Cascade box set 2, p.66
Cascade Box Set 2, page 66
Fiona went to run forward but then stopped, and looked up. The circular saucer like craft was now hovering directly above them. A pulse of glowing orbs rained down from it hitting the Hulathen, sending energy surging through its armor and body. Sean and the alien fell to the ground, the former quickly regaining his balance.
Another volley of pulsing energy hit the other alien, who had managed to fire back at the craft before being hit, but the hovering ship remained unaffected and the alien fell lifeless to the ground.
The sound of gunfire and explosions were now gone and the only sound remaining was the whirring sound the strange object above them was making.
“It’s a friggin U.F.O,” said Sam.
The craft, which spanned sixty feet slowly descended, landing struts appearing from its base as it approached the ground.
Fiona walked towards it.
“What are you doing?” said Sam anxiously but followed her regardless, as did Sean. Other soldiers started appearing from the corridor behind them.
A seamless door opened on the underside of the craft, the rim of which lights pulsed around.
A tall slim figure appeared in the doorway and started to walk down a slope which slid out as it moved forward.
Fiona moved closer still until she was standing just a few feet away from this being that had just saved them. She tilted her head back to see into the almond shaped eyes she recognized. “Klept?”
*****
A few hours after the battle at the dam, a small crowd stood waiting in the parking lot of the Core. They were surrounded by heavy tanks, mobile rocket launches, turreted Humvees and a few platoons of soldiers, all were waiting.
A point of light appeared in the night sky to the north.
General Trow straightened her back.
Fiona smiled. “Here we go,” she said to the general next to her.
Sam, on Fiona's opposite side leaned in. “She knows about the weird two mouth thing right?” he whispered.
Fiona nodded.
In an instant the speck of light grew in size until it was a fully formed ring, pulsating around the edge of a saucer hovering above them. As before it silently floated to the ground, the landing legs extended and took the weight of the craft above them.
The tall slim door slid to the side, allowing the brightness of the interior to illuminate the concrete around it. Shadowy figures appeared and a ripple of excitement ran around the crowd.
The slope appeared as before, sliding towards the ground and the alien which Zach and Fiona had met in space, walked majestically down it and onto the ground. He walked forward as did general Trow and Fiona. When they became close enough the alien held out his hand. Trow smiled then briefly shook it.
“On behalf—” Before Trow could finish Klept raised his hand and more of his kind descended the ramp, and stood to his right.
Trow leaned towards Fiona. “What’s happening?”
“Prepare yourself.”
Sam walked forward and stood close to Fiona.
Klept plunged his long thin finger into the alien’s head that was next to him, as did that alien next to that one and so on until they were all connected.
“Err… they’re not having sex are they?” said Sam.
Fiona giggled. “Not exactly.”
“Please excuse what must appear to be a strange sight to you, but this is how we must communicate for now. I am Klept, of the Ultor’s.”
Ignoring the peculiarity of what was in front of her the general smiled once again. “I am General Trow. I am second in command of this camp.”
“Second?”
“Yes. The first in command is in another part of the camp. We felt it unwise to have all of our top ranked officers in one place.”
“That is indeed wise. I am happy to meet you General Trow.”
Fiona noticed that unlike the last time Klept talked English to her, the link with the other alien seemed more stable.
“I want to thank you for saving our people, at the dam.”
Klept nodded. “Fiona saved me which allowed me to save many of my kind. I am sorry the Hulathen have come to your planet. They have done what they have done to many other worlds, although usually not with such devastating effect. Now it would seem they are trying to hide the mistake they made on this planet. The Ultor’s would like to offer you assistance in your resistance against them.”
Smiles broke out amongst the crowd and for the first time in months, Fiona felt an emotion she had come to forget. Hope.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Abbey watched through the window at the tiny blinking lights of the military cargo plane, fading into the night sky.
“I think this is a mistake,” said Brad behind her.
“He expects me to run.”
“Erin’s a madman… another one, and you being here, being where he’s heading to, makes no sense!”
“I’m tired of running. I’m always running. It feels as if from the moment I felt that desert wind on my face when we stepped out of the elevator to the surface back in New Mexico, all I’ve been doing is running. From the E.L.F’s, from crazy S.O.B’s. I’m done with it. If he wants a fight, he’s going to get one.”
“And what’s Zach going to think, when he knows you sent the toxin back to the camp, but you decided to stay here?”
“This is not about Zach, this is about me. I have to do this for me…” She paused. “He’ll understand. Maybe not today, but he will.” She turned, ran forward and hugged Brad.
“Not sure what this is for,” he said trying to breathe.
She pulled back smiling. “We’re going to stop Erin. And the toxin is going to put an end to this war with the aliens.”
“I wish I had your optimism.”
A knock came at the door of the upstairs room in the main house.
“Come in,” said Brad.
The door opened and a soldier appeared. “Major Hoxted says she’s ready for the briefing to start.”
Brad nodded and the soldier left. He looked at Abbey. “Right. Let’s go figure out how we’re still going to be alive this time next week.”
Soon after they were sitting in the basement room, around the large conference table. Major Hoxted and three other officers were also seated. A large screen was behind her head, showing a plan view for miles in all directions. On top of it small icons and circles moved slowly across the screen.
“As you can see our radar system can pick up most E.L.F’s for up to a distance of twenty miles in all directions. That includes in the sky as well. We have full 360 degrees detection capability.”
“So we’ll know they’re coming,” said a dark-haired man in combat fatigues.
Hoxted nodded then looked at Abbey. “I should introduce who we have here. To my left, is Captain Cruz and to my right are Lieutenants, Wallace and Shaw.”
Each nodded to Abbey as she looked at them.
“So what’s the plan?” said Abbey.
Hoxted looked at a soldier at a nearby desk and the screen zoomed in to show the outpost plus a few miles of the surround areas. “We have a full company stationed here. So that means six platoons, with roughly twenty-five soldiers in each. We also have a twelve Humvees, seven of which have .50 Cal guns. Four APC’s fighting vehicles, two attack helicopters and a number of shoulder mounted missile launchers. We also have munitions and supplies to last at least two months if it comes to that.”
Wallace laughed. “I want to see the fool who thinks it’s a good idea to try to take us on.”
Abbey noticed the other two officers looked less confident. “How many Cascaders do we have?” She said looking at Hoxted.
“Who gives a crap about the Cascaders and their pets?” Said Wallace.
Abbey ignored the remark and continued looking at the Major.
“Including yourself fourteen.”
“Each Cascader needs to be guarded.”
They all looked at Abbey.
“You’re saying that because of what happened with Clovis?”
Abbey nodded. “I don’t know how Erin does it, maybe he needs to be in physical contact, but if we’re wrong about that, and he takes control of the Cascaders—”
“And that includes yourself?” said Cruz.
“I’ve already been in close proximity with him and he wasn’t able to control me.”
“What made you so special?” Said Wallace.
Finally Abbey looked at the tall blonde-haired woman. “He told me himself he wasn’t able to control me. I’m one of the Cascaders that you can trust.”
Hoxted nodded and looked down at Shaw. “Okay we’ll make sure the Cascaders have someone with them.”
Shaw nodded and wrote something down on a notepad.
“You can bet he’s going to be coming with a lot of Cascaders and even more E.L.F’s,” said Abbey.
“He will send them at us first,” said Cruz.
“Maybe, or maybe he will use Mitchell’s forces first. He doesn’t care much for humans.”
Wallace shook her head. “It’s a good thing Felton or Trow aren’t Cascaders, or we would have been fucked.”
Abbey shot her a look and Wallace softened her expression. “Before you get your panties in a twist, I’m not saying all Cascaders are bad. You’re obviously one of the good ones.”
“Thanks,” said Abbey sarcastically. She then got up and walked to the screen and looked at the soldier nearby. “Can you zoom out a bit?” The soldier did as asked, and the map view enlarged. Abbey pointed to the nearby town. “What’s the plan for here?”
The officers looked at each other.
“We thought it best we concentrate our forces within the walls,” said Hoxted.
“And that’s what Erin will expect us to do. If we can spare some people to setup in the town, then if they pass that way we can ambush them.”
Most around the table nodded.
“It’s a good plan,” said Cruz.
“I agree. We’ll send out some people out to scout the area, see what the best defensive positions are,” said Hoxted. Shaw again wrote something. She then looked back at the soldier. “Take us all the way out, show us the map covering from here to Boston.” The screen zoomed quickly out to show the eastern half of the country. “If he’s coming by land he will probably be with us within a day or two. If it’s by air… well he would already be here. And as you saw from the radar coverage, he’s not. So he must be coming by land.” She paused then looked at the only person not to have spoken. “Brad? Do you have anything to say?”
Brad sighed then looked around the others in the room. “Let’s hope the Hulathen spot him before he gets here.”
“We can hope.” She looked back at Shaw. “Keep trying Mitchell on the radio. Maybe we can stop this madness before it gets started.”
*****
Zach was sat in his compact office looking at the video of when Trow and the others met the Ultor’s, when a message popped up on his screen. It was saying there was a communication for him from the outpost.
He picked up his headset and slid it onto his head. It was already linked to the internal comms of the bunker system.
“Sir, are you there?” Came a woman’s voice through the headphones.
“I am.”
“Patching you through to the outpost.”
A few seconds passed.
“This is main operations at the Kentucky, outpost. We have Abbey Reisner here for you general. Putting her on now. Over.”
In an instant he realized she must have not gotten onto the cargo plane, and a mixture of anger and disappointment flooded through him.
“Zach? Are you there? Over.”
“I’m here. Why are you not on the plane? Where’s the toxin? Over.”
“I know none of this makes sense. The toxin is on the plane. It’s on its way to the camp. But—”
“Why did you not come back?”
Abbey sighed then spent the next few moments explaining what had happened with Clovis, and how Erin was expected to arrive any time soon.
Zach lifted the headset from his head and slid his hand through his graying hair, then let it fall back to his scalp.
“Zach?”
“I’m here. I’m just thinking how to help. We’ll turn the C-130 around when it lands, and get another platoon with medical equipment up to you. Over.”
“Zach, it’s too much of a risk. The Hulathen could decide to blast whatever we put up there out of the sky. We have lots of soldiers, equipment and some Cascaders already up here. If that’s not going to be enough then another platoon won’t help. Over.”
He knew she was right, but he was going to send help anyway. “Comms you still on the line?”
“We are sir, yes.”
“Can you send the footage of the aliens landing at the Core up to the outpost? I want them to see what happened.”
“Aliens? You mean the Hulathen? Over,” said Abbey.
“No, something else entirely.”
“Oh…”
The comms officer confirmed the footage had been sent.
“It’s the aliens that myself and Fiona came across. They want to help us. Over.” Zach heard the intake of air on the other end of the link.
“That’s… amazing. Can they help with the situation up here? Over.”
“I don’t know. Maybe. From what we have learned so far, there’s not many of them. And I get the impression they don’t want a direct confrontation with the Hulathen unless they have no other choice. Still—”
“We’ll take it,” interrupted Abbey.
“Yup. Okay, tell Hoxted I want hourly updates from up there and as soon as the bastard shows up, you let us know. Over.” He thought about telling her about Hannah, but decided against it.
“Will do. Don’t worry, when this is all over. I’ll be on the next plane to the camp. Over.”
“I’m holding you to that, or I’m coming up there and dragging you back with me! Over.”
“Talk soon. Over.”
The woman on comms came back on the line. “The communication has ended with the outpost, but general Trow is waiting to talk to you.”
“Put her through.”
“How’s things with the outpost? Over,” said Trow.
Zach explained the situation.
“We should send reinforcements. Over.”
“I agree, but we won’t be able to get anything meaningful up there for at least five days by going overland. And that’s if the Hulathen don’t attack us on the way. Would the Ultor’s help us get supplies up there? Over.”
“That’s a button I don’t want to push just yet. I understand you want to make sure Abbey’s safe—”
“It’s not just Abbey, it’s everyone up there. We can’t afford to lose our only foothold in the northeast of the country. Especially not to Erin. Over.”
“Agreed. But for now it’s a problem we need to solve on our own. Over.”
“How are things going with the aliens? Over.”
“Well we have learned there’s not many of them. A few hundred are in a larger ship, which is orbiting the moon. They say they can’t get any closer to the planet without being spotted by the Hulathen. What landed earlier was one of a few other smaller ships they have. But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about. We now know what the Hulathen black cubes are. Over.”
“What are they? Over.”
“Some of the Ultor’s have been working with our tech guys, and our earlier hunches were correct. They’re not ships exactly. Fuller, our main scientific liaison with the Ultor’s used the words ‘Portable space-time warp technology’. Basically, they allow the Hulathen to jump from one location in space to another. Over.”
Zach scratched his head. “Right.”
Trow laughed. “Yeah, that was my reaction too. Fuller said that none of these particular cubes contain any Hulathen, they are just used like a door, to bring them to wherever the gate currently is.”
A thought suddenly hit him. “So more Hulathen could come through the gates that are above the dam? Over.”
“That’s what I’m told, yes. Over.”
“Is there any way to stop that from happening? Can we destroy the gates? Over.”
“The Ultor’s say it’s possible, but Zach, there’s something else they told us. They said the gates operate both ways…”
“So we can send something back the other way? Over.”
“Something or someone’s, yes. Over.”
He paused as his mind ran through the possibilities. “We can deliver the toxin to wherever these aliens are coming from. Over.”
“I was thinking the exact same thing. I’m going to try and get a few hours of sleep, then we should start thinking about getting a team together who is going to deliver the package. You get some rest too. Over.”
“Sounds like a plan—” He looked at the time on the computer monitor. It said 2am. “—Connect up again, around 6am. Over.”
Trow agreed and Zach took his headset and placed it on the desk. He had no intention of sleeping. Even if he did, he knew he wouldn’t be able too.
He looked towards the door. “Hoffman?” He shouted towards the door, which promptly opened, a soldier appearing in the gap. “I’m going to be needing a pot of coffee.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Abbey crept forward across the field, only a small flashlight lighting her way. She could sense the beast beyond the trees just a hundred yards away. It had already been imprinted, but they were going to need every E.L.F they could get their hands on.
High above she could also sense her own creature, the monkey bird hybrid, who she named ‘Mo’.
“Stay up high, Mo, otherwise it’s going to get more spooked than I can already feel it is,” she whispered to herself.
Suddenly branches were breaking and the huge six legged beast burst through the undergrowth, leaping the hedgerow and bounded across the mud laden field towards her.
She stopped and closed her eyes to the fury that was bearing down on her, and instead calmed her mind. The panting and growling receded until the light wind was all she could hear. She then reached out with her Cascader senses.
