Free The Slaver Wars: Galactic Conflict by Raymond L. Weil

Kincaid is supportive of sending the fleet, his hands
have just been tied by politics in the Senate,” Admiral Telleck spoke.
    As Ambassador
Tureen left, Governor Malleck had the uneasy feeling that there was something
going on at the galactic center that greatly concerned the Altons. He wondered
if the real reason the Altons had intervened at New Tellus wasn’t the threat
the Hocklyns and the AIs were posing to the Federation, but events at the
galactic core.
    -
    Several days
later, Admiral Streth was walking through one of the Alton battlecruisers that
was docked to New Tellus station. The ship was unbelievably modern and had the
feel of just having come out of the construction yard. The decks were polished
and devoid of scuffmarks or any other signs of wear. It was one thousand meters
in length and two hundred in width. A large sphere nearly four hundred meters
in diameter was at the front, and another sphere three hundred meters in
diameter was at the rear that housed the ship’s drives as well as its main
fusion power plant.
    The ship was equipped
with an advanced particle beam as its primary offensive weapon. It also had
numerous energy turrets for defense as well as additional offensive capabilities.
There were twenty-four missile tubes capable of launching sublight antimatter
missiles.
    Alton Admiral
Cleeteus was currently taking Hedon on a tour of what would serve as the Alton fleet’s flagship in the relief fleet.
    “Will it be a
problem having Humans on board?” Hedon asked as they stepped into Engineering.
He paused as he stared at what he knew were the sublight drives and the FTL
core. Both were far smaller than on Federation ships.
    “No,” Cleeteus
replied in a pleasant voice. “And before you ask, our ships are capable of
making jumps of nearly fifty of your light years and only require a brief cool
down time of about ten of your minutes.”
    Hedon could
only nod as he thought of the possibilities. Looking around, he noticed that there
were already several Human members of the crew working with Altons as they
tried to become familiar with the new systems and technology they would be
expected to operate. Hedon knew that for the next few months, the Human crews
would be highly dependent upon the Altons for operating the ships.
    “Let me show
you the Command Center,” Cleeteus suggested with a smile. “I think you will
find it interesting.”
    Admiral
Cleeteus led Hedon to a small passenger tram, which ran through the center of
the ship to allow the crew to get to their duty stations quicker. After a few
short minutes, they stepped into the Command Center. Hedon was pleased to
notice two heavily armed marines standing at the armored hatch. He'd assigned
fifty marines to each Alton battlecruiser as a security detachment.
    The Command Center was about the same size as would be expected aboard a Conqueror Class
Battlecruiser, but there the differences ended. Three of the walls were covered
with large viewscreens depicting space or different sections of the ship. Four
large holographic tables were located in a semi circle around the center command
station. The consoles all seemed to be cutting edge technology with touch
screens and audio links.
    The only area
of the Command Center where there weren't viewscreens was on the front wall.
Hedon wondered about that as the two walked over to the center command console.
    “Watch this,”
Admiral Cleeteus said as he waved his hand over a sensor on the console.
    The entire
front wall of the Command Center vanished suddenly, and Hedon gazed at an
unobstructed view of space. In the distance, he could see New Tellus Station
and even several Federation warships. The battlecarriers Endurance and
LightStar were visible nearby. The view was crystal clear and Hedon had no idea
how this was being projected on the front wall.
    “It’s a
holographic image,” explained Admiral Cleeteus, seeing the confused look upon
Hedon’s face. “The entire front wall contains