Outcast

by Guerin Zand

  “Well, let’s hope they can’t detect the shuttles. If they can, we’re screwed anyways. The way I see it, we need two shuttles minimum then. I’d say to be on the safe side, we should plan on using three shuttles and their marine teams.”

  “How do you plan to use them, Guerin.”

  “Good question, Roger. With the current positioning of the targets, I’d say we send the first squad from my shuttle into the Governor’s office. Priority would be for your son, Tim, to grab Mei immediately and get her back to the ship. The rest of the squad would cover them initially, and once Mei is secured, deal with the Alacians in the room. I think a squad of marines, with the element of surprise, should be sufficient.”

  “Next, we’d send the squad from Bart’s shuttle into the main lab. They’ll have to handle the five in the main room, and possibly the other two. They might come out to join the others to protect the secondary lab. I’ll open a second portal from my shuttle into the living quarters and grab the child. I’ll take out the synthetic guarding her and try to get out fast. Hopefully, the squad in the main lab is successful and then they can breach the secondary lab and take out the other two if they remain there.”

  “What if the other two come after you and the child, Guerin?”

  “Then I will have to handle it, Katie.”

  “But you said you barely handled two of them. You could be up against three if it goes bad.”

  “I was the one surprised then. Hopefully this time it will be the other way around. Have the sensor scans been able to tell us what type of weapons the Alacians are carrying?”

  “They all appear to be carrying standard Alacian energy weapons and armor,” Cindy answered.

  “Ok. Then the marine teams need to coordinate with the Bree on their shuttles on how we deactivate their weapons. That should make our job easier. Don’t rely on it, and even if we are successful in disabling their weapons, they are not going to surrender. We can’t underestimate them.”

  “What if they’re not in these same locations, Guerin?”

  “I’m sort of hoping they’re not, Roger.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’d like to keep them under surveillance for at least another couple of days to see what the daily routine looks like. I think it would be easier if we can go in at night, while Mei and the child are asleep.”

  “How would that change your plan, Guerin.”

  “I’d have to wait for the results of our surveillance to say for sure, Roger. I’m just thinking that the true-born and his guards won’t be with Mei when she sleeps. We’d need to use more shuttles to deploy more portals and squads, but that could make securing Mei a little bit easier. The same for the child. Do the synthetics rest or need breaks to eat? Even if they eat at their locations, that would be another advantage to increase the element of surprise.”

  It was Julie’s turn to roll her eyes. “So, what you’re saying, Guerin, is you don’t have a plan currently?”

  “I do, Julie, but we need to watch their routines and refine that plan. We could go right now with the first plan I laid out. I’m hoping by watching them a few more days we can come up with a plan with less risk. Steve and I will monitor the surveillance and adjust that plan based on what we see. In two days we’ll deploy the shuttles to their positions, and we’ll brief the marines en route.”

  “How do you want to position the shuttles, Guerin.”

  “That’s another good question, Sammy. I want Roger to command the shuttle fleet. We need to be able to intercept anything launched from either the core worlds or outer moons, or even better, prevent any launches. Even if everything on Ganymede goes perfectly, we have to be ready for any reaction from either side. We have to assume word will get out that we’ve taken action against the Alacians.”

  “You haven’t said what I’ll be doing, Guerin.”

  “Steve. You’ll be coordinating the squad deployments from my shuttle. You’ll also have to be coordinating with Roger since we have to worry about the number of portals we can open. If Roger has to move a shuttle, or he has to use a portal to reroute a hostile ship or missile launch, that will affect how you can deploy the marines. Even if we have a great plan we all know we can’t depend on things all going our way. We are going to have to be able to adapt on the fly.”

  “So, your plan is to go down, murder all the Alacians, and abduct Mei and the child?”

  “I think murder is a bit harsh, Jackie. That implies we’re just doing it because we want to, and not because we have to. Did you come up with another plan you’d like to share with the rest of us?”

  “No.”

  “Do you really think I just enjoy killing? Do you think that’s why I’m doing this?”

  “To be honest, Guerin, I don’t know. It just seems your first instinct is to go down, how do you say, guns blazing?”

  “Fair enough, Jackie, but I have tried to think how we could do the same without killing anyone. We’d need a lot more shuttles to generate the number of portals we’d need. This would just make coordinating the operation exponentially more complicated, increasing the chance for something to go wrong. Trying to be nice about this just puts our teams at more risk. Unless the Collective is willing to provide us with other means we’re not aware of, this is the best plan I have.”

  Milly put her hand on my shoulder. “Ok. Let’s not start the same argument as last night, Guerin. You, Roger, Steve, and Katie can refine your plan over the next few days. The shuttles will leave for Earth in two days. Does anyone else have anything constructive to add?”

  No one said anything.

  “Is that all, Guerin?” Milly asked me directly.

  “Yes. Everyone needs to be ready to go on a moment’s notice. I know I said we would depart in two days, but if anything happens in that time we may have to react immediately. Tell that dockmaster that means we won’t be following proper shuttle protocol if we have to move fast. Steve, we should deploy your teams to their shuttles now. If we get them and their gear loaded now it will save us time if we need it.”

  “Not a problem, Guerin. The marines live to hurry up and wait.” Steve smiled.

  “All shuttle captains should coordinate with Steve to assign quarters to the marines. They’ll have to double up since quarters are limited. I plan on heading down to the Vengeance after the meeting. I’ll be staying onboard unless I’m needed on the main ship.”

  Since no one had anything else to add, we adjourned the meeting. As I stood up to leave Milly grabbed my arm and asked me to stick around. I sat back down. The room emptied, and I was left alone with Milly and Julie.

  “What is it now, Julie? I really don’t need another...”

  And then it happened. There I was in the void meeting space once again. All alone forever, and never, and not really anywhere. They obviously enjoyed doing this to me without notice since I enjoyed it so much, NOT! I did what I always did when I was nowhere forever. I started to whistle and tap my foot. Not much else to do in the void forever. Since there was no such thing as time in the void, I also think this helped my mind to deal with that fact. It was my way of giving the void the middle finger. If there was no time, then how was it I could keep a steady beat and whistle? Let’s face it, this void shit makes no sense. I try not to overthink the shit that makes no sense. Just like I try to ignore confusing things, which the void most definitely was. Suddenly the thirteen members of the Council appeared before me.

  “Mr. Zand,” called out one member of the council. I only knew Julie and Milly by name. The rest had never bothered to introduce themselves. “My name is Bob.”

  “You’re Cindy’s father?” I knew her father’s name, but I had never met him.

  “Yes.”

  “If this is about the other night, I just want to say it was all a misunderstanding. I can be a little dense sometimes and I...”

  “This is not about the other night, but perhaps we can talk about that some other time.” I hoped he was just saying that to scare me. “W
e’re here because Milly has made a request of the council on your behalf.”

  “Really? I don’t remember asking Milly to do that. It would be nice if someone would tell me what you’re talking about.”

  “You didn’t request the Council’s help with the Alacians?”

  “You mean the other night when I said something about it would be nice if you’d all get off your asses and...”

  “No.”

  “Yea, I guess that was more of a rhetorical question at the time. Well then, I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

  “You did not ask Milly for the ability to remove the Alacians without force?” Again, the woman who asked me this question was not known to me. They obviously all thought I wasn’t worthy of a formal introduction. She had the most amazing blue eyes though and I couldn’t help being drawn to them.

  “And you are?”

  “My name is Judy. Would you mind answering my question?”

  “Ok, sure. I didn’t ask her for that ability. If I remember correctly, I said if you had a problem with our using force, then you should give us the ability to remove them without force or do it yourselves.”

  “So, we’re all just wasting our time here?”

  “You know as well as I do we’re not really wasting time here. Since time doesn’t exist here, how can we be wasting it?”

  “Mr. Zand. Would it be asking too much for you to take your time with the council seriously?” I started to say something. Once again, another member of the council was addressing me for the first time. “And before you ask, my name is Angie.”

  She was a snarky one, I thought. She, of course, inserted a reference to time into her question which made no sense seeing as where we were or weren’t. Confusing me like this must make them all feel so much more superior. I ignored it.

  “Well, Angie. Would it be asking too much for the Council to actually invite me to these little meetings instead of just yanking my sad ass to wherever it is we are or aren’t? It’s not like you guys even try being the least bit considerate towards me.”

  “Oh, yes. You’d like us to treat you as an equal. Is that it?”

  “Well, to start with, it would be nice if you could all tone down the arrogance a bit. It’s not like you have to think of me as your equal, but maybe just stop going out of your way to treat me like pond scum.”

  “Guerin.” You could tell Milly didn’t like how things were going here, or not here. “This isn’t the time to be having this discussion. Perhaps...”

  “Well, when is the time to have this discussion? It’s not like the Council is going to invite me to their Christmas party. I’m not asking for much. If they want me to take them seriously, then why shouldn’t I expect the same courtesy?”

  “Fair enough, Mr. Zand.” Bob surprised me. I was kind of expecting them to continue provoking me with another arrogant response. “Right now, we’re trying to decide if giving you the knowledge you require to perform your task without violence would be a wise decision. We’d like to feel confident that you wouldn’t abuse that knowledge.”

  “Honestly, there’s nothing I can say that would give you that confidence.”

  “Maybe you could tell us how you would use this knowledge to handle the current situation. How would you change your current plans?”

  “Is that a trick question, Judy?”

  “No.”

  “Well, then tell me how I can tell you how I would use something I don’t know anything about?” That whole sentence made me dizzy. I think it was the sentence. Something had happened, and it made even less sense. I suddenly had the knowledge we had been talking about. They were really fucking with me this time. All the members of the Council were smiling at me.

  “Ok. That’s not even the slightest bit funny, and I’m not amused. You just couldn’t resist fucking with me like that, could you?”

  “Regardless,” Judy gave me a crooked grin. “Now you can answer the question.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t change the plan I detailed during this morning briefing. The only difference would be we wouldn’t kill the Alacians on sight.”

  “But you’d still kill them?”

  “No, Angie. Now I know I wouldn’t have to. I still need to send my teams down to physically remove the Alacians from Ganymede, and I’m not going to send them down there with just their dicks in their hands. I can’t say for sure, even with this knowledge, that something couldn’t go wrong and they wouldn’t need to defend themselves. We still need to secure Mei and rescue that child as well.”

  “Why are you so concerned about the child?”

  “Why aren’t you, Angie? That child is probably the only true victim in this whole mess.”

  “So, what would you do with the Alacians?”

  I know what Bob and the others wanted to hear. “We have room to put them all in stasis in the brig on the Vengeance. I’ll bring them back to the Earth ship and you can deal with them from there.”

  “Shouldn’t you deal with them? Isn’t that your responsibility?”

  “Really? It would be a lot easier just to dump them in the vacuum of space if you ask me, but I guess that’s not what you want to hear. Alright, we’ll stuff them back in their ship that’s hidden outside the system. I’ll use a portal to send them off somewhere. Not too close to their home system though. I think they deserve at least an extended stay in space to think over the error in their ways. We get to keep their shuttlecraft though. I’m sure our research teams can make use of that.”

  A part of the thinking behind my initial response was to keep the Alacian ship for study. The Council probably figured that one out. That’s why I made it a point of saying we would keep the shuttle the Alacians had used to land on Ganymede.

  “So, we have your word? You won’t simply kill them? None of your tricks either. No sending their ship into the gravity well of a star or black hole?”

  “I can’t even put them close to a star or black hole? I mean far enough away that they could escape, but still give them a good scare?”

  “Guerin?” Julie gave me that disapproving motherly look I really hated.

  “OK! I promise.” Now I just had to think of something equally as inventive. I’m sure something would come to me.

  The Council members disappeared, and I was left all alone again. This was really getting old. Now they were doing this on purpose, and I knew it. I had mentioned to them several times how much I hated being stuck wherever forever and all alone. When never finally arrived I found myself back in the conference room on the Earth ship with Julie and Milly. I gave them both a dirty look and shook my head as I stood up and left the room. They both stayed seated. I’m sure they had a good laugh once I was out of hearing range. I decided to head down to the bar for a burger and a few drinks.

  Fucking aliens!

  Chapter 13

  Go Time

  I had been staying on the Vengeance the last couple of days. It was quieter on board my shuttle. It was also a good place for Roger and the rest of our team to meet and review the latest surveillance from the sensor net. We were leaving for Ganymede on that day, so I had gone up to my quarters to pack up a few things and grab my go bag. Yes, I was still a prepper and I always had my go bag handy. I really didn’t need to pack much. The main thing was my trusty 45 pistol. I had been asked several times not to wear the pistol around on the Earth Ship. I reluctantly agreed to leave it in the residence, but I always left it out where I could get to it quickly. I liked wearing the pistol around. People tended not to give me such a hard time when I had old trusty by my side.

  I entered the residence to find my two accountants, Cheyenne and Crystal, making themselves at home at the bar. I had learned a long time ago, there was no controlling those two. They pretty much did whatever they wanted. They had adjusted to life as free women quite well for a pair of former sex slaves. They had learned how to use what they were blessed with and they used their skills when needed. See, if I got mad at them, we would somehow just end up havi
ng sex. They would still get their way. I would just feel used and more than a bit pathetic when it was all over. I simply shook my head. I had found this to be my only non-violent response to alien bullshit over the years.

  “Having fun, ladies?”

  “We were just waiting for you, Guerin. We didn’t think you’d mind if we made ourselves at home.”

  “Not a problem, Crystal. What is it the two of you want? I’m sort of in a hurry here.”

  “We’ve changed our minds.”

  Great. This was supposed to surprise me? I mean a woman changing her mind was right up there with Murphy’s Law and shit happens. Of course, Crystal didn’t seem to think it was worth mentioning what it was they had changed their minds about. It was obvious they expected me to be able to figure that out on my own. Not knowing meant I was an insensitive self-absorbed shit, but I didn’t have time for all that. Ignoring the impending wrath of these two for my obvious ignorance I bravely asked, “About what?”

  “We’ve decided to stay on the Earth ship and leave the crew of the Vengeance. We were talking with the twins, and with Prima leaving, they asked us to help out with their business on this ship. They made us quite an attractive offer. That, and the abundance of Earth males here at our beckon call, we think we would have more opportunities here.”

  “So you’re going to enslave all the Earthmen on the ship, and do some bookkeeping for the twins on the side?”

  “It’s not like that, Guerin.” Cheyenne flashed me a wicked little smile. “It’s not our fault Earth guys are so easy.” The two of them chuckled.

  “Will you still handle my credit accounts in the ASTN for me?” The two of them were really useful as part of the crew. They had handled all the financial dealings for the ship. We all knew they were making some good coin doing it, but we were pirates after all. If they weren’t stealing from the ship’s funds we probably wouldn’t have trusted them so much. They also were pretty good cooks. These ladies made one of the best cheeseburgers.