Extinction (Extraterrestrial Empire Book 1) Read online

  Ace was worried that one of the two aliens might double back, and something about Tucker bothered Ace more than the aliens. Something real bad was happening on the crazy side, Ace was sure of that. “I have to admit, Kiya, either you got some great tactical understanding or you really can read my mind.”

  Kiya laughed. “I can do both, and I think you’re right. Ivan and Jimbo might need your help. I’ll get the scientists out and hook up at the rendezvous location. Be careful, and please trust your telepathic sense, Mr. Big Gun. You have something special that I don’t think you understand.”

  Ace nodded. “Just get going, we don’t have much time. And if Dr. Mitchell does anything stupid, knock him out, tie him up, and leave him here.”

  “Wha—” said Dr. Mitchell before getting cut off.

  “Get outta here now, Doc, or I’ll tie you up myself.”

  Dr. Mitchell closed his mouth and stood quietly. Ace saluted the team and did a rapid jog toward the action. He had to catch up with his teammates. Something told him things were real bad on the crazy side of the base and that the team would need him.

  ***

  The USS Aurora made a U-turn and headed back to Kabbalah. The explosion of the alien mother ship convinced Captain Karr that whatever was on that base had to be contained. His orders were to try and get the healthy scientists out, but if that failed, he was authorized to take out the base with a thermonuclear weapon. It was considered overkill by some members of Earth Command, but the report on the research said that the virus was more than deadly—it was a species killer. Now he knew why.

  Had mankind gotten in over their heads? There was a balance between knowledge and the proper use of that knowledge. The expansion into the Galaxy was like entering a jungle. It was both exciting and filled with deadly animals. The contact with the EBE-C3s was a game changer. Those aliens completely wiped out human bases in the Zeta sector. The communication was simple: “Leave our territory immediately and unconditionally or we will take it back by force.”

  Earth Command had decided to test what they thought was a bluff, and that was a big mistake. Instead of just taking back the outermost colony at New Europa, the aliens took back all six colonies—and did it with within twenty-four Earth hours. Then came other nearby, colonized planets, one by one, until they’d wiped out a quarter of the Earthly inhabited worlds. No communication, just extermination of human colonies. Fortunately, Earth was on the other side of the Galaxy, as were the remaining ten colonies.

  The smaller, friendly Greys said the EBE-C3s had decided to take out the human race anywhere they found them. But the discussion with the alien mother ship threw new light onto the situation. Maybe it was true that the aliens were fighting for planets they needed for their growth. What would mankind do if someone came and took away all the children’s cribs? What would mankind do if some alien came and gassed Earth with ammonia and chlorine gas? People would consider the gassing aliens a sinister threat. How could nuclear bombs destroy some kind of dimensional home? Was that true?

  And maybe the warning of Galactic destruction was just a ploy. Boy, what a ploy, thought Karr. They blew up their whole damn ship in the ploy. Could he take the risk? That thought ran through Karr’s mind as the ship came back around the orbit of Kabbalah.

  “Captain, we’re approaching Kabbalah. Your orders, sir?” asked the helmsman, Lt. Jones.

  “Helmsman, get us in a seventy-five kilometer geosynchronous orbit around GEN-6.”

  “Aye-aye, Captain.”

  “Sir,” said Lieutenant Bratman from the weapons station. “I see some kind of energy fluctuation near the south side of the base. It’s a high intensity energy stream. I suggest we bring up the shields.”

  “Get them up,” ordered Captain Karr. He looked out of the main view monitor; a bright flash blanketed the screen. The ship shook and a lightning-like sound ricocheted in the command section. Lights dimmed and a backup generator turned on.

  “What the hell was that?” asked Karr, looking at his command console.

  “GEN-6 hit us with some kind of particle beam weapon. Our shields are failing. We can’t take too many more.”

  “Ensign, get us the hell out of here now. Move away from GEN-6, full speed.”

  The USS Aurora turned sharply, but as it did so, the engines were fully exposed. Another blast hit the ship, and this time there were fire alarms ringing.

  The fire control on duty spoke though the CG-One intercom: “Fire unit four, go to engineering and put out a plasma gas leak and fires, unit two close up the training room, seal off sections H 4,5,6 and sector G4.” The damage control operator spoke coolly but fast. Multiple sections of the Aurora required immediate attention.

  “How are the shields holding?” asked Karr.

  “Down to 20 percent, sir. One more hit and we’ll have a structural breach.”

  “Launch a halo nuke. Intercept position from last particle beam and southern side of GEN-6. Now!”

  “Launching the halo, sir!”

  The nuke thundered to its designated target area between the USS Aurora and the GEN-6 particle weapon. Once ignited, the nuclear explosion would provide a temporary shield against another particle beam shot. It would also blind any ground-based sensors for a good five minutes. In the distance, the nuke exploded.

  “Detonated, sir,” said Jones.

  “Drop to vector Z4, X7 now!” ordered Karr. The ship continued to move away and dropped like a rock using the planet’s gravitational field to assist with the dive. There wasn’t time to do a wormhole; they’d be long dead by the time that field could be built.

  Where the hell did a particle weapon of that power come from? Karr watched as the particle beam shot through empty, black space. It completely missed the Aurora. Thank God! Karr’s last-minute strategy had worked. He’d studied this kind of maneuver but had hoped he’d never need it.

  “Captain, I think the halo worked. We should be out of range.”

  “Thanks, Jones. Great job.”

  A call from engineering rang on the captain’s desk. Karr clicked on the comm. “What’s up, Sparky? We okay down there?”

  “Not exactly, sir. That last blast ripped a nasty hole in our plasma conductors. We’re gonna need to do some repair work if we ever expect to wormhole outta here. Gonna take some time, sir.”

  “How long?”

  “I’m not sure yet. Working around the clock, maybe a day or two.”

  “Get on it now, Sparky. Update me in an hour. Captain out.”

  No wormhole drive. Well, that wasn’t good. Who knew when another one of those alien Grey ships would pop up? It was almost time to send in the cruise missiles. This GEN-6 situation was getting out of hand. First, Karr would contact his number one. Maybe Ace could do the job.

  Karr looked over at his comm officer. “Commander Mulligan, patch me into the Alpha team. Get me Ace Archer.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  ***

  Ace did a fast jog through a long tunnel. It felt good being alone. It gave him time to think, and that was almost spiritual. Most people were too involved with relationships, marriage, and other social bullshit to be warriors. People worried too much about who to kill in battle and who not to kill. It made them soft, put them at risk … didn’t it?

  Ace thought back to Janice’s infection. Years back, while in the Black Woods Special Ops team, he might have considered putting a bullet in her. She was infected with a crazy virus, and taking her back to the infirmary put the whole team at risk. No one would have questioned a mercy bullet. Earth Command expected Ace to focus on the mission, and if that meant sacrificing someone … well, that was part of the job.

  But the Big Guns changed Ace. They never left anyone behind, regardless of the situation. And Janice … well, the time in getting her help only delayed the mission. He didn’t do it for personal reasons, although he did admit he couldn’t stand to see her rot away without trying. His energetic relationship didn’t make him “love” Janice. He did like her, though
.

  That Kiya, on the other hand, was a real smart and tough gal. Something told Ace that he would have some great sex with her if he got the chance. Despite that, something about Kiya told him he might be better off with whores in a Thailand go-go bar. Ace knew that Kiya might be capable of sucking him into something deeper than sex, and that was a place where Ace saw “Do Not Enter” signs. That would surely soften him up and affect his ability to do his job.

  As Ace passed the Comm Station, his personal ship transponder lit up. He was getting a call. It was the Aurora!

  Ace turned on his internal ear comm and listened in: “This is the USS Aurora calling Ace Archer, can you hear us?”

  “Yes, I can, and it’s good to have you guys back. We have a small situation that may require assistance.”

  “Gimme a second, I’m putting the captain on,” said Lt. Jones.

  “This is Captain Karr. We’ve got our own situation, Ace. Six hours ago, we were hit by some particle beam weapon located on the south side of GEN-6. I take it you’re not in control of that sector yet?”

  “No, sir. We’re working on it, though. Actually, I’m thinking of taking out this whole base via the reactor core. I want to trigger a nuclear explosion with a core breach. Half of this base is infected with the virus, and it seems our friends at BOT have half the local Nomads infected, too. The blast radius should be large enough to take out the problem. Oh, and we have two Grey EBE-C3s running loose, and it looks like our ‘friend’ Chip Tucker is trying to sneak out the virus to take it back to BOT.”

  “Jesus Christ, Ace, I can’t make this any clearer. I’m under strict orders and so are you. We can’t allow a breach of containment of this virus. We had an alien vessel self-destruct because they were infected. They think this goddamn virus is capable of taking Earth and the whole damn Galaxy out. I’m not sure I want to believe them, but they said we need to stop these viral aliens before they get loose. And after the particle beam shot they threw at us, I’m now in full agreement. The Aurora is under repair and we’re gonna be stuck here for maybe a day or two. I’m gonna send in the cruise missiles in one hour. You’ve got one hour to get the hell out of there. Save as many as you can. We gotta clear this mess up now.”

  Ace looked at his chronometer. He was supposed to meet up with the team in forty-five minutes. Then C4 would go off in another hour. “Captain, we need more time to get out. I’ve got our explosives detonating in an hour forty-five minutes. Can you give us another forty-five minutes?”

  “Ace, I’d send in the Marines, but I don’t want to risk any more men. I’ll give you another forty-five minutes, but that’s it. I’ll set the missiles with your chron, but I can’t give you any more time than that. You gotta get the healthy scientists out. I’m assuming there are some healthy ones still alive?”

  “Yes, sir, there are. But I’m not sure for how long because—” Ace stopped and looked ahead. He saw people were coming. “Ah shit! The crazies are on the loose—I’ve gotta go, sir. I got some action up ahead. Archer out.”

  Captain Karr heard shots in background right before the comm line cut. Karr picked up a brimming hot JoJo that was brought to his command station by his CPO. He thanked the steward and sat quietly on the bridge, resting his tired head in his hands, thinking of his day. He’d almost self-destructed the ship, and now crazy, virus-infected scientists were shooting laser cannons. His ship now sat disabled in space, waiting for repairs. If another alien mother ship came and wanted a fight, he’d be dead in the water.

  Somehow, he had to get GEN-6 sterilized and his ten thousand crew back safely to Earth Command. What the fuck was BOT thinking? If they expected Chip Tucker to take out the virus, there might be a BOT cruiser in the area. That variable concerned Karr as much as the particle weapon.

  Karr patched himself into engineering. “Sparky, how’s our situation?”

  “Sir, I have my team on the repairs, but without another plasma containment field generator, we’re screwed. We’re fabricating one, but it’s a lot of work. We’re lucky the ship didn’t blow up. I’m gonna need at least twenty-four hours to get it replaced.”

  “What about shields and weapons?”

  “We’ve got all thermo reactors online now and we’ve got magno propulsion, so we can fight and move around the planet and its moons. But not much more.”

  “Thanks, Sparky. Keep up the good work. Captain out.”

  “Weapons, I want you to launch five cruise missiles and put them into stealth mode with the cloaker. I want an orbit at max peripheral from GEN-6. Set launch sequence for impact at the chron time sent from Archer. Then add five minutes.”

  “Aye-aye, sir.”

  “Helm, I want you to plot a course behind moon K-1 and set up a telecom sat triad for communication and to scan for any other ships. I want us to land on the dark side and finish repairs.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I hope you got things under control, Ace, prayed Karr.

  The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage.

  —Thucydides quotes

  14

  _________

  Freedom is Never Free

  Ace heard laser shots hitting aluminum alloy beams which then sizzled like bacon frying on a pan. The shots came from the GEN-6 laboratory tunnels up ahead. It soon became clear someone was shooting at Ivan and Jimbo.

  The reactor was a high-energy, nuclear fusion design with a central core, control rods, and with two levels of radiation protection. Someone would have to get inside the two security sections to load up the explosives, but that was looking like a difficult project, because apparently a bunch of crazy scientists were firing at Ivan and Jimbo. They looked to be in a pretty bad situation.

  It’s a good thing I came to help— fuckin’ knew Murphy would rattle his ugly snake head. Wonder where they got those weapons, thought Ace, inspecting the delicate situation. How do I get Ivan and Jimbo out without blowing up the reactor in the process? Ace took cover behind a heavy structural beam about thirty feet away and evaluated his weaponry.

  ***

  Ivan smiled at Jimbo and patted Yogi on the head. “Good job, Yogi. You did good.”

  Jimbo wiped sweat from his forehead and rapidly changed a clip. He wanted to slap Ivan but held back. “You did good? What the fuck you so happy about? We should have scoped this out first. We got some major shit here. Get into the fuckin’ game, Ivan. We got about six shooters out there. I don’t see how the hell we’re gonna get these fuckers.”

  “We got eight shooters,” said Ivan, chewing on a cigar. He causally pulled out some flash grenades. “But we okay, Jimbo, don’t you worry. Yogi ask Ace to help. Ace gonna blow up the men.” Ivan pointed over at Ace, who was hiding behind a beam. Jimbo looked over and felt some relief.

  “Did you know he was coming?” asked Jimbo.

  “Yogi knew.”

  Jimbo huffed a curse in frustration but didn’t say anything else. He did some quick hand signals to Ace explaining the number of shooters and indicating that they were unharmed but in a poor location. He waited for Ace to respond.

  ***

  Ace understood Jimbo’s hand signals: situation AFU, or “all fucked up.” Comms jammed. There were three crazy shooters in the west tunnel and five or so in the south tunnel. Ivan and Jimbo were holed up at an intersection near both tunnels. The nuclear energy reactor was behind Jimbo and Ivan, and it was probably the only reason they were still alive. The shooters couldn’t use any heavy explosives or they’d blow the reactor wall and kill everyone on GEN-6, including themselves. Ivan and Jimbo were pigeonholed in a small enclave near the reactor—but if they left the location, they’d surely get their heads shot off. The crazies were probably gonna wait it out.

  Ace could take out any crazy brave enough to cross out into the main hallway, but that didn’t seem to be their plan. They seemed to be happy taking pot shots at Jimbo or Ivan as they peeked out of from the safety of their enclave. The crazies had the numbers and secure exits,
so they could change shifts and wait days if necessary.

  Ace used his high-vision ocular implants to check toward the entrance of the tunnels but didn’t see any action. According to Jimbo, the targets were around a small bend, in the two GEN-6 tunnels. He had to find a way to take out these shooters without fucking up the reactor.

  An idea erupted in Ace’s head. He pulled out his APRV grenade launcher and set some dials. Six skateboard-sized, ball-like wheels came out from an undercarriage. Ace locked in his visual sensors to the APRV and set the grenades to a level two mini-blast. That should be enough power to kill the crazies without having too much shrapnel ricochet off the metal walls. Don’t want to cut up Ivan or Big Jimbo. Once the device was set and loaded, Ace looked over to Ivan and gave the signal for him to throw some flash grenades ten seconds from his mark. That would give him a diversion.

  Ace gave the signal and counted seconds. Ten seconds … He carefully put the APRV on the ground. He tested the maneuverability; it drove smoothly on the flat concrete floor. Seven seconds … This drives just like the radio control Porsche dad bought from MRC, thought Ace, reminiscing about his childhood. Wish I had one of these when the asshole neighbor Jed burned our garage down.

  Ace recalled how Jed had smoked his custom dune buggy and motorcycle in that garage. Jed had been working on one of his own engines and, although the young Ace told him not to keep gas cans near the engine, Jed didn’t listen. At fifteen, no one really listened. But burning down that shed also took down a candy-apple red ‘69 classic Camaro that the old man had. It took Ace years to get the old man to stop talking about that accident. Getting him to forget about the destruction of the classic was impossible, but at least he stopped complaining about it.

  Four seconds … Would love to have taken the APRV to Jed’s yard and taken out a few of their items, like maybe their Weekend Warrior RV or their oversized, stupid-looking, above-ground swimming pool. Ace smiled at the idea of water gushing into his neighbor’s home. Ace quit those childhood thoughts and focused on the crazies who were now all Jed-like clones in Ace’s mind … two seconds … Ace started to drive the APRV. One second …. Flash! Bang! Ivan had thrown the flash grenades.