Jesse's Starship 3: Joshua's Walls (18 page)

• • •

“Send the diggers, now!”

“It will take them time to arrive there.”

“SEND THE DIGGERS NOW!!!”

• • •

“General Adams!”

“Yes.”

“Seismic says that a huge mass of activity is moving your way underground. They’ll arrive in twenty minutes.”

Josh pressed a button on his console, “Diggers incoming in twenty minutes. You need to get moving now!”

Bart and Kim grabbed the driving controls and spun their two huge vehicles around to the south until they were side by side. They hit the barrel controls and the six barrels on the front of their vehicles began moving toward each other. In ten seconds they formed a circle with all six blasters touching each other. The huge high strength bracket they were held in moved until all twelve barrels were next to each other between the two vehicles.

“Move them just a little more forward, Bart.”

“I see it.”

“I think I cracked some teeth on that landing.”

“You should have worn a mouth piece.”

Kim slid her vehicle slightly forward until the twelve barrels locked together and a green light illuminated on her panel, “Mouth piece?”

“Yeah. I put mine in before leaving the transport.”

Kim connected the barrels aiming system to the data coming in from the seismic probes and the twelve barrels began tilting toward the ground. “You didn’t mention anything about using a mouth piece!”

“I have one that my dentist makes me use at night to keep from grinding my teeth. Do you have one?”

“Bart, I’m going to slap you silly. I’ve got the blasters lined up.”

Bart pressed a button and a large missile rose up out of the back of his vehicle and oriented down the line the blasters were pointed. Kim stared at her display, “Come on! Come on!” She glanced at her display and saw the diggers coming fast and would be there in less than a minute. “COME ON, DAMN YOU!” The barrels stopped moving and Kim pressed both triggers on her steering wheel. The beams shot out and the warriors on the south line had their visors go black. The beams fired for ten seconds and then went out.

Bart and Kim slammed their turrets back and jumped up on top of the giant Mobile Blasters. The large missile’s thruster fired and it disappeared down the hole the twelve barrels had burned into the ground. Josh saw the missile leave its rack and he pressed the recall button on his panel. All twenty thousand warriors disappeared as the ground under them collapsed into a billion Weg Diggers. A moment later, the portable force field, the armor of the Warriors that had been killed during the Weg breakthrough, and the two giant mobile blasters self-destructed. The blasts of the force field projector and armor was huge but nothing compared to the two mobile blasters going up. The nuclear cloud that rose over the battle site was huge.

• • •

The Queen watched the activity that was taking place on the surface through the eyes of a Flyer Leader. She knew those two monstrous creations under it were doing something. She had the leader fly closer to the force field and he could see the barrels on it were pointed toward the ground. She forced herself to focus and saw that it was pointed in her direction. She screamed, “DIG A PATH OUT OF HERE!!”

• • •

The diggers did a remarkable job in the short time they were given before beams fired and the missile launched. The Queen was three miles away from her Birth Chamber when the beam arrived. The entire three miles was covered in a thick layer of eggs she dropped as she ran from the huge chamber. The twelve beams burned a channel into the Queen’s Chamber and she would have died except for her quick exit. However, the missile arrived a minute later and three miles was not far enough to escape what it brought underground. This Ground Seeker Missile was larger, faster, and more powerful than the one used to close the starship tunnels. Truth be told, fifty miles wouldn’t have saved her.

• • •

The Third Spartan Division’s trip to their carriers didn’t take but three seconds. Three seconds from the ground to the arms on their carriers doesn’t seem like it’s long enough to do much damage. Ten warriors didn’t make it; their armor exploded on the long fall to the planet. They didn’t fall alone.

When the spinning force fields hit the massive cloud of Weg between the planet and the carriers, it looked like a gigantic blender was making Weg smoothies. Pieces of Weg began falling and the pieces filled the sky under the waiting carriers. The Weg that had not managed to grab one of the Spartan Warriors as it spun by were hit by the solid wall of Weg pieces falling toward the planet. They struggled to get out of the mixture but only picked up speed as the cloud rushed toward the ground. The Carriers fired into their ranks for a few moments but then boosted away for orbit. The massive mushroom cloud was rising with the shockwave of the two Mobile Blasters’ self-destruction. The huge cloud of Weg body parts was vaporized by the rising cloud as the nuclear shock wave blew through it.

• • •

Josh rushed over to a monitor in the transport’s landing bay. The Gracken Commander saluted Josh, “May I assist you?”

“I want the tactical feed of what’s happening on the planet.”

The Commander pushed a button and a view of the continent appeared. Josh stared at it and shook his head, “What happened to the Weg after we killed the Queen?”

The Commander rewound the recording and started it as the two giant Mobile Blasters fired their beams into the ground. Josh could see the brilliant flash on the surface far below and focused on the massive clouds of Flying Weg above his troops. He watched as his forces moved through the giant concentration of Weg flying between the Warriors and their carriers. He said, “Slow it down!”

The Commander turned a dial and Josh saw the horrific damage being done to the Weg by his warrior’s spinning force fields. From high above, it looked like the giant black cloud above the planet suddenly collapsed in on itself as millions of Weg were sliced into pieces that fell toward the planet below. The flash from the destruction of the Mobile Blasters dimmed the display momentarily but then cleared as Josh saw the shockwave and mushroom cloud shoot into the atmosphere. He turned his gaze away from the nuclear explosion and watched the Weg that weren’t in the blast zone. They weren’t acting normal. They turned toward the ground and flew toward the planet without continuing to find his troops. Fleet opened fire but most of them managed to reach safety as they dug into the soil.

Josh pressed his communicator, “Commander Rumel.”

“Go ahead, General.”

“What are the Weg doing on the planet?”

“We’re not getting a good return on the seismic probes.”

“What do you mean?”

“That Ground Seeker pretty much vaporized a sixty mile circle around the Queen’s Chamber. The magnitude of the blast pretty much damaged every probe we have within a hundred miles of the explosion. We’re not detecting any major activity at the moment.” Josh remained silent and Rumel said, “What are you thinking, General?”

“Do you still have the maps of the Weg passageways made before we attacked the Queen?”

“I do.”

“Select an area with limited or no passageways under it close to a large concentration of Weg.”

“I don’t know that those maps will be valid now. Pretty much every Weg on the planet came out of the dirt to attack your formations. I’m not able to get an accurate reading of where they went after the nuke went off. The EMP pretty much knocked out most of the sensors.”

“Just find a place that was clear before our drop.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m rearming my forces and dropping on the planet in 24 hours.”

“WHAT!?!”

“While I’m setting that up, see if you can get your computers to determine how many Weg were actually killed by my attack.”

Rumel shook his head, “You are going to be dropping on some very angry Weg. You killed their Queen and I’m pretty certain they are going to work hard to make you pay for your actions. Don’t you want to wait until we can gather more units?”

“No, Commander. Contact your transports and notify them to refuel and rearm the carriers we’ll be using.”

Rumel smiled, “Would you mind if I join you on this drop?”

Josh tilted his head, “Welcome to the party, Commander. You can take the place of one of my warriors that didn’t make it.”

“I’ll meet you in the landing bay momentarily.” Rumel looked over his shoulder, “Get my armor ready. You will be in command until I return.”

“Yes Commander.”

• • •

Kim stepped off the carrier and walked over to Bart. She put her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. He hesitated and then raised his arms and hugged her, “Why are you hugging me?”

Kim stepped back and said, “To make up for this.” She drew back her arm and slapped Bart across the face so hard that it was heard all across the giant landing bay.

Bart’s head snapped to the left and he put his hand up to his stinging cheek, “WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?!”

Kim stepped in and put her nose an inch from Bart’s and said, “The next time you think of anything, and I do mean anything, which will help prevent us from being injured during a mission, you will share that idea with me before we drop. Do you get that!?” Bart stared at her shaking his head and Kim said, “I think I have two cracked teeth from that drop. All you had to do was just say the word ‘mouthpiece’ and I would have seen you were right.”

Bart shook his head and said, “I’ll do my best to remember next time.” Bart saw Kim was furious.

Col. LaFyete walked up and smiled, “It’s a shame we don’t give medals to members of our Special Forces units.” Bart and Kim turned and saw him standing behind them. They came to attention and LaFyete said, “At ease!” LaFyete reached in a pouch and pulled out a stack of patches. He handed one to Bart and Kim and they looked at it. Kim said, “What is this, Sir?”

LaFyete smiled, “That Orange and Green WQ has the number ONE superimposed over it. The bright blue lines going through it are the blaster bolts you used to kill the first Weg Queen. That patch has been added by the Commandant to duty patches that can be worn by Spartan Warriors. It says on the award site that this patch will be only worn by the first Spartan Warrior to kill a Weg Queen.”

Bart and Kim’s smile was instant. Then Bart’s smile vanished, “Sir, we weren’t the only ones that killed her. All of the warriors on the ground took part in making it happen.”

“And they will all be allowed to wear a smaller patch with a ONE on it. However, it was the two of you that pulled the trigger and fired the missile. You’ve earned this.” LaFyete handed each of them a stack of patches, “Here are enough for all your uniforms. I suspect you’ll want to put them on when you have a moment.”

Kim smiled, “I’ll go do it now!”

LaFyete shook his head, “Sorry, Major. You probably haven’t heard but General Adams has ordered another drop on the planet in the morning and you’re going to have to get the two stored Mobile Blasters out of storage and ready for the drop.”

Kim said, “Are you serious?”

“I am.”

Bart’s eyes narrowed, “Sir, you just called Kim Major.”

“That’s the other part; both of you have been promoted to Major by the Commandant.”

Bart looked at Kim, “I hope we live long enough to enjoy this.”

Kim shook her head, “You go and get the blasters ready. I’m going to have a mouthpiece made.” Bart laughed and ran out of the landing bay.

C
heng walked over to Josh and said, “Sir.”

“Yes Colonel.”

“The Commandant and his Intelligence Director wish to speak with you in Commander Rumel’s conference room.” Josh slowly shook his head and Cheng said, “The Argon has arrived and is in the conference room waiting.”

Josh stood up and wiped his hands on a towel, “Cheng, see if you can get this panel set up to show the tactical feel overlaying the map of Weg passageways.” Cheng nodded and Josh stepped out of the carrier and walked to the tubes. He sat down in a sled and leaned back as it shot through the tube toward the front of the large battleship. He found Rumel’s Second-in-Command waiting for him and he led Josh to the conference room. He opened the door and Josh noticed that he pressed a button on his communicator just before they arrived. Josh smiled. Rumel didn’t want to say something that he didn’t want Josh to hear. Josh entered and saw the five main monitors were all active. Rumel said, “I’ve been asked to bring you here for a meeting.”

Josh looked at Rumel, “Who called it?”

Mike sanders said, “I did.”

Josh was surprised by the remark and he turned and saw Mike was on one of the monitors. Josh stared at him and said, “How may I be of Service, Sir?”

Alex said, “It has been brought to our attention that you are planning to make another drop in the morning.”

Josh looked at the monitor Alex was on and said, “I am, Sir.”

“Why?”

“I feel it’s critical to determine what’s happening to the Weg on the planet.” Josh noticed out of the corner of his eye that Prissy did not like that Josh was being confronted by the Alliance Leadership. He winked at her and she sat back in her chair.

Mike said, “You persuaded me that waiting for your drop was not the best thing to do. We’ll have the new armor available in a couple of weeks and I no longer see a reason to put our warriors in danger.”

Josh looked around the monitors and saw Alex, Hetzel, and Jek appeared to be in agreement with Mike. Josh said, “I’ll cancel the drop, then.”

Everyone was surprised by how easily Josh gave up. Mike stared at Josh for a moment and said, “What possessed you to order it?”

Josh shrugged, “We have just killed a Weg Queen. That has never been done before and I don’t think she will be the last one killed. I am of the opinion that if our intelligence about the Weg is correct then the Queen controls all their behavior telepathically. If she is no longer in control, how are the Weg that survived on the planet going to be behaving after her death? Will they be disorganized where we can come in quickly and remove them or will they be insane and attack in huge numbers? Our seismic sensors are all out because of the EMP from the nuclear blast and Fleet can’t tell me what the Weg are doing underground.” Josh paused, “I would rather find out what’s going on here after we’ve killed more than sixty percent of them than after we manage to kill a queen with all the Weg still alive.” Josh looked at Mike, “However, I guess this bit of information isn’t really important. I’ll cancel the drop.”