Deluge

By Mike Adams

A gauntlet to run and a race to the top.

It’s just over ten days into an invasion by the alien Rift and their Andoval mercenaries and Commander Rick Cassidy and Gunnery Sergeant Molly Pickford have ramped up the pressure on the students and teachers to see just how far they can push them. Just how fierce are these girls?

For Cassidy, Pickford and the other survivors of the Cairo who trapped in a high mountain valley with little hope of rescue the warming early summer weather coincides with the end of the Pickford designed ‘hell-week’ for the students and staff members, now called trainees, from the New Hope Academy.

A first victory is celebrated but the alien Rift and their Andoval mercenaries regroup after losing the battle for McKinley Pass and plan for their attack on Winter Haven.

Secrets are hard to keep when smart, nosy teenagers start poking around.
A catastrophic flood may spell a premature end for the survivors of the Cairo. Mother Nature may do them in before the aliens or predators get a chance

The Colonial Rangers realize that guns and bullets aren’t the only weapons they have to use against the aliens

If you liked the first books of the Fierce Girls At War series you will love Deluge, the 7th installment of the saga of the ‘fierce girls’ war against the aliens. Click the BUY NOW button at the top and continue your journey now.

“Back on Earth my dad was an engineer on a Navy Ship and wanted me to join the RAN. I said I don’t want my bed moving under me unless it’s me and my partner makin’ it move. So, I joined the Air Force so I can fly during the day and sleep on land every night. So where do I end up? The engineer on a busted shuttle floatin’ on the ocean of an alien planet! But no worries, mate! This is a tough bird and we probably won’t drown out here. We’re more like to starve to death first!”
-Master Sergeant Mindy Taylor, shuttle engineer, shot down 2 days before invasion day, Ranger Regiment, New Hope Colony, Tau Ceti 4, Australia

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mike Adams
• Release date: Feb 19, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370793013

Mike Adams

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Staten Island, NY. Mike has a BS in Business Admin from Wagner College and an MBA from SDSU. A retired US Navy Lieutenant Commander, Supply Corps (Logistics), a former small business owner, and part-time substitute teacher. he's visited 6 continents and 36 countries, speak Spanish, some German, a little Italian and a little less French. He currently lives in Chula Vista, CA with his wife Chris.

Book preview

Prologue

The Owners Have Returned

Rift Flagship E’pinos’a

Eight years earlier, a Rift survey ship paying a routine visit to one of the properties belonging to Clan Miltcar, had discovered that the resource planet, known to them as Rihta’ had been invaded by aliens. They were building settlements and stealing its resources. Rift ships had never encountered another advanced alien species and the Kenone’se had carefully approached the planet and succeeded in remaining undetected by the aliens while observing the intruders before returning to its home world to report the invasion. Viewing the invaders as criminals and thieves, Clan Miltcar felt it had no choice but to take the planet back by force or they would be viewed by the lesser clans as weak and vulnerable to having its other possessions wrestled away from it.

A Rift-led army of 30,000 giant Andoval mercenaries and hundreds of Rift officers under Expeditionary Force Commander General Bysr Osmu’a had now returned to Rihta’. A second force of another 30,000 Andoval led by Supreme Commander General Miltcar were due to arrive in the system soon.

The Rift were not a naturally warlike society. Long-lived and driven by economic and commercial motives, they had little experience with war so they’d never developed much in the way of offensive weapons or tactics, never having had a need for them. They had developed a plasma weapon that fired deadly energy bolts to convince the Andoval, a fairly intelligent but primitive species on one of the planets the Rift had claimed long ago, to stop attacking them while they took over their world. The 7-foot-tall mercenaries provided security for the Rift from attacks by other Andoval tribes as the Rift harvested the natural resources of their planet. The Andoval were an immensely strong and fierce bipedal people who loved to fight. The giants used primitive throwing weapons such as spears and iron balls with spikes on them to kill or wound from as far as 200 yards from their moving target. They also used clubs, war-hammers and sword-sized knives for more close-up fighting. The Rift refused to allow them to use anything more advanced lest they turn against their overlords.

Clan Miltcar was using them to overwhelm the invaders they erroneously believed had little in the way of defensive weapons. The survey ship had sent a party of Andoval down to the surface with a Rift officer where they captured two of the aliens. The two captured humans were former soldiers working as security guards for an exploration party in one of the main continent’s mountainous regions. However, having never encountered projectile weapons before, they had not recognized the long metal rods with a kind of handle on the end that the two men had carried for what they were. When more of the invaders approached they had quickly left the area without recovering them.

After being taken up to the Rift survey ship the veteran soldiers had gotten loose and killed several of the Rift crewmembers with their bare hands before Andoval guards killed them and devoured their flesh. After that, the Rift regarded the humans as extremely dangerous, like smaller versions of the Andoval but with more advanced technology. The Andoval chiefs heard reports of their own that the aliens were excellent eating and looked forward to capturing them in their thousands and feasting on them. The question of what weapons the humans might have had remained a mystery until the Rift and Andoval attacked their first two targets, the southern coastal settlement, called Southport by the human colonists, and the large southeastern town known as New Cancun.

Taking the first two alien towns had been relatively easy but they had lost far more of the Andoval and their Rift officers than expected. The projectile weapons that threw small metal pellets at them came as a nasty surprise although they were often ineffective against the tough skinned Andoval. Worse for the Rift though, almost all of the thousands of humans in those two settlements had escaped, airlifted out by their huge transport aircraft to other settlements in the north and west. This now presented a major problem for General Osmu’a. Delays in launching the initial attacks had forced the Rift to send down all of the food supplies they had to feed the 15,000 Andoval sent down for the first phase of the operation. They had counted on capturing many of the intruders to feed the Andoval. Instead of pressing their attacks, they had been forced to have the giants stop and gather food before they could strike their next targets, the human settlements of New St Louis on the Clearwater River and Winter Haven in the northeastern tier of the planet’s main continent.

To take the next target settlement, New St Louis, 500 miles up the Clearwater River, the Rift Ground Force Commander General Warsh sent a force of 1,000 Andoval down from the north and a separate force of some 1,800 warriors and their Rift officers moving up from the south converging on the riverside town of 5,000. A third force with another 2,000 Andoval made its way upriver on a fleet of 50 Rift ships to attack the town from the river. Warsh was concerned that the difficult terrain was delaying his army and allowing the humans to escape once again. The seagoing vessels, somewhat similar in shape to Viking longboats without a sail, carried plasma cannon that would prohibit the invaders from bringing in the huge transports they’d used to take the thousands of colonists to safety.

The opening shots of the invasion had been using plasma cannon to shoot down the 850-foot-long transport Cairo which crashed somewhere in the mountains north of Southport. Aboard the Cairo were the colony’s Director of Logistics, Commander Rick Cassidy, his deputy Gunnery Sergeant Molly Pickford, Medical officer Major Maya Scott and a group of fifty female students and interns from the New Hope Academy along with their faculty chaperones.

Bringing troops in by air closer to the target presented risks that General Osmu’a was unwilling to take unless they landed far enough away from the intruders to avoid being discovered. As Osmu’a had feared before the first fighting had begun. the enemy had weapons which could damage or destroy his valuable 300-foot-long orbit-to-ground transports that were carried by the three starships, all converted cargo ships, in his task force. With only six of the airships available he could not afford to risk them at this early point in the campaign unless absolutely necessary.

There had been opportunities where conditions had seemed less risky and Osmu’a had sent in several shuttles under cover of night to land 800 warriors far up one of the tributary rivers 70 miles north of the river settlement. This force had fought and nearly wiped out Alpha Company of the Colonial Rangers’ First Battalion.

Osmu’a and Warsh had thought it would be at least another day before their land forces could press the attack on the river settlement but the scouting parties sent ahead of the main forces had seen the intruders abandon their outer defensive positions and withdraw to the outskirts of the settlement itself. Using the transports to move groups of Andoval across the broader waterways and more difficult terrain obstacles, Warsh’s forces moved quickly towards the town from both directions without encountering resistance and the fleet was ordered to move upriver as fast as possible.

The results of the operations in the coming days would affect the Expeditionary Force Commander’s plans to assault the last large town the humans had on the eastern side of the continent, Winter Haven. Its location in the north presented several problems that had to be overcome before the weather turned cold again. Scouting parties had been ordered to find the best routes to follow from the south and southwest while avoiding contact with the humans. The information they had sent back was not encouraging. The fast-melting snow in the mountains had turned many otherwise manageable waterways into raging torrents that some scouting parties had been unable to cross. Further north, the approaches to the northern settlement were limited by impassable hills leaving just four possible lines of approach to the town.

Osmu’a and Warsh planned to land their main northern attack force far enough away to avoid detection yet close enough to avoid most of the major terrain challenges that might delay their advance. Five thousand more Andoval still in transit sleep would be awakened and formed into a northern attack force to be led by Sub-Commander Epral.

Osmu’a had hoped that the next phase of his attack plan would be as successful as the opening phase despite the loss of the element of surprise. He had ordered Warsh to have his Eastern Sub-Force Commander move 2,000 of his warriors from the conquered eastern coastal settlement 900 miles up the coast by ship where they marched inland.

This force marched northeast to the only useful pass through the mountains to reach the northern plain. The human Rangers were waiting for them though, and for the first time, the Rift and their Andoval troops, were beaten back and forced to retreat.

Chapter 1

Captain Naomi MacCaffrey

March 2122

Nigeria

We’re all ready to go, Captain, Master Sergeant Nils Liljestrom said to Captain Naomi MacCaffrey. The Canadian logistics officer was in charge of a seven-truck supply convoy that was scheduled to depart the UN supply base 250 miles north of the Nigerian capital of Abuja for a refugee camp 50 miles to the southwest. The convoy was code-named Camelback.

MacCaffrey smiled, Roger that, Master Sergeant. Remind everyone to keep their eyes open. Intelligence reports that several groups of armed personnel have been operating in the area. Their affiliation is unknown but it’s likely a bunch of the Lipiza Kisasi (Vengeance). Whoever they are, nothing has been seen of them the last two days.

Ja. I’ve heard that too. No air support available, I suppose? The Norwegian soldier asked with a sigh of resignation. Air support was in short supply and anything but an armored shuttle was vulnerable to surface-to-air missiles.

We’ll have a monitor drone watching above; it's unarmed though. The remarkably attractive 27-year-old, 5-foot 8-inch tall, reddish-brown haired, hazel-eyed athletically built officer had been in Africa for eighteen months. She had been part of the peacekeeping operation in Somalia for the first ten then had taken a month’s leave back home to see her family before being reassigned to the Nigerian area of operations for the last eight. During her time in Africa, she had commanded scores of convoys just like this and had come under fire more than once. Naomi was looking forward to completing her tour and getting out of this fly-infested sweatbox in another month. She was from a military family and members of her family had been involved in peacekeeping operations in one part of the world or another for five generations. In certain parts of the world, things had not changed much since three of her great-great-grandparents had served in eastern and central Africa more than a century before.

Liljestrom spat on the ground, Better than nothing I guess.

I’m afraid it will have to do. Don’t get too far ahead of us. I don’t want to lose sight of you at any time.

Ja, Captain. The Norwegian climbed into the front passenger seat of the lightly armored personnel carrier and the driver started the powerful electric engine. MacCaffrey got into the cab of the lead cargo truck and the convoy started off. A second APC followed after the last of the seven supply trucks.

Captain MacCaffrey had 21 soldiers with her; there were 14 Canadians including herself, plus the two 4-man Norwegian APC crews. If there weren’t any holdups, they hoped to be at the refugee camp in just over two hours. The first ten miles or so was open country and the native of Thunder Bay, Ontario was confident that the drone would spot any trouble along the way before they ran into it. After that however, their route took them through a series of low hills studded with trees that skirted the jungle for the next twenty miles before reaching mostly flat open country again.

The convoy made good time for the first 20 miles or so then had to slow down as the road wound around hills and ravines. There were lots of places to conceal groups with hostile intent, and everyone was keeping a watchful eye on the area around them. MacCaffrey was in constant contact with the drone monitoring station back at the supply base.

"Camelback One, base, the drone controller said urgently. You have probable hostiles 50 yards ahead on both sides of the road."

Copy that drone control, MacCaffrey replied immediately and was about to warn her people but it was already too late. A shoulder-launched missile impacted the lead APC and it flipped over on its side. Seconds later a second hit the APC at the rear of the convoy followed by automatic gunfire that began hammering at the seven cargo trucks from the hillside to their right and the more open ground to their left. The armored sides and ballistic glass of the windshields held for the moment but MacCaffrey knew that would not last. GO, GO, GO! MOVE FORWARD!

The APC’s blocking the road, Captain! The driver Corporal Eden Hawkins shouted on the edge of panic.

I can see that! Push it out of the way, we can’t go back!

Yes, Captain. The corporal gunned the engine and they moved forward rapidly.

Urgently she called for help, This is Camelback One! We are under attack! Repeat, we are under attack! Both APCs have been hit! We are taking heavy fire!

"Copy that, Camelback One. Requesting…" The transmission was cut off, blocked.

The truck slammed into the overturned APC and shoved it roughly aside just as a third missile hit the back of MacCaffrey’s truck, slewing it around and slamming its rear into the undercarriage of the now-smoking APC. The big front wheels of the truck slid off the road and the front end hung over a shallow trench next to it. Damaged by the explosion the truck’s main power pack was no longer functioning and the engine died. The convoy was trapped. Most of the weapons’ fire was coming from the hill above and the ballistic glass of the trucks’ windshields was starting to give way.

Another missile hit the truck two vehicles behind MacCaffrey’s and she ordered over her comm net, Everyone, get out of the trucks! We’re sitting ducks in here! Take cover in the ditch!

Hawkins hesitated to get out and she looked at the Captain with fear in her eyes, Captain?

Move it Hawkins, unless you want to die in here! Hawkins opened the door hastily and dropped into the trench. MacCaffrey climbed out after her. The Canadians and the two surviving Norwegians from the following APC dived out of their vehicles trying to avoid the fire coming from both sides of the road. They had some cover and MacCaffrey hoped they could hold out until help arrived but a bullet coming from further down the trench narrowly missed her and she turned to see several armed men moving toward her from that direction. She opened fire and the two leaders went down but a fusillade of bullets came her way and she had to dive low to avoid being hit then heard screams behind her.

MacCaffrey cursed, God dammit! as a fifth missile hit the second vehicle in line peppering her combat helmet with shrapnel. A piece of hot metal tore through the sleeve of her armored jacket and she felt a searing pain in her left arm where it had grazed her skin.

The firing suddenly stopped and a voice cried out in broken English, UN soldiers! Put down your weapons and surrender or we will kill you all! No rescue will reach you in time! You are worth more to us alive than dead but we will kill you if you do not surrender immediately! We will not ask again!

MacCaffrey looked down the trench at the dozen or so survivors of her little command and knew that they had no chance at all if they did not surrender. The comm circuit in her helmet was now being blocked as well so she shouted to her people, Everyone, put your weapons down! Then she shouted back to whoever had called to them, Don’t shoot! We’re surrendering! She looked over at Hawkins who was looking back at her wide-eyed and pale-faced but otherwise unhurt and she held her rifle up over her head and stood up so their attackers could see her clearly. When they didn’t shoot, she slowly lowered her weapon and placed it on the ground then motioned for her soldiers to do the same.

In a minute, they were surrounded by at least fifty armed men. Half of them were clearly Africans, possibly Nigerians. The others were North Africans or Arabs by the look at them. They motioned for the UN soldiers to climb up out of the trench. When two of them tried to help a wounded man get up, MacCaffrey could only watch in horror as one of the Arabs shot all three and shouted, No wounded!

A Canadian soldier standing next to her started to move toward one of their captors and she grabbed his collar, Stand fast, Staff Sergeant! There’s nothing you can do for them now. We have to stay alive as long as we can.

Of the 22 personnel in MacCaffrey’s convoy, only nine were marched away. Their hands were bound behind their backs, and a sturdy wire rope cord secured them together at intervals of about three or four feet by their necks. They were pushed and shoved to move quickly; their captors wanted them under the cover of the jungle a quarter mile away before any more UN soldiers arrived to rescue them. By the time an armored shuttle carrying a platoon of Chinese soldiers arrived ten minutes later, there was no sign of them, their heat readings masked by the thick jungle canopy. The medics found one badly wounded Canadian corporal in the trench. He had played dead until the shuttle had landed nearby.

Hurried through the trees the prisoners often stumbled and when they lost their footing, they would be hit with rifle butts or kicked until they got back up and started moving again. Hours passed without stopping before they were allowed a rest break, and were given water. There were three women including MacCaffrey among the seven Canadians and two Norwegians in their little group. Both of the Norwegians, one male and one female, had crawled out of the ruin of the second APC and made it to the trench with only minor injuries.

The captives were released from their neck and wrist restraints one at a time so that they could relieve themselves under the watchful eyes of the guards who laughed and joked as they watch the women lower their trousers and squat to pee. Naomi told Hawkins and Corporal Leni Adelson to ignore the watching guards, one of whom came over and slapped her hard in the face for talking. Momentarily stunned, she lay on the ground, her hands had already been secured behind her back again. She had been unable to defend herself, and then she heard a scream from Adelson. After retying the cords securing the blonde Norwegian’s wrists behind her back, one of the guards was holding her from behind while another ripped her shirt open then he ripped her bra off exposing her breasts; their armored vests had been removed back at the site of the ambush. MacCaffrey hadn’t been fettered with the neck restraints yet. She got her legs under her and launched herself at the guard, ramming him with her shoulder in the ribs and knocking him down. She fell on top of him and before she could make another move a rifle butt slammed into the left side of her face knocking her unconscious.

When she came to moments later, her neck restraint was back on, her shirt had been ripped open, and her breasts exposed as well. The pain in her jaw was excruciating; she knew it was broken. She looked over at Hawkins; her breasts were also exposed. The three women were tied to one another, and Leni whispered to her, Thank you, Captain. That was really brave. Are you all right?

MacCaffrey attempted to give her a lopsided grin; she could feel the blood in her mouth, where at least one tooth had been knocked out. She whispered back painfully, We’ve got to be strong, corporal. When we get out of this you can buy me a beer. The Norwegian corporal gave the captain a little half smile in return and Hawkins nodded to her in appreciation as well. They were soon forced to their feet and other than being left exposed, the women were not further molested.

They rested again a few hours later until dark then continued through the night, the footing often treacherous and their progress slow. Their trek continued the following day with the occasional rifle butt or kick to motivate them to keep going. They rested for a short while every few hours and just before darkness on the second night the group met up with a second, larger group of brigands with perhaps as many as one hundred armed men in this group. A lighter-skinned man came over and looked at the three women then barked at the guards. Giving him a sour look, one of the guards went over to MacCaffrey who stared back at him with her one good eye, her left eye was swollen almost completely shut from the blow that had broken her jaw, as he pulled her shirt together and buttoned the two buttons that remained. When he finished with her, he went over to Hawkins and did the same then repeated it for the Norwegian corporal. MacCaffrey looked at the lighter-skinned man and nodded a grudging thank you.

He came over, and looked at her collar devices and saw that she was an officer. He swung his fist at the already damaged left side of her face and slammed it into the bone next to her left eye. She went down hard, blood and tears running down a face that was already filthy from being pushed down to the jungle floor several times already.

The group stayed put under the jungle canopy for the next eight hours while flies and mosquitos swarmed around the bound and suffering captives. An hour before dawn, they were roused from an exhausted and fitful sleep and forced to their feet. They were given water and a chance to relieve themselves but no food then they were on the move again. Under the jungle canopy, they had no idea anymore which direction they were going or how far they’d walked. More than anyone else the young captain had borne the brunt of the vicious punishment, handed out by the group that she had come to realize was under the command of at least one of the notorious Gul brothers. Their father Hassan Gul was the world’s most dangerous and most wanted terrorist. He had six sons who following in his footsteps and creating mayhem and murder across three continents. From intelligence reports she had seen she’d recognized as one of the brothers the man who had ordered the women’s breasts covered then had smashed her in the face with his fist.

They began walking again shortly after dawn almost two full days after being taken prisoner. Captain MacCaffrey was flagging badly, stumbling often. The others near her helped her stay on her feet while the guards continued to scream at her to move faster. She knew she had some broken ribs courtesy of the guards. She had yelled at a guard who had just rifle-butted one of the men; they had gagged her after that. Her right knee was barely supporting her after one of the guards kicked her there while she was down. Her jaw was broken, and the left side of her face was swollen and turning a dark purple. She had spit out two loose teeth and her lower lip was swollen and split open. Her head rung and swum from several blows to the head and she was pretty sure she had a concussion. Her left eye was swollen shut and some of her fingers were broken after being stomped on. She knew she could not go on much longer but she would not give up.

They came