The Forgotten Empire: War for the Empire Raymond Weil (the reading list TXT) 📖

holographic display. Twelve planets were in the system, with minor Human colonies on Golan Three and Golan Five. Several of the moons in the system were inhabited as well, and one of the moons of Golan Eight, which was a large gas giant, had been terraformed and had a Human population of over six hundred million. This moon, Meta, was heavily defended with a massive defensive grid, ODPs, and PDCs on the surface. A major shipyard was in orbit, as well as two medium-size space stations. Several asteroid fields were nearby, but these had been mined out hundreds of years in the past. Still some active mining occurred on some of the other planets and particularly the moons in the system.

With the belief that the Morag would attack the core worlds, more ships had been recalled. Now both he and Rear Admiral Banora had fleets of slightly over 1,200 battlecruisers and 200 dreadnoughts. The fleets were heavy in dreadnoughts because of the new particle beam cannons. He hoped the cannons would give the Human forces an edge in the battles soon to come.

Reaching forward, Derrick adjusted the hologram to show all the core worlds. The Mall Star Cluster consisted of nearly four thousand stars. The cluster was very rich in minerals, with numerous mining operations spread across the cluster. Over sixty large mining colonies existed, as well as twenty-two terraformed moons, all with major Human populations. Sixteen heavily populated Human star systems were in the Mall Star Cluster. All of those sixteen worlds had heavy industry and were capable of building spacecraft.

Every inhabited world, moon, and mining colony had been heavily fortified. If any were attacked, they should hold out until an Imperial fleet could arrive. At the moment Rear Admiral Banora would be that reactive fleet. Derrick dared not move Fifth Fleet away from the Golan Four System, since it would be the primary target in the cluster. Every moon or planet with Human inhabitants also had squadrons of attack interceptors available to aid in their defense. On all sixteen of the major worlds, thousands of interceptors waited to be thrown into combat.

Currently Rear Admiral Banora had her fleet at Ambary Two, which was the most heavily populated core world. From there she could easily reach any of the other primary core worlds or major inhabited moons in a relatively short time.

-

During the next four hours Derrick examined the defenses of every core world and inhabited moon. He had done this multiple times in the past, seeking anything they could change to make the defenses stronger. From what he saw, it would take a massive fleet to conquer any significant portion of the Mall Star Cluster. Unfortunately he was certain the Morag had exactly that.

Finally Derrick turned off the hologram. The Hagen Star Cluster would be hit first or at the same time as the core worlds. Once the attack in the cluster began, Derrick intended to take his fleet and all the core worlds to Condition One. Meaning, full-scale war was imminent.

Leaning back in his chair, Derrick closed his eyes. He wondered what Layla was doing. It would be a simple matter to call her, but she was probably busy in her office, and he did not want to interrupt her. Derrick decided he would wait for later in the evening, when she should be in their quarters, and they could have a long private conversation.

-

Morag Admiral Norlan’s fleet had dropped out of hyperspace in a red giant system. Already his warship crews, as well as the Druins and the Zynth, went over all ship systems, as well as conducting maintenance that could not be done while the vessels were in hyperspace. His plan called for them to stay in the red giant system for twelve hours and then travel another two hours to the Hagen Star Cluster.

-

Unknown to Admiral Norlan, a heavily stealthed Human scout ship sat in the outer regions of the red giant system, mixed in with a large asteroid field. The scout ship was carefully scanning the Confederation fleets as to their makeup and ship type. Finally satisfied they had the information they needed, a directional hyperlight message was sent to Gideon, Admiral Cleemorl, and Golan Four.

-

On board the Themis, Admiral Cleemorl was hastily summoned to the Command Center.

“We just received a message from scout ship 462,” reported Colonel Jase Bidwell, who had recently been promoted to ship’s captain to take the place of former Captain Fulmar, now a rear admiral. “Three Confederation fleets have dropped out of hyperspace in the Beta Fourteen Red Giant System.”

Dylan sat down in his command chair and called up a holographic star map. He quickly plugged in the necessary information, and a small red icon began blinking. “About two hours away. What are we facing?”

“Four thousand Morag vessels, though they seem to be of an older model, 2,443 Druin warships, and 2,300 Zynth warships. Also some very large unidentified ships were in the Druin fleet, which we believe are drone carriers.”

Dylan rubbed his chin. “Nearly nine thousand enemy ships.”

“Yes, sir. The same message was sent to Gideon and Golan Four.”

Dylan leaned forward in his command chair. “They must be doing some routine maintenance before making their final hyperspace jump into the cluster.”

“The scout is supposed to notify us when they jump,” replied Colonel Bidwell.

Dylan nodded. Nearly five hundred of the small six-man scout ships were scattered about, seeking the enemy fleets. This was the first actual contact.

“Send the word out to all commands that the incoming fleets have been spotted. They are currently doing some repairs and are two hours away. As soon as they move, the entire cluster will go to Condition One. All worlds or moons with emergency shelters or bunkers should fill them now.”

Standing up, Dylan walked over to communications. “Get me General Flynn on Gideon.”

It took only a moment