by Charles Lamb
“You lot have taken almost half my staff!” Nigel replied, feigning anger. “As it is, my daughter has absconded, leaving me short one of my best engineers and with a very angry wife. I told her the tropics were no place for a ginger!”
“Where did she go?” Patti asked with a laugh, acknowledging the term for a fair-skinned redhead.
“I believe it is pronounced Lanai?” he replied.
----*----
Sharon was just returning from touring the hangar area. They had been testing some new helicopter models, where the blade hoops had been replaced with repulser motors. So far, the testing proved promising.
After the shooting that had left her laid up for months, she was very happy to be back at her job, running the Washington State ALICE facility. In charge of what was originally a helicopter design research facility, she had been tasked with the management of the Pacific North West, her responsibilities running north, well into Canada and south into California.
Recently they had received a hoard of Marines and British SAS that were interested in working with helicopters. Soon after that, a group of engineers appeared, wanting to experiment with the helicopters they intended to use. It was nice having all the visitors for a change, as they had been mostly ignored in the past.
“Major, you might want to look at this?” one of her analysts said as she entered the command center.
As she looked at the display, she had to adjust the display to zoom in a little.
“Whose is that?” She asked as she watched the ship approaching the coast. Checking the map against the live feed, she could see it was going to enter the Strait of Juan de Fuca, headed into Puget Sound.
“The markings appear to be Russian,” the analyst replied.
Sharon knew they had nothing going on in the Seattle/Tacoma/Everett area, so whomever these guys were, they were not looking for her people.
“Ok, keep an eye on them, and report it to Sara, as I think Jake is still tied up in South Dakota. Also, have the fighter squadron on standby, just in case,” with that she turned and headed off to get a bite to eat.
----*----
Ivan was impressed. The ship's navigator had placed them just outside the mouth of the strait they needed to traverse to reach the old ports of Seattle. While the city of Everett housed a military port, the consensus among the crew was the civilian docks were more likely to hold the ship's fuel they needed in storage tanks nearby.
According to the reference maps, both Seattle and Tacoma, to the south, had been huge commercial shipping ports before the great fall of civilization. With any luck, they also housed those people that operated the large ship they had seen in the sky.
He watched from the bridge as they slowed the ship, entering the Strait of Juan de Fuca and headed east. Ivan was amazed to see some of the channel markers still afloat in the center of the shipping lane.
----*----
Sara was reviewing the message Sharon had sent regarding their visitors. She liked Sharon a lot, and was quite upset when one of the three raiders had shot her earlier that year. Jake had been far too generous in his release of the two survivors, in her opinion. Sometimes she wondered if the two had survived, wherever ALICE had dropped them.
After reading the message, Sara switched to the live feed the Washington analyst was providing as she monitored their activities. Sara could see men moving about on the deck of the ship and noted ALICE’s translations of their ships wording and emblems as Russian.
“Alice, have we had any indicators that the Russians are pulling what the Chinese just tried?” she asked absently.
“No, nothing like that at all. I have seen this particular ship before. Every year, in the warmer months, it launches a few times from Avacha Bay. The Russian Navy kept a number of ships and submarines there before the NeHaw attack. They would sail out to the tip of the Aleutians and then return to port.”
“Apparently they are getting adventurous. Any reason to believe they are hostile?” Sara asked as she shrank the video feed to the corner of her display and began researching Alice’s data on the region.
“Their port of origin is lightly populated and has never shown signs of fighting. I would propose directing Patti’s analysts to do a quick survey of the area, as it might give us an indication of their intentions.” ALICE replied.
With Patti in London, Sara had been asked to look after Patti’s people from time to time. It was a swap Sara was only too happy to accommodate. Forwarding Sharon’s message and the video feed link, she asked for a quick write up on the area and the ships possible occupants. She wanted something by the time Jake returned from South Dakota.
The thought of Jake both warmed her and set her temper to flare. Again, she was sure the hormones were at work, but she was angry that he had placed her in this position. It was his dependence on her that had prevented Alice from allowing her pregnancy in the first place. Had she gotten pregnant with the others, maybe she wouldn’t be feeling this way.
She then decided she would do something she swore she would never do. She was going to ask Jake to commit to her and her alone.
----*----
Becky had been struggling with Sandy and her trauma from China. While she seemed more stable lately, her depression was no better, nor was the guilt she proclaimed. No matter how it was explained to her, she refused to let go of the responsibility. Although the medications kept her calm, she was only a fragment of her former self.
Becky had been tempted to ask Jake to work with her, his affection for Sandy a potential balm to her internal injuries. However, Sandy would become very agitated at the mention of his name. She repeatedly claimed she just couldn’t face him.
For Becky, that was a double hit, as she wanted to see him herself. While she would continue to work with her friend, her own need for attention was screaming out. Her one consolation was she was sure Sara was in the middle of a hormonal firestorm that she wanted no part of.
----*----
Jake was still at the main console for the newborn in South Dakota. Once the ALICEs had it oriented, stabilized, and rational, he and his team had to walk her through the various system restorations. They had only concentrated on the facility support subsystems, leaving out anything related to the weapons manufacturing the location specialized in.
While he was dying to know what else was going on in their ever-expanding sphere of influence, he focused on the task at hand. One wrong step and they could cause a system panic or worse, a full crash. Should any real disaster arise, he was positive that Sara would contact him immediately.
----*----
HeBak had recalled his robots, redirecting them to the lake he was hiding in rather than back to the surface as he had originally planned. He was positive the disturbance created by their arrival had left noticeable traces on the surface of the lake, however the human watchers had long since returned to their homes.
The robots burrowed their way to the lake bottom, emerging and closing off the tunnel they created behind them. As each robot docked with this ship, its cargo was released into the hold of the ship. The sum total from all three robots was enough gold to provide HeBak with a lifestyle equal to the Head of the High Council herself. With each delivery, he would catalog the contents, already refined and shaped into easily stowed bricks.
When combined with his previous haul, it made him giddy with visions of a life of luxury. Even though it took several sub cycles to get everything in place, he worked on, exerting himself more than he had in megacycles. Only after he had cataloged and stowed the last brick did he rest.
Unfortunately, in his haste, HeBak had forgotten to shield the robots as they entered the lake and docked with his craft, leaving a distinct visual and magnetic signature, should anyone be looking his way.
----*----
April had been a member of Patti’s analytics team from the very first day it was formed. As one of the early recruits, she had been involved in a lot of the original planning and expansion of the group. Whi
le others had gone on to leadership positions, she had chosen to take another path. Temporarily helping in Texas, she returned in Patti’s absence.
It was she who had led the analysis on the Chinese, and had Sandy only asked, she would have prevented the disastrous contact. While she felt horrible about what had happened, she felt validated that the events had played out exactly as she had predicted. Her report on the General had outlined his instability.
Now she was heading a small group, focused on the Avacha Bay area. The Russian destroyer that was currently approaching what was once Seattle, had been a regular in the bay. Her people were pulling real time feeds as well as historical images and video.
The ALICEs had global surveys from the days following the NeHaw attack to the present day. While there were voids in the record, the continuity was pretty good. As she was going over some old imagery, one of the other analysts called to her.
“April, come look at this.”
Moving over to the video display, she could see an overhead of a body of water. With the clarity of the water and the enhanced imagery, as it was run through a filter, she could see something moving around at the bottom of the lake.
“What the hell is that?” she commented absently.
----*----
Brian was quite pleased with the progress Kola had made in adapting to her new environment. They had progressed well past systems management and had started doing small drills with a few of the ships in the hangars. The carrier had two huge hangars, both centered amidships, one after another.
Inside each, they had already loaded two fighter squadrons, all presently unmanned. In addition, there was one Lanai transport and one patrol craft as well. When one considered the considerable firepower of the carrier’s guns, the complete package, without ALICE-3 in the neighboring battleship, was an overwhelming force to be reckoned with.
As they had done at Klinan, Brian had hoped that Kola might remotely operate a portion of the fighting ships in her bays, so that the shortage of pilots wouldn’t prevent a sea trial outside the solar system. He was sure Jake would be concerned about roaming too far from home without proper protections in place.
“Ok Kola, let’s try one full squadron now. Go with the Alpha squadron,” Brian directed, using the temporary name for the unassigned four fighters in bay one.
----*----
While April and the analyst watched, the disturbance in the lake continued, causing April to trigger an alert. Passing on the coordinates of the other locations, she had requested the west coast fighter squadrons be put on notice. She received immediate acknowledgements from the VMFA-323 Death Rattlers in Alaska and the VMFA-232 Red Devils in Nevada. Sharon had reported she had her squadron, the VF-84 Jolly Rogers, rotated from Revenge, on standby for another issue, the Russian destroyer.
While she was unsure of what they were watching, the measured depth of the lake was a strong indicator that is was something more sophisticated than a couple of boys and an upside down bathtub. They watched with renewed interest, as another object appeared on the far side of the bottom and maneuvered to the center, becoming obscured by whatever was resting there.
“Do we have anything in the area that could check that thing out?” April asked the room occupants. Several others began looking at their displays for an answer.
“We have a patrol craft in high orbit, not too far away,” someone finally offered.
April moved over to check the other’s display, noting that the patrol craft was manned and on a routine patrol.
“Would you please reach out to them and have them investigate that lake.” April asked. She watched the analyst type out the message, and transmitted it directly to the craft commander. As they watched the screen, the ship almost immediately altered course and headed directly to the Kamchatka Peninsula.
“Someone was anxious for some action,” April heard someone behind her say. No doubt, with all the training sessions going on, an actual mission was a welcome change.
By the time the patrol craft reached the lake, the commotion at the bottom had ceased and all was quiet.
“Ask them to land and look around,” April asked, looking at the same analyst that had passed the initial request. No sooner had the ship landed, discharging a number of armed crew, than something burst from the lake, sending water flying in all directions and drenching the figures near the craft.
----*----
Jake was exhausted. They had been at it for twelve hours straight, with the only relief provided by calls from Mother Nature. Bathroom breaks aside, Jake’s entire focus had been on getting the newborn up to speed. His entire team had been methodically working through the day, insuring every action was successful before moving to the next.
During the latter part of the day, he had been able to initiate a conversation with ALICE-9 and the newborn that had provided an interesting perspective. Having arrived alone and unassisted, ALICE-9 seemed determined to insure this newborn did not experience the same traumatic awakening.
Jake watched the two as they initially exchanged introductions, the text displaying on the monitor he was operating. As they progressed to more vocal means of communications, he was able to participate. They were actually preparing to release the human partners, while continuing unaided, when the alert came from ALICE-1.
“Jake, we have located an alien craft attempting to escape,” ALICE-1 declared.
“Escape from where?” Jake asked, confused by the reference.
“Earth!” April replied over the audio link, before a hologram in the center of the command center came to life, courtesy of one of the ALICEs. At first, Jake couldn’t see what all the fuss was about, but as several fighters converged on the apparently empty center of the image, he could see the distortions created there.
“Invisible?” Jake asked no one in particular.
“Apparently,” April replied. “It had been masking its drive signature, but now that we know what to look for, we can track it easily.”
“Alice, any idea who it is?” Jake asked as he watched the fighters buzz the ship as it continued to gain altitude, heading for space. With every fighter pass, the ship would change course, attempting to avoid collision, with the course changes impeding its accent.
“The masking of the drive signatures makes it difficult to identify, however I would suspect it’s a NeHaw spy ship,” ALICE replied.
“Jake, Kola has four fighters ready to intercept. Do you want us to take it out?” Brian asked, apparently alerted to the crisis.
“No, let’s see if we can capture it. The Intel we get could be very useful,” Jake replied.
----*----
HeBak had panicked when the human ship landed by the lake he was hiding in. He had no idea how they had found him, but he was far too close to success to allow them to stop him now. The treasures he secured would provide for a lifetime of luxury, once he vacated this dreadful planet.
Strapping in, he had burst from the lake, assuming the humans could never return to their ship and pursue in time. Unfortunately, only moments later swarms of those nasty little fighters appeared to intercept and harass his accent into space. He had to continually change course to avoid a collision with one. Did they all possess a death wish on this rock in space?
He was happy they weren’t firing at him, yet, but it also made him wonder why as he continued to fight his way into the sky.
Chapter 23
Ivan watched as the ship's commander anchored the destroyer offshore in the sound, near the deserted buildings of the city of Seattle. No one felt comfortable trying for one of the many piers, until they were sure of the facilities and their welcome. Avacha Bay had many sunken vessels, where they were once tied to a pier or dock.
Once everything was secure, they lowered the gig, to be used to explore the shoreline. Ivan had selected four men to accompany him, while the gig’s crew of two would shadow them should they go ashore. The map indicated they were in the middle of Elliot Bay, the towering buildings of downtown
still standing. The iconic Space Needle still in place on their left, with the commercial shipping port and potential refueling docks to their far right.
As the men descended into the gig, Ivan continued to scan the shoreline, looking for any sign of a reception committee. Casting off, the pilot turned his bow to the east and headed to the center of the downtown structures.
Nearing the many piers extending out into the bay, he turned the craft south, to parallel the coast. Slowing to give them a better chance to observe, the four men with Ivan began to scan for any signs of life or fuel storage.
Nearing the southern end of the bay, they came upon a large number of storage tanks. There they continued on and found they traveled around an island, while insuring the waterway was clear of obstructions. At one point, Ivan had the pilot dock, allowing him and his four men to go ashore to explore the storage tank farm.
Even from the dock, the strong smell of leaking petroleum reached his nose. Disappointed that he had not seen a single indication of occupancy, he had the pilot radio the ship that they had located a possible refueling spot and requested to have the necessary equipment delivered for re-refining.
----*----
After giving it some thought, Jake had the fighters’ fire off a few rounds from their energy cannons, no rail guns. In conjunction, he had Kola add her four fighters to the eight already working to pen the intruder in. Next, he had ALICE broadcast in NeHaw, demanding the ship halt in place and drop the cloaking shields.
Watching from the South Dakota command center, the holograph centered in the room showed the appearance of a ship he had never seen before, hovering in place high above the Pacific Ocean. Positioned above and all around were the fighters from Kola, Alaska, and Nevada fencing it in.
----*----
HeBak had no choice but to give up. The cloaking was no longer effective, as these devil ships seemed to track his every move. Once they started firing on his ship, he knew he had no means of escaping alive. The broadcast had demanded his cooperation, something he deemed non-negotiable.
