Free Galactic Empire Wars: Insurrection (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 5) by Raymond L. Weil

should have listened
to Admiral Hiath originally; perhaps then, none of this would be happening. In
the back of his mind, he knew he had doomed his world to be subjugated by the
Kleese. It was he who would go down in history as a traitor to his world, not
Admiral Hiath or the defense minister.
    -
    The two fleets
continued to close with the space between them rapidly diminishing. The Bashan fleet was maintaining its cylinder formation, which was pointed at the heart of the
Kleese battle line. All across the Kleese formation weapons were made ready to
fire. All they needed was the order from Supreme Military Overlord Harmock and
the battle would begin.
    -
    “Strange
formation,” said Minor Overlord Gareth as he studied the tactical screen with
his multifaceted eyes. “It will limit the amount of firepower they can bring to
bear against our fleet. It’s not a sound offensive strategy.”
    Harmock agreed
with Gareth’s assessment of the Bashan fleet’s tactics. “No, it’s a very poor
offensive formation, but it might help to protect the ships in the interior. It
seems as if that is where they’ve placed the majority of their battlecruisers.”
    “In combat
range,” Salten reported as the weapon consoles began lighting up with active
targeting confirmations.
    Harmock paused
for a moment, savoring the power over life and death he commanded. The death of
minor life forms such as the Bashan meant very little to him. However, the
victory and bringing another world under the domination of the Kleese Empire
did. “Fire!”
    “Bashan ships are also firing,” reported Jalridd from sensors.
    “Our fleet is
slowing down to allow for maximum combat efficiency,” reported Gareth.
    “Strange,”
said Jalridd as he checked the speed of the Bashan ships. “The enemy are not slowing.”
    “What?”
demanded Harmock, his eyes focusing sharply on the tactical screen wondering
what the Bashan fleet was up to.
    -
    The two fleets
opened fire within seconds of each other. All across the Kleese battle line
battlecruisers opened up with their pulse fusion and powerful energy weapons.
The Bashan fleet did the same and space was soon filled with the bright flashes
of the beam weapons. Across the front of the Bashan cylinder, titanic explosions
began to appear as shields were overwhelmed and pulse fusion and energy beams
hammered the armored hulls of the support ships.
    Bashan ship hulls were split open, and alarms rang throughout their warships as emergency
bulkheads slammed shut. In some cases crewmembers were trapped inside burning sections
with no hope for escape. Other crewmembers struggled to put on spacesuits as
the oxygen was sucked out of damaged compartments. In many instances
crewmembers were hurled out of the breaches to die instantly in the heartless
vacuum of space. Damage control teams rushed hurriedly to the stricken areas
only to die themselves as secondary explosions rattled the ships.
    Antimatter missiles
soon followed, and Bashan ship after ship were blown apart in the fiery explosions
resulting from the release of antimatter energy. In the time span of less than
a minute, sixteen Bashan support ships were destroyed and numerous others
severely damaged. The entire front of the Bashan cylinder was alight with
burning and dying vessels.
    As planned,
the Bashan support ships were protecting the ships on the inside of the
cylinder. These were all powerful battlecruisers and their firepower was now
turned upon the nearing wall of Kleese warships. The fire from the Bashan fleet was directed toward one small segment of the Kleese formation. Hundreds of
pulse fusion beams and energy beams pummeled the Kleese shields, seeking to
bring them down. Several shields faltered from the intense bombardment and
began to collapse.
    Three Bashan pulse fusion beams slammed into the stern of a Zaltule battlecruiser, setting off
massive explosions and hurling glowing debris into space. Moments later a Bashan antimatter missile arrived, and