The Slaver Wars: First Strike (The Slaver Wars Book Four) (27 page)

Amanda and
Richard were on their way down to New Tellus, having reserved a room at one of
the plush mountain resorts. Admiral Streth had informed her that she could give
her crew a three-week leave before they had to report back for duty, and that
included her. He had stressed the point that he expected her to take some time
off.

She gazed out
the viewport at the rapidly approaching planet below. She could see vast deep
blue oceans and white puffy clouds covering some of the landmasses. Large areas
of untouched forests covered the continents. This must be what home looks like
now, she thought, recalling how Aquaria looked from an approaching shuttle.

“Thinking
about home?” asked Richard, seeing the sad and faraway look on his wife’s face.

“Yes,” answered
Amanda, turning back around to look at Richard. “It’s hard not to at times. This
new Federation is great, but it will never be home.”

“I know,”
Richard replied in agreement. He knew that Amanda still missed her parents and
those carefree wonderful times diving off Krall Island. “Perhaps when this is
all over we can return there.”

“You think
so?” Amanda asked, her eyes widening at the thought.

“I think if
Admiral Streth has his way that is his intention,” Richard replied quietly so no
one could overhear. There were a number of other people on the large passenger
shuttle. “I think if there is any way he can pull it off, someday we’re going
back to our worlds.”

Amanda was
silent. She just hoped she lived long enough to see it happen.

-

Jeremy,
Kelsey, Kevin, and Angela were at a fabulous seaside resort soaking up the sun.
They had been there for nearly two weeks.

“I wish Katie
could have stayed longer,” commented Angela, missing the green-eyed blonde.

“Why did she
leave?” asked Kelsey, curiously. She didn’t think Katie still had a crush on
Jeremy and had left because of that. Katie was well aware of the relationship
that she and Jeremy had.

“She wanted to
return to work with Ariel on the Avenger,” responded Jeremy, leaning back in
his lounge chair and stretching.

He reached
over and picked up a fruit drink setting on the small white table next to him.
Taking a long sip, he smiled. He had discovered this drink the first night they
were here and fallen in love with it.

“You’re going
to turn into one of those drinks,” Kelsey admonished with a teasing grin.

“So what are
Katie and Ariel doing on the Avenger?” Kevin asked curious to know.

“They’re
working on Ariel’s holo program,” answered Jeremy, sitting up. He looked at the
calm ocean water; there was barely a wave slapping the beach. It looked extremely
inviting. “She wants to finish up with Ariel and then go over to the StarStrike
and work with Clarissa.”

“Let me
guess,” groaned Angela, rolling her eyes. “Clarissa heard about what Katie is
doing for Ariel, and now she wants the same.”

“That’s
right,” answered Jeremy, standing up and setting his fruit drink back down on
the small table. “Anyone for a swim?”

“Sure,” the
others responded.

“We’d better
enjoy the water while we can,” suggested Angela, gazing at the others. “It
might be a long time before we get back.”

Kevin looked
at Angela and tried his best not to stare. She was wearing a dark blue two-piece
that barely covered the essentials. When Angela walked down the beach, all the
guys turned to watch her. Kevin sometimes thought that Angela liked all the
attention. She didn’t use to be that way, but times change.

Kelsey saw
Kevin staring at Angela and smiled to herself. Kevin and Angela had never
developed the relationship that Kelsey had always hoped for. She knew they did
occasionally spend the night together, but both had agreed that there were just
too many differences between the two to make a long-term relationship work.

The four made
it into the water and were soon enjoying the feel of the warm ocean. Kevin had
a snorkel mask and was continuously going underwater, watching the myriad of
different colored fish. There were also sea turtles but the turtles on New
Tellus, while similar to those of Earth, had shells that were more brightly
colored.

As Kevin
continued to take long breaths and dive beneath the water, he realized that he
really missed Katie. The two of them had been having a great time while she was
here. She was always wanting to do things, and she had chosen Kevin as her
victim for exploration. They had gone sailing, diving, snorkeling, and about
everything else you could think of that was available at the resort. Kevin
wondered if he was starting to have feelings for her other than friendship. He
hadn’t slept with Katie or anything, not even a kiss, but she was definitely
fun to be around and he enjoyed her company.

-

Amanda and
Richard had just come in from the slopes; they had been skiing for several
hours down some of the harder tracks. Richard was an expert and had been
helping Amanda. At least today she hadn’t tumbled down the slope. Yesterday she
had been afraid from all the tumbling; she was going to end up being one giant
snowball rolling down the steep slopes taking everybody out.

Richard gazed
over at his wife and couldn’t help noticing her deep blue eyes; they were the
first thing he had noticed when they first met. He could get lost in their
caring depths. “Ready for some hot tea?” he asked as they took off their heavy
ski jackets and hung them up.

“Hot
chocolate,” Amanda responded with a happy grin. The hot chocolate here at the
resort was to die for. She didn’t know what blend they used, but she fully
intended to bribe someone in the restaurant for the recipe before they left.

The two went
inside the smaller of the two restaurants in the lodge. The other restaurant
was much larger and there was less privacy. They chose a side booth with dim
lighting and sat down.

“Another week
and then back to the WarStorm,” said Amanda, taking a deep breath. The
restaurant was full of enticing smells from cooking food. Amanda heard her
stomach growl quietly.

A waiter brought
over a large steaming cup of hot chocolate and hot tea. He had served them
several times previously and knew exactly what the couple wanted to drink.

“I wish I were
going with you,” spoke Richard, knowing they would be apart for months.

“We will be
rotating some of the crews occasionally,” replied Amanda, taking a small sip of
the hot chocolate. God! This tasted great! “Perhaps I can come back a couple of
times for a short leave.”

“I hope so. How
long will it take to get to Hocklyn space?” asked Richard, taking a long sip of
his tea.

“A little over
ten days,” answered Amanda, recalling the calculations. “We will be making a
total of thirty-three jumps.” Admiral Streth plans on stopping several times to
retune the drives or we could make it in eight.”

“Three jumps a
day,” spoke Richard, thoughtfully. “That doesn’t sound too bad.”

“It won’t be,”
Amanda assured him. “I don’t know about you, but I can’t sleep through a jump.”

“Very few
people that I know of can,” Richard nodded in understanding.

“So how about
these giant asteroid fortresses up in orbit?” Amanda asked with a teasing smile.
“Any pretty executive officers floating around up there?”

“None that compare
to you,” replied Richard, grinning. “You really need to come aboard one of
those big babies. When the Federation survivors decided they wanted something
to hold back the Hocklyns, they knew what they were doing. The Command Fortress
is twenty-two kilometers in diameter with the Command Center located at its
heart. The asteroid is honeycombed with passages and power plants.”

“Impressive,”
Amanda responded glad that at least Richard was somewhere the Hocklyns would
have a difficult, if not impossible time destroying.

“Just the
Command Fortress itself could have destroyed the entire Hocklyn fleet that
attacked Caden’s World.”

“That’s why
they built it,” Amanda reminded her husband in a darker tone of voice. “The
entire New Tellus system is one giant mousetrap for the Hocklyns. When they
finally drive us away from their space, the plan is to retreat to New Tellus
and lure them here.”

“If they come
here, the trap will spring shut on them,” said Richard, firmly. “They won’t be
leaving. Just make sure you return safely.”

Amanda reached
over and took Richard’s hand. “I will. Why don’t we get something light to eat
and then go up to the room?” she suggested with a hint of a sexy glint in her
eyes.

Richard knew
what that look meant. “Waiter,” he said, motioning. The sooner they ate the
sooner he could be alone with his wife.

-

Admiral Streth
was with Admiral Adler in the Command Center of the StarStrike. The 1,600-meter
Fleet flagship was berthed inside New Tellus Station. It had gone out recently and
conducted a two-week shakedown cruise, jumping to every inhabited system in the
Federation. Admiral Streth had thought it would do the morale of the people
some good to see the massive ship. In each system, he stayed just long enough
to allow a few media people to come aboard and look around the non-sensitive
areas. They were handed out packets of information and videos about the giant Federation
flagship.

“This ship is impressive,”
Admiral Adler commented as he gazed around the massive Command Center. All other Command Centers had only one plotting table and this ship had four! Each was capable
of producing any tactical display needed by the officers who operated them.

“I have a
reason for wanting you to come over here, Jacob,” explained Hedon, looking over
at his long time friend. Jacob Adler had been with him from the very beginning.
“I want to change the makeup of Third Fleet.”

“I suspected
that after Caden’s World,” replied Jacob, nodding. “If the Hocklyns could have
pushed through to my ships we could have suffered a lot of damage to the
carriers.”

“My thoughts
exactly,” replied Hedon, nodding his head. “However, we did learn a lot from
our engagement. Once we battered down the Hocklyn’s defensive fire by damaging
their ships, your bomber strike was devastating.”

“So you think
we should wait awhile before committing our bombers?”

“Yes, I do,” admitted
Hedon. “We may suffer more Fleet losses in the beginning, but once we have
reduced the defensive fire to the point where a massed bomber attack can get
in, then the battle is basically over. We just need to make sure the carriers
are adequately protected until that moment.”

“So what are
we going to change?” asked Jacob, feeling curious.

Hedon grinned
as he called up the information on his main computer screen at his large
command console.

“The new Third
Fleet will consist of the following. Ten battle carriers, two battle cruisers, two
Monarch heavy cruisers, twelve light cruisers, and twelve destroyers.”

Jacob nodded.
“That greatly increases the firepower for the fleet, particularly by adding the
battle cruisers and the extra light cruisers.”

“You will be
operating in conjunction with Second Fleet,” Hedon continued. “If we find a
tough nut to crack, I will be calling upon Admiral Sheen and you to crack it.”

“We will do
it, Sir,” Jacob promised. “You tell us what to hit, and we will take it out.”

“I will be
sending a list of your new ships over to the Wasp shortly,” Hedon added. “Just
be careful when all of this starts, Jacob.”

“I’m not going
anywhere,” Jacob promised with a friendly nod. “I want to see home someday
too.”

-

Katie was
sitting at the StarStrike’s main computer panel having an argument with
Clarissa and Ariel. Clarissa wanted the ability to alter her appearance whenever
she wanted, particularly her hair and uniform.

“What’s wrong
with a regular fleet uniform?” Ariel asked over the com system, which connected
them to the Avenger.

“I just want
to look different from time to time,” repeated Clarissa, stubbornly. “Human
women change their hairstyles, wear makeup, and different clothes all the
time.”

“But not on
warships,” Ariel reminded her.

“Please,
Katie,” Clarissa pleaded. “Do it for me.”

Katie
hesitated for a moment, she should really ask Admiral Streth before she gave
this ability to Clarissa, but he seemed busy at the moment.

“All right,”
Katie finally agreed. “Just don’t take advantage of it.”

“Great!” spoke
Clarissa, feeling pleased.

Ariel was
silent for a moment, then chimed in. “If Clarissa has that ability, I want it
too!”

Katie sighed
deeply, as intelligent as these two AIs were, sometimes they still reminded her
of children. “Very well,” Katie responded. “You will both get the upgrade, but
if I hear of either one of you misusing it I will remove it from the program.”

“We won’t,”
they both promised.

Katie nodded
her head, knowing that both AIs were watching her. She was sure that Clarissa
was supplying Ariel with a video feed of everything she was doing. It would
take her another two days to finish installing all of the holo emitters and
then, if she had time, it would be back to the resort for a few final days of
leave. She wanted to go parasailing, but she wanted Kevin to go first. She
smiled thinking about him; she had really enjoyed herself at the resort. Kevin
was a lot of fun to be around, particularly when they were away from the ship.

Fleet
Commodore Resmunt’s large eyes gazed impassively out the thick, reinforced window
of his office down at the now finished spaceport. Around the edge of the
spaceport massive weapon platforms were visible and more were being
constructed. Energy beam installations, interceptor missiles, and even railguns
for close in defense. His underlings had looked at him as if he were mad when
he ordered the slaves to begin building the housings and platforms for the
weapons.