“Pass the word we can expect a Trellixian attack in a few hours. Let’s put some hot food into our troops and get them ready.”
“Lieutenant Bennington reports the Trellixians are on the move everywhere,” relayed Private Hastings who was in charge of the communication system in the small bunker. “General Mitchell has sent out the combat alert to all commands.”
Mark’s heart beat faster. This was it; the battle they had been waiting for. The fate of the human race was about to be decided. “Send someone to the top of the mountain and send a radio message to Lieutenant Stein that the Trellixians are on the move. I don’t want them taken by surprise.”
Going back inside the bunker, Mark sat down. All he could do now was wait.
-
Lieutenant Stein and Sergeant Tucker were inside the main cabin eating a light meal. Later they would check the defenses in the neck of the valley. They were discussing the troop rotation when Private Jenkins came hurrying through the door. “I just received a message from Major Dolan. The Trellixians are on the move. We can expect an attack in two to four hours.”
Sergeant Tucker stood with concern in his eyes. “Inform Corporal Strong and Corporal Owens.” The defensive plans called to put two more squads on the defensive line with the remaining troops dug in around the cabins and tents to protect the civilians.
“Make sure everyone with the new pulse rifles are ready,” Stein ordered. “We’re about to find out soon how effective they are.”
Sergeant Tucker went immediately to find his wife, Lacy. After a few minutes of searching he found her helping to serve the afternoon meal in the mess tent.
“Lacy, it looks as if the aliens might attack us later this afternoon. Major Dolan sent word over the radio they’re moving into the mountains.”
Lacy let out a deep and worried sigh. She looked at some of the children sitting at two tables eating and laughing. “I had hoped the cold weather and the snow would keep them away. There must be snowdrifts three feet deep in that pass.”
Tucker spent a moment, gazing at the children. “We have an hour or two to get prepared. I want all the children and their parents in the deep trenches we dug behind the cabins.” The trenches were just deep enough to stand in and had a protective roof of wood covered with a foot of dirt. The ends were open to allow easy entry. Benches lined the sides of the trenches for the civilians to sit until the battle was over and it would be safe for them to come out.
Lacy stood. “I’ll tell the others.”
Tucker nodded. He didn’t know what he would do without Lacy. “There will be a squad of soldiers with you as well just in case the aliens get through our line.”
Lacey looked concerned. “We can stop them, can’t we?”
“We’re going to attempt to,” replied Tucker, giving Lacy a quick hug. “I’ll try to talk to you before the fighting starts. We’re still hoping they overlook our valley.”
Tucker looked out, noticing soldiers getting their weapons and talking to their families. Tucker prayed he wouldn’t have to come back later and tell those same families their husbands or wives had been killed in the battle.
-
Sergeant Anderson was in his firing pit watching the forest in front of him intently. All the scouts had pulled back, reporting the Trellixians were right behind them.
“I see movement,” said Private Peterson as he aimed his pulse rifle in that general direction.
“I do too,” added Private Hambridge. “About four hundred yards out. I see them coming through the snow.”
For this battle most of the Rangers and some of the Marines wore their comms so they could communicate with one another. A few of the officers in the four Army companies were also wearing comms.
“Stand by to fire.” Major Dolan’s calm voice came over the comms. “Pick your targets and don’t miss. The Trellixians have never encountered our new pulse rifles before. We believe this first alien attack today may only be a probe to test our defenses.”
Anderson looked through a pair of high-powered binoculars he had draped around his neck. He could see dozens of the battle-suited aliens making their way steadily through the forest. The snow and occasional snowdrifts didn’t seem to be slowing them down. Taking a deep breath, Anderson aimed his pulse rifle at the nearest alien, waiting for the word to fire. If this was a probe it was a pretty large one.
The aliens came nearer and Anderson knew the only thing keeping the Ranger, Marine and Army troops from being detected were the deep firing pits and the limbs, pine needles, and now the thick layer of snow covering them. Anderson’s heart pounded as his finger tightened on the trigger.
“Fire!” ordered Major Dolan.
Instantly from the human skirmish line energy beams shot out, striking the Trellixians. A number of the aliens were targeted by more than one beam. The beams struck the Trellixian armor, penetrated, and then came out the back either killing or seriously injuring the aliens. In front of the skirmish line the battle-suited Trellixians began to fall. Some dropped to their knees and fired back, pouring energy beam fire into the human defenses. Several screams echoed across the forest as Rangers and Marines were hit.
Machine-gun fire erupted as well as the MK47 grenade launchers. 60mm and 81mm mortar rounds fell. At the same instant claymores detonated. Throughout the advancing Trellixian formation more of their soldiers dropped in rapid succession. Energy beam fire was prevalent as Ranger, Marine and Army sharpshooters brought down the hated enemy.
The Trellixians took cover behind tree trunks and whatever else they could find. The firing grew intense as both sides tried to annihilate the other. Explosions around the Trellixians threw dirt and debris into the air. Black smoke rose, concealing parts of the forest. Occasionally an explosion from a mortar round or a grenade would knock a Trellixian away from the tree or boulder he used for protection. Whenever this occurred a hail of pulse rifle beams would strike the armored figure, driving him to the ground.
For nearly ten minutes the firing continued and then slowed and finally came to a stop. Sergeant Anderson raised his binoculars, looking across the forest. There was no movement. Every Trellixian soldier was down.
“We have a 100 percent kill rate in our area,” he reported over the comm.
“Same here,” other sergeants reported. “No movement.”
Sergeant Anderson was surprised and relieved the Trellixians had been stopped. Looking at the pulse rifle in his hands he definitely preferred it over the shotgun he had been using. “We stopped the probe,” he said to Privates Peterson and Hambridge. Now we need to get ready for the main attack.”
-
Major Dolan listened as the reports came in from the different sections of the skirmish line. The pulse rifles had worked far better than he had hoped. One shot was sufficient to penetrate a Trellixian’s armor and bring them down. With increasing excitement he realized this might well be the turning point in the war against the aliens.
“All commands, be prepared for strikes by attack craft. The Trellixians are bound to have reported our resistance and the presence of energy rifles. They’ll try to hit us from the air next. Everyone get down in your firing pits as soon as any attack craft are detected. We’ll let our new pulse cannons handle them.” Mark hoped they would do the job. Warp missiles and splinter grenades could still cause a great amount of damage if dropped on the skirmish line.
He wondered how other units spread across the mountains and other areas of the world were doing. He had no sooner thought about that when Private Hastings spoke up. “Word from base, sir. They’ve detected inbound Trellixian attack craft. Two full squadrons.”
Mark let out a deep sigh. That was forty of the deadly little ships. He doubted if his pulse cannons could take them all out before they reached the skirmish line.
“More contacts detected. Friendlies,” Private Hastings said excitedly. “We have a full squadron of F-35s coming up on the Trellixians.”
F-35s, thought Mark. He didn’t see what the
y could do unless they had been equipped with energy cannons. Even though he had told his Rangers and the Marines to stay inside their firing pits Mark stood and went outside the bunker to see the coming battle in the air.
-
Lieutenant Adam Scott was in his F-35 Lightning closing on the two formations of Trellixian attack craft. There were eighteen fighters in his squadron. Where missiles would normally hang on the wings there were now two long tubes, each an energy cannon. Reaching forward, he flipped a switch and a low humming noise filled the cockpit. He had just activated the energy shield to protect his fighter. Supposedly the energy cannons would fire through it. He was anxious to try out the new weapons. As far as he knew they had not been tested in combat.
“Line up on a target and let’s each try to take one out on the first pass,” ordered Captain Presley, the squadron leader. “Keep in mind the attack craft are probably more maneuverable than our F-35s. There may also be some pulse weapons fire from our troops down below. Don’t be concerned about it. The targeting computers on the cannons are programmed not to shoot at one of our fighters.”
Scott took a deep breath as he gazed ahead. It was evident the alien attack craft were not aware of the F-35s behind them. Why would they be? There hadn’t been a human aircraft in the air for several months. The Trellixians probably believed they had all been destroyed. Not only that they were probably confident their energy shields would protect them. From what Scott had been told the cannons had an effective range of ten miles. They were to fire when they reached six.
-
Major Dolan watched the rapidly nearing alien attack craft. Any moment he expected to see warp missiles raining down on his defensive line. Suddenly four beams of white light shot upward, striking the forward most Trellixian attack craft. In brilliant explosions four fireballs formed, raining debris on the white-coated forest below.
At the same time the F-35s opened up with their energy beams, ravaging the two squadrons of attack craft from behind. More exploded, falling from the sky. The remaining craft broke formation, going into evasive maneuvers. Even so the pulse cannons on the ground in the valley fired again and four more were blown apart. Across the skirmish line cheers broke out as the Ranger, Marine, and Army troops watched the battle in the skies above them.
The fighters quickly closed range and a dogfight broke out above the valley. The energy beams were missing now more than hitting one of the aliens’ fast moving craft, which were flying in wild gyrations as they attempted to avoid incoming energy beam fire. Several times Mark saw Trellixian energy beams strike one of the F-35s to no effect. It appeared as if a protective bubble surrounded the American fighters.
-
Lieutenant Scott twisted his fighter around and dropped in behind a Trellixian attack craft. Two white beams shot out from his fighter, striking the enemy craft in its engines. He turned hard to the right as the attack craft broke up. Looking around he saw few targets left. The ones he could see were vanishing over the nearby mountains as they fled the battle.
“Did we lose anyone?” asked Captain Presley.
“I didn’t see any of our planes go down,” several voices reported.
“My energy shield seems to be shorting out,” Lieutenant Burk reported. “It keeps powering up and then shutting down. I took about four hits from an alien attack craft. It might have shaken something loose.”
“Falcon Four, escort Falcon Seven back to base,” ordered Captain Presley. “The rest of us will continue on to our next engagement zone. We have some more alien attack craft to blow out of the sky.”
Lieutenant Scott took a deep breath as the squadron reformed. For months he and the other pilots had been hiding in an underground facility where the F-35s were stored. Then recently crews of technicians had appeared and begun working on the aircraft, taking some sections apart and modifying others. Two days ago the technicians reported the fighters were ready to fly.
As Scott’s F-35 Lightning climbed higher into the sky he felt as if he had come home. There was nothing like the feeling of flying one of these fighters. It was exhilarating and now it seemed they finally had the weapons to fight the enemy.
-
“Did you see that?” exclaimed Captain Garcia. “We didn’t lose a single aircraft.”
“What about the skirmish line? How did we do?” Mark thought he had heard a few warp missiles explode during the dogfight.
“We lost twelve soldiers in the firefight with the Trellixian troops. Early counts indicate 117 dead alien bodies are lying out there. We also lost fourteen more from four warp missiles that impacted the skirmish line. I’m glad those fighters came along or it could have been a lot worse.”
Mark let out a deep breath. “Send out a few scouts and see if they can locate any more Trellixian troops. We know they had far more than that gathered east of here. This first attack was supposedly a probe. I want to know where the main force is. Also send someone with a radio to the mountain to find out if Lieutenant Stein has been attacked.”
Garcia nodded and quickly passed on the order. “What now?”
“We wait,” Mark replied. He wondered how other battles across the planet were going.
-
Outside the mountains twenty Apache attack helicopters suddenly appeared over one of the massed Trellixian troop and hover tank formations waiting to move into the mountains. Defensive energy beam fire from the hover tanks lanced upward only to be deflected by the energy screens protecting the helicopters.
Arrowing downward the twenty Apaches fired their heavy energy cannons from the nose of their helicopters. Wherever a beam touched the ground it erupted, throwing debris high into the air. Trellixian troops were simply vaporized and whenever a beam touched a hover tank, it blew apart.
-
The Trellixians on the ground didn’t know what to do. They hadn’t expected to be attacked, let alone from the air. Hover tanks aimed their energy cannons upward trying to track and destroy the attacking Human aircraft. When they did manage to hit one of the Human aircraft the beam was simply deflected, causing no damage. The troops milled about, waiting for orders. They had never experienced anything like this before.
-
After making one pass the Apaches returned, this time firing their Hellfire 4 modified guided missiles. The countryside erupted in massive explosions as the ground was lifted into the air from the ferocious blasts. A Jelnoid explosive was being used in the warheads which was ten times more powerful than a human-designed Hellfire missile. Trellixian troops died by the dozens as their battle armor was shredded. Hover tanks were blown apart into hundreds of burning pieces.
When the Apaches pulled up they made another circle and used their energy cannons once more. When they left, the countryside seemed to be on fire with pyres of smoke rising high into the air.
-
Sergeant Tucker was in a firing pit along with Corporal Owens. Both had the new pulse rifles.
“What do you think, Sergeant?” Both of them had been listening to the frantic sounds of battle coming from over the mountain. It had finally ceased, and an eerie silence now lay over the valley.
“We have movement,” reported Corporal Bowing. “Twenty-seven Trellixians have been spotted moving into the neck of the valley. They’re one thousand yards distant and closing.”
Sergeant Tucker clicked off the safety on his pulse rifle. Neither he nor Corporal Owens had even fired the new rifles yet though they had been assured it was similar to a regular assault rifle; it just didn’t have any kick to it.
“I see them,” said Owens, peering through his scope. “They look like giant robots from a horror film.”
“They’re lizards,” replied Tucker. “What did you think they would look like?”
“I don’t know,” Owens replied. “I guess I never really thought about it.”
“Stand by to fire,” ordered Lieutenant Stein. Each soldier had been provided a personal comm unit by the Rangers. “Energy rifles first followed by the M2
40s and the MK47s. Don’t miss your targets! Hold off on the claymores unless a Trellixian is nearly standing on one. We don’t want to waste them.”
Tucker peered through his scope, sighting in on one of the Trellixians. He aimed for the center of the chest as it was the largest target. There hadn’t been enough time for him to speak to Lacy before rushing to the defensive line. He felt anxious as he watched the Trellixians advance with their large energy rifles in their arms. Tucker knew from reports those rifles were deadly.
“Fire!” ordered Lieutenant Stein.
Tucker squeezed the trigger on his pulse rifle, watching a white beam flash out, striking the Trellixian in the chest. The alien stumbled, dropped its energy rifle, and then fell to the ground. Taking a deep breath, Tucker switched to another target. To his left he heard a scream as an energy beam slammed into one of the firing pits next to him. He tried not to think about who had just died.
The machine guns and the MK47s opened up. More pulse rifles were firing. Looking away from his scope Tucker saw more of the aliens fall. Only a few were still standing and firing at the defensive positions. He heard another scream and then claymores detonated, taking out the remaining enemy. Moments later it grew quiet other than someone moaning in one of the nearby firing pits.
“Privates Kincaid and Armstrong, get out there and check those Trellixians,” ordered Corporal Bowing. “Make sure they’re dead!”
Sergeant Tucker remained in his firing pit, wondering if the battle was over. Surely more aliens than this were committed to the battle. Looking out on the battlefield he saw the two Rangers going rapidly from Trellixian to Trellixian. Twice they stopped and fired an energy round into the visor of one of the downed aliens. Tucker guessed those two must have still been moving. Finally the two Rangers signaled the all clear.
“We just received a message from Major Dolan,” Lieutenant Stein said over the comms. “It seems the Trellixians we just engaged were only a scouting force. Their main forces are still just outside the mountains. However, those forces are being attacked by American air assets including F-35s and Apache helicopters. Early reports indicate the Trellixians have suffered heavy casualties and may not be sending any more forces into the mountains. It looks as if our battle, for the time being, is over.”
Earth Fall: Invasion : (Book One) Page 30