Earth Fall: Invasion : (Book One)

by Raymond L. Weil

  All the Rangers fired their assault rifles, spraying the enemy with hundreds of rounds of armor-piercing ammunition. Private Donly paused for a moment to lob two more flash grenades toward the enemy, causing one alien to stagger and go down.

  Mark stopped firing and pressed another switch on the detonator, firing off the other claymores. The four had been set to form a 180-degree kill zone and another one of the Trellixians had stepped too close. The alien was nearly cut in two by the explosions.

  A sudden scream drew Mark’s attention. He saw Corporal Sampson stagger and fall to the ground with a look of shock on his face, a red stain spreading across his chest. “Keep firing!” Mark shouted. He took a deep breath and shot a quick burst at the nearest enemy.

  “Our rounds aren’t causing enough damage,” grated out Private Peterson as he fired a dozen rounds into the chest of a Trellixian. The shots only dented the armor.

  Suddenly brilliant flashes of light went off around the five remaining enemy soldiers. Mark’s eyes closed involuntarily and he could feel the searing heat from the blasts. Flash grenades, he realized. Someone had thrown flash grenades at the remaining enemy troops. Where had they come from?

  Stepping out from the undergrowth Sergeant Anderson and two other Rangers fired their weapons at the stunned Trellixians, the only difference being the sergeant had a weapon which fired steel slugs. His Mossberg 590A1 shotgun was deadly at close range. It was his weapon of choice and he always carried it. He carefully put a round into the chest of each of the remaining enemy soldiers still dazed from the flash grenades. In just a few seconds the battle was over as he blew a hole the size of a man’s fist in the chest of the last Trellixian. “Damn lizards!” he shouted as he turned toward Mark, shotgun still smoking in his hands.

  “We thought you three were dead,” said Mark, stepping out from behind the boulder he’d been firing from, immensely pleased to see the sergeant. “You didn’t show up at the rendezvous coordinates.”

  “We got cut off by some Trellixian ground troops and had to take the long way around,” Anderson replied. He was a twenty-year veteran and knew how to stay alive. He looked where Corporal Sampson’s body lay, shaking his head. “The corporal was a good soldier. I hate that we lost him.”

  “We’d better get out of here,” Lisa said as she walked up to gaze at the dead enemy. She took a few photographs and then turned toward Mark. “The shuttle that dropped this squad could return at any moment.”

  She gestured to Private Peterson who was carrying a special case. Opening it she took out a pair of insulated gloves. Donning them, she very carefully picked up one of the energy rifles lying by a dead Trellixian. She placed the rifle in the case and after making sure it was secure and wrapped in insulating material she placed the gloves inside and shut it.

  “I guess I have to carry this?” asked Peterson with a frown.

  “Don’t worry,” said Hambridge, grinning. “If it blows up you’ll never know it.”

  Peterson shook his head as he carefully picked up the case as if expecting it to explode at any second.

  “It’s all right,” Lisa assured the private. “The case is insulated and the rifle should be safe to transport.”

  “We’d better go,” Mark said to the others.

  “It’s been a tough day,” said Sergeant Anderson as one of the privates with him covered Corporal Sampson’s body. “A lot of good men and women died today.”

  “We need to get the information we gathered back to command,” said Mark, looking at Lisa. He wasn’t sure who this information would be going to now.

  “I don’t see what good it’ll do,” Anderson replied with a grimace. “We don’t have anything left to fight with now that the main base has been destroyed. The Trellixians will come into the mountains hunting the rest of us. Morale will crash once word of what happened to the base gets out.”

  Mark nodded. Sergeant Anderson was right. Probably only a few scattered military units still fought across the world plus millions of unarmed civilians who had taken to the countryside and the mountains after the first attacks. A large number of troops were in the mountains as well but without an established chain of command they would be fighting in small units rather than together.

  Very soon the Trellixians would return to the mountains, hunting down and eliminating humans wherever they were found. Any organized resistance was just about over.

  The enemy had won and Earth was theirs.

  -

  Second Officer Jaltor reported to Battle Commander Balforr. “Battle Commander Traven and Battle Commander Jabale are livid you launched the antimatter missile so quickly. Over eighteen thousand of their soldiers were killed in the attack on the Human base and the blast from the Malken Missile. Thousands more are wounded. They’re also reporting nearly two hundred hover tanks destroyed as well. They claim it’ll take weeks to reorganize their units back into an effective fighting force.”

  “It was a necessary sacrifice,” replied Balforr, showing no regret. “We couldn’t afford to let any of the enemy escape. This was a great victory for us and I’m reporting that to the High Command. They will be highly interested in the fact the Humans managed to develop Jelnoid secondary energy beams as well as a functioning energy shield. Making sure those devices were destroyed was a high priority. I’m sure the High Command will agree with the decision I made.”

  Balforr was convinced that revealing to the High Command the Humans’ development of additional Jelnoid technology and its destruction by the Malken missile would be met with approval by them. Even the sacrifice of so many Trellixian troops would be forgiven as they could easily be replaced.

  Jaltor nodded. “It was the right decision. I will convey that message to the battle commanders.”

  Balforr shifted his gaze to the smoldering ruins beneath his battlecruiser. At last he had victory over the Humans. Once Battle Commanders Traven and Jabale reorganized their troops Balforr would order them to sweep the planet, clearing out areas to land colony ships. He also suspected the Humans had no more nuclear weapons or they would have used them at the mountain. The missing Human submarine must have used the last ones they possessed.

  Chapter Eighteen

  It took another two days for Major Dolan and his Rangers to reach their destination. They’d been careful to stay off the main trails and roads and had even taken the precaution of immersing themselves in streams when they heard the approach of alien shuttles or attack craft to prevent detection from thermal scans. The sun had already set and they were using their night-vision optics to travel when Mark called a halt.

  “We’re nearly there,” Mark said as he paused to allow them to catch their breath. He suspected a small research facility was hidden deep beneath the mountains somewhere and they were heading there. He wasn’t sure what good the information they had would be since most of the military had been wiped out.

  “Any idea who might be waiting for us?” asked Sergeant Anderson.

  “No,” Mark replied. “I’ve only been here once before and that was with Colonel Branson.”

  “What about you, Captain?” asked Anderson, looking at Lisa.

  “I’m not certain,” Lisa replied with a frown. “I’ve heard rumors but they sounded so fantastic I didn’t believe them.”

  “What rumors?”

  “I don’t really want to say,” Lisa replied, not wanting to mention ad astra as she glanced at the sergeant. “We’ll know what’s going on when we get there.” She suspected very soon she would be seeing Professor Wilkens if her assumptions were right. It would be good to see the professor again; he was almost like family.

  “Captain Reynolds is right,” Mark said. He was beginning to think Captain Reynolds was more than simply a military analyst. He wondered just how much she wasn’t telling them and how important she actually was. After all, his superiors had informed him Lisa’s survival was more important than his entire squad.

  After a brief rest they resumed walking again, only this time th
ey ascended the steep slope of a low mountain. For several hours they struggled upward, avoiding loose boulders and areas where rockslides had occurred in the past. Reaching a huge rock at the base of a high cliff Mark stepped around it and squirmed into a small cave. The others followed closely behind. Reaching into his pocket Mark turned on a small flashlight so they could see. The night-vision goggles didn’t work in the darkness of the cave.

  “We need to stack those rocks up to conceal the entrance,” he told the others, pointing to a loose pile of nearby stones.

  “Let’s get to it,” ordered Sergeant Anderson as he bent down and picked up a large one, carrying it to the small entrance. The others quickly followed suit and it wasn’t long until the passageway was blocked. To anyone passing by it wouldn’t be obvious the stones concealed the entrance to the small cave.

  Stepping back, Mark pointed his light at their handiwork, satisfied no one would find this place. Indicating for the others to follow him he proceeded down the narrow cave for a number of yards, shining his flashlight before him, until the tunnel opened up into a small cavern roughly twenty yards across and six or seven high. It was obvious the cave and cavern were manmade. Walking to one wall he searched carefully for a hidden recess in the stone and then, inserting his hand, he pressed a tiny concealed button. Instantly a section of the wall slid open, revealing a tunnel with a small, monorail-like car.

  “What the hell?” muttered Sergeant Anderson, staring in amazement. “What is that and what’s it doing here?”

  “We’re supposed to take this vehicle to our destination,” Mark explained. He had no idea where it would bring them but Colonel Branson had told Mark it would bring them to a place of safety. More than that the colonel had refused to say, only telling Mark the eventual destination was classified. Mark guessed it was either a research facility or a small military base.

  “It must be some research facility,” said Private Peterson, turning toward Lisa, who remained mute.

  As they stepped into the waiting vehicle the wall behind them slid shut, hiding the small cavern from view. Mark activated the controls as the colonel had shown him and then leaned back in one of the comfortable padded seats. Almost instantly the car started moving and rapidly accelerated. For the first time in several days Mark actually felt safe.

  “Someone spent a lot of time and money to build this,” commented Sergeant Anderson as he watched the walls of the tunnel flash by. “This technology is far beyond anything I thought we had.”

  “I wonder what’s waiting for us when this car stops?” said Private Donly.

  “We’ll know when we get there,” replied Lisa, leaning back in her seat, trying to rest. She suspected this tunnel and car were the result of more Jelnoid technology.

  -

  For nearly twenty minutes the air-conditioned car slid forward and down, going deep beneath Earth’s surface. Mark had no idea where the car was taking them. His orders had been to observe the battle with his squad and to make sure Captain Reynolds survived. He was then to return to this car and activate it. He’d originally thought the car might be connected to the large base he had seen so recently destroyed but now he was convinced it led elsewhere.

  “This wasn’t easy to build,” commented Private Donly. “This has to lead to something more than just a small research facility.”

  Sergeant Anderson raised his eyebrows at Lisa. She had said very little since they’d entered the vehicle. “Still no idea what’s going on, Captain?”

  “Possibly,” she admitted, glancing at the sergeant. “If my suspicions are correct we’re all due for a major surprise shortly.”

  “You’re not just a military analyst, are you?” asked Mark as he stared at the captain. Mark had long wondered about the backgrounds of the three special captains assigned to his unit.

  “No,” she admitted, looking briefly at the floor and then at Mark. “It was important I see one of the Trellixian battlecruisers up close and take readings with special equipment I brought along as well as take readings of the battle. If we hope to survive, what we learned from observing that battle might be crucial.”

  Mark nodded. He was right about something more going on. Now he just wanted to find out what it was.

  At last the car slowed. Mark sat up straighter, curious to see their destination. The car came to a stop in front of a small platform and a section of rock wall slid open. With surprise Mark saw his immediate superior, Colonel Branson, with several other men as well as a squad of heavily armed Marines.

  Mark climbed from the car, followed by the others; all with confusion on their faces except for Captain Reynolds. They stopped and gave a quick salute in front of the colonel. Maybe now they would hear some explanations.

  “At ease, Major Dolan,” Colonel Branson commanded. “Welcome to your new home!”

  “Lisa, we’re glad you made it,” said one of the other men with the colonel. “We were very worried about your safety.”

  “I was in good hands, Professor Wilkens,” Lisa responded, pleased to see her old friend and mentor. She walked over and gave Wilkens a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Major Dolan carried out his assignment very professionally.” Lisa then reached into her pocket and handed the professor the two flash drives. “These are the recordings of the battle and also of the battlecruiser. There should be data on the antimatter missile they dropped as well.”

  “So you figured out it was antimatter?”

  Lisa nodded. “It’s the only thing that made sense. I can’t see it having been anything else.” Lisa gestured to Private Peterson carrying the special case. “Here’s the energy rifle you wanted.”

  Professor Wilkens’s eyes lit up. A Marine sergeant stepped forward, taking the case from Private Peterson who gladly gave it up. “Take that to my lab and be careful with it.”

  “I hope that’s useful,” said Lisa.

  “Thank you for bringing her safely to me,” said Professor Wilkens, walking over and shaking Major Dolan’s hand. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

  Mark turned to gaze at Captain Reynolds questioningly.

  “I guess I owe you an explanation,” Lisa said, her focus on Mark. “I’m not only a captain in the reserves but a nuclear physicist with a number of advanced degrees in space sciences. Professor Wilkens and I have worked together on many projects over the years though I’m not quite certain what’s going on now. I haven’t seen him in months. He’s also the one who asked me to join the military.”

  “It was training I believed would serve you well. I think you’ll find this facility interesting,” Professor Wilkens said with a mysterious smile. “Why don’t you come with me while the colonel debriefs the others? We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

  Lisa nodded. She couldn’t wait to find out what the professor was working on. Maybe finally she would find out what ad astra meant for the humans left on Earth.

  -

  Mark had been shown to a small set of comfortable quarters to clean up and rest before eating a decent meal. Hours later he was brought in front of Colonel Branson for his debriefing. The others were being questioned by another officer.

  “I suppose you have a lot of questions,” began Branson, giving Mark a measuring look.

  “Some,” answered Mark, shifting his weight in the well-padded chair he was seated in. “Where am I and what exactly is going on? Why was it so important to observe that battle? It was gruesome and we lost a lot of good people at that base. Our forces never stood a chance once that battlecruiser showed up.”

  Branson nodded and looked at Mark from across his desk. “Those are the very questions I would start with if I were in your place. First off you’re in a highly secret complex deep beneath the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Special shielding and the tremendous depth of this installation should protect us from Trellixian detection. Beside the installation you’re in now, there is a very large civilian complex and two smaller military complexes, all connected by deep underground tunnels.”

>   “How did this get built?” Mark interrupted. He’d thought after everything he had witnessed aboveground over the last few months the human race was all but finished. The big military complex he’d watched being destroyed only a couple days earlier was the last one he knew of which contained any advanced military technology.

  Colonel Branson took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. “In early July 1947 a UFO crashed on a ranch northwest of Roswell, New Mexico.”

  “Roswell?” said Mark, feeling even more confused. “I thought that was just a weather balloon.”

  “That’s what everyone was told,” Branson responded. “In reality it was a small interstellar spacecraft from a star system the Trellixians had only recently attacked. The ship was never designed for trips of more than a few light-years and its systems were taxed to the limit just to make it to Earth. Their life support was failing and the ship experienced numerous mechanical problems when it tried to land. Unfortunately for the crew it crashed, killing all but two.”

  “Two survived?” Mark could scarcely believe what he was hearing.

  “Yes, two did. One died within a week of the crash and the other lived at Area 51 for twenty-two years.”

  “We had a real live alien for all that time and no one knew about it?” Mark remained dumbfounded.

  “We kept it a secret after we learned what happened to their home world. Can you imagine the panic such a revelation would have caused?”

  “What did we do?”

  “We started to prepare,” Colonel Branson replied. “We formed a secret military alliance with a number of key countries across the globe to do everything we could to prepare Earth for the coming of the Trellixians. Unfortunately our science was so far behind we couldn’t do much initially. With the help of the alien survivor we were able to reverse-engineer some of their systems, particularly their computers. He also furnished us with their complete technical database. It’s taken us years, even with his help, to understand much of it.”