***
Captain Dore whistled at Kat as soon as she stepped through the double doors. She meandered through the milling crowd of soldiers from a dozen nations until she got to the US side of the university’s lecture hall. It took forever, since every few steps some warrior wrapped her up in a bear hug. Kat was still squeezing her long lost teammates when a bark filled the giant classroom.
“Detachment! Atten-tion!”
A stream of older men, with enough stars on their collective shoulders to fill a galaxy, filed in and took seats behind a long table facing the troops. One of the bigwigs remained standing and crossed his arms.
The general wasn’t the oldest of the bunch nor even had the most decorations on his chest, but the gruesome and still fresh burn scars on his face and neck screamed authority. His easy smile despite the horrific injury ensured universal respect from the multi-national collection of Special Forces operators.
“At ease. Take a seat. I’m Lieutenant General Jacobi, supreme allied commander of what’s left of Earth’s defense forces. But who gives a shit? It’s what you are that’s important. Every man and woman here has gone toe-to-toe with the invaders and survived. That makes you people the finest warriors the human race can muster.”
Jacobi paused long enough for the translators to catch up. Kat took a quick peek around at the two hundred plus troops from twenty countries. As near as she could tell, only a third of them were American.
“You’re also mankind’s last arrow in the quiver. Here’s where I’m gonna shoot you.”
An aide flicked on a digital projector behind his head. The black and white infrared footage centered on a river running next to some tiny hilltop village. The camera seemed obsessed with the perfectly straight, pitch-black river.
Someone in the crowd muttered something in French about God.
Dore grunted. “Son of a…that’s not water.”
Jacobi shined a laser pointer along the object’s length. “That’s right. The enemy has landed their motherships. For the first time since the invasion, they’ve made a mistake. We’re going to make them regret that decision.”
Kat counted the range-marking hash ticks that clicked on forever. The black tube stretched across three kilometers of scorched farm fields, starting from the base of the hill. It must have been at least six hundred meters in circumference.
“Of the five surviving alien ships, only one is still in orbit. The other four have touched down in the Middle East. They brushed aside all nearby garrisons, enslaved the local population and, with the help of their ISIS pals, seem to be staking out their own colonies. Each vessel landed just outside of a major city that was ignored by the initial bombardment and the neutron bomb mopping up strikes. We’ve spotted them at Medina and Mecca in Saudi Arabia, plus Jerusalem and Megiddo in northeastern Israel. Your target is the Megiddo ship. Fewest civilians around.”
General Jacobi raised his chin and tried to make eye contact with the entire hall at once.
“It’s time to take back the initiative. Tomorrow morning, humankind is going on the offensive. You’re going to parachute onto the target ahead of our counterattack, breach by fire and secure that ship until the main body catches up. If you can’t take it over or aren’t able to hold, then destroy the spacecraft so the bastards never fly again. But that’s a job for the last man standing. We need that vessel and its arsenal in one piece. A couple of alien prisoners to interrogate would be ideal, but I’m not fussy. Don’t let that get in the way of accomplishing your mission.”
A US Navy SEAL commander raised his hand. “Sir, Megida-who? I understand the others, but what’s so special about this place?”
An exposed vein in General Jacobi’s mangled cheek twitched. “You never heard of Megiddo? Perhaps you know it better by the ancient Greek name: Armageddon.”
The room went deathly still.
“Now, I’m not sending you in there all alone. This battle is going to live up to the Biblical hype. We haven’t been idle these last three weeks. The alliance has been hoarding military assets from around the world. That’s made life hell for millions of civilians in lawless lands, but the sacrifice is about to pay off. We’ve pieced these scattered units into one hell of a coalition army. Close to 400,000 professional troops from seventy nations, backed up by more than 20,000 armored vehicles and 1,000 combat aircraft. We’re sending everything in just after dawn. You’re the tip of the most important spear, but not the only one.”
He brought up a strategic map of Israel and northwestern Saudi Arabia. Kat ignored the thousands of little boxes marking units as infantry, armor, artillery, etc. that ringed the Final Caliphate’s territory. She just narrowed her eyes at the arching blue arrows.
“Talk about ambitious. Sir, that’s a lot of moving parts.”
The general set his jaw and scratched his neck until it glowed red. “I won’t argue with you there, but it’s all or nothing at this point. We’ll have a quarter million troops advancing in a crescent from Lebanon to the Red Sea. That’s just the diversion. Once the enemy has committed their full force, a hundred and fifty thousand of our best fighters, including most of the US and NATO contingents, will push through the Sinai or land in amphibious assaults along the Israeli coast.”
Someone with an unplaceable European accent spoke up from the crowd. “Why rush job it? It’s not like zee aliens are getting reinforcements, but we sure can. Why not wait another three weeks and counterattack with a million soldaten?”
“Great question with a simple answer, Feldwebel. We have to strike now because this army is a perishable asset. There’s no supply chain left anymore. We’re living off of stored war stockpiles, civilian requisitions and whatever we can scavenge from the ruins.”
Jacobi tilted his head at the panel of senior officers behind him. “Hell, even if I can keep this rainbow coalition of Muslims, Jews and Christians from pointing their guns at each other, or deserting to go protect their families, we won’t be able to feed them all in a few more days. We’re less than a week away from this force turning into a well-armed and starving mob. Frankly, it’s a miracle we’ve held things together for so long.”
He clasped his hands behind his back.
“Now, you’ll be briefed in detail when we break down into national teams, but are there any general questions for me? Don’t hold back. This is the most important mission of your lives. Let’s make sure it’s not your last.”
Some British officer raised his hand. “If I may be so bold, General… just how the bloody hell are we supposed to breach something so heavily armored it can shrug off nukes?”
“You’re going to walk right in, Colonel. We’ve identified two entry points with long-range, infrared radar. We’ll split this force into two detachments, with each dropped outside a different cargo bay. Now, no plane nor recon team has gotten within thirty miles of the target, or at least hasn’t survived long enough to report back, but we have a good idea what to expect.”
Jacobi took the remote from his aide and brought up another infrared video on the projector. The view centered on a cavernous hole opening near the middle of the vessel. The entrance bay was more than a hundred yards wide and twenty high. Two dozen of the vicious, four-legged robots wandered the plain before the entrance. Another ten flying drones were visible circling the spaceship.
Captain Dore crossed his arms and clucked his tongue. “Please tell me they’re just offloading the ship.”
“Afraid not. This appears to be a permanent guard shift. As near as we can tell, about one hundred ground drones patrol within a mile of the ship at any given time. That’s not even counting their air cover.”
Kat puffed out her cheeks while the junior officers muttered and the enlisted troops shook their heads. “Good God, sir! A suicide mission implies there’s at least a chance of reaching your target. Do we have enough artillery to clear out so much heavy metal?”
A Russian general on the panel behind Jacobi laughed. Coming out of his leering mouth, the chuck
le was the creepiest sound Kat had ever heard. “This is no time for subtlety. Rest assured, we brought the necessary firepower.”
Jacobi flipped a digital overlay full of expanding circles over the target. “He’s correct. Our Russian friends were gracious enough to bring along a 45-kiloton tactical nuke. We’ll use it to sanitize the Landing Zone minutes before your arrival. The bomb’s big enough to flatten the immediate vicinity of the target, but not powerful enough to endanger the nearby prison camps.”
The general stared up at the enemy vessel for a while before turning around. “Just as important, the blast won’t significantly damage the ship. Whatever this craft is made out of is too tough. We witnessed two suicide car bombs ram the damn thing without even chipping the paint. The one we knocked out in orbit was a product of pure luck. It took a steel-on-steel hit with a multi-megaton nuke to crack the ship’s hull.”
Kat bit her lip. “Sir, if this thing is so invincible, how do we know the blast will completely clear the area?”
“Considering that we’ve killed drones with conventional weapons, they can’t be that tough. The robots aren’t made out of the same exotic material as the mothership. We’re pretty confident the bomb will probably disable most of them without harming the vessel.”
Kat snorted and stared down the world’s military chief, but Captain Dore jumped to his feet. “Seriously? You’re going to gamble all our lives on probably’s and mostly’s? I’ve lost too many men on crazy fantasies about capturing an alien ship already. Is this really the best strategy you can come up with?”
The Russian general cracked his neck and opened his mouth, but General Jacobi cut him down with a look. He turned back to Dore. A few weeks ago, such an insubordinate outburst would have cost him his command. Nowadays, such games were nothing compared to the deadly mutinies he put down on a regular basis.
“Yes, Captain. This is the best plan we have. I’m afraid you’re just going to have to trust us. Now, does anyone else have any relevant questions or are we just going to bitch and moan while the world burns?”
None of the other soldiers spoke up. Jacobi only raised his chin and met their skeptical glares.
Kat stood up and changed the subject before Dore could lose his cool again. “Why have the aliens cordoned off a few hundred square miles of territory? What are they up to, sir? You called them colonies. What do you mean?”
Jacobi rested his gaze on Kat. His eyes widened in recognition.
“You would know better than anyone else, Sergeant. They’re setting up the same segregated camps as you escaped from in Mecca.”
The general stared around the room. “They’re consolidating their conquest, people. This is our last chance to stop them. Near as we can tell, they’re storing the women and children they’ve kidnaped from around the world in the main camps and keep the males as laborers in many smaller satellite facilities. Islamic State fighters, backed by plenty of drones, rule everything within a hundred kilometer radius of each ship with an iron fist. Our scouts report the zones are filled with signs for a ‘final caliphate’ and ISIS appears to be leading the rebuilding effort.”
Kat crossed her arms and muttered under her breath. “Makes sense.”
All the brass suddenly had their eyes on her. Jacobi cocked his head.
“Care to elaborate, Sergeant?”
“Oh, uh, nothing sir.”
“Sergeant, we are going in blind. If you have any intelligence, or even a wild guess, that could give us insight into the enemy’s intentions, now’s the time to speak up.”
“Well, sir, it seems obvious to me. So far, the enemy has concentrated on destroying our ability to organize and resist. Even with their fancy weapons, there’s just no way to exterminate all seven billion humans on the planet without ruining the whole place. Also, big as these ships are, they can’t possibly carry that many aliens. They need a local occupation force if they plan to subdue Earth. For some crazy reason, they’ve chosen ISIS and their allied extremists for that role. This Final Caliphate they’re building looks just like our occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The aliens live in their little Green Zones and rule through their ISIS puppet governments.”
Kat walked over to him and stuck out her hand. She took the remote for the digital wall display and zoomed the view out enough to cover the globe. “Once this base of theirs in the Middle East is self-sufficient, do you think they’ll stop? How many more secure zones can they set up? Every base increases the difficulty of dislodging them exponentially. It’s basic counterinsurgency 101, sir. The invasion is over. This is their planet now and they’re just mopping up. You said yourself we don’t know what’s happening in there. So let’s not find out the hard way.”
Jacobi eyed her and slid closer. “What are you driving at, Sergeant?”
Kat turned her back on Jacobi and addressed the assembled generals at the table. “Gentlemen, I’ve seen these bastards from the inside. Every hour we delay strengthens their hand! They couldn’t have missed this massive army you’ve been collecting. Since they haven’t bothered attacking us yet, that only shows they aren’t worried about us.”
“Ok, that’s enough, Sergeant. Trying to scare everyone isn’t productive. Take a seat and we can get started with—”
“With all due respect, sir, you’re going to get us killed!” Kat rested her hands on the table with the other murmuring generals and hissed.
“Nuke them now, while they’re on the ground and concentrated! Don’t screw around with this little tactical nuke and Hail Mary conventional attacks. Saturate the area. Turn the whole damn region into a glass parking lot and end the war tonight. That’s the only way to guarantee the survival of our species!”
General Jacobi tapped his foot and scratched his neck scars. “Sergeant, there are millions of human prisoners in the blast zones. That’s out of the question.”
Kat stood her ground and pounded the desk with both fists. “General, there are billions of lives at stake. We sacrificed so many already for nothing. At least these people will die saving the world. Or you can wait until we’re destroyed and let them live forever as slaves.”
The three-star American general glanced away from her ferocious stare, but several of the other brass nodded along. A previously silent Chinese general folded his hands together.
“Even your best people agree with me, General Jacobi. How do you Americans put it? ‘Quit pussy-footing around.’ It’s time to end this, by any means necessary. The People’s Republic of China will assume full responsibility for the nuclear strikes.”
The lone Israeli Defense Forces general at the table shot to his feet. “Madness! We’ve already discussed this. Any nuclear attack on Jerusalem will be considered an act of war. The IDF might only be a small component of this coalition army, but our nuclear arsenal is still intact. And I swear, by the God of Abraham, we’ll use every last missile against any attacker!”
At the opposite end of the table, the senior Iranian commander jumped up. “The new Ayatollah stands with our Jewish cousins. Medina and Mecca? You barbarians are talking about destroying Allah’s most holy sites and slaughtering millions of his faithful! You cannot fathom the Jihad the entire Muslim world would unleash. And must I remind you, Iran has the nuclear fire to back up our threats!”
General Jacobi skipped between Kat and his reluctant allied generals. He pounded the desk with his fist. “That’s enough! Briefing over! Group, attention!”
The clucking troops in the auditorium shut up and jerked to their feet, standing at rigid attention. Before Jacobi could dismiss them, a civilian doctor in the corner pulled his hands out of his pockets and raised an arm.
“Uh, sir, what about my presentation?”
Jacobi calmed instantly and nodded. “Of course. At ease, everyone. The good doctor wants to go over some fallout precautions we need to take. Make it quick, Doc.”
“Thank you, sir.”
The medico shuffled some notecards in his hands and cleared his throat. He soon tuck
ed them away and slid his glasses off.
“I won’t waste your time with our speculations and wildly inaccurate projections. Truth is, we have no idea what type of environment you’ll be parachuting into. Radiation levels in the blast zone will be orders of magnitude higher than Fukushima. Even worse than Chernobyl.”
He wiped the sweat from his brow and forced out a smile. “With that said, we aren’t dealing with a melting reactor still splitting atoms. It’s only the after effects that we need to mitigate. There will be plenty of irradiated ash falling around you, but there won’t be any pulsing gamma or neutron rays.”
A sea of confused faces blinked back at him. “My point is, if you avoid breathing contaminated air and limit your outdoor exposure to less than an hour, then you shouldn’t suffer any acute radiation effects.”
Kat’s anger faded as the rush of imminent action flooded her system. She sat down and shared an eye roll with Captain Dore. “How are we supposed to ‘limit our exposure’? This op will last much longer than an hour.”
“I mean an hour outside. You’ll have head-to-toe NBC gear, including a self-contained air supply. The military HAZMAT suit versions are much hardier than the civilian variety. Just don’t breathe any open air or let the radioactive ash touch your bare skin while you’re attacking the ship. Fallout shouldn’t be a serious issue once you’re inside the vessel. They must have their own air supply and, obviously, it’s well shielded or the aliens wouldn’t have survived our nuclear bombardment when they were in orbit. But just to cover every base, make sure you take these an hour before you get airborne.” His assistant came over and handed out a box of Ziploc baggies.
“The white pill is potassium iodide. That’ll reduce the likelihood of sudden-onset thyroid cancer by 90%, which is one of the most common ailments from nuclear fallout.”
Kat held up a blue capsule. “And what’s with the Viagra? We going on R&R afterwards?”
The doctor’s sad eyes were immune to humor. “That’s Prussian Blue. In case you do inhale contaminated air, it’ll trap the radioactive cesium and thallium in your intestines, rather than your bloodstream. It will also force your body to expel wastes faster, which should reduce the tissue damage from internal radiation exposure by two-thirds. Do remember to stay well hydrated when you’re on this medication though. Diarrhea is a common side effect.”
The Caliphate Invasion Page 26
