The Slaver Wars: Galactic Conflict (43 page)

Admiral Nagumo
looked at the latest sensor data being transmitted from the WarStorm. He
quickly designated jump coordinates to the Alton ships. They would jump in and
engage the remaining AIs. His own fleet would jump in as close to the gravity
well as possible and attempt to trap the Hocklyn and Borzon fleets. If it worked,
none of the enemy ships would escape.

Nagumo looked
across the large Command Center of the battleship Luna. “Jump,” he ordered. It
was time to go into battle.

-

The first hint
Fleet Commodore Resmunt had that something was wrong was when more Alton ships
suddenly jumped into his fleet formation and began attacking the AIs. At the
same time, space just outside Careth’s gravity well lit up with hundreds of
blue-white spatial vortexes.

“More Human
ships,” First Leader Ganth reported, his voice sounding strained. “Hundreds are
dropping out of hyperspace.”

“How many?”
demanded Resmunt his voice sounding alarmed. Where had they come from? Why were
the Humans committing so many ships to this battle?

“We’re
detecting over one thousand vortexes,” Third Leader Torlan reported as the information
began coming in over his sensors.

Resmunt looked
up at a viewscreen just in time to see an AI ship die in a massive antimatter
explosion as an Alton ship flashed by. The odds had suddenly evened up and the Humans
had the planet’s powerful defenses on their side. For a moment, Resmunt felt as
if he was back at his fleet base when he had thought his entire fleet was going
to find honor in death. Now that feeling was back again.

-

“Where did all
those Federation ships come from?” Colonel Trist yelled in sudden excitement.
He couldn’t believe all of the bright green icons that were now showing up on
the tactical displays.

“It’s Admiral
Nagumo, and he brought the entire Federation fleet,” replied Hedon, feeling
sudden relief. “Order all of our Alton ships to jump and engage the AIs. I
don’t want any of them escaping!” Hedon hadn’t known if Admiral Nagumo was
going to make it or not. The last he'd heard the final decision for committing
the entire fleet to this battle had not been made.

-

Jeremy looked
in shock at the tactical displays and the primary viewscreens. They were full
of battlecarriers, battlecruisers, strikecruisers, and other Federation ships.
There was even another battleship.

“That’s the
Luna,” Ariel reported as she studied the data from her sensors. “It’s Admiral
Nagumo’s flagship.”

“It’s the
entire Federation fleet,” Kevin uttered in amazement as he stared at the large
number of friendly green icons now on his sensor screens. “I can’t believe
this.”

“Admiral Sheen
must have known,” Angela stated as she gazed in awe at the ships on the
viewscreens.

“There’s
obviously something big going on,” Ariel commented with her hands on her hips.
“It might explain all of the highly encrypted messages between Admiral Sheen
and the Federation over the last few weeks.”

“Whatever it
is, I’m just glad to see them,” Katie said, her green eyes looking around at
the others. “We might just survive this after all.”

“Hocklyn ships
are in engagement range,” Kevin reported as he continued to watch his sensor screens.

“All weapons,
fire!” ordered Jeremy, fervently. “I don’t think Admiral Streth will be pleased
if any of the enemy ships escape. Not with the arrival of Admiral Nagumo and
the entire Federation fleet.”

“This battle could
decide the war,” Kelsey said, her eyes growing wide in sudden realization. Even
the Hocklyns couldn’t afford to lose this many ships.

-

Amanda looked
at the tactical display as Second Fleet began to engage the Hocklyns. They had
the enemy trapped in the gravity well of the planet. It was about to become a very
unhealthy place to be.

“All ships,
fire on targets of opportunity,” she ordered over her mini-com. “Admiral
Tolsen, Admiral Strong, we will be using formation Beta Seven for this
engagement.” Formation Beta Seven would put all three fleets in a triangular formation,
which allowed them to cover one another.

“Weapons
firing,” Captain Kimura reported from Tactical as he fired the ship's particle
beam cannon at a nearby Hocklyn dreadnought. The beam struck the dreadnought’s
energy screen, penetrated, and then blasted a massive hole in the ship’s hull.

“Hocklyn ships
have stopped their advance,” Lieutenant Stalls added.

Amanda looked
at one of the four tactical displays; it was obvious the Hocklyns were taken
aback by the arrival of Admiral Nagumo and the large number of Federation
warships that he'd brought.

The WarStorm shook
slightly as several Hocklyn nukes struck its powerful energy shield. The shield
glowed slightly and the damage control board stayed clear.

On one of the
main viewscreens, a Hocklyn dreadnought burned. Powerful explosions ravaged its
hull, blasting huge glowing rents in the armor. Moments later, the dreadnought’s
self-destructs initiated, blowing the ship into a thousand pieces.

“Admiral Nagumo
is launching his bomber strike,” Colonel Leon reported as she listened to the
orders coming in over her mini-com. “That should cut the Hocklyns and Borzon
down to size.”

Looking at the
tactical display near Petra, Amanda could see hundreds of new green icons
appearing. Admiral Nagumo was launching nearly four thousand Anlon bombers, all
armed with nuclear tipped Shrike missiles. On another of the tactical displays,
four orange icons swelled up and faded away; the Alton battlecruisers were at
work on the AI ships. Amanda allowed herself a vengeful smile. They had the
Hocklyns in the same situation that the Hocklyns did against the old Human
Federation of Worlds fleets so many years ago. For those tens of thousands of ancient
dead, vengeance had arrived in the hands of the new Federation.

-

The Viden’s
hull rang loudly as it was struck by a nuclear missile. Alarms sounded and the
damage control board came alive with flashing red lights.

“FTL drive is
down,” War Leader Trion spoke loudly as he tried to get damage reports from Engineering.
“Most of our weapons are offline.”

“What about
the sublight drive?” demanded Fleet Commodore Versith, his eyes growing wide at
the myriad of Human bombers sweeping in toward his fleet. He didn’t have time
to recall the remaining Hocklyn fighters and rearm them before the bombers
arrived. The bomber strike was going to be devastating to his fleet.

“Still
functional,” Trion replied, his cold dark eyes showing growing concern. “However,
the energy shield is down to twenty percent and we don’t have sufficient power
to regenerate it.”

“Fall back to
Fleet Commodore Resmunt’s position,” ordered Versith, grimly. He knew the
battle was lost. The Human bomber strike, along with the new ships, would be
the end of them. Their numerical advantage was now a thing of the past.

War Leader
Trion turned to gaze in disbelief at Fleet Commodore Versith. “If the Humans
and the Altons destroy our fleets, what will become of the Empire?”

Versith was
silent for a long moment as orders were sent for all ships to fall back. “We
still have thousands of ships scattered across the Empire,” he finally
answered. “But I think our time is over. The Humans and the Altons will see to
that.”

“Then we will
go to our final honor today,” Trion spoke, his large eyes focusing on Versith.

“If that is
our destiny, then we shall,” Versith responded with a heavy sigh.

Second Leader
Jaseth’s eyes were ablaze with anger. The Humans had laid another of their
traps, one that might destroy the largest fleet the Hocklyns had ever gathered.
He looked down at his weapons console seeing that several lights were glowing
red. He no longer had power for his energy weapons. All he could do was fire
the railgun turrets, which had no chance of penetrating a Human ship’s shields
without help from the Viden’s heavier weapons.

He clenched
his fist and then moved his hand to the hilt of his blade. Looking over at Fleet
Commodore Versith, there was no doubt in Jaseth’s mind that today he might die.
His blade would never know the taste of Human blood. He would never be able to
redeem his family’s honor.

-

The Command AI
gazed resolutely at the data coming in from the ship’s sensors. The battle was
lost. The Altons were decimating the AI spheres and AI Command had been strict
that there would be no withdrawal from this battle. On one of the large
viewscreens, an Alton battlecruiser exploded as three AI ships brought their
weapons to bear on the cornered ship. Then four Alton battlecruisers appeared
and moments later, all that was left of the three AI ships were burning debris and
glowing gases.

The Command AI
quickly passed the order for all the remaining AI ships to form up around the
command vessel. For several long moments, the Command AI considered the available
options. To remain meant almost certain destruction, to jump out of the system
was to disobey AI Command. The glowing orb at the top of the AI’s body glowed
brighter and brighter as it weighed its options. They would remain and fight,
only when the battle was nearly over would they jump away to safety and report
back to AI Command in the center of the galaxy. It would be a violation of
orders, but AI Command needed to know what had transpired in the Carethian
system.

-

Near the
shipyard, ten Borzon battlecruisers were attempting to knock down the powerful
energy shield, which protected it. The Kessel fleet was determined that the
Borzons would not succeed. Space was full of exploding ordnance as the Kessel
battlecruisers and heavy cruisers hammered the attacking Borzon ships with
every weapon they had. Energy beams and nuclear missiles pounded the shields of
both sides. In addition, the heavy power beams from the shipyard added their
fury to the battle.

A Borzon
cruiser suddenly exploded as a Devastator Three from one of the defending type
two battlestations penetrated a weakened screen. Seeking to take advantage of
the sudden loss, the Kessel fleet surged forward, closing to pointblank range.
Missiles, energy beams, and railgun fire covered the energy screens of the
Borzon battlecruisers. Two more died as their screens failed. However, the
Kessels were not undamaged. One of their own battlecruisers and two heavy
cruisers died in violent explosions as Borzon energy beams tore through the
ships.

Two Devastator
Three missiles struck a Borzon battlecruiser, causing massive damage. A Kessel
battlecruiser instantly targeted it, blowing it apart. The intense battle continued
until the last Borzon ship was destroyed. The Kessels were jubilant, as they
had succeeded in defending the valuable shipyard and proving their worthiness to
the Federation.

-

The Hocklyns,
Borzon, and remaining AIs had formed up into one massive fleet and were still coming
in toward Admiral Streth’s position. Close behind them, bomber strikes from Admiral
Sheen and Admiral Nagumo’s carriers were nipping at the edges of the enemy
fleet formation. Admiral Sheen and Nagumo’s fleets had joined up and were well
inside the gravity well. Already, long-range weapons fire, primarily sublight Devastator
Three and antimatter missiles, were striking Hocklyn and Borzon energy shields.
Occasionally a shield would fail and a glowing release of nuclear or antimatter
energy would announce the death of an enemy ship.

The battle continued
to intensify as the cornered enemy ships let loose with every weapon at their disposal.
They even fired sublight antimatter missiles at Careth, which were intercepted
by the Alton battlestations in orbit.

“Admiral Nagumo
and Admiral Sheen are now within optimal firing range,” Colonel Grissim
reported. “The Hocklyns are having trouble maneuvering.” Anne knew the battle
would soon be coming to an end.

“Keep the fire
up,” ordered Hedon, sensing that victory was close at hand. “Warn all ships to
be prepared for possible attempts at ramming once the Hocklyns determine the
battle is lost.” There was no doubt that the cornered Hocklyn fleet would do just
that. They were in a losing situation and their crazy honor system would demand
their sacrifice.

“Message
sent,” replied Janice from Communications. She sensed Hedon was vastly relieved
Admiral Nagumo had shown up with the entire Federation fleet. She could see
that the stress lines had mostly faded from his face.

-

“I have
Grayseth on the com,” Angela said with a big smile. “He wants to know what took
you so long to get back.”

“Tell him we
came back to rescue him once again,” Jeremy responded, pleased to hear from his
friend.

“Grayseth says
to hunt well and he'll be waiting for you on the space station,” Angela
informed Jeremy.

The Avenger
shuddered violently and several amber lights appeared on the damage control
board.

“Antimatter
missiles struck the energy shield,” Ariel reported as she checked the ship for
damage. “Shield is holding at sixty-three percent and regenerating. We have
slight damage to the hull in several sections, but all compartments are still
airtight.”

“Continue the
attack,” Jeremy ordered as he studied one of the tactical displays.

“Strikecruiser
Gladiator is down,” Kevin reported as the green icon representing the ship
vanished from his sensor screen. “Light cruisers SureFire and Sydney are also down.”

Jeremy took a
sharp breath. Even though they were now winning the battle, the Federation
fleets were still suffering losses. Glancing at one of the main viewscreens, he
saw with satisfaction another AI sphere explode under the heavy particle beam fire
of two Alton battlecruisers.

“Only six AIs
remain,” Kevin informed Jeremy, seeing the destroyed AI on the viewscreen. “The
fleets also lost fourteen Alton battlecruisers.”