We arranged the bombs in a neat row and attached the timers to a holder on the bombs. Then we plugged in the timer wiring harnesses and set the timer to 09:00, September 7th . The last step was a double check to be sure the timer connections were solid, and the displays showed green. All were functional.
Now it will be a wait-and-see whether or not we receive our go-call. Likely there is an eye-in-the-sky watching at this very moment. As we assembled the timers, Roll made a point of looking up to the sky with a smile and a wave every once in a while. We just finished assembly and inspection of the bomb units at, what is it, let’s call it 9:00 P.M. So, 21:00 hours. We should hear back from the general by 01:00 tomorrow. 1:00 A.M. in the morning. Four hours. We need to get some sleep. Whatever military time it is right now, I’m done. Good night.
September 7 th Mr. T answered right away when his s-loop rang right at 01:00, 1:00 A.M. I don’t think he slept. None of us slept well. We were all a little groggy. Groggy, but excited at the same time. Think about it. What if this plan actually works?
“You are cleared to go, ” said the general. “Brief me, post-op.”
Cleared to go! There was a lot of trust involved with that decision. Mr. T has a history working with the U.S. military. There is his DARPA work. And our team has accomplished some things. But this would be a worldwide operation. Yeah, a lot of trust involved, especially with nukes in the equation. I’m not sure how much coordination was required. It’s not as though all the people and military presence near a bug ship could pull out at the exact same time. That would definitely look suspicious.
What’s that Roll? Yeah, true. Civilians naturally moved out of the area soon after a ship landed near a population center. From what we heard no one could have stopped the exodus if they tried. Most military units are probably not all that close to the bugs ships either. They could just hunker down. The nukes have a very low yield.
It’s closing in on 02:00, our GO time. We’re getting regular intel reports. The latest update confirmed the bugs headed out to rampage as usual, at 01:00 PST. The bugs fulfilled the beer drops in the no-beer zones. We’re set. It’s chilly out here in the middle of Nevada. A lot of stars. Beautiful. A good send-off.
The bombs are all lined up and ready to go, timers are all set for 09:00. If one of the ships moves, we will receive an immediate update from the general. The twins know the exact location of each ship, coordinates mapped and saved on their s-loops. They can locate the storage bay on each ship. We are ready for this thing. We’ll hold off a few minutes to make sure the bugs have all moved off-ship. Quick bite to eat and it will be time to go.
We’ve got about seven hours to set 55 bombs. Make that 53 bombs. The brass has ordered two live queens and two intact ships. I guess they want to do some queen interrogating of their own. They also want more ships for their back-engineering project. They gave us 55 bombs as Mr. T asked. A couple of extra, just in case?
Yes Para, they’ll want any extra bombs back, I’m sure. Why would you want a nuclear bomb? Your map shows an abandoned gold mine, where? Just over that way? And you want to open it back up? Oh, for goodness sakes. Like you don’t have enough to do already, now you want to be a gold-miner? One of those little nukes sure would open up an old mine though.
We would have had 8 or 9 minutes per bomb. But we will need some extra time to capture the two ships and the queens. It wouldn’t be good if they got all uppity and left before we’re finished. A five-minute bomb placement pace per ship should provide the extra time we need to capture two.
Really, all this is just the warm-up. We still have to deal with Mars base. And the Moon. It feels like we are on a roll though. What can go wrong?
Roll gave me a nice pat on the shoulder. “Actually, there are way too many moving parts for this to go smoothly. Just saying.” Good old glass half-empty Roll.
***
OPERATION BRIGHTLIGHT
It’s finally 02:00 and we have our confirmation that the bugs have left the ships. We are about to bring some serious hurt to these evil invaders. Evil and all, I wish there was another way. It would make me feel better to understand the control method of the queens. Maybe not all bugs are evil. That’s possible, right? Try telling that to someone right now that’s going through the beer-rage. No choice anyway. They won’t cease their hostilities, so we will destroy them.
The mission doesn’t even have a name. Let’s have a vote. How about Operation BrightLight? 53 bug ships disappearing in a flash of light. If Mr. T lets that op name slip out when talking to the general it might catch on. You can’t blame a fledgling journalist for dropping some hints now and again, can you? Perhaps someday details of the operation will show up on the History Net or something.
Mr. T is rounding us up to go. For this operation, I’m not going to even try to journal. I’ll be back. I hope.
And we’re back. Exhausted. I’ll try for a quick summary. The ships seemed so stripped down. No video cameras or other surveillance. No alarms sounded. Since we had taken that nest ship, I was expecting ... I don’t know ... more security.
It could be the High Queen kept the theft a secret from her underlings. I guess it would be embarrassing to lose a whole ship. It seems to all fit well with what Mr. T learned during his interview with the queen. There is no trust among the leaders of the invasion force. The soldiers are brutalized and manipulated. But the influence of the queens over their soldiers is intact.
Even as the bombs were being placed, we did some recon work, preparing for capture of the two ships. The only physical security was positioned near the queen throne rooms. No patrols walking the passageways. Sloppy. Not that I’m complaining.
The operation was mostly ... tedious. Tedious and boring. Mostly. There were some minor incidents. On one ship there was a bug walking through the hanger, maybe doing some sort of inspection. Roll ported Para to the bug, Para grabbed it by the neck, Roll ported them to a little box canyon with nowhere to run, and Para finished the bug. Over the next few hours that happened only one other time, with two bugs loitering in the bay area.
The team was able to put down the minimal resistance without gunfire. Everyone stayed nice and quiet. Most of the time it went smoothly like that. There was one other incident. I suppose we should include that in the Journal. Just a minor skirmish, right Rock? All right, don’t get testy, I’ll spill it.
It was the very last ship of course. I may have let my guard down because of that. Letting my guard down was a mistake, especially since we ran into an odd circumstance. Several bugs were in the storage room and needed clearing. There had only been the two other instances, with bugs wandering in the storage area. But there were several bugs on this occasion. Roll popped out and gave us a sitrep. He said it would only be a minor holdup, then he popped back to the ship.
Rock and I were having some trouble with the arming mechanism for the bomb anyway. The circuit showed yellow, jumped to green, then yellow. It cycled like that several times, then finally stayed green. But we weren’t in the mood for a moody circuit.
Roll soon appeared and reported they had cleared the room. Rock asked Roll to help him swap out the arming mechanism from a spare bomb, just to be sure. I pointed out there were two perfectly good bombs just sitting there. Why not just use one of those? With that it would only be a simple timer setting. No need to swap an arming mechanism. Obvious, right? That’s what happens when you’re tired and worn out. I set the timer on a fresh bomb, all systems were green, so we ported onto the ship.
What do you mean, why am I writing all that? It’s what happened. Don’t worry, I’ll get to the skirmish. I am not ... setting the mood. We are all tired! That’s why I made all the stupid mistakes that almost got me killed. I was tired. I am tired. You’re tired too. And that’s why you were going to swap out an entire arming device instead of just setting a stupid timer. Well, I was not trying to make myself look good. It’s just what happened. Oh, all right. Let me finish this so we can get some sleep.
The
rest of the group had moved down a passageway to check on a noise. I had one of those niggling feelings. I was sure I had set the timer for 09:00. But did I choose September 7th ? Or did I choose September 6th ? It would take two seconds to wander to the other side of the wagon and check. No big deal. The room had been cleared. I told Rock to check in on the rest of the group while I verified the timer date.
That was the start of a series of mistakes. It’s good to learn from mistakes, right? The first mistake, never be without a squad buddy. If it’s at all possible, someone should be watching your back. But I was left alone in the room, at my own insistence. And there was a bug hiding on an overhead girder. We think he must have snuck away for a bug-nap. Those other bugs that the team cleared out were probably looking for their buddy. Well, he or she, it, woke up. I never saw it until the thing dropped to the deck.
Clank. Clank, clank. It was coming for me. Nice and slow, like it was savoring the moment. Or maybe it was afraid. I’m just not sure. But I was alone with the bug. Unarmed. Stupid me, I had unslung my rifle, laid it on the deck, and moved to the other side of the wagon to check the timer.
That was my second mistake, leaving my rifle out of reach. The bug was moving toward me. I looked at the rifle and so did the bug. Bugs can move quick, no way to get to the rifle in time.
Third mistake, no side arm. That was too many mistakes to live through in a combat zone. Instead of being afraid, I was mad at myself. Then I blamed it all on lack of sleep. I could have cloaked for crying out loud. I did pull my knife. Rock had heard the clanking of the bug over the open comms (and I might have squeaked just a little). He popped in to see what was up.
The bug looked a little shocked. Where had THAT human come from? The bug turned its head toward a “button” on the wall. Form fits structure. It was obviously an alarm. Rock shouldered his 6.8. Snap. Jammed. Are you kidding me? The bug started for the alarm. Rock pulled his .45 and ported between the bug and the alarm. The bug slapped Rock’s hand with a serrated claw, knocking the gun away and drawing blood.
Hand to claw then. Rock took a step back and pulled his KA-BAR. Knife against claws, jaws, and stinger. Close enough.
The bug accepted the challenge, pumping his head up and down. Something was different though. There was reluctance. This bug wasn’t looking forward to the fight. It was more duty than desire with this one. Probably no berserker drug involved.
The bug leaped high to take Rock in his upper torso. Rock did a front roll under the bug and came up fast slicing with the KA-BAR, impacting at the base of its stinger. Soft tissue with the stinger extended. The bug shrieked. It was eerie, sounding like 10 screams all at the same time. Spiracles.
Now the bug was angry. It spun and lunged at Rock, this time splayed except for his front legs, claws forward, aiming center of mass. Rock ported to the side, and reached out with the knife, slicing into one of those sensitive head feelers that also support small hands. Another eerie scream.
The bug opened its mandibles wide and started in slowly, with precise movement. I finally snapped out of it and was moving for my rifle.
Rock ported above the bug and dropped on his back, slamming the KA-BAR into its right eye all the way to the hilt. The bug dropped like a sack of stones.
The rest of the team came in at that point. We cleaned up the mess as best we could, then moved the last bomb to a hiding spot ... after I double checked the timer date. Para grabbed the bug, and we were out.
We still needed to capture two queen bugs and their ships. That could be complicated, with the added security near the throne rooms. Whatever the queens had been told, they were being cautious regarding their own skins, uhhh, exoskeletons. Whatever. In case it isn’t clear, that’s what the queens think about their ship, about their nest. The ship is their domain and they hold court in their throne room. Makes sense, I guess.
Really, it was a wonder they had still allowed the Friday night rampage and beer fest. Like I said, sloppy. Or maybe it was the only way to prevent a mutiny. Military command assigned two squads to each of the remaining ships. Our team was tasked with the initial work of clearing the ships of obvious hostiles and capturing the two queens. The clearing operation was similar for both ships. After we were done, the other squads would secure the ships.
We ported to the flier bay, cloaked, and began our attack run. No bugs encountered on the way to the throne room. Two bugs posted, either side of the throne room entry, the typical double door set up. Okay, sorry, it’s a ship. Double hatch. We’re cloaked.
Knife thrust, precise, in and through the softer cervical tissue connecting the head to the thorax. Two bugs dead. The door is locked. Magnetic seal. Para grabs the handle to the door on the right, leg posted on the other door. Mr. T triggers the EMP device. Mighty heave at the hatch by Para. Heavy bracing snaps all along the seam. Alarm sounds. The EMP device auto-triggers a second time. The alarm shuts down.
Mr. T is on a knee firing 6.8 armor-piercing rounds at the guards on the right. I’m in prone position next to him, firing to the left side of the throne room. Two more bugs down.
Rock, Roll, and Para port to the queen. Para grabs the queen’s mandibles and pulls her head to the ground. Rock and Roll move to either side of the queen, watching for movement. No bugs moving. Mr. T and I rush in and clear the room as Rock and Roll cover us and keep an eye on the downed bugs. The room is clear. Scanner up. All bugs are dead except the queen.
The alarm starts up again. Irritating. I turn up the noise cancelling setting on my buds to ease the jangling sound. Hopefully, it is only a local alarm. The queen keeps reaching down to touch her knee, as though it itches. Para keeps batting the queen’s hand away. She could have a hidden weapon down there.
Muncle has run the perimeter of the room checking for secret hatches. Mr. T puts the heavy restraints on the queen, locking her hands and legs. Hopefully she didn’t have time to send a distress call. Mr. T does a quick and searing delve to make sure the alarm is local and no emergency calls were sent. He’s getting better at delving.
Rock ported to the main outer hatch and opened it from inside the ship. Two squads of special forces types moved in and fanned out within the ship. The comms expert moved in to make sure the ships communication system was down. One queen down and out. The second ship lockdown also went smoothly. The military expended a fortune in stealth cruise missiles and drones to destroy all the overwatch flies. Those streamed in just before 09:00 to secure the area for the returning beer-rage bugs.
The snatch and grab was really too easy. There were only five bugs on each of the ships, including the nest queen. That seems odd. Maybe those areas were chosen for a high culling rate; more humans to be sent to lockup; more bugs out gathering. We didn’t stick around, as regular army troops, with extensive Airforce backup, moved in to engage the bugs and any additional flies that would soon be returning to the captured nest ships.
At 09:00 sharp all of the other ships vaporized in a muted nuclear burst. It’s still September 7th . Bugs are punctual, so most of them had made it back to the ships. A lot of flies were close enough to flash off with the bomb shockwaves. Mission accomplished. But I still have mixed feelings. Enough with that. The important thing now, there are two queens to interrogate and two additional ships to study. The tech guys have some back-engineering to do. I’m sure our scientists will find many uses for that advanced technology. If they run into a wall while back-engineering, they’ll overcome.
Rock said it well. “Just knowing that something is possible can become a driving force. People are driven to push through the mysteries. They will look a little harder, work a little longer. Intuition goes into overdrive. The discoveries will open to us whole new technologies.”
The twins could port people and some types of equipment, smaller items, maybe to anywhere. But they couldn’t move the numbers needed to populate planets. Or fight a war. All of this technology heaped on us because of the invasion will be our ticket to the stars. Ready or not, here we come.
There were photos taken of the general with his hand on the bug ship, flashing a thumbs up sign. He called the some of the special ops guys over, those that had cleared the ship (well, they cleared it again after we had cleared it). Finally, he looked over at us. We were all lounging on our field packs, just chilling. We were still so tired. I remember hoping we wouldn’t get into trouble for not having regulation Marine field packs. My pack was from REI. But we were wearing standard BDUs, the special helmets Grandad had gotten us, and our IVs.
I was seriously debating whether or not I should take off the uncomfortable helmet, but decided the length of my hair might get me in trouble. I had managed to pack most of it under the helmet. Para made a point of actually putting on her field jacket to hide her hair, tucking it under carefully and pulling up her collar. It was, like, 80-degrees, and she was starting to work up a sheen.
Well, you were Para! Okay, I had forgotten to bring my jacket, otherwise I would have done the same. Jackets are great pack stuffing for a better lounging effect.
Mr. T had managed to wander off somewhere. Nowhere in sight. The general was still looking at us. Rock mumbled something about it would probably be a good idea to at least stand up. We all jumped up and gave a decent near-salute. The general shook his head a little, but then he returned the salute, smiled, and called us over.
Battle for Earth Page 15
