Kelly retired from the bridge to his ready room and called up the gravimetric plot for this sector. Kelly assessed the K’Rang commander stopped here for a reason. He always assumed he might have missed something and now he resolved to find out what it might be. He examined the sensor data and could see little to suggest the K’Rang’s intentions until he turned up the gain on his gravimetric analyzer. Five as yet undiscovered gravity tunnels appeared around the space the K’Rang fleet occupied, like spokes on a wheel.
Kelly had made a mistake. Immediately behind the K’Rang fleet was a tunnel leading directly into the main passage to Barataria and thence the exit into GR space. Kelly got on the communicator to the Admiral to inform him.
Admiral Minacci was concerned, but not alarmed. He knew he was taking a chance when he had asked the Vigilant to do a quick survey. The Vigilant had light years of space to survey in a very short time. Of course they were going to miss some detail. Minacci had the Leviathan laying mines in preparation for the defense of Barataria. He added higher priority to some additional fields in their tasking and was done with it.
He thought a bit about the Vigilant’s young captain. He was impressed with him. He had yet to not accomplish a mission. His actions against the K’Rang scouts probably saved the 3rd ALG’s bacon. If the combat power in this K’Rang fleet had come in with knowledge of the gravity tunnels and of Barataria, he’d be the one stopped and licking his wounds with only half his force, or worse. He would have to see what he could do for LCDR Blake, if they all survived this.
Now, it wouldn’t do to let the K’Rang get too rested. As soon as the mines were laid, impeding the shortest gravity tunnel to the main passage, he sent in some sortie orders for the fighters, attack ships, and torpedo ships. There was no use in letting the K’Rang get too much shuteye.
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.