The Lost Fleet – Dauntless

Desjani made a face. “From their perspective, the plan probably looked foolproof. Dangle the bait of the Syndic home system, offer us a key there through a supposed traitor, and then trap us so far from home we couldn’t possibly escape.” She grinned. “But they didn’t know we’d have you.”

Oh, for the living stars’ sake. But as long as she brought it up… “How’d you find me? After all that time? Why didn’t someone find me earlier?” The questions had occurred to him before, of course, but he’d never pursued the answers, not wanting to delve into the events that had separated him from his own time and left him here among these familiar strangers.

Desjani tapped on the small table between them, bringing up a display of star systems. “Did you know you could do this? Your last battle-Excuse me, what we thought was your last battle, took place here.” She pointed to an unremarkable star. “Grendel.”

Geary nodded and swung his own finger along a line of stars. “It was part of a standard transit route. That’s why my convoy was heading through the area.”

“Yes. But it was also close to Syndic space, which is why the convoy had a routine escort. Right?” Geary nodded as Desjani’s hand waved to indicate the stars beyond. “They could jump straight into Grendel’s system. Which they did when they attacked you.” She sat silent for a moment. “Afterward, well, my understanding is the system was swept, but there were Syndic forces jumping in and out constantly, hoping to catch more shipping. Everything had to be done under combat conditions, the accumulated battles left more and more wreckage and flotsam drifting through the system, and eventually Grendel was effectively abandoned except for some automated early-warning systems to let us know if the Syndics were coming through. It just made more sense to jump safely through Beowulf, Caderock, and Rescat than run the gauntlet through Grendel.” Another shrug. “And once the hypernet was set up, nobody even needed to do that.”

Geary gazed at the display, cold seeming to seep in through the walls around him as he thought of the decades his survival pod had spent tumbling through space in a system empty of everything except the wreckage of war. “But you went through there.”

“Yes. We needed to jump into a Syndic system where one of their hypernet gates existed, and Grendel offered a perfect jumping off point. Isolated, quiet, empty.” She swung one finger slowly through the representation of the lonely star. “Our sensors are better, more sensitive, than they used to be. They picked up the power being used in your survival pod and the tiny amount of heat that it was generating. It might’ve been power leakage from a Syndic spy drone, so we investigated.” Desjani pursed her lips. “The fleet physicians estimated you had only a few more years of survival time left, at best, before power in the pod was exhausted.”

The cold bored into him, threatening to freeze his breath in his throat. “I hadn’t heard that.”

“They’re not supposed to keep anyone alive that long, you know. The only reason it kept going all that time is because you were the only one aboard. If there’d been even just two survivors drawing down power to sustain hibernation…”

“Lucky me.”

Desjani had her eyes locked on him again. “Many believe it wasn’t a matter of luck, Captain Geary. An awful lot of things had to work out just right for you to end up alive on this warship just when the Alliance needed you. Just when we needed you.”

Great. More proof to the believers that I’ve been sent by the living stars to…do what? Are they “only” expecting me to somehow lead this fleet to safety, or is that just the start of their dreams?

How do I tell them otherwise? And what happens when they learn I’m just a very fallible man upon whom fate played a lot of nasty tricks?

Geary realized she was watching him with concern. “What? Is something wrong?”

“No! It’s just…you were silent a long time, not looking at anything. I did get a bit worried.”

The last batch of meds must’ve started wearing off, or recent events had just overwhelmed even what the meds could do. “I guess I need to rest some.”

“There’s no reason not to now. It’s three weeks transit time to Corvus in jump space. Plenty of time to recover.” Desjani looked briefly guilty. “The fleet physicians want to see you again as soon as possible. I’m supposed to tell you that.”

I bet they do. Am I better off avoiding them or seeking them out? “Thanks. And thanks for everything else, Tanya. I’m glad I’m on Dauntless.”

It was amazing how a smile could transform Captain Desjani’s face. “As am I, Captain Geary.”

He sat for a few minutes after she’d left, unable to work up the mental or physical energy to do anything else. Three weeks to Corvus. Not so long, but an eternity of time for a fleet of ships whose futures had once seemed confined to the space of a hour.