“Do we go one at a time?” asked Juan. “There are enough of us this time that we should be able to eliminate all the pop-ups when they try to take out the first two or three of us.”
Thomas shook his head. “No, I want both squads to make it to the top.” Thomas spent some time studying the boulder-strewn slope as well as the parts of the summit he could see. “Corporal Coyle, do you have any suggestions about what to do now?” Thomas was open to ideas from his fellow corporal if she had any.
“I don’t know, Thomas. We could try firing our rifles with explosive rounds toward the top of the summit. That’s where the pop-ups were the last time.”
Thomas considered this. He realized now why Lieutenant Adams had made them use all the explosive rounds in their explosive launchers earlier. Now they would have to use a little ingenuity. Looking at the boulder covered slope Thomas had an idea. It would be a little dangerous but their battlesuits should keep them safe.
“I want everyone with rifles that fire explosive rounds to target the area about five meters below the summit. There’s a lot of small loose rocks and gravel there; we may be able jar it loose and cause some landslides. If we can that should ensure any pop-ups hidden in the boulder field are taken care of.”
“We’ll bury them!” said Leah enthusiastically. “That’s a lot better than being stunned.”
A few moments passed and then Corporal Coyle spoke. “We’re ready, just give the order.”
“Fire!” ordered Thomas.
Instantly at the top of the slope near the summit a series of grenade-like explosions began blasting the ground. A few small rocks and some dirt began sliding down, dislodging other small rocks, boulders, and dirt. More explosions dislodged even more and soon a major portion of the slope was moving.
“Hold your fire and be prepared to jump out of the way if the big boulders you’re hiding behind begin to move.” Thomas was a little concerned about the damage a big boulder rolling over a battlesuit could do.
More rocks and even some of the larger boulders were moving now. The air became filled with dust and the roar of a major landslide. The boulder Thomas was behind began to shake as the landslide moved around it. Fortunately the boulder stayed put and after a few more minutes everything stopped moving again. Thomas stepped out from behind the boulder so he could see better. “Everyone check in.”
While all of his squad’s icons still showed green in his HUD, he wanted to make sure no one had been buried by the rock-slide.
“I’ve got one Marine down,” reported Corporal Coyle. “Private Stout has a broken arm and possibly a broken leg. His suit is administering nanites but he won’t be of any help in the rest of this.”
“The hell I won’t,” said Stout as he stood up and began to hobble up the slope.
Instantly a number of pop-ups appeared on the summit and began firing at Stout. Thomas and the rest of the Marines quickly returned fire. Thomas heard several Marines yell from being stunned and saw one hit by an explosive round and knocked down the slope several meters. On top of the summit explosive rounds and energy beams quickly took out all of the pop-ups. Looking toward Private Stout, Thomas saw he was lying on the slope, unconscious. That was probably for the best. While Stout had a habit of getting in trouble with his mouth he didn’t lack in courage. Everyone else seemed to be nearly recovered from being hit.
“Let’s move,” ordered Thomas as he began making his way up the slope toward the summit.
“Do you think we got all of them?” asked Brian.
“All those in this area,” replied Thomas. “I’m sure there are more on top of the mountain. This isn’t over yet.” Thomas wondered what awaited them on the plateau of Charring Mountain. He had a strong suspicion the worst was still ahead.
-
The two squads made it to the summit and stopped, gazing at the destroyed pop-ups. Twisted pieces of metal were scattered everywhere. The two squads took cover, looking over the summit at the large flat surface with the pedestal in the middle with six screens. Just touching one of them would mean victory.
“There are eleven of us,” said Leah. “Surely if we all make a run for the pedestal at least one of us should make it.”
“No,” answered Kinsley. “Last time when I tried that the pop-ups waited until I reached the pedestal and was halfway up those steps before they stunned me. I promise you if we all make a run for it none of us will make it.”
Thomas spent some time examining the ground on the small plateau. Nowhere were there any signs of the earth being disturbed. “Everyone with rifles that fire explosive rounds start firing on the ground between us and the pedestal. Be careful not to hit the pedestal. If we accidentally destroy it we can’t win. Everyone else use your energy rifles to sweep the ground. Maybe we’ll get lucky and take out a few of the pop-ups.”
The eleven Marines quickly began firing. The entire half of the plateau nearest them erupted in explosions and the ground was further torn up by beams from their energy rifles.
“I’m out of ammo,” said Brian, shaking his rifle.
“Me too,” said Kinsley.
“My energy rifles stopped firing,” said Leah. “Its charge is depleted.”
“Hold your fire,” ordered Thomas. He didn’t want to deplete all of their explosive rounds and energy rifles.
“What now?” asked Corporal Coyle. “I can’t tell from my sensors whether we took out any pop-ups or not.”
“No choice but to try to reach the pedestal,” said Thomas. “We’ll increase the distance between each Marine and move slowly toward the pedestal. Those with weapons still functioning will have to take out any pop-ups that appear.”
“Why don’t those of us without ammo or who have depleted energy rifles move out first,” suggested corporal Coyle. “We can act as decoys for the ones who still have functioning weapons.”
“Damn, I’m getting stunned again,” said Leah dejectedly.
“Good idea,” said Thomas. “We’ll implement Corporal Coyle’s suggestion immediately. If the rest of us are fast enough maybe no one will get stunned. Let’s move out.”
The two squads began moving across the plateau toward the waiting pedestal. They had only gone a few meters when half a dozen pop-ups appeared and began firing. Three Marines were stunned and knocked unconscious before the pop-ups were eliminated. Leah was one of those lying on the ground.
Thomas let out a deep breath. He knew he would hear it from her when this was over. “Keep going.”
As they moved across the plateau more pop-ups appeared. By the time they reached the pedestal only Thomas and Brian remained.
Thomas looked down at his energy rifle. The charge was showing way in the yellow. He probably only had one or two more shots left.
“Let me go up first,” suggested Brian. “That’s how Kinsley got stunned. If any pop-ups appear you can take them out.”
“You just want to be the first one to touch one of those screens,” teased Thomas, grinning.
“Maybe,” replied Brian. “Somehow, I don’t think that will happen.” With that Brian took three steps up the pedestal and four pop-ups promptly rose up and stunned him, causing him to fall back down the steps to collapse at Thomas’s feet.
Thomas instantly swung his energy rifle in an arc melting all four of the pop-ups. The charge level on his rifle started blinking red. It was now useless. Thomas dropped the rifle and turning ran up the steps. As soon as he reached the top of the pedestal two pop-ups rose up and promptly stunned him. As he was falling he used all of his willpower to reach out and slap his right hand against one of the screens.
-
“Damn!” said Major Reed, shaking his head. “I can’t believe he did that.”
“Just like his father,” said Lieutenant Adams impressed. “I think I found our sergeant for the platoon.” She had ordered the other two squads to go back down the mountain leaving Corporal Thomas and Corporal Coyle no other support. She had been curious how they would respond.
&nb
sp; Reed leaned back shaking his head. “I’m not sure how to list this. They wouldn’t have made it so far if you hadn’t shown them how.”
“I have a suspicion Corporal Nelson would have figured it out eventually.”
Major Reed let out a deep breath. “You’re probably right. This will go down as a new record for reaching the top of Charring Mountain. By tomorrow everyone on Centerpoint will know a new record’s been set and by who.” Reed looked over at Lieutenant Adams. “Now what will you do with them?”
“Finish their training and then take them out to kill some Kleese. We still have a long war ahead of us and we need Marines like these.”
Sue looked at the viewscreens showing all of the stunned Marines. Already personnel in other battlesuits were moving up the mountain to pick them up and bring them back down. With sadness Sue wondered how many of these brave Marine recruits would still be alive a year from now. She knew some of them would lose their lives battling the Kleese.
Chapter Nine
Admiral Kelly was meeting with Rear Admiral Blair, Rear Admiral Haden, General Timmons, General Wade Nelson, and Marken. Nelson and Marken had been summoned to Centerpoint for this emergency meeting.
“All of you have received the summary of the report by Commander Smith of finding the Zaltule on her exploratory mission,” Kelly started off.
Wade shook his head. “I was hoping we wouldn’t hear from them again. After the defeat they suffered here in the Solar System and what the Kleese did to the Zaltule Queens I believed we had seen the last of them.”
“Unfortunately it doesn’t seem so.” Kelly looked at the assembled group of military leaders. “The Alliance has received rumors the Kleese are excavating the sites where the Zaltule Queens were supposedly killed. It seems now there is a good possibility one or more Queens escaped.”
Marken looked deeply concerned. “The Zaltule are more of a danger than the Kleese. From what I read in the report, it’s clear they are building up their strength and in my opinion will someday return to destroy us as well as take over the Kleese Empire. From the report Commander Smith made I’m certain at least one Zaltule Queen survived.”
Kelly slowly nodded his head. “That’s what we’ve concluded as well. The question is what have they been able to build over the last thirty years?”
Wade looked steadily at Kelly. “We know they took a new and heavily armed trading station with them as well as several thousand warships. The station is capable of building nearly anything the Zaltule want. It would give them a massive industrial base to rebuild from. If they have one or more Queens they could have easily greatly increased their numbers. We could be facing a massive Zaltule fleet.”
Everyone was quiet as they contemplated what that might mean.
“Is there a solution to our problem?” asked Kelly. “We’re looking at fighting a war on two fronts. That’s not a winning situation.”
“We need to take out the Zaltule Queens,” said Wade, leaning forward and placing his hands on the conference table. “If we can kill their Queens the Zaltule will have no reason for their continued existence.”
“Impossible!” said Rear Admiral Blair, shaking his head. “We don’t even know what planet their Queens are on and even if we did, they’re bound to be heavily defended.”
Wade felt his shoulders tense up. There was a way to do this but it would be highly dangerous. “We use a surgical raid. We jump a fleet into orbit above the planet or planets where their Queens are located and land Marines to take them out.”
General Timmons face turned pale. “There’s a good chance we would lose all or most of those Marines. It would be a one way mission.”
Wade shook his head. “Not if we use our fleets to hold the space above the targets. It would be a viscous battle but we should be able to hold out for a few hours while the Marines do their job. The Zaltule will not be expecting an attack and it might take them a while to rally sufficient forces to take on our fleet.”
Admiral Kelly was thinking about what would be needed. “We can’t risk too many of our heavy battlecruisers in such an attack. If we did this it would have to be done primarily by assault ships and our lighter units.”
“We’ll need sufficient heavy units to hold the orbital space above our Marines,” pointed out Wade.”
“We need more ships,” said Rear Admiral Blair.
“I would suggest we speak to our alien allies here in the Solar System,” said Wade. “Several of them have sizable fleets. We also need to get the Alliance involved.”
“I can speak to them,” said Kelly. “Though the Alliance at the moment is heavily involved in taking the planets back the Kleese seem to be abandoning. I’m not sure how much help we can count on.”
“We need to find where the Zaltule Queen or Queens are,” added Rear Admiral Haden. “All of this is useless unless we know where their new homeworld or worlds are.”
“How many Zaltule are we looking at?” asked Wade, looking over at Marken.
Marken sighed with a look of deep concern in his eyes. “Millions. One Queen is capable of producing thousands of eggs every few months. They are also capable of modifying their eggs to produce more Queens.”
“This is sounding more like a nightmare all the time,” muttered General Timmons. “Zaltule warriors will have battlesuits possibly as good as ours. If we have to fight our way into the Queens’ chambers we’re going to lose a lot of good people. This is going to be a difficult mission to plan.”
“I don’t see where we have any choice,” said Wade. “The longer we wait the more powerful the Zaltule will become.”
Kelly leaned back and then spoke. “We can send Commander Smith back to the region again to do a more complete survey. We’ll give her a bigger fleet this time as she many have a large area to search.”
“I propose we do that,” said Wade. “We can go ahead and set everything in motion but wait for her return before we finalize anything.”
“This is going to be extremely dangerous,” said General Timmons. “We may be looking at a very low possibility of success.”
Marken looked at the assembled group of military leaders. “I don’t believe we have a choice. If the Zaltule return they won’t make the same mistakes as last time.”
Admiral Kelly took in a deep breath. “We’ll send Commander Smith back to the region where she encountered the Zaltule as soon as we can get her ships ready. In the meantime, General Timmons, you need to get a Marine force ready. This needs to be volunteers only and they must understand the dangers of this mission. They need to know there’s a good chance none of them will be coming back.”
Wade grew a little concerned. He knew Thomas was currently training in the new Type Nine battlesuits. There was a good chance he might be included in this mission. It was something he needed to mention to Ryan.
-
Supreme Overlord Xatul stood before the Kleese Council of Overlords with disturbing news. “It has been confirmed by intercepted messages from the Alliance that the Humans have found the Zaltule.”
“What!” uttered Overlord Bixutl. “Where?”
“Out beyond explored space. A Human exploration vessel encountered several Zaltule battlecruisers in a conquered system. Even worse I only received word this morning that the Zaltule attacked the Zadole System before engaging a Human warfleet. The Zaltule withdrew and their fleet hasn’t been spotted since.”
“So one or more Queens did survive,” said Overlord Syndat, turning his multifaceted eyes toward Overlord Bixutl.
“It is so,” responded Bixutl. “Our excavations at the sites of the Zaltules’ former hives indicate as many as three young Queens might have escaped.”
Overlord Raluth shook his head back and forth. “They will come for us. As soon as they’ve built up their strength they will attack the Empire. Only this time they will kill us all.”
“We still have sufficient battlecruisers and assault ships to protect our homeworlds,” pointed out Supreme Overlord Xatul. “I
would suggest we pull the remaining trading stations all the way back to our primary worlds and greatly reduce the size of the Empire. We can call a truce between us and the Alliance.”
“A truce with inferior races!” uttered Overlord Martule, harshly. “They should be serving us. We are meant to be their rulers.”
Supreme Overlord Xatul starred coldly at Martule. “If we don’t pull back and stop our ship losses we will have no Empire to defend. The Alliance will weaken us sufficiently for the Zaltule to overrun our homeworlds.”
The other Kleese stood quietly, the only sound being the rustling of their feet against the cold floor of the Council Hall.
“What do you propose?” asked Overlord Raluth. “If we pull back too far we risk encouraging the Strell to attack the parts of our Empire nearest them.”
“We will maintain control of that part of our Empire. We will only pull back from the sectors where the Alliance is and the worlds they are attempting to take from us. We will keep control of all alien worlds in Sector One. Some of those are necessary for the production of parts for our warships. We will also sign trade agreements with all nonaligned worlds in the sectors we are withdrawing from to secure future trade of items we may need against the Zaltule. In addition we will procure agreements for the safe passage of our ships to those worlds.”
Overlord Martule did not look pleased. “What you are proposing will reduce the Empire to 60 percent of its current size.”
“It is necessary,” said Overlord Bixutl. “Supreme Overlord Xatul is correct. If we fail to take the appropriate action the Zaltule will come to our homeworlds and bomb us out of existence. After what we did to their Queens they will want us destroyed. There will be a new Empire but it will be an Empire of the Zaltule.”
“Then we have no choice,” said Overlord Martule.
“For now,” replied Supreme Overlord Xatul. “Perhaps someday after the Zaltule have been dealt with we can reestablish our Empire.”
-
Commander Bree Smith looked at the primary viewscreen watching Centerpoint Station gradually shrink as the Sundance pulled away.
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