SECTOR 64: Ambush (42 page)

Far exceeding the video feed supplied during the battle, the image created by combining the KH-12's clarity with the ultra HD display's pixel density was breathtaking. It looked like a twenty-foot-wide portal to outer space had opened in the room's main wall.

Looking forward this time, the satellite drifted toward North America's cloudless East Coast. Curving out of view at the bottom of the display, Florida's peninsula extended south. Ahead, sunlight reflected off the Atlantic Ocean. Even visible from this altitude, the long south to north swath of decimation wreaked by the alien ship's calamitous atmospheric entry matched the destruction Sandy had seen extending south of Monterey, California.

"The techs are fighting with the system's software," the major said. "They said the change in orientation and focal length is playing hell with their control algorithms. For now, they're using the wide-field optics."

"Have we heard from Colonel Newcastle yet?" the general asked.

The major shook her head. "No, sir."

Sandy looked at Earth's scrolling horizon. In the few minutes that had elapsed since they'd watched Colonel Newcastle nuke the last enemy ship, they'd been unable to get a status update. The video feed wasn't the only thing supplied by the previous satellite. It had provided the telemetry data and radio relays. So, when the battle disappeared behind the horizon, those went with it.

The aide pointed victoriously as a charcoal speck peeked above the distant horizon. "There's the debris field!"

For the second time in twenty minutes, the room's occupants broke into cheers and applause.

"Debris field?" Sandy asked. The question went unheard in the loud room. Eyes furrowed, she studied the slate-gray dot with mounting disquiet. There shouldn't be anything left. The ship remnant should've fallen and been vaporized like the rest of its fleet.

The screen flickered as the satellite increased its magnification. The dark point blossomed to fill half the display. The object hovering in stark clarity silenced the room.

Unease morphed into horror as Sandy stared breathlessly.

General Pearson's head snapped back as if he'd been slapped. "What the hell?"

Like a satanic sunrise, the malevolent sculpted alien face Sandy had first seen rising from Chesapeake Bay, now slowly rose from behind the planet. It was still very much intact.

In the magnified view, Earth's distant horizon partially obscured it. However, gradually revealed by the planet's rotation and the spy satellite's faster orbit, the sneering rocky visage appeared to slither up through the planet's murky atmosphere. As if blackened in hell's fiery furnaces, the sculpted bust looked like a scorched horror-movie prop. Finally rising clear of the obscuration, and still clutching a human skull in its fangs, the pockmarked and blackened alien ship-remnant appeared to glare down on the room's occupants.

The image flickered and the pitch-black bust shrank as the satellite decreased its magnification. In the wider field of view, Sandy saw several of the much larger ships also rising above the atmosphere. According to General Pearson, they belonged to the defense forces of the galactic government working to integrate Earth.

Barely discernible in the blackness of space, the ships no longer maintained an ordered formation. Sandy's horror now blazed white hot as the dreadful reality struck home. All but one of the GDF ships were slowly tumbling. The sole stationary ship sat dead-still.

"Oh my god!" She blinked away the tears threatening to breach the dam of her lower eyelids. "Jake was right," she croaked through a tightening throat.

The general had been unsure of the
Turtle's
current status. However, during her short debrief, he had described the minutes leading up to the battle she'd witnessed upon arriving at the Combat Control Center. Sandy had been surprised to discover the integral part the
Turtle's
crew had played. Finding out that we are descendants of the galactic rulers had been a big shock in a day chock full of them.

"Excuse me?" the general said.

Sandy shook her head and pointed at the drifting ships. "They're all gone."

"What do you…" The general stopped mid-sentence as the battle's apparent outcome struck home. "Oh fuck…" His voice trailed off as he dropped into a chair. As if deflated by the news, the general appeared to age before Sandy's eyes. Turning from the man, Sandy stared at the horrible scene filling the room's wall.

After a few moments, the base commander's tired voice ruptured the silence. "The Argonians were too … humane!" After shaking his head for a moment, he pointed at the reptilian head. "And, the goddamned lizards used it against them." He looked at Sandy and nodded. "If Captain Giard hadn't figured it out, they would've vaporized them first and then turned their attention back on us. Vampire Squadron would be trying to nuke these fuckers as they skipped from one holocaust to the next."

A pair of sleek silver ships sped through the image.

The general's eyes brightened with relief. "Speak of the devil."

"Vampire Squadron?" Sandy said.

The general nodded. "I thought we'd lost them too." Pumping his right fist, he yelled, "Get 'em Zach!"

Glinting flashes stitched fiery lines across the giant sculpted alien head. Blasting away the scorched surface and revealing the rock's underlying natural color, the relatively small explosions of the fighter's ineffectual cannon fire sewed a line of small orange craters across the blackened asteroid.

Emitted from the sides of the rocky face, a pair of laser beams chased the two fighters. To Sandy, they looked perfectly aimed. However, the lasers had missed.

Two more Vampire attack fighters strafed the alien ship with similarly ineffectual fire. General Pearson studied the scene with a look of consternation. "It's like pissing on a goddamned forest fire. We're never going to get anywhere like this."

A moment later, the aide pointed at something creeping from behind the mountainous rock. "We have a new player here."

Looking at the image, Sandy felt her pulse quicken. She moved closer to the display. Squinting, she studied the squat disc-shaped object. While it looked much thicker from top to bottom, the new ship was a little longer than the Vampire fighters. Its round top matched the description Jake had given her when they'd spoken during her San Francisco ordeal.
Is that you, Jake?

Tapping the sergeant on the shoulder again, the aide pointed at the new vessel. "Zoom in on that."

A few keystrokes later, the screen flickered and the alien head filled the display again.

General Pearson confirmed Sandy's suspicion. "Holy shit! That's the
Turtle
."

Like an insect skittering across a boulder, the relatively small vessel proceeded down the alien ship's side. Apparently finding what it was looking for, the
Turtle
turned its flat bottom parallel to the surface. Sitting motionless, it looked like the disc-shaped vessel had somehow parked itself on the side of the asteroid.

Sandy stared longingly at Jake's ship.
Come back to me, baby.

Something stirred in the small gap under the
Turtle's
belly.

The aide stepped closer. "Is something moving in there?"

Watching in stunned, frightened fascination, Sandy gasped and her heart skipped a beat as something next to the
Turtle
flared white.

The point of view gradually shifted as the spy satellite continued to close the gap. With an orbit that carried it under the asteroid, the KH-12's camera now looked up at the alien ship. In the left and right margins, an unending conveyor of scintillating stars scrolled across the display. Nearing its alien perigee, the spy satellite's point of view zoomed closer with every second. The proximity revealed the bright white object to be one of the crew members emerging from the
Turtle's
shadow. Sandy pointed at the spacesuit fluorescing under the direct sunlight as it wiggled across the alien ship's rocky surface. "One of them just crawled out."

The aide pointed at more movement in the
Turtle's
shadow. "Is that the other two?"

General Pearson squinted at the screen. "What the hell are they doing?"

One of the room's many radios crackled to life. "Nellis Actual, this is Vampire Six, over."

After staring at the image for another moment, General Pearson broke from the monitor. Stepping to the console, he snatched up the mic. "Go ahead, Vampire Six. This is Actual." The general turned his narrowed eyes back to the display. "What's going on up there?"

"We've got a problem, sir."

"Considering I'm still looking into the eyes of that goddamned alien rock, I'd have to agree."

"Yes, sir. We're just as frustrated up here. My bunker buster passed right through it."

Shaking his head, the general stared at the display. "Shit." He keyed the mic. "How many more do you have, Zach?"

"We're down to two, sir. I sent four of our fighters back to rearm with our last missiles, but they won't make it back in time to make a difference." After a static filled pregnant pause, the colonel continued. "However, there's another problem."

Looking stricken, the older officer slid the chair from under the communications console. Collapsing into it, he looked like a cancer patient bracing to receive bad news from an oncologist. General Pearson toggled the mic. "What is it Zach?"

"
If
we can get a missile to detonate, a double EM pulse will hit North America and Europe."

With obvious agitation, the general sat bolt upright. "Screw the goddamned EMP, Zach. I want that thing taken out now!" He smacked the console's laminate top. "Hell, fire the missiles in opposition if you have to. That ought to do the trick. If it fries a few networks, we'll deal with it later." The general pointed at the alien bust filling the screen. "
After
that city buster is taken out." The general leaned back in the chair and lowered his voice to an empathetic tone. "I appreciate all you've done, Zach. Let's get the
Turtle
out of there and wrap this up."

Sandy nodded her head. Jake's proximity to the alien ship had her heart racing. She thought the general was right about firing the missiles in opposition. With two remaining, they should be able to engage from both directions simultaneously. The impact generated when the missiles met head to head should be more than enough to set off one if not both of them. It would be easy enough to coordinate the attack if the space fighter's fire control computer had capabilities approximating those of her F-22.

"Uh … well, sir, my biggest concern is the debris."

Standing up, the general reddened with mounting frustration. "Damn it Zach." Pausing in an apparent effort to rein in his anger, he released the mic key. Before he could continue, Colonel Newcastle interrupted.

"Captain Giard might've come up with a way to end this, sir. We might not have to risk either problem."

Hearing Jake's name sent Sandy's heart into orbit. It raced with joy at knowing he was still alive and pounded with renewed fear for his confirmed proximity to the enemy ship.

Head bowed, General Pearson leaned over the console with his two fists digging into its laminate top. Sandy was surprised the mic still clutched in his right hand wasn't crushed.

After a moment's consideration, he appeared to calm, his anger ebbing. Standing upright, he lifted the mic to his mouth and keyed it. "I'm listening."

"I've placed him in charge of a boarding operation."

Mouth ajar, the general leaned back, studying the display with renewed curiosity. "Boarding operation? Last I checked, the
Turtle
was unarmed. Hell, it's just a technology demonstrator. The bastards in that rock are still firing at you." Driving the point home, another laser beam reached out for one of Colonel Newcastle's fighter's. "So, unless it's an automated defense system, there's still someone manning that S-O-B. What the hell is Giard going to do, throw rocks at 'em?"

"Apparently, they picked up some weapons when they reconned Maryland for me."

The major pointed at the screen. "The first one just disappeared!"

Sandy stared in wide-eyed disbelief.
What the hell are you doing, Jake?

Colonel Newcastle was still talking. "They're trying to get in through the hole my missile punched."

After staring at the screen for a few silent seconds, the general turned to Sandy. "Your boyfriend's a ballsy bastard." Turning to his aide, he pointed at the enemy ship. "How much time do we have before they can fire that goddamned weapon?"

The major checked her watch. "Thirty minutes, sir."

Sandy turned back to the display. Emerging from the small ship's shadow, a second person drifted into the light. Cycling to a higher magnification, the image flickered again and the
Turtle
filled the screen. Sandy's heart raced as she watched the new man float jerkily across the rocky surface. As his legs trailed in the zero-G environment, the unknown officer proceeded haltingly from one handhold to the next.

More white light flashed as the third man's helmet emerged into the sunlight.

"The third one is coming out too," the aide said.

Sandy watched in silence, holding her breath. A helmet appeared to grow from the rock in the same area the first man had disappeared.

Apparently buoyed by the prospect of progress, General Pearson seemed to brighten. Pointing with excitement, he said, "The first one
is
inside. That's his head poking out of the hole."

Sandy realized he was right. There was a hole there. However, it was impossible to see it at the oblique angle of the satellite's point of view. Only a few feet of scorched asteroid separated the opening in the
Turtle's
belly and the hole. Halfway between the two, the middle man flailed, his arms swinging wildly as he lost grip.

An involuntary scream broke through Sandy's clamped lips.

General Pearson twitched. "Oh shit!"

Bending at the waist, the drifting man's hands clutched desperately at the rocky surface. To Sandy's horror, the panicked swipe accelerated his drift away from the asteroid.