The Lost Fleet: Fearless

Geary’s hand triggered the communications switch. “All units in the Alliance fleet with the exception of Dauntless, Daring, and Cruiser Division Four, this is Captain Geary. You are to accelerate away from the hypernet gate at best possible speed. Reinforce shields facing the gate. We estimate the gate is collapsing and may produce a very powerful burst of energy. Dauntless and the units with her will destroy the remaining Syndic ship, attempt to stabilize the gate, and if that fails, try to reduce the intensity of the energy burst by further selective destruction of gate tethers. I repeat, all units other than Dauntless, Daring, and the heavy cruisers of Division Four are to accelerate away from the hypernet gate at best speed.”

He’d barely finished speaking when the heavy cruisers got within range of the Syndic battleship and began pummeling it, throwing out every weapon they had. The battleship’s shields held, of course, but shivered under the blows.

Desjani spoke calmly. “Daring, this is Dauntless. Closing to hell-lance range in conjunction with maximum volley of grapeshot.”

“Dauntless, this is Daring. Aye. Right beside you.”

Geary couldn’t know whether the Syndic battleship had been released from its automated control now that the gate seemed to be collapsing, or if the crew had managed to override the controls on some of its weapons, but fire suddenly lashed out at the heavy cruisers. Two of them reeled away from the hammer blows of the Syndic battleship’s massive main hell-lance batteries, damaged enough to be out of the battle. A third cruiser arced up and back, curving away from contact. The fourth, Diamond, spun sideways and rolled in an attempt to confuse the Syndic aim and kept firing.

The grapeshot from Dauntless and Daring hit the Syndic battleship’s shields, setting off a riot of flashing lights as the shot converted its energy to heat and light. In a few places, the shields thinned enough for grape to get through and flare against the hull. Moments later, before the shields of the battleship could recover, hell-lance fire from Dauntless on one side and Daring on the other pounded into them. The battleship trembled as the charged particles ripped through its armor and on into its crew and vital systems. “Specters,” Desjani rapped. “Full volley.”

Six missiles shot from Dauntless, taking just a moment to lock onto the Syndic battleship and accelerate straight into the stricken warship. Massive explosions bloomed and what was now nothing more than a derelict staggered away from the position it had held near the gate.

“They never stood a chance, being at almost dead stop,” Desjani stated, shaking her head.

“The gate is definitely collapsing,” the watch-stander monitoring it called out, his voice carrying a trace of fear now.

Geary entered a code and punched activate, calling up the program Commander Cresida had developed. Ancestors, please let this work. It wants me to slave available warships to the program. Fine. Do it. I wish I had more than three right here, but how many do I need? The last two formations have already turned in accordance with my earlier order and are heading away. “Dauntless, Daring, Diamond, this is Captain Geary. Your combat systems are being put under control of a program designed to try to control the collapse of the hypernet gate. Effective now.” He punched in the authorization, pondering the irony of doing the same thing to his ships that the Syndic commanders had done to their Force Bravo flotilla. But then he was doing this to try to stop massive destruction, not to cause it, and if his commanders wanted to, they could override the program at any time.

Almost immediately Geary could feel Dauntless pivot and begin braking at maximum thrust to slow its movement across the hypernet gate. He could see Daring and Diamond also straining to kill their velocity and assume positions near the gate.

Geary looked up at the visual display, in which the hypernet gate now loomed. He had seen only one other hypernet gate, and that only for a few moments. Admiral Bloch had been eager to show it off to Geary, but Geary had still been half-dead from his extended survival sleep and the psychic shock of awakening a century in the future and therefore hadn’t paid much attention. He vaguely remembered a shimmering in space, as if something wasn’t quite right inside the gate.

Now he stared at something different. The destruction wrought by the Syndic ships had been limited by their losses, but it had clearly been too much for the particle matrix suspended between the tethers. The shimmering was gone, replaced by a waviness that rippled across space itself like spasms on the hide of some impossibly vast creature.

“Captain Geary,” Desjani spoke as if discussing routine maneuvers, “the gate neutralization program is projecting positions for all three ships.”

“Any problems with it?” Geary asked Desjani.

She shook her head. “We’re already committed to the maneuver, sir.”