Read Galactic Empire Wars: Rebellion (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 3) for Free Online Page A

Parker had cried out when he had been hit.
    “I know,” answered
Ryan, in a calm voice. “But no one expected us to make it this far. “Corporal
Hunter, you’ll be in the second group. Keep an eye on the slope in front of you;
the popups should target the first group. You have to take them out with your
remaining explosive rounds as quickly as possible. I’ll see you at the top.”
    “You heard the
lieutenant,” bellowed Casey. “Form four lines and let’s get moving. The sooner
we reach the summit and press that button the sooner we can get off this damn mountain
and get some chow!”
    Ryan watched
as Corporal Hunter formed up the remaining soldiers for the run at the summit.
From her actions, no one would know she had been grown inside a glass nutrient
case inside of Vesta. Casey acted perfectly human; she should after everything
she'd been exposed to at the Academy. Even today, six years after the
revelation of the cloning technology, many people still refused to accept the
clones as real people.
    “We’re ready, Sir,”
Casey reported a few moments later.
    “Let’s do this,
then,” Ryan ordered evenly as he looked at his remaining soldiers. “Go as fast
as we can and take out any weapon emplacements that pop up. It’s only one
hundred and fifty meters to the summit and victory.”
    “Let’s go,” ordered
Casey, resolutely. She already felt as if a stunner had her in its sights. She
shuddered slightly as the first three battlesuits took off at a run. She waited
two seconds and then her group took off. They were quickly followed by the
rest.
    Stunners and
RG cannons quickly opened up as they rose up out of the concealing ground. The
first line of battlesuits quickly fell, but the second line managed to take out
most of the weapons. They were nearly to the summit when even more weapons seemed
to pop up all around them. The charge faltered as they attempted to take out all
the weapons now firing at them. The battle grew more intense as some of the
soldiers ran out of explosive rounds and had to switch to RG rounds, which were
nearly ineffective against the popups.
    Casey felt
several painful RG rounds strike her suit armor and her icon in her HUD turned
amber. She also felt her suit slow down as it registered the damage. A moment later,
she felt the stinging sensation of a stunner. She felt like her skin was on
fire and then her suit shut down as she fell face forward onto the rocky slope
to lie perfectly still. Ryan owes me for this, she thought as she fought
through the slowly fading pain.
    Ryan saw Casey
go down and grimaced. They'd been friends throughout most of the four years at
the Academy and combat training, he knew she would make him pay for getting her
shot. Shaking his head, he turned back to the task at hand. The other soldier
with him had an undamaged battlesuit and both of them were sprinting toward the
summit. A soldier in a battlesuit could move faster than an Olympic sprinter,
much faster. Everyone in the lines ahead were down and Ryan and his other
soldier were firing desperately at the popups that kept on appearing. Ryan saw
his companion suddenly throw his metal arms up and collapse in pain as Ryan
leaped forward to land on the summit.
    Everything
fell silent as Ryan looked around in amazement. There were no weapons in sight.
He'd made it! Looking around, he saw a large metal pedestal with a small pylon
on top of it about fifty meters away. On the pylon was a large red metal
button. All he had to do was stroll over and press it, and the scenario would
be over. He had won; his platoon had done the impossible on their first try!
They had conquered Charring Mountain!
    As Ryan walked
over toward the pedestal four stunners suddenly rose up out of the ground in
front of him and blasted him in the chest. Ryan nearly passed out from the
intense pain. Should've known it wouldn’t be this easy, he thought as his
battlesuit struck the ground.
    -
    “Got him!” Dylan
gloated with a laugh as he