The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Guardian

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!”

Geary stared at his display. Unfortunately, the former ground forces general was reading his display right. The Dancers had not simply reduced their velocity to allow the Covenant ships to close on them more quickly. Instead, the Dancers had come around and kept accelerating, killing their own velocity in one direction and building it in the direction facing the oncoming enemy. The vectors on the Dancer ships led straight into the heart of the Covenant formation. “Did they acknowledge your warning to stay clear of those ships?” he asked, feeling an agony of frustration.

“Yes. Very clearly. Understand. I don’t know what they’re doing.” Charban sounded very unhappy and upset as well.

Desjani didn’t say anything, her eyes fixed on her display, her expression bleak. Dauntless was accelerating as fast as her main propulsion units could manage. There was nothing more she could do, nothing more any of them could do, but watch.

“Captain,” Lieutenant Castries reported, her voice awed, “the acceleration on the Dancer ships is exceeding our estimates of what their hulls could sustain. If they continue at their current rate, it will have them going point one one light speed when they reach the Covenant formation.”

“Thank you—” Desjani began, then stared at Castries, then at Geary. “The Covenant ships are going point two four light. The combined velocity when they meet will be more than point three five light.”

Maybe there was a chance. “Unless those Covenant fire control systems are a lot better than ours, at point three five light they won’t have much chance of scoring any hits.”

“And the Dancers are small targets,” Desjani said. “And the Covies don’t have nearly as much firepower as we’d expected.” One of her hands had formed into a fist, which was slowly, softly, rhythmically, hitting one arm of her seat.

“One minute to contact between the Dancers and the Covenant formation,” Castries said.

Geary blinked as the two groups of ships swept through each other. At the last moment before contact, the Dancers had narrowed their own formation, sudden changes of vectors by the Dancer ships that would have rendered impossibly hard what had already been a very difficult fire control problem for the Covenant ships. The Dancers had torn by the central Covenant ship in the formation close enough to freeze Geary’s breathing for a moment even though the Dancers were there and past before he could grasp what they were doing.

“I know we can work with them,” Desjani said in an outraged voice, “but those Dancers are crazy.” She slapped her controls, throttling back Dauntless’s main propulsion units slightly.

Ahead of them, the Covenant ships had pivoted and were braking, trying to reverse course in place rather than maneuver the formation through a wide turn. “They’ve got too much momentum to shed,” Desjani complained. “And they’re wasting it all.”