Going inside Lisa came to a stop, recognizing several of the individuals in the room. She found herself speechless. There, sitting at a desk with the presidential seal behind her, was President Hathaway.
President Hathaway stood, smiling. “It looks as if your associate is a little shocked.”
“I wasn’t expecting to see you,” Lisa stammered. She felt embarrassed to be standing in front of the president of the United States in a white lab coat, instinctively brushing at creases she knew would not go away that easily.
“It’s okay,” Katelyn said in understanding. “We’re relatively informal here. I asked Professor Wilkens to bring you to this meeting as he has indicated you will be his official representative in all things related to science and the activities of the science teams he’s in charge of.”
Lisa looked at Wilkens, seeing a guilty look on his face.
“You will still be involved in research. I just need someone I trust implicitly to be my representative and who understands what I’m doing. I must spend my time in the labs, not in meetings.”
Looking around the room, Lisa saw several others she didn’t recognize.
“Let me introduce General Mitchell, Colonel Fields, Major Thomas, and Major Cunningham,” President Hathaway said, indicating the military officers in the room.
“General Briggs couldn’t attend,” apologized General Mitchell. “He’s still working on determining exactly who survived the fall of our base, and he has another meeting he needs to attend.”
“Lisa, I’m also giving you top clearance which will allow you knowledge of just about everything that’s going on,” added President Hathaway, “at least for those things occurring here in the United States. In other countries that will continue to be on a need-to-know basis.”
Professor Wilkens indicated for Lisa to sit down and then turned toward the president and General Mitchell. “The alloys in the energy rifle Captain Reynolds brought back have been analyzed,” Wilkens began. “We can reproduce them and they solve a number of problems. First off, we can build improved pulse rifles.” He saw the general’s eyebrows rise. Wilkens put up his hand. “There will be no stopping the current production run. We will make the changes in the second run and it will only be a twenty-four hour delay.”
“I need those rifles,” Mitchell said. “The Trellixians lost enough troops and hover tanks in the recent battle that it will be several weeks before they can resume offensive operations on a major scale. I need to arm my troops with weapons that can stop the aliens.”
“You will have them and more,” promised Wilkens. “In four weeks we can give you the first portable automated pulse cannon. It can be programmed to take out Trellixian shuttles and attack craft. It will be mounted on a heavy tripod with a tracking system which will detect and fire on Trellixian vessels. At about the same time we can give you the first Jelnoid primary energy cannons. They will be capable of penetrating the shields of the enemy battlecruisers if they come down low enough.”
General Mitchell’s eyes widened in surprise. “Are you telling me we can prevent the battlecruisers from coming down and engaging our forces?”
Professor Wilkens nodded. “Precisely. The primary cannon will have an effective range in Earth’s atmosphere of around one thousand miles. Not only that but the energy shield which protected your base can be significantly improved upon and the new version will be available shortly.”
“Can we add these energy cannons and energy screens to our aircraft?” asked Major Thomas, sounding excited.
“Yes, it will take some modifications to the aircraft but it should not be too difficult.”
“How easy would it be to install the energy shields on our Apache attack helicopters?”
Wilkens thought for a long moment. “Not too difficult if you’re not adding energy weapons.”
This seemed to satisfy Major Thomas. He looked at General Mitchell. “I think we should do the Apaches first. The modified Hellfire antitank missiles have the potential to damage a hover tank. We’ve been holding back the Apaches as they were too easy a target for Trellixian attack craft.”
“What if we remove the 30mm cannon and replace it with an energy cannon?” asked Colonel Fields. “Right now that 30mm cannon is nearly worthless against Trellixian soldiers and hover tanks.”
General Mitchell interrupted. “Why don’t the two of you along with General Briggs work out the details? We have a lot of aircraft hidden around the country. It would be nice to use them to clear our airspace of Trellixian shuttles and attack craft. We could then use the primary cannons to keep the Trellixian battlecruisers at bay while we launch a full-scale offensive to clear the planet of their troops.”
“Are we talking about ending the war?” asked President Hathaway, her eyes lighting up at the thought.
“No, we can’t end the war as long as their battlecruisers are in orbit,” replied General Mitchell. “However, we can deny them access to the surface and prevent them from killing more of our people. I didn’t expect to be able to do this for months yet. What’s making the difference in all of these weapon systems? Why are they now so close to being ready?”
“The new alloys,” replied Professor Wilkens. “They solved most of the problems that were holding us back. We have the weapons systems designed; we just needed the right heat resistant alloys to make them work.”
“What if they drop more nukes?” asked President Hathaway.
“The primary and secondary cannons can shoot them down,” replied Professor Wilkens. “Or at least I believe they will be able to do so.”
“We’ll create a stalemate,” Major Cunningham said as he looked over at General Mitchell. “At least until our spaceships are completed and we can take the battle into space.”
General Mitchell turned toward Professor Wilkens. “We need to make this happen as soon as possible. Use whatever resources are necessary. Coordinate with Colonel Fields and Major Thomas. They can tell you what we need first. Major Cunningham, I want the manufacturing facilities in this complex and the other one cranking out weapons around the clock. It’s getting close to the time for us to take back our planet. If we can do this quickly we can save millions of our civilians. These new weapons are going to be a game changer!”
“What about the Russians?” asked President Hathaway, concerned. “They think they’re in charge of the war now.”
“I’ll contact General Anoltave and inform him of our breakthrough and not to launch a counteroffensive until he hears from us. We also need to get this information on these alloys out to all of our own facilities as well as the others scattered around the world.”
Lisa listened silently, not interrupting. She wondered how many other bases and complexes like this one were hidden in other countries. She had a suspicion there were a number of them since other countries had been involved in the Roswell cover up.
“What about yourself, General?” asked President Hathaway. “When are you setting up your new command base?”
Mitchell smiled. “We had the secondary command base on standby in case our primary base was destroyed. We hoped never to have to use it. It’s some distance away from here as I didn’t want to do anything which might attract the Trellixians’ attention to this region of the Rockies. It’s already been activated and we’re moving in the necessary people now to get it up and running. Fortunately enough of our personnel survived from our primary base to allow us to fully staff the secondary one with no problems.”
President Hathaway nodded. “When will you leave?”
“In a few more days,” Mitchell replied. “Once we’ve got a pretty good feel on these new weapons and a production schedule set up we’ll be on our way. We have a lot of troops and civilians in these mountains and across the country who are depending on us. We won’t let them down.”
“Captain Reynolds will be involved with the new weapon systems and their development,” Professor Wilkens added. “I’ll make sure she keeps you updated.”
Lisa m
entally made a list of her new job responsibilities. It sounded like she was being given a lot of authority as well.
“Do you have any questions?” President Hathaway asked Lisa. “I know you must be overwhelmed by all this. I’m very familiar with that feeling myself.”
Lisa shook her head. “I still find it hard to believe all this exists. I was so afraid we had lost everything when the mountain containing General Mitchell’s base was destroyed. It may take me a while but I’ll get a handle on it all.”
“The base being destroyed scared all of us,” President Hathaway replied. “We watched it live on a viewscreen connected to a Jelnoid observation satellite. I nearly fainted when the Trellixians dropped their antimatter bomb or missile. The entire mountain seemed to vanish in the explosion. One moment it was there and the next it was gone.”
Lisa let out a deep sigh. “I guess the first thing I should do is familiarize myself with Jelnoid science and technology. It seems I have a lot to learn.” Lisa would have to talk to Professor Wilkens and some of the other scientists to see where to start.
“That will be a challenge,” replied Colonel Fields with a small laugh. “I’ve studied it for years and haven’t made a dent in it. Much of it sounds almost like magic.”
“Were they that advanced?”
Professor Wilkens nodded. “It’s one of the reasons the Trellixians hit them with such a large war fleet in the very beginning. Even so it took them months to defeat the existing Jelnoid fleet and to finally subdue the home planet. The Jelnoids had set up colonies in three other star systems and maintained a small defensive fleet for protection. Their home world was protected by a massive defense grid that cost the Trellixians numerous battlecruisers before they managed to destroy it. Jelnoid energy screens and their primary energy cannons are far superior to the ones the Trellixians use.”
“And our own space fleet?” Lisa was curious how they would compare to the Jelnoids.
“They’ll have Jelnoid energy screens and Jelnoid weapons,” Professor Wilkens replied. “The ships are full of Jelnoid technology. Our spacecraft are also twice the size of the largest warship the Jelnoids possessed when the Trellixians attacked them.”
Lisa had already decided she would need more help with all of this. Once this meeting was over, she would see if Professor Wilkens would let her have Brenda and Brett. This Jelnoid technology sounded highly intriguing and she would need the two of them if she wanted to make any progress in understanding it.
-
The meeting lasted for another hour as they covered numerous other subjects. Lisa was surprised to learn Maggie Rayne, the secretary of state, was in charge of Complex Two which was the same size and had the same capability as this one did. It made Lisa feel better knowing at least part of the former government had survived the Trellixian apocalypse.
As they left the meeting, Lisa turned to Professor Wilkens. “Is there any chance you can let me have Captains Olson and Masterson?”
Professor Wilkens nodded. “I had a hunch you would ask for them. Each of you will eventually be assigned to the spaceships so it’s a good idea for all of you to learn as much as possible about Jelnoid technology. I also will make arrangements for the three of you to see the remains of the Jelnoid scout craft.”
“What about the alien engineer who survived?”
“Strold,” replied the professor. “I never got to meet him but I’ve watched some of the videos of his interviews. There are even videos of battles involving Jelnoid warships and the Trellixians. I think you will be impressed upon seeing what Jelnoid weapons are capable of.”
Lisa remained silent as they walked back to the lab. There was so much to think about. They were a long way from winning the war; even with Jelnoid technology it might not be possible. It greatly concerned Lisa that the human race might be forced to live permanently underground, hiding from the Trellixians if they ever managed to colonize the surface. While the underground civilian complex was a technological marvel and could sustain the people living there seemingly indefinitely, it still wasn’t the same as living on the surface with the sky and clouds above. What would it be like to raise children who would never see the stars? Lisa hoped it didn’t come to that.
-
Major Dolan had just returned from a tour of the civilian complex and industrial complexes and was now in a meeting with Colonel Branson and General Briggs.
“It took us over twenty years to build what you see here,” General Briggs informed Mark. “We’ve been working on the connecting tunnels between complexes and installations for nearly thirty. All tunnels are far enough underground to avoid detection by the Trellixians so we can move freely about the country if necessary. We have a number of small military installations designed to carry out guerrilla warfare for as long as needed to drive the enemy from our world.”
“The base I came from doesn’t have one of these connecting tunnels, does it?” asked Mark. If it did no one had mentioned it to him.
Colonel Branson shook his head. “No, but the one I’m based at does. Both of us will be returning to our bases shortly. With a little luck we’ll have the pulse rifles available for our Rangers and the Marines in our defensive lines.”
“We’re also sending additional troops to help,” added General Briggs. He reached forward with his right hand and activated a viewscreen on the wall behind him. A terrain map appeared showing the Rocky Mountains. Over twenty red lines appeared. “Each one of those red lines indicates the presence of American troops tasked with denying the Trellixians access to the civilians hiding in the mountains. All lines are being reinforced. Within a month every one of those units will possess pulse rifles which can easily take out a Trellixian soldier. We have nearly eleven thousand troops who were evacuated from our main base before it was destroyed. We’ll be deploying about eight thousand of them to defend the civilians.”
Mark studied the map for several moments. “How many civilians are we talking about?” He had been curious for quite some time about how many had made it safely to the mountains.
“We’ve spent years using Jelnoid technology to build extensive tunnel systems in the mountains to accommodate survivors of a Trellixian invasion,” General Briggs said. “Currently we have slightly over two million civilians taking refuge in the tunnels. More are in other mountain ranges. We believe over twenty million Americans are in hiding across the country. Many are on farms or in small communities. There may be more. We won’t know until we go out looking for them.”
Colonel Branson leaned forward to face Mark. “We need to save those civilians. The manufacturing facilities here are now working overtime, producing weapons for our soldiers. Some of the manufacturing processes are based on Jelnoid technology. You’ve seen how a three-dimensional printer works. We’re employing some of that same technology here. All we have to do is program everything correctly and the new printers can produce a viable weapon we can use in the field. The first production run of pulse rifles is 1,500 over a two-week period. The second run will consist of five thousand over the same amount of time.”
General Briggs stood, walking to the viewscreen. “Eventually we’ll go on the offensive. What the Trellixians will do when that happens is anyone’s guess.”
“When do we leave to return to our bases?” asked Mark. While it was nice to get away from all the action he was anxious to return to his command.
“Four more days,” replied Colonel Branson. “We’ll be taking back four hundred pulse rifles. We’ll take one of the tunnels to my base and from there you and your people can take several ATVs back to your base, along with one hundred of the rifles. More rifles will be sent to us as soon as they’re available.”
“Toward the end of the month we’ll have more powerful weapons for you,” added General Briggs. He had received a call only a few minutes back from General Mitchell informing him of the new weapons developments. “We want to be able to shoot down Trellixian shuttles and attack craft. The heavier weapons should give us that c
apability. If the Trellixians will hold off attacking us for a few weeks we’ll have one hell of a surprise for them when they come back into the mountains.”
Mark leaned back in his chair. If what General Briggs and Colonel Branson said about these new weapons was true, it could turn the war around. Just a few days back Mark was convinced the war was over and the human race would go down in defeat. Now it seemed it would be the Trellixians who might be going down.
The phone on General Briggs’s desk suddenly rang. He answered it and a broad smile passed across his face. “Major Dolan, you’re to report to Briefing Room Four. Someone is waiting there for you.”
“I’ll show you where it is,” said Colonel Branson, standing.
As the colonel and Mark walked down the well-lit hallway, Mark was already making plans for what to do when he returned to his base. The new pulse rifles would have to be distributed and maybe a few sent across the mountain to where Lieutenant Stein and Sergeant Tucker had their people. He would also send a couple MK47 grenade launchers to give them more offensive capability. As small as the pass was that led into the valley where Stein and Tucker’s people were two of the MK47s could cover the entire entrance.
Reaching a door, Colonel Branson indicated for Mark to enter. “When you’re through come by my office. I have a few more details to cover with you.”
Mark nodded and opening the door, stepped inside. Seeing the young woman sitting at the small conference table, Mark froze in his tracks. It was his sister, Jennifer!
Jennifer stood with a big smile on her face. “Miss me, big brother?” She came over, giving a stunned Mark a huge hug.
“I thought you died in Dallas,” Mark stammered, still not believing his sister stood here in front of him. He put his hands on her shoulders, gazing into her eyes. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. His sister was alive!
Earth Fall: Invasion : (Book One) Page 27