In the system of Cantos where New Eden was located, the Federation fleet had been forced back beneath the planetary defense grid. They had managed to destroy the Hocklyn fleet but not before seven nukes hit the planetary surface. Casualties were estimated to be in the millions.
There was no word yet from the system of Malten Two. The colony planet Aldon, with a population of 900 million, was in the system. There had been no word since the defending Federation fleet had engaged the Hocklyns. Tellus was sending out the battle carrier Liberty, two Monarch cruisers, six light cruisers, and four destroyers to check on the system. It would be the next day before they knew anything.
“At least they didn’t hit Tellus or Maken,” Major Andrews spoke after listening to the report. “Home fleet is still intact as well as our shipyards here and at Aquaria.”
“We’re going to need those shipyards to replace our ship losses,” added Admiral Flaxen, shaking his head. Then looking over at Admiral Streth he continued, “I just hope nothing bad has happened at Aldon.”
Hedon nodded his head. The Hocklyns had hit them hard; probably as hard as they could in the time they had available to them. If Aldon survived, the Federation had probably bought at least six months to a year's worth of time before the Hocklyns could strike again. In that time, most of the fleet losses could be made up from new construction. The big shipyard above Tellus would be invaluable for rebuilding the fleet. He knew that currently another battle cruiser and a battle carrier were under construction in two of that shipyard’s massive bays.
-
Aboard the StarStrike, Amanda was back in her quarters taking a brief break. Major Trist had returned from auxiliary control, which was his station when the ship was at Condition One or two. If the Command Center was destroyed then he could take over control of the ship from there. She lay down on her bed. It was a relief to know that Aquaria had come through their attack untouched. No nukes had reached the surface. Her family was still safe. Closing her eyes, she tried to sleep. The next few days were going to be frantic as they tried to get the fleet reorganized. Amanda finally fell into a fitful sleep. In her dreams, she kept seeing ships dying and friends calling out for help as the colonies burned.
Chapter Eight
War Leader Sigeth stood in former Commodore Anglert’s office staring out the thick insulated window across the desolate cold landscape. His dark eyes were unblinking as he thought about recent troublesome events. The Hocklyn forces sent to subjugate the human colony worlds had been defeated. In all four cases, the attacking Hocklyn fleets had been destroyed. That there had been no survivors was not surprising. No Hocklyn would return home in defeat. Even in a losing effort, a death in battle could preserve a family’s honor and holdings.
Sigeth wondered how this grave error had occurred. When no ships from the four fleets had returned to his waiting supply and invasion fleet, Sigeth had sent out several small surveillance ships to see what the delay was. He had been dismayed to learn that the humans had managed to destroy all four of Commodore Anglert’s war fleets.
Upon learning this stunning news, he had immediately turned his fleet and started the long sequence of jumps back to the isolated fleet base. This serious setback had to be reported to the Hocklyn High Command. His honor would be preserved as his fleet hadn’t taken part in the actual attacks. The invasion fleet was only to move in after the last human warship had been eliminated. Commodore Anglert had failed to achieve that mission requirement.
On the way back, Sigeth had studied the data from the scouts and taken note of the damage the fleets had done to two of the human colony worlds. There was also clear evidence from the sensor scans of numerous destroyed Hocklyn ships in the human systems. It had been over three hundred years since the Hocklyn Slave Empire had suffered such a total defeat to one of its war fleets. Now four of them had been destroyed by the same enemy in a single day!
Already Commodore Anglert’s family had been stripped of all their property holdings, and their family honor was a thing of the past. It had been the commodore’s responsibility to the Hocklyn Empire to ensure victory. His family would now pay for that failure.
“Our masters are demanding an explanation,” his aide spoke in a quivering voice from behind him. The aide had been standing quietly for several minutes, afraid to interrupt War Leader Sigeth’s thoughts.
“Our masters,” repeated Sigeth, continuing to gaze out the window. He let the words come out slowly, knowing the repercussions for failing the masters. Their masters were demanding and did not accept failure.
“I will communicate with them shortly,” responding Sigeth taking a deep breath. A defeat such as the one suffered by Commodore Anglert had to be reported to the Hocklyn High Command, as well as the masters.
Sigeth knew that he should have been placed in command of the attacking fleets from the start. Under his command, this debacle would never have occurred. He had much more experience in battle than Anglert. However, this had been Anglert’s base, and he had used the prestige of his family to convince the Hocklyn High Command to give him the task of bringing these human worlds into the empire. Now Anglert’s family had paid for that failure, which had cost the Hocklyn Empire four fleets of warships.
Outside, ice pellets were falling. Already visibility was beginning to decrease, and the distant mountains were now shielded in gray as the ice began to come down in earnest. Sigeth knew that in another few hours, a thick layer of ice would cover everything. Looking down at the spaceport, he could see slave technicians trudging across the ice covered landing pads. They were wrapped in heavy clothing, but even from here Sigeth could see a few lying on the ground not moving. It was a shame slaves died so easily on this planet. Every week, they requisitioned more to replace those that had died. This was an extremely harsh and unforgiving world.
It had been over six years since he had last been on one of the Hocklyn home worlds. His duty and the ever constant expansion of the empire had kept him far from home. On several occasions, family members had come out to the frontier to visit him and praise him for bringing honor to the family. Unfortunately, over time outposts like this had become all too familiar.
Sigeth had already sent out his report to the Hocklyn High Command as to what had transpired at the human colonies. He knew that a new and much larger military force would soon be assembling in orbit. From the ship losses the humans had suffered, Sigeth knew they would fall quickly to the new fleet. Anglert had made a serious error in judgment for not requesting more warships for his ill-fated attack. The empire had thousands of ships at its disposal. The next attack fleet would be ten times the size of the previous one. Sigeth didn’t mind sharing the glory of conquering these four human worlds as well as their home system when it was found. Victory would ensure his continued survival and future rise in the Hocklyn Hierarchy. Perhaps he could even return to the home worlds to live out the rest of his life.
However, he now needed to contact the Hocklyn’s masters. They would not be pleased with his report, but the blame for this disaster had already been placed on Commodore Anglert. Sigeth felt uneasy at contacting the masters. If they decided to respond to this defeat, their response could be quick and deadly to the humans. The masters might decide to make an example out of the human worlds instead of adding them to the empire. If that were to happen, then the Hocklyns would lose four potentially valuable new slave worlds plus the human’s home system, which had yet to be discovered.
-
Hedon was back on Maken with his brother Taylor and Lendle. It had been five long weeks since the failed Hocklyn attack on the four colony worlds. The entire Human Federation of Worlds was still in shock over the atrocities committed by the Hocklyns on helpless civilians. It might be months yet before the final total of those killed was known.
Taylor and Hedon were down at the lake taking a late evening stroll and discussing the events that had brought them back to Maken and the cabin by the lake. They had only arrived at the cabin a few hours earlier.
Lendle was tidying up the cabin and unpacking some supplies they had brought with them. She had told Taylor and Hedon to be back in time for supper. She didn’t want it to get cold waiting on them.
“I still can’t believe what happened on Aldon,” spoke Taylor, gazing out over the calm lake waters. In a few spots, he could see small ripples where fish were feeding. “The last reports indicate over 87 million dead and another 20 million injured.”
“They nuked the planet,” Hedon said somberly, glancing over at his brother. “They forced the defending fleet to retreat back beneath the planetary defense grid and then used their fighters to take the grid out. The fleet did everything they could to protect the planet.”
“They nuked twenty-two cities,” replied Taylor, coming to a stop. “How could they do something like that? What if they had made it here or to Tellus? The casualties could have been a hundred times worse!”
The lake looked so peaceful. Taylor couldn’t imagine that type of horror coming here. He had seen the photos and some of the vid coverage of Aldon. The carnage in the destroyed cities was beyond belief. Survivors were shown in the wreckage, still searching for missing loved ones. Every effort was being made to get supplies and medical aid to those that needed it. There were so many in need of help that it was seriously taxing the Federation agencies responsible for delivering such aid.
“The battle carrier Harrington and two light cruisers were all that survived the attack,” added Hedon shaking his head. He had read the detailed report of the attack and the desperate attempt by the Federation fleet to protect the planet. “If not for the Harrington and her pilots the damage would have been a lot worse. The cruisers did everything they could to protect the Harrington as her air wings took on the Hocklyn ships. It’s my understanding that only twelve pilots survived, but not a single fighter or bomber was left that was flyable once the battle was over. All three ships are still in the repair bays at Aquaria.”
“Can we not salvage any of the other ships?” Taylor asked. He knew the battle above Aldon had been terrible and merciless.
The story of the heroic battle the Harrington’s air wings had fought was already spreading across the Federation. People across the Federation were still talking about how the last four Anlon bombers, protected by seven fighters, had fought their way to the enemy dreadnaught and then all four bombers had rammed the Hocklyn flagship, detonating their loads of nukes. The resulting explosions had knocked down the dreadnaught’s energy screen and the last bomber’s weapons had exploded against the unprotected hull, seriously damaging the ship. The Harrington had then moved in and used her railguns to finish the dreadnaught off.
They had lost a lot of irreplaceable fleet units and personnel in the battles with the Hocklyns. Taylor didn’t know what the fleet was going to do to make up for the lost ships. General Allister had told Taylor that they might have to consider enlarging the bases on New Providence to take in more civilians. Even Admiral Flaxen had indicated that he didn’t know if they could stop the Hocklyns again if they attacked in the same numbers.
“The Monarch cruiser Thunder and possibly two of the light cruisers might be salvageable,” responded Hedon, recalling the fleet reports that Admiral Flaxen and he had gone over. He had seen the photos of the damage. “The ships have been taken to Aquaria. They are waiting their turn in the repair bays. Once in, the engineers will decide if it will be quicker to repair them or build new ships.”
“How much time do you think we have before the Hocklyns return?”
Hedon pursed his lips and gazed at the distant setting sun. In another thirty or forty minutes, the sun would be below the horizon. “Admiral Kinseth believes we have at least another four to six months before they can return with a sizable fleet.”
“I understand the civilian government is up in arms about what happened on Aldon.”
“After the Hocklyns managed to nuke Aldon and New Eden, the civilian government is demanding that the defensive grids around all the planets be greatly expanded,” Hedon responded grimly. “That will be a major priority now.”
“How are they going to do that?” Taylor asked worriedly. He looked over at Hendon. “Won’t that take away from new ship construction?”
Taylor knew that the manufacturing capability on the shipyards wouldn’t be able to keep up with this new demand for defensive satellites and platforms. They would need hundreds to provide any type of workable defense for the colony worlds as well as Tellus and Maken. Taylor couldn’t imagine reducing fleet construction to build up the defense grids. The fleet was their best defense.
Hedon paused for a moment and took a deep breath before looking over at his brother. “Factories on Tellus and here on Maken are being retooled to make defensive satellites and platforms. The Federation Council wants to strengthen the defensive grids by a least a factor of four.”
“Will that be strong enough?”
“If we can get the fleet built back up, it might be,” Hedon replied cautiously. “We are still facing so many unknowns. We didn’t recover anything really useful from the destroyed Hocklyn ships. The intelligence people at Fleet Command believe some of the Hocklyn self destruct devices on their ships are set to go off automatically under certain conditions.”
In the distance, Hedon could see two large colorful birds circling high up in the air. Their wings were spread wide, and they were riding the dying thermals in the fading sunlight. The birds were Kalens, if Hedon remembered correctly. They mated for life and were highly territorial. It’s a shame that this problem with the Hocklyns couldn’t be as simple.
After talking for a few more minutes, they turned back and started walking toward the cabin. As they neared the cabin, they could smell tantalizing aromas drifting out of the open door. Lendle was cooking supper, and it smelled fantastic!
They both washed up on the porch and then entered the cabin. Lendle was setting the food out on the table, and they could see steam rising from several of the dishes indicating they were hot.
Seeing them, Lendle smiled and gestured toward the table. “The two of you made it back just in time. I was just about to start without you.”
“This smells great,” Hedon said, sitting down and gazing at the food she had spread out on the table. There were baked rolls, some type of rice dish that was steaming, a meat casserole, and several vegetables. “You’re a fabulous cook, Lendle! Taylor is really lucky to have you as his wife.”
“At least someone in this cabin recognizes that,” she said, smiling and looking accusingly over at Taylor.
“I know you’re a good cook,” Taylor replied defensively. “Why do you think I exercise so much? The more I exercise the more of your cooking I can eat.”
“That will work this time,” Lendle replied with a pleased smile.
The three filled their plates and were soon eating. The conversation was very casual and they stayed away from talking about the events of the last few months. For a short time, it was as if the war with the Hocklyns was not lurking constantly on their minds.
After they finished eating, Hedon and Taylor helped Lendle with the dishes and then all three went outside to sit on the front porch. The sun had set, and the stars were beginning to come out one by one. In the distance, you could hear the gentle drone of insects from down around the lake.
“What do you think Admiral Kinseth wants this time?” asked Lendle looking over at Hedon. She thought she could see a few more worry lines on his face. Lendle knew he had been under a lot of stress trying to keep New Providence safe.
“I’m not sure,” replied Hedon, his eyes looking over at Lendle. “He has made it a priority to get First Fleet back up to full strength and all the ships completely repaired.”
“How long will that take?” asked Taylor, leaning back and relaxing. He knew this vacation was going to be very short, and he intended to make the most of it.
“The light cruiser Brice and the destroyer Astral will be out of the repair bays at New Providence early next week. Other
ships will still take some time to complete their repairs.”
Lendle closed her eyes for a moment and then opening them spoke to Hedon. “I think the admiral is planning something and it involves you, Hedon. I’m afraid it’s going to involve the Hocklyns.”
“He could be sending First Fleet to attack them,” Taylor suggested, his forehead creasing in a heavy frown. “It might cause them to hesitate before launching another attack if they have to worry about being hit themselves. It could buy us the time we need to rebuild the fleet.”
“Several of the senators on the Federation Council are demanding some type of retaliatory strike against the Hocklyns for what happened on Aldon and New Eden,” Lendle added with a sigh. Her eyes turned toward Hedon. “What do you think? Should we attack the Hocklyns?”
“Perhaps,” responded Hedon, nodding his head slowly. “The only problem is that we don’t know where any of their worlds are. We can’t attack them without that knowledge.”
“It would be a good strategy if we knew where some of their worlds were located,” Lendle conceded thoughtfully. “But I think Admiral Kinseth has something else on his mind.”
“I guess I will know in a few more days,” spoke Hedon, letting out a deep breath. “I have a meeting with Admiral Kinseth scheduled.”
Taylor nodded in agreement. Lendle and he had also been recalled. Admiral Kinseth had requested them for some type of special project here in the home system. He had no idea what it might be, but from the hints he had been able to pick up it was something extremely secretive.
The three sat on the porch for quite some time just enjoying the freedom of not having to worry about anything. In a few more days, they would have to return to the war effort, and it might be a while before they could enjoy an evening like this again. Above them, the stars were becoming more numerous as the night settled in. The planet seemed to be wrapped protectively in their not so friendly light.
The Slaver Wars: Alien Contact Page 18
