The Slaver Wars: Galactic Conflict (37 page)

“There is much
honor ahead of us,” First Leader Ganth rasped as he touched the blade at his
waist. “The Humans and their allies will fall before our fleets.”

“This time
they will,” Resmunt agreed with a nod. “Inform the High Leader that we will
stay in this system for a full day and then resume our course.”

He looked
around the War Room with his large, dark eyes. He felt the cold blood in his
veins grow warmer at the thought of the impending victory. The High Leader
would see his ability as a Fleet Commodore and once the Humans were destroyed,
Resmunt would be able to rise high in the Hocklyn Hierarchy. Perhaps even to
the rank of High Councilor. His family would become flush with honor and
prestige. Limitless wealth would come his way.

First Leader
Ganth turned away from Fleet Commodore Resmunt. Honor for the flagship would be
great. When this battle was over, he would take his rightful place as a War
Leader.

-

Second Leader Jaseth
looked over at all the green icons in the main sensor display. Surely, this was
the greatest fleet ever gathered in the entire galaxy! He felt excitement
knowing that very soon the Human threat would come to an end. He touched the sharp
blade at his waist. The only blood it had ever known was that of Hocklyns in
honor duels. He hoped that in the coming battle he could find some way to
drench it in Human blood.

Jaseth looked
around the busy War Room. Fleet Commodore Versith was at the command pedestal
speaking to War Leader Trion. If Jaseth could score enough kills with his
weapons, then a position of First Leader or perhaps even a War Leader was
possible. Someday he would return to Calzen and reclaim his family’s honor and
even the family’s ancestral habitat above Anlesh.

-

The Command AI
of the AI fleet floated a few inches above the metal floor in the Control Room
of the massive sphere. Around the AI was an intense amount of activity as
various AIs worked analyzing the tactical situation. Battle scenarios were
being run of the attack on Careth and its probable outcome. In every scenario
so far, the Humans and their allies had been defeated with relative ease.

“We will
achieve victory at Careth,” the AI at the main computer terminal reported,
satisfied with the latest results. “The computer is predicting a ninety-two
percent probability of victory.”

“Yes,” the Command
AI spoke in its authoritative voice. “But what about afterward? Will we still
possess the ships to continue on and destroy the Human home worlds?”

“The latest
projected loss figures show we will still have a Hocklyn and Borzon fleet of
over two thousand ships,” the AI responded. “That should be sufficient to
destroy the Humans, though not the Altons.”

“With the Humans
removed, the Altons will not be a threat,” the Command AI spoke. “They will
retreat to their world or worlds and not venture forth again.”

“The Great
Project will be completed and the organics will cease to exist; even the
Altons,” the AI at the computer station responded. “Our mechanical race will be
supreme.”

“Yes, we will
be supreme,” responded the Command AI. “There will be no threats to stop us
from spreading throughout this galaxy and others. Someday, in the future, this
entire universe will be ours. A universe of AIs.”

Admiral Streth
was in the busy Command Center of the battleship StarStrike. Anxiety in the
room had just skyrocketed as warning alarms on the sensor console began
sounding. The FTL sensor buoys were detecting massive amounts of spatial
vortexes forming in system K-829, signaling the arrival of the Hocklyns and
their friends. Already, the FTL buoys had recorded over fifteen hundred FTL
events and more were still occurring.

“They brought
everything but the kitchen sink,” Colonel Trist mumbled from his position in
front of one of the tactical displays where he was watching intently as more
red icons continued to appear.

“I think they
even brought that,” Colonel Grissim spoke as the FTL buoys began recording
larger warp vortexes opening, indicating the arrival of the large, 1,500-meter
AI spheres. “The AIs are beginning to jump in.”

“They’re six
light years away,” Hedon informed them as he studied the displays. “We'll have
at least an hour's warning when they launch their attack.” That was how long
the hyperspace transit time was from system K-829 to Careth. “Contact Colonel
Malang on the space station and order her to dispatch two of the long-range
stealth scouts to the system. I want to know exactly what we’re up against. Have
the scouts determine how many AI, Hocklyn, and Borzon ships are in the system.
I want ship types and any other pertinent information they can come up with.”

“Will two
scouts be enough?” Trist asked as he began contacting the station. He knew they
were asking a lot of just two of the small ships.

“Perhaps not,”
Hedon responded with an unhappy frown. “But I don’t want to risk any more. The
AIs may be able to detect them.” Then, turning toward Colonel Grissim, “Cancel
all leaves and bring up all of our fleet personnel from Careth. Inform our
allies to go to Condition Three and expect an imminent attack. Let them know
they'll have an hour's notice.”

Hedon knew
they still had time to finish their preparations; they didn’t need to panic.
“Captain Duncan, send an FTL message to Admiral Sheen that our enemy has
arrived and we are expecting to be engaged in combat shortly.”

Janice nodded
and began activating the FTL transmitter. This would be an encrypted message
and it wouldn’t take Admiral Sheen long to receive it as her fleets were
nearby.

Hedon leaned
back in his command chair and thought about the coming battle. He'd received an
encrypted message from Fleet Admiral Johnson a week earlier detailing the plan
that Admiral Nagumo had come up with. It was daring and highly risky, but it
was also something that Hedon himself might have proposed.

-

All across the
fleet, crews raced to their battle stations. On the ships, the space station,
the shipyard, the Alton battle stations, and the type two battle stations everyone
prepared for battle. At Condition Three, which was a heightened alert level,
the crews knew they still had time. Guns were checked, missiles loaded into
their tubes, targeting systems were run through tests, everything was being
done in preparation for combat. Every Human, Carethian, Alton, Kessel, and
Darvonian knew the Hocklyns, Borzon, and AIs were here for one reason and one
reason only, to kill or be killed! One side would win and the other would be
annihilated.

Aboard the
Kessel and Darvonian ships, the anxiety level was higher. So far in this war,
they'd not seen any actual combat. This would be their first battle and the
crews were determined to show the Humans they had what it took to be part of
the alliance.

The Darvonians
had one hundred and forty warships, including seven of light cruiser strength.
The rest were similar to Federation destroyers. The Darvonians had been given
the task of helping to protect the seventy-two type two battle stations orbiting
Careth and their fleet had been split accordingly. They had one destroyer-sized
warship assigned to each station with the rest divided up into seven fleets of
nine to ten each. The seven small fleets would help protect the areas where the
enemy were concentrating their attack. The fleets would operate inside the
satellite defensive grid where they could do the most good.

The Kessels
had a smaller overall fleet, but it was much more powerful with ten battlecruisers,
twenty heavy cruisers, and fifty light cruisers. The catlike Kessels had been assigned
to protect the new shipyard and their ships were clustered around it. Along
with the laser satellites, missile platforms, and four type two battle stations
that orbited it, the shipyard was well protected. In addition, the shipyard's
energy screen was functional as well as ten power beam installations and twenty
pulse laser batteries.

Freighters
that had been traveling between mining sites in the system redlined their
sublight drives as they raced for Careth. They needed to get beneath the satellite
grid before the battle started. All mining sites throughout the system began powering
down and started sending their staffs to deep underground bunkers. They would
be silent until they received the all clear signal that the battle was over.

On Careth
itself, the huge underground cities began shutting the massive airlocks that
protected them from the outside world. Thousands who'd been outside began to
hurriedly make their way back to the hidden locations. On the surface of the
planet, interceptor missile batteries turned toward the sky, and highflying
interceptor aircraft were moved out of their hangers in preparation for launch.
Carethian troops began taking up defensive positions around the larger cities
in preparation to defend them if necessary. If the Hocklyns landed their Protectors,
they would find an armed fortress awaiting them.

Inside the
cities themselves, Carethian civilians began moving in an orderly fashion to prepared
underground shelters. Emergency response centers became active and were soon coordinating
the movement of civilians to areas of safety. All of this had been practiced
numerous times in the past year, and now was the time to put what they'd
learned into effect.

-

Colonel
Kathryn Barnes stepped into the Command Center of the battlecruiser Ceres.
Admiral Telleck had ordered her back to the flagship for this battle.

“Thanks for
calling me back,” she spoke gratefully as she stepped into the familiar room.

“It’s good to
have you back,” Admiral Telleck responded with a friendly smile. “You'll do
more good here during the battle than in your envoy position on the space
station.”

Kathryn nodded
and took her place in front of the tactical display, relieving Major Carnes,
who immediately headed for the emergency Command Center deep in the heart of
the ship.

“Sir?” asked Kathryn,
looking quizzically at the admiral. “What happened to your hair?” The Admiral
was completely bald, his thick dark hair gone.

Admiral Telleck
laughed and pointed at his head. “Accident in Engineering yesterday. I got
singed pretty good and decided to shave it off. Do you like the new look?”

“It’s
different,” replied Kathryn, smiling. “At least you weren’t hurt.”

Looking at the
tactical display, Kathryn turned pale at what it was displaying. There were
thousands of red threat icons. This was data being received from the FTL buoys
in system K-829.

“I think we’re
outnumbered,” she spoke aloud, looking back over at Admiral Telleck, who was
sitting behind the large command console.

“Slightly,”
Telleck replied with a wizened grin. “It just gives us more targets to shoot
when they jump in.”

“They’re
coming in all at once, aren’t they?” asked Kathryn, already knowing the answer.
It was what she would do, jump in and try to overwhelm the defenders.

“Yes,” Telleck
responded, his voice switching to a more somber tone. “After our recent
battles, I'm sure that’s what they’re going to do. They will try to overwhelm
our defenses in one massive assault.”

“How many AIs
can we expect?” Kathryn was relieved they still had thirty-seven Alton battlecruisers in the system. Since their return from Kenward Seven, the Alton ships had been given first priority in the repair bays. She felt certain the Altons
could handle the AIs. They'd already demonstrated that at New Tellus.

“Unknown,”
Telleck responded. “We’re sending two stealth scouts to scan the system to
determine the makeup of the fleets we'll be facing. We know some have jumped
in, we’re just not certain as to how many.”

“What’s the
plan of battle?” Kathryn asked her eyes focusing intently on Admiral Telleck.
She felt certain Fleet Admiral Streth had probably made the plan with input
from Admiral Telleck.

“We'll wait
for them to enter the gravity well and then engage them in a massive fleet
battle. First Fleet and ours will go in together as one unit.”

“What about Admiral
Sheen and Admiral Strong; when will they engage?” Kathryn knew that both admirals
and their powerful fleets were nearby waiting.

“As soon as
the enemy jumps into the system, Admiral Sheen will begin her first jump. They
will jump into a nearby system, establish communications, and then jump in
under the recommendations of Fleet Admiral Streth and myself.”

Kathryn
nodded. She wondered what her father would think if he knew the danger she
would soon be in. It was a lot different than playing politics.

-

Hedon looked
carefully at the tactical displays. Over the last several hours, the Kessel and
Darvonian fleets had taken up their defensive positions. In addition, First
Fleet and Ceres Fleet had moved closer together and nearly merged. With both
fleets combined, Admiral Streth had nearly two hundred Federation warships at
his disposal as well as thirty-seven Alton battlecruisers. For the time being,
Hedon had assigned three of the Alton battlecruisers to the space station and
four to the partially constructed shipyard. The other thirty were merged, with
the two Federation fleets waiting for combat.

“We’ve done
everything possible,” said Colonel Trist, coming to stand next to Hedon. “Do we
know for sure how many ships Admiral Sheen and Admiral Strong have?”

Hedon knew the
two admirals had over one hundred and sixty ships between them. In addition,
Rear Admiral Race Tolsen was in the same system with an additional fifty-five
ships. There were also twenty more Alton battlecruisers with the three waiting
fleets. Everything else depended on whether or not Admiral Nagumo’s plan
worked. Hedon hadn’t revealed that to anyone. He also hadn't heard from Admiral
Nagumo.