Chapter 22: Burn 'em Out

As Marshal Pope had indicated, the EDF was pursuing a 'scorched earth' policy - literally - for a one-hundred-mile-plus radius centered on any Sa'arm landing site. In Manitoba, almost continuous sorties by bombers and missiles rained napalm and incendiary bombs in an effort to prevent the Swarm from obtaining organics that it could convert to food. Grass, trees, fleeing animals, buildings - all were being consumed by the raging, wind driven conflagrations.

A larger area was being cleared of humanity in preparation for a probable expansion of the man-made hell. We weren't yet sure this would stop the Sa'arm, but it was a good bet it would slow them considerably.

Then a new factor inserted itself, and Marshal Pope briefed us: "The EDF sent out a team to examine that bloody Volvo you found. Nearby, they found six eggs they believe are Sa'arm eggs. They are similar in size and shape to ostrich eggs, and that is the only explanation that fits.

"The eggs were brought to a lab for analysis. They've been working on them almost since you reported, and teams were sent to other sites to look for more eggs. They found them.

"What I'm about to say could change with more samples or analysis, but it is what our biologists now believe. It definitely affects anyone near or in Sa'arm held territory or incursions.

"They think that, upon hatching, the Sa'armlings will be small, but fully functional and likely able to cooperate like their parents. Our tests show that they probably will not be at the adult level of muscle or protective performance, but they are still going to be hungry and hard to kill. This does not bode well.

"The biologists speculate that the Sa'arm usually lay their eggs whenever they feed, but the Sa'arm seem to vary in egg-laying approach. In some instances, other than a mottled camouflaging color, there seems to be no effort to hide or protect the eggs. Pretty much a 'stop and drop' approach, probably near a food source."

Marshal Pope clearly was not happy, "Still, worse, some of the behavioral scientists believe that during colonization, optimal survival behavior would have the Sa'arm randomly lay their eggs at other sites just on the chance they would find food.

"We are going to have to track forward and back from every known local Sa'arm sighting and burn the Hell out of the routes to be sure we have crisped the baby dickheads while still in their eggs."

He sighed, "Here on out, you are to look for and destroy Sa'arm eggs anywhere you suspect a Sa'arm has been present. Then you report to us and get out of Dodge. Depending of the timing, or perhaps the availability of a scout team, we could begin carpet-bombing the back trail for probably a mile on either side. Clear?"

It was quite clear.

In addition to the huge numbers of A10 Warthogs that were tasked with containing Sa'arm ground armor, and the various iterations of upgraded AC-130s tasked to interdict infantry now advancing southward from the hive ship landing, additional support was provided by the wide variety of fighters flown by newly rejuvenated veteran pilots. These latter were now also tasked with carpet-bombing known and suspected trails of all Sa'arm from the local crash.

Pop up, shoot, and scoot was the operational tactic employed to ameliorate the Swarm's incredibly fast and accurate fire. Never-the-less, the loss of EDF war birds in the north exceeded fifty percent, and only the use of the transporter escape systems saved pilots to fly and fight again.

Yet, we had a major advantage over the current Swarm incursion in North America. While in many ways less technically advanced, we had the resources of a large continent that we could concentrate on a few landing sites. The Sa'arm were initially limited to what they brought with them.

Transporters were also used to refuel aircraft. If they survived Sa'arm fire, this enabled them to fly farther or engage longer. Unfortunately, no one had figured out a way to reload ordinance via transporter. The combination of medical pod rejuvenation and transporter escape systems provided an almost limitless supply of pilots for the replicator manufactured war birds.

Pilots were paired with upgraded aircraft whose characteristics most closely matched that of their glory days. For the scorched earth tactic, even older versions could be used outside any advance of Sa'arm units, and they were certainly useful for burning Sa'arm eggs. It wasn't perfect, but sleep learning and practice during ferry duties made it all work.

But, there was another problem: How to get stubborn humans away before they were roasted or eaten?