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

Fleet Admiral Marloo had expected no less of Derrick. High Princess Layla would never have married a man who would shirk his duty.

-

Layla was busy in the Imperial Court, meeting with members of the public. A number of wives and husbands of the representatives of the House of Worlds were present as well. All were dressed in fine dresses and the men in suits designed for Royalty. This was the beginning of the new Royal Court that, in time, would number in the thousands.

Krista sat next to Layla, occasionally answering questions. Andrew was busy overseeing the installation of some particle beam cannons on the outside of the shipyards and space stations orbiting Golan Four. It had been decided it would take too long to install them on the ODPs, but the stations and shipyards were massive. The particle beam cannons were being installed on the outer hulls in large turrets.

Layla had just finished speaking with a local businessman who wanted to know if the military was careful to spread around their spending, so everyone would benefit. She assured the man that was occurring, but she would look into it to make sure nothing had changed. Layla was surprised when some loud voices and even applause came from the back of the Royal Court. Looking up, she saw Derrick, in his admiral’s uniform, coming down the center aisle, stopping occasionally to talk to a few of the new members of the Royal Court who he knew.

After a minute or two Derrick reached Layla and Krista.

“What are you doing here?” asked Layla, completely surprised to see her husband. She hadn’t expected him to come down from the Destiny, not until after the Confederation fleets had been dealt with.

Derrick smiled. “I had a short meeting with Fleet Admiral Marloo. I’m going back up to the Destiny in a few more hours.”

Layla looked over at Krista. “I’m going with Derrick for a while. You can handle things here.” Layla almost laughed when seeing the chagrinned look on her cousin’s face. Krista had never been left in the Royal Court alone before.

Taking a deep breath, Krista nodded. “Don’t be too long, or I might give away part of the Empire.”

Layla laughed, and, standing up, she and Derrick left through one of the doors behind the thrones. “Let’s go to our quarters. Two hours is plenty of time for what I have in mind.”

Derrick was surprised, but he was game if Layla was. After all, it was hard telling when they would see one another again.

-

Rear Admiral Krest had just received new orders. She was to take her fleet to rendezvous with Rear Admiral Carrie to add more protection to her fleet of battlecarriers.

“How many combat-capable ships do we have?”

“Four dreadnoughts and thirty-three battlecruisers,” answered Major Every. “Some of them are damaged, but most of the repairs can be made by the crews.”

That was more than Rear Admiral Krest had been expecting. “We leave in two hours. The ships that can’t fight will continue on to Xnea Two for repairs. Will we have to scuttle any ships?”

Major Every shook her head. “No, they may be near wrecks, but the captains have assured me they can get to Xnea.”

Rear Admiral Krest nodded. “Excellent. All ships are to continue repairs until it’s time for us to leave. What kind of shape is the Tetrex in?” The Tetrex was her flagship, and the vessel she was currently on.

“Not good. I don’t know if I would recommend taking her into combat. We can have 68 percent of her weapons back online in twelve hours, and the reserve fusion reactor back up to 80 percent power in twenty hours. That’s about all we can do without putting her in a shipyard.”

“What about the hole in the hull?” Krest referred to the one-hundred-meter-long gash in the side of the ship.

“We’re welding plates over it. It won’t look good, but it will hold in air and will give us some protection, though I would recommend we keep the compartments next to the fissure locked down.”

Rear Admiral Krest felt deep pain to learn how badly her ship was damaged. “Anything else?”

Major Every took a deep breath. “I would recommend you move your flag over to the Dreadnought Stargazer. She’s operating at nearly 98 percent combat efficiency. The vessel must be charmed, as it received very little damage.”

“I’ll take your recommendation under advisement. For now I will remain on the Tetrex.” She could always change flagships later, if she deemed it necessary.

For over an hour now, Rear Admiral Krest had listened to reports coming in over the hyperlight receiver. So far, there had been no sightings of any Confederation forces. She wondered where they had vanished to.

-

Morag Fleet Admirals Colane and Torrant moved their fleets through Human space, being careful to avoid all heavily populated areas. They did not want their fleets to be detected, until they launched their attack on the Human core worlds. This caused them to take numerous detours, and it would be days yet before they reached their target.

I have dispatched Admiral Norlan and his fleet of reserve ships to the Hagen Star Cluster. I don’t trust the Druins and the Zynth to complete their mission.

I agree, replied Colane. Both fleet admirals were on their flagships and were communicating telepathically over a distance of nearly fifty thousand kilometers. The two massive fleets had dropped out of hyperspace in a small white dwarf system. They were doing some maintenance that could not be done while the fleets were in hyperspace. It would only take a few hours, and they would be on their way once more.

We must destroy the defenses in both targets, as either could recreate the Human Empire, if one were to survive. The Hagen Star Cluster is nearly as big of a threat