Trapped in Time-Extinction (13 page)

Andy pulled up some chairs to his dining room table and said, “Take a seat. We need to decide what we’re going to do.”

Mark sat down and picked up a piece of beef jerky off a plate on the table, “I’ve been giving this some thought and I think I agree with Andy. Once the Destroyers complete their defenses around their city, they’ll be coming to find us and they’ll be loaded for T-Rex.”

Harvey nodded, “I must agree. However, we have some time. There’s no way they can come on the current wind. They’ll have to wait for the next season.”

Andy nodded, “But that means if we want to take the initiative, we’re going to have to go as soon as the current wind changes. If we wait for the next one, we’ll be fighting them here.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

Andy looked at Maxius, “They’ll have those new spitter guns and they’ll be on their boats at sea. They’ll be much easier to defend than a city. The four barrels on that new gun worries me. If it can fire four times as fast as the old model, our fliers will be in great danger.”

Harvey shrugged, “They won’t be able to see us.”

“They’ll start firing as soon as they arrive and they’ll really kick it off if any of our fliers are hit and fall into the water. They can also bombard the city from outside the range of our cannons.”

Harvey nodded and after a moment said, “So what’s the plan?”

“I think Tyler said it. We’re going to have to get inside the city under those cables. Coming from the forest is the only way I can see that happening. Once we take out the spitters on the wall next to the forest, we’ll move in from behind and take out the cannons and spitters on the coastal wall. Once that’s done, our forces at the forest wall will cut the cables opening the city to our fliers.”

Mark leaned back in his chair, “Andy those walls are more than ten miles long. How are we going to get our forces through the city to attack the walls without alerting the coastal defenders?”

“We’re going to have to kill every one between our fliers and the coastal wall.” The three were silent as they stared at Andy. Andy rubbed the back of his neck and said, “You’re wondering how we’re going to do that?”

Harvey nodded, “As a matter of fact, I am.”

Andy took his beam gun out of its holster and turned it over so the bottom of the gun’s butt could be seen, “I think all of you have seen the notch on the bottom with marks around it.” The three nodded. “Currently, the notch is set about half way around the marks. I took this gun and went to an empty house on the edge of our community and turned the notch all the way to its highest setting. I had Melody watch the house, from a distance, through the open front door as I fired the gun at a wall. Melody saw the beam go through the wall.”

“Are you saying it will penetrate the wall and kill everything inside a building?”

“I don’t have anyone to put in a house to test it on but Melody says the beam was bright.”

“It was actually brighter than normal. Our forces can fire at the buildings they pass on their way to the coastal wall. No one will be sounding an alert from those buildings.”

Harvey looked at Andy, “Why do you think they were designed to penetrate walls?”

“We’ll discuss this at a future date, Harvey. However, this is how we’re going to have to do it. Our fliers will fire their guns close to the walls and they won’t be seen by the defenders at the coastal defenses.”

“Just how many fliers will we need to make this attack?”

“We’re not going to be able to get enough in to attack the entire ten miles. We’ll need to get a thousand in and move forward on a front about a mile wide. I suspect most of the defenders will be at the coastal wall once our fleet is seen. Once the ground force arrives at the coastal wall, they’ll fan out and take out all of the coastal guns simultaneously. The signal used to start the fight will tell our forces remaining at the wall to cut the cables over the community.”

Maxius shook his head, “It’s going to take about fifteen hundred to take the spitters on the forest wall and remain behind to cut the cables.”

“I know.”

“Who’s going to command the attack on the forest wall?”

“I’m going to put Tyler in command.”

Harvey shook his head, “Andy, he’s just a boy.”

“Who went into those defenses and came out with Olivia. He’s been there and everyone else would be flying in blind.” Andy looked at Mark, “How do our fliers see Tyler?”

Mark tilted his head and said, “They respect him. They know what he did and the word of all he had to deal with in making his escape has made an impact on them. I think they’ll follow him if push comes to shove.”

“You need to find out, Mark.”

“I’ll check into it.”

Harvey interrupted, “Just how are you going to get fifteen hundred fliers into the forest without being seen?”

“Tyler is going to have to teach the Fliers how to land in a tree. Once they’re ready, we’ll start moving the ships that will carry them.”

“How many ships will be taking them? The Destroyers will have pickets out and a fleet that large won’t go unnoticed.”

“Three camouflaged ships carrying five hundred flyers each will take them in close enough to launch.”

“Those ships won’t be able to carry all the provisions necessary to feed them on the voyage.”

“The flyers will be on other ships in the fleet and will transfer to their transports when the fleet arrives a week out from the Destroyer city. They will board the camouflaged ships and sail to the north and approach the city from along the coast. They’ll launch from their ships and fly to the forest from beyond the Destroyer Picket ships stationed to the north.”

“What about the timing of their attacks?”

“That’s a minor detail we’ll work out later. This is the only way I see us doing this without tremendous loss of life among our forces.”

“What about the cannons covering the Harbor entrance?”

“We’ll fly over them and fire our red beams. I’m not willing to risk landing on those cliffs to try and take them.”

Mark nodded, “Rory says that those cannons are in range of the coastal wall. You’re wise to hit them and leave them.”

“What happens after the coastal guns are taken out?”

Andy looked at Harvey and said, “Our ground forces will make a run for the forest wall where they will launch off the wall and get out of there.”

Maxius’ eyes narrowed, “Why would they do that?”

Andy looked at the three of them and said, “Because we’re going to launch every other flyer we’ve brought and they will fly over the city and hit everything in sight with their red beams.” Andy paused and said, “Those beams will be fired at their highest setting.”

Harvey stared at Andy and Andy said, “What, Harvey?”

“Even their infants will be killed if we do that?”

“Are you willing to go down and try to take them from their parents?”

Melody looked at Andy and said, “Get Olivia.”

Andy looked at her, “Why?”

“Just get her here now.”

Mark stood up, “I know where she lives. I’ll go get her.” Melody stood up and went to bring some plates of food to the table. Andy followed her into the kitchen, “What are you thinking?”

“I’m not sure but there must be a way to not kill the babies.”

Andy sighed, “I just don’t see any way to prevent it, Melody.”

“At this point, I have to agree but I want to make sure.”

Andy helped her carry the food out and thirty minutes later Olivia arrived. She saw the men sitting around the table and quickly said, “I’m sorry, I was ready for bed and had to get dressed.”

Melody smiled and pointed to a chair next to her, “You made great time on such short notice. Come and sit down.” Olivia sat down and Melody handed her a sandwich, “Here, I hope you like it.”

Olivia took a bite and smiled, “This is really good.”

Melody laughed and said, “Olivia, what do the Destroyers do when an attack warning is issued?”

“Every one that’s trained on how to fire a rifle rushes to the walls.”

Maxius quickly asked, “Both walls?”

Olivia looked at him, “No, the wall on the coast. They release their slaves and also bring them as well.”

Melody nodded and said, “Do they do anything else?”

“The parents of young babies take them to the care center before they go to the wall.”

Andy said, “Care Center?”

“Yes. It’s located near the back wall in the center of the city. Slaves are there to take care of them until the attack is over.”

“Who watches the slaves?”

“Destroyers who are too old to man the walls. Why do you ask?”

“We want to see if we can avoid killing the babies when we attack the city.”

Olivia stared at Melody for a very long moment and said, “The Destroyers won’t hesitate to kill their own children if they think an enemy has taken the center. Their cannons can reach it from the coastal wall.”

“Thank you, Olivia. You’ve been a big help.”

“You’re going to place a lot of your warriors in danger if you try to take the center.”

“You let us worry about that.”

“I can take you there. It’s not easily seen because it’s in the middle of a huge group of buildings.”

Melody stared at Olivia and then looked at Andy. He blew out a breath and shook his head, “We’ll let you know what we’re going to do.”

Olivia stood up and walked toward the door. She stopped and turned around, “Saving the infants is worth doing. I should have thought of this but I’ve not been thinking clearly. You won’t find it easily unless you know where you’re going. If you plan to save them, I should be there showing you the way.” She turned and walked out the door.

Harvey shook his head, “That is one special girl!”

Melody nodded and looked at Andy. She rubbed her stomach and Andy knew he had no choice but to make the effort. He also realized that if the effort was going to be made, Olivia would have to go in with the first wave of attackers. He started shaking his head and Melody said, “I’ll tell Ophelia and Zeck at the proper time.”

“Thank you, I was just dreading having to do it.”

“I suspect they probably know about it by now.”

“Do you think Olivia would tell them?”

“You’ve seen her, does she look like she avoids any issues?” Andy shook his head. I’ll go by in the morning to discuss it with them…if they don’t show up here first.”

• • •

Tyler straightened up in the saddle and searched the tree line. Tipper was nervous and for good reason. There was a T-Rex in the forest that had been following them for the last two hours. This one was probably an old Rex that was wiser than the younger carnivores. This one knew the danger Tyler represented but it had continued stalking him. Tyler was in the mood for a good fight. His pain had slowly given way to anger. He should have seen all the clues but had not even considered the thought that Mindy would want anyone else but him. He was the reason she passed her Master’s tests at such a young age. And what he had attributed to curiosity was actually flirting.

She always insisted she was a people watcher and enjoyed looking at people when they were out in groups. He blew out a slow breath and shook his head. How incredibly stupid can a person be? He should have seen it from her lack of affection and a million other subtle clues. His heart must have blinded him. He remembered Harvey once saying in a class that to suspect someone you love of treachery was actually worse than catching them. If you can’t trust someone, you shouldn’t be with them. But he did trust her and never thought she was unfaithful. He was wrong. He lowered his head and saw a tree top move inside the forest. Ahhh, you made a mistake. He moved Tipper even with the disturbance and waited in the clearing for the Rex to make his move.

Now he was going to have to deal with seeing her with other men. How was he going to do that; especially Gordon. He was talented, there was no doubt about that. But he was also a conceited jerk. He made sure all of his uniforms had the Wing Commander sewn into the sleeves. He also ruled his wing with a tight fist. If anyone made a suggestion, it was refused. Only his ideas had merit. With the way his luck was going, he’d be assigned to Gordon’s Wing. Now wouldn’t that be just the Raptor’s Claw.

Suddenly, Tyler whipped his bow off his shoulder, pulled an arrow, and fired it in one smooth motion. The T-Rex’s head had stuck slightly out of the trees and the arrow hit next to the huge carnivore’s eye and embedded in a tree. The Rex saw the arrow and pulled its head quickly back into the forest. Tyler waited and listened. He thought, “
Let’s see just how smart you are.”
Tyler knew the giant had a brain that was tiny and the beast operated primarily on instinct. But sometimes the Rexes would do things that were incredibly smart. He put his hand on Tipper’s back and felt the muscles were relaxed. The hunt was over. He looked to the south and saw several trees were slightly swaying more than the gentle breeze would have caused.

Tyler smiled. He didn’t want to kill the giant. Carnivores were needed to keep the plant eaters population down. This Rex had lived a long time due to its learning from experience. He looked at the forest again and smiled. This experience hurt…a lot…but he would learn from it and keep his eyes open if there was ever another person he gave his affection to. Like the Rex, he was better prepared to handle the future. He was actually lucky that he had found out who Mindy really was before her actions really caused him pain. He’d have to thank Olivia for that. It was his interest in her that prompted him to ask Mindy about where he stood.

Tipper snorted and Tyler saw her looking up. He looked up but didn’t see anything. He pulled out his head cover and pulled it over his head. A glider was circling in from high altitude. He looked closely and saw it was Rory. Oh boy. Tyler wondered if Rory knew about his sister breaking up with him. Well, technically, he had suggested they stop seeing each other. Tyler shook his head, she would make him look like the bad guy. Mindy had manipulated him and once again he hadn’t seen it. Oh well.

Rory landed and Tyler walked Tipper up to him, “Hi Rory, what’s going on?”

“Andy has requested that you join him at your earliest convenience.”