The Slaver Wars: Galactic Conflict (24 page)

“Can we build
these?” asked Karla, feeling excited. “If we could surround all of our colony
worlds with these it would free up fleet units to use in the war.”

“Not yet,” replied
Tureen, shaking his head. “You just don’t have the technology base. However, we
will be pleased to build them for you.”

“How soon?”
Karla asked. “I would like to send some to Admiral Streth to use to help
protect Careth. I don’t believe the AIs or the Hocklyns will attack us here
without neutralizing Careth first.”

“We've already
begun construction,” Tureen replied. “We can have five hundred of these new
particle beam satellites ready within four of your weeks. Each one of your
Federation worlds and bases can be protected by a screen of these within the
year, and then we will begin with your allies.”

“This could
change the entire war effort,” Governor Malleck said, his eyes lighting up. “If
we know our worlds are secure from Hocklyn or AI attack, we can focus on taking
the battle to them.”

Tureen seemed
to hesitate and then inserted another computer chip into the holographic
imager. A large battle station appeared floating above the table.

“What’s that?”
Fleet Admiral Johnson asked as she stood up and walked over next to the image
to inspect it closer. It was similar in some ways to the large battle stations
that protected Earth.

“It’s an
Indomitable Class Battle Station,” answered Tureen, promptly. “It’s the latest
development by our scientists. The station is one thousand meters in diameter
and armed with numerous heavy particle beam cannons and sublight antimatter
missile tubes. It has other defensive weapons as well. Six of these stations in
orbit over a planet will make it virtually impervious to an attack from an AI
ship.”

“We can’t
build them,” spoke Karla, shaking her head knowing it would be the same as the satellites.
“Even if we could, how can we get these to Careth? If the AIs attack as you say
they will, that will be their main target before coming after us.” She knew
that holding Careth was vital to the future of the Federation.

“These are
already under construction,” replied Tureen, informatively. “They are being
built in our home system and will be deployed there first. They can be built in
modular units, transported to Careth, and assembled there. I have spoken to my
government and they are willing to furnish twelve of these for the planet’s defense.
They have very powerful energy shields, which should be able to resist any
weapon the AIs come up with. Most of the science the AIs possess comes from our
old civilization, which the AIs inherited, and from the worlds they have
conquered. These shields are of a modulated frequency, which changes hundreds
of times per second. We can fire weapons through it, but the AIs and the
Hocklyns will not be able to penetrate it with their weapons as long as they
can’t find the current frequency of the shield.”

“I don’t know
what to say,” spoke Karla, feeling speechless. It was becoming more evident
every day that the Altons were heavily committed to the war effort. She didn’t
even what to hazard a guess as to the astronomical costs of building these
large battle stations and the particle beam satellites.

“We are also
willing to furnish twenty more battlecruisers to help defend Careth,” added Tureen,
smiling. “We have started up the warship construction yards again and these
will be the most modern and powerful ships we can build with our technology.
They will be larger than our current ships and will have one hundred and twenty
Altons assigned to each as a crew. However, we still recognize that Humans are
better suited for war than we are. The ships will need Human crews of six
hundred each plus a contingent of your marines.”

“You will have
them,” Karla promised, her face flushing with excitement at the prospect of having
even more powerful Alton ships. “How soon do you need them?”

“As soon as
possible,” replied Tureen, thinking about the construction schedule. “It would
be good to have the crews involved in the construction process so they'll
better understand how the ships function.”

Karla thought
for a moment. There was the new class of cadets preparing to graduate from the Fleet Academy on the Moon. Throw in some seasoned officers and she would have the crews the
Altons wanted.

“When are you
going to speak to President Kincaid about this?” Governor Malleck asked. He knew
this was not a decision that could be made by Ceres alone, though he
appreciated Ambassador Tureen telling him of his proposals.

“In three more
days,” Tureen responded. “I have asked to address the Federation Senate concerning
this matter.”

“I don’t think
you will have a problem getting this approved,” Karla spoke with an all knowing
grin. “Once you mention the particle beam defensive satellites and the battle
stations, you'll have the Senate in your pocket.” Karla knew that not even the ever
vocal Senator Fulbright would object to this.

-

Jeremy was aboard
Ambassador Tureen’s ship standing in the Command Center, looking about in
amazement. He'd been at Ceres and was catching a ride back to the Moon where he
had a meeting scheduled with the current head of the Fleet Academy about new recruits for his battleship. Jeremy was in awe of everything around him. The entire
front wall of the ship seemed to be open to space. They were traveling at
sublight speeds, but the engines on the Alton ship were much more powerful than
Federation ships and capable of much higher speeds. The view looking out at the
stars was spectacular.

Several of the
tall, white haired Altons manned various consoles. Most of them sensed motion
and the Alton’s hands never actually touched the controls as they made minor adjustments.
A holographic image floated to just one side of the main control console
depicting a three dimensional image of the solar system. It showed much more
detail than anything currently being used on Federation ships.

Even the
always present vibrations from the engines were absent on the Alton craft. The
chairs the Altons were sitting in seemed to be even more padded and comfortable
than those found on a Federation warship. When you sat in one, it seemed to
automatically adjust itself to your body. It was obvious the Altons had done
everything they could to make their ships as comfortable as possible.

“Do you like
my ship, Admiral?” Ambassador Tureen asked with a pleasant smile.

Jeremy had to
look up at the tall ambassador. “It’s fantastic,” he said, nodding his head as
he continued to gaze around in fascination.

“This ship is
a diplomatic vessel with light weapons but a powerful energy shield,” Tureen
explained. “As you know, for centuries we've stayed away from any type of armed
conflict up to the point of making our stellar neighbors believe that all of
our ships were unarmed.”

“You have a
lot of large exploration ships,” Jeremy mentioned. He'd seen images of some of
the large vessels and reports on the exploring the Altons had done in the local
region of space.

“Exploration
is how we maintain the vigor in our race. Before the recent war with the
Hocklyns and the AIs, we always had exploratory missions out in the galaxy.
Even now, we still have numerous scientific posts scattered throughout this
section of space.”

“Just how much
of the galaxy have you explored?”

“The galaxy is
a large place with billions of stars. The nebula, black holes, and unformed
stellar matter hold thousands of years of future explorations. Then there are
the nearer galaxies. Before this war, there was already some discussion of
sending missions to the closest ones.”

Jeremy was
silent for a moment. He could tell from the excited tone in Tureen’s voice that
just the thought of exploration was intriguing to him. “What are the AIs
building in the center of the galaxy?”

Tureen looked
at Jeremy with surprise in his eyes. Then they took on a darker and more
worried look. “We’re not sure,” he replied at last. “We have managed to get a
few exploration ships into AI space. I can tell you there are thousands of AI
spheres at the heart of the galaxy. They're building something close to the
massive black hole at the galaxy’s center. A few of our scientists have a
theory as to what it may be, but it’s too early to speculate until we have more
solid information.”

“How do we get
that information?” Jeremy asked. He'd only heard rumors about the Hocklyns
building something at the galaxy’s center. Whatever it was, Jeremy had a
haunting feeling it was extremely dangerous. It also made him deeply concerned
to hear Tureen mention thousands of AI spheres.

“We are
building two new research vessels,” responded Tureen, letting out a deep and
long breath. “We plan on sending those ships to the galactic core to find out.”

“How will you
get there through all of those AI ships?”

Tureen gazed
at Jeremy for a long moment. “Your fleet will have to take us there. Once we are
close enough to what the AIs are constructing we can ascertain its function and
determine its potential threat.”

“What if it is
a danger?” asked Jeremy, wondering what they could do.

“Then we
destroy it,” answered Tureen, grimly. “The AIs can’t be allowed to succeed in
whatever they are planning for this galaxy.”

The center of
the galaxy, Jeremy thought feeling numb. He wondered what would await them there
if and when they finally made that dangerous journey.

Fleet
Commodore Resmunt continued to watch as more fleet units arrived to be updated.
The Humans had been relatively quiet in the last few weeks after attacking and
destroying War Leader Briton’s fleet. There were currently over two thousand
Hocklyn warships in the Kenward Seven star system. The four massive shipyards
had over one hundred and sixty construction bays combined. It was taking an
average of six days to upgrade a dreadnought or warcruiser with the new
weapons. There were also two AI ships in orbit assisting with the upgrades.

“How much
longer before we attack?” First Leader Ganth asked, his large dark eyes
focusing on the Fleet Commodore.

It made him
nervous that the AIs were in the system and had stayed for such a long period.
Normally they jumped in, downloaded the updates, and then left. That hadn’t
happened this time.

“The Humans
seem to be fortifying Careth,” Resmunt responded. An AI ship had jumped to
within four light years of the system to see what the Humans and Carethians
were up to. It had stayed in interstellar space since it was now assumed the Humans
had some way of detecting FTL jumps in the systems near them. “I've been
instructed by the High Council to hold our fleets here. We will attack the Humans
en mass, annihilating them at Careth and then continuing on to their home
worlds. We will eliminate this menace once and for all.”

“Honor will
come to us,” First Leader Ganth responded in his harsh, raspy voice. “It will
be good to go into combat and defeat the Humans.”

“Much honor
will come in these next few battles,” agreed Resmunt, reaching down and tapping
the hilt of the knife at his waist.

It had been
awhile since he had last tasted the fruits of victory. He knew that another
loss at the hands of the Humans could cost him his Fleet Commodore position as well
as his family honor. It was something he was determined not to allow to happen.

“Will there be
AI ships going with us when we launch our attack?”

“I don’t
know,” Resmunt replied as his reptilian eyes strayed to one of the main
viewscreens, which was focused on one of the two massive 1,500-meter AI
spheres. “The High Council has not informed me if the AIs will be involved.”

“If we have
enough upgraded warships, we might not need them,” Ganth stated. “Without the
AIs there will be much more honor in our victory.” Ganth had no respect for the
AIs and would just prefer that they did not take part in any future battles.

“Perhaps,” responded
Resmunt, folding his powerful arms across his chest plate and looking over at
his First Leader. Resmunt knew that Ganth aspired to become a War Leader
someday, but he still lacked in the strategy department.

Resmunt’s gaze
returned to another viewscreen that showed even more ships moving into the
repair bays in the nearest shipyard that orbited the planet beneath them. Dreadnoughts
and warcruisers were being given first priority. The only thing that concerned
Resmunt was that they had withdrawn so many ships from the outlying sectors of
the Empire to be updated that there was little left to stop the Humans from
marching through Hocklyn territory if they so wished. It mystified Resmunt as
to why the Humans were not taking advantage of their current tactical
advantage.

-

Aboard the dreadnought
Viden, Fleet Commodore Versith gazed thoughtfully at the tactical hologram,
which showed the assembling Hocklyn fleet. There were more ships currently in
the system than any ship gathering in the Empire’s long history. Over the
coming weeks, even more ships were due to arrive.

“Impressive,”
War Leader Trion spoke from his position next to Versith. Since Versith had
been promoted to Fleet Commodore, Trion had been moved up to War Leader.

“We will have a
decided edge in warships over the Humans,” commented Versith, looking over at
his second in command. “But the Humans will have the edge in technology.”

“Even with the
new weapons the AIs are giving us?” Trion asked in surprise, his large dark
eyes gazing in question at Versith. He'd hoped the new weapons would put them
on an even par with the Humans.

“The AIs have
given us more powerful weapons,” admitted Versith, letting out a deep breath.
“But they keep the most powerful weapons for themselves. The High Council has
reported that the AIs are involved in a massive rearming of all their warships
in the center of the galaxy.”