The Imperialists: The Complete Trilogy Page 5

  While she was being fitted for her atmospheric suit, her colleagues arrived. Altogether they were two doctors and three nurses. All of them maintained a look of sadness and regret. Miko, a nurse she knew from the hospital, had obviously not used waterproof mascara and hence, dark streak marks were clearly visible from her eyes to her chin. Jason, a burly nurse from the psychiatric ward, was trying to put on a strong face but his clenched jaw and shivering eyes gave away his emotions.

  Once they were all fitted they were herded into the capsule that would be shot like a bullet into space and then ‘caught’ by the docking area on the wormhole station. The navy instructor started barking orders as they boarded the capsule and made sure each of them was tied down properly.

  “The G-force that you will encounter will be something you have never felt before, even though we have employed all the available technology to decrease it. Grit your teeth! Do not faint! Do not vomit!”

  On board was not only the medical team but also another geo-science team that seemed to be veterans. One of them looked at Heera and grinned.

  “First time is always a bitch” he said.

  Heera simply smiled an awkward smile back. She knew that an accident was highly improbable. But being hurled through the atmosphere and then into a vast vacuum in order to be caught by a small area barely larger than the capsule itself seemed like a long shot. Had they calculated all the movements in the atmosphere? What about shrapnel floating at a hundred kilometres per second in orbit? Even a tiny change in the trajectory could have them crashing into the station or worse, eternally travelling the vast nothingness until they die of lack of oxygen.

  These thoughts raced through her mind and by the time she had managed to block them out, the instructor had finished his safety briefing and was wishing them a ‘happy flight’. What had she missed? Had she put on the harnesses properly? Should she close her eyes? What about the effects of gravity? But before she could work herself to a panic again, the capsule door closed and a red light illuminated the interior. She then realized that there were no windows in the capsule. She would not even be able to see her death should it come to it. A ridiculously calm, nonchalant voice filled the capsule.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, we have lift-off in ten, nine, eight…”

  Suddenly, a big bang reverberated like a loose bullet inside the capsule. She felt a crushing force come down on her so hard that she could barely breathe. And then the capsule started shaking uncontrollably. This couldn’t be normal, could it? She looked desperately at the geo-scientist who had grinned at her to find he was looking straight at her with the same grin. She suddenly resented the pity and amusement in his smug face and became aware of the fact that she probably looked terrified. As soon as she gathered herself and put on a calmer face, the trembling ceased. They were now out of the atmosphere and in the vast vacuum of space. The ride was so smooth that she started having doubts that they were moving at all.

  But then there was another bump and she could suddenly feel that the capsule was slowing down. She had read about this. The station was sending pulses to the capsule in order to slow it down. And finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the capsule came to a definite stop with a soft thud.

  The capsule door was soon opened and another navy non-commissioned officer entered and started helping them out of the harnesses. Upon coming out, she realized that their capsule was just one among perhaps a hundred that had been shot out almost at the same time. From these emerged hundreds of recruits for the Pacific Federation military. Theirs seemed to be the only one that carried a civilian specialist team. While the young recruits were barked and screamed at by other non-commissioned officers, their team was guided by a rather courteous second lieutenant to the large vessel that would carry them through the wormhole.

  The landing area was immediately closed after the pods had arrived, lest enemy satellites try to get a glimpse of the interior. The giant space station made Heera slightly claustrophobic. The fusion generator that powered the station would be beneath the landing dock. It felt strange knowing she was walking above what was essentially a small sun that was feeding the two wormhole creators above her.

  “Hope they’re on time, this time” said the young lieutenant.

  “Who is on time” asked Heera.

  He was about to reply when the landing gates opened again. When she had arrived just a few minutes prior, she was too flustered and confused to observe around her. But this time she opened her eyes wide to absorb the beauty of space.

  None of the medical team had been to outer space except for Heera when she had gone on a school trip to the moon when she was thirteen. But even she looked in awe at Earth, the most bountiful planet in the Yinhexi and the one that had given birth to the most advanced civilization. Just to think, we nearly destroyed it five hundred years ago.

  Just then, there was a bright flash of green. The lieutenant who was guiding them suddenly stopped and pointed his finger to where the light was coming from. Everyone looked out of the window and when the light subsided, there emerged a large hole with green edges, easily the size of a small country. The interior of the hole was a swirling black whirlpool. And out of it, three large army transport vessels emerged at light speed, taking the new onlookers by surprise. This was the first time Heera had witnessed a wormhole.

  “Those are your rides” said the lieutenant.

  Chapter 7: A New Force

  ‘Fireworks of blue, red, white and gold

  Light up the dark canvas for us to behold

  A million bright jewels dance on the ground

  In the excitement I run and I bound

  My brother is still and so I ask him the matter

  Only by touch I find he’s a cadaver’

  – Unknown Ewani Soldier

  There was no time to organize an effective defence, especially one that could cover the entire surface. The attack came much sooner than anticipated and in a completely unexpected pattern. Planetary invasion usually started with bombardment from outer space followed by attack aircraft taking out targets with precision. Boots arrived on the terrain last.

  But with this attack, the first thing that arrived from orbit was not missiles or bolts of laser but infantry-carrying capsules. Defending forces were relieved and sent in aircraft to bomb the areas where the enemy was thought to have landed. But they returned with reports that though the empty pods were found, the enemy could not be spotted, even with thermal targeting. This puzzled the command immensely since they had seen the capsules shooting down in the thousands. Even with the number of capsules shot down, this put even conservative estimates of at least ten thousand enemy troops on the surface but the real figure was probably closer to fifteen thousand. Surface monitors could not detect any movement or thermal signatures, either.

  The defence currently boasted about fifty thousand marines and soldiers with an additional five thousand alien forces. Security droids and drones also numbered in the thousands despite their limited effectiveness in combat. Surely the enemy couldn’t think that they could carry out a complete planetary invasion with just infantry? Where were their attack aircraft?

  Thirty four hours had passed since they lost contact with orbit and Janpu had revolved one complete turn but there was still no sign of any attack. Terry was with his unit guarding one of the vantage points and monitoring the horizon. He wasn’t afraid, merely perplexed. It didn’t matter whether the enemy was Chinese or Orthodox, he was confident that he could have them running for their lives.

  Then he wondered if the enemy was Pacific. There existed an unspoken pact between the two alliances and they supported each other whenever one of them engaged in war with any of the other empires. But the Pacific Federation was a godless, atheist bunch. There could never be an official alliance with them unless they embraced the One God. He had learned that when North America had frozen over in the twenty third century, a side effect of the change in climate that humans had instigated, the Pacific, then a small g
roup of not even ten countries, had taken over the western third of the continent. That vast land that they had stolen was rightfully the Atlantic’s.

  The Pacific, despite their godlessness, was powerful in its own right. Although it couldn’t withstand a full-scale war with either the Chinese or the Atlantic, the other empires depended on it for the technology it possessed. When the world froze over, it was the Pacific scientists and engineers who made atmosphere manipulators that could maintain atmospheric component levels constant. Fusion technology, though first invented in China, was perfected in the Pacific. And their leadership in biology was frightening. If only they could be turned, their technological prowess would greatly benefit the Cause.

  If they could be turned, perhaps his first love would have made a good wife. Strong both in character and will, she was the perfect physical specimen. Her occasional fits of emotion had sometimes frightened him, especially when he had given his opinions on religion and women. Her firm yet logical way of speaking had almost convinced him. Her gentle touch and tenderness had almost seduced him. She would have borne him fine children and raised them to be strong. He suddenly wondered why his mind had drifted to her after all these years, especially with an imminent attack. Perhaps it was time to find a mate.

  Surface communications had been set up again but this time with radio waves. Though sound quality suffered as a result, radio was still used for emergency backup due to its reliability. He heard a crackle from his earpiece inside his helmet.

  “All units, standby. A recon unit is exiting defence position towards the west.”

  A company of two hundred and fifty soldiers soon passed by their position to the west. Terry recognized the shoulder emblem of the company commander, a captain of German descent named Hans Steiner. Though he couldn’t see their expressions through their helmet visors, he could sense an air of grim determination. ‘The finest in the universe’ Terry thought to himself. As soon as they were outside the defence area, the entire company lurched forward with their amplifier suits and was out of sight within minutes.

  The first report from the recon company sounded in his ear half an hour later. “Five clicks from zero position. Still no sign of the enemy” said the familiar thick German-accented voice of Steiner. There was no more communication for another forty-five minutes. “Still no sign. We have found some of the landing pods but they are all empty” said the company commander once more.

  Terry knew his first duty was to his platoon, but he had a suspicious feeling about this. He decided to put his platoon sergeant in command and go to observe the company mobile command unit. Perhaps the footage sent back from the recon company would tell him something.

  There were six other officers observing the holographs on the MC unit. A dozen white, round landing pods were lying hollow in the sandy yellow soil, creating slight craters. But there was no sign of the enemy. “Air component levels consistent with surroundings. No evidence of biological or chemical attack” said one of the soldiers in the footage.

  Suddenly, a tremble was audible even through the projector. “We see some movement on our sensors but there is still no visual or thermal sighting. Request drone assistance” said Steiner.

  In a few seconds, six hover-drones were seen shooting towards their direction and an order came from Command.

  The MC unit footage flipped to show holographs fed from the hover-drones. Soon, a view of the reconnaissance unit was shown. The other hover-drones passed the company and moved further afield but nothing seemed to be moving apart from it.

  “Recon unit, aerial view shows no sign of any movement. Check your movement sensors for any malfunction” came a voice from Command.

  “Affirmative. All three sensors are picking up movement half a click east of our current position and getting closer. But we cannot seem to be able to distinguish any individual movement. It appears as a giant moving blob.”

  Terry suddenly realized what was happening. Before anyone could stop him, he turned on his microphone and yelled “Infra-red sensors! Put the hover-drones on Infra-red sensors. They’re underground!”

  His company commander and other officers looked at him in alarm. But Command heeded his advice and suddenly the images fed from the hover drones changed. The Infra-red rays were strong enough to penetrate deep underground and what they revealed was shocking. Thousands upon thousands of enemy troops were tunnelling underground towards their position. Terry switched the view to show what all six hover-drones were showing.

  “Sir, we need to get them out of there! They’re surrounded!” Shouted Terry.

  “Recon unit, your sensors have been tracking underground tremors due to enemy tunnelling. Footage shows that you are about to be completely surrounded. Amplifiers on full power, return to defence position.”

  Suddenly one of the hover-drones’ footage gave way to static. And then another one.

  “Be advised, the enemy is using orbital lasers to take out the drones. We will lose view of you in seconds.”

  Now there were only two left and one of them showed the recon unit glide along at full speed. But the other one showed the tunnelling enemy closing in on their position fast. Command was obviously dumbfounded and no warning or orders were further given. Another drone was taken out and only the one fixed on the recon unit was remaining. Right before it was taken out, it showed suddenly hundreds of aliens emerging from the ground in front of the escaping unit.

  “They’re in front of us! Hundreds of them!” and the view disappeared.

  Pulse rifle fire was heard as well as cursing. The strange rumbling vocal sound of these unknown aliens was also audible. When Terry flipped the MC unit channel, the footage showed what seemed to be the hind-legs of an animal for a split second before it disappeared into the ground. The perspective of image didn’t budge, probably indicating that the soldiers upon whose helmet was mounted the visor-camera was dead.

  The emergency alarm started sounding and orders were suddenly barked from command to all of the defending force.

  “Missiles from orbit have been launched. All soldiers and marines are to find cover immediately. Repeat, the enemy has taken control of our orbital defences and has turned them against us. All personnel are to take cover from imminent orbital attacks.”

  Aerial shock shields were inflated to minimize the impact from missile attacks but they were launched too late too few. Chaos was everywhere as missiles and red bolts of laser landed. He knew he had to get back to his platoon and guide his men to safety. Terry saw one of the bunkers designed to withstand anything but a direct hit and made a mental note where to bring his men. But right in front of his eyes, a missile landed directly on it, turning it into blue flames. The shock wave from the explosion threw him several feet before impacting the ground at high velocity.

  He lay on the ground, dazed. He knew he was hurt, despite his inflated armour. The world was blurred and noise came to him as blunt murmurs. The visor had protected his face but had cracked in the process, impairing his view. He rolled on his stomach and managed to pull off his helmet. The loud explosions and cries that had been muffled by his helmet made his eardrums suffer. He looked at his shoulder and saw that the armour had been blown off, revealing his bleeding shoulder. He had to get to his unit. Grinding his teeth, he got up and picked up his pulse rifle. He didn’t know where he was running towards but he somehow felt that it was the right direction.

  All of a sudden the bombardment stopped. He knew that was not a good thing, since bombing from artillery or aircraft only ceased when enemy infantry was close at hand. Thirty feet from where he stood, the ground suddenly gave way and a large alien appeared from the hole with its back toward him. It was about two meters tall and roughly humanoid. Its large, hunched back gave the impression of a large cockroach. He could not tell whether the tough, leathery exterior was armour or the alien’s natural skin. In its two hands it brandished a large pulse rifle.

  Terry lifted his rifle and shot the creature in the back. It cried in pai
n and swivelled around. He noticed that the pulse had penetrated through the back but not exited from the alien’s armoured belly. Before it could lift its weapon, Terry fired again and again, this time aiming at the alien’s murderous head. To his shock, however, the alien dodged! He couldn’t imagine an alien fast enough to dodge a pulse. It had managed to dodge two shots, the third just grazing the side of its head. With a shriek, the alien jumped about ten feet into the air, about to pounce on him. But when it was in mid-air, a pulse was shot from behind. By the time it had landed on top of Terry, its head had a large hole in it.

  Just about managing to get the alien off him, he stood up and tried to see who had saved his life in all the confusion. He saw that it was a Ewani warrior, though he couldn’t make out whether he knew him due to the fires burning behind him. He ran towards the Ewani since he knew how reliable they were in combat. But just ten paces before he could reach him, another alien emerged right in front of the Ewani and grabbed two of his four arms. With minimal effort, the alien pulled out the two arms from their sockets with the Ewani making a high-pitched sound of agony. Terry looked in horror as the alien now grabbed the Ewani’s head and also pulled it out with a slither of nerves and muscle following.

  In a rage, Terry put his weapon on full automatic and fired constantly at the alien. As before, the alien skilfully dodged, occasionally firing back with its rifle. One shot blew off his other shoulder armour and the shock had him fall to the ground. He rolled around, trying to dodge the other shots and came to the dead Ewani’s severed arm. To his horror, he realized it had eight markings on it. Tureog.

  The alien had pounced again and landed right on top of Terry and with a kick it knocked his weapon from his hand. He looked at the alien’s face. It looked surprisingly human but the slit that perhaps served the same function as the human nose was high up between its eyes. The head was naturally armoured with thick, leathery skin and the eyes were small yellow slits. The mouth seemed to be the only soft, unarmoured part of the face, looking much like a human’s.