Galactic Empire Wars: Rebellion (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 3) (32 page)

“Tactical,
ready the main particle beam cannon,” ordered Kurt, seeing the increased
activity in the command crew as they prepared for combat. “Lock on the enemy’s
nearest capital ship and fire as soon as you have a confirmed firing solution.”
The cannon could only be fired once every forty seconds due to heat buildup, so
they needed to make every shot count.

“Jump!”
ordered Captain Randson his hands gripping the armrests on his command chair.

-

 High
Profiteer Creed stood in the Control Room of the pirate ship Ascendant
Destruction. He was bipedal and slightly taller than a human. His skin was a light
blue color with coarse white hair on his head. His face, while humanoid, had
larger than normal eyes. The last few days had been quiet as he waited for the
return of the rest of his ships. They were escorting a large fleet of ships to
carry detainees as well as heavy cargo ships.

“We’ll make
huge profits from this planet,” gloated Second Profiteer Lantz as he gazed at
the main viewscreen on the front wall of the Control Room and the blue-white
planet beneath them. “Their people will sell well in the slave markets on
Kubitz.”

“Their world
is rich in many things that will bring us great profits on the black markets,”
added Creed, recalling his last trip to the bustling black market world of
Kubitz as he folded his powerful arms across his chest.

Hundreds of
alien races could be found on Kubitz either selling or buying, some of it
openly and some done in the back rooms of the pleasure palaces. It was also a
very dangerous place for someone unfamiliar with the workings of the black
market system. People were known to vanish quite routinely and the local
authorities always seemed to look the other way.

“We were
fortunate to find this world in these backwater systems,” Lantz spoke as he
thought greedily about the five percent profits he would receive as his share.
“There have been few ships which have ventured out into these areas where the
stars are so far apart.”

“We can thank
the Kreel for that,” Creed said. “Several of their cargo ships have reported
unknown ships appearing on their satellite marker buoys in a number of systems
they have laid claim to. It wasn’t difficult for the computers on Marsten to
correlate the data and extrapolate the most likely location of those ships’
home world.” It hadn’t been quite that simple. The computers had given them an
area of space nearly thirty light years across, which had contained quite a few
stars, even in this sparse region. It had taken the Profiteer Fleet two weeks
to finally pin down the system they were seeking.

Lantz nodded
in agreement. Marsten was the capital of the Gothan Empire, which was a loose
Federation of one hundred and eighteen star systems that routinely raided many
of the civilized races of the galaxy. It was a dangerous living, but the huge
rewards from the bounty they collected more than offset the danger. Lantz was
already thinking about how he would spend some of his share in the pleasure
houses upon Kubitz. Any type of pleasure one desired could be bought for the
right price.

“It is good we
found this system when we did,” Lantz spoke with a nod of his head. “They had a
sizable fleet and in a few more years would have been too powerful to overwhelm
without major losses. Even now, they are hesitant about obeying our demands,
despite us having destroyed their cities. More examples might need to be made.”

Before Creed
could reply, warning klaxons began sounding and red lights started flashing in
the Control Room. His eyes instantly went to the sensor operator.

“We have ships
exiting hyperspace,” reported Third Profiteer Bixt as red threat icons began appearing
on the sensor screen in front of him. Then, after a moment, he looked at First
Profiteer Creed with astonishment on his face. “They’re human!”

-

Admiral
Vickers felt the familiar gut wrenching feeling as the Star Cross dropped out
of hyperspace within close proximity to its intended target. The tactical
screen quickly updated, showing the alien ships in orbit around Earth.

“Target lock!”
yelled Lieutenant Evelyn Mays as green lights flashed on her console. “Firing
particle beam cannon.” She reached forward and pressed several buttons in front
of her, activating the deadly weapon. Beside her, two ensigns were targeting
the ships’ KEW batteries and preparing to fire the ships’ missiles.

From the Star
Cross, a deep blue beam flashed across space smashing into the enemy
battlecruiser they'd targeted. The cruiser was still in the process of raising
its defensive energy screen, which failed to stop the beam. A massive explosion
tore into the cruiser, leaving a gaping hole forty feet across in its hull and blasting
a huge fragment off into space. The ship seemed to stagger as valuable systems
inside were compromised and went down. Several secondary explosions rattled the
ship, sending waves of fire through shattered compartments and corridors.
Frightened crewmembers slammed bulkheads shut, trying to stop the growing
destruction.

From the bow
of the Star Cross, the two KEW cannons fired, sending a pair of two thousand
pound rounds toward the reeling enemy cruiser at ten percent the speed of
light. They impacted the alien ship, tearing completely through it and setting
off secondary explosions. The energy generated was like twin nuclear explosions
going off. With a brilliant flash the battlecruiser exploded, sending debris in
all directions.

“Enemy
battlecruiser is down!” Lieutenant Brooks reported excitedly as the red threat
icon swelled on the sensor screen and then vanished.

“We caught
them before they could raise their shields,” spoke Captain Randson, jubilantly.
“We’ve got them in the same position they caught our fleet in when they
attacked Earth.”

“Switch to
secondary target,” Kurt ordered as he intently watched the tactical screen,
seeing what success his other ships were having.

“The enemy
battlecruiser the Hampton was targeting is down,” reported Brooks elatedly as
she saw another red icon vanished from her screen.”

“Vindication
is jumping in!” added Captain Randson as he saw more green icons beginning to
appear on the tactical screen.

-

First
Profiteer Creed picked himself up from the deck, looking around the Control Center in anger. “What’s happening?” he demanded as his eyes shifted to the ship’s
tactical screen. He could see numerous red threat icons appearing close to his
ships. Too close!

“It’s a human
fleet and they’re attacking,” reported Second Profiteer Lantz, breathlessly.
“We’ve already lost the Warriors Pride and the Addax. The enemy is using a
powerful particle beam against us as well as kinetics.”

“Particle
beams and kinetics!” roared Creed in disbelief his eyes growing wide.

He knew that for
most warships particle beams were impractical as they required a tremendous
amount of energy and needed a long cool down time between firings. Most Gothan
ships were armed with ion cannons and missiles, which were cheap and efficient.
Kinetics were a thing of the past and had been given up to be replaced by more
modern weapons.

“One of the
new arrivals is a carrier of some kind,” Third Profiteer Bixt warned, feeling
worried. “It’s launching smaller warships toward us.”

“We’ve lost
four of our escorts,” spoke Lantz, seeing the ships drop off the tactical
screen. He groaned, seeing his profits from this venture rapidly dissipating.
His fantasies of the pleasure houses were rapidly fading. “All of our ships
have their shields up and are returning fire, but I fear we’ve already lost too
much. The Glimmer Fire is reporting heavy damage and they’re asking to
withdraw.” The Glimmer Fire was their only other remaining battlecruiser.

Creed looked
at the viewscreen showing numerous explosions in space. He could even see the
path of a few beam weapons. “Order all ships to jump!” he grated out, knowing
he had no other choice but to withdraw or be destroyed.

They were in
this for profit, not to lose expensive ships. He would return to Marsten and
come back with a much more powerful fleet. This planet was too rich to allow a
single human fleet to keep them from it. The humans could have the planet back
for now, but he would return with a far larger force and take it back. He would
also have to contact the detainee and cargo ships and have them return to the
Marsten system.

-

“Destroyer
Brant is down,” Lieutenant Brooks reported grimly as the friendly green icon
representing the small destroyer vanished from the screen.

“We’ve taken
out two of their light units,” Captain Randson added as two more red icons fell
off the tactical screen. He began to breathe a little easier. At this rate,
they would win the battle and then as soon as possible, he intended to take a
shuttle down to Houston and evacuate his family. He knew others would be doing
the same thing.

“Enemy ships
are showing an energy spike,” Lieutenant Brooks informed them as one of her
sensors indicated a rapid buildup of energy emissions from the alien ships.
“They’re activating their hyperdrives.”

Kurt switched
his gaze to one of the large viewscreens just in time to see one of the two
remaining enemy battlecruisers jump away. On the tactical screen, other red
threat icons were also vanishing.

“Their last
heavy is too damaged to jump,” Brooks reported as the enemy ship turned toward
them with its weapons firing. “They’re attacking!”

Kurt felt the
Star Cross shudder slightly as an energy beam struck the ship’s energy screen.

“We’re being
hit by some type of ion beam,” Lieutenant Brooks reported as she looked at the
data on one of her sensor screens.

“The shield is
holding at eighty-four percent,” Captain Randson said as he quickly checked the
status of the ship’s energy shield.

“Particle beam
is recharged,” Lieutenant Mays spoke as she targeted the alien battlecruiser. “Firing!”

The deep blue
particle beam smashed into the enemy ship, flashing right through its weakened
defensive energy screen. A huge hole was blasted into its bow and the ship
seemed to lose all power. Two KEW rounds from the Star Crosses bow cannons plowed
into the Glimmer Fire, traveling nearly its entire length, and then the ship
detonated in a blaze of light as too many vital systems were destroyed.

“All enemy
ships have either jumped out or have been destroyed,” reported Lieutenant
Brooks, breathing a sigh of relief. “We have control of Earth orbital space.”

Kurt nodded,
allowing himself to relax. The battle had gone better than expected. “Get me
Captain Watkins. I’m going to have the Vindication check out the shipyard; they
may need their marines to secure it.” Kurt turned his attention back toward one
of the viewscreens showing Earth.

“Now let’s see
if we can contact someone down on the surface and find out just what in the
hell is going on.”

-

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