Battle for the Earth

by John P. Gledhill

  With lightning reflexes the Dropas assault vessel had spun on its axis, coming out of hyper-space, and with the accuracy of a hawk snatching a field mouse, unleashed a deadly volley from its pulse weapon. The Annunaki pilot didn’t stand a chance as his craft disintegrated into particles in space.

  Jumouk smiled warmly. This incident had answered two pressing questions for him. How would the new assault ships fair against the Annunaki craft, and were our pilots battle ready? Both questions had now been answered and the prognosis was excellent.

  **

  By February 2020 all the land-based fortifications were in place and had been fully tested by the Dropas flight commanders with their assault ships, running a minimum of three raids a day over the fortifications.

  The emphasis was now on seaward defence. Fortunately, all around the world the Dropas over the centuries had constructed multiple underwater bases. The particular benefit of these bases are total secrecy and freedom of movement underwater, allowing Dropas USOs to shadow ships and submarines in certain knowledge of not being identified.

  These bases could now be used for troop dispersion and repair stations for damaged Dropas craft. By May 2020 all the required bases had been converted to suit their new purpose: in all seventy-five bases worldwide of all shapes and sizes.

  **

  On board the Katchinas, Jumouk and Konoco were deep in discussion. Konoco was concerned about the ESG and their readiness for the battle ahead.

  ‘Would it be prudent to increase the training schedules especially for the pilots?’

  Jumouk shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. We are already working them harder than we should, and besides the progress till now has been more than we could have hoped for.’

  There was a soft knock at the door.

  ‘Enter.’

  Jumouk’s day had been long and hard, it showed in his weary voice. The door slid open and Lee entered cautiously. He knew they had been discussing the ESG. Jumouk invited him to sit down.

  The conference room was luxurious to say the least, all fitted out in the best of taste, with pile carpets, leather chairs and subdued lighting. Konoco acknowledged Lee, then stood up, made his excuses and left. Jumouk relaxed back in his chair and smiled.

  ‘Everything’s fine, Lee. The training by all accounts is going well.’

  Lee smiled.

  ‘I think we’re going to be ready for them, and it’s all thanks to the Dropas, with a little hard work on our part as well.’

  There was a glint of pride in Lee’s eyes, and a stammer in his voice.

  **

  Next morning Lee was up early, knowing he was going to have a long day. Blue Star Base had been working at full capacity for sixteen months now. It was time to show some appreciation for the hard work done by all to reach this stage.

  The shuttle to the dark side was virtually full. Lee settled down for the twenty-minute flight. The views from the shuttle were spectacular, especially on approach to the Blue Star Base. Although on the dark side of the moon, visibility wasn’t bad and the views of the open lunar landscapes were spectacular.

  The shuttle glided into the landing hangar and landed gently. As Lee disembarked, he experienced a real sense of why Blue Star Base was so productive: there was activity everywhere.

  He took a minute to scan his surroundings. In the whole of the hangar area not one person was standing still and everybody was carrying out some kind of activity. Lee felt a touch on his shoulder. He turned to find it was Terry Summers, Terry was the number two for the ESG on the lunar base, answerable only to Marie Baker, the ESG commander there.

  ‘Why not come with me, Lee. I know a great place that does a mean green tea.’

  Lee smiled, Terry and Lee had become good friends over the last twelve months. Terry had spent a lot of time on board the Katchinas working with Lee in preparation for the Annunaki assault on Earth.

  Musing over a cup of green tea, which happened to be Lee’s favourite refreshment, Terry asked, ‘Do you think we are ready yet, Lee?’

  Lee pondered the question

  ‘To be honest Terry, that’s part of the reason why I travelled up here today.’

  Terry looked bemused.

  ‘I don’t understand, Lee; all our quotas and schedules have been met on time.’

  Lee continued.

  ‘No, Terry that’s not it. The work that’s been done here is fantastic. No, it’s Earth. All the construction’s finished now, but for a while I’ve felt there’s something missing.’

  Terry look quizzically at him.

  ‘Missing?’

  Lee took another sip of his green tea, and, taking a deep breath, continued.

  ‘What I mean is, I have five commanders on Earth. When the going gets tough I don’t want to, and won’t have time, to repeat myself five times. What I need is an overall commander on Earth and I think you’re the man for the job.’

  There was a pregnant pause. Terry looked uncomfortable.

  ‘What about Marie?’

  Lee played with his tea cup.

  ‘Marie is the perfect commander for Blue Star Base. She’s great at running this base, but the real action is going to be with the Blue Star Fleet and on Earth. I need you to be my right-hand man and defend Earth while I blast the suckers out of the skies.’

  Terry shook Lee’s hand and replied, ‘OK, sir, done deal. Let’s go see Marie.’

  **

  In Marie’s office the three of them were joined by Ravel, the senior Dropas representative on Blue Star Base. Marie had already congratulated Terry and wished him luck on Earth; Lee greeted Ravel and brought him up to speed on events.

  Marie stood up, patted Terry on the back and said, ‘Haven’t you got a bag to pack, Terry?’

  Terry stood up, made his excuses, and left the room.

  **

  Marie was an emotionally strong woman, in her early forties, firm but fair and more than capable of making tough decisions. If she did have a weakness in her character, it was a soft spot for Lee, whom she respected and admired enormously.

  Lee had recommended Marie in the first instance to the Earth Security Council as commander of Blue Star Base along with Ravel, a recommendation that had been warmly welcomed. Lee was confident that the lunar bases’ defences were ready for the coming onslaught and Marie and Ravel could handle anything the Annunaki could throw at them. Marie had already asked Lee if he would like to inspect the base, but Lee declined citing time limitations. After all, the two main purposes for the visit had been to congratulate Marie and Ravel along with their whole team on a job well done, and to persuade Terry to take over command of Earth’s defences. Both goals had been successfully achieved and, besides, Lee could never get used to the Androids - they unnerved him, quite a lot as it happened. The thought of relying on emotionless chunks of alloy, no matter how technologically advanced, just didn’t seem right.

  **

  Terry was already at the landing pad waiting for Lee. He had a small attaché case and a holdall in tow. Lee made his way through the clamour of people, Dropas, human and Android, the latter being avoided as much as possible.

  The shuttle from Katchinas was just arriving at the landing pad, Lee waved to Terry and shouted for him to get on. A minute later Lee climbed through the entry hatch on the little ten-man shuttle and took his seat beside Terry. Lee relaxed back in his seat only to notice that Terry had a very weird expression on his face. Lee enquired, ‘Terry, are you OK?’

  Terry turned and looked at Lee. Without speaking a word he nodded in the direction of the flight deck and smiled. Lee followed his gaze and realised his worst nightmare: there was an Android piloting the shuttle. Lee closed his eyes and accepted his fate.

  **

  Konoco was on the bridge of the Katchinas when Lee and Terry arrived back. Konoco greeted Terry warmly, and asked Lee if they had had a good flight. Lee looked to Terry and grinned, and acknowledging Konoco, he said, ‘Yes, Kono
co, it was fine thanks, but I did learn a lesson today though. Androids do make good pilots.’

  Lee was still thinking about the Androids, wondering whether perhaps he might have underestimated them. OK, they did have limited uses like manning the pods on Earth, or for ongoing repairs on the fleet, which they were particularly suited to as they did not need air and could work underwater and in a vacuum. Lee would definitely need to reconsider their part in the scheme of things.

  **

  9

  Lee had called a special meeting of the Dropas and ESG leadership to discuss the formation of a Tactical Android group. This would involve converting one hundred assault craft to customise them for Android use. It would also involve the reprogramming of two hundred and fifty Androids, the special benefit of which was the unique speed and reflexes of the Androids, along with unprecedented targeting skills.

  The idea was unanimously accepted and put into motion. This group would be called the Tactical Android Group or TAG for short, and based at Sub Sea One. Lee was confident in the way things were progressing. The Annunaki were going to be in for one hell of a shock come 21/12/2020.

  Back on Earth the defence systems were all but complete, all the craft that comprised the fleet having been brought up to the latest specification by the Android maintenance corps. The last thing to be done would be the camouflage, to consolidate the illusion of a run-down world.

  **

  The moon base, Blue Star, was ready, and operations had all been closed down in favour of finishing preparations for defence. Around the base fifteen pods had been installed covering all approaches.

  To reinforce this there were two rings of bunkers, one ring in front of the pods and one behind, a total of one hundred in all. The bunkers comprised fifty ESG troopers, unlike on Earth, where it was a mix of ESG and Androids who manned the bunkers. The reason for the slight difference was a fighter group made up completely of Androids, TAG - one hundred assault craft in all and specially designed for the Androids’ special skills.

  This brought the total fleet to four battle cruisers, three hundred assault vessels, eighty support craft, and four huge transport ships, each capable of carrying huge amounts of materials, or up to two hundred and fifty thousand people, fifty-five shuttle craft of varying sizes and a total of two million ground troops with support from ten thousand Android troopers.

  **

  It was now the end of November 2020. The training of the fighter groups was a spectacular sight, on Earth, in space, and over the desolate lunar landscape. Assault ships were sparring with each other, Dropas against ESG, Dropas against Dropas and ESG against ESG. The sight of the assault ships in action was truly awe-inspiring.

  All the camouflage was in place now and the planet surface looked a sorry sight, almost as if the hand of God Himself had come down and laid waste to the planet. Konoco was surveying the planet along with Terry. They were in a two-man assault vessel, silver-grey in colour in the shape of a V or triangle fifty foot long with a span of around a hundred feet.

  They were travelling over the bay of San Francisco when Konoco unexpectedly dived, taking the craft deep beneath the waves. This was a relatively new experience for Terry and initially not a pleasant one. Terry had been a wing commander in the USAF, and was still not used to zero G force in the Dropas craft, never mind going underwater with them.

  The craft itself handled as well underwater as it did in the air or even space. Konoco did quite a few manoeuvres underwater, most of which Terry felt were completely unnecessary, and were aimed at unsettling him.

  Konoco merely smiled as he watched Terry’s face. The craft settled into the landing bay in an underwater base.

  **

  As Terry and Konoco left the assault craft two Androids from the ACM, Android Core of Maintenance, were already inspecting the craft. Terry was very impressed, Konoco remarked.

  ‘I bet you’re wondering where we are?’

  Terry nodded. Konoco continued:

  ‘Welcome to Sub Sea One. This base controls all the Sub Sea stations, seventy-five in all. This is where we moved to after leaving Challenger Deep. It’s our biggest underwater base, it’s also the ACM and TAG main base.’

  As they walked along the corridor, Terry couldn’t help thinking to himself about all the reported UFO sighting over the years - if only we had known then, what we know now!

  His thoughts were rudely interrupted as Konoco stopped suddenly. A message had just come in on his Visi Link, a watch-like communication device, which was beamed directly from a Dropas shuttle, hidden deep inside a small space rubble field orbiting Nibiru. The sight that Konoco could see was blood-curdling. It showed a huge and menacing fleet forming in the upper orbital path of Nibiru.

  Konoco showed the images to Terry and passed him his Visi Link. They both stood transfixed for a moment. Then Terry swore.

  ‘Shit! I didn’t expect this, not so soon, or as big. How many ships do you think, Konoco? And what are those big bastards?’

  Terry looked round, Konoco had already started to retrace his steps to the assault vessel.

  **

  Back on board the Katchinas, Jumouk and Lee were studying detailed images of the Annunaki fleet that was forming. As Konoco and Terry joined them on the bridge, Jumouk commented:

  ‘Well, it will probably take a while for them to get organised and then get underway.’

  ‘When do you think they will get here?’ Lee asked.

  ‘Probably around the 25th or maybe up to 29th December. If it was me, I would give it about a week for the dust to settle.’

  ‘That would make it around December 28th,’ Terry added cautiously.

  Everyone looked at Terry and nodded in agreement.

  It could not be stressed enough that the first strike against the Annunaki must be devastating and a complete surprise - or shock and awe, if you like.

  **

  10

  December 2, 2020. The little Dropas vessel only twenty foot wide and thirty foot long watched silently from within the debris field orbiting Nibiru, as warship after warship joined the Annunaki fleet, all shapes and sizes, so that it seemed to go on for ever. The most worrying craft were the massive battle cruisers, 3,000 feet long and 2,000 feet wide, almost triangular in shape. Even in the vastness of space they were big, and there were seven of them there now, each with a complement of fifty assault craft.

  **

  Tukie, the pilot of the shuttle, had been so taken with the sight in front of him, that he had not noticed the proximity alarm on the console to the side of him flashing. This was designed to flash when an object was within 3,000 feet of the shuttle and, unless disabled manually for that specific object, to sound a voice warning at 1,000 feet.

  All of a sudden a voice warning barked out of the console. Tukie spun round just in time to see three massive Annunaki battle cruisers bearing down on him through the debris field. The little ten-man shuttle spun frantically as boulders thumped across the hull, akin to the balls on a pool table after a wild break.

  The Annunaki battle cruisers simply ploughed through the debris field on course to join the rest of the fleet, not even noticing the tiny shuttle in their path. To them the silent shuttle would have looked just like one of the larger boulders in their way. Tukie picked himself up and made a visual check for damage. Things were a mess but it seemed there was no hull breach. As Tukie looked around, the main problem became apparent. He had been thrown clear of the debris field and was starting to drift into open space. He was acutely aware that if he powered up any main systems he would light up the Annunaki proximity detectors like a Christmas tree.

  Back on Earth Konoco was worried. The transmissions from Tukie had stopped twenty-four hours ago, which could only mean one of two things: either Tukie’s cover had been blown, and a valued friend had been lost to the Annunaki war machine, or there had been some kind of mechanical failure. Konoco was at a loss. The final information regarding fleet size, a
nd departure, could have been invaluable.

  **

  Everything was now ready for the arrival of the coming Annunaki fleet. All the preparations that could have been done, were done. In the next few weeks the population of mankind would become subterranean, and our blue planet would shine a little bit less brightly.

  **

  December 20, 2020. Jumouk and Lee were on the Katchinas, Konoco and Terry were in Earth Base Central located on the outskirts of Washington, and Marie and Ravel were in the Blue Star Base on the dark side of the moon.