Finally, I overheard the navigator passing on a course correction to the pilot for the slingshot maneuver. Then I noticed the sudden shift in course as we jetted out at full speed to reach a planet where we could pick up greater speed to outdistance our pursuit. It exposed us for only a moment or two. The aliens didn’t know what we were doing before they changed their course as well and their gunners found us again. Of course, we had to dodge a bit more to avoid hits, but they were also in the open. Our gunners reminded them who the better shots were as another announcement of a destroyed enemy ship went over the intercom while the communications officer sent it out for the universe to learn.
Right then, I could imagine that almost every ship and crew on both sides was probably listening to our commentary in order to learn first hand how the battle was shaping up. Somehow, I sensed then that there were a lot of prayers being said for us as we continued to fight against odds of eleven to one after having destroyed or disabled seventeen enemy ships. I wasn’t sure what the aliens were thinking in a situation like this. Probably some of them were coming up with the answers before their brethren who were actually in the pursuing ships and cursing them for being so stupid. I guessed that’s what I would have been doing in their positions. I know I thought much the same thing when the Thurman was part of a squadron performing similar acts of stupidity.
At least, we only had a few of the enemy ships close enough to fire at us. That meant we didn’t have to pay attention to as many with our own return gunfire as we otherwise would have had to. The moments slid by as we got closer to the planet to make our slingshot maneuver.
A sensor operator reported, “One of them is going around the other way to cut us off!”
“Okay,” I replied, “let’s make this an abbreviated slingshot. Is that possible, Jean?”
Jean said, “Yes, but not as effective.”
I replied, “Then do it. I don’t want to give free potshots to the enemy.”
A few minutes later, we were in the gravitational pull of the planet. Then we were screaming outward at a faster speed than our engines could provide. The enemy ship that tried to cut us off missed us by a wide margin and fell behind quickly. Only the second and third enemy ships behind us were able to pick up on our direction and match us to remain in pursuit. The others were too far behind to be of much assistance or they were totally out of position. Then the odds were only two to one. We were just slightly out of range of one of them. The other nine enemy ships were no longer a consideration in our calculations.
For the moment, I was satisfied to let most of my crew rest some more from their ordeal inside the asteroid field and exchange very long range shots with the leading alien ship. I almost forgot about taking care of myself when my First Officer came over and relieved me, motioning me to get some rest. As I went to my cabin, I thought that my officers might just become officers yet that any ship in the Navy would be proud to have on board. They were actually starting to think and act like officers. Finally, they knew what it was like to really be at high risk and that the crew would support them as long as the officers gave support in return.
I woke up about seven hours later, still feeling tired, but otherwise ready to take on whatever challenges we faced. I went back onto the bridge. Before I could ask for the status, my First Officer was giving me a status report. “We’ve got one casualty. We lost a gunner and a Mark II single. Otherwise, no significant damage to report. We’re still maintaining the same distance as before between us and the two remaining ships.”
“Okay. Has Communications broadcast that information about our damage?” I asked.
She replied, “Uh, no sir.”
I said, “Okay, have them do so. We’re going to be honest, but don’t give the gunner’s name out. I think this will have more effect than we might be able to see out here as far as the Navy is concerned. They ought to know that it’s not a picnic and that we have sustained some damage. It’ll also make us more believable to the enemy instead of them waiting for their own units to report that we told the truth. I want the enemy to believe us completely before we finish with them. It might make it possible for us to later pull the wool over their eyes in a clinch.”
She smiled as she instructed the Communications officer to go ahead and report our own damage in the clear. A moment later, the Communications officer was doing as she instructed. Around the bridge, there were lots of smiles, even though we were still being pursued by two enemy ships.
Doubtless, the enemy must have been wondering what we were up to since we had attempted all sorts of tricks when there were nine times as many of them. Surely, they must think we had more damage than we were owning up to or we would have turned on our pursuers by then. Obviously, I wasn’t going to announce to the enemy that I was taking a nap to freshen up or that I was waiting for a more opportune time and place to strike again. After all, I wasn’t through with their ships.
I ordered, “Navigator, locate a large planet suitable for a slingshot maneuver and pass the coordinates to the pilot. Rendall, when we get to the planet, don’t do a slingshot. Take us around and bring us up under either of the two enemy ships. Navigator, let me know when you have a suitable planet for me to announce battle stations. I want to give the crew some more rest.”
“Yes sir,” she said.
About an hour later, the Navigator announced, “Suitable planet ahead. We’ll be there in another hour, Captain.”
“Thanks. Battle stations!” I announced.
About the ship, everyone stirred back to life, except for the few rear gunners who had continued to take long range shots at the closest enemy ship. For them, nothing was different, other than they knew it would soon be at close range. The hour it took for us to reach the planet seemed to take longer than the hour it took for us to find the planet.
Then it seemed that the planet appeared to fill the sky as we dove for it in what appeared to be a slingshot maneuver. The closest alien did his best to follow us in while trying to see where we were going to emerge from the slingshot. If he overshot or undershot our own course out, he’d lose us completely and be unable to do a thing about it. That was part of what I was banking on.
As we circled the planet, our sensors kept operating to keep track of both the alien ships until one was blocked by the curvature of the planet. Only the closest one was still in sensor range and still at extreme gun range. Meanwhile, we had picked up some speed. Then the sensors picked up the second alien ship as it neared the planet and tried to see where we emerged, not knowing that we hadn’t and were using the massive planet to hide ourselves. We streaked underneath him as our communications picked up a message from the other alien ship telling the one above us that we were underneath. His message was too late to do any good as our gunners picked off the second ship from below, leaving him totally disabled. Then our pilot pulled us out of the planet’s gravitational field to pass in front of the disabled alien ship and off into space. The other alien was forced to follow in our footsteps exactly or risk crashing into the disabled ship. He wasn’t able to make up any distance once we lengthened the distance between us because we hit the higher speed first.
For the time being, we were completely out of weapons’ range for him and us. Our gunners were all able to get some more rest while we led the one remaining ship on a chase as our communications sent out another message telling of another enemy ship destroyed. I had thought about reversing the engines to take him on suddenly in a surprise maneuver, but I wanted to try to find some more of the enemy ships. We had left too many of them behind us. There was no telling what lay in front of us. We had been in unexplored territory for several days by then. From the way the enemy was behaving, they didn’t know the territory any better. Besides, the ship behind us was matching us maneuver for maneuver too well to be handled by an inexperienced captain and crew. I imagined that they were probably thinking of some of the same things I was.