The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Leviathan (11 page)

It gave him a leading formation designed for fast attacks and two trailing formations designed to hit hard.

If Tanya was right, and he thought she was, the dark ships would aim to take out Geary’s battle cruiser formation first. “Our battle cruisers have to be the bait, and the two battleship formations will be the jaws of the trap,” Geary said.

She grinned at him. “Now that’s Black Jack talking.”

“I’ll have to see how the dark ships set up their formations to attack us,” he added. “They won’t hold that single rectangle.”

“Not if they’re programmed to simulate Black Jack. I bet you we’ll see three subformations,” Desjani added.

“I do that a lot?”

“Sure do. But that’s all right. If the dark ships see you doing what they expect you to do, it will feed their confidence.”

That sounded wrong. “They’re not capable of confidence,” Geary said. “How about saying they won’t question the assumptions in their calculations?”

She shook her head more firmly this time. “Look, those may be machines, but there are humans behind them. Humans cut the code, humans refined the results, humans ran the tests and decided what outcomes were good enough. As far as I’m concerned, we are fighting those humans. And I want to kick their butts.”

“Fair enough. That feels better than thinking we’re fighting monsters, doesn’t it?”

Desjani grinned. “Sure does. And it helps my confidence. I can beat up software designers without breaking a sweat.”

He gave her a surprised look. “Have you actually done that?”

“No!” She appeared to be genuinely offended by the idea. “I’ve always stood up for the nerds, ever since I was a kid. I was one of them! And look how they’ve repaid me.” Desjani waved at her display and the images of the dark ships on it.

“Creating monsters. Yeah.” But her words had given him an idea for demystifying the dark ships, which felt intimidating for their alienness as well as their strength. He reached for the comm control. “All units in First Fleet, stand down your crews from combat alert for the next five hours. We will be moving to intercept and engage the dark ships. Remember that when we fight those ships, we are fighting the humans who programmed them. Those are the people we have to beat. Geary, out.”

He thought for a moment longer, then touched an internal comm
control. “Lieutenant Iger, please inform the alleged agents that we have in custody that we are about to engage in combat with a large force of dark ships. If they want to increase their odds of surviving that battle, they might want to start talking to us.”

“I will pass that on, Admiral,” Iger said, looking discouraged, “but it probably won’t influence them. Those two are hard-core knuckle-draggers. I’m certain they would take it as a point of pride to die not having told us a thing.”

“Even if it led to a disaster for the Alliance,” Geary said. “May the living stars preserve us from those so certain of their own virtue.”

—

TELLING
others to rest was one thing. Being able to rest himself was another.

His first stop after leaving the bridge had been his own stateroom, where Geary had carefully composed a message in the hope that Admiral Bloch was present with the dark ships and that Admiral Bloch still had control over them.

“Admiral Bloch, we are both on the side of the Alliance. The ships you command are a threat to the Alliance. We need every warship we can get to deal with threats posed by the remnants of the Syndicate Worlds, especially after what happened at Indras. We also face threats from the enigmas and possibly the creatures we have nicknamed Kicks. I assume you’ve seen the Kick battleship we captured and renamed
Invincible
. You know the level of danger they pose. We can work together to preserve the Alliance instead of destroying the means for the Alliance to defend itself. I await any communication from you to discuss our options and the best route forward from here. To the honor of our ancestors, Geary, out.”

He did not expect Bloch to reply. But maybe he would. Maybe they could make some sort of deal that would halt the dark ships long enough for the government to reestablish control over them.

After sending the message as a broadcast to the dark ships, he tried to get some sleep but could not, his mind irrationally waiting for a reply that could not appear for at least several more hours given that light could only travel a bit more than a billion kilometers an hour, and there were a lot of billions of kilometers between this battle cruiser and the dark ships. Giving up the effort to rest, Geary walked through the passageways of
Dauntless
, trying to sense the state of the crew’s morale and trying to settle his own nerves. There was something deeply disturbing about fighting a totally automated foe with no living creature in direct command. The upset didn’t make sense on any intellectual basis. Why did it matter what was trying to kill you? But it did. Somewhere inside, Geary had a firm conviction that it should always be
who
was trying to kill you. As Tulev had said, when it became accurate to instead say
what
was pulling the trigger, it felt wrong.

Up ahead in the passageway, Geary could see Master Chief Gioninni talking to a junior sailor. He knew what the conversation must be like, since the body language of both participants made it clear that the sailor had messed something up, and the master chief was “explaining” to the sailor why this was a bad thing and must not be repeated.

Both paused in their discussion to face Geary and salute, the sailor rigidly correct and Master Chief Gioninni correct in the manner of someone who didn’t even have to think about how to do it right in order to do it right. “How is everything going, Master Chief?” Geary asked.

“No problems, Admiral,” Gioninni assured him. “I’m just providing a little extra instruction to Seaman William T. Door, here.”

“I hope he appreciates the opportunity,” Geary said, keeping his voice sounding serious. “There has been many a time I wished someone could tell me how to get something done.”

Seaman Door did not, in fact, look as if he appreciated his good fortune.

Gioninni grinned. “If you’re trolling for advice, Admiral . . .”

“The first thing I learned as an ensign was the importance of listening to chief petty officers,” Geary said.

“Then, sir, I know we’re trying to outsmart those dark ships. I would suggest that if you are trying to put a scam over on someone, which is not a matter I have much personal experience with, you understand, then you would want to show them what they expect and what they most want, because that will make your mark confident and eager.”

Geary nodded at Gioninni. “Even if they’re an AI?”

“Sir, did you ever know a computer to question itself? Humans do. Not enough for their best interests, but still they manage at times. But computers? All you can do is kick ’em or reboot ’em or wipe them clean and start over. Those who have total confidence in themselves are the easiest marks by far.”

“Not that you have much personal experience with that kind of thing,” Geary noted.

“Exactly, sir.”

Geary looked back at Seaman Door. “What about confidence in the people who work for you, Master Chief? Is that important, too?”

“Very important, Admiral,” Gioninni agreed. “Even new recruits like this fellow here. He won’t let you down, sir.”

“I know.” Geary met the eyes of Door and smiled with the best confidence he could project, then nodded to both the sailor and Gioninni, and continued on his way.

There wasn’t anything wrong with Gioninni’s advice. In fact, Geary had already employed tactics like that at places like Heradao. The question was whether the dark ships could recognize tactics like that, and whether they could be manipulated into seeing what they wanted to see in the way a person could be.

That led to a string of thoughts that ended with questions that only Lieutenant Iger might be able to answer.

The hatch controlling access to the intelligence compartments offered few clues to the secrets it guarded. The compartment codes on the hatch indicated only that inside it lay Crewed Equipment—Sensor Integration, Analysis, Communications. But the scanners and access controls on the hatch were considerably more robust than those elsewhere on the ship.
Geary could have walked right in anyway, but out of courtesy he always called in first, waiting until Lieutenant Iger or one of his subordinates came to escort him inside.

This time it was a fairly junior technician who led Geary into where Iger and his other techs were fussing over a variety of equipment. Lieutenant Iger saluted with a grimace. “No luck so far with the dark ships, Admiral.”

“What are we trying?” Geary asked.

“All of the usual and then some.” Iger indicated the men and women frowning intently as they watched virtual screens, occasionally reaching to enter commands. “We’re trying to analyze the comm patterns and codes being used by the dark ships, but they keep altering in ways we haven’t been able to predict, and their codes keep changing in ways designed to frustrate our equipment.”

“We’ll get it anyway, Lieutenant,” a female chief said, her voice angry and determined. “They can outthink the algorithms, but they can’t outthink
me
.”

Iger nodded to her. “Stay on it. If anyone can break into their net, you can.” Then he turned back to Geary. “The problem is,” Iger said in a very low voice, “it is obvious the dark ships know everything about our gear and our procedures. They were designed to be as impervious as possible to our intelligence collection and intrusion methods.”

“Lieutenant,” Geary said, “something has occurred to me. From all I have seen and experienced, you, your people, your equipment, are all among the best.”

Iger smiled slightly, looking embarrassed. “Thank you, sir.”

“There’s nothing to thank me for. I’m only saying what I’ve seen. But—” Geary paused, looking around at the intent workers and the screens they were studying. “If we can’t break in, could anyone else?”

Iger hesitated. “With enough resources, anything is possible, sir. Do you mean the Syndics?”

“I mean anyone trying to get access to the dark ships’ comms or
controls. If the AIs running the dark ships tried to block any countermanding signals coming in, could they do it? Even if the people trying to break in had the codes they needed?”

This time, Iger took several seconds to reply. “I’ll need to speak to my people, sir.”

“What’s your gut feeling right now?”

“I think the dark ships could block it, sir.” Iger gestured in the direction the dark ships were. “I am guessing that whoever built and programmed them was focused on ensuring that no one who was unauthorized could break in, and gave the dark ships the very best means available to defend themselves against intrusions. But if the AIs can block us, they can block anybody, if they mistakenly categorize an authorized source as an unauthorized source. Or, if some malware got through and recategorized authorized sources as unauthorized, the defenses would then stop any corrective measures from getting in.”

“Admiral?” the female chief said, glancing away from her display for a moment to look at him. “From what we’re seeing of this stuff, the dark ships have had some really excellent defenses programmed in. And if their programming is biased toward defense against intrusions, they’re going to start seeing intrusions. Software is like people that way. It sees what it expects to see, it spots what it was told to look for.”

“Thank you,” Geary said.

“Do you think they’re totally out of control, Admiral?” Iger asked.

“I think they are trying to follow what they believe to be their orders,” Geary said. “And based on what you’re telling me, I think they may be blocking any attempts to regain full control of them. Maybe they’re misidentifying the source of the legitimate signals, maybe some malware got into them and is blocking any signals that counter it, maybe it’s just bugs in the software.” He thought about Master Chief Gioninni’s suggestions again. “But without the ability to question what they believe to be true, they can’t correct the problem themselves. Speaking of which, what about our agent friends? Have they bent at all?”

“No, sir.” Lieutenant Iger led the way into another compartment, then activated virtual windows that showed the views of the high-security cells in the brig where the two agents were being held separately. The woman was lying on her bunk gazing upward at nothing, the man sitting on his bunk, his gaze also unfocused. Their suits, the sort of civilian clothing that would have aroused no comment in almost any setting, were a bit more rumpled, but otherwise, they looked like they had when arrested on Ambaru. “They’re very well trained on resisting interrogation,” Iger said. “We can’t get anything out of them. Sir, I am still concerned about holding in custody agents whose credentials check out.”

“Lieutenant, I’ve sent a report to the government that includes everything we have on those two. If the government disagrees with what we’re doing, they can tell me. Orders to release them could have come back on the same courier ship that brought Captain Geary from Unity. But, so far, we haven’t heard anything from any organization claiming to own those two. Their official credentials look fine, but no office is stepping up to ask for their release. I still wonder exactly who those two are taking orders from. We’re not mistreating them. We’re not hurting them. We’re trying to find out who they really are and what they know about the dark ships.”

“I understand, sir,” Iger said.

“Do you? If you thought I was wrong, would you file an official report on my actions that stated your concerns?”

Iger paused, looking uncomfortable, then nodded, looking directly at Geary. “Yes, Admiral, I would.”

“Good. The more power someone has, the more they need people around them who are willing to speak up when they think that person is wrong. Continue asking questions, Lieutenant.”

“Yes, sir,” Iger replied with a relieved grin. “If I may say so, Admiral, I’ve met some senior officers who do not share your philosophy.”

“I’ve met many myself,” Geary said. “I had to work for some of
them. That’s why I try hard not to be like them.” He gestured toward the prisoners. “Let them see and hear me.” He waited until Iger gave him a thumbs-up. “There is something I’ve wanted to ask both of you.” He waited again as the two agents turned to look toward the image of Geary that would be visible in their cells. “Let’s assume you actually are working for some part of the Alliance government, you both are convinced of the rightness of what you’re doing, and are absolutely certain that it is in the best interests of the Alliance.”