Warrior Empress (Warrior Empress Series Book 4), page 1
Warrior Empress
Warrior Empress Book 4
J. T. Skye
Skye Publishing LLC
Copyright © 2024 by Skye Publishing LLC
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Disclaimer
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual historical events or people is unintentional coincidence. Really. Despite what you may have heard or read in the tabloids, this story isn’t true. Please, enjoy it as it unfolds.
Contents
Introduction
Prologue
1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12
13. Chapter 13
14. Chapter 14
15. Chapter 15
16. Chapter 16
17. Chapter 17
18. Chapter 18
19. Chapter 19
20. Chapter 20
21. Chapter 21
22. Chapter 22
23. Chapter 23
24. Chapter 24
25. Chapter 25
26. Chapter 26
27. Chapter 27
28. Chapter 28
29. Chapter 29
30. Chapter 30
31. Chapter 31
32. Chapter 32
33. Chapter 33
34. Chapter 34
35. Chapter 35
36. Chapter 36
37. Chapter 37
38. Chapter 38
39. Chapter 39
40. Chapter 40
41. Chapter 41
42. Chapter 42
43. Chapter 43
44. Chapter 44
Introduction
I’d like to just take a moment and to say thanks for investing your time to read my stories. I really enjoy writing these, hope you enjoy them and that they make you smile.
Have a wonderful day and enjoy the story as it unfolds.
I’ve included an edited portion of the last chapter of Book 3 to help provide context and continuity for the beginning. It also helps to describe how they all look, feel and act.
In case you have not read the other stories and are not familiar with the Warrior Creed, let me share it here since the story mentions it several times and it is important that I share it here:
Warrior Creed:
I am a warrior of the creed.
Honor and integrity are the coins of my realm.
I take each day as new without the weight of the past, face first into the wind, check the nature of my path and the lights on my trail.
I own my actions and those of my tribe. We are one.
I fight injustice as I see it and attack evil where it shows.
I fight to protect those that can’t.
I lead when called, follow those with a plan and never quit.
I excel in each moment, each battle, each war knowing they may be my last.
I am a warrior of the creed.
Now? On to the story. . .
Prologue
They’d ordered us to land back at the now destroyed Cren invasion troop base, used to invade Haden, far below our descending, and mostly crippled, spaceship.
I was really curious what I’d done to deserve this. . . attention.
We’d followed the path, we’d disabled the Cren attack and destroyed the troop transport in orbit fueling their invasion of Haden and their attack on our Warrior Academy home.
What was going on?
We were just cadets. . . well, I’m not sure if we are still cadets or graduated warriors given the battles we’d been in, but. . . you know what I mean. Anyway.
What had we done wrong? Well, more likely, what had I done wrong. . . again.
I deorbited our stolen Cren corvette almost straight down toward the surface.
Our ship was holed, one engine dead and the left particle beam cannon slung under our hundred meter long ship was fused into slag. Yeah, my bad. I’d overheated it and melted the barrel when firing it to kill the Cren troop ship invading Haden.
Well, at least our ship was still under control. . . barely.
The hull was cracking and our pressurized atmosphere was leaking out again. Our water-fuel was leaking out somewhere and the corvette was dying.
I’d just hoped it would make it to the ground under control, or we’d just crash in a big heap, all dead.
Roun and I had shut off all of the secondary systems trying to preserve as much water-fuel as we could.
Azz, Yanol and Tau had tried to find the leak and seal it. I think they got some of it, but we were running on drips from the tanks and it would be a close race to get to the ground before the fuel ran dry, and the hover engines and lateral controls systems finally failed.
I sat in the left pilot couch in the cockpit of the ship at the very front, my short barreled Sheeba assault rifle tucked on my left side next to my thigh, and turned to my right briefly to survey the team.
I looked at Yellow Squad and laughed. Out loud. Loud enough they could hear me over the high pitched whine of the venting air. They all looked at me.
We were red now. . . like all red. Most of the blood was dried now, but we still all had holes, cracks and cuts in our armor. Yes, we were a mess, but we’d survived the battle to get the corvette and then had used it to kill that massive Cren troop transport orbiting above.
That was the key and my plan - to disable the Cren attack by destroying their source of troops they were using to try and gain control of Haden.
And, my plan had worked. Mostly, but that victory had come with a terrible cost in warrior lives. The six of us were the only ones left.
It was easy to see the remnants of the Cren base far below. . . what was left of it. Huge holes littered the ground where the soldiers had lived and had been resourced. They were now just big impact craters.
Big plumes of gray and white smoke billowed up gently in the nearly stagnant air, wafting a dozen kliks into the sky.
So, yeah, it was easy to see the Cren base.
Off to the south a bit were their ship landing pads and that’s where I headed, nosing gently toward that, our stolen corvette creaking, groaning and making noises any space worthy warship should never make. . . ever.
Our ship was clearly struggling, even as gentle as I was. . . and it was dying. Our console boards showed mostly solid red sensor lights, more flashing red indicators and solid oranges than greens. Not a good sign. We’d run out of time.
The few remaining Cren ships parked on the pads below were shoved off to one side, all gutted, smoldering or still actively burning. Well, there weren’t any troop ships left and the sub-orbital transporters were all destroyed, burning wrecks, or moved off around a big open space.
The Hoganthan Empire armada and the Haden forces had destroyed the base.
I still don’t get why the Cren had tried to even take over Haden. It made no sense. I gently shook my head. That was a muse for another time.
I know we’d. . . questioned. . . that enemy officer, but am sure it wasn’t that they were hunting me. That just made no sense. They simply had to be after the warrior academy and the planet’s resources to fuel their long war effort.
I’m just, well maybe WAS, the daughter of the Hoganthan monarchy, but my parents had tried to trade me to an elite House who tried to send me to the slave markets . . . on Cren Siblis.
So, I had grabbed a ship and went to the only place left for me: the Warrior Academy on Haden.
We were just cadets. Well, now I guess we are battle tested warriors. Hmm. Again, a muse for another day. None of this made sense to me and I needed to focus on landing our ship.
I was still fighting to keep the corvette heading down, in a gently controlled descent. I looked at the big, cleared open space far below and nodded to myself. I guess that is where they wanted me to land.
Huh? What is this?
It was surrounded by two flights of elite Valkyrie class Empire fighters, so four total, plus one Hoganthan corvette and two Hornath patrol cruisers. Wow, they’d brought in the big weapons to flatten the enemy base. Those military craft were big enough, strong enough to take out a cruiser, so this ground base would have been zero problem for them.
I just smiled at the power and precision of all of that. They were all parked in a big circle, their noses pointed in.
Roun shifted around in her copilot seat. She had obviously seen what I had and pointed at our small threat screen with her left hand and arm, “Elith, there are also two flights circling above. Are we in some kind of trouble?”
I quickly scanned that 3D threat sphere. There were two more sets of fighters flying around in a broad circle above us now and out about a hundred kliks.
What in Lor’s name is going on?
If the Cren base is destroyed, do they think the Cren will come back in to attempt to retake it?
With what?
That’s it, there must be concern for a retaliatory strike to retake the base. That made no sense to me as I thought about it. The only strategic value to this base on Haden was when it was hidden.
I chuckled to myself. And, it certainly wasn’t hidden anymore. . . what was left of it anyway.
So, why all of the Empire warships and aerial support?
I just sighed, took in a deep breath and slowed us down to land. . . carefully. . . at the center of the circle.
Our corvette was buckling, snapping, cracking and I could hear the bulkheads still groaning under the stress.
Yanol stood behind me and added to my concern, “Elith, we have clear stress cracks in the bulkheads and two broken frames between the power cores and engines.”
That’s all he said and all he needed to say.
I needed to very carefully land us before the ship folded in on itself and killed us all.
I was trying to be as gentle as I could. Roun was helping as she very carefully levered the hover thrusters to slow our vertical descent. We were just above the pavement when I stopped our forward movement completely and then took over the hover throttle conveniently centered on the console between us.
I very softly landed the torn up and damaged Cren corvette.
As it settled onto the pad with a creaking groan, I looked out of our view screen and was surprised to see my friend and mentor Lt General Tor Benet, several other officers and five squads of guards waiting for us. . . well waiting for Yellow Squad. I’m just the cadet leader of the team. The nominal sergeant.
Oh, and the two sets of fighters, corvette and patrol cruisers. Uh, yeah. That’s a big reception.
Is it us, or is something else going on? What did I do now? Or, is all of Yellow Squad in trouble? What is going on?
I glanced back at Roun, Tremeer, Tau, Yanol and Azz and laughed out loud, breaking the tension as I did that, “I was just thinking we are Yellow Squad Warriors, but looking at your armor it might be better to rename us Red Squad with all of the battle blood and damaged armor.”
They all laughed openly and nodded as their systems were slowing down and relaxing from the battle focus and intensity of destroying the orbiting troop ship.
Ah, that reminds me. . . I should share a bit about us. I am Elith te Hoganth, a warrior cadet and former. . . yes former. . . Princess of the Hoganthan Empire, but that’s another story and my former life. I’m 16 year-cycles old.
Being Hoganthan means I’m feline. There is much fur color diversification, but I’m covered in thin cream fur with dark orange stripes across my forehead and down toward the back of my neck. I have the typically pointed ears of many space races and also have thin strands of variegated hair trailing down from the bottoms of my ears that we all call ‘ear-tails’.
One of the traits that sets us apart, and maybe why we lead the Empire, is that we are. . . ferocious. I’ve heard vague rumors that only humans from Terra may be more ferocious than we are, but haven’t met one to know that. Anyway.
I’m not huge, standing about 175 cm and weighing in at just 64 kilos, but since I’ve been at the Warrior Academy here on Haden, my shoulders are a lot wider and my already narrow waist, even narrower. I am a fighting machine, trained for battle. And proud of it.
Azz. . . okay, his full name is Chazwenwar Nuleen from Sot Te Wah, in an outer spiral toward the Rim, is tall, handsome and powerful. He is a warrior, just by looking at him. I’m not sure why he became a cadet, but he is tanned, with brown. . . they call it hair, not fur, brown eyes and gently pointed ears typical of his home. He is a warm and friendly type that also is good to have on your side when his fuse is lit.
He is very mild mannered. . . until his fuse is lit. Then you want. . . well, you NEED to be behind him.
Yanol is Matogrendin and very similar to Azz except his thin hair is more blonde or light colored and his eyes are green. He is also tall, wide shouldered, powerful and narrow at the waist. They both have strong legs and can hold a lot of weight. Yes, he is cute too, but that’s for someone else to deal with. He is almost as ferocious as Azz in a fight.
Tremeer Tollan is from Maeghen. In case you are not familiar with them, that planet is run as a matriarchy and controlled by the Sisterhood of the Light. Tremeer has the typical deep golden tan of all Maeghens, absolutely no fur or hair, gently pointed ears, has the gold eyes and the broad, pure white teeth typical of her race. She fits well with the team and doesn’t have the stigma against males that the Sisterhood does. She is great in a fight, solid, creative and highly skilled.
Tau is a Hoganthan like me. She has short, dark brown fur with black stripes that arc over her forehead. Her ear-tails are black and brown. She is shorter as Hoganthans go, not much taller than her long barreled sniper rifle. And crazy ferocious in a fight. You definitely want her on your side.
Roun was a warrior because I call her that. She’s certainly earned that accolade. She was an Admiralty pilot cadet that became embroiled in this Haden war when she and her instructor were attacked while doing an exam flight for her school.
Her instructor happened to be in the copilot seat when the particle beam took out the right side of her tiny ship. He was instantly vaporized.
Roun is from Slima. I’d never even heard of Slima before meeting her and had no idea where in the galaxy it hung. I mentioned she was very young, like just a first year cadet, maybe fifteen or sixteen year-cycles depending on how they work that on Slima, thin, wiry with short combed black hair over her head and ears, cut just above her collar. She had pale red-brown skin and bright green-brown eyes with typical flat pointed ears of most space races.
They are the real heroes here. I am just so fortunate to be their sergeant. We were all thrown together as warrior academy cadets along with six others, who. . . did not survive. . . and, then two other squad teams - Blue and Green squads, a Captain and a Lieutenant, now all dead.
Because of the Cren.
I frowned thinking about that, but I’d need to mourn them at another time.
Right now? We needed to fix our wounds, repair our armor and find out what in Lor’s name was going on outside so we could get back into battle. . . wherever the battle was still raging on.
We are warriors and that is our path, our journey and our dedication to The Creed.
I gently shook my head to clear my mind. Time to focus.
I shut the master systems off and painfully climbed out of the seat to stand and stretch my aching back. My whole body was sore. Well, yes, the two shots to my shoulder and thigh hurt a lot as well, but I felt like I’d been run over by a bull pangra.
I smiled at the squad and they all had that same haggard, tired look, like I felt.
We’d definitely been in it. We’d been through so much now they felt like family to me.
We were going to go out and meet whatever was going on, together, so I took a moment to stand up straight, set my head back a bit and reached for the airlock door behind my pilot couch.
I led first, stepped out and down the short steps into the full, bright Haden sunlight, my eyes immediately constricting my irises to shut down the intensity.
I took a deep breath and did my best to walk confidently - yeah, I was trying not to limp - over to greet my mentor, Tor Benet, and show HIM the great respect he deserves.
With the recent battles we’d just been through I have new found respect for his skill. He really is an elite warrior and I was just becoming aware of and understanding just how great he really was.
He was more than a hundred and eighty year-cycles old and to have survived many, many decades of front-line war was just. . . incredible.
He nodded ever so slightly then strangely, BOWED slightly toward ME and, of course, never taking his remaining left eye off me, as is the warrior way.
I frowned.
Tor and I are friends and not usually that formal.
He knows I don’t like that. . . that palace formality.
It might be fine with my parents, the Reigning Emperor and Empress of Hoganth and the Empire, but not with me. I so dislike the palace and politics and was genuinely thrilled to just be a cadet on the warrior path, an aspiring elite warrior, with the focus each battle provides us on our path.
I watched his eye and he was clearly astute enough to see my surprise. He simply nodded once, cocking his head slightly toward the Academy Director standing next to him.
