Charlie thought out aloud, “I can’t believe they figured a way to penetrate the Megaproton Energy Field by themselves, they must have access to detailed specifications on the field.”
“But how?” Katie asked.
Ryan replied. “It is possible they gained access to the main database on Carillia. If that were so, then they could get detailed files on just about anything. What do we have on the ship that came through the black hole?”
Charlie pressed a few buttons on the three dimensional projector near him and a slightly transparent miniature black hole appeared before them. They watched the events that unfolded a few hours ago, the strange vessel appearing out of nowhere and it firing on the space station. A few moments later the image disappeared. “That’s all we have.”
“I’ve seen that ship before.” Ryan announced. “But where? Katie, while your looking through the achieves, see if there is anything on that ship.” “Charlie can you reduce the range of the field to as tight as we dare, it may hold them back for a while. Adam, analyse that Warbird’s trajectory and try to find out how it got through.”
“Okay.”
Ryan’s tense expression eased a little. At least now he something positive to focus on. “Meanwhile, I have to pay a visit to some influential people on Earth.”
**********
His long black cloak flowed behind him as his fast gait quickly transported the great body through the dimly lit corridor. In tow were four of his elite Royal Guard that matched his pace. Their garb of black armour that covered their bulky muscular bodies made it difficult to discern their shape. What was clear were their bright red eyes that shone from behind their helmets.
As massive as the Warrian Royal Guards were, the leading figure towered above them. He needed no protection, the guards were a tradition that the leading figure respectfully upheld. The lack of a helmet made his eyes shine brighter than the rest adding to the superiority of his presence.
The trek stopped abruptly outside a small door. One of the leading guards pressed the buttons on the small keypad next to the door, but the leader was impatient and with a roar he pushed the guard aside and kicked the door in. The power behind his boot was enough to rip the door from its hinges and send it crashing into the wall on the far side. The room behind the door was brightly lit, so bright that it caused the Warrians to cover their eyes. The leader immediately punched the light control panel on the wall smashing it. The room instantly fell into darkness matching the gloomy atmosphere that existed out in the corridor.
The room contained a number of tables adorned with electronic devices and test equipment. In the darkness, a lone human figure trembled from the shock of the sudden invasion of his tiny domain. The leader stormed up to the human and with one sweep of his right arm, sent him flying in the same direction as the door. His small body made a thud as it hit the far wall, then fell into a heap on the floor.
The leader went to where he lay and grabbed him by throat, then lifted the half conscious body up against the wall. With his arm stretched up high, the human’s feet were at least his physical height above the floor below.
“It failed! The zheild iz till up! You zaid it would be unztoppable! And I lozt one of my few ace pilotz.” Shouted the massive figure with his heavily accented tongue. There was no reply from the human so the cloaked assailant shook him until he stirred. A small trickle of blood oozed from the side of his mouth where his face has struck the wall.
In a strangled tone, the human replied. “My Lord....My lord, Ryan Williams himself must have....shot it down.” It was difficult to speak with the weight of his body being held up by his throat, but he persisted as his life depended on it. “It would be impossible for anyone else to ......achieve such a feat. Besides,..... it was just one Warbird. When we launch the entire fleet,..... the shield will be destroyed along with..... the rest of the Intersect Space Force.” He gestured with his right hand at the window to the left on the wall he was pinned too. Despite the poor lighting, the shape of thousands of vessels could be discerned in a vast chamber beyond.
His words seemed to have no calming effect on the great creature that held him. “Because of your incompetence, I have alzo lozt the element of zurprize. They may find a way to ztop them. If I zenze any form of betrayal, you know what will happen....don’t you.” His red eyes narrowed as if to focus his point upon the human.
“Yes my Lord, I know all too well.”
“And theze Warbirdz will not require the azziztance of one of our pilotz?”
“No.....they are as you requested, fully automated.”
The great beast released him letting his small body fall to the ground. The human glanced up at the figure that towered over him and began to tremble again, for the massive beast was the Warrian Emperor. The top of his long pointy ears reached beyond three metres above the floor, as his long snout pointed down towards his victim. From beneath the cloak a narrow strip gave a glimpse of the mighty frame it concealed. Zardon achieved the status of ruler through a battle to the death against the former Emperor. During the coronation, he drunk the blood of the predecessor and was transformed into the beast before him. Apart from increased size and strength, his back now possessed two scaly wings that gave further advantage during battle, thus ensuring his rein until a superior adversary would take his place.
During his thirty Earth years as Emperor, no one challenged him. His skill in battle was unsurpassed in the history of the Warrian race. Unknown to the others of his kind was the power within the two bracelets that he wore. Each was about twenty centimetres in length and engraved with strange hieroglyphics and encrusted with large emeralds. They were the Rings of Venal, and the power within them made him immortal. With such might as his disposal, he was the most devastating and powerful creature in the Universe. His evil red eyes narrowed as his thin lips pulled back to show the sharp teeth behind them. “Another inzident like thiz and you will regret that I hadn’t killed you when I firzt laid eyez upon your zorry carcazz.” Zardon left the room with his entourage in tow. The lone man on the floor wrapped his arms about himself to ease his trembling body.
**********
Doctor Emmett Smith and his small scientific crew were on their way back from a research mission at the North Pole. Something caught the eye of Captain Andrew Connely of the Seasearch vessel, and he quickly grabbed his binoculars and pressed them against his face. Emmett noticed the sudden expression of alarm in Andrew’s face and moved next to him in the Seasearch’s bridge. “What is it?”
“I thought I saw something.” Andrew replied. “There!” He said as he pointed port of the bow.
Emmett squinted his eyes and managed to catch a glimpse of something reflecting the sun’s rays. “What is it?”
“I think it is a life pod from an oil rig, but like none I have ever see before.”
“There aren’t any oil rigs for a thousand miles.”
“I know.” Andrew turned to the crewman at the helm. “Make a heading for the pod.”
A short time later the Seasearch slowed its eight hundred ton hull to a stop adjacent to the strange dark smooth capsule. It was a perfect oval shape with no visible markings and dark purple in colour. Andrew raised his head from over the side and spoke to Emmett, “That is no life pod. Are you sure you want to bring it on board? It could be anything, possibly hazardous?”
“If it were it would be marked.” Emmett looked him in the eye and said. “Bring it on board.”
“You’re the boss.” He then shouted to the crew members behind him. “Man the winch.”
**********
The commanding officers of the United States Armed Forces entered the large meeting room in the Pentagon. Close behind were the Chief Executive Officer of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Commanding Officer of the National Security Agency. Behind them both was Herb Conley, the Secretary for Defence. After they positioned themselves around the long table, the Secretary for Defence remained standing.
His stern gaze fell up
on the men before him. The anger within was difficult to contain as he spoke. “You have all been briefed on the incident in the North Atlantic where one of Admiral Channing’s carriers was damaged by an unidentified object flying low overhead.” Channing sat just to the right of the Secretary and duplicated his condemning stare. “Now one of you must know what happened and yet you all claim the contrary. So one or more than one of you is either lying to cover their arse or lying to cover someone else’s arse. If you are trying to do the later, then give it up now, because whoever it is, they’re not worth the trouble you will be in when I find out! And I will! The president has given me strict instructions to get to the bottom of this. If you are trying to cover your own arse then you will wish you were trying to cover for someone else because that pisses me off even more!”
He paused for a moment to catch his breath, then slammed a file onto the desk marked top secret spewing the papers over the desk. “Now speak up or I’ll have your balls on a string!”
Blank faces and silence was his only reply. “Come on!” He continued. “Marcus. The N.S.A. has had top secret planes flying around before that I didn’t know about, why should I believe you now?”
The Commanding Officer of the National Security Agency, Marcus Jones replied. “Sir I hauled my staff over the coals for this and came up with nothing. It wasn’t us!”
“Well I refuse to believe your cockamamie story about UFOs. There must be some logical explanation? What about the Russians?”
“If it were them we would know about it.” Marcus answered.
“Germany or Japan?”
“It was travelling at Mach 10 at sea level and was invisible to radar, we are the only country with technology even close to that.” Marcus continued. “It was either us or the little green men.”
“So we are left with the alien theory again!” Conley said with frustration.
The man seated at the far end of the table spoke. “Why is it so hard to believe Herby?”
Conley hadn’t noticed the man seated at the far end until now. He wore the uniform of a two star Airforce General, but his hair was slicked back disguising the length of his hair. No one in the armed forces had hair longer than regulation Conley thought, so who was he? “No one calls me Herby, at least of all you, you insubordinate......”
“Well, that is what your wife calls you. Isn’t it?” The stranger said.
Conley paused for a moment in shock, how did he know that? Could one of the agencies must be spying on him? His rage quickly returned. “General Harding, where the hell did you get this little shit from?”
The commander in Chief of the United States Airforce replied. “He’s not one of mine I assure you. I thought he was one of Jones’s little shits.”
Jones retorted. “I thought he was one of yours!”
As Conley reached for a button under the table the stranger said. “Herbert, don’t press the button. It won’t do you any good.” Conley paused to assess the man at the far end. The man continued. “Besides, don’t you want to know what happened?”
Conley pulled his hand away from the button. Jones was less trusting and stood up from the table and pointed his hand gun at the stranger. “Don’t worry Herb, he’s not going anywhere.”
The man was unfazed. He remained in a relaxed position with legs crossed and hands on his knees. “Dear Marcus, you’re such a boy scout. Oh, that’s right, you were in the scouts weren’t you?”
Jones’s face momentarily changed to surprise but quickly returned to disdain. “Sir, permission to shoot some respect into this smart arse!”
“Hold your fire.” Conley was curious. “How do you know so much about us?”
He stood up and began walking around the table towards Conley. Jones flinched and almost pulled the trigger. “Stop right there, or I’ll shoot!” He kept the barrel trained on him.
“You can fire at me if you like.” He said as he continued walking.
The noise from the muzzle made everyone jump except the man that the gun was pointed at. As if the bullet impacted with an invisible substance it slowed to crawl a few centimetres from the stranger, then fell abruptly as gravity took hold. As the stranger caught the bullet, he looked around at the room full of stunned faces. “Now that I have your attention, I can proceed with business. I know much about all of you. Nothing and no one is beyond my reach.”
As the man slowly approached him, Conley asked. “Who are you and who do you work for?”
“Who I am is difficult to explain, but please think of me as your friend. Who I work for?” He paused for a moment. “I am the commanding officer of an advanced space force whose task is to protect Earth from extra-terrestrial attack. The plane that you seem to think was one of yours, was one of mine. It was in pursuit of an alien vessel.”
“Who are these aliens and why do they want to attack us?”
“They are from the future. In a thousand years man will be at war with these aliens and by destroying man before the war starts, the aliens hope to win by default.”
“Are you from the future?”
“Yes.”
Two of the General’s jaws dropped but Jones was not phased. “Why weren’t we told about this?” He said impertinently as he holstered his hand weapon.
“No one on Earth knows we exist. Not even your government and its agencies, and I want to keep it that way. Although some people knew of us some years ago, but they have since had their memories of us erased.”
“Why didn’t you tell us earlier? We have a right to know if we are in danger.” Conley Retorted.
“There is nothing you could have done.”
“What do you mean there is nothing we could have done? We do have the best, most advanced defence force in the world. We can defend ourselves.” Conley replied.
“All the defence forces on the planet could not stop one alien ship from destroying you all. You are all well out of your depth, so leave the fighting to us.”
“Then why are you here?” Jones questioned with an air of contempt. The others around the table joined his stare of disdain.
“We are not confident we can protect Earth completely. If an enemy vessel broke through our defences we want you to warn the inhabitants of Earth so they may take shelter.”
“So what are we supposed to say? That Earth is under attack by aliens?!” Conley scorned.
“You tell them that an asteroid shower is about to hit Earth. As long as they are below ground and away from densely populated areas, they will be safe. We can give you only a few hours warning, so be prepared.”
“So we are to put the Earth on alert, but for how long?”
“Days, maybe weeks.”
“Do you have any idea of what that will do? Mass panic, cities will be deserted and looters would steal or destroy what is left behind. Economies will collapse!”
He stopped pacing as he arrived at the place where he was first seated, and gave a look that had had all of their fullest attention. “If our defences are broken, all of the cities on Earth will be destroyed within the hour. The Earth’s population will be reduced to only a few million or less. And if they defeat us, then God have mercy on all our souls.”
Silence filled the room. Eventually Conley spoke. “I’ll inform the President.”
“No! No one must know outside this room not even the President.”
“But why?”
“I have my reasons. If any one of you tell another soul, I will know about it and you DO NOT want to get on my bad side. Your mission is to spread the word and to make the relevant observatories to back your story.”
“How will you contact us?” Jones asked.
“The message will get to you all no matter where you are, that is all you need to know. If all goes well, you won’t see me again.” Ryan stood away from the table as a bright white light appeared around him. “Remember, the survival of the human race rests on your shoulders.” The light grew until it engulfed him and with a crack that pierced the air like a thunderbolt, he disa
ppeared.
**********
General Sarah Everley paced in front of the class of fifteen troopers that stood at attention like flag poles waiting their next command. Each wore a regulation battle suit that was an adaptation of the A.A.E.E.V. suit for ground combat. The helmets were left aside as was Sarah’s to assist in the connection between master and apprentice. This was close combat training and Sarah was the undisputed Sensei. All of the males and some of the female troopers stood over her one hundred and sixty seven centimetre high stature, but none saw that as any form of an advantage. When the sure blade of General Everley was unleashed, all were instantly humbled.
The training centre was a vast chamber cluttered with various training equipment, mazes and simulators of various kinds. The sealing was so high that it was difficult to see.
Sarah stopped in front of the largest trooper in the class, a man over two meters in height and a frame of a body builder. “You first.” She said sharply.
The large soldier followed her to the simulator platform then stopped as she turned to face him. “Ready yourself soldier.” She took an attacking stance as did he. For a moment neither moved, then Sarah’s right leg flashed into his abdomen. The impact of the side kick sent the soldier airborne over the platform until gravity took over and he rolled on the floor to an eventual stop. The soldier slowly picked himself up as the spinning sensation eased.
Sarah turned to the rest of the class and addressed them, “You will be fighting against creatures twice the size of him, more than twice the strength and many times faster. Without a combat suit, a human would have no chance of surviving an encounter with a Warrian. The suit will accelerate your moves and amplify your strength, enough to give a chance. Warrians are pure killing machines. Whatever you imaged as the ultimate warrior, a Warrian will out class it. And don’t think that some are better or worse than others, each is equal to the other. When a Warrian reaches puberty at eighteen Earth years, all that it is taught is how to fight during that growth period. To test if it was worthy of being accepted in the Warrian society, it will undergo a baptism of battle against a superior foe. If it survives, then it can join its warrior brothers in battle.”
The Great Talisman (Intersect Book 2) Page 6
