2953-01-01 – Tales from the Service: The Cripple of Force 73
The first sign of trouble almost went unnoticed; a few gray pips briefly appeared at the edge of the bridge tactical display, then vanished within a few seconds. Had Muskins’s bridge crew not been on alert, they might have missed this entirely, or perhaps regarded it as a sensor artifact caused by damage to one of the ship’s many outer eyes.
The Skipper, of course, was not so optimistic. The moment someone pointed out the phantoms, Rashid Winton saw all the muscles tighten in his commander’s face, and he didn’t see them relax.
“They’re probing.” Rashid used his sensor controls to sweep one of the active-beam radars over that arc of the local sky, and just barely caught one of the phantoms disappearing out of range. “Trying to see how badly we’re hurt.”
“Powered radar means powered gun mounts. They know we’re not toothless.” The Skipper stood up from his chair and rolled his shoulders. “They’ll be cautious. Wait until they can gather overwhelming numbers.”
The best thing to ward off a slashing attack by Coronachs would of course be the support of friendly Magpies, but Rashid knew enough about the situation not to expect this. Force 73 had at least one small carrier among its hulls, but this ship and its squadrons would be sticking close to and supporting the big cruises. There simply weren’t enough strike units around to send some to guard one crippled destroyer while a battle was still going on.
After a moment of grim silence, the Skipper turned to Lieutenant Sendai. “How long until we have central fire control?”
“Too long.” Sendai shook his head sadly. “We’ve lost too many sensor points for the automatics. We’re trying to reconfigure some of the sensors as backups for the director but it’s slow going. Maynard wants to go out on the hull to rig some new sensor points and I think-”
“No.” The skipper waved a hand dismissively. “He’d still be at it when they made their run even if he finished. No sense throwing away lives.”
“But won’t we all be killed if-”
“Possibly.”
This, it seemed, was the end of the discussion; after a moment of blank staring, Sendai realized he wasn’t going to get any more explanation and lowered his head back down toward his console.
Rashid winced and returned his attention to his sensor controls. If the Skipper was right, and active sensors were likely to make the enemy cautious, liberal and regular active sensor probing might suggest Muskins was not so badly hurt after all. If the battle were going badly enough to force Incarnation ships to retreat, it would also cause their strike assets to be recalled – at least in theory. He’d heard that sometimes a flight of strike craft would be left to deal with a cripped foe even in retreat, abandoning a dozen pilots to assure a warship would never trouble Incarnation forces ever again. Hopefully, they wouldn’t do this for a mere destroyer.
“Shear-screen net is reconfigured.” Sorian shrugged. “Efficiency is only ninety points, but there are no gaps.”
“See what you can do to optimize.” The Skipper paced in front of his chair a few times, then sat back down. “You probably have five minutes. Ten at the most.”
“Aye.” Sorian, with a haunted look, returned to her work. “What do you think our chances are, Skipper?”
“Hard to say.” The Skipper was silent for a moment as he shrugged on the crash-padding restraints. “One in ten, maybe two in ten, unless we get a lucky break.” His face, though still hard and tense, was neutral; the odds didn’t seem to worry him.
Rashid set his jaw; he couldn’t let the odds worry him either. Already another hazy grey pip was showing itself at the edge of the display, this time almost dead astern. He swiveled another radar emitter toward it, and almost instantly it faded away. The longer he kept at it, the more time Sorian and Sendai had to get the defenses ready. It might not matter, but if the ship needed a lucky break, every minute it held out was another minute that break might appear.
Lieutenant Winton (that is not his real name) and the crew of his ship did not have to fight their desperate last stand, as it turned out. The battle turned against the Incarnation, and the strike units closing in to complete their destruction were recalled to fight another day.
Whether other Force 73 units were lost in this battle, Winton did not say, nor would Naval Intelligence permit us to report it if he had. Most likely, if the enemy force retreated early in the battle, losses on both sides were light.
As to the fate of Muskins (which is not the ship’s real name), we also have no information, but I would hazard a guess (and this is only a guess) that it was stripped for parts and abandoned, if its drive was badly damaged. Force 73 supposedly has at least one repair and service vessel, but a crippled destroyer might be beyond this craft’s ability to restore.
