances stabbing out at the light cruiser, which rocked under the impacts, straining to get away. Before the light cruiser could recover from the hell-lance hits, two specters slammed into its stern, blowing apart the back half of the Syndic warship.

  Inspire managed to take out a HuK, as did Dragon. Daring and Victorious battered a heavy cruiser, but the Syndic ship didn’t take any damage to its propulsion and kept going.

  The Syndics, their groups broken into individual warships, were fleeing all out on dozens of vectors. “We can’t catch any more,” Geary said.

  Desjani, her face red with frustration, nodded. “Not if they keep running.”

  “They will. Get your division back into formation.” He called Duellos, Tulev, and Badaya with the same orders, knowing the disappointment they would all feel. But you couldn’t beat the physics of time, distance, and available acceleration.

  “Shuttles are docking,” Lieutenant Yuon said. “Estimate twenty minutes to complete recovery.”

  Geary checked the status of Guardian’s shuttles, themselves rising out of the maelstrom of dust raised by the Alliance bombardment.

  “Admiral?” General Carabali called. “My Marines and Commander Hopper recommend we flatten the trigger site. Commander Hopper says there is no chance the destruction of the site will set off the Syndic weapon, but destroying the site will seriously complicate attempts to rebuild the trigger.”

  “Captain Armus,” Geary ordered. “Destroy the trigger site.”

  Another barrage of bombardment projectiles dropped, these rocks bigger, falling from orbit onto the trigger-site building, which sat bizarrely almost undamaged amid the sea of wreckage around it.

  As Guardian recovered her shuttles, the rocks hit the trigger site, producing a gratifying series of explosions that tossed debris high up toward the battleships and leaving twisted ruins and craters in their wake.

  “Admiral, look at this,” Desjani urged.

  Geary checked his display. The Syndic light cruiser that was the sole survivor of Group Alpha, which had left the group in time to save itself, had launched several bombardment projectiles.

  A bombardment aimed at the larger moon of this planet.

  Aimed at the luxury resort where the senior Syndic internal-security leaders in this star system had fled. If those leaders weren’t already in hidden deep shelters, they would have time to flee the resort in the available ships there before the rocks hit, but the bombardment was still a powerful symbolic act.

  “I guess they had a mutiny,” Geary commented. “A successful one. I wonder if their ship had that remote power-core-overload device we saw at Midway, and if the Syndic crews are already figuring out how to block it. All units in First Fleet, rejoin formation. General Carabali, please pass on my personal admiration for the skill with which your force-recon team carried out its mission. Emissary Rione, now is the time to let the people of this star system know what fate their Syndic overlords intended for that planet.”

  Desjani looked around her bridge, smiling. “Good job, everyone. I think we reminded the Syndics who’s boss. What now, Admiral?”

  “We’re heading for Padronis,” Geary said, knowing his next words would be repeated around the fleet. “For the sake of the Syndics, I hope they don’t try to mess with us there.”

  —

  AS the fleet neared the jump point for Padronis, they watched the mutinous Syndic light cruiser jump through well ahead of them. “Looks like this jump exit is clear,” Desjani commented.

  “We’ll go through carefully anyway,” Geary said. He turned at a sound and saw that Rione had come onto the bridge. “Have we heard any more from the Syndics?”

  “No,” Rione replied. “Aside from two fragmentary messages using the avatar of CEO Gawzi that complained of unprovoked aggression, there’s been nothing else. They can’t complain about the warships we destroyed since they insisted those weren’t under Syndic control, and I suspect the Syndics in Simur are too busy with internal matters to pursue further complaints about events we were involved in.”

  “Internal matters? Internal revolt, you mean.”

  “Of course. There’s no telling who will win this one. We don’t know enough about the Syndic security forces here and what the locals might be able to muster. Did you want me to look into getting supplies from anywhere within this star system? Some of the facilities in the outer reaches of the star system might be willing to deal.”

  “No,” Geary said immediately. “We don’t need anything they could provide, and there’s no source here we could trust. Even the people fighting the Syndic security police might see us as still just another enemy. In any case, I don’t want to linger here. That would just give the Syndics more time to prepare surprises at Padronis. What have you heard from the Dancers? Emissary Charban says the Dancers have been singularly uncurious about everything that happened here.”

  “Yes. Strangely so,” Rione agreed. “Either they understood it all without our having to explain it, or it was so incomprehensible to them that they aren’t trying to understand it.”

  Geary gave his display a glance as it beeped for his attention. “The last shuttle run is complete. I thought we’d never find room for all of those prisoners we liberated. Let’s hope we don’t have to go into battle with all of those extra people clogging our ships.”

  That reminded him of something. He called Tanuki. “Captain Smythe, how is Commander Hopper? Home safe and sound?”

  Smythe grinned. “And happy to be home. We had some trouble prying her away from the Marines. They wanted to keep her. I think the stock of fleet engineers has risen considerably among the Marines. They really did need her. She says that trigger was an impressive mess of misleading circuitry, false mechanisms, and trip wires, all of it designed to fool anyone trying to disable it or override it by standard methods.”

  “I’d like to see Commander Hopper’s postaction report when she completes it,” Geary said. “Oh, you can have Lieutenant Jamenson back full-time. Have her destroy all intel files she was sent.”

  “Of course,” Captain Smythe said.

  “We’ll know if they aren’t destroyed,” Geary added casually. “Special tags embedded in the files.”

  “Why would that be a problem?” Smythe asked heartily. “Speaking of Lieutenant Jamenson, she’s being harassed by some fellow named Iger.”

  “Harassed? Is that the term she is using?”

  “Possibly not. I can’t spare her, Admiral.”

  “Understood, Captain, but we have to think of her career and well-being, too. I won’t hijack her. But if she wants to move on, I hope she’ll get the assistance in that effort that she has earned from both of us.”

  Smythe sighed dramatically. “You’re right. Keep good people in servitude, and you end up like the Syndics. We’ve almost completed repairs on Revenge, Colossus, and Fearless, by the way. They’ll be fine before we jump. Until something else breaks on them or other ships.”

  “We’ll be home soon and have time to work on everything,” Geary said. “Everything except my report on what’s been going on from the time we left Varandal, since I have to turn it in as soon as we arrive. That’s going to be a book before I get everything into it.”

  “Too bad we don’t have a faster-than-light message system like the enigmas, isn’t it? Not having to physically send ships with messages could be useful at times.”

  Or a pain in the neck if it allowed fleet headquarters to reach across the light-years to try to micromanage us in real time. “If you come up with one, or figure out how the enigmas do it, let me know.”

  After talking to Smythe, and before he could forget, he called Lieutenant Iger. “Just for the sake of observing all of the formalities, let me know when Lieutenant Jamenson has destroyed all the files she was sent and signed off on all
of the debriefing and disclosure paperwork.”

  Iger nodded quickly. “I don’t anticipate problems with that, Admiral. Shamrock is extremely professional in her work.”

  “Shamrock?”

  “Uh . . . I mean, Lieutenant Jamenson . . . of course, sir.”

  Geary made sure that he didn’t smile. “Then all of your misgivings regarding her have been put to rest?”

  “Absolutely, sir! Lieutenant Jamenson has requested to visit Dauntless and tour the intelligence spaces here once we return to Varandal. With your permission and approval, Admiral, and that of Captain Desjani.”

  Apparently Jamenson wasn’t really feeling harassed. No wonder Smythe was worried about losing her. Geary hoped for Lieutenant Iger’s sake that her interest wasn’t entirely in the intriguing new world of intelligence. “I don’t anticipate any problem with that, Lieutenant.”

  Nor was there any problem at the jump exit. Perhaps the Syndics had temporarily run out of mines in this region.

  Geary felt relief as the stars around Simur vanished, and the gray of jump space appeared. Not just relief, but a sense that the last major hurdle had been crossed for now.

  They would learn whether that was true when they reached Padronis.

  TWELVE

  THERE was almost nothing at Padronis.

  The fleet came out of jump space prepared for surprises, for threats, and found only two ships in the star system.

  Under normal circumstances, even that would be surprising. A white dwarf star, Padronis had no companions in space, no planets or asteroids in orbit. White dwarf stars slowly accumulated helium in their outer shells, causing them to go nova at wide intervals. If anything natural had once orbited Padronis, it had been blown away long before humans reached this part of space.

  The formerly Syndic light cruiser that had mutinied was trucking at a good rate toward the jump point for Heradao, already far from where Geary’s warships had arrived. The light cruiser’s crew clearly wanted nothing more to do with fighting the Alliance.