As Karen began to walk towards Oria and Borella, strange music began to play through the ship’s sound system. It was traditional Azortec celebration music.
1:00 AM: Bronson hears of missing shuttle
Bronson was in a hard sleep when his phone rang with a text message. He quickly grabbed the device, fumbled with it a moment, and shut it off. He always grabbed quickly for his phone to keep it from annoying his wife any more than necessary. The only thing worse than suddenly awakening was having his wife get mad at him at the same time.
Bronson was a bit surprised when he saw the return number. It was Colonel James Henley, STAR Hawks operations. He left his bedroom and walked into his home office. There he closed the door and dialed Henley’s number.
Only about 5 minutes passed between Henley’s texting the General and receiving the return call. He knew that he would dread the unavoidable conversation with Bronson. Henley picked up the phone.
“Hello, General.”
“Yes Colonel, and what is it that requires me to be disturbed at this early hour?”
“General, we’ve lost one of our shuttles.”
Bronson roared back. “What do you mean we lost a shuttle?”
“The shuttle piloted by Major Brown has vanished without a trace. We were tracking the craft and in constant communications with it. Then it vanished. We are doing everything we can to locate it again.”
Bronson felt a sharp jab in his stomach. Ever since this Oria thing broke, his life had been full of stress. His opponents at the Pentagon would have a field day with this event.
“Colonel, keep looking. It has to be either Oria’s doing or the Creytes. I sure hope there isn’t another alien entity involved. I take it that you’re pretty sure the problem’s not on our end?”
“Yes General. If the shuttle exploded or simply went dark, we should be able to see it. We can’t!”
When Bronson finally got off the phone, he wandered back to his bed with his mind racing. He climbed back in next to his wife knowing that sleep would undoubtedly elude him. Bronson’s tossing and turning woke his wife. She was much more sympathetic to his needs than Bronson gave her credit. She rolled over and hugged him hoping to distract his mind, at least for a short bit, and help him relax.
1:30 AM: Oria and Karen Return to Quarters
Oria and Karen finally left their reception and headed towards Oria’s quarters hand in hand. As a little girl, Karen had frequently dreamed of her wedding and wedding night. She never envisioned getting married on a starship. However, given her career, she felt that it was only right that she got married in space.
Oria picked Karen up and off her feet carrying her into his quarters. As the doors automatically opened in front of them, Karen was surprised to see a room full of flowers. Oria gently put Karen back on her feet. He felt an inner joy and peace watching the pleasure on Karen’s face as she examined the display of flowers arranged in his living room.
After a few minutes, Oria took Karen’s hand and led her back to his sleeping quarters. Without much conversation, the two lovers embraced and kissed each other. Thirty minutes later they fell asleep pleasantly exhausted.
6 AM: Bronson Reads Newspaper Account of Oria’s Escape
At 6AM sharp, like clockwork, Bronson stepped outside to pick up the morning paper. It didn’t matter that it was Saturday morning, when most of the world slept in. Every day was a workday to Bronson, and this day was going to be busier than most. If things continued falling apart, someone somewhere would have Bronson’s head on a platter.
Bronson pulled the plastic wrapper off his paper and started to read the headlines on his way back into the house. The headline “Legendary Oria Escapes West Virginia Jail” provided Bronson with some hope that maybe something was going right. He hoped that the extraction team was successful with Oria in his custody.
Bronson dropped the paper next to his breakfast plate as he walked over to his coffee maker and filled his mug with hot black fluid. The old coffee maker had a timer that precisely started brewing coffee at 6AM every morning, provided of course someone remembered to fill the machine the night before.
Bronson sat down with a mug in one hand and the front-page in the other hand. He was anticipating some good news for a change. As he read into the column, he dropped his hot mug of coffee when he read that Oria had disappeared long before a failed rescue attempt by a local militia group. At least that’s what the sheriff’s office claimed. Bronson’s anger intensified when he read that the sheriff’s office overlooked key evidence and that the perpetrator of the rescue was more than likely a military operation. The General sat at the kitchen table rubbing his right temple as a massive headache was threatening to ruin more of his day. Well, that’s just a perfect way to start my day, thought Bronson as he cleaned up the coffee he spilled. He now needed a couple of antacid tablets along with two aspirins with his breakfast.
What Bronson hoped would be good news turned out to be a total disaster. His enemies, particularly Helen Marshal, were probably already gathering forces to attack him at the Pentagon. Bronson knew he would be facing the fight of his career. His team had failed to gain custody of Oria, lost a space shuttle, and the press was implicating the military in an attack of a small town Sheriff’s Office. What a great way to destroy an otherwise beautiful Saturday.
7:30 AM: Oria Extraction Mission Debriefing at Pentagon
Bronson felt a heavy tension as he walked into the Laser Watch situation room. He looked around the conference table and saw General Sloan and Captain Jacobson at the head of the table. The rest of his team, with the exception of Karen, sat nervously around the rest of the table. Everyone expected Bronson to be in a foul mood and ready to lash out at them, everyone that is except for Bronson. Bronson knew that his recent losses had little to do with the efforts of his team. Something much bigger was going on, bigger than anything anyone on his team could imagine.
Bronson walked to the head of the table and took his seat. In a dull business like voice, Bronson started the meeting. “Team, this is likely to be a rough day for us; I assume everyone knows that Major Brown and her space shuttle are missing, we do not have Oria in custody, and we have a bit of PR issue with Jacobson’s operation. Am I missing anything?”
The room remained deathly silent. Martello finally braved the General’s wrath and broke the silence. “General, we completed our analysis of Oria’s and Karen’s canoe trip. We also have some reports in on his dealings on the Eastern Shore and in particular the Nanticoke Indians.”
Bronson waited what seemed like an eternity to Martello before responding. “Captain, your reports are probably as good a place as any to get started. Please proceed.”
“Thank you, General. The canoe trip was somewhat uneventful until Karen’s injury. We have analyzed film from our helicopter and some satellite shots. The blow that struck Karen’s head should have killed her. If that didn’t kill her, the 10 minutes that was under water should have!”
Martello paused for a second to pass a series of photos around the table. “The first photo is a clear picture of a branch striking the Major’s face across the eyes. In it, you see her skull being fractured and clear evidence of severe trauma. In the next two pictures, you see more clear images of the Major’s injuries. Her face clearly shows asphyxiation and her injuries are sufficiently severe to have caused death, at least by any standards that we know of. The next series of photos are of the Major after Oria brings her out of the woods. There are no signs of serious trauma. In fact, the Major appears quite healthy. The satellite’s infrared scans show Oria carrying the Major into the woods where they simply disappear. After 45 minutes, they reappear with the Major completely healed. We have no Earth based explanation for these occurrences. In my opinion, Oria must be from space the same as the Creytes.”
Martello’s last remark caused a stir in the room. He was stating the obvious, the obvious that no one wanted to admit. Bronson finally interrupted the commotion in a loud voice.
/> “People, let’s have some order in here. I agree with the Captain. We have two issues that we must resolve -- First and foremost, are either the Creytes or Oria hostile to Earth? Second, I believe that we would all like to know if Oria is truly from Earth. Does anyone have any thoughts on this matter?”
Martello was the first to speak. “Yes sir. I think there is sufficient evidence to link Oria to Earth. We have a DNA match between Oria and the archeological findings on the Eastern Shore. Further DNA tests clearly show Oria’s DNA to be human DNA matching known DNA strands. However, there are some interesting emendations in his DNA. Since Oria has not shown hostile intentions towards Earth and he appears to be from Earth, at least human, I don’t believe he has a hostile agenda. We don’t have sufficient data from the Creytes other than some gifts that they have presented to POTUS.”
Colonel Henley nodded in agreement with Martello. “General, Martello’s analysis is right on target. However, I do have some concerns about the missing shuttle. Given the obvious attraction between Oria and Major Brown, I don’t believe Oria is behind any sinister attacks on the shuttle.”
The meeting continued for another 20 minutes with a general agreement to Martello’s assessment. Bronson and team worked to address the obvious alliance between Helen Marshal and the Creytes. It was strange, even for Helen, how closely she supported the Creytes.
8:00 AM: SECDEF and a small group meet with Helen Marshal, the National Security Advisor
Helen always hated visiting the Pentagon. She would take the subway, get off at the Pentagon station, and take the long escalator ride to the Pentagon entrance. She then worked her way through security and made the long hike to the SECDEF’s office.
Helen reflected on the events of the last couple of days. Ever since that devastating meeting on Monday with the President, Helen had worked at damage control to keep her alliance with the Creytes on the front burner and Retilia from doing her in. If only Ratherson had not collected embarrassing information about her in the White House Database, then Retilia would not be able to blackmail her.
Helen entered the SECDEF’s conference room and took one of the seats near the head of the table. Several Deputies and generals were already there and waiting for John Wilson, the SECDEF. The room became quiet when Helen took her seat. She knew that most of them despised her and believed the only reason she had an important job was her secret relationship with Ratherson. She didn’t care; at least she tried to convince herself of that.
Wilson finally entered the room and took his customary seat at the head of the table. He glared right at Helen as he started to speak.
“Let’s get this meeting started. I believe everyone knows why we’re here. The President early this morning gave Helen a green light on her plan. She’ll make a presentation and then we can discuss our next steps. So Helen, go ahead and start.”
Helen stood up, walked towards the front of the room, and started her overhead slide presentation. “Thank you John. I know we can agree that this has been an interesting past couple of weeks. We have finally concluded our initial negotiations with the Creytes and President Ratherson has issued orders on how to deal with the Oria situation. Today’s agenda will cover what we agreed to with the Creytes and the implications of Ratherson’s orders concerning Oria. If you have any questions, please feel free to interrupt. This next slide highlights the key components of our agreement with the Creytes. The Creytes have agreed to help us improve our medical care technology, improve our power generation and distribution, and to make many new improvements to our agricultural base. We also have a trade agreement that will enable us to directly trade with the United Creyte Republic. In addition, we will begin sending teams to the United Creyte Republic to receive training and learn about their food system. In exchange, the Creytes will have access to some of our natural resources and we will have our country become a member state of the United Creyte Republic. Our military will become an operational unit under theirs and training will initiate once the agreement is ratified by Congress.”
John Wilson was horrified at the proposition Helen had just presented. He wasn’t convinced that the Creytes could be trusted in even a normal relationship between states, and was even more concerned when Helen spoke of making the U.S. defense an arm of the Creyte military. He raised the first question. “Ms. Marshal, we see that you have been busy. I think everyone in this room would like to gain access to their medical and other technologies. Our major concern is ‘can the Creytes be trusted?’ Are we moving too fast to form this type of alliance?”
Helen smiled back at John. “Good point Mr. Wilson. That, of course, is the key question. I can point to evidence that overwhelmingly says yes. Yes, the Creytes can be trusted! My next slide addresses this key question. First, the Creytes have already provided us a number of technological capabilities, particularly in the area of medicine. In addition, just this morning, the Creytes provided us a series of pictures showing an alien starship capturing our space shuttle, a starship under command of the criminal Oria. Let’s step through some of these overheads on the screen showing this evidence”.
Helen slowly ran through a series of slides clearly showing the space shuttle’s capture by a large starship. The final slides showed the shuttle’s release and its detonation. She closed with a slide showing the gruesome remains of human body parts and clothing. One of the jackets contained Major Brown’s nameplate.
Helen let the room focus on the last slide for several minutes. She waited for the horror to sink in. “I see everyone appears as upset by these photos as I was. With these horrible images still in mind, let’s look at the Executive order released by Ratherson this morning. It declares Oria to be an enemy to the state and guilty of crimes against humanity. We must capture or kill Oria on site. Anyone knowingly supporting Oria is a criminal and we are immediately required to arrest them. Ratherson was quite unhappy to read about our military operation in West Virginia last night and the total collapse of the Laser Watch operation. The list of murders committed by Oria continues to grow. He killed an innocent civilian in a bar brawl that he instigated. He escaped from jail, and now is responsible for the destruction of a U.S. space shuttle and the murder of its crew. Laser Watch is terminated and anyone involved in last night’s failed military strike is to be arrested.”
9:00 AM: Laser Watch Situation Room
A dozen MP’s entered the Laser Watch situation room finding Bronson and Sloan discussing how to stop Helen Marshal from destroying their operation. One of the MP Sergeants interrupted the two generals. “Are you General Bronson and General Sloan?”
Bronson roared back. “Yes Sergeant, what can we do for you?”
“Sir, I have to place the two of you under arrest. We will be rounding up the rest of your team this morning and arresting them as well. Laser Watch is finished. Our orders are direct from the President. Sorry sir.”
The MPs rounded up the rest of the Laser Watch team and put them into the Pentagon lock-up. Finally, the MPs sealed the Laser Watch situation for evidence.
Bronson knew that this was going to be a bad day. He just never envisioned jail as being part of it. He feared that the latest development not only destroyed him, but those who worked for him as well.
10:30 AM: Hikers find body parts
Dan and Sue loved the fresh mountain air. It was a beautiful sunny day with a clear blue sky. They had just reached a small trail leading to one of West Virginia’s beautiful mountain views. Sue ran ahead of Dan and was about to reach the view when she suddenly stopped. She let out a loud scream as she saw a pile of human bones and half-eaten human bodies. Dan’s heart raced when he reached the horrible view. The dead and half-eaten people were still warm and killed only a short time ago. What horrible creature killed them and where was it? Dan and Sue both consumed by a primordial fear.
Dan reached for his cell phone. He was shaking so badly he could barely dial 911.
A dispatcher answered. “Is this medical or police emergency?”
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br /> Dan replied in a shaky voice. “They’re dead. There’s a pile of half-eaten dead people. Please help. We’re on Pete’s Bluff. I don’t . . . . “
Durinea saw a couple calling for help. He had only left for a minute. What were they doing here interrupting his meal? In anger, Durinea attacked the couple and paralyzed them with his stun gun. He quickly called Retilia and asked for further directions. He didn’t have a choice this time. He had hoped to keep his habit of eating local campers a secret from Retilia. He knew Retilia would disapprove. Retilia did not want to compromise their mission.
Retilia arrived with several other Creytes. As Durinea expected, Retilia was livid over the event. His only hope was to try to clean up the mess before anyone else came along, particularly the police. Retilia ordered his Creytes to pick up the remains including Dan and Sue. They would take the entire mess back to their hide-away.
Officer Hamilton was flying his helicopter looking for speeders when heard the dispatcher’s call. He swiftly changed course and headed towards Pete’s Bluff. When he got there, he saw a small group of strange creatures stuffing two humans and several other half-eaten bodies into a sack. He turned on the chopper’s video cameras and started relaying pictures back to the dispatch center. As he approached the peak, the creatures saw him and dropped the sack holding two human bodies. They disappeared quickly down the side of the mountain. Hamilton flipped on his infrared sensors and saw the pack head into the mountain.
Sheriff Bill Larson was attempting to catch up with some paper work when one of his deputies led him into the dispatch office to see films from their lone helicopter. He watched in horror as he saw several strange creatures devouring what used to be humans. The footage showed the creatures looking up, dropping uneaten humans, and darting down the mountainside. Larson had seen enough. He wasted no time in calling all his deputies together to converge on a spot within a mile of the creatures’ hide-away. It was 11AM when Larson finally ordered his team to a 1PM rendezvous.
Legend of Oria 1: Initial Contact Page 31
