Beyond the Frontier: Invincible
Beyond the Frontier: Invincible is book 8 of The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell. Preceded by Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught. Followed by Beyond the Frontier: Guardian.
Plot details
Narrative
Chapter 1
00:02:11
JG takes stock following the attack by the new alien gate camp. JG finds Vent froze with Invincible and decides to relieve him of duty. JG found Shen acted decisively to use Orion to save two logistics, Tanuki and Titan, incurring heavy losses on Orion.
Smaith reports to JG that Invincible requires months of repairs before it can even be towed. JG orders Invincible consumables and spare parts offloaded and the remainder scuttled. JG orders human corpses from a destroyed Alliance destroyer recovered.
Emissaries Rione and Sharbon both recommend departing. JG agrees but cannot see a way yet since every jump point has a new alien fortress.
Desjani notes the new alien ships are not very maneuverable compared to similar massing Alliance ships. JG orders her to fire a kinetic round at their fortress to test the new alien defenses.
00:34:00: Fleet senior doctor surgeon Nasir reports that wreckage of new alien ships yielded corpses that appear to fleet doctors as a hybrid between cows and bears.
00:36:46: The cow-bears remotely deflect a kinetic round fired by Desjani at the nearest fortress.
Chapter 2
00:38:30
JG holds a fleet officer conference. Vent of the now scuttled Invincible is not invited.
44:41 Neeson and Hiyen, the two best scientific fleet officers, can't explain how the fortress deflected the kinetic round. Magnetism was not detected. The new aliens, shaped like 1-m-tall teddy bear cows, are estimated to number 80 billion on a single inhabited world, use DNA as genetic material, and are speculated to be herd animals that live packed together, judging by decoded video broadcasts. No contact has been made despite emissary efforts.
JG and officers strategize. Jane Geary is for attacking the new aliens. Bedea is for caution, surprising JG and Desjani.
01:01:20: JG names the new aliens "bear-cows".
A Callus republic officer ask why JG has them out so far from home. Rione answers, calling for officers to believe in the legendary figure of Blackjack who has saved the Alliance at great personal sacrifice and is continuing to save it by having them deployed.
Rione talks with JG. Rione warns JG that her speech was just a temporary stunt; the real solution is to return the fleet home. Rione reveals the discovery of the bear-cows means, according to the secret government policy she was assigned to advise on, that JG must return to Alliance space; she admits some in the Alliance wanted the POW leaders JG rescued from Denai dead.
Chapter 3
01:15:57
Desjani expresses suspicion of Rione to JG. Desjani calls JG gullible for letting Rione use his legendary status as Blackjack for her own benefit.
01:30:00: JG cannot find a tactic to safely return his fleet home. JG asks Desjani to come to his stateroom late at night to brainstorm tactics against the bear-cows.
01:38:00: JG thinks of a tactic against the bear-cows involving the image of a matador and bull. JG wakes Desjani and orders her to work up a maneuvering plan. JG gets some sleep.
Desjani presents a maneuvering plan through the bear-cows to an exit jump point that incurs much less damage to the fleet than a plan generated by the automated tactics systems.
Chapter 4
01:49:10
Kinetic probes sent at the Bear-cow fortress report their trajectories being altered by unknown mechanism; JG orders details sent to the fleet, overriding fleet intelligence which has classified information related to Bear-cow discoveries.
JG notices Bear-cow ships are limiting their speed, suggesting they are flying for efficiency, not too speed.
JG experiences comm problems on the bridge of Dauntless. Smaith diagnoses failing electronic components. Desjani's crew find failed components and replace items. JG decides to continue using Dauntless as a flagship despite equipment issues.
Bear-cow planet biodiversity is extremely low: only bear-cows, food plants, and some oyets. JG reviews video feeds of the Bear-cows. JG watches shield and spear formations. The system is named Pandora.
JG and fleet execute the plan and frustrate their Bear-cow pursuers. The fleet jumps out of
Chapter 5
02:35:03
Bennon had a block that prevented him from revealing to anyone except a fleet admiral in private that he had been involved in development of a strategic bioweapon code named "Brass Prince" designed to completely infect and kill an entire planet of humans. Bennon believes Rione has been blackmailed by someone threatening to disparage Bennon's reputation. Bennon asks JG to kill him so Rione can no longer be blackmailed. JG refuses, believing while Bennon lives, there may be a way to reverse the mental block and investigate the Alliance war criminal who started the bioweapon program.
03:03 Upon emerging from jumpspace, JG's fleet is in no immediate danger but find the system settled by another race, judging by their ship profiles. This new alien race has ships deployed in fractal pattern. Smaith is impressed by their engineering: smooth hulls despite all required outward exposed ship modules.
03:10 JG and company conclude this new race probably didn't evolve in this white dwarf system due to lack of raw materials.
03:13 JG broadcasts a greeting and request for safe passage through the system to the new race without any attempt at providing a means of communication beyond the raw video feed and his own voice. (Baltakatei: JG has not recruited any civilian expert help or asked them to prepare any contingency for establishing communication from first principles.)
Chapter 6
03:16:55
03:18:00 JG and company receive a response to JG's video hail. The new alien race resembles a spider-wolf hybrid.
03:21:15: Fleet engineers discover an auto-executing adaptive communications program embedded in the unintelligible response from the spider-wolf. (Baltakatei: JG has apparently devoted zero resources towards anticipating how he might actually make contact with any alien species besides the Enigma; it seems he has assumed that the Enigma, who have already taken on the burden of creating a contact-purpose humanoid communication interface puppet, would speak his language. The civilian experts he brought on board, despite being the most qualified to create a first-contact data package such as that transmitted upon first contact by the spider-wolves, have basically been imprisoned on a transport ship and ignored by JG unless it's a last-minute demand for advice.)
JG sends a second transmission, gesturing with hand motions his intent to fight the pursuing Bear-cows and decision to not attack the Spider-wolves. The spider-wolves send an animatic video indicating their willingness to fight the Bear-cows in cooperation with JG's fleet.
03:48:50: During pre-battle weapons testing, Spartan experienced a cascading power relay failure. JG orders equipment checks to be done with minimal simultaneous power draws. Smaith reports an automated safe-guard failed.
03:51:15: Smaith reports Titan lost a main propulsiom unit. Dependable suffers a failure. Dragon and Victorious lose a hell lance battery. Witch lost some shield capability. Heavy cruisers parapet shanfran diamond ravalin suffer hell lance failures. Failures occur on light cruisers assault forte ritiari. Failures occur on destroyers haribra cutlass stave rifle flail. Shield problem occurs on light cruiser Rocket. Bear-cows are 1 light minute behind and closing.
Chapter 7
03:52:56
The fleet is split into three sections to attack the Kicks (a.k.a. Bear-cows or Killer Cows (?) Or KCs). The Kicks pursue Bedea's division who was slow to maneuver.
04:15:00 Bedea and Jane Geary punch a hole through the Kicks fleet using planetary kinetic rounds; the kicks don't dodge.
04:24:15 JG organizes his fleet to regroup and attack the remaining Kicks fleet ships. The Kicks ship don't begin dodging until the last seconds and all Kicks ships except one super battleship are destroyed.
Chapter 8
04:28:02
04:34:10: Various Alliance ships have been destroyed at the moment of intersection. Crew on mortally wounded ships (Alliance and Spider-Wolves) not obliterated use escape pods. Spider-wolf escape pod recovery is extremely swift. Kicks don't appear to use escape pods. Damaged Alliance escape pod is boarded by spider-wolf mobile suit which appears roughly human-sized. JG names the system "Honor".
04:36:10: Smaith says coffee and chocolate are nectar and ambrosia, the food of the gods.
04:36:37: Command Loman of Titan offers resignation; JG declines the resignation.
04:37:00: Corpse capacity exceeded.
Crippled Kicks ship idles.
04:38:35: Rione orders emissaries to ask Spider-wolves not to destroy the Kick super battleship; the SWs comply.
04:39:28: A single Kicks escape pod is seen to detach from the super battleship and it burns towards the jump point towards the Kicks system. SWs pursue and destroy it; JG accepts he could not have requested them to fall back in time due to time delay; JG believes the escape craft had Kicks officers. JG contemplates value of boarding the Kicks super battleship wreck which still has active local defenses.
04:51:00: JG talks with Karabali about sending marines to captured the crippled Kicks super battleship. They estimate the crippled shipmatill has thousands of Kicks (each 1 m in size) aboard. Despite unknowns (and potential loss of marines and ships if the target self-destructs), JG decides to order a capture of the super battleship.
04:58:15 JG battleships advance to open fire on the Kick super battleship. JG watches battleships move in, naming them off in a roll call to himself.
Marines begin blowing bulkheads of the Kick super battleship. No Bear-cows visible. 05:20:00.
Chapter 9
05:20:08
Bear-cow survivors attack en masse at boarding marines. All push suicidally wish mobile armor, handheld weapons, and shields. Alliance marines eventually take the super fortress. Most Bear-cows die fighting or are pre-emptively killed by friendlies in order to avoid capture. Fleet engineers deduce Bear-cow ship design uses distributed power cores instead of a single large power core. Bear-cow corpses are collected and sent into the local star. About half a dozen unconscious living Bear-cows are recovered. JG plans to take the super fortress with the fleet.
JG calls for a day of rest.
Bedea meets with JG and apologizes for his failure to correctly compensate for an unexpected loss of a propulsion unit in one of his ships, forcing Jane Geary to improvise with kinetic projectiles a means of reducing a total loss of his division.
Chapter 10
05:50:00 JG meets with Admiral Lageman. (One of the few freed POW officers JG trusts) (Baltakatei: The narrator forgot that he assigned Lageman a Minnesota accent; now Lageman speaks like a hoity toity upper class nasal stereotype) Lageman believes the Enigma will believe JG's fleet mostly doomed after being forced into the Bear-cow system. Lageman believes the Enigma will seek to block off human entry into Enigma space by taking action in Midway; destroying Midway's HyperNet gate would do the trick. JG assigns Lageman to captain the super battleship.
JG asks Rione to prioritize asking Spider-Wolves permission to pass through systems that would take them closer to human space.
06:00:00 JG meets with scientists who describe Space-Wolf psychology as based on seeing patterns rather than opposite extremes.
JG meets with the senior fleet medical officer Nasir. JG tells him Bennon had a mental block. Nasir is enraged that JG is breaking fleet regulations by talking about Bennon's block, despite Nasir having only learned about it when JG told Nasir.
Nasir informs JG the first of six bear cows had awoken. It immediately suicided by simply stopping its own metabolism. JG orders the remaining Bear-cows kept sedated. Nasir warns that Bear-cows physiology knowledge is limited and attempts at sedation likely to be fatal.
JG vows to make changes to Alliance government to free blocked people like Bennon. 06:18:15
06:25:00 Ruined reports SWs willing to offer passage via HyperNet gate towards alliance space in exchange for "universal fixing substance". (Baltakatei: The duct tape the two SWs mobile suits saw being used on the damaged escape pod from belestra.) JG asks all fleet engineers to figure out what the substance is.
06:30:00. Jianini tells JG the "universal fixing substance" is "duct tape". (Baltakatei: Called it. 🙄)
Chapter 11
06:30:05
Rhione and Sharbon personally deliver the duct tape package to SW representatives on a shuttle meet.
06:53:30 Dr. Swartz, a civilian alien expert, is unhappy at being unable to make physical contact with the aliens. JG says SWs limited number of allowed human reps to 2 Rione and Sharbon had priority being government emissaries tasked with alien contact.
JG asks Smaith and Shen if Orion is combat capable. Shen is one of the battleships assigned to tow the bear cow super battleship. Shen says Orion is not front line capable but can fight. JG keeps Orion assigned to the super battleship. Desjani tells JG she has concluded JG is using Shen to keep Jane Geary from disobeying (it Orion were not assigned to combat, Jane would feel free to leave Shen's Orion to fend for themselves in battle). JG doesn't disagree.
Chapter 12
07:01:30
Smaith reports that recent battle has caused the most problematic of equipment to completely fail, improving detection of existing problems and increasing effectiveness of recent repairs. Repair schedule remains severely backlogged.
JG talks with Lageman who is captaining the Kick super battleship. Lageman is in good spirits.
JG has fleet enter jumpspace leaving the SW system.
JG eats with crew of Dauntless. JG tries to portray SWs in positive light since most crew find them ugly and call them Butt Ugly Bugs ("BUBs").
07:28:00: JG speaks with Sharbon. Sharbon believes SWs instinctually value stability and predictability; they will not start a war. To a similar extent, the Enigma value privacy. The bear-cows value not being eaten. (Baltakatei: This concept is not plausibly illustrated but seems do be a ground truth established by the author; much of the plot would have to change to illustrate this idea.) Sharbon speculates SW risk tolerance per unit time is much lower than humans meaning they are slower to develop new technology or adapt to new situations. Sharbon says most scientists believe the military badly handled alien encounters. (Baltakatei: No kidding.) Dr. Setton is badly shaken by the bear-cow slaughter. Dr. Swartz is a firm supporter of JG.
07:36:25 Fleet exits jumpspace. A SW ship wishes to board the captured super battleship.
Chapter 13
07:40:40
SWs send JG's fleet through a HyperNet gate.
JG accidentally calls Desjani during a nightmare.
08:04:45: Desjani jokes that after JG dies she'll become rich from a memoire titled "Sleeping with Blackjack" with a pose of JG in battle armor (Baltakatei: Like all the Lost Fleet series cover art showing some blonde ubermensch in battle armor. 4th wall break.) marketed by her father, a literary agent.
JG's fleet arrives in a system that has obviously suffered repeated use of HyperNet detonations. JG believes the SWs have had to repeatedly sterilize the system against Enigma encroachment. Sharbon reminds the Dauntless bridge when they feel afraid of the SWs that th SWs could have sterilized the system they entered with the Bear-cow ships on their tail, eliminating both the human fleet and the bear-cow fleet; but the SWs chose to help the human fleet, losing several of their own ships in the process; JG feels a renewed sense of camaraderie with th SWs. The JG fleet follows their SWs escort through this SW border system.
Smaith reports the auxiliaries are all dangerously low on raw materials. JG concludes that the auxiliaries will have to stock up when they arrive at Midway; JG's first priority is to arrive at Midway soon in order to help protect it against an Enigma attack.
JG plans to travel through Hua, then Pele, on their way at to Midway.
Chapter 14
08:14:58
JG has a fleet officer conference to explain current plans following arrival in Hua.
At the conclusion of the conference, Desjani asks Duellos and JG talk with one another. Duellos shares his worries about the Alliance dismantling the military, making his own future uncertain. JG shares facts supporting his suspicions about the mission being sabotaged by the government, seeking a second opinion. Facts include, among others, the secret construction of a new fleet (deduced by Shamrock), the last minute recall of auxiliaries from JG before leaving Verendal, the request for most HyperNet experts from JG's fleet, how Rione's husband was in the POW camp that JG was ordered to liberate before his primary mission objective of exploring Emigma space. Duellos echoes Rione's assessment that some in government are acting nobly, some corruptly for short term personal gain, and some with personal grand ambitions incompatible with democracy.
Chapter 15
08:49:37
JG's fleet leaves jump and arrives at Hua. JG notices the HyperNet gate.
08:51:13: JG has the fleet follow the SWs who are found to be travelling towards the next planned jump point.
08:52:05: Desjani crew detects Enigma bases temporarily bare as if an attack fleet had recently been housed in Hua.
08:55:00: JG and Desjani estimate a rough 2 to 3 hour window of vulnerability to a HyperNet gate self-destruct before the fleet can exit Hua.
JG talks with Dr. Swartz about the aliens. JG promises to include Swartz in future alien meetings.
The Enigma notice the JG fleet and send a ship to tail them.
09:02:25: JG's fleet emerge from jumpspace from Hua into Pele. JG sees a fleet of Enigma ships en route to Midway; said ships won't be able to see the JG fleet arrival until after their departure.
09:05: JG splits the fleet, trusting Captain Armis to lead the battleships accompanying the Kick super battleship over Jane Geary whom JG doesn't trust to not abandon it.
Battlecruisers number (following loss of Invincible and Brilliant) only 14. Illustrious and Incredible damaged.
09:10:38: Lageman names the captured Kick super battleship Invincible.
09:20: JG talks to Jane Geary about courage.
Chapter 16
09:28:06
09:29:20: Battlecruisers Implacable and Intemperate are both down a main propulsion unit. Battlecruiser Valiant has damaged maneuvering systems.
09:38:00 (~): JG's fleet arrives in Midway. Enigma are 30 light minutes away. JG concludes time resolution of ftl Intel from Hua was not sufficient for Enigma to prepare ambush.
09:50:00 (~): JG sees Midway locals have rebelled against Syndicate. A Syndicate battleship captained (?) by CEO Boiens near the HyperNet is present but not active. A local flotilla is present but not acting. Midway has four separate factions: Enigma, JG's fleet, the Syndicate battleship, and the Midway flotilla & planetside locals, led by President Aiseni (no longer CEO Aiseni).
09:50:30: JG receives a persistent warning about fuel cell reserves of Dauntless falling below 70%. JG informs fleet he will take full responsibility for allowing fuel cells to fall below this threshold.
09:52:28: Rione confronts JG in-person on the Dauntless bridge, demanding he consider the problem of the Boien's Syndicate battleship and its flotilla seriously; Rione emphasizes that access to Midway is important physical link from the Alliance to SW territory.
09:54:45: Rione points out to JG that the Syndicate battleship loitering near the Midway HyperNet gate could destroy the gate.
09:58:10: Desjani calls Invincible an RBRSRIT (a.k.a. “Really Big Really Slow Really Inviting Target”).
09:59:40: JG sees the Enigma ships begin accelerating towards his pursuit fleet of battlecruisers.
10:00:38: JG concludes the 222 Enigma ships plan to ram his pursuit fleet. 10:01:22
Chapter 17
10:01:25
JG and Desjani believe Enigma are making a suicide run at JG's pursuit fleet of battlecruisers.
10:06:00: Desjani explains to JG a cone of possible ram intercept locations the Enigma would have to cover given JG's fleet trajectory over timne. JG and Desjani brainstorm a way to use their excess time (Midway is not under immediate threat).
10:07:07: Rione reports that the SWs have appeared through the jump point behind them. Rione asks JG how he will prevent the Enigma from destroying the SWs. Rione tries to start another conversation about politics but JG dismisses her due to a battle about to start in 30 minutes. (Baltakatei: As if she didn't talk to him just recently about the politics of Midway? Author seems to have made a continuity error.)
10:20:58: Enigma ram the battleships.
10:22:30: Invincible is struck. Invincible survives, tanking a direct suicide strike.
10:23:30: The remaining 80 Enigma ship break formation and scatter. JG pursuit fleet dissolves to catch scattering Enigma warships.
10:29:30: Enigma forces reduced down to 35 ships.
10:30:50: JG reads message from the Midway flotilla from a Commodore Mafisa on heavy cruiser Manticore. Mafisa requests JG assist in defending Midway against all aggressors; JG and Desjani conclude Mafisa is requesting JG's fleet assist Midway's rebellion against the Syndicate government.
Enigma send planetary bombardment towards Midway's inhabited planet.
Chapter 18
10:34:20
JG receives a message from President Aiseni and General Drakon sent before the Enigma had launched their planetary bombardment strikes.
10:44:00 (~): SWs move to intercept bombardment
Some Enigma flee.
Remaining Enigma launch bombardment of local rebellion orbital dock. Docked battleship moves dock. Remaining Enigma flee.
Desjani congratulates JG on victory for defending Midway.
Chapter 19
11:06:40
JG congratulates President Aiseni of Midway for helping defend Midway from the Enigma..
11:09:30: JG's fleet crew name the SWs the "Dancers" instead of "BUBs".
11:16:30: General Drakon sends JG a message from Rojero, Bradamont's lover. Rojero provides intelligence on Midway rebel movement during their fight for Independence from the Syndicate worlds.
11:27:00: Rione reveals she knows Bradamont was being used. Rione suggests JG assign Bradamont to be Alliance liaison in Midway to coordinate with Rojero and help train locals in military defense of Midway. JG is surprised Rione looks out for Bradamont.
