The dark ships had cleared their docks by now, and were gathering into a small, thin, rectangular formation. “Hull feature analysis identifies two of the dark battle cruisers as having been at Bhavan,” Lieutenant Yuon said. “The other two have not been encountered before.”
“The two that missed Bhavan,” Geary said. “I wonder why?”
“Stuff breaks,” Desjani said. “They probably needed something big fixed.”
The dark ship formation was coming around now and accelerating onto an intercept with Geary’s force. “Four hours to contact on current vectors,” Lieutenant Castries said.
Desjani’s satisfaction had faded into suspicion. “They’re making this too easy.”
“I’m glad I’m not the only one thinking that,” Geary said. “If those dark ships charge straight into us, we’ll be able to wipe them out on the first pass. Let’s see if they hold on that vector.”
He hadn’t slept nearly enough since arriving at Unity Alternate and found himself dozing off for brief periods in his command seat. An hour later, more alerts jerked him rudely back to alertness.
“More docks opening,” Desjani said. The same sequence followed, the docks opening, then a long pause, then the bows of warships beginning to appear. But this time the first, massive bows that came into view were blunter than those of the battle cruisers. “Battleships.”
“Four battleships,” Lieutenant Yuon said. “Four heavy cruisers, eight light cruisers, eighteen destroyers.”
Like the dark battle cruisers before them, the battleships formed into a thin, rectangular formation, moving more slowly than the battle cruisers but with a terrible, ponderous assurance. The battleships also came around and accelerated onto vectors aimed at an intercept of Geary’s fleet.
“Tougher, but still nothing we can’t handle,” Desjani said. “They can’t have much more hidden in those docks.”
“I wonder why they didn’t bring them all out together,” Geary said. “Why send out two smaller forces instead of one bigger force?”
“It’s not what you would do,” she agreed. “Their battle cruisers’ vector is still aimed straight at the middle of our formation, which Black Jack definitely would not do under these conditions.”
“What would I be doing?” Geary murmured, trying to put himself in the place of a dark ship commander. “If those dark ships were all I had to defend their installations, I’d try to divert and distract the attacking force, but that would just buy some time even if it worked.” He reached one hand to point to his display. “We’ve got two assets we have to defend. Mistral, and the Dancers.”
“I think the Dancers can take care of themselves,” Desjani objected. “Their ships can outmaneuver even the dark battle cruisers. And if those four dark battle cruisers try to get to Mistral, we’ll blow them apart before they get within range.”
He nodded, thinking. “So why would I be setting up this situation if I was commanding those dark ships? We must be missing some part of the puzzle.”
“There can’t be much more inside the docks,” she repeated. “It’s possible they’ve got something hidden behind one of the stars if they knew we were coming and had time to get into position.”
“Senator Unruh warned me that the dark ships might still be getting information about what we were doing,” Geary said. “And we couldn’t hide our preparations to leave Varandal.”
“But how would the dark ships have known we were coming here?”
“Maybe a leak in Senator Unruh’s camp. Maybe just through thinking what I would do. I realized I had to hit their base. Since they are programmed to think like me, they would realize that I had to hit their base.”
Desjani looked troubled. “Admiral, that makes enough sense that it worries me. They know from Bhavan that they can’t easily force us into an engagement. They would want to choose a new battlefield where they could more easily trap us.”
Like a battlefield without any jump points. One where the only way out was through the hypernet gate—“Oh, no.”
“What?”
“The Alliance was studying how the Syndics were able to block access to their hypernet gates. They were trying to figure out how the Syndics did that so we could counter it. But if some of the Alliance’s researchers figured out what the Syndics were doing—”
“And the people supporting the dark ships found out?” Desjani stared at the depiction of the hypernet gate. “The people who think Black Jack is what stands between them and taking over? Admiral, you are making way too much sense.”
More alerts. “Warships coming out from behind Star Alpha,” Lieutenant Yuon said. “It’s a big force. Ten battle cruisers and a lot of escorts. Our systems are still identifying numbers—” He broke off as the alerts redoubled. “Warships detected near Star Beta. Two formations, each holding six battleships and numerous escort vessels.”
“That’s all of the dark ships,” Desjani said, calmer and composed now that the trap had sprung on them. “Every battle cruiser and battleship that they’ve got left. It’s us or them this time. No other options.”
“Then we’ll have to make sure it is them, not us.” Brave words. Geary looked at the dark ship formations converging on the path of his own force, added up their firepower and their maneuverability superior to those of his own ships, and gazed at the depiction of the hypernet gate that very likely offered no means of escape. He could not help wondering if he had finally made the final, critical error that he had been fearing since being thrust into command of the Alliance fleet at Prime.
Thirteen
“Is there any way we can confirm whether or not that hypernet gate is blocked?” Geary asked Desjani.
She called up the hypernet key controls. “I’ve never tried to ping a gate from this far away, but I don’t know why it wouldn’t work. We’ll have to wait until the ping gets there and the reply gets back to us, though. At this point, that will take more than eight hours.”
“Do it. I need to be certain whether that option is foreclosed.”
“Yes, sir.” She touched some commands. “I’m asking the gate to identify any available destination gate. If it is completely blocked, the answer will come back as none. Have you considered the strange coincidence of this situation, Admiral?” she asked, keeping her voice very low.
“What strange coincidence is that, Captain?” Geary replied in the same tones.
“The enigmas gave us the hypernet. The Syndics taught us how to block the gates. It’s like those two enemies conspired to get us into this situation.”
“To the benefit of the people behind the dark ships,” Geary said, “who would doubtless be scandalized at any suggestion that they had anything in common with the Syndics. All right. Regardless of whether or not that gate is blocked, we need to destroy the orbital docks and warehouses. That way, no matter what happens here, the dark ships will eventually no longer be a threat if the government can keep them from acquiring any alternate source of fuel cells. And we need to take the Unity Alternate government facility and find out what is there.”
“Taking the facility will require exposing Mistral and hanging the Marines out in a tough situation,” Desjani objected. “Why not wait on that?”
“Because somewhere on that facility there may be the means to lift the block on the hypernet gate if, as we suspect, there is a block.”
“Thinking of that is why you’re the Admiral and I’m not,” Desjani said.
Geary took in the information on his display, where all five dark ship formations were now converging on the projected path of the First Fleet and the accompanying Dancer forty-ship armada. All of the dark ship formations were ahead of the Alliance and Dancer ships. Closest were the four dark battle cruisers which had first appeared and were still rushing toward the Alliance forces. Behind them were the four dark battleships that had also come out of the docks. Both of those formations were just off the port bows of the Alliance warships, and if neither of them maneuvered differently, would remain in that relative position, growing steadily closer until contact.