The Slaver Wars: Galactic Conflict (41 page)

“More Human
and Alton ships have jumped into the system,” the Third Leader reported.

“How many?”
demanded Resmunt, growing alarmed. He should've known this battle wouldn’t be
easy since the Humans were involved.

“Over two
hundred Human warships and twenty more Alton battlecruisers,” Torlan replied in
his rasping voice.

“Alton ships are jumping,” warned First Leader Ganth as the Alton ships suddenly vanished
from the sensor display.

“Where are
they going?” barked Resmunt his large eyes focusing intently on the tactical
display.

“The AIs,”
Ganth spoke in a stunned voice. “They’ve jumped inside our fleet formation and
are attacking the AIs!”

-

The Command AI
looked with concern at the main tactical display. Alton ships were jumping in
close to some of the AI ships and launching attacks. On several large viewscreens,
AI ships could be seen under assault from the Alton battlecruisers.

“Order all
ships, including the Hocklyns and the Borzons, to concentrate their fire on the
Alton ships,” the Command AI ordered. “This may be our opportunity to destroy
them. Even their shields cannot withstand the firepower from a fleet of this
size.”

The AI at Communications
extended its tentacles and began sending the messages to the Borzon and Hocklyn
fleet commanders. The same orders also went out to all AI spheres to focus
their attacks on the Alton ships.

“It’s time our
former masters learn they should not attack our ships,” the Command AI spoke,
the glowing orb above its metal body glowing even brighter. “Today they shall
die.”

-

In space, the Alton ships fired their deadly particle beam weapons as well as multiple 100-megaton
antimatter missiles at the nearest AI spheres. Space was aglow with immense
explosions and AI ships began to die. First one and then two of the huge
spheres blew apart as their energy shields were overwhelmed and antimatter
missiles struck their armored hulls.

But now,
return fire began impacting the Alton battlecruisers’ screens. They became
aglow with exploding ordnance, including fifty-megaton sublight missiles
launched by the AIs and the Hocklyns. Energy beams and railgun rounds were
smashing into the shields, trying to bring them down. One of the Alton ships suddenly saw its shield overloaded, and then it suddenly collapsed. The Alton battlecruiser ceased to exist as the fire from over one hundred enemy ships annihilated
it.

Three more AI ships
died as Alton particle beam weapons tore holes in their energy screens,
allowing sublight antimatter missiles to blow the spheres apart. Then another Alton ship died. The center of the Hocklyn and Borzon formation became lit up with massive
explosions as the battle intensified.

-

“What’s going
on?” Colonel Trist demanded as his tactical display began showing the orange
icons of AI ships vanishing. On one of the main viewscreens, titanic explosions
could be seen inside the Hocklyn and Borzon fleet formations.

“It’s the Alton ships with Admiral Sheen,” replied Hedon, knowing they were taking a huge risk. For
a moment, he considered ordering Amanda to pull them back, but he understood
why they'd launched this attack. If the AIs could be forced to withdraw, it
could easily change the outcome of the battle. “They jumped inside the Hocklyn
and Borzon formations and are attacking the AIs.”

“I’m showing
twelve AI spheres destroyed,” Captain Reynolds reported as another orange icon
representing an AI ship swelled up and vanished from his sensor screen. “We’ve
also lost five Alton battlecruisers.”

“Alton ships are jumping back out,” Colonel Grissim reported grimly. “The enemy firepower is
just too great for them. If they'd stayed too much longer, they might have lost
all of their ships.”

“It was a courageous
act,” Trist stated, his eyes focused on the tactical display.

“The AIs are
not jumping out,” Captain Reynolds added as the remaining orange icons
continued to advance along with the Hocklyn and Borzon fleets.

“Admiral Sheen’s
ships are entering the gravity well and making for the enemy ships,” Colonel
Grissim reported, her eyes turning until they were focused on the admiral.
“We’re still vastly outnumbered.”

“Have our
bombers rearmed,” Hedon ordered with a heavy sigh. This battle was far from
over. “They'll go in with the Carethian bombers. Contact Rear Admiral Bixby and
have him coordinate the attack with Grayseth and Rear Admiral Marks.”

Hedon looked
around the Command Center with calm nerves as the crew carried out his
commands. He leaned back in his command chair, feeling the StarStrike vibrate
sharply from a nuclear missile detonating against her energy shield. They were
still outnumbered nearly six to one and Hedon knew he'd have to depend on the
defenses around Careth to help even the odds. The only problem was he wasn’t
sure that even those powerful defenses would be enough.

Fleet
Commodore Resmunt stared at one of the main viewscreens showing the shattered
remains of an AI sphere. He felt a cold chill pass through his reptilian body upon
realizing once again just how deadly the Alton battlecruisers were. He was just
relieved they'd focused their attack on the AIs and not the Hocklyn or Borzon
fleets.

“Fleet Commodore
Versith is requesting orders,” First Leader Ganth reported, his large eyes
focusing on Resmunt. He had a tremendous amount of respect for the Fleet Commodore
and was confident he would lead them to victory in this battle.

Resmunt looked
at the tactical display, seeing that the Human and Alton ships ahead of him were
pulling back toward the heavy defenses that surrounded the planet. What concerned
him the most was the Humans were pinning his forces between them. The newly
arrived Human ships were already entering the gravity well of the planet and
would soon be within effective combat range. He still had a huge advantage in
numbers, and he fully intended to exploit that.

Turning toward
Third Leader Grodno at Communications, Resmunt quickly passed on new orders.
“Contact Fleet Commodore Versith and tell him to engage the new Human ships
with his segment of the fleet. We will continue on to the planet with the
Borzon and the AIs and destroy the ones there.”

“Should we
split the fleet?” Ganth asked, his large eyes growing even wider. He was unsure
if this was a wise decision. Perhaps it would be best to stay together and let
the Humans come to them.

“We have the
numbers,” Resmunt spoke, his cold black eyes glittering dangerously. “The new Human
ships should have fled instead of seeking to engage us. Now they will die also!”

-

Hedon watched
the main viewscreens as the enemy ships came closer. He leaned back in his
command chair and took a deep breath. There was so much riding on his
decisions. In just a few more moments, the next bomber strike would be
launched. For every warship the bombers destroyed, it was one less his
outnumbered fleet would have to face in combat. It just bothered him that so
many pilots would have to die in order to give the fleet a chance.

“Rear Admiral
Bixby is launching the strike,” Colonel Trist reported as numerous green icons
began appearing around the carriers, the space station, and the shipyard. He
knew that only four hundred Anlon bombers had survived from the original
strike. They would be reinforced by one thousand bear bombers as well as nearly
fourteen hundred bear fighters.

Looking at one
of the tactical screens, Hedon saw the small number of green icons leaving the
carriers. It pained him that so few bombers and fighters were exiting the
Federation flight bays. He sighed deeply, knowing that more pilots were about
to die.

Carethians are
launching their small warships,” Colonel Trist added. Anne knew that the small,
one hundred-meter ships would go in with the bombers to give them additional
covering fire. Each of the Carethian warships was carrying ten Shrike missiles
with twenty-kiloton warheads. It would be a very unpleasant surprise for the
Hocklyns.

-

Jeremy watched
the viewscreens intently as the Avenger and Fourth Fleet continued into the
gravity well of the planet. He knew that somewhere up ahead Grayseth was
waiting for his return. But first, he had to get through nearly three thousand
enemy warships and over forty of the deadly AI spheres. It would be no easy
task; it seemed almost impossible. Jeremy hoped that Admiral Sheen had some
tricks up her sleeve.

“The odds of
us winning this battle are not good,” Ariel commented from Jeremy’s side where
she was studying the tactical displays as well as the latest data coming in on
her sensors.

She was very
concerned for the safety of her friends as well as herself. For the hundredth
time in the past ten minutes, she checked the new firewalls that Katie had
installed to protect her from another attack by the AIs. So far, there had been
no sign of an attack or attempt to insert a virus into the Avenger’s systems.

“When have the
odds ever been in our favor?” asked Jeremy, looking over at the gorgeous AI. Ariel
was in her standard dark blue fleet uniform without any insignia.

“We should
have brought Grayseth’s battleship with us,” added Ariel, looking pointedly at
Jeremy.

“The crew’s
not trained and it’s serving us well enough protecting the ammunition ships we
left behind,” Jeremy responded. “If we have to withdraw, we'll need the
missiles on those ships.”

“Besides, what
would Grayseth say if we got his new battleship destroyed?” Kevin added with a
grin.

“Boys and
their toys,” spoke up Kelsey over their private channel, turning her head and
glancing at the three.

“I'll just be glad
to get back to Careth,” Angela said, joining the conversation. “I just wished
we didn’t have to fly through a Hocklyn battle fleet to get there.”

Jeremy was
silent for a moment as he looked at one of the viewscreens focused on the
planet. Careth filled a large part of the screen and it looked so peaceful with
its blues, greens and browns which indicated a living planet. He knew the view
was deceiving, as even from here a bright flash occasionally erupted close to
the planet where its defenders were waging a bitter battle.

“Returning would
have been better if it wasn’t in the middle of a battle,” Katie reminded them.
She was watching the ship’s computer system closely for any sign of a new virus
attack on Ariel. This time she was prepared to ensure the friendly AI remained
unharmed.

“Do you have
any ideas how to win this battle, Ariel?” Kevin asked his eyes focusing on the
AI. He knew she'd been running numerous battle scenarios seeking an advantage.

“No,” Ariel
admitted with a long frown. “I wish I did. I just don’t see any way to get
through the enemy fleet without suffering substantial losses.”

“We’re launching
our fighters and bombers,” Kevin reported suddenly as myriads of small green
icons began appearing on the tactical screens. He knew that Rear Admiral Susan
Marks was coordinating the attack along with Rear Admiral Bixby on the Essex.

“This is it,”
Jeremy spoke as he looked over at Kelsey and smiled reassuringly.

-

From the three
new Federation fleets, thirty seven hundred fighters and nearly two thousand
bombers launched. They quickly formed up into their respective squadrons and
began advancing on the Hocklyn and Borzon fleets.

“Here we go,”
Lieutenant Sanders muttered unhappily from the second seat of her Anlon bomber as
they began moving toward the waiting Hocklyn ships.

Major Arcles
grinned and nodded. “I knew you'd be excited to be back in a bomber again. It
lets us see the action up close and personal.”

“I can see the
action just fine from my fighter,” replied Lacy, frowning. “Why are we back in
a bomber?”

Karl sighed,
knowing Lacy was not pleased. “They needed all the experienced pilots they
could get,” he responded. “Too many of the pilots in the fleet are new with
little battle experience.”

“You owe me,” Lacy
replied in a determined and threatening voice. “If we survive this you have to
promise to go and do whatever I ask at the resort of my choice.”

“I promise,” responded
Karl, wondering what type of resort she was going to drag him to. He'd nearly broken
his leg when she'd taken him skiing. Trees just seemed to naturally get in his
way.

Lacy nodded.
She had something special planned and Karl had no idea what he was in for if
they survived this battle. Looking at her sensor screen and seeing the large
number of Hocklyn fighters that were forming up to oppose them, she knew the
odds of collecting were not very good. She let out a deep sigh, praying they
would be able to return safely to the carrier when this was over.

-

Fleet Commodore
Versith watched with deep concern as the Humans launched a massive fighter and
bomber strike toward his ships. The Hocklyn fighter strength had already been greatly
depleted. Now the remaining fighters were split between the Human bomber attack
coming in toward his fleet from the new ships and the one launched from the Carethian’s
space station and shipyard.

“They’re going
to break through in large numbers,” War Leader Trion warned as he studied the
tactical display. The Hocklyns still had an advantage in fighters, but they
wouldn’t be able to stop this Human attack wave.

“I know,”
Versith responded, his large dark eyes looking at the tactical display. “Have
all ships load interceptors in their missile tubes. We'll have to deal with the
Human bomber strike before we can engage their warships.” Versith leaned
forward on the command pedestal and looked closely at the data on a small
screen. Even after the Human bomber attack, he would still have sufficient
ships left to destroy the Human fleets.