Kaiju Apocalypse by Eric S. Brown, Jason Cordova Read Free Book Online

really needed to use the afterburners. He wanted to be certain that he had enough momentum and energy behind what he could only think of as a kinetic strike on the Mother Kaiju. Beside him, Osborne jiggled the circuitry of the weapons for a second before he whooped triumphantly.
     
    “Can’t fire the missiles,” he announced. “But I sure as hell could arm them!”
     
    Walker’s grin turned feral. He pointed the nose of the Trident towards a spot right behind the head of the Mother Kaiju. He looked over at his copilot.
     
    “Ready?”
     
    “As I’ll ever be,” Osborn allowed.  “What a way to go, eh?”
     
    “ Bonzai! ” Walker screamed and pushed the afterburners to full.
     
    The Trident leapt as the higher-octane fuel was pushed rapidly through the pistons of the engine, increasing the power and air-intake. The engines, already pushing out enough energy to rattle the entire craft, doubled the maximum speed of the Trident in exchange for the loss of structural integrity. The craft turned into nothing more than the afterimage of a blur as it struck the Kaiju perfectly, the Trident nothing more than a very large explosive bullet as it burrowed completely through the spine of the Mother Kaiju. Munitions aboard the craft exploded, severing the head from the rest of the massive beast’s body, and secondary explosions rent the upper body into shreds.
     
    The massive fireball which erupted from the disintegrated Trident swept through the air, clearing the sky from the Kaiju Dragons as well as charring a few unfortunate Dog Kaiju on the ground. The massive Mother staggered under the blow, not quite realizing that she was already dead as she tried to continue forward. Nerves, finally catching up with her body, caused her to lose a step, then two. She began to fall.
     
    The Mother Kaiju's corpse tumbled onto the sands of the beach, crushing hundreds of Dogs beneath her as she collapsed heavily to the ground.  A cheer erupted from the walls of Lemura upon the sight of the massive Mother falling dead. However, they quickly faded as the two remaining Mothers renewed their attack.  The artillery crashed through the sky, and the fight raged on.
     
    ****
     
    Captain (j.g.) Charles Knight liked to play things safe. Unlike the other Trident pilots, he was not known to be a hotdog, and didn’t possess the typical fighter jock attitude that the others wore openly on their sleeves. He was a deliberate, calculating man, which had helped create the image of a man who was in complete control of his faculties at all times.
     
    Now, though, his icy persona was being tested in battle for the first time. Sticking close to his wingman, he brought the Trident behind and to the right of the other aircraft.  Ensuring that his wingman’s six was clear of any hostiles, he began to engage the few smaller Dragon Kaiju still in the air. The 105 cannon ripped them to shreds, the fine orange mist drifting downward after the guns had ruined their bodies.
     
    “Captain,” his copilot, Chris Cox, warned as he brought up the targeting display. He and his pilot, unlike the other crews, had never managed to become close. As a result, the captain’s call sign, “Tsumetaikaze”, was almost never uttered.  It would have been unprofessional, Knight had claimed. Cox wondered if the man was simply too egotistical and vain to allow himself to be called anything other than his rank.
     
    Knight looked over at the display and frowned. The other Trident was lining up to attack one of the strangest Kaiju he had ever seen. The thing had no legs to speak of, the lower body more like an eel's than anything else.  Its back was smooth, as were the scales covering the slender length of the beast.  Tall spines ran down the length of the Mother’s back. Energy crackled over them like lightning dancing in a summer sky.  This Mother Kaiju had no eyes. Instead, it had three gaping mouths adorning the top of its head.  A tree-sized antenna, like