“You are being reassigned to the Army Air Corps. To the Alamogordo Army Air Base in New Mexico.”
Dale took the first sip of his water. “I don’t know anything about air planes,” he said weakly.
“Upon arrival, your skills will be assessed. Then, we will decide what to do with you. By the way, you and your entire squad’s history with the Army division will be permanently redacted from the records. You and your men were never on that ridge, never in that battalion, and never sent on that night mission. Do you understand?” It was clear from his facial expression that the General expected understanding.
“Yes sir. But what about my squad, they all died on that ridge.”
“They all died heroes. They, and their families, will receive all the honors to which they are entitled, but they did not die on that ridge, on that night, do you understand?”
“Yes Sir.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
April 25, 1945
Hamburg, Germany
Nox Bellator stood on top of the massive, concrete U-Boat base looking out upon the once great City of Hamburg. It was a dark and chilly night, but Bellator did not notice the wind or temperature because his interactive thermal body armor kept him comfortable in any climate. At seven feet tall, Nox Bellator towered over most humans. His size alone would strike fear into most seasoned warriors. Then you add his sophisticated armor and weaponry, he could terrify an entire battalion. His encounter with Sergeant Dale Matthews back in October had taught him a valuable lesson: never take off your armor. He had thought he was safe, well behind German lines, in a secret bunker filled with true believers. Yet, there was Matthews. Three of his most loyal soldiers were killed by Matthews. On that rueful night in the Vosges Mountains, he was wearing a dress uniform. Since then, he always wore his battle armor.
Nox was alone atop the massive edifice that stood in the waters of the Elbe River. The U-boat bunker was built to withstand numerous direct hits from the largest of the Allies’ bombs. Even though the City of Hamburg was reduced to a burned-out rubble, the U-boat base had stood up to thousands of tons of British and American bombs.
The U-boat pen, Germans referred to it as “Fink II,” was an enormous hardened structure and was designed to dock up to 15 submarines within the safety of its thick concrete walls. The structure, built right in the water, allowed submarines that had traveled up the Elbe River to the industrial City of Hamburg, to find refuge from Allied bombers.
Nox, a stranger to this planet, had first arrived in Hamburg 10 years earlier, and had overseen the expansion of the Nazi’s U-boat program and the development of their experimental aircraft. Nox did not feel sadness or loss as he surveyed the hundreds of buildings that had been reduced to empty shells and crumbling walls. He was disappointed in himself. He was disappointed that he was not able to raise up the perfect army, and that his best efforts to organize these primitive humans had failed.
He estimated that the British and American’s non-stop bombing of Hamburg had killed over 100,000 civilians. That did not matter to him. He knew the reports showed that one million civilians were left homeless after the endless bombing raids. Still, not his problem. Nox knew the City was about to fall to a British and American tank brigade. In a few days, the war would be over, and he would have almost nothing to show for the last 10 years -almost nothing.
Someday, fools would look back on history and question how Hitler could have lost a war if he had access to advanced alien technology. The answer was simple: a hand full of advanced antigravity fighters can’t defeat over four million soldiers and hundreds of thousands of tanks and aircraft. Against Nox’s advice, Hitler moved too fast. Bellator needed another ten years to get Hitler’s factories to the point where they could mass produce advanced weaponry. Nox could no more mass produce antigravity fighters than an engineer could build an aircraft carrier out of coconuts and palm trees on a deserted island. Nox needed to build and repair his fighters with tools and equipment that the humans had not even discovered, much less, amassed in quantities large enough to supply a world war.
But, Hitler could not wait. Hitler saw Nox’s antigravity fighter and particle beam incinerator, and he thought that alone could win a war against the rest of the world. If only he had tried harder to convince the madman to wait, just long enough to get a production line.
The City of Hamburg was surrounded by Allied troops and tanks. Sixty percent of the city was burned to the ground, and almost all the residents had evacuated. There were a few thousand German troops left, and they would be overrun in a few days. Nox was not worried for his safety; the antigravity fighter behind him could whisk him far away. He had a plan, not a plan to save Hamburg, but a plan to salvage some of his work.
Nox Bellator turned from the crumbling city and entered his antigravity fighter. His fighter craft was advanced far beyond anything the humans had engineered. It did not push through the wind with crude propellers and wings, but rather, it created a force field around the craft that allowed a planet’s gravity to pass around it, like air passes around a wing. Without gravity pulling the craft towards the planet, the antimatter fusion reactors would power the flight system and move the craft at speeds over 5,000 miles per hour.
The flight systems were extraordinarily complex and completely controlled by either his thoughts or voice command. He could control the antigravity fighter from outside the ship, so long as he was wearing his body armor, which would transmit his thought commands to the craft.
Nox navigated the craft off the building and into one of several openings above the water by which the submarines would enter the U-boat base. He landed his antigravity fighter on the dock behind a submarine mooring. This location within the submarine base had been specially designed to ensure Nox’s privacy. Nox knew that his height, dark gray skin, and elongated facial features would draw unneeded attention. So, he intentionally limited his appearances among the rank-and-file German troops.
The antigravity fighter was sitting on the concrete pedestal, held up by three legs that had extended from the belly of the craft. Nox walked down the metal stairway to the submarine dock. A Nazi Admiral and two guards were waiting to greet him.
The admiral stepped forward and saluted as soon as Nox set foot on the base. “We have been expecting you Field Marshall Nox Bellator. Heil Hitler!”
Nox, who at this point, was no fan of Hitler, shrugged and gave a half-ass salute. “Admiral Armbruster, take me to your office.”
“Yes Sir.” The Admiral, who was acutely aware of the fact that Hamburg was about to be overrun by British forces and that Germany was destined to lose the war, was not terribly concerned with the formality of honoring Hitler.
The Admiral’s office was very nice; the concrete bunker walls had been covered by rich wood paneling, and a dark red rug covered the floor. The Admiral had some personal effects displayed on a hand-carved curio cabinet that matched his ornate desk. Other than that, it was obvious that the Admiral worked at his desk. The large, executive desk was covered with papers, files, reports, memos, and plans. The messy paperwork extended past the fancy desk top and onto the surrounding floor as if the Admiral had them spread out for review.
Nox sat in a low back guest chair in the somewhat dimly lit office before being invited to do so. If the Admiral took offense to his guest sitting without invitation, he did not show it. The Admiral and Nox had been working together since prior to the inception of the war. Nox liked the Admiral, like a human would be fond of a favorite pet that could perform cool tricks. Nox thought the Admiral was intelligent - for a human.