Galactic Empire Wars 2: Emergence (18 page)

“Bring in
their replacements,” he ordered, feeling no remorse over his action. “Remove
all files from the computers concerning the Humans and the battle; there is no
need for the other conscripts on the station to know what happened.”

“What about
our military conscripts?” one of the others asked as he began removing the data
from the computer core and started transferring it to a secure computer
terminal in the Kleese living quarters.

“Those that
were involved in the battle with the Humans will have to be eliminated,” the
Kleese commander ordered. “We will transmit a report to the Council of
Overlords; the Humans are their problem now.”

-

The Distant
Star dropped out of Fold Space in the system designated as a rendezvous point if
the mission went south. It had definitely done that.

“Ship status!”
Demanded Captain Rios as the ship came out of Fold Space and nearly to a dead
stop in space. The crew had been rushing about getting the Kivean refugees
better situated as well as checking on the ship’s damage.

On the primary
viewscreens, a sea of unwinking stars surrounded them. On the main sensor screen,
no contacts were showing nearby.

“We seem to be
okay,” Sutton reported from his sensor console. “No signs of pursuit and the
system seems to be quiet.”

“The Kleese
will not be pursuing us,” Marken said with assurance. “They'll be cleaning up
the mess we left behind. They will not want to leave any trace of the battle
for the nonaligned worlds or other inbound trade ships to see.”

“What about
the trade ships that were in the bay with us?” asked Wade, worried about his
marines on the assault ships. “Will the Kleese destroy them?”

“I don’t think
so,” replied Marken, glancing over at Wade. “They'll be told not to speak of
what occurred at the station or face serious repercussions.”

“Centurion,
Warspite, and the Trafalgar are dropping out of Fold Space,” Sutton reported,
glad to see the three small warships.

Wade felt a
flood of relief knowing that Beth had made it; he was extremely concerned about
who had survived the destruction of the Furious. Jamie had been on board that
assault ship.

-

Several hours
later, Wade sat in his quarters looking at the casualty reports from their
battle with the Kleese. They'd pretty much walked into a trap as it now was
obvious that the Kleese had been aware of their presence almost as soon as they
had gone aboard the station. They were fortunate to have escaped at all even
though it had proved costly.

The two drop
ships evacuated from the Furious had contained thirty-two marines and sixteen members
of the ship’s crew. Jamie had been one of those fortunate enough to get away.
For that Wade was thankful, but many other marines had not made it off the ship
and others had been lost on the station. Total marine casualty figures were sixty-seven.
They'd also lost the Furious and the Achilles, which was unexpected.

A quiet knock
on his door interrupted his thoughts and standing up, he opened it and found Marken
and Harnett standing there. Wade wondered what the two Kiveans wanted.

“Come in,”
Wade said, gesturing for them to enter.

Marken and
Harnett stepped inside and sat down, looking expectantly at Wade. “We have to
talk to you about something,” began Harnett, knowing that her life mate felt
uncomfortable bringing up this subject with Wade so shortly after the battle
with the Kleese.

“What is it?” asked
Wade, sitting down across from them. “How is Sergeant Dawson?” Wade had gone to
check on Dawson earlier, but he had been in surgery with Harnett.

“Dawson will be fine,” Harnett replied with a reassuring nod. “He had some internal
injuries and a lot of bleeding, but his condition has stabilized. I've injected
him with some medical nanites I have on board, and they should help with his
healing. Due to the scope of his injuries it will be several weeks before he will
be able to resume his duties.”

“That’s good
news,” Wade replied, relieved that the sergeant was going to make it. “It will
take us nearly eight weeks to return to Earth so that should give him plenty of
time to recover. What else did you want to talk to me about?”

“Marken has
been speaking to some of the Kiveans that came on board,” answered Harnett,
glancing over at her life mate. “They've been telling us about the attack upon
our world by the Kleese.”

Wade leaned
back in his chair with a somber look upon his face. From what Marken had told
him earlier, he knew that much of the Kivean home planet had been nuked. The
Kivean race had suffered the same fate as Earth had from the Kleese.

“When we
escaped from the Kleese originally, they were furious beyond belief. We always
knew the Kleese were a cruel and heartless race. They decided to make an
example of our people to ensure there were no more future revolts. We thought
from what we were told earlier the Kleese had nuked the planet, but that’s not
correct. They used antimatter missiles upon all of the major population centers
except one. There are survivors on the planet.”

“Survivors!"
uttered Wade, sitting up straighter and looking intently at Marken. “How many?”

“At least
several million,” Marken said, joining in on the conversation. “Many of our
main research centers are in the city of Micene and it was not bombed. Micene
has a population of well over one million. It also contains the Planetary University where our most talented young people are sent to study. The Kleese
spared the city as they are still interested in some of the research being done
there.”

“What are you
proposing?” Wade asked, already suspecting what Marken was going to say.”

“When we get
back to Centerpoint Station, I would like to have a rescue plan already made up
to go to our home world and evacuate as many of our people as possible off the
planet.”

Wade closed
his eyes, knowing the difficulty of what Marken was asking. Operation
Insurrection would have already been launched by the time they returned. Wade
was unsure if General Mitchell and Fleet Admiral Kirby would be willing to
commit to another major operation while Insurrection was in play.

“Even if we
were to launch an assault upon your planet to free your people and bring as
many of them as possible back to the Solar System, we don’t have the passenger
ships to bring back large numbers.”

“Not a
problem,” Marken replied with an excited look upon his face. “There is a large
orbiting space station above our world, not nearly as big as a Kleese station,
but still large enough. We did much of our trading from this station with other
worlds and even tourists left on passenger ships to those worlds the Kleese
allowed us to visit. There will be at least twenty passenger liners and
numerous cargo vessels docked to the station. We can use those to evacuate as
many of our people as possible.”

“You’ve never
been to your world,” Wade stated with a sigh. “Are you sure they would be
willing to leave?”

“It is true that
we have never been to Kivea,” Harnett replied with regret in her eyes, knowing
now she would never see it as others had described. “But occasionally a trade
ship from our planet would stop by the station with news. We never lost hope of
being able to go there some day.”

Wade nodded in
understanding. He knew it would be very hard to turn down the Kiveans' request
after all they had done for the Human race. If not for them and their advanced
technology, there would have been far fewer survivors.

“The
nonaligned races have furnished us with a lot of high level technological
information,” Marken continued his eyes focusing on Wade. “The researchers in
the city of Micene will be very useful in converting that information to
practical use.”

Wade let out a
heavy sigh; he knew that to do as Marken and Harnett were suggesting would
require a major ground campaign. After what the Kiveans and the Humans had done
to the Kleese there was no doubt there would be a heavy contingent of
conscripts in battle suits upon Kivea, perhaps even some Kleese.

“I will speak
to Colonel Adamson once we have our repairs completed and have gone back into
Fold Space,” Wade promised. He was also going to ask to have Beth and Captain
Jeffries transferred to the Distant Star. Perhaps between the three of them
they could come up with a plan to submit to General Mitchell and Fleet Admiral
Kirby.

“Thank you,” replied
Harnett, standing up and walking over, then giving Wade a friendly hug. “We
knew we could count on you.”

“We need to go
check on our Kivean passengers,” Marken spoke with a grimace. A number had died
when two of the Distant Star’s cargo bays had been blasted open in the battle
with the Kleese ships.

The two left
leaving Wade alone with his thoughts. Doing what the two Kiveans were
requesting would not be simple by any means. It might very well be impossible.
However, Harnett and Marken had risked their lives leading the Kivean revolt on
the space station and freeing the Human conscripts. Wade would do everything in
his power to give them what they wanted.

-

Colonel
Adamson was looking at the latest status reports of the remaining ships under
his command. All were damaged to some extent.

“All ships
will have their hull breaches welded shut within the next hour,” Major Kelley
reported. He had been speaking with the various commanders checking on the
current status of their repairs. “We’re also sending additional supplies over
to the Distant Star to help accommodate the Kiveans that came on board.”

“How many did
they end up with?” asked Adamson, curiously. He had been stunned when Captain
Rios had told him about the new Kivean refugees and what had happened to their
world.

“Two hundred
and twelve are still alive,” reported Kelley, glancing down at one of the data
screens on his console.

“Will they be able
to handle the extra Kiveans?”

“Captain Rios
says they will; they weren’t traveling with a full load of passengers to begin
with. Also, Major Nelson is requesting that Captain Williams and Captain
Jeffries be transferred to the Distant Star.”

“I wonder what
that’s all about?” spoke Adamson with a sneaking suspicion that it involved the
Kiveans. “Do as he asks and keep me informed when you find out what he’s up
to.”

“Engineering
reports that all systems are back online and operating at peak efficiency,” Ensign
Travers reported from Communications as she listened to the various departments
report in on the progress of their repairs.

“Sensors are
still clear,” Lieutenant Saur added as she checked the most recent sensor
scans.

“We can
probably jump back into Fold Space in another few hours,” suggested Major
Kelley. He would feel more comfortable if they put some additional distance
between them and the Kleese space station.

Colonel
Adamson nodded; he too was anxious to get back underway; he felt vulnerable sitting
here in open space. “Inform all ships that we'll be jumping back into Fold
Space in three more hours, which should give them time to finish their current
repairs. Fleet is to stay at Condition Two until further notice. Lieutenant
Saur, keep a close watch on those sensors. If you detect even the faintest hint
of something coming toward us, I want to know yesterday.”

“Yes, Sir,”
Lieutenant Saur replied.

Adamson leaned
back in his command chair satisfied that everything that needed to be done was
well underway. He just hoped the information the nonaligned worlds had put on
that computer flash drive was worth what it had cost in ships and lives. The
flash drive was currently inside the secure safe in the captain’s quarters on
the Distant Star.

-

The Kleese
Council of Overlords was once more in session upon their home world. The sky
was overcast and a cold wind blew across the desolate landscape. Only in the
one city upon the planet were there signs of life.

“One of our
trading stations was assigned the task of launching an attack against the
Humans to test the power of the Humans’ weapons. The attack failed,” Xatul
spoke in an angry voice. “Four mother ships and one hundred and twenty assault
ships were lost.”

“Humans!”
responded Bixutl. “If word of our defeat gets out we could have numerous
revolts across the Empire. The Humans must be wiped out; not a single member of
their species can be allowed to survive.”

The other
Kleese nodded in agreement. It had already been decided to send several Kleese warships
to the system to handle the situation. The crews had been assembled and were even
now preparing for departure.

“I have given
the order for six of our warships to leave today and travel to the Human worlds,”
Xatul stated his multifaceted eyes gazing at the others. “It will take them six
weeks to arrive at their destination. Once there, they will destroy the Human
fleet and then annihilate every remaining visage of their civilization. They
will scorch the Humans' star system, ensuring that not a single one of their
species survives.”

“It is
necessary,” spoke Raluth with a nod of his triangular head. “Are we still
certain that it is not necessary to awaken some of the Zaltule from their long
sleep and allow them to handle the Humans?”

“It will not
be necessary,” Xatul responded his attention focusing on Raluth standing at the
far end of the heavy stone council table. “We will be able to deal with the
Humans without the Zaltule. They will remain asleep.”

The Kleese
Council of Overlords accepted this decision. It was their way. Xatul was the
current Supreme Overlord since he was the most powerful Kleese. His decisions
were to be obeyed without question once they were made.

Later that
day, in the far reaches of the Kleese home solar system, six large black disk
ships of the Kleese military jumped into Fold Space. Their destination and
orders; the Human solar system and the total eradication of the vermin that infested
it.