by Terri Lane
“It won’t be long.” Waylen noticed me sitting at an idle computer next to an operation specialist just as seemingly bored, yet anxious as I was. The room had several rows of long desks that held computer screens and specialists who were responsible for communicating directly with the squad commanders.
“It’s like you’re holding a notched and taught bow,” I said.
“We all are, that fleet is simply awaiting our command,” he told me.
“I feel like I need some whiskey or something,” I murmured.
“It helps,” he shrugged. I giggled, then glanced to the head of the room when Waylen’s name was called. The general who called him wasn’t exactly quiet as he leaned towards him.
“The Corsovians are starting their attack,” he said. The entire room heard it and all activity stopped for a few breathless seconds. On the screen, I watched as several Corsovian ships disappeared in twinkles of light, then reappeared right in the center of our frontline ship formations. They shot as many as possible before they were blown up by our fighters.
“Short range warp?” I mused out loud.
“It must be, those capabilities on large ships are—were practically unheard of,” muttered the specialist beside me. The room jumped into gear, orders were relayed from Waylen and the other generals and I watched as that was reflected in the sky. The big screen was split up into six smaller ones and showed as the defensive ships and space range guns on Earth were getting ready for random Corsovian landings. If they had the capabilities for short range warp then they could be anywhere. No wonder, after all their seeming anxiety that we’d gain Bagarian aid, they were still confident they could beat us knowing we’d gotten Bagar-1’s help. They were harboring a secret technology that no amount of intelligence gained on them could’ve foretold.
I remembered why I was even in the command center in the first place, then shot up from my seat to go tell the council what was happening. It was time to get in gear.
“The fight’s started early,” I announced. Quickly, I grabbed my laptop and phone to do my observing and reporting right from the command room.
***
“Even if they warp to Earth’s direct orbit they have to emerge at some point and we have guns pointed at the sky as well as fighter craft patrolling it.” The specialist next to me, whose name I’d learned was Macy Grier, had been speculating out loud with me and answering any question of mine that she could. Her job, specifically, was to monitor the radar surrounding our moon outpost and radio in whenever she picked up anything incoming. Then to communicate with said outpost in case of anything. So far, no Corsovians made it close enough to the moon and Earth to call any attention from the head of the room.
Waylen was pacing in a controlled manner around the room. His eyes seemed to catch everything. Whenever we lost a ship, he ordered for a nearby squad to ‘band’ with the disadvantaged squad and widen its breadth of attack. Which actually worked to deal a heavier blow to any Corsovians dumb enough to think they gained some sort of advantage.
“But theoretically…they could warp right to the ground?” I asked Macy. She hesitated, glancing at her computer screen to buy herself some time.
“I don’t know the full nature of short range warp, but theoretically…I suppose so,” she answered. “Are you going to put that in your report to D.C.?”
“No, I wouldn’t put anything out there that revolves around ‘theoretically,’ I only asked for my own morbid curiosity,” I admitted. She breathed a sigh of relief.
“Good, because that would make people more nervous than they already are. No doubt everyone is watching the news,” she said. I had to give it to Macy, even though we talked, she rarely looked away from the screen. I was sure, all I’d remember about her was a handsome profile and perfect blonde bun at the top of her head.
Macy tapped the computer screen to open a connection with the moon outpost. I noticed the radar showing several unmarked grey dots headed towards the outpost, those meant Corsovians.
“…there are seven, now nine incoming ships. Be alert,” she said, her voice sounding like a machine as she repeated the message until she heard a response from the base. I watched the radar as ships from the outpost took off and swarmed the enemies, quickly taking them out. I was afraid to hope too much that we had the fight in the bag. There could be more waves incoming over the next few hours, next several days even. Clearly the Corsovians were capable of surprising us, as they’ve done a few times during this entire ordeal.
“Corsovians have made contact with the moon outpost,” Macy announced to the nearest general.
“Grier, make sure the ships surrounding the planet are aware,” General Atkins told her. Waylen came over and studied her screen. His eyes shifted up, to the big screen at the head of the room, then shifted back.
“They’re re-routing their ships,” he murmured.
“How are you tracking that?” I asked. When I stared at the big screen, I saw untagged dots evenly spread through the solar system, but directly engaging with our ships. Some blinked in and out, but it was hard to tell if there was any collective forward motion.
“Yes, it’s small scale, they’re trying to catch us off guard,” he announced.
“There’s another big wave of Corsovians passing across the perimeter,” one of the other generals noted. Waylen’s expression had already been focused, but he lost the confident reservation about him and I watched his eyes turn to ice. The Corsovians ability for short-range warp was getting to him. Most importantly, it looked like they’d be getting to us soon.
I took a deep breath and continued sending out updates. I used my report typing to keep my mind off the choking anxiety that threatened to paralyze me. The battle wasn’t lost yet, it simply moved into another phase. Waylen carefully rerouted our own ships to match the movements of theirs. It was wild to see the amount of ships orbiting Earth slowly thicken to combat the enemies appearing closer to the planet. Soon it was apparent that all the Corsovians really had was their ability to warp short-range. Their ships were still lacking compared to that of the Bagarians.
“They’re going to force their way onto the ground,” Macy murmured. There’s no telling where exactly they’d choose to land first either. I hoped it wouldn’t be in the thick of a dense city like in the movies. A nice and open field would serve just as well as any other battlefield.
“At least we’re ready for it,” I told her. She spared me a quick glance and small smile.
“All ground operation specialists communicate with our squads on the ground to be ready and vigilant,” Waylen announced. My eyes widened a fraction, he wasn’t denying it, the Corsovians would touch ground. I eyed the base’s computer that was idle behind my own laptop.
“Can I ah…access video feeds with this?” I asked Macy.
“Yeah, insert your access key to the slot in the back and log into the public security server to pull up feeds from whatever cameras you want to look through,” she said quickly. The moon radar showed enemies popping up and surrounding the outpost. I quickly followed her direction and found a list of camera feeds to stream. Knor was at the southeast entrance and there was a 360-degree security camera just over the door. I could see Knor and the other soldiers scanning the area and standing at the ready. My eyes kept flipping between the radars on the big screen, which showed the Corsovians moving closer to Earth with a then easily traceable pattern, Macy’s screen with the moon battle, and the video feed I pulled up.
Macy was busy at her job, getting more support to the moon before the entire ball of ice was blown up. Really, it just looked like a couple dozen enemy dots surrounding the moon, but there were enough of our fighters to fend them off. The closer the other Corsovians leapfrogged to Earth though, the more enemies the moon outpost had to deal with.
“Grier, what are we dealing with on the moon?” one of the generals asked. She quickly projected her screen onto the big one, amid the other high intensity radars shown.
“Frankly it’s
a shit storm, but we’re managing,” she commented. She got back to alerting the outpost and a few pilots to what they couldn’t, or were too busy to see. Waylen stepped up to my side and noticed what I was watching.
“Keeping an eye on him?” he murmured.
“Can you blame me? I’m anxious, the only way to manage it is to split my focus,” I told him. Waylen’s eyes locked with mine for the span of a second. His brows were drawn in concentration, no doubt his mind was still very much in the fight, but I understood what he wanted to say. He still believed we’d make all make it out on top. I took a deep breath and he gave me an infinitesimal nod before moving on to continue his slow pace around the room.
“We have contact!” one of the specialists announced. My eyes went to the big screen just as a different radar was shown of what looked like Florida and the military base in Cape Canaveral. Three huge Corsovian ships appeared over it. A second later, actual video feed was displayed, showing the ships in the sky and our own air force pilots taking their focus and gunning them down.
“They’re swarming,” Waylen said. The radar showed the Corsovians swarming Earth’s military bases specifically. As much as it pained me to admit it but Waylen had been right initially. Earth was underequipped to deal with an invasion. Clearly, we had informants and Corsovian spies well within the ranks to know the exact location of our bases. They were a race of deception experts. I watched Waylen as he gave orders and worked with everyone to keep the fight moving in our favor like a well-oiled machine. He stopped, suddenly, to answer his phone. Of all things. I watched his expression which was angry as he answered, then shock registered in his eyes, but he recovered quickly.
“What is it?” I found myself asking from across the room. He took a deep breath.
“The Corsovians are certainly cocky, they’ve entered the Bagarian system,” he said through ground teeth. There was more annoyance in his voice than concern. The Bagarian system had three habited planets, Bagar-1, included. Their solar system should be fine in slapping out the Corsovians.
A flash in my peripheral vision brought my gaze down to the screen showing Knor’s squad. A truck door had been opened and the sun glinted off the window. Two of the soldiers were taking cover behind the door, the entire squad was using the truck as a sort of cover, while pointing their attention to the sky.
“Corsovians are over our base,” I announced.
“Generals, make sure all the other military bases around the world are holding up, or are ready to hold up,” Waylen ordered. Several of the screens then displayed video feeds from around our base. The Corsovian ships were first being intercepted by our fighter pilots. But more enemies spawned from warp and soon the big ion guns mounted on the trucks spread out through the base were being used to mostly disintegrate Corsovian ships in huge explosions. I watched as a smoky fog settled over the base amid all the shooting and burning enemy ships. I watched as a few of our own pilots went down with damaged wings or hulls. But we took more casualties than we gave.
“Corsovian ships are dropping low enough to dispatch soldiers,” an analyst announced. My eyes went to the feed of Knor and his squad. They hadn’t yet encountered anything, but one of the soldiers was up on the truck’s ion gun and shooting up at a lowering Corsovian ship. He managed to clip the ships wing, which made it spiral down to the ground, about twenty yards down the street from Knor’s position. It didn’t blow up, but it was smoking and Corsivian soldiers quickly escaped like ants. My heart and lungs started to petrify in my chest as I watched, holding my breath, as Knor and his squad shot at the Corsovians, who traded fire with them. One of our soldiers went down after taking a shot to the thigh. He was bleeding a lot as one of the others helped him into the back seat of the truck. Knor’s squad managed to take out all ten Corsovians that emerged from the burning ship. I took small breaths as the barest amount of relief eased the tension in my chest.
“It’s clear they’re abandoning the space front. They want to destroy us, not take over,” one of the generals said. I glanced at all the radars of space on display. There were hardly any more Corsovians surrounding Earth. They were on Earth.
I rubbed my face and took a slow and deep breath. Next to me, Macy was continuing to do her duty, though there weren’t any more enemies around the moon outpost. She was mostly monitoring the incoming Corsovians and alerting the bases as to their numbers and positions.
“There’s two more ships attempting to unload soldiers here,” I said. Knor’s squad needed backup or they wouldn’t make it. One of the generals came to look at my screen and ordered a couple specialists to send troops to the southeast entry point. I breathed a little easier knowing Knor would have help. Two friendly trucks came roaring up the street and helped Knor’s squad shoot down the two ships. But about thirty troops had already escaped the ships and were trading fire with our guys.
Knor had taken cover behind the door of his truck and was shooting enemies down with precision, he was quite the marksman. But the Corsovians had them beat two to one in number and that was factoring in big time. Our soldiers were thinning out.
“The entry point is…lost,” Macy mumbled next to me.
“No…no,” I said, my tone laced with horror. Knor couldn’t die, he simply couldn’t.
“Put this on,” Waylen was at my side, handing me a bulletproof vest. I stood up and quickly put it on. My eyes were wide with all the tumultuous emotion rolling around in my chest.
“He can’t die Waylen,” I whispered, the fear was choking my voice. Waylen’s expression, as he looked at me, was almost confused.
“You’re putting on a bulletproof vest in hopes to preserve your life, yet you’re worried about his?” he asked. His tone was gruff, but he was still held together. His eyes searched mine as he waited for my answer.
“Of course,” I said. Waylen’s jaw clenched and he glanced at the video feed of Knor and only five others then, trying to fend off eight Corsovians just as skilled.
Waylen turned to General Atkins who’d joined the little group watching my screen. “Will you all have everything covered here for the next ten minutes?” he asked.
“Sure…why do you ask General?” Atkins asked.
“I need to get my cousin,” he answered.
“High General I wouldn’t advise you go out there. That entry point is almost lost,” Atkins warned him.
“Waylen—” I said, but he held up a hand. Instead of saying anything, he held my gaze for a second and I saw that he was resolved to get Knor—for me.
“Give the southeast squad orders to retreat,” he barked before hurrying out of the room.
“Shit.” Atkins murmured. He told a specialist to give the order. I watched as Knor and the few soldiers still on their feet slowly backtracked, while covering each other’s back. Waylen emerged from the door with four soldiers that had been posted inside. They traded fire with the Corsovians and a solder directly to the left of Waylen went down. I closed my eyes, unable to bear it as both Waylen and Knor’s lives hung in the balance.
“They made it, Representative look, they made it,” Macy told me. I opened my eyes just in time to see Knor and the soldiers who fought with him hurry inside. Waylen held the door open while two of the solders he came out with helped the wounded one inside. I let out a gust of relieved breath when Waylen shut the door behind him and they were all inside safe. Everybody in the room cheered very briefly before going back to work. I realized the video feed had been put up on the big screen. But it was quickly switched out for several radars that were tracking a marked thinning of Corsovian forces among the bases they were attempting to infiltrate.
My feet moved before I consciously thought to do so. I hurried to meet Waylen and Knor halfway.
“Aliya.” Knor called my name when we met at the top of the hall leading to the central command room. It was just Waylen and Knor, I imagined the other soldiers still capable of fighting were lending a hand to the efforts around the base, those injured were probably headed to t
he base hospital. I hugged Knor tight and caught the scent of gunpowder, smoke, and heat on him.
“I thought you were going to die,” I told him. His eyes were sad as he smiled at me, then gently stepped out of my embrace.
“Waylen risked his life to save me,” he said. I glanced at Waylen, who was watching us with barely any expression. He was holding it all in, waiting to see how the scene unfolding would play out.
“I know…he could’ve been shot,” I said. My voice was thick with unshed tears, nerves, and bit of adrenaline still going through my system. I was dizzy from all the ups and downs.
“What I mean to say is that he risked his life to bring me back for you,” Knor clarified.
“I know…” I glanced at Waylen again, then realized Knor was bowing out.
“He is the better choice for you Aliya. He’s never acted outside of himself and he has constantly for you,” Knor said.
“But—” I glanced at Knor and he nodded with a sad smile. I could tell he was resolved in everything he said.
“If you had the same feelings for me that I do for you, then you wouldn’t have been distracted by him, right?” he asked. He was right, I loved Waylen and I’d mostly been scared to admit it for fear of how bad it would hurt Knor.
“Knor, I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to get so tangled up,” I said. He nodded, his expression understanding, but still sad. I hated to see him so let down.
“I’ll recover. Don’t worry about me, I’m not nearly as destructive as Waylen. I’ll bounce back,” he assured me. Knor glanced at his cousin briefly, before he took a step toward me and kissed me lightly on the lips.
“Where are you going now?” I asked.
“Don’t worry, you’ll see me again,” he said. Knor stepped around Waylen then, and disappeared behind the stairwell door. I glanced at him, my chest felt weird with all the emotions I was trying to process.