“Hocklyns are trying to get out a distress signal,” Angela informed Jeremy as her fingers moved rapidly over her computer screen touching various icons. “I’ve blocked it. They can’t get any FTL message through our jamming.”
“Keep those transmissions blocked,” Jeremy ordered. He didn’t want Hocklyn reinforcements showing up with Fourth Fleet in the planet’s gravity well.
-
In space, the fury of the battle began to lessen. In the shattered Hocklyn formation, only a few ships were still firing. Most had been destroyed by Federation fire or when their self-destructs had gone off. Only a single warcruiser and two escorts were still fighting and shortly all three vanished as antimatter missiles overwhelmed their battered shields, annihilating all of them in brilliant releases of pure energy. Soon all that was left of the Hocklyn ships was a slowly expanding debris field and some glowing gas from the antimatter explosions. Shortly even that began to fade away.
“Hocklyn fleet has been destroyed,” reported Kevin, allowing himself to relax.
“Jumping in the Alton ships to destroy the two dreadnoughts was brilliant, Jeremy,” Ariel commented. She'd done very little other than observe.
“It’s a strategy we should use more often,” Jeremy commented. “The AIs used it often enough in the battles we’ve fought with them.”
Ariel nodded. This was a good victory for the fleet, and she was pleased with the way Jeremy had handled the battle.
“Strikecruiser Nemesis is reporting moderate damage and is requesting permission to leave the planet’s gravity well and jump to the Clan Protector for repairs,” Angela informed Jeremy as she listened to numerous messages coming across her com system. “The light cruiser Fury is also requesting to enter one of the repair bays.”
“Permission granted,” replied Jeremy. Then he turned to Commander Malen. “Put us into orbit over the planet. Now we put the next part of Fleet Admiral Streth’s orders into effect.”
-
An hour later, Fourth Fleet was in orbit around the slave planet. Jeremy was a little concerned about Hocklyn reinforcements jumping into the system since they were so deep in Hocklyn space. To be on the safe side, he had Rear Admiral Marks position her fleet just outside the gravity well along with Grayseth’s ships. He'd also ordered the mobile shipyard to rejoin Grayseth’s force so additional protection could be provided in case more Hocklyns did arrive.
“What are your orders, Admiral?” Commander Malen asked as she turned to face Jeremy.
“What’s the status of that large space station?” he asked, gesturing toward one of the viewscreens showing the massive station. It was easily six kilometers across and several kilometers in width as well as depth.
“I’m receiving a hail from the station,” Angela spoke suddenly with surprise. “They say they’re unarmed and the Hocklyn Protectors on board have taken shuttles and gone down to the planet.”
“Ask them what the purpose of the station is.”
Angela quickly transmitted the message and promptly received a reply. “The planet produces agricultural products for the Hocklyn home worlds. The station serves as the primary collection center for the planet. From there the food products are loaded aboard cargo ships, which take it to the designated planet or Hocklyn habitat.”
“Tell the station they have four hours to evacuate. Once the four hours are up we’ll destroy it.”
Angela did so and then turned back toward Jeremy.
“They’re begging us not to destroy the station,” she reported as she listened to a frantic message from the station. “They say it took over forty years just to build it and a massive amount of resources.”
“Inform them they no longer serve the Hocklyns and the station is no longer needed,” Jeremy said in a calm voice. “Then remind them they only have four hours and cut the connection.”
“What if they can’t all get off in time?” asked Commandeer Malen, concerned. The indigenous species on the planet and the station were slaves under the Hocklyn Slave Empire. They had no choice but to obey or the Hocklyns would lay waste to the surface of their planet as they had done to countless others. She hated the thought of killing innocents.
“We’ll scan the station before we destroy it,” Jeremy assured the commander. “I just want them to make haste evacuating. The longer we stay, the more likely it is that additional Hocklyn warships will show up.”
“What about the planet?” Ariel asked as she walked over to stand next to Jeremy. “I’m detecting numerous large facilities in the rural areas which are obviously food processing centers.”
“How many?”
“Over four hundred,” Ariel responded. “They’re quite large and probably contain considerable quantities of food supplies. We should destroy them also or the Hocklyns will just land shuttles to bring the supplies up to the cargo ships.”
“The cargo ships,” muttered Jeremy, looking up at one of the viewscreens that showed the station.
There were ten cargo ships docked to it and another four close by. The rest had already jumped out of the system. If their crews were from the slaves on the planet, Jeremy doubted if they would say anything to the Hocklyns about what had just occurred in the system for fear of reprisal.
“Make sure all of the crews on those cargo ships are also evacuated. We’ll destroy them along with the station.” He looked over at Angela. “Transmit the warning and don’t give them time to reply.”
Angela nodded and transmitted the message.
Jeremy shifted his gaze to one of the larger viewscreens, which showed a blue-green planet. It resembled Earth in many ways, but instead of having a number of large oceans, the planet had two small ones. The surface was covered with lakes and rivers and massive agricultural activity was plainly evident.
“I want a general broadcast aimed at the planet,” Jeremy ordered after he spent a few moments examining the planet. “All of their large food processing centers are to be immediately evacuated. They have six hours, keep broadcasting that message nonstop.”
“You’re going to destroy them,” Ariel said as she looked at Jeremy.
“You’re taking out their food supplies!” Commander Malen said with dawning realization. “Without regular food shipments, the Hocklyn home worlds can’t survive. They have too big a population. They’re trillions of Hocklyns in their twelve home systems.”
Jeremy looked at Commander Malen, encouraging her to continue.
“They’ll turn on each other,” Commander Malen uttered as she thought about what starvation could make people do. “They will turn into animals as they try to secure food at any cost, even killing their neighbors if necessary.”
“Yes,” answered Jeremy, nodding his head. “Second Fleet, Third Fleet, and Fourth Fleet are going to spend the next month taking out the Hocklyn slave planets that furnish most of the food to the Empire’s home worlds. When chaos reigns we’ll move in and take out what remains of the Hocklyn fleet, which we hope will have been decimated by the different factions trying to procure food supplies.”
“It’s a devilish plan,” commented Commander Malen, arching her eyebrow. “But it just might work.”
“It has to work,” answered Jeremy, thinking about what waited at the galactic center. “We’re running out of time.”
-
Four hours later, the large space station had been evacuated. Jeremy didn’t know how large a crew had been on board, but numerous shuttles had been dispatched from the surface to help in the evacuation.
“Evacuation’s complete,” Ariel reported as she scanned the station for any signs of life. “The cargo ships have also been evacuated.”
“I’ve just received a message from the surface confirming the station is empty,” added Angela, looking over at Jeremy. “They also said they’re evacuating the food processing and distribution centers. They have implored us not to destroy them as it will greatly anger the Hocklyns.”
“This planet is less than two hundred light years from th
e Hocklyn home worlds,” commented Kevin, leaning back and running his hand through his red hair. He took a deep breath and looked over at Jeremy. “They’ve been under Hocklyn control for thousands of years; they know nothing else.”
“There will be many worlds like this one,” Ariel spoke in agreement. Her dark eyes looking thoughtful. “Already the Federation is finding it difficult to convince many of the slave worlds we have freed that the Hocklyns are not coming back. Being slaves has become a normal part of their lives.”
“It’ll take time,” admitted Jeremy, knowing the job ahead of the Federation and its allies would be immense. “But we’ll get it done.”
Ariel nodded to herself. If Jeremy said it would be done then she believed him.
“Load Devastator Threes in four of the tubes and destroy that station,” Jeremy ordered. “I don’t want to leave the Hocklyns anything they can use. Take out the cargo ships with railgun fire.”
“Yes, Sir,” replied Lieutenant Preston as he passed on the orders to his weapon techs. “Four missile spread and ready secondary railguns.”
Moments later, four sublight Devastator Three missiles flashed away from their tubes to detonate against the station. Four miniature suns blazed brightly in the sky above the planet. When the four suns diminished and finally faded away, all that was left of the large space station was a scattering field of debris. A few cargo ships had survived and heavy railgun fire soon reduced them to drifting wreckage.
“Continue to use railgun fire to destroy any large segments that might be a danger to the planet,” Jeremy ordered as he watched one of the tactical displays showing the slowly expanding debris field. It was obvious a few pieces might drift down and enter the planet’s atmosphere.
From the fleet, additional railgun fire reached out and blew all of the larger fragments apart. The firing continued for several minutes until nothing larger than a basketball remained. Those sized pieces would burn up in the planet’s atmosphere.
Jeremy nodded to himself, satisfied. He didn’t want to cause any more harm to the citizens of this planet than he needed to. Someday, the Federation would return and he didn’t want them to be remembered as causing massive civilian casualties.
An alarm suddenly sounded on Kevin’s sensor console. His eyes quickly shifted to one of his screens, which showed half a dozen red threat icons twenty million kilometers from the planet.
“Hostiles detected,” he reported as the sensors quickly identified the targets. “One Hocklyn warcruiser and five escorts.”
“We need two more hours,” uttered Jeremy, taking a deep breath as he gazed worriedly at the new arrivals. “What are they doing?”
“Taking sensor scans of our ships,” Ariel replied as her own sensors detected the intruding scans. “I’ve detected several FTL transmissions, which suggest they’re reporting their findings or calling for help.”
“Damn!” Jeremy activated the ship-to-ship communications on his mini-com. “Admiral Cleeteus, I’m going to pull the rest of Fourth Fleet back outside of the gravity well. You’re to remain and destroy the food processing centers at the end of two more hours. Once that’s been done, you’re to microjump to outside of the gravity well and we’ll leave this system.”
“It will be done,” Admiral Cleeteus responded in a calm voice. “Though the Hocklyns may not give us two hours if they have any sizable fleet units close by. After all, we are close to their home worlds.”
“I know,” admitted Jeremy. “If we’re engaged by Hocklyn units before the time is up, your orders are to destroy the facilities immediately and then jump to Fourth Fleet’s position to aid in the battle.”
“Yes, Admiral,” Cleeteus responded.
“You may kill some innocents with those orders,” spoke Malen, worriedly.
“I hope not,” Jeremy responded with a heavy sigh. “But we have orders to destroy the Hocklyn's food supply at any cost.”
Malen nodded. She understood that it might have to be done. She turned to Ensign Striker. “Plot a course out of the gravity well to rendezvous with our other ships.”
“Yes, Commander,” Striker replied as he began working at his console.
Jeremy watched patiently, knowing the fleet would soon be moving. It was times like this watching Ensign Striker plotting their course that he truly missed Kelsey at Navigation.
-
For the next hour and a half, the crew in the Command Center of the Avenger watched tensely as the number of Hocklyn warships in the system steadily grew. Every few minutes, another group of ships would jump in.
“How many does that make?” Jeremy asked as four more red threat icons blossomed in one of the tactical displays.
“Ten warcruisers and forty-two escort ships,” Kevin reported as his eyes stayed focused on his screens.
“No dreadnoughts yet,” commented Commander Malen as she studied the tactical displays. “They’re staying at twenty million kilometers.”
“Waiting for more ships,” suggested Jeremy, wishing the time would pass by more quickly.
He was worried that a truly large Hocklyn fleet would appear at any moment. He suspected there were thousands of Hocklyn ships now protecting their home worlds. The question was, were there any large fleets close enough to get to this system in time to engage Fourth Fleet?
He was growing impatient to leave, but he was stuck at this planet until Fourth Fleet’s mission was completed. It was only a matter of time before Hocklyn dreadnoughts arrived and when they did, they would attack immediately. He drummed his fingers on the command console, watching the screens and willing the time to go by faster.
-
On the Warrior’s Pride, Grayseth gazed at the waiting Hocklyn ships with rising anger. He wanted to take his ships and attack, but he understood the wisdom of waiting and not accepting unnecessary losses.
“Ten more minutes and the Alton ships will open fire,” Ganlon spoke as he gazed at the tactical displays. “The Evil Ones keep their distance.”
“They do not have the numbers yet to endanger us,” Grayseth growled as he folded his massive arms across his powerful chest. “They wait for more of their kind to come before they dare to attack.”
“We will be ready when they do,” Ganlon responded his eyes narrowing. “The Warrior’s Pride will destroy many of the Evil Ones in battle. We shall hunt together.”
“As it should be,” Grayseth responded as even more red threat icons began appearing.
-
Aboard the Cydonia, Admiral Cleeteus watched as the timer counted down to zero. He turned to Commander Joshua Riggins the highest-ranking Human on the ship and his second in command. “Fire!”
From the Alton ships, bright blue particle beams flashed down through the planet’s thick, protective atmosphere, striking the designated targets. The Alton ships slowly circled the planet, hitting target after target. When a beam struck one of the facilities, a large fiery explosion would result. Each explosion was nearly a kiloton in explosive force. Every facility bore the brunt of numerous particle beam firings.
-
“Altons are firing,” Commander Malen reported.
“I’m putting it up on the screens,” Ariel added as she sent the necessary commands.
Instantly, on half a dozen viewscreens massive explosions could be seen occurring at the food processing and distribution centers. Smoke was prevalent in the air and fire was everywhere.
“Estimate ninety-two percent destruction on the facilities already hit,” reported Ariel as she scanned the damage with the ship’s sensors. “Eight more minutes and all facilities will have been destroyed.”
“More Hocklyn ships are arriving,” Kevin interrupted as additional red threat icons appeared. “I’m picking up six dreadnoughts and fourteen additional warcruisers in this latest group. They’re starting to move toward us on their sublight drives. Estimated twenty minutes before they get here.”
“We’ll be gone by then,” Jeremy stated. He pressed the ship-to-ship communicat
ions again. “All ships standby to jump as soon as the Altons join us. We’ll not be engaging the Hocklyns unless they beat the Altons to us.”
The minutes passed slowly by as the Hocklyns came nearer and then Alton battlecruisers began to appear around Fourth Fleet.
“Signal from the Cydonia,” Angela reported. “Mission completed.”
“Let’s get out of here,” ordered Jeremy, leaning forward ready to leave the system.
A few moments later, blue-white spatial vortexes formed and the Federation ships were soon gone.
Jeremy felt the gut wrenching feeling of jumping into hyperspace. On the viewscreens, the dark swirling purple colors of that strange space were prevalent. He let out a deep sigh; the first planet had been dealt with, now it was time to go on to the next. If everything went as planned, the Hocklyns would soon find themselves in an untenable position. Closing his eyes briefly, Jeremy worried about what was at the galactic center. At some point, they would have to return and the AIs would be waiting.
Opening his eyes, Jeremy glanced around the Command Center. Everyone was going about their jobs efficiently. He noticed Kevin over at Angela’s com station talking to her with Ariel standing close by. It still felt strange for Kelsey and Katie not to be here. At least they were safe for now back in the New Providence system. The StarStrike and First Fleet were staying put for now as Admiral Streth prepared for the final push against the Hocklyns.
Chapter Ten
Seven months until doomsday.
High Leader Nartel was fuming as he gazed around at the other High Councilors. They were all demanding that additional food supplies be allocated to their planets and habitats due to the recent reduction in shipments from the agricultural planets.
“There is no more food!” Nartel blasted out, removing his knife from its sheath and burying the blade deep into the polished wood of the large council table. “The Humans and the Altons have been cutting off our food supplies with their warships for the past month. They have three large fleets reinforced with Alton battlecruisers attacking our agricultural planets one by one.”
The Slaver Wars: Endgame Page 13
