by JS Rowan
His bed was a huge square platform; it had to be for a twenty-foot wolf. Admiral climbed in and adopted his favorite sleeping position, curled up in the middle of the bed, eyes facing the door.
What seemed like a moment later, the door chimes sounded.
Admiral rose and looked at the monitor overlooking the door. A werewolf was there. The Alpha wolf let the messenger in.
“Mergnot, captain of the Vengeance, has arrived aboard the Space Dog. He has come onto the Victory and is waiting for you on the Command Deck, Captain.”
Admiral had taken quarters close to the Command Deck, so that he could be there on a moment’s notice.
When Admiral arrived at the Command Deck, Mergnot was drinking some of the coffee that was part of Leona’s stash on the Space Dog. Notwithstanding that he had provided a small stash for Ashley, Admiral looked at the beverage in disgust and laid his ears back.
“How can you drink that vile stuff? I can’t even stand the smell of it.”
“I decided to try it because my queen enjoys it. However, it does take bravery and determination to consume it. Afterward, those who drink it feel awake and quite invigorated.”
“Bravery and determination, hmm,” replied Admiral.
The eyes of all the werewolves on the Command Deck were on Admiral, though they tried not to show it.
“Give me some of that,” he said to the silver werewolf.
Admiral took the thermal container from Mergnot’s hands and drank the liquid down; he looked at Mergnot and waited for him to say something. Mergnot flicked an ear and just looked back at Admiral.
As it turned out, caffeine had an effect on werewolves as well as humans. However, the effect in wolves was amplified many times. It had an effect similar to a human having thirty cups of coffee all at the same time. Neither of the Alpha wolves said anything, but Admiral felt the caffeine start to kick in. Admiral broke the silence.
“She drinks this all the time?”
“Yes.”
“That explains a lot.”
Mergnot grinned. “However, she drinks more coffee in the morning. She says it keeps her up if she drinks it at night,” thought Mergnot.
“I agree—it would do that.”
Mergnot clicked his fangs to show that he was changing topic.
“Admiral, I need to show you something. Frosty has been using the telescopes to keep a watch on the nearby star systems that we know to have Masters in them. About a week ago he saw something interesting in the closest system, which the humans call Proxima Centauri. After his initial discovery, he tasked every one of our Fleet telescopes that was not being used for immediate operational needs to help out.”
“Help out, how?”
“By tasking all the telescopes to focus at exactly the same spot and recording the data; then when the data was compiled together, and adjusted for time differential, the telescopes combined made up a huge distributed telescope array. That allowed us to see this.”
A picture appeared on the screen of the Command Deck. It showed a space battle. Five of the ships were identifiable as Master’s ships. They were battling fifty to sixty vessels of an unknown type.
“What is the time delay on this battle?”
“The distance from here to Proxima Centauri is four-point-three light-years.”
“I have never seen images this clear and objects that small from such a distance. Where did Frosty get the idea for a ‘distributed array’? It is brilliant!” thought Admiral.
“Humans with their limited space resources came up with the idea years ago. To compile this took a lot of computer resources. Jupiter Station’s new adaptive computer core asked for two of the main ship computer cores that were in storage to be added to its system in order to run this,” thought Mergnot.
“I have never heard of a main core needing any extra resources, but two cores—that is incredible. You can’t argue with the results, though. This will give us a huge tactical advantage over incoming Master’s ships. We will be able to have images of their ship configurations long before they can see our ships. Show me more of this video,” thought Admiral.
Admiral smiled slightly and handed the empty coffee container back to Mergnot. Mergnot nodded graciously, and then continued his discussion.
“This is the battle that we recorded, sped up sixteen times.”
The two sides engaged in battle. At the faster speed, maneuvers appeared to take minutes rather than months. The smaller ships were driving in close to the Masters’ ships and launching nuclear missiles. The Masters’ ships had more lasers firing than Admiral had ever seen on those types of ships before.
The lead ship for the Masters had already destroyed nine ships, by Admiral’s count, but other ships were pressing it. Then a number of the smaller ships penetrated the laser net with their missiles. The first nuke hit, then the second, and the Masters’ ship lurched and then exploded from within. Its destruction killed another three of the smaller ships.
Two more of the Masters’ ships were hit. The limited number of smaller, attacking vessels now focused their efforts on the remaining two Masters’ ships, which were firing wildly. The two undamaged Masters’ ships moved away from the two damaged ships and toward the planet that the smaller ships were defending.
“Don’t do it. Press the attack on the disabled ships,” thought Admiral, like a football fan trying to give the coach instructions from the stands.
As Admiral had guessed, once the smaller ships had moved away from them, the disabled ships were approached by a cargo flat that had been hiding behind a moon.
The cargo flat moved up to the first ship and had it secured before the smaller ships noticed the maneuver. The planet started firing what looked like cannons from some orbital platforms. The two undamaged Masters’ ships broke off the attack and started accelerating away from the planet.
Meanwhile, the cargo flat had secured the second ship and was accelerating away as well. Admiral was wondering what caused the Masters to flee from such a limited orbital defense.
Then he saw two very large ships come into the picture. These ships were five times as large as the Masters’ ships. They each had a cloud of smaller ships moving in and out around them. Admiral was reminded of pictures of Earth aircraft carriers, except that the planetary vessels were longer and much meaner-looking.
The Masters’ ships left the frame of the telescope video at full acceleration, with the two large new ships and their fleet following slowly in pursuit.
“That was four years ago. Do we know where they are now?”
Mergnot changed the video. The four Masters’ ships were in a very wide formation and appeared to be heading right for the camera view.
“Am I seeing that correctly, are they are heading here to the Earth system?”
“Yes, the Masters are about a year out. Now look at this,” replied Mergnot.
The picture changed to the view of the two massive ships. They too appeared to be heading toward the camera.
“How far out are they?”
“They are six months behind the Masters’ ships, but they are continuing to accelerate,” thought the silver wolf.
“The Masters’ ships are not accelerating?” thought Admiral.
“No, and what does that, and the very wide formation of their fleet tell you?”
“They have spread as large a magnetic capture field as possible in order to capture solar wind particles. However, there is not much out there, so if they are doing that then they are out of accelerant. If we attack them before they can get close to the Sun’s solar wind, their ability to maneuver will be severely limited. Excellent!” exclaimed Admiral.
“After dealing with the Masters, we will have those other ships to deal with. I wonder who they are,” thought Mergnot.
“The humans have an expression that works here. ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’ I hope they are right about that.”
CHAPTER 15
You Can’t Get There from Here
&nbs
p; December 19, 2038, 3:47 p.m.
In 2018, the invention of nanocarbon filament large-scale manufacturing changed buildings forever. Existing buildings could be structurally reinforced reasonably easily, so that new floors could be added above the existing floors. The new floors were extremely lightweight and could be flown in place by large dirigibles designed for that kind of construction. The building boom that followed meant that buildings were going up, not out. St. Vincent’s Hospital in Green Bay was no different. During a major retrofit, the entire hospital had been renovated, with six floors and a large rooftop landing pad added.
Leona stepped out of the shuttle. Thor and her guard wolves had already made sure the landing pad was secure. It seemed like there were a hundred journalists there on the roof, pushing each other in their eagerness to be the first to get the story. Leona almost felt sorry for the First Lady, who was stepping off the shuttle right now, with Ashley and Ambassador Gupta beside her. The Hartley children came behind, surrounded by the former rangers.
The reporters ignored Leona and Thor, instead forming a tight pack around the First Lady. All of them were shouting questions.
“When were you captured?” and “Why didn’t the president tell anyone that you had been taken?” were two of the questions Leona heard before taking the elevator down two floors. Hiroshi had hacked into the hospital database and was guiding Leona to Sarah’s room.
“OK, take a left around that corner and you should be there,” said Hiroshi in her mind through the comm link.
Leona motioned for her party to wait outside the room while she went in. Thor knew enough to give her some time with their girl first.
However, instead of finding Sarah in the room, Leona found it filled with US federal agents. They had their guns pointed at her in an intimidating fashion. There was a whiff of adrenaline in the room.
“If you try to yell for your friends outside the door, you will not live very long,” one of the agents said.
“OK, no problem…what is it that you want?” Leona said to them.
At the same time, Leona was talking with Hiroshi in her mind.
“I have walked into a room full of idiots with guns and badges who don’t know that I am now telepathic.”
“Do you want help?”
“Not right now. I need to find out where they have taken Sarah. Alert the shuttle to be ready to move. Have Gupta and his guys return to the shuttle right now.”
The agent continued to talk to Leona as another agent walked up behind her and started to put handcuffs on her.
“Leona Stevenson, you are under arrest for tax evasion, murder, and crimes against humanity. You have the right to remain silent…”
“Leona, I have the shuttle waiting for you; Thor and your guards have been notified,” Hiroshi thought to her, as the agent droned on through the statutory warnings.
“Do you understand these rights that I have read to you?”
“Where are my daughter and my missing crewmen?”
The agent tried to ignore her question by repeating his question. However, in his mind there was a picture of the vehicle convoy leaving the hospital parking lot a few minutes ago.
The agent waited for a response from Leona, and when she did not reply, he said, “Take her out of here.”
Leona saw that there was a second door in the room. They were also bolting the door to the hallway.
“They are bolting the door to the hallway, don’t have our guys try that door,” thought Leona to Hiroshi.
“Bolting a door to stop four werewolves? Who are these guys?”
Leona turned her head and addressed the agent who appeared to be in charge.
“Are you taking me to the same place as my daughter?”
The agent doing the talking didn’t know or did not think about it. However, another agent did know.
They are taking her to a deep dark hole in Arizona where you all should be, thought the man.
“Look for a convoy heading westbound toward Arizona, or maybe a convoy heading to the Austin Straubel International Airport. Probably the airport is our best bet, they won’t drive her all that way,” Leona thought to Hiroshi.
“Are we flying or driving? Because if we are driving, I’ve got to pee,” Leona said to the agent.
An agent who had to be two or three years younger than Sarah snickered.
Is this what everyone is frightened of, some old woman with bladder problems? he thought, scornfully.
Leona had to hold back from saying, “Who are you calling old?” Instead, her thought just confused Hiroshi, who replied, “I am not calling anyone old, particularly not you, Captain.”
Leona and her captors exited the room through another door and there was an elevator waiting.
“OK, they are taking me down an elevator, probably to a waiting car. I don’t think I’m going to get anything more out of these guys without a direct approach. Have some of our werewolves drop down to the basement and intercept that car. I want a surprise waiting when we step off the elevator. Tell the wolves not to hurt anyone—well, nothing that won’t heal properly. If the feds start to shoot, the wolves should just take the hits and then grab the gun away,” Leona thought to Hiroshi.
“Yes, ma’am,” thought Hiroshi.
The elevator arrived and five of the agents got on, while four of them stayed back to guard against the sudden appearance of wolves at the locked room.
“You guys are so cute,” said Leona to the nearest agent.
“How is that, ma’am?”
“Oh, thinking that four agents staying behind would make any difference if my werewolves should show up.”
That caused the agents’ minds to all kick into overdrive; Leona had a hard time sorting out all the thoughts. However, she got enough from the man to see the defensive layout of the hospital.
“Hiroshi, they have two snipers in vehicles on the north and west sides of the parking lot, armed with ninety-five-caliber silver explosive rounds. Never mind the wolves taking any of those rounds! I want them to take those guys first. Then there are two Terra Ultima seven-passenger armoured trucks, each with a driver and a guy riding shotgun; I want the wolves to take the agents without loss of life. Please slow the descent of this elevator, without stopping it, to give our guys time to get into position.”
“Leona, the wolves are on the ground and have spotted the two sniper vehicles. They are hitting them now.”
Leona waited to see if any of the agents reacted to any communications through the radio receivers in their ears.
“Hiroshi, so far so good—hit the rides now.”
“This elevator seems to be taking a long time,” said one of the agents.
“Everything takes longer when you’re nervous,” an older agent said.
You old fart, you’ll be sorry when I’m your boss, the younger agent thought.
Despite the tenseness of the moment, Leona let out a snicker.
“Is there something funny?” the young agent said in a threatening voice.
“I’ll tell you the joke when you’re old enough to hear it,” Leona said.
The older agent laughed.
A cloud of anger kept the younger agent from noticing that it really was taking the elevator a long time to get to the ground.
“OK, Leona, we have taken the trucks,” reported Hiroshi.
“Anyone hurt?”
“One of our wolves was shot three times. He said he’s had worse. Two of the agents have concussions; oh, and there’s three broken arms.”
“Tell them good work. Now put a wolf in the driver’s seat of each vehicle and tell the rest of them to hide near the elevator. Tell Thor and my guard wolves that I am all right so far. Oh, and you can speed up this elevator again, before the agents get any more suspicious.”
Shortly after that the elevator doors opened. Leona stood and just looked at the agents as they gestured to her to go with them into the parking garage.
“We have spotted the convoy with Sarah and the pi
lots. It is three kilometers south of the airport. It looks like they are headed to a cargo terminal. We still have two hundred twenty-three wolves on the shuttle. What do you want me to do?” Hiroshi asked.
“Drop fifty wolves on the landing platform and then take the rest to that cargo terminal to get my crew back! The wolves should not disturb the First Lady and journalists—but I doubt they’re still on the roof anymore.”
Leona had not moved quickly enough, so the younger agent shoved her and she fell. The older agent helped her back up, looking apologetic.
“You’re going to regret doing that,” Leona said to the younger agent.
“Oh, I doubt that,” he sneered.
Two of the other four agents ran up to the waiting vehicles and opened the passenger doors. Only one of them managed a scream before both of them were pulled into the trucks and subdued. The wolves rushed out from their hiding places. The older agent went for his gun and then thought better of it, and just raised his hands.
The younger agent drew his gun and fired at Leona, not any of the werewolves. The bullet hit the dirt near her feet. He never got a chance to fire another round. Thor knocked the gun from his hand and picked him up by the neck.
“Calm down, big guy, let’s not kill the little pissant,” Leona thought to Thor.
“That is my husband that has you by the neck. He is not happy that you shot at me. If you can tell me about the cargo hangar, I might be able to convince him not to squeeze your head off,” Leona said to the young agent.
The agent didn’t say anything; he couldn’t with Thor holding him like that. However, his mind was racing. How do they know about the cargo hangar?
Then he thought about the aircraft and the SWAT team guarding it inside the building. He started sweating and became afraid that he might lose control of his bladder.
“So if you were going to get the people free, how would you do it?”
The agent thought about the different ambush scenarios that had been discussed. Leona had what she needed.
“Thor, set him down,” Leona said out loud.
Thor complied and Leona walked up to the young snot.
“Remember when I said you would regret that?” she hissed.
