We had determined that Dr. Decker (who didn’t want to be on the boarding team), Dr. Cook and two other scientists (whom just didn’t have what it took to be on the boarding team), Julie (whom we wouldn’t let on the boarding team), and myself (who was sending all the others into harm’s way) would take a cloaked shuttle to the surface immediately prior to the raid.
That left 18 people including Major Reynolds to be divided up into 9 two-man teams to board the ship, quickly spread out, and take out an unknown number of Noridians. There were only 7 experienced military personnel available to the boarding party and they were each matched up with a civilian; but that still left two teams without experienced leadership. It couldn’t be helped.
The boarding team was already assembled in the large room outside of the pressurized shuttle bay. They would be taking a stealth shuttle to the Noridian ship and we would be taking one to the planet’s surface. It was here that we’d all been watching our approach to Earth on the view screens. Silva pulled me aside just before I started moving my team into the bay.
“Major, we’ve confirmed that the Noridian ship is in orbit and we’re now close enough to pick up Earthnet news feeds… it’s not good.”
“Put it on the screens and tell us what’s going on,” I said.
A number of the view screens now shifted to scenes of absolute devastation. Most of the screens were filled with smoking ruins; what might have been the wall of a building or two could still be seen but for the most part the screens were filled with a blackened rubble strewn landscape. As the viewpoint panned out it became clear that the rubble fields surrounded huge craters.
Except for a few gasps there was total silence until Silva started giving us a narrative…
“Most Earth cities are still intact,” he started. “Our ship is processing 1,139 different news feeds showing live and recorded events. What you are seeing are a score of cities that have been targeted by kinetic bombardment.
“I am sorry to report that Washington, Los Angeles, London, Moscow, and Beijing are all gone. It also looks like a number of military bases have been hit along with several impact sites that don’t correlate with any of our records; possibly secret bases or missile launch sites.
“The atmosphere is heavily loaded with particulate matter and weather patterns are affected but it doesn’t appear to be severe enough to cause a nuclear winter.”
“Why did they do this?” I heard Dr. Decker ask
“We’re correlating the stories now,” Silva responded. “But from what is being reported Jaki gave the planet a deadline to come together and invite their protectorship. When that deadline passed she took the gloves off and dropped all semblance of friendship. She gave an ultimatum and another deadline; and even though there was a significant international movement led by Dr. Helmer urging world governments to accept, the politicians still couldn’t stop arguing long enough to get their act together in time.
“As punishment Jaki ordered a number of cities destroyed – taking out a huge part of Earth’s political structure in the process.
“Several national militaries tried to strike back both on the ground and in orbit but that fight lasted all of two days.
“It looks like Jaki is consolidating Earth leadership around the French Prime Minister and declaring him the world leader. There is to be a major speech this evening from the front steps outside the Château de Versailles.
“In short, the Noridians have taken Earth.”
ΔΔΔ
We paused just long enough to incorporate our new found intelligence into our plans. We still didn’t know how many Noridians were on the ground or still on their ship and we didn’t know the location of Dr. Helmer, Colonel Memphis, or anyone else from the Earth Team but at least we knew were Jaki was going to be – and we were going to be there too.
If anything, I think the images from Earth steeled our team to what we had to do. Amazingly I didn’t sense any panic – only a hardened determination to win the day.
We were all wearing the communications devices that Silva had printed for us. He assured us that unless the Noridians were specifically looking for our signal they would never detect it. We couldn’t afford any risk of detection at all but we were doomed without communications so, like in so many other things, we didn’t have a choice.
Our teams were set and ready as we reached Earth orbit. Right before our shuttles departed I let Julie speak to everyone. It wasn’t a dramatic speech; it was simply her thanking everyone for their efforts and a good luck and Godspeed. I had the last word with the team…
“Ok, we all have a job to do and it’s time to go to work. We’ve been over it a hundred times but I’ll say it again; when you encounter the Noridians on that ship don’t hesitate, don’t try to understand what they’re doing or try to communicate. It is critical that we take each and every one of them out before they can warn Jaki on the ground or other Noridians through their long range communications. And remember, all they have to do is ‘think’ a warning and their bioware does the rest so act quickly and without hesitation.”
We were ready.
Silva was staying on the Coridian ship and his team was already interfacing with the Noridian ship. It ‘knew’ we were here but it also ‘knew’ that we were friendly and that there was no need to mention our presence. As soon as my shuttle deorbited Silva would have the Noridian ship ‘welcome’ our boarding party’s shuttle and then the fun would begin.
My shuttle departed first. Toni had volunteered to pilot us and had made a good argument that she knew us as well as anyone and would be less likely to confuse our orders. Apparently any Coridian could pilot a shuttle with reasonably equal skill so we accepted. She was now telling us that since we were stealthed it would take 40 minutes for us to reach Versailles.
“Mike,” I said through my earpiece. “Have your shuttle in position in 38 minutes and prepare to board on my mark.”
“Aye, aye”, Iron Jaw responded. “We will be in position in three-eight minutes and board on your mark.”
As I glanced around the interior of our shuttle I noticed Julie watching me. She was very calm and I gave her a quick thumbs up which she returned.
One aspect of both of these shuttle flights that we’d emphasized to everyone was that the last ten minutes of both would be without cabin lights. It wasn’t a total blackout, we could still see each other, but it was important that our eyes not have to adjust to any low light conditions we might face.
With Coridian technology there was of course no sound or sense of motion but it almost felt like we were in an old paratrooper plane ready to parachute behind enemy lines.
We had the press conference on our view screens now and it appeared that the French Foreign Minister was just finishing with some long-winded proclamation to a glorious future for a Noridian Earth.
With two Noridians guarding the podium in the same black armor and weapons we’d seen on Larga I wondered how anyone could stomach the hypocrisy.
Jaki was given a sickeningly long introduction and then took the podium.
I had Toni hold a hover a few hundred feet above the press conference and I signaled to Mike, “Go, Go, Go!”
ΔΔΔ
Another advantage to the Coridian technology is that our earpieces came equipped with a fiber optic camera - a camera that used software stabilization so the picture didn’t bob or shake and had a viewpoint that had to be several inches above the wearer’s head. From our shuttle therefor, we had a bird’s-eye view of the boarding action.
Keeping one eye on Jaki and another on Iron Jaw’s feed, I watched them enter the ship.
In true Marine fashion Mike was the first to go through the airlock. I watched two surprised Noridians turn around and then immediately go down from shots to the head. Just as Mike had taught it - no hesitation, no mercy.
Silva was awaiting my command to launch their second cyber-attack on the ship; the one to wrest control of the ship’s engines, weapons, and communications. I was wait
ing until the last possible moment to give the order; there’d be no hiding it and the fewer Noridians left to fight back the better.
Just then I heard Julie gasp and I switched to her view of Captain Garvais’ feed. He was in a room that could only be described as a morgue. There were at least a couple of dozen bodies laid out and I’m pretty sure they were all from the Earth Team. It was a gruesome sight and just then I realized what had caused Julie’s moan; one of the first bodies to come into clear focus was Hilbert Sullivan, MD – Julie’s colleague.
We had hoped beyond hope that this would be a surgical strike. Just like you see S.W.A.T. teams or urban infantry clear rooms and halls; swift, silent, and deadly. We had already ‘cleared’ a surprisingly large number of Noridians when all Hell broke loose.
Captain Hiromi and her civilian teammate entered the shuttle bay and had the misfortune to encounter three Noridians preparing to go planetside; one of them fully armed and armored.
Dr. Freida Molander fired wildly into the compartment as she collapsed with a burning hole in her chest. Simultaneously Hiromi fired at the armored Noridian and threw herself down behind some metal crates. Several plasma bolts exploded through the crates; one of them neatly severing Hiromi’s rifle in two. She reached down to grab her pistol only to discover that it, along with a small chunk of her thigh, were gone.
I don’t know if Hiromi could see as well as us or if we had a better camera angle but Dr. Molander’s fire had taken out one of the Noridians and the armored one was wounded, obviously hurting, and leaning back against the side of the shuttle – but he still had his gun.
Without wasting a moment Captain Ito Hiromi rose and fluidly pulled the Katana sword from her back. She charged the enemy.
ΔΔΔ
“Silva, now!” I was yelling.
“Already on it,” came back the reply.
Suddenly all our video feeds with the boarding team went blank.
“Silva, talk to me,” I said.
“Major, the ship’s shields just came on; that’s what’s cut off our communications.”
“Why have they put the shields up?” I asked.
“I’m not… Major, it looks as if they’re deorbiting. Ok, I’m back in the ships directory… Jaki has ordered the ship to initiate an emergency controlled decent to a holding position a thousand feet above your position. That ship is huge Major, I’m not sure if she wants to intimidate everyone or maybe use it as a missile shield to protect her position but she caught us off guard. She knows something is going on but I don’t think she realizes it’s us.”
“Silva, get control of that ship. Now.”
“Major, you’re going to want to see this,” said Dr. Decker.
On the view screen Jaki was sneering at the cameras.
“Are Earthers really this stupid? We demonstrated our power. You don’t stand a chance against us and still you resist. Whichever one of your governments is behind this attack on my ship will pay the price, and if we can’t determine who is responsible we’ll just destroy a few more cities around…”
She stopped in mid-sentence as the crowd started screaming, “Look! What is that?”
The entire southern sky was lighting up as a giant fireball was slowly growing larger.
“Major, we’re fighting each other for control of the ship… wait, the ship is falling. Major, the ship is tumbling out of control!”
“Silva, you said you could do this – I’m counting on you. Get that ship under control!
“Toni,” I said loudly. “Take us to a hover within about 20 yards from the front of that podium.
“Kamiko, when the side door opens you take out the armed Noridian on the right and I’ll take out the one on the left, then we both take out Jaki. Understood?”
The shuttle was actually very quiet but with all the audio feeds and view screens it felt noisy; maybe that’s why Kamiko acknowledged with a hand signal.
The crowd was in full panic mode now. No one knew where to run to but apparently it was an ingrained reflex.
The fireball kept growing larger.
Jaki’s two bodyguards had drawn their weapons while she stood there on the steps behind the podium. All around her were in panic but Jaki stood silent, staring straight ahead obviously concentrating and focused.
“Ok Toni, hold us steady and open this door so we can get a clean shot.”
“When I do that Major, we’re going to lose our cloak.”
“That’s ok,” I yelled. “Just do it!”
The door disappeared and Captain Kamiko and I fired at the same time. We shifted to target Jaki but we were too late…
ΔΔΔ
Jaki was outraged but well in control. She didn’t know how these Earthers had gotten aboard her ship or how they’d managed to overcome her crew but she’d made them pay. She’d neutralized all of them and was even now wresting control back.
She’d gotten an initial warning message out to the Noridian Dynasty before she’d lost control of communications but she was now realizing that there was no way the Earthers could have pulled this off by themselves. This smelled of Coridia and maybe the rumors of a secret Coridian enclave on Earth were true after all. All the better for her to find them and use them as proof to the galactic community that the peaceful Noridian efforts had been sabotaged.
She had just managed to slow the falling ship and was striving for a controlled crash when a shuttle suddenly appeared hovering not 50 feet in front of her. All she could focus on was a crouching figure in the doorway pointing a rifle right at her. At the very same moment that she recognized Dr. Julie Schein behind the scope her head snapped back from the force of a 5.56mm bullet passing through her brain.
ΔΔΔ
Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. The ship had crashed just about a mile from the palace. There was no explosion but we could still see the dust, steam, and smoke from the re-entry heat.
After Julie shot Jaki we’d quickly landed but the two bodyguards were dead and there wasn’t a Noridian to be found. We’d easily secured the area. We had landed first and the very air had shaken with the roar of the crash landing but I think we were all beyond being startled by anything.
After a few moments or minutes I realized that Silva was trying to talk to me.
“Wait a minute Silva, I’m here. This is Reagan, go ahead.”
“Major, you and your team, are you ok?”
I noticed Captain Kamiko setting on the steps with her head down.
“No. Yes… we’re all in one piece anyway. What happened with the ship?”
“I am sorry Major, I couldn’t control it. In the end Jaki was locking me out of everything and then… she was gone from the command circuit but it was too late for me to prevent the crash.”
“Ok listen. We’re heading to the crash site now. I need you to get a shuttle down here with some emergency medical equipment – we’ve got to help the survivors and time could be critical.”
“Major, to survive a crash like that…” he said slowly.
“Listen,” I half shouted. “Those ships have inertial dampeners. It’s very possible that the people on board didn’t even feel a bump when they hit. But they may need our help. Now stop arguing with me and get over there!”
“Major, I need you to listen to me!” he said softly. There was something ominous in his voice that stopped me cold.
“Almost until the ship crashed I was still getting biometric data from the ship. You’re right, the inertial dampeners were still active but when Jaki realized she was boarded and her people were gone she… evacuated the atmosphere. I’m sorry Major but there was no one left alive on that ship even before it hit the ground.”
“But, they could have…” my voice trailed off as the implications sunk in. I felt needles of ice pierce my chest and flow up through my neck into my head.
“Major I am sending a shuttle just in case but I don’t want to give you false hope. They’re gone.”
Now I understood why Kamiko wasn�
�t moving; she somehow knew.
ΔΔΔ
Everyone had run away from the steps of the palace. Except for a few bodies we were alone but I knew that wouldn’t last.
I grabbed everyone and in some cases I actually shoved them back into the shuttle. Captain Kamiko was following orders but otherwise not communicating. Dr. Decker seemed stunned and Dr. Cook was… well, as quiet and self-absorbed as he always was.
Julie was crying. Tears were slowly running down her face but she was alert and functional.
Toni was taking us back to the Coridian ship. I hadn’t told her to and we hadn’t planned on it, but it was obvious we had nowhere else to go.
Everything had moved so fast. We had known we would need to raid the Noridian ship the moment we reached Earth orbit but no one had prepared themselves for what we had found planetside. The United States government appeared decapitated. I had assumed that once we had removed the Noridian threat we would report to our superiors and submit ourselves to their orders but who were our superiors now?
Here Comes Earth: Emergence Page 32