The Lost Fleet Beyond the Frontier Invincible

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.”

“Kommodor Marphissa on the heavy cruiser Manticore,” Desjani repeated. “Military ranks and names for the ships? There have been a few changes around here. She didn’t call herself a Syndic, either, but she still looks like a Syndic.”

“I wonder what happened to CEO Kolani,” Geary said.

“Probably something that we’d be better off not knowing.” Desjani eyed the image of the kommodor suspiciously.

“Kolani struck me as being fiercely loyal to the Syndicate Worlds,” Geary said, “which would explain why this Kommodor Marphissa is now in command rather than Kolani.”

Kommodor Marphissa had paused for several seconds, as if anticipating that her audience would exchange comments, and now spoke with quiet assurance. “We welcome the assistance of the Alliance fleet under the command of Admiral Geary in defending the Midway Star System against all who threaten it.”

Her emphasis on one word was impossible to miss. “All?” Desjani demanded. “All? That ex-Syndic bitch is trying to rope us into fighting their battles against the Syndic government. What makes her think we’ll fall for that?”

“We are en route to the gas giant,” Marphissa continued. “We will continue on that track until we either encounter enemy forces or are ordered to assist you. However, I already have standing orders that the fleet of Admiral Geary is always welcome at Midway. For the people! This is Kommodor Marphissa. Out.”

Geary frowned in thought as the message ended. “Did you hear that?”

“Every word,” Desjani said, her own voice sharp.

“I meant the end, where she said ‘for the people.’ I’ve heard that a lot from Syndic authorities, and it always gets said without any emphasis or emotion. Just ‘for the people’ spoken quickly and without feeling, as if the phrase didn’t have any meaning.”

Desjani shrugged. “Is that surprising? You know it’s a joke. Nothing about the way the Syndicate Worlds has been and is run is really ‘for the people.’”

“But the way that Kommodor said it, she really seemed to mean it,” Geary insisted.