Chapter 37: The Signal.
In the Murmansk Oblast, fifty miles west of the Russian Navy's Northern Fleet Headquarters in Severomorsk, the Russians had built a secret research and development base. In the beginning, its sole purpose was to further develop ICBM technology. However, Russia's list of enemies was extensive and included giant monsters which occupied its own territory. Thus, they needed more advanced weapons which wouldn't leave their countryside uninhabitable when all was said and done.
Since the base's inception, it had expanded into several other areas of research. A new organization was created and grew until it became the Russian equivalent of Archimedes. Above ground, there was an airbase for bombers and fighters. Below ground, there were nuclear missile silos, a huge machine shop for building Helltanks that the Russians were creating using their stolen Maser blueprints, and an advanced research center dedicated to studying Kaiju.
On the surface of the base, near the main access tunnel of the underground bunker, a woman in a white lab coat was waiting at the helipad. She inspected her watch, noting impatiently that the shipment she was anticipating was already overdue by an hour. Although the sun was high in the sky, the wind had a wicked chill to it. This was actually considered thewarmtime of the year for the area, but the base was located very far north in the Russian frontier. The woman was around thirty-five years old, thin, had long blonde hair, and icy blue eyes. She didn't mind the cold so much. Appearances aside, she was quite tough and was focused on the task at hand. She was quite eager to get a look at her new specimen, so she just paced back and forth to pass the time and stay warm.
At last, the woman heard what she was waiting for. A large transport helicopter was approaching the base from the north. She stepped behind a nearby barrier to avoid the strong gusts of air the helicopter displaced as it neared the landing zone. When it touched down, the crew inside the chopper wasted no time. They got to work opening the cargo bay and unloading their payload. A specialized transport truck was brought up from the tunnel and the cargo was loaded into it. There was a label on the side of the container that read:Sollgel Island.
Once the crate was in the hands of the base personnel, the helicopter crew retreated back to their aircraft and departed. As the gusts of wind died down, the blonde-haired scientist emerged from her refuge and came over to inspect the cargo for herself up close. The loading team looked annoyed, but they knew her well enough to know she wouldn't be denied. Without a word, the workers used their crowbars to open the top portion of the crate so she could see what was inside.
Anya, the scientist, eagerly climbed to the top of the crate to get her first look at its contents. To her delight, there was a very large egg nestled inside the container. It was roughly the size of a car; bigger than the last specimen she'd received. Anya just stared at the egg, fascinated by the discovery, and taking in every detail. Color, texture, dimensions. She soaked it all in. The egg had brown and tan striations from top to bottom. Natural camouflage, well-suited for the wild.
The driver of the transport vehicle shouted back to Anya that he was ready to proceed into the base. Anya decided she wanted to go along for the ride and shouted back to him to proceed onwards. She wasn't ready to let this marvel out of her sight just yet. The vehicle lurched forward forcefully, rocking both Anya and the egg. Annoyed and incensed, Anya was about to yell up for the driver to be more careful, but before she could, she was distracted by something quite unexpected. The egg was changing color before her very eyes. It seemingly turned a shade of bright orange. With that, the words fell away from Anya. She didn't know what to make of it. In all of her years in research, she'd never seen anything like it before. As the truck got going and steadied, the color of the egg faded back to its normal brown and tan color scheme.
The transport truck descended down the declining cement ramp and then entered the underground base through a huge set of metal doors. Just beyond the entrance was the beginning of a long tunnel which would lead them deeper inside towards the main bunker. The corridor was vast and speckled with overhead lights every twenty yards or so. Anya didn't count how many they passed along the way, but the cycle of darkness and light was repeated many times until they found themselves at the base's inner security checkpoint.
The transport vehicle stopped and was thoroughly inspected. ID cards were checked, and clearance verifications were confirmed before they were allowed to proceed further. The Russians couldn't be too careful. The facility was designed first and foremost as a first strike base. Several sections of the facility were still dedicated launch sites and contained nuclear weapons.
Once the armed guards were satisfied with what they found, Anya and the transport team were allowed to enter the inner sanctum of the base. The big doors opened, and they drove through, passing more soldiers and scientists at work along the way. Before too long, they found the hub of the Kaiju Research Center. There, the hauler came to a halt. A horde of research assistants came out to help remove the egg from its wooden crate. They stripped away one side of the frame and then slowly began to roll the egg down a ramp.
Anya was feeling a little anxious about this step. If they lost control over the egg at that point, it could be a very messy disaster. However, with ten men on each side, they were able to carefully maneuver the egg down safely. Once they were off the platform, the hazardous portion of their task was done. Everyone involved breathed a little easier from that point forward. The men rolled their prize into a pre-prepared glass box with soft grooved brackets on the floor to secure it. The containment unit had its own separate climate controls where the egg could rest in warmth and safety. Anya came forward again to admire it from the other side of the glass. She could now see the egg in its entirety. It was a wonder to behold, more precious than the jeweled Faberge Eggs of Saint Petersburg that had belonged to the Czars.
Anya only took her eyes off the mystery egg for a moment to peer over to the companion next to it, the stolen Rodan egg recovered from Kamchatka. What a sight they were together.
…
On the other side of the world, Marcus was doing a reconnaissance flight over the Sollgel Island chain, or as they were more commonly becoming known, the Monster Islands. They'd gained that moniker for good reason. The isles below were overrun with various new species, many of them large and quite hostile to mankind. Chief among them was Spiga. After Battra's disappearance, Spiga resumed his place as the most dominant force on the islands. He was undisputed as the top of the food chain and had plenty of other things to prey upon there now.
A lot of things had changed since the most recent battle. Dr. Orsini was no longer needed for the Mothra Research Project in Japan. Primarily, because Mothra's body had disappeared, and there wasn't anything left to study. She had simply vanished overnight, and no one could explain how or why. Thus, Dr. Orsini had rejoined the Archimedes fleet at Sollgel. He asked to join Marcus on his most recent recon flight to get a better look at the new lifeforms discovered on the islands. He was, however, still very preoccupied by Mothra's disappearance.
"How could anyone move something that big without anyone noticing…?" Dr. Orsini asked exasperated. "Poof,and she's gone just like that." He snapped his fingers for dramatic effect. "Admiral Malek was furious about it when he heard. We didn't even get a chance to start studying her body. No useful information was collected whatsoever... I just don't know what to tell him. No one could have stolen it out from under our noses. She's just gone like magic. Now you see her, now you don't." He complained.
"I got nothing…" Marcus replied. "It sounds pretty insane for sure." He noted. Despite his genuine sympathies for Dr. Orsini, Marcus was secretly happy to know that Mothra's body was not going to be defiled. He just couldn't say it openly to anyone. "At least you'll have some new specimens here to study." He tried to change the subject. "An entire new ecosystem in fact."
"Well, you've found the silver-lining." Dr. Orsini sighed. "There's certainly a lot going on down there." He agreed, peering out the side window. Below, they could see various species of giant insects moving around, large carnivorous plants, and most interesting of all, Spiga's severed section of leg had entirely grown back since his fight with Battra. While the injury had been small, the giant spider had still recovered remarkably fast.
Regardless of all the impressive sights they saw on Sollgel, Dr. Orsini couldn't help but be somewhat disappointed. He'd hoped to catch a glimpse of the twin Mothra larva and Battra, but they'd all disappeared from the island after their showdown. None of them had been heard from since. The doctor was quite curious about the differences in the two Mothra specimens. Marcus had described them as being markedly different from one another. Dr. Orsini theorized that perhaps one of the Mothra larva was male and the other was female. That could explain the variation of eye color and their uniquely shaped heads. Of course, those variations could just come down to distinct differences from one individual to another. Still, Marcus liked Dr. Orsini's theory. He thought there might be something to it.
As the helicopter continued surveying the island, a giant hornet heard their engine and began to rise up from the jungle to challenge them. Marcus spotted the mutated insect coming, as well as a large round structure ahead poking out above the trees. It could only be a hive the giant hornets constructed recently, because it hadn't been there a couple days ago during the last survey flight. Marcus alerted his fighter escorts to come back him up and readied the chopper's own weapons just in case the Phantoms failed to perform adequately enough on their own.
The giant hornets were becoming bolder. Without the Kamacuras around to prey upon them, their numbers had grown unchecked. If they ventured too close to Spiga's lair, he made short work of them, but wasps could recognize landmarks from the air, and they'd learned to avoid his crater over time. And though Spiga absolutely dwarfed them in size, with more time and numbers, enough of the hornets working together might one day be able to overwhelm and kill the Spider King of Monster Island. They were already aggressively attacking anything that came into what they perceived as their territory.
The individual giant hornet that was hunting Marcus' helicopter started to close in, but before it got within a thousand yards of the survey chopper, the fighter escorts were bearing down on it. Two F-4 phantoms pulled in behind the enormous wasp and opened up with their machine guns, tearing both of its wings to shreds. The hornet fought hard, struggling to stay in the air. For its trouble, the phantoms peppered it again with a second burst of machine gun fire directly to its abdomen and thorax. While the bullets were less effective against the hornet's armored carapace, when enough rounds were spent, they started to have a cumulative effect, penetrating the durable exoskeleton. After that, the hornet rapidly fell out of the sky. Doomed, it would make a hearty meal for whatever found it in the jungle.
"Thanks guys, I really appreciate the help." Marcus called over to his escort pilots. The phantoms rose back to the level of the helicopter. As Marcus glanced over, one of the pilots gave him a thumbs up. After that, the fighters resumed their position high above the helicopter. "Those bastard hornets are part of the reason we can't establish a new base on the island." Marcus pointed out to Dr. Orsini. "They're super aggressive..." He added. Just then, more radar contacts appeared on Marcus' screen. "Crap, it looks like our dearly departed friend wasn't on his own." Marcus announced with growing alarm in his voice. "I think we better get back to the fleet." He whorled the helicopter around and sped away as fast as he could. The radar blips quickly multiplied. "Oh shit… the one we downed must have released a warning pheromone to the rest of the nest. They're all coming out to say hi now."
"What are we going to do?" Dr. Orsini asked nervously, recognizing that the situation was escalating quickly.
"It's definitely too much for us to handle on our own, even with the phantoms." Marcus replied, pushing his engine to the max. "We're going to need the firepower of the fleet." He noted. "I'm going to tell the escorts to keep those little shits off our backs for as long as possible. These hornets can't fly fast enough to keep up with the fighters, but we're certainly not going to outrun them in this helicopter."
The Phantoms did their best to run interference, diving down and engaging the hornets, but they could only slow down the swarm, not stop them. Marcus radioed the fleet and warned them of the oncoming threat. General quarters alarms began to blare across every ship in the Archimedes' flotilla. Sailors ran to their battle stations while guns were quickly loaded and oriented towards the island. The USS Independence started to launch as many of her aircraft as she could get in the air. The regular combat air patrol that was already on station over the fleet moved out to meet the threat. In the distance, the swarm looked like a dark cloud on the horizon.
As the helicopter closed in on the fleet, Marcus looked back and saw that they were only a couple hundred yards ahead of the angry hornets. The CAP fighters had closed the distance and quickly launched dozens of rockets into the crowded airspace behind Marcus' chopper. There wasn't much need to aim. There were at least thirty to forty angry hornets all clustered together. The rockets struck several of them, exploding upon impact and tearing numerous insects to pieces. The hornet's armor simply wasn't up to the task of protecting them from anti-kaiju missiles. However, the bugs still had the number's advantage. For each individual that fell, there were two more to take their place.
Marcus finally arrived at the deck of the USS Independence and landed just as hastily as he could. The giant hornets were still right behind him though. The carrier's air defenses came to life, spewing thousands upon thousands of rounds of high-caliber anti-aircraft munitions into the swarm. The rest of the fleet followed suit, and bugs began to fall from the sky left right and center.
Some giant hornets began to descend upon the fleet, landing on ships and trying to utilize their stingers. One of them found its way onto the bridge of the Independence and penetrated a glass window of the control tower. The deck gunners couldn't fire on it without risking hitting the officers within, but some quick-thinking sailors from the damage control party used their firehose to spray down the giant insect. Once it fell to the deck, it was blown to bits at close range by a nearby section of AA cannons.
More hornets arrived on deck, seeing the ships of the fleet as massive enemies to kill. They fruitlessly prodded at the armored hulls with their stingers. One of the wasps landed right next to Marcus' helicopter and started to make its way towards the craft. Its vicious mandibles were chomping open and shut, anticipating the carnage to come. Marcus was not in a position to attack the giant bug with his nose cannon or missiles, so he shouted at his side-gunner to open up on it. The hornet got within five yards of the helicopter before the gunner sprayed him in the face with the heavy machine gun. The stream of fire found and ruptured one of the hornet's compound eyes.
The grievous injury didn't stop the giant hornet though. It slammed into the side of the helicopter, pushing it over and forcing the damaged aircraft towards the side of the flightdeck. There was nothing Marcus or anyone else aboard could do about it now. They were virtually helpless. However, a heavily armed squad of marines had run onto the flightdeck and engaged the hornet, forcing it to take flight again. Marcus and company had been only meters away from going over the side when they were delivered from danger.
By that time, the aircraft launched by the Independence had wheeled around and were now hunting down the hornets that remained in the air. The bug's numbers had already been thinned out considerably by the AA cannons. Despite their aggressiveness, the hornets could do very little against the armored hulls and other defenses of the Archimedes fleet. They were getting shredded.
One by one, the giant hornets were picked off until none remained. Remarkably, no sailors or airmen were lost during the fight, but there was quite a mess to clean up on the top decks of the ships afterwards. In particular, the Independence's flight deck was absolutely littered with hornet corpses and entrails.
…
At the secret base in the Murmansk Oblast, Anya was starting some basic experiments on her newly acquired egg specimen. The first thing she wanted to do was determine what kind of creature was hiding inside. Anya hadn't needed to bother with this step with the Rodan egg because she already knew what it was from the get-go. This new case, however, was a complete mystery. There was no telling what she might find, and that excited her. Science at its core was about exploration after all.
Anya employed an ultrasound machine to try to get a good look at the egg's occupant. She applied some gel and then scanned around the surface of the shell with her wand. Section by section, she made rudimentary sketches with a pencil and paper of what she could see. Whatever was inside the egg, it was clearly still developing. The creature was curled up in a fetal position within the egg and Anya couldn't get a good scan of its face. She could make out two arms, two legs, and a rudimentary tail. It might be some time before Anya could identify more specific features. It simply needed more time to grow.
Anya's military supervisor, Colonel Polotov, had come into the laboratory for an inspection. Like her, he was interested in the new arrival. Anya told him everything she had discovered so far, and Polotov didn't seem impressed. Much of Anya's research was scientific theory and guesswork, and Polotov preferred direct concrete conclusions. He didn't like any margins for error and couldn't appreciate scientific method for what it was. He just wanted results which could be adapted for military applications. For weeks, Polotov had been pushing for Anya to perform riskier experiments on the Rodan egg, which could endanger the unborn life inside.
Anya had hoped that having a new specimen in the lab would at least temporarily distract Polotov from such ideas, but she was wrong. Instead, Polotov chose to interpret the situation as them having a spare specimen if something should happen to the first one, ignoring the fact that each was unique. He wanted to immediately proceed with their thermal testing, which was designed to identify any vulnerability the Rodans might have to extreme hot or cold temperatures. Anya was horrified when he told her. Worse still, she realized that she wouldn't be able to ignore Polotov's requests for much longer.
…
The Archimedes fleet stationed off Sollgel Island was mobilizing for an air raid on the hornet's nest. Marcus and Admiral Malak agreed that destroying their hive would be a wise precaution to prevent any further attacks from happening in the future. Malek also noted that it would be good for the taxpayers and politicians back home to hear about a victory prior to the upcoming defense budget meetings.
They had killed off many of the worker drones during the recent sea battle, thus, the nest would be vulnerable to a quick decisive strike. The giant hornet's hive appeared to be constructed essentially in the same manner as most wasp nests. The workers used their saliva and wood pulp they chewed from trees to form into a paper-like material. With that, they could create comb on the inside of the nest to store food and house their pupa, as well as construct a barrier on the outside to keep the elements out. The whole setup had a glaring weakness though. Their paper was very susceptible to fire.
Marcus suggested using napalm to bomb the hive. If they could kill the queen and the brood inside the nest, the hornets would cease to be a threat going forward. Any surviving drones wouldn't be able to reproduce on their own. Of all of the islands in the Sollgel chain, the main one was the only place which was known to harbor the giant hornets. Thus, if they exterminated this one nest, they might instantly eliminate them as a threat.
Alternatively, if left to their own devices, the giant hornets had the potential not only to spread to other islands in the Sollgel chain, but also to other populated parts of the world. The giant hornets might not be much of a threat to heavily armed warships, but civilians on the ground wouldn't stand a chance against them. Everyone agreed, they needed to prevent that possibility from ever coming to pass.
The operation began and the first couple of jets in the strike force began to take off and circle the carrier as the rest of the fighters followed behind them. Marcus insisted upon taking part in the attack. For starters, he'd sleep better seeing the nest burn firsthand, but he also wanted a little payback from earlier. The hornets had sent him running before, and he needed to reclaim a little self-respect.
"You do realize we're pretty much kicking the hornet's nest here, right?" Airman Wilson pointed out to Marcus over the coms. "Is this a good idea?"
"It definitely is." Marcus replied coolly. "We have the tools and the talent to fight them, so we need to. Imagine if these bastards were to descend upon some small town in America where the most effective weapons to fight them would be shotguns and pitchforks. We're going to make this our fight, so those folks never have to face up to that reality. Besides Wilson, your wing-commander tells me you could use the target practice anyways."
"Well, when you put it like that, how can I say no?" Wilson chuckled somewhat nervously, but excited.
"Don't worry Wilson, I won't let them sting you!" Charlie chimed in, his voice smacking with smugness.
"I hate wasps…" Peterson added. "The little assholes are bad enough, but these fuckers are really something else."
"Sounds like someone had a bad experience." Charlie snickered.
"Well Peterson, look at this as your opportunity to get out a lot of your unresolved pent-up aggression towards them." Marcus replied, smirking to himself. "Looks like everybody is up and with us now. AlrightOrkinflight, let's form up and get on mission. We got us some bugs to go stomp on."
The twelve phantom jets got into combat formation and then proceeded towards the center of Sollgel Island.
"Okay everyone, let's climb to twelve-hundred feet to avoid detection until we are over the target." Marcus ordered. "Don't want the bugs to realize we're coming until it's already too late. On my mark gentlemen, three… two… one… mark." In unison, the formation began to gain altitude. It wasn't long before they were over the island and approaching the target. "It shouldn't be too hard to spot boys, just look for the structure that looks like an angry onion. Failing that, just follow my lead, and you'll be fine. Trust me, I know where we're going."
"I think I got the target, sir." Wilson reported. "About five clicks out, six o'clock low."
"Confirmed, good eyes Wilson." Marcus could see the nest too. "Alright, everybody prep your ordinance. This is the real deal."
"Hey boss, I'm seeing some activity on the surface." Charlie reported as they got closer.
"You got better eyes than me." Peterson replied.
"Yeah, I can see that there's a couple scouts lingering on the outside of the hive." Marcus agreed with Charlie. "Ignore them, they'll burn right along with the rest of them." He instructed. "We're almost in range. Prepare for combat dive. Happy hunting everyone."
A moment later, Marcus pushed his stick forward and dove his Phantom down, gaining speed as he went. He watched through his HUD and waited, getting even closer to the hive. He wanted to ensure his payload would hit the target dead on. Once he was practically on top of the nest, Marcus released the bomb from the belly of his plane and pulled up hard. The large tank dropped directly onto the nest and tore its way through the paper walls.
There wasn't an immediate explosion on impact, however. It turned out that the nest's material wasn't solid enough to detonate the bomb on contact. Instead, the canister passed through the entire nest until it found its way to the ground. Once there, it ignited and a firestorm ripped through the bottom section of the hive, destabilizing the structure. The next two pilots failed to hit the target directly, but their bombs exploded on either side of the hive, creating a sea of fire around the nest. The scout hornets on top of the hive took off but didn't understand what was happening. Two more bombs penetrated the nest and exploded while still inside. The gelatinous napalm spread quickly. The liquid components seeped downward while the flames rose up naturally.
The base of the nest was rapidly being eaten away by the fire Marcus had started, and each follow-up explosion was damaging the foundation even more. Finally, it became too much, and the entire nest teetered over into the blaze burning all around it. Drones tried to escape out of the side of the hive, but the only exit was already engulfed by the flames. One by one, the hornets caught fire and dropped to the ground burning. Those lucky few hornets that did make it all the way out of the nest were still badly burnt as they fled into the sky. They didn't end up making it very far before dropping to the ground.
The scout hornets who had been on the outside at the beginning of the attack bobbed up and down around the burning hive, helpless to stop the carnage that was engulfing their home and brood mates. The flames quickly spread until the entire hive was on fire. Nothing that was still inside would be alive by the time the fires burned themselves out.
Marcus and his flyers circled back, watching from a distance. Their primary objective was complete. The hive was doomed. Now they just had to pick off the survivors. It was highly unlikely that any of the remaining hornets were future queens, but there was no sense in taking any chances. They all needed to be mowed down. First to go, the still mobile ones that were flying above the wrecked nest.
"Go for the wings first." Marcus instructed his pilots. "They'll be sitting ducks once they can't fly anymore."
Marcus felt a certain degree of satisfaction. After getting their butts kicked time and time again by vastly superior Kaiju, it was nice fighting an enemy that could be effectively countered. One by one, all of the hornets were cut down as the fighters paired off and targeted them. After two passes, all that remained of the hornets were the injured drones on the ground, and the disabled scouts who'd joined them.
"Alright, they're all down." Marcus announced. "Switch to rockets. Let's do this one at a time to ensure we don't all aim at the same target. I'll go first, everyone else attack by flight order."
The once mighty hornets had been brought low. They were now nearly helpless against the onslaught coming down on them. It was only at that point that Marcus felt a little pity for them. Firing upon the virtually defenseless drones just didn't feel quite right to him, but it was necessary. He had to see the mission through to the end. Perhaps if the hornets had been of a more temperate nature, they could have avoided this fate, but it was too late for modesty now. Rockets from the Phantoms began to rain down on them and brought an abrupt end to their would-be empire.
"Alright boys, they've had it." Marcus announced. "Everything left down there is either dead or dying. Let's go home."
…
Minutes later, Marcus and his squadron were circling around wide to get into position to land on the USS Independence. Just as Marcus was straightening out his flight path, a purple prism beam cut through the water directly under him, nearly striking the left wing of his aircraft.
"What the Hell…?! Break off!"Marcus shouted to the flyers coming in behind him."Everybody break off!"Flashes and sparkles were still erupting all over below Marcus' aircraft. He got clear and circled back around to get a look at whatever was going on. Within seconds, Battra and Manda exploded to the surface of the ocean, locked in combat. 'Battra is still in the area?!' Marcus thought to himself astonished.
Manda had wrapped his coils all around Battra's body, attempting to squeeze the life out of him. The only trouble was, all of his constricting was rather pointless. Battra's armored plates were thick, solid, and locked into place. Thus, they prevented Manda from being able to force the air out of Battra's body. Battra was immobilized for the most part, but otherwise, entirely unharmed. Manda, however, was wasting a lot of energy pressing him for little return.
Manda eventually recognized that his strategy was failing to yield results, so he uncoiled the top portion of his body and latched onto the throat area of Battra's neck with his jaws. This tactic was equally unfruitful for Manda. His teeth just couldn't get through all of Battra's plate armor. Finally seeing an opening, Battra fired prism beams from his eyes. The rays struck along Manda's back, but the water dragon's armored scales absorbed or deflected the vast majority of the energy. He too, was far from defenseless.
Manda answered back with a powerful attack of his own. He charged up for a strong electrical strike. Marcus could hear the ensuing crackles all the way up in his cockpit. The sea flashed brightly and steamed over. Battra's armor was practically useless against the electrical current Manda was pouring into him, and being in the water only made it hit that much harder. Still, Battra took the assault in stride, showing just how tough he really was.
"Why did Battra pick a fight with Manda?" Wilson asked as the squadron circled around the battling titans.
"Maybe Manda picked the fight with him." Marcus replied.
Below, the battle raged on. Battra was angry now, and he countered Manda using his powerful horn attack to slash at him. Manda saw the glowing edge of the blade bearing down on him and he desperately dodged to avoid the brunt of the blow. However, a section of his coils still got caught by the outer arc of the attack. The damage Battra's horn caused couldn't be ignored. The powerful strike had cut right through the scaled defenses on Manda's back and left him bleeding. The wound wasn't particularly deep, but Manda's armor was gone. If Battra managed to hit the same section a second time, he might slice Manda completely in half.
That possibility was not lost on Manda. He immediately recognized the danger and rapidly began to disengage himself from Battra. He swung his head and neck around wide to ensure Battra couldn't hit him again right away. Then the rest of his body slackened loose and swiftly slipped around Battra, rolling free like a firehose. The speed and grace in which Manda was able to pull off the maneuver was amazing. Within seconds, his whole body was slinking away from his opponent.
Manda had clearly given up the fight, but Battra sent a few parting prism beam bolts in his direction just for good measure. Perhaps it was his way of getting the last word in. From above, Marcus eyed Battra fearfully. With Manda gone, there was nothing keeping him from turning around and decimating the Archimedes fleet.
"Orders sir…?" Wilson asked.
"Standby…" Marcus replied, never taking his eyes off Battra. He needed a minute to think.
In all likelihood, they were probably about to get into another fight. Marcus' squadron was in a bad position. They had virtually expended all of their ammo wiping out the hornet's nest. If Battra attacked the fleet now, they'd be able to do little else but watch. And if all of the ships were sunk, the airmen would have to ditch their planes and try to survive on Sollgel. Given the present state of the island, they might be better off just kamikazeing their planes into Battra. That would at least be a fast and honorable death.
Battra, however, surprised everyone. He turned and began to swim away, ignoring the warships entirely. Apparently, he had better places to be at that moment.
…
Back in Murmansk, Anya was in the communications room attempting to reach someone higher up in the Russian chain of command. Colonel Polotov was no longer just requesting that she commence the thermal tests on the Rodan egg, but rather, ordering her to do so. Unless she could convince someone higher up in the food chain that it was a bad idea, she'd have no choice but to acquiesce to Polotov's demands the next day when he returned.
The radio operator, Anton, knew that Colonel Polotov would be angry if he found out he was helping Anya, but she was an attractive woman, and he was sweet on her. Thus, Anton was willing to take the risk. Unfortunately for both of them, he was having problems raising anyone in Severomorsk. Anton was nervous, not because of the issues with the radio, but because he hated the idea of looking like a fool in front of Anya. This was one of the few opportunities he had to impress her, and the problems he was having were making him look like he didn't know what he was doing. He struggled with the controls, desperate to get the system working properly.
"They're going to try again, you know." Anton remarked, trying to distract Anya while he fiddled with the controls. "The Brass hasn't changed. They just keep trying to expel the monsters periodically. Every time we leap forward slightly with technology, they get brave and decide to test our metal against the Rodans again. It ends the same way every time… in tears. They've done this countless times. For years now. The woods surrounding the Rodan's lair has become a monument to their obstinance. It's filled with the corpses of brave soldiers and rusting equipment. They can't even risk sending in men to collect the bodies, so they just rot out there for the next wave to find. The grunts have taken to calling them 'The Dead Woods'."
"That's charming. So, what's the latest thing they're trying to deploy against them?" Anya indulged Anton while she waited for him to fix the radio.
"Well, there's a couple things in the works." Anton replied. "First, they have a new mass-produced jet fighter interceptor, the MIG 21. They're extremely fast. I hear they can go up to Mach two. Second, they developed a new anti-kaiju missile they copied from the Americans. The new Migs have been designed to carry them. And third, on the ground, they have the HT-64s, or as they are nicknamed, the Helltanks. Those have the converted mazer technology borrowed from the Americans. The prototypes are actually here at the proving grounds for their final testing. It's too early to say for sure, but they look pretty promising."
Finally, Anton could hear a transmission coming through his receiver, but it wasn't an ordinary radio signal. In fact, he'd never heard such a sound before. The signal was getting louder and more powerful, to the point where Anton had to take off his headphones. Suddenly, the power inside of the facility began to fluctuate. The lights flickered on and off.
"What the hell is going on…?" Anton asked rhetorically, alarmed by the sudden turn of events. Within a few seconds, the disturbances ceased, and everything went back to normal. Even the radio was working properly again.
"Dr. Kiselev, please report to the research laboratory immediately!" One of Anya's research assistant's voices came over the PA system. She could hear the urgency in his voice.
Anya dropped what she was doing and ran from the control tower all the way to the lab to see what was the matter. When she arrived, she could see that the newly arrived mystery egg was bright orange again, even more so than before. As it was, no one could miss it.
"I don't know what happened. The power flickered, and the egg just lit up like a Christmas tree." Pavel explained to Anya. "I didn't know what else to do but call you so you could see it for yourself!"
"Okay, well let's see if we can get an idea of what's going on inside." Anya suggested. She took off her coat and grabbed the ultrasound machine. As Anya put her hand on the egg, she could feel that it was warmer than last time. She ignored that for the moment and started to move the wand around on the surface of the egg. She could see that the lifeform inside was moving.
"Is it hatching?" Pavel asked.
"No, it's way too soon for that." Anya answered. "But whatever just passed through the base, it seems to have agitated the hell out of our little friend here."
…
Elsewhere, all across the globe, an energy pulse was detected moving along the surface of the planet. Every radio station was briefly disrupted and lost service, power plants temporarily went offline, and every single electronic device ceased to function for about thirty seconds as the wave rippled through. The whole civilized world was forced to stop and take notice of the phenomena.
In addition, the signal seemed as though it affected animals too, Kaiju in particular. Monsters all over the world rose up from their hiding places and made themselves known. Many that mankind had already discovered, but just as many that were brand new. Some of them went on rampages, while others disappeared nearly as quickly as they had surfaced. Those in populated areas were documented, but what was scary for mankind were the numerous other specimens that had undoubtedly gone unnoticed in the wild parts of the world.
The Rodans reportedly left their nest in Kamchatka, beginning to fly westward through Russia. On Sollgel Island, the level of violent encounters between Kaiju escalated tenfold on the day the signal passed through. The monsters were simply enraged by it. Spiga in particular made several unnecessary kills that he didn't even end up eating when all was said and done. The Archimedes fleet pulled out of the Sollgel Island chain and returned to their home port in San Diego. The President wanted their forces in U.S. territory in case any monsters closer to home became an immediate threat.
…
Before the fleet could arrive back at the West Coast, Admiral Malek and Marcus were called in for an important meeting at the Archimedes Organization's Headquarters in San Diego. They flew out ahead of the task force and arrived to find representatives from all branches of the armed forces on site for a special briefing. At the center of it all was a NASA engineer who was conspicuously out of place among the gathered military men.
"What's with Rocket-Boy over there?" Marcus overheard a grizzled old marine colonel ask.
"Okay gentlemen, let's all settle down so we can get started." Marcus heard a voice, and turned to see that Robert McNamara, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, was personally running the meeting. "I know that everyone is probably curious about why you were summoned here." He went on. "As we are all aware, something very strange occurred over the last couple of days, and nobody is quite sure how or why it happened. Well, as it turns out, someone here does know at least a little bit about it, and he's come here to explain some of the how and why to us. Please give him your undivided attention. With that, I present Dr. Johansson."
"I'm not sure exactly where to start, but as Secretary McNamara just pointed out, the world has seen some pretty strange events over the last seventy-two hours." Dr. Johansson began. "During that time period, monster attacks and appearances spiked dramatically all over the world. The number of known Kaiju more than doubled overnight. This is chilling to say the least, and sobering. Luckily for us, a good number of the monsters disappeared nearly as quickly as they appeared. Still, the obvious question is why. What brought about this response? What cataclysm provoked such a violent reaction? Myself, and some of my colleagues at NASA have a theory." He thumbed at the controller of his projector. "Lights please." He requested. His assistant turned the lights down.
"This is the Harbinger Comet." Dr. Johansson clicked the first image on screen for everyone to see. "Most of you have been around long enough to remember its appearance in the nineteen-thirties. I believe 'it', my friends, is the cause of all our troubles. I was only in college at the time, but I was working on a science project which provided me with some insight. This is a mark-III Undaphone." Johansson wheeled out a machine roughly the size of an outdoor grill. "It is of my own design and is the latest model in a line of these machines. I've been perfecting them over the years." He opened up the case to reveal the inner workings of the odd piece of equipment. "Each member of its family performs the same function. They can all detect special electromagnetic signals that most radio equipment cannot. The day the Harbinger Comet came through, meteors hit the planet the world over, and a particularly big chunk of rock landed somewhere in the Pacific."
Dr. Johansson clicked through a number of slides in quick succession, showing the results of the meteor impacts.
"I don't think that particular piece of rock was a piece of rock at all." Dr. Johansson went on. "After it landed, a transmission was sent out and my machine picked up on it. At the time, the signal was very weak though. Unlike the most recent broadcast, nobody else was able to detect it aside from myself. For years after, I didn't let it go. I waited every night in vain listening for another transmission. Ultimately, I adjusted my undaphone so that it would record and alert me once another pulse was detected. Nearly fifteen years later, it finally happened again, and I had a printed readout to prove it. What's more, the signal was stronger than the first one. Still not enough for the world at large to notice it, but enough to peak my interest. By this time, I was working as part of a research group for the University of Phoenix, but my boss didn't know what to make of the signal. In truth, I didn't really know what to do about it either."
Johansson moved onto the next slide which had a graphed timeline with several highlighted dates.
"Now, let's take a quick look at some significant events. Here you will see that the first signal coincides with the emergence of Anguirus, Baragon, the Rodans, Mothra, Varan, and Kamerus." The doctor pointed out. "The second signal corresponds with a second wave of monsters, the most notable one being Godzilla. The previously emerged Kaiju became more active again at that time too. Simply a coincidence? Maybe. It's possible that such things could happen twice at the same time by accident. What is undeniable, however, is that every government on the planet detected the third pulse, and a hoard of monsters appeared again at the exact same time. I personally don't think coincidences like this happen in threes. Once is a chance, twice is a coincidence, but three times is a pattern."
Johansson clicked through pictures taken from various monster rampages.
"More worrisome, is the timing." Dr. Johansson pointed out. "Time between pulses have gotten shorter. Between the second and third pulses, only about ten years passed. That's one-third quicker than the first and second pulse. So, not only are the pulses getting stronger, but also more frequent. That does not bode well for the human race remaining the dominant species of this world in the long term. Whatever the signal is, I think it is what's waking up the monsters, or at least the thing that's drawing them to the surface." This observation led to some concerned murmuring amongst the audience.
"If I understand you right, you're saying the initial signal was weak, and only reached a handful of the slumbering monsters?" Marcus remarked. "And the second and third signals were stronger and reached even more of them? So, if we follow that logic, if there were to be a fourth signal, it would have the potential to raise even more kaiju all at once? That's a horrifying prospect…"
"I agree." Dr. Johansson concurred before moving on with the presentation. "The signal is electromagnetic in nature. That's why it's affecting power grids and causing fluctuations in electrical devices." He explained. "One thing the newest iteration of my machine can do is trace the path of the signal, and I discovered something quite odd about it, aside from what we've already discussed. The signal's speed increases the further away it gets from its source. I think the first two transmissions were limited to our own atmosphere, but this last one got out past it. So, it could potentially draw the attention of outside parties." Dr. Johansson warned.
"What do you mean, like Moon-men, or Martians…?" One of the Airforce generals chuckled. "I think all we need to worry about for now are terrestrial threats doctor, of which, there are plenty already."
"All I'm saying is, each successive wave will be more powerful." Dr. Johansson went on. "As they reach space, they will continue to accelerate more and more as they leave earth, making them a perfect beacon leading back to us for anyone or anything that might be out there listening. Maybe that's even what it was designed to do." Dr. Johansson suggested. "After all, it's not exactly from around here, is it." The room went quiet for a moment. "At this time though, we can't know one way or the other."
"You said you were able to identify the signal's point of origin to the Pacific Ocean, right?" Admiral Malek noted. "Have you been able to pinpoint its exact location? Whatever it is, maybe we can find it and shut it down before it causes any more trouble." He proposed.
"We have a general idea of where it is, but the point of impact is deep in the ocean, far beyond what a manned mission can reach." Dr. Johansson replied. "It realistically could be decades before we are able to build a machine to withstand the crushing forces of that depth… if ever. It's simply beyond our scientific abilities. We literally have a better chance of landing a man on the moon at this point."
"Do you have any idea what is sending out the signal?" Marcus asked. "If we can't reach it, then perhaps we can find a way to communicate with it. Make it stop transmitting of its own accord."
"I'm sad to say that we have no idea what it is." Dr. Johansson admitted. "But I personally feel that it wants to be found. Otherwise, what's the point of all the signals?"
"Could it be a distress call?" Marcus asked.
"It could be a warning." Admiral Malek remarked before Dr. Johansson could answer.
"Well, we should have a couple of years to figure that out before it fires again." Dr. Johansson noted.
"To think, it's been here this whole time, andalmost nobody knew about it." Marcus said to Malek.
…
At the secret Russian base in Murmansk, things were not going well. Quite unexpectedly, the Rodans had nearly flown across the whole of Russia and were crushing any resistance they came across. At present, they were only four hundred miles away from the R facility, and it seemed as though they were heading directly for the base. As fast as the Rodans were, the monsters could conceivably be on top of them within an hour. Such as it was, chaos had arrived at the base well-ahead of the monsters. Most of the science team fled, and a good number of soldiers had also deserted their posts.
What remained of the base's airwing was preparing to fight. Their aircraft were armed with the anti-kaiju rockets and the pilots hoped they'd be enough to turn the tide in their favor. The Russians weren't holding anything back. Even the experimental Helltanks were being deployed alongside the base's regular ground forces. The brass decided that it was no time to be conservative. Everything was committed to the fight, and caution was thrown to the wind. On this day, however, there were monsters in the wind.
It seemed as though the Rodans had finally gotten wise to radio lures. Time and time again during their journey through Russian airspace, the military tried to distract the monsters, only to find that they were ignoring them. Something deeper was driving the monsters now, and they couldn't be dissuaded from their goal. Perhaps they knew that their sole surviving egg was being held captive at the base?
Just prior to the onset of the battle, Anya came to the surface to watch the events unfold. She refused to leave the eggs behind like the rest of her staff. If they survived whatever was to come next, she'd be there to take care of them. Anya saw the Migs taking to the sky, as well as the ground vehicles taking what their crews determined to be good defensive positions. With the Rodan's ability to fly, it would negate any well-organized ground defense they could come up with, so the crews were allowed to choose their own ground to hold.
The air raid alarms began to sound all over the base, signaling that things were about to escalate. It felt like a storm was about to erupt at any moment. Instead of retreating back inside the facility, Anya stood her ground, perhaps foolishly. In the mayhem that was to come, she would hardly be a target, but the battleground would undoubtably be treacherous and unpredictable. Anya didn't care about that though.
As the last few peaceful moments on the base passed, the Russians rolled out one last secret weapon they had at their disposal. From underground, several huge, armored vehicles loaded with enormous missiles rolled to the surface. These powerful missiles had been specially crafted to counter the Rodans. They were designed to either blow the Rodans out of the sky or into pieces, whichever occurred first.
In the skies above, Anya watched the Mig twenty-ones forming up and maneuvering. There seemed to be a sudden urgency among their ranks. As it turned out, the Rodans had significantly increased speed on the final leg of their journey, and they were already in the immediate vicinity of the base. The battle was beginning.
At first, the Rodans ignored the jets and seemed focused on looking around at the ground. This gave the Russian pilots the initiative to engage the monsters on their terms. The first squadron pulled in behind the Rodans and launched their rockets as a group. The spread of missiles filled the sky and raked each of the Rodans as they flew. Orange fireballs exploded all over the monster's backs. The Rodans withstood the pelting, but the attack did slow them down somewhat. They'd also lost some altitude.
The pilots of the first squadron switched to cannons and sprayed the Rodans with considerable firepower. The monsters weren't sitting still anymore though. The first attack had done more than simply get their attention. Angered, each Rodan banked in the opposite direction of the other, nearly in unison. The monsters sharply maneuvered, circling around the fighters. The lead planes tried to keep up with the monsters, but their machines simply weren't up to the task. Their airframes would fly apart before they could match the flexibility of the Rodans in the air.
Once behind the squadron, both Rodans went to work tearing the planes out of the sky one by one. Two other Mig squadrons moved in to support their comrades, but it was already a hopeless fight. Their rockets failed to damage the Rodans in their first salvo. Even if they could hit the monsters now, they just didn't have the necessary firepower to bring them down. Russian fighters quickly began to fall out of the sky. Anya could only watch as they rain down in torrents of fire and smoke.
On the ground, the Helltanks couldn't even raise their guns high enough to effectively target the Rodans. They wouldn't be able to join the fight until the Rodans landed. However, the other large machines loaded with their huge, winged missiles were able to engage. They elevated their munitions into firing position and then launched while the monsters were still preoccupied with the jets. The missiles had a revolutionary radar-guided targeting system, similar to American Nike systems, only these missiles keyed in on larger moving targets in the sky. They were designed to prioritize larger targets like the Rodans and ignore the smaller aircraft like the Migs currently flying around them.
This was their big field test. With the Rodans dogfighting with the remaining Migs, they'd slowed down, which made them perfect targets. Flying directly over the base, they'd never have a better opportunity to hit them. The first missile whizzed up leaving a thick layer of smoke in its wake. It targeted the nearest Rodan and rapidly closed in on the monster. At the last second, the monster noticed the projectile approaching and jinked to dodge it. The missile had a proximity fuse though and exploded just after passing the monster. The Rodan was rattled by the huge detonation but was otherwise unharmed.
More of the missiles were launched, and the first Rodan called out a warning to the second. Each of them quickly found themselves making evasive maneuvers as the skies were littered by large, yellow, tracking rockets. The weapons were hardly perfect though. Despite their programing, one of them slammed directly into one of the Migs, blowing itself and the aircraft to bits. One of the rockets did however catch one of the Rodans square in the belly. The monster's armored undercarriage prevented any serious damage, but the force of the blow did knock the wind out of the monster, forcing it to the ground.
Now with a target to aim for, the Helltanks opened fire with their blue energy beams. The grounded Rodan was being focused down by three pairs of double-barreled maser cannons. Its mate saw the danger and swooped down, coming to its defense. The monster passed within twenty meters of the ground, directly over the formation of Helltanks. The regular army units all went flying, being peeled from the ground by the intense torrent of wind, but the Helltanks were too big and heavy to be displaced. They were slightly pushed out of position, forcing them to reorient their guns to reacquire the grounded Rodan as a target, but were largely unmoved otherwise.
The Helltanks were undamaged and resumed their assault, preventing the second Rodan from taking to the sky again. They fired volley after volley. The battle seemed to have shifted in the Russian's favor. However, disaster was only moments away. Since the Russian spies had stolen the maser blueprints prior to the weapons being fully field-tested, they never knew about the severe overheating defect in the firing mechanism. Therefore, they never corrected the problem. Every shot the Helltanks fired with their stolen weapon design brought them closer to catastrophic burnout.
One by one, the massive war machines overheated their capacitors until they finally failed outright. The first Helltank still tried to fire continuously until it entirely overloaded the weapon system and exploded. The other two Helltank crews were wise enough to recognize that there was a serious problem and ceased operations. It was already too late for them though. The first Rodan swooped back around and snatched up the second unit in its powerful claws. The vehicle's heavily armored chassis prevented the monster from immediately crushing it in its grasp, so instead, the Rodan flew up high with the Helltank and then dropped it directly onto the fuel storage reservoirs of the airbase, causing a huge explosion and starting an intense fire. The crew was killed instantly.
The last remaining Helltank was charged by the grounded Rodan and smashed to pieces as the monster got some measure of revenge. The monsters then turned their attention to the buildings on the surface of the base. The battle was effectively over. All of the Russian's new weapons had failed. They didn't have any more defenses to fall back on. The remaining Mig pilots pulled out, giving up and heading for the closest airbase.
Anya looked on, understanding that it was over. It would be just a matter of time now before the Rodans dug down to reclaim their egg. What would they do with the mystery egg though? Who could say. But they would certainly have what was theirs back.
It was then that Anya noticed something very troubling. The warning lights around the ICBM missile silos were flashing. Someone inside the missile base, perhaps out of desperation, was actively trying to launch the nuclear weapons. If they actually fired those weapons, no one within a five-mile radius would survive the blast. The Rodans noticed the lights too and were drawn towards the silos. The surface doors for the ICBMs started to crack open, indicating that a launch was indeed imminent.
Agitated, one of the Rodans pecked down at the doors, bending the metal frames so that they could not fully open. As Anya looked on from a distance, she could see a burning light coming from inside of the silos, as well as plumes of grey smoke. The missiles were launching! Anya dropped to her knees and quickly tried to make her peace with God. She knew she was coming to meet him.
An immense flash of light, blinding and overwhelming, burst into being, sweeping over the entire base. All the buildings, the machines, the men, Anya, and even the Rodans, were devoured and vaporized by the resulting blast. Nothing on the surface survived.