by W. R. Hobbs
“Fortunately a complete takeover of each C7 base is no longer our primary mission. The distraction of the ROC evacuations and the diversion of the assaults on their NAU bases should help us achieve our new directive. We must create a division of their orbital fleet upon arrival. With Hauer’s help we have a chance to disable over half their force in our initial confrontation but we will only get one chance at it. The doctor has explained that we need to hold out a few more days before the Torahnossians can attempt to get their fleet here,” Bracken revealed.
“Exactly how is he going to do that anyway? The sector leaders have been given no details on that part of the mission. How many people does he have in his group here on Earth? How much help are they really going to be able to provide?”
“He has the GEO for one. Taon, as the doctor calls him, is the linchpin in their plan to enable the arrival of their fleet. And based on the video I saw from his encounter in Vegas with an S2, his abilities will allow him to operate like a one man army. Hauer has confirmed that the GEO reached their base in southern California and is currently being prepped for his mission. The doctor said that Taon will give them the ability to create some sort of vortex that will act just like the wormhole. I did not ask for details and he did not offer any.”
“Well, we had planned to secure the bases for much longer than two weeks , so this is not much of a deviation from our original mission anyway...”
“With the notable exception of the redistribution of our Griffin squads for the assault on Hauer’s newly suggested targets,” Bracken added.
Straka looked down at his desk. After a couple of seconds spent in reflection, he chuckled and said, “Jacob, we will either be the fathers of the second American Revolution or the architects of a failed terrorist coup. The outcome of our battle will determine which of those histories becomes recorded as fact.”
“Let’s make sure it’s our version,” Bracken asserted, ending their last conversation before the commencement of Operation Goliath.
“Yes sir. Straka out,” he replied, snapping back into battle ready form and terminating his connection.
Bracken rose to his feet, a task made more difficult with the use of only one of his arms, and walked across the conference room to a row of photographs hanging among some plaques on the Italian wood veneered wall. The general studied the picture of his former mentor. He looked down at his bandaged arm and back up at General Walker.
Oh my god. Bracken recalled Walker’s demise.
It happened a little over three years ago just after Rex 84 was triggered. Walker and many of the officers now involved in Operation Goliath had argued against the internment of virus free citizens. The CIA, which had recently taken control after the invocation of martial law, ignored the military leaders. By October of 2028, the ROCs had already grown to enormous sizes and essentially became 21st century concentration camps.
General Walker, in an effort to convince the CIA to relax some of the internment protocols, had traveled to FortHood. At the time, it was one of the largest detention sites in the country and he attempted to record and document the state of existence that had befallen America’s citizens. He never finished the report. The official story was that Walker’s V33 had experienced engine failure and went down near Lubbock. Up to this very day, his was the only V33 to go down as a result of non-combat engine related failure.
Looking with a dead gaze back down at his blood spotted bandage, Bracken thought about Osborne’s sketchy personnel file. He distinctly remembered that one of the few available chronologies provided in Osborne’s file was his assignment at FortHood just prior to his transfer to Dugway. The colonel reported to Dugway within the first week after Walker’s death and delivered the orders directing Bracken to assume provisional command until further notice.
Before that very second he had never put it together. Although he knew in his gut that the general had been murdered, Bracken had no reason to suspect Osborne in particular. But after learning that he was an S1 and enduring the earlier threat to him and his family’s lives, the general possessed the complete picture. That motherfucker killed Walker and had me next on his list!
Level 176
Taon’s former home on Level 176 had not been cleaned by the Dugway staff. In a small cleared out section of the lab, Dr. Hauer was performing the autopsy on Osbourne when he heard the patter of footsteps entering near the bulkhead.
“Sir, Dr. Leroux requested to see you,” a corporal alerted as Courtney walked past him into Hauer’s untidy laboratory, wearing her newly issued khaki jumpsuit and brown boots.
“Corporal, can we see to it that the doctor gets an internal data pad?” Hauer requested. The officer nodded in acknowledgement and closed the bulkhead door.
“Dr. Hauer, I wanted to thank you again for what you did to ensure our safety downstairs,” Leroux offered, trying to disguise her curiosity at the equipment in Hauer’s lab. She continued, “I also wanted to know if you will explain to me exactly what is going on. I have studied that fragment for over two years and you obviously know way more about it than me.”
Hauer knew that her inquisitive mind wanted to know everything about the fossil. And he also knew that she was a very special talent. Deciding that Courtney did not present any threat, Hauer began explaining a more complete history – his history.
“Doctor, you have been privy to only small bits of extremely sensitive information. In order for us to proceed with our task, I believe it is prudent for you to possess a more accurate frame of reference. Please keep in mind that not even General Bracken has knowledge of some of the things I am about to share with you. I trust our conversation is in the strictest of confidence,” Hauer cautioned, walking over to the destroyed bio-medical array.
“The cranial bone fragment that you tested was originally recovered in Tibet in 1938 at Lake Namtso by an arm of the Nazi SS called the Ancestral Heritage Research and Teaching Society. It was delivered to a secret Lebensborn facility under the SS headquarters in Munich where I held a staff position,” Hauer paused, anticipating a reaction from Leroux.
“You were a Nazi?” Courtney almost shouted.
“No…not in reality. My involvement with the SS and Lebensborn program was actually the result of an extensive subversion into their military at the time.”
Hauer walked behind the bio-med array and sat two of the chairs upright for him and Leroux. As he gestured for her to sit down, he continued, “Over the millennia, the Ansharians have attempted to establish a one world government to facilitate their infrastructure development of Earth as a new primary colony for their race. World War II was the last time one of their more aggressive contingents used a puppet regime to attempt the direct takeover of the world using military domination. Since that time more subtle factions have used different tactics, manipulating the global economy and creating the pandemic that culled more of the Earth’s population than all the human wars in history.
“My infiltration of the Lebensborn program was the fifth mission I have completed since 1751…” Before Leroux could interject, he answered her forthcoming question. “I am 332 years old. Both the Torahnossian and Ansharians have an average life span of 300 years. However, since many of the lineages of the original visitors have been diluted through the human species here on Earth, the average life span for those hybrids is anywhere from 100 to 120 years old. Only pure blood direct descendants still possess my type of longevity. But the Ansharians have many more direct descendants on Earth, as well as hybrids.”
“So you are saying that there exists five distinct humanoid species on Earth now?”
“Really there are only three. The Ansharian and Torahnossian genome is essentially identical and a hybrid from either race is indistinguishable. So what we really have are the pure blood alien descendants, the hybrids, and the very rare pure blood human descendants. But the culling of the last few years has drastically reduced the population of the last two groups.”
“They culled their own hybrids too
?”
“As I said the hybrids are practically indistinguishable. Even though the Ansharian hybrids vastly outnumbered the Torahnossian hybrids, the Ansharians can only definitively identify their direct descendants. Furthermore, the Ansharians view all hybrids as inferior life forms. As a result of the intermixing of alien and human genetic codes on Earth, all hybrids eventually became susceptible to a long list of diseases; cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis - you name it, the list is very long.”
“So even a pure blooded human would have a higher resistance than an Ansharian hybrid against such genetic disorders?” Courtney asked while thinking, it makes perfect sense. It explains why some ‘people’ seemed to possess a natural immunity to certain diseases. Those people were actually examples of how our race was truly supposed to evolve.
“Yes that is correct. And it is also part of the reason that only a select few hybrids ever had the knowledge of their true origin. So for all intents and purposes the hybrids and natural humans are of the same classification when it comes to the Ansharian effort to ‘racially cleanse’ Earth. Thus, the virus was engineered to target all hybrids and natural humans.”
Leroux leaned further back in her chair and blankly stared at the messy floor. “It’s kind of hard to believe they would just kill off their own hybrids,” she muttered.
“You must understand that over the course of 24,000 years, Earth’s population accelerated beyond the ability for the Ansharians to directly control with use of force alone. Basically, they needed to cull the population, including the portion that they knew were their own hybrids, in order to control the planet more effectively. In so doing, their primary concern to conserve the planet’s remaining natural resources was successfully addressed.
“The Ansharians have approximately 600,000 direct descendants with about 3,000 of them directly representing the controlling interests of their race on Earth, and all of them were immune to the virus. They isolated the remaining healthy portion of the hybrids and natural humans in the ROCs and similar camps around the world. The chaos that ensued following the pandemic allowed the Ansharians to finally gain control of all the world governments. And now, the one billion or so survivors on your planet are destined to become slave laborers for the Ansharian war machine.”
“You guys couldn’t stop the pandemic?”
“As you discovered, the SyovaVirus was purposely engineered to be highly communicable and attack an individual’s brain cells rapidly. It has always just been a matter of time before the Ansharians initiated its release to exploit the genetic deficiencies in the hybrids. With our limited resources, we knew there would be little that we could do when they made their decision to begin full scale culling. Therefore, my people decided to focus our efforts into other forms of subterfuge and subversion to attempt to delay or disrupt the Ansharians overall command structures,” Hauer replied, showing visible distress over the lack of their ability to stop the pandemic.
“Anyway, back to the cranial fragment. At the time, even though the Germans possessed some rather advanced technology, a proper analysis could not be performed. Although we had the equipment to conduct an analysis at a place we call the Zealieon Sanctuary, it was not worth the risk of transporting it at that time. The fossil was left under the supervision of our program and never redressed before the end of the war.
“Upon my departure from Germany through Operation Paperclip, I secured the fossil and brought it with me to America, where it was immediately confiscated by the US military. After several years of jumping through hoops to prove my loyalty and worth to my new country, the US military assigned me to the GroomLake facility in 1961. August of that year I was finally ordered to analyze the fossil that had recently been delivered to the facility. Although the technology had improved over the last couple of decades, it was still inadequate to perform the necessary genetic testing.
“Eventually, I decided to secretly take it to the Zealieon Sanctuary. By that time the sanctuary was already in close proximity and there was much less risk. Sixty years ago we learned the true age and origin of the cranial fragment.”
“You called them benevolent Progenitors, right?”
“On Torahnoss, long ago our scientists discovered that our race was the product of a genetic mutation purposely introduced on our planet approximately six million years ago. The research I have performed for the last sixty years has revealed what I believe to be the origin of intelligent life throughout our entire galaxy. However, the race that we refer to as the Progenitors is not from our galaxy, our universe, or even our dimension...” Hauer stopped to rest his throat and noticed Leroux forming wrinkles in her forehead. He continued, “I realize you must have a head full of questions about them, but we will have plenty of time to discuss that topic later.”
“Our research determined that the being to whom the fragment belonged had the ability to transdimensionally phase. Well beyond fully developed HARs, this being had already reached the highest potential evolution of our existence almost six million years ago. Once the segments of the DNA that enabled this ability were identified and isolated, I extracted and synthesized several dozen samples over the decades.
“In 2015, the genetics research division at Groom Lake was transferred here to Dugway and I transferred with it. That was when I began the actual cloning projects that formed the precursors to the GEO Project. The military was under the perception that my work utilized the recovered remains of a Grey alien to genetically enhance cognitive abilities. The true nature of my work was to discover a way to successfully recombine the isolated DNA segments from the fossil with a host that was itself enhanced.
“I conducted many projects before everything changed in late 2028 when General Bracken became provisional commander of the facility as a result of General Walker’s death in Texas. Bracken was originally assigned to Dugway back in 2021 as a colonel but quickly rose to be General Walker’s right hand man as they say. A few months after Walker died and Bracken took command, the newly formed C7 initiated the GEO Project predicated on my prior research. It was at that time that I first noticed General Bracken’s suspicions surrounding my work. He secretly had the cranial fragment taken to your lab for further study without the C7’s knowledge or consent.
“Well that explains so much,” Leroux admitted.
“We recognized that the Ansharians were taking a new tact after the war. It was only a matter of time before their transnational corporations infiltrated the military industrial complex. The decision was made that I would remain here at Dugway and keep an eye on everything. At the same time, I would utilize the military’s significant resources to progress our own mission while making sure the GEO Project produced nothing of use to the C7.
“Maybe I’m missing something here, but why did you need to create the clone?”
“Taon holds the key to our survival for a couple of reasons. First his abilities are necessary to help activate a vortex that will ultimately enable the arrival of our fleet. But even more importantly, Taon will eventually have the ability to communicate with and travel to the Progenitors directly.”
“What happens then?”
“Indeed…what happens then is the question,”
“Well Dr. Hauer…”
“Gideon.”
“What?”
“You can call me Gideon.”
“Oh. Well Gideon what is it we are supposed to be working on now?” the young doctor asked. Leroux’s anxiety level had steadily risen since leaving Sacramento and she was ready to get busy working off her nervous energy.
CHAPTER 09
Zealieon Santuary
The hustle of activity at the sanctuary surprised Mykah and Ben as they walked behind Cadan and Simeon through the busy corridors back to the bridge. Everyone had been able to shower, groom and change into clean clothes that matched Akilan’s white and grey jumpsuit.
“How old is she?” Ben asked.
“The Zealieon was brand new when she arrived at Earth 16,000 years ago wi
th her sister ship the Hezron. Its total crew compliment was 276 with 744 passengers. It has been used for many different purposes over the millennia, but most of her time has been spent in concealment and protection after the Hezron was destroyed back in 6000 BC,” Cadan explained.
“How was the Hezron destroyed,” Mykah chimed in.
“On their third trip to Earth 8,000 years ago, the Ansharians had brought their largest fleet yet. It was decided to risk only one of our destroyers in a confrontation and the Hezron was chosen to meet the Ansharian fleet when it arrived through the wormhole. It destroyed their main battle cruiser and all but one of their frigates before a secondary wave of twelve cargo ships arrived. Their combined attack on the Hezron ended with the Torahnossian destroyer breaking apart in the planet’s upper atmosphere.
“The Ansharian fleet commander Anutori was able to escape death by fleeing his exploding cruiser and flying to the planet in a transport ship,” Cadan added.
“How did the Zealieon end up here?” Ben asked.
“The Zealieon came to rest at this location about 550 years ago after its last battle with the sole remaining Ansharian frigate that had engaged the Hezron millennia earlier. Over Central America, the Torahnossians defeated the last large Ansharian ship that presented any major threat, but the destroyer did not come out unscathed. The damaged anti-matter power core was only able to reach a twenty percent output and the decision was made to transform it into a stationary land base here at this location.
“This 762 foot long vessel has become the current home for over 970 direct Torahnossian descendants from the original crew of engineers and officers. After thousands of years of maintenance, this particular generation’s task to keep the ship operable has ben the most difficult yet. The areas immediately surrounding the ship here in the base of the mountain have been excavated to provide additional storage and housing along with food and energy production---”
