The Slaver Wars: Retaliation (The Slaver Wars Book Five)
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“Then they are dead!” spoke Resmunt, feeling jubilant. “We will jump in with six fleets and immediately engage the humans. Our other four fleets will remain just outside the gravity well and destroy any human ships that attempt to escape.” Resmunt remembered how the humans had trapped him; now it was his turn.
“Honor will be ours today,” intoned Ganth, feeling the rush of blood through his veins as it neared time for battle.
He knew that much honor could be gained in the coming battle. He was also anxious to try out the new energy beams the AIs had equipped the Liberator with. They were supposed to be forty percent more powerful than the previous ones. Surely, with the new weapons and strengthened energy shield, they would be more than a match for the human ships.
“Commodore Aanith will remain behind with War Leaders Osbith, Crytho, and Zenth,” Resmunt ordered as he took his place upon the command pedestal. “We will jump in first and engage the humans, then Commodore Aanith will follow and stay outside the gravity well of the planet. He is to destroy any human ship that attempts to escape.”
“I will pass on the orders,” Ganth replied as he moved toward Communications.
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Admiral Sheen was pacing in the Command Center between the large tactical hologram and the main sensor screen a few feet farther away. The FTL sensor buoys had detected a massive Hocklyn fleet just two light years distant. They had known for several days the fleet was coming once the frantic FTL message from the stealth scout had arrived. All the stealth scouts had been sent on to Admiral Kimmel’s position since they would be of no tactical assistance during the coming battle. They had been waiting for several hours for the Hocklyns and the AIs to make their move.
First Fleet and Second Fleet had taken up a defensive position in the center of the gravity well, waiting for the first Hocklyn and AI ships to emerge from hyperspace. Admiral Streth was certain the AIs would jump in and try to engage the fleet first in order to inflict as much damage as possible before the Hocklyns arrived. Eight of the valuable strikecruisers along with sixteen light cruiser escorts would target two of the AI ships, hoping to destroy them quickly and force the AIs to withdraw. Then the battle would come down to the Federation ships and their hated adversaries, the Hocklyns.
“Hocklyn ships are jumping,” reported Lieutenant Stalls, trying his best not to sound nervous. Glancing over at Angela at Communications, he could see that she looked very faint. “Don’t worry Angela,” he spoke over their private channel. Admiral Sheen and Admiral Streth will get us through this.”
“I hope so,” Angela replied in a strained voice. “But we never faced these kinds of odds before.”
“Place the fleet at Condition One,” ordered Amanda, nodding at Commander Evans. “Load Devastator Three and regular Devastators in all missile tubes. Unlimited use of Devastator threes has been authorized.”
Commander Evans raised her eyebrows at this. “That will take the Hocklyns by surprise,” she said with a pleased grin. “They must think we have a limited supply of Devastator Threes from the way we have hesitated using them in the past.”
“They are about to find out differently,” Amanda responded. They were depending on the powerful sublight missiles to even the playing field against the superior size of the Hocklyn warfleet.
“AIs are jumping,” Lieutenant Stalls reported, his face turning pale.
“All ships, stand by to engage AIs,” Amanda ordered her ship commanders over the ship-to-ship channel in her mini-com. “Strikecruisers are to engage AIs upon emergence.”
Amanda watched expectantly as four heavy strikecruisers and eight light cruisers separated themselves slightly from Second Fleet’s formation. She knew there was a good chance the AIs would jump in close to her fleet formation in an attempt to destroy Second Fleet as quickly as possible. She was depending on the strikecruisers to prevent that. They were about to find out if the new computer program and updated targeting systems would be able to take out an AI ship.
Watching the tactical display intently, she saw that four of the strikecruisers with First Fleet were doing the same thing as they pulled slightly away from their fleet formation. “All weapons prepare to fire upon my command. Power beams are to target AI ships as soon as they exit the spatial vortexes.”
Amanda knew that the AI jump drives were much more efficient than the Hocklyns’ or the Federations’. She sat down at her command console and buckled herself in. Moments crept by as she watched the tactical display tensely waiting for the AIs to appear. As she waited, she wondered what Richard was doing at this moment; she just hoped she lived through this so she could see him again. She could feel her pulse racing and hear her heart pounding in her ears. This would be by far the biggest battle yet.
“Spatial vortexes forming off our starboard bow,” Commander Evans reported as a warning alarm on one of the sensor screens went off.
Commander Evans had scarcely spoken the warning when the ten AI ships appeared in between First and Second Fleet.
“How the hell did they do that?” Evans screamed as she saw how close the AI ships were. All ten were within one hundred kilometers of some of Second Fleet’s units and within two hundred kilometers of First Fleet.
“Incoming fire,” tactical reported as the WarStorm shuddered violently as an energy beam impacted the ship’s screen.
“Light cruiser Wrath is down,” Stalls reported as he saw the light cruiser’s green icon flare up and then vanish.
“We’re too close!” swore Commander Evans as reports of damaged ships started coming in.
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All ten AI ships were firing numerous white energy beams at the two human fleets. The range was so close that very few were missing. Four energy beams from two AI ships struck a human Monarch cruiser, and its energy screen instantly failed. The beams impacted the hull, cutting easily through the ship’s battle armor and inflicting serious damage. The beams played across the hull, setting off secondary explosions and eventually cutting the ship into setting off its self-destructs. The Monarch cruiser vanished as nuclear explosions consumed what was left of it.
Another light cruiser exploded in flaming wreckage as AI energy beams tore through its screens and ravaged the ship. Inside First Fleet’s formation, a battlecruiser was on fire and other ships were taking damage. Second Fleet was suffering even worse as the AIs were closer.
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“All ships return fire,” ordered Amanda frantically knowing that, at this close range, the AIs could seriously damage both human fleets. They had to buy enough time for the strikecruisers to lock on and fire their Devastator Threes.
Human weapons were now impacting on the AI ship’s screens as the human ships began to return fire. Power Beams, lasers, explosive railgun rounds, and nuclear missiles pummeled the AI screens, lighting them up in brilliant explosions. Nuclear fire walked across the AI’s energy screens, but the massive ships seemed to shrug off the violent attacks with little effort.
“Light cruiser Terrene is down,” Lieutenant Stalls reported as the damaged and dying Federation ships continued to mount.
“Strikecruisers closing on the AI ships and are preparing to fire,” Commander Evans reported grimly as she listened to frantic commanders over her mini-com. “The AIs are switching their fire to the cruisers.”
In space, the screens on the eight cruisers began to flare brilliantly as multiple AI energy beams bracketed them. The strikecruiser Eden’s energy screen failed when the combined fire from four AI ships overwhelmed it. The valiant cruiser tried to launch its Devastator Three missiles but before the first one could clear the launch tube the ship exploded as the deadly AI beams tore the ship apart.
“Strikecruiser Eden is down,” Lieutenant Stalls reported grim faced. He knew they couldn’t afford to lose the strikecruisers; they were the only ships other than the StarStrike that could take on an AI ship.
“Strikecruisers are firing,” Commander Evans spoke tight-lipped her eyes glued to the tactical hologram.
“Yes!” screamed Lieutenant Stalls, seeing the damage done to the AI ships on the main viewscreen. It was focused on the AI ships and the damage could be seen very plainly. Others in the Command Center let loose cries of elation at seeing the damage done to the two massive AI spheres.
“All ships, target those two AI ships,” Amanda ordered, knowing they needed to finish their destruction quickly before the others could respond. They had to drive the AIs back away from the fleets.
From both First Fleet and Second Fleet heavy weapons fire poured into the two AI ships, ripping them apart. Multiple nuclear explosions marched across the two ship’s hulls, incinerating metal and superstructure. Secondary explosions began to go off inside the AI ships, blowing out huge sections of the hull. In a matter of moments, the damage to both AI ships became critical, and they blew apart as their internal nuclear self-destructs were activated.
“AI ships are jumping out,” Lieutenant Stalls reported with relief as the eight remaining AIs vanished from his sensor screens. Even as he spoke, red threat icons began to appear just outside of the gravity well of the planet. The Hocklyn fleets had arrived.
“Reform the fleet,” ordered Amanda, letting out a deep sigh. She looked at her shattered fleet formation, knowing the AIs had hurt them. However, they had managed to destroy two of the AI ships; perhaps the AIs would hold back now, not wanting to risk further damage to their huge ships.
“We have several ships that are too damaged to fight,” Commander Evans reported as she listened to the incoming damage reports from the fleet over her mini-com.
“Order them to withdraw to Admiral Adler’s position and initiate repairs,” Amanda ordered. They had lost too many ships in the brief engagement with the AIs.
-
The AI commander stared in surprise as the remaining fleet of eight ships came back out of hyperspace. It had stunned the AIs how quickly the humans had turned and destroyed two AI ships.
“Analyze how our ships were destroyed,” the AI commander ordered as he floated nearer the ship’s data collection terminals studying the data flowing across the screens. He waved his multiple tentacles at another AI and continued to speak. “The humans are using nuclear missiles equipped with sublight drives to destroy our ships. How are they doing this? Our ship’s screens should be able to hold up to these weapons.”
“Data indicates they employed nearly forty of the missiles in our brief engagement,” the AI at the data terminals responded after examining the information from the battle. “They used a number of them to hit a very small section of the energy screen, creating a brief failure. The hole created was no more than twenty meters across. They then fired two missiles through which impacted on our ship’s hulls, causing the energy screen to fail entirely. All of this was done in microseconds, a technology we did not believe the humans possessed.”
“This could be a problem if they have more of these missiles,” the commanding AI spoke as it returned to the center of the room with the glowing orb that served as its head glowing even brighter. “We will let the humans expend these dangerous weapons upon the Hocklyn fleet. When our data indicates the humans have used up their inventory of these weapons, we will return and finish the destruction of their fleet.”
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Fleet Commodore Resmunt stared in astonishment at the slowly expanding remains of two AI spheres. “The AIs have withdrawn,” he spoke as he saw that the eight remaining massive spheres were still in the system. All of them were now at a safe distance from the human fleet and outside of the gravity well of the planet.
“The humans destroyed two of them,” First Leader Ganth stated in surprise as he examined the data now appearing on the new tactical hologram.
Ganth felt growing concern about the coming battle; if the humans had already destroyed two of the master’s vessels in the first brief engagement, then what would they do to the Hocklyn fleet? Honor might not be as near as he had first believed.
“We are being ordered to attack immediately,” Third Leader Vrill reported from Communications. “The AI commander is insisting that we move into the gravity well and engage the humans and destroy their fleets.”
Resmunt nodded; he had expected this when he saw the two destroyed AI ships. “Order all fleets to continue into the gravity well. We still have them outnumbered and will force them back toward the planet where we will annihilate them.” Resmunt just hoped it was that easy; he had been expecting to fight alongside the AIs but now it seemed the remaining AI ships were going to sit this part of the battle out.
First Leader Ganth passed on the orders, and the six fleets spread out slightly and accelerated toward the waiting human fleets. Three hundred and ninety-six Hocklyn warships entered the gravity well of the planet, prepared for battle.
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“What did we lose?” Fleet Admiral Streth demanded as he reformed his fleet to meet the incoming Hocklyns. Looking at the tactical hologram, he saw that Admiral Sheen was doing the same thing. He had never imagined the AIs would jump in so close to First and Second Fleet and both had paid a heavy price.
“We lost the Strikecruiser Eden, two Monarchs, and five light cruisers,” Colonel Trist replied as he studied the damage report. “A number of other ships are reporting heavy damage.”
“Order the heavily damaged ships to withdraw to Admiral Adler’s position and begin repairs,” Hedon spoke, not wanting to risk losing valuable ships he could save. It distressed him that they had already lost one of the precious strikecruisers.
Colonel Trist quickly passed on the orders and watched one of the large tactical displays as six ships pulled away from First and Second Fleet to retreat to the safety of Admiral Adler and the satellite defenses.
“Order all ships to launch their fighters,” Admiral Streth ordered, knowing his fighters would be severely outnumbered. “Their primary mission is suppression of any inbound Hocklyn fighters, and when their weapons are exhausted they are to fall back to Admiral Adler to be rearmed.”
“Hocklyns have six fleets inbound,” Captain Reynolds reported as he watched the Hocklyn ships enter the gravity well and continue on a course to intercept First and Second Fleet. “They have also jumped an additional four fleets to just outside the gravity well, and they are holding at that position.”
“To destroy any of our ships that try to escape,” Colonel Trist spoke grimly as he stared at the tactical display. “They’re not taking any chances this time. They want to keep us bottled up and annihilate our fleets.”
“What’s the makeup of those six inbound fleets?” asked Hedon, wanting to know what he was up against. He did not intend to play this battle out on the terms of the Hocklyns; he still had a few unpleasant surprises for them up his sleeve. It was going to cost this Hocklyn Fleet Commodore to retake the planet.
“Thirty-six dreadnoughts, seventy-two war cruisers, and two hundred and eighty-eight escort cruisers,” Captain Reynolds replied as the types of Hocklyn ships appeared on one of his screens.
Colonel Trist winced as he looked over at Hedon. “That’s a lot of firepower if all of those ships have been upgraded.”
Hedon nodded, he knew First and Second Fleet were not in a good strategic position, but if he immediately withdrew and tried to escape the AIs might suspect that this entire attack had only been an attempt to lure the Hocklyn and AI fleets back to the Federation. They would suspect a trap of some sort. He had to accept the casualties and make it seem that his fleets had been forced to withdraw after a hard fought battle.
“Fighters are being launched,” Captain Reynolds reported as his sensor screens began to show hundreds of additional friendly green icons. In all, ov
er four hundred fighters armed with interceptor missiles were being launched. Reynolds watched as the fighter squadrons took up a position in front of the two defending fleets, knowing that the Hocklyns would soon be launching their own war wings.
Hedon activated his ship-to-ship com, which would allow him to communicate with all the ships of both fleets. “Battlecruisers and strikecruisers are to load Devastator Threes in all missile tubes,” Hedon ordered in a calm and measured voice. “Monarch cruisers and light cruisers are to do the same with regular Devastator missiles. We will hit them with one heavy missile barrage and then fire everything we have at them, targeting any ship damaged by the missiles. On my order, we will begin a slow, fighting retreat back to the satellite defense grid and Third Fleet.”
“I hope this works,” Colonel Trist spoke in a quiet voice, knowing the Hocklyns had more ships and more firepower this time around. There were also the AIs sitting out in the system that could jump back in at any moment.
“Admiral Sheen has confirmed the orders,” Captain Janice Duncan reported from Communications.
Janice trusted the admiral to get them through this, though she knew they were facing overwhelming odds. Looking at Hedon, she could see worry lines around his eyes. She knew he had to be under a tremendous amount of pressure.
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Fleet Commodore Resmunt saw that the human ships were not withdrawing back toward the planet and the heavy satellite defensive grid that surrounded it. If their positions had been reversed, Resmunt knew he would have pulled back to preserve his fleet units. “Launch our war wings,” he ordered, seeing the growing cloud of human fighters forming up in front of the human fleets.
From the Hocklyn ships over 2,600 fighters launched; all were equipped with interceptor missiles. The plan was to destroy the human fighters and then, when the humans launched their bomber strike, there would be no human fighters to protect it and it could be easily destroyed. Resmunt had no intention of allowing the human bombers to close with his fleet and launch their nuclear payloads.