“Feel free,” Iceni replied.
“I will.”
“Good.”
“All right.”
The meaningless exchange of words ground to a halt as the level of tension in the command center rose in a perceptible fashion. Iceni looked at the display, her eyes on the distant warships. “Let’s see what Black Jack does. Or, rather, what he did.”
Hours ago, Black Jack’s diminished fleet had raced into contact with the enigmas and—“Huh?” Iceni said without thinking.
“Why did he swing so wide?” Drakon demanded. “He avoided an encounter.”
“I’m not certain.” Iceni studied the display, frowning, as the two forces began curving back up and around toward each other. Black Jack was known for last-second vector changes that allowed him to hit portions of his foe’s formation, but this time the vector change had been so large that the two forces had avoided contact. She couldn’t recall seeing any record of Black Jack misjudging an intercept that badly.
“General,” Colonel Malin called. “Those six ships.”
Everyone’s attention had been on Black Jack and the enigmas, the six mystery ships momentarily forgotten. At Malin’s prompt, eyes shifted that way.
One of the watch-standers was the first to grasp what was happening. “The enigmas aren’t continuing back around to attack the Alliance force. They’re aiming to intercept the six unknown ships.”
In response, the strange ships had fled straight up, though of course “up” and “down” meant nothing in space. But humans designated a plane in every star system, one side being up and the other down, to enable them to view things in a context they could understand. Iceni let out an involuntary gasp at the way the six ships maneuvered. “Magnificent.”
Drakon gave her a searching look. “They seem to be moving very… gracefully.”
“Yes. Graceful, controlled, smooth…” Iceni shook her head. “Whoever or whatever they are, they know how to drive ships.”
Far away and hours ago, Black Jack’s fleet tore across the bottom portion of the enigmas single-mindedly pursuing the six unknown ships, ripping away a large portion of the enigma armada. “Well done,” Iceni murmured. She noticed Drakon watching intently, trying to understand the tactics being employed, and felt pleased that he was smart enough not to dismiss a way of fighting alien to what he knew.
An alert flashed, drawing everyone’s attention back toward the jump point for Pele. Iceni stared at the data flashing into existence as automated systems evaluated what they were seeing. Alliance battleships, heavy cruisers, destroyers, auxiliaries, assault transports. “It’s the rest of Black Jack’s fleet,” she exclaimed as understanding struck. “He was chasing the enigmas here and came on with his swiftest ships.”
“All right,” Drakon said, “I can buy that. He wasn’t hurt nearly as badly as we thought. But what the hell is that?”
That was a huge ship whose identity was giving the automated systems the fits. Or was it a ship? “Madam President, it looks like something immense with four Alliance battleships attached to it.”
“It’s that big?” She stared at the data pouring in. “Towing it. Those battleships are providing propulsion for that thing.”
“It looks like a ship of some kind,” a specialist suggested. “But it doesn’t match anything in our files. It doesn’t look like anything ever built.”
“Anything ever built by humans,” Malin said.
“That’s not an enigma ship,” Iceni protested.
“I did not say it was, Madam President. But, whatever it is, I do not think that humans created it.”
Her eyes went back to the battle, seeing vectors bending about as Black Jack’s fleet and the enigma armada swung again.
“The enigmas are heading for the jump exit!” another specialist announced, sparking a ragged cheer from the workers.
But Iceni shook her head, dampening the celebration. “Look at that vector. They’re headed in that direction, but the enigmas are steadying out, aiming to intercept the second Alliance formation.”
Minutes crawled by, the automated systems confirming Iceni’s assessment, Black Jack’s battle cruisers coming around and steadying onto a stern chase after the enigmas, the six mystery ships continuing up a little ways but then heading in toward the star at a high rate of speed, away from all of the combatants. Whatever they were, they didn’t seem to be interested in fighting. Their vectors were bringing them rapidly closer to the planet where Iceni was, but they were still very far off, and she didn’t feel any sense of threat.
Drakon stepped closer to her to speak in a low voice. “What’s going to happen? Is that second Alliance force going to dodge like Black Jack did the first time?”
“They can’t,” Iceni replied. “Those battleships at their best can’t outmaneuver enigma ships, and they’re burdened with the support ships and that giant whatever-it is.”
“So what happens?”
“Look. The Alliance formation is compressing down. Battleships don’t depend on maneuvering in battle, General Drakon. They depend on armor, shields, and firepower.”
He nodded once, expression bleak. “A wall of death. Whoever is in charge of that formation is going to try to smash whatever comes at them. What will the enigmas do?”
They were once again talking without hindrance, the discomfort created by the earlier incident almost gone thanks to the requirements of dealing with new events. Iceni shook her head. “I don’t know what the enigmas will do. What they did, since it’s already happened. We don’t know enough about them.”
“Let’s hope Black Jack does.”
It took a while for the enigma armada to come into contact with the second Alliance formation, but this time no one took their eyes off of the main display. There was an awful inevitability to the clash this time, the sense of watching two objects coming into a collision from which little might survive.
“Madam President,” the senior supervisor said. “I have taken a close look at the enigma track. They are aiming for the dead center of the Alliance formation.”
“Meaning?” Iceni asked.
“They have highly maneuverable ships, Madam President. We know that much. Yet they are making an attack that seems to take no advantage of that, and they abandoned their attacks on the faster Alliance formation to assault the slower one.”
“Give me an assessment,” Iceni said, knowing her voice sounded harsh this time. “I can read data as well as anyone else. Tell me what it means.”
The supervisor swallowed nervously before speaking again. “Madam President, it argues that there is something in the new Alliance formation that the enigmas particularly want to destroy, and that something is in the center of their formation.”
Drakon pointed. “Their support ships are around the center of their formation, and that huge thing they brought with them is right in the middle.”
“They want it,” Iceni said. “You’re right. That’s the target. Whatever it is, they want to destroy it so badly that they’ve abandoned other targets.”
“The enigma formation is also closing down, tightening,” Malin pointed out.
“Yes, sir,” the supervisor agreed. “They intend to smash right into the middle of the Alliance formation.”
“This is going to be ugly,” Drakon growled. “I hate head-on attacks.”
In fact, as the two sides charged together, the main display lit with a kaleidoscope of flashes, alerts, and flares that would have looked pretty to someone who didn’t know those things represented massive destruction confined to a very small section of space. Silence fell in the command center as everyone watched the event.