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  "Thank you, Doctor." Rhea dropped her backpack and pulled out her notepad, and a recorder from her bag. "That has always been one of the hot topics that the scientific community has always been interested in."

  "That is very understandable. As you know, each species in the Alliance has different physiology, but at the same time is capable of breathing type Type 1A air. When this ship crashed on this world, each member of the crew donned their emergency suits and helmets, which would help them survive in the Earth's atmosphere, but since the filters on the suits only work for so long, the next logical step was for members of the crew to take molding tablets, which, unfortunately only last so long.

  "Now, let me show you how a moulding tablet would work on me, a Prothean." Tapping a few buttons on the base of the medical bed, a holographic image of a Prothean was suddenly formed on top of the medical bed.

  "Wow."

  37

  The next afternoon, the entire SETI team, plus dozens of reporters and Tohil personnel were swarmed around the ship in anticipation of an engine test that was meant to signal one of the final steps in getting the ship fully operational.

  Doctor's Beck, Temple, and Lau were in the engine room with Sulvan and his two assistants, while Joe and Rhea were on the bridge with Ranix and the flight crew. The rest of the SETI team, consisting of Doctor's Jannsen and Ji-woon, along with the Sentinel Commander were on the top of the hull with instruments that the engineering department had supplied them to measure output results, while the media specialist Doctor Chan and Lisa Lee were with a huge pool of cameramen and journalists, making sure this historic moment was broadcast to every curious set of eyes around the world.

  John Robert and a large Tohil contingent had formed near the cameramen with their own scientific instruments to measure the results of the test. With his trench coat on and black rimless glasses in place, John Robert had the expression of a man transfixed by the mere sight of the spacecraft, and now that there was about to be a test of its engines, he looked even more obsessed.

  Ranix had activated a ship-wide translation system, allowing for near simultaneous translation from Universal Standard to English so that all the humans inside the ship would be able to understand what was happening, as it unfolded.

  "Engine room, bridge." Ranix was seated in his command chair, with Joe and Rhea nearby and Rais at the helm.

  "Go bridge." Sulvan replied dryly.

  "Confirm system sync."

  "Sync locked." Came the response. Ranix had explained earlier that when the ship was operating under normal conditions, any commands Rais made when flying the ship from his station would result in automatic responses, but with the ship's systems synced, all commands that Rais gave through his console had to be confirmed by the engine room.

  "Reactor status?" Ranix asked.

  Joe peered over the young Floxian's shoulder and noticed that his wristband data display was activated, and the acting Ship Master was reading down a checklist.

  "Reactor running at 100 perfect efficiency."

  "Fuel status?"

  "9 ounces fuel."

  "Expected fuel consumption during test fire?"

  "1.5 ounces at most."

  Ranix looked around the bridge before tapping a communications tab. "Sentinel Commander, report."

  "Blast area clear. Safe to fire." The response was cold and mechanical.

  "Thank you," Ranix replied. Looking around the bridge one last time, he switched his wrist system off before looking at the back of his pilots head. "Rais, please commence engine startup."

  "Yes, Sir." Rais had been doing his job as ship's helmsman and pilot for many years, making this task, of all those he was most responsible for, the most mundane and routine. Toggling his station's microphone, he made a ship-wide announcement. "All here this, prepare for engine ignition. I say again, prepare for engine ignition."

  The ships artificial intelligence repeated the notice in English, as well as on its external speakers, making sure that everyone was well aware of what was coming.

  Moving his left hand to the extreme left side of his console, Rais flipped a protective cover off a large green button, and gently tapped the button twice, before closing the cover. Once the second tap was recorded by the ship's AI, a signal was sent to the engine room disabling locks on the local start button. With care, Valerex lifted the buttons cover and repeated the same motion that Rais had performed on the bridge.

  After a moments' hesitation, Rais's control board was lit up with bright lights, and then automatically dimmed. "Engine reports ready for ignition." His right hand moved to another switch cover on the right side of his control board. "Firing."

  "Firing." Came the report from the engine room simultaneously. The effect of a GX74 engine firing was much more dramatic in the darkness of space than in broad daylight on Earth, but it still gave the spectators a show when it finally started, kicking out a blast of smoke, followed by a loud roar.

  The GX74 was an engine of an old design, albeit still a reliable one. When the ship's systems were synced, the first command from the engine room made the engines ready to fire, which shot out a very faint stream of water out towards the rear of the ships dual engine exhausts. The second command lit a spark which ignited the water, sending a giant ball of blue flame out towards the back of the ship, while simultaneously igniting the water in the ship's reactor. It effectively created a fire in the reactor fuelled by the water there, which was then used to power the engines, and boosting the power that was available to the ship's systems.

  Most of the scientists, SETI, Tohil, and many others had found the system insane, since it meant that the ship's fuel was on fire, making the area between the reactor to the engines extremely vulnerable while the engines were firing, regardless of the safeguards that Sulvan had insisted were built into the GX74 engine.

  The effect of the engines firing was noticeable on the bridge, even if the engines were on idle. With the ship resting on its landing gear, there was a noticeable shaking and vibrating sensation running through the floor plating of the ship and the walls of the ship. On the bridge, some of the repaired panels were vibrating, giving off an annoying racket.

  "Engineering room, bridge. Status?" Ranix was playing it cool, and by the book, something that Rais and Yuli both noticed, and something that Joe was assuming was happening.

  "Bridge, all systems functioning properly. Advise engine shut down." Sulvan replied.

  "Understood." Ranix looked at Rais, "Commence engine shut down."

  "Yes, Sir." Rais replied quickly. His fingers danced across the control panel quickly before lifting the safety cover on the green button the left of his console and pressed and held the button down for a few seconds, until a loud tone could be heard over the intercom system, followed by silence. The ship stopped vibrating and had suddenly become quiet.

  Rais turned around in his chair to face Ranix. "All systems report engine shut down, Sir."

  "Thank you." Ranix toggled his chairs communications system. "Engine room, status?"

  "This is Valerex, Master Engineer Sulvan is on his way to the bridge."

  "Thank you." Ranix stood up and looked around the bridge. "Thoughts?" He asked, looking towards his guests.

  Joe looked at Rhea, and then back to Ranix. "Don't know what to tell you Comms Officer. I suppose we need to hear the report from the engineering department before jumping to any conclusions."Joe gave the bridge a quick glance, "At least we didn't blow up." He said with a smile on his face.

  "Rais," Ranix turned around again. "Thoughts?"

  "Well, Sir. All the systems appeared to function properly. It will be a matter of how well the engines performed, and how well the vectored thrust systems will work when we test them." Rais gave the impression that he knew what he was saying, and his comments were soon validated.

  "The Master Star Pilot is correct."

  Everyone on the bridge turned and noticed a winded Sulvan standing in the entryway to the bridge. "Sorry, I had to ru
n. Ships too big to walk." The engineer entered the bridge and sat himself down at one of the rear stations. "The engines functioned fine. The real test will come when we perform a test flight and check that all of the thrust systems work properly because our manoeuvrability will be highly restricted if they are damaged."

  "Did I miss something?" Asked Rhea, with a slightly confused look on her face. She turned and faced the engineer. "I thought the engines were what propelled the ship."

  The engineer looked up at the human. "They are, but there are vents along the entire ship that exhaust gases from the engine are expelled from to control the direction in which the ship travels. Without those systems functioning properly, we won't have full control over the ship's trajectory."

  "I see." Rhea replied.

  "All of the systems have been repaired, but that doesn't mean that they'll work properly." Interjected Ranix.

  "So a test flight is in order." Joe commented.

  Ranix looked across at Sulvan, who nodded his head gently. "Yes. I suppose so." The engineer said, tapping his wrist data device. "We are scheduled to finish repairs sometime tomorrow, so we could plan a test flight sometime the following day."

  "I have to travel to give the address on that day." Ranix replied.

  "Very well. We can wait until you return. I believe that you humans call it Thursday." Sulvan said.

  "Thursday," Ranix repeated. "It will be a great day for both our civilisations." He looked at Joe and gave one of his ridiculous smiles.

  38

  The following afternoon another large group was assembled near the ship for a ceremony to mark the completion of the repairs to the ship. Except the peppering and denting that the hull had taken during its confrontation with the Coalition forces, the ship looked just a little worn, but now it was as repaired as possible, and ready for a test flight in two days time.

  Joe was standing with the SETI team near the ship, looking at some of the patchwork repairs that had been made. Sections of the bottom of the hull that had been damaged and repaired had been grafted back onto the hull to seal any breaches and cover any damage where needed. While she didn't look beautiful, she was patched up, which amazed Joe, considering the shape she was in when he first saw her several months ago.

  Not far from the SETI team was a team from Tohil, headed up by John Robert, and another team from Mammoet, who was still in the process of disassembling their giant cranes. Each group was to be thanked for their efforts to date.

  General Micha Benitz, the head of the Paraguayan Army, who had been acting as de facto dictator of Paraguay since the President, Jose Aldro, had ordered the botched first contact with the aliens in June had even flown up from Ascension for the ceremony. He was accompanied by Lieutenant General Erico, the local commander, who had been getting very friendly with John Robert in the last few weeks, something that had started to worry Joe.

  With the long row of cameras lined up across from the hangar bay doors, and the usual number of reporters under the close watch of Doctor Chan, the ceremony was ready to commence. Joe had been given a bracelet from the ship that enabled him to tap a sensor on the device to inform Ranix that everyone was in position and that he and Sulvan should exit the ship, and make their speeches.

  With the signal sent, the large hanger bay doors rumbled open and out walked the two Alliance officers. A few hours earlier, Sulvan had connected an automated translation system to the microphone that was going to be used for the address. The two aliens walked the twenty yards to the microphone at a leisurely pace accompanied by a round of applause from those in attendance.

  Joe knew that both officers were going to keep their remarks brief and afterwards they had agreed to speak with the news media, who were very interested hearing what Ranix was going to say at his UN address in two days time.

  Ranix was the first to speak, and luckily, the automated translation system was working correctly. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming today. I want to express my sincere gratitude for all the assistance that you have given my crew and my ship during these last few months. Thank you."

  Joe was expecting a short speech, just not one that short. Sulvan's comments were just as brief, but the benefit of the two alien officers speaking was priceless. In all the time that the ship had been sitting in the Paraguayan ground, no member of the crew had ever addressed the media directly, and now that Ranix was heading to New York City the next day, Joe hoped it would help act as a catalyst in the pro-alien camp, and would hopefully convince people that they were not a threat and could be trusted.

  The interviews that happened next were a little bit more awkward for all parties involved. Joe accompanied Ranix with a floating translation device while Bobby followed Sulvan with another translation device throughout the interviews. Both men screening questions, trying to make sure that the more awkward questions were bypassed.

  One interview that went surprisingly well was an interview with American MTV, during which Ranix was able to talk at some length about Doctor Prure's new found love for human music, with a particular interest in the oboe of all instruments.

  With the interviews concluded, the SETI team dispersed, leaving Ranix and Sulvan to collect their thoughts before Ranix's departure early Wednesday morning. The day had gone well for all parties. The completion of repairs had been a significant milestone, and the test flight on Thursday would be the next major hurdle to overcome before the ship was considered fully operational. A hurdle that everyone from Ranix to Joe to John Robert was eagerly anticipating crossing.

  39

  Nikita was laying in bed when the mobile phone on his bedside table beeped twice just a few minutes past three in the morning, signalling the arrival of an incoming text. Being a light sleeper, he quickly sat up and grabbed the phone. He had told his men to never text him unless there was an emergency. Flipping the Nokia open, he noticed that the message had come from a secure number, and contained an encrypted data file.

  Throwing off his duvet, he got out of bed and made his way into the living room, where his computer was kept. Rubbing the dust from his eyes, he opened up the machines monitor, flooding the room with a bright white light, the glare forcing him to squint. Getting up, he walked towards the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of Gatorade, and returned to the living room.

  After punching in his access code, he waited for the home screen to pop up while looking for a UBS cable to connect to his phone. Finding the cable he was looking for in a pile of tangled wires, he inserted one end into the Nokia, and the other into his laptop, and waited for the computer to acknowledge the phone.

  Very quickly the phone was recognised, and the secure data file was located. At this point, Nikita slowed down and leant back into the couch he was sitting on. Taking another sip of his beverage, he considered his options. Download the file, and run the risk that it was a virus, or leave the data file untouched, and perhaps miss out on a valuable intelligence update.

  Minimising the download box, Nikita ensured that all his files had been backed up to flash-drives and that the computers wireless function was disabled. When he was happy, he opened the download box and gave the 'start download' button a single click.

  Taking another sip from the plastic bottle that was clutched in his left hand, he watched as the file was rapidly downloaded onto his computer, which triggered a decryption program which started a set of operations that he hadn't seen before. Evidently, there were some hidden programs installed on his desktop.

  After what seemed like an eternity, the file was finally decrypted and displayed in a Word document on his computer. There was very little information in the archive, but what was there was of critical importance. Nikita scanned the information, a smile crept across his face.

  8 Vehicle convoy, unarmoured, 31 ground personnel, Principle in 3rd vehicle

  2 UH-60 in support, 2-2 man sniper teams

  Flight arriving La Guardia 1000hrs.

  Getting up from the couch he walked
back to his bed, phone in hand. Sitting

  down on the edge of the mattress, Nikita sent a text to his team members before setting the phone back down and rolling onto his right side. In just over 24 hours, history was going to be made. Closing his eyes, he drifted back to sleep, with visions of Valhalla in his head.

  40

  When the heads of the Tohil departments arrived at their regular morning meeting, they knew something was wrong the minute they entered the conference room: John Robert was already waiting for them, and he usually arrived late.

  "Gentlemen, I believe that it is time for Phase Three. The electromagnetic pulse cannon arrived from Ottawa this morning, and with Ranix heading to New York for the UN address, we won't have a better opportunity to capture the ship than we have now." Sitting back in his chair, he had a smug look on his face, overly confident in his plans chances of success.

  "What about all the reporters, not to mention the SETI team and all of our support personnel?" Asked one of the engineers at the end of the table.

  "Easy, we inform them that we will be having a special event at the airport in Mariscal Estigarribia to thank them for their service, a celebration of sorts, and just get them off the site." John replied.

  "What about those who don't wish to depart?" Asked another Tohil member.

  "Easy. We get the volunteers to leave, and then, an hour later, round up everyone else and deport them, at gunpoint if necessary."

  The head of media leant forward and looked at John Robert for a minute with pursed lips before speaking. "This operation is going to be a PR disaster of galactic proportions. How exactly do you expect to stop the Canadian government from coming down on us like a tonne of bricks?" She asked.