Free Rust Bucket by Atk. Butterfly

At least, I picked up three good gunners and assigned them to places that were in need. The rest of the personnel started their first lesson as soon as I could get their attention a few minutes later. Soon everyone of them had a new battle station and someone was at each battle station the entire time. I didn't expect them to become good shots with virtually no real training such as practicing with the weapons. If they only put out fire in the right direction, we stood a chance of coming through that mess alive. After all, we were then alone so anything they shot at was going to be an enemy ship.
    Â Â Â Â Â Â I also got some hooks installed in the hallway next to the Mark III quad that I manned and slept there using my web hammock. It was high enough that it was out of the way. As well, it didn't interfere with ordinary movement that would have been by me in the first place since there was nowhere else to go other than the gun station from that hallway. It also freed up a room where more hammocks could be installed to take care of the additional crew members we then had.

    ***
    As I expected, the surviving enemy ships were trying to find us. They didn't find the damaged ship, but they did find us. That time there was no complaint when I ordered "battle stations" over the ship's internal communications system. Almost all of our weapons started blazing away at the enemy just as he got into range. We had the satisfaction of seeing one more enemy ship destroyed before we managed to evade the others.
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Our ship was still cut off from our port, but at least the odds were better. It was then only five to one. The aliens were still in hot pursuit, but we were out of range. That was when I was called back to the bridge.
    Â Â Â Â Â Â "Well, we've done something I guess, but how do we get out of this?" the acting Captain asked.
    Â Â Â Â Â Â I replied, "We don't for the time being. We take them on a merry chase through this solar system and look for opportunities to chip away at them. If we can manage to get two more of them off our tail, then we should attack."
    Â Â Â Â Â Â "Attack three of them? Are you crazy?" he asked.
    Â Â Â Â Â Â I answered, "Not at all. Our gunners are good enough to take out one or two of them on the first pass. By then, they'll be so frightened of us, we'll be chasing them."
    Â Â Â Â Â Â "What kind of opportunities are we looking for?" he asked.
    Â Â Â Â Â Â I said, "Anything that looks dangerous. Find an asteroid field or a comet tail and we'll make them wish they'd never seen us before. Just tell me when one of the pilots spots something he considers dangerous. I'll give you my suggestions then. If you don't like them, you can always ignore them, especially since we're out of range."
    Â Â Â Â Â Â He considered what I said, then nodded before waving me away. For my own part, I was glad that those conversations were taking place on the bridge where they were continually recorded. If nothing else, I made sure that the recorders were always functioning on the bridge. After all, Frank wasn't always on duty.

    ***
    It was about six hours later when I was called to the bridge and told that we were approaching an asteroid field picked up on our long range sensors.
    Â Â Â Â Â Â I said, "Good! Have Frank take over as pilot. He'll know how to handle this from the pilot's seat of responsibility. Have your other pilots observe him so that they'll know how to use this in the future. I'll put on the best gunners. With luck, we'll take out two, maybe three, of the enemy ships. Then we'll go after them and chase them back to where they belong."
    Â Â Â Â Â Â "Are you sure?" he asked with a very frightened look on his face.
    Â Â Â Â Â Â I replied, "I'm sure that we're not going to survive unless we take them out. Sooner or later, they'll wise up and call for reinforcements to