Dreadnaught

“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 assault 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.