Kaiju Apocalypse

by Eric S. Brown

  Taking a seat behind his desk, he shoved the data chip into the reader before him. Holographic images appeared before him, displaying everything from totals of functional Mark I Dogkiller suits to detailed information regarding the status of the base's main cannons, all the way down to the current duty roosters. With a sigh, he took a sip of the murky, black liquid in his mug and began to wade through the reports, making adjustments as he felt they were needed.

  ****

  Doctor Bach sat in the pilot's compartment of the lead Trident. Normally his seat would belong to the ship's comm officer, but she had been unceremoniously booted from the aircraft to make room for Bach and all of his equipment needed to run his device. The Trident's bay was filled with the two armored squads of Dogkillers the ship carried, not including the loader, which meant that if the ship had communication problems, they would be out of luck. The men and women in the bay were silent, their thoughts solely on the upcoming mission.

  The console in front of Bach looked like someone had gone at it with a sledgehammer and then tried to reassemble while completely intoxicated. Wires dangled here and there from open panels. Entire circuit boards were exposed with additional high tech modulating units jerry-rigged onto them. Despite the mess, Bach felt confident everything was working, as it should. His modifications had turned the standard communications station into a “Kaiju Tracker.” Instead of detecting and transmitting radio and laser data, the console now was capable of picking up the subtle, almost surely psychic energy that passed between Kaiju when they communicated with the Overmind controlling and directing them.

  Captain James Thornton and his copilot, Lieutenant Commander Marquis Calloway, shared the cramped space with him. Neither of them was overly happy with Bach's modifications to their ship, and was less than enthused with the overall plan.

  “Lemura Tower, this is Trident One, over,” Calloway said as the lead Trident screamed through the sky.

  “Trident One, Lemura Tower has you five by five, over.”

  “Roger that, Lemura Tower. Commencing stage one flight in one-five seconds, over.”

  “Affirmative, Trident One. Good hunting. Lemura Tower out.”

  “Break trans, Trident Two, this is Trident One.

  “Go.”

  “On my mark, begin stage one ascent.”

  “Roger.”

  “Five... four... three... two... one... mark!”

  “Have you figured out where we're headed yet, Doc?” Thornton asked as he guided the Trident into a steep, rapid climb, with Trident Two mere feet from his wing. The two aircraft flew with a precision that would have been envied by stunt pilots of yesteryear. He added more thrust, as both of the aircraft climbed higher into the atmosphere. Trident Two matched his speed and course, the flight path programmed in before Thornton called off the first mark. The powerful engines howled in response, the g-forces pressing the trio deeply into their seats.

  Bach shifted nervously in his chair. So much was riding on this mission that he couldn't afford to be wrong. “Just keep heading east, Captain. There's a very large cluster of Kaiju about an hour out from us. The cluster is too large to be merely a migrating swarm, and the psychic energy readings I’m picking up from that location are off the charts.”

  Captain Thornton raised an eyebrow. “Ya know, Doc, after all these years on the defensive, I never imagined I'd be hunting Kaiju like this.”

  “You're both crazy,” Calloway spoke up, his eyes never leaving the radar display before him. “This is insane. That's what it is. I mean, if you're right about all this psychic energy junk, we're flying straight into the heart of Kaiju central. I think I'd rather just set a course for Hell and be done with it.”

  Thornton laughed. “I see your point, but come on, Calloway, we're making history here.”

  “Yeah, history,” Calloway frowned. “How many living historical figures do you hang out with?”

  An alarm sounded from Dr. Bach's console. He spun his chair around to take a glance at the readings coming in. His mind quickly disseminated the information. The spiking algorithms were correct, behaving exactly as his computer models had predicted they would. He swallowed nervously as he brought up the overlay and compared the model to the current feed he was reading. They matched. This was it. He knew without a shadow of doubt that he had just located the Kaiju Overmind.

  “What's up, Doc?” Thornton asked.

  Bach whirled around back to face him with a wide grin as the data he had just uploaded to their stations hit the ship's main screen. “There it is, gentlemen. That tiny island is the location of the Kaiju Overmind. I suggest you take us in and let the troopers in the bay take it from here.”

  “Wait... you didn’t plan for an insertion?” Thornton looked at the scientist incredulously.

  “What do you mean?” Dr. Bach asked.

  “Sorry, Doc. We can’t simply drop in, hit the beach, and unload the Dogkillers,” Calloway added. “We wouldn’t make it within five hundred feet of that island like this. There’s probably a ton of Dogs down there, plus who knows how many Mothers are lurking off the island’s coast.”

  “What?” Dr. Bach said in utter surprise.

  “It's not like these Tridents have cloaking devices doctor,” Calloway explained. “We head straight for that island and every Kaiju on and around it will swarm us. Only the troopers be toast, but odds are they'd find a means to take us down too, even if we don't actively engage them.”

  “Oh,” Bach slumped in his chair.

  “This mission is scrubbed,” Thornton said. “Let Trident Two know that the mission is aborted and we need to head back to base.”

  “Wait!” Dr. Bach snapped his fingers. “What did you say?”

  “I said the mission is scrubbed,” Thornton repeated.

  “No, before that?” Bach turned to Calloway.

  “These ships don't have cloaking devices?” He guessed.

  “That's it!” Dr. Bach exclaimed. “I'm a fool. Give me an hour before you do anything.”

  “That's gonna be stretching the limits of our fuel if we want to have enough to make it back to Lemura,” Calloway warned.

  Thornton checked the fuel gauge and did some quick mental math. “You got your hour, Doc, but that's it. Our return trip is gonna force us to tap into our reserves. While you're doing whatever it is you're doing, we'll follow the SOPs and go over the long range sensor data. It might at least give an idea of what we're up against and how to get the troops where they need to go.”

  Dr. Bach barely heard Thornton speaking. His mind was already lost in a sea of possibilities he'd never considered before and his hands flew over the keypad of his console.

  An hour later, the two Tridents were circling the island at a respectable distance. Calloway was fiddling with the comm while they waited for Dr. Bach to confirm that his plan was ready.

  “I think... I’m ready,” Dr. Bach finally said, interrupting the relative silence.

  Thornton glanced over at Dr. Bach. “You really think this is going to work?”

  “The theory is sound and my models suggest that it will work,” the scientist assured him. “There's no reason why it shouldn't.”

  “So you're telling us you've built a real cloaking device in an hour, with only what you had on hand?” The disbelief Calloway felt was clear in his tone.

  “Not exactly,” Dr. Bach explained. “I didn't build anything. I just rewired my Kaiju Overmind detector, if you want to call it that, into more of a transmitter. You see, as we approach the island, I'll be blanketing the area with what you would call white noise, like an old electronic jammer. It'll confuse the Kaiju, Lord willing, to the point that they never be able to distinguish us from their swarms. The only risk we run is if the Overmind determines that the blank spot is a danger. It’s something to keep in mind.”

  Thornton shook his head. “You're either a real genius, Doc, or a certifiable madman. I'll let you know when I figure out which. Start up your gizmo and let's get this over with.”<
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  “My pleasure, Captain,” Dr. Bach grinned and flicked on his hastily rewired again comm. system. After a second, he said, “You're good to go.”

  Thornton nodded at Calloway, who switched the comm back on.

  “Trident Two, Trident One, stand by for Stage Two.”

  “Roger.”

  Calloway flicked on the internal comms of the ship. “Dogkillers, listen up. Insertion in five minutes. Be prepared for a splash and dust. Loader at the ready.”

  The loader, a technical sergeant seated in the cargo hold area with the Dogkillers, swung up from his seat and clipped on his safety tether. He gave it a quick tug, was satisfied that it would hold him, and then he slowly ambled back to the drop door of the Trident.

  “Listen up!” the loader ordered as he overrode the comms of the Dogkillers. “You do not go until I give the signal. Once I give the signal, unass out of my bay and move away from the ship. You do not want to be under the exhaust fans when we depart. If you hesitate, you will die. Do you read?”

  “Oorah!” came the shouted reply.

  “At the ready!” the loader ordered. The Dogkillers popped to their feet as the Trident began to enter a steep, fast dive. The loader grabbed onto an overhead bar and waited until he felt the ship leveling out.

  “Splashdown!” came the call as the two ships hit the water at just over ninety kilometers per hour. The Trident quickly began to sink as the two ships became submersible. The ships shuddered as the engines switched over to pass water through them, momentum slowing briefly. The engines completed their turnover and the two Tridents began to make their way towards the island, less than ten meters beneath the sea’s surface. Cavitation from the bubbles shooting out from the wash of the engines began causing the Trident to shake, softly, at first, then harder as they increased speed.

  “Breaching!”

  The Tridents quickly rose and beached themselves on the rocky shore of the beach. Engines whining as both ships began to turn, the loader dropped the rear bay door open. He held up a hand as he waited, his eyes locked onto the indicator above the open bay. Moments passed before the red light switched to green.

  “Go! Go!” the loader shouted. “Get your ass off my ship! Move!”

  The Dogkillers quickly disembarked and spread out on the shore, securing the beachhead as Gamma and Zeta squads disembarked from the second Trident. The engines on both Tridents began to howl as the last Dogkiller left the cargo bay. Up in the front of Trident One, Calloway nodded as his loader checked in.

  “Dogkillers away! Closing the bay door!”

  “They're away,” Calloway confirmed, glancing at the sensor data on his screen. The display confirmed that both squads were off the ship and on land. He blinked. “Holy shit. I’ve got five massive signatures on sonar! Marking them now... Mothers! Repeat, we have Mother Kaiju!”

  “Warn Lemura Tower, and let the Dogkillers know as well,” Thornton said. He looked at the nervous scientist. “Relax, Doc, we can outrun any Mother.”

  “Lemura Tower confirms five Mother Kaiju,” Calloway said moments later. “Alpha Six acknowledged receiving information as well and is advised. She’s passing the information to the other squads. Trident Two confirms our readings and is ready to bug out.”

  “Good,” Thornton said in a hurried voice. “Let's get the hell out of here before the Kaiju realize that we’re here as well.”

  “No arguments from me,” Calloway grunted as the ship rocketed out of the water and clawed for air.

  ****

  Alpha Squad took point as the squad hit the beach. Gamma and Zeta squads followed in their wake with Beta bringing up the rear. Dr. Bach informed them of what to expect in a rushed briefing over the comms as the ships orbited the islands before they began the final stage of the insertion. Even so, seeing it was far different from hearing about it. Smith watched the dozens of smaller Kaiju patrolling the shoreline looking through them and passing them by as if the four squads didn't exist. The Kaiju signal the Doc was broadcasting sure had the buggers messed up. She saw one pair of Kaiju turn on themselves. One clawed at the other, trying to gouge out its eyes, as if it were an armored human. They screeched at one another, their confusion evident. She smiled.

  Smith called up the location of the squads' target on her view screen. The source of the heightened Kaiju psychic energy that the Doc believed was the location of the Overmind was buried deeply within the island. That made sense on plenty of levels. By being placed in such a fashion, it was protected from airstrikes and the paths to reaching it were greatly limited. They were going to be heading underground through some nasty and narrow passageways to get to their destination. Lastly, humanity had not managed to strike at a core cluster of Kaiju like this since the fall of New Orleans.

  Of course, they had to survive the beach and reach those passages first. The amount of time Dr. Bach's transmission could effectively confuse the Kaiju was a complete unknown. They hadn’t even been fully convinced it would work. Nevertheless, even if it held, their time was limited. The Tridents picked up the signatures of not one but five Mother Kaiju clustered about the island beneath the waves. If any one of them awoke, the Tridents would be toast, and the Dogkillers wouldn’t last much longer. The range of Dr. Bach’s device wasn’t known either, so Smith had two choices: slow and cautious, or barrel ahead.

  Nobody had ever called Volksrächer timid.

  “Squad Leaders, Alpha Six. Let's pick up the pace!” Smith ordered over her suit's comm. “The range of that device is unknown.”

  The heavy feet of the Mark II suits threw sand and rocks into the air as they hightailed it for the closest entrance to the system of tunnels that ran below the island's surface. Smith didn't like the tactical situation at all. Though the tunnels were far wider than her suit's sensors made her think they would be, they were still so tightly enclosed that, no more than three troopers could stand side by side within them. Given the Kaiju's numbers, it gave the beasts a huge advantage. All the things had to do was a pick a place to make their stand and they could easily stop the squads from advancing. Smith knew she couldn't allow the Kaiju the time to get organized in such a fashion.

  There were two Dog Kaiju blocking the mouth of the internal passage leading farther downward inside the cave. Their yellow eyes looked over her and the other members of Alpha Squad. One snorted and the other shook its head in wild fury. The two Kaiju appeared to be trying to wake up from whatever it was that the Doc had hit them with. She didn't give them chance. Smith jerked up her Mag Cannon, using single shot rounds, and reduced the two creatures to pulp where they stood. Their entrails splashed over the cave wall, slicking it with a bright orange wetness.

  “Alpha Four, point. Three and Five, cover,” Smith ordered. “Beta squad, secure this location. Gamma and Zeta, with me.” Smith received confirmation of her orders and turned to lead the charge as the squads raced downward towards the Kaiju Overmind. She was almost certain that Hell awaited them somewhere below.

  ****

  Alarm klaxons rang out all over the island of Lemura. Citizens raced for their homes and designated shelters as panic filled the streets of the domed city. Minister Yeltsin was cursing up a storm in central command. The group of Kaiju off the coast that had been detected turned out not to be the only one. The Kaiju had Lemura surrounded and swarms of the creatures, each numbering in the thousands strong, were converging upon it. Worse, three Mother Kaiju had shown themselves as the attack began. They rose from the waters, juggernauts of sheer, primal power, and followed the lesser Kaiju towards Lemura's defended shores.

  Yeltsin had already dispatched every available Dogkiller to meet the lesser Kaiju. Either they would hold the monsters on the beach or fall back to help defend the city if they failed. The Mother Kaiju was what concerned him now. There were four Tridents remaining on Lemura and Yeltsin scrambled them. The great ships lifted through the top of Lemura's dome. Even in the best of circumstances, four Tridents would have a hard time dealing with one Mother Kaij
u. With three, it would be nothing more than a minor delaying action. Lemura's main defense batteries slid from their resting places to target the closest of the three Mother Kaiju. The formation of Tridents broke apart as two ships headed in the direction of each of the other monsters.

  “All batteries, this is Minister Yeltsin, fire at will!” Lemura's main cannons thundered, shaking the ground beneath the city, as they spat beams of pure blue energy particles. The lead Mother Kaiju, the primary target that the majority of the base’s defenses had locked onto, had the beak of a squid and rows of eyes, three long, that ran down the length of the sides of its face. One of its massive arms ended in a pincer and the other a mass of writhing tentacles. Covering its chest and back was the thick armor plating of something very much like the shell of a turtle. The blasts of the cannons hammered into it there, causing the giant beast to stagger. It sunk partially back into the water before it regained its footing and continued to advance. The plates of its shell were slightly charred, but far from punctured. The cannons whined as they rose on their axis to target the Kaiju’s head as it loosed a shriek and began to advance upon Lemura once more.