The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Guardian

by Jack Campbell

  The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Guardian

  Jack Campbell

  Ace Books by Jack Campbell

  THE LOST FLEET: DAUNTLESS

  THE LOST FLEET: FEARLESS

  THE LOST FLEET: COURAGEOUS

  THE LOST FLEET: VALIANT

  THE LOST FLEET: RELENTLESS

  THE LOST FLEET: VICTORIOUS

  THE LOST FLEET: BEYOND THE FRONTIER: DREADNAUGHT

  THE LOST FLEET: BEYOND THE FRONTIER: INVINCIBLE

  THE LOST FLEET: BEYOND THE FRONTIER: GUARDIAN

  THE LOST STARS: TARNISHED KNIGHT

  THE LOST FLEET

  BEYOND THE FRONTIER

  GUARDIAN

  JACK CAMPBELL

  THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

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  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  For more information about the Penguin Group, visit penguin.com.

  This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.

  Copyright © 2013 by John G. Hemry.

  “Author’s Note” by Jack Campbell © 2012 by John G. Hemry.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any

  printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy

  of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Ace Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group.

  ACE and the “A” design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-62246-9

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Campbell, Jack (Naval officer)

  The Lost Fleet : Beyond the Frontier : Guardian / Jack Campbell. — First edition.

  pages cm. — (The Lost Fleet ; Book 9)

  ISBN 978-0-425-26050-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)

  1. Space warfare—Fiction. 2. Imaginary wars and battles—Fiction.

  3. Science fiction. I. Title. II. Title: Guardian.

  PS3553.A4637L666 2013

  813'.54—dc23

  2013000249

  FIRST EDITION: May 2013

  Cover art by Michael Komarck.

  Cover design by Annette Fiore DeFex.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product

  of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons,

  living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for

  author or third-party websites or their content.

  To Robert, my younger brother, who kept getting back up every time life knocked him down. He was the strongest of us. And to Debbie K., his wife, who gave him what he had always sought, stayed by him, and will always be family.

  For S., as always.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I remain indebted to my agent, Joshua Bilmes, for his ever-inspired suggestions and assistance, and to my editor, Anne Sowards, for her support and editing. Thanks also to Catherine Asaro, Robert Chase, J. G. (Huck) Huckenpohler, Simcha Kuritzky, Michael LaViolette, Aly Parsons, Bud Sparhawk, and Constance A. Warner for their suggestions, comments, and recommendations.

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  The First Fleet of the Alliance

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Author’s Note

  THE FIRST FLEET OF THE ALLIANCE

  ADMIRAL JOHN GEARY, COMMANDING

  SECOND BATTLESHIP DIVISION

  Gallant

  Indomitable

  Glorious

  Magnificent

  THIRD BATTLESHIP DIVISION

  Dreadnaught

  Orion

  Dependable

  Conqueror

  FOURTH BATTLESHIP DIVISION

  Warspite

  Vengeance

  Revenge

  Guardian

  FIFTH BATTLESHIP DIVISION

  Fearless

  Resolution

  Redoubtable

  SEVENTH BATTLESHIP DIVISION

  Colossus

  Encroach

  Amazon

  Spartan

  EIGHTH BATTLESHIP DIVISION

  Relentless

  Reprisal

  Superb

  Splendid

  FIRST BATTLE CRUISER DIVISION

  Inspire

  Formidable

  Brilliant (lost at Honor)

  Implacable

  SECOND BATTLE CRUISER DIVISION

  Leviathan

  Dragon

  Steadfast

  Valiant

  FOURTH BATTLE CRUISER DIVISION

  Dauntless (flagship)

  Daring

  Victorious

  Intemperate

  FIFTH BATTLE CRUISER DIVISION

  Adroit

  SIXTH BATTLE CRUISER DIVISION

  Illustrious

  Incredible

  Invincible (lost at Pandora)

  FIFTH ASSAULT TRANSPORT DIVISION

  Tsunami

  Typhoon

  Mistral

  Haboob

  FIRST AUXILIARIES DIVISION

  Titan

  Tanuki

  Kupua

  Domovoi

  SECOND AUXILIARIES DIVISION

  Witch

  Jinn

  Alchemist

  Cyclops

  THIRTY-ONE HEAVY CRUISERS IN SIX DIVISIONS

  First Heavy Cruiser Division

  Third Heavy Cruiser Division

  Fourth Heavy Cruiser Division

  Fifth Heavy Cruiser Division

  Eighth Heavy Cruiser Division

  Tenth Heavy Cruiser Division

  Emerald and Hoplon lost at Honor

  FIFTY-FIVE LIGHT CRUISERS IN TEN SQUADRONS

  First Light Cruiser Squadron

  Second Light Cruiser Squadron

  Third Light Cruiser Squadron

  Fifth Light Cruiser Squadron

  Sixth Light Cruiser Squadron

  Eighth Light Cruiser Squadron

  Ninth Light Cruiser Squadron

  Tenth Light Cruiser Squadron

  Eleventh Light Cruiser Squadron

  Fourteenth Light Cruiser Squadron

  Balestra lost at Honor

  ONE HUNDRED SIXTY DESTROYERS IN EIGHTEEN SQUADRONS

  First Destroyer Squadron

  Second Destroyer Squadron

  Third Destroyer Squadron

  Fourth Destroyer Squadron

  Sixth Destroyer Squadron

  Seventh Destroyer Squadron

  Ninth Destroyer Squadron

  Tenth Destroyer Squadron

  Twelfth Destroyer Squadron

&
nbsp; Fourteenth Destroyer Squadron

  Sixteenth Destroyer Squadron

  Seventeenth Destroyer Squadron

  Twentieth Destroyer Squadron

  Twenty-first Destroyer Squadron

  Twenty-third Destroyer Squadron

  Twenty-seventh Destroyer Squadron

  Twenty-eighth Destroyer Squadron

  Thirty-second Destroyer Squadron

  Zaghnal lost at Pandora

  Plumbatae , Bolo, Bangalore, and Morningstar lost at Honor

  Musket lost at Midway

  FIRST FLEET MARINE FORCE

  Major General Carabali, commanding

  3,000 Marines on assault transports and divided into detachments on battle cruisers and battleships

  ONE

  THE admiral was having a bad day, and when the admiral was having a bad day, no one wanted to attract his attention.

  Almost no one.

  “Is there anything wrong, Admiral?”

  Admiral John “Black Jack” Geary, who had been slumped in the fleet command seat on the bridge of the Alliance battle cruiser Dauntless, straightened up and glared at Captain Tanya Desjani. “Are you serious? We’re extremely far from the Alliance, the Syndics are still causing trouble for us, and the warships of this fleet are shot to hell after fighting our way through enigma- and Kick-controlled space, then fighting again here. The warship we took from the Kick alien race is valuable beyond measure but also a threat magnet and a drag on this fleet. We have no idea what’s happening back in the Alliance but every reason to believe whatever is happening isn’t good. Did I forget anything? Oh, yes, my flagship’s commanding officer just asked me if anything was wrong!”

  Sitting in her captain’s seat next to him, Desjani nodded, eyeing him calmly. “But, aside from all that, you’re good?”

  “Aside from all that?” He could have exploded, but she knew him better than anyone else. If he hadn’t had a sense of the absurd, his responsibilities would have driven him up the wall long before this. “Yeah. Aside from all that, I’m good. You’re amazing, Captain Desjani.”

  “I do my best, Admiral Geary.”

  The bridge watch team could see them talking, and knew what the admiral’s mood had been like, but couldn’t hear what was being said. Which was why Lieutenant Castries sounded a bit wary as well as urgent when she called out her report to everyone else on the bridge of Dauntless. “A warship came out of the gate!”

  Combat systems alerts were already sounding as Geary straightened in his seat, the frown he hadn’t realized was riding his brow vanishing as he hastily focused his display on the hypernet gate that loomed at the edge of the Midway Star System, nearly two light-hours distant from where Dauntless and the rest of the Alliance fleet orbited.

  “Another Syndic heavy cruiser,” Tanya commented, sounding disappointed. “Nothing to get excited—” She broke off, narrowing her eyes at her own display. “Anomalies?”

  Geary saw the same information popping up on his display as the fleet’s sensors peered across light-hours of space to spot the tiniest visible detail on the newly arrived heavy cruiser. He felt keyed up despite knowing that he was viewing history. The heavy cruiser had arrived almost two hours ago, the light from that event just now reaching Dauntless, the flagship of the First Fleet of the Alliance. Everything that was going to happen in the next two hours had already happened, yet viewing it still felt as if he were watching it occur right at this moment. “They’ve rigged extra cargo capacity with life support along their hull,” he commented.

  “That means a lot of passengers,” Desjani murmured. “An assault force aimed at the facilities here?”

  That was a real possibility. Midway had revolted months ago, casting off the heavy hand of the Syndicate Worlds and declaring independence. The Syndicate Worlds was crumbling in the wake of its defeat in the war with the Alliance, but even with star systems falling away in many other places, Midway was too valuable for the Syndic government to accept its loss. Geary had been wondering what the Syndics would try next to regain control.

  But, before he could answer, Desjani’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “He’s running.”

  Sure enough, the heavy cruiser had seen the small Syndic flotilla still hovering near the hypernet gate and, instead of altering course slightly to join up with them, had twisted about and accelerated away.

  “They’re not here on orders from the Syndics. It’s another breakaway,” Geary said. One more element of the armed forces of the Syndicate Worlds that was responding to the erratic fragmenting of the Syndic empire by taking off on its own, probably for the home star system of the crew. “Or does he belong to the authorities here at Midway?”

  “Not if they told us the truth about how many warships they have.” Desjani paused, grinned, then laughed with a mocking edge. “Did you hear what I said? I wondered if a bunch of Syndics had told us the truth.”

  The rest of the bridge watch team laughed along with her at the absurdity of the statement.

  “Midway revolted against the Syndicate Worlds,” Geary pointed out though he had to admit that Desjani’s ridicule was justified. He had encountered a few Syndics who had dealt straight with him, but most of the Syndics he had met (especially Syndics at the CEO level) seemed to regard the truth as something to deal with only after all other possible alternatives had been tried and failed.

  “So they painted over the stripe on their tails,” Desjani replied. “Does that mean they aren’t still skunks?”

  He didn’t answer, knowing that argument would resonate deeply among everyone in his fleet after a century spent fighting the Syndics in a war that had seen behavior on both sides spiral downward through the decades. But the Syndicate Worlds had always led the way down, their leaders hesitating at nothing to pursue a war they could not win but refused to lose until Geary himself had smashed their fleet.

  The commander of the Syndicate flotilla, their old acquaintance CEO Boyens, had reacted to the heavy cruiser’s arrival almost as soon as the flotilla had sighted it. The single battleship forming the core of the flotilla had not altered its orbit, but the majority of the escorts had rolled down and over and were accelerating on curving vectors, aimed at intercepting the new arrival.

  Desjani shook her head. “He’s sending all six of his heavy cruisers and all nine of his Hunter-Killers? Overkill.”

  “We know Boyens is usually cautious,” Geary said. “He’s not taking any chances, and he has to worry about the locals intervening.”

  “The locals can’t get to that new heavy cruiser before Boyens’s ships do,” she pointed out. “If the cruiser wasn’t burdened with that extra mass, he might get clear. But as it is, he’s toast.”

  Geary stared at his display. The combat systems aboard Dauntless were presenting the same assessment that Desjani had made. The physics of the situation were not complex, just a matter of mass, acceleration, and distances. Curves through space projected courses, with the points where different weapons would be within range of their target clearly marked. The newly arrived heavy cruiser had only been going at point zero five light speed when it left the gate, a fairly sedate pace for a warship, probably intended to conserve fuel. Even though the new cruiser was now accelerating for all it was worth, it would be overtaken by Boyens’s heavy cruisers well before any help could reach it. Those heavy cruisers were already pushing up toward point one light speed and would surely keep increasing velocity to at least point two light. “I wonder who the new cruiser is carrying with them that required the extra life support?”

  “More Syndics,” Desjani replied in an uncaring tone.

  “More people fleeing the Syndics,” Geary said. “Maybe families of the crew of that heavy cruiser.”

  She looked down, lips pressed tightly together, then glanced his way. “Maybe. The Syndics killed countless families during the war. They’ll kill these, too. I had to stop thinking about things like that, especially because at times like this there wasn’t a damned thing I could do to stop it.�
�

  He nodded heavily. Whatever had happened had already taken place hours ago. The families and crew of that heavy cruiser had probably been killed by the Syndic attackers before the light of the cruiser’s arrival at Midway had reached Dauntless.

  “We’re seeing the Midway flotilla altering vectors,” the operations watch-stander announced. The little flotilla belonging to Midway, made up of former Syndic warships, had been orbiting only five light-minutes distant from the hypernet gate. It had taken them only those few minutes to spot the events around the gate, and as they saw the new heavy cruiser flee, they had gotten involved as well.

  “They can’t get to that cruiser in time,” Desjani said, her voice professionally detached. “And even if they did, the force Boyens sent after that cruiser outnumbers them nearly three to one.”

  “Why did they try? Kommodor Marphissa can run the data as well as we can. She must have known it was hopeless.”

  “Maybe she wanted to hit some of the Syndic heavy cruisers while they were off by themselves. She probably lost half of her ships if she tried, though.” The emotional separation in Desjani’s voice cracked slightly, letting through a sense of frustration and anger.

  Geary watched the projected tracks of the different players altering as the Alliance fleet’s automated systems estimated courses and speeds for the Syndic warships and the Midway flotilla. The lone heavy cruiser had started out at the hypernet gate and was now on a track curving outward toward one of the several jump points that had given the star Midway its name. CEO Boyens’s Syndicate Worlds flotilla had been only a couple of light-minutes from the gate, closer to the star and slightly above the gate, and had kicked out its heavy cruisers and HuKs on flatter, faster curves, which intercepted the path of the fleeing cruiser long before it could reach safety.

  And the flotilla consisting of two heavy cruisers, five light cruisers, and several small Hunter-Killer ships belonging to the “free and independent star system of Midway” had surged out of its own orbit five light-minutes down and starboard from the Syndic flotilla.