Gronth Ch. 01 Lone Survivor

Author's Note: This story has no sexual content. It contains adult themes, but no actual sex. This is my first story that doesn't involve any sex at all.

Lone Survivor

Matthew Seabolt pulled the F-205 into a tight turn to avoid hitting the two slowly moving Alien fighters and close in on the two Alien fighters firing on his wingman's tail. The Alien fighter's aircraft had terrible pilots, but Jake and Matt were hopelessly outnumbered. The Alien's version of an aircraft carrier had been in orbit for twenty minutes but had just unleashed over a hundred fighters to combat the six that Matt led.

With a well rehearsed flick of his wrist and thumb, Matt Seabolt sprayed the leading Alien fighter with 20mm depleted Uranium slugs. The guns destroyed the enemy craft and sent shrapnel into the other pursuer, damaging it, and knocking him away from their prey as well.

"Two fer" Matt told his wingman as both of the alien craft were eliminated from the battle.

"Thanks Bolt," Jake the Snake acknowledged.

"De nada." Matt replied nonchalantly while lining his sights up on another Alien aircraft.

"Guns." Snake Jackson said in amazement as he used his remaining bullets to destroy the Alien spacecraft in front of him!

"We should've used our guns the whole time." Jake Jackson reiterated.

"Bullets go through Alien armor like tissue paper," Seabolt agreed.

The Alien fighter aircraft were big and sluggish, easy to outmaneuver, but nearly impossible to kill with conventional energy weapons. Only a direct hit in the exhaust manifold in the rear of the craft could bring down one of the big fighters. A hit on any other part of the enemy craft was useless.

The Terran F-205s were easy to shoot down if you could hit one of them. A tailshot was not required, but the Aliens didn't know that. The Gronth had a tough time shooting down the Human pilots as the F-205s shot up the landers with their guns. Nevertheless, the Aliens had shot down four of the E.A.A. fighter aircraft through sheer luck and an endless supply of high energy bolts.

Armor coating on the Alien fighters and landing craft simply absorbed the standard energy cannon blasts, but the energy armor had no defense for the F-205's 20mm GAU multi-barreled guns. The lesson about how to defeat enemy armor was a lesson the E.A.A. Allies had almost learned too late. Matt had relayed this information back to the Carrier so that the Allies would know about the enemy's weakness. Matt was certain that the two species would meet again. It was inevitable.

On board the Space Force Support Carrier John A. LeJeune, Captain Andrew Tyler prepared to engage the faster-than-light drive and FTL out of orbit. Taylors mission now was to return the ship carrying what remained of the scientific expedition and the surviving Space Force escort back to Earth.

"Anything We can do for you before we FTL out of here Matt?" Captain Tyler asked from the bridge of the John A. LeJeune.

"Can you take Snake and me on board yet?"

The extended silence let Matt know that the small ship was still unable to retrieve their aircraft and take him and Jackson aboard in time.

"Sorry Mattthew," the somber voice aboard the ship replied.

LeJeune had taken several hits from the fighters after it had docked with the transports but before it had a chance to recover its fighters. The squadron of the obsolete F-205 aircraft under Major Seabolt had been able to fight off the Alien transports and the troops they disgorged long enough for the majority of emergency transport shuttles to reach the safety of the Escort Carrier. Damage to the larger ship was becoming critical, especially after an Alien Carrier had arrived to support the Alien Troop Ship and began sending fighters toward the LeJeune and its missiles.

"You'd better get out of here," Matt told his friend, knowing that as soon as the Carrier left orbit, he and his wingman would be all alone to fight the Alien enemy.

"Any last words?" Tyler asked over the comm link.

Matt could hear the sound of the ship's engines revving up to jump to FTL in the background.

"Tell General Hodges that if faced with the same circumstances, I would do it all over again."

Matt knew as well as anybody that Tyler couldn't send or receive messages from Earth. The ship was in the shadow of the Crab Nebula and specialists had still not learned how to cancel out the noise from the cosmic event. The expedition hadn't been able to send or receive communications from back home for months.

All Matt knew was that the old man was punishing him and every other senior officer who had messed up somehow, by sending them on this five year mission to Zandor. Matt was here because he had refused to fire on innocent women and children. Rather than destroy a military compound where all of the U.Te.P. leaders were meeting, Matt discovered that the opposition leaders were with their families at an interplanetary competition. Matt's refusal to strafe and bomb the Youth Games on Keppler led to his demotion and further disciplinary actions.

"I'll be sure to tell him. Goodbye Matt. Goodbye Jake."

The silence on the other end of the comm unit let Matt know that the ship had engaged the FTL drive and it was just "Snake" and he left to kill as many enemies as they could. The reptiles were going to have to pay dearly for this rock in space.

"Are you seeing this?" Jake asked Matt incredulously, referring to the spectacle of the flesh eating Aliens searching the ruins for human or Alien remains."Those are some blood-thirsty bastards!"

"I just hope that the leaders on Earth are going to get to see all of this too," Matt said.

He hoped that the video feeds from the surface of Zandor were going to be transmitted back home as soon as the Carrier was within range. Humans needed to see what kind of enemy they were up against and quit the useless Civil War that was currently being waged between several Earth Analog planets. All humans, regardless of their birth planet, would be needed to defend against this new Alien enemy.

"I'm out of everything," Jake told Matt, referring to his energy cannon batteries and ammunition for his guns. "Has everyone else gotten away?" Jake asked as he flew away from the retreating Alien fighters.

"LeJeune just hit the FTL. They're out of orbit, and out of danger," Matt answered.

"It looks like the Aliens are bugging out too," Jake said, noticing that the Alien fighters were leaving and that the surviving landing craft had begun to gather in a central location with their trophies of half-eaten human flesh.

"I guess we were too much for them," Matt suggested.

"They realize that they've already won," Jake said wisely. "They'll regroup and return, just like our people will," he predicted.

"It's too bad that we won't be around to kick some more Alien ass," Matt told his wingman.

"I'm running low on fuel Bolt. I think I'm going to Kamikaze their human eating asses," Jackson said as he lined his plane up with the group of craft gathering on the ground below.

"It's been an honor to serve with you Matt."

"Same here Jake. I've got gas and bullets. I'm going for the Troop Ship," Matt said.

Matt was headed toward the big Alien spacecraft that had discharged the dozens of landing craft whose soldiers had taken the base camp. Even though the F-205 was an obsolete atmospheric dogfighter, it had been used primarily to attack the Alien shuttles and troops who had marched against the compound. Now, Matt was going to use the F-205 for its unintended role as a space fighter.

Matt still had enough fuel to make it to space and ammunition for his guns. Matt flew toward the Carrier that orbited Zandor in a synchronous orbit. Matt's intent was instantly apparent as soon as he pointed the nose of his fighter skyward. Every remaining Alien fighter aircraft was unleashed on Matt's plane. As Matt emptied his guns into the larger ship, he was buffeted by enemy fire.

Alarms began sounding from multiple internal systems. Matt's engines were hit and his fighter was heading like a rock toward the planet below. Matt fought to keep the F-205 airborne. With no enemy craft pursuing him, Matt was able to vector toward an area of green foliage on the side of the planet far distant from the compound. If there was water there, maybe he could survive. He could see the sand and rock of Zandor's surface rushing up at him. With Herculean effort, Matt was able to pull the fighter into straight and level flight before pulling the ejection lever.

Matt's parachute had been damaged in the firefight and had only partially opened. He slammed into the ground at high speed and almost upside down. The impact knocked all of the air out of Matt's lungs and he laid there, trying to catch his breath, trying to take in his surroundings and check his body for damage.

He was conscious at least, the flight helmet had worked to protect his head, that was good. He could clearly hear water flowing near him and thought of the spring the scientists had found near their compound. If this spring was similar, he would have water to drink and vegetation to eat for years to come. Eventually, his people would return.

Matt tried to remove his helmet to look around, but fainted from the pain in his head and neck. When he regained consciousness, he realized that he was totally paralyzed. Neither his arms or legs responded to the commands his brain was sending them. He must've broken his neck on impact with the ground. Matt waited another few minutes until his nausea cleared and tried again to move a part of his body, any part.

Matt's vision was beginning to fade and he felt very cold. His training told him that in addition to being paralyzed, he was probably bleeding out from other internal injuries and was going into shock. Matt thought that he was hallucinating when a building materialized in front of him and a group of humanoids rushed out to assist him. At least they looked humanoid. They certainly weren't reptiles. Matt breathed a sigh of relief and thankfully lost consciousness.