Temple of S.A.R.A.H. 5: Debug Mode (8 page)

“We’re seeing something, Captain, but we’re not sure of what it is. Can you describe it?” the colonel asked, proving he was online as well.

Tul-sa looked up at her commander so He’rsree could speak to command through Tul-sa’s vidlink. He’rsree nodded and addressed the Camera. “What we have here seems to be a webbing of some kind. It appears to be disrupting light to the point where it completely hides the entrance. Our suit sensors aren’t getting through it either; according to them, there simply is nothing but more ground there. There is no way Lord Cowan’s sensors drones would see through these.”

“Now that there is a drone inside the hive they can detect each other, but I believe you are correct; the drones have been fooled by this webbing. Be sure to get a sample for analysis,” Edgigly replied.

“We’ll do our best Sir,” He’rsree replied.

“For information purposes, Captain He’rsree. I have sent one of our Lieutenants that was born here into the Terran group in Discovery in an effort to get them to move. We do not believe she will be successful, but we had to at least make the attempt.” Colonel Cren’lith added.

“Considering the direction these tunnels look to be going, I can only hope she is successful, Colonel. It would be the height of coincidence for the Queen to have taken up residence right under the only village in the area,” He’rsree noted.

“Agreed, Captain. My advisers believe that when the Terran soldiers begin disappearing, the Terrans will blame us for it. If that happens we must be very careful. The Terrans will redouble their efforts against us at that point.” Edgigly said. “It is truly a sad thing that Terran greed would not keep this from happening.” 

“Captain, Colonel,” AI Honor interrupted. “Excuse my interruption, but I am receiving resonant echoes from inside the village of Discovery.”

“How many echoes are you detecting, AI Honor?” Colonel Cren’lith asked.

“Six spread through the village. All appear to be under or very near buildings,” the AI replied.

“Blessed Grathis, those Terrans don’t stand a chance!” Colonel Cren’lith said.

“Agreed, Colonel. I would advise that you move in and dislodge the Terrans from the village, if they still do not relocate, you may have to take measure to save as many as you can. I will contact Admiral Vance, inform him of the situation and get permission for you to use force to get them out of there,” Edgigly said.

“I agree, Captain. I will move my command post to the village and prepare to make our assault. There are several Terran aircraft at the village that will need to be removed as well. Perhaps the pilots of those transports can be persuaded to take their brethren to a safe distance.

“I show night-fall to be a little more than an hour from now. We will need to be in place with our defenses set by the time the sun goes down. The Aracs will attack given the amount of activity there has been on the surface here,” Colonel Cren’lith said.

“What are our orders then, Colonel?” He’rsree asked reminding everyone she was still online and listening.

“Secure that entrance for the time being and set up a defense perimeter for the night. The rest of the assault force will assemble in Discovery and attempt to hold the position until morning. We will begin the assault at that time. Remain alert, He’rsree. I am certain they will attempt to use that exit in order to make a stealth approach to our position. It will be up to you to stop them,” Colonel Cren’lith explained.

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D
iscovery Command Post

Village of Discovery

Northwest Territories

Canada

Planet Earth

Sol System

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“C
olonel, please listen to me; your entire unit is in grave danger!” Wendy pleaded with the stubborn officer.

“I have no doubt that you believe that, Lieutenant. However, I really doubt that you know what you’re talking about. You represent an alien power that we have been sent here to stop,” Colonel Jessup replied. “I will not base the safety of my people on the word of a junior officer in what amounts to be my adversary on this mission. Now, your presence here is disruptive. Either follow these gentlemen to a holding cell, or leave!”

“Sir, I do understand the importance of following orders. I also understand your position here. I am very familiar with the capabilities of the 82nd Airborne as I was also in your military before I was recruited into the Alliance. Sir, you are so outclassed and outnumbered you can’t even imagine it. Your weapons will have no more effect on the Aracs than they had on my guards and myself. I…” she was interrupted by her comm unit beeping at her. “Excuse me Sir, my bosses are calling,” she said and put her hand to her ear. “This is Foster, go ahead.”

“Lieutenant Wendy Foster, I assume you are not having any luck getting the Terrans to move?” Colonel Cren’lith asked.

“No Sir, I am not. I am speaking with the over-all force commander on site, but he refuses to listen. He claims that we are his enemy and therefore cannot be trusted,” Wendy replied.

“I thought as much. Please tell him I will be there to speak to him in a few minutes. We have found the hive, Lieutenant Wendy Foster; you are standing on it. When night falls, there is a very good chance that the Aracs will attack in force,” the Colonel informed her.

“Sir, I thought they couldn’t have that many troops yet, didn’t the biologists say that the Queen was still too immature to produce?” Wendy asked.

“That is what we believed. However, Vulpas engaged an Arac and followed it back to an entrance in the woods near you. Based on its size and speed, we now believe it to have been a scout. The drones we are using to explore the hive have found large caverns full of full size, mature soldiers in some kind of stasis. We can only assume that the Queen somehow reached maturity and has been producing broods. Since they are in a static condition we believe that they do not require food as yet.

“It is clear we cannot rely on any of our former assumptions at this point. We are rallying all of our troops except Vulpas to the village of Discovery in an attempt to contain the attack if it comes this night. We are also to remove the Terran soldiers from the village even if it takes stunning them and bodily throwing them on their aircraft. I am told that Admiral Vance is seeking diplomatic assistance in getting them moved, but as with all things political; it will take time.”

“Sir, what will happen to them if we cannot get them to move?” Wendy asked.

“There is a very good chance they will be killed when the Arac soldiers emerge to feed. I believe it will be tonight, but we cannot be certain. They could emerge and attack at any time,” the colonel replied. “Perhaps you should inform this Colonel Jessup that I am not human?”

“I understand Sir, and I’ll tell him,” Wendy replied.

“You have done well, Lieutenant Wendy Foster. The Terrans simply do not have the information we do, nor will they accept ours. Sometimes, the attempt is all that we are able to undertake. We will join you shortly,” the Colonel said and closed the channel.

Wendy turned back to the obviously listening officers. She looked at the Colonel. “Sir, with respect, my Commander, Colonel Cren’lith, will be arriving shortly. The hive we have been searching for has been located under this location. We will be setting up our command center and rally point for our assault. Sir, I feel I should warn you and your other officers, Colonel Cren’lith isn’t human like we are. He’s from a planet a long way away from here called Simonia. He is a rather large being, very closely resembling a dark brown gorilla. He is a very well respected commander and very good at his job. The rest of our force will also be arriving here; all tolled there will be just over seven hundred Alliance Marines. We have to set up the defenses needed in the case the Arac soldiers attack tonight.”

Jessup just shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry Lieutenant, I’m just not scared of giant spiders and talking gorillas. We will find a way to stop you, and then we’ll put your Colonel gorilla back in a cage where he belongs.”

Wendy pursed her lips at the insult the man just issued. “When your men begin disappearing Colonel, don’t blame us. We have gone out of our way to keep you dumb fucks alive, but since you insist on being eaten alive, I’m thinking it would do you wonders to watch your friends and soldiers ripped apart in front of you. Go ahead and use your precious projectile weapons. It’ll give you something to do while the Aracs rip your arms off. You have no idea what you’’re getting into here and you’re far too stupid to listen to our warnings.

“We have powered armor that even resists laser weapons fire and an Arac soldier can cut through it like paper. We have laser pulse rifles that can penetrate any armor you have here on Earth and all we can do is try to shoot their legs off so we can kill them. So when they come boiling out of the ground and start cutting through your men like a knife through butter, just remember how invincible you are; I’m sure it’ll impress the hell out of them.” She turned and stomped out of the office the Commanding officers were using while a couple of them chuckled.

“She seems like a good officer, Henry. What do we do if she really is trying to tell us the truth?” a Major asked.

“We are too far north for spiders Major,” Captain Lafayette replied. The Captain was a member of the Canadian military and nominally commanded a company of tanks. His entire company was assigned to the mission as a liaison, but his troops and their equipment wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow. “It is much too cold for them even in summer as the evenings here are much cooler than in the US.”

“Giant spiders? Please! So we go get a couple of cans of raid and problem solved. Besides, everyone knows that spiders don’t live in hives!” Jessup scoffed and turned back to his maps.

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D
iscovery

Northwest Territories

Canada

Planet Earth

Sol System

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A
lthough they were shot at as each unit landed in the area by the landing field surrounded by Terran troops, the Alliance soldiers simply ignored them. That indifference to them really annoyed the Terran troops until Captain Gre’trand overheard a comment about being over-run by gorillas. The Simonian Captain ordered his troops to clear a small portion of trees from an area near the village.

Four or five Alliance Marines simply shot the trees with their rifles, which made the base of the tree simply explode, dropping the tree very close to where it had stood. A few other Marines walked up to the fallen trees, some of which were very large, the Marines picked them up, one Marine per tree, and carried them to an out of the way place a few hundred yards away.

That pretty much ended the comments from the Terran troops as well as the weapons fire, but they still tried to capture every Alliance soldier that landed.

When Colonel Cren’lith arrived, he had his assault shuttle land close to the Terran command post. When the troop ramp lowered, he glared at the assembled Terran Marines that had arrived to take him into custody. “By now it should be obvious even to the most obtuse of you that we will not be captured. Do you men not have other duties to attend to? We are about to be attacked for Garlath’s sake! Where are fortifications? Where are ammunition stores?”

Lieutenant Foster had to push her way through the group that was now simply gawking at the large armored gorilla. She saluted her superior. “Welcome to Discovery Colonel!” Since he had been speaking English, she did as well, making sure the troops around them knew he was a senior officer.

He returned the salute. “Thank you, Lieutenant. Can you show me to the Command post? I would have words with the person in charge of this rabble!”

“Certainly Sir!” she replied and turned to lead him to the hut. She switched back to Alliance standard to speak to him so no one else would overhear. “Be prepared to be insulted Sir. They made it absolutely clear that a ‘big talking gorilla’ would not change their minds either. They were rather rude about it.”

“I would expect nothing less, Lieutenant Wendy Foster. I do appreciate your offense on my behalf, but in honesty, one only need to consider the source of comment to understand situation. Intelligence has always been indication for racial tolerance.” The big Simonian turned to his aide. “When I nod to you, issue the stun order to the entire force. Have Fokkor secure the aircraft pilots according to plan.”

The aide nodded. “Yes Sir.” Before he opened the door for the Colonel and Wendy and followed them into the office.

Wendy stepped up to the officer once again and saluted them. “Gentlemen, may I present to you, my commanding officer Colonel Cren’lith of the Alliance Marines.” She turned to Cren’lith and introduced each man, even the ones that had not introduced themselves earlier. She also included the two civilian intelligence officers that were posing as military officials.

“How did you know who we were, Lieutenant?” the man asked.

“There is all the proof you need that intelligence is a word for which you do not have a clear understanding,” Cren’lith said shaking his head. “Gentlemen, I do not have time to debate this with you. In a little under an hour, all of you need to be on your aircraft and on your way back to where ever you came from.”

“You do not have the authority to issue commands to us, ‘Colonel’ this isn’t the zoo.” Colonel Jessup replied chuckling. A few of the other officers smiled nervously, but the others did not.

Cren’lith nodded his head. “I assumed you would say something similar, Colonel. However, I did make the assumption that since I gave you the courtesy of respecting your rank and position you would do same. Obviously, you are not gentlemen I hoped you would be. I was not giving you order Terran, I was telling you what is going to happen. If you are not on your aircraft by the time the sun has finished setting, you will most likely die, as my people will not be able to defend you any longer. To that end I have been given the authority to take the steps to insure not only your safety, but compliance.” He nodded to his aide who quietly began issuing orders.

Colonel Jessup narrowed his eyes at the large Simonian. “That sounded like a threat. I’m not a good person to threaten no matter who you think you are.”