Corvus Prime: Escalation

by C. Cougar Sanborn

  ‘Yes, I’m Commander Strausser.’

  He rattled something off in Swiss-German into the radio and said, ‘You and Dr. Strausser are needed down below. Please follow us and we’ll show you the fast way down.’

  ‘Very well. Just keep in mind that we’re only moderate skiers,’ said Straus as he motioned to Darla to follow the leader.

  The two men took them through narrow paths that cut across the main trail and the whole time he had a police whistle that he blew whenever he was approaching other skiers. They finally made it down to the chalet and Darla and Mick slid to a stop.

  ‘That was great,’ said Darla panting.

  ‘Our best run of the day. Thanks,’ said Straus as he waved to the departing ski patrol.

  They popped off their skis and started walking toward the patio and noticed two men in suits wearing heavy dark overcoats. As Mick and Darla walked forward, they approached.

  ‘Commander and Dr. Strausser?’

  ‘That’s us. What’s this about?’ said Straus.

  The man held out his identification and said, ‘I’m Inspector Schmidt of Interpol. This is my partner Sergeant Johann. We were asked to track you down and have you get in contact with Ambassador McKay at once.’

  ‘Very well. I have my comm unit in our locker. I’ll contact him,’ said Straus with a nod as he and Darla headed for the lockers.

  Straus noticed that the two men were still following him. As he was opening the locker and pulling out his comm device, he said, ‘Was there something else gentlemen?’

  ‘We’re at your disposal should you need us, Sir,’ said Schmidt.

  Straus nodded as he pressed a few buttons on his comm unit and heard, ‘McKay here.’

  Straus held the device out so he and Darla could both see the screen and said, ‘We got your message Mr. Ambassador.’

  ‘Sorry to interrupt your honeymoon, but a situation has come up that needs the immediate attention of you both. How soon can you get to Washington?’

  Straus looked toward Inspector Schmidt and asked, ‘How quickly can you get us to Geneva?’

  ‘We have a helicopter standing by. We can have you there in forty-five minutes.’

  Turning back to his comm device, he said, ‘We can be there in less than ninety minutes.’

  ‘Very good. Head straight for the Pentagon. You’ll be cleared to land on the helipad. We’ll be waiting.’

  Straus nodded and cut the connection. They took off their ski boots and put on some new comfy after-ski boots that were one of their wedding presents. Straus nodded to the Inspector and started to follow him out.

  ‘But our things,’ said Darla.

  ‘All of that has been taken care of Frau Doctor. Please... this way,’ said the Inspector.

  They followed them to the gondola and took it down to the parking lot below. There, in the bus parking lot sat a helicopter that was already starting up. They proceeded directly to the copter and within thirty seconds were airborne.

  Seeing their luggage already aboard, Darla said, ‘I feel like we’re being deported.’

  ‘Must be important for McKay to go to this much trouble... and how did he know we are on our honeymoon, anyway?’

  She leaned forward toward the inspector and asked, ‘What about all of our wedding gifts? We haven’t even opened them all yet.’

  ‘They are being moved to your private chalet as we speak along with your ski equipment,’ he said with a smile.

  ‘Private chalet?’ asked Darla looking to her husband.

  Straus just shrugged. The sergeant handed the inspector a large envelope which he passed on to Straus. Inside he found their paperwork, including their passports and marriage license. He nodded a thanks to him.

  Forty minutes later they landed near the Ninja. Straus wasted no time in opening the canopy and helping Darla aboard. After stowing their luggage he climbed into the cockpit. The Interpol inspector saluted and the helicopter flew off. Straus fired up the ship and got on the radio.

  ‘Geneva Departure, this is Ninja One-One-Three-Eight X-ray requesting priority departure.’

  ‘Ninja Three-Eight X-ray, you are cleared for immediate departure,’ came the reply.

  ‘Hang tight... this'll be a fast take-off,’ said Straus to Darla sitting in the back.

  Straus lifted off, pulled the nose up into a sixty degree climb and went to full power. They flew away like being shot out of a cannon and were pressed back into their seats at three times normal gravity.

  Once they passed a hundred thousand feet Straus began to level off, raised the shields, and continued to accelerate to ten thousand miles per hour. Even in the rarefied air of the upper atmosphere, they formed a fireball as they streaked over the Atlantic.

  After twenty minutes he began his descent and slowly reduced his speed. As he approached U.S. airspace he got back on the radio.

  ‘Washington Center, Ninja One-One-Three-Eight X-ray, requesting direct vector to Pentagon heliport’

  ‘Ninja Three-Eight X-ray cleared. Turn left to 089. Contact Pentagon tower 143.1.’

  ‘Roger 143.1. Good-day.’

  Straus dropped below Mach 1 and descended toward the coast. They flew over Delaware then Chesapeake Bay and switched to the tower frequency.

  ‘Pentagon Tower, Ninja One-One-Three-Eight X-ray on a straight-in approach for landing.’

  ‘Ninja Three-Eight X-ray, you are cleared to land.’

  With the Pentagon in sight just ahead, Straus lowered the landing struts and set down on the helipad. He shutdown the engines and opened the canopy. Before he could even climb out, a nondescript white van pulled up. A cheery young woman in a U.S Air Force airman’s uniform got out of the passenger side and slid open the van’s side door.

  Straus helped Darla out and they walked over, then she said, ‘I’m Airman First Class Casey. I’ll be your escort today, Sir. Please climb aboard. They’re waiting.’

  They climbed into the back of the van and the door slid closed. They sped away and a few moments later, pulled up to a side door and were ushered into a security lobby.

  ‘May I see some identification?’ asked the grim looking staff sergeant behind the counter.

  Straus handed him their passports. He looked at them carefully and turned to his computer. He then took their finger prints using a fingerprint reader and then their retina scans. After capturing their signatures, a machine produced two security badges with their pictures, names, and security clearance printed on them.

  He handed them their badges, saying, ‘Please wear these at all times, and proceed one at a time through the body scanner.’

  Straus was surprised to see that Darla’s badge had her new name, even though her passport didn’t yet. After passing through the scanner, they proceeded through the security door. As they were being led down a corridor, Airman Casey spoke up.

  ‘Commander, it's really an honor to meet you... and you too Doctor Strausser. I lost some family during First Strike and the reason I joined up was to help in the fight. Your squadrons are a real inspiration to us all,’ she added.

  ‘Thank you, Airman.’

  ‘Doctor Strausser. I like the sound of that,’ said Darla with a smile.

  They entered an elevator and went down several floors. After a few more security check points they entered a large conference room. The room was full of generals, admirals and men in suits. Straus suddenly felt very awkward being dressed in his ski outfit. Casey escorted them to two empty chairs, then left the room.

  ‘I really must apologize for pulling you away from your honeymoon, Commander... Doctor, but time is of the essence. Oh and congratulations by the way,’ said Ambassador McKay looking toward the two of them.

  ‘Whatever we can do to help, Mr. Ambassador. And... how did you know that we were on our honeymoon anyway?’ asked Straus.

  A two-star general tossed a newspaper in front of Straus so that he could see the front page. It showed a picture of Mick and Darla posing on the red carpet in front of a hotel
after they were married and the headline read “Corvus Heroes Wed in Switzerland”.

  ‘Bachmann,’ said Straus with an accusatory tone.

  ‘That’s a great photo,’ said Darla to Mick as she pulled it closer.

  A three-star general spoke up, ‘Dr. Townsend? This is Dr. John Townsend of the University of Hawaii.’

  A man with salt-and-pepper gray hair stood up and said, ‘Thank you General Billingsly. We recently activated our new ATLAS system which we developed in conjunction with NASA. That stands for Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System. It uses a series of 20-inch telescopes to survey the entire sky twice a night. Its meant to give us advanced warning for any incoming NEO's... that is Near Earth Objects that we haven’t already cataloged. In our first week of operation we discovered 2015EJ3.

  He pushed a button on the remote that he was holding and the video projector displayed an animated sequence of photos showing a dot passing through a star field.

  ‘We’ve been able to determine that it is not in a periodic orbit. Rather it appears to have been deliberately launched at the Earth from the general vicinity that the drones launched First Strike from. It was also launched at a high speed for a comet, roughly one hundred thousand miles an hour. We’ve also been able to determine that there is a 99% probability that it will impact the Earth in just over eight months.’

  Straus and Darla looked to each other with concerned expressions. Dr. Townsend sat down and General Billingsly said, ‘We’ve been discussing our options. This is Dr. Hamilton from the NASA’s Jet Propulsion lab in California.’

  A man in his thirties, wearing a suit and sporting a shaved head, stood up and after taking the remote, displayed several images while he explained.

  ‘We took a closer look at it with Hubble and we caught a break. It happened to occult a star and we were able to estimate it's size at roughly three miles in diameter. That is about half the size of the impactor that some believe was responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs. Not knowing it's composition and mass makes it difficult to determine how to proceed. One option would be to use nuclear weapons detonated on it's surface to alter it's trajectory.’

  ‘If it is a Kuiper belt object, it may well be comprised of light ices. Using a nuclear device on it could shatter it, thus compounding the problem,’ said Darla.

  ‘Precisely. We just don’t have enough information.’

  ‘Shattering is good. Right?’ asked McKay.

  ‘Its the difference of being shot with a rifle or a shotgun. Both would be devastating,’ explained Darla.

  The ambassador nodded that he understood the analogy.

  ‘What if we just pull it off course?’ asked Straus.

  ‘A gravity tractor would take years of influence to affect an object just a few hundred meters in diameter. This one is miles in diameter. Too large to use a gravity tractor on,’ said Hamilton.

  ‘I wasn’t thinking of a gravity tractor, rather a graviton beam that we use for towing ships around. Can the beam be defocused enough as not to just rip chunks out of the surface?’ asked Mick turning to Darla.

  Darla smiled with pride at her new husband and said, ‘Yes, I believe it could be defocused. However I’m not sure if a single ship would have the power to be able to pull it off course in time.’

  ‘What if we used one transport to pull and an anti-graviton beam from another transport to push?’

  ‘That might be enough. However we need to get out there to take scans, and verify it's mass and trajectory. The faster we can get out there, the more time we’ll have to influence it's path.’

  ‘Well... what are we sitting around here for. Doctor if you can give us it's present position we’ll put together a mission to get out there and get started,’ said Straus.

  ‘Certainly... and with your permission, I’d like to go along,’ said Hamilton.

  Straus shrugged and looked to Darla and McKay. Not seeing any objections he said, ‘Get your things together and we’ll send a transport down to pick you up when we’re ready.’

  ‘I’d love to go as well,’ said Dr. Townsend.

  ‘Shouldn’t be a problem. We’ll pick you both up at Chesapeake Regional Airport in Virginia, when we’re ready to go.’

  ‘We’d like to be kept in the loop,’ said General Billingsly.

  ‘We’ll keep in contact with Ambassador McKay and I’m sure he’ll be happy to keep in contact with everyone else.’

  McKay nodded in agreement, and Straus started to stand up, saying, ‘We’ll be on our way then.’

  ‘Before you go Commander, I’d like a word,’ said the colonel sitting next to him.

  Straus aborted his move on getting up and plopped back in his seat and said, ‘Yes, Colonel?’

  People started filing out of the conference room and once it quieted down he said, ‘I’m Colonel Snowden and I hear that you’re having problems procuring the Hydra-70's.’

  ‘You’ve heard correctly. I’m hip deep in red tape trying to follow procedures and make the right connections.’

  ‘Well Commander, I’m in a position to make all that red tape go away and set it up so that you can receive shipments directly from Veridian Dynamics, instead of going through the government.’

  ‘Well that sounds pretty sweet. What is it that I have to do in order for this to happen?’

  ‘Have to do? Nothing. However I would like you to consider doing me a small favor in return. If you can’t then it will in no way impact getting the Hydras.’

  ‘Ok... then what can I do for you Colonel?’

  ‘Not for me per se, however my son-in-law is a C-130 transport pilot. He put in for duty on Corvus just after First Strike, but hasn’t heard anything. If you could just take a look at him, I’d appreciate it. If you don’t feel that he’s suited for the work, then that’s fine, at least I will have done my part to give him a shot.’

  Straus nodded, ‘That’s an easy one Colonel. We bring in new pilots all the time. What’s his name?’

  ‘Lt. Chadwick Browning. Thank you Commander I really appreciate it,’ said the colonel shaking his hand, who then added, ‘I’ll have the first shipment to you within a week.’

  Chapter 5

  INTERLOPER

  Straus was hoping to sneak on board the station, then head for Harrison’s office, explain the situation, and start planning the mission. Once he eased the Ninja through the shield barrier into maintenance bay 2 he knew that wasn’t going to happen. There was at least twenty of their friends there waiting for them.

  After docking, Straus popped open the canopies and helped Darla out of the cockpit.

  ‘You could have said something. We would have been glad to go planet-side for the wedding,’ complained Tómas.

  Vicks came up and hugged Darla and said, ‘Congratulations! How exciting.’

  As Straus was shaking Tómas’s hand, he said, ‘Sorry. It was suppose to be a quiet little elopement. We’re still going to have a formal ceremony and reception here at some point.’

  ‘Well... come along. We have an “informal” reception for you in the dignitary dining room,’ said Tómas.

  As the whole group proceeded there, Straus said to Tómas, ‘We came back early because...’

  Tómas cut him off saying, ‘Impending disaster that threatens all life on Earth. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s always the story. Actually, I heard all about it from McKay. Well... a few more hours won’t make that much difference. Besides... there’s cake.’

  ‘Cake? You should have said that in the first place,’ said Straus.

  Once they got to the Dining room they found more friends waiting. The main wall screen was displaying an enlargement of the same wedding photo that was in the newspaper. First came the champagne and some toasts. Then came the cake with coffee, and more wedding gifts.

  ‘McKay sent this one up for you. Its not so much a wedding gift as just something he wanted you to have before you found out about it on the street. I got a set as well,’ said Tómas pushing a rather large
box in his direction.

  Straus tore through the paper and opened the box, then stood there looking into it curiously while scratching his head.

  ‘A box of toys?’ he asked looking up to Tómas.

  ‘Toys... yes, but more specifically they’re “action figures” of the Corvus Twelve, along with some ships. There’s the Samurai and some drones as well,’ explained Harrison.

  Tómas then reached into the box and pulled out two packages in particular and said, ‘See? This one is me, and this other one is you.’