The Forgotten Empire: War for the Empire by Raymond Weil (children's ebooks online TXT) 📗

have kept it a secret from the other six races just how large our military is. If we start landing millions of troops on Confederation worlds, it may push the other six races farther away from us. Dangerously so.

It’s a chance we must take, sent Delann. We must put down these insurrections, so we can return our attention to the Human Empire and to Earth.

Also we must address any problems with Councilor Reull and the Lormallians. We can’t risk open warfare with any member of the six races.

That won’t happen as long as we have our telepathic advantage, replied Delann.

Councilor Addonis knew that Delann was correct. However, he feared repercussions for deploying millions of Morag troops. Repercussions that could last for a very long time.

-

Derrick was in the Command Center deep beneath the House of Worlds. He was keeping track of the progress that Rear Admiral Banora had made.

“She’s doing fine,” said Fleet Admiral Marloo, smiling. He could tell that Derrick wished he were out there. “We must have more fleet admirals, and this is the only way we’ll get them.”

Derrick nodded. “How are Rear Admirals Fulmar and Manson doing?”

“Fine,” replied Marloo. “Both are succeeding in their missions. They’ve taken a few losses, but they’ve destroyed far more Confederation ships. I’m already considering adding a few more targets. This may be our best opportunity to free more Human worlds.”

“I’ll arrange to send some representatives of the Empire to all those worlds to talk to them about joining. I know we’re offering them a defensive grid if they do, but I want to offer them more. It’s hard telling how long the unrest in the Confederation will last, but, when it’s over, you can bet the Confederation will come after the Empire as well as Earth. I’ve already spoken to the council, and they agree.”

“We’ve intercepted a lot of hyperlight communications from the Confederation. It seems the Morag had a much larger fleet than anyone suspected. They’re threatening the other six races of the Confederation with annihilation, if they fail to cooperate.”

Derrick nodded. “So it’s as we suspected. The Morag are the real power behind the Confederation.”

“Yes, we also believe they will be quite brutal in putting down these planetary revolts.”

Derrick wished they could do something to help the worlds currently in revolt, but they just did not have the ships. Not yet.

-

Above the planet of Daneb, close to Morag space, one hundred large troop transports suddenly appeared in orbit, along with a Morag warfleet. Immediately troop assault shuttles launched, each carrying a full platoon of Morag infantry. Overall they would drop five hundred thousand fully armed and trained Morag troops upon the planet. The goal was to have the revolt fully under control within twenty hours. After that, all but twenty thousand troops would be withdrawn, and the fleet would then continue on to its next target.

-

On the surface, the two billion civilians who lived on the planet saw the bright flashes of light in the sky above them, as the assault shuttles descended through the atmosphere. Already the government sent warning messages to the general population that Morag troops had arrived. Many people were determined to resist. This was their world and not the Morag’s! They wanted their freedom, and they would fight for it. Most were armed with hunting rifles or light energy pistols. Heavy weapons of any sort had not been allowed on Confederation worlds for thousands of years.

As the shuttles began landing, they were met by heavy resistance. Thousands of angry citizens met each shuttle as it landed. The Morag used their telepathy to try to control the crowds, but they were too large. Then they noticed a large number of aircars coming toward them. The commanders of the shuttles and the troops assumed these were more citizens coming to join the fight.

However, when they used their telepathy to try to control whoever was flying the vehicles, they discovered no one was on board. Then the first one went into a dive and crashed into a grounded shuttle. In moments a dozen others had done the same. All across the planet, unmanned aircars were ramming grounded shuttles, destroying them and any Morag troops still on board.

-

On board the flagship, Fleet Admiral Colane only shook his head. Troop losses were heavy and rapidly growing worse. Pull our troops off the planet, he ordered as a half-dozen more shuttles were destroyed. If we wait any longer, we won’t have any shuttles left.

-

Over the next hour the surviving shuttles returned to their ships. Total losses were 172 shuttles and nearly 47,000 troops.

-

Standby for a planetary broadcast, ordered Colane. Take over all their broadcasting stations. I have an announcement to make.

A few minutes passed, and then the communications officer turned to the admiral. All stations are now under our control. Ready whenever you are.

Colane activated the communicator on his console. “Attention, citizens of the planet Daneb. You are in open revolt against the Confederation. We attempted to land troops to put down the rebellion but met heavy resistance. We will not tolerate this. As a result we will now destroy your twenty largest cities. After that, my troops will attempt to land again. If we continue to meet resistance, we will destroy twenty more cities. We will continue to do this until all resistance stops or until everyone on the planet is dead. The choice is yours.”

Admiral Colane turned toward his tactical officer. Coordinate with the other battleships. I want the twenty largest cities destroyed. Use fusion missiles.

-

On twenty of the orbiting battleships, missile hatches slid open, and twenty fusion missiles roared from the missile tubes, heading toward the planet. They quickly entered the atmosphere, leaving a fiery trail behind them.

-

Panic rose in many of the major cities, as millions of citizens tried to flee. Wrecks occurred