Galactic Empire Wars: The Alliance (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 4)

by Raymond L. Weil

  -

  At the ice moon circling the eighth planet, the drop ship came down jarringly and then the hatch opened and the metal ramp slid down.

  “Out!” yelled Sergeant Patterson as he urged the Marines to exit the ship.

  Hustling outside they began moving toward their target. They had landed on a small blastcrete landing field; a number of windowless buildings were nearby. The moon was dark, only dimly lit by the system’s sun, and what looked like black ice covered everything.

  Wade came down the ramp and looked around. Other drop ships were coming in for landings as Marines swarmed out of others that had already touched down.

  “We need to take those buildings,” Wade said over the general comm channel. “The facility we’re seeking is deep underground and the entrance should be there somewhere. With the fighting above, they’re bound to be expecting us. This won’t be a cakewalk.”

  “We’re down,” Beth announced over the comm. Her force had landed on the far side of the complex.

  “Moving in toward the complex,” added Major Winfrey.

  “Same here,” Major Jeffries reported.

  “Let’s make this quick,” Wade ordered, cradling his RG rifle in his armor covered arms. “We don’t have a lot of time.”

  As the Marines approached the buildings, dozens of Kleese in Type Three battlesuits suddenly appeared. Explosive rounds began going off around the advancing Marines, blasting gaping holes in their ranks. On Wade’s HUD, a number of green icons suddenly turned amber and red. An explosion near him nearly knocked him off his feet.

  “Zaltule!” called out Major Jeffries. “Returning fire!”

  For the next several minutes a fierce firefight erupted as the Marines steadily advanced, pushing the Zaltule back. Zaltule fell as their suits were struck by armor piercing rounds from the Marines’ RG rifles or torn apart from explosive rounds. The environment on the cold moon was so harsh that if a suit was torn open, the exposed Marine or Zaltule died almost immediately.

  “We’re at the first building,” Major Winfrey reported, sounding out of breath. His Marines in their Type Four suits had pushed ahead and were rapidly eliminating the last few remaining Zaltule. Several had jumped to the top of the buildings using the antigravity plates in their armored boots to give them a better field of fire.

  “Find the entrance to the underground section,” ordered Wade as he surveyed the area. Some of the Zaltule were still twitching. “Make sure all of those Zaltule are dead.”

  It didn’t take them long before they found the entrance and the first Marines entered. They soon found themselves in a massive underground landing bay nearly empty other than a few small shuttles.

  “Zaltule!” yelled Sergeant Patterson as dozens of the arachnids clad in battlesuits swarmed toward the Marines from several open hatches. Before Sergeant Patterson could say another word, he was cut down by RG fire. The sergeant dropped to the floor and lay unmoving.

  Wade winced when he saw the sergeant’s icon turn red. Patterson had been with him from the very beginning. He had been a member of Wade’s original platoon back when they had been in training on Earth.

  “Cut them down,” ordered Corporal Hays in a cold voice, feeling stunned by the sudden loss of the sergeant. She raised her RG rifle and began firing short bursts at the approaching Kleese. More Marines were now entering the bay and adding their firepower to the ones already there.

  Several explosive rounds went off and one of the shuttles suddenly exploded, killing several Marines who had been too close to it. The two sides continued to fire as battlesuits on both sides fell to the blastcrete as their occupants were killed. Unlike Kleese conscripts, the Zaltule were highly trained fighters and had little fear of death during combat. The landing bay became filled with smoke and the sound of weapons fire. The Kleese were trying to push the Marines back out of the bay and the humans were stubbornly refusing to be budged.

  With a final push, the Marines overran the Zaltule, taking them out at close range. The fighting came to an end as the last Kleese fell to lay twitching on the blastcrete. But it had been costly, with another eighteen Marines losing their lives in the fighting.

  “We need to clear the corridors behind those hatches,” ordered Major Winfrey as he stepped over a dead Kleese. “We must find a way deeper into the complex.”

  Over the next ten minutes, they slowly fought through several short corridors and airlocks, eventually arriving at a transit station. Behind them, they left corridors full of dead Zaltule and fallen Marines. The Zaltule never made any effort to retreat; they fought to the death, taking as many Marines as possible with them.

  “This tram must lead to the Zaltule stasis chambers,” spoke Major Winfrey as he gazed around the transit station. His battlesuit was covered in Zaltule blood. “We’re going to be limited on how many Marines we can take.”

  Wade nodded. There were two large trams there; each could accommodate about one platoon of Marines. “Major Winfrey, I want one platoon of Type Fours in the first tram. Major Jeffries, I want one platoon of Type Threes in the second. “Beth, you’ll stay here and secure this part of the complex. There are probably more Zaltule around, so be cautious.”

  The Marines quickly boarded the trams. Wade climbed into the first one with Major Winfrey. Moments later, the tram took off and rapidly accelerated into the depths of the moon. Wade just hoped the trip wasn’t too long or they would never get back to the surface in time.

  “Spread out,” Beth ordered the rest of the Marines as she watched the trams leave. She had four full companies still with her. “I want this area of the complex secure and all Zaltule eliminated.”

  “I’ll make sure the landing bay stays secure,” Captain Sterns replied as she ordered her company to head for the bay.

  “I’ll check out the surrounding corridors,” added Captain Foster. Nicole wished she could have gone with Colonel Nelson. Her explosives expertise might have been useful.

  “We only have forty minutes before we have to be back aboard the Argyle,” commented Sergeant Dawson as he watched the two companies of Marines move out. “What if the colonel doesn’t make it back in time?”

  “He will,” promised Beth, her eyes gazing with concern at the now empty tram station. He had to make it back; she didn’t know what she would do if he didn’t.

  -

  In space, the heavy battlecruiser Union along with the Lanolthian and Tureen ships was attacking the second Zaltule shipyard. Already the Tureen had managed to hit the massive structure with four of their forty-megaton antimatter missiles.

  “Heavy damage to the shipyard,” reported Colonel Jones.

  “Still not enough,” grated out Commander Andrea Lucian as the Union shuddered violently.

  “Two Lanolthian battlecruisers are down,” reported the lieutenant at the sensors. “We’ve also lost a Tureen battlecruiser.”

  “The Zaltule are forming a nearly solid wall between us and the shipyard,” Colonel Jones pointed out as the tactical screen revealed over a thousand red icons between them and their target. “We’re about to be overwhelmed by inbound weapons fire. Our shields won’t hold up for long.”

  Around them, hundreds of pulse fusion beams, energy beams, and antimatter missiles began to detonate against the Alliance ships’ energy shields. The Union suddenly lurched sideways and the lights flickered.

  “We just lost Secondary Engineering,” the damage control officer reported. “A pulse fusion beam tore completely through it.”

  “Casualties?” snapped Colonel Jones.

  “No one got out,” reported the damage control officer, shaking his head.

  “Two more Lanolthian battlecruisers are down,” added the lieutenant at the sensors.

  “Heavy damage across the fleet,” reported the Communications officer.

  On the ship’s main viewscreens, Commander Davis could see the glowing debris from the two Lanolthian ships. Even as she watched, another of the Tureen battlecruisers blew apart under the
now heavy fire from the Zaltule fleet. If they stayed much longer, the entire fleet would be destroyed.

  “Get us out of here,” Davis said with a deep sigh of disappointment. They didn’t have the firepower to destroy the shipyard, and it would serve no strategic purpose to allow her entire fleet to be wiped out. “Take us to our secondary target.”

  Moments later, the remaining Alliance ships turned and accelerated away from the deadly Zaltule warships and quickly entered the safety of Fold Space. While they’d not been able to destroy the shipyard, they had damaged it substantially and could still annihilate their secondary targets.

  -

  Harmock watched as another human ship died under the heavy firepower of his fleet. The humans had succeeded in their surprise attack at the very beginning but were being eliminated by the vastly superior numbers of Zaltule ships orbiting the now destroyed shipyard. The humans had managed to destroy a number of the large sections that remained but were now being forced back.

  “Still no communications with the rest of the system,” Dalock reported. “We don’t know if this is the only attack or if there are more.”

  “Only short-range sensors are operating,” added Jalridd. “We can’t scan more than ten million kilometers out.”

  “We’re nearly blind,” swore Minor Overlord Gareth, waving one of his dark arms toward the sensor screens.

  “Do you still think these humans are an inferior species?” demanded Harmock as one of the humans’ larger warships exploded into thousands of glowing pieces from the detonation of an antimatter missile.

  “You may be right,” admitted Gareth. “Never in our long history has our home system come under attack.”

  “Until now!” Harmock reminded him harshly. “The humans are making us pay for being arrogant, thinking we’re invincible, and that all other races are inferior or vermin.”

  “The humans must be annihilated,” uttered Gareth as his multifaceted eyes watched another of the humans’ smaller warships die in a blaze of fiery antimatter energy.

  “They will be,” replied Harmock.

  -

  Admiral Rivers shook his head as another one of his ships died before his eyes on one of the Command Center’s viewscreens. Only moments before, the battlecruiser Wasp had succumbed as her energy shield was overwhelmed and Zaltule antimatter missiles turned the ship into glowing plasma.

  “Light cruiser Sparrow is down,” spoke Lieutenant Hertz from the sensor console in an even voice. In the last few minutes, she’d spoken those words way too often.

  “We’re taking too many losses,” Colonel Greerman said as his eyes turned toward the admiral. “Many of our remaining ships have suffered significant damage.”

  “Order the fleet to withdraw,” commanded Admiral Rivers. If he stayed much longer, he would lose everything. They were being forced to withdraw much quicker than expected. This might cause some major problems for the Marine mission at the icy moon.

  “Sending the order,” Colonel Greerman replied. He felt the admiral was making the right decision; there was no sound tactical reason for remaining and risking the surviving ships.

  Moments later, the remaining ships of Fourth Fleet accelerated away from the large Zaltule fleet and entered the safety of Fold Space.

  -

  Wade stood staring into the large chamber through the thick protective glass window. Inside were four large stasis chambers with Kleese inside.

  “Are you certain?” asked Wade, looking over at Major Winfrey.

  “Positive,” Dylan replied. “We’ve tapped into their computer mainframe and have downloaded all the useful information. From what we understand, those four chambers contain Zaltule Queens. The rest have already been removed.”

  Wade nodded. The fighting in this section of the facility had been fierce. The Zaltule had fought even as they were dying trying to protect this room. Some had been nearly torn in two and still tried to resist. On his HUD, nearly half the icons representing the Marines who had accompanied him were either red or amber.

  “Put the antimatter warhead in the chamber with the Queens,” he ordered as he turned to leave. “Set the timer for forty minutes and then let’s get the hell out of here.”

  The weapon was set and the Marines began to withdraw. As they pulled back, they used more explosives to bring down the surrounding corridors and rooms to ensure any surviving Zaltule wouldn’t be able to reach the weapon and attempt to deactivate or remove it.

  “We’re not going to make it back in time,” Major Jeffries spoke as they prepared to board the trams. They were being slowed down due to the injured. Some were being carried because of the severity of their injuries.

  “They’ll wait for us,” Wade responded. He knew Beth would be in the landing bay. Whether Fleet Commander Achlyn was still in orbit was another matter.

  Twenty minutes later, the two trams pulled into the transport station where there was a noticeable absence of Marines. They quickly left the trams and began making their way through the short corridors.

  “Where is everyone?” asked Major Jeffries with growing concern. They had twenty minutes before the warhead detonated, and if they were still in the Kleese facility when it exploded, it would take them with it.

  “They must have pulled back to the landing bay,” suggested Dylan.

  “Let’s hope so,” Wade responded as he began walking toward the corridor that led to the bay.

  As Wade stepped through the last large hatch, he was relieved to see Beth but surprised that only a single squad of Marines were with her.

  “I sent the rest up,” she explained as she walked up next to Wade. “Some Zaltule warships appeared in orbit, and Fleet Commander Achlyn had to engage them to keep them from attacking the Defender and Argyle. A larger force arrived about twenty minutes ago, and our ships had to pull out, including both of our troop ships.”

  “Then we have no way to evacuate,” commented Dylan with a heavy sigh. At least the warhead would explode shortly and they wouldn’t have to worry about being captured by the Zaltule.

  “I always wanted to go out with a big bang.” spoke up Sergeant Dawson as he gazed around at the other Marines.

  “Not today, Sergeant,” Beth replied, shaking her head. “There’s an assault ship parked up on the blastcrete waiting for us. “Fleet Commander Achlyn sent the Defender and Argyle on to the rendezvous point, but the rest of his fleet left using their sublight drives. The Kleese are following and the two fleets are sniping at each other from long distance. Fleet Commander Achlyn feels it’s only a matter of time before additional Kleese ships appear in front of him and he will have to jump into Fold Space. We need to get off this rock as quickly as possible.”

  “Lead the way,” Wade said. They might just get out of this yet.

  A few minutes later, the last of the Marines were aboard the assault ship, which instantly lifted up and accelerated away from the icy moon. Wade hurriedly removed his battlesuit and along with Beth, Major Winfrey, and Major Jeffries rushed to the ship’s Command Center.

  “Switch the main viewscreen to a view of the Zaltule complex,” Wade ordered as they stepped inside.

  “Yes, Colonel,” Captain Everson said as he gave the order. The screen changed to show a view of the surface. The buildings suddenly seemed to shake and then collapsed as they dropped into a massive cavity which suddenly appeared beneath them and over to one side.

  “It went off,” Dylan said as he gazed at the viewscreen. “We killed their Queens and retrieved the data.”

  “But we lost a lot of Marines,” Wade said in response. Fighting Zaltule was a lot different than fighting the other Kleese or even armored conscripts.

  “Now we can go home,” Beth said, taking Wade’s hand. “We’ve accomplished our mission and even found Ryan; I’m ready to return to Vesta.”

  The assault ship accelerated away from the icy moon and made the jump into Fold Space. The battle in the Kleese home system was over.

  -

 
Admiral Rivers looked at the tactical display and felt dismay at the number of ships reporting in. The battle in the Kleese home system had been costly. Fourth Fleet had lost the heavy battlecruiser Britannica, the battlecruiser Wasp, and eight light cruisers. They’d also lost thirty-two of the fifty assault ships that had come with them. Of the remaining eighteen, seven were damaged to such an extent they wouldn’t survive the long journey back to the Alliance. They’d have to be abandoned and scuttled.

  The Alliance fleets had suffered also. The Naltons had lost seven battlecruisers, the Lanolthians six, the Deltons eight, the Tureen four, and the Pradelians nine. Over half of the combat vessels of the combined fleets had been destroyed in the attack upon the Kleese home system.

  “We hurt the Kleese,” Colonel Greerman said, seeing the gloomy look on the admiral’s face. “We destroyed one shipyard, heavily damaged another, took out two of their biggest mining operations, wiped out the center of their capital city, and destroyed the Zaltule facility on that moon. That’s a huge victory by any standards.”

  Admiral Rivers leaned back in is command chair and took a deep breath. “You’re right. It was an opportunity we had to exploit. The Kleese will never let us get that close to their home system again. But we lost a hell of a lot of good people, both ourselves and our allies.”

  “What do we do now?”

  “As soon as we’ve scuttled the damaged assault ships we’ll jump back into Fold Space. We’re going to have to stop somewhere for repairs, perhaps back in that system where we originally hid. Once the fleet is back in reasonable shape, we’ll head back to the Alliance.”

  “The Kleese will be searching for us,” Greerman said. “We won’t be in any kind of shape for a major battle.”

  “They won’t find us,” Rivers replied confidently. “If we’re careful we should be able to make it back to the Alliance and safety.”

  “It’ll be good to see home again,” commented Greerman. He’d never been sure if they would return from this mission.

  “Yes, it will,” replied Admiral Rivers.