WE HAVE CONTACT (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 12) (28 page)

One man threw a tantrum, tossing his backpack of papers onto the sand and sitting down. Lance looked at him briefly, then ignored him. The man was surprised when no one from Lance’s team helped him, talked with him or even tried to coax him into the container. When one of the Guardians was asked if they were going to help him, he just replied, “He is an adult. He is free to commit suicide by ISIS bullets or stupidity, whichever he chooses.”

The man had come running up with two minutes to spare.

Akio, the General, Robert and Terry all stood. Lance locked down everyone in a seat. When one person was complaining about having to buckle in, the container suddenly shifted slightly down. None of the four men had much of an issue keeping their balance, but the recalcitrant guy started clicking his belts like they were oxygen and he was underwater.

Lance pulled his tablet out and looked at it. There was a message from ADAM.

WAS THAT HELPFUL?

Lance smirked slightly and turned the tablet to Akio. If you paid attention, Akio’s face had many expressions, you just had to look for them. His eyes opened just slightly, and his lips relaxed into what Lance would call a smirk on any other man.

Lance texted back that it was and put the tablet up.

“Dad?” He heard Bethany Anne’s voice in his ear.

“This is Lance, go Black Eagle One.” he replied.

“Status?”

“Mission accomplished, pulling out twenty-three live ones.”

“Excellent. The ArchAngel is helping SS1. We are going to have to figure out what Coach and Adarsh did to find the alien ship which we have lost at the moment. Adarsh is unconscious but expected to wake within thirty minutes. Then, we are going to head to the gate. TOM believes this is going to upset their mission, and they are likely to try and leave. We are moving to the moon right now.”

“Understood. Where do you want me to deliver the packages?”

“Well, I can’t stick them on ArchAngel which was my original plan. The Australian base is now empty, and the last few groups are waiting for the ArchAngel out at Moon Base One’s location.”

“Colorado?”

“No, that just gets them back into play too quickly. I suppose if I simply keep them, then it’s kidnapping.”

“Usually.” Lance smiled. He noticed she wasn’t upset over the concept, just the annoyance it would cause.

“Ok, let’s do this…” she replied.

—

Captain of the USS Harry Truman took the call, “Hello Mr. President.”
 

“Hello, Captain. I appreciate everything you and the men and women of the U.S.S Harry S. Truman are doing there in the Mediterranean to help Operation Inherent Resolve,” the President started. “I’m here to request one quick fifteen-minute favor that can mess up your situation, but I promise it will be interesting to you and your people.”

“Whatever we can do, let us know,” the Captain replied. Inwardly, he was hoping it wasn’t visiting dignitaries or anything of that sort. His people were tired, several weeks past their original deployment end date and babysitting wasn’t something he wanted to ask them to do.

“You are going to be visited by a very rare flying container,” the President started.

“Sir, not to interrupt, but can they land on our ship?”
 

The Captain was surprised when the President laughed, “Captain, I’m not laughing at you, I promise. This craft does not need an airfield, and before you ask, it is not a helicopter. Those that are on the craft are either members of an expedition that was rescued out of ISIS territory or members of TQB. Captain, whatever you do, be pleasant with those members. I assure you, they will be respectful to you and your people.”

“Understood, Mr. President.”

“I imagine you do, Captain. That’s because the Navy doesn’t have slow people at the command of one of our aircraft carriers. We will deliver an update on how we expect to pull those who are staying behind back off your ship.”

“Couldn’t they just drop them off on land?” he asked.

“I’m sure they could, but this is what they wanted to do. It seems some of the men in the group wanted to see an aircraft carrier in action, Captain. Two birds, one stone.”

“They want to see what WE can do? Don’t they have ships that go into outer space?”

“Well, sure. But how many of them roar off of decks in the middle of the ocean?” the President replied, “There is something that their Pods don’t supply that feeds a man’s soul, Captain.”

“Really?” the Captain questioned, “What’s that?”

“Fire and noise, Captain, fire and noise. Jets scream off of your deck, and even for Presidents, just between you and me, that’s cool as shit.”

“Yes, Sir!” the Captain agreed, smiling.

Space Station One - L2

Bethany Anne took a few minutes to see the damage to the outside of Space Station One from her Pod. “Take me in, ADAM. I’ve seen enough.”

A few minutes later, Bethany Anne and her team were exiting their Pods on the deck. Gabrielle was waiting for her when she got out. Ashur jumped out behind her and chuffed. Bethany Anne looked to the dog, “Ok, go get something to eat,” she told him and then turned back to Gabrielle. “Report.”

“Adarsh is awake and explaining what they did. Team BMW is creating our own, much bigger, version of this for the ArchAngel and transmitting the schematics to the Defender so they can build their own version.”

The two women started walking towards the exit from the deck to get out of the way. “Did we hurt them?”

“Yes, scans showed damage once we knew where to look, and they suffered acceleration issues. However, within two minutes they did something, and we lost them again. SS1’s juryrigged sensor wasn’t strong enough to follow them when they passed ten thousand kilometers.”

“Ok, when is the funeral for Coach?”

—

There were six around the casket, friends, and Guardians, providing Coach a Royal Guard as the Queen stood next to it. She laid a hand on the casket, then walked to the podium and faced the group.

“Coach was a man I am proud to say I had on my team. He came, he saw, and whether it was with knowledge from his time in the Navy, from his life, or with duct tape, he seemed to have a solution for all of the challenges thrown his way.”

“He knew that his future, as well as ours, would unlikely be easy. He also knew it was guaranteed not to be safe. But, he lived as he wanted. Using his skills, and putting himself between those who threatened, and those he loved. That, the placing ourselves between dangers and those we hold dear, is our call. Ad Aeternitatem, Coach. Till we meet again on the other side, your name will be in my heart. We shall not forget your sacrifice.”

ReaLea, Kris and Bree, faces wet with tears and makeup running, watched the coffin take off from the deck of the ArchAngel and slip through the field as it headed towards the sun. Bethany Anne had requested all of the original team members, including the still healing Adarsh, travel over to the ship for the ceremony. After the casket had slipped through, Bethany Anne turned to her people.

Her contralto voice started, “We have been attacked by an alien species. Based on the analysis and from our own alien contact, they are looking to research our system. To steal our resources, and enslave our people to work for them.”

“Further” she continued, “they have a gate to go back home. They want to take the knowledge of who we are, where we are, and our capabilities, with them. We were lucky they did not see our ship until this point. Now, it is very likely they are aware we have considerably more capabilities than they thought, and we are both a problem and a prize.”

She looked at the group, then looked into the cameras sending her face to her people, “Attend me, my Guards, My Guardians, My Elite and My People… We have had war declared on us again. This time, it is by an inimical society seeking to follow a commonly-held premise that those who have the power, have the right to use that power however they want. Well… Fuck them!”

Her eyes flashed red, “They have made a catastrophic mistake and are an eternal enemy of the Queen Bitch and Her People. Hear my response to these atrocities visited upon my people.”

She spoke louder, looking up at the ceiling, “ArchAngel!”

The ships E.I. responded, her voice filling the Pod deck, “Yes, my Queen?”

“Take us to the Annex Gate at maximum speed once we allow those who need to go back to SS1 to leave. We will kill or capture this enemy, No Surrender will be allowed, is this understood?”

“Yes Ma’am, I have heard the command. ‘No Surrender’ has been instituted. All Lockdown Protocols on this ship are removed. Leviathan Battleship ArchAngel is now fully operational and will fight until
victorious
…”

There was a slight pause from the speaker system, “Or
dead
, my Queen.”

The roaring of those in the Pod Deck threatened to cross the vacuum of space to join with those who had listened and watched from the Space Station, the Moon Base, and the Defender.

The first war between the Queen Bitch and aliens had begun.

Yollin Deep Space Ship - G’laxix Sphaea

Royleen walked around the table which held his one subject. He had hoped for a female, but he understood why the Captain had to leave. At least the attack on the G’laxix Sphaea hadn’t harmed his area. Yes, a couple of helpers had to clean up a few things that had been tossed around, and one container made of transparent material had broken, but that was all.

The subject was strapped down, unconscious. The alien had been very aggravated upon arrival. Fortunately, Royleen had already loaded the systems in his lab with the limited speech core between Yollin and this alien’s language.

Not that it mattered in the end. The subject was aggressive in its speech all the way up to when Royleen had administered the chemicals to send its body into a coma.

Royleen sighed, he needed more information for the Captain, so he needed to wake up the alien. He might have preferred to have more time to work with the body to administer different tests and get better feedback from the old and apparently inadequate research that had been done previously.

Now, to see if he could acquire any useful information using whatever methods he needed to.

Royleen reached for the syringe necessary to bring the alien awake.

—

“Engineering, what is the status?” Captain T’chmon spoke into his comm system from the bridge. It had been a rough two solar days. A few of the energy runs from the engine room had been damaged by the second craft which had rammed them.

It was an unfortunate example of offensive execution, but effective. What did the Fourteenth of the Yollin Monarchy say at the battle of K’lleen? Something about if his attacks were effective, then he didn’t care how pretty they were. He hadn’t scored any points for beauty, but he had won the battle.

Thank the gods above and below that travesty had not continued. There should be beauty in everything, even the efforts to kill others as the Universe had decreed.

Engineering replied, “Sir, we are within three solar hours of bringing everything back online. I would not want to trust everything past eighty-percent if you can help it.”

“And if I cannot help it?” Captain T’chmon asked.

“I would suggest we are likely to be fine, but it is that one time we aren’t that ruins our day, Captain.”

Captain T’chmon hissed in laughter, “Indeed, Engineering One, indeed. Captain T’chmon out.”

T’chmon tapped his nails on his armrest. Royleen was waking the alien. He could see the status on his screens in front of him.

Kurtherians. Damn, that was bad news. He checked all of the logs. They had followed the protocols and sent the necessary ping’s that would notify any Kurtherians active in the system. He was covered.

At least, with his King he was. Whether or not the Kurtherians that were possibly in the spaceship would be ok with his efforts in this system was another question. He didn’t want to make a run for the Annex Gate without having as much of his ship working as they could. His group had to get back, the opportunity was too great here, and the Kurtherian threat this system represented needed to be shared.