Galactic Empire Wars: Rebellion (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 3) (14 page)

“What’s our
assignment, Sir?” asked Ryan as he picked up several RG mags. He slammed a
fresh one into his rifle and placed a spare in the holder in his armor. He took
down his Energy Lance and attached it to his suit, seeing a light flash on in
his HUD indicating it was connected to the suit’s power supply and ready for
use.

“The Command Center,” Major Stevens informed him. “Take your platoon and guard the two adjoining
corridors as well as the main one that runs directly in front of the hatch. I
want four of your best people on guard ensuring there is no unauthorized
admittance to the Command Center until this crisis is over.”

A few moments
later, Ryan saw that everyone in his platoon was properly armed. “Let’s move it,
people,” he commanded as he set out toward the main hatch to the training dome.

Casey fell in
line behind Ryan and noticed Captain Taylor and Sergeant Morris were bringing
up the rear. If they were going, this was indeed a serious situation. Casey
could feel her heart hammering in her chest; she just hoped she didn’t
disappoint Ryan.

-

General Mitchell
was inside the Command Center pacing in front of the main viewscreens. He
glanced up impatiently at the large tactical screen, seeing Second Fleet
beginning to pull away from Mars and heading out toward the four inbound
unknowns.

“Admiral
Sanders reports he’s twenty minutes away from rendezvous with the unknowns,”
reported General Pittman, who was sitting behind the command console on the
Command Pedestal. “There have been no attempts at communication from them.”

“Fleet Admiral
Kelly has placed First Fleet at Condition One and is moving it out past the
Moon in case the unknowns get past Admiral Sanders.”

“Sir,” interrupted
Captain Jennifer Owens. “I have Skagern on the com and he says it’s urgent that
he speaks with you.”

“Put him on,”
Mitchell said, cocking his eyebrow. Skagern was a Kivean and Marken’s second in
command. He wondered if this involved the unknown ships.

“General
Mitchell,” Skagern began in an excited voice. “We've made contact with the four
unknown ships that have dropped out of Fold Space near Mars. They are Taltian
and are requesting asylum. Their commander has told us that the Zaltule have
conquered their system and destroyed their fleet.”

“Is that a nonaligned
world?” asked Mitchell his eyes widening at the ramifications if the Kleese
were already attacking nonaligned systems. The name didn’t sound familiar.

“Yes,” Skagern
replied. “It’s very near the center of the Kleese Empire and is one of the
oldest nonaligned worlds. Their commander has said that if you accept his request
for asylum he is willing to provide you with some valuable military
technology.”

“What types of
ships does he have with him?” Mitchell asked as a viewscreen suddenly began
showing two spindle-shaped vessels and two additional ones that were bulkier and
looked more like cargo or passenger ships. The transmission was coming from an
orbiting Mars satellite.

“Two warships
and two passenger ships,” Skagern answered and then continued in an earnest
voice. “Their commander has described a plasma weapon which is capable of destroying
Zaltule warships as well as a highly advanced sublight drive. I plead with you
to offer them asylum. This could go a long way in convincing the other nonaligned
worlds to join our cause.”

“Inform their
commander to lower their ships’ energy shields and depower their weapons,”
General Mitchell stated in a firm voice. “Once we have confirmed that has been
done, Admiral Sanders will establish contact and we will proceed from there.
Inform them that I am sending out a civilian negotiating team to discuss
possible asylum.”

“Immediately,”
Skagern responded in a calmer voice. “This could be the break we need to form
the Alliance.”

Mitchell
turned to General Pittman. “Contact President Randle and apprise him of the
situation. We’ll dispatch a battlecruiser to pick up the negotiating team and I
want you to go along to represent the military. Also, pick up Gerald Lawson on
your way. He’s a military weapons specialist and can verify if what these Taltians’
claim about this plasma weapon is true or not.”

“Yes, Sir,”
Pittman replied as he stood up and prepared to leave the Command Center.

Mitchell
shifted his gaze back to the viewscreen showing the spindle-shaped ships. He
let out a heavy sigh of relief, knowing that most likely combat had been avoided.
He was curious to meet the Talts and find out just what type of allies they
would be as well as what had happened to their world.

-

Commander
Pasha allowed himself to relax once the Kiveans confirmed that the Humans were
willing to talk and would probably grant them asylum. The Kiveans had even gone
on to say that once the Humans agreed they would be willing to help the Talts construct
a habitat that would be acceptable to their race.

“The Human
fleet has stopped its advance,” reported Sub Commander Kith. “Their admiral has
requested we remain at this position until their negotiators arrive. He's also
asked if there is anything we require in the way of aid.”

“We have the results
from the long-range scans,” reported the ship’s sensor operator. “Their world
has been destroyed by the Kleese as we'd heard, however, it seems they have
spread out across the system. That red planet ahead has a large population. We’re
detecting what appear to be ion cannons on the surface.”

“Ion cannons?”
Commander Pasha uttered in shock, his large yellow eyes growing wide. “That’s
very advanced indeed.” His own race had experimented with ion cannons but could
never find a sufficient power source to make them a practical weapon. He hoped
he would be given the opportunity in the future to inspect one of the cannons.

“As rumored,
there is also a Kleese trading station in orbit between the Human’s home world
and its moon,” added Kith. “The moon is very large and has numerous artificial
habitats on its surface. There’s also a tremendous amount of ship traffic in
the system. Many of the ships we’re detecting appear to be civilian, but a
large number are definitely military.”

“Then let us
hope they grant us asylum and are an honorable people,” Pasha replied his eyes
shifting to his second in command. The survival of his people now rested with
these mysterious Humans.

Counting the
two passenger liners and both his warships, he'd brought five thousand Taltians
to this system. He hoped it was enough to begin their civilization anew since
he strongly suspected he would never see the Talt home world again.

-

President
Mason Randal stood in the Control Center inside Vesta, gazing in deep thought
at the viewscreen showing one of the Talt spindle-shaped battlecruisers. He'd
spoken to General Pittman earlier and an assault ship with several civilian
negotiators was already on its way to meet the inbound battlecruiser.

“Skagern said
the Talts are a humanoid species,” uttered General Bailey with a skeptical look
upon his face.

“He told me
the same thing,” replied Mason, folding his arms across his chest as he gazed
speculatively at the spindle ships. “We know from what the Kiveans have told us
there are a lot of different species out in the galaxy. Don’t forget the Kleese
are similar to tarantulas except for their upper body.”

“Do our
negotiators know what they’re getting into?”

“Yes,”
answered Mason. “Fortunately Skagern found several Kiveans who've had past
dealings with the Talts and two of them volunteered to accompany our
negotiators.”

“I wonder how
much more of this we’ll see as the Zaltule attack additional unaligned worlds?”
questioned Bailey. “We may need to set up a special department to deal with
alien refugees.”

“It’s a
possibility,” admitted Mason as he thought about the ramifications of allowing
even more alien species into the solar system. He wasn’t sure how the general
public would feel about that, particularly considering how they felt about the
clones.

“How’s
Adrienne doing?’ asked Bailey, knowing she was in the last stages of pregnancy.

“Miserable,”
answered Mason with a tired smile. He'd never known women could be so demanding
until his wife became pregnant. Between the cravings and requests for backrubs,
it had been a wonderful and trying experience so far.

“It will be a much
different world that our children grow up in,” Bailey commented as his eyes
shifted back to the viewscreen. “There may come a day when alien races are quite
common in our solar system.”

“If the Alliance pans out, that’s a good possibility,” spoke Mason, wondering what his child’s life
was going to be like. Would their daughter be going to school with children
whose parents had lived beneath other stars? Only time would tell.

Wade let out a
deep breath of frustration as he stepped aboard the shuttle that would take him
back up to the Distant Star in high orbit around the nonaligned world of
Lanolth. Lanolth was very similar to what Earth once was, with large oceans,
white ice caps on the poles, and a warm to hot equatorial zone. It was also heavily
populated with a population of nearly five billion. Lanolth was the fourth
planet out from the system’s sun with two small moons orbiting it. Both of the
rocky moons had large habitats sprawling across their surfaces where another
two hundred million Lanolthians lived and worked. There were twelve planets in
the system and numerous mining and scientific posts existed on almost all of
them.

As Wade sat
down, he looked across at Hyram Blake, the chief negotiator, who was based on
the large passenger liner. “How can they be so stubborn?” he asked, shaking his
head in disbelief. “Don’t they know if they do nothing, the Kleese will come to
this system and put obedience collars around their necks?”

“They know,”
Hyram answered with a tired smile. He'd spent many long hours in negotiations
with the Lanolthians. “They want an Alliance; the problem is the civilian
population is so used to centuries of peace with the Kleese that the idea of
actually going to war with them is nearly incomprehensible.”

“What are we
going to do?” inquired Wade, feeling that they were at a stalemate. “We need
this Alliance if we want to fight the Kleese.”

“There are
some things going on behind the scenes,” Hyram confessed in a quieter voice.
“The Lanolthians have been secretly increasing the size of their fleet and
nearly every one of their major cities sits inside a ring of ion cannons. The
Kleese would have a very difficult time taking the planet.”

“What!” Wade
exclaimed his eyes widening in disbelief. “I didn’t see any signs of ion cannons.”

He had visited
several of the Lanolthians' major cities while down on the planet’s surface.
Their architecture was amazing and all of their buildings had a simple,
aesthetic beauty. At no time had he seen any evidence of defensive or offensive
weapons; an ion cannon wasn’t something easy to conceal.

“They’re well
hidden,” answered Hyram. “From what we’ve been able to gather from our research
into the flash drive given to us by the nonaligned worlds, Lanolth is where the
designs for the ion cannons came from. It was also one of their ships which
left the message in our solar system about the impending Kleese attack six
years ago.”

Wade leaned
back and shook his head, not quite understanding what he was hearing. “Are you
telling me the Lanolthian government has been preparing for war against the
Kleese in secret and keeping it from their people?”

“Precisely,”
Hyram answered with a nod. He reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket
and pulled out a set of papers, which he handed to Wade. “This document has
been signed by the Lanolthian ruling council, and they have agreed to join the Alliance on the day the Kleese attack any nonaligned world within five hundred light years
of Lanolth.”

Wade took the
document and looking through it, saw in amazement that it was indeed signed.
“Then we have the first member of the Alliance,” he spoke in awe his eyes
lighting up at the ramifications.

“It’s much
more than that,” continued Hyram, drawing in a sharp breath. “From what the
Lanolthian leaders have told me, there were six more worlds, plus the
Lanolthians, responsible for the information on the flash drive. They have
assured me that the other six will become part of the Alliance once the Kleese
attack. Not only that, but all six have been preparing in secret for that day
once they heard about the Zaltule attack upon the Strell. Most have doubled the
size of their defensive fleets, though many of the new ships are hidden inside
construction bays or deep within secret asteroid bases. They were fearful that
if the Kleese discovered the buildup it would cause the neutrality agreements
they'd all signed to become void immediately.”

“Seven star
systems will be a significant boost in forming the Alliance, but we need more,”
responded Wade, handing the document back to Hyram, who placed it securely back
inside his suit pocket.

“I know,”
Hyram said, leaning back and staring at Wade. “Much of the discussions my team
and I've had with the Lanolthian ruling council have been about other
nonaligned worlds that might rally to our cause when the Kleese reveal their
true intentions. The Lanolthians have given us a list of fourteen more worlds
they feel might come into the Alliance with the proper inducements.”

“What kind of
inducements?”

“The
Lanolthian Council feels if we offer those worlds ion cannons for defense it
will go a long way to bringing them over to our side. They have agreed to
supply the designs for a basic cannon if we agree.”

“You said
inducements,” Wade pointed out suspiciously. “What else do they want?”

“Space Marines,”
Hyram spoke in an even voice his eyes seeking out Wade’s. “All of these worlds
can fight from a spacecraft where computers control the weapons, but
hand-to-hand combat against the Kleese, particularly the Zaltule, is beyond
them. We would need to offer to provide sufficient numbers of Space Marines in
Type Two or Type Three battlesuits to handle any physical invasion of these
worlds.”

“I suppose the
Lanolthians and the other six nonaligned worlds involved with the flash drive
want Space Marines also?” asked Wade.

“Yes,”
responded Hyram, letting out a deep breath. He cocked his eyebrow and glanced
out the viewport next to him. The shuttle was already out of the planet’s
atmosphere and well on its way back to the Distant Star. Then he shifted his
eyes back to Wade. “Can we do that?”

“I don’t
know,” answered Wade, truthfully. “I would need to speak to General Mitchell as
well as President Randle. “It might be necessary for us to expand the clone
program to get the necessary numbers.”

“How many
could we deploy immediately if it becomes necessary?” asked Hyram. “It may be
what makes or breaks the Alliance.”

Wade was
silent for a moment as he ran the numbers through his head. “We have forty
thousand Space Marines currently in our solar system,” he answered, pursing his
lips in thought. “We could possibly deploy twenty thousand of them to the Alliance without compromising our own security.”

Hyram nodded,
his eyes narrowing slightly. “I hope that’s enough.”

“It'd better
be,” Wade said, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back in his seat
as he mulled over all this implied. “It will take a while to train more.”

“We may need
to provide a demonstration of our ability to fight the Zaltule on the ground,”
added Hyram, worriedly. The Lanolthians had indicated the other races would
want proof that the Humans could defeat the Zaltule in combat.

Wade closed
his eyes in consternation as he realized what Hyram was suggesting. There was
only one group of Space Marines being trained to fight the Zaltule in armed combat,
and that was Major Steven’s Space Marine company, of which Ryan was a member.
With a cold chill, Wade wished he'd spent more time trying to talk Ryan out of
becoming a Space Marine. Now his brother might be going into battle with an
enemy, which was more frightening than most could imagine. How was he ever
going to explain this to his parents?

-

Beth looked
over at Harnett and sighed heavily. “You want to add medical nanites to the
Type Three battlesuits to handle extreme injuries?”

“Yes,” replied
Harnett, nodding her head. She was Marken’s lifemate as well as a highly
trained physician. “They would be injected in the same manner as the other
medicines the suits are capable of providing.”

“What to you
think, Marken?” asked Beth, looking over at the other Kivean. She had witnessed
just how powerful the nanites were at healing severe wounds. Punctured skin and
contusions could heal in just minutes and bones could be mended at astonishing
speeds.

“It will be
simple enough to add to the suits,” Marken answered with a thoughtful look in
his eyes. “It'll take some minor programming of the suit’s central computer and
some small modifications, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.”

“If a marine
gets severely injured in a battle, this will give them a much better chance to
survive,” Harnett spoke her voice sounding hopeful. “We could save lives with
this technology.”

“How long
would it take to modify the suits?” Beth asked. The medical nanites had always
made her a little bit nervous. Having microscopic robots injected into one’s
blood system gave her a cold chill, but she understood the necessity.

“A technician
could modify a suit in less than an hour,” Marken replied.

“Alright, I’ll
agree to a trial,” Beth said after a moment. “Can you modify all the Type Three
battlesuits in Captain Stern and Captain Foster’s companies?”

“I believe
so,” responded Marken, cocking his head slightly. “The Fire Fox has the
necessary technicians and we can start immediately. “We should be able to make
the necessary changes to the suits in a little over forty-eight hours.”

“Make it so,”
Beth said, reaching a decision. “If we go into combat on this mission I want to
give my people every chance possible to survive.”

-

After Beth
left the small conference room, Harnett turned to her lifemate. “Are we doing
the right thing?”

“If it’ll save
lives, then yes,” Marken answered.

“I know it’s
the right thing to do,” responded Harnett, sounding a little nervous. “The
computer in a battlesuit is not a medical computer; we can only program it to
react to a limited number of possible injuries. I worry about what might happen
if the suit’s computer can’t decide what to do about injuries it’s not
programmed for.”

“We’ll cross
that road when we come to it,” Marken said, reaching out and taking Harnett’s hand.
“The Humans have come so far since we first met them and now they’re forming an
Alliance to fight the Kleese. We must do everything we can to ensure they
survive, even if we have to take a few risks.”

Harnett
nodded; so many of her friends were Human. She was even going to take President
Mason’s niece, Karen, as an apprentice and teach her Kivean medical technology
and methods. “You’re right,” she answered, releasing Marken’s hand and standing
up. Let’s go get something to eat, I’m famished.”

Marken laughed
and nodded his head. That was one thing he missed on these long-term space
missions. Harnett was an excellent cook and he really enjoyed the meals she
prepared for them when they were at home. At least they were together, and
their guest quarters were quite spacious for a warship.

-

Admiral
Adamson was sitting behind the command console on the Constellation drumming
his fingers on the armrest of his command chair. For three weeks, the fleet had
been motionless, holding its position in a small brown dwarf system as the two
passenger liners traveled from system to system visiting the different
nonaligned worlds in this sector of space.

“Sensors are
still showing no unknown contacts,” reported Lieutenant Lash as the last sensor
sweep was completed. For those three weeks, the sensors had been absent of any
contacts other than those of Seventh Fleet.

“I don’t like
letting those two passenger liners go off on their own like this,” Commander
Shepherd commented as she walked back from Communications. “What if a Kleese
ships finds one of them?”

“It’s a risk,”
admitted Adamson, shifting his gaze to Sandra. “But if we were to go with them,
the Kleese would readily recognize our warships. We sent four assault ships
along with each passenger liner as protection. If they’re spotted, the
assumption will be that they’re Kleese ships. The assault ships are standing by
on the outskirts of the system the liners are in and can go to their aid very
quickly if needed.”

“Assault ships
won’t last long against a Kleese exploration ship or a Zaltule warship,” Sandra
was quick to point out. “We should have sent a light cruiser or two along.”

“They’ll be
fine,” Adamson assured her. “At the first sign of the Kleese the captains of
both liners know they’re to enter Fold Space and get out of the system.”

Sandra was
silent as she gazed at the tactical screen showing the green icons that
represented Seventh Fleet. “I just have a bad feeling about this,” she
confessed.

“Women’s
intuition,” suggested Admiral Adamson.

“Call it what
you want,” answered Sandra, turning back around to face the admiral. “I just
don’t think all of us will be going home.”

-

Wade watched
the main viewscreen as the Distant Star dropped out of Fold Space into the
Nalton system. This was one of the worlds that was questionable about joining
the Alliance. The Lanolthians were pretty confident that if the Naltons joined
the Alliance several other nonaligned worlds would follow their example.

“Hostile ships
detected!” called out Mace Sutton, the sensor operator. “Two Kleese assault
ships at thirty light seconds.”

Looking at the
tactical screen, Wade saw two icons suddenly flare up and turn red. “Continue
on our present course,” he ordered. “Don’t act as if anything is wrong.”

“What are
Kleese assault ships doing here?” questioned Captain Julian Rios. The Distant
Star wasn’t armed but did have a powerful energy screen, which could be
activated if need be.

“Picking up a
squadron of Nalton warships accelerating out to intercept them,” added Sutton.

“Move us
farther away from the assault ships and continue toward the Nalton home
planet,” ordered Wade, drawing in a sharp breath. “We’ll watch how this plays
out. Captain Rios, be prepared to jump the ship back into Fold Space if it
becomes too dangerous to hang around here. I’m not sure what’s going on. This
may be some type of regular inspection the Kleese do.”