[sachmo]

A Close Call

2413.6

Inexplicably, the Ukra-Tal fleet in Lenoltris pulled back to the Lenoltris asteroid belt, one sector away from the Lenoltris-Yukra wormhole. There they were joined by the Hedmora that had been covering the Lenoltris-Fezzran wormhole.
Faced with this strategic unknown, Rear Admiral Reed ordered Task Force 1 to remain at Highrock, while Santos was to bring Task Force 1.1 to the Fezzran side of the wormhole. Santos� force was not strong enough to take on the enemy fleet alone, they would travel to the wormhole, and reassess the situation upon arrival. If the Ukra-Tal remained close to the Yukra wormhole, the task force would make a high speed run for Highrock, keeping the Ukra-Tal at maximum range. If they made it to Highrock intact, the two forces would join. Once this happened, Reed was considering going on the offensive, but he would not risk his force in a battle with poor odds, and leaving the protection of Highrock would definitely lower the odds of the Remorhaz fleet surviving a battle against a force that size.
If the Ukra-Tal force remained within a month�s travel time to Fezzran, Task Force 1.1 would remain just outside the wormhole, ready to attack any force that came though. Wormhole defense gave the advantage to the defender, as they would be able to get the first shot in at point blank range before the attack would be able to respond. Whichever option presented itself, Reed knew that Lenoltris still needed to be sealed off from the rest of Remorhaz space, to keep this sort of situation for happening again. To this end, he ordered the planets in Fezzran with open production queues to begin building mines, and sent the multi-purpose transport RSS Effort to Cirius to be converted to a small minelayer. Then it would begin the job of sealing off Lenoltris to the enemy, or at least making the journey a very painful one.

In Iolo, the Ukra-Tal continued to send ships into the system in small numbers. Rear Admiral Hitcher appointed Commodore Jennifer Landover overall commander of Task Force 3.1, and she was ordered to intercept these ships while the bulk of the fleet remained at Correlia.
Her force left Correlia immediately when long-range sensors picked up a single Ukra-Tal light cruiser heading toward Correlia, and her course would intercept the enemy ship five sectors from the planet. Her force consisted of two Glory F class destroyers, RSS Shining Victory and RSS Skydancer, a Ganymede G class light cruiser RSS Xanthe, and a Rochester D class light cruiser RSS Mount Thunder, on which she flew her flag. This engagement would be her first command as a flag officer, as she was recently promoted during the fleet reorganization.

When the task force closed with the enemy ship, Landover deployed them in a wall formation. The sensor readings showed that this particular class was one that had not been encountered before, and this made her nervous. Her mind flashed scenes of the Ukra-Tal ship unleashing a devastating wonder weapon, crushing her force in moments and pressing on into the heart of the society. She grimaced and chased the thoughts away.
Relax, she told herself.
�Ma�am, we have a scan of the enemy ship. Class designation is Evanger� her sensor officer reported. The computer automatically assigned class names for all types of enemy craft encountered based on a predetermined system.
Her assistant, Commander Dale Orvis, sent her the data on the enemy ship.
�It�s a strange hybrid design, Commodore. It appears to be an armed colony ship� he said, �however, scans show it is carrying mines instead of colonists. Quite odd.�
Landover nodded. This shouldn�t be too tough of a nut to crack. She keyed the command channel on the com unit.
�All ships engage target. Close to maximum weapons range and open fire.�
She sat back watching her ships maintain perfect formation as they headed straight for their target. The Ukra-Tal cruiser headed for them, apparently determined to make a fight of it.
At 700 miles, Shining Victory and Skydancer opened fire with a missile barrage each. The first wave closed on the enemy ship, and met no anti-missile fire. The Evanger didn�t even attempt to outmaneuver the salvo, and all four of the missiles hit the cruiser, heavily damaging the organic armor surrounding the ship.
Landover ordered all ships to move out of range of the enemy ship�s guns, content to end the contest from maximum range, but the Evanger continued to try and close the range. At 600 miles, the Evanger opened fire on Xanthe. The acid globules went wide of their target, while the second wave of Remorhaz missiles slammed into the cruisers hull. The missiles ripped apart the forward section of the ship, disabling the acid launcher. Seeing that the enemy ship was now unarmed, Landover allowed her ships to close into gun range and finish the cripple. Under the concentrated fire of the Remorhaz ships, the cruiser did not Last long. Mount Thunder delivered the killing blow, and the stricken Evanger exploded. Their mission accomplished, Task Force 3.1 headed back for Correlia, led by one very relieved Commodore.