SODIUM:4 Gravity

by Arseneault, Stephen

  The humanoids then spoke in a language unlike that of the squids. The verbal sounds were guttural, made with grunts and hisses. I soon passed through the room and into another corridor, again filled with sulfur filled breathable air.

  The corridor was occupied by several more of the humanoid soldiers and a squad of squids with the bubble helmets stood at attention in front of them. The soldiers were busily barking orders at their bright green underlings.

  I drifted through the next wall into a much larger room about the size of a school gymnasium, rows of displays filled the room with light and beeps and buzzes with sound. The displays were manned by helmeted squids as a dozen humanoid taskmasters walked about pointing and giving commands.

  As I drifted a voice soon came over the QE comm from Command telling me to open fire. Our Tacticians and Battle Planners had determined the room to be a vital target. I immediately let loose with a gravity pulse gun in one hand and a small coil gun in the other.

  Debris began to fly in every direction as pellets from the coil gun ripped through their targets. The gravity pulse weapon smashed into the countless terminals sending squid bodies high into the air of the simulated gravity aboard the alien cruiser.

  Only seconds after my assault began it came to a quick end. The alien cruiser began to move sending me backwards through one bulkhead after another. I contained my firing just as the ship moved out away from me, leaving me floating in the dead of space.

  The cruiser was followed by the remaining alien fleet and was headed back towards Earth. Ten minutes after I had begun my assault, the alien fleet screamed downward through Earth's atmosphere, stopping just short of the ground near Jackson, Mississippi.

  I watched the tactical screen on my helmet display as I aimed my BHD glove back towards Earth and began the long journey home. I was soon met by my team and brought back aboard our GAF. We were heading back into battle.

  The guns at Jackson were overwhelmed by the thousands of alien fighters. The alien mega-ship, cruiser and two destroyers unloaded their cargoes and the squids once again began their ground assaults.

  More than 200,000 skimmers moved outward from the ruins of Jackson and soon turned northward. The more than 5,000 remaining alien fighters were backed up by another 5,000 from the alien mega-ship. As the fleet began its move northward the mega-ship used its long range capability to take out our coil gun emplacements half a state away.

  Again, everything human was smashed and destroyed as the aliens advanced. This time the cruiser and destroyers joined in the fight. Their long range weapons taking out coil gun emplacements to either side of the advancing army.

  I accelerated to full and soon came down over east Alabama near my grandfather's farm. The aliens were a state away and moving northward. We were told to join an air-wing of 72 fighters in the ruins of Atlanta and await orders. Again, I had difficulty holding back the urge to race into battle.

  As the alien fleet annihilated everything in its path, two dozen green blips appeared on our tactical screen. They were racing towards the alien fleet. Just as suddenly as the blips had appeared they went silent. The mega-ship hovering just above and behind the ground assault was taking out every threat moving in its direction.

  The advancing army stopped just short of a now flattened Tupelo, Mississippi. The mega-ship moved up to 50,000 meters and began firing its ultra-powerful gravity weapon to the southwest. Within an hour Birmingham, Alabama lay in ruin from a weapon fired from nearly 250 kilometers away.

  Word soon came from Memphis of a similar attack. On our tactical screens the alien ground forces were dispersing to the east and the west forming a skirmish line. Soon after Memphis lay in ruin the alien assault resumed its trek northward crushing everything in its path.

  The alien cruiser and 14 alien carriers moved in tandem with the mega-ship from the center of the skirmish line. The two destroyers took up position near the line ends and were firing their gravity weapons continuously destroying everything for 50 kilometers out to either side. The thousands of circling fighters were flying cover for the advancing force.

  We then received orders to move all Defenders and GAFs to Indianapolis. As we lifted off I took note of other activity on our tactical screens. The Tacticians and Battle Planners were attempting to use the same stealth nuke strategy that had been used at Martinsdale.

  The stealth nukes were being placed every 20 kilometers in a line stretching from Jonesboro, Arkansas to Dyersburg, Tennessee. Evacuations were well underway. When we arrived at Indianapolis we were joined by a force of more than 400 Defenders and 12 GAFs.

  The Defenders slowly moved into a formation that placed a ship every half kilometer going six ships deep. The other GAFs took up position on the left flank. I hesitated to join their ranks. When a second order came in to assemble I reluctantly looked back at my team. Something did not feel right. We had no weapons or strategies that were affective against the mega-ship. I could find no logical reason for the commands being given.

  It was not the first time I had questioned our tactics. But, again I didn't have all the information. I didn't know what our plans might be. So, I pushed easily forward on the throttle to move us into position.

  The Defenders on the right flank suddenly began to lose their shields and explode as their reactors detonated. The alien mega-ship had targeted our assembly and was firing from more than 600 kilometers away. Even with the atmosphere running interference, the alien weapon was too powerful for our shields. By the time the order to disperse was given, 64 Defenders and their crews had met their end.

  The alien skirmish line soon turned into an arc and continued its push north spreading outward as it went. Our enemy was cutting a 400 kilometer wide swath through America's heartland. Our hopes were now pinned on the silent nukes that lay in wait. But those hopes were soon dashed as the mega-ship turned its weapon on the areas where the nukes had been deployed. In 20 minutes, our only hope had been crushed by the superior power of the alien gravity beam.

  Our Defender force was moved to Roanoke Virginia where we had the protection of the Appalachian Mountains as the alien weapon was only effective with line-of-sight. It felt cowardly to hide away while millions of our citizens were being killed and our homes destroyed.

  The alien fleet continued to advance in an arc that stretched from Springfield, Missouri to Evansville, Indiana. Evacuating vehicles were smashed on the roadways as they fled. Many had abandoned their cars to run into the nearby fields to hide. Many had given up and stayed huddled in their homes awaiting a quick but horrible death.

  The tears welled up in my eyes and the anger in my heart. Was this the way the Earth was going to fall? Was this the way Man had chosen to end his fight? How long did I have before my loved ones became victims of the crushing alien attacks? How long did I have before our remaining forces were rounded up and put to death?

  I had a full complement of 64 Drillers at the ready. I had a ship that could travel faster than light. I had a suit that allowed me to move about invisibly and yet these all seemed useless against our superior foe.

  When the alien forces had destroyed St. Louis, Missouri they turned decidedly northwest. They were heading for the vast cornfields of Iowa. Their starvation strategy was once again coming to light.

  The anger in my heart grew until such time as I could no longer control it. I turned our GAF upward and shot into the sky and soon into the black space beyond. I arced our craft and re-entered the atmosphere near Hudson Bay in Canada. Shepard asked what I had in mind.

  The screams from my commander rang hollow in my audio implant. I soon switched off my QE comm. I knew I was once again disobeying orders, but I could not sit idly by any longer while our people were mercilessly slaughtered. I was taking the fight to the enemy.

  I told Randy to ready all 64 Drillers and that we would be going into battle. We could not fly to confront our enemy but we might have a chance at drilling. I pushed the throttle hard and did a flip near Minneapolis while hugging close t
o the ground.

  I set down just north of Des Moines, Iowa and turned our GAF downward. The BHD cut quickly into the rich farm soil and we were soon a kilometer underground. I leveled out and pushed the throttle full, heading southward. The BHD silently cut a tunnel through the Earth.

  I stopped just south of Des Moines and began circling tightly to cut a small chamber out of the bedrock. When complete, I pushed upwards, drilling a tunnel towards the surface. I stopped short by 5 meters so as not to give away our position to the approaching enemy.

  I flipped again and returned to our newly dug chamber. I then began to drill another tunnel towards the surface at a slightly different angle. The process was repeated until eight tunnels lead upwards and outwards coming just shy of the surface.

  Shepard again asked what I had in mind. I told her we would wait in silence for the alien force to begin passing overhead. When our foe was directly above Randy would be given the go-ahead to launch all Drillers. We would then turn and head safely northward through the tunnel that we had initially come through. With a little luck, we would be able to bring damage to our enemy or at least perhaps slow them down.

  We sat patiently, waiting until the sensors told the story of the destruction of Des Moines by the mega-ship. An hour later the ground above once again rumbled as the alien attack force moved overhead. I turned and gave Randy the order. Our 64 Drillers departed going eight to a tunnel while screaming towards the surface, drilling the final 5 meters of earth before breaking free. It was a surprise from below that the aliens were not prepared for.

  The Drillers emerged into several pods of alien skimmers and quickly did their worst. The progress of the attacking fleet was halted as chaos consumed the skimmers. The alien fighters circled helplessly overhead as their ground forces below attempted to scatter and run.

  In the commotion and chaos that ensued one of the Drillers soon found its mark in the alien cruiser. Minutes later the cruiser exploded in a bright flash, sending shards of debris in every direction, taking out a number of fighters and hundreds of skimmers just below. A green fog soon blanketed the area.

  The mega-ship pounded the ground positions where the Drillers had emerged from but to no avail, we were long gone. I then flipped on my QE comm and forwarded the video of what we had done to Command. Orders quickly went out to the remaining Defender fleet.

  Within an hour a second and third subsurface Driller attack had been launched and again the enemy took heavy casualties. The destroyers soon opened their doors and began loading skimmers. A fourth attack then took down one of the destroyers as it hovered just above the ground and loaded its cargo.

  Our strategy was working and the tides of war were once again turning in our favor. In a last effort to collect its forces, the alien mega-ship flew down the line of skimmers picking up crews as it went. When a Driller attack emerged in the line of skimmers in its path the mega-ship then turned skyward, followed by the 14 empty alien carriers, it was soon beyond the atmosphere.

  Defender crews from around the planet were soon called into battle against the 10,000 plus alien fighters. As Drillers filled the skies over the remaining Iowa corn fields the alien fighters soon abandoned the thousands of remaining ground forces in retreat, following after their command ship and carriers.

  Our attentions were soon focused on the more than 40,000 skimmers that had been left behind. The skimmer weapons were not powerful enough to overwhelm our shields. It was almost like shooting cattle in a fenced field. They had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and no defense against our superior weapons. We were like crocodiles feeding on an animal who had lingered in the waterhole for too long. We were relentless and complete in our destruction.

  The final alien skimmer crews were given the opportunity to surrender, but they continued their fight to the death. I wondered if they themselves were only machines. I wondered what would motivate them to the point of dying so needlessly. Perhaps it was fear, perhaps it was their beliefs, perhaps it was in their culture to die fighting and never surrender. We then watched in disbelief as the final thousand alien skimmers grouped together and fogged themselves. When the last skimmer craft melted into nothing a cheer went up at Command.

  The alien mega-ship and its carriers and fighters regrouped in space at twice the distance of the Moon from the Earth. They moved randomly and the mega-ship made periodic sweeps with its gravity weapon to prevent another BGS incursion.

  Again Mankind had survived... survived to fight another day. In the attack another 146 million souls had perished, this time in the American heartland. Millions of acres of crops had been destroyed and everything human in the entire state of Missouri had been crushed.

  But, the aliens had once again been pushed back by an inferior force. We wondered what their next strategy would be. We wondered if we would somehow be able to counter it. We wondered if we would be able to overcome the potential annihilation of Man that still loomed in the heavens.

  Our scientists and other research personnel were poring over the videos of the newly discovered humanoid species. They appeared to be commanding the squids. I wondered if perhaps they were the key to ending this war.

  As we bandaged our fresh wounds, the alien force again sat idle for months. We had lost nearly a billion citizens since the arrival of the main alien fleet and we were facing the possibility of starvation for hundreds of millions more. Our factories continued to turn out fighting hardware and our citizens continued to train and to make repairs of what we could. I sat on station watching our foe and began to get that now familiar foreboding feeling.

  What were they planning? What terror would they bring next? What struggle would we have to fight to overcome and who were these new human like creatures? The alien mega-ship floated silently as we looked on. The moves that would come next were again ones that we had no way to prepare for and no way to fight. The few months of peace were blissful, but the tides of war would once again turn against us.

  Chapter 12

  For months the citizens of Earth continued in their recovery efforts, but difficulties were mounting. Factories were at full production and supplies were becoming scarce. Food shortages were common and efforts to contain the unrest were at times insufficient. Man struggled to maintain his composure.

  Three times I had asked to take action against the alien fleet and three times I had been denied. I was angered and at the same time relieved when orders came in for my team to return to Lake Pleasant and the accommodations of Chamber #2. We had earned four days of rest and recuperation after 84 days straight of being at war. It was a liberty call I knew the crew was in need of.

  After touching down we were herded off to the med labs for an analysis of our BGS suits. Randy and Raven would be getting an upgrade while Shepard and I would be receiving a full analysis of our suit performances. As far as I was concerned they had worked flawlessly.

  When our checkout was complete we each made our way to our quarters. I laid back on my anti-grav mattress and placed a call to my family. It was evening in Alabama. Things back home were tough, supplies were in high demand and short supply and workers were still employed in the factories in the city, leaving farmers shorthanded during harvest time.

  My grandfather had been on the tractor for 10 hours straight trying to help my father bring in the corn. I wanted to return immediately, but the only available air-cab would not be free until morning. As always, my grandfather did not complain. Toiling in the fields was what made him happy.

  I checked the personnel logs and was disappointed to find that Zack was away visiting his family in Michigan and would not be returning until after my departure. Even though I looked forward to the short break from my crew I did not want to be alone. I rang up Randy, Raven and Shepard and we headed for the base pub.

  We drank into the wee hours of the morning, laughing, telling jokes and talking about our families and childhoods. Several hours had passed before we realized that our BGS suits were filtering the alcohol from our systems. Shepa
rd pulled up a holo-display and checked the suit parameters. An adjustment was made to our filters and our evening of celebration continued.

  When our party had come to an end, I stumbled back to my quarters and laid back on the anti-grav mattress. I pulled up another holo-display and returned the BGS filters to normal. Within minutes my buzz was gone and the sleep meds had been administered. Sleep came quickly.

  When I woke in the morning I was expecting a hangover, but none was there. I shook my head and let out a "woot" in approval as I exited my quarters heading for the hangar. The air-cab was on time and I was soon on my way home. As I looked down at the passing landscape I smiled at the beauty our planet had to offer. It was worth saving.

  We passed over the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and then over the foothills of western North Carolina. I casually answered my comm when an unexpected call came in. It was Command and I was being called back for immediate duty. The alien fleet was again on the move.

  I passed my orders to the cabby who quickly turned back towards Lake Pleasant. I was still in the air when the alien fleet touched down in Lake Ontario and disappeared under the water's surface. I called Shepard who was waiting in the hangar for my arrival. The team was ready and waiting for my return.

  When the air-cab touched down I tipped the cabby heavily and ran for my ship. Within minutes we were racing to a rally point in Roanoke. The tactical screen soon lit up with information. The fleet had come ashore at St. Catherines.

  When the fighters and skimmers surfaced they began the now standard annihilation of everything human. The mega-ship followed and then began pummeling Buffalo from a distance. When the big guns at Buffalo went silent the aliens revealed a new tactic. The mega-ship began using its gravity weapon to dig a three kilometer wide trench up the Niagara River heading towards the now ruins of Buffalo.