Galactic Empire Wars: Insurrection (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 5) (26 page)

“We’re going
to be badly outnumbered,” warned Commander Greerman. “If we attempt to engage
that many Zaltule battlecruisers we could be putting the fleet at risk.”

Fleet Admiral
Rivers nodded his agreement. “We probably can’t save Callenda, but just maybe
we can give the Zaltule a bloody nose, slow down their advance, and show the Alliance we’re willing to fight for every world no matter what the odds. What size defense
fleet does Callenda have?”

Commander
Greerman pressed some icons on his computer screen and his eyes narrowed. “Not
a lot. They’re one of the smaller Alliance worlds as far as population and
industrialization go. They’re quite advanced but normally very secluded. They
shun contact with most races and only indulge in a minimal amount of trade.
It’s one of the reasons they waited so long to join the Alliance. Their entire
defense fleet consists of twenty battlecruisers and sixty support ships.”

“What about
ion cannons on the surface?”

“Only twenty,”
Greerman answered as he studied the information on his screen. “There hasn’t
been enough time to install more. The original plans called for over one
hundred. I’m afraid they won’t be of much help.”

“Fleet’s ready
to enter Fold Space,” Lieutenant Rodriquez reported.

Rivers looked
around the Command Center. Everyone was busy at their stations in preparation
for entering Fold Space. “Do it,” he ordered. “Let’s go find us some Zaltule to
kill.”

-

Military
Overlord Harmock gazed curiously at the tactical screen showing an unknown
contact shadowing the fleet at a discreet distance.

“That ship has
been following us for three days,” commented Minor Overlord Gareth. “It has to
be a Human vessel.”

The Military
Overlord gazed at the screen for several long moments. “The Humans must have
been watching us at the trading station, and when we left they followed us.
That means the Alliance will know we’re coming.”

“But how?”
demanded Gareth as he glared at the small red threat icon on the far edge of
the screen. “We had assault ships out continuously on routine patrol as well as
several battlecruisers. If the Humans had a ship in the system, we should have
detected it.”

“Don’t forget
the Humans have the advanced technology of a large number of Alliance worlds to
draw upon. They may have found a method to make their ships harder to detect.”

Gareth
shuffled his legs and his feet made a clicking noise on the metal of the Command Center’s deck. “Do you believe the Humans will come to the aid of Callenda?”

Harmock turned
his multifaceted eyes toward Gareth. “They must, or their Alliance may
collapse. That’s why we’re proceeding at a much slower speed than our ships are
capable of. I want to draw the Humans out and crush their fleet before we move
on to destroy their home star system.”

“What about
the small ship that’s tracking us?”

“It’s in Fold
Space and immune to attack at the moment,” Harmock said. “It’s obviously one of
their light cruiser vessels. When we get to Callenda, we’ll destroy it.”

Looking around
the Command Center, Harmock noted with satisfaction the quiet efficiency of the
Zaltule standing before the control consoles. There were no conscripts upon the
battlecruiser. None of the lesser races were allowed upon any Zaltule vessel.
Looking down at his seven-digit right hand, he looked forward to the day they
could begin using the black control boxes to begin eliminating those vermin
deemed unnecessary to the empire.

-

Captain Hailey
Rogers was once more in the Command Center. She had been taking only short
breaks as being near so many Zaltule battlecruisers made her highly nervous. So
far, they hadn’t responded to the
Sparrow
shadowing their fleet though
Hailey strongly suspected they had detected them by now.

“Do we have
their most likely target?” she asked as she sat down in her command chair.

“Callenda,”
Ensign Marist answered promptly. “We have thought that for several days now,
and they haven’t deviated from their course. If they stay at their present
speed, in five days they will reach the Callenda System.”

Hailey looked
with great concern at the tactical display showing the Zaltule fleet. She knew
Callenda’s defense fleet would be swept away by the Zaltule as if it were
nothing.

“Send the
latest update to the Alliance and Fleet Admiral Rivers,” she ordered.

“How long are
we going to follow the Zaltule fleet?” asked Lieutenant Stein.

“All the way
to Callenda,” Hailey answered softly. “We’ll observe the attack on the planet
and then report back to Lanolth.” Hailey leaned back in her command chair, folding
her arms across her chest. She knew very shortly, the first battle to determine
the fate of the Alliance and the Solar System was going to be fought.
Unfortunately, she saw no way they could win.

-

“Alliance
Fleet Admiral Rivers watched expectantly as the
Independence
dropped out
of Fold Space and into the Callenda System.

“Report!” he
ordered. The fleet had emerged at Condition One ready for combat just in case
any Zaltule ships had arrived early ahead of their main fleet.

“Fleet is
still emerging from Fold Space,” Commander Greerman answered.

“Energy screen
is coming online and weapons are powering up,” reported Lieutenant Sandra Brim
from Tactical.

“No Zaltule
ships are being detected by the sensors,” added Lieutenant Mandy Hertz.

“We’re being
challenged by an Admiral Zahn of the Callenda defense fleet,” reported Ensign
Martin Entz.

“Send standard
recognition codes,” ordered Admiral Rivers, glancing over at Communications.
“Where is their fleet?”

Commander
Greerman checked some data on the sensor screens. “They’re in orbit over
Callenda in a standard defensive formation.”

Rivers nodded
his approval. It was best for the Callenda fleet to stay close enough to the
planet so the ion cannons could add to their offensive capability. “Take us in
closer to Callenda and have all ships go to Condition Three. Our Fold Space
sensors will give us ample warning of the Zaltule fleet when it approaches.”

Now it would
be a waiting game, Rivers needed to come up with a plan to hurt the Zaltule
while not allowing his fleet to be decimated. Peering at the viewscreen, he saw
a blue-white world. Callenda looked much like Earth had before the Kleese
missile strike. He wondered sadly what the planet would look like when he was
eventually forced to abandon the system.

-

Time passed
and the Zaltule fleet finally neared its target. Military Overlord Harmock was
pleased with what he saw on the long-range sensors. The Humans had indeed come
to this system’s defense. Large numbers of red threat icons were popping up one
of the tactical screens showing the current disposition of what he assumed was
the Human fleet.

“It’s as we
hoped,” Minor Overlord Gareth said as he gazed at the screen. “The Humans have
come to the aid of Callenda. We have the fleet battle we wanted.”

“Then they
will die here,” said Harmock, relishing the thought of the coming battle. “We
will drop out of Fold Space on the outskirts of the system and then initiate
our battle plan.” Looking at another tactical screen showing the thousands of
battlecruisers under his command, he began preparing for the coming battle. One
thing he would not do was underestimate the Humans.

-

Alliance Fleet
Admiral Rivers watched the tactical screen with trepidation. The screen was
filled with red threat icons. His fleet was heavily outnumbered.

“Zaltule fleet
is dropping out of Fold Space,” reported Lieutenant Hertz. “They’re way out,
Admiral; close to the edge of the system.”

Commander
Greerman looked over at Admiral Rivers knowingly. “They want time to study our
fleet to see what they’re up against. This Military Overlord Harmock is no
fool.”

Rivers nodded
his agreement. “They won’t wait long before they launch their attack. Take the
fleet to Condition One.” Immediately alarms and red lights began flashing as
the order was implemented.

Rivers felt
guilty with what he was about to do. The leaders of the planet beneath the
fleet had been very adamant that he not risk major losses defending them. They
were well aware of what was coming into their system and to their planet.
Arrangements had already been made to surrender to the Zaltule as soon as the
fleet action was over. The major cities were being evacuated and were already
nearly empty. It was hoped that if the Zaltule did use antimatter missiles on
the planet, the casualties would be held to a minimum.

Even the
orbiting Callenda warships had their crews reduced to volunteers only. It was
expected the battle would be brief and violent and none of the ships would
survive. The ion cannons would be fired in support of the fleet but as soon as
the battle turned in the Zaltule’s favor explosive charges would detonate
beneath the cannons, blowing them into oblivion so the Zaltule wouldn’t be able
to salvage any technology from the weapon sites.

“Keep our
formation tight,” ordered Rivers as he checked the green icons on the tactical
screen. The fleet was in a short and squat cylinder formation. Once the Zaltule
arrived, he intended to attack one section of their battle line and force his
way through it, destroying every Zaltule ship in his path.

“Zaltule are
entering Fold Space,” reported Lieutenant Hertz. On her sensors screens, the
Zaltule ships were vanishing, only to reappear on the Fold Space tracking
sensors.

Rivers
activated his ship-to-ship comm. “All ships, stand by for imminent combat.”

The Fleet
Admiral took a deep and fortifying breath. This would be the fleet’s first
actual combat. He had nearly twelve hundred ships in the fleet from
twenty-eight different Alliance worlds. He and his other officers had worked
hard trying to meld the numerous system fleets into one unit capable of
following orders and performing well in combat. They were about to put that
training to the test.

“Admiral Zahn
reports his fleet is ready and the planetary ion cannons are powered up,”
reported Ensign Entz. “He also says all major cities have been evacuated.”

-

 The minutes
passed slowly and the tension in the Command Center was steadily increasing.
Talking was minimal as everyone had their eyes glued to the tactical screen
showing the approaching Zaltule fleet.

Fleet Admiral
Rivers buckled his safety harness securely around him, knowing that shortly the
fleet would be engaged in combat.

“All ships are
at Condition One with weapons on standby,” reported Commander Greerman.

He had once
commanded an aircraft carrier and he felt at home in the Command Center. Glancing at a viewscreen, he could see a number of Alliance ships that seemed to be
floating in the darkness of space with hundreds of unblinking stars as a
background. At the moment, everything was still peaceful, but that was going to
change shortly.

“Zaltule are
dropping out of Fold Space,” called out Lieutenant Hertz as alarms began to
sound on her console.

“Fire
missiles!” ordered Fleet Admiral Rivers. He wanted to get in the first strike
before the Zaltule could fully power up their energy shields.

-

The order was
received by the fifty Javian battlecruisers in the fleet. Each Javian ship was
one thousand meters in length. Their primary weapons were their powerful
sublight antimatter missiles. Each ship had sixty missile tubes and could
launch a coordinated missile strike on any target. The ships also had numerous
energy beam turrets for offense and defense. On the bow, there was a large
energy cannon that could fire a concentrated beam of energy. Each Javian ship
had orders to target just one Zaltule battlecruiser each with their opening
salvo.

-

“Zaltule have
emerged in a cone formation,” reported Commander Greerman with a deep frown.
“Crap, we’re already partially englobed!”

“Javians are
firing their missiles, as well as the rest of the fleet.” Lieutenant Hertz
could see her sensor screens come alive with contacts from all the missiles
being launched.

-

As soon as the
ten thousand Zaltule battlecruisers dropped out of Fold Space, their energy
shields snapped into being. The shields had barely powered up when they were
pummeled by thousands of twenty-megaton antimatter missiles. All across the
Zaltule formation, bright flashes of light flared into being. Most of the
missiles were scattered across the Zaltule formation, however, the missiles
launched by the fifty Javian battlecruisers were not. Each Javian vessel had
targeted one Zaltule battlecruiser. Not only that but due to the excellent
coordination of their missile strike, each missile impacted on the same spot of
the Zaltule energy shield within microseconds of one another. Almost instantly
the shield weakened, allowing a number of the sublight missiles to penetrate
and strike the hull armor. In fifty locations across the Zaltule formation,
fifty burning suns appeared as the Zaltule vessels were annihilated in raging
flames of antimatter energy.

-

“That hurt
them!” called out Commander Greerman, his eyes glowing.

“What about
the rest of our missiles?” asked Rivers.

“Negligible,”
Greerman answered as he studied the tactical data appearing on his screens. “We
caused some damage, but not much.”

“All ships,
begin Stage Two,” ordered Admiral Rivers over the ship-to-ship communications
channel. Now would begin the difficult part of the battle with incoming fire
from the larger and more powerful Zaltule battlecruisers.

“Firing
particle beams,” reported Lieutenant Sandra Brim. “Pulse fusion turrets are
also firing.”

Rivers looked
up at the viewscreens displaying numerous ships, both Alliance and Zaltule.
Beams of energy were lashing out, striking energy screens. More missiles were
being launched to explode in bright flashes of light, and now it would become a
battle of attrition.