**
“Now I want no heroes. We need to see if this facility really exists. I was an aide to General Lambert at one time and he was responsible for several of these Deep Underground Bases and the closest one to us is in Virginia. I know it’s a hell of a hike so you are going to have to take it easy and keep a point man out at all times. I don’t want you to engage them unless it is absolutely necessary. I’m taking Alpha Team. Barrette, you are heading up Beta. The route you are to take is on the maps I handed out. I wish I could be more precise as to the location but that is all I remember. One place was a supply station and the other was the actual training facility. Which is which? Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Sir, if there is just one of them can we try to take it down with the SMAW,” referring to the Shoulder-launched Multi-purpose Assault Weapon missile launcher.
“Sergeant, listen to me. Let the damn things alone unless you are backed into a corner. When I say do not engage them that is exactly what I mean. If you find you are ass up to eyeballs in alligators, then use everything at your disposal. We don’t know how they communicate. Firing at them may allow them to bring in others and then what? You sure can’t call for reinforcements because as you well know, there aren’t any,” Carlson said.
“Got it Louie,” he replied.
“Okay, any other questions?”
No one said anything.
“Then Alpha will leave in twenty minutes. Water, MREs, two HEAA missiles, and extra mags. Johnny, you are on the Mk-48. Get rid of anything that might rattle or make noise. Sergeant, I want you to leave an hour later. Take the other Mk-48 and assign it. I want to see you back here understand?”
“Got it Louie. You be careful. You may be a damned officer but you're pretty much okay in our book. Good luck. We’ll see you back here.”
They shook hands and headed off to make final preparations. Carlson stopped by and told him of the plans and that Sergeant Lewis would be in charge. He knew the limits of his authority and that they had the right to leave if they felt like it. JD thanked him and shook his hand.
JD, Fingers, and Vivian stood watching as they filed out and disappeared into the night.
“Do you think they will make it?” Vivian asked.
“I don’t know. Carlson is a good man. I hope so. It is a hell of an undertaking. They are safe here and they are leaving for the unknown. We had no choice. He does.”
“Maybe we should pray for them.”
“I sure don’t see how that could hurt,” JD said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“General, one of the trucks is headed in.”
“Do they have one of those things?”
“Sir, they sure have something. I don’t know what else it could be.”
“Thanks. The jets are due back at any moment. Tell them to take whatever it is to the hanger and get everyone away from it. Post guards. I don’t want anyone to touch it until we know what we are dealing with,” he said.
Just as he finished, the first F-22 made a graceful landing and rolled down the strip. A few seconds later the others returned, one after the other. They looked none the worse for wear which gave him encouragement.
He jumped into a Hummer and raced to the parking ramp as the birds came rolling up and jerked to a stop. Once the canopy was open he got out and walked to the squad leader’s plane.
“I don’t see any marks. I’m taking that as a good sign,” he said smiling and returning the salute of the captain.
“Sir, we did do some damage. We didn’t bring it down but it’s hurt for sure. Quite a few of the missiles got through and did serious damage, especially to the underside. The energy stream seems to be totally destroyed. We got to within about a mile but decided not to press our luck. It still had some functioning ability. It was still operational but nothing like it was before.”
“What about another attack? Could we bring the whole thing down?”
“It may take two or three attacks and then I couldn’t be sure. Sir I can’t even begin to tell you how big it is. My best guess is at least three miles in diameter. It is massive. It will take a lot to totally destroy it but we are willing to go back up and give it as many goes as we have missiles,” the squad leader told him.
“We have four more F-22s and four F-35 Lightnings and six F-16s. I want them all armed to the hilt. Cannons as well. I’ll get every SAM on the base and have them fire until we either bring it down or run out.”
“Yes sir. I’ll get the air strike organized. I’ll get back to you as soon as we are ready to roll.”
“Take as many men as you need to get the birds totally loaded. If it has a hard point I want something hanging from it.”
“Yes sir. Hot damn. We are actually going to take it to the bastards,” the squad leader said hurrying off.
He was in such a hurry he had forgotten to even salute General Erickson as he climbed in the Hummer and headed across the base.
**
The pilot had been right. The giant command ship had been seriously crippled. It had lost all communication to the probes and to the other ships as well. It was in distress but those aboard were doing everything they could to re-route power to communications.
They needed support from the other ships. The closest one was over a thousand miles away and had no way of knowing the fate of the other ship.
In all of their voyages, this was the first time any ship had been damaged by an attack of any type. The Supreme Commander on the ship was baffled by the stubbornness of the inhabitants of this insignificant planet.
They had rolled over hundreds of similar planets and had never faced retaliation before. It was very perplexing. While the weapons were not particularly powerful, the tactics used were effective. It was the coordinated attack from the air combined with the one from the ground that had caused the damage.
Now they were fighting to maintain control and regain communication. If another attack came before they could affect repairs they might well be the first causality suffered by the Kiljong species. The thought of being the first Supreme Commander to lose a ship was mortifying to him.
The Kiljong’s home world, unknown to humans, was 13 billion light years away in a galaxy known to Earth as MACS-0647-JD. Kiljong itself had yet to be seen by the most powerful telescopes humans had built.
The original Kiljong planet had been treated much like Earth with its resources squandered and overpopulation. This forced them to find an alternative world. Even then, billions of years ago, the growth in population was exponentially greater than that planet could handle.
With food and resources being depleted at such a rapid rate it was decided that planets with certain criteria would be returned to their original state and all growth removed so that in time it would be virtually untouched. These planets would serve for the future generations of Kiljong.
Of all the planets they had stripped of old growth, this was the first one that put up enough resistance to actually attack one of their ships. It had been a rude awaking to the Supreme Commander.
**
“General, the planes are ten miles out. They have a visual. They are reporting damaged areas along the perimeter.”
“Ready all SAM batteries,” Erickson told them.
“Eight miles.”
“Fire all missiles,” Erickson ordered.
The F-22, F-35 and F-16 unleashed the array of missiles. At the same time the SAMs were leaving their tubes, streaking towards the target.
“Missiles are on the way.”
“Copy,” Erickson acknowledged, listening for the strikes.
Seconds later loud ‘BOOMS’ could be heard as the missiles found their target. When the last ones were released the planes immediately broke off and started their return to base. When the last SAM was unleashed, Erickson had all the men and women immediately head for the hardened bunkers.
He stayed behind and waited. A huge explosion rocked the base followed by two secondary explosions of equal intensity. He heard
a sound, almost like a huge groan and then the sky became brilliant and a fire ball erupted through the clouds.
He watched intently as the huge ship suddenly broke through the clouds, obviously trying to maintain altitude but even at this distance he knew it was a lost cause. The ship pounded into the ground with a shock wave that literally knocked the General off his feet and raised the Hummer on its side. Dust, dirt, and debris rolled over him as he tried to see what was going on.
The ship exploded on impact causing another shock wave. The Hummer was flipped end over end and the General was blown along the strip like a rag doll. At some point he hit his head and lost consciousness. The last thing he saw was the ship collapsing under its own weight.
**
“Well?” Major Anderson asked.
“No.”
“Crap. I want him readied for burial. We will have the ceremony right here on base. He was a hell of a soldier and a hell of a leader. He is going to be greatly missed,” the Major said.
“The loss will be felt by the enlisted men as well. He was one of those who lead by example and never sent anyone into battle unless he was alongside them. Did you know he got reprimanded twice for doing that?”
“No, but it doesn’t surprise me. You can cover him now,” Anderson told the doctor.
He slid the covers over the bruised and battered face of General Erickson. It had been a bittersweet day. Erickson had brought down one of the giant ships but refused to leave until everyone was safely inside the bunkers.
The first blast had fractured his wrist but the subsequent ones had been the ones that had actually cost him his life. The doctor looked down at the lifeless body once again and wondered if anyone would live to tell the story behind this amazing soldier and man.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
President Coaler was in his private office when General Preston knocked.
“Come,”
“Sir,” Preston said, sticking his head inside the office.
“Come on in. I wasn’t really doing anything constructive,” the President said.
“All the teams are out. The last went a few minutes ago. Is there anything else that you would like us to be doing?”
“Not that I can think of,” he said staring off into space.
The general waited a few seconds before speaking.
“Sir.”
“Oh, sorry. Yes?”
“Sir, I know this isn’t my place to ask but are you okay?”
“I don’t even know how to answer that General. I mean I have done nothing but think about our last meeting. This Rockford Committee threw me for a loop. Power held by a few that are even above the heads of countries. How does such a thing happen? I mean who said, ‘I know, we should actually take over the planet and run it?’ How can they be so arrogant as to think that they should be the ones in charge?”
“Sir, we created the opportunity.”
“I don’t understand what you mean by we created it.”
“I don’t mean you and I. I mean the country. When special interest groups started grabbing power by throwing huge sums of money at politicians it opened the door. Sir, I believe a lot of newly elected officials come to Washington DC to genuinely represent the people but they find out very quickly what they want doesn’t matter one little bit. Senior Senators have the power to guide their careers. Money finds its way into their hands. They are bribed, spied on, tempted, and if all else fails, simply have an accident.”
“Wait. That’s crazy. We don’t kill people because they don’t go along with a program.”
“Sir, you remember Senator Jaxon form Arizona?”
“The one whose plane disappeared on his flight back to his home state.”
“Yes sir.”
“What about it?”
“It was no accident.”
“General. Stop right there. You are telling me that his demise was not an accident? You know this for a fact?”
“Yes sir, I do. A modified Hughes P500 helicopter was used to shoot it down. Now sir, think about that for a moment. Who has that kind of power? Sir, not even you could have gotten away with that or covered it up completely the way that was. No wreckage was ever found. No bodies. No heat signatures exist. And that is not the only time.”
“My God. You are talking about acts of treason.”
“Sir, treason is not a word in their vocabulary. The only thing they recognize is power and money.”
The President sat stunned at what he was hearing. After a few seconds he spoke.
“You said you knew this for a fact. How?”
“I was ordered to remove all trace of heat signatures from any military bases and satellites. No evidence was to remain. Sir, I am very good at my job.”
“This is unbelievable. This can’t be true.”
“Mr. President, the same thing goes on in the military. I got here because I played the game and did as I was told. Very early on I was approached and my career path was explained if I did as I was told. If I didn’t I would either be relegated to a frontline war and while I was there, my family would disappear. I took the cowardly way out and did what I was told. If it had just been about me, maybe I would have done something different but with the threat to my family, I buckled under. I supported the wars I was told to support. I used my influence to get arms into allies' hands, knowing full well we would end up fighting them and getting Americans killed. Have you ever wondered how we make so many mistakes in arming rebel forces? We don’t really. That is what the Committee wants us to do because they make money off of both ends of the war. It’s just business. People are simply collateral damage,” the General told him.
“Where is the committee located?”
“I don’t have a clue sir. I don’t know and don’t want to know. Honestly sir, neither do you. I only hope they were all killed in the attack.”
“General, I would like to be alone if you don’t mind. I appreciate your candor in these talks. I guess I can take some solace in the fact that I screwed up their plans.”
“You did do that. What you have to consider is whether you would have been allowed to finish out your term,” the general said as he was leaving.
**
Coaler was really struggling with what he had just learned. The Rockford Committee political manipulation was bad enough but to have the power to have people murdered was beyond belief.
He got out a piece of paper and wrote as many names of people as he could think of who had been what he considered good elected officials. He then drew two columns. One said: Still in Office, the other heading was: No Longer in Office.
He went down the list putting checks in the appropriate boxes. When he was finished he was shocked to see that only three were still in office. Seven of those no longer in office, had died one way or another. Plane crashes, car wrecks, heart attacks, and other unknown reasons. He stared at the list and shook his head. It simply couldn’t be. Not here in America.
He put down his pen and went to the door.
“I need to see the Secretary of Defense,” he told the Secret Service agent.
“Yes, sir,” he said and hurried off to find him.
“You sent for me sir?” he said after knocking on the door and being told to enter.
“Yes I did. Mr. Secretary we are going to have a very frank discussion. I want your absolute honesty. I want to cut through all of the bullshit. Do you understand?’
“Sir?”
“Damn it Tony. I want a truthful answer for once. You understand that don’t you?” the President said his voice starting to rise.
“Sir, I’ll tell you what I know.”
“Alright. Listen to me and answer without any dancing around. I want to know what would have would have happened to me if I made it through the first term and had managed, despite the media’s attempts, to get re-elected.”
“What would have happened?”
The President came out of his chair and stood over the Secretary of Defense.
“I
said I wanted honest answers. You will give them to me or it will become very unpleasant and I mean right this minute.”
The President had balled up his fists and his neck was becoming red. Coaler had been an amateur boxer at one time and was darned good at it. His record was 27-2-2 before he retired and finished college.
“Sir. I do not know the exact details. I can only tell you that you would not have taken the oath of office for the second time.”
“Why?’
“It would not have been allowed to happen.”
“You’re saying I would have been killed?”
The Secretary of Defense took a deep breath and looked down at the floor.
“You would have been eliminated by accident or by assassination. It had not been determined. Those plans were pending the outcome of your popularity polls.”
The President looked down at him for several seconds.
“You knew this? You were a cabinet member. On my trusted inner circle. Even that wasn’t enough for you to come to me.”
“I couldn’t.”
“I see,” the President said and walked over to the door and opened it.
“Come in,” he told the Secret Service man.
“Sir?”
“You are to escort Tony Spears to the bunker exit with exactly what he has with him at this moment. He is not to talk or to gather up anything. You will see that he is placed outside the bunker. Is that understood?”
The agent’s eyes got big for a second before saying, “Yes sir.”
“Good. Do it immediately. I am ordering you explicitly not to allow him to say a single word. No goodbyes or anything else.”
“Yes sir. I’ll take care of it immediately,” the agent said waking over to Tony.
“Mr. Secretary.”
“His name is Tony Spears. He is not the Secretary of Defense,” the President said harshly.
“Mr. Spears,” the agent said.
Tony stood and looked at the President.
“I will die out there, you know that.”
“Please get him out of my sight,” the President said to the agent.
WORLDS END Page 10