by Saxon Andrew
Derek stared at Halley and saw her smile inside her combat helmet. He nodded slowly and after a moment smiled, “Thanks, Halley. You’ve helped me with this issue.”
“I’ll see you back on board after this is over?”
Derrek nodded and glanced at the monitor. He turned quickly back to Halley and said, “Count on it,” just as his row of drop modules shot forward and ejected them out of the giant transport toward the planet far below.
Sixteen hundred and fifty Sparta Warriors were ejected into space and began falling toward the planet. Immediately behind them, thirty industrial carriers with an Abrams or Leopard Tank on them began exiting the ship and start dropping toward the planet. They would arrive after the fast falling infantry. The heavy blasters in the city had to be neutralized before they could safely land and activate their defenses. The war was beginning and death seemed to have a huge smile as the warriors fell ever faster into the atmosphere. It seemed to know what was coming.
Chapter Ten
Captain Bolton pulled his two hand guns as soon as he left the transport’s drop bay. He saw his first platoon dropping beside him and they fell at an incredible speed. It felt like forever before he felt the force field bite into the thin atmosphere and stabilize his uncontrolled fall. It snapped him around and he gritted his teeth.
He was falling head first and the force field jerked him around and began moving quickly over the ocean below. In about two minutes he saw the lights of the target city off in the distance. He smiled and knew his platoon would arrive first, followed by the four special forces teams assigned to take out the four heavy blasters in the central plaza. He hoped he could get the city’s force field active quickly enough to support Major Jennings’ Battalion assigned to take out the Gracken barracks located just outside the city center.
He saw the city was growing in size but it was hard to judge just how fast he was traveling over water. He wasn’t about to change his display to see, it was set on combat settings and knowing his speed wasn’t important enough to waste the time to take a look. He checked his tactical display and saw the three Alliance Engineers were coming in about two minutes behind his platoon. He hoped the fifteen Gracken guarding the force field complex were removed before they arrived. If not, they were trained on how to move to cover and he hoped they had paid attention to what they were being told. He wondered how long it took a Gracken Warrior to charge up with their hormones and hoped it did have a slight delay. He checked the tactical again and saw that the flight pattern was almost perfect. His platoon would hit the ground thirty yards in front of the complex’s entrance and they would be firing even before they touched down.
He wondered if the four groups assigned to the blasters would arrive at the same moment and knew that the fire from his platoon’s weapons would alert every Gracken in the city. Oh well, that level of planning was beyond his skills and he had to hope everyone arrived at the precise moment needed. He thought for a moment and worried that he might not arrive to fire the first shot; however, the computer had made his mission top priority so he should be first. The city was growing by the second and he activated his combat night targeting system and was glad he did it early. A moment later he was screaming to a stop in front of the force field complex and he fired both handguns at two Gracken that were charging toward him. They were blown backwards and he shot two more that had made it to his platoon’s position and jammed their arms through two warrior’s force fields and broke their necks. The Gracken were unbelievably fast and eight warriors were killed before the Gracken were eliminated. The three Alliance engineers arrived and two of his squads escorted them into the building. Right behind the engineers, the rest of his company arrived and set up defensive positions around the building.
He suddenly ducked as a massive blast roared out from the center of the city a half mile away. It was followed by three more and Bolton knew the blasters were eliminated but now the Gracken garrison was alerted and the battle started in earnest. He checked the heat monitor in is display and saw there were numerous red dots moving toward the complex at an incredible speed. Rizzo was right; they were faster than he thought. The first red dots appeared around the corner of a building and his two squads opened fire. Rizzo was also right about their jumping ability; he killed six Gracken who were flying more than twenty feet above his troops. He shook his head; the only way to stop them was to meet them with a wall of slivers. Attempting to aim at one of the fast moving behemoths was next to impossible. Another company arrived and he was thankful for their help. The force field used by the Gracken warriors allowed them to penetrate his troop’s personal field. If a Gracken got his hands on you, you were dead in an instant in the crushing strength of their grip.
• • •
Private Pattayaric ran along the building and held up his hand. Belinda Kent immediately froze. The other eight members of their squad had been killed by Gracken Warriors punching through their force fields as they moved through the city. “What do you see, Patty?”
Patty held up three fingers. He lifted his shoulder rifle and held up his hand again with five fingers. He lowered one, then two, then three. Belinda charged her rifle and when Patty’s last finger disappeared, they both came out from the wall and opened fire at the three giant Gracken warriors.
Two of them were blown apart by ten slivers that hit both of them in the chest. The third had jumped and disappeared from their view. Belinda swiveled her head as quickly as possible overhead looking for the heat source a Gracken made in her visor. They knew it was close but they couldn’t find it. Patty hit the ground and rolled over to the wall and raised his handgun. Belinda remained standing scanning for the Gracken she knew had to be close by. Suddenly, the Gracken crashed through a window overhead and was on Belinda in an instant. The mahogany colored giant drew back his arm to punch through Belinda’s force field when Patty hit it with a stream of slivers that ran up its chest and through its head. It had swung and its arm went through Belinda’s force field but it died before it could grab her neck. The giant fell to the ground and Belinda jumped back with her heart beating out of her chest. Patty jumped up and pulled her back to the wall.
“Are you ready?” Belinda fought to bring her breathing under control and she nodded. Patty led the way. They arrived at the end of the building and Patty slowly looked around the corner. A dark brown hand slammed through his armor and pulled him away from the wall. Belinda moved forward and fired her rifle at full auto into the huge Gracken but it was too late for Patty. The Gracken collapsed and fell ten feet away with its hand still gripping Patty’s neck. Belinda saw six Gracken fifty feet away come rushing at her. Their speed was incredible and she knew she was dead. Suddenly, a wall of slivers rained down and moved over the six Gracken and blew them apart. Belinda looked up and saw four fliers moving up the street. Belinda shook her head and pressed herself against the wall. To continue alone would be suicide. She would wait for another Sparta Warrior to arrive before she would move again.
• • •
Derek arrived with three companies at the Gracken Barracks. The Gracken were rushing out of the huge building when he arrived and the Spartan Warriors were firing a barrage of slivers into the building. He shook his head at the speed of the huge Gracken.
The ones still in the building were firing their blasters through the openings but slivers would be fired at the source of the beams and they would immediately stop. The large number of Gracken that had escaped before they formed up began attacking from the rear of the formation and from above as they jumped off the buildings on each side of the street. They leapers appeared to have no fear of dying as they dove on the human lines outside the barracks. Derek assigned fire zones to the officers and he watched the buildings. The Gracken actually fell slower than they could run. Derek kept his rifle aimed above the three companies and shot more than twenty huge Gracken who jumped at human formations. The giants would jerk as the slivers punched into their bodies and in a number of instances their dead b
ody would hit one of the soldiers in ranks outside the barracks. The soldier’s personal force field would absorb the energy of the fall and push the huge body to the side but the soldier hit would be staggered by the impact.
A Gracken came running at high speed, zig zagging as it approached; it accelerated and hit Lieutenant Patel standing behind Derek. Derek turned, drew his handgun and looked into the contorted face of the Gracken as it ripped Patel’s heart out his chest. The Gracken saw Derek’s face as he pulled the trigger and it knew there was no time to escape. Its head was blown off its shoulders and the Gracken collapsed. Ten Gracken had fallen into the companies while Derek was dealing with the Gracken and he ordered, “Move a platoon back here to hold off the Gracken coming from the rear.” Derek turned back and shot two Gracken falling in on the ranks. Damn they were fast.
“Sir, we’re seeing large numbers of Gracken moving over the roofs. Do we have permission to fire into the buildings?”
Derek knew there were civilians in the buildings but the die was cast and hard decisions had to be made. “Take them out.”
Derek saw bright flashes start appearing over the tops of the buildings on each side of the streets. Thank God he had taken the time to train a company to use the force fields to keep them in the air. The foils would flex and generate lift keeping the warrior flying. The Flyers were keeping the casualty rate down. Without them, losses would be incredible.
• • •
Captain Bolton stood on the steps of the force field complex and saw in his tactical that Gracken were starting to mass on three sides of the building. He wondered why the complex was so important to them but he didn’t have time to worry about that issue at the moment. The only reason the building wasn’t being attacked on four sides was the huge river flowing behind it. That river was used to cool the reactor vessels and thank God it was flowing fast. Even the Gracken would have extreme difficulty swimming against the current.
Dave hit his communicator, “How much longer until the force field is up.”
There was a pause and he heard, “The engineers want to check all the systems before activating it, Sir.”
Dave shook his head. There had to be a reason that the Gracken were exerting so much of their forces to retake the complex.
“Captain Bolton!”
“Yes Sir.”
“Scanners have large numbers of aircraft coming over the horizon. Get that force field up now!”
Dave ran into the building and found the Alliance Engineers going through a checklist. “Turn on the field now.”
The lead engineer shook his head, “We have to make sure it works properly. We’re going through this checklist.”
The engineer lifted the checklist and Dave shot a sliver through it. “I said activate it now!”
The lead engineer dropped the sheet of paper and quickly leaned down and pushed a handle sticking up out of the control panel. The purple colored field immediately sprang up and covered the city in a huge purple colored bubble. Dave rushed out of the command center and rushed back to the steps. Now he knew why; the Gracken were going to hit the invaders from above with beams. He lifted his arm and said, “Sir, I suspect the Gracken still surviving will be coming here to take out the complex. I need more support.”
Halley knew Captain Bolton was right. “Major Romanov!”
“Yes Sir.”
“Are your tanks down?”
“Yes Sir.”
“I want you to move four of them into the city toward the force field complex. Get them moving.”
“On our way. What do you want to do with the others?”
“We were originally planning to use them to stop any of the Gracken from escaping. It appears none of them intend to do that. Turn them around to fire on any Gracken forces that approach the city. I suspect we will have company soon.”
“Derek, we have high speed aircraft approaching from the west. Initial scans say they are some kind of Beamship.”
“That explains why all the fighting has stopped around the city. They’re massing to take out the force field complex; get your regiment marching on the complex immediately. I’ll have the flyers move overhead and start harassing the Gracken as they start forming up.”
“Yes Sir.” Halley thought for a moment and then shook her head, “Major, you can’t fire antipersonnel rounds around the force field complex.”
“Sir, as long as our lines are holding around the building, I have non-explosive rounds that I can use. Our soldier’s personal force fields will keep them out of the complex. Just make sure they expand them to the maximum size.”
“Just be careful, Major! That force field will be the only thing protecting us from those incoming aircraft.”
Halley activated her general circuit, “It looks like the force field complex is where this fight is going to be settled. Flyers, harass the Gracken as they form up but when the tanks arrive, I need you to join the ranks of the companies at the steps of the complex and expand your force fields.”
Derek saw his communication circuit illuminate and he pressed a button on his arm, “General Daniels.”
“Derek, it looks like those incoming aircraft are some sort of heavy Beamship. They are carrying a Gracken Heavy Space Beam on the top and bottom of the platform.”
“WHAT!?!”
“We’ve not seen any evidence of those ships on any recording we’ve ever taken.”
Derek stared at his visor and said, “Adams, just how are you going to get the transports down here to move my soldiers off the planet?”
Adams shook his head and said, “We’ve contacted Mike and are working on that now. There is no way for us to enter the atmosphere and get close enough to fire on those ships without being blown out of the air. There’s too many of them for us to survive.”
“What about sending the Raptors down to take them out?”
“They’ve expended all of their ordinance taking out the Gracken Transport. By the time they could go back and rearm, this will be over.” Derek started at Adams and he saw there was something else. “You’re not telling me something.”
“There’s a hundred and fifty of those ships moving in above the city. My computer says that if they move within a mile above the force field, they will collapse it within thirty minutes.”
“You’re just a wealth of good news.”
“I’m sorry, General.”
Derek punched off the channel and thought furiously about what he could do to slow the Beamships. He pressed a button, “Major Romanov.”
“Yes Sir.”
“How vertical can you raise the barrel on the tanks?”
“The most recent modification allows us to raise it ninety degrees; why do you ask?”
“Will your computers target aircraft that are stationary?”
“I suppose so, Sir. That’s not what they’re designed to do. I suspect if they’re above three miles, we won’t be able to reach them.”
Derek thought a moment, “How high would an antipersonnel Sliver round go?”
“It’s lighter than the high explosive rounds. I can program them to release their loads about four miles up. The slivers would probably fly another three quarters of a mile.”
“Aircraft will be arriving above the city in less than ten minutes. Assign your tanks to fire on them as soon as they stop and take position above the city.”
Romanov smiled, “We’ll give it a shot, General.”
Derek punched a button again and said, “Adams. If we can keep those ships more than four miles away, how long will we have?”
Adams appeared to be listening for a moment and he looked back at Derek on his visor’s display, “About four hours.”
“We’re going to use the tanks to keep them away from us. Now find me a way to get my men off this planet.”
• • •
The Gracken Planetary Commander was in his personal quarters when his Support Leader stuck his head in the door, “Commander, the ships report two of the small enemy ships
have appeared in this system.”
The Commander looked up from the metals report and said, “Let me know if anything out of the ordinary happens.” The Support Leader left and the Commander turned back to his reports. The new mines were producing a huge supply of metals and the processing plants he forced the local inhabitants to build were finally coming online. The ores should be processed and the initial loads should be ready for removal within another three weeks. He had his computer run an analysis and saw that his labor force may be reduced substantially if things continued as they were. He didn’t like the idea of pulling some of the workers out to produce food for the workers but it was going to have to be done to fully exploit the ore deposits on the planet. At least the first loads would be completed shortly so the Elders wouldn’t scream too loud when production slowed down. These local creatures were just too feeble to really do much heavy work. The analysis finally completed and he sent the report off to the communications unit. He thought for a moment and pressed a button on his panel. The Support Leader came in and he said, “What did the ships report about the two ships?”
“They’ve not reported anything, Commander.”
“Contact them and see what happened?”
The Support Leader walked out but returned five minutes later, “Sir, none of the ships in orbit are responding.”
“What?”
“None of them are answering our transmissions.”
“Another Gracken Leader rushed through the door, “Commander, we’ve just had a transmission from the eighth city we conquered that it is being attacked by warriors that are dropping into the city from orbit.”
“Get me the Leader of the Pacification Force on my panel.”
A few moments passed and then the Leader appeared. “What’s going on?”
“We’ve had a force of about two thousand drop troops land in the city and they are currently attacking all of my units. They’ve seized the force field complex and I suspect they are preparing to energize the facility.”
“You must prevent them from activating the force field. I’m sending my air assets to assist you but that force field will delay them being able to fire on the invaders. Do not allow them to activate that force field!”
