Conquest (Rise of the Empire Book 9)

by Ivan Kal

  All of that had been a part of their invasion plan for conquering Gena Prime. Vorash had been impressed. The Heart of the Mountain’s plans had gone far beyond what he had believed.

  And so the Sovereign would skim to the planet, taking on fire until their people on the ground dropped the shields above the Pillar and deployed assault ships to go through. All their plans hinged on the assault on the Pillar–they were hoping that once Valanaru was taken out of the picture and they had the control of the relay network, the rebels would accept surrender.

  Of course, the city had anti-air defenses, which is why their people on the ground were now getting ready to begin assaults across the city in order to take them down.

  “The assault teams on the planet report that they are ready, O’fa,” Hammu said from his position beside Vorash.

  “How long until the fleets are in position?” Vorash asked.

  “A couple of minutes, O’fa.”

  “Begin the assaults on the ground,” Vorash ordered. Perhaps the assaults on the planet would distract them long enough that they would miss the attacks on the disruptors.

  Hammu turned and repeated the order, which the communication officers sent to the planet. The system comms were still operational, and there was no way that Valanaru could impede them, or even track them, not with so much traffic in system.

  Soon the portion of the holo that showed the feeds from the ground teams started changing, and new information started coming in. Vorash’s ground teams had been organized by the military members on the ground that hadn’t been loyal to Valanaru, from around the planet. It had taken a while for them to get into position, crossing large portions of the surface.

  Their mission was not easy; Valanaru had enough people on her side to reinforce and entrench important positions, and her people were just as well equipped as Vorash’s. It was going to be tough going.

  A fact made clear once the first casualty was reported.

  Vorash forced himself to listen, to watch as his people worked around him. He wasn’t a good commander–his skills were in other areas–but he needed to be there to see it all. His people were dying for him, for the Erasi.

  “O’fa,” Hammu said as he approached him. “The fleets are ready to begin the attacks.”

  Vorash glanced at the feeds from the planet, the assaults on the defenses covering the air above the Pillar still underway. Two of them had been successful, and they now controlled the turrets, but the others were still in progress.

  Vorash knew that they shouldn’t delay too much, as he couldn’t know what Valanaru’s reaction would be.

  “Do it,” Vorash said with a sigh. The battle was about to start in truth. “Send the go ahead to the access point.”

  Hammu nodded and turned around to execute his orders.

  Vorash could not help but wonder how many of his people were going to die this day.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Gena system

  All over Gena system, Vorash’s warships received the same order, and their crews executed those orders perfectly.

  Their fleets had been moving around the system, closing in on the skim disruptors which were controlled by several stations in the various orbits around the system. Valanaru’s forces did little to react, as their orders from the Weaver were not to engage unless the traitor forces did so first, and so they watched and expected an assault against the planet, the fleet, or the defenses.

  They had missed the other target.

  All of Vorash’s forces with the task of destroying the skim disruptors were in range, and once they received their orders, they opened fire. Particle beams painted the skim disruptors, surprising even the few forces that had been left to defend them. The stations themselves were automated, with no crews on them. The coordinated and overwhelming attack by Vorash’s forces quickly accomplished the task.

  As the stations burned and blew up, the disruption field across the system disappeared.

  * * *

  Ryaana checked her armor systems again, making sure that all was good. She was already inside the assault ship, deep inside the Herald, waiting for the mission to begin. Beside her stood Vas, doing the same with his own armor. Across from them sat Lurker of the Depths. Wearing the Sowir version of the armor, he appeared very calm, and hadn’t moved since they set off. But then again, Lurker of the Depths never looked anything but calm. To the side of the room sat the rest of her team. Five Sha commandos, three Nel, a human, and another Sowir. The best that the army had to offer.

  The eight of them were the tip of the spear–they were meant to punch through and get to Valanaru, to eliminate her. They were going to be helped by the Erasi team that sat on the other side of the assault ship. Their team consisted out of eight as well: two Bomtu, four Ssarath, and two Sorvani.

  Ryaana was just glad that they didn’t have any Gatrey.

  The second assault ship was carrying more conventional troops from both the Erasi and the Empire whose job would be to take control of the Pillar itself, and then hold it against any assault from the outside.

  They didn’t know if taking Valanaru out of the picture was going to have the effect that they wanted–but they had to try.

  “Ready?” Ryaana asked Vas over their suit comms.

  “Of course, Sentinel,” Vas responded.

  Ryaana couldn’t see his face through the all-black faceplate on his helmet, but this wasn’t the first time the two of them were being dropped on an Erasi planet. Nothing new, aside from the fact that they were tasked with engaging one of the most powerful Sha users the Empire and the Shara Daim had ever encountered.

  Yup, nothing new.

  * * *

  Adrian watched as his four Sovereigns and Araxi passed through the access point, followed closely behind by the Erasi frontier fleets. The four Empire Sovereigns were Herald of War, Heart of Courage, Soul of Fire, and Spirit of Empire. Anessa and the Song of Retribution had remained with all of their invasion force in the staging system, prepared in case it did turn out that this was a trap. Adrian doubted that possibility, but it was best to be prepared. They entered the absence of light that was the surface of the access point’s ring and disappeared from the staging point’s system.

  A few moments later they were in another system and Adrian was already plugged into the Herald’s control interface: a hybrid version of the old watchtower interface and the control interface of the People. It was less intense than the People’s version, and it split the control of the ship over several people. Adrian acted as the pilot, while his four weapons officers acted as gunners, and he also had a sensors officer and a comm officer. But, while using the interface, they were all connected through their telepathy and implants. They could have entire conversations in mere seconds, as well as share information far more easily. It also made it so much easier for Adrian to give out orders for what the ship was to do.

  Usually he used the command interface that connected him with every ship in his command. But he was not commanding fleets today–only one Sovereign. The other three had their orders and roles in this action. There was no need for Adrian to oversee their parts in this conflict. Most of the fighting would be done by the Erasi regardless; Adrian and his people were here only to help.

  As soon as they entered the Gena system, Adrian piloted the Herald out of the protection field generated by the access point and out of the star. The first part of the plan was all on the Herald.

  “There is no skim-disruption field, Lord Sentinel,” the Herald’s sensors officer told him.

  That meant that Vorash’s part of the mission had been successful. Now Adrian hoped that their plan on the ground had been the same. Adrian pointed the Herald toward Gena Prime and skimmed them. A few seconds later the Herald of War appeared in the orbit of Gena Prime, to the surprise of all the defenders.

  Immediately his comm officer sent out comms to the planet announcing their arrival to their team on the ground, who were waiting to drop the portion of the shield. Before th
ey even got a response Adrian gave orders to his gunners as he rotated the ship. Particle beams, md beams, kinetic shells, s-missiles, and all of the Herald’s substantial fire power exploded out of the ship, making it seem almost as if it was on fire.

  In mere seconds Adrian’s surprise attack ravaged the portion of the defenses around the Herald. His beams punched holes through stations, blew ships apart, crippled defense stations. But soon enough the defenders recovered, and fire started raining down on the Herald’s shields.

  A Sovereign was a powerful ship, but there were literally thousands of missiles, particle beams and md beams slashing at the Herald, from everywhere around it.

  “Shields holding at sixty-three percent. Estimate to shield failure–seventy-three seconds,” the sensor officer reported.

  Adrian acknowledged silently as he watched his gunners devastate everything around them. He did not order any priority targets, he just let his gunners pick and choose; there were enough targets anyway. The Herald had been unleashed and thousands of ships had died in the seconds since they had begun their attack.

  “Lord Sentinel, the planetary shield is fluctuating. The section is going down,” his sensor officer reported, and Adrian immediately sent the order to the assault team that it was time.

  A portion of the Herald that was turned toward the planet, protected from the onslaught from above, opened up, and two military assault ships dropped out and sped toward the hole that had just appeared in the shield. The hole in the shield would not hold long enough for them to send more.

  Adrian watched with trepidation as the assault ships neared the hole, and then he released the breath he had been holding as they passed through. Sighing, he turned the ship, moving it away from the planet.

  Then, as the defenders still poured fire into his shields, he skimmed the Herald away–just as hundreds of thousands of s-missiles from around the system struck all over the defenders’ positions.

  * * *

  Vorash watched in awe as the Empire’s Sovereign drew fire from a great deal of the Gena Prime’s defenses as well as several fleets close enough to fire. It was an unimaginable amount of firepower, and the massive ship just shrugged it off. Not only was it surviving, it had painted the high orbit of Gena Prime in bright fire as it demolished the defenses with an truly impressive display of raw power. But as impressive as the act was, it was just as brief.

  In mere moments the Sovereign deployed the assault ships and then skimmed away, just as the s-missiles fired by the fleets Hammu had positioned around the systems arrived, hammering at the surprised defenders. That attack alone must’ve damaged or outright destroyed almost a fifth of the defenses around the planet.

  Without waiting for Vorash’s input, Hammu ordered the frontier fleets that had just exited the sun’s corona to skim to the planet, followed by the rest of the fleets he had around the system.

  The Empire’s Sovereigns and the Krashin’s great beast skimmed with them, going to positions where the defenses were the thickest in order to help take them down, or to positions where Valanaru’s Devastators were. Vorash still couldn’t believe that the Krashin were fighting to help him retake the Erasi. It was a strange world.

  Breathlessly, Vorash watched as the giant forces collided.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Gena Prime

  Valanaru walked into the command center ready to make someone pay for disturbing her again, but then she noticed the chaos. And as her attention went to the holo, she saw the Empire’s Sovereign warship spitting fire all around itself.

  For a moment she wondered if it was just a recording, but soon enough as she drew closer, she realized that it was happening. It all clicked in place for her, then: Vorash had conspired with the Empire and the Shara Daim. With them he had destroyed the Crescent, had robbed her of the weapon that could’ve won them the war. It all seemed so obvious. He made sure that she couldn’t use it, fooling everyone into thinking that he was worried about the people.

  She watched as a portion on the planetary shield failed and saw two assault ships drop from the Sovereign before it skimmed away. Her eyes narrowed at her commanders, and she stepped closer.

  “Why are the skim disruptors off line?” she spoke with her mind, allowing all to feel her anger.

  “O’fa,” one of the commanders stammered out, “O’fa Vorash’s forces attacked and destroyed most of them.”

  Sudden activity on the holo brought her attention away from the fool, and she looked on as s-missiles slammed into her forces. Losses started appearing on another holo to the side.

  She turned back to the commander who had been in charge. She opened her mind and smashed into his head, breaking his mind in a single moment. The commander fell down to the floor immediately. She looked at the next one closest to her.

  “You are now in charge. Don’t fail me,” she said before moving aside to watch the holo as fleets started exiting skim all around her forces, along with several of the Empire’s Sovereigns. Her commanders stank of fear, but they moved, and started issuing orders.

  Valanaru looked at the data coming in, and realized that the fleets attacking her now were frontier fleets. Immediately, she realized that they had to have come from the access point. There was no other way they could’ve arrived so quickly.

  She heard commotion and turned her eyes to the commanders, seeing them fidget uncertainly.

  “What is it?” she rammed into the minds of everyone in the room.

  “The assault ships, O’fa… They are headed here.”

  Valanaru narrowed her eyes at them. “And why haven’t our defenses shot them from my sky yet?”

  “The previous assault on our ground assets, O’fa–it was to take down out defense turrets.”

  For a split second, she debated just killing everyone in the room, but then she stopped herself. She looked at the holo that showed two assault ships drawing closer to the Pillar.

  She had been outplayed, outsmarted, and now they were coming for her.

  Silently, Valanaru wondered who they had sent against her.

  * * *

  Ryaana stood next to the assault ship’s doors, waiting for the craft to arrive at the Pillar. They had successfully passed through the planetary shield and Ryaana had used her HUD to tap into the assault ship’s feeds and watch as they approached a building towering above the rest. The Pillar stood in the middle of the city–or rather it seemed to, as the entire planet was a city. It was filled with so many buildings and walkways that she couldn’t see the ground, and she knew that the buildings were kilometers tall. The Pillar itself was a massive rectangular tower, its roof at least a square kilometer in area, and it widened as it went down toward the ground.

  Then the assault ship swerved just as a beam shot at them. Another beam from the same area clipped their shields and Ryaana disengaged from the feed.

  “Hold on!” she yelled out.

  The assault ship shook and she heard a loud noise somewhere from outside the ship.

  Ryaana used her imp to connect with the pilots.

  “How are we doing?” Ryaana asked.

  “The good news is that that last shot got only one of our engines, but we should be safe now that the Erasi guys on the ground got the turret, so it shouldn’t be a problem anymore. The bad news is that we are losing altitude faster than we planned, and we are going for a crash landing on the roof,” the pilot said.

  “You sure that that is safe?”

  “Safe? Of course it isn’t safe. But don’t worry, Sentinel, I’ll get us there,” the pilot said.

  “Everyone get ready for a rough landing!” Ryaana told the people in the bay.

  They grabbed on and waited as the assault ship neared the Pillar. Then there came a whine from the assault ship’s remaining engine, and they hit something hard. She swore that she felt the assault ship bounce, but she was too busy trying to keep herself from hitting her head that she didn’t pay too much attention. The groaning sound spread through the ship, until at la
st it all grew silent.

  Ryaana waited for the falling sensation that never came when her comm chirped on.

  “Told you I’d get us here,” the pilot said, and Ryaana stood.

  “Let’s go!” she ordered and the fifteen followed behind her as she opened the doors and stepped onto the roof of the Pillar.

  Massive antennae and dishes as well as laser-comm devices towered above the assault ship, which had somehow come to a stop against a wall that elevated the communication devices a level above them. The second assault ship dropped on the other side of the building, its mission slightly different.

  “Where to now?” Ryaana asked over the joint Erasi-Empire channel.

  “There is an access lift over there,” Ashah–one of the Ssarath and the commander of the Erasi group–said. The Ssarath slithered away, and Ryaana and the rest followed close behind.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  The battle in the system had grown to epic proportions, and Vorash could not imagine how many had already lost their lives. His fleets had caught Valanaru’s forces off guard, unprepared, but the success of that initial attack had slowly disappeared as her forces recovered.

  The defensive grid around the planet had been built in order to prevent just this kind of thing. Massive defensive stations kept his forces away, and allowed Valanaru’s forces to regain momentum. And now the two forces were locked into battle, each side throwing fire at the other. The greatest problem facing his forces where the Devastators that Valanaru had managed to bring to her side, and in the days before the battle, she had gathered several more. She now had a force of twenty-six of them against the nine that Vorash had, although the Empire’s Sovereigns were helping with that. Without the skim disruptors they were able to skim across the battle field and help out where needed, especially by negating the advantage of heavy defense stations and Valanaru’s Devastators.