by Mike Luoma
“No doubt to test our readiness and our defenses,” Dell observes.
“Perhaps,” Wentworth agrees cautiously with the scientist. “I don’t think they’ll attack any
‘visible’ targets just yet,” Wentworth speculates. “I believe they attacked the asteroid base because it is, or was, ‘off the map’, if you know what I mean.”
“Now it’s ‘on the map’ and all over the news,” Anita grumbles.
“But they could hit the asteroid base with some impunity because most people didn’t know it existed. Hell, I didn’t even know it was there until three months ago,” Wentworth quips. “It was an inconspicuous target.”
“Great,” Anita sighs with sarcasm.
“Ees ack on,” Krish says through another full mouth as he points at the small newscreen in front of him. On the screen is an image of Dolomay with the caption, “UTZ Collaborates with Aliens!”
“So much for your theory,” Anita says to BC.
“He must be making another statement,” BC says. He looks over at Anita. “You were right, he’s going us against them-y.”
For some reason, Anita turns slightly red and says, “I was right?”
Wentworth interrupts.
“We have word back from Mars that Dolomay returned with only two ships. He hasn’t made another public statement, but he did address the faithful on Mars after landing. The news must be picking up reports on that.
“Word is, Dolomay accused the UTZ of conspiring with aliens, of forging secret alien alliances, and he told the crowd of UIN faithful that advanced alien ships helped the UTZ hybrid ships defeat the superior UIN forces.
“Evidently, he had suggested that they would return with all their ships intact and full of new technology that was rightfully theirs. He had to explain to them why it didn’t happen that way.”
“So, he thought he could raid this base and take what he wanted, huh?” BC comments. Maybe we need to take what want… What do we want? What do we need? We need an edge, an advantage over Dolomay and the UIN. And over the Eldred. A thought occurs to BC.
I know what we need. What we want. But how do we take it?
“Damn… I think I know what we need to do next,” BC says to the group. “We need to get our hands on an Eldred ship.”
“What?”
“You’re kidding!”
“You’ve been wrong about everything else…”
“No way.”
“Crazy.”
Everyone shoots BC down at once. The comments vary, but the sentiment is the same. BC argues for his idea.
“Think about it! They have advanced weapons. Their maneuvering and drive systems are apparently better than ours. They’re just more advanced than we are. Technologically, I mean. They swatted those UIN ships like flies! If we could get one of their ships, you Project scientists here could reverse engineer it!”
Anita gives him an exaggerated eye-popping look of disbelief.
“Oh, c’mon, Anita,” BC protests, “It’s what the Project is known for! How many Domo and Flaze inventions have you reverse engineered into useful technology?”
“It is what we are known for,” Dell agrees with BC.
“All the time!” Krish pipes up enthusiastically. “Bring ‘em on! You get a ship and we’ll find a way to make the thing work for us!”
“See?” BC says to Anita with a smile. “It’s an idea! A way to counter both the Eldred and Dolomay!”
“It’s not a bad idea. It will take some work, to be sure,” Wentworth agrees over the com. “But it can’t be our only idea. How else can we go about stopping the Eldred… and Dolomay?”
“Hey, he’s back on!” Krish interrupts to inform them of Dolomay’s new appearance on the newscreen, with the caption, “Ibn Al-Dolomé makes Public Statement.”
“Hello. I am Ibn Al-Dolomé, the leader of the Universal Islamic Nation. I speak now not only to my own people, but to all members of the human race, indeed, to all the creatures of Allah, may his name be forever praised.
“I do not mean to sound ‘crazy’ or ‘alarmist’, but our UIN ships have recently discovered alien races spying on us all… from a secret base in the asteroids!
“I hope you do not find this farfetched… it is far too real! And for the greater good of all humanity we set out to investigate, to find this secret base and, once we found it, to explore the base and meet our covert observers.
“But when we found the base we were attacked! A fleet of alien and human ships together came at us out of nowhere! They, unfortunately, had the element of shock, of surprise, and wiped out many of our ships before we could even react.
“My fear? Now that we have unknowingly provoked them by kicking the proverbial ‘hornet’s nest’, my fear is that they will come and attack us here, on Mars. For the saddest fact of all in this is that the UTZ has allied themselves with aliens! The UTZ forces were there, on the base, mingling with these aliens! And they attacked us, we who are their human brothers, alongside the evil alien fiends, their allies, those uncreated devils!
“We have no choice but to consider the attack on our ships and the discovery of collusion with aliens to be acts of war by the UTZ, and from here on consider the UIN to once again be at war with the Universal Trade Zone! Any UTZ ships that approach Mars will be shot down. Any UTZ citizen found in UIN space must convert to Islam and swear allegiance to me or suffer penalty of exile or death!
“And I say unto you, citizens of the UTZ, that your government leads you down a path away from Allah, alongside creatures not of his making, and you damn yourselves!”
The newsclip ends.
“Cheery guy,” BC cracks.
“I don’t think his people are going to believe him,” Wentworth says. “I think he came off a bit unhinged there, don’t you?” He looks at them over the com. “It’s a bit early in his reign to be going on the offensive.”
“You think so?” BC says sarcastically. “Is it ever too early if you can bend people’s minds?”
“He obviously told his people that he’d return from the asteroids with great riches. Now he’s trying to explain his failure, to shift the blame through bluster and hyperbole,” Wentworth snarls. An alarm begins to sound. The conference room door opens and a tech leans in through the doorway.
“We’ve got a report of Eldred ships in orbit around Mars,” she says.
“Great,” BC sighs.
I thought we might get a breather. No such luck.
Chapter Five
BC, Anita and the scientists leave the conference room and join the techs in the main control room.
“How many Eldred ships are surrounding Mars?” BC asks as he looks at the main viewscreen. A strategic graphic display of Mars and its moons is dotted with small blue blips.
“We don’t have a number on them yet,” a tech explains.
“Mr. Wentworth is on the com,” another tech informs BC.
“Looks like your war is upon us, Campion,” Wentworth says over the open com. “Bound to happen. Your million-year-old intergalactic conflict, as predicted, right in our own backyard.”
“Our ‘backyard’ is Mars, I guess,” BC says.
“We’re going to Mars?” Anita says.
“No rest for the wicked,” BC quips.
“I thought that was the weary,” Anita corrects him.
“Works either way,” he replies.
“We need to be careful. How many ships can you bring with you from there?” Wentworth asks.
“We should leave some here to protect the base,” Anita cautions. “Seven? Split the forces here?”
“Seven ships. Won’t be too threatening,” BC says in disappointment.
“We have twenty Stinger ships ready to go here, but no crews,” Wentworth says. “Send any surviving crewmembers that no longer have fully functioning ships back here to crew our waiting ships. We can team experienced crew up with new crew members and increase our numbers.”
“What about conventional Transpace ships? Let�
��s bring in some UTZ regular forces,” BC
suggests.
“They won’t stand much of a chance against those new UIN ships we just saw,” Anita says dismissively.
“I don’t think they have too many of those ships left,” BC responds.
“And then there’s the Eldred,” she says, trailing off.
“Ah, the Eldred. Well, none of us probably stand a chance against them and their ships,” BC
cracks. “I’m hoping we can speak to them, try to keep them from killing everyone.”
“Comforting thought,” Wentworth responds. “Hoping for humanity from aliens. I’ll get a squadron of UTZ regulars to back you up. Strength in numbers. Maybe.”
“Maybe we’ll get a chance to grab an Eldred ship,” BC muses.
“Really?” Krish pipes up. “Can I come?”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea…” BC says.
“I’m not sure there’ll be much of Mars left to go to if we don’t go soon,” Anita tells them. “The Eldred have already opened fire! They’re surrounding the planet and are shooting down any ships in the area.”
“Guess we should go, then?” BC says.
Damn. I’m tired. Can’t rest.
“So...” BC asks. “Who wants to go for a ride?”
Ha! That’s everybody. All aboard!
Okay, Mars… here we come!
BC arrives over Mars in one of the new Stinger ships along with Anita, Krish, Dell and the ship’s three crew members. Six other Stingers flash out of Transpace with them.
“There are the Eldred!” The pilot points out a swarm of over fifty light blue dots on the heads up display overlaid on the bridge’s view screen. The dots surround the planet and chase random red dots that appear and all too quickly disappear. A mass of green blips appears off to their right as a forty ship squadron of UTZ regulars flies in.
“Our backup,” BC notes.
“Green Squadron reporting, Mr. Campion!” A young woman’s voice comes over the com. “This is Squad Leader Lishnikov, over.”
“Call me BC, Lishnikov. We’re going to hang back for a bit. Why don’t you spread the squadron out behind us along the elliptic in an orbital arc, watching for flankers, all sides.”
“Roger that.”
The green dots begin spreading out across the display, some disappearing behind their ship.
“Give me all open channels,” BC tells the pilot. “I want to try to reach the Eldred.”
“You’re on.”
“This is Bernard Campion calling the leader of responsibility of the Eldred Fleet now firing on Mars! Please respond!” BC calls out.
“Can you make that repeat until we get a response?” BC asks the pilot.
“Done. Oh, but we have a response. Here you go.”
“Hello Bernard Campion,” a calm Eldred voice purrs over the com. “We are seeking Dolomay. Do you seek to delay us?”
“I do not seek to delay your quest for Dolomay. But I do seek to delay you from killing other humans unnecessarily!” BC fires back.
“Dolomay hides among them. We are forced to fire upon many targets. We do, of course, regret this collateral damage.”
“Regret my ass,” BC mumbles. “The Eldest of the Eldred told me your plague had already killed
‘enough’ of us,” he tells the alien leader. “You’re going a lot further every time you blow up another ship!
When is ‘enough’ enough?”
“When Dolomay is dead,” the Eldred says in an “isn’t it obvious” tone of voice.
“This is Ibn Al-Dolome,” another voice rings out over the com.
“All channels are open,” the pilot explains. “He must be broadcasting to the people on Mars.”
“Please remain calm. The alien threat above us can only be met by cool courage and hardened fortitude. This is the time to pray to Allah for strength to hold back these alien infidels. We must fight back…”
The message ends suddenly, and a huge explosion blossoms up from the Martian surface below them.
“The Eldred just blew up the communications center and main government dome,” the pilot reports. “They triangulated in on the source of the signal.”
The pilot puts a view of Mars on the main screen, and zooms down toward the surface to scan for damage. A crater marks the main dome where BC had failed in his meeting with Al Salid just over three months ago.
The view suddenly shakes and the picture goes gray on the screen. On another screen, BC sees more explosions erupt around the impact crater from the first.
The captain pulls the zoom back on the surface view and they can see a ring of silver, oval Eldred ships floating a mile above the Martian surface.
Each ship in its turn blasts another hole in the surface next to the original one, destroying domes and tunnels in an expanding ring, surrounding the first crater with craters. Then they start another, wider circle around the last, moving outward creating spreading concentric bands of craters, methodically leveling UIN structures and killing who knows how many thousands of people.
“This is Bernard Campion to the Eldred! You’ve got to stop this! You’re destroying everything!”
“Dolomay’s signal originated from that central dome. We destroyed that, and now seek to cut off his escape,” the Eldred responds calmly.
“His signal did, but that doesn’t mean he was there!” BC shouts at the com. “He could have recorded that speech, or relayed it from a different location, you don’t know!”
“They’ve stopped the bombardment,” the pilot reports.
“You believe he may have already escaped?” the Eldred asks over the com.
“I’m saying he could have! Stop killing people!!” BC demands.
The Eldred appear to be considering their next move. Suddenly, an alarm goes off on the bridge, a quick series of beeps. Everybody jumps at the sudden sound.
“Private call,” the pilot says. “From the surface! It’s for you, BC.”
“Put it on.”
“BC is that really fuckin’ you? Tell me it’s you!”
Fiza! She’s alive!
“It’s me, Fiza. Are you okay?”
“AM I OKAY?!” she screams back, distorting the speakers. “I’m pretty fucking far from okay right now, okay?”
“I’ve got you on the speakers, by the way.”
“Great. I don’t really fucking care who hears me, okay? How ‘bout you get me on that ship of yours, by the way! You know, return the favor!”
“Where are you?”
“I’m near the spaceport. I’ve been trying to get here and get on a ship ever since those fucking ships first appeared! It’s been pretty shitty going since the fucking explosions began! Everybody’s going fuckin’ crazy!”
“Can we land at the spaceport and pick her up?” BC asks the pilot. The pilot just stares back at him.
“You’re kidding, right?” Anita asks.
“Who the fuck’s that?” Fiza demands over the speaker.
“She helped save my sorry ass three months ago,” BC says to Anita sharply, getting angry. “I owe her my life.”
“BC, there’s something weird here,” Fiza comes back. “There’s a group of people walking calmly through the chaos. It’s weird, man, the crowd’s kinda melting around them, letting them by. They’re coming this wa… It’s him, BC, Ibn Al-Dolomé! He’s in the center of the group but they’re all moving with him, a bunch of fucking people walking almost like in fucking sync with him!”
“Don’t get too close to him, Fiza! He’s dangerous!”
“What was that BC? Look, Ibn Al-Dolomé and his zombies are getting on a ship. I’m gonna try to stow aboard and escape.”
“No! Fiza! Don’t do it! We’ll be there to get you soo…”
“Thanks for fuckin’ nuthin’ BC!”
The connection goes dead.
The Eldred move their ships in over the spaceport and begin to blast down at the surface.
“They must have been listening in,”
the pilot offers obviously. BC just briefly glares at the man before he notices something.
“What’s that?”
Three red dots rise off Mars on the heads up display. One of the blue dots is blinking.
“Those UIN ships managed to do some damage to one of the Eldred ships! It’s going down, crashing to the surface, looks like,” the pilot explains.
“Take us down to the surface! Follow them! I want that ship!” BC demands. The pilot waits, looking at BC for confirmation of the slightly crazy command.
“What?” BC says with exasperation. “Do it!”
“What about Dolomay? Look, he’s escaping!” Anita says.
BC turns to the view screen and focuses on the three red dots rising up. One blips out. As BC
watches, a second red dot grows larger, filling his sight until his entire vision is glowing red. BC is suddenly in a world gone red.
Okay, that’s not normal.
YOU, AGAIN?! HERE! NOW!
Closing Doors closing doors closingdoorsclosingdoors…
GOOD BYE!
Fuck you!
Unh!
BC feels a farewell mind blast from Dolomay, but it seems muted. He tries to blast back, but isn’t sure anything really happens.
BC blinks and the red clears from his vision. He looks up at the view screen and the last two red dots are gone.
“That was Dolomay!” BC screams out over the com at the Eldred. “Are you listening to me? He got away!”
“The Eldred ships continue firing at the surface,” the pilot reports. “And we’ve got an incoming call for you again, BC.”
“Fiza?”
“No sir.”
“Who is it this time?”
“It’s Ibn Al-Salid,” the pilot says, disbelief in his voice.
“Put him on,” BC says, “But keep following that Eldred ship down.”
“Will do, sir.”
“Al Salid?”
“Campion! We are under attack by your alien allies! Call them off! We surrender! Ibn Al-Dolomé has fled! We do not wish to fight anymore, please!” Al Salid begs and pleads. Damn, the guy’s desperate.
“Greetings, Al Salid,” BC begins. “It is Bernard Campion here. I wish I could accept your surrender and stop this, I do,” BC says, over earnestly. “But I’m afraid ‘Ibn Al-Dolomé’ lied to you. Those aliens are not our allies!”
