Warpath (Rise of the Empire Book 4)

by Ivan Kal

  “It looks like they are trying to enter the building.” Eagle eye commented.

  “The survivors must have blocked the entrances, see those containers over there?” Sahib asked gesturing, “Those must be heavy or breaching weapons, they are in a hurry to get them assembled.”

  “They are probably worried about some guys with big guns falling down on their heads.” Loca said in a cheerful tone. Sahib nodded his head, they must know by now that their fleet was destroyed, and since they still didn’t respond to the constant calls for surrender, the aliens most likely wanted hostages. “Alright, Bella, Garth you are going around these buildings and will come at them from the right side. Red and Lucky, the two of you are going here, coming at them from the left. Loca and I are attacking them from the front. Eagle eye, you see that tall building over there?” Sahib asked, while highlighting, buildings, areas and routes on his HUD map. Eagle eye nodded her head. “Yes PL.”

  “Good, you get there and provide cover and support. Alright squad, let’s do this quickly, efficiently, and bloody.” Sahib said.

  “Let’s go wolfpack!” Loca said, and the rest joined in with their own cheer.

  ***

  Five minutes later Bella and Garth were in position overlooking the aliens from the side building. All in all the aliens had a decent enough perimeter set up. They guarded their backs efficiently, Bella thought. But it was nothing special. They had no heavy weapons set up in the SEC building’s courtyard except the one they were assembling to break into the building.

  “What do you think they look like?” Bella asked in an excited tone.

  “I don’t really care, they are the bad guys.” Garth answered with disinterest.

  “I hope that they look like beautiful faeries.” Bella added.

  Garth turned to her and gave her a droll look of disbelief that was wasted on her as neither of them could see each other’s face. “We are about to fight yet another alien race, and this is what you think about moments before battle.”

  “Imagine it,” She said mesmerized, “faeries Garthy. Up until now we have never found another pretty race. Well, I’m not counting the Nel, since they are basically just us. But these are completely new aliens. They could look like anything, the possibilities are endless!” Bella exclaimed.

  “Someone save me! Why am I always stuck with the princess?” Garth wallowed.

  “Just because I like pretty things doesn’t make me a princess! I’m a woman, I am entitled to looking feminine and liking nice things.” She responded sullenly.

  “I swear to all that is dear to me, you might be the as good of a soldier as any of us, but if have to watch you prance around the Monarch’s decks in your frilly little dress on my off duty one more time, I’m going to kill myself.” Garth retorted.

  “Oh Garthy, I love you too!” Bella said smilingly.

  Garth grumbled and cursed to himself, he tried to busy himself checking his assault rifle while Belle kept talking about alien faeries.

  ***

  At the same time Red and Lucky were huddled behind a wall overlooking the SEC building from the other side. It seemed to a bit poorly planned on the side of Trivaxian’s to have the headquarters of their space institute in the middle of a city, at least Red thought so. But then again, they aren’t human. They didn’t think alike, even though there were similarities between the two.

  Red glanced at Lucky who was priming the charges in his rocket launcher. The RX-02 was the latest in infantry carried rocket launchers, carrying four small rockets with enough power to destroy a tank, too bad that the enemy didn’t have any of those. Red’s own main weapon was a standard NR-14 assault rifle filled with conventional cased metal slugs as ammo. The technology might be ancient by now, but it was still extremely effective. NR-14 worked similarly to a rail gun, combining magnetic fields and compressed gas in order to propel the slug at the enemy.

  “You remember when we fought Sowir on Nuva, thirty years ago?” Lucky asked in his slow deliberate drawl.

  “Yup.” Red answered.

  “They weren’t much of a challenge.” He added slowly.

  “Mhm…” Red retorted.

  “I hope these guys are better.” Lucky concluded nodding as he finished priming the last charge.

  Red gave a noncommittal grunt as an answer. It mattered little to him, he was here to do a job, nothing more, nothing less.

  ***

  Sahib waited in silence and watched the progress of his people on his battle-map. All save for Eagle eye were in positions. But according to her movements she would reach her spot soon. Sahib checked his weapons power source, then ammo canister, and lastly the casing canister, making sure that all were placed properly inside his NP-04 plasma rifle.

  The rifle he was holding in his hands was an improvement on the Earth’s design - the SH-07 plasma rifle. The main improvements that the Empire made were in range, bolt heat and firing speed. The weapon was still a bit of a bother to maintain, as one had three different things to worry about. The rifle obviously needed a power source, whose main problem was overheating as the rifle was used, but it could hold out for a respectable amount of time before needing to change or cool off. The second was the gas canister, basically the rifle’s ammo. Highly compressed gas that was superheated with powerful magnetic fields in order to get plasma. And the last part, the casing of the plasma. In of itself the plasma was relatively hard to control, if it was fired without any kind of containment it would spread, disperse, and lose its effectiveness relatively quickly.

  The Earth version of the gun used a kind of magnetic field to contain the bolt long enough for it to reach its target, but it didn’t have a very good range, the field couldn’t survive long enough for targets farther away, making it a devastating short range weapon. The Empire went through another route. They had developed a highly heat resistant plastic sheet in which the plasma would be coated and fired. The plasma would of course burn the plastic away eventually, or it will break upon impact, but it increased the weapon’s effectiveness to mid-range. As the bolt of plasma was fired it would impact the sheet of plasma just outside of the heating chamber. As it traveled down the barrel the sheet would wrap around the bolt and provide containment as it exits the rifle. All in all it was a good weapon, if a bit high maintenance.

  When he finished with his weapon, Sahib glanced at Maria Luisa “Loca”, and saw her staring at her own weapon, the CFG-02 heavy rifle, perhaps the most unique of his squad’s weapons. The CFG-02 was a rifle that used centrifugal force as a way of firing bullets. It allowed for high speed, no recoil, and no muzzle flash firing of bullets at the enemy. The rifle had a “fat” middle, where a large magnetic wheel with bullets was placed. The wheel was capable of turning at amazing speeds, which meant that when the field released bullets they flew out at speeds that could rival any other conventional rifle. The other thing that made it a great weapon, was the rate of fire. It could fire a bullet every 0.15 seconds, for 400 bullets fired every minute. With its ammo supply of 2000 bullets it made for a formidable weapon.

  Raising his head from Loca’s weapon, Sahib noticed that her head was pointed in his direction. She then glanced at the aliens and back again.

  “Hey, boss. Do you think that I could take all those bastards on by myself?” Loca said, living up to her nickname – Crazy.

  “Probably, but you know that in this squad we share.” Sahib answered.

  “Hm… Yeah, it wouldn’t be fair to the others. You’re right.” She said and then grew quiet. Sahib sighed, his team was full of insane and weird. At least he had Misty, she was the only one among them who was normal.

  ***

  Misty “Eagle eye” Ryss climbed through the Trivaxian building with her suits full stealth turned on. The suits stealth was near perfect, and even if someone looked straight at her it was doubtful that they would see her. On the other hand, her suit did nothing to mask sound, even though there existed suits that were capable of limited sound muffling back home. It didn�
�t really matter anyway, Eagle eye walked quickly with carefully placed steps that made almost no sound.

  She was a soft breeze, passing through unseen leaving only a whisper of her existence. The empty stairs of the Trivaxian building finally led her to the roof of the building. She stepped out of into the light that bent around her. She approached the edge and saw the aliens still working furiously on getting their heavy weapon operational. She concluded that it wasn’t supposed to be used in such manner, it was most likely designated as a defense weapon for after they took the building. They underestimated the Trivaxian’s, and now needed to repurpose the weapon in order to get inside the building.

  She knelt at the edge and reached behind her, she moved her hand below the thin material that camouflaged her weapon. She retrieved her Mag-35 sniper rifle and placed its bipod on the edge. The rifle had no scope, instead it had a small camera at the top that feed directly through her suit to her HUD. On her helmet she saw a small window that zoomed in and looked at the alien positions at her thought. Using her military implant, she marked the enemies highlighting them with a soft blue outline, while also taking in every detail of the area beneath her. After she cataloged all points of interest in her mind, while adding cute names to her alien targets.

  “You are Snuggles, and you will be Mr. Tickles, and you there look like a Piggy.” She whispered to herself, “And the two of you will be Dorothy and Kenny.” She continued until she named them all, then reported that she was ready and settled in to wait for her Platoon Leaders orders.

  ***

  Lucky raised his head from his weapon as he heard his leader speak over the squad comms.

  “Alright, everybody is in positions. Lucky you are up first, we need a distraction. Bella, Garth, the two of you hit them from the side while they are distracted, Eagle eye picks off targets of opportunity and provide assistance if necessary. Loca and I will hit them from the front. Clear?” Sahib asked.

  Affirmatives rang out through the channel, and Sahib gave Lucky the go ahead.

  Lucky mounted his weapon on his shoulder took a deep breath and then stepped out of cover. With his implant he chose two targets for his missiles. The alien heavy weapon and the wall behind which a few of the aliens were. With a thought he triggered the weapon, and two missiles rushed out of his launcher.

  ***

  Bella watched as two missiles hit and exploded in the alien perimeter. Immediately both her and Garth left their covers and ran across the street towards the enemy positions. The aliens were all startled, and looking in the direction from which the missiles came. That let Garth and her get close range. As soon as they were close enough to ensure maximum accuracy, both of them opened fire on unsuspecting aliens.

  ***

  As soon as he heard two explosions, Sahib exited cover, Loca running by his side. As they crossed halfway across the street Loca slowed readied her weapon and opened fire. A soft buzzing sound came out of it, and then thunderous rifle fire as bullets started flying out of it. The weapon fire hit the unsuspecting targets and cut right through their armor. A few of the aliens turned towards her and started raising their weapons to fire, but they had no chance. Before they could fire, Sahib had already pressed the trigger of his own weapon. The magnetic fields superheated the gas and sent the plasma forward, the plastic wrapped around the plasma, and gave it a teardrop shape. It crossed the distance to the target in an instant, it hit the alien armor and the containment shattered. Plasma now free, punched a hole through it and entered the alien’s body. The alien fell down, its organs liquefied, a yellowish mist of blood vapor rose from the hole in its chest.

  Before its body hit the ground Sahib fired two more shots at the other aliens, each to the same effect. A few more aliens who had tried to respond had their heads blown off by Eagle eye’s sniper fire. Within thirty seconds, twenty three aliens lay dead.

  The group approached the dead aliens and then stopped to inspect their bodies. On the first look the battle suits of the aliens appeared to have been under power. And the aliens did look like they were a bit taller than an average human or Nel. Sahib noticed Bella kneeling close to one of the aliens trying to get his helmet off.

  “Definitely could have taken them all by myself.” Loca said.

  “No challenge…” He heard Lucky add over the comms, and then Red respond with his usual grunt.

  Then Bella finally managed to get the alien’s helmet off.

  “Ahh! They’re not faeries Garthy! More like birdies!” Bella exclaimed. Sahib was just about to ask her what she meant when he noticed Garth turning around and walking to the other side of the courtyard, as far away from Bella as he could. He realized then, that he probably didn’t want to know.

  ***

  Tofor and his people were startled by two explosions that shook the building, fearing that the aliens had finally managed to get inside they prepared to fight for their lives. But the explosions were followed by weapons fire, and they quickly realized that they weren’t coming from the inside of the building. Tofor rushed to the monitors and accessed cameras looking at the building’s entrance, they were all too scared to look before, but now he needed to know what was happening.

  The feed appeared on the monitor and Tofor watched stunned at the sight before him. The aliens lay dead on the ground, and around them seven armed figures stood. Immediately Tofor took in their shape, and realized who they must be. Then one of his people shouted. “Director we are getting a radio transmission on our emergency frequency!”

  Tofor walked over and the woman played it. “Attention, this is Platoon Leader Adin of the Empire. The enemy had been eliminated, you are clear. I repeat you are clear.”

  Tofor felt his legs give out and he dropped into a nearby chair. He covered his eyes with his upper hands. The help had arrived.

  ***

  Eight hours later – Monarch

  Johanna watched on the holo as her people brought the five of the captured alien ships to her fleet. The ships that she had sent to Rofvax, had also dispatched the ships there, and captured most of the people that the aliens had on the ground. Sadly the colonists were all killed, apparently the aliens tortured them for information and then killed them all. Johanna didn’t know what to think about these aliens, there didn’t seem to be any reason for what they had done. But she will learn soon enough, once they start interrogating the prisoners. And they had plenty.

  The Trivaxian’s on the other hand had been hit hard. Before Johanna arrived the invaders had bombed most of their cities. Fortunately, most of the people had evacuated out of the cities. But not everyone wanted or was able to leave. The death count was still uncertain, but according to their preliminary numbers the aliens had killed more than a fifth of their total population, along with most of their leaders. Johanna knew that if she hadn’t arrived that number would have been total. The actions prior to her arrival told her that their plan was to kill the entire population slowly at their leisure.

  Now when the fighting was finally over, her people were involved in the rescue operations across the planet. And soon she would need to meet with the Trivaxian leaders. She had sent word back to Sanctuary, asking for guidance. But for now there was nothing else she could do. Slowly she stood from her chair, feeling her legs shake from an extended period of sitting. She turned to Andros, the commander of the Monarch. He too had been in his chair from the moment they came into the system, but she knew that he would remain in the CC for a while more.

  “You have the command of the fleet Andros.” Johanna said weakly, then not waiting for his response left the CC and headed straight for her quarters. Every step sending pain running through her body. Once she finally entered her quarters, she sped straight to the bathroom where she immediately dropped by the toilet and proceeded to empty the contents of her stomach. After there was nothing else to puke out, she retched on empty while tears leaked freely from her eyes. It took her at least twenty minutes to calm down enough to take her clothes off and enter the shower. S
he let the water flow over her as she shook and cried.

  She was able to keep herself together while the fleet was in action, but the moment she knew that there was nothing else for her to do, she fell apart. Memories stabbed through her mind, of a Ra’a’zani ship and the ships she lost. The cries of people from Earth, as they called her ship to help them while their own planet turned against them. The memory of her ignoring their pleas, but listening to every one of them, each plea carved into her soul. She hugged herself and dropped to the floor, as the water ran over her.

  She knew that there was nothing that she could have done differently, she was not responsible for the people that died today. But knowing something and believing it was two different things. Eventually she managed to gather herself enough to wipe herself off and get to her bed. She grabbed a bottle of pills by it and the promise of dreamless sleep they offered.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Four days later – Dreadnought Monarch – Trivax orbit

  Johanna sat in the meeting room aboard the Monarch. Three representatives of the Trivaxians, Director Tofor of SEI, Leader Riven – the only female of the three, and Commander Quvor sat across from Johanna’s diplomatic leads, Envoy Park Chung-Ah and Envoy Esama.

  “We appreciate all the help you have given to our people.” The Trivaxian group’s leader, Director Tofor said in his language, and the translating device built into the table translated the words to standard.

  “It is the least we could do.” Johanna said, and waited as the translator relayed her words in the Trivaxian language.

  “No. You don’t owe us anything.” Tofor said, his ears flapping around. “Have you found out the reason why the aliens attacked us?” The Empire’s people transformed the former colony on Rofvax into a kind of a prison facility for the some three hundred alien invaders.