Revolution of the Gods: The Battle for Sol Book Two

by W. R. Hobbs

  Cadan flew down the boulevard, low over the limo without any resistance as they reached the East Cannery. Mykah leapt out of the driver seat and sprinted inside the building to the twelfth floor as the Valkyrie hung about fifty feet in the air over the limo.

  Reyes sped toward them followed by several more C7 vehicles. They were easily detected by Cadan as he positioned his ship to face back down the boulevard. He unloaded his armaments and demolished everything in a seventy yard swath across East Flamingo. Reyes and his men were destroyed with just two shots from the Valkyrie’s particle weapons.

  Mykah ran out of the Cannery with her pack and jumped back into the limo with Taon.

  “You need to get moving. We have more serious company,” Cadan warned.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I have a Griffin signature appearing back at the downed Helios,”

  Mykah had suspected that Taon’s assassin still presented a threat. She sped away from the Cannery down Harmon Avenue toward the Las Vegas Expressway hoping that Cadan could keep them safe.

  Valik, with severe cranial damage and his left arm dismembered, had retrieved an intact Griffin from the Helios wreckage and resumed his pursuit. The S2 used the Griffin’s sensors to detect the limo approaching the Las Vegas Beltway.

  “I am going to break off and take care of this,” Cadan communicated. “Mykah, get him out of here. I will buy you both some more time…”

  “Cadan, please be careful.”

  “Make sure you get him to your destination,” Cadan iterated.

  “I will,” Mykah assured as she drove the limo onto Las Vegas Beltway and opened it up full throttle.

  The Valkyrie veered off to the northwest to stall the approaching Griffin. This will be the real test, Cadan postulated.

  The two ships were now on a direct intercept course, firing their weapons and battering each other’s shields. They bolted pass by each other, coming within only a few feet of colliding before the two ships nearly simultaneously banked into high G turns. Cadan rolled the Valkyrie at the top of his turn and descended back toward central Vegas, luring Valik away from his primary target.

  The defense pods targeted Cadan as he crossed back into the Restricted Zone air space. The C7 pods were now aware of his presence and were manually tracking him despite the absence of his signature on their sensors. The Valkyrie, zipping northward along the strip, surgically disabled the pods with its phase cannons.

  So far, so good.

  Passing over the Helios wreckage, Cadan noticed Valik’s signature flashing on the console, approaching at a downward vector above the Valkyrie. As the Griffin relentlessly unleashed its plasma cannons, steadily draining the Valkyrie’s shield, Cadan set a course for the C7-HQ at the Stratosphere Tower and fully accelerated. Valik descended behind the Valkyrie and concentrated fire on the aft shield over the engine.

  With the tower quickly coming into view, the Valkyrie was just tipping 900 miles per hour and aimed directly at a much larger defense pod on the roof. Cadan was betting that the Tower's plasma cannon may be able to get off at least one shot at his current speed. His shields were about to fail and he knew the engine would be next. The Griffin tightly pursued the Valkyrie as Cadan waited for the right moment. When the cannon fired from atop the Stratosphere, the Valkyrie shot upwards before the beam could hit it and drew the Griffin into the trajectory of the weapon.

  The beam clipped the front tip of Valik’s right wing causing the Griffin to spin uncontrollably, slicing through the C7 headquarters, sweeping half the observation deck down 1,000 feet to the road below. The Griffin ricocheted at high speed into the ground and exploded. Cadan’s primary engine failed after the maneuver and left the Valkyrie gliding from an altitude of 5,000 feet with only minor thruster control.

  Speeding southwest on I-15, the Hummer had cleared the city limit. Taon was still motionless in the back seat as Mykah snaked the long black limousine toward southern California. Her data pad activated:

  “Do not be startled,” Cadan warned.

  “By what?” Mykah asked.

  Just as she finished her question, the Valkyrie slammed down in the sand next to the interstate, skipping twice and landing with its left wing stuck in the ground.

  Cadan jumped out of the cockpit, spent a few seconds to analyze the hull damage, and ran toward the limo that Mykah had brought to a screeching stop. Just before he reached the Hummer, Cadan pressed a small button on the front of his flight jacket and the Valkyrie exploded. Mykah watched as Cadan’s silhouette appeared in front of what looked like the surface of the sun with the fire expanding upward behind him.

  She raised the passenger door and Cadan stuck his head inside. “That…” he replied, smiling and sitting down.

  “Did you take care of our friend?” Mykah asked, watching Cadan put on his seatbelt.

  “I’m not certain. Either way we need to get moving.”

  Mykah spun the Hummer back into motion.

  “So, what is the real reason you popped up in the middle of the strangest day of my life, flying what looks like some kind of star fighter?” she asked, now certain that her mission must be related to his appearance.

  When her parents were killed in the automobile accident, Cadan was the one that took Mykah to her grandmother in Hotevilla. As far as she knew, he was simply a friend of her father, Qion. She had been under the impression that Cadan was some type of special operations soldier but never learned any details. He visited two or three times every year since she was twelve years old to check up on her and Kele, encouraging Mykah’s development in various disciplines. She had always thought of him as a big brother, a sentiment also shared by Cadan. She even had her own nickname for him – Leetayo – the Hopi word meaning ‘fox.’

  Cadan decided that the time had finally come for him to reveal the complete truth to Mykah.

  “I had planned to tell you this when we arrived at our destination,” he admitted.

  “What do you know about our destination?” she queried.

  “Mykah, with the events that are about to transpire it is time you know the truth about your parents – the truth about what is happening.”

  Mykah glanced over at Cadan with her forehead crinkled.

  He continued, “Your father was actually my uncle. He met your mother on an expedition to northern Arizona to meet with Hopi elders almost thirty years ago. They were married shortly after that,” Cadan chronicled, inserting details that were completely new to Mykah’s ears.

  “I knew how he met her but why didn’t you tell me you were my cousin?” Mykah asked louder.

  “For your protection. Mykah, your father was not in a car accident – at least not one caused by him. He and your mother were both murdered. The predecessors to the C7 forces that we now face were the people that hunted him down and blew up their vehicle.

  “The people who killed your father were aware of your mother's existence but knew nothing of you. Qion protected your indentity with his life. My father thought it best to continue your protection by placing you in the care of your grandmother. I am sorry Mykah, but your mother was an innocent victim in a shadow war that has played out on your planet for millennia and we did not want you to be another casualty.”

  “What do you mean by shadow war?” Mykah asked with confusion consuming her. “And I have an uncle?” she added.

  “There are two factions on Earth which have been here from the beginning of your civilizations. But we are not originally of this Earth…”

  CHAPTER 04

  Dugway Facility

  Living up to their name, the twenty-four Razor tanks were slicing their way through the first US division confronting them. The Razors’ massive plasma cannons were obliterating the inferior US tanks and other land vehicles helping Lindherst’s forces create an inward bulge toward the surface entrance to the underground facility. Some of the US tanks were slowly weakening the Razors’ shields but not enough to prevent their advance.

  The air battle however le
aned more in favor of the US forces with the F-35s and Griffins already reducing their opposition by half. This performance allowed General Tucker to safely launch the two Helios Cruisers which were now tasked with halting the Razor advance. The weakened Razor shields failed quickly when the cruisers barraged the tanks with much larger plasma beams. Observing the destruction of half his aircraft and all of the Razors, Lindherst ordered his Cruisers to back off even further.

  His numbers are significantly higher than I calculated, a stunned Lindherst realized.

  Level 181

  Colonel Osborne had ordered everyone into Dr. Leroux’s personal lab that was located one section past the personal quarters. After restraining the general’s family, Dr. Leroux, and Riggs, he began establishing a secure communications link using Leroux’s computer console. But Osborne was not contacting Lindherst this time.

  “Go ahead Osborne,” Prime Delegate Pike ordered.

  “Sir, Lindherst’s offensive is failing. I have initiated our contingency plan. Bracken’s family has been acquired and I’m on my way to the command level to order a stand down,” Osborne informed his superior.

  General Bracken was standing just outside his office observing the dozens of wall viewers that lined the command deck, displaying different sections of the surface battle. The general’s desk viewer signaled an incoming message and summoned Bracken back into his office before he could notice Osborne’s arrival on the command level.

  When Osborne stepped out of the elevator he was no longer wearing his NAU uniform. It had been replaced with a black armored tactical suit. Some of the command level soldiers, quickly recognizing him as the colonel, passively watched Osborne walk to Bracken’s office without discerning him as a threat.

  As Bracken pulled up the incoming message, the screen displayed a live feed of Dr. Leroux’s lab with the hostages positioned near an explosive device. The general was filled with simultaneous fear and rage when he heard the knock at his door.

  “I suggest we sit down and discuss the relinquishment of your command,” Osborne said as he locked the door behind him and drew his weapon on Bracken.

  “What the fuck Osborne?” Bracken barked, realizing Osborne had taken his family hostage.

  “As I said, sit down! Your efforts to protect your family by bringing them here to Dugway made it that much easier to exploit your weakness. Your family will be safe as long as you do what you are told. Did you really think the C7 would let you retain provisional command of this facility without their personal oversight and ultimate control?”

  General Bracken sat down as ordered, grabbing underneath the right arm pad of his desk chair and pressing an emergency command transfer button.

  “Know this…command of Dugway has just been transferred to General Kirsch,” Bracken declared, initiating a protocol he had anticipated to use against Director Lindherst.

  Colonel Osborne became visibly agitated with the maneuver and shot the general in his right bicep. Bracken recoiled forcefully backward in his chair, grabbing toward his wound. The colonel reached into a his vest pocket and removed what looked like a short silver pen.

  “Bracken, it makes no difference to me if your family dies,” Osborne coldly revealed just before soldiers began beating on Bracken’s office door.

  The colonel walked in front of Bracken’s desk and looked down at the general who was hunched over to his right, applying pressure to his arm.

  “Tell them to go away, or that lab disappears,” Osborne warned as he held the detonator across the desk closer to Bracken’s face.

  “Stand down!” Bracken yelled to the soldiers attempting to break through the door. “You will have to let me key in my clearance code to order a total force stand down,” he told Osborne.

  Sitting down in front of Bracken, the colonel held the pistol steady on his wounded former commander as the general pulled himself back up to his desk.

  “If you try anything, both you and your family are dead,” Osborne warned as the general painfully keyed in a series of numbers on his monitor.

  “You may kill me you son of a bitch, but not my family!” Bracken spat, while completing the sequence to enable the laser positioned above Osborne’s head to fire.

  The colonel sensed the activation of the weapon as he looked upward. As he returned his gaze back to Bracken, Osborne triggered the detonator just before the laser shot through the top of his head and came out the bottom of his jaw. His entire body shook violently with sparks flying out of the top of his skull.

  That’s not supposed to happen, Bracken thought, as he got to his feet and hurried around his desk to the view the smoldering corpse on the floor.

  The general had imagined that his defense protocol would most likely be required for Director Lindherst, but it served its purpose brilliantly nonetheless. After grabbing the detonator, he looked down at Osborne’s exposed brain and noticed the nanotube circuits.

  He’s a damned S1!

  Bracken swiveled his desk viewer around to check the feed from Leroux’s lab. The bomb had exploded and everything in the lab was obscured by a thick gray smoke. “No! No! No!” the general cried out.

  Barely interrupting Bracken’s reaction, the desk viewer flickered and Dr. Hauer’s image appeared.

  “General Bracken, your family and Dr. Leroux are safe with me.”

  “How?”

  “I was coming to see Dr. Leroux’s laboratory here on Level 181 when I discovered she and your family were restrained inside. I established a force field between them and the explosive device utilizing the lab’s containment protocols. Here, let me switch to the lab camera,” Hauer informed the relieved general, switching the view from his data pad to the lab camera view.

  Cathy, his two boys, Dr. Leroux and Riggs were standing next to Hauer looking at the smoke roll and puff on the other side of the force field.

  Thank God they are alive!

  “Dr. Hauer, thank you,” the general imparted. “I will dispatch a squad to your location for increased protection and restrict all levels below 120. Colonel Osborne is dead. Turns out he was a SETH.”

  “General I would like to return to my lab once your men get here. I suggest we perform an autopsy on Osborne. It may be possible to glean some valuable information,” Hauer advised.

  “Very well. I will have his body transported to your lab. Lindherst has suffered catastrophic losses on the surface and I anticipate this initial attack will wane very soon. Let my family know I will be down to see them once the surface is secured,” Bracken requested.

  On the surface, Lindherst was watching his forces get torn apart by superior numbers of US aircraft and tanks when he made the decision to retreat to the Dulce underground facility. He ordered the four cruisers to swing wide of the battlefield and recalled his remaining Griffins and Condors to fly protection for the retreating convoy.

  General Tucker ordered the US aircraft to stand down pursuit outside of the perimeter to prevent the loss of their full spectrum force capability. The general knew that his forces would be headed to Dulce soon enough.

  After Lindherst’s retreat, Bracken and his inner circle were seated back in the conference room with the other RMC leaders on the main viewer. The general’s arm was bandaged and rested in a black sling.

  “Men, as you may know Director Lindherst and the C7 attempted to commandeer the facility. We successfully repelled the assault, taking minimal overall damage. Although our force easily outnumbered the C7 in this engagement, such an advantage may not necessarily be the case moving forward. And we certainly have lost a certain degree of strategic advantage without the element of surprise.

  “All of our facilities, bases and assets are to be put on highest alert. We are not changing our mobilization or assault schedules but I want you all to keep your people vigilant. A S1 infiltrated our base and ended up taking hostages during our confrontation. He apparently was a long term mole; observing us for more than a year most likely. Colonel Osborne was never privy to the details of Operat
ion Goliath but we cannot discount the possibility he transmitted sensitive information to the C7,” Bracken warned.

  CHAPTER 05

  San Bernardino - California

  Cadan had spent the better part of their trip explaining to Mykah how their fathers were direct descendants of the original Torahnossians and the details of the events that were currently unraveling. By the time they had reached the outskirts of San Bernardino, Mykah was briefed on the true nature of her mission and purpose in bringing the case to the facility at the Salton Sea. The Hopi Prophecy that Kele referenced before her departure was now understood in a different context by Mykah.

  The Blue Star Prophecy is actually the appearance of the Kadingir wormhole! She realized.

  Taon had regained consciousness a few minutes earlier and learned that the two people in the front seats were ordered to protect him until they reach their destination. Cadan had also checked his communications, receiving another update regarding the Dugway battle and its outcome.

  All three of them were now on the lookout for a place to get another vehicle. They exited off I-15 onto University Parkway, scouting the parking lots for any feasible solution. The limousine ran out of gas in front of a large industrial park of shipping warehouses about a mile from the interstate. Cadan exited the passenger seat and looked around for any type of transportation. As he scanned the warehouses, he saw a door quickly close about 200 yards away.

  “There…I saw someone go in that building,” Cadan said while pointing in the direction of the movement.

  “Let’s check it out,” Mykah suggested as she put on her backpack.

  “What is this place?” Taon asked as he climbed out of the back seat shirtless.

  “It looks like some type of warehousing complex,” Mykah responded, looking over at Taon with her first unobstructed view. “I do not think you are dressed for the occasion,” she remarked.

  “Here you go Taon.” Cadan removed his oversized flight jacket and handed it to Taon.