“Because,” Robert interrupted, “they aren’t worried about three warships right now. That means their stuff is pretty damned advanced and we aren’t going to have shit we can do against them.”
“Options?” Mr. Jameson asked.
“First, call the German government but they aren’t anywhere close, so I’m saying that’s a no go. Next, get our supplies, close the door, hunker down and hope there’s a back door and a ride out of here.” Terry offered.
“That seems like a good way to need to get into one of these ourselves,” Mr. Jameson answered as he nodded at the metal boxes.
“Agreed. So, next choice is we close the door, get on our snowmobiles and drive like a banshee back to the Adler if possible. Basically, run like crazy and hope no one sees us,” Terry added. “And pray we don’t freeze.”
“What about these people,” Melissa broke in. “If we run, what happens to them?”
“They stay popsicles until whoever wins outside comes in. If it is the U.S., they’ll probably figure out a way to thaw them out,” Terry answered and noticed Robert’s very slight headshake, “I guess. Then again, they might leave them in the boxes and take everything out of here.”
“What?” Mr. Jameson asked, surprised. “They would leave them?”
“I have no idea, Mr. Jameson. I would hope they wouldn’t. I bet you no one except you guys in Germany truly expected to find anything here. I didn’t, and I’m in this group.”
“Do we have any other options?” Mr. Jameson asked.
“Yes, but you aren’t going to like it,” Terry replied.
“Here we go,” Craig said and got Melissa’s attention and told her, “It’s the Terry pulls something out of his ass time,” Melissa smirked and nodded her understanding.
—
“Are you telling me,” Mr. Jameson asked, his speech slow as he thought about what Terry just told him. “That you can call TQB and get their help here?”
So far, the revealing that he could get TQB’s help had gone over better than he had expected.
“Are you a plant for TQB?” Dr. Tooch asked.
Well, until now, Terry thought.
“No, but they do help me from time to time,” Terry admitted.
“Why?” Melissa asked.
He turned to her. “Because the stuff everyone is looking for can be dangerous and those looking for it need to be watched.” He nodded at the caskets. “Because some people will look at all of this and see technology, not people.”
“And what will TQB do?” she asked.
“The Queen,” Richard interrupted, “Will protect the people here first. Waking them and finding what needs to happen.”
“How is she going to do that?” Mr. Jameson asked, “The U.S. Navy or the flying UFOs out there are going to be knocking on the damn door pretty fast here.”
“If the Queen tells Richard and me to hold this door for her until she comes, we will hold this damn door for her until she comes,” Samual told him, finality in his voice.
Robert and Craig shivered, thinking back to the O Diablo incident.
Mr. Jameson turned. “We aren’t going to get access to this technology, Dr. Tooch.”
Samual said, “Don’t think she wouldn’t allow a few people the chance to be here and observe. Ask her permission, she would likely do it for you as the ones who found it.”
“What about the technology?” Mr. Jameson asked.
Samual spread his arms out. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have an answer for that. I can tell you she’s fair, but if she determines the technology should not be shared, it will not be shared except for what you can learn while you observe.”
“How come when you say observe, I really hear watch and keep my mouth shut?” Dr. Tooch asked.
“Because you are a wise man,” Samual said, “and have learned that there is a season for everything.”
A loud buzz occurred, and Robert looked down. “I set out signal extenders on my way back.” He pulled up his small table. “Oh… crap. The Navy apparently felt threatened, and they’ve opened up with R2-D2s.”
“With what?” Melissa looked confused.
“Sorry,” Robert said. “The Phalanx close-in weapon system. It’s a 20mm radar-guided Gatling gun with a dome on the top that looks like,” Robert stopped when Melissa interrupted.
“R2-D2, got it,” she finished, and he nodded.
Robert’s tablet buzzed again. “The UFOs are firing back,” he said.
“We don’t have anything that can challenge something that can fight the US Navy. Call your contact, see if they can do anything,” Mr. Jameson ordered.
Terry nodded and started jogging out of the room, “Where are you going?” Mr. Jameson called out.
“One bar on his repeaters!” Terry answered over his shoulder. “Got to get a little further outside.”
Once he got out of the room, he grabbed a second tablet, one that didn’t need any signal because it didn’t use normal cell technology.
—
Dan was sitting at his desk, reviewing the plans for the new battle station when his tablet pinged. He looked over and then grabbed it. “Dan here.”
“It’s me, sensei,” Terry’s voice came in loud and clear.
“What’s going on?”
“Would you believe we found an old base full of frozen Nazi popsicles or maybe people who were in contact with aliens back in the forties who have advanced technology? At the same time, we have three U.S. Navy ships being fired upon by four UFOs outside right now that probably want this shit, too.”
“Did you say Nazi popsicles?” Dan asked.
“Yes.”
“Are they alive?” he pressed.
“No idea. None of the lights look like they’re burned out and frankly, we aren’t sure if they are Nazis or simply Germans from that era.”
“And UFOs fighting U.S. Navy outside?”
“Yes.”
“How the hell do you get into this shit, Terry?” Dan asked as he was typing commands into the tablet.
“You know me, Dan, I’m just trying to survive in a cruel world.”
“Right, like the time we pulled your ass out of the whorehouse in Africa with the Forsaken,” Dan responded, answering the questions coming up in his text.
“Where do you think I learned it was a cruel world?” Terry replied. “Surrounded by all of that flesh and figuring out that ‘bite me’ wasn’t at all what I thought it was.”
Dan chuckled.
The lights in Dan’s office started strobing red. He could hear the orders being issued in the halls outside of his office. ArchAngel kept the noise from flooding his offices. She was smart that way.
“Okay, looks like ETA in seven minutes.”
“You guys are close?”
“Who, us? No, we aren’t close at all. We’re already heading that direction, but it will be hours before we get back to Earth’s orbit. The Queen is going to be there with something… else.”
“Seven minutes?”
“That’s right,” Dan confirmed.
“I hope the Navy has seven minutes,” Terry said.
“Me too,” Dan agreed.
—
“We have Phalanx attacks, we have Phalanx attacks,” Antony told his three crew. “Next time Tyler, don’t put a high-velocity round so close to a Navy ship, they don’t like that shit at all.”
“Wow, I figured they would realize it was a warning shot,” Tyler said.
Evert said over the communications, “And how are we supposed to tell them that? We can’t do video or the whole alien gig is up.”
“What about pretending we’re TQB?” Spencer asked.
“Let’s let them assume that,” Antony replied. “Do you know what TQB clothes look like?”
“Nothing like what we have on, I imagine,” Spencer said.
“Keep dodging, people,” Antony ordered.
Kavala, Greece
Alexi Ouzo was tired.
He had been playing soccer back at
the new field where the old warehouse had been. It had been torn down so the land would be worth more for someone else to purchase and build a newer building on top of it.
Unfortunately for the developer, Greece was going through some tough times and here in Kavala, not much was going on.
So far, it had worked out well for him and his friends. Now, on weekends and after school, he and another ten to fifteen guys all made it over there to play. A couple of welders had helped them put together a few of the pipes lying about, and they now played with makeshift goals.
Day done, his team had won two to one. He was walking back home, taking a shortcut through the warehouse.
That’s when his life changed.
He was daydreaming, kicking the ball as he was walking down the dirt path when a screaming siren started up behind him. He grabbed his ball and turned around as one of the super large warehouse doors began to open. He could see that there was some sort of flashing red lights inside the building. The red lights would rotate on the inside walls and occasionally flash out.
There wasn’t anything close to the warehouses, which was strange. Usually, these types of buildings were packed together.
Then, he dropped the ball, forgotten, his mouth open.
—
“MOVE IT!” Marcus yelled, “We have a rush exit, rush exit!” Marcus was waving his tablet. “Get on the ship or disappear, and for God’s sake, make sure the Queen’s receiving room is fucking clear!”
“I’m on that!” Marcus heard from someone running up the gangplank.
Marcus watched as people pulled cords off of the G’laxix Sphaea. Those they needed later were being put on board and others were being tossed to the side.
They had talked about what would happen if they needed to exit the hangar fast, but now it was really happening. He hoped they had it right.
Marcus was tapping his foot and looking at his watch. They had two more cables connected, and both dropped from the back of the two wings at the same time. “Leave them!” Marcus shouted. “They aren’t special, get your asses on the ship!”
Marcus turned around, trying to see if they were missing someone when he heard a bark and turned back to see Ashur staring at him and then her voice cut through the bedlam. “Marcus, get your rocket science ass on my ship!”
“Oh, shit!” Marcus started trotting to the ship and then up the gangway himself. His red face greeted Bethany Anne. “Sorry!”
She looked outside then slapped the control to close up the ship. “You did good, but like any absent-minded professor, you forgot about yourself.”
Bethany Anne jogged to the bridge and slid into the pilot’s seat. “C’mon boys and girls, we have a battle to stop.”
—
“No… way,” Alexi muttered as a huge spaceship started sliding out of the large warehouse. It came out, and out and… out.
By the time it was out all of the way, Alexi noticed at least another ten people on the street with him. At least he would have witnesses.
It silently lifted into the air, turning to the south as it went up at least a couple of hundred meters. Then, the rear engines came to life. They were much quieter than Alexi would have thought and the spaceship… just disappeared with a loud BOOM.
“What the hell was that?” asked a tall guy with a red shirt.
No one answered him back.
—
C’mon TOM, time to earn your piloting keep.
Stay at vampire speed, I got your back BA.
Good, let’s not look like idiots in front of the help.
—
John Grimes leaned over to Paul Jameson. “Aren’t you the pilot?” he asked in a soft voice.
Paul answered, his voice a little above a whisper, “Yeah, but right now I’m learning. I’ve never flown this ship before.”
John nodded towards Bethany Anne. “How is she doing it?” he asked as they watched Bethany Anne’s hands blitzing over the controls.
Paul shrugged. “She’s Bethany Anne?”
John sat back up. “As good an answer as any other, I suppose.”
“ETA to South Pole forty-two seconds,” Bethany Anne called out. “Make sure my turrets are manned!”
Marcus looked around. “Oh, I had forgotten about that, too.”
“Not a problem,” one of the Wechselbalg replied. “It looked like we might get to shoot something, so we have them all manned.” He added, “Not sure we need them to be manned, they’re hooked up to EI targeting at the moment.”
“Just so long as a human is starting and stopping the firing, that will work for now,” Bethany Anne responded. “Target’s in range, ten seconds.”
—
“Oh, holy fuckazoid!”
Captain Forstal ignored the outburst. Right now, they couldn’t hit the four UFOs and four times now the return fire had hit their ships. The Wasp had lost three helicopters and the Ford a front turret.
“Sir!” radar said. “We have a new inbound bogey.”
“What now?” the Captain wondered.
—
“I’m telling you, if those asswipes hit my ship one more time, I’m going to do more than just drop their helicopters into the water,” Spencer snarled.
“The Phalanx can’t rotate fast enough, it was some lucky shooting,” Antony responded. “You need to be careful not to cross another one of their path lines and run into more bullets.”
“Hey, that’s easier said than done,” he said.
“Guys? Hey, GUYS!” Evert called, “Are you seeing this new ship coming from one one four?”
There was a pause. “Who the fuck is that?”
“TQB?”
“Their ships are all back out at the belt, they can’t get here for hours, even if they wanted to get involved.”
“Then who the hell has a… Oh, fuck that is a monster!”
“New plan, head towards that ship!” Antony commanded.
—
“The UFOs are turning towards the new bogey.”
“Well, it looks like the UFOs don’t like them, sir.”
“Doesn’t mean we like them yet, either. Enemy of my enemy isn’t necessarily my friend.” Captain Forstal said. “Keep an eye on it.”
“That’s not going to be hard, sir. It’s almost a football field long.”
—
“We have four ships heading our direction,” Marcus said.
“Make sure the shield is on, I don’t want them scratching the paint,” Bethany Anne said.
“Oh, good idea,” Marcus agreed and turned to make sure the shield was live.
Bethany Anne looked to her left and slapped a blue button. “People, this is Bethany Anne. If any of those four ships shoot at us, light them up.”
—
“Plans, sir?” Spencer called out.
“Buzz them. See if our anti-electronics affect them,” Antony answered.
—
Captain Forstal walked over to see what was happening on radar. “Damn, they are fast.”
“The four ships are passing the large one. Sir, that thing is huge,” Kelly said as she looked over.
“Heading this direction,” another voice called out. This time, multiple people got up and looked out.
“Oh, holy geezus,” Kelly said. “THAT one is TQB,” she said as the large ship passed by the Navy. “I saw it on the Japanese video, but it has more stuff on it.”
“Okay, that means the other four are definitely not TQB, right?” Jenkins asked.
“No, they could be playing us,” Captain Forstal said. “I don’t think they are, just want to make sure everyone keeps their minds clear of assumptions.”
“There go the four UFOs,” the heads all turned as four round ships sped after the TQB ship.
“They don’t seem to be as fast…” Kelly commented.
—
“Well, ain’t that a bitch, they are playing catch-up,” Bethany Anne said. “Sure hope this thing has a good turn radius, Marcus.”
“Wha
t?” Marcus was doing his best to keep up. “Yes, we applied full Grav Plate technology to the Yollin specs. You can stop on a dime,” he finished. “Although, I wouldn’t want to do that, actually, but you could.”
The Kurtherian Gambit Omnibus 05 - The Fans Version: My Ride is a Bitch - Don't Cross This Line - Never Submit Page 24