Arriving at the Battlefield

"Transition complete. Getting data now." The Navigation officer announced. Her hand already reaching for the pills she needed to avoid getting addicted to the experience of having the entire ship acting as her 'eyes' and 'body' as she handled the jump. Scope Addiction had been a common problem before the idea of taking slight amnesiacs immediately after a jump had gained acceptance.

"That's odd." On screen the markers of the facility and the enemy ships had sprung up. True to the plan several were now racing for the secondary jump point. The problem was with the one that wasn't.

"Ship identified. Wu-Class Destroyer is anchored with the station. Diversionary force is preparing to turn around but they're one ship short. One LAC swatted. Carrier should be able to recover it on the way out. Enemy force composition is Two Jun-Class Corvettes. One Han-Class Heavy Cruiser and two Archer class Carriers. One of those corvettes was the sentry and is no longer active." The tactical officer reported, showing on screen the positioning.

"That doesn't make any sense. I wouldn't split up like that." Jaclyn said with disapproval. Foxley responded to that before Katla could.

"That's because you know we were coming. They didn't. The destroyer's crew was on shore leave. The enemy believed she had enough strength to kill us without it." Foxley informed the ensign. Her voice an almost eerie calm as she studied the tactical display. "What's the plan commodore?"

"The crew size of a Wu-Class destroyer ranges from 35-45. They need at least 15 to run skeleton." Katla said as she pulled the information from the data-banks, skeleton meaning the minimum to work the ship safely and effectively though at reduced combat performance. "That means they can offload up to thirty to get in our way at the high end." It was unlikely the ship was running at maximum capacity, that didn't mean planning for the worst was a bad idea.

"Is that likely?"

"They know they aren't winning a straight up fight. So they're either going to try to dive in and hit the supply ship or they'll try and stall us long enough for their main force to realize the mistake. Perhaps both."

"I'd like to see them try." Foxley derided, a heavy cruiser against a destroyer wasn't much of a contest. "What's the burn time on the fleet?"

"They haven't started their turn just yet. Assuming they do in the next few minutes we'll have a three hour window to take the station and offload the cargo. Otherwise we won't be able to outrun them." Katla said

"Then what are our orders Commodore?"