Connaught
The Connaught is crippled at Titan while helping draw the Free Navy away from the Medina strike, leaving Pa without a fleet to answer Marco's return burn.
Story so far
The Connaught was the first physical test of Michio Pa's claim that an independent relief fleet could find protected space between rival powers. It survived a torpedo attack at Ceres and later carried Pa in the diversion and attack that helped her take Pallas without sacrificing the port's civilians.
At Titan, Connaught and the Serrio Mal attack fifteen Free Navy ships from an unexpected direction while a smaller Martian force engages from the front. The operation's purpose is distraction, not victory: open gaps in the enemy formation and keep Marco's attention away from the Roci and Giambattista at Medina. A torpedo threads the defenses and breaks the ship's drive, burning Pa and killing Oksana and Evans amid the chaos. The exact sequence is blurred by Pa's injury, but the result is clear: Connaught survives only as a broken remnant, unable to join the race to stop the Pella.
Appearance
A battered Belter warship with a shattered drive section and combat-scarred hull; its surviving people are evacuated to medical shelter after the Titan action. Its detailed original configuration is not described.
Role
Connaught is the damaged proof of what Pa's cause spends to create space for the Medina operation—and why she cannot reinforce its victory.
Relationships
Sources — 5 recorded facts, by chapter
- A former Martian military vessel, now Michio Pa's Free Navy command for seizing colonial supplies.
- Pa's former Free Navy command becomes the center of an armed breakaway devoted to moving seized supplies to hungry stations.
- Pa's command ship becomes a mobile relief headquarters, charting precarious routes between hungry stations and Marco's pursuing fleet.
- The Connaught survives a torpedo attack at Ceres and departs along a corkscrew burn as proof that Pa's fleet has a narrow refuge.
- The Connaught is crippled at Titan while helping draw the Free Navy away from the Medina strike, leaving Pa without a fleet to answer Marco's return burn.