by Saxon Andrew
Private Gomez said, “It can get us killed, Sir.”
Cantwell shrugged, “Yes, it probably can. But have any of you really taken a good look at the spinning force fields?”
Yung said, “What do you mean, Sir.”
“There is a very thin spiral force field that will extend out of your force field when it starts spinning. When your magnets are activated to pull you off the planet, the force field will start spinning at more than five thousand RPMs. What do you think that spiral blade is going to do to the Weg above you?” The Platoon was silent and Cantwell smiled, “There is a real possibility that we will kill more Weg in the air than we do on the surface and I will tell you now that the number we kill on the surface is going to be huge.”
Bingham looked around and turned back to Cantwell, “Do you think the technology will work, Sir?”
“I really have no idea, Private.” The Platoon grew nervous at hearing that. Cantwell paused and said, “However, if I gave you the choice to be the first ones to go up and use it or wait until someone else does it first, what would you say?”
Bingham stared at his Lieutenant and said, “What would you do, Sir?”
“I don’t know everything that’s known about your new armor but some very intelligent Alliance Scientists and Engineers believe it will work. I happen to trust them and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’ll look back one day and tell my children that I took part in the drop we’re going to make.”
Gomez said, “You could also be dead, Sir.”
Cantwell nodded, “There is that to consider. But your chosen profession is to be a Spartan Warrior. Someday, that is going to mean something and I intend to be one of those that gives it actual meaning. I refuse to live in fear of dying. You never live if you do.” Cantwell paused, “Or, you can work in the support services for those of us who are going to make a difference.” He paused and said, “If any of you wish to transfer out of the service, I will honor your request. Are there any more questions?” Everyone remained silent and Cantwell stood up. Yung yelled, “Atteennnshun.”
The Platoon came to attention and Yung saluted Cantwell who returned his salute and left the barracks. Gomez looked at Yung, “He’s different, Sarge.”
Yung stared at the door and said, “I don’t think so, Gomez. I think he’s always been like this and we’ve missed seeing it.” Yung looked at the platoon, “Come on; be honest. Did any of you expect to be alive after what we saw before the first drop?” Gomez sighed and shook his head. Yung said, “Imagine the Weg that will be hit by our spinning blades. You have to admit that has to be more fun than just flying by them.”
Bingham smiled, “Sarge, I’m with you.” The rest of the platoon joined in and Yung knew they were back on board. He was going to tell Marsha about the meeting and apologize for everything he had said about Lt. Cantwell. She needed to know she had made a great choice.
• • •
The next day Gomez said, “Sarge, this spinning force field is making me dizzy.”
“Get a life, Gomez. It only takes two seconds to make the trip to the carrier. Close your eyes.”
“I know. I just don’t want to miss anything.”
The warriors laughed and Yung said, “Make a choice, Gomez. Either way, I don’t want to hear any more complaints about your armor.”
“Yes Sergeant.”
Yung raised his voice and yelled, “I don’t care if any of you close your eyes, keep them open, or shut one and look through the other. You will get your blasters activated and your field fire set immediately upon landing on the carrier. IS THAT CLEAR!”
“Yes Sergeant!”
• • •
Josh looked at his training reports and listened to Jackie explain to her officers about the new mixed ranks. At the end of the meeting, Josh said, “Captain Krusiev.”
“Yes Sir!”
“It appears that your second platoon has set a record in getting their carrier’s blasters activated and aligned. No one has come close to their top six times. Please congratulate them.”
“It will be my pleasure, Sir.”
Josh was going to take a good look at that platoon. Tindel said that they were warriors he would fight with any time, any place, anywhere. He needed some officers to replace several that weren’t performing well.
• • •
“Congratulations, Lt. Yung.”
“Sir, this is rather sudden. I don’t know if I’m ready for this.”
“You’re more than ready, Lieutenant.”
“Where will I be reporting?”
“You will be taking command of your current platoon.”
Yung’s expression showed his shock, “Sir, Lt. Cantwell has done an excellent job of getting us ready!”
“Relax, Yung. Lt. Cantwell will be assuming command of the company.”
Yung looked at Krusiev, “Where are you going, Sir?”
“I’ve been promoted to Battalion Commander. Your company will be one of my units. I expect you to do an outstanding job.”
“Yes sir; and congratulations.”
“Let’s give ’em hell, Lieutenant.”
Yung smiled, “Yes Sir.”
Major Krusiev left Yung’s new quarters and Jess came in right behind him. Krusiev decided not to interrupt them. He had forgotten to tell Yung about the officer’s meeting the next morning. He would send it on his communicator. He smiled as he went to move to his new quarters. He notified Sgt. Dixon that she was promoted to Captain and would be his XO. He trusted her insights and thank God the Colonel had allowed him to choose whomever he wanted.
• • •
Captain Cantwell saw the Gracken Unit Commander exiting his carrier and moving his way. He waited for him to arrive and was surprised at being saluted by the Giant. Cantwell said, “I believe that I am junior to you, Commander.”
“Not on this jump. Humans have seniority when command levels are the same.”
Cantwell returned the salute and said, “Are your warriors ready to practice dropping?”
“They are.”
“How do they feel about fighting with us?”
“I’ll be honest and tell you they don’t like it.”
“I can understand why.”
The Gracken stared at Cantwell for a moment and said, “Tell me why you say that?”
“Your size, strength, and speed are superior to us and there’s no way we can match them.”
“You sound like my warriors.”
“They’ll see how we can make a difference. Is your unit ready to drop?”
“They’re waiting for you to give the order.”
Cantwell smiled and lifted his communicator, “Start the drop in ten.”
The two officers looked up at the sky and after a few moments saw the carriers coming down at an incredible speed. Cantwell said, “I am always amazed when they don’t crash.”
The Gracken laughed, “We think alike there.”
The two carriers suddenly stopped and the hundred Gracken Warriors were out and in their ranks in almost record time. It was almost record time because the Spartan Warriors were in position first. The Gracken Unit Commander’s face showed his shock and Cantwell said, “Your warriors are carrying more than five hundred pounds of blasters and rifles. My warriors are only carrying the heavy rifle and their shoulder blasters.”
The Gracken Warriors were shocked at the speed of the humans and they knew professionalism when they saw it. The Gracken Commander said, “Do you want to do it again?”
“Let them mingle for a few minutes. I think it will pay off.” Cantwell sent over the two units’ frequency, “At ease. Give us a few minutes to look at the videos of your performance.”
“We don’t have any videos of this.”
Cantwell smiled, “They don’t know that.”
The Gracken watched the two units start talking and the humans were amazed at the Gracken. The Gracken were surprised at the respect they were being given and soon both units were laughing with each
other. He looked at Cantwell and smiled, “I believe you are right.”
“Let’s do it again and see how they do.”
The drop was done two seconds quicker the second time. Everyone was relaxed and both units were congratulated at the end of the day for setting the best time.
• • •
Krusiev looked at the training times and smiled. “Captain, it appears a certain Captain Cantwell and Commander Grent have the best time on their drops today.”
Marsha smiled, “He’s something special, Sir.”
Krusiev nodded as he smiled and said, “You’re right. Commander Grent comes highly recommended by the Gracken High Command.” Marsha stuck out her tongue at Josh behind his back. She knew he was playing her. “Please ask Division Commander Tindel to send Commander Gent to my office.”
Marsha was nervous about the sudden request but made the call. An hour later the Gracken Unit Commander arrive in a shuttle and entered Krusiev’s office. He saluted and Krusiev returned it. “Commander, I need your appraisal of the unit you dropped with today. If they don’t meet your expectations, we can replace them with another.”
Marsha was shocked at the remark and the Gracken Commander quickly said, “Sir, I and my warriors are quite satisfied with the Company you assigned us.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. We were all surprised by their professionalism and they were better prepared than my own warriors. I do not desire to change units, Sir.”
Krusiev smiled, “Thank you, Commander. We really want to make sure we all work well together.”
Grent nodded, “If your other units are like this one, I see no problem with that happening, Colonel.”
The Gracken left and Marsha looked at Krusiev, “What was that all about?”
“I needed to know how good your Cantwell really is. For a Gracken to use the word professional and human in the same sentence is the highest compliment they can pay.” Krusiev smiled, “It appears the General was right.”
“About what, Sir?”
“We need to give him a bigger hammer.”
Marsha’s eyes narrowed and she shook her head, “Hammer?”
• • •
Alex looked at the Alliance Engineer and shook his head, “Are you sure about this?”
“We’re not able to detect it with any of our scanners, Commandant.”
“What about seeing it visually. We don’t know how the Weg’s vision operates.”
“We tried using our most powerful passive scanners and they didn’t pick it up.”
Alex shook his head, “Are you absolutely sure about this?”
Hanzel slowly shook his head, “How can you be absolutely sure about anything? However, we’ll know if it’s moved.”
Alex took a deep breath and looked at the Gracken Elder, who started shaking his head, “Our sentries say the launch can’t be more than a week away.”
Alex looked at him, “Tell me again how you determined that piece of information?”
“In all of their previous launches, they opened the tunnel on the surface going down to the starship construction chambers. We’ve seen the tunnels being opened on more than a hundred infested planets over the last three weeks. Commandant, they are going to launch and it won’t be much longer.”
Alex nodded and said, “Have you set up the coordinates?”
Hanzel nodded, “We have all of them.”
Alex sighed and knew it had to be done. His Special Forces Warriors had been training for a week and if it was going to happen, it couldn’t wait any longer. Alex looked at Colonel LaFyete, “Issue the orders. Make sure the timing is perfect.”
LaFyete ran away as he spoke into his communicator. Across the giant training field, eight hundred Special Forces Warriors ran to their specially prepared carriers.
• • •
Bart and Kimberly ran to their carrier and jumped the rail. The Pilot in the rear of the vessel activated the force field and the carrier rose at an incredible speed toward orbit. Bart hit the button on his helmet and he was snatched off the deck of the carrier and swung out over the side. Kimberly joined him a second later. Bart keyed his communicator, “Keep them off me, Kim!”
“You just don’t hit the recall until you do your job!”
Bart nodded and took the huge launcher off his shoulder and raised it. Kimberly gripped a strange looking weapon and pulled it tighter into her chest. The gun had two braces coming out of the base into her midsection to keep it horizontal and the barrel was eighteen inches wide. She hung from the arm and put her finger on the trigger of the weapon as two hundred carriers arrived and formed up around them. Captain Bernadette Howe released the coordinates preprogrammed into her jump drive and saw the jump button illuminate green. She put her index finger on it and pulled up the secondary coordinates in the secondary display. She pressed the activate button and the jump button turned orange. It would only turn green after the first jump board operated.”
Col. LaFyete looked at his panel on the carrier he was piloting and saw Hanzel appear, “Are you sure all of the bats are in place?”
“I am.”
LaFyete activated his monitor, “Fleet Command is notifying all our warships above the Weg infested planets that they will hold their fire for the next ten minutes. As soon as I receive the confirmation of that order, I will activate your primary jump boards. I don’t have to tell you that you must do this fast; if you stumble, you’re dead.”
• • •
A week earlier, small, translucent devices were released from Gracken warships above the infested worlds and it took the devices three days to finally reach the surface. A device was used by the warships that dropped them to scan the target areas in order to confirm that the devices were placed properly. In eight instances, more devices had to be dropped. The Alliance confirmed the bats were in place and ready to go operational.
Bart felt his fear and the adrenaline made his hands shake. He closed his eyes and started singing Sparta’s National Anthem. After a moment, Kimberly joined him and he felt his fear diminish. He finished the last verse as Col. LaFyete said, “Activation in three, two, one…”
Chapter Ten
Rumel heard the orders for his fleet to hold their fire and looked at his Communications Officer, “What’s going on?”
“I have no idea, Commander.”
Rumel turned back to his console and saw the tunnel on the surface of the planet above the starship chamber far below. He looked at his Scan Leader, “Do you detect anything?”
“There is a massive reading from the chamber but nothing above it.”
Rumel shook his head, “It won’t be long.” His two Leaders agreed with his assessment. Suddenly, a small ship emerged into normal space directly above the tunnel opening.
His Scan Leader yelled, “Commander, I have one of those ships appearing in normal space above all the starship tunnels on the planet.”
“Keep that tunnel on my panel.”
“Yes Commander.”
• • •
When LaFyete pressed the green button on his panel, all four hundred of the specially prepared carriers disappeared simultaneously. Every one of them was set to arrive directly above a Weg starship escape tunnel. The moment the carrier entered normal space, the Bats on the surface expanded and the two powerful magnets inside of them activated. The magnetic field shot into the atmosphere at light speed and instantly activated the arms the two Special Forces Warriors were hanging on. The Warriors instantly shot down at the planet at an incredible velocity.
Their speed diminished rapidly as they arrived at the Magnets and the special armor developed for the drop absorbed their impact. Bart and Kim hit the ground with bent knees and Kim pulled the trigger on her chest gun. The slivers blowing out of the barrel looked like a huge cloud surrounding them. The slivers that didn’t detect a Weg above the surface went vertical and turned over. After a pause, the ground around the two Warriors exploded as the slivers detected Weg Diggers b
reaking through the soil.
She stood behind Bart, who aimed his Shoulder Mounted Missile Launcher at the center of the tunnel and squeezed the trigger. Kimberly walked around Bart spraying the massive barrel at the Weg coming out of the ground. The Missile took one second to acquire the target and the path the tunnel followed underground. It blasted out of the missile launcher and Bart hit the jump button on his launcher’s trigger. Kimberly and Bart shot off the ground as ten thousand Weg fought their way through the cloud of slivers Kim had fired around them.
Bart and Kimberly hit the arms extended over the side of their carrier and it immediately jumped away. At that same moment, the Bats on the ground at the tunnel’s entrances exploded in massive blasts. The scientists who designed the missiles that were fired into the tunnels estimated that they had to travel five miles under the surface as they flew down a wide, winding corridor. If the Weg were given any time after the launch, they would collapse the tunnel in front of the missile. It had to get to its target quickly.
Each of the missiles used the one-second delay to scan the seismic probes around the target tunnel to program the path to follow. Once that data was locked in, the missile ignited and flew into the tunnel’s entrance at an incredible speed. The Ground Seeking Missile was a work of art. It was lightweight but had a gravity compensator to overcome its inertia along with nose and tail thrusters to assist it in making tight turns.
Every intelligent species has various means of communicating. Some of those processes are much faster than others, but they all take time. In order for the Weg to collapse the tunnel in front of the missile, someone had to tell those far underground to do it. From the time the Spartan SF Warriors hit the ground to the launch of the missile was three seconds. The Weg coming out of the ground around the two Warriors were workers and the Lead Weg wasn’t getting a clear picture from their minds what was going on because most of them were blown away by a wall of slivers before they cleared the surface. It finally got a view through a cloud of explosions of a creature launching something into the tunnel. It took two seconds for the message to be relayed to the Queen and she had to process that bit of information before sending the order to collapse the tunnel. The Weg were fast, but not fast enough. The missiles arrived in the targeted construction chambers in three point two seconds. The tunnels were collapsed but it was a mile behind the Ground Seekers.
