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

large angry red eyes stared down Councilor Reull. Somewhere, the Lormallian Councilor had gotten information that was supposed to be secret. “As well as expected. Our forces have taken a number of the Human worlds on the periphery of their Empire and are currently moving inward. We expect the fighting to be over in another few weeks.”

“Rumors are that your attack on the Hagen Star Cluster has been thrown back, with major loses to the Druin and Zynth fleets. Is that true?”

The other councilors looked at each other in surprise. None of them had heard this information. Not even the Druins and the Zynth were aware of how the war in the Human Empire was going. The Morag were in charge of the disposition of warships in the ongoing war, and they had reported no reversals.

Councilor Damora glared at Councilor Reull. If looks could kill, the Lormallian councilor would be dead. “There have been some setbacks,” admitted Damora. “It has been necessary to adjust our battle plans, as the Empire has a few more warships than we expected.”

“Close to the truth,” replied Ardon. “Isn’t it true all your offensive actions have come to a stop due to the Humans of the Empire and the Humans of Earth deploying new weapons capable of bringing down the energy shields of Confederation warships?”

A rumbling came from the other councilors, as they digested this information. Several looked at Damora, wanting to know if this was true.

“I’ve answered enough of your questions,” replied Damora, as he turned and left the council chambers.

Councilor Reull watched him go. “I think that answers that question.” Ardon then looked at the other councilors, who had sided with the Morag. “As to you other councilors, the Morag may not be as invincible as you think. All they are doing is sacrificing your fleets in order to preserve theirs.” With that Ardon turned, and he too left the council chambers. He needed to send out a few hyperlight messages. Councilor Damora had confirmed that the fleets in the Human Empire were currently not attacking.

-

Admiral Cleemorl met with Rear Admiral Barnes in his office. “Why did we not know you were coming?” He had been stunned when Rear Admiral Barnes’s fleet had dropped out of hyperspace.

Barnes smiled. “Fleet Admiral Marloo knew we were. We kept it quiet because we were not sure we would get here in time. We pushed our hyperdrives to the limit, and I’m afraid that nearly all of them need some maintenance before we dare make another long hyperspace jump. We have a supply fleet about a week behind us. It has another ten dreadnoughts and forty battlecruisers for protection. Also two mobile repair yards, a large number of supply ships, and twenty-three battlecarriers are on their way.”

Dylan looked suspiciously at Rear Admiral Barnes. “This is part of the fleet you would use to attack the Confederation in reprisal for what they did to the Solar System?”

Admiral Barnes nodded. “Yes, but we decided that defending the Human Empire had to come first. We will attack the Confederation later.”

“What about the core worlds?” Dylan felt the Earth fleet should have gone there. “Should your fleet go there, once its hyperdrives are repaired?”

“Rear Admiral Collison and Fourth Fleet are headed there,” replied Barnes. “They should arrive sometime late tomorrow. Collison’s fleet is about the same size as mine. He also has a supply fleet, but it’s nearly two weeks behind. However, all his battlecarriers are with his fleet.”

“How many?”

“Fifteen,” answered Admiral Barnes. “We were not sure how many you would leave here to protect Golan Four, if the Hagen Star Cluster was attacked.”

Dylan grew concerned that Earth may have sent too many ships. “Does Earth still have the ships to defend itself?”

Barnes nodded. “Rear Admiral Mendoza and Rear Admiral Everett are still there. Not only that, we have over twenty thousand attack interceptors. The Solar System is well protected, and that’s why we could send these fleets. We would have sent them sooner, but we were still equipping some of the ships with the new accelerator cannons.”

“The accelerator cannons seem to work very well. They were blowing the hell out of the Confederation warships.”

Barnes smiled. “Yes, they were. The accelerator cannon rounds strike the energy shield with the force of nearly 23,000 megatons of raw energy. No energy shield can survive such a blast to such a small area. The shield basically bursts, and many of the power couplings in the ship blow from the power feedback. The second shot will normally disintegrate its target. That’s why each ship has two of these cannons. One to bring down the shield and the second to destroy the ship. Your particle beam cannons seem to work very well also.”

Dylan nodded. “Yes, they accelerate a large number of small particles into a beam, and the resulting kinetic energy, where the beam strikes, will tear a hole in an energy shield, and then the beam will strike the ship. So far, it’s been very effective. So what are your plans now?”

Rear Admiral Barnes let out a deep sigh. “To stay here in the Hagen Star Cluster. It will take at least a week to get all my ships’ hyperdrives back to 100 percent. So my fleet is at your disposal.”

This pleased Dylan. With Rear Admiral Barnes’s fleet plus his own vessels, no doubt he could keep the cluster out of Confederation hands. “We’ll join our fleets into one fleet formation. Then we just need to wait and see what the Confederation does next.” Dylan was certain the attacks were not over.

-

Derrick felt great relief when Rear Admiral Collison and his Fourth Fleet dropped out of hyperspace inside the Golan Four System.

“Detecting 1,253 battlecruisers, 242 dreadnoughts, and 15 battlecarriers,” reported Lieutenant Nower from her sensor console.

“Excellent, have them join our formation and see if any of their ships’