Falkirk watched as Valmont pointed the plane towards the tunnel entrance from which the plane first emerged. Deploying the tail-hook, Valmont cut the throttle at just the right second, the plane dropping perfectly into the tunnel. With an audible twang, the plane’s tail-hook caught, and was beginning to lower slowly down into the underground hangar, and on to the launch pad.
“Good job, Captain Valmont. I’m going to go check the troops.” Falkirk smiled, leaving the cockpit and heading back into the seating for the rest of the unit.
“Everyone on your feet. We’ve got to check in and find out what’s going on.” Falkirk said. The group unhooked themselves from their seats, preparing to debark the plane. As they began to walk down the ladder, Falkirk saw two figures approach the plane from the opposite side of the hangar.
“Captain Falkirk, we need to talk in private. Now.” Davis said, closing on the plane.
The two men walked to the opposite side of the hangar. Falkirk watched as Lieutenant Carlisle spoke with Captain Valmont and the others about their mission and what they had experienced. She was taking notes furiously on her palm computer.
“Captain, you know that I have the utmost respect for you, and I know that the President has determined that you’re the best man for the job. However, you can’t simply take off with your men without first apprising myself and the President of the situation. It’s quite possible that we could’ve mounted our own recovery operation instead of relying on the Egyptians. Your military action could have been viewed as a violation of Egyptian sovereignty.” Davis said sternly.
“I apologize, sir, I was acting on something that I did not believe could wait. In the future, I will make sure to apprise yourself and the President of future activities, however, you may both have to realize that with things as they are, some rules may have to be bent or broken. As long as we both respect each other, I think that we can get along decently.” Falkirk said, looking Davis up and down.
After a short pause, Davis nodded.
“Although I’m not used to having my authority delegated downwards, I believe that this situation is an exception. I know that you’re a good man, Captain, and that you would never do something that’s not in the best interests of your country.” Davis said, shaking Falkirk’s hand. Davis then spun on his heel and left the hangar.
Falkirk began helping the rest of the members of the unit and the technicians unload the bodies, except for Ericson’s. His request for a burial, as a Navy Seal, was to be buried at sea. Falkirk decided that he would have to take care of that later.
“So these are the aliens, hmm? Not as big of a threat as we thought.” Carlisle said, with hope in her voice.
“You should see it when there are thousands of them rushing at you. Trust me, I’m not exaggerating. Any important developments while we were gone?” Falkirk asked.
“We received a call from the Egyptian government about the UFO, they said that they are finishing cutting it up, and should have the pieces on a couple of planes within an hour. The foreign recruits also arrived while you were gone, from Germany and Israel. Also, we managed to dig up a few old prototype weapons while you were gone. We wouldn’t normally put them out into the field, what with reliability concerns, but you may find them useful.” Carlisle stated.
Falkirk ordered the remainder of the unit to aid the technicians in unloading the plane, while Falkirk and Valmont followed Carlisle out of the large launching room, and down several halls. Arriving at apparently the same conference room that they had met last time, Falkirk saw two women sitting at the head and the right side of the table. Falkirk took a seat, and Valmont followed suit.
“I’m Captain Falkirk, this is my executive officer, Captain Valmont. I assume that you’ve already been briefed on the alien situation, so instead of wasting time, I’d like to hear from both of you what kind of skills that you have that may help us.” Falkirk said.
“My name is Dana Heinrich. I work for the German government as a covert operative, what they called a “Black Knight”. Training in assassination, stealth, and, of course, combat. It’s good to be working with you, Captain.” Heinrich stated.
“And you?” Falkirk asked the other woman.
“Nissa Galil, from the Israeli Mossad. I specialize in electronic warfare, all sorts of things. Electronic locks, jamming transmissions, you name it, and if it works with electricity, I can figure it out. I also have been on several operations where shooting was involved, and I’ve proven myself every time.” Galil smiled.
“Excellent. Dana, Nissa, welcome to the team. We’re supposed to be headed to the weapons testing area right now, come on and follow us.” Falkirk said, rising from his seat.
The group of four proceeded to the weapons testing bay. On his way, Falkirk could see several scientists going over the alien corpses, performing hurried autopsies. Falkirk hoped that a way could be found to overcome their massive numbers. Falkirk stepped through the open door to the testing area, and two new weapons stood there that Falkirk had never seen the likes of before.
“Captain, good to see you. Have a look at this.” Carlisle said, handing Falkirk a gun that had a series of rings around the front of it, as opposed to a barrel.
“This looks interesting. What does it do?” Falkirk asked, dumbfounded.
“Well, it’s our prototype magnetic acceleration gun, or “Gauss” gun, if you’ve heard of the term before. A series of electromagnets controlled by the onboard computer of the gun rapidly accelerates the firing medium away from the gun far more quickly than conventional gun powder could.” Carlisle stated.
“What kind of speeds are we talking about, here?” Falkirk asked.
“Maybe ten percent of the speed of light. Fast enough that substantial time dilation occurs for the firing medium. At close ranges, we’ve measured impact on targets before sensors on the shell indicate that it has left the gun.” Carlisle said.
A steel plate swung into view, in the center of the long hallway. Carlisle aimed the odd looking gun, and fired. There was no recoil whatsoever.
A loud clang sounded from the steel plate. Falkirk suspected something wrong at first, but he followed when Carlisle motioned for him to follow her to inspect the plate. The plate appeared to be totally and completely torn up inside, although the shell did not pierce the back of the plate.
“This gun is excellent for situations in which penetration of rounds into the environment is a concern. The shells in this gun are made of an extremely soft compound, so they tend to “bounce around” whatever is hit, but don’t penetrate any more than their entry point. Very effective on those aliens, I would imagine.” Carlisle said.
Carlisle returned to the weapon rack, lifting a very large rocket launcher. It looked to Falkirk as if it were an anti-tank weapon to be used by infantry, but the sheer amount of electronics on the weapon precluded that possibility. The launcher looked to be at least four feet long, and over a foot wide at the nozzle.
“This is a typical infantry-based anti-tank weapon that we’ve modified for your use. It will lock directly into the battle computer of your armor, and allow you to laser- designate a specific location for the missile to target. From your reports, Captain, we think that this could be effective in targeting the metal location on the alien ships that you previously mentioned. The warhead from this launcher should be powerful enough to actually take one of those ships down.” Carlisle said.
“Naturally, you can’t test it here.” Falkirk said.
“Of course not, Captain. We wouldn’t want to flood the whole east wing. However, rest assured that these launchers, at the very least, would allow for a diversion by ground troops while you marshaled an air assault on the aliens.” Carlisle said.
“You’d make an excellent tactician, Lieutenant.” Falkirk said, glancing at his watch.
“What’s wrong, Captain?” Galil asked curiously.
“I’m concerned about the delivery of the alien ship. It should be leaving by now, I’m surprised that we haven’t heard anything from the Egyptian government.” Falkirk said.
Nearly the second after those words were uttered, Gary Davis ran into the room. Looking worried, he nodded a quick hello to all of the people there. Something was clearly wrong; he fought to catch his breath as he spoke to Falkirk.
“Captain, you need to take a look at this, you’re not going to believe it.” Davis said.
Falkirk gave a questioning glance, but Davis obviously didn’t see it, as he turned to run out the door. Falkirk began to follow the man, but yelled orders back to Valmont, Galil, and Heinrich.
“Valmont, get Galil and Heinrich all checked out in weapons and armor. I have a feeling that something bad is happening, and we need to be ready to go as soon as we know what it is.” Falkirk said, as he ran from the room.
Davis was running at a slow pace, so Falkirk was able to catch up with him. As the two were running, Davis began to tell Falkirk about the situation.
“We just heard from the Egyptians.” Davis said, panting. “And?” Falkirk asked.
“It’s about the UFO. Here we are.” Davis said, quickly opening a door to reveal a large auditorium, no doubt for giving speeches to television cameras, but not an audience. Falkirk could see Simon, Dunn, and Martinez from his unit, as well as President Donley. Several other men were there, scientists, representatives possibly.
“It’s about time you got here. We just got this from the Egyptian government a few minutes ago.” Donley said, turning to face the large screen.
The lights went out, and the image of the Egyptian president appeared, projected onto the large screen behind Donley. Falkirk recalled when he had first met the man, when he was given authorization to test-pilot in Egyptian airspace. Falkirk cared little for the man, as he felt that he was a career politician, and more interested in lining his own pockets than those of his people. The image spoke.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the Pentagon, we thank you for giving the Egyptian government the chance to aid you in our mutual fight against the alien menace. However, there has been a problem with our plans.” The images voice fell to barely a whisper.
“Oh no.” Falkirk said, realizing what would come next.
“On the way to our private landing strip, the eight trucks carrying the pieces of the alien vessel were hijacked by a terrorist group. At this point, they have already made the demand that they want a nuclear weapon from the United States in exchange for the vessel. They also stated that they will destroy the vessel if any attempt is made to recover it. I want to let you know that the Egyptian government will support any action that you undertake to recover this vessel, but as things stand, our hands are tied.” The image blurred, then winked off the screen.
“Wonderful.” Falkirk said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “What is your plan, Captain?” Donley asked.
“Sir, I think our only option here is a retrieval mission. Using our spy satellites and the help of the Egyptians, we can get a good fix on where they’ve taken the ship. We can’t negotiate here, who knows what could happen if these terrorists acquire a nuclear weapon.” Falkirk said, the room falling silent after his last words. There was only a single option.
“Captain, we also have some information on the Antarctic research colonies that you need to see. As you know, all of the alien ships seem to be heading for the South Pole.” Donley said, cueing the next recording.
The screen crackled to life, and a wave of sound shattered the silence that had engulfed the room minutes before. On the screen, Falkirk saw a horrifying sight.
Hundreds of alien vessels seemed to fill the sky, swarming over the largest permanent research station in the Antarctic, Palm. The alien vessels filled the sky like locusts, wreaking destruction upon the buildings that made up Palm. The DVD was obviously a home-recording, as the images were jerky and disjointed in nature. The view then turned away from the sky and buildings, flung like children’s toys, and towards the ground, revealing an army.
Each and every person that had a gun was firing at an oncoming black horde of aliens. Apparently, they were beginning an invasion, and were quite successful. Falkirk saw a child in front of the group, likely no more than eight years old, trying to run from the alien swarm. A second later, one of the aliens at the head of the advancing mass cut the young boy cleanly in half with a single swipe of its bladed forearms.
Apparently, anything and everything was to be destroyed. The foundations of the buildings were torn apart, as if they had never existed. Falkirk watched as the bullets of the townspeople streaked into the aliens. Occasionally one would fall, but it was clearly too little, too late. The mass continued forward, within fifty feet of the civilians now.
Falkirk caught quick glimpses of the weapons that the men and women were trying to defend themselves with, and could feel only pity. The majority had small caliber guns, such as .22 pistols. There were occasionally brief amounts of heavier firepower, like an over and under shotgun that had been sawed off so close to the end of the gun that it looked like a pistol. Another man had a large Desert Eagle .45 Magnum, a pistol that made a sound like a sledgehammer pounding into concrete each time it was fired. The pistol had likely accounted for half of the very few alien deaths all by itself.
The aliens grew closer, continuing to advance. The civilian researchers had nowhere to retreat to as the horde grew closer and closer to them, their escape routes blocked at all corners by swarms of the tiny aliens. The cameraman, suddenly, was lifted high into the air, dropping the camera. Falkirk watched the man fly away from the camera in a strange, slow-motion aerial dance. The camera fell to the ground, but not before catching the man thrown into a wall like a rag-doll. Falkirk watched a woman run to retrieve the camera before jumping into a large all-terrain vehicle. The movie ended with the camera turned back towards Palm, the streams of the blood of innocent researchers and their families darkening the ice, and jetting high into the air.
“How many casualties?” Falkirk asked, his voice low.
“Nine-hundred and eighty-nine, out of the thousand people there.” Donley said. “Eleven survivors?” Falkirk questioned.
“We managed to get one of our ships off the coast of Africa to pick them up two hours after the attack.” Donley responded.
“They survived out in the open?” Falkirk said.
“Barely. Most had extreme frostbite, but we had to do something.” Donley stated. Falkirk knew that they couldn’t simply write people off at this point.
Falkirk lowered his head into his hands, sighing deeply. He had never seen such brazen violence before. Men, women, and children murdered violently. Falkirk knew that the terrorists that had stolen the alien ship could not possibly have realized how much danger they were putting themselves and the rest of mankind in.
“Sir?” Falkirk heard Velez say. Falkirk did not move.
“Sir?” Velez repeated.
“Burial detail at 1400 on the aircraft.” Falkirk said quietly. “Ericson?” Valmont asked.
“It’s what he wanted. I just wish that we knew what those people in Palm wanted for their funeral.” Falkirk said. The room fell into a deep silence. After a time of reflection, Falkirk knew that he needed to move on.
“Let’s get these terrorists.” Falkirk growled.