The Dead Fleet (Juggernaut #3)

One

The void between the stars twisted upon itself like a sheet tied in a knot. Then, as if both ends of the sheet had been pulled taut, the image snapped back to normal. Oblivious to the cosmic forces at work three small ships flew out of the centre of the righted image, their blue shift echoes fading into the black.

The weak light from the dying star at the heart of the system bathed their cockpits in a pale red glow.

'Looks like home,' said Malachi over the intercom.

'It looks old,' said Ellie. The others could almost hear the shiver in her voice. 'And dead.'

'It's not dead yet,' said Malachi. 'Maybe in a couple more million years.'

'You're such a comfort,' said Tila, joining the conversation.

'Do you think that's how this place got its name?' asked Ellie.

'I don't think whoever named this place was thinking about the star, Ellie,' said Tila.

'Yeah, they probably called it the dead fleet after that big dead fleet over there,' said Malachi. 'Turn twenty-five degrees starward.'

The three ships adjusted their heading toward the dim sun and flew deeper into the system.

'I don't see it,' said Tila. She checked her readings again. 'Are you sure?'

'Increase your canopy polarization. You'll see it,' Malachi replied.

She tapped a control and her cockpit canopy darkened. The old, red light of the star before them grew dimmer still, and once the bloom faded she could make out something - no, many things - against the dull red circle.

She heard Ellie exclaim 'Oh. Wow' over the intercom, as she saw it too.

'Do you see it now?' asked Malachi.

'That is a lot of ships,' said Tila.

'You want the bad news now?'

'No.'

'The fleet is much bigger than that. We can see those ships because the sun is right behind them, but from here the rest of it is black on a back blackground.

'A blackground?' teased Ellie.

'You know what I mean.'

'So how many are there?' asked Tila. 'There must be hundreds.'

'At least, maybe even as many as a thousand. I think there were nine fleets from three different systems involved in this battle.

They fell silent a moment while the enormity of their task dawned on them.

'Why was it so big? What were they fighting about?' said Ellie.

'This happened after we lost contact with earth,' said Malachi. 'There was a big power struggle back then. Every system and planet thought it should be the basis for the a new government. They all wanted to be the big dog.'

'And then the shooting started,' Tila said quietly to herself.

Alone in his cockpit, Malachi nodded to himself. 'And that became the civil war. Once each star system settled their own internal battles they had to make their claim against the other systems. This became the last battleground of the war. Each faction committed so much to this fight that it basically broke civilisation. There wasn't enough experienced leadership left anywhere. Everyone gambled everything on this fight, and we all lost. That's why we lost a hundred years of progress.'

'But they must have known that was a risk. Why risk all of civilisation?' said Ellie.

'Because they were greedy,' said Tila.

'Because they were scared,' countered Malachi.

'Mal, come on, they just wanted power.'

'Sure, but they were scared of losing everything. Earth was gone, everyone was at war. Every system thought it was up to them to maintain civilisation, that it would collapse without them.'

'And instead they nearly destroyed it,' said Ellie.

'Nearly. We didn't lose everything,' said Malachi.

'No?' said Tila.

'We still had the jump network. Interstellar trade would have been destroyed without that, and we still had enough knowledge to operate it. The war set us back. It stalled us. It didn't destroy us.'

'And we were so close to building new beacons again, thanks to your parents,' said Ellie.

'It's a shame though,' Malachi said wistfully.

'What is?' said Ellie.

'The set back. How many years did we lose? Think what earth tech is like now. They kept going forward. We had to step back and start again.'

'Maybe they had a civil war too.' said Tila.

'Why would they do that?'

Tila shrugged in the glow of her cockpit. 'Who knows? I'm sure they could have found a reason if they wanted one.'

'You're a cynic, T.'

'Give me a reason to think otherwise. People are the same everywhere, Mal. If we decided that losing contact with earth was a good enough reason to go to war, what makes you think they were so noble and wise that they avoided one. They probably killed each other. Maybe the Commonwealth is all that's left. Maybe that's why we never heard from them again.'

'Tila, a star went nova. The jump network was cut in half. What do you expect them to do about that?'

'If they didn't have a war, their jump tech must be a hundred years ahead of us, right? So why couldn't they solve that problem? They're in the same situation we are.'

'You don't really think that do you?' said Ellie.

Tila gazed into the endless stars. 'I don't know,' she said.

There was a pause in the conversation as Tila's awkward silence descended on them all.

'But there was one good outcome from this battle,' said Malachi. 'Every planet, space station and outpost was basically defenceless afterward. Pirates and criminal gangs started to fill the power vacuum, and that forced everyone to work together for mutual protection.'

'And that became the Commonwealth?' said Ellie.

'Yes it did. We made it back. We'll keep going. Eventually we'll crack the jump tech again and reach new stars. The war wasn't the end. Think of it as..., as a new beginning.'

'You're much more optimistic than Tila,' Ellie said.

'We all know that,' said Tila. 'Mal can we get back to our new beginning? We have to go in there and search hundreds of ships? This was supposed to be getting easier.'

'Malachi will think of something,' said Ellie, full of confidence.

'I hope so,' said Tila. 'It could take days otherwise. We need to get in and out. There could be pirates hiding in there, or scavengers.

'This place was cleaned out years ago,' said Malachi. 'I don't think we'll see anyone else while we're here.'

'Good. I've had enough excitement for one day,' said Tila.

'Then I have some good news for you?'

'Which is?'

'I found a partial ship ID in Conway's data. It's not much, but it will help us automate the search. It could save us some time.'

'See? I told you,' said Ellie.

'Good work, Mal,' said Tila. She sounded genuinely pleased.

'We'll be out of here in no time at all,' said Ellie, completely unaware how wrong she was.