Grumman pointed toward the south. “About one thousand yards that way. He’s set up his equipment the same as Captain Reynolds did. If the Trellixians come this way we should be able to detect them. Captain Olson is with Captain Stockton at the main supply cache.”
Mark nodded. Colonel Branson had been very specific on how important any information gathered by the three captains might be. Mark guessed something was going on he wasn’t aware of. He suspected this information would be passed on to a major hidden research base somewhere.
“All supply caches have been shut down and sealed up except the primary one,” Grumman said. “It will be closed up if we have to retreat. We’ll be leaving a lot of supplies behind if we have to evacuate this area.”
Mark nodded. “We may need them someday.” Mark was greatly concerned. Somehow they had to stop the Trellixians from getting past the second skirmish line. If they didn’t the civilians farther back could be put in jeopardy. In the distance, where the first skirmish line was, he could see a heavy pall of smoke. For now all they could do was wait and see what the Trellixians’ next move was.
-
Two hours passed and Captain Garcia stood near the bridge by the creek. He had sent several Rangers into the forest to watch for any signs of the Trellixians. So far everything had been quiet.
“They’ll come again, won’t they?” asked Lieutenant Symington.
Garcia nodded. “Yes, they know we’re here now. I suspect they’re gathering the forces they think they’ll need to push us away from the creek. Inform all our Rangers and Marines to be prepared to pull back on my orders. I don’t want any panic. This will be a fighting withdrawal all the way to our other defensive line.”
Private Lopez came running up. “Sir, we have several reports from our scouts of large numbers of Trellixian troops coming our way. We have about forty minutes before they get here.”
Taking a deep breath, Garcia gazed along the creek where deep scorch marks smoldered from the aliens’ energy weapons fire. On the far side of the creek fires still burned and smoke hung heavy in the air. The forest on that side of the creek was a shattered wreck with splintered trees and others blown apart completely.
“Let’s get ready then. We need to take out as many of them as we can before we’re forced to pull back.” Garcia was determined to make the Trellixians pay for every inch of ground they took.
-
Time passed and the scouts hurried back across the bridge. Captain Garcia heard a noise coming from the south and looking in that direction saw two flights of incoming Trellixian attack craft. “They’re going to hit us from the air,” he called out. “Sergeant Anderson, pass the word on the radio for everyone to take cover in their firing pits and stay down. This is about to get ugly.” Captain Garcia and Sergeant Anderson quickly ducked into the small command bunker.
-
The two flights of attack craft came in low and from the belly of each craft hundreds of small objects dropped. These were splinter grenades and just before they reached the surface along the creek they exploded, releasing hundreds of flesh-cutting flechettes. Along eighteen miles of the creek the small grenades ravaged the defending troops.
The two flights curved back around to launch warp missiles. They made a high-pitched screaming noise as they came down. Wherever they struck they left deep, smoking craters in the ground. When the two flights vanished back over the mountains they left a scene of devastation behind them. The skirmish line had been shattered. Dead troops and scattered equipment lay everywhere. The wounded called out for help in the sudden quiet.
-
Captain Garcia exited the bunker and stood in the trench, trying to peer through the smoke. “What do we have left?” He knew they had been hit hard. Much harder than he had expected.
“I’m not sure,” replied Sergeant Anderson as he tried to contact the small command posts scattered up and down the creek. “Several posts aren’t responding at all. Those replying are reporting heavy casualties and a large number of wounded.”
“We have movement across the creek,” called out Private Larick from a nearby firing pit.
Garcia looked across the creek to see a half-dozen Trellixians in battle armor appear. “Fire!” he yelled as he shot at the aliens with his own assault rifle.
Several M240L machine guns responded, opening up on the aliens. A few explosions went off as well.
“Set off the remaining claymores,” ordered Captain Garcia. They had emplaced a few more during the lull.
Suddenly a series of explosions occurred all along the creek for as far as he could see. Several of the Trellixians dropped to the ground, unmoving. Two others reached the bridge and started to cross it. It instantly blew apart as the demolition charges detonated, killing both aliens. A series of explosions swept across the remaining aliens as a Ranger with a grenade launcher zeroed in on them. Two more of the armored figures fell but more appeared firing their energy rifles, sweeping them across the defenders.
Garcia heard a loud scream and the grenade launcher fell silent. Looking into the forest he saw even more Trellixians advancing. He watched another fall to a mortar round which exploded at his feet. “Time to pull back. We’ve caused all the damage we can. They’ll be across the creek shortly. Make sure we get all the wounded. I don’t want to leave anyone behind.”
Garcia and Sergeant Anderson climbed out of the trench and retreated from the creek. Garcia stopped when he nearly stumbled across the body of a Ranger. With shock he recognized Lieutenant Symington. His body was barely recognizable as the lieutenant had been too near when a warp missile had struck. Looking up and down the creek Garcia saw other Rangers moving back. Some helped the wounded and others paused to fire at the advancing aliens. Garcia felt numb as he saw how few of his Rangers were left.
Energy weapons fire was everywhere, striking trees, the undergrowth and occasionally a Ranger. Small fires erupted all up and down the skirmish line.
-
“Captain Garcia is pulling back,” Captain Grumman reported with a grim look on his face. “He estimates he’s suffered at least 60 percent casualties to both his Rangers and the three Marine companies.”
Mark took the report, trying not to show his shock. If the Trellixians could inflict those types of losses on the Army Rangers what would they do to other units? “They’re five miles away. Make sure all our troops know we have retreating units heading our way. I don’t want anyone killed from friendly fire. Have the medics ready to treat the wounded.” Mark took a deep breath, wondering what could be done to slow the Trellixians’ advance.
-
At the secret base, Lisa was taken rapidly to the communications center.
“You have some information that needs to be transmitted?” asked Lieutenant Bennington.
Lisa nodded. “It’s on this flash drive.” She handed the small drive to the lieutenant. She had taken it out of the Trellixian scanning device.
Bennington frowned. “Someone must have been expecting this.” He placed the drive in a small USB slot on his communications equipment. Immediately the drive lit up as the information was transmitted to its destination. “I have no idea where this is going. I was told that if any one of you science experts brought a flash drive to me I was to insert it into that USB slot.”
Lisa nodded. That data was doubtlessly being sent to whatever hidden facility Professor Wilkens was in. “What now?”
“Go get some rest. Major Dolan wants you to stay here until the battle is over. The base is pretty well-hidden so I doubt if we have to worry about the Trellixians finding it. We still have quite a few troops here as well.”
Leaving the communications center Lisa wondered worriedly how Brett and Brenda were doing. She hoped the two of them made it through the fighting.
-
On board Battle Commander Balforr’s battlecruiser he was following the battles on the ground in close detail. In one small region a number of Trellixian troops had been lost in heavy combat. However, ano
ther region had much heavier fighting with reports of thousands of Human soldiers involved. Not so with the smaller region. Scans had only detected a few hundred Humans. This was not the target he searched for. He was firmly convinced the other one was.
“Pull our troops back from all regions,” he ordered. “We’ve found their command base.” It would take a number of days to get ready. But when this base was destroyed the major fighting on this planet would be over.
“What about the mountainous areas in other regions of the planet?” asked Second Officer Jaltor. “There’s been considerable resistance in some of them as well. Shouldn’t we clear the Humans out of those areas while we have this opportunity?”
“Pull them back too,” ordered Balforr. He wanted as many Trellixian troops available as possible to take out this last Human Command Center. “We’ll go back and sweep those mountainous regions of Humans once their primary base has been eliminated.” Balforr was pleased. Finally he could see the battle for this planet coming to an end.
-
In the underground Command Center General Mitchell watched the viewscreens showing the Trellixians pulling back.
“They’ve found us,” said General Briggs with a deep frown. “Why did they pull back?”
“They didn’t have the troops to take the mountain,” Mitchell replied grimly. “Once they’ve assembled their Army they’ll be back.”
“We’re installing the first energy cannons on the mountain,” Colonel Fields replied. “They should take out a Trellixian hover tank if any show up.”
“They’re secondary cannons only,” replied General Mitchell with a deep frown. “We can’t hurt one of their battlecruisers if the energy shield is up. Speaking of an energy shield, we could really use one.”
“We just need the power source,” Colonel Fields replied. “The equipment is installed. We can project a weak energy shield over the mountain but it won’t hold up to Trellixian weapons. It needs a more powerful energy source.”
General Mitchell took a deep breath. “Let’s get our troops ready to defend this mountain. I’ll also contact Professor Wilkens about the more powerful energy weapons and the energy shield.”
“What if the Trellixians drop a nuke on us?”
“They won’t,” replied Mitchell, his eyes narrowing. “Not if we threaten to nuke the entire planet, making it uninhabitable.”
General Briggs looked confused. “But how will they know?”
Mitchell smiled. “It’s simple. We tell them. Colonel Steward, we know where Balforr’s ship is. Send a message informing him that if he drops one nuke anywhere on the planet we will use our remaining weapons to devastate this world and send it into a long nuclear winter.”
“When do you want me to send the message?” asked Colonel Steward.
“Now,” replied General Mitchell. “General Briggs, we need to begin the evacuation of all nonessential personnel immediately just in case we can’t hold this base.”
Briggs nodded. “I’ll get started on it.”
“If we have time evacuate some of the troops we have around the mountain. I don’t want to lose all of them in this battle.” General Mitchell looked at the viewscreens. He had hoped it would be months or longer before the Trellixians found the base. He was about to fight a battle he couldn’t afford to lose but knew he could in no way win.
-
Battle Commander Balforr was livid. The sheer audacity of the Humans continued to astonish him. The military leader in the command base they just discovered had sent a message to his flagship threatening to destroy the planet if Balforr used a nuke. This was no doubt an attempt to prevent him from using a nuke to take out the troop concentrations around the mountain where the command base was.
“We do this the hard way,” said Balforr, turning toward Second Officer Jaltor. “Contact Battle Commander Traven and have him organize a full assault on that mountain. We’ll need hover tanks, shuttles, and attack craft to take that base.”
“It will take days to organize and move enough of our troops into position to take that mountain. Our scans indicate thousands of Human troops in the area.”
“If it takes days, then it does. Destroy that base! Keep shuttles circling it at a distance. I don’t want any of those troops to escape.”
“As you command,” replied Jaltor as he went to Communications to send the message to Battle Commander Traven.
Balforr gazed at the viewscreen showing the mountain which would soon be his target. One more big battle and the planet would be his. He was about to wipe the last major Human military force off the face of the planet. Earth was nearly ready to become part of the Trellixian Empire.
Chapter Fifteen
Professor Wilkens looked excitedly at the information Lisa had sent.
“Look at this,” said Wilkens, pointing to an interior view of the energy rifle Lisa had scanned. “See how the power couplings are set up?”
Professor Pierre Fournier nodded. “In a parallel series to stop overloads from the energy cell. We’ve been experiencing the same problem in the firing of our pulse rifles. We thought it was a weakness in the power cells, but the energy coupling was back-feeding power to the cells, making them short out.”
“Can we adapt this technology to the pulse rifles?” Wilkens knew that General Mitchell wanted the first pulse rifles delivered immediately. However, there had been delay after delay as minor problems in the design kept cropping up.
“I don’t see why not. It will only require a couple changes.”
“Let’s implement it immediately,” ordered Major Charles Cunningham. “Those rifles may be what prevents the Trellixians from wiping us out. How long will it take?”
“Forty-eight hours max,” Pierre replied. “We can start the assembly line immediately after that. In two weeks we can have the first 1,500 pulse rifles ready for delivery.”
“Not only that, we can possibly build stronger energy cannons as well,” added Professor Wilkens. “Not as strong as what the Jelnoid once used but pretty damn close.”
“What about the fusion reactors?” asked Major Cunningham. “Will this help in their development?”
“This power coupling is unique in the way it’s constructed,” Wilkens replied as he looked at it again. “We’re having trouble connecting the small fusion reactors we’ve built together in a series. We’re burning out all the power relays.”
Pierre gazed at the screen showing the interior of the energy rifle. “I don’t know if this technology can be useful to our fusion reactors. The power relays may still burn out.”
“But they might hold for a while,” replied Wilkens. “Even if only for an hour or two it would be useful. I’ll get a team together and see if we can’t formulate a design to handle the power for a short time. If we can I’ll send the schematics of the design to Colonel Fields at the main base. He’s got the technicians to do the modifications.”
“We need to hurry,” replied Major Cunningham. “The Trellixians know where General Mitchell’s base is. They could attack it any day.”
“In twenty-four hours we can do a preliminary test on the reactors we have here. Once we know it will work we’ll get the information to Colonel Fields.”
Professor Wilkens looked once more at the data Lisa had sent back. It didn’t surprise him she had managed to procure important information. It was one of the reasons he had sent her out into the field instead of bringing her directly to this research facility. However, he did worry about her. Several times he had been tempted to pull her and some others back to the base. It saddened him immensely that several of the special captains had already lost their lives.
-
President Katelyn Hathaway was in her office, listening to the latest reports from the various battlefields. She had finally relented and allowed herself to be sworn in as president. Part of her briefing came from Major Leslie Lorre with the DOE, responsible for gathering intelligence on the Trellixians.
“We’ve lost a number of the captains
we’ve assigned to various military groups,” Major Lorre began. “We severely underestimated how powerful the Trellixian military would be with their ground operations. Their battle armor is nearly impervious to small weapons fire and it takes several direct hits from heavy artillery to disable one of their hover tanks. Currently we have nothing that can shoot down one of their shuttles or their attack craft.”
“Should we recall the special captains? They could be useful in the research being done as well as with the ad astra project.”
“We’ve already done so,” Major Lorre replied. “We only had a few who sent back any valuable information. Captain Lisa Reynolds only just today provided Professor Wilkens with scans of a Trellixian energy rifle and a suit of battle armor. Wilkens says the information is extremely valuable for their research.”
“Where is Captain Reynolds?” Katelyn knew all the special captains had been assigned to the best trained units the American military possessed.
“She’s with the 75th Ranger Regiment,” Lorre replied. “We have two other of our special captains embedded with them as well.”
President Hathaway stood and walked to the window overlooking the underground city. Maggie Rayne, the secretary of state, was at a second complex similar to this one. In addition, there were numerous other smaller underground facilities including a few military ones. Over the years several trillion dollars had been spent building the secret installations. It still amazed her everything had remained a secret.
“Should we pull the three out?” asked Hathaway. She knew Captain Lisa Reynolds was important to Professor Wilkens. He had future plans for her.
Major Lorre shook her head. “Professor Wilkens wants Captain Reynolds to observe the Trellixian attack on General Mitchell’s base. Once that’s over she’ll be brought here to join the ad astra project.”
“How soon before the Trellixians attack the base?” This concerned Katelyn as it was the largest base left in the United States. There was still a large Russian base the Trellixians knew nothing about. If Mitchell’s base fell the Russian base would assume command of the various resistance units spread across the world. The Russian base was nearly as large as General Mitchell’s.
Earth Fall: Invasion : (Book One) Page 21