Shelby 6 Snippet 2

 Still in Chapter 1:

Once the senior officers were established with coffee in the wardroom, the link to the other ships came up. Captain Chandrek quietly outlined the problem they were facing. For the escaping ships it was a no brainer.

“We can't just run blindly. We have enough fuel for one more jump. That will get us to a star system where we'll be dead and caught,” he finished.

There was a long silence.

“We can sit here for months. But the beaters will catch up,” the XO said slowly.

“Correction, eventually the flash of our arrival will get to someone looking in this direction,” the ship's A.I. stated. “I calculate one day and 23 point two more hours before the flash of our arrival gets to the ships at the jump point.”

“So, should we move?” the XO asked as he looked at the captain. They had burped their RCS to get them drifting in the general direction of their destination jump point to get them away from their arrival point but hadn't done anything more. They didn't dare, they were low on fuel so they couldn't use much of it to maneuver, and using gravitational drive would alert the enemy of their presence and direction.

“Yes. The question is to where and on what course,” a captain stated.

“Unfortunately, we skipped through this star system to bypass their defenses. So we didn't get much of a look at what was around,” another stated.

“We do have a partial look,” Lieutenant Ginny Worsham, the flagship's sensor officer stated. She pulled up a holographic map of the star system.

The data was from their previous jump in and the jump out so it was short ranged. It was also out of date, but they all knew that. It was also focused on the enemy's defenses. There were point sources in the inner and outer star system.

“Gravitational drives, shields, and neutrino emissions,” Ginny stated as she brought up the outer system icons.

“Put our intended escape route up,” a captain suggested. The jump point to Tau-R36-83 came up.

Icons were highlighted around there.

“There is one gas giant in proximity to it but on the wrong side,” Lieutenant Merkowitz complained.

“Yes I see that,” the captain mused.

“We could double back. Really screw them up,” someone suggested half heartedly.

More than one captain shook his or her head at that idea. Captain Chandrek's headshake ruled it out completely.

“Okay, so what do we do then?”

“What about if we played the long game?” a captain asked slowly.

“Explain?”

“Go for more fuel is the obvious thing we have to do.”

“So obvious they might anticipate it.”

“Which means they'll stake out that gas giant and any refinery platforms there,” the TO said worriedly.

“So? We do the unexpected. It's what we're good at, right?” Merkowitz asked with a slight smile. He had a rough course in mind but it was going to be tricky to pull off.

“You have something in mind?”

“I need to run the numbers to be sure, but...” the navigator leaned in and pointed out a course none of them anticipated.

The groans and disbelief came fast but Captain Chandrek asked them to wait and hear him out. When they did the captain tentatively agreed to the plan.

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Commodore Char arrived in the Stiff Breeze star system and his staff transmitted his command's IFF as soon as the hyper wake cleared.

When he ordered a sitrep he was surprised to find that there had been no sign of the enemy passing through the star system. There were ships scattered around the jump point and further out along a general heading the way he'd come.

A larger net painted itself on the plot as he watched. Ships were all over the place looking for something.

“Where did they go?”

He was finally connected to Admiral Three Finger twenty minutes later through a tachyon relay. “Herd leader, what is going on?”

“We received confirmation of their arrival four days ago. But we haven't seen them.”

“Did they skip?”

“There was no signature of a hyper skip,” the admiral stated with a scowl in his voice.

“So... they are still here?”

“Yes.”

“The fuel,” someone said urgently. The commodore turned to his chief of staff who indicated the gas giant near the 83 jump point and then the larger plot with T-3.

It took a moment for the commodore to catch on to what his chief of staff was implying. When he did his eyes widened. “Admiral,” he said slowly.

“Yes? You have a hypothesis?”

“Yes. I left Captain Thunk behind in T-3. He witnessed the enemy go after a civilian fuel refinery. They captured it and took some fuel. Could they be after more?” he asked carefully.

“That is a possibility. Given the report of combat damage sustained in the battle in T-9 that is my working hypothesis.”

The commodore nodded as someone on his staff silently highlighted ships around the gas giant.

“I am cutting you orders to move to a least time course between the gas giant and the 83 jump point commodore.”

The commodore's nostrils flared but he nodded. No doubt once the enemy saw the trap waiting for them they would try to run. “Yes herd leader.”

“Good. Get there quickly and plug any holes you see. Command out.”

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