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

to flee; all the cities and infrastructure on the moon had been annihilated. There was no point in continuing this battle. “Notify all ships to withdraw from the moon. For all intents and purposes, we have won this battle. The moon of Hastings is no longer a threat to the Confederation.”

Moments later the two fleets pulled away from the moon and soon entered hyperspace. The battle for Hastings was over.

-

Colonel Jenkins breathed a sigh of relief, when he saw the two Confederation fleets exit the system. All four PDCs were still intact, as well as the majority of the underground bunkers. They were getting a count, but early estimates put the survival rate within the bunkers at over 90 percent.

“What now?” asked Major Muskin.

“We do nothing,” answered Jenkins. “The bunkers are supplied sufficiently to get by for two years. Hopefully by then, this war will be over, the radiation will have dissipated, and we’ll be in the process of rebuilding.”

Looking at the viewscreens revealing the devastation, Major Muskin shook his head. “We’ll have a lot of rebuilding to do.”

“We’ll have the Empire to help,” replied Jenkins. “That should make a huge difference.”

“Assuming they win this war,” said Muskin, some doubt in his voice.

Jenkins didn’t reply. As much as he hated to admit it, there was a chance the Empire could lose.

-

Rear Admiral Krest watched as her fleet emerged from hyperspace. They were in the system of Ranier Two, where Glenda hoped to spend some time repairing her ships. “What did we lose?”

Major Every turned toward the admiral. “We lost four dreadnoughts and twenty-seven battlecruisers. We have a number of ships that need some major repairs and a few that should really be sent to a repair bay.”

Krest looked at the main viewscreen showing Ranier Two. The Druins had destroyed its two largest cities and had only recently vacated the system. While there was no threat here, there was also no help. “We will stay for six hours and then continue to Xnea Two. They have a shipyard we can use for repairs and a very strong defensive grid.”

Major Every looked doubtful. “We have a few ships that might not make it that far.”

Krest had been afraid of that. “If necessary, we’ll take the crews off and scuttle them. Our mission out here is done. Now we need to get our ships repaired.”

-

Druin Admiral Falorr had stopped in an uninhabited system to conduct repairs on his fleet. He had lost 157 of his warships in the battle over Hastings. He had already contacted Morag Fleet Admiral Torrant and reported on the results of his attack. It had been an interesting conversation.

-

“They have fortified many of their worlds,” said Torrant, as he listened to the report from Falorr. “They plan on bleeding our fleets at every world as we advance toward their core worlds.”

Falorr was in agreement with that. “So, what should we do?”

There was silence for a long moment, and then Torrant responded. “Take your fleet and the Zynth fleet and attack the Hagen Star Cluster. The Empire has too large a fleet presence there for us to bypass it. I will take my fleet and head directly to the core worlds.”

This sounded like a good strategy to Falorr. “What should we do once we’ve taken the star cluster?”

“Wait for my orders. Once my fleet has the core worlds under our control, the war should be over. Particularly after we destroy Golan Four.”

Chapter Fourteen

On Golan Four, in the underground Command Center beneath the House of Worlds, Fleet Admiral Marloo and Vice Fleet Admiral Masters listened to the report from Rear Admiral Krest. She described in detail what had happened at Hastings.

Admiral Marloo turned toward Derrick, after hearing the report. “We hurt them, but we can’t sacrifice entire worlds for a few hundred of their ships.”

Derrick nodded in agreement. “What are we to do? We made our plans, based on each world that they attacked would further weaken their fleet, so, by the time they reached the core worlds, we could handle what was left of their forces.”

Marloo rubbed his chin and then spoke. “We must order all worlds to resist to a certain point and, when resistance looks futile, to immediately surrender. That way we limit civilian casualties. We can’t risk billions of innocent lives lost in this.”

“We may still suffer some losses,” replied Derrick. He knew how the Confederation admirals would not hesitate to bomb civilians cities if given any excuse. “Look at how they bombed Hastings. They were attempting to kill everyone.”

“Yes, but Hastings resisted to the very end. Our other worlds must not do that.”

Derrick looked up at the multiple tactical displays for all the major core worlds, as well as the inhabited moons and smaller colonies. All were still clear of Confederation ships. “We know where the Druin and Zynth fleets are. Where are the Morag?” Derrick was greatly concerned about the fact there had been no trace of the Morag.

Marloo shook his head. “We’ve had no reports of any contact with them, though I doubt if the Druins and the Zynth would have launched their attack without the Morag close by. I’ve got scout ships out looking for them. Perhaps we’ll know something in the next few hours.”

Derrick took a deep breath. Layla did not even know he had come down from the Destiny for a meeting with Fleet Admiral Marloo. “I’ll stop by and speak to Layla and then head back up to the Destiny. I have a bad feeling we’re missing something.”

Marloo blinked his eyes and gazed at Derrick. He had learned to trust the young admiral’s intuition. “I already have all bases across the Empire at Condition Three. They won’t take us by surprise.”

Derrick nodded. “I hope you’re right. I won’t be coming back down from the