open. That was the cue for Santana and his platoon to exit the transport and take up defensive positions all around. It quickly became clear that Lieutenant Bushnell knew what he was doing. That gave Santana time to examine his surroundings.
The first thing he noticed was that the assault boat was sitting on a rise near the center of the vast wreckage-strewn crater that had been Los Angeles. The ship was surrounded by a company of ragged resistance fighters. They were dressed in whatever bits and pieces of military gear they had been able to pull together, and all of them were facing outward. Just as they should be in order to defend the Queen.
To the west, beyond the resistance fighters, the blackened remains of what had once been a sizable starship could be seen. “You’re looking at the Hive Defender,” a male voice said. “It was at the center of a large base. We went after it, and the bugs drove us off, but only after we inflicted a lot of damage. In spite of repeated attempts, they haven’t been able to reconstitute what they had. My name’s Foley. Commander Foley. And I’m guessing that you’re Major Santana.”
The naval officer was so lean that he looked more like an animated skeleton than a man. And although his voice was friendly, his eyes were like dark pools. It was a look Santana had seen before, both on the battlefield and in hospitals later on. Foley had seen too much, made too many life-and-death decisions, and would never be the same again. “Yes,” Santana replied. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. And congratulations on your victory. Taking that ship down is an amazing accomplishment.”
“It cost a lot of lives,” Foley said bleakly. “But the Hive Defender will provide the perfect backdrop for the Queen’s speech. The wreckage will send a message to humans and Ramanthians alike.”
The Queen and her party were filing out of the ship by then and being herded into position by an overly officious Public Relations (PR) officer. Danny Occuro was present as well. Three airborne vid cams bobbed around him. “Speaking of the Ramanthians,” Santana said, “where are they?”
“About five miles away,” Foley answered casually. “We spent the last two days clearing the landing zone, and I lost five people doing it.”
“So when will they counterattack?”
Foley shrugged. “Who knows? Our efforts to employ biological warfare against them have been very successful. So there are a lot less of them than there used to be. If we’re lucky, they won’t respond until the Queen is back in orbit. And the fact that we have a significant amount of air cover should slow them down.”
As if to illustrate Foley’s point, there was a loud roar as three Daggers passed overhead. They fired rockets at an unseen target, and smoke billowed up into the sky. That was when Vanderveen arrived on the scene. “Commander Foley? I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Christine Vanderveen.”
Foley looked surprised as he shook her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am. Your mother was a very extraordinary woman. And a brave one. I was telling the major how successful our biological warfare campaign has been. That’s thanks to Margaret and the team she assembled. The Confederacy owes her a deep debt of gratitude.”
Vanderveen was about to reply when the PR officer began to bellow instructions over his megaphone, and the diplomat was forced to rejoin the Queen’s party. The message had been agreed to in advance, but it was her job to make sure that the royal stuck to it.
As Foley issued orders to his troops via a handheld radio, Santana made the rounds and was pleased to see that all of the T-2s and their riders were properly placed. And thanks to the open area all around, the enemy would have very little cover if they tried to attack over the ground. Having assured himself that everything was as it should be, he paused to listen as the broadcast began.
“I am standing on the planet Earth,” the Queen said, “at the center of what was the city of Los Angeles. A battle was fought here in the recent past. It was a symbolic battle in the sense that while our brave troops won, the human resistance fighters did a great deal of damage to our base, and we’ve been unable to rebuild it.
“Why is that?” the Queen demanded, as her dark eyes stared into the camera. “It’s because the pretender who sits on the throne and the cabal who placed her there are incompetent and don’t know how to lead.
“Worse yet is the fact that thousands of the troops serving on Earth are suffering from a life-threatening and highly communicable disease. That means they are essentially trapped here since the cabal is afraid to bring them home, where they could infect the general population. You didn’t know that, did you? Well, there are a great many things the cabal wants to hide from you, including the fact that I am still alive.”
That was when a transmission came in over Santana’s headset. “This is Blue Leader… There is a Ramanthian combat assault platform (CAP) coming your way. It was submerged off Malibu and surfaced about a minute ago. It’s huge. Over.”
Santana swore. The warships orbiting high above were supposed to protect the ground party from that sort of surprise-but they had no way to see down through the water. Nor had he been aware that the enemy CAPs were capable of submerging themselves. It made sense, though, since they were probably designed to function on water worlds when necessary. “Roger that… Slow it down if you can. We’ll wrap up and pull out as quickly as we can. Over.”
Santana heard two click s by way of a reply and turned to Foley, who was standing a few feet away. “Tell your people to stand by. A CAP is headed our way. And we won’t be able to stop it. Not without firing on it from space. And that could result in a lot of collateral damage.”
Foley’s eyebrows rose slightly, but that was all. “Where was it?”
“Underwater. Off Malibu.”
Foley shook his head in amazement. “So that’s where they hid it. Every night they brought the blasted thing out and attacked anything that had a heat signature. Then, come dawn, it disappeared. Now we know.”
“Yeah,” Santana said, “I guess we do. The Daggers will attempt to delay it. I’ll notify the PR officer. We’re pulling out.”
“Sounds good,” Foley replied casually. “You do that.”
The Queen was still talking as Santana approached Vanderveen. She was standing next to the PR officer and Bushnell. “Tell the Queen that it’s time to leave. What amounts to a flying fortress will arrive here in a few minutes.”
Vanderveen looked worried. “I’ll pass the message through Chancellor Ubatha.”
“But the Queen hasn’t finished yet!” the PR officer objected. He had a red face, a carefully trimmed mustache, and a very nonmilitary paunch.
“She’ll get killed if we don’t pull her out of here,” Santana countered. “Tell her. I want everyone on the assault boat two minutes from now. Lieutenant Bushnell, please prepare to withdraw.”
“Look at that!” Bushnell said, and pointed toward the northwest. The combat assault platform was the size of a skyscraper turned on its side. It was heavily armed and could launch aerospace fighters, which were already climbing up to do battle with the Daggers. Something about the fact that the monster was only two hundred feet off the ground and traveling at a mere twenty miles per hour made the ship all the more frightening. There was a flash of light and a loud report as one of its main batteries fired. What sounded like a freight train roared overhead. Half a second later, the ground shook as a column of soil shot up into the air a thousand yards east of the boat. Fortunately, Vanderveen, Ubatha, and the Queen were halfway up the ramp by then. And the assault boat’s engines were beginning to spool up.
It was then, as the air surrounding the Ramanthian vessel shimmered and electrical discharges crackled all around the ship, that something completely unexpected occurred. Carefully camouflaged missiles produced what sounded like a combined roar as they shot almost straight up, struck the assault platform in quick succession, and exploded.
The combined impacts proved to be too much for the ship’s defensive screens, and at least one of them was able to punch a hole in the CAP’s belly. The resulting explosion was not only deafening but produced a shock wave that could be felt miles away. The ship’s stern hit the ground first, soon followed by the bow, which crushed what was left of a hotel. A cloud of dust billowed up to conceal the vessel’s final death throes.
It took Santana a moment to absorb what had taken place and figure out why. That was when he turned to Foley. The resistance leader had a big grin on his face. “Nice, huh? The bugs never knew what hit them.”
“Why you rotten bastard,” Santana replied. “You knew where the CAP was hiding all along! And you used both the Queen and the rest of us as bait.”
The grin vanished from Foley’s face. “Welcome to my world, Major.. Or what’s left of it. And give this message to the Queen. If she ever puts a foot on this planet again, I will personally blow her fucking head off.”
