The Slaver Wars: Galactic Conflict (8 page)

“No,” Tureen
replied without hesitation. “Our people will serve primarily as advisors. Your
people will be responsible for the ship during combat operations. We have
carefully chosen these crews; they are some of the more aggressive members of
the Alton race.”

The door
suddenly opened and an ashen faced Rear Admiral Kalen stepped in. “Sorry to
interrupt, but we just received a message from Fleet Admiral Johnson. A light
cruiser has just jumped into the New Tellus system. It’s from Careth and they
want to know where the relief fleet is. The commander says the system is facing
a fleet of over five hundred Hocklyn warships and ten AIs and they have already
thrown back two attacks.”

“Ten AIs,”
Governor Malleck mumbled with sudden concern in his eyes. “They can’t stand up
to that many AIs.” Malleck felt his stomach churn. It was unimaginable to let
the Special Five die. He knew with a sinking feeling that Ceres would once
again have to disobey the Federation Senate.

“This is
Admiral Strong we’re talking about,” Hedon responded as he stood up. “I
wouldn’t count him out just yet. What worries me is what happens if the Hocklyns
and AIs throw even more ships at him. I don’t think we can wait four more weeks
to launch the relief fleet. I’m returning immediately to New Tellus to speak
with Admiral Johnson. I told Jeremy I would return and I’ll be damned if I will
let him die at Careth!”

“My fleet will
be going with you,” added Admiral Telleck, standing and looking at over Governor
Malleck, who nodded in agreement. “We’re nearly through with the Alton upgrades and can be ready to depart by the end of the week.”

“Then be ready.
I’m going to save Admiral Strong with or without the approval of the Federation
Senate.”

Governor
Malleck watched as Hedon strolled purposefully from the conference room. Admiral
Kalen stayed behind with a grim look upon his face. “What about the Federation
Senate? We have already gone around them several times in the past. This will
not be well received when they hear what we have done.”

“Ambassador
Tureen, the Federation Senate wants us to hold off another four weeks before we
launch the relief fleet,” Governor Malleck informed him in a serious voice.
“Would you be willing to speak with President Kincaid and promise to help
preserve Federation security if he will launch the fleet sooner?”

Tureen was
silent as he contemplated his answer. “It would be unfortunate if Careth was to
fall to the Hocklyns and the AIs. If we can fortify Careth, it would make an
ideal advance base to continue the attack against the Hocklyns and eventually
the AIs in the galactic center. I'll speak to President Kincaid.”

“I firmly
believe that President Kincaid is supportive of sending the fleet, his hands
have just been tied by politics in the Senate,” Admiral Telleck spoke.

As Ambassador
Tureen left, Governor Malleck had the uneasy feeling that there was something
going on at the galactic center that greatly concerned the Altons. He wondered
if the real reason the Altons had intervened at New Tellus wasn’t the threat
the Hocklyns and the AIs were posing to the Federation, but events at the
galactic core.

-

Several days
later, Admiral Streth was walking through one of the Alton battlecruisers that
was docked to New Tellus station. The ship was unbelievably modern and had the
feel of just having come out of the construction yard. The decks were polished
and devoid of scuffmarks or any other signs of wear. It was one thousand meters
in length and two hundred in width. A large sphere nearly four hundred meters
in diameter was at the front, and another sphere three hundred meters in
diameter was at the rear that housed the ship’s drives as well as its main
fusion power plant.

The ship was equipped
with an advanced particle beam as its primary offensive weapon. It also had
numerous energy turrets for defense as well as additional offensive capabilities.
There were twenty-four missile tubes capable of launching sublight antimatter
missiles.

Alton Admiral
Cleeteus was currently taking Hedon on a tour of what would serve as the Alton fleet’s flagship in the relief fleet.

“Will it be a
problem having Humans on board?” Hedon asked as they stepped into Engineering.
He paused as he stared at what he knew were the sublight drives and the FTL
core. Both were far smaller than on Federation ships.

“No,” Cleeteus
replied in a pleasant voice. “And before you ask, our ships are capable of
making jumps of nearly fifty of your light years and only require a brief cool
down time of about ten of your minutes.”

Hedon could
only nod as he thought of the possibilities. Looking around, he noticed that there
were already several Human members of the crew working with Altons as they
tried to become familiar with the new systems and technology they would be
expected to operate. Hedon knew that for the next few months, the Human crews
would be highly dependent upon the Altons for operating the ships.

“Let me show
you the Command Center,” Cleeteus suggested with a smile. “I think you will
find it interesting.”

Admiral
Cleeteus led Hedon to a small passenger tram, which ran through the center of
the ship to allow the crew to get to their duty stations quicker. After a few
short minutes, they stepped into the Command Center. Hedon was pleased to
notice two heavily armed marines standing at the armored hatch. He'd assigned
fifty marines to each Alton battlecruiser as a security detachment.

The Command Center was about the same size as would be expected aboard a Conqueror Class
Battlecruiser, but there the differences ended. Three of the walls were covered
with large viewscreens depicting space or different sections of the ship. Four
large holographic tables were located in a semi circle around the center command
station. The consoles all seemed to be cutting edge technology with touch
screens and audio links.

The only area
of the Command Center where there weren't viewscreens was on the front wall.
Hedon wondered about that as the two walked over to the center command console.

“Watch this,”
Admiral Cleeteus said as he waved his hand over a sensor on the console.

The entire
front wall of the Command Center vanished suddenly, and Hedon gazed at an
unobstructed view of space. In the distance, he could see New Tellus Station
and even several Federation warships. The battlecarriers Endurance and
LightStar were visible nearby. The view was crystal clear and Hedon had no idea
how this was being projected on the front wall.

“It’s a
holographic image,” explained Admiral Cleeteus, seeing the confused look upon
Hedon’s face. “The entire front wall contains holographic imagers which project
a detailed image of what is in front of the ship. Unlike Humans, we Altons
prefer to see where we’re going at all times.”

Hedon nodded;
he knew that Alton science was far ahead of anything the Federation had. He would
be curious to see what his own engineers had to say after serving aboard Alton ships. The Altons had already made it clear that certain technologies were still off
limits, at least for now.

-

Two hours
later, Hedon was back on board the StarStrike. As he stepped into the Command Center, he saw that Colonel Trist was on duty and Captain Janice Duncan was busy at
Communications. The StarStrike was still inside one of the repair bays in New
Tellus Station being updated with Alton weapons and technology. Crews had been
working around the clock trying to get the massive battleship ready.

“How much
longer?” Hedon demanded as he sat down behind the command console. He had been
ready for several weeks to take a task force to Careth to relieve Admiral
Strong even if he had to leave the StarStrike behind. The arrival of the light
cruiser had only added to his determination to get underway. He had spent
several hours speaking to the cruiser’s commander about the situation in the
Carethian system.

“Thirty-eight
hours and everything will be finished,” Colonel Trist reported as he stepped
over to the command console. “The new fusion reactor has been installed, all
repairs are completed, and we have full load outs of Alton sublight antimatter
missiles. The new heavy particle beam weapons have been installed and are ready
to be tested.”

“The rest of
First Fleet is nearly ready also,” Hedon added as he thought about what he
wanted to do.

He had reorganized
what remained of First and Second Fleet into one fleet for now. The new First
Fleet currently consisted of the StarStrike, six battlecruisers, eight battlecarriers,
fourteen strikecruisers, ten Monarch cruisers, and thirty-six light cruisers. Hedon
wished he had more ships, but he knew that with the losses suffered in the
recent battle none were available in the New Tellus system. There were other
fleet units, but they were assigned to each of the other systems in the Human
Federation of Worlds and at the moment could not be spared.

Captain Duncan
heard Hedon’s voice and turned her head with a smile spreading across her face.
In the weeks since the attack, the two of them had become much closer. While nothing
intimate had occurred on their little vacation to the mountain resort, there
was no doubt in Janice’s mind that eventually it would.

Janice had
managed to spend a week back home on the planet Horizon. Her younger sister
Linda had just about died when she told her about Hedon. Even her mother had
been full of questions. Fortunately, her father was an ex naval officer and
understood that there were certain things Janice couldn’t talk about.

Janice turned
back to her Communications console. Even though they were still inside the
repair bay, the StarStrike was the flagship for First Fleet and there were a large
number of communications constantly going back and forth. Janice brushed back
her short brunette hair with her left hand as she reached forward to answer an
incoming call. She'd already decided that the next time that she and Hedon had
an extended leave she needed to find some way to have him meet her family. She
could already visualize the look upon her mother and sister’s faces when she
walked in with the legendary Fleet Admiral.

Hedon had
noticed Janice’s smile upon seeing him and it made him feel warm inside knowing
there was someone that really cared for him. He'd kept most people at a
distance since he had gone into cryo sleep. Only a few had he kept close, such
as Amanda and Jacob. Of course, Jacob had been killed above the Hocklyn fleet
base when he had sacrificed himself and his command to save the StarStrike. The
loss of his oldest friend had deeply shaken Hedon. Then he'd almost lost Amanda
in the battle over New Tellus.

“The light
cruiser BattleCry has some tactical data on the Hocklyns and AIs that are
besieging Careth,” he spoke, looking over at Colonel Trist. “Have it downloaded
to one of our tactical displays; I want to study just what Admiral Strong is up
against. Also, load the current defenses around Careth and how Strong has
deployed his fleet and other resources.”

“Yes, Sir,”
Trist replied. “How soon is the relief fleet going to be launched?” Colonel
Trist knew that Hedon had been growing more impatient with each passing day. With
the arrival of the light cruiser from Careth, Trist knew that Hedon was highly
impatient to launch the fleet.

“Within the
week if I have any say about it,” Hedon responded with fire in his eyes. “According
to Governor Malleck, the Altons are going to put some pressure on the
Federation Senate to launch the mission. This time I don’t believe they will
refuse.”

Colonel Trist
nodded his head in understanding as he moved over to Communications to contact
the commander of the BattleCry. He knew how Hedon felt about leaving people
behind. He would move the galaxy single handedly if he had to in order to
return and rescue Admiral Strong.

-

President
Kincaid let out a heavy sigh as he sat down behind his desk. He'd just finished
presiding over a very tumultuous meeting of the Federation Senate. Ambassador
Tureen had asked to speak to the gathered senators. Kincaid had been stunned
when the Alton Ambassador had suggested that the Federation needed to launch a
relief fleet immediately to save Admiral Strong, as well as the Carethians.
Tureen had made it clear that the Altons would not look kindly upon the
Federation if the Hocklyns and the AIs were allowed to wipe out Fourth Fleet,
as well as the friendly Carethian race.

The turning
point had been when Ambassador Tureen promised that the Altons would furnish
twenty of their battlecruisers to accompany the fleet and guaranteed the rest
of their ships would ensure the safety of the Federation while the fleet was
gone. After a long and heated debate with Senator Fulbright leading the
opposition, the vote had been taken and been carried by a twenty-two to six
margin.

“I sense Fleet
Admiral Streth’s hand in this,” Kincaid said with a weary smile.

“You’re
probably right,” Senator Anderson responded with a nod. “We all know the Fleet
Admiral has been pushing to launch the rescue fleet for weeks now.”

“I did some
checking and Ambassador Tureen was at Ceres a few days ago,” Senator Malle
added. “I strongly suspect Governor Malleck is also involved. There are some
unconfirmed rumors that Admiral Streth was also present and Admiral Telleck is
preparing his fleet for deployment.”

President
Kincaid stood up and walked over to the large map of the galaxy that hung on
the wall of his office. He let his finger trace out the distance from Earth to
Careth. It was a little over seven hundred light years.

“Admiral
Streth would make a good politician,” he said with a short laugh, realizing the
Fleet Admiral had finally gotten his way. Then he turned back to the other two
senators. “If we’re going to do this, let’s do it right. I will send orders to
Fleet Admiral Johnson to give Admiral Streth everything he needs to launch the
rescue operation.”