The Slaver Wars: First Strike (The Slaver Wars Book Four) (42 page)

“Suggestions?”
Jeremy asked, his face showing deep lines of worry. He knew if they could not
destroy these two AI ships then Operation First Strike would be a failure and
the AIs would turn immediately and attack the Federation. There had to be a
solution!

“In a moment,”
Ariel responded as she studied the data coming in from the sensors.

She began running
numerous attack simulations on the ship’s main computer. She was also deeply
worried about the StarStrike. Clarissa had just informed her that the ship was
suffering heavy damage and that she was afraid Admiral Streth was going to
attempt to ram one of the two AI ships. Ariel had never heard fear in Clarissa’s
voice until now.

“Quickly,
Ariel,” urged Jeremy, seeing another battle cruiser vanish from the tactical
display. “We’re losing a lot of ships!”

Angela and
Kelsey looked fearfully at the main viewscreen, which Ariel had focused on one
of the two AI ships.

“They’re
destroying First Fleet,” Angela cried in anguish, looking over at Kelsey. “What
are we going to do?”

“I don’t
know,” Kelsey replied her heart beating rapidly. “We have to find a way to
defeat them.”

“Give Aerial
and Jeremy a chance,” Kevin spoke hesitantly over their mini-com. They will
come up with something.”

Suddenly Ariel
froze, and then ran the data one more time in a simulation.

“I have it,”
she spoke triumphantly a satisfied smile crossing her face. “Give me complete control
of the Avenger and the Nemesis and I can destroy the AI ships.”

“Are you certain?”
Jeremy demanded, his eyes widening. “How?”

“First Fleet
and the Ceres Fleet are still using Devastator Threes, and I am detecting a
slight weakening of the shield whenever one hits. I intend to place four Devastator
Three missiles within twenty meters of each other and detonate them simultaneously.
It should knock a brief small hole in the shield where another Devastator can
be fired through. My simulations show a ninety percent probability of success.”

“What timeline
do the missiles have to be detonated in?” asked Jeremy, listening intently to
Ariel.

“Within
microseconds,” Ariel admitted. “That’s why either Clarissa or I will have to
handle it.”

“Do it,”
Jeremy ordered grim faced as another Ceres strike cruiser vanished from the
tactical screen. “Let’s go destroy some AIs!”

-

“Admiral, the
Avenger and Nemesis just jumped into the system,” Colonel Trist reported, his
eyes growing even more worried as additional red lights flared up on the damage
control console. The StarStrike was starting to take damage again. Already,
numerous departments had been ripped open to the deadly vacuum of space. There
were also several uncontrolled fires burning further within the ship’s hull
where AI energy beams had penetrated.

“What!” Admiral
Streth roared with deep concern in his eyes. Admiral Strong was essential in
the negotiations with the bears. He couldn’t be risked in this battle. “Order
him to jump out immediately!”

“Hold,” Clarissa
suddenly spoke her holographic image appearing next to the admiral. “Ariel has
figured out a way to destroy the AI ships, Admiral. She has transmitted the
information to me. I need full control of the StarStrike and all of her weapons
systems. This is something that only Ariel or I can do.”

Hedon looked
critically over at the AI. He knew he had no other choice. They were losing the
battle. “Very well, Clarissa, the ship is yours. If this fails, then I intend
to use the StarStrike to ram one of the two AI ships.”

Clarissa nodded
her understanding, but she had no intention of failing.

-

The Avenger
and Nemesis suddenly exited two blue-white spatial vortexes less than ten
thousand kilometers away from the two AI ships.

“Target lock
on sphere one,” Ariel reported as she turned both ships toward the two AIs. “Firing
Devastator Threes.”

On the outer
hulls of the Avenger and Nemesis, four hatches opened on each ship and, after a
brief flicker of movement and a slight flash, were still.

“Impact on
target one,” Ariel reported, her sensors reaching out and tracking the sublight
missiles and their twenty-megaton warheads. “Detonation.”

Four massive nuclear
explosions roared against the energy shield of the designated AI ship, creating
a hole less than ten meters across. But that was all Ariel needed. Two of the remaining
four Devastator Three missiles impacted on the side of the shield, but the
other two flashed through and two twenty-megaton warheads struck the armored
hull of the AI ship. The AI ship was thrown to one side as its armor was
ravaged and peeled away by the powerful blasts. The energy shield wavered and
then failed completely.

“All weapons,
fire!” Jeremy ordered as Ariel drove the two strike cruisers toward their
target. More missiles left the launching tubes, both Devastator and Devastator
Threes. Underneath their withering fire, the AI ship burned.

-

“They got it!”
Colonel Trist yelled excitedly at the top of his voice as the AI ship writhed
on the main viewscreen. “The Avenger and Nemesis have done it!

“Take us in,
Clarissa,” ordered Admiral Streth, knowing now they had a real chance. “Now it’s
our turn.”

Clarissa quickly
took over all of the ship’s key systems and made ready to fire their last nine Devastator
Three missiles. She had additional data from scanning Ariel’s attack. Ariel was
also speaking to her, offering suggestions.

The hatches
slid open, and the missiles launched. She used six missiles to blow a larger
hole in the AI’s shield, allowing the other three missiles to flash through the
twenty-meter wide opening. All three detonated against the hull of the AI
warship, causing massive damage, and then secondary explosions began going off,
hurling entire sections of the AI ship into space. The shield failed and the
remaining First Fleet and Ceres Fleet ships began pouring heavy weapons fire
upon the AI. In just a short few moments, it was over, and both AI ships were
nothing more than burning husks.

“We got them,”
Colonel Trist spoke with a big, satisfied smile breaking out on his face. “We
just destroyed two AI ships!”

“Thanks to Admiral
Strong and Ariel,” responded Hedon, forcing his breathing to slow back down. He
stood up and walked over to where Colonel Trist was standing next to one of the
tactical displays. He then became aware of a strange sound. The entire command
crew was standing up, clapping their hands, and slapping each other on the
back. He could hear cheering and loud screams of joy over his mini-com. Hedon
allowed himself to smile. A lot of good people had just died, but they now knew
how to destroy the AIs.

-

Fleet
Commodore Resmunt looked on in shock as the humans destroyed the two AI ships
with their powerful missiles.

“That’s
impossible!” First Leader Ganth uttered in a stunned voice as the two AI ships
succumbed to the human attack. “The AIs can’t be destroyed!”

“Until now,”
Resmunt replied in a low voice, his large eyes growing wide at what he was
seeing. Never in all the history of the empire had an AI ship even been damaged
in battle. And now, here, in front of his very eyes, two had just been destroyed!

The enemy’s
bomber attack was in the process of withdrawing after letting loose numerous
nuclear tipped missiles against his fleet. Resmunt had fired a good twenty
percent of his available nukes, detonating them in and around the small enemy
bombers and destroying many of the missiles as well as hundreds of the small ships.
Even so, the attack had been devastating against his remaining ships.

“What do we
have left?” he demanded, turning toward First Leader Ganth.

“Four dreadnoughts,
including the Liberator and eight war cruisers. All of the escort cruisers are
either too damaged to continue or have been destroyed.”

“Have all our
remaining ships form up on the Liberator and set a course of 776 by 212 axis 31,”
he ordered.

“That’s away
from the battle!” protested Ganth. “We can’t withdraw, honor is at stake.”

“You don’t
understand,” hissed Resmunt, motioning toward a viewscreen that showed one of
the now smoldering AI ships. “We must get word back to the empire that the
humans know how to destroy an AI ship. That report alone will bring honor to us
for revealing this threat to the AIs.”

Ganth hesitated
and then passed on the order. He knew Fleet Commodore Resmunt was right. The
word must be spread that the humans could defeat an AI ship; that information would
shake the empire.

-

Amanda watched
in frustration as the remaining Hocklyn ships turned and fled from her fleet.
“Can we catch them?” she demanded, looking over at Commander Evans.

“No, Admiral,”
answered Evans, shaking her head. “They are already accelerating and will be at
full sublight shortly. We can’t get back into effective weapons range soon
enough.”

Amanda leaned
back in her command chair and let out a long breath of disappointment. She then
gazed back at the main viewscreen, which showed one of the destroyed AIs ships.
She didn’t know how, but someway Admiral Streth had managed to figure out a way
to destroy the AIs. It was a partial victory at least. She knew now with confidence
that Operation First Strike would continue.

-

Fleet
Commodore Resmunt had his remaining fleet jump immediately after they cleared
the planet’s gravity well. The rest of the human ships were too disorganized
and damaged by their battle with the two AI ships to prevent him from escaping
with the news of what they had done.

“Honor was
with us today,” First Leader Ganth spoke as the Liberator jumped into the safety
of hyperspace.

“Honor was
with us indeed,” Fleet Commodore Resmunt agreed as he thought about what this
would mean to the empire.

The humans had
arrived on the scene, and they were much more powerful than any enemy the empire
had ever faced before. Resmunt suspected the empire was about to embark on a
long and dangerous war with a determined enemy who would not show the Hocklyns
any mercy. Resmunt knew the empire’s years of dominating slave races and treating
them as resources to be used and discarded was about to come back to haunt
them. The humans were coming and the empire, as well as the AIs, had better be
ready.

A full week
had passed since the two AI ships had been destroyed. Admiral Streth was down
on the planet touring the recently captured spaceport with General Abercrombie.
Numerous slaves still walked around, not sure what their new status of being
free meant exactly.

“Most of these
aliens come from nearby star systems that the Hocklyns conquered,” explained General
Abercrombie as they passed a group that obviously had a feline background. The
aliens looked away and continued working.

“Why are they
still working?” Hedon asked as he paused and watched a group that were painting
a large hanger that contained small Hocklyn shuttles. Already Federation techs
were going over them as well as other captured technology.

“They know
nothing else,” explained Abercrombie, pursing his lips. He was still perplexed
at the situation. “We can talk to them with the universal translators, and they
understand that they are now free, but many are uncertain if they want to return
home. They are afraid if they leave the Hocklyns will return and kill them as
well as their families who are still back on their home worlds.”

“So what do we
do?” asked Hedon, raising an eyebrow. He didn’t like the idea of having a slave
work force, even if it was a voluntary one. “We can’t continue to allow them to
work like this.”

“They have
elected a group of leaders to represent them, one from each of the races that
is present here. Some will return home, but many prefer to stay. We will set up
some type of wage scale and make sure they have reasonable accommodations. They
can continue to operate this spaceport with some supervision from us. I don’t
know what else we can do.”

Hedon nodded.
There were no longer any Hocklyn Protectors on the planet. The marines had
fought a long pitched battle on the outskirts of the spaceport, killing the
last few as they made a charge with knives at the advancing marine lines. The
fighting had been ferocious, and numerous marines had lost their life. It had
been necessary to use railgun rounds from orbit to take out the numerous
weapons emplacements that had surrounded the spaceport. They were fortunate
that a destroyer had flown low over the spaceport, drawing fire before the
marine assault shuttles had been launched. If not, then the marine casualties
would have been much higher.

A few minutes
later, they were in the former Fleet Commodore’s office. Hedon gazed around at
the large map on the wall as well as the furnishings. Admiral Sheen and Admiral
Adler were there, waiting.

Hedon walked
over and sat down behind the desk. Someone had been thoughtful and brought
human-sized chairs into the room. He looked over at Amanda first. “What’s the
current status of Second Fleet?”

“We lost two
battle cruisers, four Monarchs, seven light cruisers and twelve destroyers in
the final battle,” she reported with a shake of her head. “In return we
destroyed fifty-one Hocklyn warships. Our weapons may be better, but their
energy beams are still deadly.”

“From what
intelligence we have been able to gather, we are fairly certain their Fleet
Commodore and his flagship were one of the twelve ships that escaped,” Jacob
commented as he walked over and gazed out the large, reinforced window at the
spaceport below. From this height, it provided a grand view of the spaceport
and the local countryside. There was still some smoke rising where the Hocklyn
weapon emplacements had been destroyed.