* * * *
Ford blinked and gasped as he came back to them his eyes watery and bloodshot. “That bastard, that cold blooded bastard, I'm going to kill him.”
Bryson caught him as he staggered backwards and lost his balance.
“You may have to wait a while, the Fury has just jumped to hyperspace.” said Lucy.
“Its total carnage out there.” said Carol “I'm picking up hundreds, make that thousands, of individual distress beacons. Nearly three quarters of all the ships engaged have been disabled or destroyed.“
Ford steadied himself. “Signal the flagships, tell them we stand ready to render any humanitarian assistance we can.”
Carol shook her head and winced. “I don't think we've won any friends today. Polite version thanks but no thanks.”
“Admiral Donaldson, is ordering all jump capable ships to leave the system immediately.” added Lucy. “And those that can't to set their auto-destruct, Whillans and Nolan are following suit.”
“Quick open a channel.” said Ford. “Tell all survivors anyone who surrenders will be afforded full POW status and repatriated to their home world at the earliest opportunity.”
“We can barely cope with the prisoners we already have down here.” protested Bryson.
“We can't afford to be seen as the bad guys, we render any humanitarian assistance we can and treat them well so they tell others what really happened here. Plus we need to salvage what we can from the wreckage up there to rebuild our defences.”
“I doubt anyone will come sniffing round here for a while after this.” added David.
“Five of the Malstrom hulks have just detonated their auto-destructs.” interjected Carol. ”There appear to be mutinies under way on several others. What's left of the Haldyne fleet is surrendering and requesting humanitarian assistance and Vesperon survivors are requesting asylum.”
Ford turned to the panoramic window and looked out across the planet at the deep blood red sunset. “Winning our freedom was the easy bit.”