by Tom Hart
Tony waved back to the tanned couple at the end of the pool. Everyone was so friendly here. They looked American or at least the women did. The couple picked up their drinks and walked over.
Duke stopped in front of Tony.
Sarah’s smile grew wider. She stood and the two embraced warmly.
‘I’m glad you are safe,’ Duke said to his god daughter.
‘Only thanks to you,’ Sarah said with a chuckle.
While Sarah was busy comparing engagement rings with Captain Taylor, Tony grasped Duke’s hand and shook it earnestly and with admiration.
‘Nice to finally meet you in person,’ said Tony.
Duke grinned.
‘Why don't we have a drink and my wife and I will tell you a little story. We are about to start a new business.’
Duke turned to Sarah. ‘I should mention your father is one of my business partners and he suggested you and Tony might be looking for a different kind of work now the war was over.’
Tony looked Duke over. He was just as Sarah had described. Scars on the arms and legs from at least five bullet wounds, a faded French Legionnaire's tattoo on his shoulder and a nasty scar from a knife wound to his thigh. Tony’s expert eye could tell Duke was dangerous but the man’s smile was completely disarming.
Tony decided on the spot he would never want to go up against this man.
‘What did you have in mind?’
‘Landscaping.’
Tony looked at Sarah whose expression of shock mirrored his own.
‘I’m not sure we are not the landscaping types,’ Tony answered for them.
‘I mean interplanetary landscaping, I have a ship, a set of old but trusty terra formers and a permit from Atlas Corporation to work in the Delta quadrant.’
To anyone else such a statement might have seemed unusual but Sarah's father had briefed Tony and Sarah about the Vofurions.
‘We might be interested?’ Sarah said with a grin. She turned to Tony. ‘You always said you wanted to get out of town for a while.’
*****
Duke poured the champagne and Tony called the toast. ‘To the best landscaping business in the galaxy.’
‘That might be a bit of a stretch but we can work towards that,’ said Duke with a grin.
‘Oh you don't mind if we include a special passenger on our first job do you?’ Duke asked. ‘It's a little money on the side, she's looking to travel away from here. She is a friend of your father's actually,’ he said to Sarah. Duke pointed to the bar at the water's edge.
A tall, pale, young women with bright red hair almost to her waist sat on a bar stool nursing a cocktail. She turned and waved to Duke.
Sarah noticed the women was exceptionally toned. A professional athlete, a gymnast maybe? With her pale skin and red hair Sarah decided she must be Irish.
Bria walked slowly towards them. To Sarah’s trained eye there was something unusual about the way Bria deliberately kept her fingers covered with a beach towel.
‘This is Bria,’ Duke said as he turned and poured the women a glass of champagne.
‘Nice to meet you,’ Bria said with a curious accent. Definitely not Irish, thought Sarah. It sounded like a mix of German and Russian.
‘I appreciate you agreeing to help,’ Bria said to Sarah. ‘Your father has been most kind to me, I hope to do something in return for your family once I reach my home world.’
Sarah smiled. So this was what an alien looked like. Were they all this attractive?
‘So Bria, where are you from?’ Tony asked, more as a joke than anything else. No one he knew described their home as a home world. Then again, this was the first alien he’d met.
Bria smiled. ‘Only a few hundred light years down the road. In fact I was hoping to use a man of your talents to help me deliver a package to someone.’
Bria removed a ceramic disc from her beach bag and passed it to Tony. It was heavy for its size, Tony had to use both hands to hold it. Bria seemed able to hold it in one easily enough.
‘What is it?’ Sarah asked.
‘An artefact from the Engineering Guild, it belonged to my great grandfather.’
‘I've always liked history, what is the artefact for,’ Tony joked.
Bria looked him directly in the eyes.
‘It is a pattern shift enabler.’
‘Doesn't look like much of a tool to me,’ Tony said sceptically. ‘How do you use it?’
‘It is one of the most valuable objects in the Spiral,’ Bria said matter a fact. ‘It can be used to tear a hole in the fabric of space-time.’
‘Sounds risky,’ Tony said, more seriously this time.
‘Only if you don't use it properly. You can demolish entire systems with it. It is the reason Atlas became the most successful mining corporation in this spiral.’
Sarah eyed Bria suspiciously. ‘Why do you have it, you don't seem like the mining type?’
Bria laughed. ‘It's my insurance policy Sarah.’
‘I take it a lot of people want it back,’ Tony asked with an eyebrow raised.
‘Some,’ Bria said and raised her eyebrow in return.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
ESCAPE
The restaurant was serving a seafood buffet. Bria explained she had never eaten crustaceans before coming to Earth but was now addicted. She polished off an entire lobster on her own.
They were enjoying their third cocktail when a flash appeared and in the sky to the East. Tony almost mistook it for lightning until it appeared again. No lightening was green in colour, at least in Tony's experience. ‘We need to leave now,’ Bria said.
Duke was reluctant to leave his martini. ‘Duke, it's the Shadow Weavers,’ Bria said. That was enough for Duke to get moving. He threw his martini aside. ‘Follow me everyone the ship is parked at the end of the cove.’
Tony had no idea what they were running from. ‘Who the hell are the Shadow Weavers?’ Tony yelled to Duke.
‘Bad news, real bad news. Think pirates combined with vampires.’
‘Vampires!’ Sarah yelped. She had been enjoying the resort with Tony and would have preferred not to deal with blood sucking aliens.
‘They are not vampires as you imagine them,’ Bria said gently as she jogged along.
‘They feed on a human's life force. There is no blood,’ she added.
‘You still end up dead all the same,’ Duke said.
Duke came to a halt and hurriedly removed a silver box from his pocket. He pointed it at the sand. There was a brief shimmer before a large silver cylindrical sphere appeared a few feet away. ‘My ship.’
‘It's not really your ship now is it honey,’ Shelly said playfully.
‘Well I might have borrowed it from the United States Government. They want it back but I'll take good care of it.’
The green lightening was closer this time, only a few miles. ‘Let me guess,’ Tony said as he followed Bria up a short ramp into Duke's ship. ‘They want your disc too.’
‘Unfortunately yes,’ Bria said.
‘Do I get danger pay?’ Tony asked.
Bria smiled at him. ‘I can give you this if it makes you feel better.’
She withdrew an object that looked like a pen from her jacket. She took his hand and placed the pen in it. ‘And this is?’ Tony asked.
‘A particle sword, works well on Shadow Weavers.’
Bria took the pen back and touched one end with her index finger. A long blue light shot out from the end. Tony blinked to see Bria holding a sword with shimmering purple edges.
‘Here,’ she said passing the sword to Tony. It was heavy but Tony soon found his balance and swung it back and forth. ‘So how do I use it?’
‘Just like the usual earth sword variety,’ Bria answered.
‘Looks like you have your chance now,’ said Bria as she pointed down the beach.
An unusually tall man with a beard and golden tattoos was sprinting towards them. He was fast, too fast. No man could run at that speed. Duke steppe
d in front of Tony and levelled a small silver pistol with a chunky barrel. A silver laser shot out from the barrel and struck the man in the shoulder. The man tripped then fell. He snarled and got back up. Duke's next shot hit the man in the chest and he fell but didn’t get up this time. ‘I don't think we should let them get close enough to rely on a sword. You know how ferocious they are Bria,’ Duke said seriously.
Tony watched the body in the sand begin to twitch before the man stood and growled at them. It was an awful growl, high pitched like a wolf. Tony felt a chill down his spine. Shapes began to emerge from the water, more bearded men, hundreds of them. Duke pushed a yellow button next to Tony's elbow and the ramp retracted rapidly before slamming shut. ‘Get us out of here Jenny!’ he yelled. ‘Affirmative,’ a gentle female voice answered. Tony whirled around.
‘That's Jenny,’ Shelly said. ‘She's the ships AI.’
‘Welcome Tony,’ Jenny said.
‘Ah, Hi,’ Tony replied.
Michael Jackson's thriller began playing from unseen speakers. ‘What the hell is that?’ Tony whirled on Duke who was standing in front of some strange looking aluminium object. It looked a lot like a bathroom sink.
‘Jenny has a strange taste in earth music. She says Michael Jackson is a musical genius, apparently it appeals to her sense of symmetry.’
‘Couldn't she play something a little more appropriate?’ Tony asked.
A country and western tune came on, something about a man who loved a girl who took his dog and ute and ran away with another man. Duke looked up from whatever he was doing. ‘Seriously Jenny?’
‘It's Tony's favourite.’
‘What?’ Tony said embarrassed. Jenny was right but how the hell did she know that about him.
‘I performed a neural scan when you entered the ship. You like country and western love songs, this is your favourite artist.’
Tony thought better about protesting to a computer capable of reading his mind. ‘Why don't you go over there and play with your new toy darling,’ Sarah said giving him an affectionate kiss on the cheek. ‘I love that you are a hopeless romantic.’
Duke swore as the console beeped at him. ‘Jenny, more power please.’
‘I am at maximum power,’ Jenny said patiently.
‘I don't feel anything,’ Tony said. It felt like they were sitting still.
‘Inertial dampeners,’ Bria said.
‘How far to the jump zone?’ Duke asked. Tony could hear the tension in his voice. ‘Ten seconds,’ Jenny replied.
The ship shuddered and Tony dropped the sword. Sarah landed on top of his back. ‘Those dampeners of yours might need a service!’ Tony said to Bria while helping Sarah to stand. The ship was jolted to the right and Tony and Sarah ended up back on the deck.
‘Are we shooting back?’ Bria asked. ‘Yes but there are five of their ships and one of us,’ Duke replied.
‘Initiating hyperspace jump,’ Jenny said calmly.
Tony felt a sensation like his ears popping and the taste of salt in his mouth.
Duke relaxed his muscles and stepped back from the console.
‘Damage?’
‘Minor damage to my stabilisers, I can repair that. My starboard laser array is destroyed and my shields are at thirteen percent but all systems remain responsive.’
‘Good girl,’ Duke said.
‘Where are we going?’ Sarah asked. ‘Can I have a tour, can't say I have been on a spaceship before.’
‘I'll show you around,’ Shelly said with a smile.
CHAPTER FIFTY
LUNAR ARRAY
General Taylor was furious. The Major in command of site security looked dreadfully uncomfortable and was sweating profusely.
‘For goodness sake Major how did he steal the ship?’
‘The sphere, I mean Hydra helped him. She shut down the security system. He just walked straight up to it and took off.’
‘Why didn't you stop him?’
‘He is a General sir, he has unrestricted access. No one thought he would steal the ship.’
General Taylor was far less concerned about the ship than he was about his daughter. Duke had taken her with him.
‘Why did he kidnap my daughter?’
‘Ah, sir, I don't think it was kidnapping, the
General and his wife left together.’
‘Wife!’ General Taylor roared.
The Major cringed.
‘They got married last week sir.’ The Major
flinched waiting for another explosion.
‘Initiate the lunar array,’ The General screamed.
‘Sir, is that a good idea, I mean, it…’
The General silenced the Major with a stare.
‘I want them back now!’
‘The array detected a Vofurion ship signature
leaving our system half an hour ago.’
General Taylor looked the Major in the eyes.
‘If that is the case Major I suspect your next posting might be to a remote weather station in the arctic.’
The Major thought it best not to tell the General he had been the best man at Duke’s wedding. ‘Is that all sir?’
‘Yes Major, get out of my sight.’
‘Yes sir.’
An hour later the Major sat alone in his quarters. He took the small communications device Duke had given him and typed in a five digit code. Duke's face appeared on the screen.
‘How did old General Taylor take the news about the wedding?’
‘Not well,’ the Major said with a grin.
‘How long before you think the plasma disrupter will be ready?’
‘Captain Marshall says another two weeks, the tests have been positive though, the plans you gave us have a couple of gaps but Marshall says they found workarounds.
‘Good,’ Duke said.
‘We will need it soon, from what Bria told me, the Shadow Weavers are the least of our problems. Atlas Corporation won't stop with selling off people for medical research. Once they do a detailed survey and work out Earth has traces of Triglesium in its core we are going to have to find a new home pretty quick.’
The Major remembered Bria telling him Triglesium was the Volfurion equivalent of gold except a billion times more valuable. Less than 200kg of the material had ever been found, and Earth had 40kg of it buried in its core.
According to Bria Triglesium was the cause of the first and basically every subsequent Vofurion civil war. No one wanted Earth caught up in a war between the Vofurion Confederacy and the Vofurion Union. Think Spanish vs. Incans Bria had told the Major. ‘And you aren't even at the level of the Incans,’ Bria added.
‘We need that disrupter,’ Duke said.
‘We will get it working, don't worry,’ the Major said to his friend.
‘Fate of the world and all that stuff,’ Duke said with a smile.
‘No pressure,’ the Major said grinning back.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
PAYBACK
The first wave of Tomahawks, all four hundred of them wiped out most of the Chinese naval forces in and around Australia. The nine aircraft carrier wings launched by the most powerful US fleet ever assembled made short work of any survivors.
The Chinese scrambled five squadrons of interceptors out of Darwin and Tindal but a squadron of F-22 Raptors on a long range sortie from Guam blotted the Chinese out of the sky. Only three Chinese fighters escaped. The F-18 Hornet escorts from the carriers finished them off.
The first US Marines started landing by hovercraft in the afternoon. They landed ten miles East of Darwin at a quiet cove who’s only resident was a rusted out lighthouse. They were joined by the advance elements of the 101st Airborne Division who endured the long flight from Hawaii aboard their US Air Force Hercules aircraft and jumped from less than a thousand feet over Darwin.
The residents of Melbourne were delighted to see a pair of US B-52 bombers fly over the city and unload their ordnance on the Chinese tank park at the industrial estate adjacent to th
e airport. The Chinese missile batteries fired but none of their missiles went anywhere near the bombers. The powerful jamming equipment in the tails of the bombers dealt with that.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Australia had just finished speaking with the leader of the opposition who was supportive of an inquiry into foreign espionage by all foreign nations, not just China. ASIO and ASIS were going to get a big funding increase and the US President had agreed to permanently base a US aircraft carrier group in Darwin and an attack submarine flotilla in Fremantle. Two squadrons of F-22 Raptors would also be rotated into RAAF Base Tindall with the former marine regiment in Darwin being expanded to an entire Marine infantry Division with a supporting armoured brigade. Tony didn't know it yet but he would be particularly excited about the addition of a Navy Seal team to the SAS base in Perth. Let that be a sign to any Asian nation who thought Australia was easy pickings.
The Deputy Prime Minister's chief adviser tapped him on the shoulder. The New Zealand ambassador is here. ‘Excellent, go and get the most expensive bottles of wine from the Parliamentary cellars. We have some celebrating to do.’
The Prime Minister of New Zealand didn't know it yet but the Deputy Prime Minister had something special planned for his New Zealand friends, the only ones who had demonstrated true loyalty to Australia and sacrificed blood to prove it.
The New Zealand Ambassador, the Honourable Mr Michael Ingram was shocked by the bear hug he received from the Deputy Prime Minister. He still hadn't fully recovered when he was told Australia was going to remove all immigration, trade and taxation barriers to New Zealand citizens and business. As far as the Deputy Prime Minister was concerned all New Zealanders were honorary Australians.
The Deputy Prime Minister's phone vibrated with the chime of a new voice message. Few people had his private number. His message service converted the message into a text. He stared at the message. He'd never heard of a Duke.
After the official ceremony to thank the New Zealand people concluded the Deputy Prime Minister had the opportunity to listen to the strange voice message. The man claimed he was a Police Inspector from the Australian Federal Police. The message made the Deputy Prime Minister pale.