Lost Fleet Endeavour Chapter 12
"All units: Immediate, come to course 000, up 090!" Captain Grisholm barked as his finger hit the comm button. The order went out and the Taskforce spun in space, bringing their bows up, then their drive units engaged. Pulsing high-energy particles streamed from their sterns, pushing them in a new direction, but inertia kept them going forward, converting their turn in space into a vast arc. Slowly their heading altered, but the Covenant was nearly upon them, the moment to strike about to reveal itself.
Captain Grisholm held onto his chair as Endeavour strained to change heading. The vast Battleship's drives were pushing hard but her mass was staggering, the resultant G-forces strained the Interial dampers to maximum, and he felt sickening weight piling on as Endeavour pushed herself to the limit. A second passed at glacial pace, another at the speed of growing redwoods, a third so long a star could have been born and died. Grisholm's eyes were fixed on the tracks, the vectors were altering but too slowly, the Covenant would hit them before the turn was complete. Endeavour was the heaviest armoured ship humanity had ever built, surely she would withstand the barrage, but the rest of the Taskforce, of that he wasn't so sure. How many missiles had the Covenant strapped to their hulls, how powerful were they, was the range too great? They were about to find out.
The two fleets flashed past each other at 0.2c, spitting weapon 'sfire. Grapeshot discharged vast spreads of ball bearings, degrading shields to paper thinness. Missiles smashed into weakened barriers, carrying on to blast armour to slag and Hell-lances ripped through hulls, leaving vicious wounds. All this happened in a handful of microseconds, then the two fleets were past each other and away. Grisholm rocked in his chair as Endeavour was pounded hard, multiple detonations tearing at the belly armour and shaking the ship like a rattle. Alarms started blaring and shouted warnings battered his ears, "Spot-failure on multiple shields. Impacts on the ventral hull. Hell-lance battery nine is down. Missile launcher four is slagged. Atmospheric breaches on deck nineteen, hatches are sealing. Power junctions on deck sixteen aren't responding, damage control teams are running a bypass."
"Are we dead?" Sakai gasped as he sagged in his seat.
"Endeavour's tough as granite, she can handle a lot more than this," Grisholm bluffed.
"Doesn't feel like it," Sakai grumbled.
"I've seen divisions of Battleships wade through hell and back, trust me, we'll pull through."
It was then that Connors groaned, "Oh no..."
"What?!" Grisholm started.
"Smite... she's gone."
Grisholm's eye went to the tactical hologram and he noted the gap instantly. The Alliance Taskforce was breaking formation as they curved upwards, each ship thrusting at different rates. The smaller craft were making far tighter turns than the cumbersome Battleship, but there was a noticeable hole in their ranks. The light cruiser Smite was nowhere to be seen, torn apart by a dozen missile impacts, her atoms blown into a cloud of fine dust. Lieutenant-commander Trehane was dead, his brilliant and insightful mind lost forever. The Covenant had claimed first blood.
Grisholm furiously turned his eyes to the enemy ships and found the Sagittary Spears had flipped over in space and were trying to reverse heading. A slow and cumbersome manoeuvre, but their formation was intact. Grisholm's hasty evasion had thrown off the Alliance's targeting, they hadn't managed to claim a single kill. A few ruinous gashes on the Megacruisers showed they'd inflicted some damage, but not enough, even on the lightly armoured vessels. They were coming, ready for more but close-up imaging revealed their extra payloads had been spent, they were back to their original meagre arsenal but didn't seem to care. They appeared almost smug as they angled about to intercept the scattering Alliance ships, eager for another pass, Grisholm was determined to make them pay for that arrogance.
Grisholm transmitted, "All vessels except Endeavour, Oceanus and Tethys are to reform on Sabre as guide ship of a secondary strike group. Strike-two, form a disc, at time one-three-zero come port 030 degrees, down 090. Strike-one, at time one-zero-zero come port 150 degrees, down 0990."
"We're splitting up?" Connors blinked.
Grisholm explained, "Endeavour's too slow in the turns, and those Megacruisers are as fast as a Battle cruiser. If we let Covvies' set the tone of the engagement they can pick off our smaller ships one by one. So I'll have Strike-two snip their flankers, then we'll smash the remainders."
"You've done this before right?" Sakai gulped.
"If Geary can do it, so can I!" Grisholm snarled.
Grisholm felt Endeavour twisting again, coming to bear on the Sagittary Spears. The Battleship was arcing further out, her low acceleration making the turns far wider than her sleeker kin. Only the Auxiliaries were as slow, but the Battleship was best suited to protect them anyway. Grisholm focused on Strike-two, the escorts forming a broad disc around the Heavy Cruiser Sabre. Nervousness bit deep, despite his bold words he'd never coordinated two groups of ships spread across light-minutes in real life. He'd seen the recordings of Geary's battles, the intricate dance of time-lag and positioning. He'd run the sims, and practiced the manoeuvres over and over, he just had to get the timing right.
Calculations spun in his head. He wanted to clip the edge of the Covenant ships with the flat plane of his escort's formation, bringing every Alliance weapon to bear while the Sagittary Spears could only target with a fraction of their firepower. He wanted Strike-two to hit them... here... it would take this long for his message to reach Sabre, but his vision of the fight was distorted by time-lag so he needed to send his message... now!
Grisholm barked, "Strike-two, rotate thirty degrees clockwise, at time zero-three-zero come starboard 100 degrees, up 010! Strike-one, at time one-ten-zero come starboard 40 degrees, up 010!" Endeavour groaned again as the damaged superstructure felt the weight of the turn. The Battleship was bleeding air and energy from her belly, but she retained mass and firepower enough to decimate the Covenant. Sabre's group would weaken the Covvies, then Endeavour would finish the job, he was eager to see his plan in action.
Sakai suddenly blurted out, "It's a bull!"
"Excuse me?!" Connors started.
"Their formation, it's a bull!" Sakai pointed out, "I can see it from this angle: that middle group is the head, the flankers are horns and the rearguard is the neck."
"Athena wants to fight us in parade-formation," Connors spat, "She's dumb as a cadet chasing a skirt."
"She'll soon learn," Grisholm hissed, "Let's see how she reacts to this!"
Strike-two was closing rapidly, with their weapons gleaming. Grisholm held his breath as he watched them close, imagining Athena's smug face transform into horror as an Alliance fleet ripped through her pretty formation and reduced Megacruisers to kindling. His sailors were honed, battle-hardened, every crewman committed to the fight, the Covenant wouldn't know what hit them. Closer they came, seemingly slow in the Hologram but each moving at significant fractions of the speed of light, too great a fraction. Strike-two tore past the Sagittary Spears, both sides spitting fire into the void, but nothing hit, not a single shot landing. The escorts hurtled past and down, as the Covenant pressed on untouched.
"We missed!" Connors yelped.
"How?!" Sakai gasped.
"I misjudged..." Grisholm gulped, "The speed was off..."
"What?!"
"Their combined speed was too high; we couldn't target properly."
Damned idiot, Grisholm cursed himself, he'd flubbed the firing pass completely. He'd been so concerned with positions and timings that he'd neglected the relative velocities. The two formations had passed at 0.25c, beyond the effective targeting of human computers, he'd wasted his shot. Sheer disbelief wrapped around his brain, he'd seen records of Admiral Geary steering three, even four, separate groupings into combat simultaneously and never had the man committed so basic a mistake. Grisholm had thought he could match the legendary Black Jack, if given the chance, the sheer folly of his ego was now made plain.
"What do we do?!" Connor nearly yelled into his ear.
"We..." Grisholm gulped then his training took charge, "Strike-one, at time zero-one-five reduce speed to 0.1c, course 000 by 000. Strike-two at time one-five-five steer port 050, up 010. Weapons officers, target the biggest ships!"
Endeavour was already spinning over as Connors gulped, "You're bringing Sabre up behind them?"
"They'll drive the Covvies onto our guns, beaters goading wildfowl to the shooter's guns."
The Covenant were still heading straight for Endeavour. Strike-two was coming up behind, but a stern chase was a long chase, they wouldn't catch up in time. He didn't need them to, the Battleship was still the mightiest vessel in the fight and he could steer her well enough. He didn't need fancy manoeuvres this time, just for Athena to aim her ships at his prow, which the woman seemed more than willing to do. Let her try, this time it would Anton who walked away smiling.
"Auxiliaries are in our shadow," Connors warned as Endeavour's drive cut out and she rotated to face the oncoming Sagittary Spears.
"Have them stay close, we'll take the hits for them," Grisholm ordered.
"We lose those ships, we might not get home," Sakai groaned.
"We'll make it," Grisholm hissed as the moment of encounter came and went.
Endeavour met the Sagittary Spears at 0.2c relative, and every weapon she had fired. Hell-lances blazed, Grapeshot was hurled into space, missiles streaked from her hull and the Null-field discharged. Grisholm was rocked hard as Endeavour lurched in space, her shields punched through and prow armour mangled. The Battleship had been hammered, but her hide was tough and her bracing robust. Wounds were many, and half her weapon systems were down, but the mighty Battleship had withstood everything the Sagittary Spears could throw at her and she'd given out just as much in return.
Grisholm saw the survivor's sterns as they moved off, one whole side of their formation missing. They'd run into the Battleship at a slight angle and the entire left horn of the bull was gone, three Megacruisers and as many escorts swatted from existence. A capital ship from the bull's head and another from the neck were breaking apart as escape pods tumbled away. One more Megacruiser limped behind, a huge chunk of her flank missing, the Null-projectors' molecular disruption effect making it look like a giant had taken a bite out of her hull. Six Megacruisers and three escorts destroyed or crippled; Endeavour had just smashed the Sagittary Spears to pieces.
"That's how we do it!" Connors yelled in delight, "Athena must be spitting nails!"
"Did we win?" Sakai gulped.
"Not yet, but we're halfway there," Grisholm breathed, "Strike-one, at time zero-three-zero come about 180 degrees, up 000. Strike-two, increase velocity to 0.2c. let's finish this fight!"
Connors grimaced, "Looks like they've had enough, Athena is maxing out her drive units and heading for the furthest Jump point."
"Cowards, fleeing the fight," Grisholm snarled.
"Not all of them, that crippled Megacruiser is coming about to engage us," Connors warned.
"Do they want to die?" Sakai frowned.
"Trying to delay us," Grisholm shrugged, "Won't work, we can blow them away without altering course."
"I don't..." Connors frowned as he leaned nearer his console.
"What is it?" Grisholm asked.
Connors pulled up a reading, "I think their power core is fluctuating, they must be losing helm control."
"They're dead in space?" Sakai blinked.
"No," Grisholm whispered as a cold rush ran through him, "They're rigging their power core to detonate!"
"But we can handle that, right?" Sakai worried.
"The Auxiliaries can't!" Grisholm yelled, "Oceanus, Tethys, close on Endeavour immediately. Put our armour between you and that Megacruiser!"
The Auxiliaries heaved about, desperately trying to get in Endeavour's shadow. It was too late, the Megacruiser bore down at maximum acceleration, seemingly intent on ramming. Such moves were almost unheard of in space combat, but she didn't have to make contact, she just had to get close. As soon as the range closed her power core overloaded, with all the force of her reaction mass, warheads and fuel cells left on board. The explosion was several orders of magnitude greater than a firing pass, and the resulting blast engulfed Endeavour completely.
Grisholm was nearly thrown from his chair as the explosion struck Endeavour's hull, burning through shields and battering the already punished armour. Cries rang loud as thrusters fought for control, and alarms wailed. The damage came and went in an instant, but the effect lingered. Shouts of mounting damage on every deck, burned components and injured crew. Endeavour was wounded, and yet was lucky to be alive. The Battleship had withstood the blast, when no other ship could, her armour and shields holding firm. Others were not so lucky.
Tethys had made it into Endeavour's shadow, but Oceanus had been too slow. The Auxiliary had taken the full brunt of the power core overload and had been torn to bits. Nothing remained of the repair ship, only a fine cloud of atoms, marking the deaths of brave Alliance officers. The Covenant's escape pods had been atomised too, but that hardly mattered. The Sagittary Spears raced away, pushing their drive units far faster than Endeavour could dream. They may not have won this battle, but they'd bloodied the Alliance and cost the taskforce half their fuel production capacity, a pyrrhic victory of sorts. Grisholm's eyes fixed on their sterns as he imagined Athena proudly declaring herself triumphant, surely going to regale her overlords with tales of how she'd sent the Alliance barbarians packing. That couldn't be allowed to stand. Grisholm swore he'd hunt her down and make her pay for what she'd done here. The blood of Alliance sailors was on her hands and he'd wipe that smug look off her face if it was the last thing he did.