Galactic Empire Wars: Rebellion (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 3) (27 page)

“Maybe there’s
something about a female clone we don’t know about,” suggested the other
slimmer man. “Maybe we should take her with us and find out.”

“I think you
need to leave,” Ryan said, stepping between Casey and the two men. Mary had
retreated back to where Lauren and Alexander were standing.

“Get out of
our way,” the large man demanded his eyes narrowing. “Let’s see what type of
woman you have there and if all the parts are like a real woman’s.”

Without
thinking, Ryan swung his fist at the smirking man’s face, connecting just below
the chin. The blow lifted the man up and he collapsed on the ground. His hand
went to his chin with a look of disbelief spreading across his face.

“The two of
you had better leave!” Lauren said, striding up with Mary and Alexander close
behind. “If you don’t, we’ll make sure you spend the next few months in the
hospital.”

The man
staggered to his feet and backed away. “Damn clone lovers,” he muttered as he
turned and left with his friend.

Ryan watched
the two men walk off and get into a ground vehicle, which sped away into Luna City. “Are you okay, Casey?” he asked his voice filled with concern as he turned to
look at her.

“I’m fine,”
Casey replied as she brushed some grass and dirt off her clothes. “I just
wasn’t expecting them to act that way.”

“This protest
against cloning is getting worse all the time,” Alexander stated with a frown.
“Just last week they had an actual riot at Mars Central and over a dozen people
were injured.”

“We need to be
cautious when we go out,” suggested Ryan, looking around at the group. Rios and
Swen had both landed and joined them.

“Maybe we
should begin wearing our uniforms when we’re on leave,” suggested Mary, still
looking shaken up from the ordeal. “Surely they wouldn’t bother someone in a
military uniform.”

“They might,”
Rios said with a disgusted look on his face. “I think Ryan is right; we should
go out as a group just for safety reasons.”

“Maybe this
clone thing will be settled by the time we return from our next deployment,”
added Ryan, hoping it was so. It seemed as if every week now, the
demonstrations against the cloning program were becoming more widespread. In a
way, he was glad their platoon was leaving on the Defender the following week
to go back to the Alliance.

“I hope so,”
Lauren said. “Let’s go get something to eat, I’m starving!”

-

Ryan was in
Major Steven’s office the next day taking an ass chewing. They'd returned from Luna City early that morning. He knew he deserved the griping out and remained silent as
the reaming continued.

“You hit a
civilian!” roared Stevens, shaking his head in anger. “He filed charges, and it
was all that I could do to get them dropped. What were you thinking, striking
the man?”

Mark looked at
Ryan, not expecting an answer. He'd already talked to the other marines that
had been there and fully understood what had happened. In many ways, he didn’t
blame Ryan for what he'd done; hell, he might have done the same thing if he
had been there. However, you couldn’t have military personnel going around
assaulting civilians even if the reason was justified.

“All of you
should have turned around and just left,” Mark said with an aggravated frown.
“You’re confined to base until we deploy next week.”

“Yes, Sir,”
responded Ryan, feeling embarrassed over the situation.

“Lieutenant
Nelson, do you have feelings for Corporal Hunter?”

Ryan hesitated
and then nodded. “Yes, Sir.” He knew there was no point hiding that fact from
the major.

Mark was
silent as he gazed thoughtfully at the young lieutenant. “In our new military,
the rules about fraternization have been markedly changed. If I see it begin to
affect the moral of the platoon I’ll have no choice but to transfer one of you
to another unit, do you understand, Lieutenant?”

“Yes, Sir,”
Ryan answered, not wanting either of them to be transferred. “It won’t
interfere with our duties, I promise that.”

“Very well,”
Mark said, leaning back in his chair and gazing at Lieutenant Nelson. “We
deploy next week and this time we’ll have two full companies of Space Marines
certified in the Type Four battlesuits. Is your platoon ready for this
mission?”

“Yes, Sir,”
Ryan responded. “We won’t let you down.”

“Make sure you
don’t,” Mark replied. “Now, go back to your platoon, I’m sure they’re all
curious as to what your punishment is. Tell them they’re fortunate that all of
them aren’t restricted to base.”

“Yes, Sir,”
Ryan responded as he stood up and saluted the major. He turned and quickly left
the office relieved he'd gotten off so easily. He knew it could have been much
worse.

Going back to
the barracks, he saw most of the platoon was gathered outside, standing around.
It was obvious they'd been keeping an eye on Major Steven’s office.

“What
happened?” Casey asked relieved to see Ryan still had his lieutenant stripes.

“Restricted to
base until we deploy,” he replied. Then, with a weak smile, he said. “It could
have been worse.”

“That bastard
had it coming,” stated Alexander, clenching his fist. “If you hadn’t hit him, I
would've!”

“We can’t let
civilians get to us,” spoke Ryan, shaking his head at Alexander. “I let that
happen and now I’m paying the consequences. If any of you go out on leave the
next few days, I would prefer to see at least a group of six to ensure nothing
gets out of hand.”

“We should
probably wear our military uniforms as well,” Lauren added. “It can’t hurt and
might keep some of the malcontents away from us.”

Everyone nodded
their heads and then turned and went inside the barracks. Ryan remained outside
with Casey, Lauren, and Alexander. “We deploy Monday,” he told them. “From what
Major Stevens told me we’ll be gone for at least four months.”

“Long
deployment,” Lauren said, nodding her head in thought. “I need to call my parents
and let them know I’ll be gone for a while.”

“I’m sure a lot
of us need to make some calls,” Ryan replied. He knew he needed to call his own
parents and Wade. He hoped Wade hadn’t heard about the ruckus with the
civilian.

“I’ll go tell
the rest of the platoon,” Casey said as she and Alexander turned and went into
the barracks.

“Ryan,” Lauren
said in a quieter voice. She'd gone to calling the lieutenant by his first name
whenever they were alone or in their small group. “You know that Casey is head
over heels in love with you, don’t you?”

Ryan was silent,
not knowing what to say. He knew his feelings for Casey were quite strong; it
was good to hear she felt the same way.

“Casey still has
a lot to learn about being Human,” Lauren said in a serious tone. “Love is a
very powerful emotion; make sure you don’t ever hurt her. If you do, I’ll make
what you did to that civilian seem amateurish.”

Ryan nodded as
Lauren spun about and went inside the barracks. He was glad she was around.
While Lauren might be a spitfire most of the time, she had a good head on her
shoulders and was becoming a good friend as well.

Major Stevens
was standing at his window watching the barracks. Tomorrow he had some
promotions to announce. Lieutenant Nelson’s platoon still needed some officers.
Inside his desk were three promotions. Corporal Hunter was being promoted to
sergeant and Privates Parker and Adams were both being promoted to corporal.
Turning away from the window, he went back to his desk. He wanted to call Sam
and let him know he would be out of touch for a while.

-

Harmock looked
at the tactical screen as the Warrior’s Fire dropped out of Fold Space. A full
thousand Zaltule battlecruisers were in the fleet he was taking to the Human’s
solar system. In four more weeks, they would be there and shortly afterward,
the Humans would be no more.

“The reserve
fleet should be two weeks behind us,” commented Minor Overlord Gareth.

“Five hundred
more ships,” Harmock said. “Once we have crushed the Humans and repaired our
battle damage, we’ll combine our fleet with the reserve and proceed immediately
to the nonaligned worlds which have joined this Alliance. I expect when they
hear we have annihilated the Humans they will capitulate very quickly. They'll
have no desire to meet our warships in combat.”

“The Zaltule are
the supreme warriors,” spoke Gareth, confidently. “We will show the Humans what
it means to truly fight the warrior caste.”

“Victory will be
ours,” agreed Harmock.

He knew once the
Humans and the Alliance were crushed, he needed to begin thinking about dealing
with the Council of Overlords. Xatul was now his greatest enemy in the Empire
and somehow would have to be eliminated. Perhaps it would be wise to allow
several more hatchings to occur. With the swelled numbers of new Zaltule, the
council wouldn’t dare refuse the demands of the warrior caste. Harmock knew it
was only a matter of time until he became the Supreme Overlord of the Kleese
race.

Mason Randle
was enjoying a restful day at home with his family. His wife Adrienne was
sitting on the couch holding their infant daughter and he was watching the
latest news on the vid screen. Mason was still adjusting to being a regular
person without any pressing obligations. For years, he'd made decisions, which determined
the survival of the Human race. Now that was over and he was going to enjoy his
semi-retirement. The biggest decision he had to make today was what type of
steak he was going to cook out on the grill.

“How’s Steward
doing as president?” asked Adrienne, shifting Lara over to her other arm. She
enjoyed being a mother and didn’t miss her old days of being the First Lady or
before that, Mason’s secretary. Her deep blue eyes focused on her husband as
she gently rocked back and forth.

“Great,”
replied Mason, turning off the vid screen. The news today was the same general
run of the mill stuff. “He’s settled right in and everything’s running fine. He
may not even need my advice.” Before he could say anything else, alarms started
sounding and warning sirens began going off in Smithfield.

“What’s
happening?” asked Adrienne, looking frightened and putting both arms
protectively around Lara.

Mason switched
the vid screen back on to see President Steward with a grave look on his face.
He felt a cold chill run down his back, recognizing the look.

“All habitats
are going to Condition One,” announced Steward in an even voice. “There is no
reason to panic. I am asking everyone to go to the emergency shelters and take
only one bag per person. A large Kleese fleet has entered the solar system and
is poised to attack. Our own forces are gathering to repel them, and we expect
to be fully successful in defending the solar system as well as all of the
habitats. We have several hours before the Kleese approach, so we have time for
an orderly evacuation to the shelters. Once again, I ask you to remain calm.
Marines in battlesuits are being deployed as a security measure. Don’t be
frightened at seeing them; they are there for your protection.”

Mason’s cell
phone started ringing and he knew instinctively who was going to be on the
other end. Picking it up, he said hello.

“Mason, this
is Drake. I’m in the Control Center and they want you down here; I’ve called
Pamela also. This looks as if it’s going to be a serious situation.”

“Give me a few
minutes,” replied Mason, drawing in a deep breath. He turned his phone off and
looked over at Adrienne, who was standing next to the couch with Lara. “Call
Susan and have her and the girls come over here; our shelter beneath the house
will be sufficient. Don’t come back out until you hear from me.”

“This is going
to be bad, isn’t it, Mason? Do you have to go?” She knew what the call had been
about. She wanted Mason to stay with her and Lara; after all, he was no longer
president.

“They need me,”
Mason answered with a deep sigh. “I’ve been through this before and Steward may
need my advice. I don’t know how bad it’s going to be, but I don’t think the
Kleese would attack unless they thought they had a reasonable chance of
success. Our defenses here at Vesta are the most powerful in the solar system,
I can’t see them getting inside and we have plenty of marines to defend the
habitats and the spacedock.”

“Be careful,
Mason,” Adrienne implored as she picked up her cell phone to call Susan. “We’ll
be waiting for you.”

-

Harmock gazed
at the tactical screen as the first long-range scans began to come back. He'd
studied the previous battles in this system and had already determined his two
main targets. The fourth planet had a large colony of Humans on it and the
stolen trading station was in orbit around the third.

“Designate the
trading station as our priority target and the fourth planet as the secondary
target,” Harmock ordered in a cold and impassionate voice. “Overlord Tetus will
command the fleet attacking the secondary target with three hundred warships.
The rest of the fleet will proceed and take possession of our trading station.”

“Our sensors
are detecting a large number of ships in the system,” Jalridd reported. “Both
Human and Delton.”

“So this is
where the Deltons fled,” commented Harmock his multifaceted eyes focusing on
Jalridd. “Then this is where they shall die. Once we have destroyed their
warships we shall hunt down every space vessel and search every world, moon,
and asteroid. When we leave, there will be nothing left living in this star
system.”

“Should we
advance in Fold Space?” asked Gareth, wanting to engage the Humans and Deltons
as quickly as possible. It was time to exterminate these vermin. He moved
closer to one of the command consoles, his six legs making clicking noises as
he stepped across the metal deck.

“No,” spoke
Harmock. “We shall advance slowly so as to give us time to study their
defenses. Even though this is a vermin race they have demonstrated they have
the ability to be very dangerous.”

The Kleese
fleet broke up into two sections with one heading for the fourth planet and the
other toward the trading station. As the two fleets advanced, sensors reached
out attempting to gather every bit of tactical information possible. Harmock
didn't intend to let these upstart Humans take his fleets by surprise.

-

General
Mitchell and General Pittman were in the Command Center of Centerpoint Station,
watching the Kleese battlecruisers. Their eyes widened as they saw the fleet
split in two.

“One fleet is
going to Mars and the other is coming toward us,” reported Lieutenant Bryan
Vail at the main sensor console.

“They seem
pretty confident,” commented General Pittman, shifting his gaze to General
Mitchell.

“They want
their trading station back,” Mitchell said his eyes narrowing sharply. “I want
all marines deployed in their battlesuits immediately. If they want the station
back, that suggests a boarding action. I also want all civilians moved to the
protected areas at the station’s center.” That area was the former Kleese
living quarters and had been converted into a set of heavily armored bunkers.
“Make the announcement all security doors will be sealed just prior to actual
combat.”

That should at
least slow the Kleese down as the heavily armored doors would be difficult to
get through. This was something Mitchell had added to Centerpoint. Originally,
the station had a number of emergency doors, which would close automatically to
prevent a loss of atmospheric pressure to the station. Those had been torn out
and heavy armored doors installed in their place.

“Lieutenant
Arnold, get Fleet Admiral Kelly on the com,” ordered Mitchell as he leaned back
in his command chair and gazed at the main tactical display. Hundreds of green
icons were vanishing. Those were passenger liners, cargo ships, and prospector
ships, which were cutting their power and going dark. Until the all clear was
sounded those ships would only be operating their life support systems and at
minimal power usage.

“I have Fleet
Admiral Kelly on the com,” Lieutenant Brenda Arnold reported from
Communications.

Mitchell
activated his com to speak to the Fleet Admiral. “It looks as if we have
visitors,” he said in a calm voice.

“We see them,”
Kelly answered. “It looks as if they’re dividing their fleet up into two
sections. From the looks of it, Mars and either the Moon or Centerpoint are the
targets.”

“I’m guessing
Centerpoint,” Mitchell responded in a grave voice. “President Steward has
already issued a Condition One proclamation for the entire system.”

“The Kleese
don’t seem to be in a big hurry,” added Kelly. “I would guess they want to
study our defenses as they come in.”

“Well, they
can’t detect the ion cannons until we power them up,” Mitchell said. “Every
habitat in the system is sitting inside a ring of those.”

“What about a
planet buster?” asked Kelly, worriedly. “Could they launch one?”

“We can
intercept it,” answered Mitchell, confidently. “From what the Kiveans have told
us a planet buster is too large to be fitted with a sublight drive. If they
launch one, we can shoot it down. That’s another reason we have so many energy
weapons installed to support the ion cannons. The ion cannons will take care of
long-range stuff as well as offense and the energy turrets will be used to
knock down any missiles. With the new computer system, the Kiveans have assured
us they can even take out a sublight missile if the launch range is great
enough.”

“I guess we’ll
find out,” Kelly replied. “Any orders as to the deployment of the fleet?”

“That’s up to
you,” Mitchell responded. “You’re the Fleet Admiral and I’ll defer to your
judgment as to deployment.”

“Then I guess
I'd better get to moving my fleets around,” Kelly responded. “Good luck,
General.”

“Good hunting,
Admiral,” Mitchell answered as he cut the connection.

“What about
Holbrook Station?” asked Colonel Angus Robertson. Robertson was the operations
officer and third in command of the station.

“Order it
evacuated except for military personnel,” Mitchell said with a frown. “If the
Kleese get in close enough, it probably won’t survive. I want the military
members of the crew in suits and ready to evacuate to the escape pods if
necessary. Also, begin launching all assault ships currently in the flight
bays; we’re going to need everything we have for this battle.”

-

Mason made it
to the Control Center just as Pamela did. As they stepped through the
reinforced armored hatch, they saw the room was a beehive of frantic activity.

“I was hoping
I wouldn’t have to experience this again,” spoke Pamela as she looked around.

“Mason,”
President Steward said, walking over and shaking the former president’s hand.
“I’m glad you’re here. I may need your advice.”

“What do we
have?”

“One thousand
Zaltule battlecruisers,” General Bailey answered from where he was standing
behind the military consoles. “Pamela, can you help get all the asteroid mining
operations shut down? Some of them aren’t cooperating very well.”

“I’ll get on
it,” Pamela said as she headed for the large communications console. “She knew
those miners felt safe in their asteroids, but for their protection they needed
to shut down and get inside their ships or secure facilities. Some would have
to have their brows beat to comply and she knew just how to do that.

“All the
liners and cargo ships have shut down,” Jessica Lang reported from the main
control console where she was sitting. “Even the Raven has gone silent.”

Mason nodded.
His sister’s husband, Michael Kirby, was in command of the Raven.

“We’re still
in the process of getting everyone into the secure bunkers,” Drake Thomason
added from where he was speaking over a com unit to the security personnel
responsible for the bunkers. “We need another hour to get everyone to safety.”

“We should
have that,” General Bailey said, gesturing toward the big tactical screen. “The
Kleese aren’t headed our way, at least not yet.”

“What about
the spacedock?” Mason asked. The spacedock was the primary entry to Smithfield and the other habitats. If they could hold the spacedock, it would deny the
Kleese entry to the habitats.

“I’ve got four
companies of Space Marines in Type Two and Three battlesuits already headed
that way,” Bailey responded. “At the moment, we’re keeping our weapons systems
on standby mode to avoid the Kleese detecting them. I don’t want them to
realize how heavily defended Vesta is or we could become a major target rather
quickly.”

Mason nodded
and took a deep breath. All they could do was prepare and watch the tactical
screen. From the safety of Vesta, they would observe the dueling fleets fight
for the survival of the Human race. Mason looked at the massive number of red
threat icons on the screen; he'd never seen anything like that before. There
was no way of knowing how this battle would end. He just hoped he would be able
to hold his infant daughter in his arms when it was over.

-

Over Mars,
Admiral Sanders and Second Fleet prepared to meet the oncoming Kleese warships.
On his right flank was Fourth Fleet commanded by Admiral Rivers and on his left
was Third Fleet commanded by Admiral Johnson. That gave him seventeen
battlecruisers, forty-eight light cruisers, and ninety-six assault ships to
stop a fleet of three hundred Zaltule warships. He saw only one real chance for
victory.

The Kleese
didn’t know about the improved shields or the multi warhead antimatter missiles
the battlecruisers and light cruisers were equipped with. He would meet the
enemy, fire one, possibly two volleys of missiles and then drop down closer to
the planet to allow the numerous ion cannons on the surface to fire upon the
Kleese fleet. That should even things up, or at least he hoped it would. He
just hoped the defensive energy turrets on the planet could cope with the
return fire.

“Contact
Governor Scott and inform him to make sure everyone is into the deep shelters,”
he ordered his communications officer. “This is going to get hairy for a while
and the surface may get hit.”

“Sending the
message,” the communications offered replied as he contacted Mars Central and
informed them of the admiral’s orders.

“Also, put me
in contact with General Sanchez, he needs to know what’s expected of the ion
cannons.”

Admiral
Sanders leaned back, contemplating his battle plan. The enemy just had too many
damn ships! They always seemed to have the numerical advantage. Well, this time
there would be some surprises, and if everything worked as he hoped the Kleese
attack would fail.

-

Fleet Admiral
Kelly looked at the tactical screen at his assembled fleets. He had First
Fleet, Fifth Fleet, Sixth Fleet, Eighth Fleet, and Ninth Fleet to defend the
Moon and Centerpoint Station. Overall, he had four heavy battlecruisers,
eighteen regular battlecruisers, seventy-two light cruisers, two hundred and
sixteen assault ships, and seventy-five Delton battlecruisers. There were also
another ninety-five assault ships protecting Centerpoint Station.