Fearless

SIX

“Looks like a dozen battleships and battle cruisers,” Desjani remarked. She seemed happy at the prospect of a bigger battle. “Only five heavy cruisers, though, one light cruiser and nine Hunter-Killers. Why so few escorts?”

The answer to that question became apparent as Dauntless’s sensors evaluated what could be seen of the new Syndic force. “They’ve taken battle damage,” the combat systems watch reported, “and were probably sent here for repair and refit. Most of their escorts were probably destroyed in the battle where the bigger ships took damage.”

Geary nodded, his thoughts roving back toward Alliance space. Were these Syndic ships the victors of a battle in which the Alliance ships following Captain Falco had been annihilated? Or had they been mauled elsewhere by the portions of the fleet that had remained in Alliance space to guard it while most of the fleet had made the risky assault on the Syndic home system? “We need to find out where they got hurt and who did it,” Geary stated out loud.

“Prisoners should be able to tell us that,” Desjani noted cheerfully. “We can pick up some Syndic survival pods after the battle.” She gestured at the images of the newly arrived warships. “If they’re coming here for refit after a battle, they may have little or no expendable weaponry on board. No missiles, no grapeshot.”

“True,” Geary agreed. “Can they reach any of the munitions depots we’ve identified before our kinetic bombardment hits the ammunition supplies?”

Desjani ran some calculations, her hands flying over the controls. “Maybe. If they haul ass for the farthest munitions depots from us as soon as they spot us. But they’d have little time, and they’d need to get clear before our bombardment hit.”

Geary checked the solution. “And that would take them out away from our path to the hypernet gate. I hope they do make a run for that ammo dump.” He added up the total operational Syndic forces in system now. Sixteen battleships and a dozen battle cruisers, thirteen heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and an even twenty HuKs. A formidable force if they managed to join up and fight together. Formidable on paper, at least. The Syndic flotilla they’d seen in the system upon arrival, if engaged in training, might not have full load-outs of weapons and probably had inexperienced crews. The newly arrived Syndic force was likely as experienced as any warships tended to be when tactics led to bloodbaths with heavy losses, but those ships were already battered and almost certainly low or completely out of expendable weaponry. And, even combined, there were far too few light escorts for the bigger ships.

“What do you think, sir?” Desjani asked.

Geary sat silent for a few moments, using his finger to trace paths through the display before him, depending on instincts born of long experience to estimate how his fleet and the two Syndic forces would move relative to each other. “It’s going to depend on what they do,” he finally decided. “If they’re stupid, they’ll individually rush to battle, and we’ll be able to overwhelm each of the flotillas with a very comfortable superiority in ships and firepower on our side.”

“Will they dare risk trying to join?” Desjani indicated the hypernet gate. “If they know we might be able to use that…”

Oh, hell. Desjani had remained focused on the primary issue, while Geary had gotten lost in possible alternatives. “No. You’re right. That newly arrived force will be told to reinforce the gate defenses.” Or to help destroy the gate. But what about the other flotilla? He traced more paths, then shook his head. “The other flotilla could do any number of things. But my guess is that once they see we’re headed for the gate, they’ll charge that way, too, or else they’ll be ordered there even though they’ll get to the gate too late to stop us.”

“We can handle that,” Desjani noted.

Her calm confidence was infectious. “Yeah.” Geary settled back in his seat. “I figure we’ve got a half hour window before anything else happens, then we’ll have new information coming in for hours as we start seeing the Syndics react to us. I’m going to grab a quick bite to eat.” Desjani nodded, her eyes on her own situation display. “Can I bring you anything?” Geary asked half-jokingly.

She tapped one pocket and grinned. “I’ve got ration bars.”

“You’re a better sailor than me.” Geary smiled in reply. He stood up, turning to see Co-President Rione still seated and eyeing him, her expression impossible to read. Geary nodded to her. “So far so good.”

“So far,” Rione echoed, but he couldn’t tell if her voice held humor or disdain.

Much of the action that unfolded over the following hours as the Alliance fleet fell deeper into the Sancere Star System was predictable. Nonmilitary shipping headed for nearby orbital ports or else began scattering into empty portions of the system in the hopes that the Alliance ships wouldn’t waste time hunting them down. Frantic activity erupted in the orbital shipyards as tugs began hauling away vital materials and a couple of the under-construction major warships, but there weren’t enough tugs to get all of the battleships and battle cruisers being built out of the way of the kinetic bombardment racing toward its targets. The two unfinished warships being pulled out of the path of the bombardment could be easily blown apart later when the fleet swept through that area, but Geary still had to admire the dedication of the Syndic work crews. They were trying, even though the efforts must have seemed as hopeless as they actually were.

Well behind the light announcing the arrival of the Alliance fleet came the kinetic bombardment, spreading out across the system, pummeling targets ever farther in-system, heading inexorably for the inner system crowded with industrial and military installations.

The Syndic force Geary had christened the Training Flotilla in his mind even though the official combat system designation was Syndic Force Alpha had turned toward the fifth world almost four hours before it had sighted Geary’s fleet, closing the distance purely by chance. When he finally saw it yaw around and up, he knew that course change had occurred five hours ago and realized he’d spent more than ten hours on the bridge. He nonetheless waited a little longer, until they could tell the Training Flotilla was moving to engage Task Force Furious. A check of the battle-battered Syndic Force Bravo showed it had, unfortunately, turned back toward the hypernet gate. Geary took a moment to pray the Syndics in that force would use the gate to flee the system and spare him the uncertainty of a battle as well as the worry that they would destroy the gate before he could reach it.

He rubbed his eyes wearily. It was still almost twenty-four more hours until the fleet reached the vicinity of the closest-in gas giant and altered course to sweep directly toward the hypernet gate. There were stimulants he could take to stay awake and alert for days, but even the best of those exacted a price, especially when quick decisions were needed under pressure. The human mind needed real sleep and wouldn’t be happy with anything else. Captain Desjani was napping in her seat, apparently comfortable enough and able to sleep through routine sounds on the bridge. But nothing was going to happen fast now. New information might come in, but it was clear that any developing threat would be seen hours before it was a danger. Geary tapped his communications controls. “All ships ensure crews are rotated and given opportunity for rest.” Geary stood, stretching, determined to provide a good example. “I’m going down to get some sleep,” he advised the watch-standers on the bridge. “Call me if anything unexpected happens. I want to know about any changes in the movements of the two Syndic flotillas.”

Sleeping for six hours in the middle of a battle seemed absurd, but when the battle was happening in slow motion over days of time, it just made sense. Staying awake to watch nothing happening would only leave him too tired to think straight when something did start taking place. So Geary told himself as he lay down in his bunk and stared at the overhead. It could have been a lot worse. The defenses were surprisingly weak despite the many military targets in the system. The Syndics obviously hadn’t thought Sancere faced a real danger of attack, and why should they? But surprises could still happen, and he needed a clear head to deal with them.

Restlessness eventually drove Geary up to roam the ship, stopping to talk with officers and sailors at their duty stations or catching meals. Everyone seemed nervous and excited, worried about what might happen but also feeling the thrill of hitting a surprised enemy hard. A few wondered about the hypernet gate, and Geary offered vague assurances that the gate would be taken if at all possible.

Six hours from reaching the gas giant, the main body of the fleet finally had something exciting to watch besides the wave of destruction as the kinetic bombardment fell on targets ahead of the Alliance force. Task Force Furious had accelerated up to .2 light on its charge toward the inner planets and was now two light-hours away from the main body, braking back down to .1 light and closing fast on Syndic Force Alpha, the Training Flotilla.

Unable to direct the action from so far away, knowing everything he was seeing had already happened, Geary watched while trying not to reveal his nervousness. If those steady commanders of his gave in to temptation and lit into the Syndics, it would result in a bloody brawl. The thirty ships under Cresida’s command were outnumbered by the thirty-nine in the Syndic Training Flotilla, and were also outgunned by the Syndic ships thanks to the ten battleships on the Syndic side. The odds were good enough to entice the Syndics to battle, just as Geary had hoped. He was certain Cresida wouldn’t be dumb enough to get involved in a ship-to-ship slug out at close range, but mistakes on her part or clever moves by the Syndics could lead to just that.

It all came down to trusting the officer he had placed in command. After the mess Numos had made of his command of a formation at Kaliban, Geary had vowed not to put anyone else he didn’t trust in charge of any part of the fleet. But it was far easier not to trust, to try to micromanage his subordinates, than it was to let them do their jobs. Funny how that never changes. You have to learn that as a junior officer, and you have to stick to it as a senior officer. If you’re going to be any good as a commander, that is.

Two hours ago, but only now visible to the main body of the Alliance fleet, Cresida had played it smart, angling as if intending a direct clash, then altering course for a glancing engagement. With too little time to react, the Syndic ships reacted clumsily, confirming Geary’s assessment that they were crewed by raw personnel. The Syndic formation tried to pivot around its flagship’s axis, turning and changing heading to present a wall of firepower to Task Force Furious. But some of the Syndic ships turned late, shooting past their turning fellows, and others swung through the same space their comrades were trying to use. Ships twisted away from near collisions, further disrupting the Syndic formation and leaving the flank nearest Task Force Furious’s approach hanging unsupported. As the Syndics tried unsuccessfully to concentrate fire on the approach of the Alliance ships, the Alliance force led by Furious tore past the unsupported flank of the Syndic formation and shredded it with overwhelming firepower directed by ship after ship against the Syndic warships making up the side of the flotilla.

Geary breathed a sigh of relief as Dauntless tallied the Syndic losses. One of the battleships raked repeatedly and left drifting and dead. Two battle cruisers severely damaged. All four heavy cruisers on that flank destroyed along with five of the Hunter-Killers. Status updates sent to Dauntless from the Task Force Furious ships and arriving now along with the light from the battle revealed the Alliance ships had taken little or no damage. “Nice job,” Captain Desjani commented.

“Very nice,” Geary agreed. Then he stiffened. On the two-hour-old time-late images, Task Force Furious had started bending around in a very wide turn, arcing up, over, and to the side as if intending another firing run at the flailing Syndics. You’re not supposed to do that, Cresida. Don’t risk it.

At the speeds the warships of Task Force Furious were traveling, the turn took a long time and a lot of space, even with the ships braking their velocity to reduce the turn radius. But eventually it became clear that Cresida had ordered another pass. Damn. She should’ve known better.

The Syndics had taken advantage of the delay to straighten out their formation and face their heaviest firepower toward the Alliance attackers. Apparently anticipating another blow to the flanks, the Syndic formation now clustered the surviving light units in the center, the remaining battleships and battle cruisers ranked in two vertically aligned planes, narrow ends facing the Alliance attack on either side like slices of bread enclosing the weaker ships. It was ironic to see the big ships escorting the smaller ships that were supposed to escort them, but Geary was impressed that the Syndics had so quickly figured out a counter to Cresida’s tactic of hitting a flank.

“What do you suppose she did?” Captain Desjani asked, her voice intrigued rather than worried. The past tense sounded strange when they were watching events unfold, but it was a reminder that whatever had happened had already taken place, for better or worse.

“We’ll soon see,” Geary replied, trying not to sound furious himself at the actions of Furious. He couldn’t stop it, couldn’t change it, just watch history two hours old un-scroll before his eyes as the light from the battle reached Dauntless.

Task Force Furious was now itself in an flattened pencil-shaped formation, long and thin. Geary stared at it, trying to figure out why Cresida had arranged her ships that way. The two forces closed rapidly, Task Force Furious accelerating at the best rate its handpicked force of agile ships could manage. The Alliance ships were now closing on the Syndic ships at a combined relative speed of just under .2 light. Both sides would have serious trouble getting effective fire control solutions at that speed with relativistic distortions confusing aim, but it was barely within acceptable engagement limits.

The speed and the difficulty that created with seeing the movements of other ships left the Syndics less time to react when Cresida changed her force’s trajectory through space again, the warships of Task Force Furious bending the formation down and below the waiting Syndic defenders, aiming for one exposed corner of the rectangular plane formation on the port side of the Syndic force. The single Syndic battleship anchoring that corner found itself taking fire from the entire Alliance formation as it tore past, ship after ship hurling weapons at the beleaguered Syndic warship while it could only reply with single volleys at each individual Alliance ship. Even though a lot of Alliance shots missed because of the targeting difficulties, there were so many weapons hammering the same Syndic battleship that enough hits were being scored.

The Alliance formation passed completely under the Syndic formation, still diving down to open the range and leaving in its wake the spreading cloud of debris that had been a Syndic battleship.

Desjani was laughing softly. “They’re going to be very angry with Commander Cresida. That was a good move, Captain Geary. She taunted them twice and hurt them both times. Now, look, they’re coming around to chase her, but she’s not heading for the fifth planet.”

“No.” Geary studied the track Task Force Furious was curving onto, Dauntless’s maneuvering systems quickly estimating the destination. “Cresida’s decided to go for the shipyards orbiting near the fourth world.” The huge industrial complexes were perhaps the most valuable targets in the star system. Geary had given Cresida orders not to destroy them because he wanted a chance to loot them first, but Task Force Furious could easily smash in passing the one nearly completed battleship and one battle cruiser being frantically towed out of their construction ways in an attempt to save them from the Alliance kinetic bombardment aimed at the under-construction shipping.

She handled it right. All of it. But if I’d had instant communications with her, I’d have ordered Cresida to do things differently, because I wouldn’t have trusted her judgment. Remember that, Geary. There’s good heads among these ship commanders and they’re paying attention to you. You have to trust them in return. Knowing his message wouldn’t reach her for hours, Geary tapped his communications controls. “To Commander Cresida and all ships in Task Force Furious, this is Captain Geary. Excellent work. Keep it up.”

There’d been no reply to Geary’s surrender demands by the time the Alliance fleet dove past the innermost gas giant, annihilating Syndic industrial targets unstruck by the kinetic bombardment and sweeping any remaining Syndic merchant shipping in the area from space. In-system ore carriers and other merchant ships had only a small fraction of the propulsion capability of warships. Over time they could build up substantial speed, but it took a long time, and these Syndic ships hadn’t been granted that much time.

The kinetic bombardment was still a couple of hours from reaching the fourth planet, so the Syndic command structure was still fully operational in the inner system. Geary wished he knew just what orders were being issued by that command structure. “All units in Alliance fleet main body, execute course change two five degrees to starboard, down zero two degrees at time four seven.”

“They’ll have time to see we’re heading for the gate and issue reaction orders before our bombardment hits,” Desjani remarked regretfully.

“It can’t be helped.” Far off to one side, Task Force Furious was still bearing down on the shipyards orbiting the fourth planet. The battered, and no doubt enraged, ships of Syndic Force Alpha had piled on speed, edging past .2 light on an intercept course curving to meet up with Task Force Furious just short of the orbiting shipyards around the fourth planet. “What do think their odds are of getting hits on Furious at that speed?”

“With inexperienced crews and combat systems still aligning themselves? As close to zero as makes no difference,” Desjani stated. “They’ll need to slow to engagement speed, and if they slow, they won’t make that intercept point.”

Desjani’s assessment matched his own. Geary nodded, then frowned, once again bothered by the thought that he was missing something. But whatever it was stayed hidden in the back of his mind, refusing to come forward, so Geary finally tried thinking of other things in the hope that would help. It didn’t.

Five hours out from the hypernet gate, Geary frowned again. Syndic Force Alpha, the Training Flotilla, had kept accelerating to .25 light and adjusted its track slightly to cross the path of Task Force Furious before the Alliance ships reached the fourth planet. “Why do I get the feeling they’re not planning on slowing down to engage Task Force Furious?”

Desjani seemed puzzled as well. “I don’t see how many hits they can hope to achieve at that speed. There’s no point in any intercept that isn’t a threat. If Cresida’s ships do any evasive maneuvers at all, they’ll totally throw off firing solutions on the Syndic ships, and relativistic distortion will keep the Syndics from even seeing exactly what the Alliance ships are doing. Surely even if the commanders in the Syndic ships don’t realize that, the more senior Syndic commanders on the planets do. They’ve had plenty of time to tell Force Alpha to do something different, but that hasn’t happened.”

“Why would they do something that will almost eliminate their chances of hitting our ships?” Geary wondered out loud. “Why would their superiors agree to it?”

He’d forgotten Co-President Rione was once again in the bridge’s observer seat. Now her voice sounded like that of a teacher instructing a dull student. “Perhaps you should stop assuming you know their intentions.”

Geary turned to look at Rione. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that you keep talking about what the Syndics must do to hit your ships. What if hitting your ships isn’t the Syndics’ priority?”

Desjani, looking reluctant to agree with Rione, clenched one fist. “If they can’t hit us, that also means the same relativistic factors will keep us from being able to target them well. They’re minimizing their chances of getting hit again.”

Survival was the Syndic priority? But why? “What would be the point of keeping that formation as intact as possible while letting us run amok?”

“They expect something to change the odds,” Desjani stated slowly.

Geary gritted his teeth. He and Desjani had been assuming they knew the Syndic intentions and then trying to make Syndic actions match those assumptions. The enemy’s real intentions were obvious now that Rione had focused them back on what the Syndics were actually doing. “Do they expect more reinforcements?”

“It’s unlikely but possible that a courier might have gated out without being spotted,” Desjani agreed. “But even if they had done that, they couldn’t possibly be expecting a reply already. We’d have to assume the Syndics had accurately guessed we were coming to Sancere.”

“That doesn’t match what we found here,” Rione objected, again surprising Geary. “Everything reflected surprise at our arrival. That could be a very elaborate trick to lull us into overconfidence, but surely the Syndics wouldn’t have avoided placing minefields at the jump exit if they believed we were coming to Sancere.”

“You’re both right,” Geary agreed. “Which would mean the intercept apparently aimed at Task Force Furious is just a feint, trying to throw off Furious’s charge. That matches what the Syndics are doing. Let’s assume no big reinforcements are coming within the next few days. What else could change the odds enough to make force preservation the primary goal of that Syndic flotilla?” Something big. That went without saying. Something big enough to drastically alter the balance of forces in this star system.

Geary looked at the representation of Syndic Force Bravo on his display. “Force Alpha is moving so fast we can’t hit them, but Force Bravo is just sitting there near the hypernet gate, maintaining a fixed station, even though it’s obvious that’s our objective.”

Desjani shook her head. “They must be planning on accelerating away soon. Just sitting there waiting for us is nothing but suicide.”

“Yet they’ve clearly been told to do that. Just like the other formation has been told to avoid losing ships.” Geary fiddled with the display, changing his perspective to view the Syndic formation from different angles. “What’s the latest on estimated damage to the Syndic ships in Force Bravo?”

“They’ve all got some damage, but two of the battleships and three of the battle cruisers are so beat up that they’ve probably got minimum combat capability,” Desjani replied.

Geary highlighted the most heavily damaged Syndic ships. All five were in the center of the Syndic formation, which in turn seemed to be centered on the hypernet gate. “Standard tactics, as I understand them, have been to charge straight for the enemy, right?”

Desjani nodded.

“Why put their weakest units there, then? Why not tell them to run for open space? All they can accomplish in that station is absorbing shots from us.”

Captain Desjani considered the display, her eyes narrowing in thought. “I can think of three possible reasons. One would be simple stupidity if their commander is incompetent. Another would be that the five heavily damaged ships are intended as bait. A third would be that for some reason the most capable ships are needed on the outside of the formation.”

“I don’t want to assume incompetence at this point. That could make us too confident. Besides, why wouldn’t the Syndics have given coordinated orders to the two formations? It isn’t like the Syndics to let commanders operate independently.”

Desjani nodded.

Geary felt a sudden knot in his stomach. “I think your reasons two and three are both right.” He pointed. “We’re expected to charge straight for the center of the formation, like Alliance forces usually do, and the most badly damaged enemies are there waiting for us to finish them off. Bait, as you said.” He remembered watching his fleet fall apart at Corvus, where every ship had been scrambling to get in on a few kills of hopelessly outnumbered light Syndic warships. Syndic commanders who expected that kind of behavior would know what a lure those damaged ships would be to Alliance commanders seeking quick and easy kills. “And when we get close enough, these units,” he indicated those on the outside of the formation, “with the best weapons capability, go after the gate itself. They want to sucker us in close, then destroy the gate and hope the resulting energy discharge is big enough to hurt a lot of our ships.”

A moment of silence passed as Desjani considered his idea, then she rapped one fist on the arm of her command seat. “I think you’re right, sir. If the main fleet got hurt badly enough at the hypernet gate, that changes the odds in the system, and Task Force Furious might find itself the only organized Alliance fighting force in Sancere.”

Geary checked some ship statistics. “And even with the damage Task Force Furious did to Syndic Force Alpha, the Syndic flotilla still slightly outguns the task force. That’s why they’re trying to avoid further losses. So that they’ll be in a superior position if their plan at the gate works.”

“If the gate failure energy release is bad enough to hurt us,” Desjani noted, “then it’ll be bad enough to wipe out the Syndic ships there as well.”

“Yeah.” Trade a dozen big warships, about half very badly damaged, for three, four, or five times that many Alliance capital ships and who knew how many lighter combatants. To the bean counting minds of the Syndicate Worlds leadership, that probably looked like a very good business deal, especially since it might force the surviving Alliance ships to flee and leave a lot of the still-surviving installations in the Sancere Star System intact. “I wonder if the crews of those ships know?”

“I doubt it.”

“Me, too.” Geary played with his controls for a moment, then decisively punched one. “Syndicate Worlds warships at the Sancere Star System hypernet gate, this is Captain Geary, commander of the Alliance fleet in Sancere Star System. Be advised that the energy discharge as a result of destroying the hypernet gate is very likely to be so severe as to wipe out every ship nearby.” He paused, wondering if he should mention the danger destruction of the gate might pose to the planets in the system and even the planets in surrounding star systems. But, no, if the Syndic leaders hadn’t already figured that out, there was no way Geary wanted to be the one to tell them. “You face impossible odds. Your ships already bear substantial damage from earlier battles. There is no dishonor in surrender. You have my word that any personnel who surrender will be treated humanely in accordance with the laws of war.”

Co-President Rione spoke again, her voice flat. “I hope you’re not holding your breath waiting for them to surrender.”

“No,” Geary answered. “But there’s a chance, and it’d make life a lot easier for us if they did.”

“Don’t assume the crews of those ships control their own fates,” Rione added.

Geary gave Desjani a questioning look. She seemed to not understand the co-president’s statement as well. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Rione stated, her voice grim now, “that we believe the Syndics may have a remote command override on their ships, which would allow a Syndic CEO the means to input orders directly to the combat and maneuvering systems of ships, bypassing the crews.”

“I’d heard rumors of that sort of thing,” Desjani noted, “but nothing official.”

Rione nodded to her. “Consider this an official confirmation. We don’t know this is true for certain, but there’s classified evidence available to support it. It’s a sort of doomsday option for a Syndic CEO, rarely employed because if it was used often enough, we could detect and analyze the signals, then use the same override against them.”

Geary felt a pain in his head and tried to push it away with his fingers against his forehead. “Unbelievable.” All right. Assume that’s the case, that those crews are about to be deliberately sacrificed to lure us in and even if they try to do something about it won’t be able to stop it. That means they won’t be able to stop their ships from attacking the gate tethers. But this doomsday override can’t be flexible if it tells ships exactly what to do. “If we know what the Syndics probably intend, then we can predict what orders those ships will execute.”

Desjani’s bared her teeth. “Which means we’ll know where they’re going to be.”

“Right.” Geary called up the weapons employment system and began entering assumptions. If the Syndic ships in the best shape were ordered to destroy the gate tethers, and the destruction of the gate was supposed to be timed to catch the Alliance fleet as close to the hypernet gate as possible, where would those Syndic ships go and when would they go there? The system cranked through the math and within a second projected courses and times flashed up on the display. “We can target them. Send kinetic rounds to intercept the predicted courses, kinetic rounds heavy enough to punch through their shields and take out the ships.”

Rione was frowning. “I don’t understand. You don’t normally employ such weapons against other ships.”

“No, because the ships would just see them coming and dodge.” Geary pointed. “But if the ships have been locked onto a certain trajectory and the crews can’t override those instructions, if the doomsday override doesn’t allow for enough maneuvering flexibility, we might be able to nail a few.”

“I see.” Rione nodded. “This is the only way to keep them from destroying the gate before we get to it, isn’t it?”

Geary glanced at Desjani, who nodded as well. “I think so. It’s a chance, anyway. Captain Desjani, have your weapons specialists double-check my work and set up the engagement. I want the kinetic rounds to fire automatically at the optimum point, giving us a one-minute heads-up and countdown.”

“No problem, sir.” Desjani pointed at the appropriate watch-stander, who bent to his task.

The wave of destruction from the Alliance kinetic bombardment arrived at and swept over first the fourth planet and then, about an hour later, the third. Gazing at the highly magnified views, Geary could see explosions rippling in series across the worlds and installations orbiting them. The under-construction warships blew apart under the impacts, pieces hurled away to spin into space or get caught in the gravity well of the fourth world to tumble to their destruction. Syndic command and control centers on the planets vanished in intense flashes of light followed by towering mushroom clouds fountaining skyward. On the night-covered portions of the worlds that were visible, flickering lights from impacts rolled across the darkened surfaces in a show that would’ve been beautiful if it hadn’t represented so much destruction.

Next to the images, Dauntless’s combat systems maintained a tally of results updating so rapidly it was hard to read at times. Irritated and not sure what the escalating numbers were telling him, Geary switched the display to tell him how many targets remained active. Now the tally scrolled rapidly downward. Communications hubs. Spaceports. Major airfields. Military bases. Antiorbital defenses. Military-related industrial facilities. Stockpiles of ammunition, spare parts, and equipment. Research facilities. In orbit, graceful arrays of satellites and facilities blew apart under impacts, changing into slowly spreading masses of fragments far above the atmosphere. Beneath that cocoon of wreckage, the rain of metal projectiles fell across the two worlds, leaving tangled debris and craters in its wake.

All of the numbers for targeted installations ran down to zero. “Like shooting fish in a barrel,” Geary observed.

“More like dropping bombs into barrels full of fish,” Desjani remarked. She seemed as cheerful as usual when watching destruction being worked on Syndic targets.

“There was plenty of time for the Syndics to evacuate every one of those targets,” Rione observed. “Do we know if they did?”

Desjani shrugged. “Madam Co-President, even Dauntless can’t track that many human targets moving that far away beneath atmospheres or behind planets. We did see signs of evacuations under way, but if you’re asking whether some Syndics died in that bombardment, I frankly can’t tell you.”

“You spared some of the raw materials stockpiles,” Rione observed.

Geary nodded. “And some orbital facilities. We needed to leave the Syndics something to give us. Or rather for us to take. Since negotiations haven’t worked well in the past, I’m planning on just sending in forces to grab what we want.”

Rione gazed at Geary for a moment before answering. “That’s probably a wise move.”

He realized belatedly that his last statement could have been interpreted wrongly. “I don’t blame you at all for the Syndic failure to abide by agreements. My decision was totally based on how untrustworthy the Syndics have proven.”

Rione nodded. “Thank you, though like you, I hold myself accountable even for those things outside my power to control.”

The statement sounded like a compliment. Geary wondered why Rione had suddenly said something to him that at least sounded nice.

“In any event,” Rione continued, “I thank you for sparing civilian targets, Captain Geary.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Captain Geary,” a watch-stander announced. “Syndic Force Alpha is about to cross the projected track of Task Force Furious.”

Which actually meant that the event had taken place some hours ago, the same as the bombardment of worlds that they had just witnessed. Geary focused his display there, seeing the arcing track of Task Force Furious curving toward the fourth world, the slightly flatter arc of the Syndic flotilla’s trajectory crossing it almost a light-minute ahead of where Task Force Furious had been. “You don’t think they tried to drop mines along that track, do you?”

Desjani shrugged again. “They might have tried. Surely Commander Cresida would have prepared for that.”

She apparently had. Even before the Syndic force actually crossed the track of Task Force Furious, they could see the Alliance formation altering course, swinging farther and farther to the side. “Where the hell is she going now?” Geary wondered.

This time Desjani grinned. “Captain Geary, when you let loose a weapon like Commander Cresida and tell her to seek her own targets, you have to be prepared for some unexpected decisions.”

Geary couldn’t help laughing. “I guess since I have no idea what she’s doing next, there’s no possibility of the Syndics anticipating her moves, either.”

Velocity and momentum carried Task Force Furious a long ways in the same direction it had been going, but its course kept diverging from the original projection. By the time it reached the region where the Syndic flotilla had crossed its track, Task Force Furious was several light-seconds away from where it would have been on that original course. “If the Syndics dropped mines, they were wasted,” Desjani observed. “The region of space they would’ve had to cover is too huge.”

Task Force Furious kept turning, now also diving below the plane of the system, forming a huge spiral as its ships came around through a full circle, only steadying up again when the task force was headed for the almost-completed Syndic battleship and battle cruiser that had been towed away from the orbital bombardment. Far beyond, Syndic Force Alpha was still charging across the Sancere Star System, putting tremendous distance between itself and the Alliance task force.

One half hour later, Geary watched as Task Force Furious swept by the already battered shipyards, taking out some unstruck targets with precision hell-lance fire. Ten minutes after that, as the Syndic tugs dropped their lines and ran frantically for safety, Task Force Furious tore apart the under-construction battleship and battle cruiser that the tugs had tried to save, the lightest units in the task force swinging farther out to blow apart the fleeing tugs as easily as if they were swatting flies.

Geary tore his attention away from Cresida’s task force, knowing that whatever it did now was irrelevant to the ultimate outcome of the battle for Sancere system. That rested ahead of them, where Syndic Force Bravo still waited, unmoving, near the hypernet gate.

One and a half hours until contact, assuming the Syndics didn’t stage a last minute charge and close the distance more rapidly.

Less than two hours, almost certainly, before everyone in the Sancere Star System discovered what happened when a hypernet gate was destroyed.

“Captain Desjani,” Geary asked, “why hasn’t anyone tried to destroy a hypernet gate before this? I know from the records of the war I’ve reviewed that star systems near enemy territory that contain gates have been attacked and captured. Why haven’t the gates in those systems been destroyed?”

Desjani appeared surprised by the question. “The enemy couldn’t use a friendly gate. This is the first time an enemy force has had a key to the other side’s hypernet.”

“Yes, but the enemy could still use their own gate to send in reinforcements quickly or mount a counterattack aimed at retaking the system.”

“Yes, sir.” Desjani seemed to think that didn’t require explanation.

The reason dawned on Geary. He hadn’t been thinking like these modern fighters. “You want the enemy forces to show up.”

“Of course, Captain Geary. The point of offensive actions is to engage and destroy the enemy,” Desjani explained as if discussing something everyone knew. “Anything that makes it easier for enemy forces to arrive for combat furthers the goal of bringing the enemy to battle. A functioning enemy gate offers a guaranteed battlefield.”

“Of course.” Strip war down to its most basic element, and that was it. Kill the enemy. Looked at that way, it made perfect sense to leave the enemy hypernet gate intact, because that meant more enemies could be counted upon to arrive, and then you could try to kill them. Thanks to that functioning hypernet gate, the enemy would be reinforcing faster than you, but that just meant more targets. No wonder they’ve taken such losses. It’s not just the loss of battle-fighting expertise, it’s an attitude that places killing above winning. They’d forgotten that winning smart can kill more enemies than slugging it out toe-to-toe.

Geary studied his fleet formation for perhaps the one hundredth time in the last few hours. How did you best deal with a massively outnumbered enemy force that wanted your fleet to get close? He kept coming up with the same answer, even though it wasn’t foolproof. “We’ll have to split the fleet formation.”

Desjani nodded, betraying no concern.

Geary made a decision, knowing he could otherwise spend endless time debating with himself because there wasn’t any single obviously right way to do this. He worked the controls, setting up formations that broke the main body of the fleet into six sections, each composed of a mix of capital ships and escorts.

“Six?” Desjani asked, finally surprised.

“Yes. I want to avoid giving the Syndics the concentrated target they want. I also want to be able to employ our firepower against them, which I can’t if we’re in formations so much larger than our targets that a lot of our units are out of contact.” Geary hesitated, then mashed the control sending the orders to the fleet. “All units in the Alliance fleet, this is Captain Geary. New formation assignments are en route to your units. Formation execution will be at time two zero. I intend having each formation conducting passes against Syndic Force Bravo until it either flees the area of the hypernet gate or is destroyed.”

Desjani studied the information on her own display, eyes narrowed in thought. “Six formations. Each swinging past the Syndics in turn before arching out and coming around again. Like a huge wheel. We’ll simply pound them to pieces if they don’t move.”

“That’s the idea,” Geary agreed.

“You’ve put Dauntless back in Formation Delta,” Desjani observed.

“Yes.” He could tell Desjani was a bit miffed about that, about being fourth in line. “I think the Syndics are going to hold out for the first three passes. By the time the fourth formation approaches, which will be Delta, I believe they’ll do something. I want to have Dauntless there when they do.” Desjani smiled, as did the watch-standers on the bridge. Geary felt slightly guilty, knowing he’d also held Dauntless back because of the likelihood that the Syndics wouldn’t survive the first three formation passes and he was duty-bound to get Dauntless and the Syndic hypernet key safely home to Alliance space. Odds were that Dauntless would only be sweeping up the remnants of the Syndics.

Unless things went very badly and the Syndics started taking down that hypernet gate. In which case, key on board or not, Geary knew he had to be close to the scene.

“Kinetic rounds inbound,” the weapons watch announced in an almost bored voice. They’d already easily dodged a half-dozen attempts to target them, seeing the rounds approaching from such a long distance that the tiniest course correction or change in speed guaranteed a miss. “Origin from hypernet gate defenses.”

“We’ll give them something to worry about soon enough,” Desjani observed gleefully.

Geary briefly wondered what Captain Desjani would do for fun if the war somehow ended, and smashing Syndics was no longer an acceptable way to pass the time.

Dauntless’s maneuvering systems kicked in at time two zero, shoving her mass down and over to the place where she’d wait for the rest of Formation Delta to form around her. All around Dauntless the other ships of the fleet broke from the positions they’d held, as if an incredibly huge machine had just disassembled itself into component parts. The parts swung through space, weaving intricate patterns as they headed for new positions, the massive machine reassembling itself into six new machines, each a smaller version of the big machine they’d all once made up.

It took time for all of those ships to move across those distances, forming up so that the last formation in line was several light-minutes behind the first. The reassembly hadn’t quite finished when the weapons watch called out again. “Weapons system recommends launching kinetic rounds at Syndic Force Bravo in one minute.”

Geary nodded. “Do it.”

Geary’s rearrangement of the ships in the fleet had required the weapons system to rethink which ship should launch projectiles at what, but that required much less than a second of calculations. At exactly the optimum time, ships began automatically firing the barrage at the Syndic defenders of the hypernet gate.

Only three light-minutes still separated the leading Alliance ships from the Syndic defenders of the hypernet gate. At a velocity of .1 light, that meant thirty minutes, perhaps the longest half hour Geary thought he would ever experience. Talk about relativistic distortion. Time itself seemed to have slowed to a crawl.

“Syndic defenders conducting evasive maneuvers to dodge incoming kinetic rounds,” the weapons watch reported. “Systems report four of the Syndic battleships are changing their positions along predicted tracks.”

“They’re doing it,” Desjani murmured. “Just like you thought, Captain Geary.”

“Let’s see if they’ve got enough control of their ships to dodge,” he cautioned, feeling his guts tightening.

“Formation Alpha commencing firing pass on Syndic defenders. Syndic forces are firing.”

Geary centered his display on the action. Alliance destroyers and light cruisers swept in on either side, hammering the defensive units near the gate. With powerful shields, the units managed to shrug off the fire of the lighter units, but then heavy cruisers came past, tossing grapeshot out in tight firing patterns and following with barrages from their hell-lance batteries. The metal ball bearings of the grapeshot hit the weakened defensive shields, vaporizing on impact; then the charged particle spears fired by the hell-lance batteries ripped on through. Defensive unit after defensive unit reeled under hits, blown out of position and knocked out of action by impacts.

Meanwhile, the big warships in the center of Alliance Formation Alpha tore past the center of Syndic Force Bravo, the heavily damaged enemy battleships and battle cruisers still holding station opposite the center of the gate. The Alliance battleships Fearless, Resolution, Redoubtable, and Warspite hammered the hapless Syndics as they each passed closest to the enemy. The battleships had chosen to hold off firing grapeshot or specter missiles, depending instead on the massive hell-lance batteries they carried. Weak Syndic defensive fire glanced harmlessly from the battleships’ powerful shields, while volleys from the Alliance ships tore into the already battered Syndics. First one battleship blew up, then another, then two battle cruisers, leaving a single crippled battle cruiser holding the center of the Syndic formation.

Geary watched, rubbing his chin, waiting for what he thought was the inevitable Syndic reaction.

Another cheer broke his focus on the center of the Syndic formation. Geary swung his gaze over and saw one of the Syndic battleships that had been in good shape had taken a heavy kinetic round amidships and was reeling off at an angle. Moments later a Syndic battle cruiser took another hit, shattering its forward section and sending it tumbling. The Syndic automated control systems had indeed left the crews no way to dodge an incoming round.

To Geary’s surprise, Desjani wasn’t cheering. She looked angry, her face reddening. “They ought to be allowed to fight back,” she muttered. Suddenly aware of Geary’s eyes on her, Desjani shrugged in an embarrassed way. “As you said, sir, it’s not right if it’s just murder. Even if they are Syndics.”

He nodded. “We’ve got three more battleships to worry about as well as two battle cruisers capable of fighting.”

As Alliance fleet Formation Bravo lunged forward, the escorts from the Syndic flotilla leaped out to meet them. Geary held his breath, watching five heavy cruisers, a light cruiser, and nine Hunter-Killers charging straight at an Alliance formation holding four battle cruisers led by Captain Duellos in Courageous. With him was Formidable, Intrepid, and Renown, surrounded by ten heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, and a dozen destroyers. Still, Geary watched with concern, knowing the Syndics had enough firepower to cost him some ships if Duellos bungled it. Geary felt an almost overwhelming desire to punch his communications controls and tell Duellos what to do. But he was almost a couple of light-minutes from the unfolding battle, and those two minutes of time delay in his picture of events could prove critical. On top of that, of all his subordinates, he trusted Duellos, Desjani, and Cresida the most. I need to keep my hands off the communications controls. I need to let good people do their jobs.

Duellos justified that trust. As the Syndics curved down toward his formation, Duellos rotated it upward so that the firepower of every ship could focus on the area the Syndics were approaching. Minutes before contact, the Alliance destroyers and light cruisers accelerated forward as well, racing up and inward to rake the flanks of the Syndic attackers. HuKs flared and broke under the concentrated fire, then the heavy cruisers ran head-on into a carefully timed barrage of specter missiles, followed by grapeshot and hell lances. The leading three cruisers came apart, a fourth staggered and rolled away with some Alliance cruisers heading in pursuit, and the fifth tried to dive off in the opposite direction but ran into four Alliance cruisers that bracketed it and overwhelmed its shields on three sides simultaneously. As the wreckage of the fifth Syndic heavy cruiser tumbled off through space, the surviving Syndic light cruiser attempted to ram Courageous but disintegrated under the fire of all four Alliance battle cruisers.

“Very brave,” Desjani murmured, acknowledging the doomed charge of the light cruiser.

Alliance Formation Bravo swept on up and outward. Geary, admiring how well Duellos had dealt with the attack, saw the surviving Syndic capital ships taking up positions around the hypernet gate and clenched his fists in frustration. The suicidal attack had done exactly what it needed to do, buying time for the other Syndic warships to prepare to destroy the gate.

“Formation Gamma, Captain Tulev, ignore the battle cruiser in the center of the gate. Hit the Syndic ships around the rim of the gate.”

“Tulev, aye.” He didn’t sound nervous, but solid Tulev never did. Geary watched as Tulev altered the track of Formation Gamma, taking his battle cruisers toward the area where two of the surviving battleships were braking to glide slowly past sections of the hundreds of tethers holding the hypernet gate particle matrix in place. The heavy cruisers attached to Formation Gamma arrowed away, heading for the crippled Syndic battle cruiser opposite the center of the gate, while Tulev’s Leviathan, along with her divisional sisters Dragon, Steadfast, and Valiant, swung up toward the two battleships.

Geary cast a grim eye on the last two unengaged Syndic capital ships, a battleship and a battle cruiser. He couldn’t fault Tulev’s decision. Splitting the Alliance battle cruisers in Tulev’s formation would have left even odds facing the Syndics, which very likely wouldn’t have been enough to stop the enemy ships. “Formation Delta. Dauntless and Daring will engage the Syndic battleship at ten degrees to port and six seven degrees up from Dauntless. Terrible and Victorious will engage the Syndic battle cruiser at one five degrees to port and four one degrees up from Dauntless. Heavy cruisers accompany Dauntless and Daring. Light cruisers and destroyers accompany Terrible and Victorious. All units, come to new course up five zero degrees at time zero zero.”

Geary leaned toward Captain Desjani. “We need a quick kill.”

She nodded. “You’ll have one, sir.”

Tulev’s ships were still short of engagement range when the weapons watch called out the words Geary had been dreading hearing. “The surviving Syndic ships have opened fire on the hypernet gate tethers.”