by Ben Winston
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Ty, I just finished your report. Since you’re not pulling your hair out with worry, I don’t think you understand the significance of what you saw last night,” Ian said. “You’ve answered the scariest question we had.”
“Sir? I don’t understand; what question would that be?” Ty replied.
“Ty, the analysis from all the instruments says that was a small anti-matter detonation. How many places on Earth can build such a device?” Ian asked.
“I’d heard that the bright boys were playing with some pretty big firecrackers out here, but I didn’t know they were anti-matter!” Ty said, then groaned. “No one terrestrial could build such a small, controlled device. I just thought it was a type of ‘dirty bomb’ like the terrorists have been threatening. That means that the guy following Allison was...”
“...Working for the enemy. There is no way he could have been a Caldarian, they’re not even remotely human looking, and none of them would ever allow themselves to be made to look like one of us. No, that had to be a modified human of some kind. Again, pointing to extra-terrestrial origins. You’re really going to have to start watching the fence,” Ian said.
“Well, I do have suspicions we’re being watched, but I can’t prove it yet. Other than what I mentioned before, we sure haven’t caught anyone doing it. If they are, they’re staying far enough away that we can’t detect them, or they’re using a cloaking generator. We also have to take into account that our eastern border is within spitting distance of White Sands,” Ty said. “If they have control over White Sands, they’d have to be deeply rooted in our intel community.”
Ian bit his lower lip before speaking. “I think our priority for now should be to get the ship back into space. If you think of anything you might remotely need, get it. If you get attacked your team and a wing of half-trained kids is all the protection those people have.”
“Sir, might I suggest that we just take a lower profile for a bit? Last night happened far too fast for that guy to get a signal off, so they can’t know what happened to him. We’ll quietly beef up security and add a couple more hidden weapons systems. But really sir, we have the shield, and a bunch of the guys here have been learning to handle a pulse rifle.
“You do what you need to do. We’ll be fine down here. I doubt they’ll stage the size of assault it would take to get through our defenses. Granted, we’ll be fully exposed, but so will they. They can’t have that many combat assets in the system or you would have detected them already. Take your time and get the ship off the moon safely.”
“I knew your joining us was a good idea. Thank you, Ty,” Ian smiled at the man.
Ty grinned back. “Just doing our job, sir. I should mention that a lot of these eggheads down here are really looking forward to moving up to Selene. So you might have to keep the ship close to the moon until they are able to defend themselves.”
“Selene? They’ve named the base already?” Ian asked.
“No, they’ve taken to calling the moon by the name they gave it; Selene,” Ty replied. “I told you they were anxious.”
“Obviously!” Ian chuckled. “Okay, we’ll get back to work. Let me know if there’s anything you need from up here.”
“Will-do, sir. Anders out.”
That interview did put Ian more at ease. Yes, now they had proof that the enemy was here, Ty had been right: Talos did have the tools to defend itself against attack. It would take a full scale assault with off-world weapons to breach the shield.
There had been no message sent by the target of last night’s excursion. So the enemy couldn’t know, for sure, what had killed him. As long as anything involving Talosian tech stayed below the surface, nothing could be learned by observation either.
Ian felt better about leaving the people down there; however, he did feel more urgency to get the ship back in space. He made a note to himself to discuss patrol routes for the centurions with the CAG. (Commander, Air Group)
When he and Jenny met in his ready room to take the elevator down to their quarters, he asked her how the engineers were doing getting the ship ready to lift.
“It’s going really well, actually. I think they wanted to surprise you with it, but they’re about four days ahead of schedule. They should have the rest of the superstructure re-enforcements in place in a couple more days. Major Dommer finally got the design for the anti-grav lift plates worked out. However, since they are so big and somewhat delicate, he had to design them so the drones could replicate them in sections,” Jenny reported.
“Are we still going to have to remove those lifters once we’re up?” Ian asked.
Jenny chuckled. “Only if you want a fully functioning shield under there; It’s an ‘either-or’ thing. Dommer says the physics won’t allow it.”
The elevator arrived at their apartment and they discovered that they were the last ones to arrive. The rest of the girls had already sat the table and were waiting for Ian and Jenny.
“Beth, I know you don’t like work discussed at the table, but I’d like to ask for an exception today. I have something very important to tell all of you,” Ian asked.
Even Jenny was surprised by his question since she was supposed to know everything he knows.
“If it’s that important Ian, go ahead,” Beth replied looking a little worried.
So, as Beth and Talena brought the soup and sandwiches to the table, Ian told them what had happened with Ty’s rescue of Allison. “So, there you have it; proof of enemy presence in our system. Star, I think Ty Anders, my family and I are the only people that should know of this. We don’t want to start a panic.”
“Acknowledged, Commander,” Star’s disembodied voice answered him.
“I can certainly understand that; is the town in danger?” Beth asked, concerned.
“Neither Ty nor I think so. With the defenses already in place down there, no one could assault them without the use of off-world weapons. That would draw more attention to them than us. Since they are obviously here covertly, we feel that the possibility of attack is very low.”
“So, what now?” Cindy asked.
“Now we concentrate on getting this ship back into space so we can defend the planet. Then maybe we can do something about the Caldarian presence,” Ian said.
“Hmm,” Jenny said, thoughtfully. “You know, Caldarians use hydrocarbons as nourishment. That might very well explain the missing oil crewman Taylor discovered.”
Ian shrugged. “That’s something we’ll have to figure out. Fortunately, it’s not super-urgent, so we can get the ship space borne again before we start worrying about it. But I think by then the eggs down at Talos will want that base we promised them.”
“Is that such a good idea now that we know the enemy is here?” Talena asked. “We’d be hard put to defend both Talos as well as a base on the moon.”
“Ideally, each one should be able to defend itself, with us responding only if they need more help. However, because of the location, the moon base will have far better defenses than Talos will,” Ian replied.
Brittney was learning at an accelerated rate. In fact there were a couple of times the computer ordered her to see Dr. Johnson for a cerebral check-up. All of the Doctors had commented on her ability to suck up knowledge at such a rate. She had even been asked to assist a couple of the researchers investigating a way to make terran solar cells more efficient so they could be used to power homes and businesses. She jumped at the opportunity.
Every day she was so excited about what she’d learned and how her day had gone, that she didn’t notice that she and Valerie were slowly drifting apart. Valerie however, did. She was sad at first, but seeing how happy Brittney was, she kept her mouth shut, and let her little girl blossom the way she was meant to.
Valerie had her work with the legal department, and was taking nightly classes in the Talosian legal system. She had friends, and when the time came she could probably have lovers as well. She still missed her mates,
and she would dearly miss Brittney, but she had to let the girl have her own life.
Valerie watched as Brittney made friends for the first time in her life. She watched as she flirted and was flirted with, although Valerie didn’t think her little girl had a clue that’s what was happening. Valerie smiled for her daughter, but wept silently for herself.
Four miles away from Talos, but still on their land, Ty and five members of his team watched the two ATV’s ‘romping’ around. Normally, they wouldn’t have bothered with something this trivial, except the two had been making steady progress toward the property boundary.
“The more I watch ‘em the more I’m convinced they are only making it look like they’re playin’ boss,” Tabitha’s soft voice said in all their ears. She was on a hill overlooking the area with a very high powered rifle trained on the approaching men. “They are definitely trying to get on the property. Three ‘no trespassing’ signs are in clear view of them.”
“That still doesn’t mean anything, Tabby. A lot of kids out just having fun, don’t pay attention to those signs.” Steve replied to her.
“Stand by for positive ID,” the computer said in their ears. “Subject One; Harold Barns. Born; February 8th, 1990, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Original ID; William D. Harwell, Born February 8th, 1990 Roth, Virginia. Reported missing April 14th, 1996, in Roth, Virginia. Police case file remains open. Subject Two; Jared Albrecht. Born July 23rd, 1988, Las Vegas, Nevada. Home of Record; Miami, Florida. Current Employer; Brightstorm Security Agency of Austin, Texas. Current Assignment; Halliburton Oil, Kuwait City, Kuwait. In-Country work visa is valid for another six months.”
“I guess that answers the question about them just playing. I doubt they’ll let us capture them for questioning, and we have no justification for just shooting them, so let’s just make sure the assholes stay off the property,” Ty said. “If we get the opportunity to take one of them, do it. But be careful; we don’t have a containment field out here. Computer, do we have their comm frequency yet?”
“Negative Lieutenant, they do not appear to be communicating at all.”
Ty sighed. “Okay folks, let’s chase them off. Just be thankful there’re only two of them!”
As the two dune buggies, both with small, blue flashing lights on them, raced toward the two intruders, the two ATV’s dropped all pretense of ‘accidentally’ crossing the boundary, and headed straight into the restricted area.
Since Ty’s two buggies were approaching from opposite sides, Steve from the west, and Ty from the east, the two ATV’s were trying to get passed them by racing right down the middle. It looked like they were going to make it too until the ground in front of the two fast moving four-wheelers erupted in a small explosion.
Both ATV’s came to a sudden stop, and it was clear they were looking for where the shot had come from. Tabitha was an experienced sniper though, and knew how to keep from getting discovered. She smiled to herself as she loaded another explosive tipped, fifty-caliber round into her modified Barrett.
The stopping of the two made it so Ty’s buggies would catch them shortly, so without much discussion, they turned around, and headed back the way they’d came. Ty and Steve were only thirty yards behind them when they crossed the boundary. The two buggies stopped right beside the post that had the no trespassing sign, as well as all the other warnings on it.
Roughly three hundred yards farther away, the two ATV’s stopped and their riders turned back toward their stopped pursuers. It was clear they were talking about something, but before Ty could try to get the conversation amplified, they turned back and rode off into the desert.
“Well, that was an interesting way to spend an afternoon.” Joel commented, he’d been Ty’s gunner.
“Yeah, and somehow I don’t think it’ll be the last time we do it, either. I’d sure like to know how a guy that was a missing kid, and a mercenary that’s supposed to be in Kuwait could be trying to get on the property on ATV’s,” Ty said thoughtfully. “Since Tabby stopped them, I’ll bet they’ll come back with a way to counter her, as well as a way to get past us.”
“Boss, you think this might have something to do with our rescuing Allison?” Lee asked quietly. He’d been Steve’s gunner.
“I don’t know, Lee. I can’t see how it would, but I suppose anything’s possible. I’ll make a report to the Commander, but let’s see if we can find out more about Mr. Albrecht, and Brightstorm Security.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
After going over Ty’s report on the incident, Ian tried to think of anything he might have over looked. They couldn’t allow anything that would lead the enemy to connect the small community to the ship. He had a feeling he was overlooking something. He made a note to remind himself to speak to Janet Laskar about finding someone to look into the occurrences on the planet.
Ian moved on to the next report. It was a personnel report from Jenny. Ship’s compliment was doing pretty good, but they were still short. The most notable shortage was in the marine barracks. Normally a ship like Star Dancer would carry a full company of marines; one hundred men and women plus all of their equipment.
The plan for the marines was to try to recruit actual marines that had just gotten out of the service. They would still need some training, and that was what was holding things up.
If they built a small training facility on the property near Talos, the activities there could be, and most likely would be, observed. Then the government could use the excuse of a terrorist training facility to gain full access to everything in Talos.
Ian thought that maybe they should have the construction drones at Talos build a large holo-suite as part of the base. That way they could also use some of the underground housing for the troops during training. Granted, it wouldn’t be the same as training them out in the open like they normally would, but it should be close to it. He wrote up a draft of his idea and sent it off to Ty to get his opinion.
It was lunch time, and Jenny would be taking over bridge duty. Lieutenant Shostakovich, immediately nicknamed ‘Chekov’ by the rest of the bridge crew, was the duty watch officer this shift. As was the practice of Jenny, Ian and Chekov, they would alternate who would take lunch first, and today was Chekov’s turn. Since he had just returned, Ian smiled at him before heading to his ready room to have lunch with Jenny, who had been in there working on her pet weather project.
“Hi sweetheart, how are the two of you doing this morning?” Ian bent down and kissed her belly. The girls had started getting big but Beth and Jenny still had a bit to go before catching up to Cindy.
“We’re doing a whole lot better now that you’re here Daddy,” she replied and tilted her head back to receive a kiss too.
Just as they sat down at the conference table, the door announced a visitor. When Ian gave permission, Beth, Cindy, and Talena entered.
“Mind if we join you two?” Cindy asked.
“Not even a little bit, sweetheart!” Jenny said, rising and giving all three women a kiss.
Lunch progressed quietly in the company of loved ones. As they were cleaning up, Talena noticed the image on the big screen. “Jen, what were you working on, if I can ask?”
“Oh, just the weather pattern tracking thing is all, why?” Jenny replied.
“Well, I was wondering why you’d be looking at the old instruction images from before the crash,” Talena continued.
“What do you mean, Sweetness?” Ian asked.
“Well, before the...” She sighed. “Before the crash, part of our flight training was a class given by the intel department. They taught us how to track ships that were trying to play hide and seek until they could get away. If I remember correctly, Lieutenant Drehn said that this was the signature of a freighter. You can tell by the unusual amount of down draft; it was loaded heavy,” Talena answered, concerned by how pale Ian and Jenny were getting. “Did I say something wrong?”
Ian shook his head at her. “No sweetheart, but you might have just saved all of our lives.
” He touched his comm, “Major Star?”
“Yes Commander?” Star said as she materialized in the room.
Ian pointed to the screen. “Please compare that Ionic pattern to those stored in the Intel database, and see if it matches anyth...”
“Match found. Caldarian Theta-four class heavy freighter. From this profile, she was fully loaded. This track was only minutes old at the time it was captured by the probe,” Star replied interrupting Ian.
Jenny sat down behind Ian’s desk. “This image was part of the morning’s data packet from the south-pole weather probe.”
“Sir, there is nothing on the scanners. The ship should be registering on our scanners for at least the next few days. It must be cloaked,” Star said beginning to look concerned.
“Since when do Caldarian ships use cloaks?” Ian asked
“I think of more concern at the moment, sir, is the fact that this class of ship is equipped only with a sub-light, gravity drive,” Star said.
Ian was nodding his agreement with Star’s point. “Which means she has to be hooking up with a bigger ship close by. “From now on, all flights to the planet have to be cloaked for the entire trip. We’ll be damn lucky if they haven’t already seen us, but why give them more of an opportunity?”
“What do you want to do about the Theta-four?” Jenny asked. “That image is six hours, twenty minutes old. The trail is either gone by now, or will be shortly.”