A few moments later, the ambassador entered President Kincaid’s office. The Albanian Ambassador was humanoid in shape and nearly seven feet tall. His skin was very pale with a slight blue tinge and the hair on top of his head, while thick, was a solid white. His eyes, nose, and ears were very similar to a human’s, but the eyebrows were very thin, almost nonexistent.
“What can I do for you today, Ambassador Tureen?” President Kincaid asked as he stood up to greet the ambassador.
The Albanians were an old and peaceful race, preferring not to interfere in the affairs of other space going races. They had a very high level of science and refused to share any of their advanced technology with anyone.
“I understand your Operation First Strike has come to an end,” Tureen spoke in a calm and self-assured voice.
Both sat down, and Kincaid turned his full attention to Ambassador Tureen. He wondered what the Albanian Ambassador knew about Operation First Strike. The operation had not been a secret and had been covered routinely on the Federation media channels.
“Yes, Fleet Admiral Streth is currently withdrawing back to the Federation.”
“We have also heard reports that he has managed to destroy some of the AI ships from the center of our galaxy.”
Kincaid leaned back in his chair. How had the ambassador found out about that? The destruction of the AI ships was not general knowledge even though the information had been spread throughout the Fleet as a morale booster.
“Yes,” President Kincaid replied in a careful and measured voice. “Fleet Admiral Streth has managed to destroy ten AI ships and heavily damage another during the operation.”
“It was not wise to anger the AIs so,” Tureen spoke, his light blue eyes focusing on Kincaid. “They have a very powerful fleet in the center of the galaxy and may now be tempted to use it.”
“What do you know of the AIs?” Kincaid asked sharply, feeling surprise at the ambassador’s obvious knowledge of the enemy. “Have some of your exploration missions been to the center of our galaxy in AI space?”
“Not in recent years,” Tureen responded in an even voice. “Know this, President Kincaid; due to your operation First Strike and the destruction of some of their previously indestructible ships, the AIs will descend upon you with their full strength. They will not allow a threat to their existence to survive. When the Altons set your people on this path so many eons ago as a means to stop the AIs and their expansion, it was not believed the AIs and their proxy races would grow so strong.”
“The Altons!” President Kincaid exclaimed in shock. No one knew about the Altons; that was a priority one secret! “What do you know of the Altons?”
“They were the creators of the AIs and their biggest mistake,” Tureen replied, his eyes looking haunted. “Their science was supreme in the entire galaxy and their exploration ships traveled far. However, they became lazy and more dependent on machines to do their work for them. Over the centuries, they created the AIs and gradually began turning the day-to-day operation of their civilization over to them. Due to the lack of further innovation and a loss of vitality, the Alton race began to die out. In the end, the AIs inherited the Alton civilization and technology.”
“Go on,” Kincaid pressed. Much of this he had heard before; he was just curious to know how the Albanians knew of the Altons.
“The AIs think all organic races are flawed,” Tureen continued in a grave voice. “We believe that once their four proxy races have conquered the galaxy they will begin the complete extermination of all organics, including their proxies. That is why they have always controlled the weapons and technology the Hocklyns and the other three proxy races are allowed to posses.”
“That explains the Hocklyn’s long stagnation in weapons development,” Kincaid admitted. His own people had already suggested part of this.
“The AIs are in the process of a major engineering project near the massive black hole at our galaxy’s center. To what purpose we are not sure, though we have some ideas,” added Tureen, looking intently at President Kincaid.
“How can they build something around a black hole; wouldn’t the gravity pull it in?” This was information that President Kincaid was not aware of. How did the Albanians know all of this? He was getting even more confused.
“As I said, this is a massive construction project, something they have been building for over two thousand years,” Tureen continued as he stood up. “No matter what the cost, you must stop this attack on your worlds. The entire future of our galaxy depends on it.” With that last cryptic remark, the ambassador stood and walked out of the office. He had been sent in to warn the humans that they might now be facing a massive attack by the AIs. He had accomplished that, and now it was time to contact his government once more.
President Kincaid sat staring in shock as the door to his office closed behind the ambassador. There was something going on here he just didn’t understand. However, this was the first time the Albanians had ever come out and spoken about the war. For a race that was pacifist in nature, they seemed to be very concerned about the AIs. Ambassador Tureen had also revealed some information the Federation was not aware of. He wondered what else the Albanians might know about the AIs and hadn’t divulged.
Reaching forward, he activated the communication system on his desk. “I want to meet with Fleet Admiral Johnson and Admiral Teleck immediately,” he told his chief of staff.
“That’s not possible,” his chief of staff replied. “They are currently at New Tellus in a war planning meeting. Admiral Teleck is not expected back unit late tomorrow, and I seriously doubt with the impending Hocklyn attack that Fleet Admiral Johnson would be willing to leave New Tellus.”
“Very well,” replied Kincaid, feeling frustrated. “I will be sending them a priority message; make sure they receive it.”
-
High Leader Nartel stared in shock at the message he had just received from Fleet Commodore Resmunt. High Councilors Jarles and Berken were also in his office.
“The humans destroyed seven AI ships in the battle?” spoke High Councilor Jarles his large eyes growing even wider in shock. “How was that possible?”
“The humans have a new missile that seems to be very effective against AI ships,” replied Nartel, wishing he could get a hold of one. So far, he had found no one he could trust with the job of acquiring one of the human missiles. If the AIs were to find out his intentions, it would spell disaster.
“What about our own fleets?” High Councilor Berken demanded. “What were our losses?”
“Quite heavy,” Nartel answered still finding it hard to accept the fleet losses that Fleet Commodore Resmunt had reported. “It has been necessary to reinforce the invasion fleet with ships from the Careth attack fleet. The attack on Careth has been indefinitely postponed by the AIs.”
“We need more ships,” Jarles said sharply, slapping his hand against his battle armor. “We can’t fail in this mission or the AIs will enforce a grave payment for our failure.”
“From where?” High Councilor Berken demanded. “We have already pulled ships from all the adjoining sectors. Even a small human fleet could push our remaining forces out of those sectors if they were so inclined.”
“Our Empire has thousands of ships,” High Leader Nartel reminded the other two. “If necessary, we will just pull ships from more distant sectors.”
“The full council needs to meet on this,” Berken responded in a grave voice. “High Councilor Ruthan is going to be extremely distressed to learn of the loss of the AI ships, as well as so many of our own.”
“High Councilor Ruthan is distressed by everything,” Nartel replied in a scornful voice. “I will call a meeting for the day after tomorrow. We must send more ships for the Careth attack and a follow up fleet for Fleet Commodore Resmunt. We are talking about moving several thousand additional ships.”
“That will take weeks,” High Councilor Jarles pointed out, knowing the complexities involved in moving so many Hock
lyn fleet units from one sector to another.
“It must be done,” replied Nartel, growing impatient. “The AIs will expect it of us.”
“And what of the AIs?” Berken asked. “They lost most of their fleet! What will they be sending to attack the human home worlds?”
“That is unknown,” answered Nartel, looking over at the other two. “But if I were the humans, I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of the AI’s anger. You both have seen what they did to us for not letting them know of the human’s existence sooner. They executed High Leader Ankler and destroyed numerous habitats above our world. For destroying so many of their ships, the AIs wrath will be swift and vengeful against the humans.”
-
Fleet Admiral Johnson looked with confusion at the priority message that President Kincaid had just sent her. Just what was going on with the Albanians? For so long they had been quiet about this war; now all of that seemed to have changed.
“It’s perplexing,” Admiral Teleck admitted as he read the message again. “Just how do the Albanians know so much about the AIs?”
“The ambassador never said,” replied Karla, with a heavy sigh. It seemed as if the Albanians wanted the Federation to defeat the Hocklyns and the AIs but had refused from the very beginning to allow access to any of their advanced technology. None of it made any sense.
“Should we approach the Albanians about access to their technology again?” asked Teleck, looking over at Karla. “Perhaps now that the danger is so near they are having a change of heart.”
“I don’t know,” replied Karla, pursing lips. “But I will certainly suggest it to the president. I am concerned about the fact that the Albanians believe we may be facing a large number of AI ships.”
“When I return to Ceres tomorrow, I will arrange a meeting with President Kincaid to discuss this,” continued Teleck, thinking about what access to advanced Albanian technology could mean. “As far as additional AIs ships, we have done everything we can to prepare.”
“When are you leaving?” Karla asked. She hoped the Albanians were wrong about the AI ships.
“Early tomorrow,” Admiral Teleck responded. “Admiral Streth should give us sufficient notice of the impending arrival of the Hocklyns and the AIs for me to return with my fleet. We will know then what we will be facing and be ready when the time comes.”
Fleet Admiral Johnson nodded. All of the descendants of the Federation survivors were ready for this war. To them this was the first step toward freeing the old Federation worlds. Karla just hoped that this was a battle they could win. That comment by the Albanian Ambassador that they might be facing a large number of AI ships was worrying her.
-
Fleet Admiral Tolsen looked at his recently reinforced fleet. He had been given four more strikecruisers, and even the Monarch cruisers had been issued Devastator Three missiles. All four of the defending fleets had been pulled in just outside the gravity well of New Tellus.
An additional twenty strikecruisers with light cruiser escorts had been pulled in around the planet just outside of the orbit of the asteroid fortresses. If the AIs jumped inside the gravity well, the fleet would be ready for them.
“I guess it’s a waiting game now,” Colonel Arnett commented as she gazed at the large tactical display, which currently showed no active threats inside the system.
“We’re even pulling the light cruiser patrols in closer,” Race replied as he recalled what all had been discussed in the war planning meeting.
“We’ll also have Fleet Admiral Streth’s fleets when they get here,” Arnett added. It made her feel better knowing that Admiral Streth would be here and helping to direct the battle.
“If there is anything left of his fleets,” commented Race, knowing the First Strike fleets had paid a heavy price. He too hoped that Fleet Admiral Streth and Admiral Sheen would make it safely to New Tellus. Both had valuable experience battling the Hocklyns and the AIs; experience they would definitely need.
-
Throughout the New Tellus system ships prepared to meet the coming attack. Entire fleets were carefully positioned. Ships were placed around New Tellus to help protect the planet and all leaves were canceled. The asteroid fortresses and the defense battle stations prepared to face deadly AI ships. Fighter and bomber patrols were tripled, and all the bombers equipped with nuclear tipped Shrike missiles. Even on New Tellus Station the tension was high as weapons were tested and personnel prepared to defend New Tellus and the Federation.
For years, they had prepared for the coming battle; now it was nearly time to see if their hard work would enable them to destroy the inbound Hocklyn and AI fleets. This was a battle that had been planned for hundreds of years. Every human in the New Tellus system knew that if they failed to destroy the Hocklyns and the AIs it might very well mean the end of the human race.
Deep inside the 22-kilometer thick command asteroid fortress Admiral Andrews was sitting in his quarters, deep in thought. It had distressed him considerably when he had learned of the massive losses suffered by Admiral Streth. He knew that Amanda had been fortunate to survive. Richard could not imagine life without his wife. Someday, he hoped they would have children of their own to pass their legacy down to. Looking over at a recent picture of the two of them when they had been on leave on the bears’ home planet, Richard let out a heavy sigh. He just hoped that soon he would be able to hold Amanda in his arms again and tell her how much he loved her.
Chapter Nineteen
Fleet Commodore Resmunt gazed at the tactical holographic display as his fleet formed up for the first jump toward human space. For nearly a week, his fleet had orbited his former fleet base as hurried repairs were made and more valuable fleet units rushed to him.
“AIs are arriving,” First Leader Ganth spoke as numerous large green icons began appearing on the tactical display.
“Twenty of them,” Resmunt muttered, his eyes gazing now at the large viewscreen on the front wall which was displaying one of the large AI spheres of war.
Fifteen hundred meters of pure death or they were until the humans had demonstrated that they could destroy them. Resmunt wondered how that made the AIs feel, knowing that they could be killed. It pleased Resmunt to know the AIs weren’t as all powerful as they once had seemed, particularly after the destruction they had wrought to the habitats above Calzen.
“Order the fleet to stand by to jump,” Resmunt ordered as he took his position upon the command pedestal and looked over the War Room. The AIs had agreed to allow Resmunt to schedule the jumps, at least until they reached human space.
“How will we find the humans?” Ganth asked as he carried out his orders.
“We know where one of their worlds is located,” Resmunt replied. “It’s only a mining colony, but their main worlds have to be close by. As we near what we believe is their space we will send out escort cruisers to search. I suspect the humans will not be too hard to find.”
“Fleets are beginning to jump,” Ganth reported as the Hocklyn fleets outside the gravity well of the planet began vanishing into swirling white spatial vortexes.
“Order the rest of the fleets to leave planetary orbit and exit the gravity well,” Resmunt ordered in his normal cold and raspy voice. “The AIs will jump last.”
His warfleet was larger than before. The humans had managed to destroy nearly four hundred of his warships in the battle above the fleet base. It still angered him that so many human ships had escaped. He had planned on only allowing a few to survive and then follow them back to their worlds. Commodore Aanith had positioned his ships too far from the edge of the planet’s gravity well to be able to destroy the humans before they jumped into hyperspace. The Commodore had failed to destroy a single human ship.
Every available ship that could be rushed to him by the High Council had been sent to increase the size of his invasion fleet. Even Fleet Commodore Krilen’s attack fleet had been robbed, leaving him only fifty warships out of his original eight hundred. Resm
unt knew it would be weeks before enough ships arrived from distant sectors of the Empire to allow Krilen to launch his attack on the Careth system. For now, Krilen had been ordered by the High Council to monitor the human forces in that system to ensure that they stayed there.
The Liberator and its attending fleet were the last Hocklyn ships to jump. Fleet Commodore Resmunt watched as a large spatial vortex formed in front of his flagship. He still had a solid core of updated ships as well as the reinforcements received from Fleet Commodore Krilen and the High Council. In all, he had over fourteen hundred warships to strike the humans with as well as the twenty AI ships. A month back, Resmunt would have been certain that was enough to wipe the humans from the galaxy, but after the last battle, he was no longer so certain.
The Liberator entered the vortex and jumped into hyperspace, and then the vortex collapsed and vanished as if nothing had ever been there. The twenty AI ships, seeing that the last Hocklyn ship had jumped into hyperspace, created their own spatial vortexes and moments later, they too were gone.
On the surface of the planet, a hidden stealth scout ship left the small lake in which it had been hiding. Over the past week, it had used the few surviving satellites still in orbit to gather data on the assembling Hocklyn and AI fleets. Now it was time to return to Careth and give the information to Admiral Strong. From there it would be sent along the FTL communications buoy lines back to Fleet Admiral Johnson in the Federation. The Federation needed to know what was coming their way.
-
Jeremy was down on the planet taking the afternoon off. Admiral Stillson and Grayseth were on the space station finishing up some additional training for the Carethian pilots that would be flying the bombers against the Hocklyns. Commander Marks from the carrier Retribution was also present helping with the final training. Jeremy was thankful that the Hocklyn attack had been delayed due to the losses Admiral Streth had inflicted on the Hocklyn fleet. It gave Jeremy and his people some valuable time to finish training the Carethian bomber and fighter pilots and bring them up to Federation fleet standards. Also, every day there was no attack the Carethians hauled more defense satellites up into orbit from the factories down on the planet.
The Slaver Wars: Retaliation (The Slaver Wars Book Five) Page 28
