The Long Road Home

by Max Swan

  Richard gave an ugly laugh thinking, “He’s not worth it, trust me. If it pleases you feed off him tonight with one of your nasty dreams. Make it an extra good one, for me.”

  “He shall suffer like none before,” the Vaman growled in Richards mind.

  Then Richard said to Marcus, “If the reason you’re here is to pass judgement on my sex life then you can fuck off. I’m not interested.”

  Marcus fell into an awkward silence as he digested this new Richard. This was not the response he was expecting, as the old Richard always acquiesced to his better judgement. Finally he asked, “Have you spoken to Emma lately?”

  Richards’s cold smile wavered, “Really Marcus? I mean really? Just get the fuck out of here now before I have you thrown out!”

  “Wait...I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean things to go like this. I really am pleased to see you’re alive, Richard,” Marcus blushed sitting forward with his hands facing outwards. Richard sat back and crossed his arms with a sigh looking at Marcus with no small amount of contempt.

  “So you’re one of The Pedigree’s goons I take it,” he said waspishly.

  Marcus shrugged apologetically, “I’ve been an agent of theirs my whole life. I was sent here because they thought you could use a friend.”

  Richard burst out laughing for a moment then said, “So you’re to be my new handler eh?”

  “Haven’t I always been, old friend?” Marcus said a little condescendingly which made the Vaman hiss angrily in Richards mind.

  Richard was slumped into the couch looking disinterested, “Let’s just cut to the chase then eh? Why has Julius the great sent you here?”

  “Prince Julius didn’t send me actually, I came here at the bequest of his father.”

  Richard suddenly sat up giving a Nazi style salute saying, “Oh? Hail Caesar then.”

  “It’s not wise to bite the hand that feeds you, Richard. These men don’t have a lot of patience,” Marcus warned.

  Richard let out a quick breath of air saying, “The kings of the anthill soon to be squashed by the biggest boot they’ve ever seen. What does His Highness have to say for himself?” Marcus frowned deeply at Richards words not really understanding what he was implying.

  So he pushed on, “His Majesty is anxious for news that you’ve remembered something. They’re worried about further attacks from the aliens, and are quite frankly desperate to find a way out of it.”

  “A way out of it?” Richard said amused.

  “Let’s face it the way that UFO attack played out, they know that we’re sitting ducks if they return,” Marcus said wringing his hands.

  Richards smirked, “They want to surrender then? Is that it?”

  Marcus swallowed several times before saying, “He never said that exactly, I think they want to find a way open negotiations with them. To prevent a war we cannot win.” Richard leaned back into the couch with his hand on his chin looking down as he considering what Marcus was proposing. He looked up at Marcus and said, “Where’s my manners? Would you like a cuppa?”

  “Coffee if you don’t mind,” Marcus said.

  Sure, I think I remember how you like it,” Richard said standing and walking to the Kitchen. He then thought to the Vaman, “This is the answer we’ve been looking for.”

  “We?” the Vaman returned.

  “You don’t think I’m letting you face this alone do you?”

  “Your mind is a thing of beauty, Rishard,” the Vaman whispered to him telepathically.

  “This is win-win my friend. You get to kill your alien and I get to destroy the hopes of The Pedigree,” Richard thought to the Vaman.

  “Your cruelty is like poetry to my soul,” the Vaman whispered back in awe.

  Richard had a pot of coffee already going in his kitchen the smell of it filled the apartment which was why Marcus desired a cup. Pouring a couple of cups and negotiating the prerequisite milk and sugar proportions he came back handing Marcus a steaming mug. Marcus drank from his cup tasting the coffee.

  “Mmm, that’s good coffee,” Marcus said.

  “You know The Pedigree, nothing but the best of everything,” Richard said as he sat placing his coffee on the table. “Alright, I think I can help. I don’t know how to contact the aliens directly, but I think I know a way we could get them down here. Although I can’t guarantee they’ll want to talk though, but at least it will give old Caesar a chance to try.”

  Marcus sat up excitedly, “That’s all they need. Just a chance to speak to them and if it doesn’t work then we’ll just have to deal with that when it happens.”

  “Yes, I guess you will,” Richard said then laughed making Marcus look at him oddly. “So tell me about this alien that impersonated me. Did he really look and sound just like me?” he asked picking up his coffee then taking a sip when he’d finished speaking looking at Marcus.

  *****

  Paul was glad to be back to his old self again. The fat was gone, his hair back to normal, the wrinkles gone, and his voice restored. He’d spent a week helping Lt Huang with the sensor array. It was a real moment for them when she officially switched it back on again to find it her plan had worked. They couldn’t connect all of Ships sensor fibers to the reclaimed sensor hubs which had initially worried him. However it didn’t seem to matter as the state of the art hubs salvaged from some Warbird’s were so much better than the old one that was previously on Ship. In the end it seemed to work just as well, if not better than before with only two thirds of the sensor fibers connected. It was also nice to spend some time with the attractive Asian officer too, and he was feeling a real connection with her. Something he hadn’t felt in a long time. She would tease him about how he spurned her kiss that night in his quarters and he decided to plead temporary insanity which made her laugh.

  Another job he had been given was unloading the shipments Jane had been sending to Ship from Earth. This was pure grunt work and as there were no actual grunts on board, Nadir seemed pleased to have Paul become Ships token grunt. After spending the morning in the Hanger Bay emptying the latest shipment Jane had sent up, his cell beeped and there was a message asking him to come to Nadirs office immediately. So with a sigh he made his way to Nadirs office to find Dexter sitting there waiting for him to arrive. Paul immediately noticed the atmosphere in the office was tense, as these two never spoke about anything other than work with each other. They avoided small talk completely, such was their dislike for one another. They both seemed to relax a little as Paul entered the room though. “Good day Sir... Dex, you wanted to see me?”

  Nadir nodded making his AMM Helmet wobble making Paul have to suppress a laugh. These two were just not meant to wear helmets, period. Nadir with his wrinkly face looked like an upside down bowl of spaghetti, and Dexter looked like he had a satellite disk on his head due the extra-large size of his cranium. However while there was a possibility the Vaman could return anytime, they all had no choice but to wear these helmets 24/7. It was a total pain in the neck.

  Nadir said, “Yes, Mr. Crimpson has just intercepted a very interesting communique from Earth.” Paul guffawed thinking of Dexter’s helmet again, quickly trying to suppress his laughter once more putting his hand to his mouth. This prompted Nadir to say, “Is something amusing you Major?”

  “I apologize, Sir, I-I just am in a strange mood today. Please go on,” Paul said.

  “Pull yourself together then, or do you need to go out and settle yourself down?”

  Paul stiffened in the chair, “No Sir, you have my full attention.”

  “Glad to hear it. Now Mr. Crimpson has intercepted a communique indicating that some plutonium is going to be transferred from a reactor to an underground bunker in Germany.”

  Paul turned to Dexter saying, “That sounds promising.”

  Dexter nodded saying, “Better than promising. They’ve decided to move their stocks of plutonium and other fissionable materials to a bunker near Stuttgart. What’s good for us is that these shipments are all going by road.
”

  “Seems a risky plan, there are militia groups on Earth who would love to get their hands on weapons grade plutonium,” Paul said.

  “The communique I intercepted was coded, and it indicated two different convoys with a covert operation carrying the plutonium disguised in civilian trucks,” Dexter said.

  “So the big military convoy is a decoy,” Paul said making Dexter nod in agreement.

  “It gives us an incredible opportunity to finally get our hands on the plutonium we need to finish the qdrive,” Nadir said.

  “Why are they moving it?” Paul asked.

  Dexter said, “The German Government is preparing their nuclear power plants for a possible attack. Military chatter across the planet I’ve listened too is still predictive of further attacks from space. Many governments are quietly moving items of value to underground bunkers just in case.”

  Paul shook his head, “I don’t blame them. The Garan’s will vaporize everything above ground when they get here.”

  “Including the governments,” Nadir said with a scowl.

  Dexter nodded, “Earth is preparing itself for war. That’s how this opportunity has arisen.”

  “If you ask me it all sounds too good to be true. It could be a trap?” Paul asked.

  “It can’t be discounted since The Pedigree know you were asking for plutonium before you disbanded your planetside mission,” Dexter said.

  “Trap or not we still cannot afford to ignore this opportunity. All the other plutonium we’ve sourced is inside heavily fortified and defended bunkers. We won’t get another chance like this,” Nadir said.

  Dexter looked up at Paul saying, “I have to concur with the Colonel.”

  “What about Captain Barrett, hasn’t she found anything?” Paul asked.

  “She had a few leads that just turned out to be attempts to rob her of our money and her life. A mistake those black market racketeers wont make again with our Captain Barrett,” Nadir said with a glint in his eye.

  “Yeah? She’s full of surprises that one,” Paul laughed thinking of Jane handing out an ass whooping to some sleazy criminals.

  Dexter then said, “We’re going to have to take the plutonium by force.”

  Paul nervously ran his hand through his hair saying, “Yeah, give me a squadron of commandos and some air cover it would be a no-brainer. But under these conditions there’s a fair chance we won’t succeed.”

  “You’ll have Captain Barrett assisting you, and we’ll be remote flying some attack Drones to give you air cover. That’s the best we can do, I’m sorry,” Nadir said.

  Paul felt his mouth go dry, “Jane? Look, handling criminals is one thing, but there’ll be crack troops guarding this stuff. It’s too risky for her to come along.”

  “You’ll need someone to help you load the plutonium and she’s it. She’s all we fucking have,” Nadir said frowning at Paul.

  “Look, I mean no offence to Captain Barrett she’s a fine marine. But she’s not a combat soldier, she’s crew. On a mission like this a thousand things could go wrong, and when they do it’s Jane that’ll end up getting hurt or worse: getting killed!” Paul said.

  Dexter then said, “So we mitigate the risk. Activate a Y-field over a large area say fifty kilometers. Then we send a stun wave over the same area. So even if it’s a trap, which should buy you and the Captain enough time to get the plutonium and get out.”

  “It’ll be like taking candy from a baby, Major. They won’t even be able to get near you with that Y-field. It’ll take their troops two days to walk that far. Plenty of time,” Nadir said.

  Paul leaned back crossing his arms to his chest saying, “I don’t like it, but I’ll do my duty. Does Barrett know about your plans yet?”

  “She’s on her way up here now and we’ll brief her when she gets here,” Nadir said.

  “So when is the plutonium going to be moved?” Paul asked.

  “That’s the bad news I’m afraid, we’ve only just intercepted this information and the shipment of plutonium leaves in less than twelve hours,” Dexter answered.

  “That doesn’t give us much time to plan anything or do some recon. Do we know what route they’ll be taking?” Paul asked.

  Dexter shook his head, “They’re not releasing the information until just before they leave. Not even the drivers know until then.”

  Paul said sarcastically to Nadir, “Just like taking candy from a baby.” Nadir looked down and away from Paul his cheeks reddening a bit.

  Dexter gave Nadir a darting gaze and then said to Paul, “Once we know the route we will have enough time to reconnoiter it. It will take the trucks several hours to drive from Berlin to Stuttgart. I’m pretty confident that our goals are achievable.”

  Paul felt they were holding something back so said, “Why do I feel there’s more to this plan than you’ve told me?”

  Nadir looked up at him saying, “It’s Professor Jacobs.”

  Dexter said, “I’ve located him in Berlin. It appears The Pedigree have him.”

  Paul said to Dexter, “Now why doesn’t that surprise me.”

  “This presents us with a very unique opportunity that only a man of your ability can pull off. That’s why you can’t do this mission alone,” Nadir said leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

  “But if the Professor is there, then so will that Vaman. We might be able to take out the German military, but that Vaman could ruin the whole thing very easily,” Paul said looking nervously at Nadir and then Dexter.

  “Mr. Crimpson has a plan to flush the Vaman out so you can kill it once and for all. Followed closely by the Professor,” Nadir said with a slight grin.

  “OK. I’m all ears, what’s the plan?” Paul asked looking at Nadir and then at Dexter with raised eyebrows.

  Dexter cleared his throat and said, “The first thing is that this is only between us. For my plan to work Captain Barrett must be kept ignorant about the Professor or the Vaman.”

  *****

  Captain Jane Barrett had showed extraordinary resilience during her mission on Earth, and that had impressed all the other crew members considerably. Given the extent of the destruction of the initial Garan attack they had stopped, it was thought that obtaining the supplies they required via private enterprise would be extremely difficult. That was why they decided to use the Professor’s position at the University. The main reason they thought they couldn’t rely on just buying the supplies they needed was firstly: many business’s simply no longer existed due to being vaporized; and secondly, much of what was left was being commandeered by Governments to help with the relief efforts for the affected areas. However, Jane had understood something that the others didn’t. She put it down to growing up on Veleuse, but it held true just the same. What she knew instinctively was that in times of great shortage for whatever the reasons, people with essential supplies always profiteered from them. Instead of sharing essential supplies for the good of all, most businessmen would seek to make a profit by trading them for something that would hold its value long after the emergency was finished. This was the nature of humans, especially primitive ones.

  All it took was something of value to barter with, and having thousands of diamonds on Ship that was not an obstacle. However, add to this her intelligence background and she showed great skill in tracking down businesses all over the world willing to sell her anything she wanted. From black market racketeers to large corporations. If they were willing to sell for the right price, Jane would find them. This meant that for the last three weeks Paul had been back on Ship, he spent most of his time unloading transports and shuttles. Lijuan had even started calling him ‘Barrett’s stock boy’ as a joke. Paul was not offended though because his part of the mission was a complete failure. So he was thankful Jane had come through.

  Paul was in the middle of stacking some boxes beside a Shuttle when Jane’s shuttle landed on Ship. She climbed out the back wearing blue jeans, a sweat shirt, and some runners. She had a leather h
andbag over her shoulder and she looked more like she was going out shopping rather than returning for an important briefing. She noticed Paul and waved to him walking towards him looking at the boxes he had put down behind a shuttle. Paul stood and smiled at her then said, “Something wrong with your uniform, Captain?”

  She looked up like she was thinking hard and then said, “I’m sorry Major, I seem to have misplaced it somewhere. I think the cops got it when they raided my house.”

  “Likely story Captain. Li told me about the fashions you have been scooping up down there. I must say I’m a bit peeved that half of the shit I’ve unloaded lately has been your clothes.”

  Jane shrugged saying, “If we get home those clothes will make us a fortune. A nice little nest egg for our retirement anyway.”

  “You’re full of surprises I’ll give you that. Here you better wear this,” he said handing her an AMM helmet from a box.

  “Damn is that thing on board?”

  “I don’t think so, but let’s not take any chances,” he said watching her strap it on.

  She seemed concerned about her hair and it’s something he’d never noticed about her before. Jane was a dynamic woman when she let her guard down, which wasn’t often. He had to admit despite her stubbornness at times, he had grown to like her. That would never have happened if it wasn’t for the disasters that had befallen them recently. They would never have worked together in the field and gotten to know each other, had they arrived at their Earth safe and sound. She would’ve gone on with her snooty grudge against him, and he would’ve pretty much forgotten about her as soon as he was off Ship. Paul marveled at how life can take with one hand but give with the other. One thing was for sure when they do get home, if they get home, he won’t forget her that’s for sure.

  “So where ya going?” she asked looking at the boxes.

  “The real question is: Where are WE going? The answer is: To Earth to steal some plutonium,” he said.

  “Steal? Like in a military action?” she said turning pale.

  “Precisely and you drew the short straw and are riding shotgun with me. Aren’t you excited?”

  “Honestly: NO! Isn’t the Colonel aware I’m Navy, not army?” she said followed by a grimace.

  “I’m sure he took that all into consideration before he picked you.”