Amantus
Copyright© 2026 by QM
Chapter 16
Amantus got to the station, ignoring the blood and a few unidentifiable masses of torn flesh. Fortunately, the station itself seemed unharmed, and Amantus brought up the full tactical view, showing the Protectorate flotilla scattering, though not in panic. The presumed Tarpheli enemy was bearing down on the Protectorate, though it had still not got into hyperbeam range.
“Suggest a missile strike of our own, and launch bombers and fighters at their capital ships, ma’am, whilst reorganising at point 971.564.333,” Amantus sent to Sulli.
“Missiles won’t slow them,” Sulli replied.
“They’ll mask the bombers, ma’am.”
“Order it,” Sulli ordered.
“Orders sent and acknowledged,” Lieutenant Vorsh on comms replied.
“Plot set to reassembly site, ma’am,” Lieutenant Cron, on navigation, added.
“Missile strike going in, no damage detected,” Sub-Commander Damin on detection announced. “Bombers going in, and beautifully done, two battlecruisers are down, and two others have slowed.”
“Well done, Amantus, you gained us time,” Sulli praised.
“Happy to serve, ma’am,” Amantus replied.
“Flotilla will form standard battle formation facing the enemy, Pride is to get those bombers turned around as quickly as possible,” Sulli ordered.
“Orders sent, ma’am,” Vorsh replied.
Amantus was, in the meantime, studying the order of battle of the Tarpheli, its composition and speed, noting it had slowed to match the speed of the two damaged battlecruisers.
“Their left upper flank is weaker to an attack, ma’am,” Amantus informed Sulli, marking the location in the tank.
“Navigation, move us to point 901.724.000, and then plot an advance to the marked point,” Sulli ordered.
“We still aren’t fully assembled,” Damin warned.
“Tell them to catch up quickly,” Sulli grated out.
“Yes, ma’am,” Vorsh chuckled. “Flotilla is moving to the assigned location.”
“Enemy is turning,” Damin informed Sulli. “Though they are struggling to keep formation.”
“Good, take us in at battlespeed when we reach point,” Sulli ordered.
“Orders sent,” Vorsh confirmed. “Bombers rearmed.”
“Suggest they be launched at the covering destroyers blocking out the attack vector, ma’am,” Amantus suggested. “It will enable our own to attack their centre.”
“Order Pride to do so,” Sulli ordered after a moment’s hesitation.
“Orders sent, ma’am,” Vorsh confirmed. “Acknowledged.”
“Point reached, beginning advance at speed, ma’am,” Damin announced.
“All ships, weapons free,” Sulli ordered.
“Orders sent, ma’am,” Vorsh replied.
“Enemy responding,” Damin warned.
“Too slow,” Amantus confirmed. “We’ll have the numbers where it counts.”
“Bomber strike going in,” Damin added. “Beautifully done, they clearly didn’t expect it, and we’ve taken out nine of them.”
“Send an acknowledgement to Pride for their efforts,” Sulli requested. “Now, let’s do our job!”
The flotilla opened fire when in range and raced in to a far closer distance than would have been safe had not the bombers eliminated the majority of the screening destroyers. From there, the fighting became savage as the Tarpheli were determined to stand, though, once again, the Protectorate had the advantage of the fleet carrier Pride, which swiftly rearmed the bombers it carried and used them to take out areas of resistance.
“Well, we won, but it wasn’t easy,” Sulli informed the bridge as the mopping up began. “I’m proud of you all. When we were down, you picked us up and got us back into the fight.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the bridge crew replied.
“Send orders out to the section heads to tally the cost, same with the flotilla,” Sulli ordered.
“Yes, ma’am,” Vorsh replied before relaying the order outward.
“Well, whilst it was bad, it could have gone a hell of a lot worse,” Vinns, his head bandaged and still being treated for concussion, informed the surviving senior officers, including the senior Captains of the flotilla who were attending via viewscreen.
“Agreed, sir,” Sulli replied. “If it hadn’t been for the Pride and its bombers, we would have taken a lot more losses.
“Thank you,” Captain Angis of the Pride replied. “Though your targeting data was superb.”
“As it is, we lost fifteen ships and over two thousand crew, though fortunately no capital ships,” Vinns continued. “Still, it’s the largest loss of ships the Protectorate has faced in over a century, and I suspect the enquiry will be looking carefully at individual performances.”
“The biggest mistake was transitioning into the system in the same spot as we always do; we’ve gotten complacent,” Captain Brog of the battlecruiser Valliant opined.
“Agreed, but we should have responded better than scattering randomly, even with the damage to Talonfire’s command and control system,” Vinns nodded.
“It’s never been part of an exercise,” Sulli countered. “Not that that’s an excuse.”
“I suspect it might become one now,” Angis nodded.
“Undoubtedly,” Vinns agreed. “Transitioning into any disputed system will need to have protocols in place for if or when it goes wrong.”
“Your orders, sir?” Captain Corris, newly appointed to the Menthel, asked.
“As soon as we have all the survivors and have repaired what we can, we’ll return to Conveelt,” Vinns decided.
“The Tarpheli?”
“Will have to take their chances, we don’t have room for them,” Vinns ordered.
“Yes, sir,” Corris nodded, as did the other senior officers. “Still, I’m sure Conveelt will try.”
“They will,” Sulli confirmed. “Commodore Hrilt and a couple of civ liners are heading here.”
“How long?”
“Four hundred rotations.”
“Good enough.”
Amantus was summoned to the Commodore’s day cabin a day later, saluting shortly after he entered.
“I’ve read the report Captain Sulli submitted about your actions after the ambush, Sub-Lieutenant,” Vinns began. “You performed well, and your actions helped turn the tide.”
“Thank you, sir, I was pleased to be of service,” Amantus replied politely.
“I’m hereby giving you a brevet promotion to Lieutenant,” Vinns continued. “Should this be confirmed by panel at Conveelt, it will become permanent.”
“I ... am honoured, sir,” Amantus swallowed slightly in shock.
“Normally, it would come with an official citation, though your circumstances prevent me from doing so, but I will pin the form to the report to emphasise your actions.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Well done, Lieutenant, well done indeed,” Vinns replied, handing Amantus the Lieutenant’s shoulder pin, only in the red, brevet colour. “You’ll also transfer to blue shift as we rearrange the various dispositions to account for our losses.”
“Sir,” Amantus saluted, before taking his leave.
“Congratulations, Amantus,” Sulli smiled as Amantus left the day cabin. “It’s well deserved.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Amantus smiled. “Doesn’t feel quite real yet.”
“Just don’t let it go to your head, you still have a lot to learn.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The Talonfire and the rest of the flotilla made it back to Conveelt for repairs and refurbishment. It was announced that these would take at least a binary cycle and that other duties would be found for non-essential personnel during this time. Amantus was given a five-day shore leave and found himself with more time on his hands since he’d been forced to join Fleet. He did discover, though, that his higher rank gave him greater access to the datafiles in the data exchange, and he was able to rent several datapackets on advanced fleet tactics that provided much more information on manoeuvres that could be required in certain instances. There were also several biographies of retired Admirals who went into planetary conquest, as well as being highly critical of Fleet and Protectorate politics and policy.
‘I wonder if I’m the only one who reads these?’ Amantus pondered. ‘Then again, the higher ranks all appear to be under no illusions of the politics involved.’
Amantus also wrote a letter to his mother, mentioning his promotion and the incident that led to it. Mentioning that complacency was likely the reason, and it was endemic in certain parts of Fleet. He did note that, if given the chance, he was sure competent officers could be put in place to resolve the issue, though he feared that if a major conflict were to erupt, Fleet would be at a disadvantage initially.
Despite being in orbit over an inhabitable planet, it never once occurred to Amantus to visit. His personality had completely changed since his recruitment, and he was now far more introspective and thoughtful. Though friendly enough with those around him, it had been noticed that it was hard to get any personal information from him, though he was free enough with information on Protectorate nobility and the noblesse system. Still, he never spoke about his former life or clan, simply stating that he had been temporarily expelled, nor did he mention his former noble rank, saying it was irrelevant in Fleet. This was generally accepted, as there were a few, like Amantus in Fleet, who refused to discuss personal matters, and his past was not open to prying eyes in his personal Fleet records. In short, Amantus’s life record as far as Fleet was concerned began with ‘involuntary recruit.’ There was nothing in his file about him before that, just a name.
“So, he wrote to you again?” the Patriarch asked Helia.
“He did, grandfather,” Helia politely replied.
“Anything worthy of note?”
“He was promoted after the flotilla he serves in was ambushed.”
“Good for him, anything else?”
“It appears our suspicions of endemic incompetence and complacency within Fleet are well-founded.”
“Dammit! I suspected as much when Clan Marot almost took my hand off when I offered our support in removing Finst and the influence of Clan Limna,” the Patriarch sighed.
“We’ll likely have to gain consensus from the other elites to deal with it, particularly the four border fleets,” Helia nodded.
“I’ll request Dallon to front it openly,” The Patriarch nodded.
“A good choice, my husband has the presence to carry out the task amongst his peers,” Helia nodded. “I’ll try to influence the wives of the clans in the background.”
“Thank you, granddaughter, if only my grandsons were so capable,” the Patriarch smiled.
“Perhaps some time in Fleet may have changed their ways,” Helia chuckled.
“Judging from what Amantus achieved, you may well be right.”
Amantus’s promotion was confirmed, and the red shoulder tab was changed to a silver one. Unlike the other promotees within the flotilla, there was no parade or ceremony, just a message on his perscomp and a confirmation slip to pick up the new tab from the Talonfire’s stores, and hand over the red one.
“Ah, I wondered who the anonymous promotee was,” a cheerful Petty Officer said when Amantus turned up.
“I’m an involuntary recruit, which means I don’t really exist,” Amantus chuckled as he replaced the tab.
“Well, the Commodore himself came down in person to sign the form rather than have the mainframe do it,” the PO explained. “Thought my boss was going to faint.”