Lost Fleet Endeavour Chapter 23
The taskforce exploded as vessels rolled over and thrust for all they were worth. Like dandelion seeds upon the wind they scattered, blossoming in all directions. Destroyers darted away, finally given license to run wild and Cruisers heaved over, driving hard to keep up. The Alliance formation disintegrated as various craft jockeyed for position in a mad free-for-all, but this was not incompetence, this was how the Alliance had fought for a hundred years, relying on the skill of individual ship captains to make up for any lack of coordination. Against the Syndics such tactics had proven worthless, but against the Covenant they proved supremely effective.
Aboard the Megacruisers finely apparelled officers sat dumfounded, unable to process what they were seeing. The crude Alliance disc had broken apart, becoming ten separate tracks instead of one. None of their training had covered such an eventuality, none of their instructors had ever considered such a thing was possible. Everything in their worldview was built upon conformity, obedience and unthinking adherence to dogma, even a Syndic wage-slave harboured more independence of thought than they. Had they rallied and pressed the attack they could have caught the Alliance ships and blown them away with ease, but they could not respond, their paramount commanders left staring in abject disbelief.
The Destroyer Kite claimed the first kill, dashing over the Leonid Lancers, spitting Hell-lance and missiles. A Corvette blew apart, and another rolled out of formation, trailing oxygen from severed lines. Kestrel was a moment behind, going underneath the same formation, her weapons hammering at a Megacruiser. The target was too big for a mere Destroyer to take out but internal damage sent her crew into a panic, wailing in dismay at the unexpected injury. Leatherback dove between the Taurus Chariots and Scorpius Claws, causing both formations to flinch as their paramount commanders tried to get clear. Adder struck a moment later, peppering them with Grapeshot and stinging their tails. Hornet and Wasp struck together, shooting across the nose of the Leonid Lancers, their weapons gouging at a Megacruiser's prow. She fell out of formation, helm control lost as her captain sat in horrified silence whilst his bridge crew begged for orders.
The Cruisers hit next, barrelling along with deadly force. Rebound struck the Scorpius Claws, her Hell-lances gutting a Megacruiser bow to stern. Roundhouse hit them again a moment later, tearing out drive units from another, leaving the ship floundering without motive power. Mace dove swiftly to land a third blow, but at the last second spun her bow about and thrust for the Sagittary Spears, clipping their flank and lashing a Megacruiser with torrents of firepower. Massive damage threatened to overload their power core and the crew only averted disaster by shutting down all systems with an emergency cut-out, leaving them adrift in the void.
Despite the wounds inflicted the Covenant still held a massive superiority in numbers, and had they broken formation to given chase they would overwhelmed the Alliance ships with ease, but they could not issue such an order. While the numbers favoured them they were bound to their positions in battle, as they were to their birth stations in life. It was no longer ten against eighty, it was ten against four, a situation the Covenant could not conceive, and then Endeavour drove right into their midst. The Battleship's awesome bulk slammed through the middle of the Leonid Lancers, Hell-lances, missiles, Grapeshot and the Null-projector discharging in the microsecond of contact. Like a wrecking ball into a brick wall the Battleship slammed through the formation, and when she departed seven Megacruisers and twelve Corvettes were left burning in her wake.
The bridge rang with cries, "Spot failures on shields, moderate damage to dorsal hull. Grapeshot launcher eleven is fouled, crew are attempting to clear it. Hit to drive unit four, minor energy fluctuation, no loss of performance. Enemy ships attempting to turn to intercept us. Kestrel is coming about across our track, she's making another pass, correction, it's a feint, she's pulling away."
Grisholm heard the cries and knew the battle was well joined. He could see it in the tactical holo, the swirling engagement a morass of conflicting headings. The covenant were beset by confusion and woe, unable to process what was happening. The various formations were drifting apart, chasing ghosts as their paramount commanders tried to restore order. His eyes fixed on the Taurus Chariots, turning to chase Kestrel. The tiny Destroyer was running before them, seemingly outmatched, and yet by putting an entire formation on the stern of one minuscule escort they were leaving themselves vulnerable.
"Immediate: Come port 125 degrees, up 100!" Grisholm barked.
"We're going in again?" Sakai gulped.
"Hit them while they're down and make sure they never get up!" Connors laughed elatedly.
"I dont know what happened to the Covenant, but I'm confused to all hell," Sakai winced.
Grisholm fixed his eyes on the target as Endeavour laboured to come about, "Seven minutes till contact, then we'll teach them what sorrow is."
Suddenly the sensor-officer called, "Sir, nuclear detonation in the dockyards, blast yield is consistent with a Marine nuke!" Grisholm's eyes flickered to Atlantis, thirty light-minutes away. A spreading cloud of destruction was swathing the orbital lanes with debris, but a fresh fireball was tearing apart another dockyard, adding to the confusion. Another explosion, and another, adding yet more tangled wreckage to the ever-growing storm. He couldn't guess how many Megacruisers had been destroyed, but plenty remained to assault the Alliance, and the Mass Driver drifted untouched in its dock. So long as it existed his home was under threat.
"Ancestors accept those brave Marines," Grisholm whispered.
Sakai frowned, "Didn't we want this?"
"Not this fast," Connors muttered, "Abebe wouldn't set off nukes till his men were clear, unless they were being overrun. The Covenant must have packed those docks with Elite Guards, the fighting must be a true meatgrinder in there."
"What can we do to help?"
Grisholm growled, "Absolutely nothing, we have our own problems to deal with."
Endeavour's course was bringing her about to intercept the Taurus Chariots, who were still fixated on catching Kestrel. Grisholm tracked their course and saw Endeavour would smash through their starboard flank in a perfect firing pass. Without escorts he didn't need to jink or feint, a Battleship's greatest assets were its bulk, armour and shields, nothing the Covenant had could come close to Endeavour's raw survivability. Moments counted down and he imagined the Covie leader tracking his course, expecting a last-moment evasion as the Alliance had demonstrated over and over. Not this time, this time he went straight through them.
Suddenly cries rang, "Spot failures on shields! Impacts along port hull. Hell-lances are down along port flank, attempting emergency bypasses. Missile launcher seven is gone. Drive unit four took damage, we're trying to stabilise it. We've lost contact with deck twenty portside. Gravity down on deck seventeen, reboots are underway!"
"Assess impact to the enemy!" Grisholm barked.
Connors pulled up a display, "Eleven Megacruisers destroyed and twelve Corvettes."
They'd done it, Grisholm exulted, the pass had blown half the formation to atoms. The enormous firepower of Endeavour had decimated the Taurus Chariots, annihilating one wheel of their formation and half the box. The remained limped on, lopsided and limping. Kestrel flashed her keel at them as she dove over and burned hard, taking advantage of their lamentation to disengage. The Covenant were well struck, he only had to do it again six more times and the fight was won.
"Immediate: come starboard 200 degrees, down 50!" Grisholm yelled. Endeavour's thrusters turned her bow around and she thrust to change course, inexorable and deadly. He was determined to break the Covenant once and for all, but no Battleship manoeuvred quickly and the enemy wasn't willing to quit. Mace made a fast pass over the Scorpius Claws, blowing another Megacruiser to bits, but in return she took a Hell-lance shot to the flank, slagging her keel armour and leaving her spewing sparks into the void. Leatherback dashed past the Leonid Lancers, picking off a Corvette but her evasive course took her too close and a single missile found the tiny craft, blasting the Destroyer into microscopic chunks. Brave Alliance sailors dead, their heroism brought to a brilliant and brief conclusion.
Roundhouse made a swing at the limping Taurus Chariots, firing everything she had. The Light Cruiser crippled one Capital ship and was away before they could respond, but the Sagittary Spears were closing fast. In the burning confusion of the melee Athena drove her fleet forward like the whips of hades were at their backs. They passed Roundhouse and a flurry of missiles struck the small ship. Craters were blown in her flank, overloading system and tearing apart control circuits. One drive unit died while another was locked permanently open, sending her into an unrecoverable spin. The Light Cruiser pirouetted away, then began to spew escape pods, Alliance crewmen fleeing for their lives as their vessel broke up around them.
"We need to get back in there!" Grisholm snarled.
"We can't turn any faster," Connors snapped.
"Push the drives to the maximum!"
"Unit four is in danger over overloading."
"I'll take that risk..." Grisholm, began but was interrupted.
The Comms-officer suddenly called, "Signal from Colonel Abebe, voice only but he's sending it priority one!"
Grisholm saw the long minutes remaining till Endeavour made contact and barked "Put him on!"
Abebe's static filled voice came in, punctuated by gunfire and cutting out randomly, "The battle does not go well Endeavour... heavy resistance... all... stubborn bastards at every... We can't reach... ordering my men to drop their nukes wherever they are and... shuttles if they can... don't worry though, I've got a plan... Mass Diver was in the middle of a test, seems such a shame to waste... target the... didn't want a civilian life anyway. Tell my brother that I... For the Alliance: Semper Fi!"
Knowing whatever he was about to witness happened thirty minutes ago Grisholm's eyes turned to the massive weapon, hanging over Atlantis. Somehow it was beginning to reorient, the Megacruisers attached to its sides pushing it about. How the Marines had managed to seize control was a miracle he would never understand, but more impressive by far was the build-up of energy in the magnetic coils. Terrific levels of power built, wrapping a test-asteroid in accelerant forces. With one massive surge the Mass Driver catapulted an asteroid bigger than Endeavour into the packed dockyards, smashing them to kindling. It went through half-finished Megacruisers, cargo tugs and transfer points, its mass unstoppable and momentum undeniable. It pummelled its way through anything in its path, then it ploughed into the stacked Covenant Auxiliaries and the impact detonated their fuel cells.
A massive fireball swept outwards, dicing anything within reach. Shattered metal shot far and wide, stabbing into untouched ships and docks, sending them spiralling out of obit like shooting stars. Flaming meteors streaked Atlantis' sky, so many and so hot they set stormfronts in motion that would pummel the lands below with torrential rains for a year and day. Debris was everywhere, too dense to evade, catching any craft not yet destroyed and adding their mass to the spreading carnage. A Kessler cascade, engulfing Atlantis and obliterating the Covenant fleet utterly.
The Mass Driver was not spared. Unstable already, decades-cold systems flash-awakened by inexperienced hands the device began to tear itself apart. Structs buckled, capacitors overloaded and coils blew out in rapidly increasing failures. Fireballs ripped along its length, as the Megacruisers tumbled free, reducing the mighty weapon to a memory. Colonel Abebe died fighting to the last, his finger on the trigger and his voice uplifted in a battle cry. He wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
"Living Stars," Sakai breathed when the light finally reached Endeavour.
"He did it," Grisholm uttered solemnly, "They all did."
"Did any of the Marines get out?"
"We won't know till the battles over," Grisholm stated grimly.
"You mean it's not over?"
Grisholm fixed his eyes on the Sagittary Spears and said, "If we run now Athena can chase us all the way back to Sol. We have to take her out first, there's no other option. Hold onto your seat Senator, it's about to get rough."