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 direction of the Human carrier and ordered best possible speed. Even though his FTL engines were damaged in the missile strike that took out his rear turret control center, he could make nearly 0.4 c. He aimed his ship and left his fate to fortune.
Captain Alden ordered all ships to close on the K’Rang heavy cruiser and open fire as they came in range. The four fighters fired two medium missiles each and pulled away. The close in defensive weapons took out one missile, but the others bore in and turned the damaged cruiser into a boiling mass of atmosphere-fueled flame. The atmosphere was consumed in seconds and the flame died out. The smashed hull of the cruiser glowed red in the space above Barataria. Captain Alden and his entire Hooligan fleet did a victory roll.
Admiral Minacci didn’t rejoice for long. His cruiser squadron reinforcements were still four days away. If more K’Rang showed up, he was running out of ordnance. He still had a large supply of mines. He decided to move his force closer to the K’Rang space and lay a minefield in depth across the entrance from K’Rang space. He took his force to a position beyond which K’Rang sensors could penetrate and provided security for the Leviathan. The Vigilant moved to the edge of K’Rang space and scanned for any enemy combatants. Except for some planetary defense ships near the two main worlds, the scan was empty. The Leviathan, with its stealth coating, was able to move right up to edge of the star cluster and start laying a layer cake of mines.
The first layer were the Fleet’s dumb mines so the K’Rang would have no doubt who put down the unwelcome mat. The second layer was autonomous mines. The third were missile pods covering the first two layers. Next came a repeat of the first three layers and then a further repeat of the three layers. Minacci intended to make sure the bottle was plugged. He had the Vigilant seed the minefield with the remaining sensor pods. Once Minacci was sure the border was secure, he pulled his fleet back to Barataria.
When the news of the K’Rang defeat hit the evacuee camp, there was a great celebration. After the impromptu and raucous party came the decisions by the released captives whether to stay or go. A surprisingly large number decided to stay. People lacking family roots, which was not uncommon among spacers, decided to stay. Those with family ties or ongoing business interests decided to go. Those that left were provided with a moderate credit balance to get them back home. Transport ships, including the newly liberated Nebula Queen, were chartered to deliver them to Rigel Station. Irina Bugarov and Terri were first to book passage and got their old cabins back, with their belongings still inside.
The large number that stayed were offered membership in the Brotherhood. All accepted and took the new modified oath. The Brotherhood swelled by just under 50,000.
A ceremony was scheduled to honor the fallen and celebrate the victory over the K’Rang. The events were to take place over two days. The first day would be dedicated to honoring the GRS Yellow Jacket’s crew, the Frigate Jacob B. Grandis’ crew, the missile boat’s crew and the Baratarian defenders lost to the K’Rang. The second day would be to celebrate the victory. The second day would start with a ceremony honoring Admiral Minacci, Captain Alden, LCDR Blake, the Undefeated cutters, and the brave Torpedo Squadrons. The rest of the day would be a series of smaller events throughout Lafitte City. One of those events would be the marriage of Russell Obwobwo and Sally Halstead. Steven Maynard would preside. One-eyed Pete would give away the bride, and Alistair Bennett was asked to stand in as best man. Admiral Minacci was requested to come as an honored guest.
The K’Rang reinforcement task force arrived opposite the entrance to the star cluster on the day of the memorial. They found a multi-level minefield blocking off the way forward into the star cluster. They were able to see the depth and complexity of the minefield and concluded that it would be too costly to penetrate. The Humans also could quickly have forces in place to block any attempts. They spent a few days exploring, looking for another way into the star cluster, and determined the gravity hazards were too great to risk their ships.
After conferring with K’Rang Fleet HQ and receiving concurrence from the Elders, they established their own combined mine and sensor barrier layered opposite the exit. The D’Rin star cluster was no longer a backwater.
The military-only memorial ceremony for the defenders of Barataria was a somber affair. The Bishop-Commander led the invocation and prayers for the souls of the lost. Kelly saw quite a few wet eyes on and around the raised dais of one of the Ascetic battalion chapels that had been set aside for the memorial. To tell the truth, his eyes felt a little steamy when he thought about CDR Milton and his warrior spirit that led him to put his ship in harm’s way, when he could have remained safely in the rear.
Later, Kelly helped the admiral place a wreath at the future site of the Defenders Memorial by the parade ground. The large civilian presence around what was a hastily constructed marble pad was heartwarming. The audience was equally composed of Old Brotherhood and former captives, all grateful to those who died ensuring their safety and freedom. After the ceremony, the admiral called Kelly aside.
“Kelly, are you aware that Fleet has been studying whether to assign scout ships to groups, task forces, and fleets during operations? On the basis of your service to the 3rd Assault Landing Group, I am forwarding my recommendation to Fleet HQ that this be made a routine assignment for scout ships. I would be happy to have your ship under my command at any time.”