The Hiriculan Imposition: Book 4 of the Alliance Conflict

by Jeff Sims

  Loid watched the grate slide into place, blocking out all light and making the sewer completely dark. He activated the light attached to his headband and said, “We are ready to go.”

  He then motioned to one of the other workers and said, “Tie the end of the extension cord around your waist. We don’t want to have to search for it when we get there.”

  Loid walked through the sewer, being careful to place one foot directly in front of the other and make sure that it wasn’t slipping before taking the next step. The sewer was very slippery from the flushing water and he didn’t want to slip and plant his face in the water again. However, he would take walking through slippery water over poo filled slime any time.

  He made it to the T in the sewer. Once again, he looked in both directions before turning left. Once again, he admonished himself. There was no one else in the sewer system, especially at this late hour.

  Loid thought that this stroll through the sewers was much more pleasant that his previous one – if such a thing were possible. The foul stench had been greatly reduced from flushing the lines with water. It still smelled terrible, but at least the rebreather was keeping up this time and he didn’t feel like he was going to puke. Nor did he stumble or take an unintended swim in waste water.

  They reached the large opening where three sewer lines intersected. The filters and/or lighter loads seemed to have worked because the hover carts made it to the rendezvous without issue and were still functioning.

  Loid inspected the brace that he had installed during the fireworks display of the closing ceremony of the Solarian Celebration. The contraption was still intact and still holding the floor above it. There was no electricity or hover capability with these jacks, just steel and wooden beams. The makeshift brace would hold the floor above even if the Solarians activated their darned global EMP device.

  Loid checked the weight reading on the brace. He smiled; his calculations had been correct. The floor above him would crash down the moment that he released the brace. However, it would make an absolute mess if it fell now because the upper 8 cm (3”) of the floor was still attached to the surrounding area.

  This left Loid’la with a conundrum - the same conundrum that he had since the original mission had been planned. He could drill through the final few centimeters of the floor so that it could be dropped easily. It could then later be replaced. Or he could drop the ceiling without drilling, create a huge pile of rubble, and eventually have to rebuild the floor from scratch.

  The first would greatly increase their chance of getting caught. The second would make a huge, possibly unnecessary mess. Loid decided to gain one more piece of information before making his decision.

  They positioned one of the carts under the middle of the brace. Loid activated the laser drill and drilled a hole all the way through.to the room above. He then fished a tiny camera through the tiny hole. He spun the camera around a full 360 degrees and looked around.

  “Well?” one of the workers said. “What do you see?”

  “Loid said, “I see a bathroom.”

  This caused everyone to chuckle. Loid continued, “What did you expect that we were going to find? We are walking through a sewer.”

  “Is it empty?” another asked.

  Loid responded, “Yes. It is presently unoccupied and it is still early in the shift. I doubt anyone upstairs will need to use the restroom in the next few moments. Let’s drill.”

  Loid continued to monitor the bathroom through the camera. However, at this critical moment there was very little that they could do should someone come in other than just drop the brace and let the floor crash into chunks. However, brute force wasn’t the goal here, the plan demanded subtlety.

  The other 4 workers positioned the carts around the outside of the brace. They carefully and quietly finished laser drilling circular section until it was free from the rest of the bathroom floor. It took under 2 minutes to complete the work. They then positioned the laser drills in the corner very near where the junk from the last excursion was located.

  Loid swung the camera around the entire perimeter of the circle one last time to ensure that they had completely drilled the entire section free from the rest of the floor. He continued to scan for another couple of minutes to ensure that no one had heard a sound and chose to investigate.

  Satisfied, Loid withdrew the camera and moved out from underneath the brace. He said, “We are clear men. Let’s plug into the grid.”

  The worker untied the cord from his waist and plugged a power strip into the end. All 5 Hiriculans plugged their beam weapons into the power strip. Loid also plugged in two of laser drills and the brace activator. They then plugged in their communication pads and every other electronic piece of equipment that they were carrying.

  Plugging the equipment into the global grounding system would protect it from getting fried in the now likely event that the Solarians were to activate their global EMP.

  He contacted Team B and said, “We are in position and ready, begin your attack.”

  ………..…………

  Robert Eaglefly entered the control room. Anna Foxprowl entered directly behind him. They greeted the two officers whose shift was about to end. Robert sat at his usual spot at the main control panel and entered his credentials. Anna did the same.

  The computer verified that it was Robert and Anna, that they were authorized to be in the global EMP command room, and that it was indeed the start of their shift. Once the validation routine was complete, Anna waved at the other two officers standing beside the door.

  She said, “We are verified as logged into the system. You two are officially relieved.” She paused for just a moment and added, “Have a nice … time off.”

  She never knew exactly what to say at this time. It was 12:01 am, so it was technically morning. Therefore, she should probably have said have a good day. But that didn’t make sense because they were both going to go home and go to sleep. Therefore, she could have said have a nice night, except for the fact that it was morning. Neither really seemed correct.

  Robert, apparently unconcerned with the stressful semantic situation that was occupying Anna’s attention said, “Computer, lock the doors protecting this level and seal the inner doors to the control room.”

  They watched and listened as the huge doors slid shut. They were now sealed into the control room and the lower level of the building was now sealed from the other 5 levels.

  Robert then said, “Computer, verify that the force field is on active standby.”

  The force field surrounding the building was ready to be activated at a moment’s notice should the exterior sensors note anything amiss. The force field shielded the entire building and was nearly impenetrable. Robert checked the status of the EMP. It was perfectly calibrated and ready to fire at a moment’s notice. The control room was now virtually impregnable from outside attack.

  Robert said, “It looks like it will be another boring evening.”

  Anna replied, “You mean morning.”

  Robert got up, walked to restroom and said, “Well, if it is morning, then I need to take my morning constitutional.”

  He returned a few minutes later and sat back down at the control panel. He reviewed the board again and saw that everything was okay. The shifts here were extremely boring, but he had to admit the job was a pretty sweet assignment. They had to work one 12 hour shift in the control room. Then they were off for the next two days.

  Robert asked, “How was your double day off?”

  Anna replied, “Very good. I visited Human Town one day. They have an actual Human truck now from Earth and a display of actual Human items. They look exactly like the ones in the Human movies.”

  Robert replied, “Well, if it is an actual Human truck from Earth, then shouldn’t it look like an actual Human truck? I mean, what else would it look like?”

  Anna replied with an inappropriate hand gesture.

  Robert suddenly sat up in his chair and turned his hea
d left and right. He said, “Anna, did you hear that?”

  Anna rubbed her eyebrows in apparent confusion. She looked over at Robert; he hadn’t seen her do it. She noisily shifted in her chair to attract his attention. Now she re-rubbed her eyebrows in apparent confusion. She had had them trimmed and cosmetically peeled during her second day off and wanted him to notice.

  Anna replied, “No, I didn’t hear any…”

  Her voice trailed away when she heard a loud explosion and felt the building lightly shake. It shook a second time a moment later. Robert scanned his control board; the shield was active and surrounding the building and the EMP was on-line and okay.

  Robert said, “Computer, was that an earthquake?”

  Anna activated the control room monitors to show the area just outside the building. The building shook again.

  Robert yelled, “Look, the Hiriculans are attacking. There must be 20 or more HAS units out there.”

  They watched as the HAS units shot at the side of the building. They coordinated their attacks so that all of their shots hit one part of the shields.

  Anna looked at the shield readout and yelled, “The shield is weakening area 345.22 R19. They are going to be able to get through the barrier in a matter of minutes.”

  Robert said, “I thought the shield was supposed to be impenetrable.”

  Anna said, “It is. The Hiriculans aren’t going bring it down. They are just going to overstress a shield generator and then jump the opening.”

  …The shaking building was not caused by an earthquake. Presently, there are 30 HAS units attacking this building…

  Anna whispered, “Thanks computer.” She contacted her supervisor and said, “Do you know what is going on?”

  The supervisor responded, “We don’t know. The Hiriculans just started attacking seemingly from nowhere. We don’t even know yet if they are actually Hiriculans. It could be some protest group appearing to be Hiriculans. At any rate, the defense force is scrambling a squadron of fighters, but they are located on the space station in orbit and won’t be here for another 17 minutes.”

  Anna looked at the shield readings and said, “We won’t last that long.”

  Robert said, “Computer, we request an emergency override code to close the blast doors and fire the EMP. We need the code now.”

  …Override code granted...

  Anna and Robert each entered their portion of the emergency code into the computer. They ran to the respective walls and pushed their respective buttons to close the blast door and activate the EMP. They raced back to their seats and waited 18 seconds until the computer verified that the massive blast doors were sealed.

  They were truly alone now; it would take hours, maybe even a few days, of constant drilling to get through to them now.

  Robert set the EMP blast for 1 percent power and kept the blast radius as tight as possible. The blast would be centered directly over the defense building. The blast radius was still three city blocks wide though. It couldn’t be helped; those people in the affected area would just have to replace any unshielded electronics.

  They then looked at each other. Anna counted 1, 2, 3, and they both held their breath. There was absolutely no reason for them to do this, but somehow it felt right. They simultaneously pressed the big red EMP button.

  The shield deactivated temporarily and the EMP fired. It disabled all unshielded electric and/or electronic components in a 3 block radius. Again, anything plugged into the worldwide grounding network was safe and completely unaffected. Anything not shielded was now inoperable.

  They then checked the security monitors. Robert looked at the monitor, but it hadn’t refreshed yet. “Did we get them?” he asked.

  …All 30 HAS units have been disabled. The building is no longer under attack…

  Anna cheered and said, “Yes.”

  Robert studied the outside monitor. He said, “That’s strange. When the HAS suits lost power, a plate on the back pivoted and fell to the ground. It pulled the wearer out of the suit when they fell. The 30 Hiriculans got up and ran away.”

  Anna said, “I wonder why they…”

  Anna slumped over in her chair. Robert tried to leap up to see what was wrong with her. However, he didn’t make it very far. Less than a second later he too slumped over in his chair.

  ………..…………

  The hardest part was waiting, Loid’la thought. They were in place and ready, but they needed a diversion before they could lower the bathroom floor and gain entry into the EMP building - specifically the control room. The bathroom they were standing underneath adjoined the control room.

  Well, that wasn’t entirely true either, Loid corrected himself. They really needed the blast doors sealed if they were to have any chance of securing and holding the control room. If the blast doors were open, the Solarians could send a unit of their own armored units (AAUs) and quickly retake the control room.

  Therefore, the blast doors were the key to the entire plan. Once the Solarians closed the blast doors, they couldn’t be opened from the outside. The command to open or close had to be given from the control room and it had to be given by a qualified Solarian defense force member.

  Therefore, if they could trick the Solarians into closing the blast doors, then they could hold the command room and more importantly the EMP weapon with a small force until the Hiriculan fleet arrived. Conversely, if the fleet arrived and the Solarians still held the EMP weapon, then any attempt at capturing Solaria would literally be ‘lights out’.

  Well, the blast doors were one of two keys he again corrected himself. The other key was the very sewer that he was now standing in. To accentuate that point, something caught his attention and he looked down at it. He realized a little too late that he shouldn’t look down while standing in a sewer.

  He watched a rather disgusting piece of excrement float though its legs. The poo in question must have been mushy from the start. Then, it had begun dissipating immediately when it hit the water in the sewer. The thing that floated past looked like a giant swirling mess of diarrhea.

  Loid struggled to keep himself from barfing into the rebreather. He turned his head and stared at the ceiling for the next few minutes. They were waiting for Team B to leave the office building, walk across the greenspace to the EMP building, and begin firing at it.

  It only took Team B ten minutes to complete the task, but Loid swore that it felt more like 37 minutes. Oddly enough, time seemed to pass rather slowly when standing in near darkness surrounded by poo.

  Loid activated the switch on the brace. The servo motors activated and lowered the floor down about 2 meters (6.5 feet) into the sewer. Loid jumped onto a hover cart and climbed up onto the now lowered floor section.

  He lay down, reached his hands down over the side, and grabbed the hover cart containing their beam weapons. He then pulled it up onto the platform. Loid verified that the beam weapons and other electronics were still plugged into the grounding circuit. Three of the four remaining members of Team A also climbed onto the platform and lay down. They grabbed a second hover cart and put it on the platform.

  He heard a large thump that he assumed, well hoped, were the blast doors sealing into place. He pulled out a cheap, children’s toy. It was a monkey whose arms clapped. He activated it and watched its arms start clapping. A moment later they suddenly stopped.

  Loid said, “They fired the EMP, let’s go.”

  They unplugged everything and tossed the power connector off of the platform. Loid even chucked the monkey off the side. The toy had served its purpose; he doubted he would have a need to play with it ever again.

  The lone member still remaining on the sewer floor activated the brace and the platform began to move back up again. Loid yelled for everyone to ensure that their hands and legs were inside the circle. He didn’t want anyone’s limbs to be amputated. There would be no way to get them medical attention as they had recently barricaded their only doctor behind a do not disturb sign.

&nbs
p; The platform rose back up to its original position and the brace locked into place. Team A, now reduced to 4 members, stood up. Time was of the essence. They had to act before the Solarians could recharge the EMP weapon or unlock the blast doors.

  However, they took the time to shed their hazmat suits before exiting the bathroom. The primary reason was that the hazmat suits looked and smelled terrible, but Loid justified the time by saying that they needed to be able to act freely. Besides, who would want to conquer a world dressed in those dreadful things?

  Loid activated the door switch. The four members of Team A raced through the door and into the control room. Loid spotted a female sitting at the control panel and stunned her. A second team member stunned the male sitting next to her less than a second later.

  They gently lifted each unconscious body out of their respective chair and carefully placed it onto a hover carts. Loid verified that each one was resting comfortably. They pushed one to the EMP palm pad on the left wall and the other to the palm pad on the right wall. One soldier stood next to each hover cart.

  Loid opened the user manual and read the instructions. He was already pretty sure that he already knew what to do, but he wanted to be sure. Once he was convinced he knew what to do, he motioned for the other two soldiers to get ready.

  He entered identities for the 4 soldiers into the computer system. This would be nearly impossible to do from outside the system, but fortunately he wasn’t outside. The computer accepted the new defense workers without issue. They then took turns placing their palms on the palm reader and having their eyes scanned.

  That completed, Loid said, “Computer, authorize replacement personnel, mid-shift.”

  …Incoming workers, please scan your palms…

  The Hiriculan standing next to Anna placed his palm on the reader. The Hiriculan standing next to Robert did the exact same thing.

  …Outgoing workers, please scan your palms…