by Saxon Andrew
The Gracken looked at her, “To visit their killers again and say hello.”
Jess looked at the Gracken, “What happened to the Lieutenant?”
The Gracken looked at her with his massive head and shrugged, “He was overcome with fear.”
Marcia snarled, “You’re lying!”
The Gracken looked at her and his smile chilled Marcia to the core, “I will forgive your insult because I admire your loyalty to your former leader. However, he has found that he is not able to deal with the demons inside him. Fear has overwhelmed him.”
Yung shook his head, “The Coward!”
Marcia snapped her head toward him but the Gracken shook his head, “No, he is extremely brave to own his fear and admit it before he placed all of your lives in danger. The real coward wouldn’t have admitted it and all of you would pay the price. He is worth saving.”
The Warriors of Second Platoon discovered that they liked this giant. And the Gracken Commander discovered that the small humans were much more than he thought. Both would grow from the experience.
• • •
Josh and Prissy stood with Commandant Dunlov at the edge of the spaceport on Sparta as he looked out at the hundred high tech carriers. Each of them would have a company with four platoons on board totaling a hundred warriors. Josh’s entire Division was taking part in the drop and Alex was nervous. “You know what happened to the Gracken Division that dropped on that planet?”
“We’ve all seen the recordings, Sir.”
“Don’t let it happen to you!”
“Sir, fleet will be dropping seismic sensors in front of our positions and if the Weg hold true to form, they’ll go airborne a hundred yards out from our positions. I’ll initiate the jump when they’re a hundred and fifty yards away.”
“They may send a flight of several million at you from over the mountain.”
Josh smiled, “I trust that fleet will have something to say about that, Sir.” Alex shook his head and Josh said, “Sir, the first step in getting a handle on this enemy is to be able to conduct operations on the ground. Before we can go after them, we have to be able to land and fight them off.”
Alex shook his head, “You’re still convinced we’ll have to go underground after them.”
“It’s the only way to win this war, Sir. We have to kill the Queen without destroying the planet. That means we have to take the war into their home.”
“We’re certainly not ready to do that, Adams.”
“No Sir, we’re not. But before we can even consider it, we have to be able to land on the surface and fight them.”
“And you really believe these new carriers will make that happen?”
Josh shrugged, “I’m sure there will be some rough edges to smooth out but they are also a step in the right direction.”
Alex smiled, “Good luck, General. I’ll discuss this with you when you come back.”
“I look forward to it, Sir.”
Alex walked away and Prissy put her arms around Josh’s neck, “You will come back to me!”
“I control the escape button. I won’t be shy about pushing it.”
Prissy sighed and held on to him like he was her life. Josh knew her fear and was so proud she didn’t give voice to it. Josh kissed her and smiled, “Time to go.” She opened her arms and watched him walk toward the carriers gathered in the space park. Josh pushed the recall button and all of his ten thousand warriors ran to their carriers and belted in to their stations.
Josh keyed his communicator, “Fleet, we’ll be lifting to our transports in two minutes.”
“Bay doors are open and awaiting your arrival, Sir.”
Josh climbed into the Command Carrier and looked at the carriers surrounding him. He said, “Pilots, go to your transports.” The carriers lifted and slowly began rising into the bright blue Spartan Sky. Their overhead force fields activated and the climate systems filled them with air. It was the slowest the warriors had moved in more than a month.
Yung looked at Mars and saw her impatience, “Hey, enjoy this while you can. There will be plenty of high speed stuff later.”
The huge Gracken smiled. The human was right.
Chapter Seven
The two hundred Spartan Warships joined the Gracken Fleet above the planet and Rumel contacted Josh on his communicator, “General, it appears our friends below know you’re here.”
“How can you tell?”
“The attack fighters that sprayed the magnetic aerosol also dropped seismic probes covering your landing zone. There is a huge movement of Weg toward the surface all over the continent you’re landing on.”
Josh nodded, “Thanks, Commander.”
“Just don’t try to do too much this time.” Josh stared at Rumel and he smiled, “I saw a recording of your attack on one of our Beamships in the last confrontation between us. You were lucky to have survived. Remember, it’s more than you at stake in this.”
Josh stared at Rumel and slowly nodded, “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Rumel ended the call after saying, “I’m sure you will.”
Josh looked at the fleet officer standing next to his carrier and said, “Has fleet been able to determine any pattern’s to the Weg’s movements?”
“They appear to be gravitating toward the mountainous regions on the planet.”
Josh nodded. The Weg knew that landing out in the open was not something he would do. “Are they near our landing site?”
“Not yet, but there is movement that way, Sir.”
Josh nodded and said, “All carriers will exit their transports and form up on my carrier.”
The hundred carriers moved smoothly out of their racks and formed up in orbit. Josh saw the last one arrive and said, “We will be dropping to the planet ten seconds from my mark…ready…MARK!”
The hundred carrier pilots hit their navigation panels and they counted it down automatically. The carriers suddenly dropped at high speed and their force fields began glowing with the heat of entry. They zoomed down toward the mountain where the Gracken had died and Josh heard over his Combat Helmet’s tactical speaker, “They know where you’re going. There is a massive movement toward your landing zone.”
Josh watched the ground around the landing site and saw what looked like waves of sand rolling toward the mountain. He lost sight of them as his carrier slammed to a stop and he exited the carrier and formed up with his Headquarters Unit. Sixty Warriors formed up around him and raised their shoulder blasters. The other ninety-nine carriers landed in a semicircle around his unit as the ten thousand Spartan Warriors were out of them in an instant and forming up in long ranks facing away from the sheer face of the mountain behind them. Josh looked at the stone wall rising high above him and saw the blood of Gracken that were killed there still on the walls. He turned to face what he knew was coming and saw the ranks of warriors open fire on the Weg that were emerging from the ground and charging his positions. The Weg opened fire with their blasters but were too far out to break through the warrior’s force fields.
Josh took a reading in the power of the Weg blasters and saw that it would take a huge number of them firing at close range to represent a danger to his troops. Josh saw that the Weg which were taking flight early were flying at low level toward his ranks. He checked the seismic monitors on his tactical and saw the ones coming in underground were still a mile out and coming fast. He switched to an aerial view from the carriers floating high overhead and determined that none of the early flyers were making it close enough to his lines to represent a danger…yet. They were blocked from flying past at higher altitude by the mountain at his back. The numbers of Weg being killed were unbelievable.
Yung stood beside the Gracken and fired his sliver rifle on full auto. He saw the red light illuminate on his visor and heard Lt. Krusiev say, “Full blaster mode on Green!” All ten thousand Spartan Warriors were firing a massive barrage of sliver rounds at the incoming Weg one moment and the next a wall of flame reached
out and incinerated every flying Weg within four hundred yards of their ranks. The Gracken Commander smiled his approval. This system of using the tactical radar to automatically call for blasters was something his Commander needed to see. He reveled in killing the creatures that had killed his warriors. He switched to a long-range view of the terrain around his location and saw vast waves of sand and soil rising and falling as they moved toward him. The overhead view made it look like they were going to be hit by a vast tsunami of sand. He smiled; these new Weg didn’t dig as well as the older species; they came in without a trace.
No one understood how the Weg made it through the massive fire going out from the Spartan lines but one of them miraculously came smashing into Second Platoon’s formation. It smashed into Pvt. Dixon’s chest and she began falling backwards. The huge Gracken reached over with his right arm, as he continued to fire his shoulder weapon with his left, and grabbed the Weg by the tail as it slammed its fingers into Mars’ helmet. The claws had barely penetrated the helmet’s outer layer when it was snatched off Marcia and pulled out in front of the Gracken. Yung and Jess moved their blasters slightly and burned the wiggling creature in half. The Gracken tossed it forward and bent to pick up his hand blaster he had dropped when he went after the Weg. He was impressed. The humans didn’t show fear but continued fire and burned the Weg without disrupting their fields of fire. These warriors were well disciplined and would be a huge asset in future fights. He focused on the incoming Weg and heard Yung say in a calm voice next to him, “That was a nice catch.” The Gracken smiled and then chuckled as he reveled in the fight.
He suddenly noticed the yellow warning light start flashing in the top right corner of his visor and braced himself. A moment later, it turned red and he was savagely jerked off the ground.
• • •
Josh shook his head and looked at the tactical display on his panel aboard the carrier. He saw the waves of moving sand had rolled in on his former position and a dark cloud of Weg burst out of the ground screaming their anger at missing their attackers. It only took a few moments for them to focus on the carriers high above them and the land ten miles in front of the mountain exploded with a huge cloud of Weg taking wing and moving into the sky at high speed toward the waiting carriers.
Josh keyed the frequency of the carrier’s pilots, “Launch the gravity balls now!” Doors on both sides of the carriers opened and hundreds of two feet wide composite balls fell out and began pushing away from each other. They stopped falling a thousand feet below the carriers and floated in place. Josh watched the giant cloud of Weg coming over the mountain and fanning out below his carriers. He kept a finger on the escape button and waited until the Weg were almost on him before he pressed a red button on his command panel; the results were mind numbing. Even the Gracken Commander was stunned by what he saw.
• • •
Rumel watched the attack in real time on his monitor and pressed the Fleet General Frequency button on his panel, “ALL WARSHIPS WILL MOVE INTO LOW ORBIT OVER THE SPARTAN CARRIERS NOW!! ACTIVATE YOUR SCANNERS AND BLASTERS AND BE READY TO FIRE ON MY COMMAND!”
Jek looked at Rumel and shook his head, “What are you doing?”
Rumel nodded toward the monitor, “Do you think the Weg are going to just stand by and do nothing about this?”
“What can they do?”
Rumel smiled, “Watch and learn.”
• • •
The massive cloud of Weg Warriors flying toward the carriers looked like someone had pulled an invisible lever which sucked them into a violent vortex. A moment after Josh activated the magnetic field inside the composite balls, the huge mass of Weg began slamming into them at a speed that was too fast to follow. One moment there were more than a million flying Weg charging at the carriers and the next they were slamming into the balls with such ferocity that pieces of them were knocked off. The pieces would fall a few feet and slam back into the giant mass of Weg surrounding the floating balls. The Weg had come through the sand so close to the surface that all of them were coated with the magnetic aerosol. Even those still in the soil far below were snatched out of the ground by the powerful magnetic field and struck the giant balls of dead Weg like a huge projectile traveling faster than the speed of sound. The Spartan’s ears were barely protected from the thousands of sonic booms by their force fields as the giant balls of Weg were struck by wave after wave of Weg being pulled out of the ground.
Josh was stunned by the force of the impacts and watched thousands of Weg being deflected around the carriers due to like magnetic charges. One of them managed to get his claws into the carrier’s force field but his body was ripped away from his arm and it flashed away toward a giant ball of dead Weg. A moment later, the arm disappeared from the force field.
Josh forced himself to look away from the balls and look at the aerial display on his command panel. What he saw froze his soul. A giant green mass was rising from all over the continent and moving toward the carriers.
Those incoming Weg had not moved through the sands coated with aerosol and they were flying at their top speed. Josh punched the escape button on his panel and the hundred carriers shot up into the atmosphere as a billion nightmares swept toward them. The magnetic field shut down and the composite balls shot out of the huge balls of dead Weg that seemed to hesitate for a moment before they began falling toward the planet a mile and a half below. The rain of Weg body parts hit the closest Weg flying toward the carriers and knocked many of them out of the sky. The balls were attracted by the opposite fields of the carriers and shot up with the carriers. They slowed when they entered the influence of a like magnetic field and attached themselves to the hulls of the escaping carriers as they screamed through the last of the planet’s atmosphere and began entering their transports. The attacking Weg didn’t have enough air to use their wings and they fell back toward the planet.
Rumel watched the carriers exit the atmosphere and yelled over his communicator, “ALL SHIPS OPEN FIRE!!”
The Gracken and Spartan Warships released all their huge batteries of blasters and the beams swept through the vast cloud of Weg. The Weg immediately dove for the planet far below but many of them were too high and the massive beams burned them out of the sky. The thousands of beams swept across their ranks as they fled and Rumel’s eyes narrowed as he reveled in their destruction. The numbers killed were beyond counting and the computers were only able to estimate the actual number after analyzing the combined recordings from the fleet’s warships. The smallest estimate was more than one and half billion Weg killed.
Josh sat on his carrier aboard his transport and still saw the nightmare in his mind. He knew he really hadn’t grasped the magnitude of the numbers facing him on an infested planet until that moment and he began to understand why no one believed they could be attacked underground. Rumel found him still sitting on his command chair on his carrier an hour after the last Weg escaped into the soil.
• • •
Rumel docked his main Gracken Battleship with Josh’s transport and rushed aboard. He found Josh still sitting on his carrier and Josh saw something was wrong, “Rumel, what are you doing here?”
Rumel stared at Josh and shook his head, “There’s been a development.”
“Development?”
Rumel brew out a breath and said, “Your High Command and my Leaders decided to see if the Q ships can fire their beams through the planetary defenses around the Weg’s home world.”
“Yes, go on.”
“Your wife was on one of the Q ships involved in the exercise and it appears her ship has been infected by the Energy Eaters. There’s no way for us to get her out of her Q ship before the Eaters break through her force field.”
Josh jumped up from his carrier and said, “Get me there now! How could she have possibly agreed to take part in this?!?!
“None of us anticipated the Eaters would survive the power of a Q ship’s beam.”
Josh ran through the huge transport and ar
rived at the docking bay. Rumel and Josh saw the Gracken Commander waiting on them at the port, “Do you mind if I go with you?”
Rumel ran through the port and yelled, “COME ON, IF YOU’RE COMING!” The Gracken followed them on board Rumel’s Flagship and it jumped away as soon as the port was sealed.
• • •
The Gracken Sword emerged into normal space and Josh saw three Q ships that looked like they were on fire. His eyes narrowed as Jek came running on the ship from the landing bay and said, “Two ships fired through the defensive covering of the Weg’s home world. The glow you see around the planet in the distance is a biological life form that feeds on energy. We sought to see if the beam was too hot for those life forms to survive…”
Josh looked at Jek, “And?”
“The life forms followed the beams to the ship firing them.”
“How did my wife get involved in this?”
Jek looked at Rumel and then back at Josh, “She asked to be here.”
“For God’s sake why?”
Jek said, “Colonel Adams is the commanding officer of your Species Intelligence Service. She stayed away from the planet but when the Energy Eaters began attacking the two Q ship’s force fields she came in and fired on one of their force fields hoping to kill the energy parasites. Half of the Eaters left the ship she fired on and went to her force field.”
Josh looked out at the three ships and saw that one of them was glowing much brighter than the other two. “What’s happening to those ships!?!”
Rumel shook his head, “Those organisms are eating their way through the force fields. Once they break through, they’ll eat the ship.”
Josh jumped up, “You’ve got to get the crews off those ships!”
Rumel looked at Josh and shook his head, “If the force field is dropped, even for a microsecond, the Eaters will be on the ship instantly. We’ve not found a way to save any ship that is infected with them.”
“How long has this been going on?”
Jek blew out a breath, “Three hours.” He looked at the three ships and said, “The one with the largest infestation will not last much longer.”