Star One: Tycho City Survival (20 page)

“It’s coming
to an end rapidly,” Steve warned with anxiety in his voice. “I spoke to Jane
Kinsey earlier this morning, and she said that General Karver feels the cape
will fall in the next twenty-four hours. The general’s forces have taken a
beating but are still holding their positions against everything Farley’s
troops have been able to throw at them.”

“Damn!”
responded Mase, shaking his head in anger. He knew that thousands of lives were
being sacrificed to buy the time needed to get the shuttles and their precious
supplies launched. “How many shuttles do they have left at the cape?”

“Two,” Steve
answered. “John just launched from the cape and his shuttle was nearly shot
down. From what he told me, a missile got within one hundred yards of them
before it was intercepted. He’s away safely now and heading to Star One.”

“I’m glad
John’s okay,” Mase replied with a sigh of relief. John’s wife Julie would be
devastated if anything happened to her husband.

“Jane and Tim
will be aboard one of the other two shuttles,” Steve continued. “They are
trying to talk General Karver into going on the other one. We can’t afford for
any of those three to be captured by Senator Farley’s people.”

“I hope the
general does come up,” Mase said somberly. “We could really use his experience
if Farley decides to attack us up here.”

“I hope so
to,” Steve replied. “I should mention that Teela expects us to see storms
increasing radically on Earth in the next few weeks. Once the storms start, the
shuttle launches will have to stop anyway.”

“What’s going
to happen at the cape once the last shuttle is launched?” Mase asked.

It worried him
that Senator Farley would have control of the cape launch facilities. It would
make a good platform to launch an attack against Star One or Tycho City. There were still some very large and long-range missiles on Earth.

“I’m not
sure,” Steve replied in an uncertain voice. “All Jane would tell me is that
Farley would not be able to use them.”

“You don’t
think they’re going to blow everything up?” Mase asked, his eyes widening at
the thought. He couldn’t imagine the cape complex and all of its history being
destroyed.

“It’s a
possibility,” Steve admitted. “It would set any attack against us back for
weeks or possibly months. Christy just came in and said they need me in Main
Control; I’ll get back to you later, Mase.”

“Sure thing,
Steve; keep me informed.” Mase hung up his phone and gazed worriedly at the far
wall.

Events on
Earth were rapidly nearing their conclusion. He knew that after today, their
last link with Earth would be gone. The previous night the insurgents had
managed to nuke both of the military launch centers. Mase also knew that
General Karver had threatened immediate retaliation if nukes were used against
the cape. Mase closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh, he wondered how things
could have gotten so bad so fast. It seemed as if the entire world was falling
into mayhem.

-

Lieutenant Trace
Lewis was in a small line of foxholes and trenches that stretched for several
miles in front of the enemy’s forward positions. He had eight members of his
original squad still with him as well as Corporal Higgins. Two more squads had
been assigned to him and anchored down his flanks. He had two fifty caliber
machine guns and three mortars to hold this area of ground with. Lewis knew it
wasn’t enough if the enemy attacked in force.

“What do you
think, Lieutenant?” Corporal Higgins asked as he slid into the foxhole.

The corporal’s
shirt was torn, and he looked as if he had worn the same shirt for days. The
truth was they all were beginning to look like that. It was getting harder each
day to get supplies and they were running low on ammunition.

“Are they
going to hit us again?” Higgins asked as he took a small sip of water from his
canteen.

“Yeah, they
will,” replied Lewis with tired lines around his eyes. “They hit us yesterday
with a massive human wave attack. We just barely managed to throw it back. They
will come at us with their armor next.”

Higgins
nodded; he knew the fighting would be over in the next day or two. If he could
just survive one more battle, he could return home to Nebraska and his family.
Privately, he had thought about sneaking off in the night as many others had,
but he felt he owed the lieutenant his loyalty and had stayed.

Lewis and
Higgins ducked instinctively as several insurgent artillery rounds hit just
behind them. It was common practice for the insurgents to lob a few shells
close to the defending army’s positions to disallow them any sleep. Everyone
looked haggard and worn down from the constant shelling. More rounds started
falling, throwing up large clouds of dirt and dust as well as black smoke.

“It’s starting,”
Lieutenant Lewis said as he watched the shelling increase. “Get back to your
men, Corporal, and good luck.”

“You too, Sir,”
Higgins replied as he climbed out of the foxhole and ran bent over to his
position.

Lewis looked
over the edge of his foxhole and reached for his binoculars. He felt a chill
run down his back when he saw insurgent tanks and personnel carriers coming
toward him. At the same instant, a shadow passed overhead, and a group of
attack helicopters from the cape flew by.

Lewis hadn’t
known they still possessed so many. Over the past few weeks, numerous attack
helicopters and aircraft had been shot down on both sides. The battlefield was
littered with their burned out remains.  

In moments,
the helicopters were engaged with the insurgent armor as they let loose their
tank busting missiles. He also heard a loud roaring noise and saw that General
Strong had committed his last six heavy battle tanks. This is it, Lewis thought
as he watched the battle slowly come toward his position. He checked his rifle
making sure it had a full clip. He had two other clips and then he would be out;
it was the same for the rest of his marines.

Lewis ducked
as an artillery round struck the ground just in front of him, showering him
with dirt. He brushed the dirt off and looked back over the top of the foxhole
to see what was going on. The attack helicopters and General Strong’s tanks were
taking a heavy toll on the insurgent’s advancing armor. For a moment, Trace
felt a surge of hope as the enemy forces staggered and ground to a halt under
the heavy attack.

However, the
insurgents hadn’t been completely unprepared. Lewis could see a number of
attack helicopters burning on the ground that had been shot down by enemy fire.
The few remaining continued to pound the enemy armor trying to turn back the
advancing tide.

Lewis saw a
missile arc into the air to strike one of the helicopters, exploding against its
side. It nosed downward and crashed into the ground in a fiery explosion. Lewis
knew that no one could have survived. Artillery fire began to increase as a
rolling wave of explosions began to march toward his position as the insurgents
intensified their attack and started moving forward again.

Looking toward
General Strong’s battle tanks, he saw that four of them had been destroyed, and
the remaining two were slowly pulling back. Then a massive series of explosions
covered the retreating tanks as insurgent artillery fire zeroed in on them.
When he looked again, they were burning and several men were running away.

It’s over, he
thought as he raised his rifle and braced it on a sandbag. In just a few more
minutes, the enemy troops would be within rifle range. He knew the odds of him
making it back home to Oklahoma and his wife and young son were bleak. In all
likelihood, he would die here on this field of battle. He just prayed that it
had all been worth it.

Over a four-mile
stretch, the insurgent juggernaut advanced. Over twenty thousand troops plus
tanks and armored personnel carriers followed the artillery barrage toward the
hard pressed defenders. The generals in charge had used massed human wave
assaults composed of green civilian troops to weaken this area over the past
several weeks. Now they would use their seasoned troops to annihilate the
weakened opposition, push on to the cape, and capture it. Senator Farley had
made it clear that he wanted the cape and its facilities captured intact.

Lieutenant
Lewis ducked as machine gun fire raked his position. To his left and right he
could hear the fifty calibers firing back. He heard a sudden loud roar behind
him and, turning saw a shuttle rising up into the air. Moments later a second
joined the first as they fled upward on twin pillars of fire toward safety.
Lewis knew these were the last two and there would be no more. The days of
launching shuttles from the Earth were about to come to an end. He held his
breath as he watched the two shuttles climb higher into the sky.

Lewis became
aware of a sudden cessation of firing. The battle had stopped as everyone
focused their attention on the escaping shuttles. Suddenly, missiles trails
appeared heading toward the two spacecraft. Defending missiles arched upward
trying to destroy the dangerous weapons before they reached their vulnerable targets.

Lewis moaned
aloud as two missiles made it through the defensive fire and struck one of the helpless
shuttles. In a brilliant explosion, the shuttle blew apart in a tumultuous roar
and flames.

Lewis stood in
shock at seeing the shuttle’s sudden destruction. He saw that the other one was
still safely climbing and would soon be out of harm’s way. He prayed that no
one important had been on that shuttle. Little did he know that Jane Kinsey and
Tim McPhryson had just died in the fiery explosion.

An artillery
round struck the ground behind him, and he heard a marine scream out in pain.
The firing was resuming as the insurgent army began to move again. Peering
through the scope on his rifle, he saw the enemy was almost within range. He
said a quick prayer and prepared to fire. This would be the last battle, and he
doubted if he or any of his marines would survive it.

-

Mase’s face
was ashen as he hung up the phone. Steve had just called him with the news that
both Jane Kinsey and Tim McPherson had been killed when their shuttle had been
destroyed soon after launching from the cape. Fortunately, the other shuttle
containing General Karver had gotten away safely.

Steve had also
gone on to say that demolition charges had been set off, and the cape was now a
twisted pile of steel and smoking rubble. There would be no launches now or in
the future from the cape complex.

“It’s over,” spoke
Anthony, finding it hard to believe that the cape was actually gone. Mase had
been telling him what Steve had been saying during their brief conversation.

“Yes, it’s
over,” Mase replied, his eyes focusing on Anthony. “General Mann surrendered as
soon as the cape was destroyed. According to Steve and Teela the fighting has
stopped.” Mase had already told Anthony that Teela, Star One’s AI, had taken
control of all the military satellites above the Earth and had been monitoring the
battle.

“How many
people did we end up getting to Tycho City and Star One?” asked Anthony,
knowing there would be no more. It was hard to imagine that the cape was gone;
it had played such a big role in human history.

“Steve said
they had 3,824 on the space station. We have 8,270 safely here on the Moon.” Mase
let out a long breath as he realized that no one else would be coming up from
Earth. “We had hoped to have closer to ten thousand, but now that isn’t going
to happen.”

Anthony
nodded. He knew that twelve thousand people were not a lot to start a new
civilization if the neutron star destroyed life on Earth. However, it was a lot
more than what they had a few months back. Now they just needed to survive.

-

Lieutenant
Lewis was sitting on the edge of his foxhole. The fighting was over, and they
had been told they could go home. He stood up and looked at a long row of body
bags that contained the dead from the recent battle. At the moment, both forces
were intermixed as they tended to their dead and injured. He walked up to one
of the body bags, unzipped the top, and gazed down at Corporal Higgins. He had
been cut down toward the end of the fighting by machine gun fire from an
armored personnel carrier.

Looking
around, Lewis realized that only two others from his original squad had
survived. Lewis would write a letter to Corporal Higgins’s parents letting them
know how their son had died. He knew Higgins also had a girlfriend, but he
wasn’t sure where she lived. Higgins’ parents would have to let her know that
the corporal wasn’t coming home. The dead would be buried here where they had
fallen in service to their country. With a heavy sigh, Higgins knew the world
would never be the same; he just prayed that it had all been worth it.

-

Deep in the
Colorado Rocky Mountains, Warren Timmons let out a deep sigh of regret. His
heart was still pounding at hearing of the deaths of Jane and Tim. He had known
both extremely well. He was in the Command Center of the large underground
bunker that he had been entrusted with. It was sealed up, and the entrance had
been camouflaged to avoid detection.

Inside he had
6,240 people entrusted to his care. “What’s the current status on supplies and
construction?” he asked, turning to look at Major Burns who was the highest ranking
military officer in the bunker.”

“We have
enough supplies for six years,” Burns responded. “We’ll have all of the
interior work done in another two months. The civilian quarters still need a
lot of work to finish up.”

Timmons nodded
as he looked around the large Command Center at the busy people who sat in
front of consoles and viewscreens. From here, they could monitor the entire
complex as well as conditions outside. Hidden cameras gave them a good view of
everything within several miles of the bunker. They also still had a few satellites
they could tap into to monitor communications from around the country and the
world. There were twenty highly trained men and women currently staffing the Command Center. Timmons just hoped they continued to go undetected. He didn’t want to think
what would happen if Senator Farley found out about the two hidden bunkers and
the people within.