The Apex Warriors

by Marc Stevens

  “That will work out fine, and don’t worry about what my crew thinks. I went through the same experience as you just did. They won’t hold it against you, I swear.”

  Karl got up off the ramp and gave me a weak smile. “I’m sorry I puked in your spaceship and on your boots.”

  I waved him off as he walked back up the hill from the runway. I turned around and went inside to find my crew waiting patiently inside. Tria was the first to say something.

  She looked out of the corner of her eyes at my two favorite troublemakers. They both were staring at the deck and shuffling their feet. “Did certain members of the crew scare your friend off?”

  “Not necessarily, he has a wife and infant children at home. He was worried they might come looking for him. He didn’t want to scare them, by letting them know about us.” I said while giving Coonts and Klutch the stink eye.

  Before the two could start making excuses for their behavior, I held my hands up for silence. “We are going to meet with my friend after sunrise tomorrow. I hope it goes much better than the clown show you two put on this time around.”

  They both gave me a positive response and walked away mumbling caustic phrases at each other. Klutch gave Coonts an elbow and the two started bickering as they stepped into the lifts.

  Sael just looked at me and shook her head. “We will be hard-pressed to convince your people we are from intellectually superior races with those two around.”

  I walked away without commenting. I hated it when she was right about some things. This episode of Earthling meets aliens, would fall into that category.

  Tria took me by the hand and led me to the lifts. “You should rest and compose yourself for what is to come. I suspect the coming day will be difficult for your people, and you as well.”

  We went to our cabin. I wasn’t particularly tired, but Tria found a way to rectify that. I woke six hours later feeling refreshed and ready to face the adversity I knew would be coming my way. I was sure that Karl had a hard time sleeping after everything that I put him through. I chuckled thinking that I did not tell him how we were going to get together. I hoped that he wasn’t walking around the runway calling out my name. Justice had parked the Legacy in a massive crevasse on Mars while we waited to make contact with Karl again. It was fast approaching seven A.M. in Seratook Alaska when Tria and I finished our breakfast. Justice took off from the red planet and made the short trip back to Earth in just a few minutes.

  “Commander, I have identified Karl Larson’s cellular phone and can connect you at any time.”

  “Roger that Justice put me through to him.”

  Karl answered on the second ring and he sounded excited. “Holy crap Nathan, my phone identified your call as the Legacy.”

  I smiled thinking that was child’s play for Justice, and he was just hotdogging a little. “Good morning Karl, I hope you slept well?”

  “Not hardly,” He confessed. “My two little girls got up at six and wanted me to cook pancakes for breakfast. I got it done, but I have to tell you, I feel like warmed-over crap. Cindy has been giving me strange looks all morning, and I think she knows I am trying to hide something from her.”

  “Lighten up Karl, once you hook me up with the right people, you can get back to your normal routine.”

  “After last night, I don’t think I will ever feel normal again.” He admitted.

  “Trust me when I say it will be a much better experience this time around. Please try to remember the things I told you, and everything will be fine.”

  “Okay Nathan, got it. I am ready for whatever comes my way. How do I meet up with you?”

  “Just get in one of your airplanes and head north below the radar horizon. We will meet you.”

  “Okay buddy, but there aren’t a lot of places to land an airplane if I go north.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Just go north and stay off the local radars.”

  “Alright, give me till about noon and I should be through Bonner Pass with three-sixty on the compass.”

  “See you at noon,” I replied.

  17

  The time passed quickly and Justice had the Legacy doing slow circles over the beautiful Alaskan wilderness just north of Bonner Pass. My crew was taking it all in. Between the scenic mountains and pretty green trees, they were all captivated. They occasionally spotted native wildlife that I identified for them. I was able to give them a little background on each, and they seemed to genuinely enjoy my narrations.

  ​Justice finally interrupted our sightseeing. “Commander, I have identified Karl Larson’s aircraft. The Cessna 208 Caravan has just climbed through the landmark known as Bonner Pass and is reducing its altitude.”

  ​“Roger that Justice, open a comms link to him.”

  ​“Affirmative Commander, we are now linked to his cellular phone.”

  ​Karl answered on the first ring and we heard him laugh out loud. “Man, that is so cool! Hello, Legacy have you got a copy?”

  ​“Yes Karl, we hear you loud and clear. I want you to cut your throttle on my order you got that?”

  ​“Are you sure? I am only doing a hundred knots, that doesn’t leave me a lot of options if I get below seventy.”

  ​“Don’t worry, just cut your throttle on my order, okay.”

  ​“Roger that, shut down on your order.” He replied.

  “Okay Justice, scoop him up as gently as possible and put him in the hanger bay.”

  Karl suddenly yelled out over the open line. “Holy shit!”

  I quickly called to him. “Cut your throttle and shut down your engine. You are perfectly safe we got you.”

  He sounded rattled but acknowledged my order. “Roger that, shutting down now.”

  Justice pulled the aircraft into the hangar bay and secured it to the deck. Karl stepped down out of the plane wide-eyed. “Damn! That will take some getting used to.” He exclaimed.

  I smiled and stood next to him as my crew lined up for another introduction. “Okay Karl, I want you to meet my crew, again.”

  I quickly went through the roster and he acknowledged each of them with a polite bow. The expressions on his face were comical. He would look them in the eye for a few seconds as he bowed, then made it a point to stare at a fixed point somewhere behind them.

  When we were done with the formalities, he walked back to me and whispered. “How was that? Are we good?”

  I chuckled. “Yes Karl, that was just fine. You don’t have to be so skittish. Just act like you would if you were around your employees or relatives. You don’t have to be so uptight.”

  He gave me a small smile and nodded, but I still caught him peeking at Klutch out of the corners of his eyes.

  “Tell me what you found out about General Thorton.”

  The change of subject put my friend at ease but the news was not reassuring. “I called his office the first thing this morning and got his liaison, Colonel Parker. The Colonel informed me the General is out of the office for the next few days. I know the Colonel because when he does his monthly flights to stay current in the Blackhawk, he makes it a point to land in Seratook for lunch in our cafeteria. Anyway, I pressed him a little until he told me that General Thorton was down in Nevada with some of the brass from Nellis. There is a golf course on the Paiute Indian Reservation out in the desert northwest of Las Vegas. He will be playing golf there for the next three days.”

  “Justice,” I called. “Take us to Nevada.”

  “Affirmative Commander, I have identified the location.”

  Karl looked startled. “Nathan, that course is near Nellis flyway. There is going to be a crapload of military aircraft flying around there, and most of the areas in that direction are restricted airspace.”

  “That only applies to civilian air traffic, and this is not a civilian aircraft.”

  Karl just shook his head, but Justice’s announcement we were now holding in the desert near the golf course made his eyes bug out. “You have got to be kidding me. I didn’t e
ven feel us move!”

  “Pretty sweet huh,” I answered. “That was not even pushing the envelope. We could go from here to the Kuiper belt and back in few minutes if we wanted to.”

  Justice put a viewscreen on the bulkhead. It was late afternoon and getting dark. The golf course was brightly lit and stood out in stark contrast to the desert. Karl was right about the air traffic. There were a lot of jets and helicopters flying all over the area around the golf course. Justice had them all highlighted with yellow circles.

  “Commander, I have scanned the property and have a lock on the General’s location. He is currently in a section of the building known as the bar.”

  I turned to my friend who was still frozen in shock at what he was experiencing and hearing.

  “Karl…Karl!” I said as I shook his shoulder.

  His eyes locked on me. “How does the robot even know what the General looks like?”

  “Karl, please don’t call the AI that runs this ship a robot, his name is Justice. He is kinda like Klutch when you upset him, only he doesn’t smell when he gets even with you.”

  Karl swallowed hard and nodded. “How did Justice find the General so quickly?

  “Karl, the encryption guarding computer systems here on Earth, are no problem for Justice. He can move in and out of them like they were open barn doors. It doesn’t matter whose computer it is, he can hack the most secure systems faster than you could spell the word. He knows everything about the General. Justice used the Legacy’s scanners to locate someone that fit the General’s bodily dimensions based on his current medical records, then matched his face to his picture.”

  My friend just nodded. He was suffering from tech overload as I once did. “What are you going to do now?”

  “I was hoping I could start things with a friendly conversation and not just a warning. I have seriously considered just going to a military base and making an appearance, but past experience tells me it would stir up a lot of trouble and mistrust. I think it would be better to take small steps and see what happens, rather than take a large one, and scare the hell out of everybody.”

  “Nathan, don’t take this wrong but have you looked in the mirror lately. It doesn’t matter how friendly you want to be, you look downright scary.”

  I frowned at my friend. I didn’t think I looked scary, maybe a little intimidating but not scary.

  Sael was standing close and gave me her thoughts. “Commander, you are no longer a similar representation of the people we have observed. Karl Larson is correct, they will be alarmed by your appearance. It was a stigma I encountered after I was first enhanced. You will be seen as an alien and that is how they will treat you.”

  “Commander,” Justice called out. “I have identified four personnel that have concealed handheld weapons. Two are outside the bar area, and two are inside. I surmise they are a security team assigned to watch over one or more of the Military officials.”

  Karl looked worried. “Nathan, if they have an armed security team, and you approach them, they are going to take one look at you and assess you as a treat.”

  I again thought about just flying to a military base and letting the boot drop on everyone’s expectations of a future. I had told myself that was not the way to do this, but it was looking more and more like the only way to get it done.

  “Nathan,” Karl said. “I want to do my part to help you get this done. I will go talk to the General and see if I can get him away from the security team. He knows me so it shouldn’t set off any alarm bells if I approach his group.”

  I smiled at my buddy. “Are you sure you want to be associated with me if this goes sideways?”

  “Nathan, I have a feeling the whole world is going to go sideways very soon. I may as well be first in line to get over it.”

  I looked around at my crew to see if they had any objections, no one had a comment. If anything, they looked anxious to get this over with so we could go back to doing what we did best.

  “Alright Karl, we will go with your plan.” I pointed to a patio that was in the shadows of the trees that surrounded the clubhouse building. It was not in direct view of the large windows that lined the bar and faced the golf course. It was deserted and the chairs were on the tables, so I doubted if it was in use. “See if you can get him to join you here, and I will be waiting.”

  Karl squinted at the screen and then nodded. “I will do my best Nathan.”

  Tria took my hand as I walked Karl to the boarding hatch. “This will seem a little frightening, but Justice is going to set you down in the parking lot with the tow beam. You will be perfectly safe so don’t panic if it is a fast trip down.”

  My friend nodded nervously. “No problem Nathan, if Justice can catch an airplane in midflight he should have no problem catching me, right?”

  I just chuckled. “Justice will not be catching you, he will have you for the entire trip down. Trust me when I say it is kind of fun.”

  My reassurances did not take the nervous look off my friend's face. He just nodded and closed his eyes. Justice swept him up off the deck with the tow beam and carried him toward the boarding hatch. I followed behind smiling.

  “Just relax Karl, Justice has never dropped anybody, yet,” I said with a chuckle.

  Karl’s eyes popped open and he looked over his shoulder at me. “Nathan, I haven’t said this in a very long time, but you are an ass!”

  The boarding hatch rapidly opened and Justice pushed Karl out of it. The last thing I heard was Karl’s exclamation of “Ohh… Shitttt.”

  Justice put up a small viewscreen next to the hatch so I could see Karl’s descent. At first, he flailed his arms then seemed to catch on quickly and folded them in front of his chest the rest of the way down. Justice chose a spot near the front of the parking lot to gently set him down. It was out of the direct light of the dawn to dusk street lamps that lined the perimeter. He waved his arm once in the air and headed to the front doors of the clubhouse. Justice used the Legacy’s scanners so we could see and hear what was going on inside. He highlighted the General’s party with yellow outlines. He made General Thorton’s avatar blink so we could easily distinguish him from the others. Karl made his way inside and went through the pro shop. The bar was just down the corridor. As he moved in that direction General Thorton surprised us by getting up and walking out of the bar. Justice isolated his voice from the forty-six other people present. He told the other people in his party he was going to drain his dragon. The phrase caused some consternation with my crew because of the translation. When I explained what the General was referring to, Klutch laughed out loud. The expressions on the faces of Tria, Sael, and Coonts told me they thought it was moronic.

  Regardless of my crew’s reaction, it was a stroke of fortuitous timing for both the General and Karl. They met in the hall just outside the bar. The two undercover security guards swiftly approached Karl from two different directions but General Thorton waved them off with a small gesture of his hand. Justice isolated their voices and we heard the General’s surprised exclamation at seeing Karl at the golf resort. I walked to the boarding hatch as I listened to Karl give a greeting. The General said he didn’t know that Karl played golf. Karl said he didn’t. The General then asked what brought him there. Karl stated he had a friend that wanted to talk with him about something that had national security importance. That made the General pause for a moment. He asked Karl why he didn’t send the friend to his office so they could message him first. Karl said the friend was at the resort. We could tell the General was caught off guard and confused by what Karl was saying. I took that as my cue to have Justice gather me up for the trip down to the patio with the tow beam. I had not noticed that Tria had stepped away after our little translation session until she appeared behind me wearing her combat armor.

  “Tria, I don’t think that will be necessary, I will be fine.”

  Her no-nonsense answer told me she thought otherwise. “I am going with you Nathan, they will not be aware of my p
resence.”

  “Really Tria, I will be…”

  She cut me off. “If I do not go, Coonts, Klutch, or Sael said they would.”

  That was that. Justice sent me out the hatch, and Tria cloaked and followed. It was a fast trip down as Justice deposited me in the shadows of the patio. Justice made sure I could still hear Karl and General Thorton. Their conversation was coming through loud and clear on my implants. I heard the General ask Karl where his friend was at. Karl pointed at the patio and said I was waiting there. I could see the General looking through the glass and out at the patio. He was puffing on a big stub of a cigar and expelled a cloud of smoke. I was beginning to think that he was not going to come outside, but I heard him tell Karl that he would give us fifteen minutes. The tone of his voice said he was skeptical but not alarmed.

  When they came through the door, I heard the General comment on the darkness of the location and suggested they meet inside.