Here is the other chapter I promised today. I hope you enjoy it.

LD: I do not own Independence Day.

Chapter 6: The Battle of Africa (part 2)

Doctor Henry Wong worked tirelessly on the alien ship's bridge trying to get all the systems to function properly before take off. Even though the artillery shells and missiles from the helicopters impacted harmlessly on the City Destroyer which didn't mean the computer didn't the attack alarm always on as the shields were working at full power during the whole time. However Henry Wong didn't really pay much attention to all of that. Insteas in his mind there were only two things, the first one was to get the ship to work as soon as possible since he knew his life and the lives of his colleagues depended on it.

The second was finding a way to escape the ship before it took off. He observed Li Na as she worked besides him, there were still traces of fear on her features and her hands were still trembling a little. It was logical, even though in the back of his head his rational self had always told him Massamba was little more than a beast and that what he intended to do was wrong, he had pushedfy those thoughts away and hand decided to follow the man in a blind way. Yes Massamba was brutal and a beast but he had never channeled that brutality towards him or the other scientists. He had treated with kindness, he'd treated them with respect and had rarely threatened them or rose his voice with them, much less almost shoot them. That had helped Henry's faith on his leader to remain strong and unwavering.

That had ended now though, now he knew Massamba was not a religious leader he was a madman, a dictator who used the excuse of religion to rule his followers and some sweet talk to seduce and deceive them. Now as he observed his protegée he knew that he didn't really want to be a part of this anymore. He didn't want Massamba to meet up with God's messengers, or as he saw them again the monsters that had taken his family away from him. But he could not do anything about it he could only trust the UN would take it down, in fact he knew there were huge possibilities of the ship being blown up during take off as soon as they diverted the energy they were using for the shields to the rest if the systems.

So how was he going to escape before the ship took off. Observing his protegée again he shook his head. How were they going to escape. Li Na was in that mess because of him, he had introduced her to Massamba during her student days when she had being studying in Hong Kong for a year. She was away from home, alone, young and naive, it had been easy for Massamba to convince her to work for him, using her deceased younger sister like he had used Henry's family. He definitely had to get her out of there.

He went to the main computer and began observing the map of the ship, the repairs and preparations were almost complete, it would be less than two hours before the ship was ready for take off. Under the guise of checking the systems Henry looked for possible escape routes, however the harder he looked the more difficult it seemed to him. Then he smiled. He was overthinking things there wasn't a necessity for them to get off the ship before it took off. Actually after take off they had more possibilities of getting out even if it was dangerous. He looked at the map of the ship again and located a few of the escape pods and smiled. There was one near one of the ship' main reactor control room and the main reactor was most likely to fail during after take off, the works on it had been done in a rush and they would have to monitor it closely, Li Na and himself could pretend to go there to keep things under control and slip out towards the escape pods as soon as there was a chance.

Yes that would work. That would most certainly work and the pods had shields of their own so the risk of one or two of them being destroyed by the UN were almost none a risk he could eliminate completely if he launched more than a pod. Then only one thing remained now, he had to make sure that the UN didn't throw them in jail or at least give them a chance not to be thrown in jail. He had to bring them something. He had heard that some scientists had been working to extract information from the ship's main computer albeit at a rather slow pace. Now that the main computer was fully functional he coul extract some more information much quicker although he wasn't sure how much although he guessed any new information they could give could easily give them a chance of surviving and being free.

With this new plan in mind he looked at Li Na. "Li Na I need a word with you" he told her. The younger scientist nodded and began to follow him away from the rest of the scientists at the bridge. Once he was sure no one could hear them he explained his plan to her at first a little nervously but as he saw her expression change to a hopeful one he smiled. She was definitely on board with the plan, now they just had to wait.

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Colonel Dumas observed as the missiles impacted harmlessly against the ship again and growled. They had been attacking almost nonstop since the rebels had fortified themselves there wasting ammunition without apparent damage. He knew that the plan wasn't for them to destroy the ship but to observe it until it took off. From a military point of view the plan wasn't that bad if it wasn't for all the ammo they wasted and not exactly because Dr. Levinson who'd proposed the plan but because major Youlou's superiors, they were intent on destroying the thing before the ESD got there, Dumas supposed because they thought they could still obtain something from the UN if they did so after the ship who'd been the key to their negotiations was gone.

He felt someone approaching him from behind and turned to see Mr. Rosenberg, who he'd been surprised to learn held the rank of sargeant, something he had not say during his and Umbutu's stay on his camp despite the fact that he had been wearing similar military wear to that of Umbutu's men, he'd assumed there was a reason for that but not that he was on the ESD's military.

"Sargeant" he greeted him by his rank prompting Rosenberg to salute something that didn't seem unnatural to him. "Are there any news from the men surrounding the ship?" He asked him although he already could see that the answer wasn't affirmative.

Youlou had placed Umbutu, Rosenberg and the remnants of Umbutu's men on the first line keeping watch around the ship for possible external rebel activity. Dumas supposed it was a form of vengeance, since neither he or his men could touch Umbutu or his men due to them being now members of the ESD he put them at the front of the UN forces to fight off any possible rebel attacks and get the casualties of said skirmishes, even though Massamba and his men were very unlikely to come, but still forced them to be alert and fully awake the whole time.

"I'm afraid not sir" Rosenberg spoke professionally. "Things have been boring on the frontlines."

"And how is Umbutu taking it. He said he wanted a piece of Massamba but chances of that are low." Dumas said.

"The major knows the plan and will stick to it." Rosenberg said. "However the same cannot be said from the rest of the men. They are terribly bored."

"Figures." Dumas said. "Has there any sign that the ship is taking off."

"Aside from the lights being on not yet" Rosenberg said.

"Well it's already morning and if the sun isn't up yet, let's hope that they fall into our trap soon." Dumas said as he turned to look at the ship again. As soon as the the UN Colonel said that the radio came alive and from it came Umbutu's voice.

"There are noises coming from the ship I think they are readying the ship for take off" the former rebel leader informed.

"Roger that. Fall back Commander." Dumas replied. "I don't know how their propulsors work but let's guess they could fry you if you stand near it when it takes off."

"Roger that" Umbutu replied and the radio went silent. Dumas looked at Rosenberg.

"I'll go inform Youlou of the developments, can you contact the ESD to inform them that we may need that air support now.

"Yes sir" Rosenberg replied and both men separated to do their tasks.

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David, Okun and Catherine entered the HQ's control room where Mitchell was already waiting for them which was surprising since it had only been 10 minutes since they were informed them of the movement of the alien ship and his home was further away from the base than Catherine and David's home. Whatever the case was, David was somehow glad, despite knowing that Okun's earlier warning of a headache caused by Mitchell would likely be true. The General looked at them and it was clear that their presence displeased him. Then he looked at Catherine, a woman he'd been pressuring to continue with the study of the Telepathic conection of certain people with the aliens and how they could use it to their advantage only to be frustrated by her deliverate, or so he suspected, slow pace.

"What is she doing here?" He asked David. David could have replied but he had an inkling that the response would not please the general since she just had tagged along not admitting David's protests especially knowing the Headache could get stronger with her there.

"I came because such operations can be stressful and some members of Legendary Squadron still suffer from mental problems from the latest war." Catherine replied professionally. David did not like that she was using Patricia and to a lesser degree Dylan and Rain as an excuse, even if they had been doing better lately according to Rodrigo, Jake and Charlie. "I'm here to see if I can help them somehow."

"It seems you can do anything" Mitchel retorted. "Everything but the job the ESD is paying you for."

Catherine was ready to reply but David was quick to prevent a fight from breaking in the control room during such an important operation. He should have insisted more for Catherine to remain at home but she said she had slept during the same time David had and she couldn't sleep anymore even if she wanted to. Now he could only deal with the consequences.

"What's the status of the enemy ship?" He asked one of the operations, prompting annoyed looks from Mitchell and Catherine who seemed overly eager to be at each other's throats.

"It seems that they are heating their engines and preparing for take off sir." The operator replied.

"Have you contacted Gando Air Base?" David asked.

"Yes sir, Legendary and Scorpion Squadrons are airborne and heading towards the target. The estimated time of arrival is T minus 20 minutes." The operator replied.

"Director Levinson let me remind you that I'm the highest ranking military officer here, I am the one in charge of this operation" Mitchell said.

"Then by all means begin giving instructions General" David said. "I will shut up as soon as you take charge." Mitchell glared at him again but David found that his glares were no longer very effective on him since he had that expression on the whole time.

"Get me Colonel Quesada" Mitchell ordered and one of the operators nodded as he began contacting the Squadron leader. A few seconds later Rodrigo's voice resounded in the room.

"Scorpion Leader here" He said, his voice was professional and devoid of any humor. David smiled relieved that his friend was so concentrated on the mission.

"Scorpion Leader this is Base one" Mitchell spoke. "What's your status? Over"

"We are a little over fifteen minutes from reaching the objective sir. Fully fueled and fully armed. Over." Rodrigo replied.

"Do you have a plan of attack?" Mitchell asked.

"We planned to attack as a single group and concentrate our firepower on a single spot until we breach the hull of the enemy ship. Over " Rodrigo replied.

"Good report to us when you arriver. Base One over and out" Mitchell said.

"Yes sir. Scorpion Leader over and out" Rodrigo replied. David sighed, so far it seemed that everything was going according to plan however a City Destroyer wasn't an easy enemy to take out and in the hands of those lunatics it was more dangerous than ever before. He suddered as he thought of the possibility of failure but then pushed those thoughts to the back of his head. They were going to win, the City Destroyer's last repairs had been rushed so it shouldn't be as possible as those from the previous wars, and it was operated by humans who would pilot it for the first time. They were going to win.

"Honey are you alright?" Asked Catherine pulling him out of his thoughts. David looked at her for a few moments and saw concern on her face, it seemed that his thoughts were visibles and his worries had worried his girlfriend and Okun, if Mitchell had seen him he didn't show it.

"Yeah sorry, I just spaced out for a bit." David said smiling softly. Catherine nodded unconvinced and with a look that told him they were going to talk about it later, although they had nothing to talk about, it had been just a moment of worry.

"Sir" one of the operators said looking at David and not looking at Mitchell. "The ground troops on Congo are reporting the ship is taking off!"

"Contact Colonel Quesada and tell him to hurry up!" Mitchell interjected before David could reply although it was the same order he was going to give, they had to shoot that thing down now.

"Show me a visual." David ordered and one of the screens showed him what he wanted, the massive alien ship was rising from the ground once more with the ability to wreck havoc wherever it went.

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Samuel Massamba smiled as he felt the City Destroyer go up. The moment of truth was here, the moment to leave this worthless planet and join God's messengers on their heavenly mission to purge all the infidel beings of the Universe. Henry had assured he had worked to undo all the blocks they had implemented on the ship to prevent the main fleet, the Harvester queen, from calling it back since they no longer wanted to destroy cities on their own. The prospect of meeting and offering himself to God's messengers was very interesting to him. The ship shook a little and pulled him out of his thoughts and he observed his men and the several scientists he had manning the bridge.

"What was that?" He asked annoyedly

"When we took off we had to reroute the majority of the energy we were spending on the shield generators towards the rest of the ship, the repaired reactors have not really gone through the trial runs and we are keeping them at 75% from their full capacity and don't want to risk overheating." one of the scientists, a european man spoke.

Massamba let out an exhasperated sigh, truth was aside from Henry he didn't really like the scientists. More than once he had been tempted to kill them all but the hongkonger. He looked at the comms operator.

"Contact Dr Wong on the Reactors control room. Ask him if we can utilize full energy yet." He ordered as the ship continued shaking. It was clear that even if most of the heavy weapons the humans were using was from the time previous to the war of '96 they were giving them quite the ride.

"Doctor Wong says it's better to wait a little, the generators are working fine now but he says he can't guarantee our safety at full power." The operator informed him and Massamba approached his post taking the comm away from him.

"Henry why can't we use the generators at full power?" Massamba demanded to know. "We could use the extra energy."

"We can't use that energy yet" Henry informed him as he panted, it was as if he had made some kind some kind of exercise recently. "The reactors are not fully repaired and are not stable yet, we are still working on them, please be patient."

"How long will it take?" Massamba asked with a sigh. He trusted Henry if the Head Scientist said they needed time it was because it was true and rushing him like he had done the previous day wouldn't work.

"A couple of hours" Henry replied. "We will be out of Earth and on our way by then" The Scientist added and Massamba smiled satisfied with that and returned to his seat giving the comms back to the operator when a stronger hit was felt throughout the ship. "Can we use our weapons system?" he asked in frustration.

"I believe we can." The scientist from earlier replied, seemingly eager to please Massamba after disappointing him earlier. Massamba smiled and looked at the operator again. "Contact the weapon's room" He ordered. "Tell them to return fire."

The operator relayed his orders and a couple of minutes later the enemy attacks decreased in intensity, Massamba smiled eve wider, it seemed he'd gotten to purge some heretics before leaving Earth. Suddenly one of the operators looked at him panicked.

"Sir" Someone has launched the escape pods near the Reactor Control Room. Massamba narrowed his eyes. Some of his followers were deserting him? Abandoning their sacred mission? That had to be punished, punished by death"How many?" He asked remaining calm

"All of them." the operator said. "About twenty"

He looked at the operator in charge of the contact with their gunners. "Shoot them down! Every single one!" He then looked at the Comms operator. "Contact the Guards near Doctor Wong's position and tell them to check on the situation." The operator nodded and then went pale.

"We are unable to contact any of the guards at the Control room and Doctor Wong doesn't respond either." He reported. Massamba growled and let a roar that terrified everyone at the control room. He was having an idea of what was happening and he didn't like it at all. "Sir we've reported to the second nearest station, they are sending men right now." The bridge waited in silence for two long minutes that seemed years.

"Sir the guards at the Reactor Control Room are unconscious and so are the guards, that were near the pods. Doctor Wong and Dr Li Na Lee are gone." The Operator reported. Sadly it was the last report he would give in his life as Massamba pulled his weapon and executed him out of anger. Henry Wong had betrayed him! The Bastard! He had dropped out of their sacred campaign to purge all infidels! But he was going to pay! He would make him and his stupid protegée

"Did you gun the pods down!?" He asked the other operator.

"A-a-all but five sir" the operator replied completely terrified. And rightfully so, because Massamba was about to kill him too, stopping just at the last moment, reminding himself he was in need of his operators. Holstering his weapon he looked at one of the guards near his seat.

"Clean that up" he ordered pointing to the corpse of the dead operator. "And find me another operator." He added. The guard nodded and proceeded to obey his orders just as the voice of the radar operator sounded.

"Sir" The female operator said.

"Now what!" Asked Massamba angrily.

"Enemy Fighters. Ten of them." The woman reported and Massamba couldn't help b ut think that his plan was going to hell fast.

"Wipe them out!" He ordered sitting back on his chair.

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Rodrigo and the members of Legendary and Scorpion squadrons flew towards the enormous enemy ship that was now some thousand feet off the ground. If the radio reports were correct the at least half the allied artillery had been taken out by the City Destroyer while they had not delicered any damageand the rest would without a doubt be destroyed should they fail to destroy it soon. He couldn't say he was surprised since Congo and many African countries lacked some of the more advanced weapon systems created after the war of '96 and aside from laser assault rifles they had almost no modern artillery, helicopters or fighters and if they had some he doubted the bureaucrats at Brazzaville would movilize them.

"Ok guys they hour of truth" He said as they came closer to the ship. "On our first passing we will divide ourselves in groups of two and look for a weak spot on that thing."

"Roger" The members of both squadrons replied in unison as they proceeded to do so. Suddenly the enemy ship began firing on them, it seemed they were in range of it's AA weapons. The five groups of two separated and took evasive action. Rodrigo looked at his wingman and he recognized the Fighter as Dylan.

"Decrease your speed Dylan" he ordered as he saw the young pilot was accelerating to end the first passing.

"Eh? But!" Dylan protested.

"Our mission on this passing is to find a weak spot on that thing. We have to slow down so we can look more throughly." Rodrigo interrupted him. Dylan sighed loudly on the radio and decreased it's speed. Several shots impacted on the fighters but after the war of 2016 the Prophet or the Sphere had helped the humans improve their H-8 Fighters by installing a shield generator on them so they were basically harmless although the Fighter's computer warning signal appeared and the Fighters shook a little.

"They are good" Dylan said. "Better than I thought they would be." Rodrigo had to agree, whether ther enemy's guns were automatic or were manned they could become a problem if the battle went on for too long.

"How is it going everyone?" He asked the rest of his wingmates. "Have you found any weak spot on this son of a bitch."

"Jake and I have found something" Came Carlos's voice through the radio. "We have found a place where the ship it's damaged. It's energy shields are weakest there."

Rodrigo observed the ship as Dylan and him finished flying under it. He had hoped that it's weak spot would be near it's laser weapon under it as always. But since it's laser perforer was off it seemed that the usual weak spot was no good. "Everyone head towards Jake and Carlos's position" He ordered as he and Dylan maneuvered their Fighters to head towards it. "Now you can accelerate" He told Dylan who increased it's speed together with him as several laser shots failed their target.

When the squadrons regrouped, Rodrigo scanned the area in search of the spot Carlos and Jake had found. It was easy to find as it was a rather large area and there seemed to be damage of the artillery attack.

"What the hell are you waiting for? Shoot the thing dow" Sounded General Mitchell's voice through the radio. He had been wondering when he would speak again, he had been oddly silent since the beginning of the flight. He sounded impatient, however Rodrigo paid him no mind.

"Alright" he finally he formulated his plan of attack. "The weak spot has few AA guns around it but it would be wise to take them down before they screw us over with those. Scorpion squadron will take care of the remaining guns, Legendary will concentrate their fire on that zone of the ship." He ordered before leading the charge. The enemy AA guns concentrated their fire on nthem but they as they were scarce it didn't take them long to get rid of them and finish their first strike, diving under the ship where some other AA guns from other zones of the enemy ship locked onto them and shot, however the shields deflected the shots perfectly and quickly took their distance before going in for another attack. The first few passings didn't seem to have any results, showing that even at it's weakest spot the ship was a tough opponent.

Their Fighters however had felt the consequences of several attack rounds, as their energy was one third down and their shields were at half power. To the stress of their little advance General Mitchell decided to add to their stress by shouting unnecessary orders as he grew more nervous and impatient until David shut him up, although Rodrigo didn't know exactly how.

"Ok, let's go again" He told his wingmates as they flew towards the City Destroyer again. Like the previous times the Fighters concentrated the fire on the target area. This time however their efforts were rewarded as that zone of the ship erupted in a huge explosion, generating several chain explosions on some of the surrounding areas and the ship began to go down.

"Base One, this is Scorpion Leader" He began his report. "The City Destroyer is falling. I repeat the City destroyer is falling. I believe the ground troops should get the hell out of there if they don't want to be crushed by it" He continued with a smile on his lips

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Samuel Massamba observed as the alien computers around the ship flared it's danger warnings and alarms went off around the bridge, while the scientists tried desperate to get the ship under control as it descended. It seemed his plans were completely destroyed now and his death was almost certain. Perhaps it was better this way, since ever since this holy weapon had taken off everything had begun to go south. How could he have faced God's Messengers without a victory against the impure humans to his name.

"We should evacuate!" The european scientist told him. "They have taken out one of our main auxiliary reactors, the rest are quickly overheating due to being not very stable in the first place and we aren't able to cool them down."

Without listening to his whining Massamba shot the man on the head with a blank expression on his face. "No one leaves" he said in an emotionless voice. "It is the will of God" He added. The rest of the people on the bridge looked at him with a terrified expressions. On their heads some of them began to elaborate plans to escape the ship and leave the madman they had adored like a representative of god. However their plans was ruined as the overheated Main Reactor exploded and the rest shortly followed engulfing the whole ship and it's "crew" in flames as Massamba smiled as he thought he saw the God he had claimed to be serving accepting him into his Celestial Realm.