by D F Capps
Hollis raised his eyebrows. “Sounds like a good plan.”
Chapter 37
Conrad Kaplan threw his cell phone across the room.
“I’ll kill him! He can’t do this to me!”
He called his specialized operatives and put his plan in motion.
Next he called Harlan Mohr.
“I need that new missile technology moved up. I want the high speed interceptor missile operational within thirty days. No excuses. Make it happen. We’re going to war against Russia!”
He sent an encrypted text to Secretary of Defense Farnsworth, Senator Whitcolm, and Speaker Metzner, telling them what he needed them to do.
This is the problem with politicians and the political process—they’re too undependable, he thought. I hate negotiations. I hate deals. The only people I can depend on are the ones who know I’ll kill them if they don’t do what I tell them to do. Fear of death is the only true basis for loyalty. No promises, no giving your word, only true loyalty matters.
* * *
Rosaq connected telepathically with the massive Zeta Grey computer system and became part of the real-time collective experience his pilots had during the recent encounter with the rogue fighter craft. The images of the enemy craft jumped and flitted rapidly. The weapon lock failure warning flashed on the main view screen. His pilots switched to manual aiming and firing control of their particle beam weapons. The amount of shots that missed their target was phenomenally high.
He initiated the interactive simulator mode with the computer and used his superior mind to aim and fire the weapons. He was able to significantly improve the number of hits against the rogue fighters, but the overall kill rate was still dismal. He reran the simulation trying several different tactics, but each time his saucer was hit and disabled within three seconds of engagement.
Rosaq focused his mind on the six-foot tall, green, praying mantis type Insectoid who had placed him in charge of the Earth Acquisition Force and connected telepathically. He shared the images of the jumping rogue fighter craft and the associated weapon lock failure. He sent his thoughts regarding possible off world sources of the technology and the known theater of operation of these craft. He waited as the Insectoid considered what course of action to take. The answer came back after a few seconds.
Locating and attacking these rogue craft on the ground became priority one. Locating the rogue base would be handled from the mother ship. Until the ground location was determined, single rogue fighters would be attacked by a minimum of three scout saucers, and multiple rogues would be engaged only when the odds were at least five saucers against one rogue. As Rosaq expected, the Insectoid made it clear that the capture or recovery of a rogue fighter, with its crew, was imperative.
Chapter 38
President Andrews sat in the Oval Office with Franks, Secretary of Defense Farnsworth, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Anger, defiance, and indignation were written on the faces of the defense department officers in front of him. He just needed a little more time.
“Russian armored divisions are mobilizing,” Farnsworth said. “You can expect thousands of Russian tanks to flood across the borders of Ukraine and Belarus within twenty-four hours. From there they will press into Poland and then Germany. Sir, you’re creating the greatest military debacle in the history of this country. Poland and Germany don’t have the military resources to defend themselves without us there. You have to reverse your order to withdraw from Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people are going to die at the hands of the Russians. This is just plain lunacy, sir. You have to stop this.”
Andrews remained determined to continue with his plan. The timing and sequence of events was critical to the outcome. The problem was he didn’t have control over when Pasternov would make his move, assuming he was going to join the plan at all. That remained to be seen.
“Sir,” the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. “I have to support Secretary Farnsworth. I have complete faith in the Navy and their cruise missiles, sir, but I must stand in favor of being proactive in our defense of Europe rather than falling back to a strictly defensive posture. Playing defense with the Russians is never a good strategy, sir. Too many lives will be lost.”
How many lives are too many, Andrews wondered. If Pasternov didn’t join with him, however many people died in the conflict in Europe would be considered the lucky ones compared to what the Zeta Greys had in mind. However bad things might look, they could always get worse. A lot worse.
“You’re undoing every bit of military progress we have made against the Russians since the Cold War,” Farnsworth said. “Politically and militarily, this is a disaster of epic proportions. Stop the withdrawal, now, sir, before it’s too late.”
Andrews shook his head. “I have a higher purpose in withdrawing our forces from Europe. We are going to need every soldier we have, right here in our own country, to fight a very vicious enemy within our borders.”
Farnsworth looked suspiciously at him. “And who do you imagine that enemy would be?”
It doesn’t take much imagination to know who your enemy is when they’re abducting and killing your people, Andrews thought.
“Unfortunately, I am not in a position to explain it all to you at this time. Suffice it to say that you are going to have to trust me for a few more days. Then I can read you in on what’s really going on.”
Farnsworth wasn’t buying it. Andrews could see it in his eyes.
“Sir,” the Chairman said. “You can tell us right now. We have the highest security clearances in the country.”
Farnsworth was staring at him: suspicious, disbelieving.
“Actually, you don’t,” Andrews said. “I didn’t either, so just bear with me for a few more days. That’s all I ask.”
Andrews watched them leave, frustration and resentment clearly etched on each face. I’ve asked them to trust me, he thought. If they can’t, this whole thing could blow up in my face. The problem was Farnsworth. He knew more than he was letting on, but what did he know? And where did he get the information?
He picked up his secure phone and called Admiral Hollis.
* * *
That evening, President Andrews and his personal Secret Service detail walked through one of the tunnels that led from the White House to a remote building. From there they traveled by car to Camp David.
At 11:00, the brightly glowing craft silently glided over the treetops and settled into the clearing inside Camp David. Andrews, dressed in an Air Force flight suit, swiftly approached as the canopy opened.
“Good evening, Commander,” he said.
Diane removed her helmet. “Good evening, sir, where are we off to tonight?”
He smiled at her. “Ten miles north of the Great Wall of China, northwest of Beijing.”
She nodded in acknowledgement. “We’re going to have to stay at lower altitudes, if you don’t mind, sir. We have a lot of saucers looking for us.”
Andrews climbed onto the wing. “Understood. Any problem in getting us there in half an hour?” he asked as he settled into the back seat.
“Not unless we get spotted by a saucer, sir. All bets would be off at that point.”
She handed him a helmet.
“Then let’s get to it.”
She checked Andrews’s harness and helmet, then took her seat.
The fighter craft rose silently into the night and shot due north at forty percent thrust. Within ninety seconds they had crossed over into Canadian airspace.
“The Canadians don’t know we’re coming through. Neither do the Russians. The Chinese president is the only one who knows we’re on our way,” he said.
She chuckled to herself. “No worries, sir. By the time they can get a pilot pointed in the right direction, we’ll be long gone.”
Diane angled the craft slightly east, crossing the western edge of Greenland on their way north. The moonlight reflected off the ice and snow as they crossed the top of the world, creating a surreal scene of shif
ting shades of gray and silver beneath them. At the fifteen-minute mark, the sky lightened in front of them. The sun appeared to rise in the south as she took him over Russia and into China. The craft settled down into the wide courtyard of an old gray stone Buddhist temple high up on a mountain. The Chinese president and his armed guards were the only people visible. The canopy lifted and Andrews stepped out into the bitter cold air. He heard it close as he walked into the temple behind President Hua Chung Hei.
“Just out of curiosity,” Hua said, “how long did it take you to fly here from Washington? Or is that classified information?”
Andrews checked his watch. “Twenty-two minutes. We took the scenic route.”
Hua chuckled. He had spent two years at Yale University when he was young and had learned a number of American sayings.
The two presidents sat on folding chairs next to a small, ornate, round wood stove in the center of the room.
“I have watched with great curiosity as you moved your army and air force out of Europe,” Hua said. “I must admit I am amused that you do nothing as Pasternov moves his tanks toward your NATO partners. Do you actually trust him?”
Andrews smiled and nodded. “As much as I am going to trust you,”
Hua smiled. “Meaning what, exactly?”
Andrews leaned forward. “I need your help. I am willing to trade the technology you see in the courtyard outside for your assistance in fighting the Zeta Greys.”
Hua’s expression turned serious. “You have no idea what you are up against. You can’t win against them.”
Andrews moved further forward and said confidently, “I can and I am.”
Hua shook his head. “I sent our best troops against the Greys in an underground base deep in Mongolia. I don’t even know if we killed any of those small creatures. What I do know is only four of our people survived. From the limited reports I have, some kind of ray gun was used by the aliens. It vaporized my soldiers. There is nothing I can do to help you.”
Hua sat back and folded his arms across his chest.
“We, too, have had our encounters with the alien flash guns. We are currently building a prototype portable particle beam weapon, but that is a ways off yet. What I am offering you is the means to shoot them down and stop the incursion of their saucers into our atmosphere. If we can cooperate on that, we can stop the flow of material and creatures both on and off the planet. We can break their supply chain.”
Hua scoffed. “Starve them out? Is that what you are suggesting?”
“Partially. They make their own nutritional liquid in the underground bases, and since they need to be fed only once in every six weeks, they can survive for years. What I am saying is that we need to isolate the saucers from the underground bases first. That craft outside is fully capable of accomplishing that task. Plus I know you have the atmospheric heaters and electrification technology we need as a weapon against the saucers in the ionosphere. You are going to need a certain parts per million metallic content of aluminum and barium in the upper atmosphere in order for it to work.”
Hua shook his head. “What you propose is very risky.”
Andrews shrugged. “And you think what the Zeta Greys are already doing and where their program is going isn’t?”
Hua pushed his lips together. Andrews didn’t see any fear in Hua’s face and posture, just deep anger and hatred. He could tell Hua already knew what the Zeta Greys were doing.
“I have twelve training simulators already in the air on two C-130 cargo planes. Just tell me where you want them and they’re yours. Underground training and launch facilities are an absolute necessity, as are particle beam cannons. The full build specifications are included with the simulators. I can deliver twelve craft and four cannons in ten days, complete with strategy, tactics, and build specifications. All I ask in return is your help fighting the Zeta Greys.”
Hua drummed his fingers on his knee.
“Pasternov is joining you?”
Hua seemed very skeptical.
“Yes, I believe he is.”
Hua broke eye contact, glanced around the room, and returned his gaze to Andrews.
“I will defer my decision until I see whether Pasternov actually joins with you.”
Andrews nodded slightly. Hua was making the first of many steps that needed to take place. Waiting for Pasternov was both cautious and reasonable under the circumstances. “That’s fine. I just need to know where you want the training simulators. Your people are going to need all the time with them they can get.”
Hua watched him carefully.
“So you are giving me the simulators and the cannon design before you get my decision?”
Andrews nodded. “I don’t think it’s much of a decision. Either we stand and fight together, or we lose the planet to the Zeta Greys.”
Hua looked skeptical, but at least he was still listening.
“When and if I decide?”
He’s going to join with us, Andrews thought. If he were going to walk away, he would have done so by now.
“Seed your skies with nanoparticles of aluminum and barium. I will also need the complete input from the incoherent backscatter array in Shanghai and temporary operational control over your transmitter in Xinjiang. Once you build your own command center, we will return operational control for your part of the planet back over to you. Then you can coordinate the electrification of the upper atmosphere with us to destroy the saucers. Do that and I will deliver the fighter craft with all of the build specifications and material processes needed for you to build your own fighters. You’ll have everything you need.”
Hua nodded to his assistant, who wrote a location in GPS coordinates on a piece of paper and handed it to Andrews, who, in turn, handed a USB drive to Hua.
“Three files. The first contains your internal enemies—the second has the names of people you can trust. The third file is the particle beam cannon design. This should help you come to a decision.”
Hua looked suspiciously at the USB drive.
“And I’m supposed to believe what’s on here. How did you come by this information?”
Andrews smiled. “Through the people from the Tau Ceti star system. They have already accomplished what lies before us. You have some of them working for you. It’s all in the file.”
Chapter 39
“I need to get this set of coordinates to two planes I have in the air,” Andrews said.
“Admiral Hollis can handle that for you, sir,” Diane said. She turned on the encrypted radio. “Jink to base, do you copy?”
Her stomach tightened with the risk of using the radio.
“Base to Jink, copy?”
The Zeta Greys would certainly pick up the encrypted signal.
“Boss there?”
Got to make this quick, she thought.
“I’m right here,” Hollis replied.
Andrews explained what he needed. Hollis confirmed the two planes received the location and clearance to land from Chinese air traffic control.
“Anyone around?” Diane asked.
She waited nervously for the reply.
“Clear skies, Jink.”
So far, so good, she thought.
“Roger that. I’ll have him back in a few.”
The sun set behind them as they continued their winter trek north into the darkness of the Arctic Circle. Diane’s radio crackled to life as they entered the northern expanse of Canada.
“Base to Jink, copy?”
Her stomach tightened into a knot.
“Jink here.”
She looked around quickly, scanning the skies.
“We have a saucer intrusion over the north pole. Three bogies high on your six. We are scrambling two craft to assist.”
They picked up our radio transmission, Diane thought. “ETA?”
“Twelve minutes.”
She cringed. “Acknowledged.”
She pushed the thrust to seventy percent and turned off the radio.
“W
hat’s going on?” Andrews asked.
“We have three scout saucers coming after us from outer space. I’m going to need your help.”
Of all the times, she thought.
“We’ll have reinforcements in twelve minutes, right?” Andrews asked.
She scanned the navigation display. Everything in front of her was wilderness. No place to hide, she thought. The only other place to run was up and that was filled with more saucers.
“Too long, sir. Those scout saucers will catch up to us in less than two minutes. Directly in front of you is the round radar screen. The saucers will appear as red dots. Think of the screen as a clock face, twelve at the top, three on the right side, six on the bottom, and nine to the left. We are the center of the screen. When one or more of the red dots gets close to the center, I need you to call out the position of the red dot as a number on that clock. Got it?”
For the first time she wished this was a three-seater instead of a two. She desperately needed Ryan to be there.
“I think so, yes.”
She closed her eyes for a moment. Ryan ran all of the electronic countermeasures and both power generating units on the fighter. If they were to crash, Andrews wouldn’t be able to shut down the antigravity drive. The impact would rupture the antimatter containment tube and trigger an explosion. Well, not an explosion, exactly: an annihilation event, where matter and antimatter annihilate each other, releasing a tremendous amount of energy in the process. She doubted there would be enough left of either one of them to identify.
“When I turn, the whole screen is going to shift in response, so the clock numbers will change. I will need updates on the closest red dot. We good?” she said, trying to shake the images of death and destruction out of her mind.