Return to Haven (Empire Rising Book 3)

by D. J. Holmes

  Malhorta knew the AM missile units they had set up were launching counter missiles into the air. They were to take out the new ordnance. Yet he wasn’t sure they would get them all. Several large explosions erupted around him suggesting they had failed.

  Ignoring the damage his forces were taking, Malhorta peeked his head out from the cover he was taking. They are still coming, he cursed. Surly we should have hit one by now.

  Ducking back behind his cover, Malhorta replayed the initial images of the walkers appearing on his HUD. The edge of the forest was about half a click from the front-line Colonel Sai had set up. At that range their plasma rifles should have been able to do some damage to the walkers but he saw bolt after bolt hit the walkers and appear to do no damage.

  “They are armored in Valstronium,” Malhorta called over the COM to Colonel Sai.

  “Acknowledged,” Colonel Sai responded. He switched the COM channel and issued new orders to his troops.

  Malhorta switched back to watching the walkers. They had stopped firing missiles and were raining down an incredible amount of fire on the Indian positions as they advanced. Their large gauss cannons were blowing holes in the earth works his men had hastily thrown up while their rifles were firing hundreds of rounds that were exploding among his men.

  More than two hundred of Malhorta’s men were already down. Then the tide turned. Following Colonel Sai’s orders some of his soldiers had ditched their plasma cannons and switched to shoulder mounted rockets. A number of them were hit as soon as they stood up to take aim on the walkers but enough got their shots off to take out seven walkers.

  As the enemy fire withered from their losses, every soldier opened fire on the walkers and another wave of missiles reached out, taking out another four. Looking over to the other flank, Malhorta could see that the battle was going their way; there were a number of burning wrecks where walkers had been.

  An explosion threw him to the ground. Warnings went off on his HUD, alerting him that his armor was dangerously close to overheating. Confused, Malhorta switched his HUD display to see through the eyes of one of his soldiers as he engaged the walkers. Instinctively, he threw his arms up to protect himself as a bright light reached out from the large cannon mounted on a walker’s shoulder and vaporized the soldier whose feed he was watching. Lasers, Malhorta swore.

  “I want those walkers taken out now!” Malhorta ordered as he picked himself up. “Concentrate all plasma fire on the nearest walker and take it down. Missiles, focus on the walkers at the back of their formation.”

  Malhorta poked his gun around the mound he was using as cover and added his fire to the closest walker. As tens of bolts hit it, it looked as if they were having no effect. Then, slowly, a red glow appeared on the spot where most of the bolts were hitting. The Indian soldiers focused their aim on that spot and within seconds the walker exploded. Two more exploded from missile strikes. That left only nine in the flank Malhorta was fighting on.

  Satisfied that his men could handle the remaining walkers, he ducked down and looked at his HUD to get a better idea of how the whole battle was going. The other flank had been more severely hit by the walkers but they were holding their own. Thermal images from the ships in orbit indicated that there was another wave on their way. You’re too late, Malhorta said to himself when he looked at the timer for his reinforcements. His force had been reduced from sixteen hundred fully combat ready soldiers to a little less than a thousand men. Any other force and Malhorta would be worried they might break, but Colonel Sai had trained them for just this kind of operation. He was sure they would be able to hold out for another two minutes.

  “Tracked vehicles coming at us front and center,” a Captain called over the COM, distracting Malhorta. He swung around to see the new threat. Whoever was in charge of the Haven ground forces was throwing everything they had at his beachhead, hoping to drive him away from the LZ. Over forty tracked vehicles were racing across the open ground between the LZ and Liberty. Behind them, there were hundreds of foot soldiers packed on transports racing to get into the action.

  The tanks opened fire. The contrails from their shells allowed Malhorta to see the shells arc up and then down towards his positions. He ducked as missiles lifted off from around him and intercepted most of the shells, causing them to explode in the air above him. A few bangs and scrapes on his armor let him know pieces of shrapnel were raining down on him.

  Fools, Malhorta thought as he opened his COM and gave the go ahead to the destroyers in orbit. Then he sent the go order to Echo flight.

  Almost at once the fire from the two flanking attacks ceased as heavy plasma bolts rained into the forest from the destroyers. Then, within seconds, a sonic boom announced Echo flight’s arrival as they sped past the LZ and dumped ordnance on the approaching tracked vehicles. A number of SAMs reached up and took out two more of the multirole fighters but it wasn’t enough to stop the massive destruction the fighters wrought on the attackers. Out the open, the tanks and troop transports were sitting ducks and more than two thirds of them were taken out.

  In all the commotion Malhorta’s second wave of reinforcements arrived. Instead of landing in the LZ, they landed ahead of the soldiers that were already dug in. Each one of the forty shuttles had a Rohini light tank mounted on its underside which detached before the shuttle banked then landed, disgorging its eighty soldiers into the combat zone.

  The tanks raced forward, firing heavy plasma bolts at the remaining Havenite vehicles. The soldiers formed up and sprinted after the tanks, taking out any soldiers that had survived the aerial bombardment.

  Beside Malhorta a final shuttle hovered long enough for Malhorta’s command vehicle to detach from its underside before it boosted forward to add its soldiers to the rest of the reinforcements.

  “Colonels, do you understand your objectives?” Malhorta asked as soon as he entered his command vehicle and strapped himself in.

  “Yes sir,” the three colonels replied over the COM channel.

  “Then move out, speed is our ally now.”

  On the holo display, Malhorta watched as the large force of tanks and marines split into four sections as they raced towards the edge of the city. The final survivors from the Havenite frontal attack having already been dealt with.

  Now the fun begins, Malhorta thought as his command vehicle accelerated to join his battalion. Everything up until now had just been a ruse to lure out the Havenite defenders. Now it was time to take the city.

  His analysts had identified two key energy production centers that fed most of the city. Two of the battalions entering the city would capture them and cut off power to the inhabitants. The third was targeted at the main power relay station and would secure it to prevent power being redirected from another part of the planet. Malhorta was leading the final battalion to the Haven Council Chambers.

  “I’m sending you the orbital feeds,” Malhorta said to the tactical officers in each of the tanks in his battalion. “There are a number of tanks lined up on our route, prepare to engage them.”

  Malhorta followed the progress of his battalion as it thrust into the city. The tanks slowed their progress slightly to allow the soldiers to keep up. An Indian soldier in combat armor could maintain speeds of thirty kilometers an hour until their power pack ran out and even slowed their progress was swift. Occasionally a gauss cannon would fire from the surrounding buildings. The first few bounced harmlessly off his tanks. Then they aimed at his soldiers and scored a couple of hits. None of those who opened fire survived to fire a second shot; his soldiers quickly took them out.

  “The first blockade is coming up,” Captain Bhat, who was commanding the advanced four squads of soldiers, reported over the COM channel. “Shall we engage?”

  “Not yet,” Malhorta ordered. “Wait until Alpha company meets up with you. Use their main guns to blast your way through.”

  “Affirmative,” the Captain replied.

  Malhorta’s command vehicle was too far away to see the
action so he switched on one of the small holo projectors to watch the visual feed from the leading tank. As he watched, it pivoted and drove straight into a nearby building. The structure was only three stories tall and the tank easily burst its way through. As it came out the other side its main gun was already tracking towards the barricade.

  The Havenite defenders were momentarily caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a tank on an unexpected trajectory. As they rushed to turn their two heavy lasers on the new target, soldiers and another tank appeared down the street they had been expecting the enemy to appear from. Fire from both Indian tanks and plasma bolts from the soldiers took out both heavy lasers. A number of gauss rounds struck the Indian soldiers and then the surviving Havenites retreated into the surrounding roads and alleys of the city.

  “Barricade clear Sir,” Captain Bhat announced. “We’re pushing forward.”

  Bhat and the advanced forces rolled over another three barricades that were hastily set up by the Havenites. Whoever was commanding the defenses of the city had either lost the majority of his forces at the battle for the LZ or Malhorta’s quick counter attack had caught them badly off guard for they were encountering a lot less resistance than he had anticipated.

  Just fifteen minutes after they had entered the city they came to a halt less than half a kilometer from their target.

  “Target in sight sir,” Bhat said. “There’s quite a lot of open space before we get to the Council Chambers. It looks like they have it well fortified.

  “Are you ready?” Malhorta asked the commander of his tanks.

  “Yes Sir,” Major Prata announced.

  “Then go at it,” Malhorta replied. “Bhat, once they knock down the main defenses I want your soldiers in there ASAP. Bring me Maximillian. I don’t want to have to go door to door looking for him.”

  “Aye Sir,” Bhat said.

  “Pop smoke, and ECM to full,” Prata ordered her tanks.

  The long thoroughfare that led up to the Haven Council Chambers filled with smoke. Then, at her command, Prata’s tanks rolled out in a standard attack formation. As soon as they came into sight of the Council Chambers, heavy lasers and rocket launchers rained fire on them. In return, the main plasma cannons on the tanks burnt swathes of the defenders out of existence.

  As soon as the defenders’ fire lessened enough that Malhorta thought it was safe, he gave the go order for the soldiers to join the attack. Hundreds of soldiers in combat armor charged towards the Council Chambers. The defenders who weren’t able to penetrate the tanks’ armor, switched their fire onto the advancing soldiers who died in fives and tens. It wasn’t enough, even as two of Prata’s tanks exploded from rocket hits the soldiers reached the steps to the Council Chambers.

  The fighting turned to hand to hand as the soldiers hurdled the barricades the defenders had set up and got among their enemies using the immense strength of their combat armor.

  “We’re in,” Bhat announced over the COM less than a minute later.

  “Take me forward,” Malhorta ordered his driver.

  The driver of his command vehicle drove to the steps of the Council Chambers. When Malhorta thought he was about to stop, he accelerated instead and mounted the steps. Driving up them, he steered the vehicle straight for the main doors into the chambers. Somehow they had remained intact in all the fighting, the soldiers opting to enter the building through the holes the tanks had blown in the structure’s wall.

  Before Malhorta could object, the driver burst his vehicle through the wooden doors sending splinters flying everywhere. He pulled the vehicle to a stop in the main foyer, “Here you go Sir,” he said.

  “A bit over the top,” Malhorta said, shaking his head as he got out. He couldn’t help but smile.

  His personal guard formed up and after locating Captain Bhat’s signal on his HUD they sprinted off. It only took a couple of minutes to find the Captain. When Malhorta entered the room the captain was in, he smiled again. Bhat had captured Maximillian. The First Councilor of Haven looked like a stunned and defeated man. Just as Malhorta had planned, their counter attack from the LZ had caught the Havenites by surprise and they hadn’t had time to run and hide. When he looked at the clock on his HUD he was stunned to see that it had been just over fifty minutes since he had first landed on the planet.

  Walking over to the cowering Maximillian, Malhorta lowered his visor so the First Councilor could see his face. “You are defeated First Councilor. Take this,” he said, thrusting a datapad towards Maximillian.

  “What is this?” Maximillian asked.

  “Your surrender speech. In just a moment my soldiers are going to set up a recording device, then you are going to read it,” Malhorta said.

  “I will never say this,” Maximillian said as he scanned the datapad.

  “You will,” Malhorta said confidently. “Because if you don’t, I will find your family and kill them before your eyes. Then, if I have to, I will start with the outlying villages and, one by one, I will level this planet of yours. I am not here to fight a war of attrition. Your people are going to surrender. Do you understand me?”

  Maximillian lowered his head and nodded slowly.

  Malhorta breathed a sigh of relief. He had strict orders about how to treat civilians. His government wanted to pacify the people of Haven, not make life long enemies of them. Maximillian didn’t need to know that though.

  “We are ready Sir,” one of Malhorta’s soldiers called out.

  “Begin broadcasting,” Malhorta ordered as he turned to face the recording device.

  “Men and women of Haven,” Malhorta began. “I stand here in your Council Chambers. I have taken your First Councilor into my custody. He is charged with piracy and war crimes. If your armed forces lay down their weapons, and the civilians of Haven follow my instructions, I promise there will be no more bloodshed. The Indian Star Republic wishes to be friends with the people of Haven,” Malhorta said with the best smile he could produce.

  “Now, your former First Councilor wants to address his people one last time,” Malhorta said as he beckoned two soldiers to lift Maximillian to his feet.

  Maximillian shakily tried to stand with the support of the two soldiers and then lifted his head to face his people. “You all know me,” Maximillian began. “You know I have devoted my life to protecting this colony. Well these Indians can...”

  A fraction of a second too late Malhorta saw the renewed life that entered Maximillian’s eyes. Before he could say something, Maximillian finished his sentence.

  “...go to hell,” Maximillian shouted as he pulled out the side arm of one of the soldiers holding him up. Before he could get a shot off at Malhorta one of the other marines gunned him down with two plasma bolts. One burnt a hole in his chest, the other burnt its way right through Maximillian’s open mouth. For a couple of seconds Maximillian’s eyes stared blankly at the recording device and then he toppled over.

  “Shit,” Malhorta swore. “Cut the transmission,” he growled. It was too late though; Maximillian’s death had just been broadcast to the entire planet. Now there is going to be no avoiding a guerrilla war, he thought as he cursed Maximillian’s corpse.

  Chapter 11 – No Going Back

  Since the beginning of mankind weddings have formed the bedrock of many societies, none more so than the Empire’s, for it was a wedding that gave birth to the Empire.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD

  27th March, 2467 AD, Westminster Abbey, London.

  James Somerville, Duke of Beaufort and Captain of HMS Endeavour stood at the front of Westminster Abbey more unsure of himself than he had ever been before. In many ways, facing the entirety of the Overlord’s war fleet had been less daunting than what he was about to undertake.

  He had hardly seen Suzanna since their last night at his estate. After a long discussion they had come to a consensus. The marriage would go ahead for the sake of both of their nations. Yet, it was a marriage they were going to take seriously. T
hey both wanted to be happily married and they weren’t going to let their circumstances rob them of the one opportunity they might ever get. It would take time, but they were determined to be happy.

  However, James was well aware that that had been three days ago. A lot had happened since then and for James at least, it felt like an eternity. He could still picture Suzanna standing before the joint gathering of the Houses of Commons and Lords. She had looked small and frail in the midst of her grand surroundings. Yet, when she had spoken out it had been with confidence and conviction.

  Starting with the first day the Haven colony ship had left Earth she had recounted her people’s history. At each critical point she stopped to emphasize the independent and freedom loving spirit of her people. On more than one occasion she had likened events on her planet to key experiences the British people had gone through. When she came to the end of her speech, she had turned her attention to her people’s current plight. With a vigorous passion she had pleaded that all the sacrifices of her ancestors not be in vain. All her people wanted was to be an equal member of the Human race. To take their place alongside the British people who had worked and fought for their own freedom. The people of Haven were just like the people of Britain, hardworking, self-sacrificing, honorable and wanting nothing more than a bright future for their children. That was why, she had explained, she wanted to join her people to the British Star Kingdom. So that together, both peoples could prosper.