I hope you had a great vacation LB!
Indeed, lots of fun! The last day was grueling with all the travel; with the time difference we were up for 24 hours straight. Just got back this morning.
* * * * *
Session 24 (October 6, 2008)
Chapter 104
Dust and hot air hissed from the exhaust vents of the Lightning as it settled down onto the landing pad in HQX’s main hangar. Teams of men and women, dressed in the uniforms that identified their assignment, rushed into action: biological containment crews to deal with dead aliens, or living captives in stasis; engineers to grab tech and take custody of heavy weaponry; and finally armor-clad security officers to make sure that there were no unexpected surprises.
The teams worked with the efficiency of trained veterans who knew the drill. In the crowded space none of them bumped into or dislodged the others, and a subtle space opened around the Alphas as they emerged from the belly of the aircraft.
They were battered and blackened, their armor smeared with the impact burns from plasma bolts, and in more than one case they moved with a limp, or favored an arm pressed up close against their bodies. Stan White’s medical team was there with motorized gurneys, but to a man the Alphas shrugged them off. Even Mary, who could barely walk, and was being helped forward by Jane, whose powered armor wheezed and clanked as she moved.
Vasily dropped his plasma cannon—a new one, taken off an alien leader—onto a rolling cart with a loud clank. Hallorand was standing there, a grim look on his face. “Rough one?”
“They all rough,” Vasily said. But as he looked back at his battered team, he added, “Eight dozen. At least.”
“We saw the visuals on what happened downtown. It looked like a freaking nuke went off.”
“That… new weapon,” Vasily said, nodding toward Hadrian, who was carrying the alien blaster launcher in both hands. The Marine started to toss it onto the cart, but two techs intercepted him, carefully taking the weapon. “Got a new toy for you to examine,” he said. The techs treated it like an archeologist discovering a rare artifact, carefully rolling it into a padded plastic sheath before placing it in a secure storage canister. From there, it would go to the labs for a complete workup. “Leave huge smoking crater in street,” Vasily said. “If not for suits, we all be overcooked sausage. It almost kill Mary anyway.”
“Heard that the Army took heavy casualties,” Hallorand said.
“As did the police,” Hadrian said.
“They hung in there,” James said. “No one ran, at least not that I saw. They were outgunned, but they didn’t run.”
“All right, get yourselves down to Medical,” Hallorand said. “Stan’s expecting you there.”
A few hours later, most of the Alphas had gathered in the lounge. They still looked battered, with fresh bandages covering wounds that still needed to heal, miraculous alien medicines notwithstanding. They sat together in relatively silence, while a woman’s voice came over the television monitor.
“…and the reports are that casualties will be in the thousands before the count is finished. However, it could have been much worse.” An image of New York after the alien bombing appeared on the screen, before the newscast returned to scenes of disaster response teams working as the fought the blazes still going in Los Angeles.
“Could have been millions if the alien battleship was still flying,” Catalina said.
“We have reports that government special combat teams helped out, striking down the alien attackers.”
“They still don’t want to use our name, eh?” James commented.
“The attack began with the aliens deploying numerous assault pods throughout the LA basin. We have pictures here from Burbank Airport, where the aliens known as ‘floaters’ deployed from a pair of pods dropped by an alien cruiser. More floaters, along with the devastating aliens called ‘reapers,’ landed on I-5 nearby. We have these still images taken by survivors from the scene, which indicates the ferocity of the alien attack.”
“Hey, Vas, is that you in that pic?” Jane asked, pointing at the screen. The Russian grunted, but didn’t look up.
“And then, of course, there was the desperate scene at City Hall. The aliens landed the largest force there, where they engaged city police units and elements of the 160th National Guard Battalion. This is also where the aliens detonated their terror weapon.” The scene changed again, showing images of the destruction on Spring Street, flames flickering around the edges of the crater. The building itself was still mostly intact, although every window had been shattered, and part of the front portico had collapsed. The Alphas didn’t need to look up; they’d been there.
“It is now clear that this attack was part of a broader alien attack. We’ll have more on the attacks in Mazatlan, Dublin, and Toronto after a short break, and we’ll stay on our main story, Los Angeles Terror, throughout the day. This is Alicia Thomson, KCAL news.”
The display turned to a scene that might have been an echo of the dark images from the news report. “Do you suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder?” a reassuring male voice said. “If so, then ALGOREX may be what the doctor…”
James tossed down the remote. “Heard that the Toronto attack was sectoids. The Canadians were able to take them out before the aliens could cause too much damage.”
“Sectoids versus Canadians,” Vasily said. “I guess that sounds pretty even.”
“Doc Wagner said that we got the worst of it,” Catalina said. “British Tornadoes downed a pair of alien ships just outside Dublin, but a few pods got through. Some casualties, and damage to the inner city.”
“Go Brits,” Jane said.
“Any word from Beta?”
“Still down in Mexico, I heard one of the com techs say,” Catalina said. “Their military response wasn’t as fast, and last I heard they were trying to track down a few aliens that they lost in the back alleys behind the Centro Histórico.”
“I guess they got some new recruits,” Vasily said, which killed the conversation.
The outer door opened, and Mary came in, shadowed by a medical tech. The Indian woman looked tired, and the tech’s presence seemed to be more than just cautionary, but she managed a slight smile as she saw the others.
“So… am I a soldier yet?” she asked them.
“As much of one as I was,” Catalina said, getting up for a refill of her coffee.
Vasily glanced up. “You break down and cry yet? No? Then I guess you pass.”
