Talosian Chronicles 2: Star Dancer

by Ben Winston

  The underlings in the Command center knew better then to answer their superior; the blood stains were still on the wall from the last time someone did.

  “Tell my agents on the surface to get us more slaves for the mines. Destroy our current overseers and implant new ones, these are getting too violent and are damaging too many workers. Where is the Captain of that ship?”

  “I believe it is in the pleasure center, Sire,” the underling replied. “Do you have new orders for the team investigating the human community in New Mexico?”

  “No, they have their orders. If they cannot carry them out, I will find someone who can, now get back to work and quit gawking at me.”

  F.S.S. Star Dancer.

  Selene Orbit, (Earth’s moon)

  Earth, Sol Sector.

  “What’s wrong Janet?” Ian asked as the woman took a seat. Ian quickly got her a cup of tea.

  “Do you have anything stronger Ian?” she asked, surprising him.

  “Do you want Coffee? It’s a little earlier for alcohol,” he replied.

  “Yeah, I meant I’ll have one of those things you drink all the time. Maybe the caffeine kick will help me clear my head,” Janet said. “The vision I had was pretty fuzzy, and I couldn’t make out much detail. I know I saw a huge ship, and the planet was really banged up. The moon had been hammered. I know it was the Caldarians because I could see them, but not much else was clear.”

  “Do you know when this is going to happen?” Ian asked.

  She shook her head. “No, but it has to be out a ways, I mean at least a month in the future.

  Otherwise, I would have seen things clearer.”

  “Do you know I was about to call you just before you rang the bell?” Ian asked trying to distract her.

  Janet nodded. “Ash Borhiem will be the new liaison officer for the moon base. He’s supposed to arrive at Talos tonight. I would have had him here sooner, but I had a hard time finding him.”

  “You’re amazing, you know that?” Ian said.

  Janet chuckled at him. “Thanks, but just remember, I don’t see everything before it happens.”

  “There, I got you to smile. Did you get much detail of the ship? That way, we’ll know what we’re going to be up against?” Ian asked.

  “Not really, no. I know it was big, bigger than Star Dancer, but I don’t know how much bigger. I can tell you they plan on taking over openly and enslaving the entire planet. We weren’t in the picture, but from the looks of the moon, the moon base was utterly destroyed – there were actual pieces of the moon broken off and floating there, it was scary as hell,” Janet said.

  “But it was mostly fuzzy, so that means it’s either too far in the future or we can change the way it happens, right?” Ian asked.

  Janet nodded. “It means that there are still too many variables that can influence it. Basically, the same thing you said, but I think time has less to do with it.”

  Ian nodded. “Well, you warned me, so I’ll do my best to make sure we have what we need to defend ourselves. As this gets clearer or if it changes, please let me know right away?”

  “You can count on that, Ian,” she said. “I just wish that someone else would get these dooms-day visions. They are seriously unnerving.”

  “I can only imagine. Do you know how your husband is coming along on the new AI for the moon base?” Ian asked.

  “I’m not sure, he’s been pretty quiet about that project,” Janet said. “I think he’s afraid of what happened earlier. I do know it’s been taking up a lot of his time.”

  “Okay, I’ll call and talk to him about it. If what you’re telling me is correct, we’re going to need it fairly soon.”

  Janet rose from her seat. “Well, I warned you, and you asked for the liaison officer, so I think we both should get back to work. Take care, Ian.”

  “You too, Janet. With luck, now that you’ve told me about it, the dreams will slack off a bit,” Ian countered as he too rose to see her to the door.

  Janet nodded. “That does work sometimes. I’ll just have to see what happens. I’m just really glad Jenny isn’t getting these images. She’s too close to giving birth to be stressed like this.”

  “I can definitely agree with you on that. I think if she and Beth get any bigger they may go on strike soon!” Ian said, grinning.

  “Are they still working?” Janet asked as the door opened to let her out.

  “Sort of, I released them from duty, but you know those two. Beth still goes to her office, and Jenny will come to the bridge to do research on her projects,” Ian explained.

  Janet shook her head as she walked away, Ian’s grin faded quickly as his doors closed. He had managed to keep his panic from showing in front of Janet, but now that he was alone was another matter. Sitting back down at his desk, he took a moment to stop his hands from shaking, before he started making calls.

  Security Control,

  Talos, New Mexico.

  “Captain Anders, sensors are registering the approach of several low-altitude helicopters. They have not passed our boundary, but if they continue on their current track, they will be here in about four-five minutes,” Corporal Powell said over the comm. Powell was one of the former construction workers that had been interested in becoming a Marine. Tonight, he was pulling duty in the security center.

  “What do they read as, Corporal?” Ty replied.

  “I show two ‘Bloodhawk’ assault variant Blackhawk helo’s and four old armed Ospreys, Sir. They are carrying an assault force, according to the computer,” Powell answered.

  “I’m on my way, Corporal. Issue the alert, and unlock the armory. Tell the teams I’ll brief them when I get to the ready line,” Ty ordered.

  “Alert activated. All defense teams to the ready line ASAP. Possible assault in progress. I say again, all defense teams to the ready line! This is NOT a drill!” Powell replied issuing the alert over the Marine frequencies. “I’ll have a brief ready for you when you get here, Sir.”

  “Understood, Anders out,” Ty replied as he ran for the security center. Around the complex, several other men and women were also running for the center. Even in the post-dusk evening, it was still pretty hot, and even Ty was sweating by the time he got to the security building.

  Ty took the time to grab a water bottle from a replicator before walking into the surveillance center where Powell was. “What’s the story, Powell?”

  “This reads like a larger scale black ops assault,” Powell said.

  Ty nodded. “Good observation, I agree. The question is, who ordered it, and what are they after?”

  “I’m having difficulty locking onto a comm frequency; either they aren’t talking or they aren’t using anything we can detect,” Powell said as he typed on one of the computer keyboards.

  “They probably aren’t talking. That’s standard procedure when they know we could intercept the broadcast. Did you get a point of origin?” Ty asked.

  “Best guess is White Sands, but that’s only approximate. The vector looks right, but we didn’t pick them up until later, so they could have flown this course as a ruse,” Powell said. “Wouldn’t an assault force like this stand out at White Sands?”

  Ty shook his head. “No, at any given time, there are at least twenty different training exercises or experiments going on down there. From time to time, assault teams are used as a way to test everything from new sensors to new weapons systems. No one would look twice at these guys or their equipment. I’m gonna go join the teams, keep working on the comms and keep me updated about what they’re doing.”

  “Will do, Sir. Good luck, and good hunting,” Powell said. “Do I inform Star Dancer of the situation?” Powell asked.

  Ty looked thoughtful for a moment. “No, not yet. However, get our fighters ready in case we need air cover, but hold back from launching them. We don’t know what these idiots are up to yet. If we start exchanging lead, then you can inform Star Dancer, but keep our response very controlled. The last thing we nee
d is for our fighters to be detected.”

  “Understood,” Powell replied as Ty took one last look at the sensor screen, nodded and left.

  Ty got his armor on, and ran out to the ready area of the hanger bay. He saw both platoons of Marines were there armored up and ready to party. He quickly explained the situation, and assigned coverage areas to the different fire teams. He had them mount up, and get ready to leave.

  “Powell, how close to our border are they?” Ty asked over the comm.

  “About a minute out, Sir.”

  “Okay, engage the shield, and bring the weapons systems to warm standby,” Ty ordered.

  “Shield powering up, and weapons are reporting all green,” Powell reported. Then a moment later. “Shield is up at full power, Sir.”

  “Have they changed course, or made any indication that they’ve detected the shield?” Ty asked.

  “Not ye... Stand by... It looks like it, the gunships are going wide, and the Ospreys have decelerated. They are going into a landing posture.”

  “Fun times. Okay, we’re heading out. Let us know if anything new shows up, but also keep an eye on those Bloodhawks.”

  Ty and his team had a mixture of equipment. Their armor and personal shields were based on Talosian technology, but the weapons they carried were strictly those of Earth. The vehicles they drove looked very much like Earth vehicles, but none of them used fuel, and had lightweight armor of their own.

  Two of his fire teams, the two that would stay back and protect the community, were fully equipped with Talosian armor and weapons. If an enemy managed to get past Ty and his people, then they would have a very rude surprise waiting for them just outside the main community.

  Rounding a small mesa, Ty got a glimpse of the enemy landing area. The Osprey aircraft had kicked up a lot of dust, and the Bloodhawk helo’s could be clearly seen orbiting the LZ (Landing Zone) protecting the troops as they unloaded.

  “Okay folks, there they are. Split up and head for your areas. Keep your heads down and fingers off the triggers until we find out what’s going on here,” Ty said. “Good luck.”

  Behind him, several of the dark blue Hummers split off from the column and went in different directions. Two of the assault vehicles, basically modified dune buggies, moved up to flank Ty’s Hummer.

  “Command, Overlord One is extreme, no bump,” Sammi’s voice was heard over the comm. That told Ty that Sammi and her sniper rifle were at the big weapons maximum range, and there was no place she could move up to.

  “Understood Overlord. Hold position. Overlord Two, report,” Ty said.

  Ty heard the voice of the other sniper and it sounded like he was running. “Overlord Two not set, twenty.”

  The other sniper was still twenty seconds from his firing point, which didn’t really surprise Ty all that much, since he had further to go that Sammi did. “Understood, report on set.”

  “Command, no report, target occluded,” Sammi reported. “Target has deployed smoke.”

  “Can you give me a distance to the wall?” Ty asked as he moved slowly toward the ‘enemy’ LZ.

  “Command, Sat has them sitting ON the border of White Sands, about a hundred meters from ours. Two of the Ospreys have lifted off and have moved back on nape.” Powell said. “It looks like they are going to set down ten klicks away, behind a hill.”

  “Okay, we are going to go right up to the border and sit there. If they want to talk, they can, if they want to shoot, the shield should protect us while we rabbit,” Ty said. “Stay puckered everyone.”

  Exactly as he said, Ty and his team drove right up to the edge of the shield, but only Ty got out. He walked up as far as he dared, and could feel the hair on his arms reacting to the strong magnetic field of the shield.

  Crossing his arms on his chest, he sighed deeply, and looked out into the big cloud of smoke and dust, waiting for someone to notice him standing there.

  Chapter 3

  F.S.S. Star Dancer.

  Selene Orbit, (Earth’s moon)

  Earth, Sol Sector.

  Ian had just gotten off the comm with yet another of the researchers that had been working on the weapons systems he had been reading about. He was surprised to find out that one set of those researchers had been the young Johnson family. The last time he checked, Kyle and the girls were on a two-week, outer-system patrol in a Centurion.

  They had been working with another young engineer from Talos named Brittney Benson on the development of an entirely new fighter. From reading the design specs of the new fighter, Ian was seriously impressed.

  It was a much heavier craft than the current Hornet fighters Star Dancer carried, but it also had far more fire power. There was a fly-by-thought system planned for it, as well as armor that actually generated power as the craft flew through space or took fire. Ian had to read a couple of the descriptions twice because they sounded so farfetched.

  “Communications, Could you get me a channel to the Centurion Borderlands? I’d like to talk to her crew,” Ian asked via his comm.

  “One moment please, Commander. I’ll need to set up a relay through Centurion Independence, since Borderlands is on the far side of the sun,” was the reply.

  “Thank you, I’ll wait,” Ian replied. He switched channels “Star? Can you come to my office for a moment please?”

  The AI hologram materialized in front of his desk. “What can I do for you, Commander?” she said happily.

  “I would like you look over the design specs for a new fighter, and tell me what you think of it. I’ll also ask Talena to look it over, as well as a couple of other pilots.” He paused for a moment. “Janet Laskar came to see me earlier. She’s been having a very disturbing vision of our futures.”

  “I would be honored to look over the design for you, Sir. But if I may, what did Mrs. Laskar have to say? I must admit that I have a hard time understanding her ability, but so far she has been remarkably accurate,” Star replied.

  Ian quickly filled the AI in on Janet’s warning, and explained that the fuzziness meant there were still too many variables involved to see everything clearly. He also told her what he planned to do about it, and what he wanted her to do in order to help.

  “Sir, that is very troubling. I am certain you will not allow that to happen. I will of course do as you order, Sir. Do you want a report when I finish looking over the new fighter?” Star asked.

  “Yes please. Some of the stuff they discuss in there seems very unlikely, so if you would, could you please also discover if what they are talking about is viable?” Ian asked as his comm beeped.

  “Sir, I have the link to the Borderlands for you,” the comm tech reported.

  Star nodded. “I’ll get right on it, Sir.”

  Ian nodded, and she disappeared as quickly as she had formed. Ian opened the comm channel. “Kyle? I see that none of you have been sleeping during your patrol!” Ian said.

  “Sleep? No Sir, there is no sleep on this ship!” Kyle said laughing. “What can we do for you, Sir?”

  “I’m putting in a change of mission for you and the girls. You should be getting the orders from Operations to report back here for reassignment. I want to kick the development of your fighter into high gear. We need it as fast as you can get the bugs out and built,” Ian replied.

  “I don’t mean to disagree with your orders, Sir, but unless you want us to jump back, we might as well finish our patrol. It’ll take us the same amount of time to get there,” Kyle replied. “We’re so close to the half-way point that it makes no difference.”

  “I understand. I’ll have Operations send you coordinates for the jump. This is really important, Kyle. I can’t tell you why, but it is,” Ian said.

  “Understood Sir. We’ll get ready to jump back. See you in a couple of hours,” Kyle replied.

  “Thanks, Kyle. Give those girls a kiss for me. Star Dancer out,” Ian replied.

  Kyle replied. “Will do, Borderlands out.”

  Jenny, who had been taking
a nap, suddenly came awake. “Star! Emergency priority! Open a comm to Ty Anders!”

  “I’m a little busy at the moment, Colonel,” Ty said by way of greeting.

  “Get out of there now! That’s an order, Marine!” Jenny yelled. “MOVE!”

  Reacting without questioning her, Ty ran back for his truck, just as the shield began exploding with released energy as ultra-high velocity bullets from one of the Bloodhawks slammed into it, right where he’d been standing.

  “Jesus KEERIST!” someone said over the comm channel. “Fall back! They might get lucky and break through the shield!”

  “Bounder two, if you can get a lock, scrap that Bloodhawk!” Ty ordered. “Fangs out everyone! Try to target equipment only! If they decide to run, let them.”

  The boom, boom, boom, of the cannon on one of the dune buggies could be heard in the background. Through the smoke and dust, Ty saw several of the US military dune buggies charging towards the boundary. One of them suddenly pitched sideways and rolled as Overlord two hit it with an explosive round.

  Ty, and his two escorts took off back towards the main settlement in order to put a little distance between themselves and the attackers. Team One, Ty’s team, consisted of one more hummer and two more of the dune buggies, came roaring up to support the rest of their team, as Team Two of two more hummers and four buggies came roaring in from the other direction. Both teams were firing their weapons as they moved.

  Ty noticed that the other Bloodhawk was not getting involved after its counterpart had to make an emergency landing because of damage to its main rotor.

  “Hold position, and cease fire! Let’s see what happens when they hit the shield,” Ty ordered.

  There had been enough distance involved for the military dune buggies to get moving pretty fast. When they tried to cross the boundary, it was equivalent to hitting the proverbial brick wall. The attacking forces took casualties, but for the most part, everyone had been strapped in, so the damage was limited to broken bones and bruises. None of the bullets they had been firing had penetrated the shield, either, but there were some wounds from the ricochets, but again, nothing fatal.