Changing subjects the subordinate offered some information. “The equipment you ordered is on its way. We should have everything set up in four hours. But what will we do when the force field is turned off?”
“See those two destroyers over there?” the general pointed at the two Navy vessels that were now on station.
“Of course,” the subordinate responded.
“They are going to shoot above the waterline at the bottom of the starship and keep firing until they breech a hole. Then they’ll move in closer and make another hole. Eventually, the Sumi are either going to come out or die inside.”
“But sir,” the subordinate protested. “There could be as many as a hundred thousand Sumi inside.”
“My job is to destroy that starship and that’s what I’m going to do!” The general said with zeal.
“What if they surrender?”
After a few seconds of thought, General Woods replied. “Get as many men here as possible. Guarding a hundred thousand Sumi will be a challenge.”
***
Four hours later, the marines had cleared about ten percent of the anti-gravity devices. Sumi warriors kept attacking at regular intervals from several hatches around the top of the huge ship, but the marines detaching the devices no longer reacted as their protection detail and the Cobras did their job. They just kept pulling devices from the ship and had reduced the time to shuck the devices to under two minutes.
“We have some movement here,” one of the men on the ship reported. “The hull just dropped about one degree.”
“Send the second team back in,” General Woods ordered. “Let’s get this thing into the water.”
Fifty more men quickly were transported to the ship and went to work with only an hours rest. The Sumi increased their attacks, but it didn’t buy them any more time. Everyone knew that the starship was about to go down.
Suddenly the gigantic starship gave up and the right corner tilted to a forty-five degree angle. It plunged towards the water. The marines were yanked from the hull by the Ospreys and dangled in the air as they watched the corner slide under the water. The starship kept dropping and more of the hull disappeared below the surface. When the ship finally stopped, only about a third of the starship remained above water. It looked like a big triangle.
“Now we are getting somewhere,” General Woods muttered.
Chapter Seventeen
Back in India, the one hour ceasefire period passed and the Sumi resumed their attack, only this time a second starship entered the battle. Thousands of warriors jetted down from the two ships looking for the easy kills that they had experienced on their first attack.
But the hour had given the Indian military time to organize a formidable response. Soldiers had been sent when the first attack started. They were sent from the South and West where India guarded its border with Pakistan with a large force. The soldiers were now in New Delhi.
Jets, helicopters, and even bombers all converged on the starships as soon as they uncloaked. Many Sumi were blown out of the sky from concussion impacts when the bombers dropped thousands of bombs on the two starships, but the four portals discharges warriors at a much higher rate than those killed. They swooped into the city.
***
The Patel clan was right in the middle of the fighting.
Eric drove an Indian military truck along the deserted highway heading to the Air Force Base where the Patel clan had landed their jet. The truck was a standard issue troop transport. The rear cargo bed was cover in canvas that was held up by metal ribs. Tom and Dick road on the running boards with their machine guns ready for action. Harry and Eric were in the cab. The three Patel sisters were in the back along with Mandy and Loni. They also held their machine guns at the ready. No one said a word as they sped down the lonely highway.
The Patel’s had already checked on their house in New Delhi and had then proceeded to the museum. Both were still intact and undamaged. At the museum, they had collected the two ten foot marble statues that the King of Maltos requested. They now filled the cargo area of the vehicle.
Maya had used two anti-gravity devices to move the heavy statues from the museum to the truck. Pramilla was unsure if the cargo area on the jet could hold them, but kept that to herself. She didn’t want to worry anyone.
“Uh-Oh,” Eric suddenly yelled through the little window in the back of the cab. “We’ve got about fifty Sumi warriors following the highway and headed straight to the truck. They have already seen us. Everyone get ready to fight.” Nine lethal machine guns were immediately cocked and the team took up their assigned shooting positions.
Eric knew that they had plenty of firepower, but each shooter would have to kill at least five Sumi before they hit the truck. The odds were not in their favor. He was pretty sure that some would get through.
“I knew something like this would happen,” Previne screamed out and pointed. “And it’s all because of some stupid old statues. I don’t want to die protecting our enemy’s sacred relics.”
Loni smiled. She believed that Previne was pissed because she had to give them up.
“Wait, that gives me an idea,” Maya uttered. She immediately dug into her satchel and eventually pulled out a Speak device and draped it around her neck. She could now talk in the language of the Sumi.
“I don’t think you can reason with these assholes,” Loni pointed out as she watched the tall blue men wave their weapons aggressively like some kind of religious fanatics.
“Don’t be so sure,” Maya fired back. “I have a plan. Pramilla, help me stand up these statues.”
“What do you have in mind, my devious little sister,” Previne asked.
“We’re going to negotiate,” Maya replied.
The first wave of ten Sumi warriors dove at the truck. The four men in the front fired their machine guns and managed to knock down four of them. The remaining Sumi doubled back and charged again. Eric fired his gun at one with only his left hand as he was still driving. As a Sumi came close, Eric ran out of bullets.
The huge warrior slammed his sled into the driver’s side door of the military truck, throwing Tom, who was on the running board, off balance. The Sumi raised his laser weapon to chop down and cut Eric in half. Fear was in Eric’s eyes. A shot rang out from the small back window of the cab. Previne had been watching the gun battle through the opening and put a bullet right in the middle of the Sumi’s huge forehead. He fell from the truck.
“Thanks,” Eric said with relief.
“Why do these warriors attack in small groups? Don’t they realize that a mass attack would overwhelm us,” Previne asked the ex-Navy SEAL.
“I think they were trained to work in small groups,” Eric replied. “They don’t seem to understand a mass attack.”
“Good for us,” she commented and disappeared back into the truck bed.
Seven more Sumi came in from the back. Loni and Mandy, who were good shots, took care of them. Previne arrived in time to kill one.
About thirty warriors now circled overhead, trying to decide on a plan of attack. They now knew that an assault with a small force was suicide.
Eric kept the gas pedal to the floor. They were only a few miles from the Air Force base.
Suddenly, all thirty Sumi aimed their sleds at the back of the truck and attacked. They had noticed that there were only three shooters there and were sure that they could overrun the small women they saw in the back.
Loni, who had hunkered down behind the rear tailgate, shouted out. “If you are going to do something to help Maya, you’d better do it right now. We only have about twenty seconds before they hit us.”
Maya and Pramilla were already undoing the Velcro straps that held the canvas top in place. They pulled back on the canvas and revealed the two statues. They were clearly visible to the hard charging Sumi. Then Maya yelled at the warriors who were closing fast.
“Do you not recognize the sacred statues of your last King and his wife,” she said loudly. “We
are bringing them to your current King, Anax Yuk. Do not interfere.”
The Sumi were in complete shock when they heard their own language. They reared back and slowed their advance, but matched the trucks pace. They all knew about the sacred statues, but were confused because the tiny non-blue woman knew the King’s name. She spoke with a tone of authority. No Sumi woman had ever talked to them like that.
“Where are you taking them?” A Sumi yelled back.
“They are a peace offering for your King. Do not attempt to stop us,” Maya warned.
The Sumi moved their sleds close enough for them to talk among themselves. After a few seconds one of the Sumi spoke. “We do not trust you. We will accompany you to make sure you deliver our most sacred statues to our King.”
“You may follow at a distance where we can’t shoot at you then,” the quick thinking Maya responded. The Sumi dropped back a hundred feet and lined up in formation. The five women kept their machine guns trained on the warriors.
Up in the cabin, Eric was on the radio. “We’re about a mile away and we’re coming in hot,” he informed the base commander. “There are thirty Sumi warriors following us.”
“Roger that,” the base commander replied in perfect English. “We’ll be ready for them.”
Chapter Eighteen
The second attack on New Delhi was not going as well as planned and was not nearly as successful as the first attack. The two starships were able to disgorge many more Sumi, but they faced stiffer resistance. When the warriors reached the ground, the streets were bare of victims. The only non-blues that they could find were military men and civilians with guns. More Sumi died in the first ten minutes of the fight then had succumbed in the entire first battle.
The lasers on top of both ships fired every minute and produced long stretches of pure destruction. But the starships had been ordered to stay in one position and that was in the far suburbs of New Delhi. They were running out of targets.
The captain of the first starship was getting nervous. The bombings were killing too many of his men and upsetting the others. He sent a voice transmission to the second ship. He knew that it wasn’t against orders from high command to communicate when on the ground.
“We need to move our ships into the city,” he said. “The non-blues won’t bomb us there.”
“I agree,” the second captain replied. “But you’ll have to get permission from Erox.”
“I’ll send him a transmission,” the first captain promised.
But the message didn’t go to the sleeping Erox. It was rerouted to Turkey.
A few minutes later the captain received a reply.
“Did you get a copy of this communication?” he asked the other captain in bewilderment.
“What is he thinking?” the second captain replied.
“Pulling back our warriors is a bad military move right now. Why would he order us to cloak and hide until eight o’clock at night earth time,” the furious captain said.
“But, it is what we must do,” the other captain reminded him. “Only the King or Erox can issue these type orders.”
“And we will be charged with treason and put to death if we don’t comply,” the first captain said in frustration.
“Hail to the King,” was the reply.
Chapter Nineteen
While General Woods waited for the equipment he ordered to be set up, he studied the three-quarters submerged starship through his binoculars. He wondered how the government would ever extract the huge piece of metal out of the Mississippi River. Right now it completely blocked the vital waterway and would shortly bring commerce to a standstill in mid-America. It would affect the whole world.
General Woods was known as an impatient man. He decided to do something about the issue and called over one of his commanders.
Without preamble he placed an order. “I want both destroyers to open up with their five inch guns. Let’s see if the water has had any effect of the force field.”
“Yes, sir,” the subordinate replied with a smile. “It will be my pleasure to issue the order.
“Good, then have them shoot one shot each in five minutes time. I want to see if we can breech the hull,” the general explained.
***
The crowd on the shoreline grew quickly as people heard about the spaceship and wanted to see what would happen. General Woods took up a position where he would have a clear sight of the bottom of the spaceship.
A one minute warning was sounded from the two ships. The two destroyers then fired one round each at the massive structure. The shells pounded against the hull and exploded. When the smoke from the explosions cleared, General Woods showed his disappointment. The hull remained intact. He turned to leave, but was stopped by one of his commanders.
“Look,” the man cried out and pointed. “The shell put a dent in the hull.”
“A dent you say,” the general exclaimed in a loud voice and quickly focused his binoculars on one of the spots. He definitely could see a dent.
“You know,” the commander said. “The five inch guns on the destroyers have amazing accuracy. Do you want them to take another shot at the exact same spot?”
“Hell yes,” was the general’s reply.
***
While the general waited impatiently for the big guns to shoot again, he received an urgent call on his satellite phone. It was General Whitehead from the Pentagon.
“Stand down,” General Whitehead ordered.
“Why?” the disbelieving General Woods responded. He couldn’t believe his ears.
“Because I said so,” the general at the Pentagon responded. “We do not want you to destroy that ship.”
“But, sir, you sent me here to destroy it and I think I have found a way to do that. Let me do my job,” he pleaded.
“Your mission objective has been changed,” his boss responded hotly.
“What is my new mission then?”
“You are now officially ordered to assist the Sumi in rescuing their ship.”
“But, we are at war with them, in case you haven’t noticed,” General Woods said sarcastically. He despised the fact that the brass at the Pentagon made rash decisions and often got his men killed as a result.
“General Woods, let me explain this to you properly,” General Whitehead responded in an agitated voice. “Either you follow my orders, or you will be relieved of command immediately. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir,” the career minded soldier replied.
“Good,” his leader uttered. “Now stand down immediately,” he shouted.
General Woods turned to a subordinate and ordered the destroyers to cease firing. His men looked at him in confusion. He indicated that he was on the phone with the Pentagon. They all shook their heads knowingly. They knew that their orders were being changed.
“Now let me explain the circumstances to you clearly,” General Whitehead said more calmly. “There are still over one hundred and fifty thousand Sumi on the starship. They have been ordered to surrender by their leader — or at least they think that. They have no choice but to comply.”
“How could you possibly know that?” the general asked.
“Because we asked them how many Sumi were on the ship when we told them to surrender.”
“What?”
“I have a team that is working on a solution to this invasion. I already told you that. They can intercept all communications between the starships on the ground and block any transmissions from being sent to the lead mother ship behind the moon. We have complete communications control between the ground forces and the Sumi leadership.”
“Ah, the man with no name,” General Woods uttered as he quickly understood.
“That is correct,” General Whitehead responded. “The captain of the starship in Saint Louis sent a transmission and asked to withdraw because his ship was damaged and his warriors were being annihilated.”
“And you intercepted it, right?”
“Yes,” Genera
l Whitehead replied. “We told him that his only option was to surrender.
“How will I know when he surrenders?”
“We told the captain to stand on the deck of the ship alone with no armor or weapons. He is to raise his arms in the air and we would accept his surrender then try to help save his ship.”
“But sir, why would we help him? How can we trust him?”
“The Sumi are a highly regimented race. They will always follow the orders of their leader and he wants to save his people,” the Pentagon bureaucrat said. “Doesn’t that sound a little bit like what you would do?”
“But we are not able to control so many prisoners, especially huge warriors,” General Woods protested.
“Think out of the box, general,” his boss ordered. “Why don’t you leave them on the starship and post guards around the outside? That way they can’t get out and can work on their ship to make it space ready,” General Whitehead offered.
“We’re going to let them go?” General Woods said in disbelief.
“General, there are over one hundred and fifty thousand of them. We don’t want them here and they don’t want to be here. The best solution for both of us is to help them go back home,” the voice from the Pentagon responded.
“But they could just turnaround and invade again,” General Woods pointed out.
“We are taking steps to make sure that they will never invade again or even come here. You are authorized to show the captain that we can destroy Vril. You can even demonstrate if you want. He knows that Vril powers all their weapons and the starship. I’m sure that will convince him.”
“What steps?”
“That’s above your paygrade,” General Whitehead said. “But I can tell you that we will know more in four hours. I expect that you will have the starship out of the water and flying by then. Do we have an understanding?”
Always, sir,” General Woods replied as his superior terminated the call.
The Society of Orion: Book Eight The Sumi Collision (Colton Banyon Mysteries 22) Page 6
