The Empires: Saga of the Empires Volume 1

5. The Debris Field

I
The evening air begun to cool as day gave over its sovereignty to night. Winter was coming to the Rigel Stellar Region.
Standing on his balcony drinking was Senator Aaron von Titus, the grandson of the former Shenah Emperor of the Galactic Empire: Ahab von Titus the III.
He pushed back his black hair as he starred at the night sky.
Somewhere in his own territory, the Imperial Federations Navy was battling the Darklons own Imperial Navy.
"It was the extreme hope of the Senator that the Dre-nada stellar region not fall into the hands of the Darklons." Or so his official statement stated.
To him, the empire was inconsequential to his own plans.
He did hope that famed Vice Admiral Gordon could push back the enemy, but this was not because he wished the Imperial Federation of Planets well. No, if Vice Admiral Gordon did not succeed, his own plans would fail.
He looked down at the drink. A vintage Aralon ale from IIC 2995, the year of his grandfather's abduction.
He chuckled to himself.
If the Kines Rebellion hadn't been stopped, than Aaron probably would have been crowned the a hundred and forty second Emperor of the Galactic Empire.
But the Kines Rebelliom was stopped.
What a stupid name.
Fleet Admiral Joseph Kines was the Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy in 2990, and on orders from the Shenah Emperor, was tasked with protecting the Empire from the current ten houses actually in rebellion against the crown.
The Rebels, calling themselves the Democratic Republican Alliance, after rallying behind the remaining three Great Houses, deemed that the Shenah Emperor was rebelling against the citizens of the Galactic Empire.
As Admiral Kines fought and died at the battle of Cirro in IIC 2994, the Democratic Republican Alliance deemed the losing side the Kines Rebellion. And unfortunately the name stuck. Some backwards thinking but historians took it on nonetheless.
Aaron took a sip of ale.
The sliding glass door behind him opened. He looked over his shoulder to see his young aid.
"My Lord," his aide said.
"Yes, Nallins?"
"I have the report you asked for."
"Proceed."
"We currently hold 40% stocks in Federation mining and refineries in the Altera Stellar Regions, 70% in the manufacturing of military uniforms for the Federation Military, 50% in military uniform manufacturing for the Darklon Military and we hold at least 67% stock in the current bond drive."
Aaron smiled to himself.
"Excellent." He declared. Ever since his father, Wilhelm von Titus the XXX (30th) became Senator for his territory he had begun amassing great sums of wealth. Aaron was of the same mind, but had more cunning and drive.
"An about our other plans?" The Senator asked.
"You currently hold the Imperial party in your pocket. No one is the wiser."
"Good. Proceed with the next phase."
"Yes, your excellency." Nallins said before departing.
Aaron poured the contents of his glass onto the streets below.
This goal of his wasn't to get rich. No, his goal was the Empires.

XXX

11:32 a.m.
near the Dre-Nada stellar region.
The fifth fleet pushed forward, not allowing the jet-to-jet combat to stop them.
Jack Artemis watches the ensuing chaos as the Federation fleet gets ever closer to their enemy.
"Sir! The Vanguard has
Returned. Exact Casualties
Unknown, but are expected to be high." A Spacer reported.
'Damnit...' Artemis thought.
"Vice Admiral Gordon has ordered us to launch all remaining fighters. Main targets being the main Darklon baseship: The Braxxer." Another reported.
"Order acknowledged. Relay orders to remaining jets."
"Darklon fleet in firing range.
Firing orders have been received from Vice Admiral Gordon."
"Proceed.Aim for the Darklons in front of us. Fire when ready." Artemis responded and the order was carried out.
The federation ships around them released hot white beams that crashed against the crimsom red darklon ships. Ship-to-ship missiles ripped through the smaller frigate and destroyer class. Solid shot ordnance breached the baseships causing major internal damage.
The lights from the beans and explosions illuminated the bridge.
"Isn't it glorious, sir?" Svenik said.
Artemis turned to look his second in the eyes. The man, looking pleased with himself as usual looked back at the captain with delusional grandeur in his eyes.
"You think so?" The Captaim deadpanned.
Svenik, taken aback and with wounded pride, saluted before carrying on with his work.
Jay watched from her position behind the map display glass.
Should she fee happy to see this rude upper get his comeuppance?
No, she shouldn't. Theres better things to do.
The Darklons countered in kind with a barrage of hot yellow beams, ship-to-ship missiles and a frontal attack from their air force.
One of the yellow beams grazed the Juriyas shields rumbling the ship and tossing its crew around.
"Damage report!" Artemis yells out as he pulled himself up.
"Frontal shields took 20% damage, but are holding." Jay reported from a panel.
"Reporting no casualties." A spacer reported.
"Sir, engine Chief Roberts is reporting Some anomalies to the star core. He believes that last blast had something to do with it." Another Spacer said.
"Svenik!" Artemis calls. The first officer stood at attention. "Get down there and see what's up. We'll need that Star Core fully functional."
Feeling happy to be needed, the first officer saluted before running off.
A loud beeping noise caught Jays attention.
"Captain! The Braxter Is pushing through towards the front! They've formed a spindle formation."
"Shit..." Artemis said.
'It's like they knew our plan from the beginning...'
"All hands, prepare for close range battle!" He yelled.
The Braxter led the charge like a crimson red arrow piercing the night sky. Its inverted front gapped open like the jaws of some great beast.
It fired a flurry of armor piercing missiles which began slamming into targets instantly.
The crew of the Juriya watched as they slammed into the badly damaged battleship, Columbia. Losing full control, the Columbia veered left smashing into three Darklon frigates.
Another missile hits a Federation frigate right in the bridge causing explosions all across the ship.
The Federation pushed back as hard as they could, but it was in vein.
"Sir! The Baxter has fired atomic warheads!" A spacer screamed out.
The Atomic Warheads were larger than the ship-to-ship armored piercing missiles and were much deadlier. One of the warheads zoomed past the Juriya with a blinding white light, but another one flew right under and into the light career's hull, but causing no outside explosions.
Inside the ship was a different story.
The warhead had gone right into the engine room and exploded causing mass damage and carnage.
The sight was forever burned into the memories of those who survived. Dead and dying lied all around. Some saw a man with his lower half missing trying to crawl for safety.
"Close the bulkhead before the fire spreads!" One of the engineers yelled.
"But, sir! The star core was badly damaged! If we don't flush out the fire-." The engineers words were cut short by a second explosion which killed them instantly.
This was the death blow. The explosion ripped the ship in two killing the light career.
From across the battlespace, Rear Admiral O'Bert watched the scene aboard his flagship, Braxter.
"Interesting, isn't it?" He said to his aide, Captain von Trian.
"Sir?" The young man who was actually the captain of the Braxter, gave his superior a quizzical look.
"How one Torpedo can cause so much damage.We didn't even see an initial explosion, But now look at it. A dead carcass in space. Destroyed from within." He sighed deeply. "There's no point pushing them, if we did, we risk tangling with there lines. Lets pull back for now, we'll hit them in the morning."
"Yes, sir!" Von Trian said with a salute. "Should we send out the Raiders? I know Vice Admiral Vaungence wanted to keep with military tradition."
"I suppose we should. Make it so, Captain."