Galactic Empire Wars: Insurrection (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 5) (3 page)

“Sergeant
Hunter,” Ryan said over the suit’s comm. “Are your people in position?”

“Yes,
Captain,” she answered promptly. “I don’t believe they’ve spotted us.”

“Lieutenant
Guthrie, what about your platoon?”

“Ready for the
diversion,” she replied. “They’ll never know what hit them.”

“Corporals
Parker and Alexander, you can resume your advance.” Ryan was curious to see how
Sergeant McElroy responded to the three-pronged attack he was about to face.

-

“All right,
Alexander,” Lauren called out as she signaled for her squad to move out. “Let’s
see if you can keep up with us!”

Alexander
swore as he saw Lauren begin bounding toward the ridge along with her squad.
The Type Four battlesuits allowed its wearer to run at a speed faster than an
Olympic sprinter. “Let’s go,” he ordered as he stood up and gestured to his Marines.
“Let’s see how many kills we can get.”

-

Ryan watched
with interest as Sergeant McElroy’s Marines began laying down heavy stunner
fire at the advancing Marines. With a grimace, he saw several fall and lay
still as they were hit.

“Lieutenant
Guthrie, you may begin your attack.”

From the right
flank of the ridge, twenty Marines in Type Four battlesuits suddenly rose up in
the air using the antigravity plates in the boots of their suits. The plates generated
a repelling force that allowed limited flight. They began moving rapidly toward
the ridge in a zigzag pattern while firing their stunners at Sergeant McElroy’s
Marines.

Ryan waited
twenty seconds before giving his next order. “Sergeant Hunter, you may commence
your attack.” Ryan focused his attention back on the ridge to see how the
sergeant reacted. If all went as planned, Ryan’s Marines would have complete
control of the ridge in the next ten minutes.

-

Casey nodded at
hearing Ryan’s command and then signaled to her six Marines to follow her. She
wanted to complete her assignment to impress Ryan. Since their return from Delton,
she and the captain had been living together. It had been the happiest time of
her life, and she knew that shortly it might have to come to an end as they
couldn’t allow their emotions to get in the way of combat operations. She was
disappointed that the change was necessary, but there would be other times in
the future they could be together.

Casey and her Marines
were on the far left flank of the ridge and using an arroyo with a small
running stream in it to conceal their movement. If Ryan’s plan worked, Sergeant
McElroy’s platoon would be focused on the attack on their center and right
flank and would never see Casey’s squad approaching.

They were
moving as rapidly as possible as they wanted to hold casualties down from the
attacking Marines under Lieutenant Guthrie, Corporal Parker, and Corporal
Adams. Casey knew if any of them lost a lot of their Marines, she would be in
for it when they returned to the barracks.

“I’ve got
movement,” Private Juan Rios said over the squad’s comm channel. Juan was from Luna City and had attended the fleet training center there.

“So do I,”
added Private Mary Hatterson. Mary was a clone like Casey and they had known
each other since the Academy. “I don’t think they’ve spotted us.”

They carefully
continued to move along the arroyo and then began climbing around a small cliff
face which should put them directly above Sergeant McElroy’s position.

Casey had her
sensors probing every possible hiding place but all she could see were two Marines
in Type Three battlesuits watching the battle on the lower slope of the ridge.
They didn’t seem to be aware of Casey and her squad.

Spreading out
across the top of the ridge Casey saw most of McElroy’s troops were now in
plain sight below where they were firing upon the advancing Type Four battlesuits.

“It worked,” said
Private Rios, as he pointed his stun rifle in the direction of the enemy.

It was that
moment that Casey heard a laugh over the general command network, which allowed
all of them to communicate, including Sergeant McElroy.

“Not this
time,” the sergeant said.

Before Casey
could respond, she felt her suit go limp and she felt as if she had been stung
by a swarm of bees. She moaned from the pain. She hated getting hit by a
stunner. Where the hell are they, she wondered as she fell to the ground? In
her HUD, she saw the rest of her squad had been hit as well. It wasn’t going to
be a fun time in the barracks tonight.

-

Ryan was
astonished to see all of Casey’s squad suddenly switch from bright green icons
to steady glowing red ones in his HUD. With a feeling of dread, he had a hunch
he’d underestimated Sergeant McElroy once more. Standing up from behind the
wall he had been crouching behind, he began scanning the ridge to see if he
could spot the trap the sergeant had laid. Sure enough, just behind Casey’s
squad two Marines in Type Three battlesuits were visible. They had been hiding
behind some large boulders, which blocked sensor scans from revealing their
position. He also saw that between Lieutenant Guthrie, Corporal Adams, and Corporal
Parker he had lost eight more Marines. With a deep sigh, he knew he wasn’t going
to be able to take the ridge, not without sacrificing most of his Marines.

“Everyone pull
back,” he ordered over his comm, feeling disgruntled at giving the sergeant
another victory. The sergeant was a great leader and excellent at defensive
strategy. The sergeant’s biggest problem was his offensive tactics; too often
Sergeant McElroy was hesitant to act quickly in situations that were fluid or
rapidly changing. However, when it came to defense, there was none any better.

-

“At least I
didn’t get stunned this time,” Corporal Parker said as he pulled back with his
four surviving Marines. The other two were still lying stunned at the foot of
the ridge.

“You were
lucky,” Corporal Adams said as she pulled back with her three survivors. “As
big a target as you are you should have been nailed almost immediately.”

The two squads
joined back up and continued to fall back to the assembly area. Once everyone
was there, Captain Olivia Morris would reactivate everyone’s disabled suits.

Corporal
Parker walked over to Lauren and patted her suit on the rear with his right
hand. “How’s that feel?”

Lauren spun
around and slapped Alexander’s hand away. “I’ve told you before to keep your
hands off me!”

“Oh, you know
you like it,” Alexander said laughing as he turned and walked away. He really
enjoyed teasing Lauren. She just needed to loosen up a little.

Lauren stood
fuming. She liked Alexander and at times was even a little tempted to flirt
with him, but he needed to be kept in his place. Without a moment’s hesitation,
she raised her stun rifle and shot Alexander in the back.

“Damn,
Lauren!” yelled Alexander as his suit shut down and he felt the stinging
sensation from the stunner. “I was only joking!” Alexander tumbled to the
ground to lay immobile face down.

“So am I,”
Lauren said as she turned and continued on toward the assembly area.

The other
squad members said nothing and stepped around the prostrate corporal. This was
the third time Lauren had shot him at the end of a drill.

-

Ryan saw
Corporal Parker’s green icon suddenly switch to red, indicating he had been
stunned. With a heavy sigh, he shook his head. He had a strong suspicion Lauren
was involved. Lauren and Alexander spent a lot of their free time with Ryan and
Casey. The two didn’t date, but they were good friends, and there was no doubt
in Ryan’s mind if Lauren were willing Alexander would take their relationship
to a much more intimate level. He wondered what Alexander had done this time to
infuriate Lauren; it seemed that after a while the corporal would get tired of
her stunning him as he hated the stinging sensation. Ryan would talk to the two
once more. While Alexander had probably deserved what Lauren had done to him,
he couldn’t allow Lauren to continue to stun the other corporal every time they
had an argument.

“I see that
Alexander’s icon just changed from green to red,” Casey said over the command
frequency. “I assume Lauren stunned him again.” Since she was wearing a command
suit, she could still communicate though she was immobile at the top of the
ridge.

“I assume so,”
Ryan answered with a sigh.

-

Colonel Dylan
Winfrey allowed a smile to cross his face at hearing the exchange over the
command channel.

“She can’t
keep shooting him,” Captain Olivia Morris commented with a frown. Olivia was
formerly with the British Special Forces and was heavily involved in training
for the Type Four battlesuits. Colonel Winfrey had been her commander back then
and still was.

“I know,” answered
Dylan. “They’re just blowing off some steam. I’ll make sure Ryan addresses the
problem though I suspect from what he was saying he already plans on doing just
that. What’s your assessment of Captain Nelson’s people?”

“They’re the
best we have,” answered Olivia without hesitation. “My only concern is how
close they are to one another. Hell, sir, Captain Nelson’s been sleeping with
Sergeant Hunter.”

“Times have
changed,” sighed Dylan. “If we restricted fraternization between our Marines we
would have a revolt on our hands. We’re fighting for our very survival. From
our latest surveys, we estimate 28 percent of our military personnel are paired
up with someone in their units. It’s a good way for them to relieve the tension
they’re experiencing.”

“That’s all
well and good, sir, as long as it doesn’t affect their fighting capability.”

“Are Captain
Nelson’s Marines ready for their mission?”

Olivia
hesitated briefly. “I wish they weren’t. The mission we’re sending them on is
highly dangerous, and they’re bound to suffer some casualties. These are all
good people, sir.”

“This is war,”
Colonel Winfrey responded grimly. “We lost Major Stevens and Colonel Stratford
when they were abducted by the Kleese.”

“Ryan told me
how they died,” Olivia said in a quieter voice. “They died as heroes.”

“We’ll lose
more in the coming months.”

Colonel
Winfrey looked across the training facility. He well remembered how intent
Major Stevens had been about the arduous training for the Type Four suits.
Captain Nelson’s group had been the first to complete the course and be
deployed to combat. They had all nearly paid with their lives on Diadem. Sadly,
many of them hadn’t come back from being abducted by the Kleese.

Olivia looked
at the returning Marines in their Type Four suits as they came out onto the
parade ground in front of the barracks. With a deep sigh, she pressed the
button to reactivate all the suits that had fallen victim to stunners. She also
sent out the recall order for Sergeant McElroy and his Marines. Captain Nelson
had been the one to suggest that Sergeant McElroy and his people be included in
this training. From what she had seen so far of the sergeant’s performance,
Ryan had been right in making the suggestion.

“I’ll contact
Fleet Admiral Kelly and General Mitchell and tell them the mission is a go,”
Dylan said. “The new assault ships are ready and have been tested.”

“They’re more
powerful than our original battlecruisers,” commented Olivia.

“They need to
be,” Dylan responded. “They have to keep our Marines alive and we’re going a
long way.”

-

Ryan was
sitting in the mess hall eating his evening meal along with Autumn, Casey, Lauren,
Alexander, and Juan.

“I think we
should go astro gliding again on our next leave,” suggested Juan. “We had a
ball last time.”

“Until that
asshole showed up,” Lauren said pointedly.

“People have
grown a lot more accepting of clones now,” Juan replied. “My cousin said there
have been very few incidents in Luna City recently.”

“Same on
Vesta,” added Ryan. “I spoke to my parents the other day and they say things
have changed a lot.”

“The war is
becoming more serious,” commented Autumn as she speared a carrot with her fork.
“My brother recently moved to Mars and he says things are changing there also.”

“I think all
the refugees we’ve taken in has helped to curb a lot of the hostility. We have
the Kiveans, the Deltons, and the Talts all living in asteroids in the Solar
System now. They’ve brought some valuable technologies with them that have been
introduced all over.” Ryan knew this was making a huge difference.

In most Human
colonies in the Solar System, it wasn’t unusual to see one of the three alien
races that now called this their home helping out building new infrastructure
or showing Humans how to use the new technologies. There were also visitors
from some of the Alliance worlds on occasion. The news channels were now full
of features on different alien worlds and their cultures, particularly those of
the Alliance. Humanity had learned the hard way they were not alone in the universe.
It was a lesson they would never forget.

“When do we
deploy?” asked Autumn as she looked expectantly at Ryan. “This training is
getting boring and I suspect Alexander is getting tired of Lauren stunning
him.”

“I’m not sure,
but I suspect it’ll be shortly. We’ve gone through a lot of training in the
last few months. Then Ryan shifted his gaze over to Alexander and Lauren.
“Lauren, you have to quit shooting Alexander with your stun rifle. It’s not
setting a good example for your Marines.”

“It was my
fault,” Alexander interrupted before Lauren could say anything. “I pissed her
off and she blasted me.”

Lauren looked surprised
at Alexander taking the blame. “I’ll stop,” she promised. “I need to control my
temper better. It’s just that sometimes Alexander knows exactly what buttons to
push.”