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TSN: The Best Laid Plans (Terran Space Navy)

Page 8

by Paul Phipps


  “Shithead! What’s the easiest way to capture that ship of yours? Companion, I think you called it.”

  “Enter the Central Computer Compartment. Enter 2443 on the keypad and all processing halts. A new personality is generated keying on the occupant of the Central Computer Compartment. Once this is done Companion will only answer to the new Commander.” Ansel said in his monotone.

  “Damn!” Hale said in amazement, “that’s all?”

  “That might be all it takes to take it over but getting to that place? That might be more difficult.” The First Commander said thinking quickly.

  “Shithead, where is the Central Computer Compartment and how do I get to it quickly?” She then asked.

  “After exiting Rover on the Hanger Deck, go to the door marked 17 on the port bulkhead. Enter 345 on the keypad next to it. The door will open, enter and take the stairs down three levels turn right, walk forward three hundred and twelve feet and face the wall on the right. There will be a fire stanchion there. Open the case. There will be a green button, press twice wait for five seconds, press twice again. The Central Computer Compartment door will open behind you. It will close automatically after the first person to enter it clears the threshold.” Ansel told her.

  She looked in her belt pouch and pulled out a mini-recorder and held it up to his face. “Repeat those instructions for me. Shithead.”

  Ansel repeated his instructions for her twice more, giving her the exact same instructions both times.

  “Shithead, will there be any resistance to us when we exit Rover?” She then asked.

  “No, all persons arriving on TSN craft are assumed to be authorized.” Ansel told her.

  She looked at Hale then said. “When we take over that ship there are going to be some major changes to internal security made. These people are amateurs with delusions of grandeur.’ She finished up shaking her head slowly.

  “First Commander! We are landing on that ship! It’s fucking HUGE! Yelled one of the men up near the view screen. Then they could see Rover dropping down through the deck and then they were in position on the Hanger Deck.

  “Adams! Get a security detachment down and secure the area. The First Commander ordered, “And find me a door marked seventeen.”

  Maude/Comm Mode: “Well dear, I didn’t expect to see you again so soon. Rover and I are putting what we want them to see on the view screen and as soon as they hit the Trans-Portal I put each one into solitary confinement.

  Your first Commander there is in for a bit of shock I think. But I hope she likes her new cell.”

  Ansel/Comm Mode: If not, then you can always put her in a padded one to keep down the noise.”

  Only ten minutes went by but it seemed to take forever for the assault force.

  “First Commander!” reported the man by the view screen, “They’ve found the door, and they’re waving for us to come on.”

  “Good, about damn time.” The First Commander muttered. “Shithead, Slut, Fuckwad forward march. We’ve got a ship to take over!”

  Ansel and his parents marched right into the Trans-Portal with the First Commander and her remaining troop’s right behind her.

  Ansel looked around himself and saw he was back in the park he had been in earlier. In front of him was a woman who looked to be about fifty or so, She had a happy face with lots of smile lines and dimples, Her hair was brown with streaks of gray through it. She was wearing a bluish dress with a white full apron over the Front of it. Ansel knew almost immediately that this was the Body-Sim of Maude the Primary A.I. for the Facility.

  He turned and looked at his parents who were still under the influence of the Zombie drug. He hugged them and then said to Maude. “Do you think you can help them, Maude?

  “I’ll do my best Ansel, it may be some time though. We don’t know how long the drug’s effects last. It might be a month or more.” She told him. “Go on now, you’ve got work to do.” She said kindly but firmly.

  Ansel/Comm Mode: “Rover, did they all leave?”

  Rover/Comm Mode: “All except two of them who are supposed to be on guard but are watching out the viewscreen.”

  Ansel/Comm Mode: “Can you reproduce Agent Hales’ voice?”

  Rover/Comm Mode: “I believe so, what do you want me to tell them?”

  Ansel/Comm Mode: “Tell them that the First Commander made it and that the Ship is now theirs. Then tell them to report to their team leader. We’ve got work to do!”

  A minute or so passed. Then Rover reported the results of his subterfuge.

  Rover/Comm Mode: “It worked perfectly. They didn’t question anything and now they are in Maude’s holding cells.”

  Ansel/Comm Mode: “Maude, Thank you for taking these thugs off of our hands. Rover and I are going to head back now.”

  Maude/Comm Mode: “Thank you too, it’s nice to have guests. Even unfriendly ones. I’ll see if I can rehabilitate them. If not, they will just have to stay here.”

  Ansel/Comm Mode: “I need you to do deep Interrogation on the First Commander. I am hoping she knows more about the President-for-Life’s location and hopefully about his plans. And if we are lucky maybe she knows about the location of the ‘Shaitan’s Breath’ vials.”

  Maude/Comm Mode: “We’ll get right on it. It might take some time though; making an engram takes time and then decoding it so as to make sense takes even more. As soon as we can get some reliable information from her I’ll let Ariadne and Seeker know.”

  Ansel/Comm Mode: “Thank you Maude… For everything.”

  Maude/Comm Mode: “Goodbye dear, no more lolly-gagging around, you have work to do.”

  Rover, Facility M1, 1445 Eastern Standard Time, 2345 Omani Time, Saturday, November 14, 2026

  Ansel made his way over to the Trans-Portal and made his destination request. Once there he walked over to the tank that was in the room and watched the heavy viscous fluid drain away from the naked body lying there. There was a moment of disorientation then…

  He opened his eyes and saw himself standing still next to the total immersion tank. He stayed still as the tank rotated until he was in the vertical position and then the lid opened and he was able to step out. Once he was out of the way the Telefactor stepped into the immersion tank and closed its eyes.

  Ansel watched the lid close and then the tank rotated once more to the horizontal position and began to fill once again. He shook himself and ran a towel over his body to wipe away any remnants of the immersion fluid. Once he was dressed in his enhanced Shipsuit, he then Trans-Portaled to the Bridge of Rover and sat in the Command chair.

  “Well, Rover, have you had enough educational experiences today?”

  “It HAS been very educational Commander. Seeker and Ariadne have been giving me background information on the American Second Civil War. It appears that these are members on the losing side that only decided to close down their operations and were prepared to resume them when an opportunity developed.”

  “Yes, it appears so. I have an idea though. Please connect me to everyone. Then let’s head back to the Companion, the next act in this play is going to be in the IUR.”

  While Ansel was waiting for Rover to make the communication connections he was reviewing the various conversations he had heard while his consciousness had been in the Telefactor. He was trying to put things together in his mind. There were several loose threads in his tapestry but once he knew where they belonged …

  “Commander, everyone is now connected.” Rover told him. `

  “Thank you Rover, Good afternoon everyone. It appears that we have captured a large strike force of the Act-Now Faction of the Civilian Defense Corps. It also appears that their First Commander was none other than the Secretary for Homeland Security of the United States.

  The question I am posing if she was the First Commander are there second and third Commanders also? If so then I am proposing that we say NOTHING of this incident to anyone outside of the TSN. Let’s keep them in the Dark. If the Government of the
United States asks about her, I suggest that we say that we have no idea where she is.

  The idea here is to flush out some more of these people. Any comments or ideas?”

  “Their First Commander said that they would use the Companion to reinstate the President-for-Life. This indicates to me that he is still alive and probably still has his coterie of sycophants hanging around. So I think we need to find out where he is currently located. “Gunnar said form his location in Shoshone.

  “I have a hypothesis I would like to put forward.” Evana spoke up from the Gunship she was in.

  “Go ahead, the floor is yours.” Seeker said

  “I’m making some assumptions here but there are some facts too.

  The President-for-Life was thought to have been killed in his Special Bunker in Maryland. That location wasn’t all that far from where Ansel and Rover embarked the Act-Now strike force. We now know from the words of their First Commander that he is alive.

  The Iranians didn’t start thinking about using a Bio-Weapon like ‘Shaitan’s Breath’ until their nuclear program was found to be totally devastated by the Stuxnet, Stuxnet B and Dbox A Viruses. That was only three and a half years ago that we heard about that in the popular press.

  The President-for-Life DID aid the Islamic Republic of Iran in their takeover of first Pakistan and then Iraq. We know that conclusively now. They wanted Pakistan for the Nuclear and biological weapons programs And Iraq for the Oil wealth. So they owed him and big.

  My Hypothesis is that when he escaped the bunker, probably with his inner circle, he ‘paid’ for asylum in the IUR with a Bio-War sample taken Fort Detrick. That Bio-War Sample is what we are now calling ‘Shaitan’s Breath’. And if all of that is true, the President of Life is somewhere in the IUR.”

  “Not a bad hypothesis at all, Evana, Not bad at all. And it could explain why the Act-Now people did Act-Now instead of later. The President-for-Life, I think, may just be feeling a bit trapped if he’s inside of the IUR and can’t get out to ‘lead’ his people.

  And the only way in or out through the Blockade Shield is by a TSN vessel. Therefore they need to take over the Companion, to control the shield. And if they can control the Companion and her blockading capability then they could re-conquer the United States just by blockading rebellious states or even counties until the people starved to death.” Admiral Webster told her in a complimenting tone of voice.

  “Very well then, we have a hypothesis, some factual information to support it. What do we need to do to confirm it? Or move on to something else” Asked Seeker.

  “For my own part, I would prefer to put this onto the back burner.” Ariadne said. “I don’t mean to forget it or to drop it. The next stage I believe is to gather up all of the known samples of ‘Shaitan’s Breath’ and insure that none have been opened. Then we insure that the lab that produced this Bio-War weapon is destroyed beyond rebuilding.

  If Admiral Webster agrees then that’s where we are going next.” She concluded.

  “That works for me.” replied the Admiral. “I’ll keep up with my diplomatic work with the neighboring countries that might be the most in danger. For that matter I’m expecting to start receiving requests via the U.S. Government for aid in repatriating citizens of all the nations that are trapped currently in the IUR. Especially now that they know that there is a safe place that they will be kept at until proven ‘clean’.”

  Ansel thought for a bit and then said, “Ariadne, you’re right. As much as I want to deal with these Act-Now people. I realize that I feel this way because of the way they treated my parents and yes, myself, with total disgust and anger.

  ‘Shaitan’s breath’ now needs to be our target. We’ve passed on warnings to as many governments as we can. Now let’s remove most of the danger. Do you have a plan or do we wing it as usual?”

  “The Developmental Team left their original Laboratory complex in Ramsheh, Iran Province after destroying all equipment that was immovable and the vials intended for the ‘Martyrs in Waiting’. We need to locate that original hidden Laboratory, in the meantime they have relocated to a mothballed bunker complex near Niasar, Iran Province; it was built during the Shah of Iran’s reign in the late 1960’s. It appears from IGD gathered data to have been mothballed effectively and is currently in satisfactory condition for their needs.

  The only way in at this time is by Helicopter or foot over donkey trails. In most ways it is ideal for their purposes. The obvious drawback to the location is that Heavy Armor vehicles would have a difficult time reaching the location so as to provide heavy defensive capabilities. So their best defense is to be quiet and innocuous.

  We discovered it by tracing the Satellite phone that Colonel Al-Quds uses to keep in touch with his superiors, primarily a General Al-Bara and the Iranian President Ahmad.

  Now I propose using Masked Samurai Units and the ‘Scalp-Hunters’ to capture the Colonel on his next walk and using information from him to take the Complex over before their defenders know we are there.

  Then acquire the ‘Shaitan’s Breath’ vials and the developing Scientists and transport them to Facility M1 where they will undergo Deep Interrogation.

  How’s that for a quick and dirty plan?” Ariadne asked.

  “Yep, quick and dirty is how I would put it. You know we really need to recruit some Marines or Special Forces types, everyone.” Gunnar said with a chuckle. “Once we are in the vicinity let’s take a good look around. Evana, how many of the Samurai’s did you take?”

  “I brought along 100 of them, Gunnar, just like I was told to.” She said archly.

  Ansel had been thinking rapidly and then spoke slowly and carefully.

  “Gunnar, Evana, Neither one of you is to leave your vessel. I’m going to go get back in my Sensorium tank and use my Telefactor on the Ground. If the good colonel is infected and doesn’t know it then we can’t risk any of us getting infected either.

  Ariadne, Maude I need an ISO-Tube transport vessel to get these people and their damnable Bio-Weapon back to the Moon. Maude, can you set up a facility that is totally isolated from all of the others for us to put them at? I mean quickly, I know you can do it.”

  “I’ll have something quickly fabricated for use as an Iso-tube Carrier and pilot it myself.” Ariadne said.

  “I already have such a Facility under construction, Commander. It will be complete in two hours. Totally self-sufficient and totally isolated.” Maude replied serenely.

  “Excellent and thank you!” Ansel said with feeling.

  “I’ll be back shortly so just keep up with your planning”, Ansel told everyone. Then it was just the matter of going back to the small chamber and reversing the process once again to resume the full Telefactor connection.

  Niasar, Iran Province, Iranian Unified Republic, 0215L, Sunday, November 15, 2026

  It was a little after two o’clock in the morning. There was a soft glow all along the Horizon. It was a bluish color for the most part with strange fractal patterns occurring at wildly random times. Already it was becoming a normal part of life even though this was only the third night of it being there.

  Two sentries on the ridge above the hidden shelter were smoking forbidden cigarettes. There wasn’t anything to be worried about obviously. No enemy had been seen anywhere in the countryside let alone here in the park like region they occupied. The enormous ship that they had seen on TV and had been briefed about by their Lieutenant and sergeant was far away. And anyway everyone knew that those strange flying machines were always seen at a distance. They were so bright and obvious in their comings and goings.

  All they had to do was make it through their assigned watch period and stay awake in case the Sergeant of the guard tried to sneak up on them.

  * * *

  “Commander, All of my IGD’s have been deployed. Currently we have located ten sentries in the area surrounding the Bunker Complex. They are concentrating their efforts on known trails and visually scanning for aircraft.


  There are three Surface to Air Batteries with three launcher platforms each with one Radar van and one Command and Control Vehicle each, located in the immediate area. Only one is on Standby mode the other two are shutdown. They appear to be moderately watchful but not in any sense prepared for a visit such as ours.”

  “Good intelligence Rover, Thank you.” Ansel said approvingly.

  Ansel/Comm Mode: “Gunnar, assign some of your UCAV’s to take out the Surface to Air Batteries that Rover has identified.”

  Gunnar/Comm Mode: “Wilco”

  Ansel/Comm Mode: “Evana, Deploy your Samurai’s, we won’t act yet, but when we do, have them capture the Iranians instead of killing them. They all need to be tested for infection. Keep 25 on board your Gunship as a reserve and response force.”

 

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