The Slaver Wars: Retaliation (The Slaver Wars Book Five)

by Weil, Raymond L.

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” cautioned Admiral Teleck, leaning forward. “There is a lot that’s going to happen between now and then. If the AIs attack in overwhelming force, the Federation could face defeat.”

  Governor Malleck was silent as he weighed Admiral Teleck’s worrisome words. The admiral was right; they mustn’t get ahead of themselves. “That’s why Ceres is so heavily defended,” Malleck replied. “It would be suicide for either the Hocklyns or the AIs to attack us here.”

  Teleck did not reply. Governor Malleck, while being a very good politician, was not a military man and had never been in battle. There was no doubt in Teleck’s mind that if the AIs wanted to take Ceres badly enough, they could probably find a way to do it.

  -

  Admiral Streth was holding a meeting with Admiral Sheen and Admiral Adler on board the StarStrike. They were rapidly nearing the time when a Hocklyn attack might occur.

  “I want all ships completely repaired and ammunition holds filled,” Hedon was saying, his eyes focusing on the other two admirals. “The defense grid around the fleet base is complete, and we are nearly ready.”

  “I spoke to Admiral Strong earlier, and they have finished their preparations also,” Jacob added as he drummed his index finger upon the conference table. “The last supply fleet for the bears is supposed to arrive next week, but Admiral Strong is pushing for at least one more with more fighters and bombers for the Carethians.”

  Hedon was silent as he weighed Admiral Adler’s words. “I will speak to Fleet Admiral Johnson and see if she can’t arrange for another,” he said after a moment. “From what Jeremy has said, these Carethians are turning into fine pilots. If they want more fighters and bombers, we need to try to furnish them if at all possible.”

  “I saw several of their training exercises,” added Amanda, recalling how the bears seemed to take to the fighters like bees on honey. “With enough training they will be as good as human pilots and give the Hocklyns fits.”

  “That’s good to know,” Hedon commented, pleased with how everything was going. “I just hope that Admiral Strong can hold out against the coming attack. If he finds himself on the losing end of this, there is no chance of the Federation coming to his rescue.”

  “He won’t withdraw,” Amanda spoke with respect in her voice. “He is determined to defend the Carethians and is willing to sacrifice everything to do so. If Careth falls, there will be no defending fleet ships returning to the Federation.” In many ways, Jeremy reminded her of Hedon when he was younger.

  Hedon nodded; Admiral Strong was becoming a fine admiral and would give the Hocklyns and AIs one hell of a battle at Careth. Hedon just hoped that the young rear admiral survived.

  “Once we retreat to New Tellus and the battle there is over, I intend to lead a relief fleet to Careth immediately,” Hedon spoke firmly. “I won’t let Admiral Strong be defeated if there is any way I can prevent it.”

  “I just hope we have enough ships left to form a relief fleet,” commented Jacob grimly, knowing the battle at New Tellus would be massive.

  “If I have to come back in just a destroyer, I’m coming back,” Hedon spoke determinedly. Admiral Strong was part of his command, and he wouldn’t abandon him.

  -

  After the meeting Hedon was walking through the corridors of the StarStrike; sometimes it did him good just to walk throughout the lengthy corridors in the 1,600-meter ship. It allowed him time to think and put things into perspective.

  “Out for a walk, Admiral?” a pleasant female voice spoke from beside him.

  Startled, Hedon turned and saw Captain Janice Duncan. She had been jogging down the corridor and come up behind him. “Yes, Captain,” replied Hedon with a relaxed smile. “I enjoy taking long walks in the ship occasionally.”

  “I know what you mean,” replied Janice, falling in beside Hedon as they continued to walk. “I do the same thing whenever I have the chance. In the months I have been aboard the StarStrike, I still haven’t made it down all the corridors. This is one hell of a big ship, Sir!”

  Hedon laughed and nodded his head. “Sixteen hundred meters; there must be hundreds of kilometers of corridors. I know just the other day I had to ask Clarissa to give me directions back to the Command Center.”

  “Speaking of Clarissa, she was telling me that you are originally from the planet Maken in the old Federation.”

  “Yes,” replied Hedon, recalling those days long ago.

  “What was Maken like?” Janice asked. She was extremely curious about the old Federation and what living there had been like.

  Hedon allowed himself to smile as he recalled those days by the lake with his brother Taylor and Lendle. Without hesitation, he began telling the captain all about his days on Maken and the small cabin. For a while, Hedon allowed himself to forget that a war was going on.

  -

  Fleet Commodore Resmunt smiled, allowing his sharp teeth to show as the first of his fleets moved out of Kenward Seven’s gravity well. In all, there were ten fleets under Resmunt’s command. Close to seven hundred warships to conquer and destroy the humans, all with recently upgraded shields and weapons. It was the most powerful fleet even sent out by the Hocklyn Slave Empire, and it was under his command.

  “Commodores Aanith and Maseth report that their fleets are ready and will soon be moving out of the gravity well,” First Leader Ganth reported from where he was standing at Communications.

  “So it begins,” Resmunt spoke as his eyes focused sharply on the new tactical display his ship had been equipped with.

  All the flagships of the individual fleets had this new holographic tactical display, which had been furnished by the AIs. There was no doubt in Resmunt’s mind that the new display would allow him to better coordinate his fleet’s movements, particularly in battle.

  “War Leader Osbith is moving his fleet out of orbit,” Ganth reported as more War Leaders checked in with the flagship.

  Resmunt frowned in distaste. He wished he could have found some way to remove Osbith from command. There were three War Leaders he had very little confidence in and would have to be careful in battles as to what their objectives were. Any of the three could easily make a tactical blunder that could result in major losses to Resmunt’s command. Of course, if that were to happen then Resmunt would have a legitimate reason under the Hocklyn honor system to remove them from command of their individual fleets.

  Then, of course, there was War Leader Versith of the dreadnought Viden. He was the most talented of all the available War Leaders and in reality probably should have already been promoted to the rank of Fleet Commodore, but for some unknown reason Versith had preferred to remain a War Leader and command his own individual fleet.

  “All fleets should be clear of Kenward Seven’s gravity well in forty minutes,” Ganth reported as he stepped over to gaze at the new tactical display. The display showed all ten Hocklyn war fleets as they were now all underway and moving to exit the planet’s gravity well.

  Even as he watched, ten new large red icons suddenly flared up just outside of the planet’s gravity well and then turned to green. “The AIs are here,” Ganth rasped out. With nearly seven hundred warships and ten AI ships, the humans would not stand a chance.

  Fleet Commodore Resmunt walked over to the tactical display and gazed at the icons representing the AI ships with disdain. He was sure the massive Hocklyn fleet he had at his command could defeat the humans. The AIs would just sow discord in the fleet by their mere presence and what they represented. It was a harsh reminder as to who was the real power behind the Empire.

  “The AIs are transmitting jump coordinates,” Third Leader Vrill at communications reported.

  “Transmit them to Navigation to be checked and then we will send them to the rest of the ships in the fleet,” Resmunt ordered. He had assumed they would plot their own jumps. He also wondered if an AI would be coming aboard his ship and directing the coming battles, he hoped not.

  “Wh
at does this mean if the AIs are plotting our jumps?” First Leader Ganth asked, his dark eyes gazing at Resmunt.

  “We may be engaging the humans much quicker than I had originally planned,” replied Resmunt, feeling aggravated at the AIs. He suspected they would not allow his ship’s crews to rest during jumps or to retune their drives as often as Resmunt had planned.

  “Coordinates are for system C-112, which is twenty-two light years distant,” Fourth Leader Brack reported from Navigation.

  “Nearly maximum jumps,” Ganth uttered with displeasure. “Depending on what the AIs plan, we could be in human space in three weeks!”

  “The AIs want the humans destroyed,” responded Resmunt, staring at the ten large green icons in the tactical display and wishing they were not there. “Send the coordinates to all ships and stand by to jump as soon as all fleets have cleared the gravity well.”

  Ganth nodded and proceeded to do as ordered. In this war with the humans, there would be much honor to be had, if the AIs didn’t interfere. Somehow, Ganth feared the AIs could care less about Hocklyn honor.

  -

  High Leader Nartel was in the High Council Chambers meeting with Councilors Berken and Jarles. “The AIs have demanded the fleet leave immediately, and that they will be plotting the jumps.”

  “The AIs,” Berken repeated, not liking the sound of that. “It sounds as if they want to hit the humans as soon as possible.”

  “What about Fleet Commodore Krilen?” demanded Jarles. “His new fleet is not fully assembled yet.”

  “I have already sent orders rushing more ships to his command,” replied Nartel, feeling frustrated with the way things were going down. “Within three weeks he will have nearly eight hundred ships.”

  “That should be enough,” commented Berken, nodding his head.

  “We are stripping all of our expansion fleets in that entire galactic region,” warned Councilor Jarles, aggravated that the expansion of the Empire had ground to a halt. “I understand the necessity, but if we suffer significant losses it could set our expansion plans back for years.”

  “There are ten AI ships with Fleet Commodore Resmunt’s fleets,” Nartel reminded the other two. “Not even the humans can stand up to that type of firepower.”

  “They did destroy two AI ships already,” Berken responded. “What if they destroy all ten of these?”

  “We believe the weapons they used are in short supply,” replied Nartel, recalling the latest intelligence reports he had recently received. “They only used a few in all the battles and then only in desperation. Our military analysts believe that the weapons must be extremely difficult to produce and possibly experimental; that’s why we only saw a few of them deployed.”

  “It might also explain why the AIs are in such a hurry to attack,” Councilor Jarles added. “They might fear the humans perfecting these new experimental weapons and then building them in sufficient quantities to be a direct threat to the AIs and the Empire.”

  Councilor Berken looked around the High Council Chambers as if wanting to ensure that they were alone. “I wonder if there is any possibility of us procuring one of these human weapons? The AIs have already attacked our habitats once; what’s to stop them from doing so again?”

  “What are you suggesting, Councilor Berken?” Jarles demanded, his eyes growing wide. “Surely you’re not suggesting that we acquire one of these weapons and then reverse engineer it so we could build our own. If the AIs suspected we were doing something like that, they would destroy our worlds. They would wipe out the Hocklyn race just like they want to destroy the humans.”

  Councilor Berken was silent for a moment, knowing he had overstepped himself. “No, of course not,” he responded, shaking his head. “I was merely thinking out loud. Of course we mustn’t do anything to offend the AIs.”

  After the meeting was over, Nartel alone remained in the High Council Chambers. He was thinking about what High Councilor Berken had suggested. One of Nartel’s biggest fears was what would happen when the day arrived where the Hocklyn race was no longer useful to the AIs. Would the AIs still need the Hocklyns once the entire galaxy had been conquered?

  Nartel thought long and hard about the issue. What if they could get one of the human weapons? There were distant Hocklyn bases that had never even seen an AI ship. It wouldn’t be difficult to pick one of the more distant ones and assign the necessary Hocklyn scientists and technicians to reverse engineer one of the weapons. If somehow they could secretly build a stockpile of these missiles and then deploy them in all the home systems, that might serve as a deterrent to the AIs. Perhaps the AIs would even allow the Hocklyns to become equal partners in the Empire. They could then expand and colonize all the worlds necessary to handle their growing population.

  The problem was who could he trust to follow his orders and get one of the human weapons? Nartel knew he had at least three weeks to decide upon a plan if he decided to go through with it. The risk would be great, and he could very easily end up suffering the same fate as High Leader Ankler. This was something he would have to think upon. It was risky, but the rewards could well be worth it.

  -

  Jeremy stared in disbelief at the viewscreen as three special supply vessels from Ceres docked to the space station. They had arrived under a special escort of four battlecruisers, two battlecarriers, and six heavy strikecruisers. Ceres Admiral Kalen himself had come with the fleet and was now in the Command Center of the Avenger.

  “There are twenty dual power beam installations of the latest type on board those three supply ships as well as four class one nuclear fusion reactors,” Kalen informed Jeremy. “I also brought the technicians needed to install them.”

  “Governor Malleck really came through,” Jeremy said, elated at the news. “You have no idea what this means.”

  “I think I do,” Admiral Kalen replied, pleased to see how excited Jeremy was about what he had brought. Then, in a more serious tone, he added, “Jeremy, no one outside of the people on Ceres that were involved with this knows that we have sent you these power beam installations and reactors. When President Kincaid finds out there’s going to be hell to pay for us going around the Federation Council.”

  “What can I ever do to repay Ceres for this?” asked Jeremy, realizing the giant risk that Governor Malleck and the others were taking.

  “It’s quite simple, actually,” Admiral Kalen replied. He looked at Jeremy his eyes growing intense. “Just hold Careth and keep the Hocklyns and AIs at bay until we can return with a relief fleet. If you can succeed in doing that, the Federation Council will see the wisdom in what we did.”

  “Will the Federation Council agree to send a relief fleet?” Jeremy asked. “This entire region may soon be back under Hocklyn control.”

  “If the Federation won’t, Ceres and New Tellus will,” Admiral Kalen promised. “I also need to tell you that there will be another large supply fleet in three more weeks. It will contain four of the new type two battle stations as well as more fighters and bombers for the Carethians.”

  “Type two battle stations?” Jeremy spoke confused. He had never heard of these. “What are type two battle stations?”

  Admiral Kalen quickly explained their purpose and what they were capable of. “They would be ideal to place around your space station. It would add the final piece to the firepower the station will need to defend itself.”

  “Will there be any more supply fleets after that one?” asked Jeremy, knowing it would soon be time for the Hocklyns and AIs to show up. It might be too dangerous to send another.

  “Probably not,” replied Admiral Kalen, shaking his head. “New Tellus has been sending stealth scouts to the outer regions of the Hocklyn Empire, and they have discovered an unsettling piece of information. Almost every Hocklyn warship for over three thousand light years around this section of space has been pulled back.”

  “That could be over a thousand ships!” exclaimed Jeremy, growing worried. “Why pull those ships back? I
thought the AIs were rearming Hocklyn warships from deep within their Empire?”

  “Our intelligence people suspect they are,” Admiral Kalen replied with worry on his face. “We think these ships will serve as a mop up force to follow up their strike fleet. Anything the strike fleet misses or doesn’t destroy completely, this fleet will finish off.”

  Jeremy turned pale as he realized he could be facing many more enemy ships than he had originally estimated. It might make it nearly impossible to hold the bears’ planet. He took a deep breath and looked across the Command Center. Kelsey was at her station working on her navigation computer. Kevin and Katie were over at the main computer console running diagnostics with Ariel. Angela was over on the space station installing special encryption codes on the stations communication systems. He knew the whole crew of the Avenger was counting on him to keep them safe.

  Jeremy had sworn to protect this system and to stand by Grayseth when the Hocklyns returned. He fully intended to keep that promise. He turned to face Admiral Kalen and spoke. “When the Hocklyns and AIs are defeated at New Tellus and you can return to Careth, you will find us waiting for you.”

  Admiral Kalen nodded. He had expected nothing less from Admiral Strong and the crew of the Avenger. Their parents had founded the Federation, and they were continuing in that tradition. Kalen wondered if any of them realized that when they returned to Federation space they all would be considered heroes just like Admiral Streth. In many ways, they already were.

  Chapter Eleven

  Jeremy watched as the last supply ship was being unloaded at the space station. Ten large supply ships had arrived with a large military escort from New Tellus. On board the ships were the last munitions and spare parts he would receive for quite some time.

  “They’re almost done unloading,” commented Kevin. He was standing next to Jeremy in the Command Center watching the big viewscreen on the front wall. “It might be a while before we see Federation ships again.” Over the years, Kevin’s freckles had gradually faded, but his fiery red hair remained.