- For the book of the same name, see The Lost Fleet: Dauntless.
Dauntless is an Alliance battle cruiser and was the flagship of the Alliance Fleet, and later the flagship of the Alliance First Fleet. It is under the command of Captain Tanya Desjani. Being the flagship of the fleet, it was also the ship from which Admiral Bloch and then Captain Geary (later Admiral) commanded the Alliance Fleet.
During the fleet's retreat from Syndicate territory, Dauntless was also home to Co-President Victoria Rione, a representative from the Callas Republic to determine whether their ships were being used responsibly. Her relationship with the captain of the ship was famously bad, mostly due to personal problems.
The majority of the crew on Dauntless are from Kosatka[1], including Captain Desjani herself. The ship had a null field projector, working Alliance and Syndicate hypernet keys, several specter missiles and gun batteries, a conference room, an interrogation chamber and brig, and an impressive intelligence department.
Dauntless was first built approximately 98 years after the Battle of Grendel, with corners cut to stop the ship becoming too expensive. It later came under the command of Captain Desjani, and served as the Alliance Fleet flagship. Dauntless led the strike against the Syndic Home System, during which they discovered the presumed-dead Captain Geary. Geary later became commanding officer of the fleet, and Dauntless led the retreat home.
Dauntless was also leader of the Fourth Battle Cruiser Division, and later the Second Battle Cruiser Division.
Her motto is "Nil Desparandum" (Never Despair).
Technical Specifications[]
Dauntless was built towards the end of the war, when a warship's life expectancy was little more than three years. As a result, Dauntless was very poorly put together, with poor power junctions and a poorly built propulsion system, that were likely to fail within a few years of the ship being put into service.
Dauntless did, however, have a very strong hull that would have survived many years, because the ship needed a strong hull to resist the high inertial pressures that the hull would be put under when the ship was forced to turn at high speeds during the battles in the war.
Dauntless also sported several Hell-Lance Batteries, specter missiles, a Null Field Projector, and prior to the First Battle of Prime, also acquired the only Syndic Hypernet key that the Alliance Fleet had gained (after the war, two other Syndic Hypernet Keys were built).
Other offices and rooms in Dauntless were a virtual conference chamber and a fully comprehensive Intelligence Chamber, run byLieutenant Iger, and a small squadron of Alliance Marines were accompanying the crew of the Battle Cruiser.
History of Service[]
Prior to the First Battle of Prime[]
The Dauntless was built approximately two years before the end of the war [2]. She was subsequently commanded by Captain Tanya Desjani.
Desjani kept her ship in good shape, and her crew worked hard and well. The Dauntless was well maintained, despite the fact that casualties in the war were so high. Because of Desjani's proficiency, the Dauntless was chosen to be Admiral Bloch's flagship when he personally led the Alliance Fleet.
Towards the end of the war, a Syndic traitor supplied the Alliance with a Syndic Hypernet Key, which would allow the Alliance to bypass many Syndic-controlled systems and attack directly at their home world, the system of Prime. Bloch led the Alliance Fleet on a risky attack on Prime.
On the way to the Syndic Home System, the Fleet passed through Grendel, the system where the legendary war hero Captain John "Black Jack" Geary had been killed. However, the Dauntless picked up Geary's broken escape pod when they detected an energy leak, and discovered Geary was still alive, in suspended animation. The Dauntless then became a home for Geary as he recovered.
Battle of Prime[]
The attack on Prime was a complete disaster. The attack turned out to be a Syndic trap, with the fleet jumping directly into a minefield. Unable to avoid the minefield, the Fleet was damaged, then a huge Syndic force- practically their entire Defense force- swept in to finish off the damaged warships.
Bloch ordered a charge, and Dauntless led the attack on the Syndics from the centre of the Alliance Formation. However, Dauntless and the ships with her were mauled by the enemy fleet. At one point, Dauntless's shields were depleted and a Syndic warship came in to finish her; however, Captain Brandamont's ship, Dragon, took the hits, probably saving the ship.
Despite this, Bloch wasn't able to turn the battle around. The Fleet eventually forced their way through the Syndic formation, but were now too far from the hypernet gate to begin a retreat. The Syndics called for a ceasefire and for the Alliance to surrender. When Admiral Bloch met with the Syndic CEO, he was executed and the fleet left to Geary to lead.
Geary used the system jump point to Corvus- that everyone else had overlooked- to escape from the system. Because jump points were no longer widely used, the Alliance were able to surprise the Syndics by heading towards the point and this brought them enough time to escape.
Return to Alliance space[]
During the return to Alliance space, Dauntless, despite her growing age, remained the flagship and led the fleet into many battles. She saw several confrontations, and, during the Battle of Corvus, the crew proved their bravery when they took on a Syndic cruiser in a one on one battle, and won easily.
The crew of the Dauntless were very proud to be the flagship of John Geary, and continued to work well and prove themselves worthy to Geary. During the long retreat, the ship was home to the Co-President of the Callas Republic, Victoria Rione, who came on board the ship because she suspected Geary would use his power to take control of the Alliance Senate.
The Dauntless saw action in several battles, leading formations in the Battles of Kaliban, Sancere, Ilion, the Battles of Lakota, the Battle of Varandal and the Second Battle of Prime.
During the long retreat, Dauntless, being Captain Geary's flagship, remained loyal to Geary, even when Captain Falco mutinied. However, due to this loyalty, and due to Geary himself being aboard the ship, Dauntless was targeted twice during the retreat by Geary's enemies in the Fleet. The first attempt was foiled after Geary was tipped off about malware in the ship's jump systems. The second attempt, an attempt to overload the Dauntless's power core with another piece of malware, also failed when the Dauntless' security staff uncovered the virus in their systems. This method, however, was used successfully to destroy the Lorica.
Towards the very end of the retreat, Dauntless' power cell levels dropped to an unacceptably low level- 20%, with fleet regulations saying that all ships should have 70% power when going into battle. During the Battle of Varandal, the power levels dropped to first 10%, and, by the end of the Battle, bordered on 1% power.
When the Dauntless finally returned to Alliance space, the commanders of the Alliance Fleet had realized that a Syndic flotilla were headed to destroy an Alliance Hypernet gate in Varandal. Geary, realizing that the rest of the fleet could not keep up, ordered twelve battle cruisers, led by Dauntless, to take on the Syndic flotilla in a reckless charge. The Battle cruisers were dangerously outnumbered and seemed to be losing when the remainder of the Alliance fleet arrived, and the Syndics fell back.
Second Battle of Prime[]
The Dauntless was taken into the hands of the military after the Battle of Varandal, so that they could copy the data in the Syndic hypernet key, and create new keys. Following Geary's promotion to Admiral, Dauntless once again led the Alliance Fleet on a strike at the Syndic Home World. This time, however, Geary suspected that the Syndics, whose forces had been depleted during the long retreat, would not be able to withstand the attack.
Upon arrival in the Home System, the Syndics seemed to be set to lose. With just a small force defending the planet, it first seemed as though victory would be easy. However, it soon became apparent that the Executive Council of the Syndicate Worlds planned to detonate the Hypernet gate in the system, destroying the planet and the Fleet. Dauntless and the Fleet took shelter behind the star in the system, hoping it would survive, but before the council detonated the gate, the Syndic military rebelled and led a revolution.
Though Dauntless now left from behind the star's presence, the hypernet gate was detonated (probably by the Enigma Race, seeking to destroy the powerful Alliance Fleet), but the Syndic's safe-fail mechanism prevented the gate from exploding too badly.
Beyond the Frontier[]
Dauntless fought against the Enigma Race in the Battle of Midway, where it became apparent that Dauntless' sensors had been infected with a virus at some point, originating in the hypernet key, and so she was unable to get a reliable image of the Enigma Ship's formations. However, when the bugs were wiped, it was shown that the Enigmas had far fewer ships that first thought, and were defeated with relative ease.
Following the end of the war, the Dauntless was repaired by fleet technicians at Varandal. During the stay at Varandal, rumors began spreading that the Alliance senate no longer trusted the crews that had returned with Geary, that they were planning on sending the Fleet on a suicide mission, and that a large amount of warships were being constructed in secret on the orders of the Alliance government.
Approximately a month after the end of the war, the arrests of several commanding officers, including Desjani, were put out, leading to an attempted mutiny in Varandal, led by Captain Badaya and Captain Jane Geary. However, though Dauntless' commanding officer was one of the people who the government attempted to court martial, the Dauntless did not participate in the revolution, which was eventually stopped by Geary and Desjani.
The Fleet was sent out beyond the frontier, into Enigma Race territory. Desjani realized that there had been a series of power junction failures on the Dauntless, which was placed down to old age and the fact that Dauntless was beginning to fall apart. A number of other ships began to suffer damage, though they were all fixed relatively easily. Captain Smythe believed that the Dauntless could be saved if they replaced her vital parts, which happened. After their mission to make contact with alien life was over, the Dauntless returned to Midway, where it fought the Enigma Race again, this time alongside the Alliance's new allies the Dancers.
Dauntless and the Alliance First Fleet later return to Varandal, after fighting numerous Syndic attacks which claim the battleship Orion. After returning back to Alliance space, the Dancers request that the Dauntless take them to a place called "Kansas" a location on Old Earth. Once the Dancers and Dauntless arrive in the Sol system, they find it has been occupied by one of Humanity's colonies located outwards of the center of the galaxy. Despite being outnumbered, the crew of Dauntless discover that the occupants lack military training and many weapons, and quickly destroy half the enemy fleet, and force the remainder to eject from their ships. After this incident, the crew go on leave to Old Earth.
Border disputes and Civil-War[]
Outlands[]
Notable staff on the Dauntless[]
| Name | Position | Notes |
| Senior Officers | ||
| Admiral Bloch Alliance Navy |
Commanding Officer, Alliance Fleet | Captured or Killed at Prime, along with several other officers attached to the fleet. |
| Admiral John Geary Alliance Navy |
Commanding Officer, Alliance First Fleet | |
| Major General Carabali Alliance Marine Corps |
Embarked Ground Forces Command, Alliance Fleet | Attached to Dauntless during the Second Battle of Varandal |
| Captain Tanya Desjani Alliance Navy |
Commanding Officer, ASN Dauntless Commanding Officer, Fourth Battlecruiser Division (formerly) Commanding Officer, Second Battlecruiser Division |
|
| Doctor Nasr Alliance Navy |
Fleet Medical Officer, Alliance First Fleet | Aboard Dauntless following the Second Battle of Varandal |
| Officers and Crew | ||
| Lieutenant Commander Kosti
Alliance Navy |
N/A | |
| Lieutenant Amarin
Alliance Navy |
Engineering | |
| Lieutenant Xenia Castries Alliance Navy |
Watchstander, ASN Dauntless | |
| Lieutenant Iger Alliance Navy |
Intelligence Officer, ASN Dauntless | |
| Lieutenant Kari Ipjian
Alliance Navy |
Engineering | |
| Lieutenant Julesa
Alliance Navy |
Watchstander, ASN Dauntless | |
| Lieutenant Mori
Alliance Navy |
N/A | |
| Lieutenant Nicodeom
Alliance Navy |
Engineering Watchstander, ASN Dauntless | |
| Lieutenant Bhasa Yuon Alliance Navy |
Watchstander, ASN Dauntless | |
| Ensign Kaqui
Alliance Navy |
Watchstander, ASN Dauntless | |
| Ensign Duck
Alliance Navy |
Security Officer? | Duck brought aboard by Drunk Marines at Varandal |
| Gaciones
Alliance Navy |
Operations Watchstander, ASN Dauntless | |
| Master Chief Petty Officer Gioninni Alliance Navy |
Ship's Crew, ASN Dauntless | |
| Senior Chief Petty Officer Tarrani Alliance Navy |
Ship's Crew, ASN Dauntless | |
| Chief Petty Officer Busek Alliance Navy |
Ship's Crew, ASN Dauntless | |
| Chief Petty Officer Sloanaker
Alliance Navy |
Head Master-at-arms | |
| Chief Petty Officer Yusef
Alliance Navy |
N/A | |
| Petty Officer Inglis
Alliance Navy |
N/A | Placed in captivity after a failed assassination attempt, killed while in captivity |
| Seaman William T Door Alliance Navy |
Ship's Crew, ASN Dauntles | |
| Gunnery Sergeant Orvis
Alliance Marine Corps |
Embarked Ground Forces NCO,
Alliance Fleet |
|
| Sergeant Hsien
Alliance Marine Corps |
Embarked Ground Forces NCO,
Alliance Fleet |
|
| Sergeant Koury
Alliance Marine Corps |
Embarked Ground Forces NCO,
Alliance Fleet |
|
| Corporal Bergeron
Alliance Marine Corps |
Embarked Ground Forces NCO,
Alliance Fleet |
|
| Corporal Maya
Alliance Marine Corps |
Embarked Ground Forces NCO,
Alliance Fleet |
|
| Private Francis
Alliance Marine Corps |
Embarked Ground Forces,
Alliance Fleet |
|
| Additional Personnel | ||
| Representative Victoria Rione Callas Republic |
Governmental Representative | Left the vessel following the return from exploration of Enigma space. |
| Senator Sakai
Alliance Senate |
Governmental Representative | Only during the battles of Prime, Midway and the diplomatic mission to Old Earth |
| Senator Costa
Alliance Senate |
Governmental Representative | Only During the battles of Prime, Midway and the diplomatic mission to Old Earth |
| Senator Suva
Alliance Senate |
Governmental Representative | Only during the diplomatic mission to Old Earth |
| General Hyser Charban Alliance Army (Retired) |
Governmental Representative | Boarded as an aspiring politican, later became main diplomat to communicate with Dancers. Has talent of understanding the alien civilizations behaviour. |
| Commander Paol Benan Alliance Navy / Callas Republic Navy (?) |
N/A | Left the vessel following the return from exploration of Enigma space. Former Prisoner of War. Husband of Victoria Rione. |
| Commander Kai Fenson
Alliance Navy / Callas Republic Navy (?) |
N/A | Served with Paol Benan, previously served with Michael Geary aboard the Vanquish.
Old friend of Victoria Rione |
| Lieutenant Elysia Jamenson
Alliance Navy |
Assistant Translator | Helped identify a more efficient method of communication with the Dancers |
| CEO Jason Boyens
Syndicate Mobile Defense Forces |
POW | Held aboard Dauntless for final campaign of the War,
Released following First Battle of Midway |
| Kommodor Asima Marphissa
Midway Flotilla |
Midway Representative | Only during Second Battle of Kane |
| Kommodor Honore Bradamont
Midway Flotilla |
Midway Representative | Joined mission to Dancer space |
| Colonel Donal Rogero
Midway Ground Forces |
Midway Representative | Joined mission to Dancer space |
| John Senn | Xeno Historian/Assistant Translator | Transferred from Boundless and Joined General Charban's team following invitation from Admiral Geary |
| Dr Jasmine Cresida | Hypernet Theorist/Assistant Translator | Transferred from Boundless and Joined General Charban's team following invitation from Admiral Geary |
| Maxwell Kaliphur | N/A | Arrested following failed assassination attempt |
Squadrons the Dauntless served in[]
- Alliance Fleet (as flagship)
- Fourth Battle Cruiser Division (as leader)
- Alliance First Fleet (as flagship)
- Second Battle Cruiser Division (as leader)
Battles the Dauntless served in[]
Alliance-Syndicate War[] |
Human-Enigma War[]
Syndicate Civil-War[]
|
Notes and References[]
- Dauntless shares her motto with British Royal Navy type 45 Destroyer HMS Dauntless (D33)
- ↑ Mentioned in The Lost Fleet: Dauntless: Chapter Six
- ↑ In Relentless, it is mentioned during the Battle of Varandal that Dauntless was just over two years old