Galactic Empire Wars: Insurrection (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 5) (32 page)

Gareth looked
over at Harmock. “A trap, or more Alliance ships?”

“Most likely a
trap,” Harmock answered. “Salten, I want those ships targeted with multiple
antimatter missiles as soon as they drop out of Fold Space.”

-

Several more
minutes passed and then suddenly the first ships began appearing. As soon as
they did, they powered up their sublight drives, activated their energy
shields, and charged toward the tightly bunched Zaltule fleet.

“Cargo ships,”
spoke Gareth as several of the mysterious vessels were put up on the
viewscreens. “I don’t understand. There are cargo ships from several Alliance worlds coming toward us. What type of tactic is this? Where are the Human
warships?”

Harmock rose
up to his full height as he quickly recognized the threat to his fleet. “All
ships, concentrate your fire on those vessels. They intend to ram!”

“Ram?” said
Gareth in surprise.

“Yes, ram,”
replied Harmock as the ships in his fleet began firing their missiles and
energy weapons toward the charging cargo ships. “Every one of those cargo ships
is probably heavily loaded and are now serving as massive projectiles aimed at
our ships. Not even our energy shields can stand up to an impact from such an
object of mass as those ships represent.”

On the
viewscreens, the first antimatter missiles arrived, only to explode harmlessly
against energy shields.

“Those cargo
ships have shields!” swore Gareth in shock. “What type of race puts energy
shields on cargo ships?”

“The Humans,”
replied Harmock, his eyes focusing intently on the tactical screen. “The Humans
have once more shown their cleverness and why they’re a threat to us. Intensify
our rate of fire!”

More weapons
began firing as Harmock informed all of his ship commanders of the approaching
threat. He wondered what other surprises the Humans had waiting for his fleet.
He strongly suspected this wouldn’t be the only one.

-

In space,
several cargo ships exploded as their energy screens were quickly overloaded.
There hadn’t been enough time to emplace new fusion reactors to allow for a
fully powered military grade energy screen. Most of the energy shields could
stand up to several antimatter hits before they failed, but the Zaltule were
firing thousands of missiles in an attempt to destroy the cargo ships before
they reached the fleet.

More cargo
ships died as the weapons fire turned against them ramped up in intensity. A
Lanolthian three-hundred-meter cargo vessel exploded in a bright fireball as
its screen was penetrated. Nearby a Nalton, five-hundred-meter heavy cargo ship
blew up as pulse fusion beams ripped it apart. Across the entire line of
charging cargo ships, explosions filled space as ships were annihilated in
rapid succession by the Zaltule battlecruisers. Even so, eight hundred ships
were hard to destroy. Forty-seven made it to the Zaltule formation and
thirty-one struck Zaltule energy screens, destroying both the cargo ship and
the Zaltule battlecruiser. Across the Zaltule battle globe, titanic explosions
marked the location of dying ships.

-

Harmock shook
his head in admiration. This had been a clever tactic by the Humans; if it had succeeded,
his fleet could have been heavily damaged. As it was, he had destroyed eight
hundred cargo ships at the loss of thirty-seven Zaltule battlecruisers. He
strongly doubted if the Humans had any more cargo ships left to attempt this
strategy again.

“Proceed to
the fleet guarding the planet,” Harmock ordered. “We will eliminate it and then
bombard the planet’s surface with antimatter missiles. Once we have cleansed
this planet of Human life, we’ll move on to the next phase of our attack.”

-

In
Centerpoint, General Mitchell looked over at Marken, who was standing next to him
observing the progress of the battle. “I had hoped the cargo ships would be
more successful.”

“The Zaltule
are clever warriors,” Marken answered as he turned toward General Mitchell.
“They must have realized immediately the threat the cargo vessels represented.”

“Zaltule fleet
is proceeding toward Mars,” Colonel Angus Roberson, the chief operations
officer in the Command Center, reported.

General
Mitchell turned his attention back to one of the tactical screens focused on
the situation at the red planet. The next stage of the battle was about to
begin. He felt great sadness knowing he was about to sacrifice a fleet.

-

Commander
Symington watched steadfastly as the Zaltule began entering combat range. She
had backed her fleet down to within five hundred kilometers of the surface of
Mars to give the ion cannons more effective reach. On one of the viewscreens
focused on the planet, she could see several of the large city domes.

“All ships are
at Condition One,” reported the communications officer.

“Energy screens
and weapons are powered up,” added Lieutenant Fields from Tactical. “Ready to
fire on your order.”

“General
Sanchez reports the ion cannons are online and powered up,” the communications
officer said. “The defense grid will fire in conjunction with the ion cannons.”

“Stand by all
ships,” Bree spoke over the ship-to-ship comm. She watched as the Zaltule
neared engagement range, and then they were there. “Fire!” She let out a deep
breath, knowing there would be no retreat and no surviving this battle. Her job
was to destroy Zaltule ships, and she fully intended to carry that mission out.

-

Instantly from
every ship in her command antimatter missiles, energy beams, pulse fusion
beams, particle beams, and plasma beams were fired toward the advancing Zaltule
ships. At the same moment, four hundred massive planetary ion cannons
activated, sending their deadly beams toward the Zaltule ships. Two seconds
later, the satellites in the defense grid directed their energy turrets at the
Zaltule battlecruisers and fired.

Across the
Zaltule formation, energy screens flared brightly as the weapons fire from the
defending fleet struck. Then the ion beams and energy beams arrived. Dozens of
Zaltule energy screens were battered down in an instant. Explosions blew out
huge rifts in the hulls of numerous Zaltule battlecruisers. The Human fleet,
detecting the failure of the energy shields, promptly fired antimatter missiles
at the now defenseless Zaltule battlecruisers. In less than twenty seconds,
sixty-eight Zaltule battlecruisers died as antimatter energy obliterated them
from existence.

However, the
Zaltule had a massive fleet and the losses to ten thousand vessels were
negligible. The Zaltule battlecruisers took out their wrath on the defending
Human fleet as well as upon the defense grid. Missile hatches slid open and a
massive wave of missiles was launched at the defending fleet and satellites.
The entire Human fleet seemed to vanish as they became encompassed in furnace
fire from the exploding antimatter missiles. The area of space where the Human
fleet was became as bright as a supernova. Satellites vanished from orbit as
they were instantly obliterated by antimatter explosions.

The massive
release of antimatter energy was far more than many of the Human fleet’s ships
could handle. An antimatter missile penetrated the failing energy screen of an
assault ship and slammed into the stern of the vessel, causing the ship to
vanish in a fiery explosion. Zaltule pulse fusion beams penetrated the weakened
shield of a light cruiser, ripping open compartment after compartment until the
ship blew apart. More ships with failing screens in the Human fleet were
targeted and swiftly annihilated by the massive firepower of the Zaltule fleet.

-

Commander
Symington felt the
Callisto
rock as its energy screen was being pummeled
by the Zaltule.

“Light
cruisers
Monarch
,
Renown
, and
Darden
are down,” reported
Ensign Davis in a strained and frightened voice. “Battlecruiser
Stardust
is down. We’ve also lost seventeen assault ships.”

“It’s the
antimatter energy,” Lieutenant Fields said breathlessly as he fired the ship’s
plasma cannon at a Zaltule battlecruiser. “It’s weakening our shields and
allowing the Zaltule to penetrate them with their other weapons.”

Bree knew she
was losing the battle, but every Zaltule ship she could destroy or severely
damage was one less Fleet Admiral Kelly would have to face. “Flush our missile
tubes as rapidly as possible,” she ordered, determined to cause as much damage
to the enemy as possible.

“General
Sanchez is preparing to fire the ion cannons again,” the communications officer
reported.

Bree nodded.
“All ships, the ion cannons are getting ready to fire; take out any Zaltule
ships that have their screens taken down.” Bree knew this battle was rapidly
nearing its end, and she had no intention of fleeing into Fold Space.

-

From the
surface of Mars, four hundred ion beams leaped up to smash into the Zaltule
formation. More screens were savaged and failed. Antimatter missiles followed,
turning more Zaltule battlecruisers into miniature suns.

The Zaltule
ignored the losses and continued to focus on the Human ships. Light cruisers
and assault ships were rapidly being annihilated by the more powerful Zaltule
battlecruisers. The heavy battlecruiser
Dresden
came under fire from
over one hundred Zaltule battlecruisers. Her energy shield flared up into the
ultraviolet and then a massive explosion tore the ship in two. Moments later
over twenty antimatter missiles arrived, turning the two ship fragments into
molten metal and glowing gas.

The ship
battle continued as four more Zaltule battlecruisers were destroyed by the
heavy fire of the
Callisto
and the remaining heavy cruisers. However,
those were the only ships of Seventh Fleet still surviving and the entire might
of the Zaltule fleet was turned against them. First to die was the
Falcon
,
followed a few seconds later by the battlecruiser
Oasis
. The last of the
battlecruisers, the
Cygnus
, managed to ram a Zaltule battlecruiser,
destroying both vessels in a massive fireball. Then only the
Callisto
was left. Her energy screen flared brighter and brighter as the Zaltule
increased the attack on the lone surviving Human vessel. Then the shield
wavered briefly, but that was enough. Over one hundred antimatter missiles
penetrated her energy screen and the
Callisto
and Commander Bree
Symington ceased to be.

The Zaltule
then closed on the planet, ignoring the ion beams and energy beams that
continued to ravage their fleet. Occasionally a Zaltule battlecruiser would
explode as its energy shield was hit by multiple beams. The Zaltule fleet
paused for a moment and then spread out above the planet. More antimatter
missiles were used to destroy the rest of the satellites in the defense grid,
leaving only the deadly beams from the planet itself to deal with. Twelve more
battlecruisers were destroyed by ion beams and then the Zaltule struck. Two
thousand antimatter missiles were fired at the surface of Mars.

The missiles
targeted all the visible population centers and the ion cannon installations.
Across the planet huge flashes of light exploded, blasting the surface as
antimatter energy ran amuck. All the cities of Mars died as the buildings were
obliterated and massive craters appeared where the proud domed cities once
stood. Ash and dust were tossed up into the atmosphere, blotting out the dim
light from the distant sun.

The Zaltule,
satisfied this Human planet was no more, split their fleet. They had lost one
hundred and twenty-nine ships in the battle. Now it was time for the next
phase. Eight thousand Zaltule battlecruisers headed for Earth and the other
nineteen hundred turned and headed toward Vesta.

-

General
Mitchell closed his eyes and shook his head. Seventh Fleet was gone and Mars
had been ravaged. He had no idea what the casualties in the deep bunkers were,
but he knew they would be heavy. General Sanchez had gone silent so Mitchell
didn’t know if he had survived the attack or not.

“The Zaltule
have split their fleet,” Lieutenant Bryan Vail at the main sensor console
reported. “It looks as if eight thousand warships are headed toward us and
eighteen hundred and seventy are heading toward Vesta.”

Mitchell
turned toward Captain Jennifer Owens at Communications. “Contact Fleet
Commander Achlyn and tell him what’s coming his way. He has permission to fight
the battle as he sees fit.” Fleet Commander Achlyn was responsible for the
defense of Vesta.

Letting out a
long breath, Mitchell looked over at Marken. The Kivean had been at his side
during the entire battle at Mars and had remained silent. “We’ll try the mines
next; if they don’t work it will be a fleet action.”

“What about
the new weapon?” asked Marken, feeling it was their only real hope for victory.

“Not yet,”
responded Mitchell, shaking his head. “It’s a weapon of last resort. When it’s
the final thing we have left, I’ll consider using it.”

Marken nodded.
He turned his eyes toward the many viewscreens and tactical screens in the
large Command Center. This coming battle would decide the fate of the Kleese
Empire and the Alliance. This was what he had worked for all of his life, to
see the end of the Kleese. He had no doubt the new weapon could bring that
about, but it might also destroy everything they had built in the Solar System.
Marken was glad it would be General Mitchell who would decide whether to use it
or not. It was a decision Marken couldn’t make, no matter how much he wanted to
destroy the Kleese.

General Will
Bailey was in his Command Center buried deep inside Vesta. He felt the anxiety
of his officers ramp up in intensity when it was revealed just how many Zaltule
battlecruisers were inbound toward the dwarf planet. The enemy had already made
the transition into Fold Space and would be shortly dropping out probably in
close proximity to Vesta. General Bailey was well aware of what had happened at
Mars. The sheer size of the Zaltule fleet was playing havoc with the battle
plans that had been drawn up for the defense of the Solar System.

“All surface
weapon sites have been activated and their energy shields are up,” reported
Captain Will Davis from his tactical console. “Marines are setting up their
defenses in the spacedock and the explosives in the entrance tunnel are ready
to be activated.” If there was danger of the Zaltule entering the wide and long
entrance to the spacedock, explosives would be set off to bring down the
ceiling, effectively blocking the tunnel.

“Fleet
Commander Achlyn will allow the Zaltule to engage the defenses here at Vesta
and then he’ll move in with his fleet.” General Bailey paused as he looked
around at the worried men and women inside the Command Center. “People, we have
over six million civilians to protect. We’re fighting for the very survival of
the Human race and we will not stop fighting until every one of our weapons has
been destroyed and there are no members of the military left to fire a rifle.”

“Zaltule
battlecruisers are dropping out of Fold Space,” reported Lieutenant Jarvis
Trent. “Range is two hundred thousand kilometers.”

“This is it,
people,” Bailey said in his commanding voice. “Today we either defeat the
Kleese Empire or humanity ceases to be.”

Bailey knew
that in all four habitats sirens would be sounding indicating the likelihood of
immediate combat with the Zaltule. All the inhabitants of Vesta had long since
gone to their protective shelters to await the outcome of the battle. Marines
had been deployed in the spacedock as well as at their fallback position inside
of Smithfield. If the Zaltule made it into Smithfield, then something very bad
had happened.

-

In space,
nineteen hundred Zaltule battlecruisers dropped out of Fold Space and began
forming up in a giant open cone formation. Sensor scans had already indicated
the asteroid was heavily defended and probably the home to many of the
surviving Humans. The presence of so many Humans was one of the reasons the
asteroid had been listed as a high priority target so early in the attack.

“We are
detecting ten heavy weapons sites upon the asteroid as well as a possible means
of entry,” the Zaltule in front of the sensor console reported on the fleet’s
flagship, the
Conquerors Pride
. “There is what appears to be a large
airlock protected by multiple weapon turrets in one quadrant.”

Minor Overlord
Barral gazed at the viewscreens, which showed the large asteroid. “Move us forward
and engage those fixed defenses,” he ordered. “I also want ships assigned to
probe the area of that hatch to see if we can gain entry. We must find a way
inside so we can destroy this nest of the Humans.”

-

The Zaltule
fleet began accelerating and soon entered engagement range of the asteroid when
its defenses suddenly opened up. Ion cannons and particle beam cannons reached
out and tore open the energy shields on countless Zaltule battlecruisers. Fiery
explosions spread across the Zaltule cone of battle as vessels were blown
apart. The attack was fierce and intense, bringing the Zaltule advance to a
sudden halt.

-

“Those weapons
are much more powerful than shipboard ones,” the sensor operator reported to
Minor Overlord Barral. “They’re cutting through our energy shields.”

Barral studied
the inbound weapons fire for a few moments as several ion beams tore open huge
holes in the energy screen of a forward battlecruiser. At the same time,
particle beam fire ripped into the ship, inflicting major damage until the
vessel was reduced to a scattering of glowing debris.

“Return fire,”
Barral ordered. In all his life as a Zaltule warrior, he had never encountered
such powerful fixed defenses. “Target just two of those weapon sites with the
weapons of our entire fleet. Once we have destroyed the first two weapon sites,
we’ll turn our fire toward the next two. We have the ships and the firepower to
destroy those weapons.” Barral watched expectantly as his fleet began to return
fire. He knew he would lose a number of vessels to the powerful weapons, but in
the end, he would destroy every weapon on the surface of the asteroid and then
the Humans within.

The Zaltule
returned fire and a barrage of antimatter missiles struck two of the Vesta
weapons sites. However, these sites were powered by multiple fusion reactors,
more than were on a heavy battlecruiser. The shields had been designed to take
this type of punishment, at least for a while.

Space above
and around the two weapons sites was lit up by the bright explosions of
antimatter missiles. The ground around the two sites quickly turned molten from
the released energy striking the energy shields. Energy and pulse fusion beams
lanced down seeking an opening but only made the shields glow brighter where
they struck. For the moment, the two weapons sites were resisting the combined
firepower of the Zaltule battlecruisers.

-

At the tunnel
entrance to the spacedock, ten Zaltule battlecruisers came in low over the
horizon. They had lost four other battlecruisers from defensive weapons fire.
Upon detecting the approach of the Zaltule vessels, the twelve particle beam
cannons surrounding the huge airlock opened fire. The forward leading Zaltule
warship burst into flames and then arrowed downward, crashing into the airless
dark surface of Vesta. The other battlecruisers opened fire with their energy
weapons and pulse fusion cannons trying to eliminate the dangerous weapons
turrets protecting the large armored airlock. First one and then two of the
particle beam emplacements were destroyed as they were blown apart. The
remaining particle beam turrets continued to fire and another Zaltule
battlecruiser was blown in two with the remains of the shattered vessel falling
to impact in a nearby crater.

The remaining
ships intensified their efforts and after few more minutes eliminated the last
of the particle beam cannons. Energy beams were brought into play and focused
on the massive airlock doors, gradually burning deeper and deeper into the
thick protective armor. More Zaltule battlecruisers dropped down and then had
to move even closer to the surface as a nearby weapon site blew three of them
apart in fiery explosions.

The great
airlock doors finally gave way. From one of the Zaltule battlecruisers an
antimatter missile launched and flew down the long tunnel. Moments later a
fiery ball of energy exited the tunnel entrance and the surrounding ground
shook from the underground blast. From the Zaltule battlecruisers, several
hundred small attack shuttles exited airlocks and darted inside the smoking
remains of the entrance.

-

“We have
Zaltule in the entrance tunnel,” reported Captain Davis from his console inside
the Command Center. “They’ve destroyed the particle beam cannons and have blown
a hole in the airlock.”

“How did they
get past the defensive sites on the surface?” demanded General Bailey with a
concerned frown on his face. The large defensive sites were supposed to prevent
this from happening. One of the sites was only a few kilometers from the tunnel
entrance.

“They came in
low so our big weapons couldn’t target them,” Davis answered. “We took out a
number of them out as they came in, but once they were down low enough we
couldn’t bring the big ion cannons and particle beam cannons to bear.”

The room
suddenly seemed to shake.

“What was
that?” Bailey demanded.

“Crap!”
groaned Captain Davis. “The Zaltule fired a missile down the tunnel. It
detonated against the energy shield protecting the inner airlock door. The
energy shield is down and all the weapon emplacements in the tunnel have been
destroyed.”

“What about
the explosives to bring down the tunnel?” demanded Bailey, his face turning
pale. They had never considered the possibility of the Zaltule using an
antimatter warhead inside the tunnel.

“Nonfunctional,”
answered Davis, looking over at the general.

General Bailey
shook his head in frustration. The battle was already going badly.
“Communications, inform Colonel Nelson and Major Jeffries they have Zaltule
coming their way; a lot of them.”

-

Colonel Wade
Nelson stood in his Type Three Command Suit inside the spacedock and just
outside of the airlocks leading back to Smithfield. All the Marines under his
command had been equipped with a new Energy Lance, which could cut through the
armor of a Type Three battlesuit such as the ones the Zaltule would be wearing.
Looking toward the four nearby assault ships, he saw their energy turrets
swivel down and target the massive airlock doors. Already he could hear
explosions battering against the outside armor. Wade knew that back home inside
the Viridian habitat, Beth and his parents had gone to their shelter. If not
for Erick, Wade knew Beth would have been fighting at his side. She had also
insisted on having a Type Three battlesuit in the shelter so if it became
necessary she could defend their family.

-

Captain Ryan
Nelson was standing next to Sergeant Casey Hunter. They were both holding their
RG rifles at the ready knowing the Zaltule would shortly be through the
airlock. Already they could see it buckling in several areas.

“I’m scared,
Ryan,” Casey said as she gazed worriedly at the large airlock. “What if we
can’t stop the Zaltule?”

“We all are,”
answered Ryan. He greatly feared this could be the end of all of them. The
Zaltule fleet was just too big and the mere fact they had already managed to
reach the inner airlock doors hinted that the battle outside was going badly.
“We have a lot of Marines and firepower inside both here and back in Smithfield. We’ll stop the Zaltule.”

Casey nodded.
She hoped Ryan was right, but she was worried he was only trying to ease her
fears.

Lauren stepped
over close to the two. She had been released several days before from the
medical center inside of Centerpoint and had demanded to take part in the
battle to defend Vesta. “They’ll be through soon.” She gestured toward the
airlock with one of her armor encased arms. The door was glowing cherry red in
the center.

Those words
were barely out of her mouth when the huge doors blew apart, scattering pieces
of metal across the spacedock. Fortunately, the atmospheric force field
prevented the atmosphere from being sucked out, though the Marines being
encased in their powerful battlesuits wouldn’t have been affected. Through the
smoking opening in the airlock, Zaltule shuttles began entering.

-

Detecting the
inbound Zaltule shuttles, the four assault ships opened up with their energy
beams, blowing the small shuttles apart in small fiery explosions. But there
were hundreds of them, more than the assault ships could target at once. The
defending hover tanks opened up with their energy cannons bringing down more of
the small shuttles in flaming ruins, but some survived and managed to land. In
only a few moments, armored Zaltule began swarming out, firing their weapons at
the defending Human Marines. Weapons fire began impacting the assault ships
since they couldn’t activate their energy shields inside the spacedock. Several
of the turrets on the ships exploded as they were struck by powerful energy
beams.

The spacedock
rapidly began to fill with smoke and the sounds of battle. The four assault
ships had managed to take out nearly half of the Zaltule shuttles emerging
through the blown open airlock doors. Zaltule had emerged from the others and
set up weapons that were now taking out the energy turrets on the assault ships.
Hover tanks began firing both their energy cannons and RG cannons, killing many
of the Zaltule before they could find cover.

Suddenly
twenty of the Zaltule shuttles rose up into the air and accelerated toward the
assault ships. Twelve of them fell to the ground in balls of fire as the ships’
energy cannons found them. However, eight reached their targets and exploded
against the hull armor of three of the assault ships.

-

“Get back,”
ordered Wade over the command channel as he saw that the small shuttles must
have been loaded with some type of high explosives. Secondary explosions began
rocking the three assault ships and several hatches suddenly opened as their
crews hurriedly evacuated.

Wade quickly
directed them to one of the airlocks leading back to Smithfield. The crews of
the assault ships were not wearing battlesuits and wouldn’t survive long inside
the spacedock with all the weapons fire.

“Zaltule are
advancing,” warned Captain Jaime Stern over the comm channel. “There are also
more of those shuttles coming in.”

Wade looked up
and saw the captain was right. With three of the assault ships disabled, the
Zaltule were bringing in more warriors. The weapons fire between the Marines
and the Zaltule was intensifying as the battlesuit encased arachnids rapidly
closed the distance between themselves and the first defensive line of Marines.
Wade saw Energy Lances suddenly ignite as the first Zaltule reached the
blastcrete barriers.

-

Ryan drew his
Energy Lance as several Zaltule leaped over the blastcrete walls. He swung his
Lance, decapitating the nearest Zaltule. He saw Casey step up and fire a dozen
armor penetrating RG rounds into the helmet of the other.

“There’s too
many of them,” Lauren said as she used her Energy Lance to slice a Zaltule in
two who had breached the blastcrete barrier next to her.