Stars & Empire: 10 Galactic Tales

by Jay Allan

  “This battle suit is to be used against the Bresth?” spoke Sergeant Stern, realizing the reason they were being given the new suits. She had a suspicion that they would shortly be returning to the Bresth’s home world.

  “Yes,” replied Marken, evenly. “The Bresth are still refusing to join the Empire. However, there is one more weapon that goes with the new battle suit. This weapon is designed for hand to hand combat.”

  Marken stepped over to one of the suits and pulled a slim metal rod about a meter long out of a sheath at the suit’s waist. A small flexible wire connected it to the suit. Pressing a button on the handle, the rod suddenly glowed a deep dark blue and the smell of ozone filled the air. The rod seemed to vibrate with power.

  “This is an Energy Lance,” Marken explained as he carefully moved the rod from side to side.

  Marken stepped over to a one-meter block of metal, which rested on a short pedestal close to the suit. He slammed the lance down against the block, cutting it cleanly in two. He pressed the button on the handle and the blue glow faded.

  “The wire furnishes power from the suit,” he explained as he replaced the lance back into the protective sheath at the waist of the battle suit. “The new suits can operate twelve hours without needing to be recharged. They also have a reserve of two hours.”

  Wade had listened to everything in astonishment. He couldn’t believe they were being given such deadly weapons. Now more than ever he suspected Marken had an ulterior motive in his actions, and furnishing them with these new suits and weapons only seemed to confirm that. Looking across the line of marines, he could see Captain Jenkins standing there with a thoughtful look upon his face. Wade was sure the captain suspected the same thing. He wondered just what type of game Marken was playing and how it involved the marines,

  “Lieutenant Nelson, will you try on your battle suit first?” asked Marken, pointing to the one he had just taken the lance from.

  Wade nodded and stepped up onto the small platform. Positioning himself in front of the open battle suit, he stepped backward. As soon as he was inside it closed up around him and he felt various sensors attach themselves to his body. The suit suddenly came alive and he took a tentative step forward. In incredulity, he realized that this suit was much more flexible and responsive than the other suit had been. After a couple of minutes, it felt as if he was not even wearing a suit of armor.

  Marken watched Lieutenant Nelson with interest. Of all the marines, the lieutenant seemed to understand the battle suits better than anyone else. Watching him in the Type Three suit, he saw how quickly Nelson had adapted to the new suit of armor and how smoothly he was already using it.

  “Okay, now everyone else try yours out,” Marken ordered. “The energy weapons and the lances are not active.”

  -o0o—

  For the next several days, the marines trained in the suits under the watchful eyes of their Kivean trainers. They were taught how the new railgun rifles worked and fired off several of the more powerful explosive charges, with which they were equipped, at targets obliterating them. The two tubes on the back of the suit that carried the more powerful explosive rounds were empty, and Marken had explained they didn’t want to set explosives of that power off inside the dome.

  Lieutenant Nelson and Williams worked their marines hard, knowing the new suit with its more powerful weapons and armor would help to keep them alive in combat situations. It was almost as if each marine had become a walking tank with the firepower they now had at their disposal.

  The weapon that Wade found the most interesting was the Energy Lance. The power from the suit flowed into the one-meter rod and it served as a focus, allowing the energy to cut through most metals. Fortunately, one of the metals it had no effect against was the one that composed the armor of the Type Three battle suits. Marken had explained that the composite material the suits were made of were resistant to the energy given off by the lances.

  When their final day of training was finished, Wade and Beth went to the mess hall to eat. Sitting down at a table, Beth looked over at Wade and leaned forward over her tray. “We’re being deployed tomorrow,” she spoke in a quiet voice. “We’re going back to the Bresth home world.”

  “I expected that,” Wade replied as he took a bite of his mashed potatoes. “I think the Kleese hope that the new battle suits will be so frightening to the Bresth that they will immediately capitulate and surrender.”

  “I don’t think that will happen,” responded Beth, unhappily. “I think we will have to inflict massive casualties on them to make that occur, and you know how I feel about that.”

  Wade nodded. Neither of them enjoyed killing any member of the races that attempted to resist the Kleese Empire. Unfortunately, the only hope they had of ever seeing Earth again was to obey the Kleese and participate in these military operations.

  “Have you been over to the research building recently?” asked Beth, curiously.

  “Yesterday,” Wade replied. He was surprised at all the technology Marken and his people had been providing the military researchers. It only seemed to confirm that something else was going on. “Our scientists are learning more about the Kleese technology every day.”

  “The Kleese don’t know about that building, do they Wade?”

  “No,” responded Wade, softly. He put down his fork and looked over at Beth. “The Kiveans are up to something, and I suspect we’re going to play a major role in it. Marken has made it very plain that if the Kleese ever learn what our people are doing with what’s in that research building we could all lose our heads.”

  “We’re being manipulated by them,” Beth said with a long frown. “I don’t like that.”

  “I spoke to Captain Jenkins, and he feels the same way,” Wade answered. “He suggested we play along for now until we see exactly what the Kiveans are up to.”

  Beth nodded. She knew there wasn’t anything else they could do and the military research people were learning a lot about Kleese technology.

  -o0o-

  Wade peered cautiously over the partially destroyed wall he was taking cover behind. Earlier that morning, they had landed upon the Bresth home world and launched their attack. The Bresth were not a humanoid race and their thinking was radically different. They fought in packs and had little regard for their losses as long as they won in the end. They were bearlike, standing nearly eight feet tall with thick, muscular bodies. A heavy coat of hair covered them from head to toe and they were ferocious fighters. The biggest problem with the Bresth was their lack of sound military strategy. As a result, their casualties were much higher than necessary.

  One of the tactics the Bresth had been using that morning was strapping high explosives to their bodies and then rushing the Human lines, trying to get close enough to set off the bombs to destroy battle suits and the Human operator inside. They had been successful eight times so far with their suicide attempts.

  “What’s our latest casualty figure?” Wade demanded over the com system to Lieutenants Williams and Jeffries. There were one hundred and twenty marines under his command, and they had been hit hard that morning by the suicide bombers. Lieutenant Jeffries had been assigned to his unit along with forty of his marines.

  “Eight dead and twelve wounded,” reported Williams with concern in her voice. “Each attacking wave has been larger than the last. I don’t know how much more of this we can handle.”

  “I have several scouts out, and they report that the Bresth are getting ready to hit us again,” added Jeffries, worriedly. “It won’t be much longer.”

  Wade let out a heavy sigh; the Kleese had wanted to capture this manufacturing city intact as a demonstration of Kleese power. So far, Wade had been using only rifle fire and had stayed away from using explosives or the energy weapons so as to reduce the amount of damage they caused.

  Blinking his eyes, he knew he was not going to be able to hold the Bresth causalities down. Not unless he was willing to suffer heavy casualties to the marines under hi
s command. He switched to the general frequency so all of his marines could hear him. “All right everyone, we’ve played nice and taken some casualties; now it’s time to end this. Those of you with energy weapons are free to engage targets of opportunity. Lieutenant Williams, there are four large storage buildings in front of us. I want you to take them out with your suit launchers; we’ll follow it up with a barrage from our energy weapons.”

  “That’s going to cause a lot of Bresth casualties,” she replied, letting out a deep breath.

  “I know,” answered Wade. “But I don’t think we have any other choice.”

  Lieutenant Williams quickly assigned her marines to specific targets and gave the order to fire. From eighteen battle suits, two high explosive rounds arched up into the air to fall upon and around the four indicated buildings. The buildings covered two full city blocks and the Bresth had been using them for cover to gather for their next attack. The buildings were three stories high and made out of concrete and steel.

  The explosive shells landed; each one had enough explosive power to level a small building. All four structures vanished as massive explosions rolled across them. Smoke and fire filled the air and then, after a few seconds, the shelling stopped.

  Wade gazed over the wall and was astonished at the carnage caused by the suit’s explosive rounds. He had known they were powerful, but nothing like this. Of the four large buildings, nothing was left standing; all that was visible was a smoking pile of rubble with occasional wisps of fire. Of the enemy troops, there was no sign.

  “Advance,” ordered Wade, wanting to take advantage of the break in the enemy lines.

  Wade jumped over the eight-foot wall with his rifle in his right hand and began sprinting toward the destroyed buildings. On his HUD, he could see green and amber icons representing the marines in his command moving up in a staggered line. Looking to his right, he could see several blue energy beams firing and hear the resulting loud, crackling noise whenever they struck something.

  “Here they come,” Lieutenant Jeffries yelled over the com as the Bresth finally put in an appearance. They were charging forward in a massive wave numbering in the hundreds.

  “Use rifle explosive rounds and the energy weapons,” Wade ordered evenly, knowing they were going to have to kill the Bresth troops.

  He knew some of those Bresth would be armed with explosive charges, and he was not going to risk losing any more of his marines. He could hear the savage screams and primeval roars of rage coming from the charging Bresth.

  Explosive rounds began going off, killing dozens of Bresth at a time and blasting wide swaths in the charging ranks. Several massive explosions shook the ground as Bresth troops carrying explosive charges were hit and their suicide charges detonated. The air became full of smoke as the fighting intensified and more Bresth troops joined in, attacking from the flanks.

  “Where’s our support?” Lieutenant Williams screamed as a Bresth soldier carrying a suicide charge detonated just short of her position, showering her suit with shattered stone and debris.

  “They didn’t move up when we did,” Lieutenant Jeffries reported. “They’re still pinned down by suicide bombers. Both of our flanks are under heavy attack!”

  “Then we have to do it on our own,” Wade said decisively as he realized what had to be done. “Use of suit explosives is now authorized. I want everything around us and to the city’s center leveled!”

  Wade knew that this might anger the Kleese as they had wanted to capture the city intact, but he was determined not to take any more unnecessary casualties. Already the Bresth were getting uncomfortably close to his marine’s positions.

  “Firing,” Private Dawson spoke as he began shooting explosive rounds from the two tubes on the back of his suit.

  “Same here,” Private Russell added as he targeted a large building about a kilometer away.

  “I want some of those rounds directly in front of us; the Bresth attacking wave must be eliminated.”

  Responding to his orders, massive explosions began to go off in front of Wade and each side. Entire buildings vanished as they were pulverized by the powerful explosives. The noise reached an incredible crescendo as explosions marched across the city.

  The Bresth screamed in renewed fury at the destruction around them and attempted to rush the now deadly Human line, hoping to breach it while they still had the advantage in numbers. Several explosive rounds fell amongst the nearest Bresth, wiping out entire sections of their advancing troops. The attack faltered and then came to a sudden halt as energy beams tore into the beleaguered attackers.

  For a full minute, Wade watched impassively as the explosions marched across the city, destroying everything in their path. Even small skyscrapers ten to twenty stories high fell victim to the powerful explosives.

  When the explosions finally stopped, Wade gazed at the devastation his orders had wrought. An area of the city four city blocks wide and nearly a kilometer in length had been leveled. A few fires burned and smoke was prevalent in the air, but Wade knew that there was nothing left living in the section of the city he had just ordered destroyed. He felt numb, knowing that his orders had probably killed hundreds if not several thousand enemy troops.

  A few Bresth troops had turned and fled back to the flanks, running from the carnage that Wade had let loose. Their will was broken, and Wade suspected the battle might now be over. The word of what he had done would soon spread to the other defenders. What enemy in their right mind would want to face what had just been unleashed upon the heart of the city?

  “That’s done with,” Wade spoke calmly over the general com frequency. “Let’s move to the city’s center and wait for pickup.”

  “They’ve pulled back,” Beth spoke as she motioned for her troops to advance. “I don’t think they’ll be returning.”

  They moved forward in silence, everyone awestruck at the damage the new suits were capable of inflicting. Each one had the power and destructive capability of a full company of marines.

  “Keep a watch out,” Wade cautioned as he stepped over a pile of smoldering rubble. “There may still be a few Bresth around.”

  “The other units on our flanks are moving up now,” Lieutenant Williams spoke. She too had been stunned by the damage they had inflicted. “They are reporting that the enemy troops are withdrawing and fleeing the city.”

  “I think we’re in the clear,” Lieutenant Jeffries added with relief in his voice.

  Wade nodded; this part of the battle was over, and he wondered just what the consequences of his actions would be when they returned to the station. Would what he had ordered cause the Kleese to activate the collar around his neck for destroying such a large part of the city? He didn’t know, and at the moment, he didn’t care. His actions had ensured that no more of his marines were lost or injured, and that was what was important.

  -o0o-

  Marken gazed at the viewscreen in astonishment and fear. Never had he imagined that the Humans would use their suits to wreak so much destruction upon the Bresth city. Already he was wondering how he was going to explain this action to the Kleese who were standing by in one of their large, disk shaped ships.

  “The Kleese are giving us permission to launch the drop ships and pick up the Humans,” one of the other Kiveans reported from his position at communications. “The Kleese are also reporting that the Bresth have surrendered and are now willing to join the Empire.”

  Marken breathed a long sigh of relief. He knew from monitoring communications that Lieutenant Nelson had been the one to give the order to use the battle suit’s higher explosives to level part of the city. It seemed as if the lieutenant’s gamble had worked. He also knew there would be no punishment from the Kleese as the planet was now under their control.

  “Send the drop ships down,” Marken ordered with a satisfied nod. Unless the Kleese specifically forbid it, he planned on allowing the Humans to keep the new battle suits. Of course, not all the Humans had the new suits, only
a select few.

  Marken watched on the main viewscreen as four drop ships left the flight bay and headed for the planet. It was unfortunate that a few Humans had been killed on this mission, but in war there were going to be occasional casualties. Marken was just thankful that none of the key Human officers had died or been injured. Once the assault ships returned to the station he would meet with his fellow conspirators and finish making plans for their escape. All the pieces were now in place; all they needed to do was speak to a few of the Humans and set everything into motion.

  He knew that what his race was planning would probably set off a galactic war between the Kleese Empire and the Humans. How it would end he didn’t know, but he strongly suspected the Kleese would not be prepared for what was coming.

  CHAPTER 12

  Michael Kirby carefully brought the Raven down onto the snow-covered parking lot of the large shopping mall. As soon as he felt the landing struts touch down and was satisfied that his ship was on a firm foundation, he turned off the engines.

  “Searchlights on,” Brian spoke as he reached forward and flipped several switches. He was anxious to see just what was out there.

  Instantly a set of brilliant lights flared to life on the outside of the ship, illuminating the side of the shopping mall nearest them. They were in a small town in Ohio on a scavenging mission to gather computer parts. This particular mall had several large computer stores as well as a smaller one that specialized in building powerful computers for small companies.

  “Everything looks quiet,” Sergeant Andrews said as he stared fixedly at several viewscreens on the forward wall of the Control Center in front of Michael that were focused on the mall.

  Looking attentively at one of the viewscreens, he could see where the roof of the mall had collapsed in several key spots from the sheer weight of the volcanic ash and snow. He just hoped the collapsed roof hadn’t damaged any of the computer stores.