Alpha Class [Book 2]

by TS Paul

  “This is a private office. You are not authorized to be here, and I’m calling security!” Kenneth took two steps toward his desk and froze. A loud zinging noise echoed in the room. He couldn’t move at all!

  “Please don’t move anymore. My… friends wouldn’t like it. We have a great deal to discuss you and I. I would prefer it to be civil and calm but if you wish to be frozen for all of it, I will understand. What will it be?” The man had a soft-spoken voice.

  Kenneth shook his head or at least tried to. He managed to make a small grunting noise.

  “Oops. I forgot.” The man looked toward Kenneth’s desk. “Fix him please.”

  There was another humming noise, and Kenneth could move. “Who are you?”

  “Ah, good. Your choice Director?”

  Kenneth longed to run for it or grab his phone, but there was another in the room beside this man. “Calm. Please.”

  “Excellent. Now have a seat.” Ken felt a chair scoot forward and catch his legs from behind. Without turning around, he sat.

  “How much do you know about the history of this place? Better yet. How much do you know about Aliens?”

  Ken could only stare at the man. What was this? Was he one of those UFO nuts that kept trying to sneak onto the base?

  “I’ve confused you. Sorry. This base was created originally to investigate technology that we acquired from a few non-public sources over the years. Is there an alien spacecraft here? The answer as you know is ‘no.’ Was there one here? Yes, there was. More than one actually.”

  The man chuckled. “Don’t look so shocked. We, America, had a huge boost in technology after the past couple of major wars. Where did you think it all came from? Tubes to microcircuits in less than a decade? We’re good, but not that good. I work for an agency in our government whose job it is to find new technology and exploit it. Harry S Truman authorized our beginnings.”

  Ken started to say something, but out of the corner of his eye noticed movement. Two smallish humanoid figures were making their way around him. They had gray skin and elongated limbs. He could feel his jaw drop open.

  Aliens!

  “You can call me Two. We call my associates the Twins. I represent Majestic and you and I are going to be good friends.”

  Ken shuddered in remembrance. Just finding out aliens were real was a shock to the system. Protecting that secret was one of the hardest things he had done to date. He needed to report this and hope to God that the spillover didn’t hurt him or his people.

  ~~~~~~

  General Chun studied the large map on his wall. So much area to search. The ancient Great Wall of China stretched across the northern historical border. It was not continuous as many in the press and tourist groups would believe. Much of it had been dismantled and used for local building supplies.

  Broken sections littered the landscape many miles deep into Mongolia and the very edge of the Republic. Somewhere out there was the key to his eventual rise to control of all of this and beyond.

  They just needed to find two men and one monster.

  Without looking, he yelled to his aide. “Have they found them yet?”

  “Sir. Not to my knowledge, Sir.” Wang was the third aide in as many weeks. He was fresh from China’s version of OCS and had very few preconceived notions of what was right or wrong. Only the Party was what was important. He never questioned what became of his predecessors.

  “What about the other searchers, has any of the technology been recovered?”

  “Sir. According to my sources, General Xi in the Eastern Provinces has intercepted what appears to be some of what Beijing is looking for. Several security battalions are en route to him as we speak for protection.” The Lieutenant smiled. At least something had been recovered.

  “Damn.” General Chun turned away from the map and his dreams of Empire building. His desk was littered with maps, folders, and empty coffee cups. All of these he brushed aside uncovering a cell phone and picked it up to make a call.

  “Major Lee? I have a job for you. General Xi from Eastern Command has come into possession of some technology that is very dear to my heart. I need you to acquire it for me. Yes, you may use explosives. Be aware that there are several security groups headed in that direction. Beijing wishes the items as well.” The General nodded several times as he listened to the caller at the other end. “What? Triple? Fine. Fine. Same deal as usual. Yes, I will pay in hard currency. Understood.” He hung up the phone and waited.

  “Sir! Did you just…” BLAM! The sound of the shot was loud in the small room. Chun’s bullet hit the lieutenant dead center in his forehead. Blood cascaded across the wall. There was pounding at the door as his security team came crashing inward!

  “General! Are you alright?” Black suited soldiers scanned the room guns at the ready, searching for threats.

  “I’m fine. I caught the lieutenant making false statements and leaking critical intel. Tell the security group to search his quarters, interrogate his bunkmates, and bring in his family. Standard procedures.”

  He needed to get dumber aides. That was the third one this month.

  ~~~~~~

  “Did we lose them?” Jìshù peered at the distant tree line.

  “Maybe. They will pursue regardless, we killed two of their people. You heard the officer as well as I did. They believe we possess the technology they search for. They won’t stop searching for us. We must capture the beast and force it to reveal the hiding place. This is more than a hunt now. Now, this is for our survival.” Chang began checking his weapons.

  “We don’t have anything! The group we surprised, oh so many days ago were just families. Can’t we just tell them that?” Jìshù didn’t want to die.

  Chang’s face grew dark. He loomed over the smaller man. “Do you truly believe in your heart of hearts that we will be believed? Since you brought it up, let’s remember what happened several weeks ago shall we? Or do you not remember the details?”

  Jìshù shuddered. He remembered, and he wanted to forget. The screams and roars still haunted his dreams at night. It was just supposed to be a raid. Technology acquisition was the ultimate goal, not genocide!

  He was supposed to be in charge of the technical team.

  Word had reached his command that members of the Sacred Clan were fleeing through the province. A panel van with forged registration purchased petrol and supplies from a vendor at the city marketplace. Looking for a reward, the vendor’s wife turned her husband and the van into local police.

  “It may be just a family dispute, but we have to check it out. Any mention of the Sacred Clan and Beijing loses their minds. Does your technical team have any clues about what we are supposed to look for?” The local army post was only about to provide four strike teams to help with the arrest. Local trackers were standing by in case any of the enemies escaped. Capture if possible was what the orders had said. All belongings were to be turned over to the science team for investigation.

  “Disks, tapes, circuit boards, anything that looks mechanical. We really aren’t sure. If you believe the stories, these people had access to some of the same sort of technology that TQB has.” Jìshù smiled at the local commander. He was his cousin, and they had grown up together.

  “Really? Why are we just hearing about this now?”

  “Politics most likely. We hear all sorts of strange things in the science division. They have us investigating strange occurrences as well as the supernatural. Some of the stories I’ve read lately would curl what little hair you have left up there.” Jìshù and Jin Lo were constantly ribbing each other.

  “Are we in danger here my friend?” Jin Lo’s tone was serious now.

  “I really don’t know. Beijing never actually said one way or the other. I assume with a kill on sight order already in place they may be. But, our informant said it was just families and old people.”

  “I trust you Jìshù. We will capture these people and let the security teams have them. Then we can get back to o
ur lives.” Jin Lo was worried, but his troops were all professionals. They were set up at the bottom of a local hill as if it were a travel checkpoint. Those were so common most people expected them. Half his team would move in cutting off escape. The other half would arrest the enemy.

  The panel van was in a small line of traffic just topping the hill when they hit the checkpoint. The lead car stopped showed their papers and was let through. Only four cars stood between the van and the checkpoint when something spooked them.

  “What’s happening?” Jìshù muttered it to himself as the van suddenly backed up and tried to turn around. At the top of the hill, the blockade team moved into place. The van stopped moving and began revving its engine.

  Armed guards popped up from the blockade and surrounding woods. They began yelling for everyone to exit the vehicles and put their hands on their heads. Those in the cars complied and began to walk toward the officers. That is when all hell broke loose. The van revved its engine again and charged the blockade!

  “Stop!” Jin Lo yelled at the van to stop with his loudspeaker to no avail. A panel van is not a tank or armored car and when struck by hundreds of rounds of machine gun fire the front end dissolved into a pile of broken glass, metal, and people. The troops didn’t stop firing as the rear door suddenly went up, and monsters came roaring out!

  Jìshù didn’t know what else to call the giant cat-like creatures that poured from the panel van. They screamed and charged the surrounding troops.

  Broken and bleeding the monsters attacked en-masse the soldiers who fired at them with everything they had. Blood and other things better left unmentioned covered the road and vehicles. The women and children inside the van scattered into the woods and brush. Many were cut down as panicking troops fired at anything that moved.

  Jìshù was lucky. He was inside the unit’s lone armored car when the attack started. The door was too heavy to open without using the controls and anyway he didn’t know which button to push. All he could do was watch on the cameras as his friend was disemboweled in front of his eyes in bright digital color.

  Grenades were used to flush the monsters from the van destroying any hidden technology forever. Jin Lo’s second in command assigned pursuit teams, and the hunt was on.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “This pod is pretty cool! How come we don’t all have these?” Jeo finished his walk-around of the two experimental five-person pods. Peter sat on a crate while he talked to Bobcat.

  “That is… a funny story.” Bobcat leaned to one side looking around Jeo’s body. Peter waved at him. “And… I can’t tell you about it. They are experimental let’s leave it at that, shall we? I can tell you that we are making a standard ten-person pod on the Queen’s orders. These are just a couple of in-between ones we threw together. Please try not to destroy them. We’ve grown rather fond of them. Have fun.” He gave Peter a dirty look as he strutted out of the construction hanger bay.

  “He was sort of rude. When he was my boss, we got along pretty well.” Jeo watched as Bobcat left.

  “It’s not you. He’s a bit irritated at me. I ratted him and Marcus out. Loose lips sink ships and all that. The Queen was rather put out. We don’t have an intelligence service per se. ADAM takes care of that for us. But he can’t be everywhere. Some things are supposed to be kept secret. You know way too much about things you shouldn’t, and that is an issue. I told the Queen there was a snowball's chance in hell that you would sell us out. But, the temptation shouldn’t be put there. She was forced to have a chat with the terrible trio and a few others here and there. It’s all good. If they say stuff to you, don’t listen.”

  Jeo looked at Peter in shock. “Don’t listen? That’s all you can say?”

  “Pretty much. Don’t you have a class to teach?” Peter pointed to the entrance to the bay. Five students in space suits stood looking around.

  “Over here!” Jeo shouted to the kids.

  ~~~~~~

  Flight time to Earth was only a half hour, but they were too far away to make it without stopping at the QBS Archangel to change controllers. The EI units were limited in the distance they could operate from.

  “It looks pretty from up here.” Yana and Tina were in Pod One with Jeo. The boys and Peter all rode in Pod Two.

  Jeo peered through the viewscreen down at Earth. “It does. Too bad it’s only a candy coating. Underneath is war, destruction, and doom. We are good to be rid of it. I will miss all the architecture and history. I hope to be back one day, so that is at least a good thing.”

  “Are you bringing your family with you? If that is too personal a question, you don’t have to answer.” Tina stared at the young-looking man.

  He sighed. “They wouldn’t come. My father, well, let’s just say he doesn’t totally believe in all of this even though he has seen the pods with his own eyes. Mom wants to be with Dad. They are content and fairly well off with his retirement. I signed over my bank account to them.” He saw Tina’s mouth drop open and laughed.

  “You are guilty of your own brand of Earth think, Tina. Do we use Earth money in the Empire?”

  Tina thought for a moment. “I’ve seen something change hands among some of the staff. Bobcat and Marcus bet with something other than beer!”

  “True. They are using small ingots of gold and other precious metals. The Queen has plans for currency, but it hasn’t come to pass yet. I kept some of my earnings but gave the rest away. They need it more than I.”

  “Sorry if that was the wrong question.” Tina really did feel bad.

  Jeo shook his head. “Not an issue. You really are turning into a small version of your mother. You might consider training to do her job in the future. Just a suggestion really.”

  “She’s mentioned it to me. I want to try and find my own way first.”

  “How about you Yana?” Jeo allowed the EI to drive and looked over his shoulder at the taller Russian girl.

  She looked up to see the both of them staring at her. “Did you speak?”

  “What are your goals, or do you not have one yet?” Jeo carefully scrutinized her.

  “Finish school and make my father proud used to be one of them. Staying alive has been my strongest goal. Proving to the cheka that I exist and that they missed has been another. Now that I have left the mud ball as Ron calls it, I have different goals. I still want to finish school. This experience has been good for me so far. I don’t have any expectations of the future. Only to live long and prosper.” Both Tina and Jeo burst into laughter at that point.

  “Am I funny?” Yana only stared at them.

  “No. No. It’s what you said! Have you ever seen Star Journeys the television show?” Jeo tried to stop laughing.

  “Nyet. I mean no. Ron blathered on about that to Nestor on the moon. Something about wessels? What are wessels?” Yana frowned as both her teacher and her teammate started laughing again.

  Over on Pod Two Maxim and Nestor were asking Peter about the Guardians.

  “What made you join the Guardians in the first place, Peter? My uncle said you were the first Wechselbalg to take service with the Queen.” Maxim both respected and feared the man in front of him. He was one of the most famous Wolves in the Unknown World.

  Peter shook his head. “That honor lies with Nathan. It was he that helped the Queen from the very beginning. I joined as a way to escape all my problems. I broke the one rule that everyone in our world must never, ever break: do not reveal yourself to the humans.”

  Nestor’s head jerked up from his tablet. He had never heard that before! Maxim beat him to the question. “Why aren’t you dead?”

  “My father took my case before Gerry the leader of the American Pack Council when it still existed. He brought it to the Queen’s attention. If it had been the Archangel, Michael instead of her, I and my father would most likely have been killed. I owe my entire life to her. She had her personal guards take me under their wing and teach me to stand on my own two or four feet.”