Galactic Empire Wars 2: Emergence (16 page)

“The remaining
Kiveans on the station are heading toward the flight bay also,” another
reported as it turned on its six legs to face the Kleese that was in command of
the station. “Should we order our conscripts to stop them?”

“No,” the
Kleese commander responded in a cold and inhuman voice. “We will let them join
the Humans and then annihilate them together. Have our conscripts move into
position and standby for orders to attack.”

“Why did they
come here?” the first Kleese to speak asked.

“To attempt to
trade with the nonaligned races,” the Kleese commander responded, anxious to
eliminate this Human threat. “From what we have been able to learn, they
failed. The nonaligned worlds want nothing to do with the Humans; they fear endangering
their current neutrality status.”

“As they
should,” spoke one of the others. “If any of the nonaligned worlds were to help
the Humans, we would destroy them.”

“We have had
several nonaligned worlds’ ships depart in the last hour; should we hold
further departures until this situation has been dealt with?”

“No,” the
Kleese commander responded his multifaceted eyes still focused on the numerous
viewscreens. “They are not a threat. The only ships that may not leave are
those in the flight bay with the Humans.”

The conscripts
in the Command Center were nervous. They knew something significant was going
on. Their Kleese masters seemed agitated and were continuously asking about
activity in one of the flight bays. There'd been rumors of a race that had
attacked and killed a number of the Kleese. Several wondered if the activity in
the flight bay had anything to do with that.

-

Wade watched
as numerous Kiveans began coming through the hatches and boarding the Distant
Star. It would be a very crowded trip back to the Solar System. He was standing
inside the ship’s main airlock, which had also contained the Type Three command
battle suit he was now wearing.

“Captain
Williams and Lieutenant Stern go ahead and send one of your platoons each out
into the bay. They are to secure the hatches and ensure no Kleese conscripts
enter. Use of lethal force is authorized.” Wade knew there was no point in
trying to stay hidden any longer.

“Exiting now,”
Lieutenant Stern reported as twenty marines in Type Three battle suits exited
the Furious and quickly took up positions in front of several of the hatches.

“In position,”
Captain Williams reported as her marines covered the others.

Wade stepped
out into the bay in his ten-foot tall suit of armor. He held his RG rifle in
one hand with his Energy Lance in its protective sheath at his waist. On his HUD,
he could see forty green icons representing the marines deployed. One hundred
and twenty others were on standby inside the two assault ships. Inside the
Distant Star, twenty army rangers waited in the corridors leading away from the
ship’s two main airlocks armed with heavy assault weapons. Fortunately, the corridors
were too small to allow a conscript with a battle suit easy entrance.

“The last of
the Kiveans have boarded,” reported Captain Rios over the com. “Major Nelson,
the outer flight bay doors are closed. We can’t attempt to exit unless we can get
them open, and I doubt if the Kleese are going to be accommodating.”

Wade drew in a
sharp breath of the cool air being circulated in his battle suit. He glanced at
the flight bay doors, knowing it wouldn’t be practical to blast them open. They
would have to be opened from the Flight Control Center.

“Captain
Williams, we have a problem,” Wade began.

“I know,” Beth
replied. “I heard. The Flight Control Center is halfway around the station. I
don’t see any way we can fight our way to it and open the doors.”

Wade felt
sweat on his brow as he thought about their precarious situation. The Kleese
had them trapped and at the moment, he saw no way out.

“Major
Nelson,” came Marken’s voice over the com. “It’s not necessary to go to the Flight Control Center. Outside in the main corridor there is a small emergency control room
for the bay. It will be locked and unoccupied. Its systems will have to be
activated manually. Taalon has volunteered to go with a team to assist in
opening the flight bay doors.”

“We need to go
as soon as possible,” said Wade, knowing that time was of the essence. The
message the Kiveans had arranged to be transmitted to Colonel Adamson on the
Constellation had been very explicit as to the time the Distant Star and the
two assault ships would attempt to exit the bay. That time was fast
approaching.

“Taalon is on
his way,” Marken informed Wade.

Wade went down
the landing ramp and over to one of the main hatches where Beth was standing
with a squad of her marines. “Where’s Sergeant Dawson?”

“Still inside
the Warspite with his platoon,” answered Beth, promptly.

Wade changed
his suit's frequency to that of Sergeant Dawson’s. “Sergeant, bring your
marines out to the main hatch where Lieutenant Williams is; I have a mission
for you.”

“On our way,” replied
Dawson, gesturing for his platoon to follow him out into the bay.

A few minutes
later, they were all gathered next to the hatch, looking expectantly at Major
Nelson in his command suit. Taalon was standing nervously in the center of the
group of towering battle suits.

“We have to
take a small emergency control room that’s at the end of this corridor,” Wade
informed them, pointing to the corridor outside of the hatch. “By now the
Kleese are bound to have conscripts in Type Two and even possibly Type Three
battle suits there in the corridor waiting for us. I’m authorizing the use of
RG explosive rounds only.”

“You’re going
on this mission?” Beth asked suddenly, realizing Wade’s intent. “Let Lieutenant
Stern or myself lead this; we can handle it.”

“The two of
you will have your own battle to fight,” Wade responded, shaking his head. “The
Kleese are bound to rush the hatches at any moment. You have to hold the flight
bay until we get back.”

Beth nodded,
knowing that there was nothing she could say to change Wade’s mind. If the
corridor was as heavily guarded as Wade thought it now was and the Kleese
conscripts rushed the flight bay hatches, a lot of marines were not going home.
“Good luck, Sir,” she said.

“Let’s go,” ordered
Wade, as he leaped through the hatch. He quickly raised his RG rifle and began firing
down the corridor at a group of armed battle suits marching toward him.

“Follow the
Major,” Dawson ordered as he and the other marines ran out into the corridor.

The conscripts
were firing back and Wade felt several rounds strike his suit armor. He fell to
the floor, rolled and came up firing. There were dozens of armored conscripts
in the corridor all firing at Wade and his marines.

“Explosive
rounds!” yelled Sergeant Dawson as he saw they were in danger of being pinned
down.

Instantly,
grenade like explosions began going off in the corridor, blasting wide gaps in
the enemy forces. A loud scream that was suddenly cut off echoed hauntingly
over the suit coms as one of the marines was critically hit. An RG round had penetrated
his suit’s armor in the center of his chest.

Wade saw one
and then two of the green icons on his HUD turn a disheartening red, and
another four quickly went amber. “We need to take them out!” he yelled as he
stood up and charged down the corridor firing his weapon with Sergeant Dawson
close behind.

Twice more,
Wade felt RG rounds strike his battle suit. Neither penetrated due to the extra
thickness of the armor in the command suit. Wade was firing his RG rifle
continuously, sweeping the corridor in front of him. Smoke was getting thick
and it was becoming difficult to see unaided. Fortunately, the suits allowed
them to see through the smoke at the conscripts that were still firing. Behind
him, Wade could hear weapons fire suddenly increase and knew that Kleese
conscripts were attacking the bay. He just hoped Beth and Lieutenant Stern
could hold them back.

-

Beth had all
of her marines out of the two assault ships now. A few were still in positions
to protect the ships, but most were heavily engaged trying to keep Kleese
conscripts from coming through the hatches. All three ships had activated their
energy shields at the lowest level to protect the hulls from incidental fire or
even explosive rounds from the attackers.

So far, they'd
managed to keep the Kleese conscripts from breaking into the bay. There were
six primary hatches that allowed access to the flight bay, and she had eighteen
marines covering each of them. Every time an enemy battle suit appeared, it
would be cut down in a withering hail of RG fire.

“We’re holding
them,” Lieutenant Stern reported. She fired several rounds at her hatch as four
conscripts in battle suits tried to rush in. They were quickly brought down.
Several others were pointing their RG rifles around the hatch and firing
indiscriminately while trying to stay out of sight of Lieutenant Stern’s
marines.

“We have to
hold those hatches until Major Nelson gets back,” Beth spoke as several RG
explosive rounds blew apart two battle suits attempting to come through another
hatch. Looking around the bay, Beth noticed all the alien ships were sealed up
tight. The dockworkers were gone and there were no signs of any of the other races
whose ships were in the bay.

“They’re bound
to rush us through all the hatches shortly,” Sergeant Russell stated from his
position near Beth. “If they pour through all six hatches at once, we might not
be able to stop them.”

“If they come
through, we’ll kill them!” stated Corporal Foster, emphatically. “They’re not
taking this bay before the major gets back.”

Beth glanced
over at Nicole. She knew the corporal had a lot of respect for Wade. A large
number of these marines had been together now for over two years, and sometimes
Beth wondered if they were getting too close to each other emotionally. A lot of
friendships had been forged over time as shown by the bar fight that Corporal
Foster had instigated.

-

Wade and his marines
had fought their way down to the emergency control room. It had been necessary
to blast the door open as it was sealed shut. Glancing inside, Wade saw that Taalon
was busy activating the necessary systems to open the flight bay doors. Wade
just hoped the waiting Kleese mother ships didn’t fire into the bay when the
doors slid open.

“Got it!” Taalon
yelled as he pressed several buttons and then typed furiously on a keyboard.
“The doors are opening and I’ve locked Main Flight Control out. It'll be at
least thirty minutes before they can regain control of the bay.”

“Let’s go,
then,” ordered Wade, motioning for Taalon to get out of the small room.

As soon as
Taalon was out they began to move back down the corridor. Taalon was in the
center for protection since he wasn’t wearing protective armor of any type.

They were
halfway back to the flight bay when more conscripts stormed out of an adjoining
corridor firing on Wade and his marines. Dozens of them in Type Two battle
suits swarmed into the corridor and then one fired off an explosive round. It
went off in the midst of the marines and a number fell to the floor with heavy
damage to their suits. Several had entire limbs missing. Wade could hear their agonizing
screams over the com system in his suit. On his HUD, more icons began turning
amber and red.

Wade didn’t
hesitate. They were outnumbered and in danger of being wiped out. He fired one
of the heavy explosive rounds out of one of the twin tubes on his back. Instantly,
a massive explosion rocked the corridor. The blast wave slammed everyone still
standing to the floor. The section of the corridor where the blast had gone off
was full of smoke and flame and scattered pieces of battle suits. There was not
a single surviving enemy conscript. The walls and ceiling had been torn open
making the corridor impassible to anyone not wearing a battle suit.

Wade staggered
back to his feet and looked around him. On his HUD, he could see that three
icons were now red and over half were amber including Sergeant Dawson. Wade
quickly made his way over to the sergeant, seeing that he was lying upon a motionless
Taalon. He hurriedly rolled the sergeant off the Kivean only to find that
Taalon was dead. The original explosive round had blown the Kivean nearly in
half, killing him instantly.

“Sergeant?” asked
Wade, shaking Dawson’s battle suit. Wade could see several holes in the chest
of the suit that were bleeding profusely.

“I’m not going
to make it,” Dawson’s weak voice came to him over the com. “Get my marines back
to the ship.”

“You’re going with
us,” said Wade determinedly, grabbing Dawson’s suit and putting him over his
right shoulder. Looking around, he saw the rest of the marines were back on
their feet, a few were helping others to stand. “Let’s go,” he ordered. “It’s
only a little further.”

-

Beth had felt
the station shudder slightly as if a massive explosion had gone off. There was
no doubt in her mind; someone had fired an explosive round from a Type Three
battle suit’s twin tubes. It had to have been Wade! “Sergeant Russell, Corporal
Foster, I want RG explosive rounds going off in those hatches, now! We need to
clear them so Major Nelson can get back inside the bay.”

“On it,” Corporal
Foster responded as she changed her RG rifle from firing solid rounds to
explosives. She liked firing off the explosive rounds; it gave her an illicit
thrill every time one blew up.

Moments later,
grenade sized explosive rounds began exploding in the hatches and then out in
the corridor. In less than a minute, the hatches were destroyed and only jagged
smoking metal remained. Even the flight bay was beginning to fill with smoke,
and Beth could hear warning alarms sounding. Fire suppression systems kicked in,
spraying the bay with fire suppressant chemicals.