If he and Alvarez were going to survive, he had to forget about local help and do like he’d always done. He held his side as a sharp piercing pain in his spine signaled something was very wrong with his back. He wasn’t sure how many times he’d been hit, but he pushed it from his mind.
Fight Lee, Fight.
“Vee, I’m going to tuck you up here out of sight. I’ll fling around and see if I can get a glimpse of the goons chasing. If I can, I’ll take them out, either way I’ll be back.”
“Go for it, Lee,” his wounded friend coughed. Each breath sounded like his last.
Before Lee moved half a step, a thunderous rumble filled the air. Instinctively he looked up. The sound grew deeper, the buildings vibrated and he had to press his hands against his ears. An atmospheric jet shot by overhead, followed by another.
The goons had air support?
He slowly lowered his hands. Another deep rumbling shattered the night, closer this time but not quite as powerful, yet with greater intensity. Then he saw it.
Over a high-rise structure, a sleek craft executed a sudden breaking maneuver. It switched to VTOL and lowered toward the street, near right on top of them! Right then another atmospheric craft rocketed by. What kind of crazy pilot lands in a city district!
Puff! Small dust clouds popped behind him. The goons were back and they were in a hurry. They didn’t like what was happening either. And if they didn’t like it, then maybe that was a good sign.
The craft hovered several meters off the ground and deployed a ramp. A figure emerged blasting two pulse laser pistols. How did the stranger bypass the energy-dampening field? He squinted through the haze. Commander!
“Lee!” the Commander yelled, and bolted down the ramp blasting his pulse laser relentlessly toward the goon squad. With that kind of firepower, the goons would have to fall back. “Come on, Lee!”
Lee looked down at his fallen shipmate. He’d probably passed out from the pain or blood loss. He shook him. “Vee, Aaron’s here! Come on.” He bent and looped the slumped ops officer by the waist over his shoulders and hefted him off the ground.
Ahead, Commander Rayne still blasted away with his pulse pistols firmly pinning down the opposing force. He was grinning as he shouted. “Come on, Lee! No one lives forever!”
Lee swallowed, gnashing his teeth. Now or never. He launched himself.
The inside of the craft grew larger. Almost there. The whizzing of projectiles cut the air. Whumpf! He made it half way and fell with the XO on top of him. His arms felt like someone had bolted them to the deck. The safety of the interior was just ahead, but Lee couldn’t move, he couldn’t even wiggle his toes.
Nothing.
Any second projectiles would carve him up like a fresh roast. So close yet—
A large black-clad figure stood over him. His vision blurred, he couldn’t see past the haze. Projectile impacts sparked around the ramp. The unknown rescuer shielded him from the incoming fire. The dark figure dragged him up the ramp toward the inside. His vision cleared slightly—Commander Rayne was firing with one hand as he dragged Lee along with the other.
Lee grabbed and held onto Alvarez. It was almost comical, the Commander dragged him, and he dragged Alvarez. Then the shooting stopped and they were inside. Now his eyelids wouldn’t cooperate and stay open. The last thing he saw was the Commander slapping the ramp control. He still couldn’t raise his left arm. But at least his back didn’t hurt anymore.
That can’t be good.
Chapter 10 – Brutus Bannon
Imperial Warship—Phalanx
War with the United Star Systems was inevitable.
At least that’s what Brutus Bannon kept telling himself. Lord Praetor of the Empire and special personal Advisor to Emperor Soto himself. That being the reality, it was only wise to launch a pre-emptive strike.
Five long years he toiled in the background to prepare the Imperial Space Navy for war. Not just to prepare them for it, but prepare them to win it—convincingly. Far from the Imperial home world, secret shipyards under his command constructed a new fleet of warships, deploying the Empire’s most advanced laser systems and other long overdue upgrades. A new fleet of advanced warships, upon which several thousand Imperial Navy personnel trained.
Bannon ensured rigorous vetting of all candidates, most of them hailing from families whose entire generations had served the Baridian Empire. Their loyalty was unquestionable and their devotion unwavering. This fleet would be the vanguard of the United Star Systems destruction. He intended to strike hard and fast, blindsiding the United Star Systems Fleet.
He kept telling those fools in the Senate the time to strike was now. He didn’t need to alter any intelligence reports this time around. A careful blend of truth and exaggeration worked well enough. Imperial spy craft reported unusual activity within the United Systems core worlds for months. Large freighters laden with heavy materials on flight paths not previously recorded. They also reported significant movement of personnel in their engineering and logistics wings.
Still the Senate played it down. “The United Star Systems has no will to fight”, “We have enough habitable planets nearby to expand for years”, they said. The Empire almost defeated the weak United Systems 70 years ago. The Imperials were on the verge of winning that war when the USSF developed a new class of stealth warship with advanced warp capabilities.
The Imperial Navy had already occupied and controlled half of USSF space. Planning was well under way for the invasion of Sol. Before the operation could be launched, reports of attacks deep into Empire space circulated. No one had a clue. Only years later would the Empire learn that what the USSF called Sentinel-class destroyers had warped behind their defenses undetected. During the ensuing months, the squadron of phantom ships razed key military installations and shipyards, before attacking Hosque. One of the USSF ships entered orbit undetected and bombed the senate. Although orbital defenses destroyed it before it could disappear again, the damage was done. Having no means of detecting these new ships and with likely more on the way, the Empire sued for peace. Under the terms of the subsequent treaty, they yielded their conquered territory and ceded many nearby resource rich and habitable zones.
The United Systems maintained aggressive expansion on the wave of their new space superiority. A new era began—a galactic cold war. Not long after the treaty, the Empire withdrew all diplomats and completely closed their borders. They had severed all relations and communications with all other independent worlds.
Now no miracles would save the United Systems. First, their colonies along the border will burn, then the fleet won’t stop until they reach Earth. Bannon had no interest in occupying the grotesque water world. He would raze Earth to the ground, giving no quarter. He wanted the citizens of the USS to feel the same his ancestors did during the bombardment of Hosque. A feeling they passed on through the centuries in their writings and their wishes for revenge. They rallied for it to be the sole duty of all soldiers of the Empire to see to it this day would come.