Galactic Empire Wars: Rebellion (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 3) (24 page)

“Move up!” she
ordered. “We need to hit them while they’re still unorganized from the railgun
strike.”

Beth stepped
out from around the small building holding her RG rifle at the ready. Sergeant
Russell and his squad were with her as they moved rapidly across the blastcrete
toward the burning buildings.

-

Minor War
Overlord Braton
stared out the thick,
protective windows of the Operations Center at the destroyed buildings his
warriors had been in. He let out a deep breath of frustration at how the Humans
had used railgun strikes from orbit to obliterate the majority of his forces.
This was a tactic the Zaltule used occasionally when an enemy was too
concentrated to take out in a frontal assault.

“We are
defeated!” spoke Caltill in anguish as he watched the Humans advance on the
viewscreens.

Looking out
the windows, he could see hundreds of battlesuit encased Humans advancing
toward them. Only a scattering of defensive fire rang out from the few Zaltule
warriors who'd survived the bombardment from space.

“Prepare
yourself,” commanded Braton as he closed the helmet on his Type Three
battlesuit and picked up his RG rifle from where it had been lying on a control
console. “The Humans will be here shortly.”

“Vermin!” spat
Caltill as he picked up his energy cannon. “How can we be defeated by vermin?”

Braton looked
out the windows and only shook his head. While it had always been true that
there were no other races in the known galaxy equal to the Zaltule in battle,
he was beginning to wonder. These Humans seemed to be different and they were
advancing toward him with such confidence. Was it possible they'd finally met a
warrior race equal to the Zaltule? Braton found that thought hard to believe,
but how else could one explain the Human victories?

-

Ryan had moved
his marines up and formed his platoon into a long skirmish line as they quickly
advanced toward the burning buildings. The other two Type Four platoons were on
his immediate flanks. His lone remaining hover tank was just behind the
skirmish line, swinging its energy cannon threatening back and forth seeking
targets of opportunity. Occasionally the cannon would fire, obliterating a
Kleese, who had dared to attempt to fire on the advancing marines.

Looking
around, Ryan noticed they were quickly outdistancing their support troops on
both flanks in the Type Three suits. The Type Fours were much more flexible and
allowed for a greater freedom of movement as well as increased speed. As they
neared the burning buildings, he saw marines from the three advancing Type Four
platoons take to the air, leaping on top of buildings and other structures to
give them a better view of the battlefield.

Taking a deep
breath, Ryan raised his RG rifle and fired two explosive rounds into an open
doorway where he thought he'd detected movement. A battlesuit encased Kleese
stumbled out and fell to the ground.

“We need
prisoners,” Ryan spoke over his unit’s com channel.

Lauren looked
over at Alexander, who had stopped next to a tall tower. “You heard the
lieutenant,” she spoke over their private com channel.

“Yeah, I heard
him,” muttered Alexander as he activated the flight repellers in his feet and
leaped up into the air.

He set back
down halfway up the tower on a small platform, which was just large enough for
him to stand on. Now I’m a sitting duck, he thought as he began inspecting the
buildings around him with his enhanced vision. He checked each building one by
one, not finding any potential targets. Then he looked at a building only one
hundred meters away that was covered in large windows. Must be some type of control
tower, he decided.

Alexander
froze as he detected what looked like movement inside. Ramping up his vision,
he gazed intently at the windows. Sure enough, he could see two Kleese in
battlesuits looking out at the advancing marines. Both looked to be armed.
Taking a deep breath, he raised his stun rifle and flipped off the safety.
Aiming at the first target, he sighted carefully and pulled the trigger. With
excited satisfaction, he saw the target go down. Before he could fire off his
second shot one of the windows exploded outward and railgun rounds began to
impact the tower around him. Then an explosive round hit, destroying the
platform he was standing on. In desperation, he fired several stun rifle shots
toward the shattered window as he felt himself falling toward the ground far
below.

-

Beth gazed
around at the burning buildings and the dead Zaltule around her. The Zaltule
had fought to the end, never offering to surrender. Even now, a few Zaltule
were still sniping at her marines as they combed the burning buildings and
other structures.

“That looks
like a control tower of some sort,” Sergeant Russell said, pointing toward a
nearby structure. “It seems to be pretty well intact.”

“Looking at
the structure, Beth could see several marines in the Type Four suits going
inside. “Let’s follow them,” she ordered. “We can make that our command center
until we’re satisfied we’ve eliminated all the enemy.”

Looking at her
HUD, Beth saw with relief that Ryan’s glowing green icon was still unchanged.
She knew which icon was Ryan's and had been watching it intently throughout the
entire battle. The lieutenant’s platoon had also been the first one to reach
the center of the spaceport with the other three Type Four platoons close
behind. Marines from the four platoons had taken up positions on top of
buildings and towers to cover the advancing marines in the Type Three suits.
Beth strongly suspected when this was over with, the Type Fours would have a
very high kill ratio, much higher than the Type Threes. She also noticed that
Ryan’s icon indicated he'd entered the supposed control tower.

-

Ryan and Casey
were climbing a wide set of stairs, which led to the main, level of the Operations Center. Privates Matheson, Hatterson, and Swen were with them. Everyone had
their weapons ready, though they could hear no sounds, which might indicate
others were in the building. Reaching the main level, they found a heavy metal
door in front of them. Private Matheson reached forward and pushed the door
open as the others rushed in with their weapons ready.

“About time
you made it,” Alexander said from where he was sitting on top of a prostrate
Kleese. Another was nearby and Lauren had her RG rifle pointed in its
direction.

Ryan
immediately noticed Private Parker’s right leg seemed to be buckled and his
suit looked singed. “Are they alive?”

“Yeah,”
Alexander replied with satisfaction in his voice. “They’re alive, though this
one I’m sitting on blew me off the tower platform I was standing on.”

“Are you
injured?” asked Ryan, looking at his HUD and seeing Parker’s icon was now
amber.

“Broke both of
my legs,” Alexander answered. “The suit’s injected meds so I feel fine, Private
Adams helped me get up the stairs.”

Before Ryan
could say anything else, he saw a marine in a command suit step into the room
and quickly survey the situation. With surprise, he realized it was Beth.

“Are they
alive?” she asked, seeing the two Kleese.

“Yes, they’re
alive,” replied Ryan. “Private Parker got both of them with his stunner.”

Beth quickly
turned her suit’s sensors on the two Kleese, detecting emanations of life. The
sensors only worked at extremely close range. She gestured to two of the
marines who had entered with her. “Keep your stunners focused on those two
Zaltule. If they even twitch, stun them again. R&D thinks the stun effects
should last about two hours on a Kleese, but we’ve never had a live one to try
it out on.”

“Good job,
Private Parker,” Beth spoke over the platoon frequency. “You’ll get a
commendation for this.”

Alexander
nodded, allowing himself to smile. The painkillers were really taking over and
everything was starting to get hazy.

“Major Stevens
is on his way up,” added Beth, looking over at Ryan. “I want your platoon to
escort these two Kleese up to the Defender. I’ll have a cargo drop ship down
shortly.”

Ryan nodded,
his first trial by combat was over and he'd survived. Looking over at Casey, he
knew she must feel extremely relieved also. This had been nothing like Charring Mountain, and he now realized why Charring was so hard. It was to teach marines
how to survive.

-

Wade finally
allowed himself to relax. He'd just received the latest reports from Beth as
well as Major Stevens. The spaceport was secure and they were doing a final
sweep for any Zaltule, who might have been missed. They'd taken a lot of
casualties but secured their prizes. Two Zaltule had been captured and from the
reports, one of the two might actually be a Zaltule Minor Overlord. Both were
still unconscious and their suits had been removed as a precaution.

“There is still
some minor fighting in the city,” Commander Greer reported as he listened to
communications coming in from the surface. “I’m being told they should be
wrapping up that part of the operation within the next hour.”

Wade nodded as
he looked at the main viewscreen, which was showing a magnified view of the
spaceport. Much of the spaceport was still covered in smoke and a few of the
building were burning. He was pleased that it had been members of his brother’s
platoon who had captured the two Kleese. Even more important to him, both Beth
and Ryan were unharmed. He let out a deep breath and leaned back in his command
chair. They'd accomplished their mission. Two Kleese had been captured, the
Zaltule would shortly be eliminated on the planet below, and they had defeated
the Kleese warfleet. There was no doubt in Wade’s mind that now the Alliance would come into being. For the first time, Wade felt optimism for the future. They
now had a fighting chance against the Kleese.

Xatul looked
across the massive stone table at the other gathered Overlords. His
multifaceted eyes studied each of the nineteen individuals at the table,
weighing their strengths and liabilities. He knew his days as the Supreme
Overlord of the Kleese race might be numbered unless drastic action was taken.
Harmock was on his way back to the home world with his battered fleet and from
the messages he'd sent ahead, the Warrior Overlord was highly angry with the
Kleese Council of Overlords.

“Why were we
not told of these Humans earlier?” demanded Darthu the Zaltule Overlord, who
was also Harmock’s military science advisor. “How can a race of vermin do what
they have done to the Kleese race?”

“Many of the
Kleese in the outer regions of the Empire are weak and have failed in their
service to the Empire,” began Martule, fearing his life would soon be in
jeopardy. “They failed to deal adequately with the Humans when they first
appeared as a threat.”

“Excuses!”
spat Darthu, glaring at Overlord Martule and stamping his six feet upon the cold
stone floor of the council chambers. “All Kleese are born to serve our race and
to advance the Empire. We are the most powerful and intelligent race in the
galaxy. None should be able to stand up against our ships, let alone take a
trading station!”

Martule fell
silent, knowing there was nothing more he could say. All he could do was to
wait for more Zaltule to arrive, knowing at least one would challenge him for
his right to be on the Council of Overlords. There was no point attempting to
flee; the Zaltule would only hunt him down. He would stay, fight the duel, and
probably die.

“The Zaltule
have been asleep for over a thousand years,” stated Xatul evenly his eyes
focused directly on Darthu. “Much has changed in that time and the Empire has
grown. There has been no major threat to our race in all of those years.”

“Except the
Humans,” spoke Tintul, darkly. “The great Council of Overlords has failed the
Kleese race by allowing this inferior species to live after they stole one of
our trading stations. They should have been hunted down and annihilated to the
last member of their vermin species.”

“That was
attempted,” Xatul responded in a cold voice. He leaned forward, placing his
hands upon the surface of the table. “It would have been done except the Strell
attacked some of our worlds in the neutral zone and it became necessary to
awaken the Zaltule. Don’t make me come to regret that decision.”

“You dare to
threaten me?” challenged Tintul, rising up to his full height. “I am a Zaltule
and superior in battle to all but other members of my caste.”

Xatul nodded
at the two guards standing at the heavy wooden doors to the council chambers.
The doors immediately swung open, allowing half a dozen heavily armed Kleese in
Type Three battlesuits to enter. They quickly surrounded the four Zaltule
standing at the council table.

“What is
this?” demanded Darthu his eyes focusing sharply on the Supreme Overlord. “Why
have you summoned armed Kleese into our presence?”

“I will not
allow the Zaltule to dominate this council,” spoke Xatul in an authoritative
voice. “You Zaltule have dared to challenge my authority as Supreme Overlord of
the Kleese race. For that, you shall die.” Xatul nodded at the six Kleese in
battlesuits who drew their Energy Lances.

In moments,
three of the Zaltule lay upon the floor minus their heads, their life giving
blood spreading across the council chamber’s floor. Only Darthu remained
standing with an Energy Lance held against his throat.

Xatul strode
around the council table until he stood close to Darthu. “For now, you will be
allowed to live. Know full well that guards of my choosing protect the council
area. There are fifty exploration ships in orbit with their full complement of
assault ships. All are crewed by members of the Kleese race who are loyal to
me.”

“What are you
saying?” asked Darthu keenly aware of the deadly blade at his throat.

“Those of us
in this room directly control hundreds of explorations ships as well as
thousands of assault vessels,” explained Xatul. “We also control all of the
trading stations and have placed extra Kleese guards of our choosing upon every
one of them.”

“We do not
want to fight a civil war against other Kleese,” spoke Darthu as he thought
over what Xatul had said. “What are your demands?” He knew that while the Zaltule
had a powerful fleet, it would be difficult to defeat all of the exploration
ships and assault vessels the Council of Overlords had at its command.

“I will allow
the Zaltule to have four seats upon the council,” Xatul answered. “No more
Zaltule queens shall be awakened unless their lives are in danger due to the
sleeping disease in the chambers. The Zaltule will bring the nonaligned worlds
into the Empire and once that has been accomplished, will continue to expand
the Empire out into the galaxy. They will continue to serve as the warrior
caste under the command of the Council of Overlords.”

Darthu was
silent as he thought over what the Supreme Overlord was demanding. His actions
today indicated he had the strength and willpower to continue to rule the
Kleese race, at least for now. Sometime in the future, when the number of
Zaltule in the Empire had grown substantially, then would come the time to
challenge for control of the council, not now.

“Very well,”
Darthu answered. “I will pass on your demands to our Military Overlord and
recommend that he accept them.”

Xatul nodded
at the armed guard holding the Energy Lance to Darthu’s throat. The guard
withdrew the weapon, deactivating it and returning it to his waist.

“I will spare
your life,” Xatul said in a cold and hard voice. “Now leave us and send word to
Harmock of the changes on the council and that he is to send three other
Zaltule to fill in these empty Overlord positions.”

“It will be
done,” Darthu responded respectfully as he turned and left the chambers. He was
wise enough to know not to show any disrespect or his head would end up on the
council chamber’s floor.

“Remove these
bodies,” commanded Xatul to the guards. “We have additional council business to
conduct.”

Through all of
this Bixutl had remained silent. Xatul’s actions had changed everything. Now
every member of the Council of Overlords was committed to what he'd just
decreed. Bixutl knew that any aspirations he had of ever becoming the Supreme
Overlord of the Kleese race had just vanished.

-

General
Mitchell was meeting with General Pittman, Fleet Admiral Kelly, Colonel Nelson,
Marken, Gerald Lawson, and Hyram Blake in his office on Centerpoint Station.
They were discussing the recent operation in the Pradel System and the
establishing of the Alliance.

“Fourteen
worlds,” confirmed Hyram Blake with a tired smile. “All of them have pledged
mutual support and increased their ship building.”

“Seventh Fleet
is currently in the Lanolthian System and will remain there as the key element
in the new Alliance fleet being formed,” added Wade. The troop transport
Crimson Star had remained with Seventh Fleet to provide marine support if
needed. The Fire Fox and the Defender had returned to the solar system along
with one of the passenger liners.

“How large a
fleet will it be?” asked Fleet Admiral Kelly. He wished it wasn’t necessary to
keep Seventh Fleet in Alliance space, but he understood the importance of what
they were attempting to do.

“Each Alliance world has pledged two full squadrons for the fleet,” answered Hyram. “That’s two
hundred and eighty battlecruisers with new construction planned to eventually
bring the fleet up to five hundred ships.”

“That’s a
powerful force when added to Seventh Fleet,” commented General Pittman. “How
soon do we need to begin deploying marines?”

“The fourteen Alliance worlds have requested one thousand marines in Type Two or Type Three battlesuits
for each world,” answered Hyram his eyes shifting to General Pittman. They’ll
be stationed near the capital cities and the main spaceports.”

General
Mitchell was silent for a moment as he thought about the logistics of deploying
so many Space Marines away from the solar system and keeping them supplied;
then he looked over at Marken. “How long would it take to build two more Defender
class assault transports?”

“Eight months
if we can build them at Vesta,” answered Marken, promptly. “The first four of
the new battlecruisers will be done in three and a half months, and once
they’re completed we can concentrate on the two new troop assault ships. I’ll
have to speak with Ethan Hall and Sean Miller to confirm that.”

Mitchell
nodded. He knew that many Kivean technicians were currently working in the
large spacedock inside of Vesta on ship construction and other projects,
including the cloning program. They were also still in the process of upgrading
all of their current battlecruisers and light cruisers to handle the new
multiple warhead sublight antimatter missiles.

“What about
new weapons from the Talts and the Deltons?” asked Fleet Admiral Kelly. He knew
that Gerald Lawson had been meeting with representatives of the two races
trying to iron out the specifics of adding their weapons to the new
battlecruisers.

“We’ve worked
out the designs necessary to add the Talt plasma weapon to our new ships,”
confirmed Lawson, looking down at several sheets of paper on the table in front
of him. We’re also considering modifying the Delton energy beam weapons to use
them on our assault ships.”

“Why not on
our light cruisers and battlecruisers?” asked General Mitchell.

“Our particle
beam cannons are more effective,” answered Lawson. “However, on the assault
ships these new energy weapons will be just as powerful as the smaller particle
beams they’re currently equipped with and will nearly double their firepower.”

“We need a
different classification for these new battlecruisers,” commented Fleet Admiral
Kelly. “They’re twice the size of our regular battlecruisers.”

“Battleships?”
suggested General Pittman.

“How about
dreadnoughts?” added General Mitchell, looking thoughtful.

“Our Alliance worlds still call their ships battlecruisers,” commented Wade, looking around the
group. “A few of them have battlecruisers that are one thousand meters in
length.”

“How about
just heavy battlecruiser?” suggested Fleet Admiral Kelly. “It’s the simplest.
Perhaps someday we’ll build really massive ships that will be worthy of the
names battleships or dreadnoughts.”

“Sounds like a
winner to me,” commented General Mitchell with a nod. Then, turning toward
Marken, he asked another question. “How are our guests coming along?”

“Both the
Talts and the Deltons seem happy with what we’re doing for them,” Marken
responded. “Commander Pasha and Fleet Commander Achlyn have been very
forthcoming in offering whatever advanced technologies they have to help in the
war effort.”

“The Deltons
are a surprising species,” added Gerald Lawson with an enigmatic smile.
“They’re only about a meter in height with large eyes and they’re very slim.
They remind me of the little aliens we used to read about in UFO abduction
stories.”

“Which makes
the size of their warships surprising,” spoke Fleet Admiral Kelly. “Their
battlecruisers are seven hundred meters in length.”

“Their ships
are highly computerized,” Gerald Lawson informed the group. “I visited one the
other day and had to be careful walking down the corridors so I wouldn’t bump
my head. I was very impressed by the tech they use on their vessels.”

The meeting
continued for several more hours before Wade excused himself to go check on
Major Winfrey’s latest recruits. Marken joined him as he also wasn’t needed for
what the others were currently discussing.

“How’s
Harnett?” asked Wade as they walked through the station toward a nearby transit
tube.

“Glad to be
home,” Marken answered with a pleased smile. “President Randle’s wife had her
baby while we were gone and Harnett's been spending a lot of time at Vesta
pampering it.”

“Why don’t you
and Harnett have children?” Wade asked as they boarded a transit shuttle to
take them to the training dome.

Marken sighed
heavily and his narrow eyes took on a look of sadness. “The Kleese are very
strict about breeding on their stations,” he said in a forlorn voice. “They
decided that Harnett should not have any children so she was operated on to
ensure that would never happen.”

“I’m sorry,”
Wade said, wishing he had never asked the question.

“It’s okay,”
Marken said with a wry smile. “We’ve accepted that children are not in our
future. At least with all the families we rescued from Kivea there are a lot of
young ones inside the habitats. Their laughing and playfulness makes life much
more pleasant.”

The shuttle
came to a stop and the two exited, walking the short distance to the training
dome. Going inside, they were soon standing in the dome’s Command Center watching the latest batch of recruits on Charring Mountain.

“I heard
Ryan’s platoon captured two Zaltule,” spoke Major Winfrey as he turned his gaze
away from the viewscreens. The current trainees in Type Four battlesuits were
only halfway up the mountain and had already lost all but three of their
number, including their commanding officer.

“How’s our
current batch of recruits?” asked Wade. He'd been impressed with the reports he
had received of the Type Four suits in action. Beth had also spent some time
giving him her opinion of the new battlesuits.

“We just
graduated a second company and have started the training scenarios for the
third,” answered Dylan, gesturing toward the viewscreens.