“I’m glad I’m not flying this ship,” Autumn commented from Ryan’s side. “It’s a relief not to have to worry about where we’re going and if something’s going to go wrong with the ship’s systems before we get there.”
Ryan laughed and nodded. “We have a competent crew and plenty of spare parts as well as engineers who know how to repair the ship if necessary.”
Ryan remembered how the growing malfunctions on the assault ship had made it seem questionable if they could even reach Delton safely. As it was, once they were down they had been afraid to move the ship again. If not for Delton Fleet Commander Achlyn and Admiral Rivers’ daring rescue attempt to bring more Deltons back to the Solar System, Ryan and his fellow Marines might still be trapped on the planet.
“How’s morale?” he asked. They were currently in Fold Space and flying deeper into Kleese controlled space every day. So far their flight had been uneventful and Ryan hoped it stayed that way.
“Good,” Autumn replied. “Most of the Marines that were with us on Delton are on board, and they’re ready to take the fight to the Kleese. There’s still a lot of anger over what happened to Major Stevens and Colonel Stratford as well as the Marines the Kleese executed.”
Ryan understood the underlying anger. When they had attempted to flee the Kleese ship, a number of compartments had been located where the Kleese obedience collars had been detonated. The Marines inside had all met gruesome deaths. Ryan wasn’t sure how many Marines had been coldly executed in this manner though he knew it had been quite a few. The Kleese had a disdain for all sentient life in the galaxy. They considered all others to be vastly inferior and nothing more than vermin to be used as the Kleese pleased or to be exterminated.
“We’ll all get our chance to make the Kleese pay for what they did to us on the exploration ship,” Ryan said evenly. “On this mission, we’re going to get more than one opportunity for payback.”
“We’re prepared,” Autumn said, taking a deep breath. “We’re all ready to kill some Kleese.”
-
The captain of the Deliverance, Marcus Durham, stepped off the Command Dais and over to where Ryan and Autumn were standing. “How do you like the trip so far?”
“There’s much more room on these new assault cruisers,” Ryan said, turning toward the captain. “The quarters aren’t nearly as cramped as on the old assault ships.”
“The food’s better too,” added Autumn. Alexander had quickly pointed that out after their first meal on the ship. One thing Autumn could say about the corporal, he definitely enjoyed his meals.
There were two different mess halls in the ship and qualified cooks prepared food in each one. Due to the size of the cruiser and the number of people on board both mess halls were available to everyone. Even the officers ate with the enlisted men and women.
“There have been some big improvements on these new ships,” agreed the captain. “We have the most modern equipment that our scientists, as well as our allies, have been able to come up with.”
“I understand our new Fold Space drives are capable of one hundred twenty light-years per day,” said Ryan. This was much faster than the older ships, which were limited to only eighty or ninety at the best.
Durham nodded. “That and our weapon systems are more powerful. We could even stand up to a Zaltule battlecruiser for a short time if necessary.”
“Let’s hope we don’t test that supposition out,” Autumn said, shivering slightly. She had always felt so vulnerable in space combat as she couldn’t control the situation. She much preferred to be on the ground in her Type Four command battlesuit.
“Don’t worry,” Durham assured her. “Our new energy shield would give us time to jump into Fold Space and escape if needed.”
Ryan turned toward the navigation console, which was displaying their current course on a data screen. “How soon until we reach our first target?”
“Twelve days,” answered Captain Durham, shifting his gaze to navigation. “We have one scheduled stop four days from now for routine maintenance checks and then we’ll continue on.”
“That will put us well inside the Kleese Empire,” Autumn said. It also meant they would be too far away from the Solar System and the Alliance to call for help if they ran into a large Kleese task force.
“Yes,” replied Captain Durham, nodding his head. “And if that attack goes well, we’re only going deeper into their empire.”
Ryan glanced at the viewscreens, which were all off due to being in Fold Space. If they were on all they would show was static. They were going into the Kleese Empire to stir up trouble and attempt to throw a wrench into the Kleese plans to attack the Alliance.
Ryan had his Marines conducting drills daily to stay sharp as he was expecting them to face some stiff resistance in the future. The assault cruiser had several large training compartments specially designed to accommodate Marines going through calisthenics and drills. When it came time to deploy, his people would be ready.
-
Admiral Adamson watched the tactical display and the green icons representing friendly ships. All of the new heavy battlecruisers had the new sensors on board that could detect ships in Fold Space. Excluding the Constellation, there were thirty-three green icons showing.
“We have a pretty powerful fleet at our disposal,” commented Commander Sandra Shepherd.
“Strong enough for us to handle about anything we encounter,” replied Adamson, folding his arms across his chest as he thought about their mission. “We’re going to begin hitting Kleese controlled nonaligned worlds in twelve days and continue to do so until the Kleese respond with sufficient forces to stop us.”
“How deep into their empire do you think we’ll go?”
“As far as necessary,” Adamson said as he turned around to face the Constellation’s commander. “General Mitchell and Fleet Admiral Kelly expect us to cause enough trouble to force the Zaltule to delay their attack upon the Alliance long enough to get all the new ship crews trained. We just need to buy them a few months of time.”
“Do you think we’ll be facing the Zaltule?”
“Possibly,” Adamson replied. “It just depends on how big a nuisance we can make of ourselves.”
“I have battle drills planned for the next two days,” Sandra said as she thought over Admiral Adamson’s words. “We’re dropping out of Fold Space in the outskirts of an older red giant system in four days. According to the Kiveans and the other Alliance races, it’s a dead planetary system and there should be little chance of us stumbling upon a Kleese ship.”
“We’ll emerge at Condition One as a precaution.” Adamson looked around the Command Center. He had a well-experienced command crew and was confident they could handle anything that might come up. He was not going to take any chances. It would be a disaster to underestimate the Kleese.
-
Ryan was in a small briefing room designated for his use during this mission. In the room with him were Lieutenant Guthrie, Sergeant Hunter, Sergeant McElroy, Sergeant Katy Lewis, and Sergeant Harmon Dewey.
“We have one hundred and twenty Marines on this ship,” he began. “We have five full combat platoons and a guard force of twenty.”
“Will the ship be setting down on the Kleese planets?” asked Sergeant Katy Lewis. This was the sergeant’s first deployment outside the Solar System.
“In some situations, it might. That’s why we have the twenty Marines, which will serve as a guard force. They will also be used to replace any Marines that might be injured or killed on our missions.”
Sergeant Lewis looked uneasy. “So you expect us to suffer some casualties?”
“This is a combat mission,” answered Ryan, leaning back slightly and gazing at the young sergeant. “Casualties are to be expected. Our job as officers and platoon leaders is to see to it those casualties are held to a minimum.”
“Yes, sir,” Sergeant Lewis responded.
“Do we have any information on our first target?” as
ked Sergeant McElroy, looking at Ryan.
“It will be the former nonaligned world of Taleth. It has a population of two billion and its inhabitants are humanoid. They produce very small robotic devices that have a myriad of uses in industry and mining.”
“Will they resist us?” asked Sergeant Dewey. Dewey had seen some limited action outside the Solar System. He was also in his early thirties.
“We don’t know what type of conscripts the Kleese will have on the planet. The Kiveans believe there will be a number of Kleese present at the spaceport near the capital city. That will be our primary target.” Ryan pressed a button on the conference table in front of him and on the large screen behind him an aerial view of the spaceport appeared.
Lieutenant Guthrie stood up and walked over to the screen and pointed to several large buildings. “We believe the Kleese will be in these two buildings next to the spaceport control tower. Both will be heavily fortified and probably guarded by a strong conscript presence.”
“What about popup weapons?” asked Casey with a large frown. The Kleese were known to use them around all of their installations. They had encountered them on Diadem when they had assaulted the spaceport there. They were also very difficult to spot as the Kleese had a tendency to embed them in the blastcrete of the spaceport and only activate them when they detected the near presence of an enemy.
Ryan nodded his head. “There will undoubtedly be a few. Some will fire armor piercing projectiles and the others will fire a high-intensity energy beam capable of penetrating a Type Three suit. The Type Four will give limited protection but only for a few seconds.”
“Can we take out those two buildings with KEW rounds?” asked Sergeant McElroy. “I understand the KEW batteries on this ship were designed for just that purpose. It might hold our casualties down.”
“If we can determine that only Kleese and their conscripts are inside,” Ryan said with a nod. “We don’t want any civilian casualties if we can help it. We’ve heard rumors the people of this world have been causing problems for the Kleese and that a large number of civilians have been executed for refusing to do as ordered. We’re here to stir the pot, you might say.”
“We have three platoons of Type Four battlesuits and one of the Type Three. Sergeant McElroy, you have command of the Type Three platoon and will also be responsible for the hover tanks. Your main job in these engagements is to protect those tanks so we can use their heavier weapons to destroy any hardened targets impervious to our regular suit weapons. The hover tanks will be extremely useful if we run into large numbers of popup weapon emplacements.”
“Will we be carrying nukes on the Type Four suits?” asked Sergeant Dewey.
“No,” Lieutenant Guthrie responded. “The planets we’re going to assault are all former nonaligned worlds recently conquered by the Kleese. If we use nukes, we could harm or even kill a lot of civilians and that’s not why we’re here. Our regular suit rounds should be sufficient. If we find they’re not, we’ll call in strikes from the hover tanks. With their energy cannon and secondary railgun cannons, they should be able to take out any hardened target we come across.”
Ryan looked around the small group. “In order to stir up as much trouble as possible, we’ll be hitting two separate systems. Captain Morris is on board the assault cruiser Lyra, and she and her Marines will be joining us in the attack on Taleth. There is another system twenty-two light-years distant that two more assault cruisers will be attacking.”
“So we’re dividing the fleet?” asked Sergeant McElroy. He didn’t like that; he felt safer knowing all the warships were close by.
“Yes,” Ryan answered. “The Constellation and the Callisto are our two heavy battlecruisers and one of them and some escorts will be accompanying the attack groups. The rest of the fleet will remain in a nearby system until the attacks have been completed. Then we’ll join back up and proceed to our next target. We’ll rotate which assault cruisers are involved in the different missions. That will give our Marines sufficient time to heal up and prepare for what’s next.”
Lieutenant Guthrie came back to the conference table and sat down. “We have very good medical bays on all of the assault cruisers. In addition, the troop assault ship Defender has a fully staffed medical bay capable of handling anything the med bays on our assault cruisers may find beyond them. There are several Kivean doctors on board the Defender as well as a large number of specialized surgeons.”
“What about the new medical nanites in the Type Four battlesuits?” asked Sergeant Lewis. She sounded uncertain of herself. “How effective are they?”
“They will keep you alive,” Ryan said. He had seen them used experimentally several times and they were now standard in the Type Four suits. They had actually saved Casey’s life on Diadem. “However, if you have a hole blown through your chest or your head has been blown off, they won’t do any good.”
Sergeant Lewis nodded and was silent after that.
Ryan stood up and gazed at the group. “You all have training schedules for your Marines. Just because we’re on board a spaceship doesn’t mean we get to slack. Keep your people in shape and ready for combat. We need every edge we can get to make sure as many of us as possible returns home when this mission is over.”
-
A few hours later, Casey was standing next to Lauren in one of the training facilities watching several squads go through their drills. “I didn’t realize how much I would miss sex when Ryan and I decided to sleep separately while on this mission.”
Lauren broke into laughter with tears rolling down her cheeks. “God, what have I created? You’re going to be a nympho.”
“Nympho?”
“Yes, a girl crazy about sex and that’s all she thinks about.”
“I’m not that bad,” Casey said as she watched Alexander stop and yell at a Marine, who wasn’t doing the drill fast enough. Shaking her head, she saw the Marine drop to the deck and start doing pushups. “I just didn’t realize how much I would enjoy it.”
Lauren lowered her voice. “You and Ryan could still get together occasionally if you’re careful. No one would suspect anything if you went to his quarters occasionally to discuss drill assignments.”
Casey sighed and shook her head. “I don’t think that would be appropriate. I’m a clone and I don’t want to offend the normal Humans.”
“Your loss.” Lauren paused and then looked over at Casey. “You do know that now no one can tell you apart from a normal born Human anymore. You’re just as Human as anyone; I should know.”
“I’ve changed over the last few years. I think being in the Marines has been helpful as everyone has treated me as an equal. Sometimes even I forget I’m a clone.”
Lauren looked over where Alexander now had the hapless Marine doing sit-ups. “I think I’d better go rescue Private Richards from Alexander before he passes out.”
Casey nodded. Private Richards always seemed to find someway to piss Alexander off. Casey wondered if it had anything to do with Richards stopping at their table the other night while they were eating and talking to Lauren. Was it possible Alexander was jealous?
Casey watched as Lauren went over to Alexander and said a few words. Moments later Private Richards rejoined his squad who were now on their way to the target range. Casey wasn’t sure, but it looked as if Lauren and Alexander were arguing. After a few moments, she saw Alexander turn away and walk off with a disgruntled look upon his face and Lauren headed over toward the target range. It might be an interesting evening meal tonight if the two were angry with each other. With a sigh, Casey left to go speak with Sergeant McElroy. Ryan wanted her to learn more about the two hover tanks the Deliverance was equipped with and how best to use them in a combat situation. Sergeant McElroy had a lot of experience with the tanks and would be able to give her some useful advice.
-
Colonel Dylan Winfrey was in the Command Center of the troop assault ship, Defender. The one thousand-meter long vessel was slightly la
rger than a heavy battlecruiser and heavily armed. The Defender had been designed to assault a planet and protect itself in orbit while conducting ground operations against the Kleese. There were five hundred Marines on the ship, and all could be deployed at a moment’s notice.
“We’re in Kleese space,” commented Captain Alicia Damon, the executive officer.
“Is there any chance the Kleese might detect us?” asked Dylan. He knew the fleet’s heavy battlecruisers had that technology and now so did the Alliance.
Commander Greer stood up and stepped down from the Command Dais. “It’s possible but highly unlikely. We haven’t been able to confirm the regular Kleese have the technology to detect a ship in Fold Space, but according to the Kiveans, the Zaltule probably do.”
Dylan looked at the ship’s viewscreens but all they showed was static; nothing was visible while they were in Fold Space. The tactical display did show the fleet around the Defender, and it was comforting seeing all the green icons.
“I strongly suspect the Zaltule will come looking for us after we hit the first two worlds,” he said.
Commander Greer nodded his agreement. “Do you have the next targets picked?”
“Yes,” Dylan said. “I’ve spoken to Admiral Adamson and we’re going to proceed on a straight line as if we’re heading toward the heart of their empire. Fourteen hundred light-years from our first targets there are three former nonaligned worlds relatively close together. Those will be our main targets. We’re going to move in, take all three worlds, and then hold them for several days. We have several Kivean scientists on board who claim they can disable the Kleese obedience collars. We’ll spread the word on all three worlds that we’re heading back to the Kleese home system to finish what we started the last time we were there.”
“Propaganda,” said Captain Damon, her eyes narrowing. “It was used in most of the world wars on Earth.”
Galactic Empire Wars: Insurrection (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 5) Page 7
