A minute later, a frantic call came in from Mistral.
“Admiral,” Commander Young said, “our systems assured us she was aboard! We tried to get in just now and found the locks on her stateroom are sealed with overrides. I have crew members breaking in, but there were ongoing, confirmed status feeds from that compartment telling us that Senator Rione was there.”
“She told me that she hacked Mistral’s systems to show that,” Geary said. “There is no fault on your part, Commander.” He wondered if he should ever tell Commander Young of the fate that she had been saved from by Rione’s actions. “I suppose all of us ought to start double-checking more on what our systems tell us.”
“Commander Benan may be aboard. We are checking, sir.”
“He’s not aboard Mistral, either. They are together. You did everything that you should have, Commander.” Having reassured Young, Geary stared at his display for a few moments, not really seeing the information it showed, his mind filled with memories.
Desjani was gazing bleakly at her own display. “We get to spend the next several hours hoping we don’t get annihilated by the shock wave or the dark ships or both. There’s nothing else we can do.”
“It beats what we were looking forward to a half hour ago,” Geary said. “Tanya—”
“Admiral, with all due respect, I am not yet prepared at this time to discuss matters concerning her.”
“Understood.”
“Admiral.” General Charban, calling up from the comm compartment, appeared to be dazed. “I have informed the Dancers of what is happening, which took some very creative poetry. I think it is safe to say that they will remain close to us until the shock wave is past. You will recall that Senator Rione was embraced by one of the Dancers. That gave her some special status with them, and these Dancers… well, I don’t know if the word means the same thing to them, but they said that the pattern will grieve for her.”
“Tell the Dancers that we appreciate that,” Geary said.
“Am I correct, Admiral, in my understanding that our survival is not yet certain?”
“You are, General. We still have to get past the dark ships. If the gate collapses as fast as possible, we won’t be in the shadow of Beta in time. If it collapses more slowly, we’ll get there.”
“Then I will pray that the gate collapses with all due deliberation,” Charban said.
Sixteen
Desjani’s planned maneuvers accomplished what they were supposed to. The dark ships were just over a light-hour and a half distant when the major change in the Alliance fleet’s path was made at Geary’s order following the receipt of Rione’s last message, and as a result the dark ships did not see the maneuver until about an hour and a half after it was made. They then shifted their own vector, aiming to intercept on the assumption that Geary’s warships were returning to the government facility.
A few minutes before the dark ships intercepted their track, Geary ordered the change in vector to head for the side of Star Beta that was opposite where the hypernet gate apparently still orbited nearly seven light-hours distant. By now, that image was a lie. The gate was already gone.
The dark ships had anticipated vector changes by Geary to either continue on his way toward the government facility or to engage the enemy. The change toward the far side of Star Beta was unanticipated by the dark ships, with the result that their intercept was completely missed.
The five dark ship formations, now operating as almost a single unit, swung wide and around, aiming to catch Geary’s fleet again.
“Once we start braking, and we have to do that now, the dark ships are going to catch up to us fast,” Desjani cautioned.
“They’re going to aim past us,” Geary predicted. “No matter what projected vector they have for us, they are not going to predict that we will slow so much that we drop into fixed orbit close to Beta. Doing that would be totally irrational for us and give no possible benefit, except under one set of conditions, which the dark ships do not think exists. They need observations to make their decisions, and they won’t see any sign of trouble until too late.”
His ships pivoted again, every bow coming up and around, and as their main propulsion lit off again, the entire fleet began reducing velocity as fast as the most badly damaged ships could sustain.
The dark ships, swooping down on Geary’s formation, began braking as well.
“How are we doing on time?” Geary asked.
“Right on our mark,” Desjani said. “We’re coming in perfectly.”
The projected vectors of the dark ships bent forward as they braked, showing intercepts well past Beta. As Geary’s force continued to slow, the dark ships kept slowing, too, but also kept assuming that the Alliance warships would stop braking at any moment. The paths of the dark ships continued through space above and beyond Beta.
“You know,” Desjani commented, “it does feel insane to be slowing down this much with those dark ships that close and trying to hit us again. My head says we have to do this, but my guts are telling me this is crazy.”
“I feel the same way,” Geary said.
Star Beta was looming larger and larger as the Alliance fleet slid closer and closer. Geary gave more commands, ordering the warships to collapse their current four formations into a single, tight formation that would be protected as well as possible from any shock waves spreading back around the star after they hit it.
“Five more minutes until we’re there,” Desjani said. “If the gate collapsed extrafast, we’ll find out the hard way within the next couple of minutes.”
“Make sure we drop some expendable surveillance sats before we get behind Beta, so we can see what’s happening,” Geary said.
The dark ships had completely overshot Geary’s force and were skidding through a turn well beyond Star Beta, their bows coming back to point at the Alliance fleet. “Twenty minutes until the dark ships manage their latest intercept attempt,” Lieutenant Castries said.
“You sound very calm, Lieutenant,” Desjani remarked, her chin resting on one fist, her entire attitude that of relaxed composure. “Well done.”
Castries grinned. “I’ve been through a lot in the last several months, Captain.”
“This is just one more near-death experience?”
“That’s right, Captain.”
“How about you, Lieutenant Yuon?” Desjani asked. “How are you feeling?”
“Sort of numb, Captain,” Yuon admitted.
“Numb works, as long as you keep thinking. Ah, here we are.”
Dauntless slid into her intended fixed orbit about Beta, the star looming huge nearby and blocking off a vast section of space. All about Dauntless, the rest of the Alliance warships, more closely packed than usual, hung in a glittering array, illuminated by the light of Beta’s close-by nuclear fires. The Dancers had come in near as well, weaving through the fleet and parking themselves in the midst of the Alliance warships as if such difficult maneuvers were routine and easy.
The dark ships had finished coming about, and were accelerating toward Geary’s fleet and the Dancers.
“I sure as hell hope that gate collapsed,” Desjani muttered so low that only Geary could hear. “Otherwise, we’re going to get ripped from one end to the other.”
Geary kept his eyes on his display, where the unmagnified view from the surveillance sats was visible. The bright disc of Star Alpha could be seen to one side, but the other objects in Unity Alternate were just bright dots among the innumerable stars. If the gate had collapsed as it was supposed to, many of those bright dots no longer existed. But the wave of destruction that had engulfed them was traveling with the light that would bring news of the devastation.