WOLF

Written by: Nick Kish

2006-06-11

The Eighth Day

01. Beacon   It has been eight hard months since David Singue's wife, Jill, had died in a car crash. David sits in front of Jill's grave in Beacon, NY, reflecting on all that has happened. Liz is still missing and they are still holding the bases at NYC and Rio Grande. David hopes for the strength to finish the fight. As he heads back to his car, David thinks he sees his old friend, Kurt. He goes to check it out but sees no one. The next day, David receives an anonymous e-mail which provides a set of coordinates where Liz can be found. David knows the latitude and longitude is somewhere in south western Montana. He decides to go check it out with Mike.

02. Montana   Landing half a mile from the coordinates, David and Mike hike the rest of the way to the location. They soon discover the location is the Montana State Prison. David tells Mike to wait behind as he sneaks closer. Inside, and after a few close calls, David discovers it has been taken over by the Goriin. He finds Liz and finds that, aside from a few cuts and scratches, she looks okay. Liz doesn't even look up from the book she is reading as David walks by. He sneaks out and meets up with Mike, telling him that Liz is okay, but he decided to break out everyone. Mike calls for Alcoer and Poeh to help break out all forty-two prisoners.

03. Forty-Two plus One   Alcoer and Poeh meet David and Mike in the hills about mile west of the prison. After discussing and establishing the plan, they prepare their equipment. Using various technologies of camouflage, the team circle around and sneak in through a service entrance on the east side of the facility. Once both teams are in place and ready, they begin. David and Poeh free the prisoners while Mike and Alcoer clear the exit. David gets Liz out first and has her assist in getting all the prisoners out. Successfully getting everyone out, they make their way to the designated safe location. When they get there, they encounter Kurt Naurl. For a second, Kurt and the team just stare at each other. Then Kurt shows the team the detonator in his hand and presses the button, blowing up the prison.

04. Regroup   Kurt and the prisoners are all taken back to the NYC base. David has hope for Kurt, as he always has because of their past as friends, but the rest of the team is still skeptical. Sensing this, Kurt offers a show of good faith that he has changed his ways. He provides a way to communicate with military bases all over the nation. David begins talking with the commanding officers from various bases and locates a few generals. He then starts to organize a meeting. At the meeting in a base in Colorado, one of the generals says they should start a counter-offensive and Alcoer suggests taking back the entire U.S. Everyone agrees, so they begin to formulate a plan.

05. Upheaval   Using more of Kurt's information, David learns the locations of all eight of the Goriin/Skag bases in the nation. After a month, everything is in place. The plan formulated was to launch multiple attacks simultaneously on all eight of the bases and take them out as quickly as possible. The day arrives and the preparations are complete. David gives the order to attack and moves his own forces to what will be largest battle of the counter-offensive, Washington D.C., which is the largest Goriin base. Coming over the last hill and coming into full view of the base, David is shocked to see that it looks like the Goriins have been waiting for them.

06. Washington D.C.   David realizes that he has quite a battle ahead of him, but he knows that he can't retreat as everyone else is in battle as well. David radios all his troops to provide some inspirational talk, urging them to press on. The battle is hard and fierce and drags out longer than expected. On the third day of battle, David is notified that all other bases have been taken or destroyed, but no one can provide any help as they are still cleaning up after their attacks. In his frustration, David looks to the sky, thinking of the strong possibility that they’ll lose. Then it slowly dawns on him that the answer is in the sky. He remembers the Space Station and the very powerful weapon it has on board.

07. Big Stick   David quickly tries to think of any issues in using the weapon, but can't think of any, so he contacts Liz, who remained at the NYC to oversee operations. He has her try to access the Space Station, which is still in orbit. She is able to connect to the Station and runs a few quick diagnostics. She soon finds out that the Station will be in position in just over thirty minutes. David hesitates for a second, thinking of everything he's going to have to do, then orders the firing of the Solar Weapon. Liz says that there isn't enough power in reserves, but she can draw from a few other areas. David begins to order people out, hoping the Goriin soldiers will not follow. Fortunately, the Goriin do not follow and David suspects they think the Humans are retreating. Getting all but only a few people out of the blast area, the weapon fires a blast of light form the sky and the base is destroyed.

08. Control   The next day, the team gets together at the NYC base to discuss how things went. After having a night to think about it, David states that the use of the weapon could have possibly been premature. Mike says that once the Goriin figure out what happened, they'll go after the weapon themselves. Liz suggests a team go up to the station to regain control of the weapon, but the shot had fried some of the power cells and it will need repaired before it can be used again. David says that it won't be easy and that they'll need a lot of cover. Mike suggests the distraction, a world uprising, citing that if the main Goriin base can be destroyed, then they will be leaderless and will no longer fight. Mike volunteers to lead the uprising. David says he will take a small team to the station, as he is the only one left alive who can access the area that the weapons bay.

09. Kick Out   Mike begins organizing his massive uprising while David and his team head down to the Rio Grande, where they will launch from in a week's time. David's team consists of Poeh, Alcoer, two scientists to fix and operate the equipment, and 20 soldiers to operate the on-board weaponry. Liz volunteers to help Mike on the surface. David and his squad spend the week preparing their ships while everyone else is getting. A week later, as Mike is launching his offensive, David's squad is taking off, heading for space. On the way, David's squad runs into a squad of Goriin fighters and David orders the team to push on best they can. Approaching the Station, they discover another squad of Goriin fighters patrolling the Station. David orders the soldiers to cover the crew as they push through to dock with the Station.

10. Delayed Messege   As the dog fight breaks out all around them, David pushes his shuttle on towards the docking bay. After docking, Poeh heads to the bridge to bring the station out of power standby and David leads the scientists to the weapons bay. David lets the scientists in and they begin to run primary diagnostics and checking out the weapon. Then David is called by Poeh. She has discovered an interstellar message from the fleet from Calus saying they are on their way. After some calculating, she discovers that the fleet will arrive in one week.

11. Survival   The message from the Calus fleet is good news but the scientists say it will take ten days to repair the Solar Weapon and power it to full capacity. The Solar Weapon needs to be at full capacity because the Goriins, being insect-like, dig deep tunnels under their bases which is where most of their upper leadership is located. David contacts Mike and informs him of the good and bad news. Mike says that the uprising is picking up steam but the Goriin and Skag are more prepared. Mike isn't sure they can last a week. David and Mike agree that this is the fight to end it all and it’s a chance they'll have to take. The commander of the soldiers calls for David saying that another Goriin squad has arrived and they could use some assistance. David rushes to his fighter and head into space to join the fray.

12. Third Arrival   A week later, David had only lost half of his initial fighters. Mike had even sent reinforcements for them, despite the heavy losses he was facing. Mike and Liz had survived the week, but had suffered massive losses. Poeh running operations from the bridge, Alcoer manning a weapon turret and the thirty some fighters they now had, had all some how managed to survive the week. Then, a Goriin fighter that a soldier had shot careened out of control towards the Station and crashed into the turret Alcoer was controlling, killing him. Towards the end of the day, the Calus fleet arrives, much to the relief of the Human fighters. Making contact to the station, Poeh patches them through to David. He asks if they'll help out with the Goriin fighters, which they take care of quickly. Then, after some discussion, David agrees to remain in control of the Human forces and works to organize the two forces into one.

13. Losing Ground   David calls Mike and notifies him of the reinforcements. David then asks for three quarters of the Calus fleet to assist Mike down on the surface and the remaining one quarter to protect the Space Station. As the Calus fleet splits and heads towards the surface, more Goriin fighters arrive. David struggles to keep everyone organized enough to hold off the pressing enemy. With the fresh reinforcements, the Human fighters have a new charge and they press on. Mike says the Calus fleet had saved him and had really reinvigorated his troops. The Humans rally one last time, pressing their advantage, to force the Goriin and Skag back. The next day, Mike says they have pushed a line straight to the main Goriin base on a small island in the Philippines.

14. Final Impetus   A few more days of fighting and both side are starting to show it. Since there are merely a few squads in space, there isn't much time to rest, not that they sleep when they get a break. The Goriin fighters begin rallying and slowing the Human progression. David can't help but notice how much their experience shows in a time like this. But he still has one more hand to play in this game. David's forces have dwindled again and he requests the status of the Solar Weapon. The scientists report it should be ready in a couple hours. David orders his fighters to retreat to the station and man the weapon turrets on the station. With an hour to go, David notifies Mike to get his people out of the very large blast area. The weapon is fired, creating a crater a mile deep where the Goriin base once stood. With in hours, the remaining Goriin and Skag forces had surrendered. The war was over.

15. The Treaty of Earth   There is much celebration on the Space Station as well as on Earth's surface. David's own personal celebration is interrupted by a call from Liz on the surface. Sobbing, Liz informs David that Mike was killed in the blast. Mike was trying to get some of the last people out, but didn't make it in time. David heads toward the Human encampment near the blast site in the Philippines. David then began encountering the problem with leaving the enemy leaderless; there was no one in charge. The Goriin mustered their only remaining general to offer the official surrender. Then, the leaders of all species discussed a treaty to establish a peace. The treaty also set up provisions for the Skag, so they will be protected against the Goriin as well. It was agreed upon and signed by all a few days later.

16. Journey Home   The journey had been long and hard, but David had survived it. The Goriin and Skag begin the long road home, following the terms of the treaty. After the Goriin and Skag had left, David returns to the U.S. with Liz for funerals for Mike, who was like a son to him, and Alcoer, who had become a good friend. A month later, David visits Jill's grave again and he ponders his life and the war. David is a very different man and the world is a different place. All because of those seven days.