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

“I’ve got this,” said a voice over the comm.

“Less talk and more shooting,” another voice replied.

“Glad you could join us, Major,” said Lieutenant Stephens, who was a group leader. “It’s been a while.”

“Too long,” admitted Mathew.

Mathew watched as the interceptors quickly paired up. He waited a good sixty seconds and then made the announcement. “Exercise begins. Double-check to make sure weapons are deactivated and laser beams are turned on.” The laser beams were just bright beams of light that, when an interceptor was struck, special sensors would indicate damage suffered. The interceptors spread apart in pairs and then turned to engage.

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For the next thirty minutes the fighting was intense. No one wanted to lose, but not everyone could win. Interceptors twisted and dove in crazy attempts to eliminate their opponents. Occasionally Mathew had to warn the pilots not to get too extreme. He didn’t want anyone flying into another interceptor. In some of the maneuvers, the interceptors came within a few meters of one another.

Mathew was pleasantly surprised, as he saw the squadron was extremely well trained and seemed to know exactly what they were doing.

Finally the contest was down to the last two pair. Both had eliminated all their opponents and were pretty evenly matched.

“Pilots, identify yourselves,” ordered Mathew.

“Lieutenant Vick, sir.”

“Lieutenant Mallory, sir.”

“Lieutenant Gains, sir.”

“Lieutenant Stephens, sir.”

Mathew wasn’t surprised. He had known all four for quite some time. “Why don’t we call it a draw, and all of you can eat the meals of your choice, as well as whatever you want to drink.”

All quickly agreed. The more, the merrier the party would be.

Mathew watched as the four flew back to the battlecarrier. With a smile, he decided to do a slow orbit of the fleet. Looking out the cockpit window, he saw the battlecarriers, dreadnoughts, and battlecruisers that made up the combined fleet. Some of Rear Admiral Krest’s ships still showed damage, as well as multiple burn marks on the hull.

“Looks as if they were in one hell of a fight,” commented his navigator, Ensign Brigum Meld, who was from Glimmer.

“They were,” answered Mathew. “That fleet was at Hastings and just escaped before the Druins and the Zynth bombarded the moon’s surface.”

Mathew adjusted course, until he flew parallel to Rear Admiral Krest’s flagship, the Tetrex. The ship had a massive patch down one side, and a big part of the hull was covered in burn marks. It was obvious many of the weapons turrets were brand new, as some of them hadn’t even been painted yet.

“It’s amazing that ship survived,” commented Ensign Meld.

“They make dreadnoughts tough and able to take a lot of damage. From what I understand, they are still doing a lot of repair work inside.” Mathew knew that Rear Admiral Krest would do everything she could to make her ship fully combat ready as quickly as possible. A number of engineers from across the fleet had gone on board to help speed up repairs.

With a deep sigh, Mathew turned the interceptor and headed back toward the Orion. He absolutely loved flying the small attack interceptors. He really had missed not being on the Orion, but training new pilots and flight crews had to take priority. He just hoped that most of them survived the coming combat, even though he knew that some of the brave interceptor crews that he knew would probably lose their lives in defense of the Empire.

Chapter Fifteen

Admiral Cleemorl took a deep breath, after receiving the hyperlight message from Fleet Admiral Marloo. If his information was correct, the Confederation fleets were bypassing all the heavily defended Human planets and heading directly for the Hagen Star Cluster and the core worlds. That would mean the Humans would face the full force of the Confederation and not fleets that had taken significant losses while engaging other Human worlds.

At the moment, Admiral Cleemorl had both of his newly promoted rear admirals on the comm. “It’s been suggested that the Druins and the Zynth are probably heading our way, and the Morag are heading directly to the core worlds.”

“We can handle the Druins and the Zynth,” commented Rear Admiral Manson confidently.

“Perhaps so, but we need to hold our losses to a minimum.”

“They may head directly toward Gideon,” suggested Rear Admiral Fulmar. “Annihilate our biggest base and then work outward from there. That’s what I would do.”

“Or the Druins may attack one target and the Zynth another,” suggested Rear Admiral Manson. “They both have pretty large fleets.”

There was silence for a long moment, and then Rear Admiral Fulmar spoke. “So what do we do with our fleets?”

“We keep all three deployed as they are,” answered Cleemorl. “Each one of us has a group of worlds and inhabited moons to protect. The shipyards above all seven of the major worlds of this cluster are turning out new warships nearly every day. Once we know the target or targets of the Confederation fleets, then we can decide for sure where we need to commit our fleet assets.”

“The entire star cluster is currently at Condition Three,” added Fulmar. “We’ve increased attack interceptor patrols in every system, including the mining colonies. When the Confederation fleets show up, we’ll know.”

Dylan leaned back in his command chair, deep in thought. “If the Druins and the Zynth headed directly toward us, after leaving Hastings, they could arrive as early as late tomorrow. I would suggest you ensure your crews get as much rest as possible in the next sixteen hours.”

“Agreed,” replied Rear Admiral Manson. “Once this battle starts, there won’t be much time for rest.”

The two rear admirals signed off, and Dylan ordered the Themis and its accompanying fleet to head to Tantula Five. He wanted to speak to Governor Dyson about the upcoming battle. Dylan also planned on positioning his fleet around Tantula Five, until he