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

by ramming the big base of the Humans. “Contact Zynth Admiral Donlur. We need to talk.” Falorr would not allow his fleet to be treated like this. They were not cannon fodder for the Morag.

-

In the underground Command Center, the sensor officer noticed the inbound Druin warships. “General, we may have a problem. Thirty Druin battlecruisers have left their formation and are headed directly toward the base.”

“Suiciders,” suggested Colonel Berks worriedly. “I’ve heard rumors the Morag have done this before.”

General Flynn knew he could not allow a single one of those vessels to strike his base. “Switch all base weapons to target those ships and destroy them!” His gaze focused on the tactical display.

-

In space, the Druin ships sped up, as they headed toward the moon. They passed through the Morag formation and were soon hit by the remaining defensive grid. Seven Druin battlecruisers died in spectacular explosions as all the fusion and antimatter weapons on board detonated.

The remaining ships were now taking fire from the big base. Battlecruiser after battlecruiser were being blown apart. Each destroyed ship lit up space, like a supernova. Twelve more ships died as they entered the atmosphere.

The weapons fire intensified as every weapon in range tried to shoot down the incoming ships. Eight more died, setting off tremendous explosions in the atmosphere. The three surviving battlecruisers were hit numerous times, but they were now too close to the surface. All three of them slammed into the energy shields of the big base. The entire moon shook from the sheer ferocity of the blasts.

-

Inside the underground Command Center, General Flynn was thrown to the floor. Consoles exploded in huge showers of sparks, and military personnel cried out in pain. The lights dimmed and then turned bright once again. Overhead beams came crashing down, smashing consoles and personnel.

Staggering back to his feet, General Flynn sat back down. “What did we lose?” He didn’t know if any of the base had survived the blasts. “Someone check on the core tap.”

“Forty percent of the base is gone,” reported Colonel Berks, who had a large bleeding gash across his forehead. “Power from the core tap has been greatly reduced. We can’t fire any of the big cannons.”

“Find out what’s wrong and get it fixed. We need those big cannons!”

The viewscreens and tactical displays flickered and then cleared. A view from one of the ODPs revealed the base. All that was visible were three huge mushroom clouds rising into the atmosphere.

“Get some techs in here and medical personnel. I need this Command Center back up and running and all the rubble cleared out.”

“Missile batteries and secondary fusion turrets have power and can fire,” reported Colonel Harkin. His left arm hung limply at his side, obviously broken.

“Colonel, get to medical.”

“No, sir. I need to remain at my station. I’ve taken some painkillers, and I’m fine for now.”

General Flynn nodded. “I need those big cannons firing as soon as possible. Get everything else firing now!”

“I just spoke to the lead technician over at the core tap,” reported Colonel Berks. “They took some major damage but can have full power restored in five minutes. They don’t know how long that will last. They’re close to losing it. They may have to detonate the deep fusion devices to close off the tap.”

“I’ll take the power for as long as they can provide it.” Flynn knew this was bad news about the core tap. They all knew that the deep fusion devices might not shut it down. If they didn’t, then the entire moon was lost.

-

Admiral Cleemorl looked in shock at the massive mushroom clouds rising above the base. From what he saw, no way to tell if any of the base had survived. “Can we contact them?”

Lieutenant Newsome shook his head. “Too much static. I’m trying, but, so far, I can’t get through.”

“Admiral, the base has started firing again,” reported Colonel Bidwell, pointing at a large viewscreen. Sure enough, some weaker fusion beams were visible, as well as missiles. To Dylan, the base had been heavily damaged. The questions were, how much of it was left, and could they get the big cannons firing again?

-

Druin Admiral Falorr watched a timer. Neither he nor Zynth Admiral Donlur would allow any more of their crews to be used like that by the Morag. The timer hit zero, and all the Druin and Zynth ships that could enter hyperspace vanished from above Gideon.

“Where are we going?” asked First Officer Dagor. Just the thought of the Morag being able to take over his mind made him want to get as far away as possible.

“Home,” answered Falorr in a tired voice. “We need to report what the Morag were doing. It won’t go over very well with our military leaders.”

“But what can we do? The Morag can still control our minds.”

“Not if we have enough of these,” replied Falorr, pointing to the nullifier he wore. “I suspect our alliance with the Morag is about to come to an end.” Falorr was glad that a contact of his had been able to get two of the nullifier headsets. He had one, and Zynth Admiral Donlur had one. Falorr had never trusted the Morag, and now it seemed his instincts toward the Morag had been true.

-

Morag Admiral Norlan was stunned when the Druins and the Zynth suddenly made the transition into hyperspace and withdrew from the battle. Attempts to contact them were unsuccessful.

It’s because we used some of their ships as suiciders, sent First Officer Kenold. They left so we couldn’t do it again.

Looking at the tactical displays, Norlan saw the Human fleets reorganizing in preparation for moving against his fleet. He still had the numbers, but now the Morag were on their own.

-

“We have full power from the core tap again,” reported Colonel