Chapter 18 - The Battle for Earth

Cale sleepily walked toward his bed. It was a few days since Ruth was born and the chronometer on the wall read, '22:34.' Akima was already in bed and had the covers underneath each arm and over her bare chest. Cale tore off his black shirt and threw it on the floor. He lifted up his side of the blanket and crawled into bed beside his wife. She was still somewhat awake.

"Just laid the little one to sleep." Cale announced as he flipped the blanket over himself. Akima rolled toward Cale and put her arms around his neck. She giggled a little with her eyes closed and snuggled next to him. "How you feelin'?" Cale asked as he slid one arm underneath her back.

"Better, giving birth isn't easy." she answered. This was the first time they slept together in the same bed for they kept Akima in medical until she finally returned to normal. Cale was so thankful she was thin again. Losing postpartum pounds was no biggie for her; she was still young and had a quick metabolism.

Cale leaned over on one side and put half of his body over her. With his left hand, he removed a purple bang from her face so nothing was in the way. His face crept closer to hers until he found her red lips and kissed them. She put her arms around his neck and held him close to her. With their eyes closed in this passionate and much longed for kiss, they kept in their embrace.

Suddenly, a crying sound could be heard. They continued in their loving until Akima held Cale's face and gently held him away from her. "That's the baby. Could you please see what she's crying about?" she asked. Cale gave a little snicker; he was waiting for nights like these to return, but now they had a child. He still loved Ruth, but sometimes, like most married couples, he just wanted some time with Akima.

"All right, I'll be right back though! Hold that thought." Cale said as he crawled off of Akima and out of the bed. He walked across the room and approached a box that they'd been keeping Ruth in as some sort of makeshift crib. They'd put several towels to cushion her as she slept and always put her to sleep on her back. "Now, what's the holdup here? I'm tryin' to enjoy your mom and you start all this crying business." Cale playfully said as he reached in and gently grabbed Ruth around the sides. He cradled her in his arms and kept the towel wrapped around her. Cale began to lightly bounce her up and down as he rocked back and forth and she stopped wining.

Akima watched with a smile on her face as she saw Cale bouncing their daughter up and down. She realized, then, what sort of father he'd be. With the covers still around her, she crawled out of bed and went over to where they were. She caught his attention as she quietly approached from behind and leaned on his shoulder. She peered down into the towel and saw that Ruth was asleep. "Good job," Akima began, "Dad." Cale looked from Ruth to her when she said that. He smiled upon it and placed the sleeping Ruth back in the crate.

"You ready?" Cale asked as Akima crept back into bed. She spread the sheets back over the bed as he approached.

"Whenever you are." she replied. Cale crawled back into bed and assumed his previous position of them holding each other.

"Now where were we?" Cale asked. Akima leaned up and kissed him. It was another long, dreamy kiss. She pulled away and laid her head back on the pillow.

"Somewhere around there." she playfully responded. Cale gave a small chuckle and sent his face to kiss her again as he climbed on top of her entire body. Then, a screeching noise could be heard. The wheel on the door was slowly turning and Cale rolled off of Akima with a jump. The door slowly swung open and the appearance of Korso filled the doorway.

"We should reach earth at about 8:00 tomorrow." he said. Korso looked at the two and they had frustrated faces. Korso took notice that Cale was still halfway over her. "Sorry, did I interrupt something?" he politely asked, trying to save himself from being rude.

"I just want a quiet night with Akima! Sheesh!" Cale said.

"Sorry, I figured you two wouldn't be... this time of day." Korso said, not being able to say the words. He'd fully embarrassed himself as well as Cale and Akima. "I'll just leave you two to yourselves." He nodded and closed the door.

Cale gave a sigh and turned back to Akima. "You still want to?" he asked.

"We can do it." Akima smiled. Cale climbed back on top of her engaged her in another kiss.

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The Valkyrie neared New Earth. A myriad of ships were all about the planet. They were ships of all sorts: capital ships, carriers, personal fighters, and upgraded personal crafts like the Valkyrie. They were of all shapes and sizes. It appeared as if the entire human fleet had joined together. Cale, Akima, Stith, Korso, and Gune stood on the bridge and overlooked the entire fleet. "What's going on?" Cale asked.

"I called back to earth and told them that we'd failed to secure the Orb. I informed them that the Drej are on their way. They drafted everybody who they could find that could fly a ship. We've been called back to fight." Korso said, "That's what I wanted to tell you two last night."

"So that's it? This rag-tag group of fighters against a Drej mothership?!" Akima asked. She had Ruth in a makeshift carrying sling that went over one shoulder and around the opposite waist. It made a sort of hammock for Ruth to lie in and was made from some sewn together towel and a belt. Everything was covered except for her face which allowed her to look around at all of the lights and displays on the bridge. This sling made both Akima and Ruth happy. "Do we have a battle plan?" she asked.

"I've already discussed battle plans with other ships. What's going to happen is that I leave Stith and Gune in the Valkyrie. They will stay and help with the Drej stingers. Cale, Akima, and I will go in the Drej fighter with the EMP nuke and dock with the Drej mothership. We'll set it in the throne room and remotely trigger it to go off." Korso explained. Akima got a worried expression on her face.

"What about Ruth?" she asked.

"Ruth will stay on the Valkyrie." Korso told.

"During a ship battle? No way." she argued.

"We don't have enough time to put Ruth back at home, Akima. If we do, she'll still have no protection. Either way, she's still defenseless. She'll be safer on the Valkyrie." Cale said.

"But I don't understand," Akima squeaked, "why do I have to leave my daughter behind to fight the Drej?"

"Come on, Akima, we could use a good pilot and warrior like you. Ruth will be right here when you come back." Korso explained.

"But it's just going to be Gune and Stith. Who's gonna take care of Ruth?" Akima asked.

"Gune will." Korso explained, "Stith will be the gunner and I am calling in a pilot to fly this thing while we're gone." The door on the bridge of the Valkyrie opened and inside came an human. It was a young man, about six foot, black hair and had a red band around his head. He wore a brown jacket and a black shirt underneath with brown pants. He hastily stepped up onto the bridge and met them.

"Name's Porter. How you doin'?" he said with an Italian accent.

"Oh, really? I used to know a 'Porter'." Akima said.

Just then, a message came in from another ship. "Captain," Gune announced, "We're being hailed." A green light blinked on the console.

"Let 'em through." Korso commanded. Gune obeyed and pressed the button. Some static was heard and was followed by a masculine voice. 'We have spotted the Drej! Everyone to your stations!' is what it said. Everybody on the bridge quickly became alert.

Cale, Korso, Gune, and Akima went down the stairs. They walked out of the bridge and down the hallway. Akima stopped and Gune by her. She pulled the one strap over her shoulder and handed it to Gune. He put the strap over his head and set Ruth in front of him. He smiled and made funny faces at her which made her smile as well. "Now, Gune, you're gonna have to be really gentle, okay?" Akima said.

"She will be kept safe." Gune reassured the only way his simple and, yet, intelligent mind could. He entertained her, as if nothing was going wrong. Akima smiled, knowing that her and Cale's daughter was going to be in safe hands. She turned and followed Cale and Korso to the cargo bay.

Porter, the temporary pilot of the Valkyrie, went up to the pilot's seat on the bridge. He sat down and grabbed each side of the controls. "Let's get this party started!" he whooped. Stith shrugged him off and went to the firing controls. She turned them on and grabbed the triggers, getting ready for the Drej to show up.

The Drej mothership was coming near to earth. Swarms of slijah came rushing out of the main hold of the mothership, known as the Gehenna, and came screaming toward the human crafts. "Prepare a distraction. Use the New Technology on earth." Hexajava commanded from her throne room. The slijah allotted in one large group that made it difficult to tell where one ended and another began.

The human crafts started their engines and raced toward the slijah. Numerous earth fighters ran in squadrons of six. Each ship was different in their own way. There were carriers in which smaller fighters came streaming out of it while there were people in their own small, one-manned fighter. "Alpha group, report in." Porter said from the bridge of the Valkyrie.

"Alpha three, standing by." a young pilot with a goatee said.

"Alpha six, standing by." a black woman with dark goggles that didn't allow you to see her eyes said.

"Alpha two, standing by." an oriental woman called in.

"Alpha four, standing by." a fat and deep-voiced man said.

"Alpha five's here." a thin and ecstatic young masculine voice called.

"All right, Alpha group, this is Alpha one," Porter said, "I have precious cargo. I'll need some cover, over." The Valkyrie sped onward toward the Gehenna with all of Alpha group surrounding it. Two fighters flew overhead and one below while one flew on each side. The slijah raced forward with all intent on destroying the fleet. They didn't have the New Technology in their weapons because they needed it for the subjugation of earth.

"Copy that, Alpha leader." the oriental woman said. Then, the two armies of ships clashed. The Valkyrie took heavy fire as the slijah shot and veered away. The stingers swept over the earth ships like a swarm of bees. There were too many to count! Endless hordes of slijah poured over the ships as they sent torrents of blue plasma into the fray.

"There's too many of them!" the black woman said. She had fighters in her sights, but they kept evading her shots. There were too many for her targeting computer to handle. It would skip from one fighter and when she'd fire, it'd skip to another, and another, missing all of them.

"Are you guys secure in the 'Trojan horse'?" Porter asked as he called to the Drej fighter within the bowels of the Valkyrie.

"Ready to go." Korso's voice said over the intercom.

"Opening cargo bay." Porter announced. Grunting could be heard on the bridge coming from Stith who was busy trying to blast as many stingers as she possibly could. She was hitting more than anybody else was. Already, she'd hit about twenty. It was very easy to her; she just switched the Valkyrie's auto targeting off and was shooting manually.

The Drej fighter Cale, Korso, and Akima were in fell out of the cargo bay when the doors were opened all the way. "Okay, Cale, take us out." Korso said from behind the two cockpit seats. Cale sat in the pilot's seat on the left since he'd flown a Drej stinger before and Akima sat on the right. Korso had the nuke strapped around his back, so when the appropriate time came, he could easily throw it off and trigger it. The stinger was lost from sight once it went into the group with the other slijah. Nobody on the human's side fired upon it because it carried a beacon that made it blink red instead of green. This was the only way to identify their diplomacy.

"Here goes nothing." Akima said as she watched the battle from the cockpit. "This idea has to be the most trite of all time," Akima began, just doubting a little, "or else, this'll be the shortest offensive of all time." She watched as they flew away from the Valkyrie, hoping that her and Cale's daughter would be okay. It was strange to her: in all of Ruth's life she'd been there. This was the first time she wasn't.

"It'll work. It has to." Korso told, "I planned it." He held on to the tops of both of their chairs. They each had their own weapons on. Cale had his shotgun slung over his shoulder and his Magnum pistol. Akima wore her wakazashi blades with one strap going over each shoulder and around the side while she had a pistol in a holster. Korso decided not to bring his EMP grenades because it might tear a hole in the side of the Gehenna while they were on it. Instead he had a pistol in his holster and a type of plasma machine gun which had a round generator on top capable of firing about five shots a second.

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The Valkyrie and it's squadron were receiving quite a beating. The Drej ships seemed to come at them, loop-the-loop, fly away, and come back shooting again. The Valkyrie, with it's size and illegally upgraded armor plating, could take such a beating. The personal fighters, though, could not.

"What you got?!" Stith taunted from the bridge of the Valkyrie. The stingers were dropping like flies around her. She'd fire on one, destroy it, and go to another. It was like shooting fish in a barrel for her. "Whooo!" she whooped as another fighter exploded into blue sparks.

"Ha ha! I like you, girl!" Porter exclaimed excitedly while steering the craft through the blue fighters. He swiveled his chair around to look at Stith who was busy picking off numerous fighters. She glanced at him and acknowledged his praise. He swiveled back around and began paying attention to his flying again.

"I'm hit!" Alpha four, the fat, deep-voiced man yelled. His fighter was beginning to spark on the left wing. His ship looked basically like a arrowhead in which it had one round engine in the center and one on the tip of each wing. The damaged engine began to sputter and caused his steering to be off centered.

"Alpha four, are you okay?!" the oriental woman asked. Her ship looked Japanese: it was thin and was mostly red with a shiny, silver pointed tip. It had four cylindrical engines on a horizontal line and each engine had a long red cone that came out the center. Her fighter flew beside Alpha four's and she looked out her cockpit window at her comrade in distress who had blue lasers whipping by him.

"I'm ... ahh!" he said as his fighter spun out of control when another laser blast hit him. Sparks shot off as it completed barrel-rolls unintentionally. After a while of spinning, his left wing flew off and his fighter exploded. A splash of orange fire erupted from it and disappeared with the cold of space.

"Everybody, keep fighting!" Porter yelled over the communications, "We can win this thing!" The black woman smiled at his pithy, but daring speech. Still, endless rows of Drej fighters kept coming on them. They harried the human ships. The Drej strategy being used was: four Drej stingers versus one human fighter. This seemed to increase their odds of winning.

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The stinger Cale, his wife, and Korso were on flew toward the hold of the Gehenna. Somehow, it appeared more menacing than ever before as they grew near to it. The three towers loomed like horns above the mothership as the three engines streamed blue fire from them. They slowed, and flew into the white light that emanated from the square hold. They went into the Gehenna.