Galaxy of Empires- Merchant Wars Episode #1 by LLC United States Publishing Read Free Book Online Page A

hear the large
explosions below them. They watch on the vid screen after 10
minutes of firing big cannons and unloading some missiles and the
entire asteroid is obliterated.
    “Helma, let’s get out of here.”
    “Yes, Boss.”
    After about two minutes, 42 says urgently,
“Contact just outside the asteroid belt. Elemental Empire ship
signature: it is a battleship, dreadnought class, crew about 3,000,
and 35 fighters—they outgun us 10 to 1. The Telherra , the Telepath hunter flagship. They are
probably responding to the distress signal that we responded
to.”
    “They are probably not going be happy that we
blew up their super-secret, black-ops, naughty, naughty laboratory
facility,” Gartooth remarks, being facetious.
    “We are being hailed,” 42 warns.
    “On vid.”
    The screen lights up with a picture of a very
large black Wolfkin male in a smartly dressed uniform.
    “I am General Hurt, the captain of the
flagship Telherra of the Elemental Empire.
You’re trespassing in our space. What business do you have
here?”
    “I am Captain Noctu of the Reptilian merchant
vessel....” Eve paused, “Noctu. This is a neutral zone, so how can
you claim that we are trespassing? You have no claim to this area
of space.” She knew that he knew she was lying about the ship’s
name. She just did not want to say it because it was a name of
their main black-op project.
    Eve continued, “Besides, there is nothing out
here that says Elemental Empire on it, now is there? We are just
doing an astrological mineral survey of these asteroids to see if
they contain any ores that we might be interested in mining.” They
knew she was lying. They also knew that she was the one that
probably destroyed their lab facility.
    “I don’t think they are buying that story,
Boss,” Nelma says, nervously.
    “Make sure the mines are active and the
status web is deployed and cloaked,” Eve says and then presses the
reply button to hear the general’s reply.
    “I think you destroyed our lab facility, and
you probably took something that was not yours. I might be able to
forgive you for destroying our lab facility if you give me what you
took…, Evella,” General Hurt demanded.
    42 says, “He launching fighters…looks like
all of them.”
    Eve could not think of anything else to delay
for more time.
    “You have 60 seconds to comply. What is it
gonna be, Captain?” Gen. Hurt insisted, with growing
impatience.
    Eve instructs, “Fire all batteries at the
main ship now.” She knew they would never let them live no matter
what the general said.
    Aboard the battleship, orders were flying
about.
    “General, they are firing on us. Shields are
up. Fighters are almost in intercept range. Even though it is a
‘merchant’ ship, it has firepower, shields, and armor that are
impressive for that size of ship. Of course, it isn’t a match for a
battleship,” First Officer Bean informs. Bean was a human about 35
years old; he had been in service for seven years.
    “Even if we get the data or whatever they
took, they cannot be allowed to live,” Councilman Jax demands.
    “Yes, I am aware,” Gen. Hurt acknowledges.
The large black Wolfkin was rather annoyed by the whole
situation.
    “Now if everyone is done telling me stuff I
already know, let me do my job.”
    Back on Eve’s ship.
    “Okay, Boss, the fighters just hit our traps.
The mines just took out nine of their fighters, and 12 of them are
stuck in the status web, and it is draining all their power. They
will have no power in about five minutes. The other 14 just engaged
us. The shields are holding, but will be gone in few minutes. The
small rail guns are firing on the fighters,” Grimtooth says.
    “Keep hitting the big ship with the big
cannons, and fire missiles at the fighters. Nelma, plot a jump
course to Reptilian space. We are going to lightspeed as soon as we
get out of the asteroid belt. Steer us behind the status nets to
their block line of sight using their trapped fighters.