“Hey, Steropes,” Calvin called. Steropes turned back around. “Thanks,” Calvin said. “I’m sorry about Olympos.”
Steropes nodded once and left. Calvin could just barely hear him say, “Me, too,” as he walked down the hall.
* * * * *
Chapter Fifty
JFCC Space Operations Center, Vandenberg AFB, California, September 23, 2020
“I’ve got gate activation!” cried the airman who monitored the stargate entry system for Strategic Command’s Joint Functional Component Command (JFCC) for Space. “Activation of Stargate #2!” He paused. “It’s got the right Identification, Friend or Foe (IFF) code, but oh my God, it’s huge! That can’t be right. It’s over a mile long! The nose of the ship is already starting to clear the mine field. If we don’t arm the mines now, we’re not going to be able to use them!”
“Do you have communications with the ship?”
“No, they haven’t said anything yet,” said the tech. “Should I arm the mines?”
“It’s got the right IFF codes?” asked the supervisor.
“Yes, it does,” repeated the tech.
The communications gear came to life with a burst of static. “Skywatch, Skywatch, this is the Terran battleship Terra, arriving through Stargate #2.”
The supervisor looked at the tech. “Did I miss something? When did we get a freakin’ battleship?” he asked.
The tech shrugged his shoulders. “No idea,” he answered. “I didn’t know we had one, either, but I’m just an airman. No one tells me anything.”
“The voice sounds funny, too,” said the supervisor, beginning to get a bad feeling. “I hope it’s really one of ours. This is way above my pay grade. Get the White House on the phone.”
“It is a funny accent,” agreed the tech. “Maybe it’s one of the foreigners on the radio. Why don’t you ask them?”
“I think I will,” said the supervisor. “We don’t recognize your ship,” he called. “Can I get the name and rank of your commander, please?”
The video communications screen flashed as it came to life. “Sure,” the voice said. The screen cleared to reveal a tiger’s face, and the supervisor jumped back unconsciously from it. “Our captain is Captain Lorena Griffin, Terran Navy,” said the tiger. The view on the screen pulled back to reveal the entire bridge. A mix of humans, tigers and a couple of therapods was scattered across it with a human sitting in the large captain’s chair in the center.
“Hi Skywatch,” said Captain Griffin. “Captain Griffin reporting back with the latest additions to our navy. It sure is good to see that you guys are still here.”
* * * * *
Epilogue
JFCC Space Operations Center, Vandenberg AFB, California, December 8, 2020
“I’ve got gate activation!” cried the airman monitoring the stargate entry system. “Oh my God! Activation of Stargate #1!”
“Get me an ID on the contact, ASAP!” replied his supervisor, who knew that Stargate #1 was the ‘front door’ into the Solar System. This was the first time that stargate had been activated since they began watching it. He had a bad feeling.
The airman watched his display, tapping nervously. “It’s battlecruiser sized, sir,” said the airman. The computers continued to analyze the data. “Based on the computer models from the Mrowry, the computers say...Oh my God, it’s a Drakul!” he finally called, fear heavy in his voice. “Sensors are showing a second gate activation...it’s a second battlecruiser. Third activation. Holy shit! Battleship!”
“Activate all defenses!” ordered the supervisor. He turned to the communications position, “Call the moon! Get the Vella Gulf and any available fighters manned and launched, ASAP!” He looked at his assistant. “Get me the president, NOW!”
Time had just run out for the Earth. The Drakuls had found them.
* * * * *
1st Platoon, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment
Terran Space Force
Commanding Officer Lieutenant Shawn ‘Calvin’ Hobbs, USN
Executive Officer First Lieutenant Paul ‘Night’ Train, USA
Space Force
Space Force Leader Master Chief Petty Officer Ryan O’Leary, USN
Squad ‘A’ Leader Staff Sergeant Patrick ‘The Wall’ Dantone, USA
Fire Team ‘1’ Leader Sergeant Park ‘Wraith’ Ji-woo, ROK Army
Laserman Petty Officer Second Class Charles ‘Rocket’ Applebaum, USN
Laserman Sergeant Margaret ‘Witch’ Andrews, British Army
Laserman Petty Officer David Levine, Israeli Navy
Laserman Corporal Jimmy ‘Colonel’ Sanders, USA
Fire Team ‘2’ Leader Corporal John ‘Mr.’ Jones
Laserman Petty Officer Second Class Ivan Sherkov, Russian Navy
Laserman ‘Bob’ Bobellisssissolliss, Epsilon Eridani
Laserman ‘Doug’ Dugelllisssollisssesss, Epsilon Eridani
Laserman Ms. Irina Rozhkov, Russia
Laserman Corporal John ‘Jet’ Li, USA
Fire Team ‘3’ Leader Sergeant Giuseppe ‘Trovato’ Tagliabue, Italian Navy
Laserman Master Remy Martin, French Navy
Laserman Vice Sergeant Ismail Al-Sabani, Royal Saudi Navy
Laserman Leading Seaman Abdul Wazir, Indian Navy
Laserman Leading Seaman Sigvar Borsheim, Norwegian Navy
Ground Force
Ground Force Leader Master Sergeant Aaron ‘Top’ Smith, USA
Squad ‘B’ Leader Staff Sergeant Jim ‘Shuteye’ Chang, USA
Fire Team ‘1’ Leader Sergeant Alka Zoromski, Polish Army
Laserman Sergeant Alexander Yaroslavsky, Russian Army
Laserman Corporal Madek Shokal, Epsilon Eridani
Laserman Corporal Laveg Mackef, Epsilon Eridani
Laserman Havildar Rajesh ‘Mouse’ Patel, Indian COBRA
Laserman Havildar Dawood Noorzai, Pakistani Army
Fire Team ‘2’ Leader Sergeant Gordhain MacKenzie, British Army
Laserman Corporal Jamal ‘Bad Twin’ Gordon, USA
Laserman Corporal Austin ‘Good Twin’ Gordon, USA
Laserman Corporal Hector ‘Macho’ Carrasquillo, USA
Laserman Corporal Suzi ‘Deadeye’ Taylor, USA
Fire Team ‘3’ Leader Sergeant Hans Fleischer, German Army
Sniper Corporal Steve ‘Tiny’ Johnson, USA
Spotter Corporal Mike ‘BTO’ Bachmann, USA
Ninja Sergeant Hattori ‘Yokaze’ Hanzo, Japan Self-Defense Force
Medic Sergeant Ben Shabat, Israeli Army
On Epsilon Eridani:
Laserman Sergeant Jacob ‘Paris’ Hylton, USA
Laserman Private First Class Calhoun ‘Spencer’ Spence, USA
Laserman Cabo Segundo Cristobal Contreras, Chilean Army
Laserman Corporal Berron ‘Reggie’ Wayne, USA
Space Fighter Squadron-1
CO Lieutenant Commander Shawn ‘Calvin’ Hobbs, USN
XO Lieutenant Commander Robert ‘Bullseye’ Pierce, USAF
Pilot Lieutenant Carl ‘Guns’ Simpson, USN
Pilot Lieutenant William Johnson USAF
Pilot Lieutenant Samuel Jakande, Nigerian Air Force
Pilot Lieutenant Hans ‘Schnitzel’ Hohenstaufen, German Air Force
Pilot Lieutenant Steven ‘Not Me’ Jackson, Royal Canadian Air Force
Pilot Lieutenant Clarisse Boudreau, Royal Canadian Air Force
Pilot Lieutenant Jack Thompson, Royal New Zealand Air Force
Pilot Lieutenant Josh Roberts, USAF
Pilot Lieutenant Nicolas Wilson, Royal Australian Air Force
Pilot Lieutenant Pablo Acosta, Spanish Air Force
Pilot Lieutenant Kostyantyn Tereshchenko, Russian Air Force
Pilot Lieutenant Gurnoor Bhola, Indian Air Force
Pilot Lieutenant Denise Michel, French Air Force
Pilot Lieutenant Miguel Carvalho, Brazilian Air Force
Pilot Lieutenant Nadia Rasputin, Russian Air F
orce
NFO Lieutenant Jackson Taylor, USN
NFO Lieutenant Joseph ‘Horse’ Dorsey, USN
NFO Lieutenant Imagawa ‘Samurai’ Sadayo, Japan Air Self-Defense Force
NFO Lieutenant Faith Ibori, Nigerian Air Force
NFO Lieutenant Junior Grade Mia Rodriguez, USAF
NFO Lieutenant Zoe Brown, Royal Australian Air Force
NFO Lieutenant Sasaki ‘Supidi’ Akio, Japan Air Self-Defense Force
NFO Lieutenant Gwon Min-jun, Republic of Korea Air Force
NFO Lieutenant Rupert Becker, German Navy
NFO Lieutenant Hakan Yilmaz, Turkish Navy
NFO Lieutenant Gino Bianchi, Italian Air Force
NFO Lieutenant Boris Tsvetkov, Russian Air Force
NFO Lieutenant Ali Ahmed Al-Amri, Royal Saudi Air Force
NFO Lieutenant Reyne Rafaeli, Israeli Air Force
NFO Lieutenant Aharsi Goswami, Indian Air Force
On Epsilon Eridani:
Pilot Lieutenant Phillip ‘Ace’ Price, USAF
NFO Lieutenant Park ‘Pasta’ Ji-hyun; Republic of Korea Air Force
The following is an
Excerpt from Book 3 of The Theogony:
Terra Stands Alone
___________________
Chris Kennedy
Available from Chris Kennedy Publishing
Summer, 2014
eBook and Paperback
Any problem can be solved with enough high explosives...
Calvin looked up as Lieutenant Finn walked into the room. “Do you have something for us?” he asked.
“Yes, I do,” replied Lieutenant Finn. “I knew there were a variety of bombs and warheads in the database; it was just a matter of finding the right one. I was looking for something that was big enough to destroy the station, yet small enough to be man-portable...or at least cyborg-portable,” he said, looking at Staff Sergeant Randolph. “Can you guys carry something that weighs 300 or so pounds?” he asked.
Staff Sergeant Randolph paused, doing the calculations. “I think we can do that,” he said, looking at Staff Sergeant Dantone, who nodded. “It will take readjusting some things and maybe taking a smaller weapons load, but yeah, it can be done.”
“Okay, that’s great. There was this one bomb that they called the Mother of All Bombs,” Lieutenant Finn said. “That would have done the job very well. But it was way too big to carry. It was about 1,000 pounds, which I didn’t think would work.” Both cyborgs shook their heads. “That was what I thought, so I went with the other one. There are two of them waiting in the replicator room.”
“What are they?” asked Night.
“They are four-stage hydrogen bombs,” said Lieutenant Finn. “Each of them has a yield of about 100 megatons. That is equivalent to almost 3,000 times the combined power of the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hopefully, that will be enough.”
“3,000 times the size?” asked Calvin. “Yeah, that should do it...”
* * * * *
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Kennedy is a former aviator with over 3,000 hours flying attack and reconnaissance aircraft for the United States Navy, including many missions supporting U.S. Special Forces. He has also been an elementary school principal and has enjoyed 18 seasons as a softball coach. He is currently working as an Instructional Systems Designer for the Navy.
Titles by Chris Kennedy:
“Red Storm: The Chinese Invasion of Seattle” – Available Now
“Occupied Seattle” – Available Now
“Janissaries: Book One of The Theogony” – Available Now
“When the Gods Aren’t Gods: Book Two of The Theogony” – Available Now
“Terra Stands Alone: Book Three of The Theogony” – Coming Soon!
* * * * *
Connect with Chris Kennedy Online:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chriskennedypublishing.biz
Blog: http://chriskennedypublishing.com/
Twitter: @ChrisKennedy110
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Table of Contents
Gate Map
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Excerpt from Book 3 of The Theogony