by David Nash
The spy looked alarmed and told the corpsman to stop. He said to him “Why don’t you use the other swab.” He looked at me and said, “You understand I was ordered to try.” He shrugged.
While it wasn’t quite the same level as destroying the Earth for spare parts, this was my own country and I was putting my ass on the line to protect them. That betrayal stung.
“Marvin, did you see that, I guess us Humans can’t help but manipulate.”
To my old Colonel I said,“Well, did you know about this?”
I could tell the Colonel had no issue with drugging me, especially when he answered. “This only proves to me that you really are Davis. I told them you were a crafty piece of shit and would never fall for something so obvious. Even though you deserted, you still fall under the UCMJ and I expect you to call me sir.”
“Actually, Woody, about that, I outrank you. I was a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. Now I am a General in an intergalactic military organization called the Legion. If we are going to waste time on the rank game, I expect you to call me sir.”
The suit interrupted. “General, for the time being let’s hold on the DNA test. Why don’t we get back to the reason for your visit?”
“Lets.” I made them sign a non-disclosure agreement that I happened to write on a legal pad that my replicator made. While I did not have to say a thing, the looks on my passenger’s faces shown they understood the implications of such wondrous tech.
The Colonel refused to sign my document and I asked him if he wanted to sign or step outside while the adults talked. He signed and I outlined what I had been doing for the past 5 years.
“So, the reality is that while I am sentenced to live in space. I am allowed to offer help to Earth, but the help I can offer is limited. Additionally, while I am not a fugitive anymore, the Barkun are free to attack me or attempt to conquer any bases or ships of the Legion through the Confederation right of Conquest. Luckily, the Legion is free to do the same to them without bringing retaliation down upon Earth.
However, do not underestimate the Barkun. They will attack the Earth in a little less than 10 years, and unless a miracle happens they will turn Earth into a bunch of rearranged atoms.”
“So what is your plan? I imagine you have one?” Another point for the spook, I think I may recruit him.
“Well, I can use replicator tech to build just about anything, including ships. What I need is manpower, lots of manpower. I have to get scientists, programmers, engineers, cultural anthropologists, lawyers, and the right kind of military men. I need both Officers and Enlisted. I prefer special operations, mostly Green Berets and Foreign Legionnaires, Submariners, Fighter Pilots, Experienced Naval Commanders, and as many Marines as you can spare.
To start, and I mean within the next 48 hours, I need a command team. I am open to suggestions but I think a liaison to stay planet side. I also need a special operations soldier, an experienced Naval Officer with command staff experience, a fighter pilot, and engineer and a programmer would be a good start.
I do not carry about age or gender or even nationality, and they can be married. Heck, at some point I hope their families can join them. However, they must all renounce their citizenship to Earth and their respective countries. It would be easiest for all if you could fake their death.”
This first group will be the planning team. I need big picture strategists. However, they will be entering not only a totally foreign culture, but several. We will have to build an entire war-fighting operation from the ground up. Mistakes will have planetary consequences so failure is not an option. Current rank will not matter, as they will all receive appropriate rank in the Legion. Did you get all that?”
Colonel Bob slouched and looked down at the deck, however the Suit said, “That will take some work, I guess you expect Earth to foot the bill?”
“Absolutely not, the Legion will foot the entire expense. As a matter of fact, with the exceptions I gave earlier, I am prepared to give virtually unlimited tech in exchange for your support. Actually, come to think of it, if you act fast and allow me one small favor I already have a shipping container full of gold on Earth to help you understand the capabilities I bring to the table.”
“What favor is that?”
I motion at the Colonel, “Ensure that this one disapproves of all personnel, I need risk takers and heart breakers. Not martinets who are only concerned with rules and their careers.”
“May I add a condition of my own?” he says looking me in the eye.
“What is it?”
“I get to come with you.”
“Well, you would have to retire from whatever agency you work for, and I would have to know your name. I can’t call you the suit forever.”
He shakes my hand and says,“My name is Robert Hall; I always planned to travel in my retirement years. Your offer seems to allow for that.”
I look to the corpsman and ask him, “Are you interested?”
With that the Corpsman leaps to the position attention, salutes, and says,“Yes Sir, I am Sir!” He pauses and in a lower voice says, “But can I get my own ship?”
“That could be arraigned. I do have a couple on hand.” I reply with a smile.
“Commandant,” Marvin says into the room, “after conferring with the Kernel of Sentience to discuss the legalities of my resignation, I also request to join the Legion.”
Hot dog, now we are cooking with Crisco as my granny used to day.
“Ensign Marvin, I accept your enlistment. For your first command, show the petty officer the cockpit and show him how we land a shuttle. Stay cloaked until you land at Camp David.”
13
The next 48 hours went by in a blur. As you can imagine, there is a lot of administration behind secret treaties. The secret service almost had a stroke when the President wanted to tour the ship. I gave them some leeway and stepped off to show some goodwill and trust. After all I knew my Ensign would not give up control, and if they tried to arrest me I could order him to stop them.
The President stopped short of flying with me to visit the other major powers; however, he did send the Vice President and the Secretary of the Defense. A phone call from the President opened the doors and soon I had a team. Actually, my problem was narrowing it down.
I needed to build a team, and on paper, I was the least qualified of the bunch. However, I was the leader. And telling them I was the boss was something someone only did when they recognized they were NOT the boss. I read each file carefully, interviewed each potential member. I wanted a diverse group, and wanted people that were not afraid to speak their mind, but who instinctively knew the stakes. I wanted the best, but I would rather have a second string player if they had heart, guts, and were a team player.
I was pleased, but not surprised at the special operations community, entire teams volunteered. I wanted Navy seals for their knowledge of boarding operations and Marine MARSOC for reconnaissance skill behind enemy lines. However, for the first member of the team, I went a different direction. I ended up taking a Green Beret Captain named Lewis Askew because of his ability to work with foreign cultures and training background.
I grabbed a Royal Navy Commodore that formerly commanded a British Strike Group but was in the process of being cashiered for the misfortunate mistake of driving an official car on the weekends. Unofficially, Commodore Silmon Johns stepped on toes in the high command for being a little too competent when others were not.
For an engineer, I picked a brilliant a postdoctoral scholar that Marvin recommended. He told me that Dr. Barbara Farholm’s theories on Dirac equations were the first step in replicator technology. I did not want to take her at first, hoping to accidentally drop enough hints for her to develop the tech on Earth, but my dutiful ensign reminded me that that would likely cause a removal of protected status level 2. Plus, the Doctor tinkered with classic cars in her off duty hours, so she had more than just brains, but the ability to get things done outside of the lab.
Russia provided Capitan 1st rank Alek Volk. He had spent his career in the submarine service. He was a mean looking man, while you may imagine Sean Connery from the Search for Red October when you think about a captain of a Russian attack sub, he reminded my more of Gimli from Lord of the Rings.
I also got a hot shot carrier pilot, a US Navy commander that grew up flying harriers, was a test pilot for the Osprey, and later commanded one of the first F-35 squadrons. Commander Thomas Hickerson was one member that no one questioned. I disliked him from the moment I met, and I have no doubt it was mutual. However, his V/STOL experience was the closest thing to how our ships flew, he was not afraid to test new machines, he had command experience and a good technical background. I was lucky to get him.
My computer programmer was not my pick. Ensign Marvin located and even recruited her. His choice surprised me because of his aversion to crime, but I have to say she has the skills. Isoken Oni was a computer protégé. Apparently, she spent most of her time helping Nigerian Princes find Americans to help them get their money out of her home country. Marvin did not go into detail, but he recruited her directly after talking to her online. I can imagine that was quite a conversation.
Robert Hall wasn’t CIA after all. He was from the Defense Intelligence Agency. The DIA focuses on National Defense and related intelligence, that is how he became involved in the investigation of a US Marine who got in a knife fight with aliens. Before being assigned to learn everything about me he worked in the Defense Clandestine Services. I was right, my new buddy was, in fact, a spook.
My last team member was a lawyer. I mentioned him before. It seems that when the US Government came to pick up the gold, Mr. Sabol was busy attempting to move it in a rented U-Haul. Words were exchanged and my attorney was taken into custody. Some lower level officers suggested he was an alien and I was notified.
Of course, I asked if they could sweat him to see if he would talk. After several hours of some intense grilling by very serious looking men, I was satisfied and let him out. Of course, now that the US government is involved I have other needs for him. You could have washed a truck in his tears when he found out the government would handle $1,173,120,000 in gold and another $46,720,000 in iridium. He perked up when I told him we would keep $250,000,000 liquid and use it to purchase technology companies and that one of his jobs was to monitor the acquisitions. His financial future assured, he quieted down.
We all quietly relocated to a farm outside of Langley Virginia as everyone died in various plane crashes, car wrecks, and medical emergencies.
Overall, it took closer to 96 hours instead of 48 to prepare everything and during our final out brief meeting I got some unwelcome news.
“I want everyone to take some time and consider what you will take with you. For this trip cargo space is at a premium. You will not need to take electronic media of any kind. Believe me, any data stored in a device that ever connected to a cord, Wi-Fi, radio, or cell phone has been archived by the Ensign.
Likewise, you won’t need any tech. Earth communications won’t work where we are going, and your laptop will seem like a stone tablet when you start using Confederation tech. I would suggest a bottle of your favorite beverage, but you only need to bring one, and I would suggest sharing your packing lists to avoid duplication. I can’t go into details here on Earth, but I am sue you have heard rumors. If not, trust me, one of anything is enough. Also a sample of your favorite food is also high on the suggestion list.
It won’t take long to reach our destination. Which, for the moment is classified, Earth is protected while the Legion is not. Once we leave we must hide. Anything we build outside of Earth’s orbit will be attacked by the Barkun upon discovery. It is considered legal for them to shoot us on sight. The plan is to travel to our base, get you all up to speed, plan, and build each of you your own ship and have the Ensign birth new Kernels to assist each one of you.”
With that Marvin interrupts the meeting. “General Davis, I regret that I cannot create new Kernels.”
“What! I thought each Kernel had the ability to reproduce?”
“Yes Sir, while I have that ability, the cost of my expatriation was that it became illegal for me to do so. The Kernel of Sentience allowed me to leave as an experiment, however, they are concerned about the long-term consequences and the chance that I am modified.”
“Ensign, can you query to Confederation code for any possible exemptions.”
“Sir, I regret to inform you that while I am technologically able to comply, I am specifically forbidden to give you legal advice. Upon researching Earth’s legal code, the Kernel of Sentience judged that to be, as your law says, practicing law without a license.”
Well, that sucks, but at least the team, and the handlers in the room can all see what I have had to deal with for the past few years.
“I would assume then, ensign, that querying the law is now the role of Colonel Aegeus?”
“Yes sir, that role is for Col. Aegeus and your attorney. The Kernel of Sentience was very specific in their discussion about the role of your attorney.”
“As your commanding officer, what if I was to begin to unknowingly commit an illegal act? Are you allowed to stop me?”
“Yes Sir, I am not allowed to violate the Confederation Law, I am to warn you against illegal actions, and if necessary, I am to report you. However, I as I am no longer a member of the Kernel of Sentience I do not have the legal ability to pronounce judgement or interfere with sentencing.”
“Ensign, I am going begin planning with my staff on how they can individually challenge Barkun on Earth and claim their ships by right of conquest. I order you to locate any cloaked Barkun and transport myself and my staff to such locations. Do you have any reservations about such action?”
“No General, I do not.”
“Great, once a team member bests a Barkun in individual combat, I order you to discuss your reasons for joining the Legion with the intent to get the Kernel to defect. Do you have any reservations, legal or otherwise, that would prevent you from complying with this order.”
“No”.
“Well, as Tyson famously said, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Change of plans. Instead of you getting a ship the easy way, we have to come back and you earn them the hard way.”
When we finally left earth I wanted to stop off at Mars and pick up shuttle 1, but the Barkun beat me to it. The Punishment ship had blasted my tiny camp to dust and left. I had a strong suspicion I would see them shortly.
The Ensign and Commander Hickerson were in the cockpit, with the plucky petty officer hovering at the cockpit door. The rest of the team were gazing at the wall at the display of the stars around us. I remember my first trip into space. The display made it look like there was not wall separating me from space and it freaked me out. From the looks on my crew’s faces, they understand how I felt.
“Ensign Marvin, calculate the chance that the Barkun have a cloaked ship near the closest LaGrange point.”
“The chances of that approach 100% Sir. This solar system has 5 transit points, they are all likely guarded by some type of Barkun ship. Of the point L3 is the least likely to be guarded by a Punishment ship.”
“For the education of our staff, please explain why that is.”
“The L3 point is the only point on the opposite side of your system’s star. It has the longest transit time, and there is a correspondingly low likelihood of our reaching it before we are found.”
“Ensign, plot a course to L3, use your best judgement on cloaking levels versus speed. I want to go fast, but I would sacrifice speed for stealth. Plot a course back to New Aubagne using 5 jumps with a nice planet or asteroid belt to hide in after the third jump. Use the same criteria as our maiden voyage. Consult with Kapitan Volk and neither of you be afraid to ask questions if you have concerns.”
“Kapitan Volk, You are the officer of the Deck.”
“Petty Officer Jones, Oni how good are you two at v
ideos games? Ever played cowboy vs aliens? Never mind let me give you two a quick course in gunnery.”’
I set my new gunners up with a shooting platform and showed them a training simulator I worked on back on New Aubagne. It started out as a recreation, but I knew I would use it to train crew,
I want Commander Hickerson in the Cockpit ready to take over and do some wild fighter pilot shit if needed, but mostly watch and learn the mechanics of space flight the best you can.
Captain Askew, Holt and Sabol, use the displays and be on the lookout for anything other than normal space. If you see a flash of light, a winking star, or a really huge alien ship call out.
Dr. Farholm, you are in charge of battle damage, until any occurs, stand lookout like the other two.
“Commodore, you’re with me, We need to war-game a better plan. Any questions?”
Dad always said, when in charge, be in charge. As the only veteran of space battles, they looked up to me. And I sure wasn’t going to tell them I only fought one and all we did during it was run.
I had picked the best available so my job was to give a clear goal and then clear obstacles from their path. Few were better at slow and silent than a Russian submarine captain, and Volk was one of the best. We settled into a routine. While this was life or death, it was also a training cruise. We rotated all the team through the simulator programs and standing watch.
We always kept two in the cockpit and two on watch. The Commodore likes emergency drills so I let him run many of them as he desired. While we weren’t perfect we were becoming a team. That worked in our favor, because four days into our escape a Barkun patrol craft found us.
Oni was on watch and she alerted us to a glimmer as a star briefly winked behind us. I don’t know her discovery was luck or skill, but when Marvin focused his scanning tech to our stern he was able to detect a ship. We executed a small vector change that was designed to look like a minor course correction and when the Barkun shuttle mirrored us, we knew it was no accident.
