Its metallic mouth opened and articulated with a deep rustic voice. “I am Little John, service android.”
“I have seen you about before, but we have never met. What is your status?”
“I am the keeper of the Neuro Centre.”
“Guarding a door is somewhat different from staying in one piece in a battle field. Who gave you the order to join the mission?”
“Admiral Williams. He said you could use my support in the assault.”
The mention of Ryan’s name gave her reason to change her opinion of this android. “What is your skill level in combat?”
The skill level was a measure of a person’s ability compared to a Warrian. Ten was equivalent to a standard Warrian soldier, most were an eight or nine. “Level twelve.”
Such a high level was reputed as impossible for an android, but then this android appeared far from ordinary. There was one thing that puzzled her about this golden mechanical man. “Where is your weapon?”
“I need no hand held device, I am the weapon.”
Sarah considered his words and decided to trust Ryan’s judgement. “If you are as good you say you are, then you can lead the assault from the west. What is your rank?”
“I have no use of such things.”
“Your rank will be of Captain, and you now answer to me.”
“I only answer to the Admiral. Although he has directed me to follow your orders.”
Not quite knowing what to say to that she left Little John behind and continued her inspection.
As she passed by the troops something caught her eye, the glistening of a drop of sweat on a soldier’s face. She stood in front of him and studied his expression and found overwhelming fear. “What’s your name soldier?” Sarah shouted.
The volume of her words made him jump. “Private Cerrico, Mam.”
“I don’t recognise you, how long have you been with us?” Her tone was quieter this time allowing John to detect an English accent.
“Two days Mam.”
Her stern expression was transformed into surprise. “Two days! Did you even get to finish the Mind Training Program in Ground Combat?” The Mind Training Program was a system that transferred all the relevant knowledge in a subject directly into the brain. A student can receive a year of training and experience in just two hours, thus speeding up a student’s development dramatically. The only thing it couldn’t do was prepare the student, physically and emotionally. This could take months.
“Three hours ago, Mam.” The eyes of the soldier to his right turned slightly towards him in shock.
John Cerrico was a dead man walking and Sarah new it. “When I get back, the recruitment officer responsible is going to wish they were never born. Look at me Private Cerrico.”
This was the first time he had actually seen General Everley. Her face took him by surprise. The sternness of her voice gave him the impression that she would have a hard face with masculine lines, but her features were soft and tender. He was unable to see her short blond hair that was concealed by the helmet, but Sarah’s hazel eyes stirred the man within him. Her skin was like porcelain and her lips urged him to lean forward and kiss them. Momentarily, he forgot the peril he was about face.
Just before she spoke, her face seemed to transform as her eyes lost their warmth and her expression became harsh, almost horrific. “You stay behind me at all times, never leave my side! That’s and order Private!”
John straightened his back and focused his mind on the job. “Mam, yes Mam!”
Sarah rose up and addressed all of her troops. A short range laser-comlink enabled her to communicate with the other CATs. “You will be fighting against the most ruthless, blood thirsty race in the galaxy, and the fire fight today will be like nothing you’ve never imagined in your worst nightmares. So remember your training, and stay alert. But know this, you are the best of the best! All those war movies you saw when you were kids, those heroes were all pussies. You are bader and meaner and more deadly than any Rambo. When you step out that door, you will become ruthless killing machines that will stop at nothing. No Warrian blade will be long enough, no Warrian gun big enough to stop your killing frenzy. I want each and every one of you to count every green scaly bastard you send back to hell, and when you have lost count of the death toll.....I want you to kill more!”
Sarah paused as she made sure she had their complete and undivided attention. “After today, the galaxy will know a new master of the battle field, one so deadly that the even the Warrians will bow in submission. Today you will rewrite history as the greatest army ever to go into battle, and you will conquer, and you will win!”
Sarah shouted at the top of her voice, “Who are you?”
“The best of the best!” The troops unanimously answered.
“What are you?”
“A lean mean killing machine!” Louder.
“What are you here for?!”
“To save Earth!” Louder.
“What do you live for?!”
“To kill Warrians!” Louder again.
“What are you going to do?!”
“Kill em aaaalllllll!” The concert of voices made the floor and the walls of the CATs tremble.
Sarah shouted back. “Damn right you will!” She raised her assault gun in front of her chest and pulled the loading leaver on its side. She shouted, “Lock and Load!”
*********
Ryan and Adam left the CAT’s bridge as the hundred soldiers in the hold loaded their weapons simultaneously. The sound waves bounced back and forth within the CAT generating an echo that replayed several times over. Two pilots took their place at the CAT’s helm as Ryan and Adam paced the rim of the hold towards the rear. At the back of the hold resided two small disk shaped crafts that hovered just above the hold floor. The ships were four metres in diameter and two metres in width with a lump on the top housing the cockpit. They each touched the surface of a ship and the canopy responded by opening up. Ryan and Adam jumped into their respective cockpits as the canopies closed to seal them inside.
The X300 Mighty Mouse was a swift, highly manoeuvrable ship with superb stealth capabilities. It to possessed a chameleon skin making the X300 superb for surveillance and infiltration missions, but it had very a limited weapon system. Going head to head with a Warrian fighter or a strong defence grid would be suicidal. Each could carry up to two occupants, but it was decided that two Mighty Mice would be needed in case one didn’t make it.
Ryan patched a comlink to Sarah, “Red Herring, Mosquito is ready to commence extraction. Give us two minutes then start the assault.”
Sarah replied, “Roger that Mosquito, and good luck. Red Herring out.”
The floor opened up beneath the X300s and the two ships fell to the ground below. A metre above the scrub, the X300s darted forward in the direction of the Tick Station. With the ground speeding below them, Ryan and Adam closed in on the station quickly. The surrounding forest gave way to the large mounds of earth that were expelled during the Tick Station’s excavation into the planet. The ancient giants that had grown and flourished for hundreds of years were either buried or toppled by the recent upheaval. They darted through the fresh valleys between the mounds that appeared more like bare hills, and entered the inner sanctum of the Tick Station. Before them, a great metallic dome rose out of the wounded planet like the body of a tick that just started its parasitic feast. The bright sunlight that cut through the light cloud glistened in the reflection off the Station’s dome.
The amount of lush vegetation indicated that there was animal life on the planet. For the Warrian scanners to find any potential threat, they had to filter out the majority of the false readings. The limit was set to anything larger than a dog, so the presence of a humanoid size body would be instantly detected. Although the CATs had an excellent stealth system, they still had a scanner cross-section of a large canine, and the moment they left the concealment of the forest, they would be detected. Unlike the CATs, the X300 had the detectable c
ross-section of a rodent, which led to its name of Mighty Mouse.
At only one hundred meters from the station, Ryan and Adam brought their ships to a halt and lowered them into a small furrow in the bear earth. The sensor panel before Adam was alive with activity, and so were the various stealth and cloaking systems concealing his ship from the scanners that sought them out. Adam could not use the laserlink communicator at this close range to the Tick Station, except he used sign language to talk to Ryan. Adam signed that he was ready for next stage of the mission, Ryan replied with the time before operation Red Herring commenced - thirty seconds.
**********
Amongst the greenery of the forest, the CATs went into action. Fire burst from beneath the ships momentarily propelling them to above the tree tops as the legs retracted into the hull. The main thrusters took over and launched the CATs at the Tick Station. It took only a few seconds for them to reach the station and land within the ring of mounds that surrounded it. The legs never extended to meet the ground. Instead, the CATs landed on their belly making them a hard target from ground level.
The Tick Station instantly responded to the sudden invasion with a blast from its air defence grid, but the CATs approach was too low and fast for the defence grid to lock onto, and they landed without being targeted. At ground level, the air defence grid was ineffective and another course of action was necessary. Seconds later, several squadrons of Warrian fighters launched from a hatch at the top of the Tick Station. They resembled a swarm of wasps attacking an invading insect force. The jet black Warrian Warbirds had four wings protruding from the sides of the fuselage and a canopy that was formed in the shape of two elongated lumps, adding to the image of an attacking insect force.
The doorway of opportunity for Ryan and Adam had just opened, and they took off in the direction of the hatch that spewed out fighters like wasps from a nest. The X300s hugged the curved surface of the Tick Station passing numerous battlements, and their attention was not on the two small harmless vessels, but on the real threat from the CATs below.
No communication was needed between the two flying prodigies on the way to enter the Station, both took the exact same line of hugging the surface until the last second. Their timing was impeccable as the last Warrian fighter left the safety of the Station, they spiralled into the closing hatch.
Before them was a large cavern lined with thousands of lights. The circular floor sloped towards the centre where a tower reached up towards where Ryan and Adam entered. They flew straight down into the wide spaces of the cavern where the Mighty Mice would be too small to detect visually. Ryan led them in the direction of where Katie had described Doctor Chen’s location. At the swift rate they plunged down into the Tick Station, it was only moments before they were in close proximity of the floor. They swooped down along a high wall until they were close to a suitable access point. X300s magnetically held themselves against the wall as their chameleon skin melded with the wall’s dark grey metallic texture.
They activated the autopilot system that would react to any potential threats and fly the ship to a more secure location. Once relocated, an encoded message would be sent notifying the pilot of its whereabouts. Ryan and Adam opened the canopy of the vessels and deactivated the seat harness. At this angle, it was not humanly impossible to leave the cockpit and reach the ground far below, but the A.A.E.E.V. suits made it possible. They leapt from the perch in the X300s and fell to the floor fifteen metres below. They spun around so that their feet were pointing at the fast approaching floor and activated the propulsion system mounted on the back of their suits. Small jets fired from the two holes on the bottom of the jet module to slow their rapid descent. Ryan and Adam met the floor as if they had fallen from only a few meters. They performed a forward roll in opposite directions and came to a stop crouching down with their laser guns in hand ready for action.
The walkway extended in either direction as far as the eye could see, but this section seemed to be deserted. “Clear.” Adam announced.
“Clear.” Ryan said likewise. Although it would be difficult to hear each other with their helmets on, the comlink between them made communication feasible. “This way.” Ryan informed Adam. He stood and followed Ryan in single file. They kept their guns up at eye level pointing straight ahead to minimise time between aim and fire. The walkway was wide enough for four people to walk side by side, but moving in single file was a standard manoeuvre that increased the changes of one of them surviving if they were ambushed.
By chance, the grey metallic colour of their A.A.E.E.V. suits blended well with the walkway and the surrounding manmade environment. The atmosphere was unusually calm as the clinking of their footsteps were all that disturbed the peaceful ambience. Adam took the liberty of a moments glance about him. To his right, the hand rail bordered the view of the central spire stretching up into the sky, and about it were the countless walkways that circled it each greater in diameter than the one below. To his left was the circular wall that reached to up to the next level. Beyond it, he could see the amphitheatre appearance of the levels extending up to the roof far above where he stood. To Adam, it looked like the world’s biggest stadium.
In the distance a door opened and tens of Warrian soldiers spewed out from the doorway. The gloomy lighting made it difficult to see them with the naked eye, but the artificial enhancement of their helmets made the figures clear.
They immediately crouched down, ready for a fire fight. Their hearts pounded like the hooves of a race horse in full gallop, as all the nerve endings in their bodies were poised to strike with the speed of a cobra. The fray of laser fire never came as the platoon headed in the opposite direction. Eventually, the last of the troops were out and marching along the walkway. Ryan and Adam moved again until they reached a door in the wall on the left. Ryan pressed himself up against the wall on the left of the door, and Adam did likewise on the right. Ryan nodded to Adam as he touched the palm sized panel next to him. They readied themselves in case the door opened, but as expected, all the doors in the Tick Station are automatically sealed when under attack.
“Cut it.” Ryan instructed.
Adam stepped back from the wall and pointed his laser gun at the door. With his left hand that grasped the forward grip he extended his thumb to adjust the weapons beam amplitude, he then pulled the trigger. From the end of the gun shot a continuous beam that he directed around the edges of the doorway. Where the beam struck the door, it became white hot and small sparks spat away from the knife like wound. Three seconds later the door was completely cut away. Adam released the trigger and readjusted the weapon while returning to his position against the wall.
Ryan wasted no time and kicked in the severed section then shot a beam of fire down the corridor. The darkness that prevailed in the gloomy corridor was pushed aside by the powerful energy beam as it darted down the long passage. Anticipating a deadly reply from any surviving occupants, Ryan quickly returned to the safety of the wall. His assault on the corridor was met with silence. Adam nodded at Ryan and the two left the open spaces of the walkway and stormed the corridor.
**********
The inexperience of the young Warrian pilots had little chance of conquering the tight air defence grid of the CATs and in consequence inflicted minimal damage. Doctor Chen’s computer piloted Warbirds were unable to assist with the invasion as they were all programmed for a very different mission. It wasn’t long before the last of the fighters were shot down. Numerous great smoke trails bellowed up into the air from where the ships had impacted with the ground. This signalled the start of phase four.
Sarah strode up to the hatch that led outside. She turned and shouted to the hundreds of soldiers before her, “Let’s kick arse!” The hatch opened revealing the bright daylight outside and the bare upturned soil that the CAT was perched on. Sarah stormed down the ramp and into the sunlight with John hot on her heals. She headed for a small knoll just to the left of the larger hill that the CAT was stationed on. It took t
hem about two desperate minutes to reach the crest of the knoll where they prepared to set-up the command post.
From here Sarah could see the five thousand strong strike force pour out from the CATs and charge the Tick Station. As she barked orders over the comlink, two other soldiers joined John and Sarah and set-up a light artillery gun. John watched the speed at which they erected the three metre long weapon on its tripod stand, and was amazed. In less than a minute the powerful weapon was in position and ready to blast the first target. Just to their right, a great explosion of heat and light pushed out a shock wave that threw John to the ground. As he lay on the bare earth with the vibration of the explosion still reverberating through the soil, he looked up to see Sarah still standing there, unmoved.
Sarah turned her head for a moment to address the corporal at her feet, “Get up!”
John dragged himself to his feet only to be knocked down again from the artillery gun’s return fire. This time he was hauled to his feet then dragged back to his post and thrown to the ground. A firm grip to the back of his head turned it to see the figure that had physically put him there. Sarah’s face was in his with an expression of anger that sent a chill to his bones. “Stay on the ground, and if you see one of those bastards, shoot it. Do you think you can do that?!” Sarah shouted.
John could only nod in reply as he turned to face the fire fight before him. Thousands of coloured beams of red, blue and orange darted in all directions as the troops flowed onto the Tick Station. The Station’s roof housed numerous auto battlements that challenged the strike force’s advancement. John watched in abhorrence as he saw the result of a direct hit from a battlement. The blast hit the soldier that had just breached the lip of the Station’s roof, and struck him fair in the chest casting the trooper way into the air. The A.A.E.E.V. suit the trooper wore disintegrated as the body beneath was vaporised. For a brief moment when the last of the flesh had been burnt away, only his skeleton remained before it turned to dust.
The Great Talisman (Intersect Book 2) Page 11
