Alien Mine Ch. 21

Jessica watched from the back of the control room or bridge, but it wasn't anything she had ever imagined. Holograms, chairs that adjusted to every movement of your body, the robots that served food. Though nothing compared to the strangeness of seeing Sandy's red hair extend from her head and merge with the walls and ceiling, even the floor, and nothing in her life had prepared her for Rhys. The sheer physical pleasure of being with him and his overwhelming masculinity had taken her by surprise and stripped away the defenses built up dealing with her injury. It had been at least two years since she had been with another man, but those men weren't built like Rhys. Rhys had a presence she had never experienced. The first night after coming out of the med unit, healed of most of her scars and injuries, she had frozen under his gaze like a deer in headlights. That look in his eyes rooted her to the spot, but her heart began beating so fast that she became dizzy and disoriented. Six foot six, broad chest rippling with muscles, and dressed in his midnight blue fatigues, Rhys had looked like a warrior out of a fantasy novel. He radiated vitality, and his face held a carnal beauty promising dark pleasures Jessica had only dreamed about. She saw something in him that she had never felt before in a man, something dark and dangerous underneath his charm and sophistication, something that drew her in like a moth to a fire.

Rhys had lived up to her dreams, and he had seduced her one perfect kiss at a time. Over the last three weeks, she had become intimately acquainted with Rhys' physical attributes and his many inventive ways of finding time for a hot fuck during the busy days and nights leading up to this. And not just Rhys. Mika had been clear when she described the changes Jessica would undergo. The other women, especially Sandy, were not shy about dragging Jessica into a corner and licking her pussy until she screamed in pleasure. Now Jessica had a constant slow burn of arousal, and she blushed at how little personal restraint remained to her. Even today, Rhys had fucked her, licked her, and fucked her again.

Jessica felt eyes on her and looked up to see the strange but beautiful creatures known as Hua looking at her with amused eyes. Jessica turned an even brighter shade of red when she remembered that Hua and the others could sense her emotions. God, how embarrassing; she was acting like a feral cat in heat.

Thea's weapons had moved into position out of the orbit of the asteroid belt and were crossing over the south and north poles, hidden from their targets by the curvature of the earth and the stealth systems on each of them. Fifty rocks that were approximately sixty meters in diameter had been hollowed out and sheathed in Drans metal. Each one was shielded and loaded with anti-missile batteries. Each Om base would be targeted by ten rocks streaking low over the horizon to give the Om as little reaction time as possible. They would all arrive within seconds of each other, streaking into the atmosphere at previously unobtainable speeds. While the rocks could destroy the Om bases, the actual weapons were contained within. Ten missiles made of 1.5 cubic meters of copper core surrounded by Drans metal that would instantly accelerate to 118, 358 kilometers/sec and strike with the kinetic energy of a fifteen-megaton nuclear explosion. These would be released when the weapon platforms reached optimal range or were destroyed or damaged by the Om defenses.

Accelerating the hollowed-out rocks to hit the atmosphere at the correct velocity had been the most complex part; there was no room for error, and it was impossible to predict the exact atmospheric conditions they would encounter on the way to their targets. Ideally, each Om base would be simultaneously attacked from five different directions, and they would be struck within seconds of each other. The AI had run millions of models, which suggested a 63.2% chance that three or more of the bases would be destroyed but only a 23.7 % chance that the main base would suffer severe damage. If the rocks survived to get within twenty kilometers, the chance of success increased dramatically. Each rock would fire ten hyper-accelerated weapons at that distance, giving the Om less than 0.02 seconds to acquire, target, and destroy them. Thea and the AI had extensively modeled the attack acceleration and velocity and were confident at least two of the weapons would penetrate the Om defenses. That was the estimated minimum needed to ensure destruction. However, the models were built on assumptions that couldn't be verified, and they knew little about these extensive Om hives. How deep and wide did the structure go; what was the strength of the tunnels and caverns? Given the many assumptions, they had gone for overkill, deciding it was better to live with the destruction multiple strikes would cause than to leave a hive partially destroyed.

Everyone watched the hologram display as twenty-five weapons streaked into the atmosphere from the south pole, and another twenty-five from the north pole, accelerating as they fell down the gravity well. As the Rocks entered the atmosphere, they immediately altered trajectories, adjusting velocities as each took a different programmed course so that the five targets would each be attacked by two weapon platforms from five different directions. The weapons crisscrossed the Earth heading for their respective targets, and the time to impact scrolled down. Thea found herself holding her breath as they began to converge on Kazakhstan, Iran, Chad, and Brazil, as well as the main Om Base on the China/India border. Rhys noted the reports of alarms sounding as the extensive heat signatures were picked up and reported. "Fire from the main Om base," Thea said with little inflection in her voice. It was frustrating, but there was nothing for them to do now, the dice had been rolled, and all they could do was sit back and await the results. At least a hundred missiles streaked up from the base, attempting to target all fifty rocks. That wouldn't work; the Om would have to use much more than that to overwhelm the rock's defenses.

The weapon platforms began to maneuver randomly but within narrow parameters; speed kills, and Thea wanted maximum velocity. They watched the outgoing fire as more of the nests recognized the threat, but the low altitude was designed to keep the incoming weapons below the fire horizon of the Om. Because of the multiple paths necessary, most of the earth saw fiery streaks across the sky and massive sonic booms.

General Nichilson watched the hologram incredulously as the real-time display showed the earth and the speeding asteroids. He was furious; most of them were. Not being told about the aliens was a blow, and he wondered if this was real or had the new President gone crazy. "My God," he said half to himself as the weapon platforms moved around the earth like so many moths circling a light. The Department of Defense was aware of some unexplained events that had happened lately, especially the "terrorist attack" on Moscow. There had been much speculation about that, but it had been written off as a coup attempt that went wrong. Now the new Vice President gave them a short briefing explaining it was an attack on an alien base by US forces that no one in the Pentagon knew anything about. So what the fuck was really going on, he wondered, looking around the table at the many incredulous faces. Where did this force come from, and who was commanding it.

General Nichilson looked at the President and Vice President, wondering what their roles were in this, and he was suspicious of their motives for keeping everyone in the dark about the threat, if there really was one. Then the General looked at the strange drones before turning back to the display. Tiger drones, the VP had called them. He had never seen anything like them, which brought even more questions. They had responded to her command, and the Chairman wondered who they were to protect against, aliens or themselves.

On the shuttle, Rhys watched one of the rocks explode well short of its target, then another disappeared at 1000 kilometers from the main Om hive. Thea's weapons were still below the horizon, making targeting difficult. "Active fire from all bases," Sandy called out as the timer continued to run down, but the Om could only focus fire on a few of the incoming weapons. Missile fire was intense from all the Om nests; these didn't worry Thea, they would lose some to the missile fire, but it was the energy beams that Thea was most concerned about. The shields could take a hit or two depending on the strength, but after that, they would be vulnerable.

"Multiple incoming on all," Thea announced as all the weapons approached their targets. It was now a missile duel that would be short and violent. Another weapons platform disappeared, then another. Striking the main base looked less and less likely as the Om identified the most threatening and concentrated their fire. However, that left the other nests vulnerable.

Seconds later, multiple violet beams lashed out from all the Om nests, and Thea's weapon platforms began to take hits. At the speed they were moving, a failure in the field protecting the rocks resulted in a massive explosion and fireball streaking across the sky. Rhys watched silently as the first one came apart. It was a spectacular explosion, and the missiles it contained hyper-accelerated at the Om base in Brazil. "Damn, they got those," Thea swore angrily, but then others released their missiles, and some of them got through. "Brazil is gone," Thea all but shouted in relief as a hundred square kilometer circle of rainforest disappeared.

The timer approached zero, and more weapons platforms were destroyed, but those that survived launched their missiles. It happened in a microsecond as explosions rippled through the landscape and the atmosphere above the targets, too fast for even Rhys to keep track of. Multiple impacts, Chad down as well," Thea reported calmly, looking at the seismic data; ten strikes, severe damage to the surrounding area expected. Five hits on Kazakhstan, one on Iran, and one on the Om main base. Iran had medium damage," she said as the Ai sorted the results of the strike, minimal destruction on the main hive.``

Let's finish Iran Rhys said, and Sandy immediately plotted a course, and the shuttle began to accelerate. Wait! Thea shouted, Rhys, China."

"My God," said General Nichilson as he witnessed the damage from the attack. "Are you crazy!", he blurted out, "We just attacked Brazil, Iran, and even China," he said, forgetting himself. "Are you out of your mind," he half shouted again at the President. Anita ignored him, still staring at the hologram; the Binary would deal with him if he got out of control. They could see the damage to the areas under attack; unfortunately, the central enclave of the Om was mainly undamaged, and it looked like only one missile had gotten through the defenses in Iran. Carl suddenly looked at Anita in alarm, "China," he said softly, but Anita had already seen the same thing.

"Rhys," she said, knowing he would have also seen it.

"Jesus Christ," one of the generals shouted, "China is launching."

"God Damn it, North Korea just launched, and Iran," someone else shouted from the table.

All eyes turned to the President as the hologram showed hundreds of missiles launching from China and multiple launches from submarines in the Pacific. General Nichilson turned to the president, his face shifting between rage and fear. Mr. President, we must retaliate now; this is an all-out attack that will destroy us. We must launch now!"

"No!" Anita said sharply, and all eyes turned toward her.