Warpath (Rise of the Empire Book 4)

by Ivan Kal

  The rest of the invader ships were now in high Trivax orbit, their bigger ships were moving around the planet destroying satellites and stations, and bombarding the ground, while the some of their mid and smaller sized ships were entering the atmosphere on their way to the ground.

  Every minute that passed, thousands of his people were dying on Quvor’s home world, and there was nothing that he could do to help them.

  ***

  Trans-lane to Trivax system – Empire Exploration Ship Monarch

  Johanna glanced at the counter on the big holo in the middle of her ships Command Center. Ten more minutes until her fleet arrives in Trivax system. She felt nauseated, she was taking her ships to battle for the first time since the battle with the Ra’a’zani. The nausea was only worse because she was unaware of the events in Trivaxians system since the moment her fleet entered trans-space. There was no way for her fleet to communicate with anyone outside of it. Each time the counter ticked off one more minute, she felt a stab through her stomach. She wasn’t sure if she could do this, last time she lost so many people under her command and watched the majority of the human race die on Earth. And now once more she was responsible for the wellbeing of a world. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. What she felt wasn’t important at all, the Trivaxians were. They needed her, and she would not fail them.

  Finally the counter reached zero, and her Navigation Handler announced. “Exiting the trans-lane now!”

  The moment her fleet exited the vortex from trans-space, her ships computers pinged the monitoring drone in the system, with it sending them all the sensory data. Then as per Johanna’s prior instruction all their sensors went active, painting a real time state of the system on her holo. Johanna cringed as she saw the fleet sixty one of the alien ships already in orbit of Trivax, with five ships down on the planet. Ten ships were still at Rofvax the fifth planet of the system, while another ten were pursuing three Trivaxian ships.

  Immediately she saw that they were just playing with them, they were moving far slower than what they were capable of. Johanna’s fleet was at the incoming trans-station that was in the planets current orbits located between Trivax and Rofvax, closer to Trivax. Johanna swiped her hand across her command board, sending already formulated orders to her ships. She had several sets of orders prepared depending on the situation in the system.

  As soon as her orders were received and acknowledged, she gave the order to her Communications Handler to send out a wideband message prepared for the invaders, and her fleet split off. The dreadnought Salahuddin alongside two light cruisers Kiriev and Seta, one heavy cruiser - Jun, and the battleship Oures set a course towards Rofvax. The rest quickly accelerated to full speed towards the Trivax, their course leading them straight at the ten ships pursuing the surviving Trivaxian ships.

  ***

  “We are detecting more ships Commander!” An officer at the scanning station yelled out. Quvor swiveled in his chair and turned towards her.

  “Show me!”

  The monitors on his chair suddenly showed new ships, speeding towards him at unimaginable speeds. Quvor gasped when his computers calculated the numbers, the ships would reach Trivax in a fraction of time it took the invaders. Help has arrived.

  “Commander we are receiving a wideband communication in the open from the new ships!”

  “For us?”

  “I don’t think so Commander, they are broadcasting it in both our protocols and their own.”

  Quvor nervously crossed his lower arms at his stomach, the invaders already had Trivaxian protocols, and could most likely understand the language.

  “Play it.” Quvor said.

  “Attention invading ships, this system is under the protection of the Empire. Disengage your warships, power down your weapons and drives, and surrender. You have my word that you will be treated fairly, refuse and you will die. Fleet Commander Johanna Stern of the Empire, end.”

  Quvor’s ears twitched, he could feel the rage in that voice, and he had no doubt that she meant every word. But his ship had detected only forty two ships, against twice as many. He wasn’t sure if they could win. But then again if their speed was any indication of the level of technology that the Empire possessed, the invaders’ numbers might not be an advantage at all.

  ***

  Only twenty five of the ships speeding towards Trivax were warships, the rest were support ships for the fleet, but that meant nothing. The invaders didn’t respond, but the ten ships that had pursued the Trivaxian ships had fallen back and turned back towards Trivax. Johanna waited until those ten ships were well inside her ships range, and then when the invaders still refused to respond, she decided to make a demonstration. The leading ships of her formation were her ten frigates, ships that weren’t really designed for warfare, they were explorers.

  But sadly for the invaders, that mattered little. Each of the ten frigates pointed all their forward laser cannons at the ten ships. On her order they fired, and invisible beams of concentrated light and heat reached out to strike at the alien ships. Each of the lasers hit the back part of the alien ships, melting their hulls in mere moments. Almost at the same time the ten alien ships exploded.

  The fleet continued towards Trivax, moving past the three surviving Trivaxian ships. The invaders still didn’t respond, but as the light from the destruction of their ships reached them, Johanna could see a change in their positions. Ten of their largest ships started moving back in formation with the other smaller ships. Their largest ship was around 600 meters long, about 200 shorter than her dreadnoughts. The other ships were all between 150 and 400 meters long.

  Johanna watched as the alien ships prepared to meet her ships, but she knew that it was futile. They were inferior to her ships. She hoped that they would answer her broadcasts, but no answer came. Finally Johanna ordered her ships to target most of the alien ships, she would leave some intact, hopefully they will realize that they have no hope and surrender. With a determined face she ordered her ships to fire from far outside the alien’s maximum weapons range.

  ***

  The Exploration Fleet’s started launching missiles towards the alien ships. Within minutes 5000 missiles were on their way towards their targets. It was far more than what was required, but Fleet Commander Johanna was making a point. The alien ships feeble point defense tried to take down the incoming onslaught, but the empire’s missiles counter measures were far beyond them. Once in a while they were lucky enough to hit one or two of the missiles, but in the end it didn’t matter. Less than five thousand but more than four and half thousand missiles reached alien ships. The result was the destruction of the alien fleet. Out of sixty one ships in the Trivax orbit, only five remained, untouched only because the Empire’s commander wished it so.

  ***

  Quvor and his entire crew watched unbelievingly as the Empire’s ships effortlessly destroyed the invading ships. He looked at the overwhelming amount of data that his ships were getting from the Empire’s ships. Last time they visited their system, his people didn’t have technology good enough to take a closer look. But now he could see just how much ahead of them they truly were.

  Then he remembered that his home planet was under attack and his people dying. He shook off his curiosity and focused on Trivax. The aliens had bombed most of their biggest cities, leaving only those that held large research centers. Which meant that they had managed to hack their communications or computers on Rofvax, and got the information from there. Their ships had all landed with troops close to the places that held valuable technology information on the ground. What need they had of Trivax’s less advanced technology Quvor didn’t know. But he was sure that they knew that their fleet was defeated.

  Quvor didn’t know if the Empire had troops to send to the ground to help, but he reckoned that they would need as much info as they could get. He accessed the ships databases and sent them the maps to all the cities that the aliens landed in. Along with protocols and coordinates of all
their communications centers on the ground.

  Perhaps they could get in contact with the survivors and organize a counter attack.

  ***

  Tofor sat in the control room of the SEC building. The alien invaders were outside, trying to get in. But they obviously didn’t know everything about the building, if they did they would have known that in case of emergency all entrances and windows could be reinforced by thick steel doors. It was a precaution measure built along with the building. At the time of the construction, Trivax was in a very perilous state. Not all agreed that Trivaxian’s should turn to the stars. There were factions that couldn’t handle the fact that there were other living beings out there, that they weren’t alone in the universe. And security was a great concern. Tofor was sure that the aliens could get through eventually, but the defenses might give them enough time for help to arrive.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Trivax

  Johanna watched as the remaining five alien ships tried to run away. It would do them no good, her ships were faster and far more powerful. She dispatched two of her battleships along with ten frigates to disable, then board and take control of them. She wanted answered as to who they were, and why they attacked Trivaxians. The problem she now had was the ground. The alien bombardment had taken out most of the Trivaxian communications, and those that Johanna could contact knew nothing or at least nothing useful. They had taken ships and forces down to the largest city, their objectives was most likely the Space Exploration Institute according to the maps that the Commander of the Trivaxian surviving ships sent. They probably wanted data concerning the Trivaxian technology, even if it was inferior there was always value in knowledge.

  Which meant that Johanna would need to send people down there. She sighed, and opened comms to the army departments on her three dreadnoughts. It was their turn now.

  ***

  Platoon Leader Sahib Adin raced through the large bay of the dreadnought Monarch, with his platoon following close behind. Four squads each with seven members made the platoon that Sahib was the leader of, Platoon Wolf. His people were already briefed, they were to be the forward assault team. They will drop down to the planet on four different locations and secure the landing spots.

  The aliens had ships on the ground, which meant that they probably had some kind of anti-air capability. And while it was doubtful that they had anything that could seriously harm a newest generation military dropship, there was no need for taking risks. Sahib’s platoon would drop down in personal drop pods. Much harder to get a lock on and thus so much harder to hit. This would be their first use in an actual combat, outside of the virtual simulations and tests. And Sahib for one was excited.

  They reached the military drop ship that would release their pods towards the planet, all of them entered and found their ways to the pods. The pods themselves were pear-shaped, heavily armored with protection both from the heat and anything else. They even had a small gravity dampener to assist with the landing.

  Sahib entered his pod, and secured his battle-suit inside. His battle-suit was of the newest generation, made after the technologies from Earth were recovered. Until then they were using lighter suits that Olympus preferred, more geared towards stealth. While the nations back on Earth preferred heavier and much sturdier suits. His suit was a hybrid between the two, utilizing both the heavy plates of Earth design, and carbon nano fibers of the Olympus.

  As soon as he was secure, he opened a channel to his squad leaders via his implant.

  “Everybody ready?” Sahib asked on his squad Alpha’s comms.

  “Lucky, ready.” John “Lucky” Riggs his squad’s demolition expert reported.

  “Eagle eye, ready.” Misty “Eagle eye” Ryss, sniper said.

  “Garth, aye.” Monroe “Garth” Bennett, assault answered.

  “Loca, ready!” Maria Luisa “Loca” Gomez, heavy assault said.

  “Red, good to go.” Tyrone “Red” Jones, assault reported.

  “Bella, ready.” Anastasia “Bella” Fontaine, assault said.

  When all of his squad reported, Sahib switched the comm to the other squad leaders.

  “Claw, Paw, Fang report.” Sahib said.

  “Claw squad ready, Alpha.” Squad Leader Lee “Noose” Sato commed.

  “Paw squad ready, Alpha.” Squad Leader Lola “NGD” Petrov said.

  “Fang squad ready, Alpha.” Squad Leader Tucker “Cheat” Meyers responded.

  “Good.” Sahib said, then opened a channel to the drop ship pilots. “Wolf Platoon ready for deployment.”

  “Copy that Wolf. Initiating operation Downfall.” A voice responded over the comms.

  “Stupid name for the operation.” SL Lola “NGD” Petrov grumbled.

  “I agree, we should have called it something like Sky fall or Hammer of the Gods.” Tucker “Cheat” Meyers added.

  Sahib closed his eyes and tuned his people out, letting them chat. He felt the drop ship lift from the Monarch’s hull and set out into space towards Trivax’s lower orbit. Sahib reflected back to the moment he took a posting with the Exploration Fleet, he wanted to go see other worlds, meet new alien races. He knew that he had a much greater chance of doing that with the Exploration Fleet. It was a tough choice, his friend Adrian had offered him a place in his clan, Warpath. But Sahib refused him. Sahib wasn’t like Adrian, he wasn’t a warrior. Sahib was a soldier and he like being one. What Adrian wanted was different. So Sahib stayed with the army.

  He felt a slight shake of the dropship entering the upper atmosphere, and he felt a rush of adrenaline. This was what he lived for.

  “Wolf, prepare for the drop in twenty seconds.” A voice said over the comms.

  Sahib steeled himself as he waited, the rest of his people quieted and waited as well.

  “Dropping in five, four, three, two, one! Drop pods away.” Suddenly Sahib felt pressure pushing him downward toward the planet. The pod was away, speeding towards the ground, with each squad having a different landing zone. Sahib heard no sound, his suit’s helmet was blocking everything, but he could feel the vibrations. Soon he lost track of time as the vibrations intensified and then suddenly disappeared.

  “Thirty seconds until landing burst.” A computer voice said. Sahib stiffened, the worst part was still ahead.

  “Five seconds until burst, four, three, two, one! Engaging counter burst.”

  Sahib’s entire body jerked, as the reverse thrusters and dampener field worked to counteract the incredible speed they were falling at. And then the pod hit the ground, and Sahib felt as if he was hit by a truck, thankfully the pod itself and his suit took on the brunt of the impact.

  “Report.” Sahib managed to drawl out on the comm for his squad. A few seconds later, six people called in, and a few seconds after that the other squad leaders reported that their squads too landed safely. Sahib readied his weapon, the pod’s front panel exploded outward and he stepped onto the ground of Trivax. The other six pods landed around him, and they too had been opened, his squad mates already out.

  All were in their battle-suits, although his squad had three different types of suits. The one he wore was a medium assault suit, meaning that it had hard plates over his vital areas, while joints were made out of carbon nano fiber mesh. It was powered by a small battery protected by the plate on the back, with features like two small tanks of nanites, one filled with repair nanites that could be sent anywhere through the suit to repair it, and others filled with medical nanites that could treat any wound. In order for it, and any other of the Empire’s suits to be used, the wearer had to possess a secondary implant with an access point at the back of the neck. This allowed the user to move in the suit as efficiently as if they were only in their own body. Sahib along with Red, Bella, and Garth were the ones in his squad equipped with the medium class battle-suit.

  The next type was the heavy class battle-suit. It was bulky, covered in ri-steel plates and coated in heat resisting sheet of ceramics. These battle-suits had three
extra batteries, gave the user much greater strength and speed at the expense of maneuverability. It was worn by heavy infantry, in his team those being Loca and Lucky.

  The final type, was the very different than the rest. It was the only suit that wasn’t a hybrid between the Empire’s and the Earth technology. It was the latest generation of the old Olympus battle-suits. The light class assault battle-suit rated for stealth. It had an amazing stealth system that let the light “pass” right through it, of course it was more complicated than that but Sahib didn’t really need to understand it, just know how to use it. It too was powered, and while it did enhance the user’s strength and speed it wasn’t as powerful as the other battle-suits. The last member of his team - Eagle eye - wore a light assault battle-suit.

  Sahib checked the battle map on his HUD, the Fleet Commander had acquired the plans to the city from few comm stations that were still operational on the planet. He looked at their objective, they were supposed to secure the courtyard of the Trivaxian Space Exploration Center. “Alright squad, you know the plan, let’s move.”

  The seven of them started towards the huge complex, passing through narrow city streets. The Trivaxian architecture reminded him a lot of European architecture, a clash of cultures and ideas all mashed up together. The streets were empty, most of the population had evacuated even before the alien invaders reached Trivax, getting out of the cities. Only those in key positions remained, at least according to the people that they could get in contact with.

  Then they arrived close enough to their destination that they could see the aliens preparing to enter the SEC building. His implant immediately counted all the aliens in his view, there were twenty three of them. The alien themselves wore a kind of battle-suit. It was dark red in color and appeared clunky. The general shape of the aliens was bipedal, with two arms, two legs, a head and a torso just like humans had, although they did appear taller than humans. And the shape of their helmets was more triangular, whether that was because of the shape of their head or a design Sahib couldn’t tell.