“Yes,” Wade answered. He’d spoken to General Mitchell in great length about this. “Both attacking fleets will have a large contingent of Alliance ships. This is a joint operation and we’ll be working with a number of Alliance worlds, including several which have only recently joined.”
“Two trading stations,” uttered Greer, shaking his head at the idea. “I can’t believe we’re really going to attempt this. If we succeed, we’re really going to piss the Kleese off.”
“We just can’t screw it up,” Wade said. “A lot will be riding on these two missions.” Wade was anxious to get the missions underway. He knew that with each passing day, the likelihood of rescuing Ryan was fading.
The four spent the next couple of hours making more plans and setting up schedules for training as well as assigning specific Marine units to different ships. It was tedious work, but necessary if they wanted the mission to succeed.
-
Once the meeting was over, Marken accompanied Wade back to Wade’s home. Harnett was waiting there as she’d been busy inspecting several of the more advanced medical facilities in the habitats. Since returning with the equipment to make medical nanites, she and several other Kivean doctors had been extremely busy showing human doctors how to use them. Medical nanites made cures, which normally took weeks or months into a minor stay in the hospital, with most recipients only staying for a few days. Bones could be mended, organs repaired, and deep cuts seemed to close themselves in just a matter of a few minutes. To many human doctors, the technology seemed miraculous.
They were walking through the Viridian habitat on the way to the small house Wade and Beth had made their home. It still amazed Wade at how normal everything seemed inside Vesta. If one didn’t know better, they would think they were back on Earth in one of its modern cities though Viridian was missing most of the noise and had none of the pollution Earth once did. It was also a stark reminder of what had been lost when Earth had died.
Wade stopped and frowned as he saw a group of young people in front of them. There were four young men and two women. All were wearing shirts with slogans on them denouncing the cloning program.
Marken looked at them and sadly shook his head. “It’s hard to believe after everything Cheryl Robinson has done to try to make people understand the clones are just as human as they are, that so many people are still opposed to the program.”
Gesturing for Marken to follow him, the two crossed the street so as not to be noticed by the group. There was no point in causing a scene if it could be avoided, and the anti clone groups didn’t need any more ammunition to use against the government program.
“People have always been resistant to change,” Wade said, as they continued down the street. “I think as time passes, the resistance to the program will continue to decrease.”
“I hope you’re right,” Marken said. “I was visiting with Mason and Adrienne the other day and they said dissatisfaction with cloning has dropped nearly ten percent over the last few months. Cheryl has been making a point of letting people know that a lot of clones have died in the fighting to keep the solar system safe. However, there are still a lot of people opposed to the program such as those young people we just saw.”
“What were you doing at Masons?” asked Wade curiously.
“His niece, Karen, is working with Harnett as an intern,” Marken explained. “Harnett says someday Karen will be an outstanding doctor.”
“That’s good to hear,” Wade replied. He knew her father, Michael Kirby, who used to be the Fleet Admiral, would be very proud of his daughter. Looking back across the street, he could see the group of young people entering a restaurant. “It’s a shame more young people aren’t like her.”
“They’ll come around,” Marken responded as they turned down a street toward the residential neighborhoods. “Even Kivean children rebel from time to time.”
With a deep sigh, Marken wished he and Harnett could have a child. However, the Kleese had operated on Harnett and ensured that could never happen. Even with their advanced medical science, there was nothing they could do to reverse what the Kleese had done. It was one of the reasons Marken had revolted against the Kleese to begin with. Such a cruel and heartless race had no place in this galaxy. His risk at freeing the humans was his people’s way to ensure that someday the Kleese would no longer be a threat.
-
General Mitchell let out a deep breath as he looked across his desk at Fleet Admiral Kelly, Fleet Commander Achlyn, and General Pittman. They were discussing the upcoming attack on the trading stations and Fleet Commander Achlyn had just put forth a surprising proposal.
“What you propose is risky,” Fleet Admiral Kelly said, as he thought about what Achlyn wanted to do. He hadn’t expected the Delton fleet commander to make such a proposal.
“We’re already building a spacedock to build more warships,” Achlyn responded. “We’ll need the crews.”
“We did it with the Kiveans,” commented General Pittman. “We rescued a lot of them from their home world before the Kleese finished its destruction.”
“Your world could suffer the same threat,” warned General Mitchell. “If the Kleese become aware you’re removing members of your race from the planet they could use antimatter missiles to cleanse its surface of life.”
“My people are too close to the center of the empire,” Fleet Commander Achlyn replied somberly. “Even if we win this war against the Kleese someday, it could be many years before Delton is free once more, if ever. With the help of the Kiveans, we have built a good place for our people to live.”
“How many of your people are you proposing rescuing?” asked General Pittman.
“A little over four hundred thousand,” Achlyn replied.
“Four hundred thousand!” uttered Pittman, his eyes growing wide at the number. “Even using our passenger ships we could never move that many over such a distance.”
“We’ll put them into cryosleep,” explained Achlyn. “Working with the Kiveans we have designed a medical nanite which will slow the life processes of a Delton down to very low levels. They will only require minimal monitoring via a small device on the arm. If there is any type of problem, the device will notify a medical technician.”
“Cryosleep,” spoke Fleet Admiral Kelly. Every day it seemed as if the Kivean and Delton scientists were coming up with something new. He knew the Kleese used cryosleep on their captured conscripts.
“It will work,” Achlyn added. He was determined to rescue more of his people and this might be the only opportunity. “We’ve already tried it out on a number of volunteers for a period of four weeks and there were no harmful side effects, other than some weakness for the first few days after being awakened.”
“How do you propose rescuing your people?” asked Kelly. This was a big operation the Deltons were proposing. It would have to be very well planned or it could end in disaster. They would also be risking a lot of valuable ships.
“There’s a blue giant near our star system with four large gas planets in distant orbit. We’ll hide our fleet in one of the planets’ dense atmospheres and send out a number of stealth shuttles capable of entering Fold Space for the short trip to our home planet. We have a list of people we’ll be searching for to bring back. We’ll land teams on Delton and as we locate the people on the lists they will be escorted to a waiting shuttle.”
“How large a fleet are you proposing to construct?” asked Kelly. The Deltons had been playing a major role in the war and he wouldn’t mind having more of their battlecruisers added to the fleets.
“One hundred battlecruisers,” responded Achlyn promptly. “The new ones we’ll be building will be twelve hundred meters in length, equipped with more powerful energy beams as well as a plasma cannon.”
“How soon until you launch this mission?” General Mitchell asked. He knew he could hardly refuse Achlyn’s request. For months now, his ships had been helping to defend the solar system and were a major part of Seven
th Fleet.
“Two months,” Achlyn replied. “The only thing I would ask is if you could provide a few Marines to help protect our retrieval sites. Our people have never been used as conscripts and are totally unfamiliar with the use of the battlesuits.”
“I think we can arrange that,” General Mitchell replied with a nod. By then the trading station missions should be back and he would have the Marines to spare for this additional operation.
“How long will this mission last?” asked Kelly. He knew it would take quite some time to move four hundred thousand people in shuttles.
“As long as it takes or until we’re detected by the Kleese,” Achlyn replied. “If the Kleese detect what we’re doing we’ll depart immediately to avoid reprisals against our world.”
“Let us discuss this and I’ll get back to you,” Mitchell said after a moment. “If we feel this operation is feasible, we’ll support it.” This was going to be a massive undertaking and would have to be run by the president and the council as well.
“Thank you,” Achlyn said as he stood up. “My people owe you much and if this mission succeeds, we shall be forever in your debt.”
After Achlyn left, General Mitchell looked at the other two officers. “What do you think?”
“If the Kleese discover what Achlyn’s doing it could have some serious consequences,” General Pittman said with a deep frown. “On the other hand, I like the idea of rescuing more Deltons from right underneath the noses of the Kleese, if they have noses.”
“I want to send Fourth Fleet along with them,” General Mitchell said. He saw the stunned look on the faces of the other two men.
“Can we afford to send one of our fleets that far away from the solar system?” asked Pittman, feeling very nervous about the idea. Between the trading station missions and now this one that Fleet Commander Achlyn was proposing they were putting a lot at risk.
“Once we finish Achlyn’s rescue operation we could hit some Kleese targets deep within their territory,” explained General Mitchell, as he thought over what he would like to see happen. “It might force them to allocate resources to defend the important worlds in their empire. It will buy us more time, particular after we take the two trading stations from them. It could potentially change the course of this war.”
“I think Admiral Rivers would enjoy that mission,” sighed Kelly. Admiral Rivers almost daily requested Fourth Fleet be sent to the Alliance to aid in its defense. “He’s been anxious for several months now to see more combat.”
“Get with him and pick out some suitable targets,” General Mitchell ordered. “Targets which will hurt the Kleese and perhaps make them realize this war isn’t going to be fought just on their terms. Speak to Marken, Fleet Commander Achlyn, and Commander Pasha. Between them, they should be able to come up with a list of soft targets that could shake up the Kleese.”
Admiral Kelly nodded. Admiral Rivers was possibly their best tactician and would be excellent for this type of covert mission. All they needed to do now was pick out some targets, which would hurt or even slow the Kleese war machine. Idly, Kelly wondered where the Kleese main shipyards were. If they could sneak in and destroy them, the Kleese attack against the nonaligned worlds might grind to a halt. Yes, the more he thought about this attack, the better he liked it. It was about time they took the war to the Kleese core systems and let them know the fear of having their planets attacked. Admiral Kelly just wished he could go along, but his duty was here. However, he knew his turn would come. He seriously doubted the Kleese and particularly the Zaltule were finished with the solar system.
Chapter Eight
Ryan was awoken from his sleep by loud voices and then heard Gureen ordering all the Marines to assemble on the parade ground immediately. Rolling out of bed, he quickly dressed as he glanced out of the small window to his quarters. He and the others had long since realized this dome was used to train Kleese military conscripts. They’d been told explicitly to stay away from the small mountain as it contained live embedded weapons. Ryan recalled how Wade had mentioned several Marines he knew had been killed on such a mountain while they were being trained as Kleese conscripts.
It had been several days since the Kleese interrogation. He had been immensely relieved to learn that no one actually died. The Kleese had only acted as if one of the lieutenants had been executed to encourage honest responses to their questions. Even more surprising was the fact that the Kleese, who had interrogated the officers had been part of the station crew and not a Zaltule. Colonel Stratford had informed them that Gureen had mentioned the Zaltule had left to subdue another nonaligned world and once they returned, the humans would be leaving the station.
After finishing dressing, Ryan stepped outside, seeing other Marines exiting the nearby barracks. He could even hear Corporal Parker complaining about being woken up so early.
As Ryan neared the parade grounds where the Marines were slowly getting into their formations, he was surprised to see both Colonel Stratford and Major Stevens already there. Upon seeing Ryan, Major Stevens quickly walked over to him.
“Lieutenant,” began Stevens, keeping a watchful eye on Gureen. Gureen, at the moment, seemed to be more interested in getting all the Marines on the parade ground and wasn’t paying attention to the major. “I don’t know if we’ll get to talk again. They’re going to put us back on board the exploration ship and send us to their home system where we’ll be studied and interrogated in more detail.”
“I was hoping to stay here longer,” Ryan said, his eyes narrowing sharply. “Any hope of being rescued will vanish once we leave the station.”
“I know,” Stevens responded. “Lieutenant, both the colonel and I believe our battlesuits are aboard that exploration ship somewhere. We have to find them and see if the command suits can find the code to these collars so we can safely remove them. As long as these collars are active, we can’t fight back.”
“What are you orders, sir?” asked Ryan, seeing nearly everyone was on the parade ground.
“If you don’t hear from Colonel Stratford or myself you’re to act on your own. Find out as much information as possible and if you locate the suits, free your platoon. Use your own best judgment as to what to do after that. There are some assault ships in the flight bays of the exploration ship. They could be used to get back to the solar system or even the Alliance if you could activate one of them.”
“Are you telling me to leave the rest of you on board?” asked Ryan, his eyes narrowing sharply. He didn’t like the sound of that at all.
“It might not be possible to take over the exploration ship,” answered Stevens grimly. “If the odds are too great, I’m ordering you to seize one of the assault ships and get out of Dodge. I understand Sergeant Hunter and Corporal Adams have some flight training and could probably get you back to the Alliance.”
“Corporal Adams is pretty tech savvy,” Ryan said. “She could probably get us back home.” Ryan knew Lauren had nearly completed her basic fleet training when she had opted for the special project and the Type Four battlesuits.
“You may have no choice but to leave us behind,” Stevens reiterated. He looked intently at Ryan. “You must return home and tell General Mitchell and Major Winfrey what happened to us.”
“I won’t leave you behind, sir,” Ryan said in a determined voice. “We’ll find a way to get all of us back.”
Before Mark could reply, he saw Gureen glance in his direction with an annoyed look upon his face. He quickly went back to stand next to Colonel Stratford.
-
“Did you give him the orders?” Stratford asked in a low voice.
“Yes,” Mark replied. “Ryan is our most talented officer. If anyone can find our battlesuits and escape, it’s going to be him. Also there’s a chance his command suit might be different than the others.”
“What do you mean?” Stratford asked not understanding. “Why would his be different?”
“Marken helped with the programming of the s
uits, particularly when Harnett decided to include the medical nanites. Since he’s Wade’s brother, I wouldn’t put it past Marken to have added something special to that suit to be used in an emergency. I just hope he can find his battlesuit and escape.”
Stratford nodded. He’d already accepted the fact that most of them would never see the solar system again. If Lieutenant Nelson could escape, at least the people back home would know what had happened to them.
-
“Your questioning and time on this station is over,” announced Queex in a loud and commanding voice once he was satisfied Gureen and the other Nabian overseers had the humans ready. “The information gleaned from the interrogation of your officers will be turned over to the Zaltule. They will determine what further action is warranted.”
Queex fell silent as he studied the assembled humans. “What there is about your race that intrigues the Kleese is beyond me. We shall now return to the exploration ship. As a reminder, anyone who causes problems or threatens a Nabian or one of the Kleese will be terminated immediately.”
Queex then turned and signaled to a number of conscripts in Type Two battlesuits. A few minutes later, the humans were marched from the dome and down the corridors to where the exploration ship was docked.
-
“I guess we’re going back to our old quarters,” spoke Casey, as she moved up to march next to Ryan. At least they weren’t being separated.
“For now,” Ryan answered, as he thought about what Major Stevens had said. He needed to tell Casey about that conversation and hear her thoughts on the matter. He felt a cold chill run down his back at the thought of leaving the other Marines trapped on the exploration ship. No, if he could find the suits, they would either all return home or none of them would.
Glancing over at Casey, he wished there was some way he could spend some alone time with her. The lack of privacy recently had made him realize just how important she was to him. It also amazed him how their current situation paralleled what had happened to Beth and his brother. “Major Stevens wants us to find our suits and take over one of the exploration ship’s assault vessels and escape,” he spoke in a soft voice so no one else could hear.
Galactic Empire Wars: The Alliance (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 4) Page 11