by Jeff Sims
They spent the rest of the day reviewing the pictures and starting to write their mission logs. Just before dinner, the computer interrupted them:
…The Hiriculan freighter has just signaled that it is in system and approaching the station. They will rendezvous with the station in 10 hours to transfer cargo…
Jack almost leapt for joy. Only a few more hours until this was over. However, this suddenly made him remember something. He said, “Ella, I need to return to the station. Let’s go back there for dinner.”
Jack pulled his air cart out of a storage closet and hastily assembled it in the main hold. He and Ella then carried all of the mail from where Jack had dumped it in the bedroom to main hold. Jack carefully loaded the cart and they exited the Jackal through the main hold.
They traveled down the main corridor, back through the arch, down the electro lift, and finally back to the large guide monitor. Jack scanned the guide monitor for any sign of a post office. He couldn’t find anything that looked correct and there wasn’t an embassy on the station. He sighed and said, “Where do we deliver this stuff?”
Ella realized the question had been rhetorical and didn’t respond. Instead she said, “Let’s drag the cart to a restaurant, have dinner, and ask our waiter.”
They found a restaurant and Jack was finally able to have a meal that didn’t include sea moss. He vowed to never haul the stuff again. However, he remembered how profitable and easy to sell it was and adjusted his vow to never haul the stuff with Ella aboard
The post office was easy to find once the waiter showed them the correct symbol for mail. They dropped the packages at the post office and went grocery shopping. Jack let Ella buy a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables. They then returned to the Jackal in plenty of time for the cargo transfer.
…The cargo hauler Lifter has just docked in port u-11A. We are being contacted…
Jack replied, “Display on screen.” He tongue clicked to connect.
…Mini-freighter Jackal, are you ready for the load to the transferred to your holds…
Jack replied, “Yes, we are ready for immediate cargo transfer. Fortunately, our ships are directly across from each other. I have already contacted the station cargo inspector and he is here and ready to inspect the load.”
Jack had contacted the mercantile while he was waiting for the Lifter to arrive. Since the cargo was not staying on the station, it did not have to be transferred into a warehouse first. However, an inspector was still required to verify the cargo during exchange.
The cargo was transferred without issue. Both the main and secondary holds were filled with fine details for the new office building being constructed on Solaria. Jack’s last act on the station was to verify that his remaining two items had sold.
It was finally time to go. Jack called traffic control and received clearance to leave. Jack piloted the mini-freighter the short distance back to the hyperspace lane.
Jack found that he was tense and nervous. He forced himself to relax, but was mostly unsuccessful. He wasn’t sure why he was nervous. If the Hiriculans were going to stop or search him, they would have done it by now. Jack glanced at the clock. Only a couple more minutes until they could jump to Opron.
…We are being hailed by the frigate Bloodlust…
Jack started sweating. He sincerely doubted the Hiriculans had intended for him to discover there was a secret military base on the station or the makeup of the force. He was convinced they had wanted him to deliver a report showing the station was exactly what it appeared to be; simply a commercial space station.
Ella was feeling just as nervous. She said, “Maybe we should transmit our report now.”
Jack responded, “No. They may not be able to catch and decode our message, but they will certainly know that we sent something. We will have to wait until we reach Opron.” Jack puffed out his chest a little and said, “Have faith, we will make it through.”
Ella responded, “I hope so.”
Jack said, “Computer, answer hail.” Jack again clicked his tongue to connect. He could have just had the computer translate, but somehow it sounded better when he heard it through the facial translator.
…Frigate Bloodlust here. You are cleared for immediate jump to Opron. Have a safe journey. Bloodlust out…
Ella announced that she had calculated the hyperspace coordinates. Jack responded, “It’s time to leave. Let’s go home.”
They arrived in the Opron system 7 hours later. Jack reviewed the summary of his report one final time.
The spindle station located in the Influenla system is an active and robust commercial station that focuses on trade and ship repair. My estimate is that there are approximately 3,000 Hiriculan civilians living and working on the station. There is a hidden section in the station that hosts a sizeable navy – 1 battleship, 1 destroyer, 4 cruisers, and 2 frigates (a new class of ship that is the size of a destroyer, but armored like a battleship). The specifications for the station and the frigate are attached.
Jack hoped that Ella’s report was similar. He didn’t want them to be significantly different from each other. He hadn’t asked to see her report and she hadn’t asked to see his. Jack uploaded his report to the traffic control server and noted that Ella had done the same.
Jack said, “Well, the report will reach Advranki Prime in 8 days. Your orders didn’t specify where to drop you. Do you have a preference?”
Ella responded with a question, “Where are you going?”
Jack replied, “I am going to drop this load in Solaria. They need it for the new office building.”
Ella replied, “Sounds good. I haven’t been home in a while.”
“Are you sure? We could stop back at the space station in Conron,” Jack wistfully suggested.
Ella replied, “No really, I’m fine. Next stop, Solaria.”
Jack shrugged and hoped he had enough human movies left in his video collection to make it back. It was going to be an even longer journey than expected.
Chapter 8
Victor carefully guided the Sunflower through Earth’s atmosphere and down into the dirigible hangar in Akron, Ohio. The hangar had been secretly purchased by the Alliance years ago because it was big enough to house a mini-freighter, or in this case an Alliance cruiser.
Lorano would have preferred Ace pilot the ship, but that was not possible because they had agreed that the humans should not see Victor or Crista. It was one thing to be a human working with aliens, it was quite another to be an alien pretending to be human.
Victor waited until all of the pilots left the Sunflower before exiting the cruiser. He unsealed the secret passageway and walked from the hangar to his office at Victory Games headquarters. He unsealed the secret door on the back wall of his office and entered. Crista was trailing closely behind.
They scanned the entire office and found no electronic detectors or anything else that shouldn’t be there. Finally, he turned on the lights and unsealed the door leading from his office to the main corridor in Victory Games.
Little had changed in the office, quite possibly because he had sealed it shut from the inside. Victor sat at his chair and began reading the hundreds of non-essential emails that had collected since his absence. Crista stood against the back wall and guarded the secret entrance to the hangar.
……………………
It was still early evening when the 20 pilots exited the Sunflower and walked out of the hangar. They had arranged a shuttle to the Cleveland Airport and hotel rooms for the evening. The out-of-state pilots had flights booked for the following morning. The few Ohio residents booked rental vehicles. All but one dispersed across the country for a much needed break.
Jim Donovan was a resident of Akron. His home was only a couple of miles from where he was standing. Jim waved goodbye to the other pilots and called a taxi. As he was waiting for the ride, he noticed that the dirigible hangar was located only a few meters from Victory Games headquarters.
He quickly rea
lized that the Sunflower was literally hiding in plain sight. If anyone entered the hangar they would find the alien spaceship. He was surprised that no one had ever tried and that the aliens could so easily hide their presence.
While looking at the Victory Games corporate headquarters, Jim had a sudden revelation. He realized that his grand plan for stealing secrets from the aliens and selling them to Earth companies had a major flaw.
That flaw was Victory Games. It was now abundantly clear that Victor Tyrano was in league with the aliens. Jim thought about all of the recent technical advances that came from Victory Games. Clearly, Victor had worked out some sort of deal with them – probably technology in exchange for doing whatever the aliens needed of him.
Further, the hangar was attached to the headquarters building via a secret passageway in CEO’s office. So much for plausible deniability, Jim thought. Jim now understood that he had walked through the secret corridor linking the two buildings a few months earlier.
At the time he thought that he had entered a hidden transporter and had been teleported to the freighter in outer space. Now, he knew that technology didn’t exit. In reality, he had simply walked from Victor’s office, down the passageway, and directly into the hold of the spaceship.
So, Victor had essentially stolen Jim’s idea. With Victor already in place and hugely successful, it would be next to impossible for Jim to market the same technology. Jim considered entering the headquarters and confronting Victor. He imagined how that conversation would go: Jim – I know you are working for aliens. Victor – you are too, nimrod.
Plus, he would have to contend with Victor’s bodyguard, Crista. He shivered as he recalled looking into her eyes. She may be tiny, but she was more than capable of shooting him if he appeared to be provoking Victor. Heck, she would probably shoot him without any provocation.
Jim smiled as the taxi pulled into the parking lot. Victor may have already marketed computer hardware, but that doesn’t mean he has a monopoly on alien technology. Jim rubbed his hands along his skinsuit. The smart fabric responded to his touch and gently adjusted itself. Jim knew a product he could sell without Victor noticing.
………………………
“Ms. Weisman, Amy over here,” one of her lead programmers called to her the moment she entered the building.
The programmer said, “Someone changed many of the simulation’s parameters yesterday evening. We have gotten complaints all over the network about the sudden change.”
Amy asked, “Were we hacked?”
The programmer replied, “Well, yes and no I suppose. We were hacked in that our top level parameter files were changed without our knowledge. However, the hack, if you want to call it that, was so professionally performed that appears to have been done by one of our people.
Another programmer overheard the conversation and said, “Also, the Lost squadron showed up last night. They participated in a one on one battle with Alpha squadron and completely destroyed them. Their mission log appears to show that they were playing on a private server, but I checked and we don’t have a private server.”
The first programmer added, “One final thing; an expansion pack was offered for sale that included about 300 new fighter simulations and a new alien enemy, called a Neto.”
Amy marched down the corridor, down a second corridor, past her office, and finally to the last office on the right. She walked into the open door and saw both Crista and Victor. She said, “Welcome back.”
She saw that Victor remained seated behind his desk, but Crista put both hands on her hips, probably on concealed weapons.
Victor replied, “Hello, Amy Weisman, it is a pleasure to see you again. Who are your friends?”
Amy realized at that moment the two programmers had followed her into Victor’s office. She quickly introduced them and asked about the changes.
Victor replied, “Yes, I just wanted to change things a little. I think people were getting too complacent.” He paused for a breath and continued, “Do you like the expansion pack?”
Amy replied, “Yes, sales are already going through the roof.” She dismissed the two programmers and gave Victor a full update.
Amy said, “As you are probably aware, game sales have peaked and are now on a slight decline. However, we are on the verge of launching two new video game titles that should recover the sales.
Victor nodded politely, so Amy continued, “More importantly though, our two other products, the super cooling device and a new super heating device are now in production. They will be made available for sale to the general public next month. Sales are projected to be astronomical. Overall, the company is doing extremely well.”
………………………
The four aliens had almost mindlessly returned to their old pattern. Victor went to his office at the headquarters during the day. Crista was always present guarding him. Lorano and Carank spent the day analyzing the results of the simulation and creating a method to choose crewmembers. Evenings were spent on the bridge of the Sunflower.
By the third evening, Lorano was ready to make a report. He gathered the group in the Captain’s conference room.
Victor interrupted the meeting by asking, “Where is Clowy?”
Carank responded, “Unfortunately, she is too busy to attend the meeting. Her schedule solidified and was too rigid to change I’m afraid.”
Lorano said, “It is a shame we have to freeze her out of the planning stages.”
Lorano nodded in acknowledgement of the wordplay and continued, “I have identified the criteria that I think we should use to evaluate the engineering crew. I have also tentatively selected an engineering crew that fits the criteria. Lorano displayed the criteria on the monitor.
Carank snickered and said, “You needed three days for that? The criteria is virtually identical to the pilot criteria. The only difference is that you removed flying ability and added mathematical ability and engineering simulation score.”
Lorano continued unabated, “Yes. Do we all agree on the criteria?”
Victor, Crista, and Carank nodded in agreement. In the final analysis, there really weren’t any other criteria they could choose. Lorano displayed the list of engineering candidates.
Lorano said, “Unlike the pilots who band together to form squadrons, the engineer gamers seem to just play in any simulation that has an opening for an engineer. More importantly perhaps, they seemed to have modified the command structure.”
“Explain,” Carank said, clearly interested in the changes.
Lorano responded, “Well, it appears that in the simulations the maintenance and engineering personnel all report to a chief engineer position and that person is equal to the other lieutenants on the bridge.”
Carank said, “So, the weapons officer is no longer responsible for maintenance and the navigational officer is no longer responsible for engineering.”
Lorano responded, “Correct. In some simulations, there is no weapons officer. The first officer fires the missiles. In others, the chief engineer is highest ranking crew member aboard, but is not an officer. In these scenarios, the chief engineer reports to the weapons officer.
Victor said, “Okay, that is good to know, but it really doesn’t help us, does it?”
Lorano responded, “Yes, actually it does. The engineering crew I have selected contains the five highest rated engineers. They are all civilians. One of them is actually the chief engineer of a nuclear reactor.”
Crista asked, “What’s that?”
Lorano said, “I think it is the humans’ version of a power generator.”
Victor replied, “Sounds good. We need 45 people. You have the 5 engineers and the 20 pilots identified, what about the 20 maintenance workers?”
Carank replied, “I have been working on that. The humans are staffing the cruisers differently than the Alliance does. They include 5 marines on every cruiser, bringing the total crew to 50. I think we should grab the 5 additional marines.”
&nb
sp; Crista asked, “Should we discuss it with acting Captain Clowy?”
Carank responded, “I am certain she would approve. However, I don’t think we need to involve her in such a trivial detail at the moment.”
Crista replied, “Okay. So how are actually going to kidnap that many people?”
Lorano said, “Let’s just invite them to a special ceremony, sneak them all on board, and leave.”
Carank looked at him and said, “You mean exactly like we did last time?”
Lorano said, “Well, it worked just fine last time. It should work again.”
Victor said, “I have an idea. Do you remember how you hacked the military database and gave false orders to those pilots in the military to cover their disappearance?”
“Yes,” Lorano responded.
Victor continued, “Well, why not just fake the orders up front. We choose the military members we want and forge orders to have them come to a top secret military base in Cleveland.”
Carank nodded approvingly and said, “That could work.”
Lorano asked, “And the civilians?”
Carank said, “Simple, we offer the civilians jobs at Victory Games.”
Victor responded, “I like the idea of offering them jobs. However, we should keep Victory Games out of the loop. Let’s create a new corporation that provides services for the secret military base.”
Lorano said, “Okay, now that we have that settled. How are we going to choose the 20 crewmembers and the 5 marines?”
Carank said, “Well, the marines should be straightforward. Based on Victor’s idea, we will simply assign one group to the secret base.”
Crista asked, “How many are in a group?”
Carank frowned. Clearly he had no idea. He said, “Computer, list marine unit sizes.
…The smallest US Marine designation is a fire team with 4 members. Three Fire Teams make a Squad of 12 members. A squad generally has a corporal assigned, making it 13 total members. Shall I continue with the complete listing…
Victor said, “No. That should be enough.” He paused for a breath and continued, “Well, that’s difficult. Four members isn’t enough and 8 is too many. Thirteen is right out.”
