Now the bug was angry. It spun and lunged at Rock, this time splayed except for his front legs, claws forward, aiming center of mass. Rock ported to the side, and reached out with the knife, slicing into one of those sensitive head feelers that also support small hands. Another eerie scream.
The bug opened its mandibles wide and started in slowly, with precise movement. I finally snapped out of it and was moving for my rifle.
Rock ported above the bug and dropped on his back, slamming the KA-BAR into its right eye all the way to the hilt. The bug dropped like a sack of stones.
The rest of the team came in at that point. We cleaned up the mess as best we could, then moved the last bomb to a hiding spot ... after I double checked the timer date. Para grabbed the bug, and we were out.
We still needed to capture two queen bugs and their ships. That could be complicated, with the added security near the throne rooms. Whatever the queens had been told, they were being cautious regarding their own skins, uhhh, exoskeletons. Whatever. In case it isn’t clear, that’s what the queens think about their ship, about their nest. The ship is their domain and they hold court in their throne room. Makes sense, I guess.
Really, it was a wonder they had still allowed the Friday night rampage and beer fest. Like I said, sloppy. Or maybe it was the only way to prevent a mutiny. Our team was tasked with the initial work of clearing the ships of obvious hostiles and capturing the two queens. The clearing operation was similar for both ships. After we were done, several other squads would then secure the ships.
We ported to the flier bay, cloaked, and began our attack run. No bugs were encountered on the way to the throne room. Two bugs posted, either side of the throne room entry, the typical double door set up. Okay, sorry, it’s a ship. Double hatch. We’re cloaked.
Knife thrust, precise, in and through the softer cervical tissue connecting the head to the thorax. Two bugs dead. The door is locked. Magnetic seal. Para grabs the handle to the door on the right, leg posted on the other door. Mr. T triggers the EMP device. Mighty heave at the hatch by Para. Heavy bracing snaps all along the seam. Alarm sounds. The EMP device auto-triggers a second time. The alarm shuts down.
Mr. T is on a knee firing 6.8 armor-piercing rounds at the guards on the right. I’m in prone position next to him, firing to the left side of the throne room. Two more bugs down.
Rock, Roll, and Para port to the queen. Para grabs the queen’s mandibles and pulls her head to the ground. Rock and Roll move to either side of the queen, watching for movement. No bugs moving. Mr. T and I rush in and clear the room as Rock and Roll cover us and keep an eye on the downed bugs. The room is clear. Scanner up. All bugs are dead except the queen.
The alarm starts up again. Irritating. I turn up the noise cancelling setting on my buds to ease the jangling sound. Hopefully, it is only a local alarm. The queen keeps reaching down to touch her knee, as though it itches. Para keeps batting the queen’s hand away. She could have a hidden weapon down there.
Muncle has run the perimeter of the room checking for secret hatches. Mr. T puts the heavy restraints on the queen, locking her hands and legs. Hopefully she didn’t have time to send a distress call. Mr. T does a quick and searing delve to make sure the alarm is local and no emergency calls were sent. He’s getting better at delving.
Rock ported to the main outer hatch and opened it from inside the ship. Two squads of special forces types moved in and fanned out within the ship. The comms expert moved in to make sure the ships communication system was down. One queen down and out. The second ship lockdown also went smoothly. The military expended a fortune in stealth cruise missiles and drones to destroy all the overwatch flies. Those streamed in just before 09:00 to secure the area for the returning beer-rage bugs.
The snatch and grab really was too easy. There were only five bugs on each of the two ships, including the nest queen. That seems odd. Maybe those ships were in areas chosen for a high culling rate; more humans to be sent to lockup; more bugs out gathering. We didn’t stick around, as regular army troops, with extensive Airforce backup, moved in to engage the bugs and any additional flies that would soon be returning to the captured nest ships.
At 09:00 sharp all of the other ships vaporized in a muted nuclear burst. It’s still September 7th. Bugs are punctual, so most of them had made it back to the ships. A lot of flies were close enough to flash off with the bomb blasts. Mission accomplished. But I still have mixed feelings. Enough with that. The important thing now, there are two queens to interrogate and two additional ships to study. The tech guys have some back-engineering to do. I’m sure our scientists will find many uses for that advanced technology. If they run into a wall while back-engineering, they’ll overcome.
Rock said it well. “Just knowing that something is possible can become a driving force. People are driven to push through the mysteries. They will look a little harder, work a little longer. Intuition goes into overdrive. The discoveries will open to us whole new technologies.”
The twins could port people and some types of equipment, smaller items, maybe to anywhere. But they couldn’t move the numbers needed to populate planets. Or fight a war. All of this technology heaped on us because of the invasion will be our ticket to the stars.
