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

give us the necessary numbers to overwhelm whatever forces the Humans put in front of us.

I agree, replied Colane. We should wait here until the reinforcements arrive. Unfortunately, if Admiral Voxx quits attacking Human worlds on the periphery, the Humans will suspect what our actual targets are.

I will send the message immediately, replied Torrant. It will delay our attack by another four days. I’ll have Admiral Voxx come straight here instead of taking the long way, as we did to avoid detection.

Torrant then turned toward Communications and had the necessary messages sent off. They were directional messages, as they knew exactly where Admiral Voxx was, as well as the other fleets that had attacked the Tantula System.

Looking at one of the viewscreens, Torrant saw one of the secret weapons he had brought to destroy the Humans’ homeworld. He wondered how effective the new weapons the Humans had developed would be against his secret one.

-

The High Council of the Morag was once more in session. The news they had received from their fleets in the Human Empire was not good. The attack against the Tantula System had failed due to the intervention of the Earth Humans.

I have spoken to some of our highest scientists, sent Addonis. They feel we are facing two new weapons developments. The first is a particle beam weapon, which can drill through our energy shields. This weapon was developed by the Humans of the Empire. The second weapon is a mass accelerator cannon. From some of the scans made, our scientists believe it can accelerate an object to nearly the speed of light. Such a weapon will be nearly unstoppable.

What will we do? asked Brant. Should we recall our forces?

Fleet Admiral Torrant is confident that, by combining the Morag fleets, he can still conquer both the Human core worlds and the Hagen Star Cluster. It will delay attacks on both by four to six days at the most.

Delann looked thoughtful. Is it possible the secret to these two new weapons developments can be found in the archives on Bator Prime?

Addonis had already considered that. Bator Prime is in Lormallian-controlled space. We will have to get their permission to search the archives for such information. Addonis didn’t like that requirement but now was not the time to force a war that would split the Confederation.

They agreed to allow us to search the archives, if we made such a request, pointed out Hiram. We should do so now.

Addonis nodded. I will inform Councilor Damora of our request. We should also prepare some of our scientists to visit the archives. The sooner we discover the secrets to these weapons, the sooner we can come up with a defense. Addonis was deeply concerned about the Earth Humans. A fleet equipped with such weapons could cause considerable harm to the Confederation, if such a fleet were sent to attack Confederation worlds. No doubt, after the recent Confederation attack against Earth, the Earth Humans would not hesitate to attack the Confederation.

-

The Great Council of the Confederation was in session. The meeting had been called by the Morag.

“Why have you called this meeting?” demanded Councilor Reull. He wore his nullifier, as was the Zang councilor. He wondered what new demands the Morag would make today.

Ardon was suspicious of anything Morag Councilor Damora said or requested. Damora had already threatened both the Zang and the Lormallians if they continued to build defensive grids around their key worlds. So far, the Morag had taken no action, though Ardon wondered what would happen once the Confederation’s war with the Human Empire was over. Both the Lormallians and the Zang were building defensive grids and new warships at an accelerated rate. At the moment, with so many Morag ships in the Human Empire, the Morag could do nothing to prevent them. The danger would be when the Morag fleets returned.

“We would like to send a team to Bator Prime to search for some information in the archives.”

Ardon was already aware of the exact information the Morag wanted. He had forewarned his brother, who was the head curator, to hide this information where the Morag would never find it. The Visth had informed him of the situation in the Human Empire and of the new weapons that had been used to temporarily stop the Confederation invasion. No way Ardon would allow the Morag access to even more dangerous weapons than they had now.

“I believe I can arrange for some of your people to search the archives. Let me speak to one of the curators and see when a time can be arranged.”

Councilor Damora rose to his feet in anger. “Our ship with our research scientists will be at Bator Prime by the end of the week.”

“Fine,” replied Ardon, his gaze meeting Damora’s. “However, there may not be any curators available, and no one may enter the archives without having a curator with them. I will see to it that your research scientists are made comfortable until a curator is available. The curators are quite busy at the moment, as there have been many requests for information recently. I will also add that Bator Prime is heavily defended, and we have added substantially to those defenses recently.”

Councilor Damora sat down. He hated that nullifier Councilor Reull wore. If not for it, he would simply order the Lormallian councilor to make sure the Morag scientists had full access to the archives. Unfortunately, because of the archives, the planet had always been heavily armed. “Very well, I will tell the scientists they may have to wait a few days. But I warn you, the wait had better be very short, or there will be consequences.”

“I will notify the curators,” replied Reull. “Now, on to other business. Councilor Damora, how is the invasion of the Human Empire going? By now your forces should be reporting some positive results.”

Damora’s