The Lost Fleet Beyond the Frontier Invincible

“Damn.” Desjani’s voice had changed, low and intense now. “It’s really hitting me. This is a moment the human race has looked forward to, dreamed about, feared, for who knows how many thousands of years. And now it’s happening, and we’re here to watch it.”

“Pretty awesome, isn’t it?” Geary said.

“Am I still being evil if I hope that I can see the spider-wolf delegation we take back with us embracing the politicians on the Alliance grand council?”

“No.” He had a vision of Senator Suva in the embrace of a spider-wolf and smiled. “I wouldn’t mind seeing that myself.”

The first spider-wolf was speaking in the high-pitched, rapid buzz of the alien language. Its arms waved in what looked like carefully made gestures, ending folded across the front of its body, the claws clicking several times before the creature bowed toward Charban and Rione. It gestured again, this time pointing in the direction of one of the jump points, then pointed back to the humans with all four arms.

Charban hesitated, then slowly brought his arm up in a salute, lowered it, and backed away.

Rione spread her hands, smiling, and nodded to the spider-wolves before she stepped back as well.

The spider-wolves both backed down the oval tube, vanishing from Geary’s view.

“Now what?” Rione asked Charban.

“We close the hatch, I suppose.” General Charban cycled the outer and the inner air lock hatches closed, then stood with uncertainty obvious in his stance.

The pilot had been staring at her own video feed of the passenger area, but she now reacted to an alert on the panel before her. “Atmosphere outside the air lock is dropping very rapidly. Down, down, gone. Whatever was in contact with the shuttle hull is also gone.”

“Bring it home,” Geary ordered. “Follow quarantine procedures for all personnel and the shuttle.”

“I understand, Admiral. Returning to Dauntless now.”

The two small craft separated, each heading back to its own kind.

The moment was over, yet as Geary watched the returning shuttle, he thought that the pattern the spider-wolves spoke of had been altered in ways that no amount of duct tape could ever return to its former state.

The shuttle was just arriving at Dauntless when the spider-wolf craft zipped into a larger ship, which promptly turned and headed for another jump point than the one the humans had been told to proceed toward. Nearly simultaneously, one of the curving arms of the spider-wolf formation unraveled as six spider-wolf ships broke free and cut forward to a point between the Alliance fleet and the designated jump point.

“Our escorts, I presume,” Geary commented, as the six spider-wolf ships slid to a halt relative to the human warships. He called down to the civilian experts, knowing they would have been watching everything, and found a cross-looking Dr. Shwartz answering. “Is anything wrong?”

Shwartz took a deep breath before answering. “I am sorry for being unprofessional, Admiral, but do you have any idea how hard it was to watch that meeting and not be able to participate?”

“I regret that, Doctor, but the spider-wolves said only two human representatives, and both Emissary Rione and General Charban were specifically designated by the Alliance government as our leads for contact with alien species. I couldn’t choose anyone over them without a very good reason.”

“Yes, I know,” Shwartz said. “That’s why I admitted to being unprofessional. But, still . . . all my life I dreamed of that moment, Admiral, and I freely admit that in my dreams, I was the one greeting the aliens firsthand.”

“A lot of people dreamed that dream, Doctor. You got to see it happen.” Shwartz grinned. “Our two emissaries are going to be busy for a while being run through every health test our medical doctors can dream up. Our escort through spider-wolf space has already moved into position, but we won’t be ready to go for another twelve hours. Can you and Dr. Setin contact the spider-wolves and let them know that?”

“Twelve hours?” Dr. Shwartz questioned. “Twelve is easy. Hours, well, that will take some work. I will get my comrades on it, though I should warn you that they are sulking worse than I am at the moment.”

“Good luck, Dr. Shwartz.”

She smiled again. “Thank you, Admiral.”

He signed off, then noticed Desjani glowering in her seat. “What?”

“We’re having a problem with Commander Benan down at the quarantine site,” Desjani grumbled.

“What’s the problem?”

“He’s insisting on seeing her. The docs say no. I’m about to have him arrested.”

Geary tensed, then relaxed himself. “He wants to see her? In person, or just communication?”

She replied with an annoyed look. “Let me check . . . All right. He says he wants to see her image, talk to her. The docs want to work in peace.”

“Give Commander Benan comm access to his wife,” Geary ordered.

Desjani’s expression this time was startled. “Excuse me, sir.”

“What?”