First Strike (Hammer's War Book 3)

by James McEwan

  “Thank you Mr. Hammer, that was extremely compelling. However, you failed to explain how the moon amazingly exploded, neutralizing the Dreenoi threat,” Drake said as he leaned forward.

  “I’m not sure how I failed to explain something that I’ve no knowledge about. I would suggest you check with Captain Wesson as he and the Damicles where there in the thick of the fight. Maybe you had some new secret weapons technology that needed testing,” Thad threw back at him. He knew full well that they had no such weapon, but he needed to get Drake off that track of inquiry.

  Though Conall didn’t know how Nome exploded, he seemed to see what Thad was up to and joined in, “You don’t have that kind of a weapon, or do you Sky Marshal? I mean to have that kind of power without the approval of all the governments would be a clear violation of the Federation Charter.”

  Drake had to give credit to Mr. Hammer. He had effectively turned the tables on him and put him in the hot seat, a place he didn’t want to be in, “Of course we don’t have that kind of capability. No one has as far as I am aware. It seems that the destruction of Nome will have to remain a mystery.”

  Conall was not going to let him out of it that easily as he had a feeling Drake had something to do with the attempts on his life, “Are you sure Sky Marshal? I seem to recall a secret illegal assassination program that was recently tied to your military organization.”

  Thad thought it was like watching two battle ships squaring off and Conall had just sent a shot across Drake’s bow.

  “You all know that the program the Emperor is referring to was linked to a former general of mine and that his organization was operating without commands, knowledge, or support,” Drake barked back, trying his best to remain calm.

  “Oh isn’t that convenient! You can’t keep that line of bull up forever Drake,” Conall answered back, not noticing he was losing his own temper.

  “And just what do you mean by that?” Drake demanded.

  “I know you were behind that program just like I know you’re the one behind the attempts on my life!” Conall fired back, near yelling.

  The President of the Federation, an older man from the Endeavor Colony on Mars, stood up, “Gentlemen please this is not the time or place for accusations. We are here to discuss whether there is a new threat in the galaxy, not deal with past indiscretions.”

  “Indiscretions? Damn it man! Attempts on my life are not indiscretions,” Conall now turned his anger toward the president.

  It was then that things went from bad to worse and the bickering and yelling began in earnest. All the parties seemed to think that now was the time to vent their complaints about one another. Thad just wanted out. He didn’t want anything to do with any of this as his only desire was to find a place as far away from people like those currently around him, and live out his life quietly with his wives and daughter.

  Things in the room were close to getting fully out of control when Amanda decided to take charge before someone threw a punch. She let lose a long high-pitched whistle and the room came to a barely contained hush. “Excuse me! I think it might be a good time to take a much needed break.” At last something that everyone could agree on, and so they broke for lunch.

  As people were filing out of the room Thad approached his mother, “You know you can whistle really loud.”

  She smiled at the compliment, “I wasn’t always an Admiral you know. I spent a number of years at the Officers Candidate School, molding the next generation of officers.”

  “I can see how that would be a useful skill,” Thad said.

  “It’s come in handy over the years. Now, do you have plans for lunch yet?” She asked him.

  “Would it matter if I did?” He replied.

  “No not really. You and I have been asked to join Conall for lunch.”

  “In that case lead on Admiral,” Thad said as he made a gesture with his arm.

  Chapter 13

  Sky Marshal Drake was in a rotten mood when he returned to his office. He stormed in yelling at his assistant as he went. His assistant, Commander Julie Penrose, was a dark haired plain looking middle age woman in the middle of her carrier. She had just been posted to the postion a month prior when his last assistant had been reassigned to a remote listing post after she had made allegations against Drake. She hated it when he was in these kinds of moods. Sky Marshal Drake was a hard man to work for. At times, he was generous and kind, but at others he was a monster, yelling and screaming. She had heard plenty of stories about him, none encouraging. He really liked having female staff, but for the staff there were only two possible outcomes of the job, promotion or career ending assignments like listing posts. Luckily, she had yet to find out what was required of her to get a promotion.

  “Julie, I’ll have lunch in today. I also need everything you can find on a Mr. Thaddeus Hammer and I want it yesterday, got it?” Drake yelled from his office.

  “Yes sir, I’m on it,” She replied. She then turned to the screen on her desk, “Heimdall, I need all information available on Mr. Thaddeus Hammer.”

  Most A.I. choose their own image. Since Heimdall had been named after the watcher of the nine realms, he had chosen to appear as a pair of eyes. The rest of his image was obscured by a slivery mist. “Yes Commander, right away. Is there anything else I can do for you this afternoon?”

  “Yes, please put in the usual lunch order, and Heimdall please make sure they include chocolate covered cherries.” Julie had learned from the last assistant that chocolate covered cherries seemed to calm him down somewhat when he was in one of his particularly foul moods. She liked to theorize that the cherries, a natural laxative helped him to relax his unbelievably tight sphincter.

  Meanwhile Thad’s lunch with the Emperor went very well. They discussed the meeting as well as well as other issues. After lunch, Thad was lucky enough to be excused from the afternoon meeting, so he returned to the waiting limo. When asked where he wanted to go he contacted the twins and made plans to meet for an afternoon baseball game. Many trends came and went throughout history. Yet, baseball stayed through the ages. When the peoples of Earth branched out into space, the game came with them. Of course at one time the game had been referred to as America’s pastime. Now it was known as the Federation’s pastime. Teams from all over the universe played in two major leagues. Today the home team, the Rep Com “Capitalists”, was playing the Mars Colonist “Martians”. Thad had never really been a sports fan, but he always treasured one happy childhood memory. During a rare trip, Thorne had taken all the children to Isis, most likely for some sort of inspection. However, as part of the trip they were all taken to a baseball game. He could still remember the smell of popcorn and peanuts, the taste of the hotdogs and the sweet root beer. It was the only fun he had ever had as a kid, and he wanted to share that one memory with Ruby.

  Ruby was excited even though she knew nothing about baseball. She didn’t care as long as she was with family, her own family. At first it was really hard to block out all the minds, but a few minutes into the game she was so interested in the game she forgot about the rest of the minds all chattering away. She was transfixed on the batter. His mind was almost empty and he was totally calm. She found it amazing that the players only thought was when to swing.

  As the game went on Freya and Fiona lost interest in the game, but seemed to enjoy the heckling of the opposing team. They were really getting into to it. Freya would start a chant and Fiona would finish it. Thad simply enjoyed watching them all having fun, something he had not done in a long time.

  They had chosen to support the home team and it turned out to be a good choice as they won the game five runs to two. After the game they enjoyed a light dinner at a lovely open-air cafe near the ballpark. It had been a long full day, and little Ruby was completely worn out. As the group rode the lift up to the Penthouse, Thad held Ruby against his shoulder, feeling her grow ever heavier as she fell asleep in his arms, her body going limp against him.

  Once home Thad put R
uby to bed and then came out to the front room to find his mother just arriving home, “So how was the rest of the meeting?”

  “Strangly short. I mean they came back from lunch and I’m pretty sure the Federation President was drunk,” She said as she slipped off her shoes.

  “Oh really,” Thad said finding himself strangely interested.

  “Yeah, I’ve heard of his legendary ability to drink, but I’d not seen it until today. But that was just a side note. They came back and decided that the attack on Nome was an isolated incident which didn’t constitute a threat.”

  “What about the information about the Ralnai and the Vastep Nefamii,” Thad asked in shock.

  She unbuttoned her dress coat and slipped out of it, laying it down over the back of a couch, and sat down just as Charles entered the room holding a glass on a sliver tray. She took the glass, “Thank you Charles.”

  “You’re welcome mum. Sorry Master Hammer, I am not programmed with your nightly drink preferences. May I get you anything?”

  “No, thank you Charles,” Thad said as he sat on the couch opposite his mother.

  “Very good, sir. Anything else mum?”

  “No Charles that will be all. I could use a hot bath and a massage later on though,” Amanda said as she took a sip from her glass.

  Thad blushed, a little. “What?” She said, noticing the redness in his cheeks.

  “I didn’t say a word,” Thad said.

  “Anyway, they felt that the information was interesting, but nothing to worry about,” Amanda said as she took another sip from the glass.

  “Let me guess, Drake led them to that conclusion,” Thad said as he leaned back, stretching his arms out and placing them on the back of the couch.

  “I hate to say it, but Drake is up to his eyeballs in all of this. Whatever all of this is. I just wish I could prove it,” Amanda said as she swirled the last of her drink around the bottom of the glass.

  “I have…,” he paused as he almost gave Eve away, “my sources on it and so far the only thing they’ve come up with is that someone is scrubbing data from the Federation’s system.”

  “I bet anything it’s Drake. He’s the only one with the power to order Heimdall to do it, and Heimdall is the only one that could,” Amanda said as she finished off her drink.

  “Heimdall the A.I.?” Thad asked.

  “Exactly. Heimdall controls all of the military system A.I.s and he could easily have wiped anything from any of the computers. I know what you’re thinking and I already checked on who gave the order to activate the fleet location system.”

  Thad finished for her, “Let me guess, no record of the order?”

  “Precisely, and the only human that could verify who gave the order is either far too smart or far too scared to start talking now; especially given the fact that the last person in that position is now on the outer edge of the universe supervising a listing post, effectively ending their career. As much as we in command hate to admit it there are certain duty assignments that are used as punishment or just to get rid of someone who you don’t have any other way to drum out.”

  “That sounds awful,” Fiona said as she entered the room. Thad was floored by her transformation. She was wearing all white, thigh high boots, stockings, a short skirt, corset with a high collar, and long gloves. All of the seams glowed with a soft blue light. Her clothing was not what had shocked Thad however; it was her hair and make-up. She had covered her red hair with a shoulder length blue wig that was straight, and cut to frame her face. She had painted her face a pale white with blue around her eyes and a glittery silver line down the center of her face and across her eyebrows. In addition her eyes were now a bright electric blue. “Wow,” Thad said.

  Freya entered the room dressed the same, they seemed to be taking the identical twin thing to a whole new level. “Thad, you’ve got to get ready. You can’t go clubbing dressed like that.”

  “Clubbing? Who said anything about clubbing? And just what’s wrong with the way I’m dressed?” Thad asked looking at his clothing.

  “Oh Thad honey, you can’t expect us to come to Isis and not go to some of the hottest clubs in the galaxy,” Fiona said.

  “Now come along. You’ve got to get dressed right away. I’ve ordered a line holder for Club Utopia,” Freya said as she took Thad by the hands and pulled him to his feet.

  “A line holder?” he asked having never had to stand in line to get into anything before. He had always slipped in and out of places like a ghost.

  “Oh, line holders are just that, a robot service that stands in line for you and updates you on your place in line. The big one around here is Larry’s Line Bots. They’re absolutely fantastic. Normally I’d just use Archie, but he’s on nanny slash protection detail for Ruby,” Fiona explained.

  “Ah the problems of marrying younger women I guess,” Thad said with a sigh.

  “Oh it sounds just awful, going out and having fun with beautiful young women. You poor dear,” Amanda said sarcasticly.

  “I know, but it’s a cross I’m willing to bear,” Thad said, as he was drug from the room.

  Amanda smiled, stood up, and went in search of Charlie and her hot bath.

  Thad found himself in their room staring at a black leather suit with red glowing piping. “Really?” he asked almost pained.

  “Oh come on, please? You have to wear it. You’ll be the yin to our yang,” Fiona said as she batted her eyes at him.

  “You have NO idea how much I love you two,” Thad said admitting defeat, and with that they went to work. He was stripped and redressed in no time at all. During the quick change, he asked, “I don’t have to paint my face up do I?”

  “Not unless you want to,” Freya said as she grabbed her make-up bag and pulled out a lipstick, “do you?”

  Meanwhile back at StarGuard HQ, Sky Marshal Drake was still in his office, working late. However, it was not on official business. He was reading the file that had been compiled on Mr. Hammer. Most of the file contained what he recognized as back-story fill. Drake had written his fair share of cover stories in his time and he had to give it to whoever had written this one. It was good, really good. However, he spotted some problems with it. He set the file aside and picked up a glass that had been sitting on his desk. He put it to his lips and tipped it back before he realized it was empty, “When did that happen?” He asked the empty room. He reached for the bottle of vodka and poured himself another drink. It was then that his comm line beeped. He sat the glass down and opened the line. “Yes?”

  “Comm call for you sir, it’s him,” the voice said.

  Drake set down the glass, “Put it through.”

  The Image of the Dark Lord’s giant head floated just above his desk, “Status update.”

  “Everything is going according to plan my Lord, and I have good news. Thaddeus Hammer is here on Isis,” Drake replied.

  “Ah this is good news indeed. Do you have him in custody?” The Dark Lord said, his tone softening just a bit.

  “Not yet my Lord, however, I know where he is and can grab him at any time,” Drake said.

  “Good I want you to get him and hold him for me. Once I arrive, I will deal with him personally. This man has caused me more than enough problems. Drake, I will be in orbit in a few hours. Be ready.”

  “Yes my Lord,” Drake said as the communication ended. He downed the rest of his drink and then punched up another secure line and waited for the encryption again. This time an image of a man dressed in black appeared, his face obscured by a hood.

  “Yes,” was all the hooded man said.

  “I have a target for you, top priority,” Drake said.

  “Okay. Transmit the details as normal,” was his reply.

  “I need this one alive and brought to me personally,” Drake said as he transmitted the file on Thad.

  “Snatch and grab isn’t really my specialty. I’m more of a put them in the ground kind of guy.”

  “I’m aware. However, this pe
rson is special and will take someone with your skill set to bring in,” Drake poured himself another drink.

  “Mr. Thaddues Hammer,” the shadowy man said as he reviewed the file. The light from the table lit up his face just enough that one could make out basic features. His face looked as if it had been carved from stone, with harsh features and jaw line most men would kill to have. “I don’t see anything in the file that would lead me to believe you need me. So I have to ask, why me?”

  “Because almost everything in that file is a lie, and you know that man by a different name. You might remember him by simply a number,… six.”

  That got a reaction from the otherwise ice-cold killer, “I see. I thought he was dead.”

  “That’s what we were led to believe by Thorne, but it appears he has somehow survived once again,” Drake said, as he transmitted the final data to the hitman.

  “So, you want me to track him, grab him, and bring him to you, just not kill him. Is that correct?”

  “Yes, I need him alive, but in what condition? Well let’s just say he needs to be able to answer questions… beyond that...” He left his statement unfinished.

  “I see. Then consider it done,” the hitman said. The hologram disappeared and Drake poured himself one last drink.

  Chapter 14

  After much protest, which was a losing battle, Thad found himself dressed in all black with red glowing military style piping that made him look like a red stick figure when he was in the dark. Actually, he found it to be kind of cool, though he would never admit it after all the fuss he put up about having to wear it.

  All dolled up Freya, Fiona, and Thad headed out for the club. Amanda was wrapped in a long cream silk robe and was carrying a cup of hot tea back to her room, “You kids have fun, and Thad try to stay out of trouble.”

  He smiled at the thought that this must be what it was like to be a teenager going out for his first date, “Thanks mom I’ll try, no promises though.”

  Amanda stood and watched as the trio departed then returned to her room ready for that full body message.