Defiant Order Page 4

  "I'm going to assume that the convoy will turn right onto 1st Avenue, which will be secured for the occasion, which means we'll have to make our assault somewhere between La Guardia and the entrance to the underground parking lot at the UN Plaza."

  Altunin took some pictures of the entrance of the tunnel and off-ramp leading onto 1st Avenue. "What are our chances?"

  Pullinski smiled. "Of hitting the target, or getting out alive?"

  Altunin looked back at his commander, "Hitting the target?"

  "I'll give you 3 to 1." the Major replied.

  The men smiled. They had served together in Chechnya and Georgia and knew that urban combat would be the most challenging place to conduct an ambush of this nature. Neither man had found any other real pursuits in life other than their work, and regardless of the mission they were on; losing was something they had never considered. This would be their hardest assignment yet, and one which would most likely be their last.

  10

  Ranix was slightly surprised to hear that the humans had agreed to supply the ship with the water that they required. Perhaps he had listened to Lieutenant Commander Sulvan a little too much, even though he knew that there was a growing concern around the planet about the visitor's presence, and their long-term plans, he had always thought that Major Hunt and the leaders of his country would follow through on their offer of support.

  Sulvan was even more shocked upon hearing the news from a keen Ranix, who walked down to the engineering department to deliver the news in person. "Splendid to hear."

  "I knew that you would be pleased. What happens when we get the water?"

  "It's rather simple, I suppose." The engineer walked over to a display screen and brought up a schematic of the reactor and engine compartment. "As you know, we use the water as a fuel source for the engine, and when the engine is running or powered, it provides energy for the reactor. Ten ounces of water will be put into the engine core in whatever form it arrives in, probably liquid. The core will then allow us to turn the motor on in an idle mode, which will give power to the reactor.

  "Now, with the amount of fuel we are receiving, we could break orbit, and probably leave the solar system, but even if our jump generators were all functional, ten ounces wouldn't be enough for a very long jump. I am confident that we used up almost 95 percent of our fuel jumping to here, where ever this is, from Aries V."

  "So that's it. Stick in the water, and the engine and reactor will all function as it is supposed to?"

  "That's the idea. I assume the engine or the reactor could have received damage during the battle and crash that we haven't detected, which could lead to a rather large explosion."

  "How large an explosion?"

  "Considering our reactor size, plus other fissile materials on the ship," The engineer activated the holographic pad on his wrist and performed some quick computations. "I'd say about 16 kilotons."

  Ranix looked at the floor of the compartment and gently kicked the metal surface with the toe of his boot. "Let's not tell the humans that, shall we."

  11

  Nearly 1200 light years away was the small planet Traxis, home of the 3rd Reconnaissance Squadron, 7th Fleet, Alliance Navy which occupied a giant space station in orbit. The day that Epsilon had disappeared had started just like any other day during the war. Reports came in from various ships in different sectors of Alliance territory that the 7th patrolled regarding everything from fuel status, enemy contact, and other sundry items.

  The last transmission that the corvette Epsilon had made was an acknowledgement that she had successfully jumped into the region near Aries V, and nothing but silence since. After a day had passed without word, Admiral Taark sent in an active task force to check the area. A debris field was found which suggested that the Epsilon had been damaged in combat with the enemy, but such a small collection of debris suggested that the damage was minimal and that the ship had managed to jump away, or worst, was captured intact by the Coalition.

  After conducting a sweep of the area, the ships withdrew, but left behind a probe that would make a detailed analysis of the area where the Epsilon was last suspected to be in an effort to discover what type of weapons had left residual traces, a task that took an average of thirty days to accomplish, the report from which had just reached Admiral Taark's desk.

  Many members of Taark's staff who didn't know him that well were surprised that a fleet commander would take so much interest in the loss of a single corvette, certainly after several larger ships had been severely mauled in a battle with Coalition forces just three days later. Even the 3rd Reconnaissance Squadron Commander, Commodore Smid, had been amazed by the level of interest that Admiral Taark had shown in the investigation.

  Those who knew him better, and everyone who knew about a large scar that ran from his left hip across his chest to his right shoulder, knew that his life had been saved many years ago when he was a junior officer by a Porthean Doctor named Prure, and it was the fate of Doctor Prure that kept the Admiral transfixed on solving what had happened to the missing corvette, whatever the cost.

  When the data file finally arrived via his chief of intelligence, he eagerly read the file, absorbing the facts quickly, since they were few. The probe's study revealed that an Alliance corvette, assumed to be the Epsilon, had jumped into the Aries V sector shortly before several Coalition vessels jumped into the same sector. Energy and ballistic weapons were discharged, then a jump occurred. Unfortunately, with all the activity in that region of space, the probe had been unable to determine what ship had jumped out first. After the first jump out, there was a lull of several minutes before the remaining ships jumped away. No more data was available, but further scans of the area confirmed that there was not enough of a debris field to constitute an Alliance corvette, and the possibility that the ship had been pulled into the systems sun had also been ruled out since the sun was too distant from Aries V to draw a ship to it in such a short period.

  The information wasn't definitive, but it gave Taark hope that the ship had survived and been able to jump away. And if that was the case, then it was also safe to assume that the ship had damage to either its power systems, communications systems, its jump drives, or had run out of fuel, which would account for it not having returned to an Alliance base or port or send a distress call.

  Taark set down the datapad on his desk and activated his holographic desk computer system. The screen expanded before him, with a blank screen. "Show the Aries System. Top down view." The system responded quickly to the request.

  The Aries System was made up of a few planets, and their accompanying moons. Aries V was the dominating planet in the system and had once had a vibrant mining industry, which had supplied much of the Empire's needs before the war.

  "Show possible jump radius of an Alliance Corvette Mark IX."

  "Require fuel load status for jump range to be calculated." The soft, robotic voice answered back.

  Taark hit a communications tab on his desk, and the sea-foam green glass door to his office slid open, and his aide-de-camp strode in quickly.

  "Commander, get me all the specifications on Corvette Epsilon, including last known fuel load."

  "Yes, Admiral." The aide did an about face and exited the room.

  The Admiral turned his attention back to the holographic computer screen. "Show possible jump radius of Alliance Corvette Mark IX with full fuel load."

  The screen panned out with a large red line indicating where the ship could have jumped, and the area was enormous several thousand square light years. Taark switched the screen off. It was worse than looking for a grain of sand on a beach. He knew that the only chance that the ship had of being recovered would be the repairing of any damaged systems making them jump capable again, or a transmission requesting assistance. He wasn't sure if either would ever come, but he owed it to the man that had saved his life to keep up the search, regardless of how futile it may be.

  12

  The next day Joe wok
e up as surprised as everyone else on the SETI team that the water requested by Ranix was on its way, and would be arriving at the airport by two that afternoon. Joe knew that Ranix was eager to get the ship as operational as possible so that there would be less danger to his crew, and the idea of repairing the ship was one that appealed to everyone, just not for the same reasons.

  Joe suspected that while the SETI team and many others around the globe were interested in helping the visitors, something in the back of Joe's mind worried him that Tohil had ulterior motives, and were planning something, because they didn't seem satisfied with just looking at reports and video that members of the team brought back every day. They would want something more for their investment of 100 billion dollars in the Paraguayan economy.

  Just after lunch, Doctors Temple and Stokes, and the primary cameraman that had been assigned to the team, Jose Berenguer, Lieutenant Colonel Almada and Joe climbed into several vehicles and started the drive south to the airport. There was a positive energy inside the vehicles as it raced down the road towards the town of Mariscal Estigarribia.

  “I've got to tell you, Joe, things are going well. It'd be hard to argue that they could be going any better at the moment." Doctor Temple commented. "In under two months we have made contact with an advanced alien species and started to earn their trust, and now we're on the path to helping them repair their ship. It's just incredible."

  Joe smiled as he watched the countryside race by. Almada was driving, and he always liked to push the Toyotas to their limit. Looking out to the right of the vehicle, Joe saw what he thought was a jaguar racing away from the road and into the forest, away from the road. Just as he was about to smile at nature's beauty and grace, a slight chest pain hit him, forcing him to grimace.

  Martin Almada noticed his comrades agony, "You okay, Joe? Want me to stop?"

  Both Doctor Stokes and Temple leant forward. "You're not looking so good there, Joe." Rhea commented.

  "Just a little indigestion." Joe managed a half smile, and looked back out of the window, with a line of sweat developing on his forehead. What the hell was that? The pain was gone, but there was a little tingling in his left arm, and he felt slightly out of breath. Joe was at the peak of his fitness, and he hated feeling weak, or vulnerable. "I'm all right." His words didn't even convince himself of his situation.

  By the time the convoy of vehicles reached the airport, the Gulfstream carrying the water was only five minutes from landing and was still under the escort of the flight of F-15s bringing with them some of the purest water found on the planet. A team of scientists in the US identified a glacier in Montana as a viable source, went there, and took away a huge chunk of ice. After melting it down, they filtered it a dozen times, then places it in a small glass vile before presenting it to the team that would take it down to Paraguay.

  Stepping out onto the tarmac, Joe spotted Colonel Willis, whose Raptors had saved the day over a month ago. Joe moved away from the trucks towards the fighter pilot who was accompanied by Captain Hollis. "Colonel!" Just as the last syllable left his mouth, the pain returned to his chest with the force of a brick hitting him. He brought his right hand up and clutched at his shirt as he started to feel light on his feet. Vision blurring, Joe could barely hear Rhea call out his name before everything turned black.

  13

  Ranix had been on the bridge listening to intercepted transmissions tracking the arrival of the aircraft carrying the water when an emergency broadcast was sent across the radio waves.

  "We need immediate medical assistance at the airport at once. Major Hunt is having a heart attack!"

  Ranix snapped up in the command chair and listened for the next transmission. Rais was at his position and turned to look at Ranix.

  "This is Tohil; we have a doctor en route, ETA, 50 minutes. Do you have any medical personnel closer?"

  "Negative!"

  Ranix had heard enough. "Rais, fire up the shuttle, we're going after him!" As Rais sprinted off the bridge, Ranix hit the communications system built into the command chair. "Doctor Prure, medical emergency, meet me at the shuttle at once!" He didn't bother to toggle the switch off; he just sprinted after Rais.

  The cramped corridors of the ship made it difficult to rush down them, but Ranix was used to the cramped conditions.

  As he reached the hangar bay, he was just in time to see the old Doctor Prure take a running jump out of the ship towards the shuttle, which was already coming to life.

  Hitting the ground hard, Ranix instinctively did a combat roll to absorb the shock, and sprung to his feet and raced the final ten metres to the shuttle's open side hatch. Sentinel Commander came running up to the shuttle having heard the transmission.

  "Is this a good idea, Comms-Off?"

  "Yes." Ranix hit the close button for the hatch, which slowly began to retract just as the shuttle began to lift higher off the ground. "How much time does he have?" Ranix asked the Prure.

  "Heart attacks for humans can be fatal, and without proper medical facilities, he could be brain dead in five to ten minutes."

  "Rais! Fly this fucking thing!" The Master Star Pilot smiled as his right hand clutched the flight stick while his left hand danced across the ship's controls.

  "Hold on!" The Jetties 24C might have been old, but it was made to be fast.

  14

  The American Command and Control Centre, as it was called, had spent the bulk of the morning preparing for the arrival of the aircraft from the US and the water when a radio call came in from a Brazilian Mirage 2000 that was flying the combat air patrol.

  "American Command, we've got an unidentified object departing the crash site moving towards your location at a very high speed."

  "What its position?" Major Mayhem was the officer who took the call.

  "It's following the road due south. It's travelling at close to Mach 5! It'll be on you in under two minutes."

  The Military Intelligence officer could not believe what he had just heard. He looked over at the two-star general that had taken command two weeks ago with a look of disbelief on his face.

  "Major, alert our security team. They might be making a play for the water."

  Three hundred yards away, a pair of Air Force medics were trying to save Joe Hunt's life. Huddled around the dying Army Major were the three people he was closest to, Rhea, Bobby, and Martin. Joe's eyes were closed, and he had a deep cut on his forehead from hitting the tarmac with great force. Colonel Willis and Captain Hollis were nearby, trying to understand why the only Air Force doctor had left on the last C-17 flight to the US the previous day, leaving the only doctor within 300 miles a consultant for Tohil, who was over 120 miles to the north.

  As the wind continued to blow across the runway gently, a loud roar could be heard coming from the north. Those that were on the runway looked to the sky to see a rectangular box-shaped object racing towards them.

  "What the hell is that?" Asked Colonel Willis.

  "It's the alien shuttlecraft." Replied Doctor Temple. He had seen the ship on numerous occasions resting next to the large vessel.

  "They're going awfully fast if they're planning on stopping here." Commented Captain Hollis just as the craft slowed quickly and landed twenty metres from where Joe was laying.

  Still in shock from the collapse of Major Hunt, and the appearance of the alien shuttlecraft, everyone around Joe's body stopped and stared as Ranix and Prure leapt from the shuttle, both wearing their blue, one-piece work uniforms and sprinted towards the group of humans.

  Doctor Prure reached the group first. He had a small metallic tube in his right hand with which he jabbed Joe's leg, much to the amazement of those watching that this creature from another world was doing something to their friend and colleague.

  "What the hell?" Demanded Colonel Hollis

  "If you want him to live, he must come with us, now!" The Doctor replied in Universal, which no one understood. Prure looked back at Ranix. "We don't have a translator."

 
Ranix stepped towards Prure. "Pick him up; they'll get the idea."

  As Ranix attempted to lift Joe from his arms, and Prure tried to lift his legs, Lieutenant Colonel Almada stepped in and helped with carrying Joe's body towards the shuttlecraft.

  "They're trying to save his life!" He yelled at the still stunned humans.

  Rhea went running after them. "I'm coming with you!"

  Rais hadn't moved from the controls and watched on in silence as Doctor Prure, and Ranix lay Joe's body on the bench at the rear of the shuttle, and just as the door was about to close, Doctor Stokes jumped into the craft and moved to Major Hunt's body, who appeared dead and unresponsive.

  "Hold on!" Rais yelled as he powered up the shuttle's engines, sending the craft skyward, and rocketing north, back towards the crash site.

  Doctor Prure went back to where Rhea was with Joe's body. He pulled a small, wand type device from a red box, and tapping a button on the top of the device, a blue mist extended from the rod, which was about 15 inches long, and as Doctor Prure waved the wand over Joe's chest, a three-dimensional model rose up from the mist, giving the Doctor an internal glance at what was going on inside Joe's heart.

  Tapping a communications device on his wrist, the Doctor radioed ahead to the ships medical laboratory. "This Prure, prepare one of the healing baths and programme it for a human."

  "Very well, Doctor."

  Rais had started to slow the craft as they got closer to the Epsilon. "We're coming in hot, so hold on."

  Ranix had already opened the side hatch on the shuttle when the shuttle was still twenty metres off the ground. He could see the Sentinel Commander waiting with a stretcher.

  In very quick order, Major Hunt's body was laid on the stretcher, then carried to the hanger by the mighty robot, who then climbed inside, and brought the stretcher as far as he could towards the medical bay before the corridor became too narrow to fit through, setting down the stretcher, which Ranix and Prure quickly picked up and moved down the passageway with Doctor Stokes trailing them.