Mike's War: Sequel to Jesse's Starship (3 page)

Mike walked up to the podium and looked at the cameras. He decided that people needed to understand what they were going to have to face. “I know all of you are concerned about what you’ve going to be faced with when you leave Earth. We’re going to a planet that is so much like our home world that it will take your breath away. I’m going to start sending images of it momentarily.” He looked at Jesse and nodded; he handed the memory discs to the reporters. The huge display over the podium began showing images of a planet from space beside Mike’s image. “The civilizations of the Assembly’s Government are going to start building living quarters for all of you being sent there. The land will be cleared and they have promised to have them ready for your arrival within three months. I’m telling you this so you won’t be frightened of where you’ll live. Food will be purchased from Earth and transported to our new planet. The building of the industries we’ll need to defend our home and the other civilizations has already begun. Our entire existence will be to create a fighting force that has never had an equal in human history. Everyone will either be a warrior or work in a support position to enhance their chances of success.” Mike paused and stared at the cameras, “Everyone will work on this project. I know those who have not been forced to go can choose to go with us. You need to understand that we are building something special on our new world and we will be charged to defend all the peaceful worlds that are being attacked. If you’re not willing to work, or die, for this effort, don’t go. Everyone will be treated the same and everyone, male or female, will train to become the greatest warriors in history. For those of you being forced to go,” Mike smiled, “I think you might like your new home.”

Mike stepped back from the microphone and Yehao said, “Do you have a name for this new planet?”

Mike stepped forward, “We’re going to call it Sparta.”

Yehao stared into Mike’s eyes and felt a chill run down his spine. Mike walked over to him and held his stare. Mike had to give Yehao credit, he didn’t look away. “It has been brought to my attention that there are old collection facilities where many of the old weapons were taken. We are going to remove many of the items stored there.”

Yehao knew about the facilities and planned to use them in the future if his leadership was ever challenged. “I’ve not agreed to the removal of anything from Earth.”

“Let’s just say that under the terms of the peace provisions that Earth originally agreed to, those weapons are illegal. If you want to challenge that, the original agreement will be abrogated and we’ll take them anyway. Of course if the original agreement is broken, the most recent one will also be invalid and we’ll do whatever we want here.”

Yehao stared at Mike and said, “You need to get the colonists off the planet as quickly as possible.”

Mike nodded, “The first structures being built are the thousand forts where the former military will be taken. Their families will follow quickly afterwards.” He turned and walked away.

Al Hussain walked over, “What’s going on?”

“He knows about the weapons we’ve been storing. He’s taking them.”

“Stop him!”

Yehao sighed, “I wonder who was playing who here.” He looked at Hussain, “How would you suggest I do that?”

“Use the Hunters to stop it.”

“And just who do you think commands the Hunters?” Hussain’s eyes opened wide. “I don’t expect they are going to allow us to prevent it. Would you like to go give it a try?”

Hussain stared at Mike as he exited the room and said, “Can we remove him?”

“If you have a Q ship to fire on him. He’s protected by a personal shield.”

“Maybe they won’t find all of them.”

Yehao shook his head, “We’ll see.”

“S
ir, may I speak with you for a moment?”

Mike turned away from the huge table and looked at the Army Captain, “Can it wait?”

“Sir, I have a former Army Pilot who says he flew his A-10 into the Sahara Desert and left it there. He says there were thousands of them parked under hangars when he was flown out.”

Mike looked at Tilly, “Take care of this. I need to talk with this pilot.” Mike walked over and the former Pilot saluted. Mike returned his salute, “Tell me what you’re talking about.”

Captain Long smiled, “During the time when Earth was destroying all its weapons of war, all of the pilots who flew Warthogs were ordered to fly them to North Africa. I was one of the last to go and I landed at a facility that was pretty much invisible from the air. I parked my Warthog in a giant hangar built underground; there had to be thousands of other A 10s lined up inside.”

“Do you think you could find that facility?”

“You know how pilots think. I know where I crossed the Algerian coast and I know what heading I took. I also know the exact mileage I flew inland.”

Mike shook his head, “You remember all that?”

“I wondered then what was going on and no one would tell me. It’s always bothered me.”

Mike pressed his collar button, “Jesse.”

“Yeah, Mike.”

“I need you to come down here and pick up a former Army pilot. See if you can find a facility he saw more than a decade ago.”

“On my way.”

Mike looked at the Captain, “Go up to the roof and look for a Q ship.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

“No, it is I that should be thanking you. This is the first I’ve heard about that facility.”

Mike went back to the table and an hour later his communicator beeped, “Sanders, here.”

“Mike it appears we have a Prime One violation of the Peace Accord.”

“What did you find, Jesse?”

“It appears the entire former United States inventory of A 10’s is here in perfectly preserved condition. Someone was hiding them to use later. There’s also enough rounds for the guns to keep them firing continuously for years. I’ve got to believe the former President knew about this.”

“How many aircraft?”

“Peter says there are more than ten thousand.”

Mike whistled. “Jesse, contact Hetzel and have him take the entire inventory to his planet and see if he can’t modify them where we could use them.”

“Modify?”

“Change the power plant and install a force field. It would also be good if thrusters could be installed on the body and wings.”

“Do you honestly think they can just fly down to a planet from space?”

“You and I can do it with our personal shields; just see what he can do with them.”

“I’m on it. I’ve also called in ten Hunter Teams to keep prying eyes away.”

“That’s good, Jesse. You’re catching on.”

“I’ve just never been that suspicious in the past.”

“This is now; it requires new skills.”

Mike looked at Tilly, “I want the database sorted for anyone that flew the A-10.”

Tilly rolled her eyes and sighed, “I’ll send the message to Eric and get him to make the change.

Mike thought a moment and pressed his collar, “Jesse, was that sight difficult to find?”

“It required moving inside Earth’s atmosphere to about five miles above the desert in order to detect it.”

“I want you to call in three more Q ships and have them join you and do a scan of the Sahara. See if there are any other sites lurking under the sand. If you find anything, have Hetzel move a transport here to move them off planet.”

“I’m on it.”

Tilly looked at Mike, “Why do you think they were hidden?”

“Dictators need something to enforce their power. I suspect they are there to use on the people if they rise up to overthrow the current leadership.”

“But that would cause the Q ships to come in and destroy them.”

Mike sighed and shook his head, “And if Yehao told Hetzel that he wanted Earth to handle its own issues and that weapons would be used to make sure the planet remained peaceful?”

Tilly slowly shook her head, “Do you think they’re evil enough to plan this that far in advance?”

“How many times did they try to kill you?” Tilly’s expression changed. Mike shrugged, “Power is a cruel mistress. She never lets go of those she embraces and she can never be satisfied.”

• • •

Adams stood at a huge airfield and watched the next jumbo jet arrive and he waited for the men to exit. This jet carried hundreds of the former Soviet Union’s Special Forces. These Spetsnaz were dangerous; even fifteen years later. A tall man walked off the civilian jet and saw Adams waiting. He stopped and allowed the other three hundred men to join him. He said something and the group started walking together toward the former Navy Seal. Adams knew that the group had resolved who was in command while they were in flight. Two other large Russians walked beside the one in front. “Why have you taken us from our families and brought us here?”

Adams looked the Russian in the eye, “Your English is quite good.”

“We had to learn it; we never knew when we might need to interrogate a captured American.”

Adams smiled, “Do you remember your training?”

The Russian was startled by the question, “How could I forget it? Do you?”

“I think we will never forget that particular memory. I need you and your fellow Warriors to train a new army.”

“What?”

“We are going to go out and fight an Alien Species that is going to kill all of us if we don’t stop them. You are the best warriors the planet ever produced. I need you to train others to be as good as you are.”

The Russian looked back at the three hundred men standing around him and said in Russian, “This American Seal is blowing smoke up our…”

Adams interrupted him in Russian, “You were the best!”

The Russian stopped in midsentence and turned back to Adams, “I’ve heard you Seals make claim to that.”

Adams said, “We’re good; but your members came from an existence that was extreme. Our recruits arrived at training soft from an easy life in America. I don’t think that could be said for those that entered your ranks.” The Russian stared at Adams for a long moment. “We need you to help us prepare for the coming war.”

“Tell me why I should fight for this new planet?”

“Because you and I lost the planet we fought to preserve. I’m not going to allow that to happen again.”

The Russian slowly nodded and smiled, “Perhaps we have more in common than I thought. Will you tell us what you want and we’ll see if we can believe in this new country.”

Adams smiled, “Our warriors will be the only ones allowed to vote on who leads us. The warriors will be given the respect and honor they deserve from a world who will know the sacrifices they make to ensure our safety. Our duty will be to do whatever it takes to defend those that love us.”

The Russians were silent and after a long moment the tall Russian put out his hand, “My name is Alexander Dunlov.”

Adams took the Russian’s hand and smiled, “My name is Adams. I really look forward to learning from you.”

Alex smiled, “Don’t sell yourself short; your country could afford much more extensive training than mine.”

“Perhaps we’ll learn together. However, we are going to have to train our youngest warriors on how to fight.”

“That is something we’ve never forgotten. We look forward to the opportunity.”

• • •

“Mike, we’ve discovered six more sites.”

Mike shook his head “What was in them?”

“Two of them are stockpiled with various American and Russian fighters. Two of the others had massive spare parts for the aircraft and tanks. There are more than twenty thousand of the 120 mm smooth bore cannons used on the Abrams and Leopard tanks. One of them had a massive collection of advanced tanks along with spare parts to keep them operational. There has to be thousands of the 120 mm cannon’s rounds stacked for future use. Everything from the new Abrams and Leopards as well as the new Russian tanks.”

“And the sixth?”

“It was filled with stinger missiles and rounds for the various helicopters. It also had forty Raptors and the ten F-35s. I’ve already contacted Hetzel and he’s sending transports for them. He challenged Yehao on them and he claimed he knew nothing about them.”

“That’s not surprising. You might want to do a scan around the planet while you’re at it.”

“We’re doing that now. I’ll let you know if anything turns up.”

Mike looked at Tilly as she fell back in her chair at the computer console, “I know, I know; you need Raptor and F 35 pilots.”

Mike smiled, “That’s my girl.”

• • •

Bowen wondered why he always got the most difficult assignments. Adams was out working on setting up the training facilities and here he was in the middle of a mess. One would think that his former Seal partner would take better care of him. He shook his head and held his hand over his eyes and looked up. The first Assembly Transport to move civilians was coming down out of orbit outside Jerusalem and the former Israeli citizens were waiting to board the huge vessel. The transport moving down to the surface was a giant. It was six miles in diameter and dwarfed the city below it. There were tens of thousands of Arabs gathered to celebrate the forced deportation of their former enemy and their laugher filled the air. The Hunters stood between those celebrating and the Israelis with their blasters raised. The long lines of men, women, and children began boarding the giant ship, when suddenly, more than ten thousand women rushed out of the demonstrator’s ranks and ran up on the Hunters. The Hunters raised their blasters but a woman leading the rush yelled, “We wish to go with them!”

Bowen yelled, “Hold your fire!” He looked at the mass of women and said, “You what?”

“We will not be allowed to leave if we wait. We must go with this ship or we will be punished.”

Bowen saw the rest of the demonstrators were staring at the confrontation and thought the Hunters were going to kill the impertinent women. Bowen looked in the woman’s eyes and said, “Are you sure about this?”

“That one named Mike said that men and women would be treated as equals on the new planet; was he being honest?” Bowen nodded. “Then yes; we are all sure.”

Bowen’s eyes narrowed and he said, “You may pass and board the transport.” Bowen pressed the collar communicator and said, “Some of you will wait and allow the women to board.” He pressed the communicator again and the volume went up, “If there are any others that wish to immigrate to the new world, you may step forward now.”