Broken Soldier (Book One)

by Bruce George

Over the next few days, Al Benson, and Mike’s son were brought out of their med units, in sickbay. Mary would need a longer stay, because of the severity of her burns.

  Mike hugged his son and they cried, as they shared their first real embrace in years. The tears were real and they came as relief for an end to the horror they had both been through. Wayne was assured that Mary would come out of this whole and in good shape, drawing another round of tears for them both.

  Mike told his son and Al Benson, “Gentlemen, we have a lot to tell you and it’s a little bit complicated. You have met my friend Jo. I’m going to have him explain the circumstances surrounding your current status and provide you with some options, which I ask you to consider thoroughly, before you make a decision.”

  Al looked down at his arms and said, “Mike, I haven’t seen my arms this clean in a long, long time. There aren’t any needle marks and I don’t feel a burning need to get high. If this is what goes on out here, I want in.”

  Jo carefully brought both men up to speed on the situation, and explained to them the concept of upgrading. Then they were given time to relax and think about what had happened to them.

  The decision to upgrade was a serious consideration for anyone. They had to face the reality of returning to Earth, with new identities and without their memories, or stay and be upgraded then join the crew as warriors.

  Alphonso Benson accepted the prospect of joining with surprising ease. As he said, “Damn, I haven’t had anything going for me, since I had my foot blown off. I might as well go back to soldiering. That was the last time I did anything worthwhile and it was a long time ago.”

  Wayne had to wait two more days, before he would decide. After a great deal of hugging and tears and long talks with Mike, he finally came to accept this tall powerful looking man as his father, virtually reborn. He told Mike, “Dad, I think what was done for you is great. But, as far as I’m concerned, I’ll do whatever Mary thinks is best. I don’t want her to be alone on Earth and I don’t want to be alone out here without her.”

  His son put his hand up to his dad’s shoulder and said, “Dad, is there any way for Mary and me to stay on this ship with you and not be upgraded? There’s a lot we could do around here.”

  That thought had crossed Mike’s mind before. He had discussed it with Jo and Bambi and they had come to the same conclusion.

  He told Wayne, “Son, I’m going to have Bambi explain it to you.”

  Bambi, be gentle with my son.

  Of course sir. Under these circumstances, I would be gentle with anyone.

  She began, “Wayne, if I may call you that.”

  He responded, “Sure, go right ahead.”

  “Good. You father and I just had a brief discussion, between our two minds. It took fifteen nanoseconds. In space, things happen very slowly, or extremely quickly. Not being in the loop of communication could cost lives and I mean all the lives on this ship.

  “So much info is available to you, right this second. Go on ask me anything, perhaps something about flying your fighter, which is a piece of crap, by the way.”

  “Hey, the F-18 is a great plane. When I’m flying in it, it’s like I am the plane.”

  Bambi kept her voice calm and professional, as she told him, “Wayne, once you’re upgraded, you WOULD be the plane. I can place sensors on the skin of it and you would feel every tiny nuance, as it plowed through the air. You wouldn’t have to be told by a computer that you were being scanned and locked onto by enemy radar, you would feel it five seconds before the computer could tell you. Would that five seconds make a difference?”

  “Hell yes.”

  “And what if you could also feel the frequency of that radar and the precise strength of it and the exact location of the device and the exact amount of time until the missile could be fired at you and how long you had to take the appropriate action to survive…all of that, in less than 1/100th of a second. And in the next 1/100th of that same second, you sent out a warning to the planes in your fight, sending them all that same info.

  “If every pilot has been upgraded, all that info would be analyzed in your mind, as well as thousands of other bits and pieces of new data that changed every second. And at the same time, you are keeping up with the bigger picture around you for a thousand miles, every detail, including what’s happening beneath the sea, on the ground, in the air and in space. Every piece of that information is comprehended and analyzed by your new, incredibly fast mind, in mere seconds.

  “On board the Mother Ship, when meals are about to be served, the crew will be pinged that it is time to eat. They will use their brains to comm me, telling me what they want to eat. In other words, each meal will be individually prepared for each warrior and that process will take less then a second for me to survey the entire crew.

  “For those who have not been upgraded, I would need to make a verbal announcement and they would need to tell me individually what they wanted to eat. Imagine if we had two or three hundred non-upgrades on board. Then consider how we would need to handle communications with those men, in a combat environment.”

  Wayne held up his hands, pleading, “OK, OK, I get it. If I opt to stay on board, I need to be upgraded and so would Mary.”

  Mike and Jo began to chat with Wayne, answering his questions and letting him set the pace, at which he would grow into the idea of being upgraded.

  When the time came and Mary was back in her husband’s embrace, Wayne began to explain the situation to her. He had insisted on talking with her alone at first. Once he reached the point where he could bring in Mike, she began to cry. Mary hadn’t seen Mike since Sherry had passed away and it was a shock to find her father-in-law was now twenty-five years old and six inches taller.

  She listened patiently and asked very intelligent questions, some of which could only be answered by Bambi. Mary was an engineer and her acumen and scientific queries led to several insightful possibilities. Max and Jo were finally brought in and she gazed at Jo in wonder, before launching a series of question at him, about life in outer space.

  Wayne insisted on allowing her to take as much time as she wanted to make a decision. It didn’t take long. Her thoughts were similar to Al Benson’s. If she couldn’t remain as the woman she had been, she would stay out here with her husband and contribute to the small but growing staff of the new Terran Space Navy.

  “Right now, I only have two questions. Can I still have children, because I would love that? Also, what’s my rank? I have a master’s degree and I’m working on my doctorate, so I would like to be more than some damn shave tail Lieutenant.”

  Mike kicked the first question to Bambi, who told her. “Mrs. Hurst, you are able to produce children. But you must realize the gestation period will not be a normal human cycle.”

  Mary looked quite worried, as she asked, “Well how long will it be?”

  “I think about four months. You can choose the gender and a variety of features like hair color, skin color, height and eye color. It won’t be as painful as a human standard birth, because I can help you by showing you how to adjust the nanites to handle your discomfort. The baby will be born upgraded. He or she will not be like a standard human infant. Growth will be a lot faster. Full physical maturity will probably be reached in ten to twelve years. As for mental maturity, I can’t be sure. I think perhaps fundamental thinking acuity would be reached at four to six years. All of this is speculation on my part, based on my genetic knowledge of humans and my knowledge of alien reproductive patterns.”

  “Good grief, Bambi. If you’re correct, I’ll be missing out on my child’s cutest years. Humans need time to bring along their offspring at a slower Pace.”

  Bambi took exception to Mary’s concern.

  “Mary, you will be able to transmit directly into your child’s thoughts. Everything you do with him, or her, will be at the new speed. I believe you’ll find that because both of you have that ability, you won�
�t miss out on anything. It will just happen quicker than it does for standard humans.”

  The second question, about rank, was thrown to Max. “Mary, I consider us damn lucky to have such a well qualified engineer join us. If I were recruiting new tech people, and of course I am, I would start you at the rank of first Lieutenant and wave length of service requirements for promotion to Captain. We can play that by ear.”

  Displaying shocking bravado, she said, “Lieutenant my ass. I’m the only damn engineer you have and I’ll be helping you to obtain others. I am the foundation of Space Navy engineering. You’ll start me at Major and that’s that. From that point forward, I expect regular reviews and promotions, based on performance. If I’m not doing the job, then fire me. Those are my terms and I won’t budge an inch on that.”

  General Kolbe was thrown off kilter, by her strong response. Before he could say another word, she added, “Oh, and I expect my husband to be brought in as a full bird Colonel. At the moment, he’s the only qualified fighter pilot you’ve got.”

  Kolbe angrily said, “He never asked for that.”

  Mary shot right back, “Well, he’s a dumb ass and I’m not.”

  Kolbe looked at Mike. Who was fighting hard not to crack up. “I gave you the job, General Kolbe; so it’s your call.”

  Kolbe gave Mary a hard glare and warned, “All right, Major Hurst, I’ll grant you your demands. But if you ever try that bullshit on me again, I’ll have you thrown into outer space.”

  She grinned and hugged the old man, saying, “Thank you General. You won’t be sorry. I’m very good at what I do. By the way, how much does a Major make?”

  Mike answered. “There’s another thing we have to figure out. We’ll have men at different levels of ability, even with upgrading. They will expect to be paid on a fair basis. But how should we determine a currency and where will they be able to spend it?”

  Bambi kicked in, “Gold of course, or gold credits. Come to thing of it, we can use gold and a variety of precious metals to buy our way into the hearts of the world leaders. The asteroid belt is loaded with the stuff. This ship comes with the ability to replenish its own resources, by mining asteroids. We have several very large robots for just that purpose.

  “So, we issue credit cards to the men and I’ll keep track of the accounts. That’s very similar to the Sauran method, with which I’m familiar.

  “And speaking of gold, we’re going to need a bunch of it. For now, the best ion bolts we can shoot will be made of compressed ionized gold. It’s very dense and it’s the perfect metal for use in the ion weapons. Once we have a good supply of that, we’ll convert to one of the rare exotics. That could take a lot of time to accumulate and we don’t really know how difficult the exotics will be to find and process.”

  Mary said, “Bambi, I’d like to have a chat with you about weapons, what they are and how they work. Range and accuracy, as well as any info you can give me on what the enemy could bring against us.”

  “Sure, I’ll be glad to. But, the Saurans don’t allow transports to have that info. I can speculate, but I can’t offer much more than that. As for what we have to shoot…not much.”

  “Tell me what you have, and then we’ll chat about possibilities.”

  Wayne had entered at the end of the discussion and loudly announced, “NO. Before either of us do any more work, we’re going to go through the upgrade.”

  “Yes dear. As always, the man knows the best direction for his little lady to take. Thanks for reminding me how wise and wonderful you are.”

  Mike mumbled to himself, “Oh dear, sometimes she’s just like Sherry.”

  So, four humans went into the upgrade program. Mike and Jo held their hands and did the best they could to comfort them in their aguish. Fortunately, Bambi was learning the finer intricacies of the human genome and was able to distribute the worst of the process in rapid cycles. However, pain was unavoidable and each one of the four suffered a great deal.

  Wayne had the easiest time of it. Bambi said that was because he was basically in the best shape at the beginning. The General had a rough time at first, but seemed to endure the agony much better after a few days.

  Mary had a bad time of it and Bambi felt it was because she hadn’t fully recovered from her severally burned body.

  Poor Al Benson had the worst of it. The old soldier had been a drug addict for years. Curing him of his infirmities had been somewhat of a guessing game for Bambi. She felt badly that he hadn’t been better prepared for the upgrade process. She assured everyone that she was learning a lot more about human reaction to her methods and that the next humans would have an easier time of it.

  By the time the last of them had been released from sickbay, Mike and Jo were exhausted. He told Wayne and Max, “Gentlemen, the next time we upgrade someone, you guys get to hold their hands.”

  Kolbe looked at him and said, “I’ll do it, Mike. But, I think it’s important that we put a little more emphasis on how painful it is, and how wonderful it is, once it’s over. I don’t believe in sugar coating it. These guys have to know what they’re up against.”

  Mary was listening to the conversation and she added, “We have to think about women, too. There’s going to be some good female candidates, with good records in the military, which can be a huge help out here. Also, many of our best candidates will have wives and girl friends. If we want to keep them happy, we’re going to have to offer the ladies upgrades too.”

  Mike told her, “Yes, I agree. The guys and I were kicking that around and as long as the women agree to do something that benefits the Terran Space Navy, then we’ll take them on. Otherwise, we don’t need them and if that cost us a good man, then so be it. Bambi can give any person who has been upgraded a knowledge base that exceeds any knowledge we could find on Earth. The new upgrades will have to practice with their new info, but with quicker minds and more strength, they should come along fast.”

  Bambi had been working with Mike to develop a staff conference room that would accommodate all of them. The table was only slightly lower than the one used by the Saurans, because the upgraded humans were all a little taller now. The chairs were also height adjustable, which helped Mary, who was still shorter than the rest of them. Coffee and tea were ever present and the food processor had been able to replicate nearly all the items Mike had brought back. Still, there was a growing list of foods that Bambi maintained for retrieval on their next trip to Earth.

  For the next week, many different possibilities were discussed, some sounded great and some were discarded as unworkable. There was hope and disappointment. After Bambi analyzed an idea that could be expanded upon, she explained how it could be done. Disappointment came more often, when she would tell them something they had suggested couldn’t be done or wasn’t feasible. She demonstrated an amazing understanding of humans and of Earth politics.

  At one meeting, when Mary asked her how she was able to learn about humans so quickly, Bambi explained, “Ever since we left the Earth, I’ve maintained a constant watch through the Internet. I’m usually researching four or five thousand subjects at a time. So, with every second, I get smarter.”

  “That’s wonderful,” Mary gushed. “How can I do that?”

  “Open up your head, so I can ping the appropriate marker on your MCP.”

  Bambi’s comment drew a lot of laughter from the others. The term “Open up your head” quickly became “Pop your Top” and was used as the short method of requesting a deep intrusion from Bambi, in order to make thinking process adjustments, which saved weeks of practice. Popping the Top was a combination of teaching a human the fastest way to think about using certain abilities and training their mind muscles how to be utilized in the proper way.

  Only Mike and Jo knew that Bambi could go into someone’s mind any time she wished. He was convinced that Bambi would never intrude into someone’s mind, unless they requested it first. She was fierc
ely protective of that concept, because, as she said, it was tantamount to mental molestation and slavery. They agreed it was best if people thought they had complete security of their private thoughts.

  Mike called a meeting, which he titled, “The Big One.”

  “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to return to Earth. We have all contributed our ideas about recruiting the largest number of warriors possible. Bambi has the fabricators making as many upgrade med units as possible. By the time we return, we should have more than one hundred of them and possibly as many as two hundred.”

  Al whistled softly, as others looked surprised.

  Mike nodded and explained, “The speed, with which Bambi was able to have them made was due to a lack of other projects. She assures me that once we have a full crew to man the Mother Ship, the fabricators will be kept busy on many other projects.

  “I will make the final decision, regarding which ideas we pursue. No one else will have to bear the responsibility of screwing it up but me. The ideas you have each submitted have been excellent and widely varied. I’ve narrowed them down to four methods of acquiring warriors and each of you will be managing one of them.

  “Al, the first is your idea. You will be going after wounded vets in a retirement center. You will hold a veteran’s appreciation celebration, in a separate pavilion, and it will be for the residents only. A fire will occur and there will be lots of smoke. All the vets will pass out and that’s your chance to begin loading them into the large shuttle. Once that’s done, you will start the real fire, which will burn up the entire pavilion. It will be listed as a horrible tragedy. Only later will it come to light that no bodies were recovered. It will be a mystery that is never solved.”

  Turning to Mary, he explained, “You, my dear sweet daughter-in-law, will head to a meeting of retired physicists, which is held annually at Stanford University. You will identify the key people we are after and invite them to a private breakfast seminar to be held the following morning. You’ll tell them it’s being sponsored by DARPA and is about a classified project of the greatest importance to the human race. Those people will be stunned and carried off in a small shuttle. If we have good attendance, we should be picking up fifteen or twenty top level people.”

  She nodded. It had been her idea for the ruthless plan. They would bring in the best of the old retired scientists. She felt certain that most of them would not have a problem with the offer of continued life as a younger person. And who could refuse to aid in the preservation of the human race.

  Mike and Wayne had been quite shocked by her idea. Kidnapping sweet old scientists just didn’t seem like something she would want to be involved with, let alone suggest and plan.

  She told them, “If the human race is destroyed, what good are the lives of these people. I suspect they will be happy and proud to join.”

  Mike kept the meeting moving along. “Wayne, you have the second toughest job, recruiting pilots. Unlike many retired military types, old aviators don’t settle near air bases or collect in one spot. However, we have sent certain select old pros a discrete invitation to an air show, in west Texas. They think they’ll be seeing one of the top-secret aircraft in development, for the purpose of getting their input. As you pointed out, it’s inconceivable that a pilot could turn down such an opportunity. Obviously, we gas them and carry them away. But the shuttle will still put on a show, before we grab them. I wouldn’t want to deny them the chance to see the real thing. At least we won’t have lied to them about that.

  “As for Max and me, we will be attending a top-secret meeting with the President. He’s going to be at Camp David and he thinks we’ll be agents of the DIA who have a special report to make, regarding the Chinese Military. Bambi will have the job of neutralizing his security before we bring in Jo. Then, we’ll make our pitch and see how he deals with it.”

  Wayne interrupted, “How are you going to arrange a meeting with the President?”

  “We can use Bambi for that. She’s been monitoring audio, text and e-mail correspondence between the White House and various departments and agencies. It seems that the chief of staff, John Oldfield, has a close relationship with the Director of the DIA. Both were Marines.

  “Once we’re close enough to the Earth for immediate communication, Bambi will send her voice through the beacon we left behind, call up Oldfield and imitate the Directors voice. She’ll bring up a few items from their last discussion, making her believable.

  “When she tells the man that something serious is up with North Korea and that the President should be made aware of the specific threat to the US, the guy won’t refuse. When Oldfield says he wants to know what it is all about. Bambi will inform him it is extremely hush-hush and the situation is still in development. She’ll assure the chief of staff that in a day or so two special agents will arrive at Camp David to meet with the President and explain the nature of this threat. Mr. Oldfield should agree to give them ten minutes with the President. That’s all we’ll need to get in.”

  Wayne mumbled, “That’s amazing and so frighteningly easy.”

  Hey, it isn’t easy. I had to review three years’ worth of conversations and that was after hacking into the communication system. There are several different data challenges and encryptions I had to crack, before I could emulate the appropriate responses required, without leaving a trail. When I start speaking to the White House receptionist, I’ll have to undergo a voice analysis, before their computers let me in. It’s going to take me over forty seconds to do all that. So, don’t say it’s easy.

  Contritely Wayne said, “Sorry.”

  Mary brought up an ugly possibility. “Do you think anyone will be harmed in any of these operations?”

  “Yes, I do. In the short period of time we’ve had to plan these events, I feel that the arrangements are as solid as we can make them. Unfortunately, I’m sure we’ve overlooked something. Nothing ever goes as smooth as you wish. It isn’t our intention to do anyone any harm, but I charge each one of you with this thought. Right now, Bambi, and the five of us are all that stands between the Earth and the Sauran Empire. If we fail here, humanity has no chance against those guys.

  “We need every one of you. So, if the shit hits the fan and you are threatened, stun if you must and kill if it is the only way to escape. It’s cruel, but it could be the only option you have. So please choose to survive for all of humanity, by killing a few humans, if necessary.”

  Wayne mumbled, “Damn that’s cold.”

  Mike angrily scolded his son. “Yes, it is. But it’s a damn sight better than the genocide of the entire human race.”

  Embarrassed, Wayne said, “I know. Don’t worry, I’ll do my job.”

  “I know you will, son. I’ve got a feeling that before this is over; we’re all going to have to do some very unpleasant things. But, the Earth is counting on us, even though they don’t know it, yet.”

  Bambi had the large shuttle loaded with portable med units, supplies for Jo and the four humans, food for the expected recruits, plus a half-ton of gold, which was in a storage space in one of the small shuttles. There were two more tons of it; but Mike felt it would be wise to hold onto the rest for now. Once they had a deal in place and the initial group of warriors were onboard, they could begin delivering on the promise of more wealth to the nations that would work with them.

  Wayne wanted to fly the small shuttle, once they arrived on Earth, but Mike denied his request. “Don’t worry, Wayne, you’ll be flying soon enough. For the moment, let’s concentrate on securing more pilots. Bambi can give you the info on flying them and their handling characteristics, on the way down and back up. She did it for Jo and me. It works great.

  “With her help, you’ll be able to run a flight simulator in your head. It feels like your flying, because she provides the sense that you’re actually moving in space and she gives you various images to view, just like the real thing.”


  Wayne blurted out, “Really Bambi, you can do that?”

  Yes, I can. But, you have to allow me to use the pop-top method to access all of your senses.

  Would I be giving you my thoughts as well?

  Privately she told him; You would be an open book, while I danced around inside your mind. But that’s not what I would be there for, so I wouldn’t do that. I have better things to do.

  There was silence in Wayne’s brain, and then Bambi said, I’ve already been inside of your head, Wayne. I had to do it, in order to help you make it through the upgrade. I know about the close call you had, when that missile damn near blew your ass off. And I know how terrified you were and you thought for sure you were going to die. But, two days later, you were right back up there, even though you were scared to death. No one knows but me. I’m not going to tell a soul, although it might be helpful if you talked about it with your wife some day.

  Sheepishly he commed, Yeah, I know. I will, Bambi. Thanks for the pick me up.

  No problem. You know, you’re not the only person I’ve had to pick up. One of the things I like about humans is their emotional frailty. The fact that they feel fear, or have guilt, when they misbehave is a good thing to me. Despite those factors, they continue to get the job done.

  I saw inside a few Sauran minds and I can tell you they have a fear that is very deep and they never let it out. And they damn sure don’t ever feel guilt. They are cold-blooded bastards.

  Al Benson was the worst of the PTSD cases on board. Mike wasn’t aware of it, but the guy had seen the elephant a few times, before Iraq, and it scared the hell out of him. Seeing men you knew killed or wounded was difficult for a lot of soldiers to handle. But, with Al, it had triggered his past, when an uncle had molested him for four years. The only thing that stopped it from continuing was that his uncle was killed in a bar fight.

  Bambi had read over two hundred books on child molestation and several books on PTSD. She realized that many of the wounded men they were recruiting would need counseling, once they had been through the upgrade. Just because their bodies had been repaired and enhanced, didn’t mean they were whole. Their souls had been injured as well as their bodies and they would need nurturing, before the warriors were complete humans again, albeit upgraded ones.

  Max had his own set of issues, which went back to his earliest days of combat. Young soldiers have no idea what a true warrior like Max had gone through, to survive and become a General. The man had seen his share of broken and twisted friends lying on the battlefield. But he had faired well, in dealing with it.

  When she mentioned that to him, he told her, “I don’t know why, but some people are better at handling reality and grief than others. I’ve been lucky to be able to distance myself from the grief and deal with the immediate situation. The decisions I made usually saved lives and I felt pretty good about that.”

  Mary had surprised Bambi. Her love for Wayne was powerful and her fear of losing him was too. She acted as though she had it under control, but there was an underlying terror, whenever she thought of Wayne going into combat.

  After the upgrade, Bambi brought it up with her and Mary talked about it, saying, “I haven’t had anyone to talk to about this since he made squadron commander. All the other wives looked to me for support. So, I had to suck it up and soldier on, like a good Marine commander’s wife. But, every time his plane left the flight deck I knew he was in danger. Hell, every landing is a controlled crash, as they say.”

  They talked frequently and Mary made Bambi promise to remain quiet about her fears. Bambi promised, but only if Mary would promise to talk about her fears with Wayne and to listen to his fears. Mary was very perceptive and she gasped, when Bambi said it that way.

  “Oh my God, I’ve been so selfish. I should have known he had plenty of things to fear. What are they, Bambi? If I know, I can get him to talk about them.”

  Bambi commed, I won’t do that, Mary. I must maintain my integrity with everyone. In this regard, I’m like a Catholic Priest. I have heard his confession and I am bound to remain silent and keep it between the two of us.

  So, the small band of warriors spent the next few days winding their way to Earth. Bambi sent a few of the huge, self-propelled mining robots out to find precious metals, in the asteroid field. She assured Mike that they would not be sending any signal, until she pinged them, upon their return. So, there was no reason to worry about triggering a Sauran beacon. In the mean time, the robots would identify those bodies that had the various resources they needed.

  Everyone practiced on their comming ability. It was Mary who asked about transmission range.

  Bambi explained, On the Mother Ship, we will always have comm inside and out to about two hundred kilometers, without the use of a repeater. With a repeater, you can be thousands of kilometers away, but you’d risk revealing your location. Comm between upgrades is approximately thirty kilometers. But, we will have the benefit of boosted comm transmissions through the shuttles.

  I’ve brought along a few tiny satellites, which we’ll place near existing ones to hide their presence. Once they’re in orbit, we’ll have comm over the entire planet and be able to comm each other, no matter where we are on Earth, because the satellites are designed to pick up and enhance comm. I don’t think it would be a good idea to mention that to the President, not at first, anyway.

  The best comm will take place when there is line of sight availability. We can tight beam anything we want and no one could intercept the comm. Most of the time, there could be some detectable radiation, although it’s of a type your people haven’t considered as practical, just yet. Your military might be able to find it, but I doubt it. If they do, they would probably dismiss it as random wave propagation, due to some gravatic anomaly. The various broadcasts coming from your planet are quite heavy and contribute to the confusion.

  Comm trans can’t be altered, but it can be jammed, if the enemy knows what he’s doing, and the Saurans do. The ship and shuttle are partially shielded against it. But if you’re caught out away from the surface of the ship, or on a planet, it is possible to have the signal blocked by a jammer.

  Mary said, “Bambi, you give such precise answers to my questions. I love that about you.”

  Bambi sweetly responded, “Thank you, Major Hurst.”

  After several hours of discussion about scientific realities, Bambi and Mary were developing a warm relationship, which pleased Mike.

  He gave last minute instructions. “We all think at lighting speeds now and can process events far faster than ever before. So, I want everyone to stay in constant touch with Bambi. She will monitor each of us and if there is an event that jeopardizes one of us, the others will be notified by her. It will be important to ignore that problem, as you continue with your own mission.

  “The only reason I want you all to be in the loop is that I might need to send you somewhere else and it will save precious seconds if you are already aware of the circumstances. Just lock the reports away in a separate mental compartment and don’t let them interfere with what you’re doing. If you are needed for a rescue mission, you will be commed by me immediately. You people are too valuable to lose.”

  He looked over his little group of warriors and asked, “Are there any questions?”

  Silence. They had hashed out every scenario they could think of and they were as ready as they could be. Al was already in the large shuttle and would be the first to begin his assignment.

  Hey guys, I just had a ping from one of the passive outer beacons I placed. There’s a Sauran Transport, passing by and he’s pinged our ship. I sent a comm back to it; using the standard Sauran security code indicating everything is OK.

  They pinged back that they wouldn’t be stopping, but that an important shipment was going to be stopping by, in thirteen months. It would consist of a transport that’s twice our size and two escorts. You can think of them as corvettes.
They are fast and heavily armed for their size.

  This small convoy must be important, because Saurans don’t send an escorted transport through a safe zone and we are considered a safe zone.

  That’s all I got for you. But one thing for sure, when they arrive, they’ll want our Senior Pilot to pay his respects by visiting their ship. That is common practice for the Saurans. It is a chance for both of them to exchange information on what they’ve heard about other parts of the galaxy. That visit is going to be hard for us to do, because Jo fried our Senior Pilot’s brain.

  With the Commanding officer’s permission, I’m going to have four more beacons sent much farther out. They’ll monitor the area around the four most likely places for the convoy to unfold. When they do, the beacon will send a tight beam to the next series of beacons, and then to the Mother Ship. We’ll have better notification that way.

  Mike asked, “What do you mean by unfold?”

  It’s a space thing. The details are complicated and I feel it’s best if I explain later, when we’re not about to assault your planet. If we live through this, I’ll tell ya, OK?

  “OK.”

  Chapter 15