Galactic Empire Wars: Insurrection (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 5) (11 page)

-

Ryan was monitoring
the battle with his HUD and listening to the Marines over the general comm
channel. This was the first combat for some of them, and the more experienced Marines
were helping to keep them focused on the battle. It didn’t take long for things
to start to wind down and without surprise, Ryan saw the last conscript icon
vanish from his HUD. With relief, he switched the screen back over so he could
check on his Marines.

“Enemy has
been eliminated,” confirmed Lieutenant Guthrie. She was busily walking through
the combat area with a squad of Marines making sure all the conscripts had been
taken out. Occasionally she would stop and check a prone Type Two battlesuit.

Looking at his
HUD one more time Ryan saw they had suffered eight wounded and four killed in
the battle. With a sigh, Ryan looked around at the carnage. Using the optics in
his suit, he examined the battle area, seeing several Type Four suits moving around
covered in blood. Two of them were Corporal Parker and Corporal Adams; they always
seemed to find a way to be in the middle of the heaviest fighting. He also
searched for and found Casey’s battlesuit. She was slowly advancing toward the
center of the spaceport followed closely by Sergeant McElroy’s Marines and the
two hover tanks.

“Captain
Nelson,” came Captain Morris’s voice over the command channel. We’ve captured
several Airadians and they’ve informed us there are fourteen Kleese in the two
buildings near the control tower protected by over seventy conscripts in Type
Two battlesuits. They also claim there are a large number of popup weapons
surrounding the two buildings.”

“Are there any
Airadians in the buildings?”

Ryan heard
Captain Morris speaking to someone over the comm and then she replied. “No, the
Airadians say only the Kleese and their conscripts are there.”

This made Ryan
feel relieved as it made the rest of the battle very simple. “Are the Airadians
with you wearing the Kleese obedience collars?”

“Yes,” confirmed
Captain Morris.

“Keep them
with you then; the
Constellation
will be sending down a shuttle shortly
with several Kiveans on board to scan the collars for their release frequency.
I’m also requesting the
Deliverance
hit the two Kleese occupied
buildings with railgun rounds.”

“Affirmative,”
Morris answered. “We’ll hold our position here until after the strike.”

Ryan quickly
contacted Commander Durham to request the railgun strike. The
Deliverance
had six KEW batteries specifically designed to hit targets on the ground. They
were also capable of pinpoint accuracy.

“Attention,”
Ryan said over the general comm channel. “There will be an incoming railgun
strike on the two Kleese controlled buildings shortly. All Marines are to stay
at least four hundred meters from the targets. Once the buildings have been destroyed,
we’ll move in and sweep the area for survivors. Be aware there are possible
popup weapons in the vicinity of the buildings.”

The Marines
hurriedly took cover behind whatever they could find. Buildings, walls,
vehicles, even holes in the ground from the explosive rounds that had been used.
It didn’t take long and then everyone was looking upward expectantly, waiting
for the rounds to fall. The railgun rounds weren’t explosive. The destruction
they unleashed was caused by the terrific velocity they achieved, and it was
that velocity released as kinetic energy, which was so devastating.

“Rounds are inbound,”
Ryan announced over the general comm channel as the
Deliverance
confirmed their firing. Looking up, Ryan could see half a dozen brilliant
streaks of light heading toward the ground. The light was caused by the friction
of the rounds moving through the thick atmosphere of the planet.

Moments later,
the rounds struck. The two buildings exploded into a million pieces as they
were leveled. Fire leaped into the air and black smoke began billowing from the
ruins of the two structures.

Ryan felt the
ground shake from the impacts and the visor on his helmet automatically dimmed
from the bright flashes of light caused by the impacting rounds. Standing still
he surveyed the damage, satisfied both structures had been obliterated. The
Kleese inside and their defending conscripts never knew what hit them. They would
have died instantly.

“Sergeant
Hunter and Sergeant McElroy, move your platoons forward and check out the wreckage.
Lieutenant Guthrie, take Sergeant Lewis and Sergeant Dewey’s platoons back to
the drop ships as well as our dead and wounded.”

Walking across
the blastcrete, Ryan felt a little ill at what they’d done. He knew they had
killed the fourteen Kleese in the two buildings as well as the conscripts.
Conscripts who had no choice but to obey the Kleese or face death by having their
obedience collars detonated. In a way they were innocents and Ryan felt sad for
them. He well understood their situation as he and a number of his Marines had been
forced to serve as Kleese conscripts in the past. However, this was war and
sometimes hard decisions had to be made.

“We’ve
detected no active popups,” Casey said over the command channel. “I believe
they were probably all destroyed by the railgun rounds.”

Ryan reached
the two platoons. Sergeant McElroy had the hover tanks in front of the two destroyed
structures with their heavy energy cannons on standby. His Marines in their towering
Type Three suits were positioned defensively around the tanks while Casey and
her Marines checked the burning and smoking rubble.

“There are no survivors,”
Casey confirmed after a few minutes of searching. “There’s a pair of craters ten
meters deep where the buildings once were.”

“Okay, I want
a defensive perimeter set up around the control tower while we wait for the
shuttle carrying the Kiveans from the
Constellation
.” Ryan let out a
deep breath. This battle was over, and while they had suffered a few
casualties, it had been a good learning experience for the Marines who had little
prior combat experience. Some of the coming battles in the future would in all likelihood
be much more difficult.

-

The shuttle
from the
Constellation
came down and landed next to the control tower.
Captain Morris had brought over the two Airadians who were wearing the obedience
collars. Two Kiveans emerged from the shuttle, and after scanning the collars
with their instruments sent out a coded frequency that unlocked the explosive
devices. The two Airadians looked stunned as the collars fell from their necks
to fall to the blastcrete.

“You’re free,”
Ryan said in the Airadians’ language. There was a small device implanted in
Ryan’s head that allowed him to speak almost any language. The device had been
implanted there by the Kleese years back when he had been their captive. Now it
was standard procedure for all the Marines so they could communicate with other
races, particularly their allies.

The two
Airadians looked at each other uncertain of what to say or do. Then they looked
toward Ryan as if waiting for instructions.

“We will free
all of your people from the collars,” Ryan announced. “However, we’re leaving
to go on to free other nonaligned worlds from the Kleese. What you do with your
new found freedom is up to you.”

“Thank you,”
one of the Airadians stammered. “You are the Humans we have heard the Kleese
speak of?”

“Yes,” Ryan
answered. “Someday soon we’ll be fighting the Kleese to free all of the nonaligned
worlds of their empire.”

The Airadians
nodded. “When the Kleese return, they won’t find our world so easy to hold
again. We must go and communicate your words to our leaders.”

Ryan nodded.
This was the first step in what was hoped would eventually result in the
freedom of all the former nonaligned worlds. If things went as planned, the
Kleese and the Zaltule would soon find their empire slipping away from them.

-

On board the
Constellation
,
Admiral Adamson watched as the drop ships and the shuttles returned. No other
Kleese vessels had appeared and none were showing on the long-range sensors.

“We have the
broadcast code for the Kleese obedience collars on Airad,” Commander Shepherd
reported. She was standing next to Lieutenant Emma Travers at Communications.

Adamson
nodded. “Began broadcasting. We’ll make two orbits of the planet to ensure the
broadcast reaches all of the collars.” They had originally planed on staying
for several days in order to elicit a response from the Kleese, but with all of
the Kleese on the planet dead, there was no reason to prolong their stay.

The first
world had been freed with minimal losses. Adamson hoped the
Callisto
and
her task force had been equally as successful. Shortly the word would be
spreading across the Kleese Empire that the Humans were back and attacking
Kleese controlled worlds. It should bring an immediate response from the
Zaltule. However, the Kleese Empire was nearly eighteen thousand light-years
across and finding Adamson’s fleet would be like hunting for a needle in a
haystack. Adamson just hoped that when this was over, he could return to the Alliance and the Solar System with his fleet. The Zaltule would, in all likelihood, be
doing everything in their power to prevent that from happening. Adamson had a
cold feeling that many of his people would never see home again.

Supreme Military
Overlord Harmock gazed in anger at Dalock, the
Warrior’s Fire’s
communications
officer. His multifaceted eyes glowed red as the rage grew. “The Humans have
attacked where?”

“Airad,”
Dalock replied in a measured voice, not wanting to anger Harmock any further.
“They destroyed the four assault ships in orbit then landed on the planet and
wiped out our conscript forces guarding the planet’s main spaceport. They also reportedly
called down kinetic energy weapon strikes from orbit and obliterated the two
administrative buildings that housed fourteen Kleese. None survived.”

“How large of
a fleet?” Harmock was concerned that this might be the beginning of a major
attack on Kleese space. These Humans were too unpredictable and still showing
that they were extremely dangerous.

“Only nine
vessels,” Dalock answered. Then with hesitation, he continued. “There is also
an unconfirmed report the planet Haycen was similarly attacked.”

Minor Overlord
Gareth turned his triangular shaped head toward Harmock. “Both former nonaligned
worlds.”

Harmock
stamped his six feet upon the Command Pedestal, making clicking noises against
the metal of the deck. He brought his anger under control, knowing it served no
purpose other than to result in poor strategic decisions. He was a Zaltule and muddled
thinking wasn’t allowed. “Is there anything else?”

“Yes,” answered
Dalock, relieved to see Harmock’s anger was fading. “The Humans disabled all of
the collars of obedience on the planet.”

Harmock spent
a moment thinking about his options. It was unthinkable that any nonaligned
world in Kleese space be allowed to remain free of influence from the supreme
race. “Send word to the trading station to send two of their exploration ships
to Airad and to Haycen. They’re to take as many conscripts as necessary to
reassert control over those two worlds and to place collars of obedience around
the necks of those worlds’ leaders.”

“What of the
Human fleet?” asked Gareth. “It could be dangerous to allow them to run amuck
in the empire. They could cause a lot of damage; look at what they did in our
home system.”

“We must
destroy it,” replied Harmock coldly. “Instruct all the trading stations between
us and the core worlds to send out their assault ships to locate the Humans.
Once we know their true strength, then we’ll decide how to deal with the Human
fleet.”

It angered
Harmock at how brazen these Humans could be. Not only had they attacked the
Kleese home system inflicting significant damage, but they had also removed a
large number of Deltons from the Delton home world as well. Harmock was
determined that when the war with the Alliance and the Humans was over, there
would not be a single living Human in Kleese space. He would wage genocide
against this upstart race that dared to challenge the Kleese and drive them to
extinction.

Turning his
attention back to the main viewscreen, Harmock gazed at the sea of unblinking
stars. The fleet had been preparing to hit the last nonaligned world that stood
between it and the Human led Alliance. He had brought three thousand Zaltule
warships with him. There was a very good chance the Humans might come to the
aid of this nonaligned world, and if they did, he intended to crush them. Now
he was concerned the Humans might once more be moving toward the Kleese core
worlds. If that was so, the decisive battle he was counting on might not
happen. He would delay his planned attack until he heard back from the trading stations
to see if the invading Human fleet had been detected. If it was a small fleet,
then several exploration vessels and a fleet of assault ships should be able to
deal with them. If it was a large fleet, then he might have to pull his own
fleet back to seek out and destroy the Humans. Once more these unpredictable
Humans had demonstrated they were capable of very ingenious strategy.

-

Above the Strell
home world, Supreme Overlord Xatul stood upon the Command Pedestal in his
flagship, the
Empire’s Dawn
. Very soon, he would be returning to the
Kleese core systems to reclaim his rightful leadership over the Kleese Council
of Overlords.  Military Overlord Harmock would never expect him to return to
the empire leading a combined fleet of Kleese and Strell warships. Looking at one
of the viewscreens in the front of the Command Center, he could see several
Strell battlecruisers in orbit above his flagship. The ships were a dark gray
nearly two kilometers long and one thousand meters in diameter. Their hulls
were covered with small hatches hiding sublight missile tubes and numerous
weapon turrets. As with the Kleese, their primary weapons were powerful energy
beams.

Beyond the two
nearby Strell battlecruisers, entire fleets of the two-kilometer-long vessels
were visible, all waiting for Supreme Overlord Xatul to give the order to
proceed to Kleese controlled space. The Strell were a cold and nearly
emotionless race, except for their Queens. They were able fighters, and their
ships were almost equal to the Zaltule in power.

“We’re nearly
ready,” Overlord Syndat said from Xatul’s side. “The last of the ships will
shortly be out of the construction bays, and even as we speak more conscripts
are being brought from Strell controlled worlds to serve.”

Xatul remained
silent. He could well imagine the anger and betrayal Military Overlord Harmock
would feel when the attack was launched. Not since the days of death on the
home world in the Kleese remote past had clans fought clans. True, there were
occasional duels to rise in leadership, but nothing like what Xatul was
planning. If his attack worked, he would wipe out the Zaltule to ensure they
could never threaten the Kleese race again. It would be as it was in the old
days when the nests of opposing Kleese Queens were found and destroyed to ensure
the defeated clans could not procreate and ever become a threat again. He would
search for and find every Zaltule Queen and eliminate her. Without Queens, the Zaltule would die out and soon would only be a memory.

-

In the Kleese
home system, Minor Zaltule Overlord Kaluse looked over the latest readiness
reports of the Zaltule fleet. Since the unprecedented attack of the Humans upon
the home system, much work had been done. The shipyard they had destroyed had
been rebuilt at the expense of thousands of conscripts. The other shipyard that
had been heavily damaged was fully repaired, and now both were operational
turning out new Zaltule battlecruisers on a regular basis. Kaluse had also been
given the responsibility to ensure the home system as well as the core worlds
were adequately defended.

He was still
sending out exploration vessels, Zaltule battlecruisers, and assault ships
searching for former Supreme Overlord Xatul and those members of the former
Kleese Council of Overlords who were missing. Kaluse suspected Xatul and the
others had fled Kleese space and gone to some unexplored region of the galaxy.
He doubted if the former Supreme Overlord would ever be heard from again.
However, Military Overlord Harmock wanted to confirm that the missing Kleese
Overlords and their ships were no longer within the empire.

Unlike
Harmock, who despised using conscripts, Kaluse had no problem with using the
inferior races to achieve his goals. In the past year alone over one million
had been brought in to work on construction projects in the three Kleese core
systems as well as to serve on the assault ships. Unfortunately, the conscripts’
bodies were so weak that many had died in the harsh working conditions of the
construction projects. This had been of little concern to Kaluse as there were billions
more available if needed.

“The latest
ship construction reports indicate we are ahead of schedule,” reported Genedt,
who was in charge of the shipyards. “We have reached our goal of ten thousand updated
Zaltule battlecruisers.”

“All have the
newest weapons and energy shields,” added Overlord Darthu, who served as
Harmock’s science advisor.

Kaluse nodded,
his cold, calculating eyes staring at the viewscreens. They were in the huge
command center of the primary Zaltule shipyard in the home system. Around the
shipyard hundreds of Zaltule battlecruisers, assault ships, and even a few
exploration vessels orbited.

“Have any of
our search vessels found where Xatul and his treacherous brethren have fled?”
Kaluse had to send a weekly report to Harmock detailing the results of the
search. He knew the Military Overlord was becoming angry at the lack of
results.

“No,” answered
Minor Overlord Drusiid. “There are millions of stars to search and they could
be hiding at any of them. We currently have two hundred and twenty Zaltule battlecruisers,
forty-two exploration cruisers, and over two thousand assault ships conducting
the search. It may take time, but we’ll find them.”

“Could they
have left the empire completely?” asked Genedt. He found it difficult to
believe that there had been no signs of the former Supreme Overlord.

“I doubt it,” Drusiid
answered, his triangular shaped head gazing across the Command Center. It was operated by numerous Zaltule as well as several hundred conscripts. “I suspect
our former Supreme Overlord is seeking a way to return and attempt to retake his
former position.”

“How?” asked Genedt.
“He doesn’t have the ships to be a threat.”

“He has over
four hundred exploration vessels as well as the resources of two of our trading
stations,” Kaluse responded harshly. “Those two stations are capable of
producing hundreds of assault vessels in a very short time period.” The
likelihood of Xatul contemplating a return was slight, but it was something
Kaluse had to take into consideration.

“But he would
need conscripts to operate them,” said Genedt. “There have been no reports of
unauthorized seizures of conscripts on any of the worlds we control.”

“A mystery,”
replied Kaluse, not pleased that he would once more have to send Harmock a
report indicating there still was no sign of Xatul. “We must continue the
search. If necessary, we may be forced to assign more ships. It’s also quite
likely that he has left the empire.”

“We have
sufficient assault vessels,” said Drusiid. “We could assign another thousand to
aid in the search. I believe he and the others are close by. I disagree that
they’ve fled the empire.”

“Do it,”
ordered Kaluse. “Xatul must be found if he is still within Kleese space.”

-

On the Kleese
home world, the remnants of the Council of Overlords was holding a meeting. A
new Council Hall had been constructed as the old one had been destroyed in the
Human attack along with a major portion of the capital city. Reconstruction of
the city was still ongoing, and the latest estimates indicated it would take
another year to restore the capital city to its former glory. Several hundred
thousand conscripts had been brought in to aid in the construction.

Council Overlord
Raluth was standing at the front of the large stone table. Only four other Council
Overlords were present as the rest had either been killed in the Human attack
or fled with former Supreme Overlord Xatul. Military Overlord Harmock had
already indicated he no longer considered the Council of Overlords the
legitimate rulers of the empire.

“The Zaltule continue
to build their warfleets,” Raluth said, gazing at the others with his multifaceted
eyes. “Each day they make more demands of the other Kleese clans for labor as
well as resources.”

“They treat us
as inferiors,” grated Overlord Martule in a cold and harsh voice. “They expect
us to obey their every command.”

“What else can
we do?” asked Overlord Caselt, who was in charge of exploration ship construction.
“We haven’t produced a new exploration ship in two years as all of our resources
are going toward maintaining the Zaltule fleet. The Zaltule don’t recognize the
authority of this council any longer.”

Raluth nodded
and placed his hands with their long seven-digit members palm down on the hard
surface of the table. “They have allowed adequate defenses to be placed around
our core worlds. There are also Zaltule battlecruisers in orbit to protect our
worlds from future Human attack. While they may not recognize our authority,
they are doing what is necessary to protect our worlds.”

“To protect us
or to make sure we obey them?” Martule commented in a cold tone. “Every day
more Zaltule are being born in their new nests. Tens of thousands are being
prematurely matured to join the ranks of their warriors.”

“Our clans are
growing more concerned as the Zaltule seem to be taking over the empire,” added
Raluth, his multifaceted eyes gazing sharply at the others. “Even our remaining
trading stations now have large Zaltule contingents on board.”

“My clan has
heard rumors that the Zaltule have established twenty-six nests for their Queens,” Caselt informed the others. “Twenty of these nests are for their new Queens.”

“The new nests
shouldn’t have been founded,” rumbled Raluth, his tone of voice indicating his
outrage. “New nests can only be founded with the approval of the council.”

“The Zaltule
don’t recognize the authority of this council any longer,” rumbled Martule. “They
consider us weak and blame us for the problems they’re experiencing with the
Humans and the nonaligned worlds.”

“We should
have gone with Supreme Overlord Xatul when we had he chance,” stated Caselt.
“This Human led Alliance has grown to be an actual threat to the empire. Once
Military Overlord Harmock has dealt with them, he will attempt to increase his
control over all of Kleese controlled space, including us.”

“You speak
treason,” warned Martule, glaring at Caselt. “If your words reach the Zaltule,
you may find them coming for you.”