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

holographic imagers which project
a detailed image of what is in front of the ship. Unlike Humans, we Altons
prefer to see where we’re going at all times.”
    Hedon nodded;
he knew that Alton science was far ahead of anything the Federation had. He would
be curious to see what his own engineers had to say after serving aboard Alton ships. The Altons had already made it clear that certain technologies were still off
limits, at least for now.
    -
    Two hours
later, Hedon was back on board the StarStrike. As he stepped into the Command Center, he saw that Colonel Trist was on duty and Captain Janice Duncan was busy at
Communications. The StarStrike was still inside one of the repair bays in New
Tellus Station being updated with Alton weapons and technology. Crews had been
working around the clock trying to get the massive battleship ready.
    “How much
longer?” Hedon demanded as he sat down behind the command console. He had been
ready for several weeks to take a task force to Careth to relieve Admiral
Strong even if he had to leave the StarStrike behind. The arrival of the light
cruiser had only added to his determination to get underway. He had spent
several hours speaking to the cruiser’s commander about the situation in the
Carethian system.
    “Thirty-eight
hours and everything will be finished,” Colonel Trist reported as he stepped
over to the command console. “The new fusion reactor has been installed, all
repairs are completed, and we have full load outs of Alton sublight antimatter
missiles. The new heavy particle beam weapons have been installed and are ready
to be tested.”
    “The rest of
First Fleet is nearly ready also,” Hedon added as he thought about what he
wanted to do.
    He had reorganized
what remained of First and Second Fleet into one fleet for now. The new First
Fleet currently consisted of the StarStrike, six battlecruisers, eight battlecarriers,
fourteen strikecruisers, ten Monarch cruisers, and thirty-six light cruisers. Hedon
wished he had more ships, but he knew that with the losses suffered in the
recent battle none were available in the New Tellus system. There were other
fleet units, but they were assigned to each of the other systems in the Human
Federation of Worlds and at the moment could not be spared.
    Captain Duncan
heard Hedon’s voice and turned her head with a smile spreading across her face.
In the weeks since the attack, the two of them had become much closer. While nothing
intimate had occurred on their little vacation to the mountain resort, there
was no doubt in Janice’s mind that eventually it would.
    Janice had
managed to spend a week back home on the planet Horizon. Her younger sister
Linda had just about died when she told her about Hedon. Even her mother had
been full of questions. Fortunately, her father was an ex naval officer and
understood that there were certain things Janice couldn’t talk about.
    Janice turned
back to her Communications console. Even though they were still inside the
repair bay, the StarStrike was the flagship for First Fleet and there were a large
number of communications constantly going back and forth. Janice brushed back
her short brunette hair with her left hand as she reached forward to answer an
incoming call. She'd already decided that the next time that she and Hedon had
an extended leave she needed to find some way to have him meet her family. She
could already visualize the look upon her mother and sister’s faces when she
walked in with the legendary Fleet Admiral.
    Hedon had
noticed Janice’s smile upon seeing him and it made him feel warm inside knowing
there was someone that really cared for him. He'd kept most people at a
distance since he had gone into cryo sleep. Only a few had he kept close, such
as Amanda and Jacob. Of course, Jacob had been killed above the Hocklyn fleet
base when he had sacrificed himself and his command to save the StarStrike. The
loss of his oldest friend had deeply shaken Hedon. Then he'd almost lost