Odyssey of War

Chapter 9: Headfirst into Hell

A planet appeared on the display, a large blue sphere with large patches of green. Surrounding the planet were thousands of silver spots, some larger than others and one really large one. They were all located in geosynchronous orbit.

"No, that can't be..." Sam said.

"Earth, unfortunately it is" Martin clarified.

"They've caught us off guard and seized the planet within a few hours" the Colonel explained.

"We're receiving images from orbiting satellites. They're moving everyone into massive sites in all the major population centers, and we know their goal is to wipe us out," Martin explained, "There are still small resistances, but they can't hold out forever"

"What happened to our fleet?" I asked.

"All of our ships have been caught in a tractor beam and disabled. Majority of the colonies are untouched, and the Colonel told them the situation, so we'll be receiving reinforcements"

"So what do we do now?" Phillip inquired.

"There's an 80 kilometer long ship in orbit, which is central to winning this," Martin said, followed by several curses from around the table, "It's surrounded by an energy shield that has a space large enough for our ships to maneuver. We also believe it contains three onboard generators powering a single beam"

"It must be some sort of cleansing beam" Sam said.

"What also makes this ship the target is this" the Colonel said, bring another image onto the display. It was footage from Lindsey's suit. Her body wasn't visible, only the shocking view in front of her. A huge chamber was in view, with billions of wires leading to a central orb, "We believe this device may be a central nervous system connecting the Dytari to their hives".

"Our plan is risky, but we don't have any other choice," he paused, "The only way for our vessels to get past that shield is to warp in".

"Are you crazy? Our ships aren't that accurate!" Carlos shouted.

"Our scientists have calculated the jump with considerable room for error, and know exactly when and where to warp" the Colonel replied.

"If our ships safely make it inside the shield, they'll open fire on the eight energy projectors and the tractor beam. They are located on the outer hull" Martin said.

"And after we destroy them? By then we'll have every Dytari ship firing at us" I asked.

"That's when the colony fleets warp in. They, along with the Earth fleet, will begin engaging the Dytari ships, distracting them while we board the command ship aboard cloaked fighters. With support from marines, we will destroy the central chamber and generators with nuclear warheads, just to make sure the job is done"

"I'm still concerned about what will happen when we go through that wormhole" Reeves stated.

"The warp bubble should protect us from any of the wormhole's effects"

We went over other details like fighter formations, and then were dismissed. I walked with Phillip on the way to the hangar, where we were to wait until the attack. "Well I never thought I'd say this, but...I'm a little scared" Phillip said in a gloomy tone.

"We all are. But in the end, we only regret the chances we didn't take" I answered.

"But we might not make it out, you know that"

"If not, then we just have to make sure it wasn't in vain"

An alarm sounded and a voice came over the speakers as we jumped into the fighters, "Men and women of the Epsilon, this is your Captain. Today we face overwhelming odds, threatening to wipe out all we hold dear. But human ignorance demands that we make a stand. No matter the odds, we will be triumphant".