The War of Pawns (The Human Chronicles -- Book Three)

by T. R. Harris

  The Team of nine SEALs, plus Sherri, huddled in the cool, meter-high grass, while Adam peered through his scope at the compound surrounding the relay tower. The explosives they carried with them would be inadequate to completely destroy the relay tower just by themselves; their hope was to topple the gargantuan structure, destroying it that way. That would mean concentrating the charges on one particular foot of the base. Adam looked for the easiest target to assault.

  With the relay structure bathed in light and surrounded by guards, their task was not going to be an easy one. Stealth would be preferred, yet as Adam scanned the large support rods leading up from the concrete floor of the base, he was at a loss as to how to keep their mission a secret. He had no doubt that his small squad of SEALs could take out every one of the guards if need be. His issue came with extraction after the attack.

  He scanned to his right and saw the main entrance to the compound. The other three walls surrounding the communication relay were twice as high as the one running along the Industrial Complex, and there were what appeared to be small flash-weapon turrets dotting the top of the wall, pointed outward. Adam had chosen the route through the Industrial Complex because this bordering wall was shorter and less fortified. The Juireans figured that more security was not called for on this side of the compound since the Industrial Complex itself, was a secure facility.

  Adam’s Team would also exit from this same direction, so he had to have some way of drawing attention away from the extraction point…

  “Middleton, Macal and Shores,” Adam whispered; he knew they could hear perfectly through their ear comms. “Take up a position near the main gate. On my signal, open up with grenades first. We need to make the guards believe an attack is coming from the front. Leave your bags with us.”

  Without acknowledgement, the three men set off in low crouches through the grass and weeds. Each man was equipment with their trusty M4A1 carbines, and all included the SOPMOD version with M203 grenade launchers.

  “The rest of us will approach the southwest corner of the support structure. Most of the guards will be drawn toward the main gate. This corner is not the furthest from the gate, but if we can get the dish to fall in that direction, it should really cause a big mess, and give us time to get out safely. Once the relay is down, there should be enough confusion on the scene that the aliens won’t know what hit them. Do you concur, Lt. Tobias?”

  From his position back in The Jackson, Tobias had been listening to every word. “I concur, Captain. Try to use a little of that superman shit, if possible.”

  “Will do.”

  Adam turned to the anxious faces around him. Each of them, including Sherri, now had black and green grease streaks on their faces. “Use your knives. We’ll approach until we are behind that shed there, and then take out targets as they present themselves. Let’s go.”

  Many of the men had placed some of the grass from the field in their ghillie suits and now blended in perfectly with their surroundings. Four advance men set off for the maintenance shack; Adam, Sherri and the other two SEALs followed closely behind.

  As they got closer, more and more light began to illuminate the landscape – something SEALs did not relish – yet they made it to the back of the shed without being spotted. Wheeler, Maldonado, Peanut and Radiches fastened their M4’s to their vests, and then pulled their black-bladed SOG knives from their sheathes.

  There were five alien guards standing near the closest support for the relay base, with two others walking by the front of the maintenance shack. They were Melforeans, not Juireans.

  Adam watched the two aliens approach. They were about two-and-half meters tall, with impossibly long arms and angular faces. Their eyes were wide apart and extremely narrow, making Adam wonder how they could see out of them at all.

  With a nod to Peanut and Maldonado, the two SEALs leapt out from their cover and literally flew the remaining three meters to their targets. Landing behind them, the men wrapped muscular left arms around the chests of the aliens, while sliding the blades across their throats. It had been decided that body thrusts against the aliens may not be as effective as slitting their throats, since no one was really sure where their organs were located. But it was always a good bet that – in the very least – your target would be silenced with a throat-cut.

  The two Humans easily lifted the two dead aliens and hustled their bodies back behind the shed. The five aliens near the support structure would be more difficult to approach.

  “What are these things made out of, Styrofoam?” Carlos Maldonado whispered, as he tossed his dead alien aside. “They’re light as a feather.”

  “Knock it off,” Adam commanded. “I’m going to initiate the diversion at the main gate. Most of the guards should head that way. We’ll take out all who don’t. Hill and Radiches, take up covering positions. The rest of us will get in and attach the charges.”

  Everyone nodded their understanding. “Main gate, go with assault.”

  Almost immediately, the Team could hear the poof, poof, poof of M203 grenades being launched from their tubes. The men shot them high in the air, so they landed on each side of the main gate. Brilliant and ear-shattering explosions filled the night. Three more explosions immediately rocked the scene, and Adam could see several of the thin-boned Melforeans fall to the concussion and shrapnel. Then Adam heard the distinctive sound of M4 fire, intermingled with random blasts from several flash rifles.

  Adam lifted his M4 and looked through the scope. If he could believe what he was seeing, it looked as if the Melforeans were actually firing at each other! This was an added bonus he hadn’t counted on.

  In front of the shed, a dozen or more guards were streaming past. Unfortunately, six more guards took up firing positions within the very support structure his Team had to get to.

  “Take them out,” Adam commanded, and almost immediately, several quick blasts of suppressed muzzle fire sounded to his right. Within two seconds, the six aliens lie dead, their bodies literally ripped apart by the force of the 5.56mm rounds.

  The Team set off over the hard concrete surface for the nearest support array. With Hill and Radiches each crouched on one knee, looking outward, the rest of the Team set about attaching limpet mines to several of the towering metal support elements for the massive relay dish several stories above them. They set the charges, and then moved further into the jungle gym of half-meter thick metal rods, setting even more charges as they went.

  “Captain, something’s approaching!” Hill called out.

  Adam handed his bag to Sherri, who just returned his worried look with a wide-eyed look of her own. “I’m on my way,” he said, and then set off through the forest of white metal bars.

  Adam slipped in next to Randy Hill, who had taken cover behind a wide, right-angle beam of the structure. Adam looked in the direction Hill was pointing.

  Through the splash of light shining up onto the array, two electric carts were approaching on the concrete pad that surrounded the base of the relay tower. They looked something like Segways, the one-person electric carts from Earth. Yet these carts each had an alien standing at the controls, and a mean-looking, industrial-sized flash rifle protruding from its front. In the side light from the spotlights, Adam noticed the light blue shimmer of a diffusion screen surrounding each of the carts.

  The carts swung up in front of them, yet they did not fire. Instead, one of the aliens called out, “Cease your activities and surrender yourselves immediately.”

  Adam thought it was the most polite way anyone had ever asked him to surrender, and yet he knew it was just the way most aliens talked. The two guards made no attempt to cover themselves, knowing that they were safe behind the diffusion screen.

  Adam smiled and turned to the other SEAL. “Watch this.”

  He then emerged out from the cover of the metal support and stepped out in the open. Then in a blink of an eye, he lifted his M4 and sent two quick blasts into the body of one of the guards. The non-electric bulle
ts passed right through the diffusion screen as if it wasn’t there. The guard on the left looked over at the shattered remains of his companion, his narrow mouth now hanging open in shock.

  After a second, he turned his attention back to Adam, who already had his weapon aimed at the guard. Adam just winked, and then fingered the trigger.

  Returning to Hill, the other SEAL just frowned at Adam. “I don’t get it?”

  “The carts were shielded by a thing called a diffusion screen. But they only stop things with electrical charges, like the bolt weapons everyone uses here. They’re no good against bullets.”

  “That’s good to know.”

  Just then, the rest of the Team came out of the maze of the support base. Sherri’s eyes were wide, with a look of wild excitement. “All the charges are set, sir!” she said with enthusiasm. Adam could see the almost-sexual response she was having to the whole operation. This was really turning her on.

  Adam sent her a sly smile. “Good. Let’s get back to the wall and blow this thing. You at the gate, pull back. Meet us at the extraction point.”

  “Roger that,” came the immediate reply.

  Even after the SEALs retreated from the main gate, there was still firing going on. It seemed that the guards inside the gate were now in an intense firefight with those outside the gate. All the commotion allowed the Team to sprint back for the wall at speeds that would have made them all Olympic gold medalists in the hundred meter dash. In turn, they each scaled the wall with the help of the ropes they’d left earlier.

  Adam ended up being the last one on top of the wall. He crouched on one knee and pulled the detonator control from his left thigh pocket. Without hesitation, he flipped up the detonator cover and pressed the button.

  There was a tremendous explosion at the base of the great relay tower, so strong that the concussion actually reached him sitting atop the wall of the compound. But it only lasted for a moment, before the brilliance of the blast was lost to the night. Adam’s heart sank, as he saw that the relay dish had not moved an inch.

  And then the sound of a high-pitched squealing reached his ears. It was like the sound of screaming banshees, penetrating the night. Instantly, the sounds of bolts blasts coming from the main gate area ceased. There was a deathly silence throughout the whole compound – except for the tortured groaning emanating from the relay support base.

  There, a movement! Adam could see the mighty tower begin to lean, ever so slowly – and then faster. As the relay dish began to topple over, Adam could now hear the hysterical screams of aliens near the front gate. The dish was falling their way, and the realization that they were its target was dawning on the Melforeans.

  Faster and faster the dish fell, until it crashed into the ground in a thundering cloud of dust and smoke. Adam felt the entire wall tremble from the impact, so much so that he worried the darn thing might crumble upon itself.

  He quickly jumped to the top of the transport truck and then to the ground just outside the driver’s seat. Sherri was seated in the passenger seat, a large smile stretched across her face, her eyes wide. As Adam slipped into the driver’s seat, she suddenly leaned over and pulled Adam’s face to hers, and they shared a long, wet, passionate kiss, their first in many months.

  When they broke, Sherri held up the flimsy-looking Belsonian mask she had worn earlier. “Do we really need these things anymore?” she asked, the grin never leaving her face.

  “Nah. I prefer to keep my dingle-berries in my pants, and not dangling below my ears!”

  He started the motor and pressed the center joystick forward. Soon they were cruising through the chaotic streets of the Industrial Complex, as more and more creatures were struggling to find out what all the commotion was about. There had been explosions and bolt-fire…and now an ‘earth’ quake of some kind.

  As they approached the gate, Adam and Sherri could see the guards were in a panic as well. From their vantage point, they could see that the mighty communication relay had collapsed, and from all the sounds of battle emanating from that direction, they knew there had been an attack of some sort. The guards were busy fortifying the gate against entry into the Complex, not exit out of it, so they hardly noticed when Adam’s huge transport raced through the gate.

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  Within two hours of the attack, Adam and his Team were back aboard The Jackson, its generators charging and preparing for liftoff.

  Adam and Sherri joined Tobias in the pilothouse. The lieutenant had become a pretty proficient pilot, so Adam and Sherri took seats behind the pilot’s station and let him concentrate on the liftoff.

  After a few minutes, however, Adam had to know.

  “Any word from the Chief and Riyad?” Adam asked, as he watched the planet of Melfora Lum begin to quickly fall away below him.

  He noticed that Tobias did not answer immediately. “What happened?”

  “We lost Cohen. Some kind of automated sentry robot. Shot him as he was getting off the station.” Tobias did not turn as he spoke the truncated sentences.

  Adam was silent for a long moment. He hadn’t known Josh Cohen for long, or very well for that matter, yet he did respect the man. And since their numbers were so few, every loss of life was a tragedy.

  “He’ll be missed,” Adam finally said.

  “Here, here,” was Tobias’ standard reply. Unfortunately, Adam had heard Tobias say that phrase too many times in the past, yet up until now, it had only been back on Earth.

  As their mission against the Juireans grew longer and more intense, Adam was sure it wouldn’t be the last he would hear it said.

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  Two weeks later, the supply ship arrived from Earth. Everyone had gathered around the flying saucer and greeted the crew who had volunteered for the five-month-long voyage. They were all military personnel, twelve men and three women.

  Six of the men would be remaining as part of Adam’s slowly growing strike force. All the new arrivals moved about the base with expressions of both wonderment, and uncertainty. Adam watched their faces change with the second; one moment saying, “What an adventure,” to the next asking, “What the hell am I doing here?” It couldn’t be easy on them, but in light of what had happened back on Earth, many more had wanted to come and join the force. These were just the first of them.

  The leader of the group was Warrant Officer 3 Darren Cole. He was U.S. Army Special Forces, a helo pilot, who had flown over fifty missions throughout Afghanistan and Iraq. A tall, stocky man crowding 225 pounds and 44 years of age, he had lost his entire family to the Juirean attack, and as such, he was out for blood – even green blood if that’s what the alien bastards had.

  Adam liked his attitude; he would fit right in.

  But more than that, everyone was anxious for first-hand news about home. Although communications had been established with Earth, the messages took four hours to be sent back and forth, and they had to be very careful with what they said, just in case curious ears were listening in.

  Cole and his second, a sergeant named Kyle Littlefield, joined Adam and his top lieutenants in Adam’s quarters. The base had once been manned by living beings, who figured that if they had to suffer through a tour of duty on this hellish rock, they would at least do it in comfort. So the suite of rooms was large, with all the comforts of an alien home.

  After the raids on Melfora Lum and the monitoring station, all the members of Adam’s army were feeling pretty good about themselves, even though they felt a little guilty celebrating in light of Cohn’s death. The SEALs handled it a little better; they’d been here before, far too many times. But now the top brass were all scattered around Adam’s room, anxious to hear what Cole had to tell them.

  “It’s been really tough,” Cole was saying. “Can you imagine over a billion people killed in one day – not even a day – but a few hours? Some people just went berserk, and there were mass suicides all over the place. They thought it was the End of Days, or something like that.” />
  “I’m sorry to hear about your family,” Sherri said from her seat next to Adam on the large couch in the room.

  “Thanks. It’s hard to wallow in your own sorrow when there’s enough death around for everyone.”

  “What’s the mood of the planet now?” Lt. Tobias asked.

  “It’s better, I guess. It seems like most of the people have really bought into this idea of revenge against the Juireans.”

  Sherri kicked Adam in the ankle, gently. He looked over and gave her a wry smile.

  “They can’t build ships fast enough for all the people looking to join up. The fleet should be on its way by now, and there’ll be a second fleet ready in about nine months, they tell me.”

  Cole was part of Admiral Allen’s inner circle, so he was aware of the role the Klin had played in starting the war. “Any word about the Klin or the 2G’s?” Adam asked.

  “Except for a few of us, everyone still thinks they’re the cat’s meow. Do you know they even go around with ‘Savior’ written on their shirt pockets?”

  “No shit?” Chris said. “Those God-damn bastards.”

  Then Cole smiled. “Don’t worry about them too much,” he said. “Admiral Allen has them figured out pretty well now, and so does the President and Admiral Keller. The 2G’s may come from the same stock as the rest of us, but they’re really missing what it means to be truly Human. Admiral Allen can play them like a violin. They don’t have any concept of sarcasm, or even of lying. And they’re all so starved for acceptance that all the Admiral has to do is throw a few compliments their way, and he can get anything he wants.” Then his face turned serious. “It’s the converts we have to watch out for. Talk about bastards, those guys are the real traitors—”

  He stopped abruptly and looked embarrassingly at Adam.