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

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Dylan watched sadly as Cheryl boarded a luxury liner to return to Golan Four. It would be part of a convoy going back to the core worlds and would have a heavy escort of two dreadnoughts and twenty battlecruisers. Nearly one hundred supply and cargo ships joined them, as well as a few other passenger liners. He and Cheryl had shared a passionate goodbye, both knowing there was a chance they might not ever see one another again.

Dylan watched as the passenger liner left orbit and took its place in the waiting fleet. A few minutes later the fleet accelerated and made the transition into hyperspace. He stood there, gazing out the large viewing port, where the convoy had been only a few moments before.

“Well, I guess we better get ready for war,” said Governor Dyson, who stood next to Dylan. The governor was on the large space station, inspecting its defenses. He rode on the shuttle with Dylan and Cheryl. “I wish Cheryl could have stayed. She and my wife have been getting along very well.”

Dylan laughed. “Just make sure your wife doesn’t get involved in any of my wife’s crazy schemes. The next thing you know, she will be putting her entertainment bars in the cluster.”

The governor smiled. “She did mention something about that and how much money they would bring to the cluster.”

Dylan shook his head. It seemed that Cheryl, once again, was one step ahead of him.

“How soon do you think it will be before the Confederation attacks?” This question had been at the top of the governor’s mind for several days now. Particularly when he found out Cheryl was being sent back to the core worlds.

Dylan took in a deep breath. He had been wondering this as well. “We could see the first attacks as early as next week. Most likely the Confederation will hit the Human worlds on the outer edge of the Empire. The majority have been told not to resist but to surrender immediately. We want to hold civilian losses to a minimum. Some worlds have very strong defenses and even a few fleet units. These worlds will resist as long as possible. The defenses we’ve set up are designed to force the Confederation fleets to come here.”

Governor Dyson nodded. “I figured that, as strong as you’ve made all the defenses in the cluster. Will the core worlds be sending any more ships?”

Dylan frowned. “I don’t know. I’ve asked for them, but I don’t know if they have any they can spare.”

Governor Dyson went silent for several moments and then asked another question. “Can we win?”

“I would be lying if I said yes. We have a chance of winning. It just depends on what they hit us with and how our new particle beam cannons work against Confederation ships.”

“It’s a shame we couldn’t put some of those cannons on the ODPs.”

Dylan nodded in agreement. “We talked about it, but it would have taken a major redesign.”

“Want to join me on an inspection of this station?” Dyson still had a lot of questions he wanted to ask.

“Sure,” replied Dylan. “I was planning on doing an inspection of both of the stations as well as the shipyards, while I’m up here.”

“Then let’s go,” said the governor.

Dylan followed the governor out of the hatch. He would do a series of inspections over the next few days throughout the cluster. Dylan wanted to make sure they were ready for what was coming.

-

The Great Council of the Confederation was once more in session. Council Leader Ardon Reull had called the meeting at the request of the Morag and the Druins. He suspected they were ready to go to war. However, he had a question he wanted answered first. “Why did Morag Fleet Admiral Torrant destroy the main inhabited world of the Barsoons? They were no threat to the Confederation or to any of its worlds.”

“They had a defensive grid and even some missiles,” replied Damora, dismissing Reull’s attempt to challenge the Morag. “We gave them multiple chances to surrender, and they refused to do so. They left us with no choice but to destroy their world. Also, since then, all the revolts on any Confederation worlds have come to an end, even those in your Lormallian space as well as the Zang space.”

Ardon did not respond. No point in arguing with Damora. The Morag now thought of themselves as the most superior race in the galaxy. “Why have you called this meeting?”

Everyone looked at Morag Councilor Damora.

“To announce that we will move against the Human Empire in eight days. The Morag are committing 14,000 warships, the Druins 2,600 warships, and the Zynth are committing 2,300 warships.” He didn’t mention another 8,000 modern Morag warships were held in reserve, if needed.

Ardon looked surprised. He knew, with all the losses at Earth and in the Empire, that was nearly all the active warships the Druins and the Zynth had left. He wondered if the Morag were intentionally trying to weaken their two allies.

“Don’t think that you can take advantage of us during that time,” added Damora, looking straight at Ardon. “We have activated nearly 16,000 warships out of our reserve, and 12,000 of them will still be available to protect our interests and to ensure no Confederation world attempts to take advantage of our modern warships’ absence.”

Ardon exchanged glances with the Zang councilor. No one had suspected the Morag had such a massive fleet.

“We have constructed several hundred of the new light cruisers,” said Damora. “In addition the Druins have built a large number of drone transport carriers. Our invasion of the Human Empire will be much different from ones in the past.”

“Their core worlds are very well defended,” pointed out Ardon. “Even your massive fleet might not get through to Golan Four.”

Damora smiled.