Week 37
Day 1
Bubble Two on routine patrol saw the advance column of fifty chimps on the way to here. They seems to be marching fast and covering the distance double quick. I comms Outpost Six for status. Its almost ready and they are doing the foundation touch up. I also checked on Village Two and the wall is only half way up. This is more disheartening, but at the steel mill is going fine. Base Three is doing fine.
‘Doctor Leong, get your pets back into their pits and do it fast. Use the M-Bots and tried not to rust them please. I need them for the coming battles.’
‘Get me Code One to Earth Council. I am coming back to BASE now.’ But I already know the answer; ‘we will advise’.
Just when I thought it was bad, it began to rain and it poured for hours. As usual the local residents came to seek shelter and we all stood there like characters in an old fable of an ark.
Day 2
Bubble One reported the column of fifty chimps missing in action. I think they gone on separate routes to recon and confirmed our positions. I advise all Outpost to be on the lookout and move all cannons including the twin mounted to hidden spots. We do not want them to report our numbers. There was still reports coming in of sick creatures and dead ones too. The plaque has spread as feared but we have done the spraying with the help of the Bubbles.
‘Commander, our sonic wave chimp disrupter or SWC disrupter is ready,. We tested it on a passing by ape and it dropped off the tree holding its ears. The time taken was a few seconds and I think we really need to apologies to that ape.’ I looked at Doctor Sze Thing and wondered if he has ever served in the military. We do not apologies; we only brush it off. But Micheal was very excited to try it on a larger scale. I left it to them as long as they get something worth fighting with.
‘I am here, Doctor Bashir. Tell me what happened to Tony Adams here.’ I am looking at the teen who is lying there breathing through life support.
‘Tony has come in contact with a reptile which we did not know exist here. Its Phyllobates terribilis or Golden Poison Frog; a frog which secretes steroidal alkaloids batrachotoxin, homobatrachotoxin, and batrachotoxinin A. These compounds act to keep the channels open and depolarizing nerve and muscle cells irreversibly, potentially leading to arrhythmias, fibrillation, and eventually cardiac failure or in this case of Adam’s, he has touch it with his right hand and it caused burning sensation.’ The doctor was showing the right hand. ‘He has ingested the poison when he placed the hand into his mouth.’
‘What can we do now?’ I asked as I pulled the doctor away from hearing of the teen.
“We are trying to catch the toad and synthesize a cure. We have no cure at this facility, as that toad has been extinct since we lost the rain forests. But here we might it.’ I am concerned on this as we need to advise the other kids not to touch any creatures until its verified.
‘Excuse me, Doctor. Could be it be harvested to become a poison?’ I was removed by the doctor for intruding his works. I caught Doctor Leong outside the Infirmary, and told him to get me some toads.
‘What kind do you want? I like them with long legs.’
‘Golden ones.’ I am sure he shudder for a moment. Then he said; ‘First snakes now toads. You are one crazy bastard.’
‘And I will be one mad bastard if you don’t get me the toad.’ He ran off for his unit.
‘Commander, this is Bubble Three on patrol. I saw the chimps or maybe some of them. They are north west about one distance by my reckoning. I think I saw Corin too. She is with the chimps.’
This is unbelievable.
Day 3
Special Report from Corporal Pedro
Day 3 Week 37
1602hr
I left BASE with Corporal Micheal Burns and Corporal Kano on the LTV at 0734hr. Our mission was to intercept the column of five chimps and captured/rescue Corin. Air Wing will be on our lookout and provide support. Bubble sighted the chimps at 1012hr; they must had marched through the night for them to cover that distance.
We split up and took firing position.
At 1105hr, we had visual on the chimps. They are about eight hundred yards away and Corin is walking in third in the column. All snipers confirmed visuals, but we are holding fire till they are five hundred yards.
Four hundred yards.
Three hundred yards.
Wait! Corin is holding a white cloth and so are the other chimps. Could it be they want to talk?
The Sniper Team brought back the six chimps to the yard of Outpost Six. It was already past noon and I left them there to feel the heat. It was only at 1500hr, that I walked out to see them.
‘Corin, may I ask of your role here?’ Doctor Boris was kind to translate; I am sure he used better words than mine.
‘I am leading my people to see you, Commander. They are not the same as Tano. They are chimps as you call us, but they are known as good ones. We are all good ones. We don;t like to fight but love others. We come in peace and to join you in fighting the others. We want to stopped them and be friends with others, not kill every time.’
‘Corin, you are only five....sorry six and how do you expect to fight Tano. He has thousands.’
‘We have few but we have more than six. We have a few hundred and we have you. You helped us and we helped you.’ She is a fragging diplomat in her own way. I told her we would have a discussion and advise tomorrow. Meanwhile they are to be kept in the yard but they will be given food and drinks.
‘You are fragging crazy to work with them. I will have you reported.’ I looked at Major Chavdar who has never supported a single discussion of mine. I removed him from the conference and continued with the rest.
At 2300hr, Major Chavdar walked into the conference with three of his men. They are all armed with PH762 and they had it pointed at us.
‘Commander Scott Bent, I am taking command of the colony and the Bases under Article 109 of the Military Rules of Conduct. I have advised Earth Council and they have consented to my request.’ I looked up from table and stared at the four men who dared to point their weapons at me.
‘Major Feeley, activate the self destruct now.’ Major Feeley stood up and walked towards the door which was blocked by two of the specialists. Major Chavdar looked towards her and shouted at her to stand down. It was then I had my PH350 drawn and shot him in the head. I point the same gun at the other three Specialists.
‘Make it four, as I have more than enough to shoot.’ But by then Major Feeley had disarmed the two at the door while Major Shaw has kicked the other in his guts. More of my personnels came running in, but I told them we had an accidental discharge of firearm and Major Chavdar is dead. Doctor Bashir tried to save the Major but he was dead.
‘You could had wounded him instead.’ I looked at the Doctor. ‘I don’’t shoot to wound. I do to kill only. Get his body out of this place now.’
Day 4
Major Chavdar did make the call to Earth Council and he was asked to stand down. I made my report that night to Earth Council. By morning, there was still no reply. But I had one for Corin.
‘We accept your terms but your friends do not fight from here. You fight from your own place. We will coordinate and fight Tano.’ She agreed and she left with her people.
On my table was a report from Doctor Sze Thing.
Special Report from Doctor Sze Thing, Archaeoacoustics
Day 3 Week 37
1602hr
Just a quick note. I think we may be onto some thing bigger here. But before I do that, allow me to introduce to you my specialty. There is more to digging and studying an artifact; we are now moving from two dimensions to the third or fourth level. We want to see the real thing beyond its physical properties for view is not enough. Sound can de-myth the view as i the past we live in more serene environment with less pollutants or contaminants in the environment. Its sound can tell us more of those days. Archaeoacoustics is that discipline that explores acoustic phenomena encoded in ancient artifacts, caverns, landscape. We read and study a pot or a bone like a music score; as we weaved through the lyrics and tunes. It has been proven that rock can produce echoes that tells a story of its day. As here on Monolith its rock that sings to me; its creation and dying days.
In brief, Commander; I think there are something inside the Monolith. Can I have your permission to drill its crust?
And the metal piece we found; its a coin and its from Ancient Greeks. We did a carbon test. We also found remains of possibility bones. Its dated back by fifteen thousand years. Its human in the test that supports it. Boris seemed to think this is a burial ground. He is quite fixated on the funeral rites which Corin did. But we are still exploring.
I wanted to throw that report away if not for the next report from Doctor Tanaki.
Special Report from Doctor Tanaki
Day 3 Week 37
1602hr
Frost and myself has been exploring the monolith as you call it. To us its rock and we done our climbing. We find something interesting on the west wall. It does not looked real to us. Its like as if its pasted on. Ironic perhaps but we think the monolith or rock could be a plaster job. We seen many rocks and climbed them in and out, but this one is unique.
Will explore more.
I also found Doctor Moshe report below all these reports.
Special Report from Doctor Moshe
Day 3 Week 37
1602hr
From Earth archive, we are able to find the cure. It shall be ready in two days. You owe me two dates.
I got a bunch of crazy scientists here. Maybe they should switch brains with Rexy, it might matched inch for inch. But the crazy idea of Monolith hiding something is very interesting.
Day 5
The warning buzzer went off and I was to rushed out of my bunk to Command Unit. There was chaos there as officers rushed to manned their positions. I saw Major Shaws with her uniform partially buttoned and she is putting on her comms set.
‘What’s up?’
‘Bubble Two said they saw a new column of chimps at North West about half days march. They just had walked in the night or run faster than we know. He estimated nearly a thousand or more. Its the biggie now.’
I comms to all Outpost to get ready for battle. I took the bike to ride out to Village Two. They have made half the wall with stones but the unfinished parts are barricaded with stones and logs. Micheal has contributed twenty Napoleon cannons which he has fashioned for them. They had it lined up in the yard facing the wall in two rows. Ten Catapults is behind the cannons with their loads of oil bombs. They have also crates of moonshine with crude oil mixture for the use as grenades. Two hundred colonist are in the position all around the units surrounding the cannons. Gaps in between the units are barricaded with logs to overturned wagons. Their commanding officer is Admiral Stokes with his grandson, armed with the PH925.
I rode onto Outpost Six and saw the defenses are up. Four twin mounted cannons are on the wall facing river. The castle walls of thirty feet high build with stones and the another ten feet of wooden logs above it stands proud with its twenty five Napoleon cannons on it. The moat is all ready and filled with water, plus some nice welcome reptiles which swam in. The towers (or keeps) are manned by three armed men each. The others are all on the wall or in the yard manning the five catapults. The yard has its landing bay for the Bubbles and HELI-PODs stacked with missiles and cannon ammo. Cheng has rigged up some of his bombs on the outside area near the wall. Chemical Agent has brought in their case of bombs with the words printed on the side; ‘use with extreme precaution. We are not responsible if you blow up.’ The other Outposts are status quo, while the MSV are on standby. A hundred defenders including the Fed’s people.
Now we wait for them to come.
Bubble Three reported that the column has stopped and camped near us. Bubble Two reported another column of about a thousand on the horizon with about one two day’s march away.
‘Commander, we got an issue on the river. There is a a number of Deinosuchus just arrived from downstream and they are floating your way. Thought you like to know. ‘Deinosuchus; big crocs of about thirty feet long and loves meat. So they could had smell blood or someone comms them to come. Rumor that they even attacked T-Rex of their size coming close to the river. And they come to join the coming buffet.
Day 5
They started their bombardment at 0500hr at Outpost Six.. The boulders they threw at us slammed hard against the wall and we need to do something. Some of those boulders went over the outer wall and landed on the yard. One hit a catapult and broke the unit causing it useless. I called in the Bubbles to withdraw for Village Two while I told the remaining Catapults of us to throw some light for the Air Wing. The five catapults shot off the pots of oil with the lighted wicks. When it hit the trees which is already spaced out due to the last firing exercise, it exploded into flames on the undergrowth. It not only highlights the hidden catapults but also the chimps lined up for the assault. I saw them all lined up in their rows of twenty and they numbered more than a few hundreds.
We launched the HELI-PODs which stayed behind on the yard of Outpost Six. Its mission is simple; search and destroy. The HELI-PODs went up and saw the lighted areas along the river banks.
Instead of shooting off its cannons and missiles, it flew over the chimps location and dropped more bombs on the chimps. But this one is highly flammable and deadly; the phosphorous loaded cannisters exploded with the builtin detonator. It lit up the river banks to near daylight view. As the chimps came running out, I had the twenty odd Napoleons introduced itself, firing the cannister blocks at the jungle. Still they pressed in with their cries and screams. Suddenly without any warning, I saw volley of spears that sailed through the air into our yard and also some on the walls. The first volley took some of the defenders including colonist who came to assist us. I saw Specialist Melon getting in her chest and she dropped off the wall onto the yard. Corporal Kano barely missed one on his right shoulder but he will survive.
The chimps has reached the moat and momentarily they paused and screeched at the reptiles in the water. We took the delay to cover them with flames from our flamethrowers. Some of the chimps held up their shields to protect themselves while others retreated back. But the rear is still throwing their spears at the yard now. I recalled the HELI-PODs to rake them down with missiles and cannon fires. It came in swooping like a eagle at an angle of forty degrees. But its run was short as one spear pierced the side of the HELI-PODs and it losing its control.
‘I am going down...... see ya.’ That was the pilot and he crashed into the chimps in the clearing. The explosion was massive as its load of missiles on the HELI exploded on impact. The impact also took out a chunk of the invaders, but the chimps are roaring in defiance now they have silenced the flying threat. Then the horns blew again, and they are retreating back to the river banks.
‘They gone?’ Vickie asked, as she wipes her brow of the grime and sweat.
‘For now. I think they are testing our new defenses. What are the damages and KIA?’ Sighing, I looked at the ranks and I see more injuries than unhurt personnels.
The reports came in.
Of the twenty five Napoleons, only ten is working now as they was hit by the spears or damaged by over firing it. The cast was not tested for constant firing as in this case. Two mounted twin Taser cannon also damaged due to the spears. One HELI-PODs with crews.
On the personnels, we lost twelve of them, and wounded numbered twenty two. I don;t think the wounded will make it as the spears are smear with poison. Medic confirms it. Poison unknown. One of the dead was Specialist Micheal Burns; he had a spear impaled on him at the back.
I comms Village Two.
Special Report from Admiral Stokes.
Day 5 Week 37
0733hr
They started their bombardment at 0513hr on the wall. It was solid boulder from stones; hitting constantly at one section of the wall. I got the cannons and catapults moved up to cover that area. We saw the Bubbles arriving and they swooped down on the jungle edge firing missiles. They burned the jungle clearing and it stopped the bombardment. Later the Bubbles landed at the rear of the Village for refitting of the missiles and ammo.
At 0556hr, they started again and this time it was more intense in the bombardment. We also had volley of spears thrown in. We were a safe distance for their volley but our Bubbles could not fly as yet. I held them back for the later fight.
At 0615hr, the section of the wall gave way and collapsed to a width of fifty feet across. We can see the logs fell apart and the stones crumbled down, and the dirt was flowing into the air. It was tense then, and everyone had a prayer in their mind or mouth. Even before the dirt settled , the chimps came charging in with their cries and spears. I ordered the firing of the first line of cannons loaded with cannisters. Then the second salvo from the second line. Bodies of chimps are flung back on impact or down, but they still coming in. I fired off more salvo but the chimps are already in the yard. The colonists on the firing position released independent fire on the advancing chimps.
Then came their calvary; chimps on lizards which stomped over the fallen wall and wounded chimps. I had them shot by our rifles or cannons but they are too agile and fast. They were onto the defenders of the cannons and I told them to retreat at our second line of defense; the new barricades. Then the Bubbles came in and laid cover fire and bombing runs. Two Bubbles got hit by spears and they crashed into the chimps taking a lot of them in the follow up explosions.
I had no choice but to call for a retreat but not before I activated the timer on the explosions. The survivors retreated to our last barricade and we await any assistance or help. The bombs went off in the different locations and took down a number of chimps and also some of our own. They stopped the advancement and concentrate on the fighting at the wall and the cannon sites. I see the wounded colonist stomped to death, while we fired at them from our last bastion. The last two Bubbles went up and fired missiles at them but they just keep on pressing in from the jungle and through the wall. They have established their beachhead on our land now. I counted my survivors; we are down to fifty three only. And ammo is getting low and so are the power packs for the PH762.
The chimps are lining up again in their rows and he riders are on the sides with their reptiles. This could be the final push. My comms rang and I know its the Commander, but I have no time to reply. We went up to the barricade and get ourselves into it. My grandson, Vincent held onto me with his right hand. We said a prayer for a merciful death.
The chimps came and charged on us. It was met by a volley of fires from the ATV twin mounted Taser cannons. There was eight ATV including the ATV2 at our rear and they were offering us firing power. I saw Major Feeley asking us to board the ATV to be rescued. I called for a withdrawal to the vehicles. We all boarded it and the vehicles took off for BASE.Once we were cleared the Village, I removed the master control detonator and pressed the switch. Two hundred hidden bombs in the village exploded.
I cannot explain the effect as I was in the ATV. But it must had been big as we could hear the blast so loud.
I heard the explosion and saw the smoke; its billowing into the morning wind and the ground I was on shook from the impact.
‘You think anyone made it?’ It was Corporal Pedro asking and I shook my head. He either take it from me as ‘I don’t know’ or’ there was no survivors’. But my thoughts was disrupted by the call from the walls.
‘They’re back again.’
Be darned to Hell on this. I got up and moved towards the battlement. There they are again. All lined in their rows and the unhurt holds the wounded. The riders on the lizards are at the fore and trying to rein in their restless rides. I counted maybe two hundred here now.
And I have not got my morning coffee yet. There is Vickie next to me on the other battlement counting her ammo and reloading her PH900. She took it up and rest it on the battlement. I saw her firing it and I looked out. She hit the officer strolling up and down the line of column. She hit it on the head and the rider went down. As expected, the lizard went berserk and the other riders put it down.
At 0746hr, they marched towards us.
At 0747hr, I signaled the cannons to be ready to fired on my command.
At 0753hr, the chimps marching towards us, stopped and looked to the east skies.
At 0754hr, six HELI-PODs came from across the river; they are in row formation with three in front and three in the rear. The six crafts fired twelve missiles into the band of chimps on the riverbanks. The impact of the missiles broke the formation and created chaos among the ranks. Cannons fire followed the missiles as the HELI-PODs’ took turns to fired at the chimps. Then they did one more round of missiles on the chimps.
At 0811hr, the surviving chimps are running or swinging through the swamp regardless of the reptiles and water.
‘Thank god for our calvary. Commander, say hello to the Fed’s Flying Boys.
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