Final Conflict by Raymond L. Weil

Author:Raymond L. Weil [Weil, Raymond L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Raymond L. Weil Publications LLC.
Published: 2019-02-08T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Admiral Kelly was in the Command Center of Centerpoint Station when an alarm began sounding.

“We have a problem,” reported Major Moore, looking concerned. “Two of our assault ships we sent to detect a possible Zaltule incursion have detected an inbound Zaltule fleet.”

Admiral Kelly felt a cold chill sweep over him. He walked over to the large sensor console. “How many ships?” He had been afraid this was going to happen. The initial incursion by the Zaltule had been a minor one.

Moore glanced at a data screen and then replied, “Eighty battlecruisers and two hundred assault ships.”

This didn’t sound good. “Do we have a course?”

Moore nodded. “They appear to be heading toward Pradel.”

This surprised Kelly. Pradel was eight hundred and seventy light years from Earth and one of the main worlds of the Alliance. Why would the Zaltule be heading there?

“Is there any sign the Zaltule know they’ve been detected?”

“No, the assault ships were powered down and using passive sensors only. The Zaltule fleet dropped out of Fold Space to take navigation readings before setting a course directly for Pradel.”

Kelly took a few moments to think. At the speed the Zaltule were traveling, it would take them ten to twelve days to reach Pradel. That gave Kelly time to set up a welcoming committee for this fleet of the Zaltule. “Contact Rear Admiral Blair and General Timmons, we have some war plans to make.”

-

Later the three were in Admiral Kelly’s office reviewing the data from the assault ships on the Zaltule fleet.

“Eighty of those damn big battlecruisers,” muttered Rear Admiral Blair, shaking his head. “We can handle the assault ships but I don’t know about the battlecruisers. This could get nasty.”

“The Pradelians’ have a pretty good size defense fleet,” said Admiral Kelly as he checked some information on his computer. “We can also reach out to other Alliance worlds for ships.”

“If we do this how many of our own fleets do we send?” asked General Timmons. He didn’t want to leave the Solar System under defended, not after all the work which had gone into the rebuilding effort.

“Two,” replied Kelly. “Rear Admiral Haden’s fleet and Rear Admiral Stinson’s fleet.”

“Stinson lost a lot of ships in her battle at Zadole Four,” pointed out Rear Admiral Blair. “Her fleets not in shape for another major battle.”

“Yes, she did,” answered Kelly. “However, we’re assigning new ships to her fleet to replace the ones she lost. If we can send two fleets and the Alliance can send some ships, and if you add the Pradelian home system defense fleet we just might be able to take out these Zaltule.”

“What about the Alliance ships here in our system?” asked General Timmons. “Are we going to include any of them?” Timmons was referring to the alien races living in some of the larger asteroids in the system. They had fled to the Solar System to escape the Kleese and the Zaltule years ago.

This was something Kelly had already considered. “We may ask for a few. As you know, the Alliance races living in the asteroids don’t have massive populations.

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