Shino grimaced, sniffing the barrel and straining her eyes, ‘That’s nasty…smells like Riaz after a red tinned ration…’
Tregan smiled again seeing Riaz grit his teeth, then indicated to the next doorway, the grin dropping from his face as he glimpsed the assembling platoons in lines, lowered rear grey doors before them, ‘We had better hurry…Captain Dugachard is waiting…they are boarding the dropships.’
Galactic Freedom Bridge
The robust admiral sat in his comfortable command chair, glancing across the screen in front of him, reports of unit movements filling the display as he smiled, adrenalin beginning to fill his frame as the other fleet ships began to move forward at increased speed, additional energy channelled into the cloaking devices. Turning the chair round, he looked over the semi-circle of ensigns behind, all tapping away furiously and studying power surges and output from the engines, his voice rising, ‘An update please and are all ships following their predetermined courses?’
The female lead ensign nodded, staring at the dark blue uniform before her, numerous decorations across the admiral’s chest, ‘Yes sir…we will emerge from behind the planet shortly, then increase velocity…’ She glanced down and then up again nervously, ‘The target Morgon warship is continuing in orbit and will be visible for our attack soon…the other ship will then have passed out of sight. Sensors indicate that most of their drop ships and fighters may now be within the earth’s atmosphere…that they may have just deployed their invasion troops to the surface…’ She swallowed in rising excitement, ‘We predict our trajectory is currently correct. The Fahimian ship is now visible to us and will commence operations soon…’
The admiral smiled grimly in satisfaction, ‘Good…are our first dropships away?’
The lead ensign glanced down, nodding, ‘Yes sir…the last of the initial wave are just leaving…’
The commander leant back in his chair, turning it slowly back towards his screen, ‘Very well…order the fleet to increase to pulse speed in readiness to clear the planet screen. I do not want earth’s forces to face the invasion troops of two Decimator warships alone…it will soon be time to show ourselves.’ He sighed with rising apprehension, ‘Our time is now! For the sake of our human allies!’
A junior ensign suddenly rose to his feet, his head shaking in horror as he stared downwards, ‘Admiral! Something has happened!’
The commander spun his chair back, the lead ensign staring disapprovingly at the trainee’s breach of protocol as the admiral rose to his feet slowly, his voice rising in demand, ‘What? What has happened?’
The young man was tapping his screen furiously, glancing up as his face flushed, ‘Admiral sir…the sensors on Mars report numerous surges from the planet’s surface…’ His eyes strained as he stared downwards, attempting to decipher the raw coded reports, ‘It seems missiles have just been launched from earth’s surface…targeting the Morgon warship we are due to attack.’ He swallowed hard, ‘Numerous missiles…hundreds…’ Then he looked up, staring at the admiral, ‘The humans have launched nuclear rockets!’
The admiral gritted his teeth, slumping back into his chair before stiffening, ‘It will serve our ends…distract the Morgons further.’ He shook his head, his mind running through a variety of scenarios before staring back at the senior ensign in determination, ‘Issue the suppression tablets and full masks to all marines…the Morgons will attempt to destroy most of the missiles inside the earth’s atmosphere…they have done that before. Put extra medical supplies and tablets into the dropships…we will have to send those in subsequent runs too. Have the medical bays increase production.’
The lead ensign nodded obediently, her tone strained in dread, ‘Sir, what of the first wave of dropships?’
The commander went silent, his hands grasping the armrests of his seat tightly, his eyes staring coldly at the subordinate, ‘It’s too late for them now…their fate is already in play.’
Galactic Freedom Dispersal Bay
Stood in a group of squad and platoon leaders, David Bland and the others were awaiting a full briefing, most staring out through the protective shield that glistened ahead of the angular grey dropships, stars and the darkness of space beyond. David glanced round, his eyes narrowing in suspicion as he saw maintenance crews begin to run from side doors, several carrying supply boxes and loading them hurriedly into the rear of dropships, the lights above in the second landing bay suddenly turning from low illumination to green and then to red.
Looking round further, he jumped as two platoons were loudly ordered to assist, a Trevakian officer of similar age to himself striding out between the lined platoons to approach their group, the male indicating for another two sections to help the running crews with the additional boxes.
David stepped forward to intercept the officer, the man turning swiftly with eyes narrowing, ‘Yes Lieutenant?’
David stiffened to attention, his fist rising to the right breastplate, ‘Sir…’ His eyes widened in nervousness, ‘Major…we are Yankee company…Zulu seems to be missing from the bay, sir! I don’t know where Captain Dugachard is.’
The major stared him coldly in the eyes, his expression mellowing slightly as he realised the soldier before him was human, indicating for David to step to the side with him, his voice lowering, ‘Lieutenant…Zulu company has already departed and we will very soon be increasing speed…’ The sudden loud whirring of mechanics and clunk of reinforced steel was almost deafening, the outer bay doors lowering slowly as the major raised his voice, David struggling to hear, ‘They have been assigned elsewhere Lieutenant…Captain Dugachard is now in sole command of Zulu company…I have been assigned the command of Yankee.’
David Bland
