Galactic Empire Wars 2: Emergence (30 page)

“I was
speaking to General Mitchell yesterday,” Colonel Bailey commented as he saw one
of the operators at a console motion for Pamela’s attention. “Several Kivean
engineers are helping them install six ion beam cannons around Luna City. The general said that when they’re done, the cannons will be able to blow a hole
ten meters wide through a Kleese exploration ship from twelve thousand
kilometers.”

“Impressive,”
responded Mason, seeing Pamela speaking to one of the sensor operators and
suspecting they were talking about Bryan and the Raven. He saw an extremely
aggravated look appear on her face. “I hadn’t realized they’re that powerful.”

“It depends on
the available power,” Bailey explained. “They’re using a dedicated fusion
reactor to power the ones at Luna City.”

“I think I had
better go check on Pamela before Bryan gets himself into a ton of trouble, if
he hasn’t already,” Mason said. He walked over to the console Pamela was at
just in time to hear her spout out.

“Pluto!”
Pamela moaned loudly, shaking her head in disbelief. “How the hell did he get
way out there?” She had thought Pluto was out of range of the small prospector
ships. Something here just didn’t make any sense. She looked over at Mason
accusingly.

“It’s my
fault, I’m afraid,” confessed Mason with a sheepish look upon his face. “As a
favor to Michael I authorized a complete refit of the Raven, giving the ship a
much better sublight drive. I figured if Bryan was going to get into trouble at
least he should have a chance to get away.”

Pamela sighed
deeply and shook her head at Mason. “Well, he got away; clear out to Pluto! We
have several sensor satellites in the vicinity of the dwarf planet, and one of
them is clearly showing the Raven in low orbit.”

Mason tried
not to laugh. “The system’s not in any danger at the moment. When he gets back,
I promise that either Michael or I will have a serious talk with him.”

“Just make him
understand that he can’t go flying off all over the Solar System as he does,”
Pamela said in a more controlled voice. “What if all the prospectors did that?”

“I’ll take
care of it,” Mason promised.

“We’ll see,”
Pamela responded with doubt lingering in her eyes.

Mason looked
up at the main sensor screen and all the green icons present. He wondered how
Admiral Rivers was doing with Operation Insurrection. It would be months yet
before Fourth Fleet was expected to return. That is if it returned. It might be
prudent to increase work on the ion cannons. They held the biggest promise to
help defend the system from attack. In the morning, he would contact Mayor
Silas and the others, run the idea across them, and see if they were willing to
reallocate resources and personnel. He would also need to speak to the Kiveans
about furnishing more engineers to help with the construction, as well as the installation.

Later
tomorrow, he was scheduled to go on a tour of some of the other asteroid
habitats scattered throughout the asteroid belt. Pallas, Juno, Metis, and half
a dozen other asteroids held sizable Human habitats of over two hundred
thousand people. A dozen others held smaller habitats of from ten to fifty
thousand. Mason was taking the tour to reassure everyone that their best
interests were being looked after and no one was being forgotten. He allowed a
smile to cross his face; he was making Adrienne go with him since the tour had
been her idea to help morale in the system.

-

Xatul was not
happy with the latest reports from the lone warship that had survived the
attack upon the Human system. By all indications, the Kleese fleet had been
winning when the Humans had used a suicide tactic and crashed three of their
major ships into the Kleese warships, turning the tide of the battle. In many
ways, this was a tactic similar to something the Zaltule would consider.

“The Human
particle beam weapons were ineffective against our warships,” Raluth commented
as he studied the report in front of him on the large stone table. He shuffled
his six double-jointed legs impatiently, still trying to comprehend how the
attack could have possibly failed. “Even with the destruction of five of our
six warships, the remaining fleet should have been able to finish these Human
vermin off. Why did that not happen?”

“The commander
of the remaining warship must be punished!” demanded Hymtal, shaking his fist.
“He should have pressed the attack and at least annihilated what remained of
the Human fleet. He has failed as a Kleese commander and should pay the
ultimate price for his poor decision.”

“The commander
of the warship and his entire command crew have been eliminated,” Xatul
responded with no compassion or regret in his voice. “It is as you said; they
failed us and have paid the price. It will be an example to others that the
Council of Overlords does not accept failure, even from members of the Kleese
race.”

“The Humans
are a minor nuisance,” spoke Bixutl, waving his hands dismissively. “Their
fleet has been badly damaged and they don’t have the population numbers to be a
great threat to our Empire. We have time to deal with them. Of greater concern
are the reports we have received the last few days of the Strell threatening to
take action against us in the neutral area where we are contesting numerous
worlds. They claim that we have attacked several of their worlds and are
demanding the attacks stop immediately or they may consider it an act of war.”

“Ridiculous!”
Martule spoke in a loud and menacing voice. “The Strell are only seeking an
excuse to break our nonaggression agreement and resume hostilities to take over
all of the worlds in the neutral area.”

“That cannot
be allowed!” roared Keluth, shaking his triangularly shaped head. “How dare the
Strell make up these accusations and threaten us.”

“We are
talking about several hundred inhabited worlds,” Bixutl said his multifaceted
eyes focusing on the Supreme Overlord. “We should send more of our ships into
the area to protect those worlds we have claimed as our own.”

Xatul was
silent as he looked around at the other Overlords. Between them, they
controlled much of the power in the Kleese Empire. “A war with the Strell will
be extremely counterproductive and tie up vast resources. If we send ships, we
must make sure any engagement with Strell vessels occurs only in the neutral
area.”

“The Strell
may have grown weak since the great wars,” pointed out Raluth, seeing a way to
increase the power he held. “They don’t know we still possess the Zaltule. We
could awaken them and sweep through Strell space before they have a chance to
fully mobilize.”

“I don’t want
to awaken the Zaltule just yet,” spoke Xatul, fearing that if the warrior sect
were brought out of deep sleep there would be considerable shakeups on the
council. “They should only be awoken if there is a major threat to the Empire,
and I am not seeing one.”

Raluth slammed
his hand down upon the stone of the table, his eyes focusing angrily on Xatul.
“We have an opportunity!” he snarled. “The Strell would not be expecting such
an attack.”

“Let us
determine the actual threat posed by the Strell,” Xatul suggested in a powerful
voice. “I propose that we double the amount of exploration ships we currently
have in the neutral area and increase the size of our conscript garrisons on
the worlds we do control. Perhaps a show of force will put the Strell back in
their place and we can avoid a major war, which would greatly reduce the
available recourses that we, as a group, control.”

“As you
command,” growled Raluth, venting his disappointment with a stomping of his
multiple legs. “But as Overlords, if the Strell threats continue, we must
respond with a force that will show them the true strength of our Empire!”

“Agreed,”
replied Xatul, knowing that soon he might not have any other choice but to
awaken the Zaltule. The growing numbers dying in the sleeping chambers would
soon force him to awaken them anyway. The Empire could not afford to lose the
valuable warrior sect, even if it meant a massive shift of power.

Upon their
moon, arrangements were already being made. All he needed to do was give the
word and the awakening would begin. The warrior sect would once more be a major
force in the Kleese Empire as well as on the Council of Overlords. Looking
around the council, he wondered what Overlords would lose their places to the
powerful Zaltule. Even his own position would not be assured. It might be
necessary for him to take some precautionary measures to ensure he maintained
control of the council. When the Zaltule were awakened, war would return to the
Empire and the surrounding galactic regions. It was the way of the warrior sect
and they would not allow anything or anyone from preventing them assuming their
rightful place in the Empire.

Colonel
Adamson drew in a sharp breath as the Constellation dropped out of Fold Space
two million kilometers from the Kivean home world. They'd come in at many times
the speed of light, hoping to confuse any tracking systems that might be in
operation.

“Drop out!
reported Ensign Martin as the Constellation and the rest of the ships in the
fleet entered normal space.

“Sensors
coming online,” added Lieutenant Saur as data began flowing across her screens.

“Jamming
commencing,” reported Ensign Travers from Communications as the Constellation
began sending out signals across all long-range frequencies to prevent the
Kleese from calling for help. Her fingers ran nimbly across her screen, tapping
icons and ensuring that no messages could leave the system.

“Agamemnon and
Crimson Star have commenced jamming also,” Major Kelly said as he listened to
reports coming in from the other ships. “Only short-range communications are
still being received.”

On the main
tactical screen, red threat icons began to blossom. First one, two, and then an
entire fleet appeared. A large green icon began showing, indicating the Kivean
space station that was in orbit. Around it, a number of amber icons began to
show, indicating possible cargo and passenger ships.

“Take us in,”
ordered Colonel Adamson as he looked at the tactical screen and the waiting
Kleese ships. “Do we have a breakdown on the hostile ships?”

“Yes, Sir,”
replied Major Kelly as the information appeared on a screen. “We have two
exploration ships and twenty-seven assault ships in orbit around the planet.”

“All ships to
activate Fold Space Drives, I want to hit those two mother ships before they
can launch the rest of their assault ships. Designate them as Bug One and Bug
Two. The Constellation will take Bug One and the Agamemnon will take Bug Two.
Light cruisers are to focus on the Kleese assault ships. Our own assault ships
will form a protective perimeter around our noncombatants with the Crimson Star
acting as the command ship. All ships set Condition One throughout the fleet.
Stand by to fire weapons!”

Major Kelly
quickly passed on the orders as Ensign Martin prepared to take the ship back
into Fold Space. All the rest of the ships in the fleet were tied in by a computer
link and would match the Constellation’s movements. “Entering Fold Space,”
Martin reported as he reached forward on his console and turned a large gold
key.

All ships in
the fleet instantly accelerated into Fold Space and headed toward Kivea and the
waiting Kleese ships. They were traveling at many times the speed of light and
rapidly covered the distance between them and the planet. In four minutes, the
ships began dropping out of Fold Space once more.

“In target
range of the exploration ships,” reported Lieutenant Saur as his screens began
to clear and the large tactical screen on the front wall began displaying
information.

“We have
target lock with our particle beam cannons,” spoke Lieutenant Reyes from
Tactical. “Antimatter missiles are also showing a firm lock on target.”

“Inbound
message from one of the Kleese exploration ships,” Ensign Travers reported.
“They are demanding to know who we are and what we want in this system. We’re
also picking up the same demand from a ground station.”

“Noncombatants
are beginning to pull back,” Major Kelly reported. On one of the sensor
screens, the Human assault ships and noncombatants were dropping back behind
the battlecruisers and light cruisers.

On the primary
viewscreen, the image shifted to show one of the two eight thousand-meter
Kleese mother ships. The giant exploration ship nearly filled the screen.

“Fire!”
ordered Adamson, looking over at Tactical. “Take them out, now!” In the past,
the Kleese mother ships had been shown to be highly vulnerable to the new
particle beam weapons.

-

From the
Constellation and the Agamemnon, dark blue particle beams flashed out and
struck the two Kleese exploration ships. The beams smashed into the hulls,
causing damaging explosions as the Kleese didn’t even have their energy screens
up. Large chunks of hull material were blasted loose to drift away from the
stricken ships. On both Kleese ships internal explosions continued, tearing the
ships apart from within. Alarms rang and frightened conscripts ran to their
damage control stations seeking to save their ships. Fires were breaking out
and numerous compartments were now open to space.

In the Kleese Command Center upon one of the ships, the stunned Kleese looked at one another in
shock.

“Humans!”
spoke one, recognizing the attacking ships from descriptions downloaded
recently into all exploration ships' databases.

“Why are they
here?” demanded the Kleese commander. “Send a message to the nearest trading
station and request reinforcements. Tell them the Humans are here and to send
all available ships!”

“Communications
are being jammed,” one of the Kleese replied as several conscripts reported
failure to send out any long-range messages.

The
exploration ship shuddered violently, nearly throwing the Kleese off the Command
Pedestal. They looked at each other, knowing they'd made a critical mistake
having their shields down. They had not been expecting an attack this deep into
Kleese space. Operating the energy screen continuously was power consuming, so
they'd left it down to conserve energy. The conscripts on duty hadn’t even been
running long-range scans.

“Raise our
energy shield and return fire!” ordered the Kleese commander, seeing multitudes
of red lights appearing on the damage control console.

“We can’t,”
another of the Kleese replied. “Too many power conduits have been destroyed.”

“Fold Space Drive is offline due to lack of power,” reported the Kleese nearest to the
commander. “Our engineers are saying it will take two hours to get power to the
drive.”

The Kleese
commander gazed at a still functioning viewscreen showing a Human warship
firing its weapons. Without a functioning energy shield, his ship was doomed.

-

“Antimatter
missiles,” ordered Adamson, seeking to take advantage of the Kleese foolishness
of not having their screens up. Their total lack of readiness had been a
surprise, and Adamson intended to make them pay for their laxness. Evidently,
they hadn’t even been detected when they had initially dropped out of Fold
Space.

“Missiles
away,” spoke Lieutenant Reyes as he pressed two glowing green buttons on his
console.

Instantly,
from two of the open missile hatches on the Constellation there was a blur of
movement then two twenty-megaton sublight antimatter missiles flashed out to
detonate against the armored hull of Bug One. Two glowing explosions of
released energy fused the metal of the ship and boiled away the atmosphere. In microseconds,
all conscripts and Kleese upon the ship were dead, and then it exploded as the
antimatter energy breached critical systems inside and blew the ship apart.

“Bug One is
down,” reported Lieutenant Saurs, excitedly. “Bug Two is under heavy attack and
has suffered major damage from the Agamemnon.”

On the main
viewscreen, all that was left of Bug One was an expanding visage of glowing gas
and shattered debris. The image shifted to show Bug Two just as four railgun
rounds from the Agamemnon slammed into the Kleese ship, setting off a cascade
of internal explosions. Then an antimatter missile arrived, diving deep inside
the Kleese mother ship and detonating. Moments later, the disk ship ceased to
be.

“Bug Two is
down,” reported Lieutenant Saur in stunned disbelief that they had destroyed
the two large ships so quickly. The battle hadn’t even lasted a minute.

“Light
cruisers are engaging the assault ships,” Major Kelly responded as he tried to
keep track of the rapidly expanding battle. Looking up, he could see bright
explosions on the viewscreens designating weapons fire impacting on targets.

-

In space, the
eight light cruisers were picking off the assault ships almost as easily as the
battlecruisers had the mother ships. Even the assault ships had been caught
with their shields down, and they'd paid a heavy initial price for their
mistake. In the first thirty seconds of the battle, twelve assault ships were
destroyed outright and another eight damaged. Assault ships' armor held little
resistance when struck by a particle beam followed up by a twenty-megaton
antimatter missile.

Space was full
of glaring explosions of released antimatter energy as Kleese assault ships
were swept away. Very few Kleese ships had even managed to fire back as they
reeled in confusion, not understanding what was happening. The exploration
ships were gone and no Kleese were passing on orders. Frantic messages to the
planet were being left unanswered as the incoming fire against the remaining
assault ships intensified.

-

“Light cruiser
Spica is reporting moderate damage to her armor,” reported Major Kelly, who was
monitoring the communication between ships. “No hull breaches as of yet.”

From the
Constellation, four bow railgun cannons fired, blasting another Kleese assault
ship into thousands of glowing pieces. Assault ship commanders quickly realized
that if they stayed where they were, they would die. The remaining assault
ships quickly activated their Fold Space Drives in an attempt to escape. Only
three managed to get away; the rest died brutal deaths around Kivea.

“Three assault
ships managed to escape,” Major Kelly reported with a hint of aggravation in
his voice. “All other ships have been destroyed.”

“We’re no
longer receiving messages from the Kivean ground station,” Lieutenant Travers
reported. “They’ve gone silent.”

“Damn!”
uttered Colonel Adamson at the report of three Kivean assault ships escaping.
“Those assault ships will be returning with reinforcements.”

“It will take
them a while to get organized,” Major Kelly replied. “Maybe long enough for us
to finish this operation.”

“Let’s hope
so,” Adamson responded with a worried frown crossing his face. “I want that
Kleese broadcast from the ground station pinpointed. Inform Major Nelson of its
location so he can make it a priority target.”

He quickly
contacted the captain of the Crimson Star, informing him to launch the ground
attack. Then, looking over at Major Kelly, “Move us closer to the space
station. We need to get our marines aboard and begin assessing the situation on
it as well as on the Kivean ships.”

“Yes, Sir,”
Kelly replied as he began passing orders to the various ships assigned to that
particular aspect of the mission.

-

Forty-eight
drop ships were hurtling toward the lone remaining spaceport on Kivea. In
addition, four special cargo drop ships from the Crimson Star were following
closely behind. Major Nelson was inside one of the cargo drop ships, which was
three times the size of a regular one.

“Standby to
disembark,” Wade ordered over his command suit’s com to the platoon inside the
cargo drop ship with him.

“Here we go
again,” muttered Sergeant Phil Dawson as he checked his RG rifle one more time,
ensuring he had a full clip locked in.

“At least
Sergeant Russell is on board one of the other drop ships,” Corporal Nicole
Foster said with a grin. “He won’t see your fat ass fall out of the hatch when
it opens.” Nicole rubbed her right hand over the large energy weapon she held
in her left. She was looking forward to trying it out on the planet. Normally
she carried an RG rifle and a satchel of explosives.

“I’m not fat,”
Dawson growled. “That’s just a rumor Russell started.”

“We know that,
Sergeant,” Private Lisa Hayes replied soothingly. “You’re just so fun to tease
at times. Besides, you did get shot on our last mission and spend several weeks
taking it easy in the med bay.”

Dawson stayed quiet, recalling those weeks. He knew he owed his life to Major Nelson for
carrying him back to the Distant Star.

Wade was
listening to his marines as well as the other drop ships; the first few were
already landing on the southern edge of the spaceport. He could feel his own
drop ship entering more turbulence as it was buffeted by its rapid descent
through the planet’s atmosphere.

“Landing in
two minutes,” the pilot informed them over the com system

Wade felt
perspiration on his forehead. He always felt nervous during a drop. It had
always amazed him that in all the drops he had made, even for the Kleese, there
had been very little weapons fire aimed at the descending drop ships. All the
fighting generally occurred once the marines disembarked.

The vibrations
in the drop ship grew more intense and the marines became quiet as they looked
around, hoping everyone came out of this combat situation in one piece. In war,
there were no guarantees, and friends and comrades could easily be lost. The
ship slowed, and then seemed to drop suddenly until it came to a jarring halt.
The large back hatch swung open and the heavy armored ramp slid down.

“Out!” yelled
Sergeant Dawson as he marched rapidly down the ramp, his large RG rifle held at
the ready. In the distance, he could hear the firing of weapons.

Wade waited a
minute and then followed the platoon out. Behind him came two tank like
vehicles. These were operated by marines who were not enclosed in battle suits.
The small tanks held a five-person crew and were armed with a heavy railgun
cannon plus two small energy beam turrets. The latter had five times the
firepower of the portable energy weapons the marines in the Type Three battle
suits carried. Behind the gun turret was an explosives launcher that carried
the same explosives as those in the twin tubes of the Type Three suits. This
was Wade’s answer to providing his marines with heavy firepower when needed.