“I’ll watch out for them Colt. I promise,” Previne said as she flashed a brilliant smile.
Part Two
Defense
Chapter Eight
On the farthest starship behind the moon, Erox watched the transmission from Mongo for the third time. A small smile decorated his ordinary but sinister face. The reports had lain on his desk for four hours while he conducted a lavish dinner with his staff to discuss strategy.
“We are winning the war,” he told the Sumi leaders. “We are winning on every front.”
The military leader of the Sumi race wore his hair parted neatly down the middle and shorter than most Sumi. It barely covered his ears. He also wore a square of a mustache on his upper lip. His appearance was intimidating to his underlings.
He pounded his desk with triumph as he watched his warriors decimate the local population around site three. My warriors are an unstoppable swarm of lethal destruction, he thought. Soon we will clear the countryside and then attack the city. Nothing can stop my warriors.
When the transmission was over, Erox stood up and began strutting around the large office. He was practicing his walk down the reception aisle to accept the crown as King of Earth while he read the other two reports.
His office was huge as he had made workmen take down the walls from the two adjoining suites to gain the room he desired. He liked to do things on a grand scale.
Also he did not wear the traditional tunic of a Sumi warrior. Instead he wore a uniform. It was all black with lots of trimming and two lightning bolts on the upper right sleeve. He had tried to emulate his idol with the design.
His idol was none other than Adolf Hitler. Erox had become fascinated with the man when an aide brought him some books that had been collected during a raid to gain wood for altos. It had been over fifty years ago. He was still a loyal servant to the King then and had helped bring order to Maltos when it was in crisis. His personality soon changed.
The Sumi had no need for books because everything was stored in their transmitters. The population could view anything that they wanted without having to read. As a result, there was no way to translate the words written in the books. Fortunately for Erox, the books were a summary of World War II in Europe in pictures. Erox was consumed by the pictures. There had never been a war on Maltos. Mass killings and the destruction of war had never happened on the planet.
When Erox studied the photos, he had no idea that his idol was a madman. He thought Hitler was the greatest leader of the war. He marveled at the shots of the natural charisma portrayed in the pictures. He soon began to understand Hitler’s tactics.
Erox then developed his own training camps to recruit warriors and brainwash them. He limited freedoms of individuals, incarcerated dissidents, and used fear as a weapon. He eventually discovered the real use of a concentration camp and decided to manufacture the Orango gas as a weapon.
As time went by, he ordered his warriors to bring him more books with pictures for him to study. One of the picture books showed how the Japanese used Kamikazes fliers to defend their land. Erox thought that they would make a fine offensive weapon too.
Along the way, Erox had become drunk with power. He was known to throw fits and tantrums. He sometimes was irrational and when he gave an order he expected it to be completed without any excuses or else the Sumi assigned didn’t survive. He wanted more power and realized that only one Sumi stood in his way — the King. So he hatched a plan to eliminate him and take the throne for himself.
The invasion of Earth was a direct result of his ambition.
“Hmm,” he muttered to himself as he read the reports of the demise of the King. He then read the offer of surrender by the non-blues. He had not expected it to be so easy.
All right, he thought. I’ll pull back my warriors and meet these non-blues tomorrow, but I’m going to also send a message that will make them fear me even more.
He walked over to his communication device and pressed a button. “Send a second starship to site three. Tell the captain to arrive in one hour and then attack,” he ordered without preamble.
“Yes, sir,” a female voice replied.
“Also, I want to launch one hundred Sumi missiles at that site in five minutes,” he ordered.
“But, sir, we have thousands of our people on the ground,” the voice replied.
“Oh, yeah,” Erox muttered. “Have them return to the starship. Tell that captain to resume his attack in one hour. He will have help then from the other starship.”
“Shouldn’t you give him the order directly?” the voice asked.
Erox replied with the arrogance he felt. “I’m going to retire for the evening. No one is to disturb me for any reason. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir,” the women manning the communications desk responded with a touch of fear.
“Oh, one more thing,” Erox added. “Send a message to all the captains of the starships on the ground. Tell them that all communications from now on are to be routed through the control site on Earth and no one is to read the transmissions until I see them first.” I want to be the one telling everybody about our successes, he thought as he said it.
“It will be done, sir,” the voice promised.
“Tell my staff that I will be taking a shuttle and traveling to Earth tomorrow. It will be a glorious day for the Sumi,” he said cheerfully. “Right now, I need my rest.”
Chapter Nine
Five minutes later, back at the Pentagon, a technician suddenly yelled out. “Sir, something is happening.”
General Wendell Whitehead rushed over to the screen and watched as the satellite image showed thousands of Sumi warriors streaming back to their starship. It suddenly pulled back several miles as they watched and then the starship cloaked.
“Why would they pull back when they are winning?” the fleet Admiral asked from his screen.
“I don’t know,” the general replied thoughtfully. “Unless…,” he uttered in horror.
Another technician screamed, “incoming”.
“What have you got son?” the general asked with concern as he turned to the serviceman.
“Sir, I see many Sumi missiles.”
“Where are they headed?”
“They are all on a course for New Delhi.”
“How many missiles?”
“I count a hundred,” the technician replied in shock. “They will reach the target in three minutes.”
“Admiral, the missiles will approach from the south,” General Whitehead noted. “They will pass over our fleet stationed in the Indian Ocean. Can we shoot them down?”
“We’ll send everything we’ve got at them,” the admiral replied optimistically and began issuing orders.
“Sir, something else is happening,” another technician cried out.
General Whitehead rushed to that screen. It was the shot of the moon.
“Another starship has come out from behind the moon. It’s headed for earth, but cloaked itself. We don’t know where it is going.”
“Well I do,” the leader replied. “It’s headed for St. Louis. Colonel Cole told me that they might send a starship there even though we have told the Sumi that we will surrender.”
“Sir, are we really going to surrender to the Sumi?” another serviceman croaked.
“Not on your life son,” the general explained. “We are working another angle to stop this war.”
“We have almost no assists in the Midwest,” the general in charge of America’s defense quickly noted. “The best we can do immediately is to send a squadron of Super Cobra attack helicopters from Fort Leonard Wood. It will take them an hour to reach St. Louis.”
“Mobilize everything we’ve got,” the general replied. “We’re going to need them.”
“My God!” the serviceman exclaimed. “Another starship is headed to earth.”
***
The Navy fleet in the Indian Ocean shot off every missile that they had in stock. A virtual wall of rocket
s charged off into the evening sky. Unfortunately, the fleet could only muster ninety projectiles and because of the lack of time to coordinate, some Sumi missiles were targeted twice. Fifteen Sumi missiles broke through the barrier and continued towards New Delhi. They flew in a tight formation as they raced to their targets.
The Indian government was able to fire some ground based antiballistic projectiles and shot down another ten Sumi. Only five actually reached New Delhi.
Of the five remaining suicide bombers, two had been hit by shrapnel and sputtered out of control. They crashed into unpopulated farmland and exploded doing little damage other than turning the earth over.
Two more Sumi peeled off and went to attack the huge Hindon Air Force Station on the outskirts of New Delhi. Their assignment was to take out the Indian air force in the area. But the commander of the base was ready for them. As the missiles approached he fired off air-to-air rockets from four attack helicopters. He also let loose three ground to air missiles. Both Sumi rocketships disintegrated in a blaze of fire over the long runway.
The remaining Sumi suicide bomber flew untouched towards his target, the massive Indira Gandhi International Airport. The airport was one of the busiest passenger hubs in the world, but today it was even busier as many people tried frantically to get a flight out of the invasion area. The terminals were overflowing with more than a million people inside.
The missile crashed into the center of the middle terminal creating a massive explosion that destroyed all the buildings and damaged the runways. Devastation was everywhere. With one missile, the Sumi high command had killed more than a million Indian people and prevented many more from leaving the invasion area.
The bombing had also come at a very bad time for Pramilla and the other members of Banyon’s team who were headed for New Delhi. Their jet was on final approach to the airport when Harry, the pilot, saw the missile crash into the terminal. He immediately pulled back on the yoke and saved them from smashing into a hole in the runway.
“We need to find another place to land,” he said coolly into his microphone.
Pramilla ran from the back and jumped into the co-pilot seat. She surveyed the damage on the ground and moaned. “All those poor people,” she uttered. She was lost in mourning.
“What do you want me to do?” Harry asked to bring her out of her misery.
“Turn right ten degrees,” Pramilla voiced as soon as she could regain her composure. “We’ll head for Hindon Air Force Base. I’ll call ahead and get diplomatic clearance. I know the commander there.”
Chapter Ten
“Daddy, are you going hunting?” the little girl asked her father as he came out of the bedroom dressed in hunting clothes. He carried two rifles and had a handgun strapped to his hip. His wife sat on the couch and held their daughter in a bear hug.
“Yes, sweetie,” Pete LaSalle replied with hesitation after looking at the young girl. “I’m going hunting.” He reached over and ruffled her blond hair.
“This is crazy, you know,” his wife Sarah burst out while tears ran down her pretty face. “What can you do against them? You should stay home and protect us.”
“That’s exactly what I’m doing. Me and the boys are going to stop these assholes,” he promised with determination. “If people like me don’t commit, who will?”
“But, you could get killed,” she protested. “You were never in the military. Isn’t this their job?”
“What matters is that I can shoot a gun,” he responded. “I want to help.”
“But we may never see you again,” the wife uttered between sobs.
“My country needs me. I’ve got to go now, the bus is outside,” he replied sadly.
Pete kissed his wife and went out the door to join the fifty other men from his neighborhood who were heading to St. Louis to fight the Sumi warriors.
***
Marlene Moore had done a good job of getting the word out. She had flooded all the media outlets with the news that an attack was eminent on St. Louis. She had her people post evacuation messages on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. She also had media people make broadcasts on the radio and all the television stations.
She asked the fire department to coordinate buses to pick up men willing to fight. They agreed and sent buses to every neighborhood within a hundred miles of the city. Marlene was also sure that more men would also come from farther away.
The local police were designated as the block leaders. They intended to fight street by street. The police knew the area, where to set up ambushes, and they had radios to communicate as well. Other towns sent their policemen too. There was literally a policeman on every city block.
She set up a hotline to handle any issues and manned it with all the staff that she could muster. As Director of Homeland Security, she knew that there was not much of a military presence near St. Louis, but she also knew that there were many people with guns who could shoot and would be willing to protect their country. She hoped that there were enough to hold off the Sumi until help arrived.
Chapter Eleven
Pete LaSalle and his fifty neighbors were assigned to the corner of South Fourth Street and Clark Avenue near the center of the city. It was only a few blocks away from the famed Gateway Arch that ran along the Mississippi River.
A man raised his arm and called for their attention. The men gathered around him. The policeman was the leader for the area. He assigned several men who had long sniper-like rifles to the top floors of the buildings nearby. Pete and thirty other men were instructed to hide in doorways, alleyways, cars, and first floor windows of buildings with their guns ready. Before he deployed his men, the policeman discussed strategy.
“He’s what we know about the Sumi,” he said. “They are very much like us, they bleed and they can be killed. But, they are very tall and are much stronger than us. Don’t get into a hand to hand fight with them.
“But, because of their great height, their speed and reflexes are much slower than yours. So take advantage of that. If one comes near you, get out of the way so we can shoot him. They wear bullet-proof armor that our bullets can’t penetrate. So take head shots and leg shots only. If we can get them on the ground, we’ll finish them off quickly,” the policeman said with zeal.
“What about their weapons?” one man asked.
“From what we know, they have a variety, but mostly they use a laser gun and a sword. The laser gun is deadly, but can only shoot over a distance of twenty feet.”
“So we just wait here until one comes into our area?” another man asked with concern.
“Our goal is to trap any Sumi that comes into the block in a cross-fire,” the policeman replied. “Because there is no one on the streets, some of you on the ground will need to attract one. The rest of us will do the killing.”
“Do we know how many warriors are on the ship?” another man asked.
“We don’t know, but the ships can carry up to a quarter of a million Sumi,” the leader responded.
“Oh my God!” Pete uttered. “How long will we have to hold out before the military gets here?” Pete asked.
“I don’t have that answer,” the policeman responded. “So conserve your ammunition.”
***
The city of St. Louis was soon empty. No cars traveled the streets, no restaurants were open, and no kids played in the parks. Newspapers and litter blew down the deserted streets. The only movement in the big city was the positioning of men with guns, and there were a lot of them. Everybody waited nervously for the invasion to begin.
They only had to wait for a few minutes before a dot was spotted in the Northern sky. It grew larger and moved at an alarming speed. Soon Pete was able to grasp the size and shape of the monster starship.
It wasn’t like any Star Trek starship he had ever seen. The base was huge and square. The bottom was completely flat. The side walls were also flat and pockmarked with brown and black stains from long-range space travel. The men could not see behind th
e walls, but what they could see looked like a city. It looked very old.
Several circular towers grew out of the middle of the ship at varying heights. They were also pockmarked. There weren’t any engines or any apparent control room. The giant space ship just seemed to float in the sky as it headed straight towards the Gateway Arch.
To Pete, it looked more like a replica of a monument he had seen rather than a space ship. He just couldn’t remember where he had seen it.
The starship slowed down and settled about six hundred feet above the ground over the Mississippi River. It was directly in front of the Gateway Arch. Pete could now see that it was about a mile long and a mile deep. He was very scared and sweat filled his tee shirt. How can we defeat an enemy that could build such a huge machine? His determination was weakening. He was sure that others were worried too.
The starship hovered in the same place for several minutes without moving. Pete noticed that there was a large arched portal door in the center of the front wall of the ship. He realized that the attackers would come out that hole. He also knew that over a hundred men with guns were stationed inside the observation deck of the arch directly in front of the portal. He hoped that they would make the Sumi pay as they left the ship.
Suddenly, the portal door began to roll up. Some very tall blue men on what looked like sleds began to eagerly crowd the opening. They appeared to be waiting for a signal.
Pete then heard the roar of rockets being fired. That was when all hell broke loose.
***
The four Cobra helicopters sent by Fort Leonard Woods arrived on the scene and let loose with all their formidable weapons. Each Cobra carried four missiles, a grenade launcher and a 20mm belly-mounted machine gun pod. The missiles, the grenades and the machine gun bullets slammed into the huge starship. It never even wavered.
Suddenly a red beam shot out from the tallest tower on the starship. It ripped into the Gateway Arch near the top and blew clear through it. A ten foot gap appeared between the two sides of the arch. Pete was horrified when he realized that a hundred good men had just been killed and they hadn’t even gotten off a single shot. His resolve to fight quickly vanished and he leaped out of his hiding place to retreat.
The Society of Orion: Book Eight The Sumi Collision (Colton Banyon Mysteries 22) Page 3