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Chapter Three: The Endeavor Of The Endeavor
It was 0700 hours standard time when Captain Mei Lin entered the bridge of her starship CSS Endeavor to take command. Moving towards the Captain’s chair, the 36 year old from Hong Kong saw her bridge crew furiously working away to see the ship maintained and running. The bridge itself was a typical layout for a Belligerence-class assault carrier, two seats at the front for the pilot and forward tactical operator, one behind that for the auxiliary tactical seat and communications, and one more for the commanding officer in the rear. At the pilot controls on the left sat the 22 year old red-head from Tarsius Ensign Jessica Bailey, right next to her sat the 24 year old of Hispanic descent Ensign Yolanda Alvarez. They were the eyes and teeth of the Endeavor. In the middle seat was the 30 year old from Vancouver Lieutenant Commander Ellie Richards who was also second in command, she was the communications link to the rest of the galaxy. Captain Lin had personally requested these three assigned to her ship as they were professional in their duties and well-skilled at performing them.
“Ship status Casell?” quizzed Captain Lin as she took to her chair.
“Engine crew reports all systems green, tactical scope is clear, and Miss Richards reports there has been very little of interest on the comm. channels.“ replied Casell the ship’s Artificial Intelligence.
“Good, it seems we might have a relatively uneventful patrol this time.” Lin said.
The Endeavor was currently docked in high orbit at the Terran military outpost world of New Sparta on the fringes of Terran-controlled space. She was deployed there from the Centauri sector not too far from Earth after reports that the Preyarans had lately been increasing their probing attempts. The Preyarans themselves were seemingly high elf like humanoids from the planet Preyara. A warrior race, they held great value for fighting and also for personal honor. They had been in a cold war kind of conflict with the Terrans for decades after the Terrans allied themselves with the Preyarans’ long-time enemies, the feline humanoid Feyline of the planet Coreal. The Feyline themselves called this cold war the Endless Conflict for the continuous hostile relations between the two races for centuries. It originally began as an epic struggle started by the Feyline and it spanned across both sides’ territory. During the course of the initial conflict, both sides waged back and forth struggle with no clear victor. Late in that period the Feyline had several splintering factions. One group the Feyline Exiles left the galaxy to Andromeda to evade the war; they have only recently come back into regular communication with the Corealite Feyline. Another group sought a different route to fight the Preyarans but ended up at Earth in the twenty-first century; they were defeated in a hidden struggle against the Terrans. A third group stayed true to defending Coreal and the other Feyline worlds. The war then devolved quietly into what it is now. Over time skirmishes and small fights would periodically break out and sometimes even seem to escalate. But new friends came in during this time. The Feyline themselves came across a Terran starship and was very nearly attacked but managed to avoid confrontation. During the subsequent events, the prior contact of the Terrans by the Feyline was discovered, the history behind what happened and even a means of reconciliation between the two races. Since then the Terrans have forgiven and moved on and fifty years ago the Terrans formally allied themselves with the Feyline in what is now called the Starlight Alliance. The Endeavor is one such vessel in this friendship.
Captain Lin took her seat and ordered the immediate launch of the Endeavor. Miss Bailey piloted the ship away from docking and pointed the ship outwards for space. The engines fired up to life, and the ship began its journey. Over the next hour the Endeavor moved at sublight speed to escape the local gravity well of New Sparta. Upon reaching the L5 La Grange Point of New Sparta the ship engaged its Minovski drive to break the barriers between real space and subspace and warped away in a brilliant flash.
“Jump successful Captain” said Casell.
“Excellent piloting Miss Bailey!” Captain Lin responded.
“Bring us on course to rendezvous at sector 6 grid pattern 225601” she continued.
“Aye aye” Miss Bailey responded.
“So what are we actually doing this round?” Commander Richards quizzed.
“Simply put we’re linking up with the destroyer Argo and the frigate Lucky Five to investigate a series of Minovski signatures consistent with Preyaran warp jumps.” Lin explained. “But this shouldn’t take very long nor should we expect any contact. In and out, quick and easy this should be.”
“Well then it sounds like we’ll be back at New Sparta in time for dinner. I’m assuming you’re cooking this time Captain?” Miss Alvarez questioned.
“Me? Cooking?!?!? Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! I can’t ever get rice to cook right! Why should I trust my cooking? We all know what happened last time!” Captain Lin replied humorously.
“Well, somebody’s gotta do dinner then! We were not scheduled for another patrol tour for another two weeks!” Richards noted.
“Indeed, we weren’t scheduled, so how about this? If we get back in time for dinner, I’ll buy everyone’s.” Captain Lin admitted.
“Works for me!” Alvarez said joyously.
“I can go for that!” Miss Bailey replied.
“Now you know we’re going to have to hold you to that Captain.” Miss Richards said humorously.
“And you’ll have to remember to bring me this time too!” Casell said.
“Sure you can come.” Lin replied sarcastically.
“Just remember I’m part of this ship too.” Casell returned.
“Then just get back to the task at hand!” Lin replied.
Casell silenced and left the bridge crew as they were. Captain Lin raised her hand to her forehead and said to herself “That Casell, one of these days she’s gonna drive us crazy!”
The Endeavor continued her journey in subspace for another two hours before emerging in real space near the edge of Terran space. A second ship the Argo, could be seen approaching.
“Contact established with the Argo Captain Lin.” Casell said.
“Excellent, but where is the Lucky Five?” Captain Lin replied.
“Subspace sensors indicate the CSS Lucky Five is approximately 250,456,000 kilometers and closing fast.” Casell answered.
“Guess they must be running late…” Captain Lin said.
At that same moment the speaker system opened up. “CSS Argo to CSS Endeavor, I see you guys made it! Captain Lin is aboard I presume?” said the Argo’s commanding officer Commander Neil Patrick.
Captain Lin replied humorously. “Present and accounted for, how you guys doing over there?”
“Everything checks out green, we’re just waiting on the Lucky Five like you are.” Patrick replied.
The two ships continued holding their positions for another 5 minutes when the Lucky Five finally emerged into real space. After a quick introduction the three ships aligned in formation and proceeded on course to investigate their objective of the anomalous Minovski particle readings. When they got close enough to determine what the signatures were, they were caught by something they truly did not expect.
“Contact! Preyaran warships! Range 25,054.65 kilometers and closing!” Miss Alvarez alerted. “Ship configuration likely indicates hostile contact!”
“This is the Captain, all hands to General Quarters! I repeat, all hands to General Quarters! Preyaran vessels detected in hostile configuration! This is not a drill! I repeat! This is not a drill!” Captain Lin shouted into the ship-wide intercom system.
The ship’s crew immediately sprang to action, securing all compartments and prepping the ship for combat. On the Endeavor’s flight line, the crews and pilots of the Talon Strike Fighters hurriedly prepped themselves to launch. Back on the bridge, a serious tone took over the bridge crew.
“Commander Patrick? This is Captain Lin! I’m bringing my ship to combat ready status, how copy over?”
“Captain Lin, this is Commander Patrick, our ship is at General Quarters as well, Lucky Five reports her status is combat ready, my systems read we have 1 Assault Carrier 2 cruisers and 2 destroyers making up the Preyaran group!”
“We read the same thing Commander! Stand by to engage but do not fire until they prove their intentions as hostile!” Captain Lin finished.
Just that moment a torrent of Minovski beam fire raked by their positions and hit the Lucky Five repeatedly. The Lucky Five had been skewered in multiple places, explosions and venting were visible in many areas as the frigate twisted into a spin.
“Casell, radio the Lucky Five get them to withdraw! Say again! Get the Lucky Five to withdraw!” Captain Lin ordered.
Just that moment the Lucky Five buckled under the damage it had sustained, explosions ripped through her hull, before culminating in a single bright blast. The frigate and her entire 160 man crew were gone. The synthetic sounds of the battle still rang on the Endeavor’s speakers. Captain Lin was visibly taken aback.
“Return fire, scramble all fighters and return fire!” she ordered.
The Endeavor’s main Minovski cannons on the topside flashed to life with a barrage of fire. The main Gemini missile batteries also fired several groups toward the Preyaran squadron. Visible from the outside, Talon Strike Fighters began launching from the Endeavor as the Argo opened up with her own weaponry. Several bolts slammed into the Preyaran fleet, and the point defenses flashed away trying to intercept the Gemini missiles. Several of these missiles slammed into the lead Preyaran destroyer and knocked it into a tumble. The remaining 4 ships fired again with their own missiles and cannon. The Argo took several hits to her right side from cannon fire just as the Endeavor’s point defense system intercepted the bulk of the Preyaran missiles.
Aboard the bridge of the Endeavor, Captain Lin and her crew worked furiously to protect the ship and the Argo. Realizing the battle was currently unfavorable Captain Lin messaged the Argo.
“Commander Patrick! Withdraw your ship! We’ll cover your retreat!”
“Radio all fighters to concentrate their fire on the cruisers!"
“Miss Alvarez, lock on to the lead cruiser and bring those bastards down!” Captain Lin ordered.
The Endeavor’s guns flashed out again in another torrent of fire. The lead Preyaran cruiser took multiple hits from this barrage and had multiple venting explosions rip across the front. That cruiser then set a course to withdraw. Now down to one ship herself and the enemy at 3, Captain Lin knew this was a much more fair fight given the Preyarans’ ability to fight in space.
Meanwhile, the lead Talon squadron designated the Jolly Rogers, continued to push through the maze of anti-aircraft fire, missiles and the Preyarans’ own Mirai fighters on the way to their target the other remaining cruiser still active in the battle. Talon fighters were the best in this part of the galaxy, able to outrun, outgun and outturn a Mirai in not only terrestrial combat, but in space as well. However, this superiority was not significant enough to warrant a default win. It had been observed multiple times that a good Mirai pilot could beat the average Talon pilot, but fortunately for the Jolly Rogers, they were the best squadron outside of the Home Fleet. Their squadron leader Captain Roy Jansen already had over 25 Mirai kills in various incidents over the years. As the battle raged around, Jansen positioned his Talon to the lower right of the cruiser as 3 other Jolly Rogers aligned in formation behind him. They fired on the ship, releasing over two dozen ATA-14 Thunderbolt missiles at the target. The point defenses on the cruiser shifted some of their fire towards this attack but only partially succeeded in the ship’s defense. Several of the missiles then slammed into the cruiser’s hull and burst apart in a quick flash. The damage wasn’t too impressive, but for a ship only twelve hundred meters at its longest, it constituted a significant amount. Jansen’s group sped past the ship and re-rotated into firing position again. This time they raked the middle part with Minovski cannon fire provided by each Talon’s four 30mm Gatling cannon. Hundreds of shots impacted along the ship’s left side. Meanwhile, another flight of six Talons from the Jolly Rogers came in at a high z-angle and delivered a pounding of missile and cannon fire onto the ship’s top side. At that moment, more incoming fire came in from the Endeavor and struck the cruiser amidships. The cruiser could no longer suffer such an assault and dropped into a tilt. Jansen knew this was the time to strike and finish it off. Rallying as much of his squadron as he could, he brought the group of Talons to bear on the damaged Preyaran ship’s engines. Releasing all the ordnance they could, their attack succeeded. The ship’s engine’s blew wide open and took the ship with it. Before they could move to finish off the carrier, Jansen and his flight would however need to first take on the Preyaran’s own fighter wing.
Captain Lin now knew the battle was shifting in her favor, but she also knew her ship was taking a beating. Several shots and missiles had impacted the Endeavor during the duel with the cruiser and the bridge was currently in disarray in part because of that. But with only two functional ships remaining and the third knocked out of fighting capacity, Captain Lin also knew one more decisive strike on the Preyarans would finish this battle.
“Stand by all remaining weapons and target them towards the carrier!” She ordered.
Miss Alvarez and Miss Richards divided up the targeting amongst each other as Miss Bailey kept the ship under control. But before they could fire the ship came under attack by the opposing carrier’s own fighters.
Now Jansen had to act fast, radio transmissions constantly went back and forth through his comm. system. Some of it detailing his squadron being caught up fighting against Preyaran Defensive Drones from the enemy carrier, some detailing other elements of the battle but the most important one was the call that Endeavor had come under attack by Preyaran Mirais. Knowing as Lin knew, the battle would be won or lost based on Endeavor’s ability to fight. Therefore he switched his radio to broadcast.
“All Roger callsigns! This is Roger Leader! Pull back and re-group at the Endeavor! I repeat! Pull back and re-group at the Endeavor! We gotta get the Preyarans’ fighters away from the ship!”
Every fighter of the Jolly Rogers immediately made a break for their ship running as fast as their boosters could accelerate them. As they drew closer to Endeavor, the Preyaran carrier opened up its own fire against the Terran ship.
The point defense guns and missile systems had lit up all over the Endeavor, she was under attack by a little over three dozen Mirai fighters. A few of the enemy fighters had been knocked out by gun and missile fire, but the rest proved difficult to hit in this high velocity battle. One Mirai flew in close and fired a pair of its missiles at the ship before veering away. The missiles slammed into the hull right below the bridge. A massive jolt jostled the bridge crew around in their restraints. A nearby oxygen line burst open into flames on the bridge itself. Before the fire suppression systems could kick in however...
“Get your helmets on! Everyone get your helmets on!” Captain Lin ordered to her bridge crew.
She knew fire in a starship was not a good thing and in the low gravity environment on a ship like the Endeavor, that and the debris still suspended in the ship’s atmosphere would pose an increasing hazard. The crew quickly put their environment helmets on and connected them to their suits. As the damaged fire suppression system kicked on to contain the oxygen fire, a round of Minovski beams bracketed the right side of the ship. An explosion resulted from this near Alvarez’s position immediately tearing the restraints apart and throwing her into the terminal where Commander Richards was. Ensign Alvarez came to a rest after her helmet slammed side first into the terminal, and immediately stopped moving.
“Ensign Alvarez! Are you okay! Alvarez! Yolanda! Wake up! Bailey! Take over tactical! Casell! Keep the ship on evasive maneuvers! Richards! Tend to Miss Alvarez!” Captain Lin shouted over the situation.
The situation was now growing frightening for Captain Lin; she had never seen such a battering on her ship. Yet she knew she had to remain strong above all else and keep her own fear suppressed. Every life aboard the Endeavor was her responsibility, her charge and care and she wanted more than anything else to see her crews safely back home. Miss Richards sprang to tend to Miss Alvarez and it became clear she was pretty badly hurt. A stream of crimson blood could be seen through Alvarez’s helmet visor on the left side of her head and multiple burn scorches and minor tears were visible on her suit. Richards got Alvarez’s helmet off to take a look at the extent of the injured shipmate. A very visible gash across the left side of her head from just above the ear all the way to the top of the temporal bone bled a slow but steady amount. Commander Richards immediately got a cloth from a nearby first aid kit and pressed hard against Ensign Alvarez’s injury in an effort to stop the bleeding. Two more missile impacts on the hull shook the bridge as Miss Bailey worked furiously to switch over the tactical controls to her panel. Now faced with the prospect she may lose her ship and having an injured bridge crew, Captain Lin briefly considered a retreat but not before receiving the most wonderful message she had heard in a long time.
“CSS Endeavor This is Captain Roy Jansen of Fighter Wing 108, stand by intercept! Comin’ down! Guns! Guns! Guns!” The Jolly Rogers had made it back.
Jansen turned his Talon perpendicular with the Endeavor and a flight of five more followed his lead. They opened up with a hail of Minovski cannon fire just off the direction of the ship. The torrent of particles ripped through several passing Mirais causing them to vaporize in bright flashes of light, the synthetic sounds of which still reverberating through the audio system. To his right a second formation of twelve Talons came to the Endeavor’s left flank and began their run on the enemy craft. Another two Mirai fighters were bagged before the rest of the Jolly Rogers arrived. Each formation then scattered to engage the remaining Preyaran fighters still pounding the Endeavor who’s own defenses were lit up like a Christmas tree. Jansen maneuvered his ship in a firing position on two enemy fighters with a third trying to maneuver to his rear. He hastily got a missile lock on the fighter to the left of his nose, fired two Thunderbolts which impacted and then immediately switched to guns in order to tackle the one right in front of him. The Mirai veered right and then down in order to try and shake him, Jansen kept in pursuit trying to line up a decent shot. Suddenly the Mirai cut its engines, hooked around in place and now faced Jansen directly. A quick thirty shot burst came from the Mirai’s own three 25mm Minovski autocannons. Jansen pushed his control sticks forward immediately dropping his Talon below the incoming fire. The shots barely grazed by, but before he could re-maneuver into position, the Mirai on his rear fired two missiles at Jansen’s fighter. Jansen had only two options, perform a risky dodge, or deploy his counter-drones to try and “kill” the incoming missiles. He had already expended most of his during the attacks on the enemy ships and felt they might not work in this short distance. Thinking fast, he instead engaged his boosters to full power and sped away from the previous fight to try and gain some distance. The missiles tracked and followed behind at a scarily close distance of three kilometers and keeping up. Jansen had no alternative, he cut the power to the boosters and immediately pulled his sticks to the left, then pulled the left control stick back and push the right one forward. The Talon immediately engaged its maneuvering thrusters, rolled partly and pivoted along a point near the left wing. The missiles came within only a few meters before the maneuver caused them to lose their lock and fly off into space. The g-forces from such a maneuver were strong but Jansen knew he made the dodge. Re-engaging his engines and re-orientating to the fight he just left, he decided the two fighters were no longer worth closing in on. The two Mirais had been trying to keep up but now faced themselves off against Jansen for the last time. Close enough for missile lock, Jansen made a multi-target lock on the two fighters and expended the last eight Thunderbolts he had left in his missile racks. Four missiles impacted the left fighter and obliterated it completely. Three of the rest were distracted by the second Mirai’s own counter-drones, but the fourth hit it in the cockpit killing the pilot instantly before the craft disintegrated into a thousand pieces.
From his view now, Jansen could see the battle raging around the Endeavor as his squadron chipped away the remaining Mirais, he had arrived just in time to prevent the ship from being overwhelmed but the battle’s damage was clearly evident. He knew the one remaining ship still partaking in the battle had to be neutralized. With the other squadron from the Endeavor likely wiped out already, the duty of winning this battle now fell either on Captain Lin’s or Captain Jansen’s shoulders.
Meanwhile on the bridge of the Endeavor, Miss Bailey had just finished transferring Alvarez’s controls over to her station. With full tactical abilities now back available, Captain Lin knew now was the time to finish the battle.
“Ready Miss Bailey?” she said.
“Tactical control ready! Just say the word.” Bailey replied.
The air was thick with smoke and uneasiness, and with Richards still tending to the severely injured Alvarez, the situation was dire. Yet there was one small moment of solace knowing the ship could fight well again.
“Stand by full weapons spread! Everything we got left, aim it at that carrier! Either we kill it or force a withdrawal; those are the only choices we have. Failure or retreat right now is not an option.” Captain Lin commanded to Miss Bailey.
“Aye aye ma’am! Targeting all remaining weapons systems on the Preyaran carrier.” She replied.
This was it, Captain Lin knew she had only chance left.
“Fire…” She said to Bailey.
Every weapons battery on the ship lit up as Minovski cannon fire and missiles streamed towards the enemy ship. As before, the point defenses lit up to intercept the missiles but it wasn’t enough. A multitude of impacts slammed along the hull of the Preyaran carrier, bright flashes of light signaling the explosions both from outside and from within. The enemy ship had no choice left, with its fighter wing largely decimated and now suffering significant damage itself, it withdrew from the fight. As the remaining Mirais pulled away towards their retreating ship, Captain Jansen knew this battle was over, and he knew Captain Lin knew as well.
“All hostile vessels accounted for as withdrawn or destroyed.” Casell reported to Captain Lin. Captain Lin responded with a massive sigh of relief.
“Casell, send word to General Jameson, that the Minovski signatures were Preyaran warships. Report enemy hostilities and the Lucky Five’s destruction. Additionally, send word that both Argo and Endeavor have suffered heavy damage.” She told the A.I. However she then looked over at Richards.
“How’s Alvarez?...Miss Richards? Ellie?”
Miss Richards was visibly fighting back tears “She’s…she’s gone…”.
The realization of Alvarez’s death hit Captain Lin like a battering ram. All this fighting on what should have been a routine if impromptu patrol and it cost the lives of hundreds like Alvarez’s and the crew of the Lucky Five. She thought to herself that the endless conflict is going to have to end sometime and it better end soon in order to stop the skirmishes, stop the bickering, and stop the seemingly pointless deaths like Alvarez’s. One day there would be open war, maybe not from this, but something in the not very distant future….
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