Jesse's Starship 3: Joshua's Walls by Saxon Andrew

massive blasts.
    Immediately after the Gracken Warriors fell, the carriers above them were ripped by blaster fire and they also exploded in huge explosions that killed thousands of the flying creatures on and around them. As the last one detonated, the sky was filled with flying Weg as hundreds of thousands emerged from the soil and took to the air.
    The Gracken Commander looked at Rumel on his display and said, “I will send you a recording of what happened.”
    Rumel’s display went dark and he knew he didn’t have to view the recording to know that the Commander had suffered a devastating defeat. The war had undergone a new change and the Weg were, once again, ahead of the Gracken Military. He shook his head and knew that now his forces were totally defensive. He took a deep breath and, before he viewed the recording, he sent a copy of it to the Human General named Adams. The only weapon he had to use against them were the fleet’s warships that would keep them contained to the invaded planets. Sending warriors down to the surface was a death sentence. Now the only option was to destroy the planets and that saddened him more than he wanted to admit.
    • • •
    Josh received a transmission from Rumel and watched it on his combat helmet. He sat down in a chair and the engineers working around him saw his expression. They stopped what they were doing and grew silent as they saw tears on his face. Josh transferred the recording to the wall monitor and replayed it. The Alliance Engineers watched the recording in silence and at the end Jek looked around and said, “They are dying fighting those creatures. Now we know what we’re up against. It’s up to us to give them something to save them.”
    Josh sent the recording to Alex and left the room to grieve for the lost Gracken Brigade. That could have been his command and he knew there was nothing in his inventory to survive the new flying Weg. He felt like the person who gave his seat up on a plane that then crashes killed everyone on board. The adrenaline entering his system made him feel shaky and he called Pricilla. She brought the Q ship assigned to them and joined him on the planet. He was thankful she was there. Her comfort settled him down where he could think clearly. Both of them agreed that they hated being right about flying Weg. However, her presence would prove to be the pivotal event in the new carrier’s development.
    • • •
    The Queen watched the destruction of the Metal Monsters and felt her joy surge. The Male saw her normal orange color glow brightly and she said, “Cease all standard eggs and change the new ones to the flying warriors.”
    “They are not as capable at digging our structures.”
    “We have more than enough diggers to accomplish what we need. This new warrior will win this conflict for us. Now we can build as many starships as we choose without interference. They will never be able to stop all of them now. Do as I say.” The Male lowered himself to the ground and backed out of the Queen’s chamber. She watched him go and thought about when she was going to devour him. It was getting close to the time when she would need to feed again to fertilize the billions of eggs just now developing in her giant abdomen. She watched him go and felt her hunger.
    • • •
    The second platoon in Delta Company watched the new video of the failed Gracken attack and Private Yung said, “Why did I ever join the army?”
    Cpl. Shumoud looked at him, “That’s easy, Yung. Where else would you get such good food?”
    Sgt. Krusiev looked at them, “This does look dangerous.”
    The platoon gathered around Krusiev and Yung said, “Sarge, we wouldn’t last a minute against them. Getting our jumps together just became a moot point. They’d be on us before we could get ten feet off the ground.”
    Krusiev looked at Yung and then at the other members of his platoon and though he didn’t want to say it, he did. “You’re right.”
    The