Talosian Chronicles 6: Armageddon (25 page)

Despite the early success of their mission, it was clear that the bomb group and their fighters would not make it past Denver, Colorado. The attrition rate of their numbers was for too high. If they continued to press the attack, the entire force would be wiped out well before they reached the Mississippi river.

However, it soon became clear to Almas that the enemy had never intended for the attack to reach that far. She was beginning to suspect the reason for the bombing had been to clear the heavier defenses from the Pacific rim area.

As soon as the Imperial bombers begun retreating then ten more light cruisers entered the atmosphere and headed for point on the western and southern edges of the so called 'Ring of Fire' that was the edge of the Pacific tectonic plate.

"Commander, we think we know what they might be up to," Denise, the Intelligence officer reported to her commander.

"Please Captain; enlighten us," a now somewhat harried looking Almas replied.

The officer nodded and minimized the current data in the big holotank. "We're not the only area seeing the light cruisers. They are coming down all over the world and heading for major fault lines. Command believes that they are going to try to destabilize the major tectonic plates in order to cause as much damage down here as possible." While she spoke, the big tank showed the damage that would be caused by the ships she was speaking of.

"While we're busy dealing with that mess, the third Imperial wave will make for Earth orbit. Our Raptor teams have already told us that fleet is comprised completely of those religious troops the Admiral reported encountering at Hyperion. They now believe that it is these troops that will carry the chemical weapons to the surface and detonate the bombs."

"The earthquakes and tsunami's would all but wipe us out just by themselves!" Arlen replied staring at the map of North America as parts of it were slowly being covered by water.

"Operations, our targets are now the light cruisers. We need to do whatever it takes to stop them from completing their missions." She turned to another man. "Damage control, we are going to need the damaged weapons repaired as quickly as possible. If we had the time and the people, I would have you begin replacing weapons as well. Find out if we have the capacity for more drones and replicate what you can."

The operations officer nodded. "Commander Carlson has issued a general warning to all facilities to prepare for massive tectonic activity as well as flooding. Raptor teams are being sent to all bases to bolster defenses and so the AI can assist with drone control." He turned to the Damage control officer. "Ira, they want you to get your replicators to start building heavy construction drones as quickly as possible. The Raptor will deliver them to the area they are needed and the AI will control them."

"Captain Beecher might be able to assist in that as well during his rescue operations," Bill suggested. "He's going to be heading into most of the hardest hit areas."

"Ill see if he can do that," the ops officer nodded in agreement.

"Ops, where are our Condors?" Almas asked pulling up the tactical map again.

"They are have linked up with the Chinese and Pearl Harbor ships and are trying to engage the light cruisers along the Mariana off the coast of Asia. The South American and Australian bases are working on the more southern ships. However, they are reporting heavy fighter protection and are having difficulty engaging. Pearl Harbor and China are retasking their fighters to assist as is the Australian base," the ops officer reported as he skimmed through the reports being fed to him by the computers.

"Have the fleets gotten repositioned yet?" Almas asked. "We could really use their help."

"Targeting warnings on seven of the ten Light Cruisers! Condors and fighters are break off!" The ops officer suddenly said as he read quickly. "Sir! It's the
Terra
!"

As Almas and her staff watched, several of the icons for the enemy ships suddenly turned yellow indicating heavy damage. Four of the ships turned red and faded out indicating total destruction. The remaining three followed suit seconds later.

"Sorry it took us so long, mates! We got in a bit of a tiff with an Imperial that was insistent blowing up Mars. Anyway, we heard you had a pest problem, so we came to see if we could help," A man speaking with an Australian accent and wearing the uniform armor and rank of a senior Commander said. "We'd get the rest of them for you as well, but they are too close to the planet to risk a missed shot. So, if you'll excuse us, there are more of these miscreants to educate."

"Jesus! They took out seven light cruisers in under a minute and a half!" the ops officer said.

"TDF
Terra
is a tactical battleship. Basically, it's a heavily armed and armored fortress with engines," Denise replied. "A light cruiser is little more than a large fighter to that monster."

"Well, that monster just saved our back-sides. Ops, get our people on those remaining cruisers. With the
Terra
in the neighborhood, our odds just got considerably better," Almas ordered.

"The rest of the Guards just arrived in orbit and are launching fighters.
Tiamat
is returning to position and has recalled her escorts.
Star Dancer
and several other capitol ships are taking position over the south polar region. Sir, I'd say we're getting close to the final battle here," the Ops officer reported.

Almas nodded. "Yes, it would appear that is the case. If the fleet can move that much fire power to Earth, what of the other installations in the system?"

The Ops officer typed in a request on his tablet. "Mars is still under attack, but is being defended by one of the Alliance fleets. The civilian space facility there has been destroyed. Selene and Phoenix Base are currently holding their own without assistance, and report only moderate damage so far." He typed in another request.

"Centauri system has faired a little better. Atlas has suffered only environmental damage do far, with no loss of life, however, there are a lot of wounded. All of the Pleiades stations have taken damage, except for Station III; there is another of the tactical battleships being built there. It's still far from finished, but her weapons are active on station power. Pleiades II and IV report heavy casualties; It looks like they suffered a decompression event when the stations were breached. A flaw in the design prevented some of the airtight doors from closing during the emergency." He continued to look through the reports.

"I can't get specific details, but we have lost thirty-six percent of our total forces in space and a total of twenty-nine percent of planetary and ground forces. The good news is that the Empire has lost almost fifty percent of their attacking force; however, it does say that the 'religious' fleet is not counted in that total." He paused and grinned. "The only remaining Caldarian forces are scattered and without over-all leadership. All the Caldarian capital ships have been destroyed. Raptor teams from Hades Base managed to board and secure three slave transport ships, rescuing a total of eight thousand, six hundred and twenty-seven humans. They also recovered the bodies of several hundred more that had died from various causes while the fleet had been in transit. Apparently the crew simply had not gotten around to jettisoning the bodies. The rescued people have been taken to the medical facilities on Atlas for evaluation and treatment," he finished.

Almas nodded. "That is indeed good news, but I cannot help but wonder how many others were lost in the destruction of the other ships." When she saw the reactions of her officers, she explained. "That is the fault of the Caldarians and not our people. We were not given a choice in their destruction; and the rescue of those people was not remotely possible."

Arlen nodded. "Yeah, by forcing those people on a warship, the Caldarians are the ones responsible for their deaths. Our people had no choice, and should not be held accountable. Caldarians hold no value for a life not of their own race. They would not think twice about killing a million humans to save even a dozen of their own."

Almas smiled sadly at him and nodded her agreement. She knew that he had no direct knowledge of the Caldarian race and was basing his opinion on the information he had been given. However, he also knew that he needed to support what Almas had said for the benefit of the people in the room.

"It is a hard mentality to understand, and one that most of us would consider to be truly evil, yet to them, it is simply the way things are," the Ops officer added. "Evil or not, they had to be stopped as quickly as possible. We're going to have to hunt down the remaining pockets and deal with them before they can harm anyone else."

"You give me a location, and I'll drop a bunch of very unhappy Marines on them. I'm am certain they will adequately convey our displeasure at their treatment of our fellow citizens," Bill replied with a half grin.

The Ops officer grinned back, but turned slightly. "Hey Riley, why don't you lend the Colonel a hand locating the rest of our uninvited guests?"

"Sure thing!" the young soldier replied. He grabbed his tablet and moved over to stand next to the Colonel. Very shortly, the two men were engrossed in a quiet planning session for the Marines under Bill's command.

Almas and Arlen had no more than gotten back to work on getting rid of the last few light cruisers when Bill and his new friend moved over to the Operations officer. After a short discussion, the ops officer looked up at Almas and Arlen. "Excuse me Sirs, but we have a small problem. I would like your permission to contact one of the ships to request assistance."

"What's the problem?" Almas asked.

"One of our pilots was forced to bail out by the computer at low altitude. She was wounded but rescued by some local civilians. She reports that a Caldarian transport has landed near them and has started rounding up the local population. Apparently, they are in an area that didn't have a lot of shelters," the officer replied. "She is being well treated, but shares the concern of her rescuers that the people in that area are in considerable danger from the Caldarians. The problem is, we have nothing left we can send to help them. All of our troops are on equally as important missions."

Almas looked thoughtful. "You can ask them, but keep in mind they gave up most of their Marines already. It was my understanding that they kept only enough on board to repel boarders."

"Thank you, we'll see what we can scare up," the man replied and nodded to Riley.

They finally got help, but from Phoenix Base, not the ships. They got three FROGs, four hover-rails, two construction drones and squad of Marines to train the locals. They also got a small replicator and a computer control module for the drones and replicator. It wasn't much, but it would prove to be enough.

Mare Imbrium

(Sea of Showers)

Selene, Earth's Moon

Sol System

“Dasher four, this is Command. We are tracking Imperial ships entering your area. It reads as a troop transport and escorts. Please confirm.”

“Command, this is Dasher One, We got nothing on the scope at the moment, could you give us a vector?” Lieutenant Paula Berg asked, as she glanced at the empty screen to her right. There was a ridge to the right that would cause a scanner shadow. "Smith, stick your sensors over that ridge and see if you can spot them."

“One-zero-eight degrees reference your position. At roughly two hundred meters up and seventy klicks downrange, it’s on course for the base,” Command reported.

Paula noted that the ship’s course would take it almost right over the top of her squad. “Stand by command, we’ve got a ridge shadowing that area. We're taking a look.” As a precaution, she ordered the rest of her five 'man' squad of FROGs to get closer to the ridge. Private Smith in Dasher Four was almost at the top. As soon as he stuck the drone's head over the edge, her screens showed the targets closing in fast.

“Command! We have three inbound targets: one transport and two Imperial heavy fighters. The fighters are tucked in close to the transport. They’re carrying nukes! Please advise.”

“Dasher One, engage on your own discretion. We’re diverting a flight of fighters to you but you’re going to need to slow them down," Command ordered.

Paula swore silently. "Listen up kids, we have to keep those assholes busy until our fighters can get over here. Spread out and set up a skirmish line along the ridge and engage as soon as they're in range. Remember, fire and move! Those fighters will take us out faster than you can say 'oh shit!"

"What about the nukes Sir?" one of the troopers asked.

"What about 'em? If we don't stop these pricks, it's going to get real hot in here, understood?" Paula said. "Now move! We have
no
time!"

Using the anti-gravs, the five drones rapidly spread out over about a half mile of the ridge. In that time, the enemy ships had closed the distance to thirty klicks. Each FROG drone carried two missiles to keep fighters honest, but their main weapons, the small caliber mass driver guns could be used in that roll as well. Paula had her doubts about taking out the transport, but was determined to try anyway.

Since they were in space and only had the light gravity of the moon to worry about, the range of the FROG was greatly enhanced. The squad opened fire with their mass drivers at twenty-five klicks. Both fighters broke formation and pealed off in different directions, but one of them was trailing smoke indicating engine damage.