Galactic Empire Wars 2: Emergence (14 page)

The beams cut
easily through the ship’s energy shield, impacting the hull. Instantly, two
massive explosions cut the ship in half, leaving two glowing sections where the
ship had been. Pulse fusion beams quickly finished the ship off.

“Kleese disk
ships are now in weapons range,” Major Makita reported as the ships were now
out of Neptune’s protective atmosphere and approaching the two Human fleets.
“They’re beginning to fire!”

“Assault ships
E-37, 39, 42, 67, and 72 are down,” Lieutenant Fullerton spoke in a strained
voice as the icons vanished from her sensor screens.

“Other ships
are reporting heavy damage,” added Lieutenant Jones from Communications as he
listened to the frantic messages from the stricken vessels.

-

From the four
Kleese ships, numerous antimatter missiles were being fired in rapid succession
as well as pulse fusion beams. More assault ships died under the withering
attack. Intense glowing suns from antimatter explosions indicated the death of Human
ships. The mother ships were targeting individual vessels with multiple
missiles in an effort to knock the screens down. When an antimatter missile
detonated against an assaults ship’s armored hull after screen failure, the
ship and crew died instantly. When the light finally faded, all that was left
behind was scattered debris and glowing gases.

“The Humans
die!” gloated one of the Kleese as he watched a Human assault ship being torn
apart on one of the viewscreens. Others were suffering heavy damage. They had
caught the Humans out of position and they were paying dearly for it.

“We’re still
greatly outnumbered,” the Kleese commander pointed out. “Have our Fold Space Drive energized and ready to activate. We’ll withdraw once we have inflicted the
maximum amount of damage possible on the Human ships.”

-

Admiral
Sanders watched worriedly from the Command Center of the battlecruiser Phoenix as his small fleet came around the planet and fell in behind the unsuspecting
Kleese disk ships. They were in the upper edges of Neptune’s atmosphere, which
should shield them briefly from Kleese scans. On the sensor screen, he could
see that both sides were losing ships. He was dismayed to see four Kleese
mother ships on his sensors. He was even more distressed at all the glowing
detonations of antimatter weapons in the Human fleet visible on the main
viewscreens.

“Stand by to
fire particle beam weapons,” he ordered. Sanders knew that the Kleese had no defense
against the deadly weaponry. They were his best chance at inflicting major
damage on the large ships.

“All ships are
locked on targets,” his Executive Officer, Major Sandra Shepherd, reported.

“Fire!” ordered
Sanders, wanting to strike the Kleese ships before they became aware of his ships’
presence. It was essential that he disable the Kleese mother ships before they
wrecked more havoc in the Human fleets.

From each of
the two battlecruisers, two bright blue particle beams lashed out and struck
two of the Kleese disk ships. Each of the four escorting light cruisers fired
their single bow beam at the other two Kleese vessels.

The Kleese
ships were not prepared for an attack from their rear. The first inclination that
they were under attack was when eight blue particle beams appeared out of the
atmosphere of Neptune and struck their energy shields. For a few moments, the shields
wavered, and then the beams penetrated, striking the hulls of the massive
ships. The eight-kilometer vessels staggered as titanic explosions blasted deep,
glowing holes into the kilometer thick ships. Large pieces of hull plating were
blown off to go flying into space. Secondary explosions began to shake the vessels
and numerous compartments were opened up to the harsh vacuum of space.

-

“Where is that
weapons fire coming from?” demanded the Kleese commander, as he was nearly
thrown off the Command Pedestal as the ship shuddered violently under the continuing
attack. Red warning lights were appearing on the damage control console
indicating massive and irreparable damage to the ship.

“Human ships
are rising out of the planet’s atmosphere behind us,” one of the conscripts
reported nervously. “They were not showing on the sensors.”

“They knew we
were here,” stated another of the Kleese as he turned to look at the others.

“How?” demanded
another of the Kleese, then he looked at the conscripts operating the consoles
in the Command Center. “These conscripts have failed us; they should be
eliminated and their replacements called in.” He reached for a small black box
at his side from which he could activate the small poison vials that were
implanted in each of the conscripts in the Command Center. Their deaths would
be a lesson to the other conscripts that failure would not to be tolerated by
the Kleese.

On the main
viewscreen, one of the attending Kleese disk ships suddenly exploded as Human
weapons fire tore the massive ship apart. Several twenty-megaton sublight
missiles reduced it to glowing gas and drifting debris.

“It doesn’t
matter, we must leave,” the Kleese in command said, putting his hand out and
taking the black box away from his subordinate. “We will need these conscripts
to escape. We don’t have time to summon their replacements. Activate the Fold Space Drive and let us leave this system.”

“We can’t,”
one of the others responded. “The conscripts in Engineering are reporting that
our Fold Space Drive has been severely damaged. It will take hours to bring it
back online.”

“Send a
message to our nearest trading station,” ordered the Kleese commander,
accepting that they were going to die. “Tell them our mission has failed and to
warn the Council of Overlords that a larger fleet of warships will be needed.”
His multifaceted eyes went back to a viewscreen where a large Human warship was
being blasted apart. A sudden bright explosion covered the screen and the Human
ship was gone. “Continue to fire upon the Human fleet; we will take as many as
possible into death with us.”

-

“Light cruiser
Belfort is down,” Lieutenant Fullerton said with anguish in her voice as its green
icon swelled up and then vanished from her sensor screen. The toll of damaged
and dying ships was constantly growing. She felt tears roll down her cheeks at
the death surrounding the Armageddon.

“Two of the
Kleese disk ships have been destroyed,” Major Makita reported as he tried to
keep track of the battle. The two fleets were very close to one another and few
weapons were failing to find their targets.

Michael felt
the Armageddon shudder violently and several red lights appeared on the damage
control console. An alarm began to sound, indicating the ship had sustained
damage.

“Minor damage
to section twelve,” the damage control officer reported. “We have damage to our
hull and several compartments are in vacuum. Damage control teams are en
route.”

On the main
viewscreen, the third Kleese disk ship exploded as particle beams and
antimatter missiles from Admiral Sanders attacking ships annihilated it.

“Assault ships
E-44, 48, 55, and 78 are down,” Lieutenant Fullerton reported in a numb voice.
She let out a heavy sigh. Each one of those assault ships had a name assigned
to it by their Human crews; every one of the vanishing green icons represented fifty
Human deaths.

-

In space, the
Kleese assault ships were beginning to die in large numbers as the superior
firepower of the Human fleets began to overwhelm them. Assault ship after
assault ship exploded or was torn apart as inbound weapons fire knocked down their
shields, exposing the vulnerable hulls.

The Kleese commander
looked on as the ships under his command were being quickly annihilated. He had
already passed on the order to the conscripts commanding the assault ships not
to surrender or attempt to flee into Fold Space. The ship shook violently and
several of the Kleese were thrown from the Command Pedestal. Consoles exploded
in brilliant showers of sparks and conscripts screamed in terror as they were severely
burned and in some cases, died. The Command Center was rapidly filling with
smoke, and the air was becoming difficult to breathe.

“Message has
been sent to the trading station,” reported one of the Kleese that was still
standing. “The Overlord Council will know what happened here today.”

“Our warfleet
will destroy them,” the Kleese commander spoke his multifaceted eyes focusing
on one of the few viewscreens still functioning. “Every Human will be hunted
down and killed.”

Those were his
last words as the Command Center suddenly lit up with brilliant light as an
antimatter missile detonated in the heart of the massive vessel.

-

“Last Kleese
mother ship has been destroyed,” reported Major Shepherd as the large red
threat icon vanished from the sensor screen. On the primary viewscreen, an area
of flaming debris was visible, marking the spot of the disk ship’s destruction.

“Engage the remaining
assault ships,” Admiral Sanders ordered. “They don’t seem to be making an
attempt to flee.”

The two
battlecruisers and the four light cruisers turned their powerful weapons on the
Kleese assault ships. The battle was nearly over except for mopping up. The
assault ships seemed demoralized after seeing the four mother ships destroyed.

-

On the moon of
Despina, Brian Jones watched with relief on one of the Raven’s small viewscreens
as the last Kleese assault ship was blown away by the battlecruiser Repulse.
For the first time in several hours, Brian allowed himself to breathe a long
sigh of relief.

“It’s over,”
Marcus spoke his face relaxing as he realized they were going to live.

“Yes, it’s
over,” Brian replied with a nod. “Power the ship’s systems back up. It’s too
damn cold in here!”

Marcus smiled
and passed on the order. Even with the heavy jackets they'd been wearing, the penetrating
cold had made life miserable on the ship over the last few hours.

Once the
ship’s systems were back online, Brian moved the Raven out of the small canyon
they'd been hiding in and flew the ship up and out into space.

“Message from
Fleet Admiral Kirby,” Marcus reported with a pleased look upon his face. “He
says thanks for the warning about the Kleese ships and to take good care of the
Raven. He says he'll put in a good word for us with Pamela Cairns.”

Brian nodded.
He knew that even with Michael speaking to Pamela he was still going to get a
butt chewing when they got back to Vesta. At least they were heading back and
still alive.

Fleet Admiral
Kirby was sitting in General Mitchell’s office with an angry look upon his
face. “Four of those damn mother ships! We were only expecting two!”

“There was no
way to know,” General Pittman commented from his chair next to Kirby. “The
information we had from the Raven confirmed one mother ship, maybe two. The
others were too deep inside the atmosphere of Neptune to be detected. We knew going
in there was the possibility of more.”

“Sixteen
assault ships and two light cruisers were destroyed in the battle,” seethed
Kirby, deeply upset by the loss of the valuable crews. “We lost thirteen
hundred brave men and women that can’t easily be replaced.”

“Michael,
there are always casualties in war,” responded General Mitchell, understanding
the Fleet Admiral’s anguish. “I’ve already spoken to President Randle and
Cheryl Robinson. We recognize that we need to train more men and women for the
fleet if we hope to survive. We’re already beginning construction, just outside
Luna City, of a new training facility for our crews. The academy at Vesta
will be primarily for specialists and officer training.”

“It'll still
be several years before we see the results of that,” Michael pointed out,
knowing they might have ships without qualified crews shortly. “We’re building
ships faster than we can train the crews.”

“Yes,”
Mitchell responded in agreement. “But we’ll eventually have those crews and
when we do, the ships will be ready.”

“Look at the
Kleese losses during the battle,” General Pittman was quick to point out. “They
lost all four of their mother ships and one hundred and twenty assault ships.
That’s a colossal victory for our side any way you look at it. I doubt if they'll
be returning anytime soon. They left us alone for over two years after we
defeated them when they tried to retake the station. Perhaps it will be the
same this time.”

“We were
lucky,” responded Michael, shaking his head. “What if the Raven hadn’t been on
Despina secretly surveying the moon for mineral deposits? We could've lost half
the fleet. They had a lot of firepower out there.”

“But you
didn’t,” Mitchell responded his eyes focusing on Kirby. “We’ve reviewed the
battle and there is very little that could have been done differently. We all
regret the crew losses, but they died protecting our people. It’s what they
were trained for, and they knew the risks involved.”

Michael was
silent for a long moment and then, with a heavy sigh, asked his next question.
“What about Operation Insurrection? It’s due to launch in a few more days. Is
it still a go?”

“We can’t
afford to delay it,” stated General Mitchell, squaring up his shoulders. “While
we defeated the Kleese in this battle, we still need time to grow our
population and industrial base. Too much of what we need is still being
produced here on Centerpoint. Operation Insurrection could keep the Kleese off
our backs for years.”

“That’s a lot
of our ships away from the Solar System for a long while,” Kirby pointed out as
he thought about the large number of ships that would be assigned to the
mission. “Admiral Rivers will be gone for at least a year, minimum. It'll take
Fourth Fleet one hundred and forty days just to reach their target area. That’s
allowing them to stop every one thousand light years to check their drives and
do required repairs.”

“A necessary
risk,” General Pittman spoke with a deep frown on his face. “It’s highly
probable we might face another Kleese attack before Operation Insurrection meets
with any success. We may have at least one or two more battles to fight before
Admiral Rivers can return.”

“We’ll still
have three fleets with which to protect the Solar System,” General Mitchell
reminded them. “Plus the extra assault ships that will soon be deployed to Mars
Central and Vesta. If the Kleese attack, we’ll be ready for them.” Mitchell and
Fleet Admiral Kirby had agreed to deploy twenty-five of their assault ships to
each of the two colonies to aid in their defense. “Not only that, but the next
four battlecruisers are already under construction at Vesta and we’re building
more light cruisers and assault ships here. We’ll have Fifth Fleet up and Sixth
Fleet up and running by the time Admiral Rivers gets back.”

“If we can
find the crews,” Kirby reminded Mitchell with a deep frown. He had spoken to
Cheryl a few days back and knew she was deeply concerned about that, even with
the new academy. They were just not getting enough qualified volunteers to fill
the positions in the fleet.

“We’ll get
something figured out,” General Mitchell promised. He needed to have a long
conversation with President Randle and Cheryl Robinson very soon. It might be
necessary for him to go to Vesta and see what could be arranged to speed up the
training of new personnel. Michael was right; crews were about to become a
major problem.

“What about
the trading station mission?” asked Kirby, hoping they were not attempting to
do too much all at once. He knew Colonel Adamson and his fleet should be
getting close to their destination.

“They’re maintaining
communications silence,” General Pittman reminded Kirby. “By now they’re well out
of effective communications range anyway. We won’t know the status of their
mission until they return.”

Kirby nodded.
There were a lot of key people on that mission. He just hoped everything went
as planned.

“Let’s discuss
Operation Insurrection,” General Mitchell suggested. He wanted to get the final
planning completed. Once the fleet left, due to the long distance that was
going to be involved, they couldn’t afford to find out they’d forgotten or left
something essential back in the Solar System.

-

Major Wade
Nelson was exercising in the large gym on the battlecruiser Constellation. He
had just finished his pushups when he noticed Colonel Adamson had entered the
room.

“Colonel,”
Wade said as he stood up, catching his breath. He picked up a nearby towel and
wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“Afternoon,
Major,” Adamson replied. “Getting a good workout in?”

“Trying to; it
helps pass the time.”

“We’ll be
dropping out of Fold Space tomorrow morning,” Adamson informed Wade, folding
his arms across his chest. “That'll put us about ten light years from the
nonaligned worlds' trading station.”

“This entire
mission just doesn’t feel right,” Wade said in an uneasy voice. “There’re bound
to be Kleese on board that station; perhaps a large number. There will be
conscripts as well, some in battle suits. It may be a very dangerous situation
we’re putting our people into.” Wade had voiced these same concerns to Beth
earlier that day when he had spoken to her over the ship-to-ship com system.

Colonel
Adamson walked over and sat down on a bench, leaning his back up against the
wall, facing Wade. “It’s a risk,” he agreed, nodding his head. “That’s why we
brought so many marines along. I spoke to Marken and he feels there’s a good
chance that the Kleese may just ignore us.” Marken was on the passenger liner
Distant Star along with the rest of the Kiveans that had come along on the
mission.

“I know the
safety of all races is guaranteed by the Kleese on this particular trading
station,” Wade said with a worried frown on his face. “But the other races
aren’t at war with the Kleese; we are. We’ve even killed a large number of
them. They may choose, in this instance, not to enforce that rule where we’re
concerned.”

Adamson let
out a heavy sigh; he knew that Major Nelson was right in that regard. “We’re
going to send in one of the assault ships to scout things out. Once we’ve
determined what’s at the station as far as Kleese mother ships are concerned,
then we’ll send in the Distant Star and two of the assault ships. “We’ll try to
dock the assault ships and the passenger ship in the same flight bay. We’ll
keep our troops inside and out of sight.”

“And if the
shit hits the fan?” asked Wade, knowing it very well could.

“Then we take
the rest of the fleet in and retrieve our people,” Adamson said with a serious
and determined look upon his face. “I won’t leave anyone behind!”

-

Captain Beth
Williams was in the Command Center of the assault ship Warspite as the two
hundred-meter ship dropped out of Fold Space a few million kilometers from the
trading station. The viewscreen instantly cleared of static and the massive
space station became visible. It was very similar to Centerpoint in size and
covered with habitation domes.

“Picking up at
least six Kleese mother ships,” Ensign Brenda Knolls reported nervously from
the sensor console. “There may be others docked to the station. I’ll know
shortly as more data comes in.”

“Damn!”
muttered Major Donaldson, the ship’s commanding officer. “We weren’t expecting
that many.”

“It’s their
main trading center for this area,” Beth reminded him as she eyed the magnified
view on the viewscreen closely.

She could see
several of the large, eight-kilometer disk ships in close proximity to the station.
Beth knew that there would be a number of Kleese upon each one. She felt her
muscles tense and there was a knot in her stomach; they were about to put
themselves in a lot of danger.

“There’s an
awful lot of traffic in the area,” Ensign Knolls added as numerous yellow and
red icons began appearing on the main sensor screen. Red icons represented
known Kleese vessels and yellow represented unknowns.

“Can you give
me a breakdown of what you’re detecting?” asked Major Donaldson, turning toward
the sensor console.

Ensign Knolls
checked some data on one of her computer terminals before replying. “There are
forty Kleese assault ships operating around the station, six mother ships setting
a few thousand kilometers away, and three more mother ships docked to the
station. I also have another two hundred and twelve unidentified ships inbound
either to the station or in the process of departing. Most are of similar size
to the Distant Star.”

“Have they given
any signs of having detected our presence?”

“If they have,
they’re not showing it,” Knolls replied as she tapped several icons on her
computer terminal.

“What do you
think, Captain?” asked Major Donaldson, looking over at Beth.

“There’s a lot
of traffic in this system,” Beth replied as she gazed at all the icons
representing ships on the tactical display. “I’m sure at some point, we will be
required to identify ourselves as we move closer. They have to be operating
some type of traffic control, probably from the main Flight Control Center.”

Donaldson
nodded his head in agreement. “I think we’ve seen what we need. Let’s head back
to the fleet.”

Beth continued
to watch the viewscreen as the Warspite jumped back into the safety of Fold
Space. She felt an icy chill run down her back, knowing what they might be
facing on the station. If they had to go in to rescue Marken and the others,
her marines would be vastly outnumbered. Also, nine Kivean mother ships had far
more firepower than the seven warships Colonel Adamson had under his command.

Turning her
attention away from the screen, Beth wondered what Wade would think about all
of this when they made their report. Neither of them had been highly enthused
about this mission; there were just too many things that could go wrong.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Beth decided to go to her quarters and rest until
they reached the fleet. The next few days would be extremely nerve wracking and
full of danger.

-

Colonel
Adamson, Major Nelson, and Captain Williams were on the passenger liner Distant
Star meeting with Marken, Taalon, and Harnett as well as the liner’s Captain,
Julian Rios.

“We'll go in
under the guise of a trading mission from the planet Kios Four,” Marken explained
in a calm voice as he described the plan he had come up with. “Kios is a
humanoid planet and their inhabitants are very similar to Earth Humans, only slightly
taller and of slimmer build.”

“Will they
just accept that our ships are from Kios?” Colonel Adamson asked with concern
in his eyes. He wasn’t sure what to expect if their cover story was blown.

“They should,”
answered Taalon. “There are hundreds of ships that come and go daily in this
system. Shortly after we drop out of Fold Space, we’ll receive an inquiry from
the station’s Flight Control asking for our identity and purpose. We will
transmit IDs identifying the Distant Star as a trading vessel from Kios
interested in trading for medical technology.”

“We will
specifically mention nanite reconstructive technology,” Harnett added. “This
should satisfy any curiosity the controlling officer may have.” Harnett still
hoped she could manage to procure the specialized equipment needed to create
the medical nanites.

“The
controlling officer will most likely not be Kleese,” Marken added. “The officer
may be Kivean or another conscript. Regardless, they should grant us access to
one of the flight bays.”

“What about
the two assault ships?” asked Wade, nervously. If they couldn’t dock the two
assault ships they'd have no way of deploying marines in case the trading
delegation from the Distant Star were taken into custody.

“The planet
Kios has a large Kleese presence on the planet due to their high level of
medical technology,” explained Taalon, looking over at Wade. “It’s not uncommon
for their trading vessels to be escorted by Kleese assault ships returning to
one of the stations to pick up additional supplies for the Kleese stationed
there.”

“It’s one of
the reasons we chose Kios,” Marken added.

Colonel
Adamson looked around the group and then spoke. “We’ll launch the mission in
the morning. Major Nelson, I would feel better if you transferred over to the
Distant Star so you'll be on the station in case we need to launch a military
operation to rescue our people.”