“Navigator, I want a course change to the Gamma Echo quadrant,” I announced. “Execute when ready. Communications, let me know when the chase ships send out messages.”
The slight change I was asking for would barely be perceptible at first to our pursuers. I wondered how soon they would notice the change and try to notify a blocking force. An hour later, I got my answer.
“Enemy ships communicating,” the communications officer announced.
I said, “Fine. Navigation, plot a course back to the Gamma Delta quadrant. Communications, let me know when the enemy communicates again.”
I had a plan that might work in that situation. If I could get the enemy to notice our course changes quicker, then we could continue to make those barely perceptible course changes. That would make both our pursuit and the blocking force wonder what was happening. If I was lucky, the blocking force would become confused at the constant changes about where they should be and start disbelieving the pursuers. Then, if I was real lucky, my ship would pick up the blocking force before they spotted us. We could then make a radical change in course to throw them into real confusion.
The game continued for almost the entire day, with us making slight course changes back and forth between the two headings. The pursuers were getting better at picking up on our course changes as we got the interval of changes down to a half-hour. I couldn’t have asked for a better position when we picked up the sensor readings of a blocking force of ten ships waiting for us far ahead. We were near a planet that was absolutely perfect for us to perform our own slingshot maneuver and Frank was at the pilot’s controls.
I ordered, “Frank, slingshot us back at our pursuit. Battle stations! Navigation, give Frank a course to take after the slingshot.”
Our ship dove at the nearby planet at the last possible moment. Then we rode the circular path around the planet, letting the planet’s gravity toss us out in the opposite direction at a greater speed than what we could do otherwise on our own engines. Because we were far enough ahead of the enemy, they probably didn’t know that we had detected their blocking force yet, since they only knew of its approximate position while our sensors had just given us its exact position. With luck, they might forget to notify the blocking force that we had changed course suddenly, especially as we were going at extreme speed towards them with every weapon on board blazing away at them. If they forgot to notify the blocking force, one of them might be even more unlucky and draw fire from their own ships in the blocking force.
We caught them off guard, nonetheless. I suspect that their leader probably figured I would take my ship away from both forces instead of attacking my pursuers as I was doing. His ships’ crews must have been in a relaxed state during the chase, as I hoped they would be. When we emerged from behind the planet coming back at them directly, only our own weapons were blazing. There wasn’t a single weapon on the seven chase ships returning our fire. Then Frank moved us into a position where not all of them could return fire because of their formation. The first few weapons that could respond to us were limited to only those with a line of sight on us while the enemy’s pilots tried desperately to limit by evasive maneuvers the damage we were inflicting on their ships. Their formation didn’t allow them much discretion in movement without increasing the danger of collision among them. Because of that, most of our shots were hits, since we had a bigger overall target to aim at than the enemy had firing at us. I felt our ship vibrate once from a hit, but I was able to observe multiple hits from our weapons on the enemy ships before we sped past them. Then we performed a quick Tshot on their rears before they could react again as a formation.
The T-shots did the most damage and destruction to the pursuit. Two of their ships were disabled when we hit their engines, leaving them helpless and unable to maneuver. Those two continued right on towards their own blocking force. At least one of them received fire from their own force that we could still monitor with our long range sensors. The other five were totally confused because one of the two must have been the flagship. Frank must have sensed it and looped back for another T-shot approach. Our gunners were able to destroy one more ship completely before the remaining enemy ships got coordinated and sped out of range quickly.
As I saw their ships get out of range, I issued orders again. “Navigation, plot a course for their home planet. Time to visit them again. Damage reports!”
It turned out that I hardly needed to issue the order for damage reports. Already, reports were coming in about the one hit we suffered. We had lost most, if not all, of our water supply. That meant we would have to get the water tanks repaired and refilled before we could engage in long term fighting again. I rechecked my personnel records and found what I thought I remembered. We still had a former member of the Avenger on board. “Gunner Thompson, what was the condition of the Avenger’s water tanks?” I asked over the internal communications. My answer came almost immediately over the intercom.
“They were still intact, sir.”
I ordered, “Navigation, change course to the Avenger, instead. I want full speed and I want to lose any pursuit. We’ll find them later.”
I watched the long range sensors as Navigation and Steering went about their tasks of plotting the necessary course and losing our pursuers. Within six hours, we lost all pursuit.
Chapter 7
The following day, we arrived at the planet where the Avenger had been set down. We landed near enough that we could almost spit out the hatch at the other ship and hit it. Immediately, repairs were made to the water tanks while some attention was given to the atmospheric steering. When the tanks were resealed, we put hoses between the two ships and pumped as much water as we could from the Avenger to the Thurman. It took almost four hours to accomplish those tasks. Then we sealed ourselves back up and jetted into space again. Because of our recent action, I saw no need for test firing or battle station drills.
I said, “Navigation, set a course for their home planet. This ought to be a surprise for them to see us back so quickly. They probably saw us lose our water supply and think we went home. They won’t be expecting us back for a week.”
I went to my cabin and turned in for some more rest. Even though I was just sitting in the command chair, I was still using energy. I couldn’t afford to become so tired that I was useless to my ship. I got about six hours of rest before Frank knocked on my door and woke me up.
Frank said, “We’re approaching the enemy home planet, Dave.”
“Thanks,” I said. I got up, dressed in my overslicks, and then made my way to the bridge. When I got to the bridge, one of our cooks was there with a meal for me and some hot coffee to help me really wake up. “Status?” I asked.
My First Officer replied, “One enemy ship just disappeared behind the planet. No other ships in range of sensor equipment.”
Navigation replied, “Ship on course for the planet as instructed.”