Of course, we had to learn, didn’t we? He thought to himself. I wonder if we’ll be the lucky ones who run into an alien junior officer with the guts — or family connections — to do his own thing…?
The M1 motorway was one of the longest motorways in Britain, connecting London to Leeds. It had also been one of the busiest, at least until the aliens had arrived and managed to do what years of protest and campaigning by environmental freaks hadn’t. Now, the motorways were almost deserted, used only by the aliens and their collaborators. Indeed, a handful of shot-up cars signified the dangers of using the motorways in a world where armed men were intent on waging war against the occupiers. Most families were conserving what little petrol they had left for emergencies.
From his vantage point in Gayhurst Wood, he could see the eerily deserted motorway stretching away into the distance. The aliens seemed to be running regular convoys up and down Britain’s motorway network, supplying their bases around British cities. In fact, Chris knew that a number of other attacks had been planned over the coming few days, although he hadn’t been given any specifics. It was strange to feel as if they were both isolated and connected to the resistance underground, but there was little choice. The aliens would presumably have no qualms about using torture to get information out of prisoners.
But we still don’t know what they do to military prisoners, he thought, grimly. The resistance had attempted to trace the prisoners, using assets within the police forces that were serving the aliens, but they’d been unable to come up with any answers. All military personnel had been handed over to the aliens and taken away to an unknown destination. Given that the aliens ruled the entire world, it was quite possible that they’d been taken overseas, perhaps to the Middle East. Or maybe to Antarctica.
He pushed the thought aside as the sensor beside him started to bleep. They might not have any active radars any more, but they could tell when the aliens were using radar — and when one of their drones was heading towards their position. The aliens used drones to provide an outer layer of security for their convoys, a trick that probably explained why they’d picked off the civilian insurgents before they’d had a chance to spring their ambush. This time, however, things were going to be different.
“Get ready,” he muttered. The moment they revealed themselves, the aliens would try to cut them down, perhaps by using something like a drone-mounted Hellfire missile. It was astonishing how advanced UAVs had become in the years since 9/11. Even the Taliban hadn’t been up to evading their unblinking gaze. “Engage as soon as they come into range.”
Nr’ta Silick studied the live feed from the constantly orbiting drone and relaxed, slightly. The humans were determined opponents, far tougher than anyone else they’d encountered at a comparable technological level, but they clearly didn’t realise how easily their movements could be monitored by the Land Forces. A handful of convoys had been hit by concealed explosives and snipers, yet they’d never managed to take on a whole convoy — and never would. Their failure to develop space like any sane race left a gaping hole in their capabilities, one that a truly advanced race could use against them.
He snorted at the thought. The troopers who’d led the first landings on Earth had warned the reinforcement units that humans were sneaky, but he hadn’t seen any evidence of human sneakiness in the four days since he’d landed on Earth. Sure, they’d managed to use treachery to kill many troopers, yet they’d also killed thousands of their own kind. No race, even one as strange as humanity, would carry one like that — their own kind would turn against them. And the humans who drove the trucks were properly loyal. They knew their place — and they also knew that any sign of disloyalty would result in their families being executed.
Earth itself was an odd world. It’s climate was rarely perfect, often being too hot or too dry. The rainstorms they’d had just after landing had been refreshing, but they’d really been too cool for proper enjoyment. It wasn’t too surprising that the local weather patterns had been screwed up — the Land Forces had bombarded human bases and centres of resistance with KEWs, while the Chinese humans had been insane enough to use nuclear warheads against their own cities — and the weather experts promised that it would get better soon. Indeed, they’d even pointed out that accelerating the greenhouse effect would make the planet warmer, melt the ice caps and generally make it more habitable. He couldn’t understand why so many humans seemed concerned about global warming. Didn’t they want a warmer world?
But the human opinion didn’t matter, not now that their world had been absorbed into the State. They would learn to live on the reshaped world or die, while many of their fellows were shipped away to serve the State. And then…
He glanced down at the drone’s feed as it shrilled a warning. It was in danger! Someone was using a seeker head to target it… he hesitated, convinced it had to be a malfunction, and then a flash of light in the sky marked the end of drone coverage. And then the world blew up in his face.
It had been surprisingly easy to gain access to the maintenance tunnels running under the motorway. Indeed, none of the soldiers could think why anyone would want the tunnels, but they’d come in handy. They’d loaded enough explosive into the tunnels to blow up half the motorway, while lurking in ambush and waiting for the aliens to respond. The destruction of their drone had been the only risky part of the ambush Chris had planned; if the aliens had realised that they were driving right into a trap, they might have deployed or simply turned back and called for reinforcements. But everything had worked perfectly…
He watched in delight as the lead alien vehicle — a tank, he suspected — literally vanished within the blast. Several human-built lorries were blown to atoms, their cargo picked up and scattered across the motorway. He heard the sound of brakes as the other vehicles struggled to come to a stop, but it was far too late. They crashed into the broken vehicles and caught fire themselves. Two alien vehicles crammed with their soldiers managed to skim to one side and up the embankment, a display of initiative he wouldn’t have expected from the Leathernecks. Not that it was going to help them. He’d planned on the assumption that they wouldn’t catch any of their escorts with the oversized IED.
“Go,” he bellowed. Two Milan antitank missiles leapt towards their targets. One slammed into an alien vehicle before the aliens had a chance to dismount, blowing the vehicle and its passengers into bloody chunks. The other vehicle was luckier, or perhaps its commander had already issued the order to dismount before the aliens realised that they hadn’t escaped the trap completely. Half of its passengers were already out when it was hit and sent careering into the motorway. “Hit the bastards!”