A second, larger ship appeared at the edges of the sensor range. It moved closer to the frontier. The captain ordered the Vigilant to dead stop. It floated free in space.
LCDR Timmons said, “Let’s see what’s going on here. We’ll wait until we have a better picture on this second ship before we move closer. Chief B, get me all you can as soon as you can on this second ship.”
Kelly and Timmons watched their monitors as the sensor crew resolved details on the second ship. It appeared to be about three times the size of the earlier K’Rang ship. It looked to be no more than a medium size interstellar freighter. It moved up to the other K’Rang ship. The sensor crew determined that the second ship was a lighter carrier. It was designed for moving cargo from space to a planet’s surface on a primitive planet without an orbital transfer point. They were usually fitted with four to six cargo lighters that would carry the cargo from the ship to the ground. The sensor section estimated that the cargo lighters would be about the same size as the Vigilant, or just a little larger, for a ship the size of the K’Rang lighter carrier.
Both K’Rang ships moved toward and through the frontier and proceeded directly to the 6664 system.
The captain ordered the Vigilant to proceed to the 6664 system and the crew to battle stations. He had a message sent to Fleet requesting reinforcements and containing all the details of the last two days.
The K’Rang ships were closer to the system than the Vigilant and arrived first. The lighter carrier launched four lighters down to the surface. The lighter carrier and the other ship used pulse cannons to soften up the planetary defenses. The New Alexandria authorities issued a general distress call, which was replaced by an invasion emergency call. The Vigilant increased speed.
“The captain keyed up the internal speakers. “This is the captain. We are moving to engage the K’Rang force attacking New Alexandria. I plan to attack the lighter carrier first to give the lighters no escape route. Once we have dispatched the lighter carrier, we will take out the other ship, then go down into the atmosphere to take out the lighters. We will leave any enemy soldiers for the New Alexandria defense forces to deal with.”
“Exec, contact the New Alexandria authorities and inform them we are coming to their assistance. Just in case our K’Rang friends over there are listening in, tell them that we have a reinforcement fleet coming in behind us.”
“Aye aye, Captain.”
Kelly brought up the comms suite on his monitor, contacted the Defense Force HQ of New Alexandria and informed them they were coming to their aid. The general in command gave him a status report on the battle on the surface. The K’Rang had landed about a battalion of troops near a light industrial compound in the southern hemisphere. New Alexandria security forces in the vicinity were completely overwhelmed. Forces were moving into the sector and preparing to counterattack. Kelly told him that the lighters would have no place to return to shortly.
The captain increased speed to just below FTL to close the distance more quickly. He oriented their approach to bring them in on the rear of both ships. His plan was to take out both ship’s engines on the first pass and then come back and take them both out in turn.
As they approached, the turret gunners fired, taking out the K’Rang ships’ engines. Once the engines were disabled, they switched their aim to destroy the pulse cannons. They were less successful on the cannons than they were on the engines. A couple of cannons were still in service and a few pulses impacted on the Vigilant’s armor and shields with no damage.
On the second pass, the Vigilant came in above the lighter carrier, using the forward guns and the turrets to maximum effect. As they blew by the two K’Rang ships, the lighter carrier was displaying secondary explosions and venting atmosphere into space. The second ship launched another drone as they passed. It locked onto the Vigilant and vectored in on a tail-chase collision course and accelerated. Kelly switched his monitor to rear view and watched as the turrets and rear-mounted guns made short work of the drone. The size of the explosion as it disintegrated gave an indication of its true purpose. It was a space torpedo.
The K’Rang lighter carrier exploded into a tremendous fireball, engulfing and consuming both K’Rang ships as the Vigilant turned back for a third run. Sensors informed the bridge that the K’Rang lighter carrier used its self-destruct mechanism. Both K’Rang ships were completely vaporized.
The captain took the Vigilant down into the atmosphere to deal with the lighters on the surface. Kelly called the New Alexandria Defense HQ to get the exact location and status of the invading force. The general came back on personally and said that the K’Rang forces were loading back on the lighters and attempting to escape back into space. New Alexandrian fighters had made short work of two of the lighters, one had been destroyed on the ground, but one was escaping beyond the maximum altitude of their atmospheric fighters. Their exoatmospheric fighters were not in range to close with the lighter. The Vigilant turned to pursue. As the two ships reached space, Chief B informed the bridge that the original K’Rang drone had entered the Scutum sector at power 2.
The drone picked up the Vigilant and turned onto a collision course at just under power 2. The captain turned the Vigilant toward the lighter, with the drone closing fast. At the last minute he increased speed to power 2, closely passed the lighter, and accelerated to power 3 FTL. The drone lost track on the Vigilant and locked onto the lighter. The long-range sensors recorded the destruction of the last K’Rang lighter.
The Vigilant turned back to land on New Alexandria, on the request of the New Alexandria authorities. The ramp dropped, and the captain went out with the Exec, Chief Watson, Chief B, and three gunnery crew members. All went armed. Chief B had a sensor pack and a hand sensor.
A Defense Force first lieutenant came over and saluted. “Sir, General Holcomb sends his complements and asked me to escort you to his headquarters.”
The Vigilant team followed the lieutenant to a collection of large hover vehicles arranged as a mobile command post. They were led into the largest vehicle and General Holcomb came over. He was a short, balding man, but with a weightlifter’s physique. The Vigilant team saluted and had their salute returned.
“Saluting is not necessary indoors, Captain. Stand easy. I know you Fleet guys do that, but it’s not required here. I want to thank you for your timely assistance. We’d have lost a lot more soldiers if you guys hadn’t come along. When you attacked the lighter carrier, the K’Rang lost all interest in what they were doing. They ran for their lighters and lost all discipline. It was a rout at that point. We didn’t take any prisoners. They even shot their own wounded.”
LCDR Timmons made introductions and asked, “General, do you have any idea what they were trying to do?”
“No, Captain, they were attacking this industrial complex. We are checking to see what is in here. None of the companies are defense related. There are a couple of electronics manufacturing firms, but they are mostly consumer electronics producers. I can’t see any reason for a battalion-sized assault.”
On a hunch, Timmons asked, “General, does the Indigo Consortium have a facility here?”
The General looked over at one of his staff officers and asked for a listing. The major passed a data tablet over to him.
“Yes, the Indigo Consortium has a shipping office here. It was right in the area that took the most damage when they came in.”
“Sir, with your permission, I’d like to send a couple of my people to go over and have a look.”
“Sure, Captain, we are under martial law here at the moment and you can go look at whatever you want. If you want I can arrange transport for your folks and a guide. I see you are all armed, but I’ll send a security squad along just in case any stray K’Rang are still around.”