Jesse's Starship 3: Joshua's Walls (28 page)

• • •

General Santiago received his new landing coordinates and didn’t like what he was seeing on the planet. He turned on his command frequency and said, “Cover them up and I want all my Warriors eating their rations before the drop. I also want the portable force fields dropped through the central hatch now. Be ready to power them us as soon as we hit ground.” The force fields around the carriers completely enclosed them and the carriers released atmosphere inside them.

Cliff punched Jackie’s frequency, “I don’t like what I’m seeing.”

“I’ve ordered the spinners deployed.”

“How many divisions managed to get them?”

“Only half.”

“God, I hope we don’t need them.” Jackie nodded and the display went dark. Cliff saw many of his Warriors were having difficulty eating but after a few minutes, they managed to get their stomachs under control and began eating the energy bars and drinks. It was still going to be a while before they could drop.

• • •

Eight hours after the fleet arrived, no more missiles rose from the surface. Alex watched his display and activated his fleet frequency, “I want the missile transports to reload their racks and recharge their blasters. You will then move down toward the surface of the planet and stop three thousand feet above the surface. You will hold your positions there and be ready to move higher if you detect a launch.” Alex watched and no missiles rose to greet them. Prissy watched Alex and said, “Sir, if they still have any missiles, they’ll hold them to fire on the carriers.”

Alex looked at her and turned back to the monitor. He thought for a moment and said, “I want all carriers to drop to four thousand feet directly below their current positions and then immediately return to orbit. On my mark, drop to four thousand feet; ready…MARK!”

The carriers shot down into the atmosphere and then jumped back up into orbit. Thousands of Weg Missiles erupted from the surface and the Transports began rising quickly as they fought for altitude. The new missile tunnels were targeted as the transports fired on the missiles targeted at the carriers. A wave of Alliance Missiles flashed down toward the planet’s surface and the new Weg launch sites were blasted.

• • •

Cliff yelled over his command frequency, “Blasters are clear to fire on incoming missiles.” The two hundred carriers opened fire below them as they boosted quickly into orbit and the overlapping fields of fire destroyed the missiles the transports had missed.

Space battles are often over very quickly but what they lacked in time they more than made up for in intensity. Ten more Alliance Transports were destroyed but the missile threat was over.

Alex activated his communicator and yelled, “Drop to your new drop zones in four, three, two, one, NOW!”

The real battle to take the planet began with a quarter of a million Spartan and Gracken Warriors flashing down to the planet’s surface.

C
aptain Jonah Longwood’s carrier arrived and formed up with the other carriers as they locked their force fields. The looked over the carrier’s rails to the south and saw a massive dark cloud of Flying Weg circling five miles away.

His eyes narrowed and he wondered what they were doing. They would usually attack first but these were holding back. He looked at the ground to the south and saw it visibly moving. Something underground was coming their way and it was huge. The ground was disturbed for five miles behind the front edge of the moving soil and he knew the diggers were coming fast. “Lock and load. Company is just a few minutes away.” His warriors activated their blasters and began firing into the disturbed soil. Wherever a blaster hit, Weg were thrown up and out of the soil. Every warrior on the south side of the carrier opened fire but the wave continued toward their position and then moved under it.

• • •

The diggers moved under the carriers and came out of the soil in a mound. On top of the mound were a hundred and fifty diggers with their glowing claws extended. They were pushed up into the force field under the carrier and the diggers pushed their claws into the force field forming a large circle. When the last Weg shoved its claws into the force field connecting all of them together, the force field inside the circle vanished. Weg rushed up the mound under the carrier and leapt to the carrier’s hull where they punched their claws into it and began climbing.

• • •

Johan felt something under the carrier and saw one of his warriors look over the rail at the ground below. A glowing claw shot up and cut the warriors head off and pulled the body over the side. He yelled at the pilot to move the carrier higher but he saw the pilot was no longer at the rear of the vessel. Warriors began disappearing over the rails as the Weg climbed up the carrier’s sides. Jonah rushed to the rear of the carrier and pulled his sliver rifle off his shoulder. He started fanning a stream of slivers over the top of the rail as he reached the carrier’s controls and shoved the boost lever up. The carrier lept into the sky as his warriors fired their rifles at the Weg coming over the sides. Jonah shook his head and saw carriers shooting up off the ground. He shook his head and then fired a long stream of slivers directly overhead. The slivers flew two thousand feet up, turned over, and started back toward the carrier. The slivers tracking modules picked up the Weg clinging to the side of the carrier and tuned slightly as they began hitting the Weg and blowing them into pieces. Jonah fired another burst into the sky as a Weg came over the rear of the Carrier and buried its claws into Jonah’s armor. A Spartan Warrior turned his rifle on the Weg and blew it over the railing. It took Captain Longwood’s body with it.

Sergeant Dowd saw a massive cloud come rushing toward his carrier and he barely had time to activate the force field over the top of the carrier. The Weg crashed into the force field and flew off at an angle. He looked to the railing and he saw warriors firing at the bottom of his carrier. He checked the force field status and it was completely closed. He looked around and saw he had lost two thirds of his company in less than five minutes. He yelled, “Man the blasters and start firing.”

The surviving warriors rushed to their rail mounted blasters and opened fire at the swirling cloud of Weg.

• • •

Cliff stood on his command carrier and saw the massive movement of soil rushing toward his carriers and he said, “Activate the spinners, now.”

The Weg arrived and the circle of Weg leapt to the force field sunder cliff’s carriers and jammed their claws into them. The spinning force field immediately cut them off. Cliff looked to the north and raised the magnification of his helmet visor. He saw numerous carriers coming off the surface with Weg clinging to them.

“Move your carriers to the north and start firing your sliver rifles at the Weg on their hulls. Go now!”

The carriers rushed away from the massive mound of diggers and moved under the Gracken Carriers. They began firing at the Weg climbing the sides and barely managed to clear them off before the huge cloud of Flyers arrived. Cliff looked back toward his landing site and saw the ground going up as the Weg there began rushing toward his new location. He saw that the Weg on the ground were piling up on top of each other and leaping at the Carriers over them. “Move your carriers up another hundred feet and activate the overhead force field. Take out as many as you can!”

• • •

Alex watched the carriers as they landed and saw that General Santiago was right. The Weg were prepared for the carriers. He spun his dial and saw carriers being overrun at every landing site but those that had taken the portable force fields with them. He looked at Prissy, “How many have we lost?”

“More than eight thousand, Sir.”

Alex shook his head. “I should have listened to General Santiago.”

Prissy shook her head, “Sir, there’s no way enough portable force fields could have been made in time for this drop. If you delayed any longer, we would have lost more ships to their missiles.”

Alex stared at Prissy and then turned back to his monitor. Of the twenty five hundred carriers, eight hundred were down with all the warriors on board dead. He looked at Prissy, “Order the drop on the Queen.”

Prissy picked up her communicator and said, “The drop has been approved. I repeat, the drop has been approved.”

• • •

The five giant transports flashed down to the surface and oriented the blasters on their hulls toward the center of their formation. The six mobile blasters locked on the surface and fired simultaneously, vaporizing a ten-foot diameter shaft deep into the ground. The transports moved over the shaft and the bottom swung open, releasing the Weg Engineers who immediately rushed into the shafts. The Special Forces Companies followed the Engineers and the rest of the Weg on the transport followed them. The entire operation was completed in less than five minutes and the transports fired their blasters into the ground surrounding the shafts preventing any of the surface defenders that were close by to move in to attack.

• • •

Jackie watched her carriers firing down into the mass of Weg Diggers building mounds under them. Suddenly, every Weg stopped moving for an instant and then they turned and ran away from the carriers at their highest speed. Jackie looked up and saw the dark cloud of Flying Weg move away. It appeared all the Weg had received some sort of communication and broke off their attack. Jackie contacted Cliff, “The Weg have broken off their attack.”

“It has to mean the shafts have been cut above the Queen. They must be leaving to defend her.”

“We’ve got to slow them down!”

“Get ahead of them Jackie and force them to leave the surface.”

Jackie activated her Division Frequency, “All pilots will chase the fleeing Weg and I want every blaster fired at them. Now move!”

The two hundred carriers rose to two hundred feet and flew over the fleeing Weg. The blasters opened fire on the huge mass and Weg started dying. The carriers moved in front the streaming mass and all opened fire simultaneously. The Weg continued to rush into the massive firestorm but then they began disappearing into the ground. Jackie screamed, “Fire into the ground where you see it moving. Force them to dig deeper.” Jackie saw the wave of moving soil diminish and then disappear. The shafts were more than twenty miles away. They should not arrive in time to make a difference. Jackie looked out toward the horizon and saw a massive wall of running Weg approaching from the East. “Get in front of them and open fire.”

She hit her communicator, “Cliff, I need support to hold them back.”

“Get in line. Every Weg on the planet is rushing toward the Queen’s Chamber. All of us are doing what we can but it’s like bailing water out of the ocean. There’s just too much of it.”

Jackie watched as the Weg would run up to her carriers, go underground, and emerge once they were past. She blew out a quick breath and yelled over the screaming Weg, “Stay ahead of the leaders!” The carriers fired their blasters and Weg were dying by the thousands. But millions were rushing toward the five shafts. She shook her head and hoped General Adams survived the assault.

• • •

Josh ran with the Weg Engineers down the steep incline and was surprised at the power of his new armor. He easily kept up with them and wasn’t winded by the run. They arrived at the end of the shaft and the Engineers dove into the wall and began cutting their way through the rock. He looked back up the long shaft behind him and knew trouble was coming. He looked at one of the engineers, “How long?”

“Fifteen minutes.”

Josh nodded and walked back up the steep incline. He waited with his search beams activated looking for anything moving his way. He could feel a vibration in the floor and knew that his defenders were being attacked. He went back to the Engineers and was amazed at the progress they had made. He moved forward with them and looked at his chronometer. Twelve more minutes. Time seemed to drag so slowly.

• • •

Bart ran with his twenty-five SF Warriors down the shaft and watched where the stone started. He moved a hundred more yards and raised his arms, “Set up here!” The Warriors pulled the tripods off their legs and lifted their giant weapons off their backs and shoulders. Bart moved out in front of them and saw a Weg come rushing down the shaft toward him. He activated the telepathy helmet he was wearing and said, “We will start our defense here.”

“You need to move further down the shaft.”

“Why?”

“All of us will not fit in the shaft if you set up here.”

Bart stared at the Weg and said over his helmet radio, “Pick ’em up!” Bart turned back to the Weg, “Take us where we need to set up.”

The Weg rushed by Bart and he picked up his heavy cannon and heard the servos in his armor whine. He began walking behind the Weg until he saw it waiting in the center of the shaft. Bart said, “Alright, here is where we make our stand.” He looked at the Weg, “How are you going to handle your end of this?”

“We will be entering the walls above the rock layer and meeting any defenders coming through the soil. The rest of us will be in the shaft firing the weapons given to us by our leader at those charging down the shaft. We’ll continue to fire until none of us are left.”

Bart stared at the Weg and said, “Some of you can come by us here when it becomes hopeless.”

The Weg stared at Bart for a moment and thought, “We came here to die. It’s better to die here than to live in the drudgery of one day after another. This is what we’re made to do. We’ll do the best we can to hold them off as long as possible.”

Bart nodded and said, “I admire your bravery.”

“Bravery had nothing to do with it. This is like taking a breath. It’s a natural process with us.”

Bart nodded as the Weg turned and sprinted up the incline. Captain Anderson locked the huge barreled weapon into its tripod and pressed the diagnostic button. He looked at Bart, “How do you want to do this?”

“You and twelve warriors will set up here and when the Weg surface defenders break through, you’ll start firing up the shaft.” Bart walked forward a hundred yards and slammed the jagged blade of a seismic sensor into each wall. He walked back and handed the bag to Corporal Mosul, “Take these and jam them into the wall every hundred yards.” Mosul jogged away and Bart turned to Anderson, “If we’re successful in holding them here, I’m reasonably certain they will attempt to dig their way around us. If I detect seismic activity in the walls, I’ll call for you to pick up and run past us. My team will continue to move until the seismic activity stops. We’ll set up a hundred yards from that spot and take them on. You’ll monitor the sensors and if you detect them digging again, call us back and we’ll run past your position. You’ll have to fire over our heads as we pick up so the ones in the shaft don’t make progress.”