The Forgotten Empire: War for the Empire by Raymond Weil (ereader ebook .txt) 📕

head in amazement. “If we can equip all our dreadnoughts with these, it could change the war.”

Derrick nodded in agreement. They had needed a superweapon, and now it looked as if they had one. “We’ll run a few more tests and then head back to Golan Four. I know a lot of fleet people who will be highly interested in what our tests revealed.” He also needed to promote Audrey to the rank of Rear Admiral. He planned on doing that once they were back in orbit around Golan Four.

Chapter Four

The Themis and the rest of First Fleet dropped from hyperspace in a small red dwarf star system. Only one small planet was in the system, and it was a frozen ball of ice. The Zynth fleet was in orbit around this planet. First Fleet dropped out of hyperspace within weapons range and immediately launched a full broadside of missiles from every ship toward the Zynth.

-

Zynth Admiral Donlur was in his quarters, studying the reports from the latest scans of the Hagen Star Cluster. Evidently the entire cluster was preparing for all-out war. Suddenly alarms sounded, and red lights flashed. The comm light on his desk blinked. “Admiral Donlur.”

“Admiral, a large Imperial fleet has just dropped from hyperspace in combat range. They’re already launching missiles.” At that moment his flagship shook violently, and the lights dimmed. Moments later they returned to normal.

Admiral Donlur was almost thrown to the deck from the furious pounding his ship was taking. “Have all ships return fire. I’m on my way to the Command Center.”

He could not believe the Humans had dared to attack his fleet here at the red dwarf. Leaving his quarters, he hurried to the Command Center. Along the way he passed numerous crew personnel, rushing to their battle stations.

Already he heard reports of emergency bulkheads shutting to seal off damaged compartments. He was nearly to the Command Center when a loud explosion echoed through the ship, throwing him to the deck. For a moment he felt stunned and then, rising to his feet, made it into the Command Center.

Inside the room was chaos. Several consoles had shorted out, and a thick pall of smoke hung in the room, making the air almost unbreathable. “Activate the emergency air system,” he ordered. This was a special system devised just for the Command Center to keep it clear of smoke during battle. “What’s our current status?”

“Five hundred Human battlecruisers and forty-three dreadnoughts are attacking. We’ve already suffered widespread losses, as many of our ships were unable to get up their energy shields in time. So far we’ve lost seventy-four battlecruisers and twelve battleships. Many other ships are reporting damage.”

Admiral Donlur made it to his command chair with his large yellow eyes drawn to the ship’s main viewscreen. On it he saw several large Human dreadnoughts firing nonstop at his fleet.

“Our weapons effectiveness is down to 65 percent,” reported the tactical officer. “We’ve lost a number of weapons turrets, as well as sustained damage to a number of missile tubes.”

“We have several fires burning in the aft storage compartments,” added First Officer Zakor. “In addition I’ve ordered a number of emergency bulkheads to be sealed, cutting off damaged areas. Crew losses are significant.”

On another viewscreen, a Zynth battlecruiser blew up in a massive fireball, sending debris flying across space and slamming into the energy shields of several nearby ships.

“We cannot win this battle,” uttered Admiral Donlur, as he witnessed the damage his fleet was taking. “Order all ships to jump to the fallback location. We’ll reevaluate our situation there.”

The ship suddenly lurched violently to one side. Warning alarms sounded, and a console exploded, sending a shower of hot sparks across the Command Center.

“Take us into hyperspace!” ordered Admiral Donlur. He knew, if they stayed much longer, his flagship would be destroyed. It was now a matter of saving what ships he could.

“Fleet is jumping,” reported First Officer Zakor. “We have a large number of vessels too damaged to make the transition into hyperspace.”

Zynth Admiral Donlur had been afraid of that. The Humans had taken them by surprise, and his fleet was now paying the cost for that. He also had ensured his fallback hyperspace coordinates were not anywhere near any Morag vessels. After listening to the Humans’ announcement of Morag telepathy and how the Morag could control others, Donlur planned to maintain considerable distance between his ships and any Morag.

-

Admiral Cleemorl breathed out a sigh of relief, as the enemy fleet began jumping out. The First Fleet had taken the Zynth by surprise, hitting them with a missile barrage before they could even react. Obviously they had never expected to be attacked.

“How many of them did we get?”

“One hundred and thirty-eight,” answered Captain Fulmar. “That includes the heavily damaged ones we’re still in the process of destroying.”

Dylan nodded. “This should prevent any further attacks on the cluster, at least for the foreseeable future.” In four more weeks, the cluster should be ready to withstand any conceivable attack by the Confederation. More defensive grid elements arrived every day, including ODPs. In addition, the major worlds of the cluster now produced their own defensive elements, as well as large numbers of attack interceptors. On all seven major worlds of the cluster, large instruction classes were ongoing for the interceptor flight crews. In just four more weeks, the Hagen Star Cluster would be nearly as heavily held as the core worlds.

On the main viewscreen, the last Zynth battlecruiser was blown apart, ending the brief battle in this system.

“What were our losses?” Dylan knew his fleet had not suffered many.

“Sixteen battlecruisers and one dreadnought,” replied Fulmar. “We have about a dozen ships that will need some yard time.”

While those losses were painful, they were nothing compared to what the Zynth had lost. “Take us back into hyperspace and return