The Slaver Wars: Retaliation (The Slaver Wars Book Five)

by Weil, Raymond L.

  “Then these ships hadn’t been updated by the AIs?” Kincaid asked as he studied the losses suffered by Second and Fifth Fleets. He shook his head at the loss of so many valuable ships and personnel. “How did Admiral Gaines die?”

  “No, the ships hadn’t been updated,” replied Karla, letting out a heavy sigh. She had felt deeply saddened when she heard of Admiral Gaines death, having known the older admiral for quite some time. He had been a veteran of the fleet and highly dependable. “Admiral Gaines died when his flagship was rammed by a heavily damaged Hocklyn escort cruiser.”

  Kincaid nodded. He leaned back in his chair and gazed gravely over at Fleet Admiral Johnson. “I am sorry to hear of the admiral’s death. From what I know of his record, he was a good officer. Did he have any family?”

  “Just a younger brother, who is also an officer in the Fleet,” Karla replied. “I took it upon myself to personally notify him of his brother’s loss.” It had been a difficult conversation for Karla, one that had become too common in recent months since the Hocklyns had first attacked Gliese 667C. She had staff members that were normally responsible for notifying families of combat deaths, but in this instance Karla felt that she needed to be the one delivering the message.

  “Will this latest loss by the Hocklyns delay their counterattack?” President Kincaid asked as his eyes focused on the Fleet Admiral. “They lost nearly their entire fleet.”

  “I doubt it,” Karla replied in an even voice. “I believe and so does Fleet Admiral Streth that when the AIs are finished upgrading a sufficient number of Hocklyn ships, they will launch their counterattack immediately.”

  “Are we certain the AIs are upgrading the Hocklyn ships? They could just be gathering a massive fleet to attack us,” Kincaid suggested. He didn’t like the idea of facing advanced weapons from the Hocklyns. He also knew the Hocklyn fleet vastly outnumbered the warships the Federation had available. It was one of his greatest fears that no matter what they did the Hocklyns would just overwhelm the Federation with their superior numbers.

  “We’re fairly certain that is happening,” Karla replied with a nod of her head. “The AIs will want to be certain of our defeat, so they will equip the Hocklyns with weapons similar to ours or perhaps slightly more advanced to ensure their victory.”

  The phone rang on the president’s desk, and he frowned at the interruption. He had left strict instructions that he was not to be bothered unless it was an extreme emergency. Reaching down with his right hand, he picked the phone up. After listening for a minute, he put it back down and looked over at Fleet Admiral Johnson with a strange, disbelieving look upon his face.

  “That was Senator Barnes from Ceres,” Kincaid began in an unsteady voice. “Four battlecruisers have just jumped in from New Tellus and are on their way to Ceres. They are escorting an unknown ship similar in size to one of our fleet destroyers.”

  “Why?” asked Admiral Johnson, feeling confused. No one had informed her of any of this. “Where did the ship come from?”

  “That’s the strange part,” Kincaid replied in a lower voice as if he was afraid to repeat what he had just been told. “The ship is supposedly from New Providence.”

  “New Providence!” spoke Fleet Admiral Johnson, rising to her feet and her hazel eyes growing wide. “That’s impossible!”

  “Nevertheless, that’s what they claim, and they have a recorded message from Admiral Teleck confirming who they are and that they are to be taken to Governor Malleck on Ceres immediately.”

  “I need to go to Ceres,” Karla said, still trying to make sense of what the president had just told her.

  There were no survivors in the old Federation worlds; Admiral Sheen had confirmed that years ago on her search mission when she had been sent back to the old Federation. They had only found a few on Aquaria and none anywhere else.

  “I’m going with you,” replied President Kincaid, reaching for his phone. He would be canceling all of his appointments for the next few days. If this ship was indeed from New Providence, it could be a game changer.

  -

  On Ceres, Governor Malleck and Admiral Kalen were waiting in the massive ship bay as they watched the destroyer enter and then dock smoothly in the designated berth. Two full platoons of heavily armed marines quickly lined up outside of the ship’s main hatch waiting for those inside to disembark.

  “From New Providence,” murmured Admiral Kalen, gazing at the ship awestruck. “Is it possible?”

  “So they claim,” Governor Malleck responded in an even voice. “Admiral Teleck, Fleet Admiral Streth, Admiral Sheen, and Admiral Andrews all spoke to the commanding officer and this Senator Arden. They are all convinced that this ship is indeed from New Providence.”

  “That means there are survivors in the old Federation,” spoke Kalen, wondering how they could have escaped detection by the Hocklyns all this time. “It also suggests that General Allister succeeded in saving a significant number of people.”

  “If our historical records from that time are correct, he could have saved several hundred thousand,” replied Governor Malleck as his eyes remained focused on the hatch of the ship waiting for it to open.

  Even as they spoke, the main hatch slid open and half a dozen heavily armed marines stepped out, followed by the commander of the ship and a woman. They stopped in front of the Ceres marines, and then the sergeant in charge of the small guard detail snapped to attention and saluted the captain in charge of the waiting marines.

  “Let’s go meet our guests,” Governor Malleck suggested as he began walking forward. “I imagine they have one hell of a story to tell us.”

  -

  The next day, President Kincaid, Fleet Admiral Johnson, Governor Malleck, Admiral Kalen, and Doctor Evelyn Reynolds were all seated at a large conference table with Senator Arden and Commander Strone. Senator Arden had been describing in detail the early days on New Providence shortly after Admiral Streth left the Federation with the survivors he had gathered.

  “We had a dozen stealth scouts in the military bunkers,” Senator Arden explained as she looked around at the attentive group. “For several years during the Hocklyn occupation the ships would go out at night and fly to the other worlds of the Federation searching for survivors. We rescued over twelve thousand people before it became too dangerous. The Hocklyns were intensifying their efforts on all of our worlds to wipe out any large groups of survivors. We finally realized that if we continued with the rescue operations it would only be a matter of time before one of the scouts was either captured or led the Hocklyns back to New Providence. General Allister hated discontinuing the rescue efforts, but he felt there was no other choice, not if he wanted to keep the hidden military bunkers a secret.”

  “We finally had to stop the rescue efforts and wait,” Commander Strone added. “For ten years the Hocklyns searched our worlds, killing every survivor they came across. They only left a few scattered pockets of survivors in remote isolated areas such as the mountains, and most of those died due to a lack of supplies or adequate protection from the weather.”

  “When the Hocklyns finally left we sent our ships out again, but all they found were empty worlds, except for Aquaria,” added Senator Arden, sadly.

  “Krall Island,” exhaled Admiral Kalen, feeling excited at hearing what had happened back on the Federation worlds. “We sent a cruiser back to the Federation years ago to check for survivors. They found a few still living on Krall Island on Aquaria.”

  “Yes, Krall Island,” Commander Strone confirmed with a nod of his head. “We contacted them, but they declined to come to New Providence; they wanted to live out their lives on the island. As for your cruiser, when it appeared over New Providence the leaders of our world at that time feared it might be a Hocklyn trick to try to draw us out of hiding, so we did not respond to its hails.”

  “That explains a lot,” spoke Governor Malleck, looking over at Fleet Admiral Johnson and President Kincaid. “Our people have long wondered what happened to
those that stayed behind on New Providence. It is good to hear that you survived.”

  “How did you learn of us and know where to find our fleet?” President Kincaid asked. He knew they had to have had some clue or it would have been like hunting for a needle in a haystack. The galaxy was a large place and the new Federation only inhabited a small fraction of it.

  Senator Arden and Commander Strone glanced at each other and then the senator spoke. “Two Hocklyn escort cruisers were passing through our system, and we intercepted some of their communications. They told of a massive battle that had been fought against other humans and that two AI ships had been destroyed. We came to find those humans, believing they were those that had escaped with Admiral Streth. You can imagine our shock when Admiral Teleck told us about Earth.”

  “We were even more shocked to learn that Fleet Admiral Streth was still alive and leading your fleets,” Commander Strone added. “Even back on New Providence he is a legend.”

  “Admiral Streth is special,” agreed Governor Malleck. “Our young children have always been taught that someday he would be awoken from cryosleep and would lead us to victory over the Hocklyns.”

  Senator Arden nodded, not feeling surprised. “I just hope that’s true.”

  “New Providence is well inside the Hocklyn Slave Empire at the moment,” President Kincaid said, his eyes focusing on Senator Arden. “There must be another reason you came this far risking exposure to your world.”

  “We want to join the war effort,” spoke Commander Strone, stunning the group. “We can put a massive satellite defensive grid up above New Providence at almost a moment’s notice. We have constructed a large fleet of destroyers that can be put in place to ensure the survivability of that defensive grid.”

  “But we don’t have a weapon that can destroy an AI ship,” Senator Arden spoke in a deadly serious voice, her eyes looking pleadingly around the group. “We need that weapon from you or our world will have to remain hidden, and we will not be able to join the war effort.” She paused and looked intently at each person at the conference table, then continued with intensity in her voice. “We have remained hidden for over four hundred years! We are ready to come out, reclaim the surface of our world, and show the Hocklyns that the old Federation isn’t dead. We just need the weapon you used to destroy the AIs.”

  President Kincaid closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. This was something he hadn’t been expecting. He also didn’t know about the feasibility of giving Devastator Three missiles to New Providence.

  “The weapon you’re speaking of is a Devastator Three missile, and it is a highly technical weapon and expensive to produce,” Admiral Kalen ventured to speak, not wanting to give out any technical details without permission from President Kincaid.

  “The weapon and delivery system are so complicated that in order to take out an AI ship we only have one class of ships that can even deploy the weapon effectively,” Fleet Admiral Johnson spoke as she thought about the recent upgrades to all of the heavy strikecruisers.

  “This is something we will need to discuss,” President Kincaid finally said as he weighed the request in his mind. “We could probably give you a supply of the weapons, but the delivery system is going to be a problem.”

  “Could our defensive battle stations be modified to deploy the Devastator Threes?” asked Governor Malleck, looking over at Admiral Kalen.

  He knew the admiral was more familiar with the technical side of the new missiles than anyone else at the table. If the battle stations could be modified it might be feasible to send a large number to New Providence to strengthen their defensive grid as well as provide an effective counter weapon against the AIs.

  “It’s possible,” Kalen admitted with a heavy frown on his face as he thought it over. “It would take a total redesign to make them work.”

  “What’s so special about these missiles that we can’t produce them ourselves?” Senator Arden asked, not understanding the problem. After all a missile was a missile, just the warheads were different.

  Admiral Kalen looked over at President Kincaid who nodded. “The Devastator Threes have a miniature sublight drive as well as an inertial dampening system installed. They arrive on target almost instantly when they are launched.”

  “How did you ever do that?” Commander Strone asked as he realized the extent of the technology the new Federation was using in these missiles. He realized with a sinking feeling that this was a type of weapon that would take New Providence years to put into production even if they had the specs.

  “We had hundreds of years to develop the weapon,” Admiral Kalen responded as he recalled the numerous failed tests until they finally got the missile to work properly. “Getting the sublight drive small enough to use in a missile was the big problem.”

  “So we can’t build it?” asked Senator Arden, looking over at Commander Strone with disappointment in her eyes. She had hoped to see the day they could emerge from their underground cities and step out on the surface of their world once again.

  “No, at least not yet,” replied the commander, shaking his head. “It would take us several years just to develop the technologies to build such a missile even if we had the plans.”

  “So, what are we going to do?” Senator Arden asked as she looked questionably around the group. “We are tired of hiding underground.”

  “Let us show you and your people around the new Federation,” suggested President Kincaid, putting a smile on his face. “The people from the old Federation that came with Admiral Streth helped to build it. That way when you return home you can tell them what their ancestors helped to create.”

  “In the meantime, we can have our scientists discuss your situation and what we can do to help,” Governor Malleck added as he thought over what might be possible. “We don’t want to expose New Providence to the Hocklyns if you can’t defend yourself. You may have no option but to remain hidden for a few more years until we can do more from our end.”

  “I understand,” Senator Arden responded with a heavy sigh of disappointment. She had hoped for so much more, but guessed she would just have to wait and see if the scientists in this new Federation could come up with anything. Then she looked over at President Kincaid. “We would like to see your Federation; at least it will give our people back home hope even if we can’t join the war effort.”

  “I will make the necessary arrangements,” President Kincaid promised with a friendly smile. “I believe you will be impressed.”

  -

  Admiral Race Tolsen gazed at the large viewscreen on his new flagship, the Conqueror Class battlecruiser Defiant. He had just completed over four months of physical therapy from the injuries he had suffered when his former flagship, the battlecruiser WarHawk, had been destroyed in the Gliese 667C system. For months afterward, he hadn’t been sure if he would ever step foot upon a warship again.

  “Admiral Bennett did a fine job building the Defiant,” Colonel Arnett commented from her position at the plotting table where she was watching as the fleet came together into a standard defensive formation. “She is the latest design with more powerful weapons and shields.”

  “I just hope its good enough, Colonel,” Admiral Tolsen replied as he sat down in his command chair behind his console. “When Admiral Streth brings the Hocklyns back here we will be in for one hell of a battle.”

  The viewscreen switched to show a view of New Tellus Station, the largest shipyard in the Federation. New Tellus Station was sixteen kilometers in length and eight in width, and contained six massive construction bays each of which could produce any size ship the Fleet required, as well as twelve repair bays. It was also covered in offensive and defensive weapons with the firepower of twenty battlecruisers. Two hundred defensive laser satellites and sixty missile platforms also surrounded the station. Two full squadrons of fighters were on constant patrol along with half a dozen destroyers.

  In the distance, he could see one of the vast asteroid fortresses. They
were anywhere from sixteen to twenty-two kilometers in diameter and covered with massive offensive and defensive weapon systems. Each fortress was fully capable of dealing with a Hocklyn invasion fleet on its own.

  “Those fortresses are impressive,” commented Colonel Arnett, seeing what Admiral Tolsen was looking at. “They’re built to take a lot of punishment.” Arnett had toured one recently and been extremely impressed.

  “We may need them when the Hocklyns and the AIs finally reach us here,” Tolsen said as he looked over at the tactical display, which was showing his assembling fleet.

  His new fleet was much more powerful than the previous one. He had six battlecruisers, three battlecarriers, six heavy strikecruisers, twelve Monarch cruisers, and thirty light cruisers. All fleet destroyers had been assigned to support duty in the satellite grids to help ensure their survival. Destroyers had been found to be too vulnerable when fighting Hocklyn warships.

  There were four fleets of similar size based in the New Tellus system in anticipation of a Hocklyn attack. Similarly sized fleets were also present in Earth’s solar system as well. There were also several squadrons of light cruisers constantly out on patrol to serve as a quick reaction force for any unknown ships that might jump into the system. Each light cruiser squadron was commanded by a Monarch heavy cruiser.

  “All ships are now in formation,” Colonel Arnett reported as the last two light cruisers moved into their positions.

  “Very well,” Admiral Tolsen responded, ready to finally get underway. “All ships, twenty percent sublight, and let’s move out of the gravity well.”

  The fleet slowly accelerated and moved away from New Tellus, the light cruisers forming a screen around the heavier units with the battlecruiser Defiant at the center. This was a strong defensive formation aimed at protecting the more powerful ships in case of a sudden and unexpected attack.

  A little later, Colonel Arnett looked over at Admiral Tolsen. “We have cleared the gravity well and can assume standard patrol speed.”