Chapter 8: Attack of the Space Monsters.
Baghdad, Iraq.
The night in Baghdad seemed to chill the spines of those on the ground, even though it was summer in Baghdad. Fighters and helicopters roared in the air above the war-torn capital while tanks and APCs rolled along the streets in a somewhat brazen contempt of the Iraqi insurgents. Everyone, whether they were military or civilian sensed that whatever was now plaguing the world would soon make a stop in the war torn city.
The air in the Green Zone of Baghdad smelled of that tension as the civilians and military personnel conducted their duties of trying to protect the Iraqi capital. The commanders paced around while technicians monitored the perimeter around the city as well as kept CENTCOM updated on their situation.
Both General Max Taylor and Robert Mitchell felt the tension as they along with other military officials coordinated the defense of the city and of the area along with that of the entire Middle East. They, along with Air Force General Daniel Warner, had spent the last four hours going over arrangements with the other armies in the area and now they waited with apprehension for the inevitable break in the storm, hoping that they could contribute since all three heard what had happened in the Pacific. Warner especially wanted to get out there since the commander of the Air forces in the Pacific was an old friend of his.
The two ground commanders walked outside to get some fresh air and felt the eerie silence as the night wore on in the ravaged city. Mitchell turned to his boss and admitted, "It's not the time for cliché but I guess I might as well say that in our case it is the dark before the dawn".
Taylor grumbled and replied, "And the "dawn" is usually the best time when all hell breaks loose". At that, both men laughed since they knew that finally the tour of Baghdad had gotten to them". When the laughter died down though, Taylor replied, "Still though, I do wish that there would some sense of chaos right now in the city since at least we're doing something".
Mitchell was about to add more when suddenly alarms started to blare all over the city. They both rushed inside where the command center had already sprung to action. General Warner immediately walked up to the two and replied, "I've already got my squadrons in the air and more are standing by".
Both men nodded at the General's skill and the rapidness of the response of the military as they headed into the center itself. Already, technicians and air controllers directed the aircraft to meet the UFO. Warner immediately asked, "Do you have a visual of the target yet".
One of the officers replied, "The aircraft should make contact very shortly". Warner already nodded and looked back towards the screen of the aircraft heading towards the circular dot on the virtual map. Soon the two made contact and one of the pilots came on the line, "We've spotted the object and are sending you the images right now". The screen changed to that of the target.
It was the monster called Gigan, which was flying at a very high speed on a direct course for Baghdad. Warner immediately turned and asked, "Are the anti-aircraft units in position"? One of the technicians nodded and Warner yelled out, "Tell them to start firing and weapons are free for aircraft to use".
From different areas of the city, Patriot anti-aircraft missile batteries started launching wave after wave of missiles into the night sky. The sound woke the residents of the city and immediately many, nerves already frayed by constant attacks by the insurgents, started to wonder if the city would ever again know peace as they heard the sounds of explosions, jet aircraft, and military vehicles roaring all around them.
As the aircraft pulled out of the way, the monster continued on its flight path, unaware of the resistance ahead. Within several minutes of the launch, the missiles made contact with the monster, detonated against the monster's skin. After repeated missile strikes, the monster started to loose altitude and within a minute, fell like a rock into the Tigris River.
The sound of the monster crashing into the river alerted the whole city and they immediately crowded the windows to watch the developing battle. They soon heard the sounds of explosions and gunfire as the military forces in the city closed in to attack the new arrival.
Gigan roared in surprised anger as the military forces in the city pounded away with both air and ground forces. Fortunately though, its skin prevented the military weapons from harming it and it righted itself before heading towards its assailants. Soon, its clawed feet smashed through the buildings of the city while frightened civilians tried to escape from this new horror.
The commanders in the Green Zone watched as Gigan brushed aside the first line of defense, sending tanks and other vehicles careening in different directions with its huge feet. Some of the soft skinned vehicles burst into flame as the monster walked past them while the survivors struggled to regroup.
Taylor watched with unease as his forces attempted to get clear of the monster. Though the monster didn't have any long range weapons he could really see, the destruction was enough to worry him especially because it made maneuvering in those streets, already hazardous, very much impossible.
Suddenly, one of the officers yelled out, "Sir, the creature is heading towards the green zone". That shocked everyone in the room and the US ambassador immediately ordered, "General, can you buy us time to get out of here".
Taylor winced at the request but felt he had no choice, "I'm only going to hold out as long as I can". The US ambassador nodded in understanding and everyone headed to do their duty while the battle continued to rage outside.
Gigan continued its inexorable march and soon closed in on one of the main military camps in the Green Zone. However, soon the firepower increased as M109 155mm Paladin Howitzers fired their shells at point blank range.
Gigan screeched at the resistance and paused for a moment before the small dot above the red visor started to glow and then a small beam emerged downward. The beam stared slicing tanks and other military vehicles in its path, causing a row of explosions. With the fire momentarily silenced, the cyborg monster continued its march and soon smashed its way through the perimeter of the base.
Seeing that the monster had beaten them, the troops in the area immediately scattered while delivering fire to keep the monster pinned down. M1A2 Abrams took up stationary positions while the M3 Bradley and Stryker units ranged freely in the confined battlefield, firing a wave of missiles before resuming movement.
Though this did have the effect of keeping the monster pinned down for a while, the American forces in the area were operating with finite ammunition and in modern high-intensity combat they were close to running out of ammunition.
Warner cursed as he saw the sight and asked, "Do we have any air units available yet"? One of the officers turned and replied, "They should be over the area shortly". The Air Force General then turned to the other two and replied, "After my units begin the attack, you guys should pull out as fast as you can". Both generals nodded as they and others continued to conduct the battle until the very last moment.
The monster continued its destruction and soon was in the Green Zone, destroying buildings left and right. Its huge claws slashed through buildings, sending rubble crashing into the streets below. Fortunately though, it did not use its single long range weapon most of the time and the ground forces had enough experience in street fighting to keep Gigan busy while the civilians evacuated. However, they could not inflict any noticeable damage on the monster while suffering gradual losses as the monster suddenly rushed at them head on.
The ground commander winced as the monster smashed through another one of his blockades. Seeing that the troops had stayed far longer than necessary, the commander yelled out, "Tell that air support to commence join the attack".
Gigan continued its destruction when he heard the sound of aircraft screaming down with guns blazing. Switching its attention to the sky, the monster turned to face its aerial opponents. It threw up its claws in defense and started jumping around in order to knock his aerial assailants out of the sky.
The AH-64D Apache helicopters took up stationary positions as they fired wave after wave of Hellfire missiles and 20mm cannons at the huge beast. Meanwhile, the F-15s and F/A-18s dove down for low-level attacks with Maverick missiles and smart bombs. Although Gigan staggered backward due to the firepower for a moment, it immediately regained its footing and soon jumped all over the place, forcing the pilots to dodge to counter the monster's seemingly random movements. Soon though, the monster started scoring kills against the fighters that flew too close to the monster. Within a few minutes, it swiped ten aircraft out of the sky.
Seeing the jets retreating, the monster turned to the helicopters and used its eye beam again and again, cutting them down. Fortunately though, they brought the priceless time needed for the ground forces to pull out and soon once the tanks managed to escape, Warner yelled out on the radio, "All air units retreat".
The monster roared in victory as it surveyed the destruction it caused and the human forces retreating from it. It screeched in victory before taking to the air and headed northward.
Jerusalem, Israeli.
Many people consider Jerusalem to be the holy city of the world for it is the birthplace of the religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Not surprisingly, since they sprung from the different beliefs of humanity, the city has seen its share of horrific violence and blood even before Jesus Christ was born.
The creation of Israeli with the desire of Jerusalem to be its capital displayed this brutal fact for within hours, the Jewish state waged war against the entire Arab world in 1948. That was just the start for the Arabs would try to destroy Israeli by conventional means several more times before deciding to call it quits and resorting to terrorism. One of those wars managed to spill into the streets of Jerusalem, first in 1967 and then with the introduction of Islamic terrorism. Every time such incidents occurred, the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) struck back brutally with marginal effect, thereby starting a vicious cycle that abated once in a while due to the short term truces. Despite all of this, the city remained standing although it gradually transformed into a military city. Unfortunately, that would not protect it from the oncoming horror that would have made the combined terrorist attacks look merciful in comparison.
Even though the IDF failed to effectively combat the terrorist attacks, the population and military observes consider it to be one of the top armies around the globe. The United States military often uses Israeli as a guinea pig to test the latest weapons before US soldiers use them. Also, the many wars of Israeli had honed the capabilities of the Israeli soldier to a fine point and demonstrated his bravery time and time again. Now, that bravery would be needed again in large numbers and many soldiers would sacrifice themselves against mad odds for the reasons that had motivated their forbearers: to protect their families and their homes.
At one of the surrounding air bases, the control tower picked up an unusual object heading straight for Jerusalem at very high speed. The airbase immediately passed the news to the Israeli Defense Minister Edward Barak who was in a videophone meeting with Secretary of Defense Henry Davidson. Once Barak received the message from the airbase, he told the officer, "Send your air units to destroy it or divert it away from Jerusalem". He then turned to the commander of the Israeli Army, "Prepare an evacuation order for the city".
Two squadrons of F-15s along with a squadron of F-16s took off Israeli airbases and headed straight for Jerusalem. Though this took them very close to the Arab countries of Jordan and to a certain extent, Syria, they flew around the city in a circle at 30,000 feet. After a first sweep of the area, the flight leader replied, "We're in the area but we haven't spotted the object as of yet". The airbase sent back a reply to maintain position and to continue patrol. The pilots wondered what was going on but everything seemed to be normal as far as conventional warfare was concerned but they continued to fly over the city in a protective formation. After a while, it seemed that they had been sent up on a wild goose chase but then an object suddenly appeared on radar, forcing the flight leader to come on the radio saying, "We have spotted the object and are moving to investigate". The base sent back a reply stating that if the target turned out to be a threat then the Israeli pilots were free to engage".
The massed air armada flew towards the unidentified object in the dark sky and soon they had entered visual range. The superstitious pilots soon wished that they had stayed home for what they saw was something that could have come out of the underworld.
King Ghidorah flew through the dark sky, its malevolent form striking fear into all human eyes that had seen it up close. Its three heads slithered as it flew through the night sky towards the human cities below. Suddenly, explosions occurred all over its body as the Israeli fighters dove into the attack at full speed. The three heads started long yellow energy beams that destroyed three fighters in the first second of battle. The others dodged as the monster started shooting back at them while the flight leader got on the line and reported, "We have engaged the target and are suffering losses, we need reinforcements".
The voice on the other line replied, "Reinforcements are on the way and we've activated our anti-aircraft batteries". The flight leaders cursed but nodded and said, "We'll hold them off as best we can"? He then returned to the battle with a wave of AIM-120 missiles at the monster's body. Some exploded on the monster's body but all it did was to make the monster spit lightning bolts at him and it took all of his skill to dodge.
The other pilots also were in the fight of their lives as the monster's three heads started spitting energy bolts left and right. The pilots were among the best in the world but they had practiced against mainly dodging missiles, not energy weapons and several more fell to the energy fire.
The battle started to descend towards Jerusalem and soon, people in the streets started to notice the flash of lights and the raining of debris, which destroyed several of the smaller buildings in the city.
At one of the missile batteries outside the city, the personnel struggled to get their weapons ready to assist and the confusion on the ground did not help relieve the stress the crews felt at the thought of their city under attack. Soon, though it and the others were ready and within seconds, scores of Patriot and Hawk missile batteries roared from their launchers towards the space monster.
The Israeli pilots saw the missile streaks and knew it was time to get out on full burn. They nearly managed to escape before the first wave of missiles slammed into the monster. More missiles emerged and soon large clouds formed on the monster. However, King Ghidorah was unharmed and immediately started its descent down into the city itself, its three heads already causing massive destruction by firing its gravity bolts in all directions.
The yellow gravity bolts struck at different targets in sight and even the main sights were not immune as one of the energy blasts struck the Temple Mount, incinerating in one shot. Soon the area turned into a sea of inferno that caught the civilian population in the killing zone as the monster continued to rain bolts of death.
The monster soon touched the ground and even then, did not let up its attack. The monster's head destroyed buildings left and right and used its huge wings to blow away the remains along with the civilians who hadn't taken shelter yet.
Immediately after the monster landed in the city, IDF ground forces sprung into action with Mervaka tanks screaming through the crowds of people to engage the three headed Asian dragon. Israeli designed the Mervaka for exceptionally savage fighting but the tank designers did not have the intention of them fighting monsters.
Once the tank units immediately spotted the monster, they started firing their shells at the monster. Unfortunately, the fire proved just as ineffective from the aircraft for all it did was to attract attention towards them and within a few minutes, the monster set three of the tank blockades on fire with a volley of its lightning bolts.
The sight of the monster killing their comrades and destroying Jerusalem unnerved the survivors and they immediately fell back while screaming for their artillery to start firing. However, the artillery gunners hesitated for a moment at the thought of sending shells into the streets of the holy city. It took a vicious screaming by the generals before the 155mm self-propelled guns started firing shells to cover the withdrawal of the tank units.
King Ghidorah roared out loud in victory before taking off into the sky once again to inflict more destruction from the air. Although more IAF units arrived on the scenes, they could do little as the monster rained more death down on the streets below and suffered more heavy losses for its foolish bravery.
Soon thought, the monster felt satisfied with its work and as suddenly as it appeared, it suddenly disappeared into the darkness. It left a savaged city full of dead and wounded along with destroyed monuments to humanity. Those superstitious suddenly started to state that the apocalypse had arrived and as the flame raged through the devastated city, the survivors found it hard to disagree.
Moscow, Russia.
The capital of Russia had seen its fair share of war. In 1812, Napoleon's Grand Army reached the city only to find that its inhabitants burned it to the ground, Russian forces on its flanks and the dreaded Russian winter hammering it full force. Then in 1941, Hitler's fearsome Whermact almost reached the Kremlin after fighting savagely through the Russian defenders in worsening weather before the defenders drove them back in a surprise attack.
Ever since Angruis savaged the Russian forces in Chechnya before disappearing underground, Moscow, along with the other main cities of Russia had been on alert with forces patrolling the streets. Although the government managed to keep the news low key, the rumors were already beginning to make the rounds in this grim city.
At the Kremlin, the Russian Prime Minister and his cabinet were meeting to discuss the situation. Already, disquieting rumors started to appear about what was going on in Chechnya and the fact that there were other monsters near Russia at this very moment.
Currently, they were now discussing the air defenses for Moscow and ground troop dispositions when suddenly, an Air Force official ran into the room and headed towards the Air Force Chief of Staff, General Sarazhov. After the officer winced in the General's ear, he turned and said, "Send up our fighters and alert the ABM batteries". The officer nodded and walked out while the General turned to the others in the room, "I'm sorry to bother you with this but it seems one of the monsters that destroyed the International Space Station is heading this way" "May I suggest that we evacuate out of the city".
The Prime Minister nodded and replied, "Commence evacuation of the city and send in the troops". The group headed out to the waiting helicopters that would take them to Sheremetyevo Airport while alarms started blaring and tanks headed into position. At the airbases surrounding the city, the pilots rushed to their planes and helicopters while the radar technicians scanned the skies for any signs of trouble.
Suddenly, the Russian air defense radars spotted the UFO but before the Russian forces reacted, the object discharged three smaller objects that immediately slammed into the city. Before, they could react, huge crystals started to emerge from the ground, destroying buildings left and right even before the monster made its landing in a huge ball of white fire and smoke. Once the smoke cleared, it transformed into the space-demon known as Space-Godzilla.
The huge blue-orange space monster roared as it surveyed its surroundings. As the crystals emerged from the ground, they started pouring energy into the fearsome space monster. It roared before starting firing its corona beam randomly in all directions.
The Russian Prime Minister and the general watched with horror as centuries of Russian history were destroyed in seconds by a space-born version of a 20th century nightmare. He then turned angrily to Army General Kalin Darzehv and yelled, "Can't your ground forces do anything".
Darzhev, who had faced no less than two Communist presidents as well as two Russian presidents, replied "Our ground forces are having difficulties in trying to reach the monster" "The only way to get at it is to resort with artillery".
That stunned the PM and he said, "What kind of damage are we expecting"?
Darzhev replied, "We can expect heavy damage since we'll have to use artillery and aircraft to blast our way through".
The PM watched at the monster continued to destroy the capital for a moment before turning to his commanders and with icy cold steel reminiscent of Stalin, "Do it".
Since the landscape prevented the large massing of forces, the Russians divided their available units into small battle groups before they headed into the city. Overhead, Mi-24 Hind helicopters and Sukoi ground attack aircraft flew in to engage the monster.
Space-Godzilla immediately spotted the intruders and even before they were in range, the monster fired a savage blast of its corona energy beam and the fighters, scoring hits no matter what maneuvering techniques the pilots undertook. Within seconds, Space Godzilla literally blasted the Russian air cover out of the sky.
Suddenly artillery shells started to crash into the area around the monster, blinding him momentarily in fire and smoke. As soon as the smoke cleared, the kaiju's eyes narrowed in anger as the T-80s and T-90s rolled in the attack him. Space-Godzilla's eyes closed for a moment as he suddenly paused before more crystals emerged out from under the tanks, literally ripping them apart.
The monster then closed its eyes and then some of the crystals suddenly flew up from the ground before the kaiju telepathically directed them towards the ground, destroying the Russian tanks and devastating more of Moscow.
The spectators watched in horror for a few more minutes before Darzhev yelled out, "Signal all force to pull back now". He turned to the Prime Minister to apologize but the PM shook his head in agreement. They turned back to watch the unknown horror destroying the beloved Russian capital". The Prime Minister then replied, "Get on the line with America and Japan and tell them that we agree to the meeting".
Space-Godzilla roared in victory as it watched the resistance die down. The crystals suddenly pulsed white with energy and soon it transferred the energy into Space-Godzilla's crystal shoulders. In the process, the energy transfer contributed much to the devastation of the Russian capital. The Kremlin collapsed under the assault followed by Red Square, Lenin's Mausoleum and the other landmarks. Once the kaiju completed its energy transfer, it roared in victory before transforming back into its flying mode.
As it ascended into the sky, in a pure form of hatred for all live on Earth, the monster closed its eyes again. The survivors of the sudden debacle watched in horror as all the crystals suddenly exploded upward for a moment before the monster mentally directed them back towards the ground in an orgy of explosions. When it was all over, the city resembled one that had suffered a nuclear attack.
Space-Godzilla roared in glee before it headed to another human metropolis to destroy. In the wake, it left behind a devastated grand city and people just as eager as the Japanese and the Americans to get into the fight and the line would not end there.
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