by James Palmer
“Well I’m sure that did it, if nothing else before had.” Ariel commented.
“Did what?” Mark replied.
“Declared war on an alien civilization.”
“Sorry honey, they did that to us when they set up a hidden base on our world, kidnapped a very high ranking General and replaced him with a clone under their control, whoever ‘they’ are.”
She sighed, exasperated, “Mark, I’m not arguing that point with you, believe me. I know they attacked us first, and we had no choice but to respond. Hell they tortured and killed almost half of our crew—the crew of a peaceful, non-military vessel.”
“Exactly Ariel. Our only course was to respond in kind, in at least trying to meet them surreptitiously and finding out the most we could. We both saw how all that worked out with the aforementioned crew.”
“Well, you just blew up one of their ships, and damaged almost forty more. That should piss them off to no end,” she replied.
“No kidding. It should also let them know we are deadly serious and won’t be afraid to respond in kind to whatever they try to throw at us.”
“Again,” she answered, “whoever ‘they’ are.”
“Yes, that goes without saying. But I’m willing to bet they know who we are now.”
“You’re right, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing.”
“No, you’re right.” A small signal light blinked on his control panel as it began to beep at the same time.
“What’s that?” Ariel asks.
“The rendezvous coordinates. I’m slowing to full stop, but keeping shields raised.”
Ariel nodded in agreement as the ship dropped out of hyper-warp and slowed to a stop.
“Now we wait for the Stargrazer to catch up.” Mark stated flatly.
“Do you think they’re okay?” She asked, concern written all over her beautiful face.
“Yes, they have to be. Everything is riding on them being ‘okay’.”
As if in answer to his thoughts, the Stargrazer dropped out of hyper-warp practically on top of the Cagliostro.
“I’ve got Dan on the comm,” Ariel offered.
“Put him on.”
The view screen lit up with Dan Sledge’s face. “Man, am I happy to see you two. Permission to come aboard?” Behind Dan could be seen a great mass of people stuffed tightly together within the confines of the small ship.
“Gladly Mr. Sledge, welcome home. Make it fast though, I’ve no doubt that we’ll have company and soon. After what we just did, it’s not going to be a happy group coming to invite us over for tea and crumpets, that’s for certain.”
“Okay boss, tell me all about it when we get settled in.”
“Will do Danny, opening the landing bay doors now. As soon as you’re in, we’re out of here.”
As Mark was talking, the Stargrazer was already coming to a rest within the Cagliostro. The little sixty foot long ship gently touched down as the landing bay doors closed behind it.
Sledge exited the Stargrazer and found Abruzzi standing there next to the powered up and running fleet of shuttles. All three of them had their magno-disc engines running. “How’d this work out?” Dan asked, as he walked over several heavy, thick cables lying on the floor and linking the shuttles to the Cagliostro.
“It did the trick, son. It’s how Johnson overcame the lettuce-heads power siphoning beam.” As they were speaking, the Cagliostro suddenly powered up and leapt into hyper-warp. They could feel the transition within the landing bay.
“He ran the shuttles?”
“Yes he did, son, and it was a damned brilliant plan too. He said something about shield frequencies and power outputs backing up this ships with the shuttles. Some nonsensical gobbledy gook like that.”
“What he did, that was pretty ingenious, General.” Dan shook his head as he began to walk out of the landing bay. Behind him all sixty people were out and the ones who were unhurt or with minor injuries were hurrying back to their posts. The more severely injured were lying down in the landing bay, awaiting Dr.Trioano’s and her staff’s ministrations.
She shooed him out of the landing bay as Red and Eddie joined him in running down the corridor and entering a maglovator. “I hope they didn’t waste too much time there waiting fer us.” Sledge began.
“Even if they did, it had to happen.” Eddie replied
“Yeah that’s right, Dan. But we’re back now. Let’s get to the command deck and compare notes there.” Red answered.
“Sounds good to me.” They exited the maglovator on to the command deck, and a moment later the General did likewise behind them.
Everyone gathered, and began to speak.
“Well, we’re all up to date and on the same page at least.” Mark affirmed.
“Lotta good that’s gonna do us if we can’t get them back home to believe us.”
“That’s going to be up to the General, Danny.”
“Me?” Abruzzi reacted in shock.
“Yes sir, you. You have to convince them the man posing as you is an imposter, and that you are the real McCoy.”
“That’s going to be easier said than done.”
“It doesn’t matter, General. It has to be done, or everyone on our world is lost to us. I have no doubt those aliens are not too far behind us. I think we’re faster than they are, but that doesn’t mean anything if no one back home acknowledges this threat as real.”
“How far away are we from sub-space range?” Abruzzi asked.
“Ariel’s been broadcasting for the past hour, a recorded loop, when we get a reply, we’ll go live. But to be honest I’m figuring that it’ll be days before they receive our message.”
Abruzzi puffed out his chest, then exhaled before speaking, “Well, what kind of message did you leave them?”
“That we have information vital to Earth’s continued survival, and that I don’t want to give any more than that away until we’re face to face.”
“Well, it don’t matter,” Dan began, “We’re so far off it’ll take us three days at one hundred percent power just to arrive at the outer reaches of our galaxy.”
“Don’t worry Dan, the Cag can take it. She’s a tough bird.” Ariel affirmed, smiling.
“Believe me, Ariel, I know that better than anybody. Don’t forget, Mark and I designed most of the systems on this baby from his ideas.”
“What if they don’t believe us?” the General asked.
“It won’t matter General, I have one other trump card to play yet.”
“What is it?” Abruzzi asked, intrigued.
“In due time General, in due time. For now let’s just concentrate on getting out of this galaxy and evading any ships that may be hiding in wait for us between here and Earth.”
The General ‘harrumphed’ once, then sat in the same seat he had occupied earlier. “The sooner we get home the better. This whole damned mess has left me itching to see Earth again. It’s been too long. Some of you may have been made for all this otherworldly adventure, but the rest of us are definitely not.”
Mark smiled before replying, “Duly noted, General, and thank you for all your help, by the way.”
“I have to help, son. I’m not turning my back on planet and country now. Both need this old man. Plus, I need some payback on those salad heads for keeping me captive all that time.”
“How long did they have you?” Ariel asked.
“I don’t even know for certain, Ariel.”
“When was the last time we met and talked before they took you?” Mark asked.
“You had just started construction on this ship. The frame wasn’t in place yet.”
“That’s impossible.” Mark answered, obviously surprised.
“Why?” the old man replied.
“Because General, that was three years ago.”
Chapter 16
“Return weapons fire!” Mark shouted as the Cagliostro rocked once again.
Three days had passed since they had escaped their pursuers f
rom the space station. It had been a three days filled with fleeting attacks from various alien ships
On the view screen the ship attacking them was different this time. It was sleek and smaller than the huge war ships that had dogged their trail the past three days. This one was almost avian shaped, akin to a hunting hawk diving towards prey. It maneuvered as well as the Cagliostro did, that much was already evident. Both ships danced through space, returning fire on each other again and again.
“Direct hit, Mark.” Eddie shouted, “I scored them good with that one.”
“Less talk, more firing, Eddie. Destroy that ship.”
Eddie shot Mark an annoyed glance over his shoulder as Dan rolled the Cag over and over through space. But the hawk ship mimicked the Cagliostro’s move perfectly.
“This is gettin’ ridiculous.” Dan complained.
“I thought you were good at what you did?” Eddie verbally jabbed Dan.
“Yeah, big mouth? When you actually hit somethin’ then open yer yap. So far you’re what? One for forty?”
“At least I did hit something. This guy is matching you move for move, and it looks like he’s doing it pretty easily too.”
“Both of you shut up.” Mark ordered, “Dan, go back to hyper warp, full power to the engines. Let them chase us. Double rear shields. Now you’re going to see why I designed three solar cannons at the rear of the ship.”
“Everybody hang on,” Dan roared as he flipped the ship over and accelerated directly at and then above and past the ship that was following them, passing cleanly above the enemy vessel, then immediately disappearing into hyper-warp.
“That ship will be on our tail any second.” Red stated.
“No kidding, Sherlock.” Dan answered.
“Will both of you stop arguing and listen? Red, you let me know when that ship appears on the rear sensors. Eddie switch your view to rear also. When that thing shows, drop our speed down to ninety-eight percent. Let it catch up, slowly.”
“You want it to catch us?” Ariel asked.
“I want it to get closer to us, not catch us. That ship seems to be a match for the Cag in every way. Beyond the body design, I’m willing to bet it’s a copy of the Cag.”
“What? How?”
“They replaced the General, who else could they have replaced? Someone in the company as well, I’m willing to bet, someone close to the designs. It could have been anyone. I’ll have to come up with a way to distinguish a clone from the original and scan everyone back at the company when we get this straightened out.”
“Why would they copy our ship? We’re the new guys. This makes no sense.” Eddie almost shouted.
“It makes perfect sense, Eddie. All these races have been watching Earth for a reason. It’s what I said earlier, they fear us. We make good stuff.”
“That doesn’t even sound like proper English.” Ariel chuckled drily.
“It probably isn’t, but that’s not what I’m concerned about right now. Have they caught up yet, Red?”
“Just coming into sensor range now.”
“Excellent. Can you get a reading on their shields?”
“They are fully deployed, and at full power.”
“Good, now how do they compare to ours?”
“What?”
“Our shields Red, how do they compare to our shields?”
“Uhhh, they look solid. Very solid.”
“Read their frequency. Are they the same as ours? Chances are they are exactly the same. Fighting this ship has been like fighting our own ship, in every way.”
Suddenly the Cagliostro rocked as several energy blasts slammed into the ships rear shields.
“And there they are, right on schedule as expected.”
Mark sat back in his seat and brought up a virtual control panel. “Here we go.” The ship rocked again as blasts again impacted on their shields.
“Mark, what are you doing?” Dan asked quietly.
Mark raised his hand toward Dan for silence, “Eddie I’m sending a command to your firing control panel. When you fire, that signal is going to ride along with the canons pulse.”
“Mark, what the hell are you talking about?” Eddie asked, without removing his eyes from the firing panel.
“Eddie, just fire, will you? Center cannon only on first volley, please. Red, bring up the aft of the ship on the main view screen please.”
The view screen switched to the rear of the ship as the center cannon fired a blast that hit the pursuing ship’s shields, suddenly illuminating them in a pattern of squares across the front of the enemy ship. The squares glowed brightly in a flash and then went out.
“NOW!” shouted Mark while enthusiastically pumping his fist, “Full power all rear cannons.”
The three rear mounted solar cannons blasted streams of glowing energy from their tips, slamming through the shields as if they were non-existent and exploding upon the ship’s hull, cascading across its surface, and spinning the pursuer sideways off course with their power.
“Eddie, again!” Mark roared. Eddie nodded and stabbed the fire control again, repeatedly. All three cannons fired multiple times, each hit and spun the pursuer violently twice more, until the ship suddenly exploded into its component atoms, lighting up the view screen like an exploding star.
“What the hell?” Red exclaimed.
“A failsafe. He built a failsafe into the shield codes.” Dan chuckled lowly.
“You shut off their shields. That’s—that’s cheating.” Ariel stumbled upon her own words in surprise, an astonished look creeping over her face.
“No, cloning and replacing people, and seeking to undermine my company and our planet, that’s cheating, and so much more.”
“So now what?” Eddie asked, bemused at what just happened.
“We get to Earth, as quickly as possible.” Mark replied grimly.
“We’re approaching the outskirts of the solar system now, Mark.”
“Okay Danny, thanks.”
“Uhhh, Mark, you better look at this.” Red suddenly exclaimed. He adjusted a control on his virtual control panel and the view screen suddenly zoomed in on a point in space several million miles ahead of them.
“Uh oh,” Eddie almost whispered.
“That ain’t good.” Dan added.
“Mark?” Ariel turned toward him, her face blank with fear.
For his part Mark Johnson said nothing, He just stared at the view screen and shook his head grimly.
Before them in a far reaching ring of ships was a blockade spread out as far as the eye could see.
Dan turned towards him, “Mark, those ain’t the alien ships.”
“I know Dan, those are all Earth fleet vessels.”
“Maybe they got the messages we’ve been broadcasting and are here to help us, in case we were being followed,” Eddie offered.
“I don’t think so,” Ariel began as she turned towards Mark, a worried look upon her face, “I just received a message ordering us to surrender, from General Abruzzi, and the President.”
Chapter 17
General Abruzzi, the real General Abruzzi stood up from his seat behind Mark’s chair and stared angrily at the view screen. “That’s every ship in the fleet. They have hundreds of them out there all to capture us? That’s not making any sense. They left Earth totally unprotected.”
“Yes General, it does make sense. Perfect sense actually.”
“How, Johnson?”
“They’re out here looking for us, which leaves Earth unprotected.”
“I wouldn’t say it was unprotected, son. There are plenty of land based, and satellite defenses in play. Those alone should be able to defend the planet against just about any attack.”
“That we know of, General. There are something like two hundred fifty ships from the United States alone here, never mind every other nation on the planet. What if thousands of ships descend on Earth from all over the galaxy? Then what?”
“Well if there are thousands of ships com
ing we’re not going to have much of a chance anyway, Johnson.”
“Something’s not right. Dan, come to full stop.”
“Okay, boss.” Sledge replied.
“Mark, what are you thinking?” Ariel asked.
“Ari, if they have thousands of ships, why haven’t they just attacked us already? Long ago? The United States has about two hundred and fifty ships at this point, all war ships capable of leveling cities from space. No nation has close to that. China has half that number. Russia bankrupted itself trying to keep up. It’s what led to the fall of their new progressive party. England has what? A hundred ships at best? So let’s say that in total earth has about five hundred spaceships, not starships, but spaceships, because right now, this is the only starship from Earth. This is the only ship, not counting the Stargrazer, which can break the light speed barrier and attain full hyper-warp flight through space.”
Abruzzi looked at Mark quizzically, “I’m not following where you‘re going with this, son.”
“There’s a big question hanging over our heads here General and it’s a simple one. Why? Why go through all of this? Why the kidnappings, the cloning’s, why build a base under the Blue Ridge mountains for God’s sake?”
“Control?” asked Ariel.
“Yes, but control of what? Our government? Our world? Our space program?”
“Well they lost any shot at that once it became privatized and guys like you came along.” Dan replied.
“That’s somewhat true Dan, and maybe a good reason for this, as in they, whoever ‘they’ are, had to take a firmer hand in our supposed self-destruction.”
“Ya know, you’re not even mentionin’ the eight hundred pound monkey in the room.” Dan said.
“I know, I haven’t gotten to that yet, but we might as well broach the subject now. They have the President. There is no feasible way the real President would stand with the imposter Abruzzi, especially since he sent us on this mission.”
