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

“That’s the next star system toward the enigmas,” Geary said with more patience than he felt.

“No, sir. I mean, yes, sir,” the intelligence officer corrected hastily. “This Pele is a ship. It looks like it correlates to that battle cruiser.”

“The Syndics don’t name their ships,” Desjani said.

“No, but the Midway people do,” Geary said. “To emphasize that they’re not Syndics anymore. Where did they get a battle cruiser?”

“No idea, Admiral,” Iger said. “It sounds like there are civil disturbances on the primary inhabited world. Rioting. The government is trying to deal with it.”

“How are they dealing with it?” Geary asked, his voice flat. There were Syndic ways of handling riots and rioters, and the rulers here had been Syndics not long ago.

“I can’t determine that yet, sir.”

“Hey!” Desjani’s startled exclamation drew Geary’s attention. “The Dancers just took off!”

Took off was putting it mildly. The alien ships had dashed away from the Alliance formation at the strongest acceleration they could manage, a rate of increase in velocity that even the Alliance battle cruisers couldn’t match. “They’re heading for the jump point for Pele. General Charban!”

“Here, Admiral,” Charban replied from the compartment where he and Lieutenant Jamenson were once again seated at their comm gear. “I just received a message from the Dancers. Watch the many stars. ”

“The many stars? What does that—? Sorry.” For once, Geary avoided asking a question that he already knew Charban had no answer to. He stopped to think as he watched the Dancers tear away. “I guess they’re going home as fast as possible.”

“I concur,” Charban said. “I’ll try to get more out of them before they leave.”

“Thanks. If—”

“We just got another message from the Dancers,” Charban interrupted, looking startled. “It says until next time, see you later, good-bye for now .”

Tanya raised both eyebrows. “They’re not taking any chances that we won’t understand that.”

“No, they’re not,” Charban agreed. “They want us to know that they will be back.”

“Do they expect us to wait here?” Geary demanded, exasperated.

“I don’t—” Charban began, then paused again. “Another message. You go your home. See you there. Admiral, I don’t know why the Dancers have suddenly shifted from vague ambiguities to clear meaning, but I have no doubt that they mean exactly what these messages say. They are not mistakenly saying something we might misinterpret. They want us to go home, and they want us to know they will come back and meet us there.”

“How are they planning on getting back through Syndic space?” Desjani wondered.

“How did they get to Durnan in the first place to plant that colony long ago?” Charban asked.

Geary made a helpless gesture. “We’ll have to take the Dancers at their word. There’s nothing in this star system that can catch them or hurt them before they reach that jump point.”

“Something might come out of the jump point,” Desjani suggested.

“Yeah. That’s true. We’ll hang around the hypernet gate until the Dancers jump and we know they’re out of human space, then we’ll head home.” The Dancers themselves obviously didn’t feel that the Alliance had any further obligations to escort and protect them, but Geary still felt a sense of responsibility toward them. He wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving Midway until the Dancers had.

As the hours went by, the Dancers racing toward the jump point for Pele while the Alliance warships orbited near the hypernet gate, Lieutenant Iger’s people were able to build up a picture of events at Midway that was only slightly reassuring. “They haven’t started shooting at the protesters yet, and I haven’t detected any orders for the local warships to move into position for precision bombardments. A lot of the ground forces seem to be missing, and there are references to General Drakon’s being gone from the star system.”

“Do you have any idea where he is?” Geary asked, remembering the stolid general who had seemed glad to shed the trappings of a Syndic CEO.

“There are a couple of mentions of Ulindi, a nearby star system.”

It was odd how someone having a dozen battle cruisers at his beck and call could feel powerless, Geary thought as he watched the Dancers dart away too fast to be caught up with and viewed images of events in Midway Star System that were hours old by the time he saw them. “At the rate the Dancers are going,” Desjani said, “their total transit time to the jump point for Pele will be less than twenty hours. They’re moving faster than sailors heading for the liberty shuttle.”

“Is their return that urgent?” Geary asked. “Or are they hurrying because they know we can’t leave until we know they have?”

“Or are they just sick and tired of us ugly humans?” Desjani added.

“I’m going to get some sleep,” Geary said as he realized that he had been on the bridge for more then seven hours straight. “There’s nothing anywhere near us and nothing I can do. When something does happen, I want my mind to be a little rested. If I’m not back in six hours, give me a call.”

He made a futile effort to sleep, staring up at the overhead from his bed, before eventually calling up some paperwork. But this time not even routine paperwork on the most soul-deadening of topics could make him drowsy.

Geary returned to Dauntless ’s bridge, noting that it had been thirteen hours since arrival in this star system. “Anything new?”

“How did you know?” Desjani asked. “We just got a message from that woman who calls herself president. I was reaching to call you when you showed up.”

For someone who had cities full of rioters, alien spaceships on the edges of her star system, and a large force of warships present belonging to an Alliance that had until recently been her bitter enemy, President Iceni appeared remarkably calm and confident. Geary was certain that it was an act, which made it all the more impressive to him.

“Admiral Geary, my friend, I am hoping it is you who have returned to this star system,” President Iceni began. “We are currently undergoing some minor domestic disturbances, which I regret to say are occupying my full attention. General Drakon is at Ulindi, assisting the people there in throwing off the chains of the Syndicate. You will be pleased to hear that your Captain Bradamont has proven to be an exceptionally valuable resource in our attempts to both defend this star system and create a more stable system of governance for it. I regret that she is currently aboard our battleship Midway , which is also at Ulindi and cannot speak to you directly. I assure you that she is both safe and highly respected by the officers and specialists of our military forces.

“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.”