Those “antiques” are likely younger than I am. “You can’t think of any reason they would’ve wiped the operating systems?”
Major Rosado looked uncomfortable. “There’s only one reason I could think of, sir.”
“Which is?” Geary prodded.
“Sir,” Rosado stated reluctantly, “they would’ve removed the operating systems if they were worried about someone besides us accessing these systems after they were abandoned. Someone they didn’t think would have copies of their code.”
“Someone besides us?” Geary looked from Desjani to Carabali. “Who?”
“A … a third party.”
Desjani answered. “There isn’t any third party. There’s us and the planets allied with us, and there’s the Syndics. There isn’t anyone else.”
“There’s not supposed to be anyone else,” Carabali corrected. “But it appears the Syndics were worried about someone. Someone who didn’t have access to software that any human could be assumed to have.”
“You’re not suggesting intelligent nonhumans are you?” Desjani demanded. “We’ve never found any.”
Carabali shrugged. “No. We haven’t. But we don’t know what’s on the other side of Syndic space. They walled that off from us for so-called security reasons even before the war began.”
Geary pivoted to study the star display. Stars like Kaliban were far from Alliance space, but measured from the outer edge of Syndic territory, they weren’t all that far from the known limits of the Syndicate Worlds. “If this speculation was true, they’d have had to have known about these whatevers as of at least forty-two years ago when they shut down everything at Kaliban. Could they keep a secret like that for so long?”
The Marine commanding officer shrugged again. “It would depend on a lot of factors, sir. Neither I nor Major Rosado are saying such beings exist. We’re pointing out that this is the only explanation we’ve been able to come up with for what the Syndics did when they left Kaliban.”
“If there were such things out here,” Desjani countered, “wouldn’t we have run into them?”
“Maybe we will,” Geary replied. “Are there any fleet procedures for dealing with nonhuman contact?”
Desjani looked baffled. “I don’t know. There’s never been any call for them, so I don’t know of anyone who’s looked into it. Maybe something exists, but it’d be really ancient, from before the war.” Geary assumed he managed to conceal his reaction to that last statement since Desjani went on speaking, oblivious. “In any case, how could these nonhuman intelligences reach Kaliban if the Syndics didn’t want them to? Kaliban isn’t next door to the Syndic frontier.”
Colonel Carabali looked apologetic but spoke again. “If there were nonhuman intelligences out here, they might have a different means of faster-than-light travel. Right now, humans have two such means. There could be other means, and one of those might make Kaliban accessible from the Syndic frontier. But I’m not saying that’s the reason for the Syndics’ actions. I’m not saying nonhuman intelligences exist or have been encountered by the Syndics. I’m just saying that’s the only explanation we’ve been able to come up with that makes any sense at all for what the Syndics did here.”
Geary nodded. “Understood, Colonel. I appreciate your sharing that idea, even though as you say there’s no certainty at all to it. But you’re telling me that we can get any of the Syndic systems running again despite what they did?”
Major Rosado smiled confidently. “Yes, sir. If you want it up, we can get it working.”
“You’re talking to the scout teams from the fleet auxiliaries?”
“Yes, sir. There’s a team from Jinn with us here making an assessment on whether this site holds anything we can use.”
“Good. Thanks for your information.” The second window vanished, leaving only the scene from the Alliance scout as he painstakingly went over the office.
Desjani shook her head. “I never imagined I’d hear Marines worrying about two-headed aliens from the dark beyond.”
Geary smiled but then sobered. “Yet they couldn’t find any other reason for what the Syndics did. Can you think of a reason?”
“Perversity? Some stupid bureaucrat? People don’t always do things for reasons that make any sense.”
“True. Being in the fleet, we know all about that, right?”
Desjani grinned and nodded. “I really wouldn’t waste time worrying about it, sir.”
“No, I guess not, though frankly that’s a lot of work to go to without any good reason.” Geary checked the time. “We’ve got something else to worry about right now.”
For at least the tenth time in the last half hour, Geary fought to suppress an angry comment. The ships that were supposed to have moved into a block-shaped formation to one side of the main body had gotten into some sort of dispute based on the seniority of ship commanders, so that instead of taking assigned stations, some ships were trying to wedge their way into locations where other ships were already in place. Geary counted to five slowly, then keyed his communications. “All units in formation bravo, be advised that everyone will get equal opportunity to engage the enemy. Proceed to your assigned stations.”
He pondered taking something for the headache growing between his eyes while he watched the errant ships somewhat sheepishly alter their courses. Except for Audacious, which kept edging in toward Resolution in an apparent attempt to bull the other ship aside so that Audacious could lay claim to what looked like a leading position. “Audacious, did you copy my last?” He waited a minute to see if Audacious would respond, but the warship kept sidling in toward Resolution. Fine. Let’s see if a little humor will defuse this without my having to relieve another commanding officer. “Audacious, be advised that if you are attempting to mate with Resolution, you might try buying her a few drinks first.”
Off to one side, Geary heard Captain Desjani almost choke on her coffee. He heard no reply from Audacious, but the warship finally angled away and back toward its assigned station. A moment later, Resolution called in. “Alliance battle cruiser Resolution wishes to report that her virtue remains intact.”
This time Desjani laughed, as did Geary. Good. That’s the sort of thing that indicates morale is okay. For the moment, at least. He watched the other ships in formation bravo belatedly sliding into position, shaking his head. Thank goodness I can do this by simulation. I wish I could do it for real, too, but I can’t afford to burn the amount of fuel reserves that’d require.
Geary waited until the laggard ships had reached their stations, then tapped his communications controls again. “All units, I’m going to put your simulated ship movements on automatic for a little while. I want to show you what happens when we employ these two formations in a coordinated fashion.” He activated the sequence he’d programmed during the transit through jump space.
In the simulated version of the Kaliban System, a large Syndic force suddenly appeared near the Alliance formations. Geary let the simulation run, showing the two Alliance formations rotating to angles that maximized their firepower against opposite edges of the onrushing enemy.
He’d deliberately kept the scenario short, so twenty minutes later the remnants of the simulated Syndics were fleeing for their lives. Geary let another couple of minutes pass after the simulation paused, then spoke again. “There’s a couple of points I want to make. First of all, you’ll note that when the separate formations are properly employed, it maximizes our capability to employ the most ships and the most firepower against the enemy. You’ll notice that every ship in formation bravo hit the enemy hard because of the way that formation swept across the enemy flank. Secondly, this scenario I just ran worked because every ship did what it was supposed to do.”