The Slaver Wars: Galactic Conflict (21 page)

“I wish we
knew where they're going,” Hedon spoke as he turned his head to look over at
Colonel Trist. “It might be a good target for us.” He really wanted to take
advantage of the current tactical situation the Federation held over the
Hocklyns.

“From the
latest readings from the scouts, both of those large space stations are
probably capable of producing at least cargo ships and ore haulers,” Colonel
Grissim added, her eyes focusing on Admiral Streth. Colonel Grissim had at one
time been in charge of the Intelligence service at Ceres. “Neither station
seems to be armed, and I'd guess that they're both being operated by the beings
that inhabit this system.”

“What are they
like?” asked Hedon, curiously. “Have we been able to find out?” Very seldom did
the Hocklyns allow slave worlds to maintain this level of technology. Hedon
wondered what the reason was for the deviance in this system.

“Their
technology is far behind ours overall but still pretty advanced for a slave
world,” Anne replied as she stepped over closer to Hedon. “One of the scouts
has been able to pick up video broadcasts from the innermost of the two
inhabited planets. Their technology is mid twenty-first century when compared
to Earth. They're a Humanoid species, slightly shorter and of slimmer build
than Earth Humans. There is a slight green tint to their skin, which hints at a
different type of blood makeup, probably from their environment. Their ears are
also further back on their heads and are a little larger than Human's. Their
voices are also at a much higher pitch, perhaps due to something in their
atmosphere.”

“What are the
populations on the two planets?”

“Unknown,”
Anne replied. “From our long distance scans both planets boast large
populations, probably in the hundreds of millions.”

“Typical
Hocklyn slave planets,” muttered Colonel Trist, shaking his head disgustedly.
“I just wonder what their population was before the arrival of the Hocklyns?”

Admiral Streth
and Colonel Grissom were silent. They both knew the Hocklyns had a tendency to
reduce the population on slave planets down to a more manageable level, normally
by the use of nuclear bombardment from space.

“What of the
two Hocklyn fleets in the system?” Hedon asked as his eyes shifted to the red
threat icons being displayed on the tactical display. It looked as if there
were two full war fleets present. That in itself indicated the importance the
Hocklyns attributed to the system.

“Forty-eight
ships each,” Colonel Grissom confirmed as she checked some data. “Each fleet is
similar, being comprised of four dreadnoughts, eight warcruisers, and thirty-six
escort cruisers.”

“I wonder if
any of those ships have been updated?” asked Colonel Trist, cocking his
eyebrow. “This system seems as if it's a pretty important one to the Hocklyns.
Those ships might have better weapons and shields.”

“I doubt if
they've had the time,” Hedon responded. He knew from the captured data at the
Hocklyn fleet base that the Hocklyn Empire had four main fleet construction
facilities. Due to the distance to the nearest, he didn’t think the Hocklyns
would've had the time to update the ships in the system.

“How do we
want to do this?” asked Trist, looking over at Hedon. The problem was they only
had First Fleet with them, and two different Hocklyn fleets at two different planets
that needed to be attacked. At the moment, the two planets were separated by a
great distance, being on opposite sides of the system’s sun.

“I don’t want
to divide the fleet,” Hedon said as he thought about their options. He knew his
brother Taylor would have agreed with him on that. From a tactical standpoint,
it was much better to keep the fleet together and eliminate the two Hocklyn
fleets one by one.

“The inner
world seems to be the more populous of the two planets,” Anne commented as more
information continued to come in from the two forward scouts. “The computers
are starting to give us population estimates based on our scans. The inner
world has a population of approximately three hundred million and the outer one
a population slightly in excess of one hundred million.”

“Then the
inner world will be our first target,” spoke Hedon, folding his arms across his
chest. He missed having Clarissa available. Her ability to take the data from
the sensor scans and correlate it was remarkable. He really missed her insights
in situations like this. “Take the fleet to Condition One and prepare to jump.
I want to jump to just outside of the inner planet’s gravity well. The
battlecarriers and ten light cruisers will remain here in case the Hocklyn
fleet at the other planet jumps in. I want our carrier’s bombers tasked for a
shipping strike if needed. It'll take the Hocklyns awhile just to clear the
gravity well, and by then the battle at the inner planet will be over.
Commander Bixby aboard the battlecarrier Essex will be in command of the
carrier group. Also, contact Admiral Cleeteus and ask him to leave four of his Alton battlecruisers with the carriers. That should ensure they stay safe from attack.”

The orders
were quickly passed and the fleet was brought to Condition One. On board the StarStrike,
the crew raced to their battle stations, knowing that very shortly they would
be engaged against the Hocklyns once more.

“Ready to
jump,” Colonel Trist reported as he took up his position in front of one of the
four tactical displays the StarStrike was equipped with.

“Initiate jump!”
ordered Admiral Streth as he held his breath waiting for the StarStrike to
enter the spatial vortex. They were just outside the system and this would be a
very brief stint in hyperspace. Moments later, he felt the normal queasiness
associated with an FTL jump. In all his years in the Fleet, he still hadn’t
gotten used to that gut wrenching feeling.

-

War Leader
Briton was asleep in his quarters when the warning klaxons sounded and the red alert
lights began flashing. Jumping up, he grabbed his battle armor and pressed the
com button connecting him to the War Room. “What is the alarm for?” he demanded
as he pulled on his chest plate and buckled his knife to his waist.

“It’s the Humans;
a large fleet has just jumped into the system outside the gravity well of the
planet,” his First Leader responded in a concerned voice.

“How large?”
demanded Briton as he prepared to leave his quarters. His First Leader had
never been exposed to combat. It was disconcerting that the Humans had chosen
this moment to attack. In another few weeks, his fleet would have gone to
Kenward Seven to be updated.

“Our sensors
are detecting eighty-five ships, War Leader.”

“Bring our
fleet to battle readiness and send a report of the arrival of the Human fleet
to Fleet Commodore Resmunt at Kenward Seven,” Briton ordered as he stepped out
of the door to his quarters and began rushing toward the War Room.

Because of the
importance of this system, they had an AI FTL communicator. Each week the
system sent several cargo ships with rare metals to the AIs at the center of
the galaxy. This system could not be lost or there would be serious
ramifications.

A few minutes
later, the out of breath War Leader burst into the War Room amongst the still
ringing klaxons and flashing red lights. “Turn those off!” he roared, shaking
his head. “What are the Humans doing?”

“They're
beginning to enter the gravity well,” First Leader Bakh reported as he watched
War Leader Briton take his position upon the command pedestal.

Briton studied
the tactical screen for a long moment and then turned back to his First Leader.
“Form the fleet up into formation B-14 and begin moving toward the Humans at
twenty percent sublight. We'll meet them away from the planet.”

The Hocklyn
fleet quickly formed up into the designated formation, which was an inverted
shallow cone with the most powerful ships at the center.

-

“Hocklyns have
formed up and are coming out to meet us,” Colonel Trist reported in surprise.
He'd thought the Hocklyn War Leader would have stayed closer to the planet in
order to better protect the rear of his formation. “Should we launch our
fighters?”

“No, not
unless the Hocklyns do,” Hedon replied as he watched one of the tactical
displays.

All of his
bombers were aboard the battlecarriers and would not take part in this
engagement. He still wanted to continue to test the Federation’s newly upgraded
weapons against the Hocklyns. The one brief battle, when they had first
returned, had been impressive. He wanted to see if that continued here.

“Engagement
range in ten minutes,” Captain Reynolds reported from his sensor console.
“Hocklyns are headed directly for us.”

“We need to be
prepared for possible suicide runs,” Colonel Grissom cautioned as she watched
the approaching Hocklyn fleet. Anne knew that not even the new and improved
shields could withstand an eight hundred-meter ship or larger smashing into them.

“Pass the
warning,” Hedon ordered as he buckled himself into his command chair.

-

The two fleets
continued to close and then, as they approached optimum engagement range, both
began to slow to allow for better targeting acquisition of their weapons. The
Hocklyns knew they couldn't escape the gravity well quickly enough to escape
the larger Human fleet. Their best option was to engage and hope they could destroy
enough of the Human ships to force them to withdraw. Orders had already been
sent for the other Hocklyn fleet to come to their aid.

-

“Optimum
firing range,” Major Weir reported calmly from Tactical as he prepared to order
his weapon crews to fire.

“All ships
lock on to targets and fire!” Hedon ordered over his mini-com, which connected
him to all of the ship commanders in his fleet.

“Firing,” Major
Weir replied as he sent the orders to his subordinates and crews.

Instantly from
the StarStrike, ten Devastator Three sublight missiles flashed from their
missile tubes and four powerful power beams shot out to strike a nearby Hocklyn
warcruiser. It was the same with the entire Human fleet. Hundreds of Devastator
Three missiles were being fired and the more powerful power beam weapons were
turned upon the Hocklyns. For this battle, the newer Alton furnished antimatter
missiles and deadly particle beam weapons would not be used.

Massive
nuclear explosions began to roll across the screens of the Hocklyn ships,
blasting them down and leaving the ships’ armored hulls defenseless. Power
beams struck, cutting deep into the warships causing substantial damage. Railgun
rounds began impacting, leaving small, glowing craters wherever they impacted.
None of these Hocklyn ships had been updated and all had the weaker energy
shields. In most cases, it was only taking a single Devastator Three missile to
knock a shield down. Space was full of power beams, energy beams, pulse lasers,
railgun rounds, and missiles as the two fleets tried to destroy each other.

The Hocklyn
ships had no defense against the improved Human weapons. Internal explosions
began to tear ships apart throughout the Hocklyn formation. Munitions exploded,
blowing out huge sections of ships’ hulls. Fires raged inside, sucking up the
available oxygen and killing the crews. Hocklyn ship after ship perished in fiery
balls of blazing light. Some died as their self-destructs were set off and
others were destroyed when Devastator Three missiles detonated against their
hulls literally vaporizing the tens of thousands of tons of metal that made up each
ship.

-

War Leader
Briton blanched at seeing the destruction being imposed upon his fleet. Warcruisers
and escort cruisers were dying faster than the sensor operator could report. On
the main viewscreens, he could see Human power beams and laser beams flashing
out and striking Hocklyn vessels. The Humans' power beams seemed to cut right
through the energy screens. Occasionally a massive explosion of energy would
indicate where one of their deadly sublight missiles had detonated against an
energy screen or a ship’s hull.

“We can’t survive
this,” First Leader Bakh groaned in anguish as another warcruiser exploded in a
ball of nuclear fire. “We are all going to face our honor today.”

“Then we will
die,” War Leader Briton spoke, his face looking impassive as he accepted their
fate. “Continue to fire all weapons; I want to destroy as many of these Human
ships as possible before we go to seek our honor. It is our duty to the Empire.”

Briton felt
his dreadnought shudder violently; the lights dimmed and then brightened.
Looking over at the damage control board, he saw numerous lights turning amber
and then red. He took a deep breath. He'd served the Empire for many long years;
he was willing to accept his death. The Humans were demons indeed if they could
so easily destroy his ships; he knew the entire Empire could be at risk. The
ship shook again, nearly throwing Briton from the command pedestal. He could
hear the sounds of tearing metal in the distance, as the hull was ripped open.
Smoke was growing thick in the War Room; he knew the battle would not last much
longer.

-

“Light cruiser
Ascendant is down,” Captain Reynolds reported as the green icon swelled up on
his screen and then vanished.

“Hocklyns are
taking heavy damage,” Colonel Trist reported as the StarStrike shook slightly
from weapons fire impacting the ship’s energy screen. “Energy screen is holding
at ninety-two percent.”

“These Hocklyn
ships have not been updated,” Colonel Grissim spoke as she looked at some of
the data coming back from the ship’s sensors. “They have the weaker screens and
weapons. Our power beams are going right through their shields.” Anne knew the
power beams were much stronger now that the new Alton fusion reactor had been
installed. Even the pulse lasers had more power.