Gray Panthers: Battle for Earth (17 page)

White House

3 January 2128

The president was rubbing his head. Half his own security detail was found to be in a coup to overthrow him.  New members of both congress and the senate were thinking they should wait before they do a full restoration of the constitution. By waiting, they could use their powers to clean up the country.  Sigmund had to explain for the umpteenth time that was part of the reason they had to do it now.  Many of the criminal politicians had just evaporated, it seemed.  Some renegade units of the homeland security had to literally be destroyed by the military, as the military equipment was once again returned.  Siggy flirted with the thought of a blanket amnesty just to get down to business. But knew he would lose critical support he would need later when he gave total control of businesses back to their owners and tried to return property back to their rightful owners.  Siggy looked at the phone ringing with no return number, but decided to answer it anyway since they had gotten through to him.

“Hello?”

“Good morning Siggy, how are you doing this fine day?”  Dan chirped.

“Why do I get the feeling everything has just got worse for me?”

“Strange you should say that. The number one item we feared is three days away.”

Siggy slumped down into his chair, not wanting to listen, “Go on Dan.”

“I believe my plans will work but for the sake of legalities I need your son, the Governor of Arizona, to do me a favor. I need him to designate my Gray Panthers as the official state volunteer militia.  I’m sure Commander Bad can take care of the problem, but if he can’t, the backup plan hopefully will work.”

“I will call him and get the ball rolling ASAP. I will be addressing both houses this afternoon, and let them in on what’s going on, then I will tell our allies.  Tonight I will address the people.”

“Good luck Mr. President. I stand ready to support you however I can,” Dan stated more solemnly that intended.

Dan looked over the conference room; all the major players that had been with him from the beginning were there as well as all the senior ranking cadre of the Gray Panthers.  “Ladies and Gentlemen. The time is upon us. In less than three days we will be fighting for our very survival.  The Alien race Libra will be here ready to clean house.  We will not be going along with their plan.  Tomorrow Commander Bad will be attacking with the Nike.  Her sister ship will not be out of dry dock in time to assist.  As a backup, you all need to prepare for Operation Recall; I plan to use it, if needed, when the aliens reach the moon.  We will all be busy for the next few days.  Good luck.”

The world was stunned with the news they would soon be invaded.  Some nations petitioned the UN to negotiate for the world’s surrender as many fringe groups popped up declaring their allegiance to the new masters.  Many groups believed it was a conspiracy and that the United States had offended the aliens and that was why only they were prepared with advanced technology to counter the aliens.  Conspiracy theorists went crazy when it was disclosed that the US government in fact did not have the technology. Instead, the Arizona Volunteer Militia was going to save the world, a group whose average age, was reported by the media after an investigation, was 72!

Near Earth Space

6 January 2128

Commander Bad was nervous; he would soon be engaged in combat with a new crew, in an untested ship against an adversary with unknown capabilities.  Once the course of the enemy ships was determined, he sent both squadrons of shuttles out to set limpet mines.  The mines were unique in that they would stay in place and not generate an energy signature or any sensor fields.  When the ships came close enough to the mines the power from the ship’s force field would attract the mines as they attached to the field. They then start to fill their massive capacitors. Once filled they would either explode or wait for a command to explode.  A space buoy was sent out to announce to the Libras that they were entering Earth Space and that to continue would be viewed as an act of aggression.  They would need to halt and wait for their presence to be acknowledged by an Earth ship that would meet them at the buoy, and then inspect their ship.  Commander Bad had a special shuttle quickly slapped together that was similar to NASA’s early shuttle to see if when it approached the ships it would be fired upon.  After Commander Bad informed Dan of his plan, Dan let the president know, to see if anyone wanted to be the first to make contact with the Libras, in the event they were actually friendly.  Surprisingly, those advising diplomacy were not willing to be on the shuttle.   "Captain, the shuttle Atlantis B is ready to launch.  Nike has confirmed that the messages we have programmed are very similar to those that the Libras use when making first contact with a new species.  Everything about the Atlantis makes it appear our technology is from the 1990s and that our technology is very rudimentary,” Red briefed.

"Very well, let’s launch the sitting duck and see what happens. You may launch when you wish XO,” Butch ordered as he continued to monitor the data coming to his tablet on the incoming ships.

Both shuttle squadrons had already launched and were each powered down producing no signature; their construction material making them near invisible to any scanners.

The Atlantis B started to send out its programmed message of welcome.  The smaller of the two Libra ships pulled ahead of the larger as it scanned the Atlantis B, then demanded the surrender of the Atlantis B and of Earth.  When Atlantis B instead requested to speak with a diplomat, the smaller Libra ship used a beam to bring the Atlantis B into one of its docking bays.  As the ship began to enter the bay, Butch gave the order and the matter anti matter warhead in the payload bay exploded.  A quarter of the Libra ship just disappeared as entire parts of the ship broke off, slowly heading in all directions.  The larger ship immediately began rescue operations unaware of any additional dangers. 

  Butch powered up the Nike as he ordered both squadrons to attack the remaining ship.  Before the first shot could be fired, the enemy ship broke off and seemed to disappear for a second. It reappeared a short distance away as it let loose both missiles and beams toward the Nike, ignoring the shuttles.  The Nike targeted all beamers on the ship as it again disappeared for a moment and it again re-appeared, firing missiles and beams.  The Nike avoided the beams from the first attack as its close up defense batteries managed to destroy the missiles. 

"Nike what the hell is that son of a bitch doing and how can we get a shot at him before we end up destroyed?"  Butch asked as a missile exploded short of making contact with the Nike.

"Sir the enemy is using his faster than light drive to jump around. I have not heard of that being done before. I am trying to see if I can determine where he will jump next. Request control of weapons and ship’s control in order to avoid his shots and fire when I have a solution. It might be terminal to us to wait for reaction time of the crew,” Nike answered back to the captain.

"Damned if I like it but go ahead, ship is now on automatic."

"Nike to all shuttles. You are cleared for separate attack; suggest you fire where they ain't.  When we have a firing solution, we will bring you up to date; Nike out."  Dan placed the microphone back in its cradle as he sat down, to watch his own battle as a spectator.  Reports started to come in as some beams managed to get through. Locking down the ship was all that could be done; fortunately no serious damage yet.  The shuttles performed the exploding star maneuver as all shuttles went in separated directions
,
randomly firing their beamers.  One shuttle managed to hit the ship with a one-second beam before it rammed into the side of the ship.  Whether it was from the beamer or the shuttle’s impact, the side of the ship started to vent atmosphere.  Fires appeared to burn from the interior of the ship.  The ship lost no maneuverability as it continued to randomly appear, fire, and then disappear. 

Dan sat in the Gray Panther command post monitoring what was going on, angry he had nothing to contribute.  "Grub, have you analyzed the battle for anything we can contribute or pass on to the Nike?"

"Sir, the enemy ships are more advanced that I predicted.  Our weapons can damage them if we can hit them.  I can find no pattern to their maneuvers.  Recommend that Nike copy their tactic." 

"Can the Nike do that?"  Dan replied nearly frantic.

"Yes Sir, I have sent the recommendation to Nike now and the specifications for them to use their fabricator to make a faster than light drive. It should only take an hour to fabricate and another hour to install."

"Grub, we don't even have ten minutes at this rate. Order Nike to retreat behind the moon to perform the modifications if it can, and have the shuttles try to keep the enemy ship distracted,” Dan ordered as he wiped the sweat off his face with his shirt sleeve

"Major Rhodes, have you been monitoring what’s going on?" Dan asked as he brought up the retired Air Force Major on screen.

"Yes sir. I recommend we launch Operation Recall immediately."

"Go ahead Dusty. It’s your game from here,” Dan replied as others in the room looked at Dan in confusion.

"Sorry gentlemen I seemed to have left some of you out of the loop.  All the shuttles we sold have been automatically recalled to our shuttle depots.  Those shuttles are being armed as quickly as possible from there.  That is the first part of Operation Recall.  The shuttles all are capable of space travel; we just never advertised that fact when we sold them.  They are all now being armed with both beamers and modified rail guns.  As soon as they are ready, we will launch them en masse.  If we get them all off, we will have ten thousand of them to annoy our visitor while the Nike is out of the game.  They will all be piloted by their AIs as directed by Dusty.”

“Sir, it looks like we are now having multiple launches from all over the world.  Looks like groups of one hundred at a time from each site.  Estimate it will be ten thousand en route in 12 minutes,” the sensor operator reported to Dan.

“Good, good, suggest to Butch that he have the remainder of his squadrons break off from the enemy ship and begin to harass the disabled ship, trying not to destroy it.  Dusty, I have a new plan for you, go ahead and have your shuttles converge on the disabled ship. I have a feeling that will get the other ship off Nike and we might get a real shot at the enemy.  Grub, try to contact the enemy and tell them unless they cease all hostilities now we will destroy the damaged ship.”

“Captain, we have damage in over a dozen compartments. Damage control is handling it, and so far they have managed to miss any major systems,” the XO reported to the captain as a shudder was felt by all crewmembers. 

Richard "Ricky" Vasquez was checking up personally on two technicians who were not responding from inertial dampener control.  Starting to open the hatch to the control room he saw that the hatch control was red, showing there was no atmosphere in the next cabin.  Securing his helmet Ricky opened the hatch and was surprised to see that to his right he was looking through a jagged ten foot wide hole to space. From the way the pattern looked it must have been from the destruction of one of the missiles that had gotten too close to the Nike.  Inspecting the control room showed the runs from both the inertial dampener main control and auxiliary were untouched but both the primary and secondary power supplies were gone as was the part of the bulkhead they were mounted.  “Bridge, Damage Control 1,” Ricky immediately called realizing the danger.

“Damage Control 1, XO, What have you got Ricky?” Red asked.

“Do not engage engines, we have lost inertial dampeners, if you engage engines we will all be splashed like raw tomatoes. Copy?”

“Copy that. Get it repaired ASAP and keep me informed, XO out.” Red then turned to the captain

“Sir updated report from engineering. The inertial dampeners master control has sustained damage. If we maneuver faster than thrusters we will all be splattered against the bulkheads.  ETA for repairs unknown at this time,” Red reported.

“Damn we don’t have ten minutes. Nike, do you have any suggestions?”  Butch asked.

“No sir, but the enemy is no longer attacking us. He has pulled back and is returning to the other alien ship.  Sir, massive numbers of contacts are coming up from the planet. It looks like thousands of shuttles are coming our way. Correction, forward units are headed toward the damaged ship.  The total count is approximately ten thousand shuttles.  Our shuttles appear to be engaging enemy shuttles that are deploying from the damaged ship. Reports coming in, it appears the enemy shuttles are trying to get to the undamaged enemy ship, and are not engaging our shuttles after all.”

“All shuttles, do not attack enemy shuttles. Use your tractors and instead capture as many as possible.  Tractor them to the vicinity of the Nike, but not to the ship in case they try to destroy themselves,” Butch ordered.

“Sir enemy ship is now taking damage as it’s trying to protect the damaged ship. It appears they are not able to maneuver and have reduced their fire.  Suggest we direct all fire toward external armaments; perhaps we can capture both ships,” Nike reported.

“Good suggestion Nike, pass it on to all shuttles.”

“Sir, we are receiving communications from the enemy, demanding we cease fire. They will be open to negotiations to accept our surrender.”

“Reply back to them they have five minutes to surrender or we will destroy them totally.  Tell them I tire of playing with them and I have more important things to do.  Contact all shuttles to cease fire but to take up firing positions on the main enemy ship.”