Peace World Page 5

  The jets would be followed immediately by the eight armored tanks and four artillery vehicles on board. The slowest, but most deadly, of the vehicles in the procession, they would set the pace for the rest of the force. Supporting these vehicles would be two hundred infantry soldiers, along with Titan, Patahbay, and the fifty Telgoran warriors. Grant had considered leaving this slow-moving force behind as protection for the mothership, but quickly dismissed the idea. Once they landed on Waa, the ship would be of no further use—a ball and chain they had to abandon. Instead, they would move as a single combat unit toward their goal.

  The plan called for the jets and ground forces to engage the initial Minith forces before the twenty troop carriers, with their contingent of four hundred additional infantry, left the ship. The unarmored aircraft had no offensive capability and were the most vulnerable vehicles in the force. Grant would wait to deploy them until the soldiers inside were needed—either as a reserve force or as a quick-strike force targeting the governor's residence directly.

  Grant's command vehicle was nestled at the rear of the crowded landing bay. He, and the troops already on board the craft, would accompany the reserve troop carriers. Staying behind with the ship while his lead forces engaged the enemy still did not feel right, but he was adapting to the fact that leadership as a general was different from leadership as a sergeant. His position in the rear provided the best option for observing the battle and directing his forces appropriately. Ultimately, it provided them with the best chance for success.

  He reached his vehicle, then glanced at his watch—twenty minutes to landing. He made a final visual pass across the bay and stepped toward the open door of the carrier.

  He almost made it.

  * * *

  The explosion rocked the already battered mothership and tossed Gee from his seat. Before he hit the ground, he knew what was happening.

  In a replay of events from six years earlier, the Minith had deployed their armed interceptors. They were under attack.

  The engineer was not hurt and climbed back into his seat. He redirected the exterior vids from a view of the planet's surface to views of the ship's immediate exterior. What he saw gave him chills.

  There were dozens of the deadly little ships, and they were all heading straight for them.

  Gee redirected his attention from the vids to the system controls that monitored the mothership's hull integrity and life-support units. He was pleased to see that the initial pass had not caused significant damage, but he knew that could not last for long. A quick check of their time showed exactly how long those systems needed to last—eighteen more minutes.

  "Gee, what's goin' on?"

  * * *

  "Minith fighters." Gee's simple declaration came through the command carrier's speakers and Grant shook his head. He had hoped to make it to the surface of Waa without encountering the Minith space fighters, but their luck had given out.

  "Damn. How's the ship?"

  "Good for now. But it won't last," the engineer reported calmly. "There are too many of them, and they have extremely efficient weapons."

  As if lending credence to his claim, the ship was rocked by a second, though less vicious, blast.

  "On the positive side, they don't appear to be very accurate," Gee added when the trembling halted.

  "Well, that's something to celebrate, I suppose." Grant did not transmit the sarcastic remark to the engineer. Instead, he sent a message across the all-units comm channel. "Everyone seal your vehicles and get comfortable. This is going to get bumpy the rest of the way."

  If the mothership lost structural integrity in this portion of the vessel, the oxygen would be sucked from the bay quickly. Those within carriers vehicles should be okay, but the soldiers outside of carriers would die quickly. He was considering having as many of the unprotected crowd into nearby vehicles when Titan's voice entered the carrier.

  "Grant!"

  "Kind of busy here, Titan," Grant growled, and the ship shook with another blast. Then another. The Minith fighters seemed to have improved in their accuracy.

  "Just listen! You need to hear this. Patahbay says we need to get ready for the Waa."

  "The Waa? We're under attack! We'll be lucky to make it to the surface in one piece."

  "No, you don't understand! The Waa are about to—"

  The shudder of an explosion, the loudest yet, cut off the other man's words.

  "Dammit!" Grant's right fist slammed the side of the carrier in anger and frustration.

  * * *

  Rala gasped and her large ears twitched in surprise.

  Without warning, a green beam of light lanced upward from the ship-building facility. She stared up in wonder, following the course of the beam as it pierced the sky.

  When her gaze returned to the distant shipyard, the surprise she felt at seeing the unexpected light amped up yet another notch.

  The hundred-plus Waa workers that had been scurrying about only moments before were now missing.

  Her shock at the Waa's sudden absence was soon forgotten. Scores of carriers were landing and discharging their cargoes of well-armed Minith soldiers. The skies in the distance grew dark as hundreds of similar carriers approached the shipyard.

  She doubted that she would get a chance to question any of the humans on board the incoming ship.

  A pity.

  * * *

  Gee could do nothing but watch and wait as the ship was chewed up by each passing run of the Minith fighters.

  The portion of the ship's hull that had been repaired by the Telgorans was breached. Fortunately, no one remained in that portion of the vessel. and the internal partitions designed to protect the rest of the craft worked as designed. But it was just a matter of time before one of the Minith attacks found an engine or the section of hull protecting the command center or the loading bay.

  At this rate of destruction, they could not survive the remaining sixteen minutes it would take to reach the surface.

  Gee was wondering how it would feel to die when the hum of the ship's engines went dead.

  The resulting silence was powerful. It was also brief, as the most powerful explosion yet gripped the ship.

  The end had arrived.

  But before it could claim them, help from the Waa also arrived.

  Gee watched the vid screen in wonder as a greenish spear of light shot from the surface of the planet and encircled the ship. The light quickly became a tangible force that captured the limping vessel and began pulling it with remarkable speed toward the planet.

  The monitor in front of Gee flashed with a single phrase, and he stared at it in wonder. Instead of the Minith language he had come to expect from the ship, the phrase was flashing in Earth Standard language.

  "Landing Sequence Initiated."

  * * *

  The sudden quiet filling the command carrier was interrupted by an announcement from Gee.

  "Looks like the Waa have the ship in some type of retraction beam, Grant. They are pulling us to the planet."

  The engineer's voice was filled with apparent wonder and surprise. Grant's emotion was utter disbelief.

  "Deus ex machina."

  "What?"

  "It's an old saying from thousands of years ago, Gee. Whenever a story's heroes—that would be us—get saved in the nick of time through some type of implausible mechanism, it was called a deus ex machina."

  Gee's silence let Grant know he had lost the engineer with his rambling. He decided to try again.

  "Basically, it means we should be dead, but our asses just got saved by a miracle."

  "That's a good thing, right?"

  "For us, it is. But I don't think the Minith will appreciate it."

  Grant cut the connection and changed channels to alert his forces to be prepared for landing. Once that task was completed, he drew a deep breath and released it slowly, willing his body and mind to relax.

  For the first time since entering his carrier, Grant took stock of the faces s
eated around him.

  Son of a bitch.

  "Conway, what the hell is your squad doing in my carrier?"

  "It's good to see you too, General," the sergeant replied with a tight smile. She tapped a weak two-finger salute against her brow. "I thought someone should be watching your back once we hit the ground. I nominated my team."

  Despite his initial irritation, he knew she was a good soldier and led a smart team—he could count on them when the shit hit the fan.

  He quietly returned her salute and nodded to the other soldiers.

  "Everyone check your weapons."

  CHAPTER 7

  The rapid capture and rushed descent toward Waa saved the ship from the attacking Minith fighters, but Gee wondered if was for naught. The velocity with which they passed into and through the planet's atmosphere was such that they would strike the surface like an inbound meteor.

  His concern was misguided. At what seemed like the last possible moment, the ship decelerated and softly touched down. Without the benefit of the external vid feeds or the ship's control panel, Gee would never have detected either the rapid descent or the almost-immediate slowing of the ship. He felt no change at all, and realized he should have had a little more faith in the Waa.

  "We're down," he alerted all the forces at the same time as he activated the bay doors.

  He waited for just a moment to ensure they still operated before finally evacuating the command center. He didn't know how much time he had, so he ran as fast as his chubby legs could take him to the bay and his assigned carrier. His rifle was already there, waiting for his arrival.

  * * *

  The lead jet carriers wasted no time. As soon as the bay doors provided enough clearance, they were out of the mothership and climbing. As planned, they peeled right, left, and right in a weaving pattern as soon as they exited. The pilots' and co-pilots' eyes anxiously scanned the skies and the terrain below for targets.

  It did not take long. The skies were filled with Minith carriers headed directly toward them. The ground, though occupied by some enemy forces, appeared relatively open. Without exception, the pilots elected to focus on the airborne threats headed their way.

  Within seconds of leaving the ship, missiles were on their way to their targets.

  The battle for their lives, and for the freedom of every human on Earth, had begun.

  * * *

  Grant watched the vid feed from the lead pilot on a monitor. What he saw from the camera showed minimal enemy troops surrounding the mothership. That view was confirmed by the reports being communicated by the other pilots in the force. All reported the same thing: minimal ground forces. Masses of incoming enemy carriers.

  He opened a link to the armored vehicles and initial infantry units that were just beginning to exit the craft.

  "All ground forces, proceed north at top speed along the planned route. Fight when necessary, but remember, we don't need to kill them all—we just need to punch past them. Speed is what we need here."

  * * *

  From the height and distance from which Rala viewed the battle, the human flying vehicles appeared to be a small flock of angry birds. Although massively outnumbered by a much larger flock—no, not a flock, but a swarm—they were ingeniously equipped with efficient, lethal stingers. She grew angry as she watched the toxins spit from those stingers reach out again and again to knock the incoming Minith troop carriers out of the sky. As each one exploded in the air or crashed to the ground, she couldn't help but think of the lives lost. She wondered if one of these angry little birds had provided Treel with a similar death.

  Suddenly, she no longer wanted any of these humans captured. She only wanted them eradicated.

  * * *

  Titan exited the ship at a sprint, but quickly fell behind the much-faster Telgorans. Patahbay and his fellow warriors entered the fight at once and, within minutes, scores of the Minith defenders fell. The hate amassed by the Telgorans over decades of Minith invasion had obviously not abated, despite the elimination of the giant green aliens from their planet.

  That was good, because Titan's hate was still just as strong. He hurried to catch up and join the Telgorans as they pushed north.

  * * *

  Grant saw the problem at once.

  Although the Minith did not appear to possess jet carriers similar to his own, the number of incoming Minith troop carriers they were facing was too great. For the moment, his forces enjoyed the advantage on the ground, but the ammunition required by his fighters to keep that advantage was not sustainable for long. Their basic missile loads had to be nearly depleted already. That would leave them each with several thousand high-powered ballistic rounds and full charges for their less-effective pulse weapons. The ballistic munitions could easily knock down the incoming carriers; the pulse weapons, probably not.

  Very soon, the enemy would be able to land their carriers wherever they wished and deploy their foot soldiers at will. At that point, the battle would shift from one of air superiority to one of ground superiority. And that was a battle they could not win.

  Grant considered ordering his own troop carriers, still massed inside the mothership, to proceed directly to the governor's residence. The four hundred infantry might be sufficient to storm the place and accomplish their objective. But that would abandon his ground troops already engaged to their own fates. That was not a decision he wanted to make—at least, not until he had no other choice.

  For now, he would stick to the plan and hope for the best.

  * * *

  It was now obvious that the humans were headed in the direction of her building. She doubted that was their final destination. There was nothing spectacular about it that could interest the humans. She mulled over the problem and, within seconds, a moment of clarity provided the answer. They were headed north. Truk lived to the north. They were headed for the governor's location.

  Now that would be interesting. For a moment, she wondered what, if anything, she should do with the knowledge. She weighed her options and finally contacted Ghin.

  The aide sounded frazzled and tried to put her off, but when she informed him that the humans were visible from her office and appeared to be headed north—toward the governor's residence—his irritation turned to gratitude. After all, he was located at the residence.

  Despite the glee she would have felt if the humans actually made it that far, contacting the governor's aide was an easy decision to make. Although no one in the military had yet recognized the humans' intentions, it was only a matter of time before their objective became obvious. It was better that she be credited with providing the information now, before anyone else had a chance.

  Despite the fact that it wouldn't change the end result, she was such a loyal and obedient supporter of the governor. She owed him nothing less than her best efforts.

  * * *

  Two jets and their crew were gone. One accidently crashed into a densely packed formation of Minith carriers, taking out several of the enemy vehicles in the process. The other had been brought down by a grouping of the enemy when it flew too close to the ground.

  The remaining fighters were out of missiles and running low on ammunition. Within minutes, they would be down to their pulse weapons, which would limit them to action against ground troops.

  Grant's ground troops were pushing forward and making good speed. They had covered almost a third of the distance to the objective and were holding their own against the relatively minimal number of Minith ground troops they encountered. That would change shortly when the enemy began offloading more and more troops to join the fight.

  For now, though, Grant felt things were going as well as they could. The enemy outside were focused on his air and ground troops. None of their efforts were focused on the mothership. He suspected they had no idea that four hundred infantry soldiers were loaded into twenty large carriers waiting to join the battle.

  "General Justice, this is Tank Commander One, over."

  "This is
Justice, Tank Commander One."

  "Sir, the enemy seems to be increasing their numbers significantly to the north. We're encountering serious resistance now. I'm not sure how long we can keep moving, especially once we hit the streets ahead."

  Dammit.

  The ease with which they had covered the first third of their journey was a gift, but he hoped it was one that would keep being given. They had covered the relatively open ground of the shipyard. Next, they would enter the streets of the city and begin the second leg of their journey.

  "Understood, Tank Commander One." Grant stayed on the same channel and reached out to his lead artillery commander. So far, the need to use that capability had been non-existent. No longer.

  "This is Artillery One, General."

  "Hank, I need you to join the fight."

  "It's about time, General. We've been dodging fire long enough. We'd like to give some back."

  "That's what I like to hear. You probably just heard the transmission from Tank Commander One?"

  "Yeah, I heard Chin complaining," the artillery leader joked. Grant always appreciated whenever men in the heat of battle could find time to laugh. It was a method some soldiers used to deal with their anxiety, but it was usually a healthy method. "What would you like us to do, General?"

  "I want your teams to maintain a rolling target of fire to the north of the advance. Clear a path through the Minith streets so our tanks and infantry can pass."

  "Clear a path. Got it, General. One path coming up."

  "Did you copy that, Tank Commander One?"

  "Yes sir. Hank and his artillery folks are finally going to get off their asses and do something."

  Grant couldn't help but laugh. "Exactly, Chin. Take care, and kick some Minith ass. Keep me informed. Out."