Leviathan Read online

  Ace Books by Jack Campbell

  The Lost Fleet

  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 FLEET: BEYOND THE FRONTIER: STEADFAST

  THE LOST FLEET: BEYOND THE FRONTIER: LEVIATHAN

  The Lost Stars

  THE LOST STARS: TARNISHED KNIGHT

  THE LOST STARS: PERILOUS SHIELD

  THE LOST STARS: IMPERFECT SWORD

  Written as John G. Hemry

  Stark’s War

  STARK’S WAR

  STARK’S COMMAND

  STARK’S CRUSADE

  Paul Sinclair

  A JUST DETERMINATION

  BURDEN OF PROOF

  RULE OF EVIDENCE

  AGAINST ALL ENEMIES

  Published by the Berkley Publishing Group

  An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

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

  Copyright © 2015 by John G. Hemry.

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  ACE and the “A” design are trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

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

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-698-18548-7

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Campbell, Jack (Naval officer)

  The lost fleet : Beyond the frontier : Leviathan / Jack Campbell.

  pages ; cm. — (The lost fleet ; 11)

  ISBN 978-0-425-26054-8 (hardback)

  1. Space warfare—Fiction. 2. Imaginary wars and battles—Fiction. I. Title. II. Title: Leviathan.

  PS3553.A4637L667 2015

  813'.54—dc23

  2014045841

  FIRST EDITION: May 2015

  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.

  Version_1

  To Glenn L. Sparks, an old friend who lived a very good life and left this a better world for his having been here. There is never time enough.

  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, Carolyn Ives Gilman, J. G. (Huck) Huckenpohler, Simcha Kuritzky, Michael LaViolette, Aly Parsons, Bud Sparhawk, and Constance A. Warner for their suggestions, comments, and recommendations.

  CONTENTS

  Ace Books by Jack Campbell

  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

  THE FIRST FLEET OF THE ALLIANCE

  ADMIRAL JOHN GEARY, COMMANDING

  SECOND BATTLESHIP DIVISION

  Gallant

  Indomitable

  Glorious

  Magnificent

  THIRD BATTLESHIP DIVISION

  Dreadnaught

  Orion (lost at Sobek)

  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 (returned to Callas Republic)

  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 (lost at Atalia)

  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

  Lancer lost at Atalia

  ONE HUNDRED SIXTY DESTROYERS IN EIGHTEEN SQUADRONS

  First Destroyer Squadron

  Second Destroyer Squadron

  Third Destroyer Squadron

  Fourth Destroyer Squadron

  Sixth Destroyer Squadron

  Seventh Destroyer S
quadron

  Ninth Destroyer Squadron

  Tenth Destroyer Squadron

  Twelfth Destroyer Squadron

  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

  Kururi and Sabar lost at Atalia

  FIRST FLEET MARINE FORCE

  Major General Carabali, commanding

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

  ONE

  “FIVE minutes to exit from jump space,” Captain Tanya Desjani said from her seat next to Admiral John “Black Jack” Geary on the bridge of the Alliance battle cruiser Dauntless. “All systems at maximum combat readiness.”

  The warships commanded by Geary had left the blood and fire of Atalia Star System in pursuit of the dark ships that had carried out the destruction there. Geary and the others called them “dark ships” because their hulls were a duskier shade than most warships’, perhaps because of special stealth materials. It hadn’t been the crews of the dark ships that had committed the atrocities at Atalia and at Indras Star System but the dark ships themselves. The dark ships lacked human crews who could have overridden automated systems that had developed deadly glitches or perhaps been deliberately sabotaged by any of a variety of malware. Having finally won the century-long war against the Syndicate Worlds, the Alliance government had decided not to place its faith in the men and women who had paid the price for that victory, instead placing its trust in robotic systems that had already set ablaze two star systems.

  Geary’s Task Force Dancer had left Varandal with twelve battle cruisers, eight heavy cruisers, thirteen light cruisers, and twenty-five destroyers. The battle cruiser Adroit had been lost in the fighting at Atalia, along with the light cruiser Lancer and the destroyers Kururi and Sabar. Four battle cruisers, Leviathan, Dragon, Steadfast, and Valiant, along with some heavy cruisers and destroyers, had remained at Atalia to assist damaged ships and recover wreckage from destroyed dark ships.

  Only seven battle cruisers were left in the pursuit force.

  That would be enough. If they could catch the surviving dark ships, which had fled from the destruction they had wrought at Atalia.

  —

  “ARE automatic software updates disabled for Dauntless’s systems?” Geary asked.

  “Yes, sir.” Tanya could be informal at other times, but now she was sharp, precise, and dangerous, a human weapon honed by the last decades of the brutal war with the Syndics. “My people are actively monitoring all systems, and if something tries overriding the block on updates, they have orders to shut down those systems and do a cold reboot from last-day backups.”

  “Good,” Geary said. “It’s a hell of a thing not to be able to trust our own software.”

  Desjani shook her head. “We could never completely trust our software. It wasn’t just flaws and glitches, it was also all the malware that enemy hackers could come up with to cause our software to misbehave. Humans separate from the machines are the only firewalls proven to be reliable enough. That’s why we always kept humans in the loop, for those times when the software got its artificial little brains twisted.”

  “‘Always’ until those dark ships were built,” Geary said, his tones tight with anger.

  “Yes.” She leaned closer and spoke more quietly. “If the dark ships went berserk after they arrived at Varandal, like they did at Atalia, stopping them from doing a lot of damage might be impossible for us. They were nearly two hours ahead of us when they jumped for Varandal, and if they accelerated after they left jump space, they will have opened that lead. And none of the defenses at Varandal will be able to see the dark ships at all to counter them.”

  “I know,” Geary said, trying not to let his frustration sound too clearly. “Thanks to official software updates designed to keep us blind to the dark ships. Are the software patches that fix the damage caused by those updates ready to send as soon as we arrive at Varandal?”

  “Yes, sir. The First Fleet ships still at Varandal will install the patches on your say-so because you’re the fleet commander, but other Alliance forces not directly reporting to you may not,” she reminded him. “They’ll argue that these are unauthorized modifications to official software, so they need approval from their own chain of command to install them.”

  “If they’re already getting shot up by warships that are invisible to their sensors, they may be motivated to ignore regulations concerning unauthorized software modifications.”

  “One minute to exit from jump space,” Lieutenant Castries called from her watch station at the back of the bridge.

  Geary fixed his eyes on his display. A marker to one side confirmed that Dauntless’s weapons systems, like those of the other warships in this pursuit force, were set to open fire immediately if any dark ships were within range when the Alliance warships left jump space. He didn’t think they would be, though. The artificial-intelligence routines governing the dark ships’ tactical decisions were apparently closely based on Geary’s own methods, and under these circumstances, if he had been the commander of the dark ships, he would not have attempted an ambush against a force with as much an advantage in firepower as Task Force Dancer still possessed.

  The jolt of transition from the gray nothingness of jump space back to the real universe hit Geary. He was barely aware of the sudden reappearance of the stars in the endless blackness of space, his mind dazed by the transition, but even while fighting off the effects of the exit from jump, Geary noticed that none of Dauntless’s weapons were firing.

  His display swam back into focus as Geary concentrated on it.

  Desjani was a second faster than he was in getting her mind working right again. “They’re heading for the hypernet gate.”

  “To attack it, or to use it to get away?” he wondered aloud. “At least they’re not moving into the star system to attack the ships and facilities.”

  Space had no up or down, no east or west to determine directions, so humans had made up their own. Every star system had a plane in which planets orbited. One side of that plane was labeled up, the other down. Any direction toward the star was starboard or starward, while any direction away from the star was port. The conventions were simple, but they worked to give common references for ships that might be pointed in any direction, upside down or at right angles to each other.

  The dark ships that had escaped from Atalia, two battle cruisers, one heavy cruiser, and five destroyers, were to port of Geary’s ships and diving down slightly as they moved at a steady point two light speed for the hypernet gate orbiting six light-hours from the jump point where Geary’s ships had just arrived. “They’re three hours’ travel time ahead of us. We won’t have any chance of catching them before they reach the gate,” Desjani said. “We’d better hope they’re running and that their warped artificial brains haven’t decided the gate is also an enemy target.”

  “Status signals from the gate indicate that the safe-collapse mechanism is operational,” reported Lieutenant Yuon, the weapons systems watch-stander on Dauntless’s bridge.

  “Thank you, Lieutenant. At least if the dark ships do attack it, we don’t have to worry about the gate’s setting off a nova-scale explosion when it collapses. They’ll reach the gate in another twenty-seven hours.” She ran some quick calculations. “There are two destroyers at the gate. Maybe . . . damn. The only other units already at Varandal that are p
ositioned to be able to intercept the dark ships are several more destroyers and light cruisers.”

  “Those wouldn’t stand a chance even if they could see the dark ships,” Geary said. “We may not be able to catch the dark ships, but we can stay on their tails.” He tapped a comm control. “All units in Task Force Dancer, immediate execute accelerate to point two five light speed, come port two five degrees, down zero three degrees.”

  “Are we going to chase them through the hypernet gate?” Desjani asked.

  “If we have to,” Geary said. “We have to find their base, wherever it is.” He checked the fuel cell status on his ships and let out an angry breath. “I’ll have to leave our destroyers here if we do that. Their fuel supplies are getting too low. Now, let’s get the word out to everyone here,” Geary added, his mood and his voice grim. He could see the many defenses at Varandal, the numerous warships and installations, all at standby readiness because the war with the Syndics had at last ended. “Why aren’t they reporting peacetime readiness instead of standby?” Geary grumbled.

  “Because nobody but you remembers what peacetime readiness is,” Desjani reminded him. “And if the attack on Indras by those dark ships causes the Syndics to retaliate, this peace business may already be over with before the rest of us can figure out what it means.”

  “I hope you’re wrong about that. At least if the Syndics attack our defenses, we will be able to see them.” Even after experiencing on these ships how secret software modifications had left Alliance sensors unable to see the dark ships, it was still hard to grasp that everything else in this star system would be totally unaware of the dark ships that were passing through. Many of those defenses were too far off to have seen the dark ships yet regardless, of course, let alone the more recent arrival of Geary’s ships. Light only moved at about eighteen million kilometers a minute, so with distances inside a star system measured in hundreds of millions or billions of kilometers, even light took a while to get places.

  But other defenses, other ships closer to this edge of the star system, should have seen the dark ships by now. If their own software were not blinding them to the presence of the hostile forces.

  “What you are about to do will raise hell,” Desjani commented.