for them, but to just remain here in sickbay until they could be transferred to another ship. He then excused himself, as he had a battle to fight.
As Kelly congratulated the Marines and thanked them for a smooth operation, he saw that CPT Chen was in a heated discussion with Alistair. He ushered the two of them forward to get them away from the crowd of Marines around the raised gangplank.
“What is it, you two?”
CPT Chen was first to speak. Pointing her finger at Alistair, she said furiously, “You had to grandstand, didn’t you? You couldn’t just let my Marines pull this off, could you?”
Alistair calmly said, “Mary, the night staff was two old men and the security force was one enfeebled 70 year old. I took away his flashlight and locked them all in a closet. It was no trouble at all. I accept your expression of appreciation.”
CPT Chen stomped back to her platoon.
Kelly laughed all the way to the bridge.
He looked at the plot and saw no trailing ships. He looked over at the sensor watch position and asked, “Any reaction yet, Jameson?”
Petty Officer Todd Jameson replied, “None yet, sir.”
Jameson’s head suddenly went down. “Sir, two K’Rang medium scout ships, K’Tan class, just entering sensor range at 176 mark 52. I think they see us. They are powering up and heading our way.”
K’Rang scouts in the star cluster was a bad thing. Kelly fired off a quick message to Admiral Minacci, reporting that the Debran women were safely on board. He also informed him that he was about to be engaged by two K’Rang medium scout ships that appeared in the star cluster. Kelly was about to recommend the Admiral move the Fleet to the star cluster entrance, then thought, no, the admiral will figure that out on his own.
Kelly ordered the Vigilant to come about and engage the K’Rang ships. They couldn’t be allowed to carry information on the pirate world back with them. He sounded the collision alarm, as they were already at battle stations. The Marines lined up in the central corridor; CPT Chen, 1st LT Heron, and his Gunnery Sergeant stood at parade rest behind the command chairs.
Kelly asked, “Sensors, any reaction from the pirate top cover?”
“Negative, sir. They are continuing their patrol routes as before.”
Kelly had an idea. He wanted to make sure the pirates knew they had bigger troubles coming their way. He ordered helm to increase the closing rate by pushing their speed up to 0.9 c, just below light speed. He wanted to hit these K’Rang when the pirate torpedo ships were in the right position.
The Vigilant pressed on toward the K’Rang scouts. The turrets were hot and his best gunner was just below Kelly’s position, ready to fire the nose guns. Kelly knew he had gun range on the K’Rang; he hoped to do some damage to them before they could return the favor. Kelly ordered the gunners to fire as soon as the K’Rang ships came into range. Nose guns were to concentrate on the lead K’Rang scout and the turrets would fire on the K’Rang wingman.
The two K’Rang Scouts were coordinating their attack on the Human scout ship. They knew the Human had longer-range guns than they, but there were two of them. As long as he didn’t have missiles, they had a better than even chance of beating him.
D’Lon, the senior commander, had the lead. His junior commander, V’Tagg, was behind and to starboard.
D’Lon keyed his communicator to V’Tagg and said, “We must kill this Human scout. The Humans must not know we have been here. He will fire on me first. When he does, you must break right, then turn wide to come in on his left flank and kill him. I will draw his fire and inflict as much damage as I can. Whatever happens, do not let him escape. Fleet Commander J’Kalt will need the element of surprise.”
As the first steel rail gun projectiles started coming his way from the Human scout, he ordered V’Tagg to break right.
Kelly watched as the nose gunner opened fire. The lead K’Rang came straight ahead, as the trailing ship broke right and away. Kelly, being a former fighter pilot, knew this maneuver. The other ship would come in on their port side and try to shoot them amidships. Kelly warned gunnery to keep the turrets focused on the K’Rang maneuvering off to port.
The range indicator for the lead K’Rang showed him coming into range to fire back. Kelly watched the rail gun slugs tearing up the scout’s nose. He had the gunner concentrate next on the winglets, as they contained plasma guns. When the lead K’Rang’s guns came into range, D’Lon opened fire with all he had. The plasma guns had little effect on the Vigilant. Her shielding spread the charge all across the outer hull and neutralized the plasma pulses. The particle beams had more effect, but at this range it did little more than etch the hull. The K’Rang guns’ effect was also reduced by the Vigilant’s nose gunner’s deadly accurate destruction of the K’Rang guns.
Kelly kept watch on the flanking scout ship; it was almost in position for what Kelly had in mind. Kelly keyed up the screen showing the pirate patrol routes. It was time. Kelly ordered the helm to come 45 degrees to port. This put them equally between the two K’Rang ships and in a position where neither could fire on the Vigilant with their fixed nose or winglet guns. Kelly ordered the turret gunners to fire on both ships as they passed. He saw pieces fly off both ships as the turrets’ twin particle cannons chewed pieces from the sides of the scouts. Both scouts frantically tried turning in toward the Vigilant, but the radii of their turns were too tight.
D’Lon was almost weaponless, but he ordered his own ship and V’Tagg’s to turn in pursuit. They must destroy this Human scout. V’Tagg thought she had an idea of what the Human was trying to do, but the code of Shadow Force was to follow your orders without hesitation. She would follow, but could ask questions.
“D’Lon, could this Human be leading us into a trap?”
“No, he is running. Did you not see how he turned between us to avoid our guns? He must be hurt more than he shows. His nose guns may be off line or damaged.”
V’Tagg suggested, “He seems to be leading us back to the Human world, where those fighters are patrolling.”
D’Lon saw only victory and honor. He said to V’Tagg, “Look at your tactical display. The fighters are out of position to be able to support him. V’Tagg, form up tight on me and follow me.”
She lined up on his starboard winglet and followed him, in accordance with the code. As one of a very few K’Rang female ship commanders, she mustn’t take any actions that would endanger the future for those females coming up in the ranks behind her.
Kelly had the helm line up with the pirate planet atmosphere. He wanted to leave a message few below would miss. The ship skipped in and out of the atmosphere, leaving a contrail half the diameter of the planet. Every time they skipped into the atmosphere, it produced a sonic boom, as well. As they came around the planet, they came face to face with two-dozen surprised torpedo ships. In an instant there were over 100 torpedoes launched and heading their way. Calm, professional reports of the torpedo squadrons engaging a Scout Force ship went down to the defense HQ on the planet.
As they turned away from the torpedoes, the torpedoes and the torpedo ships followed in tail chase. Kelly ordered the helm to line up with the lead K’Rang scouts nose. Once the distance to the K’Rang ships closed to where the torpedo ships had sensor readings on the K’Rang scouts, not so calm reports were sent to the defense HQ. The level of profanity increased exponentially.
Kelly had what he wanted. He ordered the helm to climb 15 degrees and go to FTL Power 3. As expected, the Vigilant accelerated away from the torpedoes too quickly for them to maintain lock. The torpedoes searched for a new target and the two K’Rang scouts were in their sights. The K’Rang were unable to turn away in time and over 100 torpedoes homed in on the K’Rang scouts. The conflagration was a wonder to see, as torpedo after torpedo accelerated into the growing mass of debris, flame, and smoke.
Kelly ordered the ship off general quarters and had Connie call for damage reports. The sections reported only minor damage. Engineering had a fried circuit breaker and a 10 % loss in shields. Sickbay reported a mild case of motion sickness on the part of Miss Christine Debran. The galley reported a broken glass. Sensors reported a frayed nerve; Doc immediately prescribed duck tape.
