Lost Fleet Endeavour Chapter 13

Two days later the Taskforce drifted in a stellar orbit, passively coasting as repair teams crawled over Endeavour's hull. The Battleship had sustained considerable damage to her prow and keel, and her mangled armour was badly in need of repair. Twisted panelling was cut free by vac-suited specialists, then replaced with freshly forged components. In places serious damage was discovered beneath, requiring detailed work to restore wiring and conduits, before the armour could be replaced. That Endeavour could be restored so quickly was a testament to both the incredible resilience of a Battleship and the skill of Alliance Engineers, whose talents had been honed by a century of war. Many times had frantic work to rebuild crippled ships saved a beleaguered fleet, and it was said repair ships could do anything short of building entirely new ships in the field.

Inside the mood was less optimistic. Captain Grisholm sat at the Holoconference table, hearing the repair estimates. He was less than pleased; both at the timetable and that it was necessary at all. His mission had been to open friendly relations with the First Blood of Terra, instead the Covenant had opened fire. The unpalatable truth was the mission had failed before it started, which would surely rebound upon his career. Any dream he'd had of joining the Admiralty had gone up in smoke, doubly so since he'd flubbed the battle so badly. The navy was no stranger to sacrifice, but to lose half his Auxiliaries was a disgrace, and he was certain his flubbed firing pass had played no small part in it.

"Four days," Fitzgerald stated.

"That's the best you can do?" Grisholm sighed.

"The damage to the rest of the Taskforce is moderate, but Endeavour requires extensive rebuilding. We'll be focussing our efforts on her, but there's only so much one repair ship can do."

Grisholm felt a stab of self-recrimination at the point but asked, "What is our fuel cell status?"

"Each ship has adequate to return to Sol," Fitzgerald said, "But if we press on our reserve will dwindle rapidly. Tethys alone can't sustain the Taskforce if she also has to conduct more repairs."

Senator Sakai sat up in alarm, "I must have misheard, you can't mean to press on?!"

"The mission isn't over just because we ran into resistance," Grisholm refuted.

"The mission was to discover if the Covenant would join a coalition of human worlds, they gave us their answer and it was no."

Grisholm countered, "Our mission was to judge the state of the outer-star colonies, and it's barely begun. We still have little to no idea of the Covenant's size or industrial capacity. We must press deeper into their space and find a major planet, to ascertain if they are a threat to the Alliance."

"But what if we run out of fuel?" Sakai protested, "How much further can we go before we hit the point of no return?"

Fitzgerald's Hologram sucked in a slow breath, "If we have to fight in every system we'll exhaust our reserve very quickly. But if we find the right raw elements then Tethys can extend our range, but I'm deeply troubled by how far from the Sol gate we are. If we go too far I can't guarantee we'll make it back."

Colonel Abebe leaned forward and rapped the table, "What about the local repair station?"

Fitzgerald frowned, "Covenant equipment will be incompatible with our ships… but they must have a large stockpile of raw material and exotic elements for fashioning into spare parts. Fuel cells haven't changed since before the invention of the Jump drive, we may be able to plug those straight into our power cores. I would feel more comfortable pressing on if Tethys' bunkers were fully stocked, fixing Endeavour won't leave much to work with otherwise."

Grisholm nodded, "No matter what we decide to do next, we'll take what we require from that station before leaving the system."

Sakai scoffed, "And we plan to just ask the station's personnel nicely to hand over their stores?!"

But Abebe grinned, "A Marine brigade armed to the teeth is a hell of a lot of diplomacy."

Sakai threw up his hands, "This is a major escalation of the conflict, the Senate wouldn't approve of starting a war!"

Commander Chong of the Heavy Cruiser Sabre cut in, "In case you didn't notice, they already fired on us!"

Sakai retorted angrily, "We crossed their borders and violated Covenant space. We're the invading force, but we can leave now and defuse a larger conflict."

But Chong snarled, "We must send the Covies a message that the Alliance doesn't ignore its sailors being killed!"

That cut deep. The loss of the Light Cruiser Smite and her crew was an insult no officer would let pass. Lieutenant-Commander Trehane was sorely missed at the Holoconference, and Grisholm knew they all burned to avenge him. The Captain felt it too; the memory of that smug cur Athena incensed him. The idea she'd jumped away and was laughing at foolish barbarians of the Alliance gnawed at his gut. He was going to make her pay, one way or another.

Grisholm sat straighter and said, "The Covenant has proved they do not desire peace, they are a clear and present danger to the Alliance and we must uncover the scale of that threat."

Commander Modise of the Heavy Cruiser Mace shook her head, "With all due respect, our priority must be to carry a warning back to Fleet Headquarters."

Chong's face screwed up in anger, "Slink away and let them think they beat us?!"

Modise's eyes flashed, "The Covenant upgraded their ships for a reason! If they're gearing up for an invasion then the Alliance must be warned. At present our people have no idea a hostile empire has turned its eyes our way."

Grisholm countered, "We're a long way from Alliance space." He pulled up a Holoimage of the known Jump points. Their position, near the edge of the ancient maps, and a trail of updated systems, running through Avalon back to Sol. It was a month's travel to the Homeworld from here, then several months more to the edge of Alliance space, crossing numerous independent systems on the way. It was a long journey, with a very tenuous supply line. Even if the Covenant had repair ships equal to an Alliance Auxiliary a hostile fleet would be extremely isolated, so he judged the threat of an invasion to be small.

Sakai cleared his throat, "Pardon me for asking, if we press on and the Covenant capture one of our ships, could they replicate the Hypernet key?"

Chong snorted, "Not happening."

"But if they acquire even one they could access the Sol gate, then pop out over any major Alliance world they care to target!"

Grisholm shook his head, "Hypernet keys are the most secure technology ever invented. Each key is fitted with multiple self-destruct devices and digital purge-worms, and each failsafe is guaranteed by triple redundant backups. During the war the Syndics never managed to capture a single Alliance key, or obtain the frequency codes, and it was not for lack of trying."

Modise lifted a Holographic finger, "But there are still multiple routes back to our space, that's a lot of Jump points to guard."

Grisholm countered, "Which is why it is so important we probe their worlds. If we return to the Alliance with nothing but vague threats then we will have failed to honour our ancestors. We must press on, to determine if the Covenant are capable of reaching our borders, or if they are just a local polity, unable to project power."

Sakai sighed, "There at least we have had some developments. The computers the Marines lifted off Avalon have provided some historical context. We have a basic timeline of how the Covenant came into existence, though the data is couched in references to places and people we know nothing about. Our analysts have been sorting the files and determined that the Outer-star colonies did not welcome the mass emigration of refugees fleeing the last Sol war. They sealed their borders and forced the refugees to flee in the other direction, this we know, but the records show it didn't take long for the Outer-stars to start feuding among themselves."

"There was a war?" Grisholm guessed.

Sakai explained, "Nearly, but they managed to avoid interstellar war. You see several competing multi-planet confederacies arose, all jostling for dominance. Military fleets were built to enforce borders and a stand-off occurred. But then the two big associations merged forces, the 'Stellar Guard' and the 'Fist of the People', to create the Covenant of the First Stars. Their combined might was so overwhelming that no lesser faction dared challenge them. Most folk bowed to their superiority, or joined the Covenant outright."

Grisholm sighed, "Not quite as democratic as the Alliance's rise, but better than the Syndicate Worlds juggernaut."

Sakai grimaced, "But that's where it all goes sour. The Covenant quickly established its superiority over all its rivals, using formal displays of their military prowess to isolate planets from each other. Interstellar trade was only permitted using Covenant-licensed cargo services, and they demanded regular 'security payments'."

"That explains their tactics," Grisholm mused, "The Covies rarely have to fight anyone, instead they use displays of power. Rigid fleet formations, all those pompous titles and medals, even their smug attitude. The Covenant has ruled the Outer-stars by looking so imposing that nobody wants to fight them. Their military doctrine is to rule through representations of power, than the employment of force."

Abebe scowled, "Except for Avalon."

Sakai nodded sadly, "Avalon thought they could defy the Covenant, so the First Blood of Terra made an example of them, to scare the rest of the Outer-star colonies back into line."

Faces soured but Lieutenant-Commander Souza of the Light Cruiser Rebound sighed, "Admiral Perry…"

Confused faces arose as Grisholm frowned, "I haven't heard of that Admiral."

Souza's Hologram looked surprised that he'd spoken aloud, "My apologies, it's just something Trehane and I were discussing."

"Please go on," Grisholm urged.

Souza squirmed slightly but stated, "Trehane was a real history buff and compared us to an Old Earth wet navy. You see long ago a rising industrial power wanted to open trade routes with an older, but less technologically developed people. They sent an armed expedition, to force the matter and they got their way. Admiral Perry successfully brokered some treaties and returned home a hero, but in doing so sowed the seeds of a future conflict. The older polity didn't like submitting to a more developed rival and made it their mission to catch up. They dedicated themselves to industrialising, building their technology and infrastructure to match any other power, not just copying but innovating themselves. Within a few generations they were equal to polities that had been outshining them for years. Eventually they even went to war with the largest power of the age; Trehane said it was the biggest conflict Old Earth had seen, up to that point."

Sakai blanched, "You suggest the Covenant are trying to catch up with the Alliance?"

Souza shrugged, "They've already upgraded their ship's missiles, I hate to think what they've been cooking up for their next generation of warships. There's nothing wrong with their technology, they just don't know how to optimise it. They got a good look at an Alliance Battle cruiser at Sol, and now a Battleship, how long until they can start building their own versions?"

"A generation at least," Chong dismissed.

Sakai gulped, "But if a fleet of Covenant Battleships comes towards our borders, what can you do to stop them?"

Grisholm scowled, "Standard naval doctrine to fight a Battleship division is to have more Battleships than they do. We're facing the prospect of a war of attrition, exactly the kind of conflict the Alliance can't afford."

"Not with our economic woes," Sakai groaned.

"And the threat of alien invaders," Grisholm agreed.

Modise's hologram sat up straight, "We must report this danger to the Alliance Senate at once!"

Chong started forward, "No, we must attack! Smash their shipyards, blow up the Covenant's fleets before they can invade our worlds!"

"That is a major escalation!" Sakai snapped, "Returning to the Alliance is the only sane plan!"

"And leave Smite unavenged?!" Chong growled, "That is cowardice!"

"Throw more lives away, spreading more destruction and carnage! The Alliance are warmongers, we can't just start shooting anyone we disagree with!"

Grisholm pressed a button to mute the argument, "We have no facts! All we have is supposition and guesswork. At present all we know is the Covenant is hostile and has made some upgrades to their ships. If they plan an invasion of the Alliance then we must know the scale of their military and a possible timetable. It could be that there is a vast fleet of upgraded ships ready to sail, or they might not even have enough shipyards to begin such a project. If they've even begun working on a Battle cruiser prototype it may be nothing save a digital sketch on some planning committees' table. The Alliance must know if it has a year, ten or a hundred to prepare. We need hard data and for that we need to probe further into Covenant space. I table a vote: shall we continue into the Outer-stars as an armed reconnaissance party, or fall back to Alliance space with what little data we've collected?"

The silent officers cast their votes, as Sakai fumed with his arms crossed. Only Commander Modise voted to retreat, her light a single blue blip in a circle of red. The officers of the Alliance did not retreat in the face of aggression, and many of them cast disgusted eyes at the Heavy Cruiser Commander for daring to suggest such a thing. Grisholm knew they also yearned to avenge the death of Trehane, and the crew of the Smite. He shared their bloodlust, he wanted to find Athena again, and teach her why messing with the Alliance was a deadly mistake.