“Those are AI ships,” Amanda spoke, her eyes widening in shock. Two massive globes were displayed under heavy attack from Federation warships.
“According to Admiral Kinseth those two ships jumped in close to each Federation world and decimated our fleet. Once that was done, they jumped back out and the Hocklyns moved in and bombarded the planets with nukes.”
“Oh my God!” Amanda cried with tears in her eyes as she realized that the worlds she had known were now gone. “What about Aquaria?” Were they attacked also?”
“All of our worlds were attacked,” Hedon replied in a quiet and grim voice. “Admiral Kinseth didn’t know about survivors. He uploaded this message just before his flagship, the battle cruiser Providence, attempted to engage the AI ships over Tellus. Our orders are quite simple now. We are to check each colony system for survivors and evacuate as many as possible on any ships we can find. Once that’s done, we’re to jump to the outskirts of the Tellus system and transmit a signal to a communications satellite in the outer system. If there is a response, we are to follow the instructions we receive. If there is no response, we are to leave Federation space and never return.”
Amanda leaned back in her chair, not sure what to say or do. Everyone back home, including Richard and her parents, could be dead. There might not be anything left to go back to. The Federation as they knew it was gone.
“What are we going to do?” she asked, fighting to stay in control of her emotions. She was second in command of the StarStrike, and the crew was going to need her.
“We go home,” Hedon replied in a quiet voice. For a moment, he paused wondering about his brother and Lendle. Was there any chance that either one of them were still alive? They were all the family he had.
“What about the crew?” Amanda asked slowly. Many would take this extremely hard. Morale would plummet.
“They will have to deal with it,” responded Hedon, standing back up. “We will call a meeting of our ship commanders and go over the message. Once that’s done, I will make a general announcement of what has happened. We have a new mission. It has now become our job to save what is left of the human race.”
-
The StarStrike and her fleet hovered just on the outskirts of the New Providence system. The six scout ships had been launched to do a quick survey of all six of the inhabited worlds of the Federation. Already the news was looking grim.
“What are the latest scans from the Avenger?” asked Hedon looking over Lieutenant Stall’s shoulder. “Can we tell if any Hocklyn ships are still in the system?”
The Avenger had jumped in closer but was still out of what they hoped was the Hocklyn’s maximum sensor range. Admiral Streth wanted Ariel to be able to use the ship’s sensors to better determine the situation around New Providence. The scout ship was still moving in toward New Providence on its sublight drive, but it would be hours yet before the ship got close enough to find out any useful information.
“It doesn’t look good, sir,” reported Stalls, shaking his head gloomily. “The Avenger currently has two Hocklyn support ships on her sensors. Both are close to New Providence. The shipyard is still in orbit and seems to be mostly intact, but it’s hard to tell from the extreme range the Avenger is at what its exact condition is. The surface of New Providence has definitely been nuked. We can tell that from the much higher level of background radiation the Avenger is picking up when it focuses its sensors on the planet.”
“Has Ariel added anything?” asked Admiral Streth, letting out a long breath.
There had been 1.8 billion people on New Providence. He had thought the Hocklyns wanted slaves, not to destroy the planets. Why had they changed their minds? Was it the AIs? Had they felt the human worlds were too great of a threat?
“She hasn’t been able to pick up any ground side communication, but she also says from the range the Avenger is at the radiation in the atmosphere might be interfering with their being able to detect anything.”
Admiral Streth nodded his head as he thought about what to do next. Turning toward Communications, he spoke to Lieutenant Trask. “Send a tight beam message to the Avenger to hold their current position. We will wait on the scout to see what the close in scans reveal.”
Hedon returned to his command console and sat down. The Command Center was unusually quiet. He couldn’t blame his crew. After receiving the Omega message, they had expected to return and find that the Hocklyns had conquered all of the inhabited worlds. However, on the way in, they had used the scouts to check several of the larger mining operations and all had been pulverized by nuclear weapons. It disturbed Hedon deeply that a race such as the Hocklyns would use nuclear weapons with such apparent disdain for the loss of innocent lives. They knew that a few had been used on the Federation worlds from Admiral Kinseth’s message.
Looking over at Colonel Sheen, Hedon knew she was taking all of this extremely hard. Normally she was extremely calm and confident. But today there was a strange, almost frightening look on her face. She had the appearance of someone who had lost everything and was waiting for the next hammer to fall. As his eyes roamed across the Command Center, Hedon noticed that Amanda was not the only one to have that haunted look.
Colonel Sheen was looking down at the plotting table and staring at the bright blue icon that designated New Providence. She knew the shipyard was still in orbit, but everything was silent. It was taking every bit of her willpower not to break down and cry. Richard had probably died defending the shipyard and New Providence. She wished now that she had told him more about how she felt before the StarStrike left on their mission.
“Sir,” Lieutenant Trask reported suddenly as she listened to her com with sudden intent. “I’m picking up communications between the surface and some Hocklyn ships that must be in a lower orbit. It sounds like requests for support.”
“What type of ships?” Hedon demanded, his eyes narrowing. “Can you tell what they’re asking for?”
Lieutenant Trask worked diligently with her console for a long minute as she tried to clear up the faint communications she was picking up.
“Sir, Ariel is reporting that they are detecting six large ships in very low orbit over New Providence. The communications I am picking up seem to be requests for tactical bombardment from the ships in orbit.”
“Survivors!” Colonel Sheen spoke with sudden hope appearing in her eyes. “The bunkers must have survived!”
Admiral Streth nodded his head in agreement. Enough human lives had been lost. He would put a stop to this. With new resolve in his voice, he began to give orders. “Plot a jump to just outside the outer marker. We’re taking the fleet in. I want both of those support ships annihilated. That job will fall to the Avenger and Vindication. I want the AIs in control of both of those two ships.”
Turning to Lieutenant Trask, he continued, “I want all frequencies jammed when we jump. I don’t want any outgoing messages from the Hocklyns to leave this system.”
Using her mini-com Amanda passed on the orders to Navigation. She noticed a new intensity and determination in the crew in the Command Center. There were survivors on New Providence, and they were going in. The Hocklyns would not like what the StarStrike and her fleet was preparing to do to them.
Admiral Streth used his mini-com to contact Commander Adler on the Victory and brief him on the situation. “I want you to use your bombers to take out those ships in low orbit. I suspect they’re troop transports. The destroyers Astral and Lance will go in with your bombers. If you detect any Hocklyn fighters, you are authorized to use your Talons to take them out.”
“With pleasure,” Commander Adler replied over the com. “My pilots will make sure the Hocklyns never leave orbit.”
Admiral Streth spent a few more minutes talking to the other commanders and fine-tuning the battle plan. The light cruisers Brice and Hydra would stay close to the Avenger and Vindication in case they needed assistance. The StarStrike and Victory would continue on to the shipyard and land marines to
remove any Hocklyn protectors that might be on board. The StarStrike would also be available to help take out the Hocklyn ships in low orbit if that became necessary.
Finally satisfied that everything was ready, he nodded his head at Colonel Sheen. “Let’s take them out, Amanda.”
Colonel Sheen nodded with a vengeful grin. It was payback time!
“Jump!” she ordered over her mini-com, looking at the main viewscreen. Almost instantly, she saw a blue-white vortex form in front of the StarStrike. “Helm, take us in and be prepared for high speed maneuvers once we exit the vortex.”
In what seemed like just a few seconds the StarStrike exited hyperspace and found herself just outside the outer marker of New Providence.
“FTL is offline,” damage control reported. “Major Stent reports that he will have to retune the drive harmonics.”
“Very well,” Hedon nodded.
He had expected that. He had jumped the fleet in close to the very edge of where damage could be done to the FTL cores. They were inside New Providence’s gravity well, but it had been necessary in order to take the Hocklyns by surprise.
“Astral, Vindication, and Brice are reporting that their FTLs are temporarily down also,” Lieutenant Trask reported. “All three are reporting that the drive harmonics will have to be retuned.”
“Give me sixty percent sublight,” ordered Colonel Sheen glaring at the plotting table that now showed the two Hocklyn support ships as well as the six larger ships in lower orbit.
“Vindication and Avenger have joined up and are moving toward the two Hocklyn support ships,” Lieutenant Stalls reported as he watched his scanners. “We have active targeting sweeps from the Hocklyn ships. We have been detected.”
“Jamming has started,” Lieutenant Trask confirmed. “I have all frequencies blanketed. Only short-range communications will still work. The Hocklyns won’t be transmitting any calls for help.”
The minutes passed as the StarStrike and her fleet continued to move in. The Avenger and the Vindication reached their targets first. Ariel and Clarissa were in their element as Commanders Standel and Wisthom had given them complete control of the two light cruisers. In an impossible turn, the two light cruisers suddenly brought their lasers to bear on one of the Hocklyn support ships. Bright reddish-orange beams struck the Hocklyn’s shields followed a few seconds later by a full missile strike from forty-eight Shrike missiles. Both cruisers had fired one of their pods at the Hocklyn ship. Ariel and Clarissa were able to coordinate their strikes to within microseconds.
The Hocklyn ship began firing back, and the energy screens around the two Federation cruisers lit up under the impacts. Missiles exploded in space between the three ships and then the Hocklyn’s shield was overwhelmed as the Shrike missiles began to detonate. Almost instantly, Ariel and Clarissa fired their ships primary bow railguns hurling large two-meter armor piercing rounds at their target. Explosions marched across the bow of the Hocklyn ship tearing ragged holes in its hull. The Hocklyn ship seemed to stagger, but refused to die.
The Avenger shuddered, and Commander Standel looked intently at the damage control board. A red light was glaring on the board. He knew that a compartment on his ship had been holed. He reached forward and held on to the command console. “Ariel, turn us broadside and hit them with our other railguns!”
“Working on it Commander,” Ariel replied as she and Clarissa rapidly turned the two ships bringing even more weapons into play.
More explosions now raged across the Hocklyn’s hull and then a large explosion occurred in its midsection, nearly cutting the ship in half.
“The other support ship is coming into range, sir,” Ariel reported as she and Clarissa planned their next move.
Commander Standel held on as Ariel turned the Avenger and accelerated at a mad pace toward the other Hocklyn ship. The Hocklyn Commander must have thought she intended to ram because the support ship began to turn away. At the same instant, Ariel and Clarissa fired their remaining Shrike pods, sending forty-eight missiles from close range at the Hocklyn ship. The Hocklyns only managed to intercept six of the missiles before the others struck and detonated against the ship’s energy screen, knocking it down. Instantly, Ariel and Clarissa fired broadsides from their railguns, causing explosions to march up both sides of the Hocklyn ship.
In another minute, the battle was over and both Hocklyn ships were left powerless and broken. There must have been some survivors as both Hocklyn ships suddenly exploded in balls of nuclear fire as their self-destruct devices were set off.
-
“Hocklyn support ships destroyed,” Amanda reported satisfyingly to Admiral Streth. “Avenger and Vindication are reporting only minor damage.”
“All of our ships should have had AIs on board,” Hedon spoke passionately. “With AIs, we just might have been able to stop the Hocklyns.”
Amanda nodded her head in agreement. She had witnessed what two AIs could do working together. What would ten or more be able to do? It might have made a difference.
“Sir,” Lieutenant Trask broke in a look of stunned surprise on her face. “I have Major Andrews on the com. He’s reporting that he still has control of the shipyard.”
“Richard!” Amanda gasped involuntarily. For a moment, she felt faint and couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Could it be possible? Her eyes grew wide with renewed hope.
“Tell him to standby,” ordered Hedon, wondering how the shipyard had managed to stay in Federation hands. “We need to mop this up first.”
It took another twenty minutes but when it was all over, the six large Hocklyn troop transports were history. They had been more heavily armed than expected, and the StarStrike had to move in and use her heavy railguns to finish them off. However, space around New Providence was now back in Federation control. Admiral Streth just wasn’t sure how long that would last.
-
Captain Arcles looked out the cockpit window of the small scout ship. They were in the system of Beltran moving toward the planet Aquaria. They were already in the outer reaches of Aquaria’s gravity well, and he could see the small blue-white globe growing larger.
“I am not picking up any planetary communication networks,” Lieutenant Sanders reported worriedly. She had been scanning all the normal radio and vid channels, but everything was strangely silent. Normally there would be hundreds of channels on the air broadcasting. “I have also been listening to the emergency broadcast system, and there’s nothing being sent out on it either.”
“The shipyard seems to be heavily damaged,” Specialist Rathers reported as he studied his sensor and scanner screens. “I’m not detecting any active power sources.”
“What about the Hocklyn ships?” asked Arcles glancing at the small sensor screen on the panel in front of him. It showed two threatening red icons in orbit around the planet just beneath the ruins of the shipyard.
“They haven’t detected us,” Rathers replied as he once again scrutinized the two Hocklyn support ships. “But I am picking up eight more Hocklyn ships in low orbit. From their size, I would guess they’re troop transports.”
“They’re invading,” Sanders spoke, angrily gritting her teeth. “They have already destroyed the planet; why invade? What else do they want? They’ve won the war!”
“They may not want any survivors,” Arcles replied as he maneuvered the scout closer to the shipyard. “They may have decided to make an example out of our worlds.”
On one of the small viewscreens, the shipyard appeared. Arcles drew in a sharp breath and shook his head in frustration. Part of the shipyard was missing, and the rest was a mangled mass of metal. Jagged holes scarred what was left of the hull and parts of the hull looked as if it had been burned. He knew it had taken the Federation nearly seven years to build the massive structure. Now it lay in ruins.
“No one could have survived that,” Sanders mumbled, her eyes narrowing as she fought to hold back the tears. So many people had died here. Thousands of people had
worked and lived on that shipyard. From the severe damage they were looking at, she doubted if any had managed to escape.
“I am picking up more wreckage coming around the planet,” Rathers reported as he adjusted one of the short-range scanners. “Looks like the wreckage of several Federation light cruisers and a battle carrier.”
“Can you tell which one?” asked Arcles, feeling distraught over all the destruction caused by the Hocklyns. He knew the other battle carriers had to have been destroyed. He wasn’t sure he was ready to see one after the Hocklyns had finished with it.
“It’s the Constellation,” Rathers replied gravely as he transferred the image to the small viewscreen on Arcles’s control panel.
The battle carrier was shattered. It didn’t look as if any section had been spared. Jagged holes ran along the hull and the doors to the flight bay had been blasted open. The forward one hundred meters of the ship were missing and looked as if it had been burned off. The ship was tumbling in its orbit.
The two light cruisers were even worse. The cruisers had been blown apart. There was not a single piece larger than fifty meters. Whatever had hit the cruisers had wanted them destroyed.
“What could have done this?” asked Sanders, trying not to think about the thousands of men and women who had died in those three ships. It seemed as if she was surrounded by death.
“The AI ships,” Arcles responded, stunned and angry at the destruction he was seeing. “They destroyed the fleet.”
“Getting first detailed scans from the surface,” Rathers reported as he leaned forward and studied the data coming in. “Radiation levels are just below the lethal category over all. Around the major cities they are much higher, and people couldn’t survive more than a few hours of exposure.”
“That’s to be expected,” Arcles replied evenly, trying to remain calm. “They would have hit all the major cities with nukes.”
The Slaver Wars: Alien Contact Page 26
