The Slaver Wars: Alien Contact

by Raymond L. Weil

  “Nuclear weapons,” Commander Standel muttered, not liking the sound of that at all. It was becoming more evident that the Hocklyns had no problem with using nukes on innocent civilians. “It sounds as if they use nukes to reduce the populations of all their conquered planets to a more manageable level.”

  “We don’t know that for sure,” spoke Commander Wisthom, hoping they were wrong about why nukes had been used on the planets.

  “Unfortunately, the evidence from all three of the scouts seems to point to that,” Commander Adler responded, wondering if the same could happen to the Federation. “Look what they did to Aldon.”

  Everyone was quiet as they weighed Commander Adler’s words. In their hearts, they feared that he might be right. No one wanted to see the Federation suffer the same fate as these three planets.

  “I don’t see the need for the fleet to go any deeper into what is apparently Hocklyn controlled space,” commented Admiral Streth, taking a deep fortifying breath. “Everything we need to know about the Hocklyns and their empire is in those three systems. The question is how do we get it?”

  The people in the small command group looked at each other, as they thought about the different options available to them. Each system had a Hocklyn warship in orbit. In two of the systems, the warship was docked to a space station. In the third, it was floating in orbit above the planet.

  Major Graymon cleared his throat and then spoke. “My five hundred marines on the Victory could take one of the space stations, and maybe even the Hocklyn ship that is docked to it. We’re ready to go Admiral. Just give the word.”

  “We have another two hundred and fifty on the StarStrike,” added Colonel Sheen, wondering if there was any way they could board the station and seize the Hocklyn ship. “That’s a pretty good size assault force.”

  “I don’t see where that helps us,” Admiral Streth interrupted with a frown, raising his eyebrows. “The Hocklyns will detect our assault shuttles before we can land on either the station or the warship. If they detect unidentifiable ships coming toward them, they will undoubtedly use force to destroy those ships. Must I remind everyone here that a single ship exactly like those three almost destroyed the Avenger and the Vindication in the Stalor System?”

  Commanders Standel and Wisthom nodded their heads in agreement. They grimaced at recalling the damage the Avenger and Vindication had taken above the mining colony. Those three warships were a problem. If they attacked any one of the three systems, the other two warships would respond to a call for help from the other support ship. The fleet could undoubtedly take out those three ships but would probably suffer some heavy damage in the process. Damage they might not be able to repair so far from home.

  “If they detect us,” Major Graymon replied with a wolfish smile. He already had a plan in mind. “What if we can get in without being detected?”

  “The scout ships,” Colonel Sheen spoke, her eyes widening at the thought. She hadn’t thought about using the scout ships. “But how close can we get them to the station without being detected?”

  Commander Adler looked thoughtful for a moment as he thought about the stealth systems and composite shielding on the scouts. He knew what the scientists and technicians said. They were pretty confident about it being immune to scans or sensors. However, he didn’t know if they had considered a situation like this one.

  “Maybe pretty damn close,” he said after a moment. “If the Hocklyns are not expecting us and are not running routine scans we just might be able to pull this off. It will be a risk though. If even one of the scout ships is detected, the Hocklyn ship will probably destroy them all before they can escape.”

  “Why would they run routine scans?” asked Colonel Sheen looking around the group. “We may be very deep into their territory in an area they consider safe. Those support ships may be at those three worlds more for show than anything else.”

  “We have six scout ships,” spoke Admiral Streth, looking over at Major Graymon. “How many marines and their equipment could they handle?”

  “It will take two jumps to get to the targeted system,” responded Major Graymon, looking over at the admiral. He had already worked out a few of the details of this plan earlier when he had been told about the meeting. “I can put ten marines and their equipment on board each scout.”

  “Will sixty marines be enough?” asked Commander Standel frowning. “There may be hundreds of Hocklyns aboard that ship and the space station.”

  “We also have six heavy assault shuttles on the Victory,” Major Graymon added. “They each can hold twenty marines and all of their equipment. Once we have a secure foothold on the station and the Hocklyn ship I propose jumping all six of them in with reinforcements.”

  “We also have four heavy assault shuttles on the StarStrike,” Admiral Streth added. He wondered if this plan could actually work. They would be taking an enormous risk, but the payoff could be worth it. “That will give us another two hundred marines to hit the station and the ship with.”

  “We’re going to be taking a lot of risks if we do this,” Commander Adler warned with a heavy frown, hoping they were not making a colossal mistake. “What if the Hocklyns activate the self-destruct on their ship?”

  “If we hit them hard enough, we can stop it,” Major Graymon informed them confidently. “From the vids of the support ship at Stalor Four and from their attack on our colony worlds, we have a pretty good idea where their nuclear destruct charges are located. I have several specialists that will be going in with the first group who will attempt to disarm the charges.”

  “In all the confusion, it just might work,” Colonel Sheen spoke as she thought about the plan Major Graymon was proposing. “The Hocklyns are bound to be confused from the attack. Before they realize what our marines are after, we may just be able to disarm the self destruct charges.”

  “At some point we will have to jump the fleet in,” mentioned Commander Adler, thinking about everything that could go wrong in a complex mission like this. “If this fails, the Hocklyns may send a fleet after us. They won’t like the idea of a human fleet prowling around in their backyard. They also won’t want to risk us making it back home with any information we’ve gathered. We may find it difficult to make it back to Federation space.”

  The entire command group was silent as they thought about this. It would be risky just getting the information. However, it might be even more dangerous trying to make it back home with it.

  Admiral Streth looked around the small group of officers. He could see that several of his ship commanders were unsure about an armed attack by the marines on the Hocklyn ship and the space station. They were also worried about making it back home. He took a deep breath as he weighed his options. It had taken them six weeks to get this far. They didn’t have to jump into anything. They could take a little time to study this, perhaps come up with a more feasible plan that had a more reasonable chance of working with minimum casualties and risk to the fleet.

  “Major Graymon, go ahead and work up an action plan,” ordered Admiral Streth, reaching a decision. “We want detailed knowledge of the territory the Hocklyns control as well as any other Intel we can recover. Obviously recovering computer drives will be a top priority, as well as any star charts that might exist on the station or the Hocklyn ship.”

  “What type of force am I allowed to use on the station?” asked Major Graymon, wanting a little clarification. “There might be civilians from the race down on the planet aboard.”

  Admiral Streth gave Major Graymon a long and serious look. “It’s imperative that we find out what the Human Federation of Worlds is facing. You are authorized to use whatever force and weapons are necessary to achieve that. I am directing you to attempt to hold any civilian casualties to a minimum and to try to use non-lethal force if possible. However, if civilians offer resistance or get in the way, you are authorized to go through them.”

  Major Graymon slowly nodded in understanding. “We will issue stun gre
nades and a few other non lethal weapons, sir. We will do everything possible to hold civilian casualties down.”

  Then turning to the other officers in the room, Hedon continued, “Colonel Sheen, I want you to work with Major Graymon on this. Commanders Standel, Wisthom, and I want to involve the AIs. As soon as Major Graymon and Colonel Sheen have a tentative plan worked up, let the two AIs evaluate it and see what they can come up with in the way of improvements.”

  “You want the AI’s involved?” Commander Wisthom asked with a look of surprise.

  “Yes,” Admiral Streth responded with a nod. “They came up with some extremely good defense plans back at New Providence, and they showed their tactical ability when they used the Avenger and Vindication to attack the Hocklyn ships. I think it would be wise for us to include them in this.”

  Everyone nodded in agreement recalling how deadly the two cruisers had been to the Hocklyns once the AIs were given control. After being dismissed by the admiral, the group broke up and went off to work on their assignments.

  -

  Amanda sat down on the couch in her quarters and leaned back closing her eyes. She had just spent nearly six hours with Major Graymon working out a tentative attack plan. She just hoped it would work. If not, a lot of good people would die. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and looked across her quarters. On the far wall, next to her desk, was a large photo of her parents. There was also a picture of her parent’s house on Krall Island. At this time of the year, it would be turning cooler on Aquaria. Since the planet had only a few degrees variance in inclination as it rotated around its sun, the seasons didn’t change too much.

  Getting up, she walked over to her desk and glanced at the new picture she had recently placed there. It was a picture of her and Richard at her parents' house. Her mother had taken the photo just a few months back. Amanda missed Richard. His friendly voice, his easy laugh, all made her miss him even more. She was beginning to realize that perhaps her mother was right; Richard was very important to her, more than she had realized. Richard and she had talked about their relationship before she left on this mission. She acknowledged that it was time for her and Richard to pursue this relationship and see where it led.

  With a heavy sigh, she knew it would probably be at least another few months before they made it back to New Providence. That would be almost a quarter of a year away from the shipyard. If the mission they had planned worked, they could start back for home again shortly. Maybe within the week. After Major Graymon and she had finalized their attack plan, Amanda had sent copies of it over to the Avenger and the Vindication. Now it was just a matter of waiting to see if the AIs recommended any changes.

  -

  Early the next afternoon, Amanda had just finished eating in the officer’s mess when she was called to the main conference room. She had been preparing to do a quick inspection of the flight bay on the StarStrike when she received the summons. Upon entering the conference room, she saw that Major Graymon and both Commanders Standel and Wisthom were already there. Not only that, but Ariel’s avatar was showing on the main viewscreen on the front wall. She also noticed that Captain Silvan and Sergeant Craven were present. Captain Silvan was in charge of the StarStrike’s marines, and Sergeant Craven was a platoon leader from the Victory. She had just sat down when Admiral Streth and Commander Adler walked into the room.

  “Hello everyone,” Admiral Streth spoke as he took his seat at the head of the table. “We’re here today to discuss the attack on one of the Hocklyn systems. Colonel Sheen and Major Graymon have come up with a plan of attack. That plan was handed over to our two AIs to run simulations on and see if they could come up with anything to enhance our chances of accomplishing this mission plus hold our casualties down to a minimum. Ariel, would you please explain to everyone what you and Clarissa came up with.”

  The dark haired AI looked at the group from the large viewscreen. She was visible from the waist up and dressed in the dark blue of a Federation fleet officer. “Clarissa and I have run the plan that Colonel Sheen and Major Graymon have proposed through a number of simulations. We have come up with the following suggestions which could greatly enhance the possibility of success of this mission.”

  “That’s what we want to know Ariel,” Admiral Streth commented, curious to see what the AIs had come up with. “This plan has to succeed if we’re going to get the information we need.”

  “I understand, Admiral,” Ariel replied with a slight nod. “These are the changes that Clarissa and I would like to propose to the plan.”

  -

  War Leader Sigeth gazed at the large viewscreen in his office. He didn’t like what it portrayed. Two massive warships had appeared in orbit above the planet. They had jumped in far inside the planet’s gravity well. In his thirty years of service, he had never seen one of these ships before. He had heard about them and seen vids of what they looked like, but this was the first time he had actually encountered one. What worried him was that there were two of the ships in orbit, not just one. The Hocklyn’s masters had arrived, and that did not bode well for the humans that had recently defeated four Hocklyn fleets. The masters must consider these humans to be a significant danger to the empire.

  “They just arrived,” reported his aide, gazing nervously at the screen. “There was no notice that they were coming. I checked communications, and there have been no messages.”

  War Leader Sigeth walked over to the windows and gazed down at the spaceport. A thick covering of ice and snow lay everywhere. Hundreds of slaves were currently working to clear the snow and ice from the landing pads. Up in orbit, over two hundred Hocklyn warships were waiting for the word to proceed to the human worlds. With the arrival of the masters' ships, there would now be no new honor or riches added to the empire.

  The masters could be here for one reason and one reason only. The human worlds had been deemed to be a threat to the Hocklyn Empire and their masters, and the decision had been made to terminate this race. This had happened only several times before in the long history of the empire. Sigeth let out a deep fortifying breath as his gazed turned to the mountains barely visible in the distance.

  “There will be no honor in this,” his aide commented from behind him. “Those worlds could have been very useful to the empire.”

  “True,” Sigeth replied, his icy gaze looking toward the distant mountains. It looked as if another ice or snowstorm was coming. Already the mountaintops were shrouded with darkening clouds. “Perhaps it is for the best. These humans do not strike me as a race that would agree to be subjects of the empire, even after their worlds are conquered. Several times in the distant past, our masters have come and cleansed worlds that they deemed could be future threats. Our empire has existed for thousands of years following this philosophy.”

  First Leader Sigeth’s com system went off, indicating an incoming message. His aide strolled over and activating the com system listened to the message. Then turning, he looked at War Leader Sigeth with a trace of nervousness in his normally cold eyes. “Our masters are summoning you to report to one of their ships.”

  For the first time in many years, Sigeth felt fear. There was very little known about the actual physical form of their masters. Very seldom was any Hocklyn, other than a member of the High Command, ever called into their presence.

  “Order my shuttle to be made ready,” replied Sigeth, feeling the icy chill coming through the window. He had hoped to achieve more honor in the coming battle with the humans and possibly advance higher up in the Hocklyn Hierarchy. Now he just hoped that he would survive. The masters were not known to be merciful to those who failed them.

  -

  Captain Arcles watched tensely as he maneuvered the scout ship closer to the space station, which the Hocklyn support ship was docked to. Ariel and Clarissa felt that most of the station’s systems were automated. From studying the scans from the scout, they had detected a com signal each time a shuttle or small ship from one of the freighters had en
tered what they had determined to be the station’s primary flight bay. The AIs had downloaded that signal into the six approaching scout ship’s com systems, and it was that signal that Arcles was about to transmit. The six scouts were now less than one kilometer from the station, and there had still been no reaction from the Hocklyn warship.

  The space station filled the scout’s cockpit windows and Arcles let out a deep breath. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. “Transmit the signal,” he ordered Lieutenant Sanders.

  Lacy nodded her head and reaching forward, pressed down on the transmit button. It was all she could do to keep her fingers from shaking. She knew her pulse was racing. If this didn’t work and the Hocklyn warship detected them, she knew they would all be dead shortly. The scouts would not be able to get out of the planet’s gravity well before the Hocklyn warship destroyed them. She heard a slight squealing noise from the com system as the message was transmitted.

  Looking intently at the space station, Arcles saw the flight bay doors slide open. He instantly accelerated the scout and flew into the large flight bay. The other scouts followed close behind. The bay was quite large and contained numerous small shuttles of an unknown type as well as several slightly larger ships. He quickly set the shuttle down. Looking at the viewscreen, which showed a view behind the scout, Arcles saw that the other scouts were inside and the flight bay doors were closing.

  “Stand by,” he spoke over his mini-com, which connected him to the ten marines in the compartment behind him. He knew the marines were wearing light armor and a sealed suit. There was no way of knowing what the atmosphere on the station would be like.

  “Atmosphere seems to be close to Tellus normal,” Specialist Rathers reported. “Nitrogen content is a little higher than we’re used to, but it’s a breathable atmosphere.”

  Captain Arcles nodded his head in relief. “Captain Silvan, I am opening the hatch and lowering the ramp. Your mission is a go.”