Talosian Chronicles 2: Star Dancer (19 page)

“Do they understand the necessity of that? Will it affect their morale if we don’t have the ceremony?” Ian asked.

John nodded. “They know, and none of them are expecting a ceremony. I think it is actually helping their morale in a way, we’re going to let them fight because they’re so good they didn’t even need to graduate!”

Ian chuckled. “Leave it to pilots to think of that. Okay John, have a good evening,” Ian said shaking the big man’s hand.

“You too Sir.”

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T
alos, New Mexico

Earth, Sol Sector

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A
s the sun was setting, Ty stood on a high hill and looked out of the empty plain toward the border of the property. This was the far back corner of the property that bordered White Sands. Far out in the distance, he could see the posts that marked the boundary, and served as the shield anchors for this part of the community. He knew each of the posts had warning signs on them even though from this distance he couldn’t actually see them.

“What are you lookin’ for Boss? Ain’t no one out here for miles and miles,” his driver, Steve said.

“I’m looking for the mines you’ve spent the last week planting. I want to make damn sure they aren’t visible,” Ty replied.

“Hell, boss, let’s just drive out there. I swear, you’d have a hard time finding them even with a map and metal detector!” Steve replied, proud of the job he and his team had done.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea right at the moment, Steve, I ordered them turned on so I could see if there were any signatures detectable. I mean, if you want to drive out there and show me where a few of them are, you’re more than welcome to,” Ty replied grinning. He kept looking through the multi-spectral binocs for energy signatures.

“Uh, no, that’s okay, I’ll stay right here with you,” Steve replied. “Mines have always given me the creeps. I really don’t want to see what this type is capable of.”

“Have you ever heard of something called a black hole, Steve?” Ty asked.

Steve shrugged. “It’s like a black star or something isn’t it?”

“Kinda, it’s what’s left of a star that collapses. It creates such a strong gravity field that not even light can get away from it. So it appears black.” Ty replied. “What those mines you hide out there do is something like that only on a much, much smaller scale. They also won’t last for more than a couple of seconds. So it won’t have time to hurt anything other than what set it off.”

“So it doesn’t explode?” Steve asked.

“No, it doesn’t,” Ty replied. “It creates a ‘hole’ in reality that sucks stuff into it.”

“Well, what happens to the stuff that gets sucked into the hole?” Steve asked earnestly.

Ty shrugged and finally lowered the glasses. “No one knows. Nothing has ever survived passage through the hole to the other side to report back,”

“What happens if a guy steps on it?” Steve asked.

“That person will have a very short, very bad day. It will also be their last one,” Ty replied. “Come on, let’s get back, I’m getting hungry.”

“You’re always hungry,” Steve said. Giving one last look over his shoulder at the mine field, the man shivered. “I always thought chemical or biological weapons would be a horrible way to die.”

“Those are still pretty horrible, Steve,” Ty said. “New tech always brings new ways to kill a person.”

“Sometimes I think I getting too old for this shit, Boss.”

“We all are, Steve. Now come on, or I’ll drive,” Ty threatened.

“Oh hell no! I want to get back in one piece!” Steve replied and climbed into the driver’s seat. “You drive like your fuckin’ insane!”

Ty used his command interface to deactivate the mine field. “Just don’t take any short cuts, smart ass. Deactivated or not, I really don’t feel like driving through one of these fields.” What Ty didn’t tell the nervous man was that there was no safe route though the field, the whole area was mined, and Ty had only activated part of it. They were driving through it at that very moment. “Control, this is Grazer six, we’re returning to base.”

“Roger Grazer six, we’ll leave the night light on for you,” the control center replied.

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F
.S.S. Star Dancer

Selene (Earth’s moon) Orbit

Sol Sector.

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“D
o you have a minute, Ian?” Jenny asked from the door to his ready room.

“Sure Babe, what’s up?” he asked.

“Well, a few days ago, I asked for a probe that I could use to trace the Trans-Atlantic oil pipeline. After we got one modified for the task, I had one of the shuttles drop it off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, which is the western end of the pipeline. Since I knew it would take a while to cover the entire pipeline, I set up a search program and turned it loose. Well, it still hasn’t made it all the way to Calais, France, but I think it found something pretty significant,” Jenny said taking a seat in front of his desk.

“Go on,” Ian said, getting interested.

“She touched her ever-present panel and the big monitor on the wall came to live with a map of the Atlantic Ocean. Cutting across the Ocean, was a small red line denoting the path of the underwater pipeline.

“During the night last night, the probe crossed the Northern Mid-Atlantic trench. Going over one of the deeper side trenches, the pipeline is anchored to the summit of a small undersea mountain named Neptune’s Massif. I believe there is a Caldarian Base somewhere in this vicinity.

“The probe detected a thirty-seven percent drop in pipeline volume after passing that anchor point. The water there has no trace of pollutants in it, so there isn’t a leak. Nor is there any sign of a spill anywhere near the anchor station. However, unlike most other anchor stations, the one here at the massif is actually cut into the mount, and the pipe set into the notch in the rock. The probe tells me there is a T-junction at this anchor point, and some of the oil is being diverted from the pipeline.

“I did not have the probe investigate any further since it had no stealth abilities at all, and as it was, I was risking the Caldarians detecting it. So, I ordered it to continue on checking the pipeline like it was only an inspection drone,” Jenny finished. “I think they hid the Caldarian base down in that trench.”

“Not the calmest part of the ocean to put a base.” Ian replied, looking thoughtful.

“At this depth, that isn’t a really big issue. However, it is positioned perfectly for using the northern magnetic pole as an exit and entry vector for those freighters. If we can pull it off, I would recommend we send a passive probe down the trench to scan for the base. We wouldn’t be able to get a complete picture of the base, but at least we’d know where it was located,” Jenny suggested.

“Under normal circumstances, I’d agree with you. But because of the impending arrival, I think we need to hold off. Those resources could be used in another area. However, we’ll operate on the assumption that you’re correct about the location of the base. Depending on how this fight goes, we might need to pay it a visit before all is said and done. We’ll have to be very careful though, the potential for a major oil spill is very high, and that is far too deep for modern Earth cleanup efforts to be effective,” Ian explained. “I’d like you to shelve this project for now and work on something I heard about a while ago. Steph mentioned someone on the moon base working on a combat drone that carried more firepower than a hover tank. I haven’t had the time to look into this, could you do it?”

“Sure,” Jenny replied. “It sounds interesting as hell; what do you need done?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t know anything about it. So if you would, please find out what it is, and if it something we can use in the coming fight. If the designer needs anything we can give him, I’d like to get it for him, provided it doesn’t take anything away from another project,” Ian explained.

Jenny nodded understanding. “I’ll give Steph a call, and see what she was talking about. I’ll get back to you as soon as I have something.” She rose and began moving towards the door. “Is there anything else you’d like me to look into?”

“Just vet those new rifles Ty told us about. I trust him completely, but I’d like one of us to try to stay somewhat current on the technology being developed around us,” Ian said grinning.

She chuckled. “I think that might be more than either of us can handle!” She said before letting the door close behind her.

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F
alls Church, Virginia

North American Continent

Earth (Sol III) Sol Sector.

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B
ack in his hotel room, Alan sighed and began to relax. He almost jumped out of his skin when Star addressed him over the comm unit. He’d forgotten it was still open.

“What is your opinion on what we found tonight, Agent Carlson?” Star asked.

“There is definitely some weird shit going on. I don’t think that office has anything to do with National Security, but it is posing as being part of the Intel community. The orders for the attacks on Talos originated here, we found the proof of that, but we still don’t have a person to connect them too. The thing I am most curious about, is why there is a pin stuck in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on that map we saw. What’s out there?” Alan finished.

“Colonel Williams has been doing some investigation into the missing crude oil that is supposed to be coming to this country...” Star began.

“Yeah, she sent me a file on that. I thought she was going to drop it,” Alan interrupted.

“I think her curiosity got the best of her; she sent a probe to follow the pipeline. The place that pin represents is the location where she thinks the oil is being removed from the pipeline. There is a large booster station there. The location is rather deep, and there is a very deep trench very close to it. If the Caldarians were to steal oil from that pipeline that would be the most ideal place for it to happen.”

Alan looked thoughtful for a moment. “How deep are we talking? How difficult would it be to build a base down there without anyone noticing it?”

“Given what I know of Caldarian technology, it would be a relatively easy matter to construct a base there. Caldarians can tolerate pressure far easier than humans can. The trench is easily large enough to maneuver ships the size of the freighters into and out of. Given all the information you have uncovered, as well as what Colonel Williams has discovered, I would say that we have located the site of the Caldarian Base on Earth.”

“Okay, so now what? We can’t get to it, and even if we could, any fighting down there could damage the pipeline, and we’d have a huge oil spill,” Alan replied.

“We can get to it, but your concerns are valid. I would recommend returning to Talos or Selene and await further orders. I would say you have gone about as far as you could go there,” Star replied.

Alan sighed. “Alright, I’ll get some sleep and get on a plane for New Mexico later today.”

“I’ll send a shuttle for you,” Star said. “The Commander might want to talk to you.”

“What time do you need me to be ready to go?” Alan asked.

“Would fourteen hundred at Ronald Reagan International be good?” Star asked.

“Perfect, just let me know what gate, and I’ll be there with bells on.”

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F
.S.S. Star Dancer

Selene (Earth’s moon) Orbit

Sol Sector.

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I
an took a break from reading the seemingly endless reports and opened the weekly ‘newspaper’ published by the young people of Talos. He was surprised by seeing an announcement of the progress of a contest to name the ‘model moon base’ on display at the community center. The article said that the contest was now closed, and the winner would be notified by Dr. Punjab. Ian grinned when he realized that someone had built a model of the moon base and put it on display in the community center. He wondered if they kept it up-to-date with all the refinements and improvements being done there.

Another article announced the new arrivals to the community and where they would be posted. He was proud of the young people in that some of the postings or the person’s posting location was listed as classified. They were censoring themselves without him or anyone else asking them to.

Ian was surprised to see a status report on Tommy’s condition. There was a brief note asking folks to please stop sending flowers, because there was no longer space to store them, however, cards and notes were still welcome.

The Talos Research Committee issued an announcement that all experiments of a volatile or potentially volatile nature be suspended until further notice. It further said that all research personnel were strongly encouraged to attend the weekly barbeque with their families for safety reasons. No explanation was given about the danger the committee was concerned about.

There was a brief announcement that the weekly barbeque would be moved to the park beside the community center. The notice explained that new location was being used because it was closer to the emergency shelter access for the community. Again, no mention was made of why the relocation was necessary, but Ian assumed it was because everyone knew that the Caldarians were due to arrive during that weekly event. The last line implored everyone topside to attend this event unless duty bound to remain elsewhere.

The Energy Department issued a warning that residential power systems might be restricted in the event of an emergency. The announcement was made with the standard power and utility consumption report for the community as a whole, and was mixed in with a basic breakdown of what services use what amount of power and water.

There were a few articles covering advancements made in the new environmental systems that the researchers were working on that would eventually be made available to the public at large, as well as a status report on getting the new hydrogen vehicle engines out to the public. The United States had once again managed to block production pending several environmental impact studies on the emissions of the engine. (There was very little emitted, and that was in the form or hydrogen and oxygen, both obviously deadly gasses in the eyes of the government.)