Sally had finished the evening meal and sat down with Russell to eat. The two of them ate quietly, absorbed in their own thoughts. A palpable fear had settle over the camp. Rumors had been flying through the encampment all day. The K’Rang were in orbit! Fleet reinforcements had arrived! The K’Rang had landed and were advancing on the camp!
That last one by a screaming hysterical woman in the dinner line caused Sally to leave the kitchen and slap the nonsense out of her. It brought her to her senses, and Sally wound up holding her in her arms while the woman had a good cry.
Russell got up from his seat and came over to her side. She had been wool gathering, thinking about that hysterical woman, and didn’t realize he had moved. She looked over, saw him and jumped sideways.
“Russell, shuffle your feet when you move around like that. You almost scared me out of a year of my life.”
Russell didn’t say a word. He just knelt down beside her and took her hand. Sally realized what was about to happen and her eyes got all misty.
With only a little quaver in his voice, Russell held up a ring, and said, “Sally Halstead, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
People all around them noticed what was going on and a hush came over the dining hall. People looked on as if they were all holding their breath.
Sally burst into full-on tears, grabbed Russell about the neck and shouted, “Yes!” The dining hall erupted into cheers and applause. People lined up to shake their hands, hug, and congratulate them. The pent up fear and frustration evaporated as people had something positive to focus on.
When the felicitations died down, Sally asked, “Where did you get this ring, it’s beautiful?”
“One-Eyed Pete gave it to me as a going away present. He said our relationship was the most poorly kept secret he’d ever known.”
Sally looked up into Russell’s eyes. “I don’t want to leave. I want to stay here and continue to work at the Ruin View. It’s still the best restaurant on the planet and how many chefs can put that on their resume? I’m sure Pete really doesn’t want us to leave. What say we negotiate a better deal with him and stay on here? I bet this planet will be booming now that it’s out in the open. I heard they’ve negotiated a land agency deal to bring in settlers. Of course, those pesky K’Rang will have to be dealt with first.”
“Sounds good to me. If we could be happy as captives, we should be able to be happy as free members of the Brotherhood.”
Fleet Commander J’Kalt calculated that he had only enough defensive missiles for one more attack and he would have expended all his defensive missiles. The Human fighters, attack craft, and torpedo ships had harassed them for the last four hours. His missiles had saved all but one destroyer that took two torpedoes forward of the bridge, and the resulting ammunition magazine explosion broke the ship apart. His crews were getting more tired and he saw simple mistakes being made that could be disastrous in the wrong situation.
As the Humans were not going to let them rest, he ordered his fleet to move toward the Human base that his sensors indicated was nearby. He avoided the shortest path to the adjacent wide pathway, fearing it to be mined, and chose the next closest. His fleet formed up and closed up to transit the narrow gravity tunnel. When they emerged into the larger passage they spread out, making themselves less vulnerable to fighter attacks.
J’Kalt had his first long range sensor view of the Human base. It was a planet. J’Kalt was amazed that Humans, or any species could exist in this star cluster. It was a medium-sized world with a single moon. J’Kalt wondered if he had sufficient force to expel the Humans and claim this world for the K’Rang. That would put some profit to this expensive expedition. J’Kalt put his efforts to defeating the Human fleet, and saved his dreams of conquest for later.
Chapter Eighteen
Admiral Minacci viewed the entirety of the K’Rang fleet arrayed in the free space before Barataria. Now the advantage shifted to the K’Rang. He had one more trap to spring, then the battle would devolve into a slugfest, one he was ill suited to win.
The massed fighters, attack craft, and torpedo ships flew at the K’Rang left flank. They launched 48 medium missiles from the F-48s first and peeled off to return to the carrier. The remainder flew on, using the missiles as a shield. The A-76s were next to launch 144 medium missiles and peeled off. The Charybdis launched 120 torpedoes and pulled off to return to base. This left 40 Scyllas to hide in and behind the missile and torpedo cloud boring in on the K’Rang fleet.
The K’Rang defensive missiles launched, in response to the inbound missiles. It was obvious to Admiral Minacci that there weren’t going to be enough K’Rang defensive missiles. The Scyllas fired off their 48 fast torpedoes and retired back to their base. Minacci watched as intensive fire erupted from the K’Rang fleet.
The defensive missiles reduced the cloud of approaching missiles, but only by a third. None of the fast torpedoes were hit and they bore into the midst of the K’Rang fleet. The remaining gun frigate and two destroyers took direct hits. The large antimatter warheads broke the ships’ backs and sent them spinning through the formation.
The remaining missiles and torpedoes caused assorted damage, but none that would disable or destroy a ship. Most of the damage appeared to knock out several of the gun mounts on the remaining K’Rang destroyers. The heavy cruiser was left with only one turret operational.
Admiral Minacci ordered in what he hoped would be the killing stroke. His two plasma frigates, the two assault landing carriers, and his flagship popped out from behind Barataria and fired all their anti-ship missiles at the K’Rang heavy cruiser. They opened up with their plasma cannons at the remainder of the fleet, concentrating all their fire on one ship at a time. If it was to be a slugfest, it would be at his instigation.
The first group of anti-ship missiles slammed into the K’Rang cruiser and destroyed its remaining turret, and one of the frigate’s rear turret and missile pod. The cruiser was now weaponless. The plasma barrage aimed at one of the destroyers burned holes through the ship and destroyed its hull integrity. Life giving atmosphere rushed out into space in an expanding fog.
The defanged cruiser and four fighter defense frigates were all that was left of the mighty K’Rang fleet. Admiral Minacci pressed his advantage. He ordered Captain Alden to attack the K’Rang left flank. Alden’s 27 ships swarmed out from behind Barataria’s artificial moon and bore in on the K’Rang left flank. Captain Alden intended for them to earn their pay. He had all ships film the encounter with their gun cameras for Mr. Debran’s enjoyment.
The K’Rang frigates put up as effective a defensive fire as they could. As a last desperate measure, the K’Rang frigates fired all their offensive missiles. Sixty-four offensive missiles sped toward the admiral’s flagship.
The K’Rang frigates formed a wall before their flagship cruiser and switched to area fire. One Hooligan missile boat unluckily ran into a super heated plasma bubble and dissolved into a mass of molten metal. The rest of the missile boats raced on. As they came within missile range, Alden ordered them to salvo fire. The Hooligan missiles, programmed to take out the frigates, bore in through the defensive fire and the 35 surviving missiles slammed into the four K’Rang frigates. The antimatter warheads exploded against the frigates like miniature suns, totally consuming the ships. The K’Rang offensive missiles continued on toward the Human carrier and flew into a cloud of defensive missiles. One missile, thrown off course by a near explosion, tumbled past the defensive missiles, righted itself, and flew into the superstructure of one of the Human bombardment frigates. The burning Human frigate quickly became a total loss and escape pods started ejecting from the crippled ship.
The K’Rang heavy cruiser stood alone and defenseless in the glaring light of the Baratarian star. Fleet Commander J’Kalt looked at his situation calmly. He had no guns but his close in defensive guns, and they would only protect him from a small fraction of any inbound missiles. He and his ship were doomed; nothing could save them now. J’Kalt decided to make one last desperate attempt to save K’Rang honor. He turned his ship in the
