by Trent Falls
“I can’t tell you the details, Adam. I’m sorry. Let’s just say they wanted me to do something that I didn’t want to do.” John replied. “They thought that kidnapping my niece would be a clever way to get me to cooperate.”
“Huh.” Adam breathed in surprise. “Well, whatever it is did it involve Max Dekker?”
John’s eyes turned directly at Adam. “Dekker? He was part of this, yeah. Why?”
“His wife Mary showed up here a few weeks back.” Adam said. “She said the Xen attacked her farm on Kappa Ceti Five. A Marine named Jon Peterson got her out. Our rescue teams went out there and confirmed they massacred everyone. The only one we couldn’t find was Max Dekker.”
John remained silent for a moment. He wasn’t sure how much he should tell Adam. Some of what John knew could be considered sensitive or classified information. Confirming the Xen involvement might have also stoked potential rumors and perhaps create a panic. In the end John thought Dekker’s memory deserved the truth – or at least some part of it.
“Max Dekker is dead. He was being held where they held my niece.” John noted. “That’s all I can say on that.”
Adam nodded his head slightly. “Did you see a body?”
“No, but I’m pretty sure the info is accurate.”
“Did your niece see the body?” Adam pressed.
“No. No, I don’t think so.”
“Well,” Adam breathed, “at least we have an idea of where he was. We can probably push the Xen government to confirm his death.”
“It probably won’t be easy to get that information out of them.” John noted.
“We’ll have to try.” Adam replied.
Both men fell silent for a moment. Adam took a deep breath and turned to lean on a nearby railing. He looked up to one of the office buildings nearby, into someone’s amber lit office which probably belonged to a corporate middle manager. He could see a cheap print of a painting on the wall and a coat rack.
“You did a lot for this city, Chief.” Adam observed. “You and Aiyana.”
John remained silent. He didn’t know if Adam was gently pushing him for info on Ana’s involvement.
“Ten years is a long time.” Adam continued. “I’m going to have to turn you in but I want you to know I don’t like it.”
“I know.” John replied with real sincerity.
Adam turned back to look at John. “So, how do we handle this?”
John glanced slowly to his side, eventually meeting Adam’s gaze again. “I walk back towards Jules and Alex. Quite honestly, I’ll just be happy to have this all over with.”
“I hear ya.” Adam replied. “As long as you don’t resist or offer us any trouble I promise there will be no need for restraints or a cell.”
John nodded his head slightly in agreement. “Deal.”
The Ao Shun appeared out of warp just ahead of the Nanjing. The massive carrier, once out of warp, moved slowly through normal space, pushed forward by its cluster of four giant main engines. The Nanjing, a bit more nimble than the Xen carrier, moved around the Ao Shun to follow it on the trail position on its rear left.
On the hangar deck of the Ao Shun a line of GRV-33 recon starships were preparing for flight. The GRV-33’s were two seat vessels, small in size and similar in design to the Xen GV-55 starfighters hanging from the walls. The 33’s however, were unarmed recon vessels. Any space and mass load capabilities on the GRV-33’s was allocated to long and short range sensor equipment. The cockpit was located a few feet back on a narrow tube fuselage. The pilot sat in the front seat of the cockpit while the scanning officer sad facing backwards just behind the pilot. A number of pilots and their EWO copilots hurried to get into their recon fighters. Ground crews made sure they were fully fueled, that batteries were fully charged, and that all communication and flight systems were nominal.
The two elongated tube engines set inside the wings just outside of the main fuselage whined as they powered up on each craft. GRV-33’s at the front of the line were prepared faster than those further back. Surface controls on the wings and stabilators of the craft were checked in the event the recon craft would enter a flight-worthy atmosphere. Repulse emitters, which allowed for turning and atmosphere-like flight control in space, were pulsed very briefly to make sure they were operational. In an air atmosphere, like that in the cavernous hangar bay, the popping of the repulse emitters sounded like the buzzing of bees, only at much more of a baritone level.
The lead 33’s rolled forward slowly. The pilot slid the rolling overhead canopy shut. The scanning officer in the lead craft had a full panoramic view behind them. He could see directly back behind the craft as the tail of each 33 was split behind the main engines, allowing a clear field of view. The lead 33 bounced slightly as the craft rolled over a control joint in the steel taxiway deck. The other GRV-33’s in line followed.
Once at the ready line the lead fighter stopped, which also stopped the parade of 33’s behind him. The pilot requested clearance to launch. The EWO behind him, comfortable in his rear-facing seat, was already running diagnostic tests on his scanning equipment. With clearance to launch granted the lead 33 rolled forward, levitating off the ground on its repulse emitters like a giant grey metal insect towards the open side gate to the main launch corridor about thirty five feet overhead. The trailing 33’s followed, each levitating up and to the main launch tube gate.
The main launch tube was nothing more than a giant steel cavern built into the top of the Ao Shun. It was an enclosed zero gravity runway where starfighters and other vehicles could speed up without being fired upon. Spacecraft landed through the back of the same massive steel corridor at the back of the ship, where a number of successive force fields would slow them down quickly.
Captain Shin stood on the bridge of the Ao Shun looking out towards the bow of his carrier. The recon fighters shot out from the launch corridor opening on the bow.
Once free of the carrier, the recon fighters each banked away along their own flight plans. The Ao Shun and the Nanjing had arrived as “deep” into the solar system of HD209458 as possible. The star system was relatively uncharted. To exit warp deeper in the system, as in closer to the star, would be extremely dangerous.
No one knew exactly what was there.
“Sir, we’re still seeing persistent static haze on the scanners the further we look into the system.” A tech officer said as he looked back at his captain.
“Interesting.” Shin allowed himself to breathe the words aloud.
“Sir?” the tech officer responded, having heard him.
“If I didn’t know better I’d say we’re being jammed.” Shin noted aloud. “But jamming would suggest an intelligent entity at work.”
Shin sat back in his chair. He took a sip of his tea and relaxed in his steel framed chair. While they knew that the Norn were likely in the HD209458 star system they had no idea what planet they were residing on.
It could have very likely have been hours or days before they knew where to start looking in the system.
The floorboards creaked exactly as John remembered. It was an odd sensation walking along the deck of the colonnade in front of the old guest quarters of the Marshal’s compound. He felt as though he should still be wearing his EEF uniform. He felt as though he was twenty six for a moment rather than forty three.
It was still night and raining heavily. The rain cooled the air a little but John knew there’d be a price to pay in terms of humidity. Summers in New Australia were much like summers in South Florida. John stopped halfway down the walk and looked up to the sky. The rain fell in strong waves. He could see the pattern of droplets wavering in the changing wind against the backdrop of the office building standing against the night sky beyond.
John carried a white bag in his hand which contained a few bagel sandwiches and a couple of doughnuts. He carried two ice coffees in a cardboard carrier in his other hand. One of Rhodes’ deputies, Alma Myers, had been kind enough to go down to the local doughnut sh
op to get them some food.
Up ahead a uniformed male marshal stood watch outside the door to the room John and Julie had been given.
John slowed in front of the door to Alex’s room. He debated dropping in on him to offer him some food but the lights seemed to be out. John instead continued on to the next door, which was the one to his room.
“Evening.” The twenty something marshal standing watch greeted John in a low tone.
“Evening.” John greeted him back in kind, stopping for a moment to talk to him. “Nice night, huh?”
“Eh.” The guard replied offhandedly.
“You’re not getting wet out here are you?”
“No, there’s enough canopy, thanks.”
John tried to shift the items in his full hands to open the door. The marshal standing watch realized his difficulty and helped.
“Here, let me get that.” The marshal offered, extending his left hand to open the door.
“Thanks.” John grinned at the guard before walking inside.
“No problem.” The guard shut the door behind John.
The inside of the room was quiet, lit only by a reading light on a far end table. He expected to see Julie in bed as he walked out of the narrow hallway leading from the door past the bathroom. Instead he found her wrapped in a light blanket asleep on the couch at the back of the room next to the lamp.
John quietly set down the tray of ice coffee and the bag of breakfast food. He tried not to cause the white paper bag to crinkle and make noise so that Julie wouldn’t be woken up. It seemed to work initially, but as John took a few steps away her eyes slowly opened.
Julie took a deep breath typical of someone waking from sleep. “What time is it?” her weary voice asked her uncle.
“About four thirty.” John answered in a hushed tone. He sat down in a small chair set cater-cornered from the couch. “Why don’t you go to sleep on the bed?”
“Ummm.” Julie exhaled deeply, still somewhat tired. “I fell asleep on the couch. You were gone a long time.”
“They wanted to talk to me. They wanted a full debrief.” John explained. “Proxima Five also has about a twenty seven hour rotation. Time is going to feel a little funky.”
“Oh yeah.” Julie remembered. “Strange! It feels like it’s been night forever.”
“At least you got some sleep.” John reached over and got the white bag of food. “You want a breakfast bagel? I got your bacon egg and cheese.”
“Um, yeah! Please.” Jules sat up, realizing how good an idea real food was. She reached out as John passed her a breakfast bagel wrapped in white wax paper.
“Ice coffee?” John extended one of the plastic cups filled with light brown ice coffee. “I was thinking of getting hot coffee but that might be silly in this environment.”
Julie had unwrapped her bagel and took a bit when she accepted the ice coffee from her uncle. “Mmmm! Thanks!” Julie spoke with her mouth still half filled with food. “God, this is so good! Thanks!”
John unwrapped his own bagel sandwich and ate as well. The two fell silent for a moment as they enjoyed their meal. The bagels were fresh. The eggs were light and fluffy; not too dry or runny. The cheddar cheese was melted just enough.
“God, this is good!” Julie noted aloud as she ate.
“Yeah, leave it to cops to know where the good eats are at four in the morning.” John grinned at his niece before taking another bite of his bagel sandwich.
“So what happens now?” Julie asked.
“Well, we’re being taken back to the spaceport in a few hours. They’re sending us back to Earth.” John explained.
“You’re in trouble for what you did, aren’t you?” Julie ventured the question in a calm voice.
John didn’t answer at first. He simply finished the bite of bagel and egg he was chewing on.
“Yeah.” John answered finally, looking over at Julie. He let his answer hang in the air for a moment. “You don’t do what I did and not have to answer to someone.” John replied somewhat grimly.
“But you saved me? They took me from Earth to Xen space?” Julie was genuinely confused.
“That doesn’t matter Jules.” John noted in bitter truth. “You can’t simply take the law into your own hands. Even if the bureaucracy is wrong, or slow, or corrupt, it doesn’t mean that we can do as we like.”
“That’s bullshit!” Julie noted sharply.
“It is what it is, Jules.”
“No, you did the right thing. Maybe it broke ‘the law’ but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t still the right thing.” Julie argued.
John turned to look at his niece. She looked much better. Her straight blonde hair was washed and clean. He remembered once that he had been as idealistic as she was. A part of John wished he could be like her again. He wished dearly had he could be idealistic. Life had beaten him into the mold of a cynic.
“What’s going to happen to you?” Julie asked. Her concern was obvious in her tone.
“I don’t know.” John replied. “We’ll have to see once we get back to Earth.”
Julie stared at John. He was her uncle but he may as well have been her dad. She studied his face in profile as he looked away. She could see the family resemblance to her mother as well as a little of herself. The lines around his eyes were more prominent than she remembered. John had seemed to age several years since she had last seen him on Earth prior to her abduction. She adored her uncle. She couldn’t stand to think of something happening to him.
The lines around John’s face tightened a bit as he turned to look at her. His expression was quite calm. If he had been in real trouble, he didn’t seem too concerned about it.
“Don’t worry about me, Jules.” John smiled down on his niece. “I’ll be fine. The important thing is that you’re okay.”
John patted Julie on her shin before standing up.
“I need to go back in and talk to Rhodes.” John said as he crumpled the wax paper from his bagel and tossed it into the waste basket.
“You spent a lot of time talking to him.” Julie observed.
“It’s what cops do.” John noted.
“Didn’t you used to be his boss?”
“Yep. Doesn’t matter.” John glanced back at her as he walked towards the door. “They’ll ask you to tell the same story twelve times over just to make sure you tell it the same way each time. He’s gotta put it in a report so he wants to make sure he gets it right.” John was about at the door when he looked back at her again. “You need anything?”
Julie shook her head. “No, I’m good.”
“Okay, we’ll probably be leaving in an hour or so. Make sure you’re ready.”
“Okay.” Julie replied.
John opened the door. The sound of the rain filtered through more loudly into the room with the door open. John shut the door behind him, leaving Julie once again alone in a quiet room.
Julie took another bite of her breakfast sandwich bagel. She sat alone in the silence eating allowing her thoughts to drift. For some reason she wondered what her best friend Kaitlyn was up to. It was strange for Julie to think that Kate was over four light years away.
Chapter 22
Morning came quickly. The rain stopped after falling for several hours, leaving the ground surrounding the Marshal’s compound very damp. Puddles collected in a few areas. A few puddles had pooled where there was only limestone sand. Julie, John, and Alex had gathered on the wood deck colonnade in front of the motel-like guest housing. Two Marshal’s flanked them, dressed in full blue black ops fatigues, body armor, and gear.
John eyed one of the Marshals guarding them. He knew how hot Proxi Five summers could get and didn’t envy either man. Even with the liquid-cooled body glove beneath their uniforms he knew they’d be hot. John wondered why the hell someone chose blue black uniforms. The black uniform he had worn in his time at New Australia was bad enough, and he wasn’t going to spend much time outdoors.
The group waited patiently for several min
utes. Julie began to fidget as it was becoming uncomfortably hot and steamy. She had finally been able to clean up and now her hair was a frizzy mess.
Adam Rhodes finally emerged from the steel rear door of the main security complex. Adam was also dressed in the standard blue-black field uniform, as were his deputies Alma Myers and David Baxter. The trio walked across the patchy green field with a purposeful stride.
“Alright, let’s get this show on the road.” Rhodes observed. He stopped in front of John, Julie, and Alex. They were lined up in front of him. “You guys ready to go?”
“Yeah, let’s go.” John replied.
“Okay, please follow me.” Rhodes turned away. Still flanked by Myers and Baxter, he headed back towards the security complex, only towards its far west side. Alex, John, and Julie followed the Adam and his two deputies. The two that had been guarding the motel followed them from behind, securing the rear.
The group walked around the side of the building and down a short group of stairs. A small recessed parking area was set at the side of the building. The parking area was surrounded by thick tall stone walls topped with razor wire. More armed marshals waited around a group of three black wheeled SUV’s parked in the middle of the lot. The black utility vehicles bore a white star logo with the text “EEF Marshal Service” within the star. The rear passenger doors to each of the vehicles were open, awaiting the group.
“You three take the middle vehicle.” Rhodes gestured Julie, John, and Alex towards the black SUV in the center of the line. He then looked at his deputies. “I’m riding with… our guests. Myers. Baxter. You two are in the lead vehicle. Pratt and Ramos – trailing vehicle.”
“Yessir.” The deputies all noted before moving off to their assigned vehicles.
John turned silently to look at Alex, who had also turned to look at him. Both men seem astonished at the level of security that had been assigned to them. It was somehow amusing.
“Come on. We need to get going.” Rhodes urged John and Alex to get into the vehicle.
Julie was going to climb in first when John stopped her. “You get in the middle.” John noted to Julie as he passed her. He then stepped up into the backseat compartment and sat in the seat at the far end.