“General Mitchell believes in the next week or so. He’s also informed Battle Commander Balforr that if he uses any nukes we will launch all of our remaining weapons, making this world uninhabitable.”
Katelyn’s eyes widened. “He wouldn’t really, would he?” Millions of human survivors were still scattered across the globe. Such an act would doom all of them to a horrible death.
Major Lorre shook her head. “No, but Balforr doesn’t know that.”
“A bluff,” said Katelyn, her eyes widening. “Will it work?”
“Probably. We know from what the Jelnoids told us the Trellixians are looking for living space to support an exploding population. They won’t want to risk our planet becoming useless to them.”
“Can General Mitchell hold his base?” Unfortunately there wasn’t another one like it in the United States. There was a smaller alternate command base but it would have to be activated.
Major Lorre shook her head. “No, not if the Trellixians make a concentrated effort. He’s already ordered the evacuation of all nonessential personal as well as some of the military units.”
Katelyn’s eyes narrowed. “We can’t afford to lose the command personnel in that base, including General Mitchell. I’ll send him a message that if the base is about to fall he and his senior staff are to evacuate immediately. We need him to fight this war.” Katelyn couldn’t imagine fighting the Trellixians without the general. He just had to survive!
-
Professor Wilkens was in his lab along with a number of other scientists and research assistants. They were running simulations of what would happen if they adapted the technology found in the Trellixian energy rifle to their small fusion reactors.
“If we link these up in a parallel series and split the energy load going to the power relays they may just hold long enough,” reported Amber Stone who was running simulations on her computer. “According to this sim if we set up two parallel series of power couplings feeding the relays, the energy shield should hold for several hours at full power.”
“That’s progress,” said Professor Andre Leon, a nuclear physicist from France. “If we make the couplings even larger it should extend the time before we see the shield fail.”
“At the maximum size we can keep the shield up for a little over eight hours,” Amber reported as she ran the figures through her computer. “If we make them any larger we will begin losing power, weakening the energy shield.”
“If we had the time and could duplicate the alloys the Trellixians use in their energy rifles, I believe we could keep the shield up indefinitely,” added Professor Kamen Weir. “They have amazing properties and would revolutionize our power systems.”
Professor Wilkens let out a deep sigh. If they had this information about the energy rifles weeks ago they might have perfected a shield with the staying power General Mitchell needed. As it was, eight hours of protection was all they could offer. At the end of those eight hours they would have to trade out the power couplings which would take fifteen to twenty minutes because the housing to the reactors would have to be opened. In those precious minutes the base would be vulnerable to attack. The Trellixians were bound to detect the disappearance of the energy shield.
“Let’s test this on our reactors to make sure it works,” said Wilkens. “If it does we need to get this information to Colonel Fields as soon as possible.”
“We’ll begin making the modifications immediately,” Professor Leon replied.
“We also must work on duplicating the alloys the Trellixians use,” suggested Professor Weir. “If we’re successful it will open up a whole range of possible weapons we can use against them. We need a sample of those alloys.”
Professor Wilkens nodded. It would be risky but he knew just how to go about getting such a sample. He needed to send a message to Lisa. Wilkens gazed once more at the image of the energy rifle Lisa had sent. He had no desire to know the danger she had put herself in to get that image. One thing he did know: she was the most brilliant research assistant he ever had and he wanted her back. He would ask for one more mission from her and then she would join him. During that mission she would recover a sample of the alloys Professor Weir needed.
-
Major Dolan was confused. The Trellixians hadn’t pushed their attack but instead withdrew. From the reports received from scouts sent deep into the forest, past where the first skirmish line had once existed, the aliens had withdrawn completely from the mountains.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” said Captain Garcia as he gazed into the forest. “They had us. If they would have pursued I don’t know if any of us would have made it to the second skirmish line.”
Mark feared Garcia was correct. Mark had seen the injured and he knew some of them would not pull through. They had been taken to the hidden base to be treated in its medical facility.
Captain Grumman joined them with his rifle slung over his shoulder. “Major, you’re wanted back at the base. It seems as if Colonel Branson has a new mission for you.”
“Maybe it has something to do with the Trellixians pulling back,” suggested Captain Garcia. “There has to be a reason.”
“Get me one of the ATVs,” ordered Mark. He wanted to get to the base as quickly as possible. Branson wouldn’t be contacting him unless it was important. “You two do everything possible to strengthen our defensive line. We can’t allow the Trellixians to get past it. Thousands of civilians are counting on us to protect them.”
“We’ll set up more M240L machine guns as well as additional mortars,” replied Grumman.
“The claymores were very effective as well,” said Captain Garcia. “We’ll set up a number of them with trip wires on all the game trails between here and the first skirmish line. We won’t activate them until the Trellixians return. That way animals won’t be setting them off.”
“Get it done,” ordered Mark. “It might also be a good idea to build some shallow underground bunkers. While they won’t protect us from those damn warp missiles they will help to protect us from splinter grenades.”
“The grenades are more dangerous,” Garcia said. “They must have dropped several thousand on us.”
Grumman looked to the north and south where the defensive line nearly reached the mountains. They had eight miles to defend. “We’ll start working on the bunkers right away.”
Moments later Mark was on his way back to the base. He had left orders for Captains Garcia and Grumman to integrate the survivors from Garcia’s skirmish line into the second line. That line had to hold!
-
Lisa was asleep when there was a knock on her door. Getting up, she opened it a crack to see who it was. A private stood outside.
“Captain, Major Dolan would like to see you in Briefing Room Two.”
“Tell him I’ll be there shortly.” Lisa turned, stifling a yawn. She had only been asleep for a few hours. When she had arrived at her quarters the first thing she did was take a long hot shower. The hot water felt fantastic and for the first time in weeks she felt clean. She hurriedly got dressed, making sure her uniform was free of wrinkles. Fortunately she was in her assigned quarters in the base and she had several spare uniforms available. She took one quick glance in the mirror and then went out the door, heading down the hallway. She wondered what the major could want. Perhaps it had something to do with the information she had sent out on the communications system.
Reaching the briefing room she went inside to find Major Dolan and Privates Peterson and Hambridge. Lisa had the sudden feeling she was going somewhere.
“Captain Reynolds,” said Major Dolan, indicating for her to sit down. “Colonel Branson contacted me earlier and it seems we have a new mission. The Trellixians have located our main command base.”
“Command base?” asked Lisa. She had no idea what the major was talking about.
“Yes, long before the Trellixians arrived our military built a massive base deep underground here in the mountains to coordinate the
resistance against the Trellixians. General Mitchell and others high up in the military are there now. I also believe several small science facilities are hidden away there as well.”
“What does that have to do with me?” asked Lisa. She had already suspected the science facilities must exist just because of Professor Wilkens.
Major Dolan took a deep breath. “We now know why the Trellixians pulled back from their attack in our area. They have discovered General Mitchell’s base and are in the process of gathering their forces to attack it.”
Lisa felt the blood drain from her face. If what Major Dolan said was true this was a disaster. “What happens now?”
“We’ve been ordered to proceed to the area of General Mitchell’s base and observe the battle with your special instruments. Then we’re to deliver the data you gather to an undisclosed location. We’re also being asked to deliver a Trellixian energy rifle as well.”
“Getting that rifle might be dangerous,” Lisa said. “I’m convinced if anyone other than a Trellixian handles it the rifle will explode.”
“Evidently whoever wants the rifle has the same opinion as you with regard to handling it so they’re sending us a container for the rifle as well as some special handling gloves.”
“They expect us to lose the battle, don’t they?” said Lisa as a cold chill ran through her.
Major Dolan nodded. “Yes, we’re not ready to resist such an attack. There is some hope a new weapons system might be ready in time but it’ll be a rush job and there’s no guarantee it will protect the base.”
“How are we getting there?”
“A helicopter will pick us up late tonight and set us down near a small stream close to the base. After that we’re on our own. I’m currently in the process of gathering the team who will accompany us.”
“How dangerous will this be?” asked Private Peterson. “Won’t the Trellixians detect the helicopter?”
Major Dolan leaned back in his chair as he studied the private. “If this battle goes down like we’re expecting, we could be talking about tens of thousands of Trellixian troops as well as hundreds of their hover tanks. There will doubtlessly be Trellixian shuttles and attack craft involved as well. As of this moment we have no weapons that can shoot down either. As for the helicopter, it’s a risk we have to take to get to the area around the base in time.”
“I don’t understand why we’re gathering this information if there’s a danger we might lose the base,” said Private Hambridge, sounding confused. “What good will it do if our main military asset is lost?”
Lisa was curious about this as well. She knew there were some smaller military bases such as this one and thousands of civilians and soldiers hidden throughout the mountains, but what good would it do if the main military command was gone?
“I can’t answer that,” Dolan replied. Mark didn’t understand why this mission was being conducted. He just knew he had been ordered to undertake it by Colonel Branson and that was good enough for him. “Captain Reynolds, make sure your equipment is ready. Everyone needs to get some sleep and something to eat before we depart. The helicopter will be coming for us at 20:00 hours tonight. We’ll leave at 18:00 hours as we have to travel a ways to its landing site since we don’t want to risk compromising the location of this base.”
-
After Captain Reynolds and the two privates left Mark took a deep breath. From what Colonel Branson had said thousands of American soldiers surrounded General Mitchell’s mountain base. Mark didn’t see how this war could go on if they lost those forces. Small bases like this one would not last long if the Trellixians made a big push into the mountains.
For a long while he sat alone thinking about his parents and his missing sister. Someday he would like to return to Houston to see if his parents’ home was still there. So much had already been lost in this war and Mark was deeply concerned he was about to witness the final battle for possession of the planet.
-
General Mitchell listened to Colonel Fields explain about the energy weapons and the energy shield for the base.
“We’re still installing the secondary energy weapons,” Fields explained. “They should be able to destroy anything except a Trellixian battlecruiser. Professor Wilkens will be sending data on how to increase the power on our energy shield shortly. It’ll take some time to make the modifications.”
“How long?” Mitchell knew they didn’t have a lot. Satellite imagery already showed Trellixian shuttles bringing troops in from all over the planet. As a precaution, Mitchell had sent the necessary orders authorizing the Russian Command Center to take over in case the American one was destroyed.
“Two days and we’ll be ready to test it.”
“No tests,” said Mitchell, shaking his head. “It either works or it doesn’t. I don’t want the Trellixians to know we’ve developed an energy shield until we’re forced to use it.”
“It will only function at full power for eight to ten hours,” warned Fields.
General Mitchell nodded. Eight to ten hours would be enough for what he had planned. It was time to see if he could pull the wool over Battle Commander Balforr’s eyes.
-
In orbit, Battle Commander Balforr listened to the latest reports. During the engagements in the mountains, hundreds of Trellixian troops had been lost. Most had died attacking static defenses which were heavily fortified. This was of no concern to Balforr. He had hundreds of thousands of Trellixian troops available and he had no problem sacrificing part of them to fulfill his strategy.
“Our latest scans from shuttles flying over the Human base indicate nearly twenty thousand Human soldiers are in the vicinity,” reported Second Officer Jaltor. “I am surprised so many escaped our attacks.”
Balforr was pleased to hear this. It indicated the Humans had pulled in the majority of their surviving forces to defend the mountain. He would destroy it and the twenty thousand soldiers, ending this world’s resistance. The few surviving Humans still in the mountains he would allow to starve and die in the harsh winter weather. While that was happening he would have his troops sweep the cities and the countryside for any other survivors. It felt good to know that shortly he would have a victory over this world.
“Inform Battle Commander Traven and Jabale I will take direct control of the attack on the Human base from my battlecruiser.”
“They will not like that since most of the troops being used in this engagement are theirs,” pointed out Second Officer Jaltor.
“They are my subordinates,” replied Balforr with little emotion in his voice. “They will follow my orders.”
“As you command,” replied Jaltor as he went to Communications to pass on the order.
Balforr gazed at the viewscreen and the blue-white world it displayed. Soon Earth would be added to the long list of worlds Balforr had conquered and brought into the Trellixian Empire.
Chapter Sixteen
Major Mark Dolan crawled painfully to the top of the small brush-covered hill he’d been behind for the last several hours. His uniform was ragged and filthy. Blood ran from a shallow jagged cut on his forehead, the result of a splinter grenade falling too close to his position. Only by throwing himself to the ground, realizing what was about to happen, had Dolan survived at all. The two privates who had been with him lay dead, their bodies torn apart by the grenade.
Around Dolan dead bodies were everywhere. Unfortunately most of the bodies were human and not Trellixian. The aliens were nearly unstoppable, their vehicles protected by energy shields and possessing weapons much more powerful than the humans. The enemy could be killed with great effort but normally the attacking humans died in the attempt. However, the humans were fighting for their world and there was never a shortage of volunteers to attempt the almost impossible. Waves of human soldiers had thrown themselves at the advancing Trellixians trying to turn the tide of the overwhelming attack. Most had died.
In the distance, Mark could hear the heavy explosions of p
owerful warp missiles and more splinter grenades blasting away at the weakening human defenses. The human defenders had been driven back to the base of the mountain they were defending. The Trellixians were rapidly pushing back the meager remnants of America’s military toward the bunker complex that housed their last known major active base.
For nearly six hours Mark and his handpicked squad had watched the battle from hidden locations. Their job was to stay on the outskirts, undetected and to report back to their superiors the results of the battle. Several times Mark had been tempted to join in the fighting when a Trellixian passed within weapons range but his orders were very explicit. No contact with the enemy! Observe and report back!
“Major, this is Captain Reynolds. I’m in my new position,” a female said over his earpiece.
Everyone in his squad wore a small communications earpiece set to a frequency they didn’t think the enemy would be monitoring so they could stay in contact with one another. It was a risk but one necessary if they wanted to complete their mission. Several times since arriving at the vicinity of the base they had been forced to move to new positions to observe and record the fighting.
Captain Lisa Reynolds was two hundred yards to his west on another small ridge which provided a good view of the ongoing battle. Privates Peterson and Hambridge were with her, assigned to keep her safe. Reynolds had two instruments she was using to gather data on Trellixian battle techniques. Mark wasn’t sure what good that would do if the mountain base and its bunker complex were destroyed. As far as Mark knew most resistance across the planet had been smashed and this was the last major surviving military installation still fighting back. There were some minor bases like the one he was stationed at but they wouldn’t last long once the Trellixians found them. The fighting most of the morning had been fierce as the aliens advanced on the base. The Trellixians had used their energy beams to clear a large area of the surrounding forest so their shuttles could land and unload hundreds of hover tanks.
Earth Fall: Invasion : (Book One) Page 22
