“Coming in off the ecliptic actually made their ships stand out like a sore thumb,” said Grandad. “They make mistakes. That’s a good thing.”
The U.S., Russia, and China took some shots at them when they slowed for orbital insertion and an approach for landing. Hypersonic missiles. Straight up and out rather than following a tighter Earthbound ballistic track. High yield thermonuclear explosions in space would make for good news vids. None of the space action made it to the public through any news outlets. Grandad found out the missile barrage destroyed one enemy ship. Destroying one ship out of so many would ring a dismal victory bell. But nuclear explosions in near-Earth space are hard to hide. The news got out.
Most of the enemy ships came in fast, landed hard, and dug in well. Their ships carry powerful weapons. Grandad called them directed energy weapons. A military laser is a directed energy weapon (DEW). Bugs have DEW systems on their ships that are much more powerful than any laser weapon system produced here on Earth. The bug soldiers carry a smaller version of those DEW laser systems, though they don’t seem to carry them at all times.
The bug ships also have rail guns. Grandad said they have “real” rail guns. I took that to mean their rail guns are better than the type we make here on Earth. They don’t seem to use missiles or artillery. So, their weapons are more line-of-sight. But they have a long range. If anything is caught in the sights of one of their rail guns, it is torn to pieces. They like to tear things to pieces.
Thank goodness they don’t have very many ships. There are something like 30 ships, spread all over the planet. That has limited their ability to attain complete military dominance. Individual ships seem to have a zone they are meant to control. They uproot and plant in more than one location. Always on the move. Then there are the single-seat fliers. They’re everywhere. And flier bugs don’t mind landing their machines, grouping up, and participating in all sorts of mayhem.
***
*COMMUNAL: A railgun uses electromagnetic force to launch a projectile at very high velocity. There are parallel conductors, rails, along which a sliding framework accelerates by the electromagnetic effect. Force, energy determination, and ballistics discussions can become rather involved. Perhaps we can state it like this. A sophisticated railgun can send a projectile downline at incredible velocity. That imparts a good deal of kinetic energy to the target.
Various military establishments on Earth have begun to utilize railgun technology. That is also the case with Directed Energy Weapon <DEW> technology. To date there has been only limited field deployment. That will change. This war will provoke the development of weapon systems on a scale never imagined. It’s going to get real kinetic out there.
***
SMOKE ON THE WATER
As I’m collecting my thoughts to do some Journal dictation, the Emergency Zone Tone is sounding. I’ve come to hate that sound even more than the Emergency Alert tone. The Zone Tone report will involve an area near where I live. There must be bug activity nearby.
“Grandad, you will want to watch this.”
“Are they showing a precise impacted area?”
“Tacoma, near the Narrows Bridge.”
There is live video of a group, a squad I suppose, of bugs running the wrong way down Highway 16. If they stay on course, they will cross over the Narrows from Tacoma into Gig Harbor. The authorities must be using traffic camera feeds for the footage. It looks like 10 or 12 bugs. There’s not any traffic that I can see, but they seem to be chasing something. Oh, there it is. A van. It’s not moving very fast and sparks are flying. A flat tire. Riding on the rim. That won’t last long. Dear Lord... It’s a daycare van. And. And I see little heads. It’s full of kids.
There are no daycare facilities in operation so it must be social services or something. Probably orphaned kids from a temporary facility forced to make a run for it. The police force is stretched so thin. They’ve taken the brunt of the local enemy attacks, along with the military from Lewis-McChord.
Grandad is back on his feet. “Rock, Roll, from what I understand, my truck loaded with kids would be too massive for you to teleport, is that correct? That’s what I thought. But I’ve had enough. Roll, you’re with me. We’ll take the Challenger. The rest follow on in the truck.”
So much for shelter in place. Let’s go save some kids, and kill some bugs. Para’s driving, trying to keep up with the SRT in Grandad’s truck. And trying to keep up is not easy. They are really moving. The SRT has a top end of over 175 miles an hour.
I saw Grandad grab his Street Sweeper from the corner along with some boxes of shells. One of those boxes is special. Dragons Breath. The Street Sweeper is an old shotgun from the 1990s. It’s a crazy thing with a 25-round detachable magazine. Semi-automatic.
He grabbed that, and at least one box of the heavy Dragons Breath shells. They basically turn a shotgun into a flamethrower. The shells shoot flaming magnesium pellets burning at more than 4,000 degrees. I remember that from one of Grandad’s munitions lessons. The box he grabbed contains the “big” shells. I don’t think you can buy those at a gun store. They have an effective range of almost 200 feet. There is already an assortment of rifles in the truck.
We’re going down an onramp to Highway 16 on the Gig Harbor side of the Narrows Bridge trying to catch up. Grandad must have the SRT floored. And, there’s my s-loop. It’s Grandad.
“Viz, synch to the truck Bluesky so everyone can hear. Who’s driving? Para? Okay, have Rock grab the .50 cal. Access through the canopy window. You might have to squeeze through to get it. He probably won’t fit. It’s in the back, large
