Extraterrestrial Invasion: Annihilation

Chapter 14: Help

Colonel Rick brought Jason along with him on the way to his spaceship. He had told Jason to wear the chains so it would not look too obvious. On the way to the hangar, a soldier stopped them.

"Sssir, what are you doing with the human child?" the soldier, who was a snake-like creature asked.

"Oh, just bringing my food to my hangar, you know," Colonel Rick made up. "I have the best marinations in there."

"Need help?"

"Nah."

"Come on, I'll keep the boy from going anywhere," the snake pleaded.

"Don't you have a task to do, Brandon?" the colonel reprimanded.

"Oh, yes, my apologiesss, Sssir," Brandon said, and he walked away, eyeing them the whole time as if he suspected something.

"Let's go," Colonel Rick whispered to Jason. "That guy, Brandon, he's one of the smartest guys in our arsenal. I'm sure he is suspecting something.  We have to hurry."

Colonel Rick opened the hangar and Jason was impressed by the grandness of his spaceship. It was the size of a football field with some guns strapped to its engines.

"Come on, boy," Colonel Rick said. "They are about to come any second now."

"Wait, how about Eddie?" Jason asked. "I need to bring him too."

"He's inside," Colonel Rick said. "So is Don. Hurry up."

Jason was reunited with his friends and they got into position for takeoff. Colonel Rick hopped into the cockpit and activated the engines. He pressed a button and the air in the hangar was depressurized. The gate opened after that, but unexpectedly stopped.

"What-what's happening?" Jason asked.

"No, no no no no no!" Colonel Rick yelled.

The gate shut and the air was filled back. The door to the hangar burst open and a dozen soldiers entered, led by Brandon.

"I knew it!" Brandon shouted. "You're essscaping!"

"You don't want to do this, Brandon," Colonel Rick warned. "Tell your soldiers to retreat or you'll lose more than just a colonel and some test subjects."

"Sssoldiersss! Disssable the ssspacccessship!"

The soldiers aimed their weapons at the spaceship, but the colonel pressed a red button and the gate opened without any indication. The air automatically got sucked out into space and the soldiers were scattered. They screamed for air and their bodies bloated.

"Let's get out of here," Colonel Rick said, and the spaceship flew to Earth.

***

General Howard rode in a helicopter provided by Commander Albert. He was accompanied by Colonel Mike.

They arrived at the Pentagon, where the other colonels and commanders were waiting. It was a gloomy sight. There were almost no smiling faces. Even the biggest jokers among the officers had a flat expression. They were losing hope.

"Okay, everyone, gather around," General Howard said. "First, I would like to commemorate the fallen soldiers. May they rest in peace.

"Second, we're going to discuss about the strategy for the next battle. Our probe had recently been discovered and terminated by the aliens, so we can no longer spy on them. Now, I'm going to propose a new plan.

"The aliens only have Air Force, while we have Air Force, Navy and Army. Air Force is not an option, you've seen what happened to our aircrafts when faced against the aliens' device called 'Vibrator'. The Navy might stand a chance, since their only weakness is that they are sinkable.  The Army, not so much. They'll just drop explosives on us. So, yes, we're sticking on the Navy."

"Sir?  I have a question," Major Joseph asked.

"Yes?"

"If the aliens can defeat the Air Force by using a lethal device, what makes you think they can't sink all of the ships at once?" Major Joseph said.

"Oh, yes, you made a good point," General Howard said. "Here—" he sticked a paper to the whiteboard, "—is the ratio between the planes and ships. As you can see, the ship is roughly a hundred times larger than the plane. It'll be much more difficult for them to take down our fleet."

"What if they have a device that has the ability to cause a tsunami?" Lieutenant Richard said. "The thing about the Navy is that they are not on safe grounds. If a tsunami occurs, the ships will be obliterated."

"Ah, good question," General Howard said. "We'll redesign the ships to have more ballasts, thus adding more mass. More mass means more force needed to overturn the ship. It will take a whole lot of power if they want to sink our fleet.

"Any questions? No? Okay. I want all of you to start preparing our soldiers. Train them for the Navy."

***

The spaceship landed on the Potomac River, near the Pentagon. A few soldiers who were patrolling the river pointed their guns at the spaceship.

"Freeze!" they yelled. "Come out and show yourself! Hands up! I repeat: hands up!"

Two boys emerged from the door with their hands in the air.

"Is there anybody else in the vehicle?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Yes," Jason answered. "It's okay, we don't mean any harm."

"I need the others to show themselves" the other soldier demanded.

"Yes, what do you want?" Colonel Rick grumbled as he climbed out. The soldiers were alarmed by the sight of the giant spider, and they were scared to death when they saw Don.

"Don't shoot!" Eddie yelled. "It's okay, they are on our side. This is Colonel Rick, and he has agreed to tell us how to defeat the aliens."

By saying that, they got the soldiers' attention.

"You might want to come with us."

***

General Howard was in his office, calling military officers from other countries and asking for help. He heard a knock on the door after he had finished talking with Commander Albert.

"Sir? There's something you might want to see," Colonel Mike said.

"What is it?"

"See for yourself."

The general walked out of his office and followed the colonel. They walked out of the Pentagon and he was frightened by a giant spider.

"It's okay," Colonel Mike reassured. "This spider, his name is Colonel Rick. He comes from the aliens' spaceship called Annihilator. He will tell us how to defeat the aliens, and in return, he wants to have the largest cave on our planet as his home."

"We'll deal with that later," General Howard said. "Okay, Colonel, tell us how to fight the aliens."

"They have a device called 'magnetic field generator,'" Colonel Rick explained. "They will only use it as a last resort. If they turn on that monster, everything on your planet that contains metal will be sucked out into space.

"So here's my plan. Your planet has about fifty million soldiers, right? We'll use them as a distraction. Spare some soldiers to go to space using my spaceship. We will attack the Annihilator and destroy the device."

"I'm not risking my soldiers!" General Howard said. "What if they ambush your spaceship?"

"My spaceship is invisible from radar," Colonel Rick said.

"Do you agree with him?" General Howard whispered to Colonel Mike.

"You're the one in charge here, aren't you? You must be the one who makes the decision."

"Okay, we'll do it your way," General Howard said.