The Slaver Wars: Galactic Conflict (2 page)

“We attack
immediately,” Versith said in his rasping voice, looking over at First Leader
Trion.

“What about
the AIs?” Trion asked, his cold, dark eyes narrowing. “Will they be going in
with us?” He still didn’t like the way the AIs had withdrawn from the battle
over the Human world, leaving the Hocklyn fleet at the mercy of those strange
new ships. Many brave Hocklyn warriors had gone on to find their final honor
during the battle.

“They have
only now begun communicating again,” Versith responded as his eyes moved to one
of the large viewscreens, which showed one of the monstrous AI ships. “Two of
their ships will accompany us and serve in a support role. We will jump to just
outside the gravity well of the planet and launch our fighters. Our target is
the Carethian’s space station. Order half of our fighters armed with regular
missiles and the other half with interceptors. From what I have seen of the
defenses of this planet, we can expect a powerful force of opposing Human
fighters.”

“What about
Jaseth?” inquired Trion with a strong frown. “Should he be allowed out of his
quarters for this engagement?”

Versith was silent
for a long moment. He was still upset about Jaseth’s actions in the last
battle. “Yes, release him from his quarters but assign a Protector to keep an
eye on him. It won’t hurt for Jaseth to be reminded that another act of insubordination
will result in his continued detention.”

-

Jeremy was
back aboard the Avenger. The 1,000-meter heavy strikecruiser was the flagship
of Fourth Fleet. Entering the Command Center, he saw that the ship was already
at Condition Three.

“Ship is ready
for departure,” Colonel Malen, the executive officer, reported. “All the crew are
on board and at their stations.”

“Send the
recall to all crewmembers of the other ships that are on leave down on Careth,”
Jeremy ordered as he sat down behind the command console in the center of the
large room. He could already sense the heightened anxiety in the Command Center as the crew knew they would shortly be going into combat.

“I’ve already
done so,” Ariel spoke as the dark headed AI walked over to stand next to Jeremy.
She had a concerned look upon her face. “I have further analyzed the energy
signatures from the new Hocklyn ships and confirmed that they are some of the
same ships that engaged Admiral Streth at the former Hocklyn fleet base over a
month ago.”

Jeremy sucked
in a sharp breath. He knew those very ships had gone off in pursuit of Admiral
Streth toward New Tellus. Did their showing up now mean that the Hocklyn fleets
had indeed been victorious? If so, there would be no relief fleet coming.

“What does it
mean, Jeremy?” Kevin asked from his position at the ship’s sensors. He had a
troubled look upon his face after hearing Ariel’s announcement about the
Hocklyn ships.

Due to their closeness,
they had long since dispensed with using military ranks unless they were in
front of strangers. The rest of the crew had accepted that the Special Five
were a close knit group. The twenty-nine year old redheaded lieutenant was also
Jeremy’s best friend.

“I don’t know;
it could mean nothing. We don’t know what happened back in the Federation.”

“Or it could
mean that the Hocklyn and the AIs overcame New Tellus’s defenses and conquered
the Federation,” Colonel Malen spoke in a restrained voice, her eyes growing
wide at the thought. “We did lose contact with the destroyer we sent back.”

The entire crew
in the Command Center had grown silent as they waited for Jeremy’s answer.
Everyone had been deeply concerned about what was happening back home,
particularly with the FTL lines of communication down.

“It does us no
good to speculate,” Jeremy finally said, his eyes roaming over the Command Center crew. “I can’t believe that Admiral Streth could have been defeated. I still
fully expect him to return shortly with a relief fleet. Our job is to protect
Careth and to still be here when he arrives.”

“We will be!”
Kelsey spoke loudly from Navigation, looking around at the rest of the crew
daring anyone to contradict her.

“Let’s go kill
some Hocklyns!” Lieutenant Preston said from Tactical, his eyes flashing.

“Move us away
from the station,” ordered Jeremy, firmly. “I want Fourth Fleet ready to
respond immediately if an AI jumps inside the gravity well. Angela, contact
Admiral Stillson and tell him to stand by for further orders.”

Taking another
deep breath, Jeremy looked over at the tactical display, which showed the
current deployment of Fourth Fleet. He had forty ships at his disposal,
including two battlecruisers and four battlecarriers. Ceres Fleet, under
command of Rear Admiral Jase Stillson, had forty-eight ships.

In addition,
there were thirty destroyers deployed in the massive satellite defense grid that
surrounded the planet. He had fourteen heavy strikecruisers available to combat
AI ships, all with full loads of Devastator Three missiles. There were also
four type two battle stations in orbit around the space station that could also
engage an AI. They had done everything they could to prepare for the expected
attack.

Ensign Striker
at the helm carefully maneuvered the Avenger away from the station. A few
minutes later, the flagship took her place in the waiting fleet formation.
Shuttles were rising from the planet, bringing crewmembers that had been planet-side
on leave.

Ariel stood
just behind Jeremy with her arms folded across her breasts. The gorgeous AI was
keeping a close watch on all of the ship’s sensors as well as the incoming data
from the two stealth scouts that were observing the enemy warships. She would
know as soon as they jumped. There was also deep worry inside her. For over a
month, she had not heard from Clarissa, and she greatly feared that something
was very wrong back in the Federation.

-

The
1,200-meter Hocklyn dreadnought Viden exited the swirling white spatial vortex
two million kilometers from their intended target. Other spatial vortexes expelled
even more Hocklyn warships as War Leader Versith and War Leader Osbith’s fleets
left hyperspace. A total of one hundred and thirty-two ships were now in the
Carethian System.

“Report!”
snapped War Leader Versith as he saw the ship’s screens and sensors coming
online.

“All ships
report successful jumps,” First Leader Trion reported as he listened to the
communications from the different ships. Even as he watched the screens, two
more large icons appeared. They were the two AI ships that would play a support
role in this action.

“Put Careth and
the planet’s defenses up on the tactical display,” Versith rasped as he turned
his cold eyes toward the hologram. He was glad the Viden had one of the updated
tactical displays. It made commanding a fleet operation much simpler and
concise.

Instantly, the
planet appeared in the display as well as numerous red threat icons. He had
known what to expect from the scans of the two escort cruisers earlier. While
this system was not as heavily held as the one where they'd faced defeat fourteen
days ago, it would be no pushover and they didn’t have two hundred AI ships to
whittle down the planet’s defenses.

“All ships,
standard screening formation and advance at forty percent sublight. We will
close to just outside the gravity well and then launch our fighter attack.”

Second Leader
Jaseth had returned to his post at the weapons console. He glared at the tall
Protector standing close to him, knowing that if he stepped out of line he
would be escorted back to his quarters. That would not happen this time, given
the chance, he would kill as many Humans as possible. For now, he would obey
War Leader Versith’s orders.

“Honor will
come slowly in this battle,” Trion commented as he watched the tactical
display. “If the Human warships do not come out to engage us, this will only be
a battle between fighters.”

“This battle
is to probe their defenses,” responded Versith, looking sharply over at his
First Leader. “There will be honor enough for all of us when we finally conquer
this system.”

While honor
was important, preserving the Empire had to take precedence. Versith was also
concerned about how long it would be before the Humans sent a relief fleet to
this system. If that fleet had any of the new alien warships, Versith knew they
would have no recourse but to withdraw or face annihilation.

Trion was
silent as he thought about their orders. He knew the AIs had informed the High
Council that the surface of Careth was to be cleansed of life. When the Hocklyn
fleet finally left this system, they would have committed genocide. This was
something that didn’t set well with Trion, though he would follow his orders.
He was a Hocklyn warrior of the Empire, and his duty was to obey.

-

“Commander
Marks,” Jeremy spoke over the ship-to-ship communications. Susan was aboard her
battlecarrier the Retribution. “You will be coordinating our fighter strike.
Grayseth wants you to incorporate some of their fighters and bombers in your
flight operations.” Susan had been working with the bear pilots for months and
had recently informed Jeremy that they were ready for combat.

“Should we
plan on a bomber strike?” Commander Marks inquired.

“Hold off on
the bombers until we see what their intentions are,” Jeremy responded as he
watched the Hocklyn ships, which were rapidly nearing Careth’s gravity well. If
they entered the gravity well then Jeremy would know that they were committing
their ships to this action.

“How many
fighters can we expect them to launch, Ariel?”

Ariel was
standing next to Jeremy, her dark eyes seemingly focused on a distant point. “If
they are carrying full loads of fighters, we can expect eight hundred and
sixty-four.”

Jeremy nodded
as he thought about how he wanted to handle this. He had six battlecarriers
available, each with one hundred sixty Talon fighters and sixty Anlon bombers.
In addition, he had another three hundred twenty fighters and one hundred sixty
bombers on the space station, as well as all the bear fighters and bombers.

“Jeremy, the
Hocklyns are launching their fighters,” Kevin reported as new red threat icons
began appearing on the tactical and sensor screens.

“What about
their fleet?”

“It’s stopped
just outside the gravity well,” Ariel informed him, her dark eyes focusing on
Jeremy. “Only their fighters are coming in.”

“Admiral, I
would suggest sending in some of our light cruisers along with our fighters,”
Colonel Malen spoke as she studied the tactical display. “They can use their
missiles as well as defensive laser turrets to help take out the enemy
fighters; it might help to reduce our own losses and prevent them from reaching
our defenses.”

“I agree,” responded
Jeremy, noticing that Commander Marks was already launching fighters.
“Designate ten light cruisers under the command of a Monarch to go in with our
fighters.”

-

In space, the
two groups rapidly closed. The Hocklyn pilots were intent on adding to their
honor, while the Human and bear pilots' goal was to protect the world behind
them. In their wake came the 900-meter Monarch heavy cruiser Reprisal with a
screen of ten light cruisers. All missile tubes were loaded with Hunter class
interceptors ready to launch. Her laser and railgun turrets would fire once
they were within range.

The two groups
of fighters rapidly neared each other. “Lock on targets and prepare to fire,”
Major Wink Thurman ordered all squadrons. He was the CAG for the Retribution
and in charge of the attacking fighters. “We will hit them with our
interceptors first and then close to pointblank range. When we hit their
formation, I don’t want to see a missile left on any fighter! The Reprisal and
her fleet will follow us in; don’t let the Hocklyns hit our warships, make them
focus on us.”

“Time to kick
some Hocklyn ass,” one of the pilots spoke excitedly over the com.

“It’s about
time,” a female voice replied. “It’s been boring flying patrols.”

“Stay tight
with your wingman,” Thurman reminded everyone.

He was
concerned about the bears since this would be their first actual combat mission.
He wondered if it would have been smarter to assign the Human fighters a bear
fighter as their wingman until the bears had more actual combat experience.

“I have target
lock,” a pilot suddenly announced.

“Fire,”
ordered Major Thurman, seeing green target lock lights appear on the small
control console in his fighter.

From six
hundred Human fighters and two hundred bear fighters, eight hundred Hunter
interceptor missiles blasted away and hurtled toward the incoming Hocklyns. The
Hocklyns fired at the same time and space was suddenly full of deadly
interceptor missiles, each seeking a target.

“Vampire,
vampire!” screamed a Human pilot over the squadron coms. “Incoming missiles.”

“Launch
countermeasures,” another responded grimly. “Damn, we launched at the same
time. There are missiles everywhere!”

“Go evasive!”
Major Thurman ordered as he rolled his Anlon fighter and turned at a sharp
angle while launching countermeasures at the same time.

Fighters from
both sides began slewing about in wild gyrations, trying to throw off the
incoming missiles. Some succeeded; others did not. Both formations were
suddenly lit up by bright explosions as numerous missiles found their targets.

-

Jeremy winced
inwardly as he saw the fiery explosions on Avenger’s main viewscreens. He knew
that each one marked the death of a fighter. From this distance, it was hard to
tell if it was Human, bear, or Hocklyn.

“Major
Thurman’s fighters have reached the Hocklyn formation,” Ariel informed him as
she watched the battle with the ship’s sensors.