The Slaver Wars: Galactic Conflict (29 page)

Nartel stared
at Versith, feeling aggravated. Versith was only a recently promoted Fleet Commodore
and should not be doubting the strength of the new weapons. Forcing himself to
remain calm, he had to remind himself that Versith was also perhaps their best
strategist. It would be wise to take his words under consideration.

Pointing to
one of the large viewscreens in the conference room showing a nearby AI sphere,
Nartel responded, “The AIs currently have ten of their warships in this system.
They're in the process of updating and building even more advanced warships of
their own. They've assured me that when they are completed, the new ships will
be able to handle the Altons.”

“That may be
true,” Fleet Commodore Resmunt spoke cautiously. It made him nervous that the
High Leader had come all the way out to Kenward Seven to oversee the updating
of the Hocklyn fleet. “But what if the Altons are also updating the Humans' warships?
War Leader Briton’s fleet was destroyed a few months back by a large Human
fleet. From the reports from our other fleet in the system the Humans' weapons
and shields seemed stronger than before. They annihilated War Leader Briton’s
entire force with only minor losses to their own fleet.”

“As they nearly
did ours,” added Fleet Commodore Versith, recalling the Human attack in system K-774.

“Even if they
have further strengthened their weapons and shields, we will use our superior
numbers to wear them down,” High Leader Nartel responded determinedly. “I have
informed all of our fleets not to engage the Humans unless we have at least a
two to one advantage in ships. The Human victories are about to come to an end,
and soon we will once more begin expanding our Empire.”

“How soon
until we start our new offensive?” Fleet Commodore Resmunt asked.

He'd been
greatly concerned that the Humans would use the absence of Hocklyn warships in
the outlying sectors to take over more Hocklyn slave worlds. For some reason
that hadn't happened. The Humans seemed to be satisfied with staying in the
system of Careth. Resmunt knew if the positions were reversed, the Hocklyns
would have long since moved out and used their tactical advantage to conquer as
many worlds as possible.

“We've waited a
long time,” Fleet Commodore Versith stated, his large dark eyes focusing on the
High Leader. “The Humans have been heavily fortifying Careth. It will be a
difficult system to conquer.”

“I've made
arrangements,” High Leader Nartel replied. “We'll have sufficient forces when
the time comes to overwhelm Careth and continue on to the Human home worlds.
This time we will not be defeated.”

The meeting ended
with the commodores leaving. All wondered exactly what Nartel had meant by
sufficient forces. Were the AIs going to commit a large number of their ships
to this campaign?

High Leader
Nartel watched the commodores leave with a smirk on his face. Several times
since he had arrived at Kenward Seven, he'd taken his dreadnought and flown to
a nearby star system, one that he'd made off limits to all other Hocklyn ships.
In that system was the secret weapon he would use to annihilate the Human
threat once and for all.

-

Admiral Streth
was in the Command Center of the StarStrike. For weeks now, First Fleet and
Ceres Fleet had been jumping steadily toward Kenward Seven. Before each jump, long-range
stealth scouts were sent out to check the systems ahead. In order for this
attack to succeed, it was essential that the Hocklyns not detect them. They
were deep in Hocklyn space. It reminded Hedon of a previous mission he had been
involved in with the original Human Federation of Worlds.

During that mission,
he'd taken a portion of his fleet and gone deep into supposed Hocklyn space to
determine just what type of enemy the Federation was facing. Much to his
chagrin, he'd discovered an enemy that controlled a vast galactic empire, one
the Human Federation of Worlds could not hope to defeat. It was when he
returned home from that mission that he'd found the Federation worlds in ruin
and most of the Human race dead. He'd gathered what survivors he could and fled
with the fleet to Earth. Now here he was once again, deep in Hocklyn space. However,
this time he would be the aggressor, not the Hocklyns.

“All ships
have reported in,” Captain Duncan spoke from Communications. “All ship
commanders are reporting their FTL drives are functioning normally and the
drive cores are in the process of cooling down.”

“First Fleet
ships are moving into screening positions around the StarStrike,” Colonel Trist
reported.

“Same with
Ceres Fleet,” Colonel Grissim added. “They are forming up around the battlecruiser
Ceres.”

“One hour and
then we jump again,” Hedon ordered. “We can’t stay too long in one spot or we
run the risk of being detected.”

Hedon leaned
back in his command chair and gazed across the Command Center. This mission to
Kenward Seven had taken on added significance when Admiral Telleck returned
from the Federation. Hedon had been shaken to the core when Glenn had informed
him of his meeting with Ambassador Tureen and the two Alton scientists. He had
less than two years to defeat the Hocklyns and then launch an assault against
the AIs at the center of the galaxy. It seemed impossible, but somehow he had
to find a way to do it or the entire galaxy might be doomed.

Glancing at
one of the tactical displays, he contemplated all the friendly green dots that
represented Federation and Alton ships. Both First Fleet and Ceres Fleet
consisted of nearly one hundred ships each as well as ten Alton battlecruisers.
All ships were updated and the battlecruisers, battlecarriers, and the
strikecruisers carried the new particle beam cannons, which could be fired from
the bow. They were primarily to be used against AI ships. The Altons had recently
incorporated some Federation technology, which made the cannons even more
dangerous.

The new Alton designed fusion reactors had greatly enhanced the Federation energy screens as well
as the power beams and pulse lasers. For the first time, Hedon felt confident
about going up against an AI ship. Another change made was to the Alton’s antimatter missiles. After consultation with some of the Federation’s leading
military strategists, the yield had been increased to 100 megatons. The Altons
had balked about going any higher as the weapons could become too dangerous to
use. The Federation strategists and scientists had agreed. At 100 megatons a
single sublight missile should be able to bring down an AI energy shield or at
least knock a sizable hole in it. Only battleships, battlecruisers, and strikecruisers
would carry this more powerful missile.

“Long range
scouts are returning,” Captain Reynolds reported from his sensor console as
several new green icons flashed into existence on his screen. Reynolds knew the
scouts were not using their full stealth capability or his sensors would not have
been able to detect them.

“Scouts are reporting
the next two jump points are free of enemy activity,” Colonel Grissim said as
she listened to the scouts report in over her mini-com.

Hedon nodded
and let out a long sigh of relief. Two more jumps and they would be within
range of Kenward Seven. He knew there was a good possibility that there would
be several AI ships in that system and the sensors in the AI ships had a range
of at least several light years. Federation scientists were not certain of the
absolute distance, but it was estimated from previous observations of AI ship
movements that their sensors had a range of between two to six light years.

He wished
Amanda and Second Fleet were with them. She was an excellent commander and had
a lot of battle experience. He took solace in knowing that both she and Admiral
Strong would probably be waiting for them when they returned to Careth.

“What do you
think we'll be facing when we jump into the Kenward Seven system?” Colonel
Trist asked as he finished speaking to Engineering.

“A lot of
updated ships,” Hedon replied evenly, his eyes looking over at his executive
officer. “If we can stay undetected they won’t be expecting an attack. It
should give us a brief tactical advantage.”

“We’re going
to be heavily outnumbered,” Colonel Grissim commented as she stepped closer to
the command console.

“I know,”
Hedon responded. “I'll risk sending in two of our long-range stealth scouts to
scan the system once we come within range. As soon as they return and download
their data, we'll attack immediately. We will jump in as close to the planet’s
gravity well as is deemed safe and launch our attack upon the four shipyards.
We only need to get within twenty thousand kilometers to use our new antimatter
missiles to destroy them.”

“If the AIs
are on guard they might be able to intercept the missiles,” warned Colonel
Trist with concern in his voice. “There are bound to be at least a few AIs
present as important as this system is to the Hocklyn Slave Empire.”

“If they do,
we'll just have to go in closer,” responded Hedon, calmly. “Those shipyards
must be destroyed. They are the only military shipyards between Careth and the
Hocklyns' home systems. In a single blow, we can cripple their war effort.”

“It’s a risk,”
Colonel Grissim uttered with a concerned frown covering her face. She knew they
were a long way from help if the battle went the wrong way.

-

Hedon was in
the officers' mess eating a tuna fish sandwich and drinking unsweetened tea. He
knew it would probably be the last time he'd get the chance to eat before the
coming engagement. Sitting there alone, he thought back to the wonderful meals
that Lendle used to cook for him and Taylor in the cabin by the lake on Maken.
He really missed her home cooking.

“You should be
eating something warm and more filling,” Janice’s reproachful voice spoke from
behind him.

Turning his head,
he nodded and gestured for her to sit down. “I never can eat a big meal before
a battle,” he confessed as he laid his partially eaten sandwich down on his
plate.

“Everyone’s
feeling tense,” she said as she sat down across from Hedon. “This is really the
first time, other than the Hocklyn fleet base, that we're going to attack one
of their main systems. It'll be a major battle and we’re going to be seriously outnumbered.”

Hedon was
silent for a moment; he wanted to tell Janice about what was going on at the
center of the galaxy and how important neutralizing this system had become. However,
he knew he could not; it would not be fair to saddle her with that added worry.

“Once we
destroy the shipyards we will return to Careth to repair our battle damage.
Admirals Sheen and Strong should be waiting for us when we return.”

“Then what?”
Janice asked, her hazel eyes focusing on Hedon. She knew there had to be more
to this than what Hedon was letting on.

“Then we
return to the old Federation,” he responded, his eyes taking on a look of fire.
“We free them from the Hocklyns and prepare for our next big step in the war.”

“What’s that?”
asked Janice, feeling confused. She really hadn’t thought too much about what
would happen after the old Federation worlds were freed. She'd supposed at some
point in time the Hocklyns would grow weary of the war and agree to a truce.

“We attack the
Hocklyn home worlds,” Hedon responded with conviction.

“Their home
worlds?” Janice gasped her eyes growing wide in disbelief. “There are hundreds
of billions of Hocklyns in those systems. How can we possibly attack them? It
would be suicide! They’re bound to be heavily defended.”

“I have a
plan,” spoke Hedon, carefully. “But first we must destroy the shipyards at
Kenward Seven and then retake the Federation home worlds. Once that is done, we
can move upon the Hocklyn home systems.”

Janice fell
into silence. She didn’t know if Hedon was raving or dead serious. Either way,
it sounded as if this war was just barely beginning.

-

High Leader
Nartel was back on board his dreadnought, HammersHand, studying the fleet
readiness reports. He'd also sent a report back to the High Council on Calzen
as to the readiness of the fleet. If all went as planned, the Human menace
would soon be over.

War Leader
Caltrin came over to stand next to the command pedestal where the High Leader
was. He waited patiently for the High Leader to recognize his presence.

Nartel looked
down from the command pedestal at the waiting War Leader. Caltrin was one of
Nartel’s relatives, a first cousin to be exact. “What's on your mind, War
Leader?” Nartel asked in his raspy voice.

“When will you
reveal to Fleet Commodore Resmunt what is in system C-215?”

“In time,”
Nartel replied. “They may not like what I have done; the High Council will
surely not. But it is necessary to ensure the Humans' defeat and the
continuation of our Empire.”

“The Empire
must be preserved,” Caltrin agreed, his reptilian eyes focusing intently on the
High Leader. “Your wisdom will bring the Empire victory against the Humans. In
time, we will begin to expand again until we reach the edge of the galaxy. It
is our right.”

“If the AIs
allow us,” Nartel responded his eyes narrowing. “While it is true that we control
the Empire, never forget about who controls us.”

Both of their
eyes went to a main viewscreens, which showed one of the 1,500-meter AI spheres
floating a short distance away. Unlike other Hocklyns, Nartel preferred to keep
an AI ship close by. It helped to ensure his own safety.

“The AIs are
our masters,” Caltrin conceded. “They are powerful and must be obeyed.”

“Not as
powerful as they once were,” Nartel reminded the War Leader. “The Humans and
the Altons have the capacity to destroy AI ships, something that until recently
was not considered possible.”