Read Online Galactic Empire Wars: Insurrection (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 5) by Raymond L. Weil - Free Book Online Page A

well as did the
stern where the sublight drives were located. All along the hulls were weapon emplacements.
Powerful pulse fusion batteries, energy cannons, and a few missile tubes. The
escort vessels were five hundred and twenty meters in length and fifty meters
wide.
    -
    Bashan Admiral
Kelp Hiath had no intention of allowing his fleet to be destroyed by the
Zaltule. He had argued vehemently with the chancellor and others in the
government about joining the Human led Alliance. However, the chancellor had
been convinced that due to the size of the Bashan fleet, the Kleese would honor
the neutrality agreement. Admiral Hiath had argued that so far the Kleese had
failed to do so in every case where their fleets had come into contact with a
nonaligned world, which had signed the agreement. He warned them that the
Kleese would come and waving the agreement would do no good. Now he had been
proven right. He had listened to the chancellor plead his case over the comm
channel with the Kleese, pointing out the Kleese were honor bound to uphold the
agreement. The Kleese had not responded.
    “Forty
thousand kilometers until engagement range,” Dath Mileth, Hiath’s second in
command, reported. “Kleese fleet has formed up into an attack formation and is
advancing.”
    “I have a
message from Chancellor Odis demanding we pull the fleet back to Bashan,” reported the communications officer.
    “What are your
orders, sir?” asked Second Officer Mileth, his narrow eyes focusing intently on
the admiral. The Bashan were humanoid and looked remarkably feline with narrow
eyes and cat-like ears. They also had a light fur covering their entire body,
including their faces.
    “Are the cargo
and passenger ships ready?”
    “Yes, they’re
nearly loaded. They will enter Fold Space in twenty minutes,” Mileth replied.
    Hiath nodded,
everything was proceeding according to schedule. “We will stay with the plan.”
    Several months
back, Hiath and several other senior fleet officers had gotten together to
decide how best to defend their planet. After much debate, it had been decided
that Bashan couldn’t be saved without the help of the Alliance. In order to
prevent their loved ones from being subjected to the dreaded Kleese collars of
obedience, arrangements had been made to evacuate their families as well as
some of the more prominent Bashan scientists off the planet. A fleet of ten
passenger liners and twenty-two cargo ships were even now assembling high above
Bashan to carry out that plan. For the last two hours, shuttles had been
flying back and forth between the fleet and the planet bringing up the
designated Bashans who would flee the system.
    “Do you think
the Humans will take our people in?” asked Mileth as he watched the tactical
screen and the approaching Zaltule. The screen was covered in red threat icons.
    “They have
taken in other refugees and have even been involved in rescuing hundreds of thousands
from Kleese controlled worlds. Our peoples’ best hope is with the Humans.”
    Mileth nodded.
His own family was on board one of the passenger liners. “What do we do about
the Kleese fleet?”
    Admiral Hiath
smiled. “We give them a bloody nose, as the Humans would say, and then we
leave.” Admiral Hiath had been fortunate to meet the Human ambassador some
months back and spent some time talking to him.
    “All ships are
at full alert,” reported the communications officer.
    “Energy shield
is at 100 percent, and weapons are powered up,” added the tactical officer.
“Missile hatches are open and sublight missiles are armed and ready to fire.”
    “Now we show
the Kleese we are not such easy prey,” commented Admiral Hiath. He had known
peace for all of his years in the space service. As a young man he had yearned
to journey out into the galaxy and explore, however, the Kleese Empire ensured
that future was not to be. Hiath was a rare individual on Bashan as were many
of the officers and crews of his ships. They