Escape to Earth-Fighting for Space Read online

  “Too much, too fast. Someone is going to fill this vacuum.”

  “Let us hope it is someone with wisdom.”

  “If these helicopters are any indication, it doesn’t look good.”

  “Are you willing to destroy them?”

  “Are you?”

  “Defense of the Island is one of my main priorities. I will stop their intrusion if forced to do so.”

  “I’m glad Jinks is in command, I don’t like having to make that decision.”

  “And if he refuses to make it?”

  Julie shook her head, “I’ll discuss that with John when he arrives.”

  “Perhaps that is why Lukas chose you and John to be there with him.”

  “What are you saying, Jenny?”

  “You may just have to make the decision if he won’t.”

  “I pray it doesn’t come to that.”

  “Get in line.”

  • • •

  “General, all units have been topped off in fuel.”

  “Is St. Thomas ready to refuel the fleet?”

  “They are.”

  “Have all of the helicopters we’re using been fitted with external fuel tanks?”

  “They have, Sir. That requirement eliminated a high number of Apaches from this operation.”

  “We have enough with what we’re taking.”

  “The transports are fine, it’s the Longbows that will have to conserve fuel. If they’re forced to drop their external fuel tanks due to combat, they’ll be hard pushed to make it back to St. Thomas.”

  “I don’t expect there to be combat. Issue orders that no ship will drop their tanks without direct approval from me.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  “We’ll lift at 0600 hours in the morning. Tell all the crews that we’ll stay on St. Thomas overnight tomorrow before launching the next day. Make them get some rest.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  • • •

  “Gunny.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I understand that we’re going to Barbados to take the island from the ones that fought off the spaceships.”

  “Where did you hear that, Private?”

  “Probably the same place you did. Why are we doing that?”

  Gunny stared at the Seals, Rangers, and Special Ops soldiers in the cramped transports bay and shook his head, “I don’t know.”

  A Green Beret who was leaning back with his helmet over his eyes said without lifting it, “It’s obvious; the General wants the ships they used.”

  Gunny looked at the Green Beret Sargent and the Private said, “Is that true, Gunny?”

  The Green Beret lifted his helmet, “Those ships are the most powerful weapons on the planet. He intends to take them to the states and set up shop to take on all comers.”

  Gunny said, “That’s enough, Sergeant.”

  “Is telling the truth no longer allowed among us? You should have told me.” The Green Beret pulled his helmet down over his face and stretched his feet out.

  A Ranger looked at Gunny, “Didn’t you serve with Jekins?”

  “I did.”

  “What’s he like?”

  “He was the finest officer I’ve ever known.”

  “Then why would he not voluntarily turn those ships over to his country?”

  “I suspect he doesn’t trust what they would be used for.”

  The Green Beret raised his helmet, “He still remembers the Mosul Twenty Five.”

  Gunny looked at the Green Beret, “How do you know about that?”

  “I was in the command center when he was ordered out. All of us were surprised he was told to stand down.”

  “We didn’t know what was going to happen to them.”

  “They did.” Gunny’s eyes narrowed immediately. “I overheard the CIA Spook talking with his handler. They had intelligence that the Tribal War Lord they were bribing to come over to our side was playing us. They decided it was worth doing it on the off chance the intelligence was wrong.”

  The Private listened to the conversation and said, “What did happen?”

  Gunny looked at the Private and remained silent. The Green Beret said, “The War Lord killed the men that went to meet with him after taking the money brought as a bribe. He then had all of the captives nailed to a wall after his men had their fun. More than a third of them were too young to be called women.”

  Gunny shook his head, “We were told the captives would not be harmed.”

  The Green Beret looked at Gunny, “I’ve always had a question about what happened after that.” Gunny looked at him. “I heard that Jekins took a week off after they were killed. That War Lord met an untimely death when a sniper hit him in his camp one night. It happened during the week Jekins took off. I’ve wondered where he took his time off.” Gunny continued to stare at the Sergeant and the Sergeant said, “Gunny is right, Jekins was one heck of a fine officer.”

  The soldiers in the transport looked at the Green Beret. A Seal Petty Officer said, “Then why didn’t he turn those ships over to us?”

  The Sergeant smiled, “I suspect he doesn’t want to see more innocent women and children killed to defend our national interests. Once was probably enough for him.”

  The Seal looked at Gunny, “Is what he said true?” Gunny nodded. “Will you fire on him?”

  Gunny looked at the Seal, “Do you think any of us have a chance against just one of those ships?”

  “Then why are we going?”

  The Green Beret smiled, “Why to use us as leverage. The good General thinks that Jekins won’t fire on his fellow brothers in arms.” He looked at Gunny, “But you and I know that he will do what he thinks is right, right Gunny?”

  “That he will.”

  Chapter Two

  “What are we going to do about the Johan possession of that planet?”

  The Welken Royal looked at his Myot counterpart and shook his head, “I’ve never really worried about the Johan or felt it necessary to locate their home world.”

  “None of us have; they don’t represent a danger to any member of the Fellowship with their ship technology and they usually ran before confrontation. It appears they were just waiting for the right moment to get an advantage.”

  “We should learn from this experience. There are at least a hundred members that have managed to hide their home world’s locations.”

  “Not very well. My fleets have found the Vrezus, Palgon, and Trengan.”

  The Welken nodded, “But not the Johan. We’ve also found six more of the hidden civilizations. We don’t have time to explore attacking them while the current situation exists. We’ve got to find the Johan Home World and take possession of it.”

  “My sources tell me that many members of the Fellowship are offering an alliance if the Johan will share the riches their new possession has.”

  “I’ve heard the same.” The Royal paused, “Do you think they’ll accept the offers?”

  “Probably not, would you?”

  The Welken Royal shrugged, “Long enough to remove them as a partner.”

  “The Johan know agreements are made to be broken and Allies are as fleeting as the next war.”

  The Welken stared at the Myot, “What if we included them in an agreement we would be forced to keep?”

  “That would make them equal to us. Are you remotely considering this?”

  “If they’re able to take advantage of that planet and start ship construction on it, they will be more than equal.”

  The Myot thought about that possibility and shrugged, “Let’s see if we can’t do this another way. I don’t want to bond to another species with no way out. We may find the location of their home world before we’re forced to do that. I abhor an unbreakable agreement.”

  The Welken smiled, “Does that include our current agreement to work together?”

  “Of course. Do you see it any other way?”

  “No, just checking to make sure you’re not cracking under the pressure. W
e will resolve our differences once this is handled.”

  “I’m looking forward to it.”

  • • •

  Jinks looked at the monitor and saw the view from orbit of two thousand helicopters flying over the Caribbean. Salud looked at it as she installed another disruptor module and said, “When are you going to confront them?”

  “Lukas suggested when they’re four hundred miles out.”

  “How are you going to make them stop moving this way? Your three Attack Pods can’t block all of them.”

  “All I have to do is block General Amerson; he’ll stop the others from leaving him behind.”

  “You really don’t like him. Why is that?”

  “He was the officer in Iraq that called me back from defending a group of captives.”

  “The Mosul Twenty Five.”

  Jinks looked at Salud, “How did you know about that?”

  “Once Willow came back, I had her check out your war records.”

  “Did Lukas order you to do that?”

  “No, I did it on my own. He trusts you.”

  “And you don’t?”

  “I know where you come from and the pressures that puts on a person. Lukas comes from a society where no one felt loyalty to anyone. That’s something new he’s had to learn.”

  “Salud, I will not allow our ships to fall into Amerson’s possession.”

  “Jinks, I ran that investigation before I got to know you. I’m not worried about you doing the right thing.”

  The corner of Jinks’ mouth went up, “That means a lot coming from you.” Salud nodded and went back to work. Jinks went out of the main building and saw his Attack Pod hovering six inches off the pavement, “How much longer?”

  “They will be four hundred miles away in another two hours and twenty three minutes.”

  “Notify Julie and John thirty minutes before we have to go. Tell Brandon he will take their place in orbit.”

  “They plan to arrive thirty minutes prior to our departure. Brandon is already on station.”

  Jinks nodded and went down to the beach to spend the remaining time watching the ocean. He did not look forward to what was coming.

  • • •

  “General, we’re two and a half hours out from Barbados.”

  “Have the Apaches go to live weapons.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  • • •

  “What’s the plan, Jinks?”

  “We’re going to move into high altitude and sweep across their formation at high speed.”

  “We’ll be trailing a sonic boom, Sir.”

  “That will make it hard for them to miss us, John.”

  “That it will.”

  The three Attack Pods lifted off the island and went vertical. They leveled off at fifty thousand feet and turned back toward the Caribbean far below. They came roaring in on the rear of the huge flight of helicopters, flew over them, and blew past their formation. The sonic boom following them rattled every helicopter in the sky and pilots started yelling over their radios, “MY RADAR DIDN’T PICK THEM UP!

  “SPREAD OUT, SPREAD OUT! WE’RE GOING TO START HITTING EACH OTHER THIS CLOSE TOGETHER!”

  Amerson’s gunship was shoved violently as the three Pods passed four hundred yards above him, “What the hell!” He regained control and saw three brightly glowing objects come to a stop and turn back toward his formations.

  • • •

  “Willow.”

  “Yes Jinks.”

  “Can you send a feed of my conversation to the satellites and to every news organization on the planet, as well as the communication frequencies the helicopters are using?”

  “Verbal feed is now being transmitted, visual from Brandon’s Pod is being overlapped with the verbal.”

  Jinks said, “You two stay beside me. Do not fire unless I order it.” Julie looked at John through her cockpit and saw him nod toward her. They were not going to allow them to attack the island even if Jinks chose not to stop them. Jinks flew up on General Amerson’s Longbow Apache so fast he pulled back on the collective and came to a halt. He yelled, “All ships maintain position on my location!”

  Jinks smiled, “You’re a long way from home aren’t you, General?”

  “We’re coming to claim what rightfully belongs to the United States.”

  “I believe you’re hallucinating. You’re moving your military aircraft into another country’s airspace. You have no right to do that.”

  “You’ve used United States citizens to build technology and that makes it belong to us.”

  “So the cars Americans are building in Europe belong to you as well?”

  “You’re not building cars.”

  “The principle still holds. The United States does not own everything built in the world if Americans work on them.”

  “They do if American Military builds them.”

  “Just who is American Military that you claim has built them.”

  “You and Stone are in the armed forces of the United States.”

  “Sorry, we left the service.”

  “I’ve had your commissions reinstated.”

  Jinks shook his head, “Are you sure about that?”

  “I am.”

  “Well, I have seniority over you and as such, I order you to take your force and return back to the U.S.”

  Amerson knew he had made a mistake. “Your reinstatement won’t take affect for another month.”

  “Then what we built here wasn’t done by military personnel and you still have no right to be here. Take your ships and turn around, General.”

  “I am going to take possession, Jekins!”

  Jinks paused and said, “And if you do, just what do you intend to do with them?”

  “Use them for what you should have done from the beginning, to defend the United States.”

  “What about the rest of the world?”

  “We’ll defend them as well.”

  “As long as the U.S. is covered first?”

  “That’s where they belong.”

  “What about the person that hired me? I believe he has ownership, not me.” Jinks paused, “General, who authorized you to make this incursion into Barbados sovereign territory. You do not have the authority to do that?”

  “The Government.”

  “As I understand it, there is no government at the moment and new elections won’t be completed for another six weeks. You’ve taken it upon yourself to do this without approval. It is my belief that you are attempting to take possession of the ships that have been built to defend the entire planet to impose your will upon other nations. I don’t believe the elite Warriors you brought here would be complicit with your ambitions. They are the best we have and won’t fight to put a dictator in charge.”

  “My country is in danger from longtime enemies and I will take them to defend us.”

  “No country is able to represent a danger to any one since the aliens removed all the major weapons of war. This is a personal play on your part to exercise world domination. These ships will not be used to help any country impose its will on anyone. Nor will they be used to exert force on any country. Their only purpose is to prevent mankind from being enslaved by advanced civilizations from outside our Solar System. They belong to the entire world; not just one country.”

  • • •

  “Sir, this conversation is being sent out worldwide.”

  “What?”

  “All of our aircraft are also receiving it.”

  Amerson knew Jekins had allowed him to talk himself into a trap. Amerson pressed his communications button, “All ships will go and take the island now!”

  • • •

  Gunny looked at the pilot of the transport, “Take the ship away from the others.”

  “Are you sure about this, Gunny.”

  “You heard them, we’re not authorized to be here. Even if we were, I’d be telling you the same thing.” Gunny’s transport was at the front of the formation and
every helicopter in the sky saw it break out of formation and move to the west.

  Amerson saw it leave and he yelled, “Shoot that traitor out of the sky!”

  Two Apaches broke toward the transport and Jinks armed his disruptors. The Attack Choppers moved up alongside the huge transport and took position next to it. One of the Apaches radioed, “We think you might need an escort. We will not take part in what the General is planning.”

  Immediately, there was a mass movement of helicopters out of formation to join the three that were moving west. Amerson screamed over his radio, “ALL OF YOU WILL BE SHOT FOR TREASON!!”

  One voice was heard over the frequency, “General, if anyone ends up in front of a firing squad, it’ll be you.”

  Amerson used his targeting helmet and opened fire with his machine guns and hell fire missiles at the center Pod. The rounds and missiles hit the Pod dead center and a massive explosion hid all their hovering warships. Wind blew the smoke away and the three Pods remained glowing in front of the Apache Gunship. Amerson screamed and flew at full speed toward the center Pod. It hit, exploded, and fell in huge pieces toward the ocean below.

  “Sir, we’re going back home.”

  “Gunny, is that you?”

  “Yes Sir. I’m sorry about this. We were kept in the dark about what was going on. We should have questioned on what authority he was making this trip.”

  “Would all of you consider another option?”

  “What is that, Sir?”

  “We need pilots. The aliens that attacked will be coming back and we need warriors who are willing to defend all mankind against them. Will you join us?”

  “I can’t speak for everyone, but I will.”

  A voice came over the channel, “I’ve taken an oath to defend the United States.”

  Jinks knew that was the linchpin that would make these fine warriors refuse to take part. “I don’t know who said that but let me ask you a question.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “If you’re fighting for all of mankind, are you not defending the United States as well?”

  “I…uhhhh…I guess so. But I’m a member of the U.S. armed forces.”

  “If the aliens win, there won’t be any armed forces or United States. If during your efforts to defend Earth, the United States comes under attack from another country, we will take you home to defend it.”