The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Leviathan (27 page)

“Yes,” Geary said.

The dark battle cruisers fell increasingly far behind as they dodged repeated attacks by the Dancers, who could outmaneuver even the fastest and most agile dark ships. But after forty-five minutes of
provocation, the dark battle cruisers darted directly onto a chase after Geary’s formation, ignoring a slashing Dancer attack that took out more of the dark cruisers and destroyers.

Fifteen minutes after, with the dark battle cruisers behind racing to catch up, the Dancers chasing those dark ships, and four dark ship formations approaching ahead, Geary sent new orders. The dark ships in front of Geary’s force were already beginning to decelerate in anticipation of intercepting his formation in half an hour. “All units in First Fleet, immediate execute, accelerate to point two five light speed.”

“What happens after we blow through them?” Desjani asked.

“We start braking, drop off
Mistral
as we blow past the government facility, continue braking to ensure the accuracy of our bombardment as we swing past the orbiting support facilities for the dark ships, blow away those facilities, then break into three formations and go after the dark ships.”

“Got it. Need help configuring the formations?”

“I would be grateful for your assistance, Captain.”

Because of the distance still separating the forces, it took the dark ships several minutes to see that Geary’s force was accelerating, limiting their time to counter his move. All they could do was further reduce their own velocity, and the three dark ship formations that had been hidden behind the two stars were already braking at near maximum.

Their carefully planned maneuvers thrown off by Geary’s acceleration, the dark ships were now coming in at rates that would cause them to encounter Geary’s fleet at slightly different times instead of all at once.

“Estimated relative velocity at contact with closest dark battleship formation is point two seven light,” Lieutenant Yuon announced.

“Nobody is going to get many hits at that speed,” Desjani said.

On Geary’s display, the thin, curving lines marking the projected paths of the dark ships were growing in diameter, shading lighter on their outer edges, reflecting growing uncertainty as to exactly where
the enemy ships were and exactly what their vectors were, as the relative velocities grew so large that human sensors and tracking systems could not fully compensate for relativistic effects that warped their view of the universe. The closer objects got to the speed of light, the worse the relativistic effects, and the harder it was to see an accurate picture of what was outside of a ship. It was just one of the reasons why warships rarely pushed their velocities above point two light speed, but it was an important reason.

The dark ships would be having the same problem precisely tracking Geary’s warships. It was hard enough hitting something on the fly while shooting past at tens of thousands of kilometers per second. If you didn’t know exactly where that ship was and would be, the problem became an impossible one.

At five minutes before contact, with the different formations only about one light-minute apart, Geary sent new orders. “All units in First Fleet, immediate execute, pivot one six zero degrees port, down zero four degrees, brake velocity to point one light speed.
Mistral
, maneuver independently as required to close on the government facility.”

The Alliance warships swung their bows far over and slightly down, then lit off their main propulsion, not only slowing their velocity but also altering their path through space. The long curve of the First Fleet’s projected course began shifting to swing just past the government facility, then through the vast field of orbiting docks and warehouses.

Mistral
’s track, though, began diverging as the assault transport started braking much harder than the warships and aimed directly for the government facility. Still nestled within the Alliance formation,
Mistral
started sliding back and slightly to the side relative to the other ships.

The dark ships had only a couple of minutes to spot Geary’s alterations in course and speed, their task complicated by having to guess what vectors the Alliance warships would steady out on and by the relativistic distortion smearing their views of the other ships.

The dark battleships immediately to the front of Geary’s formation misjudged how much his ships were turning and swung too wide for an encounter as the two forces tore past each other.

Less than a minute later, the dark battle cruisers that had come out from behind one of the stars skidded past just ahead of Geary’s fleet, having guessed wrong about how hard he would brake his ships’ velocity.

One of the two dark battleship formations still forward of Geary almost immediately afterwards raced past behind the Alliance warships.

The second of the dark battleship formations guessed better, skimming the top edge of Geary’s formation. Weapons fired on both sides, but the relative velocities were still too great to get decent fire-control solutions, and nearly every shot missed.

Behind, the first group of dark battle cruisers, still pursuing Geary’s fleet, was closing more rapidly as Geary’s warships slowed down, and behind the dark battle cruisers in turn, the Dancer swarm chased those dark ships.

To port and starboard, above and below, the dark ship formations whose attacks had been frustrated by Geary’s maneuvers were swinging around to set up new intercepts.

“We’ve got some vector divergence on the five heavy cruisers left to those dark battle cruisers behind us,” Desjani noted. “They’ve spotted
Mistral
’s movement, and they’re moving to intercept.”

“I was expecting that.” Geary tapped his controls. “Captain Tulev, take your battle cruiser division and maneuver to intercept the dark heavy cruisers behind us that I have designated. Those dark cruisers are aiming for
Mistral
. I don’t want any of them getting to her.”

“Understood, Admiral.”

Leviathan
,
Dragon
,
Steadfast
, and
Valiant
began braking harder, also veering out more, aiming for an intercept on the dark heavy cruisers before they would reach
Mistral
.

A notice told Geary that
Mistral
was calling him. He accepted the call, seeing Commander Young’s image appear in a virtual window before him. “Admiral, we’re getting a look at more of the government facility as our angle of approach changes. There’s a covered dock attached to that facility,” Commander Young reported. “Big enough to hold a single battle cruiser or an assault transport, and the doors of the dock are open wide. When the staff on the facility tried to flee, they must have not bothered closing the dock doors behind them. I can get
Mistral
inside instead of dropping off my shuttles for the first wave of the Marine assault. All of the Marines can hit the facility at once, my shuttles won’t be exposed, and
Mistral
will be safe inside the dock.”

“Will you be safe?” Geary asked. “That dock is an easy target.”

“Admiral, there are no signs of that facility having been fired on. We’ve got plenty of indications that the dark ships have shot up shipping in this star system, but not a mark on any of the orbiting facilities. If the dark ships have any inhibits left active at all, at the top of their list would be not to fire on the government facility where their human overseers were located. It’s still a gamble, sir,” Young admitted, “but I think it is less risky than trying to play keep-away with the dark ships while also sending in and recovering multiple waves of shuttles and Marines.”

Geary stared forward, weighing options and risks, then nodded. “Very well, Commander. You are authorized to enter the dock and launch the assault from there. Notify Colonel Rico. Make sure you don’t loiter outside the hangar lining up your approach and matching velocity. I’m going to do all I can to keep the dark ships off you, but if you’re just hanging in space, you’ll be a very easy target for them.”

Commander Young grinned. “Admiral, I can dock ol’ Miss anywhere I’ve got a meter to spare on the sides and in front and back. Consider it done.”

Young’s image had no sooner vanished than Desjani gestured for Geary’s attention. “The dark battle cruisers behind us have seen Tulev’s
battle cruisers moving. They’re altering vectors to intercept Tulev at the same time he intercepts their heavy cruisers.”

“Good.” Geary touched his controls again. “Captain Badaya, you are to take the First and Sixth Battle Cruiser Divisions, as well as the Third and Fifth Heavy Cruiser Divisions, and the Second, Twelfth, Fourteenth, and Seventeenth Destroyer Squadrons, and join with Captain Tulev’s Second Battle Cruiser Division to intercept the dark battle cruisers moving to engage
Mistral
. Captain Tulev, your division is now part of Formation Delta One commanded by Captain Badaya.”

Captains Badaya, Duellos, and Tulev acknowledged the orders, as did the commanders of the heavy cruiser divisions and destroyer squadrons.
Illustrious
,
Incredible
,
Inspire
,
Formidable
, and
Implacable
accompanied by ten heavy cruisers and thirty-one destroyers altered their vectors, sliding outward and up toward the path of the oncoming dark battle cruisers.

Geary could see Desjani glowering at her display. “I’m holding back
Dauntless
and the rest of the Fourth Battle Cruiser Division for a reason,” he said. “I want those dark battle cruisers to think they have a chance of getting to
Mistral
. If I added four more battle cruisers to our intercept force, the dark battle cruisers would be certain to veer off. But they might believe they can handle nine of our battle cruisers, especially since I am not part of that force.”

“You’re trusting Badaya to handle them.” Desjani grumbled.

“He’s the senior officer among those three battle cruiser division commanders, and Badaya can handle an overtaking intercept.”

“You still owe me one. Sir.”

Mistral
was falling back fast now as she braked to match orbital velocity with the government facility. Geary’s battle cruiser formation Delta One was dropping back even faster so as to intercept the oncoming dark ships before they reached
Mistral
. Those dark battle cruisers had joined up with their heavy cruisers again and were coming on steadily, apparently ignoring both Badaya’s Delta One formation before them and the Dancers approaching from behind.

“Twenty-two minutes to intercept of dark battle cruisers by Delta One,” Lieutenant Castries said. “
Mistral
reports estimated docking time at facility in thirty-five minutes.”

Desjani, still grumpy, was eyeing her display. “The other dark ship formations are coming back onto intercepts, but they won’t be able to engage us again until after we pass through the region holding their orbiting support facilities. Clumsy of them. They’re giving us a clean shot at what they need to keep fighting.”

“It’s just like at Bhavan,” Geary said. “Whoever programmed the dark ships put a lot of effort into the tactical model but didn’t put nearly as much work or emphasis on logistics. The dark ships are still thinking primarily in terms of destroying us, not in terms of defending their support structure from us. And they’re not going to get a chance to rethink those priorities.”

He called up the bombardment routines again and, designating all of the docks and warehouses as targets, told the fleet’s combat systems to come up with a launch plan for when the Alliance warships went through the region of space holding those facilities. Not certain if the battle cruisers in Delta One would be back with the main formation, Geary told the combat systems to make full use of the awesome bombardment capabilities of the twenty-one Alliance battleships as well as Desjani’s Fourth Battle Cruiser Division. This time, with such short flight distances between launch platform and target, any unpredictable or varying interactions of the gravitational fields of the two stars had too little impact to worry about. The proposed plan popped up almost instantly. “Can you do a sanity check on this for me, Captain Desjani?”

She looked over the plan on her own display, brightening as she saw the sheer size of the bombardment. “We’re going to make sure nothing survives this run.”

“Right,” Geary said. “I don’t want to have to worry about coming back to finish the job.”

“It looks very good to me.” She checked another part of her display.
“It also looks like you were right, Admiral. Those dark battle cruisers are going to try to take Badaya. They want
Mistral
bad and probably figure they can whittle down our number of battle cruisers at the same time.”

Their bows facing backwards while their main propulsion labored to slow them down, the ships under Badaya’s command already had the majority of their weapons and strongest shields pointed toward the enemy. The dark battle cruisers, though, having ramped up their velocity to catch Geary’s ships, were now having to brake harder and longer in order to effectively engage the Alliance battle cruisers, their sterns toward the enemy they were rapidly closing on. And as the dark battle cruisers and Geary’s battle cruisers both slowed, the Dancers gained more rapidly on both of them.

Those aboard
Mistral
, Geary reflected, were probably feeling extremely nervous at the mass of human, automated, and alien warships swiftly bearing down on them.

“Badaya is cutting it close,” Desjani warned. “The dark ships are going to be almost in range of
Mistral
when he engages them.”

“He wants the dark ships to hold their vectors,” Geary said, “and maybe he’s hoping they’ll be holding their fire as well, waiting to engage
Mistral
.”

“We did that to them at Bhavan,” Desjani said. “They won’t fall for it again.”

“We’ll know in less than two minutes.” He had no doubt that the dark battle cruisers would be stopped. He could only hope that his own battle cruisers would not pay too high a price.

The dark battle cruisers pivoted at the last possible moment, bringing their bows forward to face the Alliance force. They came within range of Badaya’s battle cruisers seconds before the Dancers caught the dark ships from behind. Even at the comparatively slow relative velocity at which the ships engaged this time, the exchange of fire happened too quickly for human senses to follow.