by Bob Blanton
“Oh great, now what do we do?” Samantha asked.
“We’ll deal with him later,” Marc said. “Let’s get control of the situation first. ADI, inform Blake of what’s happening.”
“I’ve already linked him in,” ADI said.
“Hey, brother, I’ve just caught up on all the news,” Blake said. “We’re heading toward the boundary of the solar system, so we’re fifty light minutes out from Earth.”
“Have you had any problems yet?”
“Not so far,” Blake answered. “We’re keeping close tabs on things.”
“We’ll let you get back to saving Earth from the Paraxeans,” Marc said.
“Sure, and I’ll let you get back to saving it from the president,” Blake said.
“I wonder which of us has the easier job,” Marc said.
“Captain, one of our Oryxes has ignored the order to avoid Delphi Station; it is on approach now.”
“Who’s flying it?”
“Lieutenant Zimmerman.”
“He’s relatively new,” Fred said.
“What’s its status?” Marc asked.
“It is off schedule by about thirty minutes,” ADI said. “Yes, it made an unauthorized stop in Hawaii before it made orbit.”
“Put it in a low orbit,” Marc said, “and lock out all flight controls.”
“Yes, Captain,” ADI said. “I have three different groups in the corridors of the station who have not complied with your orders to stay in their quarters. They all appear to be pilots from the group here for orientation.”
“Where are they?”
“The first is in ring one heading toward environmental, the second one is in the hub heading toward me, and the third is in ring three heading your way,” ADI said. “Each of them consists of three men wearing exosuits.”
“Natalia’s in environmental,” Catie said. “And as you see, we’re now in microgravity.” Catie pushed up from her seat and hovered over the table.
“I’m ready for them,” Natalia reported. “ADI just brought me up to date.”
“That means hand to hand,” Kal said. “I’ve got a team in the hub; they should be able to handle that team without a problem.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Welcome, gentlemen,” Natalia said. She was standing on the deck using the magnetic couplings in her boots. The three men were in the doorway, which, to their surprise, opened when they approached it. Unlike the three men, Natalia was only wearing her shipsuit.
“Surrender, and we won’t have to hurt you!” one of the men said.
“I like it rough,” Natalia said. “But you really should have bought me dinner first.” She extended her Bo-staff and jammed it into the third’s man’s throat area. The exosuit protected his throat, but the force of the blow shoved his head back and broke his boots’ contact with the deck. He went flying out of the doorway, across the passageway and into the bulkhead.
Natalia clinched her toes, disengaging the magnetic locks in her boots; she pushed off the floor, flipped in the air, and landed on the ceiling where she reengaged her magnetic coupling. She rammed her Bo-staff into the neck of the second man. She targeted an area where the armor overlapped, and with the man’s head bent back to see her, it actually separated just enough for the tip to slip through. The force of the blow gave him a stinger in his neck, mostly incapacitating him.
Natalia pushed off of the ceiling, flipped, and landed in front of the first man. “Now that we’re alone, do you want to dance?” she asked.
The man lunged at her; she easily avoided him using one of the twins’ patented moves to push herself to the right. She caught the edge of a cabinet, pushed off of it hard, and flipped, presenting her feet to the man who was just getting turned around to face her. She collided with his faceplate and sent him flying backward. Natalia reached out to push off the bulkhead and get her feet back on the deck, where she reengaged her boots’ magnets. She removed her faux belt and hogtied the man.
“You have the worst manners of anyone I’ve ever tried to dance with,” Natalia said. She walked back to her desk, where she retrieved some line that she used to tie the other two men up. “Is there anyone else I can play with?”
“I’m sorry, Natalia, but those were the only three that were in ring two,” Catie said. “Please tell me we have a good video of that?”
“I have video from four angles,” ADI said. “I will forward it to everyone after the emergency is over.”
“Kal, what’s the situation in the hub?” Marc asked.
“The three guys are hogtied,” Kal said. “We adopted Catie’s and Nattie’s little innovation with the belt after they demonstrated it to us.”
“So we just have the three that are headed this way?” Marc asked.
“That’s right,” Kal replied. “Are we going to let them in?”
“Please, Daddy?” Catie said.
“I assume you have your Bo-staff.”
“Of course.”
“So, one for each of you,” Marc said, looking at Fred, Kal, and Catie.
“Do I have to share?” Catie said.
“Yes!” Marc said as he rolled his eyes.
“Pooh!”
The door slid open, and the three men entered. “Surrender in the name of the President of the United States,” the leader announced.
“I’m afraid you have grossly overestimated your position,” Marc said. “If you would like to surrender now, I won’t let these three hurt you.”
“Don’t be cowards!” Catie said.
“Catie!” Samantha snapped.
“I never get to hurt Kal’s people,” Catie said. “I need the practice.”
“You heard her gentlemen,” Marc said. “You have three seconds.”
The three men didn’t wait; instead, they launched themselves at Marc. Marc, having anticipated their move, had moved his chair back so he could launch himself from it without catching the table with his knees. He bounced off the ceiling and into the corner where Samantha was waiting for him.
Catie launched herself from her standing position toward the ceiling. She flipped, pushed off the ceiling, vectoring toward the man on the left that Kal had assigned her. She flipped again and landed with one foot on his chest, the other on his faceplate. She knocked him off-balance. He threw his arms at her, pushing her toward the bulkhead, where she landed with her back against the wall.
Catie adjusted her stance and launched herself at the man again. This time she came in low and caught his legs just above the ankles. It broke his boots’ magnetic lock with the deck and started him tumbling toward the back of the room. He caught himself on the deck after two tumbles and stood up to face Catie again. She had pushed off the deck and was now standing on the ceiling. She launched herself at him again, going over his head, bouncing off the rear wall and coming back and hitting him in the back before he could turn around.
In the meantime, Kal and Fred had subdued their two targets. Kal was moving to assist Catie.
“No, he’s mine! Just because you finished yours off so fast, doesn’t mean you get to horn in on my fun!” Catie yelled.
“Sorry, I just thought you might want a little help,” Kal said. He held his hands up and backed away.
The man on the floor reached up and removed his helmet, “I surrender.”
“Baby!” Catie yelled.
“Like a cat playing with a mouse,” Kal said, barely getting it out over his laughter.
“ADI, do we have any other unauthorized people wandering about the station?” Marc asked.
“No, Captain. I’ve taken the liberty of locking the other Americans in their cabins, although none of them appeared to be trying to disobey the shelter-in-place order.”
“Good job. Please bring the station back up to rotational speed.”
“Yes, Captain, engaging thrusters now.”
“Where are the fighters now?”
“They will enter weapons range in three minutes,” ADI said.
“What should
we do with them?” Marc asked, looking at Fred.
“I’ve got this,” Catie said. “ADI, take over control of the fighters and have them execute maneuver Omega-prime.”
“Yes, Cer Catie.”
“Omega-prime?” Fred asked.
“The spaceplanes will stop and start spinning around their longitudinal axis,” Catie said. “It might not make all of them sick, but when you bring the fighters into the station to remove the pilots, they’ll be very disoriented.”
“I like it,” Kal said. “I assume I’m free to bring them in one at a time and remove the pilots.”
“They’re all yours,” Marc said. “Should we do the same with that Oryx?”
“Yes!” Catie said. “After an hour, you can have it land back in Hawaii. They’ll all be begging to get off.”
“And the pilot?”
“Lock him in the cockpit, Kal can deal with him,” Samantha said.
“Who’s in Delphi City that I should task with dealing with that carrier group?” Marc asked.
“Kasper,” Catie said.
“Yeah, he’d be perfect. Let him pick his own pilots to go with him,” Fred said. “I’m sure he’ll love the training opportunity.”
“You’re in charge,” Marc said to Fred. “Now, what do we do about our friend, the president?”
“Give Catie and me a few minutes,” Samantha said. She was tentatively walking toward Catie as the station gravity started to pick up.
“Do you want to explain what you’re planning?” Marc asked.
“Don’t you want to be surprised with the rest of the world?” Samantha asked.
Marc shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Go ahead; you understand the options better than I do.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Captain, Lieutenant Krueger is here to see you,” Blake’s aide announced.
“Send him in.”
“Sir!”
“What can I do for you?”
“Sir, I’ve been ordered by Admiral Richardson to subdue you and take over the carrier,” Lieutenant Krueger said.
“And how do you plan to do that?”
“I don’t, sir. I want to warn you that they have six men on board that will likely follow the orders. Two were sent to subdue Commander Farmer.”
“Two for her and only you for me, I’m insulted.”
“I knocked my accomplice out and tied him up in my cabin,” Lieutenant Krueger said.
“Oh, that’s better, so that leaves three or four?”
“Four, the others are heading to engineering.”
“MANDI, please make sure there is a welcoming party for the four men heading to engineering,” Blake said.
“Yes, Captain,” ADI replied.
“What about Commander Farmer?” Lieutenant Krueger asked.
“Oh, I guess a warning would be in order, but I wouldn’t want to interfere with her fun,” Blake said. “Liz, did MANDI inform you of the situation?”
“Yes, sir, although it would have been more fun if you hadn’t warned me,” Liz replied.
“The challenges of command,” Blake sighed.
Lieutenant Krueger looked at Blake with shock, “You’re not going to send Marines to help her?”
“You said it was just two, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then she won’t need any help. Why don’t you get a detachment of Marines and pick up the one from your cabin and the four from engineering? Liz will bring her two and meet you at the brig.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“How are things on the Victory?” Blake asked Marc once he’d settled things on the Enterprise.
“One of the infiltrators alerted Captain Clements in time; he had the Marines arrest the six other infiltrators before anything could occur.”
“Probably about the same amount of warning as I got,” Blake said.
“But you didn’t manage to arrest all six of them.”
“Yes, I did,” Blake said. “I just allowed Commander Farmer to arrest the two that were coming to her quarters.”
“How did she do?”
“I had to use my Bo-staff,” Liz said. “I didn’t want to break any of my furniture.”
“I see; well Catie managed to break one chair,” Marc said, “but other than that, we had minimal damage.”
“So now what are you going to do?” Blake asked.
“Samantha has suggested we all watch the news channel,” Marc said.
Everyone turned to the displays in their various locations.
“Breaking news from the White House. The president is preparing to address the nation and the world for the second time today.”
On the display, the president approached the podium, precisely as he had in the earlier announcement.
“My fellow Americans and citizens of the world. I’m here to announce that we have been in negotiations with the Paraxeans, they are the invading alien force approaching Earth, and after skillful negotiations by me, your president, we have reached an accommodation with them. They have agreed to allow the United States to administer Earth. Any nation that willingly submits to the U.S. command will be spared any reprisals by them once they reach orbit. They have agreed to restrict their Earth-based presence to Australia until such time as they have terraformed Mars to accommodate their people. I think this is an excellent deal for the people of Earth, and urge our allies to submit to these terms.”
At that point, the broadcast flickered and showed what looked like a Paraxean standing in place of the president. Then it flickered back to show the president.
“To our allies, I await your response.”
“What the hell was that?” Marc demanded.
“That’s our surprise,” Samantha said. “All satellite communication will be blocked for about one hour, then we here on Delphi will destroy the probe that is jamming the transmissions and restore communication. At which point, I expect the White House to claim that both transmissions were faked by the enemy.”
“You think they’ll do that?” Marc asked.
“As soon as you convince that carrier group to turn back toward Hawaii and you talk with the president, I’m sure they will realize that they have no choice.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“ADI, please patch me through,” Marc said.
“Yes, Captain.”
“I’d like to speak to the president, this is Marc McCormack,” Marc said when the phone in the White House situation room was answered.
After a bit of back and forth, the president answered, “Mr. McCormack.”
“I’d like to inform you that your attempted takeover has failed,” Marc said.
“I’m sure you would like me to believe you,” the president said.
“I can bring Admiral Richardson on the line so he can tell you that he has turned his carrier task force back toward Hawaii,” Marc said. “I believe the hole we put into its landing runway might have had something to do with it.
“I can also let you see the pilots, or were they commandos, that are on Delphi Station in our brig. The thirty pilots that committed treason by leaving their training exercise to attempt to attack us are also in the brig. Your load of commandos that Lieutenant Zimmerman picked up in Hawaii should be back in Hawaii in a few minutes.”
The line was muted for a few minutes, then the president came back on.
“I see,” he said. “What do you want?”
“I want you to quit trying to undermine the alliance,” Marc said. “I’m sure you saw the second announcement.”
“Yes, what exactly was that all about?” the president asked.
“That is your get out of jail free card,” Marc said. “You can claim that both announcements were faked by the Paraxeans. We’ll reenable all communications in thirty minutes; at that time, it’s up to you.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Once communications came back up, the president called a press conference where he declared that the previous two broadcasts were faked by the Paraxeans and reiterated that the
alliance had the complete support of the United States. The previous press conference had only been attended by six reporters, all of whom were currently missing. Marc had agreed to hold them on Delphi Station until after the crisis had passed. As compensation, they would be allowed to report on the upcoming conflict with the Paraxeans.
Lieutenant Zimmerman, the only inside man involved, was tried and convicted of treason against Delphi. He was stripped of his citizenship, had certain parts of his memory erased, and was unceremoniously dumped in Hawaii along with the thirty pilots and the commandos from the Enterprise, Victory, and Delphi Station. The two commandos who had come forward to alert their captains were given Delphi citizenship and retained in their positions.
Marc’s last words on the subject were, “I’ll shoot myself if that idiot gets reelected.”
Chapter 25
Final Preparations
“Good morning, everyone,” Marc said as he opened the daily briefing. “Blake, Liz, are you two linked in?”
“We’re here,” Blake replied.
“First, I’d like to introduce Captain Clark, most of you know him as Jason’s father, or Cer Kevin, one of our pilots,” Marc said. “Admiral Michaels has asked him to take command of the Sakira and join his staff.”
“Welcome aboard!”
“Thanks for having me,” Captain Clark said. “Forgive me if I get confused with these naval ranks and make an error. The only ones I know for sure are admiral and ensign.” He got a polite laugh from everyone.
“Second, we’re sending a few Paraxeans to the Sakira, a propulsion engineer, two navigators, and a nurse. They will report to Captain Clark,” Marc said.
“Captain,” Dr. Metra interrupted, “Dr. Sharmila, the four Paraxean nurses, myself, and at least another six nurses should be on one of the carriers. Time is critical when there are injuries, so we need to be close.”
