Kate muted the television again. It had begun. She figured her best bet was to keep the lights off and make as little noise as possible. The car was in the garage, stocked with food and other supplies if she did need to leave, but if her house looked like it had been evacuated, maybe they would pass her by.
She got up from the couch and walked over to the window looking out into the street. She pulled back the curtain an inch. Kate had left a small gap between the boards over each window so she could peek out. The three houses she could see across the street were alive with activity as her neighbors loaded up their cars, preparing to evacuate.
She had considered doing the same, but where would she go? There was a definite pattern to the where the wormholes were appearing: they were attacking the largest cities first and working their way down to the smaller ones. Eventually, they’d get to even the small towns. After that, the wilderness or some rural area would be her only option.
But why were they even here? Faris had no ships that could be dispatched to help defend Earth. Even if they did, the time it’d take for them to get there would make the effort futile.
Frank had said something about the hyperspace entities directing these aliens to the planets inhabited by humans. That had to be it. Kate had seen how the entities could influence humans, direct their actions. She supposed they were doing the same thing to the aliens. Strategically, Faris was no threat to the aliens, but the entities had apparently decided to wipe out humanity. No planet would be left safe until either all the aliens were dead or all the humans were. By mere chance, Rick and Frank had ended up on the front lines of this battle. They were the only ones with enough knowledge of the entities to possibly do something. Kate had no idea what that was, but she knew the two men well enough to know they would not give up until all options were exhausted. She knew they’d fight to the death to stop the threat.
This last thought made her uneasy. She considered reading one of her father’s books on Stoicism, perhaps Epictetus. She had drawn strength from the philosophy in the past. She had been able to alleviate some of her concern by focusing on the fact that worrying about things out of her control did nothing to change the situation.
But as with most things, the idea was a lot easier to embrace in theory rather than in practice. She could not stop herself from worrying about Rick and Frank, and she would not try. As long as she didn’t let it impair her judgment or prevent her from taking the actions she needed to take to keep herself safe, she felt she deserved at least that.
Kate returned to the couch and picked up the handgun on the coffee table. It was the gun Rick had showed her how to use. She hadn’t actually fired it, but it was equipped with a laser sight and an internal recoil buffering system. Rick had said that as long as she took the time to line up her shots in the sight, there was little chance of missing. She spent a few minutes memorizing the positions of the safety switch and the magazine release. She could worry, but she would be ready.
A commotion in the street brought her back to the window. She opened one side of the curtain again. The first thing she saw was Douglas, the neighbor directly across from her. He was screaming and waving his arms wildly as his family bundled into their car. He bolted for the car, got in and slammed the door shut just as one of the alien creatures sprinted into sight. It rushed the driver’s side door but bounced off of it. Douglas started the engine and backed the car out into the street. The alien again rushed the car but bounced off the hood as Douglas sped away, in the opposite direction from which the alien had come.
Kate looked at the two other houses she could see through the narrow gap. One of the families appeared to have already left. The other was still in the driveway. The alien turned its attention to them as they slammed their doors and prepared to flee.
As it had before, it charged the car. This time it shattered the front window on the passenger’s side. In a blur of movement, it had its clawed hands inside the vehicle. Kate could see the mother—she didn’t know her name—screaming as the car backed out and the creature continued to hang on. The car screeched into the road and up onto the sidewalk opposite. Kate lost sight of it but saw it again a moment later as it sped past her window. She couldn’t see if the alien was still hanging on or not.
Kate moved into the dining room and looked through the boards over that window. The alien was in the street. It looked injured, and Kate guessed the car had backed over one or both of its legs. She didn’t know what kind of injury it had done to the woman in the car, but its claws were red with blood.
Kate let the curtain fall and returned to the living room. She sat down in front of the television. Scenes of chaos played out on the screen. The producers were being careful to not show anything too gruesome, but it didn’t matter. The horror of what was happening was all too apparent.
Kate clicked off the television. She didn’t need to see the same tragedies being looped over and over again. She’d check the news periodically for updates, but for now, she just wanted to sit in the dark and mentally prepare for what was to come.
21
HIS PHONE BEGAN to buzz, and Ives scrambled to answer it. There was no way of knowing how long the connection would last.
“Agent Ives,” he said quickly.
“Jeff? It’s Leo Blanco.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Are you still at the same location?”
“Yes, my apartment building. I have a couple hundred people here who need evacuating. The military was evacuating people a few blocks over, but I haven’t seen any activity in the past few hours.”
“All military personnel have been given new orders, Jeff. It’s… not going well. They simply can’t afford to have men tied up in evacuation maneuvers.”
“So they’re leaving us….”
“The way they see it, defeating the aliens takes priority, even if it means civilians are left high and dry in the meantime.”
“So what the hell am I supposed to do? Sit here and wait it out?”
“I can get a ship to you, Jeff. It’s only a commuter shuttle, but it can transport forty people. But look, you’re not the only evacuation point. I have dozens of requests for assistance from around the city. Once people knew the military wasn’t going to help them, the turned to the Bureau for assistance.”
“So what’s your plan?”
“The injured, the infirm and children take precedence. There are a lot of wounded out there, people who will die unless they get to a medical facility.”
“I understand.”
“Once those in greatest need have been evacuated, we can try to swing back to your location to evacuate the rest.”
“What’s the ship’s ETA?”
“Fifteen minutes. Get your people ready, Jeff.”
“Yes, sir.”
Ives hung up the phone and began giving orders to have any sick or injured brought down to the lobby of the building. He knew that number would be close to forty. The children would have to wait.
After those to be evacuated were gathered, he quickly explained the situation. To his surprise, not too much of a fuss was raised over the fact that they weren’t all going. The past few days had worn on them all, though, and few had much energy left.
Ives kept watch out the front door of the building. He saw the ship arc around from the north and approach his block. It came to a stop above the street and began descending. The doors were thrown open as soon as it had landed, and two armed men jumped out. Ives called them over and, with the help of some of the stronger men in the building, began evacuating the injured.
As soon as the last person was aboard, the ship took off again and sped away to the south. Ives stood on the sidewalk for a moment, looking down the street in both directions to make sure the evacuation hadn’t drawn any unwanted attention.
A block away, half a dozen alien soldiers appeared, moving quickly toward him.
Ives ducked back into the building. “I need the big guns out here!” he yelled.
Gail and the two men a
rmed with the alien energy weapons rushed forward.
“Six of them,” Ives said, “approaching from the south.”
“I thought you said they’d cleared this area,” Gail said with a frown.
“I said the general trend was for a westward movement across the city. These must be stragglers.” Ives turned to the two men. “They’re still out of weapons range. Get across the street to the doorway of the building opposite. Hopefully we can split them.”
The men dashed out into the street and quickly covered the distance. Ives peeked out again and saw three of the aliens also cross the street while the other three kept coming toward him.
“Gail,” he said, “they’ll be in range of your gun long before I’ll be able to shoot at them with my pistol. Fire as soon as you think you can hit them.”
She nodded. Across the street, the other two began firing.
“Are they in range?” Ives asked.
“No,” Gail said. “They don’t know what the hell they’re doing.”
A few seconds later, Gail fired. “Now they are,” she said. “Get back!”
She grabbed Ives by his shoulder and pulled him back into the alcove of the doorway. An energy beam shattered the side of the alcove, sending concrete spraying out into the street.
Gail dropped to one knee, raised the weapon again and swung around the corner. She fired two shots in quick succession. “Got ’em!”
Ives peeked back out and saw the three aliens Gail had been firing at. She had felled them all without a single shot wasted. He swung his head around as the sound of energy weapons continued. The two men across the street were exchanging constant fire with the other three aliens.
Ives watched as one of the men fell, the side of his torso blown away.
Gail redirected her fire toward the other group of aliens and began firing. One of the aliens dropped, and the other two ducked into an alley.
“They were pretty bold, coming at us like that,” Gail said.
“They didn’t expect us to have these weapons. I hate to say it, but I don’t think they’ve faced much resistance from civilians so far.”
“They thought we’d be easy targets.”
Ives nodded. “But we have to finish those two. We can’t give them a chance to call for reinforcements.”
Ives ran across the street and checked for a pulse from the fallen man. He was dead. Ives picked up the alien weapon the man had been carrying and signaled back to Gail to move out of the doorway. “What’s your name again?” he asked the other man who’d gone across the street.
“Carl.”
“Follow me, Carl. Stay behind me.”
As Ives and Carl moved toward the alley, Gail kept pace with them on the opposite side of the street. When Gail reached a large tree, Ives signaled for her to stop and stay behind it. From her position, he guessed that Gail could just see partway into the alley but would be out of sight of the deeper recesses, where he suspected the aliens to be positioned.
Ives reached the side of the alley and halted. He gestured for Carl to stay put, took a deep breath then sprinted across to the side of the next building. He heard an energy weapon go off and felt the heat of the shot as it passed behind him.
He pressed his back against the building and glanced across the street to Gail. He could see in her body language that his plan was working. She was tense, the weapon raised, and she was tracking something. At least one of the aliens was trying to sneak up to the corner to ambush Ives.
Gail fired, and Ives heard the alien fall against the side of the building then to the ground. He swung around and aimed his weapon into the alley and began firing. The first few shots hit a dumpster, but the other alien was ready for the attack. It slipped behind the dumpster and remained hidden, waiting for Ives to make the next move.
Ives gestured for Carl to cover him then dropped to the ground and crawled forward a foot. He paused to watch and listen then kept moving forward toward the dumpster.
The alien poked its head out, but Carl fired, sending it back into cover. Ives used the opportunity to spring up, dash forward and round the side of the dumpster, his gun at the ready. He fired, but the alien pushed him back, sending the shot into the side of the building. Concrete dust rained down on Ives as he dropped to a knee and rammed the barrel of the gun into the alien’s torso. The alien began to fall, and Ives fired again, gouging a clean hole through its body.
Ives got to his feet and kicked the gun away from the alien’s hands. Gail ran up behind him and looked down, making sure it was dead.
Ives let out a breath. “Good work. Let’s hide the bodies in this dumpster. We don’t want any more of them to know there’s a resistance in this area.”
“Don’t you think they’re all in communication? They might already know we’re here,” Gail said.
“Possibly. If that’s the case, though, we now have six more of their weapons to use against them. Now we can make a stand.”
Gail smiled. “I like the way you think, Agent Ives.”
“It’s Jeff.” He held her gaze for a moment before turning back to the dead alien. “Let’s get to work.”
22
ADMIRAL RYAN LONG gave the order, and the large screen on the bridge of the Vigilant came on. An audible gasp spread throughout the bridge as the crew realized what they were seeing.
“It’s at least fifty percent larger than the other ship we faced, sir.”
Long rubbed his chin. “So I see. But the size of the ship doesn’t matter. The plan is still the same, ladies and gentlemen. Let’s get into low orbit so Earth’s defenses can get into the action.”
The bridge erupted in activity as the Vigilant prepared for battle.
“I want the Izumo and the Oberon to fly wide and flank that ship. If they can draw some of their fire, it’ll give us a chance to punch through.”
The Vigilant moved toward the Earth, away from the alien ship. As Long had hoped, it followed. He carefully monitored the alien ship’s altitude, waiting for it to come within range of the orbital defense stations. The previous battle had taken place too far out for them to be of any use. Moving this battle so close to the Earth meant there would be a significant amount of debris raining down on the planet, but if it defeated the threat, any damage or loss of life on the ground would be a small price to pay.
Long looked down at the small monitor in front of him. The Izumo and the Oberon were moving into position without drawing any attention from the alien vessel. It didn’t seem concerned with the smaller ships. Long didn’t yet know if this was a good thing or a bad thing.
“Enemy is within range of orbital defense stations, sir.”
“Good. Order them to fire everything they have.”
On the large screen, explosions began erupting around the alien ship. The orbital defense stations were armed with the same missiles that were aboard the Vigilant. Long knew the missiles hadn’t penetrated the last ship’s shield, but there was always a chance they were weakening it, bit by bit. He hoped the increased firepower from the defense stations would make a difference. The alien ship’s shield seemed to hold, however, and it appeared unaffected.
“Let’s turn up the heat,” Long said. “Fire all missiles. Order the Izumo and the Oberon to do the same.”
The screen went white as the missiles from the ships joined those of the defense stations. The barrage lasted nearly a full minute. When the picture came back, the alien ship was unmarred. It continued toward the Vigilant as though nothing had happened.
Long frowned. “Get me Commander Pickett.”
“Ready, sir,” said the communications officer.
“Commander?”
“Yes, Admiral.”
“That’s all we can do with the missiles. We need to get through that shield. Watch for them to launch their missiles or fighters. That might give you a way in.”
“Understood, sir. We’ll do everything we can. Pickett out.”
Pickett checked his instruments as the launch countdown
began. He took several deep breaths and glanced at Lieutenant Kern in the fighter next to him. Kern flashed a thumbs up, and Pickett smiled, returning it.
“Here we go,” he said as the countdown clock reached zero.
His F-66 was launched from the Vigilant, and he quickly banked toward the enemy. As if in response, the alien ship launched its own fighters.
“We’re not flatfooted this time,” he said into his microphone. “We know how these things move; we know the range and power of their weapons. Let’s stay calm and keep it tight.”
“Bringing the Vigilant to a full stop,” he heard Admiral Long say in his headset.
“Yes, sir,” Pickett said. “You give ’em a nice juicy target, and we’ll go in for the kill when they take the bait.”
Pickett’s squadron engaged the first of the alien fighters. He fired his thirty-millimeter cannons, trying to save his missiles for the assault on the mothership. He quickly took out one enemy fighter and, after a short chase, a second.
He checked his display and saw that the rest of his squadron had come out of the skirmish as well.
“Well done. If we keep doing that, we’ll be home in time for dinner.”
Pickett glanced up through his cockpit canopy and saw another wave of alien fighters launch from the mothership. “Fire missiles at the main enemy ship!”
His squadron let loose their missiles then banked away from the enemy vessel. On his screen, Pickett watched the missiles approach the enemy ship and continue on past the shield. The blips indicating the missiles disappeared as they met the hull of the alien ship.
“Looks like a hit,” Pickett said.
“We can confirm that, Commander,” Admiral Long said over the headset. “Visible damage to alien ship.”
A brief cheer erupted over Pickett’s headset.
“Settle down and listen,” he said. “The missiles got through because they dropped their shield to let their fighters out. That confirms the theory that the shield has to go down completely for anything to get through. Watch for those hatches to open up, and fire when you see that happen. But right now there are two dozen more fighters heading our way. Let’s take care of them quickly so we can focus on the main ship.”
Sullivan Saga 3: Sullivan's Watch Page 10
