by Saxon Andrew
“Can’t we bring in more ships?”
“That would leave the other civilizations open to their attacks. We’re not in a position to do anything.”
“Couldn’t we use the Tridents against them?”
“We had four thousand but now we only have eight hundred. We don’t have enough to make a difference.”
“Admiral.”
“Yes.”
“Grant and Cinny have been listening to you and want you to know that there are some assets on the ground that might make a difference.”
“Will they help my forces?”
There was a long moment of silence and then Telee said, “They have sent instructions to those assets to assist your troops against them. Please contact your ground forces and tell them that some very large creatures are going to be attacking the invaders and to not fire on them.”
Blake smiled and looked at Aubrey, “Send the message.”
• • •
Cashion and Johns ran through the blasted buildings until they heard the high frequency noise of blasters being fired. Cashion nodded toward the blown out store front to their left and the two soldiers rushed into the entrance. “Turn off your electronics, Private.”
Johns shook his head and deactivated his armor. He whispered, “I feel naked.”
“Do you honestly think your armor would protect you against their blasters? They would also detect your force field as soon as they moved within two hundred yards of your location.”
Johns sighed and said, “How do you want to do this?”
“They’ll be moving around the corner of that building soon. Pick a target and lock the scope on your target. The dart will read the scope and home in on it.”
“Won’t they read the electronic beam?”
“There isn’t an electronic beam. The dart is programmed to go after anything that looks similar to what you have the scope locked in on. The Shooter doesn’t emit anything.”
“How do you know all this?”
Cashion smiled, “I have gone hunting the Megolith.”
Cashion sat down on the floor and set the Shooter on the wall below the blasted out storefront window. Johns joined him and the scream and sizzle of the blasters grew louder. They were getting closer.
• • •
Toolo looked at Gronk and Picky, “We’ve been ordered to support Earth’s Ground forces against the Invaders.”
Picky bobbed up and down, “Are you sure about that? That sounds like we’re aiding our enemy.”
Toolo turned her head left and right, “It appears this new invader might be more dangerous than Earth. Plus, Earth is withdrawing their forces from the conquered planets. Until this sorts itself out, we should do what our leaders say.”
Picky looked at Gronk and shrugged. Gronk looked at the other members of the team and smiled, “We’re here. We’re dressed. We have a ticket to the dance. Let’s go boogie.”
Picky went up on his legs, “What does all that mean?”
“I saw it in Ana’s database. Look up boogie woogie when you get back home.”
The Spiders climbed on the Dragon’s back as they went to full size. They moved into the row of buildings and turned toward the raging fires on the eastern side of the huge city.
• • •
“Cash, I see them.”
“Have you locked one in?”
“Yes.”
“On three, two, one, fire!” Two of the Invaders were moving down the street firing into the buildings. They raised their blasters and fired at local citizens who were running down the street to escape. A mother and three children were vaporized by one of their beams and the father turned and ran back toward the Invader that killed them. The Invader lowered his blaster and smiled at the futility of the enraged male.
Suddenly, the Invader had a small hole punched into his chest and he collapsed to the ground. The second Invader fell at the same moment. The male arrived and snatched the blaster from the Invader’s dead hands and opened fire on the Invaders turning the corner. Six of them died before the male was burned into ash.
“Get out of here!” Cashion and Johns rushed out of the back of the store and ran back toward the platoon. Cashion lifted his communicator, “The Shooter works. Spread out and hit them from the sides.”
The company of Invaders moved quickly up the street and arrived at a small park in the center of the street between tall buildings. Two broad streets ran into the park forming a crossroad. The Invader Company moved into the bushes and trees as they scanned the surrounding buildings. The Company Seeker motioned his troops to move forward. The hundred Invaders moved forward keeping their focus on the buildings in front and to the sides of their advance. They didn’t noticed twenty Invaders at the rear of their formation falling to the pavement with tiny holes blown into their helmets. Fifty-six of them were down before the Seeker turned and saw the bodies of his troops lying on the ground. He yelled, “FIRE INTO ALL THE SURROUNDING BUILDINGS!!”
The survivors went to a knee, raised their blasters, and sprayed the surrounding building with intense blaster beams. The trees in the small park burst into flames and the buildings surrounding the park were blown in. Cashion hugged the floor as the blaster beams roared over his head. He felt the building start to shake and knew it was going to fall on him shortly. Suddenly, he was deafened by a roar as the ground under him began to shake. He lifted his head and saw a giant creature move into the company of Invaders and smash them with its tail as two creatures on top of the giant fired a brilliant beam at them.
The Company Seeker heard the roar and looked over his shoulder. A giant creature was rushing up on him and he turned and fired his blaster directly into the creature’s mouth. The giant roared and turned directly toward him. He turned to run but was immediately overtaken and the huge creature stepped on him with its front right leg. When it turned away, there was only a dark lump left on the pavement. Three Invaders stepped out from around the corner of a building and opened fire on the Dragon with shoulder mounted missiles. The three missiles hit the Dragon in the right shoulder and neck. The giant roared and turned toward the three and opened its mouth. A blast of fire roared out of the giant’s mouth and melted the armor of the three Invaders. The giant beast chased the surviving Invaders and the Spiders vaporized them before they could hide.
The Invaders were dead in less than a minute. Cashion was standing and saw the Invaders stood no chance against these monsters. Their blasters had no effect on them and the beams fired by the creatures was as large as a battleship’s beam. The giant saw Cashion standing in the burned out building and moved its head until it was a few feet in front of Cashion. Cashion knew he was dead. The giant said, “We’ve been ordered to assist you against these Invaders. Would you like to join us?”
Cashion was almost in shock and then he heard the silver colored eight-legged creature on the giant’s back say, “Hey, you have to admit this is fun.”
Cashion smiled and yelled, “First Platoon, FALL IN!” The forty troops slowly came out of the buildings and Cashion yelled, “Climb on board.”
Picky yelled, “I don’t know what kind of weapons you’re using but you’re the only unit that has managed to kill any of them. You need to tell your leaders what you’ve done.”
Cash smiled and yelled as he climbed up Gronk, “Slip in between the ridges on the creature’s back. Fire from behind them. Activate your armor and use the scanners to find targets.”
The platoon climbed up on Gronk’s back and the giant Dragon rushed up the wide thoroughfare toward the deafening roars ahead of them. The members of Third Platoon saw the flames rising above the center of the city and knew there was a horrific battle taking place.
• • •
“Watcher, our troops on the ground are being overrun.”
“WHAT?” The Watcher looked at one of the modules on the monitor and saw giant creatures killing his troops. “Where did those creatures come from?”
“They must have been on the
planet before we arrived.”
“Why did we not see them?”
“Our scanners don’t detect them now; it appears they are invisible to electronic scans.”
“How could they have hidden from our passive sensors? They’re too big to have been missed.”
“We don’t know. They just suddenly appeared out of nowhere.”
“Move the fleet into lower orbit and open fire on those creatures.”
“Watcher, we’ll be attacked if we move out of our defensive formation.”
“I will not stand by and watch our troops being killed and do nothing. Move the fleet.”
• • •
“Admiral, the Invader Fleet is moving into lower orbit.”
“Prepare the fleet to move in.”
Telee thought, “Toolo.”
“Yes Sister.”
“I see troops on the Dragon’s backs. The Invader ships are moving to fire on them from orbit. Get the troops off them now!”
• • •
Gronk heard Picky yell, “We’re about to be bombarded from space. Get the troops off your backs and tell them to run.”
Gronk turned his head, “Sargent, we’re about to be fired on from the Invader ships in orbit. You and your men should run and get away from this area as quickly as possible.”
“Could you take us away and then come back here.”
Gronk laughed and turned. He ran for three miles and the platoon dropped off his back. Ten other Dragons carried civilians and troops away from the blasted center of the city and turned to rush back. “Gronk.”
“Yes Toolo.”
“The team has decided that you and Picky should reduce your size and move away with the civilians.”
“Why would I do that?”
“I’m coming to join you. Remember that Picky promised to defend me until my ability to use my beams develops. Jagger will be coming with me.”
“But…”
“The team insists you and Picky keep your promise.”
Gronk sighed and thought, “Alright. Come on and join us.”
Toolo looked at the rest of the team, “He’s agreed to do it.”
Nova bobbed twice, “That was good thinking Toolo. He would have never agreed if he knew we wanted him away from danger because of his value to our family.”
Toolo bobbed, “Do you really think the Invader’s beams can harm us?”
“The beams on the Human’s Battleships killed some of us during the deception. I suspect this new more powerful beam could do us harm if enough of them hit us.”
“Then you should send all but three of us to go with Gronk. I’m reasonably sure they don’t really have a good number of how many of us are here.”
“Why don’t we all just go to our smallest size and escape?”
“Nova, if there’s nothing for the ships to fire on, they’ll turn their blasters on the escaping civilians. Iggy also says we have to find out if we can survive their attack. If any of you die, the others will immediately attempt to escape.”
Nova looked at the others and thought, “Get moving. The three youngest will stay here with me.”
Toolo tilted her head, “Why the youngest?”
“They have the least experience in fighting. We need the knowledge of our veterans preserved. Now get moving!”
The twenty-four Dragons looked at each other and all but four of them ran away with their spiders. As they moved through the buildings, they reduced their size and ran in the shadows.
• • •
“Watcher, it appears that some of the large creatures have moved into the surrounding buildings. They must be using the buildings to hide from our scanners.”
“Target them as well.”
“Yes Watcher.”
• • •
Gronk reduced his size to twenty feet and moved quickly through the building’s shadows as the troops ran with him and yelled for the civilians around them to run; the mass of running beings grew quickly. The local survivors of the Invaders’ attack ran away from the city’s center. The humans were yelling that the city was going to be bombarded from space.
Cash ran beside Gronk and said, “What about the other cities where the Invaders landed.”
“According to our current knowledge, they’re getting beat up badly.”
“Is there anything we can do?”
“If there’s any way you can tell your other units about that weapon you’re using, that might slow them down. However, until that fleet overhead is removed, I don’t see much we can do.”
“You’re probably right but the Dart Shooters might help some of us survive.” Cash activated his general frequency and began describing how his platoon discovered the Megolith Dart Shooters would penetrate the Invader’s armor. He warned them to deactivate their armor when attacking and waited for a response. After ten minutes, when he received no response, he blew out a breath. His unit and the others saved by the giant creatures in this city must be the only survivors. He shook his head and ran away from the city along with thousands of others.
• • •
Nova looked at the other three Dragons and said, “We’re going to need to try and absorb the beams fired at us.”
Sparks said, “Why?”
“If the blasts aren’t contained, they’ll blow out into the city and incinerate the fleeing civilians.”
Jacks went down on his legs, “Let’s do this.” The four Dragons and seven other Spiders looked at him, “As soon as they fire on us, we will take energy from your hides and fire it into space where the beams are originating.”
Nova smiled, “Do you honestly think your beams will have any effect on them that far away?”
Jacks shrugged, “I honestly don’t know. However, if the energy hitting you is going to be as bad as I think, we’ll have a huge task of taking it out of you and dispersing it. We might as well send it back where it came from.” Jacks looked up at the sky and said, “Would any of you ever think we would be fighting together with Earth under any circumstances?”
Jinks shrugged, “Cinny and Grant are the same species as Earth. I’ve found it hard to believe that all of them are as cruel as their leaders.”
Everyone stared at Jinks and after a long moment Jacks said, “You make a good point.” That’s when the first beam hit them and the Spiders began firing their beams back toward the attackers. Jacks said, “Are you alright, Nova?”
“That beam hurt…a lot.”
“That’s not good.”
“No, it isn’t.”
• • •
Cinny looked at Grant, “Are we going to help them against that fleet?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Cinny, if we are able to kill those ships, we don’t need to let them become aware of that piece of information during the first fight. Secondly, we only have eight hundred warships, Earth might have to face them in numerous locations and we can’t support all of them. Blake needs to find out how to fight them now and he can only do that by fighting them here where their numbers are small.”
“What happens if he can’t win?”
“Don’t give up on him so fast. We’ll get involved if we’re forced to save him.”
Cinny watched Earth’s Warships moving toward the planet and shook her head. This was going to be bloody. “Grant.”
“Yes Cinny.”
“My finger has grown back.”
Grant’s eyes narrowed and he pulled his armored glove off his hand. “Mine has as well Cinny. This is amazing.”
“Yes it is.”
Chapter Twelve
“Admiral, they have the outer ranks of their fleet weaving while the ships closest to the planet are assuming stationary positions to fire on the planet.”
Russell stared at the display for a moment and then pressed the communications button on his console, “Attention all squadrons. Ignore the ships that are weaving above the ships in lower orbit and lock your targeting systems on the ships in stationary
positions above the planet. Start with the center ship and work out from there. Your attack runs will commence in two minutes.”
Cleve looked at Blake, “What are you thinking, Sir?”
“They are in a bad situation. It doesn’t matter if we miss the weaving ships as long as we prevent the ships preparing to fire on the planet from assuming stationary positions. If the outer rank avoids our beams…”
Cleve smiled, “Then the stationary ships will be hit.”
Bobbi yelled from her console, “And the only way to prevent the stationary ships from being hit is to get between them and our beams.”
Blake nodded, “Something like that.”
• • •
Lance watched his sixty battleships on his console as they were bearing down on the Invader fleet. He was thankful that the outer rank of the Invader ships were less than a quarter of a mile above the ships in low orbit; they could still open fire outside the range of their beams. “You have our target locked on. We’ll be turning away and firing in three, two, one, NOW!”
The sixty Battleships all opened fire on the center ship in the Invader formation above the planet and as the battleships turned away, it blew up in a massive explosion. Ten more Invader warships exploded before the Group Watcher ordered twenty ships that were weaving above their ranks to move out and meet the incoming squadrons. The follow-up squadrons turned away from the oncoming invaders.
• • •
Blake watched the Invader Warships move out of formation and lifted his communicator, “I want each of those ships attacked by five cruisers each. Fire one of your remaining Tridents at them and hit them with all of your beams after the Trident hits.” Blake looked at Cleve, “Can they get organized in time?”
“They’re good, Sir. Captain Brookshire will make it happen quickly.”
Blake watched the Invaders moving toward his fleeing battleships and saw the first beam fired on the planet from the ships in orbit. He stood up and said, “We have to resume our attacks! Where are the Cruisers?”
Suddenly, all twenty of the Invader ships were rocked by a huge explosion as more than fifty beams hit them. Sixteen of the twenty were blown into rubble and three others were broken in half and on fire. One of the Invaders continued chasing the battleships but two hundred of them turned and fired at it as it bore down on them. Nothing remained of it but an expanding vapor cloud.