Bixutl turned his attention to the Supreme Overlord, wondering if he could use the information he now possessed to remove Xatul from his esteemed position and seize it for himself.
“We will provide the warrior caste with the materials it needs to produce more warships,” Xatul said, looking across the council.
He didn’t mention that he'd already sent out orders for more exploration ships to be built as well. While he didn’t expect there to be armed conflict between the Zaltule and the rest of the Kleese, it never hurt to ensure he had the forces necessary to reign in the warrior caste if need be.
“What of new weapons?” demanded Raluth, turning toward the Zaltule Overlords.
“We have some promising technology we've procured from several of the nonaligned worlds that have recently been brought into the Empire,” Darthu responded, evenly. “Our scientists are still evaluating its potential to be used as weapons.”
“Will you be sharing that technology with the rest of the council?” asked Martule.
“In time,” answered Darthu. “There is much research yet to be done.”
Bixutl nodded to himself. The Zaltule were stalling. It was evident to him that the warrior caste didn’t intend to share any advanced weaponry they might procure from the nonaligned worlds. He wondered why Xatul wasn’t objecting more stringently.
“I have heard some disturbing rumors coming from Sector Eleven of our Empire,” Keluth ventured in a carefully controlled voice. “One of our trading stations has reported someone is trying to organize an Alliance of nonaligned worlds to resist the Zaltule.”
“An Alliance!” roared Lackeln his multifaceted eyes focusing sharply on the Kleese Overlord. “Who is trying to organize this Alliance?”
“That is unknown,” replied Keluth, trying to stay calm. “It was reported by some conscripts who overheard several members of one of the nonaligned worlds discussing it.”
“The nonaligned worlds cannot be allowed to form an Alliance against us,” spoke Xatul in a commanding voice. “With their science and technology they could pose an imminent threat to the Empire.”
“I will send word to Overlord Harmock immediately,” stated Darthu. “It might be necessary to send a Zaltule fleet to crush this budding Alliance before it becomes a reality.”
“A wise decision,” Xatul replied.
He strongly suspected that if someone was trying to organize the nonaligned worlds into an Alliance, it had to be the Humans. He wished now that he had sent an exploration ship to check up on that upstart race. By not doing so, he might have endangered his position as Supreme Overlord.
-
Ryan and his platoon were aboard the newly constructed troop assault ship Defender. Ryan had been amazed when he'd first seen the massive warship, for a warship was what the Defender was. The troop assault ship was one thousand meters in length, two hundred meters in width, and one hundred and eighty meters in height. It had the firepower of a battlecruiser, including a particle beam cannon in the bow as well as two heavy KEW cannons. If the ship had to fight, it could hold its own in combat.
Even more importantly, the ship had eighty Space Marines trained in the use of the new Type Four battlesuits and another four hundred trained in the use of the Type Threes. There were also eight of the new hover tanks in the main cargo hold to be used if heavier firepower was needed on the ground.
“She’s quite a ship,” commented Casey as they stood in a small observation room waiting for the ship to depart. The observation room had a number of massive titanium reinforced viewports that stretched from one end of the room to the other. When in battle, combat armor would slide down to cover them.
In the distance, Ryan could see one of the light cruisers moving into screening position between the Defender and Centerpoint Station. He knew that four light cruisers and eight assault ships had been assigned as escorts for the Defender. A sizable force, which made him feel secure if they encountered any problems on their trip to the nonaligned worlds where Seventh Fleet awaited.
“Do you think we’ll see combat?” asked Casey, turning her eyes toward Ryan.
“I’m sure of it,” Ryan answered. “I don’t think they would be sending out this force if they didn’t believe it would be needed.” Ryan knew that Major Stevens was currently in the Command Center where he would be observing their entry into Fold Space. Only Major Winfrey had stayed behind to begin training the next group of recruits for the Type Four suits.
Casey looked around. A few other marines were also in the observation room, anxiously waiting for the ship to begin accelerating away from Centerpoint. Even as Casey watched, the ship started moving and the station began to fall away. Without thinking, she reached out and took Ryan’s hand, waiting anxiously for the ship to jump into Fold Space. She didn’t have long to wait as the stars suddenly seemed to blur and then returned to normal. She knew that the ship was now traveling at many times the speed of light. Glancing down at her hand, she felt embarrassed as she realized what she had done. She released Ryan’s comforting hand and focused on the sea of stars outside of the viewport as if nothing had happened.
Ryan had been surprised when Casey had taken his hand but assumed it was due to her nervousness about entering Fold Space. They were on their way, and in three weeks would be rendezvousing with Seventh Fleet. He wondered what Wade would say when he found out that Ryan was aboard the Defender. He just hoped his brother would be as supportive and understanding as he'd always been.
-
Supreme War Overlord Harmock felt growing rage inside of him at the most recent report from the Council of Overlords. Somehow, word had reached the council that a number of nonaligned worlds in sector eleven were discussing forming an Alliance to stand up to the Zaltule. He looked up at one of the viewscreens showing the Delton home world, which was now firmly under Kleese control. Every leader and all important scientists now wore the Kleese collars of obedience.
“This Alliance must not be allowed to come into existence,” spoke Minor Overlord Gareth, rising to his full height and gazing at Harmock. “The nonaligned worlds we have thus far conquered were difficult enough without a group of them joining together for their common defense.”
“They may have higher levels of science and technology, but they are still inferior races when compared to the Kleese or our own warrior caste,” uttered Harmock, folding his powerful dark arms across his chest. His triangular shaped head shifted until he was looking directly at his second in command. “We will gather a fleet and set out immediately for sector eleven. Once there, we will find these worlds and crush their feeble attempt to form an Alliance against the Empire.”
“We may have to pull ships from the other attacking fleets to make up for our losses and the damage some of our battlecruisers took during the battle with the Deltons,” pointed out Gareth.
“The Deltons!” roared Harmock still aggravated that a large number of Delton warships and civilian ships had managed to escape his grasp.
Dozens of Delton leaders and military personnel had suffered the consequences of failing to reveal to their Zaltule Overlords where the ships had gone. The black boxes which controlled the collars of obedience had been used a surprisingly large number of times but yielded no results. Zaltule battlecruisers had been sent to many of the nearby systems, but no signs had been found of the missing ships.
“Pull the ships we need from the attacking fleets,” ordered Harmock, coldly. “They can requisition replacements from our home systems. Once the necessary ships arrive here, we’ll set out toward sector eleven and see if these rumors of a possible Alliance are true.”
“It will take us fifty-four days to reach sector eleven from here,” reported one of the Zaltule warriors operating the navigation controls.
“Fifty-four days during which they can make preparations against us,” warned Gareth as he thought of what it might mean to go up against a group of heavily armed nonaligned worlds that had the necessary time to prepare for the arrival of the
Zaltule.
“It will make no difference,” spoke Harmock in a dark and menacing voice. “They will be crushed just the same and know what it means to wear our collars of obedience. They'll just be brought into the Empire sooner than originally planned.”
“It will be done,” Gareth responded as he turned and descended from the Command Pedestal and walked over on his six legs to the primary Communications console. It would be necessary to contact several of the attacking fleets for the needed ships.
Harmock gazed around the Command Center, satisfied that his fellow warriors were performing their jobs efficiently. He also wondered about the problem in sector eleven and if there wasn’t something else going on the council was keeping from him. His thoughts turned dark at the consequences to the Council of Overlords if he found that to be true. If the council were hiding a secret, then on his return he would implement sufficient changes to the council to ensure the Zaltule had complete control over it as well as the Empire.
Chapter Twelve
General Mitchell was meeting with Fleet Admiral Kelly and Commander Pasha of the Talts. Also sitting in on the meeting were Gerald Lawson, the military weapons specialist, as well as Skagern, who had flown in from the Kivean asteroid.
“How effective is this plasma weapon?” asked Kelly, looking over at Lawson. “Is it worth installing on our ships?”
“It’s highly effective at close range,” Lawson replied in an earnest voice. He'd spent considerable time speaking with several Talt weapons scientists and even been allowed aboard one of the two Talt battlecruisers for a weapons demonstration.
“How hard would the plasma cannons be to install on our battlecruisers?” asked Kelly. Anything that was effective against the Kleese he wanted on his ships.
“I would suggest installing only one cannon on a battlecruiser as the equipment needed is a little cumbersome, though the Kiveans believe they can use micro engineering to reduce it to a more manageable size,” answered Lawson. “The cannon would need approximately forty seconds to recharge before it could fire a second round.”
“I’ve spoken to a number of our scientists and technicians,” Skagern added his eyes focusing on Fleet Admiral Kelly. “They feel they can have a workable design ready for our battlecruisers within two months.”
“Commander Pasha, if you had to fight the Zaltule again, what changes would you make to any fleet under your command?” asked Kelly. The Talts had fought literally to the last ship and had managed to destroy a number of the large Zaltule battlecruisers.
“We needed larger ships,” Pasha stated his large yellow eyes focusing on the Fleet Admiral. “Our ships didn’t have sufficient weapons to push the Kleese back. Their ships are three kilometers in width and nearly every square meter of their hulls are covered with some type of offensive or defensive armament. I have noticed that your own battlecruisers are only slightly larger than ours.”
“How much larger do our ships need to be in order to be able to adequately defend against the Zaltule?” asked General Mitchell, leaning forward in his chair. One of the reasons for the size of the fleet’s battlecruisers and light cruisers were crew constraints. Until the clone program began, they just didn’t have the crews for larger warships.
“One thousand meters,” answered Skagern, promptly. The Kivean had spent considerable time discussing this with Lawson, the Talts, and several Kivean weapons specialists. “If we build new battlecruisers one thousand meters in length we can arm them sufficiently to easily handle a Zaltule warship.”
“That’s double the size of our current ships,” commented Kelly with a frown. That would require much larger crews and an obvious increase in the cloning program.
“With the plasma weapons and particle beams we’ll have a decisive advantage against the Kleese in a standup battle,” Skagern pointed out. “We need larger ships to be able to take the punishment being handed out by the Zaltule warships.”
“We can build them at the Vesta spacedock,” Lawson suggested. “It would only take some minor modifications to the construction docks to handle the larger ships. We did build the Defender there.”
General Mitchell nodded. The Defender was one thousand meters so he knew that it could be done. “What about other modifications? We currently have a mission off to the nonaligned worlds; they may return with more suggestions for upgrades to our ships.”
“It’s a possibility,” conceded Skagern. “I would suggest we work on a design with what we currently have, and it can be modified once the mission returns. We already have a base design from building the Defender.”
“We can have a completed ship design within two months,” promised Lawson as he narrowed his eyes in thought. “If there are no major changes, we could go to production in three.”
“What would be the estimated construction time?” asked Kelly, wondering if they would have to make up a new category for these larger ships.
“I would suggest we build four at a time,” spoke Skagern in a serious tone. “There is room in the Vesta spacedock for that type of construction operation, and we could have the first battle group done in six months.”
“My own scientists and technicians will be pleased to assist,” put forth Commander Pasha. “It’s possible we may have some construction techniques which could speed up the building of the ships. My people were very heavy into automated construction.”
General Mitchell nodded his head in agreement. “I’ll need to speak to President Randle as well as Sean Miller and Ethan Hall. The final decision will be up to the president and the Federated Council, but I believe they’ll follow my recommendation. I want to go ahead and begin preparation for this new grade of warship, and as soon as I receive formal approval we’ll begin allocating assets to get construction started.”
“I think it’s a wise decision,” replied Skagern with a nod of his head.
“How is your new habitat coming?” General Mitchell asked Commander Pasha. He knew the Kiveans had been helping the Talts build a habitat in a nearby asteroid.
“It’s nearly complete,” Pasha responded with a pleased smile. “Our people will begin moving off the ships in another two weeks.”
“I understand some of your people have visited the Kiveans’ habitats,” added Kelly. He knew the architecture the Kiveans used was quite remarkable. Many people who'd been inside the two habitats the Kiveans had built inside their asteroid remarked how the two cities resembled something out of a fairy tale.
“Yes,” Pasha answered his large eyes shifting to Fleet Admiral Kelly. “We have been rotating our people, allowing them some time off the ships. Our civilians are not used to long space voyages and were getting restless.”
“I can understand that,” commented Lawson. Just flying the relatively short distances in the solar system made him feel nervous.
“My people and I are grateful for what the Kiveans and your people have done for us.”
“We’re all in this together against the Kleese,” General Mitchell said. “I suspect your race won’t be the only one we find fleeing the Empire. There will be others.”
-
Wade looked over at Beth, who was lying in the bed next to him. He reached out and ran his hand softly over her cheek. She blinked her eyes and they opened. She stretched, yawned, and pulled the blanket up under her chin.
“Tell me it’s not time to get up,” she said, sleepily.
Wade laughed and placed his hand under the blanket until he was holding her breast. “It was you that kept us up late last night.”
Beth giggled and moved Wade’s hand as she sat up. “Yeah, and if I let you have your way, we’ll never make it to our meeting this morning.”
Wade sighed and swung his legs out of bed. “Let me take a quick shower and then you can get ready.”
“A long, hot bath sounds good,” Beth spoke as she snuggled back down in the bed, watching Wade walk across the room toward the bathroom. They were on the Distant Star and the passenger liner actually had bathtubs in t
he suites. On the troop transport there were showers but very little privacy. It was something the marines had gotten used to.
-
Two hours later, after eating a light breakfast, they stepped into one of the ship’s conference rooms where the meeting was being held. Marken, Harnett, Hyram Blake, and Admiral Adamson were already there.
“The troop assault ship Defender arrived in the Lanolth system yesterday,” Adamson informed them. “The Defender has a full company of marines trained in the new Type Four battlesuits.” Adamson’s eyes then shifted directly to Wade. “Your brother is in charge of one of the platoons with the rank of full lieutenant. From what Major Stevens told me, Ryan did an outstanding job in the drills. He even conquered Charring Mountain on his second attempt.”
“What?” blurted out Beth her eyes widening in disbelief. “No one conquers Charring on their second try!”
“Lieutenant Nelson did,” Adamson said with a grin. “He must take after you, Wade.”
Wade nodded. He didn’t know what to say. He only knew that his brother most likely would be going in harm’s way very shortly.
“I’m glad the transport’s arrived,” Wade replied. He then looked over at Hyram. “What’s the latest word on the Alliance?”
“Four confirmed worlds with signed documents pledging mutual support,” he responded with a pleased smile. “We have another five which are leaning toward joining the Alliance and seven more that are still indecisive.”
“What are they waiting on?” demanded Admiral Adamson, shaking his head and cocking his eyebrow. “Don’t they know the Alliance is their only hope of remaining free of the Kleese Empire?”
“They know,” answered Hyram. “They’ve just been at peace for so long that going to war is a foreign thought to them.”
“But they all have defensive fleets and weapons,” pointed out Adamson, feeling confused. “They wouldn’t have those if they thought they weren’t necessary.”
Galactic Empire Wars: Rebellion (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 3) Page 17