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

directly here. If I’m wrong, I could be endangering some of the other heavily populated worlds in the cluster, and I don’t want to take that risk. If the Confederation fleets do come directly here, I’ll summon Rear Admiral Carrie and her fleet for support as well. Unfortunately they are currently forty minutes out.”

“Why don’t you call in Carrie’s fleet now?” suggested Rear Admiral Manson. “You might need her attack interceptors.”

Dylan considered what Manson proposed. “I might just do that. Between her fleet and mine, we might hold out until your fleets get here.”

“We’ll be waiting for your call,” said Fulmar. “Jump coordinates are already being entered into the fleet’s navigation computers.”

“Same here,” added Manson. “Call and we’ll be there as soon as possible.”

After Dylan finished speaking to the rear admirals, he put in a call to the two governors. He informed them of the impending attack and that they needed to take any precautions they could to protect their people. When finished with the governors, Dylan spent nearly an hour talking to General Flynn. It was essential that Dylan lure the enemy fleets above the huge PDC on the north pole of Gideon. General Flynn was convinced his huge fusion cannons could cause considerable damage.

“Get them above the base, and I’ll destroy their fleet,” boasted the general.

“I’ll get them there,” promised Dylan. “I’ll do my part, and you can do yours. Maybe between the two of us, we can save this system.”

-

Dylan had his fleet poised above Tantula Five, waiting. Rear Admiral Carrie and her fleet had arrived twenty minutes earlier. Her dreadnoughts and battlecruisers surrounded her battlecarriers. Along with Rear Admiral Carrie, Rear Admiral Glenda Krest had brought along the remains of her fleet. Both fleets combined consisted of 25 dreadnoughts, 113 battlecruisers, and 20 battlecarriers, each carrying 160 attack interceptors.

Dylan stood in front of his command console, watching the tactical display. There had been no reports from any other world in the cluster of any signs of Confederation fleets. All this indicated to Dylan was that the target was, indeed, the Tantula System. Taking a deep breath, he made an important decision.

“Contact Rear Admirals Fulmar and Manson,” he ordered. “I want their fleets here as soon as possible. I’m now convinced the target is the Tantula System.” Dylan wanted his entire fleet present before he engaged the enemy. If he had to send them back, he could. All the primary worlds of the cluster had massive defense grids around them and should hold out until the fleets returned.

-

Nearly twenty minutes passed, and suddenly the tactical display lit up with red threat icons. At the same time alarms and red lights sounded on the sensor console.

“Confirmed Confederation ships,” reported Lieutenant Casella. “I have over six thousand so far, and more are still exiting hyperspace. Distance is four million kilometers.”

“That’s a long way out,” commented Colonel Bidwell.

“They’re being cautious,” answered Dylan, as he eyed the tactical display. “They want to take detailed scans before they attack. They know from Zynth scans that this system is very strongly held. No doubt they want to see if there have been any changes.”

“Admiral, Rear Admiral Fulmar’s fleet is dropping from hyperspace,” reported Casella. “Distance is two hundred thousand kilometers.”

“Communications, order Rear Admiral Fulmar to join his fleet up with ours.” Dylan gazed at the tactical display. No matter what, he would be heavily outnumbered.

-

For the next ten minutes Rear Admiral Fulmar’s fleet formed up on the right flank of First Fleet. During this time more Confederation ships still dropped from hyperspace.

“Admiral, Rear Admiral Manson is here,” reported Colonel Bidwell, sounding relieved. “His fleet is only forty thousand kilometers distant.”

Dylan was glad the last part of his fleet had arrived. “Have Rear Admiral Manson form up on our left flank.” Dylan was pleased that he now had the entire First Fleet at his disposal, plus the ships of Rear Admiral Carrie and Rear Admiral Krest.

Leaning forward, Dylan activated the ship-to-ship comm link that would put him in voice contact with all his ships. “This is Admiral Cleemorl. The Confederation ships have arrived, and battle is imminent. We are facing nearly nine thousand enemy warships. However, this star system is held nearly as strongly as Golan Four. We have thousands of attack interceptors and massive ground and orbital defenses. Today is a day that will long be remembered in the history of the Human Empire. It will be the day we stopped the invasion of the Empire and crushed the enemy fleets. All dreadnoughts have permission to use your particle beam cannons. Let’s see how big a surprise they will be to the enemy. For the Empire and victory!”

-

Morag Admiral Norlan was surprised at the number of ships he faced. Nearly 1,700 Human ships orbited Tantula Five. Also scans revealed defenses the likes of which he had never seen before.

Which do we attack first? asked First Officer Kenold.

We will split our fleet, replied Admiral Norlan. We will take our four thousand ships and attack Gideon. While we attack the moon, the Druins and the Zynth will attack Tantula Five. That will pin down this fleet while we destroy Gideon. Once Gideon is finished, we will return here and finish off Tantula Five. We will bombard the surface of both Tantula Five and Gideon, erasing any signs of Human civilization.

Admiral Norlan then used his telepathy to inform the other two admirals of his decision. He also placed a few mental commands in the back of their more primitive minds to ensure they did exactly what he wanted.

-

Druin Admiral Falorr and Zynth Admiral Donlur had joined their fleets together and advanced on Tantula Five. On the viewscreen, a large Human fleet blocked their path to the planet. “How many ships do we face?” This was by far the largest Human fleet Falorr had ever confronted.

“Nearly