The Slaver Wars: First Strike (The Slaver Wars Book Four) by Raymond L. Weil

weapon
emplacements imbedded on small asteroids. There were only a few safe zones a
ship could travel to reach the massive home of the Federation survivors.
    “Ceres is
asking for our ship ID code,” reported Commander Grayson, glancing over at
Fleet Admiral Johnson. He felt nervous at having the Fleet Admiral aboard the Sydney. He had seen her before from a distance but had never actually spoken to the
admiral.
    “That’s
routine for Ceres since we have gone to a heightened state of alert,” Admiral
Johnson assured him with a slight smile. “At the moment, I imagine we have over
one hundred weapons focused on us.”
    Captain
Grayson turned pale, realizing how quickly his small destroyer could be
destroyed. The Sydney had made numerous runs to Ceres before, but he had never
known just how many weapons had been focused on his ship.
    “Don’t worry,
Commander,” replied Admiral Johnson, allowing a larger smile to show on her
face. “They focus weapons on everyone.”
    “I guess I
would be slightly paranoid too if all of my home worlds had been destroyed,”
Grayson spoke with a nod of his head.
    “The
Federation survivors have lived and worked for one thing only for the past four
hundred years, and that’s to defeat the Hocklyns and save the human race.
That’s taught in their schools and in their daily life,” explained Admiral
Johnson.
    On the main
viewscreen, the 950-kilometer asteroid was rapidly growing larger. Ceres was a
dwarf planet with a human population of two million. The Federation survivors
had carved out massive habitats inside the asteroid where Earth normal
environments had been established. Some of these habitats were tens of
kilometers in length and held large cities.
    “I have four
fighters closing on our position,” the sensor operator reported. “They will be
in range in forty seconds.”
    “Our welcoming
committee,” explained Admiral Johnson pleased with the rapid response of the
fighters. “They will escort us in.”
    Commander
Grayson nodded. This would be the first time his ship had been escorted in to
Ceres. The Federation survivors were definitely taking this increased alert
seriously.
    Karla knew
that there were over two thousand fighters based on Ceres as well as twelve hundred
bombers. That didn’t include the numerous warships that were being kept inside its
massive ship bays. She also knew there were six light cruisers in orbit that
could engage any enemy ship that got past the defenses. Karla doubted that
anything could get past those massed weapon systems in one piece. Ceres itself
was covered with numerous laser and power beam sites as well as hundreds of
missile launching platforms.
    “We’re being
instructed to land in ship bay seventeen,” the communications officer reported
with surprise on her face. Normally when they came to Ceres, they used shuttles
to ferry supplies or people down to the asteroid.
    “This is
different,” Commander Grayson murmured, looking over at Admiral Johnson. “We’ve
never docked inside Ceres before.”
    “Just have
your helm officer follow the beacon,” Admiral Johnson suggested. “It will take
you straight to a berthing dock. I think you will find this quite interesting.”
    As they neared
Ceres, a large hatch slid open and blinking lights surrounding it came on. The
helm officer turned control of the ship over to the navigation computer, which
was now being controlled by Ceres Docking Control. The ship slowed down,
entered the cavernous open hatch, and then proceeded down a long, brightly lit
tunnel. Behind them, the hatch door slid shut, sealing them in. After a few
minutes, they approached another hatch, which slid open and allowed the ship
into the cavernous docking bay.
    Commander
Grayson’s eyes grew wide as he looked at what was in the bay. There were two
Conqueror class battle cruisers lying side by side in two massive berthing
docks looking as if they had just rolled off the construction line. Next to the
1,200-meter