The Destroyers Book 3 Civil WarChapter 5 Mars and Space
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She was running! From what, she didn't know. All she knew, was it was behind her, always behind her. When she looked, she could not find it. Its heavy breathing was heard, and its breath was on the back of her neck. Pain flared through her body, as she was missing something that was important to her. She was running through a ship, being pursued by the darkness, running through the sterile walls of force screens, it was so close she could feel it. It was behind her, and it reached out and touched her. Turning she raised her weapon and then she saw it.
She stammered its name, "Sha'Karia."
"Yes, child, it is I. Come, our dance must continue, but first let us eat. I know you're hungry! Come join me. I'm very hungry. I can also smell that you're hungry. Come. We shall eat, first. Then we will finish what we started. Follow me, our meal is ready."
Sha'Karia turned and went through a door and into a huge dining room.
She followed the creature into the other room and there was a huge table, covered with dishes of food, in the center of the table was a covered platter. Sha'Karia went to one side of the table and sat on a divan, while a chair was across from her.
Sha'Karia looked over at Sammy, gestured to the chair, and said, "Come, sit and eat. Gather your strength, and then we shall dance once more."
Sammy felt herself walking to the chair and sitting. Her stomach rumbled from the smells of the food. Confused she sat across from Sha'Karia and looked at her as she served pieces of food on her plate.
"I'm confused. If you eat like this, why do you consider my species, and all other intelligent species, as food?"
"Because you are, my dear. Everything is food for something. You eat the lower life forms on your world. You raise the cattle, and birds. The cattle eat the grass, and the birds consume other smaller life forms. Your world and many others were seeded with life, to be used as food for us."
Sammy was loading her plate with the vegetables, and felt her eyes being drawn up to Sha'Karia as she was talking to her, and she asked, "Seeded the worlds? What do you mean? I don't understand?"
"That's because you haven't learned of your heritage child, but you shall. Now do you want some of this tasty smelling meat?"
She reached for the covered platter and lifted the lid only an inch as she looked Sammy in her eyes, and said, "Do you want any meat?"
The smell of roasted meat drifted over to her and made her mouth water. "Yes, please..."
Sammy stumbled back from the table as Sha'Karia lifted the cover fully from the platter, and then she started screaming.
"Sir, my scans show they are all right. Both have some small cuts and bruises, and Ensign Anderson is going to have one hell of a headache from that bump on his head, but I don't..."
He stopped talking, as Lieutenant O'Rourke sat up screaming, with sweat rolling off her body in rivers. Her breathing was coming in gasps, as though she was drowning for the lack of air. Sitting up, she started shaking. Her eyes were staring off into space.
Ensign Nakamura watched Lieutenant O'Rourke scream, and said to Corporal Rodriguez, "Give her a shot. Knock her out, before the T'Lari find us."
Hector was opening his case even as Kyo was speaking to him. Grabbing a canister of meds, he dialed in the sleep medicines and loaded the injector. Pressing it against Sammy's arm, he injected her. Her voice stopped in mid-scream and she passed out.
"Go to sleep, Lieutenant," Hector said softly.
Looking up at Kyo, he said, "If I need to, I can wake her up. I do not know what happened to her, but I would say she is in shock. We need to get her up to the ship, and have Doctor O'Neil check her out."
Kyo listened to Hector, and said, "I know, but right now we cannot go anywhere, until the wounded are stable. We also need to search this area..."
Hearing a noise, he looked up as Lieutenant Driscoll sat up with a groan. Walking over, the Lieutenant, he knelt beside him, and asked, "Sir, are you okay?"
Richard held his head in his hands, and replied, "Damn! Did anyone get the name of that Mac truck that ran me over? And no, I'm not okay. I hurt all over ... So what are the damages?"
"Sir, it's bad. Commander Holstein is dead, along with Sergeant Lopez, Corporal Kearney and Private Johnson. Corporal Duffy, and yourself are wounded. Ensign Anderson has not woken up since we found him, and we just had to sedate Lieutenant O'Rourke. I have Privates MacMathan, and Duffy keeping an eye out for trouble. As to what ran you over, we have not figured out what it is yet. We are thinking some kind of pet or guard. All I know is it killed three of us, and wounded two more, in less than one minute."
Richard climbed to his feet, looking at the creature and he shook his head at the size of it, and asked, "Very good, Ensign, any sign on what we were looking for?"
"Sir, I have been dealing with the wounded and dead. I haven't even checked the scanner. I'll get it, and let you know."
Kyo turned, walked over to his pack, and picked up the portable scanner. He activated it and detected the jamming right away.
"Sir, it's coming from in there," Kyo said.
He pointed to the large room where they had recovered Sammy and Kevin after killing the large scorpion-like creature.
Richard looked at his shattered rifle. He went and picked up a dead soldier's rifle, and activated it.
"Okay, let's check it out," he said as he walked to the open doors.
They stood there and looked around the huge room. Its golden metallic floor was studded with several pillars that were made of a silverish material. Blood was splattered on the floor, along with broken weapons.
"Wow! Fort Knox would want this room."
Kyo looked around the room, and his blood began to run hot. He started sweating as he stood there looking at the floor.
"Sir? Is this gold?"
"Yes, it is. The pillars are silver or platinum. I'm not sure which. There is a fortune in precious metals here. If we still used money, we would be rich."
Walking into the room, he looked at the floor and saw several areas where the floor had been damaged from something smashing onto it, and continued, "Must have been one hell of a fight in here, I wonder why it didn't kill them."
"I don't know, Sir, but when we found Sammy ... I mean Lieutenant O'Rourke ... she was laying on top of Ensign Sanders. It was like she had been placed there, and a pair of axes were crossed over her chest. It was weird, Sir ... like she was being honored, or something."
"Maybe she was. We do not know what type of creature that was. Maybe she fought well, and it decided to let them live ... ah, hell. I don't know ... All I know is it confuses the hell out of me."
Looking around Richard walked back towards the darkened section of the room and stopped, he could see images inside the darkened section, but it was as if no light was going through.
"Now this is weird, the light just stopped right here ... no reason why."
He reached out his hand to slide them into the darkness, and his fingers touched a force field.
"Shit, we have a force field, here."
Ken stood there looking at the main screen, which showed a Marine transport closing on the planet.
"Susan, please raise Captain Curran of the USS Iwo Jima."
Lieutenant Susan Wright turned to her com board, and said, "Right away, Sir."
Keying her com board, she contacted the ship.
"This is the Washington calling the Iwo Jima. Come in please."
"This is the Iwo Jima, Ensign Flanders speaking."
Pressing the com panel again, Susan said, "Ensign Flanders, Admiral Thompson wishes to speak with your captain."
Captain Jehanne Curran came on the screen, her red hair cut short, her green eyes sparkling in the light as she sat in her command chair.
"Hello, Washington, I hear you have a problem that needs fixing by my Marines."
"Hello, Jehanne. Yes, I have a mission for you. I have deployed all five hundred of my Marines in the T'Lari battleship, and we have gained a foothold, but we need your assault troops to rout them. I'm down by almost two hundred Marines. We have also rescued almost five hundred survivors. We are finding them, now, still in stasis. The T'Lari are fighting us tooth and nail for their ship. Since they knew we were here, they have been able to wipe out fifteen squads of my men. We also destroyed their probe launcher and the four probes they launched."
Lieutenant Jinnah Chin, over at the sensor console, was going through the sensor scans and she saw a sparkle in one of the images. Tightening the scan on the image, she gasped at what she saw.
"Sir! You have to see this."
Taking over the main screen, she shunted the image of Captain Curran to a smaller screen.
Ken turned on Jinnah and said, "Jinni what are you doing? That was rude."
Jehanne smiled at Ken's comments and replied, "That's okay, Admiral, she must have a reason. I'm deploying my Marines, now. Iwo out."
The side screen went blank, as several people gasped at what they were looking at on the main screen. Ken turned back to the main screen and there, sitting in the center of the screen, was a ship, it was covered in a layer of ice. The power indicator bars on the side of the screen was what caught his and everyone else's attention. Ken got up, walked over to the screen and looked at the ship.
"My God! Amy, Jessica! To the bridge, please."
Amy and Jessica appeared in their standard sparkling of mist. Amy walked up to Ken as Jessica hung back. Amy looked at the image, and instantly recognized it as Tralcan.
"That is a Tralcan strike fighter. I wonder what it's doing here. I wonder if she is what that cruiser was looking for, several months ago."
"I don't know, Amy, but she has power, and..." Turning to Jinnah he said, "Jinni, are there any life forms?"
Jinnah turned to her sensor, and activated the life detection scanner, "Scanning now, Sir. Sir, I have a weak signal. Someone is alive, there. I would say in stasis, Sir."
Amy turned to Susan and said, "Susan, check for emergency responders for Tralcan ships. Their beacons are in the database."
Susan brought up the beacon list for Tralcan ships, and her sensors automatically switched frequencies to the signal output indicated. Her board started flashing.
"Sir, I have a beacon and an automatic response. Putting it on audio and bringing the language software online."
They stood there and listened as a beautiful voice started speaking.
'This is Kalaria. I'm declaring an emergency. My fighter has been heavily damaged from unknown enemy fire. Port engine is destroyed, starboard engine damaged. The forward part of the ship all the way to the cockpit has taken serious damage. Forward shields are down to seven percent. Rear shields are at thirty percent. Main plasma cannons have been destroyed.'
'My report follows. After the Vengeance was scanned, I was sent to investigate possible alien influence on the human world. Using the stealth abilities of this craft, I descended into the atmosphere and headed toward the location of the scan. While I was scanning, I detected one of their local cars being powered by a hydrogen reactor. This was determined to be alien technology by my ship's computer. Therefore, I attacked, as per our standing orders that all alien influences must be destroyed on the human planet, I should have been prepared for defensive fire but no weapons or shields had been detected in my scans of the vehicle.'
'My scans detected four human life signs. I dove down and attacked. Unfortunately, the car had a pair of laser cannons mounted on the roof. Their first hits dropped my shields to forty percent and the second set tore right through them like they were paper. I estimate their rate of fire at one shot per gun, per second. I started banking my fighter, which is when the forward part of the ship was perforated, at the same time the port side engine was destroyed. I quickly climbed and headed for space, dumping all my power to my rear shields. Damage to the jump engine, and to the power recharger, prevent me from returning to the Vengeance.'
'The solar generator is still working so I'm going to place my ship down on the ninth planet and go into stasis. I hope, no I pray, one day I'll be rescued. If not, may we be victorious against the flesh eaters. Tell my family that I love them and honor them. Please ask them to place a wreath on my mate's graves. This is Commander Kalaria, signing out.'
Amy stood there with the rest of them and listened to the message, and said, "Admiral, she is the one who attacked you out in Nevada. It seems she was following orders to prevent any alien influence on Terra. Do you wish to initiate a rescue?"
"Yes, right away. I'll not leave anyone out there like that."
Turning to Lieutenant Stella Salaneo he said, "Stella, take us to the location of the ship. Amy, prepare to lift the fighter into landing bay one."
Walking back to his command chair he sat down and turned on the com for medical.
"This is Admiral Thompson. We need a decon team and a medical officer to stand by in landing bay one. We have a guest coming on board in a few minutes."
Stella typed the commands into the control panel and the big ship slowly turned and came to a new heading. It descended until it was a mile above the surface. It then came to a stop over the ship. On the secondary screen, as they were pulling away, the Iwo Jima moved into position over the enemy ship, her shuttles belched forth from their landing bays, and started descending into the expanding base that the spiders were building.
Ken stood on the flag bridge of the Washington, and looked at the holomap. The Oregon was five hundred miles to his portside. The destroyers Bulldog, Boxer and Doberman were in an arrow formation directly ahead of the two battleships. Behind the flagship, the remaining ships of the fleet stretched out to their individual time drops. The last ones were the hospital ships, while directly behind him were the assault cruisers. Worried about what was going to happen, Ken chewed on his cigar. So...
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Amy paced through the medical ward aboard the ship, while the spiders continued their maintenance. Down in the main cavern, the spiders scurried about the cavern, and over two gantries as they worked. Amy did a quick check and saw all systems were a go. She walked over to Ken and looked down at his peaceful face. She leaned down through the force field and kissed him, and tapped into Ken's nanobots. She was regretting what she had to do, but knew that she must. For they all needed to learn...
Jenny paced back in forth in her room. Her nerves were on edge as she walked in her cabin. All around her room hung the items for her upcoming wedding to Ted. She knew it was supposed to be a day of celebration, but with the casualty count still coming in from Reno, she was terrified that something would go wrong. Jenny stopped as her eyes fell on her long white wedding gown. Even with Jessica and Amy acting as their wedding coordinator, the date had been pushed back a few days due to the...
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The Federation battleship USS Washington: 1:50 P.M. Jessica handled the ship as though she was born to do it. The ship was shrugging off the enemy fire and her weapons were firing at the Washington D.C. shield trying to take it down. Turning her head she smiled at her husband and wife as the status reports came in from the fleet. "Enemy shield down to 36% power," reported Lieutenant Akiko Fujimoto. "Thanks, Akiko. Keep up the pressure," Tammy said just as Jessica screamed and the ship...
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The girls separated and headed for their quarters, where they started packing their belongings. Tina skipped down the passageway to her cabin, and opened the door and stopped. "Oh no! Sampson, what have you done?" Walking in, she looked at the dog's head and chest. It was covered in pizza sauce. The table was overturned. Shaking her head, she started cleaning the mess up. Ten minutes later, she had the auto-vac vacuuming the floor. She led Sampson into the bathroom, got the shampoo out...
Governor Kailnis watched the strange ships come down. Before he could activate his defenses, the weapons on the freighter blew them away. "Order up the guard! We need to stop these invaders, send orders to the fleet to get us help..." an explosion stopped what he was saying and he turned his head and saw one of the armored hover cars explode as a giant war machine came in sight, and he continued, "Destroy that thing." Heavy laser cannons opened up from the top of the defense wall and...
I slid the report into the proper file just as he walked into the room. Dennis Butz stood there wearing his three-piece suit, looking as handsome and charming as any man could. But I was not to be tamed by his charm. "Hello, Linda," he said with a friendly grin. "Judge Herns isn't in today," I replied back in a frosty tone. "I'm not here to see her." "My plane leaves in less then an hour Dennis, what do you want?" I slammed the file drawer shut and walked past him to my desk...
Kevin sneaked through the darkened ship, his plasma rifle at 'port arms' and ready to fire. Watching for the 'bugs' as he walked down the passageway, he came to an intersection. Stopping, he looked carefully in all four directions, and listened. Detecting nothing, he leaned down and marked the floor in the way he had come. He turned and moved to the right. Moving past a door, he looked in. Then he heard the scream. Jerking his head up, he ran silently towards the screaming and came to...
The transport tube doors opened and they stepped out into the hallway outside of the medical bay. Turning she led them down the short corridor and into the medical section. Molly was helping a young man to sit up in his bed as they entered. She was holding a glass in her hand. Once the patient had taken a drink from the glass, she set it down on the table. "Molly, I have some guests for you," Tammy said. "Be right there, Tammy." Looking at the young man she said, "Lieutenant Myers,...
Molly watched her new friends drive away. When they were out of sight, she turned back to her mother. She stepped back in to her mother's arms and gave her a hug. Stopping the hug, she looked her mom in the face. "Mom, how about pizza tonight?" Kathleen looked at her baby, and she felt complete again as she realized the hole in her heart was once again filled. "What ever you want sweetie, the number for Pizza Hut is on the fridge like always." Shaking her head, she replied, "No mom,...
Tina Wayne stormed into her room. The com had just announced that Admiral Thompson had reassigned all the adults under the age of seventeen back to Mars base. Grabbing a vase off the nearest table and hurled it across the room. It shattered into myriad pieces, against the far wall. "How dare he do this to me? He has no right!" she screamed. Sampson came boiling out of her bedroom, a half chewed bone dangling from his mouth. Seeing his mistress he ran over to her, his two hundred pound...
Ko'Nar heard the accursed Marines coming. He stood there waiting. His knives were ready, and in the rooms on each side of the passageway, some of the Royal guard stood ready to fight. Hearing the breathing of the humans, he waited until he saw the gun, and swung his upper left arm. The knife hit his target in its eye, and it went deep into its brain. Screaming as he stepped around, he started to hack at the next human, as it pointed a strange weapon at him. The next thing he knew, he was on...
Ted looked down at Shawn, and said, "Raise construction dock one, I want to talk to the Commodore Thompson in person." "Aye-aye, Captain." Turning the com on again, he said, "USS Oregon to Space Dock One." "This is dock one, Ensign Vincent Hubber speaking. How could I direct your request?" "Ensign Hubber, Captain White needs to speak with Commodore Thompson ASAP." "I will transfer you to his office." Shawn quickly replied, "Thank you." "Commodore Thompson's office, how...
Corporal Ricker watched the T'Lari go through the dead ones, and start eating them. Within three minutes, it had cracked open a leg and sucked marrow out of the bones it found. Suddenly his com chimed in his head and he heard Tom Morris' voice. 'Corporal Ricker, this is Corporal Tom Morris. I am bringing in twenty-one survivors, one critically wounded, two KIA. Sean is one of the dead, but he went down fighting.' 'Okay, Tom. Let me take care of the T'Lari that's eating his...
Sammy stood there, her axe and knife clutched firmly in her hands as she looked up at the creature, trembling in fear. The fourteen-foot tall creature reared up, its twenty-foot long tail swinging up and over its head. Its front upper claws clicked together as the lower two hands held giant swords. Its mandibles clicked and crunched the remains of the small child in its mouth. She looked down on the two humans as her forked tongue cleaned her face of blood and gore. "I so love your small...
Aboard Space Dock One, Commodore John Thompson walked out of his office and headed for his personal shuttle. It was docked in one of the many launch bays on the twenty-mile long space dock. Walking through the concourse, he looked out at the USS Ark Royal. He saw the ship was almost completed. The command tower was going up as he watched. He picked up the pace and entered the shuttle bay to find his aide standing there. Lieutenant Susan Blake ... all of four foot nine inches of her, with her...
Commander Jimmy Hutcheson led the five groups of Seals down the Truckee River. A couple of fighters seemed to be flying search patterns so he had his men duck back under the water and hug the bottom of the river. Swimming along they pass the wreckage of downtown, and head the three miles toward the City of Sparks. Two hours later, after they surface near the backside of the 'Reno Hilton' the teams fanned out along the riverbank while Jimmy stripped out of his black suit and pulled on some...
Stepping out of the transport tube, Tammy walked into the medical bay, and over to a young girl. Looking down, she saw a beautiful child lying there, who should not have a care in the world. "Ashley, we will make it better for you, I promise." Tammy looked around the huge room, and saw Molly down at the far end talking to someone, and wandered down that way. As she got closer, she saw Commander Hutcheson sitting up in one of the beds. "Commander, you should start feeling better, now....
Dreams and the Launching of the attack Richard grabbed the tail of the creature they had killed. With it still stuck in the hole, he braced his feet and tried to pull it free, or turn it. He heard another click as it turned in the other direction. The hum disappeared as a loud snap came from behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a huge bed, with piles of human skulls around it. A computer console stood next to the bed. "Damn it! It wasn't the tail that took out the gravity, it was...
Ted watched the Chinook helicopter, flying due north, disappear behind some nearby mountains. "Rita, where the hell is that damn lander that I asked for?" Ted said as he scanned the sky. "It will be above us in forty-five seconds. I suggest you come to a stop so it can pick us up." Ted brought the fifty-ton Mech to a stop, and scanned for the lander. The two hundred thousand ton ship came out of the clouds and hovered directly above him. The iris opened in the bottom of the ship. A...
Asteroids tumbled around the two Crytherian freighters as they slowly skirted the Oort cloud, at edge of the system. Aboard the Crytherian freighter, Bountiful Trove, Captain Jelkisa watched their escorts hyper to the ninth planet, to check out the sensor target they have picked up. Watching the view screen, he said, "Navigator Tilsi, set coordinates for two destinations, one the ninth planet, the other for the planet Karsakini." Turning to another Crytherian he continued, "Liskeria,...
Wand, Book and Candle, Part 1 By Elliot Reid "If I chance to talk a little wild, forgive me; I had it from my father." I snapped the book shut, eyes unfocusing from the text. With my fingers I massaged my temples, kneading tension away. I was approaching my birthday with mixed feelings. In two days I'd be sixteen. I'd have crossed another threshold. Would I feel more grown-up? I looked over at the stack of comic books by my bed, beside the Joseph Campbell and the Homer that I was...
Night Skies Hotel VI: Destroyers of Worlds By Solari Author's note: "Destroyers of Worlds" is the third story in the three-part "Foundations" trilogy that shines a light on the wider Night Skies Hotel universe. The other stories in the "Foundations" trilogy are "Night Skies Hotel IV: The Lost Worlds," and "Night Skies Hotel V: Shadows on the Sun." It is recommended that the stories be read in order, or the reader risks not understanding the events that unfold. "What you consider...
Ken watched the Captains file out and head back to their own ships. Sitting in his chair, he smiled at Kala, and said, "I think your plan is going to work, at least the other Captains were excited about..." he said. He looked up as the doors open and Tammy walked in. "Hi, love, it's good to see you." Tammy walked in to the conference room and stopping as she saw the platinum haired woman sitting across from Ken. "Hello, Admiral, who's your friend?" 'Hello, sister, I am Kalaria,...
Ken looked up at the sound of the chimes at his door. "Enter." Susan walked in and faced Ken and came to attention. "At ease, Commander." "Thank you, Sir," Susan said. Then she continued, "Sir, the NAT's are going in, now." Ken stood up and hit save on his computer pad, saving the document he was working on, "Thank you, Susan, I will be right out." Walking to the huge bay window, he looked down on Pluto as Susan walked out of the room. 'What's down there?' he thought then...
Ted recovered first, as he looked at his baby sister, and said, "Lisa what are you doing here? What do you mean the ship has..." Lisa faded away, re-appeared in front of him, and replied, "That is what I meant big brother." Ted felt the blood drain from his face as he looked at his sister. His thoughts flashed to Amy, trapped in her capsule, and he lost his temper. He growled, "No! I won't have it!" Walking over to the com unit, he pressed an icon on the panel, and said, "This is...
Ken felt the connection close after talking to his mom, and he looked out at the bridge. His thoughts were on his sister who was lying wounded in the Oregon's medical bays. In his gut, he feared the worst because his dad was on the way to the Oregon. Looking around the flag bridge his eyes settled on Susan at the com station. He asked, "Susan any word on NAT team one?" "No, Sir. Nothing. NAT team two is going down now, they are going to have to re-bore the hole and see if they can get...
Amy watched from her sensors as her Admiral and his friends had their party. On the screen, her image wandered through the party chatting with her friends. The hours go by as off duty crew came in and had a dinner of the strange foods she has never tried. She vowed that Ken would share them with her one day. Over in a small meadow, some of the many kids played a game she'd had to look up. It was called baseball. Some others played volleyball. Going over the reports, she saw her shuttles...
Earth December 16th President Kincaide sat at his desk, going over the latest reports on the war in Iraq. "Damn it, if we could use some of those Mechs, the war would be over in hours," he said as he flipped the pages. He saw the report of the attack on the USS Ronald Reagan and his anger got to him. Looking up at Admiral Ahern, he glared at the three star admiral. "Damn it Richard. How did al-Qaida get their hands on an Iranian sub?" "Sir, we're still investigating that, and Iran...