Skeleton Wars Read online

  This underground structure was encompassing five hundred acres and went four stories deep! It had existed for all those years without any ordinary ghost knowing. But the truth was that only a small section of the facility had been reserved as a prison. In fact, only the eight Ghoes were being kept there. All the other ghosts that had been caught before and those who were caught after had been persuaded to join Lord Ghost in his attempts to subdue earth. Some had been absorbed into the military force, while others were used as scientists. Those that had refused to comply were forced to provide manual labor on the facility.

  Lord Ghost explained that after building the complex, they started recruiting more soldiers and scientists. To persuade them to join him, Lord Ghost promised to free them after conquering earth and to give them better living places of their choice on earth. Half of the first floor from the top had been designed as a training ground for these soldiers. All the soldiers first underwent a basic training for fifty years. This involved learning discipline, marksmanship and military courtesy. They were also toughened by calisthenics, marches and close combat drills.

  After that, they went into advanced individual training for more ten years. From there, they were assigned to different units to learn working as a team. From those units, they were further trained as specialists in different areas for example infantry squad leadership, aircraft operation and advanced computer systems. Training devices were always used to simulate conditions of spaceflight and different earthly environmental conditions. They were often placed in large centrifuges that could spin up to speeds of ten thousand revolutions per minute, to get acclimatized to some of the conditions in which they were to fight with man.

  In addition, the warriors had been trained in tactics that could enable them survive, in case they were forced to land in a water body or any other place on earth with adverse climatic conditions, for example deserts and rugged mountains. Lastly, they received intensive scientific and spacecraft systems training plus rigorous drills in athletics. By the end of the training, all the warriors were specialists in sea, air and land based warfare. Each soldier could operate virtually every weapon they could come across, starting from simple stones and clubs to the most sophisticated war planes and missile systems. Each skeleton warrior was therefore far better than any human soldier on earth.

  But the greatest venture the ghosts had undertaken was developing their air force. Right from the start, they had envisioned that an air force with a great striking power was to be the greatest decisive factor in any battle with humans. Many aircraft, which had high degrees of maneuverability coupled with hypersonic flight speeds were manufactured. The whole second floor of the underground facility was designed as an aircraft manufacturing and testing plant.

  Work on these aircraft began with developing the alloy they were to use to build their bodies. It took them fifty years to discover an alloy which was lighter than manmade duralumin but at the same time two hundred times stronger than steel! In case of collision with a concrete building on earth, the aircraft could move away without any damage on its fuselage. The alloy could even resist blasting when hit by most anti-aircraft missiles.

  These aircraft had been installed with the best weapon systems possible. They had a high energy liquid laser area defense system that could emit laser beams that were one hundred times hotter than an electric stove. Such lasers could shoot down any manmade projectile including rockets, missiles and artillery shells, with a lot of ease. By heating its skin, the projectile could be weakened and then fail due to high speed stress. These lasers were to be the primary antimissile weapons of these aircraft, but could also be used to shoot down military planes in a vicinity of two hundred feet during a dogfight.

  More still, the aircraft had been armed with air-to-air missiles which had advanced computerized homing guidance systems. The missiles were semi-autonomous in a way that once fired at a target they could hunt it down wherever it would go whilst taking evasive action against counter anti-missiles. They could do this without need for external signals since they could guide themselves towards the set target until they could hit it.

  The stealth system of the aircraft had been worked upon for more than seventy years. They were totally invisible to radar, infrared, sonar or any other detection methods used by man. With this stealth system, plus total silence during flight, they were capable of passing through the most restricted airspaces on earth unimpeded. Secondly, they had been equipped with advanced radar jamming systems which could fail even the most sophisticated Passive and Bistatic radars of the most powerful countries on earth. Speed was another plus for the aircraft. traveling hypersonically at Mach 40, the slowest would take less than twenty hours to reach earth.

  According to size, they fell into three categories; large, medium and small. The large ones were about the size of a large ship and were the slowest of all. They were mainly utility aircraft, designed to perform miscellaneous missions like carrying large numbers of skeleton warriors and cargo loads. They could even be used to carry more than ten other small spacecraft. The medium-sized aircraft were the functional unit of the air force. Given their high speed and degree of maneuverability, they could serve as both fighters and bombers. The small aircraft, the fastest of all were mainly tactical fighters.

  All the three types of aircraft needed no runways since they could land and take off vertically like manmade helicopters. Another unique feature was their ability to submerge in a water body and remain concealed in one place or steer through the water like manmade submarines. Apart from the warriors that had specialized as full time pilots all the fighters had been equipped with some knowledge on how to operate these aircraft.

  Other weapons that the ghosts were to use had been manufactured from the last floor at the bottom of the underground facility. This floor was actually the strongest of all because it was their armory and missile test center.

  After Lord Ghost’s speech, Gen. Cov, the commander in chief of their forces made a presentation about how the war was to be conducted. They were to attack earth three times. The first two attacks were to be preliminary raids and the real attack was to be the third one. The first preliminary raid was to be a reconnaissance mission on earth. It was to take place at the George Bush Centre for Intelligence, the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. To every one’s surprise, the general gave a detailed structural location of the headquarters and how they were to be accessed by their soldiers.

  “The George Bush Centre for Intelligence serves as the headquarters of the US Central Intelligence Agency. The center is located at 1000 Colonial farm road in McLean, Fairfax County, in the US state of Virginia. It is found at latitude N 38o 57.1733’ and longitude W 770 9.1487’, two miles west of Washington along the Potomac River. The perimeter of the site is bounded by trees for most of its part, especially on the side of the river.

  “The center consists of a New Headquarters building that is joined to the West facade of the original building. The new building is a six storied steel and glass structure whereas the original building is a concrete structure. The buildings and ground sit on an area of two hundred fifty eight acres of land. The center can be accessed via George Washington Memorial Parkway or State Route 123.”

  “Our interests there are the CIA World Factbook and the CIA electric brain called WALNUT. The electric brain stores and retrieves countless information about every major topic that takes place on earth on a daily basis. This brain stores and updates details about all countries, in terms of weapons and the military capabilities they possess and biographies of all major people on earth. This brain’s information can be accessed by a CIA officer by means of a photo tape robot called Intellofax, but our spies shall simply hack into its computer systems in order to access this vital information."

  “Our spies shall also get access to the scientific laboratory where CIA officers perfect their tiny weapons, unique explosives and other miniaturized devices. We may be intrigued to make advanced copies of some, just in case.
This information about the headquarters had been gathered from the few dead CIA officers they had managed to get on their side.

  To the ghosts, attacking CIA was equivalent to sending spies to all the Intelligence centres of all countries on earth because they believed that they could get all the information they wanted from this place.

  The next day, two aircraft were brought to the surface from the underground facility. They started performing a flight test which lasted for two hours, in anticipation of their first mission on earth. Both aircraft were triangular in shape, but of different sizes. The first one was a medium-sized aircraft which was to carry over one hundred skeleton warriors. The second one was a small-sized aircraft and was to take a team of ten computer hackers on board

  The warriors in the first raid were to attack the CIA Headquarters and place a jamming instrument in the New Headquarters building. The hackers were to remain in their aircraft and use the advanced computer systems they had carried on board, to pilfer all the information from the electric brain. According to Gen. Cov, none of the two aircraft was to engage the US military planes in a dogfight. Their main weapon was to be speed! They were to enter the US airspace at a blinding speed and leave it in the same way.

  The send-off of the two aircraft was witnessed by Lord Ghost, Roth, Gen. Cov and the other nine generals only. All the ghosts, including the warriors, were not allowed to attend the event. With all crew on board, the pilots started the engines and within two seconds only, the aircraft were airborne. Throughout their flight in space, the aircraft moved in a close trail formation and always maintained the same speed. They succeeded in evading detection from all manmade space based satellites and telescopes.

  After spending ten hours in flight, they reached low earth orbit, one hundred miles away from the surface of the earth. It was then that they separated, with the small aircraft heading towards the Pacific Ocean and the other towards the Atlantic Ocean. Above the Atlantic Ocean, the medium-sized aircraft first reduced speed before diving into the water body. It entered the water swiftly but without causing any sound that could have alerted sailors on the ocean.

  The warriors went out of the aircraft by means of a pressurized exit system at the rear of the aircraft which could not allow any water to enter into it. They swam the whole distance from the ocean up to the Chesapeake Bay until when they reached the mouth of River Potomac. Once in the river, they continued swimming until when they reached Langley. Throughout the whole course, the skeletons maintained a deeper position near the ocean floor and river bed, to avoid being spotted by sailors and fishermen who were moving over the water surface. They only resurfaced at the time of leaving the river.

  Upon stepping on the river bank, a strong whirlwind enveloped them. The wind then started blowing towards George Washington Memorial Parkway with the skeletons running within it at the same speed. For its path from the river bank to the highway, the wind caused no major structural damage. Branches of the large trees were thrown into constant motion while the smaller trees were left swaying. Most of the leaves from these trees were carried away by the wind. The wind was traveling at a speed of 70 Km/h while rotating counterclockwise like a tornado. However it was not a real tornado because it lacked a funnel contact with the clouds in the skies. In fact, all the skies had remained clear, indicating no major change in the weather.

  The wind took everyone by surprise because there had been no tornado warning issued by the US National Weather Service. The sound of an approaching freight train had served as the only warning to those who were in its path. The lucky ones who had been quick to recognize it managed to run away while those that remained in its way found themselves being hit by piles of leaves and other debris that were floating in it.

  Upon touching GW Parkway, the whirlwind increased its speed to 90KM/hr. Though the cars were not picked up, the light ones were pushed sideways which caused numerous collisions among the cars as the drivers panicked to stop them. Pieces of flying debris knocked the car windows and shredded their glasses into small pieces which the wind carried away. Many passengers sustained several cuts on their bodies from these broken glasses. Pedestrians who were on the highway were also blown sideways. Many fell to the ground but were not picked up by the wind. Walking became difficult to those who remained standing. They had to stand still and wait for the wind to pass.

  Although the wind had picked up much dust which made it translucent, visibility had not been reduced very much. Passengers could see through it, but with some degree of obscurity. Cars jammed as drivers and pedestrians gazed at the sight of human skeletons which were running within the wind, armed with very glittering swords. Only those within the coverage of the wind could see these alien creatures. They tried to contact the police several times but their claims were taken lightly. Others went on to capture photos and videos of the incident on their smart phones and posted them on social media for the whole world to see.

  Authorities in Fairfax County tried to reach the US National Weather Service and NASA for help. However, meteorologists at the two centers had already been puzzled. They were receiving numerous reports about the same incident from different sources, but they had failed to track the wind on their Satellite and Doppler radar systems. They could thus issue no appropriate response at the moment.

  Local fire departments decided to sound sirens on their own. Traffic on GW Parkway was stopped and the police started directing all the cars off the highway.

  When it reached the private road that links GW Parkway to the CIA Headquarters, the whirlwind changed course. It was now evident that the wind was headed for the headquarters! CIA officers who were at the headquarters started hearing sounds of rushing water rapids moving in their direction. The sound was continuously turning into a strong whooshing roar as it went closer to the headquarters. The ground and the buildings at the campus started shaking, a phenomenon which they had never experienced before.

  All the CIA agents were thrown into a commotion after realizing that something dangerous was imminent. But before they could get out of the buildings to escape, the whirlwind blasted open the windows. Communication antennas fell from the top of the building and broke into smaller pieces. These broken pieces joined the piles of debris which were constantly knocking hard on the walls of the buildings to create ways for the skeletons to enter through. With the heavy forestation around the perimeter, the skeletons found yet another tool. Broken branches and barks scrapped from the trees added to the hitting power of the debris.

  Within only two minutes, all the two hundred acres of the campus land had been engulfed by the wind. Surprisingly, Instead of blowing to other parts, the whirlwind became stationary and started rotating over the headquarters only. The sound from it could be heard even at a distance of a mile away.

  Although the wind was very strong at the periphery, it had a very calm center of extremely low pressure, especially near the buildings. The wind was therefore throwing every solid it had picked, from the periphery to the center. These were the solids which were puncturing holes in the walls of the building, which provided quick entrance for the skeletons.

  The agents who had been entrapped in the building had no way of escaping. Many had already been seriously injured by the huge chunks of debris which were passing through the holes that had been punctured in the walls of the buildings. More to their disadvantage, visibility was very low, which made it hard for them to see the solids that were flying towards them plus the skeletons on time.

  As they would be wandering in different directions looking for safe hideouts, they would come across one or two skeletons that were also searching for them. Using their double edged swords, the skeletons would slash them into pieces before continuing with the hunt for others.

  Due to poor visibility, the security guards at the headquarters had been forced to start shooting aimlessly in different directions. At some instances, they ended up shooting their own colleagues who were running away from the skeletons. The skeletons would attack the
m by surprise and cut off their arms that were holding the fire arms. As they fell to the ground in pain, the skeletons would further go on to slice their bodies into pieces

  As some skeletons were checking within the buildings for CIA agents others were busy manipulating the jamming instrument. It was a small triangular instrument which was constantly rotating in air within one room in a clockwise direction, whilst flashing blue light sequentially. The warriors had no control over its movement as it was receiving signals from the hackers that had stationed in the Pacific Ocean.

  It was not until when the whirlwind became stationary over the CIA headquarters that a military solution was sought by the authorities. The National Weather Service together with NASA contacted Pentagon and the Joint Canada-US North American Air Defense Command, NORAD. With request from NORAD, the Federal Aviation Administration which controls the whole US airspace imposed a temporary flight restriction on all civilian planes which were in the US skies at the moment. Air traffic controllers started issuing orders to all pilots of these planes to descend to designated airfields. This was done to avoid collisions between civilian planes and the military planes which had started rising to patrol the skies.

  When the airspace was cleared, it became militarily controlled by NORAD. The US National Weather Service also ordered for an immediate evacuation of all locals from all towns near Langley because they could not determine where the whirlwind was to head next.

  Troops were amassed in different parts of the state of Virginia but mostly in Fairfax County. Foot soldiers and others who were moving through armored cars began patrolling the streets which the civilians had abandoned. Special military teams were deployed in Washington DC at all major US landmarks like the White House, Capitol Hill and Pentagon itself. Each of these buildings was assigned an F-15 fighter plane and a B-52 Stealth bomber to patrol the air above them.