Jack Campbell - Invincible

“They’re breaking up their formation,” Desjani said.

In an instant, he knew why. “All units in the pursuit force, immediate execute you are free to maneuver. The enigma force is no longer concentrating on defeating our fleet and is instead scattering to get units past us so they can attack other targets in this star system. Operate independently to engage any enigma warship you can get within weapons range of. I repeat, all units in the pursuit force, maneuver independently now and get every enigma you can.”

Desjani was already rapping out orders to jolt Dauntless onto a new vector aimed toward an intercept with a cluster of enigma warships that hadn’t yet separated much. “I agree that they’ve given up on trying to take us out, but how do you know they aren’t scattering to escape to the jump point?” she asked a moment later.

“If they wanted to run, they could have just kept going in formation. The reason for scattering like that is to make it damn near impossible for us to stop all of them from getting to targets like the hypernet gate. Not the complete victory they wanted, but it would still cost us something we want and need.”

“If our main-body formation disperses, too—”

“No! Then some of the enigma ships might try for the assault transports and auxiliaries!”

On his display, the pursuit-force formation looked as if it, too, had exploded, ships hurtling outward on hundreds of vectors.

Geary swept his gaze across the rest of the display, taking in both the likely targets of the surviving enigmas and the three small Syndic or former Syndic flotillas. He hadn’t called any of those possibly friendly/probably neutral forces yet, but now he punched in the right circuit for such a message. “All armed forces in the Midway Star System, this is Admiral Geary. The enigma ships have broken formation and will be heading for targets within this star system. We will stop all that we can, but you must also intercept and engage anything that gets past us. The enigmas will ram targets if all other methods of attack fail. Do not, repeat not, attempt to engage the six ovoid ships that accompanied my fleet. They are neutral in this fight and allies of humanity.” That was perhaps strongly overstating the spider-wolf attitude toward humans, but now was no time to fine-tune adjectives.

“I welcome your assistance in defending this star system,” Geary continued. “To the honor of our ancestors, Geary, out.”

The widely dispersed and still-spreading force of enigma warships was expanding like a puff of dandelion seeds hit by a strong gust of wind, every ship bending toward a course heading toward the star and the human targets there. Opposite them, and slightly closer to the star, the ships of Geary’s pursuit force had also burst outward, more numerous than the enigma vessels but with the harder task of stopping those who wanted to just get by them. Between them lay the main-body formation, and there Geary saw some hope. “The individual enigma ships can’t go too close to our main body, or they’ll get nailed by all the firepower there.”

“It’ll restrict the enigmas’ maneuvering options and help us herd them a little,” Desjani agreed, her expression intent. “I’m giving you two targets, Lieutenant Yuon. I want them both.”

“Yes, Captain! Fire control systems are tracking the targets you’ve designated.”

“Engage the targets as soon as they get close enough,” Desjani ordered.

Geary couldn’t keep track of everything anymore as his display filled with hundreds of vectors rising and dropping around the mass of the main-body formation, hunters and hunted twisting, evading, and pouncing as they flashed by each other. Dauntless lashed out as she tore past a much smaller enigma ship, pounding it badly enough that the alien craft broke in two. Moments later, a second enigma ship was engaged, this one tumbling away only partially under control as two Alliance destroyers chased after it.

“I have no idea of how things are going,” Geary muttered, looking at the rat’s-nest of intersecting and intertwining vectors, the reports of firing, the estimates of damage to enemy ships, and reports of damage to his own ships as the enigmas fought back.

“Keep an eye on this,” Desjani suggested, as Dauntless swung down and over in a dive tight enough to generate groans of protest from the inertial nullifiers and the ship’s structure. She pointed to a single number there. “Estimated number of enemy ships. As long as it keeps going down, we’re doing okay.”

His head jerked from momentum as Dauntless leveled out and surged after a third enigma warship, about the size of a heavy cruiser, which was dueling with a light cruiser and inflicting more damage than it was taking. “Tell engineering I need more thrust from main propulsion,” Desjani ordered her bridge watch-standers.

“Engineering says we’re already at one hundred and ten percent, Captain, and if we—”

“One hundred fifteen. Now. ”

“Yes, Captain.”

Seconds later, Dauntless surged from a bit more acceleration, closing the gap just enough. “Get him,” Desjani ordered.

Specter missiles fired, racing toward the enigma ship, which belatedly realized that its battering of the light cruiser was not going unnoticed. The enigma tried to roll away, but two specters caught it, damaging its propulsion. Dauntless drew closer, hammering away with hell lances as the enigma ship fired frantically back.

“Our bow shields are almost down,” Lieutenant Castries called out.

“I see,” Desjani replied calmly. “They’ll hold long enough.”

One enigma shot got through, holing a storage compartment up forward, then the alien shields collapsed, and Dauntless poured a rain of hell-lance fire into the enemy.

Geary was barely aware of the enigma ship exploding under the punishment that Dauntless was inflicting; instead, he watched the whole situation and the number Desjani had pointed to. Even though their numbers were dwindling fast, the surviving enigma ships were breaking through and past the human warships.

“Thirty-five,” he said as the Alliance ships steadied out in stern chases after the enigmas who had gotten clear and were heading for their targets. A moment later, several specters fired at extreme range got hits. “Thirty-four.”

“Even the Syndics ought to be able to handle that,” Desjani said, smiling. The smile disappeared as she studied the nearby situation. “Tell engineering to ease back to one hundred percent on main propulsion. We’re going to have a long stern chase before we can catch up with any more enigmas.”

“The Syndics don’t have enough ships to cover all of the possible targets adequately,” Geary said. “Have we ever heard from any of the Syndics?”

Desjani looked back at her comm watch, who nodded. “Something came in five minutes ago,” the watch-stander reported. “Your standing instructions—”

“Are not to interrupt time-critical events for messages that are not time critical,” Desjani finished. “You did the right thing. Who is this message from?”

“It came from the flotilla that has been transiting from the inhabited planet to the docks near the gas giant. The nearest one to us. It’s addressed directly to Admiral Geary, Captain.”

“Send it to me and Captain Desjani,” Geary ordered.

An instant later, windows popped open before him and Desjani, showing a woman in Syndic uniform on the bridge of what was plainly a Syndic heavy cruiser. But her collar insignia were different than Syndic standard, and her words immediately contradicted the rest of her appearance. “This is Kommodor Marphissa on the heavy cruiser Manticore of the Midway Star System.”