The Slaver Wars: First Strike (The Slaver Wars Book Four)

by Weil, Raymond L.

  -

  War Leader Bisth felt great satisfaction as he watched the humans advance to meet his fleet. One thing about these humans, they were not cowards. They were worthy warriors and deserved respect as such. Much honor would be gained in defeating such an enemy.

  “We’re in extreme weapons range,” reported First Leader Gresth, looking over at War Leader Bisth. “What are your orders?”

  Gresth was pleased and excited. Honor was within easy reach, and he could already taste the victory. The Hocklyn fleet had superior numbers and firepower and too many of the human ships were damaged.

  “Continue to close to optimum firing range, target their capital ships with our first salvos. I want all energy beams focused on their two surviving battle cruisers, that’s where their commander will be,” Bisth ordered from his command pedestal as he gazed out triumphantly over the War Room. Honor would soon be forthcoming now that his victory was assured.

  “What about these two new ships?” Gresth asked as he put one of the strike cruisers up on the main viewscreen. “They are 1,000 meters in length and heavily armed.”

  “A new development of their Monarch cruiser,” replied Bisth, dismissing the new ship as a major threat. “Once the battle cruisers are destroyed, switch our energy beams to deal with them.”

  -

  Both fleets continued to close with neither firing. Jeremy watched impassively as the numerous red and green icons on the tactical display gradually grew nearer. “Stand by to fire,” he finally ordered. “All power beams are to focus on their war cruisers. We will get the dreadnoughts later.” Jeremy knew that by destroying the more numerous war cruisers it would take some of the pressure off his lighter units. With the powerful screens the dreadnoughts were equipped with, it would be a waste of time for his lighter units to fire upon them.

  “Hocklyns are launching fighters,” Lieutenant Walters reported as numerous red threat icons began leaving the Hocklyn ships.

  “Fighter count is 328,” Colonel Malen informed Jeremy as she read the data coming across the tactical computer. “That’s a lot of fighters, Sir.”

  “How many do we have?” asked Jeremy, knowing his fighters would be badly outnumbered. The Independence had only one squadron to send while his carrier, the Retribution, had yet to commit her fighters.

  “Only 212 to send against them,” Malen replied with narrowed eyes. Then she asked her next question. “Do we send in the bombers?”

  “Yes,” replied Jeremy heavily, knowing he was probably sending them to their deaths. “Have them target the Hocklyn’s escort cruisers only; the capital ships have too much defensive firepower.”

  “Hocklyns are firing!” Lieutenant Preston called out in warning from Tactical.”

  “Return fire, all batteries,” Jeremy ordered, his eyes focusing on the tactical display. Then they took on a deadly glint of determination as he realized what had to be done. There was only one way they were going to survive this. “Contact the Nemesis and have them put Devastator Three missiles into six of their missile tubes and regular Devastator missiles in six more. I want our tubes loaded the same.”

  “Devastator Three’s!” Malen responded her eyes widening in shock. “We don’t have permission to use those in this battle!”

  “It’s a command decision,” Jeremy replied, his eyes holding steady. “I want to target all four of their dreadnoughts. If Devastator Threes are supposed to knock down an AI shield, then they should smash the shields on a dreadnought. I want a follow up strike from our power beams and railguns; we need to destroy those four dreadnoughts. It’s the only way we’re going to win this.”

  Even as Jeremy finished speaking, he felt the Avenger shudder from weapons fire striking her shields. He looked up at the main viewscreen and Ariel. “Ariel, once the Devastator Three strike has been launched, I am turning control of the Avenger over to you. Can you take control of the Nemesis as well?”

  Ariel smiled in anticipation. “Yes, Lieutenant Johnson and I have prepared a special program just for this; it has already been loaded in the Nemesis’s mainframe.”

  Jeremy merely shook his head; even now it seemed that Ariel and Katie were one step ahead of him.

  Around the Avenger, Hocklyn missile fire spread nuclear fury across the screens of the human fleet. Occasionally, a screen would fail and the ship’s hull would suffer from the onslaught. The space between the two fleets was full of exploding weapons as missiles and missile interceptors collided, defensive fire destroyed inbound ordnance, and power beams, energy beams, and lasers leaped between the two fleets.

  -

  War Leader Sangeth watched his main sensor screen as the last human warship was destroyed above the mining planet. The battle had been swift and brutal, with all fourteen human ships being annihilated as well as the defensive satellites, but they had extracted a heavy cost to Sangeth’s fleet. One war cruiser and six escort cruisers were gone.

  “Begin landing our Protectors,” ordered Sangeth, wanting to find the needed information about the human home world before War Leader Bisth arrived over the planet. Already much honor had been achieved. While it was true War Leader Bisth was also adding honor to his name, it would be Sangeth that would bring the information about the human home world back to Commodore Resmunt.

  Examining the sensor screen, he noticed that Bisth was heavily engaged with the remaining human ships. The humans had been much more powerful than expected. There was no doubt in Sangeth’s mind that a heavily populated human world lay somewhere close by. Its conquest would bring tremendous honor to his family as well as himself. He would soon be a Fleet Commodore after this victory and extremely wealthy.

  -

  Captain Krandle and General Abercrombie had made it to the underground Command Center. Unlike the operations center, this large room was staffed completely by military personnel and heavily shielded.

  “Hocklyn shuttles are descending,” a corporal reported from his sensor console as numerous small red threat icons left two of the orbiting ships and proceeded into the atmosphere.

  “Surface batteries standby to fire,” General Abercrombie ordered into his mini-com. He was in communication with all of his forces and planned to direct the battle from here. The Hocklyns would not be allowed to land unopposed.

  A bank of large viewscreens on one wall showed scenes from across the two mining communities. Several were showing the space above both settlements, and already contrails could be seen from descending Hocklyn shuttles.

  “Fire on target lock,” Abercrombie ordered as his eyes focused on the screens. Every Hocklyn Protector killed in their shuttles was one less his marines would have to deal with on the ground.

  Almost instantly, blazing interceptor missiles launched arrowing upward toward the descending shuttles. No sooner did they launch than horrendous explosions struck the launching sites. Railgun fire from the orbiting Hocklyn ships was targeting every missile firing location.

  Lucy felt sick, knowing brave men and women were dying up above in the town. She hoped Lieutenant Simmins was still okay. Her eyes were glued to the screens as explosions continued to rock the settlement. Several buildings had already collapsed, and others were starting to burn. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see the pained look on Adam Severson’s face as the work of years was being systematically destroyed.

  General Abercrombie was watching the screens intently. He saw several of his interceptor missiles strike the inbound shuttles. Fiery red explosions dotted the early afternoon sky, and then it was over.

  “Hocklyn shuttles are down,” the corporal reported. “Our defensive missile fire took out twelve of them, but the other twenty-eight managed to land.”

  “Now it’s up to our marines,” Abercrombie stated grimly as he passed on the warning to his people up above. He knew that shortly they would be facing a lot of heavily armed Hocklyn Protectors.

  -

  Jeremy felt the Avenger shudder again as a railgun round slipped through the battered energ
y screen. He was waiting for point blank range to hit the Hocklyns with the Devastator Threes. With their miniaturized sublight drive and inertial dampening system, the Hocklyns would never detect the launch. He glanced over at the damage control board, noticing a few more red lights were glowing. The Avenger was taking some damage, even with her powerful energy screen.

  “Optimum range now,” spoke Ariel, wanting Jeremy to launch. The Avenger was taking too much damage. Already, her weapons systems had been degraded by eight percent.

  “Launch,” Jeremy ordered softly. Around the Command Center, it became so quiet you could hear a pin drop. This would be the first time any of them had seen a Devastator Three used.

  “Launching,” replied Lieutenant Preston, as he pressed a series of buttons.

  On the Avenger’s outer hull, twelve hatches slid open on the ship’s missile tubes. From six of them, there was a bright flash and then nothing. From the other six, Devastator missiles rose up on pillars of flame their targeting sensors reaching out and pinpointing the Hocklyn dreadnoughts.

  -

  War Leader Bisth was feeling the satisfaction of victory as his ships pounded the human fleet. Already several of their lighter units had fallen to Hocklyn weapons fire, and their heavier units were suffering significant damage.

  Suddenly a series of bright flashes covered all the viewscreens and the WarCry shuddered violently, then the ship seemed to be struck by a massive object, which threatened to break the ship apart. Bisth could hear loud explosions and wrenching sounds from the ship’s hull as he struggled to hold onto the command console, then he was thrown violently to the deck. All the lights went out and several consoles exploded, sending bright showers of sparks across the room. Several supporting metal beams broke loose and came crashing down. Cries of pain and shock filled the War Room.

  “First Leader Gresth!” Bisth rasped loudly as he stood back up, feeling a sharp pain in one leg.

  The emergency lights flashed on, and he saw the War Room was in shambles. It was rapidly filling with smoke and several small fires were burning. Looking over to his side, he saw Gresth with his head up against a console. From the angle, Bisth knew the First Leader was dead.

  -

  Jeremy closed his eyes briefly as brilliant explosions lit up the viewscreens on the front wall of the Command Center. Rolling nuclear fire covered the location of all four of the Hocklyn dreadnoughts. Even as he watched, the second wave of weaker Devastator missiles arrived and added to the maelstrom.

  “Did we get them?” Jeremy asked intently, his eyes turning to Kevin.

  “Sensors are off line,” Lieutenant Walters reported. “There was too much of an EMP blast from those missiles and it will take a moment for the systems to recover.”

  Finally, the tactical image above the plotting table flickered and then came back on.

  “Two dreadnoughts are down, and the other two are heavily damaged,” Colonel Malen told Jeremy as she studied the data. “The two surviving dreadnoughts are finished; they’re just floating wrecks.”

  Jeremy smiled viciously. “Ariel, the Avenger and Nemesis are yours. Let’s go get those war cruisers; all other ships are to continue to pound the escorts. I want both battle carriers to move up into optimum combat range and add their firepower to the rest of the fleet.”

  “It’s your turn now, Ariel,” Katie spoke over their private channel. Let’s go show Jeremy what you can do.”

  Ariel felt a flush of excitement at getting to show Jeremy what she was capable of. The Avenger and Nemesis suddenly accelerated sharply and closed on a Hocklyn war cruiser. Every weapon the two ships could bring to bear fired in unison, all impacting a target only a few meters across on the Hocklyn’s energy screen. Its shields instantly collapsed, and Ariel sent through a Devastator missile. The war cruiser ceased to be as nuclear fire consumed the ship.

  Jeremy was silent as he watched. He hadn’t given Ariel permission to use Devastator missiles but after seeing the result, he wasn’t going to argue.

  -

  Admiral Streth nodded in satisfaction as the WarStorm’s long-range sensors detected the Devastator Three missiles going off.

  “Take us in, Amanda,” ordered Hedon, knowing the time had finally arrived. “Let’s go help Admiral Strong finish off those Hocklyn ships. Those missiles should have knocked their FTL drives offline; they can’t escape now. Tell Admiral Adler he has a go.”

  “You knew he would use those missiles, didn’t you?” spoke Amanda gazing accusingly at the admiral in surprise.

  “I suspected,” replied Hedon with a satisfied smile. “From what I have learned of Admiral Strong, he doesn’t believe in losing. The Devastator Threes were his only choice.”

  -

  War Leader Bisth looked at the sensor screen, which had just been brought back online. Very little else was working in the War Room. Even the heavy metal hatch was jammed so they couldn’t get out and help couldn’t get in. Communications with most parts of the ship were down. From what little information he had been able to receive, he knew his ship was mortally wounded and all that was left was for it to finish dying. He wondered just what the humans had hit his ships with and why they hadn’t used it before. The Hocklyns possessed no weapon comparable to what had just been used against him.

  He felt utter shock when numerous red threat icons began appearing on the sensor screen behind his fleet. More human ships! Now he knew why the humans had waited to use this final weapon. From the scattered communications he had been able to receive from his other warships, all of their FTL drives were down from the EMP blasts. His fleet could not escape. With a heavy sigh, he knew it was over. Reaching down on the command console, he pressed two bright red buttons embedded in the panel. He would find honor in death. Moments later, the WarCry exploded as its self-destructs went off.

  -

  Admiral Adler looked grimly at the tactical display in the Command Center of the battle carrier Wasp. Admiral Strong’s daring attack with Devastator Three missiles had stunned the Hocklyns. All four of their heavy dreadnoughts were either destroyed or out of action. Even as he watched, the last went up as its nuclear self-destruct charges detonated.

  “Status,” he barked as he looked over at his executive officer.

  “All four of their dreadnoughts are gone, and Admiral Strong is pressing the attack,” Commander Timmins responded. “The war cruisers seem to be recovering from the loss of their dreadnoughts and are renewing their assault on Admiral Strong’s forces.”

  “Launch our bomber strike,” Adler ordered with a fierce grin.

  He wanted to take the pressure off Strong’s ships, and right now he had the Hocklyns at a disadvantage. Following Strong’s example, he had jumped in just behind the Hocklyn fleet. He planned on a long-range attack campaign using his Anlon bombers, but the bombers on his ten carriers were different. They had a weak forward shield and his carriers had many more of them than a normal battle carrier.

  In the flight bay of the Wasp, Colonel Karl Arcles was the fleet’s acting flight leader. He had gone into cryosleep along with his copilot Captain Lacy Sanders over four hundred years ago.

  “Let’s go get them,” he spoke over his com to all of his squadrons. “Form up on me and let’s kick some Hocklyn ass.”

  Arcles expertly guided his Anlon bomber out of the flight bay and quickly set course for the Hocklyn fleet. From his cockpit window, he could see numerous explosions occurring around both of the two battling fleets. His other squadrons quickly formed up around him. Each carrier group had an acting wing commander and Arcles would facilitate the attack through them.

  “Target their remaining war cruisers first, then the escorts,” he ordered in a calm and steady voice. “That’s where their advantage is right now. If we can take them out, then Admiral Strong can handle the rest.”

  The other nine wing leaders confirmed his instructions as they zeroed in on their intended targets.

  “Activate forward shields,” he instructed Captain Sand
ers.

  “Just like old times,” quipped Lacy, trying not to sound nervous about going back into combat after so long. “I just hope these shields work.”

  “Just like back home,” replied Arcles, recalling the last battle in the home system back in the old Federation. “Only this time, we’re going to win!”

  Arcles’s squadron was slightly in the lead. Behind him, another 1,260 Anlon bombers were lined up each equipped with four Shrike missiles armed with a tactical nuclear warhead. It would be the most devastating bomber strike ever launched by a human fleet.

  -

  Aboard the war cruisers, the First Leaders looked in anger and fear at what was coming toward them. War Leader Bisth was dead and the command structure was in tatters; each First Leader was on his own. Some chose to continue the attack against the human ships; however, several others turned to face the incoming attack bombers of the humans.

  -

  Admiral Streth had jumped in as close to the gravity well of Caden’s World as he dared. Even so, it would take nearly thirty minutes for his fleet to reach the planet.

  “Admiral Sheen, I want half of the fleet to micro-jump to the other side of the planet’s gravity well. Our drive cores are still cool enough to handle a short micro-jump. I don’t want any of these Hocklyn ships to escape.”

  “Yes, Admiral,” Sheen responded as she quickly passed on the orders to the necessary ships.

  As soon as the ships had micro-jumped, Hedon ordered the remaining part of the fleet to head in toward Caden’s World. It was time to extract some revenge for what the Hocklyns had done to his home worlds.

  -

  “Looks as if the cavalry’s arrived,” General Abercrombie commented with obvious relief in his voice as he watched the arrival of Second and Third Fleet. “The space battle will be over shortly, that will just leave the Hocklyn Protectors down here.”

  Lucy nodded. Looking at the viewscreens, she could see that heavy fighting was already erupting in the settlement above them. The Hocklyns had brought all of their shuttles down around the settlement with the operations center.