“It will be interesting to see the Delton battlecruisers in combat,” Commander Makita said. “With the new technology we’ve received from the Alliance we’ve greatly enhanced their energy shields and they now have the new multi warhead antimatter missiles.”
“With forty-megaton warheads,” grinned Thomas. “I imagine that will be quite a shock to the Kleese if they ever attack us here in the solar system again.”
Makita was silent for a moment before turning and looking intently at the Fleet Admiral. “What do you think the chances are of another attack?”
“One hundred percent,” responded Thomas, arching his eyebrows in concern. “I’m surprised they haven’t already. Our Kleese captive was very adamant that the Zaltule will soon attack us after what happened at Pradel.”
On the main viewscreen, the four heavy battlecruisers had now moved into a diamond formation and were ready to commence their shakedown cruise. They would spend a week in the solar system, checking out weapons systems before taking a short trip to Alpha Centauri and back. If everything checked out then the Delton battlecruisers, the light cruisers, and the assault ships would join them and Eighth Fleet would officially come into being.
Fleet Admiral Kelly leaned back in his command chair with a heavy sigh. “We’ve spent years beefing up the defenses in the solar system,” he said, addressing Makita. “I’ve seen the reports from the battle in the Pradel system. If the Zaltule had been willing to risk losing most of their fleet, they could have seriously damaged the Alliance fleet, possibly even destroyed it. It’s obvious from the battle footage I’ve watched that they were taken my surprise by the forces committed to defending the system. That won’t be the case next time.”
“Other than the Strell, the Kleese have never fought a determined enemy,” said Makita.
“Well, they have one now,” Thomas responded.
Makita gazed at one of the viewscreens showing Vesta. “It’s strange knowing Mason Randle is no longer president. If not for him, none of us would be here.”
“President Steward will be an excellent leader,” replied Thomas. He also felt great sadness at Randle stepping down. “I spoke to President Randle several times and he indicated Steward is fully capable of filling his shoes.”
On the main viewscreen, the four heavy battlecruisers began to move off and away from Vesta. Thomas watched them, feeling a little jealous. He could've taken one of the ships as his new flagship but felt keeping the four powerful vessels together was the prudent thing to do. Those four ships were designed with one purpose in mind, to be able to destroy Kleese warships.
“Take us back to Centerpoint,” he ordered as the new battlecruisers dwindled on the viewscreen until they finally disappeared. “I need to meet with General Mitchell about the upcoming war games we have planned.” He watched another viewscreen as Vesta slowly receded. His job as Fleet Admiral never ended. There was so much to do to ensure the system stayed safe. He just prayed they were ready when the Kleese did attack again.
-
Major Stevens had just returned from the Moon where he'd been visiting with his old friend Captain Samuel Griffith. Sam was in charge of a full marine company in Type Two battlesuits assigned to defend one of the major domed habitats. It'd been a pleasant visit getting to see Sam, his wife Margaret, and their three kids. Being with them for a few days made the war seem so far away. It reminded him that it was still possible to live a normal and productive life.
Reaching the training dome, he entered and soon made his way to the Command Center where he knew he would find Major Winfrey. As he expected, the major was busy watching another platoon work their way slowly up Charring Mountain.
“How many does that make?” he asked, sitting down next to Dylan.
“Once this group is finished training, we’ll have five full companies ready to deploy.”
Even as Mark watched the multiple viewscreens, which showed every view imaginable of Charring Mountain, three of the metal encased marines were knocked down by popup stunners.
“Must be a new group,” he commented.
“Only their second week of training,” Dylan informed him as he reached forward and changed the settings on some of the popups. Since Ryan had conquered Charring on his second attempt, he'd made certain no one else could duplicate the stunt that Ryan had pulled off.
“I’m taking two companies with me to Lanolth next week,” Mark said. “The Defender and Crimson Star are being deployed and we’re going to make a tour of the current Alliance worlds to demonstrate the capabilities of our Space Marines. Hyram Blake is going along in the Distant Star with a large contingent of negotiators. They’re hoping the show of force will help to encourage several other worlds to join the Alliance. A number have been invited to attend the demonstrations.”
“I hope you’re successful,” responded Dylan, looking away from the viewscreens. The platoon was moving up the steep slope again and it would be another minute or two before they reached the next set of popups. “Fourteen systems plus us isn’t a lot to stand up against the entire Kleese Empire.
“It’s enough to give them pause,” replied Mark, glancing over at Dylan. “If we can build up the Alliance strong enough there is some hope the Kleese might come to a new agreement, which would leave us in peace. At least Marken believes it’s possible.”
“The Kiveans always seem to have a positive attitude toward things,” Dylan stated as he turned his gaze back to the viewscreens. Any moment now and the next set of popups would fire on the advancing marines.
“Their technology saved a lot of lives when they first came to the solar system,” Mark stated as he saw the marines on the viewscreen leap for cover as the popups opened fire.
Dylan nodded. He wondered what future history would say about these times. He just hoped there was a future history. Looking at the screens, he saw two more marines go down. With a wicked smile, he leaned forward and changed the popup settings once more.
-
Ryan was watching the happy look on Casey’s face as she floated on twin wings in the gentle warm air of Luna City. The group had gone astro gliding and had already spent several hours experiencing the wondrous feeling of flying through the air. Rios swooped by Ryan with a slight wave of his hand as he dove down and then drifted back up on the artificial thermals, which the park generated. Rios was by far the most talented at this sport and could stay in the air the longest.
For the last few months, Ryan had gone out with Casey a number of times but always with Lauren and Alexander tagging along. Ryan strongly suspected Lauren was ensuring Casey didn’t get lost in her new found femininity. The girls were always going clothes shopping and Ryan couldn’t get over how gorgeous Casey looked in some of the outfits Lauren picked out for her. He also suspected Lauren was being careful to make sure Casey didn’t get carried away with her newly discovered female charms. Today, Mary had come along and Ryan wasn’t too surprised to see she was dressed a little more risqué than normal. No doubt the result of Lauren’s influence on the female clones in his platoon.
Ryan caught a thermal and floated back up. He was rapidly getting the hang of astro gliding and was really enjoying the afternoon. Looking down, he saw both Casey and Mary were going in for a landing. The girls were probably getting a little tired
“You need to switch to the intermediate level of wings,” called out Rios as he flew by. He did a quick dive and then shot nearly straight up before leveling out a few dozen meters away.
Ryan knew Rios was wearing a pro set of wings that one could only get after passing rigorous tests by the instructors who operated the Astro Park. Each level of wings gave the wearer more control and the ability to do more maneuvers. Looking down, Ryan saw Casey and Mary had removed their wings and seemed to be arguing with several men who had walked up to them. He didn’t like the look of things and quickly adjusted his flight path to take him to the ground.
He had nearly reached the ground when he saw one of the two men push Casey, knocki
ng her down. Ryan was unbuckling the harness to his wings as soon as his feet touched the grass of the Astro Park. He heard a swishing noise behind him and saw both Lauren and Alexander were also coming in for a landing.
Ryan dropped his wings and rushed over to where Casey was lying on the thick grass. “What’s going on here!” he demanded, reaching for Casey’s hand and helping her up.
“Well, what do we have here?” sneered the larger of the two men. “Another cloney lover? Can’t find yourself a real woman?”
“Maybe there’s something about a female clone we don’t know about,” suggested the other slimmer man. “Maybe we should take her with us and find out.”
“I think you need to leave,” Ryan said, stepping between Casey and the two men. Mary had retreated back to where Lauren and Alexander were standing.
“Get out of our way,” the large man demanded his eyes narrowing. “Let’s see what type of woman you have there and if all the parts are like a real woman’s.”
Without thinking, Ryan swung his fist at the smirking man’s face, connecting just below the chin. The blow lifted the man up and he collapsed on the ground. His hand went to his chin with a look of disbelief spreading across his face.
“The two of you had better leave!” Lauren said, striding up with Mary and Alexander close behind. “If you don’t, we’ll make sure you spend the next few months in the hospital.”
The man staggered to his feet and backed away. “Damn clone lovers,” he muttered as he turned and left with his friend.
Ryan watched the two men walk off and get into a ground vehicle, which sped away into Luna City. “Are you okay, Casey?” he asked his voice filled with concern as he turned to look at her.
“I’m fine,” Casey replied as she brushed some grass and dirt off her clothes. “I just wasn’t expecting them to act that way.”
“This protest against cloning is getting worse all the time,” Alexander stated with a frown. “Just last week they had an actual riot at Mars Central and over a dozen people were injured.”
“We need to be cautious when we go out,” suggested Ryan, looking around at the group. Rios and Swen had both landed and joined them.
“Maybe we should begin wearing our uniforms when we’re on leave,” suggested Mary, still looking shaken up from the ordeal. “Surely they wouldn’t bother someone in a military uniform.”
“They might,” Rios said with a disgusted look on his face. “I think Ryan is right; we should go out as a group just for safety reasons.”
“Maybe this clone thing will be settled by the time we return from our next deployment,” added Ryan, hoping it was so. It seemed as if every week now, the demonstrations against the cloning program were becoming more widespread. In a way, he was glad their platoon was leaving on the Defender the following week to go back to the Alliance.
“I hope so,” Lauren said. “Let’s go get something to eat, I’m starving!”
-
Ryan was in Major Steven’s office the next day taking an ass chewing. They'd returned from Luna City early that morning. He knew he deserved the griping out and remained silent as the reaming continued.
“You hit a civilian!” roared Stevens, shaking his head in anger. “He filed charges, and it was all that I could do to get them dropped. What were you thinking, striking the man?”
Mark looked at Ryan, not expecting an answer. He'd already talked to the other marines that had been there and fully understood what had happened. In many ways, he didn’t blame Ryan for what he'd done; hell, he might have done the same thing if he had been there. However, you couldn’t have military personnel going around assaulting civilians even if the reason was justified.
“All of you should have turned around and just left,” Mark said with an aggravated frown. “You’re confined to base until we deploy next week.”
“Yes, Sir,” responded Ryan, feeling embarrassed over the situation.
“Lieutenant Nelson, do you have feelings for Corporal Hunter?”
Ryan hesitated and then nodded. “Yes, Sir.” He knew there was no point hiding that fact from the major.
Mark was silent as he gazed thoughtfully at the young lieutenant. “In our new military, the rules about fraternization have been markedly changed. If I see it begin to affect the moral of the platoon I’ll have no choice but to transfer one of you to another unit, do you understand, Lieutenant?”
“Yes, Sir,” Ryan answered, not wanting either of them to be transferred. “It won’t interfere with our duties, I promise that.”
“Very well,” Mark said, leaning back in his chair and gazing at Lieutenant Nelson. “We deploy next week and this time we’ll have two full companies of Space Marines certified in the Type Four battlesuits. Is your platoon ready for this mission?”
“Yes, Sir,” Ryan responded. “We won’t let you down.”
“Make sure you don’t,” Mark replied. “Now, go back to your platoon, I’m sure they’re all curious as to what your punishment is. Tell them they’re fortunate that all of them aren’t restricted to base.”
“Yes, Sir,” Ryan responded as he stood up and saluted the major. He turned and quickly left the office relieved he'd gotten off so easily. He knew it could have been much worse.
Going back to the barracks, he saw most of the platoon was gathered outside, standing around. It was obvious they'd been keeping an eye on Major Steven’s office.
“What happened?” Casey asked relieved to see Ryan still had his lieutenant stripes.
“Restricted to base until we deploy,” he replied. Then, with a weak smile, he said. “It could have been worse.”
“That bastard had it coming,” stated Alexander, clenching his fist. “If you hadn’t hit him, I would've!”
“We can’t let civilians get to us,” spoke Ryan, shaking his head at Alexander. “I let that happen and now I’m paying the consequences. If any of you go out on leave the next few days, I would prefer to see at least a group of six to ensure nothing gets out of hand.”
“We should probably wear our military uniforms as well,” Lauren added. “It can’t hurt and might keep some of the malcontents away from us.”
Everyone nodded their heads and then turned and went inside the barracks. Ryan remained outside with Casey, Lauren, and Alexander. “We deploy Monday,” he told them. “From what Major Stevens told me we’ll be gone for at least four months.”
“Long deployment,” Lauren said, nodding her head in thought. “I need to call my parents and let them know I’ll be gone for a while.”
“I’m sure a lot of us need to make some calls,” Ryan replied. He knew he needed to call his own parents and Wade. He hoped Wade hadn’t heard about the ruckus with the civilian.
“I’ll go tell the rest of the platoon,” Casey said as she and Alexander turned and went into the barracks.
“Ryan,” Lauren said in a quieter voice. She'd gone to calling the lieutenant by his first name whenever they were alone or in their small group. “You know that Casey is head over heels in love with you, don’t you?”
Ryan was silent, not knowing what to say. He knew his feelings for Casey were quite strong; it was good to hear she felt the same way.
“Casey still has a lot to learn about being Human,” Lauren said in a serious tone. “Love is a very powerful emotion; make sure you don’t ever hurt her. If you do, I’ll make what you did to that civilian seem amateurish.”
Ryan nodded as Lauren spun about and went inside the barracks. He was glad she was around. While Lauren might be a spitfire most of the time, she had a good head on her shoulders and was becoming a good friend as well.
Major Stevens was standing at his window watching the barracks. Tomorrow he had some promotions to announce. Lieutenant Nelson’s platoon still needed some officers. Inside his desk were three promotions. Corporal Hunter was being promoted to sergeant and Privates Parker and Adams were both being promoted to corporal. Turning away from the window, he went back to his desk. He wanted to call Sa
m and let him know he would be out of touch for a while.
-
Harmock looked at the tactical screen as the Warrior’s Fire dropped out of Fold Space. A full thousand Zaltule battlecruisers were in the fleet he was taking to the Human’s solar system. In four more weeks, they would be there and shortly afterward, the Humans would be no more.
“The reserve fleet should be two weeks behind us,” commented Minor Overlord Gareth.
“Five hundred more ships,” Harmock said. “Once we have crushed the Humans and repaired our battle damage, we’ll combine our fleet with the reserve and proceed immediately to the nonaligned worlds which have joined this Alliance. I expect when they hear we have annihilated the Humans they will capitulate very quickly. They'll have no desire to meet our warships in combat.”
“The Zaltule are the supreme warriors,” spoke Gareth, confidently. “We will show the Humans what it means to truly fight the warrior caste.”
“Victory will be ours,” agreed Harmock.
He knew once the Humans and the Alliance were crushed, he needed to begin thinking about dealing with the Council of Overlords. Xatul was now his greatest enemy in the Empire and somehow would have to be eliminated. Perhaps it would be wise to allow several more hatchings to occur. With the swelled numbers of new Zaltule, the council wouldn’t dare refuse the demands of the warrior caste. Harmock knew it was only a matter of time until he became the Supreme Overlord of the Kleese race.
Chapter Eighteen
Mason Randle was enjoying a restful day at home with his family. His wife Adrienne was sitting on the couch holding their infant daughter and he was watching the latest news on the vid screen. Mason was still adjusting to being a regular person without any pressing obligations. For years, he'd made decisions, which determined the survival of the Human race. Now that was over and he was going to enjoy his semi-retirement. The biggest decision he had to make today was what type of steak he was going to cook out on the grill.
Galactic Empire Wars: Rebellion (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 3) Page 26
