Titan Stand

by Max Jager

  "Well it seems that our friends the Malhazars had a few tricks up their sleeve. That ship of their's is apparently equipped with some sort of "disrupter" that knocked out the flight controls on the raider craft, we're just lucky it didn't knock out ours. That flash you saw was caused by what they call a proto-phason torpedo that completely obliterated Bline-Aichel if you can believe that. The whole planet suddenly became a super-nova just like that…Incredible…Simply incredible. They are leaving our company now, I guess they got what they came for, uh hold on…"

  "Standby Matt, there's a message coming in for you from the Malhazar ship, I'm transferring it to your scanner now."

  Suddenly the unmistakable face of Holliqua appeared on his scanner screen.

  She appeared to be wearing a helmet similar to his, as well as a battle jacket.

  "Hello Matt how have you been?" She began. All he could think was

  "How in the fuck?"

  I couldn't talk to you before as we were in silent cloaked mode. Well I certainly hope the Diyari have learned their lesson. It took some considerable effort, but as you can see, persistence pays off. Well anyway, good luck in all your endeavors, I've been spending a lot of tine at Neb's lately so stop by the next time you're on Golia, perhaps I'll be there." Her image then disappeared, leaving him to wonder.

  "Was she following me? Crap, I was kind of looking forward to stopping by Neb's sometime, but no longer, what a damn shame." then there was the matter of blowing up the whole planet of Bline-Aichel. That seemed pretty over-the -top but it certainly fit with what he already knew about these people. For the next couple of days whenever he thought about Holliqua and the Malhazars he found himself humming the theme from the Godfather.

  After Orlak and Rekton announced that they were more or less out of the Thovan system everyone began to relax as the next stop was earth. When it was time to sleep, Matt found that he couldn't. Between thoughts of Holliqua and the fear that she was following him, he was still trying to decide where they could get guns and ammo. Would it be easier to find a jungle drug laboratory, or a terrorist training camp in Iran or what was once Lebanon. Finally he realized he just couldn't sleep, so he dressed and wandered up to the galley area.

  Gyod was sitting at the table fiddling with some sort of electronic device while Skart and Ifwol were talking about their previous encounter with the raiders. He poured himself a cup of piping hot dol'meul and sat down. Nobody said anything to him for several moments until Skart broke the silence.

  "We understand you had a message from somebody on that Malhazar ship?"

  "Yeah, although I had no idea she was on that ship."

  "What's her name?" Asked Ifwol. Matt shrugged,

  "Holliqua Karlnoti, some time back we returned some kids who had lost their parents to raiders back to Moriedia. Are any of you familiar with those people?" With out looking up, Gyod remarked,

  "Don't ever cross them, they can make your life very unpleasant."

  "So I gathered," replied Matt. Anyway, I met her there. I know it won't mean anything to you guys but that whole family was like a cross between the Corleone's and the Adams family, but there's a group of people just like the Malhazar's back on earth…They call themselves the Mafia.

  "Well you'd do well to stay away from them," said Ifwol, "Unless you're tired of living."

  "So how come you made a deal with them?" He asked.

  "It was strictly a business proposition," replied Skart.

  "We were looking for some way to finance the trip or at least buy the fuel. RonJac has numerous contacts and discovered that the Malhazar's were looking for someone to escort them into the Thovan system with Bline-Aichel being their destination. They were offering a great deal of credits or in our case an offer to cover all our fuel costs. Beyond that, we had no idea what their business was out this way…Well I guess we certainly found out."

  "There could have been innocent people on that planet," muttered Gyod, "Had we known they would have hit Bline-Aichel with a "planet-buster" we would never have made that deal."

  "So in a sense," said Matt, "They made you an offer you couldn't refuse." Everyone stared at him not being sure if he was being flippant, or trying to make a joke.

  "The point is Matt," said Skart,

  "Even though Bline-Aichel is a raider stronghold, you can't just go into the Thovan system and just start indiscriminately killing people. Believe me once word gets out, the Diyari and the Vel'Takz are going on a rampage. But that's not the worst part; those "Meliken" Malhazars now have us leveraged."

  "How do you mean?" Asked Matt, "It's not like anyone else saw this happen."

  "Yeah but those Malhazars certainly did, and on top of that one of them knows you. Do you see the position you've put us in?"

  "So now it's my fault huh?" Ifwol sighed,

  "No, not really, it's just as much our fault. We had no idea one of them knew you, and apparently they were able find out who was on board."

  "Well couldn't we go back and find them, destroy their ship?" He asked. Everybody started laughing.

  "They are probably back on Moriedia by now but even if we had acted as soon as they destroyed that planet it still wouldn't have worked, their ship was obviously equipped with a "disrupter" and they would have simply destroyed us."

  "Well maybe they would have if I hadn't been aboard," said Matt. "Maybe Holliqua stopped them? Who knows, if they are anything like the Mafia back on earth, they certainly don't like to leave witnesses'."

  "Well all I know is that she said she hangs out at "Neb's" which is a shame 'cause now I can never go back there." Everyone chuckled,

  "Don't worry about it Matt," said Skart, we'll figure something out."

  "Do they know we're going to earth?" Asked Matt,

  'Not to our knowledge," replied Skart, "Orlak and Rekton estimated the amount of fuel we would need and applied the amount of credits needed to pay for it and that's what the Malhazar's advanced us. When we return we will have to stop by Fort Kamata to refuel."

  "Is there anyway they could find out?" Asked Matt. Ifwol snickered, "We're dealing with Malhazar's here, they can find anything they want to."

  "Then I guess we're fucked!" lamented Matt.

  "Not necessarily," replied Ifwol, we'll figure something out, but for now let's just think about that earth of yours and all the mischief we can make."

  He couldn't be sure if Ifwol was pulling his leg or not but either way it looked like he was going to be "babysitter" for this crew,

  "Then again maybe I could "ditch" all of them and just let them go back to Ruddoria without me."

  During the ensuing "days" or cycles, Matt carefully gauged the others attitudes towards him looking for any signs the crew were blaming him for the situation with the Malhazar's. There didn't seem to be, however these were aliens and it was anyone's guess how they felt about anything, still everyone seemed amiable towards him. All were looking forward to the trip to earth like kids looked forward to a trip to Disneyland. This in itself concerned him especially since Orlak started talking about hunting dangerous big game again, and Rekton and Skart were trying to pin him down on places they could lay their hands on weapons like his AR. He finally decided a trip to the Brooks Range for grizzlies and Alaskan brown bears, along with locating a terrorist training cap in what was once Lebanon was the way to go. As they were eating supper, Matt asked Orlak.

  "I've got a general idea of where we can grab a bunch of guns ammo and god knows what else but I need your advice." He then laid out a rough plan of flying around Lebanon scanning for possible training camps. He had read somewhere that the country was loaded with them.

  "Here's the thing though," he explained. "When we find what we're looking for we've got to blast the hell out of the place, no survivors, kill 'em all, then get in there get what we came for and get the fuck out, can this ship do that?"

  "Do these places have force fields or disruptor beams?" Asked Orlak Matt shook his head,

  "This is earth we're tal
king about, we don't have stuff like that, but they will have ground to air missiles, machine guns probably antiaircraft guns that sort of thing."

  "Naturally we'll be cloaked," replied Rekton, "These missiles you speak of, how do they seek their targets?"

  "By heat I think, the anti-aircraft will track us using radar which is like a scanner, and the machine guns will all be visual only."

  "Sounds rather primitive to me," commented Orlak, I think we'll be all right."

  Later, as he lay in his bunk Matt reflected on the forthcoming attack on some terrorist training camp. The way Orlak and Rekton talked it promised to be a bloodbath, not that he gave a whit about any of those people. They had come up with a rough plan depending on what they actually found, but even he knew that often times the best laid plans quickly went to shit. The potential for escalating a simple raid into a major engagement weighed on his mind. Well the "die" was cast and all he could do was pray.

  Finally they came sweeping in past Jupiter, then Mars, and finally earth. Orlak was interested in Mars thinking it might bear investigation on their return flight, Jupiter held possibilities as well. Matt directed Orlak to locate a communication satellite so they could tap into the internet and he could make some phone calls. When they were finally able to locate one Gyod had a field day once he and Skart managed to understand its operation. Slavek also helped using his experience from the previous trip so that the world's communications were wide open to them.

  "Your electronic communications are wonderfully simple, however it's the translation that's a bit confusing," observed Gyod, "But If I can fabricate a translation device we'll be in business."

  Basically it was a matter of finding a way for the shipboard computer to "read" Microsoft Windows. Slavek, having previous experience in this was invaluable.

  While they were working on this problem Matt made a couple phone calls.

  The first was to his parents alerting them to the fact that he was back, and that in three days time would be landing near the cell tower again. The second was to Doctor Norman Frick the UFO specialist. Matt told him he was back and bringing more "friends" and they wanted to make their first stop at the A'Le'Inn. Frick told Matt he would be attending a conference and couldn't get away, but would alert friends as well as the owner to be on the look-out. After a great deal of browsing, they were able to find information on terrorist training camps in Lebanon as well as Syria. Finally everything was in place and they could proceed towards earth.

  Chapter 66

  Titan Stand Chapter 66

  Once they were able to hack into the internet Matt spent considerable time researching potential locations that might harbor terrorist camps. Scouring on-line maps, State Department documents and warnings, along with selected newspaper articles indicated that their best "hunting" would be south of the Litani River, and the Bekaa Valley both in Lebanon. Once he had made up his mind Matt held an impromptu briefing.

  "Actually our best chances might be south of the Litani River, however being that it's so close to Israel I don't want to take a chance of really kicking off a big war, that whole region is a powder keg. Let's try the Bekaa Valley first, but we'll have to be very careful, there's also lots of refugee camps up there as well."

  Coming in off the Mediterranean with Beirut off to their right Matt directed Orlak over the Lebanon Mountains. Along the way, the scanners picked up two potential sites, but Matt opted to head further north following the Orontes River into the Bekaa Valley. So far, no one below was the wiser; no squadrons of fighters were on their tail or SAM Missiles being fired at them. Up until now, Matt had always thought of Lebanon as a country that could fit in a "shoebox" but once they entered the Bekaa Valley he realized how badly mistaken he was.

  "Well that's probably Baalbek down there I'm guessing there has to be a camp or two fairly close." Easier said than done. They spent well over a day slowly scanning the ground below. They did however find plenty of refugee camps. Matt was about to suggest heading back to the mountains to check out the two previous sites the scanner had picked up when the long range scanner alerted them to a site northwest of El Hermel on the west side of the Orontes river.

  The camp was tucked into a large canyon which Matt suspected was lined with numerous ant-aircraft weaponry along both sides.

  "Is there anyway we can find out what sort of defense this place has?" He asked.

  "No Problem," replied Orlak, "Well just send a couple drones to stir them up."

  Situating themselves out of potential danger but close enough for the scanner to get good readings, Orlak released two drones and directed them over the camp. Sure enough, the place came alive as several positions on both sides of the canyon indicated live fire. As soon as the drones had done their job the data was coded into the scanner and fire control giving the Azani the exact locations of every anti-aircraft site surrounding the camp.

  Manning the upper turret, Matt didn't have a lot to do. He could however watch the destruction on his little scanner screen. Orlak began the strafing mission on the left at roughly a thousand feet slowly following the arc of the canyon taking out every defense as they went.

  Matt had seen numerous movies and pictures of ground targets being hit both in World War 2 and Viet Nam, as well as in Iraq but what he was seeing below was nothing in comparison. Not only were the gun emplacements being vaporized but considerable space around them as well. It took around fifteen minutes to complete the strafing leaving the canyon ridges burning with hellacious fire. By now the camp resembled a bee's nest that had been kicked over. During their initial recon of the camp, potential weapons storage areas had been identified as well as barracks. Orlak now concentrated on the barracks and motor pool area. Matt could only gape in awe at the destruction he was witnessing below. Whole buildings were being literally vaporized; half the camp was a roaring inferno. Orlak had conducted the attack in such a way as to spare the buildings thought to contain the weapons they were looking for. Before returning to locate a place to land, the scanner picked up several trucks and assorted vehicles attempting to escape. Matt watched in fascination as each was literally blasted to atoms scattering pieces for thousands of yards. By now, everyone in the camp was either dead or had escaped leaving the coast clear to land. Nobody was taking any chances though, as all were heavily armed.

  Once again he was going into combat, and Matt wasn't happy about it. Ever since his friends had talked about grabbing weapons such as his, he knew it would all lead to something like this. Trying to remember every war themed video game he had ever played or stories and articles he had ever read about combat were of no use. The two incidents with the raiders was spontaneous and the second time Jezang had his back. She would do the same again, but this was to be a full out assault. He prayed that all the terrorists were either dead or gone but he knew he was only fooling himself. Thankfully they were able to set down fairly close to what looked like a warehouse. While Slavek stood by ready to take the ship up and offer fire support the others stood ready for the assault. Thankfully he wasn't leading the charge, which fell to Rekton. The moment they exited the Azani he could feel the heat from the burning camp. There were two large doors he assumed were dock doors which he shouted to Rekton to head for. Suddenly he started hearing the sound of automatic weapons fire as everyone took cover. Skart was pointing to a pile of wooden pallets off to their left where the gunfire was coming from.

  Everyone began to fire their weapons at the pile of pallets causing it to immediately explode into flame. Screaming could now be heard as three terrorists bolted being immediately being cut down, two more emerged from behind the burning stack fully engulfed in flame. Finishing their run to the building they entered through a side door Rekton and Ifwol in the lead.

  Once again shots rang out with everyone quickly returning fire. Suddenly Jezang sprang to her feet and flung herself up onto a stack of crates only to disappear. Then came the sound of more gunfire, then screaming. It didn't take him long to figure out what had hap
pened, Jezang was in her "Terminator" mode and god help those terrorists.

  He hunkered down returning fire along with the others noting that their weapons seemed to be somewhat more destructive setting things on fire and punching large holes through things.

  In less then eight minutes it was all over with Jezang appearing holding two wicked looking knives, and covered in blood. Everyone then set about examining the crates, Even though everything was in Arabic, Russian or Chinese, Matt had a good idea of what they contained just by the design of the crate. While Jezang Skart and Rekton watched the doors Vasta Tramik arrived from the ship with what looked like a floating board.

  "Rather than carry all these crates out to the ship, this "floater" will help greatly," announced Tramik. After four trips they had loaded six crates of AK 47's Two of AK 74's two containing RPD's and several containing various magazines. They had also discovered two crates containing Czech CZ 75 pistols. No one seemed interested in them but Matt threw on onto the already stacked "floater." Two more trips gleaned six dozen crates of 7.62x39 ammo as well as a case of 9mm.