The Lost Fleet – Dauntless

It took time for the formations to converge, but he finally saw the images of Tulev’s escorts engaging the Syndics which had occurred less than a minute before. Using the same tactics as Geary had employed with the main body, Tulev’s heavies had fired grapeshot, then followed up with a barrage of specters. The Syndics were still reeling from the impact of those volleys when Captain Duellos’s formation sailed past, angling upward to slide through the rear of the Syndic formation and pound the ships there. Taken together, Tulev’s and Duellos’s formations outgunned the surviving Syndics almost two to one without even taking into account the damage to many of the Syndic ships.

As Tulev’s escorts slid by beneath the Syndics and Duellos’s warships rolled up through the enemy formation, the lighter Alliance ships in Formation Fox Five Three glided in from above. Against fresh heavy combatants, the Alliance destroyers and cruisers would’ve been outmatched, but by this point the Syndic force had been hurt so badly that it could offer little effective defense. The remnants of the Syndic destroyers and cruisers tried to block Fox Five Three’s firing run but were quickly overwhelmed, their shields swamped and their hulls broken.

As the third Alliance formation in quick succession engaged the Syndics, the enemy formation suddenly fell apart. Geary saw the surviving Syndic warships scattering, most of them turning frantically back toward the Alliance main body that blocked their way to the jump point and safety. Hardly daring to believe the enemy force had been so decisively broken, Geary evaluated the way the Syndic ships were dispersing. Trying to catch them all using big formations would be difficult at best and very likely impossible. “All units, this is Captain Geary. Break formation. General pursuit. I say again, general pursuit. Make sure we get all of them.”

There were triumphant cheers on the bridge of Dauntless, but Geary barely registered them as he watched his fleet on the display. Even though he’d known how badly those ships wanted to be cut loose, he was still surprised to see just how rapidly his neat formations dissolved, as the individual ships sped away to engage targets of opportunity.

Dauntless surged forward herself under Desjani’s orders. Geary leaned over to see which target had been highlighted by the battle cruiser’s combat system. A Syndic D-Class battle cruiser, looping upward in an attempt to pass over the main body. Why isn’t he going faster? According to what I’ve read, a D-Class should be able to do a lot better than that. Geary highlighted the target on his own display, getting the estimated damage readout. Ah. He’s been hit hard. Looks like he’s lost a lot of propulsion capability.

Zooming in the view of the Syndic battle cruiser from Dauntless’s optical sensors, Geary could see the damage that had blasted holes in the enemy ship. At one time, the enemy ship had been a good-looking ship, displaying clean lines and smooth menace, but now its hull was torn and bent. A D-Class versus Dauntless would be a roughly even match, except that Syndic warship has already been beat to hell.

Then he thought of something else, pulling back the range scale on his display again and checking the movement vectors of nearby Alliance ships. As far as he could tell without asking, the battleship Vanguard and the battle cruiser Fearless were both also aiming for the same Syndic warship. Geary called up remote data from the other ships, confirming that they were also targeting the D-Class battle cruiser and getting their estimated times to intercept as well. “They’re going to get to it first,” he remarked out loud.

Captain Desjani nodded, her frustration clear. “I can’t beat them to it without accelerating to the point that my aim will be lousy. I’d rather get in the third blow than risk missing the bastard completely.”

Geary looked back as his display, where the curving lines through space that marked the projected paths of both Alliance and Syndic warships formed an oddly beautiful pattern against the backdrop of the stars. At this scale, he could easily see how the paths of multiple Alliance ships were converging on the courses of every individual Syndic ship. This isn’t a battle any more. The surviving Syndics are so badly outnumbered and already so damaged that this is just a massacre.

I know we have to destroy the Syndic fighting forces to survive, but why can’t the Syndics have the brains to surrender when the situation is obviously hopeless?

On the other hand, the Alliance fleet’s situation seemed hopeless back in the Syndic home system and surrender was a lousy option then.

The irony finally hit him that this one-sided slaughter was what would’ve happened to the Alliance fleet in the Syndic home system if it had fallen apart and tried to run as individual ships.