Blitz, still laying at his feet, glanced up at the two of them, keeping watch of what was unfolding.
Even the way his fevered-brain was clouded, Jack’s brother’s presence had the catalyzing effect of bringing all of his buried emotions back to the forefront of his mind.
Memories he’d rather lock back inside.
Pausing a moment before continuing, Zach said, “I wanted to say I’m sorry about Oakland…Olo’s death. I know how much he meant to-”
“Since when have you ever… paid attention to who I’ve… cared for?” Jack snapped, his voice raising in frustration.
Whitefield was silent for several long moments before he said, “I found this in Olo’s quarters on the Ocean-Walker, and it was addressed to you.” Zach pulled a small flash drive from his pocket, opened the door to Jack’s compartment, and handed it to him. “I thought you’d want to have it before they ship you off on your next mission.”
Jack forced himself to look his brother in the eye, where he saw the glimmer of so many words that he wanted to say, so many that he wanted to hear. And yet Jack stayed silent.
I’m sorry, Zach. I just can’t forgive you.
When he finally saw that he wasn’t going to say anything more, Zach slowly turned and left the room, not looking back.
After the door closed behind him, Jack didn’t move, regretting how his relationship with Zach had deteriorated, but firm in his refusal to smooth the waters between them.
There are wounds that time just doesn’t heal.
With nothing to delay him from examining the device, Jack held his left hand over the drive and activated his scanning beams. Tiny, blue beams of light danced rapidly over the device, quickly extracting the data held within it. Moments later, the data removal was complete, and Jack dropped the drive to the floor as he accessed the sole file within.
Within his internal digital display, a video appeared in the center of his field of vision. The camera was blurry for a moment, and then it was moved around slightly, jostling the feed, until it settled down and into focus. Jack saw Olo sitting in front of the camera. He was in his quarters in the Ocean-Walker, spare parts for Blitz scattered behind him on beds and tables, and he wore the standard military gray undershirt. From what Jack gathered from the timestamp on the file, this had been recorded shortly before the attack on the Holding Facility had been started.
“Hey, Jack,” Olo awkwardly began, wearing his serious but still child-like grin. “Considering the type of mission we’re on, and how the war has been going, I thought it’d be a good idea to make this, in case… I didn’t make it through the mission. Kind of depressing, if you think about it,” Olo said, his voice trailing off as he began to be lose himself in thought.
Shaking his head and regaining his focus, he continued, “I thought it was important to let you know this; Jack you’ve been one of the best friends I’ve ever had, and you always made sure never to rub in my terrible name.” Olo chuckled and added, “Well… not too much, anyway. Thanks for making my time on the Charger a more enjoyable one.”
Olo’s grin faded from his face as he suddenly became very serious. “But Jack, one more thing. I beg of you, keep an eye on Victor. He may be fighting on our side now, he will betray you.”
Olo’s wrist communicator beeped times. “Well, duty calls. It’s time to take the fight to the Ribiyar in that fortress of theirs. Oh yeah, look after Blitz will ya? Give him a pat on the head for me the next time you see him.” Olo stood up and began reaching behind the camera. “Take care, Jack.”
With that, the video ended, Olo’s face smiling at him.
Jack closed the video and sighed deeply, sorrowful at the loss of his friend. He honored his friends request and reached down to stroke Blitz’s fur on his neck, eliciting a deep purr from the feline.
I guess there’s nothing to do now but get working on that rest Rick was suggesting.
Right as he was about to power down, a voice spoke.
“Well, wasn’t that a sweet reunion?”
He looked up abruptly at the voice, surprised that anyone was still in the room, only to find that no one was there.
“Does it weigh on you that you couldn’t save him?”
Jack turned towards the voice, and this time, he found the source. The red Ribiyar, Fu’Lyl, walked calmly around the lab, never losing eye contact with him.
“There was nothing… I could do to save him,” he weakly stated, his left-over anger at his brother fusing with his hatred toward the alien.
Blitz meowed at Jack, glancing to where he was talking to and then back at him. He meowed again and tilted his head in confusion.
This thing is in my head, Jack realized. No one else can see him.
Fu’Lyl stopped in front of a cluster of control panels. “‘Nothing you could do.’ Is that what you say to feel better about yourself? To ease you guilt? Your efforts would be better spent by facing the facts; Otlin was a useless nobody that you never cared for, who you ditched the moment you left the Charger and were given the command of your precious Atlanta. You could’ve handled the deployment of the EMPs yourself, but you got caught up in being a hero and stayed behind.”
“You have… no idea… how wrong you are,” he said, fury surging through him at the near-obscene accusations.
“And you know what the worst thing is? You were glad that he was killed, and-”
“SHUT UP!” Jack roared with everything inside him. Jack swung his right arm towards the Ribiyar in the blink of an eye, his V-gun flying out of his storage unit and fired at full intensity. A sound akin to thunder boomed from his weapon, and a flash of energy surged at Fu’Lyl, blinding Jack momentarily.
When his vision returned, the cluster of consoles that had been behind the Ribiyar was nearly melted from the blast, hunks of steaming metal scattered around the room.
Blitz jumped out of the way as a piece of the metal came towards him, standing on all fours, poised to fend off any attackers. Still not finding anything, he once again looked up at his master and softly meowed.
Jack tried to send a reassuring glance at him while feverishly looking in the room for Fu’Lyl, finding no sign of him.
“You’re a broken organic beast, Vade,” Fu’Lyl’s voice echoed in the room from all sides. “If you lose control after only a moment of mere conversation, your remaining days will surely be fleeting.” And with that, Fu’Lyl went silent.
As Captains Syvon and Rickman rode a lift down to the hanger pad near the bottom of the Central tower, the lift suddenly ground to a halt and snapped Rickman out of his train of thought.
“Great time for a breakdown,” Rickman mumbled as he lifted up his wrist communicator, but Syvon grabbed his hand.
“It’s alright. I stopped it.” Syvon moved aside to show that he had pressed one of the buttons on the display. “Are there any cameras in here?”
Rickman shook his head. “No. You’re in the clear, whatever you need to say. I’m guessing this is some high-level intel?”
“Very,” Captain Syvon said, nodding firmly. He glanced around the lift again, as if double checking they were in the clear, and said, “This may seem like an odd question, but have you ever heard of Atlantis?”
Rickman’s eyebrow’s furrowed in confusion as he processed the question. He answered, “The mythical land under the ocean filled with the rulers of the seas? I’m fairly certain most every child has heard-”
“Not that Atlantis,” Syvon interrupted. “I think you know the one I’m talking about.”
“Do you seriously believe Project Atlantis is real?” Rickman asked, surprised at Syvon. “Look, I’ll admit, I looked into it when I first got wind of it. The whole situation intrigued me. Rumors whispered all through the ranks of military of a vessel that was supposedly being built in a hidden base at the bottom of an ocean, no one sure where, everyone having their own evidence that lead it all over the seve
n seas. Claims of heavy-duty materials, somehow including enough to build three separate nuclear reactors, being squirreled away for nearly a decade, and several other even crazier notions and theories. Don’t tell me you believe that conspiracy trash, do you? Budget cuts and lost shipments are sometimes exactly what they are.”
“Rickman,” Syvon said, almost in a whisper, “The Atlantis is real.” Before Rickman could object, he continued, “Admiral Hofkins, the officer in charge of the base that had been in Hawaii, gave me orders that, after the siege of the Holding Facility, I was to find the Atlantis and use it to secure our planet from the Ribiyar. He also gave me the coordinates where I’ll find the ship.”
Great, one of our admirals even bought into this fairy tale.
Skeptical, Rickman asked, “Even if Atlantis really is down there, do you think that this one ship could be that crucial to the war effort?”
“Captain, I don’t know how much you know of the rumors around Project Atlantis, but something that no one, not one person, disputes is how powerful the Atlantis would be. It has nearly a hundred Laser Array’s, an army’s worth of missiles, explosives, and demolitions, beyond state-of-the-art technology, the most advanced energy-powered engines known to man. And, if they have indeed managed to finish building it, the vessel is powered by three nuclear reactors. Not much can stand against that much power, not even the Ribiyar.”
Admittedly impressed, Rickman replied, “Well yeah, if all that turns out to be true, of course it’d be a great asset.”
“But that isn’t the only reason we need to secure this ship. There is someone very important on that ship, and we need to do everything in our power to ensure that he remains protected.”
“And that would be…” Rickman asked, gesturing with his hands for him to continue. It can’t be someone from his family, he doesn’t have a wedding band, and he wouldn’t risk everything on a hope that they had gotten onboard.
Syvon took a deep breath, and said, “Rickman, according to the intel that Admiral Hofkins supplied me, onboard the Atlantis is Paul Richards, the President of the United States.”
Chapter 7
Date: July 13, 2132
Location: Freedom Bound, the Defender-controlled Holding Facility positioned in the Atlantic Ocean
“What!?” Rickman yelled, his cry echoing in the small area. “What do you mean President Richards is there? Wasn’t he killed when the invasion first started? That’s what everyone else has been telling me.”
“That’s what they needed everyone to believe,” Captain Syvon explained. “Believe me, it took me off guard as well. I only recently found out about it.”
“And how did you find out?” Captain Rickman asked. He understood that he wasn’t the highest head on the totem pole, especially before the invasion. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
Syvon’s look told him he understood Rickman’s reaction. “I was informed only a few days ago by Admiral Hofkins himself, and he ordered me to keep it in a strictly need-to-know basis. If our forces don’t know where the president is, it makes it that much harder for the Ribiyar to find him.”
“But what is Richards doing in the meantime?” Rickman asked, starting to get a little upset at a thought that was occurring to him. “Is he just keeping his head low, while the rest of us risk our lives in the war?”
“Of course not, Rickman. Hofkins showed me heavily encrypted files from the president himself, giving instructions on where to strike and position our forces. He’s the one who started the Defenders on the mission to capture this Holding Facility. He’s been leading us this whole time.”
Rickman nodded as he accepted Syvon’s answer. “Well, that explains why we ended up here and shows he didn’t just run tail and ran when the metal heads came knocking. So what are my orders exactly? Do you want me to take the Defender and bring Atlantis back here?”
Syvon shook his head. “I’m afraid not. That would draw far too much attention. We will, however, need the services of your chief engineer. As far as I know, the Atlantis was yet to be completed before the invasion, and we will need her experience to finish construction of the vessel and insure it remains operational.”
Rickman hesitated. “Are you sure that’s necessary? Lexton has one of the best understanding of Ribiyar technology, and if Jack ends up on this mission… you could be leaving us under-equipped here.”
“From what I can tell, your Commander Hayley has also shown an excellent understanding of the tech as well, and Mr. Anderson is close to running circles around all of us. I think you have exactly what you need here.”
Rickman nodded slowly, acknowledging he didn’t really have a say in the matter with an admiral giving them the mission, but Syvon had made some fair points as well. No point being a dog barking at the wind.
“I don’t like giving her up, but if it means the President’s safety… alright. I’ll let her know about the transfer.”
Syvon nodded his gratitude. He pressed a button on the screen in front of him, and the lift continued its journey. “Thank you for understanding Rickman. You won’t regret it.”
Rickman turned and absently watched the doors in front of him as he waited, “I hope you're right, captain. I really hope you are.”
Several hours later…
Location: Aboard the U.S.S. Thunderfox, traveling below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean
Right above the ocean floor, the battered-but-intact hull of the Thunderfox glided through the water, its engines providing the only dim light so far underwater. Running on low power, the ship was as hidden from the Ribiyar’s prying eyes as it could manage.
Inside the ship’s briefing room, Jack silently observed his team, consciously processing everything that was happening. At the same, like the ship he traveled in, he was mostly powered off, still recovering and saving his strength for his journey ahead. The rest of the team, Colonel Brown, Rogers, Lieutenant Commander Stone, former captain Max River, all paid close attention as Brown slowly traced his fingers down a map shown on a screen in the wall. Blitz was curled at Jack’s feet, discreetly watching the proceedings.
Though Jack wanted to participate and take part of the mission planning, he knew that he wasn’t the expert on this operation and that it’d be best to wait until he had something to contribute rather than play the part of a fool. I guess I should be grateful that I was able to come at all. If it weren't for Rick making the deciding vote that got me here… I wouldn’t know what to do with myself back at Freedom Bound.
“Once we arrive on the shore,” Brown said as he pointed on the map, “we will need to travel along this direction. After a few hour's journey, we should reac-”
Brown was cut off by a loud crunching sound behind him.
“So, when are we going to get to this place anyway?” Victor impatiently asked, not for the first time since they had boarded the ship. He was leaning against a wall as he chomped on an apple.
“Davidson,” River snapped in frustration, “I swear, if you ask that one more time, I will drag you out the airlock and feed you to the sharks.”
Though it seemed like Victor wanted to test River on that threat, he kept his mouth shut.
“Enough you two,” Colonel Brown ordered sternly. “We've got enough on our hands fighting the Ribiyar; we don’t need to be fighting ourselves as well.”
“Just trying to have the most up-to-date info as possible, sir,” Victor replied.
Before Brown could reply, the door of the briefing room squeaked open and Commander Ton stepped in. Saved by the bell, Jack thought, relieved at the defusing intrusion.
“Heads up everyone. We are about five minutes away from the drop site. Captain Syvon wants you all to report to the cargo bay.” Before the crew could rise from their chairs, Ton pointed at Stone. “Except you, Commander Stone. The captain wants you to stay onboard until we arrive at our next destination.”
Even if he trie
d, Stone couldn’t have hidden the surprised look on his face if he wanted to. “Sir, with all due respect, are you sure you’re talking to the right guy? With this mission about to commence, I think that my team would need my expertise when they encounter the Ribiyar.”
“We’ll find a way to muddle through our loss,” Victor said, taking another loud bite from his apple.
“I’m afraid that reason is on a need-to-know basis, Stone,” Ton replied, “and right now you only need to know the situation warrants the change of plans. The rest of you,” Ton said as he looked at the others, “get ready. You’re in for a bumpy ride.”
Location: Top-secret underground base located in {REDACTED}
“Director Carr, I really need your guidance right now.”
A man, dressed in a sharp black suit, sat alone in front of a large brown glass desk. The desk housed a scarce number of objects: a computer keyboard, several folders thick with files, and a black nondescript mug with steaming hot coffee.
The front and right walls of the room were solid, polished stone, made from the natural rock the room had been built in. The back and left walls were made of a special type of transparent material that when a current of energy was sent through it, as it was now, it would darken so those outside couldn’t see inside the room.
On the wall directly across the desk was a large display carved into the stone, currently switched off. The man at the desk had a dark tan from countless hours in the sun, which contrasted strongly with his light blue eyes and neatly trimmed hair. Though his chiseled features had made several ladies swoon in the past, his face was now haggard from the stress during the past week of alien invasion.
“Director,” the man, Headmaster Samuel Issacs, repeated, “from the limited intel we’ve been able to collect, the invasion appears to be over halfway completed, roughly sixty-one percent to be precise. Much of Earth’s military force has been completely destroyed, leaving us with no solid way we can face them head on. As for our other problem, we’ve obviously made no further progress determining the plans that Adler may have set in motion before the invasion started. Sir… what should we do?”
Galactic Defenders- Perseverance Page 5