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

Kleese Empire was now showing huge dividends. With the Talt,
Delton, and now Bashan ships it gave the Humans a very large fleet in the Solar
System. Also, the Humans were building new vessels of their own at a greatly
expanded rate. His dream of seeing the Kleese Empire come to an end was growing
more likely every day.
    “Fleet Admiral
Kelly was quite pleased when he heard the numbers and that they wished to be
placed under his command,” added Beth as she watched Harnett and the baby.
    “I presume we
need to hollow out an asteroid to build a home for the Bashans?” Marken said as
he wondered which asteroid would suffice. “Do we know how large the civilian population
is they’re bringing?”
    “Not that
large,” Wade said sadly. “From what I understand their planet’s chancellor knew
nothing about the planned evacuation so only a minimal number of ships were
used.”
    “Why didn’t
the chancellor know?” asked Harnett as she gently patted Erick. “From what I
remember of the briefings we attended earlier in the year, the Bashans had
quite a large fleet of cargo vessels and passenger liners.”
    Wade sighed
and shook his head. “Chancellor Odis didn’t believe that the Kleese would
attack their system. He felt their fleet and the substantial defensive grid
they’d put around their planet would discourage the Kleese from violating the
neutrality agreement.”
    “Guess we know
how that worked,” murmured Harnett in a somber voice. The baby had fallen
asleep and was resting quietly in her arms.
    Marken stood
up and indicated for Wade to follow him. He didn’t want to disturb the baby as
he could tell from the happy look on Harnett’s face she was really enjoying her
time with the young child.
    -
    Stepping out
onto a balcony overlooking the Kivean city, Marken turned to face Wade. “The
Zaltule will be coming soon. They know that unless they can defeat your race,
their empire is in danger of slipping away from them. That’s why, over the last
few months, the Zaltule have been conquering all the remaining nonaligned
worlds that hadn’t joined the Alliance.”
    Wade nodded.
“Yes, Fleet Admiral Kelly and General Mitchell have come to the same
conclusion. I know they met with President Steward recently to apprise him of
the threat. The president gave his approval to install more ion cannons around
all the colonies in the Solar System as well as strengthening the defensive
grids, particularly the ones over Mars and the Moon.”
    Marken looked
out over the city. The brightly colored buildings, which soared high above the ground
and the slim walkways that connected them to one another were breathtaking.
Though he had spent most of his life on board a Kleese trading station, he knew
what the cities on Kivea had looked like. He was also sad that all of those
cities had been destroyed by the Kleese. So much culture and history had been
erased in the antimatter bombing, let alone all the Kiveans who had died. Thanks
to the Humans, his people had built a new world inside this asteroid free of
the Kleese. Kivean scientists were some of the best in the known galaxy and doing
everything they could to help in the war effort.
    “I fear the
Zaltule know if they can conquer the Solar System and eliminate the Human
threat, the Alliance will collapse,” he said in an even voice. “I strongly
suspect the Zaltule will attack here and not in Alliance space.”
    Wade was
silent as he thought over Marken’s words. The Solar System was heavily defended
with every colony protected by ground-based ion cannons and other weapons.
However, it was rumored the Zaltule had well over six thousand battlecruisers
under their command. Wade knew there wasn’t a system in the Alliance that could
withstand such an attack. He also knew the Solar System couldn’t either.
    Looking out
across the city, Wade could see a number of Kiveans in the lush green parks and
walking between buildings. It was strange to see Kivean children. The