Galactic Empire Wars 2: Emergence (11 page)

“Tell Susan
we’ll be there,” Mason replied without hesitation. It would be good to eat one
of his sister’s home cooked meals. Susan was a great cook and knew all of their
mother’s recipes. It surprised Mason that Michael didn’t put on more weight
from Susan’s cooking.

Mason walked
over to the closed door of the conference room. After hesitating for a second,
he pushed it open and stepped inside. He saw instantly that all four of the
people in the room were in a deep and animated conversation from the intent
looks upon their faces.

“Mr.
President,” Admiral Rivers said, standing up and nodding toward Mason.

“Just Mason,”
he reminded the admiral. While technically Mason was the appointed president,
he didn’t care much for the title. He motioned for the admiral to sit back down
and then took his own seat.

“We were just
discussing the new battlecruisers,” Sean said, looking over at Mason. “I told Admiral
Rivers that they’re ready for their space trials.”

“We only made some
minor refinements to these four ships,” Ethan added pleased that the ships were
finished. “I think we’ve finally settled on a design that everyone’s happy
with.”

“The crews
have all been selected and are going through training,” Cheryl added her right
hand resting on the conference table.

It was her
responsibility to work with the military to find suitable recruits to operate
the ships. Several military officers had been added to Cheryl’s staff to help
locate enough qualified people. They were also in the process of setting up a
space academy to help better train the personnel needed to staff the new
warships being built at Vesta and Centerpoint Station. Several Kiveans had already
volunteered to teach classes on galactic history and the various races to be
found out in the galaxy.

“Are we ready
to move them out of the dock?” asked Mason, looking over at Sean. They didn’t
really need his permission, but it seemed to make them happier when he gave it.

“We can begin
the space trails tomorrow,” Sean replied with a nod. “Everything’s ready and
the systems have passed their final preflight checks.”

“The crews are
aboard; all they need is some hands on training in space,” Admiral Rivers
stated. “There are just some things we can’t do while in spacedock, at least
not safely.”

“Then let’s
start the trials tomorrow,” Mason said with a confirming nod. “I’m sure Fleet
Admiral Kirby will be pleased once the battlecruisers for Fourth Fleet have
been launched. What are the status on the light cruisers and the assault
ships?”

“They’re
ready,” Rivers replied as he looked at a handheld computer pad. “They began
their space trials two weeks ago and are ready for my battlecruisers to join
them. The assault ships even have the new updated Fold Space Drives and fusion
reactors so they can match the light cruisers and the battlecruisers in speed.”

“How soon
before we can begin on the next four battlecruisers?” asked Mason, arching his
eyebrow and looking over at Ethan.

“Within the
week,” Ethan replied evenly. “We have most of the hull materials ready.”

“Fleet Admiral
Kirby and General Mitchell want us to have as large a fleet as possible in case
the Kleese return,” Admiral Rivers informed them as his eyes looked over the
small group. He also knew that with the new missions the military were
planning, ships would be needed for them as well.

“We’re using a
lot of automated systems to help keep the crew requirements down,” commented Ethan,
taking a deep breath. “It all sounds fine and works out great in theory, but if
a ship’s heavily damaged we won’t have the damage control people to bring the systems
back online quickly enough.”

“I know it’s a
risk we’re taking,” Admiral Rivers responded as his eyes took on a serious
look. Finding competent crewmembers had been a growing problem for months. “We
just don’t have the qualified people we need to staff the ships. Once the
academy is up and running, we can set a yearly graduation goal and put the
trained people on our ships that we need. However, until that’s done we have to
rely on the automated systems. Remember, most of the crews on our ships have a
background in operating ocean going naval ships or aircraft. While they may be
slightly similar, there is a vast difference between an ocean and space or
flying a plane through the air versus a vacuum.”

“We’ve had
some difficult choices to make the last few years,” Mason responded, understanding
the growing quandary of finding crews. “It’s obvious we must have properly
trained people if we want to protect our system from the Kleese.”

“It’s just
like our space marines,” Admiral Rivers continued. “We rescued nearly sixty
thousand military personnel from the Kleese space station, but less than ten
percent of them can handle a Type Two or Three battle suit. There were
thousands more that we brought up from the different survival centers and even
though they endured tremendous hardships while they were down on Earth, many of
them can’t stand being inside one of the suits either.”

“I spoke to
Major Nelson about that,” responded Mason, recalling the numerous conversations
with the major. “There were large numbers of marines and regular army troops that
were forced to use the suits or face execution by the Kleese. Once they
returned to the Solar System and things settled down, many of them opted out of
battle suit training.”

“That’s our
problem,” Rivers spoke with a nod. “It takes a special breed of people to
operate a battlecruiser or one of the battle suits. General Mitchell has
already set up a rigid training program for the suits on Centerpoint Station.
Once the academy is up and running, we need to do the same thing there.”

“How soon
before the academy will be ready for its first recruiting class?” asked Mason,
looking over at Cheryl. He knew they'd been working hard getting it set up in
its own small habitat inside Vesta.

“The buildings
are going up now and the curriculum is being worked on,” she responded her eyes
meeting Mason’s. “I’ve already begun sending out recruitment flyers across the
system and we’re filming some videos to air on all the media stations. We’re
hoping for an initial class of ten thousand.”

“How are the
classes being set up?”

“There will be
two years of basic class instruction followed by two years of specialized
instruction mixed in with actual work on several training ships,” answered Cheryl,
looking over at Mason.

“What type of
training ships?”

“We’re planning
to build two ships of battlecruiser size,” answered Ethan. “The first will be
ready in six months and the next the year after. It would be quicker, but we’re
placing our priorities on warship construction.”

“Cheryl, if
you need anymore help with this we’ll get you the people you need; that academy
must be a high priority.”

“We’re finding
it more difficult every day to find people with the right experience to use on
our warships,” Admiral Rivers reminded them. “In a few more months, we may find
it difficult to find adequate crews for our new ships.”

“Let’s hope it
doesn’t come to that,” responded Mason, taking a deep breath. He would discuss
this problem with Mayor Silas and Professor Scott, perhaps between the three of
them they could come up with a solution until the academy was finished.

The group met
a little bit longer going over other items and then broke apart with everyone
going their separate ways. Mason quickly made his way to the spacedock where he
was supposed to meet with Colonel Bailey.

Stepping out
into the spacedock, Mason marveled at the changes that had been made. The
massive cavern had been greatly enlarged until it was now nearly five
kilometers across and two kilometers high. In the center of the spacedock were
four huge construction cradles where the battlecruisers were constructed. Four
complete warships currently occupied them. The Independence, which would be
Admiral Rivers’ flagship, the Wasp, Reprisal, and the Orion.

There were
other construction cradles where cargo ships, prospecting ships, and even
passenger liners could be constructed. In two of those cradles, two other large
ships were nearing completion. Mason paused and gazed at the two new ships
speculatively. These were being built under General Mitchell’s instructions.

“What do you
think of our new marine transports?” Colonel Bailey asked as he walked up to Mason
from where he had been standing, watching the construction.

“They’re big,”
Mason responded as he looked speculatively at the two new ships.

“Larger than a
battlecruiser,” Bailey responded with a grin. “Eight hundred meters long and
one hundred twenty meters wide with a height of one hundred ten meters. Each
ship is equipped with a powerful energy shield and sixteen energy beam turrets
for defense. There are also twelve railgun batteries for planetary bombardment
of critical targets. For offense, the ship has four missile tubes loaded with
sublight antimatter missiles and six pulse fusion batteries.”

“How soon
before they’re ready?” Mason asked. He had known the ships were being built,
but he hadn’t checked up on them recently due to his busy schedule. It also
still bothered him to come to the spacedock and see the new ships. He had
always had a dream of exploring space. Before the destruction, he had even
built a ship to be used on the first interstellar expedition, but the arrival
of the Kleese had destroyed that dream.

“Four more
weeks,” Colonel Bailey replied. “Each ship can hold six hundred marines and
eight drop ships in addition to four cargo drop ships.”

Mason knew the
cargo drop ships were nearly three times the size of a regular drop ship. They
were designed to carry some of the new special equipment that General Mitchell
and General Pittman had decided the marines should have available to them when
assaulting a planet. Major Nelson and Marken had been instrumental in designing
the equipment.

The ships were
a dark gray in color with numerous hatches and protrusions on the hull. Some of
these contained weapons turrets; others contained sensor arrays and vital equipment
that scanned space. Mason wondered if General Mitchell was going to use one or
both of these ships for the upcoming mission to the border of the Strell and
Kleese Empires. Mitchell had recently briefed Mason on the mission, and he was
still feeling uneasy at the risk that Mitchell was taking stirring up a
potential war between the Strell and the Kleese.

“Let’s take a
tour of the outside of Vesta,” suggested Colonel Bailey, gesturing toward a
military shuttle that was close by. “I think you will find it interesting to
see what we’ve accomplished.”

Mason nodded;
it had been a while since he had been on an inspection tour of the asteroid. He
was curious to see what the military had done to protect Vesta from attack. He
knew that Colonel Bailey had been busy just from all the requisitions he had
sent in for special equipment.

They made
their way to a waiting shuttle, and Mason took a seat in the cockpit so he
could see out of the large, titanium-reinforced windows. The shuttle lifted off
gently and headed for the airlock. As it neared the first airlock that led into
the main tunnel, Mason could see half a dozen defensive energy turrets aimed at
the armored doors. If an enemy reached this point, they would receive a hot
reception. The airlock opened and the shuttle darted through.

They were in a
large tunnel nearly four hundred meters in diameter and twenty-five kilometers
long. At regular intervals, railgun turrets were embedded in the walls to
prevent a hostile force from coming through. The shuttle quickly traversed the
length of the tunnel, exiting another pair of massive airlocks that contained
atmospheric energy shields as a further precaution. Exiting the airlocks, Mason
could see six pulse fusion beam turrets covering the entry.

“We’ve pretty
much finished with our outside defenses,” Colonel Bailey informed Mason as the
shuttle climbed higher, giving them a better view of the asteroid, which was
approximately five hundred and twenty-four kilometers in diameter.

“It’s hard to
see the weapon emplacements from here,” Mason commented as he looked down at
the asteroid, dimly lit by the far off sun and thousands of stars that shined
down upon it.

“That’s what
we want,” answered Bailey, feeling satisfied that Mason couldn’t spot the
weapons emplacements. “We've set up six sites on the surface that contain the
majority of our offensive and defensive weapons. Each site contains four
particle beam cannons, eight pulse fusion beam turrets, sixteen defensive
energy beam turrets, and thirty-two railgun batteries. The six sites are also
protected by an enhanced energy screen that can be activated at a moment’s
notice.”

Bailey
motioned to the pilot and indicated a section of the asteroid he wanted the
pilot to fly low over.

A few minutes
later and they were passing over one of the weapon sites at an altitude of only
a few kilometers. From this distance, Mason could make out the weapons pointed toward
space, waiting for the appearance of an enemy. The four particle beam cannons
were the most obvious. Each extended a good forty meters above the surface of
the asteroid and had a field of fire of fifteen degrees each. This allowed the
four cannons to cover the majority of the space above the site.

Mason could
see several blastcrete buildings and even a few vehicles moving around. “How
many personnel are at each site?” he asked curiously. He had known that Colonel
Bailey was drastically increasing the asteroid’s defensive and offensive
weapons, but he hadn’t expected to see anything on this scale.

“Four
hundred,” Colonel Bailey responded without hesitation. “That includes space
marines, repair crews, and specialists who operate the site’s weapons.”