—
“MOVE IT!” Marcus yelled, “We have a rush exit, rush exit!” Marcus was waving his tablet, “Get on the ship or disappear, and for God’s sake, make sure the Queen’s receiving room is fucking clear!”
“I’m on that!” Marcus heard from someone running up the gangplank.
Marcus watched as people were pulling cords off of the G’laxix Sphaea. Those they needed later, were being put on board and others were being tossed to the side.
They had talked about what would happen if they needed to exit the hangar fast, but now it was really happening. He hoped they had it right.
Marcus was tapping his foot and looking at his watch. They had two more cables connected, and both dropped from the back of the two wings at the same time, “Leave them!” Marcus shouted, “They aren’t special, get your asses on the ship!”
Marcus turned around, trying to see if they were missing someone when he heard a bark and turned back to see Ashur staring at him and then her voice cut through the bedlam, “Marcus, get your rocket science ass on my ship!”
“Oh, shit!” Marcus started jogging to the ship and then up the gangway himself. His red face greeted Bethany Anne, “Sorry!”
She looked outside then slapped the control to close up the ship, “You did good, but like any absent-minded professor, you forgot about yourself.”
Bethany Anne jogged to the bridge and slid into the pilot’s seat, “C’mon boys and girls, we have a battle to stop.”
—
“No…way,” Deith muttered as a huge spaceship started sliding out of the large warehouse. It came out, and out and … out.
By the time it came out all of the way, Deith had noticed at least another ten people on the street with him. At least he would have witnesses.
It silently lifted into the air, turning to the south as it went up at least a couple of hundred meters into the air. Then, the rear engines came to life. They were much quieter than Deith would have thought and the space ship…just disappeared with a loud BOOM.
“What the hell was that?” Asked a tall guy with a red shirt.
No one answered him back.
—
C’mon TOM, time to earn your piloting keep.
Stay at Vampire speed, I got your back BA.
Good, let’s not look like idiots in front of the help.
—
John Grimes leaned over to Paul Jameson, “Aren’t you the pilot?” he asked in a soft voice.
Paul answered, his voice a little above a whisper, “Yeah, but right now I’m learning. I’ve never flown this ship before.”
John nodded his head towards Bethany Anne. “How is she doing it?” he asked as they watched Bethany Anne’s hands blitzing over the controls.
Paul shrugged, “She’s Bethany Anne?”
John leaned back up, “As good an answer as any other, I suppose.”
“ETA to South Pole forty-two seconds,” Bethany Anne called out, “Make sure my turrets are manned!”
Marcus looked around, “Oh, I had forgotten about that, too.”
“Not a problem,” one of the Wechselbalg called out. “It looked like we might get to shoot something, so we have them all manned.” He added, “Not sure we need them to be manned, they are hooked up to an EI targeting setup at the moment.”
“Just so long as a human is starting and stopping the firing, that will work for now,” Bethany Anne responded. “Target’s in range, ten seconds.”
—
“Oh, holy fuckazoid!”
Captain Forstal ignored the comment. Right now, they couldn’t hit the four U.F.O.s and four times now the responding attacks had hit their ships. The Wasp had lost three helicopters and the Ford a front turret.
“Sir!” radar’s called out, “We have a new inbound bogey.”
“What, now?” The Captain wondered.
—
“I’m telling you, if those asswipes hit my ship one more time, I’m going to do more than just drop their helicopters into the water,” Spencer called out.
“The Phalanx can’t rotate fast enough, it was some lucky shooting,” Antony responded. “You need to be careful not to cross another one of their path lines and run into more bullets.”
“Hey, that’s easier said than done,” he responded.
“Guys? Hey, GUYS!” Evert called out, “Are you seeing this new ship coming from one one four?”
There was a pause, “Who the fuck is that?”
“TQB?”
“Their ships are all back out at the belt, they can’t get here for hours, even if they wanted to get involved.”
“Then who the hell has a … Oh, fuck is that a monster!”
“New plan, head towards that ship!” Antony commanded.
—
“The U.F.O.s are turning towards the new bogey,” a voice called out.
“Well, it looks like the U.F.O.s don’t like them, sir.”
“Doesn’t mean we like them yet, either. Enemy of my enemy isn’t necessarily my friend.” Captain Forstal said. “Keep an eye on it.”
“That’s not going to be hard, sir. It’s almost a football field long.”
—
“We have four ships heading our direction,” Marcus called out.
“Make sure the shield is on, I don’t want them scratching the paint,” Bethany Anne said.
“Oh, good idea,” Marcus agreed and turned to make sure the shield was live.
Bethany Anne looked to her left and slapped a blue button, “People, this is Bethany Anne. If any of those four ships shoot at us, light them up.”
—
“Plans, sir?” Spencer called out.
“Buzz them. See if our anti-electronics can affect them,” Antony answered.
—
Captain Forstal walked over to see what was happening on Radar, “Damn, they are fast.”
The four ships are passing the large one. Sir, that thing is huge,” Kelly said as she looked over.
“Heading this direction,” another voice called out. This time, multiple people got up and looked out.
“Oh, holy geezus,” Kelly said. “THAT one is TQB,” she said to the group as the large ship passed by the Navy. “I saw it on the Japanese video, but it has more stuff on it.”
“Ok, that means the other four are definitely not TQB, right?” Jenkins asked.
“No, they could be playing us,” Captain Forstal commented, “I don’t think they are, just want to make sure everyone keeps their minds clear of suppositions.”
“There go the four U.F.O.s,” as the heads all turned as four round ships sped after the TQB ship.
“They don’t seem to be as fast…” Kelly commented.
—
“Well, ain’t that a bitch, they are playing catch-up,” Bethany Anne commented. “Sure hope this thing has a good turn radius, Marcus.”
“What?” Marcus was doing his best to keep up, “Yes, we applied full Grav Plate technology to the Yollin abilities. You can stop on a dime,” he finished. “Although, I wouldn’t want to do that, actually, but you could.”
TOM, where is the system to … oh…here it is.
—
“Alright everyone, stay frosty, I’m sure they are going to turn soon. When they do, cut across the turn and we will…WHERE THE FUCK DID IT GO?” Antony yelled. “Anybody got a lock?”
A bunch of negatives came back to him, “This is bullshit!” He looked around, “Back to the Navy ships, we know they will end up there.”
Evert called over the comms, “Sir, that is TQB. The base says the ship matches the same as the Japanese event.” There was a pause, “Except for a few differences, sir.”
The four ships turned and headed back towards the Navy ships, “And what are those, Evert?”
“Big ass guns, sir,” came the reply.
—
“Sir, we’ve lost the TQB ship, and the four U.F.O.’s are coming back in this direction,”
“Prepare the missiles,” Captain
Forstal told them, “No firing without permission.”
—
Antony gritted his teeth but made the hard call. “We need to get the Navy out of here before TQB gets back. Permission to attack the ships, we will sink the USS Cowpens if the Navy shoots us again. We tried to be nice, that didn’t work.”
—
Captain Forstal thought about his options, “Bogey’s back in ten seconds, sir. Command on missiles?”
Two seconds later, “Sir?”
Captain Forstal nodded to himself, “Denied, lock them down.”
—
Bethany Anne hit the blue button again, “You guys ready back there?” Almost immediately, she received affirmatives, “Ok, time to let our unknown and unwanted friends understand something about the new and improved G’laxix Sphaea…”
Bethany Anne hit the buttons to turn off the cloaking device. Appearing from thin air, the ship cast its shadow over the USS Ford. She sat on top of them as a protective hat, guns aimed towards the four U.F.O.’s.
“My ride is a bitch,” Bethany Anne said, “and she is now going to fuck you up.”
She hit the blue button, “Light them up!”
—
“U.F.O.’s heading toward us, sir.”
“We have a ship on top of us, sir!” The suddenly appearing shadow dimmed the light coming through the windows.
“Timmons, get me information from outside!” Captain Forstal called out.
“U.F.O.’s firing weapons, TQB is already firing back, sir.”
“Get us out of here, move it people!” Captain Forstal called out, “I don’t want to be underneath that ship if it comes crashing down.”
—
“USS Cowpens moving out from underneath us,” Marcus called out.
“That’s fine, they probably don’t want to be underneath this fight, not that I blame them,” Bethany Anne responded.
—
“Hit, Hit, Hit!” Tyler called out, “My defensive shield is down sixty-two percent.”
“Fucker packs a wallop,” Spencer replied. “I’ve fired four rods, three hit, one destroyed. No damage to them.”
“SHIT SHIT SHIT, dammit, where did it go?” Tyler called out as seconds later, the four ships passed by where the ship had just been.
—
“TQB is playing hide and seek again sir,” Timmons came back inside. “It was there, hanging in the air firing off something from their guns then poof, disappeared and I could feel air movement, so I’m pretty sure they took off somewhere.”
“Son of a bitch,” Captain Forstal said, “Give me Wasp and Ford, we need to vacate the area.” He turned and sat down in his chair and got comfortable, “We can’t hit those four little ships, and they can’t hit the TQB ship. We are so outclassed here it’s damned embarrassing.”
—
“Navy is leaving,” Evert said as he looked at his systems, “Operational task number one completed.”
Antony answered, “Yeah, it’s the unexpected added challenge I’m thinking we are going to come up short on this time guys.”
“Fuck, we aren’t supposed to be the group with the inadequate toys,” Tyler complained.
“Yeah, but if they don’t find us then we can live to pay them back another day,” Antony said, “I’ve got confirmation from Director Brown. He leaves the decision to me so split up. Make sure we know where the fuck that ship is and let’s disappear. Don’t go straight back to base and confirm they aren’t following you. Break apart alpha alpha gamma in ten folks.”
“See you guys back at base,” Spencer called.
Ten seconds later, Antony’s voice came over the comms, “Go!”
—
“Bogey’s leaving, sir.” a voice called out.
“We have TQB on Radar,” Terry said.
“Where are they?” Captain Forstal asked.
“They have taken up a position between us and land, sir,” Terry answered.
“Seems like they have decided they don’t want us landing,” Timmons commented.
“Hail the ship, see if they will talk,” the Captain commanded.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Chapter 24
Dulce Lake New Mexico, USA
Director Patrick Brown was waiting for his team to arrive back in the underground hangar, his hands clasped behind his back as he chewed on the side of his cheek thinking about the situation.
Majestic-12 had a lot of resources, some that TQB wouldn’t probably consider using if they had them. Now, TQB had stymied an effort to acquire technology and information that had gone back to their own beginning and stopped them from gaining the one thing Majestic-12 had been coveting for decades.
How to reach out and speak with the aliens in Alpha Centauri.
Whether the aliens were truly in Alpha Centauri, or somewhere else, his group had never been able to confirm. It didn’t matter. Majestic-12 could prove that the technology Maria Orsitsch and her group of mediums speaking with the aliens had received did work.
And it had been nothing that Earth had seen before in its history. At least, not anything an Earthling had devised.
Which meant the aliens were still ahead of the Earth with their technology and Majestic 12’s focus was to acquire superior technology.
Through whatever means were needed or necessary.
Now, other humans with connections to aliens were acquiring technological assets and prohibiting Majestic-12 from doing their stated duty. One they had been accomplishing for both the United States and the United Nations (whether they understood it or not). It was time their relationships within the United Nations pay back the help they had been provided in secret for so long.
Patrick was going to call in a lot of debt’s owed.
The modified alien spaceship Dr. Eva Hocks and her team had reviewed from the video was superior to what they had, and what they had access to themselves. Worse, it had shown that even their offensive options were limited. Majestic 12 was as limited compared to TQB as the world was compared to their own technology.
An arms race is an enjoyable competition when you happen to be laughably ahead of everyone else. Not so nice, Patrick thought, when you were behind and didn’t yet have a plan to acquire the technological advantage back again.
The first ship to arrive was drawing into the landing area, the lights glistening off of her side. Patrick could see the marks the Navy’s guns had made on the ship. He noted there was one hole in the bottom of the ship before Spencer set his ship down.
Soon, two more ships came into view. Patrick’s eyebrow’s lifted when he got a good look at Tyler’s ship. It was blackened on one side. This must be where TQB’s gun hit Tyler’s ship and reduced the shield so much. More than enough to cook the outside of the ship, as well. They would probably be down one ship and pilot if they had two hits on his ship.
Patrick pulled his tablet out of his pocket and dialed a number, “Eva? It’s Patrick. I need one of your teams to come down and review Tyler’s ship… It is severely burned on one side, yes his shield was in place. Yes, I figured you would like to see the damage so you might be able to figure out what they are using. No, his ship won’t go anywhere if you need to finish your meeting. Yes, goodbye.”
Patrick hit the close call button and considered the plans. Contact the United Nations, get this damage checked out, see if they could modify the shields to handle this threat in the future, and figure out if they could salvage anything from the Antarctica effort.
Berlin, Germany
“This,” Dr. Schäuble pointed on the map, “Is where they found the base. Just like the old maps and notes from World War II said they would be.”
The agent from Germany’s Federal Intelligence Operations group sighed, “We were so close. Those damned Americans and TQB…”
“Not entirely,” the doctor interrupted, “Whoever attacked the Americans caused TQB to get involved. Now, our team is still down there, but they are not leading the research.”
“Fin
e, it is semantics at this point,” the agent replied. “We had the information and possibly the people to explain it all to us in the same place.”
“Do not think we are without hope,” Dr. Schäuble encouraged, “Dr. Tooch is very, very good. He has already provided many insights in the last three weeks down there.”
My Ride is a Bitch (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 13) Page 25
