"This mass is blocking my gravimetrics," Maxwell complained. "I can barely make out our own fleet. If the Cacks find us, they'll be right on top of us before we know it."

"It's not likely they'll find us except by accident," Dexter said.

"At this point, we have two options," I began. "Assuming turning around and going back is not one of them, we can try and continue on through the nebula and go around the battle cruisers or we can try a surprise attack to break through the cruisers."

"I don't much like the sound of the last one," Abrams said.

"Really?" I said. "I was rather leaning towards that one."

"Why?" Smith asked.

"Well, they're probably expecting us to take the first option, in which case, they're likely to fall back to the open area and use their FACs to flush us out of the nebula. If we move back to the channel, there's a good chance we'll find the way clear and can go to H-drive and maneuver around them in the open area around the system's primary."

"And if they don't fall back?"

"Either way they're going to send FACs in after us so we can't stay here long. And driving through the nebula is hazardous at best. If we get back to the channel and find them there, I suggest we send a compliment of fighter drones and FACs out first to launch a diversionary attack to disrupt their formation then hit them as hard as we can. So far they've never dared stand up to us in anything like a straight fight. Anything unexpected could be enough to get them to run away."

"That may be true," Dexter said. "But they've been amazingly persistent. They obviously intend to destroy us so we can't go back to Solaria and report our victory over them. It would make them look weak. They may be afraid to fight us, but I don't think they're going to give up."

Smith massaged his forehead, his eyes shut as his considered our fate. "Let's go with the second option, but tell the FACs to attack the cruisers from behind. This may confirm any suspicions they might have that our fleet will try to flank them. They may view the attack as a delaying tactic and may well pull back in an attempt to catch us."

"Very good," I said. "I'll talk to Chris right away."

"In the meantime," Smith continued. "Let's press on toward the cruisers ourselves, but at somewhat reduced speed."

* * *

It took us hours to make it through the nebula to the blockade. Along the way, one of our ships practically rammed a Cack FAC that had been searching for us. They exchanged fire, heavily damaging the Cack, before it was lost in the nebula.

When our drone fighters burst out into the channel, they found the heavy cruisers still in their original positions waiting. The fighters, and gunships, borrowing a tactic from the enemy leaped out from the nebula and launched strafing attacks causing enough damage to turn the cruisers around and draw the cruisers after them. While the Cacks were dealing with them, the missile carriers launched a wave of destruction that caused them to sit up and take notice. Watching all this on the EPR feeds, we burst out behind the cruisers and attacked them from the rear, forcing them to break formation and flee.

We immediately went FTL and headed into the open area around the system primary. The Cacks regrouped and followed at a distance. We got far enough ahead we were able to transit before they got close enough to cause trouble.

"Jackpot!" Sub-commander, Mike Williams said.

I looked at the recon drone's scanner feeds and saw what he meant. The star system had two habitable words and a third that had been heavily colonized along with numerous orbital habitats and fabrication facilities. Judging by the amount of traffic we were seeing in orbit, they were not expecting our presence at all.

* * *

"I got a request to commandeer one of the captured personnel transports for use as a hospital ship," Brian said.

Mike and Debbie were doing their best, but I had learned that Brian was the one I could turn to in order to get things done. As a result, I promoted him to my XO and heaped even more responsibility on him. "Do it," I said, "Helen Parsa has been bugging me to find a way to relieve the various ships' doctors. We've shuffled the injured all over the fleets until every sick bed is full."

An updated repair estimate for some of our most damaged ships distracted me. We had taken a severe beating in the last encounter and needed to hole up for a few days.

Brian cleared his throat.

"And have the search crews look for any medical equipment or supplies they can find," I added, realizing he was still there.

"And who should I have them report their finds to."

I chuckled. "Why Helen, of course. Tell her she's in charge of the new hospital ship."

"Very good."

We stayed in that system for three days, plunging back into the depths of the nebula on the following day. Before we had left the transit station out of range behind us, the gravimetric sensors picked up hundreds of ships transiting in. Smith's flagship stopped and signaled me by com laser. "I see we're being followed. Should we stop and form up?"

"I don't think they'll give us the chance for a decisive battle. They'll probably just hit and run. If we stop, we'll only end up having to fall back fighting. I say we run for the next system now while the rest of their fleet is transiting."

"Very good."

We raced for the next gate and transited while Bright Fortune's fleet chased after us. The next system had a large hot star whose solar winds had cleared most of the area between the transit stations of stellar gas and debris. It was the perfect area to stand and fight the Cacks since we could bring our entire force against them. Abrams suggested we do just that when we stopped for a quick conference of the fleet commanders.

"I don't think so," Smith said. "Aside from a large mineral processing facility, this system has nothing, certainly nothing of interest to us. Besides, we've got at least another four to six hours before we need to take the drives off-line for servicing. We can certainly make another system by then."

"Long range optical scanners imply the next system won't be as open as this one. Bright Fortune may be planning on catching us there."

"When are their engines due for servicing, I wonder?" Maxwell said.

"Considering they've probably run longer to catch up to us, probably just a few hours," I said.

"Maybe we should wait until they leave," Dexter suggested. "They won't take their engines off-line while they are in the same system with us and their engineers seemed to be pretty strict on safety procedures. One way or another they're going to have to fight or leave."

I chuckled. "Better yet, we should go ahead and position our fleet at the next transit station then just wait for them to leave. If they think we are leaving right away, it'll encourage them to waste a lot of time trying to decide if they're going to stay in system or go back."

The others chuckled in agreement and the plan worked beautifully. One could almost see the Cack's indecision as they dithered near the system's primary wondering whether we were going to leave or stay. Finally, choosing caution over chance, they transited back to the previous system. As the last ships left, we turned and ran for it.

We put enough distance between us that we were able travel for three days, undisturbed by the pursuing Cacks. On the fourth day we came to a dual star system. It consisted of two complete solar systems gravitationally locked at only a couple hundred AU apart. Between them there looked to be as many as five habitable worlds and scores of planetoid and space-based colonies. It was also a regional headquarters of sorts with massive storage facilities for holding the collected wealth of all the neighboring systems for transport to the Cack Moiarchy. On seeing it I was immediately reminded of Fertile Fields, the group of systems the Cacks had feared we might try to claim for ourselves. Like that system, this one was fairly isolated and with only two other transit stations connecting it to the rest of the Moiarchy. It would be pretty easy to defend. If someone had a force such as ours, they could set up their own little Moiarchy and hold it pretty successfully.

The first of our ships through the transit station broke formation and fell on the nearest trading ships like starving wolves on a surprised calf. They spread out from there claiming everything that wasn't nailed down. Unfortunately, we weren't aware that Bright Fortune and his fleet were already in the system, having come in through one of the other gates. They must have had their engineers in tears, but by pushing their H-drives to the limit, they were able to take an alternate route to intercept us. Considering the value and location of the system, I suspect they were hoping to catch us before we transited in. But once they found us, the Cacks wasted no time in attacking.

Fleet Commander Smith, in the lead, was forced to take a couple of wings to rescue our raiders while I, bringing up the rear, was one of the last to learn of the attack. Transiting into the system, I was surprised to find the fleet scattered and puzzled by some of the strange maneuvering I saw on the gravimetrics. When Smith returned with the damaged ships I learned what had happened. By then it was obvious that the Cacks were destroying all the space-based assets that might be of any use to us. A number of ship commanders and other crewmen complained on the public com channels that we could have all the supplies we needed if only we stopped the Cacks.

"I agree." I laughed. "It seems the Cacks are admitting this system belongs to us now. When we had an agreement with them, the Cacks wouldn't let any of us attack any of the ruler's systems. Now they're destroying everything as if it belonged to someone else. I think we should go defend our system."

"I disagree." Smith still looked sullen and angry. "If you want them to stop quickly, we should set about destroying everything ourselves."

I shrugged, hiding my irritation. "Well, at least we'll be no worse off than they are. And if they leave any resources intact that we need, we can just take it from them."

We had gathered the fleet at one of the inner habitable worlds. We didn't have enough hold space on our ships for all the items we would have liked to have taken, so once we had grabbed what we could, we destroyed everything else that might have been useful. I played with my displays in C&C as the attacks began, trying to ignore the missiles striking one of the large space habitats. The inhabitants had been warned and allowed to evacuate, but it was still a terrible waste and I couldn't help but feel, somehow, the whole thing was a missed opportunity.