-
The small alien craft dipped back into the Earth’s atmosphere. The commander of the craft was quite pleased. There had been no armed resistance from the planet’s inhabitants to attempt to restrict their flights to and from the planet. Of course, it wouldn’t have done them any good; their technology could not harm his ship, and he could destroy anything they threw at him.
The ship went down deeper into the atmosphere and was soon flying ten kilometers above the surface. They were returning to one of the planet’s small military bases to pick up some supplies for the Human soldiers they had taken. A few of them had been awoken and interrogated as to what they would need to survive away from their planet. It was his mission, as well as a number of other ships, to begin procuring those items.
-
It was daylight down below, and the ship was plainly visible. This time there was no effort to hide their presence. Two F-45 fighter jets suddenly appeared and flew just below the alien ship, keeping a watchful eye on it. Both pilots wanted permission to engage, but orders from the higher ups strictly forbid it because of fear of reprisals from the larger ship in orbit.
The two pilots watched as the alien ship continued to descend. Both pilots felt frustrated, knowing they were helpless to stop the invader. All they could do was watch and report.
-
The alien ship landed at one of the bases it had stripped of its Human personnel the night before. The ship had once again used its paralyzing beams as it descended, making sure that all Humans within ten kilometers of the base were unconscious. The ship’s hatches opened and its armored crew descended the ramps. This time they were dragging anti-gravity sleds behind them to stack the supplies upon that they had been sent to get.
For two hours, the armored figures entered various supply buildings, stripping them of everything that was needed except for weapons. The Human weapons were too primitive to be taken. Instead, they focused on food supplies, uniforms, medicines, and other basic provisions that might be needed in order to keep a Human alive for the long term. Above them, the two Human aircraft were circling but not making any aggressive moves.
-
In Washington, the president and his staff sat in shock as reports continued to come in. They had now confirmed that there were thirty-two of the smaller alien ships in operation around the planet. The aliens were still abducting military personnel, but now they were also taking supplies from the various bases they had visited previously.
“What are they doing?” President Barnes demanded as he looked over the most recent reports of the supplies being taken from the bases. “Why do they need these items?”
“Food, water, uniforms, medicine, and other basic supplies,” spoke General Adams, letting out a deep breath. “They are gathering what might be needed to keep the people they have taken alive.”
“But with their technology, why do they need these supplies?”
Winters looked over at the president. “We have no way of guessing their thought processes,” the science advisor explained. “They still refuse to communicate and seem to be just taking whatever they want. This could indicate that they have done this before, and it has become a standard operating procedure for them. What concerns me most is what happens once they leave.”
“What do you mean?” asked Barnes, looking confused.
“If they came to our planet once, what’s there to stop them from coming back again?” Winters answered, his eyes showing deep concern at the thought. “They may raid us continuously for more military personnel as well as whatever else they want. This may just be the beginning.”
Everyone looked at each other with growing worry on their faces as they realized that Winters was correct. What would stop the aliens from coming back and continue to abduct the planet’s military personnel? It also made them wonder just what was going on out in the galaxy that a ship as large and obviously as powerful as this one would want troops from a relatively primitive planet like Earth.
“If they come again, we need to be prepared,” General Adams grated out, feeling frustrated at being so powerless against these aliens. “We need to put our scientists to work and develop weapons that we can deploy in space. Next time they won’t find us such easy pickings.”
Winters looked over at the general but decided it might be best not to speak. It would take years to develop the type of weapons and delivery systems the general was talking about. Winters doubted that the aliens would give them the time.
-
Two days passed and the aliens continued to raid the planet. The Earth’s militaries refused to engage the aliens for fear of what the mother ship in orbit would do in retaliation. At the end of two days, it was estimated that the aliens had abducted close to sixty thousand military personnel and thousands of tons of supplies. Finally, the alien’s small craft docked back with the mother ship and did not come out again.
-
Mason had been summoned by Pamela to the Control Center. As he stepped inside he saw that Drake was already there gazing in rapt attention at one of the large viewscreens.
“What’s going on?” Mason asked as he walked up to stand next to Drake and Pamela.
“The alien ship’s leaving,” replied Pamela, glancing over at Mason. “Luna City reports that it broke orbit and is slowly accelerating away from the Earth.”
“It’s over,” Drake said with a sigh of relief. “Once it’s gone things can finally get back to normal.”
“I don’t know if things will ever be normal again,” Mason responded as he thought about the events of the last few days. “The appearance of this alien ship will change a lot of things. We know a faster than light drive is possible because that alien ship has one. We also know the galaxy out there is a dangerous place if that ship represents what is waiting for us someday when we leave the solar system.”
“I wish we could have gotten a hold of one of their small ships,” Drake said wistfully as he continued to watch the screen. The alien ship was moving faster now. “We could have learned so much.”
“What if they come back?” asked Pamela, worriedly folding her arms across her breasts. Her son had been full of questions the previous night about the aliens and why they had come. It had caused her to do a lot of thinking. “Many people have been abducted; what’s to stop them from returning and doing it all over again, or even coming here?”
Drake and Mason were silent as they realized that Pamela was right. The world had changed dramatically with the arrival of the aliens and things would never be the same. They would have to be ready for the aliens if they ever returned. That might mean they would have to arm some ships to meet the aliens before they could reach Earth. As large as the alien ship was, was it even feasible to mount a defense against it? They knew that someway they would have to try.
“The ship is now nearly to the Moon’s orbit,” Pamela informed them as the data from Luna City continued to come across the screens. One of them was now showing a close up of the alien ship.
“I’ll be glad when it’s gone,” Drake muttered as he gazed intently at the screen. He knew that Larcy would be relieved. They had sat up much of the night talking about the aliens; his wife was scared to death that when the aliens were finished at Earth they might come out to Vesta.
Even as they watched, a small black hatch slid open and something gray and sinister looking exited it and headed back toward Earth.
“What was that?” Mason demanded loudly. It almost looked like a missile.
“I don’t know,” Pamela replied worriedly as she tried to contact Luna City to see if they had any idea.
“I have Darren on the com,” Jessica suddenly reported.
“Put him on the speaker,” Mason ordered as he stepped closer to Jessica. “Darren, what’s going on?” He knew that Darren wouldn’t break radio silence unless he felt it was important.
“The aliens have launched what appears to be a missile toward Earth,” Darren replied in a strained voice. “We’re tracking
it, and it will impact the planet in six minutes.”
Mason felt a cold chill run down his back. What were the aliens up to? Were the aliens targeting a single city to send a message that future resistance would not be tolerated?
“Darren, keep us informed. I’m going to keep the line open.”
On the screen, Luna City had now turned from tracking the alien ship to tracking the inbound missile that was targeting the Earth.
“It’s just one missile,” Drake muttered, his eyes focused on the viewscreen. “What have they targeted?”
“Luna City thinks its target is somewhere in South America,” reported Pamela, turning toward the other two. “Possibly in Brazil.”
Minutes quickly passed as the missile neared Earth. From the surface of the planet, a number of interceptor missiles rose up on pillars of fire as the missile defense grid in the United States attempted to intercept and destroy the in coming missile. This was an obvious attack and the Earth’s military was going to do everything in their power to try to stop it.
The alien missile easily evaded the interceptors and darted down toward the surface to vanish into the high cloud layer. Brazilian fighter jets on afterburners tried to reach the missile before it impacted, but it was moving too fast and they couldn’t lock onto it with their long-range interceptors.
“Impact,” Darren spoke over the com, sounding confused. “We’re not seeing or recording any type of detonation.”
Drake looked over at Mason with a puzzled look upon his face. “Is it a dud?”
“I don’t know,” replied Mason, looking over at Pamela wanting an explanation. “Are we receiving anything from any of the Earth stations about an explosion?”
Pamela spent several minutes scanning the various Earth frequencies as well as several government channels they had access to, and then she turned back toward Mason and Drake. “No one is reporting anything. The missile came down in Brazil in South America, and the Brazilian government is rushing troops to the area to secure and attempt to locate it. The area of impact is mountainous and in a rain forest, so it may take a while to reach the area and find the impact point.”
“I don’t like this,” spoke Drake, clenching and unclenching his fist as he continued to watch the screen, which was now focused on South America. “We’re missing something. There has to be a reason why the alien ship launched that missile, and I can’t believe that it malfunctioned.”
“Luna City is reporting that the alien ship has vanished,” Jessica reported as she listened to a message that was coming in. “Their scientists believe it activated some type of star drive and has left the solar system.”
“Darren, activate all of Holbrook Station’s scanning equipment and scan the surface where the missile impacted,” Mason ordered. It was time to take a more active roll now that the alien ship was gone. “I want to know if you can detect anything out of the ordinary. Also, contact the International Space Station and see if they’re detecting anything.”
“I’m passing on the orders now,” Darren replied. “Give us a few minutes.”
Holbrook Station was equipped with advanced forms of radar, LIDAR, weather scanning equipment, devices for monitoring earthquakes and volcanoes, and everything else that could be thought of. Much of the information on weather, earthquake predictions, and volcanic eruptions was furnished to various countries on Earth for a token fee.
-
In Washington, President Barnes and his staff continued to listen to the reports coming in from South America. The missile had come down in a remote region, and it was going to be nearly an hour before the Brazilian military could reach the impact site.
“Any ideas?” Barnes asked as he looked around the conference table. “They had to have launched that missile for a reason.”
General Adams shook his head. “Perhaps it was just to show how helpless we are against their technology. We launched fifteen of our best interceptors in an attempt to take down that missile. None even came close.”
“That may not have been the purpose of the missile at all,” Winters spoke as he stepped back into the room with several computer printouts in his hands. “We are detecting some minor earth tremors at the impact point.”
“Earth tremors?” said President Barnes, looking confused. “Do you mean this thing has set off an earthquake?”
Winters sat back down and shook his head. “I don’t think so. From what we have been able to determine, the tremors are occurring deeper and deeper beneath the Earth’s crust.”
“The missile,” General Adams gasped in sudden realization, his face turning pale. “It’s burrowing into the ground. It was never designed to explode on the surface. Do we know how deep it is now?”
“Several hundred miles and still descending,” Winters responded and then looked around the group. “This could be extremely serious if it detonates with any force.”
“How serious?” asked President Barnes, feeling a cold hand grasp his heart.
“If the missile goes deep enough and if the explosion is powerful, it could cause a series of earthquakes and even volcanic eruptions,” Winters explained. “If it detonates in the liquid part of the core it could be devastating.”
“At least it’s in South America,” General Adams said. “We should be unaffected here.”
Winters stayed quiet; he didn’t want to tell the general that might not be true. If the missile penetrated the mantel, reached the Earth’s liquid core, and exploded there with enough force, then earthquakes and volcanoes could ravage the globe and there would be nothing they could do to stop them. It would be the end of the Human race.
-
Several hours passed, and Mason looked worriedly at the latest information from Holbrook Station. They had managed to detect the earth tremors caused by the burrowing missile and were tracking it. It was now so deep beneath the Earth’s crust that they were starting to lose it.
“Mason, we may have a problem,” Darren suddenly said over the speaker on the com panel. “We have just detected a massive earth movement deep beneath the crust in Brazil. It’s completely off the scale.”
“The missile just detonated,” Drake spoke with deep concern in his voice and looking extremely worried. “What does this mean?”
“Darren, give us a close up view of the area where the missile impacted,” Mason ordered.
Instantly one of the main viewscreens showed a close up view of the mountainous region the missile had struck. Suddenly upon the screen, a massive explosion occurred, throwing rocks and dirt far up into the air. More tumultuous explosions continued to occur and then fiery red magma appeared as it was flung far up and away from the Earth.
It’s a volcanic eruption!” Pamela exclaimed as she gazed pensively at the viewscreen. “There are no active volcanoes in Brazil!”
“There are now,” Mason said in a grim voice.
“We’re detecting more earthquakes,” Darren suddenly reported with mounting fear in his voice. “Mason, the entire ring of fire around the Pacific is starting to show movement. We are picking up growing earthquakes and increased lava pressure, which tends to point toward the potential for numerous major eruptions within the next few hours.”
“The San Andreas Fault just went,” Jessica suddenly screamed as she switched one of the main viewscreens to show a view of the Greater Los Angles area.
The view was obviously from media helicopters or drones flying high above the stricken city. Buildings were collapsing, and smoke was rising above the urban area as numerous fires broke out. The earthquake was still going on as they saw several wide fissures open up in the earth and swallow entire buildings. Even as they watched, a massive wall of turbulent blue water swept in from the Pacific, adding to the carnage. In minutes, Los Angeles was gone, with just a few of its tallest buildings showing above the swirling ocean water.
“We just lost contact with Tokyo, Singapore, Paris, Kansas City, Miami, Hong Kong, and many others,” Pamela reported in a stricken voice. “Media station
s all over the world are dropping off the air!”
“We are detecting more earthquakes spreading across the globe. Some of them are in the 9.5 to 10.5 range,” Darren reported over the com link in a stunned voice. “The Three Rivers Gorge dam in China reportedly has just collapsed.”
Mason let out a deep breath of horror at that revelation. Hundreds of millions of people lived along the Yangtze River beneath the dam. There would be no way they could escape.
“What’s happening?” Drake asked as the magnitude of the disaster began to fill his mind. What would Marcy be thinking at home as news of these disasters were spread by the still active media stations?
“The alien’s missile activated the planet’s earthquake zones and volcanoes,” answered Mason in a disheartened voice as he realized the ramifications of the growing disaster.
There would be millions of tons of ash from the volcanoes thrown up into the atmosphere. In a short time, days would turn into night and nothing would grow. It would be worse than a nuclear winter. Plants and animals would begin to die from a lack of sunlight. There would be mass starvation, and soon there would be nothing left living on the surface of the Earth.
“What’s going to happen?” Drake asked, afraid of the answer.
Mason was silent for a long moment. Looking over at Pamela, he could see that she too realized the truth.
“This is the end; the Earth will not survive this,” she said in a quiet voice. Her sister lived in Denver; Pamela grew fearful of what would happen to her.
Galactic Empire Wars: Destruction (The Galactic Empire Wars) Page 4