First Strike (Hammer's War Book 3)

by James McEwan

  “I wish. I’m on my first monster hunt,” Thad stood in the doorway and crossed his arms.

  “Ruby?”

  “Ruby,” he confirmed.

  She smiled, “Under the bed or in the closet?”

  “Neither, she says they are still on the way.”

  “Oh that’s a new one,” Freya said as she sat down her cup and put her feet down.

  “Yeah it was strange, and the way she said she could hear them bothered me.”

  “Hear them?” she asked.

  “Yep that’s what she said. Anyway, what are you doing up?”

  “Oh, we have been on Thad greeting duty for the last year,” she paused to watch the expression on his face, “Twelve hour shifts, every day. We wanted someone awake when you showed up so I took nights and Fie had days.”

  Thad walked over bent down and kissed her softly on her lips, “You two are unbelievably sentimental, but I’m not complaining.”

  She kissed him again, “Yeah we are.”

  He pulled away, “I should go find Captain Wesson.”

  Confused Freya’s nose wrinkled, “Captain Wesson?”

  “Yeah, his ship is in orbit and they can do a scan and see if anything is on the way here. I just want to be sure before I go tell Ruby she has nothing to worry about.”

  “Well, he is with Eve of course,” she giggled like a little girl.

  He kissed her once more, “Thanks,” then he was gone. He walked to Eve’s love bot’s room, and knocked on the door.

  After a minute, Eve’s robotic body answered. She was dressed in a deep red silk robe with tigers on both shoulders. “Thad honey, it’s really early, and I’m a little busy,” she paused and looked down both hallways, “didn’t you find Freya?”

  “Oh yes, she was right where you said she would be, but I need to talk to your good captain,” Thad said as he noticed her hair was a mess. It was then that he understood exactly how she was busy.

  “Just a minute,” she replied shutting the door.

  Thad waited nervously, going over what Ruby has said in his mind. The door opened again and a rather worn out looking Captain Wesson stepped out. He was dressed in a matching black silk robe, “What can I do for you Thad?”

  “I’m sorry to bother you, especially right now, but I need your help.”

  Captain Wesson, a man who was known for his great ability not to smile, smiled, “Don’t worry about it,” he paused and leaned in close before whispering, “To tell you the truth, I needed a break. I think that girl is trying to love me to death.”

  Thad couldn’t help himself and burst out laughing, and Wesson looked at him strangely.

  “Sorry, it’s just I remember someone else being worried about that same problem,” Thad said.

  “Oh, I see,” Wesson said in relief.

  “Anyway that’s not important right now. Right now, I need a favor.”

  “Shoot,” Wesson said, not thinking about who he was talking to at first. Thad gave him a stern look, “Sorry, poor choice of words.”

  Minutes later the comm panel on the Damocles lit up. The ensign manning had fallen asleep with his head on his hands. The rest of the bridge crew was awake, if only barely. The second officer was sitting in the captain’s chair reading a book, not a tablet, but an old school paper book. When the comm panel beeped with the incoming call, the ensign jumped back as if he had been shocked, and let out a rather girly yelp as he fell off his chair.

  The second officer dropped his book and jumped to his feet, “What? What is it ensign?”

  The embarrassed ensign climbed back into his chair, although he wished he could crawl under it, “Incoming call, Sir.”

  “Put it through,” the officer ordered.

  Captain Wesson’s image appeared on the main viewer, “Captain.”

  “John, I need you to run a slip space scan and tell me if you pick anything up.”

  “Captain?” the second officer fired back.

  “I know it’s a strange request. Just do it, that’s an order,” Wesson replied.

  “Aye Sir, please stand by,” he said and turned to the sensor officer who was already running the scan. “Amy, anything on the scope?”

  The female officer stared at the reading on her screen, “Nothing Sir.”

  John, the second officer, turned back to the main screen, “Nothing on the scope Sir.”

  No sooner had the words left his lips when the sensor officer yelled out, “Wait, I’m getting something.”

  On Nome Wesson shot a quick look to Thad then back to his screen, “Report Lieutenant.”

  “Sir, at first there was nothing, but now there is something and that something is getting larger.”

  “What do you mean by something?” Wesson asked.

  “Sir, they are not broadcasting a transponder signal, so either they are operating illegally or they are not human, Sir.”

  “Hmm, can you tell how many ships or the size?” Wesson asked as he wondered how Thad knew to ask for a scan.

  “No Sir. There is too much information. It’s either one massive ship or a whole fleet of them,” she answered as she tried to understand the information coming across her screen.

  “Can you tell how long until it gets here?” Thad asked over the captain’s shoulder.

  “Who is that?” The second officer asked.

  “It’s Mr. Hammer, now answer the question.”

  “Sir, no Sir, no way to know for sure, but my best guess is a few hours, max,” the sensor officer replied.

  “Okay thank you, Wesson out,” he killed the feed and turned to Thad, “So care to tell me what in the hell is going on?”

  “Captain, you’ll know as soon as I do,” Thad answered with a long stare that made Wesson worry.

  Thad excused himself and went back to his room. On the way, he asked Eve about her defenses and plans for the town. She gave him all the details over his comm implant. Then he asked her to contact the sheriff and put him on standby. “Thad honey I will do as you ask, but what are you going to do next?” she asked.

  “Right now I’m going to try to catch a little sleep. If there are monsters coming, I’d like to be somewhat rested when they get here,” he replied as he pushed open the door to his room. Fiona and Ruby were snuggled up together, both asleep. Thank God for small miracles he thought. Thad lifted the blanket and crawled into bed next to Ruby. He laid his head down on the pillow and was asleep by the time his eyes closed.

  Chapter 3

  Four hours later Thad was woken by fifty pounds of squealing, giggling, twisting, kicking Ruby, “Help me Daddy, she keeps tickling me.”

  Thad heard help me and his first instinct was to attack, but when he opened his eyes he saw Fiona hunched over her tickling away. “Well that’s not fair now is it?”

  Fiona stopped and looked over at him, “What does that mean?”

  “I mean, you kind of have a size advantage, don’t you think?” Thad said playfully.

  “And just what do you intend to do about it mister?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, maybe this,” Thad launched into an attack and within seconds Fiona found herself being tickled by both Thad and Ruby. Fiona was screaming and everyone was laughing, when Freya opened the door.

  “Now what his going on here?” she asked sternly.

  Thad and Ruby paused, while Fiona tried to catch her breath. Ruby spoke, “Fiona was tickling me and Daddy came to my rescue.”

  She raised an eyebrow, “I see, well he is very good at rescuing damsels in distress. Now come with me little one, I need to get you dressed before breakfast.”

  “What should I wear today?” Ruby asked.

  “It should be something befitting a princess,” Freya said as she held out her hand.

  “A princess, am I a princess?” Ruby asked as she climbed off the bed and took her hand.

  “You betcha, and today you’re having breakfast with an Emperor,” Freya smiled, then looked at Thad and Fiona, “you two best get dressed as well, and don�
��t worry Fie I’ll help you get your revenge later.” She chuckled then led Ruby out of the room.

  Twenty minutes later all were seated at the table. The table was covered with all manner of food, laid out buffet style. They loaded up their plates and Thad started off the conversation with a question, “Any news from the Damocles?”

  Captain Wesson was spreading some cream cheese on a bagel, “I checked in with them just before coming down to breakfast and they say that it’s getting close, but they’re not sure exactly when they will arrive.”

  Emperor Conall asked, “Who is coming?”

  “We don’t know, but the Damocles is tracking something large in subspace headed our way,” Wesson replied.

  “The monsters are coming,” Ruby said between bites of toast.

  “Monsters?” Sasha asked with a concerned look.

  “Yep the monsters are coming, but you don’t have to worry because Daddy is really good at saving damsels in distress,” Ruby said, as if it was a fact that resolved any further debate.

  “Oh he is, is he?” Sasha asked her.

  “Yes, just this morning he saved me from mommy Fiona’s tickle torture,” Ruby said then took a bite of an orange.

  Fiona blushed bright red, while Thad was having a hard time not laughing, and he was not alone. Thad wanted to say something, however before he could Eve chimed in, “Daniel there is an incoming comm from the Damocles.”

  Amanda thought it was strange that Eve knew that a comm call was coming in when they were all around the table and no one had a comm on them. “Eve, do you mind me asking how you know a comm is coming in?”

  Eve realized she may have just given herself away to the Admiral, she point to her head, “Interface implant. It allows me to interface with the home computer, Thad has one as well.”

  “Oh,” Amanda said.

  “Good save,” Thad said to Eve through his implant.

  “Thank you,” she said. “I know she’s your mother, but not sure just how she would take it knowing that I’m an AI in a robot body.”

  “I’m not sure either. Best to keep that to ourselves for now,” Thad replied.

  “Daniel, should I put it through here or would you like to take it in the office?” Eve asked verbally.

  “This concerns everyone here, so put through,” Wesson said.

  “Okay,” she smiled and a second later, a hologram of Commander Piper appeared above the table.

  “Go head Commander,” Wesson said.

  “Yes Sir. We are picking up distortions in the subspace field. We think they are starting to open a subspace window, and it’s a big one Sir,” she reported.

  “So it means they’re here?” he asked.

  “Yes Sir. I believe whatever is coming, they’re about here,” she said. Then her expression changed for a fraction of a second and face betrayed her fear, “Sir it’s Dreenoi, hundreds of ships, wait thousands and one huge dreadnaught.”

  “They’re here,” Ruby said in an especially unsettling manner.

  “Sir, do we engage?” Commander Piper asked.

  “Negative Commander, they will not pay any attention to you as long as you stay out of their way. Now they will send down troops and they will hit the biggest population centers first. Once they have killed everyone there, they will move out to the rest of the planet.”

  Colonel Grunt of the Emperor’s personal guard had joined them for breakfast, “There is only one population center on the planet, and it’s the town. We need to warn them,” he said as he stood up.

  “Eve is already on it Colonel,” Thad said.

  “Good, now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get into my armor and ready my men. I have a feeling we’re going to have a fight on our hands,” Colonel Grunt left the table to don his armor.

  “Commander, I want you to send down every shuttle, retrieval boat, and anything we have on board that can fly to my location. We will need to evacuate everyone we possibly can,” Wesson said.

  “Aye Sir,” Commander Piper said, and then was gone.

  “I have Sherriff Jackson on the comm when you’re ready,” Eve said.

  “Put him through please,” Amanda said, more as an order than a request.

  A flash of light later and the hologram of Sherriff Wyatt Jackson appeared where Commander Piper had just been. “Good morning folks, what can I do for you all today?”

  Captain Wesson spoke, “Sherriff the reason we asked you to be on standby just materialized.”

  “Okay so what are we dealing with?” He asked

  “Dreenoi!”

  “Oh shit,” Jackson replied with a look of horror on his face.

  “Now listen Sherriff, my yacht is still at the space port. I want you to round up all the woman and children and you put them on it. I will contact the crew and instruct them to take as many as will fit. Then get the rest of your people out here to the Hammer compound. I have shuttles on the way down to get them off the surface. Can you do that Sir?”

  “I can, and I will also activate our militia,” he replied.

  “Don’t try to engage them, they will just kill you all,” Wesson implored.

  “No worries there captain, the militia is a company of Guardian class robots. They will keep them damn Dreenoi busy while we slip away.”

  Wesson was relieved, “Good! See you soon Sherriff.”

  Sherriff Jackson nodded and then was gone as the image faded away. Then one of the Marines entered the dining room with Archie, “Excuse me, your highness, Admiral, Captain, you may want to see this.”

  Every one jumped up from the table and followed the marine outside. There they saw just what he was talking about. The sky was full of what looked like falling stars. They watched as balls of flame and smoke streak the sky on their way down to the ground. They could feel a slight rumbling of the ground every time one of them hit the.

  Thad pulled the twins aside while everyone was still watching, “I want you two, and Ruby on the first shuttle out, understand?”

  “Thad honey, first we’re not going anywhere without you. We just got you back and we’re not about to lose you again,” Freya said.

  “And second we have our own ship now. If we have to leave our home we’ll do it on our own terms,” Fiona added.

  Thad’s anger was building, but hearing about the ship made his anger dissipate, “Our own ship?”

  “Yes. After our last little adventure, Eve thought we should have our own transportation,” Freya answered.

  “Okay I’ll bite, where is it?” Thad asked.

  “Eve honey, will you take Thad to the Eden?” Fiona asked Eve.

  Eve took Thad by the arm, “Come with me young man.”

  Thad looked down at her, “The Eden?”

  “What? I couldn’t help myself,” Eve replied with a shrug of her shoulders and a wink of the eye.

  Thad followed Eve to the edge of the compound, to the back wall of the box canyon that the compound occupied. She led him to a door that had been installed into the side of the canyon wall. “This is new,” Thad commented.

  “Yes dear, there are a lot of new things around here,” she said as the door opened and swung inward. The lights flickered on as they entered a hallway. Thad followed Eve as she took him to the hanger door. He stepped through the doorway and his mouth nearly hit the floor. The Eden was beautiful. Her lines were sweeping and elegant, flowing with perfect precision. She looked like a pleasure yacht, yet somehow reminded him of a bird of prey, majestic yet deadly.

  “She’s gorgeous, did you?” Thad was floored.

  “Yes I did, well most of it. The twins had a lot of input on her design. She certainly is one of a kind, that’s for sure.”

  “She has teeth I take it?” Thad asked as he walked around the Eden, taking in every line and curve.

  “She has her surprises,” she teased.

  He smiled, “I guess a girl can have her secrets, for now. Right now I need you to run up the engines and get her ready.”

  “Aye, aye Capt
ain,” she said mocking him.

  “Captain? The last time we were on a ship I was the first officer, remember,” he teased back.

  “Oh, you go save the town’s folk and leave the rest to me,” Eve said patting him on the back. Thad left her to get ready to defend the compound while the evacuation of Nome began.

  Ruby asked mommy Fiona, “What are the Dreenoi?”

  Fiona handed her a tablet, “Eve could you please?” She asked. Ruby was confused, as they were the only ones in the room, but then Eve’s voice came over the room’s speakers, “Sure dear. Sending it to her tablet now.”

  The screen lit up and a male voice began to narrate as pictures of the Dreenoi flashed on the screen. “The Dreenoi first were encountered at the battle of Nurhangazi. The Dreenoi are a bipedal arthropod like race. The Dreenoi incursion was the cause of the first Star War. Not much is known about the Dreenoi or their origin. No home system or planet has ever been confirmed. Some have speculated that the Dreenoi are not a natural species, but one that was engineered. It is believed that they may have been engineered as a mining race, due to their likeness to earth ants and their tunnel digging capabilities. However, some believe that they were weaponized and let loose on the universe. There is not much known about their social structure. It is known that they share a hive mind and communicate through some kind of telepathy.”

  Ruby was looking at a picture of a being that looked like a walking mix between an ant and a man. It was horrible looking, definitely something that nightmares were made, of and the very definition of a monster. “They are ugly,” she said as she set the tablet down and made a disgusted face.

  “Yes Ruby, they are,” Fiona said. Then she began to wonder why the Dreenoi were here and why now? No one had seen or heard from the Dreenoi in almost thirty years.

  Chapter 4

  Sheriff Jackson watched the doors close on the captain’s yacht and as it lift into the air. Seconds later the sky looked as if it were falling. He’d only heard stories of how the Dreenoi would fall to planets in streaks of stars before invasions, but had never believed it until now. Apparently it was true that they didn’t land their ships, as they had never developed complex guidance or flight systems. Their ships were made from looted and scavenged resources stolen from previous raiding parties and planetary invasions, and the Dreenoi, though advanced enough to fly the hulking trash heaps, had never evolved into a technologically advanced race sufficient enough to land any of them. In fact, most of the pods that they shot at a planet had no engine at all. They simply pointed at their target and allowed gravity to do the rest. Once a Dreenoi pod, ship, craft, or hunk of shielded junk crashed into a planet, whatever Dreenoi managed to survive the impact would then exit from the crater ready to kill and eat anything and everything in their wake.