Battle for the Earth (26 page)

At times Marie would leave Pausanias to get on with it as she paid a visit to the control room and the visual depiction consoles to check the position of the second Annunaki battle group. So far so good, she thought. At least it hasn’t moved yet.

This was the only console that could detect a fleet so far away, and technically it was far more advanced than anything on board the cruisers. Marie didn’t have a clue how it worked, but the pressure being what it was, she was simply glad that it did.

**

It had been a long hard shift but finally the last transport was filling up.

Jumouk was keen to get back to the Mars base for many reasons, the main one being the need to re-group and consolidate the defence of the base. He also wanted to see the massed forces of the new Annunaki battle group for himself. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe Marie, it was just one of those times you had to see it for yourself.

With the last huge transport filled and the underground base at Beijing abandoned, the battle cruisers and the rest of the craft made their way towards the Mars base.

As the battle cruisers took up their defensive positions above the Mars base, Jumouk and Konoco were already aboard a shuttle, landing in an area around the base protected by the force field. They made their way quickly down to the main control room to join Marie.

‘Has there been any further movement of the Annunaki fleet, Marie?’

Jumouk was obviously very concerned as he watched the visual depictions in front of him.

Marie shook her head.

‘No, there’s been absolutely no movement at all - well, apart that is from the shuttle that docked with the lead battle cruiser.’

‘It’s two days’ flight in hyper-drive, isn’t it?’

Marie nodded

‘I take it the shuttle was there to bring the new battle group up to date. I need to know what the defensive capabilities of this base are, Marie.’

Marie shook her head again.

‘You’re going to have to talk to Pausanias. He’s the only one who can help with that. I still don’t even know how big the base is. Maybe he’ll be more forthcoming with you, anyway.’

Lee joined them and Marie welcomed him with a big warm smile.

‘What have I missed?’

‘Nothing much, Lee, except Jumouk’s going to have to talk to Pausanias to put together a plan for the defence of the base.’

Lee looked around.

‘Just on that subject, where is Pausanias?’

‘I think he’s still settling the new arrivals in.’

This was not in fact true.

Pausanias was actually on a completely different level of the Mars base, a part of it which only the original Mars occupants had been in. Neither Dropas nor humans knew of the existence of this level.

This was the part that controlled all the weapons and defences around the surface and within the base of the red planet. Pausanias was busy now, expertly configuring the defence patterns that would defend the base against any Annunaki aggression. He had personally sat down with the two Mars operators monitoring the controls and reconfigured the systems himself. The response to any attack would be swift and decisive, and would show no mercy.

Satisfied that he had taken all the measures he needed to, he left his operators to oversee the system and returned to the main control room.

‘Is that everyone settled in?’

Marie was the first to ask.

‘It will take them a few days to settle in, Marie, but everyone’s been allocated sleeping and living areas, and my people are assisting with any needs the new arrivals might have.’

Lee thought to himself.
My people.
That’s an unusual thing for an Android to say. Everything about Pausanias seemed to be puzzling. He was certainly an enigma.

Pausanias was busy reassuring Jumouk about the defence system of the Mars base. This involved a lengthy and detailed explanation of how the automated defences worked. Finally, Jumouk seemed happy that everything that could be done had been done to protect the civilians sheltering on the Mars base.

**

44

Tannacha and Nalater had personally overseen the clearing up of the Dulles base after the encroachment by the Earth’s resistance fighters. The attacked had caused a lot of damage and many casualties. The resistance had shown that they were a force to be reckoned with. In fact, a worldwide network of resistance was now in place and growing stronger by the day. Although Dulles was still the hub, the leadership was based in London.

All the Annunaki forces worldwide had now been recalled to the Dulles base, making it a formidable fortress.

Tannacha was back on his favourite project, the Sybotes. But now he had a definite plan. As usual he just hadn’t told anybody what he had planned to do with them -apart, that is, world conquest and slavery.

Another shuttle had been despatched to Nibiru, and Tannacha was looking well pleased with himself again. He had come up with the perfect solution.

While the Annunaki warriors were bad enough, and the Sybotes were even scarier and worse, he had come up with something even better. What about an Annunaki warrior as a Sybote? A mere thousand of these creatures would clear a swathe through Earth, killing and turning humans into Sybote slaves, with no problem at all.

The DNA and other samples needed for this were now on their way back to Nibiru where they would be processed and developed with the help or, perhaps, through the misfortune of the second-class Annunaki workers.

**

Marie was the first to notice a massive Annunaki craft sitting further back in the debris field around Nibiru, as if it was isolated from the rest of the battle group. It had, she observed, regular visits from a number of shuttles and other craft which docked and took off from there. She was mesmerised as she watched the number of craft coming and going, and wondered what was going on. Jumouk interrupted her reverie.

‘What is it, Marie?’

‘I don’t know, but it’s three times the size of a cruiser, and there’s a lot of activity going on now.’

Shuttles and other types of vessels were docking and taking off every ten minutes, and Marie was becoming increasingly concerned. They had already come across the human Sybotes and knew that the Annunaki were capable of anything.

**

On board the massive ship the Annunaki warriors were having a very difficult time controlling the new breed of Sybotes. They were very different from the human form of Sybote: stronger, far more aggressive and less responsive to the influence of the mind-controlling device.

The creatures had to be put in different cells to stop bloody fighting breaking out between them, and this was taking its toll on the Annunaki warriors guarding them. It was also doing nothing to build confidence that they were going to be an asset when they reached Earth.

Morale itself within the Annunaki ranks was reaching an all-time low. They had all heard the stories about Earth from the shuttle pilots, about its ‘ghost’ forces appearing out of nowhere, the savage fighting that had gone on, the resistance movement, the massive defeat suffered by the expeditionary force and the problems that they had faced, as battle cruiser after battle cruiser had been destroyed.

Tannacha’s reputation for total disregard of his Annunaki warriors’ lives had also not been lost on the succeeding generation of warriors.

A solution had to be found before the rabid Annunaki Sybotes could be released into the wild on Earth, otherwise they might prove to be more of a liability than an asset for the Annunaki. None of Tannacha’s preparatory research had anticipated this problem, and the Annunaki scientists on board the huge transport were having a terrible time trying to find a solution. It was like a sailors’ shore party gone awfully wrong.

Nevertheless, Tannacha had demanded that the Sybotes were to be sent, so that’s what would happen. After all, he was the supreme commander.

The final shuttles were arriving on board the
Gerona,
the immense transport craft that would ferry these new Annunaki Sybotes to their destination at Dulles on Earth, and into Tannacha’s hands.

**

Tannacha was making preparations for the arrival of his new battle group, This had been his plan all along. The trouble was, again he hadn’t told anyone in his first fleet about it.

He had called Nalater into his conference room and brought him up to date with his plans. Nalater was impressed yet again. At least Tannacha still had the ability to surprise him, time after time. Maybe that’s what distinguished him as leader.

**

The scientists on board the
Gerona
had eventually found a quick fix for the Annunaki Sybote’s discipline problem. A second mind-control device placed on the opposite side of the brain seemed to calm the creatures down and make them more controllable.

The rest of the fleet was ready to go and waiting for the
Gerona
to be filled with its quota of Sybotes. The rest of the cargo had been loaded. This comprised mainly various ground assault craft, almost tank-like but without tracks, preferring to hover four feet above the ground and bristling with pulse weapons. There were shuttles, small, medium and large, and purpose-built, pre-fabricated buildings.

Around five hundred Sybotes had now been loaded and modified, and more were arriving every hour. The process of modifying the Sybotes had now been transferred to the research facility on Nibiru to speed up the process.

Eventually the prescribed target of one thousand Annunaki Sybotes was achieved and the fleet was now ready to take flight.

**

Tannacha and Nalater had not been idle at the Dulles base, and the town of Chantilly was in the firing line again. Nalater had been ordered to clear space to the south of the Dulles base and he finished the job that the resistance had started by levelling Chantilly to the ground. A five-square-mile area over Chantilly was flattened until no more than a three-inch-high mound of earth was left.

The conversion of the underground station deep under the Dulles base had been finished and fully kitted out with state-of-the-art equipment to produce human Sybotes by the dozens. The defences around the base were impenetrable for ground attack and daunting for an air attack. Annunaki assault craft were on permanent patrol in the airspace above the base, and were on scramble alert from the
Nephilimis
hovering above the base.

Tannacha was now ready to greet his new fleet and take on the Earth again.

**

45

The battle group started to move out of the asteroid field that surrounded Nibiru and slowly grouped into the designated formation, with the battle cruisers flanking the support ships and transports in a massive V shape.

This battle group was even more impressive than the one that Tannacha had led in what now felt like a lifetime ago. It thundered forward like a huge manta ray, carving its way through space, led by two small, ten-man shuttles, that were able to lead them through the hazards of space on hyper-drive.

All of a sudden the fleet was enveloped, and in the blink of an eye were gone into hyper-space, and on their way to Earth - for better or worse.

**

On board the lead cruiser, Sutan, the commander of the new battle group, was holding a meeting in one of the sumptuous conference rooms on board his flagship
Orpious.
All ten of his battle cruiser commanders were represented, but because they were all in hyper-space, the meeting wasn’t held in person. Holographic representations of each of the commanders were seated around Sutan’s large conference table.

They were discussing the reports Tannacha had sent back on the first shuttle from Earth, in particular concerning the two cruisers around the other side of Mars. Nobody knew that there was a base on Mars. They simply thought the ESG were hiding out there.

The other thing that was on the agenda was the question of the resistance fighters, although this was not seen as a particular threat to a battle group and army this size, especially with the new threat of the Annunaki Sybotes.

Sutan was looking forward to getting to Earth and meeting up with his elder brother, Tannacha. He relished the challenge of fighting these elusive Earth people and skinning them alive. It was just unfortunate in his eyes that there were only two ESG cruisers left. Still, they would have to do for now.

Sutan was something of a perfectionist and liked well-structured plans. Keeping his commanders informed and in the loop was important to him, unlike his brother’s more maverick approach to war.

He had not been wasting his time while he was waiting for the battle group to set off. He had put together a plan of action for the battle group on its arrival on Earth. This of course would be at the discretion of Tannacha and not open to debate.

Still, Sutan thought it a good plan.

On arrival at Earth, Sutan would despatch five cruisers to hunt down the ESG cruisers and the transports with them. That would be the end of them. Meanwhile, the Annunaki Sybotes would hunt down the resistance and take care of them, bit by bit, if necessary. This strategy would be repeated all over the globe.