Lendle looked at Taylor and nodded. “I will just be glad when this is over with.”
“I think we all will,” Taylor responded in agreement. His gaze focused on the main viewscreen. Very shortly, the large hatches to the bay would be opened. The Explorer and the other ships would be moving out and racing for safety.
-
“Distance to target?” Captain Arcles asked as he continued to close on the large red threat icon on his screen.
“Two thousand kilometers,” Rathers reported as he watched his sensors and scanners intently.
“No sign any of the Hocklyn ships have detected our presence.” Specialist Barkly reported as he scanned his console and checked on the status of the scout’s intricate stealth systems.
“We will continue to close,” Arcles said as he reduced the scout’s speed even further. He was slowly moving up and trying to position the scout behind a Hocklyn dreadnaught. They had been gradually threading their way through the Hocklyn fleet that surrounded Tellus for over an hour.
Looking out the cockpit window, he gazed sadly at the blue-white world below. Not quite as blue-white as it once had been. Smoke was still rising from the burning cities, and he knew that intense fighting was still waging around some of the deep-bunkered marine bases on the planet. Even as he watched, he saw a tactical nuke go off over a mountainous region. The bright flash lit up the area briefly and then the fireball blossomed. There was no way to know whether the Hocklyns had launched it or the embattled marines.
“Fighting’s still going on,” Lacy spoke, aghast at the sight of the nuke going off. “I wonder how many are still left alive down there?”
“Fewer every day,” Arcles answered grimly. Those marines on the ground were fighting a hopeless battle, one they couldn’t win, but they were not giving up. “If the Hocklyns or the marines are still using nukes, that suggests some of the resistance is extremely heavy.”
Even from their distance of twenty thousand kilometers above the surface, they could see rail gun rounds from the attacking Hocklyn ships streaking through the atmosphere and striking other areas of the planet. Captain Arcles knew that this was also occurring on Maken. The two scout ships the previous day had reported that heavy ground fighting was still occurring on both planets. While most of the civilian populations had been wiped out, the surviving marines were still fighting. This might go on for days, but eventually the marines would be overwhelmed.
Another few minutes passed, and Arcles slowed the scout down and finally brought it to a dead stop. They were less than twenty kilometers from their target. He didn’t feel comfortable going any closer. Looking at the countdown timer on one of the screens, he saw they still had five minutes to go. He hoped the other scouts had been as successful in closing with their targets. Seven scouts had gone to Tellus and six others to Maken. All thirteen scouts would target Hocklyn dreadnaughts. If everything worked as planned, the Hocklyns were about to get a thorough kick in their butt.
“This was your idea, Captain,” Lacy reminded Captain Arcles.”
“Yeah, don’t remind me,” he responded with a devilish grin. “The Hocklyns aren’t going to like what we’re getting ready to do to them. It’s time for some revenge for what they did to our worlds.”
“Sixty seconds,” Lacy spoke. She looked over at Captain Arcles and added. “Next time you come up with a plan, pick something less dangerous than trying to take out an alien dreadnaught with a scout ship.”
“Stand by for active targeting scan,” ordered Arcles, watching his console intently. The scout was now operating on minimum power to help prevent detection. “It sounded like a good idea at the time.”
“Thirty seconds,” Lacy spoke, her face turning pale.
“Open missile hatches,” Arcles ordered calmly.
On the wings of the scout, six small circular hatches slid open, revealing the tactical nuclear warheads that had been fitted to the Hunter missiles.
“Targeting scan now!”
Instantly the scout sent a hard scan at the Hocklyn dreadnaught feeding the targeting information to the missiles.
“Zero,” spoke Lacy, trying to sound calm. She felt a cold chill run down her back. They were committed now.
“Launching,” Arcles spoke as he reached down and methodically pressed the six red buttons on a console on his left side.
-
On board the Hocklyn dreadnaught War Hammer, War Leader Sigeth looked in shock as threat alarms started going off in the War Room.
“What’s happening?” he demanded in a cold, hard voice. His eyes instantly moved to the sensor screen looking for enemy ships.
“We have inbound missiles,” the sensor operator called out. “We detected targeting scans and then the missiles appeared from behind us.”
Before War Leader Sigeth could respond, the War Hammer was struck by the six tactical nuclear missiles. Sigeth was thrown to the floor, and he felt his arm break as he struck a console. The lights in the War Room went out, and several control consoles blew out, sending cascades of sparks across the room. Multiple fires erupted, and he could hear crewmembers screaming out in pain.
Struggling back to his feet, he reached the command pedestal just as the emergency lighting came on.
“What happened?” he demanded with rage filling his voice, ignoring the pain in his arm. How had someone managed to attack his dreadnaught?
Sigeth looked over at the damage control board and could see that it was covered in red lights, with more blinking on every second. His dreadnaught had been severely damaged.
“We were hit with six nukes,” his aide reported, blood running down the side of his head from a deep laceration. “Engineering has been destroyed, and the back third of the ship is either burning or open to vacuum. I recommend you move your command to another dreadnaught. This one will not survive much longer.”
“Who did this?” demanded Sigeth, glaring at his aide. He couldn’t believe the audacity of someone attacking his dreadnaught. It had to have been done from a small ship, probably launched from the planet below them.
“It has to be the humans,” his aide reported as he listened to more scattered reports coming in. “There have been attacks on other dreadnaughts. Six are being reported destroyed, and seven others, including the War Hammer, have been heavily damaged. There is no sign of the ships that launched the attack.”
Sigeth recoiled in shock. Never in all the years of Hocklyn history had they lost so many dreadnaughts at once. This was unheard of.
“Find the ships that attacked us; I want them destroyed. Have a shuttle prepared for me. I will transfer my command to the dreadnaught Crimson Steel. Have a medical aide meet me at the shuttle to attend to my arm.”
-
Hedon watched intently as the StarStrike, the Victory, two light cruisers, and two destroyers exited their spatial vortexes close to Lumbar Two, which was a large moon of one of the inner planets. They were just outside of the moon’s gravity well. There were six Hocklyn ships in orbit. Lumbar Two had several large mining facilities on it with nearly two hundred thousand humans living there.
“Hocklyn vessels have detected us and are coming out to engage us,” Colonel Sheen reported as she studied the information appearing on her plotting table.
“Take us in, Amanda,” ordered Hedon, taking a deep breath. It was time to see if the Hocklyns would take the bait.
“I am detecting one war cruiser and five support ships,” Lieutenant Stalls reported as he read the data coming in from his scans.
“Inform the Victory to begin launching her squadrons. I want those six Hocklyn ships taken out as quickly as possible.”
“Five minutes until weapons range,” Amanda responded as she studied her plotting table. The two light cruisers and the two destroyers had taken up supporting positions around the StarStrike, and the Victory was trailing slightly behind.
-
The Avenger and Vindication exited their spatial vortexes just on the other edge of the planet M
aken’s gravity well. Both ships shook slightly upon exiting hyperspace.
“Drives still on line,” Ariel reported as she quickly checked the ship’s systems. “Hocklyn ships have detected us.”
Commander Standel smiled, looking over at Major Winfred. “Fire the missiles Bob.”
From both ships, Shrike missiles launched toward the incoming Hocklyn warships. The Avenger and Vindication each fired twenty-four Shrike missiles equipped with tactical nukes. Half the nukes were targeted to explode in open space before striking a Hocklyn ship in order to confuse the Hocklyn’s sensors. The rest were all targeted on four Hocklyn support ships.
“Turn us around, Ariel. Full sublight until we reach safe jump distance. Let the Hocklyns chase us for awhile.”
The missiles started going off in bright bursts of light, and the Hocklyn fleet paused. For a brief few seconds, their defensive targeting systems were confused from the nuclear explosions going off around them. Then twenty-four tactical nukes slammed into the shields of four support ships. On two of the ships, the shields failed and the ships vanished as nuclear fire tore them apart. The other two support ships were heavily damaged and began calling out for help.
-
On board the colony ship Explorer, Taylor watched as they exited the dock and flew out into empty space. On the numerous viewscreens, he could see other ships. It would take another ten minutes before all the ships were safely clear.
“Launching fighters,” Captain Jonas reported. “The Discovery is launching hers also. The light cruisers Arrow and Tracer are moving out into the asteroid field. Base fighters have now launched and are sweeping the asteroid field for Hocklyn fighters and ships.”
“Let’s hope Hedon can buy us the time we need,” spoke Taylor watching the screens on the walls of the Command Center. For now, they were clear of threats, but he knew that wouldn’t last long.
-
Hedon grasped the command console as the StarStrike shook violently; another railgun round from the war cruiser had penetrated their shields. The damage control board had several red lights glaring back at him. Space was lit up with exploding ordnance and missile trails.
“Launch two Devastator missiles,” Hedon ordered as the ship shuddered again from more rounds impacting the shields. “Helm, turn us ninety degrees. I want a Shrike pod launch when the turn is complete. All batteries to fire on the turn.”
“The war cruiser is heavily damaged,” Colonel Sheen reported. “Two of their support ships are down, and the other two have suffered moderate damage. The Victory is launching an Anlon strike to finish them off.”
“Light cruiser Mace is reporting moderate damage, and her FTL is down,” Lieutenant Trask reported as she listened to the reports coming in over her com. “They report their FTL should be back up shortly.”
A bright explosion suddenly lit up one of the screens in the Command Center. “What was that?” demanded Admiral Streth, looking over at Colonel Sheen.
“The destroyer Cadence is down,” reported Colonel Sheen, shaking her head and struggling to keep her voice calm. “She took several nukes.”
At that moment, the StarStrike’s Shrike missiles and the two Devastator missiles hit the Hocklyn war cruiser. Her screens faltered and then collapsed as the two Devastator nuclear missiles detonated their ten-kiloton nuclear warheads against the faltering shield. Several Shrike missiles struck the war cruiser’s unprotected hull and then the full broadside from the StarStrike’s railgun fire impacted. In just a matter of a few short seconds, the war cruiser exploded as her engineering section and power supply were breached.
“Let’s finish off the support ships and then get out of here,” Hedon ordered grimly. This attack had already cost a destroyer. He wondered how many other ships he would lose before all of this was over.
-
War Leader Sigeth was in the War Room of the dreadnaught Crimson Steel. “Report!" he thundered as he strode over to the command pedestal. His left arm was in a sling, and he was feeling anger at the audacity of the humans to attack in such a way.
“It’s an all out attack by the humans,” the First Leader of the dreadnaught reported. “Our dreadnaughts around the human worlds of Tellus and Maken have been attacked. A human fleet has jumped in and engaged our ships around one of the system’s moons. Two of their light cruisers have launched another heavy missile attack against our fleet above Maken. Three of our support cruisers at Maken have been destroyed. Two others are reported as being heavily damaged.”
“What about the human fleet at the moon?” Sigeth demanded, his rage steadily growing. His eyes looked cold and deadly. “What class of ships are we facing?”
Sigeth’s mind raced. Where had these human ships come from? Obviously, they had missed a major base in their original attack. The masters would be extremely upset when word of what was happening reached them. Sigeth knew with trepidation that he could lose everything if he didn’t stop this attack and destroy these human ships.
“The human fleet at the moon consists of one of their large battle cruisers, one of their carrier ships, two of their light cruisers, and two small support ships,” the First Leader reported.
“Send the dreadnaught Raven and six war cruisers to that moon. I want those human ships destroyed!”
How could major fleet units such as these have survived? Sigeth gazed angrily across the War Room. He had thought it possible that a few of the human’s lighter units might have escaped the initial attack. But two of their major first line units was bad news. He knew those two ships could be dangerous.
Sigeth glared across the War Room. His cold eyes taking on a haunted look. The humans had already inflicted so much damage that there was no doubt that he would suffer a loss of honor. The masters would show no mercy in his treatment. He had to destroy the human ships or his career was over with.
-
For over thirty minutes, the evacuation fleet had been on the move, maneuvering out of the asteroid field. The Talon fighters had found and eliminated fourteen Hocklyn fighters that had been searching the asteroid field for any surviving human ships. The light cruisers Arrow and Tracer were sending out jamming signals in the hope that the Hocklyns wouldn’t realize what was happening.
The fleet finally cleared the last asteroid and began accelerating on their sublight drives, racing for the edge of the asteroid field’s gravity well. The two light cruisers took up flanking positions to offer the fleet some protection. Two marine assault ships moved into a position above and below the fleet to offer what defense they could. All weapons were primed and ready to fire. If they could remain undetected for another twenty minutes, then the fleet could jump away to safety. The Talons met back with the fleet and took up a defensive position around it. Eighty fighters were ready if the Hocklyns found them. If necessary, the pilots were willing to sacrifice their lives in order for the fleet to escape.
A few more precious minutes passed, and just when Taylor thought they were going to make it, the sensor screens lit up with red threat icons. The Hocklyns had jumped in just inside the asteroid field’s gravity well, risking damage to their own ships.
“They found us!” cried Lendle, her hand going to her mouth seeing a Hocklyn dreadnaught appear on one of the viewscreens.
“Send out the emergency message,” Taylor ordered grimly. They had been so close to escaping. Now Hedon’s fleet would have to save them.
“Fighters are pulling in closer,” reported Captain Jonas as he listened to the fighters over his mini-com. “Point defenses are on standby, and our energy shield is now at maximum.”
Less than twenty seconds later, new warp vortexes formed. From out of these stormed the battle carrier Harrington and five fleet destroyers. Immediately upon exiting the vortex, the Harrington began launching its Talon fighters and Anlon bombers. One hundred and sixty Talon fighters and sixty Anlon bombers turned and headed toward the Hocklyn ships.
A number of the Hocklyn ships turned to meet this new threat, launching their
own fighters while others continued to move toward the evacuation fleet. More blue-white vortexes formed, and the Avenger and Vindication appeared.
Seeing the threat to the evacuation fleet, Commander Standel and Commander Wisthom immediately relinquished control of their two light cruisers to the AIs. Ariel and Clarissa instantly shot the two light cruisers ahead at full sublight to reach the evacuation fleet before the Hocklyns did.
Seconds later more blue-white vortexes formed. The StarStrike and her small fleet exited and instantly turned to engage the Hocklyns. In moments, space was full of exploding ordnance and dying ships. The Victory quickly began launching her Talon fighters and Anlon bombers. More Hocklyn fighters were also launching, and soon space was a hornet’s nest of attacking fighters from both sides.
-
“How many ships?” Sigeth bellowed as he realized how badly he had underestimated the human fleet strength. A full-scale fleet battle was erupting in the system.
“At least twenty-five,” the First Leader responded.
“Twenty-five!” Sigeth screamed, his cold eyes turning red. “Where did the humans get so many ships? Their fleet was destroyed. Send more ships to the asteroid field. They must not escape!”
We can’t,” the First Leader replied. “All the ships we have that are not in a planet or moon’s gravity well have been sent. It will take some time to move more of our ships to where they can safely jump.”
An almost insane look appeared on War Leader Sigeth’s face. “I don’t care if they destroy their drives. Order all ships that have a chance of jumping to that asteroid field to do so or I will strip their First Leaders of their honor!”
-
Hedon grasped the command console in front of him as the StarStrike shook violently. A Hocklyn nuke had exploded against the ship’s energy shield.
“Minor damage only,” Colonel Sheen reported as she listened to the ship’s department heads reporting in. “Shield is holding.”
“How long until the evacuation fleet can jump?” Hedon demanded as the StarStrike launched a Shrike attack against a Hocklyn support ship, crushing its shields and then pounding it to worthless wreckage with her powerful railguns.
The Slaver Wars: Alien Contact Page 31