Havok Bringer

Havok Bringer Book 2 – Trojan

Michael Dawes had been a prisoner of the Lacertine for what he guessed was about a week now. It was hard to tell since his cell had no windows, so he couldn’t differentiate between day and night. He did get food once a day; calling it food, however, was being a bit generous.

The guard on duty would quickly open his door and slide a plate into his small six-foot by six-foot cell. It usually held some sort of meat patty and a dry brick that somewhat resembled a piece of cornbread or biscuit. Maybe it was more like hard tac, but Michael had never eaten it, so he wasn’t sure. It tasted terrible, dry and so hard it hurt his teeth to chew it, but it kept him alive, so he ate it.

Michael didn’t consider himself to be anyone of importance. He lived a normal life before the drop; he had spent some time in the Navy as part of the crew of the USS San Francisco, a fast attack sub. He was stationed in Guam for a few years and enjoyed his time in the service overall.

After he got out of the service, he did a few years in the National Guard, then settled into life in a senior HR role for a few large tech companies. He was married when the drop happened, living in Kentucky. His Wife Natalie thought the best thing to do would be to make their way down to the rest of Michael’s family and ride things out.

Natalie was always the pragmatic one… he thought to himself as he wondered if she was okay.

It took nearly a month to make the trip. Michael was luckier than most; he had about 100 acres in Kentucky, kept a couple of horses, and could retrofit an old trailer to act as a wagon. It wasn't an easy trip with Natalie and the three kids, but they made it work.

Michael knew things were worse than people thought once he realized the orbs were EMPs. His time in the military came with the knowledge that the most significant attack against the US or any major power on Earth would be a coordinated EMP attack.

What surprised him was not the attack but the lack of an invading force afterward. The next logical step after an EMP attack would be a direct physical invasion; it just didn’t happen, at least not in the first three years, and not by Humans.

Of all the outcomes Michael considered, alien invasion and occupation were not among them.

Once Michael and his family made it back to Hineston, Louisiana, they began to help build a settlement with their family. Michael’s mom and dad had forty acres out in the woods in that area.

Michael's Dad, also named Michael, was always a prepper. He knew the day would come that having dried and canned goods, a manual water well, and plenty of guns and ammo would benefit the ones that held all those items, and he was right.

Civilization crumbled fast, but life out on Dawson’s Hill wasn’t terrible. It was hot, damn hot, but it had always been hot in Louisiana, so it didn’t take long to acclimate to life without air conditioning. Michael had a big family, and everyone pitched in.

There were a total of three boys and three girls in the family. All were married except one. Tara was the oldest and had four teenage kids with her husband Brent; they lived on the Hill.

Michael was next, with Natalie and his three kids. Then, Jonathan, with his two kids and his wife, Brittany. He had been in Texarkana when the drop happened, and like Michael, he made his way to the Hill quickly.

Then Andrew, he was working near Houston at the time of the drop. Nobody had seen or heard from him since the drop; everyone held out hope, but after the Lacertine troops showed up, his chances of being alive were slim.

Misty had four kids with her husband, Tommy; they lived just a few minutes from the Hill and had been there since the drop happened.

Then Sabri and her husband Michael had two kids and also lived close to the Hill, so they made it out within a few days.

So, all in all, thirty people were living on the hill at first. Over time, some extended family made their way out, and over three years, nearly 100 people were living and thriving on the Hill.

Then, the invasion came.

At first, the Lacertine troops kept to themselves; they were directly aggressive to the humans as long as they posed no threat or held any significant locations that the Lacertines needed as part of their occupation.

It seemed as though they were preparing and waiting for something, but after about a month, that changed. The Lacertine troops became aggressive; they started rounding up humans and transferring them to internment camps. A month after that, the first ships appeared.

It didn’t seem real at first. Michael remembered looking up in the sky and seeing the massive starships floating, hazy through the atmosphere, but still there like sentries standing guard around the planet. Then the drop ships came, and word got out that they were transporting the prisoners off the world.

Not long after that, some of the settlements got together and started planning a resistance. Nobody was willing to let their families be taken away to God knows where. It was a blood bath at first. The lacertine troops had advanced weaponry, and the humans were completely overpowered.

Eventually, the Humans became more organized. The beginnings of the Earth militia started to form. Old methods of communication began to allow human forces to coordinate their efforts. Messages were sent with runners or by horseback, and weapons and munitions were gathered and distributed to the fighting forces. Guerilla tactics worked in minor skirmishes, and over time, the Human forces started to gather weapons taken from defeated Lacertine troops.

Once the humans were on a more level playing field, they began to hit back in force. It was understood that the Lacertine force could wipe them out with one shot from a ship in orbit, but one thing kept that from happening: Greed.

The Humans were the most valuable resource on the planet; killing them in broad strokes would reduce the profit gained from the reaping, so it was up to the forces on the ground to quell the rebellion. So far, they haven’t done a good job. Of course, the Human forces posed no real threat; they were no more than a persistent pest that hadn’t yet been squashed, but this pest never stopped stinging.

Every patrol had to be on guard. Every supply line was a target.

Now that the Orbs were offline, the persistent EMP waves had stopped; after all, the Lacertine troops depended on electronic devices, so EMP blasts were no longer an option. Humans had attacked and raided one of the Lacertine Forward operating bases located in the area the humans called Texas—several bio generators and small fabricators.

These Bio generators ran on a mix of biological materials such as plants and an ultra-efficient solar battery. The lacertine forces had plenty of them, so the loss didn’t register as much more than a nuisance, a sting from an annoying insect.

The Humans used that generator to power the stolen communications equipment they had recovered and began intercepting the Lacertine communications. It took some time, but after several months, they were able to translate the alien language… the insects were learning.

One of the intercepted messages came from a General Slidrian in response to a query about the low production rate of livestock in relation to the time on the planet and the expense of the reaping.

The Humans are persistent. They have formed a militia and are resisting our efforts to capture them. They have acquired a small amount of our technology, but I am confident they are little more than primates staring at fire. The Humans have surprised me; that is to be commended, but they are little more than insects stinging a giant. They will be dealt with accordingly. Expect maximum Harvest yield within the month. – General Slidrian.

This prompted the Human militia to form a new strike force; this force would be responsible for hitting high-value targets and completely interrupting the Lacertine force's ability to rest and resupply. The members of that strike force were known as Wasps. They would take the enemy's insult and use it to instill fear in the enemy.

It wasn’t long before Michael Dawson joined the Wasps. Their mission was simple: target and disrupt the enemy with fervor. They operated independently with no direct mission objectives other than creating chaos and disruption.

A contingent of Wasps was assigned to each militia district since the Lacertine forces had commandeered those, the largest militias operated in rural areas, away from major Earth military installations.

Michael was part of the TEXLA militia in the geographic areas of West Louisiana and East Texas. Several Dawson’s Hill settlement members had joined up with a militia based out of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Because of his Military background, Michael had excelled; he registered 22 kills in his first six months, which prompted his promotion to Sergeant. Michael then inherited command of the Wasp contingent assigned to the TEXLA militia shortly after that.

The Wasps Michael commanded were successful in their mission. A military base was located near Dawsons Hill in what used to be Leesville, Louisiana. The base was closed, which would lead one to believe that Dawsons Hill was an easy target, but the Lacertine force didn’t seem to take the threat of human military resistance seriously until it was too late.

Two years after the Lacertine invasion, Michael led the Wasp task force that dealt the first real blow to the Lacertine forces. They infiltrated military installations and sabotaged the ten lacertine drop ships that were stationed there. Using homemade explosives mixed with ordinance recovered from raids on the Lacertine supply lines, they effectively eliminated the benefit of Lacertine air superiority.

There would be no resupply of those drop ships; the Human forces were aware of how dire things had gotten for the lacertine forces. This would be a sting that the Lacertines would not soon forget.

It seemed Michael couldn’t lose; he continued to stack up victories and held the record for Lacertine kills in the TEXLA Militia, so when he was finally captured, he assumed that was the reason.

He couldn't stop thinking about it as he lay on the floor in his cell.

Why did they keep asking me about Andrew….I don’t understand…

He coughed as he lay there on the cold ground, his face swollen, and ribs broken. The Lacertines were not known for keeping prisoners of war alive; that was evidenced by the row of crucified humans lining the entrance to their base.

They had a more advanced way of disposing of the prisoners, but damn, you couldn’t dispute the effect. These lizards were advanced beyond Michaels's wildest dreams, but at their cores, they were savages.

“I don’t know how, but I have got to get out of here… If Andrew is alive, I have to find and help him…” Michael whispered to himself as he lost consciousness and passed out.

The Bloodhound exited its last wormhole in a bright blast of cosmic radiation as alarms blared and lights flashed on the bridge.

“TIME TO FUCKING KILLLLL!” Elvis shouted as he jumped out of his chair and held his axe over his head.

“Natasha,” I said from the edge of my chair as I watched the two lacertine cruisers in orbit around my home planet.

“Yesss, Captain Andrew?” Natasha said.

“Why don’t you be a dear and use the Ron Jeremy to slam a couple of rail gun darts right down the throats of those lizard fucks on those ships.”

“Ooooh, Captain, I love it when you let me be naughty!” Natasha squealed as she brought Ron Jeremy around and acquired the first target.

“Target alpha acquired sugar, should I fire now?” she asked.

“Fire at will, Natasha!” I said.

Throom, Throom, Throom

The sound of the darts being propelled out of the railgun radiated through the ship. I watched the view screen as three darts surrounded by a green LED box moved toward the lacertine ship. A counter in the top right of the screen was counting down to contact; it sat at three.

“Captain, Andrew. Target Bravo has locked weapons and is breaking low orbit and moving in our direction. They are powering up their Rail guns to return fire.”

“Activate the Trojan!” I shouted.

Oh, I forgot to mention. After Elvis had consumed the mystery ship outside the Council prison facility, he upgraded the Bloodhound with all the spare parts he took. One of the upgrades was a kinetic shield field. It was something that most interstellar ships had. These fields were used to allow travel in interstellar space and avoid taking damage from things like Micro meteors.

Elvis had been able to make us one on steroids to help absorb damage from incoming weapons. Why was it called the Trojan, you ask? Do you really have to ask?

Elvis said it was a barrier that kept unwanted things from getting in, so he named it the Trojan. Okay, let’s move on. I tried to force him to call it something else, but Elvis is stubborn and demands to be in charge of anything related to naming and programming ships' functions and defenses, so here we are with a kinetic shield field named after a condom brand. WTF.

“Oh, Captain, you really don’t have to use protection,” Natasha said.

“Not now, Natasha. We need to raise the shields!” I replied.

“No, Captain Andrew, we don’t. I launched missiles when they adjusted course and locked their targeting system on us. It was going to be a surprise; I love surprising you,” Natasha said.

As I looked back at the view screen, the three rail gun rounds made contact with target Alpha as it arced and exploded. Then the four missiles appeared on the screen surrounded by green boxes, the countdown at 2….1….. impact.

Target bravo was no more.

“Rrrraaaaaggghhh, Die! you cold-blooded bastards!” Elvis screamed, still holding his axe in the air.

“Good job, Natasha, that was quick thinking,” I said, sliding back in my chair.

“Don’t you mean…. Good girl? Captain Andrew,” Natasha whispered in my earpiece.

“I am not saying that, Natasha! We have talked about this,” I growled.

“Bring us into low orbit; I need to get an idea of what is going on down there. The Lacertines are aware that something is up after they saw their support ships explode into a million pieces. We must act fast to ensure they don’t retaliate against the people down there.” I said.

I pressed a button on the panel on my chair's arm.

“Everyone, meet in the armory in ten minutes. We are going planet side and need to discuss our plan of action. It's time to go home.