Galactic Empire Wars: Insurrection (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 5) (34 page)

Baylith
nodded. It was the honorable thing to do even if it meant the death of everyone
in the fleet. There was also nowhere else they could run where the Zaltule
wouldn’t eventually find them. Better to die here in battle than in the deep
darkness of space.

-

Fleet Admiral
Kelly watched as one thousand Zaltule battlecruisers crept toward his waiting
fleet.

“They suspect
something,” Commander Makita said with a deep and worried frown spreading
across his face.

Kelly nodded
his agreement. He let out a deep breath and spoke. “It must have been the
assault ships. Harmock must suspect something is up, particularly after we hit
them with the cargo ships at Mars.”

It was quiet
in the Command Center as the Zaltule battlecruisers entered the minefield. The
mines were equipped with very rudimentary sublight drives, which would be
activated by a signal from the
Armageddon
.

“Fleet is
ready to advance,” Commander Makita said as he listened to the various ship
commanders over his ship-to-ship comm. “All ships are at Condition One, energy
shields are up, and weapons are charged.”

“Stand by,”
said Kelly as he watched the Zaltule battlecruisers intently. They were nearly
in the center of the minefield. Just another few seconds and it would be time
to send the activation signal.

“Now!” ordered
Kelly as the enemy battlecruisers passed the midpoint of the area of space
saturated with the antimatter mines.

The signal was
sent and almost immediately brilliant and violent antimatter explosions began
detonating against the energy shields and occasionally the armored hulls of the
Zaltule ships.

Simultaneously,
the Human fleet surged forward, activating their weapons and laying a withering
hail of weapons fire into the beleaguered Zaltule battlecruisers. All of
Admiral Kelly’s heavy battlecruisers and regular cruisers were equipped with
plasma weapons, and these were being used to wreck havoc on the trapped Zaltule
fleet formation.

On one of the
viewscreens, Kelly watched as four plasma beams tore through the energy shield
of a Zaltule battlecruiser, tearing the ship open and causing secondary
explosions to finish its destruction. Other Zaltule battlecruisers were
suffering the same fate. Even though the thousand Zaltule battlecruisers badly
outnumbered the Human fleet, at the moment Admiral Kelley had the advantage
thanks to the minefield.

-

Harmock
stepped off the Command Pedestal until he was standing directly in front of the
largest viewscreen showing the chaos his advance ships had wallowed into.

“Mines!” he
said, his eyes glowing in anger. “Those six assault ships were laying a
minefield.”

“But we
detected nothing on the sensors,” protested Jalridd as he looked once more at
his sensor readings. We’re not showing anything there.”

“The materials
the mines are constructed of are immune to detection,” Harmock said harshly.
“Once again the Humans have tricked us.” Harmock stepped back and studied the
tactical screen. “The minefield must run from here to here,” he said pointing
to different areas of the screen. We’ll take the rest of our fleet around it
and attack the Humans from their exposed flank.”

“What about
our other ships trapped in the minefield?” asked Minor Overlord Gareth.
“They’re suffering heavy losses between the attacking Human ships and the
mines.”

“They will
serve to hold the Humans at bay until we have made our move toward their
flank.” Looking at another viewscreen, Harmock bristled as he saw four more of
his battlecruisers in the minefield explode as they were turned into miniature
suns.

-

“Main part of
the Zaltule fleet is attempting to go around the minefield,” Commander Makita
reported. “They’re trying to flank us.”

“Heavy
battlecruisers
Clayton
and
Cheyenne
are down,” reported
Lieutenant Fullerton. “Battlecruisers
Reliant
,
Sword,
and
Eden
are down as well.”

“What about
the light cruisers and the assault ships?” asked Commander Makita.

“Twelve light
cruisers are down and thirty-seven assault ships lost so far.”

“The Zaltule?”
Admiral Kelly knew they were losing a lot of ships in the minefield and from
the weapons fire his fleet was pouring into them.

“We’ve nailed
one hundred and thirty of them so far,” Lieutenant Fullerton replied as she
tallied the numbers.

“They’re
beginning to emerge from the minefield,” Commander Makita pointed out as the
lead Zaltule ships begin to pull out from the area laced with mines.

Fleet Admiral
Kelly let out a deep breath. “Pull us back toward Centerpoint and Freedom
Station. We’ll need their heavy weapons if we hope to survive the next phase of
this battle.” He also didn’t dare allow the main Zaltule fleet to flank him.

-

General
Mitchell watched as Fleet Admiral Kelly began to withdraw back toward the
stations. On another screen, he saw that Fleet Commander Achlyn was suffering
heavy ship losses in his battle at Vesta.

“Projections
indicate Fleet Commander Achlyn will have lost his entire fleet in twenty more
minutes,” Colonel Robertson reported grimly. “He’s losing three ships for every
Zaltule battlecruiser he takes out. The Zaltule have also moved too far away
from Vesta for the asteroid’s weapons to be of any use.”

“General?’
Marken said, his eyes looking knowingly at General Mitchell. “It’s time.”

A huge light
suddenly filled one of the viewscreens.

“What was
that?”

“Holbrook
Station,” Lieutenant Vail answered in shock. “The Zaltule sent a wave of
antimatter missiles toward it. The station never had a chance.”

“At least it
was evacuated,” Colonel Robertson said. Holbrook Station had orbited Earth for
years. It had been one of the last remaining symbols of the age before the
coming of the Kleese.

General
Mitchell let out a deep breath. He realized they had reached the point of no
return. If the battle continued as it was, the Solar System would be overrun by
the Zaltule and all the Humans and even the hidden alien races that had made
the Solar System their home would die. The only survivors might be those hiding
out at Jornada.

“Do it!” he
said looking over at Marken. “Activate the weapon. Captain Owens, send a
message to Fleet Commander Achlyn to break off and retreat. Inform him that
Operation Phoenix is being initiated.”

Captain Owens
looked confused as she had never heard of this before but she quickly did as
ordered.

“Now what?”
asked Colonel Robertson. He was well aware of what Operation Phoenix was.

“We wait,”
General Mitchell said as he walked over and sat down in his command chair. “We
need to hold the Zaltule fleet at bay for twelve more minutes and then it will
be over.” He didn’t add that it might be over for everyone in the Solar System
as well; that still remained to be seen.

-

Fleet
Commander Achlyn felt his flagship shake severely. The lights went out and
several control consoles exploded, sending showers of hot sparks flying across
the Command Center. He heard several crewmembers cry out in pain.

“Status!” he
barked as the power came back on.

“Pair of
energy beams hit the aft section near Engineering,” reported Second Commander
Baylith as he checked the damage reports coming in. “Some power couplings were
damaged as well as the backup fusion reactor. Our power is down by 30 percent.”

The ship shook
again and Achlyn could hear the shriek of tearing metal.

“We need to
pull back and initiate some repairs or the ship is going to come apart at the
seams,” added Baylith, hoping the Fleet Commander would agree.

“No,” Achlyn
said, shaking his head determinedly. “We will continue to fight.”

On one of the
viewscreens, a Bashan eight-hundred-meter battlecruiser was under heavy attack.
Its energy shield flared brighter and brighter and then a single Zaltule pulse
fusion beam penetrated. The ship seemed to shudder on the screen and then a
massive explosion blew out a large section of the hull. Whatever the Zaltule
had hit inside the vessel must have substantially weakened the ship’s energy
screen as four energy beams penetrated, opening up numerous ship compartments
to space. On the screen, Achlyn could see a number of crewmembers who had been
blown out of the gaps in the hull. He shuddered, shaking his head in despair.
Their deaths would have been instantaneous. A moment later, the Bashan battlecruiser exploded as a Zaltule antimatter missile detonated, ending the ship.

Fleet
Commander Achlyn took a deep breath. Since the battle had started, he had lost
nearly 40 percent of his ships. They were now losing four ships for every
Zaltule battlecruiser they managed to destroy.

“Fleet
Commander,” called out the ship’s communications officer. “We’re being ordered
to pull back. General Mitchell is activating something called Operation
Phoenix.”

Achlyn turned
a pasty white upon hearing those words. He looked over at Second Commander
Baylith. “Order all ships to fall back to the emergency coordinates. Once
there, plot a course to the nearest Alliance System.”

“The Alliance?” said Baylith confused. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s best you
don’t,” Achlyn responded. “In a few minutes, we’ll know if the Zaltule have
been defeated and if we need to flee the system.”

“Defeated?”
Baylith uttered, his eyes widening. “How can we defeat them if we’re pulling
back, and why would we flee the system?”

“Because
Operation Phoenix has the potential to not only destroy the Zaltule but the
entire Solar System as well.” Fleet Commander Achlyn knew the tactical
situation must be dire if General Mitchell were willing to take such a huge risk.

-

Minor Overlord
Barral watched in puzzlement as the attacking ships suddenly reversed course
and activated their Fold Space Drives, fleeing the battle. Of course there were
a few ships remaining with damaged drives that could not escape. These were rapidly
annihilated.

“Set a course
for the planetoid,” he ordered. “We’ll finish destroying its defenses and wipe
out any Humans who may still be alive inside.”

“By your
command,” Falolt responded as he began passing on the orders.

Barral gazed
at the tactical screen wondering why the enemy fleet had broken off contact and
fled. He had a strange feeling something wasn’t right. However, that was for
Supreme Military Overlord Harmock to worry about. Barral’s orders were to
reduce the planetoid to a lifeless husk, and that was exactly what he intended
to do.

-

On the surface
of the Moon, a massive secret installation suddenly activated. It was protected
by the most powerful energy screen ever devised and was capable of withstanding
the full attack of the Zaltule fleet for many long minutes if necessary. From
its communications center, an FTL command was transmitted to a number of
special satellites orbiting the sun. The satellites, upon receiving the order,
turned their giant fifty-meter dish antennas toward the burning furnace of the
star. A beam of light suddenly flicked out from fifty such satellites to impact
the surface. Thirty seconds later, the star flared up in each one of the impact
areas and the satellites began collecting energy. The energy was then transmitted
to a one thousand meter sphere one million kilometers distant, and from that
sphere, a single beam of intense energy was sent along a string of ten massive
energy collection and projection satellites back toward the Moon. The energy
was being transmitted at the speed of light, and it would vaporize anything in
its path.

On the Moon,
the massive installation waited for the surge of stolen energy from the sun to
reach it. A massive dish rose up above the desolate surface waiting for the
energy needed to activate the powerful weapons built at the base, weapons so
powerful they needed the sun itself for power.

-

In space,
Fleet Admiral Kelly had managed to maneuver the Zaltule into a position where
the Zaltule battle fleet was visible to the base. A timer on his command
console was steadily counting down. His breathing had quickened and his heart
was pounding. Two minutes remained, and at that time they would know if they
had won the war or lost the Solar System.

The
Armageddon
suddenly seemed to roll over on its side as it was struck a hammer like blow.
The lights went out and the dimmer emergency lights came on. A number of alarms
began sounding and red lights were flashing on the damage control console.

“Power is
out,” Commander Makita said as he tried to contact Engineering.

Kelly only
nodded. The viewscreens and tactical displays had also died. He knew if the
power was out, the energy screen was down also. It would only be a matter of a
few moments before a Zaltule antimatter missile destroyed the ship. In his
mind, he could picture the Zaltule battlecruiser preparing to fire the killing
shot. Closing his eyes, Kelly waited for his death.

Long seconds
passed and nothing happened. A full minute went by and then suddenly the power
came back on.

“Why are we
still here?” he asked, gazing in amazement around the Command Center. No one seemed to know.

Looking at the
viewscreens that were now coming on, he saw the answer. Nearly every remaining
heavy battlecruiser in the fleet had formed a protective wall in front of the
heavily wounded flagship. Kelly choked up seeing the debris from at least two
destroyed heavy battlecruisers. The crews of those ships had sacrificed
themselves so the
Armageddon
could survive.

Looking down
at the timer on his command console, he saw that less than a minute remained.
He needed to move his fleet away from the Zaltule. Activating the ship-to-ship
communications channel, he made a sudden and surprising announcement. “At my
mark, all ships are to turn one hundred and eighty degrees on their axis and
accelerate away from the Zaltule fleet.” Kelly paused for a few seconds and
then said, “Five, four, three, two, one mark!”