by Ben Winston
When Colonel Cren’lith arrived, he had his assault shuttle land close to the Terran command post. When the troop ramp lowered, he glared at the assembled Terran Marines that had arrived to take him into custody. “By now it should be obvious even to the most obtuse of you that we will not be captured. Do you men not have other duties to attend to? We are about to be attacked for Garlath’s sake! Where are fortifications? Where are ammunition stores?”
Lieutenant Foster had to push her way through the group that was now simply gawking at the large armored gorilla. She saluted her superior. “Welcome to Discovery Colonel!” Since he had been speaking English, she did as well, making sure the troops around them knew he was a senior officer.
He returned the salute. “Thank you, Lieutenant. Can you show me to the Command post? I would have words with the person in charge of this rabble!”
“Certainly Sir!” she replied and turned to lead him to the hut. She switched back to Alliance standard to speak to him so no one else would overhear. “Be prepared to be insulted Sir. They made it absolutely clear that a ‘big talking gorilla’ would not change their minds either. They were rather rude about it.”
“I would expect nothing less, Lieutenant Wendy Foster. I do appreciate your offense on my behalf, but in honesty, one only need to consider the source of comment to understand situation. Intelligence has always been indication for racial tolerance.” The big Simonian turned to his aide. “When I nod to you, issue the stun order to the entire force. Have Fokkor secure the aircraft pilots according to plan.”
The aide nodded. “Yes Sir.” Before he opened the door for the Colonel and Wendy and followed them into the office.
Wendy stepped up to the officer once again and saluted them. “Gentlemen, may I present to you, my commanding officer Colonel Cren’lith of the Alliance Marines.” She turned to Cren’lith and introduced each man, even the ones that had not introduced themselves earlier. She also included the two civilian intelligence officers that were posing as military officials.
“How did you know who we were, Lieutenant?” the man asked.
“There is all the proof you need that intelligence is a word for which you do not have a clear understanding,” Cren’lith said shaking his head. “Gentlemen, I do not have time to debate this with you. In a little under an hour, all of you need to be on your aircraft and on your way back to where ever you came from.”
“You do not have the authority to issue commands to us, ‘Colonel’ this isn’t the zoo.” Colonel Jessup replied chuckling. A few of the other officers smiled nervously, but the others did not.
Cren’lith nodded his head. “I assumed you would say something similar, Colonel. However, I did make the assumption that since I gave you the courtesy of respecting your rank and position you would do same. Obviously, you are not gentlemen I hoped you would be. I was not giving you order Terran, I was telling you what is going to happen. If you are not on your aircraft by the time the sun has finished setting, you will most likely die, as my people will not be able to defend you any longer. To that end I have been given the authority to take the steps to insure not only your safety, but compliance.” He nodded to his aide who quietly began issuing orders.
Colonel Jessup narrowed his eyes at the large Simonian. “That sounded like a threat. I’m not a good person to threaten no matter who you think you are.”
“Try remember that when you wake up, Colonel,” Cren’lith said and sat the stun grenade on the table with the maps. When it detonated, every unshielded person in the office simply wilted to the floor, unconscious.
Cren’lith turned to his aide once again. Switching back to Alliance standard he ordered, “Please have someone come and secure the commanders. Lieutenant Wendy Foster, please ensure these men are protected until they can be taken to their aircraft.”
Wendy nodded and called her two guards back to the command post.
As each aircraft was loaded with unconscious soldiers and their immediate equipment, it was sent back to Edmonton. However, as the sun set in the west and the last, large cargo aircraft leapt into the sky, Terran weapons began firing from the south and small explosions announced the arrival of the United States Marines.
“Move the assault shuttles into position and form the perimeter. We need to secure all the exits from the hive that we can locate,” Cren’lith ordered.
“What of the new Terrans Sir?” his aide asked.
“There is nothing we can do about them now. We are out of aircraft and time. If the Arac are going to attack, they will do so very soon. We do not have time to worry about the Terrans any longer.”
“Colonel, seismic sensors indicate large scale movement within the hive,” AI Honor reported. “It is beginning to look like you are running out of time.”
“Thank you, AI Honor,” Cren’lith replied. “I will make sure my people know this.”
“Are you certain about this Colonel,” Edgigly’s voice came on the line. “You do not have to have your people on the surface for this. You will still be able to make the assault in the morning. It simply took us longer to locate them than we believed it would.”
“With respect, Captain. If we pulled back for the night, we might not be able to contain them. These Aracs are mature, they might have the ability to send out another queen and establish a new hive. They must be contained here or we will never get them under control. Besides, without us, the Terrans will be slaughtered.”
“You could be slaughtered, Colonel, that would not be an acceptable outcome,” Edgigly replied.
“It would not,” Cren’lith agreed. “So we must not allow it to happen. There has to be a limit to the amount of soldiers currently in this hive. We only need to maintain our positions and destroy them as we can.”
The Marines fired a few thousand more rounds before they realized two important things. First, no one was shooting back and second, they weren’t hitting anything either. They carefully crept forward, weapons at the ready since they could clearly see that there was a great amount of activity taking place in in the village. They saw explosions and heard strange weapons firing, there were fires burning everywhere, with an occasional explosion. However, there was only so close the Marines could get. Some unseen force was keeping them from advancing, still they could see what was going on. As they watched, three of the armored Alliance Marines were overrun by spiders the size of a small car. In addition to the spiders ripping the Marines apart, they were stunned as they watched one of the giant insects begin eating a severed leg pulled from the armor. The elite, battle-hardened, United States Marines hoped the barrier preventing them from getting any closer would also prevent this nightmare from coming to them. As they watched the insane battle unfold it was clear that Hell had come to Discovery.
Large spiders, some of them the same size as a compact car could be seen running through the flames and debris. Strange weapons either strapped to their backs or carried in forward legs. Other spiders hacking through solid walls of concrete with very sharp front appendices. The alien ships that they had been sent to capture would occasionally fire some kind of weapon into a group of the giant spiders. Mixed in with the huge spiders, obviously fighting them, in some cases hand to hand; were the strange armored figures of the aliens the Marines had been sent to arrest or kill.
It was difficult to tell which side was winning because the fighting was so wide spread and there was no clear line of battle. This fight looked more like a chaotic circus of death than a military action. Several Marines jumped away from the invisible shield as three of the large spiders ran into it. They had no more than gotten back to their feet when several of the armored aliens approached them, weapons firing invisible bullets trying to hit the leg joints of the huge insects.
In the background, two other spiders could be seen fighting over and tearing apart the body of one of the armored soldiers that had fallen. And as the Terran Marines watched in horror, the spiders ate the corpse.
Several of the Earth Marines turned away
and threw up.
The Marine commanders understood the reports they had been getting from some of their soldiers. The armored ‘Alliance Marines’ were there to protect them. Now it was obvious to the officers what they had been sent to protect them from. Not knowing what else to do, the Commanders ordered all the ammunition in the heavier weapons changed to HEAT ammo. HEAT stood for High Explosive, Anti-Tank. It was doubtful those weapons would do more than piss off those spiders, but it was the best they could do with what they had.
That was when word reached them of another fight breaking out; this one was not in the containment of the field surrounding Discovery. This fight was taking place in the woods to the west and was reported to be just as fierce, however, there were fewer Alliance Marines there to fight the spiders.
They were Marines and it was now obvious what was really going on here. But without the protective field to contain the spiders, there was a possibility they would defeat the Alliance Marines and get away. There was no way that could be allowed to happen.
The Terran Marines picked up their small weapons and ran to aid the Alliance Marines that were in danger of being overrun.
The Aracs had been attacking for the better part of two hours. They had started shortly after the main attack in the village with the Aracs discovering the force field the Marines had placed to seal that exit. It had taken them some time, but the spiders managed to dig a new exit some distance from the original. Once the exit was finished, the Aracs burst forth out of the ground like mythical demons erupting from hell.
The Marines of Vulpas jumped into the air for safety but shots fired while flying were far less accurate. They did use the fire and glue grenades Dr. Cowan used on the ship and they worked, but not as well in this setting. The Aracs had far more room to move. They did discover that whatever those fire grenades were made of did not stop burning when underwater. Three Arac soldiers that had been hit by a White Phosphorus grenade immediately dove into a lake. The Marines reported seeing them burning even underwater.
For a time, Captain He’rsree thought they might be able to hold the Aracs. After the initial wave of spiders got out of the new exit, there had only been enough new arrivals to replace those that were dying. The two sides of the fight were balanced and He’rsree hadn’t lost anyone yet. It seemed the Queen had been focusing on the main fight in the Village to the east, which was just fine with He’rsree.
But something had changed. Just as the Alliance Marines were getting close enough to the new exit to seal that one as well, Arac soldiers began arriving in much larger groups. Suddenly the balance that had been maintained for the first part of the battle was broken. He’rsree lost a soldier, and shortly after that, two more. More Aracs arrived every minute.
He’rsree ordered one of the assault shuttles into the air to try to destroy the exit with heavy mount laser fire. The heavy laser tore up the damp ground, blasted trees into splinters and set the subsurface peat moss afire. The latter creating a thick blanket of smoke that seemed to ooze out of the ground in the area near the exit. With the exception of the fighting, the air was so calm the smoke tended to hug the ground, and seemed loathe to dissipate.
Although they tended to avoid the areas of thicker smoke, the Aracs continued arriving and pushing the Alliance back. The Aracs were pushing towards the village. He’rsree thought the Queen was trying to get a force in behind the Marines on the surface there. However, that was less important to He’rsree at the moment since the Aracs were winning by simple attrition. They had seemingly endless replacement troops, while He’rsree had none. She had just ordered her people to pull back yet again when the sky above them burst into light painting the battlefield in an almost surreal light and dancing shadows.
Headquarters Company
1st Battalion, 7th Marines
Discovery
Northwest Territories
Canada
Planet Earth
Sol System
Lieutenant Colonel Harlen Daniels knew his orders, but agreed with Brigade Command; there were Marines out here dying to protect Earth and they had to help them. It was now very obvious to the combat veteran who and what the real enemy was out here. He knew the Old Man was going to get in trouble for the orders he issued, but something had to be done. He looked at his company commanders and saw fear, but he also saw resolve and determination; they were Marines after all.
“Gentlemen, this is our worst nightmare and we are going to make it worse. You all need to know that what I’m about to order you to do violates our initial orders. There are Marines out there dying to protect our world and us, and they are losing. As you know we were ordered to capture as many Alien soldiers as possible and secure their weapons and technology for analysis. We are not going to do that any longer, after all, how could we secure technology if a giant fucking spider eats all of us? No, we’re going to try to help those aliens that are dying for us. Do any of you have a problem with this?” He paused, not expecting anyone to answer.
“Sir, I think I can speak for all of us when I say that our original orders just didn’t seem right, especially after those ‘Dangerous Aliens’ helped so many of our Marines when we dropped. We can understand the US wanting to grab the tech, but the order to kill them to get it just didn’t seem right. The thought of attacking those giant spiders scares the hell out of all of us, but those alien Marines need some kind of support, even if it’s us,” Captain Jennings said. Jennings commanded Alpha Company which was mostly riflemen.
Daniels saw that the rest of the Commanders agreed with Jennings and accepted that as their agreement to help. He nodded. “I’m glad to hear you feel that way. Because Colonel Walsh has issued some new orders.” He went on to outline the Colonel’s plan and careful placement of the unit’s heaviest weapons. “Now, we know that our riflemen aren’t going to have much of an effect on these monsters, so what we’re going to do is double up each of the heavy weapons crews. The rest of our boys are going to split up; I want half to run supplies and ammo for the heavy weapons while the rest try to get the wounded and fallen out of the combat area. Once we get into the area, we’ll try to locate the Alien command section and link up with them. Once we find their medical area, all wounded will go there. Don’t leave any of their gear behind, but don’t try to steal any of it for now either; we don’t know what they’ll need and what they won’t and right now killing those damn bugs is far more important than stealing their secrets.
“Second Battalion is deploying as we are, but we will be splitting the heavy weapons of Third Battalion between us. The remainder of Third Battalion will secure the supplies from the drop zone,” he circled the area. “And get them to our distribution point. Third Battalion will also serve as our reserve and back up.
“The Sergeant Major has ordered some pretty odd stuff that we hope will give those spiders a reason to cry. We’ll be getting air-fuel rounds for Maw-Deuce and the Brushmasters as well as sabot rounds for the SAWS and Mini-Guns. Reports tell us these spiders don’t like Willie-Pete (White Phosphorus) grenades so we’re getting those and a bunch of tracers. There will be mixed loads until we know what works best. Until then we’ll have to keep a close eye on how hot the barrels get especially in the Maw-Deuces.
“This is as serious as it gets, gentlemen. Let’s go give these fuckers a warm welcome to Earth before we send them back to hell!”
“HooAH!” the men called as they left to issue their orders.
Gun Emplacement Tango
Discovery Battle Zone
1st Battalion, 7th Marines
Discovery
Northwest Territories
Canada
Planet Earth
Sol System
“Wilson, pop those flares as soon as I tell you to. You light ‘em up, and we’ll knock them down. Got it?” Corporal Henderson said, trying to reassure one of his nervous Marines.
“You just be sure to hit those fuckers, Paul. I really don’t want to be torn apart today!” Private Wilson rep
lied.
“Of course we will! Maw-Deuce has been in use for over a hundred years Wilson! When she talks, everyone listens!” Henderson replied.
“Movement! Sector front! Forty meters out, I think it’s one of those armored aliens.” Private Herschel said. “Yeah, I got three of them working this direction. They must have some spiders chasin’ ‘em.”
“Try to get their attention, Herschel,” Henderson ordered.
Just as Herschel was about to toss a small stone at them, one of them turned and made a ‘get down’ motion with one hand. They also motioned to be quiet. Which Herschel relayed to the corporal.
“Get ready, Wilson,” Henderson whispered.
Four large spiders came crashing through the woods a hundred meters out. Only Henderson could see them, but everyone could hear them. The Alliance Marines fired repeatedly in that direction as one ran to just in front of the gun emplacement.
“Now Wilson! Henderson ordered and Wilson launched two flares high into the air spreading an eerie daylight through the dark woods. Although he couldn’t see them clearly, Henderson could see enough of them to have a target. Pressing down on the butterfly trigger of the big gun before him, the oldest serving weapon in the United States arsenal began speaking to a new enemy; and the enemy listened.
It wasn’t clear if the rounds from the fifty caliber machine gun were actually penetrating their armor, but the Arac soldier it had struck was certainly knocked back, only to slowly get back up.
“What’s the damage, Herschel?” Henderson yelled over the very loud report of the heavy machine gun.
“Uncertain, Paul. You’re hurting them, that’s for sure, but they’s gettin’ back up,” Herschel replied.
Paul Henderson could see they were getting back up, but he could also see that they were moving a lot slower, as if they had been wounded. Two of the Alliance Marines now flanked the fortified position and added their own weapons fire to that of the big machine gun.