TSN: The Best Laid Plans (Terran Space Navy)

by Paul Phipps

  “How far do you want to let those terror efforts go, Gunnar?” Ansel asked him.

  “I was going to let them go all the way and then smash their egos by demonstrating that no damage was done to us. And then lead a strike with a squadron of Scalp-hunters on their facilities and level anything that had a hand in developing or fabricating the ships used in the Terror attack.” He said with a slight smile.

  There were corresponding grins around the table from the others.

  “Very well then, approved.” Admiral Webster told him. “Go ahead too with the Aviators on the Epiphany, keep Ansel informed as to your results. If they are acceptable, then I’m going to have you pass them on to him for further training.

  Lt. Commander Fuller, What’s new in the intelligence World?”

  “To echo Lt. Commander Johansson’s words, quite a lot.

  On the IUR front it appears that the Special Honored Guest of the Ayatollah Al-Quds is getting pushy. To put it mildly, that is. His envoy made another personal visit to the Ayatollah. We only have audio of that meeting but it appears that the Ayatollah was given a small dose of the Zombie Drug and then told to swallow something. Whatever that something was must not have been very good. The Ayatollah can be heard gagging but eventually swallowing whatever it was.

  The most interesting thing was the following.” And he had Johan play a portion of the conversation.

  “Yes My Master, I hear you. Yes, I will do whatever is needed to advance the Great Plan. Yes, I will gather my forces.” The Ayatollah Al-Quds voice had a very strange hollow sound to it, very eerie and creepy sounding.

  “In my opinion, The Ayatollah Al-Quds is no longer his own man. How he has been taken over I don’t know, I have no opinion that is based in science fact. If this was a movie I would say that an alien has done the deed! This happened last Thursday and there hasn’t been any change in the Ayatollah’s public persona and his regular Saturday message was a normal one. Very strange…” The intelligence Guru finished off with a mutter.

  “Oh well, on the other fronts, I am now positive that the Great Leader is our former President-for-life. This is his current base of Operations at this villa style home overlooking the Caspian Sea.” A satellite view and a near aerial set of photos were presented with pictures of the man himself sitting comfortable on a veranda sipping on a beverage.

  “He is very mobile, this location appears to be temporary as all of the other ones he uses, He is usually only in a spot for one or two days before moving on. This fact by itself shows that either he or his security detail is paranoid in the extreme. It’s also possible that he has a couple of duplicates so as to muddy his tracks. We’re not too positive about that yet, but it matches his Modus Operandi.”

  “Do you think we ought to pick him up?” Gunnar asked

  “No, not at this time anyway. As long as we can keep tabs on him we might learn some interesting things.” Lt. Commander Fuller said with a twinkle to his eye.

  “And lastly, the Great Leader has been talking again to the American Secretary of Defense. He has been ordered to obtain a SSTO or some other vehicle to get the Great Leader out of the IUR. He has also been ordered to acquire the Epiphany for the Great Plan. He was told to arrange for the Epiphany to be sent to the Mother when the Great Leader was freed from the IUR.

  Then the recording has two incredibly weird squeals.” At which point he had them both played for the others to hear. “Johan has checked the decryption twice and it’s a clean decryption. Spectral analysis indicates that the noises were made by human vocal cords and that they are information bearing. Meaning they aren’t random!” He finished up his portion with a concerned look on his face.

  “Interesting… Very interesting.” Admiral Webster said looking at the ceiling. “I’m not sure what to make of it either. Anyone have any ideas?”

  “I do, but let me go last please.” Evana said from her holographic image.

  “If that’s the way you want it, certainly.” Admiral Webster said cordially. “Commander Webster?”

  “Thank you Admiral. Initial results from GameTestors are amazing. I won’t say its total adoration but they all like our ‘game’ and some of them wish that it were real instead of a virtual reality. From our own analysis of the one hundred testing personnel we have the following results. Forty-Eight percent went straight into the Space War sidetrack for adrenaline junkies. There is the possibility of one of them deciding to try out the training track.

  Fourteen percent appear to have the making of Marines and are actively pursuing as much training and simulations as they can. They all appear to have taken steps in their personal lives to improve their fitness with more exercise and better nutrition. They have also been acting in a more cohesive manner as they work their way through training. One of the interesting factoids is that they have synchronized their ‘playing’ times.

  The rest are still working their way through the Navy training. It will be interesting to see how they specialize. There are three though who are amazing at three dimensional spatial perception. They may become first rate pilots.

  I have also interviewed an additional seven people who professed interest in the TSN. None of them did join, either I dissuaded them or they didn’t want to take the final commitment necessary.” Ansel finished up his report with a shrug.

  “Excellent news with the Game Testing people, I wasn’t too convinced at the idea but it appears you were correct after all. Keep us informed on what occurs.

  Commander Fuller, How goes it with the Companion and the IUR?”

  “It been fairly quiet in the IUR, their two submarines that were outside the Blockade Shield have both gone to Egypt and have requested asylum. They had to go somewhere and that nation’s antipathy toward Israel is in line with their way of thinking.

  The amount of encrypted and un-encrypted satellite telephone communications has fallen to a trickle as the number of foreign Nationals has evacuated. In addition all of the shipping in the IUR ports has been abandoned with all foreign national crews being evacuated to the M1 base. Four more Embassies and three consulates including the United States consulate are closed entirely.

  And that concludes my portion sir.” She finished up briskly.

  “Nice and concise Commander, Captain Thomas it’s your turn now.” Admiral Webster said with a smile.

  “Thank you Sir. I have several things of note to report. The investigation by the USAMRIID team will be complete this week. They report that so far the abrupt evacuation of the IUR Bio-War development Laboratory was good as far as destroying all remaining stocks of the ‘Shaitan’s Breath’ Agent.

  The only anomaly there was that some spores were released, whether accidentally or on purpose is not known and were found in the main hallway of the entryway to the facility. Using the Sterilizer guns we fabricated, all surfaces both inside and outside of the facility have been sterilized of the ‘Shaitan’s Breath’ agent.

  There was some documentation left behind both on paper and in digital format. All of that has been retrieved and is in the process of being documented and analyzed by the USAMRIID team. We of course are keeping a discreet eye on all of their activities. Nothing to date has been of an ‘indiscreet’ nature by the team.

  Next we will move on to the Donkey Seller Faisal’s location to do a clean-up and investigation.

  Now on to some very interesting data. Having contracted for the services of Dr. Avi Ben Davis and having had an interesting time of that too.” She said with chuckle, “We are now making some headway with our two prisoners from Ramsheh with the ‘Artificial Glands’. We now have an additional three from the men who had the temerity to attack the Doctor and me in the Doctor’s own office.

  I can now state categorically, these are not ‘Artificial Glands’. We are not sure exactly what they are. But I’m beginning to agree with Dr. Davis over Alessandra our Medical Research AI. These are actually Alien Bio-Control and Communication Modules. They are not natural to any of the known versio
ns of Earth’s Bio-spheres.

  All five of the men are in a state of suspended animation. We have gone so far as to take one of them and remove the Bio-module as I call it. We are trying to reactivate his body’s natural creation of Neuro-transmitters. We will then bring him slowly out of suspended animation and see if we can keep him alive. Hopefully his brain isn’t too scrambled to reactivate normally.

  With another of the men we are going to try a different technique. Using Ansel and Ariadne’s Gaming system we are creating a totally normal world for him to wander around in. Once there has been a good Virtual Reality connection made we hope to use that to make a readable engram of his brain and memories.

  In addition I have had all of the Scanner-Arches we have supplied so far to the various governments around the world add additional programming to detect these Bio-Modules and to place the humans affected into Bio-Med Cells immediately for pick up.”

  “That might not be a good thing to do Captain.” Lt. Commander Fuller broke in to her briefing.

  “Really, Why not?” She asked in curiosity.

  “Because if you are correct in your hypothesis that this is an ‘Alien Bio-Module’ it would be more effective to mark them or assign a permanent IGD to them to follow and collect information on what they are doing.” He told her matter of factly, “In many ways it’s like counter-espionage. Once you know who the spy is it’s easy to keep track of him and use that knowledge to track down the other spies you don’t know about.”

  “Ahhh, I see what you mean. Very well, I’ll have that done instead. Thank you for your insight there, Lt. Commander.” She told him giving him a small bow of her head.

  “You’re welcome Captain. That’s one of the reason’s I’m here.”

  “Onward then, we will continue to work on getting useable information out of these men. In addition to my little adventure in Israel in acquiring the good Dr. Davis’s services I managed to make a good contact in the Government of Israel. He has told me that Israel wishes to enter a ‘Working Agreement’ with the Terran Space Navy similar to that we are seeking with the United States Government. I am more than willing to pass that off to you Admiral or I can work it for you.”

  “I think that I want to handle this one, Captain Thomas. You’ve done well there. Did they give you any idea what they were looking for in-turn from us?” Admiral Webster inquired.

  “Yes, I think I do. And I think it is something we should do. They want to have us design and build a purely defensive Anti-missile and Anti-Artillery system for them. I was not aware of it since the International News Media doesn’t seem to give a damn about it. But Israel has been under continuous low level rocket and artillery attack for over fifteen years now. They do manage to intercept some of the incoming weapons. But it’s taken a horrible toll on them. Sixty percent of their GDP is dedicated to Defense. There isn’t a single family in Israel that hasn’t lost or had a family member injured by these attacks.” She added in disgust.

  “Yes, I can see that being a request they could make of us amongst others. On the positive side for them though, the Iranian Unified Republic was the biggest financier and backer of Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad and the Fatah and Hamas. So with them and their funding gone as well as their supplier of munitions I expect this all to die down.” Admiral Webster told everyone. “Anything else?” He said looking around the table.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact I have something to add.” Seeker said from her McAndrews hologram. While you have been discussing things, I decided to dedicate several AI’s to search through the mass of data the Gho L’Gamesh gifted me with.

  They are still working on it, but there is something that may be relevant to the data that Captain Thomas and Lt. Commander Fuller have shared with us. On Earth E00342 they had managed to have a presence on the Moon. When we found it, it was an automated base with a very crude form of A.I. running and maintaining it. Its function was an off-world Data Repository, supposedly the ‘Ultimate’ in safe storage of important information.

  In any case this version of Earth had been invaded and raped by a creature called a Quarn or The Quarn. We are starting to decode their language, but that’s going to take some time and a lot of processing power. Be that as it may. There are some indications that are similar from that Earth Analogue to this one. As data becomes available I’ll inform you all.

  The important thing here is that Lt. Commander Fuller’s ‘Alien’ may have a good deal of historical fact behind it. And Captain Thomas’s experiences fit it also. Let’s keep our guard up everyone; this really could be an Alien Invasion, as strange as it is to say that. We’ve been watching out for Space Fleets, Nanite swarms and other things and it may have even happened before I showed up on the scene.”

  TSN Auxiliary Louis Pasteur, Ramsheh IUR, Sunday, December 13, 2026

  Med-Center/ Comm Mode: “Captain Thomas, please come to Treatment Room 295. Dr. Davis needs you there.”

  Captain Thomas/ Comm Mode: “On my way.” She got up from her bed where she had been getting a quick nap and was on her way through the Trans-Portal.

  “Good afternoon, Dr. Davis. You needed me?” She asked as soon as she came through the Trans-Portal to Room 295. She took a moment to look at the man in his Mid-30’s floating in the middle of the Gel-cell. She saw a light wire mesh similar to a hairnet was tight around his head, his eyes were open and he appeared to be breathing on his own. ‘Good, this one might live’ She thought quickly to herself.

  “Yes, Captain Thomas, I think or at least I hope we have made a breakthrough! Come, come! Look here at this monitor. We have made a good Virtual Reality connection. He is walking through downtown Tel-Aviv. Mind you, all we are able to do now is to see what he thinks he is seeing. But soon we will hear his speech and then his private thoughts.”

  “Excellent! Congratulations Doctor, I thought we might lose him like we lost the last one. Do you have any idea when we can start a readable recording of his Memory Engram?” She asked him.

  “No, not yet. But I am hopeful!” He began slowly but speeded up as his enthusiasm increased. “Perhaps as soon as tomorrow or maybe a month from now, we are like the blind feeling our way through a dark room with no light to assist us yet. When we find the way I will surely let you know!”

  “Anything else Doctor?”

  “Yes, as a matter of fact. It’s a personal matter, but could I have my family brought on board? I miss them and they miss me too.” He asked hopefully.

  “Why of course you can! We have many family suites aboard in preparation for our permanent staff, when we finally get them that is. Make your arrangements and I’ll have you taken there in one of our smaller vessels to go get them. In fact I’ll go with you.” Evana told him warmly.

  * * *

  It was getting on toward evening when Dr. Davis had finished making all of his arrangements for his family to meet him at the Ben Gurian Airport. Flight Plans had been granted for Evana and three of the Louis Pasteur’s MARS units to fly to the Airport.

  They were currently at three hundred thousand feet and moving at a good clip toward Israel and the Ben Gurian Airport. Evana was in the Command Seat of the small command module in the MARS unit she was riding in. ‘I really need to get some pilot training,’ she thought to herself. ‘I think it would be a lot of fun to fly one of these or especially Daphne’, her personal Scalp-Hunter.

  “It looks like you have quite a lot of people interested in your family getting on-board safely.” Evana Commented wryly as she and Dr. Davis watched through the forward Wall that was now configured as a 180 degree viewscreen. There were Dr. Davis’s Wife and three children waiting and what looked like an entire platoon of soldiers arrayed in a protective screen around them.

  “Hmmm, Yes I believe that is an understatement, Captain. On the other hand perhaps the authorities don’t want a repeat of the incident during your last visit.” He told her with a slight chuckle.

  “Yes, I could see that.” Evana told him primly and then gave a ruefu
l laugh.

  After putting the MARS Unit on hover and lowering the Ramp to the tarmac beneath them, Evana and Dr. Davis walked down the Ramp confidently. She kept an eye on things and listened through her Comm Implant to her watchdogs hovering above them at five hundred feet.

  She waited at the bottom of the ramp while Dr. Davis finished walking toward his family. And then there was hugging and kissing as they greeted each other. While Dr. Davis was getting reacquainted with his family, a middle aged man wearing an Israeli Army uniform and colonel insignia came up to Evana.

  “Good evening Captain?” He began.

  “Thomas, Evana Thomas, Terran Space Navy and Commanding officer of the Hospital Ship Comfort.”

  “Ahhh, Good then, Captain Thomas I am Levi Guderian, Commanding Officer of the 2nd Regiment of Internal Security. You briefly met some of my people on your last visit here.” He said with a slight smile.

  “I do remember them, did the four of them who got stunned recover completely?” She asked guilelessly.