It was almost five hours later when we received the message from Headquarters that an ambush was impractical at the time due to operational considerations. I accepted the news calmly, having expected that as a possible reply. It was solely up to us to take care of the eighteen ships chasing us. Even if I could split them, there would be too many of them to take on in a slugfest. Three, I felt was worth an attempt, but not more. I knew both my ship’s limitations and mine. We weren’t immortals who could shrug off whatever the enemy dished out.
“Okay, staff meeting in five minutes. Come there with ideas,” I said before I went to the Dining Facility and got myself something to drink. Then I made my way to the Planning Room where some of the officers were already seated. A few started to stand up when I arrived, only I motioned them to keep their seats. We would have enough to go through without wasting energy on politeness at that time. I waited until the last of my officers showed up.
I said, “You all know our problem. The odds are eighteen to one. If we keep on this course, there’s a chance that sooner or later, they’ll manage to notify someone ahead of us to form a welcoming committee. I need ideas, no matter how wild they are. This is the time to speak freely. We’re not concerned with careers here, we’re concerned with our lives.”
Lieutenant Sorenson suggested, “We could pull another slingshot maneuver to get more speed.”
“Hold on a moment, I want our off-duty pilots here too. They’ll have ideas to add.” I pressed the intercom switch and said, “Off-duty pilots to the Planning Room.” Then we waited for another minute or two for three pilots to show up and join the meeting. Then I gave them the purpose of the meeting as they found seats. Then I motioned to Lieutenant Sorenson to repeat his idea.
“No good,” said Frank as the other pilots nodded in agreement. “They’ll actually be able to cut the distance to within firing range when we perform the maneuver. We might be moving faster than them and eventually out distance them again, but we run the risk of having them cut our engines and steering to ribbons during that brief moment. Then they’ll be able to maneuver until we’re at their mercy.”
I asked, “What’s our chances of pulling a stunt like we did to that last ship? By that, I mean we could dive into the atmosphere of a planet, circle the globe, come up under them, and exit behind them while we try to shoot their asses off?”
“Depends on how far behind they are when we circle the globe and how long it takes us to do it inside the atmosphere. With the right size planet, it could be done, but they’ll have the advantage of being in space already and probably be able to turn and keep up with us,” Frank answered.
“What if we stay in the atmosphere for more than one spin around the globe? Would that do any good?” I asked.
Frank looked at me for a moment and appeared to be in deep thought as if something was occurring to him. I decided not to rush him for an answer. He finally looked up and gave his answer. “I looked at the repairs we made on the atmospheric steering. We should have enough maneuverability in an atmosphere to fight them like an aircraft. I think our craft is more airworthy than theirs are. We might just have enough of an advantage to do something there, but we really need to reduce the odds before we attempt such a maneuver. I can’t sign on to that idea with eighteen of them on our tail.”
I nodded as I accepted his judgment.
Jean spoke up and said, “I’d like to take them into an asteroid field. There’s too many of them to hold a formation and dodge asteroids at the same time.”
Frank was already nodding in agreement.
I asked, “Can we make it ourselves?”
Frank was the one to speak on that issue. “Yes, provided our gunners help us dodge some of them by keeping our path clear.”
Lieutenant Kruler asked, “Won’t the enemy be able to use our trail to follow us?”
“Nope,” replied Frank. “The asteroids will be shifting behind us. They’ll have to blaze their own trail if they want to keep up with us. That or dodge at an even slower speed.”
I asked, “What about the chances of one of them leaping around the asteroid field to meet us on the other side?”
“No problem,” answered Jean. “We’ll still be able to monitor them on sensors. If they do, they’ll have to be able to figure out where we’re coming out. There’s no way for them to all be in the right spot at the right time. Maybe two of them, but shouldn’t our gunners be able to take care of that many?”
I asked then, “Are there any other suggestions? If not, then I want long range sensors to find me the biggest, baddest asteroid field imaginable and give the coordinates to navigation to plot a course for. Don’t even wait for an okay to change course. I want us going there as soon as possible. Just don’t put us in range of those ships to get there. The meeting is over. Those of you not on duty, get some rest. Pass the word among the crew, especially the gunners, about what we’re going to do.” I said that while looking my officer in charge of gunnery dead in the eyes. “Also, tell them that they’ve done an outstanding job so far and we’re going to come out of this in good shape.”
Normally, I would have told the crew personally, but my officers were still lagging behind in confidence and taking care of their personnel. I wanted to force them to meet with their people and explain things to them. If they explained it wrong, then they would learn how not to do it and I’d help them clear up the misunderstanding.
I think the crew sensed what the officers were trying to say and figured out the missing parts for themselves. At any rate, none of them came complaining to me later about what they were or weren’t told. At least, it was a start for some of my officers in being concerned about the crew. My own guess is that they probably thought taking care of the crew and ship was not getting them shot up, but you can’t win battles unless you takes chances and acceptable risks. My own knowledge of military history told me that one individual or unit in the right place at the right time with the right weapons could hold off overwhelming odds and even win. There was even one recorded case of a lone soldier holding off and killing over three hundred soldiers in a lengthy battle because he had all three factors in his favor. I was determined that we were going to be one of the successful recorded cases of a unit being in the right place at the right time with the right weapons.
Fortunately, the sensor operators realized that I didn’t want to turn around to reach an asteroid field, so they concentrated on finding one ahead of us that we could reach without giving up our lead over the enemy ships. It took us over a day of travel before we finally spotted one and changed our course to drive for it at full speed. Because of the distance to it, we were able to make the course changes in small increments so that our change in course wasn’t immediately apparent to the aliens in pursuit of us. By the time they realized our intentions, it was too late for them to make up any of the distance between us. Nor did they get in a few free shots while we slowed down to enter what must have been the grand-daddy of asteroid fields. It had everything we wanted. It was thick, wide, and deep. It wouldn’t be easy for any pursuing ships to cut us off at the other side.
To make things easier for us, everyone went on duty as soon as we slowed down and entered into the asteroid field and a few of the enemy ships tried to take extremely long range shots at us. Our gunners blasted anything that the sensors and navigation agreed was a threat while the pilots helped each other to keep an eye out on what was practically next to the ship.