“What are we going to do?” Amanda asked with growing concern. She knew that neither the Federation survivors nor Earth were ready for a conflict with the Hocklyns. It would be years yet before they were ready for that war.
“Fortunately, there are two Federation officers in the New Horizon’s crew. There is also an emergency FTL transmitter hidden on board. It is our hope that, at some point in time, one of the two officers will manage to get off a message.”
“What’s the range of the transmitter?”
“Only two hundred light years,” admitted Admiral Barnes, shaking her head. “We need to have a ship in position to receive that message.”
Amanda nodded her head in agreement as she realized what was at stake. The New Horizon must be found before it reached Hocklyn space. “What are my orders?”
“We are activating a number of ships on Ceres as well as several that are docked in the construction bays here. It will stretch us to find the crews, but it has to be done. The Battle Carrier New Tellus will be going with you as well, as four light cruisers. The Tellus is being equipped with twenty additional stealth scouts that can be used to form a net around the main fleet to help detect any incoming signal. The ships we are activating will serve as their security replacements until you return.”
“This is a tall order, Admiral,” commented Amanda, knowing the odds of finding the New Horizon were not good. “What are my orders if we reach Hocklyn space without finding the ship?”
“The New Tellus and the four light cruisers will stay just outside of Hocklyn space and continue to monitor the FTL communication frequencies, while you continue on to complete your original mission. Once that is complete, you will return to the waiting fleet and return home.”
Colonel Sheen stood up. “We will do our best, Admiral.”
“I know you will,” Admiral Barnes replied. “I have already given orders to have your ships loaded with the necessary supplies and spare parts. Just bring that ship back home safely if it’s possible.”
A few hours later, Amanda was back on board the WarStorm. The crew was still busy stowing all the supplies that had been brought hurriedly on board. As soon as she arrived, she ordered the ship to move away from the shipyard, but then had to belay that order as Admiral Barnes contacted her and informed her that additional marines were being assigned to the WarStorm.
They waited as the detachment of heavily armed marines boarded the ship. There were already one hundred marines on board; this would bring the marine complement up to two hundred and twenty. All of the marines were highly trained and from Earth special forces. Amanda knew they might be needed to retake the New Horizon or fend off Hocklyn protectors if the WarStorm were boarded.
As soon as the marines were safely on board, she gave the order for the WarStorm to move away from the shipyard. Once they were a safe distance away, she gave the order to activate the ship’s sublight drive. In moments, the ship was moving rapidly away from the shipyard. Two light cruisers were following close behind, quickly dropping into formation with the WarStorm.
“So we’re going on a rescue mission,” Major Fields commented as he stood up and turned the command console over to Colonel Sheen.
“Yes,” Amanda replied. “It’s going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack, but we need to find the New Horizon before the Hocklyns.”
“So we might be going into a war situation.”
“It’s possible,” admitted Amanda, unhappily.
“The New Tellus has jumped back into the system, along with two additional light cruisers,” Lieutenant Stalls reported as three green icons blossomed on his long-range sensor screen. “I am picking up two fleet supply ships leaving the shipyard.”
“Those will be additional supplies for the New Tellus and the two light cruisers,” Amanda commented. “There will also be some stealth scouts that will be rendezvousing with the New Tellus shortly. As soon as all ships are adequately provisioned, we will be jumping out. Lieutenant Ashton, plot three jumps of ten light years each inward toward the galactic core. Once we reach that point, we will begin deploying the fleet to detect any incoming messages.”
“Do you think we will hear from them?” Major Fields asked with doubt on his face. It was going to be a big area they were going to have to cover.
“I hope so,” Amanda replied with a worried look upon her face. “From what Admiral Barnes said there are two Federation officers in the New Horizon’s crew. Both men are supposed to be very dependable. If there is any way they can get a message to us, Admiral Anlon feels confident they will do so.”
Major Fields looked out over the Command Center. He had confidence in the crew, but detecting this message and being in the right spot at the right time was something else.
-
On board the New Horizon, the modifications to the FTL drive core were complete. Major Maher had called his new command crew into the Command Center. Lieutenant Sandusky would be handling the second duty crew, and Lieutenant Barr would be responsible for the third.
Looking over at Navigation, he saw with satisfaction that Lieutenant Nelson was working on the FTL coordinates for the first jump. An armed guard stood watchfully behind him. While most of the crew didn’t like what was happening, they had been reluctant to resist. This was what Maher had expected. His people controlled the only weapons on board. The only officer left to rally around was Lieutenant Nelson, and he was being kept under heavy guard with little or no contact with the other crewmembers.
“Ship is ready to jump, sir,” the helm officer reported as Lieutenant Nelson finished loading the jump coordinates.
Major Maher quickly called up the jump coordinates on the command console and looked closely at them. They looked right, and he nodded at the ensign sitting at the Helm. “Engage the FTL drive and let’s begin our journey.”
In front of the New Horizon, a swirling blue-white vortex formed. The helm officer carefully maneuvered the ship into the center of the vortex, and the New Horizon jumped into hyperspace.
-
Kelsey felt the sudden queasiness she associated with an FTL jump and knew the New Horizon had jumped again. At least her stomach was empty, so she didn’t feel that nauseous.
“Where are they taking us?” asked Angela, her face turning pale. “How is anyone ever going to find us?”
“Just have faith, Angela,” Kelsey replied as she walked into the small bathroom at the back of their quarters and ran a little water. She used a wet washcloth to wipe across her face. It helped to relieve the queasiness. Just as she stepped back into the main part of their quarters, the door slid open. With unease, Kelsey saw a grinning Ensign Rafferty standing there.
“Hello, girls,” he said, allowing his eyes to roam leeringly up and down Angela’s body. “I don’t suppose you have thought about my offer?” he asked.
“Forget it,” Angela spoke with distaste in her voice. “You’re not my type.”
“As I said, you might change your mind when you get hungry enough,” replied Rafferty, tossing one sandwich and a bottle of water on Kelsey’s bunk. “I’m on my way to eat a steak. You could be too if you were to reconsider my offer. Come with me right now if you like.”
“Never!” Angela cried, her heart beating wildly in her chest, as she grew angry at the mere thought of what Rafferty was suggesting. “Leave us alone!”
Rafferty laughed and shook his head. “We have plenty of time. Eventually, you will take me up on my offer.” Rafferty stepped back and closed the door. Turning, he started walking back down the corridor with a contented smile on his face. He had already talked to Barr and, once they arrived at their destination, Angela was his.
“Kelsey, what are we going to do?” Angela wailed as her pent up emotions burst forth.
“I don’t know,” answered Kelsey, worriedly. She wished there were someway to get out of their quarters. She needed to know if Lieutenant Nelson was still alive. Picking up the sandwich, she passed Angela half of it. “Eat this; it will
make you feel better.”
“I just wish we knew how Jeremy and Kevin are doing,” Angela said as she took a small bite of the sandwich. “We don’t even know if they’re still okay.”
Kelsey nodded. That really concerned her also. She suspected that since Jeremy was Admiral Strong’s son, he was probably being kept as a hostage in case the admiral managed to catch up to them. Kelsey knew that they were in a bad situation, but what worried Kelsey the most was how much longer Jeremy would be worth keeping alive, particularly considering how Barr felt about him.
-
In the small shuttle in the flight bay, Katie was feeling very frightened at her current situation. She didn’t see any way out of her predicament. If she revealed herself, the terrorists might very well kill her. There was no way she could free any of the others, and even if she did what could they do? They had no weapons and no way to take over the New Horizon.
Leaning back in the pilot’s seat, Katie started thinking really hard about what she could do. The ship was run by computers, and Katie was a computer genius. Looking at her handheld computer, an idea began to form in her mind. What if there was a way she could take control of the ship, maybe not for a long amount of time, but just long enough to free Jeremy and Kelsey? If they were in a system with a suitable planet, they could use the shuttle to escape.
Taking a deep breath, she knew it wasn’t the best escape plan. It would leave them marooned in deep space, but it was better than dying on the New Horizon. Looking at her computer, Katie began writing a new program. She already had access to some of the ship’s systems. She had an idea that would give her access to all the rest.
-
Back in the New Tellus system, Colonel Sheen was finally ready for the first jump. The fleet ships had taken up their escorting positions with the New Tellus in the center and the WarStorm slightly above and to one side. At an order from Amanda, blue-white vortexes began to form in front of the fleet.
“Do you think we will find them?” Richard asked from where he was standing behind her.
“I hope so,” Amanda replied as the WarStorm moved toward the swirling vortex in front of it. “A lot of people are counting on us.”
“Light cruisers are jumping,” Major Fields reported as the light cruisers began disappearing from the holographic plotting table. “The battle carrier is jumping next.” Moments later, its large green icon vanished. “We’re next.”
Moments later, Amanda felt the familiar jump into hyperspace. Their mission had begun, and she wondered just what they would find. Somewhere in their future, she hoped the New Horizon waited. She just prayed that they found the hijacked ship before the Hocklyns did, or the war of the future might start very shortly.
Chapter Eleven
First Leader Shrea stared moodily at the viewscreens across the front wall of the War Room. They were covered with stars and little else. The Vengeance, her six escort cruisers, and the two supply ships had arrived in this far off section of space two days ago and had only recently started their search for inhabited worlds. They were over two thousand light years from Rateif’s base, which was responsible for exploring this entire sector. Never before had he been so far away from Hocklyn controlled space. If anything went wrong, they would be on their own. At least they had the two supply ships that had been sent with them that were packed to the brim with supplies and spare parts.
Shrea allowed his large dark eyes to gaze with scrutiny around the War Room of his war cruiser. The crew was busy using the ship’s sensors to finish the detailed scans of the system they had chosen to use as their forward base. They were working efficiently and quickly as expected of them. The 1000-meter Vengeance and the two supply ships would be staying in this system, while the six support ships began searching the nearby stars for civilizations to add to the Hocklyn Slave Empire. Shrea was impatient to get the search started. It had taken seventy long days to reach this point in space. He could have gotten the fleet here quicker by using longer jumps, but he had seen no reason to stress their drive systems. Repairs would be difficult this far from a properly equipped fleet base.
“The Anvil and StarSeeker have left to go to their assigned search quadrant,” Second Leader Vrill reported as he approached the command pedestal. “The other four support ships will be receiving their assigned search quadrants shortly.”
“Very well,” Shrea replied in his rasping voice. His large, cold eyes gazed sharply at his second in command. “What do you think of this plan to search for new worlds to add to our empire?”
Vrill was silent for a moment. It was very seldom that the First Leader asked for his opinion. “We must find honor,” replied Vrill, choosing his words carefully. “We were finding no honor where we were searching. Perhaps this area will be rich in worlds to add to the empire.”
“I hope that you are correct,” replied Shrea, his eyes drilling into his second in command. “If not, then I fear our families will suffer a significant loss of honor and prestige. Make sure the First Leaders of our support ships understand that. We must not fail!”
Shrea’s large eyes returned to the main viewscreen. A blue-green planet was now visible. This planet was one of the reasons they had chosen this particular system as a base. It had a habitable world that could be used to furnish fresh water as well as food for the fleet. It would be necessary to send a complement of protectors and engineers down to the planet’s surface to build a small processing facility. However, once the food and water processing facility was complete, it would allow them to stay in this sector for an extended period of time.
Shrea took in a deep and long breath. Now the waiting game began. Each day, the support cruisers were scheduled to report in on their findings. Each ship had been assigned two systems per day to search. It wouldn’t take long to discover if this section of space contained the inhabited worlds that Commodore Rateif was counting on.
Gazing at the blue-green world on the viewscreen, Shrea wished sometimes that the Hocklyn High Council would allow additional colonization. The home systems were becoming extremely over crowded. Additional space habitats were constantly being built to contain the ever-growing populations in the home systems. It was even reported that the sunlight on several worlds had been reduced because of all of the habitats in orbit. The problem was the AIs. They had made it extremely plain that no new worlds could be colonized by the Hocklyns. Looking at the blue-green world on the viewscreen, he wondered how the AIs would ever know if the Hocklyns established a new colony if it was this far out.
Shrea let out a deep breath. It was useless and counter productive to have such dangerous thoughts. The consequences of the AIs finding an unauthorized colony were too terrifying to even contemplate. No, the Hocklyn race would have to find another solution to their growing population problem.
-
Jeremy was feeling bored. For over two months, Kevin and he had been cooped up in their quarters. They had spent most of their time watching the vid screen and talking. However, after two long months of not being allowed out of their quarters, they were rapidly running out of things to say to each other. They also hadn’t seen or heard from the girls in that time. Jeremy was deeply concerned for the girl’s safety, particularly with Matt Barr and Rafferty on board the New Horizon. Jeremy found that he was spending a lot of time thinking about Kelsey. Every day they were locked here in their quarters, the greater his concern for her grew.
“I’ve been thinking,” said Kevin sitting up, sliding his legs off his bunk, and looking despairingly over at Jeremy. “We have been jumping five times per day now for over sixty days. We must be thousands of light years from Earth. Unless we can think of someway soon to retake this ship, we won’t ever be able to go home again.”
Jeremy sat up and gazed over at Kevin. He had been thinking about the same thing. If they were jumping ten light years during each jump, they had come at least 3,000 light years. Even if his father equipped all four of the smaller exploration cruisers with FTL drives, they would neve
r be able to find the New Horizon. It would be like searching for a needle in a haystack, and the galaxy was an extremely large haystack. He also could tell that Kevin was becoming more depressed with each passing day of inaction.
“I don’t know what we can do,” spoke Jeremy, allowing his frustration with their situation to show. “They control all the weapons, and from what we have been able to get Barr and Rafferty to tell us, all the command crew except Lieutenant Nelson were killed in the takeover.”
“Major Maher is a cold-blooded murderer,” Kevin said passionately with anger in his eyes. He had become extremely close to some of those that Maher had ordered killed over the long months of training.
“It’s best we remember that,” Jeremy reminded Kevin, his eyes narrowing. “We need to watch what we say and do around them, or we could be next.”
“Lieutenant Nelson is our only chance,” responded Kevin, wondering why Nelson hadn’t done anything. “The loyal part of the crew would follow his lead if he tried to retake the ship.”
“But how many would die?” asked Jeremy, pointedly. He too felt the crew would rally around Nelson. “We know these people are ruthless and won’t hesitate to kill when pushed.”
Their talking was interrupted as their door opened. Ensign Rafferty was standing there with two armed guards. “All right you two, come with us. Major Maher wants to speak with you.”
“What about?” Jeremy asked as he stood up. He wondered what Maher could want. This would be the first time since the takeover that they had been allowed out of their quarters.
“Don’t ask any stupid questions!” Rafferty spoke in a harsh voice, looking irritated. “The major will tell you what you need to know when we get there.”
They were escorted in silence to the officer’s mess and were surprised to find Kelsey and Angela sitting at a table. Rafferty indicated for Jeremy and Kevin to join them. “Sit down and be quiet.”
“Jeremy!” spoke Kelsey, jumping up and hugging him tightly. Her eyes showing intense relief at seeing him unharmed. “We were so worried about you and Kevin.”
Moon Wreck: Fleet Academy (The Slaver Wars) Page 22
