and battered.
“Furious took several hits, one hell-lance battery and null-field projector out of commission,” the combat watch-stander reported in a precise voice. “Implacable has lost two hell-lance batteries and suffered minor damage to one propulsion system. Both battle cruisers expended all of their missiles and grapeshot on that pass. Utap has lost all combat systems but remains able to maneuver. Arbalest and Raven’s Beak have taken serious damage but can remain with their formation.”
Less than two minutes later the Alliance subformations began arriving at their intercept points. Captain Tulev led Leviathan, Steadfast, Dragon, and Valiant against another edge of the Syndic formation. The Alliance battle cruisers once again concentrated their fire, and this time as they pulled away one Syndic battleship had taken severe damage and one of the remaining Syndic battle cruisers drifted with all systems dead.
Captain Duellos brought Courageous, Formidable, and Intrepid in next, badly damaging another Syndic battleship, then the five surviving battle cruisers of the Sixth and Seventh Divisions ripped past and took out two of the last three Syndic battle cruisers.
Then it was the Fourth Battle Cruiser Division’s turn. As important as it was for Dauntless to reach Alliance space intact, Geary hadn’t been able to think of any way to keep her out of the battle. Even if he had told everyone that Dauntless held the enemy hypernet key, her crew would still have clamored to have their proper place in battle and been deeply ashamed if kept away from the engagement.
Not to mention the shame that Tanya Desjani would feel. Knowing her, she’d probably resign her command rather than endure such a disgrace.
They’d listen to him, they’d learn, but if he pushed too far, they’d rebel against what they saw as humiliation. Geary had to accept that.
Dauntless, Daring, and Victorious bore down on a portion of the Syndic formation holding an already-damaged battleship and the sole surviving Syndic battle cruiser. With the Alliance warships traveling at close to point zero eight light speed and the Syndics still just above point one light speed, the moment of actual battle was far too brief for human senses to register. The Syndics were ahead, then they were behind, Dauntless still shuddering from the hits on her during the millisecond in which she’d been within range of the enemy weapons.
“Spot failures on forward and port shields,” the damage-control watch reported. “Hell lance battery one alpha has lost one weapon. Structural damage at frames forty-five and one twenty-seven.”
“Very well.” Desjani nodded, her eyes on the display where the results of the Alliance battle cruisers’ firing pass were appearing. She grinned fiercely. “Got him!”
Geary felt himself smiling grimly as well. The last Syndic battle cruiser was spitting out escape pods, then blew up as its power core overloaded. The already-damaged Syndic battleship had taken more hits and was slowly losing speed.
Then his smile vanished. The Alliance battle cruisers were all turning to make more firing passes, the battleships and the rest of the fleet were still coming on, and even though the Alliance auxiliaries and their escorts had put on a burst of speed and curved their courses up and to the side, the remaining Syndics were closing to firing range. With the fleeing auxiliaries and their close escorts going in the same direction as the oncoming Syndics, the relative speed of the warships was much slower. This encounter would play out slowly enough for human senses to observe.
Geary saw Desjani watching him and indicated the auxiliaries. “If we lose them, then it doesn’t matter how many Syndic warships we kill today. We’ll still have lost this battle.”
“You had to risk it,” she said in a low voice.
“I know.”
Warrior, battered at Vidha and again at Lakota the first time the Alliance fleet was here, swung out to block the Syndics aiming at Titan and Goblin. A pair of Syndic HuKs apparently thought they could dart past the badly hurt Alliance battleship, but learned that Warrior could still punch as her few still-working hell lances ripped into the lightly protected HuKs. A Syndic light cruiser right behind the HuKs tried to trade fire with Warrior, only to be knocked out as well.
But behind the light cruiser came two almost untouched Syndic battleships. Missiles leaped from them, aiming for Titan and Goblin. Warrior and the Alliance destroyers with her targeted the Syndic missiles, taking out most of the missiles but leaving them unable to engage the battleships directly.
Moving almost painfully, Warrior swung again, sliding right across the path of the two Syndic battleships, which concentrated their fire on the Alliance battleship and in moments mangled the warship, knocking out every system on Warrior. Geary muttered a brief prayer as he imagined the havoc that barrage had inflicted on Warrior’s crew.
That left Conqueror, Orion, and Majestic along with the few heavy cruisers, light cruisers, and destroyers accompanying them. Having watched Warrior die, Conqueror seemed frozen, staying on the same course and speed as the two Syndic battleships closed. Orion began sliding upward, then headed back for a spot close to Conqueror as if seeking the safety of a position near the undamaged battleship.
Geary would never know what Majestic started to do, whether the rearmost surviving battleship was trying to turn to engage the enemy or to flee. In charitable moments, he imagined that Majestic’s crew and commanding officer had been inspired by Warrior’s sacrifice, had finally found their spirit and tried to make up for past failures. Whatever Majestic ’s intent, her crew finally paid the price for the slow pace of repairs they had made to her weapons and defenses.
The Syndic battleships volleyed their remaining missiles at Majestic, aiming to overwhelm her defenses. Three missiles got through and hit aft, wiping out the battleship’s propulsion units. Then as Majestic spun out of control up and over, the Syndic battleships altered course to get within hell-lance range of the helpless target. Grapeshot from the Syndics collapsed Majestic’s remaining shields, then the enemy hell lances tore into inadequately repaired armor with too many weak spots.
Geary watched hits flaring repeatedly on Majestic, the image of the battleship momentarily vanishing under the flurry of impacts as more Syndic missiles, grapeshot, and an unrelenting storm of hell-lance fire tore the ship apart. Then a much bigger explosion lit space for a few moments as Majestic’s power core blew under the stress.
The light faded, leaving a growing field of debris through which a few surviving Syndic missiles quested vainly for a target.
“Damn them,” Desjani muttered. Geary didn’t know if she was referring to the Syndics who had just destroyed Majestic or the crew and officers of the Alliance battleship who had doomed themselves.
Conqueror, still fixed on the same trajectory, was lashing out at any lighter Syndic unit that came within range. Orion had drifted upward again while remaining as far forward as Conqueror, placing herself in an almost totally useless position as far as defending the auxiliaries went. The Alliance heavy cruisers, light cruisers, and destroyers had broken away from Conqueror, though, and were slashing through Syndic escorts trying to reach Titan and Goblin. The two auxiliaries were throwing out as much defensive fire as they could, which unfortunately was very little. A Syndic missile slammed into Goblin amidships, staggering the auxiliary. A HuK managed to get close enough to score two hell-lance hits on Titan before the Alliance destroyer
