Chapter 14: Full Scale Attack

Somewhere on Minchiva . . .

"The first wave of attack has been sent and will engage the enemy in five minutes" Tarc told General Kran.

"Good, send out the second wave of fighters" the General responded. "How are our ground defenses?"

"They're holding out just fine except for the south sector" Tarc reported.

"What's wrong with the south sector?" the General asked him.

"Well, apparently over one hundred ships have landed there, they've wiped out all life in that area. Our weapon systems have been keeping them at bay, but with more ships landing, we're not sure how much longer they'll hold. Additional ground forces should be arriving there now."

"How are evacuation efforts?" General Kran asked.

"Continuing as planned Sir" Tarc said.

"It's time to end evacuation efforts. The enemy fleet is too close, and we need all soldiers we can get onto each ship" the General ordered

"Yes sir!" Tarc said with enthusiasm. She knew what her orders were, but she would never deliver them. In her heart, Tarc knew not everyone on the planet could be saved, but she would see to it that everyone would try to be saved.

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The first wave of ships is about to engage the enemy . . .

Air Commander Micrisk was leading the first wave of attack. A million thoughts went through his head all at once. However, he had to concentrate on the attack. The risks involved were enough for him to focus on the issue at hand.

Micrisk gave the command: "Prepare to fire in five, four, three, two, one!"

The jet fighters engaged the fleet. "These ships are taking more hits than we expected Commander!" shouted a voice over the jet COM link system.

"Pull back and repeat attack!" Micrisk shouted in response. Most of the ships were able to pull back, but the return fire from the alien attackers was too much for many of the pilots.

"I got one! I got one!" shouted an obviously new pilot.

Micrisk responded "Don't get too excited, there are thousands more where that came from."

Once the fleet had reformed the original attack formation, they began firing at the enemy fleet.

"They're not falling fast enough, fire at will! Fire at will!" Micrisk ordered.

The pilots began firing at any ships that came within range. Initially, they were successful. Micrisk was usually very observant, however, he couldn't seem to keep up with the fast paced attach of the alien fleet.

"Pull back! There are too many!" Pull back into the second wave of the M.A.D Fleet the repeat attack!" shouted Air Commander Micrisk. "This is Air Commander Micrisk to base, can you read me?"

"This is General Kran, what is your status?"

"I'm pulling back and joining the second wave of M.A.D. ships to re-enforce them. We need more backup" Micrisk responded.

"Will do, over and out" General Kran finished.

The General then contacted communications official Tarc. His battle plans weren't as good as he had though; the alien fleet was proving to be more than they could handle. General Kran ordered more ships to help back up the fleet. Soon, the full alien fleet would be arriving, and the end would be near. He gave the order to back up the fleet, hoping it would give him enough time to get the entire planetary army up and running.

"We need to get all full evacuation shuttles off the planet! I'm sending you the coordinates for the retreat location now Head General Sutivay" General Kran eagerly suggested to the Head General over the COM system.

"I was hopping it wouldn't come to this" General Sutivay stated.

"We all hoped it wouldn't sir" was all General Kran could say in response.

"Very well then, we'll get as many off the planet as we can immediately" Head General Sutivay assured General Kran.

The Minchivan Air Defense Fleet was very powerful, but for the first time they seemed to be at a disadvantage. Never before had they faced an enemy so powerful. Perhaps the inhabitants of Minchiva had become too smug with their superior technology that so many from other worlds had tried to steal. Something was different with these aliens however. They seemed not to care about Michivan technology, for they shot everywhere but at their own ships. Their attack patterns seemed sloppy and unpredictable. If there was an answer to the madness, it wasn't coming soon.

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Back at the Cryogenics lab, the sound of artillery exploding filled the air and hundreds of alien creatures still filled the streets.

"When are the evacuation shuttles going to arrive? We should've been on shuttles hours ago! There's supposed to be enough room for all of us!" Gridy kept ranting.

"Will you shut up! They'll get here when they get here!" Blackie shouted back.

Sando interrupted before the situation developed. "Both of you calm down. Blackie is right, but until then lets try to keep things peaceful around here. Why don't we find something to do until it is safe to leave the building."

Some of the scientists in the room began backing up the remainder of their data. Others began packaging up small bits of equipment. Blackie packed up his cryo-chamber models, samples of frozen organic matter, and certain chemicals.

After some time, one of the scientists shouted, "the Data Registry is still on line! I'm sending all available data to it right now."

"That's great!" Sando replied. "See, things are looking up. We'll be able to back up a large amount of the planet's info and a launch it to a safe location in space."

"But the Data Registry Time Capsule won't be sent out for another week, how can we be sure it'll survive this war?" Gridy asked.

"That thing is built out of some of the strongest materials we can get, and the Data Registry isn't on this planet so the aliens might not even find it" Blackie replied.

A communication then came up on their communications console, interrupting their conversation.

"This is Captain Restus of the Victory Arrow. I've crash-landed just a few blocks east of your building. I'm badly injured and was just barely able to get this communications console operative. The ship can't take off but if any of you can make here alive, I may be able to help you fly out of here."