Galactic Empire Wars 2: Emergence (5 page)

The Kiveans
were a peaceful race that preferred research instead of physical sports, though
they were willing to fight if it was absolutely necessary. It was their science
and what they'd stolen from the Kleese that was allowing the Humans to build
the powerful spaceships that now protected the Solar System.

“Any special
orders for the war games?” Major Makita asked as he walked over to stand next
to Michael. He knew that First Fleet would primarily be an observer in this set
of games. All he knew for sure was that Fleet Admiral Kirby had something
special planned for Second and Third Fleet to deal with.

Michael
allowed himself to smile. “The unknown,” he replied with a knowing look. “I
want Admirals Stehr and Sanders to face the unexpected and see how they react
to a totally unpredictable situation.”

“The
unexpected?” Makita responded with a surprised look. He glanced at Fleet
Admiral Kirby sharply, wondering just what the admiral had planned. “Isn’t that
what war games are supposed to be?”

“They won’t be
expecting this,” Michael answered enigmatically as his eyes focused on the main
viewscreen, which was showing a sea of unmoving stars.

Makita nodded,
knowing he wasn’t going to get anything else out of the admiral. He would just
have to wait and see for himself what happened. However, the Fleet Admiral had
aroused his curiosity. He had a suspicion these war games were going to be
highly interesting.

-

Fourteen hours
later, the fleet slowed and went into orbit around Mars. First Fleet could have
used their ships' Fold Space Drives to get to Mars much quicker, but Michael
wanted Admirals Stehr and Sanders to ponder what was going to happen. It also allowed
the crews on the ships to speculate about what was going to occur in the war
games.

“We have
achieved Mar’s orbit,” Ensign Bisset reported from the Helm.

“Very well,”
responded Michael as he looked down at his watch to check the time. It was
counting down and still had twenty minutes to go. With a satisfied nod, he
turned to Major Makita. “Take the ship to Condition Four and inform Admirals
Stehr and Sanders that I will be contacting them in one hour as to the start of
the war games.”

“Yes, Sir,”
Makita replied as he passed on the orders to Communications. He wondered what
type of scenario the two admirals would be facing?

Michael stood
and stretched. “If you need me, I’ll be in the officer’s mess.”

Leaving the Command Center, Michael went down two decks and along a short corridor to the cafeteria
that served the ship’s officers. After getting his tray of food, he sat down
and began eating. Occasionally he would check his watch as the countdown timer
continued to move toward zero.

At exactly the
twenty-minute mark, the timer reached zero, and red lights began flashing and
the Condition One klaxons began sounding. Admiral Kirby allowed himself to
smile and for the moment chose to ignore the alarms.

“Admiral Kirby
to the Command Center,” a nervous voice spoke over the ship’s com system. “I
repeat, Admiral Kirby please report to the Command Center.”

Michael took
another bite of his food and a long sip of his unsweetened tea. Then standing
up, he disposed of his tray and began making his way back to the command deck.
He was in no hurry, as he wanted to see the reaction of his own command crew to
this crisis situation.

A few minutes
later, Michael entered the Command Center and put a look of concern on his face
as he stepped inside. “Status,” he demanded as he walked over quickly to his
command chair and sat down. He could sense the increased tension in the room.
Various crewmembers had looks of anxiety on their faces and the conversations
in the room were well subdued from normal.

“We have
Kleese assault ships that have dropped out of Fold Space inside the orbit of Neptune,” reported Major Makita, looking worried. “Long-range sensors are indicating
forty-seven ships inbound.”

“So they’ve
returned,” Michael said as he looked at the main sensor screen showing the
inbound assault ships.

“Should we
return to Earth?” Makita asked as he looked from the screen to the admiral.

“No,” Michael
responded as he gazed steadily at the major. “We have enough assault ships of
our own at Centerpoint to handle this incursion if they make a try for Earth.”

Even as they
watched the sensor screen, the forty-seven enemy ships split into two groups.
One headed for Mars and the other toward Vesta.

“Get Admirals
Stehr and Sanders on the com,” Michael ordered in a calm and reassuring voice.

Moments later,
the two admirals were on the communications channel. “As both of you have seen,
we have forty-seven Kleese assault ships that have decided to pay us a visit.
Needless to say, the war games are officially cancelled. This will be a live
operation instead. Admiral Stehr you will take Third Fleet and engage the group
heading for Mars. I will leave the tactical deployments of your fleet up to
you. Admiral Sanders, you and Second Fleet have the ones heading toward Vesta.
I will hold First Fleet here at Mars and intercept anything that gets past you.”

“I don’t like
this,” Admiral Sanders spoke over the com with concern in his voice. “Why just
forty-seven ships? They know we can destroy them.”

“A probe,”
suggested Admiral Stehr. “There may be more ships behind these. There has to be
at least two mother ships somewhere.”

“That’s a
possibility,” Michael responded pleased that the two were not taking anything
for granted. “I’ll be speaking to General Mitchell about possible defensive
deployments of all of our forces. In the meantime, your job is to eliminate
this initial threat.”

“We’ll be leaving
orbit shortly,” Admiral Stehr replied.

A few minutes
later, Michael watched as Second and Third Fleet left their Mar’s orbit and
accelerated into Fold Space. It wouldn’t take them long to reach their targets.

“Sir, the
Kleese ships are splitting into smaller groups,” reported Lieutenant Fullerton
as she watched the changing data on her sensor console.

Michael looked,
and sure enough instead of two groups of warships, there were now four. “What
are their destinations?”

“Two groups are
heading for Mars and two to Vesta, but they’re now separated to the point that
our two fleets won’t be able to engage them without splitting up themselves.”

“Should we
engage one of the groups?” asked Major Makita, looking over at the admiral. “We
could easily intercept one of the groups heading toward Mars.”

“No,” Michael
replied as his eyes shifted to the major. “We’ll stay in orbit over Mars. Stay
at Condition One and let’s see what happens with Second and Third Fleets. They
should be able to handle this situation. That will leave us available if more
Kleese ships are lurking nearby. If they come in using their Fold Space Drives,
they could appear almost anywhere.”

Makita nodded
and turned to watch the sensor screen. Something just didn’t feel right about
this situation. The Kleese attack made no sense! From the number of assault
ships there should be two mother ships somewhere.

Michael watched
as the two Human fleets moved rapidly toward the Kleese assault ships. Since
both fleets were in Fold Space and traveling at many multiples of the speed of
light, it didn’t take them long to reach the general vicinity of the enemy
craft. The entire Solar System was seeded with scanner arrays to detect ships
in Fold Space. Unless the ships came in at a tremendous speed, they could be
detected and tracked.

“Second Fleet
is dropping out of Fold Space,” Lieutenant Fullerton reported, her eyes
watching her sensors intently. “Third Fleet should be dropping out in a few
more seconds.”

All eyes were
now focused on the primary sensor screen showing the green icons of the two Human
fleets and the forty-seven red icons indicating the enemy. Everyone in the Command Center was asking themselves the same questions. After two years, why now and what
did they want? Was this just a probe before a major attack?

Admiral Stehr
and Admiral Sanders are dividing their fleets,” Major Makita reported as he
watched the main sensor screen. “They’re setting off in pursuit of the enemy
ships.”

“Kleese are
splitting again!” reported Lieutenant Fullerton, worriedly.

“Twelve small
groups!” gasped Major Makita, looking over at the admiral. “They don’t stand a
chance by splitting up like that. Our fleets will make short work of them.
That’s a huge tactical error.”

“Perhaps,”
Michael responded curious to see how this played out. “This may be a new tactic
of theirs. What if we divide our fleets again and then their main fleet
attacks? What if this tactic is to cause us to break our fleet into smaller formations?”

“It makes
sense,” Makita replied his eyes growing wide at the thought. “Is that why you insisted
that First Fleet stay intact and in orbit over Mars?”

“In battle,
it’s always necessary to discern your enemy’s tactics,” responded Michael,
evenly. “We’ll continue to observe and then respond as needed.”

“Second Fleet
and Third Fleet are splitting again to engage the various enemy units,” Lieutenant
Fullerton spoke. Then her eyes grew as she saw the Kleese assault ships
suddenly jump into Fold Space. “Enemy units have activated their Fold Space
Drives and are accelerating.”

“Where to?”
demanded Major Makita, seeing the assault ships rapidly pulling away from the
Human ships in pursuit.

“Same as
before,” responded a confused Lieutenant Fullerton. “I don’t understand.”

Major Makita stepped
over to the sensors and studied the data. “Second and Third Fleet are not going
to be able to catch them,” he said after a moment. “The assault ships have too large
a lead.”

“Keep us between
the planet and the inbound ships,” Michael ordered. “All weapons to fire upon
my mark.”

“Yes, Sir,” Major
Makita replied as he passed on the orders and then stepped over next to the
tactical console. His eyes focused intently on the sensor screen and the
incoming enemy. His breathing grew heavier and he could feel his pulse begin to
race. This would be the first time he had fought an actual battle in space.

“Lieutenant Edmondson,
stand by to fire antimatter missiles on inbound Kleese assault ships,” Michael
ordered.

“Sir,”
stammered Lieutenant Edmonson, looking perplexed at the order. “We won’t be
able to lock on and fire until after they drop out of Fold Space.”

“What would
you suggest, Lieutenant?”

“Fire as soon
as they drop out of Fold Space, Sir,” Edmondson replied, his eyes shifting
uneasily between the admiral and Major Makita. “It will only take a few seconds
to lock on and fire.”

Michael
nodded. “Very well. Ready the missiles.”

Major Makita
nodded his head in agreement. The sublight antimatter missiles would arrive on
target almost instantly. As an afterthought, he ordered Lieutenant Edmondson to
charge up the ship’s particle beam weapons. If the missiles missed, the
powerful particle beams would quickly annihilate the inbound assault ships.

Minutes passed
rapidly by as the Kleese ships drew near Mars. The increased tension and
anxiety in the command crew was evident, as most talking had ceased. Everyone
watched the large sensor screen waiting for the enemy to drop out of Fold Space
so the engagement could begin.

The small
enemy groups were coming in on different trajectories, but all would arrive at
Mars within seconds of one another. Whoever was coordinating this attack
certainly knew what they were doing. Michael continued to watch the sensor
screen, curious to see what was going to happen.

“Enemy ships are
dropping out of Fold Space!” warned Lieutenant Fullerton as the incoming red
icons became more solid.

“Target lock!”
yelled Lieutenant Edmondson as his hands flew over his console.

“Enemy is
firing!” Fullerton screamed. “Antimatter missiles detected!”

On the main viewscreen,
they watched in shock as four sublight antimatter explosions detonated over
Mars Central. The viewscreen turned white and then became covered with static.

“They attacked
the planet!” Major Makita exclaimed his face white in shock. “Mars Central is
gone, not even the deep bunkers would have been able to survive that.”

“Oh my God!”
cried Lieutenant Fullerton as she realized the enormous number of deaths that
had just occurred. The colonists at Mars Central would have been instantly annihilated.

Michael said
nothing. Everyone’s eyes were focused on the static covered viewscreen, knowing
that hundreds of thousand of humans had just died. Finally, Michael spoke in a
calm and steady voice. “Lieutenant Edmondson, did you ever launch our missiles?”

“No, Sir,” gasped
Edmonson as he realized that he had forgotten to fire when he had seen the missiles
exploding over Mars Central.

“Some of our
ships tried,” Lieutenant Jones spoke with confusion in his voice from Communications.
“They’re reporting widespread weapon malfunctions.”

“It’s a new
Kleese weapon,” Major Makita spoke, fear showing on his face at what this might
mean. “They’ve found a way to jam our weapons. Perhaps they inserted a computer
virus into our systems. We need to warn Centerpoint!”

Michael stood
and looked around the crew with disappointment in his eyes. He then stepped
over to the ship’s main computer console and entered his command code.
Instantly, the viewscreen cleared, showing an intact Mars Central and no signs
of damage.

Major Makita
looked over at Admiral Kirby with dawning realization and relief in his eyes.
“It wasn’t real, this was a war game!”

“Yes,” Michael
responded as he gazed at the main viewscreen, which showed the dozens of large
domes that made up Mars Central. “Admiral Rivers is in command of those
forty-seven assault ships. I left it up to him as to what tactics to use to
attack Mars and Vesta.”