Jack Campbell - Valiant (The Lost Fleet, Book 4)

I remain indebted to my agent, Joshua Bilmes, for his ever-inspired suggestions and assistance; to my editor, Anne Sowards, for her support and editing; and to Cameron Dufty at Ace, for her help and assistance. 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. Thanks also to Charles Petit, for his suggestions about space engagements.

And in memory of USS SPRUANCE (DD-963): launched 10 November 1973; commissioned 20 September 1975; decommissioned 23 March 2005; sunk as a target off the Virginia Capes 8 December 2006. The first and finest, she taught me about ships the hard way.

Two of the armored bulkheads surrounding hell-lance battery three alpha on the Alliance battle cruiser Dauntless shone like new. They were new, the broken fragments of the originals having been cut away and new material fastened into position. The other two sides of the compartment housing the hell-lance battery were scarred by enemy fire but in good enough shape to have been left in place. The hell-lance projectors themselves betrayed recent repairs, using improvised fixes that would never pass muster with a fleet inspection team, but the nearest fleet inspection team was a great distance away back in Alliance space. For now, with the Alliance fleet trapped deep inside Syndicate Worlds space, all that mattered was that these hell lances were ready once again to hurl their charged-particle spears at the enemy.

Captain John Geary ran his eyes down the rank of the hell-lance batterys crew. Half of the sailors here were new to this battery, having been cannibalized from other hell-lance crews on the ship to replace losses suffered at Lakota Star System. Like their battery, two of the original crew still bore marks of combat, one with a flex-cast covering his upper arm and another with a heal-pad sealed over the side of her leg. Walking wounded, who should have been allowed to recuperate before returning to their guns, but that was a luxury neither Dauntless nor any other ship in the Alliance fleet could afford right now. Not with combat once again imminent and the fleet in danger of total destruction.

They insisted on returning to their duty station, Captain Tanya Desjani murmured to Geary, her expression proud. Her ship and her crew. Theyd fought hard and well, theyd worked around the clock to get this battery back online and ready to engage, and now they were ready to fight again.

He couldnt forget that the damage that had been repaired, the sailors who werent here because their bodies awaited burial, were the result of his decisions.

And yet now those sailors watched him with eyes reflecting confidence, pride, determination, and their unnerving faith in Black Jack Geary, legendary hero of the Alliance. They were still ready to follow him. They were following his orders, right back to the place where this fleet had left a lot of destroyed ships. Damn fine work, Geary stated, trying to put the right amount of emotion into his voice and no more. He knew he had to sound concerned and impressed but not overwrought. Ive never served with a better crew or one that fought harder. True enough. Before being rescued from a century of survival sleep and brought aboard Dauntless, his combat experience had consisted of a single, hopeless battle. Now he had a fleet of ships and sailors depending on him, not to mention the fate of the Alliance itself.

And maybe the fate of humanity as well.

No pressure. No pressure at all.

Geary smiled at the crew of the hell-lance battery. In six hours well be back in Lakota Star System, and well give you something to shoot at. The sailors grinned back fiercely. Get a little rest before then. Captain Desjani?

She nodded to him. At ease, she ordered the gun crew. Youre off duty for the next four hours, and authorized full rations. The sailors smiled again. With food stocks running low, meals had been cut back to stretch available supplies.

The Syndics will be sorry we came back to Lakota, Geary promised.

Dismissed, Desjani added, then followed Geary as he left the battery. I didnt think we could get Three Alpha fully operational in time, she confessed. They really did a fantastic job.

Theyve got a good captain, Geary observed, and Desjani looked abashed at the praise even though she was a seasoned veteran of far more battles than Geary had fought. Hows Dauntless doing otherwise? he asked. He could have simply looked up the data in the fleet readiness system, but preferred being able to talk to an officer or a sailor about things like that.

All hell lances operational, null-field projector operational, all combat systems optimal, all hull damage from Lakota either repaired or sealed off until we can get to it, Desjani recited immediately. Were at full maneuvering capability.

What about expendables?

Desjani grimaced. No specter missiles left, twenty-three canisters of grapeshot remaining, five mines, fuel-cell reserves at fifty-one percent.

Ships were never supposed to go below 70 percent fuel-cell reserves, to leave enough margin of safety. Unfortunately, every other ship in the fleet was at about the same level of fuel-cell reserves as Dauntless, and he didnt know when he could get any of those ships back up to 70 percent even if they managed to fight their way out of Lakota again.

As if reading his mind, Desjani nodded confidently. Weve got the auxiliaries with us to manufacture new expendables, sir.

The auxiliaries have been building new expendables and repair parts as fast as they can. Their raw-material bunkers are almost empty again, Geary reminded her.

Lakota will have more. Desjani smiled at him. You cant fail. She halted for a moment and saluted him. I need to check on a few more things before we reach Lakota. By your leave, sir.

He couldnt help smiling back even though Desjanis confidence in him, shared by many others in the fleet, was unnerving. They believed hed been sent by the living stars themselves to save the Alliance, miraculously found frozen in survival sleep but still alive, just in time to get stuck with command of a fleet trapped deep in enemy space. Theyd grown up being told the legend of the great Black Jack Geary, epitome of an Alliance officer and a hero out of myth. The fact that he wasnt that myth didnt seem to have impressed them yet. But Desjani had seen enough of him firsthand to know that he wasnt a myth, and she still believed in him. Since Geary thought a great deal of Desjanis own judgment, that was very reassuring.

Especially in comparison to those officers in the fleet who still thought he was a fraud or the mere shell of a once-great hero. That group had been working to undermine his command since hed very reluctantly taken over the fleet after Admiral Bloch was murdered by the Syndics. He hadnt wanted that command, still being dazed by the shock of learning that the people and places he had known were now a century in the past. However, as far as Geary was concerned, he hadnt had much choice but to assume command since his date of commission was also about a hundred years ago, making him by far the most senior captain in the fleet.

Geary returned Desjanis salute. Sure. A ship captains work is never done. Ill see you on the bridge in a few hours.

This time Desjanis grin was fiercer as she anticipated battle with the forces of the Syndicate Worlds. They wont know what hit them, she vowed as she headed off down the passageway.

Either that or we wont, Geary couldnt help thinking. It had been an insane decision, to take a fleet fleeing a trap from which it had barely escaped and turn it to charge right back into the enemy star system in which it had narrowly avoided being destroyed. But the officers and sailors on