Galactic Empire Wars: Insurrection (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 5) (6 page)

-

Bashan Admiral
Kelp Hiath had no intention of allowing his fleet to be destroyed by the
Zaltule. He had argued vehemently with the chancellor and others in the
government about joining the Human led Alliance. However, the chancellor had
been convinced that due to the size of the Bashan fleet, the Kleese would honor
the neutrality agreement. Admiral Hiath had argued that so far the Kleese had
failed to do so in every case where their fleets had come into contact with a
nonaligned world, which had signed the agreement. He warned them that the
Kleese would come and waving the agreement would do no good. Now he had been
proven right. He had listened to the chancellor plead his case over the comm
channel with the Kleese, pointing out the Kleese were honor bound to uphold the
agreement. The Kleese had not responded.

“Forty
thousand kilometers until engagement range,” Dath Mileth, Hiath’s second in
command, reported. “Kleese fleet has formed up into an attack formation and is
advancing.”

“I have a
message from Chancellor Odis demanding we pull the fleet back to Bashan,” reported the communications officer.

“What are your
orders, sir?” asked Second Officer Mileth, his narrow eyes focusing intently on
the admiral. The Bashan were humanoid and looked remarkably feline with narrow
eyes and cat-like ears. They also had a light fur covering their entire body,
including their faces.

“Are the cargo
and passenger ships ready?”

“Yes, they’re
nearly loaded. They will enter Fold Space in twenty minutes,” Mileth replied.

Hiath nodded,
everything was proceeding according to schedule. “We will stay with the plan.”

Several months
back, Hiath and several other senior fleet officers had gotten together to
decide how best to defend their planet. After much debate, it had been decided
that Bashan couldn’t be saved without the help of the Alliance. In order to
prevent their loved ones from being subjected to the dreaded Kleese collars of
obedience, arrangements had been made to evacuate their families as well as
some of the more prominent Bashan scientists off the planet. A fleet of ten
passenger liners and twenty-two cargo ships were even now assembling high above
Bashan to carry out that plan. For the last two hours, shuttles had been
flying back and forth between the fleet and the planet bringing up the
designated Bashans who would flee the system.

“Do you think
the Humans will take our people in?” asked Mileth as he watched the tactical
screen and the approaching Zaltule. The screen was covered in red threat icons.

“They have
taken in other refugees and have even been involved in rescuing hundreds of thousands
from Kleese controlled worlds. Our peoples’ best hope is with the Humans.”

Mileth nodded.
His own family was on board one of the passenger liners. “What do we do about
the Kleese fleet?”

Admiral Hiath
smiled. “We give them a bloody nose, as the Humans would say, and then we
leave.” Admiral Hiath had been fortunate to meet the Human ambassador some
months back and spent some time talking to him.

“All ships are
at full alert,” reported the communications officer.

“Energy shield
is at 100 percent, and weapons are powered up,” added the tactical officer.
“Missile hatches are open and sublight missiles are armed and ready to fire.”

“Now we show
the Kleese we are not such easy prey,” commented Admiral Hiath. He had known
peace for all of his years in the space service. As a young man he had yearned
to journey out into the galaxy and explore, however, the Kleese Empire ensured
that future was not to be. Hiath was a rare individual on Bashan as were many
of the officers and crews of his ships. They were not willing to submit to the
Kleese and had always dreamed of a brighter and freer future. This would be
their first step in reaching that goal.

“Combat range
in two minutes,” reported the sensor operator. “Kleese vessels are opening the
hatches on their missile tubes. Short-range sensors indicate the Kleese have powered
up their weapons systems and activated their defense shields.”

Admiral Hiath buckled
himself into his command chair.

“Sir. Chancellor
Odis is demanding we turn back now or he will have you removed from command,”
reported the communications officer.

“Like that’s
going to happen,” muttered Mileth. “There’s not an officer in the fleet who would
obey that order.”

Hiath nodded.
He and his fellow officers had considered all the ramifications of what they
were about to do. If they succeeded, they would live to fight another day and
perhaps sometime in the future, with the Humans help, they would return and set
Bashan free.

-

On Bashan, Chancellor Odis turned in anger to his defense minister, who was also responsible
for the fleet. “What is Admiral Hiath doing? Why won’t he obey my orders and
return to defend Bashan?”

The defense
minister was an older individual who should have retired years ago. “He knows
we face an impossible battle. Even if his fleet returns to Bashan space and
allows the defense grid to augment his firepower, he cannot stop the Kleese.
They have come in numbers too great to fight against.”

Chancellor
Odis sat down hard in his chair, looking with chagrin at the defense minister. “Are
you saying the Kleese will destroy our fleet and the defense grid?”

“Yes, I fear
very shortly that we will all be wearing the Kleese collars of obedience we
have heard so much about.”

Chancellor
Odis turned pale at hearing those words. “What of the fleet of passenger and
cargo ships assembled in orbit? On whose orders are their ship commanders
acting?”

“I fear I had
less control of the fleet than I suspected,” the defense minister replied.
“When Admiral Hiath came to us months ago and pleaded for us to join the Human
led Alliance, we should have listened. I believe shortly after that he and a
number of his commanding officers took matters into their own hands. From the
reports I have been receiving those ships in orbit are some type of evacuation
fleet. Many of the family members of the crews of our warships and some of our
most acclaimed scientists have gone on board.”

“And you did
nothing to stop this?” roared Chancellor Odis, rising to his feet and glaring at
the defense minister.

“I chose not
to,” the defense minister admitted, meeting the chancellor’s eyes. “At least
this way some of our people will remain free.”

Chancellor
Odis choked down his anger. “Where are they going?”

“I imagine to
the Human led Alliance to seek sanctuary or possibly even to the Humans’ home
system. We did have an Alliance delegation come to us months ago and ask us to
join. I believe Admiral Hiath even met with the Human representative.”

Chancellor
Odis mulled over the defense minister’s words. “At least Admiral Hiath will pay
for his treachery with his life when he engages the Kleese fleet.”

The defense
minister slowly shook his head. “I don’t think Admiral Hiath intends to die.
The formation his fleet is in indicates he plans on escaping and joining the
refugee fleet.”

“He leaves us
to face the Kleese alone?”

“No, he leaves
us to fight another day, and I wish him the best of luck.”

“I shall have
you thrown in detention!” shouted Chancellor Odis, feeling he had been
betrayed.

“It doesn’t
matter,” responded the defense minister, rising to his feet and turning to
leave the room. “Shortly, the Kleese will be the ones telling us what to do,
not you.”

Chancellor
Odis didn’t reply as he watched the defense minister open the door and leave. Odis
sat back down, feeling very much alone. He realized now he should have listened
to Admiral Hiath originally; perhaps then, none of this would be happening. In
the back of his mind, he knew he had doomed his world to be subjugated by the
Kleese. It was he who would go down in history as a traitor to his world, not
Admiral Hiath or the defense minister.

-

The two fleets
continued to close with the space between them rapidly diminishing. The Bashan fleet was maintaining its cylinder formation, which was pointed at the heart of the
Kleese battle line. All across the Kleese formation weapons were made ready to
fire. All they needed was the order from Supreme Military Overlord Harmock and
the battle would begin.

-

“Strange
formation,” said Minor Overlord Gareth as he studied the tactical screen with
his multifaceted eyes. “It will limit the amount of firepower they can bring to
bear against our fleet. It’s not a sound offensive strategy.”

Harmock agreed
with Gareth’s assessment of the Bashan fleet’s tactics. “No, it’s a very poor
offensive formation, but it might help to protect the ships in the interior. It
seems as if that is where they’ve placed the majority of their battlecruisers.”

“In combat
range,” Salten reported as the weapon consoles began lighting up with active
targeting confirmations.

Harmock paused
for a moment, savoring the power over life and death he commanded. The death of
minor life forms such as the Bashan meant very little to him. However, the
victory and bringing another world under the domination of the Kleese Empire
did. “Fire!”

“Bashan ships are also firing,” reported Jalridd from sensors.

“Our fleet is
slowing down to allow for maximum combat efficiency,” reported Gareth.

“Strange,”
said Jalridd as he checked the speed of the Bashan ships. “The enemy are not slowing.”

“What?”
demanded Harmock, his eyes focusing sharply on the tactical screen wondering
what the Bashan fleet was up to.

-

The two fleets
opened fire within seconds of each other. All across the Kleese battle line
battlecruisers opened up with their pulse fusion and powerful energy weapons.
The Bashan fleet did the same and space was soon filled with the bright flashes
of the beam weapons. Across the front of the Bashan cylinder, titanic explosions
began to appear as shields were overwhelmed and pulse fusion and energy beams
hammered the armored hulls of the support ships.

Bashan ship hulls were split open, and alarms rang throughout their warships as emergency
bulkheads slammed shut. In some cases crewmembers were trapped inside burning sections
with no hope for escape. Other crewmembers struggled to put on spacesuits as
the oxygen was sucked out of damaged compartments. In many instances
crewmembers were hurled out of the breaches to die instantly in the heartless
vacuum of space. Damage control teams rushed hurriedly to the stricken areas
only to die themselves as secondary explosions rattled the ships.

Antimatter missiles
soon followed, and Bashan ship after ship were blown apart in the fiery explosions
resulting from the release of antimatter energy. In the time span of less than
a minute, sixteen Bashan support ships were destroyed and numerous others
severely damaged. The entire front of the Bashan cylinder was alight with
burning and dying vessels.

As planned,
the Bashan support ships were protecting the ships on the inside of the
cylinder. These were all powerful battlecruisers and their firepower was now
turned upon the nearing wall of Kleese warships. The fire from the Bashan fleet was directed toward one small segment of the Kleese formation. Hundreds of
pulse fusion beams and energy beams pummeled the Kleese shields, seeking to
bring them down. Several shields faltered from the intense bombardment and
began to collapse.

Three Bashan pulse fusion beams slammed into the stern of a Zaltule battlecruiser, setting off
massive explosions and hurling glowing debris into space. Moments later a Bashan antimatter missile arrived, and the vessel was turned into a glowing sun.

Several more battlecruisers
quickly met the same fate as the Bashan cylinder reached point blank range and
then continued penetrating the Kleese formation. Six more escort vessels
exploded as they rammed Kleese vessels. In each case, the ships from both sides
were destroyed in fiery explosions of released energy.

The Kleese
suddenly found it difficult to fire upon the Bashan vessels without endangering
their own ships. For a brief moment, the Kleese weapons fire faltered.

-

“What are they
doing?” demanded Minor Overlord Gareth as he saw another Zaltule battlecruiser
die as it was rammed by a Bashan support vessel.

Harmock
studied the tactical display for a few seconds and then responded. “They’re trying
to blast their way through our formation. Order all ships to intensify their
weapons fire!”

“Our own ships
are in the way,” Gareth replied as he saw two more Zaltule battlecruisers
explode in flashes of brilliant light.

“Fire anyway!”
Harmock ordered in a cold and uncaring voice. “I want the Bashan fleet
destroyed before it escapes.”

“Escapes?”
Gareth said, shifting his attention to the Supreme Military Overlord.

“Yes,” Harmock
responded. “That’s why they’re in that formation. It forced us to slow down to
enter combat, and now they’re blasting their way through our battle line. I
strongly suspect, in a very short time, they will be entering Fold Space.”

“All weapons
are firing,” reported Salten. “Launching sublight antimatter missiles.”

-

Admiral Hiath
flinched as he saw the battlecruiser
Greshen
die on one of the
viewscreens. He had known the ship’s commander since their early days in the
fleet training school.

“We’ve lost
six more support vessels and two battlecruisers, including the
Greshen
,”
reported Second Officer Mileth.

Hiath nodded
grimly. “How long until we clear the Kleese fleet?”

“The last
vessel will be through in forty seconds,” the sensor operator answered.

“Evacuation
fleet is moving away from Bashan and is preparing to enter Fold Space,” Mileth
reported with evident relief in his voice.