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

“Oh, we’ll get through all right. We have a weapon we have kept secret from this council and the rest of the Confederation. That secret weapon will ensure we reach Golan Four and destroy it. Once Golan Four is gone, all resistance in the Empire will collapse.”

“What is this secret weapon?” asked Ardon. He had never heard of this before.

Damora shook his head. “No, that’s our secret for now. Once we use it, everyone will know.”

Ardon leaned back in his chair, taking a deep breath. He had no love for the Humans, but they held the best chance of defeating the Morag. He wondered if he should arrange for a message to be sent to Golan Four about the Morag claim to possess a superweapon of some type. It might be possible to have the Visth contact the Humans to pass on the information. Ardon had some serious thinking to do after this meeting.

-

Dylan was on board the Themis, which was in orbit above Gideon. Working with the core worlds, he had arranged for eight more ODPs to be brought to Gideon, instead of the four he had planned on earlier. That made sixteen that were the center of the massive orbital defense here. In addition, they had two thousand energy beam satellites and 180 missile platforms. Also five thousand attack interceptors were at the massive base on the north pole of this moon. All the PDCs and the big base were complete. Drills were being run every day in preparation for the coming attack.

“Any word on more ships?” asked Rear Admiral Fulmar.

“They’re working on it,” answered Dylan. He contacted Fleet Admiral Marloo nearly every day, requesting more warships. Marloo said they were working on it, but it would be a few more days before they knew anything.

“We’ll be dividing the fleet in a few more days,” Dylan informed Fulmar. “You and Rear Admiral Taggert will be responsible for the defense of the next two most important worlds in this cluster. I’ll keep the third section of the fleet here to defend Tantula Five and Gideon.”

Fulmar nodded. “I just hope that’s enough. I know all seven of the major star systems are heavily defended, but we have no idea what might be coming at us this time.”

Dylan understood Rear Admiral Fulmar’s concerns. Dylan had the same ones. He looked at the main viewscreen and the moon of Gideon. So much would ride on the battle that was soon to be fought here. Dylan knew he had done everything in his power to prepare. He just hoped it was enough.

Chapter Twelve

High Princess Layla visited with Cheryl in the Royal Quarters. “Does Dylan think they can stop the Confederation at the Hagen Star Cluster?” Layla knew Dylan had been intent on heavily fortifying the cluster.

“He’ll try,” answered Cheryl, wishing Dylan were here at Golan Four. “The entire cluster has been made into a giant trap for the Confederation. He’ll either stop the Confederation cold or die trying. I know Dylan. He won’t give up.” Tears were in Cheryl’s eyes, knowing she might never see Dylan again. “I just think the odds are too great!”

Layla was afraid that Cheryl was right. She knew Derrick would do the same as Dylan had. “I’ll speak to Fleet Admiral Marloo and see if there’s anything we can do.” Layla had been staying out of the military planning, but she didn’t want to see Admiral Cleemorl die in the coming battle with the Confederation. “I’ll see if we can find more ships to send.”

-

Later Layla made her way into the Command Center beneath the House of Worlds. The massive building was now occupied by hundreds of Human representatives from the various planets, and the business of the Empire grew every day, as new worlds asked for admittance. Layla was pleased with how everything was going, but she knew it could come to a crashing end if the Confederation defeated the new fleets the Human Empire had managed to build.

She was instantly allowed into the Command Center, particularly since she had four Imperial Guards with her. Stepping inside, she saw her husband, Derrick, and Fleet Admiral Marloo, standing in front of a massive holographic display, which showed Imperial ship deployments.

“What’s going on?” she asked, as she walked up to the two.

-

Derrick was startled to hear his wife’s voice. She hadn’t been in the Command Center for weeks. He wondered what had brought her here. There had to be something.

“Layla,” said Derrick, turning to face her. “We’re just going over the latest fleet deployments.”

“Anything I should know about?”

Derrick looked over at Fleet Admiral Marloo.

“We received a message from the Visth this morning,” answered Marloo. “It seems the Morag have some superweapon they plan on using to take out Golan Four.”

Layla’s face turned pale. “Where did the Visth get this information?”

“It could have only come from one place,” replied the admiral. “Someone on the Confederation’s Great Council is feeding the Visth information on Confederation military movements and plans. We also know the Morag will launch their attack in about six more days. Of course it will take them a few days to reach the Empire, so we’re about eight to ten days out from the beginning of their attack.”

“We also know what we’ll be facing,” added Derrick. “The Morag, the Druins, and the Zynth will be taking part in the assault. Altogether they have committed over 19,000 ships, with who-knows-what being held back in reserve.”

Layla suddenly felt as if her breath had been stolen from her. “Can we stop that many?”

Fleet Admiral Marloo adjusted the holographic display to show the Hagen Star Cluster. “We’ve set up defenses across the part of the Empire nearest the Confederation. With the help of Admiral Cleemorl, we’ve set up our defenses to force the Confederation forces to converge on the Hagen Star Cluster. Its