Resurgence: Imortum

by JK Stone

  Terrah attempted to restart the ship, and then she looked down at the display which had changed to read,

  TDS 4.

  Core is not responding, manual input required.

  System restart on standby.

  Jerren sighed and said, “Okay, we know the ship will be within a tolerable temperature range, but what’s the air quality?”

  Terrah found the command for the environmental controls and brought up the current ships status. A moment later, she examined the results and relayed them to Jerren. “The Co2 levels are very high, and the Oxygen level is near to nonexistent.”

  “Wait here a moment,” Jerren said.

  Terrah was still examining the display when Jerren got her attention by asking, “Terrah, could you call for the Archway TDS 4.”

  Terrah did and a second later an archway appeared on the wall behind her seat, and she had a fluttery feeling when she thought, Damn, this is really happening.

  A moment later Jerren seemed to hyperventilate then activated his armor and stepped through the archway.

  Not even a second later Alise drew her attention. “Terrah, with the life-support offline and air quality so bad, you will need to wear a protective suit. The Displacement suits we have only work for those bound to our ships, so I need you to come with me. We still have an EVA suit from NASA that you can wear.”

  *****

  Terrah wondered how they got an EVA from NASA, but shaking it off she had followed Alise back to TDS 1, and Alise helped her into the suit.

  Terrah looked down at the rest of the EVA and knew it would be impossible to move if she put the rest of it on without the benefit of no gravity, and she was about to mention it when Alise spoke again.

  “You do not have to attach the jetpack, and the EVA suit should work until life support is reinstated.”

  A moment later the Jetpack vanished, and Alise added, “We have not had these golden suits long and do not know everything we can do in them. I’m almost positive that Jerren was checking to see if these suits we have on will provide protection for us in that kind of environment, and if they do, then you can get one of these gold suits from your ship,” Alise stated warmly.

  Terrah nodded and followed Alise back into the master control room and a second later Jerren asked, “Okay, are we all ready?”

  Terrah nodded and moved toward the TDS 4 archway, and then Jerren looked back at her sisters saying, “We need you to stay in here or in one of the other ships until Terrah’s ship is powered up and the systems are back to normal.”

  Jerren looked back at their boarding party and seemed to force a smile through an obvious grimace and said, “It’s a mess in there, so watch your step. Let’s do this,” then one by one they stepped through the archway.

  Chapter Five

  Terrah followed Jason and Justin into TDS 4, with Jerren and Eneria following right behind her. Terrah looked around and grimaced, because Jerren was correct, the ship was a mess. Alise had instructed her as to how to clean the ship once it was powered up, so she didn’t let the ship’s condition bother her too much.

  Terrah had helped in clearing the area just in front of the vertical square box that she was told was the ship’s engine, and once cleared enough Jason motioned for her to approach the engine and she stood there between him and Justin. Jason told her what he needed her to do, and taking a breath, she said, “I’m not sure how to do this, but I’ll follow your lead,” Terrah told him with a forced smile.

  Alise had told her while she was donning the EVA, that she would need to use her hands, so instead of putting the gloves on, she used utility tape to seal the sleeves to her wrists to provide a good seal.

  Jason and Justin each took one of her hands and placed their free one on the engine. The lights began to flicker feebly, but a moment later it felt as if there was a firm grip on each of her shoulders and with a shocking jolt energy passed through her suit, then down her arms and the lights on the engine flashed brightly before fading away.

  A moment later, Calia’s voice sounded. “That worked, by my calculations, TDS 4 should be fully functional in two hours your time. Alise and I are going back to our ships and will move them out of range.”

  Jason confirmed the message and turned apparently surveying their environment, and Jerren spoke a second later. “The oxygen levels are rising, Terrah can you send the clutter to the void Storage for me yet? Just tell the ship to reset for the new commander.”

  Terrah concentrated on cleaning the ship like Alise told her to, and then she opened her eyes a moment later to find the ship was still in the same condition, then looking around she tried it again. After the fourth attempt, she said, “It isn’t doing anything.”

  Jerren had let out a sigh, saying, “It was a slim hope. That system is probably one of the last to be activated.”

  Looking between his brothers Jerren said, “Jason, Justin, will you help Terrah to the Prep room? Get her one of these suits ASAP.”

  Jason and Justin agreed then the five of them spent the next fifteen minutes clearing their way to the location where the hatch should be. Once they were there Terrah watched in amazement as Jerren said, “Eneria and I are going after the bomb, and we will be back as fast as possible.” Then He and Eneria drew their weapons and vanished, and a moment later the hatch leading off of the ship opened.

  Chuckling inwardly, Terrah continued moving debris to get to the prep room.

  A few seconds passed and Terrah grimaced as a piece of the mess fell. She prevented it from making too much noise, and after noting that the hatch was still open she turned to Jason. “Shouldn’t we close the hatch? If they hear us out there they might come to investigate,” she said. Jason agreed and he told her how to do it.

  A few seconds later Jason said, “Yes, what’s wrong?”

  Terrah looked at Jason in confusion, and she soon realized that Jason must’ve been communicating with Jerren, but she was unable to hear it because she didn’t have her gold suit on yet.

  “Sorry about that,” Jason said, then he added, “just after you left, Terrah thought to close it in case someone noticed it opened. It looks like the blocked communications and scans only pertain to above the base. Just let us know when to open the hatch, we’ll be standing by.”

  A second later Jason told her, “Jerren said that General Green and four techs are still outside of the ship, but the CIA spook isn’t there at the moment.”

  Terrah had a bit of concern rising in her and she said, “General Green is a good and decent man.”

  Terrah was tempted to rush out and get Pops onto her ship right then, but that might sound the alarms and endanger everyone, and with a dark matter weapon involved, she didn’t want to risk anyone’s lives. So reluctantly she waited to see how things played out.

  Jason nodded and replied, “Sounds good. We’re almost to the prep room, Terrah asked us to relay a message. She said General Green is a friendly. Try not to harm him if at all possible.”

  Terrah let out a sigh of relief and continued moving debris from the path they were clearing and asked, “What CIA spook was Jerren referring to?”

  Jason seemed to grumble a little, then he said, “I think his name is Smith, or at least that is what he called himself when both Jerren and I had dealings with him. We just call him the CIA spook, because there’s no telling who or what he really is.”

  “You must mean Johnathan Smith. I know he had something to do with the CIA in the past, but he was promoted, and he’s now the director of special projects for DARPA on this base, and I’ve seen him concealing a DHS badge a couple of times, so he could be affiliated with them as well, this base’s chain of command is bazaar,” Terrah said.

  “Figures… screw up move on up,” Jason said with a growl.

  “What do you mean by that?” Terrah asked.

  Jason let out a sigh and said, “Just that Smith almost got me killed with bad intel. His informant was a mole for the terrorist group I was attempting to infiltrate when I was captu
red in Iraq, and his intel almost got Jerren’s team killed once as well. Personally, I would’ve made sure he never worked for the government again, but as you said, he was promoted. Probably to save lives from his screw-ups… He must be related to someone powerful to not be canned for his mistakes.”

  Terrah knew about Jason’s captivity, and that he’d been medically discharged from the military after his rescue. She’d felt guilt eating at her when she’d been told by Jason’s former Chief Master sergeant that he had been discharged, but she’d never been able to find out exactly what had happened to him. She’d been transferred out of the OSI just after Jason had been transferred into the unit, and that file was classified SCI 4.

  “What exactly happened? If you don’t mind my asking,” Terrah said questioningly.

  Jason tossed what he was holding on the pile they’d been stacking and looking intently at her, he said, “We had intel from Smith’s snitch, that the terrorist cell had acquired an old SS-25 nuclear warhead, and they were planning on using it for Jihad, we staged a mock execution, then ‘Abda’, Smith’s informant took me to meet the leader of the cell, but they captured and held me for several months.”

  Justin spoke a moment later and Terrah peered over at him.

  “That message I decoded?” Justin stated questioningly.

  Terrah nodded, and he continued.

  “Well, it was about that incident. The message said, ‘Sandman is in the nest. Bright boy is sleeping.’ It gave a latitude and longitude just outside Mosul and a time and date the sandman would go to sleep, and bright boy was coming out to play. I was told that message was SCI 4 and not to speak of it, but with what’s happened to us, with becoming TDS commanders, I have no qualms telling you now.”

  Terrah nodded in agreement. She had only been the commander for less than a half hour, but she wasn’t going to let petty Earth politics dictate her life any longer. She didn’t think Jason knew anything about her being in the OSI, or that his code name was Sandman, so she jumped over that part and said, “That makes sense, that message would indicate that the operative had eyes on target and was requesting a NEST team before the bomb was to be moved.”

  Terrah looked over at Jason, and added, “It was smart of you to use the language we speak, but how did you know Justin would receive it, and how did you manage to transmit it?” she asked.

  Jason shook his head. “It wasn’t me,” he said, then added, “we think it was Inola who sent the message, and made sure Justin would hear it… Jerren’s team was sent in to rescue me, and the SEAL team he was embedded with secured the nuke.”

  Terrah nodded and continued moving debris while thinking over what Jason and Justin said. The retrieval of a broken arrow would be classified, but it shouldn’t be SCI 4 unless the event would prove damaging to the government if the information were to be made public, and Terrah silently wondered what else was in play regarding that event.

  A few more minutes of moving relics around had passed, and once Terrah opened the door to the prep room as they called it, Jason let out a very audible and disgruntled grunt.

  “The Imortum really should have given the prior commanders housekeeping lessons before turning these ships over to the Lantins,” Jason said out loud.

  Terrah looked at Jason and asked, “Were all the ships this bad?”

  Jason grunted again, then he said, “I was lucky enough that Alise had reset my ship for the new commander before I boarded TDS 1, but from what Alise told me, Elgon was a bit of a hoarder as well.

  “Jerren’s ship was a mess and had some hazards, but not this bad. And I didn’t see Justin’s ship aside from the engine room, which I try to forget every time I recall it.”

  Terrah peered back at Justin for an explanation and he said, “I really don’t like to discuss it, as it almost killed me. Needless to say, it was bad. But at least we’re here to help you.”

  Terrah was puzzled by Justin’s statement and asked him, “Were you unable to send it all to the Void storage as well?”

  Justin let out a disgruntled sounding sigh and said, “I didn’t know about the void storage at the time, and neither did Calia. Not that she would’ve helped me at that moment anyway. Jason had been unconscious at the time, so I manually moved all the crap around my ship for several days. That was until Jason awoke and told me how to clean the ship.”

  Terrah patted Justin on the shoulder in consolation, and then she continued moving debris around until they reached the console wall. Terrah called for the display. Locating the rotating deca-decimal address for her body suit, she summoned the armor and weapon, and her brothers stepped out to allow her a few minutes to change.

  Terrah had removed the EVA, then the blue body suit she had been wearing under it. She hadn’t been a vain person, and if she had to live with the scars and disfigurements Bias had inflicted upon her, she would’ve. But taking in her overall condition, Terrah had been pleased to find that the medical unit had healed all of the damage her body had sustained at Bias’s hands.

  Donning the new golden body suit, Terrah felt self-conscious. Her brothers were currently ten years younger than her forty-five years, even though they looked twenty years younger, and though she wouldn’t fail a fit rep, she still had a few more curves than she would’ve liked in a body suit.

  Terrah had just slipped her arms into the suit, and felt around for a zipper, but was unable to locate one. Then to Terrah’s surprise, a moment later the suit’s seams began to meld together to form a seamless outfit. After applying the weapon belt Terrah exited the prep room and Jason and Justin turned to look at her.

  “That looks good on you,” Jason said with a smile.

  Justin immediately agreed, but somehow Terrah felt they were just being kind to their aged sister.

  *****

  Terrah, Jason, and Justin had taken the next forty-five minutes and cleared a path from the mission prep room and made it to Decon and down the corridor to medical. That corridor was not as bad as the others had been and the three of them made it into the medical room rather easily.

  Jason chuckled upon entering medical and said, “It figures, with all that mess I would want medical to be ready as well. I guess the commander figured he would need medical more than the other rooms.”

  Terrah laughed a little even though the condition of the ship was no laughing matter. Jason was right. At least the medical room was in decent condition.

  Terrah and her brothers had made it full circle back to the control room and were clearing some space around the mission prep console when Jerren’s voice sounded.

  “We’re at the hatch.”

  Terrah concentrated on opening the hatch for Jerren and Eneria, while Jason and Justin hurried to assist them.

  Terrah heard Jerren say, “Secure this one, and the one Eneria has. I’m going back for the other one.”

  Terrah peered down the still very cluttered corridor and watched as both Jerren and Eneria handed the bombs over to Jason and Justin.

  “There were three of them?!” Jason had exclaimed in a near shout.

  “Yes,” Jerren said looking and sounding most put out.

  Terrah heard Jerren say, “Eneria, can you help Terrah scan for anything of alien origin in the room above, and if it is dangerous then transport it out of there. I’ll be back in a moment.”

  A few seconds later both Jason and Justin rushed past carrying what Terrah could only assume were the dark matter bombs. She thought wryly, Big things really do come in small packages. Because as they passed her, each of them was carrying a basketball sized sphere. Then Eneria approached her and leading Terrah to the console Eneria instructed her on how to scan for, and transport items to base storage.

  About five or six minutes later Jerren’s voice sounded, asking, “Do you have a lock on the items yet?”

  “Almost, CRAP!” Eneria said out loud.

  Eneria pointed to the monitor then said, “Deselect both of those. And as soon as they are out of the room, send the rest of the items
to base storage.”

  “What’s wrong?” Jerren had called out.

  A second later Eneria replied, “There is a small amount of dark matter in a suspension vial on a shelf. We need to get it out of there before we remove the other items. I will be there in a second to help—

  Jerren quickly responded, “No, I see it and I’ll get it, you stay there.”

  It was obvious to Terrah that Eneria wanted to help Jerren, but a few seconds later Jerren called out again, “I’m clear of the room.”

  Eneria nodded and told her, “Okay Terrah, dematerialize everything selected and place it directly into base storage.”

  Terrah did, and a second later Eneria told Jerren, “Alright, we have transported everything from the level above us.”

  A few seconds later Jerren said, “Anubisis is out here, we need to get the bomb and dark matter vial on the ship ASAP, I’ll distract him.”

  Eneria turned to Terrah and she said, “Get ready to close the hatch as soon as everyone is aboard.”

  Eneria then peered around and must’ve seen Justin had just returned to the ship because she called out, “Justin and I are on our way. Anubisis has too much training, do not engage him.” Then Eneria motioned for Justin to follow her as she headed for the hatch.

  Jason had just returned when Jerren and Justin entered carrying the last bomb and suspension vial. Jerren handed Jason the vial he’d been carrying and said, “Here take this, I’m going to help Eneria,” Then Jerren rushed out and a moment later Jason and Justin passed by to secure the remaining dark matter weapons.

  A few minutes later Terrah saw Eneria enter the ship, soon followed by Jerren who was dragging a partially armored Bias U’san by the neck and as soon as they were onboard the ship, Terrah focused on closing the hatch as Eneria told her.

  Jerren called down the corridor, “Terrah, transport this guy to your medical unit and put him in stasis.”

  Terrah was back at her console, but she couldn’t get a complete lock on Anubisis alone, but she could by using Jerren’s contact with the man. Once she had a solid lock on both Jerren and Anubisis, she removed Jerren’s pattern from the scan and transported the overall area surrounding Bias U’san or Anubisis as they kept calling him to the medical unit, and placed him in stasis, then placed the remnants of his armor that had dematerialized with him into base storage.