The Slaver Wars: First Strike (The Slaver Wars Book Four) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Admiral Tolsen is to report to Fleet Admiral Johnson
with the details of what happened in Gliese 667C.”
    “Commander
Thomas kicked the Hocklyn’s collective asses is what happened,” Colonel Peter
Beck commented with a smirk.
    “Set up the
jump, Peter,” ordered Tolsen, taking a deep breath. He knew that Fleet Command
was anxious for a firsthand report of the battle. “We won this round, but round
two will be coming at some point in time. We have to be ready for that one.
This time we took the Hocklyns by surprise; that won’t be the case next time.”
    Tolsen looked
up at the large holographic image above the plotting table, which was now
displaying the eight planets of the New Tellus system. New Tellus was planet
number four and located almost dead center in the system’s Goldilocks zone. There
were currently twenty-two million humans living on the planet, the majority of
them direct descendants from the original survivors of the first Human
Federation of Worlds. There were an additional two million living inside the huge
manmade caverns inside the asteroid Ceres in the Sol System.
    The
holographic image was full of different colored icons. Each icon represented a
planet, ship, defensive satellite, or other manmade object; the image was blanketed
with them. The New Tellus system was the most heavily fortified system in the
new Human Federation of Worlds. The reason was simple; someday the plan was to
lure the Hocklyns into attacking the system in overwhelming numbers. If they
did, the Hocklyns would walk into the biggest trap ever built. New Tellus was
also the closest system to the Hocklyn Slave Empire.
    “Ready to
jump,” Colonel Beck informed the admiral as Navigation and helm reported their
readiness.
    “Then take us
home,” ordered Admiral Tolsen, leaning back in his command chair. Admiral
Tolsen had been born on New Tellus and was well aware of the massive defenses
in the system.
    In front of the
WarHawk and the Liberty blue-white vortexes of swirling light appeared. The two
ships maneuvered into the center of the vortexes and vanished as they made the
transition to hyperspace. Behind them the vortexes collapsed, leaving no trace
of ever being there.
    A few moments
later, Admiral Tolsen felt the familiar wrenching sensation as the WarHawk
dropped out of hyperspace and exited the vortex. The Liberty appeared off her
port side and moved slowly into supporting position. Several Talon fighters
took off from her flight bay and took up CAP positions around the two ships.
    “Put New
Tellus Station on the screen,” Colonel Beck ordered as he adjusted the
holographic image above the plotting table to show the area around New Tellus
only.
    It was covered
in blue and green icons. The blue icons represented defensive satellites and
the green icons represented ships. There were also eight large violet icons,
which represented the massive asteroid fortresses that were in orbit around the
planet, as well as six yellow icons, which represented the large orbiting
shipyards. The Federation survivors had spent the last four hundred years
preparing the system for the coming war with the Hocklyns.
    “Take us in to
New Tellus Station and contact Docking Control to see where they want us,” ordered
Tolsen, looking at the viewscreen, which showed the massive shipyard. New
Tellus Station was the largest shipyard in the Federation. “I will be in my
quarters getting ready to see the Fleet Admiral. Contact me when we’re docked.”
    “Yes, Sir,”
Colonel Beck replied as he walked over to the command console to take over
operations in the Command Center.
    -
    It was nearly three
hours later when Admiral Tolsen made his way into the large briefing room in
the station to meet with Fleet Admiral Johnson. New Tellus station was sixteen
kilometers in length and eight in width. It contained six massive construction bays,
which could produce any size ship the Fleet required, as well as twelve repair
bays. It had been necessary for