James Wittenbach - Worlds Apart 07

by Yronwode

  “Not very helpful,” Alkema sighed.

  They were interrupted by the arrival of Warfighter Johnny Rook. “Guys, you need to come outside and see this.”

  Outside the barracks, sirens were blaring in abrupt two-note shouts. Uniformed Midian personnel were running across the base. The engines of all the ornithopters, interceptors, and attack aircraft filled the afternoon sky with thrumming bass notes.

  Kitaen opened the military communications device he had been issued and pressed in the four number sequence that connected him to General Parka. “What’s going on?”

  “A major force of Xirong have begun marching into the demilitarized zone,” Parka told him. “We believe it to be an attack.”

  A moment later, the first black contrails began to scar across the sky as the Xirong launched the first wave of suicide missiles against the cities of Midian.

  Yronwode - Xiyyon

  One of the great things about being a telekinetic Pontifex, Eddie decided, was the way locked doors would open themselves in front of you just because you willed them to. The doors to the Santorum at the foot of the prayer tower were no different.

  Also, the lightshow obligingly began as soon as he stepped into the chamber.

  Eddie/Grexxx levitated over to the altar and willed open the panel in front of the dark matter orb. “Tell me what balls I can’t touch,” he said in a voice much more Eddie than Grexx.

  He reached into the chamber and touched the dark matter orb of sin.

  As soon as his fingers brushed it, he vanished into thin air.

  Chapter: 15

  Yronwode – Midian Security Base 1

  David Alkema exited the hygiene pod at the rear of the command center, and walked to the space in front where six enormous screens were arrayed in a semi-circle. Four of these provided views of the outside (the other two showed maps and data), and these four showed the enormous mass of Xirong marching into the Demilitarized Zone between Nimali and Midian.

  General Intrepid was explaining his defensive plans to Parka and Kitaen.

  Captain Steadfast stood to the side. Colonel Brave, from the Intelligence Service, was there also.

  “We’re deploying three brigades, one in front of each path,” Intrepid explained.

  “Early intelligence indicates they are poorly armed. Hopefully, when they see our firepower, they will turn back without creating casualties.” Alkema looked at the map. Green circles indicated the positions and numbers of Xirong. Blue triangles showed the number and positions of Midian Security Forces. “It looks like you’re outnumbered.

  Captain Steadfast answered him. “We have better weapons and tactics.”

  “Have the Xirong ever attacked in this manner before?” Kitaen asked.

  “After the Midian colony first began to prosper, there were periodic attacks, even wars, with Xirong Phalanges or sometimes coalitions,” Steadfast explained. “The last time was almost ninety years ago, before the Kariad and before the deployment of The Shield.”

  “There must be a hundred thousand of them,” Intrepid said.

  “Yes, and look at their colors,” Parka pointed out. “Izzani, Babillonian, Namekian, Tarimite, Al-Rokri…”

  Steadfast picked up on the implication immediately. “Someone has managed to unite the major phalanges.”

  “Why would they attack now?” Alkema asked.

  “Why indeed?” Colonel Brave asked pointedly.

  “What are you insinuating?” Kitaen asked.

  Intrepid shut his mouth. Parka spoke up, then. “There is some suspicion that your people may be working with the Xirong,” he told them.

  “Parka!” Strong snapped.

  But Parka continued. “The Xirong began massing for an attack soon after your arrival on our world. We have human intelligence that one or more persons, claiming to be Kariad, have been working with the Xirong to organize a massed assault on Midian.” He spoke calmly, matter-of-factly.

  “That is not true,” Alkema protested.

  Kitaen raised an arm and an eyebrow. “I assure you, we have had no contact with the Xirong.”

  “Not even on your overnight excursion into the Badlands?” Brave asked.

  “Any contact we may have had with the Xirong on that occasion was not in the form of collaboration,” Kitaen answered. “Furthermore, if there is anything my men can do to help defend…”

  “This is not your battle,” Intrepid cut him off.

  “Your people will be completely safe when they are evacuated,” Captain Steadfast added.

  “And placed under heavy guard,” Strong insisted.

  “A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are for,” Kitaen argued. “So it is with warriors.”

  “Given the ambiguity of our situation, I would prefer your ‘warriors,’ be off my base,” Intrepid persisted. “I’ve ordered them evacuated. You and your lieutenant may stay, if you want. When we’ve turned back this Xirong assault, the intelligence forces would prefer to question you.”

  “It’s lieutenant commander,” Alkema corrected.

  Yronwode – Xenthe

  As soon as they received the order to pack up and move out, Pegasus’s tactical contingent began packing up and preparing to leave camp.

  “I don’t get you,” Johnny Rook hammered on Max Jordan as they stuffed what few belongings with them into their gearbags. “You let an AI play with your mind. That’s just dangerous, and not in a good way.”

  Max Jordan continued packing his gear into his gearbag. What he would have told Johnny Rook was that for the first time, he felt like other people, like everyone else on Pegasus who didn’t walk around with the weight of anger, crap, and fear pressing down on him. He couldn’t articulate this, so he told Johnny Rook to shut up.

  “Nice,” Johnny Rook replied.

  Just then, Dayvan Cowboy looked in on them, his gearbag slung over his back.

  “Ready?”

  “Za, we’re ready,” Rook answered. “Where are we going?”

  “Xev,” Cowboy answered. “It’s a beach resort on the southeastern coast. It sounds really nice.” The last two words were laden with sarcasm. There was nothing really nice about cutting and running in the face of an attack.

  Caliph appeared unexpectedly, projecting herself from Max Jordan’s tactical gear so they could all see and hear her.

  “Guys, just so you know, I’ve picked up active transponder codes from three of the

  warheads from Zilla’s defensive load.”

  “I thought none of the Hammerheads were recovered from Zilla,” Cowboy said.

  “None of them were recovered… officially. Given the amount of atmospheric

  interference, they must be close. I will attempt to triangulate.”

  She activated the sensing gear on Rook’s battle suit as well to get a better fix.

  “I have a location. Interfacing geo-locator with city maps. The Hammerheads are on

  an emergency landing pad at Xiyyon Medical Center. Many medical evacuees from

  the Nimali meltdown were taken there. The Xirong must have smuggled them in.”

  “Why would they smuggle bombs to a hospital,” Max Jordan asked.

  “The military bases are too well-defended,” Cowboy suggested.

  “I’m interfacing with the warheads. Their capacitors are building a detonation

  charge, all three weapons set for maximum, simultaneous detonation.” She paused. “It will destroy the city.”

  “We have to warn the Midians,” Rook said.

  “I am already attempting to do so. But there’s no time to evacuate the city. And

  they won’t know how to disarm the bombs.”

  “Would an air strike destroy the bombs?” Rook asked.

  “Negative, at best it would trigger a premature detonation, and there is already

  capacitance to level a third of the city.” She paused again. “Get me there. I can disarm the

  bombs, but I can’t do it remotely.”

  �
��We’ll never make it to Xiyyon in time,” said Cowboy.

  “Unless we could steal an ornithopter,” Max Jordan suggested. “Caliph could figure out how to fly it, and…”

  “Get us blown out of the sky,” Johnny Rook finished.

  “I have an idea. But it’s a little risky. Meet me in front of the barracks.””

  Caliph vanished.

  “What is it?” Rook asked.

  “What is she thinking?” Rook asked Jordan.

  “Don’t know,” Max confessed. “I think she wants it to be a surprise.” He took his gearbag and walked out through the door without waiting for them to follow, which they did.

  Caliph reappeared as soon as they were outside.

  “Why don’t you just take that?”

  She pointed to the lone surviving Accipiter from Zilla, which was hanging in the air, as though expectantly.

  “That will get us across the city in seconds. I am programming the navigational

  coordinates now.”

  “Can all of us fit in there?” Johnny Rook wondered aloud.

  “Two of you can, Rook and Jordan. It will be a short trip. And neither of you is

  susceptible to homoerotic arousal. You’ll be fine.”

  Yronwode – Security Base One

  Like sticky desert heat, the tension in the Command and Control Center thickened and permeated as the marching Xirong closed to within 1,000 meters of the outermost Midian Security positions.

  “Maintain Action Alert status at missile defense sites, in the event the Xirong coordinate a missile assault during the strike,” General Noble, who was Chief of the Air Wing ordered.

  “All anti-missile defense stations at Action Alert status,” his female lieutenant confirmed. “We have already intercepted and destroyed seventeen in-bound suicide missiles. Another three made it through our defenses.” Escorted by a pair of guards, Trajan Lear entered the chamber and was escorted to stand near Alkema and Kitaen. “I didn’t want to leave the Aves,” he told them. “So they brought me here.”

  “This doesn’t make sense,” Kitaen whispered to Alkema and Lear. To his frustration, they had all been relegated to the role of background observers. “A full land assault in broad daylight against superior forces?”

  Alkema agreed. “Something else is up.”

  “Quiet,” Colonel Brave snapped at them.

  “I was merely pointing out the possibility that those forces are being used as a diversion,” Kitaen told her.

  “That they are,” Intrepid said. “We are investigating an intelligence report that the Xirong have smuggled a weapon of mass destruction into Xiyyon, but the sourcing is suspect.”

  “The Ward of Public Safety is reviewing it to see if an evacuation is warranted,” Captain Steadfast passed on.

  “But it’s also possible the report of a WMD is itself a distraction from the frontal assault,” another officer, whom Alkema and Parka did not recognize, added.

  “Or both are distractions, or neither,” Kitaen put in. “Most ingenious.”

  “Generals,” said another lieutenant at a monitoring station. “The Xirong have stopped.”

  All eyes went toward the battle displays. The Xirong had halted their advance 600 meters in front of the Midian lines, and stood there, waiting.

  “What’s going on?” Intrepid demanded.

  “They’ve stopped, general,” the female lieutenant said.

  “I know that,” Intrepid snarled. He turned to Parka, “What do you make of this?” Parka was the calmest man in the room, (although Kitaen was a close second.)

  “Normally, I would suggest they are waiting for us to make a move. They are in an inferior position militarily, but by sacrificing themselves, and them making a great show of their victimhood, they have gained sympathy among some of our people. But I do not believe that they are doing that this time.”

  “What are they doing?” Intrepid asked.

  Parka was quite certain. “They are waiting for something else.” Yronwode – Xiyyon

  The Accipiter flew stealthily over the city, in holoflage mode since they didn’t have time to deal with any Midian interceptors. The streets and buildings passed underneath in a supersonic blur. It made a quick shoot over the mountain pass that divided Xiyyon from Xenthe, and descended toward the Medical Complex.

  “Where is the bomb?” Johnny Rook asked. He and Max Jordan were packed into the Accipiters cramped one-man cockpit. Max Jordan straddled the seat, and Rook sat behind him with his arms wrapped around Jordan’s waist.

  “It’s on some sort of landing pad on the west side of the facility,” Caliph answered. “You may have to get creative, it’s surrounded by Xirong guards.”

  “Set us down on the same pad,” Rook ordered.

  “They might panic if we do. I suggest we Land on the adjacent pad, and we’ll try

  and take them by surprise.”

  “You’re flying this heap, honey” Jordan reminded her.

  “Honey?” thought Johnny Rook.

  As they neared the medical complex, they could see the ornithopter sitting on its landing pad, a bleach-white beast with the local symbol of the healer painted in red on the side.

  “The warheads are in the rear compartment. Hurry!” Caliph ordered.

  Yronwode – Security Base One Command and Control Center For eighteen minutes, the Xirong had not moved.

  “Status of The Shield,” General Noble had asked at precise two-minute intervals.

  His female lieutenant had answered him with equal precision. “All sensor systems engaged and interface with command systems. Gun emplacements, missile batteries, automated battle drones all operational and holding at Action Alert Status.” Noble turned to Intrepid. “We could move in air assets, intimidate them into retreating.”

  “Generals!” shouted the male lieutenant urgently. He was staring at the screen, were a flock of large black dots were approaching from the horizon.”

  “What is it?” Alkema shouted.

  “What are they?” General Parka corrected.

  “They don’t register on our sensors,” the female lieutenant reported.

  But their approach was swift. They passed over the Xirong lines at low altitude, blotting them in shadow as the Xirong began to jump and shout, and by this time, their shape was clear.

  Dragons!

  “Dragons!” Steadfast whispered.

  “Dragons!” shouted Intrepid.

  The beasts tore through the air with the speed of fighting jets, and in a matter of seconds were bearing down on the Midian Security units.

  “Tell them to open fire!” Parka barked.

  “All units, free fire,” Intrepid conveyed.

  The male lieutenant frantically flipped communications switches. “Free fire! All units, Free fire!”

  The forward security brigades had opened fire in advance of the order, which was a natural response to being attacked by fire-breathing dragons. The dragons bore down on them in sequence, one diving in and shooting plasma fire at the position, then lifting off just as another followed and performed the identical attack. Six assaults fell on the First Brigade before contact was lost, and their communication screen was replaced with static.

  The second position was by then under attack. Its soldiers were firing guns, artillery, rockets into the approaching dragons with no effect. The first hit filled the screen with flames and the screams of men, sometimes mercifully cut short, sometimes not. Within a few seconds, this communication feed was lost.

  “We’ve lost security brigades one and two,” the male lieutenant reported.

  “We’re losing more than that,” Noble said. While the main force of dragons had attacked the security brigades, another force was moving in on the communication and sensor outposts that made a line across the mid-section of the DMZ. These nodes were vital to command and control of any counter-attack.

  As the third security force came under attack, the tension in the Command Center was replaced by panic.

&nbs
p; “Where’s air support? Where’s air support?” shouted Intrepid.

  “Where is air support?” Noble shouted at his lieutenant.

  She tried to remain professional, but her voice was quaking. “First Interceptor Squadron is engaging the … enemy.” She was unable to bring herself to say “dragons,” since her mind had not yet accepted the fact that their attackers were dragons.

  Ten Midian aircraft moved into the battlefields airspace, each carrying ten missiles. They tried to lock on with their missiles and destroy the dragons. They tried to shoot down the dragons with their air cannons.

  They tried and they failed. One by one, the yellow stars that represented the aircraft blinked out on the tactical displays. One by one, the flaming wrecks of aircraft plunged down to the desert floor.

  In the wake of the destruction, the main body of the Xirong ground forces began running across the DMZ, toward the Midian border.

  “There’s nothing to stop them now,” Parka said, quietly, detached, but interested in the outcome.

  “There’s the Shield,” said Captain Steadfast.

  “Move Second and Third Squadrons into the battle,” General Noble ordered.

  “They won’t stand a chance against the dragons,” Kitaen advised them, his mind had no trouble accepting that dragons were attacking them.

  “He’s right,” said Intrepid. “Tell them to attack the Xirong ground forces. Maybe we can thin them out.”

  The male lieutenant was sweating bullets. “This can not be happening.” He was not the only one beginning the panic. Orders were frantically being shouted. The communication systems broke down in a cacophony of competing commands and pleas for attention.

  The red circles on the tactical display moved inexorably forward toward the broken white line representing the Midian border. Two groups of yellow stars passed over them. A sensor display showed huge explosions thinning the ranks of the Xirong, but not by nearly enough.

  The shouting in the room began to coalesce around a repeated observation.

  The dragons had regrouped, and were bearing down on the security base.