Galactic Defenders
Endurance
Book One of the Defenders Trilogy
Michael Mishoe
Copyright © 2018 Michael Mishoe
All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 9781983352355
Prologue
Date: July 6, 2132.
The question of whether other life lives out in outer space has been answered. Alien life does exist. But they are not our allies; they are our conquerors. They came to Earth without warning or announcement. By the time our satellites picked up their starships, they were already in orbit. The President of America along with several other representatives around the world, attempted to contact them, but their calls ware unanswered, other than an announcement that they were a robotic species called the Ribiyar. After all their ships arrived in orbit, many of them descended into our atmosphere, and began attacking all the major civilizations of the world, targeting everything from Russia and Japan to the Netherlands and America. When the attack began, the united armies of the world attacked the invaders vying for control of their territory. Though they fought relentlessly, their fighter planes and battleships could not hold back the gigantic Ribiyar warships, the relentless attack cruisers, and a seemingly endless supply of oval-shaped fighters.
The Secretary of Defense urged the President to use the nuclear warheads the United States possessed, but the President refused, believing the warheads would do more harm than good. Other countries did not believe that and used their own warheads against the battleships and cruisers that brought the Ribiyar warriors to the surface. The countries using the warheads quickly discovered a weakness in Ribiyar starships as the warheads impacted with the ships. Somehow, the nuclear energy started a chain reaction in the alien ship’s power core, causing the cores to explode, and bring the ships down in a thundering explosion of fire.
But the victories were short lived. For every Ribiyar ship destroyed, dozens of fighter jets, military ships, and cities were destroyed in return. In one day, much of the world’s main defenses were largely weakened. Now, in the days after the initial assault, the Ribiyar had sent their soldiers to the planet, hunting down the population and imprisoning them in fortress-like holding camps they were creating.
But not all hope was lost. There were still people free, calling themselves the Defenders, and fighting for the freedom of Earth. Somehow, with already limited resources, they must find a way to expel the robotic Ribiyar from Earth.
And, in the chaos of the invasion, a warrior is born. A warrior that just might have a chance to save humankind from enslavement, and destruction.
Chapter 1
Date: July 8, 2132.
Location: Secret base on Hawaii.
The mood was grim when Admiral James Hofkins, a tall, heavyset man with brown hair and a bushy mustache, entered the room. Hofkins noted grimly the weighed-down appearance of the officers manning the base. The newly started war for survival was not going well. Earth’s spy satellites that the Ribiyar had not yet destroyed have shown the beginnings of what they believe will be prison camps for the several thousands of people that have been captured. These buildings, large structures that resemble fortresses, are being constructed by a legion of Ribiyar soldiers, aided by swarms of flying, spherical machines that place and secure the structures into place, and are working at such a pace that in mere days they have progressed to a point that would have taken years to build under human devices and resources. The satellites also show that the military installations around the world, regardless of which nation they belonged to, are being located and destroyed by the Ribiyar’s fighter squads. Only the best hidden and secure facilities are safe, for now.
“Report,” Admiral Hofkins ordered as he walked to the center of the room, where display monitors showing the Ribiyar troop movements hung from the walls, indicated by maps of the world covered in red indicators. The room was rectangular, with one of the long ends holding a window that gave a hidden view of the island outside the base. The other three walls held doors that led to other parts of the base, but this room held all the computers that processed the information that the satellites collected, making this room one of the critical tools that admirals and other commanders used to plan their next steps against their foes.
One of the officers, hearing the admiral’s entrance, walked away from the consoles, and approached Admiral Hofkins.
“The U.S.S. Thunderfox has docked at the port seven miles from this base, Admiral Hofkins,” Lieutenant Oakland, or Olo, as he liked to be known as, a some-what thin officer with black hair and a tan from the island sun, who oversaw the base’s intelligence and logistics, reported. Olo’s nickname originated from his odd, given name, Otlin Levry Oakland, the first name a combination of his father’s parents, and his middle name a combination of his mother’s parents. To lessen the burden of his outlandish name, he preferred to be referred to as Olo, and while it wasn’t perfect, it was better than going with his given name.
“However, the nuclear sub Atlanta has still not reported in since the invasion began, or shown up on any Defender vessel’s radar or sonar, sir. It is possible that the sub was destroyed, but it is also possible that the sub has simply sustained damage to her propulsion and/or her communications system. The Atlanta could be simply stranded somewhere, and unable to contact us.”
Admiral Hofkins considered this information, and then ordered, “Lieutenant, you are to call off the search for the Atlanta, and log the ship as destroyed in the military records.”
“Sir,” Olo protested, “I believe that we should postpone giving up on the Atlanta for just a few more days. I know Captain Jack Vade personally, and he wouldn’t have let his ship be destroyed so easily in the initial assault by the Ribiyar.”
“Lieutenant, we can’t waste our time looking for ships that are not there to be found. Discontinue the search, and note the Atlanta as destroyed at once. Is there any information on the outpost in Delaware? Last I heard, the Ribiyar search parties were getting close to their position.”
“Our data from the spy satellites show a crater where outpost DE-Thirteen was located. It does appear that they found them, sir, and I didn’t see many wreckages from the Ribiyar fighters. It appears they had a near-casualty free strike against our forces, again.”
The admiral sighed as he skimmed through the images of outpost DE-Thirteen on a small tablet Olo had handed him. The tablet showed a clearing in a forest, completely charred and burned from energy cannon fire and bombardment from Ribiyar fighters. Though there were a few Ribiyar wreckages among the battle field, it brought little comfort considering how many brave soldiers, along with the civilians taking refuge at the base, were annihilated in the carnage. “We can’t afford to keep letting the Ribiyar bleed our forces dry with this death-by-a-thousand-cuts stunt. We need to send a ship to the Atlantic Ocean, and, hopefully, put a dent in the Ribiyar forces stationed there. Contact the captain of the battleship Ocean-Walker and have him report to my office at once. And, Lieutenant, be sure you don’t forget to call off the search for the Atlanta and make the changes to her file the first chance you have.” The admiral then left the room and traveled to another part of the base.
“Yes, sir,” Olo said as he saluted the admiral’s departure. After instructing one of the other officers to contact the captain of the Ocean-Walker and report to the admiral, Olo returned to his post to fulfil the task that Admiral Hofkins had given him.
Jack, where are you? Olo silently asked himself as he logged onto the military database. He desperately hoped that Jack was still out there, bringing the fight to the Ribiyar, not just because of his proven experience in military endeavors, but also that he didn’t want a
nything to have befallen his old friend.
After informing the few patrol ships in the sea to consider the Atlanta destroyed, Olo selected the Atlanta’s file and began making the necessary updates to it, noting the time and position last known to be, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, and that all hands where presumed lost with the vessel. After he completed his task, he walked to the radar screens and continued to track the Ribiyar movements across the globe using the satellites in orbit. Though he didn’t want to admit it, the admiral was correct. Everyone had to be focused on the task at hand to win this fight for survival. If they weren’t, no one would be left to protect this planet from the robotic invaders.
Location: Aboard the Ribiyar Warship Ji’Co, in orbit of Earth.
High above Earth, a large Ribiyar Warship hovered over the planet. The warship’s form consisted of two massive domes that comprised the top and the bottom of the ship, and in the middle of the domes was a trench in the hull, where thirty-six large spherical cannons where placed around the circumference of the ship. The ship was encompassed by a massive dual ring, that acted as the ship’s main propulsion drive, powerful enough to traverse the vast reaches of space faster than other engines. The rings were held in place through a complex gravimetric field created by the ship’s power core and supplemented with magnetic paneling placed along the hull. Adding to the ship’s offensive capabilities, there were also a vast amount of energy cannons placed along the engine rings hull, ensuring anyone who went against the beast wouldn’t find any gaps in its arsenal.
The corridors within the ship were triangular, with the ceiling arching sharply down to the floor like an up-side down V. The corridors were coated silver, glamorously reflecting the pure white light that shone from the illumination panels within the V arcs.
Echoing softly were the footsteps of a Ribiyar warrior as he made his way through the corridor. His skin was completely metal, lightweight, and nearly as strong as diamonds, and was coated with the same silvery color of the corridor. The alien possessed two arms, and at the end of the arms were circularly shaped hands, with four fingers evenly distributed along the circle. The alien walked on two legs, with bulky boot-like objects for feet. Among the obvious uses such as walking, the feet were also simultaneously used to store power packs for weapons and other objects. Other small storage crevices were hidden over the body to maximize adaptability to a large range of situations. The alien had the body mass of a sumo wrestler, big and bulky, and possessed the strength comparable to ten humans.
The alien’s head was dome shaped and sat directly next to his shoulders without a neck, though the front and back of the base could be raised and lowered to adjust his view. On his domed head were two rectangular holes, glowing a bright blue, which contained the optical sensors that allowed it to see. Its mouth was a rectangular speaker located beneath the eyes, and it possessed no ears on its head, its audio receptors hidden within the structure.
The alien was Tactical Analysist Cha’Hawk, a warrior with a standard height of eight-foot, nine- inches, with only his name, rank, and the symbol of his clan (a grey half circle standing alongside a blue seven-pointed star) branded onto his chest armor differing him from other Ribiyar. He walked to the Battle Coordination Hall (or “The Scheming Chamber”, as some of the officers had recently began to discreetly call it) as he thought about the information he was going to report during the meeting. Soldiers operating Holding Facility Tri’La, the imprisonment camp nearest full completion and operation, had detected the possible crash site of a Ribiyar troop transport ship in the mass of liquid the natives of this planet have labeled: the Atlantic Ocean. If the data is correct, the ship is most likely the Ra’Ta, which had last reported to be converging on a submerged vessel that carried the weapon that destroyed many of the starships during the start of the invasion. Because the Ra’Ta’s signal was lost, it was possible the alien vessel fired an energy-disrupting weapon on the Ra’Ta as they were being attacked. Or, possibly the more likely scenario, the organic lifeforms, or ‘organics’, as many throughout the ranks referred to them, managed to fire their devastating weapons, known as nuclear warheads, on the Ra’Ta before the vessel could overtake the aliens, though a great amount of debris and radiation should be present if it was the case.
Cha’Hawk approached the entrance to the chamber and raised his arm to the scanner. A cylindrical, snake-like object called a Data Module ejected from the middle of his right arm. Cha’Hawk positioned his arm in front of the scanner and the module went into the scanner, linking him to the Ji’Co’s computer network while the computer verified that he possessed the clearance to enter the chamber. While he waited, he used his connection to search the database to see if there was any data about the Ra’Ta he was not already aware of. Cha’Hawk knew he was in a high position in the military, but he knew from experience that he was not always informed of new information, and he refused to be surprised and humiliated before his superiors during the battle briefing because of his limited knowledge.
Finally, the computer completed its scan, and the computer transmitted the information to his internal Heads-Up-Display, reading: Tactical Analysist Cha’Hawk; JKL LEVEL 7 Clearance: Access Authorized.
Cha’Hawk removed his arm from the scanner and the data module retracted back into his arm. The door split open and he walked into the room. Several captains, squad commanders, military coordinators, and a few battle supervisors had already entered the large, three level, ovular room. The metal surface was colored the same gleaming silver as the corridors, and the illumination panels built into the walls made the room shine brightly, making the room feel ‘enchanting,’ though Cha’Hawk felt that it didn’t possess the aura of seriousness that should match the importance of the matters discussed in this room. On each level near the center of the room, there was a large gap in the floor, the size of the gap increased as the level decreased, so that the leaders stationed around the center of each floor could view each other on the floors, making it easier to have large meetings.
Cha’Hawk walked to his podium on the second floor, a stand with a flat surface facing him with a Data Module port, so he could connect with the joint server that would be used for the meeting. Though Cha’Hawk and the other officials could have simply connected to the mainframe from their stations and conducted this meeting there, a disconnected data network that was placed in this room would be used, insuring that no prying eyes hacked into the gathering and spied on them. Though Cha’Hawk found this unnecessary, as the organics, or any other warriors with false intent, were doubtful to breach into the meeting in its short duration, protocol needed to be followed. And while they could simply connect to the network and transfer their thoughts and conversation through it, thus exponentially increasing the rate they could convey their information at high-processed speeds, their leader had deemed that these meetings would be held orally, reserving the data network for data transfer and Hall holographic controls only, as he preferred to draw moments out for maximum suspense. Which was one of the many reasons Cha’Hawk despised him; for delaying progress because of the needless element of drama and production, though few others would admit their distaste of their exalted leader.
After waiting only a few minutes, the last officers entered the chamber, and the door on the third level opened, echoing around the chamber, immediately silencing anyone talking to each other. High Order Ki’Ra, leader of the invasion of Earth and coordinator of the Try’Lar expansion fleet, entered the room and approached his podium that was located on the third level. Because of his position in the Hall, Ki’Ra would be looking down at the officers he commanded, giving a clear and intimidating image of leadership. Though all Ribiyar were built identically, Ki’Ra equipped himself with thicker and more resilient armor, and a taller appearance as well, to further strengthen his image of authority.
“How goes the invasion of Earth?” Ki’Ra asked, his synthetic, slightly gravelly voice echoing through the room as he approached his podiu
m. When Ki’Ra reached his podium, he inserted his data module into a port that was placed on the podium and activated the holographic displays in the Battle Coordination Hall. Many displays activated along the walls in the Hall, but in the center of the second level, a large holographic image was created, showing a live image of Earth from orbit.
“It goes well, High Order,” one of the generals responded. “The strength of the organic’s resistance decreases as the invasion progresses. Our analysts have studied the progress of our efforts thus far in the invasion, and they have estimated that the planet will be completely conquered within ten Qat.” The general went on to explain the brilliance of the plans he put into action, and the other officers also shared what they had contributed to the campaign as they gave their reports as well, and Cha’Hawk thought it would never end when he finally got a chance to speak.
“High Order,” he began, presenting orbital close-ups of the Atlantic Ocean surface, “troops operating the Holding Facility Tri’La have detected the possible crash site of the Ra’Ta, a troop transport that we lost contact with during the initial attack. I believe that we should investigate this immediately and obtain the ship before the organics do.”
Ki’Ra computed this data and then replied, “I do not think that will be required. If the ship is still intact, one of the soldiers on board would have activated the ships homing beacon.”
“It is possible that there were no survivors, High Order,” Cha’Hawk countered. “We have seen for ourselves that the organic lifeforms possess Electro Magnetic Pulse weapons, devices capable of disrupting us, and all of our equipment. It is possible that the warriors were destroyed by the pulse, but leaving the ship disabled at the bottom of their Atlantic Ocean.”
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