Annihilation Series-Searching for a Hero (22 page)

“We need to head toward the airliner that crashed next to the edge of the forest.”

“I would think our friends in space would be keeping that in their surveillance.”

“They will be…but I suspect they’ll be keeping the entire edge of the forest in their scans.” Dean nodded and they put their thermal suits back on and started moving quickly toward the forest. An hour before sunrise, they arrived at the airliner and moved under one of the blasted wings.

“Do you see anything on the scanner?”

Dahlia stared at the small device and shook her head. “Give me a moment.” Dahlia closed her eyes and waited for a minute. Dean started to stand up and she shook her head, “Not yet.” He crouched back down and stared at his sister. She kept her eyes closed and put her hand on her back pack and blaster. He shouldered his blaster and gripped his back pack as well. Suddenly, Dahlia said, “NOW!” They jumped up and sprinted for the edge of the forest two hundred yards away. They made the first hundred and fifty yards without anything happening and then Dahlia screamed, “BREAK LEFT!!”

Dean followed Dahlia to the left and then back to the right as a brilliant beam hit the sand where they had been running. Their sudden break back toward the forest was just in time as another beam hit behind them. They crossed the line of trees and Dahlia ran to the right, staying in the edge of the tree line. Twenty yards into the edge of the forest a beam hit and burned a hundred yard swath. Dean continued to follow her and as they cleared the end of the burn, Dahlia ran into the forest with Dean just behind her. She continued to sprint forward as the edge of the forest was illuminated with ten beams hitting the edge and burning everything they hit. She suddenly turned and started running along the forest’s edge as a series of explosions began walking along the edge of the forest toward them. Dean wanted to break to the right deeper into the forest but Dahlia continued to run ahead of the explosions moving rapidly toward them. Suddenly, Dahlia stopped and grabbed Dean’s arm and stopped him from passing her. The Explosions stopped behind them and began again fifty yards in front of them. Dean looked up and saw the first Invader Attack craft turn left as another attack craft came in behind it. She then turned into the forest and ran at her best speed.

A hundred and fifty yards in Dahlia hit the ground and remained still. Dean hit the ground beside her and waited for her to move. She crawled over to a ground crawler and pulled the huge plant on top of her. She held it up and Dean crawled under it just as she lowered it. The Invader skimmers came roaring in from high altitude and began crisscrossing the forest’s edge searching for them. They remained still as the skimmers roared over the tops of the trees and a line of the giant creatures exited their transports and entered the forest moving into it at a brisk pace. Dahlia prayed they would pass their hiding place before the sun rose and allowed them to see the tracks they had made crawling under the crawler. Three of the giant beasts walked within three feet of them but continued deeper into the forest. They remained still and Dahlia grabbed Dean’s hand three times shaking her head. He was going to take a look each time and he wondered how she knew what he was planning. Finally, they heard a loud hum as a troop transport arrived and the line of Invaders left the forest and boarded.

• • • • •

“Did you find them?”

“No, they didn’t have time to move as far as we searched. I suspect they were hit by a beam and vaporized. There were no tracks leaving this area.”

The Commander stared at the forest and almost ordered the search to continue but received a message that other locals were attempting to enter the forest a mile south of their location. He looked around and shouted, “Board the transport.”

The searchers ran to the ship and jumped in as it lifted and flew south at a high rate of speed. Dahlia listened to the sound fade and she kept her hand on Dean’s shoulder. After thirty minutes, two of the giant creatures stood up to the left of them and walked out of the forest. They boarded the skimmer that had been left at the edge of the forest and flew south.

Dean looked at Dahlia and she nodded, “How did you know they were there?”

“My God, Dean, couldn’t you smell them?”

Dean snickered, “No, but we need to get moving. We should be able to make the hole by midday.”

“I suspect Tess is already there.”

“She had a much harder route to get there. She had to make it out of the State Residence and out of the center of the alien’s invasion.”

“Would you like to bet on it?”

“Oh no; I know how talented she is. I’m really surprised we made it this far.”

“Just keep the thermal suit on and don’t move out from the cover of the trees. Are you ready to make time?”

Dean nodded and they jogged into the giant forest. It was after they arrived at the hole that Dean realized that they were up wind from the two invaders. How did Dahlia know?

• • • • •

Just before noon, Dahlia and Dean went over to a huge tree that had been killed by a lightning strike. The huge trunk extended high above the forest with the burned patches still visible on it. Dahlia looked around and activated the mini-scanner and turned a full circle as she held it out in her arms. She closed her eyes and after a moment she moved forward and placed her hand inside a burned out crack in the trunk. She felt the flat place on the left side and she placed her palm on it. A four foot section of the trunk pivoted in and shot up out of view. Dean crouched and ran through the opening. Dahlia removed her hand and followed him into the tree just before the section of the trunk slammed back in place. As soon as the opening closed, lights illuminated and they walked forward and entered a grey colored chamber that was located inside a tube that disappeared into the floor of the small room they were in. Dahlia placed her hand on the ID panel in the wall and the capsule shaped chamber slid the door over the opening and dropped into the floor.

As they fell at a high rate of speed, Dean looked at Dahlia, “I’ve often wondered why our society only allows our females to lead us.”

Dahlia smiled, “There’s no love like a mother’s love. You know our males are predisposed to be warriors first. A mother will make decisions that will protect her children. What do you want to do about this invasion?”

“I want to blast them back into space where they came from.”

“And that might lead to the destruction of our planet. Are you willing to take that risk?”

Dean tilted his head left and smiled, “I guess I am.”

Dahlia shook her head, “Do you have an answer why, now?”

Dean nodded and felt the capsule start to slow. He knew they had fallen more than two thousand feet but there was no sensation of speed. “Dahlia, those two creatures were downwind from us. How did you smell them?”

Dahlia smiled, “I didn’t say I did. I just said they stank.” The capsule opened and Dahlia stepped out before Dean could respond. He took two steps and saw Tess waiting for them. Dahlia went forward and hugged her older sister and Tess returned her hug and stepped forward and hugged Dean, “What took you so long?”

Dean shook his head, “The invaders must have been looking for our planet’s leadership. It was a close thing we got out. Do you have a current situation of what’s happening?”

Tess frowned and motioned them to follow her. “We’ve lost about sixty percent of our warriors trying to prevent their landers from making the surface. The others went into the ground and are situated in holes around the planet.”

“Does the nemite prevent them from seeing our locations underground?”

“It does. Their scanners do not penetrate the layer of nemite so they can’t see any of our facilities.”

Dean frowned, “I’ve often questioned why we’ve kept the existence of these facilities top secret; I guess it was for this exact situation.”

“You can’t reveal what you don’t know.”

“Are you planning to do something about their attack?”

Tess stared at Dean and after a moment, shook her head, “The invasion is being conducted by the Black Ships. Our scouting reports have recordings of them destroying planets that proved to be resistant to them. We need to determine what their intent is before we take any action.”

“Did any of our warships survive?”

Tess looked at Dahlia, “I ordered them to leave and go to the safe base until I order them back. We lost two thirds of our fleet before I ordered the withdrawal. I couldn’t see wasting them to stop something that was inevitable.”

“Why did they invade; I thought two of the major evils were disputing this area.”

“It appears something happened to change the balance of power among them. I’m hoping the Rageon are able to kick them out of here. That’s our best hope of salvation but I’m not sure that’s going to happen.”

Dahlia shrugged, “If the Rageon prevail, we’ll just have a new invader.”

Tess sighed, “And then they will attack our planet to remove them. There is no good solution to this at the moment.”

“What about the ships we’ve been building out of nemite?”

Tess looked at Dean, “They can get in to attack their fleets but we don’t have a weapon that is effective against them. They would be little more than sightseers. We want to avoid exposing the properties of nemite to them.”

Dean stared at Tess and his eyes narrowed, “You’ve got something in mind or you would be acting more decisively.”

Tess laughed, “You know me too well, Brother. On the way out of the city, I killed one of the beasts and took a tissue sample. I’m having our geneticists working on developing a virus that only targets them. I’m hoping we can make them quarantine our planet.”

“If they fear a virus, why wouldn’t they just blast the planet out of existence?”

“That’s what’s making the project difficult. The virus must have a high resistance to heat.”

Dahlia smiled, “They wouldn’t want that virus carried away by objects blown away from the planet.”

“That’s my hope. This is going to take time to develop and in the meantime we have to stay hidden.”

“Are our optical scanners operational?”

“They are.” Tess looked at Dahlia, “I need you to go to the other facilities and make sure they understand that they will not do anything without my approval.”

Dahlia nodded and moved back to the capsule, “I’ll get the word out. I’ll come back when I’m done.”

Tess nodded, “Dean, I need you to take command of the scanners and start providing updates on what the Invaders are doing.”

Dean nodded and turned to go to the control facility. He paused and looked back at Tess, “You have no idea how much I want to hurt them.”

Tess’ eyes narrowed, “On that, you are wrong.”

Dean saw his sister’s expression and knew she was right. Her husband and child were killed as the invasion began. Dean knew her grieving would have to wait and he felt bad that he had not given her the respect she deserved for her loss. He nodded and left for the control room.

• • • • •

Dahlia arrived at the hole under the southern continent and saw major activity taking place in the control room. She emerged from the tube and saw the facility commander issuing orders to the communication officers. She shouted, “YOU WILL STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING!”

Angel jerked in surprise and turned toward Dahlia with an angry expression. She saw who it was and immediately bowed, “I’m so happy that you survived, Your Highness.”

“What are you doing?”

“The invaders are rounding up the leaders of our communities on the surface for execution. I was organizing a spoiling raid by our warriors to stop them.”

Dahlia turned to the communication officers, “You will order an immediate stand down of all our forces.” They stared at her not moving and Dahlia pulled a blaster out of her belt holster, “Do I need to make an example of you to get my orders carries out?”

They scrambled around and began issuing orders. Angel turned to Dahlia, “We must stop them from doing this.”

Dahlia looked at her, “I’ll approve this action if you can guarantee that our facilities underground will not be revealed by it.” Angel stared at Dahlia not knowing what to say. Dahlia waited and after a moment went to the control board and pulled up a scouting report on the invaders. Angel watched as three of the giant Black Ships fired three giant missiles into the planet below them. The planet exploded sending giant pieces of the planet’s surface out into space. Angel’s face showed her shock. Dahlia said, “If you reveal we have these facilities,” Dahlia pointed at the monitor, “that is what will happen to us. Are you willing to assume that risk, Angel?”

Angel visibly deflated and lowered her head, “Zak is one of those scheduled to be executed.” Dahlia rushed forward and took Angel in her arms. Angel wept and then began sobbing uncontrollably. Dahlia held her and after ten minutes Angel wiped her tears and said, “Even if..if…we stopped the execution, they would nuke the city.”

“And if you took them down the chutes, our facilities would be exposed.”

“Dahlia, I humbly request you replace me.”

“Angel, you’re here because you are the best one to make sure we don’t do something stupid.”

“But I was going to do just that!”

“That was before you knew what we were facing. Now you know and I wouldn’t trust anyone else to defend our people with the tenaciousness you possess. Our people need you.”

Angel shook her head, “I’m not as strong as you are.”

“Yes you are! Now do what’s demanded of you so we can take our revenge on these murderous creatures.”

Angel’s tears started again but her expression was a mask of rage, “I’ll not allow them to discover our defenses, Princess.” Angel wiped her tears and said, “How is Tess holding up?”

“She’s doing what has to be done. She sent me here.”

“Tell her she is in our prayers and we’re counting on her to lead us through this.”

“She would tell you the same thing, Angel.”

Angel nodded and turned to the staff monitoring the warrior’s status, “Get the warriors back to their quarters and close off the upper tubes. Make sure they are pulled into the layer of nemite.”

The officer in command of the tubes nodded and turned to his staff and began issuing orders. Dahlia hugged Angel and stepped back, “I have to go.” Angel nodded, “I’ll notify Tess before I take any action.” Dahlia nodded and reentered the tube. She went to six other holes and made sure every facility commander knew their orders to stay hidden. She entered the tube to return to the main command bunker and wept for Angel. She knew Angel would watch her son’s execution because he deserved that honor. Her bravery would inspire those under her command to follow her orders. They would know that her loss was greater than any they would face. She knew that the decision to make mothers the commanders of the military was proven again. She always regretted that she had never married and had a family. Now she was thankful that she wouldn’t be forced to see her loved ones murdered. She wondered if Angel was right; the strength Angel had to have to continue to live was more than she possessed. She didn’t know it; but she was wrong.