The Slaver Wars: Galactic Conflict (34 page)

“We have numerous
spatial vortexes opening just behind the Hocklyn fleet,” Reynolds stammered as
he tried to make sense of his sensor readings. “There are large ships exiting
hyperspace, but they’re not in our data base.”

“Another alien
race?” Trist asked his face looking concerned.

“It can’t be
another alien race,” Colonel Grissim uttered as she gazed at the new threat
icons appearing in the display feeling a knot growing in her stomach. Just when
she thought they might escape to safety, they were now facing another new and
unknown threat.

“I have an
emergency message from Admiral Cleeteus,” Captain Duncan interrupted. “He
reports the new aliens are Borzon. They are one of the other proxy races that
serve the AIs in another sector of the galaxy. He says their ships are better
armed than the Hocklyns and they possess a rudimentary sublight missile.”

“We need to
get out of here!” Colonel Trist spoke with conviction, his eyes focusing on
Hedon. “We’re out of antimatter missiles and even the Altons are beginning to
run low. We can’t fight this new fleet as well as the Hocklyns.”

“I know,”
Hedon replied, his eyes turning toward one of the main viewscreens showing one
of the new ships. It was slender in design, and sensors estimated it at 1,200
meters in length. “Order all ships to break off contact with the Hocklyns and to
go to max acceleration. We need to get out of the gravity well and jump into
hyperspace.”

He knew that
by breaking off contact it would allow the Hocklyns a better opportunity to
fire upon his fleet as it fled. He looked uneasily at the new alien ship displayed
on the screen. Where had they come from and what did this mean for the war? He
let out a long breath, realizing he had been thrown another curve ball.

The orders
were hurriedly passed and the Federation and Alton ships quickly accelerated,
fleeing toward the edge of the gravity well and safety.

“The new ships
are firing,” Colonel Grissim reported as flashes of light could be seen on the
hulls of the Borzon ships. She braced herself against the holographic plotting
table, not sure what to expect.

-

The Borzon
targeted the Alton battlecruisers. Hundreds of sublight missiles began hitting
the shields of the Alton ships. The shields became covered in glowing energy as
missile after missile detonated. The Human crews, with the help of the Altons,
were intercepting over sixty percent of the inbound missiles, but that still allowed
large numbers to reach their targets. On one of the Alton ships, a small hole
in the shield developed and a Borzon sublight missile flashed through to
explode against the hull. Instantly, hundreds of tons of armor and metal were
vaporized and the ship’s shield failed completely. More missiles arrived and
the Alton ship died as it was consumed by nuclear fire.

“Alton ship Starlight is down,” Captain Reynolds spoke in a breathless and stunned voice.
He had not expected to see an Alton ship destroyed.

“We’re
crossing the gravity well,” Colonel Trist reported.

“The new
aliens are targeting the Alton battlecruisers,” Colonel Grissim reported as she
studied the data coming across her screens. “They’re trying to overwhelm the Alton shields!”

“Initiating
jump,” the Navigation officer reported.

Moments later,
a blue-white spatial vortex formed in front of the StarStrike and the battleship
jumped into the safety of hyperspace. Around her, the rest of the Federation
ships and the Altons did likewise. Weapons fire ceased and a sudden eerie
silence filled the ship. The viewscreens were now filled with the swirling deep
purples of hyperspace and the battle was over.

-

High Leader
Nartel smiled in satisfaction at the success of his attack. The Borzons had
managed to destroy three of the supposedly indestructible Alton battlecruisers.
Of course, it had taken the entire firepower of their fleet to do it.

Nartel turned
to War Leader Caltrin and spoke. “Contact Fleet Commodores Resmunt and Versith.
I want to meet with them and all of the other commodores immediately.”

He gazed in
anger at the tactical display, seeing that all four of the shipyards were gone,
destroyed by the Humans and the Altons. All that remained of years of work were
shattered ruins. He would look closely at the battle report from Fleet Commodore
Resmunt to ensure that everything possible had been done to protect those
valuable assets.

The Empire had
other shipyards, but Kenward Seven had been the largest and closest to the home
worlds. He would order more slaves brought in immediately. The mining
operations still existed, and new shipyards could be built. It would be time
consuming, but it would be done. He knew many slaves would die, but the Empire
had billions at its disposal. Nartel’s right hand reached down to touch the
knife at his waist. The Humans may have won a victory today, but they were soon
to face their final defeat.

-

The StarStrike
exited hyperspace in system C-315 as numerous other space vortexes opened
around her, expelling more Federation and Alton ships.

“Jump
complete,” the Navigation officer reported.

“Report all
contacts,” barked Hedon as his eyes snapped toward the four tactical displays.

“Picking up only
Federation and Alton ships,” Captain Reynolds reported.

“I have Admiral
Telleck on the com,” Captain Duncan informed Hedon. “He says he has a number of
damaged ships that will need repair time before they can jump again.”

“What about
the Alton ships?” Hedon asked as an Alton battlecruiser was displayed on one of
the main viewscreens. The ship had a hole in its side as if it had been struck
by a giant hammer.

“They lost
three battlecruisers with another six damaged,” Colonel Grissim reported. “The
Borzons concentrated their attack on the Alton ships, trying to overwhelm their
shields.”

“What were the
losses to First Fleet and Ceres Fleet?”

Anne took a
moment longer to reply as she studied the data coming in on her console. “We
lost five battlecruisers, four strikecruisers, six Monarchs, and eighteen light
cruisers. Numerous other ships are reporting various degrees of damage.”

Hedon winced
at hearing the losses. He'd hoped with the new screens and weapons to get out
of Kenward Seven with much lighter losses. There were so many more men and
women to haunt his dreams at night. He let out a heavy sigh. Hedon blinked his
eyes and looked around the Command Center, taking stock of the situation. For
the most part, everyone seemed calm and were going about their jobs.

“We'll stay
here for four hours, and then we need to plot a jump to put more distance
between us and Kenward Seven,” spoke Hedon, reaching a quick decision. “Once
that jump is complete, we'll take a full day to work on repairs and see to our
wounded.”

Looking up at
the viewscreens, more damaged ships were shown. There was a Federation
battlecruiser with most of its bow gone; a battlecarrier had a deep scar across
its upper hull where an energy beam had struck. For a moment, Hedon wondered if
the attack on Kenward Seven had been worth it.

“Any estimate
on the Hocklyn losses in the last battle?” he asked.

“From our
latest figures, the Hocklyns lost thirty-eight of their dreadnoughts forty-two
warcruisers and one hundred and eighteen of their escorts.”

“We took a
hell of a lot of them out,” spoke Colonel Trist relieved the fighting was over.
“With the ships we destroyed earlier, the four shipyards, and now these ship
numbers, we scored a significant victory today.”

“That may be,”
Hedon conceded. “But we lost a lot of good people doing it. We also lost three
irreplaceable Alton ships and I’m not sure how they’re going to take that.”

“It had to
happen eventually,” responded Colonel Grissim. Anne walked over closer to the
command console and then continued, “Our attack will severely hamper the Hocklyn’s
ability to build and repair ships. It could be the turning point in this war.”

Hedon was
silent. He hadn’t told his command staff about the news that Admiral Telleck
had brought back from the Federation. They had slightly less than two years to
win an impossible war or all organic life in the galaxy might come to an abrupt
end. They also had a new enemy to face, the Borzon. Hedon let out a deep sigh.
Once again, this war had taken a new and dangerous turn.

Hedon looked
at the latest reports from the long-range scouts that were keeping track of the
Hocklyn and Borzon fleets in the Kenward Seven star system. For a full three weeks,
both Federation fleets and the surviving Alton ships had been jumping back
toward Careth. It would be another four weeks before they arrived.

“They’re
coming after us, aren’t they?” Colonel Grissim asked in a calm and steady
voice. She looked at Hedon expectantly for an answer.

“It looks that
way,” Hedon replied as he leaned back in his chair and looked at the other two
officers. Both Colonel Trist and Colonel Grissim were with him in the small
office off to the side of the Command Center.

“We've
probably really ticked them off taking out those shipyards,” Trist spoke with
deep satisfaction in his voice. “We also destroyed several hundred of their
ships in the process, most of them their big capital ones.”

“From the
scans we managed to take, many of those ships are the same ones that attacked
New Tellus,” Anne said, looking meaningfully at the two men. “That means the
Fleet Commodore that was instrumental in the attack at their fleet base as well
as at New Tellus was probably in that system. He won’t take kindly to what we
did. He may feel it is a matter of honor to return the favor.”

“I thought
some of the attack patterns looked familiar,” Hedon commented as he arched his
eyebrows in thought. “As for that honor system of theirs, I don’t know how that
will play into this.” There were many things in this war that didn’t make a lot
of sense. It was particularly difficult since they had never been able to
capture a live Hocklyn for interrogation.

“The scouts
are reporting that additional AI ships have jumped into the Kenward Seven
system,” Trist said worriedly. “I wonder why?”

“Resupply,”
Anne responded, her eyes shifting from Colonel Trist to Admiral Streth. “Just
as the Altons are supplying the new antimatter missiles to us, I would guess
the AIs are doing the same thing for the Hocklyns.”

“Once they’re
resupplied they will be coming after us,” Trist said, his eyes narrowing. “They
can’t afford to let us continue to use Careth as a base against them, not after
what we just did.”

“I wonder if
the AIs will come with them,” said Hedon, taking a deep breath. “Our stealth
scouts will have to start back tomorrow or they won’t be able to catch up to
us.”

“We could slow
down, give them more time on station,” Anne suggested. She knew the new scouts
were capable of long jumps with little cool down time needed for their drive
cores.

“No,” responded
Hedon, shaking his head. “We need to get back to Careth and get prepared for an
attack. I’ve already sent a message to Grayseth explaining what to expect. He’s
relaying the information on to the Federation.”

“Admirals
Strong and Sheen should be in the system when we get there,” added Trist,
feeling relieved that more Federation ships would be at Careth. “That will at
least give us a large fleet presence along with our allies.”

“It’s a good
thing we laid that line of Alton communication buoys,” Anne stated. She knew those
buoys transmitted messages nearly ten times faster than the ones the Federation
deployed.

“They will
have sufficient warning,” Hedon said. He had sent a number of recommendations
to Grayseth, preparing him for a possible attack. “If the Hocklyns and the
Borzons attack together along with the AIs, we'll be facing many more ships
than we did at the battle of New Tellus.”

Anne’s face
turned pale as she added up the numbers. “Over three thousand ships plus the
AIs,” she uttered in a worried voice. “I’m not sure even the defenses of Careth
will stand up to that.”

“No,” Hedon
responded in agreement. Then he looked intently at the other two. “But what if
we could find a way to destroy those three thousand ships; what would that mean
for the war?”

“It would be a
game changer,” Trist spoke in a low voice as he drummed his index finger on the
desk looking thoughtful. “The Hocklyns would no longer be in control of the
war, we would!”

“But how do we
destroy three thousand enemy warships?” Anne asked, not seeing how it could be
done. Not even Hedon could work that type of miracle.

“I don’t know
yet,” Hedon admitted, his eyes narrowing in deep thought. “But there has to be
a way, we just need to find it!”

-

Janice was in
her quarters taking some time to relax. She knew Hedon was having a meeting
with Colonel Trist and Colonel Grissim about their current situation. If things
continued as they were, they should be able make it safely back to Careth
without any problems. That was one of the good things about being responsible
for communications on the StarStrike; at least she knew what was going on.

Janice stepped
out of the shower and paused in front of the large mirror on the wall of her
bedroom. She ran her hands over her full breasts and across her stomach.
Turning, she gazed at her profile in the large mirror. She had all the curves
in the right places and her intense workout schedule kept the fat off. She knew
that Hedon had noticed. She'd caught his looks of interest from time to time
and knew that he did think of her in other, more romantic ways occasionally.
The problem was getting him to do something about it.

Perhaps when
they got back to Careth she could talk him into taking a few days off and going
down to the planet to one of the resorts. It would be nice to spend some alone
time with him. If something more intimate happened, she wouldn’t object.
Perhaps it was time for their relationship to move to the next level. Just the
thought made her feel excited. She hadn’t pushed this relationship; instead,
she'd let it develop on its own.