“I know, just do it.”
“No, I wasn’t going to say that. This is your call. We’ll figure it out if you can’t do it.”
“I can.”
“Thank you Sweetie, uhhh, I mean, thank you private.”
Private? Oh, my rank. Hey, don’t I get any choice in my rank? The configuration really did make sense. Invisibility combined with Muncle’s super-vision was a good fit for a lookout team. We had discovered if anyone was in physical contact with me, or at least close by, that person could benefit from the cloaking field. They too would be invisible. But it’s not easy. I should add, I can see just fine from within the cloak. Anyone within my cloaking field can see each other and everything else just fine.
I can’t explain the process very well, but basically, it is the electromagnetic radiation or waves, whatever you want to call them, that are impacted. Apparently I am loaded with some specialized metamaterials that produce a field force which in turn counteracts EM waves. I don’t have to put on an external cloaking device or anything like that. I’m told there are existing external invisibility cloaking devices. The problem with those is, a cloaked person can’t see outside the cloak. That wouldn’t be good.
Mr. T asked some science friends a hypothetical question. Could a dipole filler invisibility effect be extended beyond the subject vessel using a cable or other electronic means? In this case, I was the dipole filler invisibility subject vessel. They thought such a cloaking field could be extended a certain distance if the power source was sufficient. The field would not move through a cable however. It’s easy for me to cloak. To extend the cloak requires constant attention, and it’s draining.
The Washington Monument is only about 500 yards from the bug nest ship, so being invisible is a good plan. That, and sending our communications through a landline to a remote radio transmitter. When an assault team was inactive, they would teleport directly to an electronic grid platform set up close to me in the Monument. Electronic grid platform?
The platform would be linked to me via cable so a resting team could also be cloaked. Ha! It’s not like I didn’t know the stupid cable and grid were meaningless. I saw the dipole filler cloaking analysis report. But the rig did seem to help me keep the cloaking field extended. Psychological trickery. With that, like I said, the resting team would be hidden from any snooping bug scans. Hopefully.
We decided all of those precautions were necessary since the bugs would surely be monitoring the area with scanners able to view the entire electromagnetic spectrum. We hoped those precautions would be enough. We would know very quickly if their scanning tech could see through my cloaking field. Hopefully we could port away before they blasted the Monument, and us.
I had a final look at the cable and grid cloak augmentation system. It was obvious someone had used markers on a piece of cardboard for the grid platform and fancied up a bungie cord with some alligator clips for the cable. Yeah, that would do the trick, for my psychological cloaking benefit. For goodness sakes.
Our little group now has high-tech comms, with earbuds and throat mikes. We are also using UpPro cameras with all sorts of features, like auto-activate, auto-focus and smart-zoom. That way, we can record all the action as an aid to future planning, and to help with updating the Journal (of course). That’s that, and there you have it. Oh, I have a little more time to journal? Some last minute adjustments. Okay.
Muncle and I will have the primary responsibility of making sure the teams stay alive. No pressure. Yeah, can you hear the sarcasm dripping? We will look for a group of bugs merging to attack. There were numerous reports outlining that tendency if the threat was sufficient or if they were provoked. Bugs would group up and then attack in mass. If they were crazy angry, there was less chance they would use weapons. That was the hope. We decided we should provoke the bugs and get them really angry.
Para was happy to be the one to start the bug provocation program. Roll rigged up a suitable weapon just for Para. He found a small steel wrecking ball, a little thing, about 250 pounds. To that, he attached a heavy chain. To start the mission, Roll will teleport with Para to a group of bugs and watch her back as she bashes them with the wrecking ball. A real bug-wrecking machine. But Roll can NOT merely drop Para off and port to safety. He has to stick around in case there is reason to move away quickly. Like bugs with blasters.
Our recon work indicated bugs outside the ship are not armed. Hopefully it will stay that way, at least for a while. There were numerous reports, available to our team, detailing bug behavior. Those reports also suggested, unless the chance for a heated firefight was high, bugs tended to be unarmed. Having crazed bugs running around with heavy weapons may have presented a danger to their own nest. Who knows? There really are a lot of unknowns. Our tactics for this mission would have to be determined on the fly by the type and amount of bug armament on display.
Para, how did you say it, about you and the bugs? Oh yeah, she is really looking forward to playing ball with the bugs. Para and Roll practiced, a lot, getting the timing down, with Roll crouching under the whirling wrecking ball. He would borrow Para’s Desert Eagle .50, and have it close at hand, just in case. We suspected Para’s display would draw in a lot of bugs; a lot of very provoked bugs. And Para would probably try some hand to claw work as well. What is she thinking?
Mr. T and Rock have a different agenda. Rock will teleport with Mr. T, who will then open fire with his .50 caliber machine gun. The Browning .50 caliber machine gun is a belt-fed, air-cooled, recoil-operated machine gun capable of single shot fire or fully automatic fire. Mr. T’s version, on full-automatic, runs through 1,500 rounds-per-minute. He would use several different bullet designs to help determine the best round to put down a bug.
One of his choices is a 680 grain bullets with a muzzle velocity of over 3,000 feet-per-second. That’s a devastating bullet round! But we don’t have much information on bug anatomy. It’s possible the bullet will punch right through the bug without imparting enough energy to drop it. That seems unlikely, but we have to know. To limit the carnage, only one in five bullets is a live round, the rest being plastic. Rock will keep an eye on the situation and try out his new squad 6.8, also with an assortment of rounds.
We also have some satchel charges attached to netting. The charges are underpowered. Like I said, we didn’t want to invite retaliation. We can extrapolate from the light charge to determine the likely outcome of a full charge. Mostly, we want to get a feel for their reactions.
Only one team will engage the bugs at a time. The other team will stay at the safe zone. At least they agreed to my demand that no team would move out until the prior team was back at the Monument, safe and sound. In that way we can avoid a friendly fire incident. No pressure. It’s time. Back with a report in a few.
We ported, cloaked, to our chosen safe zone, the observation deck of the Washington Monument, with a good view of the bug nest ship and the surroundings. The only area not in view was the area blocked by the ship, on the north side. There were close to 100 bugs roaming around the ship. They were milling about in groups of ten, squad size. No weapons in sight.
Para was ready to go as she looked over to the bugs. “Come and try to take a bite out of ME, monsters.”
I was getting shaky. My hands, literally, shaking. “Roll and Para, you’re first. Maximum provocation. One o’clock, 500 meters.”
They ported to the spot, behind a large mound of dirt, out of view from the nest ship. There was a squad of bugs just to the side. Those were situated between our team and the ship.
Para and Roll stepped out. Roll crouched. Para unlimbered the wrecking ball.
Para doesn’t like regular Earth bugs. She had witnessed the horror of these monsters first hand. I almost felt sorry for the bugs. Almost.
She took the wrecking ball to the bugs with a vengeance. What a mess! I have to say this for them, bugs are brave. Two squads merged and converged on Para’s location, heads pumping up and down. They had no weapons. Well, even
an unarmed bug is itself a weapon system. Roll dropped a satchel charge and ported out with Para.
The explosion was loud even where I was. Carnage. Chaos. Death. It was terrible, even though we limited the damage by using the low yield charge. And no anti-personnel projectiles.
Para and Roll ported back, tapping my shoulder twice. Safe and sound. I kept scanning. Muncle is a little shy. He suggested six o’clock, 1,200 meters.
I relayed, “Rock and Mr. T, Team Two, six o’clock, 1,200 meters.”
They ported in and opened fire. They were there for about 15-seconds before I warned them to move out. A lot of bugs died. If you think about it, Mr. T fired more than 350 bullets in that 15 second period. And those .50 caliber bullets are huge. Only 70 were live rounds. Rock fired maybe 30 rounds. There were close to 30 bugs downed. They could have gotten a lot more.
The plan was clear, don’t overdo it and risk reprisal! They ported back to the safe zone, looking a little sullen. They had wanted to continue firing, but as it was, they had overdone it. It was a slaughter. Bugs with weapons would be coming out soon.
The bugs started to disburse. There! Two squads converged. “Team One, eleven o’clock, 500 meters.”
Para left the wrecking ball behind, wanting to practice some of that hand to claw combat. They ported. Para stepped out quickly from behind a mound of dirt, Roll scrambling to keep up. She pointed to a nearby bug and screamed at it. I hate you! Her head pumped up and down. The bug took a step back. His comrades pushed him forward. Twenty bugs formed up behind the bug. They seemed to be keeping their distance, respectful of the fight to come. Then came the raspy rattle, their heads pumping. The battle bug was thirty feet from Para at that point.
I was terrified for Para and Roll. “Guys, there are too many, get out of there.”
Para motioned for Roll to step back. She sprinted, gained moment, and then leaped into the air with an inverted Para version of a flying side kick. The bug sprang to meet her, abdomen curved around with stinger extended, serrated claws grasping. I heard the crash over the comms as Para extended her kick on impact. Yellowish gore covered the ground. Roll dived to the side as something awful whipped past him, the sting still twitching in a death spasm. A bug head sailed off to the left and rolled to a stop.
Para threw what remained at the bug spectators, knocking one to the ground. She ran into the crowd, grabbing the nearest bug and put a boot into its thorax with a front kick. A push kick then sent it careening, knocking over two more bugs in the process. A bug front claw swung in close to Para’s face but was stopped abruptly. She followed through, swinging the bug up and over her head only to impact hard with the ground. Then it was flying forward, knocking more bugs to the ground.
I was screaming frantically. “There’s one coming with a gun!”
Para was oblivious. Roll ran up to her, grabbed her around the waist, and ported.
I was about to give Para a piece of my mind, but she was having a heated discussion with Roll. They ported right back without receiving clearance. Bugs were pouring out of the ship. That was probably a good thing. If they started moving back into the ship it would be a clear sign for us to leave the area. Flies or fire from the ship would follow.
But these bugs were loaded down with weapons. “Team One, guys, get out!”
They ported right away, evidently only wanting to drop off a satchel charge. Good thing too. A bug weapon discharged a fireball of energy. The energy blast took out several bugs in the field of fire. No doubt the shooter bug would be in big trouble. Or, maybe not, since the satchel charge exploded a moment later.
Roll and Para were certainly in some serious trouble. With me! No unauthorized porting!
The bugs that had been roaming the grounds when we first showed up were extremely agitated. They were definitely looking for a fight. But those coming out of the ship were cautious, and loaded down with weapons. They kept to smaller groups. At least some bugs can keep their wits about them when angry. Me, I was starting to get, I don’t know, even more jittery. It was time to call the operation a success and leave. The weapons had come out. In fact, a bug squad was setting up a large weapon and pointing it toward the White House.
I heard a .50 cal. going off outside. Who might that be? I looked behind me. Mr. T and Rock had ported to an area with some minimal cover and opened fire on the bug squad that was going to trash the White House.
I couldn’t focus well. Muncle punched me in the shoulder and pointed. I looked but couldn’t see what he was seeing. Stupid binoculars, I couldn’t see what he was seeing.
Muncle jumped on the comms. “Team Two to base. Move. Move. Move.”
Destructive energy was pouring into the area near Mr. T and Rock. I was a mess. “Grandad? Rock?”
They were right behind me, safe and sound. “We’re fine. It’s getting too hot to continue with this course of action. We have one more tactic to try on these guys before we move on. No, let’s try two. Rock and Roll, let’s have you port in with some of those satchel charge nets. After that, we can try a cloak walk.”
Rock and Roll ported in and out a few times, moving fast, with timed satchel charges attached to netting. They would port to the cover of a large dirt mound. Then they would throw the netting over a group of bugs and port away. Bugs get so tangled up in netting.
But Roll was getting reckless. He ported to a mound of dirt near a group of bugs not yet exposed to our carnage. Those had remained at their post. Sentries. Unarmed. Roll took the time to hand his last satchel charge to a bug and say, “Would you please hang onto this for me? Thanks.” Then he ported.
Seriously, the bug had this curious look. I could hear Roll over the comms and see just fine with my optics. I think the bug was curious. Or, maybe something was wrong with his bug brain. He cocked his head with a curious look on his face and gently took the satchel charge from Roll. He ran off with it toward the ship. The poor bug didn’t get far before one of his armed comrades from the ship gunned him down.
We had used timers to rig the satchel charges to go off at the same time. It’s not as though the bugs hadn’t figured out the satchel bags contained explosives. A lot of bugs still tried to help their comrades get untangled from the webbing. The timers clicked. The satchels blew, adding to the mess. A lot of bugs died. It would have been worse without the low yield explosives. Still, I felt a little sad. I was even feeling a little ... guilty. It almost felt as though we were becoming more like them. The curious bug was bugging me.
The team was all together in the monument, my cloak field extended and intact. We ported to the ship. It was nice of them to leave the door open. It was a simple matter to wander inside and have a nice look around. Take some videos. Bugs walked right by us. They took no notice. We decided to turn the cloak walk into a full reconnoiter. Concentration. Cloak. Cloak. Cloak.
All the ships look exactly the same on the outside. Likely the interiors would also be the same. There might be a nice open porting spot. It would sure be convenient to port onto a ship whenever we wanted.
As we crept down the passageway, a squad of bugs came charging out of a side room and almost hit us. They were in a hurry to get somewhere. I freaked a little; lost my concentration. We uncloaked. Bugs have fast reflexes. They spun around and drew weapons. I tried to re-cloak us, but couldn’t concentrate.
We ported back to the Monument. A high-pitched siren started wailing, coming from the bug ship. It was over. The bugs started running full speed back to the ship. They moved out fast, seeming happy to get back inside the ship. It was time for us to leave anyway. Other than the cloak walk, the operation took one-minute, forty-seconds. That’s it. And the cloak walk didn’t last very long either.
We ported back to Mr. T’s lab to debrief. And to have some lunch and watch the news feeds. I was overly quiet, thinking of how I froze out there and how I lost cloak. I was angry too. They shouldn’t have ported around without overwatch authorization.
Roll had an interesting observation that pushed thr
ough my gloom. He had spent a lot of time reviewing the Bugblast reports. The military had exploited a bug nest ship sensor blind spot for that operation. The blind spot was due to poor design related to the propulsion system. A follow-on report indicated the bugs had rigged a makeshift sensor array to fix the problem. They had moved on the fix very quickly. Good old Roll noticed the D.C. ship didn’t have the new array.
Roll was sure the bugs were up to something in D.C. He didn’t think they were there to just threaten the government. There was another objective. He thought it must be important if it took precedent over fixing the sensor problem. Mr. T felt the observation was important enough to push the information upline to his superiors along with the pertinent recording evidence. That ship still had the blind spot problem. Roll had a point. When we got a chance it would be a good idea to check out the area in case they were up to some no good bug stuff.
I was still a little off and dropped back into my funk. Mr. T and Rock shouldn’t have ported without notice to take out the bug squad. Not even to save the White House. Who cares about a stupid building, yes, even if it is the White House? Roll and Para didn’t exactly follow the OPORD either. Grandad was keeping an eye on me.
“Are you okay Sweetie?”
“I am now.”
“You did good today.”
“No one died.”
“A lot of bugs died.”
“They did today.”
I said I was okay, but it wasn’t true; anger pulsed inside me. Anger at myself, at the team. What happened to following the OPORD and not just porting off on a whim? Team cohesion, my foot. Don’t worry, I wasn’t about to let this one pass. In due time I would speak my mind, after a little necessary venting away from the team. It was a terrible operation with lousy group cohesion. My freezing up didn’t help either. That’s what I learned from the op.
Battle for Earth Page 10
