The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Guardian

HUMANITY had built many large objects since the first hand grasped the first tool. Some of those objects had seemed awesomely large to those who constructed them, only to eventually be eclipsed by some new work that dwarfed what came before.

But the hypernet gates were in a class of their own. The many “tethers” that held together a matrix of energy formed a circle so large that even a human battleship appeared small as it approached a gate. Geary’s entire fleet, hundreds of warships, could enter a gate simultaneously. And the net created by the gates was unimaginably huge, spanning a volume hundreds of light-years across and granting direct access to scores of star systems.

The hypernet gate at Midway was close now, looming in space before the Alliance warships, looking like exactly what it was—a gateway to somewhere else.

Geary had his fleet together again, all of the warships in one titanic, egg-shaped formation that would serve well for defense but convey no offensive intent. In the most protected part of the oval were the assault transports, the auxiliaries, and the captured Kick superbattleship, the Invincible. Near those ships were most of the battleships in the fleet, forming an armored shell close to the weakest, most valuable units. Ranged outward from them were the battle cruisers, the heavy cruisers, the light cruisers, and the destroyers.

Battered and tired as they were—the crews as well as the ships—they still looked magnificent.

Geary took his eyes away from the reassuring image of strength on his display, carefully touching his comm control. “Captain Bradamont, we’re about to depart. I have every confidence in you. Use your best judgment. To the honor of our ancestors, Admiral Geary, out.”

He sighed, hoping that he had made the right decision about leaving Bradamont here as a liaison officer. At times it had felt far too much as if he were abandoning a fellow officer to the clutches of an enemy. But Bradamont had volunteered when given the opportunity. Her presence at Midway might make a big difference in the survival of Midway’s independence and provide a means to learn how sincere President Iceni was about her claims to be seeking a freer form of government to replace the Syndic tyranny. “Let’s go, Tanya.”

“Indras?” Desjani asked, her hand poised over the input for the hypernet key.

“Yes. That’s the quickest way back to the Alliance.” Geary watched her selecting the name of the star. Not every star had a hypernet gate. Not even close, given how expensive the gates were to construct. And the only thing allowing this Alliance fleet to use the Syndic hypernet was a Syndic hypernet key acquired as part of a complex Syndic plot to destroy the Alliance, a plot that had very badly backfired on the Syndicate Worlds.

He waited for the simple procedure to be complete, but instead of indicating that all was ready, Desjani gave him a concerned look. “The Syndic hypernet says it can’t access a gate at Indras.”

“Something happened to the gate at Indras?”

“Must have.” She bit her lip, eyeing her display. “Kalixa would have been the next best alternative, but we know Kalixa’s gate is gone. How about Praja?”

He studied his own display, then nodded. “Go for Praja.”

Several seconds passed, then Desjani blew out a long breath. “No access to a gate at Praja.”

“Try Kachin.”

Another pause, then she shook her head. “No access.”

“Could there be something wrong with our key? Could the Syndics have somehow reprogrammed their hypernet so our key won’t work in it anymore?”

“Admiral, I have no idea. I’m just a ship driver.”

Already thrown off-balance by this totally unexpected hurdle, Geary felt an irrational stab of annoyance at her reply but recognized it as being candid and accurate. “Let’s ask someone who might know.” He tapped in some commands. “Captain Hiyen, Commander Neeson,” he said, as his message went out to the commanders of Reprisal and Implacable. “We have a problem.” He explained what had happened, then sat back to wait for replies that would take a few seconds at least. Hiyen and Neeson were the nearest things to experts on the hypernet that he had left. Having to depend on their limited expertise was not reassuring when something unusual happened, especially given how little humanity really understood about the hypernet.

“We’re getting close to the gate,” Desjani murmured, as if to herself.

Geary jerked, annoyed with himself this time at not staying on top of the entire situation. “All units in First Fleet, immediate execute, alter course starboard one eight zero, reduce velocity to point zero two light.” The entire formation would turn around, each individual ship pivoting in place, then using her main drives to first brake velocity in the fleet’s original direction, then accelerate back along the track they had come, though at a much slower pace. “Thank you, Captain Desjani,” he muttered.

She just nodded slightly in reply, eyes still on her display.