Amanda then contacted the New Tellus. The battle carrier would have to gather up all the outlying stealth scouts and then follow. Hopefully, all the WarStorm would have to deal with was the one Hocklyn support cruiser. If that was the only Hocklyn ship that was in the system when the WarStorm arrived, Amanda intended to engage it immediately and destroy it. She would then send the marines on the WarStorm down to rescue the cadets.
“Navigation, plot a series of long-range jumps to the coordinates Major fields has up on the plotting table. Helm, as soon as you have the first set of jump coordinates, initiate the jump. I want to get to that system yesterday, am I clear?”
“Yes, Colonel,” Lieutenant Ashton and the helm officer replied.
For several minutes, Amanda waited impatiently. For every minute of delay, she knew the risk rose of the Hocklyns finding those cadets. She just hoped they could survive until she could get there. Watching the main viewscreen, she saw the familiar blue-white vortex form. Moments later, she felt the ship jump into hyperspace.
Richard reached out and took Amanda’s hand. “Don’t worry, we will get there in time.”
“I hope so. I’m not leaving those cadets behind, not like I did my parents,” Amanda replied softly.
Leaving her parents behind on Aquaria had always haunted her dreams. She knew there had been nothing else she could have done but in this instance, she was determined to rescue those cadets. Nothing the Hocklyns could throw at her would deter her from that goal. I’m coming, she thought to herself, wishing those cadets could know that their message had gotten through. She let out a deep breath, using maximum jumps it would still take them a little over eighty hours to reach that system. She just hoped those cadets could survive until she got there with the WarStorm.
Chapter Thirteen
Jeremy gazed intently through the small pair of binoculars at the small valley below. The four cadets and Katie had taken refuge in a small cave up on the side of the mountain, shielded by several very large boulders. The cave was invisible from the valley floor, where a number of Hocklyn protectors could be seen methodically searching for signs of the small group.
Sliding back down out of sight, Jeremy walked back into the cave. It extended back about fifteen meters into the side of the mountain. “I can see about eight Hocklyn protectors in the valley,” reported Jeremy, reaching the back of the cave where the others were waiting. He was still feeling the shock from his first sight of a Hocklyn. The protectors were over two meters tall, light green in color, and very obviously of reptilian descent. All of the Hocklyns wore some type of dark colored body armor and were heavily armed.
“That’s more than yesterday,” Kevin spoke with worry in his eyes. He was sitting down against the back wall of the cave with the assault rifle leaning against the wall next to him. “Eventually they’re going to start searching the slopes of these mountains.”
“I was hoping someone would have come for us by now,” Angela said. She was sitting next to Katie, and the two had been talking about Ariel. Angela had been sitting captivated as Katie had described the Avenger’s AI.
“It’s been almost six days now since we landed,” Kelsey said, coming to stand next to Jeremy. They had managed to move quite a few of the shuttle’s supplies into the cave. The cave was a little over three kilometers from their landing site. Kelsey estimated that they had enough food and water to last at least another week. “If the WarStorm received our transmission, they should be here any time.”
“That’s a big if,” Jeremy spoke quietly so no one else could overhear him. “What if they didn’t, Kelsey? Then what are we going to do?”
Kelsey motioned to Jeremy, and they stepped back outside the cave to where the large boulders were. All of her life she had been brought up with the full knowledge of the Hocklyns and the horrific danger they represented to humanity. She could well remember her childhood classes on Ceres where the teachers had repeatedly hammered into all the children’s heads the danger the Hocklyns represented and why they must not find Earth or Ceres until the time was right.
The teachers had shown the children pictures of the Hocklyns and what they had done to the Federation worlds. Even as she had gotten older, the teachings had been the same. The Hocklyns and their AI masters were a scourge that wanted to control the galaxy. The only hope the Federation survivors and Earth had was to remain hidden until they could build up the necessary strength to stand up to the Hocklyns and the AIs and say, no more!
She looked deeply into Jeremy’s hazel eyes. She hadn’t realized until this very moment what color Jeremy’s eyes were. Letting out a deep breath, she reached out and took Jeremy’s hands.
“Jeremy, we can’t let the Hocklyns take us,” she spoke in an even voice.
Kelsey had been putting off this conversation for as long as possible, but each day the Hocklyns were getting closer. Closing her eyes, she knew what she had to say. Opening them, she looked at Jeremy wishing that they could have had more time together. She would have really liked to have been able to show Jeremy the wonders of the Federation world inside of Ceres.
“I don’t understand,” replied Jeremy, his eyes focusing on Kelsey. “If the WarStorm doesn’t arrive they’re going to find us eventually. I don’t think there’s anything we can do to prevent that.”
He knew that, with the supplies they had remaining, they couldn’t survive more than another seven to ten days without going out and foraging. Once they had to resort to leaving the cave, the likelihood of the Hocklyns finding them went up exponentially. He didn’t know how the Hocklyns would treat prisoners, and he didn’t want to find out.
“Jeremy, we can’t let the Hocklyns interrogate us,” Kelsey continued in a strained voice. She squeezed his hands tighter. “If they find out where Earth is, they will go there and either conquer or destroy it. It’s better if that secret dies here with us.”
“Dies here with us,” Jeremy repeated, his eyes growing wide as he finally realized what Kelsey was alluding to.
“Yes,” Kelsey said, her gaze dropping down to the pistol in Jeremy’s belt. “If the Hocklyns find us, save enough rounds to make sure they learn nothing of Earth.”
Jeremy swallowed and felt slightly faint as he fully understood what Kelsey was saying. Their lives were not as important as keeping Earth’s location a secret. “I understand, Kelsey,” responded Jeremy, letting out a sharp breath. “I will make sure the Hocklyns don’t capture us.”
“Thanks, Jeremy,” Kelsey said, leaning forward and kissing him gently on the lips. Leaning back, she added. “I just wish things could have been different. There is so much I would have liked to have been able show you. I think you would like my parents, they are a lot like yours, and of course there is Ceres.” For the next few minutes, Kelsey described to Jeremy what living on Ceres was like.
Katie was watching the two from the back of the cave and could tell they had been talking about something serious. She had no idea what they had been discussing. She did feel better and allowed herself to smile when she saw Kelsey lean forward and kiss Jeremy. Leaning back against the cool wall of the cave, she glanced down at her handheld computer. Fortunately, she had several extra batteries for it, and one battery was good for nearly twenty hours of continuous use. She was currently writing a program she hoped would aid in their rescue. She hadn’t mentioned what she was doing to anyone else in case it didn’t work, but she had no interest in dying on this world or allowing the Hocklyns to find them.
Kevin walked back out to where Kelsey and Jeremy were standing. Carefully glancing out over one of the boulders, he looked down at the small valley. It was covered in trees, and the tree line actually went up a little past where they were hiding. Seeing some movement down below, he squinted his eyes and could barely make out a Hocklyn protector moving through the trees holding what looked like an assault rifle in his hands.
“Do you think they have found the shuttle yet?” asked Kevin, looking over at Jeremy.
“Probably,” re
plied Jeremy, walking the few short steps over to Kevin with Kelsey following.
Kevin was holding the assault rifle Lieutenant Nelson had given them. He was the only one of them that had a lot of hunting experience in his background. He had learned to use a rifle when he was ten years old when his father had begun taking him deer hunting.
“I hope you don’t have to use that,” Kelsey said, looking at the rifle Kevin was holding loosely in his hands.
“Me too,” Kevin said in a serious tone. “We don’t have a lot of ammunition. We have the clip in the rifle plus two spares. That’s less than sixty rounds.”
“We just have to hope they don’t find us,” spoke Jeremy, looking down into the valley. Taking his binoculars, he slowly scanned the visible part of the valley once more. He thought he could see at least six Hocklyn protectors. If he could see six, there were probably others he couldn’t see.
“What will they do to us if they find us?” asked Angela, walking up to the other three and looking at Kelsey.
Kelsey didn’t answer, she only shook her head. Looking up into the light blue sky, she just prayed that the WarStorm would find them.
-
Up in orbit, First Leader Shrea was pacing back and forth in the War Room, listening impatiently as report after report came in from the protectors and shuttles searching on the ground. All six escort cruisers and the Vengeance were currently in low orbits, scanning the planet for any trace of the survivors from that shuttle. The shuttle had been found two days previously, but its computer system had been destroyed. He had sent several engineers to the shuttle to investigate its systems, but they had found nothing that could indicate where the shuttle had been built or the type of race it belonged to, other than they were slightly smaller in stature than a Hocklyn.
“Where are they?” Shrea roared in anger as he listened to another negative report. He turned on Second Leader Vrill with a heavy scowl on his face. “They can’t just have vanished!”
“We have two hundred protectors and six shuttles searching for them,” Vrill replied, his large, cold eyes looking over at First Leader Shrea. “We will find them; they can’t have gone too far. Those mountains are heavily forested, and there are a lot of places the survivors of the shuttle can be hiding. It may take time, but eventually we will find them.”
“Were we able to recover anything useful from the wreck of their ship?” demanded Shrea, wanting to hear something positive. They had managed to find several small pieces of wreckage, which had been brought inside the Vengeance for study.
“Nothing, First Leader,” Vrill responded, his eyes looking down. “The small pieces we have found were too badly damaged from the nuclear explosion to be of any use.”
Shrea said nothing, only turned to look coldly at the main viewscreen, which was focused on the planet below. No matter how long it took, he would not leave this planet until those survivors were found.
-
Colonel Sheen gazed worriedly at the large sensor screen above the plotting table. With a heavy sigh, she walked over closer to it and then gazed at the holographic image the plotting table was generating. It showed the fourth planet of the system where the message had originated from with seven deadly red threat icons in orbit.
“Six escort cruisers and a war cruiser,” Major Fields reported as he studied the information carefully. “They are in low orbits, obviously scanning the surface. We have detected numerous shuttles going back and forth between the ships and the planet.”
“They’re searching for the cadets,” commented Amanda, feeling frustrated. She had not expected to find an entire Hocklyn war fleet waiting for her. The message from the cadets had indicated that only one Hocklyn ship had been detected approaching the New Horizon. The war cruiser was what concerned her. It was larger than the WarStorm and packed a hell of a lot of firepower in its weapons. It would have powerful shields as well as those deadly energy beams.
“It will be another sixteen hours before our light cruisers reach us and another twenty hours after that before the New Tellus can get here,” added Richard, coming to stand next to his wife.
“We have six stealth scout ships on board,” Amanda said, reaching a decision. “I want two of them made ready to micro-jump into the system. She touched the controls of the holographic imager and the planet and the Hocklyns ships swelled, appearing much closer. “Find Captain Gaines and tell him to have two squads of his marines ready to deploy. If we get any hint of the location of those cadets, I want those two scout ships ready to go in for a rescue. Make sure both scouts are equipped with self-destruct charges. They can’t be captured.”
Major Fields nodded and began passing on the orders. Captain Gaines was in charge of the marine contingent on the WarStorm.
“What are you going to do, Amanda?” Richard asked. He knew they were in a bad situation.
“I don’t think we can wait on the New Tellus,” Amanda said, turning to look with deep concern at her husband. “The Hocklyns evidently have a pretty good idea where the cadets are hiding. I think we have to attack as soon as the light cruisers get here. But if we get an opportunity to rescue those cadets, I want the marines in a position to do so.”
“That’s a war cruiser,” Richard reminded his wife, nodding at the holographic image above the plotting table. “It will be heavily armed. The mission profile originally called for us to engage an escort cruiser. Against a fleet of this size, we could take some losses. We also don’t know if our new shields will stand up to a war cruiser’s energy beams.”
“I know,” Amanda replied evenly, turning to gaze into her husband’s eyes. “But I don’t think we have a choice. We have to rescue those kids and destroy this fleet before the Hocklyns can send word back to their base.”
“If they haven’t already,” Richard spoke in a soft voice, his eyes focusing on the holographic display. “They may have sent a message by now.”
-
It was early the next morning, and Jeremy and Kevin were watching the Hocklyns below them. Over a dozen protectors were slowly working their way up the side of the mountain.
“Another hour or two at the most and they will make it up here,” Kevin muttered, his eyes focused on the protectors below.
“Looks like it,” replied Jeremy, knowing Kevin was right. “Kelsey said their body armor is pretty tough, so you may need to make head shots.” Jeremy wished they had another rifle. The single assault rifle they had and the two pistols would not hold the Hocklyns off for long.
Kevin nodded; he had never killed anyone before. He steadied his breathing and continued to watch the advancing Hocklyns.
Katie was in the back of the cave fooling around with the small emergency FTL transmitter they had brought from the shuttle. It had been hidden in an emergency pack, which had contained a first aid kit, several small packs of emergency rations, fire making tools, the binoculars, and several small flashlights. Kelsey had recognized it for what it was, but had told the group it wouldn’t reach outside of the solar system they were in. It was for short-range communication only.
Getting up, Katie carried the small transmitter and her computer to the edge of the cave. She had hardwired her computer to the transmitter in the hopes of boosting its range.
“What are you doing, Katie?” asked Kelsey, coming to stand next to the young teenager. She noticed with surprise that Katie had modified the emergency transmitter.
“The Hocklyns will be here shortly,” replied Katie, her eyes showing fear at facing the aliens. “I’ve set my computer to send out a quick pulse signal which your Federation ship might be able to receive if it’s within range. The pulse will continue once every thirty seconds for ten minutes. Then the power will be exhausted.”
Kelsey looked at Katie. The teenager had held up remarkably well in this situation. Kelsey knew they didn’t have much more time before the Hocklyns found them. She also knew that there was a good chance the Hocklyns would pick up the signal.
Letting out a deep breath, she lo
oked at Katie. “Do it.”
-
“I’ve got a signal!” Lieutenant Trask screamed excitedly as a short-pulsed message was intercepted by her com system. She quickly read the short message, her face turning pale.
“It’s the cadets. The Hocklyns are getting close. They estimate they have another hour or two at the most before they’re found.”
“Do you have a location?” demanded Amada, striding over to stand above Trask.
“Yes, the signal is repeating every thirty seconds. I’m sending the coordinates over to Major Fields.”
Amanda turned and rushed to the plotting table as a map of the distant planet appeared. Over the last day, the two stealth scouts with the marines on board had made a detailed scan of the planet.
“They’re right here,” Fields said, pointing his finger part way up a small mountain.
“Is there anywhere we can land the scouts?” asked Amanda, looking at the topography in that area. She had to get her marines to the cadets before the Hocklyns reached them.
“There’s a small plateau right here, slightly above the cadets. We can have the scouts there in less than forty minutes.” Major Fields looked questionably at Colonel Sheen, waiting on his orders. “It will be a dangerous operation, Colonel.”
“Send the scouts in,” ordered Amanda, decisively. “If they can’t get the cadets safely back to the stealth scouts, the marines are to destroy them and then set up a defensive perimeter around where the cadets are hiding. They will have to hold it until we can get there with reinforcements.”
Amanda turned and went back to the command console. “Lieutenant Ashton, plot a micro-jump to just outside the fourth planet’s gravity well. Transmit it to the four light cruisers as well. We’re going in.” Amanda was glad she had the four light cruisers. They had only arrived four hours back. She had already briefed their commanding officers on the situation. Activating the ship-to-ship communications on her mini-com, she addressed all the warships. “All ships go to Condition One. We will shortly be engaging the Hocklyns.”
Moon Wreck: Fleet Academy (The Slaver Wars) Page 27