The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Steadfast by Jack Campbell Read Free Book Online

were being tracked by
Dauntless
, turned onto intercept vectors that would get them close enough to lock onto the stealthed shuttle and open fire.
    A bright star coming toward them grew rapidly in size as the remaining distance dwindled,
Dauntless
’s main propulsion units straining at full capacity to reduce her speed to match that of the shuttle. Her dark, shark-shaped hull was invisible behind the hellish glare from the propulsion units.
    One of the pursuers, with less nerve or more brains than its companions, broke off and accelerated away moments before
Dauntless
slid with enormous grace and enormous mass into position next to the shuttle. One of the pursuers took a glancing blow from the battle cruiser’s shields, knocking it off in a wild tumble as the craft’s stealth systems failed under the impact and made clear to all there was a small vessel careening uncontrolled among them. Other ships and craft frantically dodged the wreckage, filling emergency communications with warnings and complaints about the sudden appearance of a navigational hazard.
    The third pursuer wasn’t nearly so lucky.
Dauntless
hit it almost dead center on her stern, bracketed by the energies being hurled out by the battle cruiser’s main propulsion units. The craft blew backwards under the impact, disintegrating as it went, the pieces, most of them too small for anyone to worry about evading, showing up easily now to all observers.
    The pilot and flight engineer were staring at the menacing bulk of
Dauntless
next to them as if fearing they would be next.
    “My ship is opening up her shuttle dock,” Desjani told them with a smile. “Drop your stealth systems, and they’ll guide you in.”
     • • • 
    AS Geary and Desjani walked down the ramp off the shuttle, the sound of six distinct bells resounded through the dock, followed by the announcement “Admiral, Alliance fleet, arriving,” then four more bells and “
Dauntless
, arriving.”
    “No damage from the, uh, accidental collisions,” the battle cruiser’s second in command reported, saluting, his expression unaccountably grim despite that good news.
    “Well done,” Desjani said, with a brief I-told-you-my-ship-could-do-it glance at Geary. “A lot of people saw those collisions. We’ll file a standard collision report with the Sol Star System authorities about encountering stealthed craft we could not see in time to avoid. With their reverence for rules here, the local authorities are certain to still abide by the one that says stealth craft are obligated to stay clear of all others, and any collision is automatically their fault. Is everyone else back?”
    “No, Captain. We’re short two officers. Lieutenant Castries and Lieutenant Yuon. They didn’t report back on time to the shuttle that returned their group, and local authorities have so far failed to locate them.”
    “Why wasn’t I informed earlier?” Desjani said in a low, angry voice.
    “I was waiting on a report from the local authorities, Captain,” her second in command replied, both his posture and his voice stiffening. “When I tried notifying you, you were already aboard this shuttle.”
    “Why did you wait on a report from the locals?” Desjani asked.
    “Because we thought that they might have decided to elope, and the locals were certain they could locate them quickly.”
    “Castries and Yuon? When did they become a couple?”
    “They haven’t, officially, Captain. They’re usually arguing, though.”
    “Oh, for the love of my ancestors! That is
not
a surefire sign of pending romance! I want to find those two lieutenants now. If they were civilians, they might be eloping,” Desjani said. “Since they’re officers in the Alliance fleet, they would instead be deserting. But I don’t like this. It doesn’t match what I know of Castries or Yuon. I take it the locals didn’t find them yet?”
    “No, Captain. But they remain confident that they will find them within an hour. Old Earth