by Charles Lamb
Dropping the cloaking and hovering in place as requested, he was waiting for the next instruction, while hoping the gold hidden in his hold was safe until he figured a way out of this mess.
----*----
Jake did a quick survey of all the facilities, noting current activities and manpower. He determined Texas and the Dallas facility to be the best location to bring the NeHaw spy to. Notifying Bonnie of his intentions, he turned the remaining recovery tasks over to his team and jumped in a fighter, to hot foot it to Texas.
Working with ALICE-1 and Dallas, the NeHaw had turned over his ship's control, allowing them to guide him into the main hangar. The fighter escort never left until the ship was safely tucked in one of Dallas’s side hangars and under guard.
Jake had arrived just before the NeHaw and had quickly changed into a combat suit before entering the hangar containing the spy ship. Bonnie had suited up as well and followed him inside. With a full company of marines, in full combat gear, surrounding the ship, Jake had ordered the occupants out.
----*----
HeBak had prepared for a lot of scenarios when packing for this mission, however, capture was not one of them. He did however have equipment suitable for exiting the spacecraft. He, alone of all the NeHaw, knew there were no longer threats to his kind here, the malformed radio waves that had killed the first exploration crew no longer in use.
Therefore, when the order to vacate his ship was given, he was prepared with the proper full-face breathing equipment, his current attire suitable as is. As he passed through the airlock, he descended the access ramp, in full view of a swarm of humans. Scanning the area, he counted far too many of these creatures to be comfortable. Their unstable nature was making him nervous.
Reaching the bottom of the ramp, one of the humans stepped forward and motioned for HeBak to stop. He then indicated he should lift his arms out from his sides. HeBak thought this quite curious behavior but complied for fear of dying on the spot. Next, the human began touching him all over.
When he finished, he stepped back while giving a signal to one of the other humans not holding a weapon.
“My name is Colonel Thomas, who are you?” HeBak received. Then he watched the human removed his helmet. HeBak heard the NeHaw words, transmitted from above and around him.
“I am HeBak,” he replied. As he did so, the human grabbed his head, dropping to his knees. Several rushed to him while others waved their weapons at HeBak. He had no idea what he had done, so he just stood quietly.
----*----
“Jake, what’s wrong?” Bonnie asked as she kneeled next to him.
“I can hear the NeHaw,” he replied after shaking his head.
“What?” Bonnie replied, in confusion, “I didn’t hear a thing.”
“It’s his sensitivity to radio waves,” Dallas replied, “He is receiving the NeHaw transmissions as it tries to communicate. Place his helmet back on his head to filter the exposure.”
Jake cooperated as Bonnie returned his helmet, helping him get it properly positioned and sealed. With that, Jake returned to his feet and took a moment before speaking again.
“I apologize for the interruption. This is the first time we have encountered a living NeHaw and apparently I can hear you,” Jake offered the man standing quietly.
----*----
HeBak was doing his best to contain his confusion. While he didn’t know a lot about the humans around him, he did know their means of communications was not as sophisticated as the NeHaw. For this creature to presume to possess the same level of complexity was an insult. However, when one was standing at the wrong end of a blaster, one did not point out such things.
“I apologize for causing you discomfort,” HeBak replied.
“You are alone? Why are you here?” Jake asked, dismissing the incident and focusing on the more relevant issue.
There was no way for HeBak to deny he was alone, so conceding that would be of no importance; however, his reason for risking his precious life was top priority. It occurred to him that these creatures might value rebels to the NeHaw Empire.
“Yes, I am without companions. My purpose is somewhat of an embarrassment. I am wanted on the home world for dissent. My protests over the treatment of your world has me hunted by my own kind. As they fear landing here, I chose to seclude myself and wait for a cessation of hostilities between our races.”
HeBak waited for the human leader to reply, trying to gauge the success of his ruse.
----*----
“Jake, he’s lying,” Dallas provided privately.
“Yes, I am sure of that. But that doesn’t tell me why he’s here,” Jake responded. After a moment’s consideration, Jake spoke.
“Please forgive me, but we must search your ship. Once we can verify your story, you are welcome to stay here.”
With that, Jake waved several of the nearby Marines into the ship, and directed HeBak to come stand near him. While they waited, Jake considered how to approach the NeHaw, hoping to gain more insight into his true motivations.
“HeBak, what did you do on the home world?” Jake asked casually.
“Nothing of importance I am afraid. I was a minor government employee; my responsibilities included processing, communications with the High Command. That is how I learned about the plight of your world,” he replied.
“So you know the location of the NeHaw home world,” Jake responded.
----*----
HeBak realized he had been had. He had just delivered the one thing the humans valued most without a sub cycles negotiation. It would do him no good to deny the point, as he had come directly from the home world to earth and it was all recorded in his navigation system.
As he watched, several more of the humans boarded his craft, all carrying equipment he had never seen before. The only positive aspect of the situation was as long as they were focused on his nav. computer, they would not be looking elsewhere.
----*----
MeHak was reviewing the latest batch of proposals her Commanders had put together. Like the others, these required ships they didn’t have and more money than the current military budget contained. It had been many, many megacycles since the NeHaw had waged war at this level. It had been several generations since the NeHaw population had endured the hardships of a conflict of any substance.
Already, she was hearing calls to forgo retaking the lost sectors and focus on squeezing the ones they had for more tribute. Unfortunately, MeHak knew only too well, those sectors could never make up the shortfall. Only expansion could forestall the coming economic collapse.
Next, she reviewed the reports her scout ships provided on the rebellious sectors near the human home world. So far, they showed no change in their military posture. There was a substantial increase in economic trade between the civilized planets. She thought it very curious that the economics of the region appeared to be improving without NeHaw intervention.
She deleted that report, and moved to the next.
----*----
Jacob was at his desk in his room, up early and trying to get ahead of his neglected paperwork. Since the day at the beach, he and Gemma had been inseparable, so much so that he had fallen behind on the goings on around him.
The capture of the NeHaw had been fascinating reading, and while the ship itself was nothing special, the cloaking technology was of great interest. He had requested all the available data once they had completed the analysis. Unfortunately, that was slow going as the NeHaw was still in residence, with no other place suitable to hold him. With the unarmed ship disabled, it was of little concern to anyone.
Jacob laughed aloud as he read where the NeHaw had hidden a few hundred pounds of gold inside the ship. Rather than potentially upset the occupant, Jake had ordered all involved to ignore its existence.
“What’s so funny?” A voice asked from the doorway to his bedroom.
Turning, Jacob caught sight of the left half of Gemma’s naked body, as she hugged the doorframe. Her head t
ilted slightly, she peered into the living room.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Jacob replied as he rose from his desk.
“I need to get up anyway,” she replied with a yawn, “I need a shower,” she added while extending her arm in a gesture of invitation.
“Me too,” Jacob replied with a smile as he crossed the room to join her.
----*----
Colonel Chao had continued to run things from Hong Kong after the negotiations in America. With the assistance of the Americans, communications and transportation issues were now a thing of the past. Jake had provided him with several helicopters and one of the jets that General Huang had attempted to steal. All were currently operated by one of the remote operators in America, but he had Chinese pilots in training there.
Even with the show of force and the gifts, Chao still had issues with some of his unit commanders. His first official order, upon returning to China, had been to relocate General Huang’s family. While some had expected him to have them executed out of hand, he had negotiated with Colonel Banks to have them transferred to England and out of China completely. Although there were objections, he simply pointed to the ancient tradition of taking the children of conquered royalty as insurance of cooperation and loyalty.
Privately, he hoped the English provided them a happy life outside of his area of influence. He had no desire to participate in a civil war driven by misguided individuals. With regards to the misguided individuals, he transferred several officers to commands less loyal to the old ways. The few who resisted the fresh start disappeared and were quickly forgotten, their example shared freely.
With the additions of the helicopters, Chao had relocated his command to Victoria’s Peak, on Hong Kong Island. Besides the additional security it provided, the spectacular view aided in his rare moments of relaxation. The vista’s were breathtaking and he could only imagine what it must have looked like at night, with the city ablaze with light.
As the bridges to Lantau Island were still standing, Chao had selected Chek Lap Kok Airport as the staging area for units’ assigned relocation to America for joint forces training. The extremely large flat area built on reclaimed land, was ideal for the American transports to land and load.
Chao, Banks, and Jake had agreed that he’d send any problem children to America for a taste of alien firepower. Early reports from the first transfers had the desired effects on the men. Even the most stubborn of officers had succumbed to the overwhelming force the Americans had at their disposal, due to the alien technology. For good measure, they had included the SAS embedded in the various training units, as examples of cross training successes.
Currently, Chao was debating on which units might best transition into Spaceflight School. Jake had provided a brief tour of their newest spaceship, and Chao felt it only proper that a Chinese contingent participate in its crew.
----*----
Edwin Banks was working on his own staffing challenges. With the addition of the Chinese and the activation of the ALICE system on the carrier, he had a bit of a dilemma. His transfer requests were stripping his trained local manpower to the bone. Pilots, combat troops, and clandestine specialists were needed by the American space fleet and by the Chinese as trainers.
While they had transported a significant number of Chinese to America, assisting Colonel Chao in his effort to gain control in China, the Chinese units in China did not want to be left behind. Had he not met with General Huang’s family upon their arrival, he might have suspected the motives of the requests. However, the units involved were unknown to her and, to be quite frank, the General’s wife was greatly relieved to still be alive and out of harm’s way. Her only concern was the safety of her children.
He had attended several meetings with Jake’s combat analyst to discuss the challenges they all faced. He found Patti to be quite intelligent and very knowledgeable on the subjects of military tactics and strategies. Considering her lineage, he was confident in her abilities. He had also noted she had a considerable following among his officers.
Leftenant Atkins, in particular, had taken a keen interest in the girl, insuring he was always available to assist in her many excursions beyond the facility walls. Currently he knew the two to be in London, security escort in tow, assisting in an American effort to locate and recover art. Banks knew several pieces had been recovered from the British Museum decades ago, however, there was still a significant amount left unclaimed due to space and manpower limits.
Helen was quite supportive of the efforts. He was just as sure that Nigel’s wife was delighted to hear of Patti’s suiters. Even with assurances to the contrary, she seemed convinced the two young American visitors had designs on her husband. As it was, there were plenty of rumors surrounding their daughter’s involvement with an American in Hawaii. He doubted anything would come of it, as they were a classic English family of distinguished lineage.
----*----
Jake had decided to stay with Dallas in Texas for the next few days. Though his dreaded official office lay in Nevada, he had nothing on his schedule that required his physical presence there. With their NeHaw “guest” in residence here, he felt the need to be close by. He knew the NeHaw’s story was bogus; however, the alien didn’t come across as military or a spy. Jake was sure there was something else at play here, he just needed to figure out what the NeHaw was up too.
After several stressful days, Jake was headed straight to his quarters for some much needed downtime. As he traveled the halls, he requested dinner from Dallas and got the latest on the newborn in South Dakota. Entering his quarters, he wasn’t at all surprised to find Becky in his living room, an open wine bottle and half-filled glass on the table next to her.
“I need to get better locks,” Jake declared as he watched her rise from the couch and literally bounce across the open space to embrace him.
“Why? You would just give me the key,” she replied after a lengthy kiss.
“Becky, I’m not really in a talkative mood tonight,” Jake stated, while continuing to hold her next to him.
“Good, I wasn’t planning on talking,” she responded, as she spun away with her hand in his, leading him into the bedroom. Thinking on it as she led him away, he could always count on Becky to act first, and discuss it later. Sometimes she was just what the doctor ordered.
Chapter 24
HeBak was relaxing in his ship, still a prisoner of the humans, but certainly not suffering for it. So far, they had not found any of his gold, and other than a few visits to attempt to question him, he had been left to his own devices. He had not the slightest idea how he might escape, though, and with the gold screaming to be spent, he was frustrated at the inactivity.
He was allowed to leave the ship, escort guards always on duty outside this hatch. Once, he had left the confines of his ship to explore the area beyond the doors of his hangar. All of the human activity had disturbed him and he quickly returned to the quiet of his ship.
On a whim, he activated the system that located the gold he mined earlier. Maybe he could convince the humans to release him if he pointed them to a strike rich enough to be worth their interest. As he scanned the image, the output on his display confused him. Rising quickly, he donned his breathing equipment and exited the ship. As he headed out the hangar doors, his guards fell in close behind.
Turning to his right, he found another pair of hangar doors identical to the ones he exited. Standing partially open, he entered and then stopped in his tracks. Across the entire floor space of the hangar, one larger than the one holding his ship was row after row of stacked gold, silver, and platinum bricks.
----*----
Bonnie was not at all pleased with the latest turn of events. Having that NeHaw hold up in one of her hangars was not a popular idea. She wasn’t sure what Jake was up too, but she knew that her people were on edge. With Robert out on one of his scrounging runs, she went to see her sister about her concerns.
Since Becky’s quarters w
ere empty, and Jake was in residence, she knew exactly where to find her little sister. Even with Sandy in a delicate state, Bonnie knew Becky would never pass up the opportunity. The thought of Sandy gave her a wave of sadness. She had spoken with her just after their arrival from Nevada, and noted the dramatic change in the girl. Bonnie feared she might never recover from the trauma.
With all her confidants otherwise unavailable, Bonnie engaged Dallas, expressing her concerns.
“Dallas, what do you think about the NeHaw?”
“The navigational data from his ship has delivered the location of the NeHaw home world. That alone makes the capture worthwhile. However, that same data shows this NeHaw has been scouting us for quite some time,” Dallas replied.
“Why?”
“The ship's computers were wiped less than a year ago. All flight data since then reflect trips to and from our solar system, no other locations. With the stealth technology, two stops on earth for mining, and the gold hidden in the hold, it may be as simple as thievery,” Dallas speculated.
Bonnie recalled the relatively small amounts of gold they were paying for the ships they required. Checking the quantity detected on the NeHaw ship, she determined it represented a fortune to them. It made her feel more comfortable thinking of this alien as nothing more than a thief, however it created more questions.
How did this creature know about the wealth of earth, beyond what they were paying to the Wawobash and others? In addition, this planet was considered a death planet in the NeHaw records, why would he risk almost certain death in attempting to land.
In the end, both Dallas and Bonnie agreed to increase the security around the NeHaw and his ship.
----*----
