Creany turned his craft around and tried to flee from the battle. He was no coward, but he knew what the TR-3Bs meant to the survival of humanity going forward. If Creany’s craft and the other three remaining craft were lost here, the chances of humanity winning this war would decrease dramatically. As he flew away, Creany shifted his TR-3B from side to side which was the signal to scatter that he and the other pilots had worked out before heading out over the Atlantic.
As Creany flew east, the other remaining TR-3Bs flew toward the south. The robot took off after the ship that was flying south. Creany could no longer see the robot or the other TR-3Bs. All that he could do was continue to push his craft as hard as he could in an attempt to reach the Great Lakes where he could find the remaining TR-3Bs, and more importantly, the Kaiju Corps. His craft had been moving at top speed for nearly three minutes when he looked to his left to see the robot streaking toward him. He guessed that the robot had destroyed the TR-3Bs that had flown south and now it was coming for him. Creany shook his head in disbelief at the speed the robot was capable of attaining. He quickly looked through the transparent bottom of the craft to see that there was only ocean below him. He had yet to even reach the East Coast and he was still hundreds of miles from any possible help.
Creany gritted his teeth then he veered directly at the oncoming mech. Creany screamed as he unleashed every weapon that he had at the stark black robot. Creany watched as the robot shifted its body around every bullet and missile that he had fired at it. The last thing the Creany saw was the robot’s fist as it pierced the hull of his craft and drove through his body. Creany’s TR-3B exploded as the robot passed through the flames unscathed. The robot flew in a tight circle and then it flew away in a southwest direction.
Chapter 17
The next morning, the remaining Instructors, the Kaiju Corps, Brian Linke, and The pilots of the TR-3Bs were all meeting within the conference room of the Hyatt. Thomas sat at the head of the large conference table in the middle of the room with Clarissa and Susan on either side of him. Jerome and Michelle sat on opposite sides of the table. The two of them were strangely quiet, and they were doing their best to avoid making eye contact with each other. Nick and Miki sat next to each and they were holding hands. After the events of the previous two days, they no longer cared how anyone else felt about their relationship.
Brian Linke and the TR-3B captains filled out the table. Thomas stood up and he looked around the table with his eyes setting directly on Nick. “I would like to suggest a brief moment of silence for all those that we have lost in the past few days.” He then bowed his head, as did everyone else. When the moment had passed, Thomas resumed his briefing. “Thank you. I have asked you all here so that we can discuss the next steps in our war against the robots. To this point, we have cleared four cities of giant robots completely, and we have stopped the production of giant robots on roughly fifty percent of the world. Bringing the construction of new giant robots to a complete halt would truly enable us to turn this war into a war of attrition, and more specifically, a war that we can win. To that end, we have developed a plan in which we will shall use weather balloons to carry ten nuclear warheads into the upper atmosphere where they will be detonated and create an EMP that will cover the entire planet. This planet-wide EMP will completely stop the production of any new robots. In order to prevent the Signal from overriding the warheads, we will use a delay-switch pencil timer constructed from clocks and other mechanical devices that we have scavenged from the city. Mr. Linke and I have been working in conjunction with several of the physicists and mechanics in the area. We have been able to cobble together six of the necessary ten detonators required for this mission. We were fortunate in that the Emergency Weather Service located in Chicago had more than enough of the weather balloons that we require to complete this task.”
He looked toward Clarissa. “I will now turn this briefing over to Clarissa who will hand out mission parameters and discuss the logistics of our current operations.”
Clarissa stood up. “From this point on, our attack will be two-fold, with our initial plan to secure the Great Lakes area and US East Coast still intact but with the additional objective of using our nuclear warheads to create a global EMP. We are giving the nuclear warhead plan the codename Program 437. We currently have eight TR-3Bs at our disposal. There are eight additional TR-3Bs that are still MIA. Without communication from them, we are not sure where they are or what has happened to them. We do have a new factor to concern ourselves with in that prior to the destruction of our main facility in the Catskill Mountains. The Signal managed to compromise our network and create a TR-3B giant robot. The TR-3B robot or Blackbolt, as we have designated it, is the first mech that is capable of flight. Blackbolt has also managed to arm itself with the latest in Horsemen-developed weaponry. The construction of this robot is the culmination of our fears. It is entirely possible that Blackbolt engaged and destroyed the missing TR-3Bs. With the threat of Blackbolt in mind, we shall split our forces to best accommodate possible attacks from the super robot. All of the cities in our target areas have already had EMP bombs dropped on them, so we know that no new robots will be created in these cities, and we know the number of robots that were present in the city at the time of the bombings.”
Clarissa rolled a map of the Mid-Atlantic states across the table. “The primary objective is to secure Philadelphia and the surrounding area. The old naval shipyard in Philadelphia will have the remaining delay-switch pencil timers that we require to enact our plan. The Pine Barrens across the river from the city house the nuclear warheads that we require to generate our EMPs. Captains Okafor and Granderson will take the Kaiju Corps to Philadelphia as well as Thomas, Mr. Linke, and several other engineers that we have found in Chicago who can be of assistance in this mission. The two TR-3Bs that brought me, Susan, and Thomas to Chicago will fly a holding pattern around the area as lookouts for Blackbolt.”
She quickly consulted her notepad. “The same naval shipyard that is holding the detonators that we require was coopted by the Signal to create the giant robots in Philadelphia. When the EMP was dropped on Philadelphia twenty-seven hours ago, three giant robots were spotted within the city. Two of the robots seem to be the standard collect-and-destroy robots that are actively attacking the city. In Philadelphia, these robots are constructed from parts of two different naval ships, and we are designating them based on those parts. The first robot is known as Battleship and the second robot has been given the codename Cutter. Each of these two robots stands at slightly over two hundred feet tall and has more firepower than any of the previous collection robots that you have faced thus far. The third robot appears to be one of their battle bots. This robot had been given the call sign Carrier. As I am sure that you surmised, this robot is built from parts of aircraft carriers. It has a height of over three hundred feet, making it a hundred feet taller than even Leviathan. Carrier will be the largest and likely the physically strongest robot that you have encountered thus far. The city was first attacked over thirty hours ago, and most of the buildings in Philadelphia are destroyed. The death toll in Philadelphia is easily over five hundred thousand. Based on the robot’s movements, we can assume that any people who are still alive within the city are hiding underground or within the remains of a partially destroyed building. In your previous battles, you have used the tactic of having Leviathan engage the battle robot while the rest of you take on the collection robots. Given the size and strength of Carrier, I recommend that Bearadon, Leviathan, and Chagon engage Carrier directly as soon as you enter the city.”
She turned her head toward Jerome. “While three of the kaiju are battling Carrier, Thomas’s team will recover the required detonators from the naval shipyard and then load them onto Captain Okafor’s TR-3B. As they complete this operation, Garudasaurus will stand guard over them in the likely event that one of the other two robots detects their presence and attacks. Once Thomas’s team has successfully located the detonators and l
oaded them onto the TR-3B, Captain Okafur will then fly them to the nearby Pine Barrens with the two lookout TR-3Bs accompanying him as protection from Blackbolt. This team will modify the warheads to fit our new detonators and then load them onto Captain Okafor’s TR-3B. He will then pilot his craft to the various locations around the world that we need to launch the weather balloons from to carry our nuclear warheads into the upper atmosphere. It should take Captain Okafor roughly seventeen hours to reach every destination on his mission. At each stop, he will leave one person from his team to arm and launch our attacks. These launching points will include Brazil, Argentina, Algeria, South Africa, Finland, India, China, Russia, Australia, and the US West Coast, likely California. Eighteen hours after leaving from the Pine Barrens facility, we launch our balloons and create a World-Wide EMP. As Captain Okafor and his escorts are transporting the EMP team around the world, the Kaiju Corps will continue to make their way down the East Coast, clearing out cities from giant robots and saving as many people as possible in the process.”
Clarissa quickly unrolled a map of the Great Lakes on top of the map of the Mid-Atlantic states. “We still feel strongly that securing the area around the Great Lakes is vital to the survival of the resistance of the human race. The four TR-3Bs that were armed with sonic cannons and magnetic missiles will engage the robots in Cleveland and Toronto. We feel confident that with the upgraded weapons at their disposal that they can defeat the robots who are still stalking those two cities. This attack will be led by Captain Larry Richards, as he is our longest-tenured and most experienced pilot.”
Clarissa turned to the veteran TR-3B captain. “Captain Richards, is your team prepared for this mission?”
Richards looked directly into Clarissa’s eyes. “Cleveland and Toronto will be robot free by the end of the day.”
Clarissa nodded. “Very good.” She then looked around the room. “Are there any questions?”
Miki immediately raised her hand. “Clarissa, what about the suspected launch site in Cape Canaveral? When are we going to move on it to prevent the robots from sending their cryogenically frozen captives into space?”
Clarissa looked at the young woman who she had mentored as a girl. Inwardly, her heart felt for Miki and her concern for the people who were destined to end up as food for some alien race in the distant future, but she needed to focus on people who could still be saved. She glared at Miki. “As we discussed previously, we need to focus on saving the lives of people who can help us rebuild humanity. While most of the people in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Atlanta are dead or have escaped the cities, there are still thousands of people trapped there. People who are not frozen and who we can save.” She softened her voice somewhat. “I appreciate your concern, Miki, but we need to help those we can and accept the fact that in war there are going to be casualties.”
Miki’s eyes were burning with anger as she screamed, “Anyone who is still alive within the cities at least has a chance of survival! If they can hold out until after we save the people who are going to be sent into space, we can save double the lives! If we don’t move on the Cape Canaveral location, all of those people won’t have a chance at all and they will be facing a fate worse than death. We need to save them!”
Clarissa’s voice changed from the soft voice of a caregiver to the authoritative voice of a commanding officer. “You are a soldier. Your job is to worry about following orders and winning a war. The difficult burden of deciding whose lives need to be saved first falls on me. We will focus on saving the people along the East Coast. Once we secure Atlanta, we can move onto Cape Canaveral but not before that.”
Miki stood glaring at Clarissa when Jerome spoke up, “I would suggest that the success of our mission may lie entirely with the Cape Canaveral site.”
Susan was intrigued by the young commander’s suggestion, and she also saw it as an opportunity to end the debate between Clarissa and Miki. “Elaborate on your thoughts, Jerome.”
Jerome stood up. “Everything that we have seen the robots do so far is based on securing resources to send back to their home plant. They are reducing the human population to a number that won’t put a strain on the planet. They are freezing some people to send back to their home planet and presumably they are starting to take some live prisoners to the farms that we suspect they are creating. The robots have taken steps to ensure that this plan is successful. When we attacked the robots, they responded by creating battle robots to oppose us. They also made a slight change in the programming of the typical robots to attack us first if we were to approach them, when at the first, they didn’t even bother with us until we had attacked them.”
He looked toward Clarissa. “You have also suggested that this new super robot Blackbolt has taken down a large portion of our TR-3B fleet. The robots have clearly deduced that the TR-3Bs are transporting us from location to location and decided that the best way to prevent us from further disrupting their plans was to take away our transportation. If Blackbolt is targeting TR-3Bs, it is likely that it will target Captain Okafor’s craft and the other craft that are accompanying him. You suspect that Blackbolt was able to take out eight TR-3Bs. If it was able to do that, the robot will easily be able to destroy three of them. If we are unable to launch those balloons and deploy the EMPs, then we are all in agreement that this war is a lost cause.”
Jerome started to walk around the room. “Every move that the robots have made was to ensure the success of their prime objective which is to send resources back to their home planet. Their supply resource chain ends with their ability to send those resources back to their home planet. We have been raised to be soldiers. We have spent countless hours learning military history, and one of the key factors in operating a successful military campaign is protecting your supply chain. Given that the Signal has created battle robots to protect the multiple robots that are at the start of that supply chain in the cities, it would stand to reason that their most powerful robot would be stationed at the bottleneck at the end of their supply chain.”
Clarissa realized the point that Jerome was getting at. “You are suggesting that Blackbolt is stationed at Cape Canaveral and that it is conducting hit-and-run operations from there?”
Thomas nodded. “Jerome has a point. We don’t know anything for sure, but given the methods in which the robots have operated so far, we can make the assumption that their primary shipping point is Cape Canaveral. His suggestion that Blackbolt is likely acting as a protector of the robots’ operation would also seem to hold true with how they have operated so far.”
Jerome nodded. “I figure that if Blackbolt was designed specifically to attack the kaiju Corps, then it would have already headed to Chicago. I mean, it’s not like it doesn’t know that we are here. It also knew that there was no chance we were on the TR-3Bs that were on their way to Chicago. As long as Blackbolt is operational then our plan for deploying the nuclear warheads around the world and stopping the production of new robots is in jeopardy. I would like to respectfully propose some small changes to our current course of action.”
He walked over toward the maps on the table and separated them. “The first few steps of the plan will remain the same with Captain Richards and his TR-3Bs attacking the robots in both Cleveland and Toronto, as well as the Kaiju Corps securing Philadelphia and Thomas’s team acquiring the warheads in the Pine Barrens. I would suggest, however, that Captain Okafor and Thomas’s team holds their positions there while Captain Granderson transports the Kaiju Corps to Cape Canaveral. Once we can fully determine that Blackbolt is there and that the robots are using that location as their launching point, we can attack Blackbolt, which will ensure that it is occupied and cannot attack Captain Okafor and Thomas’s team.”
Jerome pointed to the cities of Baltimore, Washington DC, and Atlanta. “With us engaging Blackbolt, it will free up not only Captain Granderson’s TR-3B but also the crafts that were going escort Captain Okafor. I would suggest that Captain Granderson and one of t
he TR-3Bs that was going escort Captain Okafor should meet above Atlanta and try to clear that city of robots. The second TR-3B that was going to escort Captain Okafor should take half of the warheads and fly west while Captain Okafor flies east. It will cut the time to execute the launch of the balloons in half from seventeen hours to eight hours.”
Jerome looked toward Brian. “Mr. Linke, have you learned enough about the materials needed for this operation to help the people who are heading east to arm the warheads and set the detonators?”
Brian thought for a minute and then shook his head. “I think if the process was reviewed with me one time that I could set the bombs for the people who are going to be launching the balloons.”
Jerome nodded. “Good. Lastly, any of the TR-3Bs which survive the battles in Cleveland and Toronto can attack Baltimore. Assuming that both groups of TR-3Bs are successful, they then converge on Washington DC.”
Thomas smiled at the young man whom he had raised. “Jerome, you have proven to be a greater soldier and commander than we could have ever imagined. I find your suggested course of action to be prudent.” He looked to Clarissa and Susan who both nodded their heads in approval.
Clarissa turned her attention to rest of the table. “Very well then; we shall proceed with Jerome’s plan. Captain Williams will take his TR-3B and fly west from New Jersey with half of the nuclear warheads while Captain Okafor flies east. We will take one hour to make preparations for the adjusted plan and then we shall commence our operation.”
Kaiju Corps Page 15