The Slaver Wars: Galactic Conflict (33 page)

Admiral
Telleck nodded. The Hocklyns had them trapped between their fleets. There was
nothing more he could say. They would have to fight their way through the outer
Hocklyn fleet and then jump to safety. Glenn had a sad feeling that many of his
crews were not going to see Ceres again.

“Almost within
extreme weapons range,” Captain Breen reported from Tactical.

“Prepare to
fire,” Telleck ordered in a calm voice. He drew in a sharp breath as his eyes
focused on the tactical screen. The fleets grew closer and then it was time.

“Fire!” ordered
Telleck, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. It was time to see if they
could escape from Kenward Seven.

Hedon gazed anxiously
at the viewscreens on the front wall of the Command Center. He took two deep
breaths, wondering what he had gotten his fleets into. The Hocklyns were
combining their fleets into one massive grouping of ships to prevent the
Federation fleets from escaping Kenward Seven. The majority were just outside
of the planet’s gravity well, but several hundred were well inside and already
within extreme weapons range. Not only were those a threat but the defending
ships from the shipyards had also formed up and were coming up behind the two Federation
fleets.

“We’re facing
over two thousand ships,” Colonel Trist reported, his face slightly pale. “Any
ideas?”

“Just go shoot
a Hocklyn ship,” Colonel Grissim spoke in a steady voice, looking over at
Colonel Trist. “Any Hocklyn ship.”

Hedon smiled
at Anne’s attempt at levity. “We have more powerful shields than they do and
better weapons. All we have to do is maintain our fleet formation, fight our
way to just outside the gravity well, and then jump out. All the Hocklyns are
doing is giving us a good opportunity to destroy a lot more of their warships.”

Colonel Trist
nodded. He knew it wasn’t going to be as easy as that. It never was. “Do we launch
our fighters and bombers?”

“No,” replied Hedon,
slowly. Then, looking at his two subordinates, he added, “Have the carriers in
both fleets move to the center of our formations for maximum protection. We
have a long trip back home and we may need them later.” He didn’t want his two
subordinates to know how concerned he was. If these ships they were about to
engage had a lot of the sublight antimatter missiles, it could be disastrous.

“What about
the Altons?” Trist asked. He knew they would be the key to their escape. There
were Alton ships in both fleet formations and they still had plenty of the large
sublight antimatter missiles.

“Captain
Duncan, contact Admiral Cleeteus,” Hedon ordered. “I need to speak with him.”
They needed to come up with a battle plan and quickly. Already, the forward
ships in both fleets were beginning to exchange weapons fire.

-

Commodore
Versith gazed at the tactical display noting that if the Human ships did not
slow down, his pursuing ships would not be able to catch them. Commodores
Tantil and Parco had joined their ships to his command and he now had a sizable
force with which to attack the Humans.

“Fleet
Commodore Resmunt must slow the Human ships,” War Leader Trion rasped, his cold
dark eyes looking inquiringly at Versith. “They are still far outside of our
weapons range.”

“The Humans
won’t slow down,” Versith said as he studied data on his command console. He
knew that if he were in the Humans' situation, he wouldn’t.

His large eyes
narrowed as he thought over his options. He could launch his fighters; they
could probably catch the Human ships before they jumped into hyperspace. But he
had nothing to arm them with that could cause any significant damage.

“Honor escapes
us,” Trion spoke solemnly, knowing there was nothing they could do to change
that. It would be disappointing to watch Fleet Commodore Resmunt engage the Humans
knowing they would not be able to play a significant part in the battle.

“For today,
honor will have to wait,” Versith agreed, as he watched the tactical display,
noting that the Humans would shortly be in engagement range of the main part of
Fleet Commodore Resmunt forces. He'd already sent Resmunt a message suggesting
that multiple Hocklyn ships target individual Human vessels so as to be able to
bring down their energy screens.

 Second Leader
Jaseth watched in frustration as the Human ships stayed just outside the reach
of his weapons. He had no more of the powerful sublight missiles to throw at
them, but he had lesser missiles that might do damage. His large reptilian eyes
moved across his console, seeking a weapon that could reach the Humans, but
there were none. His seething anger against the Humans would have to wait for
another day to be fed.

-

In space, the Federation
ships rapidly closed with the waiting Hocklyn fleet. At every moment, more Hocklyn
warships were beginning to enter the gravity well of Kenward Seven in an attempt
to stop the Human ships or, at the very least, slow them down so Commodore
Versith and his fleets could come within range.

The Human
fleets closed up their formation, gathering their battlecarriers in the center
where they would be the most protected. Missile tubes were loaded and all
targeting systems were active. Crews waited tensely as the fleets neared.

“Standby to
fire,” Hedon ordered as he checked the tactical displays once more. “Concentrate
our remaining antimatter missiles on the Hocklyn’s dreadnoughts and our Devastator
Threes upon their warcruisers. I want all tubes reloaded as quickly as possible
and fired again. Continue to do so until we are down to ten percent of our
Devastator Threes.”

“Are you sure
you want to use all of our antimatter missiles?’ Colonel Trist asked uneasily.
“We won’t be able to replenish them until we return to Careth.”

“Yes,” responded
Hedon, decisively. “I want to hurt the Hocklyn fleet as much as possible and
the antimatter missiles are our best option.”

“Antimatter
missiles loaded and Devastator Threes on standby,” Major Weir reported. “We'll
be in weapons range of the main Hocklyn fleet formation in twenty seconds.”

Hedon glanced
over at Janice; he could see that her face was full of worry. Hell, he didn’t
blame her. He just hoped they were both still alive when this was over. There
was obvious anxiety on a number of faces in the Command Center as they
contemplated the massive Hocklyn fleet ahead of them. This fleet was larger
than the one that had attacked New Tellus. They all knew what had happened
there and the massive losses suffered by the Federation.

“Weapons
range,” Major Weir reported.

“Fire!” ordered
Hedon, gripping the armrests of his command chair and leaning forward.

“Antimatter
missiles launching,” Tactical reported.

From the
StarStrike and the other Federation capital ships there were brief blurs of
movement in the missile tubes as the deadly sublight missiles launched. From
every battlecruiser, battlecarrier, and strikecruiser the deadly missiles took
aim at the Hocklyn fleet. From the Monarchs, Devastator Threes launched. Their
targets were the large dreadnoughts and warcruisers that stood in the way of
the fleet’s escape.

For several heart-stopping
seconds, time seemed to slow, and then massive explosions began tearing apart
the Hocklyn fleet formation as the powerful missiles started detonating. All
twenty of the dumbbell shaped Alton battlecruisers were launching antimatter missiles
in rapid-fire mode. Their Human crews were showing no mercy toward the Hocklyns
as they rained death upon dreadnought after dreadnought. One hundred-megaton
explosions rolled across the Hocklyn fleet, obliterating warships.

-

Fleet Commodore
Resmunt seethed in anger as his ships died. Every fighter the fleet had was
launching, but the sublight missiles were so fast they barely registered on the
targeting systems before they struck their targets. On one of the main viewscreens,
he watched as the dreadnought Anvil's Heart burned. The ship struggled for a
few more seconds and then its self-destructs went off, finishing its
destruction. Resmunt had formed both of his fleets into one massive formation
in order to deny the Humans any possibility of escape.

“We’ve lost
twenty-eight dreadnoughts and thirty-four warcruisers,” First Leader Ganth
uttered in disbelief at the carnage ravishing the fleet.

“But they’re
in range of our weapons now,” Resmunt responded his eyes glittering
dangerously. “Fire all weapons, particularly any antimatter weapons our ships
might still possess.”

Unfortunately,
their AI antimatter missiles were few in number and not all dreadnoughts and
warcruisers had them. Resmunt knew if his ships had more of the deadly missiles
that the Human fleets advancing on his formation could easily be destroyed. As
it was, once the few antimatter missiles they had were launched they would have
to rely on more conventional weapons to destroy the Humans.

-

The fighting
between the fleets grew more intense as the ships began to penetrate each other’s
formation. Antimatter missiles from both sides were now knocking down energy
screens with impunity. On the Humans’ side, a single missile would knock a
screen down and often damage or destroy the unfortunate Hocklyn ship. On the
Hocklyns’ side, it took several missiles to knock down a Human screen, which
was then followed up by energy beams, standard nuclear missiles, and railgun
rounds.

The battlecruisers
Redstar and Harding were the current focus of the Hocklyn attack. Numerous 50-megaton
antimatter missiles smashed away their shields and then energy beams and
railgun rounds began tearing the hulls apart. Several well placed nuclear
missiles finished the two battlecruisers off as nuclear fireballs reduced them
to shattered wrecks.

-

“Battlecruisers
Redstar and Harding are down,” reported Captain Reynolds, trying to sound calm.
Those were not the first ships to be lost and he knew they wouldn't be the
last. He swallowed loudly as he saw two light cruiser icons swell up and vanish
from his screen. “Light cruisers Vanity and Serenity are down.”

“All ships,
continue to fire,” Hedon ordered his face taking on a grim look. “All ships are
to jump as soon as they clear the gravity well.” They had no choice but to bull
their way through the blockading Hocklyn fleet and hope for the best.

“More Hocklyn
ships are coming within range,” Colonel Trist reported as they neared the edge
of the gravity well. “All antimatter missiles have been expended except those
on the Alton ships. Switching over to Devastator Threes.” He looked intently at
the tactical display nearest him as he designated targets to Major Weir. The
tactical display was full of red threat icons.

The StarStrike
rocked violently as several nuclear missiles detonated against her screens and
multiple lights on the damage control board turned a worrisome amber. The ship's
weapons continued to fire unabated.

“We could use
the particle beam weapons,” suggested Colonel Grissim, holding on to one of the
tactical projection tables as the ship shuddered violently once again and
several lights on the damage control board turned from amber to red.

“Those are for
the AIs,” replied Hedon, shaking his head. “Continue to fire Devastator Threes.
They will be more effective against the Hocklyns than the particle beam
weapons.”

Hedon’s heart
was racing as his gaze shifted to each of the two colonels, he could see the
growing worry on their faces. “We’ll make it,” he said determinedly. “Another
few minutes and we'll be out of the gravity well.”

-

In space,
weapons fire grew even heavier. Antimatter missiles, Devastator Threes, Hocklyn
nuclear missiles, power beams, energy beams, pulse laser beams, and railguns
were all in heavy use. The Hocklyn fighters had moved away from both fleets as
the weapons fire was too intense to survive between them.

Four Hocklyn
antimatter missiles struck the strikecruiser Dayton. For a brief moment, her
shields resisted and then failed. Part of the ship’s hull became molten hot as
her desperate crew rushed to bring the shields back online. Then railgun rounds
began smashing into the vulnerable hull, tearing huge, jagged rents in the armor.
There were screams throughout the ship as crewmembers were sucked out into the
dark vacuum of space.

The ship’s
commander saw the damage control board aglow with red warning lights. The Command Center was full of smoke and he knew his ship was dying around him. Two blue energy
beams reached out from a nearby Hocklyn warcruiser, cutting deeply into the
ship and wrecking Engineering. Moments later, the valiant ship died in a blaze
of light as its nuclear self-destructs detonated.

In the Hocklyn
fleet, the deluge of antimatter weapons had decreased as the Human ships ran
out, but now the Humans were launching Devastator Threes, which were almost as
bad. The death of Hocklyn ships had slowed some, but space was already full of
burning and dying ships.

-

“Strikecruiser
Dayton is down,” Captain Reynolds reported in an emotionless voice. Too often
in the last few minutes, he'd reported the death of Federation warships. He knew
that each time he called out a ship’s name it meant that hundreds of Federation
fleet personnel had died.

“Our forward ships
are starting to exit the gravity well,” Colonel Grissim informed Admiral Streth.
She felt relieved that some of the ships were finally reaching safely. Now if
just the rest of them could make it.

Suddenly,
another alarm sounded on the main sensor console. Immediately a multitude of alarm
klaxons began to sound and red lights began to flash.

“What is it?” demanded
Hedon, looking intently over at the sensor console and Captain Reynolds. Were
the AIs jumping back in?