Defending Earth-Searching for Death Feeders (28 page)

P
vt. Lee Jennings saw the planet on his visor as his transport arrived above it and heard Colonel Marsheen say on his helmet speaker, “Go to your assignments. Don’t waste time, but make sure you remove the danger to the locals.” Lee hit his drive unit and immediately found himself in the middle of a giant field of head high yellow plants. He heard his visor announce, “Fifty-three in range.” He lifted his left arm directly over his head and saw red circles appear on his visor. He squeezed his thumb and heard a ‘brrrrrittt’ noise as fifty-three smart projectiles shot out of his arm launcher. He ignored the visor and switched to the probe’s feed from orbit. There were a hundred Red Aliens at the other end of the field and he activated his gravity boots and leapt out of the plants and sailed to the other end of the giant field. He saw red beams coming from the ground below him and his weapons unit tracked the source of them and launched a small missile out of his back pack. He saw explosions behind him as he hit the ground. He raised his arm again and heard the smart projectiles leaving their launcher. He glanced at the results of the first launch and saw all fifty-three Red Aliens were down. He hesitated briefly and saw the second launch had also removed the hundred on this end of the field. Wait…one survived. He hit his jump boots and arrived ahead of the red being running through the field. It ran up on him and Lee shot it with his hand blaster. The beam blew through its chest and Lee hit his drive unit. He had ten more fields just like this one to clear before he could join his platoon in the city. This was easy, the Red Aliens in the fields weren’t wearing armor. The same couldn’t be said for those in the cities.

He shook his head and worried that one of them might try to surrender. His orders were clear, no prisoners would be taken, but he just didn’t like killing when the enemy surrendered. He arrived in the middle of the second giant field and lifted his arm again. Using this process, surrendering was not something the enemy warriors would be able to do. He thought about it and decided that he would not go and confront an escaping enemy. He’d launch another smart projectile and move on. Suddenly, a brilliant red blast ripped through the field where he was standing. He looked at his visor and saw there was a heavy blaster on the edge of the field and Lee felt his anger as more than a hundred of the local population were killed by the beam. He rose above the field and felt another beam hit his armor and cause the force field generators to whine. He pulled his heavy blaster off his shoulder pack and fired two bolts at the enemy’s weapon platform. The first bolt knocked out the force field and the second blew it into a giant explosion that blew it high into the air. Pieces of it rained down on the field and Lee prayed no more locals died. He checked his visor and moved to another field. He took out the heavy blaster as soon as he arrived and then moved into the field. He saw the Red Aliens scattered around the field were firing toward him and he decided he had to move above the plants to prevent those beams killing innocent civilians. He became the center of more than two hundred blasters beams and he began moving quickly over the crops. He fired smart projectiles and in three minutes, the firing stopped. He checked his tactical display and left for his next target.

One Red Alien survived but the workers had taken hand weapons from the ones that were killed and they arrived to shoot off the survivors arm before he could attack them. The locals then killed him very slowly.

• • •

The Red Alien Commander in the city heard reports coming in from the farms scattered around the planet and his communications operator reported that he was losing contact with them. More than eighty percent of the fields no longer responded. He shook his head and knew his leaders had gotten lazy. Those warriors should have been in armor. “Order our forces to spread out and move into the buildings. Do not allow anyone inside the buildings to leave!”

“Yes, Commander.”

He looked out at the buildings around his command and saw thousands of locals fleeing from them. He shook his head and almost ordered his heavy weapons to open fire on them but didn’t want to waste power that might later be needed. Besides, he felt a real urge to run with them. He looked up and knew he was being watched by the ships in orbit. He turned and walked slowly toward the giant building next to his headquarters unit. Just before he entered it, a beam shot out of the sky and vaporized him and the other warriors moving toward the tower. The Red Aliens quickly learned that entering the surrounding buildings was a death sentence. They scattered and mixed in with the fleeing population. Amelee saw them and knew this was going to be a blood bath. But if those armored warriors were allowed to enter the buildings, thousands more would die as well. She waited for her warriors to finish with the farms and knew this was going to be a huge failure.

• • •

Lee arrived and joined his platoon and waited for other Alliance Warriors to join them. He looked at the general view and saw that the Red Aliens had stopped the population from fleeing out of the city and had moved in among them. They must know that their attackers were reluctant to kill the locals. He heard his Lieutenant discussing the situation with Col. Marsheen who was discussing it over the Battalion’s general frequency and heard Admiral Jorgenson expressing her dismay at what was coming. He listened for an hour and as he waited, the other armored warriors arrived and joined their forces. He heard the Admiral say, “We have no choice. If we delay attacking, the enemy will start killing the locals to force us to leave. I’m surprised they haven’t already started doing it.”

Lee shook his head and pressed his communicator, “Uhh, Sir. There might be a way to take them out without excessive loss of life.”

“Who is this!?”

“Forgive me for entering your conversation, this is Private Lee Jennings. Have you considered stunning the entire gathering?”

“Private Jennings, get off the channel.”

“Wait a minute, Colonel! What are you saying, Private.”

“Sir, all those enemy warriors are wearing armor. A stun beam will not affect them but will knock the locals off their feet. For just a moment, the armored enemy warriors will be exposed.”

Amelee shook her head as she digested the private’s suggestion. She stared at the city below her Light Ship and decided, “Captain Collins, move your transport above the capital city and have it hold station above the center of the city.”

“Sir?”

“Get moving now. I need you to distract the enemy scattered among the local population. I want you to target the entire gathering with your stun beams.”

“Yes Sir, leaving orbit.”

“Colonel, I want every enemy warrior targeted with a smart projectile and I want all of them launched the moment the stun beams are fired.”

“Sir, there’s twenty thousand enemy warriors among them?”

“Then you better get moving. Use the probes and I’ll issue the orders to feed your forces their targets. Target a personnel missile at each of them as well. As I think about it, launch the missiles first followed by the smart projectiles.”

“Sir, I’m not sure our weapons are accurate enough to do this.”

“They’ll have a clear shot for a few seconds. Do not fail to fire on time, Colonel!!”

“Yes Sir.”

• • •

Lee saw twenty targets appear on his targeting system and he pressed his weapons computer and watched them lock in on his smart projectile launcher and mini-missile launcher on his back pack. He heard the Colonel say, “We will use our jump boots and lift above the beings gathered out in the open a second before the stun beams are fired. The instant you see the beams, fire your weapons.”

• • •

Amelee heard Marsheem’s orders and saw the giant transport arrive over the city. She keyed her communicator, “Captain, I want an accurate countdown on firing your stun beams. Am I clear?”

“Yes Sir.” Captain Collins saw the armored enemy warriors firing at his ship from below the ship but knew they represented no danger to the transport. Their weapons just weren’t powerful enough to penetrate the ship’s force field. He looked at the forty beam operators and lowered his gaze, “You will all fire simultaneously or I will make you wish you never joined the navy!” He glared at them and saw all of them put their fingers on their firing buttons. Collins looked around and activated his general frequency, “We will be firing the stun beams in ten, nine, eight…”

Marsheem yelled over his unit frequency, “At one, Lads. Lift and launch!”

“Four, three, two, One, FIRE!”

• • •

The thousands of Red Alien Warriors continued to fire at the giant ship hovering above the city and saw the bright green stun beams erupt from the ship. Every one of the local population collapsed to the ground and they initially thought they had been killed. A moment later, the small missiles and smart projectiles hit and they knew in the last moment of their lives that they should have fallen with the hostages around them.

• • •

Amelee screamed, “HOW MANY DID WE MISS?!!”

Marsheem stared at his visor and after a moment yelled, “Only six hundred are moving and my warriors are now moving in and finishing them.”

“How many locals were hit?”

“It appears less than a hundred, Sir.”

Amelee fell back in her chair, “Thank God.” She lifted her communicator, “Marsheem, move your units to the next city and do it again. Get moving!”

“Yes Sir.”

Amelee lifted her communicator, “Kelly, get this recording out to the other planets and have them implement it where it’s needed.”

“Yes Sir. Congratulations.”

“That is owed to a private.”

“I trust that rank is temporary, Sir.”

Amelee smiled, “I believe you’re right.”

• • •

An hour later, the thousands of local inhabitants began regaining consciousness and saw strange beings giving medical attention to some of them that were injured. Most of them were too close to the blast of the Red Warrior’s armor. Most of the Red Aliens were killed when the small missiles penetrated their armor and went off. Their armor held most of the blasts inside but there were some exceptions. As the local inhabitants began standing up, they saw the thousands of dead bodies of their captors scattered among them. It took a little time but soon the cheering started. The process of stunning the local population and attacking the enemy warriors happened so fast that no warning was issued to tell the others what was happening. On the planets where hostages were taken, the stunning of the civilians proved to be a winning strategy. However, there were planets where the Red Aliens ignored the locals and concentrated their forces to remove their attackers. The Alliance Warriors ran into a buzz saw on those planets.

• • •

Wes looked at Dom standing next to him in his platoon’s formation and saw warriors dropping inside their ranks. Wes shook his head and launched a volley of missiles at the wave of attackers moving in on them and shook his head. He put his helmet against Don’s and said off line, “It looks like Chicken Little is just going to leave us standing here like a shooting gallery.”

“The Colonel doesn’t appear to have the stomach for close combat.”

“Dom, I’m not going to stand here until enough of us are killed to allow him to call a retreat. If I’m going to go, I’m going to do it fighting.”

“Wes, if you break ranks, you’ll be arrested and court marshaled.”

“Get real, Dom. You and I are on the front line. We’re dead if we stay here.”

Dom stared at Wes and remembered the night he met the big Texan. He arrived from boot camp and went to a local bar to celebrate finally completing his training. He unpacked his duffle bag and headed out to party. He arrived in a small bar that catered to the military and ordered a beer with tequila. The bartender stared at him but handed him his drink. He heard over his shoulder, “What do you think is so funny!” He turned around and saw two huge Welken Warriors standing next to a table where Wes was sitting. This didn’t look good.

He remembered Wes looked at the tall warrior confronting him and trying hard not to laugh. He gathered himself and said, “That beer glass looks like a child’s teacup in your hand. I found it humorous.”

The Welken had obviously been drinking and shook his head. “So you think I’m funny?”

“No, just your beer glass.” The seven foot tall Welken grabbed the front of Wes’s shirt so fast it was hard to see. He lifted Wes off the floor with one arm and stared into his face with a sneer, “I’ll show you some humor.”

Wes was still holding his glass and he looked at Dom, “Would you mind holding this?” Don tilted his head, reached up, and took Wes’s glass.” Wes looked at the Welken, “Where were we? Oh yeah. I would caution you to consider what your species has learned about humans before you do something you might regret.” The giant still holding Wes off the floor with one arm looked at the other Welken Warrior and he shrugged.

“And just what might that be?”

“Every time humans have been confronted by a much stronger enemy, we have kicked that enemy’s ass. Or do you know where we’ve failed in winning?”

The Welken looked back at the other Welken and he tilted his head and nodded, “He is right about that.”

The Welken holding Wes off the floor shook his head, “How does that have any bearing on the current situation?”

The other Welken nodded toward Wes, “Perhaps you should ask him.”

“How does that have any bearing on the current situation?”

“Are you prepared to find out?”

The huge Welken’s mouth tightened and he drew back his other arm to send this mouthy human into next month. Dom was stunned by what he witnessed. Wes pulled both knees up to his chest and did a back flip out of the Welken’s grip. As his feet flew past the Welken Warrior’s head, Wes shot his right foot out and kicked the warrior under the chin with his combat boot. He landed on his feet and the Welken staggered from the blow. He tried to reach out and grab Wes but he stepped inside his arms and extended a straight arm punch into the Welken’s midsection just above his beltline. The Welken doubled over and tried to breath with lungs that no longer worked. Wes grabbed his hair and drew back a fist, “Do you want to continue this?” The Welken collapsed to his knees shaking his head as he fought to breathe. Wes grabbed him and took him to the floor and began massaging the middle of his back. In a few moments, the Welken took a short breath. In a couple of minutes, he was able to take deeper breaths. Wes looked up at the other Welken Warrior and said, “Is this over, or do you want to continue.”