Earth II - Emergence

by Ray Jay Perreault

“Where am I,” she whispered.

  Then reality struck, and she forgot about the broken nose as her real location rushed back to her.

  Did the laser blow, was her first thought?

  She looked around the dimly lit command center and said, “Betas, respond. What happened?”

  She got no answer. She tried to contact the marines on the other side of the ship, but her com system was unresponsive.

  She stood and rubbed her forehead as she tried to put the picture together. I was attacking the station, and they must have fired their weapon on us. She took a deep breath as she searched her memory. Okay, we’ll be down for a while until the systems come back online. Nothing, I can do till then. She continued to rub her forehead, and she leaned on the 3D console. I need to find the professor. She thought as she stumbled out of the command area.

  June Hollister did her best to move out of the command area into the pressurized chute that allowed her to descend the 300 feet to the center of the huge ship. She was disoriented but knew that she had to find out the status of the giant laser. Once she got out of the artificial gravity and stepped out of the chute, she had to grab a couple of handholds to propel her towards the laser installation. Once she got her speed up, she was able to relax a little bit and just keep herself from bouncing off the walls. She had to check on the professor and his crew. If the laser was down permanently then the Earth defense force and likely Earth would be in a very serious situation. As she flew down the chute, she used the sleeve on her uniform to stop her bleeding nose and eventually she was able to get it under control. She thought to herself I must be a real mess?

  Just prior to entering the artificial gravity section at the laser installation she made sure to grab the bar on the top of the tube so that she could flip herself around and land on her feet. He succeeded but stumbled a little bit. The professor was sitting on the ground rubbing his head, and his other three crewmen were in various stages of regaining consciousness.

  “Prof we were hit by an energy pulse from the space station. Is the laser okay?” Asked Captain Holliston with a lot of concern in her voice.

  “I’m not sure, let me check the instruments,” responded the groggy professor.

  He started and stumbled a little across the deck to a large instrument panel with multiple view screens which showed the status of the huge laser. He held on as he scanned the instrumentation and the output readings.

  “Ma’am everything looks good the energy level is down a little bit, but the laser is in good shape. When we built it, we shielded it as much as we could. It was powered down and between cycles, so that probably helped,” responded the professor.

  “When that energy pulse hit us, everything dropped offline. When I woke up the command section was dark,” said Captain Hollister she rubbed her forehead.

  “Pardon me Captain, but you look like hell,” pointed out the professor. “If the entire ship powered down then it must be up now or else the laser wouldn’t be powered,” pointed out the professor.

  “I guess you’re right, the ship must’ve rebooted while I was coming down here,” observed Hollister.

  “I guess I overreacted a little, should’ve waited for the power to come back up in the command section then I could have called you,” said Captain Hollister still a little dazed and confused.

  “June, you should head back to the command section, take your time and relax a little, we should be ready to fire again as soon as you get back,” said the professor with as much assurance as he could muster.

  “Okay, that’s what we’ll do. Let me know if anything changes,” said Captain Hollister just before she climbed back into the transport chute and grabbed the first handheld to propel herself back to the command section.

  By the time the captain got back to the command section, everything was up and running Beta-Prime was standing, waiting for directions and each of the other beta units was at their terminals. “I guess everything came back up okay,” said the captain, half to herself and a half to Beta-Prime.

  “Yes, Captain we received a huge energy pulse of unknown characteristics, the entire ship, and our computer systems had to reboot. When I came back online, I searched the ship and was able to locate you in the laser control room. I waited until you returned,” said Beta-Prime.

  “When will the 3D display be back up? “Asked the captain.

  “Captain it should be up momentarily,” responded the Beta unit.

  As Captain Hollister stood leaning on the center table, the 3D display came back online with a fuzzy picture. It took a few seconds for it to solidify. She saw the position of the Burlington and Chevesky and the apparent damage to the huge space station. She also saw the remainder of EDF fleet moving towards them to build a defensive shield.

  “Captain, the Admiral has directed us into a position to form a defense against the remaining two space stations. The Chevesky is online, and the Burlington is just coming up now,” pointed out the Beta unit.

  “Professor, is it up?” June screamed into her comm.

  “Ready, to go,” he yelled back.

  “Broadcast to the fleet that we’re able to fire,” yelled the captain.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  “Captain, you should make a note of this activity,” said SIMPOC as he indicated where to look on the 3D display.

  “What the?” Said Captain Herl with wonderment in her voice.

  “Captain, it appears that the damaged space station has sent a number of small craft towards the Burlington,” said SIMPOC.

  “How big are they?” Asked Herl.

  “They appear large enough to have a boarding party on board,” said SIMPOC.

  “Lovely,” said Captain Herl. “Tell the Burlington there appears to be a boarding party heading towards them,” announced Captain Herl.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  “BG, you see that?” Said Captain Drummond as she pointed towards a small craft moving towards the Burlington on the 3D display.

  “Afraid so,” he said. Darlene Drummond looked at BG, and the stress in her eyes was obvious. “Are you guys ready?”

  When she asked that question, she knew what the implications were. BG would have to go to his team and defend the ship from the alien boarding party.

  “Tell your marines to prepare to defend the ship,” directed the Captain.

  There a quick hug and momentary look in each other’s eyes before BG sprinted out of the command section.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  BG made it to his men in about one minute. They had suited up when the battle began, and it took 30 seconds for BG to get his gear on.

  “The Captain just passed the location of the hull breach; do you all have it?”

  He was met with electronic responses on his helmet display.

  “Let’s move out,” he yelled even though he was wearing a helmet.

  Within seconds he and his team were moving through the ship at breakneck speeds. The cow-robots were all programmed with the structure of the ship, so the only limitation to speed were the humans harnessed to their backs.

  As they flew through the ship, BG, kept an eye on his Force Distribution Display on the lower left of his view screen. It showed the 12 green dots of his team and a set of dots with a different shade converging on him. They were the modified security robots that were scattered around the ship and were programmed to assist, under his direction, if needed. The closer he got to the hull breach, more of the off-green dots merged with his team.

  During the training exercises, a good strategy emerged to integrate the mobile units with the manned cow-robots. Each of his team would have five security guards as their front line of defense. They would be the head of the spear, backed up by the marines mounted on their cow-robots.

  The security mobile units had powerful beams, the marines had less powerful pulse weapons, and the cow-robots had projectile weapons mounted between their legs. Everyone hoped the layered defense approach would work.

  The biosensors on th
e ship were integrated into his display so as they approached the red dots were the alien boarding party. They had already been on the ship for a few minutes and were setting up a perimeter.

  “Let’s slow down,” BG said to his team. He looked at the distribution of the aliens and made a quick decision.

  “Let’s split up and come at them from different directions.” He sent a ‘disperse’ signal to the security mobile units and his team. Their computers knew all of the decks, bulkheads, and passageways, so it was easy for them to spread out and to come at the aliens from ten directions.

  A quick count by BG and he saw 20 alien bio-signs. “I don’t think the other ship has docked yet. We’ve got to deal with these guys before they get back up.”

  Again, he got quick electronic acknowledgments.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  “Beta-3 are any of our Cow-Robots frigates or battleships close enough to aid us?” asked the captain.

  “No Captain, the nearest ship is three minutes 12 seconds away, and the second of the alien ships is maneuvering around our outer fuselage at this moment,” announced the Beta unit.

  Captain Drummond was watching the 3D display to see where the first alien ship had attached to the Burlington. The alien ships contact point was on the lower quadrant amidships opposite to where the command section was.

  “Pass the second ship’s location to BG and our Marines,” she yelled to Beta-Prime.

  “Captain, the intruders, have penetrated the hall,” announced Beta-Prime.

  “Has BG and his men engaged them?” Asked the Captain.

  “No, they’re moving through the ship as fast as possible. They should be there in approximately 1 minute,” responded the beta unit.

  “Did our security mobile units come online?”

  “Yes, captain. They have been initiated and are forming up with the marines.”

  “Captain there appear to be six other vessels transiting the space between the space station and the Burlington,” said Beta-5.

  “Beta-Prime have all of our Cow-Robots been deployed to the fleet’s defense?” Asked Captain

  “No Captain, we have 18 flight worthy Cow-Robots that haven’t been fitted with the railguns. They weren’t deployed for fleet defense,” announced Beta-Prime.

  Captain Drummond thought for a moment trying to devise a plan to protect her ship, BG and her marines. Her eyebrows went up, “Beta-Prime deploy those Cow-Robots and tell them to attack the transiting ships. Tell them to do anything they can do damage them and prevent them from boarding,” directed the Captain.

  The remaining Cow-Robots that had been modified to fly in space deployed themselves rapidly through one of the smaller cargo doors. They swarmed over the six soldier transport vessels coming from the space station to the hall of the Burlington. They didn’t have small railguns attached as the other space capable Cow-Robots had, but they were still extremely strong. Their powerful forelegs were more than capable of damaging the ships that they landed upon.

  Captain Drummond and BG stood watching the space between the Burlington and the huge space station slowly diminishing. The Cow-Robots swarmed over the six crew-transports. Within a few seconds, pieces of the transports could be seen being ripped off the vessels. It was obvious that the transports were designed to move soldiers, not to defend themselves. Within a short amount of time, two of the transports were powerless and floating, one of them exploded, and three of them had turned back to the disabled space station.

  “All right,” said Darlene with some satisfaction.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Ten individual formations had formed with the security mobile units leading the way, followed by ten marines on Cow-Robots. The second they were in position, and BG’s computer calculated that they could all attack at the same moment, he gave the order.

  “Let’s do it,” he again screamed into his helmet comm.

  The 20 alien dots on BG’s FDD showed the aliens had separated into eight strong points and a couple of the signatures appeared to be unloading supplies from the attached vessel. His men would be coming at them from eight directions, and he was in the middle. His target was to punch through and get to the aliens and attached ship. In his mind, the others on his team were the diversion, and he was the spear. He had to neutralize the attached ship first, then dealing with the stragglers would be easier.

  Just prior to engaging the aliens he got the message from Darlene that the other attacking ships had been dealt with. That good news only focused him on the need to deal with the one ship that was attached. He had to make it to the ship, he thought.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  “Okay, now BG just has to deal with the troops are on board. How are they doing with the invading troops?” Asked the captain.

  Captain Drummond’s mind flashed the fact that she could isolate out BG’s biosignature and see where he was in the fight. Her stomach tightened, and she knew that wasn’t the right thing to do.

  “It appears that the alien pulse weapons are stronger than the one used by our security mobile units. A number of our units are dropping offline. After they are disabled, it’s only momentary. They are able to reboot themselves and come back online and continue the defense. The guard units are beginning to overpower the attackers, and they are falling back into their vessels,” announced Beta-1.

  “How're our guys doing?” she asked, almost not wanting to know the answer.

  “Three of the marines have been taken offline by the alien weapons. The remaining eight are continuing the attack.”

  “Taken offline,” she almost screamed. What a horrible thing to say, she thought.

  “Don’t’ ever use the term ‘taken offline’ regarding a human again, or I’ll unplug you,” she screamed at Beta-Prime.

  “Acknowledged,” was the unit’s reply.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  BG and his marines were making progress, but there was still a risk. The aliens consolidated their position. Their defense was more compact and their firepower was more effective. His FDD showed dots for three of his team had turned yellow.

  When BG attacked the aliens were at four intersections which meant there were twenty possible attack paths. His team had dispersed to ten of them. The aliens had fallen back to three intersections which meant there was still fifteen attack paths for his team.

  BG was dealing with the center intersection, figuring that was the closest path to their ship. Currently, three of his security mobile units were offline, but they would reboot and join the fight shortly. Their beams seemed effective against the aliens, but the alien’s had pulse weapons that were very effective at his units.

  His projectile weapon was effective, but he didn’t get many clear shots at the aliens. When he did, they weren’t going to reboot.

  He felt like he was in a standstill. There seemed to be a couple of his units that were always offline and rebooting. He never had a full force. Stalemates in battle was never a good thing. He had to do something different.

  “All security mobile units, disengage and move back,” he directed.

  They all did as directed, and as the units that were rebooting came online, they fell back also. The waiting was horrible, but BG had to get all his units online at once.

  When he had all five units with him, he knew that it was time. He directed to units to encircle him and leave his projectile weapon space to shoot. As the aliens stuck the necks out, he’d fire his weapon, hoping to keep them occupied. If one of them fired and disabled the security mobile unit in front, others from behind him would move up. If it worked right his units would go down; he might be able to get a couple of the aliens and then he could get through and deal with the ship.

  BG knew that there was a ton of unknowns with his plan. What would happen if there were more aliens on the ship? Or how could he disable the ship? None of which he had answers to, but he did know that he had to defend the ship and Darlene.

  He had one move up his sleeve that he hoped he woul
dn’t have to fall back too.

  He moved forward and sprayed the alien position as much as he could with the projectiles and brought down one, maybe two of the invaders. One of his units, went down, then another. He knew that he was losing resources, but he was moving ahead.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  “Beta-Prime, status on the aliens?” Captain Drummond asked with a wavering voice.

  There are only four of the invaders within the ship. We have lost five of the marines.”

  Darlene didn’t have anything to say.

  “Tell me when all of the attackers are off the ship,” said the captain.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Everything was happening so fast for BG; his instincts told him what to do. Finally, he was down to two security mobile units, and he could see the opening in the Burlington’s hull. For a split second, he thought he had won, then – nothing.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Captain, I’ve detected an explosion in the alien ship. It has powered down, separated from the hull and is now floating in space. The last of the alien bio-signs have disappeared.”

  “Our marines, …BG?” she asked.

  “I show green bio-signs for five of the marines, and BG is not one of them. His indicator is yellow,” Beta-Prime said with little emotion.

  YELLOW, Darlene’s mind screamed.

  Her mind raced; they had talked through scenarios like this as they prepared the fleet. The onboard medical system was powerful. It had implanted the alien material in her with precision, and if there were any human injuries during the battle, that was their last resort.

  “Get mobile units to their location and get them to the medical facility, as fast as you can.”

  “Yes, Captain,” was Beta-Unit’s simple reply.

  Status of Fleet

  “Captain, Admiral Monson wants to speak with you and SIMPOC,” said Beta-5.

  “Yes, Admiral SIMPOC is here with me,” said Captain Herl.

  “We need to discuss a strategy. We're pretty much surrounded, and the two space stations have deployed all their ships against us, I only have eight capital ships online, and we’ve lost about 40% of our frigates and battleships. The Cow-Robots that we used to attack don’t seem to be worth their effort to shoot down, and the space station is ignoring them. It appears that when they attack us, they can shut our systems down, but so far, they have elected not to destroy our ships. I think this strategy is to bring us offline and then attack us in mass. When one ship goes down all the resources go to bringing another one down; they don’t want to waste time destroying us, hoping that we’ll be will be off-line long enough for them to focus on the other ships. We need to get close enough to the stations to use the weapon that weapon you used against that station near you. On the other hand, their capital ships can’t get close enough to us to attack us. Their strategy seems to be sending their smaller ship against trying to bring us offline. Do either of you have any suggestions?” Asked the Admiral