The Slaver Wars: First Strike (The Slaver Wars Book Four)
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His eyes returned to the tactical display seeing that everything was the same as it was the last time he had checked. Commander Arie of the battle carrier Independence was also getting impatient. She had just put in a request to double the size of the fleet’s CAP. She was finding it difficult to keep her aircrews at a high state of readiness. Currently, there were six Talon fighters on patrol around the fleet. She wanted to increase that to twelve as well as add a squadron of armed Anlon bombers. Giving her aircrews more flight time would help increase their morale until the Hocklyns showed up.
“Tell Commander Arie to maintain the current CAP,” Tolsen replied after a moment, arching his eyebrows.
He was concerned that by increasing the size of the CAP and adding a squadron of Anlon bombers it would only add to the rising tension in the fleet. He also didn’t want the Hocklyns to know that they were expected.
Colonel Beck nodded and quickly informed Commander Arie that her request was denied. However, Beck went on to tell Arie that she could keep a squadron of bombers at Condition Two in case they were needed. This seemed to satisfy the battle carrier commander for the moment.
“We’re all getting on edge,” Peter commented as he gazed around the Command Center. It was unusually quiet, with very little talking between crewmembers. Those that were talking to each other spoke in whispers.
“People seem to forget that in war, there is more waiting than fighting,” Tolsen spoke with a long sigh. “Most of the crews in our fleet have never seen actual combat, and I suspect once they do they won’t be quite so anxious for the next time.”
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At a small nebula four light years distant, War Leader Bisth was finally ready to launch his attack against the humans. He gazed intently at the large sensor screen in front of him, which was covered in friendly green icons. Overall, he had ninety-six Hocklyn warships under his command. He felt pride at knowing the honor this fleet would bring him.
It had been decades since the Hocklyn Slave Empire had assembled such a powerful fleet. Commodore Resmunt had made it extremely clear that the Hocklyn High Council wanted the humans dealt with quickly. If it dragged out, the AIs might become involved. If that happened, then the human home world would not be brought into the empire because the AIs would destroy it!
“Send in the four escort cruisers,” Bisth ordered, looking over at First Leader Gresth. “I want detailed scans of that entire system! I want to know what defenses are around the mining planet as well as the human fleet strength. I don’t want any hidden human ships that might cause us problems later.”
First Leader Gresth nodded and activated the com system to pass on the necessary orders to the four chosen escort cruisers. Their First Leaders had already been briefed on their mission specifics to jump into the human mining system and take detailed scans of everything. Two of the cruisers would jump to just outside of the mining planet’s gravity well to take scans of the planet’s defenses; the other two would jump into the outer system to ensure there were no hidden fleets using the large gas giants to shield their energy emissions.
War Leader Bisth watched with satisfaction as his orders were efficiently carried out. He still felt a little uneasy about the coming engagement. His main concern was that these were humans they were dealing with, and highly advanced ones based on the weapons that had been used in the last engagement.
Bisth looked across the War Room; he could see excitement in the eyes of his crew, honor was at hand. Each crewmember knew their status and wealth in the empire would be substantially increased once they engaged the humans and destroyed their fleet. However, the biggest increase would come when they subjugated the human home world. If it was as advanced as Bisth believed, the honor and wealth to be had would be vast!
“Escort cruisers are away,” Gresth reported as the four ships vanished from the sensor screen.
Bisth nodded. If everything went well, they would be launching their attack in a few more hours. War Leader Sangeth had requested that he be allowed to lead the first elements of the fleet into the human system. Bisth knew that Sangeth was still angry from his previous defeat. While no honor had been lost, it had galled Sangeth to retreat from battle. He felt his honor had been tarnished and only by leading this attack could he remove that stain from his reputation. Bisth had agreed, but not for the reasons Sangeth thought.
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Captain Lucy Krandle fought to stifle a yawn. It was early morning on Caden’s World and she had just made it to the operations center. Lieutenant Simmins was already there speaking to the young sensor operator who was just going off duty. Her replacement should be arriving shortly.
“Nothing to report, Sir” she was saying. “There have been no hyperjumps detected overnight. Admiral Tolsen has also reported that no unauthorized jumps have been recorded in any of the nearby systems.”
Lieutenant Simmins turned toward Captain Krandle, seeing that she had made it to the operations center. “Still no sign of the Hocklyns.”
“It can’t be much longer,” Lucy stated as she walked over to a small table with breakfast rolls and a steaming pot of coffee on it. She poured herself a cup and picked up one of the sweet rolls.
“We have a lot of fleet units tied down here,” Simmins commented as Captain Krandle came over to stand in front of the sensor screen. It showed numerous friendly green icons that represented Federation ships.
“They will stay as long as necessary,” Lucy replied as she took a sip of the hot coffee. She loved coffee in the mornings! It seemed to invigorate her. She knew it was only the caffeine, but it still tasted great and seemed to work miracles.
She had just taken a bite of her roll when a warning alarm sounded. Her eyes instantly snapped to the sensor screen, and she watched with apprehension as four red threat icons popped into being.
“What are those?” she demanded as the sensor operator sat back down and began looking at the new data that was coming across her computer screens.
“Information’s coming through now,” the sensor operator replied as her nimble fingers flew over the touch screen. Then her face turned pale as she looked at the data. “The sensors are showing that four Hocklyn escort cruisers have jumped into the system, two just outside of our gravity well and the other two out near the gas giants.”
“This is it,” Simmins spoke, his eyes widening. “The Hocklyns have finally arrived.”
“Summon General Abercrombie and go to Condition One!” ordered Lucy, sharply. “Send a message to Fleet Command informing them of the Hocklyns arrival, then get me Admiral Tolsen on the com system.”
Warning alarms began sounding in both of the two mining settlements. Instantly, heavily armed marines began pouring out of their barracks and proceeded hastily to their weapon emplacements. Missile batteries were activated and swiveled around to point upward toward the danger. Other marines took up positions in buildings that had been reinforced, offering them overlapping fields of fire down the main streets of the settlements. If the Hocklyns managed to land Protectors on the planet, they would be met with a heavy rain of defensive fire.
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“Four Hocklyn escort cruisers detected,” Lieutenant Anders reported from sensors. “Two near the sixth planet and the other two are just outside of Caden’s World’s gravity well. Distance to the nearest is two point six million kilometers.”
Tolsen and Colonel Beck both shifted their gaze to the four blinking red threat icons that were now showing up on the tactical holographic display.
“Four!” Beck spoke with a heavy frown. “I don’t like the looks of that. This could indicate a much larger attack force than we are expecting.”
Tolsen thought over Beck’s words and hoped the colonel wasn’t right. They had been expecting an attack force approximately twice the size of the last one. Everyone except Admiral Streth, Tolsen reminded himself. Admiral Streth had mentioned that there was a real possibility the Hocklyns might attack in overwhelming force.
“Send a message to the rest of
our fleet to prepare to jump back to our current location, also let Admiral Strong know what is going on and to place his fleet on standby.”
“Yes, Sir,” Beck replied as he turned to carry out the admiral’s orders.
“Lieutenant Davis, send a message to Fleet Command that four Hocklyn escort cruisers have jumped into the system and are taking scans. We expect a full scale fleet battle shortly.”
“The two escort cruisers around planet six have jumped again,” Lieutenant Anders reported as they vanished from his sensor screen. A moment later, he spoke once more. “They have jumped to planet seven, the outer gas giant.”
“What are they doing?” asked Beck, glancing over at Tolsen. “Why are they jumping to the gas giants?”
“Looking for other ships,” Tolsen answered as he watched the tactical display closely. “They want to make sure no ships are hiding in the atmosphere or behind them where they couldn’t be picked up by sensors. Whoever this Hocklyn commander is, he’s being cautious.”
“The attack should be imminent then,” stated Beck, raising his eyebrows. “They won’t wait too long after they finish their scans.”
“Bring the fleet to Condition One and tighten our formation,” ordered Tolsen, leaning forward and studying his fleet disposition on the tactical display.
Tolsen was expecting the Hocklyn fleet to jump into the outer system and then proceed slowly toward Caden’s World. He would then gradually retreat, luring them down into the gravity well of the planet.
While Colonel Beck was carrying out his orders, Tolsen contacted Commander Arie and ordered her to begin arming her bombers with missiles. He also ordered her to bring the current CAP in and refuel the fighters. He had a sneaking suspicion they would shortly need every fighter and bomber at their disposal.
After studying the tactical display for another few moments, he dispatched two light cruisers and four destroyers toward the two nearer Hocklyn escort cruisers. If he did nothing, they might suspect something wasn’t right.
“Hocklyn cruisers have jumped away,” Lieutenant Anders reported as the two nearer red threat icons vanished from his sensors. A minute later, he passed on the information that the other two Hocklyn cruisers had also jumped away.
“We will stay at Condition One for awhile,” instructed Tolsen, leaning back in his command chair as he allowed himself to relax for a moment. “If nothing happens in the next hour, we will drop down to Condition Two.”
“Do you think we will have an hour?” asked Beck, walking over and standing next to the admiral.”
“I doubt it, Peter,” Tolsen replied with a slight shake of his head. “I expect the attack to be almost immediate. The Hocklyn commander won’t want us to adjust our fleet formation.”
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Down on Caden’s World, Lucy felt relieved when she saw all four of the red threat icons vanish.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” cautioned General Abercrombie, looking over at the young captain. “They came in, got their sensor readings, and have now jumped back to their main fleet. They will be back shortly.”
“I know,” she replied. Looking over at the reinforced door to the operations center, she noted that the two heavily armed marines had morphed into four. Marines surrounded the entire outside of the operations center. Little good it would do if the Hocklyns decided use a nuke.
Lieutenant Simmins had gone outside to check on security. For some reason, Lucy felt more secure when he was in the room.
Adam Severson walked over and looked at General Abercrombie. There were still a few civilians about that had been helping the marines keep this facade of an operating mining operation going. “Do you think the Fleet can prevent them from bombing the surface?”
“We can only hope,” General Abercrombie responded. Then he went on. “Mr. Severson go ahead and order all of your remaining personnel to the deep bunkers. They should be safe there until this is over.”
Severson nodded and then went to one of the communication consoles to pass on the order.
General Abercrombie had been impressed by Severson. The man had never complained about what was happening to his mining colony. He had done everything asked of him to keep up the pretense that this operation was still functioning normally so they could fool the Hocklyns.
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Admiral Streth had been summoned to the Command Center of the WarStorm. He had already heard the orders to go to Condition Two and for the ship to standby for immediate combat operations. He knew that could mean only one thing, the Hocklyns had arrived.
Entering the Command Center, he saw Admiral Sheen and Commander Samantha Evans at the tactical display discussing the situation. He quickly walked over to them.
“What do we have?” he asked, looking over at Admiral Sheen. He could feel his heart beating a little faster knowing what was ahead.
“Four Hocklyn escort cruisers have jumped into Gliese 667C. We believe they took full scans of the system, particularly the space around Caden’s World, and then jumped back out. They even searched the outer two gas giants for hidden ships.”
Admiral Streth was silent for a moment as he mulled this over. From past experience with the Hocklyns, they normally just bulled their way in blasting everything out of their way. This sounded as if a more cautious War Leader or Commodore was in charge of this fleet. He knew the rankings of the Hocklyns from information they had learned when First Fleet had taken a Hocklyn space station and escort cruiser. There was also the tons of information the Clarions had sent them.
Second Fleet was on the far side of the comet ring with Third Fleet, under Admiral Adler, a few million kilometers away. Admiral Strong was just inside the comet ring with his ships powered down to reduce the possibility of detection. The rest of Admiral Tolsen’s ships were only a short distance away from Strong’s and were also powered down. The trap was set, and now it just needed to be sprung.
“Admiral Strong and Admiral Tolsen’s other ships are powering back up,” Lieutenant Stalls reported from his sensor station as the green icons representing their ships began flaring up.
Admiral Streth nodded his head in acknowledgement. He gazed pensively at the tactical display, confirming the positioning of the fleets. Everything was as ready as it could be. “Now we wait for the Hocklyns and see what kind of playing cards they have brought to the table.”
“You still believe this will be a large fleet they attack with?” inquired Amanda, looking over at the older admiral. Over the years, she had come to trust the admiral’s intuition. He had a knack for strategy and sometimes doing the unexpected.
“Yes, I do” Hedon replied, his eyes focusing on Amanda. “I think this War Leader or Commodore is playing it cautious.”
“I wonder why?” she asked, her blue eyes watching the admiral.
“Because they have found humans again,” he replied in a calm and steady voice. “I suspect some heads will be lost in the Hocklyn Empire when word of this gets back to their ruling council. We were supposed to have been exterminated. Their AI masters will not be pleased.”
Amanda nodded as she turned her attention back to the tactical display and the eighty-six ships that represented her command. She had never dreamed she would command such a powerful fleet. The humans from Earth and the Federation survivors had certainly outdone themselves preparing for this war, but they had also had four hundred years to do so.
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War Leader Bisth looked carefully over the sensor data from the four scouts with interest and growing concern. The human mining world had certainly been reinforced. The space above it was flush with red threat icons, which indicated dangerous defensive satellites. There were over two hundred of the deadly little symbols. What also worried Bisth was that there were now four human light cruisers and ten of their destroyers just below the defensive satellites. There was also a fleet of seventeen more warships hovering just outside of the planet’s gravity well.
To him, it indicated a much larger human population than Fleet Commodore Resmun
t had suggested. He wondered if it were possible that they had missed a sizable human colony in the Human Federation of Worlds all those long years ago. Perhaps that colony had been evacuated out to this distant section of space. That was the only answer Bisth could come up with to explain the obvious size of their fleet as well as their technology.
“They have certainly been reinforced,” Gresth hissed as he gazed at the sensor data. “They have more ships in the system than they did when War Leader Sangeth attacked last time. There will be much honor in this battle.”
Bisth nodded and his cold, dark eyes turned toward his second in command. “We will send War Leader Sangeth in as well as War Leader Tantil. That will give us a decisive fleet advantage in numbers as well as in firepower.”
“Forty-eight ships to the human’s thirty-one,” Gresth nodded in agreement.
“They only have five first line ships in their fleet,” Bisth pointed out. “Sangeth will have sixteen.”
“It will be a short battle,” replied Gresth, wishing the WarCry could be there. However, he dared not make that suggestion; it would not go well with War Leader Bisth.
“Have the two Protector ships go in with Sangeth,” Bisth commanded as he thought about what needed to be done. “They can begin their landings as soon as the orbital defenses and human ships have been annihilated.”
Gresth quickly passed on the orders. He wished he were aboard one of the Protector ships. There would be much honor for the Protectors if the humans had military forces on the ground. His hand went tentatively to the knife at his waist. He would love to sink the blade into the flesh of a human warrior. Honor came swiftly in personal combat.
War Leader Bisth returned to his command pedestal and gazed around the War Room. It was a beehive of intense activity as everything was made ready for the attack. He would send War Leader Sangeth in first with War Leader Tantil’s fleet to assist, then he would bring in his fleet as well as War Leader Canneth’s. He would not allow Sangeth to claim all of the honor in this conquest.
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