by Dietmar Wehr
Terranova nodded. Tests of the Mark 10 warhead against obsolete ships had shown that targets would lose a lot of their air via explosive decompression. With open hatches between compartments, it was possible for a ship to lose all its air in a matter of seconds, far too quickly for anyone to put on a pressure suit in time. He said a silent prayer for the souls of the men and women that he had just killed.
“I want to record a video message to Shogun Tanaka,” he said.
“Recording, Admiral,” said the com officer.
“Shogun Tanaka, this is Admiral Marcus Terranova, commanding the Empire’s Second Fleet. Your fleet has been crippled, and all those ships are now drifting hulks. If you wish to avoid planetary bombardment, you will order all your remaining military forces to stand down, and you will surrender. Don’t take too long to comply, Tanaka. My patience is limited. End of message.”
“Ready to transmit, Admiral.”
“Go ahead and send it.”
Tau Ceti Empire Capital (Corona):
Eighteen days later.
Leaning back in her chair, Delacor finished reading Terranova’s After-Action report, which had been couriered by one of his battlecruisers. The Shogunate was no more. Tanaka had surrendered and then committed ritual suicide in the traditional manner, but his surrender recording had predicted that the Empire would have a hard time subduing the warlords who would rise up in his wake. Marcus had made the calculation that those warlords would need time to get organized, and leaving one task force behind to keep watch in case Hashimoto’s fleet returned, he had taken the other two task forces straight to New Danzig in the hope that Hashimoto might still be there. The was no way for Marcus to know that two Shogunate fleets had arrived at the Corona system separately. Her analysts were convinced that the second fleet was Hashimoto’s. The timing would have been just right for him to conquer New Danzig then head straight for Corona. Admiral Rickover had used his Mark 10s to annihilate each attacking fleet in turn so the Mark 10s had proven their effectiveness. Once New Danzig and the Delisani Empire was scooped up, that would just leave the Garnett Republic, and if President Hearst had any brains, he’d offer to accept the Empire’s authority without conditions. Subduing the warlords might take a few weeks, perhaps even a few months, but she didn’t see how any pretender to Tanaka’s throne could hope to resist the might of the Empire. No, except for the mopping up, all organized resistance to a unified Tau Ceti Empire had been neutralized. It was a shame that Contessa hadn’t lived to see what all her hard work had accomplished. Earth’s food and ecology problems had been stabilized, and her population was gradually dropping towards a sustainable level as the number of people emigrating to one or other of the colonies continued to exceed the number of births. It would still take decades before Earth could completely sustain itself again, but it would happen. Humanity would finally be unified under one flag. She wondered how Marcus would react when he found out about Contessa’s assassination, the aborted coup and her own ascension to the throne. There was still considerable work to do. They hadn’t reached the end of the road to Empire yet, but perhaps, just maybe, the end was now in sight.
This is the end of Empire Ascendant and of the Road To Empire series.
Author’s Comments:
This brings the Road To Empire series to a conclusion. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. If you have, please take a couple of minutes to post a review. Getting lots of reviews is a key factor in a book’s success and directly impacts my financial ability to keep on writing.
My next writing project will be something different. Instead of a clash between two star-spanning empires fought with spaceships, it’ll be a clash between the U.S. and a secret neo-nazi organization using highly advanced technology that will be fought by rockets, submarines and atomic weapons in the late 1940’s and 50’s. The best description of it is a technothriller with a dash of SF thrown in. The book’s title is The Hunt for Seawolf 4 and I hope to have it available for pre-order in January of 2018.
You can get updates on my latest books and occasionally a special offer by signing up for my mailing list here. If you’re new to my books, please check out the list at the top. There is the first short story in a dark and gritty series, entitled The Tattooed Angel. It’s intended for adults only. The Complete Thunder Series is now also available as an audiobook narrated by Luke Daniels. Links to my books can be found by clicking on my website link at the top. D.A.W.
Other books by the author (Some are available in Kindle Unlimited):
The Synchronicity War Part 1
The Synchronicity War Part 2
The Synchronicity War Part 3
The Synchronicity War Part 4
The Synchronicity War Omnibus edition (complete series)
The Retro War (stand alone novel set in the Sync War universe)
Rumors of Glory (The System States Rebellion book 1)
Rumors of Honor (SSR book 2)
Rumors of Salvation (SSR book 3)
The System States Rebellion (complete series)
Empire in Crisis
The Last Valkyrie (A stand alone Space Opera novel)
The Thunder of War
The Thunder of Vengeance
The Complete Thunder Series
The Tattooed Angel (A tale of the High Avenging Angel)
Scimitar’s Glory (Swordships Odyssey book 1)
Excalibur’s Quest (Swordships Odyssey book 2)
Return of the Star Raiders (A stand alone Space Opera novel)
