Jesse's Starship (19 page)

“I guess Jagged Edge of Sanity doesn’t feel right.”

“Now I think you’re getting the point.”

“My birth certificate has Joseph Edward Sanchez Rollins. My parents called me Jose or Eduardo. Eduardo if I was in trouble.”

“You don’t look Spanish and you don’t have an accent.”

“That happens when you’re fifth generation United States Citizens. My father insisted I learn Spanish and refused to use my American name until I did. My mother’s maiden name was Smith. Her mother’s maiden name was Sanchez.”

“So Jes is actually your initials.”

“That’s how my friend came up with it so fast.”

“Do you speak Spanish?”

“Fluently, my mother and Father were adamant about it and would often go weeks without speaking English. They felt it would be a huge asset when I went out to find a job.”

“I only speak English.”

Jess looked up, “Peter.”

“Yes.”

“How many Earth languages are in your databanks?”

“Fifteen.”

“Could you transfer Spanish to Elle?”

“I’ve never done that before. However, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.”

Elle sat up straight, “Pete, could you transfer the language used by the aliens.”

“The process would be the same.”

Jess shook his head, “You constantly amaze me.”

“We need it.”

“I know, I know; I just didn’t think of it. Pete transfer both of them to Elle and transfer the Alien language to me.”

“Jess, I have three different versions of Spanish in my databanks.”

Jess laughed, “Alright, give me both of them.” They reclined their chairs and Elle held Jess’ hand as the transfer began. She was still holding it when they opened their eyes.

Jess moved his chair vertically and said, “Pete, how did that alien make himself look human?” Elle looked at Jess with a frown.

“That was done through a device that built the structure around him. It’s actually an energy field that feels solid.”

“Could we be made to look like one of the aliens?”

“Which one?”

“The ones at the prison.”

“Those are the same species as the one that died on your planet. They’re called Neman and to answer your question, the device has their structure loaded into it.”

Elle frowned, “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that perhaps instead of fighting our way into that prison, we just walk in and take a look around.”

“You haven’t given up on going after your family?”

“I’ll never do that; however, I need to know if they’re alive before I can make any long range plans. You need to know as well.”

“The Neman have the largest settlement satellite. The plans show a large section of it is designed to house oxygen breathers.”

“We need to go take a look, Elle.”

“You may want to delay going.”

“Why?”

“Hetzel is there now questioning the humans.”

“Who is Hetzel?”

“He’s the one in command of the Q ships. It’s been him you’ve been hearing since you lifted from your planet.”

“How many Q ships are at that facility?”

“I have no way of knowing without going and taking a look.”

“Do they normally keep a Q ship there?”

“No, that facility has little intrinsic value.”

“Then his ship may be the only one there.”

“That is a suggestion that is supported by normal procedures; but these are not normal times.”

“Why not?”

“One of your species now controls a Q ship; I suspect the interest in humans at the facility may be higher than normal.”

Jess looked at Elle and after a moment said, “We need to have answers to several issues. We need to know if the dark energy prevents you being detected. We need to know if our family members are at that facility. We also need to see if your weapons are decidedly more powerful. We can answer some of those by going there.”

“Are you prepared to fire on any Q ships in the system?”

“No that will be a last resort; however, I do hope you can get one of them to fire on us.”

Elle said, “Oh hell no.”

“Elle, Pete said at the beginning that one ship can’t harm him; right. Pete?”

“That is correct.”

“He should be able to determine how much his force field is increased by measuring the effect of the shot; right, Pete.”

“Yes, but there might be one problem.”

“What is that?”

“If they don’t see or detect me; how are they going to fire at me?” Jess looked at Elle and began rubbing his face to the top of his head with both hands. Pete said, “Let me work on that; it may not be an issue if I’m detected.”

“What about the exhaust tubes?”

“That would do it.”

Jess looked at Elle, “What about the exhaust tubes?”

“Remember when he converted a small amount of Dark Matter to energy it blew out of the exhaust tubes and shoved the ship.” Jess nodded. “That blast blew beyond the force field. They should be able to see that.”

“Pete, would that go through your force field if it was at full power?”

“The force field is like a one way mirror. It stops things from penetrating but allows energy and physical objects to go through. That’s how I fire my beams.”

“Well, I guess we need to go take a look.”

Elle nodded, “Pete, don’t go in so close you can’t run.”

“That is the word for the day.”

Jess said, “What.”

“Run.”

• • •

Mike came in over the trees and saw the large C-47 Chinook in the clearing with its rotors still spinning. He landed a hundred yards from the huge chopper and turned off the engines. He kept his night vision glasses on and moved slowly toward the three men standing next to a giant illuminated X. Seals began dropping in from the night sky and landing on the X. Most of them hit it dead center and ran away pulling their chutes into a bundle.

• • •

The Seal Captain watched his boys land and felt pride at their skill. He knew how good they were and what he was about to do weighed heavily on him. He waited until all of them landed and formed up into ranks and said, “At ease. All platoons, pair off with your partners.” The eight platoons of sixteen seals lined up into two lines. “I am going to give you orders and you will not question them, you will do as ordered. Sit down and face your partner.” The Seals wondered what was going on and they followed the Captain’s orders. “Now, I want you to look your partner in the eye and keep you full attention on him.” Captain Dunbar watched and saw the platoons not moving. “There is an organization in the forces of the United States who are planning the overthrow of our government.” Dunbar waited a moment and said, “If your partner was not shocked by what I just said, raise your hand.” Sixteen hands went slowly up.

“The partner of the ones with raised hands will fall out and come forward.” The sixteen Seals stared at their partners as they slowly stood up and moved into a single file in front of the formation.

Mike moved around the Chinook and was confronted by the pilot. He held up a plastic badge to the pilot and he studied it. Mike put his finger to his lips and the pilot nodded.

• • •

Captain Dunbar faced the sixteen Seals in front of him and said, “You have given your oath to defend our country and the Constitution. You swore this and that oath has been kept by all our brothers that have gone into harm’s way to protect our nation. Now you are going to have to decide if that oath and the promises to your brothers here mean more than your allegiance to the ones that have turned you. How many of you are part of this conspiracy and will you stand with us when we go to remove it?”

A Petty Officer in the line stepped forward and the one standing next to him reached to stop him. He shook the hand off his arm and said, “I stand with my brothers.”

“Sailor, how many are in our unit?”

“Twenty, Sir.”

“Who is not standing here?”

The private said, “Lieutenant Snow, Barnes, James and Adams, Sir.”

Dunbar stared at the Lieutenant standing next to him and said, “Join them, Captain.” He looked out at his unit and said, “The others named will join this group.”

The Lieutenant moved into the line and suddenly pulled a gun and aimed it at the Captain. A shot rang out and a hole was punched through the Lieutenant’s forehead and out the back of his skull. His eyes went wide and he fell backwards. Captain Dunbar turned around and saw Mike walking forward with a nickel coated handgun pointed at the line. He yelled, “First platoon, search the line for weapons with live ammunition.” Twelve Seals rushed forward and removed the Seal’s weapons. Six of them had weapons with live ammunition. Dunbar looked at the other thirteen and said, “What, you didn’t get the order to come armed?”

A Seal stepped forward and said, “I received the order, Sir; but I will never do anything that would harm my brothers.”

Mike turned to the Seals and said, “Lay all of your weapons on the ground.” The Captain stared at Mike but remained silent. Mike moved into the center of the units and said, “The left hand rank will eject the magazines and determine if any of your partner’s weapons carried live ammunition.”

Suddenly, one of the Seals tried to pick up his machine pistol. His partner kicked him in the head knocking him head over heels. The Seal bent down and said, “This one has a live clip, Sir.”

Dunbar looked at Mike, “They had to have a mole none of the others knew about.” Mike nodded. The Captain turned to the thirteen who had come without live ammunition and said, “Can you be trusted to keep your oaths?”

A tall Seal said, “Sir, they have threatened my family if I betray them.”

Mike said, “Did you bring it?” Dunbar looked at him and nodded. “Please set it up.”

Dunbar looked at his two senior Chiefs and nodded toward the Chinook. The Chiefs pulled a huge monitor out of the landing bay and plugged it into an outlet inside the giant helicopter. Mike walked over to the monitor and plugged a long cable into it and then into his cell phone. He looked at the Captain and nodded. The Seal Commander said, “Assemble in front of the monitor. The seals moved forward in an orderly manner and the Captain looked at the nineteen standing in line, “That also means you.” The twenty seals moved over and stood in a group away from the other Seals.

Mike looked at the most elite fighting force on the planet. He stared at them for a minute and said, “A little over a month ago, a spaceship in the Arizona desert shot down four Raptors and an Apache. I’m going to show you the video of that event. Please hold your questions.” The Seals watched the video in silence and when the force field flashed and they saw the spaceship under it, they all looked quickly at their commander who nodded. The video ended and Mike turned to them. “Those aliens were here to find one of their species who had not reported in. A young man I met managed to hijack the dead alien’s spaceship and leave the planet. That ship you saw in the video was here to collect that ship. There’re many more details I’m not going into; I want to give you the big picture. That young man has discovered that the alien that died in the desert was ordered to destroy our planet as soon as he lifted his ship.” Mike heard the sudden intake of breaths among the Seals.

Mike said, “I was pulled in by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to answer questions. I had asked a satellite operator to keep an eye on that location to make sure my friend wasn’t in any danger. That’s what led to my arrest and being taken to the War Room to answer questions.

The Chiefs decided to attack the ship that shot down the Raptors and Apache. There were two of those ships above the planet and they launched a nuclear missile at both of them. The two ships didn’t even try to avoid them. The missiles hit the two ships and had zero effect on them. Those alien ships then blasted everything in orbit including the international Space Station. They are still above the planet as we speak.”

“Why haven’t they done it?”

Mike looked at the Seal standing with the traitors who asked the question and said, “The young man who managed to hijack one of their ships has threatened to start destroying their planets if they destroy Earth. At the moment, they appear to be taking that threat seriously.”

“Do you honestly think they could destroy an entire planet?”

“It’s apparent those in your organization don’t think so.”

“They’re a clear danger to us; we have to stop them.”

Mike stared at the Seal. He pressed a button on his phone and a beautiful planet appeared on the monitor. Mike looked at the Seals, “I think all of you can clearly see that this planet is not Earth. The young man sent me this image and said that this planet used nuclear weapons in war. Take a good look at it gentlemen.” Mike pressed another button and the blasted, airless rock floating in space appeared, “This is that planet now.” The Seals were shocked into silence. Mike said, “Whatever weapon they used, blasted the planet’s crust and blew the atmosphere into space. Every living thing on it died.”

Mike turned to the Seal who had said his family was in danger. “Sailor, you won’t have a family if this happens; none of you will.” He then looked at the Seal who had challenged him, “We hit their ships dead center with a twenty megaton nuclear missile and didn’t faze them. Please tell me what other weapon we possess that is more powerful to use against them?” Mike stared at the Seal and he remained silent. “There is not a weapon more powerful than a nuclear warhead. If those don’t work against them, what will? Answer me, Sailor.”

Adams started shaking his head, “They didn’t tell me they had attacked them.”

“They did and they failed. So if the military doesn’t have any means of endangering the aliens, why are they trying to take power and over throw our government?”

Adams stared at Mike and said, “They’re insane and refuse to believe it.”

Mike turned to the Colonel, “Well, at least they selected one of the brightest from your unit.”

Adams looked at Mike, “You’re saying there’s nothing we can do to stop this from happening?”

“I was told that if our planet disposed of our nuclear weapons and disarmed, they could not destroy us.”

Adams smirked, “Oh, is that all?”

“Sailor, that will be the most difficult task you will ever take on. However, if your organization succeeds, our destruction is assured.”