Admiral Tolsen noticed that the Hocklyns ships were now becoming intermixed with his own fleet. Even the battle carriers would soon be involved. It might be wise in future battles to keep the battle carriers farther back with their destroyer escorts. That would give them enough time to land their bombers and rearm them for a second strike.
-
War Leader Sangeth felt growing anger as the War Cruiser Veldin vanished from the screens. The ship had been heavily damaged and rammed a human light cruiser. Both ships had vanished in a massive series of explosions. The Veldin’s self-destructs going off had finished the job.
“Helm, turn us 80 degrees starboard, flank speed,” grated out Sangeth, seeing his path was blocked by the human’s two battle carriers. He knew both were heavily armed. “Get me a status report. All batteries, continuous fire!”
More human rounds and missiles were penetrating the shields, rattling the ship with each hit. More lights on the damage control console turned a glaring red. The ship seemed to roll as a human energy beam struck the Oblivion. Glancing at the sensor screen, he saw that only the War Cruiser Delphin and two escort cruisers were still with his flagship. Looking up at the viewscreen, he could see several ships burning in the human formation. His turn had not been soon enough. The two battle carriers were now pounding his remaining ships with missile fire and their energy beams.
“We can jump in two more minutes,” First Leader Rahn grated out in pain from being thrown to the deck. His left arm now hung limply at his side. A jagged gash with blood running from it ran across his forehead.
“All ships are to jump as soon as we reach the threshold,” Sangeth ordered as another of his escort cruisers blew up from being struck by the human’s new energy weapon. Whatever it was, the beam was much more powerful than the energy beams on the Oblivion. This was vital information that needed to get back to Hocklyn space.
“The Delphin and the escort cruiser are too heavily damaged to jump,” Rahn reported.
Sangeth only nodded. The two First Leaders on those ships knew their duty.
-
“Their flagship is nearly out of the gravity well,” warned Colonel Beck. “We are focusing our weapons fire on it and the war cruiser.”
“Sir, the war cruiser and the remaining escort cruiser are turning toward the battle carriers!” the sensor operator suddenly reported in consternation.
“They are what?” demanded Colonel Beck, looking sharply at the holographic display. Sure enough, the two indicated Hocklyn ships were changing course. “What are they doing? That’s suicide! The carriers and the destroyers will destroy them!”
“Damn!” cried Tolsen in frustration, realizing the Hocklyn’s intent. He quickly activated his mini-com, giving him instant contact with the two battle carriers and their destroyer escorts. He ordered the two battle carriers and the six destroyers to focus their fire on the two Hocklyn warships and forget the enemy flagship. “They’re going to ram!”
He passed on more orders instructing all of his remaining ships to target the two Hocklyn ships. His gaze switched to the main viewscreen, which showed the Hocklyn war cruiser now glowing with intense weapons fire; its shields covered in massive explosions. The ship literally seemed to be on fire. Its own weapons were now firing only in self-defense.
“They’ve switched nearly all of their power to their shields,” Colonel Beck spoke, his eyes growing wide. “We’re not going to stop that war cruiser in time.”
On the holographic image, the icon representing the Hocklyn escort cruiser suddenly expanded and then vanished as it was destroyed by the intense fire from the human fleet.
Admiral Tolsen could only watch the main viewscreen helplessly as the Hocklyn War Cruiser rammed the battle carrier Liberty. Moments later, the Hocklyn’s self-destructs went off, destroying both ships in a series of massive nuclear explosions.
On the sensor screen, the red icon representing the Hocklyn flagship vanished as it escaped the gravity well and jumped safely into hyperspace. The battle was over.
Admiral Tolsen leaned back in his command chair, still gazing at the viewscreen, which showed the glowing wreckage of the battle carrier Liberty and the Hocklyn war cruiser. The entire command crew was in shock at the unexpected loss of the carrier. There had been 2,700 men and women on board that ship.
“Get me a fleet status report,” Admiral Tolsen finally spoke into the silence, feeling an emptiness inside of him. He had screwed up, and he knew it. “How badly did they hurt us?”
Colonel Beck nodded and turned toward communications. He spent some time talking to the different ship commanders getting damage reports. He finally turned back to the admiral. “We destroyed seven Hocklyn escort cruisers and their two war cruisers, only their flagship managed to escape. In return, we lost the Battle Carrier Liberty, the Monarch cruiser Minotaur, and three light cruisers. Most of our other ships are damaged to some extent, but they can all jump if needed.”
“Take us in and put us into orbit around Caden’s World,” ordered Tolsen, knowing his entire fleet was going to need some yard time. They may have won the battle, but this was one report he was not going to enjoy sending back to Fleet Command.
With the two light cruisers and the four destroyers that were still in orbit around Caden’s World, they would help to augment his fleet strength until reinforcements arrived. In addition, most of the defensive satellites were still intact. He didn’t know if more Hocklyn ships were around; the fact that sensors on Caden’s World had indicated that the Hocklyn flagship had attempted to send out an FTL message indicated there might be.
Federation reinforcements should be arriving shortly. Once they were in the system, he would take his damaged fleet back to New Tellus for repairs and to report in. He knew there would be a lot of discussions about this battle and how it had been fought. He just hoped he was still an admiral when the debriefing was over. In his own mind, he wasn’t sure he should be. The Hocklyn flagship had escaped to spread work back to the Hocklyn Empire that humans had survived.
-
Commander Bisth gazed in anger at the dreadnought Oblivion. He found it hard to believe that War Leader Sangeth had managed to escape this obvious human trap with only his flagship. Repair crews were currently working to repair the Oblivion so they could make the trip back to Resmunt’s base. Every square inch of the ship’s hull looked to be damaged. Massive burn marks, jagged holes, and destroyed weapon systems were hideously evident. Sangeth had been lucky to even escape. Bisth knew that the inside of the Oblivion was also heavily damaged.
His own fleet and Sangeth’s flagship were in orbit around a small nebula where he didn’t think the human ships would search for them. He had tried to stay away from star systems, knowing they might contain pickets watching for Hocklyn ships. He had been shocked, to say the least, when the escort cruiser had returned to inform him as to who their enemies were. More worrisome were the strength of their weapons. Even with the new energy shielding, Sangeth’s fleet had been ravaged.
They would return and make their report to Commodore Resmunt, who in return would pass it on to the Hocklyn High Council. From there it would obviously go to the AIs. There was no way as of yet to know the size of human controlled space, but the fact they had placed a fleet of this strength in a system that contained only a mining colony did not bode well for the empire.
Bisth stood upon the command pedestal in the War Room of the dreadnought WarCry, deep in thought. He suspected that much honor was in store for the Hocklyn race in the coming years. The humans had escaped centuries ago from destruction. Now they were back, and Bisth strongly suspected they were ready for war!
Chapter Six
Admiral Tolsen was at New Tellus for a debriefing with Fleet Admirals Streth and Johnson. As he walked down the wide, immaculate corridors of New Tellus Station under a marine escort, he wondered briefly if he was going to be court martialed. He’d lost more ships than he should have against the Hocklyns. He still felt a numbing pain at the
loss of so many good men and women. There had been several tactical errors he’d made, the worst of which had resulted in the loss of the battle carrier Liberty. Not only that, the enemy flagship had escaped! As commanding officer, it had been his responsibility to defeat the Hocklyns with minimal casualties and in that he had failed.
His marine escort stopped in front of a heavily armored hatch where two more armed marines were standing guard.
“You are expected, Admiral,” one of the marines spoke as he stepped over and opened the hatch.
Tolsen nodded curtly and stepped inside. He felt some relief when his marine escort didn’t follow.
Admiral Streth gazed thoughtfully at the young admiral who had just entered the room. He knew that Rear Admiral Tolsen was only thirty-eight-years-old and from Ceres. He was not married, and both of his parents were still alive. The rear admiral also had a sister that was in the Fleet and was currently serving as the executive officer on the battle carrier Scorpion.
“Have a seat,” spoke Admiral Johnson, indicating a chair across from them.
Tolsen took his place at the highly polished conference table and waited expectantly. Whatever punishment he was about to receive he was willing to accept.
“You are not here to be disciplined,” Admiral Karla Johnson began, her hazel eyes gazing thoughtfully at Tolsen. “Your fleet is the first one to actively engage the Hocklyns in over four hundred years and, all things considered, we feel you did surprising well in the battle.”
“But the enemy flagship escaped,” pointed out Tolsen, knowing this could spell trouble for the Federation. “They will shortly return in even greater numbers.”
“And we will be ready for them,” Admiral Streth assured him, his eyes looking deadly serious. “What you are not aware of Admiral Tolsen is that we believe the Hocklyns had a second fleet also deployed close to Gliese 667C. From the readings we detected from our hyper sensor buoys, a Hocklyn escort cruiser jumped out of Gliese 667C as soon as they detected the mining colony and the ships around it. There was no way you could have prevented them from taking word back to their base about their discovery.”
“This was obviously a survey in force to find out what happened to their two escort cruisers destroyed by Commander Thomas,” Admiral Johnson continued. She leaned back and gazed thoughtfully at Rear Admiral Tolsen. “We are in the process of studying and analyzing your engagement with the Hocklyn fleet. Once we are finished, we will be sending out engagement recommendations to all of our fleet and ship commanders.”
“How soon do you think it will be before they return?” Tolsen asked. He knew with a sinking feeling in his heart that the Federation was just a few months away from all out war with the Hocklyn Slave Empire.
Admiral Johnson looked over at Admiral Streth. He had fought the Hocklyns in the old Federation and knew more about them and their tactics than anyone else. It was the reason he had gone into cryosleep so that experience could be brought to the future.
“Less than two months,” he replied with a frown spreading across his face. “They have six fleet bases within seven hundred light years of us that we have found so far. If I had to make a guess, they will assemble all of their available forces at those bases and throw them at us to see what they are up against. They have this crazy honor system where their warriors raise up in stature and authority based on the amount of honor they can accrue. From what our intelligence has gathered, they receive honor from discovering inhabited worlds to be added to their empire, but their greatest honor is achieved in combat.”
“A warrior system based on honor,” said Tolsen, shaking his head sadly. “It’s a shame that so many good and valiant people have to die to appease this honor of theirs.”
“It’s what they have used to grow their empire,” explained Hedon. He didn’t like it, but this method seemed to work well for the Hocklyns.
“They will attack us immediately while they call in other forces from across their empire to reinforce their bases,” continued Admiral Johnson, pursing her lips as she thought about what could be done. “The good thing is we have detected no presence of any AI ships in our recent survey of their space.”
“But the AIs will come eventually,” Admiral Tolsen responded with a hint of worry on his face. “Then what? Can we destroy one of their ships without suffering catastrophic losses ourselves?”
“We are already working on tactics for that, Admiral,” Hedon replied. It was a question he had pondered on himself. If they couldn’t destroy an AI ship, then they wouldn’t be able to win the war. He recalled briefly the traumatic videos he had watched of the two AIs ships that had attacked his home planets. They had nearly wiped out the entire Human Federation of World’s fleet in just a few brief hours. “When they come this time, we will be ready for them.”
Tolsen nodded. He could only have faith in Admiral Streth. The entire Federation was depending on him to guide them through this crisis and preserve the Federation.
“For the time being, your ships are to be repaired and then your fleet will be sent back to Gliese 667C,” Admiral Johnson informed him. “We will be reinforcing your fleet as well as sending a second fleet for additional support if needed.”
“This second fleet will be under the command of Admiral Adler on board the battle carrier Wasp,” Admiral Streth informed Tolsen. “When the Hocklyns return, we have some new carrier tactics we want to try.”
“Will that be enough ships to stop them?” asked Tolsen, looking doubtfully at the two Fleet Admirals. He wasn’t sure two fleets would do it. “If they bring ships from six bases, we will be severely outnumbered.”
Admiral Johnson looked shrewdly over at Admiral Streth and smiled. They had talked about this already. “We will be markedly increasing the defensive grid and fleet above Caden’s World. We will also have several other fleets positioned to jump in when we need them. The Hocklyns may believe they can take the system. As a matter of fact, we want them to think that.”
“You’re setting a trap,” Tolsen said in sudden realization, arching his eyebrows. He leaned back and gazed at the two admirals. “You want the Hocklyns to attack in overwhelming force!”
“Precisely,” responded Admiral Johnson, nodding her head vehemently. “We are going to be fighting a war where our forces will almost always be outnumbered. We have to use superior tactics and methods to survive. The coming battle in Gliese 667C will help us to perfect those tactics, or at least we hope they will. It will also help to substantially reduce the number of Hocklyns ships in our sector of the galaxy.”
“The Hocklyns are not used to fighting a superior enemy,” added Hedon, leaning forward wanting to stress that point. He looked intently at Admiral Tolsen. “They encounter very few civilizations that can mount a successful defense against their warships. We will use that overconfidence against them.”
Tolsen nodded his head in understanding. “We will be ready. What are my orders?”
“Go get your ships repaired for now, Admiral,” Karla ordered. “Once we have finished analyzing your recent battle, we will call you back for a more thorough debriefing and give you some recommendations for your next engagement.”
Tolsen left the room feeling relieved that he still had command of his fleet. He was determined that the next battle would be different. He already had some ideas of his own about how he would do things differently.
“What to you think, Hedon?” asked Admiral Johnson, turning her attention to the other Fleet Admiral.
“I think that young admiral of yours has a lot of potential. He just needs a little help with his tactics and the Hocklyns will not enjoy what they run into.”
“My thoughts exactly,” replied Karla, nodding her head slowly. “We need to decide which other fleet units will take place in this engagement. We need more of our admirals and commanders versed in fighting the Hocklyns.”
Hedon nodded his head in agreement. Since his awakening, he had spent a lot of time with Fleet Admiral Johnson talking tactics and possi
ble strategies to use against the Hocklyns in the coming war. Hedon closed his eyes briefly. There had been so much to do in the last few months in getting the Ready Reserve Fleet activated, and setting up First, Second, and Third Fleets so they would be operational.
Hedon had scarcely had time to think of those he had left behind. Particularly his brother Taylor and Lendle. Both had declined the offer to go into cryosleep. Instead, they had stayed awake and helped to build the Ceres colony and raise their family. He really missed not being able to talk things over with his brother. When he had time, he fully intended to look up their descendants. From what he had been able to learn, there were a number living on Ceres as well as serving in the Fleet.
-
“Helm, port hard forty degrees turn and down fifteen degrees, Tactical, fire upon completion of the turn. Navigation, plot a micro-jump to coordinates 280-47E and be prepared to jump on my command,” Jeremy ordered calmly as he gazed at the holographic tactical display being projected above the plotting table.
“In range of primary target in fifteen seconds,” Lieutenant Walters reported tensely, his fiery red hair in disarray.
“All weapons to fire on completion of the turn. Power beams are to fire ten seconds after lasers and railguns,” ordered Colonel Malen, keeping her eyes on the tactical display and listening carefully to Commander Strong’s orders.
Jeremy watched the tactical display intently. They were involved in a complicated war game. The Avenger was currently matched up against a Monarch heavy cruiser and two light cruisers while Jeremy’s own escorts consisted of only two destroyers. He was about to attempt a daring maneuver to disable his opponent, one he had never tried before.
“Destroyers,” Jeremy spoke over his mini-com to the two other ships in his command. “Maintain maximum range from those two light cruisers. Continue to hit them with long-range weapons fire; you just need to keep them occupied a little while longer.”
The Slaver Wars: First Strike (The Slaver Wars Book Four) Page 10
