Jason shook his head. “I don’t like it. I’m not willing to risk ship and crew on a good guess. Don’t forget how old Gus initially found
The Lilly
, partially buried underground fifteen years ago. Can you imagine? This would be a hell of a place to get stuck.”
Admiral Reynolds shrugged. “Why don’t you phase-shift one of the fighters down there first—check it out and shift back.”
“I like it. Who do we have …”
“Sorry, Captain, all of our fighter pilots are currently in orbit—training the new pilots,” Perkins replied.
Jason looked concerned, but no one was buying his act. Jason’s newly acquired love of flying the Pacesetter was no secret. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to go myself.”
* * *
Entering the flight deck, Jason was accosted by the stillness and utter silence. With the exception of several small maintenance drones, he was all alone. Two large shuttles sat idle at one end of the deck, while six sleek red fighters were secured and kept under wraps along the back bulkhead. Even before he’d settled into the cockpit of the Pacesetter fighter, Jason felt his heart rate start to increase. Like a kid with a new toy, Jason had a hard time keeping a silly grin off his face. He brought the fighter to life and maneuvered it onto the middle of the flight deck. Jason double-checked the phase-shift coordinates and ran through his standard pilot’s checklist. He was ready. He hailed the bridge.
“Go for XO,” Perkins replied.
“If I’m not back in fifteen minutes, or if you haven’t heard from me—you can pretty much assume I’m stuck down there. It will be up to you to figure out how the hell to get me out.”
“Aye, Captain. Rest assured, we’ll be tracking your every move,” Perkins replied.
With that, Jason phase-shifted the Pacesetter to the underground coordinates. He was surrounded by total and absolute blackness. It was only the soft amber glow of his HUD readout and dash backlighting that provided any semblance of connection to the living.
Where are the lights on this thing?
After several long moments of fumbling around in the dark, he had it. With the flick of one switch, the Pacesetter’s running lights somewhat illuminated the darkness.
Better, but not great.
He found the other switch for the big forward spotlight. The cavern came alive. Reflected light bounced off pristine white granite walls. Minute flecks of mica and other reflective compounds twinkled like a million tiny stars. Spellbound by an ethereal world no man had ever witnessed, Jason sat quietly for a long time. Slowly, Jason brought the Pacesetter several meters off the ground and cruised the inner perimeter of the cavern. From what he could see, just as Ricket had indicated, the center of the cavern was the flattest and best location for
The Lilly
. He hailed Lieutenant Commander Perkins.
“Go for XO—I can hear you loud and clear, Cap,” Perkins said.
“Good to know. I’ll be ready to phase-shift back in a few moments—just checking in.”
His HUD indicated breathable air here, although the temperature was a chilly 38 degrees. Coming to a narrower end of the underground space, there appeared to be an adjacent cavern, almost as large as this one—but someone would need to be on foot to access it. As far as he could ascertain, this cavern would work just fine. He set the return coordinates and entered the command to phase-shift.
Nothing. He rechecked his coordinates—double-checked them. He could feel beads of sweat forming on his brow. He tried it again … Still nothing. Jason looked around at the pristine landscape.
This wouldn’t be the worst place to end up.
He hailed Ricket.
“Go for Ricket.”
“Ricket, I can’t seem to phase-shift out of here. Am I doing something wrong?” Jason asked, hearing his own nervousness.
“You won’t be able to phase-shift—”
Jason could not believe what he was hearing. “What do you mean I won’t be able to phase-shift?”
“As I was saying, Captain, you won’t be able to phase-shift for several more minutes. As you’ll recall, the fighters with their limited power supplies need more time to recharge. You’re coming up on the twelve-minute mark soon; try again then.”
He watched the small digital mission-elapse timer on his HUD. He still had several more minutes. Looking at the surrounding terrain, something caught Jason’s eye. Actually, two things caught his attention. First, even the small amount of light from the fighter’s spotlight, which cast some illumination into the area ahead, showed the adjacent cavern looked nothing like the one he was in. The rock walls were not the same sparkling white granite. There seemed to be splashes of color on the walls. And second, Jason could swear there was something carved into the far elevation of the second space. Perfectly straight lines and ninety-degree angles do not typically form in nature. What he was peering at, he thought, were stairs hewn into the rock face. Intrigued as he was, the cavern’s exploration would have to wait.
Once the full twelve minutes had elapsed, he tried again. It worked. He was back aboard
The Lilly
. Taking a deep breath, Jason guided the Pacesetter back to its mooring position next to the other fighters. Within a few moments, Jason headed off the flight deck.
Chapter 4
Entering the bridge, Jason walked into a flurry of activity.
“What’s going on, XO?” Jason asked, looking up at the display and seeing multiple Allied Craing warships.
“We’ve got five Alliance Craing battle cruisers maintaining a slow perimeter around the outpost, sir. Multiple hails have been ignored. Totally unresponsive with the exception of a repeating message. They’re providing
The Lilly
with heading and specific landing instructions.”
Jason watched the distant warships and wondered who was manning them. He had his flight crews in orbit conducting training, but they wouldn’t have been ready for this.
Perhaps the prisoners, the Craing crewmembers?
But he hadn’t authorized their use, at least not here at the outpost.
“Captain, I believe the outpost has been compromised,” the XO said, “Communications to the rest of the world has completely gone dark. There’s definitely something going on.”
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, Jason was back in the cockpit of the Pacesetter and skimming across the desert floor at close to three hundred miles an hour.
“For God’s sake, why so fast? And why so close to the ground?” Admiral Reynolds asked from the second pilot’s seat behind Jason’s.
Just what I need
, Jason thought
, a backseat driver
. “I want to come at the outpost from a completely different direction than from
The Lilly
’s underground position. Probably being overly cautious, but—”
“That doesn’t explain your flying like a lunatic,” the admiral shot back.
Jason didn’t respond. Truth was, he was worried. Ultimately, the outpost was his responsibility—the outpost was his idea, he had set it up, and he had put Cramer in charge. Coming within a mile of the outpost, Jason pulled back on the stick to gain some elevation. If he hadn’t known better, he’d think he had the wrong coordinates. The outpost he visited three weeks ago, with its ragtag collection of tents and hastily constructed structures, had been replaced by what looked like a sprawling, modern military compound. Multi-level buildings, three runways, several large hangars, ten Apache helicopters, and the remainder of the massive Allied Craing warship fleet, hundreds of them all lined up in perfect rows disappearing off in the distance well beyond the confines of the original base. Fifteen-foot fencing, topped with razor concertina wire, outlined the distant perimeter. Separate and to the east, also surrounded by fencing and more concertina wire, hundreds of small tents were clustered together. Commonly referred to as
Craing City,
they hadn’t finished erecting this area three weeks ago. More like a prison, this is where the enemy crewmembers and overlords were being held. Jason took in the view of the outpost below.
Strange,
Jason thought.
No activity—not a soul in sight
. He wasn’t going to get any answers hovering up here in the air. Jason looked for a suitable place to set down.
“Aren’t you going to request permission to land?” the admiral asked.
“I’ve already left word with Admiral Cramer. Seems to be a real hotbed of activity down there—I think we can find a place to land,” Jason replied sarcastically. Like
The Lilly
, the Pacesetter was undetectable to sensors, although visible to the naked eye. He scoped out the landscape ahead, entered new coordinates, and phase-shifted from a mile out. An instant later, the Pacesetter was stationary—thirty yards from the entrance into the compound’s largest building.
* * *
They had been ready for them. Even before the cockpit canopy had time to fully open, assault teams were filing out from multiple buildings—easily one hundred men wearing dark grey uniforms and holding automatic weapons were surrounding the Pacesetter. Jason didn’t recognize any of these men; they were definitely from another unit. Some had long hair. Others wore beards. Suddenly, the five Craing battle cruisers dropped from the sky in unison and held position at several hundred feet above the ground. New trainee pilots couldn’t have made that maneuver.
“Shit, Jason—what the hell were you thinking?”
“Oh, come on, Dad … It’s good to be unpredictable sometimes. I’m sure it’s fine.” An alarm claxon started howling from all ends of the compound. “But to be safe, don’t make any sudden movements,” Jason said warily.
“You think?”
They both slowly emerged from the fighter, one following the other. Once down, they stood with their hands raised. No one spoke, no orders were issued. That’s when Jason noticed the flag. Why would the stars and stripes be flying here—and something else. Something was different about the flag.
More armed, grey-uniformed soldiers emerged from the nearest building. It was her bright patch of red hair that caught Jason’s attention. Admiral Malinda Cramer, an air of authority in her hurried gate, was leading a small armed contingent headed in their direction.
“She doesn’t look happy.”
“That’s right. You haven’t had the pleasure yet,” Jason replied.
“I’m not sure if I should be intimidated or strangely aroused. That woman projects one hell of a presence,” the admiral said.
Admiral Cramer halted ten feet in front of Jason and his father.
“Good morning, Admiral. I’d like to introduce you to—”
“Be quiet. Don’t speak unless spoken to, Captain Reynolds,” Admiral Cramer commanded. Her eyes flickered towards Admiral Reynolds and then back to Jason. “Where is
The Lilly
?”
“She’s safe.”
“Don’t play games with me. I’m the last person you want to fuck around with right now.”
“Actually, you’d be the last person I’d want to fuck around with—ever, Admiral. Are you sure you want to play things this way?” Jason replied, his own temper rising. “Have you forgotten to whom you report, Admiral?”
Steely-eyed, she looked at him for a long moment before she signaled her team. “Lock them up.” As quickly as she’d arrived, she was strutting back in the direction she had come.
“Just so you know … Seven days, Admiral,” Jason yelled after her. She slowed but didn’t stop.
“Three highly-advanced warships. They make up the new Emperor’s Guard. They’ll be here in seven days,” Jason shouted, wincing as
PlastiCuffs
were tightly secured around his wrists. He felt a pang of guilt seeing his father, also secured, needlessly shoved towards a row of buildings off to their left. He should have left him working on his old ‘49 pickup or, better yet, remain safely aboard
The Lilly.
They pushed Jason to follow in the direction of his father.
* * *
They were held several floors underground in a holding cell of sorts. No metal bars, but a cell just the same. Jason and his father sat on a long metal bench that was bolted to the floor. Across the room, three guards stood with M-16 rifles pointed at Jason’s and Admiral Perry’s heads. Jason, getting the younger of the three soldiers’ attention, started to speak. Angered, the soldier flipped his rifle around and jabbed the butt into Jason’s left cheek, sending him sprawling to the floor. He felt the flesh of his cheek hanging loosely beneath his eye. The bleeding stopped almost immediately. Feeling the familiar tingle, the open wound was quickly being repaired by thousands, if not millions, of internal nanites.
What did this harsh treatment mean? Had Admiral Cramer’s commitment to a separate United Planetary Alliance Outpost on Earth been nothing more than a greedy power play? A ruse to obtain
The Lilly
’s advanced technology? Each question triggered a new one. How high up did this go? Jason found it hard to believe that Secretary of Defense Ben Walker, who seemed a man of integrity, would be a part of this. And what about the president? Perhaps Craing hybrids had made new inroads into the government?
Jason sat quietly on the bench for over an hour. He opened a NanoCom channel to
The Lilly
. It had taken a while to figure out the
advanced options
for the NanoCom menu system and the specific area that allowed for nonverbal communications. After mentally scrolling through several sub-menus, he found the option he was looking for: NanoText Off/On. Once activated, the process involved optically selecting letters and whole word suggestions, not so different from cellphone texting—something Jason rarely did. Alphanumeric characters appeared optically, appearing to float in space before his eyes. Characters were in turn selected, simply by placing prolonged attention on them. It took some practice, but he was getting the hang of it. On the positive side, no one other than
The
Lilly
’s crew and SEAL teams had been configured with these unique internal nano-devices.
He had just updated Ricket when their cell door clanged open. Still bound with their hands behind their backs, they were not so gently ushered into the hallway and marched back upstairs to a large conference room. Once their restraints were removed, they were told where to sit. The conference table could easily sit twenty people, although a mere handful of officers occupied the other seats. Large flat screen displays were situated on three walls. At the head of the table sat Admiral Cramer. To her left and right were other officers Jason didn’t recognize. Behind Cramer, the stars and stripes hung. Although the rows of fifty stars on the navy blue field were now aligned in a circular pattern and an added, larger, fifty-first star sat at its very center. The flag took up most of the wall and hung from a brass rod at the ceiling. A banner at the top of the wall read
Licentia vel nex
. Jason looked at the banner and then to back to Cramer.