Galactic Empire Wars: Insurrection (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 5) (8 page)

Sergeant Lewis
nodded and was silent after that.

Ryan stood up
and gazed at the group. “You all have training schedules for your Marines. Just
because we’re on board a spaceship doesn’t mean we get to slack. Keep your people
in shape and ready for combat. We need every edge we can get to make sure as
many of us as possible returns home when this mission is over.”

-

A few hours
later, Casey was standing next to Lauren in one of the training facilities
watching several squads go through their drills. “I didn’t realize how much I
would miss sex when Ryan and I decided to sleep separately while on this
mission.”

Lauren broke
into laughter with tears rolling down her cheeks. “God, what have I created?
You’re going to be a nympho.”

“Nympho?”

“Yes, a girl
crazy about sex and that’s all she thinks about.”

“I’m not that
bad,” Casey said as she watched Alexander stop and yell at a Marine, who wasn’t
doing the drill fast enough. Shaking her head, she saw the Marine drop to the deck
and start doing pushups. “I just didn’t realize how much I would enjoy it.”

Lauren lowered
her voice. “You and Ryan could still get together occasionally if you’re
careful. No one would suspect anything if you went to his quarters occasionally
to discuss drill assignments.”

Casey sighed
and shook her head. “I don’t think that would be appropriate. I’m a clone and I
don’t want to offend the normal Humans.”

“Your loss.”
Lauren paused and then looked over at Casey. “You do know that now no one can
tell you apart from a normal born Human anymore. You’re just as Human as anyone;
I should know.”

“I’ve changed
over the last few years. I think being in the Marines has been helpful as
everyone has treated me as an equal. Sometimes even I forget I’m a clone.”

Lauren looked
over where Alexander now had the hapless Marine doing sit-ups. “I think I’d
better go rescue Private Richards from Alexander before he passes out.”

Casey nodded.
Private Richards always seemed to find someway to piss Alexander off. Casey
wondered if it had anything to do with Richards stopping at their table the
other night while they were eating and talking to Lauren. Was it possible
Alexander was jealous?

Casey watched
as Lauren went over to Alexander and said a few words. Moments later Private
Richards rejoined his squad who were now on their way to the target range.
Casey wasn’t sure, but it looked as if Lauren and Alexander were arguing. After
a few moments, she saw Alexander turn away and walk off with a disgruntled look
upon his face and Lauren headed over toward the target range. It might be an
interesting evening meal tonight if the two were angry with each other. With a
sigh, Casey left to go speak with Sergeant McElroy. Ryan wanted her to learn
more about the two hover tanks the
Deliverance
was equipped with and how
best to use them in a combat situation. Sergeant McElroy had a lot of
experience with the tanks and would be able to give her some useful advice.

-

Colonel Dylan
Winfrey was in the Command Center of the troop assault ship,
Defender
.
The one thousand-meter long vessel was slightly larger than a heavy
battlecruiser and heavily armed. The
Defender
had been designed to
assault a planet and protect itself in orbit while conducting ground operations
against the Kleese. There were five hundred Marines on the ship, and all could
be deployed at a moment’s notice.

“We’re in
Kleese space,” commented Captain Alicia Damon, the executive officer.

“Is there any
chance the Kleese might detect us?” asked Dylan. He knew the fleet’s heavy battlecruisers
had that technology and now so did the Alliance.

Commander
Greer stood up and stepped down from the Command Dais. “It’s possible but highly
unlikely. We haven’t been able to confirm the regular Kleese have the
technology to detect a ship in Fold Space, but according to the Kiveans, the
Zaltule probably do.”

Dylan looked
at the ship’s viewscreens but all they showed was static; nothing was visible
while they were in Fold Space. The tactical display did show the fleet around the
Defender
, and it was comforting seeing all the green icons.

“I strongly
suspect the Zaltule will come looking for us after we hit the first two worlds,”
he said.

Commander
Greer nodded his agreement. “Do you have the next targets picked?”

“Yes,” Dylan said.
“I’ve spoken to Admiral Adamson and we’re going to proceed on a straight line
as if we’re heading toward the heart of their empire. Fourteen hundred light-years
from our first targets there are three former nonaligned worlds relatively
close together. Those will be our main targets. We’re going to move in, take
all three worlds, and then hold them for several days. We have several Kivean
scientists on board who claim they can disable the Kleese obedience collars. We’ll
spread the word on all three worlds that we’re heading back to the Kleese home
system to finish what we started the last time we were there.”

“Propaganda,”
said Captain Damon, her eyes narrowing. “It was used in most of the world wars
on Earth.”

Dylan looked
over at the executive officer. “Yes, propaganda. We want the Zaltule to think
we’re returning to the heart of their empire. If we succeed the Zaltule may
pull their fleet back, which will give Fleet Admiral Rivers the time he needs
to finish training the crews of his new warships.”

“What do we do
if the Zaltule show up?”

“We’re going
to try to be gone before that happens. We’ll change our course and move on to other
worlds farther into the empire but not on a direct line toward their core
worlds. Once we hit a few of those worlds, we’ll begin our return home.”

Commander
Greer had been listening. “Will we hit any worlds on our way back?”

“No,” Dylan
answered. “By then the Kleese and particularly the Zaltule will be looking for
us. Our main priority will be making it back to Alliance space without being
discovered. Fleet Admiral Kelly wants this task force returned intact if
possible.”

“And if they
find us?” asked Captain Damon with a hint of concern in her voice.

Dylan’s face
took on a serious look. “Then we fight. We have a pretty powerful force and the
Kleese will find we’re not a pushover.”

“What about
other targets?” asked Commander Greer. “Are we limiting ourselves to former nonaligned
worlds only?”

Dylan hesitated;
there had been several long discussions about this very idea. “The Kiveans,
Deltons, and Talts have furnished us with a list of very lucrative targets
close to our line of flight. If we have the opportunity, we may attempt to take
a few of them out. It just depends on the type of resistance we find on the nonaligned
worlds. While we believe a schism has occurred in the Kleese Empire between two
of the commanding factions, there are still a lot of exploration ships flying
around as well as thousands of assault ships. Once we launch our attacks, we
might find it difficult to remain undetected.”

-

The three
spoke for a few more minutes and then Dylan left the Command Center to do an inspection of the Marines on board the
Defender
. He had a very competent
staff of officers. Captain Jaime Stern and Captain Nicole Foster were in charge
of the Marines on the ship. They were both experienced officers and had served
with Colonel Nelson as well as with former Colonel Beth Nelson. They had brought
with them a cadre of experienced Marines that should be able to handle any
situation they ran into.

Major Jeffries
wanted to come along, but Colonel Nelson had convinced him he would be of
better use at Vesta working with General Bailey on organizing the asteroid’s
defenses. Of all the colonies in the Solar System, the one they couldn’t afford
to lose was Vesta. It was the glue that held the Human race together, particularly
since the destruction of Earth.

As Dylan
walked through the corridors of the
Defender
, he couldn’t help but
notice how immaculate everything was. Discipline was strictly enforced and
occasionally he passed a Marine, who was down on his hands and knees scrubbing
the deck. Dylan allowed himself to smile. While the new Marine Corps was much
different from the older one, some things never changed.

Colonel Wade
Nelson was in the Kivean asteroid visiting with Marken and Harnett. The sixty-kilometer
asteroid was the home to eighty-one thousand Kiveans, some of whom had helped organize
the original escape from the Kleese trading station where Wade and his captured
Marines had been serving as conscripts. Those long months that Wade and the
others had been forced to serve the Kleese were the worst months of Wade’s
life. It had been a nightmare and something he wished he could forget. There
were memories from those months which would always haunt him.

The other Kiveans
had been rescued when the Humans had led a rescue mission to Kivea. Many of the
Kivean scientists and their families had been rescued in that raid and had been
brought back to the Kivean asteroid. Unfortunately, as a result of their
mission, the Kleese had returned to Kivea and used antimatter missiles to make
the entire planet uninhabitable.

There were two
cities inside the asteroid, the original one where Marken and the six thousand
Kiveans that had escaped from the trading station lived and a much larger city
of seventy-five thousand where the survivors rescued from Kivea had taken up residence.
The cities were both beautiful and something out of a fantasy. They resembled
those that had been prevalent on their home world, sporting tall, slender
towers with slim metallic bridges connecting them at different levels. The
buildings were in multiple colors and of various shapes and sizes.

“I’m so glad
the three of you could come,” said Harnett, gazing with excitement at the small
baby Beth was holding. This was the first time Beth had brought the baby boy to
the asteroid.

“We should
have come sooner,” replied Beth, sitting down next to Harnett. “Do you want to
hold him?”

Harnett nodded
and allowed Beth to nestle the baby in the crook of her arm.

Marken watched,
feeling sad at heart. Due to medical procedures the Kleese had forced on
Harnett and the other females of the Kivean race on the trading station, she
could not have children. It was a shame as Harnett was so good with them.

“I understand
you received a message from Fleet Admiral Rivers today,” Marken said, looking
over at Wade.

“Another refugee
fleet is coming to the Solar System,” Wade replied, turning his gaze away from
Beth and Harnett. He was still getting used to being a father. After being
involved in the war for so long, it was a big change to have the added responsibility
of bringing up a child. Fortunately, anytime Beth had a problem with Erick,
Wade’s mother was only a phone call away.

Marken looked surprised.
“There are only a few nonaligned worlds left that haven’t joined the Alliance. Is it from one of them?”

“Yes; from Bashan. An Admiral Hiath is leading a large fleet of warships as well as a few civilian
vessels. They’ve requested sanctuary in the Solar System for their civilians
and exchange they will place their warfleet under our command.”

“Bashan,” said Marken, his forehead wrinkling in a frown. “Didn’t Hyram ask them to join the
Alliance a few months back?”

Wade nodded
his head. “Yes, but they refused. It seems the Kleese showed up with a large
fleet and Admiral Hiath, rather than risk losing all of his ships in a hopeless
battle, escaped. He had already arranged to get a number of civilians off Bashan into some waiting passenger and cargo ships. From what Admiral Rivers said a large
number of scientists and technicians are in the civilian part of the fleet.”

“How many warships
is the admiral bringing?” asked Harnett as she gently rocked the baby in her
arms.

“Quite a large
fleet,” Wade answered with a pleased smile. “Over Four hundred support vessels
and two hundred and four battlecruisers.”

“That is
substantial,” murmured Marken, his eyes widening. His idea of using the Humans
to take down the Kleese Empire was now showing huge dividends. With the Talt,
Delton, and now Bashan ships it gave the Humans a very large fleet in the Solar
System. Also, the Humans were building new vessels of their own at a greatly
expanded rate. His dream of seeing the Kleese Empire come to an end was growing
more likely every day.

“Fleet Admiral
Kelly was quite pleased when he heard the numbers and that they wished to be
placed under his command,” added Beth as she watched Harnett and the baby.

“I presume we
need to hollow out an asteroid to build a home for the Bashans?” Marken said as
he wondered which asteroid would suffice. “Do we know how large the civilian population
is they’re bringing?”

“Not that
large,” Wade said sadly. “From what I understand their planet’s chancellor knew
nothing about the planned evacuation so only a minimal number of ships were
used.”

“Why didn’t
the chancellor know?” asked Harnett as she gently patted Erick. “From what I
remember of the briefings we attended earlier in the year, the Bashans had
quite a large fleet of cargo vessels and passenger liners.”

Wade sighed
and shook his head. “Chancellor Odis didn’t believe that the Kleese would
attack their system. He felt their fleet and the substantial defensive grid
they’d put around their planet would discourage the Kleese from violating the
neutrality agreement.”

“Guess we know
how that worked,” murmured Harnett in a somber voice. The baby had fallen
asleep and was resting quietly in her arms.

Marken stood
up and indicated for Wade to follow him. He didn’t want to disturb the baby as
he could tell from the happy look on Harnett’s face she was really enjoying her
time with the young child.

-

Stepping out
onto a balcony overlooking the Kivean city, Marken turned to face Wade. “The
Zaltule will be coming soon. They know that unless they can defeat your race,
their empire is in danger of slipping away from them. That’s why, over the last
few months, the Zaltule have been conquering all the remaining nonaligned
worlds that hadn’t joined the Alliance.”

Wade nodded.
“Yes, Fleet Admiral Kelly and General Mitchell have come to the same
conclusion. I know they met with President Steward recently to apprise him of
the threat. The president gave his approval to install more ion cannons around
all the colonies in the Solar System as well as strengthening the defensive
grids, particularly the ones over Mars and the Moon.”

Marken looked
out over the city. The brightly colored buildings, which soared high above the ground
and the slim walkways that connected them to one another were breathtaking.
Though he had spent most of his life on board a Kleese trading station, he knew
what the cities on Kivea had looked like. He was also sad that all of those
cities had been destroyed by the Kleese. So much culture and history had been
erased in the antimatter bombing, let alone all the Kiveans who had died. Thanks
to the Humans, his people had built a new world inside this asteroid free of
the Kleese. Kivean scientists were some of the best in the known galaxy and doing
everything they could to help in the war effort.

“I fear the
Zaltule know if they can conquer the Solar System and eliminate the Human
threat, the Alliance will collapse,” he said in an even voice. “I strongly
suspect the Zaltule will attack here and not in Alliance space.”

Wade was
silent as he thought over Marken’s words. The Solar System was heavily defended
with every colony protected by ground-based ion cannons and other weapons.
However, it was rumored the Zaltule had well over six thousand battlecruisers
under their command. Wade knew there wasn’t a system in the Alliance that could
withstand such an attack. He also knew the Solar System couldn’t either.

Looking out
across the city, Wade could see a number of Kiveans in the lush green parks and
walking between buildings. It was strange to see Kivean children. The children
had come with their parents when the Kivean rescue mission had returned. The
Kiveans had done so much to help the Human race. Wade wasn’t sure they would
have survived without the higher science and technology the Kiveans had brought
with them. There was already some talk about launching a terraforming project
on Earth to cleanse its atmosphere of all the pollutants as well as to calm the
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions still shaking the planet. The Kiveans had
been quite adamant that they could correct many of these issues if the Humans
could dedicate the resources. Unfortunately, with the present war situation,
the resources weren’t available.

Wade turned
back toward Marken. Over the years, he had grown to consider Marken a close
friend and developed a special bond of trust with the Kivean. “So you believe
it’s a false assumption that since the Alliance is between us and Kleese space
they’ll attack it first? I know General Mitchell and Fleet Admiral Kelly have
considered both possibilities.”

“Yes,” Marken
said emphatically. “If it were the normal Kleese then yes, they would probably
attack the Alliance, but we’re dealing with the Zaltule. They’re warriors and
sound strategists and will attack the Solar System first.”

Wade’s eyes
wandered down toward the nearest park where he could see several Kivean
families. The children were playing a game kicking a ball around like any
normal Human children would be. He sighed deeply, wondering how Fleet Admiral
Kelly and General Mitchell would take the news that the Zaltule were coming for
them and not the Alliance. As Wade thought about it, he realized how much sense
strategically it made. If the Humans and their fleets could be eliminated, then
the Zaltule could probably conquer the Alliance with minimal effort. Most of
the admirals in the Alliance had very little experience in actual combat. That
was one of the reasons Human battlecruisers were being placed in most of their
fleet formations.

“Marken,” he
said after a moment. “We need to find a way to defeat the Kleese if they attack
us here.”

The Kivean
looked long and hard at Wade. “That won’t be easy.”

“Of course
not,” Wade responded. “However, between your people, the Talts, the Deltons,
and now the Bashan, there must be a solution.”

“A new weapon,”
murmured Marken as he frowned deeply. “Something that would be instantly fatal
to a Zaltule battlecruiser.”

“Is it
possible?”

“I don’t
know,” Marken replied. “We may not have the time to develop such a weapon.”

“Is there anything
we can do to modify an existing weapon system?”

“I’ll call a meeting
of some of the preeminent scientists and technicians. Perhaps we can come up
with something, but I don’t want you to get your hopes up. What you’re asking
may be beyond us.”

Wade nodded.
“I’ll speak to General Mitchell and inform him of what you’ve told me today. I
don’t think he’ll take it very well.”

“We have some
time yet,” Marken said. “Particularly if Admiral Adamson can give the Zaltule
reason to pause in their attack.”

“Let’s just
hope he’s successful.”

“Harnett is
planning on fixing a special meal for all of us,” Marken said after a moment.
“Let’s not talk about the war anymore. Your family is part of mine, and let us
enjoy that kinship for the rest of our time together today.”

“Sounds fine
to me,” Wade said. He knew Harnett as well as being a medical doctor was a
fabulous cook. He had sampled her cooking more than once and never been
disappointed.

-

Beth and
Harnett were discussing the cloning facility inside Vesta, which was being run
by former President Mason Randle. Harnett visited the facility on a regular
basis to help evaluate the cloning techniques hoping to reduce the failure
rate. No matter how hard they tried, a few clones in every batch were still
nonfunctional and had to be destroyed.

Beth was watching
Harnett rocking Erick. “Have you ever thought about creating a clone of either you
or Marken? You could take it out of the cloning chamber at an early age and
raise it as your own.”

A strange look
crossed Harnett’s face, and she glanced toward where Marken and Wade were still
out on the balcony talking. She leaned over closer to Beth and spoke in a soft
voice. “Actually, I have. I’ve been working with DNA samples from Marken and
myself and combining them in different sequences to create a unique child that
would have characteristics from both of us. I’m very close to making it work.”

“That’s
wonderful,” said Beth, knowing how badly Harnett wanted a child of her own.

“Malton’s been
helping me,” continued Harnett. Malton was a Kivean geneticist.

“How close are
you?”

“A couple of
months, if we’re lucky.”

Beth nodded.
“I hope it works. How’s the training of Mason Randle’s niece going?”

Harnett
smiled. “Karen’s doing great!” In another two years she’ll have completed the
first phase of her training and can begin doing fieldwork. She wants to go into
advanced medicine specializing in nanotechnology.”

Beth laughed.
She had met Karen on several occasions and recognized the young woman was very
talented. It wasn’t surprising considering who her uncle was. “We can use more
like her.”

“Yes, she’s
interning at the main medical center in the New Eden habitat.” The New Eden habitat
was inside Vesta and the home to over one and a half million Humans and clones.
“She spends two days a week going on rounds with either me or another Kivean
doctor I’ve assigned to help in her training. She already understands more
about Kivean medical techniques than most human doctors ten years older than
she is.”

“I’m glad,”
Beth responded. “I’m sure Susan and Michael are proud of her.”

Harnett looked
at Beth and then down toward the baby still sound asleep in her arms. “Do you
ever regret resigning your commission?”

Beth hesitated
and took a deep breath. “Sometimes. I made a lot of friends in the Marines, and
the battles we fought were all very important. But I saw enough people die to
last me a lifetime. I still have nightmares about our time on the trading
station and the things the Kleese forced us to do. I know Wade does too.”