The Slaver Wars: Galactic Conflict (4 page)

-

Governor Malleck
was meeting with Fleet Admiral Karla Johnson, Admiral Telleck, and Admiral
Kalen in his office at Ceres. They were discussing the recent meeting that
Fleet Admiral Streth had with the Federation Senate.

“It is as I
expected,” Governor Malleck said with a disappointed sigh. “The attack at New
Tellus has frightened many of the senators. They will not agree to a relief
fleet until the Inactive Reserve has been mobilized and new ship construction
has made up for our losses.” He had received a briefing on the meeting from an
irate Senator Barnes. Barnes would have been one of the senators in support of
sending the relief fleet.

“I don’t
understand their thinking,” Admiral Telleck said with a frown. “We have Alton warships assigned to each Federation system. Neither the AIs nor the Hocklyns will
attack us as long as those ships are present.”

“But they are
in small numbers,” pointed out Admiral Kalen. “There are four ships at New
Tellus and Earth, but only two in each of the other systems.”

“I spoke to
Ambassador Tureen several days ago,” Malleck said as he looked at the others.
“The majority of their people are pacifists. That’s what took them so long to
activate their warships. Even the ships they sent to New Tellus had very small
crews in them; just enough to operate the ships.”

“Governor,”
spoke Admiral Telleck, squaring up his shoulders. “I volunteer to take my fleet
and go to Careth. Perhaps with the added numbers Admiral Strong will be able to
survive until Fleet Admiral Streth can arrive with a large enough force to
drive off the besieging Hocklyns.”

Malleck leaned
back in his chair, slowly shook his head and looked at Admiral Telleck. The two
had been friends for many years and he knew that the admiral was serious in his
offer. “Glenn, we don’t dare do so,” he spoke in a soft voice. “For all that we
know Careth may have already fallen. I have made arrangements with Ambassador
Tureen for a number of Alton engineers to come to Ceres in the next few days.
They will be bringing a number of cargo ships containing some special equipment
that they will need. We’re going to install the new shields, weapons, and power
systems upon our battlecarriers and battlecruisers. All of our new ships under
construction will be equipped with the new systems.”

“That will
take weeks!” protested Telleck, arching his eyebrows in deep concern. “The
relief fleet needs to be sent as soon as possible!”

“Six weeks at
the most,” replied Malleck, recalling the timeline the Altons had agreed upon.
“At the end of six weeks, I promise we will send a relief fleet, even if Ceres
has to do it alone.”

“You won’t be
alone,” Fleet Admiral Johnson said determinedly. “I will see to it that in six
weeks Admiral Streth will have First and Second Fleets back up to full strength
and they'll be going with you.”

“What if the
Federation Senate objects?” Admiral Kalen asked his eyes focusing on the Fleet
Admiral. He knew she might be putting her job on the line.

“They won’t
know until after the mission has been launched,” Karla replied, her eyes
flashing defiantly. “We don’t leave our people behind!”

-

Later that
evening, Karla and Admiral Telleck were in one of the classier restaurants
inside one of the large habitats within Ceres. They were currently in the
Aquarian Habitat, which had been named after one of the worlds of the original
Federation.

“If you send
this fleet without the permission of the Federation Senate, you could lose your
command,” Glenn spoke with concern in his voice. Karla and he had been close
friends for years.

“It will be a
difficult decision,” Karla admitted with a deep sigh. “I think President
Kincaid really wants to send the mission as soon as possible, but he doesn’t
dare with the current mood of the Senate. The senators have seen videos of the
battle at New Tellus. Hell, the AIs and Hocklyns managed to destroy two of our
asteroid fortresses, and those were supposed to be nearly indestructible. I
guess you can’t blame them for being scared.”

A waiter
brought their food and the two were quiet for a moment as they began to eat.
Karla was having smoked trout and Glenn his normal rib eye steak, cooked medium
rare.

“I don’t see
how you can eat a steak cooked like that,” commented Karla, shaking her head in
mild disgust. “I’m surprised that steak doesn’t holler every time you cut off a
slice.”

“It’s all in
the flavor,” replied Glenn, defensively. “If you grill a good steak too long
you cook the flavor out.”

“Perhaps,”
Karla replied as she took a small bite of her trout. It was cooked perfectly.

“Will Admiral
Streth be willing to wait six weeks?”

Karla put her
fork down and looked over at Glenn. “I don’t know. He promised Jeremy he would
be returning and Hedon believes in keeping his promises. Once we return to New
Tellus, I’ll have a long talk with him. He won’t like it, but I think I can
talk him into waiting. I just hope Rear Admiral Strong can hold out until help
arrives.”

-

Fleet Admiral
Streth was on board the battlecarrier Endurance, which was part of Second
Fleet. The battlecarrier had come through the battle at New Tellus relatively
unscathed. The only other surviving battlecarrier from Operation First Strike
was the Essex under the command of Commander Bixby.

“Ready to
jump, Sir,” Commander Evelyn Marsh reported from her position behind the main
command console.

Hedon gazed at
the large viewscreen, which showed a view of the planet Earth. He let out a
long, deep sigh. The planet reminded him so much of his home planet, Maken. The
deep blues of the oceans, the scattering of white clouds drifting in the
atmosphere, and the green and browns of the landmasses.

“Let’s go to
New Tellus,” Hedon ordered with a nod. He was anxious to get back and see the
progress being made on the StarStrike. He also wanted to visit Amanda. She and
Richard were currently down on New Tellus relaxing at one of the mountain resorts.

A swirling
blue-white spatial vortex suddenly formed in front of the Endurance and the
ship accelerated into it. The battlecarrier jumped into hyperspace and shortly
after, the vortex collapsed and then vanished.

-

On Earth,
President Kincaid was in his office watching a large viewscreen, which had been
focused on the Endurance. He breathed a deep sigh of regret as he saw the ship
disappear. He knew it contained a very upset Fleet Admiral.

“He’s on his
way back to New Tellus,” Senator Anderson commented from where he was sitting
in front of the president’s desk.

“Yes, and he’s
not a happy admiral,” Senator Malle added from his seat next to Anderson.

“We didn’t
have the votes,” spoke Kincaid, looking across his desk at the other two.
“Senator Fulbright and his faction would have voted the measure down.”

“What if the
Special Five die?” asked Anderson, arching his eyebrows. “The entire population
of the Federation will be demanding our heads. Next to Admiral Streth, those
five young people are the Federation’s biggest heroes.”

“Perhaps we
should use that popularity to our advantage,” Senator Malle proposed. “If
enough people put pressure on the Federation Senators who are opposed to a
rescue operation it could force them to change their minds.”

“That just
might work,” Senator Anderson spoke in agreement. Even Senator Fulbright would
have to give in to public pressure.”

“We don’t know
what happened to the AIs and the Hocklyns after they jumped away from New
Tellus,” Kincaid reminded them. He liked the idea of using public pressure
against some of the other senators to get them to agree to send a relief fleet.
A few choice words dropped to several of the larger media outlets would
probably do the trick.

“No, we
don’t,” responded Malle, leaning forward. “But they still had one hell of a
fleet. If that fleet attacks Rear Admiral Strong and we don’t send a relief
fleet, he won’t stand a chance.”

“It’s out of
our hands for now,” Kincaid replied in a grim voice. “If the Altons were
willing to furnish a large number of their warships for such an endeavor, then
I would have put forward a motion to send a relief force and I think it would
have carried. However, they have made it plain that they are not willing to
risk a major portion of their fleet so far from home.”

“Fleet Admiral
Streth may take it upon himself to act alone,” warned Anderson, warily. “The
man is full of pride and loyalty to the people that serve under him. He may
take First and Second Fleet and go off on his own.”

“Perhaps,”
replied Kincaid, letting out a deep breath as he considered the possibility.
“But I think that once he calms down, he will see the wisdom of waiting until
his ships are updated.”

“The people of
the Federation all know he played a major role in the victory at New Tellus,”
Malle reminded them. “If he does decide to do this on his own, I don’t think
there is anything we could do. He is by far the most popular officer in the
fleet.”

The three
continued to talk and make future plans. They all knew that the destiny of the
New Federation of Worlds rested squarely upon Admiral Streth’s shoulders. After
all, everyone had always been taught that the great Admiral Streth would
someday awaken from cryosleep and lead the Human race to victory over the
Hocklyns. All President Kincaid had to do was to find some way to make sure
that happened.

-

Amanda and
Richard were in a shuttle flying over one of the former cities of New Tellus.
The city had been hit with a twenty-megaton nuclear missile and all that
remained was rubble. All the skyscrapers and other buildings had been leveled
in the blast. A large, blackened crater was visible at the city’s center.

“There’s no
radiation,” Richard commented as he gazed out at the destruction. It reminded
him of what the Hocklyns had done to New Providence while he had been trapped in
orbit on New Providence Station, powerless to stop them. “The Altons were able
to eliminate the radiation, so there will be no residual effects.”

Amanda nodded
as she looked down seeing construction equipment busily at work tearing down
and hauling off what remained of the once thriving city. “What are the people
doing?”

“Many of the
smaller towns survived,” replied Richard, looking over at his wife. Amanda was
almost back to normal after being injured aboard the WarStorm, even though it
worried Richard that she had spoken very little about the battle and the loss
of her ship. He feared that she regretted not dying with the rest of her crew.
“There is a massive effort to rebuild what the Hocklyns and the AIs destroyed.
I spoke to Senator Amy Karnes a few days ago and she is confident they can have
everything rebuilt in less than a year. They’re going to use some of the spider-like
repair robots that Ceres makes use of in their construction projects.”

“I hope so,” replied
Amanda, softly. She knew there had been very few civilian casualties as New
Tellus had been prepared for this type of attack. The people had survived in
deep underground bunkers, safe from the Hocklyn bombardment. “Where are we
going?”

Richard smiled
and then replied. “We're going to New Tellus Station, there is something there I
want to show you.”

The small
shuttle rapidly climbed up out of the planet’s atmosphere and was soon
approaching the massive shipyard that orbited the planet. There were currently
five shipyards around New Tellus. At one time, there had been six, but Shipyard
Clements had been destroyed in the Hocklyn attack. Space was still littered
with debris from countless ships, the satellite defensive grid, as well as the
two asteroid fortresses that had been destroyed. Dozens of small tugs were busy
gathering up the debris and taking it to the shipyards to be reprocessed.
Eventually, new warships would emerge. There were even plans being made to
build another shipyard.

Amanda gazed
out of the viewport next to her. This was the first time in several weeks that
she had been back up into space. In the back of her mind, she could still hear
the screams and panicked voices in the Command Center of the WarStorm as it was
struck by the deadly sublight missile launched by the AI. After that, there was
nothing as she had been knocked unconscious. Her ship had died when Commander
Evans had rammed an AI ship, destroying both in the process. She knew from
reports that less than twenty of the crew had survived. Most of those had been
injured and evacuated under Commander Evans orders. Her eyes glistened with
tears at the memory.

I should have
been with them, Amanda thought, as she peered out the viewport and wiped away
the tears. Most of her fleet had died; the people she had grown so close to had
perished while she had survived. It wasn’t fair!

The shuttle
docked to the station and as they walked down the shuttle’s ramp, Amanda was
surprised to see Rear Admiral Bennett, as well as Lieutenant Benjamin Stalls
and Lieutenant Angela Trask. She allowed herself to smile upon seeing the two
lieutenants. They had been with her from the very beginning and she was
extremely thankful that they had survived the destruction of the WarStorm. It
also reminded her that Lieutenant Karen Ashton had not. Karen had also been
with them for a very long time and she would be deeply missed.

“Admiral,” greeted
Amanda, shaking hands with Admiral Bennett. Then she walked over and
uncharacteristically hugged both of the lieutenants. “I’m glad to see the two
of you. It’s been awhile.”

“Yes,
Admiral,” Benjamin replied, surprised and embarrassed at Admiral Sheen’s
emotional response to seeing them. “You look well.”

Amanda nodded
and then turned to Admiral Bennett. “Just why am I here? There has to be a reason.”

Admiral
Bennett allowed himself to smile. “Follow me and I'll show you.”