It had taken nearly four hours to get the navigation program downloaded to all of the ships and tested to ensure it was working properly. It had been necessary to send a few Human computer techs over to help with the interfaces to make the new program compatible with some of the navigation computers in the fleet.
Finally, all ships reported compliance and Fleet Admiral Rivers had the fleet practice making some short Fold Space drop outs in various sections of the system. After each drop out he closed the formation and did it again, emerging each time with the ships evenly spaced from each other and ready for combat. He finished with the fleet dropping out in a tight formation next to a grouping of comets and obliterating them with the fleet’s energy weapons and pulse fusion beams. Overall, he was satisfied with the navigation program’s performance. He breathed a sigh of relief, satisfied the problem had been solved. Now it was time to go on to others.
-
“How much longer do you think we have before the Zaltule make a move on the Alliance?” asked Commander Greerman as he watched a disintegrating comet on one of the viewscreens. The comet had been hit with several pulse fusion beams from Calthan and Fallon battlecruisers. The fleet was continuing to perform battle drills in the comet and asteroid field.
Admiral Rivers looked over toward his second in command. “I don’t know. We have no idea what effect Admiral Adamson’s fleet will have on the Zaltule. If they’re going to respond to the threat of Seventh Fleet, there should be some movement shortly. So far the Sparrow hasn’t sent back any messages indicating they’ve detected anything.”
On one of the other viewscreens, a large asteroid blew apart as several Lanolthian battlecruisers used their powerful ion cannons on it. They then finished off the smaller pieces with their energy cannons.
“Nice shooting,” commented Rivers. The Lanolthians had come a long way in the last few years. It was one of the reasons Lanolth had been chosen as the capital of the Alliance. The Lanolthians also had the largest contingent of vessels in Fourth Fleet, with more promised.
Commander Greerman studied some information on his command console before turning back toward the admiral. “What about the six smaller fleets we’ve set up, what are we going to do with them?”
“We have a Human heavy battlecruiser in charge of each one,” Admiral Rivers answered as he watched a Tureen battlecruiser make an attack run on a rather large comet. A single sublight missile left the ship and almost instantly, the comet vanished in a blaze of light as a forty-megaton antimatter warhead detonated.
Commander Greerman had a thoughtful look upon his face. “Those Tureen antimatter missiles are pretty powerful. Can you imagine what the firepower of a Janvian battlecruiser would be if we could place our multi-warhead missiles with Tureen warheads in their missile tubes?”
Greerman was referring to the fact that the Janvian battlecruisers were one thousand meters in length. Their primary weapons were powerful sublight antimatter missiles. Each ship had sixty missile tubes, which could be used for highly precise and coordinated missiles strikes. The ship’s hull also had numerous energy beam turrets for offense and defense. On the bow, there was a large energy cannon that could fire a highly concentrated beam of energy.
Admiral Rivers allowed himself to smile. “We’re working on that. A fleet of Janvian battlecruisers is currently in the Solar System having their missile tubes modified for multi-warhead missiles. There are some Tureen scientists there as well helping to adapt their antimatter warhead technology to the missiles. Once they’re finished the ships will be assigned to Fourth Fleet.”
The Tureen were the only race known to have developed a technology capable of producing a forty-megaton antimatter explosion. Antimatter in quantities capable of generating more than a twenty-megaton explosion normally became unstable and had a tendency to detonate without warning.
On the viewscreen, the Tureen battlecruiser was moving away from the destroyed comet to join back up with the fleet. On other screens more asteroids and icy comets were being pulverized by various ships.
“When will Second Fleet and Third Fleet be joining us?” asked Greerman. The other two Solar System fleets were already well past their deployment dates.
Admiral Rivers hesitated for a moment. “Not for awhile; there’s a growing concern in command circles that the Zaltule might strike the Solar System instead of the Alliance.”
Greerman’s face turned pale at the thought. “What are General Mitchell and Fleet Admiral Kelly doing to prepare for that?”
“They’re beefing up the defenses in the Solar System. From what I understand, they’re installing more ion cannons around all the colonies. Vesta is being turned into a veritable fortress.”
“And back to the six smaller fleets we have?”
“Each of those fleets has only about seventy battlecruisers. They’re going through the same type of training we are though I think it would be wise to require all ships that are joining the different fleets to have the Delton navigation program installed. We should pass that word on to the six smaller fleets as well.”
Commander Greerman turned his attention back to one of the viewscreens. A squadron of eight-hundred-meter Nalton battlecruisers were making a pass over three large asteroids. As they did each cruiser fired a barrage of high-intensity energy beams at the asteroids, cutting them in two.
-
Back in the Solar System, Colonel Wade Nelson was visiting Marken at a weapons research center deep inside a small asteroid a short distance from Vesta. Inside the research center, scientists from all the races who had taken up residence in the Solar System were hard at work trying to devise a new weapon to stop the Zaltule fleet if and when it attacked.
Marken and Wade were in an observation room where they were watching the prototype of a new energy weapon being tested. The weapon fired and a searing white beam of energy tore through its target with relative ease. The two-meter thick piece of ship armor had a glowing round hole six inches in diameter all the way through it.
“Impressive,” Wade said, turning to look at Marken. “If we applied this to one of our warships, how much more powerful would it be?”
“Only twelve percent,” Marken said with a sigh. He turned away from the observation window. “It’s the same with all the weapons we’ve come up with. They’re mostly new versions of what we already have. We can improve all of them slightly but not enough to make the difference we need.”
Wade nodded his understanding. The problem was the size of the Zaltule fleet; six thousand ships were just too many to deal with. “I understand some of the Delton computer scientists have run some simulations of what will happen if the Zaltule attack the Solar System.”
“Yes,” Marken replied with a worried frown spreading across his face. “In every instance, the Zaltule are victorious and all life in the Solar System is wiped out.”
“Even Vesta?” It was hard to imagine Vesta being destroyed as large as the asteroid was and considering the massive defenses on its surface.
Marken nodded. “Even Vesta; if the Zaltule use enough antimatter missiles they can eventually crack the asteroid open.”
This caused Wade to feel great concern. Over six million people lived inside Vesta. It was home to his family as well as the cloning facility and so much more. Vesta was the one colony in the Solar System they couldn’t afford to lose. He wondered if anything else could be done to strengthen the asteroid’s defenses.
Wade walked back over to the window overlooking the room where the enhanced energy beam had been tested. “I just feel we’re overlooking something. There has to be a way to destroy the Zaltule fleet. Something we haven’t thought of that could even things up.”
“We have the finest minds in the Solar System working on it,” answered Marken, moving to Wade’s side. He was greatly concerned also. If the Zaltule destroyed the Solar System, then his race would be ended as well.
“The Zaltule fleet hasn’t moved from the trading station in Sector Thirteen,” Wade
said after a moment. This worried him as it indicated that Admiral Adamson’s mission to attack former nonaligned worlds in the Kleese Empire had failed. If it had failed then what did that mean for Ryan? Wade hoped his brother and Casey were all right. “Marken, is there anything we could use as a weapon we haven’t thought about? What if we built hundreds of small bombers like we used to have on Earth, and arm them with antimatter missiles? Hell, I’d throw the kitchen sink at the Zaltule if I could get close enough or try to trick them into flying into the sun.”
Wade turned around and saw a strange look on Marken’s face. Wade had known the Kivean for years and this was the first time he had ever seen such a look. “Marken, what is it? Are you feeling all right?
Marken hesitated for a moment. “You got me to thinking about your comment. Perhaps you’re right and none of our current weapons are the solution. Maybe we need to look at something much simpler and more direct.” Marken’s eyes took on an excited look. “I may have an idea, but I need to talk to some of the others about it first.”
“What is it?” Wade was intensely curious about what the Kivean had come up with. If there were a way to destroy the Zaltule fleet and save the Solar System, it would be the Kiveans who would come up with the answer.
“Not now,” Marken answered, his eyes wide in thought. “I don’t know if what I’m thinking about is even practical. If it is, we need to start working on it immediately.”
“Will it destroy the Zaltule warfleet?”
“Maybe, if it works,” Marken answered. “We’ll need to run some tests and then construct a new base on the Moon. I have a few other ideas that we’ve come up with I need to run by General Mitchell. They’re a little unorthodox, but your suggestion about throwing the kitchen sink at the Zaltule might not be too far off.” Marken became silent lost in thought.
Wade knew he wasn’t going to get anything else out of his friend. When he was ready, Marken would explain his ideas. For now all Wade could do was wait.
-
Fleet Admiral Kelly was on board his flagship, the heavy battlecruiser Armageddon. His ship was currently in orbit over Mars and he was speaking to General Sanchez, who was responsible for the defense of the planet.
“How are the new ion cannon installations going?”
“Nearly done,” General Sanchez answered. “Every city on the planet is sitting inside a ring of them.”
“The underground shelters?”
“Finished, and our people can survive for a minimum of two weeks with the supplies they’ve been stocked with.”
Kelly gazed at the viewscreens, which showed the red planet. Plans had been drawn up to terraform Mars. Many thought it could be made habitable far faster than Earth. Mars was free of the earthquakes and volcanoes that continued to plague Earth and make it a nightmarish place to be. Only Jornada, in the former United States, was still occupied by people. General Wainright and Lawrence Henderson were both at Jornada heavily involved in salvage operations of important documents and artifacts from across the planet. They had several specially designed assault ships to use for their operations. A number of deep shelters had been built beneath Jornada. It was believed that if the Zaltule attacked, there was a good chance they would never notice the spaceport, not as bad as the Earth’s atmosphere was now. Jornada was buried under several feet of ice and snow with a continuously dark and foreboding sky. It had been years since the spaceport had seen the sun.
“If the Zaltule attack the Solar System, Mars may be one of their first targets,” Kelly said, turning his thoughts away from Jornada and Earth. “They’ll crack open every dome on the planet. How much of a warning do you need to get everyone into the shelters?” They both knew several direct hits from antimatter missiles could breach the shelters, even the deepest ones.
“Twelve hours to get everyone safely inside,” General Sanchez replied. “After all, we’re talking about evacuating ten large cities. The latest census indicates we have nearly five million people on the planet. A few live in the outlying areas. It will take some time for them to reach the shelters.”
“We can’t have a disaster like what happened at Mar’s Central,” Kelly said with a haunted look in his eyes. Nearly six hundred thousand people had died when the Kleese managed to destroy the city.
“The Zaltule show up over Mars and we’ll blow them to hell!” stated General Sanchez with confidence in his voice. “We’ve learned a lot since Mars Central was destroyed. I can promise you one thing, if the Kleese attack us here they’ll never leave again.”
Kelly looked over at his Executive Officer, Commander Kevin Makita and smiled. General Sanchez had always been one ready to go to battle if need be.
“I’ll be stationing Seventh Fleet at Mars effective immediately. Their job will be to fight a delaying action until I can get here with First Fleet if the Zaltule show up.”
“No word yet from Admiral Adamson?” asked Sanchez.
Kelly breathed out a long sigh. “No, not yet. Once he returns he’ll take immediate command of the fleet. Until he does, I’ve placed Commander Johanna Braun of the heavy battlecruiser Dresden in command for now.”
“How many ships?” asked Sanchez. He knew that a major portion of the heavy ships of Seventh Fleet had gone on the mission with Admiral Adamson.
“The Dresden, two battlecruisers, eight light cruisers, and sixty assault ships.”
There was silence over the comm channel as Sanchez thought over the fleet numbers and then he spoke. “Inform Commander Braun that I want her fleet close enough to Mars so our ion cannons can support her.”
“I will,” replied Kelly. Kelly knew even with a full sized Seventh Fleet that if the Zaltule attacked in force, Mars might very well be lost.
-
A little while later the Armageddon was preparing to enter Fold Space and head for one of the outer asteroids which held a large Human colony.
“We’re going to be spread pretty thin,” Commander Makita commented. “What if the Zaltule hit several targets at once?”
“Can’t be helped,” Fleet Admiral Kelly responded. “Everything will depend on what the Zaltule attack us with and where.”
Makita nodded his acceptance of those words.
Moments later, the Armageddon entered Fold Space and vanished from Mar’s orbit.
-
Colonel Wade Nelson was once more on Vesta. He was standing in the large spacedock just outside of the Smithfield habitat alongside General Bailey and Major Jeffries.
Wade walked over to several hover tanks parked in between two cargo ships that were being unloaded. He hoped the tanks wouldn’t be necessary, because if they were, then the Kleese would have broken into the spacedock in large numbers. The tanks operated with a three-person crew and at the moment, the tanks were unoccupied.
“I’ve never seen these in action,” General Bailey said as he placed his hand on the armor of one of the tanks.
“They can provide a lot of firepower when needed,” Wade said as he climbed up on the tank and opening the hatch, looked inside. It was cramped but still provided ample room for the three-man crew to carry out their duties. “The energy cannon on the front can take out most ground targets and the twin railguns can annihilate any conscripts or Kleese in battlesuits, including a Type Three. The explosive tube launchers can clear the ground in front of our Marines of the enemy very quickly and efficiently. I’m just glad we came up with these. They’ve been extremely useful.”
Major Jeffries nodded. “Do you think the Kleese will actually try to invade Vesta?”
“If they can, they will,” answered Wade, climbing back down from the tank. “They’ll want to capture any research we have. Once that’s done, they’ll destroy the asteroid by planting antimatter warheads inside.”
Major Jeffries shook his head. “If they get inside, I’ll be dead and so will every one of my Marines. We won’t let them get out of the spacedock, not while any of us are still alive.”
General Bailey looked around th
e large spacedock. “Wade, is there anything else we can do to keep the Zaltule out? In the worst case scenario, what happens if they take the spacedock?”
“We need to fortify Smithfield,” Wade said after a moment. “We can’t let them get to the larger habitats.”
“Mason Randle won’t like that,” General Bailey said with a frown. “He’s still very protective of his old home habitat.”
Wade looked over at a work robot passing by carrying a large metal beam. So many things had changed in recent years. “Mason is reasonable. Explain to him what we’re doing and why; he’ll go along with it.”
General Bailey sighed. “I’ll go talk to President Steward first and then to Mason. Mason knows the Smithfield habitat better than anyone and perhaps he’ll have some constructive ideas on what we can do, if he doesn’t throw me out on my head first.”
Wade smiled. “He won’t.”
-
Several hours later, Wade walked up to stand on the porch of the small house he and Beth lived in. They lived in the Viridian Habitat, and if one didn’t know better, you would never know there was a war going on for Humanity’s very existence. The temperature was in the mid-seventies, there was a light breeze blowing, and even a few birds could be seen flying above. Recently, several large hawks had been released into the habitat, and if one was lucky they could be seen floating on spread wings on the air currents high up in the habitat. Here in Vesta, the Human survivors had created their own visage of Earth, the type of Earth humankind had always dreamed of.
The door opened and Beth stepped out onto the porch. “I was wondering if you were going to make it home for supper.”
Wade walked over and sat down in one of the two large comfy chairs on the porch. Beth came over and took a seat in the other.
Galactic Empire Wars: Insurrection (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 5) Page 21