The Slaver Wars: Galactic Conflict (14 page)

“Light damage
to the Avenger and the Nemesis,” Malen reported as she walked over and studied
the data on a small screen next to the tactical display. The Vega and Orion
have moderate to heavy damage and will need to spend some time in the station
repair bays. I wouldn’t risk them in combat in their current condition.”

Jeremy nodded.
He knew they were lucky to have gotten out of system K-774 alive. He was still
anxious to find out what exactly had happened to Ariel. The Communications
console and Ariel’s computer console both being damaged at the same time were
too much of a coincidence. It was almost as if the AIs had intentionally tried
to take Ariel out.

“How many
Devastator Threes do we still have?”

“On all four
ships combined we have fifty-three,” responded Malen, grimly. She knew that was
not enough of the deadly sublight missiles to fight a major battle with. “Of
course, the two battle stations have full loads and there are still one hundred
and eight on the space station.”

“Entering
Careth’s gravity well,” Kelsey reported over the mini-com. “Jeremy, can I go to
the med bay?”

“Go,” replied Jeremy,
knowing Kelsey was anxious to check on Angela and Katie. Since they were inside
the gravity well, there would be no need to plot additional jumps, and Ensign
Striker at the helm could take the Avenger on into the space station.

“Grayseth is
on the com,” the backup communications officer reported from the auxiliary
console. “He’s inquiring as to what assistance we need.”

Jeremy tapped
his mini-com and changed its frequency to that used by the station. “We’re
back,” Jeremy said, trying to keep his voice calm.

“I’m glad to
see you survived,” Grayseth responded in his strong and powerful voice. “I am
already moving ships out of the repair bays to make room for the Orion and Vega;
I assume you want them repaired first?”

Jeremy knew
that the powerful viewscreens in the Command Center of the station could easily
show Grayseth the damage to the strikecruisers. “Yes; we don’t know what the
Hocklyns and the AIs will do now.”

“At the
moment, the Hocklyns haven’t moved other than to send a few ships to
investigate the wreckage from the battle,” Grayseth responded. They'd been
watching system K-774 very closely using the two stealth scouts positioned on
the outskirts of the system. “There have also been no signs of the two AI ships
that fled the battle. We’re hoping to pick them up on some of the FTL sensor
buoys in other systems.”

Jeremy leaned
back in his command chair and briefly closed his eyes. The attack on the AIs
had cost him four of his irreplaceable strikecruisers and most of his supply of
the Devastator Three missiles. It was a gamble he'd taken in hopes of buying enough
time for Admiral Streth to return. Jeremy knew that if he was wrong, the Careth
system would not survive the next attack.

“As soon as we
dock, I’ll come aboard,” Jeremy said, wondering what else they could do to
protect the system. “I need to stop by the med bay and check on several members
of the crew.”

“I will tell Admiral
Marks you’re coming on board,” Grayseth replied. “It was a good hunt, Jeremy,”
Grayseth added. “You have bought us some much needed time to work on repairing
our defenses.”

“I just hope
it was worth it,” Jeremy replied as he stood up. He hoped that Angela and Katie
pulled through. He could not imagine losing either of them.

-

A few minutes
later, Jeremy stepped into the med bay. Looking around, he saw Katie in one of
the beds with Kevin hovering close by. Both of her hands were wrapped in
bandages.

“How is she?”
Jeremy asked with concern in his voice as he walked over to stand next to
Kevin.

“Sleeping,” replied
Kevin, sounding exhausted. “She suffered some pretty bad burns on her hands and
a mild electrical shock. The doctors gave her something to make her sleep. They
say she should be fine in a couple of days and there shouldn’t be any scarring.”

“What about
Angela?”

“Kelsey’s in
with her,” Kevin replied as his eyes remained focused on Katie. “What about
Ariel?”

“We don’t
know,” Jeremy replied with a shake of his head. “Her crystal looks to be
slightly damaged; we will have to wait until Katie can examine it.”

“The AIs
attacked Ariel, didn’t they?”

“It would seem
that way,” answered Jeremy with a slight nod of his head. “Colonel Malen thinks
the AIs sent some type of computer virus through the communications system in
an attempt to access Ariel’s program and disrupt it. Malen believes that Angela
realized something was wrong and when she tried to shut the system down, the
virus caused the console to overload and explode.”

“If something
has happened to Ariel, I wouldn’t want to be the AIs when Katie learns of it,” spoke
Kevin, softly. There was no doubt in Kevin’s mind that Katie would think of
some way to retaliate against the AIs.

Jeremy left
Kevin and Katie and made his way over to another section of the med bay, which
was sealed off. Several doctors and a nurse were standing there talking.

“How’s
Lieutenant DeSota?” Jeremy asked when the three stopped speaking as he approached.

“Not good,”
the senior doctor in charge replied. “She has major burns to her hands and arms
as well as some internal injuries. Her left arm is broken as well as two of her
ribs.”

“We’re going
to do surgery shortly to stop the internal bleeding,” continued the other
doctor. “We’re pretty confident we can repair everything. She will be off duty
for at least six to ten weeks.”

“Then it’s not
life threatening?”

“No,” replied the
senior doctor, shaking his head. “The internal bleeding was brought about by
her broken ribs, which also caused one of her lungs to partially collapse. However,
we have managed to stabilize her and her bio readings are strong, so she should
come through surgery okay. Then it’s just a matter of rest and rehabilitation.”

“Is she
conscious?”

“Not at the
moment,” the other doctor replied. “We want to keep her under until after the
surgery. Lieutenant Grainger is in with her now. Should I tell her you’re out
here?”

“No,” responded
Jeremy, knowing there was nothing more he could to at the moment. “Just keep me
informed of Lieutenant Johnson and Desoto’s conditions.”

“Yes, Sir,”
the senior doctor replied.

Turning,
Jeremy left the med bay wishing there was more he could do. In all the time the
five of them had been together this was the first time any of them had been
seriously injured. It made Jeremy realize that it was perhaps a mistake for all
of them to be on board the same ship. It made him understand even better why the
fleet frowned on fraternization between officers.

-

In system
K-774, Commodore Krilen was in his personal quarters. The AIs were gone and he
strongly suspected they were not returning. He had sent requests to several
nearby bases for reinforcements, but he had no idea if they would comply. Many
of them had been stripped of their warships to send against the Human home
worlds, and Krilen was well aware of how that had turned out.

He took his
knife out of its sheath and gazed at its polished metal. Turning it over, he
could see his reflection. It had been years since he had fought any honor duels
and the knife had served him well in those. He tapped the dark gray armor of
his chest plate lightly with the hilt of the knife as he contemplated their
next move. With the forces he had remaining, he just might still be able to
overwhelm the Humans in the Careth system, but his fleet would take heavy
losses. If he waited for reinforcements then there was a danger that Human
relief forces could arrive. If he failed to take the system, then any hope he
had of future advancement in the Hocklyn hierarchy would be gone.

Letting out a long,
deep breath, he knew he had no other choice but to attack. The Humans had used
a large number of their deadly missiles in the recent battle with the AIs,
perhaps too many. He would speak to War Leader Versith in the morning. In two
more days, they would launch the final assault on the Carethian system. Either
the Humans and Carethians would die or his entire fleet would find final honor
in death.

-

Second Leader Jaseth
was standing at his weapons console, knowing the AIs had abandoned them. He
felt growing anger that the AIs would not stand and fight to the end against
the Humans. Glancing over at the small sensor screen above his console, he
gazed thoughtfully at the myriad of green icons that represented Hocklyn
warships. They still had enough ships to take the Carethian system, if only
Commodore Krilen would listen to War Leader Versith. Jaseth knew that his
relationship with the War Leader had soured considerably over the last six
weeks. He also knew that if he wanted to continue to kill Humans and rise in
rank he needed to get back on Versith’s good side again.

He now knew
that Versith had been correct in stating that this war might last for some
time. Jaseth wanted to rise in rank and become a War Leader. If he was in
command of a fleet then he could seek even more revenge against the Humans for
what had happened to his family. Jaseth knew it would be necessary to keep his
anger in check; Versith must come to trust him again.

War Leader Versith
was standing in front of the tactical display with First Leader Trion. The
display was showing the last known dispositions of the Human and Carethian
forces around Careth.

“In our last
attack, we managed to destroy many of their warships and took out a large
number of their defensive satellites,” Versith commented as he gazed
thoughtfully at the screen. In some areas, the defensive satellites were almost
gone.

“If not for
the suicide attack by the small Carethian ships we would have won the battle,”
Trion added. “They died with honor defending their world. Both the Carethians
and the Humans are worthy adversaries.”

“Too worthy,” replied
Versith, turning away from the screen. “I still believe that if we had combined
our forces instead of splitting them, we could have eliminated the Human ships
and destroyed the orbiting space station.”

“War Leader
Osbith did manage to destroy three Carethian cities before his fleet was lost,”
pointed out Trion, recalling the nuclear detonations that had been detected on
the planet. “He died with honor.”

“Perhaps,”
Versith said in his rasping voice. “But his foolishness in not taking the small
ships as a serious danger cost him his life as well as that of his fleet. While
he might have found honor in death, we can’t lose valuable warships due to
faulty tactics and strategy. The Humans will be sending a relief fleet shortly
if it is not already on the way. We have only a few days at most to conquer
Careth.”

“Commodore Krilen
has requested additional reinforcements,” mentioned Trion in his harsh and cold
voice.

“They won’t
arrive in time,” replied Versith, shaking his head. “Once the Human relief
fleet gets here we will be forced to withdraw.”

“Much has
changed since the start of this war,” Trion spoke in a lower voice. Before the
war with the Humans, no Hocklyn commander would have even considered
withdrawing in the face of the enemy; it would have been an insult to their
honor. But the Humans had changed all of that.

“I fear there
will be even more changes ahead of us,” Versith responded, his cold dark eyes
looking over the War Room. “I suspect this war is barely beginning and our
Empire will be severely tested in the coming years.”

Trion only
nodded and didn’t respond. He knew War Leader Versith was much wiser than he
was and it concerned him that Versith felt this could be a long war. Trion had
no idea how the Empire would react to such a concept.

-

Jeremy was in
the space station meeting with Grayseth and Rear Admiral Marks. He had already
briefly described to them the battle in the K-774 system.

“What next?”
Susan asked as she folded her arms across her breasts. “Our flight wings have
been devastated and I’ve consolidated our remaining fighters and bombers on the
Cygnus and Retribution. Major Thurman is currently organizing our surviving
squadrons into strike groups. Some of the squadrons are made up of pilots from
a dozen different ships.”

“The same for
us, I’m afraid,” Grayseth added in a more subdued voice than normal. “We have
three squadrons of fighters remaining plus one bomber squadron.”

“When the
Hocklyns attack again I’m sure they'll come after our remaining fleet units,”
Jeremy replied with a heavy sigh, knowing they were in trouble. “We will
position our ships around the space station and make our last stand here.
Perhaps if we can take enough of them out, the remaining defense satellites and
battle stations can stop the rest of their ships.”

“A big if,” spoke
Susan, arching her eyebrows. “But I don’t see any other choice.”

“Arm our
remaining bombers with nuclear tipped Shrike missiles,” Jeremy ordered. “We
will hold them back until the very last and send them in with our remaining
fighters.”

“We’re
bringing the last defensive satellites we had in reserve up from Careth,”
Grayseth added. “We can restore most of the defense grid and we are repositioning
the remaining destroyers and battle stations to help better protect it.”

“What were the
casualties on the planet from the three nuclear strikes?”

“Over four
million,” Grayseth spoke, his eyes looking grim. “It would have been more but
much of the population of the three cities had already been partially evacuated.”
Grayseth had gone down to the planet and personally inspected the damage. In
all three devastated cities, fires still burned and smoke was heavy in the air.
Precautions were being taken to control the spread of any lingering radiation.