The Slaver Wars: First Strike (The Slaver Wars Book Four) (38 page)

Jeremy nodded;
he was beginning to like Grayseth.

-

Several hours later,
they were back over on the Avenger. The talks had gone smoothly, with the bears
offering to give the humans a full list of their capabilities and weapon’s
technology.

“We need to help
them,” Kevin spoke as they walked back toward the Command Center. “This is a
good race, the type of race that would be well received by the people of the
Federation.”

“I agree,”
Jeremy replied. He was already thinking about what could be done. “If we can
fortify this planet so the Hocklyns can’t retake it, it would make a great forward
base for this sector in our war effort. They are highly developed with a solid
tech base; it could make a huge difference.”

“They seemed
very friendly and open minded,” added Kevin, recalling the recent meeting.

Jeremy nodded.
“You just like bears,” he said with a friendly smile. “I’ll bet when you were a
kid you had a teddy bear.”

Kevin turned
red and slowly nodded. “Yeah, I did.”

-

Admiral
Streth, Admiral Sheen, Admiral Adler, and Colonel Grissom were meeting on the
StarStrike in a small conference room, which gave them a semblance of privacy.
A large viewscreen was on one wall and a large picture of the original
StarStrike was on the other. Hedon gazed over at the picture longingly; he
really missed his old flagship. He wondered what his brother Taylor would think
of his new one if he were still around. With a heavy sigh, Hedon brought his
thoughts back to the present situation.

“I am
dispatching two of the Fleet repair ships to the world of the Careth,” Hedon
commented as he reached a decision. “With their manufacturing and repair
capability they can help the bears arm their space station.”

“Intelligent
bears,” spoke Jacob, grinning. “Who knows what else is out there?”

“Admiral
Strong says they are quite likable,” Amanda added as she read more of the
report.

“They have a
high technological base and their planet is industrialized,” Jacob continued. “For
some reason the Hocklyns only destroyed their two colony planets and left their
home world intact.”

“Unusual for
them,” Hedon spoke through pursed lips, wondering why that was. “I don’t know
how long we have before the Hocklyns can launch a successful counterattack against
us. The bears are willing to join us in our war against the Hocklyns. They are
already in the process of arming their space station and putting a planetary defensive
grid in place.”

“What can we
do to help them?” Amanda asked, her blue eyes looking at the other two. “Do we
give them our advanced weapons? At some point in time, the Hocklyns are going
to return, what will happen to the Carethians then?”

“I don’t think
we dare give them our most advanced weapons,” Hedon breathed with a heavy sigh.
“We can help them with railguns and possibly some missiles, but the Devastator
Threes and Power Beams are restricted.”

“Lasers,” suggested
Jacob, thoughtfully. “The Hocklyns are already familiar with them, and if we
make them powerful enough they could be a formidable weapon for these bears to
use.”

“We could
expand their space station and help to armor it,” Amanda added. “Our Federation
armor will be much more resistant to weapons fire than anything they have.”

“We also have
a freighter full of laser satellites,” Colonel Grissom said as she looked over
a list of what was in the supply fleet. “I would suggest turning them over to
the bears for immediate defense of their world. It might not be a lot, but it
would be a good start. I also agree that lasers and possibly even our Klave
heavy missiles would be a good option. Neither contains technology that the
Hocklyns are not already aware of.”

Hedon nodded
his head in agreement. “This might be a chance for us to build a forward base
deep in Hocklyn territory. It could cause them a lot of problems in the future.
I think this is an opportunity we dare not pass on. I will instruct Admiral
Strong that he is to stay in the bear’s system while we send more ships to
support him. I will contact Admiral Kimmel and discuss just what can be done
with what we have in the supply fleet to help the bears. Colonel Grissom, I
would like you to accompany the ships we are assigning to this and see from a
security standpoint what we can do. For now, this mission has the utmost
priority.”

“I think it’s
the right decision, Admiral,” Amanda replied pleased with how this meeting was
going. “We need more allies, and from what Commander Strong has indicated,
these bears could be ferocious in battle.”

Hedon leaned
forward, placing his arms upon the conference table. “Unfortunately, we still
have one issue that needs to be taken care of, and that is the planet below
us.” Looking over at Jacob, he asked, “How much longer will it take you to
destroy the rest of the Hocklyn’s defensive satellites?”

“I believe
four more attack waves of our bombers and fighters and they will pretty much be
eliminated.”

Hedon looked
over at Amanda with a nod. “Plan on a full scale attack in thirty-six hours. We
have repaired all of our battle damage and its time to finish this.” Hedon would
also be notifying General Abercrombie that his marines would be needed shortly to
capture the spaceport down below intact.

-

Later, Amanda
entered her quarters on the WarStorm and sat down in a comfortable chair, which
seemed to mold itself to her body. She let out a deep sigh of relief and looked
over at the far wall, gazing reflectively at a picture of her parents in front
of their beach house back on Aquaria on Krall Island. Idly, she wondered if the
house was still there, or if time had removed all traces of it. Perhaps someday
she would get to find out.

She needed to
get some rest. First thing in the morning, she needed to plan her attack
against the remaining Hocklyn ships. Her fleet had taken more damage than
expected in the first battle, this time it would be different.

Admiral
Johnson was meeting with Admiral Telleck, Admiral Freeman, Governor Malleck, President
Kincaid, and Admiral Andrews in the command asteroid in orbit around New
Tellus.

“This asteroid
is impressive,” President Kincaid commented as they used a transit shuttle to
travel deep within the asteroid. “The entire surface seems to be covered with
weapons.” This was the first time he had actually been inside the massive
asteroid command base.

“It is,”
Admiral Johnson agreed. “It took us years using lasers and blasting to form the
asteroid into a sphere, then decades more to add all the tunnels and power
stations. We placed every weapon we could think of on the surface. This
asteroid has a crew of over twenty thousand.”

“Including
numerous power beam installations,” added Admiral Andrews, smugly. “If the
Hocklyns attack this installation they will be destroyed. We have eight
asteroid fortresses orbiting New Tellus and all are heavily armed and shielded.”

President
Kincaid looked over at Richard and Admiral Johnson with a questioning look in
his eyes. “What about an AI ship? Can you destroy one of those?”

The admirals
looked uneasily at one another as the transit shuttle began to slow down,
indicating they were nearing their destination.

“We don’t
know,” Admiral Johnson finally admitted. “This asteroid is equipped with both
regular Devastator missiles and the newest version of the Devastator Three.
With the heavy weapons fire the asteroid is capable of and coupled with a
missile attack, we believe we can knock their shields down. We won’t know for
sure until we try.”

After another
few minutes, they reached the heart of the asteroid, which contain the massive Command Center. They stepped out onto a small balcony and looked out over the room, which
oversaw the eight massive asteroid fortresses.

“Impressive,”
President Kincaid spoke, his eyes sweeping over everything. The Command Center contained dozens of large computer consoles and hundreds of massive
viewscreens. “Can you command the entire defense of the system from here?”

“Just the
defenses around New Tellus,” responded Admiral Andrews, looking over at the
Federation president. “The planetary defense grid and the asteroid fortresses
can be controlled from this Command Center. It allows us increased coordination
in allocating our defensive assets.”

“There are
also two thousand Talon fighters and sixteen hundred Anlon bombers based on the
asteroids,” Admiral Johnson added with a pleased smile. The fortresses were a
very stable fighter and bomber launching platform.

“Where will
the actual command of the battle be run from if the Hocklyns attack?” President
Kincaid asked. He had assumed it would be from the asteroid command fortress.

“From New
Tellus Station,” Admiral Johnson answered as she turned to face the president.
“We have equipped it with the heaviest possible energy shield we could design,
and it is massively armored. It has the firepower of twenty battle cruisers.
Also, being inside the gravity well of New Tellus helps. We can coordinate the
movement of our fleet units to repel or destroy any Hocklyn attack.”

Indicating for
the group to follow him, Richard led them into an immaculate briefing room that
held a long conference table as well as numerous viewscreens on the wall. The
room had been specifically set up for this meeting. The screens showed views of
the space around New Tellus as well as on New Tellus itself.

President
Kincaid stood gazing at the viewscreens for several moments, amazed at all the
information that was available to Admiral Andrews. “I must say, I’m impressed.”

“I was amazed
also when I first saw the asteroid fortresses,” Richard confessed. “This is
something we never even considered back in the old Federation.”

They all took
a seat and then President Kincaid looked around the assembled group. “Admiral
Johnson, what is the latest status of Operation First Strike?”

Karla took a
deep breath. Reaching forward, she activated a computer screen, which displayed
the most recent messages from Admiral Streth. “They have successfully destroyed
five of the six forward fleet bases of the Hocklyns and eight secondary bases.
They have also freed twelve of the known slave worlds in that sector.”

“What about
losses?” President Kincaid pressed. “How badly have we been hurt?”

Karla called
up the latest numbers. “Two battle cruisers, eight Monarch cruisers, eighteen
light cruisers, and thirty-two destroyers.”

President
Kincaid turned pale at hearing the losses. “Will those losses endanger
Operation First Strike?”

“No,” Karla
responded with a shake of her head. “Most of the losses can be made up from the
reserves in the supply fleet.”

“Admiral
Streth still needs to take out their main base though,” added Admiral Telleck,
looking over at the president.

“They have
already substantially damaged or destroyed the fleet that was protecting it,” continued
Karla, nodding her head in agreement. “For the last several days they have been
using their fighters and bombers to take out the planet’s defensive grid.”
Looking down at her screen once more, she added, “Admiral Sheen and Admiral
Adler should be launching their final attack on the remaining Hocklyn ships and
the base within just a few more hours. Then, for all intents and purposes, that
entire sector of space will be under our control.”

“Which brings
up the main reason for this meeting,” President Kincaid spoke, his eyes taking
on a serious look. “What are we to do about this new alien race that Admiral
Strong has contacted? They have formally sent a request to join our alliance
and are asking for military aid to defend their planet.”

“I say we help
them,” Governor Malleck spoke up for the first time. He had been patiently
listening to the conversation waiting for this to be brought up. “According to Admiral
Strong, this is a very advanced race with a high technological level. If we can
set up a base in Hocklyn space to use against them in the future, then I say we
do it.”

“This race of
bears is over seven hundred light years from the Federation,” President Kincaid
reminded the governor. “It will take our supply ships twelve to fourteen days
just to reach them. Is that even practical?”

“It is,” replied
Admiral Freeman, joining the conversation. “We have a new class of military
supply ship that can make the trip in ten days. The ships are the size of a
light cruiser, with energy shields and defensive weapons. They would be ideal
for this type of operation.”

“I would make
another suggestion,” Governor Malleck added. He was about to propose something
that Admiral Telleck had suggested. “We know that our defensive satellites have
a flaw because they are too easy to destroy.”

“Yes, we’ve
had to make some adjustments in our fleet deployment to ensure their
survivability,” answered Admiral Johnson, unhappily. She had been forced to assign
more destroyers to picket duty by moving them into all of the defensive
satellites grids over the planets to prevent the satellites from being picked
off so easily.

“We have a new
development that will solve that,” spoke Governor Malleck, indicating for Admiral
Telleck to explain their proposal.

Admiral
Telleck stood up and walking over to a holographic image projector inserted a
computer chip into it. Instantly, an image of a small metallic sphere appeared
floating directly above the display table.

“This is our
new satellite defensive battle station,” he announced as the others gazed on.
“It is 120 meters in diameter and fully self contained. It has an energy
shield, defensive lasers, railguns, and interceptor missiles with a standard
crew of forty.”

“By placing
them either in or just above our defensive satellites we can increase the grid’s
survivability. Not only that, but these installations can also serve as Command
Centers for their section of the defensive grid.”