First Strike (Hammer's War Book 3)

by James McEwan

  They didn’t have to wait long before they were all proven wrong. The Dreadnought was approaching fast, not even bothering to shoot at the Damocles, as they accelerated straight for them. “Sir the Dreadnought, she’s bearing down us fast Captain, orders?”

  “Stand by,” Wesson said. He repeated it two more times before issuing the command, “Now, open the window!”

  The hyperspace engines tore a huge hole in the normal space, much larger than they would need for the Damocles. They watched without breathing as the Dreenoi Dreadnought, moving far too fast to change vector, entered the window. When the ship was about halfway through the window Wesson yelled, “Fire the starburst NOW!”

  The MAG Cannons fired and the crew watched as they screamed toward the Dreenoi ship. They hit the slipstream widow and detonated in a brilliant white flash of light. After the flash faded the weapon’s officer reported, “No effect on the ship Sir.”

  “Wait for it,” he said as he held up his hand for patience.” Then what Captain Wesson had been banking on happened.

  “Sir the hyperspace window is destabilizing.”

  They watched in awe as the window collapsed in on itself, cutting the Dreadnought in half. The explosive decompression of the Dreenoi ship was enough to stop its advanced and even set it adrift in the opposite direction. The crew cheered as they watched hundreds, maybe even thousands, of Dreenoi being sucked into the frozen expanse of space.

  “Don’t start celebrating; we’re not out of this yet.” Wesson said.

  “Sorry Captain, but that was brilliant. You knew that our engines have safety protocols that prevent us from closing a slip space window while something was transversing it. So you used the energy from the starburst rounds to disable the window, causing it to collapse on the Dreenoi. Simply brilliant Sir. I’m sure this will be known as the Wesson maneuver,” the weapons officer complimented the Captain.

  “I’m sure it will, if we live to tell anyone about it. Now, I want one more volley of starbursts to blind those little yellow bastards. Once we fire I want to move to the coordinates I gave the comm officer with all the speed you can muster.”

  “Aye sir!”

  The MAG cannons lit up the black with another volley of bright white lights as the Damocles made a mad dash for the other side of Nome. It would add a few more minutes to the evacuation flights, but there were no Dreenoi ships on that side and it upped their chances of getting out alive.

  Back on the surface Thad tumbled off the side of the walking tank, and would have fallen to the ground had it not been for his faster than human reflexes. He used his force blades like ice pikes and dug into the side of the Cockroach, then hand over hand crawled back to the top of the metal beast. Once he reached the top he dropped to his knees, then using his force blades he opened the top of the Cockroach as if he were a starving man with a can opener and it was the last can of soup on the planet.

  It didn’t take him long to cut through the thick outer shell and down into the pilot’s compartment. What he found within was what looked like a white worm that was hooked to all the systems with white slimy tubes. The worm’s head resembled that of a Dreenoi, but it was white, slimy, and almost translucent. Thad surmised that because it never saw the light of day it had no need for any kind of pigment, and the smell that emanated from the grotesque creature was even worse that it looked. Thad stuck his force blade straight through the bug’s head. It quivered and flopped, then stopped moving.

  Thad stood up holding his blades up in triumph when he saw Colonel Grunt pointing with his good arm toward the horde of Dreenoi that was fast approaching. As he glanced in the direction the colonel was indicating he could see they had more Cockroaches with them, “Ah shit,” Thad exclaimed before jumping down off the dead Cockroach.

  Colonel Grunt was at the bottom to meet him, “Son, I think it’s time for a tactical repositioning.”

  “Are you saying we should leave?” Thad answered sarcastically.

  The Colonel grabbed Thad by the arm and pulled him out of the path of a particle beam. “No, I’m saying it’s time to RUN!”

  The two men took off running as weapons fire flashed all around them.

  As they ran, Thad noticed that Colonel Grunt had taken a hit to his upper left arm, “Hey Colonel, you okay? It looks like you took a hit.”

  Grunt looked at the chunk that was missing from his upper arm, “Don’t worry about me, I’ve had worse.”

  Thad could see that the missing skin was not human, but plasta flesh and the bone was not bone, but metal instead. It seemed that the good Colonel had already lost his real arm at some point and now he had lost the replacement. “I can see that.”

  More weapons fire passed between the two men, “Try to keep up,” Thad said as he sped up. Normally Thad’s speed would have been a problem for the armored Marine, however Colonel Grunt was wearing a new form of light powered armor, and was able to keep up without even breaking a sweat.

  Chapter 7

  The compound was a hotbed of activity. The second lift had taken off and the captain’s yacht was just touching down when the missile launchers ran dry. “Eve honey, why aren’t the missile launchers firing anymore?” Freya asked Eve’s bot body.

  “It’s because they are out of ammo dear. We’ve already burned through our full inventory. I can have the fabrication bots make more, but I don’t think we have the time. I still have the power guns and lasers at our disposal, and can compensate for the loss of the missiles,” Eve said in an even tone as she continued running up the Eden’s systems.

  “Okay, because it looks like there’s more stuff incoming,” Freya said eyeballing the large number of blips on the scanner screen.

  “No worries, I can keep the airspace clear for a while longer, at least long enough to get everyone out,” Eve tried to comfort her, but she was concerned that the rest of the ammo would run dry far before they were all clear. She would still have the lasers. However, as they heated up the time between shots would grow longer and longer. This would lead to large holes in her firing pattern and allow Dreenoi ships to slip through. After running the numbers, based on the time it took for the retrieval boats to load and depart, she figured it was going to be close, very very close.

  Ruby hid underneath one of the command consoles on the bridge of the Eden. She sat with her knees pulled up to her chest and her hands over her ears. Amanda entered the bridge and noticed her granddaughter hiding. She bent down and with a warm smile, and held out her hand, “Don’t be frightened Ruby. You should never be afraid in times of crisis. Fear will only paralyze you when you need to be clearheaded the most.”

  Ruby looked up with her big steel grey eyes, “Grandma I’m not scared!” She said with all the defiance she could muster. “It’s just too loud; too many voices in my head and the monsters are so loud it hurts.”

  Amanda was quite taken aback by the idea the she was not scared, just overwhelmed. “I’m sorry honey.” She pulled Ruby to her and hugged her head, “You need to try to shut it out dear.”

  Ruby let go of her head and grabbed her grandmother tightly, “I’m trying to, but I don’t know how.”

  “Well, we’ll just have to figure it out together. Now listen to me and focus on my voice,” Amanda said as she began to rock back and forth. She started singing a lullaby that she remembered her mother singing to her whenever she was afraid.

  Outside the hanger, things were heating up as the defense grid struggled to keep up with the onslaught of Dreenoi landing craft coming down. The power guns finally ran dry, leaving only the lasers to defend the airspace and their power capacitors where overheating. A Dreenoi craft made it through and crashed into the greenhouse, obliterating it in a ball of flame and smoke. Two Marines had been nearby by when the craft crashed down. The force of the explosion threw both of them several feet. Had it not been for their light powered armor, both would have been killed. As it was, one was knocked cold while the other found himself lying face down in the sand trying to shake the
cobwebs from his brain.

  The Marine rolled over and quickly checked his armor’s systems, all were in the green. He sat up just as a grenade bounced off his faceplate. It exploded just above him and for a second his view was a bright burst of flame followed by inky blackness. When it cleared a moment later, he found that he could barely see out of the scorch mark left on his faceplate. The armored suit was equipped with a full spectrum camera system and the Marine switched to infrared just in time to see a Dreenoi drone standing over him with a grenade launcher. The stupid drone was way too close to fire the weapon safely. The grenade launcher belched out another grenade, which smashed into the Marines chest. The force knocked the Marine back down, while the grenade bounced straight back at the Dreenoi. Unfortunately for the Dreenoi, it had more than enough force to penetrate the hard outer shell, and the grenade buried itself in the drone’s chest. The Dreenoi dropped his weapon and clutched at the rather large hole in its chest. A fraction of a second later there was nothing left, but two bodiless feet.

  Two other Marines who had been standing security for the landing zone left to deal with the Dreenoi on the ground. They both witnessed the Dreenoi make crab salad out of himself and just couldn’t help, but laugh. They then made quick work of the rest of the Dreenoi as they stumbled out of the burning wreckage that had once been the green house.

  Finally the last civilian was on board the captain’s yacht and the Marine who had been helping people board closed the hatch and pounded on the door. “You’re good to go!” He barked over the comm to the pilot. The yacht lifted off and was starting to climb, picking up speed, when a burning hunk of a Dreenoi landing craft clipped the rear port engine. The engine exploded and ship’s left side was enveloped in flame and smoke.

  Inside the yacht the pilot fought to keep control, “Damn it we got tagged!” He was fighting with the controls and pointed to the fire suppression panel, “Better get that fire out, or we are going to go up like a Roman candle.”

  “I’m on it,” the copilot worked the fire extinguishers as fast as he could move.

  All manner of alarms were sounding inside the cockpit of the yacht while the two pilots worked to keep it in the air. “Sword to the Damocles, mayday, mayday, we are hit and going down. I repeat we are hit and going down.”

  “Sword we read you and are tracking your descent. Try to get her down in one piece.”

  At that moment, the pilot of the Sword wanted to reach through the radio and strangle the comm officer on the other side. “If we live through this, remind me to find out who’s on comms and punch them out.”

  Thad and Colonel Grunt were running up the road when they saw the yacht get clipped. They watched as the ship descended out of sight leaving a black trail of smoke behind it. “That can’t be good,” Grunt noted.

  “It’s not,” Thad replied.

  “We better get moving then, shouldn’t we?”

  “Come on Colonel, time to pick up the pace,” Thad said as he sped up to his top speed.

  The Colonel was impressed at just how fast Thad could run. In all his years, he had never seen anyone that could run so fast. His powered armor was able to keep up, but just barely.

  The two men reached the main compound to find the defense grid was on its last legs while the Marines were doing their best to kill any Dreenoi that got near the hanger door. “Sergeant Major, sit rep,” Grunt barked out the order in between breaths.

  “All civilians evacuated Sir. Two Marines wounded, Patten and Fleming, both on board the Eden being treated. The rest of us are holding the hanger awaiting you and Mr. Hammer, Sir.” The Sergeant Major said as he fired his rifle, taking off the head of a Cyber Comm.

  “Good, get everyone on board, we’re almost to you.” Thad and the Colonel took off across the open grounds toward the hanger and the waiting Eden. Their only means of escape from the hell Nome had become.

  Two marines who had been providing rear security for the others, were standing behind some equipment crates that had been hastily stacked to form a makeshift cover, their laser rifles cracking with every shot. Thad and the Colonel were almost upon them when they felt the ground shake. With no time to stop, they continued to push forward. They were a few meters short of the two marines when the ground below their guardians disappeared. The marines, their makeshift barrier, and everything around them dropped into the hole.

  A massive blast of dust and sand erupted upward, which stopped Thad and the Colonel dead in their tracks. Both men switched sight modes to thermal just in time to watch a horde of Dreenoi burst out of the hole. Thad fired off a long burst from his rifle, while Grunt slung his weapon and started tossing grenades. Thad’s burst cut down half a dozen Dreenoi while Colonel Grunt’s grenades exploded with a nasty series of thumps, kicking up more sand and dust. Parts of dead Dreenoi were raining down all around them when the head of a rather surprised Dreenoi smashed into Colonel Grunt’s helmet. The head was like a water balloon when it hit the Colonel, bursting against his helmet and covering the Colonel in Dreenoi brains.

  For some reason Thad found the moment oddly amusing and couldn’t keep himself from laughing. The Colonel wiped the muck from his faceplate and gave Thad a sour look. He then leveled his weapon at Thad. Thad’s eyebrow lifted when the Colonel fired. A Dreenoi that had been sneaking up behind Thad instantly ceased to be when his head exploded as the Colonel’s Laser beam passed through it. Thad was covered in Dreenoi muck this time, and as he wiped it away, the Colonel laughed.

  Things overhead were starting to get a lot more crowded as the compound’s defense system began to fail. All of the guns had run dry and the only thing left was the lasers, however they were so overheated that some had stopped firing and a couple actually melted down and caught fire.

  The Dreenoi rained down on the compound. If ever there was a time to leave, it was now. On the Eden, everyone on board watched and waited with bated breath. Thad and the Colonel needed to move and move quickly. They finished mopping up the Dreenoi that had come out of the hole and had just reached the edge when they noticed movement. They trained their weapons on the armored hand that gripped the side of the hole. Both held their fire as one of the marines who had fallen in was now clawing his way out. In his other hand was a force blade still smoking from the burning Dreenoi blood that smeared the blade.

  Colonel Grunt moved to help his man. Reaching down he grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the hole. His once white armor was now stained black with the blood of many Dreenoi. The marine reported, “Donavon didn’t make it Sir. He was right under the disintegrator blast.”

  Being the commander, Grunt had all of his men’s armor systems linked to his and could see on his display that the small green icon which indicated Mike Donavon’s status had gone red a second after he disappeared into the hole. “I know, now let’s move,” Grunt barked as he started to run for the hanger. Thad and the marine said nothing else; they just fell in line behind the Colonel.

  They were almost to the hanger door when they were cut off by another hole that opened up directly in front of them. The Colonel slid to a stop while a dozen or so Dreenoi rushed out of the hole. Behind them a surge of Dreenoi was pushing toward them. Thad took quick stock of the situation, and it certainly didn’t seem good. They were outnumbered at least twenty to one and cut off from their only hope of escape. The marines covering the hanger door were doing their best to pick their targets, but now it was getting harder to do so as the Dreenoi were converging on the three men. They couldn’t fire without risk of hitting their own.

  “Colonel, I think we may be in a bit of trouble here,” Thad said as he turned his back to the marines to face the oncoming horde.

  “You think,” Grunt responded. “Look, we have a few things working for us. First they want to eat us, so they won’t use their weapons at close range. Second Dreenoi prefer to use their claws and pincers instead of force blades, and third their numbers won’t mean much when they crowd us, as only a few can attack at once.” He paused as h
e pulled a long and rather nasty looking force blade from the scabbard attached to his armor.

  Thad instantly understood what the Colonel wanted him to do, “Force blades it is then.” Thad dropped his weapon and using his DDSD (Digital Dimension Storage Device), he materialized two force swords. They looked like ancient Japanese Katanas with the exception of the soft glow of green light as the force field switched on.

  During his days training with different weapons, Thad had always loved the sword over anything else. He felt it was so elegant and pure, the weapon of a true warrior. Although ranged weapons were much more effective, they lacked the ability to look your opponent in the eye before you sent him to whatever God he worshiped. However, he had been trained as an assassin, trained to kill in the shadows, to kill without being seen, and without the benefit of giving his prey the chance to fight for his life. Not today. Today he cast off the mantle of assassin and became a warrior. Today he stood side by side with fellow warriors to make a final stand. Even though at this moment certain death bore down upon him, he smiled. He smiled knowing that if he were to die this day he did so as a warrior in the light and not a coward hiding in the shadows.

  None of the three men standing ready to go down fighting had any false hope of getting out of alive. They knew they were dead men, but they were going to take as many of the Dreenoi with them as they could. “Eve we’re not going to make it. Take off NOW!” Thad ordered over his comm implant.

  “We are not leaving without you!” Eve replied with the cool calmness of a computer.

  “Eve, I don’t have time to argue with you. Get them out of here!” Thad didn’t have time to say more as the wave of Dreenoi crashed into them like the ocean crashing into the rocks, and like the waves breaking against the rocks so did the Dreenoi as they slammed into the three men.