“Is she conscious?”
“Not at the moment,” the other doctor replied. “We want to keep her under until after the surgery. Lieutenant Grainger is in with her now. Should I tell her you’re out here?”
“No,” responded Jeremy, knowing there was nothing more he could to at the moment. “Just keep me informed of Lieutenant Johnson and Desoto’s conditions.”
“Yes, Sir,” the senior doctor replied.
Turning, Jeremy left the med bay wishing there was more he could do. In all the time the five of them had been together this was the first time any of them had been seriously injured. It made Jeremy realize that it was perhaps a mistake for all of them to be on board the same ship. It made him understand even better why the fleet frowned on fraternization between officers.
-
In system K-774, Commodore Krilen was in his personal quarters. The AIs were gone and he strongly suspected they were not returning. He had sent requests to several nearby bases for reinforcements, but he had no idea if they would comply. Many of them had been stripped of their warships to send against the Human home worlds, and Krilen was well aware of how that had turned out.
He took his knife out of its sheath and gazed at its polished metal. Turning it over, he could see his reflection. It had been years since he had fought any honor duels and the knife had served him well in those. He tapped the dark gray armor of his chest plate lightly with the hilt of the knife as he contemplated their next move. With the forces he had remaining, he just might still be able to overwhelm the Humans in the Careth system, but his fleet would take heavy losses. If he waited for reinforcements then there was a danger that Human relief forces could arrive. If he failed to take the system, then any hope he had of future advancement in the Hocklyn hierarchy would be gone.
Letting out a long, deep breath, he knew he had no other choice but to attack. The Humans had used a large number of their deadly missiles in the recent battle with the AIs, perhaps too many. He would speak to War Leader Versith in the morning. In two more days, they would launch the final assault on the Carethian system. Either the Humans and Carethians would die or his entire fleet would find final honor in death.
-
Second Leader Jaseth was standing at his weapons console, knowing the AIs had abandoned them. He felt growing anger that the AIs would not stand and fight to the end against the Humans. Glancing over at the small sensor screen above his console, he gazed thoughtfully at the myriad of green icons that represented Hocklyn warships. They still had enough ships to take the Carethian system, if only Commodore Krilen would listen to War Leader Versith. Jaseth knew that his relationship with the War Leader had soured considerably over the last six weeks. He also knew that if he wanted to continue to kill Humans and rise in rank he needed to get back on Versith’s good side again.
He now knew that Versith had been correct in stating that this war might last for some time. Jaseth wanted to rise in rank and become a War Leader. If he was in command of a fleet then he could seek even more revenge against the Humans for what had happened to his family. Jaseth knew it would be necessary to keep his anger in check; Versith must come to trust him again.
War Leader Versith was standing in front of the tactical display with First Leader Trion. The display was showing the last known dispositions of the Human and Carethian forces around Careth.
“In our last attack, we managed to destroy many of their warships and took out a large number of their defensive satellites,” Versith commented as he gazed thoughtfully at the screen. In some areas, the defensive satellites were almost gone.
“If not for the suicide attack by the small Carethian ships we would have won the battle,” Trion added. “They died with honor defending their world. Both the Carethians and the Humans are worthy adversaries.”
“Too worthy,” replied Versith, turning away from the screen. “I still believe that if we had combined our forces instead of splitting them, we could have eliminated the Human ships and destroyed the orbiting space station.”
“War Leader Osbith did manage to destroy three Carethian cities before his fleet was lost,” pointed out Trion, recalling the nuclear detonations that had been detected on the planet. “He died with honor.”
“Perhaps,” Versith said in his rasping voice. “But his foolishness in not taking the small ships as a serious danger cost him his life as well as that of his fleet. While he might have found honor in death, we can’t lose valuable warships due to faulty tactics and strategy. The Humans will be sending a relief fleet shortly if it is not already on the way. We have only a few days at most to conquer Careth.”
“Commodore Krilen has requested additional reinforcements,” mentioned Trion in his harsh and cold voice.
“They won’t arrive in time,” replied Versith, shaking his head. “Once the Human relief fleet gets here we will be forced to withdraw.”
“Much has changed since the start of this war,” Trion spoke in a lower voice. Before the war with the Humans, no Hocklyn commander would have even considered withdrawing in the face of the enemy; it would have been an insult to their honor. But the Humans had changed all of that.
“I fear there will be even more changes ahead of us,” Versith responded, his cold dark eyes looking over the War Room. “I suspect this war is barely beginning and our Empire will be severely tested in the coming years.”
Trion only nodded and didn’t respond. He knew War Leader Versith was much wiser than he was and it concerned him that Versith felt this could be a long war. Trion had no idea how the Empire would react to such a concept.
-
Jeremy was in the space station meeting with Grayseth and Rear Admiral Marks. He had already briefly described to them the battle in the K-774 system.
“What next?” Susan asked as she folded her arms across her breasts. “Our flight wings have been devastated and I’ve consolidated our remaining fighters and bombers on the Cygnus and Retribution. Major Thurman is currently organizing our surviving squadrons into strike groups. Some of the squadrons are made up of pilots from a dozen different ships.”
“The same for us, I’m afraid,” Grayseth added in a more subdued voice than normal. “We have three squadrons of fighters remaining plus one bomber squadron.”
“When the Hocklyns attack again I’m sure they'll come after our remaining fleet units,” Jeremy replied with a heavy sigh, knowing they were in trouble. “We will position our ships around the space station and make our last stand here. Perhaps if we can take enough of them out, the remaining defense satellites and battle stations can stop the rest of their ships.”
“A big if,” spoke Susan, arching her eyebrows. “But I don’t see any other choice.”
“Arm our remaining bombers with nuclear tipped Shrike missiles,” Jeremy ordered. “We will hold them back until the very last and send them in with our remaining fighters.”
“We’re bringing the last defensive satellites we had in reserve up from Careth,” Grayseth added. “We can restore most of the defense grid and we are repositioning the remaining destroyers and battle stations to help better protect it.”
“What were the casualties on the planet from the three nuclear strikes?”
“Over four million,” Grayseth spoke, his eyes looking grim. “It would have been more but much of the population of the three cities had already been partially evacuated.” Grayseth had gone down to the planet and personally inspected the damage. In all three devastated cities, fires still burned and smoke was heavy in the air. Precautions were being taken to control the spread of any lingering radiation.
Susan closed her eyes and then opening them, looked directly at Jeremy. “We’re not making it out of this alive are we?”
Jeremy looked over at Grayseth and then back over at Susan and slowly shook his head. He was afraid that if Admiral Streth were coming it would be too late to save Careth’s Human defenders or the Carethians. When he finally made it all he would find were shattered wrecks in orbit and
a decimated planet.
-
Later, Jeremy made his way to the two ship repair bays. Stepping inside the first large bay, he gazed at the strikecruiser Orion and the massive damage the cruiser had suffered. Huge, jagged holes covered one side of it and smoke was still coming out of a few of them. He knew all the internal fires had been brought under control. It was obvious that some of the damage had been caused by AI energy beams and other damage from internal explosions.
“We’ll be ready,” a voice spoke determinedly from behind Jeremy.
Turning, he saw Major Kawaskii the executive officer of the Orion. “The Orion took quite a beating,” Jeremy commented.
“But we drove off the AIs,” Kawaskii spoke with fire in his eyes. “We made them pay!”
“How soon before the Orion is repaired sufficiently to go back into combat?”
“Tomorrow,” Kawaskii replied with determination in his voice. “The repair bay foreman is going to slap patches over the holes in the hull and we’re sealing off the most damaged areas. It won’t look pretty, but the ship will be space worthy. In twenty-four hours, we can be back at seventy percent combat efficiency.”
“I want the Orion to stay in the repair bay until the last minute,” ordered Jeremy, knowing Kawaskii wanted his ship ready to face the Hocklyns. “From the moment they jump out of system K-774 plus the time they will need to enter Careth’s gravity well to attack us, we should have over forty minutes warning. That should give you plenty of time to get out of the bay and into formation with the rest of the fleet.”
“Yes, Admiral,” Kawaskii replied. “We’ll be ready, you can count on that!”
Looking back at the Orion, Jeremy could see the bright flashes of welders. There were numerous people, both bears and Humans, working on the ship. He knew it would be the same in the Vega’s repair bay. He was proud of his people; they had all volunteered to stay and fight in the Carethian system to help defend the bears from the AIs and the Hocklyns. He just hoped and prayed that some miracle would allow them to survive.
-
Aboard the Avenger, Katie had woken up and was asking questions about what had happened. “You say the crystal is slightly burned on one end?”
“Yes,” Kelsey replied, her deep blue eyes showing concern. “Colonel Malen put the crystal in the secure safe in Jeremy’s office.”
“It was an attack,” Katie spoke after a moment, her light green eyes looking angry. “It was a virus the AIs attempted to insert into the Avenger’s systems through Communications. When Angela realized what was happening she attempted to shut the panel down, but the virus already had control of it and shorted it out.”
“Why?” asked Kevin, looking confused. “It almost sounds as if they knew Ariel was on the Avenger.”
“They did,” Katie replied in a soft voice, trying to keep her growing worry for Ariel out of her voice. “They must have deduced from the actions of our ship that we had an AI in control at times. I think this virus was designed specifically to destroy Ariel.”
Kelsey hesitated for a moment and then asked the question she had been dreading. “Did it?”
“I don’t know,” Katie replied with tears beginning to form in her eyes. “I installed some firewalls to protect Ariel even though she didn’t think they were necessary. The firewalls managed to slow the virus down, giving me just enough time to pull Ariel’s crystal. I won’t know how bad it’s been damaged until I can inspect it. Ariel can’t be gone, she just can’t be!”
Kevin sat down on the bed and took Katie’s bandaged hand. “The crystal didn’t look that badly damaged,” spoke Kevin, soothingly. “I’m sure you can repair it and have Ariel up and running shortly.”
“I want to see the crystal!” Katie said in a determined voice. “I want to see how badly damaged it is.”
Kevin looked over at Kelsey, who let out a deep sigh.
“Katie, it will be several days before you’re ready to go back to work,” Kelsey informed her, knowing that Katie was deeply upset about Ariel. They all were. Ariel had been a part of their lives from the very beginning.
“Please,” Katie begged, her light green eyes taking on a pleading look. “I was Ariel’s first real friend. She is like a sister to me. I have to know. I can’t go back to sleep without knowing.”
“All right,” Kelsey said after a moment, looking over at Kevin who nodded. “I’ll have to call Colonel Malen since she's the only one besides Jeremy that has access to the safe.”
“Thanks,” Katie said gratefully as she watched Kelsey leave to contact the colonel. Then she turned her head toward Kevin. “How’s Angela?”
“She came through her surgery just fine,” Kevin replied. “The doctors say it will take her four to six weeks to fully recover.”
“Has anyone contacted her marine captain?”
“Yes,” responded Kevin, nodding his head. “I let him know earlier; he was even here during the surgery. He seems like a very nice guy.”
“I’m glad,” Katie replied with a slight smile. “Angela needed someone special in her life.” Then, squeezing Kevin’s hand, she added. “We all do.”
A few minutes later, Colonel Malen entered the med bay and walked over to Katie’s bed. She was carrying a small case and upon reaching Katie, set it down next to her. “The crystal is inside.”
Kevin opened the case for Katie since her hands were heavily bandaged. Katie gazed worriedly down upon the large green crystal inside. A good quarter of the crystal was a dark, almost gray color. Her face turned pale upon seeing the change in color.
“This isn’t good,” she said after a moment. “Kevin, can you pick up the crystal and turn it so I can see if there are any fractures in it anywhere?”
Kevin carefully picked up the crystal and turned it slowly as Katie inspected it. All of them were quiet as Katie examined the crystal.
“I don’t think it’s too badly damaged,” she said after a moment, indicating that Kevin could put the crystal back in the case. “As long as there are no fractures running through the crystal I should be able to restore Ariel back to how she was.”
“I will return the crystal to the safe,” Colonel Malen spoke as she picked the case back up. “I’m sure the admiral will be pleased to learn that Ariel will be okay. He was extremely concerned about Ariel as well as you and Lieutenant DeSota.”
Katie nodded as the colonel left the med bay. “If not for those firewalls, I don’t think Ariel would have made it.”
“What about Clarissa?” Kelsey asked suddenly as she realized that the other friendly AI might have faced the same type of attack. “What if the AIs attacked her as well?”
Katie’s face turned pale as she thought about what Kelsey had just said. “I don’t know. She wasn’t protected by the same firewalls that Ariel was. I suggested to the computer tech on the StarStrike that he install the same firewalls that I did, but I don’t know if he ever did it. When I spoke to him last he didn’t seem to feel they were necessary.”
“I’m sure he did,” spoke Kevin, squeezing Katie’s hand reassuringly. “When the StarStrike arrives I am sure that Clarissa will be fine.”
Katie nodded, but a troubled feeling in the back of her mind told her it might not be so. How would Ariel react if something had happened to the other AI?
“Come on, Kevin,” Kelsey said. “We need to let Katie get some rest. We all need to.”
Katie watched them leave and closed her eyes. She tried to sleep, but she kept seeing a shattered green crystal that couldn’t be repaired. She knew that if the AIs had attacked Clarissa in the same way they had Ariel, there was a good chance the other AI had not survived.
Chapter Eight
High Leader Nartel gazed stoically at the capital city from the high balcony of his office. In his hand, he held the latest message from Commodore Krilen. In frustration, he crumpled the message and threw it from the balcony, watching it blow away in the wind before turning and walking back inside.
“Commodore Krilen nee
ds to be removed from command,” commented High Councilor Berken, crossing his powerful arms over the chest plate of his ceremonial battle armor. “He has erred seriously in his attack upon the planet Careth and I have serious doubts if he can take the planet, particularly since the AIs have withdrawn.”
Nartel nodded in agreement. An AI ship had intercepted Commodore Krilen’s report of the latest battle and relayed it on to Calzen. “War Leader Versith needs to be promoted and put in command of the fleet. He should have been promoted to Fleet Commodore status long ago.”
“Commodore Krilen will view that as a serious loss of honor,” Berken spoke. “But his actions of late indicate that he might deserve a lesser status.”
“War Leader Osbith was killed in their last attack upon Careth,” Nartel pointed out. “From the reports I received earlier from Fleet Commodore Resmunt, he was an inept War Leader. He is distantly related to High Councilor Ruthan.”
“I’m not surprised,” Berken responded, his cold eyes gazing unblinkingly at Nartel. “From what I have heard, War Leader Osbith was more of a political appointment than a good leader.”
“It was Ruthan that made sure he was included in the attack fleet,” Nartel replied. “If we are to defeat these Humans we must place our best War Leaders in command of our fleets. In the past, we have allowed politics to deem who commands. Our honor system was allowed to greatly influence our choices to ensure that certain families grew in both honor and prestige. We can no longer afford to follow that policy. Our fleet leaders must be chosen based on their skills and abilities in combat if we want to stop the Humans.”
“Then are you going to replace Commodore Krilen with War Leader Versith?” asked Berken, tilting his head slightly. “Versith has refused higher commands in the past.”
The Slaver Wars: Galactic Conflict Page 11