The small Scout ship dropped out of hyperspace near one of the outermost planets of the system.
As it approached the small, cold planet, a black cylinder dropped lazily from the underside of the ship.
The puffs and emissions from small jets, around the cylinder, became visible as they slowed its descent and kept it on course.
As it neared the surface of the planet, a large structure became visible.

With little inertia and minimum momentum, the cylinder gently slid through the simple Meteor Defence Shield of the totally unmanned Deep Space Observation Station.
The cylinder's payload was a nuclear warhead.
The inoffensive and totally unmanned Station, together with the planet it was on, and numerous primitive life forms, ceased to be.
In a nuclear explosion which would have ionised a planet of more than 100 times it's mass.
Had they been human, this race would have had low foreheads, bushy eyebrows, and jutting lower jaws.

The large fleet appeared on the edge of the system.
As they approached the system they regrouped.
At the centre, were the Dreadnoughts in line astern formation.
Numerous Destroyers, and hundreds of smaller attack craft, flanked these.
At the rear of all this were the massive supply ships.
Such a large fleet could not move too fast inside a planetary system.

The loss of so many Supply ships was a major blow.
A number of Destroyers, and smaller attack vessels, were diverted to reinforcing the protection of the remaining supply ships.

The Cruiser executed a series of small jumps.
This effectively delayed any pursuit.
More importantly, the jumps ended with the Cruiser in front of, and facing the enemy.
In this position, it could use its Planet Buster.

The Planet Buster was a massive weapon built into, and along, the main axis of the Cruiser.
On a small aperture setting, it would penetrate any planetary crust even from a far distance.
On a wide aperture, the effective distance was greatly reduced, but the diameter of destructive force was substantial.
Currently the Cruiser's axis was lined up with the centre of the approaching fleet.
Most of the Dreadnoughts were in line, along that axis.
The Cruiser fired.

The beam of molten light carved a tunnel of destruction through the centre of the fleet.
Many ships on the edge of the beam were also damaged.
Some of these exploded inflicting more damage on other ships.

Whilst the fleet had lost a lot of ships, and most of the Dreadnoughts, it was still substantial.
Far more than one Cruiser could handle.
In addition, the Cruiser was now dead in the water.
Use of the Planet Buster drained all resources for several minutes.

The attacks had spread much confusion throughout the fleet.
There was a delay, therefore, before a large portion of the fleet moved to attack the Cruiser.
This delay was significant. The Cruiser's Captain was relying on it.
A few minutes would allow his power to build up and his avenue of escape to develop.

Unable to fire back with its bigger armament, the Cruiser was taking a pounding from the smaller, faster, attack vessels which had arrived first.
The crew were desperately firing back with every gun which was not dependant upon power from the ship.
Whilst these guns did not have the power of the bigger guns, they effectively harassed the attacking vessels and gained time.

The initial delay, and the subsequent fire fight, had given the main armament time to recharge.
The Cruisers big guns suddenly came back online with a vengeance catching some the attackers by surprise and incinerating them.
The others veered off to allow the larger guns of the Destroyers, approaching from behind them, to target the Cruiser.

Suddenly, and rather surprisingly, the Cruiser accelerated towards the main fleet.
Well, that is, it appeared to be heading into the debris filled hole, in the fleet, left by the Planet Buster.
What was not visible, to the surrounding ships, and only to the Cruiser looking along the axis of destruction, was a clear space in the centre of the debris.
The combined and resultant forces, of the many explosions, had only one way to go, outward.
This effect had pulled all the debris outwards leaving a clear space along the axis of destruction.
This was what the Captain had been waiting for.

The Cruiser took many more hits before entering the clear tunnel.
As it entered the tunnel, the incidence of fire decreased.
If the enemy fired into the centre of its own fleet, it would endanger ships on the far side of the fleet.
No such restrictions applied to the Cruiser however.

In the centre of the fleet, the Cruiser opened up an entry to hyperspace.
This rather dangerous and unfriendly action inflicted more damage on the fleet.
The Cruiser vanished into hyperspace.

The Cruiser did not attack again.
It was not in a fit state to do so.
It had accomplished its task, that is, to delay the enemy.
The crew was both relieved and genuinely surprised that they were still alive.

It headed back to assist with the evacuation of the colonists.

The Captain of the Cruiser was due to retire after this mission.
He had, however, been offered command of the latest Exodus Class Evacuation Transport, 'Forlorn Hope'.

Forlorn Hope was basically, a very large and well armed space liner.
Advanced artificial intelligence enabled it to run itself whilst the occupants were in stasis.
It had automated defence systems, shuttles, Survey Drones, substantial engineering facilities, a brewery, luxury accommodation for senior staff, latest recreational vids, etc., etc.

As this seemed a damn site more interesting than retirement, he had accepted.