The Slaver Wars: First Strike (The Slaver Wars Book Four) (15 page)

It had been a
big decision for her to go into cryosleep, but she just couldn’t be left
behind. She had known for years that her future was with Jeremy, Kelsey, Kevin,
and Angela. They had gone through so much during the New Horizon incident that
the five of them had formed a permanent bond of friendship.

She had spoken
in length with her mom and dad about what she wanted to do. She could still
recall her mother crying, knowing she would never speak to her daughter again, but
they had supported her decision and Katie had gone into cryosleep.

“Don’t forget
about the other three races that control their parts of the galaxy for the AIs,”
Angela reminded them as she picked up her fork and took a bite of watermelon.
“They could come and help the Hocklyns.”

“We need more
allies,” Jeremy stated with a growing frown. “Particularly the Albanians.”

“The mystery
race,” Kevin spoke his eyes glinting with curiosity. “What’s up with them?”

“They control
more worlds and are farther spread out then the Federation,” Katie informed
them. She had looked up everything she could find on the Albanians, but the
more she investigated the more confused she got. Something just didn’t add up.

“Perhaps when
they are attacked by the Hocklyns they will agree to help us,” responded Angela,
laying down her fork and eyeing her now empty plate.

“At least we
have three other alien races that are willing to help us,” Kelsey added.

Jeremy nodded.
He just wondered what was ahead of them. This could be a very long war.

-

The next day,
Jeremy watched as his shuttle made rendezvous with a Federation battle cruiser
in high orbit around Ceres. He was sitting in the copilot’s seat, and Kelsey
was piloting. She wanted to keep brushed up on her piloting skills since she
claimed they could never know when they might come in handy.

“That’s the
WarHawk, Admiral Tolsen’s flagship,” Kelsey informed Jeremy as they neared the
ship’s brightly lit flight bay. “I heard some scuttlebutt that he will be the
admiral in charge of the defense of Gliese 667C when the Hocklyns return.”

“He’s a good
admiral,” Jeremy responded as he watched Kelsey deftly maneuver the shuttle
into the flight bay and onto the indicated landing pad. “If Fleet Admirals
Streth and Johnson both trust the man, then so do I.”

“I wonder what
he wants with you?” asked Kelsey, looking over at Jeremy. When they were by themselves,
they always used each other’s first names. Only in the presence of others did
they refer to each other by rank.

“He’s
assembling his fleet for the expected battle with the Hocklyns. Perhaps he
wants the Avenger to be part of that.”

Kelsey was
silent for a moment as she depressed two buttons that opened the hatch and
lowered the ramp. “This is why we went into cryosleep, Jeremy; we wanted to be
part of this war.”

Jeremy nodded
as he unfastened his safety harness and stood up. “I don’t know how long this
will take.”

“I’ll be
here,” Kelsey promised with a smile. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She watched as
Jeremy went into the main shuttle cabin and down the ramp. She wondered if it
would be possible for her and Jeremy to spend some alone time together before
being deployed for combat. Over the years, they had become very attached to one
another. They always had a great time together whenever they could manage to
get away. Besides that, Jeremy was great in bed, and she really needed some of
his loving attention.

Jeremy made
his way to the Command Center of the WarHawk and, upon arriving, was admitted
immediately by the two heavily armed marines standing guard at the entry hatch.

Stepping
inside, he spotted Admiral Tolsen standing at the holographic plotting table
talking to a colonel who was probably the ship’s executive officer. The executive
officer spotted Jeremy and spoke quietly to the admiral.

Admiral Tolsen
turned. Jeremy instantly stopped, stood at attention, and saluted. “Commander
Jeremy Strong reporting as ordered, Sir.”

“At ease,
Commander,” replied Tolsen, returning Jeremy’s salute. “Take a look at this
tactical display and tell me what you think.”

Jeremy took
the last few steps to the large holographic display and studied it for a
moment. “This is Gliese 667C, isn’t it, Sir?”

“Yes,” Tolsen
replied with a slight nod. “If you were going to trap a Hocklyn fleet in this
system, what would you recommend?”

Jeremy was
silent as he studied the image, which depicted the planets and the defenses
around Caden’s World. “I assume we are adding additional satellite defenses to
the planet?”

“Yes, we are
creating a full defensive grid,” Admiral Tolsen replied as he studied the young
commander. “When we are finished, we will have two hundred laser satellites in
orbit and twenty-six missile platforms. Beneath them will be twelve destroyers
and two light cruisers in case anything gets through.”

“Are we
evacuating the planet?”

“We are in the
process of doing that now. In place of the miners and their families, we are
landing two
thousand space marines. They will
see to it that the mines are still operating, and everything will look normal
when the Hocklyns arrive. A number of the mine supervisors will be staying on
to make sure everything looks legit.”

“I would seed
the system with hyper detection buoys so we know exactly when the Hocklyns
arrive and their exact location,” Jeremy suggested. “If I were the Hocklyn
commander, I would approach the system much more cautiously than the previous
attack fleet. Particularly after the losses it took. I might send in a few
light units to take some long distance scans before committing my forces.”

“My thoughts
exactly,” spoke Tolsen, nodding his head. He had been told that Commander
Strong had a good head for military tactics. “Then what?” He was curious to
hear what else the young commander might suggest.

“I would jump
into the system with my entire fleet right here,” Jeremy said, pointing to a
spot just outside of Caden’s World’s gravity well. The spot he had pointed to
was between the sun and the planet but extremely close to the gravity well.

“Why there?” asked
Tolsen, looking closely at the spot Commander Strong had indicated. That was
awfully close to the planet’s gravity well. It would also be a risky jump
unless it was well plotted.

“For
surprise,” Jeremy replied, looking at the admiral. “They will be expecting us
to be focusing our sensors outward away from the inner system. If I were them,
I would jump in there, close to the planet, and then split my fleet. I would
send in half of it to destroy the orbital defenses and the defense fleet. I would
hold the other part back in case an enemy fleet is lurking nearby. That way, I
could engage an enemy fleet while the rest of my forces subjugate the planet
and grab whatever information they can find.”

“Information?”
spoke Colonel Beck, looking confused. “Do you think that’s the purpose of this
attack, information?”

“Yes, I do,” responded
Jeremy, looking over at the colonel. “Caden’s World is the only Federation
world they currently know about. They could spend time searching the surrounding
stars for more of our worlds, but why bother? All the information they need is
right here.” Jeremy pointed directly at Caden’s World.

Admiral Tolsen
was quiet as he thought about what Strong had just said. It made a lot of
sense. Admiral Teleck and he had already spent considerable time discussing
this young commander. Commander Strong had won every war game he had been
involved in with ease. It was time to give this young man more authority.

“Commander
Strong, effective immediately you are being placed in charge of a special task
force,” Tolsen spoke in his commanding voice. “You will be assigned additional
ships, including another heavy strike cruiser, two Monarch class cruisers, six
light cruisers, six destroyers, and one battle carrier. All of these ships will
come from the Ceres defense fleet.”

Colonel Beck
looked at Admiral Tolsen in surprise. “Admiral, I need to remind you that there
might be a problem giving Commander Strong command of all of those ships with him
being only a commander.”

“It won’t be a
problem,” answered Tolsen, looking gravely at Jeremy. “We will be giving
Commander Strong the temporary rank of Rear Admiral. If he performs well, the
rank will become permanent. We have also carefully chosen the commanding
officers of all of these ships, and they are all younger than Commander Strong
except the commander of the battle carrier. I have spoken to them myself, and
they will do as he orders without hesitation.

“Rear Admiral?”
Jeremy stuttered in surprise, his eyes growing wide in shock. This was the last
thing he had expected when he had stepped into the Command Center of the WarHawk.

“You deserve
it,” responded Admiral Tolsen, handing over the rank insignia that he had been
holding in his left hand. “We are in a time of war, or shortly will be, and rapid
promotion will be the norm for well qualified officers. You have demonstrated through
the war games that you have the potential for higher command. Now return to
your ship; it will take us a few days to finish getting your fleet prepared.”

Jeremy walked
back to the shuttle in a daze, scarcely believing what had just happened. As he
stepped inside, he was met by Kelsey, who looked questionably at him.

“What happened,
Jeremy?”

Jeremy opened
his right hand and showed her the new rank insignias.

“Rear Admiral!”
she screamed in excitement, grabbing Jeremy and hugging him tightly. “Your
father would be so proud!”

Jeremy held
Kelsey for a moment enjoying the feel of her body up next to his, and then he
stepped back and looked seriously at her. “They’re giving me a fleet! Kelsey, I
don’t know if I am ready for this.”

Kelsey was
silent for just a moment. “It’s just because of that doubt that you are,” she
replied with a knowing smile. “You will make a good admiral. I can’t wait to
get back to the Avenger and tell everyone. This is great!”

A few minutes
later, Jeremy was in the copilot’s seat watching as Kelsey maneuvered the
shuttle out of the WarHawk’s flight bay and back toward the Avenger. He had
just been handed a boatload of responsibility. He hoped he was ready for it and
that he didn’t disappoint his friends, particularly Kelsey.

Commodore
Resmunt frowned at the latest report he had just received. He was uncertain
just what the latest message from the High Council meant. It was demanding to
know how many worlds these new humans controlled and how soon they could be
brought into the empire. Strangely, there was no mention of the AIs. Resmunt wondered
if the High Council had neglected to mention to their masters that more humans
had been found. If so, what did that mean for him? He let out a long,
frustrated breath. It was very difficult dealing with the High Council.

War Leader
Bisth was currently in Resmunt’s office. They had been discussing the humans
and what needed to be done when his aide had brought in the message.

“There can’t
be more than one or two human worlds,” spoke Bisth forcefully, his cold, dark
eyes focusing on the Fleet Commodore. “From the design of their ships, it is
obvious that these are refugees from the Human Federation of Worlds that we
destroyed over four centuries ago. Even if a few thousand escaped, they
couldn’t have increased in sufficient numbers to be a viable threat to the
empire.”

“They
destroyed Sangeth’s fleet easily enough,” Resmunt reminded Bisth coldly, his
large dark eyes focusing on the War Leader. “I have done much research into
these humans. They were a very formidable enemy when we first encountered them,
and our ship losses were staggering in the final few battles. We lost numerous dreadnoughts,
more dreadnoughts against the humans than any alien race we’ve ever fought
before. Don’t underestimate them, Bisth!”

“Their weapons
and shields are superior,” admitted Bisth, gazing at Resmunt. “We were
fortunate that our own ships had recently updated shields. However, we will
have superior numbers in all future battles. Even their advanced technology
will not be able to stand up to the number of ships we can bring to bear
against them.”

Resmunt walked
over to the large window, looked out at the bustling spaceport below, and watched
as several large shuttles took off, probably taking supplies to the orbiting
warships above.

“I have
studied the last battle in the human’s home system,” he spoke in his deep,
rasping voice. “From the sensor scans, it looked as if the humans were trying
to protect two very large civilian ships from being destroyed. I would guess those
ships were some type of colony ships. In his later reports, War Leader Sigeth
claimed that all human ships had been hunted down and destroyed. I am beginning
to doubt the veracity of his claims.”

“You think he
fabricated those reports and filled them with falsehoods?” spoke Bisth in
disbelief.

Surely, no
Hocklyn would do such a thing! No Hocklyn would lie; it was against their honor
system and everything they believed in. If a Hocklyn was caught in a lie, he
could lose everything.

“Yes,” Resmunt
replied softly, turning and walking back to gaze at the large map of this
section of the galaxy on his wall. “I believe those two colony ships escaped,
as well as a number of warships. In order to preserve his honor, War Leader
Sigeth fabricated the reports which told of their later destruction.”

“Then more
than several thousand humans could have escaped,” hissed Bisth in anger. He
couldn’t imagine the audacity of a War Leader doing such a thing.

“Even if a
hundred thousand of them escaped, that’s still not enough to be a threat,”
Resmunt responded as his eyes focused on the star map and a system that was
circled in red. “They may control one or two worlds at the most, and perhaps a
few mining colonies like the one that Sangeth attacked. They will not have the
numbers to seriously oppose us.”

“What about
the fleet that destroyed Sangeth’s forces? It was a powerful one,” Bisth pointed
out.

He wondered if
there was any way possible to further strengthen the energy shields of their
ships. Losses were expected in combat, but losses due to the weakness of some
Hocklyn weapon systems were aggravating, particularly since the AIs banned
advanced weapon’s research. Bisth had been surprised when the AIs had given
them the new advanced shields and ordered them installed in all Hocklyn
warships.

Bisth was
anxious for combat. These humans could be a source of honor for himself and
other Hocklyns. If they could destroy the human’s warships, find their new home
world, and bring it into the empire, honor would be forthcoming.

“I have
studied this carefully,” Resmunt spoke in a decisive voice. “We must subjugate
these humans before our AI masters become involved. They ordered the destruction
of the first human worlds and even participated in the battles; two of their
warships were sent to destroy the human fleets that defended their systems. It
was only after the AI ships left that the humans were able to launch a
successful counterattack and escape with those two colony ships.”

“We must
strike quickly, then,” Bisth replied, his dark eyes widening at the thought of how
much honor could be awarded for defeating the humans.

“I agree,” responded
Resmunt, nodding his head. “I am giving you four fleets with which to conquer
this system. I am also sending several vessels full of our Protectors to land
upon their mining world. We must find out where their home world is. If not, we
will be forced to survey the entire sector around that mining planet. We may
not have time to do that before the AIs intervene.”

“Four fleets
should be sufficient,” responded Bisth pleased at being given the command.
“Victory will be ours!” With four fleets, he would have sufficient firepower to
easily overwhelm the human’s advanced technology.

“You have two
weeks to prepare, then we launch our strike,” ordered Resmunt, looking at Bisth
with unblinking eyes. “Do not fail, for honor is at risk.”

Bisth nodded
and left the Commodore’s office. He had much to do to prepare if they were to
depart in two weeks time. Sangeth’s flagship, the Crimson Oblivion, would have
to finish being repaired and his fleet brought back up to full strength. He
would also have to coordinate with the other three War Leaders on their method
of attack.

Commodore Resmunt
returned to the large window to gaze out over the spaceport. He had already put
in a request for more ships. He had one fleet stationed at each of his new
bases as well as three fleets above in orbit. Ships from the other bases would
be used to reinforce Sangeth’s losses. He’d also requested six additional full
fleets to be used against the humans once their home world was discovered. He
would not make the same mistake that Sigeth had in underestimating these
humans.

-

Farther in
toward the center of the galaxy a special meeting was being held on the Hocklyn
home world of Calzen. All ten High Councilors were present, and there was much
concern being expressed in the meeting.

“We must tell
the AIs about the humans,” argued Councilor Ruthan, vehemently. “To not do so
is to invite disaster!”

“These humans
will be few in numbers and not a serious threat to our empire,” countered Councilor
Nartel in a loud and argumentative voice. “They will have one or two worlds at
the most to draw resources from. Their fleet, while it does possess powerful weapons,
will not be large. It will be good to add their worlds to our empire.”

Others voiced
their feelings as the meeting dragged on. Finally, the High Leader of the Hocklyn
High Council called for order. “We are obviously in disagreement as to how
these new human worlds should be dealt with. Fleet Commodore Resmunt is even now
preparing a powerful fleet strike against this recently discovered mining
world. I propose we allow this strike to go forward; it will give us the
information we need about the actual number of worlds these humans control as
well as the size of their fleet. I fully expect that Fleet Commodore Resmunt
can conquer these human worlds with his current forces.”

“Then we are
not going to notify the AIs?” Ruthan asked, his dark eyes showing deep concern.
“If they find out, it could be extremely dangerous for us.”

“The humans
are not yet a threat,” High Leader Ankler insisted, his large eyes focusing on
Ruthan. “We do not as of yet know their actual strength. If they are more
powerful than Resmunt believes, then we will notify the AIs, not before.”

“What about
these reinforcements he is asking for?” Ruthan demanded. “There must be a
reason why he is asking for six additional fleets!”

“We will send
him two,” the High Leader replied. “Two fleets should be sufficient to
replenish his losses in the coming battle. Once the human worlds are conquered,
they can be used to garrison the human system and pacify the populace. They
should make excellent slaves for our empire. Once that is done, we will notify
the AIs. I believe they will be quite pleased with us in bringing these new
human worlds into our domain.”

Ruthan looked
at High Leader Ankler with doubt in his large, dark eyes. This was a dangerous
path the High Leader was embarking on. The AIs had considered the humans a
dangerous threat in the past; there was no reason to think that opinion had
changed. Looking around at the other council members, it was obvious they all
supported the High Leader’s decision.

“Very well,” rasped
Ruthan, finally. “We will conquer the human worlds first and then notify the
AIs. But the sooner this is over with, the better.”

A short time
later, High Leader Ankler was standing on a balcony high up on the massive
building that contained the High Council chambers. It was night outside, but
darkness on Calzen was hard to find. Looking upward, he could see dozens of
artificial habitats and a number of shipyards in orbit. From them, enough
reflected sunlight shined down to change darkness into perpetual twilight.

There were ten
star systems in the Hocklyn home systems. Every habitable world was packed with
Hocklyns; there was very little green space remaining anywhere upon their
worlds. Even the atmosphere on the inhabited planets was recycled through
massive air machines that were located in every city. On the other planets and
moons in each of the ten systems, massive domes covered even more cities packed
with Hocklyns. Hundreds of ships arrived daily, bringing raw and fabricated materials
that were used to construct even more habitats. All their food was brought in
from the numerous slave worlds. Even the open space between the planets was now
being used to place new space habitats.

Over two
trillion Hocklyns were packed inside the ten star systems that the AIs allowed
them to inhabit. Already, stringent population controls were being enacted.
Ankler knew that the population situation was reaching the boiling point, and another
meeting had been set up with the AIs to ask for additional worlds to colonize.
Eight nearby star systems had been chosen. If the AIs turned them down again,
Ankler was not sure how the civilian population would react.

Several of the
other High Councilors had proposed that the military be used to reduce the
civilian population to a more manageable level. This would be a drastic measure
and would surely lead to a massive loss of honor for all involved. If the AIs
refused them the right to colonize the new systems, they might have no other
choice other than to eliminate their lower class citizens. The citizens with
the lowest amount of honor would be chosen to die for the good of the empire.

Ankler became
lost in thought; he was concerned about these new humans. What he had managed to
conceal thus far was that the Hocklyn responsible for allowing these humans to
escape, War Leader Sigeth, was one of his own ancestors. If the truth came out
before the human worlds were conquered, he could lose his position as well as
his honor. The human worlds must be brought into the empire before the AIs
learned of them.

-

Jeremy looked
carefully at the tactical display above the plotting table. “I want our ships
ready for a quick strike,” he informed Colonel Malen. On the tactical display,
the seventeen ships of his new task force were displayed, including the Avenger,
which sat at the center.

For days, the
ships had been doing simple battle drills as the ship commanders became accustomed
to one another.

“When we come
out of hyperspace, I want our ships in combat formation and ready to fire their
weapons.”

“It takes a
few seconds for our systems to come up after a jump,” Colonel Malen reminded
Jeremy. “To be at 100 percent battle readiness will take six to ten seconds.”

“Seven point
two seconds to be exact,” Ariel chimed in. “However, I may have a way to reduce
that time to three point six seconds if that will help. I assume the primary
systems needed after the exit from hyperspace would be weapons, targeting
sensors, and shields?”

“Yes,” replied
Jeremy, looking over at the main viewscreen where Ariel was watching them. Her
dark eyes and black shoulder length hair were the same as Jeremy remembered them.
He often wondered why she never changed her appearance.

“We can set a
priority as to which systems are powered up first after a jump. Life support,
communications, some sensors, and other systems could be put on hold until the
shields, targeting systems, and weapons are fully online.”

“You say we
could do this on all of our ships in three point two seconds?” Jeremy demanded
as he thought of the tactical possibilities.

“It should be
simple enough,” Ariel replied with a slight nod of her head. “I would need Lieutenant
Johnson to help write a new computer program, but it shouldn’t be that
difficult.” What Ariel wasn’t mentioning was that it would be extremely
difficult for anyone else but Katie.

“Do it,”
Jeremy ordered. “I want every possible advantage when we engage the Hocklyns.”

-

Later, Jeremy,
Colonel Malen, Lieutenant Charles Preston the tactical officer, Katie, and Kelsey
were all in Jeremy’s office discussing the current situation.