Khaela, Councilor 18-436.
The incident at New Hansa turned out to be well-documented. As Black Box explained, The Covenant has a problem in that there are so many worlds in the galaxy that understanding which ones are occupied by humans is difficult for them. Not all of them can be detected by conventional methods.
And the Covies look for other options besides direct searching. For example, selling weapons to rebels with built-in beacons. Obviously, human rebel forces are worse armed and protected; a small squad of Spartans can destroy them by the dozens. And shady traders offering weapons are not always, but often, met with enthusiasm. And then it's a matter of technology, which The Covenant has.
"As soon as a Covenant stealth ship tracks a jump, the planet is doomed."
New Hansa as a world suffered from the actions of the metropole. An important trade hub, mining rare metals. A strategic point for the outer colonies. An attempted rebellion was suppressed very quickly and harshly, using Spartans. After which the military effectively usurped power, justifying their actions by the war with The Covenant and the need to supply shipyards with resources.
I looked at the reports and can understand the locals' dissatisfaction. Black Box can too. Setting up a military dictatorship with a planned economy and then using the population's dissent as a pretext for tightening oversight. All thanks to the certainty that the army will always be stronger than a bunch of paupers with semi-homemade weapons. Well, the outcome is predictable.
"A riot under such conditions was inevitable. What is the logic?"
Black Box replied:
"Humans. They decided since conflict was inevitable, they should prepare for suppression rather than fix the causes. Ultimately, they have an army and a navy, while the rebels have rifles, some five hundred years old. And homemade explosives. It turned out they aren't the only ones so clever."
And then everything followed the usual path. A Covenant strike group appears in orbit, shreds the human fleet with torpedoes, and a literal slaughter begins. Some areas were cleared, some burned from orbit. They took losses, of course. But the power gap is too large. The destruction happened almost routinely. Drama and many, many deaths.
During the war with the Forerunners, there was plenty of that on both fronts. The Forerunners believed humans were senselessly burning their worlds, though we were purging the parasite—including Boundless Will—and they reciprocated. The parasite doesn't take prisoners at all; everything goes into biomass. A war of annihilation, just another Monday. In the local network, the fact of the colony's loss was covered, but rather sluggishly. Yes, destroyed, sad. But they were terrorists who were given a chance to atone, and The Covenant doesn't take prisoners. And that's it. The population took what happened quite calmly.
"A third-rate outer colony with five million people, previously known for separatist views," the Box explained, "their loss is less important than the deposits."
"Accepted."
True, the loss of resources will slow down the shipyards' work. Attention, a question.
"How will the shipyards' defense be ensured? Transports could have been captured to determine where they are hauling ore. Capturing ships puts them at risk. Transports could have emerged from a jump after the retreat. I'd give it one in three that The Covenant gets at least one world from this operation besides the destroyed one."
The Box didn't answer immediately.
"According to the Cole Protocol, any navigational data must be destroyed in case of a threat to prevent this. But the separatists could have been quite reckless in this matter. Furthermore, cargo transports or ships and databases of the separatists. It's possible. Khaela, I will report to the Vice Admiral. I suggest helping prepare the defense. It will be useful."
An excellent thought. I assume the humans figured it out themselves, but...
"What are we working with, Black Box?"
He brought up a hologram and sent me the data. The planet Gilock, three hundred million people, has assembly lines for ship components and a small shipyard for assembling transports and frigates. Small capacities, for the most part. The defense largely consists of the same ships acting as patrol vessels against rebels. I have an idea.
"Black Box, can we turn several frigates into laser point-defense ships? It could be a good option. Of course, all other firepower will still work since it's kinetic. Of course, time is limited, but we can try, right? If the scientists assemble several units, hmm? We could also try playing with the torpedoes. A plasmoid can be disrupted with a laser if you know how. And you're in luck; I know how. The power of mathematics is with me. Also, having engines, we can make missiles out of engines and reactors. Expensive, but if we anticipate an attack... It's not hard."
The AI fell silent, clearly conferring with leadership while simultaneously working on the frigate schematic. What I'm proposing is a risk. The Covenant might not show up at all, or they might arrive right in the middle of the preparation and resources will simply be wasted. It might not work. Building frigates at another shipyard is possible, but there's a risk they simply won't arrive in time. The Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine, responsible for moving through slipspace, is quite slow on its own.
By the way, a note: work on the human engines. The speeds they produce are so low that the crew has to be kept in hibernation. I need more precise schematics; I'm sure I can squeeze some additional speed out even without a radical redesign of the engine. But that's for later; now we need to think about applying what's available at the local shipyards. The best and riskiest option: assembly on-site. Largely manual, but there should be enough resources. But will they agree?
"The Vice Admiral partially agrees. Trying to build a defense en masse and hastily introducing experimental technologies is irrational, agreed?" I nodded, "Therefore, your request is denied. But you can help with the organization, and the Vice Admiral is also interested in studying your laser frigate project."
I snorted.
"The defense still won't be enough. My idea was to inflict critical damage on the vanguard group and give time for a reaction. Missiles and MACs against large ships, laser defense against strike craft. But the speed and ability to transmit information are also limited. I would compare the situation to trying to explain a fusion reaction equation with gestures. Possible, but there are so many 'buts'..."
"We can deliver the message; I'm connecting you to the planning conference room," Black Box reported, allocating a channel.
Well, I'll do what I can.
***
Orbit of the planet Gilock. The cruiser Hearth Guardian.
Captain Snake, standing on the bridge of the old Halcyon-class cruiser Hearth Guardian, thought while looking at the bridge's tactical screen. A large square room with screens along the walls, and the front wall consisting of armored transparent polymer. Yes, a window into space—not the smartest solution. The crew sits at their stations in front of monitors; a pair of soldiers stands guard at the entrance. Several screens are prepared for the captain. A tactical one with a map, a ship status screen, and a small projector for the ship's AI.
In total, besides the captain and soldiers, there are twelve people on the bridge in identical red-gray uniforms. Now, after all the preparations, they allowed themselves to relax a bit. A probable Covenant attack could be a problem, or it might not. As the military leadership was informed, the planet was a transport hub for the rebels too; there are no guarantees they followed the Cole Protocol and erased all interstellar coordinates during the destruction of New Hansa. The captain sighed. What scum, even their destruction harms humanity. Better if they had just vanished. All of them. But we have what we have.
ONI is almost certain the enemy will get these coordinates and is evacuating the planet, clearing out everything they can. More precisely, they are evacuating what's important. Specialists and equipment. The population is on a residual basis, if they have time. What they don't have time to evacuate, they are hastily preparing for use. Rumor has it they converted a stock of frigate engines into makeshift plasma missiles.
"Jonas, any sign of The Covenant?"
On command ships, Smart AIs are present almost always, if not always. A small, palm-sized AI hologram at the tactical screen confirmed. A man in military uniform, quite nondescript. Jonas doesn't particularly care about his avatar. Rumor has it there are more exotic appearances for AIs; for example, Vice Admiral Margaret Parangosky's is just a black cube.
"No sign, sir. We have completed the installation of the experimental laser point-defense unit."
A new ONI toy sent two weeks ago. Different prototypes are being installed on different ships. Tests, understandably. But so many and so different. As the task force commander, he knows more. Shield prototypes, laser AA, various modernizations. On different ships to determine what will work and what won't. A careful inquiry with the technicians confirmed that the current version of the laser system is only part of what it should eventually be. A serious cooling system should come with the gun, but its installation in current conditions is simply impossible. Therefore, only the aft section is being installed.
Ordered to combine it with the ship's reactor cooling system, as it heats up like a beast and could bake everything alive in the adjacent compartments. A kind of anti-saboteur defense, in a sense. It comes with a dumb AI as a fire control system. It's supposed to protect the ship from torpedoes, in theory. The crew doesn't participate in the aiming at all. The crew's attitude toward this approach... is debatable. No, an AI is a friend, comrade, and colleague, but the fact that a weapon on your ship chooses its own targets—considering everyone knows about such a thing as Rampancy... It's slightly unnerving.
Even if it's a dumb AI, which doesn't go insane. ONI could also install a self-destruct system so it doesn't fall to the enemy. Who knows when an ONI officer will decide it's time to hide the information.
"Do you think it will work?"
The AI looked at the ship status screen and only then replied:
"I don't know, sir. The calculations are favorable; enemy torpedoes and strike craft will potentially be hit. Theoretically. If it works, we got the best of the prototypes. Otherwise, new calculations will be needed."
Expected. On the other hand, who are we to complain, right? If this weapon actually saves lives. Conventional AA autocannons are completely useless against a flying plasma ball. If they can destabilize the plasmoid and it explodes, that will be a victory. IF it can. There are doubts. And if the Covies actually show up. Not that anyone is complaining about their delay. Ultimately, the alarm went off two days later, when everyone had already begun to relax fully. A few more quiet curses were heard on the bridge than expected. The analysts' forecast this time was accurate. Killingly accurate.
"Contact! Something is emerging from slipspace! No ships on the plot!" the watch officer reported.
The captain leaned forward, looking at the map. Too far, almost the other side of the planet, to see. But sk-
The scanners will solve this problem. A few seconds later, markers began to appear, and an alarm blared overhead. The Covenant has found us. Likely, most of them will die today saving the evacuation transports.
"Prepare for battle. Let's see what this new system can do."
The Covenant vanguard—two dozen frigates, three carriers, and ten cruisers—against a human force three times larger, plus battle stations. The frigates were mostly pulled back; they would be ineffective against the enemy's capital ships anyway. They are being used as additional evacuation vessels. For defense against the current enemy forces, what we have is more than enough, but this is only the vanguard. The rest of the fleet will be ten times larger. We need a heavy fleet here, and there's nowhere to get one.
"The enemy is launching aviation. Good. I don't think the vanguard will act too boldly. The Covenant understands their forces are thin. But they will look for holes in our defense and bomb us."
The first blow was taken by a small station at the pole. The Covenant didn't even bother to land troops; one of the cruisers simply hovered, then a plasma torpedo marker appeared, and the signal vanished. Covenant aviation circled the area for a while longer, likely searching for survivors and feeling out the edges of our defense while the ships took positions. Several more small settlements burned in the process. No one will help them, and no one will help us. If we break formation, when the main forces arrive, they will simply tear into us. Besides, those settlements are small.
"They're holding tight, just like us. A convenient target for the MAC. Terrible for aviation."
We are too, on the other hand. Ultimately, the cruisers formed up opposite the main human defensive line. Loose enough for maneuvers, but tight enough so the Covenant couldn't perform a micro-jump inside the formation. The Covie ships lined up. It's about to begin.
"Launch aviation. Prepare to repel air raids," and to give them a boost, "prepare to fire the MAC. Let's warm them up. Prepare for torpedo evasion maneuvers. Fire when ready."
It started; scanners detected energy buildup.
"Get ready! Keep the strike craft on the flanks; the Covenant will surely land troops on the planet below. We need to protect the orbital defense systems from sabotage. We need to buy time for the evacuees."
The Covenant knows and loves to perform various nerve-wracking attacks, such as flanking maneuvers and micro-jumps. Even with a good force ratio, a Covenant ship can cause a mass of problems by appearing in the middle of a formation and unleashing a volley of torpedoes and plasma cannons. Or by transferring aviation for bombing and landing troops. Or by capturing orbital defense systems with landing parties and destroying them or opening fire on human ships. But in such a direct confrontation, we have something to answer with.
"Fire."
The ship didn't even flinch when the MAC fired a triple volley. One percent of the speed of light is three thousand kilometers per second. It's impossible to spot. Neighboring ships fired another, and another. In response, plasma bolts flew back, each like a small and very bright sun. A very fast and very angry sun. In moments like these, you realize that having the bridge in the forward section of the ship, facing the enemy, is an utterly foolish decision. In the event of a plasma torpedo hit, it would simply be blown away along with everyone inside. In a direct fight, we have excellent chances; the strength of the MAC lies in its massive kinetic energy—even if it doesn't penetrate the armor, it will grind the internals to dust and crush the structural frame.
Of course, the Covenant has shields, and they have their torpedoes, which vaporize our ships just as easily. With one small caveat: to fire a torpedo volley, a shield section must be lowered. We are on equal footing, and there are more of us.
"Volley away," the gunner reported.
Another triple pulse of 160-ton slugs went toward its target. A hit confirmation appeared. You can't see it from this distance, but the Covie frigate should be torn to pieces. On the other side, plasma bolts slammed into the bows of four human cruisers and a dozen frigates. Judging by the flashes, the frigates were simply vaporized; the cruisers fared differently. Two clearly lost control, one showed internal detonations, and the last is maneuvering—it looks like the evasion attempt almost succeeded, and only a few outer sections were sheared off; that happens too. A plasmoid aimed at the Hearth Guardian met a short flash and exploded, temporarily blinding the ship. When it cleared, it was obvious: success.
"It works!"
That completely unprofessional shout perfectly showed the mood on the bridge. The protection works! The plasma sphere that would have vaporized part of the ship exploded when its balance was disrupted! It was worth it.
"Relay to the ONI ship: the protection works. They need to know."
"Yes, sir!" the comms officer replied cheerfully.
Such is space combat; it's chess. The enemy makes a move, and we have something to answer with. We are alive. We make a move; a MAC shot disrupts a torpedo launcher's operation, and the Covenant ship vaporizes from its own volley. Now they don't have a ship, but two halves, front and back.
"Aviation incoming on us."
"Target locked," a monotonous voice reported, and then the markers began to disappear.
The Captain leaned forward to see what it looked like through the glass. You could barely see it—quick flashes. Aiming takes more time than the shot itself.
"Laser system heat?"
"Ninety."
Within normal limits. Rate of fire 0.7. That means each barrel puts out fourteen pulses in ten seconds. Excellent. The mount itself is multi-barreled, apparently to reduce heat or for greater vector coverage, as the barrels are grouped in fours and can aim independently. This thing is damn good.
"They're launching missiles!"
"Correcting," the monotonous voice of the targeting system reported.
Not an AI, just voicing commands. The missile dots began to disappear even faster than the fighters. On the other side, our interceptors are driving them off. Even the Covies don't want to die.
"The station exploded!"
This time, the bright flash was visible to the naked eye. Then another.
"Report?" But the Captain already knew what he would hear.
"Enemy sabotage teams, boarding parties."
That's what they do. Boarding craft cut an entrance for the enemy; they drag a bomb on board and detonate it, often without caring about the survivors on board. The stations are quite tough and fast-firing, and it's easier for the Covies to use boarders than to sacrifice ships.
"Fourteen is holding, sir. The exploded stations were numbers thirteen and fifteen."
Thus, fourteen was left alone after the explosion, but it's holding.
"Does fourteen have the liquid shield, Jonas?"
The AI nodded.
"Yes, sir. I venture to guess that the shield is preventing the boarding pods from docking."
Unexpected and good. When the shields were being mounted, the technicians laughed because projector dishes were installed to create windows in the shield around the guns. Damage to such a dish prevents firing and makes the station a bit more useless. But as long as the shields hold, the Covies are forced to think about how to pick through the defense.
"A torpedo volley hit station fourteen. No damage, but several Phantoms broke through," the AI reported, noticing the commander's interest.
"I hope they can handle it."
This thing is a hell of a target. Covenant strike craft lost more than half their strength in a direct fight with Firebrand (Fighter)s, fired their missiles, and retreated. The laser system successfully switched to the new torpedoes, detonating them with rare but much stronger volleys and creating an "umbrella" around the ship. If they haven't come up with a name, that fits perfectly. Umbrella.
"Station fourteen held. The Covenant is continuing the bombardment."
Well, wonderful; that's what's required of it. To stay alive. Especially since two more stations blew up. Seriously, these laser turrets need to be put there; the Covenant flies in like they're visiting. And this new point-defense system is good. If, according to the data on the screen, a Covenant Phantom needs five or six hits, torpedoes or missiles only need one powerful one. The beam structure is changed to disrupt the plasmoid, as they explained. And it heats the system by thirty degrees immediately, yes. So anti-torpedo volleys require about five seconds for cooling.
Currently, eight turrets are installed. That means eight torpedoes at once. Those that won't be cooled by the reactor, according to the transferred blueprints, will cool for fourteen seconds. Still too good. Though expensive, I imagine. Not surprising if the eggheads eventually create specialized point-defense ships to save money. The Captain himself would put these lasers on everything possible.
"Volley!"
Another marker vanished from the radar.
"Torpedo attack! Point-blank!"
The ship shuddered under the groan of bending metal. That was close.
"Evasive! What? From where?"
A look at the tactical screen made him grit his teeth. A micro-jump to the edge of the formation, and a discharge of the entire arsenal in firing-range conditions; the cruisers and the nearest station are falling to pieces under the plasma rain so brightly it's visible to the naked eye. The most disgusting thing is that the humans can only grit their teeth in response and wish they could do the same. The Magnetic Accelerator Cannon (MAC) is tied to the rotation of the entire hull, the slipspace drive is slow and inaccurate, and the Covenant knows how to perform very precise micro-jumps right in the middle of a battle. It seems they are tired of being targets and are breaking our formation.
"Shifting to the breakthrough point, point-defense system: priority on torpedoes."
"Correcting."
Damn, this was bound to happen. Plus, some of the ships are re-forming and aren't firing at the remaining enemy group. Shit. Shit! But expected!
"One destroyed."
The stations did their job. They are quite tough and have both MACs and launchers. And they hold the flanks against such breakthroughs and gutted the attacker, who had lowered part of their shields for the point-blank torpedo attack. Unfortunately, the bastard still managed to fire, and another cruiser is struggling to maneuver with a hole in its hull. But we are still alive.
"Continue firing on the main group; we'll finish the second one."
To himself, the commander cursed; these rotations take time. Also, enemy aviation realized they had no luck here and is attacking with harassing volleys from different directions. At least they left the colony alone. Flashes are visible on the planet's surface; sabotage teams are attacking the orbital defense systems. Not particularly successfully; the ground towers got the water shields. What nonsense? Well, okay, not water, but "magnetic liquid," as the eggheads said. An hour ago he would have laughed, but station fourteen is stubbornly alive. The marker of another Covie carrier vanished from the radars. Excellent, the first group is half destroyed. And then, five enemy cruisers disappeared at once.
"Micro-jump! Everyone get ready!"
They are pulling us apart, forcing us to maneuver. But where? Where did they jump? To the strongest point-defense ship here?
"Aim at the Boundless Will, for the rear groups!"
He guessed right. Three cruisers appeared near the ship at once, two more in the rear of the rear group. And now they can only hope for the stations while the Covenant tears into the sterns of the human ships with torpedoes. The frigates and stations will tear them apart, but these ships will manage to inflict their share of damage. In a melee, the human fleet has almost no chance at all. The Covies know this and take advantage. Such suicide ships are extremely dangerous. If the Covies ever think of an automated torpedo launcher with a slipspace drive, it's over for humans. Or not.
Three cruisers fired a torpedo volley at five human ships, and our point-defense system is handling what was supposed to hit us and one other neighbor. Enough so that both ships live. It's overheating, about to cross three hundred degrees, but it's working. The machine makes shot after shot with perfect synchronicity. Rotation-flash. Rotation-flash. But the Covies don't just have torpedoes. They also have weaker plasma cannons and aviation. The ship shuddered from hits. Alarms wailed and decompressions appeared. On the other hand, our ships and the Covenant are now facing opposite directions. If we don't blow up, we can turn around and gun down the enemy.
"Begin turn, prepare for volley. Missiles on target three!"
One of the enemy ships lost its shields. A suicidal attack, as I said. Archer missiles are ineffective against shielded targets. Without them and at point-blank? The ship was torn apart very quickly, and its hole-riddled hulk, deforming, began to drift in the void. The second enemy ship lost its shields and met the same fate as the first, while the third rushed to retreat.
"Fire."
Running away from ships with MACs pointed at you is not the best idea. You'll just die tired, ha. The enemy ship lost its shields, and then a slug gutted the engine, causing a detonation. The rear part of the enemy cruiser bloomed like a flower, burning with blue flame.
"Damage report?"
It's bad. Breaches along the hull, two new point-defense turrets knocked out. One engine isn't responding; speed is reduced. Plus damage in other places. Not all that bad—the ship is tough—but combat effectiveness is lowered.
"Oh gods..."
The Captain turned to the tactical screen to see new markers. The main fleet has arrived.
"That's why the vanguard acted so boldly. They were preparing the field for the main fleet. We will win as much time as we can. Get ready."
***
Khaela, Councilor 18-436.
So, minus two colonies in a month. An unpleasant trend, especially since humans lost both battles. On the other hand, my developments were utilized, which I was informed of after the fact, by the Vice Admiral personally.
"Laser protection controlled by a primitive AI performed even too well. Yes, it's a bit expensive, but it allows for the complete neutralization of torpedoes or aviation from one Covenant cruiser-class ship. Or reduces the damage from three by pushing the system to its limits. It's a success."
They assembled the turrets literally by hand from scrap materials to manage the test. Impressive. Not applicable for mass production, but one or two ships can be equipped. And no one told me anything.
"I am more impressed by the assembly speed than the expected result, Vice Admiral," I snorted, "but I assume there are other results?"
She nodded, keeping a stony face.
"A group of ground bases was reinforced with a liquid shield. Magnetic liquid and power fields holding the structure. They were suppressed by orbital strike after two dozen attempts to storm the facility, at the cost of several ships. The Covenant tried to capture the complex by combining landings and bombardment, unsuccessfully. Of course, the Spartans at the facility also did their part and then retreated with the data. But it's a success."
It's logical to assume that the infantry was sacrificed so that the Covenant would finally hit the complex with an orbital strike. In the end, a Marine is just a unit in the statistics. Two or three of those for one Covenant Elite—pure mathematics.
"Good," I nodded, "I assume you want to discuss other projects?"
Black Box replied:
"The success has allowed for increased funding for your projects. As an employee, you are subject to general rules."
But not when it concerns freedom of activity; I know that. Parangosky continued:
"I was asked to remind you of the problems with the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engines. The ships are too slow, and if we are talking about modernization, we should solve as many problems as possible to standardize the ships so there is no need to constantly retrofit them."
On one hand, true. On the other...
"There are problems with the technologies. The modernization potential is limited by access to energy and internal space."
The Vice Admiral nodded.
"That's correct. But now that your projects have a credit of trust and funding, that is less of a problem. Continue like this, and resources will be allocated."
The avatar nodded, fluffing its tails to the maximum.
"Listen then to my wisdom! I propose starting with..."
***
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