ALL NOVEL Chapter 110 – A Ray of Hope Part 2
1945 June 18th, 2020 CE
Washington D.C.
Ronell looked to Cralson. “If we destroy it, is it possible to regain air superiority?”
“We aren’t certain seeing that we don’t have a clear picture of how their anti-air systems work. We do believe it will degrade their air defense capabilities.”
“Then what are we waiting for? I want missile strikes on that thing this instant.”
Cralson nodded. “The bombers are already in the air, they should be firing their cruise missiles soon. We will get visual confirmation of the damage through the drone.”
“Good. Anything else to report?”
Katrina got Ronell’s attention. “The Ambassador to the Magus Imperium recently finished up his audience with Emperor Arstant. We made the request but he seems reluctant in helping the Mach Imperium.”
“Figures.”
“We will be giving out a detailed report about the meeting later.”
“Thank you, Katrina. I guess we should consider this another way. Does the Mach need help from the Magus? What units do we have in the Mach imperium?”
Cralson responded to that. “We have two National Guard Brigade Combat Teams operating in the Mach Imperium. The 2nd IBCT, 28th Infantry Division from the Pennsylvania National Guard and the 56th IBCT, 36th Infantry Division from the Texas National Guard. We also have many forces in transit so those might not be the final figures. We currently do not have plans in sending additional forces there though. These numbers are lacking when it comes to defending the entire Mach Imperium.”
Ronell crossed his arms together. “Should we provide some incentive to get them to defend the Mach? But what could we offer?”
Everybody in the room stayed silent at that. After a few minutes, Ronell sighed. “I suppose we can consider that later. Cralson, does anyone in the DoD have a clear picture on how many units do we need in San Francisco?”
“We have yet to form a clear idea on the capabilities of the enemy so there is no actual answer. We are hoping that sending a couple brigade combat teams can push them.”
Katrina interrupted. “Well on that note, Emperor Arstant seemed quite willing to help us, though. The ambassador told me that it felt like the emperor was quite enthusiastic to offer it. He says, from his experience, he thinks it probably has something to do with us helping them finally defeat the Mach. I won’t be surprised if there's a part of Arstant that fears that we could make demands from him since we helped them quite a lot against the Mach.”
1645 June 18th, 2020 CE
Somewhere in the middle of San Francisco
A humanoid stood in the middle of a street. His height was comparable to that of a one story house. He looked down at what was below him. “These humans are using quite strange weapons. Quite different from the ones we faced in our world.”
He looked at his second-in-command, Shgvfdyhc, a Regular who was the most intelligent amongst the Regulars he commanded. “Yes Vghng. Agree much. Think they advanced. We careful. Still prey.”
Vghg picked up the object at his feet and flipped it around to what he thought was its upright position. He studied it. The four round things that were at the bottom of the object touched the ground. A memory flickered in him. The humans in his world would put round things on their wooden boxes in order to move them. He could barely remember because no humans existed anymore in his world. This object was different from the wooden boxes seeing that it was made of metal. A human weapon also sat on top of the hatch of the object. It spewed out stuff that caused pain. Vghg thought up a name. “Metal box with four round things at bottom and human weapon on top sounds like a good name for this human weapon.”
Shgvfdyhc didn’t care about the ‘Metal box with four round things at bottom and human weapon on top’ at all and only stared hungrily at the dead humans inside. “There still human inside.”
He grabbed it and shook a human out of it. He then grabbed onto the body and put it into his mouth. Vghg looked at Shgvfdyhc with mild disinterest. “You still eat them raw? You should really try them cooked.”
“No cook. Hate cooked. Taste bad.”
Interstate 280, San Francisco
Andrew looked around and shouted. “Anybody got any spare AR15 ammo? I’m out!”
Someone shouted in response. “Catch!”
“Thank you!”
The attack helicopter had only provided relief for ten minutes before being forced to retreat in order to refuel and rearm. But with the lull in the monster’s advance, they had been able to retake the entire intersection. Andrew had his back against a wall as he reloaded his AR. “Shit how much longer do we have to hold out? The monsters don’t seem to ever stop.”
A Guardsman close to him answered. “Until all the civilians are evacuated. Now less whining and more shooting.”
As Andrew got back to shooting, he noticed that in the short time he had spent talking to the Guardsmen, the Lancefishes had gotten closer. “Shit they are getting through again. Where are the fucking helicopters?”
30 minutes later
They were barely holding the intersection. They had plenty of ammunition gathered but the sheer number of the Lancefishes meant that the monsters inched forward little by little. There also seemed to be some intelligence in the Lancefishes. Instead of letting the bodies pile up, they seemed to have been purposefully moving them aside in order to not block their advance.
Sweat dripped down from Andrew’s head as he fired from his rifle. He had no idea how long he had been fighting for but he was growing seriously tired. Then, what sounded like four pop rivets vibrated through the air. The forwardmost Lancefish instantly collapsed as purple blood sprayed out of it. Andrew looked to his left to see an armored vehicle with a turreted cannon. The cannon on the armored vehicle fired more continuous shots at the monsters. Behind the armored vehicle were multiple Humvees. The military vehicles drove into the intersection and fanned out. Soldiers poured out from the Humvees and opened fire on the Lancefishes.
A few whoops erupted amongst the tried police officers and Guardsmen. Andrew breathed a sigh of life. “Finally, the actual military arrived.”
The Guardsman beside him chuckled. “Hey, we are Army, too. Says so on our patch. Be glad that we were here too or you guys would have been toast.”
Andrew chuckled. “I know, I know. Just a joke.”
A soldier got out of the Humvee and walked in the middle of the intersection. He shouted over the noise of the gunfire. “I’m Second Lieutenant Ryan Scottfield. Commanding officer of 2nd Platoon, Echo Company of the 2/4th Marines. I would like to speak to the officer in charge here.”
A Guardsman responded. “I’m Staff Sergeant Joe Scneider. I believe I’m the highest ranking one at this intersection.”
“Do you not have a platoon leader with you? A Lieutenant?”
“There could be a Guardsman higher ranked than me along this street. I’m not sure. We lost organization during our retreat.”
A policeman interjected. “Well, the chief of police is still on the radio and is basically the one giving commands. Well mostly just giving us instructions. The Guardsmen just joined up with us. We can contact him for you.”
The Marine nodded. “I think it's actually better to patch him through to our Expeditionary Unit commander.”
Ten minutes later
Andrew’s radio crackled. <<<“This is a message to all local law enforcement units. This is Chief of the SFPD, James Hawthrone, I would like to say that you have all gone above and beyond your duties to protect the citizens of San Francisco. Although we have been bolstered by the Marines and National Guard, we are not certain if it's enough to hold these monsters off. We will need some officers to stay and fight on the frontlines. Of course, this is not mandatory. And I will not force anyone to do so. Those who want to stay and fight, stay and fight. Those who do not want to stay and fight, we will need you to help with the evacuations at the City College of San Francisco. No matter if you stay or not, every one of you are heroes. I am proud to serve with the finest men and women the SFPD have ever had. I will be staying at the Ingleside Police Station until the last officer has been evacuated.”>>>
Andrew glanced at Terry. “I think its time for us to go. Well, you can stay if you want but I got two kids who will be orphans if I don’t get back to them.”
Terry nodded. “Mm. Yeah, I'm not interested in playing a hero right now.”
Eric looked around. Quite a few of the police officers had decided to stay and fight. The fire from their LAV-25 kept the Lancefishes at bay. Behind him, three LAV-25s sped by, on their way to help the other intersections.