The Lost Fleet: Genesis: A Slaver Wars Novel (35 page)

“Ready to
jump,” reported Captain Randson, as he listened to the readiness reports from
various ships over the short-range comms. His eyes focused on the admiral,
still studying the large tactical screen on the front wall of the Command Center.

Kurt nodded.
There was no point in waiting. Pressing the fleetwide button on his command
console, he announced, “All ships, initiate jump in sixty seconds. All ships to
fire upon targets as soon as you exit hyperspace. Don’t wait on orders from the
flag to engage. The element of surprise is essential if we want to win this
battle. Good luck and good hunting.”

Captain
Randson activated a counter on his console. “Helm, prepare for hyperspace
insertion.” Randson buckled himself in his chair in preparation for combat
maneuvers.

The hyperspace
jump would only last a few seconds. Kurt, like everyone else, wondered what
they would find when they reached Earth.

“Tactical,
ready the main particle beam cannon,” ordered Kurt, noting the increased
activity in the command crew as they prepared for combat. “Lock on the enemy’s
nearest capital ship and fire as soon as you have a confirmed firing solution.”
The cannon could only be fired once every forty seconds due to heat buildup.
They needed every shot to count.

“Weapons are
ready,” reported Lieutenant Evelyn Mays from Tactical.

The counter on
Captain Randson’s console reached zero. “Jump!” ordered Randson, his hands
gripping the armrests on his command chair.

-

High Profiteer
Creed of the Gothan Empire stood in the Command Center of the Profiteer ship
Ascendant
Destruction
. He was bipedal and slightly taller than a human, with light
blue skin and coarse white hair. His face, while humanoid, had
larger-than-normal eyes. The last few days had been quiet, while he awaited the
return of the rest of his ships, plus the others he had sent for: a large fleet
of detainee ships and a number of heavy cargo ships.

The Gothan
Empire, with planet Marsten as its capital, was a loose federation of 118 star
systems that routinely raided many of the civilized races of the galaxy. It was
a dangerous living, but the huge rewards from the bounty collected more than
offset the danger.

“We’ll make
huge profits from this planet,” gloated Second Profiteer Lantz, as he gazed at
the main viewscreen on the front wall of the Command Center, depicting the
blue-white planet beneath them. “Their people will sell well in the slave
markets on Kubitz.”

“Their world
is rich in many things that will bring good profits on the black markets,”
added Creed, recalling his last trip to the bustling black market world. “Gold,
platinum, jewels, and even some of their art will add much to our coffers.”

Hundreds of
alien races could be found on the planet Kubitz, either selling or buying, some
of it openly and some done in the back rooms of the pleasure houses. It was
also a very dangerous place for someone unfamiliar with the workings of the
black market system. People were known to vanish quite routinely, and the local
authorities always seemed to look the other way.

“We were
fortunate to find this world in this backwater system,” Lantz said. “Few ships
have ventured into this area where the stars are so far apart.”

“We can thank
the Kreel for that,” Creed said. “Several of their cargo ships have reported
unknown ships detected by their satellite marker buoys in a number of systems
they have claimed. It wasn’t difficult for the computers on Marsten to
correlate the data and extrapolate the most likely location of those ships’
home world.”

Lantz nodded
in agreement.

Though it
hadn’t been quite that simple, as the computers had given them an area of space
nearly thirty light-years across, which had contained quite a few stars, even
in this sparse region. The Profiteer fleet had searched for two weeks before
finally pinning down the system they sought.

“It is well
that we found this system when we did,” Lantz said with greed showing in his
eyes. “They had a sizable fleet and, in a few more years, would have been too
powerful to overwhelm without major losses. They still remain hesitant to obey
our demands, even after we destroyed their cities. More examples might need to
be made.”

Before Creed
could reply, warning klaxons sounded, and red lights flashed in the Command Center. His eyes instantly went to the sensor operator. “What’s with the alarms?”
he demanded.

“We have ships
exiting hyperspace,” reported Third Profiteer Bixt, as red threat icons
appeared on the sensor screen before him. Then, after a moment, he looked at
First Profiteer Creed with astonishment on his face. “They’re human!”

“We didn’t get
them all,” muttered Lantz.

-

Admiral
Vickers felt the familiar gut-wrenching sensation as the
Star Cross
dropped from hyperspace within close proximity to its intended target. The
tactical screen quickly updated, showing the alien ships in orbit around Earth.

“Energy shield
is coming online,” reported Captain Randson.

“Target lock!”
called out Lieutenant Evelyn Mays, as green lights flashed on her console.
“Firing particle beam cannon.” She reached forward and pressed several buttons,
activating the deadly weapon. Beside her, two ensigns entered targeting information
for the ship’s heavy KEW batteries and prepared to fire the ship’s missiles.

-

From the
Star
Cross
, a deep blue beam flashed across space, smashing into the targeted
enemy battlecruiser. Its defensive energy screen was operating at a low level, which
failed to stop the beam. A massive explosion tore into the cruiser, leaving a
gaping hole fifteen meters across in its hull and blasting a huge fragment off
into space. The ship seemed to stagger, as valuable systems inside were
compromised and ceased to function. Several secondary explosions rattled the
ship, sending waves of fire through shattered interior compartments and
corridors.

From the bow
of the
Star Cross
, the two heavy KEW cannons fired, sending a pair of
large armor-piercing rounds at 10 percent the speed of light toward the reeling
enemy cruiser. The rounds impacted the alien ship, tearing completely through
it, setting off additional explosions. The energy generated was like twin
nuclear explosions. With a brilliant flash, the battlecruiser blew, sending
debris in all directions.

“Enemy
battlecruiser is down!” Lieutenant Brooks reported with elation, as the red
threat icon swelled up on her sensor screen and then vanished.

“We caught
them before they could raise their shields!” uttered Captain Randson, his eyes
shining with a wolfish glint. “We surprised them, just like they did when they
attacked Earth.”

“Switch to
secondary target,” ordered Kurt, as he intently watched the tactical screen,
seeing what success his other ships were having. They had to hit the enemy
quick and hard if they were to have any hope of victory.

“The
Hampton
has downed a second enemy battlecruiser,” reported Brooks, as she saw
another red icon vanish from her screen.

“
Vindication
is jumping in!” added Captain Randson, seeing more green icons appear on the
tactical screen. “We caught them flatfooted!”

-

First
Profiteer Creed picked himself up from the deck, looking around the Command Center in anger. “What’s happening!” he demanded, as his gaze shifted to the ship’s
tactical screen. He could see numerous red threat icons appearing nearby. They
were appearing almost on top of his fleet!

“It’s a human
fleet, and they’re attacking,” reported Second Profiteer Lantz breathlessly.
“We’ve already lost the
Warriors Pride
and the
Addax
. The enemy
is using a powerful particle beam weapon against us and kinetics.”

“Particle
beams and kinetics!” roared Creed in disbelief, his eyes growing wide.

He knew that,
for most warships, particle beams were impractical—as they required a tremendous
amount of energy and needed a long cool-down time between firings. Most Gothan
ships were armed with ion cannons, energy projectors, and missiles, which were
cheap and efficient. Kinetics were a thing of the past and had been given up to
be replaced by more modern weapons. No one used kinetics anymore!

“One of the
new arrivals is a carrier of some kind,” Third Profiteer Bixt warned. “It’s
launching smaller warships toward us.”

“We’ve lost
four of our escorts,” said Lantz, watching the ships drop off the tactical
screen. He groaned and murmured, “My profits … the pleasure houses …” Then he
reported, “All our ships have their shields up and are returning fire, but I
fear we’ve already lost too many. The
Glimmer Fire
is reporting heavy
damage, and they’re asking permission to withdraw.”

The
Glimmer
Fire
was their only other remaining battlecruiser besides the
Ascendant
Destruction
. Creed looked at the viewscreen, which showed numerous
explosions in space. He could even see the flash of a few beam weapons. “Order
all ships to jump!” he grated out, knowing that he had no other choice but to
withdraw or risk being destroyed.

They were in
this for profits, not to lose expensive warships! He would return to Kubitz and
come back with a much more powerful fleet. This planet was too rich to allow a
single human fleet to keep him from it. The humans could have the planet for
now, but, in time, he and his much larger force would retake it. He would also
have to intercept the detainee and cargo ships on their way here and have them
return to the Kubitz System.

-

“We’ve taken
out two more of their light units,” Captain Randson added, watching as a pair
of red icons fell off the tactical screen.

Andrew Randson
breathed a little easier. At this rate, they would win the battle, and then, as
soon as possible, he intended to take a shuttle to Houston and evacuate his
family. He knew others would be doing the same thing.

“Destroyer
Brant
is down,” Lieutenant Brooks reported grimly, as the friendly green icon
representing the small destroyer vanished from the sensor screen.

Kurt winced at
that news. It was the first ship under his command he had ever lost.

“Enemy ships
are showing an energy spike,” Lieutenant Brooks informed them, per one of her
sensors. “They’re activating their hyperdrives.”

Kurt switched
his gaze to a large viewscreen just in time to see one of the two remaining
enemy battlecruisers jump away. On the tactical screen, other red threat icons
also vanished.

“Their last
battlecruiser is too damaged to jump,” Brooks reported, as the enemy ship
turned toward them with its weapons firing. “They’re attacking!”

Kurt felt the
Star
Cross
shudder slightly as an energy beam struck the ship’s screen.

“Some type of
ion beam is hitting us,” Lieutenant Brooks reported, looking at the data on one
of her sensor screens.

“The shield is
holding at 84 percent,” Captain Randson said.

“Particle beam
is recharged,” Lieutenant Mays stated, as she targeted the alien battlecruiser.
“Firing!”

-

The deep blue
particle beam smashed into the
Glimmer Fire
, flashing right through its
weakened defensive energy screen. A huge hole was blasted in its bow, and the
ship seemed to lose all power. Two heavy KEW rounds from the human’s bow
cannons plowed into the Profiteer ship, traveling nearly its entire length, and
then the vessel detonated in a blaze of light as too many vital systems were
compromised.

-

“All enemy
ships have either jumped or been destroyed,” reported Lieutenant Brooks,
breathing a sigh of relief. “We have control of Earth orbital space.”

Kurt nodded,
allowing himself to relax. This battle had gone far better than expected. “Get
me Captain Watkins. I’ll have the
Vindication
check out the shipyard. We
may need their Marines to secure it.” Kurt turned his attention back toward one
of the viewscreens, which showed Earth.

“Now let’s try
to contact someone down on the surface and see just what the hell is going on!”

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