The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught Read Online Free PDF

refrain from any unauthorized actions. To the honor of our ancestors, Geary, out.”
    He handed the comm unit to Desjani. “I need you to start putting out this fire now. Get outside the security block and transmit that, then keep anyone from doing anything stupid.”
    “I’m not one of the living stars,” Desjani complained as she took the comm unit. “And even they can’t stop stupid.”
    “If you tell everyone that I just found out and am dealing with it, they’ll believe you. They’ll listen to you.”
    Her eyes locked on his. “In what capacity am I acting? According to this message, I should immediately surrender command of Dauntless .”
    “You are commanding officer of Dauntless until you hear otherwise from me .” It wasn’t proper. It wasn’t by the book. He had no authority to tell her that except for his superior rank. But Black Jack Geary could get away with doing it. If he didn’t disregard the book at that moment, then the mess facing them would spiral into a destructive reentry very quickly. “Admiral Timbale, I would appreciate your assistance to Captain Desjani in this matter. I don’t know how much influence she’ll have over nonfleet military in this star system.”
    “Probably more than you think,” Timbale suggested. “Everyone knows your . . . relationship. But it will take both of us to try to keep a lid on this. If I read attitudes in the fleet correctly, they’ll be certain these charges are just the first salvo, and your arrest will be right behind it. Too many warships will want to start peeling this station open like an onion until they get you out. And if that happens, somebody else will surely shoot back.”
    “Maybe I should go back with you,” Geary said. “Postpone the meeting and—”
    “Then the government might well assume that you’re behind the fleet’s sudden aggressive movements! There’s no guarantee that the fleet will immediately accept messages from you as being legitimate, unforced, and unaltered.”
    All he could do was look to the one person who had never failed him. “Tanya.”
    Desjani held up both hands. “All right. I’m on it, Admiral. I’m not Black Jack Geary, but I’ll do my best.” Another one of those sayings common in the fleet that made Geary wince when he heard them, but in this case all too literally true. She stepped back and saluted.
    He returned the salute, thinking of all the things that could go wrong, of all the Alliance military units and warships in that star system suddenly erupting into a burst of fratricidal warfare, and of the number of people who would surely die if that happened. Possibly including Tanya. The Alliance itself might well die as a result, spinning apart with less bedlam than the Syndicate Worlds but with the same apparently unstoppable momentum. “Good luck, Tanya.”
    “Don’t worry about me. I’m a bad-ass battle cruiser captain. You’re the one who has to keep the politicians and fleet headquarters from screwing up the universe. If anyone can stop them, it’s you.”
    “Thanks. I appreciate the lack of pressure.”
    “Don’t mention it. And don’t take too long in that meeting, or there won’t be much left of this star system.”

TWO
     
    IT was easy to forget how much you depended on being able to get information quickly. Easy until you were inside a security perimeter that jammed all signals to ensure that no information leaked out and cut off connections to interior databases and displays. Now, with the fleet certainly in turmoil, he had no idea what was happening and how successful Tanya was being at keeping the situation under control. Not that he doubted her abilities, but anyone with common sense knew that there were always some factors beyond the ability of any human to direct.
    He wanted to get to the meeting now and get things under control now , but the damned station was too big, every passageway too long, every checkpoint too slow to pass him through. With every step, Geary