Warpath (Rise of the Empire Book 4)

by Ivan Kal

  The three ships regrouped, recovered from the shock of the Sowir counterattack and then executed a counter attack of their own. Just as they resumed their attack, their reinforcements arrived. Valhalla, Invictus, Twilight, and Harbinger opened fire from the Sowir flank.

  ***

  Adrian watched as his ships took care of the last of the Sowir dreadnoughts. He had almost lost the Retribution to the Sowir fire. They had tricked him, in the same way that he had tricked them thirty years ago. But it didn’t matter, the battle was still going as his remaining one hundred and tree battleships took care of the remaining Sowir battle groups. But the victor was decided, his fleet had won.

  As soon as he let himself relax the pain broke through his blocks and flooded him. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t see, the image of space disappeared. Frantically he tried to remember the mental command to shut down the Watchtower, but he couldn’t form the thoughts.

  He heard a voice speaking from the distance. “Adrian! What is wrong? I am can’t make a connection with yo-” The voice cut off as Adrian managed to remember the command.

  Suddenly he opened his eyes to see Sora with her front paws on his knees. Seeing his eyes open, she grabbed Adrian’s coat with her teeth and dragged him to the floor. His head hit the cold metal and turned to the side. He didn’t see Akash anywhere. He noticed that the doors of the room were smashed outward, but his mind couldn’t process what that meant. Sora was standing above him and he could feel her using her empathic powers on him. He felt her loyalty and love. And that helped a bit, as his body turned on him.

  He felt as if every nerve in his body was on fire. His eyes hurt so much that his vision was fading to nothingness and then back. His mind was filling up with nonsense, voices speaking so loudly that he couldn’t even understand them. He tried to move and immediately regretted it. A shock of pain ran through his entire body and then he felt an unbearable pressure starting to build in his head. He felt as if his head was going to explode. Slowly he felt his consciousness slip away from him, just as Akash appeared from the broken doors followed by people in white coats.

  ***

  Invictus – Command Center

  Isani saw his c-board disengage from the Watchtower and knew that Adrian was no longer in the interface. He quickly took control of the fleet, hoping that his friend was alright. He had ninety three battleships and ten Vanguard ships remaining. Most of his battleships were damaged, but the remaining Sowir ships were in worse condition. The remaining eighty nine Sowir ships were running for the hyperspace barrier.

  Isani sent out orders for the fleet to chase and destroy the remaining ships.

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Six days after the battle for Nelus – Sowir border system Rasaka

  Nair Hakeem Fleet Commander of the Third Fleet watched as his ships destroyed the last of the Sowir defense platforms in the orbit of a small moon. The Sowir had no presence on any of the planets in this system, they used it only as a supply point for their patrols of the border. But still they had seven platforms protecting the supply depot.

  The third fleet arrived in the system two days after the event in Nelus system and the Sowir were forewarned that they were in the state of war with the Empire. As his ships entered the system he broadcasted the call for their surrender on a loop, but the Sowir never responded.

  His ships had already dealt with the token defending force of thirty heavy cruisers, and with the destruction of the defense platforms they were now free to assault the depot. He sent word to the army ships that they were clear to assault the small station.

  ***

  Squad Leader Zhu “Pyro” Zhang Wei sat in the Empire assault ship as it drew closer to the Sowir station. His six teammates were sitting strapped in around him. The first part of their mission was to take control of the station. They had the information from Nel databases on Sowir tech and even a few of the old devices from Consortium that should be compatible. But the truth was that they weren’t sure if it would work, a lot of Sowir tech was based on that of the Consortium, but they had also kept a lot things to themselves.

  The second part of their mission was to find and take prisoner the Sowir, those who moved in the shadows. They knew that there must be some on the station, the agents they were using might be able to give an illusion of being intelligent but they can’t function without input from the Sowir.

  Zhu felt the assault ship come to a stop and attach itself to the station’s hatch. The assault ship had an adaptable docking mechanism, and it was designed to be able to dock with both the Consortium and Empire’s hatches, and luckily the Sowir hadn’t changed theirs. A few moments later the light turned yellow, and Zhu’s comms sprang to life.

  “Alright people, that’s your get ready signal. We are reading a lot of activity from inside the station, expect heavy resistance. And your squad is the first in position, good luck.” The voice of Company Leader Dayo Okoro said. Company Leader was on the army ship safely away from the station, guiding the other Platoons and their squads.

  “Great we get to die first.” Anton “Killgrave” Maksimov said.

  “Oh no, no, no. Don’t you dare start with this pessimism of yours again!” Leah “Red Fury” Smith said.

  “We are entering an alien station about to fight mindless killer octopus drones that are controlled by an alien race we have never laid eyes on but have basically been at war with for thirty years. Not to mention that our friends Nel here have been at war with them for about a century, and lived alongside them for about another century. And they too didn’t know anything about them.” Anton retorted.

  “Well, at least if they are mindlessly charging in your direction you won’t have any trouble aiming at them.” Dson “Rock” said in his usual calm Nel tone.

  “Ha, ha. That stopped being funny after the first ten times you brought it up.” Anton said humorlessly.

  “Perhaps to you, for us it is a source of endless amusement. And if my knowledge of Earth animals is correct, octopuses have eight limbs. These mindless drones only have seven.” Dson added.

  Anton grumbled some choice words too low for the rest of the squad to hear.

  “Don’t worry Anton, I’ll guard your back.” Toferami “Laas’tra” said, and then she slapped Anton on the back.

  “Yeah because that will make him feel better. You can’t keep yourself out of trouble for more than fifteen minutes “blade chick”.” Adam “Lazy” Freeman said, using the standard version of Toferami’s Nel nickname, which he knew she hated.

  “Ha, ha.” Toferami responded in the same exact tone as Anton.

  “Alright guys, let’s just focus on the Sowir, the hatch will open any minute now.” Rasofari “Fig” said.

  Just then the light above their heads turned green.

  “That’s our go signal. Everybody move!” Zhu announced over the comms.

  The seven soldiers stood and got in line with Zhu taking the rear. The hatch opened and they rushed into the station, prepared to fire. As soon as Zhu entered the station he noticed something strange.

  “Uh… They must know that we are coming through here right?” Anton asked as they looked around the empty hallway. “I mean they still have sensors on the hull.”

  “Be alert, they must be planning something. Keep moving towards checkpoint A.” Zhu ordered.

  His squad got in formation and moved slowly. The inside of the Sowir ship was dimly lit, and the walls were rounded which made it seem like they were walking through a tunnel. As they didn’t encounter any sign of the Sowir they started moving faster, keeping watch on their HUD for any early warnings from their suits sensors.

  The Sowir must have known that they were here, but they chose to let them come inside unopposed, and that made Zhu feel uneasy. If there was one word that described Sowir perfectly it was sneaky.

  Then as they reached a three way branch in the hallway Zhu signaled his squad to stop. His HUD was showing strange reading from their rear.

  “Fig, Fur
y move back a bit and check our rear. The rest take up positions here until they get back.”

  They remained there waiting until the comm came back from Fig.

  “There is nothing here SL.” Fig said.

  “Okay, come back.” Just as Zhu finished speaking the sensors on his suit went off, and then Fig yelled out over the comm.

  “Oh fuck me! We got hostiles incoming!”

  “SL!” Killgrave yelled out at the same moment, “Hostiles from the front.”

  “Get ready!” Zhu said as he watched Sowir mindlessly charging their positions from three hallways. “The two of you pull back right now.” Zhu told Fig over the comm.

  His squad got into position, and waited for the hostiles to get into range. The weapon kits they were using now were specially made for fighting on ships or stations. They couldn’t use their weapons on their most powerful settings for fear of puncturing the hulls or damaging something they weren’t supposed to. Zhu carried a CF-13 light assault rifle, which was a smaller and less powerful version of the CFG-02 heavy assault rifle that fired bullets using a centrifugal force.

  Zhu liked the rifle, although no recoil did take some getting used to. As the enemy forces approached, Zhu was the first to open fire. His rifle sending hundreds of bullets in a span of couple seconds, punching through the enemy nonexistent armor. Most of the Sowir “agents” had no weapons mounted on their back, only melee weapons on their limbs. And they simply ran at them to get into melee range where they could use their seven powerful limbs to their maximum potential. But a few of them had the small laser turrets mounted on the backs, similar to what they used thirty years ago.

  But their lasers were too weak to inflict any kind of serious damage before one of Zhu’s squad mates turned his or her weapons on them. Zhu’s squad was killing them quickly, but still there was so many of them that eventually four managed to get into melee range. Laas’tra and Killgrave were at the front of their formation and immediately dropped their weapons. Then blades extended from their forearms and the two started fighting the four hostiles that managed to reach them.

  Laas’tra dropped into a roll as one of the aliens jumped towards her body swiping with a blade like attachment on its limb. As she dropped Zhu had a clear shot and he fired at the alien, killing it before it even touched the ground. Laas’tra got up from her roll in front of an enemy and swiped with her two monomolecular blades cutting it in three pieces.

  Killgrave wasn’t as lucky, one of them managed to jump and attach itself to his suit and was hacking at his shoulder with one of its free limbs. Zhu tried to get a shot off, but Killgrave was moving constantly. Then Killgrave managed to free one of his hands and slice one of the limbs holding him. After that he stabbed with his blade into its middle section and swiped out spilling blood and gore over the walls. The thing still held on so he repeated the move until it finally let go and dropped to the floor in a mangled mess.

  While Killgrave was dealing with his opponent Laas’tra had killed the last of the hostiles. Then she turned to Killgrave with blood splattered all over her suit, standing in the middle of three dead bodies.

  “See, I told you that I got your back!” She said.

  Zhu turned to Lazy, “Go check up on Fig and Fury.” As Lazy turned and ran back to help their squad mates, Zhu checked in with his imp and got an update from the command.

  “Other squads have arrived on station, and they are reporting being attacked from ambushes.” Zhu said.

  “There is about thirty of them here, if they attacked the other squads with the same numbers they still have much more troops. A station of this size usually held a large number of Sowir – their agents.” Dson said.

  “Probably.” Zhu responded, as the three from the rear returned. Fig and Furry too were covered in gore.

  “All ok?” Zhu asked.

  “Yes. About ten of them were on their way to attack us from the back.” Fig responded.

  Zhu check the map on his HUD and decided to take the fastest and the most direct route to their target. “Alright squad, the station’s command center is about a kilometer that way. We are going fast and alert, keep watch for more ambushes.” Zhu said pointing at the far left hallway.

  In a brisk pace they covered ground quickly. The enemy attempted two more ambushes but both times the Empire soldiers prevailed. Finally they arrived at the door to the command center, in front of it eight of the hostiles stood guard. But these were fully dressed in combat armor with double barreled weapons on their backs.

  “Alright this is it, we only need to get through those guards.” Zhu said. His squad was standing behind a corner where the guards couldn’t see them.

  “Let me try the freeze grenade.” Killgrave said.

  “You do know that that is not its name?” Dson asked sarcastically.

  “I’m not calling it that other name, freeze grenade is much cooler.” Killgrave responded smartly.

  “Alright Anton.” Zhu said before they could get into a name debate, “The rest of you get ready, once the grenade goes off take them out.”

  Killgrave stepped to the corner’s edge and retrieved a device from the back of his suit. It was a bit bulkier than an ordinary grenade, silver in color and barrel shaped. Killgrave pressed two buttons simultaneously and a small red light appeared. Then he pressed a few more buttons, stepped out of the cover and threw the grenade at the enemy position, and quickly moved back behind cover.

  The Laser Induced Energy Removing Device or LIERD for short, bounced off the floor and rolled at the feet of the eight guards. Before it even stopped its roll the device started releasing high pressure gas filling the area, engulfing the guards in it. As soon as all of the gas was released the device opened up and a high powered wide band laser flashed out of it. In an instant the laser’s photons knocked the electrons out of the gas’s atoms, which made them lose energy and at the same time heat. The area around the guards froze. Their armored suits got encased in a small layer of ice while their weapons electronics became nonoperational at such extreme cold.

  A second later bullets and lasers fired on the helpless guards cutting them down.

  “That was so cool!” Kilgrave said, then he turned to his squad mates. “Cool? You get it right? Because it is-”

  “We got it, we got it.” Dson interrupted.

  Zhu walked up to the dead guards and to the big doors, he gestured for Red Fury to get started working on opening them.

  “Alright guys our targets are most likely behind these door. So Killgrave, Laas’tra, and Dson, change your ammo to stun rounds. You will be going in first, if there is more of these “agents” inside move aside and let the rest of us deal with them. In the event we find our targets, first demand surrender by playing the recording prepared in Nel. Clear?”

  Affirmatives came from the three and Zhu moved back, letting them stand in front of the door ready to jump in as soon as Fury manages to open it.

  ***

  Anton “Killgrave” checked his rifle one more time. He has been waiting for the door to open for only a minute, but it felt longer to him. He was never very good at being still, especially not when he was amped up on adrenaline and performance drugs. Then just as he was about to ask what was taking so long, he heard Red Fury say that she got it, and the door started to raise upwards quickly. As soon as there was enough room, Anton crouched and entered keeping his weapon ready.

  He stopped short a few steps into the room as he came face to face with three beings standing in the middle of the room. These aliens were slightly taller than him in the suit, they had three tentacle like legs, similar to those of the beings they had been fighting till now. But from their waist up they had something resembling a human torso, only much less muscled, and some kind of flap at the center of it.

  They had two arms from shoulder like extension at the end of their torso, and one more arm on their back that reached above their head. After a short neck came the head that was elongated and widened towards the end in a bony
crest. The thing had no mouth that he could see, and had something that looked like gills on the lower sides of their face. The eyes were small and full black. Their skin was in shades of dark turquoise.

  Anton swallowed hard and then turned using his imp to broadcast the surrender demand in Nel over his external speakers. The Sowir had been a part of the Consortium for a long time, they must know the language.

  As the speakers played the message the rest of the squad got inside, moving to the sides while they kept their weapons trained on the three individuals. The Sowir didn’t move nor acknowledged the message in any way. A few seconds after the recording finished, Anton tried to play it again when he felt a bit lightheaded. He suddenly got an urge to move his weapon to the side and fire it, and it seemed perfectly reasonable for him to do so. His rifle started to move off his target slowly. Then after it moved a few centimeters, and what seemed like hours later, he remembered his training. The endless drilling into his head about one thing. He wasn’t supposed to move his sights of an enemy.

  Anton’s mind cleared and he turned the rifle back and squeezed the trigger. The stun slug hit the Sowir in the chest, sending an electrical charge through its body, and it collapsed on the ground twitching. As if a spell had been broken, Laas’tra and Dson fired their own weapons felling the other two Sowir. For a few seconds no one moved or said anything. Then Anton turned and looked around the room at his squad mates who were all standing there frozen looking at the aliens.

  “Guys… I think that these aliens just tried to get inside my head.”

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Two days after the battle for Nelus

  Sestar Nimuse of House Jar Tel sat in yet another council meeting in the last few days, listening to the Sestar Tavaar of House Nor Ral preach about the great victory for their people. It made her sick just listening to him as he took credit for the destruction of the Sowir. It had been a long time since Sestar Jusan of House Dai Ven defected to the human led Empire, and the things had only gotten worse in his absence. House Nor Ral ruled with an iron fist, enforcing curfews, limiting the already limited freedom of the people, all the while taking the power and wealth for himself.