Book by: Ethyn

Chapter 5: Jericho

Reads: 144

Two days earlier, in the southern state of Ohio, near the border of Kentucky and West Virginia…

Eric shot at the head of a humanoid, but it wasn’t enough.The smoke of the old bombs filled the starry night with fire and lights.More humanoids came rushing out of the trees shooting at Eric and the other Mechsoldiers on the hills.It was no use trying to hide from them, because the humanoids could naturally see very well at night.

Bullets came zipping past Eric, impacting the ground and occasionally some of the soldiers.They were running down the hill into the thousands of trees to provide cover from the oncoming bullets.Eric hid behind a large narrow tree, just barely avoiding a sniper shot.He aimed around the tree, and using his optical zoom in his eyes, Eric could see the humanoids clearly without the help of a scope.He aimed his rifle and fired a couple shots at a few humanoids with good precision.Then an RPG missile exploded a tree just ten yards away from him.Eric traced the RPG path and found the shooter, but someone had beaten him to it and shot the humanoid.

He aimed at another humanoid.Dang!Jackson’s a lot faster than I am, Eric thought.He shot a few more humanoids, but no matter how many he shot, more just keep coming anyway.Eric one time almost gave up when he was fighting for almost three days straight.The real reason, Eric thought, is because the Hybrids are trying to get across the borders of Canada.I just had to be called to be here.Lucky for Eric, the Canadians have lost more people trying to keep back the Hybrids for almost forty years.Yeah, real comforting thought, Eric thought.

A bullet hits Eric in the shoulder of the newly strong armor thanks to the Xavier Industries and Jason Pratt, for the report.

It hadn’t caused real damaged to the Crystal Armor.Typical of Xavier, Eric thought, always a passion for exotic minerals.Of course the armor isn’t really made of Crystals, but that’s what it reminded Marshal Xavier of.

No time for admiring the stupid armor, there was a battle going on.Eric shot a couple more humanoids.A RPG missile missed Eric and exploded on the ground behind him.Eric channeled the laser power to his four inch wide Pulsar Cannon.He aimed at a group of humanoids and pulled the secondary trigger.A large beam shot and exploded with a blue aura, disintegrating the group of humanoids.Unfortunately, sparks of electricity crawled around his gun, indicating that the gun will need to stabilize again.His rifle was not designed to be ready to fire another blast like the PC-12 or 15.The sparks tingled his arm and then they settled after a couple of seconds.

Eric deactivated the Pulsar Cannon and continued firing with the same laser frequency at default level.He fired at more humanoids heads, killing them with a single shot.

“Air patrol,” an English accented voice said on the radio, “We need air support in 489.77 North, 18.45 West.”

“Uh, no can do Juliet 9.All airships are already bombing and or under repairs.We’re short on airships.”

“Then maybe you can do something.” The voice said.

“Does it look like my aircraft is capable of airstrikes?I don’t think so.You’ll just have to take care of things on your own for now.”

“Fine!Nathan out.”

Eric swore in his thoughts.So much for a loud bang.

A sniper shot zipped past Eric’s face.He traced the bullet path to the sniper and shot the humanoid.He got hit near the forehead of his helmet.His head shook for a few seconds and tried to find the sniper, but as usual, Jackson beat him to it.Eric’s armor integrity showed up in his eyes and he saw that his helmet integrity was at 91%.The rest of his armor parts were at 100% besides his left shoulder which was at 96%.

That’s how well Xavier’s Crystal Armor works.If these rounds were sabot rounds then it might do more damage.

Eric changed his vision to x-ray vision.The surroundings turned blue and he saw red skeletons behind the trees.Eric twisted the Frequency tuner so the display numbers where at 7.2; just enough penetrate through the trees.He aimed at one of the skeletons skull and fired.The skeleton fell to the ground turning green.He aimed at other skeletons and fired, killing them.Other beams of laser did the same thing.Burned through the trees and killing the humanoids.

Then Eric felt the ground rumble beneath his feet.Eric changed his vision to motion sensor.He saw white waves coming toward Juliet 9 from over the hill.He returned his vision to normal and used his optical zoom and his vision enclosed at the top of the hill.A tank rolled over the top of the hill and continued its course downhill.He zoomed back to normal vision and saw other tanks, maybe at least twenty, coming over the hill.

“Captain!” Eric yelled, “Katrina tanks are coming over the hill!No IFF detected!They’re the Hybrids!”

“Dang!How did they get their hands on those things?!” Nathan yelled back, “Doesn’t matter now.Victor, take your team and head two o’ clock northwards to those tanks over there.Henry, your team go far ten o’ clock northwest to those tanks.Joseph, your team goes to dead eleven o’ clock northwestward.The rest of us stay hidden and provide cover support.”

Everyone acknowledged.Eric was on Henry’s team.On the TEAMChanel, Henry ordered, “My team rendezvous at the marked position.”

In Eric’s vision, a red beacon was flashing to the west of him.He ran twenty meters meeting with his team.The team members were Henry Ackernell, Riley Sanders, and Jackson Terrance.

“Marking tanks.” Riley said.After a moment, all the tanks were marked red.

“Any plans?” Henry asked his teammates.Eric thought for a moment, analyzing the situation.It didn’t take him long to figure it out.

“We could switch to x-ray vision, adjust the frequency, and snipe them out.” Eric said.

“Good point, but I’ve already made scans of the tank.” Jackson objected.

“What’s your point?” Eric asked.

“Those tanks are unmanned.Remote controlled.”

Eric shook his head, “So much for Hybrids in a tank.”

“The Katrina Tanks should have a CPU inside their mainframe.Take it out, and we take out the tank.” Riley said

In Eric’s HUD, an emergency signaled red on the upper right hand corner.He brought it up and the readout said: Area of destruct.Ballistic weapon danger.

He didn’t even have to say anything.They ran to the west out of the area the tank was about to fire.The cannon of the tank popped and the ground exploded where Henry’s team could’ve been.

“We better not look for the CPU.We’ve got to destroy these tanks before they level the place.”

Everyone acknowledged.It seemed like the best plan anyway.The team ran out of the trees exposing themselves to open fire.Bullets and RPG missiles crashed the ground as they ran toward the Tanks.Eric got hit by several bullets in the arm, chest, and head.A grenade exploded at Riley’s feet and he flew forward laying on the ground.He slowly tried to get himself standing up, but his arms failed and fell back down to the ground.Jackson ran back and hoisted him up with one arm over his shoulder.

Eric turned his attention back at the tanks.He quickly scanned the tank for anything that could indicate any sign of weakness.His hopes died out as he completed his scans and found none, save for the CPU inside the tank.His results came up that even at the highest and minimum frequency wouldn’t be enough to penetrate through all the alloys of the tanks armor.The pulse cannon could work, but the risk of the entire gun exploding was high.He checked the grenade count on his belt.He only had two more pulse grenades left.

An explosion impacted the ground and Eric flew back on the ground.He quickly got back up on his feet and he scanned the tank again for any other weakness.Destroying the treadmills would only immobilize them, but not stop them from firing.It could, though, stop them from running down any of the trees and his Mechsoldier allies.After scanning the tank again, he discovered that the turret was run by gear mechanisms and a few circuit boards.If he took out both the treadmills and the gear mechanisms the tank would virtually be dead.

He synced a line through Henry, “Henry, I’ve done thorough scans of the tanks and I’ve figured out how we could virtually destroy the tanks.”

Henry’s voice spoke, “I’m listening.”

“Riley is right.There is a CPU inside the tank, but shooting it will be impossible due to thick and multiple alloys.”

“So what’s your plan?”

“We can take out the treadmills and the gear mechanisms inside the turret.By killing the gear mechanisms, we also kill the circuit boards that control the turret.”

“That’s a good plan.Team you heard that.Take out the trea…” An RPG missile crashed into Henry’s chest, knocking him back.Eric’s heart nearly stopped, but then Henry pushed himself off the ground, recovering himself.

“Henry, are you okay?” Jackson asked.

He didn’t say anything for a moment, “Chest armor integrity’s at 74%.I’ll be fine.”

Eric heard Jackson sigh in relief, “Thank Xavier for the Crystal Armor.”

Eric chuckled, “They certainty are much better than the Onyx Plating before Jason Pratt died.”

“No time for jokes.Those tanks still pose a threat to us.We’re going by Eric’s plan.You know what to target, then take them out.”

Riley managed to walk on his two feet, limping.Jackson raced up to Eric and slapped the back of his helmet. “Good thinking Eric.Should’ve thought of that earlier.”

“You just better hope I don’t get the best of you next time.” Eric said back at him and held up his rifle, aiming at the treadmills.He only needed to shoot one of the wheels and the entire set of wheels would be eliminated.

Just as he was about to fire he was getting hit rapidly by machine gun rounds from the tanks minigun.His armor integrity was dropping fast.Eric fell back by the force of the rounds and was getting pinned down by the bullets.He saw Jackson run up to the minigun, placed his rifle at it, and starting shooting through the gun till it exploded, sending him back on the ground.Eric’s chest integrity had dropped to 66% and his helmet had dropped to 71%.Jackson’s armor he wasn’t sure of.

“You just hand to miss that gun, didn’t you?” Jackson grunted, getting himself up.

“You wouldn’t believe how much I want to hug you for saving me.” Eric said standing up.

“I just look at what was overlooked.”

“Thank you for doing that.” Eric said, shooting one of the wheels.The wheel fell off and the treadmill wobbled and then fell off from the top.The wheels spun fast, trying to get the tank moving but with no progress.Eric took his opportunity and targeted the circuit boards in the turret and shot through the alloy, destroying the board.

Eric nearly relaxed when the turret continued shooting.Jackson shot the turret and the shooting ceased.Eric targeted another tank, but just as he did, he skyrocketed into the air by another tank and impacted on the ground.Slowly getting up, letting the shock fluid ease the shock of his impact.

Eric looked behind him and saw another Katrina tank rolling over the hill behind him.Eric quickly found the circuit board and shot it then shot the treadmills disabling the tank.His armor integrity had dropped to 51%.

A humanoid stomped on his knee bending it forward and whacked Eric on the head.He grabbed a knife and stabbed the humanoid behind him in the chest and the humanoid fell to the ground dead.Eric sheathed his knife and rolled to the side avoided a Katrina tank from rolling him over.

Eric pulled out a pulse grenade and threw it on the tank, taking cover.The grenade exploded with a blue light of a pulsing laser, disintegrating the tank.His head got hit by a far off bullet shot.Eric tracked the bullet path and killed the sniper that was out five hundred yards away.

He aimed at another circuit board of another tank and shot it and disabling the tank.Eric turned to the right and saw another Katrina tank about to fire.Before the tank fired, a blue beam came from the sky and exploded the tank.Eric ducked and covered his head from flying metal.

Eric shot more tanks and disabling them and ran to the top of the hill.When he looked down, he was amazed at the sight.Tanks kept rolling up the hill and Hybrids following with them.

“Henry, this is Eric.” He was saying, “We might want to consider Jerichoright now.”

“Why would you make a suggestion like that, Eric?”

“Because,” Eric swallowed, “This assault isn’t going to end.”

“Specify soldier!”

“Tanks…Lots of tanks and a whole heck load of Hybrids coming up the hill.”

“Specify soldier!How many?!”

Eric made a scan of the entire region, “There’s about…” Eric was interrupted when five humanoids tackled him to the ground and began trying to stab knifes into Eric.Luckily, The Crystal Armor could withstand knife stabs and it would only take out .05% of his armor integrity.But with this many humanoids stabbing him and counting, he could die at any instant.

Eric tried to fight them off but could do little.He grabbed the neck of a humanoid; his internal adrenaline activated boosting his strength, and threw the humanoid over his head.Eric grabbed his knife and began stabbing the arteries of their arms killing them with loss of blood.He managed to get most of the off and he stood up stabbing the remaining humanoids in the heads.

“There are about fifteen thousand Hybrids in the region and counting.” Eric said to Henry.

“Alright, I’m sending the data to Nathan right now.Standby.”

If I can stay standing, Eric thought. He aimed and shot more tanks and humanoids, when he got hit by an RPG missile launching him backward, dropping his armor integrity to 39%.He quickly stood up and shot the shooter who launched the RPG and all other tanks and humanoids.

“Eric, we have approval to use Jericho.Estimated time accumulated: ten minutes.”

Even ten minutes can feel like hours on the battle field.You become so worried about dying that you become impatient about the time.Eric shot more humanoids and a couple of tanks before being shot more by hundreds of humanoids.He tracked each of their shots and killed the shooters from far off.He tossed a grenade high into the air and it exploded destroying two tanks and killing ten humanoids.

Eric realized that he was the only person on the top of the hill shooting the now seventeen thousand humanoids.It was one against one hundred thousand.Not the very best thing to do, but when you’re standing in front of an army ready to annihilate everyone, it would be the only thing you can do.

Eric charged his Pulsar Cannon and fired it on other tanks destroying three killing fifteen.Eric’s gun sparked and then settled.He fired at other humanoids, zooming in close to get accurate shots.A humanoid shot Eric in the head by a 9mm pistol and he retaliated by shooting him back.

A grenade landed at Eric’s foot.He quickly grabbed the grenade and threw it.The grenade exploded killing only three.Eric made another shot destroying another tank, but then his gun started sending sparks all over the gun rapidly.That was the indication that the laser frequency was kept to a high level and was never let to cool down.In other words, there’s an override in the battery pack and was about to explode.Eric threw the gun down at the army and it exploded killing nine and destroyed three.

Eric quickly drew out his laser pistol and started shooting the humanoids killing ten.A shot from a tank blew Eric of the ground and landing on his back.When he stood up, pieces of his armor started falling off, exposing his black under suit.His body armor integrity had dropped to 0%.He was now likely of dying.

“Eric, hurry back down to the rendezvous location I’m downloading right now.We’ve been ordered to be evacuated ASAP before Jericho goes off.”

“I’m on my way.” Eric responded.

He started running the other way and saw a blue beacon far off with its distance marked.Just as he got to the top of the hill a bullet penetrated through his skin and embedded itself into Eric’s shoulder.Not even the shock fluid could shield his body against that.

Pain struck him and he held his shoulder feeling warm fluid run down through his fingers.He saw other soldiers running to the same rendezvous point.Bullets impacted the ground near Eric’s feet rapidly by a G3.He ran faster and faster until he got behind the trees and kept continuing to the location.

Bullets were penetrating through the wood of the trees, but as Eric got deeper in through the trees the bullets could barely get to them.He and the other soldiers ran to a clearing to see an ATC chopper waiting for them, humming its engines.The other soldiers in front of him started climbing into the hull, cramming themselves through the crowd.Eric was fifty yards away when a bullet shot through his thigh and he collapsed.

He tried crawling to the ATC chopper as fast as his muscles could pull him.Twenty-five yards away, a humanoid put his foot on Eric and held him down.He rolled Eric over till he met eyes with the humanoid.The humanoid held up a pistol at Eric’s visor and put his finger over the trigger.Just before the humanoid fired a blue beam shot behind him, shooting through his eyes.The humanoid fell to the side and Jackson grabbed Eric and hoisted him up carrying him to the ATC chopper.They were inside the hull when the hull door shut.

Jackson set Eric down on one of the seat and sits next to him, “You’re one lucky son of gun, Eric.”

Eric sighed and nodded, “I would’ve been dead if you hadn’t saved me.”

Jackson patted his shoulder, “Always one step ahead of you.”

McKay flew the stealth bomber over the Ohio area where the request for Jericho would be launched.The targeted area appeared in his vision.McKay inputed the required explosion through to Jericho and armed it.He targeted the region and released Jericho by pushing a button on his joystick.A missile launched from beneath the hull and streaked over to the area.Five seconds later, the missile impacted and a huge wall of light blue bursted from the missile and spread northwards.The explosion was so bright, it was taking a 10,000,000 watt flashlight and shinning it on the ground.He jet shock violently as McKay navigated it back eastward to New York at the air base.

Submitted: November 02, 2008

War and Military technology fiction war guns future sci-fi lasers