Rodney Smith - Scout force

He realized that if the Command Ship was not responding, it was probably destroyed. The Command Ships had communications redundancies. He considered his options and formulated a plan.

There were three reinforcing battle fleets converging on New Alexandria. He contacted all three fleet commanders and coordinated their arrival at New Alexandria. His appointment as provisional governor of New Alexandria made him the senior commander. They would converge simultaneously and hit the Humans from three sides with a withering fire. They could bring over 3000 long-range missiles to bear on the Human fleet. It would be simple to continue in with their long-range heavy guns and take out any survivors.

He ordered the fleet to slow to give time for the other battle fleets to move into their positions for the coordinated attack.

LCDR Timmons and Kelly had used the time to calculate jump points in preparation for the attack. Sensors had picked these ships up at maximum range and there were over two hours of tracking data to work from. The K’Rang fleet formation had not changed for the entire time they approached. The escorts were arrayed around the four battlecruisers. An outer ring of frigates surrounded the fleet. Next inside this ring, at the front of the formation were the four destroyers. They were the short range defensive ships for the battlecruisers.

In the center of the formation were the four battlecruisers, followed by the missile cruisers. The battlecruisers were the heavy punch of the formation. They were equipped with guns and missiles, heavy armor and shielding. The missile cruisers were the fast, long-range punch of the formation and only lightly armored. They each carried hundreds of extended-range missiles designed to take out large capital ships. If this fleet crossed the frontier, it could do serious damage to the 1st Combined Fleet. Trailing the missile cruisers were the two logistics ships, inside the frigate screen.

Their plan was to take out the two support ships in the first jump. Hopefully, one or two of the frigates would stay with them as the fleet moved off. Chief B’s viruses and trojan horses would be deployed into the formation’s C3I system, if possible. Next they would take out two of the missile cruisers. The next pass would go after the other two missile cruisers. Their goal would be to disable the engines and leave them drifting or moving at such slow speed that they couldn’t engage in combat.

Follow-on jumps would attempt to take out some of the frigates. If they could knock off half of the frigates, they’d be in good shape for the next jump, in which they would unleash half the missiles, one per battlecruiser. If they were that successful, maybe the K’Rang would retreat to lick their wounds.

Chief Watson told the captain that the ship was secure and ready for combat. He thanked him and ordered the crew to battle stations. He looked at the bridge crew and said, “Exec, you back up the helmsman and the gunner. Chief Watson, you back up navigation and the engineering position. I’ll watch Sensors. Navigation, plot and lock in our jump points. Helm, prepare to execute. We will not stop longer than three seconds inside the K’Rang formation. Helm, count out loud when we jump in and then jump us out. Do not hesitate. Do not wait for an order from me.”

“Aye aye, sir. Three seconds and then jump us out.”

“Helm, execute.”

The Vigilant leapt out of the nebula at full power 6 speed. The K’Rang sensors, probably set for max range, wouldn’t even resolve the Vigilant this close. If they detected anything, it was only a blur. The Vigilant came in immediately behind the two support ships. The gunner used the forward plasma cannons on the far support ship, shredding the hull. Two of the turret gunners took out the engines of the near support ship. The third turret gunner, unable to bear on the support ships, took out the nearest frigate’s engines. At the count of three, the helmsman jumped the ship into the gas giant.

The captain had the sensor plot on his monitor and it showed the K’Rang fleet in disarray. The attack was so swift they didn’t even know from where it came or where the attacker went. The frigates, destroyers and cruisers were wildly firing in all directions and lighting up every active sensor, trying to find the phantom ship that just hit them. The captain watched as they slowly came back under control and moved out again. The disabled frigate and the support ship remained behind.

The realization that they were under attack came slow to the Shadow Leader. The possibility that the Humans could have penetrated this far into K’Rang space was inconceivable, even though he had presumed the sector command ship destroyed. When the Fleet activated all its active sensors and could find no attacker, it caused him to wonder if the ships hadn’t merely gotten too close in formation and collided. It was not unheard of for ships to run into each other, especially when only operating on passive sensors.

He called for detailed reports. The response was that a small ship had appeared in their formation, fired on several ships, and disappeared.

Shadow leader M’Trang knew the Humans did not have invisibility capability. He set his staff to looking for places the Humans could use to hide. Their next attack would be their last.

Chief Watson made some quick calculations and passed them to the navigator to plot and lock in the jump points. When the navigator and the helmsman reported they were ready, the captain gave the order to jump.

Once again, the Vigilant leapt into the K’Rang formation and fired. Two of the lightly armored missile cruisers were wracked with secondary explosions. The Vigilant jumped out of the formation, as missiles and plasma fire zeroed in on their former location.

They jumped into the nebula, and the sensor display showed the explosions from the two missile cruisers damaging one of the other missile cruisers and one of the battle cruisers. Missiles from the two burning missile cruisers fired off and flew through the formation, hitting other ships. One of the frigates took a direct hit amidships and exploded into a fireball. The formation broke up and ships moved in all directions, fleeing the conflagration. All ships in the formation were indiscriminately firing guns and defensive missiles to intercept the missile cruisers missiles. This caused even more random damage to the formation.

The captain ordered the Vigilant to jump within close range of the broken formation. Four missiles were targeted against the four battlecruisers. The Vigilant jumped within 100,000 km of the fleet, fired its missiles, and jumped for the gas giant. The Vigilant actually outpaced its own missiles as it passed over the formation.

Once they had settled into the planet’s atmosphere, the sensors showed all four battlecruisers received direct hits. The missile cruisers’ errant missiles had flooded the defensive systems of the formation and the four missiles ran unimpeded into the four capital ships. The matter/antimatter warheads and resulting explosions consumed all four. Two frigates and the damaged missile cruiser were close enough that the shock waves from the explosions took them out as well. The Shadow Destroyer stopped dead in space, its engines off line.

Shadow Leader M’Trang picked himself up from the deck. A dead sensor operator lay over his legs. He kicked the corpse away and screamed, “Captain, get a damage report. Sensors, get new operators in here to work the systems. Communications, get me the status of all Fleet ships. Put me in contact with Admiral S’Gor.”

A radio operator was first to report, “Sir, Admiral S’Gor’s flagship was totally destroyed. As senior Shadow Leader, do you assume command or would you pass that to one of the other ship’s captains?”