by Isaac Stone
“Let me know what I can do to help,” he told me. “I’ll tell Kelly the good news too. Guess I need to get used to calling you ‘sir’.” He laughed over the last one.
I thanked him and continued to head back to my quarters. From what they’d told me, I’d move into an officer’s unit once we reached Earth, but I could stay with the other NCO’s until we made it home. I was still in a daze over what happened. Too bad, I had no idea where my mother was at the time. She’d have been stunned to find out her son was an officer in the Solar Force, even if the ragtag Jurassic part of it. She never thought I’d amount to much and this would be a shock.
FOUR
Clearly the real military commanders were all dead and floating through hard vacuum on the Black Road, because how the hell I became the operations leader was a troubling mystery. However, I rolled with it like I always did. I needed to figure out how to put the whole operation together. To do that I’d need to look over the information on the island where the Invaders established their jump portal beachhead. It wouldn’t do any of us a lot of good if we all ended up dead during the first hour of the attack. Right now, I could assume the Invaders didn’t know we were on to them. They might suspect something, but we still had the advantage of first knowledge. As far as I knew, the scout we had on the island was still there and could help to guide us around the island.
The island itself was hard to reach from the ocean. It wasn’t that big, but rose up out of the Pacific on a torrent of cliffs. There was only one beach we could use to make the landing and the Invaders would have it covered with every kind of weapon in their arsenal. If the scout’s reports were correct, they could bring anything they wanted in through that portal. However, he’d mentioned they were limited to its use. Our best guess was that the jump portal consumed so much power it could only be used at specific times. This was the situation with the deep space jump points and it was logical the one on Earth worked under similar constraints.
There would be no easy way to land the dinosaurs without attracting some kind of attention. It wouldn’t be a good idea to land them from the air, as this would require a secure landing zone for the drop shuttles to come down. Good luck doing that if the Invaders had any kind of antiaircraft guns hidden on that Island. The scout seemed to think they did, although he couldn’t get as close as he wanted to their weapon facilities. This was not too surprising, as they would kill the scout the moment the Invaders realized he was there.
This left an amphibious assault. To carry it out would require the navy and marines. The Force would have to work with their terrestrial version to get us what we needed and they wouldn’t have much time to do it. I could see a way to pull it off, but we would need at least five amphibious landing ships and some kind of missile support from the waters around the island. We’d also need air support to tie down anything they might have on that beach to stop us. I needed to get everyone onto that beach and under the cover of foliage quick or we’d be mowed down from whatever gun emplacements the Invaders had around it. Once under the tree line we could proceed to the cave inland where the portal was supposed to be housed and take possession of it.
Another problem would be the portal itself. If we could coordinate our landing between the times it was in operation, we had a good chance of taking out whatever the Invaders used to guard it. If they opened up that portal, we’d be forced to get off the island quick and let the Force hit it from space with a nuke. So long as the portal remained there, the Invaders had a way to by-pass the Earth defenses.
I’d already made the decision to bring the Grunt Stompers into this battle. They had the background and the experience to take out the Invader defense. Best of all, we had the most decorated dino mech in the Force. The scout reported there were at least three monstrous kaiju patrolling the island, maybe more. We’d need Terry and company with their weapons to go after them.
I spent the rest of the time before we reached the jump point with the Raptors and let them know they had another job to do on Earth. No one complained; they looked forward to giving the Invaders some of what we took on Chaos. Most of the Raptors wanted to see how things worked out when the levels were turned in our favor. They still were angry over what happened when we had to retreat to the plateau. I warned everyone we had to hit hard and fast. As this was what the Grunt Stompers lived for, I didn’t see a problem.
Still no world about Sergeant Zhuang. I hoped he’d survived down there on Chaos.
There were three days we needed to lock down the ship and sit tight while the crew made plans to shift from one place in the universe to another. I had no clue where Chaos space was in relation to Earth only that it was very far away. The first wave of space exploration to the stars didn’t follow a specific pattern. The explorers would find some location where inhabitable planets were likely to be and found a way to fold space in that direction. This was done with a portal on one side where the gate would open up and let an exploration ship through to the other. Most of the time it was parsecs away from the desire location and would need to be recalibrated. After a few jumps, they would have the location down and the colony ships could begin to use the gate once the planet was cleared for habitation.
Transfer through the gate took very little subject time, but it was essential that everything be locked in place before it happened. Once you were on the other side, it wasn’t a big deal.
We locked ourselves into our compartments, strapped ourselves into the locking points on the walls and waited. There was a momentary sense of distortion and the starship was on the Earth side of the portal. The captain of the ship let us all know the expected time to arrival and we went back on with our daily affairs.
I had Hamid and Kelly bumped up to sergeants the day before. The rank seemed to fit them.
“That is just crazy,” Kelly pointed out as he and Hamid and I were busily going over intel reports and formulating our plan of attack. “I can’t believe that scarlet woman took them all on by herself. And she did it while carrying a child.”
“I’ve heard some strange things about that Babylon Order,” Hamid told me.
“Like what?” I had to ask.
“You don’t mess around with them. They have support in some high places. They get what they want, but don’t push themselves on other people. They have these temples all over the place where you can have private consultations with the Sisterhood for a small donation. Seems like a good way to keep the money coming into the temple. You never see them raising funds or soliciting for money. They even run orphanages on some colony worlds. Did she tell you anything about their philosophy?”
“No. She never had a chance to. I’d like to know more about them. They talk a lot about purpose and destiny, but no one seems to know a lot of what they believe.”
Kelly snorted. “I’ve never been able to make sense of it. I used to think they were one of those Hindu groups, but they’re not. Some similarities, but not much. They are a completely different group. They just came out of nowhere, right after the first groups left Earth for the colony worlds. Some people think it was because humans left Earth that all these new religious groups appeared for the first time.”
“Why the breeding program? I couldn’t understand what she meant by it. Are these women trying to produce some kind of super human to save the universe? I thought Eugenics were outlawed centuries ago,” I said.
“I think they need recruits. They are too hard-core for most women and no one really wants to join up if you have other options. So they end up finding orphans and sometimes raising their own children in the Order. Pretty creepy way to be brought up, if you ask me. I’ve never heard of anyone leaving the Order who was raised in it. I’m told they even have a ceremony where the kids can choose to leave or stay when they turn eighteen. I guess once your entire world revolves around one group, it takes a lot to say farewell to it.” Kelly said after some thought.
“At least they don’t have to worry about their parents running off on them," I observe
d.
FIVE
Two days later, I stood on the deck of an amphibious attack vehicle and watched waves on a beach. We were supposed to use to make the initial landing on the island in just a few minutes.
Officially, it was known as Gibson Island. I have never found out who Gibson was or why he or she was able to get their name on an island. It was one of the many islands used by the Polynesians in their great migration across the Pacific thousands of years ago. Before the Invaders arrived and killed everyone, it had a thriving fishing industry, even if a small population. The Invaders made their appearance that night and struck fast enough to make certain no one sent out a distress signal. If the one old man hadn’t escaped, the knowledge the Invaders were there might never have reached the Force in time. As it was, the scout they had planted on the island was able to send us out information on when the portal was used. From this information, they told us how long the portal took to recharge it between runs.
We figured the gate was going to be down for another three days. This would give us plenty of time to land on the island and seize the gate before they could bring more help across. We didn’t think they had more than a few hundred stalkers on the island with the kaiju. We could match their numbers and were fighting on home territory. This would be the second time I went in to engage the Invaders on terrestrial soil, but the first time I was in complete control of our side. The first time I was a lowly scrub fresh out of training. The war with the aliens made promotion in the ranks a necessity. I wasn’t the only one who’d shot up through the ranks.
This time we would hit the beach in a wave of four fast submersibles that would come out of the water and roll onto the sand. Our scout was supposed to be out there somewhere, although Force Intelligence hadn’t communicated with him in the past three days. We expected some opposition from the Invaders, but they weren’t supposed to be aware of our arrival. Through the farsight I could see no wire emplacements or mines. Any land mines would be buried, but I knew the signs and how to look for them.
“It looks good enough to make the beach landing?” Hamid said to my right. “Orbital said there’s been no unusual activity. Sounds like we can just roll into the place.” He wore a light jacket, as it was colder than usual for this part of the oceans.
“Just what I would want my enemy to think,” I told him. “Make it look nice and peaceful so you don’t see the traps.”
“Are we still going in on the same time schedule?” he asked.
The plan was for the first wave to secure the beach. Any opposition could be isolated and destroyed by the atmospheric drones that were on their way down to our island right now. Once the beach was secure, the undersea transports, which carried Terry and his pals, would surface and unload them with their support crew on the islands. Except for an additional ship that carried several herds of goat for their food source, the transports would submerge and return to their port. When we took the portal, another team would be dropped in to dismantle it. The Force had a team that would figure out how it worked, but they were off planet for the investigation. No reason to take risks.
“Same time,” I informed him. “Let everyone know I’m going in with the first wave.” Hamid looked surprised.
“You sure you want to do that?” he asked me as his brown eyes flared, because in prison you don’t take any risks you don’t have to.
“Of course. Why should I expect the men to take a round unless I put myself in harm’s way?”
We went back down below deck. Our assault vehicle submerged and waited for the agreed upon time.
The first assault vehicle hit the beach an hour later and I was in it. The rest splashed out of the water right behind and came up behind mine. The Invaders had moved boulders close to the beach to prevent us from doing what we did, but the vehicles were able to maneuver around them. We reached the grassy area in front of the tree line in minutes.
Kelly and his squad wanted the honor of being the first ones on the beach, so I let them have the glory. They were in my assault vehicle. We stopped. Once I was given the “go” sign by our pilot, I turned and nodded to the group of forty men stashed in the hold. Seconds later, the ramp dropped open and we all ran outside onto the beach.
I’d told the men to keep it quiet if possible. No battle cries to alert the stalkers since we hoped the beach was free of them. It seemed a good idea. We ran out in the direction of the tree line.
I turned and watched as the other vehicles dispatched their squads. Hundreds of combat veterans were on the beech now, their boots making a repetitive thud sound in the sand. The columns streamed out in the direction of their objectives. I was certain we’d reach them without any trouble, as the beach was quiet in the cool morning air.
We were almost at the tree line when the shooting began.
SIX
I saw a flash from some of the boulders and realized they were waiting for us. I don’t know why they didn’t start popping us when we landed, but that’s aliens for you, never saw a World War II video. There was nothing else we could do. The only way anyone could survive was to reach the protective cover of all those palm trees. I watched as the sand soared up in the air from an impact bomb striking the ground. By now, the Invaders were lobbing mortar rounds in our direction and we were caught out into the open. I grabbed the radio next to me and began to yell at the assault vehicle.
“Mortar rounds coming in from those rocks at three o’clock, “I transmitted. “We need some heat in their direction!” I was still running for the cover of the tree line as I yelled.
“We got it, Captain!” the pilot returned. Seconds later, I heard the air suck back as the first plasma bolt was fired at the rocks.
I continued to push the slower guys in front of me and swear at them even after the mortar quit firing. To my left I saw one man drag another on the ground. There were at least thirteen men down from the barrage we’d taken on our way to the palms trees. I would later find out the Invaders were caught off guard just, as we’d planned, and only left a small sentry group on the beach behind the rocks. When the amphibious assault vehicles hit the beach, they were slow to react, and that saved us countless lives.
The plasma cannon on top of the assault vehicle did its job and fried the area around the rocks at the source of the mortar fire. As I pushed the last Raptor in front of me, I turned and saw the sight of a burning rock from where the plasma bolts grounded. Each bolt fired by the cannon contained enough energy to melt obsidian, but the first rounds missed their targets. The second volley corrected the mistakes of the first and vaporized the Invader mortar team. It was a fitting way to begin our beach landing.
By now, I had every one inside the cover of the palm trees. The air was humid and I could feel the sweat on the back of my neck. At least the helmet I had in place wasn’t loose. It really sucks to run into battle with loose body armor.
“We need to get everyone onto the next point,” I let the NCO’s know. “As soon as the dinosaurs are loose, we’ll be able to move forward. We can’t do that until they’re on the beach.” I looked up to see a drone soar across the beach and drop a few bombs on some targets on the ground. The mortar crew wasn’t the only group of Invaders near us. The earth rumbled as the bombs detonated.
I watched as the assault vehicles backed up and returned to the seawater. A few minutes later they’d submerged and were on their way back to a circle around the island.
The dinosaur transports were the next ones on the beach.
The dinosaur haulers emerged from the water. There was a rushing of the ocean and all five of them rose from the surf to begin their movement to the beach. One at a time they rolled up onto the land and pulled up in the same spot the assault vehicles rested. These were much larger than the vehicles that dumped us into the hot zone. I watched them dig into the sand as they worked their way up to the stones that blocked the entrance to the beach.
“You think any Invader snipers are out there?” Kelly asked me. “The big boys will be easy ta
rgets if they are.”
“I think we’ll be okay,” I let him know. “At least for the minute. When they bring up their kaiju it’s likely to get heated.”
We watched the big green lizards, as they were unloaded from the haulers. The front end of each hauler dropped open and the dinosaur’s handlers brought the lizards out under control. I could tell they’d been sedated for the ride as each flexed its gigantic body around and swung its tail. The riders came out next and helped the handlers get each dinosaur into its armored suit. Once again, the suit unfolded around the dinosaur and put itself into place. The rider could do it by his or herself, but the handlers were there to make sure the dinosaurs were suited up. They had the weapons systems in place with speed borne from countless hours of training. When the armor was on each of the lizards, the pod on the back, where the rider sat, was snapped in place. It was followed by the weapons hangers. In minutes, the dinosaurs went from sleepy big lizards to deadly mountains of meat, metal, and rockets.
I watched as Daphne crawled into her pod. I saluted her. She saluted back and was inside her saddle in the blink of an eye. I monitored the progress of everyone with a headset, but it wasn’t easy to sort out all the transmissions. I had a young corporal with me who was supposed to act as my aide and bodyguard at the same time. If the Invaders figured out the method to what we were doing, they would try to kill me the first chance they had. I wasn’t about to let them do that, at least not without a fight. My prime concern was to get the portal under our control and keep my men from harm, but not necessarily in that order. The portal was supposed to be five miles away at the base of the volcano, but we didn’t know what was between it and us.
With the dinosaurs suited up and ready to go, it was an easy task to deploy ourselves to the next stage. We needed to get to the cave where the portal was located before the Invaders had the opportunity to open up the gate. The best information gave us less than a day. Not a lot of time to defeat an invasion force equal in size to ours, but enough time to reach the cave where the portal was stashed. There were several other caves next to the one we had to take.