The Slaver Wars: First Strike (The Slaver Wars Book Four) (40 page)

“It’s their
culture of respect for others,” Jeremy explained. Grayseth and he had discussed
this in great detail over the last few days. “It is one of the things that was
being eroded by the Hocklyn occupation. I also wouldn’t consider the bears to be
harmless. Do you know that there were forty Hocklyn Protectors on the space
station and another six hundred on the planet when we attacked the two escort
cruisers? They all died within minutes of each other in hand-to-hand combat
with the bears.”

Kevin nodded
as he considered what Jeremy had just said. The bears didn’t look that
dangerous.

“They’re
Carethians,” Angela put in, looking at the others. “We need to quit calling
them bears.”

“I don’t think
they mind,” Kelsey said as she used her knife to cut a slice of roast beef that
was on her plate. “I think they were quite pleased to learn we have several
primitive species of bears living on Earth.”

“So,” Katie
said, her green eyes glinting mischievously. “What’s this about a teddy bear
you used to sleep with, Kevin?”

Kevin looked accusingly
at Jeremy. “I can’t believe you told her that.”

“It wasn’t
me,” Jeremy pleaded hastily, his eyes widening. “I would never do that to you.”

“It was me,”
Ariel confessed not understanding the problem. “From what I have learned many
young children sleep with stuffed animals. I am sure you did also, Katie.”

Katie was
silent as she recalled some of her favorite stuffed toys, then she turned back
to Kevin. “So did this teddy bear have a name?”

Kelsey shook
her head as she listened to the two. It was nice for them to be able to get
together and act like friends occasionally. The five of them, actually six counting
Ariel, had a special friendship and bond that nothing would ever be able to
break.

“Admiral
Strong, report to the Command Center!” suddenly blared out of the ship’s com
system. At the same time, the ship’s Condition One warning lights and klaxons
began going off.

“What’s going on?”
exclaimed Kevin, standing up and looking down unhappily at the hamburger and
fries that were still lying uneaten on his plate.

“I don’t
know,” Jeremy responded as he got up and turned to exit the mess hall. “But I
don’t think it’s going to be good or Colonel Malen wouldn’t have taken us to Condition
One so quickly.”

“It’s the
AIs,” Ariel suddenly announced as she accessed what was occurring in the Command Center. “One of our stealth scouts has detected two AI ships in a nearby star
system.”

The five
paused and looked at each other with growing concern, feeling a sudden cold
chill. It had been hoped it would be several months yet before the AIs showed
up; evidently, that was not going to be the case. This could endanger the
success of Operation First Strike as well as the bears.

A few minutes
later, all five hurried into the Command Center and took their places, relieving
the junior officers that were in charge.

“What do we
have?” Jeremy demanded as he sat down at the center command console and looking
over at Colonel Malen.

“One of our
stealth scouts detected two AI ships in this system,” the colonel said, indicating
a star that began blinking in red on the tactical display. “That’s sixteen
light years from our current position.”

“I wonder where
they’re going?” Kevin uttered in a quiet voice that Jeremy still managed to
hear.

“They’re going
to their main base in this sector,” Jeremy commented as he studied the tactical
display. “They know that’s where our primary fleets are located and they can do
the most damage. Angela, send an urgent message to Admiral Streth that we have
made contact with two AI ships and that they may be inbound toward his
location.”

“What are we
going to do?” Colonel Malen asked, her eyes focusing on Jeremy. “We could also
be their target.”

“We know that
AI ships can jump into the gravity well of a planet unharmed,” Ariel informed
Jeremy, recalling what had happened in the old Human Federation of Worlds. She
felt uneasy knowing the AIs had suddenly arrived; it was one of her deepest and
darkest fears. She wasn’t sure she could defeat an AI ship, even with the new
Devastator Three missiles and power beams. “The gravity well won’t protect us.”

“I have a priority
message from the stealth scout,” Angela spoke suddenly as she focused intently
on the message. “They managed to get close enough to take a course reading when
the AIs jumped. They are ninety percent certain the AI’s target is Admiral
Streth.”

Jeremy leaned
back and thought deeply. All of the fleets combined only had fourteen of the new
modern strike cruisers that had been specifically designed to take on an AI
ship. Of the fourteen, Jeremy had four of them. He also had the only one
equipped with an AI. Jeremy looked over at Ariel for a long moment before
reaching a decision. “Kelsey, plot an emergency jump to Admiral Streth’s
location. Colonel Malen, contact the Nemesis; I want both ships out of the
planet’s gravity well ASAP. Once we’re out of the gravity well we will be
making an emergency jump to First Fleet’s location.”

“What are you
doing, Jeremy?” Ariel asked in a worried and concerned voice over their private
mini-com. Jeremy noticed that Katie, Angela, Kevin, and Kelsey were all looking
at him.

“We’re going
to attack those two AI ships,” Jeremy responded in a determined voice. “Ariel,
I want you working on special tactics using all of our weapons, including the Devastator
Three missiles.”

“Yes, Jeremy,”
Ariel replied in a meek voice. For once, she was not excited about going into
combat.

Admiral Sheen
was just preparing to launch her attack on the remaining Hocklyn fleet when she
received an emergency hail from Admiral Streth on the StarStrike.

“Bad news,
Amanda,” Hedon reported over the mini-com. “We just received word from Admiral
Strong that two AI ships are inbound.”

“AIs,” repeated
Amanda, feeling a cold chill of fear run down her back. She knew full well what
the AIs had done to the fleets of her home worlds. There were not supposed to
be any AI ships nearby. “Where the hell did they come from?”

“Unknown,” replied
Hedon, trying not to sound concerned. “But one of Admiral Strong’s stealth
scouts stumbled across them and managed to take a reading when they made their hyperjumps.”

“How much time
do we have?” asked Amanda, knowing that it probably wasn’t much. An FTL message
didn’t travel much faster than a ship did in hyperspace. The two AI ships could
arrive at any moment.

“Probably less
than twenty minutes,” Hedon responded.

“Not enough
time for us to escape the gravity well,” commented Amanda, knowing the AI ships
would have her and Admiral Adler’s fleets at a disadvantage. She carefully
weighed her options and none of them were good. “What are we going to do?”

“I’m ordering Admiral
Kimmel to jump the entire supply fleet to Admiral Strong’s coordinates except
for his two strike cruisers, which I am temporarily reassigning to First Fleet.
I am also sending all of my lighter units along as well. They will be
ineffective against an AI ship and there’s no point putting all of them in
jeopardy.”

“What about us?”
Amanda asked as she looked at the tactical display. They were less than ten
minutes out from engagement range of the remaining Hocklyn fleet units. If they
turned now, they could reach the edge of the planet’s gravity well in a little
less than twenty. She had four strike cruisers, which could be used against the
AIs.

“Pull back and
set up in a defensive formation,” Hedon ordered. “We know the AIs can jump
inside a planet’s gravity well, so be prepared for that. Use of Devastator
Three missiles is authorized. Good luck, Amanda.”

“Yes, Admiral,”
responded Amanda, letting out a deep breath. She turned around and looked over
at Commander Evans. “You heard?”

“Yes,” Evans
replied her eyes narrowing. “The AIs are coming; how should we position the fleet?”

Amanda
examined the tactical display for a few seconds before responding. “We will
hold our position here. We have four strike cruisers and six battle cruisers
that are equipped with Devastator Three missiles. Admiral Adler has two
additional battle cruisers, which gives us twelve ships to use against the AIs.
We will put six groups of two around the periphery of the two fleets and wait.
There is nothing else we can do.”

“Do you think
we can destroy two AI ships?” Commander Evans asked, her eyes showing worry. “I
watched some of the videos from the first war, and they were unstoppable.”

“I know,”
admitted Amanda, recalling those terrifying videos that showed the AI ships
blasting apart Federation warships with impunity. “But we have better and more
powerful weapons this time around.”

Commander
Evans nodded. She looked around the Command Center and took note of the sudden
quiet. The crew knew that surviving the AIs would be highly questionable. Evans
could feel her own heart beating faster, and she took several long, deep
breaths. She had a ship to command and a job to do. She would let Admiral Sheen
worry about the AIs.

-

Admiral Streth
watched as the supply fleet and his lighter units jumped out. At least if they
made it to Admiral Strong they would still have a fighting chance of survival
if the AIs could not be defeated by First Fleet. Hedon let out a heavy sigh.
First Strike had been succeeding beyond his wildest expectations and now this.
He had not been expecting to face any AI ships for a long while. He realized
that they must have been on patrol somewhere in the local area of space. It had
always been a possibility as they had no intelligence about just how many AI
ships were being used to watch their steadily expanding empire.

On the main viewscreen,
Hedon watched as multiple blue-white spatial vortexes opened and then collapsed
as a major portion of his fleet fled the expected battle with the AIs. When the
last vortex faded away, the StarStrike was setting just outside of the gravity
well of the Hocklyn’s fleet base with six battle cruisers, two battle carriers,
and four strike cruisers. He had kept back the two battle carriers and had ordered
their Anlon bombers set up for a Shrike nuclear assault against the AI ships.
If he could put enough nukes, including Devastator Threes, against their
shields, surely they would fail.

“No sign of
the AIs yet,” Clarissa reported as she walked over to Admiral Streth and
Colonel Trist. “I estimate we have six to twelve minutes before they make an
appearance.”

“I guess we
find out just how well the Federation built this battleship,” Colonel Trist
commented as he glanced over at one of the tactical displays.

“It’s the only
thing we have that is comparable in size to one of the AI ships,” Hedon spoke. He
was glad the Federation had built the StarStrike. It had the screens and the
punishing power to stand toe to toe with an AI ship, at least for a while.

He had never
fought an AI ship before, though he had seen numerous videos of what had
happened when the AIs attacked the original Human Federation of Worlds. They
had been unstoppable as they annihilated the human fleet to make way for the
Hocklyn nuclear bombardment of the Federation worlds. Over fourteen billion
people had died after the fleet was destroyed.

Clarissa
listened for a moment more and then secretly transmitted a message to a point
several light years away. Admiral Stillson needed to be apprised of what was
about to occur. The Ceres Fleet might be needed.

-

Admiral
Stillson looked stone faced at the message that had just been received from
Clarissa aboard the StarStrike.

“Two AI
ships,” his second in command Colonel Jarvington muttered, worriedly. “Do we go
in?”

“I don’t think
we have much of a choice,” Stillson answered as he thought about the ships he
had at his disposal. “We will take all eight battle cruisers, one of the
carriers, and the four strike cruisers. That will give us the heavy hitting
power we need as well as the Devastator Three missiles. Clarissa reported that Admiral
Streth has tasked both of his remaining carriers for Shrike nuclear strikes. I
suggest we do the same for the carrier that will be going with us. Prepare the
fleet for a jump as soon as Clarissa reports the arrival of the AIs.”

“Yes,
Admiral,” Colonel Jarvington replied. He quickly turned and began implementing
the admiral’s orders.

Admiral
Stillson sat at his command console thinking about the coming battle. They were
about to learn very quickly if they could destroy an AI ship.

-

Fleet
Commodore Resmunt looked with confusion at his main sensor screen. The humans
had been about to attack, then stopped, and were now scrambling to get into a
defensive formation. Something was going on.

“Many of the
human ships in the outer system have jumped out,” First Leader Ganth reported.
“Only their heavy units remain.”

Fleet
Commodore Resmunt studied the sensor screen for a long moment trying to figure
out what the humans were up to. They acted as if they were expecting an attack,
but from whom? Then, with dawning realization, Resmunt understood what was
happening.

“It’s the
AIs,” hissed Resmunt, turning his dark eyes to face Ganth. “They are coming.”
He realized this might be his best opportunity to strike the humans. If he
waited until the AIs arrived and then launched an assault against the human fleet,
surely the AIs would recognize his efforts and give him honor. “Honor awaits,”
Resmunt spoke in his rasping voice. “We attack when the AIs attack.”

“Honor is
before us,” First Leader Ganth agreed. “I will ready the fleet.”

-

Two massive
white spatial vortexes suddenly formed on the outskirts of the system, and out
stormed two massive spheres. The AIs ships were 1,500 meters in diameter and
wrapped in a powerful energy shield. The surface of the spheres were covered with
weapon emplacements and other constructions. The powerful AI ships had been
built with only one purpose in mind, to destroy any civilization that could
ever be a threat to the AIs and their plans for the galaxy. The two AI ships
slowly orientated themselves and began scanning the system. Power systems were
brought online and the weapon systems powered up.