A King's Ship (Empire Rising Book 2)

by D. J. Holmes

  “Come on,” Harkin said to the two marines with him as he raced past her back into the facility.

  A massive tremor reverberated through the facility, throwing Scott to her knees. Air rushed past her, out the hole in the retractable doors, and a deep rumbling could be heard from within the facility. Scott instinctively hefted Jil’lal over her shoulder and ran to the door. When she reached it she threw Jil’lal to one side and turned back to look for Bell and Sergeant Harkin.

  She looked just in time to see a massive fireball erupt from the back of the entrance chamber, wash over Harkin and his marines and then burst over her. For a moment she felt herself lifted up into the air and thrust out of the chamber before an intense heat engulfed her. She screamed as it felt like a thousand knives were being shoved into every part of her body yet as she sucked in a breath to continue to scream all she inhaled was a fire that burnt its way into her lungs. The pain knocked her unconscious and she didn’t feel her body crash into the rocks as the explosion finally dumped her onto the ground almost a hundred yards from the entrance.

  Chapter 23 – The Palace

  One would have thought that as the human race continued to better itself tyrants would have become a thing of the past, sadly this is a problem we have never seemed able to shake. More than one Emperor has been found to have been tainted with the disease. Perhaps unsurprisingly the many sentient species we have come to know all seem to suffer from this problem too.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD

  4th July, 2466 AD, five kilometers from Amack, Vestar

  Becket was once again sitting beside Major Johnston on their way into a combat situation. She felt she was finally getting used to these ground missions. After the firefight in the construction yard, the marines had started to treat her with a lot more respect and she had a lot more confidence in herself. That didn’t stop her from reliving those moments again and again as she dealt with the fact that she had ended another sentient being’s life.

  “I’ve just got a message from the Forward Operating Base,” the shuttle pilot informed everyone over the COM channel. “There are reports coming in of an explosion at the Omen Facility. We have been instructed to head straight there after we drop off your assault team. We need to pick up the survivors.”

  Survivors, Becket said to herself in shock as she tried not to assume the worst. Silently, she said a prayer for Bell and Scott.

  “We’re not here for a Sunday stroll,” Johnston said to his marines. “This is real, we already know the Vestarian soldiers can fight. Don’t get distracted. We can worry about our friends later.”

  As he finished speaking he reached out and touched Becket’s arm. She nodded back at him and shook herself. The best thing I can do now for Bell and Scott is complete this mission and get back to them alive, she thought.

  Looking out the front view screen of the shuttle Becket could see the spires of the city as they approached. As arranged, Tak’ar’s people on the ground were rioting and attacking the Overlord’s military forces in the outer sections of the city. She could make out the brief flashes of fire from the tungsten spears Endeavour was launching at the city along with the green plasma bolts that were pouring down on the city’s defenses. They were designed to make it look like the resistance was trying to fight its way through the city to the palace. It was hoped the Overlord would push his forces out into the city to beat back the rebellion and leave the door open for the two shuttles to punch through the palace’s defenses and allow their strike team to capture the Overlord.

  When they came to within ten kilometers of the city, the two shuttles dived to almost ground level and hugged the terrain. The attack on the Omen Facility had taught the pilots to stay out of sight of the Vestarian ground to air missiles. Images of the palace taken by the team that had met with the Overlord showed that there were over twenty x-ray lasers on heavy mounts protecting the approaches to the palace. They looked like they were designed to take out any approaching ground forces but there was little doubt they could be tasked to hit an incoming shuttle as it slowed down to land. Thankfully they had a plan for that too.

  “Targeting data is coming in now,” the pilot called, “selecting the best line of approach.”

  Major Johnston didn’t say anything and Becket wasn’t surprised. This part of the mission was another ruse. As the shuttles entered the outer sections of the city they split up and began to make a number of strafing runs against positions that were holding out against the resistance fighters. The aim was to convince the defenders that the shuttles were only there to provide back up for the ground forces.

  For the next five minutes the shuttles made their way from one target to another, slowly moving closer to the palace. Twice Becket’s shuttle came up against mobile ground to air missile platforms and had to duck behind one of the city’s large buildings and divert to another target but they escaped unscathed.

  “Time to move everyone, we’re only three minutes from the palace now,” the pilot shouted after taking out a small formation of soldiers with the shuttle’s plasma cannon.

  “Do it,” Johnston replied.

  Both shuttles boosted up their engines and veered towards the palace. Each shuttle had released two drones that they had brought for this purpose. When the palace defenders detected the two incoming shuttles the commander ordered the x-ray lasers powered up. The drones were hovering in the area and as soon as the lasers showed up on their heat sensors they fed the information back to the shuttles.

  “The drones have detected twenty two lasers,” the shuttle pilot informed Johnston and Becket. “We’re launching now.”

  Out one of the side observation ports Becket watched as a compartment on the shuttle’s wing opened to reveal a rack of missiles. She knew they contained very sophisticated guidance systems but this time all they would need was their heat sensors to be able to lock onto the data from the drones. She counted six missiles launch from the rack and knew another six had been launched from the other wing of the shuttle. That will take care of that, she thought.

  “Targets destroyed,” the shuttle pilot called out thirty seconds later. “We have another problem though, the drones are detecting at least fifty guards setting up around the stairs up to the palace with handheld lasers. We know from the construction yard they can do us some damage.”

  “Switch to plan gamma,” Johnston said.

  “Acknowledged,” the pilot responded. He took a couple of seconds to check the feed from the drones and then spoke to the other shuttle pilot, “LZ X2 seems clear, let’s put them down there.”

  Becket didn’t hear the other pilot’s response but she assumed he agreed for both shuttles banked and rapidly decelerated.

  As the shuttles touched down in an open space at the foot of one of the Vestarian’s massive towers, Johnston keyed the COM channel to speak to the marines in both shuttles. “This is where we get off, the palace is just one klick to our west. Alpha squad will take point. Lead us off as soon as you form up.”

  “Yes Sir,” Sergeant Jones said from alpha squad.

  Becket made sure she stayed close to Johnston as she disembarked and made her way to the palace. The marines approached at a brisk jog that covered the distance in less than a minute with the aid of their combat armor. Becket was impressed to see that Tak’ar and the ten Vestarians he had brought with him were able to keep up. They were panting hard when Sergeant Jones signaled for the group to halt.

  “The palace is just round the corner,” Jones reported over the COM.

  “Spread out into squads,” Johnston ordered and waited for the marines to spread out and get into good firing positions. “Wait for the shuttles,” he added.

  “Go time,” Johnston said over the COM channel to the pilots.

  “On our way,” came the response.

  With the aid of her combat armor’s enhanced hearing Becket was sure she heard the now familiar hum of the shuttles’ engines boosting them into the air. As she listened it came closer
and closer until the shuttles came into view. They were already launching more of their ground attack missiles, obviously using the feeds from the drones to take out the defenders. As they flew overhead the pilots peppered the palace defenses with plasma bolts.

  “Pick your targets carefully,” Johnston said, “we’ll only have a few seconds of surprise. Once we reach the bottom of the stairs use your grenades. Move, move, move!”

  The four squads of marines leapt from cover and charged the palace. As Becket jumped up she couldn’t help but take a moment to take in the palace before them. The stairs alone looked like the wall of a fortress as they loomed over her, going up for more than three hundred feet. At their top she could see a number of makeshift barriers in place with Vestarian guards behind them. Beyond that the tower of the palace blocked everything else from view. It dominated her vision and if she didn’t know better it would have been impossible to even guess there were hundreds more towers beyond it. Any one of which would have dwarfed the skyscrapers of Earth.

  Lifting her plasma rifle to target the nearest defender she saw Johnston had timed their attack perfectly. As the shuttles banked to retreat many of the defenders stood up from their cover to get a better shot at them. The marines caught them off guard and the first volley of plasma bolts cut down more than twenty of the defenders.

  If they had stopped to make the most of their advantage they could have hit more but the marines kept sprinting for the bottom of the stairs and the cover it would provide. As it was a number of the defenders managed to track in on the marines and two went down as lasers blew holes in their combat armor. A resistance fighter joined them before he could make it to the cover of the steps.

  When Becket reached the bottom of the giant steps she mimicked the rest of the marines and unhooked one of her high explosive grenades. Without pausing she hurled it up over the stairs. A number of grunts of satisfaction were heard over the COM channel as the grenades exploded amongst the Vestarians who had rushed to the lip of the stairs to get into a position to fire down on the marines.

  “Delta squad provide covering fire. Everyone else with me,” Johnston said as he leapt up and mounted the stairs three at a time.

  Becket jumped up and followed the Major as a barrage of green plasma bolts ripped through the air over their heads. Now and again a Vestarian head could be seen poking above the top of the steps but they disappeared as a plasma bolt hit them or forced them to duck for cover. One managed to get off a shot and another marine hit the ground and rolled back down the stairs. Becket didn’t have time to look back and see how badly hurt he was for they were almost at the top.

  “Grenades,” Johnston called again as he hefted another grenade over the top of the stairs.

  The explosions went off just as they crested the top of the stairs and Becket remembered her training just in time to leap into a large jump assisted by the boosters in her armor. The combination of the explosions and the marines suddenly shooting into the air over the last few steps caught the defenders off guard. Three marines were blown back down the stairs by x-ray lasers but the rest opened up on the Vestarians with their plasma rifles, scattering what was left of the defenders.

  As Johnston hit the ground a Vestarian jumped out of cover and leveled his laser at the Major but Becket mowed him down before he could pull the trigger. Johnston didn’t even notice; he was charging towards the palace doors. A missile from one of the shuttles had battered it in and when Johnston approached he threw two flash bangs through its wreckage.

  Pausing only long enough for them to go off, he rushed in followed by five marines with Becket taking up the rear. As she entered the dark of the palace her visor altered its light filters, allowing her to see clearly. With a sigh of relief, she saw that there were no more soldiers defending the entrance.

  “The front of the palace is clear,” Johnston said over the COM to the marines. “Everyone move up.” He switched the COM channel to talk to the shuttle pilots. “We’re in, get to the Omen facility,” he said.

  “Acknowledged,” the pilot responded, “we’ll be back for you as soon as we pick them up, give the Overlord hell for us.”

  “You can bet on it,” Johnston replied.

  “We’re going to split up,” he said once the rest of the marines and Tak’ar and his men had gathered around him. “The last time we were here our host took us on two different routes into and out of the Overlord’s throne room. I’ll lead squads alpha and beta and Lieutenant Jeffers and Tak’ar will take his men and the gamma and delta squads. If the Overlord isn’t in his throne room we’ll fan out and search the rest of the palace, though that may prove impossible.”

  Becket had to agree, the palace had to be more than a thousand times the size of Endeavour, if he wanted to, the Overlord could hide and it could take months to find him.

  “Don’t worry,” Tak’ar said. “The Overlord will be there. Even with enemies within the palace he still won’t believe he could actually lose. He’ll be there.”

  “Right, well let’s get going before any more defenders show up,” Johnston ordered.

  For five minutes Becket trotted along beside Johnston as their team followed the winding path through the palace that had been uploaded into their combat armor’s computer. She came to a sudden halt along with everyone else when the marine who was on point signaled that there was movement up ahead.

  Johnston shuffled forward to join the marine. When he peeked around the end of the corridor he immediately ducked back as the wall exploded from a laser hit.

  “Becket, contact Lieutenant Jeffers, let him know we have encountered more defenders and to be on the lookout,” Johnston ordered. “Sergeant Jones, take your squad and double back, see if you can flank the Vestarians up ahead. Let me know when you are in position.”

  “Yes Sir,” Sergeant Jones said before moving off.

  To keep the defenders’ attention on him, Johnston poked his plasma rifle around the corner and fired off a couple of quick shots before lobbing a grenade at them.

  Two minutes later, after a few more grenades had been thrown, Becket could tell everyone was getting nervous that Sergeant Jones hadn’t reported in yet as many of the marines were fidgeting with their guns.

  “We’re in position,” Jones said, breaking the tension. “We encountered another Vestarian patrol, I think they were trying to flank you. We took them out.”

  “Good work,” Johnston said. “Take them when you are ready.”

  “We’re moving in,” Jones said.

  From down the corridor Becket heard the sound of high explosive grenades going off. Johnston seemed to wait a long time before he led his men around the corner but as usual Becket saw he had timed it perfectly to catch the defenders in a cross fire while their attention was focused on Sergeant Jones’ flanking maneuver.

  The firepower from both groups overwhelmed the defenders and they were forced to retreat. Johnston and Jones led their marines in pursuit and for the next five minutes a long firefight developed as the defenders fled towards the throne room. One marine took a laser to the leg but the shot must have been fired from beyond the laser’s effective range for his armor managed to deflect most of the energy. Another wasn’t so lucky and as Becket tended to him she saw that the laser had melted a hole through his armor and burnt off a lot of flesh.

  “You’ll be alright,” she said to him after she upped the pain medication his armor was injecting into his system. As she stood she looked around the open expanse they had fought their way into. There, she thought as she saw a corner with a number of Vestarian chairs arranged around it.

  “Let me help you to your feet,” she said as she hefted the marine. “We’ll have to leave you here behind some cover. Don’t worry we’ll be back for you once we get the Overlord.”

  “Don’t worry about me Lieutenant,” the marine said, “I can take care of myself. Just make sure you complete the mission.”

  “I will,” she called to him as she laid him down behind a chair out
of sight. With only a quick look back to make sure he wasn’t visible from the center of the open area she jogged off to catch up with the rest of the marines.

  “I think I got the last of them,” Jones said when Becket caught up to the front line, “it looks clear ahead.”

  “Move out slowly,” Johnston cautioned.

  As they moved up they didn’t encounter any more resistance. “The throne room should be down the next corridor,” Johnston said.

  “It looks like Lieutenant Jeffers and Tak’ar have beaten us here,” Reynolds said from her position on point. Becket understood what she meant as she rounded the corner with Johnston. There were several dead Vestarian guards along with one of Tak’ar’s resistance fighters and a dead marine.

  “It’s Blackfoot,” Reynolds said as she rolled over the dead marine.

  “Keep going,” Johnston said gruffly, not wanting to let Reynold’s sorrow penetrate his focus. Ahead it looked like one of the doors to the throne room had been blown open with a shaped charge and the sound of plasma rifle fire could be heard from within.