by Paul Phipps
“So what am I missing here? You seem a bit… hesitant about this crew.” Ansel said with a puzzled look on his face.
“I am a bit…” Mary paused and gathered her thoughts. “The talent is Valerie bin Caldiran, her parents are from the Turkish/Iranian border region. She is NOT at all fond of the TSN and its blockade of the IUR. She and her news crew are Islamist sympathizers and she has done a number of editorial spots in favor of their policies in Canada.
And the capper for me is that the Affiliate’s management is very willing to let her go. That means she’s a bit of a pain in the butt for them.” She finished up.
“I think they will work out fine then, nothing like having the truth rubbed in your face over and over to make or break your frame of mind. I’ll tell Captain Llewellyn to have them go on scene as often as possible.” Ansel replied with a slightly evil grin.
Shortly after that Ansel left in the Helen of Troy to go pick up the News crew and deliver them to the Huntress.
* * *
Weh Island, Indonesia, Home of the Mother
The Mother Quarn was in a state of mind that in a human woman would have been characterized as ‘throw the dishes’ furious. She had received two different pieces of data that together had made her realize that the fate of her proposed plan for taking this planet, this ball of dirt called appropriately enough Earth was in danger of collapsing entirely.
Her first child now known as ‘The Master’ had achieved the penultimate stage needed to progress into becoming a ‘Mother Quarn’ himself. In their last telepathic conference she had detected that he was full of energy from a human child. It was true that the child survived the feeding and he could get no more nourishment from it. But it was also true that the next stage would come soon, perhaps even before he could be retrieved and brought before her.
And two ‘Mothers’ could NEVER share a planet peacefully. Their own biological nature instinctively dictated that there could be only one and that a fight to the death until only one of them survived was guaranteed. And if too much of the planets life force was used up in the fighting then the planets potential would be lost to the ‘Whole of Us’ in the rest of the Galaxy. It was a dangerous balance to maintain and those who were successful at it would be rewarded. Those who were not… mattered not at all to the rest of the ‘Whole of Us’.
He had to be brought to her here as soon as possible! And now, NOW! Of all times for it to happen, those human meddlers had interrupted the flow of children to her. She needed that life force! Yes, it was true that other shipments were still coming, but she needed it all.
On a level separate from her fury she calculated and then with a mental sigh she sent a telepathic message to her children on the Islands around her. ‘If a human could be found that would not be readily missed, capture it and send it to her.’ She received acknowledgements back as quickly as the message was understood by her children.
Once that was done she needed to make a plan to get the Meddlers to stop interfering. ‘But how? Perhaps the Old Bargain could be used again? It had worked countless times before, it should work this time too.’ She thought moodily. ‘Humans and the Quarn, the two were interlinked in so many ways. Who had first made the other, only the ancients really knew and they weren’t communing with her.
And the Memories she had been bequeathed when this world had been discovered and her own mother had sent her here with the imperative to make it a part of the ‘Whole of Us’. They were fragmented and she wasn’t able to piece them all together at this time. She suspected that they would be revealed when she reached new steps in her own development as a Quarn Mother. What was the next one for her though?
She went through her options and then contacted her most trusted children who advised her on the Human’s politics and psychology. They told her at the conclusion of an emotionally charged telepathic conversation that they would get back to her soon with their recommendations. It wasn’t what she really wanted to hear but she heeded their recommendation to try to control her rage. It was affecting everyone for nearly four hundred miles around her home. There were mass riots throughout the area and the humans were fleeing Weh Island and Banda Aceh and even parts of Malaysia and Singapore were feeling the fury from her mind.
Calm was hard to attain this time, her attendants were bringing in the children two and even three at a time now to try to assuage her hunger and her fury was receding as they did so. It took time but within a few hours she was as back to normal as she ever was.
Friday, March 19, 2027
Admiral Webster was holding an emergency staff meeting of his primary staff and Operation Seaweed Mission Commanders.
“It appears that your interception of the Mother’s Love has caused the Mother to have a conniption fit, Captain. I’m hoping that that is a good thing, in any case please let your crew know that I am extremely pleased with your and their performance.” Admiral Webster told Captain Llewellyn.
“Thank you Sir, I will be happy to pass that on. We are investigating all ship traffic in the Western part of the Pacific Ocean today. Commodore Webster has assigned an additional forty Scouts of the various classes including the Heavy Scout Cruiser Raptor. I am very pleased with all of the assistance I am receiving from our own forces.
In addition we will be receiving a contingent of U.S. Navy Seals and Marines later today. I plan on having them based mainly out of the Huntress. I have also been notified that we will be assigned a dedicated ‘Task Force’ of U.S. Law Enforcement.”
“That’s correct Captain,” Ansel said, “We have also received offers of Law Enforcement assistance from, Brazil, Chile, Columbia and Argentina. Apparently they have been sniffing along this trail for some time also. China, Japan, The Philippines and Malaysia have also expressed interest in helping both with Armed forces and Law Enforcement personnel. We are going to accept that aid and base them out of the Huntress too.”
“Will I get more TSN Marines if I need them?” Captain Llewellyn asked.
“At the present time? Hmmm, no, we don’t have enough trained troops to handle this and the Operation Seaweed teams with our people.”
“I understand Sir, as I mentioned earlier on we have detected two more vessels with abducted children on them. They are unfortunately within one hundred miles of Weh Island and still in International waters, however that won’t last for very long and our ROI won’t let us operate in that area.” Captain Llewellyn stated.
“I understand your desire to get them Captain. However the ‘Mother’ is already in a snit and I can see her killing all of our people if she detects them taking more of her food and can do something about it.” Admiral Webster said firmly.
“Yes Sir, I understand that. However I do have some volunteers and this could be a good opportunity to see if any of our new protective measures would work. A field trial if you please.” The Captain said hopefully.
The newly promoted Captain Fuller piped up at that point. “Admiral, the Children are going to die if we don’t do something about it. I support Captain Llewellyn in this effort. We simply need more data on our proposed defenses and the children… The children are the future of humanity, we must do what we can to save them.” He finished ardently.
“I agree that they are the future.” Admiral Webster paused and then glanced at Ansel to take over the conversation.
“Captain Fuller, have you received any of the instrumentation that Captain Thomas’s people on the Elizabeth Ridge were working on?” Ansel asked.
“The telepathic detectors and the Mind Shields you mean?” Captain Fuller said slowly as he was feverishly using his Comm Implant to verify what he was going to say next. “Records on the Susannah show that we have ten examples of four prototype devices. I can get them to the Huntress in twenty minutes if you want them.”
“Yes, do it now and send the specs’ to the Huntress so that their fabricators can make them too. Captain Llewellyn how much time do you have left before the two vessels are out of International Waters?
”
“One hour and seventeen minutes for the Wu Lung and one hour and thirty two minutes for the Friendly Peddler. The Wu Lung is the more dangerous of the two as she is closer to Weh Island.”
Commodore Webster/ Private Comm Mode: “Admiral, I believe we should do these assaults on these two vessels.”
Admiral Webster/ Private Comm Mode: “I do too, it’s my job to worry about consequences. And I do worry a little about the political fallout, but as long as we document the finding of these kidnapped children we should weather that storm.
Right now though, I worry about the ‘Mothers’ reaction. You’ve read the reports of wide spread rioting and mass movements away from Weh Island due to unreasonable fear. What will she do next?”
Commodore Webster/ Private Comm Mode: “I don’t know what she will do either. One of the things we agreed upon earlier was that a policy of keeping the Quarn unbalanced and unable to follow their plan was necessary for us to beat them.”
Admiral Webster/ Private Comm Mode: “All right… I’ll give the order.”
“Captain Llewellyn, begin the assaults as soon as you are prepared to do so. You’re the man on scene, I’ll back you up all of the way.”
“Aye Aye, Sir. I’ll inform you when we start the assaults.”
“We’ll monitor from here and stay out of your hair otherwise.” Admiral Webster told him.
With a grateful salute the hologram of Captain Llewellyn faded from the conference room. Soon all of the others did too and Admiral Webster sat alone in his office area in Seeker’s personal ship orbiting Jupiter. It should have been lonely as he was the only human on board but he had lived this way for most of his life.
* * *
The Wu Lung was a throwback to the older style of Passenger/Freighters. She was a classic Mid-ship Bridge vessel with living quarters and a forward and stern set of holds. She could carry a small number of shipping containers on her cargo decks, just one hundred or so. Because of her relative shallow draft though, she was always busy traveling to the second and third tier ports that were found everywhere in the South Pacific.
This time her cargo was of a particular nasty one, her crew and officers weren’t aware of what the ship carried, only the purser knew and as a Quarn-Slave he was the actual master of the vessel. The entire crew had long been under the control of the Zombie-Drug. The owners of the Wu Lung didn’t know or care either, all they really cared about were the profits and that there was never any problems with the crew.
The purser was deep in a telepathic conversation with “The Mother” he was in the process of reassuring her that all was under control and that the Wu Lung would be at her assigned berth that evening in Sabang City.
With a sigh once the telepathic hold on him was gone he opened his eyes and stretched his arms high above his head. Once again he wondered about his place in the world. His human memories were amazing to go through; he especially enjoyed the memories of Family and Love. As a Quarn-Slave he had no such memories. The Mother was the center of a Quarn-Slaves’ universe, and as such he had only one goal and that was to do her bidding immediately and to the best of his abilities. Failure… No, failure wasn’t an option, she would consume him just as she did the humans and he would be nothing.
He stepped out onto the small balcony accessible from his cabin and breathed deep of the salt laden air of the South Pacific Ocean. ‘Perhaps another visit to the Bridge?’ he mused as he looked at the Seagull that bobbed its head and chattered at him from the stantion nearby.
* * *
“That’s him Sergeant, the Quarn sensor just went off and the bird-drone is giving us a good reading of him.” The Second Class Petty Officer from the IGD section told the Sergeant in charge of the Bravo Squad whose MARS unit he was on board.
“Good! Try to keep track of him, we should be ready in the next fifteen minutes. Now, how about those Containers, how many of them have kids?”
“Wait one,” the specialist said and he used his implant to check the other bird-drones that had landed near them. “We’ve checked twenty-two so far, all of them have kids in them. Heart-beat detectors indicate that each container has at least sixty and one has around eighty. The kids appear to be drugged like the others.” He paused and a startled look came over his face. “Sergeant, we need to get to this one as fast as possible.”
And with deft hands on the controls of the display he indicated a Container that was in the middle of the fifty container stack on the after deck. “There’s a kid in there that is fully awake and is praying like crazy. Here, let me bring up the audio.
“-e God, I didn’t mean to run away. I love you Mom, I’m sorry, Oh God, I’m Sorry! I didn’t mean what I said, I was mad…” With a twist of his wrist he cut off the audio. “Maybe this kid has a natural resistance to the Zombie Drug?”
“Let’s hope you’re right Van Nells. He’ll have to wait, the Captain said we can unload these kids in orbit. I think I’ll recommend to him that we bring this ship on board the Huntress first and strip it there.” The sergeant rubbed his chin and then backed out of the Command Capsule to brief his Marines.
* * *
The Alpha squad of TSN Marines was a half a mile behind the Friendly Peddler, She was an Ocean going tug and integrated Barge vessel. The two sections could be separated but in her twenty years of operation had never done so. The Captain secretly thought that the rust had fused the two together. The last Dry Dock for maintenance was years in the past and the sealed twin electric motors had never been touched in their nitrogen filled compartment as far as he knew.
He only trusted three men on board, the Bosun, the Cook and Chief Engineer. The First mate was a drunk and the Second was a petty tyrant who he would have rejected except for the fact that he was the owner’s nephew.
The view from the upper bridge was all that was available as the flat deck of the barge was stacked eight high with those modal containers he hated so much. Yes they were profitable to ship but he would rather it had been Coconut oil like he usually did. At least the weather this time had been favorable. Tomorrow morning he would dock and then spend the next forty-eight hours unloading container after container.
‘It was curious’, he thought, ‘The Friendly Peddler had a little over nine hundred of the things. More than he had ever shipped before, yet they seemed to be mostly empty as the water line had not gone down very much this time.’
* * *
Major Barnes was irritated that only two squads were being permitted to go on this operation. But as he sat at his command station safe inside the Huntress, he was ashamedly glad he wasn’t there either. He understood the reasoning and even agreed with it, but all of his training told him that he needed to be there leading his men. Lieutenant Allgood was with his Alpha squad and in tactical control, but his hand kept inching toward the override button that would let him speak directly to his men. With an effort he pulled back and resumed monitoring.
Alpha’s MARS unit was deploying its Marines. The Masking was automatically removed from their instrumentation as he watched them flit down on their suits integral Dragon Wings toward the Friendly Peddler.
Four-one and Four-two dropped into the sea in a tightly controlled entry so as not to leave a splash. Their mission was to plant the A-G Bubble and a super heavy Jammer that would extend almost a mile beyond the A-G Bubble. It was hoped that the field would also stop the Mother’s telepathic band like it did all of the rest of Electro-Magnetic Spectrum.
He watched quietly with only a grunt or two as he switched rapidly from suit camera to suit camera. Everyone was keeping Comm discipline. He knew that the Paired Marines of the squad were in tight two way Comm mode using their internal implants to coordinate their actions. The Squad net suddenly burst forth with Go GO GO! The bridge crew of the Friendly Peddler was struck down by Capacitor darts and he saw the Engine room crew being dealt in the same manner.
Thirty seconds later and Allgood was reporting the first stage was accomplished and the second stag
e was now activated. All communications ceased at that moment, with a practiced move to the sensors of IGD HU-073 showed him the brownish-black bubble heaving from the ocean’s surface.
With an explosive grunt of tension released, he then piggy-backed onto the feed that Captain Klein was getting from the Bravo Squad. It seemed to be going well, and then he heard. “What do you mean YOU LOST HIM!”
“One-Two reporting sir, The Quarn-Slave was tracked going to the bridge and then when we egressed the MARS-unit he slipped our Bird-drone. Five-One and Five-Two are checking out all compartments between his cabin and the Bridge.”
“Have you been detected, One-Two?”
“No Sir, we are still in masked mode. Wait!” he then said. “It’s the Quarn-Slave; he’s sitting on a chair here in the passageway leading to the mess deck. It looks like he is praying.”
“Praying? Hmph, good, let him pray. Are you ready to start?” The Captain asked.
