Ancient Birthright (49 page)

Three hands went up. “Colonel, we’d like to stay here and help. We’re all dating one of the Merrimen girls and want to make sure they’re okay here.”

Two others stepped forward. “We’ll stay too,” the taller of the two said. “We think this is the chance of a lifetime. Reedn told us they have Internet access so we can keep in touch with our families.”

Striker walked over to Beldon and Bitman. “I’ll travel back to Earth with you and give Reedn some company on the way back to the Moon,”

“Happy to have you. I need to call my command post and find out what’s happening at NRAO, and the condition of the wounded,” Bitman said. “Let’s get on the ship and head back to Earth.” He led the way to
Jerrod
and climbed the stairs. Beldon and Saigg followed to say good-bye.

Reedn was already on the ship in the pilot’s couch.

“
Jerrod
, can you connect me with the command post at NRAO?”

“The connection is ready, Colonel Bitman,”
Jerrod
said.

“This is Colonel Bitman. What is the situation there and what is the condition of the wounded?”

“Colonel, this is Major Wills, the Duty Officer. The agents have finished their search and found nothing. The DHS and FBI personnel have all left the facility, so it’s only our people here. The two minor wounds have been treated in the field, and the more serious head wound is just arriving at the base hospital facility. I’ll know more about her condition in a few minutes.”

“Major, in an hour I want a two-hundred foot square of level desert cordoned off near the antenna maintenance track. We’ll be landing there, and only be on the ground long enough to deplane.”

When they were ready to leave, Dantee and Tuuan ran up carrying their spacesuits, “Can we go with you?”

Beldon saw Saigg’s skeptical expression, but he finally agreed they could go.

Chapter-60

“General McAlister, The laser’s charged and ready. We have the latest tracking data from NORAD in the targeting computer. The power of the laser through the atmosphere will be diminished by fourteen percent since the target has altered course toward Mars and we will be shooting at a more oblique angle,” the Staff Sergeant said sitting at the firing console of the terrestrially mounted ALS.

“What’s our firing window?”

“NORAD says we’re clear of all satellites and space debris starting in two minutes. The window will stay open for twenty-three point seven minutes. We will have to wait almost two hours for the next clear window after that.”

“How did the tests go with the larger focusing lens?”

“Beam spread was reduced by almost fifty percent. It should be more than enough to compensate for the increased atmospheric diffusion.”

“Very good, as soon as the commit order comes in, begin firing at maximum power as long as the firing window is open,” McAlister said.

A young Airman walked up and handed General McAlister a frag order.

“This is it. Staff Sergeant, open fire.”

A column of nearly invisible light appeared at the focal point of the collimating lens and flashed into space. The video feed from the optical telescope housed in the next building showed no change in the target.

“Wait for it, it takes a few minutes for the beam to get there and the same time for the image to get back to Earth,” McAlister explained.

The displayed target sparkled as portions of it flashed into incandescent light energy from the power in the laser beam. What they couldn’t see was the reflected beam returning toward Earth from the corner reflectors. Miles out in the desert, shrubs and grass flashed to charcoal as the reflected beam slowly walked across the landscape. The Earth’s rotation moved the impact point away from the firing laser due to the transmission and reflected beam travel time.

“Coming up on the end of the firing window, General,” reported the Staff Sergeant.

General McAlister glued his eyes to the view from the optical telescope display. He was seeing large glowing sections of the target flake off as the laser fired. “Keep firing, we’ve almost got him.”

“But Sir, the firing window has expired.”

McAlister turned from the video screen. “Keep firing. NORAD always adds a safety factor into these windows. Give it another minute.”

“Yes, sir.”

“CEASE FIRE, CEASE FIRE,” boomed over the intercom. “This is NORAD Command to ALS unit. CEASE FIRE, you are beyond your firing window.”

The Staff Sergeant flipped the firing button off.

“I didn’t tell you to stop firing Sergeant,” yelled McAlister.

“Sir, NORAD Command ordered us to cease fire.”

“I’m your commanding officer, not NORAD. A few more seconds and the target would have been destroyed. The President gave me, ME, the task of destroying this target, and I’m not going to let him down.”

”General McAlister, this is NORAD Command, pick up the direct line.”

McAlister stomped over to the red phone on his desk and snatched the handset from the cradle.

“This is General McAlister.”

“General McAlister, you are ordered to report to NORAD Command without delay and bring a recording of all activity in your command post over the last two hours.”

“What the hell is this about? We have a mission, ordered directly by the President of the United States.”

“Yes, General, but those orders did not authorize you to destroy the International Space Station. We have received a mayday claiming the station is under attack by a high-powered Earth-based laser. They have reported three international scientists killed, and have lost pressurization in eighty percent of the station. The remaining personnel have taken refuge in the only remaining module not destroyed by your unit’s laser fire, laser fire that continued well beyond the authorized window. They are without power, and the remaining personnel will die of exposure to temperature extremes within several hours. Your unit has been decertified and is ordered to go into lockdown. No one is to leave the facility other than you.”

Chapter-61

At the last minute, Saigg decided to go back to Earth with Colonel Bitman and his team. He asked
Jerrod
to provide a couch behind the three small ones the children occupied.

Saigg looked around to make sure everyone was seated, and all equipment stowed.
Jerrod
had provided gun racks for the rifles and drawers for the side arms. Saigg realized that someone had shown the passengers how to request food and drink, since most of the soldiers held disposacups, and a few were tentatively trying various cakes.

“Are we ready to go?” Saigg asked.

“
Jerrod
reports all systems ready. Colonel Bitman assures me he and his men are ready,” Reedn told his dad.

“Let’s go.”

“
Jerrod
, take us to Earth. The installation called the National Radio Astronomy Observatory fifty miles west of Socorro, New Mexico,” Reedn ordered.

“Yes, Command Prime Reedn, time in route fifty-eight point nine minutes.”

Thirty minutes later, “Prime, I’m picking up an unusual energy spectrum being transmitted from Earth. It’s coming from an area not too far from our landing point.”

“Display the origin on screen and analyze the energy spectrum,” Reedn ordered.

“The location of the emissions is on the display screen. The energy is a pulsed coherent beam aimed at a small PTO ship approaching Mars. Ninety-six percent of the energy is being reflected back along the line of transmission.”

“Hey, that’s Kirtland and the Starfire facility. I was stationed there before being transferred to NRAO,” one of the security team said. “They didn’t have a laser system installed when I was there.”

The group on
Jerrod
watched in silence as the beam continued to radiate from Earth. A few minutes from touchdown
Jerrod
announced, “The energy beam is beginning to strike an orbital facility.”

The main display jumped and showed a display of the ISS. Pieces of the station glowed bright red and melted as the beam sliced through the solar panels and continued onto the hull of the pressurized sections. A burst of vapor expanded from the ISS as the pressure hull breached. The end of one of the scientific modules was sliced off, and debris escaped. The souls on
Jerrod
watched in horror as two severed bodies floated out of the damaged module.

The laser beam snapped off just before it reached the last module, but the damage was devastating and rendered the ISS just another floating piece of space junk.

“Prepare for landing,”
Jerrod
said.

#

“
Jerrod
, patch me into the command post at NRAO.”

“Communications online, Colonel.”

“NRAO Command, this is Colonel Bitman, have all nonessential medical personnel report to the landing point ASAP. Have them come prepared to treat multiple victims with extensive injuries.”

“The hospital has been alerted and all available personnel are responding. What happened to you and your men? How many causalities do you have, Colonel?”

“It’s not us. The ISS has taken a direct laser hit and been destroyed. We’re going to see if anyone is still alive.”

“I don’t understand, Colonel. How are you going to do that?”

“The ship transporting us has the capability for the mission.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jerrod
touched down, and the hatch opened. The security detail jumped from the couches and began grabbing their weapons. When they turned around all the couches had melted back into the floor and the way was clear to the hatch. Colonel Bitman stood beside the hatch waving them through.

“Help the medical personnel get their supplies aboard,” Bitman ordered the security team.

Within minutes, doctors and nurses climbed the access stairs with surprise and awe showing on their faces. More than one came to a complete stop blocking the hatch when they caught sight of the four luzzons sitting at the front of the ship.

“Stack the equipment along the rear bulkhead then move out of the way so
Jerrod
can secure it,” Bitman ordered the personnel.

“I’m sorry Saigg. I didn’t think to ask you or
Jerrod
if you would help us with the rescue mission.”

“I’m not the one you need to ask Colonel. Reedn is Command Prime.”

“Of course, we’ll help,” Reedn and
Jerrod
, said simultaneously.

“
Jerrod
, do you have a way of docking with the International Space Station?”

“My exterior is completely adaptive. I have the plans and dimensions for a universal docking ring in the data I downloaded from the
Universe Explorer
.”

“That’s everything, Colonel. Do you want me or any of my men to come with you?” asked the sergeant in charge of the security detail.

“See if you can find two volunteers. We may need the man power if we run into structural damage.”

Sergeant Wainwright stuck his head out of the hatch and yelled, “I need another volunteer to go on the rescue mission.”

Every man and woman on the ground rushed toward the stairs.

“Airman Mays,” Bitman said.

Wainwright yelled, “Airman Mays, disarm and come aboard. You’ve been on the ship before so take over the medical staff and get them settled.”

Mays was six-four and weighed 230 pounds. He’d played college football as a defensive end before joining the Air Force. He handed his rifle and equipment belt to the man standing next to him, before pushing through the crowd around the stairs. His toned muscles bulged when he bounded up the steps and joined the other passengers in the rear of
Jerrod
.

“
Jerrod
we need couches for all standing personnel,” Mays said.

“Please move back,”
Jerrod
ordered the people on the ground as he prepared to liftoff.

Couches formed out of the floor, and Mays directed everyone to take a seat.

“Once you are in the air
Jerrod
, could you replay the last few minutes of the ISS disaster?”

“Yes, Colonel.”

Video screens appeared on the cabin sidewalls, and the events of the laser cutting through the ISS played for the benefit of the medical personnel.

“This happened just minutes before we landed,” Bitman explained. “The laser beam was coming from Kirtland’s Starfire facility. The laser was targeting a small ship headed to Mars. For some reason the installation continued to fire, even after the ISS’s orbit took it into the beam’s path. From what I’ve seen, I believe there may still be people alive in the last module of the station.’

We are going to find out if that is true, and if it is, we’ll make every effort to rescue them. Since we have a few minutes until we catch up with what remains of the ISS, I want to introduce you to the others on-board. In the Command Prime’s chair is Reedn and to his left is his sister Dantee and on the other side is Tuuan. Reedn and Dantee’s father, Saigg, is directly behind them. An explanation of where they come from and what they are doing here will have to wait until we have completed our rescue.”

“Colonel, you and Airman Mays are talking to the ship. Can anyone do it?” asked a doctor with a nametag that read Andrews.

“I’ll let
Jerrod
answer that,” Bitman said.

“My name is
Jerrod
and yes, anyone can speak to me or ask for items as long as it doesn’t interfere with my mission or endanger others on board.”

“So if we need an operating table and lights, you can provide them?” Andrews asked.

“Please describe what it is you need.”

“A table approximately seven feet long and three and a half wide that can be raised and lowered as necessary. In addition, we will need a defused source of light over the table that can be moved to highlight any area of a patient as necessary.”

“Will you require visual display of the area of interest and magnification of portions of the treatment area?”

“That would be very useful.”

“Very well, if you will look to the rear of the cabin you will see my interpretation of what you have described,”
Jerrod
said.

A pedestal grew from the floor and expanded into a flat table surface. At the same time, an articulated arm extended from the ceiling and began emitting a bright but defused light.