Anxiously thinking of his booty, Dan imagined a patrol coming to check on him and sending him off for a long stay. He feverishly pondered where he could hide his new treasure and come back for it. He decided to take the meat to his mine. Hurrying, he lightly buried the unused remains of the ram and covered the disturbed soil with brush. The drive to the mineshaft was uneventful. Dan stopped every couple hundred feet to pick up dead branches and wipe away his trail. When he saw the familiar patch of overlapping ironwood trees that blocked the mine entrance, he let out a sigh of relief and quickly parked the cart. Retrieving an old camouflage tarp from under a tree and spreading it among the tree branches, he finished the process of covering the cart and breaking up its shape in the trees.
Walking over to the entrance of the old mineshaft, he wasn’t surprised to see that the sturdy old rusty gate was securely closed with a shiny new chain and lock. A quick check of the sand around the entrance assured him that he’d been the last person to visit the shaft. He could see his own faint boot prints, and a small branch he’d left covering the entrance was still in place. He turned on the light switch, bathing the shaft in a dull yellow light. The shaft was cool and welcoming. He made numerous trips to and from the cart, carrying his meat to a large cavern where rusty hardware remained from what had been an elevator shaft, many years forgotten. After the last trip, he stood for a moment and reveled in the cool quietness. Then, walking over to a corner of the cavern, he moved aside an old blanket that looked like it was part of the wall, exposing an old electric fridge and an electric stove. He loaded the meat into the fridge and decided he would spend the night.
After loading up the wheelbarrow with his tools, he started off for another mineshaft he had recently found, where he’d discovered a new vein of quartz. As he passed the ancient elevator shaft the wheelbarrow tipped, sending half his load down into the darkness. Swearing under his breath as he recovered the tools that had landed nearby, he resigned himself to the fact he would have to go after the others. He could feel his muscles tensing with dread. He knew it was a fool’s errand and that he should just forget the tools.
The top portion of the old elevator where the cable spool had been stored, though rusty, still stood solidly. Dan tied off his ropes, forming a harness. He dropped a chemstick down into the darkness. It was barely visible when it hit bottom. He took one last glance around the cavern before starting on his journey down the elevator shaft. Gray stone materialized out of the darkness wherever the light from his mining helmet shone. When he reached the bottom, he found the skeletons of dozens of small animals that had fallen into the shaft over the years, as well as quite a bit of trash, much of which he recognized as his own. Gathering his tools, he decided to quickly explore the level while he was there, knowing he would most likely never come down again. He was surprised to see quite a few old tools lying around, as if their owners would be back soon to continue with the work they’d begun over a hundred years ago. A smile spread across Dan’s face, the first since he’d shot the ram earlier that morning. The tools would fetch a nice price from antique collectors. The wall still held a crude wooden shelf scattered with more tools and some oil lamps. In the soft light of his mining lamp, Dan spied a case of lamp oil on the ground, under the lamps. He filled one of the lamps and doused the wick, and then he reached up and felt along the surface of the shelf near where the lamp had been. Just as he’d hoped, he found a small carton of Diamond brand wooden matches. Striking one of the matches against the side of his helmet, he was rewarded with a flash of flame and smoke. He tried not to choke on the heavy sulfuric cloud from the match as he lit the lamp. The room seemed to grow as the lamp’s light danced throughout, revealing more tools and old articles of clothing.
Dan decided to continue exploring and come back later to investigate his new source of wealth. The path toward the shaft ahead of him was clear, so he turned off his helmet’s lamp to save the battery and instead used the old lamp. Walking slowly, holding the lantern above his head, he was disappointed at the lack of additional artifacts as he searched for signs of gold while checking the walls and ceiling for any dangers. Ten minutes into his search, his bladder demanded relief. He set down the lamp and unzipped his pants. Directing the stream against the wall, he noticed that instead of creating a puddle on the rock floor, his urine was disappearing into a crack where the wall met the floor. After hurriedly zipping up, he grabbed the mining hammer from his belt and started attacking the opening, trying to avoid the heavy ammonia smell. Hammering away at the crack, Dan knew it wasn’t a natural fissure. He wondered if the previous miners had drilled out a secret room and somehow he’d missed the entrance. Twenty minutes later, he’d only expanded the hole to the size of a silver dollar. Taking his flashlight from his belt, he directed the beam through the hole, but he couldn’t see anything beyond the floor. Hollering into the hole, he heard his echo from the distance.
Fatigue getting the better of him, he pushed himself upright and started toward the elevator shaft to the surface. He wasn’t looking forward to the climb out. After extinguishing the lantern, he hooked himself up to his rope. The laborious climb up the shaft made the muscles in his shoulders and arms ache in places that hadn’t hurt in years. He forgot about the meat in the fridge, instead opening a can of stew and wolfing it cold from the can. A quick splash of water on his face followed. Halfway through taking his boots off, he passed out on the cot. His sleep was disturbed first by images of DHS helicopters chasing him across the desert, and then by nightmares of being back in the area of operations in Iran, fighting against the hordes—only the enemy was already dead and mutilated as they continued to attack his position.
GRAY PANTHERS: EARTH’S REVENGE
Gray Panthers: Earth’s Revenge
Prologue
Coulee Valley Arcade and Simulations, Onalaska, Wisconsin
9 July 2128
The arcade as normal was packed. Matthew Andrews was a regular there and was still uncomfortable with the attention he got, especially with the nickname Ace. The new technologies from the Gray Panthers Industries included full-scale flight simulators that were quickly adapted for commercial amusement use. Matt, though ordinarily quiet and withdrawn, was a dynamo on the simulator flight deck, and accepted by others who wanted him to be the Captain of their team. Each arcade used their simulators to battle their competitors over the internet. Every week the top winners were posted worldwide for bragging rights. The nineteen year old devoted his time outside the arcade reading old books on aviation history, air combat maneuvering, and the application of strategy. Matt still lived at home with his widowed father where he took care of his dad and maintained the house accepting abuse from his three constantly drunk unemployed brothers who had returned from their stint in the Marines. Matt’s father recently started working in the new sand steel factory and tried to encourage Matt to work at the factory with him, but the allure of space was too strong. Matt was on the waiting list to go to one of the new Gray Panthers free academies, where he planned to learn to be a shuttle pilot.
“Yo Ace, you ready to kick some ass?” Matt turned to see Thomas “Tiny” Shaw.
“Tiny” had been a high school football player when Matt was the team statistician and had always enjoyed giving Matt a hard time for being the original ninety pound weakling, especially when he towered over him at almost seven foot and 280 pounds. After high school, Tiny had planned to play professional football until he hurt his knees in practice. Now he was a bouncer at different bars scratching out a living. The two became friends only after graduation when they learned how much they had in common and how well they worked together at the arcade as a team.
Tiny picked Matt up and gave him a bear hug, then dropped him as he made a path through the crowd for them to get to their simulators, the other eight members of their team were already waiting. Today was the state tournament finals for Wisconsin; their team from Onalaska, called “Matt’s Marauders” was going to take on the “Madison Panthers” a team
from the Gray Panthers University of Madison. The entire battle would be viewed in homes across the country for spectators of “Space Battle” on either the internet or those who still had TVs. The audience could switch their view of the show from either the shuttle of their choice or the default view of the action seeing all shuttles engaging at one time.
Gray Panther Colonel David “Dusty” Rhodes made himself comfortable with a huge bucket of popcorn in preparation of watching “Space Battle”. It had been his idea initially to make the simulators available for commercial use in the hope of gaining ideas for tactics as well as finding any talent to join the Gray Panthers. The simulators were two rows of ten huge boxes. Each box contained a flight deck that looked exactly like the real thing. The displays from inside the simulators were the crowning touch. Experienced pilots could not tell the difference between a simulator and an actual flight deck once seated at the controls.
Dusty was not disappointed; with the onset of battle, the Madison Panthers lost the toss and were tasked to defend the moon base against Matt's Marauders. The defenders kept five shuttles in close orbit over the station with five shuttles spread out as a picket, waiting to detect the approach of their attackers. The Marauders did a high-speed slingshot around Mars then shut down all systems except life support to reduce their energy signatures to avoid giving away their positions. Once they made it to the moon, they found the dark side of the moon not covered as part of the defenders protective shield. Immediately they assumed a stationary orbit on the dark side of the moon near the North Pole. Matt used the simulators computer for a firing solution, and then had all ships fire with him through the moons mantle with their beamers, in thirty minutes they had achieved their goal without the Madison Panthers even knowing what was going on until the base was destroyed. Then, rather than attack the shuttle screen Matt ordered his unit to withdrawal, they had achieved their mission’s goal, why risk any unnecessary casualties?
Dusty watched the Marauders as they withdrew and was amazed and equally pissed off as he had bet on Madison to win. He quickly contacted Space Battle Operations and told them to finish the show, and then have the two teams engage each other in open space with no planetary bodies in the way. He alone would be the only audience.
Matt and the team were initially pissed when they were told they were going to engage the others again, until they were assured they were still the victors and would move on in the finals.
When the new scenario was transmitted to the teams, Matt’s Marauders immediately attacked at full speed head-on in two formations of three shuttles and a four ship formation. The Panthers advanced in a formation of five pairs of shuttles each pair autonomous. The concentrated fire power of the Marauders took first blood as three Panthers were destroyed and a fourth crippled, the Marauders taking light damage to two of their shuttles, but still operational. The Panthers quickly turned expecting to dog fight but instead found empty space as the Marauders continued their on their trajectory away from them at full speed, then turned around intending to make another high speed pass. The Panther commander had his shuttles redeploy in a team of three and a team of four. They were barely in position when the Marauders flew towards them, then came to a dead stop as they again blasted away in a slugging match. The Panthers, not prepared to concentrate their fire, were quickly finished as the Marauders won with a loss of two shuttles and three damaged. Matt sat in his shuttle disturbed with the number he had lost trying to figure out how he could have done better. His shuttle screen flickered for a second and then he was looking at an old timer that was scowling at him.
“Boy you just cost me twenty grand! Let me introduce myself to you. I’m Colonel David Rhodes of the Gray Panthers. You did a shit hot job killing today. What have you to say for yourself?"
“Sir, I played it like I trained it, we did not know what to expect so we had a couple simple plans. Our main tactic is to overwhelm our opposition with firepower, like you did for Operation Recall during the Flem invasion.”
“Sonny, that was an operation of desperation, there was no plan other than keep charging until we had nothing left, we were just lucky to have the numbers. What are your plans?” Rhodes asked, pleased that he had been recognized.
“Well sir I’ve been waiting for a space to open so I can go to college and become a shuttle pilot…”
“Forget it kid, I’ll have you trained in the basics in under a month, then the real schooling will start if you are willing to take a direct commission as a lieutenant in the Gray Panthers.”
“Sir if you extend that offer to my entire team you have a deal.”
“Damn boy, OK. I will evaluate each member of your team, they pass or fail on their own merit. Best I will give you.”
“Sir, when you decide it's the entire team you have a deal,” Matt replied trying to keep his excitement down remembering at this point, the old man was an adversary. “Sir, if we all make it through we’d like to stay as a unit if possible, we have hundreds of hours together and make a damn good team.”
“I will not make any more promises at this point but I will say the idea has merit. I will now make the same offer to everyone on your team at the same time; we will keep this part confidential for now.”
Matt sat in his simulator amazed at what had just happened. When teams had initially been formed his team was composed of those rejected by every other team. Tiny was the original team Captain by force of will. Later as Matt would give advice and suggestions, Tiny conceded as the team started to win every match and the unofficial nickname 'Matt's Misfits was changed to 'Matt's Marauders.'
Chapter 1
Gray Panther Industries, Arizona
14 July 2128
Dan Daniels looked older than his seventy years as he sat at his desk. The realization that he had a year and a half left before Earths invasion was not comforting. Most people on earth were in denial to some degree. He had already started a massive building program of carving out caverns to be used as bomb shelters near every major city. Power plants powered by Helium 3 mined from the moon provided extraordinary amounts of power for both the cities and the Beamer Defense Batteries for those cities. Shuttles were being pumped out at a pace that would make Henry Ford proud. Dan was now in negotiations with the government to coordinate future military operations with his Gray Panthers. He knew it was only a matter of time before he would need the manpower from the military and was debating how to sell the equipment and space ships fairly. The Queen Mary 6 was just completing its transition from cruise ship to space ship. Five cargo ships were midway through the transition from ship to space ship. The two alien space ships, captured when they were part of the failed invasion of earth, were slowly being repaired and modified for human use. Teaching the world how to use the new technology had made Dan a marked man when he setup colleges in the US and its major trading partners who could assimilate the training and technologies. Countries run by dictators and those that were not allowed basic freedoms were left out, there were real threats on Dan’s life and he was a prisoner inside of his own corporation. Conspiracy theorists blamed Dan for all the problems of the world as well as the upcoming invasion. Members of the old regime had put a bounty on his head as well for ruining their workers utopia and once again having the United States a republic instead of a socialist democracy.
Dan found his worst enemy was the armies of attorneys that saw him as the best target to get rich from. Numerous law firms were trying to sue him for unlawful use of their clients' shuttles from when he used them to save earth from the alien invasion. Civil rights lawyers were trying to sue him for inhumane treatment of the alien POWs being housed on the moon. His own Army of attorneys rarely rested.
Dan looked at the clock realizing he had a meeting with Admiral Butch Bad and Commander Caleb “Red” Erickson. Entering the conference room both men started to rise as Dan waved them back to their seats. "Mornin’ Butch, Red, how are you doing this morning?" Dan asked cheerfully.
"Good morning, Dan, we�
��re fine but seem to be having some troubles with the fleet," Butch replied getting down to business. "The Queen Mary can start trials any time, but the US Navy seems to think it's their ship and have said they will put a crew onboard when the last of the builders are finishing up. The companies rebuilding the ships in Korea and Japan are trying to screw us over on labor costs and doing a slow down until we pay. Grub has made it possible for us to make great strides on the enemy ships, but there's a limit to what we can get done. I'd like to hire the mercenaries to train us on the ships, and space warfare."
"Is that all Butch? Red get your crew together and board the Queen Mary the day after tomorrow. Butch get with Wolfgang about the companies trying to squeeze us, that's his battlefield. There's a Major on the moon that has been babysitting the aliens since the battle, I can't remember her name, get her opinion about the mercenaries. Red, good luck with your new command." Dan reached out to shake each of the men’s hands as he rose to leave.
Red and Butch sat back down and looked at their watches; they had completed a productive staff meeting in less than twenty minutes, and without any drama or bruised egos. "Wow, wish the meeting were like that when I was in the service," Red said smiling.
"I just feel sorry for the poor son of a bitch, cursed with power and wealth. He has the whole damn world on his shoulders, and he can't even go out and get a beer. He'd rather be prospecting and living the life of a nomad with his buddy, Abdul."
GRAY PANTHERS: DIXIE
Gray Panthers: Dixie
Prologue
For more than two long years, Earth has been besieged by the Libra Alliance. The Alliance sees the human race only as perfect cannon fodder in its war for galactic dominance. Meanwhile, the nanite-enhanced Gray Panthers have managed to protect Earth.
A Gray Panther raider on a mission in enemy space discovers Dixie, a remote planet of humans. This technologically advanced society had come to Earth’s rescue at a decisive moment. Now, it too is in peril.
Infected World Trilogy (Books 1-3): They Only Come Out At Night Page 86