The Black Planet (29 page)

Chapter 64

With the new schematics they were able to delve much deeper into a plan of attack.  The new Enemy command and control centre was identified along with other important resources.  Most importantly they could now identify the shield generators.  Babe’s Bridge was stuffed full of men from the 1
st
Gordon’s.  Outside the Earth fleet was attacking the City ships close escort.  Invisible and to the side Ico also lay in wait.  Three large bright lights indicated exploding ships.

Charlie could feel the tension throughout the whole ship.  ‘Hey Cookie did you bring the barbecue sauce?’

Cookie laughed, ‘I got the sauce, did you bring the tatties?’

‘Aye and Eddie has the carrots.’

The men on the bridge laughed at the sallies and it brought the tension down a knot.

Steven received a signal straight from the fleet commander.  His head snapped up, ‘OK it’s a go.  Get ready everyone.’

The ships moved together in perfect unison.  As they approached they could see the debris from a destroyer splash against the city ships shields.  It scrapped along the invisible bubble then slid off into space behind it.  The human fleet slid back out of detection range and the enemy ships slowed to a halt.  Steven spotted what he had been told to look out for.  The largest enemy vessel had half its front end sliced off.  It lay dead and inert, its guts exposed to the deep cold of space.  Small explosions still lit the dead part of the ship.  They were taking a huge gamble and knew it. 

While the front part of the vessel struggled to land on the surface of the city ship Babes and Ico buried themselves into the dead part of the ship.  They faced a fraught two hour wait but eventually salvage Tugs arrived and dragged the dead part of the ship back to the city.  They began to manoeuvre it towards the other half of the ship.

‘Stand by everyone.’  Steven sent a silent order and both ships slid out of their hiding places.  Steven was worried falling debris would warn the enemy of their presence.  He looked to Charlie whose eyes popped open.  Charlie gave him the thumbs up.  They hadn’t been detected.  Steven sighed with relief.

Sid Tulane turned to Steven, ‘I think they are pulling the last of their ships in captain.’

‘They should have done that a long time ago,’ Bear growled.  ‘No doubt they will fire at our ships from within the protection of the city’s shields.’

Charlie jerked forward, ‘their commander is about to make a speech,’ he approached Sid, ‘May I?’

‘Yeah, sure Bud.’

Charlie put in a stream of numbers he saw in his head and the Albany commander appeared on the screen.  ‘People of the Blue Veld, citizens, Albany men women and children.  Our darkest hour quickly approaches.  The meat eater fleet has already began to show their fangs.  I have pulled our reaming ships in to defend us from the deck of the city ship.  We are still a month from the meat-eaters planet.  Their tactics are still a mystery to us at this time but I assure you we are all ready.  We still believe that our shields will hold but this race has proven relentless and cunning.  If they do breach our shields then it is up to every single one of you to fight to the death.  I know some have received messages from those who we thought fell in previous battles.  They may well be being looked after by our foe just now but do not think surrendering to the enemy will save you.  Thousands have already fallen to the deadly effects of this sun.  In time all will fall.  Our only hope of survival is to reach that blue planet and wipe out the meat eaters on it. 

For months we have been making weapons and now all of you are armed.  If the meat eaters get aboard then take advantage of it.  Capture as many as you can alive.  I promise any serum made from your captive will be given to you and any member of your family first.  That is my oath as your supreme commander.  Dead meat eaters are of no use to us but a wounded one is.  If we can keep them alive for a day then our compound will bind with their DNA and we will be able to process them to make serum.  The faster you receive the serum the more chance you and your family will survive.  For those that fall rest assured your sacrifice will not go in vain.  As soon as those who have captured the meat eaters have been treated then the families of the fallen will be treated next.

I have received word that the news of our adventure has reached the ears of our Universe and all eyes are upon us now.  Our emperor has received words of encouragement from many other races to wipe these meat eaters out.  The treacherous Modloch Emperor has admitted that he presented the human race with the Battle Cruiser The Burning Wind as part of a trade agreement with the meat eaters.  From this they have been able to construct a battle fleet equal to that of a Modloch Battle fleet.  As yet there is no format agreement between the meat eaters and the Modloch race, nor by our oath will there ever be.  This is our solar system now and we will fight for it and we will keep it.  Our news crews are now broadcasting live to the whole of the Universe, conduct your selves with grace, conduct yourself with courage and take what belongs to us.’

Charlie clutched his head and staggered.  Steven got up and grabbed him, ‘are you OK Charlie?’

Charlie winched, ‘you might not have heard the bloody great cheer that went up round this bloody city Stevie, but I just did.  They have their minds set man, there will be no quarter.’

Steven paled, ‘we were hoping most of the civilians would surrender.’

‘It’s no going to happen Stevie, we are now facing millions of these people and all are armed.  Not only that we can’t alert the rest of the fleet without risking detection.’

Steven rubbed his face then turned to Sid, ‘Sid I want you to prepare a burst transmission to fleet HQ.  Include the footage we have just witnessed and a personal message from me.  I suspect that the population of the city are determined to capture as many human beings as possible.  Expect heavy resistance, much heavier than we expected.  Warn troops to suspect any form of mass surrender as a ruse to capture them.  Send it the moment The Burning Wind takes out the command centre.’

‘Yes sir.’

Charlie patted him on the shoulder, ‘you ready Stevie?’

‘That was a joke right?’

‘Yup, you can never be ready for this shit Stevie.’

‘OK Charlie, let’s do it.’  Stevie sat back in his chair and pressed a button.  ‘Hailey take us to our first target; get ready to deploy troops.  Situation report all stations, gravity on the surface of the city ship is as we expected about a third less than that on Earth.  It will be the same within the city ship.’  Steven hesitated for a moment then smiled.  ‘The sky is expected to stay clear for most of the day, however the weatherman has stated the possibility of thunder with green lightening and heavy metal showers later in the day.’  The soldier’s throughout both ships burst out laughing, ‘good luck everyone.’  He removed his finger from the button and Turned to De Beer, ‘it’s all yours now Mr De’ Beer.’

The Bear nodded smiling, ‘thank you Captain Gordon. We will catch you on the second phase.  All stations this is Zero Nine, Prepare to deploy.’

A few seconds later Charlie and Eddie vanished.

Chapter 65

Charlie and Eddie stopped for a short rest.  Two man teams swarmed all over the city, but it was so vast only Charlie was able to spot any of the others.  Eddie took the last packet of explosives from Charlie’s pack and stuck it to the side of the shield generator.  ‘That’s the last one Charlie, signal for more.’

Charlie flicked on the green torch and sat it pointing upwards.  Now it was a case of waiting for resupply.  Eddie sat beside Charlie but looking in another direction.  He was breathing hard and Charlie knew he had been sweating heavily.  He checked Eddie’s oxygen and placed a yellow torch beside the green.  ‘You’re low on oxygen.’

‘Again, jezz, you’re still on your first tank, I’m on my third.’

‘I don’t need as much as you now.’

‘What does it feel like Charlie?’

‘Just the same really.’

‘No shit!’

‘Nope.’  

Eddie squinted, ‘this place is so bloody weird eh!’

‘Aye man.  It’s like being on the set of a space movie.’  Charlie was watching the traffic below.  Strange looking self-contained pods whizzed back and forth on wafer thin rails.  It wasn’t busy; Charlie imagined in normal times it would be much busier.  They were sitting high on a central structure.  It was different from most City’s Charlie knew.  It looked more like one of those giant American or Asian city’s he saw on TV with the huge skyscrapers; only a little more uniform.  Buildings of the same type were clustered together.  There were no pedestrians or advertising boards of course.  Charlie’s eyes could pierce the metal structures around him and he could easily see the heat from patrolling bands of soldiers or citizens.  He hadn’t told Eddie yet just how much he could actually see going on around them.  In fact much of his abilities were still being kept secret.  He knew if the intelligence agencies got wind of his abilities they would try and recruit him and he detested spooks.  The trauma he had endured at the hands of those animals was never far from his mind.  His nights were filled with nightmares.  He wished he could have seen the bodies of the two men that haunted his dreams.  Maybe that would have helped a little.

He had the satisfaction of knowing that he had been able to strike out twice when his torturers had put their faces too close to him.  He was sure he had broken both their noses.  Their revenge had been excruciating and their demonic laughter seemed to follow him around day and night.  He shook it off.  These thoughts could get him killed as well as Eddie.  Eddie pushed a button on his suit and a small straw flicked up in front of his mouth.  He sucked on the straw; Charlie decided he was getting thirsty as well.  They only got five minutes rest before a new set of Bergen’s appeared at their side along with fresh oxygen packs.  Charlie decided to change his oxygen pack as well.  They did Eddies first.  A couple of flicks of a switch and Eddies pack slid out.  Charlie slid the fresh slim line pack in with a click.  Eddie returned the favour and they shouldered the new Bergen’s.

‘Where’s our next target Charlie?’

Charlie pointed, ‘a mile that way.’

‘Bloody hell!’  Eddie exclaimed looking at all the buildings. In front of him.  His eyes turned towards the edge of the city.  It was flat there but he knew it was exposed.  ‘This is going to take forever.’

‘That’s why they gave us days to do it Dickhead, let’s get going.’  Charlie did a standing jump of over a hundred meters to the next building.  He fired a line that whipped out across the gap.  Eddie caught up the line and Charlie pulled him across.

High above them Babes and Ico scouted for the lights that indicated that men would need more explosives and life giving oxygen.

Buzz appeared at Stevie’s side with a mug of coffee and handed it over.  Stevie reached out for it, ‘thanks Buzz.  How are things back there?’

‘Not too hectic at the moment.  They are beginning to spread out a little now so the calls are coming in farther apart.’

‘That’s good, there is still no sign of any kind of patrols.’

Buzz shook his head, ‘are they being cocky Stevie or just stupid?’

Steven shrugged, ‘I have no idea Buzz.  By what I have read they aren’t used to these types of tactics.’

‘Yeah trust the human race to introduce them to a new type of warfare.  I would still be happier if these boys were Special Forces.’

‘I have to agree with you there Buzz, but I have to admit, they are keeping up with the plan so far.’

‘Neither of us know much about soldering Stevie but I know the Special Forces boys are a lot fitter than infantry.  Don’t be surprised if they start slowing down.’

‘I won’t.’

Fifteen hours later they began taking the men on board for a rest.  The troops were exhausted but in high spirits.  The Bear staggered on his feet as he reported to Steven.  He was concerned about the schedule.

‘How are we doing Captain Gordon?’

Steven suddenly felt guilty as he studied the sweat lathered face.  He himself had just grabbed six hours sleep and was refreshed.  ‘Your men are doing an excellent job Bear.  We are on schedule, a little ahead in some places.  So far we haven’t sighted an enemy patrol and no one seems to have spotted your men either.’

‘Yes, I think we would all know if anyone had been spotted.  Still it is a minor miracle in itself.  These people are sloppy.’

‘Just confident of their own technology Bear and by how these ships are normally assaulted.’

Bear grunted, ‘I never got the manual.’

Steven laughed, ‘few did.  It normally consists of multiple fleets attacking the ship until its shields fail then sending across hundreds of thousands of troops until the city was taken.’

‘So they just aren’t expecting any kind of assault until our fleet attacks?’

‘Exactly.  You also have to take into account these ships have been banned in their universe for a long time now.’

‘Why?’

Steven took a deep breath, ‘simply because of the resources it took to assault one.  Not to mention build one.  With a city ship you could lose every battle and still win the war by attrition.’

De’ Beer frowned, ‘you mean they could lose so many men in an assault that they could actually loose.’

‘Pretty much, it all came to a head hundreds of years ago when two races basically almost fought each other to extinction.  A dozen fleets and two city ships.  The fighting went on for weeks.  The city ships were so close to one another they were able to fire directly at each other.  The inevitable eventually happened.  One exploded and took the other with it and what was left of both fighting forces.  Their worlds were left exposed and vulnerable.  Within about ten years both races were forced back on to their home worlds and other races had taken over their territories.  Eventually they turned on their home worlds too, forcing them to take to the stars for refuge.  That’s when everything changed and the great alliance was formed.  City ships were banned and all home worlds became protected.’

‘Did this alliance force the races that had taken advantage to hand back over the home worlds?’

‘It was their first act and declaration.  The survivors eventual settled back on their home worlds but both races were close to extinction by then.’

De’ Beer mulled it over, ‘pretty smart some of these aliens.  They must have got quite a fright.’

‘They did.  There were quite a few of these city ships around at the time, none of the great races wanted to end up in the same boat.  You also have to bear in mind that war isn’t a natural state for many of these races.’

‘I hear none have even fought a protracted ground war.’

Steven nodded, ‘you’re right, but why would they need to?  Their technology is so advanced they can wipe out any race from space.  A large fleet could wipe out a fair sized city in minutes.  Towns in a single blow; there is just no need for these people to get their boots muddy.  There are also laws to protect civilians within any disputed territories.’

De’ Beer smiled, ‘thanks for the history lesson Stevie.  Some things make a lot more sense now.’

‘It’s a pleasure Bear.  Go get some food and rest, you look like you need it.’