Humans Vs. Aliens (Aliens Series Book 2)

by T. Jackson King

  “Incoming AV signal!” chirped Denise. “Going up front as primary image.”

  A grouping of three Mikmang took shape in the center of the front screen. These centipede-lobsters stood side by side, with large sacks draped over their front body segment and their pincer arms showing red and yellow markings. Three pairs of pink eyes fixed on them as their yellow antennae fluttered as if in a breeze. But these Mikmang stood inside a carved stone room. Perhaps a chamber in one of the central mountains.

  “You beings of crippled marching,” said the Mikmang on the left of the screen, “you beings killed our masters on Noolat continent. You destroyed their spaceships. You even vanquished the colony craft that generations of Mikmang have worked to support. Are you our new masters?”

  Jack unlocked his restraint straps and stood up, drawing the visual attention of the three beings. “Are you the leaders of the Rock Marchers?”

  The speaker’s antennae flared backward in some kind of reaction. “We are. How do you know of us?”

  Jack held his arms out-stretched from his body in imitation of how the Mikmang held their own pincer-arms at the ready. “We are Humans. Like you, we work together. Like you, we march together in common cause. My seven ships and these people you see, we are engaged in a great March to the Stars. And no, we are not your new masters.”

  The yellow antennae of all three Mikmang fluttered, touched each other, then moved to a forward slant. The middle Mikmang spoke. “If you go star to star, then you must be a Predator people. Like our masters the Hackmot. All our records from the earliest generations of serving the masters say only predators travel star-to-star. If not to claim our world for your service, why are you here?”

  He noticed the pincer-arms of the Mikmang were now clutching the arms of the being next to them. “Maureen, Nikola, stand on either side of me and link arms with me.”

  His allies did so, facing the screen’s motion-eye as he did.

  The movements of the three of them caused rhythmic stomping by the leg pairs of each Mikmang.

  “Yes, we Humans are predators. We control our system. We defeated a dozen Hunters of the Great Dark who sought to claim our system as their new Hunt territory.” Jack paused, then leaned forward, pulling Nikola and Maureen forward with him. “We are here to invite you Mikmang to join us on our March to the Stars. We are now the strongest March Leaders in this system. But you Rock Marchers can be the new March Leaders for your world of Warm Lands. Choose a new March pattern! Choose to lead your people in partnership with us Humans!” Jack paused, wondering just how open to change these beings might be. “If you do March to a new pattern, we can guide you to salvaging gravity-pull ship drives that will allow your spaceships to move like the Hackmot ships. And we will share our knowledge of weapons able to destroy the ships of any new Hunters who visit your system. You Mikmang will once more control your system! And your world. Are you not tired of providing meat to the Hackmot? Are not your offspring intended for a better life than working to fulfill the orders of masters who are not part of your world’s ecoweb?”

  The Mikmang on the far right of the screen flared its antennae rearward. A movement copied by the other two Rock Marchers. “I am Mother Prime of the Rock Marchers. How do you term yourselves? And since you speak of offspring, show us your children so we may believe your chanting.”

  Jack licked dry lips. A condition he seemed to develop at moments of high tension. “Denise, transmit images of Belter children at play in the park on Mathilde. Then show a classroom where kids are studying orbital mechanics.” He fixed on the Mikmang who had spoken. “Mother Prime, my identifier is Jack Munroe, leader of the Human March to the Stars. I am a male. On either side of me are two females of our species. One is my lifemate, who studies the stars and their behavior. The other is a great mother with many children. She is a battle leader in our fights against the Hunters of the Great Dark.”

  All three Mikmang took three steps backward, humming among themselves. Then they marched forth in unison, advancing five paces. “Your images of Human offspring are similar to ours. The young ones have no sense of moving together in common effort. But they are . . . happy in their early natures. We elders teach them what each needs to know in order to March in the life pathway that best suits their abilities.” Mother Prime looked at Nikola and Maureen, then fixed on Jack. “You must have many females in order to spare some from birthing the eggs of the new generation. We Mikmang have more males than females. It suffices for our needs.” The female Mikmang paused, touched antennae with the two males, then focused back on Jack. “You invite us Rock Marchers to lead our world with you on this March to the Stars. Show us how to do this. There is a field nearby that launches rockets to replace old weather and Marching chant satellites. We do not control it. The March Leaders do. If you send down one of your ships and take control of this field, we three will meet you there with thousands of our fellow marchers. And I . . . I would ask for the gift of visiting your ship beyond the clouds. Very few Mikmang have ever marched beyond the clouds.”

  “Me!” cried Ignacio from the cabin’s back. “Let me take our Lander down to that field, my brother. I will destroy any opposition and then bring this Mother Prime up to the Uhuru!”

  Jack ignored the sudden look of fear on Elaine’s face. He kept his attention focused on the three Mikmang. “One of our ships will land at that field. It seems to lie not far from where your AV signal originates. Mother Prime, spread the word among your fellow Rock Marchers! There will be more food, more marching to a new pattern, and more opportunities for all Mikmang, once you reclaim control of your world!”

  “Greed will do it,” Maureen murmured from beside him.

  The three Mikmang all stomped in unison, then began chanting.

  “To the stars we go! To the stars we go! To a future of more offspring for every March group!”

  Jack smiled. Greed and the chance to expand their personal offspring seemed to work with any species. “In the time it takes your people to march to the great city where the two rivers join, we will land at this field. Spread the word to other Mikmang around your world! The March Leaders have no direction in which to march now that the Hackmot masters are dead!”

  He waved off the AV broadcast.

  “Ignacio my brother, don your boina! You will take the Lander Anneli Korhonen down to this rocket field. But first, we need to soften up the opposition.” He looked back to Denise. “Replay our discussion with the Rock Marchers on the global diginet! Alternate it with images of Hackmot ships exploding. And transmit this AV package out to the three incoming spaceships.” Jack looked to his sister. “Elaine, scan the other five landing fields as we pass over them. Any rocket standing on any launch platform will be killed by geo-penetrators.” He sat back down in his Tech station seat, as did Maureen and Nikola.

  “Captain Jack,” called Aashman from the back. “Those three ships will arrive before we can put your lander on that field. They could try a suicide run against us. How do we handle them?”

  Jack smiled, then looked back at lanky Aashman, red-faced Archibald, anxious Ignacio and thoughtful Blodwen. “We kill those ships. A fleet ship will meet them just beyond the moon. It will use its neutral particle beam to cut off the Drive module from the rest of each ship. That way we can access the fusion drive hardware we need to repair the Badger and Mongoose! And it will alert the other incoming ships to the wisdom of following these Rock Marcher leaders.”

  Maureen looked up from her seat, a wry smile on her rad-tanned face. “Nicely done. Your Grandpa Ephraim would approve of this strategy. But who does which chore?”

  “The Wolverine!” called Minna from her ship, which was part of the fleet ring that surrounded Gareth’s ship Dragon. “We will leave shortly to intercept these three incoming ships. We have the weapons and the grav-pull mobility to make dizzy their marching leaders, Captain Jack.”

  Jack scanned the faces of his fleet allies as the AV broadcast vanished from the front screen, leaving behin
d the true-light image of the Rock Marcher continent, the Sensor scan of the system and the spysat imagery of sats in orbit about the planet. “Captain Minna, take your Finn crewmates and your ship out to the moon Nota, to ambush these incoming ships. Denise will transmit to you the SETI language translation software in case you need to talk to any Mikmang personnel.” He looked up at Hideyoshi. “Admiral, please send your Lander down with our Lander when Ignacio heads down to that field. I prefer a backup wingman to a solo ship.” To do items ticked off in his mind. “Captain Gareth, please apply your Higgs Disruptor beam against the building of the March Leaders once we overfly that continent. There is no point in debating a change in loyalties with them.” One more task remained. “All ships, use your geo-penetrators to bombard the other five landing fields as we pass over them. Let’s make those fields impossible to use by any of the incoming Mikmang ships. Perhaps the prospect of marching endlessly in space will convince the leaders on each ship to transfer their loyalty to the Rock Marchers.”

  Hideyoshi gave Jack a somber nod. “The Bismarck will launch our lander Rudyard Kipling once your Lander departs from the Uhuru. And while we do not have the geo-penetrators common among your Belter ships, we do have spysat rockets that can be used for surface bombardment.”

  “Thank you,” Jack said.

  Gareth gave Jack a full-bearded smile. “I always did like fighting from the high ground! We will take out the headquarters of the March Leaders. Denise sent us the AV transmission location.” The man looked aside as Angelique walked into the cabin. “We will add our geo-penetrators to the field bombardment effort. Uh, do we stay in this ring formation now that the Wolverine is departing? Or do we assume a different fleet formation?”

  “Stay in the ring formation, with our ring plane facing the planet below and the space above us,” Jack said solemnly. “There are six of us left now that Minna has departed. That is plenty of laser, antimatter and particle beam defense. But set your Fire Control panels on Auto-Track! The surviving Hackmot may control some satellites with hidden offensive capability. It appears we are safe here, at least until the other Mikmang ships arrive. Well, the only safety I believe in is the warped space-time bubble of the Alcubierre drive! So stay alert!”

  No one laughed. His fellow ship captains nodded, gave a salute or did some other gesture to indicate acceptance of Jack’s commands.

  Hideyoshi raised his hand. “Fleet Captain, do we put our EVA suits back on?”

  Jack shook his head. “I don’t think it’s needed. Gareth can sweep any vector clear of incoming mines or stealth sats, while our Auto Track and Defend lasers can handle other targets. Now that all the enemy grav-pull ships are gone, I am less worried.”

  The man nodded soberly. “Bismarck stands by to launch our Lander.”

  Jack looked aside to Elaine.

  “How soon before we orbit over the March Leader capital?”

  “One hour forty minutes if we do not alter our polar orbital. Minutes if the fleet blip jumps to that new orbital orientation,” she said, tapping her NavTrack panel to add a small screen representation of the fleet’s orbital position above Warm Lands, and the location of the other continent’s capital urbus on the night side of the world. “Your orders?”

  Jack saw that their polar orbit would bring them over one of the five other landing fields used by the Mikmang to launch satellites and their fusion drive ships. “Hold orbit until we bombard that field which lies on the east side of this continent. Then we blip jump to be above the March Leaders urbus. I want them gone sooner than yesterday.” He looked back at Max, who now sat alone in his seat, with Blodwen secure under accel straps in her seat. “Drive Engineer, keep our fusion drive cylinder at Pinch Mode. We can use that drive flare to zap any incoming anti-satellite devices or ejected mines.”

  “Will do, my captain,” Max said calmly, his eyes uplifted to monitor the Main Drive control block that had lowered from the ceiling.

  Maureen snapped her fingers at him. She fixed a sober look on him. “Captain Jack, we will shortly overfly the small island-continent where the Hackmot colony was located. Can Nikola give us a telescopic image of the surface below our orbital track? So we can spot any gatherings of Hackmot lizards? I like the idea of laser zapping them with our pods. If we reduce the surviving Hackmot population, that may motivate the majority of this world’s Mikmangs to feel free of their inbred loyalty to those scaly turds!”

  Jack liked Maureen’s bloodthirstiness. “Yes!” He looked to the front screen. “All ship captains, we will laser link our scope imagery to you. Let every ship take their chances at spotting and zapping Hackmot lizards! Maybe I’ll reward the ship with the highest kill numbers a bottle of my Johnny Walker Black Label scotch.”

  Eager smiles came from each captain. Along with one from Maureen, who unsnapped her seat locks and stood up.

  “My Battle Module calls me!” she said, her tone light-hearted.

  Jack settled back into his Tech station seat. Tapping his seat’s two arm panels, he brought up multiple ship system reports, along with their inventory of geo-penetrators. They had nine penetrators left. But their port and starboard laser pods were at full multi-megawatt power ratings. He shared Gareth’s enthusiasm for orbital target shooting. Now was the time for reducing the Hackmot survivors, taking out rockets and rocket fields, and giving the worldwide diginet audience a display of their power as the new March Leaders of Omicron2 Eridani system!

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  One hour later and Jack was watching the numbers of “Hackmots Killed” climb exponentially. Elaine had put a numeric counter image beside the icon of each ship captain. Maureen’s image stood in for the Uhuru. He gave thanks for the presence of two fusion reactors on his ship. It seemed one reactor was fully occupied in powering Maureen’s green laser beams as they struck down two hundred kilometers to flash-fry the multi-colored bodies of the scaly reptiles. The number of bipedal Hackmot bodies being separated from their long tails had climbed to 3,127. Most such targets were found in the central plazas of Mikmang urbi on the smallest island-continent. A few hundred Hackmot had been zapped on the Rock Marcher continent. However, the radioactives-dusted peninsula showed more than 40,000 such bodies laying among the shock-blasted ruins of their habitat structures. Those images were in the past. At the moment the fleet was arcing over the largest continent, heading south toward the capital urbus which housed the March Leaders who had made the earlier AV demand to their people to show ‘loyalty’ to their Hackmot masters.

  “Captain Jack, how soon can I take our Lander down to that landing field?” called Ignacio from the rear.

  “Within an hour.” He scanned the true-light image of the nightside of the world Warm Lands, noting the scattered light concentrations that marked twenty-three population centers for the Mikmang. In between those urbi lay cultivated lands and possible pasture lands, judging by the four-legged creatures that were confined within circular enclosures. This largest continent had a small mountain range along its eastern seacoast, a western massif uplifted from the lowlands that filled most of the continent, and a central north-south trending river that matched Earth’s Mississippi River in its size and multiple tributaries. In the middle of the continent, at a point where a major tributary fed into the giant river, stood the massive urbus that had broadcast the loyalty call. Jack looked to Denise. “ComChief, call the March Leaders on their AV channel. I want to speak to them.”

  “Transmitting,” she said, tapping her Comlink panel and whispering into a voice-activated pickup.

  Jack gave mental thanks that so much ship operation was handled by Autonomous or by expert programs able to show initiative in handling stuff like the oxygen-carbon dioxide air balance, the humidity levels, the Garden plant growth, mechbot repairs of any damage, and automated closure of pressure hatches whenever any part of the Uhuru lost pressure. It made possible the operation of hundred meter long spaceships with a crew of just four to six people.

  “Incoming AV signal!” De
nise said.

  On the front screen there appeared the same four Mikmang centipede-lobsters who had chanted their loyalty appeal. Each Alien had its pincer claw interlinked with the claw of the one adjacent to them. They began marching in unison.

  “Leave! Leave our world of Warm Lands! Leave alone our wonderful masters! Leave and—”

  “Stop marching,” Jack said loudly.

  The shock of his demand stopped the unified chanting. The yellow antennae of all four Mikmang leaned forward. The creature on the left side of the image spoke.

  “Father Prime leads this march! Who are you to tell us—”

  “Your executioner,” Jack said, interrupting the Alien’s blustering language. “For failure to resist the Hackmot dominance of your world, for your failure to protect young offspring from being eaten by the Hackmot reptiles, there is only one punishment. Death!” He looked up at the captain images that ran across the top of the screen. “Gareth, fire your beam now. At that structure which is broadcasting this AV imagery!”

  “Firing.”

  A yellow beam shot down from the Dragon. Its appearance was nearly simultaneous with its impact below.

  Infrared imagery of the thousands of buildings that made up the Mikmang urbus now showed the yellow beam impacting on a square blockhouse surmounted by a large dome. The roof structure surged upward, as if a balloon inside were inflating it. Then the image lost coherence. The sharp angles of the structure became hazy, then vanished as the Higgs Disruptor beam caused the collapse of the strong nuclear force that held together every atom, every molecule, everything of matter than lay underneath the kilometer-wide beam. The infrared image lost strength as the heat photons became erratic and lost any subatomic movement. Even the air within which the blockhouse particles now floated lost its coherence as oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and other gases common to a planetary atmosphere became collapsed atomic nuclei.