Battle for the Earth (33 page)

‘That, as you can clearly see, is not the case. We simply moved to Mars when the continent of Atlantis was destroyed. For centuries we have developed our home on Mars while keeping an eye on the Dropas and human connection on Earth. We were well aware the day would come where you might need our intervention in the fight against the Annunaki. This day has now come.’

Jumouk slowly shook his head. This had come as a total shock to him. The Dropas had always believed that the Annunaki had wiped out the people of Atlantis along with their continent. Here history was being rewritten right before his eyes.

By contrast, Lee was ecstatic. Here was the answer to his prayers. These battle cruisers were obviously far more advanced than either the
Victory
or the
Iron Duke.
He had to get on board to have a look. Then the thought suddenly struck him. What about the crew?

‘We’ll need to organise crews for them,’ he blurted out.

In his excitement he had forgotten about the fully crewed battle cruiser moving somewhere beneath the oceans of Earth.

Pausanias replied calmly:

‘All the battle cruisers have a full crew complement, all of whom are experienced in tactical warfare.’

Jumouk was the first to come down to Earth, or Mars, depending on which way you looked at it.

‘This does put a different light on things, but it is still going to be far from easy. We’ll be outnumbered two to one.’

Pausanias smiled, the first time anyone had seen him do that.

‘We will, however, have a huge tactical advantage. Our cruisers are capable of being cloaked and they also have plasma shield technology’

Lee let out a low-pitched whistle.

‘It just gets better and better.’

Then the inevitable question

‘Any chance of a look on board?’

Pausanias smiled again.

‘I’m afraid that will have to wait until another time, Lee. But I promise you will have the opportunity to have a good look around later. I think Jumouk may want to call a meeting to discuss our next move.’

**

The meeting was held in one of the main conference rooms. Pausanias had gone all out to impress. Within the lavish surroundings, a first-class buffet had been arranged for the participants to enjoy. Waiters and waitresses were available with chilled water and fruit juice, or tea and coffee.

All the usual suspects were there along with a panel of three Atlantians headed up by Pausanias. The difference this time was that the Atlantians sat at the head of the conference table.

**

After everybody had selected their refreshments and taken their places round the conference table, Pausanias rose to speak.

‘Thank you for coming, ladies and gentlemen. I am sure everybody is acquainted. However, I would like to introduce the other two members of the Atlantian council of three. On my left, Aleman and on my right, Solon.’

Marie recognised the names of historical characters from ancient Greece. Greek studies had been one of her majors in her early years.

Pausanias went on:

‘May I remind you all that questions regarding Atlantis and ourselves can, and will, be answered later. For now though we must deal with the Annunaki threat to Earth, and indeed to ourselves. You all have a brief in front of you which covers our current resources and placements. Any further ideas or contributions to strategy will be welcomed and considered.’

The debate had been going for just short of an hour, and all kinds of ideas had been heard and dismissed, when Sacha, as usual, demonstrated his capacity for original thinking.

‘The way I see it is, we want to destroy, or at least see off the Annunaki fleet and forces once and for all. We also want minimal casualties on our side and a planet Earth to return to, not a nuclear waste ground with a half-life of ten thousand years.’

His audience expressed their agreement with enthusiasm. Sacha was well respected following his contribution to the victory at Dulles.

‘Now, from what I’ve heard recently, this base, and Mars itself, packs a pretty lethal punch. We have to use that in our favour, or we’d be very stupid. So ... we use
Victory
and
Iron Duke
as bait for the Annunaki cruisers in space, we lead them back here and hit them as hard as we can with the weapons on the base and also one of the Atlantian battle cruisers. Along with the
Duke
and the
Victory
that should do some damage.’

Lee interrupted:

‘What about the battle cruisers over Dulles?’

‘Good point, Lee. We send two of the Atlantian battle cruisers along with the four hundred predators to meet up with the cruiser already on Earth. Everything can be shielded from the Annunaki proximity detectors, right?’

Pausanias nodded in agreement.

‘We hit all the Annunaki battle cruisers simultaneously. We synchronise things so that at the same time as the fighting starts up here, we hit Dulles. We’ll have split their forces and that’ll give us a huge tactical advantage both on Earth and up here.’

Lee was the first one to burst out with applause, closely followed by Mark and Finney. Konoco smiled, amazed at the ingenuity Sacha consistently displayed.

‘Shit! That was bloody excellent, Sacha. That’s really going to make the bastards think twice!’

Pausanias was deep in conversation with the other two members of the council of three. Then he spoke:

‘Thank you, Sacha. Can we please put Sacha’s plan to a vote? All those in favour, please raise your hands.’

The ‘yes’ vote was unanimous.

**

53

Sutan was pleased with the way the building of his new capital city Tana was coming along. From the bridge of his flagship
Orpious
it was an impressive sight.

Tens of thousands of Annunaki workers were busy on the massive construction site. Annunaki workers were considered second class by the warrior-class Annunaki who regarded them as expendable and to be worked as hard as was necessary.

Buildings and infrastructures were appearing at an alarming rate, suggesting that construction would be finished within a month. Fortunately for the Annunaki there had been no interference either from the ESG or the resistance to slow the building work down. That was just the way Sutan liked it and he was determined to keep it that way.

Sutan’s new residency and administration building was the first to be completed and he was just getting ready to leave the flagship to inspect it. The supreme commander’s shuttle docked by the side of the flagship bridge and opened its doors. Sutan and his entourage boarded the sumptuously fitted-out shuttle craft, and relaxed for the short journey to the new building.

The shuttle craft touched down gently onto the roof of the building and was promptly lowered down two floors on the descending landing platform. This brought Sutan right into his living quarters without his even having to leave the shuttle. This was to provide ease of access and also to foil assassination attempts. The doors of the shuttle opened silently and the departure and arrivals ramp slid silently to the floor of the apartment.

Sutan swaggered down the ramp in full regalia, exulting in the presidential surroundings of his new living area. This was far better than he had been used to on Nibiru or even on his flagship. Most of the furniture and fittings had been looted from what had been Dulles and its surrounding area. Admittedly, everything had been planned down to the last detail and Sutan looked suitably impressed.

The whole apartment was filled with the latest in electronics - visual displays, communications, proximity sensors, all linked to every cruiser in the battle group. Sutan would be able to wage a war from the comfort of his front room. The rest of the building was just as impressive and would become the hub of the Annunaki war machine, controlling Earth and the space around it.

Sutan sent the shuttle back to the flagship. He intended to take a well-earned rest in his new living quarters. If necessary, he could always coordinate anything he needed to do from here.

The only problem with this new building were the electronics. They had still to be synchronised and brought on line, so for practical purposes they were currently ineffective. Sutan hadn’t been made aware of this.

As Sutan stretched out on his luxurious chaise-longue, enjoying the array of dubious-looking refreshments laid out for his visit, back on board the flagship the proximity detectors had sparked into a flurry of activity. Two ESG battle cruisers had just appeared from the far side of Mars heading slowly towards Earth.

The commander left in charge of the
Orpious
had been desperately trying to contact Sutan but to no avail. He was, however, in contact with the Annunaki battle cruisers in space and had now given the order to engage the ESG cruisers as Sutan’s previous orders had dictated.

The four vast Annunaki battle cruisers patrolling in space needed no encouragement and started off immediately on an intercept course to head off the ESG cruisers. As they got nearer, to their surprise the two vessels appeared to turn tail and head back towards Mars.

This behaviour was so completely at odds with every Annunaki intelligence report which spoke of the brave ESG tenaciously fighting to the last man, that the Annunaki cruisers should probably have paused to report back. They now smelt blood, however, and nothing was going to hold them back.

They bore down on the ESG craft like a pack of rabid dogs. The two ESG battle cruisers turned on their axes and bit back, pulse weapons fire erupting from both ships and hitting the Annunaki craft head on. Unknown to the Annunaki, a cloaked Atlantian battle cruiser had silently slipped past them and was now behind them.

Then, as it uncloaked itself in their rear, its true immensity could be seen, dwarfing the two Annunaki cruisers to the rear of the group. As it fired its beam weapon with the precision of a surgeon handling a scalpel, the Annunaki cruiser farthest from the Atlantians burst into flames, imploding on itself. At the same time, the other Annunaki cruiser, the one farthest from Mars, suffered the same fate from a beam directed from one of the defence banks on Mars.

The two remaining Annunaki cruisers, who had been engaged in a firefight with the ESG cruisers, immediately turned tail and, entering hyper-space, sped away from Mars as fast as they could.

**

Back on Earth Sutan had heard a commotion outside. Storming over to his main control console, he found that it didn’t work. He cursed and headed quickly to a balcony overlooking his new domain.

The sight that met his startled gaze was one he never could have imagined.

Three colossal Atlantian battle cruisers had just uncloaked right next to his battle group and were in the process of decimating his battle cruisers. Atlantian predators were everywhere concentrating their fire on Annunaki assault ships and shuttles. The beam technology and plasma shields were outclassing the Annunaki at every turn.

It wasn’t so much a massacre, more like a demonstration of total military superiority. The Atlantians were giving the Annunaki a chance: a chance to leave with minimal losses.

Sutan stood on his balcony screaming at his battle group, screaming for them to go, go and regroup.

The Atlantian battle cruisers were taking multiple hits from the Annunaki banks of pulse weapons, but the plasma shields were simply absorbing the energy and redistributing it for their own use as raw power.

The technologically advanced Atlantian beam weapons were not operating at full power, firing more to disable than destroy, pinpointing weak points on the Annunaki battle cruisers, and rendering them ineffectual, and consequently useless.

Four of the Annunaki battle cruisers and numerous assault craft and shuttles, along with other Annunaki vessels, had now left the fray for the relative safety of deep space, leaving behind only the diehard Annunakis and the disabled craft hanging over Dulles.

Within three hours the whole of the Annunaki battle group had either fled, been disabled or destroyed and what was left had been forced into humiliating surrender. Two Annunaki battle cruisers had been destroyed, three had been totally disabled, and around two hundred assault craft had been destroyed, disabled or surrendered.

The Atlantian losses were minimal. No battle cruiser losses or damage, and a dozen predators destroyed, mainly through pilot error.

Thousands of ESG troops had now been flown down in shuttles from Mars, and the
Victory
and
Iron Duke
were both now in attendance at Dulles. The entire area was a hive of activity as they mopped up the remaining Annunaki warriors and workers. With the odd firefight taking place it was still far from secure.

**

Sutan and his entourage were in hiding, their plans to colonise Earth in tatters. Sutan was now fighting for his very survival, and a way to rejoin his shattered battle group. They badly needed to get hold of a shuttle and the luck to go with it.

The ESG were already starting to search the buildings that had been completed and they were in grave risk of being discovered. Sutan had already taken the precaution of dressing down, wearing an Annunaki foot warrior’s body-suit, so that if they were discovered his rank would not be obvious.