by Muga, D. M.
“Ben, your Uncle is not the only one going to be in harm’s way. Burke needs to get Joseph and the others on the Leviathan while you and I cover Steven’s approach. There’s also Alexander and the girls… and everyone else in Crestline.” Eileen explains to him.
She can see that he’s clearly concerned about his Uncle, but they were all in danger. She was concerned that sometimes he could be so smart and other times he could be so narrow-minded.
“There is a real possibility that none of us make it out of this, Ben. If your Uncle thinks this is the best way to go, I’m with him.” Eileen.
Ben scratches the back of his head. “Yeah, you’re right Eileen. I’m just worried, is all.”
“Hey Burke! Nice camouflage on your STARU ship! That’s pretty damn impressive! All I see are you guys standing at the door and part of the inside of the ship! It’s just like those Sci-Fi movies!” Steven exclaims.
Eileen turns to see Steven standing outside of the STARU looking at the spaceship, or rather the lack of it. Steven whistles and then climbs back in, not entirely sure of what to grab onto. Ben steps over and reaches out his hand to help him into the STARU.
“Thanks nephew. Alright! Let’s get this show on the road.” He says and looks down to his watch. “It’s already 1135, so we still have just under 25 minutes... Burke let’s get the lovebirds off into the tree line, next to the main parking lot for the lake trail, then off to the Leviathan for the rest of you, and I’ll go have some choice words with Abraham the tyrant.”
Burke nods and heads back to the transparent control screen. Within seconds the opening is closed, and they are back on their way to Lake Gregory.
“We need to come in slow, everyone. That way, we don’t accidentally hit any flying wildlife and give away our position.” Alicia explains and the lake comes into view.
“Oh my gosh. Wow!” Eileen blurts out and puts her hand over her mouth as the Leviathan comes into view.
“Yeah! Right!” Ben adds.
“Yup… that looks pretty damn intimidating.” Steven adds.
Eileen looks over the lake. Steven had been right about Abraham providing a show of force with the Federalists. As they came in slow over the Lake Drive Marketplace, she could see people lined up along the small bridge, in the main dock parking lot, and in the parking lot next to the trail. The crowd was at least ten times the size of the emergency meeting and the town meeting that Steven had for the formation of the DFC.
Whereas Eileen was shocked to see close to the entire town in one area, she was even more amazed by the Leviathan and slew of STARUs around the massive spaceship. The Leviathan covered most of the middle area of the lake, displaying how truly massive a spaceship that it was. The colossal spaceship was hovering just above the lake by what looked to be merely inches. There were no ripples coming from underneath and the water looked to be silk-like.
Above the Leviathan were a dozen STARUs and there were another dozen around the base perimeter of the Leviathan. There were also the two platforms from the video that they had watched earlier. Abraham was on one platform with his entourage of other Federalists soldiers. The platform to Abraham’s right holds Alexander, Mia, Isabelle, and the rest of the dozen people from Crestline. The Federalists guarding them are now gone.
Where’d the guards go? Are they that short-handed? I guess if they tried to run, they’d have to swim, and they wouldn’t get very far.
Eileen focuses on the girls and Alexander.
Don’t worry girls… We’ll get you and Alexander out of there...
Eileen’s startled by a STARU flying right past them, almost hitting them and knocking them out of the sky.
“Whoa! What the shit?!” Ben exclaims.
“Burke, you may want us to get out of their pathway, so this plan isn’t over before it begins.” Steven advises.
“Right Sheriff Reilly, my apologies. I should have been paying attention to our surroundings.” Alicia replies.
Alicia guides the STARU toward the tree line at the end of the parking lot. The lot is filled with people.
“I’m going to have to drop you two off on the road a little higher and you’ll have to jog down to the edge of the lake.” Alicia says.
“Fair enough. Yeah, it looks crowded right here and seeing two people pop out of thin air may give us away.” Ben responds.
Burke takes the STARU to the road above the southside of the lake trail and hovers down low to the road. The opening appears in front of them.
“Ben.” Steven says to his nephew. “Here, swap me rifles… my .308 has a better scope on it than your SAINT and it packs a harder punch.”
This gets a sideways glance from Ben. “What if you need it?”
Steven laughs. “Yeah, like I’m going to have time to pull out a bolt action rifle against a bunch of those Federalists, each with their own MECCU and all of those STARUs out there.” Steven shakes his head. “I love you, Ben… but sometimes you’re about as dense as water.” He laughs again.
“Fine, Uncle… whatever you say, you old jerk. No need to be a dick about it.” Ben says, smiling at his uncle as they exchange Ben’s AR for Steven’s bolt-action .308 and the magazines for each.
“Okay, you're clear, Ben Reilly and Eileen Rivera. Good luck to the both of you.” Alicia says.
“Thanks. Good luck to the rest of you.” Eileen replies and then looks at Steven. “Stay safe Steven, and get those girls out of there.”
“Will do, Eileen.” Steven replies.
“Yeah, Uncle. Stay safe you old jerk…” Ben replies with a smile.
“Likewise, nephew. Good luck.” Steven replies with a returned smile.
Ben turns and jumps out of the STARU. Eileen quickly follows him, and they go straight into the tree line, she turns around quickly, just in time to see the opening close up and it looks as though nothing was ever even there.
“Wow, that really is some good camouflage. Nice.” Ben states.
He then looks over to her. “Alright pretty lady... let's get going. Uncle should be showing back up over the edge of the town in about fifteen minutes without that fancy camouflage, and then the fun starts.”
She gives him a look. “Fun, Ben… really? None of this screams fun to me. Actually, it screams doom and gloom.”
Ben scratches the back of his head. “Yeah, I know. But it’s easier to make light of crap situations like this... than dwell on the we might all die part.”
He has a point…
“Yeah… good point. Let’s go watch the fun and see what we can see.” Eileen replies.
Ben smiles at her with those bright blue eyes, and she starts to believe that everything was going to turn out just fine. She knew the odds were against them but looking into his eyes gave her hope and strength.
The both of them are able to make it to the shoreline within a couple minutes, finding a large boulder to hide behind. Eileen takes the right side of the large boulder and lays down, sighting down on her rifle. Ben does the same on the left side of the boulder.
“Put up your force field, just in case we get spotted.” Ben tells her.
“Smart thinking… but I believe it’s called an AE.” Eileen snarks back at him with a smile.
He grins back at her. “Whatever you say, beautiful.”
“And don’t you forget it.” She says as she smiles back and readjusts to type in commands to her MECCU so she doesn’t have to have her hand out in a stopping motion, which would make it really hard to support her AR.
After a few seconds, she sees the shimmering AE engulf her whole body, likely making her silhouette turn into a shimmering outline. Alicia had explained that there were different settings to the AE and the body film setting seemed the most appropriate without giving them away too much.
She looks over to see that her thoughts were confirmed, seeing Ben covered in a translucent shimmer. He’s looking back at her smiling.
“Look at you, looking all sexy and shiny.” Ben says.
“I was about t
o say the same thing to you, handsome.” Eileen says, blushing.
A STARU catches her attention, coming from the north part of the town. She watches it go to the side of the Leviathan that she cannot see. After a few moments, it’s back in the air and going back to the North part of town.
“What do you think they are doing?” Eileen asks.
“Look over there…” Ben says, gesturing to the back side of the massive spacecraft.
Another STARU comes over from the towns and gets very close to the Leviathan. The opening appears and a bridge forms between the STARU and the Leviathan. She watches as she sees women and children being ushered into the massive spaceship. Most of the smaller kids are crying and the women look to be extremely frightened.
“Well, that doesn’t look good…” Ben says.
“No… it does not. I hope Alicia, Joseph, Janice, and the others are able to get in there and take control of that gigantic spaceship, because it looks like Abraham is up to something… for sure.” Eileen says as she watches the last of the women and children enter the Leviathan and the STARU take off toward the southside of the town.
“That’s for damn sure. Man, I really hate this Abraham guy…” Ben says.
Eileen nods in agreement and something catches her attention off to her left in the distance.
“Ben, look over there. I think that’s your Uncle.” Eileen says, gesturing to his left, to the west side of the lake where a lone STARU has appeared and just hovering about a hundred feet in the sky.
Eileen looks toward Abraham and sees that his attention is drawn to the lone STARU as well. She thinks that she can even see him smiling, as though he has already won.
Keep smiling, asshole…
“Yeah… that’s got to be your Uncle. That STARU sure has Abraham’s attention.” Eileen adds.
22
Benjamin Reilly
Ben watches as the lone STARU approaches the two platforms in front of the Leviathan. Ben was impressed with his Uncle being able to fly the ship. Burke had given him the quick ins and outs of the STARU navigation and its own Armored Enclosure. Despite the simplicity of the design and extremely driver friendly controls, it was still impressive to see his Uncle flying a freaking spaceship.
Way to go Uncle! Flying a spaceship from another world and you’re a natural at it. Hopefully, that means that Joseph and the others can figure out how to use those big guns or CSDs or whatever Burke called them.
Ben watches as the sleek freight car looking spaceship makes an abrupt stop in front of the platform with Alexander, the girls, and the others. The opening to the STARU and a bridge is extended from the STARU to the platform.
Nice flying Uncle. You may need some work on your parking job, though. Ben thinks to himself with a smile.
Ben sees that all of the Federalists on Abraham’s platform raise their MECCUs and blue orbs quickly form out of their IMDs. He then notices that the other STARUs are now converging on his Uncle’s STARU, with four large cannons pointed at Alexander’s platform and his Uncle’s STARU.
Large blue orbs form quickly just ahead of the barrel of the cannons, with two in the front and two in the rear of the freight car looking spaceships. The blue dozer orbs from the STARUs are easily ten times the size of the blue dozer orbs from the MECCU’s IMD. The cannons in the rear of the STARUs extend out further, out past the cannons in the front of the STARUs.
What the shit? Those things have those dozer cannons on them too?
“Hold, Federalists! Hold! They are outnumbered and outmatched and they know it!” Abraham bellows his orders to the men standing next to him and the dozen or so STARUs that are now surrounding his Uncle’s STARU and Alexander’s platform.
The dozen STARUs in the sky stay steady with their large blue orbs pointed at his Uncle, Alexander, the girls, and the others. The Federalists alongside Abraham do the same.
“Holy hell. Burke wasn’t kidding. We wouldn’t stand a chance with hitting them head on.” Ben says, surveying the scene in front of him.
“Oh goodness, those girls have to be so scared right now.” Eileen replies.
Ben looks over the small figures on the platform that are Mia and Isabelle. Ben and Eileen can see them easily enough, with lake Gregory not being a huge lake, despite it having a surface area of roughly 84 acres.
Remembering that the zoom on the scope of his Uncle’s bolt-action is way better than his standard AR setup, he looks through the scope to get a better visual.
He sees that the two young girls do look very frightened. He also sees Alexander in a protective stance over the girls, holding them close to him. Ben shifts his scope on the STARU that is bridged to Alexander's platform, seeing his Uncle exit the STARU with his hands in the air. He’s wearing his old hiking jacket and he can see that his Uncle has tightened the wrist snaps on the sleeves, to not let them see his MECCU.
At that moment, that huge screen projection that Eileen had told him about shows up above the Leviathan. It’s insane looking to Ben. It’s all one screen but looks like you can see the images on the screen from wherever you stand. On that huge screen is his Uncle, walking down the bridge extending from the STARU to Alexander's platform.
“Oh, this asshole wants to make a spectacle of this.” Eileen blurts out.
“It’s worse than that… he wants to make an example of us.” Ben replies.
“Where are the rest of your rebel barbarians, Sheriff Reilly?” Ben hears from Abraham’s voice as it bellows now from some speaker system that he cannot quite see.
This is really just a big show for this douchebag… putting us on display like he has already won.
Ben looks to the STARUs in the sky, with the cannons and blue orbs at the end of each of those cannons aimed at his Uncle, his friend, the girls and everyone else on that platform.
Well, I guess from his perspective… he has already won. Come on Joseph! Don’t let us down in there. And Burke, you better not betray us, dammit!
Ben then hears his Uncle’s voice over the speakers that Abraham’s voice was just on. “They are dead, Abraham… because of your brain-dead Federalist bootlicker! I was able to end her miserable life, but at the cost of all of my own kind!”
Ben sees Abraham smile and then his face turns stern. “It’s Captain Abraham Jackson, you cretin. And I'm impressed and saddened by this news. Impressed that Sergeant Burke came to her senses and took out most of you. Saddened that they escaped their executions from my own hand. Where are their bodies, I must ask?”
Uncle Steven shakes his head. “You tyrant types are all the same, Abraham. You think you know everything and that the world must bend to your will. That only you have the right vision for people, and if they don’t agree with you, then they are expendable. I buried my friends and family up in the snow of the Canadian mountains... and before I threw Burke’s body to the sharks in our Pacific Ocean, she told me what happened back on Earth Two.”
The massive projected screen pans back to Abraham.
“I don't expect your kind to fathom our ways and what transpired on E2, barbarian.” Abraham replies with a scowl.
Good! He’s buying Uncle’s story about us being dead and gone. Little do you know asshole, Eileen and I are zeroed in on your tyrannical ass. Plus, Joseph and Burke and the others are inside your big-ass spaceship, taking it over… hopefully....
The video feed above the Leviathan goes back to Uncle Steven, displaying a battle of wits that looks to have Captain Abraham Jackson on the losing end, despite their obvious might and advanced technology.
“Oh… I understand. I understand that you killed close to 800 million people back home, and that’s the only reason you haven’t killed all of us yet. You need us to repopulate.” Uncle Steven snaps back with a grin.
The video feed on the screen, once again, shows Abraham’s platform.
This gets a shocked look from Abraham. Obviously taken aback with the fact that his Uncle had figured out his plans. For the first time, he sees confusion from the
great Abraham Jackson.
“Whoever’s filming this for the Federalists deserves a freaking award. I doubt they meant to make themselves look bad and air out all their dirty laundry, but that’s exactly what’s happening.” Ben says to Eileen.
“Right! What a positive side effect. Let’s just hope it’s enough to throw them off their game.” Eileen replies.
“Whatever you think you know is wrong!” Abraham shouts at Uncle Steven.
His Uncle laughs. “Well, what I think I know is that you are taking all of our women and going to use them as breeders. I think you are going to send our children through some sort of reeducation process to indoctrinate them into your kind of folks. I think you are going to kill most of our men, if not all… because you think us to be a threat. I think you were never going to let my dear friend, Alexander, and the rest of these good people of Crestline go.”
Uncle Steven pauses for effect and he looks over to the people of Crestline along the shore of the lake. He then looks back to a stunned and fuming Abraham Jackson.
“Good. He’s shaken up... Uncle’s doing good at stalling that egotistical maniac.” Ben states.
“Yup. That’s for sure. Let’s just hope that it's enough time for Joseph and the others… and none of those super soldiers out here with us get any bright ideas.” Eileen responds.
“What I think is that you are tired of your hearts and minds approach, because that was never your goal. If you had it your way, you would have killed the lot of us. But you need us… because there’s only what?... 84 of your shithead Federalists left?” Uncle Steven questions, pressing Abraham further.
The massive projector screen pans back to Abraham to find his face twisted and enraged. Ben cannot help but smile.
Keep it up, Uncle. You got this.
“What?! How do you know that?! No! Our numbers are in the millions aboard the Leviathan!” Abraham yells out, obviously angry that the truth of his numbers was figured out.
Uncle Steven laughs again. “Not so damn stoic... are you now, Abraham!? Our kind may be dispersed and in disarray, but that’s partly because of you shutting down the SuperNet and our communications. If they were to find out what you planned to do here, you may not win against 2 million people on our Earth! Our home! We, barbarians and cretins, won’t give it up without a fight!”
