Free Battleship Avenger (Conquest of Stars Book 2) by Sid Kar Page B

keep the temperature constant.
    “No return horizon
in one minute and thirty seconds,” Horyett said.
    “Commodore,”
Tollvyk pleaded, “Raptor, my friend, we are going to be vaporized,” he squealed
in desperation.
    “Be quiet,” Raptor
said wiping sweat off his brow, “They can’t continue longer.”
    “Neither can we,”
Barryett said as he turned around and fixed his gaze on Raptor.
    “No return horizon
in one min…” Horyett began to speak then quickly yelled, “Mercurians have
broken off pursuit. Mercurians have broken off pursuit.” He repeated himself a
couple more times as if to goad Commodore into rapid action.
    “Break the
course!” Raptor said, “Back to space.”
“Yes sir,” Flyptar replied with a smile but even before Raptor could finish
his sentence the flight control section had begun turning Conquistador around
and after a few seconds it was headed back on an exact 180 degree path away
from the star.
    Raptor relaxed
back in his seat and smiled at his crew, “Boys,” he said and then looked at
Capitan Alvina and gave her a wink, “and girls. You should have faith in our
mechanical engineers. A spaceship’s commander cannot destroy his ship in a fit
of madness. There are automatic fail safes that would have seized control of
this ship before the no return horizon was even reached and turned it around.”
    “Would you have
liked to subject those mechanisms to a live test, Commodore,” Barryett grinned.
    “Probably not,”
Raptor said.
    ‘Run to Sun’ was
an old and standard tactic to throw off pursuit that was taught to the new
Starfirian spaceship officers and crew. It could be a dangerous tactic under a
stubborn commander if the spaceship itself didn’t have fail safes to turn
around automatically before its melting point was reached or before the star’s
gravity became overwhelmingly powerful. All Starfirian Army spaceships had such
mechanisms manufactured right into their core structure.
    “Where are those
Mercurians now?” Raptor asked.
    “Returning to the
main battle or whatever remains thereof,” Horyett replied.
    “Let’s hope Gen.
Bakus has made the most of the opportunity we provided him,” Barryett said.
    “At great risk to
ourselves, they should reward us after we removed a total of six Mercurian
battleships from combat for them,” Tollvyk said.
    “Commodore,”
Horyett said with a jubilant tenor in his voice and a wide grin on his face,
“The remaining Mercurian ships are high tailing out of the star system at two
hundred light speed and climbing rapidly.”
    There were claps
and cheers in the command room and Raptor and Barryett looked at each other
with a smile of satisfaction and contentment. Tollvyk stood up and saluted
Raptor and he laughed in response.
    “Flyptar, let’s
take us back to Nestor and park us in its orbit for rest and repairs,” Raptor
said.
    “With pleasure,
Commodore,” Flyptar replied happily.
    General Bakus and
his battle fleet had finally pulled through. Before the Conquistador had
shown up and broken off two of the Mercurian ships, they were locked in a very
close, neck to neck struggle for survival. When Mercurian fleet was deprived of
its two crucial battleships, Bakus had sensed an opening and gone on a major
offensive and his battleships had unloaded lasers and rockets at will. The
final straw was the return of Conquistador unharmed from the star. It
was just then the news had reached that this Starfirian spaceship had destroyed
four Mercurian spaceships all by itself. It did not take long after that for
the Admiral of their fleet to order a hasty retreat and concede the battle.
     

Chapter 6: Aftermath
     
    The battle was
over and the greatly relieved yet considerably anxious leaders of Nestorian
Republic had assembled in the Chancellor’s suite in the Senate building. The
construction crews had begun work outside furiously clearing away the rubble
and repairing and salvaging what could be. Medical personnel were