Rust Bucket

by Atk. Butterfly

  ***

  Sensors reported, "Alien ship hulled! No! Two alien ships hulled!"

  "Take us out!" I ordered knowing that our gunners must be nearing the limits of their own endurance since the alien losses were so close together. "Shortest distance to the edge!"

  I could only hope and pray that we wouldn't have too many of the ten alien ships outside the asteroid field on hand to greet us. Then it occurred to me that we could pull the same trick going forward. "Forward gunners! Try to knock some of the asteroids out of the field in front of us! Let's give the enemy plenty of targets to shoot at when we clear the field."

  Now all the guns on the Thurman were firing continuously, again, as our gunners blasted some asteroids that threatened us and shot other asteroids with the intention of knocking them into the enemy's path. It wasn't long before I heard comments that indicated that our efforts were having some success.

  A sensor operator reported, "Enemy ship hulled!"

  We had lost another pursuer behind us. If anything, we were lowering the odds and probably the aliens were wondering why in hell we were firing all our weapons the way we were. If anything, I imagine they must have thought we were either crazy or becoming too fatigued and almost done for. Whichever or whatever they thought, their outer group moved away from the asteroid field as more rocks came tumbling out to interfere with their tracking of us. Inside, we only had three alien ships remaining of the eight that went in with us. Meanwhile, one of our communications officers was broadcasting what was happening as we posted more death and destruction on the scoreboard. Whether we actually shot the ships or not, we were claiming credit because they were destroyed trying to get to us and no one else. That gave us fourteen kills so far.

  Frank and the pilots surprised us all at the last moment when they turned the Thurman to go with the flow of asteroids just before we would have exited the field. We went past the waiting alien ships to emerge outside their formation. It provided a T-shot on one of them for our alert gunners. The T-shot damaged the alien ship enough that it wasn't able to continue the pursuit. It was also too close to the asteroid field to remain intact for very long. We were still in long range sensor distance of it when it was ruptured from a direct asteroid hit.

  When we exited, only a few of the alien ships were pointed in the right direction to take up the pursuit. They caused more accidents to the three alien ships still in the asteroid field because they had to slow down to avoid a collision as they exited where we were supposed to. One of them was hulled in the process as well, so only two of them made it out.

  A lot of our crew turned in then for rest. We did our best to get back out of range while we maintained a brief exchange of fire with the few alien ships that managed to stay in contact with us. Only because our pilot kept us near the edge of the asteroid field was it possible for us to keep the aliens from getting a solid hit on us. Our ship spiraled the asteroid field so that we were almost always just beyond the horizon, leaving plenty of rocks between us to absorb some of their shots while other shots missed completely. Still, I felt a few slight vibrations in the hull from some glancing hits. Unfortunately, the same rocks sometimes deflected or blocked our own shots back at the enemy. Only a few hits were announced over the intercom.

  Even though the pilot was following the curvature of the asteroid field, he was also doing a spiral so that we wouldn't run back into the other ships farther behind us. Of course, I knew it was only a matter of time before they realized what we were doing and tried to take a shortcut.

  I ordered, "Navigation, find us a planet for a slingshot maneuver. Pass it along as soon as you have one."

  The minutes ticked away as we sweated out our situation. I knew that, sooner or later, the aliens had to figure out what we were doing to keep ourselves from being shot. After all, I already had the solution, why didn't they? Were their officers as bad off as those in our own Navy?

  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 m
ake 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.

  "Navigation! How long would it take for us to reach their home planet again from here?" I asked.

  It took a few moments for Navigation to come up with the answer. "Two days."

  I said, "Plot a course to a suitable planet where we can do another slingshot to their home world. We're going on the offensive again. I want to really embarrass that guy in back of us."

  There were smiles on the faces of everyone around the bridge as they glanced back to see what I was doing or thinking of, even though I had just spoken my mind. All I could do was return their smiles with one of my own.

  ***

  Three hours later, we executed another slingshot maneuver. Shortly after we came out of it on course for the alien home world, the ship behind us started broadcasting to everyone of our intentions. I smiled as I sensed the welcoming party that would await us.

  I said, "Communications, send the following coded message to Headquarters. Now is the time to strike the enemy home world. End message."

  The looks on most of their faces changed as they tried to comprehend what I was up to. I went ahead and answered their stares. I explained, "If the enemy has broken our code, then they won't start pulling back to their planet to keep us away. They'll do their best to stop any attacks away from their world and we'll get a message that our folks can't put together a strike. If our people say they're on the way, then we'll know that the code is still secure and we're headed into a meat grinder. We'll turn aside just before it's too late. We might be brave, but we're not stupid. I want to know why they've thrown so many ships at us and our people couldn't put together an ambush before."

  ***

  We continued on for several hours before the coded reply came to us. Headquarters was still saying that they couldn't do it because of the border situation.

  I said, "Communications, send the following in the clear. Code broken. Enemy is reading messages. End message."

  Jean asked, "Are we still going in to attack?"

  I replied, "Why not? They're keeping their ships at the border. Most of them, anyway. What's eighteen or twenty ships to us?"

  There was some restrained laughter as my poor attempt at humor.

  Then I said, "I want this to be like a drive-by shooting on old Earth a long time ago. I want us to be going by so fast that we're nothing less than a blur and so close that they think we're going to hit them. Then I want to break back to our side and pick up the new codes. I think we deserve a few days off in port. Besides, the combat videos might prove useful to our people."

  Suddenly, there were lots of smiles again on the faces of my bridge personnel.

  ***

  Almost a day and a half later, we successfully managed to do another slingshot and pick up just a little more speed than before. We buzzed by the alien home world and shot off every gun we had at anything we could see. About the same time, the alien ships defending the planet tried to shoot at us. At least one of their shots went at their own planet, doubtless causing problems for one of their officers later. Our own shots were directed at the alien ships since there really wasn't enough time to place shots against the planet itself and restrict the destruction to military installations. I was unable to see us or them score any hits on the other. At any rate, I know they missed us, just barely.

  We swept by their planet with one ship still in pursuit of us. I'm sure, the captain of that ship must have been wondering what we were going to pull next. I'm sure he expected us to pull something. After all, we had attacked his home planet or the forces around it four times by then.

  ***

  Our ship managed to come up fast behind one of the alien squadrons patrolling the border area where most of the fighting was occurring. They barely had any warning from the pursuing ship. Our guns were already firing at the tails of the squadron and scoring hits before we caught up and flashed by them quicker than they could respond to our sudden attack. Then we were no longer separated from our port by enemy ships. The pursuit dropped off once the enemy ship's captain realized that we could now call in reinforcements.

  Chapter 8

  The combat videos revealed that we also took out one of the ships in the border squadrons as we broke out of
enemy territory. Our score was one casualty for nineteen enemy vessels and a host of ground installations. I thought that we would be in port for two days at most, but the engineers who repaired our ship insisted on doing it carefully. We spent a week on the ground while most of the other battle reports continued to be much the same as before.

  Not long after our combat videos were viewed, the whole crew was summoned to Headquarters and received decorations for their action against the enemy. For my own part, I was also promoted to Lieutenant Commander. It was still a temporary commission, but I was finally achieving parity with the members of my own academy class in rank. I had certainly surpassed them in achievements.

  ***

  I thought that the repairs were taking too long and went to investigate after five days of waiting. I discovered that the Navy was replacing our Mark III duals with Mark III quads to increase our firepower to the rear. That was a welcomed discovery for me. Had the Thurman been a little larger, we might have been given some Mark IV quads. They were new and longer ranged than the Mark III's and would have been a very welcome addition to the ship.