The first soldiers who jumped out of the hovering machines were dressed in those same Tactical landing suits equipped with night vision visors and technology which set metal constructions apart from other types of constructive materials. The soldiers threw themselves down into the air without any parachutes on their backs, aiming at the metal surfaces of the base. Those men had on themselves only their courage and powerful electromagnets strapped to their chests and a powerfully charged batteries on their back. As they were falling down into the black abyss, in which the lights from the constructions and the burst-fire below could hardly be seen, the warriors split the darkness–only their skills could save them then. They were about to splatter on the ground like bees, but right before that, they activated the magnets which provided them with a strong magnetic levitation for some time. A few of the brave hearts missed the moment and smashed themselves on the rooftops. The rest did more than good. Thanks to that technology they landed quickly and undetectably. They set out to take over the buildings from top to bottom and managed to bring the command center under control in no time. The freelancers who had jumped backed-up only by ordinary parachutes landed and handled the strained situation outside the base. The pointless resistance of the base’s short-handed staff was pressed from two sides and was soon crushed. Eventually the guardians gave up. The home flag was rolled down and a white one inscribed with Al Nadir’s name was raised instead to celebrate the victory. The Russians and the Chinese were comparatively quick to surrender, but things did not go as smoothly on all four fronts. The Americans mounted an outer-limit resistance. A few mobile missiles hit the two attacking machines; Milev was on one of them. Having its fuselage broken, the first bird was badly injured. It started losing height, came down and crashed, leaving death and flames in its wake. The other plane crash-landed and suffered almost no human losses, thus marking like an ill omen the beginning of the battle for the Johnson air base . . . In the early hours of the night Milev, blood-soaked and wounded, still managed to take lead of his men.
“Go-o-o!” his voice rent the darkness and everyone made a dash for the target. A change in plan was needed, they had to improvise. Under heavy fire, the soldiers hid behind some rocks whose tops stuck out a little over the ground, thus managing to find cover about 330 feet away from the main gate. The rain of bullets that whistled around them hampered any changes in the plan, at least for the time being. It became clear to the freelancers that Johnson was not going to go down without a fight and without the fall of the last man who could hold a gun in his hands. Some of the mercenaries opened fire from behind the rocks so they could buy themselves some time. The other part of the team assembled and barely managed to hear Milev’s order in the midst of all that chaos, but it still sounded louder than the random gunshots that had gradually begun to break the rocks into smaller pieces. ‘Get together!’ the Lieutenant cried, removing the steel mask from his face. About ten seconds later all living and wounded operatives, except for the dozen hiding behind the rocks, clustered around their commander. ‘What are the losses, tell me now!’ Splattered with his own blood and covered in mud and turf he tried to analyze the situation. Seconds after that an unfamiliar voice piped up and gave a brief answer to his question.
‘One drone out of commission, more than a half of our men are alive.‘ That was shocking news coupled with the failed primary offensive. Just to prove true one of Murphy’s laws things exacerbated more and more. Milev tried to devise an impromptu strategy to help them counterstrike the American army and the rapid pass of time they did not have. But suddenly a bomb dropped near him and his comrades; the deathly device was thrown by one of the mine launchers which had been rolled to the main entrance in next to no time. The shockwave tumbled the Balkan and the men nearest to him fеll to the ground, covering them all with soil. A few more bombs landed in the assaulting camp, tearing apart the ranks of the attackers and causing a few deaths. As if by some miracle, Milev rose up, mustering what little strength he had left and with ringing ears blurred and vision he started yelling.
‘Attack the mine launchers with the anti-tank grenade launcher!’ the Bulgarian snapped with a booming voice, heading for a place with good shooting visibility. The soldier standing behind him handed him the hazardous weapon and Milev a fired the deathly shell which ended up destroying one of the mine launchers. A few more spot-on shots followed and the immediate danger was obliterated despite the undying machine gun fire.
They were just beginning to gain momentum and to recover from the heavy blows they had suffered for just a few minutes when a new shock came their way. The gigantic gates opened and a few killer robots walked out–the same one Eisenhower had. They headed towards the hiding soldiers, ruthless, with the sinister demeanor of killing machines, looking more like living organisms rather than mechanical combat entities. A total of five cyber organisms had appeared–two in the sky and three on the ground. Milev set up the other drone which had malfunctioning leg, to open fire on one of the flying threats. After a solid gunfire on the pilotless plane, the machine fell down crashing before it had managed to do anything. The mercenaries shot a few spot-on hits with the grenade launchers, destroying the second flying drone. Later the machines that appeared by land walked over the rocky shield and nearly undisturbed started tearing apart the infantry operatives. They were much stronger than the flying destroyers and had much more enduring armor-plating than them. They used their teeth and claws to slay all that came in their way. Their tails were spinning in all directions, sweeping away the soldiers who were within their radius while the rotational force formed a thick short-lived curtain of smoke and soil. It was a decisive moment and Milev took due actions. He pulled off his back a large-barreled rifle with a grenade attached to it. Wasting no time, he fired at the cat-like frame and hit its throat. The virus was injected. A short circuit and sparkles forced the artificial organism to start tossing and turning and running around its target until it had its control taken away. That was a nice hit. There were more threats to be dealt with. The other soldiers were slower to shoot and that resulted in inaccurate shots which increased the death toll drastically. The second catlike machine was liquidated with one of the last carriers of the virus . . . such a chance, such a success! But much as they wanted to take a break, they could not. The bullet storm unleashed towards the third machine did not take. They did not have more of the only thing that could disarm it and if someone did not manage to find a counter measure, the battle could well be over sooner than expected.
Amidst all the tumult of screaming, murder and torn flesh the Lieutenant committed to helping his comrades. He plucked up all his strength, ran into the open and started firing at the tossing metal killer.
‘Die, bloody freak!’ he yelled and fired, running towards the beast created by the hands of a human. Yet he never managed to inflict it a fatal wound. The machine turned and changed its direction despite the ranks of the mercenaries. It headed straight for Milev who got nearly swept away. In the last seconds before the razor-sharp tail was to cut him in two, he took a step back and slid down on the ground in an attempt to avoid the blow. His gun, however, got in the way of the mechanical cat and was knocked out of Dimitar’s hands. Scared and wounded, the Lieutenant ran towards the epicenter of the massacre, but this time he saw something that was going to save everyone. One of the horizontal razing blows of the cat’s tail had hit open a nearby ammunition chest which sent the ammo flying around and exploding. A few anti-tank mines landed not far from Milev and he saw one of them. What a coincidence that was, such an opportunity, it seemed to be a gift for his bravery and for his resolve. Like all people who possess limitless courage, he decided to take advantage of the situation and dashed for the mine. The last thirty feet were hardest to cover–at that exact moment the machine changed its direction and planted itself on top of the bomb. Paradoxically enough, the bomb did not go off, not because it was out of service, but because it had not been activated. It was one button away from detonation, yet tha
t button was hard to get to. That, however, was not an impossibility to the dauntless and reckless deftness of the Bulgarian. He used the last dozen feet to gain more speed and jumped on it without realizing just how close he was to getting his legs mutilated. The button was pressed, the mine was activated and its magnets got glued to the head of the enraged machine. It jumped to the side, trying to throw it off, but it was too late. A strong explosion minced the head and half of the trunk of the metal creature, its remains collapsing to the ground. The adrenaline had thrown Milev off his senses–his ears were ringing, his vision was cloudy and his men were exultant at their triumph. He heaved himself up and saw the bullet sparks flying around and a large heap of steel lying about sixty-five feet away from him. He looked over his shoulder and his eyes fell on a few of his men who were trying to reprogram the two captivated machines for attack, as at the time Harry was still busy and could not help them. The Lieutenant, though, knew that they were pressed for time and if he did not do something insane, the entire American army would come thronging around them. He limped to the squad who was covering him and pulled away the first two soldiers he came upon.
‘They’ll crush us if we don’t do something. One more of these attacks and we’re out of the game. Do you want to be heroes? Then go fetch the damned contraption with the broken leg,’ he hollered, still barely hearing anything amidst the rattle and crackle. The two freelancers said nothing and rushed away on the spot to obey their commander’s order. Milev slid to the ground, pressing one hand against the elbow of his other arm and sat down dizzily. A moment of despair gripped the Bulgarian officer. He did not know if they were going to make it out of there alive, but he was not going to surrender before the last drop of his blood was spilled. He grabbed two grenades and a machine-gun from a few lifeless bodies lying close by. His order was executed in less than two minutes. The two soldiers were tailed by the machine-gun-equipped drone which moved slowly and clumsily.
‘Are you all right, Sir?” one of the soldiers asked him when he saw the helpless condition of his commander.
‘I’m good,’ the Lieutenant replied and rose up, propping himself on his machine-gun. ‘What I’m about to do borders on insanity. The cowards must stay behind and cover me. Are there cowards amongst you?’ he asked convinced in the self-sacrificial act he intended to commit. Neither of the operatives uttered a word. Nether wanted to be the coward, yet neither wanted to be the dead one. ‘Go hide behind the machine, it will be our cover on our conquest to the gates. The two mercenaries felt special every bit as they felt victims of the circumstances. In the end the men who had been part of so many missions did not hesitate much before choosing action over inaction, courage over fear–it was better to die in battle than to be captured and executed. Or so they thought, for at that moment hardly could anyone predict what would happen a minute into the future. Their valor kept fear more or less away and it was the thing that put them behind the broken robot, shoulder to shoulder with the Balkan.
The metal machine walked forth, followed by the hiding mercenaries who left behind their cover and a few steps later they opened fire on the enemy. The small lead-made pieces flew and whistled past them; some bounced off, others ran straight into the moveable shield, but despite everything the men did not run away, instead they aimed on the machine gunners standing at the wall. One of them was taken out by Milev, a second one was eliminated by the freelancer on Milev’s left, two more were killed by the shots of the machine that covered them. Unfortunately, at that moment the three brave men became the focus of the fire. A bullet put an end to the life of one of the operatives, sprawling him dead on the ground while the drone was slowly taken out of commission, leaving the Lieutenant and his surviving subordinate half-protected behind the metal wreckage. The attention of the defenders of the base was successfully diverted or rather hoodwinked by the Bulgarian officer’s tactics. The hundreds of mercenaries that had been lying in hiding until then also opened fire. The wall’s defense was breached and everyone who tried to get to the shooting line was blasted or shot down.
‘Yes!’ Dimitar cried and raised hands abruptly and darted straight for the gates together with his entourage. The infantry that was now behind his back fired an anti-tank missile which barely managed to graze the fortification. The whole that was opened in the wall was small and insignificant compared to the powerful attack. ‘Open fire on the interior of the base!’ Dimitar ordered. ‘Use whatever you find. Mine, rocket and grenade launchers, everything!’ The soldiers ran and grabbed all they could came across and set the weapons and the fire angles. The first few shots at the wall were unsuccessful, but after the warm-up Johnson was ruthlessly assaulted. Caught in a trap, the American soldiers made a last attempt to cause any resistance. The enormous gate opened for the second time and the base brought out the entire military arsenal it had. The fortress could not use its most valuable weapon–the combat aerial drones and the jet fighters–they were affected by the sabotage of the satellite system orbiting the Earth. Despite that the base had solid ground forces and APCs. About a dozen APCs rolled out escorted by infantry officers who opened fire on the assailants.
‘Cover yourselves up!’ Milev erupted again, realizing that he had run out of aces. A powerful tank shell pierced the earth beneath Milev’s feet and sent him flying to the side. The American soldiers launched another massive attack that brought them back in the game. The tanks advanced, planning to bulldoze the rest of their living adversaries and thus finish off that inexplicable and unexpected nightmare once and for all. Suddenly the tables on the battlefield turned again. A light brighter than a thousand suns descended from the sky once more. It looked as tough a divine creature was preparing to come down on our planet and put an end to the bloodshed. That focused ray of elementary particles seemed more baneful than any religious ill omen, more destructive than any natural disaster. These thoughts crossed the minds of the last fifty-odd surviving solders as they watched everything in front of them burst and dissolve into flames. Without having moved an inch, the tanks melted along with the chains. The rock underneath turned to liquid and mingled with the steel and the organic tissue that had been reduced to ash. Innumerable cries of agony were heard in a matter of seconds–they died off as fast as they started. The survivors could hardly believe their eyes. Harry was their celestial savior.
‘Nice work, kid, right on time, right on time,’ the Lieutenant repeated and felt relief sinking into him. ‘Everyone, charge!’ He issued his last order before they went through the massive gate. The surviving numbers were enough to neutralize the remaining resistance. Then the proceeded down into an underground hangar where the badly desired target was kept.
The American Pride spaceship was a genuine pride and joy to its engineers and designers. No one believed that with its length of 2,500 feet and width of hundreds of feet that mountain of steel could actually fly, but, alas, not everything unfolded as expected. The soldiers took the maintenance crew of the celestial savior and its pilots as hostages. Not long after that the hatches opened slowly. At once the most expensive and complex human invention of all times started its journey up into the heavens. It thrust its way upwards shrouded in a cloud of fumes and lights, giving an ear-splitting rumble that echoed for miles around. The interstellar traveler flew off to the meeting point, splitting the dawn of the early morning–all of that was worth every last casualty . . .
The Swiss Alps were to greet four of the five ships in one of their largest foots–it was one of the very few that could hold both the people and the gigantic vehicles. Only German Dawn 1 set out towards Al Nadir. The rest of the arsenal had to be loaded on board along with 138 Infantry Division and their families who had been waiting there for a few hours already. One of those who awaited the bird’s arrival was Harry–he had landed the flight commander earlier that day. He aborted the cloning of the virus in the satellites’ systems and deactivated it from all contraptions it had been injected into so it no longer damaged the systems, for that could turn
fatal for them. He felt the urge to first go look for his beloved. She was there indeed–one of the cargo jets had brought her back safe and sound, without a single scratch. Rogers hurried to get to her and pulled her in a tight hug. The boulder that had been pressing his heart so heavily ever since they came apart now rolled off and he could finally breathe freely because Alice was close to him again.
‘Well done,’ the brunette murmured, resting in his arms, her eyes closed.
‘I did it for you,’ Rogers replied.
As they stood there snuggled up into each other, eyes shut, something cast light on them and a deafening rumble reverberated throughout the entire surrounding land. That was German Dawn 1 touching down near the airport with difficulty due to its substantial size. The two lovebirds ran to the control room and grabbed two duffel bags–the only pieces of luggage they were taking. They headed for the large open cargo hatch that the thousands of people had to pass through so they could settle on board. APCs, tanks and SUVs started rolling into the gigantic machine along with the flow of incoming people in whose midst were the two lovers. They walked up to the cockpit where they had been saved some room. As they were striding down the long cramped deck corridors they felt strong vibrations shaking the body of the ship and heard the screams of the people who were wriggling through the open gateway. The Iranian army had detected the presence of the stolen spaceship and of the equipment brought from the air base that was thought to operate under Omar’s command. Out of nowhere they were assaulted by tanks, artillery and mine launchers or practically everything that did not require complex satellite connection. The cargo and the people had not yet been fully loaded on board, but a few courageous men helped the few APCs and automobiles that were still out roar to life and sprang to defend their position by attacking the Iranian army. They used cover fire to buy the gigantic machine enough time to fly up and leave the planet’s orbit. Without the sacrifice of the brave mercenaries, without their due interference the ship would most probably have wound up as a heap of burning metal; instead it got away with a few dents in the body caused by the shells that hit it.
Dawn of Hope- Exodus Page 28
