"Mr. Daniels, I would not be so flippant. I know you had a part in destroying my America and I am going to make you pay for it."
Silently Dan asked, "Grub can you identify anyone here?"
"Sir, you have ex-DHS assistant regional supervisor Matt Klein, and eight recently fired DHS field agents, their names are…"
"Thanks Grub, that’s good for now, let me know when the team is in place."
"I'm sorry Mr. Klein. I’m still a little dizzy. How goes the job hunting? Is that why you stopped me, so you could interview for a job? I actually do have a position you would be ideal for."
Dan saw the anger flush on Klein’s face as he pulled back and let one go towards Dan’s face. Still held in place all Dan could do was tuck in his chin as Klein's fist hit the top of his skull, Dan felt as well as heard the crack of bone from Klein's wrist.
"Ow, that’s gotta hurt," Dan said through his own pain as he watched Klein hold his wrist with his other hand. "Guess you don't get to do much of your own dirty work, do you? Now if you are not here for a job what can I do for you? I wanted to go to town and have a beer and chill, now you have ruined that."
"Mr. Daniels, you are going to make us rich men, as compensation for destroying our careers,” Klein said as he held his wrist.
Unknown to his captors Dan began to receive a message. "Units are in place sir. Two teams are about fifty feet from you, and two teams are about a hundred feet out, all hostiles are covered. We have two hostile teams of two in custody that were watching the road a half mile from the group that’s with you."
"Well Mr. Klein that seems like some career change, from law enforcement to criminal, and I suppose I will live through this since I know your name and every member of your team here. Now ask yourself how I know all this, and ask yourself, while we have been talking who has your perimeter security? I have four teams that are all in range of us here. Did you really think you could ever really get to me? I will let you live if you let me know how you knew where to find me."
Klein nervously told his men to get back to keeping an eye out for anyone. One of the men stepped forward and Dan heard him whisper to Klein that both road details are not replying.
"Enough of this shit Klein. My ribs are hurting and my night is ruined. I am going to count to three; then I will be the only man alive here."
The ex-agent to Dan’s left started to raise his short rifle toward Dan as his head silently, disintegrated only a smacking sound as his brains and skull splattered in all directions. The rest of the team except for Klein hit the ground facing all directions, not sure, where the kill shot came from. Klein’s face was drained of all blood, nearly pure white, as Dan smiled at him. "I'm sorry for the interruption there Klein. Now as I said, I will count to three, then the remainder of your team will be dead. Anyone who stands up and puts their hands on their heads will see the sun again."
Before Klein could reply the original ex-agent who had found Dan was on his feet, rifle at his feet, hands on his head as the rest of the team followed suit. Klein, still white in the face turned green and fell to his knees losing the contents of his stomach as Dan vocalized for the teams to come in and take control of the situation. Abdul was the first one to break cover. Dan looked at him in anger, "Abby you're not in the field anymore. What would I have done if something had happened to you?" Anger turned to shock as Dan saw Abby raise the old 12-gauge shotgun and fire into the knee of an ex-agent. Blood and gore quickly started to pump out as the pants started to soak up blood, as the ex-agent was face down on the ground. "Medic! Get over here and help this man!" Abby hollered as he walked up to the next man. "How did your team know where and when to find Mr. Daniels?" Abby ratched another shell into the shotguns chamber for effect. The ex-agent simply dropped to his knees as he lost control of his bladder. Disgustedly Abby turned to the next man, his shotgun pointed at his knee. "I don't know mister. I’m a little Indian here, he's the chief there, he knows everything." Abby smiled at the man before he butt stroked him in the stomach, as the man dropped, losing his lunch. Abby turned to Klein as Klein cried out that the guard at the gate was a friend of one of the men and called him. The guard was not in the loop of what was going on. "God damn it Abby! Get your ass back to base. I will handle things here,” Dan growled at his oldest living friend." Abby walked over to the wounded man as Dan continued to watch. Abby grabbed the man by his throat lifting him to his one leg, making sure his face was clearly visible to Dan. "OK Abby, I see. Let’s get this mess cleaned up. Are we still under our jurisdiction or the county's? OK call the sheriff's department and make sure they understand we have things under control but need an ambulance and accommodations for the rest. We will contain the crime scene until they get here. OK now Abby I want to..." Dan suddenly found himself looking at everyone from the sitting position as he first checked to make sure he was not in any gore, and then felt his chest pain increase as all the shock had finally worn off. He watched the medic stop working on the injured ex-agent and begin to run towards him in slow motion as everything went black.
Gray Panthers, Arizona
3 January 2128
Dan woke up and felt before he saw Juanita, her head resting at his side as she slept in the chair next to his hospital bed. His right arm had an IV drip and a monitor attached to his finger. He felt a slight twinge of pain as he moved his left arm over Juanita's head in a soft caress. The rooms' smell of anti-septic could not overcome the soft fragrance of her hair. Dan sub-vocalized to Grub for a report and found the sheriff's department accepted everything on face value as Abby reported it to them, but would need a report from him, Grub said he had it in Dans email ready for him to mail, once he looked over it. The nanites were almost done repairing his injuries, he had three broken ribs and four severely bruised ribs, besides numerous scrapes and contusions all over his body. Dan thanked Grub as he felt himself falling back asleep.
Nike, Near Earth Space
3 January 2128
“Commander, please wake up. I have important information for you.”
Butch turned on the light to his cabin to find Nike, in only a short toga that left nothing to his imagination, waiting to report to him. “Damn it Nike, put something on!” Butch muttered as he tried to wake up. Nike glowed for a second then reappeared wearing a naval officer’s uniform, still too short and tight.
“Aaagh, go ahead, report Nike.”
“Sir, my long range sensors have discovered a pair of ships that appear to be on a heading for Earth. They are still too far to make a perfect identification, but they have all the characteristics of those used by the Libras. Estimate we will be visible to their sensors in 28 hours.”
“How come the sensor operator or duty officer is not reporting this to me now Nike?”
“Sir, I know what to look for and can distinguish items better than the crew.”
“OK, thank you Nike. Please setup remedial training for all sensor operators. You will provide the needed training to each operator at your discretion. Will they pick up our sensors if we keep following them?”
“No sir, our system, used by the Flem, is to my knowledge, untraceable.”
“Let’s play it safe and proceed to run silent. Inform the officer of the deck my orders, and bring him up to date. I will be up there shortly.”
“Yes sir, I have sent the instructions to the bridge; anything else?”
“Yes, leave my cabin so I can get dressed!”
"By your leave, sir?"
"Get out!"
Gray Panthers, Arizona
3 January 2128
Dan woke refreshed. He looked across the room to see both Abby and Juanita cuddled together as they slept on the small couch. Dan coughed loudly waking only Abby.
“Should I be jealous that you’re sleeping with my girlfriend? It does get habit forming.”
“Old bastard, I should have left you in the field. How are you doing?”
“I’m okay. Did you get any satisfaction finding the guy that put you in the hos
pital for all those years and making him a cripple?”
“I’m not going to sleep with you anymore if this is how I wake up,” Juanita drawled as she pulled herself up from the small couch. She walked over to Dan and crawled under the covers with him, and draped herself over him.
“It is one of my small pleasures in life,” Abby answered after a moment.
“Sorry to interrupt sir, we have a major problem,” Grub commed in.
“Go ahead Grub, what is it now?” Dan asked.
“It looks like we have a pair of Libra ships approaching Earth; they should be here in three days.”
“What happened to all the time you said we had Grub?”
“Sir, that was for the Jacka. These are the Libra; in my estimation, much more dangerous.”
“OK, let’s get all the players together for a meeting in two hours. Patch me through to Siggy.”
White House
3 January 2128
The president was rubbing his head. Half his own security detail was found to be in a coup to overthrow him. New members of both congress and the senate were thinking they should wait before they do a full restoration of the constitution. By waiting, they could use their powers to clean up the country. Sigmund had to explain for the umpteenth time that was part of the reason they had to do it now. Many of the criminal politicians had just evaporated, it seemed. Some renegade units of the homeland security had to literally be destroyed by the military, as the military equipment was once again returned. Siggy flirted with the thought of a blanket amnesty just to get down to business. But knew he would lose critical support he would need later when he gave total control of businesses back to their owners and tried to return property back to their rightful owners. Siggy looked at the phone ringing with no return number, but decided to answer it anyway since they had gotten through to him.
“Hello?”
“Good morning Siggy, how are you doing this fine day?” Dan chirped.
“Why do I get the feeling everything has just got worse for me?”
“Strange you should say that. The number one item we feared is three days away.”
Siggy slumped down into his chair, not wanting to listen, “Go on Dan.”
“I believe my plans will work but for the sake of legalities I need your son, the Governor of Arizona, to do me a favor. I need him to designate my Gray Panthers as the official state volunteer militia. I’m sure Commander Bad can take care of the problem, but if he can’t, the backup plan hopefully will work.”
“I will call him and get the ball rolling ASAP. I will be addressing both houses this afternoon, and let them in on what’s going on, then I will tell our allies. Tonight I will address the people.”
“Good luck Mr. President. I stand ready to support you however I can,” Dan stated more solemnly that intended.
Dan looked over the conference room; all the major players that had been with him from the beginning were there as well as all the senior ranking cadre of the Gray Panthers. “Ladies and Gentlemen. The time is upon us. In less than three days we will be fighting for our very survival. The Alien race Libra will be here ready to clean house. We will not be going along with their plan. Tomorrow Commander Bad will be attacking with the Nike. Her sister ship will not be out of dry dock in time to assist. As a backup, you all need to prepare for Operation Recall; I plan to use it, if needed, when the aliens reach the moon. We will all be busy for the next few days. Good luck.”
The world was stunned with the news they would soon be invaded. Some nations petitioned the UN to negotiate for the world’s surrender as many fringe groups popped up declaring their allegiance to the new masters. Many groups believed it was a conspiracy and that the United States had offended the aliens and that was why only they were prepared with advanced technology to counter the aliens. Conspiracy theorists went crazy when it was disclosed that the US government in fact did not have the technology. Instead, the Arizona Volunteer Militia was going to save the world, a group whose average age, was reported by the media after an investigation, was 72!
Near Earth Space
6 January 2128
Commander Bad was nervous; he would soon be engaged in combat with a new crew, in an untested ship against an adversary with unknown capabilities. Once the course of the enemy ships was determined, he sent both squadrons of shuttles out to set limpet mines. The mines were unique in that they would stay in place and not generate an energy signature or any sensor fields. When the ships came close enough to the mines the power from the ship’s force field would attract the mines as they attached to the field. They then start to fill their massive capacitors. Once filled they would either explode or wait for a command to explode. A space buoy was sent out to announce to the Libras that they were entering Earth Space and that to continue would be viewed as an act of aggression. They would need to halt and wait for their presence to be acknowledged by an Earth ship that would meet them at the buoy, and then inspect their ship. Commander Bad had a special shuttle quickly slapped together that was similar to NASA’s early shuttle to see if when it approached the ships it would be fired upon. After Commander Bad informed Dan of his plan, Dan let the president know, to see if anyone wanted to be the first to make contact with the Libras, in the event they were actually friendly. Surprisingly, those advising diplomacy were not willing to be on the shuttle. "Captain, the shuttle Atlantis B is ready to launch. Nike has confirmed that the messages we have programmed are very similar to those that the Libras use when making first contact with a new species. Everything about the Atlantis makes it appear our technology is from the 1990s and that our technology is very rudimentary,” Red briefed.
"Very well, let’s launch the sitting duck and see what happens. You may launch when you wish XO,” Butch ordered as he continued to monitor the data coming to his tablet on the incoming ships.
Both shuttle squadrons had already launched and were each powered down producing no signature; their construction material making them near invisible to any scanners.
The Atlantis B started to send out its programmed message of welcome. The smaller of the two Libra ships pulled ahead of the larger as it scanned the Atlantis B, then demanded the surrender of the Atlantis B and of Earth. When Atlantis B instead requested to speak with a diplomat, the smaller Libra ship used a beam to bring the Atlantis B into one of its docking bays. As the ship began to enter the bay, Butch gave the order and the matter anti matter warhead in the payload bay exploded. A quarter of the Libra ship just disappeared as entire parts of the ship broke off, slowly heading in all directions. The larger ship immediately began rescue operations unaware of any additional dangers.
Butch powered up the Nike as he ordered both squadrons to attack the remaining ship. Before the first shot could be fired, the enemy ship broke off and seemed to disappear for a second. It reappeared a short distance away as it let loose both missiles and beams toward the Nike, ignoring the shuttles. The Nike targeted all beamers on the ship as it again disappeared for a moment and it again re-appeared, firing missiles and beams. The Nike avoided the beams from the first attack as its close up defense batteries managed to destroy the missiles.
"Nike what the hell is that son of a bitch doing and how can we get a shot at him before we end up destroyed?" Butch asked as a missile exploded short of making contact with the Nike.
"Sir the enemy is using his faster than light drive to jump around. I have not heard of that being done before. I am trying to see if I can determine where he will jump next. Request control of weapons and ship’s control in order to avoid his shots and fire when I have a solution. It might be terminal to us to wait for reaction time of the crew,” Nike answered back to the captain.
"Damned if I like it but go ahead, ship is now on automatic."
"Nike to all shuttles. You are cleared for separate attack; suggest you fire where they ain't. When we have a firing solution, we will bring you up to date; Nike out." Dan placed the microphone back in its cradle as he sat down, to watch his
own battle as a spectator. Reports started to come in as some beams managed to get through. Locking down the ship was all that could be done; fortunately no serious damage yet. The shuttles performed the exploding star maneuver as all shuttles went in separated directions, randomly firing their beamers. One shuttle managed to hit the ship with a one-second beam before it rammed into the side of the ship. Whether it was from the beamer or the shuttle’s impact, the side of the ship started to vent atmosphere. Fires appeared to burn from the interior of the ship. The ship lost no maneuverability as it continued to randomly appear, fire, and then disappear.
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