“My first priority, sir?” Gioninni thought for a moment. “Even supposing certain rumors were true, Admiral, I swear by the honor of all my ancestors that I would never allow anything that endangered this ship. Or any other ship. Or anyone on any ship, for that matter.”
Geary looked toward Desjani, who nodded her belief in what Gioninni had said. “All right, then,” Geary agreed. “Keep an eye on things and let us know if there’s anything we should be told about.”
“And if we find out you’ve cut any deals to keep quiet in exchange for a piece of the action, you might find yourself among your ancestors a lot sooner than you expected to be,” Desjani added in her sternest manner.
“Yes, ma’am!” Master Chief Gioninni saluted, then marched off with perfect military bearing.
“You haven’t managed to catch him at anything yet, eh?” Geary asked Desjani.
“Not yet. Maybe it’s just as well. There are times when necessary items for the ship can’t be acquired quickly enough through official channels. At times like that, Master Chief Gioninni can be extremely useful. Not that he’s ever been told to bypass proper procedures, of course.”
“Of course.”
AT point one light speed, it was a day and a half travel time from the jump point they arrived at to Hasadan’s hypernet gate. Geary had to fight down constant urges to ramp up the fleet’s velocity, to get to the gate faster and get to Midway faster and finally take the dive into alien space.
Just before entering the hypernet gate, Captain Tulev asked for a personal conference, an unusual thing for Tulev, who customarily kept his thoughts and feelings to himself. But now he seemed lost for words for a moment. “Admiral, there is something I wish to be certain that you are aware of concerning the prisoners from Dunai. One of them, Colonel Tukonov, is my cousin.”
Geary himself had trouble thinking of what to say. Tulev’s entire extended family had been thought killed in the war and the vicious Syndic bombardment of his home world. “That’s very good news.”
“Yes. Colonel Tukonov was thought dead, lost along with the rest of his unit nineteen years ago. Now, he lives.” Tulev struggled for words once again. “The dead come back to life. You. My cousin. The war ends. Humanity finds that we are not alone. These are extraordinary times.”
“You’re starting to sound like Tanya Desjani.”
A small smile appeared on Tulev’s lips. “There are worse fates, Admiral. She is a formidable woman.”
“ ‘Formidable’ is as good a word as any for her. Thanks for letting me know about your cousin. It’s nice to know one good thing came out of our liberation of that prison camp.”
Tulev pondered Geary’s statement for a moment. “They are very active, but most of it consists of arguing among themselves. Too many of them believe that they should be the leader now.”
“It’s a good thing their high rank and status is also their greatest weakness,” Geary remarked. “We have a few on Dauntless that I’m thinking of sending to join the others on Haboob and Mistral.”
“Including the husband of the Emissary Rione?” Tulev asked. “Do not do that, Admiral.”
“Why not?” Commander Benan hadn’t been any trouble since the confrontation in the passageway, but it had still seemed like a good idea to put him on another ship.
“You have told me that the Emissary Rione has orders to stay on Dauntless with you,” Tulev explained. “You would be sending her husband away, while you and she remain on the same ship.”
“Oh.” Damn. That sounded really, really bad. “Maybe that’s the last thing I should do.”
“I am not wise in such matters, but I think that is so.” Tulev straightened to attention, plainly ready to depart. “You are watching the liberated ones? My cousin will tell me some things, but I cannot be sure that he would be aware of any . . . disruptive actions any of them planned.”
“We’re keeping an eye on them,” Geary assured him, but after Tulev’s image vanished, Geary sat down heavily. Lieutenant Iger has limited assets for monitoring what those former prisoners are up to. I used to be able to count on Rione’s agents in the fleet to learn about brewing trouble. Not that those agents discovered everything. Not by a long shot. For the first time, he wondered if those agents were still active and still reporting to Rione. She hasn’t said one word about them since returning to Dauntless. She’s still avoiding the bridge most of the time, which at least makes Tanya happy.
He went up to the bridge, taking his seat and scanning the display that automatically popped into existence before him. The fleet had remained in Formation November, the five rectangular subformations closing steadily on the huge hypernet gate no longer far distant.
Geary tapped the control to speak to the entire fleet. “This is Admiral Geary. The latest news from Midway is months old. Hopefully, the bloody nose we gave the aliens the last time we were there has kept them away, but there’s a chance the aliens returned and have occupied the system. All ships are to be prepared for combat the moment we exit the gate at Midway. If the aliens are at the gate, they are to be regarded as hostile and engaged immediately.”
That hadn’t been an easy decision to make. It wasn’t impossible that the Syndics at Midway could have reached some agreement with the chastened aliens, allowing the aliens peaceful access to the star system. Coming in with all weapons blazing might destroy a newly arranged peaceful coexistence. But that possibility didn’t seem very likely given what they had learned about the aliens, and requiring his ships to get permission to fire would cost precious seconds and minutes that could literally mean the difference between life and death.
A thought that fortunately reminded him of something else that needed to be said. “The Syndics in Midway Star System are not hostile and are not to be engaged without prior authorization. There may well be a Syndic warship or courier ship waiting by the hypernet gate. That ship is not to be fired upon.
“Assuming that the aliens are not present there, this fleet will transit through Midway to the jump point used by the aliens, then proceed into areas of space occupied by the alien race. The ancestors of everyone in this fleet will surely be proud of their participation in this historic exploration. To the honor of our ancestors, Geary, out.”
Desjani glanced his way. “You gave the Syndics at Midway the secret of the alien quantum worms. With that, they might have been able to defend themselves using that small flotilla.”
“It’s possible. Make sure your fingers don’t twitch on the firing controls if we see a HuK when we emerge from the gate at Midway.”
She managed to look hurt. “I only fire weapons when I want to.”
“I know.”
THE disorientation on leaving the hypernet wasn’t nearly as bad as that when exiting jump. Within a second after the fleet arrived at Midway, Geary was focusing on his display as the fleet’s sensors rapidly updated information.
Sure enough, a single Syndic ship hovered several light minutes from the gate. At least it was distant enough to ensure that none of the Alliance ships would “accidentally” squeeze off a few shots. It wasn’t a Syndic warship, though, but a civilian ship whose presence hanging around the gate was unusual. The only other ships within a light hour of the gate were a few civilian freighters, heading in-system or toward the gate at the lumbering but fuel-efficient pace that cargo haulers favored.
Midway hadn’t altered much. The same planets and other objects swung in their orbits around the star as they had for years beyond counting, oblivious to the humans who for a very short span of time considered themselves rulers of this star system. The Syndic flotilla guarding the star hadn’t changed a great deal, still comprising six heavy cruisers, but now with five light cruisers instead of four and only twelve HuKs. There were no signs any battles had been fought here since the Alliance fleet had confronted the aliens over three months ago.
Where space around the star had once been full of other ships trying to evacuate human inhabitants before the alien race’s ass
ault force arrived, now only routine cargo and passenger shipping could be sighted.
“Why do you suppose they have fewer HuKs?” Geary asked Desjani. “There aren’t signs of any other battles being fought here since we left.”
She twisted her mouth in thought, then pointed to the area around the hypernet gate. “There isn’t a HuK nearby. Standard Syndic practice is to have a HuK lingering around a jump point or a system’s hypernet gate so it can function as a courier. They’re using a civilian ship, instead.” Desjani looked over at him. “They probably used some of those missing HuKs as couriers to the central government back at the Syndic home system, and I’d bet you the central government didn’t send any of them back.”
“What’s left of the Syndic government needs every warship it can get. But so do the people here. So you think the locals stopped using warships as couriers when they realized that they were running out of HuKs?”
“Even Syndics should have been smart enough to figure that out,” she said. “Eventually, anyway. They’ve picked up another light cruiser from somewhere, maybe one passing through that they convinced to stay. But remember that these Syndics had the flotilla protecting them yanked away by the central government to fight us. They know that flotilla won’t be coming home, and they know the Syndic central government left them with practically nothing to defend themselves against the aliens.”
“They must know they have to depend on themselves,” Geary agreed. “I’ll let them know we’re just passing through and see if they have any new information about the aliens.”
“If they do, they’ll want something for it.”
“Maybe they’ll still have some gratitude for when we saved them.”
Desjani didn’t even bother answering that suggestion.
The primary world here was almost on the other side of its star now, lengthening transmission times a few minutes. Since the total distance between the fleet and that planet was on the order of five light hours, that didn’t make much difference.
The Syndics had waited to hear from the Alliance ships before sending any messages, so their reply didn’t show up until the fleet had been in the Midway Star System for half a day and was well on its way to the jump point for the star humans had named Pele but which had been abandoned to the aliens decades earlier.
CEO Iceni herself was seated at a desk, her eyes wary as she spoke, which was understandable enough. She was communicating, after all, with a large fleet belonging to the Alliance, which the Syndicate Worlds had been fighting bitterly for decade upon decade before the recent peace treaty. “I extend my personal greetings to Admiral Geary. In response to your question, we have not detected any activity by the enigma race since the departure of your fleet. It is the desire of the people here that this situation continue. We have no wish to provoke the enigma race into renewed offensive action.
“Please inform me of the reason for the return of your fleet to this star system after only a few months’ absence.
“The people of Midway do of course remain grateful for your defense of this star system. However, you are a fleet belonging to a foreign power. Ambiguous wording in the peace treaty may allow this movement, but it is not the desire of the people of the Midway Star System that the Alliance consider such incursions into our star system to be routine. We will closely monitor your movements and insist that in the future, any visit to this star system by foreign warships be cleared in advance.”
“You’re welcome,” Desjani muttered.
General Charban and Rione had come to the bridge, expecting to be there when the reply arrived from the Syndics. “She didn’t threaten us,” Charban pointed out, as if that were the height of courtesy.
“That’s understandable,” Geary said. “Unlike that idiot at Dunai, she wants to preserve what little defensive capability she has.”
“I believe,” Rione said, “that Iceni is much brighter than the CEO in the Dunai Star System. She knows a bluff against us would be stupid, so she’s not trying. That’s one thing that she didn’t do.” Rione gave Geary a searching look. “The other thing is that CEO Iceni did not say she would report our transit through this star system to the Syndicate Worlds’ central government.”
“What’s left of the Syndicate Worlds’ central government, you mean.” Geary frowned, his eyes going to his display of their own accord. “We’ve been wondering why there wasn’t a HuK posted near the hypernet gate to serve as a courier. We thought they’d simply decided to stop sending them back to the central government when none returned.”
“That is probably one of the reasons, but I would urge you to consider the possibility that CEO Iceni is also deliberately distancing herself from the Syndicate Worlds’ government with a goal of establishing an independent star system here.”
“There have already been plenty of other star-system CEOs who have done the same. Assuming she succeeds, why does it matter to us?”
Charban looked pained. “Our treaty is with the Syndicate Worlds’ government. Iceni might argue that her regime wasn’t bound by that treaty and might demand that we renegotiate everything.”
As if reading Geary’s mind, Rione shook her head. “We can’t treat this star system as we did Dunai. We want to come back here as often as necessary, and we want a stable star system with a stable government anchoring this part of human space facing the aliens. We could do worse than a government headed by Iceni.”
“She’s a Syndic CEO,” Geary pointed out.
“One who chose to remain on her world with the bulk of its people when it was threatened by the aliens rather than flee on the fastest available ship crammed with all the treasure she could pack into it,” Rione said. “She appears to have not only courage, but also some sense of duty to the people she leads.”
“A Syndic CEO?” Desjani muttered.
“Syndic CEOs,” Rione said to Geary, “like Alliance politicians, and fleet officers, are individuals. Each must be judged on their own merits, or lack thereof.”
“Iceni doesn’t want us to go into alien territory,” Geary said, “but I don’t want to lie to her about our plans, especially when it’s obvious that we’re heading for the jump point for Pele.”
“Then don’t lie,” Rione said tonelessly. “Lying doesn’t become Black Jack Geary under any circumstances.”
Desjani gave her a sharp look, but she couldn’t object to the words.
So Geary told the truth when he responded to Iceni. “We are en route to Pele, and from there intend to penetrate farther into alien space in order to learn more about the enigma race and hopefully establish peaceful relations.”
It was well into the next day before he heard from CEO Iceni again, taking the message this time alone in his stateroom because the message was addressed to his eyes only. Transmission times had shrunk a bit, to only about four hours each way, which was at best a hard means of carrying on a conversation. Iceni had an expression that veiled her feelings, keeping them hidden without being obvious about it. She could teach the Alliance politicians, including Rione, a few tricks in that regard. “I will be blunt, Admiral Geary, because I know from your reputation and our previous conversations that you are not someone who likes to play extended word games. You intend taking your fleet into space controlled by the enigma race. I don’t like that. We have enough problems here without worrying about an aroused and angry enemy in that area. But I am fully aware that I have no means of stopping you, or even hindering the movement of your fleet in any significant way.”
Iceni leaned forward a bit, her eyes intent. “It is clear that you intend making use of the loophole in the peace treaty to use Midway Star System as a forward base for accessing alien space. Clearly, also, you would benefit from our active cooperation in that. I am willing to discuss such an agreement between this star system and you, on a mutually beneficial basis. I have more to offer than simply our agreement and support for your fleet’s movements through Midway. There is something else I have that you need. In exchange, there is
something I need from you. I will discuss a bargain, but only directly with you. Respond on this same channel, no other, if you wish to engage in negotiations with me. For the people, Iceni, out.”
Now what? Ask Rione? She had stopped providing advice except in rare circumstances, and in any case, Iceni only wanted to deal directly with him. Charban might have political authority because of his emissary status, but Geary hadn’t been impressed by Charban’s well-meaning but unpracticed attempts at diplomacy.
What was it that Iceni had that she was certain Geary needed? Was that just bait to get him to respond to her, or something he, or this fleet, really needed?
Finally, he sent a response. “CEO Iceni, I am willing to speak with you on any matter. Be aware that I will not agree to anything contrary to the welfare of the Alliance. If you want to negotiate some kind of basing agreement, I will have to get the emissaries of the Alliance government involved. Please spell out your offer and what you want in return. To the honor of our ancestors, Geary, out.”
WITH a turnaround time of eight hours, there wasn’t any sense in waiting for a reply. He went back to work, trying to concentrate on administrative matters, until Desjani called. “A shuttle from Tanuki brought us some more parts, and a visitor for you. It’s holding at the dock until you’re done with your meeting.”
“A visitor?” Captain Smythe himself, come to evaluate in person the work being done?
“Lieutenant Shamrock,” Desjani replied dryly.
Lieutenant Jamenson’s green hair seemed somehow subdued as she sat down opposite Geary. “Admiral, there’s a matter on which Captain Smythe said I should brief you.”
“A problem with the repairs to the fleet?”
“No, sir.” Jamenson paused, as if uncertain how to proceed. “I told you that besides confusing things, I can unconfuse things. Captain Smythe . . . likes to keep abreast of everything going on, so he monitors a lot of traffic not specifically addressed to him or his command.”
The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught Page 22