Uplift (33 page)

The coalition started manufacturing porcupine mines, and we soon had several hundred thousand built. We would also have apparent duds set up as booby-trapped bait, for the Horde to analyze. We even put a shuttle hull with a matter-antimatter explosive floating near the Kuiper belt’s two massive planets that had been discovered in 2035. It was a massive explosive booby-trap for inquisitive aliens.

We only had a couple of ships in orbit so any scouts would think we had no real protection. We were correct – the aliens didn’t think we had any protection, and we were very surprised when three Xeeg ships appeared on our sensors. We thought we had prepared for everything – we were so wrong.

SURPRISE

Three Xeeg ships appeared unexpectedly, went right into orbit, and started destroying ground installations. The first unlucky victim was Avano Air Base in northeastern Italy. The Xeeg ships had seen a ship land from there, and triple-teamed it. Their Philon beams totally destroyed the new ship, and then the rest of the base. It wasn’t long before Venice was destroyed. Nice, and Marseille, were being leveled, ‘til we got a few ships in the battle. We were able to destroy two with two blasts of our new weapon. We punched a hole in the third ship with the more powerful version of their weapon, but that third ship was able to escape…again. We knew we were in for it now.

Recriminations flew, and the French were incensed that the US, the coalition, and I didn’t have enough in orbit. They said they blamed me personally…okay…they wanted everything we had in orbit, but I recommended the French put two of their own ships in orbit immediately while the rest of the coalition stocked up on food, and personnel. We knew we would have company soon, but the accelerated time fields would give us days – unless you were French. I hoped the French had to drink domestic sparkling wines, and canned mushrooms. I really love France, and I was going to make these Xeeg pay, but I wanted to be prepared, and not rush to judgment. I did start getting a lot of ‘advice’ from the commanders from EVERY country. We were just able to keep it all in check with Yaloo’s help, and Corey intercepting all the secret takeover messages.

It took about twenty hours normal time before anything showed up on our sensors. We had placed a few sensors out 150 AU – way beyond our Net, and started getting sporadic readings, and it was alarming. The readings showed large masses of objects approaching from many directions. They would mass outside the system, and then literally jump in closer.

       Horde
Flagship Cruiser near Neptune

“Master,” a Xeeg said. “We were right. Two of our ships went to their planet, and were immediately destroyed. The third ship escaped with major damage.”

“You fool,” said the Horde senior commander. “You have alerted them. We have seen an array of sensors ahead that have become active. Some are defective. Send your people to retrieve a defective one, and tell me their level of technology. Also…another of my ships has detected one of their shuttles with an emergency beacon. See if it can be retrieved.”

The Xeeg sub-commander ordered retrieval of one of the small globes that had been moving in mass. This one wasn’t working, and the other globes showed no transmissions on long- range sensors. It was a wonder they had been detected at all. A team would soon have the sensor buoy back at the flagship. The derelict shuttle was drawn into the flight deck of a peripheral cruiser. An engineering team opened the…

The antimatter explosion of the booby-trapped shuttle destroyed five nearby cruisers, and crippled three more. The damaged cruisers contacted the flagship to warn them. The engineers in the cargo bay had just forced open the ‘defective’ porcupine mine. The explosion destroyed all life within the flagship. The remainder of the ships sped past the activated porcupine mines. Some ships were close enough to be cut through by the dimensional cutting planes. Another twelve Horde, and Xeeg cruisers were lost.

        Horde Cruiser Alternate Command

“Stay away from those things. Leave alone anything that appears damaged. These beings know we are coming. They are more advanced than we thought. This may be another pocket of Graloc. Send in ships in two groups from night, and dayside, of their planet. Start destroying population centers until they are forced to engage. Destroy ships that try to flee. We need to clean up this infestation,” said the senior commander.

             Wallups Island Command Post

“Looks like you were right,” Major General Richard Patterson said to Captain Yaloo. Patterson was in the SHEPPARD, and watched, as almost four hundred twenty dots appeared to be dividing into two groups. “Move to Pattern King Echo, and engage at will,” Patterson ordered Earth’s seventy-one ships. King Echo was how they had practiced to form two cones, and attack in separated groups. Four ships from France remained in orbit to protect the planet with two ships dark side, and two on the daylight side.

Earth’s seventy-one ships flashed into positions navigated by computer, and formed the cones. The lightest ships were on the rim, and the two largest ships – Chinese ships of alternate design were in the center. The firing started as soon as targeting provided a solution.

Aboard the Horde Commander’s Cruiser

“There are about seventy ships attacking us. They have divided into two groups,” said the Xeeg commander.

“Send ten of my ships to raze their planet. They will have to weaken their forces here to protect their population,” said the Horde Commander. “We cannot pause to destroy the planet’s defenses while actively being attacked.”

“As you order,” said the Xeeg who turned, and commanded ten ships to attack the planet.

“What weapons are they using?” asked the Horde commander who was noticing the severe losses being inflicted on the Horde fleet.

“Unknown commander,” the Xeeg said trembling with anticipation. He knew the Horde commander was angry from the way her tentacles kept curling, and uncurling. “They have Philon rays that are more powerful than ours. Their shields are stronger than ours also.”

“Have the Horde ships deploy their protective shields if threatened,” said the Horde commander.

The Xeeg was shocked because the protective shields on the Horde ships meant his ships would take the brunt of the fire.

                    
Aboard the SHEPPARD

“All ships…all ships. When a Horde ship turtles up – attack that ship. No more than two shots. Alternate firing patterns so you don’t lose your own shield.

Richard noticed that many of the Horde ships disappeared behind a Delta Dimensional field – sitting ducks for his ships. More than two hundred did so, and started to draw fire from the Earth ships. The Xeeg ships began frenzied fire to protect their masters, but were themselves targeted. The Xeeg ships moved closer to the Earth ships – close enough that the large saber projectors of the Earth ships could slice many in half. Patterson ordered his boarding troops to attack when those ships got close enough. About twenty-five teams were launched, and crossed space. Crossing through the enemy fire destroyed three teams.

Twenty teams forced entry in Xeeg ships, but two teams cut their way into Horde ships. An additional assaulting team was killed by Xeeg fire directed at the surface of the Horde ship. They were preparing to cut their way in when a Xeeg commander realized his fire would not hurt the Horde ship. His fire scoured away the entry team on the surface of the Horde ship.

                      
Aboard an attacking Xeeg ship

“I have no idea how they did this…who would expect this level of resistance. Stop them,” shouted the Xeeg Captain.

“They are protected by personal shields. Our weapons have to be focused at the same point to even damage them. I saw one grab one of my largest soldiers, and rip his arm off. He pulled something from his belt, and waved it in the air, and my soldiers started falling to pieces. Another threw something as I ran, and my soldiers started falling apart. I have never run so fast in my life.”

“Coward,” said the captain, and shot his own man just as the door to the bridge collapsed inward. In sprang a black suited humanoid that…the captain died before he realized his head was not still attached to his body.

Similar battles were being fought on other Xeeg ships. One Xeeg cruiser exploded when a nanite grenade inadvertently breached its fusion containment.

                   Aboard a
Horde ship

The entry team had faced light resistance until they got to the engineering. The personnel there had erected a hasty barricade where they could cover the barricade from two angles. Mel nodded to his team, and tossed a nanite grenade just on the other side of the barrier. He dispatched two – two person teams to go through the adjacent walls, and flank the defenders. The grenade popped, and the barricade began to crumble away like it was melting. The two flanking teams were cutting through the last walls behind the defenders, and passed through. There was yelling, and then silence until the ‘all clear’ came from each corridor. Mel walked into engineering, and saw a couple of Xeeg old-timers – because their bare skin showed what could only be age spots. Mel ordered them to surrender, and lay down their welding equipment – he thought they might burn themselves.

The battle for the bridge was a bit different. Crew kept coming to the hatch to defend it, and being summarily slaughtered. It took a nanite grenade to clear away the stack of bodies. A Horde being, four meters of snake with tentacles had wrapped around a humanoid. The tentacles were around the humanoids neck. Joey ordered in Horde lingua franca to release the being. When that didn’t occur – Joey stunned then both, and then restunned the Horde serpent again. She told everyone later that it made her skin crawl.

The second boarded Horde ship was much the same, but the attacking Special Forces team stunned more than it killed, and there were ten Horde beings on board.

        Aboard the alternate Horde Flagship

The Horde commander had waited the customary time within the protective shield, and emerged to chaos. She was horrified to see her fleet had been decimated with many of her ‘protected’ sister ships in ruins. The area around her was littered with the debris fields of both Xeeg, and Horde ships. Her communications became jammed with desperate calls for guidance. She ordered her forces to immediately retreat. Inadvertently they retreated through the porcupine mines as they reversed course, and lost another three ships. There were only sixty-two Horde, and forty Xeeg ships remaining. The ships sent to attack the planet could not be reached, and a Xeeg commander said they had been destroyed though they were able to destroy two of defending ships.

The Horde commander had her Xeeg liason come to the bridge, and lie down as she stimulated him into bliss. She stripped away his flesh, and devoured him in her distress. She always ate when she was stressed, and stimulated Xeeg were, at least, filling.

                 
On board the SHEPPARD

There were seventy-one ships that went out on this battle – not counting the four defending Earth. Those four had destroyed ten enemy ships. Two of those four survived. One French ship put itself between Paris, and the Earth, and died defending its heritage. Tijuana, Mexico was razed, but that enemy ship was shot out of orbit, and crashed in Alberta somewhere. Thirty-nine of the original seventy-one were flight worthy. Ninety of the 750 assault troops were killed, and over 8,000 Earth personnel were killed in our destroyed ships. A few ships were able to evacuate personnel, but space battles were like every other modern battle – brutally damaging. Our new uniforms, and nanites saved hundreds.

Richard looked around the command center, and Corey reported results. He said it was a stunning victory – capturing seventeen alien ships – two of them Horde. I thought it was certainly stunning, and remembered why I hated battle. I thought about all my comrades that had died instead of me…for all my many decades. Corey showed me scenes of whole devastated planetary systems to give me a better sense of scale – it still hurt.

We sent results back to Earth, and headed back with our fleet. We flew back the captured ships, and prisoners. It didn’t take long before the two captured Horde ships with the fifteen others, were landed at Wallups Island. The humanoids were easy to secure with flexcuffs, but we had to hold the Xeeg, and Horde at gunpoint – hard to flexcuff a snake. We were moving all the prisoners to a hastily erected quarantine facility. The US was getting good at erecting temporary holding facilities – for humanoids…not for serpents. We had a reinforced glass building enroute to us, but we had to hold the Horde beings on their ship at gunpoint. We could see their hate, and I’m sure they knew we’d burn them in a heartbeat if they friggin’ twitched.

ESCAPE