Galactic Empire Wars: Rebellion (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 3) (4 page)

“They won’t
last long at that kind of use,” warned Casey. It sounded to her as if Ryan was
getting desperate; she knew there was a lot of pressure on him due to who his
brother was. “We might get another two hundred meters up the slope if we’re
lucky.”

“That’s two hundred
meters closer to the top,” Ryan answered as he thought over his options. “Once
the energy weapons are drained of power, we’ll stop and see what our next
option needs to be.”

Corporal
Hunter quickly passed on the order and soon six powerful blue energy beams were
playing across the ground in front of them, tearing up the soil and cutting
down the large trees.  The surviving members of the platoon walked slowly
behind the soldiers with the energy weapons, their RG rifles held at the ready.
Whenever an energy beam struck an embedded weapon emplacement it would explode,
sending fire and smoke up into the air.

-

“Interesting,”
Wade said with a nod of approval. Ryan was using all of his resources to get
closer to his target.

“That young shit
head's going to make it yet,” muttered Dylan, shaking his head. “He’s come up
with some inventive methods to take out the weapon emplacements.”

“But not good
enough,” responded Wade, agreeing with Dylan’s assessment. “His energy weapons
will run out of power a good one hundred meters from the summit.”

Dylan grinned
wolfishly, his eyes glinting. “The closer he gets, the more overconfident he’ll
become. I have a special surprise waiting if he does indeed make it to the top
of Charring.”

-

Ryan watched disappointedly
as the last energy beam sputtered and then faded out. He guessed they were
still at least one hundred and fifty meters from the summit. There were fewer
trees this high up on Charring Mountain and he could plainly see the summit
beckoning as if mocking him. If he had to do this all over again, he would have
equipped his soldiers with more energy weapons. With a heavy sigh, Ryan knew
there was a good chance he might very well get that opportunity. No one had
ever made it to the summit on their first attempt.

He looked
around at the remaining ten soldiers in their battlesuits. Six of them showed
as wounded and could only move at half speed. “We’ll form four staggered lines
of three and charge the top,” he said at last, knowing the last line would only
have two in it. “Only one of us has to reach the reset button to win this scenario.”

“None of us
may make it to the top,” Corporal Hunter pointed out. She had no desire to be
hit by one of those powerful stunners. She could still remember how loudly
Private Parker had cried out when he had been hit.

“I know,” answered
Ryan, in a calm voice. “But no one expected us to make it this far. “Corporal
Hunter, you’ll be in the second group. Keep an eye on the slope in front of you;
the popups should target the first group. You have to take them out with your
remaining explosive rounds as quickly as possible. I’ll see you at the top.”

“You heard the
lieutenant,” bellowed Casey. “Form four lines and let’s get moving. The sooner
we reach the summit and press that button the sooner we can get off this damn mountain
and get some chow!”

Ryan watched
as Corporal Hunter formed up the remaining soldiers for the run at the summit.
From her actions, no one would know she had been grown inside a glass nutrient
case inside of Vesta. Casey acted perfectly human; she should after everything
she'd been exposed to at the Academy. Even today, six years after the
revelation of the cloning technology, many people still refused to accept the
clones as real people.

“We’re ready, Sir,”
Casey reported a few moments later.

“Let’s do this,
then,” Ryan ordered evenly as he looked at his remaining soldiers. “Go as fast
as we can and take out any weapon emplacements that pop up. It’s only one
hundred and fifty meters to the summit and victory.”

“Let’s go,” ordered
Casey, resolutely. She already felt as if a stunner had her in its sights. She
shuddered slightly as the first three battlesuits took off at a run. She waited
two seconds and then her group took off. They were quickly followed by the
rest.

Stunners and
RG cannons quickly opened up as they rose up out of the concealing ground. The
first line of battlesuits quickly fell, but the second line managed to take out
most of the weapons. They were nearly to the summit when even more weapons seemed
to pop up all around them. The charge faltered as they attempted to take out all
the weapons now firing at them. The battle grew more intense as some of the
soldiers ran out of explosive rounds and had to switch to RG rounds, which were
nearly ineffective against the popups.

Casey felt
several painful RG rounds strike her suit armor and her icon in her HUD turned
amber. She also felt her suit slow down as it registered the damage. A moment later,
she felt the stinging sensation of a stunner. She felt like her skin was on
fire and then her suit shut down as she fell face forward onto the rocky slope
to lie perfectly still. Ryan owes me for this, she thought as she fought
through the slowly fading pain.

Ryan saw Casey
go down and grimaced. They'd been friends throughout most of the four years at
the Academy and combat training, he knew she would make him pay for getting her
shot. Shaking his head, he turned back to the task at hand. The other soldier
with him had an undamaged battlesuit and both of them were sprinting toward the
summit. A soldier in a battlesuit could move faster than an Olympic sprinter,
much faster. Everyone in the lines ahead were down and Ryan and his other
soldier were firing desperately at the popups that kept on appearing. Ryan saw
his companion suddenly throw his metal arms up and collapse in pain as Ryan
leaped forward to land on the summit.

Everything
fell silent as Ryan looked around in amazement. There were no weapons in sight.
He'd made it! Looking around, he saw a large metal pedestal with a small pylon
on top of it about fifty meters away. On the pylon was a large red metal
button. All he had to do was stroll over and press it, and the scenario would
be over. He had won; his platoon had done the impossible on their first try!
They had conquered Charring Mountain!

As Ryan walked
over toward the pedestal four stunners suddenly rose up out of the ground in
front of him and blasted him in the chest. Ryan nearly passed out from the
intense pain. Should've known it wouldn’t be this easy, he thought as his
battlesuit struck the ground.

-

“Got him!” Dylan
gloated with a laugh as he watched Ryan fall so tantalizing close to the pylon,
which contained the red victory button. “No one beats Charring on their first
attempt.”

Wade nodded.
Charring Mountain wasn’t so much about victory as learning tactics and how to
use the weapons the suits were equipped with. It also demonstrated very plainly
that a battlesuit wasn’t invincible. Ryan’s platoon would be sore in the
morning, but today they'd learned a valuable lesson. Even so, Wade had been
very impressed by his younger brother. There was little doubt in Wade’s mind
that Ryan and most of his platoon would qualify for the special project they
had signed up for. He just hoped Ryan was ready for what waited in his future.

Colonel Wade
Nelson stepped aboard the five hundred-meter battlecruiser Constellation. He
was met by Commander Adamson as soon as he exited the small shuttle. Over the
last few years, the rank structure in the fleet had been changed and simplified
since on many operations there were both fleet personnel and marines involved
as well as individuals from nearly every branch of the military services that
had existed on Earth. For the fleet, the rank structure ran Fleet Admiral,
Admiral, Commander, Captain, Lieutenant, Ensign, Petty Officer (first and second
class), and Spaceman (first and second class). For the marines, the rank structure
ran General, Lieutenant General, Colonel, Major, Captain, First Lieutenant,
Second Lieutenant, Sergeant, Corporal, and Private.

“How was the
drill?” asked Adamson, knowing that Wade had gone on board Centerpoint to watch
his brother attempt Charring Mountain.

“As expected,”
Wade responded as the two began walking toward the ship’s Command Center. “Ryan actually made it to the top but was taken out by the stunners guarding the reset
pedestal. He did surprisingly well for his first attempt.”

“I’ve never
had to go through that drill,” Adamson spoke as they took a turbo lift to the
level where the Command Center was located. “Has anyone ever made it on their
first try?”

“No,” answered
Wade, shaking his head. “The drill is set up to make it impossible to make it
to the reset pedestal on the first or second attempt.”

“A no win
scenario,” mused Adamson. “Do the marines participating in the drill know
that?”

“No,” Wade
admitted. “The battlesuits are an awesome weapon for a marine to use. It makes
you feel invulnerable and capable of achieving almost anything. What we want
our recruits to understand is that while the suit greatly augments a marine’s
abilities, we’re going up against enemies who have the ability to neutralize or
destroy a battlesuit. Charring Mountain teaches them that.”

Commander
Adamson well understood that point. It was the same in the fleet; being in a
powerful warship made you feel invincible until the Kleese show up with one six
to ten times larger. Once that happens, your feeling of invincibility vanishes
very quickly and a sense of reality sets in.

The door of
the turbo lift opened and the two stepped out into the short corridor that led
to the Command Center. As they approached the hatch, two heavily armed marines
stepped forward to confirm their identities. After verifying who they were, one
of the marines stepped over to the heavy metal hatch and opened it. If this had
been a wartime situation, two marines in Type Two battlesuits would have been
guarding the hatch. The Constellation had numerous corridors wide and tall
enough to accommodate the battlesuits. All battlecruisers and light cruisers
did now, though it had meant some major modifications in their designs. It had
ensured boarders could be dispatched with a vengeance if it became necessary.

Once inside,
the two went to the central command console. Wade looked up at the main
viewscreen showing a view of space. Hundreds of unblinking stars were visible,
reminding him just how small the solar system was in the overall scheme of
things. On the main tactical screen, Wade could see the friendly green icons of
the rest of Second Fleet. It consisted of six battlecruisers, sixteen light
cruisers, and thirty-two assault ships. Currently, there were six fleets of
this size in the solar system. In addition, there were another four hundred of
the smaller, disk shaped assault ships scattered about the system on patrol or
protecting different habitats.

“I wonder how much
longer the Kleese-Strell war is going to last?” Adamson commented as he sat
down in his command chair. He knew the war between the two Galactic Empires had
kept the solar system safe from the Kleese for the last six years.

“Not much
longer, I’m afraid,” answered Wade with a look of worry on his face. “We’re
still sending out diplomatic missions to the nonaligned worlds warning them of
the Zaltule and the danger they represent to the galaxy.”

“Any success
in bringing them over to our side?”

“Not yet,” Wade
admitted in a frustrated voice. “Several have expanded their fleets and
increased planetary defenses, but they refuse to join with us against the
Kleese. They feel their neutrality agreements with the Kleese should keep them
safe, and they’re hesitant about doing anything that might risk invalidating
it.”

“What do you
think?” Adamson asked as the Constellation began moving away from the fleet. He
looked over at Wade, curious to hear his answer.

“I don’t think
the neutrality agreements will mean anything to these Zaltule.” Wade took a
deep breath and watched the viewscreen, which was now showing Centerpoint
Station. “I believe the Zaltule will attack the nonaligned worlds to gain their
resources and technology.”

“We could use
some of those worlds on our side,” Adamson said as he looked at the main
viewscreen. The station was visibly becoming smaller as the Constellation
accelerated away from it.

The station
was one hundred and twenty kilometers across and twenty-four kilometers thick.
It had been stolen from the Kleese and brought to the solar system. Without the
station, most of the surviving Humans on Earth would have perished. The station
had tremendous manufacturing capabilities as well as numerous ship construction
bays.

“The Zaltule
seem to have taken over the fighting for the Kleese Empire,” continued Wade. “They’re
more heartless and far more dangerous than the regular Kleese. I didn’t think
that was possible, but everything is pointing toward that being true.”

“Where did the
Zaltule come from?” asked Adamson, arching his eyebrow. He knew Marken had
mentioned that the Zaltule were a warrior caste from the Kleese past. Their
sudden reemergence was a mystery.

“We don’t
know,” answered Wade with a deep sigh. “I’ve spoken to Marken and he's
suggested the possibility that the Zaltule were in deep sleep somewhere in the
Empire. I just don’t know if I believe that; we’re talking about hundreds of
thousands, perhaps millions of this warrior caste.”

“It’s a
mystery,” conceded Adamson as he gave the order for the Constellation to leave
Second Fleet and head for Vesta. He wasn’t anxious to face the Zaltule anytime
soon.

As Wade watched,
the station began to rapidly dwindle in size as the Constellation began piling
on the acceleration with the ship’s sublight drive. The screen switched to a
view directly in front of the ship and for a moment, space seemed to shrink in
on itself as the ship’s Fold Space Drive was activated. The drive warped space
directly in front of the ship, making the distance between two points shrink.
The more power used to increase the warping effect, the faster a ship could
travel.

“What will
happen if the Zaltule attack the solar system in force?” Adamson asked as he
thought about the forces they had available. “Can we stop them?”

There had been
a massive buildup of the fleet using the construction facilities on Centerpoint
as well as those inside Vesta. In the last few years, thousands of Human clones
had joined the fleet to bring the crews up to their full complements.

“I don’t
know,” answered Wade, truthfully. He'd spent numerous sleepless nights worrying
over this. “We have the new ion cannons installed around all the habitats. We
still have a hidden base at Jornada as well as the two we discovered in China. It won’t be that easy for the Kleese to wipe us out.”

Wade still
recalled the stunned amazement everyone had felt when the Chinese had finally
broken radio silence and requested supplies for their two hidden survival
centers in Central China. Wade had gone down to visit the Chinese and tour
their bases. The two Chinese survival centers had been built into the sides of
several mountains in the Altun mountain range, which bordered the
Qaidam
Basin
. It was a sparsely
settled region and the Chinese had frantically used their military and civil
engineers to drill two large tunnels into the mountains and set up twin
survival centers after the Kleese missile had set off volcanoes and earthquakes
across the globe. Each center, when finished, was capable of supporting 120,000
survivors and had supplies for three years. It was only when their supplies had
run dangerously low that the Chinese had finally asked for help.

The
Chinese had been made the offer of having a new habitat built in one of the
asteroids but turned it down. They preferred to stay in their homeland,
convinced that someday they would emerge and build a new China. A few Chinese had traveled to Centerpoint and even set up a diplomatic office there. Other
than that, the Chinese were staying to themselves.

“I guess we’ll
see when they finally attack,” Adamson replied as he leaned back and looked around
the Command Center. “I understand President Randle is going to retire at the
end of his current term.”

“It looks that
way,” answered Wade. “The Federated Assembly has settled down and seems to be
doing a good job representing the different habitats. The twelve members of the
Federated Council are responsible men and women and have reached the point where
they can be trusted to begin running things. President Randle has already
turned a lot of the day to day operations of the government over to the council.”

“Things will
sure be different without President Randle leading us.”

Wade nodded.
He stood silently watching the main viewscreen, knowing they would be at Vesta
shortly. Beth and he had been married four years back and both had elected to
stay in the military. They'd decided not to have children right away, at least
not until they knew how the conflict with the Kleese was going to turn out. He
was also a little nervous about Ryan becoming a Space Marine. The new program
Ryan had volunteered for did involve the new Type Four battlesuits. If and when
the Kleese returned, Wade feared Ryan would be right in the middle of the most
dangerous fighting. It was going to take him a while to get used to that
thought.

-

Ryan was in
the large food court in the center of Centerpoint Station. Over the last few
years, it had been expanded and now almost anything one wanted could be found.
There were even rumors of a black market operation where illegal pleasures and
items could be purchased for the right price. There were nearly three hundred
thousand Humans on the massive station. Many were part of the crew and others
were a mixture of military, civilians, and a few entrepreneurs who were
providing services for the station.

“You owe me
for getting shot yesterday,” Casey informed
Ryan as they walked through the court taking in the sights. “How about Chinese
food for a change?” The different aromas of cooking food present in the food
court were making her feel ravenous. She also enjoyed spending time with Ryan
as they'd been close friends for years.

Ryan let out a
loud sigh. He and Casey had been friends since the early days of the Academy.
He could still remember how innocent and naive she had been at first,
particularly the first year or two. That was why all the clones spent their
first two years of life inside Vesta under close supervision. It took them a while
to assimilate how Humans interacted with one another and to be able to handle
their emotions. Even now, on occasion, he had to explain things to Casey.

“There’s a new
one over there,” she said, pointing excitedly. One of the things Casey enjoyed
the most was trying out different styles of food. Only recently had she discovered
Chinese, and she'd fallen in love with the different tastes and aromas.

Ryan nodded
and they threaded their way through the crowd to the small restaurant Casey had
spotted. She was right, this was a new one; it hadn’t been here a few weeks
back. Ryan liked the wide-open spaces of the food court. There were tables
scattered about where one could sit and take his or her time eating. People came
here from all of the different habitats; many came to the station to trade or
pick up supplies. Numerous small cargo ships now traveled from habitat to
habitat delivering products and other items necessary to make life inside the
habitats as comfortable as possible.

Reaching the restaurant,
they took a seat at a table along one wall where they had a little more
privacy. Ryan watched with interest as Casey examined the menu critically for a
food item she hadn’t tried before. She was always wanting to try something new.

“This looks
interesting,” Casey said, pointing to the sweet and sour chicken on the menu.
“I think I’ll try that.”

They waited
for several moments and Ryan was starting to get a little impatient. He noticed
the server who'd given them their menus wait on several other tables, taking
their orders. That was strange, as Ryan and Casey had been seated a few minutes
before these others.

As the server
passed by their table, Ryan reached out and gently tapped his arm. “We’re ready
to order.”

“One moment,”
the server replied before turning and rushing to the back of the restaurant to
vanish through a door leading to the kitchen.

Ryan watched
curiously as a larger man stepped through, followed by the server who was
pointing toward their table.

“What’s going
on?” asked Casey, looking with confusion at Ryan. “Why won’t they take our
order?” She'd noticed how the server had been pointedly ignoring them but had been
hesitant to mention it. There were still so many things about Humans she didn’t
fully understand. That was one reason she liked the military as it was a more
structured environment with rules and regulations.

The large man
stepped up next to their table and stared at Ryan with a narrow look in his
eyes. “I’m the manager. I’m sorry, but we don’t have any food for you.”