Empire's Birth (Empire Rising Book 9)

by D. J. Holmes

  “Windas, Smith, Larson and Ivanov,” Johnston called as he sought out the marines who were still alive on the edge of his defensive line. “They’ll try and flank us next, extend our line a hundred meters further along the forest,” he ordered. He jumped to his feet and dashed to Smith’s position to fill in the hole in their line. Barely sixty seconds later shooting erupted to Johnston’s left. He couldn’t see exactly what was happening, but he had seen it often enough to know. A squad of Karacknid troops was probing the edge of his line to try and get behind them. And when that doesn’t work, he said to himself, they’ll throw everything they have at us. The shuttles had to be only minutes away if even that. There wasn’t any more time for the Karacknids to try any other fancy tactics.

  As if to confirm the urgency of the situation, the familiar buzzing sound of Human shuttles was picked up by Johnston’s enhanced ears. They’re only thirty seconds away at most, he figured. The buzz was drowned out by a sudden Karacknid battle cry. It was taken up and repeated by many more voices. Far more than Johnston had thought possible. Raising his rifle, he readied himself for what was about to come. With no grenades or any other kind of heavy weapons left, his troops would have to hold the Karacknids back with their rifles alone. “Don’t let them past,” he shouted. “Don’t let them past!” If anyone responded, it was drowned out by the explosions and weapons fire that erupted as both sides engaged.

  Trying his best to keep his body behind cover, Johnston kept firing. He basically kept his finger pressed on the trigger of his rifle. He downed Karacknid after Karacknid. All the frustrations of being cooped up for months erupted within him as he screamed his own battle cry. To his left and right he heard similar cries from the marines around him. Then, they started to disappear as the Karacknids’ fire found its mark. As he aimed and released a bolt right into a Karacknid’s face, Johnston saw a second Karacknid raise its weapon in his direction. There was no time to think or move. A bolt of energy flashed from the enemy weapon. It struck the tree trunk right below Johnston’s face. A wave of energy and splinters picked Johnston up and flung him several meters through the air. Pain shot through him as bits of wood penetrated his skin and his flesh melted from the heat of the weapon’s discharge.

  With a groan Johnston raised a hand to his face. Touching his skin only made his groan louder. Forcing his eyes open, he blinked back tears of pain. Then a looming shadow made him look up. The Karacknid that had shot him had just jumped onto what was left of the tree trunk. Almost in slow motion, it raised its weapon to finish the job. Johnston’s hands desperately sought out his rifle. Anguish overcame him when he realized it had been thrown far from him. Then, just as he braced himself for the inevitable blast of energy, several plasma bolts zipped over his head and struck the Karacknid square in its chest. It fell behind the tree trunk and out of Johnston’s sight. Twisting onto his belly, Johnston looked up to see one of the happiest sights of his life. A full platoon of marines in fresh shining combat armor was charging through the forest, weapons blazing. Cheers arose from what was left of his forces. Johnston couldn’t summon the strength to join them, but he lifted a fist into the air in celebration. Then he slumped to the ground and closed his eyes.

  Taking deep breaths, he tried to get control of the pain that was throbbing up from his chest up into his face. Slowly, the painkillers released by his implants lessened his agony. With another groan he opened his eyes and sat up. When he did, he found a marine major approaching him.

  “General?” the marine asked as she bent over and peered at Johnston. “General Johnston, is that you?”

  “Yes,” Johnston replied in a croak he barely recognized.

  The marine quickly knelt and leaned in to examine him. “You’ve been hit General.” She looked up and raised her voice. “Medic! Get a medic over here now!” she called.

  “It’s all right,” Johnston insisted as he lent forward onto his hands. “Help me up,” he ordered. For a moment he thought the Major was going to resist, then she put an arm under his shoulder and helped him to his feet. Johnston turned towards where the Karacknid attack had come from. There were bodies littering the forest floor. Both Human and Karacknid. As he looked, kinetic strikes burst through the atmosphere and struck the forest no more than half a kilometer from where he stood.

  “They’re hitting the retreating Karacknid forces,” the Major explained.

  “I know,” Johnston replied. “They’re getting what they deserve.” He then turned back to the Major. “What are your orders?”

  “I’m to secure the LZ and make sure you and your troops are secured General. I’m glad I found you. But please, let me get a medic. You do not look well.”

  Johnston turned to look back towards the LZ. More marines were filtering through the forest. “Don’t worry about me,” he replied. “Make sure this area is secure. Retaking this planet comes first. Do you understand Major?”

  “I do general, but I have my orders. “I’ll be seeing to you as well as the perimeter,” the Major insisted.

  Johnston wanted to argue, but he didn’t have the strength. And, if he was honest with himself, he felt his pain levels increasing. “What is happening in orbit? Has there been a battle?” he asked to take his mind off it.

  The marine smiled at him for the first time. “There has General. The Karacknid fleet has been wiped out. The system is ours. There are ten thousand marines in orbit waiting to get revenge for Earth. Do not worry, we will not fail.”

  Joy and relief flooded through Johnston. The Karacknid fleet was gone. There would be nothing to stop the Karacknids’ defeat. Not when there were ten thousand marines in orbit. Something else caught him up short. What did she mean about revenge for Earth? Even as the thought ran through his mind, Johnston felt himself losing consciousness. The pain was becoming unbearable. Without realizing it, he slumped over into the Major’s arms. At once, she called for a medic again.

  “Don’t worry General,” she said as she held him up. “You’ve survived this long, I’m not letting go now.”

  Chapter 39

  The name of every Imperial marine lost in combat is displayed in their headquarters on the Moon. That honor was extended to all those who died in the War of Doom before the foundation of the Empire.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.

  Landung City

  A few loose stones tumbling over one another alerted Jeffers that someone was approaching. Silently, she pressed herself against the concrete slab she was hiding against. When a small figure ducked to crawl through a hole in the rubble, she reached out and plucked the boy into the air. “What are you doing?” she demanded as she twisted the boy towards her. His eyes widened in horror at suddenly being accosted. Jeffers pushed down her pity for him. Only a handful of people were supposed to know where she was hiding. “What are you doing? Don’t make me ask a third time,” she demanded.

  “I was sent here, I was sent here,” the boy said quickly with a heavily German accent. “I have a message for the Major.”

  “Well,” Jeffers said as she set the boy down, her suspicions decreasing. “What is it?”

  “There has been fighting in orbit. Sergeant Harkin wants to know what your orders are?” the boy answered.

  “Fighting, you mean a space battle?” Jeffers pushed.

  The boy shrugged and looked around him. “That’s all I know.”

  “Were you followed?”

  The boy’s head shot back towards Jeffers. “No ma’am. No Karacknid can follow me.” He raised his jaw as he spoke.

  Jeffers smiled at his petulance. “All right, wait here. I’m going to take a look.” Moving over to the hole the boy had crawled through, Jeffers reached down and lifted a massive block of rubble. She moved it to one side and let it lean against another pile of rubble. It opened the small hole wide enough for her to crawl through herself. For the last four months she and what was left of her special forces marine platoon had been hiding in the destroyed remnants of one of Landung’s buildin
gs. The Karacknids had destroyed it in a firefight with a militia force weeks after they had first invaded the planet. The building had partially collapsed, covering the basement, but her marines had found a way in and had been hiding in the middle of it ever since General Johnston had given orders for the marines to go to ground.

  Slowly, Jeffers crawled through the rubble until she could look up to the sky. She was just in time to see the large Karacknid repair station explode into a thousand pieces. Suddenly the night sky was lit up as hundreds of pieces of debris fell down into Holstein’s atmosphere and burned up. Jeffers’ mind went into overdrive. If the repair station had been destroyed, it meant the Karacknid fleet in orbit was under heavy attack, if not already defeated. That meant an invasion force was coming. Months of inactivity and boredom vanished from her psyche in seconds. She felt like a special forces marine again. Her thoughts turned to Hul’lixar, the Karacknid ground commander. Thousands, if not tens of thousands, of Holstein’s civilians were dead because of his harsh policies. Thousands more had been taken prisoner and exported off the planet for one nefarious reason or another. Hul’lixar needed to be brought to justice. This is the end for you, Jeffers thought to Hul’lixar. You are not getting away. She didn’t know whether Karacknids surrendered or not. She rather doubted it. But it didn’t matter, she wasn’t going to let Hul’lixar escape to hide in some cave for months and months. She was going to cut the head off the Karacknid snake. That was exactly the kind of mission she existed for.

  Turning, she quickly crawled back to where the boy sat waiting for her. “Come with me,” she said as she led him deeper into the building’s basement. “Look alive,” she whispered loudly when she entered the open area her marines were sleeping in. “Up, every one of you.” As her people shook themselves, Jeffers moved over to where she slept and grabbed a pencil and some paper. It was how she had been forced to communicate with the other marine squads she was in contact with. Quickly, she scribbled some orders, assigning targets for each squad to attack. “Here, take this back to Sergeant Harkin. See that he passes it on to the others as well.”

  With a nod the boy turned and scampered back out of the basement. “And see you get somewhere safe after you’ve delivered the message,” Jeffers whispered after him.

  “Boss, what’s going on?” Private Jamieson asked as he put his arms out and stretched as far as the small space allowed him.

  “The Karacknids’ repair station has just been destroyed. I saw it go with my own eyes. There is a fleet battle raging above us. Marines will be landing as soon as they’ve secured the orbitals. We have work to do.”

  “What’s the plan?” Private Saul asked. “Haven’t we done enough already?”

  Jeffers shot him a stern look. “Our duty is done when I say it’s done. We’re going to take out the heavy laser cannons by central plaza. Those babies look powerful enough to shoot our shuttles down as they enter the atmosphere. We can’t allow them to get their shots off. Then,” Jeffers paused and looked at the other marines. “We are going for Hul’lixar.”

  “What? You can’t be serious,” Bedford responded. “He’ll be in the old Administrative building. It’s locked up tighter than Fort Knox.”

  “Right now it is,” Jeffers agreed. “But when the shooting starts, they’ll need every soldier they’ve got. That’s when their guard will be down. We have a tight window, but we can do it. This is exactly the kind of mission we exist for. This is what we are trained to do. If he escapes and goes into hiding it could take months to find him. I don’t know about you lot, but I’d like to be there when justice finally catches up to him.”

  “And if he resists, we will be the justice,” Rooney said as he warmed to the idea. “Heck, we’ve been through so much already. What is one more scuffle with these Karacknids? We may as well see this thing through to the end.”

  “Exactly,” Jeffers agreed. “Now grab your stuff and let’s get moving. The landing could begin at any moment.” As she expected, Jeffers, Rooney, Saul and Bedford were ready to go within thirty seconds. “Take point,” Jeffers said as she nodded to Rooney. “We are going in through the Eastpoint Apartments.”

  Under the cover of darkness, Jeffers followed Rooney through the rubble and out onto ground level. She had chosen the hiding place because of its proximity to one of the six heavy laser batteries the Karacknids had set up within Landung City. There would be no way for ships in orbit to take them out without destroying at least a block of the city. If they tried, civilian losses would be high. And if we don’t take it out, marine losses will be high, Jeffers thought as Rooney led them from cover to cover as they stalked through the city. As she moved, Jeffers was careful to flex all of her muscles and stretch repeatedly. It was the first time she had been out in the open for more than a month. She didn’t want to injure herself as soon as the fighting began. After just five minutes they reached Eastpoint Apartments. Further down the street, a Karacknid checkpoint was clearly visible. One of their light tanks was parked in the middle of the road and six soldiers were patrolling back and forth. Carefully, one by one the special forces marines slipped into the building. It was a four-story apartment complex like many of those in the area. Though none of the marines had ever been in it before, Rooney knew its schematics by heart. Quickly, he led them to the basement where an underground tunnel led to its sister apartment complex adjacent to the Karacknid checkpoint. Silently, so as not to wake or disturb any of the residents of the complex, the marines ascended the staircase to the roof.

  Without a word, Jeffers led them over to the side of the complex that faced Central Plaza. What had once been a large shopping mall, with apartments on the top floors of the six-story building, the Karacknids had turned into a laser cannon battery. Of course, they had forced the residents to remain in place to provide Human shields. Stopping only to pull the grappling attachments from their utility belts and connect them to their plasma rifles, the marines raised them in unison. Firing together, their rifles shot the grappling hooks towards Central Plaza. In a neat line each bit into the building’s permacrete wall a floor below its roof. Grabbing the ropes, the marines jumped off the roof of the apartment complex and swung across to Central Plaza. In ten seconds they pulled themselves up the side of the building. Then, with an impressive jump only augmented marines could produce, they hurdled the last floor and landed on the roof of central plaza.

  As they fell through the air their plasma rifles were already spitting balls of death. Four Karacknids were down before they knew what was happening. Splitting into two groups, Jeffers led Rooney and Jamieson to the left while Saul and Bedford sprinted right. Circling the four heavy laser cannons, they killed the remaining six Karacknids. “Clear,” Saul whispered from her side of the roof.

  “Clear,” Jeffers confirmed from her side. “Set the charges.” She moved over to one of the doors that led to Central Plaza’s main staircase. Bursting it open with her shoulders she barreled in with her rifle at the ready. When no Karacknids were visible, she scanned for a fire alarm. It was right where the building schematics had said it was. Silently she prayed that the Karacknids hadn’t disconnected it as she reached out and pulled it. Moments later a satisfying siren blared from the stairwell. Without waiting to see if the residents of Central Plaza would respond, Jeffers turned and sprinted back to the roof.

  Rooney was already waiting, he gave her a thumbs up. Jeffers nodded, just twenty seconds had passed and yet they had done what they had come to do. “Over the side,” she ordered as she sprinted towards the opposite end of the building. Without pausing to look, she took one large step up onto the roof’s parapet and jumped. Her speed, combined with her enhanced muscles, propelled her across the gap to the next building. It was two floors below Central Plaza, but she easily landed and rolled, absorbing the impact. Pausing only to make sure the other marines were with her, Jeffers broke into a sprint and propelled herself across the next gap to another building that was one floor lower. After rolling again she turned and craw
led back to the small parapet that surrounded the building’s roof. Then she poked her head up and looked back towards Central Plaza. There was no sign of any Karacknid reinforcements, but she knew they were coming. Probably because of all the commotion going on within the building it took nearly two minutes for the first Karacknids to appear. As soon as they did Jeffers sent the detonation signal. She hoped the Human residents had all evacuated the building, but, if they hadn’t, she knew she had no choice. As soon as her thumb hit the button, the four explosive charges placed under the heavy laser cannons went off. They sent plumes of flames into the air that lit up the night’s sky. More than one Karacknid body was easily identifiable as it flew through the air, flung off Central Plaza’s roof by the force of the explosions. Then the roof itself collapsed and what was left of the heavy cannons fell through to the floor below.

  “Come on,” Jeffers said as she tried not to think about what might have happened to anyone who hadn’t evacuated the residential floors. “Our work has only just begun.” Though they tried to descend back to street level without disturbing anyone, it proved impossible. The siren from Central Plaza’s alarm system could still be heard blaring and the explosions had no doubt awoken everyone already. Jeffers found herself having to push past several bleary-eyed German citizens before she made it outside. When she did, she had to duck back into the building. Karacknid soldiers were running across the street towards Central Plaza. One of them paused, then raised a weapon at the building’s main door as its residents started to pour out. It shouted something that was evidently a command to stay put. The residents ran back inside. “Back exit,” Jeffers said as she turned back to her marines. After pushing past several more residents, they finally found an exit that opened into a narrow back alley. Once they were outside and alone, Jeffers pulled out a datapad with a map of the city. “Troops will be headed this way from the Administrative Buildings. Let’s move four blocks to the west before we head towards them. Rooney, you’re on point.”