Lost Fleet Endeavour Chapter 10

"We have a serious problem," Captain Grisholm stated to everyone, "As you can see the mission profile has changed."

Lieutenant-Commander Trehane of the Light Cruiser Smite replied, "We are sure the Covenant killed this world?"

"We suspect it was them," Grisholm confirmed, "But it must be stressed that we have no context for why this would be deemed necessary. The Alliance has had its own reasons for conducting such operations in the past."

Lieutenant-Commander Souza of the Light Cruiser Rebound asked, "I thought these First Blood of Terra folk had never fought a real war?"

Sakai shook his head, "That was our initial assumption, but it was based on one admittedly brief encounter. Our spies on Old Earth have little to add, a few rumours and third-hand reports. The Covenant are extremely isolationist and the Alliance has no concrete facts about affairs amongst the outer-star colonies."

That set the meeting back. The officers slumped in their chairs, turning the revelations over in their minds. Grishom saw faces old and young, male and female, some cunning, others bold but all dedicated and almost real. Holoconference software had been perfected long ago, making it seem like the officers were actually here, instead of sitting in similar chambers in their own ships. The software even played with perspective, allowing them all to sit at one table, even though the room was too small. Grisholm had been in meetings where hundreds of officers appeared to gather.

Currently the various officers sat in order of priority. To his right the Senator sat next to Colonel Abebe, the only other people truly present. To the left Commanders Chong and Modise, of the Heavy Cruisers Mace and Sabre, sat. To the far right Lieutenant-Commanders Trehane and Souza sat, along with Rossi and Eshen of Roundhouse and Payback, the last two sitting waiting for the meeting to open, their vessels still two light-minutes away. Down the table the Destroyer Lieutenants sat: Montham, Wesleyan, Yorrick, Mazi, Lui, Shalin, Cuthbert, and Desdren. The last person was Commander Fitzgerald, in charge of the Auxiliaries Tethys and Oceanus, who was last in the chain of command despite her rank, her speciality being engineering not combat.

Commander Chong squared his clean-shaven jaw and said, "We can beat any Covvie, any day of the week!"

Grisholm sighed, "While I appreciate the support, our mission is not to fight, we're supposed to be making peace."

Modise shook her head, greying blonde hair kept in a short ponytail, "This situation is not what we expected, and we are over-extended and alone. I vote we withdraw back to Sol and send word to the Alliance for a real fleet to come back us up."

Chong grimaced, "Retreat?!"

Modise's face reddened, "I never said retreat!"

"Yes, you did!"

"I said we should reposition and regroup!"

"Same thing," Chong scoffed.

"We are thousands of Light-years from Alliance space, in unknown territory, outnumbered and outgunned. To press on alone is madness!"

Few faces seemed happy with that idea. The Alliance navy had fought for a hundred years without flinching by scorning the very idea of retreat. They did not run, sometimes they repositioned, regrouped and extended engagements, but they never retreated. Grisholm understood why Modise was still a Heavy Cruiser commander at her age, even during the war she'd never make it to Captain with that attitude.

Grisholm took in a breath, "We may be outnumbered, but we're not outgunned. Endeavour is still more than a match for a fleet of Covenant Megacruisers, we can be sure of that if nothing else. I am not going to table a vote on withdrawing, but we must discuss how to proceed. If our assumptions about the First Blood of Terra are wrong then our priority becomes to gather more information on their size and capabilities. However first we must decide whether to continue this mission as a diplomatic envoy or treat it as an armed recon expedition into hostile space."

Commander Fitzgerald cleared her throat, "While the auxiliaries are well-provisioned currently, we cannot assume we will find asteroids suitable for mining. Should the Taskforce sustain damage then our stockpiles will dwindle rapidly. We are a long way from resupply, should we have to fight our way back to Sol."

Sakai frowned, "But we have enough fuel cells to make the return trip?"

Fitzgerald nodded, "Each ship has enough reserves to make the trip, but combat operations are as thirsty as a Marine at the bar. A few clashes and we could tip below the point of no-return. We have only two auxiliaries to make more fuel cells, and if we have to repair battle damage that will divert much of our productivity."

"What is the bare minimum reserve you would find acceptable?" Grisholm asked.

Fitzgerald chewed her lip for a moment, "The further we go the harder it will be to return. If we fall below 50% of our fuel cell reserve then I would recommend immediately heading back to the Sol gate."

Grisholm nodded, "We cannot turn back yet, so we must continue deeper into Covenant space. I want to find a major planet and judge their industrial capacity and the size of its shipyards but if we seem in danger of running out of fuel I will turn for home. This is not cowardice, if we find the Covenant are as hostile as we suspect then the intel we shall gather must be returned to the Alliance."

"What do we actually know of the Covenant?" Trehane asked, "Facts not rumours."

"I believe the record speaks for itself," Grisholm stated.

He pressed a button on the table and a Hologram sprang up. On one side a formation of Covenant Megacrusiers appeared, in a rigid formation. On the other the Battle Cruiser Dauntless closed, protecting a number of alien ships. Grisholm put the filthy aliens from his mind as the battle replayed in compressed time. The Covenant formation fired first, but Dauntless easily evaded the missile barrage, skidding through a tight turn that brought her about to her slam through the flank of the Covenant formation. The following battle was a massacre, Dauntless smashed through the Covenant repeatedly, jinking to avoid shots while her weapons blew Megacruisers away with ease. The contrast was stark, not only was the Alliance ship better armed and armoured; her Captain's skill was stunning. The Covenant refused to use inertia to their advantage, turning about and trying to use direct aborts to change heading, unable to keep up with Dauntless' elegant manoeuvres. Three passes saw their fleet decimated, then the untouched vessels abandoned ship and the fight was over.

"I'll say it if no one else will: Captain Desjani knows how to handle her ship," Trehane breathed.

"The Covenant barely touched Dauntless," Chong scoffed.

Souza agreed, "They fight like rank amateurs."

Senator Sakai mused, "Admiral Geary speculates the Covenant haven't fought a real conflict in centuries, that their training is entirely simulation-based, programs inevitably rigged to ensure the right side wins. Their formations seemed geared for parades and displays of martial power, rather than actual combat conditions. They may even give out medals for displaying your medals right."

"Bullcrap," Colonel Abebe snorted.

Grisholm raised an eyebrow, "You disagree with Black Jack?"

Abebe spread his hands, "You didn't see the conditions on Avalon. The planet was murdered, brutally and deliberately. No parade-ground soldier did that. Whoever killed that world knew how to end a war; this was not the work of amateurs."

Fitzgerald shook her head, "Their design philosophy disagrees."

Grisholm pressed another button and the image zoomed in on one of the surviving Megacrusiers. It vaguely resembled an Alliance ship, in that the basic profile was shark-like, but beyond that it was a paper tiger. The sensor and shield fins were far too large and covered in useless ornamentation, while armour was marginal and limited to vital areas. Weapons were few and poorly placed and she boasted only two missile launchers. The drive units equalled a Battle cruiser's but only because they had considerably less mass to deal with, but as displayed previously the crew didn't know how to use it to best advantage. The whole ship seemed taken from some cheap movie real veterans laugh at, a civilian's botched attempt to design a warship.

"A dozen of these skiffs combined couldn't trouble Endeavour," Commander Chong snorted.

Modise argued, "Their targeting software seems to match ours, able to engage at 0.2c, and their missile technology can put together a warhead that equals a Spectre. They just don't seem to have optimised their design."

"It's a fleet designed to look good," Chong retorted, "Not to fight. They've probably done nothing save flag-flying exercises for centuries."

Abebe however growled, "And killed planets!"

"Perhaps we're looking at this backwards," Lieutenant-Commander Trehane interrupted.

Grisholm frowned, "How so?"

"We're comparing Covenant ships to Alliance designs and tactics, which were honed by a century of constant war, when we should be comparing them to the point our civilisations diverged: Old Earth. If you can, please pull up an image of an Earth Fleet Destroyer."

Grisholm lowered his eyes and started pulling up ancient records. It took a minute but eventually the image of the Megacruiser was joined by an even more outlandish craft. A squat hull, barely rounded and fitted with truncated fins. It was small for a capital ship barely equalling a Light Cruiser, and the data-file said an Auxiliary could outgun it. An Earth Destroyer, once the pinnacle of human military might, before Sol demilitarised and the fleet was decommissioned.

Fitzgerald peered at the schematic, "Grapeshot is grapeshot but no Hell-lances, instead she has these low power Pulse particle projectors. Targeting limited to 0.8c. Four missile launchers… no… four missiles only. That's it!"

Abebe mused, "When scaled against this, a Megacruiser suddenly looks impressive."

Trehane added, "And Covenant tactics aren't wrong, they simply expect their enemy to conform to the Fleet Regulations of the period. Earth Fleet was infamous for its unthinking adherence to Action Checklists. I've run a few simulations and if Dauntless had behaved as the Checklists demanded, the battle would not have gone her way."

Sakai scowled, "What does that mean for us?"

Grisholm rubbed his jaw, "It means Geary made a big mistake assuming the Covenant don't know how to fight, they simply came to the field expecting the wrong enemy. It's a cliché but militaries tend to retrain to fight the last war, not the one coming. The Covenant never encountered a foe who didn't think and act like Earth Fleet. All the outer-star colonies might still adhere to the Checklists, so the Covenant optimised their fleets to deal with that threat, not an enemy whose tactics and technology have been radically altered by a century of constant war."

Modise scowled, "Only now they've seen Dauntless in action. They know what our ships are capable of and how we fight and they've had a year to adapt."

"We still have a Battleship capable of blowing through their Megacrusiers," Chong scoffed.

"One ship, and a handful of escorts, against however many ships the Covenant have," Modise argued.

"One year isn't enough to close the technology gap, I don't care how big or smart they are," Chong growled.

Grisholm cut through the debate, "We're still assuming the Covenant will want to fight, but our mission is diplomatic. We should not presume they will open fire on sight."

"You don't mean to let them get close?" Souza gulped.

"Not at all, we shall treat any encounter as possibly hostile, but I will not initiate a conflict. If they try to engage us I will unleash every weapon we have, but first we must try speaking to them. Remember our goal is to forge an all-human coalition against the alien scourge. That was why we came out here in the first place. Fighting among ourselves will only weaken humanity against the aliens. I table a vote: should we continue as a diplomatic envoy or change the mission profile and proceed as an armed scouting party?"

Voting was a tradition of the navy, one Admiral Geary had tried to do away with. In his days a leader gathered advice and warnings, but then made decisions for all. During the war individual aggression had replaced discipline and officers expected to have their say in any plan. Grisholm believed sailors would fight all the harder for a plan they had publically supported, and intended to continue the tradition in Second Fleet

Coloured lights on the table stated the officer's votes. Red lights showed Chong and Abebe supported an aggressive stance, meeting the Covenant as enemies, supported by Lieutenants Cuthbert, and Desdren. Blue lights supported the original mission, trying to talk before shooting. Modise, Trehane, Souza and Fitzgerald supported diplomacy, added to a minute later by Rossi and Eshen, delayed by the time-distance lag. Blue lights for lieutenants Montham, Wesleyan, Yorrick, Mazi, Lui, Shalin, and finally Grisholm himself. Sakai didn't get to vote, not being military, but the vote was four for aggression and thirteen for diplomacy. The decision had been made.

Grisholm stood up and declared, "We shall proceed as ordered. Have your navigators plot a course for the third Jump point of the system and prepare to set out as soon as we have regrouped. I expect the Covenant will be waiting for us, but we shall greet them as long-lost relatives. I hope this will be the start of a new page in the history of our two peoples, but keep your wits about you, I am not trusting enough to lower my guard. We offer the hand of friendship sincerely, but in the other we shall keep a loaded gun."