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

and his
Marines had been abducted by the Kleese. He would also have to tell Beth;
perhaps she could help him tell his parents. He doubted that Ryan, with a
forty-eight-hour leave, would be able to get out to Vesta. He was glad Beth had
resigned her commission and was now just a stay at home mom. It was one less
thing he had to worry about.
    -
    Ryan and his
friends were once more in Luna City. They were at the large park astro gliding
and feeling exhilarated at the sensation of being so high up in the air with
nothing more than a pair of wings to support them. The park had a large cliff
where one could be equipped with artificial wings and leap off into the open
air. The area was kept at Luna normal gravity to allow one to experience what
it felt like to fly. It was much better than the feeling of flying one felt in
one of the Type Four battlesuits.
    Looking down
below him, Ryan saw Lieutenant Guthrie floating on an artificial thermal as she
experimented with the beginner set of wings she was wearing. Ryan was wearing
an intermediate set, which allowed for more maneuverability. Without surprise,
he saw Juan come swooping by as he did a complete loop in his pro set of wings,
showing off to the rest of the group. Ryan knew Juan had spent years learning
all the acrobatic maneuvers. Ryan was determined that eventually he would
graduate up to the point where he could wear the more advanced wings also. Some
of the maneuvers Juan was doing looked highly fun and exciting.
    -
    Casey and
Lauren were flying close together, enjoying the freedom that flying gave them.
“I love this!” yelled Casey as she caught a thermal and began rising higher up
into the air.
    “I’m glad we
came,” Lauren replied as she followed Casey. If one caught the right thermal, a
person could stay up in the air almost indefinitely.
    Casey noticed that
both she and Lauren were several hundred feet above Ryan. Mary, Cameron,
Jasmine, and Cassie were already on the ground and sitting at a picnic table
watching everyone else. This leave had been much different from the one several
years back. At that time, there had still been a lot of distrust and concern
about the growing clone population. Now thanks to a massive ad campaign from
Cheryl Robinson’s office much of that had changed.
    People were
now becoming more accepting of clones, and the demonstrations had almost
vanished entirely. There were still occasional signs that showed up on street
corners and threats painted on building walls, but they were growing fewer and
fewer. It also helped that former President Mason Randle was in charge of the
cloning facility on Vesta, and he was still extremely popular with the Humans
in the system. It was general knowledge that Mason had single-handedly saved
the Human race from extinction after the Kleese launched the planet killer at
Earth.
    “Where do you
want to go eat?” Lauren yelled as she began descending in a gentle curve. “I’m
starving!”
    “Italian!”
Casey yelled back as she turned and began following Lauren down. “There’s a new
Italian restaurant on the main square that’s supposed to be really good.”
    “Italian it is
then!” Lauren called back. “See you on the ground!”
    Casey nodded.
They had one more night in Luna City and then they had to return to Freedom
Station. It would be the last night she and Ryan would spend together as lovers
for quite sometime. They had both agreed that while on the mission they would
sleep apart to set an example for the other Marines. It would also help with
discipline and maintaining good morale in the ranks. While it wouldn’t be a
problem with their platoon or Autumn’s if they bunked together, it might be for
the other Marines and fleet personnel that would be on the ship with them and who
were not familiar with Ryan and Casey.
    If this was
going to be the last night she could spend with Ryan in the foreseeable future,
she was going to make the most of it. She had already gone shopping with Lauren
at