Galactic Empire Wars: Insurrection (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 5) (17 page)

“There are
several large spacecraft on this spaceport,” she said after a moment. “Perhaps
we can use one of them to try to escape.”

Dawson looked across the blastcrete to where several spaceships rested in their docking
cradles. What Jamie was suggesting was a long shot, but for now that was all
they had. “The Kleese aren’t going to capture me,” he declared firmly.

Jamie knew
what Sergeant Dawson was thinking and she agreed. She also wouldn’t allow
herself to be captured alive. It was far better to die fighting than to end up
as a conscript for the Kleese.

-

Minor Overlord
Matol stood upon the Command Pedestal of his flagship. On the main viewscreen,
the broken wreck of the Human ship lay upon the blastcrete of the spaceport.
Black smoke was still coming from several gaping holes in its hull. However,
Humans in battlesuits were visible moving around the ship and parts of the spaceport.

“All of the
conscripts involved in the initial attack have been eliminated by the Humans,”
reported one of the Zaltule, who was standing before the Command Pedestal.

Matol turned
his unblinking eyes toward the Zaltule who had spoken. “What about the Kleese
at the spaceport? Have the Humans killed them yet?”

Matol was well
aware of the stories of how the Humans had actually killed Kleese in
hand-to-hand combat. It was almost unbelievable that a vermin species could
accomplish this. However, the Humans had managed to destroy one of his
battlecruisers and severely damage several others. Zaltule had died on those
ships.

“No, the
Zaltule in front of the communications console responded. “The Kleese at the
spaceport are requesting we launch a rescue mission immediately to move them to
safety. The Humans have surrounded the building they’re in but are showing no
indications of attacking.”

Matol shuffled
his six legs on the Command Pedestal. He had already received word that the
Humans had attempted to attack two more nearby worlds. Thanks to War Overlord
Tetus the Human attacks had failed. Matol expected Tetus to arrive here at
Lymeth Three sometime in the next twelve hours.

“Send one of
the assault ships down with instructions to use their stun weapon upon the
Humans. Once they’ve been subdued, we’ll land the other assault ships and take
the Humans captive. I’m curious to see what’s so special about this species
that they think they can challenge the Zaltule.”

-

Far out on the
edge of the Lymeth Three System, the light cruiser
Warspite
dropped out
of Fold Space.

“I want scans
of the entire system,” ordered Commander Donaldson.

“Shields are
coming up and weapons are charging,” reported Lieutenant Weirson.

“Fold Space Drive is recharging and will be ready for activation in two minutes and twenty
seconds,” added Ensign Giles.

Commander
Donaldson looked over at Ensign Jase Leighton at Communications. “Are we
picking up any emergency beacons?”

“No; nothing,”
replied Ensign Leighton, shaking his head. “I am picking up some communication
between the Zaltule ships, but it’s encrypted.”

Donaldson
weighed his options. Most likely the Zaltule had picked up his ship in Fold
Space and would shortly be responding to his presence. Fortunately, he was far
enough away that it would take them some time to reach the
Warspite
. He
should have sufficient warning to allow his cruiser to escape. He let out a
deep breath; he much preferred the command of his new light cruiser when
compared to the assault ship by the same name he had once commanded.

“We’ll wait
until the drive is charged and then send a broad beam message toward the
planet. Perhaps survivors managed to land. We’ll try to contact them. If we
don’t get any response, we’ll return to the fleet.” Donaldson knew that if anyone
had made it to the planet, there was very little the fleet could do.

-

Colonel
Winfrey was standing just outside the
Defender
directing the setting up
of the defenses around the ship. Six of the eight hover tanks on board the
troop transport were still operational, and a huge hole had been blown in the
side of the ship so they could be gotten out. He also had crews checking the
ten drop ships and six cargo drop ships in the ship’s flight bays. He had sent
orders to Captain Stern that if the Zaltule sent down reinforcements she was to
pull back to the
Defender
.

“Colonel,”
came Captain Taylor’s excited voice over the command channel. “I’m in one of
the cargo drop ships and I’m receiving a message from the light cruiser
Warspite
.
It’s a broad beam transmission asking if there are any survivors from the
Defender
or the
Firebolt
. Should I respond?”

“Put me
through to them,” Winfrey ordered. “Make sure you use an encrypted channel.”
Dylan thought over what he was going to say. With the Zaltule battlecruisers in
orbit, he didn’t see any way Admiral Adamson could launch a rescue mission. He
was surprised the admiral had sent a light cruiser back to the system.

“Colonel
Winfrey?” asked a strange voice over the comm channel.

“Yes, this is
Winfrey. Who am I speaking with?”

“I’m Commander
Donaldson of the light cruiser
Warspite
. Admiral Adamson sent me to the
Lymeth Three System to see if there were any survivors from the
Defender
or the
Firebolt
that might have made it to the surface of the planet.”

“The
Defender
successfully set down at the spaceport,” Dylan replied. “However, the ship is
so badly damaged she’ll never fly again. We’ve secured most of the spaceport
and are currently waiting for the Zaltule’s next move. Unfortunately, the
Firebolt
was destroyed by the Zaltule battlecruisers, but not before she blew one of
them to hell!”

“How many of
you are still alive?”

Dylan
hesitated before answering. He didn’t know if he wanted the admiral to attempt
a rescue or not. He didn’t want to endanger the rest of the fleet in a rescue
attempt that might be doomed to failure.

“There are a
little over six hundred of us still alive. There were no survivors from the
Firebolt
.”

There was
silence for several long moments before Commander Donaldson’s voice returned.
“Our sensors have detected several Zaltule battlecruisers entering Fold Space.
They’re probably coming for us. We’re leaving and we’ll tell the admiral your
situation.”

“I don’t want
to endanger the fleet,” Dylan said firmly.

“The admiral
will decide that,” Donaldson answered. “You just need to hold out until the
admiral can come up with a plan.”

The comm
channel became silent and Dylan knew the
Warspite
had left.

“Colonel, we
have an incoming assault ship,” Captain Foster reported.

A moment later
an amber warning light began flashing on the HUD in Dylan’s suit. Stunners! The
Zaltule were trying to use stunners to immobilize his Marines. Dylan shook his
head. After what had happened to Colonel Stratford and Major Stevens, all
battlesuits had been equipped with a small device that made stunners useless.
There were also a number of the devices in the
Defender
, particularly
the med bay. However, not all areas of the ship were protected due to the
crash. He would have to have his Marines sweep the ship to see if any of the
surviving crew had been stunned.

“The assault
ship is leaving,” Captain Foster reported. “Guess they didn’t like it when they
saw we weren’t falling over.”

Dylan looked
around the spaceport. His Marines had taken up defensive positions around some
of the nearer buildings and had even brought up vehicles and equipment they had
located to form barriers. The six hover tanks were situated behind some
makeshift walls the Marines had flung up to give them some added protection.
Looking over toward the tall building he knew housed the Kleese, he wondered
what they were doing inside. Captain Stern had reported very little movement
from the conscripts defending the trapped Kleese.

“Captain
Taylor, how many of the drops ships and cargo drop ships are still
operational?”

“Not many,” Taylor replied. “Things got pretty banged up inside the flight bays. I have several of the
ship’s engineers with me and they feel pretty confident they could get two or
three of the drop ships operational and maybe one of the cargo drop ships.”

Dylan looked
across the spaceport, scrutinizing the other spacecraft he could see. “Captain
Taylor, when you’re through in the flight bay, take a squad of Marines and some
engineers over to those spacecraft in the berthing cradles to the northwest of
the
Defender
. See if they have Fold Space Drives and if it would be
possible to fly them out of here.”

“We’ll get on
it,” Taylor responded.

Dylan knew if
Admiral Adamson attempted to rescue them, the best chance they might have was
to use the spacecraft in the cradles to attempt to escape in the confusion. It
wasn’t much of a chance, but it was better than what they had now.

-

Admiral
Adamson stared at the data the
Warspite
had brought back from the Lymeth
Three System. He let out a long and deep breath. Colonel Winfrey was trapped on
the planet along with six hundred Human survivors. In orbit above the planet
were over one hundred heavily armed Zaltule battlecruisers.

“I just don’t
see a way in,” Commander Shepherd said, shaking her head. “If we try to land any
of the Marine assault cruisers, the Zaltule will shoot them down before they
can reach the spaceport. If we ask Colonel Winfrey to try to meet us in orbit,
the Zaltule will shoot down anything he launches before it can reach us.”

“If we take
all of our ships in, that will give us twenty-two ships if we include the
Marine assault cruisers,” commented Adamson, reaching up and rubbing his
forehead. “The Marine assault cruisers are pretty heavily armed.”

“We’ve already
lost half of our battlecruisers, even with the
Constellation
and the
Callisto
we just don’t have the firepower,” Commander Shepherd replied in a grim voice.
“These are Zaltule battlecruisers we’re talking about attacking. If we try a
rescue, we could easily lose the rest of the fleet.”

Adamson closed
his eyes and shook his head. The mission was a disaster. If his fleet were destroyed,
Military Overlord Harmock would have no reason to pull his ships back from the Alliance. He also wondered how the Zaltule had figured out where his fleet was going to
attack. Three large fleets at three former nonaligned worlds was extremely
worrisome. He strongly suspected there had to have been other fleets involved
as well. Was it possible they had drastically underestimated the size of the
Zaltule fleet? If so, it was vital for that information get back to the Alliance and General Mitchell.

“Sandra, how
long do you think the
Constellation
and the
Callisto
could stand
up to the firepower of the Zaltule fleet over Lymeth Three?”

“Five or six
minutes tops,” she answered. She looked intently at the admiral. “You’re not
thinking of attempting a rescue with just our two heavy battlecruisers?”

“We don’t
leave our people behind,” Admiral Adamson said, straightening his shoulders.
“Look what happened to Colonel Stratford and Major Stevens the last time that
happened. Do you want Colonel Winfrey and his Marines to suffer the same fate?
We at least have to try to save them.”

Commander
Shepherd knew the admiral was right. She just didn’t know how they were going
to do the impossible.

-

On Lymeth
Three, Colonel Winfrey was back in the Command Center of the
Defender
.
The surviving engineers had gotten a few of the secondary systems working.
Several viewscreens were functioning showing the surrounding spaceport. The
short-range sensors were working sporadically and the communications console
was once more functional.

“That’s it,”
reported one of the engineers. “Everything else is too damaged and we’re way
short on power.”

“What about
weapons?” Colonel Winfrey was hoping they could get a few of the weapon turrets
functional.

It might make
a big difference if they ended up facing a large number of conscripts or even
Zaltule warriors. Captain Taylor had reported back earlier that only two of the
large cargo ships in the cradle berths were equipped with Fold Space Drives.
The engineers thought they could launch them, but the ships had no weapons or
energy shields.

“Not enough
power,” the engineer replied. “We’re pushing it as it is.”

“Colonel, we
have ships descending from orbit,” the young ensign at the sensor console
reported. “It looks as if all ten of the Kleese assault ships are coming down
as well as a number of small craft from the Zaltule battlecruisers.”

Colonel
Winfrey stood up and activated his command channel. He was still wearing his
Type Four battlesuit. “Attention! It looks as if the Zaltule are sending down
more conscripts as well as some of their own warriors. Captain Taylor and
Captain Foster, make sure everyone has extra load outs on ammo. Captain Stern,
pull your people back from the Kleese buildings and the control tower. I’ll be
out shortly.”

Dylan looked
over at the engineer. “Even one weapons turret would be useful in what’s about
to come our way.”

The engineer
fidgeted. He was worn out from a lack of sleep and trying to piece together
wrecked systems with a minimal workforce. “I’ll try. I’m not going to promise
anything. The only weapon we might be able to get to function is one of the
railgun turrets.”

“Do what you
can,” Dylan ordered as he turned and left the shattered Command Center.

-

On his way
down through the ship, he stopped at the med bay. Stepping inside, he saw it
had suffered very little damage.