Stars & Empire: 10 Galactic Tales

by Jay Allan

  On the viewscreen, other Jalt ships began suffering the same fate. They were now moving their ships around, changing formation, trying to make it harder for the deadly fusion beams to lock on.

  The Jalton ships were desperately trying to get closer so they could fire their most powerful weapon. From the remaining ships, orange-red high intensity lasers lashed out at the invading assault ships. The beams struck the energy screens of the assault ships with little effect. In a few spots, the screens seemed to flicker with energy, but that was all. Not a single laser beam was able to penetrate the Kleese energy screens.

  In the Jalton formation, blue fusion beams continued to destroy ship after ship. Bright explosions dotted space as the ships died, but none turned back. They were fighting for the freedom of their world, and they continued to press on. In a few more minutes, it was over as the Jalton command ship exploded well short of the invading assault ships. None had been able to ram.

  “Now what?” asked Wade, trying not to feel anger at the slaughter of so many ships. He knew that hundreds of lives had just been snuffed out in a matter of a few minutes.

  It was obvious that the attacking fleet had never posed a serious threat to the assault ships. Why couldn’t the assault ships have demonstrated that and then repeated their demands for the Jalton ships to surrender?

  “You slaughtered them!” Beth said accusingly, looking at Marken with anger in her eyes.

  Marken looked at Beth and then replied in a harsh voice. “It is the Kleese way! Even if I had wanted to ask them to surrender again, the Kleese would not have allowed it. The Kleese are not a humanoid race and don’t think as we do.”

  Wade reached out his hand and touched Beth’s shoulder. “Marken’s right; the Kleese are the ones to blame.”

  Beth looked down and refused to meet Wade’s eyes. She knew that soon they would be going down to the planet, and they would be just as guilty as Marken’s people for enforcing the Kleese’s demands.

  The assault fleet approached the Jalton’s planet and then went into orbit. From its surface dozens of missiles rose up in its defense, only to be swatted down by the invading fleet’s energy weapons.

  “It’s time for the drop,” Marken spoke as his eyes focused on Lieutenant Nelson. “They should have no hand weapons that can penetrate a suit’s armor as long as you and your people are careful. The only weapon you will need to be fearful of are large explosive charges.”

  Wade nodded. He knew that now it was their turn. “Come on Beth; let’s go get our people ready.”

  Beth was silent as they left the Command Center; she was still visibly shaken by the lack of mercy shown the Jalton fleet. It made her realize just how monstrous the Kleese were. She also had her doubts about the Kiveans, since they had carried out the Kleese’s commands so efficiently.

  Marken watched them leave; he hated that they had to witness the Jalton fleet wiped out so callously. However, they had to understand how the Kleese fought a war. They never showed any mercy or compassion for anyone. The Kleese were a very cold and impassionate species.

  -o0o-

  A few minutes later, Wade was inside his battle suit sitting in one of the four drop ships the assault ship had in its small flight bay. Each drop ship contained twenty marines. Lieutenant Williams had two platoons she was responsible for and Wade had the other two. Corporals Stern and Perry had been promoted to sergeants just prior to this operation and were in two of the other drop ships.

  Wade felt the ship move and knew they were exiting the flight bay, heading for the planet. “Listen up, you knuckleheads,” Wade began as he stared at his suited up marines. “Our target is the main power station in their capital city. Once we’ve destroyed it, we will go to our extraction point, which is their main airport. Other units will be targeting different targets of interest in multiple sections of the city. As we withdraw to the airport, we have instructions to cause as much damage as possible.”

  “Lieutenant Nelson,” Marken’s voice came over the private com channel. “Their capital city has been evacuated; all that remain are their defending military troops. I thought you should know that.”

  “Thanks,” replied Wade, appreciatively. He wondered just why Marken had told him that. Sometimes Marken seemed so cold and callous, and other times almost Human.

  Wade felt the drop ship begin to shudder in the thicker atmosphere as it neared the planet’s surface. He knew that soon the ship would land, the landing ramp would open, and they would have thirty seconds to exit the craft before it would take off again.

  The ship continued to shake and Private Dawson spoke up. “I’m going to get sick if this keeps up.”

  “I told you not to eat before the drop,” replied Private Russell, unsympathetically. “Next time maybe you’ll listen.”

  “I was hungry,” responded Dawson, defensively.

  “Everyone arm up,” Wade ordered as he stood and grabbed the metal support rail above him so he could remain standing. He picked up his RG rifle and checked the weapon’s display in his helmet. It quickly informed him that it was fully loaded and ready to fire.

  The rest of the group stood and made ready. The drop ship suddenly slowed, seemed to drop the last several meters to the ground, and then with a sharp jar came to a stop. The metal hatch at the rear opened and the ramp extended to the ground. The marines quickly exited, taking up a defensive position around the ship and looking nervously about.

  “All right, move out!” Wade ordered as he came down the ramp and pointed toward a large building a few hundred meters in the direction they needed to go. It looked as if the drop ship had landed them in a small park. Even as he spoke, the ramp closed and the drop ship rose up in the air and then accelerated back up toward space. A second drop ship a few hundred meters away was doing the same. He could see two others a short distance from them and knew those should contain Lieutenant William’s marines.

  “Lieutenant Williams, are you down?” asked Wade, hoping the other drop ships were hers.”

  “Yes, we’re down,” she answered promptly.

  “Head to the large building toward the west; that’s the direction we need to go.” Captain Jenkins had placed Wade in charge of this operation.

  “On our way,” she replied.

  Wade checked his rifle one more time, satisfied that he had done everything he could to prepare his marines for this situation. “Move out!” he ordered. “Staggered formation; scouts ahead. Privates Russell and Dawson, you have the scouting duty. The city is supposed to be evacuated, so anyone you come across will probably be hostile. Sergeants Stern and Perry, keep an eye out for enemy forces.”

  Everyone began moving through the park-like area. Wade noticed immediately that the trees and bushes were much different from those back on Earth. There was a silver tinge to the leaves, and the leaves themselves seemed to be more of a grayish color.

  They were not quite out of the park when firing broke out. What sounded like light weapons fire was coming from the left side of the line where Lieutenant William’s marines were.

  “Report!” Wade barked over the com as he checked his HUD. It showed all eighty combat suits in a ragged line with four scouting ahead.

  “One of my scouts has encountered enemy troops,” Williams replied. “We are moving up to give assistance.”

  Over the next ten minutes, resistance stiffened as the marines continued to advance. Weapons fire became constant as more enemy troops arrived to attempt to stop the invaders in the dark battle suits.

  Wade winced as automatic weapons fire stitched itself across his chest. He instantly dropped to the ground and rolled several times until he was behind a protecting building wall. Checking his display, he was relieved to see that the suit had not been damaged, just scratched a bit. He knew from the material it was made of that it should be impervious to small weapons fire. He stood back up and checked his rifle one more time.

  Taking a deep breath, he stepped back around the corner and fired his rifle in the direc
tion where he thought the shots had come from. An enemy soldier fell to the ground and didn’t move. Wade paused for a moment. This was the first time he had ever killed someone. All this humanoid was doing was protecting his home. Wade shook his head; he couldn’t look at it that way. They had an objective to take, and if any of them ever wanted to see Earth again they had to complete this mission. The humanoids they were fighting were in this planet’s military, so it wasn’t as if they were fighting defenseless civilians.

  A sudden explosion suddenly went off on his right side, and he heard one of his marines swear over the com system. At the same time, one of the battle suits on the HUD suddenly turned orange.

  “They’re tossing some type of grenades,” Private Gonzales reported in a strained voice. “My right shoulder’s been injured, but I can still move.”

  More explosions began going off all across the marine’s slowly advancing line. Several more icons turned orange. The enemy had realized that their weapons fire was not being effective so they had switched to explosives instead. Dozens of small explosions rang out down the line, and the air was becoming filled with drifting smoke.

  “Enough of this!” Wade barked not wanting to lose any of his people. He had hoped to hold enemy casualties to a minimum. “Switch to explosive rounds and let’s end this.”

  “Are you sure you want to do that?” Beth asked on their private communications channel. “It will cause the enemy troops to suffer lots of casualties.”

  “I don’t think we have a choice,” replied Wade, evenly. “The sooner we get this over with the better, or we’re going to lose some people to those damn explosives.”

  Switching his own rifle over to the deadlier rounds, he began firing in an arc ahead of him. Grenade-like explosions began rolling across the small buildings and streets ahead as all eighty marines began laying down a deadly hail of explosive rounds. Thick smoke began to fill the air as buildings caught fire, and some collapsed from the intensity of the weapons fire. The firing from the enemy troops began to lessen, and then it stopped.

  “Let’s go,” Wade ordered as he began moving forward. “I want to increase the speed of our advance. Use explosive rounds to keep the space ahead of us clear.”

  For the next thirty minutes, the marines steadily advanced behind a powerful wall of explosions as they leveled everything in front of them. They cut a swath nearly five hundred meters wide through the heart of the city. Behind them, they left burning buildings and rubble, very little remained standing. Finally, they reached their objective; a large plant that furnished power for the entire city.

  “This is our objective,” Wade said over his suit’s com. “I want it leveled so we can get out of here. Pick your targets and let’s get this over with.”

  Wade had his marines spread out and then passed on the order to fire. Explosive rounds began landing all over the plant complex in resounding explosions. Several large tanks burst into flame, shaking the ground and sending mountains of fire high up into the air. Wade guessed they must have contained some type of fuel for the plant’s generators. It only took a few minutes and the plant was demolished with all of its structures reduced to burning and smoking rubble.

  A warning alarm sounded in his suit and looking down at his weapons display, he saw that he was down to ten percent explosive rounds remaining in his rifle. “Switch back to penetration rounds,” he ordered, wanting to conserve the deadlier ammunition in case it was needed later. “Let’s head to the extraction point.”

  “I haven’t seen any enemy troops recently,” Private Dawson remarked over the com.

  “It’s been quiet,” Lieutenant Williams confirmed.

  “I think they’ve pulled out,” Sergeant Stern added. She hoped that was true. It had been difficult to fire upon the enemy troops knowing they were only defending their planet from invaders.

  At a quick jog, they set off across the city. Resistance had come to a standstill, and Wade wondered if Jamie was right and the enemy troops had withdrawn after realizing they couldn’t bring down the deadly battle suits. He hoped so; he didn’t want to kill anymore of them if it wasn’t necessary.

  Looking around, he could see other areas of smoke rising from different sections of the sprawling capital. Wade knew that these were the results of strikes by other units. This was a show of force to make the leaders of this world understand that they had no choice but to bow down and follow the wishes of the Kleese. Wade felt a pang of guilt knowing they were being used as pawns to help the Kleese to bring this world into their Empire. He also knew that they had no other choice. They all still wore the explosive collars around their necks, and all of the marines knew what disobedience to the Kleese could bring.

  It took about twenty minutes and they finally arrived at the airport. Wade saw that a few other units were already there and had secured the facility. He could see several large aircraft that vaguely resembled the airliners of Earth. The craft had long fuselages, but instead of a single swept back wing the planes had two wings on each side of the fuselage and what looked like some type of rocket motor attached between them.

  “I guess we’re here,” Private Russell called out over the com as he strolled over to stand next to Private Dawson.

  “At least the fighting’s over,” responded Dawson, cradling his RG rifle in his suit’s arms.

  “I think I’ve had enough for today,” Russell commented. “The enemy troops never really had much of a chance against these battle suits we’re wearing.”

  “Cut the chatter,” Lieutenant Williams ordered. “Keep an eye out; the drop ships should be arriving shortly.”

  Wade had his four platoons spread out and take cover behind what appeared to be hangars for the aircraft. He didn’t see any reason for them to remain out in the open as tempting targets for any enemy snipers that might be around.

  Lieutenant Williams walked over and then spoke in a flat and disconcerted voice. “Does this make us murderers now?”

  Wade was silent for a long moment. “No,” he finally answered. “We’re in the Kleese military, and we’re just doing our jobs just like the soldiers we killed in the fighting. We did this to survive, and that’s how we have to look at it. We mustn’t second guess ourselves.”

  “I guess you’re right, but I still don’t like it.” Beth knew she would have a hard time sleeping. Turning, she went back to her two platoons to await the arrival of their drop ships.

  -o0o-

  From orbit, Marken looked at the viewscreen, which showed a close up of the Jalton’s capital city. He was stunned at what the Humans had done. They had marched through the city eliminating opposition and destroying their objectives in record time. Marken guessed that a good twenty percent of the city was now in ruins. The Jalton leaders were requesting an immediate cessation of hostilities.

  Marken let out a deep breath; he knew that if these Humans could be turned against the Kleese someday many things might change. Before that could happen, Marken and his group had much planning that needed to be done. There would also be more battles to be fought as they honed the Humans into the deadliest fighting force the Kleese had ever seen.

  -o0o—

  Four days later, the marines were back in their barracks on board the station. They were all pretty shook up from the fighting on the Jalton’s planet. Wade knew that before they had even left orbit the Jaltons had surrendered. Wade had watched from the Command Center of the assault ship as one of the Kleese’s large ships arrived and went into orbit around the planet. Wade knew that, with the arrival of the Kleese ship, the Jalton’s civilization would never be the same again.

  They had talked about it on the way back, with everyone voicing an opinion. Wade had decided it was best to let his marines speak and get all of their misgivings out of their systems. Even after all the talking they had done, it continued even after arriving back in the barracks.

  “How many more times are we going to have to do this?” Private Dawson grumbled. “They had no chance against us. It
was almost like they were throwing firecrackers at our battle suits.”

  He was about to say more when Captain Jenkins stepped into the barracks. The captain looked around and gestured for everyone to remain sitting. “I know this op was hard on everyone,” he began. “In all, twelve hundred marines and army troops were dropped on the Jalton’s planet. From what I have been told, we achieved our objectives in record time and the Kleese are quite pleased. The Jalton planet has surrendered and agreed to become part of the Kleese Empire.”

  “After we murdered them!” Private Lisa Hayes choked out.

  Captain Jenkins turned his attention to the young woman and could see she was extremely stressed by what they had done.

  “You actually saved lives,” he replied in a steady voice. “If the Kleese ship had gone into orbit and engaged the Jaltons, the first thing they would have done would have been to completely destroy the Jalton capital city and others, killing millions. From what the Kiveans have told me, the Jalton military suffered less than one thousand casualties in our attack upon their capital.”

  “Millions,” mumbled Private Hays, finding it hard to grasp the number. “So you’re saying that by allowing us to scare the Jaltons to death we actually saved lives?”

  “Yes,” replied Jenkins, calmly. “In future engagements that’s how we must look at this. If we can achieve our goals and hold the enemy combatant casualties to a minimum, we are saving millions of lives on each mission.”

  “I guess I can accept that,” replied Private Hays softly, looking at the others. “I don’t like it, but it might make this more bearable.”

  Jenkins eyes swept across the group one more time before he continued, then he spoke in a very serious and somber voice. “There was one army platoon that refused to attack the Jaltons. They wouldn’t move from their embarkation point. A drop ship was not sent to retrieve them, and when the Kleese ship went into orbit it sent out a signal, detonating all of their collars. All twenty died immediately. The Kleese then sent the Kiveans down to retrieve the remains and the battle suits.”