"FIRE TORPEDOES!" Hiroshi snarled as she gazed at the tactical screen. She hated fighting UFOs underwater and in the air, despite the successes, they'd had not so long ago.
Not only had they shot down several of their enemy's spacecraft which had been modified and switched over to perform underwater operations, but they'd managed to scavenge a sizeable amount of alien technology. Some of it had been sent away onboard a Skydiver, but they had been forced to wait for reinforcements.
Hiroshi had been relieved there was a large patrol of other Skydivers, which only added to their current numbers and would pose a threat to the UFOs. The good news was her submarine had been joined by several others of her class, and they were making short work of the UFOs, using deployed drones to help beat the odds.
Seven UFOs. Ten submarines. Twenty drones.
The outcome should be obvious, but Hiroshi, like all members of SHADO knew better than to expect a quick victory; the aliens had shown they had cunning, extending to the fact that SHADO's knowledge of their technology was limited since every attempt to capture a UFO had so far ended in a total failure, and all they had to work with were little bits. Literally. But hopefully, after today, there was something in the wreckage the Skydivers had shot down earlier that they could make use of.
In the meantime, they had to deal with this lot. So far their spy drones and their sonar equipment had picked up on what the UFOs had down here. SHADO had encountered an undersea dome which was being used by the aliens as a headquarters as part of a plan to dupe SHADO's moonbase and the Skydivers to let the aliens through. Hiroshi didn't know what the aliens' new plan with this new dome was, but she knew it was far from good.
Right now her first officer was leading a team consisting of soldiers from every single Skydiver who were secretly heading for the dome. Their orders were to get inside, kill the aliens before they could make use of their technology and destroy the dome.
It sounded easy, but Hiroshi was worried about them. She knew better than to underestimate the aliens. They were cunning and they were persistent but more than that they were fighting to survive, and in such a fight there were no winners. Right now the Skydivers and the drones were fighting hard to destroy the UFOs and keep them distracted, but she knew anything could go wrong. The aliens were using their lasers, which were faster and more brutally effective than the torpedoes and the drones SHADO were using, the only thing that could deal with them was sheer numbers.
"Two UFOs destroyed, one is limping away," the sonar tech reported.
"Locking on to the damaged UFO now," the tactical officer said, "firing now."
A moment later, the sonar tech nodded at his colleague. "Target destroyed….so are two more of the drones. We're running low. Wait, Skydiver 6 has destroyed another one and sent another UFO to the bottom. It's virtually intact, just out of the battle."
Hiroshi nodded. "Order the nearest Skydiver to prepare a boarding party," she ordered, "the more UFOs and bits of alien technology we can get today, the better."
"Sending message now, Captain," the communications officer said, but a moment later she turned in her seat, her expression relieved. "Captain, we're getting a priority one message from SHADO HQ; they're sending a flying sub squadron to our location."
"What, now? When we've been fighting here?" Hiroshi asked in disbelief, but she was relieved at the same time by the news. The flying sub squadrons were the latest weapon in SHADO's arsenal, a more advanced version of the aircraft attachment joined to each Skydiver submarine. Designed like jet fighters and bombers with rotors, and armed with rail-machine guns which used magnetics to make the firepower a match for the lasers of the UFOs, and ordinary missiles, the flying subs had quickly made themselves into a valuable weapon for SHADO.
"Captain, the squadron has been fighting several UFOs in the atmosphere and in the seas off the East Coast of America and of Europe," the communications officer said patiently. "They've been fighting separate battles."
"What?" The tactical officer and the other crew members yelped or muttered under their breaths. Hiroshi, under normal circumstances, would have rebuked her crew for their lapse in discipline, but she was too shaken by the surprising news that SHADO had been fighting the aliens on different fronts, and it made her wonder how long they had been here, to begin with.
"SHADO weren't very clear, but they've said the UFOs have been sighted in different areas of America and Europe," the communications officer said grimly.
Hiroshi had known for a long time the aliens had some way of sneaking past the Space Intruder Detector satellites, but this was the largest breach in security she'd ever heard of. Straker was likely doing his nut in right about now. From the sounds of it, the aliens had been orchestrating something big for some time, and they'd only just discovered it. "Advise the commander of the squadron of our current status," she ordered, "and tell them to make it fast."
"Aye, Captain." A few moments later the communications officer turned in her seat. "Captain, the flying sub squadron are here. They'll be within weapons range of the surviving UFOs within the next two minutes."
Hiroshi's face twisted into a sadistic grin. "I wish I could see the aliens' reactions when they realise who's coming by," she smiled.
The communications officer and the tactical officer both chuckled, but a few moments later they saw a really rare event from their ships' instruments; the UFOs tried to retreat, but they didn't get very far as the flying sub squadron swarmed all over them with their weapons blazing.
The Skydivers moved in, past the wrecks of the UFOs that had been menacing them while the flying subs surrounded them in a protective formation. As they moved in they found a dome on the sea bed.
Once she learnt of what was on the seabed, Hiroshi stiffened. "They were likely planning another attempt at slipping past SHADO defences. Send a message to every single submarine in the squadron. They're to surround the dome, but at a safe distance in case it self-destructs, but I want marine teams to move in, and secure the dome. Make sure they check every nook and cranny, the last thing we want is an alien there alive and unaccounted for."
"Aye, Captain," the communications officer said.
"Helm, plot a course to take us close to the dome, but not too close. Surround the dome," Hiroshi said.
An hour later, Hiroshi was reading a damage control report when Aaronovitch appeared. "We've managed to get into the dome," he reported when she turned her attention to her as he dried his hair with a towel, "there weren't that many aliens inside, but we took with us hunter-killer drones into the dome with us to help us hunt down any aliens."
"How many were there in the dome?" Hiroshi asked, mentally composing her report to SHADO.
"10."
"10 aliens?" Hiroshi was surprised. "I assumed there would be more."
"Yeah, we did too," Aaronovitch nodded, "but much of the space inside the dome is devoted to the storage and maintenance of UFOs. There were two partly dismantled ones in there. It's a treasure trove in there."
"This is getting better by the minute," Hiroshi said, "what else did you find? Did you find anything in the dome that would give us an idea of what they were doing in there?"
"Yeah, we found a number of weapons stockpiled in the dome. And the dome was large enough to hold barracks and there was a command centre, with a detailed and worryingly accurate map of SHADO operations. I put an engineer over there to find out if I'm right, but I think they've hacked into our communication networks, and they've mapped out where our facilities are. Sandra, there were enough UFOs and weapons that would be enough to crack SHADO wide open," Aaronovitch said seriously.
Hiroshi's mind went cold as she saw the full implications of the aliens' plan. They had likely been planning and working on the scheme for months already. They had been monitoring SHADO operations and found a way to hack into the communications network to map out where every major SHADO facility and defence outpost on Earth was. When they were ready the aliens would have struck at once, and since the aliens had managed to slip through the net maintained by moonbase, there would be no stopping them.
SHADO's defence lay in looking out towards space itself, they were vulnerable.
"Good work," Hiroshi sighed. "How many people died?"
"I don't know, quite a few I'd say. But that was not your fault."
"Yes, it was. I risked our lives for this," Hiroshi refuted.
"Oh yeah? Let me tell you something; even if the casualty report exceeded 5 people, every piece of alien technology we found in that dome over there," Aaronovitch pointed absently in the general, rough direction of the dome outside the Skydiver, "and littered all over the seabed, this time by next year, we might have cracked enough of the aliens' secrets to saving 5,000 people, or maybe 5 times as many more from that number."
"I know, but-," Hiroshi began, but Aaronovitch shook his head, "No," he said firmly, "we have spent so long fighting these aliens. We have found them planning tricks like this trying to get through SHADO. We've stopped them so far, but with the alien technology we've found today we've managed to complete part of the SHADO mandate, to acquire alien technology and weapons. It might take days, weeks, or even years, but the technology will help us save millions of lives. In the meantime, we have the dome to help us find out how the aliens got through the SIDs and the moonbase, and how they got into the communication networks, and we'd have fortified ourselves in case they have a contingency plan in place."
"Do you reckon they have?" Hiroshi jumped.
"Who knows? I'm not going to stop them coming to this planet," Aaronovitch replied.