-
Six human assault ships were bracketing two Kleese ships. Pulse fusion beams and energy weapons fire was raining down on the two trapped vessels. Their energy screens had been substantially weakened and weapons fire was now penetrating and striking the hulls. Wherever a beam hit, glowing globules of hull material were blasted loose to drift away into space. Inside the two Kleese assault ships, conscripts were frantically trying to save their vessels. Emergency bulkheads had slammed shut and numerous compartments were sealed off, trapping conscripts inside. There was much confusion in the two ships. The command crew, comprised of Nabians, had watched in disbelief as first the Zaltule warships had been destroyed and then the exploration ships entered Fold Space to escape the attacking Alliance ships. This had left only the Nabian commanded assault ships to defend the valuable station.
In Engineering, the Nabian in charge watched in frustration as the ship’s fusion reactor shut down due to irreparable damage sustained from a pulse fusion strike. Even as he prepared to pass the information on to the ship’s Command Center, Engineering lit up in a sudden bright light as a twenty-megaton antimatter missile detonated, vaporizing the two hundred-meter ship.
-
“All Kleese assault ships have been destroyed,” reported Captain Damon, as she gazed intently at the large tactical screen. “All of our heavily damaged ships have pulled back to initiate repairs.”
“Defensive fire from the station is down by 70 percent,” added Lieutenant Kali Summers from Tactical. “We’ve taken out all major weapon emplacements near Flight Control. There are two flight bays close to it that are still open.”
“Send the first wave of assault ships in,” ordered Wade anxious to get the invasion of the station underway. “As soon as we’ve secured the two flight bays and Flight Control, we’ll dock the Defender to the bay. Inform Kalarn to be ready.”
Kalarn was one of the original Kiveans who’d helped in the human escape from the Kleese. He was going to upload the special computer virus into the computer system that the Kivean, Delton, Talt, and human computer technicians had designed. He was certain it could easily be done through the workstations in Flight Control.
-
Captain Jamie Stern was in her Type Three battlesuit waiting nervously as the assault ship she was in closed rapidly with one of the open flight bays on the trading station.
“Just like old times,” announced Sergeant Phil Dawson from her side in his southern accent.
“Yeah,” Jamie replied glad the experienced sergeant had been assigned to her company. “Just keep your head down and don’t go and get yourself killed on me.”
Sergeant Dawson nodded. It had taken them months to get over the deaths of Sergeant Russell and Captain Perry. They’d died in the battle at Centerpoint when the Zaltule had tried to retake the station. It’d been touch and go there for a while, but the human forces had finally won out. Russell had been Dawson’s best friend and the two had constantly taunted each other. It had been difficult adjusting to his loss and not hearing his constant bantering.
“Entering the flight bay,” a voice spoke over Jamie’s command circuit. “Atmospheric force field is still intact and bay gravity is at normal.”
“Stand by,” ordered Jamie, raising her armor-encased hand and closing her fist. “As soon as we exit, spread out and secure the bay. Other assault ships will also be landing. I want the hatches leading into the station secure, and everyone keep your battlesuits tight and be prepared for the Kleese to cut the atmospheric force field.” The feet of the battlesuits could be adjusted to anchor the suit to the floor of the bay if necessary and they contained their own oxygen supply.
Jamie felt a slight jar and the large hatches to the airlocks suddenly swung open. Metal ramps extended to touch the floor of the bay.
“Move out!” yelled Dawson, as he entered the hatch in his ten-foot tall battlesuit and charged down the ramp brandishing his RG rifle.
Captain Stern quickly followed the sergeant out, noting two other assault ships had landed in the bay and Marines were being deployed. There was also a trading ship from another alien species, but it seemed to be sealed tight with no visible signs of movement around it. “Prepare to move out into the outer corridor,” she ordered, seeing that Marines had made it to the hatches and were waiting. There were six hatches which led to the inner corridor, and all were shut.
“They must be waiting for us on the other side of the hatches,” spoke Sergeant Dawson. He was cradling his RG rifle in his metal arms and staring at the nearest hatch. He had fought battles in flight bays before and they were always costly.
“They’ll most likely be in Type Two suits,” Jamie replied as she reached the large hatch where Dawson was waiting. She spoke briefly to the two lieutenants in charge of the other two companies who had made it into the bay. “We have no choice but to charge out into the corridor and engage any enemy conscripts that might be there. Lieutenant Jarvis, leave one platoon here to secure the flight bay. Then I want you to station the rest of your people along the corridor as we secure it. Lieutenant Breck, your company will come with mine and we’ll try to reach the Flight Control Center.”
“Move us out, Sergeant,” ordered Captain Stern as she flipped the safety off her RG rifle. “Somewhere in this station we have Kleese to kill!”
Sergeant Dawson motioned for several Marines to move up closer to the hatch, and then he pressed the control panel which would activate the opening process. Almost instantly, the hatch swung open and inbound weapons fire blasted at the Marines. Everyone darted for cover as Sergeant Dawson calmly changed his RG rifle over to explosive rounds and fired two through the opening. A pair of echoing explosions rang through the corridor and into the flight bay. Billowing black smoke and flame seemed to fill the hatch and then Sergeant Dawson ran into it, firing his RG rifle on automatic. A full squad followed close behind and soon other Marines were rushing through.
Looking around, Jamie saw two other hatches had been opened and other Marines were hurrying into the corridor to reinforce those already inside. Taking a deep breath, she stepped through the hatch and was soon involved in a heavy firefight. It seemed as if the long wide corridor was full of conscripts in Type Two battlesuits trying to push the Marines back through the hatches. Both sides were blasting away at one another from pointblank range. The Type Three suits were heavier and offered better protection from weapons fire giving the Marines an advantage. From the number of conscripts they were engaging, they were going to need it.
Jamie felt several RG rounds impact her suit armor and, checking her HUD, was relieved to see her suit still showing green. However, other Marines had not been so fortunate. Six icons were showing red and fourteen others were amber. Raising her rifle, she fired several rounds down the corridor at a large group of conscripts firing at the Marines. Several RG explosive rounds went off amidst the group of conscripts and a number of them went down. The conscripts retaliated by firing their own explosive rounds which took out several Marines. Other conscripts could be seen hurrying down the corridor toward the battle.
“We’ve got to clear this corridor!” yelled Jamie over the general comm.
The RG fire increased and more explosive rounds went off. Several squads of Marines led by Sergeant Dawson charged toward the large group of conscripts. Dawson drew his Energy Lance as he drew near, swinging it at the nearest conscript and cleaving the battlesuit in two at the waist. The two parts crumbled to the deck. The Type Two battlesuits were vulnerable to Energy Lances.
The fighting rapidly switched over to hand to hand due to the close proximity of the two groups. Energy Lances became prevalent as the Marines charged into the conscripts. Type Two suits were not equipped with Energy Lances and the tide of the battle rapidly began to change as the conscripts began to panic upon seeing so many defenders being cut in two by the Marines. A few even threw down their weapons and ran the opposite direction deciding to risk the ire of the Kleese rather than the Energy Lance wielding
Marines. Most though, elected to stay and die.
In moments, the corridor was full of dying and dead conscripts, their armor cut in two and the floor covered in pools of blood. The Marines continued to push down the corridor toward the Flight Control Center, meeting more resistance along the way. Several explosive rounds went off, sending Marines to the floor, their icons instantly changing to red and a few more switching over from green to amber.
It pained Jamie to see the dead as in most cases the explosive rounds blew the battlesuits apart leaving body parts strung across the corridor. She was beginning to fear she didn’t have enough Marines to reach the Flight Control Center.
“The Defender has docked to the flight bay,” a report came over the command frequency. “Reinforcements should be arriving shortly.”
Jamie acknowledged the message as she continued to push forward. A conscript suddenly appeared in front of her, knocking her RG rifle out of her hands. She grasped her Energy Lance, igniting it and swinging it at the Type Two suit in front of her. The lance easily cut through the armor and deeply into the chest plate. The conscript seemed to gasp and then fell to the floor, dead.
“What’s the status?” a voice next to her demanded.
Turning, Jamie instantly recognized the officer in the Type Three battlesuit. “It’s tough going, Colonel,” Jamie replied, wishing Wade had stayed on board the Defender. “They knew we were coming and have filled the corridor with conscripts. “We’ve suffered a lot of losses.”
“Captain Foster is reporting the same thing,” Wade responded. Captain Nicole Foster was pushing toward the Flight Control Center from the other side and was reporting stiff resistance. “We have to take that Control Center!”
“We will,” promised Jamie, as she stepped forward, moving farther down the corridor. The corridor was full of smoke and fallen bodies in armor, both Marines and conscripts.
Wade moved steadily down the long corridor just behind Captain Sterns and Sergeant Dawson. He had the distinct feeling the two officers were keeping him behind them to keep him safe. Raising his RG rifle, he fired two quick bursts down the corridor where another group of conscripts had suddenly appeared. For a full minute, the fighting was extremely fierce as both sides were now using RG explosives. Twice Wade was knocked to the deck, only to quickly stand back up and return fire. Looking at his HUD, he saw a lot of red and yellow icons indicating wounded or dead Marines. He felt ill realizing how costly this battle was becoming.
Unknown to Wade, Jamie had ordered a full squad to stay close to the colonel to ensure his safety. Just as they had always ensured Beth was safe, they were doing the same for Wade.
-
Betel had returned to the Command Pedestal and was gazing at a schematic of the station up on a large screen showing the humans’ advance.
“The humans have taken over two flight bays and moved out into the main corridor,” reported Standt. Standt was now also fully encased in his own Type Three battlesuit. “They seem to be moving in on the Flight Control Center.”
“I don’t see why,” responded Betel as he thought over what the humans might be attempting to accomplish. “Warn our fellow Kleese in Flight Control that humans are on the way.” It would do little good. The Kleese in Flight Control were unarmed except for the black control boxes they carried.
“The humans are all wearing Type Three battlesuits,” Standt continued, as he studied video footage coming in over several data feeds. “Our conscripts are trying to push them back to the bays, but they’ve been reinforced and were taking very heavy casualties.”
“Mere conscripts,” muttered Betel dismissively. “Their lives are of little value.”
“Most of our weapon systems have been destroyed,” Standt added as he received new reports from the Nabians monitoring those systems. “There are reports of additional human assault ships landing in four more of our flight bays.”
“Turn off the atmospheric force fields to all the bays,” ordered Betel. “That will make entering the main corridor much more difficult and some of the humans might be sucked out into space by the escaping atmosphere.”
Standt did as ordered, seeing on the video feeds that the removal of the atmosphere was having no obvious affect on the humans in the bays. He did see a number of conscripts, who served as laborers, pulled outside into space as the atmosphere escaped out of the flight bays. In addition, a number of cargo ships were blown out of the open bays also.
-
“Fuller, Ashton; put an RG explosive round in that adjoining corridor,” Sergeant Dawson ordered as they neared the Flight Control Center. It seemed as if more Kleese conscripts appeared at every junction. He didn’t know how many hundreds they’d already fought their way through.
They had blown open four sealed hatches so far just to get to where they were. The Kleese had sealed every hatch in the station and placed conscripts in all the corridors in between. More conscripts were continuing to swarm toward them and Dawson was hoping that eventually the sealed off compartments and corridors would be of help. At some point, there would be no more conscripts in this area of the station who could reach them.
Dawson heard a loud pop and felt his lower leg suddenly go numb. He stumbled and fell to the floor. Calling up his suit schematics on his HUD, he saw that he had been hit by an RG round through the fleshy part of his left calf. Already the suit was sealing itself up and injecting him with pain meds.
“Sergeant Dawson,” a concerned Captain Stern’s voice came over his comm. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” grunted Dawson, as he stood back up. “Just a minor nick. Suit’s sealing it up and I’m continuing to advance.”
Jamie breathed a sigh of relief. They were nearly to the Flight Control Center and she’d already lost enough Marines. Losing Sergeant Dawson would have been a major blow.
Wade saw Dawson’s green icon change to amber and heard the conversation between Stern and Dawson over the command frequency.
“We’ve reached the doors to the Flight Control Center,” Captain Foster reported.
It didn’t surprise Wade that Nicole had beaten them to their objective. She was a very determined officer. “Secure the corridor and wait until we arrive,” he ordered. “We’re only a few minutes away.”
It didn’t take them long to eliminate the final few conscripts between them and the Flight Control Center and soon Captain Stern and Colonel Nelson were standing in front of the large hatch next to Captain Foster. Wade noticed that Nicole had already placed explosives on the door to blow it open when given the order.
Wade took a deep breath and drew his Energy Lance. Looking at Nicole, he nodded as they stepped back away from the hatch.
A loud resounding explosion tore through the corridor amidst a bright flash and a cloud of thick dark smoke. The Marines charged through the door into the Control Center and were met by a hail of RG rifle fire from the dozen armed conscripts in battlesuits in the room. Several Marines fell from the heavy fire but the conscripts were quickly eliminated. There were four Kleese in the room, and all stood watching the humans. The twenty or so unarmed Nabians had retreated to the far end of the Control Center and were huddled together, chattering worriedly to each other.
“Stop!” ordered one of the Kleese, who was slightly taller than the others. “Surrender and we will allow you to live and serve us.”
“Why should we do that?” demanded Jamie in an ice-cold voice as she stepped closer to the Kleese brandishing her Energy Lance.
The Kleese didn’t answer as if not willing to believe death was close at hand. Jamie and half a dozen Marines suddenly charged the Kleese, swinging their Energy Lances. Loud sizzling sounds could be heard as the large triangular shaped heads of the Kleese were removed to fall to the floor, followed by their twitching bodies.
“Flight Control is secure,” reported Jamie, turning around to face Wade, her suit covered in Kleese blood. Half a dozen Marines moved over and began escorting the frightened Nabians out of the room.
/> Taking a deep breath, Wade sent word back to the Defender he was ready for Kalarn. Now they would see if the station could be taken without the risk of high casualties or if they were going to have to fight their way to the command deck corridor by corridor and compartment after compartment.
It took a few minutes but Kalarn arrived escorted by a full squad of Marines. Kalarn had body armor on but it was not a battlesuit. It had been specially designed by the Kiveans to give them some protection if they were caught in combat.
“How long will this take?” Wade asked. Normally it would have been Marken accompanying them on this mission. However, he was needed back in the solar system to help coordinate construction of the new ultra modern spacedock in Vesta.
“Just a few minutes,” Kalarn replied, as he sat down in front of a computer console and began attaching a special computer drive he’d brought. A short time later, the unit began flashing green indicating it was uploading the computer virus.
“Station systems are now coming under my control,” Kalarn reported with satisfaction in his voice, as he studied the information appearing on a portable computer pad he had brought with him. Kalarn quickly scanned the incoming data and then looked over at Wade, nodding his head. “We have full control of all station systems.”
Wade squared his shoulders and then passed on the necessary orders. “Shut down all fusion reactors and turn off life support systems except those to the civilian domes.”
Wade knew most of the civilian crew and families would be in the domes and spared from suffocating. Now all they had to do was wait. Most of the battlesuits would run out of air in twenty-four hours, eliminating the need to fight all the armed conscripts in the station. A few might find a way to recharge their suits, but most would not.
-
Betel stared in shock as power began going out in large parts of the station. “What’s going on?” he demanded, looking over at Standt.
“The humans have somehow managed to take control of the station’s systems,” Standt reported in disbelief. “They’ve shut down the fusion reactors and most of life support.”
Galactic Empire Wars: The Alliance (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 4) Page 15