Jack Campbell: The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Steadfast

But the Alliance hadn’t actually promised to do anything with that knowledge.

“We’re just passing through,” Geary told the crew of the courier ship. “We’ll be back soon.”

He sent a similar message to the government of Atalia, which technically had to approve the Alliance task force’s transit of its star system. In practice, Atalia wouldn’t do anything to offend the Alliance and actually welcomed any presence by Alliance warships as a deterrent to attempts by the Syndic government to regain control of the star system.

From Atalia they had to jump through Kalixa, which had once had its own hypernet gate. But the enigmas had caused that gate to collapse, wiping out the human presence at Kalixa and rendering the once-habitable main world a lifeless wreck, hoping that the Syndics would blame the Alliance for the atrocity and begin making the gates in Alliance star systems collapse. The plan had almost worked.

Geary took the task force through Kalixa as quickly as possible. The Dancer ships stayed close to the Alliance ships, not following their usual practice of zooming off to whirl around each other in the graceful movements that among humans had earned the aliens the nickname Dancers. Geary wondered if the ruined star system of Kalixa marked some sort of mar in the patterns the Dancers valued, something that unsettled them, but Charban’s attempts to ask the Dancers about that produced no replies understandable to the humans.

From Kalixa, they finally jumped into a star system still controlled (when last heard) by the Syndics. Indras was fairly well-off, fairly wealthy as star systems went, far enough from Alliance space to have taken relatively little damage during the war, and possessed the working Syndic hypernet gate that Geary needed.

The few, minor Syndic warships present avoided getting anywhere near Geary’s ships as they thundered through the star system on the fastest route to the hypernet gate. The two Syndic light cruisers and five HuKs, some still bearing scars of combat not so long ago, showed no interest in confronting the Alliance Task Force in any way. But the senior CEO in the star system was not so circumspect.

“We must protest this violation of Syndicate Worlds space by an armed expedition of the Alliance,” CEO Yamada declared. Yamada, with his impeccably tailored suit, perfectly coifed hair, and well-practiced expressions designed to conceal any real emotions, looked like almost every other CEO that Geary had encountered. Judging by his girth and other signs of rich living, Yamada had also not personally suffered much during the war. “You are to cease aggressive actions against the Syndicate Worlds and vacate Syndicate space immediately. Forthepeople, Yamada, out.”

“Yeah, he’s for the people,” Desjani commented sarcastically. “Are you going to bother answering?”

“Just with the standard legalities. But not yet. And apparently there are some intelligence reports I need to know about.”

“About Indras? Why didn’t they brief you before we got here?

“Ask the people who make up the rules the intelligence community has to follow. They’re probably the only ones who understand whatever logic is involved.”

A few hours later, Lieutenant Iger briefed Geary in his stateroom. “Thank you for taking the time for this, Admiral.” He brought up some images of individuals, star systems, and businesses, all connected by various colored strands. “This is the best picture we have at this time of Syndic covert operations in this region against the Alliance and their own rebellious star systems.”

The point of Iger’s presentation wasn’t hard to grasp. “It looks like Indras is at the center of a lot of that.”

“Yes, sir. We can’t tie CEO Yamada specifically to what is going on. He may not personally even know about some of the things being done by the central government, but it’s likely he knows about some of it. A lot of covert activity is being coordinated through Indras.”

Geary hunched forward a bit, resting his elbows on the table and gazing at the interrelationships and activities being shown. “Is there anything I can do about this? Is there anything I’m supposed to be doing about it?”

“No, sir,” Iger said with a regretful shake of his head. “This briefing is for informational purposes only. We are at peace with the Syndics. Alliance military forces can’t just launch open attacks on the basis of evidence like this which can’t even be shown to the average person. As for other alternatives, we don’t have the sort of proof that could be presented in any court, and there aren’t any courts that would handle this sort of thing between the Syndics and the Alliance anyway.”

“Is anybody else doing anything?”

Iger hesitated, then spoke slowly. “Admiral, I can’t say.”

“As in you don’t know, or you do, and I’m somehow not cleared for it?” Geary tried to keep from sounding angry and accusing. It wouldn’t be Iger’s fault if the matter was out of his hands, so Iger shouldn’t be personally held to account.

“I don’t honestly know anything, sir,” Lieutenant Iger protested. “I’ve heard rumors that counteroperations are under way, but nothing specific and nothing official.”

“Counteroperations? Aimed at what’s going on here?”

“Vague rumors, sir. That’s all I have.”

“I hope that’s all they are,” Geary said. “Because it would look very suspicious to everyone if something blew up in this star system while we were here or soon after we left.” He wanted to add that surely no one would plot covert actions that, by their timing and placement, would imply Geary’s ships were involved, at the very least not without warning him, but recent experience with the government’s mania for secrecy left him with no confidence on that count. “Let me know if anything else comes in that relates to this.”

Geary waited almost another day, until the Alliance warships and the Dancer ships were almost to the hypernet gate, before he called up the Syndic CEO’s message again and tapped the reply command. “CEO Yamada, this is Admiral Geary. We are permitted by the terms of the peace agreement with the Syndicate Worlds to transit Syndicate space to and from the Midway Star System, and to make use of the Syndicate Worlds’ hypernet system when we do so. We will continue to operate in accordance with our rights under the peace agreement. To the honor of our ancestors, Geary, out.”

“They probably already knew we were going to Midway,” Desjani said.

“The longer we could keep them guessing, the better. Let’s get out of Indras before the Dancers decide to go sightseeing.” Or something blows up, he added to himself.

To his relief, the stolen hypernet key dialed up Midway without any problems, and a moment later they were safe inside the nowhere of the hypernet.

The hypernet allowed Geary’s ships to cover the distance to Midway in a few weeks, a voyage that would have required several months if conducted by jumping from star to star. Oddly enough, even though the other discomforts of jump space weren’t present, Geary had the same dream a couple of more times, ending in the same frustrating fashion. Whether it was his subconscious or something else trying to send him a message, the meaning of it wasn’t coming through.

As the Alliance ships left the hypernet, the stars reappeared around them, and displays began updating with the newest information. “It sounds like they’ve been busy around here,” Lieutenant Iger reported. “Lots of comm traffic, official and unofficial.”

“Anything bad?” Geary asked. “There’s a battle cruiser here. Whose is it?”

“We’re trying to ID it, Admiral. Wait. We’re picking up references to Pele .”