-38-
Running through the bunker, I took flight when I reached each ramp downward. Marines threw themselves out of the way as we passed. Alarms were sounding, and I could hear tramping boots on the bunker’s metal floors as marines were mustered from their brief respites. It was time for battle again, and I knew already this was going to be the big one.
The command center glowed with the soft blue light of a dozen screens. Standing in the center of it all was Lieutenant Colonel Barrera. He had a grim look on his face, but there was nothing unusual about that.
“How long do we have?” I asked him as I stepped up to his side.
Behind me, Kwon took up a post at the door. Barrera didn’t look at me. He continued to gaze at the screens instead. Hundreds of red contacts slowly closed upon our position from every angle.
“Not long, sir,” he said. “Not long at all.”
I knew what he meant. We were about to be overrun, and we both knew it. Now was the time to pull in the last cards I had. There would be no retreat from here other than sweet death.
“Major Sarin,” I said, “get Admiral Crow on the command channel.”
A moment later, she made the connection.
“Colonel Riggs,” Crow said. “I thought you might be calling me soon. Let me say before you make any requests, I’m not in a suicidal mood today. I suggest you pull out right now. Have your men abandon the island to the west. Let the robots fight this one, Kyle. Your automated laser turrets against their ships and walkers.”
“That’s unacceptable,” I said.
“Don’t make any rash judgments, Kyle.”
“I’m not.”
“You can’t expect me to wade into this fight with my last hundred ships. I’m all Earth has left.”
“I don’t want you to fight over Andros.”
“You don’t?” Crow asked. “What’s in that twisted mind of yours, then?”
“Move your ships over the U. S. mainland. Position them over Florida.”
“What the hell for?”
“You’ll see. Will you do it?”
Crow hesitated. I knew he was calculating how fast he could run if the Macro fleet turned and charged after him. I’d already made those calculations. He could easily escape.
“All right, but this better not be some kind of trick.”
“It is, and you’d better hope that it works. Riggs out.”
Barrera finally turned to look at me when the conversation ended. He raised his eyebrows and stared. I didn’t feel like explaining things right then, so I ignored him.
“Major Sarin,” I said, “connect me to General Kerr in NORAD please.”
Barrera gave a small nod. Was that a smile? Perhaps he’d figured out what I was going to attempt. After another thirty seconds, Kerr was on the line.
“It’s been a few days of hard fighting, Colonel,” he said. “I want to say from all of us, that we’ve been impressed up here. Everyone knows you did your best.”
“Thank you, General.”
“Are you calling to tell us you’re pulling out, or to tell us what to inscribe on your tombstones? I’ve got money on this one, Riggs. Think hard.”
I smiled grimly. “Neither, General. We are neither quitting nor dying today. But I do need your help, sir.”
“Ah, option three! I’ll have you know I just won an easy hundred bucks.”
“Is your cooperation required for you to cash in?”
“Unfortunately, no. I’m equally sad to report our subs are out of position to fire upon the enemy. It would be suicide to do so, anyway.”
“That’s not what I wanted, sir.”
“What then?”
“I need ICBMs, sir. A lot of them. Every ship-killer you’ve got. But I only want them coming from the U. S. Tell the others to hold back.”
“The Macros won’t fall for that this time. And we’re watching your fleet, which is massing over our airspace now. We aren’t excited about the idea of Star Force ‘punishing’ us the way you did to the Chinese a while back.”
“I’m sure you’re not, sir. But that is not my intent. My intent is to win this battle, not slip out of it.”
“I don’t know, Riggs. We’ve wargamed this out six ways from Sunday. I don’t think Star Force has a pray.”
“Are you reneging on our deal, sir?”
“Riggs—”
“Why the hell did you build all those ship-killers anyway? Are you going to hang flowers on them? Fire on the enemy. That’s all I’m asking, sir. Take it to the President.”
I heard a sigh. “All right Riggs, give me a minute.”
The connection broke.
We watched tensely as the enemy began assaulting the walls. The first wave consisted of smaller machines, the ones that had crawled up out of the tunnels that now riddled Andros Island. Behind them the surviving big machines, hung back. I realized they were waiting for their fleet to support them. They were taking no more chances.
Out over the ocean the Macro fleet formed up and became a line three layers deep. They began firing their big cannons down on us. We didn’t have much left to fire back with. The coastal turrets on the eastern side of the island had been pretty much wiped out. The three central forts with their big lasers had all been knocked out and we hadn’t had time to repair them. The laser turrets on the island’s western flank were out of range. I still had one more card left, however.
“Barrera, commit the hovertanks,” I ordered.
“How many of them, sir?”
“All of them. Hit the enemy’s northern flank.”
“Is that wise, sir? We’ll have nothing left to cover a withdrawal.”
I looked at him. He stared back for a second and then relayed my orders. Was that a tiny shake of the head? The man had his doubts, I could tell. I was used to that, however. I stepped closer to the screens and watched the battle rage in the form of a thousand multi-colored contacts.
“Look up north, Colonel,” Major Sarin said.
I switched my gaze to another screen which showed the entire hemisphere. A cloud of yellow contacts had appeared out over the American Midwest.
“Mark those as friendly,” I snapped.
“Are we sure of that?”
I laughed bitterly. “Those weapons are coming out of the missile silos around South Dakota. If they are coming for us—we’re screwed anyway.”
Major Sarin tapped at the screens. The missile contacts changed to a bright green. They moved with alarming speed down toward us. I knew right away these were new missiles, with new technology. Old ICBMs would have taken a good seven minutes to reach the Caribbean. These new birds would be here in less than four. I nodded to myself, glad to see the rest of the world had been staying up nights trying to build better weapons.
The Macro Fleet was pounding us now, all along the coast. I could feel the ground shudder and tremble with impacts under my smart-metal boots.
“Helmets on, everyone,” I said. “If this bunker sustains a direct hit, we’ll need full armor.”
The ship-killer missiles reached Florida and passed among the hundred or so contacts that represented Star Force’s Fleet. The missiles began coming down from their sub-orbital flight then, making their intentions obvious. Finally, the enemy fleet took notice. They slowly wheeled their formation to face this new threat. Their dreadnaught moved forward to defend their cruisers. The bombardment of the base slackened, but did not let up entirely.
Major Sarin gasped. My eyes snapped up. Hundreds of new red contacts had appeared on the boards. I stepped toward the screens, swallowing.
“They’ve unleashed a heavy barrage,” Barrera said, his tone maddeningly calm.
“How many?” I snapped.
“Over forty …forty-five…fifty...”
More and more missiles poured out. Every cruiser fired several. I knew they’d kept half their missiles in reserve at the very least. Possibly, they had been building more aboard their ships. I didn’t know if they had the capability to rearm, but I had to assume they did.