“Those ships are flanking us now and are powering up their weapons.”
“Shields to full!” Mark shouted.
“They’re firing!” Red yelled over the comm.
Then the ship shook slightly as if it was riding a wave, a particularly nasty one, but a wave nonetheless. But nothing beyond that occurred.
“What was that? What just happened?” Mark asked cautiously.
An instant later Red replied, “Those two rapier class ships, they shot the missiles out of space and blocked us with their own hulls, I have Captain Tadeo of the ‘Samson’ on the comm requesting to speak to you now, sir.”
“I’m on my way to the command deck, Red.” A relieved Mark turned towards Abruzzi and the President, “Gentlemen, if you’ll follow me?”
Minutes later Mark, Dan, the President and General Abruzzi all entered the command deck from the maglovator. On the view screen was the image of Captain Tadeo, a man of indiscriminate Asian ancestry. The Captain immediately stood and saluted when he saw the President and General follow Mark onto the command deck.
“Mr. President, General Abruzzi, sirs. So good to see you both.”
“At ease, Captain,” the President spoke, “This crew and this man, Captain Mark Johnson, saved both our lives on a mission I sent him on several weeks ago. I was taken out of the White house in the dead of night by aliens who had built a secret base in the midst of the Blue Ridge mountain range.”
“I have already forwarded those coordinates with the information package,” Mark interjected.
“And we have them, thank you Mr. Johnson.” Tadeo replied. “Right now the imposter President has been taken into custody and is undergoing DNA Scans as we speak, to verify your claims sir. I’m positive they will prove you to be the real President of the United States. The General’s imposter has not been found as of yet, he slipped away when your transmission began, but there are men searching for him right now.”
“Do not let that man get away, he has vital information we will need.” The president ordered.
“What about that damned base in the midst of our nation and so close to our capitol?” Abruzzi asked.
“According to the people on the ground, it looked like it took a pounding recently I assume that was your people?” Tadeo asked.
“Yes,” Mark affirmed, “we broke out of there earlier after being held captive ourselves. Any enemies found within its walls?”
“Not as of yet, it looks to be abandoned according to the information I am reading.” Tadeo replied.
“They cut and ran, but to where I wonder?” Mark rubbed his chin in thought.
“It could be anywhere, chances are they left the planet already,” the General offered.
“True, General. I’ll be taking the Cagliostro down into Washington, I want to drop the President and you off as close to the White house as possible.”
“I will gladly send two fighters down with you to escort you in.” Then the Captain added, “That is one tough ship you have Mr. Johnson.”
“Thank you Captain Tadeo,” Mark replied, saluting. Tadeo returned the salute solemnly then did likewise to the General and the President before saying good-bye and cutting off his communication.
Johnson turned towards the President, “I have to ask sir, why did you tell Tadeo I was the Captain of this ship? I have no official designation. I own her and built her but in that regard only am I her Captain.”
“That’s not true any longer, Mr. Johnson. As of now you have a special dispensation from the highest office in the land. Mine. As of this minute, officially you are Captain of this ship in name, and rank as well as every other way shape and form you have already demonstrated. When this is over you will receive an official commendation noting it as well, providing we survive all of this.”
Mark smiled as a look of surprise covered his face, but he worked well at hiding it after only a second or two.
“Thank you, Mr. President,” Mark solemnly replied.
“No, Mr. Johnson, Thank you. Without your foresight and thought I would still be trapped in the secret facility that was built on American soil by an alien race.” He thought for a second more then added, “What I want to know is how they managed to build an entire base right under our noses without any of us being the wiser?”
“I have more than a few ideas on that, Mr. President.”
“There’s time for that later. Can you return me directly to the White House?”
“Post-haste Mr. President, Post-haste.”
***
Five minutes later, still smoldering from re-entry, the Cagliostro set down gently upon the south lawn of the White House. The Star fighters that escorted the Cag flew overhead in a patriotic ‘fly by’.
President Scaleia exited the Cagliostro a moment after its foot ramp touched down, with Mark at his side.
“Mr. Johnson, it has been a pleasure, you are a patriot as well as a brilliant engineer, and I thank you for rescuing myself and General Abruzzi from these alien terrorists.”
“I did exactly what anyone else in my position would have been willing to do, Mr. President.” The two men shook hands, “I’ll drop off General Abruzzi in Arizona, where he can see to his command,” Mark commented.
“Very good, Mr. Johnson. Fly safely.” The President turned to walk into the White House as the guards and secret service agents filling the White House lawn looked on impassively, then he stopped and turned back towards Mark, “I have to amend that, not Mr. Johnson, but Captain Johnson.”
Johnson stoically saluted as the President returned the salute, spun on his heel and walked up the front steps of the White House his guards following him in.
Mark relaxed for a moment as he walked up the ramp of the Cag and pensively looked down its gleaming thousand-foot length. Then he continued inside.
A moment later the ship was airborne and streaking towards Arizona.
“What’s our ETA at current speed?”
“One hour, Captain.” Red smirked, “though I could speed it up and have us there in a few seconds at most while in the atmosphere.”
“Very good, Mr. Robinski, but I think an hour sounds better. We’ve been running around the universe for weeks. Let’s take our time on the last leg of the trip, now that we’ve got some semblance of control back in our lives, at least for the moment. I’ll be in my quarters.” He turned toward his communication officer and spoke, “Ariel, you need to rest. C’mon, time to stand down,” he beckoned to her to join him. Ariel stood and walked to his side leaning on him for support, as she was still shaky from her ordeal hours earlier.
Once on the living quarter’s deck, the couple exited the maglovator and entered Mark’s quarters, as the door hissed shut behind them.
***
Moments later they were both lying back on his bed, Mark holding her comfortingly.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked her quietly.
“I’m hurting, Mark. Let’s not ever do that again, okay?” He touched the black and blue on her jaw and she winced slightly at his touch.
“Sorry,” he consoled.
“I know. It’s part of the game, I get that. I just don’t know if I’m built for this game. I-I’ve never been hit like that before, in my life I mean.”
Mark sighed sadly, “I know you are hurt, I really want you to take time off from all of this when we get home. Relax for a week or two. Then we can decide on a new position for you”
“Mark, none of this is over, you know that. Not yet. You need me right now. After this is over I’ll gladly take a vacation. We’re going to war; you know I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.”
“Ari, you have to understand, I just saw the results of you being beaten badly. It’s not anything I ever want to see again.”
She pushed herself up on an elbow and looked at him, “Mark, I know you’re worried about me, but right now you have to be more concerned with what we—the entire planet is facing. I’ll be all right. But everyone else ne
eds you more than I do right now. This doesn’t mean when all this is over that I won’t want to take a nice desk job at headquarters, but I have to say, beyond the getting socked in the jaw part, I think I’d end up missing all of this.” She waved her hand up in the air, indicating space.
Mark shook his head, looked away and exhaled before turning back to her and answering, “You are one confusing and infuriating woman.”
“Aren’t we all?” she smiled demurely, and shrugged her shoulders with a smile.
Chapter Twenty Three
The Cagliostro hovered in place then slowly began to enter the cavernous hanger before it. The ship settled in and quietly powered down. Across a loud speaker in the bustling hanger, a woman’s voice spoke, “Maintenance crew to hanger thirteen, repeat, maintenance crew to hanger thirteen, full diagnostics and repair crews required as well.
The boarding ramp touched down and people began streaming out of the ship instantly, Mark at the forefront. “I want full diagnostics on shield data downloaded to me personally. I want weapons diagnostics as well. Weapons power and efficiency must be increased by at least one hundred percent.”
Red grasped Mark by the arm.
“Hold on Mark, one hundred percent? You want to double weapons power? How are you going to do that? We could be attacked at any minute for all we know.”
“We won’t be. They may be out there, Red, but they have a healthy respect of us now. Maybe even a fear, if we’re lucky. That’s something we can play on.”
“Okay, fine, but is the ship going to have the structural integrity to withstand you doubling weapons output?”
“Red, c’mon, it’s me. I have so much redundancy built into the Cagliostro that it could withstand five times the stress I’m going to subject it to.”
“I hope you’re right, boss, no matter what we’ve just been through the past few weeks, this is still an experimental ship. Meaning anything could blow up in our faces at any time.”
“No Red, not true. This ship is rock solid. Besides, I was having new weaponry developed while we were gone. Advancements were being made based on our data that we were broadcasting back to headquarters the entire time we were out there. New and vastly improved solar cannons are going to be fitted before the day is over. Shield generator capacities are being doubled so their energy siphoning device won’t work on us any longer.”
“Wait a sec; I thought we had already beaten that trick of theirs?”
Mark smirked, “Not at all Red. In order to defeat those siphoning beams of theirs I had Abruzzi powering up every shuttle ship in the landing bay and adding its energies to the Cag’s.”
“Ha!” Red guffawed, “I meant to ask you about that. I figured you just had some brainstorm idea pop outta your head and you beat that trick of theirs that way.”
“What? You don’t think my idea of adding energy from the shuttles to the Cag’s was a brilliant idea? I thought it was myself, actually.”
“I’m sure it was, boss. You know engineering ain’t exactly my thing.”
Mark waved Red off, “It’s okay Red, don’t sweat it I’m just playing with you a little. Now we have to get some rest, all of us.”
“Are you going home?” Red asked.
“No, I figure I’ll sleep aboard ship. I don’t want to leave her unguarded.”
“Hey if you’re going to stay, so am I. I’ll leave a security detail aboard with us just in case. If they see anything …questionable they’ll contact us immediately.”
Mark shook his head, “No Red, if they see anything tell them to shoot first and ask questions later. Right now, until those engines are manufactured and ready to be mounted on our fleet within the solar system, we are standing in front of the fastest ship on the planet. That’s a tactical advantage we cannot lose.”
“Did you look into how close those other engines are to being completed?”
“Yes, as we were on approach I put a call in. We’re still at least two days away for the first set. The second set is at least a week away.”
“That ain’t good,” Red replied.
“None of it is,” Mark reaffirmed. “We’re in trouble in that we can’t take a full scale assault back to these guys. Hell, we know so little about them; the first question should be where do we go to find them?”
Dan and Eddie walked up and joined Mark and Red.
“How are you both doing?” Mark asked.
“Alright boss.” Eddie nodded affirmatively.
“The ship all settled in Dan?”
“Yeah boss it is. She’s good.”
“Where’s Ari?” Eddie asked.
“I had her stay aboard with Dr. Troiano looking after her. That salad headed bastard did a number on her. ” He flexed his fists involuntarily as he thought about Ariel’s bloodied and bruised face.
“Nothin’ you can do about it now boss, the guy’s dead. Everyone in that hole in the grounds gotta be after what we put ‘em through.” Dan replied as the men entered a door heading towards the offices within the huge hanger.
“Is security in place around the facility, Red?”
“Yes I questioned the security head before we landed. I wanted to make sure everything was in place and locked down.”
“Good. I was worried about that,” Mark answered.
“Since when do you worry about anything?” Dan asked, wide eyed.
“This adventure taught me a lot, my friends. This universe is a much larger place than we ever realized. We always knew we were not alone, at least for a long time. But whatever evidence we had paled in comparison with the incontrovertible proof we discovered within a few days of leaving Earth.”
Dan shrugged his big shoulders, “Yeah boss, you got that right at least. I don’t think any of us were ready for such a hot reception when we got to that desert planet. Duddas, I think Seventeen called it before the President blew his brains out.”
“Yeah that was a hell of a thing wasn’t it?” Dan remembered.
“This entire mission was a hell of a thing so far,” Eddie replied.
“Ain’t that the truth.” Red answered.
“Boss, do you want us to stay aboard tonight? Just you know, in case?” Dan asked protectively.
“No, you two go home, relax. Tomorrow we have to get the Cag outfitted with the improvements that we want implemented; in fact Dan, you and I have some design work to do ahead of us. I’ve already got a few ideas to boost things up in both shields and solar cannon strength, even beyond what is being mounted in the coming days.”
“Me too, Boss.”
“Okay Dan, get home and get your feet up, relax for tonight I’ll see you in the AM. Try not to be here too late.”
“Ya know boss, I think I’m just gonna stay on board. I can get home tomorrow some time. Tonight, well I got a bad feelin’ about this.”
Red turned towards Dan and grinned wolfishly, “So I’m not the only one eh?”
“You too?” Dan asked grimly.
“Yes, me too. Something is just not right.”
“And I thought it was just me.” Mark confided, “If you two are going to stay on board then let’s get back on there now. I have to see Dr. Troiano about Ariel.”
Eddie shrugged his shoulders, “I might as well stay too then, not like I have anyone waitin’ at home for me.” And then added after a moment, “An Troiano ain’t exactly hard on the eyes.” he added with a grin.
Mark smirked as he began walking up the boarding ramp, “Good let’s get inside and kick back a little while.”
“Good? Whattaya mean good? I ain’t got no life a my own away from this place, you should be feelin’ sorry for me!” Dan’s voice trailed off as they entered the ship.
Eddie replied with a laugh, “Feel sorry for you? Do I feel sorry for the orangutan in the zoo because he’s in a cage?”
“Hey! Watch yer mouth scrawny before I pop yer head off yer shoulders like I was openin’ a Pez dispenser.”
Their voices trailed off within the ship as they disap
peared from its entry way.
***
But unseen by all, near a skid of barrels, something dark and mysterious stirred. It moved cautiously through the darkened hanger bay, a bay designed only for the Cagliostro. It skulked within the shadows awaiting those who still loitered within the cavernous expanse to leave for the evening as technicians finished up their duties on the great ship and began to filter out of the huge building.
Finally, after several more hours of skulking about and keeping to shadows the hanger was mostly empty, at least as empty as the shadowy being deemed it would ever get. Its impatience was beginning to gnaw at it like unto a dog with a bone as it crept stealthily towards the boarding ramp of the Cagliostro, under its gleaming, majestic bow.
The creature crept on all fours, cautiously watching as it swept its shadowy head from side to side. Up the ramp it crawled on all fours, its long, thin tongue slashing forward to test the air ahead of it like a snake.
Suddenly its head snapped around, revealing a serpentine face of absolute blackness as reptilian eyes dilated in surprise as a voice caught its attention entering the hanger.
“Damned keys, where the hell’d I leave them?” The technician muttered with his head down as he made a beeline to his work bench and began rummaging through it frantically. He never saw the night dark thing silently slide up behind him, never felt its presence until its hand was around his neck and then he was dead, his neck snapped like a twig, as the creature now carried the dead tech like a feather. Then cautiously looking about, dumped the man’s body into an empty barrel, before forcing a lid back upon the top, and returning to the ramp, disappearing into the ship with one last surreptitious look around.
***
Within the ship, Mark stopped in at the sick bay, where Dr. Troiano and her team of doctors were checking up on those on the ship that still needed care. Matt Marek was in a hospital bed in one of the small rooms off of the sick bay scrolling through a video feed. He had broken several ribs when he was shot almost point blank by the mad woman, Reynolds, but his uniform had absorbed not only the energy component of the blast, but much of the impact as well. Mark knocked on the open door as he walked in, “How are you feeling, Mr. Marek?” Mark asked.
The Cagliostro Chronicles Page 16