Annihilation: A Rose Grows In Weeds (16 page)

“Our basic structure is built around our companies which consist of 160 troopers and their support weapons.”

“My division is broken down much the same way,” Dorg said.

Then I suggest that we alternate our companies along our front. The 160 man spacing will look like openings in your lines. Set up your weapon platforms to cover the area between your companies so it looks like you don’t have enough troops to cover your front. We will set up our platforms to cover the front of your companies. Once the Plants discover our little subterfuge, we’ll free our platforms to targets of opportunity.”

“Just how good is your new armor, General?”

“It can take direct hits from your heavy weapons platforms.”

Dorg looked at Richard on his display and it was clear he was skeptical of the claim. Richard keyed his com and said, “Colonel Watson, report.”

Jer came on their display and said, “Yes Sir.”

“Jump over to General Dorg’s headquarters and demonstrate your armor for him.”

“Jumping now, Sir.”

Dorg stood there and waited for the Colonel to show up. After two minutes he said to Richard, “When is he going to get here?”

“Colonel Watson, show General Dorg your armor.”

Suddenly Jer appeared standing within a foot of Dorg directly in front of him. Dorg jumped back and nearly fell until Jer grabbed his hand and held him up. “I never saw you,” Dorg said.

“Our coating can hide us effectively, General. It allows us to be very, very sneaky.”

“Colonel, step out in front of the Generals lines and let them hit you with heavy weapons fire.”

“Yes Sir.”

Jer jumped completely over the Cainth’s front line and stood a hundred yards in front of their position. Dorg shrugged and ordered him hit with both beam and projectile platforms. The two platforms opened fire and Jer disappeared in the dust that rose around him. “Cease fire, Dorg said.

Jer stood there and then jumped back inside their lines. His armor looked just as it did before. Dorg was amazed. “General Wiseman, we have to get this for all our troops.”

“We’re working on it but it is so new we can’t even get all of our forces in them. We have sent the specs to your government but it looks like Earths factories are the only ones at this point that can produce them. We’ll just have to use what we have General. Once the battle starts, the fort will start firing when the Plants are three miles out, you will start at two miles out; my companies will hold their fire until the Plants are one mile out and at that point we will hit them with all we’ve got. If we have to fall back, your companies will go the first 500 yards and then ours will move back even with them and this process will continue until we are inside the walls of our fort. We will try and hold our lines but fall back if it looks like we’re going to be overrun.” The eight divisions started working hard to get their lines organized before the plants arrived.

Seven hours later Richard looked away from his display and said to General Dorg, “Navy reports a huge mass of Plants headed this way. They are currently hitting them from space but the mass is using the topography to avoid the beams. They’ll arrive here in forty minutes and they’re moving fast.” Richard keyed his general com and said, “Attention all units; the Plants will arrive in forty minutes. Prepare your lines and hold. Keep your general com open in the event I call for a withdrawal.”

Colonel Huseen watched his sensors display and saw the Algean Fleet arriving. The ships split and moved to surround the planet from 50,000 miles out. It held that distance until all of its ships were equally distributed around the equator. He keyed his com and said, “The range of our focused primaries is 30,000 miles with a width of 1,500 feet. If we can get them in to less than a thousand miles, we can probably take out a large number of their ships. We will not turn on the screen until we absolutely must do so. Use you needles to hit any missiles targeted at the forts from long range. I want them to think they have to overload our defenses with huge numbers. In the fleet action they fired when they were less than 800 miles away. That is what I’m hoping to get done here. All forts can turn on the screen with their energy switch if they are endangered; however, I want all of you to delay as long as you possibly can.”

The Algean Half Fleet Leader held his ships at 50,000 miles from the forts and planet. He knew the Algean armies on the surface were timing their attack with his arrival but he didn’t want to go in blind against those eight huge asteroids circling the planet. “Fire one power missile at each of those constructs.”

On the asteroids, the warning klaxon started sounding warning of incoming missiles. Huseen saw that the plants had launched an anti matter missile at each of the forts and keyed his com, “Hit the missile targeted at your fort at 900 miles. It’s an antimatter missile so turn just the screen around your fort to 1/500 power. Do not turn on the general screen.”

The missiles flew at the eight forts until 900 miles out a needle hit each of them causing one of the largest explosions ever witnessed by the crews on the asteroids. The forts individual screens flashed on just long enough to stop any damage then went off. “Stand by,” said Huseen. “Let’s see what they do next.”

The Algean Fleet Leader ordered, “Fire ten missiles at each of those constructs and make five of them power missiles. Spread them out so the blast won’t take out all of them.” He watched his display as the 80 missiles left his fleet, spread out and headed toward the forts.” Once again they reached the same distance from the huge constructs and were all detonated by those small energy beams. The explosions were enormous and the Pydres hiding on the southern continent saw what they thought was a sun surrounding their planet. The bright light turned the night into daylight and they wondered what was happening.

The sensor leader turned to the Fleet Leader and said, “It appears that their defensive systems have a range of about one pund. The Ground Leader has notified us that his ground tools are being hit hard by their ships. He also wants us to try and hit that structure that they have made on the surface. He asks how much longer before he can begin his full assault?”

The Fleet Leader was reluctant to move any closer but it was clear that his missiles were not getting close enough to do any damage to the orbiting structures. Launch 100 missiles at each and an additional hundred at the structure on the planet. Don’t use power missiles on the planet; we do not want to destroy our tools on the ground.” Once more the missiles reached out from the fleet but once again they were all destroyed at 900 miles. Even those targeted on the structure on the planet were destroyed by cross fire from two of the orbiting rocks.

Back on the home world of the plants the Leaders were watching their displays and one of them said, “He needs to move his fleet closer and launch a full barrage.”

The Eldest Leader said, “Issue the order to move closer.”

The Fleet Leader saw the light on his console come on indicating a message from the Algean Leaders and guessed that they were not satisfied with his caution; his communications leader confirmed it. “We are ordered in to launch a full barrage, Fleet Leader.”

The Fleet Leader raised his arms shoulder high which was the equivalent of a shrug and spoke over his fleet frequency, “Move in to one pund. Launch full barrage on my command.” He then turned to the communications leader and said, “Notify the Ground Leader to begin his assault once our ships are in place.”

Colonel Huseen watched his display and then keyed his general com, “Attention all forts, they’re moving in. Hold your fire and wait until they stop then when I turn on the planetary screen you will have weapons clear. Take out as many as you can until they move back to 4,000 miles then launch your penetrators and go to focus primaries; use only the general primaries and needles until then.”

The Algean fleet moved in and sorted itself into eight groups aligned on each of the forts. Huseen saw that each fort would have more than 60,000 ships to contend with and he was thankful that the forts were fully charged before they were put in place. He wanted to hit the Fleet before they launched their missiles so it was going to be a matter of timing. If he waited too long after they stopped moving in then they would launch. He expected them to move in to 900 miles but kept his com keyed in case they stopped short of that distance. His sensor officer said, “Sir, they are slowing down, computers project they will stop right about 1,000 miles.”

Huseen kept his hand on the general screen switch until the huge Algean fleet arrived at 1,000 miles then he threw the switch and the planetary screen came on at full power, “Weapons free,” he shouted into his com and his eight forts fired their primaries.”

The Half Fleet Leader had left his command ship and its support squadrons at 50,000 miles out to have a general view of the conflict. He was just about to order the missile launch when the entire planet disappeared behind a screen and his fleet was hit with hellish beams that were wider than anything ever conceived. Even the Leaders on the home world were stunned.

The Algean Fleet was caught like a moth in a flame. The sixty mile wide primary beams of the fort shot out into the ranks of ships and fanned across them for three seconds to be followed two seconds later by another beam. Most of the ships had missiles in their magazines preparing to launch and when the beam touched them they exploded into violent anti-matter explosions. The carnage was unbelievable. Tens of thousands of ships were being destroyed every second. The Fleet Leader yelled in his frequency board, “Withdraw, withdraw, escape now.” Ships that had not been hit launched their missiles and turned to flee the terrifying beams but the damaged continued. The fleet leader watched his half a million ships get decimated by the wide energy weapons. Even those that managed to turn and run were being hit and whatever those beams touched disappeared. The survivors reached 4,000 miles from the forts and those beams grew smaller and started targeting single ships. It was then that the Fleet Leader saw those energy missiles the strangers used against the other fleet launching from the eight rocks and there were literally millions of them.

Huseen keyed his com and ordered, “Fire the focused primaries at the heavy battleships. Get as many as you can then go after the others.”

One of the Plant heavy battleships had managed to flee to eighteen thousand miles from the planet and thought it was clear when a 1,500 foot wide beam hit it amidships and cut it in half. One half detonated when its anti-matter missile magazine exploded taking the other half with it along with three other Plant ships fleeing close to it. Everywhere around the planet the Algean fleet was being destroyed. The Fleet Leader watched as his ships continue to blow up from that hellish beam at thirty punds from the planet and now the energy missiles were in among his ships wrecking havoc. Finally, the survivors of his fleet crossed 40 punds from the planet and the terrible beams finally stopped. His sensor leader turned to him obviously shaken and said, “Only 3,000 ships have managed to escape; none of our heavy harvesters. Sir, there are 4,000 ships leaving the planet and headed toward us at twice our fastest speed.”

The Fleet Leader keyed his home frequency and said to the Algean Elders, “Leaders, it would be my recommendation that in any future encounters with these orbiting rocks that you maintain the 50,000 mile separation.” The Algean Leaders on their home world watched as the strange ships caught the fleeing remains of their fleet forty minutes later and totally demolished the survivors. They watched it all because the Fleet Leaders ship had a head start on the rest and was the last destroyed. Their feed ended abruptly. This was the first time in their remembered history that any of their ships had fled from a battle.

Richard Wiseman watched the display at his headquarters and thought that not being involved in the fighting was not something he would ever get accustomed. Just prior to the ranks being formed with the Cainth, he called Colonel Watson and asked for a private channel. “What’s up boss,” Jer said.

“Colonel, I am taking your battalion out of the ranks and bringing it into the fort to change your weapon load.”

Jer just looked at Wiseman on the display and said nothing. “His expression says it all,” Richard thought. Richard said, “Colonel, I’m highly concerned that one or more of our lines will break. If we hold our line and one of the others fail then the plants will be in our rears and roll us up. Navy has just informed me that they are going to have to use the ships overhead to finish the Algean Fleet. We will not have orbital support initially and I don’t know how long it will take them to return. I am bringing your troops in and putting jump jets on their packs and changing their hornets from anti-weapon to anti-personnel. I will use you where the fighting is the worse.” Richard noticed that Watson changed his expression when he said that. “Colonel, I need my best unit ready for this so get in here quickly and load up.”

“Yes Sir,” Jer said. “We’re moving now.

The Plant Ground Leader saw that the overhead bombardment he had been hit with was slowing down and tapering off. That meant the fleet action was starting overhead. He ordered all his tools to attack the invaders and destroy them. His heavy weapon platforms had been moving forward for some time because once his soldiers went into battle frenzy; they just couldn’t keep up with the mad rush to feed on the enemy. The green tide of his army rushed forward with more than two million rushing across the barren plain. He committed more than a third of his forces at the northern line that had breaks in its front. It looks like they didn’t get enough tools and now they will pay the consequences. He saw his forces being hit with beam weapons from the structure the strangers had built but it was not going to be enough to stop his tools.