“Who would I report to? You?” she asked, with a sardonic smile.
“Yes, Ma’am. Although we’re still figuring some things out, and that may change once Admiral Reynolds has a chance to weigh in on it. We’ll get in contact with him shortly, I hope.” The last thing in the world Jason wanted to do was to take on added responsibility. Commanding a single spaceship was one thing, but a fleet of alien vessels? Not to mention an outpost. He would gladly hand over the task to Admiral Crawford, but he didn’t trust her yet, or where her true loyalties lay.
“We’ll need a base for this outpost, one outside the reach of all political, as well as geographical, influences.”
Jason was encouraged by her train of thought. “I agree; any thoughts on the matter? Any suggestions?”
The Admiral smiled and slowly looked around, taking in the vast desert landscape.
“What do you think of right here, on the Texas-Mexico border? Two hundred square miles of desolate, undisturbed Chihuahuan desert. A province unto itself. Not American, not Mexican.” It was clear by Admiral Crawford’s expression, she’d not only given the prospect consideration, she’d already made it happen.
“What will we name this province?” Jason asked, fairly certain she had an answer for that as well.
“Earth Outpost for the United Planetary Alliance—the EOUPA. Isn’t that what you wanted?” she asked, exasperated. When Jason and the Admiral turned and headed toward The Lilly, he noticed all the Craing prisoners were gone.
Chapter 15
After reading his father’s accounts of the Alliance’s devastating defeat by the Craing, Jason almost felt guilty he’d captured one of their vessels so easily. Admiral Crawford, sitting next to him in his ready room, was still reading the same report. If the FDL incoming communications indicators were correct, both admirals would be talking to each other within the next few minutes. Jason realized the irony of it all; the one thing his father had kept secret and out of the war with the Craing, was the one thing that could have defeated them: The Lilly. You won’t destroy Craing ships by blasting away at their shields. You phase-shift right into the belly of their holds and infiltrate from inside. Ridiculously simple—profoundly effective.
Lieutenant Commander Perkins entered the room, followed by Ricket, Billy, Lieutenant Craig Wilson, the new Top Gun hot-shot, and Orion. Each had previously met Admiral Crawford and they now formed into a group to strategize about the three Craing vessels, orbiting above Earth.
A question had been tumbling around in Jason’s head for the last few hours. “Ricket, my first question is about the phase-shift technology on The Lilly. Can it be duplicated? Do we understand it enough to transfer that technology to something else, say a fighter? When that Craing fleet arrives with their 500 ships, some of them won’t have anywhere near the needed inner space for us to phase-shift into their hulls. But fighters…”
Ricket thought for a moment before answering. “Yes, and you’ve already seen three examples of that technology.” He pulled off his baseball cap and scratched the top of his head. The rest of the crew were long used to his strange looks, but the admiral was more than a little fascinated by his near-transparent skin, and the continual mechanical goings on all over his head.
Jason let that sit for a while and smiled. “The shed. Those metallic-glowing-cylindrical things in old Gus’ tool shed. What the hell were you doing with them?”
Orion spoke up first, giving the mechanical man a sideways glance. “He was keeping them a secret, Captain. Ricket’s always keeping something a secret,” she scoffed, with more than a little accusation behind her words.
Before Jason could chime in, he noticed Billy had a strange look on his face, like a painted-on smile. Then he noticed some movement under the table. Billy and Orion were playing footsies, kicking at each other like damn children.
“It’s because there’s still a mole onboard, right?” Perkins asked, beating Jason to the punch. Ricket nodded, but said nothing.
“That’s one more thing that needs to be dealt with,” Jason said, glancing over to the admiral before continuing. “So, did you use that phase synthesizer on sub-Deck 4B to create the new phase-shift devices? What would it take to make enough for each of the fighters and for the two shuttles to be outfitted?” Jason asked, and then scowled at Billy to knock it off.
“Anything the phase synthesizer constructs or duplicates, happens instantaneously. The truth is, items are made even before we request them,” Ricket replied, in a matter of fact tone. His statement pulled Admiral Crawford away from reading the report.
“What the hell are you talking about?” she questioned, her brow furrowed toward Ricket.
For some reason, Jason found her annoyance funny and had to hold back a chuckle.
“Many aspects of the ship deal with piggybacking onto the multiverse. And no, none of us fully understand these principles, but the original designers of The Lilly certainly did. We’re making incremental progress, at least in regards to utilizing those capabilities.” Ricket paused, collected his thoughts, and then continued. “To answer your question, I should be able to make as many as needed. But that’s not the problem. The problem lies with integrating the units into current systems and providing them with enough power. Even with that said, these fighters will temporarily be without thruster and weapons prior to making a phase-shift, and they’ll need to get in close, within a mile of the Craing ships.”
“It's not like the Craing are going to let our fighters just mosey up and then wait while our new gizmo takes effect. And, by the way, does anyone know where all our Craing prisoners are?”
Billy sat up and nodded his head. “Yes, sir. Temporarily we’ve put them into their own cages on the Craing ship. It seemed appropriate.”
“I like it,” Jason said, smiling. Just then he, and it looked like everyone else at the table, was being hailed.
“Go for Captain.”
“Contacts. The three Craing cruisers have entered Earth orbit. They’ve locked onto both The Lilly and their own ship,” said McBride
Jason looked over to Ricket and Orion.
“Can we get the Craing vessel’s shields up?”
Ricket brought up a virtual console. “Yes, they’re up now. We’ll need to stop working on any hull patches as long as the shields are active.”
When Jason looked over to the admiral she shrugged and said, “Oh no, I’m not staying behind. You couldn’t pry me off this ship with a crow bar.”
* * *
The Lilly lifted off within three minutes. Jason had a basic plan of how he would engage the Craing vessels, but he’d still have to play some of it by ear. Billy was ready with three separate 30-man SEAL teams, allocated to: Bear, Lion, and Zebra, each wearing hardened combat suits and carrying plasma pulse rifles.
Ricket was busy with a new project. One Jason wished he’d thought of before they’d blasted the hell out of the other Craing ship’s weapon systems.
“How we doing with that, Ricket?” Jason asked the mechanical man, now hunched over and working at his Science Officer’s station.
“I have two possibilities: if one doesn’t work the other one might.”
Jason let out a long breath. Both the admiral and his XO sat next to Jason, who was seated in the command chair. They continued to stare at Ricket.
McBride at the helm said, ”We’re in orbit, sir. Three contacts—it’s the Craing vessels and they are moving to intersect.”
“We’re in weapon’s range, Captain,” Orion said.
“In range for phase-shift in three minutes, based on our current trajectory and speed,” came from the helmsman.
“How much time will we need between jumps, Ricket?” Jason asked.
“Depends on how close we can get to their ships. The closer the better. If it’s within one-mile, regeneration time is less than eight minutes.”
“Lilly, segment the wrap-around display for each of the external quadrant views as well as helmet cams for Bear, Lion and Zebra te
am leaders,” Jason ordered.
The display changed. On the forward segment, a Craing ship was quickly moving into view. On other display segments, jerky helmet cams showed SEAL teams waiting at the forward and rear air locks.
“They’re powering weapons, Captain. Firing their plasma cannons. Our shields are holding,” Orion reported. The admiral was on her feet, pacing. Jason felt her eyes on the back of his neck. He knew she was getting impatient. She wanted him to fire back.
“Captain, are you going to just watch them? Are we mere spectators here, or will you get your ass in the game?” Quiet came over the bridge, all heads turned to see Jason’s response.
“Two things, Admiral,” Jason said, not taking his eyes off the display. “One, I don’t report to you. Please remember you’re here as a guest. Two, The Lilly’s guns are for the most part untested. They could irreparably damage that Craing vessel. So let me ask you—do you want an operational vessel to add to your fleet or one that is shot to hell and useless?” Jason knew this confrontation was coming. Better to get it over with now rather than later.
The admiral was flustered and obviously not used to being confronted this way. “Well, do something!” she shot back, sitting down in a huff.
The Lilly had not slowed and continued to barrel down on the Craing cruiser. “They must think we’re crazy,” McBride said. “Ramming speed… ” he added, in an exaggerated deep voice.
“Prepare to phase-shift to the vessel’s hold. Same as before, Ensign.”
“We’re at one mile, Captain,” McBride reported.
Jason looked around the bridge, then gave the command. “Go ahead and shift.”
* * *
Bear Team, led by Billy, made its way down both gangways. Looking up at the segmented display, the Craing ship’s hold looked nearly identical to the captured vessel. Dark and lurid. The bridge watched through multiple helmet cam videos. It was apparent that this hold was not empty; in fact, it was nearly full.
“Go for Captain. What have you got, Billy?” Jason asked in response to the hail.
“They look like tubes or some kind of pods. Yeah, they look like pods,” Billy responded.
“Pods with Craings inside?” Jason asked, fairly sure he already knew the answer. Billy positioned his helmet directly over one of the pods. An elderly man’s face, apparently unconscious, was visible through a rectangular window. A row of small interior lights partially illuminated his sallow skin and exaggerated the dark creases on his face.
Jason watched the display change as Billy stepped back and provided a wider view of the hold. Easily, several hundred pods had been destroyed. Lives ended. Perhaps human prisoners awaiting a fate worse than death. It was apparent to everyone on the bridge that the Craing had anticipated their move. Perhaps they had been in contact with the first vessel and stacked the pods here as some kind of deterrent to a phase-shift.
“Hold your position, Billy. I’m joining team Bear,” Jason said, rushing toward the bridge exit and saying over his shoulder, “XO, you have the con. And Ricket, your priority is back on the miniature phase-shift devices.”
* * *
Jason quickly suited in a combat suit. Equipped with a pulse rifle, he hurried down the gangway and met Billy and the rest of team Bear. Like last time, they broke into five squads, with one staying behind to guard The Lilly’s perimeter.
“Looks like we have Craing combatants both forward and aft headed our way. Wait—not Craing. I don’t know what the hell they are,” Billy said, while he stopped to evaluate his own HUD readings.
Ricket broke into their comms. “I’ve never seen these readings; they’re not human-Craing hybrids, nothing like those who are on earth, Captain.”
Jason’s thoughts flashed back to Air Force General Bickerdike and his bizarre two beating hearts. Jason hailed Perkins.
“Go for XO, Cap,” Perkins responded over their comms.
“Get The Lilly off this tin can. Shift away now!” Jason commanded, fearing a trap. Within moments, The Lilly shifted away without a sound.
The alien beings pouring into the hold were unlike anything Jason had expected to see. Not short and grey like the Craing, and not humanlike as General Bickerdike. These hybrids were easily seven feet tall, one thousand pounds of muscle—somewhat humanoid, but with heads not dissimilar to rhinoceros, with protruding center horns and all. They wore thick leather-like battle gear. Pulse weapons were strapped to one wrist and they carried some kind of battle hammer in the other. These hammers easily weighed hundreds of pounds.
As three rhino-warriors, one-by-one, charged into the hold, Jason and Billy simultaneously dropped to one knee and fired their phased plasma rifles. Jason went for a headshot on the left rhino-warrior, while Billy went for a center mass chest shot on the other.
They kept coming: One with a bloody socket where his eye had been, and the other with a two-inch blast hole in the middle of his chest. These beasts lived for battle. The short four-foot high Craing were fine conducting wars from the protection of their warships, but they weren’t soldiers. This kind of in-your-face confrontation required seasoned, skilled fighters—warriors. Jason realized now why the three Craing ships had left orbit. They needed to bring in reinforcements.
Billy adjusted his aim and continued to shoot. Several of the rhino-warriors went down with a floor jarring crash. The Craing had set up this surprising ambush; a trap had been laid. More and more rhino-warriors were charging into the hold from four separate corridors. According to his HUD, there were as many as seventy-five of these beasts aboard, compared to Jason’s task force of less than thirty men. Most of them, fortunately, were taking cover behind stacks of the remaining pods and crates. The beasts attacked with wild abandon—almost frenzied, but without the U.S. military’s tactical precision that trained soldiers would exhibit in battle. These guys were all about brute force and brawn.
Up ahead, a rhino-beast had made it through the line and was charging one of the SEAL’s. He too dropped to one knee and fired repeatedly. The beast kept coming. The SEAL took the brunt of the rhino-beast’s onslaught in his mid-section. His heavy battle armor was unable to keep the razor-sharp horn from penetrating through the front, and then out the back of his combat suit. The beast, using his hammer to dislodge the now dead SEAL from his horn, looked around, and charged directly toward Jason.
He brought up his weapon, positioned his laser sights right above the creature’s horn, and fired. A burst of blue plasma shot into the beast’s forehead. The rhino-warrior went down like a sack of potatoes.
Nearby, Jason saw Billy had lost his weapon and was dodging a rhino’s horn. Like a matador, he danced this way and that, barely avoiding being skewered. He then took a glancing blow to the shoulder. Fortunately, it didn’t penetrate his battle armor. Quickly, Jason aimed and fired at the beast from across the hold. Three bursts went into the back of his head. The rhino-warrior stopped and stood motionless, almost defying gravity, before there was the inevitable crash to the floor. Billy turned to see who’d saved his life. Seeing it was Jason, he casually saluted his friend, retrieved his weapon, and went right back into the fight. More rhino-warriors were moving into the hold—they were so large, so wide, they needed to enter one at a time. Ten SEALs now lay dead on the hold’s floor.
A hammer struck another SEAL, removing the top portion of his head. Blood and tissue sprayed in every direction. They were taking too many casualties. Then, without warning, something smashed down on the top of his own head—something from behind. He went sprawling to the floor. Jason’s visor had cracked, obscuring his view. His head felt like someone had dropped a dump truck on it. Then he saw the hammer that was again on its way back down. He had just enough time to roll to his left. The hammer struck an inch from his helmet. The sound of the metal weapon hitting the hold’s metal sub-flooring rang out like a gong. The rhino-warrior brought his weapon up for a final blow. Jason kicked out, planting the hardened toe of his boot right where he imagined the beast’s family jewels
would be. Obviously, in excruciating pain, according to the look on his face, the rhino-beast took it like a man and held steadfast. Then two blasts from a nearby SEAL made the creature’s head explode, covering Jason in blood, bone, and grey flesh. Jason wiped the mess off his damaged visor.
Something was nagging at him in the back of his mind, something he remembered learning in grade school about rhinos in Africa…Then he had it.
Jason set his comms for the general band. “Be ready to go to night vision, we’re going dark in here. Shoot the lights, all of them!” Jason commanded. In between taking shots at the beasts, the SEALs pointed their weapons up towards the overhead lights. One by one, they exploded and the hold went totally black. Their night vision optics switched on automatically. The rhinos were blind as bats and stumbling around. Several had fallen and were crawling around on all fours. Watching them, it was almost pathetic. Jason felt uncomfortable killing them this easily. Being taken as prisoners would not be an option for these huge warrior-beasts; they’d rather fight to the death.
“Do it quickly. Shooting them right above the horn does the trick,” Jason said, without any malice in his voice. Within minutes the hold was clear. According to his HUD, all other alien life forms on the vessel were Craing. Jason hailed The Lilly and had her phase-shift back to the hold.
Jason, along with the rest of Bear team, headed directly toward the Craing bridge. He commanded another SEAL team to clear the rest of the vessel, round up any remaining Craing, and lock them up in their own cages. As evident from comms reports, the Craing on this ship were somewhat prepared to fight back, yet no match for the battle-hardened SEAL teams. Where the rhino-beasts were true warriors and fought with honor, even passion, the Craing were fearful and cowardly. Any concern that the Craing would self-destruct their own vessels to keep them out of enemy hands was dismissed. It wasn’t uncommon for the Craing, especially the Overlords and officers, to whimper and grovel when apprehended.
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