Battle for the Earth (31 page)

Marie interrupted his reverie. She pointed to the assault craft that were bearing down on Mars.

‘We’ve got company, Jumouk.’

Two wings of Annunaki assault craft, fourteen vessels in all, were rapidly approaching Mars.

‘When will the defences kick in?’

She was puzzled as to why the defences had not started to destroy the enemy craft.

‘I don’t know, Marie. They should have activated by now.’

Jumouk too was now beginning to be concerned. Perhaps the Mars base wasn’t as safe as they had been led to believe. He could tell from the look on Marie’s face that she was thinking the same thing.

**

The Annunaki assault craft were now skimming the surface of Mars. Worse still, three Annunaki battle cruisers were also on their way, heading directly towards the base.

The Annunaki assault vessels had split up and were searching the surface of the red planet methodically. Flying at high speed and fifty feet from the surface, the craft flashed over the planet surface looking for signs of ESG activity. The moon base had already been explored and ruled out as an active base, Sutan having guessed that if there were any other hidden bases the most likely planet would be Mars.

The three massive battle cruisers which included Sutan’s own flagship had taken up orbit on the far side of Mars, in constant contact with the assault craft scrutinising the planet’s surface.

Sutan was watching the proximity detectors on board his flagship closely, but there was absolutely no sign of any activity on the planet below apart from his own assault craft.

**

Jumouk could do nothing but watch and pray, Lee had now joined them and was expressing his concerns as well.

‘What the hell’s going on, Jumouk?’

‘I honestly don’t know, Lee. The defences don’t appear to be working. Do you know where Pausanias is?’

‘Sorry Jumouk, not got a clue. I thought he would have been here with you.’

‘I’ve not seen him since the second fleet arrived. Marie, have you seen him at all?’

Marie shook her head.

‘No, like you say, since the second fleet arrived there’s been no sign of him.’

Lee’s eyes lit up.

‘I bet I know where he is. He’ll be in that other defence control room, but I can’t remember how to get to it.’

Marie began scrolling through the schematics of the base.

‘I don’t see it on any of the schematics.’

‘No, it’s a devil of a place to get to, I don’t think the level that it’s on is even shown, at least not on anything we’ve got access to.’

‘I don’t know why the battle cruisers haven’t opened fire yet.’

‘Hold on. Didn’t Pausanias say he had deployed some kind of cloaking device?’

Lee nodded.

‘That’s right, they can’t see us. That’s why they’re not firing at us.’

Jumouk summed it up.

‘And that’s why we’re not firing at them. Pausanias doesn’t want to give our position away.’

‘Can we find someone to take us to that control room?’

Marie left to find somebody. Within a few moments she had returned with one of Pausanias’s colleagues who said he would take them there.

**

Sure enough, when they arrived at the control room they found Pausanias monitoring the Annunaki craft on the three-dimensional displays. Pausanias had already grounded and camouflaged the ESG vessels that had been patrolling the red planet’s surface when the second battle group had arrived out of hyper-space, so no electronic signatures would be found on Mars.

By the look of it the Annunaki were coming to the end of their search. The battle cruisers were already on their way back to Earth and the assault vessels were just finishing their final sweeps of the planet.

Pausanias apologised for not being with Jumouk when the Annunaki fleet had arrived but, as he explained, he had to monitor the situation in case anything had gone wrong. He had fully anticipated the search of Mars and had taken all the necessary steps to keep the base hidden, but if something were to go wrong he needed to be able to access the blistering array of weapons from this control room.

The last of the Annunaki craft had left, none the wiser about the Mars base, thanks to Pausanias’s foresight. Earth was now the centre of attention, and the Annunaki battle cruisers were still levelling the capital cities at a frightening rate.

‘Will the people in the bases closest to the capital cities be able survive that kind of weapons fire?’

Marie’s question was the one that was on all their minds, and nobody had an answer.

The topography of Earth was changing as they spoke, and nobody could do anything about it.

The colonisation of Earth by the Annunaki had begun.

**

50

Sutan was still nonplussed by the absence of any resistance from the ESG. Where were their battle cruisers, if indeed they had any left? After repeated scans of Earth and the surrounding space absolutely nothing had been detected.

Looking on the bright side, the Annunaki Sybotes had unearthed a cell of resistance just south of Dulles and they were now in the process of eradicating it from the Manassas area.

Nevertheless, Sutan was still spoiling for a fight. He hadn’t come all this way with a complete battle group in tow just to sit around idly. Virtually all the capital cities had now been razed to the ground and one by one his battle cruisers were rejoining him above Dulles.

It had to be said it was a breathtaking sight.

**

The resistance fighters at Manassas had taken to the sewer systems in a bid to escape the Annunaki Sybotes. Above ground it had been a massacre.

The mindless killing machines had shown no mercy. They felt no fear or pain. If wounded, they would do anything to continue killing.

At least the tunnels in the sewers gave the resistance a fighting chance.

When Bill Graham, the architect, had mined the tunnels, everyone had been given maps of the lay-out in the sewer system. Now the work Bill had put in was paying dividends and saving lives.

The main aim of the fleeing resistance was to get to the outlets on the Potomac River. Shuttles had been hidden strategically at points just off the river for precisely this kind of emergency. The resistance fighters now only numbered hundreds. They had paid a heavy price for the destruction of the first invasion fleet and its Annunaki warriors, with the subsequent onslaught of the Annunaki Sybotes.

This was a running battle, not only of strength but of wits. At last, however, they were starting to make inroads into the numbers of the Sybotes chasing them. The shock wave created within the smaller space was wreaking havoc even with the heavy armour the Annunaki Sybotes had built into them. Also, as each explosion tore a tunnel apart, collapsing it completely, the Sybotes had to find another way around, which slowed them down considerably. It was a hard-fought battle, but it was beginning to look as if some of the resistance would be able to make good their escape.

Ironically, the resistance leaders were still at George Bush International Airport and, having received no news of recent events, were still celebrating the complete success of the mission involving the Hercules transports and their daisy cutters. That really had been the high point for the resistance, and they were sure that even Lee and Jumouk must have been impressed.

**

Four shuttles lifted to roof-top height, then, diving into the dark waters of the Potomac, formed themselves into a diamond shape and headed towards the Atlantic Ocean.

In all two hundred and forty resistance fighters survived.

The losses on the part of the Annunaki Sybotes were substantial and unexpected. Six hundred were lost in total. The main reason for this was the total loss of reckoning; they really had been turned into cannon fodder especially in the sewers.

**

To a man the resistance fighters were aware that they must get to Mark before he returned to Manassas, still unaware that the second battle group had arrived.

They would surface in the Gulf of Mexico then head inland at low level to Houston and on to George Bush International Airport, hoping to rendezvous with Mark and Finney. They could then bring them up to date with the latest events.

**

Mark, Finney and Sacha were just about to board their shuttle when the four resistance shuttles were spotted coming in low and fast.

‘God! They’re in a hurry, aren’t they?’ exclaimed Finney.

The first shuttle landed and Bill the architect emerged.

‘Mark, I need to speak to you now.’

‘What’s all the rush, Bill?’

‘It’s the Manassas base. It’s been overrun.’

‘I don’t understand, Bill. We took out the Annunaki threat there with the daisy cutters.’

‘It’s the second Annunaki battle group. It’s here, now, and they’re bastards. We only just got out with our lives.’

‘Don’t tell me this is everyone, the only survivors?’

‘I’m sorry, Mark it was a massacre. They had these monstrous Annunaki Sybotes.’

Finney was aghast.

‘How many people did you lose in all?’ he asked nervously.

‘Thousands, bloody thousands.’

Mark clenched his fist and looked away from Bill.

‘Shit! I can’t believe this. When did the fleet arrive?’

‘More or less right after you wiped out the remnants of the first fleet.’

‘Christ! I just can’t believe it. What have we got to do to get rid of these bastards?’

Bill looked shattered. They hadn’t stopped since leaving Manassas.

‘Bill, I know you’re probably knackered, but could you organise the guys that came with you? If you take them to that building over there you can get some hot coffee with rum in it. I think there’s also some hot chicken soup and bread. Get your fill then all of you get some sleep.’

‘You know we can’t go back to Manassas? The whole bloody Annunaki battle group is at Dulles. It’s swarming with bloody great cruisers, and after the running battle we had, the sewer systems are a mess.’

‘I know, Bill. Go get sorted and leave it with me.’

Bill was right of course and Mark didn’t have the answers yet.

Mark, Finney and Sacha sat down together with three mugs of straight rum.

‘Well, what do we do now?’

Mark’s question was to the point, but unwelcome nonetheless. They had already been through so much under the worst circumstances. How long could they keep pulling rabbits from the hat? Sacha replied wearily:

‘I don’t know Mark, I really don’t. How many are in this battle group?’

‘From what I understand, maybe a dozen battle cruisers and probably six hundred assault ships, and of course the supporting vessels. Not got a clue how many warriors or Sybotes.’

‘Shit! What can we do against that? There’s probably only a thousand of us left, and virtually no equipment.’

‘What about the Mars base?’

‘Totally defensive from what I know. We’ve got a couple of battle cruisers and some assault craft based there.’

Sacha grinned.

‘Well, all’s not lost then.’

‘I’ve not been in contact with Mars since they gave me an update of the Annunaki fleet numbers.’

Mark stretched out in his chair.

‘I don’t even know for sure that the Mars base is still there.’

Sacha leaned forward onto the table and took a gulp of his rum.

‘OK, getting back to the point. Where do we go from here?’

‘At least we’ve got transport. That gives us six shuttles now, and you’ve got some assault craft at London, haven’t you, Finney?’

‘I don’t know, I’ve not been able to get hold of London.’

Mark stood up abruptly.

‘Right, that’s it. We don’t know shit. We can’t work like this. Give it two hours, Finney, then get the guys on the transports. We’re going to Sub Sea One.’

Finney stared at Mark.

‘Do you even know where it is?’

‘Of course I know where it is! At least, I mean ... I’ve got the coordinates for it.’

Finney smiled to himself and then set off to do what he needed to do.

**

51

Sutan was well satisfied with his first two acts of revenge: the annihilation of the resistance at Manassas and the destruction of every capital city on Earth.

Now he would make Dulles rise from the ashes like the proverbial phoenix, under the new name of Tana, in memory of his beloved brother. He had already ordered construction to begin, everything he needed for colonisation had been brought with the fleet, and he was fully determined not to let the grass grow under his feet.

A forty-square-mile area around Dulles was being levelled off and sealed with a concrete-like substance which served as a foundation. On top of this foundation the Annunaki capital city of Tana would be built and colonised. The rest of Earth would be terraformed over a period of time and Earth would become an Annunaki planet. The construction was well planned and from hour to hour the topography of the area was changing dramatically.