Free SODIUM:5 Assault by Stephen Arseneault Page B

kilometers after, each one was to return to the ship when it exited the beam. We watched patiently as each Driller popped out and turned back towards the cruiser.
    The experiment was repeated, drawing ever closer to its target. The last Driller exited the beam at 300 billion kilometers from the lensing structure before the next was pulled into oblivion. I turned to my planners and asked what they had to try next to which I received blank stares... they had nothing.
    I pounded my fist on the arm of my captain's chair repeatedly in frustration before looking up at the silent crew looking back at me. I then waved my hand and grunted in a gesture for them to get back to work. An alternative plan soon came in.
    The captain and crew of the destroyer Buffalo had volunteered to ride the beam to the 300 billion kilometer mark. They would then exit and repeatedly fire Protactinium pellets down the side of the beam towards the lensing structure. It would take the pellets another two hours to reach their target. The potential for a strike was low, but the order was given.
    Soon after, the Buffalo entered the beam and raced towards its firing point. At 300 billion kilometers it exited the beam and began launching one pellet after another. But the Frekkin were ready and a second lensing structure was brought online and aimed at the destroyer. The Buffalo put all available power into its BHD system, but could not break free. I watched in horror as another of my crew soon went silent, sucked into the black oblivion in the center of the alien containment structure.
    As a last hope we watched as the pellets screamed towards their destination only to be drawn into the beam by its residual gravity as they went. Another strategy had failed, only it had cost the valuable lives of a destroyer's crew.
    I again pounded my fist in rage and demanded that my Planners come up with something. I followed my rant with a statement so that they knew my anger was not directed at them. I then again pressed for a solution, attempting to convey a sense of urgency instead of anger.
    The next plan involved more personnel. I was hesitant until I learned that volunteers for the mission far outnumbered our needs. The mission called for a squad of BGS Marines and a transport.
    The transport would run down the beam and exit at the last possible moment. It would then ride a safe distance outward from the beam before turning back towards the structure. At that point the squad of BGS Marines would be dropped as drifters and the transport would move off in an attempt to be a decoy. If all worked as planned the Marines would drift towards the structure over a 36 hour period with their active skins on maximum.
    I gave the go-ahead and within half an hour the Marines were on their way. Soon after, they were adrift. The transport lowered its shields and repeatedly turned and broadcast every signal it could. I wondered if the aliens would see it as a blatant attempt at a decoy. I wondered if we would next see a sweeping gravity beam that would annihilate our BGS squad.
    As the hours passed the squad commander continued to broadcast his sensor data over his QE comm. We soon had a good optical image of the lensing structure as well as the containment structure for the black hole. Data revealed that the event horizon of the black hole itself was only meters in diameter, but the pull it exerted was immense.
    Soon after it went on its look-at-me rampage, the transport was snuffed from existence. I was troubled by the fact that the structure was able to focus two gravity wells. It would make it a difficult business to get any of our ships in close. We were heavily reliant on our BGS Marine strategy to bring the destruction of the gravity beam to an end.
    As the team drifted ever closer we began to get reports in, there were riots on Toleda. A low level politician had enlisted the help of his fellow citizens and quickly overpowered the crew of one of the destroyers that was loading the