The Shadow Leader made his way to an escape pod while the ship was wracked with explosions. He launched himself free of the destroyer just as a final explosion consumed the ship. He made his way to the nearest frigate and once onboard, ordered all ships to move themselves out 100,000 km from the nebula. It was plain that the two earlier frigates had been destroyed and this Human ship was still dangerous. He placed the three ships (the support ship had joined them) so they could cover the Humans’ escape paths.
The captain ordered Cookie to prepare a hot meal for the crew while he studied their options. There were three frigates and a support ship patrolling out there and waiting. The K’Rang were wounded, but still had teeth. In addition, the frigates had long-range missiles that were almost two times faster than the Vigilant. Running for it, therefore, was not an option.
The captain had Chief Watson change out the watch as the crew was fed, so fresh eyes and minds would be on the controls, sensors, and gun sights.
Cookie did wonders with the meal. He produced steaks, potatoes with gravy, corn on the cob, fresh green beans, and caesar salad. The crew was fed first and then Chief Watson, Kelly and Timmons ate, while discussing their situation.
“Well,” Timmons said, “we can’t run and we can’t stay here and hide. We are too far into K’Rang space. At some point, reinforcements will show up to conduct a concerted cordon and search of this piece of the nebula. The K’Rang ships out there have positioned themselves well. They can watch every escape route. They are far enough out that our weapons can’t affect them if we stay here inside the nebula. If we come out to try and pick one of them off, the others can come to its aid. If we try to run back up the nebula it takes us further into K’Rang space, which isn’t good now that we’re out of missiles. I don’t think we will be able to use the Algolian Gambit again. They seem to have figured that one out. Do you two have any ideas?”
Chief Watson just scratched his head. “Sir, if we have no real alternatives, why don’t we just take out as many as we can and go down swinging?”
“Chief, we may get to that, but I want to expend all other options first.”
Kelly finished chewing a bite of his steak and said, “I wonder if there are any missiles we could borrow from the two frigates in here? If we could pull some out and rig them for firing, even if they don’t hit anything, they may distract the K’Rang enough for us to get a head start to the frontier.”
“Nice idea, Exec, but I don’t think we have the time or expertise to make that happen.”
“Captain, I’m kind of out of ideas, then.”
“I know, so am I. I want us all to get some rest. Nothing is going to happen for a while. If we get some shut eye and approach this with clear heads, we might come up with some options. Go to your quarters. Chief Billings will take the conn. Chief, have the other chiefs get some rest.”
The three of them finished their steaks and retired to their quarters for some rest. When there are no better options, sleep is a good course of action.
In three hours, Kelly hadn’t slept or come up with a viable course of action. He saw no other option than to try and battle it out. No tricky moves came to mind. It would be a slug fest. He couldn’t see how the Vigilant could survive battle with three frigates, even with as much damage as they had already inflicted. They still had more firepower, shielding, and as much speed as the Vigilant.
Kelly gave up on sleep. If he couldn’t get rest, he would at least be clean, so he stripped down and took a shower. He didn’t come out better rested, but at least the grit was out of his eyes. Dressed, he sat down at his terminal to review the tactical situation. It was no better than three hours ago.
The three frigates were patrolling the perimeter of the nebula. The support ship was part of the screen and all avenues of escape were being watched. Sneaking out was not an option. No matter what he considered, it kept coming back to a brawl. Well, if that were the only option, he would need to look at the best way to do it. He studied the tactical situation again, and was sorting through the options when LCDR Timmons called him over to his ready room. Chief Watson was already there.
“Kelly, have you come up with any ideas?”
“I can’t find any better option than a slugfest with our buddies out there. I have been looking at the tactical situation.”
Kelly pointed at the tactical situation on the captain’s large monitor. “The first guy we should take out is this frigate up on top. He's weakest in the stern. If we can jump in behind him, we can tear him up. We’ve taken out both his gun turrets and his rear missile launcher. The next guy to take out is the support ship. He only has short range defensive guns and missiles good for fighters, but ineffective against us.”
“This guy here on the frontier side of the nebula is next. He's weakest to the front. My gun run took out his missile launcher and damaged the bridge. We’d need to come in on his forward port quarter. The shrapnel from our flinging the debris at them knocked out most of his port side defensive guns.”
“The last guy is here on the K’Rang side of the nebula. He is slow, because we damaged his engines earlier, but he is the best armed. He still has all his weaponry. We may be able to avoid combat with him. If we knock out the first two frigates, we could make a run for it. This guy is on the wrong side of the nebula and his engines may not be up to snuff. The support ship probably won’t try to run us down. Its engines are in bad shape also, and it’s not armed to really do us any damage.”
“Good assessment, Exec. If we have to go out after them, that’s probably the best plan. Chief, what do you think?”
“I agree with the Exec. I’ve looked at the situation and came to the same conclusion.”
The captain looked down at the floor and said, “So did I.”
“Chief, is there anything we need to do before we go out there and try to take on these guys?”
“Well, Captain, I can’t think of anything. We are about as prepared as we are ever going to get.”
“Okay, I want to speak to the crew first. They deserve to know what we are going up against. Take your posts.”
Chief Watson and Kelly exited the ready room and took their places on the bridge. The captain followed a few seconds behind. He took his seat and keyed the ship-wide intercom. “This is the captain. We have fought a good fight. We have accomplished our mission far beyond expectations. In this patrol we have destroyed a K’Rang command ship, four battlecruisers, four missile cruisers, four destroyers, seven frigates, and a support ship.”
“Now we have to face our strongest challenge. There are three K’Rang frigates and an armed support ship outside the nebula waiting for us. They won’t come in to try and get us. They won’t get close enough where our weapons can hit them from in here. We are going to have to go out and engage them. We can’t stay here, because eventually K’Rang reinforcements will arrive, and they will flush us out and destroy us.”
“We are going to go out and take as many of them out as we can. I won’t kid you. We have been incredibly lucky up to this point. The odds of us carrying this off are not spectacular. We will make our first attack in fifteen minutes. I know we will all do our duty. All hands to your battle stations.”
“Chief Watson, plot a jump course to place us immediately behind the first frigate. Gunner, when we jump in, line us up and take your shots quickly. Do as much damage as you can. Overheat the guns if you have to. They can always be cooled down when we jump back in here. Make sure you take out his engines.”
The gunner looked back, gulped, and responded, “Aye aye, Captain.” A drip of sweat fell off his nose onto the console. He nervously wiped it off with his sleeve.
Chief Watson finished his calculations and sent them to the helmsman and navigator.
“Chief, Kelly, we back up the bridge crew like before. Kelly, if anything happens get us out of there quickly and back into the nebula. That is your first priority.”
“Helm, take us to the first jump off point.”
The Vigilant moved to a position that would put it at a 45 degree angle to the K’Rang frigate. When they were in position, the helm signaled readiness to jump.
The captain keyed up the intercom and said, “Engine room, are you ready?”
“Engine room, aye.”
“Sensors, are you ready?”
“Sensors, aye. Captain, we just received a recall notice from the 1st Combined Fleet. If we could go home, we could now.”
“Thanks, Chief, log it. Prepare a message pod with all our logs. We’ll launch it if things get too ugly out there. Weapons, are you ready?”
