There was a sudden flash as a bright light rushed past the screen. A fighter went into a sudden dive to lose the lock, but with no success. The Trafalgar’s torpedo caught it on its descent, and its engine died.
The ship fell into a spin, carried forward by its previous momentum. Wokoma then sent in another barrage of compressed energy weapons, and this time the fighter exploded in a ball of fire that passed over the viewport as the Trafalgar flew through its debris field.
Several more of the fighter group now closed in on them, and Chase ordered evasive manoeuvres.
“We’ve drawn their attention,” reported Wokoma. “They’re focusing all their firepower on us, and Marengo Station is, for the moment, being left alone.”
“That’s something,” said Chase. “It’s what we’re here for. Let’s give them time to launch escape pods.”
Wokoma signalled Marengo Station to continue evacuation efforts. No response came. Given the state the outpost was in, there might have been no one left at their posts to hear them.
Turning the command chair towards the forward viewport, Chase called
“Helm, try and draw them away from the station as much as possible.”
The Trafalgar fired up its sub-light drives, putting distance between them and Marengo Station.
“It’s working,” said Wokoma. “The fighter group is staying with us, and the station is launching escape pods.”
A series of small single-person units were ejected from a ring above the station’s central docking bays. Low-powered manoeuvring thrusters were kicking in to keep them all on the same pre-programmed course.
On the tactical display, the various fighters had shifted focus to the lifeboats.
“Aft cannons,” said Chase. “Keep Targetting the fighters. Don’t let them near those escape pods!”
The hologram of the battle in the centre of the bridge fizzled for a moment as it refreshed, the Trafalgar, now displayed in blue, the fighters in red. Given the vintage of the ship, it was a much more primitive display than what Chase was used to working with, but it would do for now.
Several of the fighters were taken out by the aft cannon fire, and the Trafalgar threw itself into a spin, bringing her about to face the enemy head-on and firing torpedoes. The remaining fighters attempted to scramble in different directions, but their targeting system made short work of them.
The remaining attackers sped away, heading out of the system, leaving the escape pods free to withdraw in another direction.
“Top work,” he said to the bridge crew.
Wokoma took the moment to breathe a sigh of relief.
“Head back to the station. Let’s bring on as many of the escape pods as we can manage,” commanded Chase. “These old battleships were not restricted in terms of space.”
“Lieutenant,” said Wokoma, “we’ll have no problem taking them all on board.”
“Excellent,” he said.
The Trafalgar headed back to the station, manoeuvring to bring the pods into the main cargo bay. The bays were designed so that they could open to a vacuum to aid in loading and unloading cargo. There were limited medical personnel on board, but Dr Miah from Mary Rose had transferred to look after things in sickbay.
They fired the sub-light engine to put them ahead of the first wave of pods and began collecting the evacuees. The old ships’ tractor beams were not delicate enough to escort them in with automation, and it would need careful flying.
***
“Escape pods are aboard,” said Wokoma.
Chase nodded. “Helm, locate those fighters. I want to know where they’re going.”.
The tactical hologram reactivated as the Trafalgar orbited Marengo Station and headed out to the edge of the system.
“Those craft are pretty damn fast, Lieutenant Commander. I don’t know that we’ll catch them,” said Wokoma.
“Sub-light engines at full speed,” commanded Chase. The vibration of the deck plates below his feet intensified as the old ship gave it everything it had in pursuit. The tactical hologram showed the rate at which the Trafalgar was gaining on the retreating fighters.
Suddenly, another ship appeared on the display. The holo auto-scaled, the figheters dwarfed by the new arrival which was three times the size of the Trafalgar
Whatever this new ship was, Chase realised it was massive.
“Have we got any idea what that is?” he asked Wokoma.
“We don’t,” said Wokoma, “but the fighters are heading towards it. I think it’s probably the base they are operating from.”
Chase went to ask if the design was in any of their records and then remembered that this ship’s records were severely outdated.
“Okay,” he said. “Disengage.”
The Trafalgar cut engines, and the fighters headed back towards the larger ship. Six new dots appeared on the tactical display, followed by another six, all in red. A third wave followed that.
“Sir,” said Wokoma, “they’re launching more fighters.”
Chase watched the tactical display in terror as the fighters closed in on the Trafalgar, his ship was surrounded. The newcomers were moving slowly but consistently. The larger ship was still inbound as well.
The Trafalgar shook violently as weapons’ fire impacted against her hull. A relay gave out somewhere above the bridge, and sparks flew.
The deck shook, and throwing the bridge crew to the floor. In his chair, Chase gripped the armrests to steady himself, well aware of the risk they now found themselves in. They had dispersed the first wave with relative ease, but now a stronger force was surrounding them. Leaving few options.
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“Evasive manoeuvres!” Chase yelled. “Weapons, fire at will!”
The compressed energy from the forward cannons rained out indiscriminately against the various fighters in the system, several of which went up in smoke from the Trafalgar’s bombardment. However, the sheer number was overwhelming, and Chase knew that he had to shift tactics.
They had to get the survivors of Marengo Station to safety, or this had all been for nothing. He fired up the internal communication switch on the side of his chair.
“Engine room, we need to jump now!” he yelled.
There was a slight pause, followed by, “It’s not working, sir,” Dryden said. “We can’t get the engine to start. We are working through everything we’ve got, but there’s no obvious explanation for it,” he said. Chase squeezed the bridge of his nose. They couldn’t withstand this for long.
“Helm,” said Chase, “take us to the far side of the station. See if you can put some distance between us.” The ship’s sub-light engines fired up to full, but the smaller, modern fighters were able to keep pace without issue. The ship shook again with more impacts.
“Damn it,” muttered Chase.
“Torpedo lock!” yelled the weapons officer.
“Fire at that,” said Chase. The ship had anti-lock technology that sent multiple signals in the immediate vicinity of the ship, enough to confuse a lock-on momentarily, in the same way that aircraft would fire flares to prevent a missile lock. The Trafalgar followed this up with quick manoeuvres and avoided impact. They pulled around to the far side of Marengo Station.
“Sir,” said Wokoma, “some fighters are targeting the station.”
Chase tried to maintain his cool as he watched the fighters focused their attack on the vulnerable station.
It looked simple as the blue readout on the hologram simply fizzled out, but out of the main viewport, a much more violent display was taking place as the fighters concentrated their fire on the station’s superstructure until it collapsed in on itself. The station’s main power reactor exploded outwards, and a spherical shockwave pulsed across intervening space
Thinking quickly, Chase flipped the communications button again, this time to address the ship.
“All hands, brace!” he said before clicking off.
The shockwave impacted the underside of the Trafalgar, overwhelming the internal dampeners, sending people crashing against the starboard bulkhead. The ship continued to shake violently as the shockwave propelled it forward.
Chase called out, “Engine room, can you do anything?” The moment waiting for a response was an eternity.
“I might have some options for you shortly, Lieutenant Commander, but not at this very moment,” Dryden replied.
“Thanks,” Chase signed off.
Shortly might not be good enough. This ship had strong armour and was built to take a pounding, but these ships were far more advanced. The ship shook violently again.
“Torpedo!” yelled weapons. “Hull breach on deck fifteen!”
“Get it sealed up,” replied Chase. Damn it! They were working with minimal people; that would have to be enough. More fighters were circling them, and the larger ship was still gaining.
“Wokoma, what’s our hull integrity looking like?” asked Chase.
“Not as good as it was ten minutes ago…”
“Not the time.”
“It’s holding for now,” she replied, “but we can’t keep this up much longer. Another five minutes and we’re gonna be in the same position as the station.”
Chase was somewhat relieved that they had as long as that. The weapons officer targeted the closest fighter, achieving a kill.
Several of the bridge crew cheered, but Chase stayed silent. It was not enough to save them. He had to think of a way out of this. The light on the comms system flashed. He answered, “Yes?”
“This is Dryden. Right, I’ve got something, but it’s risky.”
“We’re low on options here,” said Chase. “How risky?”
“I’d say there’s a 50-50 chance of it working, or us going up in smoke,” said Dryden through the static.
The ship shook with another impact.
“Well, that’s gonna happen if we don’t do something,” replied Chase. “What’s the plan?”
“It looks like the engine requires time for a full restart between jumps, which is why we have not yet been able to retreat,” said Dryden.
That made sense; it was a lot of power, and the ship needed to recharge.
“So what is it?” said Chase.
“Obviously, we jumped into the distance that it took us several weeks to travel by conventional engine. That’s going to take a long time for the ship to recharge. However, it looks like we should be able to do a short jump to get us a few systems over. Hopefully, they won’t be able to track us,” said Dryden.
“Do it,” said Chase, giving no more thought.
“Stand by,” came the reply.
Chase clicked the address system. “All hands, prepare for jump engines.”
The crew all stayed at their stations. The fighters were now swarming around them, and whilst they picked some off here and there, they were doing a lot of damage to the ship’s armoured hull.
Nausea hit Chase all over again, and a great light enveloped him as the jump drive activated. In a momentary flash, they were somewhere else.
“Status?” Chase asked.
Nothing.
Then the comm kicked in. “Stand by,” was all Dryden said.
“Did it work?” asked Chase. “Where are we?”
The ship seemed steady for now, but there was no confirmation of where they were. The tactical hologram in front of Chase now only showed the Trafalgar in blue, sitting there alone in the void of space.