Johnny pronounced, 'Now order the ranks, and fling wide the banners, for our souls are God's and our bodies the king's…'
Trevor turned to him and asked, 'New Testament?'
Johnny admitted, 'Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I’m expanding my repertoire.'
Nina tried to keep things on track. Her voice grew a little louder and a little shakier.
'Trevor, I know you’re upset about this but we don't have either the firepower or the numbers to combat the forces onboard that ship.'
'You said they will disembark troops,' Trevor repeated the knowledge of Geryon tactics Nina had imparted to him on the way in.
'Yes,' she agreed. 'They will dispatch Golems.'
'Controlled by the Battleship.'
Nina clarified, 'By soldiers hooked to virtual reality controls. We’ll need heavy weapons to knock out the Golems.'
Johnny told her, 'I fear Mister Stone is suggesting that you don’t need to knock out the Golems, as you say. You need to knock out that ship.'
Corporal Brewer watched the conversation with beads of sweat growing on his forehead despite the cold. His consternation burst and said loudly, 'They have air-to-air defenses on that Battleship that can knock anything out of the sky!'
Trevor walked over to Jon Brewer and stood before him, looking up at the taller man.
The discoloration remained from his broken nose but the Corporal refused to wear a bandage anymore. More important, his obstinate, bossy nature suffered an even deeper wound that day in the training center. Trevor hoped that that injury to this Jon Brewer's pride might allow something new to be born, as had happened on his Earth.
'Stop thinking about what we can't do and think about everything we can.'
The statement puzzled the Corporal. Or perhaps the way Trevor studied his face unnerved him.
Nina said, 'Even if we had a missile, they'd probably intercept it, but that doesn't matter because we don't have any surface-to-air missiles. So we can't take that ship down!'
He stared at Brewer but spoke to Nina, 'Look at how they are approaching. Think about what we need to get the job done. Then you'll realize we do have a missile. As for the ground forces, well, me and Corporal Brewer here are going to devise a means of frustrating them. We don't need to defeat them, just buy time.'
Corporal Brewer looked to his Major. She gaped back at him, equally dumbfounded.
'Do tell, Mister Stone,' Johnny asked almost playfully. 'How is it you plan to strike that vessel from the heavens?'
'Actually, I’m not going to do it. Major Forest here is.'
Her gasp was audible. She said, 'Okay, you have a plan. But what are we going to gain? Why the risk?'
Trevor alternated his eyes between her and Brewer as he said, 'I told you I expect victory. How long has it been since you've tasted that? It's worth the risk and it's why you brought me here.'
'WITHDRAW OR BE DESTROYED.'
'Let me show you-all of you-what we can do.'
– To Trevor's eyes, the Geryon Battleship resembled one very large zeppelin with two smaller, similar blimps bulging out to either side, giving it three nose cones, three tail fins, and room for a very wide carriage underneath.
At the rear of the 'center' dirigible rotated a large propeller that looked more like it belonged on a submarine or under a cruise ship than pushing along an aircraft. Indeed, it spun in a slow, lazy manner to the point that it could not be solely responsible for the ship's momentum.
Colored in a shade akin to rust, the Battleship sported sharp gray lightning icons in circles on both sides of the main fuselage.
A large but surprisingly nondescript undercarriage hung from the belly in the form of a large rectangle with one long, shaded windshield facing forward. However, through his binoculars Trevor spied lines dividing the carriage into parts, suggesting a modular nature.
Several small antennas and radio dishes protruded from various points along the hull. Gun emplacements projected from each of the four corners resembling miniature howitzers. No doubt part of the extensive air-defense network protecting the otherwise vulnerable gas giant. It seemed that knocking it down was a problem in regards to getting close enough to hit it.
Fixed to the bow was an innocuous-looking gadget resembling a cross between a cannon and a transmitter. Further inspection revealed a series of conduits flowing the length of the craft between this contraption and the engine assembly at the rear of the ship. According to Major Forest's account, this main gun could blast the mansion to pieces with one shot, but each of those shots consumed a great deal of power.
Their eyes-particularly Corporal Brewer's-had bulged when he informed that his plan depended on the Geryons using this main gun.
That plan began with Trevor and Corporal Brewer leading the bulk of the human soldiers to occupy a cluster of three buildings not far from the Skipper landing field: a large house, a cottage, and a boathouse. Taken together, they guarded the likely Geryon approaches to the estate both through the woods and along the road.
Major Nina Forest, Reverend Johnny, and two additional soldiers made their way to the Skippers, hurrying to get there before the enemy, which they did. They found hiding spots inside the large helicopter-like flyers.
'Let us hope,' Reverend Johnny remarked to the Major as they crunched in a dark corner of a wheel assembly, 'that our foe does not merely blast these vessels into smithereens.'
'They won’t. As long as there’s a chance to salvage these ships they’ll leave them intact. I mean, the Geryons may be in better shape than we are, but every resource is, like, precious here. You know?'
'Ah, yes, I understand. Currently, Major, I am worried about only one resource, my precious ass. Which is, yet again, in the hands of Trevor Stone.'
The Battleship floated three hundred feet above the southern side of the lake and hovered. Smaller propellers on the sides of the ship served as stabilizers.
Two rectangular sections of the undercarriage on the craft broke away-fell-to Earth on cables aiming for a patch of burned-flat woods. Big metal ‘legs’ spun from each corner of the landing barges as they dropped. The featureless blocks hit the ground hard but those big legs absorbed the impact, bouncing while the umbilical cord cables wobbled overhead, still attached to the mother ship.
As they stabilized, the front of each opened to form a big ramp. The Golems of the Steel Guard marched out into the sunshine.
These metallic machines stood ten feet tall on two legs with hydraulic muscles, part of a skeletal body colored scarlet red. Large bolts served as joints on the knees and elbows. Their faces were sharp, almost beak-like with two glowing yellow cameras serving as eyes.
Two arms ended in three thick clamps. Similar but wider designs comprised the ‘feet’. Tubes atop each arm suggested fire arms while other attachments of various design suggested additional means of dealing damage.
Twelve of the beasts marched out of the drop container followed by smaller, tracked machines resembling boxes on wheels-maybe covered mining cars-lined with chutes, tubes, and ports to aid them in re-supplying the remote-controlled Golems.
One final wave of attackers emerged from the container, a squad of ten living, breathing Geryon infantry. These humanoid aliens dressed in battle suits made of some kind of leather/metal mix. A tight-fitting helmet covered their heads with a strap supporting what resembled a ball gag but was, in fact, a communication mechanism.
Only slivers of skin could be glimpsed through slits and openings in their protective gear, revealing a pale, soft hide.
Each of the Geryon infantrymen wielded some kind of high-tech cross bow.
The Steel Guard marched out from under the shadow of their floating Battleship and advanced into the woodlands on a direct course for the field where the Skippers parked. As they did, the cords on the elevator barges grew taut, the doors closed, and both of the crate-like carriers retracted into place underneath the dirigible…
…Jon Brewer stood next to Trevor in the upper level of a home. He had just finished communicating with his squads. Everyone was in place.
