“How many of these are we going to have with us?”
“At least eight,” replied Thomas. “There will be some on the assault ships coming down as well but some of those will be needed to defend the ships.”
Brian was quiet for several moments. “I think Leah and Kinsley are both really worried about this mission. We’ve all gotten really close and they’re afraid not all of us will be coming back.”
“We’ll come back,” promised Thomas in a solemn voice. “I’ll see to it.” Thomas could not imagine any of his friends dying in the hive. He would do whatever was necessary to keep them all alive.
-
Leah was with Kinsley as they were sharing quarters. “Are you as nervous about this mission as I am?” Leah asked. She was sitting on one of the small beds trying to relax with her back against the wall.
Kinsley was on the other bed facing Leah. “Some,” she admitted. I was talking to some of the other members of our squad and they’re all concerned. It probably would have helped if we could have gone on several combat missions on worlds the Alliance is attempting to take back from the Kleese.”
“Yeah,” replied Leah in agreement. “It would have made this easier. Instead of fighting conscripts where we would have superior weapons, we’re going to be fighting real living Zaltule who will be in battlesuits with weapons similar to ours. They will even have energy lances.”
Kinsley though about that for a moment. “You know I just realized that no one in our squad has actually been in combat. None of us has actually had to kill anyone. I’m not sure I’m ready for that even if it is a Zaltule.”
“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about that,” replied Leah as she took in several deep breaths. “I’m just going to follow Thomas’s orders and try not to think about the repercussions of what I’m doing. I’m sure afterward I’ll have nightmares for weeks.”
“The doctors have medications to help us get through this,” said Kinsley. “Some of the older Marines say after the first few times it gets a little better. You just have to remember the enemy is trying to kill us as well. We simply need to kill them first.”
“I’ve seen the videos of what the Kleese and the Zaltule did to Earth, Mars, and even Vesta. They were heartless when they attacked and killed so many civilians.”
Kinsley forced a grin. “Look at it this way. They’re just giant spiders. What do you do when you see a spider?”
“Squash it,” replied Leah without hesitation.
“Do you feel guilty afterward?”
Leah shook her head.
“The same goes here. The Zaltule are giant spiders and we’re going to go and squash them.”
“I think they’re a little bit larger than the ones I’ve seen crawling across the floor.”
Kinsley’s smile grew wider. “That’s why we have bigger weapons: so we can kill bigger spiders.”
“Maybe,” replied Leah. “I don’t want to fail Thomas or Brian.”
Kinsley looked at Leah with a more understanding look. “You really like Brian, don’t you?”
Leah let out a heavy sigh and nodded. “More every day. What is there not to like about him? He’s everything I’ve ever wanted or dreamed about in a guy.”
“Have you told him how you feel?”
Leah looked frightened and shook her head. “I can’t, at least not yet. What about you and Thomas? Don’t you feel the same way about him?”
“Maybe,” replied Kinsley, her eyes narrowing slightly. “I’m not sure Thomas is ready for that type of relationship yet and I don’t want to push him. If it happens for us it does, if not I’m prepared to wait.”
“Let’s just hope we all return from this mission,” replied Leah with a deep sigh.
“Thomas will keep us safe,” promised Kinsley. “He won’t let anything happen to us.”
Leah didn’t reply. This was the Zaltule they were going to fight. They were supposedly the most fierce warriors in the galaxy. Leah hoped Kinsley was right but she was greatly afraid some of them would not be coming back.
-
War Overlord Tetus was in the Command Center of the heavily armed trading station orbiting Warmik. Ship construction was on schedule and he was waiting to hear back from Overlord Barral on the ship strengths and weapons of the Alliance and the faltering Kleese Empire. He was already making plans to deal with the Alliance. By taking out particular key worlds he was certain the war with the Alliance could be greatly shortened. Once the Alliance was under control of the Zaltule then he would turn toward the Empire. He would save the Humans for last.
“What is the latest status of our new warriors?” asked Tetus.
“Undergoing training,” replied Overlord Praveen. “Between the three hives we have over two hundred thousand new warriors. They will be ready for combat within six weeks.”
“What is the status of the egg chambers?” Each hive had numerous egg chambers with different levels of development.
“Four hundred and twelve thousand eggs are currently maturing.”
War Overlord Tetus was satisfied with this information. He would need many new warriors for the battles ahead of the Zaltule.
-
Rear Admiral Stinson had just finished speaking to the other two admirals in the fleet. They had a battle plan but part of it was dependent on the location and number of Zaltule battlecruisers in the star system which was their target.
“We have to hold the space directly above the three hives for at least an hour,” said Amelia as she folded her arms across her chest. On one of the large viewscreens was the target planet with the three hives marked in red. Around the hives more red and amber circles indicated layers of defense that protected the hives from attack.
“I don’t know if that’s even possible,” said Commander Hill. “Once we go into orbit and begin launching our ground assault, the Zaltule are going to zero in on our fleet. It will take them only a few minutes to realize we’re attacking the hives. They’ll go berserk!”
Amelia was afraid that Commander Hill was correct. “We need to find a way to reduce that one hour to half that.”
Commander Hill thought for several moments. “It will take the assault shuttles at least eighteen minutes to reach their targets once they launch from the Marine assault ships. We’re going to hit the area around the hives with weak antimatter missiles to take out the defenses. We have to hold the space above the hives until all of our Marines and the designated assault ships are inside. It will take time just to clear the orbital space of Zaltule warships so our craft can land safely. I just don’t see how we can reduce the time by more than a few minutes.”
Looking at the three large green icons on the tactical display that designated the large Marine assault ships Amelia wondered if there was anything they could do. Each one of those ships was carrying one company of Marines trained in the Type Nine battlesuits and four companies trained in the Type Sevens. In addition there were three of the two hundred-meter assault ships assigned to land in the entrance of each hive. Each assault ship held another eighty Marines in the Type Seven suits as well as four hover tanks.
“How many Zaltule do you think will be in one of those hives?”
Commander Hill pressed an icon on his computer screen and the view on the main viewscreen changed to show a close up of one of the hives. From this vantage point the hive looked massive. “Thousands,” he replied. “We have no way to know how they will be armed or what the internal defenses of the hives will be like. We won’t know until our Marines are actually inside.”
“By then it will be time for the fleet to leave.” Amelia felt like they were leaving the Marines behind in a no win situation. Even if they succeeded and managed to kill the Queens how would they ever get off the planet? Once the fleet left the Zaltule would have full control of the planet’s orbital space and be ready to shoot down any vessels attempting to leave the surface.
“I don’t like this mission,” Amelia said, shaking her head. “To me it’s going
to be too costly. I wish there was someway we could cover those Marines until they leave the hives.”
Commander Hill understood how the rear admiral was feeling. He felt the same way. “I don’t see how. If we stay too long the Zaltule will destroy our fleet. We’re going to take some heavy losses as it is.”
Leaning back in her command chair, Amelia thought long and hard about what could be done. She called up some different data and images of the Zaltule system looking for some weakness she could exploit with her fleet. The problem was the Zaltule had too many ships! No matter what she came up with she could not get around that fact.
-
Thomas was meeting with Captain Adams discussing what would happen when they reached the Zaltule planet.
“We’ll have twenty hover tanks at our disposal,” Adams said. “We’ll probably leave four at the entrance to help defend against any attempts the Zaltule make to rush more of their warriors into the hive. We’ll also have three assault ships to defend the entrance.”
“How many Marines will we leave with the ships?”
Sue touched her computer screen and then answered. “Eighty should be sufficient. They will serve two purposes: preventing Zaltule reinforcements from entering the hive and helping protect the assault ships. We’re going to need them to get back off the planet.”
Thomas arched his eyebrow and slowly shook his head. “Can we put eight hundred Marines on those three ships?”
Captain Adams frowned. “We could for the short term. But we would have to rendezvous with the larger Marine assault ships at some point.”
“I wish we knew more about the hives,” said Thomas. “We practiced in the artificial hive back on Centerpoint but we have no idea how close that facsimile was to an actual Zaltule hive.”
Sue had to agree. “No one has ever been inside an actual Kleese or Zaltule hive. What we built was the best guess from a number of Alliance races, including Marken and his people.”
Thomas looked at a viewscreen on the wall showing the hive and the vicinity around it. The hive had one large main entrance and several secondary entrances. “When we go in will we keep all of our Marines together or will we split up?”
“We’ll split up,” replied Captain Adams. “I think two main groups will work best. That will give both forces considerable firepower and double our chances of finding the Queen’s chamber. I’ll take one and you will take the other. It will also force the Zaltule to split their forces.”
Thomas spent a few moments gazing at the video of the hive and the surrounding area. “Once the Zaltule realize what we’re doing they’re going to rush reinforcements to the hive and that includes ships. Will our three assault ships be able to hold out?”
“Maybe,” replied Captain Adams. “I don’t think the Zaltule will risk using heavy weapons against our ships if they’re parked in the entrance of the hive. Instead I think we’ll see massive waves of Zaltule warriors trying to overwhelm our defenses and take the entrance away from us.”
“What about additional explosive rounds? Will we be carrying any?”
“The hover tanks have a small heavily armored compartment on the rear next to the suit chargers which will contain extra explosive round clips for the assault rifles, a few extra charge modules for the energy rifles, and some armor piercing rounds. That’s the best we can do.”
Thomas stood up and walked over to the viewscreen examining the view of the hive. “What do you think our chances are of surviving this?”
Sue took a deep breath. “I don’t know. We have no idea what we will be facing in the hive. Even if we reach the Queen’s chamber we may have to fight our way back out again. Once we reach the assault ships, assuming they’re still there, we have to take off and hope we can escape. The Zaltule are bound to be firing on the ships and we can’t enter Fold Space until we’re out of the planet’s atmosphere.”
“Doesn’t sound good,” replied Thomas, feeling a knot in his stomach.
“No, it doesn’t, but we have a mission to complete and we’ll do our best to follow our orders.”
“How many hover tanks will my group have?”
“Eight; we’ll both have eight. We’ll also be carrying several low yield nukes as a last resort weapon.”
Thomas knew if they had to use the nukes no one was getting out of the hive alive. He was determined for that not to happen. Thomas sat back down. The two of them still had much to talk about.
-
Several days later Rear Admiral Stinson had finally come up with a plan to divide the Zaltule forces.
“If we send a small task group to take out the Zaltule ships in the Lenox System it should cause the Zaltule to send ships from their new home system to deal with that force.”
“Do we want to divide the fleet?” asked Commander Hill, his eyes narrowing sharply. “We’re going to need every ship we have to attack their home planet.”
“We’ll only divide it for a short time,” replied Amelia. “I’ll have Rear Admiral Haden take his fleet into the Lenox System and destroy all the Zaltule ships there. Once he’s done his fleet will rejoin ours and we’ll head toward the Zaltule homeworld. Hopefully the Zaltule will hear what we’ve done and will dispatch part of their fleet to deal with us. They may fear we’re going to attack the other worlds the Lenox have. Once they hear the size of Rear Admiral Haden’s fleet they won’t be expecting us to attack their homeworld. They’ll think that’s all we sent on this mission.”
Commander Hill nodded. “It’s a risk but if we can pull some of those Zaltule ships away from their home system it’ll be worth it.”
“It’s the best we can do. I want to give those Marines every chance we can to survive this mission. The longer we can stay in orbit and the more damage we can do to the Zaltule fleet, the better their chances will be of getting back off the planet and making it home.”
“What happens if we fail in this mission and can’t destroy all the hives?”
Amelia let out a deep sigh. “If that happens then I imagine the Zaltule will be angry beyond belief at us daring to try to kill their Queens. They’ll come after us with everything they have.”
Commander Hill blinked his eyes and replied. “Then we’d better not fail.”
Amelia knew Commander Hill was right. Failure was not an option. The entire future of the Alliance and the Solar System was riding on the success of this mission. Somehow or another she had to make sure the Zaltule Queens died.
Chapter Eighteen
Minor Overlord Lazorth was growing impatient. He currently had seven Zaltule battlecruisers and thirty-four assault ships to protect the Lenox System. He strongly suspected the Humans would return to either attempt to free the system from the Zaltule or to gather more information. He stepped off the command pedestal and turned his triangular shaped head toward the tactical display. His ship was in high orbit above Lenox Prime.
“Have we received any word from Warmik on my request for more ships?” Lazorth wanted to double the ships he currently had in the system. He didn’t want to risk the Humans being able to enter the system undetected or not be able to detect any probes they might attempt to use.
“No, there have been no new communications,” replied Malvern.
It was at that moment alarms on the sensor console began sounding.
Minor Overlord Lazorth’s multifaceted eyes shifted to the tactical display to see dozens of red threat icons dropping out of Fold Space. “Identify those ships!” he ordered in a cold and harsh voice.
“Human battlecruisers and support craft,” replied the Zaltule at the sensor console. “Total count is sixteen battlecruisers, thirty of their smaller support cruisers and one hundred and thirty assault ships.”
Lazorth felt a cold shiver spread through his body. The Humans were back and with a fleet large enough to conquer the Lenox System. This was what he had been afraid of. “Send one of our assault ships to Warmik with the sensor data and a request for immediate reinforcements.”
“Human
ships are closing on Lenox Prime.”
“Why didn’t we detect them in Fold Space before they entered the system?”
“Unknown,” replied the Zaltule at the sensors. “We were detecting a field of interference but assumed it was due to unusual activity from the system’s star. Such interference is quite common in this star system.”
Minor Overlord Lazorth stepped back onto the command pedestal and then turned to face the tactical display. “I want all warships to enter Fold Space and rendezvous at our position immediately. We will hold the Human ships here in the Lenox System until more fleet units arrive from Warmik. Then we will destroy them.”
“Message sent,” replied Malvern. “Assault ship 239 will be departing immediately.”
“Human fleet has formed up into a cone formation and is headed toward the planet,” reported the Zaltule at the sensors. “Estimated time to engagement range is fourteen minutes.”
Lazorth’s multifaceted eyes widened. “The Humans were wasting no time. It was evident they intended to destroy his fleet and free the system from Zaltule rule. Reinforcements might not get here in time.
“Craton, I want the fleet in a globe formation with the battlecruisers in the center and the assault ships on the outside. Put us close enough to the planet so the Humans cannot get behind us.”
Lazorth was holding in his anger at the sheer audacity of the Humans to actually attack the Lenox System. The Humans were an inferior race and should submit to the Zaltule. So far in all of the dealings with the Humans they had been a troublesome species. It was becoming obvious the Humans, instead of being conquered and forced to serve the Zaltule, needed to be eliminated instead. It was a recommendation he would make to Military Overlord Tetus if he survived the coming battle.
-
Rear Admiral Haden sat in his command chair as his fleet closed with the Zaltule. Sensors indicated every Zaltule ship except one was headed toward the target planet. Haden smiled as he realized Rear Admiral Stinson’s plan was working. There was no doubt the assault ship fleeing the system was going to the Zaltule homeworld to report the presence of the Human fleet and to request reinforcements be sent immediately.
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