Galactic Empire Wars: Rebellion (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 3) Read online

  “Take us in,” Cribbs ordered grimly, knowing there would be no surviving this battle. “All ships to attack in groups of three and hit the right quadrant of the Kleese formation.”

  -

  Harmock watched as the Talt ships began shifting about and suddenly started accelerating toward one section of his fleet. He swiftly sent out new orders as he recognized what the Talt were attempting. He would wheel his other ships around and hit the Talt from their flank as they hit his fleet formation. He would pin them between two walls of warships.

  The two fleets closed and the Zaltule warships let loose with a barrage of antimatter missiles, their missiles far outranging the Talt’s deadly plasma weapons. In the Talt formation, massive explosions danced across energy shields, overloading a number of them. Whenever that happened, the Talt ship vanished as antimatter energy annihilated it. Twelve ships quickly died and then the Kleese ships hit the flank of the Talt formation. More missiles were fired and sixteen additional Talt ships vanished in flashes of fiery death. Then the Talts were in range of the Kleese warships and their plasma weapons fired.

  Balls of fiery orange-red plasma energy struck the three-kilometer Zaltule warships, burning through energy screens and impacting the armored hulls. Large sections of hull plating were blasted loose into space and then interior explosions caused even more damage. Eight Kleese warships were hit by multiple plasma rounds and died a quick death as the intense heat of the plasma killed the ships.

  Harmock watched impassively as the icons representing the Zaltule warships dropped off the tactical screen. It would take a short amount of time for the Talt ships to recharge their weapons. While they were doing that, every ship in his fleet was firing sublight antimatter missiles in waves at the darting and dodging enemy ships. On one of the tactical screens, he watched as Talt ship after Talt ship met its fiery death.

  -

  Commander Cribbs grimaced as another one of his warships blew apart under the unrelenting attack of the Kleese. He was making them pay for every ship the Kleese were destroying, but he was too heavily outnumbered. They should never have trusted the Kleese to keep their word on the neutrality agreement. They should also have built up a much larger fleet to defend their world. Now they would pay for that lack of foresight with the loss of their freedom.

  “We only have four ships left,” Sub Commander Leyen reported as the flagship shuddered violently and the lights flickered. “Our plasma weapon is recharged.”

  “Fire it!” uttered Cribbs his yellow eyes focusing on his second in command. “Shortly we will go and join our ancestors.”

  Leyen nodded as the weapons officer fired the plasma weapon one last time.

  On the main viewscreen, Cribbs and Leyen watched as their weapon impacted the screen of the nearest Kleese ship, burning through and striking the ship’s armor. A massive explosion indicated the plasma round had struck something vital.

  Before Leyen could say another word, a Kleese antimatter missile flashed through the ship’s weakening shield and the Talt flagship ceased to be.

  -

  “Last enemy ship has been neutralized,” Gareth reported his multifaceted eyes focusing on the War Overlord.

  “What were our losses?” demanded Harmock, still finding it hard to believe a lower race such as the Talt could inflict such losses upon his fleet.

  “Thirty vessels destroyed and another eighteen are reporting heavy damage,” Gareth reported.

  Harmock was beginning to understand why the Council of Overlords had left these worlds alone. “Move us into orbit around the Talt home planet and have our ground forces prepare to invade. “We’ll take the capital city and all of the spaceports on the planet’s surface.”

  “There’s a large orbiting space station above the planet,” Gareth added.

  “We’ll destroy it after we have searched it for any technology we may find of interest,” proclaimed Harmock. “The Talt will no longer be allowed access to space. Have our scientists and technicians ready to board the station once we go into orbit.”

  Harmock had been surprised at the ferocity of the attack by the Talt ships. Back in the home system, new Zaltule warships were nearing completion. If the rest of the nonaligned worlds were as difficult to conquer as this one, they would be needed. The Talt would make useful servants to the Empire. It would be the new order of things; all races would be subservient to the Kleese. As long as they obeyed and provided a useful service they would be allowed to continue to exist; if found otherwise then the surface of the offending planet would be cleansed of all life.

  Harmock gazed at the main viewscreen in the Command Center as they neared the Talt planet. For now, he would allow Xatul to continue to rule as head of the council. However, once Harmock had subdued all of the nonaligned worlds, he fully intended to take over command of the Council of Overlords and become the Supreme Leader of the Kleese race and Empire. An Empire ruled by the Zaltule that would someday control the entire galaxy.

  Chapter Six

  Ryan waited with some impatience outside the door to Major Stevens’ office. It had been two days since his platoon had conquered Charring Mountain and it was strangely quiet inside the dome. There had been no drills or additional instructions though Ryan had taken his platoon out for routine physical training and a five-kilometer run.

  Casey was sitting next to him fidgeting nervously with her hands in her lap. She knew this interview was going to be very important and she wanted to do her best. This was the hard part for her, running the platoon was much easier as she had a structured system in place set up by the military to go by; this was different.

  “What do you think they’ll ask us?” she spoke, looking over at Ryan expectantly. “I hope we all qualify for this special program, especially if it involves the new battlesuits.”

  “I’m sure we qualified,” answered Ryan, trying to sound confident. He was feeling a little nervous also. If for some unknown reason he'd failed to qualify, he didn’t know how he would be able to face his older brother.

  The door to Major Stevens’ office opened and Major Winfrey stepped out. He looked at the two young marines and then gestured for them to enter. “Major Stevens is ready to see you now.”

  Ryan glanced at Casey and then stood up and walked through the door. Casey followed close behind. Winfrey shut the door behind them but didn’t enter.

  They found themselves in a small well-organized office with a bookcase on one wall and numerous photos of various fleet ships on another. Major Stevens was sitting behind a large desk, looking at two files in manila folders he was holding in his hands.

  Mark laid the two folders down and gazed curiously at the two young marines coming into his office. For that was what they were now that they had conquered Charring. They stopped in front of his desk and came to attention, both saluting.

  Mark stood up, returned the salute, and gestured for the two to sit down in the comfortable chairs in front of his desk. “I want to congratulate the two of you on reaching the top of the mountain,” he began as he sat back down. “I watched part of the drill and it was quite interesting. I’m curious, Lieutenant Nelson, as to why you decided to use primarily energy weapons in your assault upon Charring.”

  Wade took a deep breath as he thought over his reply. He wondered if this was a test of some kind. “Corporal Hunter and I talked about numerous strategies to use for getting to the summit,” Ryan began to explain. “Everything we discussed seemed as if it would end in failure. There was just no way to get to the top of the mountain with enough of the platoon and working weapons left to allow us to win.”

  “Do you agree with that summation, Corporal Hunter?” asked Major Stevens as his eyes focused on the young woman.

  “Yes, Sir,” answered Casey, looking confused. “The more we studied different strategies, the more apparent it became that Charring was a no win situation. The scenario is designed so no one can possibly reach the reset button on top of the mountain.”

  “Why woul
d that be the case? Why have a no win scenario?” Stevens asked, curious to hear her reply.

  “The battlesuits give the occupants superior strength and speed,” Casey began, looking over at Wade who nodded slightly. “You have enhanced vision optics and various sensors to help locate and eliminate the enemy. The suits are impervious to most types of weapons and allow you to carry a tremendous amount of firepower. In most situations, a marine wearing a battlesuit has nothing to fear from the opposition.”

  “But that’s not the case on Charring,” pointed out Stevens. “The RG rounds, while they won’t penetrate the suit armor, still sting and the stunners are extremely painful.”

  “That’s the point of Charring,” Ryan interjected in a calm voice. “Charring is to teach us that the suits aren’t as invulnerable as we’re led to believe in our earlier training. We’ll be going up against enemy combatants who have the weaponry to damage or even destroy a battlesuit. We need to learn caution and not to take the battlesuits for granted. Strategy must play a role in any scenario where there will be combat, and we should resist the temptation to just try to bull our way through the opposition.”

  “Then how did you manage to win?” Stevens asked his eyes looking penetratingly at Ryan. “You shouldn’t have been able to win if it’s a no win scenario.”

  “Sacrifice,” Ryan answered with a deep sigh. “I calculated that if we cut a narrow swath up the mountain and used our weapons to clear out the popups on our flanks we just might be able to reach the top. Or at least a few of us would.” Ryan hesitated, not sure if he wanted to explain the rest of the strategy he and Casey had come up with.

  Mark was silent for a moment as he contemplated the lieutenant’s words. “So, you decided to sacrifice members of your platoon to clear out the weapons on your flanks as you burned a narrow path up the mountain. Is that what you’re telling me?” Mark looked coldly at Ryan.

  “Yes, Sir,” replied Ryan unabashedly, as he realized the major was too smart not to figure out what they had done. “It was the only way to win and I don’t believe in losing, Sir.”

  “Did your soldiers know you were planning on sacrificing most of them to get to the top? Charring is supposed to be about adapting to the changing scenario to save lives, not to lose them.”

  “No,” answered Ryan, uneasily. “We decided it was best not to tell them. We realized in this no win scenario that there was more emphasis being placed on learning strategy and trying to save lives; it wasn’t designed to take intentional sacrifices into account. It was the only way we could beat the mountain and that’s what we decided to do.”

  “You just barely made it to the top,” Mark said as he leaned back in his chair and focused his steady eyes on Ryan. “If you had lost one more soldier or had taken one less energy weapon, you never would have made it and your sacrifices would have been in vain.”

  Ryan and Casey remained quiet. They didn’t know if they were about to be reprimanded or what. It didn’t sound as if the major was happy about what they had done. They knew in some ways, due to how the scenario on Charring was designed, they had technically cheated by refusing to play by the rules.

  “This war we’re in is a tough one,” Mark said as his eyes focused on the two. He'd studied their files and been highly impressed. Ryan had graduated in the top ten percent of his class at the Academy on Vesta and could have been an officer in the fleet. Corporal Hunter had excelled as well, particularly in the science part of the curriculum. “We’re vastly outnumbered by a race that thinks it’s superior to us in every way. In their eyes, we’re nothing more than vermin that needs to be wiped out. If we’re going to win, we have to take risks and make sacrifices. That’s what you did on Charring and I offer you my congratulations. While it wasn’t what we were expecting, it was an innovative way to beat the mountain. I’m sure Major Winfrey will be modifying the scenario so this can’t work a second time.”

  Mark opened the top drawer in his desk and took out a sheet of paper with a full lieutenant’s insignia attached. “Second Lieutenant Ryan Nelson, effective today you are being promoted in rank to full lieutenant.”

  Ryan took the promotion paper and insignia and gazed at it in surprise. He hadn’t been expecting this. “I guess this means we qualified for the special project we signed up for?”

  “Yes,” Mark replied his voice becoming much more serious. “Three other platoons will be joining you shortly in the training dome. As you have probably already guessed this training involves the new Type Four battlesuits. If we’re going to beat the Kleese, we need every advantage we can possibly get and these suits will help to provide one. The training will be difficult and not everyone will make it through. For those that do, you’ll be leading the fight against the Kleese to help ensure the survival of our race.”

  “So, we’re staying in this dome?” asked Casey, surprised. She'd been assuming they would be moving to a different one for the advanced training.

  “Yes,” Mark answered as he stood up and walked over to the only window in the room. He looked out at Charring Mountain and then turned back around to face the two new Space Marines. “You will be pleased to know that you’re not quite done with the mountain yet. Once you’ve become acclimated to the new suits, your platoon will once again have to reach the summit, only this time I can assure you the tactics you used this last time won’t work.”

  Casey looked over at Ryan and sighed deeply. “I guess we’re going to need a new strategy.”

  “Sounds like it,” Ryan answered. He'd hoped to be through with Charring Mountain, but it looked as if it was once more waiting in his future.

  Major Stevens watched as the two young marines left his office. He allowed himself to smile, knowing that Colonel Nelson would be pleased to find out that his younger brother had breezed through the first phase of the training. Wade and Mark had discussed Ryan’s entry into the program in some depth.

  This first company of Space Marines, once they had qualified in the Type Four suits, would be assigned immediately to a combat role to test them out against the Kleese. The survival rate of this first group wouldn’t be too high as they would be pitted against the stiffest opposition that could be found. Wade had insisted that Ryan be treated like any other applicant and so far, Mark had made that happen. He'd ensure this group had the best training possible and the most powerful weapons they could handle. He would also be going into combat with them.

  -

  Colonel Wade Nelson was in the main Control Center inside of Vesta. The asteroid had four large habitats with nearly six million people, making it one of the largest concentrations of humanity left in the solar system.

  “So, your brother qualified for the new battlesuits,” commented President Mason Randle standing next to Wade.

  “Yes, Sir,” Wade answered. “He begins his training almost immediately.”

  “We’re going to need men like him,” Mason said as he looked across the busy Control Center.

  It was strange not seeing Pamela Cairns around, but she'd retired to finish raising her family. Her son was now sixteen and she had a two-year-old that was occupying much of her time. She still put in an appearance now and then, but she had turned her work over to Jessica Lang.

  “This war will be getting much more intense shortly,” General Bailey added from where he was standing next to the military consoles listening to the two talk. He turned and walked over closer to Mason and Wade. “Fleet Admiral Kelly is ordering more fleet drills and General Mitchell is having additional ion cannons installed around all habitats. He's also issued orders to make sure all the deep bunkers are adequately stocked and for everyone to run some routine emergency drills.”

  “A necessary precaution,” responded Mason, folding his arms across his chest. He looked over at Wade and continued. “A lot is riding on your mission, Colonel; we have to coerce some of those nonaligned worlds to come into our Alliance.”

  “We’ll get it done,” promised Wade, drawing in a sharp breath. “We won’
t come back until the Alliance is an actual fact.”

  “I know you will,” Mason replied with a nod. “General Bailey, I’ll be setting up some evacuation drills for Vesta in the next few days to practice getting our people down into the secure bunkers; I need you to coordinate the military part of the drill with the vice president. We’ll be scheduling at least two additional drills that will involve all the habitats across the solar system.”

  Ralph Steward had come a long way since the council was originally formed and had now taken on the job of vice president. There was little doubt he would win the upcoming election and take over as president. Mason was satisfied that Steward would make an excellent choice and had no qualms about turning over the presidency to the talented politician.

  “I’ll contact him later today,” Bailey responded with a nod. “I’ll also have military personnel coordinate with the proper civilian authorities to check on the emergency supplies in the bunkers. They’re reviewed routinely each year, but it never hurts to perform a more scrutinized inspection in case something was overlooked.”

  Mason looked around the Control Center one more time. Much had changed in the last six years, with the military presence growing considerably. Over a third of the people operating the numerous consoles now had some type of military training. Turning, he headed for the hatch. He was meeting Adrienne in the Viridian habitat for lunch and then they were going shopping to pick out some baby clothes. Adrienne was six months' pregnant and they were having a baby girl. They had decided, with Mason’s decision not to run for another term, it was time to start a family.

  -

  A little later, Mason stepped out into the habitat. He paused as he gazed out over the remarkable world they had created inside the massive asteroid. It almost looked as if a part of Earth had been taken and placed within the surrounding rock. The habitat extended for kilometers, with verdant farmland on the periphery and a big, modern city running down its center. Large apartment buildings towered nearly forty stories and the city was full of green, as trees and parks were abundant. The city had been built with the aid of Kivean construction technology.