“Good, that’s— What?” Geary moved his hand against the strain of Desjani’s latest maneuver, calling up data. “That’s all? On that many ships? That means the big ones only have two launchers apiece?”
“And the small ones have none,” Iger confirmed.
Geary stared at the statistics. “These ships have armament roughly comparable to our own auxiliaries. They’re a little better armed, but not much. Why the hell would anyone build a warship that big, that expensive, and that elaborate and put so few weapons on it?”
“I… don’t know, sir.”
Tanya was right. These people forgot about war-fighting when designing their ships. “Captain Desjani, your estimate about the firepower on these warships was correct.”
“Thank you, Admiral. That’s all I need to know.”
The threat symbols on Geary’s display were winking out as Covenant missiles ran out of power and went zooming off on their last vector, unable to maneuver and heading into endless, empty space. Desjani had brought Dauntless up and over and was now arcing back downward and to port as the Covenant formation raced to pass beneath her, making final adjustments in her track as the other warships stuck stubbornly to their own vectors.
“Targets designated,” Desjani said, her voice loud and almost unnaturally clear. “I want these, ladies and gentlemen. Make your shots count.”
Dauntless whipped through the outer edge of one wing of the Covenant formation, the other warships there and gone too fast for human senses to register, the battle cruiser still shuddering slightly from having unleashed every weapon that would bear.
Encounters in space often happened far too quickly for humans to react, but automated systems could track and fire at the proper instants, choosing just the right millisecond to unleash weapons at where another ship would be when the weapon passed through that same spot. Now Dauntless’s sensors were evaluating the result of that firing pass while Desjani brought her battle cruiser sweeping back to starboard to come up behind the Covenant warships.
One wing of the Covenant formation had disappeared. Three of the little corvettes were simply gone, their power cores overloaded by Dauntless’s barrage of hell lances and grapeshot, and the megacruiser on that wing had been broken into several large pieces, which were tumbling in the wake of the Covenant formation.
The Covies had fired back, but Dauntless had taken most of the hits on her shields, only one penetrating to damage the hull. “Get that grapeshot launcher back online,” Desjani ordered. She sounded frustrated, not triumphant. “We didn’t get enough of them, and now we’re the ones in a stern chase,” she grumbled to Geary as Dauntless’s main propulsion units pushed the battle cruiser to ever-higher velocity.
“We’ll get them,” he said with more confidence than he felt, one eye on the hull-stress meters, which were edging into red danger zones as Desjani’s maneuvers pushed the battle cruiser to the limits of what her hull could withstand even with the help of the inertial dampers.
A sudden commotion behind him marked the return of the senators to the bridge. “What is going on?” Senator Suva demanded.
“We’re defending ourselves and the Dancers in accordance with the orders given to me by the government,” Geary replied, while Desjani studiously ignored the presence of the politicians.
“Then the weapons which this ship fired were defensive?” Senator Sakai asked, his tone as mild as usual.
“Absolutely.”
“We are in a combat situation,” Rione said. “Our presence on the bridge is disruptive.”
Costa and Suva rounded on her, but before they could speak, Sakai did. “Envoy Rione is correct.”
“She is not,” Suva insisted. “This hero has started another war while she kept us tied down with debates!”
Rione met Suva’s eyes with cool resolve. “Who fired the first shot, Admiral?”
“They did,” Geary said. “A volley of missiles as soon as we were within range. We had no alternative but to defend ourselves against a force that the authorities in Sol Star System have told us is unwelcome and uninvited.”
Lieutenant Yuon cleared his throat apologetically as he interrupted the debate. “At our current closing rate, we’ll be within range of the rear of the Covenant formation in forty-two minutes, Captain.”
“We’re chasing them?” Suva asked, disbelieving. “If they want to kill us, why aren’t we just avoiding them?”
Geary called up the display at the observer’s seat. The Covenant formation, one wing gone, had continued on a long, shallow trajectory that crossed the path of the Dancers much farther inside the star system. “They are still pursuing the Dancers. They’re on an intercept course with them. They have indicated an intent to attack the Dancers, too. What would you have us do, Senator?”
Suva covered her eyes, then nodded. “I am not a fool, Admiral. Our discussions with the Covenant commander have been even less fruitful than those with my companions on the grand council. Too many minds are set too firmly in opposition, and some of those minds will not stop at debate. Do what you must to save all of us. We’ll try to sweep up the mess afterwards.” She sounded defeated and worn-out.
Costa glared at her. “Now you see why our earlier decisions were necessary to ensure the safety of the Alliance—”
“You would talk of those decisions here?” Sakai asked, his voice still calm but somehow easily cutting across Costa’s.
Senator Costa jerked, looking around as if she had indeed again forgotten where she was. “I… no.” Her gaze fastened on Rione. “Some individuals may have a voting proxy, but they do not have authorization to know everything that the grand council has done for the Alliance.”
“I count myself lucky in that respect.” Rione sounded amused, but her voice had an iron edge under the humor. “Or do you mean everything the grand council has done to the Alliance? I might know more of that than you think, Senator. Many people may know more of that than you think.”
Costa, very obviously not looking at Geary now, stomped off the bridge, followed by Suva, who gave Rione a questioning look different from her customary hostility as the envoy followed Suva. Behind them came Sakai, his feelings as usual masked.
Assorted lieutenants and other watch-standers watched the politicians go, their eyes wide and their mouths wisely shut.
“Back on task, everyone,” Desjani ordered. Even though she had not turned around or apparently paid attention to the politicians and the argument, her command came the instant the hatch sealed behind them.
Geary did his best to put the senators out of his mind as well, focusing back on the situation. “We should get within range of them slightly before they catch up with the Dancers.” At that point, though, coming up from behind, they would face the firepower of the entire Covenant formation again, without the same ability to dodge missiles unless they turned away and failed to engage the other warships.
A sudden intake of breath by Tanya was followed by her pointing at her display. “No, we won’t catch them before that. Look. The Dancers have turned back toward us. They’re going to run into those Covenant warships long before we catch up.”
Eighteen
“Charban! Tell the Dancers to avoid the Covenant formation!”
“They’re a few light-minutes distant!” Charban protested, “and if I read this space display properly, they’re going to encounter the other warships very quickly because they’re accelerating toward them!”