“Which means now is a good time to shuttle down and look at the Kordam Party's last known location,” Parker spoke politely. After all, the captain had all the say in where they could go in their investigation.
“Good idea,” Bowen grumbled, “I'll have a Ranger prepped and a marine contingent mustered.”
“When do we leave?” Ed looked hopeful toward his son.
“Within the hour. Something isn't right about this place. I'd like to get to the bottom of it.”
“We'll take these bones by sickbay on our way to the shuttle deck.”
“Good,” Bowen said. “We'll figure this thing out.”
With that Dr. Bowen picked up the skull and razor claw, and then the three men left the lab. After the trio was gone, lab technicians stepped in to continue analyzing the Black Claw artifacts.
Chapter Nine
Ranger-Seven flew through space toward the Kordam Formation. Black Eagle Three flew ahead of her. In her cockpit, Captain Bowen sat in the pilot's seat, while Glitter sat in the back seat.
“Are you sure this is wise, Captain?”
“What is?” Bowen asked nonchalantly.
“You flying a recon mission, Sir.”
“First, Lieutenant,” Bowen sighed. “I need the flight time to maintain my flight status. Second, I'm getting away from Miss Ramirez. I promised to have sex with her if she accompanied a response team over to that derelict we hauled aboard the other day.”
“Who is she to you, Sir?” Glitter teased.
“She's an old flame. She's been mercilessly hounding me for sex ever since she came aboard.”
“Did you break up with her, and she couldn't accept it?”
“No,” Bowen grumbled softly, “she broke up with me over a pregnancy scare, and came to think that she was better off staying with me.”
“How did she manage to get aboard our ship?” Glitter chuckled.
“Couldn't say,” Bowen said. “However, I'm sure she slept with someone to get the fleet media service to assign her to this ship.”
“Wow.”
“We're approaching Planet Three,” Bowen spoke, looking over his instruments.
Suddenly, a blip appeared on their scanner displays.
“Sir, we just picked something up,” Glitter reported.
“Location,” Bowen barked.
“3,500 clicks distance, bearing zero-three-five, angle fifteen degrees positive.”
Bowen steered Black Eagle Three toward the blip and throttled up the engines. As they approached the blip, Glitter glared at her scanner displays.
“What the hell?!?” Glitter howled.
“I saw it,” Bowen said, “your blip vanished from our scanners.”
“I was just about to run a flash on it,” Glitter whined.
“Don't worry about it, Glitter. It was probably nothing, but keep your peepers peeled. I want to know if that blip reappears.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“We're nearing the Kordam Party Camp Site,” Bowen reported, “scans?”
“Scanners show nothing unusual, sir,” Glitter glowered.
Bowen keyed his radio. “Echo Three to Ranger Seven.”
“Go ahead Echo Three,” came Captain Garibaldi's voice from Bowen's helmet speakers.
“The LZ reads clear,” Bowen spoke into his radio pickup. “You may proceed to landing.”
“Roger, Echo Three,” Garibaldi's voice replied, “proceeding to land.”
Bowen watched Ranger-Seven as they flew in for a landing. The Kordam Party Camp Site, or Death Site as some called it, was a large clearing nestled against some low hills in a thick, sub-tropical forest region of Planet Three, a blue-green, earth-like planet. As with the Black Claw Death Site, a tube station tower was near the site. Ranger-Seven set down at the edge of the clearing. The boarding ramp lowered and Major Nim stepped out.
“MOVE IT, MARINES,” she barked, “I WANT A PERIMETER ESTABLISHED YESTERDAY!”
Major Nim's contingent of Fleet Marines charged out and scattered in all directions as they set up a perimeter around the clearing. Doctor Bowen and Doctor Parker stepped out.
“Why didn't we bring a team this time?” Dr. Parker asked.
“No need,” Dr. Bowen said, “we won't find anything that the rescue team didn't find three hundred years ago. We're just taking scans of the area so we can reconstruct the Kordam Party's last moments.”
“There's another of those towers,” Parker pointed at the nearby tube-station.
“That one connects Planet Three with Planet Five.”
“If we could somehow get rid of the alleged evil that supposedly exists here,” Dr. Parker groaned, “the Kordam Formation would make a dazzlingly immense colony.”
“It would certainly be something,” Dr. Bowen chuckled. “It's already one of the Twelve Wonders of the Galaxy.”
“Imagine the prestige of living on the Kordam Formation,” Dr. Parker smiled. “That is, if people could live here without fear of disappearing.”
“We are going figure out the evil,” Ed agreed with his colleague. “Let's get started. Scanning this site will take an hour.”
Taking out their hand scanners, Dr. Bowen and Dr. Parker started moving over the area. Meanwhile, Major Nim walked the zone her marines had established. She approached one Zetabot marine and a lovely redheaded human woman. The Zetabot was using a male body, and wore lance corporal stripes. The human was a slender, beautiful woman. She wore sergeant stripes. As Major Nim approached them, she saw they were staring at something in the distance.
“What's going on, Sergeant Stakovich?” Nim asked sternly.
“Corporal Scrap reported seeing something,” Stakovich reported.
“What was it, Corporal?” Nim turned to Scrap.
“Unknown, Major,” Scrap replied. “I saw movement, approximately seventy-five meters to the southeast.”
“Did you see what it was?”
“Negative,” Scrap‘s electronic voice buzzed in a low tone. “It was too far distant for me to positively identify it.”
Nim keyed her comlink. “Ranger Team to Echo Three.”
“Go ahead, Ranger Team,” Bowen's voice replied from her earpiece.
“We've detected movement seventy-five meters to the southwest of my position,” Nim said, “request fly over of the area.”
“Stand by, flying over.”
In Black Eagle Three's cockpit, Bowen banked, as he steered toward the indicated area. As he started to make a pass over the area in question, Glitter looked at her displays. She watched them intently as they flew over, circled back and flew over it again. After some time, she shrugged.
“Our scanners don't pick up anything in the area,” Glitter reported, “if there was something there, it's gone now.”
“Probably some local fauna,” Bowen said dismissively, “our engines probably scared it away.”
“Probably,” Glitter grunted, “I'll keep scanning.”
Nim looked at the Black Eagle as it passed over her.
“Major,” Bowen's voice sounded in her ear, “we just don't see anything. Be advised, maintain visual sweeps. Whatever it was, we likely scared it away.”
“Understood, Echo Three,” Nim spoke into her comlink, and then she looked at Stakovich. “Keep your eyes open. Report any more movement. Something's lurking about out there.”
“Yes, Major,” Stakovich nodded.
“Affirmative, Major,” Scrap agreed.
“There won't be any need for that, Major,” Dr. Bowen called out as he and Parker approached.
“May I ask why, Doctor?” Nim gave the two civvies a stern glare. It was her duty to keep this area secure. She did not take orders from them. Just escort and protection duty orders directly from her captain.
“We're finished here,” Ed shrugged. “There isn't anything to be found here that the original rescue team hadn't already found.”
“Have you finished your scans of the area?”
“Yes, we have,” Parker looked terrib
ly bored. “We're ready to return to Atlantis.”
“Very well,” Nim said. She watched Dr. Parker and Dr. Bowen return to Ranger-Seven. She filled her lungs and looked around at her marines. “ALRIGHT, MARINES,” she shouted, “WE'RE FINISHED! RETURN TO THE TRANSPORT...WE'RE PULLING OUT!”
With rapid efficiency, the marines dashed back to Ranger-Seven, and boarded. Nim was last up the ramp, with it closing as she ran up it. Moments later, the craft lifted off, and flew away. Black Eagle Three made a final pass over the area, then banked and caught up to the other vessel.
Dr. Bowen and Dr. Parker were in the Atlantis' forensics lab. Using the data they already had from the artifacts they had retrieved from the Galactic Institute of Science, they entered the data they obtained from their scans. The boomerang hologram table rendered a holographic model of the site. The artifacts popped into existence. Broken equipment, damaged weapons, destroyed vehicles and scattered belongings were placed into the model according to the data entered into the computer. After a few moments, the model had perfectly reconstructed the site as it had been found by the rescue team. After studying it for a few moments, Dr. Bowen and Dr. Parker looked at each other.
“Now all we need is the data recovered from the artifacts,” Dr. Bowen said.
At that moment, Lieutenant Commander Ren Klorish entered. She had a data crystal with her. “We just got the data. The computer managed to decipher it faster than I anticipated.”
“Thank you, Commander,” Ed took the data crystal, “let's enter it into our holographic model and find out what we can see.” He inserted the data crystal into the table's reader, and then typed a few commands into its keyboard. After a moment, the model shifted. As the destroyed artifacts moved, they morphed into undamaged states. In a moment, the model looked like a normal, peaceful camp site, including a small figure of a Shrive Thinker, representing Dr. Kordam. Then the simulated attack began. A shot, fired from outside the simulation area struck Dr. Kordam in the head, killing him instantly. Shots from all around the edge of the simulation struck the area. Much of the equipment was damaged by the barrage. Shadowy, distorted figures rushed in. They broke the few things not damaged by the shooting attack. Two of them picked up Dr. Kordam's body and carried it out of the simulation area. The rest of the shadows trashed the area inside the simulation. They suddenly stopped and disappeared, as the simulation reached the end of the data.
“Why weren't the assailants clear?” Dr. Parker asked.
“The camp's sensors were damaged by the time they entered the area,” Ren Klorish responded candidly, “plus the data was corrupted. I'm afraid you've got as clear an image of them as possible.”
“So all we know,” Ed scoffed, “is that Dr. Kordam was shot and dragged away, while the Kordam Party's equipment and supplies were destroyed with energy weapons and plain brute force.”
“At least you know more than you did before, Doctor,” Ren Klorish pointed out.
“Now is when we would really benefit from Black Claw's genetic memory,” Dr. Parker said.
“I'd like to see if we can clean up this data a bit more,” Dr. Bowen grumbled.
“Yes,” Dr. Parker agreed, “maybe we could get a clean look at the assailants.”
“We should see if we can extrapolate the surroundings using our scans of the area surrounding the Kordam Camp Site.”
They both began entering commands into the hologram table's control panels.
Glitter wearily stepped out of the Wizards Squadron's locker room. Dressed only in her flight coverall and boots, she moved toward the squadron's recreation room. There the poker tournament, which had now been going on for several days, was now coming to an end. As she entered the rec room, she was joined by Circe. Together, they crossed to Old Bucket. They gazed at the menu for a few moments. Glitter picked elder wine, while Circe picked kloo'gath. As their beverages appeared on Old Bucket's 3D printer stage, a strong floral scent wafted from the cup.
“What are you drinking?” Glitter asked.
“It is called kloo'gath,” Circe said, “it is a Kumarrin herbal tea. Our women drink kloo'gath when trying to get pregnant, because we believe that it promotes fertility.”
“Does it affect fertility at all?” Glitter frowned considering she had never heard of this tradition before.
“It has a marginal affect on fertility,” Circe smiled, “its effect of promoting fertility increases if a woman drinks it regularly.”
“Well, it certainly has a nice fragrance.”
They sat together at a table in the center of the room and watched Argathreft playing poker against Commander Chad ‘Raptor’ Brent, the squadron leader of the Screaming Eagles. As they watched the two men, one a Chim Simma and the other a human, played poker, they heard the other pilots around them talking about various things.
“Hey, Shaman,” said Kitsune, a young Japanese woman, and one of the squadron's newest pilots, “did you see anything weird on your patrol?”
“Like what?” Shaman replied, a tall man with bronzed skin, and a facial tattoo that clearly displayed his Native American heritage.
“Like scanner returns that could not be identified,” Kitsune complained.
“I take it this happened to you,” Shaman mused.
“Yes, Sir,” Kitsune spoke with deliberation. “I was on patrol near Planet Twelve, and I suddenly got a bogey. I steered to intercept it, and it disappeared before I could close within visual range, or even run a flash on it.”
“Yes, I know what you mean. I saw something on my scanner while I was patrolling near Planet Ten. I moved to intercept it, and it disappeared before I could flash it as well.”
“This place is really starting to get scary,” Kitsune was concerned.
Upon hearing this, Circe started getting troubled. Glitter noticed, and waved her hand before Circe's face.
“Hey, kitten,” Glitter said, “something wrong?”
“Did you see something odd during any of your flights?” Circe decided to find out if Glitter had seen anything strange.
“I was flying recon scouts ahead of the Captain's dad,” Glitter replied. “I was the one having to do over flights of weird stuff with nothing to be seen.”
“I need to go look into something,” Circe spoke distractedly.
Circe knocked back her tea and left the rec room. She stalked down the corridor to the intraship tram. Getting in, she entered CIC as her destination. She was lost in thought as the tram traveled though the ship. She was almost startled when the tram stopped, and its door opened. She exited and made her way to the Combat Information Center. Upon entering CIC, she was met by Lieutenant Commander Madhuksara.
“Don't you ever leave CIC, Commander?” Circe jokingly asked.
“Nope,” Madhuksara joked right back. “I eat, sleep and have sex right here in CIC. What can I do for you, 'Miss Pilot who had to lateral to Port-Side LSO because she needs to have babies to help increase the population of her species'?”
“I'd like to run an analysis on flight data from recent patrol flights,” Circe said.
“You sound like you're looking for something, Lieutenant,” Madhuksara waved a gesture at the crewman working one of the four immersive control stations surrounding the hologram tank.
“I overheard a couple of pilots talking about disappearing bogies.”
A block of text appeared floating in the air within the hologram tank. Madhuksara and Circe looked at it.
“Interesting,” Madhuksara frowned, “the computer says that the last twenty craft to land detected possible Hellkin spacecraft.”
“It also says that in each instance, our craft moved to intercept,” Circe peered at the words with growing horror, “but the bogey vanished before they could be challenged, attacked or even identified.”
“Yes, but an analysis of all the scanner data allowed the computer to definitely show that the bogeys were Hellkin,” Madhuksara muttered.
“I've got to take this to the captain,” Circe sounded desperate.<
br />
“He was in his ready room, the last I heard of him.”
Circe dashed out of CIC. Madhuksara shook her head and went back to work. Bowen glared at Circe as the cat-girl dashed breathlessly up to his desk, having entered without permission.
“I take it there is some purpose to this intrusion, Lieutenant,” Bowen growled.
“Captain, I have uncovered evidence that the Hellkin are lurking about.”
“I know already,” Bowen sighed. “Commander Madhuksara forwarded your evidence to me.”
“Then you know,” Circe whimpered.
“Yes,” Bowen said, “you found sensor data showing that our ships have been detecting Hellkin craft that conveniently disappear from scanners before they can be identified.”
“What are your orders, Sir?” Circe asked quietly.
“Begin flying the patrols in strike teams of no less than four fighters. I want to make sure that any Hellkin craft are identified and destroyed.”
“Yes, Sir,” Circe nodded, “I'll relay your orders to....”
“No need, Lieutenant,” Bowen interrupted, “I'll do that, you see to your own part of the flight wing.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Good work, Lieutenant,” Bowen praised.
“Thank you, Captain,” Circe beamed.
Circe left the ready room with a certain bounce in her step. Suddenly the intercom squawked at Bowen. He touched the holographic Intercom key on his desk.
“Yes?” Bowen growled.
“Captain,” Dr. Parker's voice answered, “please come to the forensics lab. We have some disturbing new evidence.”
“On my way.” He got up and left the ready room.
Bowen entered the forensics lab, where Dr. Bowen and Dr. Parker stared grimly at the hologram table. The captain walked up to the table and looked at them.
“So what have you gentlemen got?”
“This,” Dr. Bowen said.
Ed touched a holographic key. The projector began playing a simulation of the last attack on the Kordam Party Camp Site. Bowen watched it intently. He gasped when Hellkin foot soldiers emerged from hatches in the ground that were camouflaged to blend with the rest of the ground around them. He realized that the Kordam Party would never have noticed them until it was too late.
The Atlantis Chronicles- The Kordam Party Page 14
