This worried Lieutenant Symington. He had already heard the alien troops were almost impossible to take out. “We’ve got claymores set up in strategic areas along the trails. If three or four of them go off I can’t believe the Trellixian’s armor will be able to resist them.”
Morison looked across the creek where the bridge began. The creek was about twenty yards across at that point though in some areas it narrowed to less than ten. “I think we should set demolition charges on the bridge. That creek at its deepest is no more than three or four feet. It may just be enough to encourage the Trellixians to try the bridge.”
“I can have one of my explosives people put a few demolition blocks of C-4 on the bridge,” Symington replied as he thought it over. “We can detonate it from here if necessary.”
Morrison nodded. “That should do the trick.”
Lieutenant Symington looked up and down the creek. It was very quiet and all of their troops were dug in. The Trellixians were known to use orbital bombardment and warp missiles to take out resisting military units. The deep foxholes should give the Marines and Rangers some protection. “We’ve been here for eleven days. A lot of civilians and small military units have come through. Most of the military units have been Reserve or National Guard.”
“Not surprising,” Morrison said, his eyes watching a Marine deepening and widening his foxhole. “The president and General Mitchell sent most of our elite units to safety before they struck the Trellixian battlecruisers with nukes. The Reserve and the Guard were activated toward the end and directed to get out of the cities.”
“We did have a few regular Army units come through. Major Dolan wanted them back at the second defensive line that’s been set up.”
Morrison took a deep breath and reached into his pocket for a pack of cigarettes, taking one out and lighting it. He took in a deep drag and looked at Lieutenant Morrison. “I used to worry about these killing me some day. It’s a bad habit I picked up as a teenager and I’ve never been able to kick it. I guess there will shortly be no more cigarettes and I can finally give them up.”
“My dad used to smoke pretty heavily,” Symington said. “He passed away a few years back.”
“Let me guess. Cancer?”
“Yeah,” Symington replied sadly. “Lung cancer. He died within four months of being diagnosed.”
Morrison took another deep drag and then dropped the cigarette to the ground, grinding it out with his boot. “I would guess we won’t see many additional survivors or military units coming through.”
“That’s my opinion as well,” Symington replied with a nod. “We had a lot coming through the first week we were out here. Men, women, children, even babies were flooding down the trails, some escorted by troops and others completely on their own.”
Morrison looked toward the opening in the woods where the large game trail was. “At some point, the Trellixians will come into these mountains, hunting for them and us.”
Lieutenant Symington nodded. “When they do, we’ll be ready.” However, he knew the toughness of Captain Morrison’s Marines and just the knowledge that over forty of them had died killing six Trellixians was unnerving. After a little thinking, he decided to request more claymores from Captain Garcia. He knew the weapons cache which Garcia was using as his base was full of them as well as C-4 explosives. He had a plan on how to use them if the Trellixians managed to get across the river. If they did he wanted to give his Rangers and Captain Morrison’s Marines a chance to escape.
-
Major Dolan studied the reports from the different Ranger units out in the field. Currently nearly five hundred Rangers were spread out over eight hundred square miles.
“We’re fortunate those three Marine companies came through,” Captain Kyle Smith said. His Ranger company was currently inside the base for some much needed rest. They had been out on patrol, searching for any survivors who might have gotten past the two skirmish lines.
“They were supposed to be here a week ago but got hung up avoiding Trellixian troops and hover tanks. We’ve assigned them to Captain Garcia and they’ve joined the skirmish line along the creek. That’s nearly eighteen miles we’ve got covered.”
Captain Smith nodded. “Captain Garcia has the second skirmish line set up five miles back. We have Captain Grumman’s Ranger company and two companies of regular Army units spread out along it. We got lucky they chose our area to hide in.”
“They had a lot of civilians with them, over a thousand; members of their families and others they had picked up on the way.”
“What does that make over the last eleven days?” asked Smith.
“Twelve thousand civilians, three Marine companies, two regular Army companies and about four hundred National Guard and Reserve.”
“Captain Garcia says the numbers have dropped considerably over the last twenty-four hours.”
Mark nodded. “From the reports I’ve received from HQ, the Trellixians are making a concentrated effort to cut off the flow of civilians and Army units fleeing into the mountains. They’ve brought down their battlecruisers to scan the countryside for survivors.”
“They’ll be coming into the mountains soon,” Smith replied with a concerned frown. “What do we do then?”
“Fight a delaying action. Set ambushes and avoid direct confrontations.”
Captain Smith took in a deep breath. “There are only so many places we can hide in these mountains. How long do they expect us to do that? The Trellixians are bound to find us eventually.”
Mark leaned back in his chair. “I’ve been ordered to report to Colonel Branson at the main HQ for this region. He says he has some information to cover with me as well as something he wants to show me. Not sure what’s going on but it sounds pretty important.” Mark knew it had to be for the colonel to want Mark to leave his command for a few days.
“I’ll take two of the ATVs and will be back as soon as I can. Until I return you’ll be in charge. If anything happens contact Colonel Branson on the secure comm line.” This was the deep underground line which connected the base to the main HQ. “Maybe when I get back I’ll have some answers.” Mark sure hoped he did. Right now the fight against the Trellixians seemed hopeless. However, there had to be a reason for this base and others like it scattered throughout the mountains.
After Captain Smith left Mark went back to studying the reports from his officers in the field. Lieutenant Symington had established a pretty good strong point in the skirmish line he had set up at the creek. In addition, the second line was ready in case the Trellixians broke through the first. If everything collapsed Captain Garcia was prepared to use the heavier weapons in the supply and weapons cache to try to hold back the Trellixians while everyone evacuated.
Mark turned his thoughts toward the three special captains who had joined his command. He was still mystified as to their purpose. Captain Reynolds was with Lieutenant Symington and from the forwarded reports her special equipment had spotted many of the inbound refugees beforehand. Captain Olson had been assigned to the second skirmish line and Captain Masterson was at the supply cache with Captain Garcia. All three had equipment with them which did things which seemed impossible.
Mark blinked his eyes. Once he reached HQ maybe he would know if Colonel Branson had any news on his sister or parents. He knew the probability of any of them having survived was minuscule. Taking a deep breath, he thought about the last time he had seen his sister, Jennifer. She was just beginning her new job as a nurse in one of the big cancer treatment centers in Dallas. She was so excited at the opportunity to help people. That was his sister, always placing others first. They had gone out to eat and all she could talk about were the opportunities in front of her and how she would be working with some of the top doctors in the country. Mark had sat back and listened, smiling to himself at how happy Jennifer was. Now that seemed like so long ago. The last he knew she had survived the initial attack and was working at a medical facility on the outskirts of Dallas treati
ng survivors. Since then there had been nothing.
-
In the primary underground US military Command Center, General Mitchell stared worriedly at several viewscreens displaying France. Four Trellixian battlecruisers had descended from orbit and were flying fifteen to twenty miles above the surface, using their energy weapons to take out every sign of human resistance.
The ships’ energy beams carved out huge swaths of destruction. The beams were igniting fires and leaving deep black scars in the ground. Mitchell knew anyone caught beneath one of those beams would be killed instantly.
“The French have sent up their surviving aircraft,” reported Colonel Steward with a confused look on her face. The orders had already been sent out to all surviving units to lay low and to avoid contact with any enemy troops. The French should not have sent up anything.
“The fools,” said General Briggs, staring at a set of large viewscreens. “They should have kept them hidden. We might have needed them later.”
“We have six full squadrons of Rafale F4 fighters heading toward the enemy battlecruisers,” reported Colonel Fields, shaking his head. “The battlecruisers have their shields in operation. The fighters don’t have a weapon that can penetrate. This is suicide.”
General Mitchell was confused. It wasn’t like the French to take such risks at this particular time. True, all their regular Army units had been driven from the field with heavy bombardments from Trellixian battlecruisers. Also large numbers of enemy soldiers and hover tanks were active in France. Mitchell couldn’t help but wonder if something else was going on.
“Keep monitoring those fighters,” Mitchell ordered, his brows creased in a frown. On two of the viewscreens, sharp images of the French fighters appeared. They had divided up into two flights of three squadrons, sixteen planes each, heading directly toward two Trellixian battlecruisers.
“Trellixian attack craft are launching from all four battlecruisers and are moving to intercept the French fighters,” reported Colonel Fields. “Detecting over two hundred inbound Trellixian attack craft.”
“Those small alien craft have energy shields,” pointed out General Briggs, his eyes narrowing. “The French fighters don’t stand a chance.”
“Those are updated Dassault Rafale F4 fighter jets,” General Briggs said as he studied the images on the viewscreens. “Those are the best fighters the French have.”
“The lead fighters will encounter the first Trellixian attack craft in less than one minute,” Fields reported as the two opposing groups closed rapidly on the viewscreens. The Trellixian attack craft were wedge-shaped and just slightly smaller than the French jets.
-
In the skies over the ravaged French countryside, the defending fighter squadrons broke into groups of four and accelerated toward the incoming attack craft. Missiles launched, homing in on the alien ships, only to detonate a few meters from the craft. The energy shields protecting the wedge-shaped attack craft held up to the exploding missiles. None were damaged and now they were within range of the French fighters. From two of the rear Dassault Rafales a lone missile launched. Just before they reached the Trellixian attack craft, both detonated.
-
In the underground Command Center, all the screens monitoring the battle suddenly were covered in static.
“What the hell?” muttered General Briggs as he looked at Colonel Fields for an explanation.
“Massive EMP burst,” Fields reported as he studied some incoming data. “It will take a few minutes for the screens to clear. Our satellites are hardened against such an attack and automatically shut down upon detecting an event.”
“What about the French fighters?” asked Briggs. “Such a high EMP detonation will fry their avionics to hell.”
“Probably hardened as well,” Fields replied. “I can’t see them setting off such a weapon without taking the necessary precautions.”
“What type of warheads were those?” asked General Mitchell. He knew the US had electromagnetic weapons.
“One of our Jelnoid sensors recorded an intense burst of microwaves,” replied Colonel Fields, after reading some data on a computer screen.
“Screens are clearing,” reported Major Thomas.
The screens cleared, showing an amazing sight. The French fighters were clearing the air of the forward most Trellixian fast-attack craft. Even as Mitchell and his company watched missiles fired from several French planes struck Trellixian craft, blowing them apart. Bright fireballs littered the alien formation.
“How did they do that?” asked General Mitchell, looking to Colonel Fields for an explanation.
“They set a trap for the Trellixians,” Colonel Fields answered. “They set off some warheads which emitted massive bursts of microwaves. The microwave burst has the same effects as an EMP. But these were set off so close to the Trellixian attack craft they must have overloaded their energy shields.”
Mitchell returned his attention to the viewscreens. The French warplanes were heavily outnumbered and the Trellixians’ superior numbers were beginning to make a difference. The attack craft were using their twin energy beams to shoot down the French planes. Even as he watched three F4 Rafales exploded in brilliant fireballs. The rest of the French jets turned and disengaged, flying away from the Trellixian craft. Surprisingly the Trellixians did not pursue.
“Can that work on one of their battlecruisers?” asked General Briggs.
Colonel Fields shook his head. “No, the energy shield on a battlecruiser is one thousand times more powerful than what one of their small attack craft possesses. Using any EMP weapon against one of their battlecruisers would be like tossing a wet firecracker at it. Even with their shields down the thick armor on the hull would probably cancel out the majority of the EMP, not allowing it to penetrate inside the ship.”
General Briggs looked thoughtful. “What if we hit their battlecruisers with our electromagnetic railguns? We have some of them installed on the mountain slopes above this base.”
Colonel Fields shook his head. “We considered that. We had several Navy ships fire them at a few Trellixian battlecruisers with no noticeable effect. However, if we could hit their attack craft with one I imagine we could destroy it.”
“So why haven’t we done that?”
“The craft move too fast. We don’t have a targeting system that can track one of their attack craft and then hit it with a railgun round.”
“They can’t be modified and placed on our fighters?”
“No,” Fields replied. “We were working on a design but we were several years away from perfecting it. The problem is power. We would need a miniature fusion power source and that’s still beyond our technological level.”
“I wonder why the Trellixian craft didn’t follow the French fighters?” asked Major Thomas, still watching the viewscreens.
“They’re probably tracking them back to their bases,” General Mitchell answered. Once again he didn’t understand what the French were up to. He doubted if they had too many other planes hidden besides the ones they had launched this attack with. “Let’s keep an eye on them a little longer. I don’t think this is over.”
“All four of the battlecruisers in France are now following the Rafales,” said Colonel Fields, concerned. “I imagine they’ll follow the fighters to their bases and then use their ships’ energy weapons to destroy the fighters once they’ve landed.”
“Do we have a course plotted for the French fighters?” asked General Mitchell. He still felt the French were up to something.
“They seem to be heading toward the France-Switzerland border near Geneva.”
“The Hadron Collider is in that area,” said General Briggs, surprised. “Is there any chance the French could have weaponized it?”
Mitchell looked at Colonel Fields. “Is it possible?”
Fields looked thoughtful. “Geneva wasn’t nuked and as far as I know the Hadron Collider is still intact. Some of the brightest scientists in the world have been wo
rking on it. It’s possible they could have done some modifications.”
“Let’s keep several viewscreens focused on the Trellixian battlecruisers,” ordered Mitchell. He now believed the French had set a trap for the aliens. The question was, would it work?
-
Over France the four massive Trellixian battlecruisers had traced the Human aircraft which attacked them to what appeared to be several hidden airbases in the country called Switzerland. The commander of the four battlecruisers was already assigning targets as they approached the bases. The powerful energy beams of the ships would make short work of these hidden bases. The Humans were foolish to have revealed them.
“Commander, I’m picking up a large energy buildup beneath us,” warned the sensor officer. “It’s nearly off the scale!”
“Recalibrate your sensors,” snarled the commander, angry the sensor officer was failing to do his job. “The Humans have no weapons that can cause such a reading.” This was gross incompetence and would have to be dealt with.
-
Behind the Trellixian battlecruisers a large hatch suddenly slid open in the ground. A bright beam of light shot out, striking the lead ship. The ship’s energy screen flared brightly and then collapsed. The beam then struck the ship’s hull, cutting through it and setting off secondary explosions. The ship seemed to shudder from the unexpected attack. The beam widened and then, in a fiery explosion, the Trellixian battlecruiser disintegrated. The beam shut off and then appeared again, focusing on the next battlecruiser. Once again the ship’s energy shield flared up brightly and then collapsed. Moments later the Trellixian battlecruiser exploded, showering the countryside with flaming wreckage.
-
Earth Fall: Invasion : (Book One) Page 13