X war incursion, p.1
X WAR: Incursion, page 1
X War: Incursion
John Triptych
Published by John Triptych, 2019.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
X WAR: INCURSION
First edition. July 11, 2019.
Copyright © 2019 John Triptych.
Written by John Triptych.
Also by John Triptych
Ace of Space
The Piranha Solution
Virago One
Alien Rebellion
Wetworld
Grotto of Silence
Expatriate Underworld
The Opener
The Loader
Stars in Shadow
Nepenthe Rising
Shards of Eternity
Wild Sargasso Space
The Dying World
Lands of Dust
City of Delusions
The Maker of Entropy
The Dying World Omnibus
Wrath of the Old Gods
The Glooming
Canticum Tenebris
A World Darkly
Wrath of the Old Gods Boxed Set 1
Wrath of the Old Gods (Young Adult)
Pagan Apocalypse
The Fomorians
Eye of Balor
Wrath of the Old Gods: Box Set 2
Standalone
Stars in Shadow Omnibus 1
X War: Incursion
Watch for more at John Triptych’s site.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Also By John Triptych
Dedication
1 Nevada
2 Utah
3 Manhattan
4 British Columbia
5 London
6 Utah
7 Guaitecas
8 Berlin
9 Utah
10 Reno
11 Virginia
12 Guaitecas
13 Utah
14 Wyoming
15 Los Angeles
16 Guaitecas
17 Washington, DC
18 Prague
19 Wyoming
20 Los Angeles
21 Utah
22 Washington, DC
23 Virginia
24 Guaitecas
25 Los Angeles
26 Wyoming
27 Utah
28 Italy
29 Palm Desert
30 Beijing
31 Nice
32 Palm Springs
33 Washington, DC
34 Russia
35 Washington, DC
36 Russia
37 Wyoming
38 Russia
39 Twin Falls
40 London
41 Guaitecas
42 Utah
43 Sudan
44 London
45 Utah
46 Idaho
47 Manhattan
48 Long Island
49 Utah
50 Finland
51 Guaitecas
52 Wyoming
53 Virginia
54 Wyoming
55 Utah
56 Wyoming
57 Sudan
58 Djibouti
59 Sudan
60 Ordos
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Further Reading: Nepenthe Rising
Also By John Triptych
About the Author
For JC and AJ. Remembering the fun times we had.
1 Nevada
AFTER BEING WOKEN UP by an incessant knocking on the side of the rented campervan, John Brickman sat up, rubbed the accumulated dirt from his eyes and trudged his way towards the exit. Upon pushing the latch back and swinging the side door open, he was greeted by a near endless array of multicolored neon lights moving slowly across the desert evening towards the center of the makeshift city.
His friend Danny Pauletti, dressed in a pink tutu and leotards beneath his leather frock coat, sat on a modified mountain bike while leaning by the side of the camper. "Hurry up, man, they're gonna start the fire!"
"Oh, right," Brickman said as he slid back into the interior of the recreational vehicle in order to grab a jacket. Nights in the desert were cold, in direct contrast to the scorching heat of the day.
Slipping on his checkered coat and top hat while still wearing his dusty boots and G-string, Brickman grabbed his own bicycle from the side of the vehicle and activated its electroluminescent wiring before placing his sagging butt on the modified, extra large saddle. "Let's go!"
Flaming Guy was an annual event, with the end of the weeklong festival culminating in the burning down of a gigantic effigy in the middle of the temporary city that had been built in the desert, two hundred kilometers north of Reno. Originally started as a bonfire ritual by a small group of second-generation hippies, the event slowly grew in size and participation over the years, with this week's current attendance record at more than seventy thousand participants.
Brickman rode alongside Danny, as the two men joined up with hundreds of other bike riders in a strange, mesmerizing display of neon glowworms as their caravan of lights slowly made their way towards the fifty foot tall effigy of a human figure at the city center.
The Flaming Guy organizers had been expecting a lower turnout this year because of the UFO attacks in California and Oregon, but were somewhat taken by surprise when the attendance actually increased. It seemed that people wanted to forget about a possible alien invasion for at least a week, and instead just celebrate peace, life, and community.
Brickman waved at a couple of uniformed cops standing beside their police SUV as the bicycle caravan passed them by. He had been smoking weed and taking ecstasy pills all week, but the authorities only arrested blatant violators and tended to overlook the low-key ones.
Danny pointed towards an old car modified to look like a flying saucer as it flashed its own set of lights while being driven around in a wide circle several meters away from them. "Hey look, the aliens made it here after all!"
Brickman chuckled. The event had started off without a hitch, despite swirling rumors that the extraterrestrial menace had infiltrated the newly erected city, but since the ritual burning would end the festivities by mid-evening, everyone felt safe.
If the aliens are observing Flaming Guy, then maybe they approve of it, he thought. This festival is harmless, so there’s no reason for them to disrupt it.
He had attended the last five Flaming Guy events, and Brickman was already looking forward to next year's festivities. He firmly believed in its philosophy of including anyone, and the concept of not having to use money or barter during his whole time spent in this weeklong utopia out in the desert.
He remembered his first time as a flamer, the slang term for attendees of the event. Five years ago when he bought a ticket and rode in a friend's RV to get to the site; it was like losing his virginity all over again. Encountering the dust, the heat, how everyone smelled after not taking a shower for a week, begging for food, and losing a few pounds off their overweight bodies. The ones who didn't have campers had to use the portable toilets, and those plastic outhouses reeked after the first few hours. But in the end he loved it, because of the otherworldly atmosphere—he was an outcast amongst a sea of those who accepted him, and that was good enough.
The critics of the festival were right about the hypocrisy of the whole thing. People who claimed to leave no trace burned a huge effigy that threw a massive carbon footprint into the atmosphere and left tons of garbage in nearby towns. It was sham environmentalism, a false spiritual pursuit which ultimately led to nothing. Brickman didn't care. Without anyone but a few friends, he felt the sense of temporary belonging that overcame all of its contradictions and flaws.
I wish we could do this in every city, not just out in the middle of nowhere, he thought as he continued to pedal his bike. Maybe the reason the aliens are attacking us is because of our love for materialism and corruption.
Brickman had felt lost ever since his divorce more than eight years ago, and attending the Flaming Guy event always gave him peace of mind, away from all the stresses the world could give. He’d even tried to bring his mother to the festival last year but she adamantly refused, calling the whole thing a satanic cult.
After traversing close to thirty meters, the cavalcade of glowing bicycles finally stopped along the curving perimeter of the city's center. The main meeting place resembled a gigantic crescent almost two kilometers in diameter.
Brickman continued to sit on his bike and began cheering with the others as the massive spotlights were activated, casting almost solid beams of lights towards the gigantic effigy in the near distance.
Most of the event participants had now massed along the perimeter of the crescent, watching and waiting for the icon to burn. Small crews of firefighters and volunteers manning the inner lines ushered a few of the overeager onlookers back, telling them that it was a possible fire hazard if they strayed too close.
Brickman watched the small group of organizers as they began fiddling with a remote control unit for the aerial drone hovering just above the giant effigy. Looks like they're going to kamikaze it to start the fire this year, he thought. This is so cool!
A tanned woman with dirt encrusted dreadlocks pointed towards the west. "Hey, check that out."
Danny reacted first and frowned as he looked to where she was pointing. "Aw, crap. Dust storm."
Everyone began putting on their goggles and slipping dust masks over their faces as the fine particles of sand began to kick up all around them. The rapidly deteriorating visibility didn't discourage the organizers as they managed to finally get the controls right and flew the suicide drone directly at the effigy.
A loud series of cheers came from the massive crowds as the drone rammed the center of the giant wooden man and exploded, igniting the rows of fireworks embedded along its structure. In less than ten seconds the entire effigy was burning brightly, the flames so intense that not even the dust storm could wholly obscure it.
Brickman grinned underneath the dirty handkerchief draped over his nose and mouth. "Take that, world!"
While almost everyone continued to stare at the burning effigy, a few people noticed the sudden appearance of additional lights up in the sky. Most remained distracted as everything around them began to brighten as if dawn had come eight hours early.
The law enforcement personnel reacted first. A loudspeaker was quickly heard over the cheers and whooping of the audience watching the burning effigy. "Attention, please clear the promenade and return to your vehicles. This is an emergency."
A few voices began cursing at the authorities in protest, only to be interrupted by screams coming from all around.
Brickman had been so completely focused on watching the ritual burning in front of him that he failed to notice what was happening until someone alongside him began screaming.
Turning to his right, he caught a glimpse of something, but he couldn't make it out clearly because of the limited visibility caused by the dust storm. Only after his brain clicked into high gear did he realize that Danny was on the ground, seemingly struggling with someone on the dry silt bed.
Brickman squinted as he leaned sideways. "Danny, what the hell are you—"
His confused query was interrupted when the wind slightly pushed away the obscuring curtain of dust and his eyes could finally paint a clear picture of what he was looking at. Brickman's mouth hung open, barely able to comprehend what he was seeing.
Something vaguely resembling a naked hairless man was on top of his friend. Danny was on the ground, his mouth open in a silent scream, his fallen bike lying beside him. The gray skinned creature had its mouth at the side of his friend's neck, using its fangs to tear out the hapless man's throat. Danny's blood was spilling all over the sandy ground.
Brickman couldn't cry out as his vocal cords failed him. He could hear more screaming and even the sounds of gunfire as panic erupted all around, but he stayed rooted, unable to act.
The creature looked up at him. Its glowing yellow eyes, fanged mouth, and skull-like visage were a testament to its otherworldliness. Whatever it was couldn't have been human.
By the time Brickman did scream it was too late. The creature leapt up at him, throwing his big bulk off the bicycle and forcing him to the ground. Brickman's final thoughts were of the upside down burning effigy as his attacker began to tear out his throat, spilling his blood along with that of thousands of others onto the billowing sand.
2 Utah
WITH THEIR BRIEF STOPOVER at Dugway completed, the three unmarked white colored Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs continued westwards. Once past the newly erected checkpoints along Stark Road, the small convoy then entered a recently constructed highway leading towards the hidden base inside Granite Peak.
Although the route seemed mostly deserted, a number of hidden sensors and cameras had the vehicles pinpointed and tracked, all the way until they stopped at what seemed to be the road's dead end as the lead vehicle faced a wall of solid stone along the base of the mountain range.
Less than five seconds later, the part of the rock face that the vehicles had stopped in front of suddenly shifted, revealing a large hidden tunnel in front of them, big enough to fit two transport trucks side by side along its wide lanes.
The three SUVs entered the tunnel, and the rock face began closing up behind them. Within moments, the outside terrain had once again become quiet, as if the very mountain had swallowed them up.
Thomas Perry got out of the passenger side door of the second Tahoe SUV the moment it stopped beside the interior entrance of the hidden base. As the newly appointed deputy secretary of defense, he had to see for himself what the results were for the six months of emergency construction to build this new secret facility.
Jane Cornell slid her way out of the backseat and stood beside him. "How does it feel to be the newly minted director of Task Force Zero, Tom?"
Perry shook his head wearily. "You'll have to ask me when this is all over. Right now, I wish I had more time to rest and be with my wife."
"I hear you. Warren is pissed off at me for not being home a lot, even though he knows how important this all is."
Two US Army officers in full battle uniforms came out of the entryway to greet them. The older one quickly extended his hand. "Mr. Perry, I'm Major Jason Dutton. I'll take you over to the general."
After shaking hands and introducing Jane, all four of them strode through the main entrance before the major led them down into a side corridor.
Despite his fatigue, Perry was impressed by how quickly the base had been constructed. "How close are we to being fully operational, Major?"
"For basic operations I'd estimate we're around ninety percent done, sir," Dutton said. "The tunneling machines we've acquired are still working full time though, so it means we're still expanding. I understand we're also looking to add additional sections on the second level in order to accommodate the engineering departments, if I'm not mistaken."
"Very perceptive, Major," Perry said as he strode alongside Dutton. "Yes, my staff envisions this base to be expanded to twice its size over the next few months. Do you think it can be done?"
"Absolutely, sir. I've been with the Army Corps of Engineers for close to fifteen years, but this is the first time I've gotten unlimited resources to construct a base, so whatever you need will get done."
Perry made a brief glance back to Jane, who was trailing right behind him. "Is that enough to please your guy?"
"As long as there's a full service bar where he can get drunk after a long day's work then I think he won't be complaining," Jane said.
After entering another set of corridors, all four of them came at last to the base's control room, a cavernous hall lined with communications gear and flat-screen monitors all along its walls. Since the base had not yet become operational, only a skeleton crew of four radio operators was present, busily testing the equipment.
General Edgar Reyna and his aide stood near the western side of the room, poring over a large map that had been laid down on a work table. The major led Perry and Jane over to them, while his lieutenant stayed by the door.
Perry shook the general's hand. "How's everything going, General?"
Reyna nodded as he shook Jane's hand. "The operatives will be flown in over the coming days, but they don't have much of a training manual when it comes to figuring out how to fight these aliens."
"It's being worked on," Jane said. "The SEALs took a beating in Portland, but they might have figured out a few things. The aliens wear some sort of body armor, but it does have gaps. If they shoot at the enemy's weak points, then these monsters can be killed."
"Trial and error means more casualties."
"We know," Perry said softly. "There's just no other way around it."
The general crossed his arms. "What bothers me most are all the foreign personnel we'll be bringing into this base. These people will most certainly report back to their respective countries on what is going on here. This location will not remain classified for long."
"Task Force Zero was conceived to be multinational unit from the very beginning," Jane said. "The old adage of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer might work to our advantage."
"How so?"
"This so-called fifth column that's helping the aliens out," she said. "Our own intel group will be keeping a close watch on everybody. If they spot anything then it could give us the lead to find and root out the alien collaborators."
