by Don Koch
A minute later General Clark ushered his family and introduced them to Andy. He said that Andy wanted to talk to them all. Andy then asked them all to please be seated and comfortable. "I have a little story to tell you and have prevailed on General Clark's generosity to do that. A week ago my family and friends were vacationing and were offered a gift that was extraordinary and beyond belief. Under normal circumstances, I would have laughed and suggested that someone was playing a joke on me. Fortunately, the event that preceded the offer captured my attention because it was something I could only view as impossible. The next thought that occurred was why me? My purpose today is to offer you that same gift and if you have a bit of that 'why me’ question in you, I will explain. First however you need to see something. You are seeing me now as I normally appear. Admittedly a little overdressed for the climate you have here but this is my normal attire. However the rest of the world would normally see me like so." And he changed into his Solaran appearance.
"Not quite what I expected when we last spoke, but this sounds exciting." He looked to his wife, then his son and Daughter in law who all nodded agreement. "It looks like we are all in agreement. We all want to do this."
Andy arranged a portal and all went to the ship for implants and an explanation of how training would go.
Afterwards, back at the General's home, "Welcome aboard Patrick, I know this started as a means to give us more eyes on things and this is more than you expected but we should have some fun with this. We are going to need to do some strategizing for the lizards so we can address that threat. By the way, where would you like those murderers delivered that we discussed earlier? "
"If they are in restraints, same tent you delivered the guns to earlier today. I also know of some other officers and NCO's who would like to help let us know when they see an injustice. Seems like that tag and communication might be pretty effective if we could encourage them to accept a tag. If you are interested it would even further expand your coverage I also know of others in the service of countries other than the United States that tire of the criminal shenigans. I will give a list to Aston and you can then observe and determine if they are people who can help.>
Chapter 9 - Hot Time in Moscow
# Day Eleven at Turner Lake #
# Tuesday, June 21
At 8 am sharp there was a brief fluff of the tent on the parade ground at MCAGCC Twentynine Palms. Inside the tent, there were four men in their underwear. Each was secured to a plain wooden chair with restraints. On the floor in front on them were a number of file folders and a large metal box with a lock. In the locked box were a number of weapons in heavy plastic evidence bags, each labeled and identified. The guard inside alerted General Clark of the arrival, even though Aston had already alerted him mentally. The General had already alerted the California Highway Patrol unit investigating the hijack that the delivery was being made. There were vehicles from the CHP present to make the arrest and assume responsibility for the evidence. The officer in command of the group commented to the General, "I have never seen anything like this. The only thing missing is a nice bright bow on the gift wrapping."
General Clark said, "Captain, you may have spoken too soon, check this out." He was pointing to an archive box. On the box was written in bold print, 'Videotape of the hijack.' "The dummies taped their own crime. That is way over the top. The Hijack took place on the Twentynine Palms Highway, Route 62, right where North Indian Canyon Drive crosses. It's a controlled intersection and traffic is almost non-existent at that hour of the morning but still light enough for video. Why would they tape their own crime."
The CHP Lieutenant went on, "This has been a very strange week. First we noticed that a considerable number of criminals, all illegal aliens, have gone missing, and now this. Some witnesses to the disappearances lead me to believe that the Solarans may be putting them somewhere. And now we have this."
About then they felt a mild shift of air and another weapon in a plastic bag floated down and stopped on top of the locked box. As this was happening, a figure in a Solaran uniform became visible and Ed said, "Sorry about that General, we missed one in the transfer. Lieutenant, those missing criminals were our doing. They are all members of various cartels in Mexico with more murder warrants than you would care to count. They are now all being processed by the Mexican military and shortly the trials will begin. Almost all of the ones we have removed have three or more murders to their credit and the evidence against them should assure they will not darken your doors again. I can arrange to get you a list of those we have transferred so you do not have to waste your time trying to find them. We can also give you a copy of their prints in case those are not already on file. If you will let me have your card I will make that arrangement."
The Lieutenant was taken aback but managed to hand Ed a card. With that Ed vanished.
The General smiled and said, "Pretty cool, eh? Kind of makes one wonder what they are really capable of doing."
The lieutenant looked at the crooks in restraints, then the pile of evidence and then replied, "Yeah, I could definitely get used to this."
# An hour later #
Aston alerted all Solarans,
Andy appeared in fro
nt of a Fire Chief and told him that they would bring the people out, and asked that a triage area be cordoned of so they would have a place to bring people. He asked that the Chief respond mentally and that he would hear him. He promptly disappeared only to reappear a few seconds later with an elderly woman whom he handed off to the Fire Chief's assistant. That started a flood of deliveries from the tower. In ten minutes, the upper tower was empty. Andy again appeared before the Fire Chief.
In another 15 minutes the building was emptied. Andy returned to the chief and asked if they had enough fire retardant to quench a fire of that size. The chief noted that they did, but had no way deliver it to the fire. It was a chemical used for fighting fires when a plane crashed or caught on fire. He pointed to several large trucks loaded with a series of tanks resembling household propane supply tanks each about 5 foot tall and 8 feet long. "Those tanks are disposable and have a seal with a low melting point. We also have the option of triggering release simultaneously with a radio signal. Actually that method is best since it assures even distribution. When the seals melt or are triggered, it releases the chemical inside which would do the job. Unfortunately, we have no means to get them where we need them. This is not material to which you want direct exposure. However, plain water neutralizes the materials in the chemical that are toxic."
"Each cylinder weighs about 1,000 kilos."
"We would need four for each floor placed like so. That would be twelve in all." He sketched a diagram in the dirt at his feet.
The Chief's excitement was apparent, "Yes, we can do that. We have much already in place so we only need about a minute to coordinate and execute. We also have a very good water supply backup so we have sufficient water."
"That, tovarich, is a good question. The steel in that building was specially insulated to prevent the kind of thing that happened to the World Trade Center in New York City. It contemplated a very hot fire. If this fire were to burn for another hour at this level, the building would be in danger and probably collapse. If it can be extinguished within that time, the building will survive. I would also be very interested to know what kind of accelerant is causing the temperature we are measuring here. None of the building materials should be causing this, nor should the normal contents."
Andy then prepared assignment for each Solaran. They were ready. A minute later, the fire turned on the wall of water and had all exposed firemen with sufficient air tanks to hold position for an hour. He then signaled to Andy to go ahead. The Solarans made the delivery and when they exited, Andy signaled the chief to fire the canisters.
The plan worked as they had hoped. Andy revisited the Chief and said, "That went as well as could be expected."
The Chief was emotional, "How can we possibly thank you for all you have done for us. You have saved over 2500 persons from that disaster. At least a thousand would have died on those upper floors if you had not intervened. All that and you have saved a building that would likely have collapsed before the night was over. You are the Solarans about whom we have been hearing rumors. As far as I am concerned you are always welcome here. Now we have to figure out who did this thing."
"I can do that." The Chief made a call on his radio and in a few minutes a police Captain arrived and greeted the Chief. The Chief introduced Andy saying, "I am sorry my friend but I do not know your name."
"Commander, may I present Captain Mikhailovitch."
The captain shook his hand and said, "Chief Volkovitch tells me you have something to tell me."
Andy said,
"Surely you are making a joke?"
"I would very much like to have him now and I will carefully restrain myself from wringing his neck."
The Captain said to the individual, "Are you the one who started this fire?"
"Yes, I am."
The Captain was amazed and asked a few more questions. With the responses to the questions, the Captain turned to Andy and said, "Commander, I am satisfied that you have been telling me the truth and I am grateful beyond expression."
About then Andy reached out and put his hand in front of the captured arsonist, just in time to hear a loud 'WHANG' sound. Jeff said, and appeared in front of the group, dropping the unconscious sniper on the ground in front of them and then the weapon. Andy handed the bullet he had caught to the Captain.
They all returned to the lake. Pat was chuckling, "Sayonara, that was cute."
"Gotta keep them guessing. That was a pretty interesting morning. I am wondering where this will all lead."
“Before we go back to work, I'd like to take a dip in the lake. Anyone want to join me?” About half did and the rest wanted to sunbathe. After about a half hour everyone was sunbathing. Barbara noted, "You know, one thing about these implants is that we can't get sunburned. How cool is that. That was not a pun. "
Gus responded, "So you say."
She grinned, "It's my story and I'm sticking to it."
# Noon at the lake #
The entire group was discussing the upcoming exercise for the next day at the port of Vera Cruz. Aston interrupted to say, tainers to proceed to their intended destinations and track the route they use as well as who handles the cargo.>
"Oh, that is clever, let's do exactly that. These turkeys are trying to start a nuclear war. But how did they manage to get their hands on so many nuclear weapons?"
Andy commented, "I have been worried that our activity might trigger a change of plan for that invasion force. Your suggestion makes a lot of sense. That is how we will do it. Pat, you really look deep in thought."
"Yeah, but this whole discussion reminds me of another issue. The Mexican Army is pretty stretched right now with the influx of criminals we have been giving them. They are so cramped for space right now that they could use some help. I was thinking that maybe we should borrow an idea from the terrorists. Something like those container units that they are using might go a long way to answering the housing issue, at least temporarily. We have a thousand containers each designed to house 20 person. What if we decide to keep those containers and sent these terrorists home in containers that have a bench seat down either side, say 40 to a container. We then take the 1,000 containers to Isla Maria Magdelena and set them up as cell blocks. These things are weather tight and they are steel. Reduce the number of inmates per container, put in sanitation facilities and a few things to make them more livable. These guys are all tagged so they can't escape and they won't throttle each other. These can easily be used until they have something more permanent or maybe these are the final solution. These containers are fairly inexpensive so we are not talking a huge cost except for the sewage system they will need."