“I agree,” Karla replied. “Admiral Bennett, I want you to coordinate the bomber strikes with Fleet Admiral Streth and Admiral Andrews. The bombers can be a big advantage to us in this battle if we use them wisely.”
Bennett nodded as he activated his com system to speak to the fortresses and shipyards. The Hocklyns couldn’t know about the thousands of human bombers that were waiting for them.
-
The Hocklyn fleet continued to advance until they were nearly in engagement range. At that point, 3,100 fighters launched from the Hocklyn ships and took up defending positions around the fleet and the AIs. The Hocklyn fleet slowed and entered engagement range; it was at that moment that all ten of the AI ships jumped.
-
“AI ships are jumping,” Colonel Grissom warned in a loud voice as they vanished from the sensor screens.
“Where to?” Hedon demanded worriedly as his eyes focused on one of the tactical displays. This was one of his biggest concerns. The AI ships could jump inside a planet’s gravity well without harm. If a Federation ship tired the same maneuver, the ship’s drive would be destroyed and possibly the ship.
“Shipyard Clements!” Clarissa called out her deep blue eyes gazing at the admiral. “They’ve jumped around it and are firing their weapons; defense fleet two is responding.”
“Damn!” Colonel Trist cried out in frustration, knowing they couldn’t reach the shipyard in time.
“There’s an asteroid fortress nearby,” Hedon spoke as he assessed the situation. “Defense fleet two also has six strikecruisers as well.”
-
Clements was the smallest of the six large shipyards around New Tellus. It was heavily armed and close enough to the satellite defense grid to be covered by their weapons as well as one of the large asteroid fortresses.
AI energy beams impacted the shipyard’s powerful shield and several smashed through, causing severe damage to the armored hull of the station. Alarms sounded and airtight doors slammed shut as several explosions rocked the internal structure. However, the shipyard wasn’t idle; over twenty power beam batteries locked onto the attacking AIs and violet energy beams smashed into the AI’s shields. At the same time, Devastator and Devastator Threes missiles launched and quickly struck the AIs, covering them with nuclear fire.
Additional Devastator missiles were launched from the numerous missile platforms in the defense grid as well as from four defense battle stations that were within range. The pulse laser batteries on the space station finally began firing, and space was full of orange-red beams of light, which began impacting the AI’s shields. All ten AI ships were under massive attack, but their shields were holding.
“Fire everything we have!” Colonel Freedman ordered from the Command Center of shipyard Clements. He felt the station shudder violently as another AI energy beam cut through the shield, striking the station. He had never expected to have to face ten AI ships.
“Repair bay four has been destroyed,” Lieutenant Baker reported from damage control. “We have numerous compartments open to space and several fires that are out of control. Damage control teams are being dispatched. We also have a lot of casualties.”
“Where’s the damn fleet?” Major Kline screamed as the lights in the Command Center flickered and then returned to steady. “We can’t take much more of this!”
-
Defense fleet two under Admiral Whittington was already coming into range and adding their firepower to the shipyards. Admiral Whittington’s command consisted of fifty-seven warships including six strikecruisers. Already, the strikecruisers were preparing to fire Devastator Three missiles at the AI ships.
Looking at the main viewscreen on the front wall of the Command Center of his flagship, the battlecruiser Houston, Whittington could see that the shipyard was suffering heavy damage. He winced as he saw another AI energy beam strike the hull of the shipyard, blowing out an entire section. If he couldn’t stop this AI attack, the shipyard was in danger of being destroyed.
“Strikecruisers are to advance and engage the AIs,” he ordered over the ship-to-ship mini-com. “All other ships will provide covering fire.”
-
The commander of the large asteroid fortress was also in the process of issuing launch orders for a Devastator Three strike. The fortress was already firing its power beam and pulse laser batteries at the AI ships. If the AIs stayed in range, the commander of the fortress was certain he could destroy all ten of them. The fortress packed a massive amount of firepower.
Aboard the shipyard, damage control teams were being rushed to various areas of the station as even more AI energy beams tore through its weakening screen. Several more fires were out of control and one of the fusion generators had gone offline. The station shuddered as more explosions rocked the large structure.
The six 1,000-meter strikecruisers locked onto their targets and quickly fired their Devastator Threes at almost the same instant as the asteroid fortress. Four AI ships were suddenly aglow from the furious onslaught of the 40-megaton explosive warheads. Several massive detonations bit into the AIs ship’s hulls creating gaping, fiery chasms hundreds of meters deep.
The energy screens flickered and then went down on the stricken ships, allowing numerous Devastator Three and Devastator missiles to impact the heavily armored hulls. The fleet, shipyard, and asteroid fortress detecting the failure of the shields, fired every weapon they had against the AIs. Power beams, pulse lasers, and railgun rounds pummeled the armored hulls. Three of the AI ships suddenly exploded as their critical systems were destroyed beyond repair and their self-destructs initiated. A fourth was heavily damaged and it suddenly turned and accelerated toward Clements Station.
Seeing the massive warship bearing down on them the station intensified its fire, trying to finish the destruction the Devastator Threes had started. The AI ship exploded upon impact with the station’s screen and massive sections of the large sphere smashed into the station, causing substantial damage. Aboard the station, fires were raging out of control and hundreds were dead or trapped.
The shipyard was in danger of coming apart as its structural integrity had been seriously compromised. Damage control personnel raced around the station trying to save what they could. Over three quarters of it had suffered major damage. Its energy screen was down and power had failed to its weapons. Only one fusion reactor was still functioning. For all intents and purpose, Clements was a now dead hulk floating helplessly in space.
The remaining six AI ships suddenly jumped to reappear directly behind defense fleet two and away from the six strikecruisers. Every weapon the AIs had hammered the fleet and ships began to rapidly die. Battlecruisers, Monarch cruisers, and light cruisers exploded as massive energy beams tore them apart. Before the asteroid fortress could retarget the AIs, they jumped again to reappear behind the attacking Hocklyn fleet.
However, the damage had been done, Clements Station had been heavily damaged, and defense fleet two had lost twenty of its fifty-seven ships. Many others had suffered damage. Seeing the destruction, Fleet Admiral Johnson had no choice but to delegate the reduced fleet to guarding the ailing station. Karla also sent orders to evacuate all survivors from the shipyard to the nearby asteroid fortress. The shipyard had been designed to withstand a massed Hocklyn attack, not one by the AIs.
-
Fleet Commodore Resmunt nodded to himself as the AI ships jumped back to a supporting position just behind his fleet. He had found out what he wanted; the asteroid fortresses were extremely dangerous along with the numerous small battle stations scattered throughout the human’s defense grid. His own fleet was at extreme combat range of the defending human fleets around the largest shipyard. The fleet would remain in this position as Resmunt did not intend to endanger it by exposing his ships to the heavy weapons on the shipyard. Also, the largest asteroid fortress would be able to bring its weapons to bear if the Hocklyn ships moved much closer.
Already missile fire between the fleets guarding
the station and his own fleet was intensifying. However, his fighters were intercepting the majority of the missiles and only a few were getting through to impact upon his ship’s screens. It was time to contact the AIs once more and destroy even more of the human ships.
-
The command AI looked around the Control Room of its ship. It was overly crowded as all the AIs had been evacuated from the other AI ships so as not to risk their destruction. The computers on the ships could operate them just as well as an AI could. While the loss of AI ships was not important, the loss of an actual AI was.
“Fleet Commodore Resmunt is requesting that we make another strike against another one of the human fleets,” the AI in front of Communications reported.
The command AI turned and studied one of the tactical displays, analyzing the current situation. The humans had three fleets defending the largest shipyard and three other fleets capable of defending the other five. They had already damaged one shipyard and eliminated numerous ships from its defending fleet. Much needed data had been gained from the previous attack, and they were still evaluating it.
“I would recommend striking this fleet and shipyard,” the AI in front of another one of the numerous tactical displays suggested, waving its tentacles at the suggested target. “It is the second largest shipyard, but it is protected by the smallest asteroid.”
“We will target the fleet first,” the command AI ordered, the glowing head on top of its body brightening and seeming to grow even larger.
A few moments later, swirling white spatial vortexes formed in front of the six AI ships and they quickly entered them. A moment later, they reappeared around the doomed human fleet.
-
Hedon felt the StarStrike shudder slightly as a Hocklyn nuclear missile detonated against the energy shield. He had ordered the fleet to conserve their missiles as the Hocklyns were still at extreme range and most of the missiles were being intercepted anyway.
“AIs have jumped again,” Clarissa reported from her position next to Admiral Streth. Clarissa had the ability by using the ships sensors to give the admiral immediate reports of tactical developments. The blonde AI had a look of deep concern on her face.
“They’ve targeted defense fleet four,” Colonel Grissom reported from her spot next to one of the tactical displays.
“This doesn’t make sense,” Colonel Trist added as he watched the deadly beams from the AIs flash out toward the human fleet. One of the main viewscreens had been focused on this new epicenter of the battle. “Why are the AIs so willing to sacrifice their ships?”
“I don’t know,” replied Hedon, shaking his head. “But we will take advantage of this situation to eliminate them.”
Clarissa remained silent as she analyzed this latest attack by the AIs. She found it difficult to believe they were so willing to sacrifice themselves, unless they were not actually on their ships. Could these AI ships be nothing more than massive drones? Carissa decided not to mention this to Fleet Admiral Streth, not until she was certain that she was correct in her assumption. Nevertheless, it was the only thing that made any sense.
-
The six AI ships had jumped around defense fleet four, which was commanded by Admiral Boise aboard the battlecruiser Coventry. Brutal energy beams lashed out against the fleet’s screens and more than one went down. After a few moments, the AIs jumped again to reappear between the human fleet and the shipyard, their weapons now concentrating on the human cruisers that had shown to be a threat to them. If they could destroy all six of them they could wipe out the human fleet with no casualties to themselves. But the AIs had made a grave error. There were four of the new larger type two defense battle stations around the shipyard, and they had already targeted the AI ships with their own Devastator Threes.
Space was lit up with massive explosions and the flashes of violet power beams, white energy beams, and orange-red pulse laser beams. Admiral Boise winced inwardly as he watched his ships die. Two battlecruisers, a battlecarrier, four light cruisers and two of the valuable strikecruisers vanished in bright explosions of energy as they were annihilated by the AI’s attack. Then the battle stations launched their Devastator Three missiles.
In space, the 40-megaton sublight missiles struck four of the massive 1,500-meter AI spheres. Holes formed in their screens and more deadly human missiles darted through and impacted upon the heavily armored hulls. Metal turned into glowing gas and explosions tore deep within. The energy shields on three of the stricken AI ships failed, and moments later they died as their internal self-destructs finished what the human missiles had begun.
The two undamaged AI ships and the damaged one instantly jumped away. More information about the human defenses had been gleaned and more human ships had been annihilated. They had discovered that the larger human battle stations were deadly and would have to be eliminated quickly in future attacks.
Admiral Boise ordered his remaining ships to move closer to the shipyard. He had lost three battlecruisers, one battlecarrier, three strikecruisers, five Monarch cruisers, and fourteen light cruisers in the brief battle. Boise knew that if it had lasted for a few more minutes, none of his ships would have survived. At least this time the shipyard was unharmed.
-
Hedon grimaced in pain as a sharp vision suddenly appeared in his mind. It was of the defenses of New Tellus devastated and the planet on fire from numerous nuclear detonations. AI ships were everywhere, and the Hocklyn fleet was victorious.
Captain Janice Duncan had just looked over at the admiral and was stunned to see the devastated look upon his face, then it vanished and the admiral seemed to return to normal. What happened? She wondered. What had caused that look upon the admiral’s face?
Shaking his head, Hedon looked around and saw Janice staring at him. He forced a smile and then turned to Colonel Trist. “Those AI ships have to be drones,” he said. “They have been probing our defenses and searching for weaknesses. I can’t believe there are any actual AIs on any of those ships.”
“That makes sense,” Colonel Grissom agreed as she saw that the three surviving AI ships had jumped back behind the Hocklyn fleet. “We may expect a major change in future attacks; they have now determined what is a danger to them.”
Colonel Trist nodded in agreement. “They will be targeting our strikecruisers and the type two battle stations.”
“Then we need to protect the strikecruisers,” said Hedon, agreeing with Colonel Trist’s assessment. “I want to pull all three fleets into defensive formation Delta 2A for their own protection." Formation Delta 2A was more of an inverted cone-like formation with the light cruisers forming the outer layer of the cone and the rest of the ships in the second layer. Both the StarStrike and the Tellus would be near the apex of the cone with the battle carriers just behind them.
“The rest of the Hocklyn and AI fleets are jumping in,” Clarissa informed them as she put up additional information on the nearest tactical screen. “I have also deduced that the AI ships were drones, though I suspect some of the others are not. There has to be a controlling AI in their fleet somewhere.”
On the tactical screen, hundreds of additional red threat icons appeared as well as the other ten AI ships. Over fourteen hundred red threat icons were now on the tactical screen along with thirteen AI ships.
“Once they’re in the gravity well, we will need Admiral Teleck and his ships,” Hedon commented grimly. “We’re going to have to engage this fleet in order to make efficient use of our bombers and fighters.”
“I will send the message,” Clarissa replied as she watched the tactical screen, noting that the new Hocklyn and AI ships were already slowly moving into the gravity well.
“Get me Fleet Admiral Johnson,” ordered Hedon, knowing they needed to change their strategy. The Hocklyns were being overly cautious and were not just rushing in trying to overwhelm the defenses as they had in past battles.
A few minutes later the battlecruisers, Monarch cruisers, and battlecarri
ers from defense fleets two, three, and four turned and accelerated toward Admiral Streth’s position. It would give him an additional thirteen battlecruisers, twenty-six Monarch cruisers, and seven battle carriers. The strikecruisers from the fleets were pulled in closer to the other shipyards with the light cruisers as cover.
As the ships arrived, they were quickly assigned positions in the defensive formation. Two hundred and twenty-four ships were now under Admiral Streth’s direct command, which he had formed into one massive fleet.
“Enemy fleets are joining up and beginning to advance,” spoke Clarissa as she focused her eyes on Admiral Streth. She felt nervous and frightened about the upcoming battle; they were so heavily outnumbered. She glanced around the Command Center, noting that a number of the humans also looked frightened. Clarissa stepped closer to Admiral Streth; just being close to him helped to give her confidence about their ultimate survival.
“The AI ships seem to be hanging back behind the Hocklyns,” Colonel Grissom added as she studied the tactical display nearest her. “They may be planning to allow the Hocklyns to carry out this next phase of the battle.”
“They may still be evaluating their recent attacks,” Clarissa suggested, her deep blue eyes gazing at Colonel Grissom.
Admiral Streth activated the ship-to-ship communications on his mini-com so he could speak to all of his ship commanders. “We will advance and engage the enemy,” he informed them in a rock steady voice. All fighters to launch immediately. Your targets are the enemy fighters. Once we are heavily engaged the bombers will go in. After the first bomber strike has delivered their weapons, we will withdraw back toward New Tellus Station and the command asteroid fortress. At that point, all shipyards and asteroids will launch their fighters and bombers in another massive strike against the enemy fleet.”
-
Fleet Admiral Johnson was listening and almost allowed herself to smile. It seemed as if Admiral Streth had taken over command of the entire battle. She turned toward Admirals Freeman and Bennett. “Repeat Fleet Admiral Streth’s orders to the shipyards and the asteroid fortresses. It’s time to see if our trap is powerful enough to stop this attack.”
The Slaver Wars: Retaliation (The Slaver Wars Book Five) Page 32
