Jesse's Starship 3: Joshua's Walls (27 page)

“Cliff, I didn’t know the carriers have a central hatch in them.”

“Most of our officers don’t. However, it’s there to drain rainwater in the event of foul weather. It’s large enough for a spinner to be dropped through it. You can power it with the carrier’s secondary reactor.”

“Darn, now we have to start working on using them.”

“I’ve seen your times are really getting good. This will probably affect your standings.”

“I don’t care if I’m dead last if this will save the lives of my warriors. I’ll order them immediately.”

“Better hurry, I suspect there will be a run on them when the other divisions see what we’re doing.”

“Talk to you later.” Jackie was amazed at Cliff’s knack at using all the tools available to plan a campaign. He was amazing. Jackie called her XO over and sent him after the projectors. He had better bring two hundred of them back. She called for a night drop to start practicing their deployment and heard her warrior’s groans over her helmet. Well, too bad. They could complain all they wanted. If they weren’t needed, then no harm. But if they were…”

• • •

Alex shook his head, “Mike, I hope we’ve got all our bases covered but there’s so many new devices and weapons we’re going to use that have not been tested in battle that I’m worried.”

“Do you want to do a trial drop?”

“Not if it means we give away what we have. I especially don’t want to do it with some of our forces underground.”

“Alex, is this worth doing?”

“I guess the real issue is whether or not our Warrior’s lives are worth trying to save a habitable planet.”

“They are rare.”

“I know. And we’re going to need the space if our populations continue to grow.”

Mike leaned back and said, “I guess this coming drop will be the bellwether we use to decide if we move forward against other Weg planets.”

Alex looked at Mike, “Were you ever this nervous before a battle?”

“Two times. The first was when we took Cheyenne Mountain and the second was when we fought the Gracken on the Alliance Planet.”

“Does it get any better?”

Mike smiled, “If it does, you’re in the wrong position.”

Alex smiled, “I’ll talk with you later.”

“What have you decided about Josh going in with the Weg?”

Mike shook his head, “I don’t think we have a choice.”

“Why not. He’s too important to lose.”

“He’s the only one the Weg will listen to and he’ll have to be close to them if changes have to be made in the plan. I don’t like it but it has to be done.”

Mike nodded, “Call me when it’s over.”

“I will.

• • •

Kim looked at Bart, “We have to go back.”

“I don’t want to go anywhere. Let’s stay here for the rest of our lives.”

Kim leaned over and kissed Bart on the cheek and sighed, “I only wish that was an option.”

Bart sat up in his beach chair and sighed, “Let’s at least wait until after sunset.”

Kim looked at the sun directly overhead and smiled. The beaches in Tahiti were amazing and the ocean was crystal blue. The ever-present gulls were screaming for a snack and the wind blew lightly through the palms. She leaned back and closed her eyes, “After sunset it is.”

They left the following morning before daybreak. Both of them realized that they couldn’t force themselves to go once the sun was up over the ocean. The drop was coming soon and this was the time they would remember when they dropped on the Weg planet. Both of them knew this would probably be their last time together. They were going to different units and would not be able to leave until after the drop. Kim realized that Bart was wiser than she realized. Getting married and sharing this time made the drop a lot less fearful. Now if she died, she would go without regrets.

• • •

Alex looked around the table and saw the tension on his officer’s faces. He looked at his Infantry General Officers, “Are your divisions ready?”

“We are, Sir.”

“Have your drop zones been finalized?”

Tindel nodded, “We’re spreading out the landings so as to make it appear we’re searching for the Queen’s location. The drops should draw in most of their surface defense.”

“What about around the Queen’s location?”

“We have three divisions about eighteen miles around her current position.”

Alex looked at Josh, “What about the passages?”

“Our transports will fire from six miles out from the target. We’re adding distance but we can’t fire the shafts vertically into the ground. Our forces will need a slope to move down.”

Commandant Dunlov looked at Josh, “Are you ready to do this?”

Josh made a small shrug and nodded. He still didn’t know how he was going to get out.

“Have you armed the Weg going in with you?”

“I have.”

Alex looked around the room, “We will initiate the first drop operations in three days. Make sure your forces are ready to do this. Do any of you have any questions?”

Josh looked at Prissy and saw her fear. He wished he could reassure her but trying would only make her worry more. He listened to the questions and made a note to leave a message for his children. He wanted them to know how much he loved them and how he expected them to grow up and make a difference in the world.

Prissy remembered the talk they had the night before. “Josh, I’ve not fought you on your previous drops…but this one is suicide.”

“Prissy, the best Engineers and diggers will be in my shaft. We’re doing it that way because I can control the critical decisions. My shaft is the one that stands the best chance at getting to the Queen. The other four can also make it, but…”

“Your shaft is the critical one.”

“Yes it is. I don’t want do this, Prissy. Of all the drops I’ve done, this is one I would avoid if I could.”

Prissy saw he needed her support. She forced her fear away and hugged him tightly, “Tell her I said hello.” Josh closed his eyes and pulled her close.

• • •

Prissy stared at Josh and thought about how to get him out if things went bad. She didn’t have much time to come up with a plan; there were only three days remaining. She looked at Josh and knew he would go into that planet. She knew it was a waste of time to try and it would only weaken his resolve. Now was when he had to be strong. She shook her head and decided to contact Hetzel. Maybe…just maybe…

• • •

The Fleet of Warships and transports that appeared above the infested planet was the largest ever put together. The number of transports needed to ferry the twenty-five Divisions was huge. The Weg on the planet below saw the fleet arrive and began preparation to greet the invaders. They wouldn’t have to wait long.

• • •

The twenty-five Divisions formed their Carriers up above their landing zones and waited for the drop order. After three hours, the last Division was in place and Alex pressed a sixty second countdown. As the countdown started, two hundred transports moved down into the atmosphere and began receiving missile fire from the planet below. Thirty seconds later, Alex put a hold on the countdown. The number of missiles reaching out at the fleet was staggering. The carriers were ordered into a higher orbit and the warriors watched the giant explosions happening above the planet they were going to drop on.

The giant transports’ hulls were covered with new blaster units and missile launchers. On board the Spartan Transport Delphi, Bobbi Sue Whitaker watched her display and saw multiple red circles appear. She waited until they turned green and she pulled the trigger on her blaster. The blaster began firing at high speed and small, intensely bright, beams shot out of the barrel and began hitting the incoming Weg Missile barrage. Bobbi waited and kept glancing at her display. More red circles were appearing and the blaster targeted them automatically. “Come on! Where are you?!?” Suddenly, a bright yellow circle appeared on the planet’s surface far below. She hit the lock button on her secondary panel and heard a loud whine. She waited for the sound to stop and kept turning her head back and forth between her blaster’s display and the return from the surface. The yellow circle remained yellow and Bobbi knew that no other blaster crew had detected it. The high-pitched whine stopped and Bobbi hit a red button on her secondary console. On the Delphi’s hull, a sleek, needle nosed missile ignited and left its rack at high speed. Bobbi turned back to her blaster display and had to start manually designating targets. Her system was close to being overwhelmed by the numbers of Weg missiles moving in toward her ship.

She glanced at the yellow circle and saw it turn bright orange. The volume of missiles leaving the planet was immediately reduced when the tunnel that was launching them was blasted. She fired on the closest Weg Missiles and saw the two blaster operators next to her began assisting her. The numbers rising from the surface was incredible and the Divisions couldn’t drop until they were brought under control.

Bobbi’s display suddenly flashed and went dark…after three seconds, it came back on line and she saw the Crete had been destroyed. The huge Transport was little more than a cloud of vapor. The surviving transports moved in and closed their ranks. Bobbi knew this fight could go either way if the launch tunnels weren’t quickly found and eliminated. She saw two yellow circles suddenly appear on her panel and she punched the missile activate button. Ten seconds later, two missiles shot off the hull of the Delphi an instant before it exploded in a massive blast. Bobbi’s medal would later be awarded to her posthumously.

Rumel watched the waves of missiles rising from the planet and made a decision. He looked at the Fleet Commander, “Launch the attack fighters.”

“Yes Elder.”

• • •

The Gracken Warships’ landing bays opened and thousands of small attack fighters flew out of them and turned toward the planet. Many of them were hit by Weg Missiles but large numbers of them were able to avoid being hit. They flew down to the planet’s surface at high speed and began looking for the sites where missiles were coming out of the ground. The fighters had two of the new missiles attached to their hulls and they began launching on the Missile Tunnels. The volume being fired at the Alliance Fleet began coming down drastically.

The Elder looked at his Fleet Commander, “It appears their missiles can now penetrate the force fields around our Warships.”

“The Battleships can withstand a hit. The lighter ships are vulnerable.”

The Elder looked at the massive number of missiles still rising above the planet as fifty Q ships appeared among the transports. Their beams began strobe flashing and thousands of the missiles began exploding below the transports. “Why didn’t we use these ships at the start?”

The Fleet Admiral said, “They are assigned to defend our planets against Weg Starships. They cannot stay here much longer.”

Gremel nodded and watched as the atmosphere above the planet was filled with massive explosions. The transports used the break to focus on the planet’s surface and thousands of the new missiles began launching off their hulls. The Elder looked at his display closely and saw massive explosions rocking the planet’s surface. It looked like a million flashbulbs all going off at once. Gremel shook his head. The Weg had done an incredible job of building the missile sites. The Spartan Commandant was right, they would have been in real trouble if they had delayed this drop and given the Weg more time to build up their defenses.

The fight for air superiority above the planet took four hours. Just when the tide appeared to turn, more Weg launch tunnels would start firing. The Transports were now able to hang on and the Q ships were ordered back to their assigned planets.

Prissy looked at Bowen on her display, and said, “Keep your frequency open.”

“Yes Sir. Call us if you need us again.”

“I will.”

Prissy looked at the single star on her shoulder and decided that she was thankful for the recent promotion. She didn’t like it at first but she discovered that you can get things done quickly when you’re a General. She turned back to the main display on Alex’s Flagship, the Leonidas. The drop had been delayed more than three hours and it was still too dangerous to drop the carriers. Taking a Weg Infested Planet was only going to get harder as they were given time to build up their defenses. She watched the massive explosions and saw there were less than an hour earlier.

• • •

Josh watched the missiles and turned to the Weg Engineer standing next to him on the bridge of the Spartan Transport Derek Daniels. “Is the Mother located below us?”

“She is.”

“Is there any movement?”

“Not from the chamber. It appears the surface defenders have anticipated where your carriers will be landing and are moving to those locations.”

“How many?”

“Almost all of them.”

Josh nodded and activated his command frequency, “Commandant.”

“Yes, Josh.”

“One of the Weg here with me says that the surface defenders have moved to the carrier’s landing sites. They’ve seen them in formation above the planet and have moved most of their defenders to those locations.”

“That’s what we want them to do, isn’t it?”

“Yes it is but we shouldn’t just jump into their strength.”

“What would you suggest?”

“Move them to another site further away from the Queen. Not so far as to make them turn back but far enough where you won’t be landing in places where they’ll collapse the ground as soon as our warriors arrive.”

“I’ll change the landing zones.”

“I would suggest leaving the carriers where they are and move them to the new sites at the last moment.” Alex nodded and Josh’s communicator went dark. He looked at the Weg, “Does this improve our chances?”

“There are still large numbers above the Mother but not near as many as when we arrived.” Josh nodded and turned back to the display.

• • •

The Elder kept his eyes focused on the wall monitor and his communications Commander said, “Elder, the missiles have killed all of our Attack Ships.” Gremel closed his eyes briefly and nodded. “They did manage to take out thousands of the missile tunnels.”

Gremel looked at the Communications Commander and said, “They did their duty well. Now let’s make their sacrifice mean something.”