by Paul Phipps
There are three Quarn-Slaves at the facility, none of whom hold a place in the nominal Command structure of the IUR. One is a noted Bio-researcher who was kidnapped from the Russian Federation Bio-Warfare laboratory. It appears he was parasitized after his kidnapping. It also appears that he is the one responsible for the creation of the Q-Switch that makes DE1T8 curable by Q-Mot ingestion.”
“Any idea why he wasn’t in charge of the facility at Ramsheh?” Captain Thomas asked curiously.
“My department believes it is because he wasn’t a native of the IUR and therefore not trustworthy.”
“Yes, I can see that. It does make sense when you look at it from that angle.” Admiral Webster said with a quick nod to continue.
“We are using our latest ‘bugs’ to penetrate the facility like we did in Tehran and in the Great Leader’s personal baggage. What we have learned is very interesting indeed. The missile force is definitely going to be a part of the attack on the Companion when it occurs. Both conventional and what they hope are functioning nuclear weapons will be used. Mostly as a last resort but they are going to be made available for the attack.”
“Any idea on when it will occur?” The admiral asked.
“No Sir, it all depends on the other units getting into position and of course when the SSTO is available for the Great Leader to escape in.”
“Good information, now about the vial. Can we get to it?”
“Yes we can, but if we do then the Quarn will be forewarned that we are on to them. I am hoping that we can do it while it is in transit to the Great Leader’s location. Maybe even do a switch with a dead sample. That would be interesting don’t you think?” Lt. Commander Fuller said with a twinkle to his eyes.
“Yes, very interesting indeed. Please work on that then and get back to me when you have a plan.”
“We’ll do that, now on to the Mother.” At which point he gave a nod toward Ansel’s hologram, “Using Commander Webster’s suggestion to do some data mining on missing children we can now say that there is a correlation with a continuous stream of missing children in that part of the world and the Quarn Mother.
I would say that children are the preferred ‘food’. Unfortunately for us there isn’t any particular area to concentrate on as for her location.
We have come up with a very distasteful idea though. I don’t like it, I don’t recommend it but I think I need to put it out anyway.” He said with a disgusted look on his face.
“Well what is it Lt. Commander? Bug a bunch of children and track them to see where they are being eaten at?” Captain Johansson threw out sarcastically.
“Yes… exactly that, Captain Johansson.”
There was a brief period of silence as those present thought about the idea. Yes it was a repugnant one, but in its favor was that the children were going to die in any case unless someone stopped the Mother and her Quarn Slaves. Finally Ansel spoke up, “We have two important things here, and the first is to find the Mother Quarn and stop or destroy her before this invasion continues on to its logical end. The second is to Nurture and Protect Mankind and when you get down to brass tacks the children are the future of mankind.” He paused while the others assimilated his statement and accepted it at face value.
“I propose that we investigate further on how to save the children, how they are chosen for instance. Are they orphans, abandoned street children or are they kidnapped children? Once we know the methodology we can break that and possibly even find out her location.
To assist in that I have been examining our records for Indonesia as country of origin for our trainees and graduate of Basic training, we have exactly seventeen of them and they are all women interestingly enough. I propose that we ask them to volunteer and go back to Indonesia and be our investigators on the ground”
“How many have graduated Commander?” Asked Lt. Commander Fuller.
“None although two are ready to graduate this week.”
“Unless there are objections I would like to have first call on them. If they are suitable I’ll prepare them and send them into Indonesia as our eyes on the ground. Otherwise they can assist my group in understanding the mindset of the populace there.” Lt. Commander Fuller said.
“I don’t have a problem with that, as a matter of fact they were scheduled for the Companion already. One is a Marine and the other is a Systems Analyst and controller for the Distributed Computer Network.” Ansel told him with a smile.
“Excellent!” Admiral Webster put in, “Anything else for us right now. Lt. Commander?”
“No Sir, I yield the floor.” He said with a hand flourish. And with the gentle laughter accompanying that action it was his wife’s turn.
“The Companion is now at 62% of full manning we expect to be at full manning by the end of February. Once full manning is achieved I want to take her to a location where all of her weapons can be live-fired and the crew receives a full test of all of their capabilities. The questions I have are where can we do such a thing and two who will take over in our absence the providing of power to the Shield Generation Drones?” She asked pointedly.
Admiral Webster pursed his lips and thought for a few minutes and then shrugged his shoulders. “Any of the Star Fighter Carriers can take over the power supply requirement so that is not a problem. Actual live fire training? Hmmm, I’m not sure where to do that right now. Does anyone here have an idea?”
Captain Johansson spoke up at that point. “As a matter of fact I do have an idea where we could do such training; I propose doing it on Mars.”
There was quiet in the conference room as the participants thought about it. Since it was doable and there wasn’t a possibility of civilians accidentally getting hurt the suggestion was approved by all.
At that point Commander Fuller continued her portion of the staff meeting. “The IUR military is still on track for a late March attack on the Companion. Nothing really new to discuss there, on a separate item the former President-for-Life has apparently chosen a location for a fixed base. It has nearly everything he could need for his creature comforts and in addition there is an abandoned airstrip nearby that was used as a forward operating base by the Iranians during their war with Iraq in the 1980’s. I believe that the thought here is to use the airstrip as his evacuation route once a SSTO is available for that purpose.
There were no further incidences or protests against the IUR regime and the mullahs in the last week and it also appears that with a bit more belt tightening they will do very well on their own internal resources. Of course in time that means there will have to be very strict birth control instituted so as to not out-breed their resources.
And that concludes my brief Sir.”
“Thank you Commander Fuller, Hmmm, Let’s see… Captain Johansson, why don’t you go next.” Admiral Webster told him.
“Yes Sir, First off the Garbage and Petroleum production vessels are operating at the same levels as last week. This means that the Middle East and the South American fields are now in a position of having an oil glut on the market. Currently the spot market price per barrel of oil is down to $82.50. In turn this is showing an economic boost worldwide; although this is a good thing in the general sense it is a terrible thing as far as those providers are concerned.
Because of that, elements in the Libyan and Egyptian governments have decided to do something about it. In particular they intend on using the two IUR submarines that have requested asylum to attack the Mediterranean platform with nuclear armed torpedoes and submarine launched rockets. We in turn are going to let them do so and then pull the submarines out of the water and place them on dry land somewhere. I personally favor downtown Tehran but there might be more suitable locations if anyone has suggestions.” He waited for a minute to see if anyone had something to add. Once it was clear they didn’t he shrugged and carried on.
“All right then, moving along I have to report that Johnny Reb is at 75% manning of her designed fifteen thousand man crew which includes five c
ompanies of Marines. At this time we are at full manning for one of those companies. I expect to be at full manning of all Marine companies sometime in late March at which time we will concentrate on getting Lucky and then Susannah fully manned.
We are doing multiple missions now and training for the IUR Operation is moving out of the initial planning stages and into preliminary training and simulations. I’ll keep everyone up-to-date on that issue through our command level reporting system.
And now moving on to the SSTO stage of that operation.” He paused and shook his head sadly, “The Pentagon and Contractor personnel just can’t wrap their minds around how fast we can design and deliver a product. I truly think it will be at least two years before there is even a workable design coming out of that process. We may need to give them a prototype that has been derived from one of the human races that the Gho L’Gamesh examined prior to discovering us.”
“Do you have any particular one in mind?” Admiral Webster asked.
“Yes I do, it’s actually from E00002, the first analogue where the Bugs were found. They had some very efficient designs for their vessels even though they never discovered Gravity/Phase engine technology. In any case their military landing craft were amazingly efficient. And one of the things I like best about them is that they do not involve ANY new technology. They use technology that is already available in this analogue and has been for several decades now.
So I am going to have one built and delivered to the United States Air Force as an example of a usable SSTO vehicle.”
“Thank you Captain, it would be fun to see their faces when you do, anything else today?”
“Actually yes, after this meeting I’m going to Andrews Air Force Base and Captain Jefferson who replaced me as Commander Air Group on the Epiphany is flying in sixteen of the F-47N’s today for a show and tell with the Advanced Aircraft working group and the 121st Fighter Squadron’s people.
I in turn am showing up with sixteen Scalp-Hunters and 16 Starfighter Mk-I’s. It promises to be a fun day.”
“Have a good one then, Captain Thomas?”
“Yes sir, I have several things of note to report. I have designated one of the Comfort’s Carried vessels as the Elizabeth Rich; her job is going to be our dedicated Bio-Warfare vessel. We are currently searching for and recruiting I might add, Bio-Researchers that have the proper mind-set for attacking the Quarn from a biological angle.
To keep things on the QT I have directed that retired members of this profession are our preferred recruit. So far we have recruited twenty-seven men and women who have experience in Bio-Safety three to five facilities and who for the most part worked on HIV and Ebola.”
“Interesting, and how do you think this will work out?” Seeker asked.
“I think it has a good chance of coming up with a solution to our Quarn problem and if not, I think it is still a good idea to have expertise like this available for long-term research and the Colonization efforts on the alternate earth’s.” Evana answered her.
“I hope so, but keep a close eye on them too. Research into those areas is a double edge sword.”
“Yes Seeker, I do understand that. Now then the Comfort is still doing a booming business with critical care patients and because of that we are seeing quite a number of medical professionals coming to us for additional training and of that group I expect to see around twenty to thirty percent eventually apply for enlistment into the TSN.
Also we have set aside one of the Comfort’s carried vessels as a dedicated limb regrowth and physical training center. Her name is Queen Vishpla, the name is taken from the Rig-Veda about a Warrior Queen who had a leg amputated and replaced with an iron prosthetic one. Dr. Meerkami came up with that one. It seemed appropriate and Mari the Command-AI of the Queen Vishpla liked it.
And I must say that we are already receiving an amazing amount of good-will with her. I plan on her doing world-wide tours of former combat zones first to repair the populace that has been damaged by all of the mines used in their conflicts. I’m hoping that will also enhance Commander Webster’s intake of qualified recruits.” She added with a grin toward Ansel.
“Any assistance in garnering qualified recruits is welcomed.” He told her with a smile.
And last on my list is the scheduled disaster drill we are doing in conjunction with the Government of Japan. We are doing a combination Earthquake/Tsunami scenario at the Sendai 2011 Earthquake Memorial zone.
Which brings up a question that was asked of me during one of the planning meetings; can a blockade shield stop a wall of water like the one that occurred in the 2011 Tsunami?” She asked the group at large.
“That’s a very good question, theoretically the answer is yes, but it is possible for the shield to be breached and pop like a bubble if enough force is applied in a small portion of the shield. So for an application like this one, I would go with two or possibly even three layered shields.” Seeker said carefully. “You must admit that there is an awful lot of energy contained in a moving wall of water like that.”
“Hmmm, yes indeed.” Admiral Webster said then paused. “Anything else to report Captain?”
“No Sir, that’s it for this week.”
* * *
Andrews Air Force Base
Nobody present had ever seen so many Senators and Congressmen outside of the Capitol building all gathered in one location. The VIP section at the operations building was totally inadequate and as one smart-ass Airman quipped to her buddy that the Circus style tents that had been erected were totally appropriate to the occasion.
And then suddenly a quiet descended on the base as the Public Address and personal communication systems announced simultaneously:
Attention, Attention! All unauthorized personnel are to go and remain inside the closest facility. The base is on lockdown until all aircraft and Terran Space Navy vessels have arrived and are in their assigned locations.
The announcement was repeated once again and then an air of anticipation was felt across the base as the two squadrons of Navy F-47N Fafnirs came into the controlled airspace. They made one pass over the base before lining up to land one after the other on the main runway. They were abnormally quiet for fighter aircraft but still loud enough to impress the Politicians waiting in the VIP section.
Once all of the Navy aircraft were in their assigned spaces and the pilots were formed up there came a new sense of quiet and then the field grew dark as the sixteen Starfighter Mk1’s arrived. Each was five-hundred feet long and to the eyes of the crowd of people looked just like cylinders with rounded ends. They were festooned with antennas and strange blisters and were of a matte black color that made it difficult to gather much visual information.
As the Starfighters floated like soap bubbles to their assigned locations along the runway, the sixteen scalp-hunters came in like a flurry of leaves as they seemed to dance around each other. The bright, nearly impossible to look at mirrored surfaces of the sunflower seed shaped vessels were of a marked contrast to all of the other aircraft and vessels of both the U.S. Air force and Navy as well as the TSN’s own star-fighters.
In his personal Scalp-Hunter Shoshone Gunnar had a slight grin on his face as he viewed in close-up detail the various Senators and Congressmen who were gathered to watch the TSN vessels come in to land at Andrews Air Force Base.
Johnny Reb/ Comm Mode: “Captain, IGD’s have determined that there are Quarn slaves in the gathering awaiting your arrival.”
Captain Johansson/ Comm Mode: “Well we expected that didn’t we? But it is good to have confirmation.”
Johnny Reb. Comm Mode: “Extrapolating from Quarn exudates indicates there might be as many as twenty or as few as fourteen.”
Captain Johansson/ Comm Mode: “Thank you Johnny for the information.”
Gunnar announced to his fighter crews: “Attention all TSN personnel, as we expected there are Quarn Slaves present in the crowd here. Keep your guard up and your personal interdiction shields ready.”
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After getting acknowledgements back from all his crews Gunnar then instructed his apprentice to bring Shoshone on in knowing that all of the others would follow.
* * *
Camp Heinlein
Susan Cavendish, Command Master Chief for Camp Heinlein the TSN’s major training facility located in Asimov City’s extensive five hundred mile sphere, was staring bemusedly at a letter on her desk. For one thing an actual letter had become a bit unusual for her as she handled much of her correspondence in VR mode using the Slowtime process. It saved the more precious minutes to use on her numerous trainees. At last count there were now One hundred and twenty two thousand of them currently in training and she had only graduated a little over nineteen thousand so far.
