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  "For example, there is a base in the Grimaria system, correct?" Ian asked.

  H’joles nodded. "It is their main forward base and distribution point for all the operations in this part of the galaxy. They have two of their big mobile shipyards there, as well as hundreds of mining operations, supply warehouses, troop barracks, fighter assembly plants, and weapons factories. They have turned the entire planet into one large base dedicated to the support of their fleets."

  "How many of our people are still on the planet?" Ian asked.

  H'joles shook his head. "We have no way of knowing for certain. Before it fell four hundred years ago, it had a population of roughly three billion. It was mostly a farming planet, with some light industrial centers that supported the farmers and the miners that had begun working the systems many ore deposits. Most of the farms are gone now, but it is believed that the population has been conscripted into working in the factories for the Empire."

  "We can still hit the shipyards, barracks and all the other purely military stuff on the planet. With a little luck, we might even be able to take out a few of the factories as well. This is the primary function of a Raptor team, Admiral; to seek out enemy bases and supply centers and to raise as much hell as possible in the shortest amount of time."

  It didn't take long for Ty and the six Raptor commanders to arrive. After each one was introduced to the Fleet Admiral, Ian quickly explained the situation to them.

  "So there you have it folks, Major Cromwell was right about the location, but there are too many civilians in the area to simply drop a gravimetric on them. If the Empire is allowed to continue to use these devices, they will win the war. So tell me; what are you going to do to stop them?"

  "The devices seem to be using a type of hyperspace compression we are unfamiliar with. That is to say, the method in which they are compressing hyperspace is unknown to us, but the bottom line here is it is still hyperspace. If we can get either a sufficient amount of dark matter, or a really powerful antimatter bomb into the event horizon and then detonate it, it would be a very powerful discharge. The size of the explosion would be greatly affected by the amount of hyperspace being compressed at the time, but it would be more than enough to destroy those rings. Probably a very large portion of the ships around them as well," Major Rathbone of Raptor Ithica said.

  "Yeah, but what would you suggest as a method of getting it delivered, Rat?" Jana asked. "A missile would be detected and we won't want to be all that close when it goes up."

  Ty shook his head. "You guys are too slow. While under stealth, plant multiple devices on the larger ships of their fleet. Rig them for immediate detonation as soon as the high energy of hyper is detected."

  "Unfortunately, Jana is correct Colonel. The presence of the nebula would make it difficult, if not impossible to hide the increased energy signatures of the Raptors," Rat said thoughtfully. "But, hyperspace physics will not let you exit into a nebula, which means that those ships can't jump all the way to the devices. We could set the bombs up on them as soon as they exit hyperspace, yet before they enter the nebula."

  "You could also set the bombs up for remote control so you can arm them at any time after you plant them," Ty said. "Okay, this is how we need to do this..."

  H'joles and Ian stayed back and let the teams work out how to do the task Ian had given them. "This is amazing to me; such a thing would take a week of planning and arguing just to get the plan to form. They’re already assigning tasks and choosing targets!"

  "Like I said, Sir, they'll be ready to launch by the end of this day. They won't stop either. They know the importance of this mission, I doubt they'll return until it’s accomplished. Say, I wanted to tell you that we brought a Defense Network Assembler for this system. It's just the core module for now, but it'll get busy as soon as it's deployed. I'll have to leave the trainers and techs with you for a while though, as it'll take longer to get your people trained and make certain everything with the device is working properly. Since every system is different, the techs have to adjust it to work in each system as part of the setup process."

  H'joles smiled at that. "You people amaze me. Thank you, Admiral. I will make certain that they are treated as honored guests while they are with us and arrange appropriate transportation back to you once their job here is complete."

  Ian smiled. "One of the tasks our councilors have during this trip is to coordinate delivery of future units. When I spoke to the supervisor of the facility building them, he told me they would be increasing production of the devices. Currently they are building one unit every four days, he said their goal was one a day until every inhabited system in the Alliance was protected."

  "That will be very appreciated by everyone, I am certain," H'joles replied. "How goes the rest of what you had planned?"

  "The rebuilding of the Talosian fleets is on schedule. While the first new Battle Cruiser is set to launch next month, several of the small ships will be completed before then. Four new light cruisers should be launching in the next couple of days, followed by two destroyers, and several combat support ships.

  "The next station won't be finished for a couple more months, but one of its gantries has already begun work on a new battle carrier. I'm told that the next gantry should be coming online soon, and it will begin construction of two more battle cruisers. There are a few new ship designs awaiting approval as well. One of them is a battleship, and there is something called an assault cruiser. I haven't read the report on either of them yet, but they should prove interesting," Ian replied.

  H'joles nodded. "While you are here, I would like to take a tour of your ship. There has been much speculation about the effectiveness of such a ship, and I would like to see it with my own eyes."

  "I'm sure that can be arranged, Admiral, although you might have some difficulty getting through some of the doors, we had no idea your people were as large as you," Ian replied.

  "I am considered large even among my own people, Admiral. I even had difficulties here until they changed out the doors for me," H'joles admitted.

  "Excuse me, Sirs. We have a plan. May the Majors be dismissed to prepare for it while I brief you?" Ty asked politely.

  Before Ian could reply, H’joles knelt down to one knee so he could be at eye level with the humans. "Officers, the mission you are about to undertake will very likely be one of the most important ones of this war, if not the history of the Alliance. The futures of all of our peoples hangs in the balance. The fact that you have the audacity to even attempt this, humbles me beyond words and for that fact alone, you have my gratitude. Go forth, warriors, go with the knowledge that trillions of your fellow citizens believe in you and give to you their purpose and their hearts. Go forth and show your enemies no mercy but only the taste of utter defeat!"

  Major Cromwell bowed to him, pulled her knife and cut her left hand. Replacing her knife, she offered it to H’joles. When he took it she stood proud facing him. "I will not return until our task is complete, Sir."

  She looked down and turned her head slightly. "This is known to the Admiral's people as a blood oath. By swearing such, I am telling him I will accomplish my mission or die in the attempt. It also means I cannot return to any alliance base until that device is destroyed. He is giving us a warriors sending in the tradition of his people. This is a great honor coming from him."

  H'joles let her finish the explanation and when she looked back up at him he nodded. "You cannot know defeat."

  Surprising Ian, the other five majors copied Jana's oath to him before they left. H'joles simply watched the door for a few moments after they had departed. Finally he stood and returned to his desk. "Please Colonel, tell us how our warriors are going to destroy the enemy's device."

  That night, as Fleet Admiral H'joles explained the operation to the Council and his staff, the six small ships departed the Tiamat and jumped away. It would take at least a month before they could destroy the enemy's Hypergates, as they had become known. Three weeks of travel
just to get there and a week of playing cat and mouse with a vastly superior enemy before results could be seen. Before they left, they worked out a design for the packages they would be planting on the enemy ships, installed a replicator large enough to build them, and still departed the same day. H'joles was indeed humbled by their audacity in attempting such a thing. The fate of their entire galaxy could very well rest on the shoulders of thirty six humans. But they were not normal humans, no, they were a Raptor Squadron.

  About the Author

  Ben Winston (1965 - ?) was born in Iowa and grew up in Minnesota on the family dairy farm. Upon reaching adulthood, he joined the United States Army as a communications technician. Before getting out of the military, he decided to go to school for computer electronics.

  Shortly after getting out of the military, and after getting a new job with an over-seas company, he was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. A month after beginning the new job, he was laid off due to budget over-runs on the project he was hired for. Upon returning to the United States, he had difficulty maintaining employment because of the chronic illness.

  He began writing as a form of stress release, from being home bound and not being able to work, and found he liked writing erotica. Ben wrote a trilogy called the Talosian Chronicles (Currently in rewrite to remove the graphic sex and finalized his vision of the story). The first book, Star Dancer, won awards and was nominated for many others by the online communities where it was posted.

  Ben Winston returned to school for literature, after completion, he began writing professionally. Being an avid fan of science fiction he focused on this genre. He was, and still is, influenced and inspired by Gene Roddenberry, Anne McCaffery, David Weber, Isaac Asimov, and Ray Bradbury. Some of his favorite movies and TV shows are; Battlestar Galactica (both versions), Andromeda, Star Trek, Firefly, Star Wars, and many of the B-rated movies that were actually box-office bombs.

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  Ben Winston

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  Books Published by Blue Space Publications, LLC.

  by Ben Winston

  Pollux Paradox

  Tides of Mars

  Tides of Mars (Omnibus)

  Ascension – Book I

  Conflict – Book II

  Talosian Chronicles

  Olympus – Book I

  Star Dancer – Book II

  Talosian Alliance – Book III

  *Neptune’s Massif – Book IV (Dec 2015, on presale now!)

  *Raptor Squadron – Book V (First Quarter of 2016)

  Novellas

  Book of the Guardian

  Home – Part One

  Pest Control – Part Two

  The Last Mission – Part Three

  Resolution – Part Four

  Bedouin’s Travels

  Twilight Earth – Book I

  A Long, Dark Night – Book II

  *Terra Dawning – Book III (Pre-Sale now Dec 2015)

  *New Day – Book IV (First Quarter of 2016)

  Series

  Temple of S.A.R.A.H.

  Prototype – Episode I

  Subroutines – Episode II

  Base Functions – Episode III

  Hard Wired – Episode IV

  Debug Mode – Episode V

  *Beta Test – Episode VI (Pre-Sale now First Quarter of 2016)

  by Michael McClain

  Chronicles of Atlantis Series

  Chronicles of Atlantis (Omnibus)

  Atlantis Rising – Book I

  Euthara – Book II

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  Disclaimer

  Talosian Chronicles

  Dedication

  Neptune’s Massif

  The story so far...

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  About the Author

  Connect with the author or Blue Space Publications, LLC.

  Books Published by Blue Space Publications, LLC.