Overrun: Project Hideaway
Read Overrun: Project Hideaway Online
Authors: Michael Rusch
OVERRUN:
Project Hideaway
By: Michael Rusch
Text Copyright © 200
2
Michael Rusch
They floated unknowing in space. Awaiting the time when salvation, or the end
would finally come.
Fifteen minutes prior to Death Wall ignition of Science Dome 15
Approximately eighty-two miles from Beuford, Washington
It had only been a short while
since the first signs of detection were evident. Science Dome 15’s special
lookout squad watched in silent horror from the cloaked facility’s observation
deck.
In an instant, the trucks and
jeeps pouring from the burning fires of Beuford had changed course. Every
vehicle leaving the city now seemed headed in their direction.
It was then that SD15’s
observation team knew that their secret location was known. Japan’s Great Union
had redirected their forces and were now coming for them.
Five minutes later the scream of
over revved engines filled the air as the small sleek shapes of Science Dome 15’s
Bullet ground team rushed to intercept the coming assault.
Perched outside just at the edge
of Science Dome 15’s mammoth facility, Watch Tower leaned against the thin
metal of the observation deck rails and focused his extended range glasses
towards the cloud of churning sand and flying dirt that marked the location of
the racing land fleet.
A quiet terror settled across
his shoulders. It choked the air around him and the young men that made up his
observation crew. The heated metal of the observation rails, hot even at night
when the sun was no longer in the sky, burned against his stomach through the
thick fabric of his uniform and gear. Watch Tower found it odd that after all
these years of holding this command post, it was now that he noticed.
Trucks, tanks, and a hodgepodge
of other massive land assault vehicles moved from the various fires slowly
consuming Beuford. All appeared straight on course to the hidden facility.
Nothing else stood within the vast open nothingness of the sun-battered land that
separated the city from the cloaked location of Science Dome 15.
There was no doubt the dome had
been discovered. And there really was no question as to what was to be their
fate.
The vehicles and those that
governed their advance were coming to attack and destroy the facility. But not
before ripping from its core the technological secrets held there by a
desperate nation.
Fear seared through the
facility. Not of death or of capture during war. But that the J.G.U. were
coming to retrieve the United States’ last hope for winning the conflict, the
Beam Cannon Hardware.
Through their extended range
glasses, Watch Tower and his crew watched the first of the Bullet land fleet
meet the front vehicles of the J.G.U. assault. Their cannon fire ripped easily
through the armor of the vehicles at the head of the convoy obliterating driver
cabs and instantly shredding drive wheels and tires.
After each delivery of heavy
weapons fire, the quick-moving Bullets retreated easily avoiding the return
bursts from deeper within the convoy.
“Bullet Land Team to Observation
Post,” a voice squawked from the comlink on Watch Tower’s wrist.
“Go ahead Bullet Leader,” Watch
Tower didn’t lower his glasses as he raised the communication hookup to his
lips.
"There's a lot of 'em, but their
armor's pretty light. Minimal weaponry, relatively easy to disable. Advance
confinable. Just need a bit more time."
"Not much of that
left," Watch Tower dropped his glasses and reported nervously back. He
looked down at the sound of revving engines at the base of the dome as a second
squadron of Bullet vehicles raced to join the fight. “You're only thirty miles
out. And we've got scanner readings on another two hundred coming from the
city."
Watch Tower raised his glasses
back to his eyes not hearing the ground leader's response. He wiped at the
perspiration rolling down his face and shifted uncomfortably in his uniform
coat. It was unbearably hot and moist having been recently dampened by a thick
layer of sweat.
* * *
Down below in the deepest recesses
of Science Dome 15, the officer in charge of the vehicle landing bay and the
giant shielded doors protecting the entrance into the facility listened to the
thunder of explosions pounding just outside.
For the past ten minutes he had
been monitoring the communications between the observation post and the Bullet
defense teams.
Missile blasts launched from
J.G.U. land craft still thirty to forty miles away echoed loudly throughout the
underground vehicle hanger. He could feel the dome’s massiveness shudder and
shake from their impact. They were smashing and obliterating the terrain just
outside the door he stood behind.
He didn’t share the optimism of
the Bullet squad commander leading the defense assault team outside. He knew
the men perched on the lookout post many floors above shared his concerns.
Bay Guard watched his nervous
crews prepare the emergency receiving bays for the return of the Bullet fleet.
They avoided looking at the holovid monitors that filled the hanger. Fires
raged on the outside and heaps of destroyed wreckage cluttered the ground. Huge
billows of black smoke swirled around further obscuring what little view was
offered by the monitors.
The crews readied the devices
that would catch the retreating assault team and keep them from impacting
against the walls when they came screaming through the giant entrance doors.
The crewmen knew as well as he did that the receiving bays they prepared
wouldn’t be of much use. The bays and landing equipment weren’t designed to
handle the vehicle numbers necessary in ground battle.
The harnessing device was
created so that the land racers could enter the small dome landing bay without
breaking speed. This was especially useful for quick returns on reconnaissance
runs or perimeter patrols. They were also handy when land pilots were in danger
of being located by overhead satellites or when outsiders wandered in too close
to the cloaked dome.
When a pilot entered the bay at
top speed, the device struck out like a giant mechanized snake and snatched the
vehicle off the floor preventing it from smashing against the wall. Vehicles
could enter the small hanger bay at more than one hundred miles per hour, hit
the harnessing mechanism, and stop instantaneously without injuring the driver
or damaging the vehicle.
The vehicle was then quickly
whisked away by another machine to make way for more coming in behind. The
harnessing devices were good for small controlled teams, but not meant for
panicked retreats or large numbers of vehicles pouring into the bay at once.
Despite the shortcomings of the
harnessing device, both Bay Guard and his men also knew that many of the Bullet
land fleet would probably not return at all. The ones that did most likely
would be coming in at such extreme speeds the emergency bays won’t be able to
absorb the shock. They would explode across the walls and against each other
before the equipment would have a chance to move the vehicles out of the way
down the hanger and reset.
Missile strikes chasing them in
would kill still more. Strays would cause explosions, wreck equipment, and even
take the lives of some of his men.
A well-placed missile guided in
by a J.G.U. gunner waiting for the door to open could actually kill them all.
The crews readied all the
receiving bays. Bay Guard didn’t need to look at the monitors displaying the
outside battle to know its status. The J.G.U. had rolled through the town of
Beuford and stormed across the hundred or so miles separating the destroyed
town and Science Dome 15’s hidden location.
Another explosion pounded just
outside the shielded doors causing Bay Guard to turn from his consoles and
glance up. He could almost smell the chaos of scorched earth, twisted metal and
burning oil on the other side of the giant doors.
* * *
Another volley of weapons bursts
transformed a handful of J.G.U. vehicles into flames. The Bullets zoomed in and
around the wreckage to engage the others replacing them from the rear.
For the moment, the enemy
procession had stopped. A giant wall of flame and burning debris lay strewn
across the drive paths of the coming trucks and jeeps. Several small explosions
fed its fury momentarily making it impossible to pass.
Watch Tower lowered his glasses.
By now the battle was so close, he could watch it easily from the observation
deck without any additional aid to his eyes.
Suddenly becoming visible
through the smoke and sand, bulkier more cumbersome trucks and tanks pushed
from the back of the J.G.U. ranks. Their larger frames crushed and pushed aside
the flaming wreckage of their own fleet vehicles fallen before them.
"Bigger vehicles coming
from the rear," Bullet Leader's voice came nervously from the comlink.
"Breaking off from main attack to engage."
And it was then Watch Tower saw
them. "Oh, my God," he muttered softly.
Two large sections of trucks
split in opposite directions away from the convoy revealing the mammoth
structures hidden behind. Their presence until recently concealed by thick
black smoke, the dome destroyers towered the size of small buildings into the
air.
Large thick panels lowered along
their sides to reveal each structure's awesome supply of large scale rockets
and massive artillery cannons. Some continued their lumbering pace further
towards SD15, while others rotated around to align their weapons at the dome's
base.
"Dome-killer enemy
transports in sight!" Bullet Leader's voice screamed from the comlink.
"Visual sighting of ten…make that fifteen units. Less than thirty miles
out…some drawing weapons, others positioning to fire…!"
Watch Tower jabbed his glasses
roughly into the side of the lookout standing next to him and ran down the
observation deck to the control panel at its center. Two of the other sentries
manning the observation post closed their shoulders in next to him. Both kept
their glasses pressed hard against their faces and pointed towards the battle
waging below.
"What the hell are
those…?" one asked incredulously.
"I need some help over
here!" Watch Tower barked at the one standing closest to him.
The young sentry dropped his
glasses to the ground and slid behind the observation deck control panel. Watch
Tower jumped around excitedly next to him flipping switches and punching at the
controls.
The sentry's glasses crunched
softly beneath Watch Tower's darting feet.
"Enter the codes. Enter
them now!" Watch Tower almost shrieked. "Heat up the Death Wall! I
want it primed and ready to go in the next three minutes. Three minutes or not
at all. Do you got that?!"
The sentry's hands became a blur
across the panel. Watch Tower stepped away and turned back to the ground
battle.
The advancing trucks and other
smaller vehicles then changed direction. Rather than continuing forward, they
broke to the sides and away from the main group. As their numbers began to
thin, more of the mammoth transports could be seen lined up single file behind
them.
Watch Tower raised his wrist and
pressed the small metal of the comlink tightly against his lips.
"Bullet Leader! Bullet
Leader! Bring it back in!" Spit flew from the sides of his mouth and
misted lightly across the controls in front of him. "Death Wall ignition
two minutes and counting!”
“Center all attack on the larger
units!" Bullet Leader's voice came back across the communications link.
"Gunners continue to fire. Repeat. Gunners continue to fire. Pilots bring
the units back in. Full-scale retreat!"
"Safety zone twenty
miles!" Watch Tower yelled into his wrist. "Say again! Safety zone
twenty miles! Death Wall ignition in two minutes."
An entire fleet of the large
transport vehicles became visible from beneath the flying grit obscuring the
battle below. Like submarines skimming just below the water's surface, the top
of the structures jutted ominously through the billowing black smoke.
As if a single foot reached from
the heavens and slammed their brake pedals to the floor, the Bullet vehicles
spun about in coordinated unison as soon as the order to withdraw was given.
Some catapulted across their
sides and burst into flames while others were crushed by the mammoth wheels of
the advancing transports.
Cannon fire from the smaller
vehicles slapped harmlessly off the transports’ heavy armor as the land fleet
made its panicked retreat.
Return artillery bursts from the
transports picked at the smaller Bullet units transforming them one by one into
bright balls of light that wounded the surrounding earth.
"Lock down the dome!"
Watch Tower yelled to the lookout manning the controls. "Get the
concussion shields down immediately. Be ready to lower them completely on my
mark. We're going to need to leave the bay area exposed until we get the team
back in! Those transports are going to be following close behind!"
The sentry didn't look up. Only
the increased ferocity of his hands across the controls signaled
acknowledgement of Watch Tower's latest command.
"Bullet Leader," Watch
Tower barked into the comlink again. "We're keeping the landing bay open
as long as we can. You've got a twenty-mile safe zone when it goes off. And
we're going to have to seal the doors at least fifteen seconds before that. If
the shields aren't down when the Death Wall goes up, the whole facility could
go down!"
"We hear you Watch
Tower," Bullet Leader’s voice came again from Watch Tower's wrist
communication link. A calmness had replaced the controlled panic in his voice.
"Keep those bay doors open as long as you can. Light up the wall the
instant that first transport reaches the safe zone. Any one of those gets
through, everyone will be dead…not just us."
"Acknowledged Bullet
Leader," Watch Tower said solemnly and lowered his wrist.