Galactic Empire Wars 2: Emergence (8 page)

-

Captain
Stevens was watching Captain Winfrey’s soldiers try once again to reach the
summit of the small mountain, only this time he had gone with them. He was
bringing up the rear, keeping a close watch on the action.

“Lieutenant
Taylor, sweep those ridges with RG explosives; we know there are at least two
hidden stunner emplacements there,” Captain Winfrey ordered. Winfrey was
standing behind a large boulder and peering cautiously around it at the ridge
above them.

The ridge was
about fifty meters ahead and covered in heavy tree growth and vegetation. Captain
Winfrey didn’t understand how, but they could wipe the ridge free of trees
today, and they would be back again tomorrow as if nothing had ever happened.

A number of
soldiers in battle suits opened fire, sending dozens of explosive rounds toward
the ridge. Instantly, grenade-like explosions began rolling across, uprooting
trees and eliminating the vegetation that might be hiding the painful stunners.
The ridge became covered in smoke and small fires until every hiding place for
a potential stunner had been eliminated.

“Move up,”
ordered Winfrey confident that any hidden stunners would have been destroyed.

Only this time,
the stunners were not on the ridge; they were on the sides of it. Four stunners
popped up out of the ground and opened fire on Captain Winfrey’s advancing troops.
Six quickly fell before the stunners exploded as heavy return fire was turned
upon them.

“Remember,
Captain,” Mark spoke over the private channel they had set up before the drill
began. “The stunners are not always going to be in the same place.”

“Damn,” uttered
Winfrey, seeing that he had six troops stunned and another four injured.
“Sometimes I think getting up this ridge is impossible!”

“It’s not
impossible,” replied Mark, patiently. “Just very difficult.” The troops began
moving forward again, but much more cautiously.

For the next
two hours, Mark watched with interest as Captain Winfrey and his soldiers
carefully ascended the small mountain. Several more times stunners popped up, knocking
out more of Winfrey’s troops. Mark felt sorry for the immobile soldiers on the
small mountain. While the battle suits felt comfortable, it wasn’t fun lying on
the ground not being able to move any part of your body. The stunners would
normally knock you unconscious for a few minutes, and then you had to lie on
the ground in the suit until the drill was over. It was one of the reasons a
claustrophobic person couldn’t handle the suits.

Captain
Winfrey was almost to the summit and beginning to feel as if he really had a
chance to make it, when half a dozen stunners they'd missed popped up behind
them. The first Winfrey knew about them was when he felt a sharp pain in his
back and knew that he had been stunned. He felt himself falling and was soon
laying face down in the dirt. His command suit was set so that he wouldn’t lose
consciousness and he could watch what happened to the rest of his marines. He
swore to himself as he tried to ignore the pain. The damn stunner felt like a
dozen big red ants had taken a hunk out of him! After a few moments, the pain began
to fade away and he knew the drill was over. The HUD in his helmet showed that,
once more, all of his troops were down.

After a few
more minutes, Winfrey heard the familiar Kivean voice stating that the drill
was over and they could return to their barracks. His suit suddenly began
functioning again and Winfrey stood back up to see Captain Stevens standing
next to him.

“Another
hundred meters and you would’ve been there,” Mark commented as he glanced over
at the Type Two battle suit with Captain Winfrey in it.

Captain
Winfrey turned his gaze to the summit, so tantalizing close. “Next time,” he
muttered. “Next time we’ll reach the summit!”

“That’s the
attitude,” replied Mark, slapping Winfrey on the back. “Now, let’s get down
this mountain, clean up, and eat some chow. We need to discuss what you did
wrong today.”

“This sure
isn’t as easy as it looks,” Winfrey spoke as he turned and began walking back
down the mountain.

“It never is,”
Mark responded.

As they walked
back down the mountain, Mark looked at all the destruction the forty soldiers
under Captain Winfrey’s command had wrought on their way up. He knew that
tomorrow it would all be gone as if nothing had happened. Looking across the
habitat, Mark was glad that his days of guarding Tent City were over. He didn’t
know if he would ever return to Earth. He didn’t have any surviving family;
Lieutenant Griffith was the closest person to family Mark had. Perhaps it would
be a good idea, once Captain Winfrey’s training was further along, if he took a
few weeks leave to visit Lieutenant Griffith and his family on the Moon. Mark
knew he needed to have a life besides just the military.

Nine thousand
light years away from Earth was the Kleese home world. Their planet orbited a
small K Class star only slightly cooler than Earth’s. The sun was yellow-orange
in color with twelve planets orbiting it. The fourth planet was the Kleese home
world and it was nearly devoid of life. In the early years of the Kleese civilization,
genocidal wars had been prevalent on the planet. Entire continents had been
ravished as various factions fought for dominance. Much of the planet had been
laid to waste from the terrible weapons used in those early conflicts.

When the wars
finally ended, only one faction of the Kleese race had survived; the others had
all been annihilated and their nests destroyed. The Kleese were egg layers, and
females laid multiple eggs in great nests protected by the most powerful males.
Great pain had been taken by the winning faction to make sure all the nests of
their enemies were eliminated.

Once the
internecine wars were over, the surviving Kleese quickly began to expand their
population, only to discover that their world was no longer capable of
supporting a thriving civilization. In desperation, the Kleese turned toward
space and in just a few decades began to expand to the nearer stars. Acceptable
worlds were found and colonized until only a few Kleese remained on the home
world. It was finally decided that the home world would be abandoned except for
one city. It was here that the Kleese Council of Overlords would meet and rule
their expanding Empire.

For centuries,
the mighty warships of the Kleese race swept across the galaxy, conquering
numerous worlds and destroying those that refused to capitulate. All races were
deemed potential adversaries. The Kleese Council of Overlords was determined to
limit the expansion and development of these inferior races. It was during
these tumultuous years that the council decided a new strategy was in order.

The constant
state of war was draining the resources of the Kleese worlds and limiting
future expansion of the Kleese race itself. In a major change of policy, they
began offering worlds the opportunity to join the Empire on the condition they
would agree to produce one or two products the Kleese desired and drastically
reduce the size of any military they might possess. When a world agreed, it was
more or less left alone. If a world refused, the Kleese military would respond
and bring the world forcibly into the Empire.

The Kleese
military was a thing of dread. Mighty disk ships of a deep black color would
appear above the offending world. Kleese soldiers would descend and wreck havoc
on the major cities of the planet until its rulers capitulated and agreed to
Kleese terms. Offending worlds normally found themselves supplying more items
to the Kleese than those that had capitulated without a fight. They were also
forced to endure a permanent occupation of Kleese soldiers.

For nearly two
thousand years, the Kleese slowly expanded their Empire, and then they encountered
the Strell. In the first few years, there were a number of vicious battles
between the two Empires with numerous worlds laid to waste. Thousands of ships
on both sides were destroyed in massive fleet battles. Finally, realizing that
continued conflict could end both Empires, the two agreed to end open combat
and pull their military forces back.

This left both
with a quandary as to how to bring in new worlds to their Empires without
committing their military or reigniting the conflict. A joint meeting between
the highest military leaders came up with the idea of conscripts; warriors that
would fight to take over new worlds but ensure that the actual military forces
of the two Empires would never came into direct open conflict again. So began
thousands of years of slow expansion as both Empires brought new worlds into
their spheres of influence. The taking of unwilling conscripts became common.

On the outer
edges of the Empires, where both sides were competing for new worlds, oftentimes
conscripts from both sides would meet in combat to determine the fate of a
world. By mutual agreement, the Empires agreed that once conscripts began
fighting upon a contested world, reinforcements could not be brought in. The
victor on the contested world would determine which Empire would rule. On these
worlds, a small contingent of conscripts was normally left to ensure the
agreement was kept and signify which Empire controlled the planet
.

-

In the Great Hall
of the Council of Overlords, a meeting was being held. Twenty Kleese, the most
powerful and cruel of their race, were present. Advancement on the council was
done through open challenges, and if the council agreed the challenge was
legitimate, then a battle to the death was arranged. If the challenger won,
they would take over the council seat of the slain Overlord. Outside, a chill
wind blew over the desolate surface and the lone remaining city upon the
planet. It was a stark reminder as to what the warring factions had done to the
home world so many thousands of years ago.

“Why has this
meeting been called?” challenged Bixutl, the second most powerful Overlord.

He had been busily
planning the annexation of several new worlds recently discovered by their exploration
ships. One of the worlds had agreed to become part of the Empire; the second
would require force. A military force of conscripts was already being organized
and would be sent from the nearest space station to bring the world forcibly into
the Empire.

The Kleese did
not sit down; they stood around a large table made of solid stone. The symbols
of their different nests were carved into the hard stone, symbolizing their
right to be in attendance.

“We have
recently been made aware of an incident in sector eleven of our Empire,”
answered Xatul, the Supreme Overlord of the Kleese race.

“Sector eleven?”
hissed Raluth his many faceted eyes focusing on the Supreme Overlord. “That is
on the far side of our Empire.”

“Yes,” Xatul
responded. “One of our trade stations has been taken from us.”

“A trade
station?” spoke Bixutl, placing his two hands upon the stone table. “How? What
of the Kleese that were on the station and our exploration ships?”

“The members
of our race on the station were probably slain,” Xatul informed the others,
feeling no remorse at their deaths. “They were obviously weak to allow the
station to be taken from them. Information is still being gathered. A punitive
raid was launched to retake the station and return it to its former location,
but the raid failed. A number of our exploration ships were destroyed in the
process.”

“It has been centuries
since a member of our race was killed by an inferior species,” Raluth spoke his
right hand changing into a fist. “This cannot be allowed to stand or other
races may attempt to move against us. Our Empire could be thrown into chaos.”

“It has been
even longer since we lost one of our exploration ships,” Bixutl spoke in a hard
and callous voice. “The perpetrators must be found!”

“We must
extract vengeance upon the race that has dared to challenge us,” Raluth added
his fist slamming down against the hard stone of the table.

“We must send
some of our warships to destroy this species and their world,” Bixutl uttered
his eyes focusing on the Supreme Overlord. “It is essential that we make an
example of this insolent race. What are they called, and why did they attack
the trade station to begin with?”

“A large
number of conscripts were taken from their world and then a planet ending
missile was fired into its heart,” replied Xatul, coldly. “The exploration ship
failed to take note of several colonies this race had placed on one of their
system's other worlds as well as the planet’s moon. It’s believed it was the
survivors that came and took the trade station.”

“Members of
our race have grown careless due to our superiority over all other races,”
Bixutl stated. “We may need to cull those of our race that have grown weak.”

“Those that
were involved in this have already paid with their lives,” Xatul informed them.
“They either died on the station or in the ships attacking the Human star
system.”

“This race
sounds dangerous,” Raluth said, standing up taller on his six legs, the hairs
on his chest bristling. “They cannot be allowed to grow. Every member of this
species must be eliminated. I agree we must send our warships.”

“Do we awaken
the Zaltule to crew them?” Xatul asked.

The Zaltule
were the warriors of the Kleese race and were kept in stasis until their services
were needed. The Zaltule had slept in their millions of stasis chambers for
well over two thousand years. In all of that time, there had never been a serious
enough threat to the Empire to require them to be awakened.

The Overlords
were silent as they weighed this option. The Zaltule were the most violent and
aggressive of the Kleese race and once awakened in any numbers, it might be
difficult to get them to go back into stasis. They were a fierce warrior sect
who would make any sacrifice necessary to advance the Kleese Empire. They may
not be pleased to learn that they had been kept in stasis for such a long
period.

“No,” Bixutl
replied after several long moments of silence. “I don’t think that is necessary
yet. If a planet killer was used on their world, there cannot be many
survivors. A few of our warships, manned by Kleese, should be sufficient to end
this threat and return the trade station to its former location.”

Xatul looked
at the others, seeing nods of agreement. “It will be so,” he stated. “I will
pass the orders, and a small fleet of our warships will be dispatched to
destroy this race. In short order, there will be no more Humans!”

-

Mason Randle
was in the new Control Center for Vesta, which had been built deep beneath the
New Eden habitat. The habitat was nearly in the center of the massive asteroid
and the asteroid itself would have to be cracked open to damage it.

“Anything new
going on?” he asked Pamela Cairns, who was in charge and was sitting at her
command console monitoring the bustling activity in the room.

The thirty-four-year
old turned to face Mason with a pleasant smile appearing on her face. “It’s
quiet,” she reported. “Just routine traffic and nothing out of the ordinary.
Just how I like it.”

Mason nodded.
His eyes shifted to the massive view and sensor screens covering the near wall.
On the sensor screens numerous green icons moved, with each icon having a small
number and other symbols next to it for identification. Every screen showed a
different section of the Solar System, with a massive screen in the center showing
a composite of all the screens combined. There were hundreds of green icons
displayed on the main screen.

The
viewscreens showed scenes from the different colonies and habitats spread
across the Solar System. There were views from Luna City, Mars Central, Vesta,
and half a dozen other asteroids that contained Human habitats. A few even
showed several of the larger asteroid mining operations.

“Prospectors
have been busy,” Pamela commented as she touched several icons on her computer
screen. “Since we installed the new sublight drives on their ships and gave
them new mineral scanners, they've been staking out new claims all over. Several
of them headed out toward Neptune the other day and I had to call them back. They
wanted to scan the smaller moons for mineral deposits.”

“Neptune has fourteen moons,” commented Mason, understanding the prospector’s desires to
check them out. “Did you tell them we didn’t want them out that far for safety reasons?”

“Yes,” Pamela
replied. “One of them was Brian Jones in the Raven and it took a while to
convince him to turn around.”

Mason allowed
himself to laugh. “That doesn’t surprise me. Michael trained the man, and he's
only doing the same thing Michael would have. I would keep a close watch on the
Raven. Don’t be surprised if he tries it again.”

“I've already
thought of that,” answered Pamela, nodding her head. “I’m sure he'll make a run
for Neptune once he thinks we've stopped watching the Raven.”

Mason nodded. With
the need for more resources, the prospectors working out of Vesta had become
even more important. They were required to check in on a regular basis and the
various mining operations were stringently monitored for safety.

“Major Nelson
and Captain Williams are on their way in the passenger liner Princess,” Jessica
Lange commented from her position at Communications. “They should be docking
shortly.”

Jessica was
now the head communications officer and had ten others working with her at the
massive communications console. From it, they could monitor communications and keep
in touch with ships across the Solar System as well as all the colonies and
habitats.

“I’m sure they’ll
be glad to get back to Vesta and see their families,” Mason said. He knew from
talking to Wade a few months back that his younger brother wanted to join the
military as soon as he graduated from high school. Looking back over at Pamela,
he asked, “How’s Mike doing? I understand he had a few classes this year with
Karen.” Karen was the daughter of Mason’s sister and Mike was Pamela’s son.

Pamela laughed,
her eyes twinkling. “They're twelve years old and don’t talk much. I suspect
that will change when they become teenagers.”

The hatch to
the Control Center swung open and Colonel Will Bailey stepped inside.
“Morning,” he said, seeing both Pamela and Mason. “I assume there are no new
fires burning today?”

“Everything’s
normal,” Pamela responded as Colonel Bailey walked over to stand next to them.

“I just came
from the spacedock and work is progressing well on the new battlecruisers. They
should be ready to begin their space trials shortly.”