Table of Contents
Ace Books by Jack Campbell
THE LOST FLEET: DAUNTLESS
THE LOST FLEET: FEARLESS
THE LOST FLEET: COURAGEOUS
THE LOST FLEET: VALIANT
THE LOST FLEET: RELENTLESS
THE LOST FLEET: VICTORIOUS
THE LOST FLEET: BEYOND THE FRONTIER: DREADNAUGHT
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
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This is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
Copyright 2011 by John G. Hemry.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Campbell, Jack.
The lost fleet : beyond the frontier : dreadnaught / Jack Campbell. p. cm.
eISBN : 978-1-101-51403-0
1. Space shipsFiction. 2. Imaginary wars and battlesFiction. I. Title. II. Title: Dreadnaught. PS3553.A4637L.6dc22
2010054262
http://us.penguingroup.com
To my uncle Oliver Holmes Rick Ulrickson, who sailed for his last home port in May 2010. The youngest in my mothers family, with six older sisters, he somehow survived childhood to serve in the Navy, work in aerospace (including NASAs Johnson Space Center Mission Control tracking system), and mentor many students at Texas Christian University. He was an amateur historian, he read a lot, he sang, and he was active in the civil rights movement in the sixties and seventies, but his proudest achievement in life was undoubtedly his family. Youll be missed, Uncle Oliver.
For S., as always.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I remain indebted to my agent, Joshua Bilmes, for his ever-inspired suggestions and assistance, and to my editor, Anne Sowards, for her support and editing. Thanks also to Catherine Asaro, Robert Chase, J. G. (Huck) Huckenpohler, Simcha Kuritzky, Michael La Violette, Aly Parsons, Bud Sparhawk, and Constance A. Warner for their suggestions, comments, and recommendations. Thanks also to Charles Petit for his suggestions about space engagements.
THE FIRST FLEET OF THE ALLIANCE
ADMIRAL JOHN GEARY, COMMANDING
SECOND BATTLESHIP DIVISION
Gallant
Indomitable
Glorious
Magnificent
FOURTH BATTLESHIP DIVISION
Warspite
Vengeance
Revenge
Guardian
SEVENTH BATTLESHIP DIVISION
Colossus
Encroach
Amazon
Spartan
FIRST BATTLE CRUISER DIVISION
Inspire
Formidable
Brilliant
Implacable
FOURTH BATTLE CRUISER DIVISION
Dauntless (flagship)
Daring
Victorious
Intemperate
SIXTH BATTLE CRUISER DIVISION
Illustrious
Incredible
Invincible
THIRD BATTLESHIP DIVISION
Dreadnaught
Orion
Dependable
Conqueror
FIFTH BATTLESHIP DIVISION
Fearless
Resolution
Redoubtable
EIGHTH BATTLESHIP DIVISION
Relentless
Reprisal
Superb
Splendid
SECOND BATTLE CRUISER DIVISION
Leviathan
Dragon
Steadfast
Valiant
FIFTH BATTLE CRUISER DIVISION
Adroit
FIFTH ASSAULT TRANSPORT DIVISION
Tsunami
Typhoon
Mistral
Haboob
FIRST AUXILIARIES DIVISION
Titan
Tanuki
Kupua
Domovoi
SECOND AUXILIARIES DIVISION
Witch
Jinn
Alchemist
Cyclops
THIRTY-ONE HEAVY CRUISERS IN SIX DIVISIONS
First Heavy Cruiser Division
Third Heavy Cruiser Division Fourth Heavy Cruiser Division
Fifth Heavy Cruiser Division Eighth Heavy Cruiser Division
Tenth Heavy Cruiser Division
FIFTY-FIVE LIGHT CRUISERS IN TEN SQUADRONS
First Light Cruiser Squadron
Second Light Cruiser Squadron
Third Light Cruiser Squadron
Fifth Light Cruiser Squadron
Sixth Light Cruiser Squadron
Eighth Light Cruiser Squadron
Ninth Light Cruiser Squadron
Tenth Light Cruiser Squadron
Eleventh Light Cruiser Squadron
Fourteenth Light Cruiser Squadron
ONE HUNDRED SIXTY DESTROYERS IN EIGHTEEN SQUADRONS
First Destroyer Squadron
Second Destroyer Squadron
Third Destroyer Squadron
Fourth Destroyer Squadron
Sixth Destroyer Squadron
Seventh Destroyer Squadron
Ninth Destroyer Squadron
Tenth Destroyer Squadron
Twelfth Destroyer Squadron
Fourteenth Destroyer Squadron
Sixteenth Destroyer Squadron
Seventeenth Destroyer Squadron
Twentieth Destroyer Squadron
Twenty-first Destroyer Squadron
Twenty-third Destroyer Squadron
Twenty-seventh Destroyer Squadron
Twenty-eighth Destroyer Squadron
Thirty-second Destroyer Squadron
FIRST FLEET MARINE FORCE
Major General Carabali, commanding
3,000 Marines on assault transports and divided into detachments on battle cruisers and battleships
ONE
INNUMERABLE stars like brilliant diamonds carelessly flung across endless space shone upon the hull of the civilian passenger ship. Bright, but cold, their light far too distant to give any warmth, the stars formed constellations in which humans tried to find meaning. Admiral John Black Jack Geary, watching those stars, thought about the fact that the constellations changed depending on where you were, but the meaning of it all somehow didnt change.
He just wished he knew what that meaning of it all was. He had lost one battle, long ago, and discovered much later that the loss had meant something much different than he had imagined. Lately, he had won much bigger battles; but what those meant, what his future would be from this day forward, remained as uncertain as whatever messages the stars wrote across the sky.
The passenger ship had exited the hypernet gate at the particular star known to humans as Varandal. Over the dozen decades since it had been built, the ship had traveled between many stars, and while the stars themselves had burned on unchanging to the naked eye, the ship had felt those years. Men and women had worked to keep its systems functioning and its hull strong, but where the life of stars was measured in billions of years, the life spans of human creations were often less than a century.
