The Slaver Wars: Galactic Conflict (17 page)

For the next
hour, Jeremy explained in detail what happened and the different battles fought
above the planet. Occasionally, Admiral Streth or Admiral Telleck would stop
him and ask some detailed questions.

“I am saddened
to hear about Ariel,” Hedon said after he'd finished hearing Jeremy and Admiral
Marks explain how they had defended Careth. “Clarissa was also attacked and her
memory crystal severely damaged. We brought it with us for Lieutenant Johnson
to examine.”

“Clarissa,
too!” cried Jeremy in anguish, knowing how hard this would affect Katie. He'd
known from the time that Ariel had been attacked that Clarissa also might have
suffered the same fate. It was hard to imagine that they might have lost both
of the valuable and friendly AIs.

“We'll make everything
we have available to Lieutenant Johnson in order to restore the two AIs,” Hedon
assured Jeremy. “They're a very big part of Federation history and we'll do
everything in our power to bring them back.”

“Thank you,
Sir,” responded Jeremy, gratefully. “But what happened at New Tellus and what
are those new ships that came with you? Colonel Millburn thinks they’re
Albanian.”

Hedon smiled.
“They are Albanian, or to put it in more real terms, it seems that the
Albanians are the direct descendants of the ancient Altons.”

“I don’t
understand,” said Jeremy, feeling confused. “I thought the Altons were all dead.”

“It’s a long
story,” Hedon replied and began to explain in detail what had happened at New
Tellus and the role the Altons had played in saving the Federation.

“In the end,
we finished updating our ships and set back out to discover what happened at Careth,”
Hedon said. “Imagine our surprise to discover that you had survived. I've
already sent word back to Federation space and a large supply fleet will be
sent shortly. We laid two new lines of FTL communications buoys between Careth
and the Federation. They are of Alton design and a message to the Federation
will only take eight hours to get there. With luck, the supply fleet will be arriving
in ten to twelve days.”

“What are your
plans, Sir?” asked Jeremy, realizing how much the war had changed with the
advent of the Altons. He felt sure the Fleet Admiral wouldn’t be satisfied with
just saving Careth. Admiral Streth now had the ships and the weapons to take
the war to the Hocklyns.

“We’re going
to heavily fortify Careth and make it our main base of operations, if the
Carethians agree,” began Hedon, looking over at Grayseth.

“My people
will support yours fully in this war against the evil ones,” Grayseth promised.
“We will do whatever is necessary to bring about their end. We would also like
to construct an additional shipyard to begin building larger warships so our
people can join yours in the hunt of the evil ones.”

Hedon nodded.
He was not surprised by Grayseth’s response. The bears were an honorable people
with rich traditions. “We'll build up the defenses and once we’re satisfied
that Careth is impregnable to attack, we will move to free the planets of the original
Human Federation of Worlds. From there, we will be in range to attack the Hocklyn’s
home systems. Hedon knew it would take time to accomplish all of this. But
there was no doubt in his mind that sometime in the next few years he would
stand on the shore of that lake on Maken where his brother and Lendle had built
their cabin so many years ago.

“What of my
own fleet?” Jeremy asked. He knew his people needed some rest.

“Once we’re
satisfied all of your ships have been repaired, you’re going to return to the Federation
for a well deserved rest. After a few months, you will be returning at the head
of a new and much larger Fourth Fleet.”

“Then we’re
going home,” said Rear Admiral Marks, with a pleased smile. She reached up on
her shoulders and removed the rear admiral insignia from her shoulders, sliding
them across the table toward Fleet Admiral Streth. “I know that I was only
promoted due to the circumstances,” Susan spoke. “Admiral Strong needed someone
to help in command and I was pleased to be able to do so.”

Hedon picked
up the two insignias and gazed at them thoughtfully. Then, placing them back down
on the table, he slid them back across toward Susan. “Rear Admiral Marks, I
intend to make your promotion permanent. Admiral Strong made a wise decision in
your field promotion and you deserve to keep it. Admiral Strong will need a
good commander of the carrier force that will be a part his new Fourth Fleet,
and I can think of no better officer to command it than you.”

Susan didn’t
know what to say as she picked up the insignia and gazed at the gold stars. She
had never expected to get to stay an admiral. “I will make you proud, Sir,” she
promised.

“I know you
will,” Hedon responded with a friendly smile. Then, looking around at the
others, he continued, “You did a great job defending Careth. From here, we will
begin the real war of defeating the AIs and the Hocklyn Slave Empire.”

Grayseth stood
and looked gravely at the others. “We will hunt together,” he spoke in a solemn
voice.

“We will hunt
together,” the others repeated. They all knew that today marked a new phase in
the war with the Hocklyns and the AIs.

Katie was in
her computer lab on the Avenger along with Kevin and Kelsey. On the worktable
in front of her were two large green crystals. Both showed burn marks and one
had several small fractures in it. There were tears in Katie’s eyes as she ran
her right hand softly over the crystals.

“I’m
frightened,” she said, letting out a long sigh. “Both crystals are damaged.
Ariel’s only slightly, but Clarisse’s is bad. The fractures might have caused a
loss of some of the data stored in the crystal. If I restore her, she might not
be the Clarissa we all knew.”

“Is there
anything you can do to recover the lost data?” asked Kelsey, knowing Ariel
would be devastated if anything happened to Clarissa.

“I need to
take the crystal back to Ceres. The computer labs there offer the best chance for
restoring her; even then it’s going to be a long shot.”

“What about
Ariel?” asked Kevin, coming over to stand next to Katie. “When can you bring
her back? The ship’s not the same without her.”

“Right now,”
Katie answered as she picked up Ariel’s green memory crystal and placed it in a
slot on a console next to her worktable. Getting up, she walked over to a small
safe and after inputting the combination, opened it and reaching in, pulled out
a new green memory crystal. “I kept a few blank crystals in case they were ever
needed.”

Kati brought
the crystal back over to the console and placed it in the empty slot next to
the damaged one. Then, taking a deep breath, she activated the console and
began touching icons on the small computer screen. After a moment, she was satisfied
that everything was ready. “Here goes.” She pressed several buttons on the
console.

Both crystals
began to glow, and on the computer screen a green status bar began moving to
show the memory transfer. For several minutes, it moved steadily and then, at eighty-two
percent, it slowed and came to a stop.

“Why did it
stop?” asked Kevin, turning his concerned eyes toward Katie.

“I don’t
know,” she responded, looking worried. “It shouldn’t have.”

Katie’s
fingers ran over her keyboard as she called up more data on the crystal. After
a moment, she let out a heavy disappointed sigh. “The crystal is more damaged
than I'd thought. There are several hairline fractures in its structure. The
rest of the stored data is irretrievable.”

“Then Ariel is
gone,” Kelsey said, her eyes widening at the thought of losing their friend.

“I don’t
know,” Katie responded as she pressed a green button on her console.

Instantly
Ariel materialized out of the air in front of them as the holographic imagers
were activated. She looked normal, though her breasts seemed smaller and her
hips slimmer. Her dark hair lay upon her shoulders with a slight curl and her
dark eyes gazed at them in confusion.

“Something is
not right,” she said in a partially stilted and slurred voice.

Katie, Kelsey,
and Kevin looked at each other in despair. The voice had been absent of any
trace of emotion. This was not the Ariel they all knew and loved.

Ariel’s eyes
took on that faraway look that she had so often when she was in deep thought. Then,
in her slurred voice, she spoke. “Katie, I need to access the Avenger’s main
computer core.”

Katie flinched
at hearing the stilted and slurred voice. She felt like crying. “Why the core?”
she asked. This was a strange request.

“I have a
command that is instructing me to activate a program in the core. There seems
to be gaps in my memory.”

Katie looked confused.
She had not placed any such command in Ariel’s program or memory nor was there
anything in the core that she was aware of that could be of any use.

“Do it,” Kelsey
said as she gazed critically at Ariel’s hologram. It reminded her of how Ariel
had first looked when she had been given a holographic body to begin with.
“There has to be a reason for that command to be in Ariel’s memory.”

“I hope I
don’t get in trouble for this,” Katie spoke as she inputted more commands on
her console. “Link to the main computer core has been established.” She hoped
she wasn’t endangering the Avenger.

All eyes turned
toward Ariel. Her hologram seemed to flicker and then solidify again. Even as
they watched, her breasts grew slightly larger and her hips flared back out.
Her hair shortened slightly and in just a few seconds, she was looking like the
Ariel they were all familiar with.

“There, that
was easy,” said Ariel with a big grin, looking at her three astonished friends.
“You didn’t think I was going to risk dying if that green crystal was destroyed,
did you?”

“Ariel, it’s
you!” screamed Katie, her eyes lighting up with joy. “How?”

“When we go into
battle, I always copied all of the contents of the memory crystal and loaded it
into the Avenger’s main computer core as a precaution. The crystal itself
contains my main matrix, but there was always a chance that it could be damaged.
After you insisted on installing all of those firewalls, it got me to thinking about
what I could do to survive in case the crystal was ever damaged. I have now
restored the new crystal to an exact duplicate of the original crystal. So, where
are Jeremy and Angela?”

All three
looked at Ariel in astonishment. She wasn’t gone after all!

“Jeremy’s in
the Command Center and Angela is still in the med bay. She was severely injured
when we attacked the AIs,” Kelsey explained pleased to have Ariel back.

“Yes, I see,” Ariel
replied as she accessed the Avenger’s computer files and replayed the battle
and what had occurred afterward. Then her eyes turned with concern toward the
remaining crystal lying upon Katie’s worktable. “Clarissa,” she spoke in a sad
and forlorn voice.

“Yes,” Katie
replied her shoulders drooping. “She was attacked in the same manner as you.”

Ariel walked
over to the table and gazed down at the damaged crystal. “It has several
fractures in it. Much of her memory will have been lost.”

“We'll do
everything we can to restore her,” promised Katie, passionately.

“I’ll help,” spoke
Ariel, crossing her arms over her breasts and looking at Katie. “I don’t want
to be the only Federation AI. When can my crystal be reinstalled in the Command Center?” Ariel knew that the control console in the Command Center was the one that
gave her access to all the ship’s systems as well as the other holographic
emitters that had been installed in different sections of the ship.

“I want to run
a few more tests first,” answered Katie, as she sat back down in front of her computer
console and began running additional diagnostics on the new crystal. “Once I’m
satisfied you’re one hundred percent back to normal, I will take your crystal
back to the Command Center and install it in the control console.”

“Everything’s
fine,” huffed Ariel, walking over to Katie and peering over her shoulder at the
computer screen.

Kevin and
Kelsey laughed. Ariel sure sounded and was acting like her old self. They
couldn’t wait to tell Jeremy that the AI was back to normal and would soon be
standing at his side in the Command Center.

-

“What’s the
current status on fleet repairs?” Jeremy asked as he leaned back in his command
chair. It was nice not to have to worry about an impending attack. None of the
FTL detection buoys within twenty light years of Careth had detected an
unauthorized FTL jump since the Hocklyns had fled from system K-774. It had
been eight days since Admiral Streth and Admiral Telleck had arrived in the
Careth star system and everything was still quiet.

“The Vega and
Orion will be out of the repair bays tomorrow,” Colonel Malen reported. “Their
armor has been repaired and all primary and secondary systems are back online.
There is still a lot of cosmetic work that needs to be done on the inside, but
they are one hundred percent combat ready. “We have one battlecarrier that
needs repairs as well as two Monarchs, then we should be ready to return to
Federation space. Estimates are that all repairs will be completed within four
more days.”

Jeremy nodded;
that would work out just about right. He didn’t want to leave until the supply
fleet arrived. From speaking with Fleet Admiral Streth, Jeremy knew the supply
fleet would be a large one and that more fleet units would be accompanying it.
At least he wouldn’t have to worry about the safety of Careth while they were
gone. With any kind of luck, Fourth Fleet would be fully updated and would be
back in Carethian space within six months and ready to renew combat operations
against the Hocklyns and the AIs.