Revolution of the Gods: The Battle for Sol Book Two (12 page)

“Many species in the history of all dimensional existence found different ways to achieve ascension beyond death of the physical form. Some were through natural evolution and others through scientific evolution. Our path to that goal is the latter one – we are using the true Creator’s science to achieve a similar state of existence. The Progenitor provided the precise genetic knowledge required to achieve ascension through the ability to control molecular vibration.

“However, here on Earth, the implementation of such knowledge was hampered until certain technologies came into existence. Our only remaining ship, the Zealieon, was not equipped for such research on the scale that was required. Finally, by the 20
^th
century the technology was approaching an adequate level to carry out the instructions.

“Subsequently, my fourth mission involved the infiltration of the Nazi war machine and the subtle manipulation of its search for biblical artifacts. The cranial fragment that was found in Nepal was that of a Progenitor that traveled to Earth on their first visit. We knew where to find it because he told us where it was. As we were originally instructed over 2,000 years ago by the Progenitor, I began the genetic recombination derived from the Progenitors DNA which was extracted from the fragment. In both the German and US militaries, I covertly conducted this process of genetic evolution which I eventually completed with the emergence of Taon.

“Do you know how the fragment got there?” Leroux interrupted, having grown impatient with not knowing its full origin and being left in the dark for years while she researched it.

“Yes, but that is a longer story,” Gideon revealed.

“He’s leaving,” Bracken alerted, after keeping a constant check on the conclusion of the conference on the main viewer.

S
till absorbing the unbelievable remarks, Dr. Danika Sarasin was sitting five rows back from the podium. She observed the applauding crowd that was supposedly full of the brightest minds on the planet.

How can they believe these theatrics? There is no way the Governors voluntarily resigned and Darisam is a crackpot! Suen-Nergal’s pretention is so transparent. It is obvious these Ansharians are manipulating the Christian savior mythos. None of this is right,
Sarasin concluded.

Dr. Sarasin, an accomplished History professor in the field of European religions at the University of Oxford, was in her early 40s and British born. Although she was not an official member of the AWR, her expertise had placed her in the forefront of academia with her research on the evolution of monotheism and earned her a seat at the meeting.

She exited her row and began walking behind the crowd following the leader’s entourage. By the time the emperor’s entourage reached the nave it was engulfed by more and more people. The emperor’s guards were now in tight formation a couple of feet around their leader as he immersed himself in the adulation and praise – most of which was being offered by pure blooded Ansharians that believed they were witnessing the long anticipated fruition of their well laid plans.

Sarasin followed the entourage back down the nave making a studied observation of the crowd’s behavior. The professor was about thirty feet behind the emperor when she paused in her step.

After looking more closely, Sarasin suddenly sped up her pace in the direction of Suen-Nergal. The interior of the basilica clamored loudly with the crowd’s increasing volume. When she was about five feet from the guards behind the emperor, Sarasin yelled loudly, “Raylen!”

One of the guards turned around and saw Sarasin trying to flag down a man standing on the interior of the narrow path cleared just ahead of the emperor. The professor was simply trying to get the attention of her acquaintance, but unfortunately in the process she subjected the man to the attention of one of the emperor’s guards.

As Raylen looked back at the call of his name, he first met eyes with the guard and then Sarasin standing slightly behind him.

What the hell?
Raylen fumed.

As an expression of surprise slightly emerged on Raylen’s face, the Ansharian guard isolated his posture as a threat. Raylen realized that it was too late to stop and proceeded to step into the emperor’s path.

“You do not belong here,” he proclaimed, lunging toward the emperor with his blade that bypassed security.

The guard, due largely in part to Sarasin’s behavior, was able to target Raylen as he approached, dropping the Torahnossian to the marble floor. Chaos immediately ensued with the spectators and admirers scuttling away from the guards as they extended their perimeter.

The Ansharian guards in front of the emperor surrounded Raylen. Sarasin, feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt, ran toward Raylen
.
The guards were about to fire again on Raylen but Sarasin had made her way there and jumped in front of their shot. Only one of the guards fired, inadvertently striking the professor in the thigh.

“No! Do not kill him!” Sarasin said after she fell to her knees with her thigh singed.

What the hell are you doing?
She asked herself, as the sting of her wound fully registered across her nervous system.

The emperor, recognizing a priceless opportunity to manipulate public opinion, stepped toward the two of them.

“Do not harm them,” he instructed. “They are simply misguided children of our Creator. We must demonstrate mercy and forgiveness. Have them detained so that I may visit later and try to reach their hearts,” Suen-Nergal smiled.

Raylen and Sarasin were surrounded by C7 personnel as the emperor exited the basilica and boarded his shuttle. The professor’s wound was little more than superficial but Raylen had taken a shot directly to his upper right torso. The particle weapon had punctured his lung and he was having serious difficulty breathing.

Prime Rothstein walked over to Raylen lying in pain on the floor and disdainfully looked down at him. “Take them to Old Cairo. And make sure they receive medical treatment. Especially this one,” the prime ordered, pointing at Raylen.

Outside the basilica, the emperor’s shuttle lifted off. As they ascended to the orbiting carrier, the Ansharian leader grew more irate. The emperor had been off the ground for no more than a minute before he established a channel to Gibil. “Proceed immediately with your offensive directives!” he barked.

“Yes your Excellency!”
Gibil acknowledged, eager to carry out the order.

T
he cameras had panned away from the commotion around Suen-Nergal. They made a slow sweep back to the baldachin where the conference participants were all looking in the direction of the nave. A couple of minutes later, the NEU broadcast switched to a view of the emperor walking out of the basilica and boarding his shuttle.

“So that was his plan?” Conrad asked.

“It’s hard to say. Raylen did not elaborate on his exact approach to infiltrate Old Cairo but the task seems to be underway...if he survives. We must wait and see at this point,” Turner replied.

“I will research the other individual,” Conrad informed, zooming in on Sarasin’s face.

“Let us hope this provocation somehow disrupts their tactical posture,” Turner declared after observing the emperor’s attempt to mask his rage before entering the shuttle. “It is time to prepare for Taon’s arrival at the Old Peaks. Inform Akilan to accelerate his training as quickly as possible. We must get Uzal’s fleet here.”

O
nce the conference had concluded, the NEU worldwide broadcast was directed by Sepsu to transmit a recorded loop of Suen-Nergal’s statement:
“Do not harm them…they are simply misinformed children of our Creator. We must demonstrate mercy and forgiveness. Have them detained so that I may visit these men later and try to reach their hearts.”

The brief clip ended with a fade away on Raylen while a NEU correspondent commentated on the “insurgent” attempt to assassinate the Ansharian leader.

General Bracken activated the desk viewer on the conference table and summoned General Tucker. When Tucker reached the doorway to the conference room, Bracken explained his instructions.

“We are initiating phase two of the Dulce offensive. Once the first Griffin squads reach General Kirsch's forces, he will proceed with the second assault under your air cover. Make sure the Griffins keep their attack patterns tight around the armaments on the surface of the base.” Bracken continued, “Once the Ansharians respond with their interceptors and frigates, we will initiate phase three. Is the Helios attack wing in place?”

“Yes they are in position awaiting orders,” General Tucker affirmed.

“Good. Standby for further orders.”

As Tucker left to carry out his orders, Bracken turned to Dr. Hauer. “Doctor, it would’ve been nice to have a heads up about this variable,” Bracken remarked, frustrated by Hauer’s lack of disclosure about Raylen.

“Until the broadcast just now, I did not know if our operative had even infiltrated the conference much less gotten near the emperor. Moreover, it has no effect on our tactics – yet,” the doctor replied.

“I want you and Leroux to get back down to Level 181 immediately,” Bracken instructed, knowing that the battle was about to enter a more unpredictable phase.

A
s fate may have planned, the Griffin squads from Dugway and the Gigim Xul squads from the Nekelmu destroyer launched at almost the same exact time. The Ansharian interceptors descended through Earth’s atmosphere on their way to establish a perimeter in the airspace above Dulce while the Griffins reached the land forces.
The Ansharians sent about half their squads toward the land force but were met by the Griffins flying directly at them. A myriad of blue and green particle beams crisscrossed the engaging fighters as the most stupendous air battle in Earth’s history got underway.

“We have engaged over a hundred Ansharian interceptors at Dulce. We have also tracked four frigates and the destroyer in low orbit holding in a landing pattern. The interceptors are causing significant damage. We will be able to maintain the assault for only a few more minutes,” General Kirsch informed Bracken as he returned from the conference room and stood next to him in front of the multiple viewers on the command deck.

“Dispatch the remaining Griffins to Dulce and initiate the Helios approach,” Bracken ordered Tucker, running the accepted risk of leaving the surface of Dugway nearly unprotected by air support.

Bracken and Gideon had previously decided that a decisive blow to the Nekelmu should be the primary mission objective. Without it, the Ansharian command and control in orbit over the NAU would be critically disabled.
The Helios battle group was designed to lure the destroyer closer to the Dugway facility. And the tactic had worked. As the six Helios cruisers ascended to a matching altitude with the Nekelmu, Gibil redirected the destroyer with an escort group toward Dugway to engage the cruisers.

While Dugway’s surface was susceptible, Gibil also ordered the commencement of the S2 infiltration. The SETH force, utilizing a sensory cloaked Helios commanded by Director Ningishzida, had maintained a position just north of the Great Salt Lake. The undetected cruiser was hovering at 1000 feet over Dugway’s surface in less than two minutes from the initiation of Gibil’s order. The S2s jumped from the cruiser’s launch bay in unison, concentrating the fire of their positron rifles on the hanger doors embedded in the desert floor.

“Sir, the Ansharian destroyer is almost in range. It has destroyed one of the cruisers and disabled another,” alerted one of Bracken’s men.

“Prepare for cannon bombardment,” Bracken barked.

“We have a target lock, sir.”

“Fire!”

Upon the general’s order, Dugway’s defensive plasma cannons emerged from their underground pods with Gideon’s modifications fully online. The array began firing rapid pulses that were now much stronger, faster and with further range. The Nekelmu’s shield was disabled after only twelve shots. The array was then able to achieve four direct hits to the destroyer’s engines before the Nekelmu changed its heading to escape the trajectory of the cannons.

The free falling S2s escaped the rapid cannon bursts unscathed. After their concentration of fire produced a sizable hole in the hanger doors, some of the SETHs were able to redirect their fire to the cannon array as they dropped past them into Dugway’s underground hanger bay, landing feet first with enough force to crack the concrete floor.

The S2 attack on the cannons at such a short range successfully interrupted the firing on the Nekelmu. Even so, the destroyer had been badly damaged and was limping back to high orbit.

“Sir, the Nekelmu sustained direct hits causing significant damage but the cannon array has gone offline. The destroyer is moving back out of trajectory range. And we are detecting a breach in the hanger bay,” General Kirsch updated.

Bracken looked at the video feed from the hanger bay and saw the S2s leveling his soldiers. He ordered an interior lock down but it was too late. The S2s had gained entry into the surface elevator and repelled down the shaft leading to the command level. The soldiers that were surrounding the elevator door were blown backwards from the explosive concussion created by the S2s breach into the level. Out of the jagged hole nine S2s repelled into Dugway’s nerve center, with only one casualty on the hanger level.

The S2s began laying down suppressive fire across the command deck as one of them interfaced with a computer array.

“He is on Level 181,” the SETH informed his group.

They are going after Hauer!
Bracken thought as he and General Kirsch crouched behind the other side of the command deck opposite the elevator banks.

Six of the S2s entered the other shaft that led from the command deck to the lower levels, using the lift cable to singularly repel. The three remaining S2s on the command deck began methodically walking through the area killing every soldier in their sights.