Galactic Empire Wars: Insurrection (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 5) (7 page)

Hiath felt the
ship shake violently and several alarms began sounding. He looked questionably
at Mileth.

“Minor damage
to the outer hull at hull section forty-two. Energy shield is holding at 90
percent. A Kleese energy beam penetrated the shield.”

“All ships are
clear of the Kleese fleet formation,” added the sensor operator.

Hiath nodded
and took a deep breath. “All ships, full acceleration! Once we’re out of combat
range, we’ll enter Fold Space and rendezvous with the evacuation fleet.”

“And then?”
asked Mileth as he watched the tactical screen.

“We’ll go to Alliance space and then, if we can, on to the Humans’ system. We will need their aid if we
ever hope to free Bashan from the Kleese.”

It didn’t take
long for the Bashan ships to escape the clutches of the Kleese weapons. Once
they were clear, they made the jump into Fold Space. For now, their war was
over, but their fight to free their world was just beginning.

-

Supreme
Military Overlord Harmock watched in anger as the Bashan fleet escaped into Fold
Space. “More ships we’ll have to hunt down and destroy in the future.”

“They are
doubtlessly headed for Alliance space,” Minor Overlord Gareth said. “We will
destroy them there.”

“Yes, it’s
nearing time to deal with the Alliance and the Humans. Set a course for Bashan. We’ll destroy their defense grid but leave the orbiting stations intact. This
system is rich in heavy metals and once they’re refined they will be of use to
the empire.”

-

Chancellor
Odis sat alone in his office waiting for the Kleese to put in an appearance. He
had been informed the Kleese fleet had gone into orbit around Bashan after
using antimatter missiles to clear the space above the planet of its defense
grid. Odis let out a deep sigh; there was already panic in the streets of the
cities as citizens tried to leave and flee into the countryside. Little good it
would do; anyone the Kleese wanted would be turned in once the collars of
obedience were around enough Bashan necks. People would turn others in to save
their own heads from being blown off.

A noise
outside his door drew his attention. It sounded like a multitude of feet coming
down the hallway. Drawing in a long breath Chancellor Odis stood up as the door
was flung open and a Kleese entered. Due to the large size of the Kleese, it
was barely able to fit through the door. Behind the first Kleese came two more,
both heavily armed.

“You are
Chancellor Odis?” the Kleese asked in a demanding and unforgiving voice.

“Yes,” Odis
replied, trying not to show fear.

The Kleese
opened a box it was holding and approached Odis, removing a circular silver
collar with a light bluish tint. “You will submit to the will of the Kleese and
wear this collar of obedience. If you fail to do as we ask, you shall die.”

Odis said
nothing as the Kleese took the collar, unsnapped it, and placed it around his
neck. The collar felt cold to the touch and Odis shivered slightly, knowing the
collar contained an explosive charge, which could be set off by any of the
Kleese.

“You are now a
subject of the Kleese Empire and live only to serve.”

Odis nodded
and sat back down behind his desk. His hand slowly lifted until it touched the
collar. With a deep sigh, he knew Admiral Hiath had been right. They should
have turned to the Alliance, and now it was too late. The long years of peace
for the people of Bashan had come to an end, and it was all his fault. He was
now an unwilling servant in the Kleese Empire.

Captain Ryan
Nelson stood in the Command Center of the Marine assault cruiser
Deliverance
.
Looking around, he allowed himself to smile. The Command Center of the
Deliverance
was so different from the small assault ships like the one they had used to
escape from the Kleese. For one thing, it was larger and competent fleet
personnel staffed all the stations. When they had escaped in the assault ship,
only a few of the Marines had any flight experience. If not for Lieutenant
Guthrie and a few others, they would never have escaped and would still be
prisoners or dead.

“I’m glad I’m
not flying this ship,” Autumn commented from Ryan’s side. “It’s a relief not to
have to worry about where we’re going and if something’s going to go wrong with
the ship’s systems before we get there.”

Ryan laughed
and nodded. “We have a competent crew and plenty of spare parts as well as
engineers who know how to repair the ship if necessary.”

Ryan remembered
how the growing malfunctions on the assault ship had made it seem questionable
if they could even reach Delton safely. As it was, once they were down they had
been afraid to move the ship again. If not for Delton Fleet Commander Achlyn
and Admiral Rivers’ daring rescue attempt to bring more Deltons back to the Solar
System, Ryan and his fellow Marines might still be trapped on the planet.

“How’s
morale?” he asked. They were currently in Fold Space and flying deeper into
Kleese controlled space every day. So far their flight had been uneventful and
Ryan hoped it stayed that way.

“Good,” Autumn
replied. “Most of the Marines that were with us on Delton are on board, and
they’re ready to take the fight to the Kleese. There’s still a lot of anger
over what happened to Major Stevens and Colonel Stratford as well as the Marines
the Kleese executed.”

Ryan
understood the underlying anger. When they had attempted to flee the Kleese ship,
a number of compartments had been located where the Kleese obedience collars
had been detonated. The Marines inside had all met gruesome deaths. Ryan wasn’t
sure how many Marines had been coldly executed in this manner though he knew it
had been quite a few. The Kleese had a disdain for all sentient life in the
galaxy. They considered all others to be vastly inferior and nothing more than
vermin to be used as the Kleese pleased or to be exterminated.

“We’ll all get
our chance to make the Kleese pay for what they did to us on the exploration
ship,” Ryan said evenly. “On this mission, we’re going to get more than one
opportunity for payback.”

“We’re prepared,”
Autumn said, taking a deep breath. “We’re all ready to kill some Kleese.”

-

The captain of
the
Deliverance
, Marcus Durham, stepped off the Command Dais and over to
where Ryan and Autumn were standing. “How do you like the trip so far?”

“There’s much
more room on these new assault cruisers,” Ryan said, turning toward the
captain. “The quarters aren’t nearly as cramped as on the old assault ships.”

“The food’s
better too,” added Autumn. Alexander had quickly pointed that out after their
first meal on the ship. One thing Autumn could say about the corporal, he
definitely enjoyed his meals.

There were two
different mess halls in the ship and qualified cooks prepared food in each one.
Due to the size of the cruiser and the number of people on board both mess
halls were available to everyone. Even the officers ate with the enlisted men
and women.

“There have
been some big improvements on these new ships,” agreed the captain. “We have
the most modern equipment that our scientists, as well as our allies, have been
able to come up with.”

“I understand
our new Fold Space drives are capable of one hundred twenty light-years per
day,” said Ryan. This was much faster than the older ships, which were limited
to only eighty or ninety at the best.

Durham nodded. “That and our weapon systems are more powerful. We could even stand up to a
Zaltule battlecruiser for a short time if necessary.”

“Let’s hope we
don’t test that supposition out,” Autumn said, shivering slightly. She had
always felt so vulnerable in space combat as she couldn’t control the situation.
She much preferred to be on the ground in her Type Four command battlesuit.

“Don’t worry,”
Durham assured her. “Our new energy shield would give us time to jump into Fold
Space and escape if needed.”

Ryan turned
toward the navigation console, which was displaying their current course on a
data screen. “How soon until we reach our first target?”

“Twelve days,”
answered Captain Durham, shifting his gaze to navigation. “We have one
scheduled stop four days from now for routine maintenance checks and then we’ll
continue on.”

“That will put
us well inside the Kleese Empire,” Autumn said. It also meant they would be too
far away from the Solar System and the Alliance to call for help if they ran
into a large Kleese task force.

“Yes,” replied
Captain Durham, nodding his head. “And if that attack goes well, we’re only
going deeper into their empire.”

Ryan glanced
at the viewscreens, which were all off due to being in Fold Space. If they were
on all they would show was static. They were going into the Kleese Empire to
stir up trouble and attempt to throw a wrench into the Kleese plans to attack
the Alliance.

Ryan had his Marines
conducting drills daily to stay sharp as he was expecting them to face some
stiff resistance in the future. The assault cruiser had several large training
compartments specially designed to accommodate Marines going through
calisthenics and drills. When it came time to deploy, his people would be
ready.

-

Admiral
Adamson watched the tactical display and the green icons representing friendly
ships. All of the new heavy battlecruisers had the new sensors on board that
could detect ships in Fold Space. Excluding the
Constellation
, there
were thirty-three green icons showing.

“We have a
pretty powerful fleet at our disposal,” commented Commander Sandra Shepherd.

“Strong enough
for us to handle about anything we encounter,” replied Adamson, folding his
arms across his chest as he thought about their mission. “We’re going to begin
hitting Kleese controlled nonaligned worlds in twelve days and continue to do
so until the Kleese respond with sufficient forces to stop us.”

“How deep into
their empire do you think we’ll go?”

“As far as
necessary,” Adamson said as he turned around to face the
Constellation’s
commander. “General Mitchell and Fleet Admiral Kelly expect us to cause enough
trouble to force the Zaltule to delay their attack upon the Alliance long
enough to get all the new ship crews trained. We just need to buy them a few
months of time.”

“Do you think
we’ll be facing the Zaltule?”

“Possibly,” Adamson
replied. “It just depends on how big a nuisance we can make of ourselves.”

“I have battle
drills planned for the next two days,” Sandra said as she thought over Admiral
Adamson’s words. “We’re dropping out of Fold Space in the outskirts of an older
red giant system in four days. According to the Kiveans and the other Alliance races, it’s a dead planetary system and there should be little chance of us
stumbling upon a Kleese ship.”

“We’ll emerge
at Condition One as a precaution.” Adamson looked around the Command Center. He had a well-experienced command crew and was confident they could handle
anything that might come up. He was not going to take any chances. It would be
a disaster to underestimate the Kleese.

-

Ryan was in a
small briefing room designated for his use during this mission. In the room
with him were Lieutenant Guthrie, Sergeant Hunter, Sergeant McElroy, Sergeant
Katy Lewis, and Sergeant Harmon Dewey.

“We have one
hundred and twenty Marines on this ship,” he began. “We have five full combat platoons
and a guard force of twenty.”

“Will the ship
be setting down on the Kleese planets?” asked Sergeant Katy Lewis. This was the
sergeant’s first deployment outside the Solar System.

“In some
situations, it might. That’s why we have the twenty Marines, which will serve
as a guard force. They will also be used to replace any Marines that might be
injured or killed on our missions.”

Sergeant Lewis
looked uneasy. “So you expect us to suffer some casualties?”

“This is a
combat mission,” answered Ryan, leaning back slightly and gazing at the young
sergeant. “Casualties are to be expected. Our job as officers and platoon
leaders is to see to it those casualties are held to a minimum.”

“Yes, sir,” Sergeant
Lewis responded.

“Do we have
any information on our first target?” asked Sergeant McElroy, looking at Ryan.

“It will be
the former nonaligned world of Taleth. It has a population of two billion and
its inhabitants are humanoid. They produce very small robotic devices that have
a myriad of uses in industry and mining.”

“Will they
resist us?” asked Sergeant Dewey. Dewey had seen some limited action outside
the Solar System. He was also in his early thirties.

“We don’t know
what type of conscripts the Kleese will have on the planet. The Kiveans believe
there will be a number of Kleese present at the spaceport near the capital
city. That will be our primary target.” Ryan pressed a button on the conference
table in front of him and on the large screen behind him an aerial view of the
spaceport appeared.

Lieutenant
Guthrie stood up and walked over to the screen and pointed to several large
buildings. “We believe the Kleese will be in these two buildings next to the
spaceport control tower. Both will be heavily fortified and probably guarded by
a strong conscript presence.”

“What about
popup weapons?” asked Casey with a large frown. The Kleese were known to use
them around all of their installations. They had encountered them on Diadem
when they had assaulted the spaceport there. They were also very difficult to
spot as the Kleese had a tendency to embed them in the blastcrete of the
spaceport and only activate them when they detected the near presence of an
enemy.

Ryan nodded
his head. “There will undoubtedly be a few. Some will fire armor piercing projectiles
and the others will fire a high-intensity energy beam capable of penetrating a
Type Three suit. The Type Four will give limited protection but only for a few
seconds.”

“Can we take
out those two buildings with KEW rounds?” asked Sergeant McElroy. “I understand
the KEW batteries on this ship were designed for just that purpose. It might
hold our casualties down.”

“If we can
determine that only Kleese and their conscripts are inside,” Ryan said with a
nod. “We don’t want any civilian casualties if we can help it. We’ve heard
rumors the people of this world have been causing problems for the Kleese and
that a large number of civilians have been executed for refusing to do as
ordered. We’re here to stir the pot, you might say.”

“We have three
platoons of Type Four battlesuits and one of the Type Three. Sergeant McElroy,
you have command of the Type Three platoon and will also be responsible for the
hover tanks. Your main job in these engagements is to protect those tanks so we
can use their heavier weapons to destroy any hardened targets impervious to our
regular suit weapons. The hover tanks will be extremely useful if we run into
large numbers of popup weapon emplacements.”

“Will we be
carrying nukes on the Type Four suits?” asked Sergeant Dewey.

“No,”
Lieutenant Guthrie responded. “The planets we’re going to assault are all
former nonaligned worlds recently conquered by the Kleese. If we use nukes, we
could harm or even kill a lot of civilians and that’s not why we’re here. Our
regular suit rounds should be sufficient. If we find they’re not, we’ll call in
strikes from the hover tanks. With their energy cannon and secondary railgun
cannons, they should be able to take out any hardened target we come across.”

Ryan looked around
the small group. “In order to stir up as much trouble as possible, we’ll be
hitting two separate systems. Captain Morris is on board the assault cruiser
Lyra
,
and she and her Marines will be joining us in the attack on Taleth. There is
another system twenty-two light-years distant that two more assault cruisers
will be attacking.”

“So we’re
dividing the fleet?” asked Sergeant McElroy. He didn’t like that; he felt safer
knowing all the warships were close by.

“Yes,” Ryan
answered. “The
Constellation
and the
Callisto
are our two heavy
battlecruisers and one of them and some escorts will be accompanying the attack
groups. The rest of the fleet will remain in a nearby system until the attacks
have been completed. Then we’ll join back up and proceed to our next target. We’ll
rotate which assault cruisers are involved in the different missions. That will
give our Marines sufficient time to heal up and prepare for what’s next.”

Lieutenant
Guthrie came back to the conference table and sat down. “We have very good
medical bays on all of the assault cruisers. In addition, the troop assault
ship
Defender
has a fully staffed medical bay capable of handling
anything the med bays on our assault cruisers may find beyond them. There are
several Kivean doctors on board the
Defender
as well as a large number
of specialized surgeons.”

“What about
the new medical nanites in the Type Four battlesuits?” asked Sergeant Lewis.
She sounded uncertain of herself. “How effective are they?”

“They will
keep you alive,” Ryan said. He had seen them used experimentally several times
and they were now standard in the Type Four suits. They had actually saved
Casey’s life on Diadem. “However, if you have a hole blown through your chest
or your head has been blown off, they won’t do any good.”