Legacy of the Guardians
by AJ Marks
Part 23
Captain Ahmed drummed his fingers on the armrest of the command chair. The Moscow was on patrol in the neutral zone. The Moscow had quickly finished repairs from the last battle, which had been light. They docking bays went after the lightly damaged ships first before going to work on ships more seriously damaged. The new engine had been placed in the ship after the previous repairs, and the additional ten percent of power output had been welcomed in that last battle.
His patrol squad had only arrived on station yesterday, relieving the third patrol group. They were on duty for two weeks, and his group would be replaced by the second patrol squadron. He had read the latest reports from intelligence, and reports from the fleet. They all read the same, no known movement from the Skartians since their defeat a week ago.
The news did not settle well with Ahmed. He felt anxious, waiting for something to happen. He felt sure that the Skartians would not stay quiet for long before they tried something else. That had been a weakness they exploited during the war. The Skartians inability to be patient, and he hoped this time patience paid off again.
“Captain, transmission from an unknown source is being intercepted,” the communications officer said, bringing Ahmed out of his thoughts.
He stood walking over to the communications station to see for himself. Quickly looking he confirmed that a strong transmission was indeed heading towards Earth, and knew that information was not good. The last time such transmissions were intercepted the World Trade Center was attacked followed by an invasion force.
“Get me Independence Station at once,” Ahmed ordered, watching the communications officer go to work. In a few minutes he had someone at the station.
“This is Captain Franks of Independence Station,” a male said.
“This is Captain Ahmed of the first patrol squad,” Ahmed said.
“Yes captain?”
“We might have a problem, we’ve intercepted a high-powered transmission towards the direction of Earth, and it seemed to be from the Skartian territory,” Ahmed said, watching Captain Frank think about that for a second before looking off-screen. He wondered who Frank was talking to, and slightly surprised when Admiral Cave appeared.
“Were you able to record the signal?” Jack asked, to which Ahmed quickly affirmed they had. “Good, send it to the intelligence department. I’m going to send a few more patrol ships your way. I want the Skartians to know they won’t be allowed to waltz into our space again without us knowing about it. Continue monitoring the neutral zone.”
“Yes sir,’ Ahmed replied, as the communications ended. He turned looking over at the communications officer, who confirmed he had sent the file off to the intelligence office for analysis. “Let me know if you run across anything else. Anyone operating the scanners, keep a sharp eye out for any movement. We don’t want to be taken off guard again. Inform the rest of the group as well.”
“Should we be secretive?”
“No, let’s make sure they know we’re watching this time,” Ahmed replied, thinking about what the admiral said.
He watched his crew head back to work, and went back to the command chair, knowing he had a good crew. He would wait and see what the Skartians might do next.
*****
Jack thought about what Ahmed told him, and it concerned him. He knew the Skartians were up to something this time, but what was the question. There had been silence since they had defeated their fleet last week, and he knew that it would not last forever, but it was nice while it lasted.
He thought about the report Randall sent as well. The Skartian Ambassador still had yet to be heard from since war had been declared. Jack was bothered by that fact as well, especially considering the Skartians seemed to have abandoned the council. If they had, what else were they thinking about doing?
“Sir, Admiral Dinen is on the line for you,” his secretary said to him, breaking him out of his musings.
“Put him through,” Jack said, watching George appear on the screen. “What can I do for you George?”
“I have a slight problem concerning one of my men in the elite forces,” George said. “Captain Sam Uliki has yet to return from his time off.”
Jack took a few second to recall the name. “Ah, you mean the one who wanted all that information about Marcus Johansson?” Jack asked, getting an affirmative from George. “Damn, he’s one of your best agents, wonder what happened to him?”
“I don’t know, only that this isn’t in his character. He’s usually on-time, and very aware of it,” George said. “I think something might have happened to him, he is close to the Middle East.”
“Find out his last known location and put out an alert to the locals, they might know something,” Jack said.
“That’s what I thought, already on that, but I wanted to inform you of what’s going on in case you say that alert,” George said.
“Okay, hopefully we find him soon,” Jack said, watching George nod, then end the call.
Things were getting too strange. He wanted some answers, and hoped to get some soon.
*****
Randall arrived early in the council meeting looking around to see if Kinser had arrived. They had agreed to come to the meetings early to update each other on events. So far no new happenings but he knew anything could happen. He had nothing to report, not since the defeat of the Skartian fleet, but then again, they did have another signal.
Since the war began many other races viewed the humans a bit better than before, especially considering the Skartians attacked first. Randall had helped this by a calm demeanor during the meetings.
“How are you doing Ran Dall,” Kinser asked, sitting down next to him.
“Good, not much to tell, you?” Randall asked, watching the Ilderian sit down.
“Nothing from my side either. Heard you talked with Toncor the other night,” Kinser asked, looking over at Randall.
“Ah, yeah, he wanted to know a bit more about my race, and he was talking about some story he can’t remember still,” Randall said. “Really, nothing important.”
“No? It is important, the fact that he talked to you at all is a great step forward for your race. His kind barely talk to anyone anymore,” Kinser said. “I think he sometimes finds the younger races refreshing when they come in. You know, new ideas, new attitude, not the same path that the older races have done. His race has seen much over the ages, and they have influence on other races.”
Randall thought about that for a few seconds. “I’m grateful for anything, but I wish he could recall this story he kept talking about,” Randall said, looking up front and seeing the President walk in. “Looks like things are starting.”
They turned their attention to the front and the agenda for the meeting.
*****
Karen sat bored at her station. Since the intercepted message by the Moscow, not much had come through. The technicians were going over the message, and she was waiting to see if anything else might come in.
She stretched her back, and thought about going on break. Looking at the clock she figured she could. Her screen blinked, and she looked down seeing an incoming call from one of the new field operatives in Afghanistan.
“Commander, I might have something,” Karen said, getting her commander’s attention, even as she read the message on the screen.
“What’s up?” the commander asked, walking over to where Karen sat.
“Seems like one of the new informants has some information, says its important,” Karen replied.
“Find out who the closest special ops person is in the area,” he told her. She quickly brought up a list.
“Corporal Ziher is close by with his team,” Karen said.
“Send him to talk to the informant, give him all the information,” he said.
“Commander, I think you should see this,” another officer said, from where he sat.
Karen focused on her orders even as the commander walked away from her station. She finished sending the message when the commander cursed, several times, which was unusual even for him. She looked over to see the commander who now rubbed his chin.
“Karen, go tell Admiral Cave that the Pakistan government has fallen to an extremist group, might be Skartian controlled, and that they are heavily anti-India,” he told her, handing her some papers.
“Yes sir,” she replied, heading off to the admiral’s office. She wondered if the informant she had gotten had anything to do with what was going on in Pakistan? If that group was controlled by Skartians then they would now have a country with nuclear weapons at their disposal.
She walked into the admiral’s office, seeing Greg already in the room, and handed the admiral the papers her commander gave her, watching as he read through the papers.
“Not good at all,” Jack said, reaching over to the phone and asking for Steve to come over quickly. She waited as Steve arrived, and he read the papers as well.
“”Oh boy, not the best news we’ve received,” Steve said. “Do we know what’s going on in that region?” They turned to the TV, bringing up an Indian station. The major news seemed to be the ongoing rebellion in Pakistan, and that the Indian government was watching the situation very closely.
“Karen, get back to the intelligence room, let me know what’s going on. Find out if they are Skartians, use any means necessary, Greg, go to the C-in-C, tell them to have a couple of units on stand-by in the area,” Jack said to them.
They both left the room, and went in different directions. She went back to the intelligence room, which buzzed with activity. The commander called in a few more people, all of whom were busy at their stations trying to make sense of all the information coming in.
“Karen, what did the admiral say?” he asked her. She made her way over to where he stood.
“Wants to be kept up to date, and to find out if they are Skartian, use any means we have,” she told him.
“Okay, stand by, we’ll use you to go back and forth, no telling where he might be at any one time,” the commander said. She nodded and decided to wait, and she could decipher what the admiral needed from the information handed to him.
*****
Captain Lee sat in the command chair on board the destroyer Harper, orbiting far above Earth, keeping an eye on a region of the world. He currently had the Middle East. He knew the area was a hot bed for potential tension. Some days he wished he had another area, one that was calmer than this one, but he took the assignment without whining.
“Captain, message coming through from Independence Station,” the communications officer said. Lee stated for it to be put through.
“Captain lee, keep a careful eye on Pakistan and India. Pakistan is undergoing a revolution, and reports are that Skartians might now be in control of the country. The battlecruiser Del Rio is to back you up,” he was told. He knew that was bad news.
“Understood Independence Station, destroyer Harper out,” Lee replied. He looked around at his crew who had overheard that. “All right, you heard the orders, let’s make sure we’re paying attention to the situation.”
The idea that Skartians might now be in control of a country on Earth terrified him. The last time it happened a world-wide war occurred. He decided this time it would not happen, and he would do everything he could to stop it.
*****
Aziz waited nervously in the dark for the contact to appear. He took his time, wanting to make sure he had not been followed. They all decided he would make contact with the group with what they had managed to gather. There were more Skartians than anyone had thought, and their plans shocked even them.
After the attack on the compound he had been rendered unconsciousness, and never questioned about what happened, only that his brother had been a traitor. Aziz worked hard to make sure that no one suspected him either. They all gave the same answer, some elite group barged in with advanced weapons, the US military wanted to test the weapons out. The leaders seemed to accept the statement.
Aziz had been watching one of the leaders questioning him when he noticed the shift of the eye color. He did not say anything until later, and others had seen the color shift as well. They took their time and a few were able to penetrate the top levels of the leadership. They learned the plans there. They overheard them talking about several targets, many of which no one had ever heard of before. Several he could not even find on a computer map. He wondered why they would attack so many targets, what was the goal?
They had taken everything they had and put into a computer file, which Aziz now carried. Even he had no idea what all was on there, given it was brought together by everyone. The last person who talked to him mentioned he probably shouldn’t’ come back. Such an action might allow the rest to blend in easily, and they could shift blame directly onto him. A risky plan, but one Aziz would accept.
So he contacted the group his brother was a part of, and now waited. Movement off to his right caused him shrink back into the shadows, waiting until the code word was given. Relief flooded through him at that, quickly moving towards the man.
“There probably isn’t much time, but here is some important information we think you need,” Aziz said, handing the man the CD. “And,” Aziz hesitated for a second, “I need a favor, get me out of here. I can’t go back.”
“My orders were only to pick up the information, I don’t have the authority for this,” the man said. Aziz felt dread run though his body. “However, I can give you an address for a recruiter, they can get you out of here. Head to this address and tell them Captain Zans sent you.”
Aziz took the card the man held out, taking a look down at the address then back up at the captain. “Tell them Captain Zans sent me, got it,” Aziz said, watching the man nod his head.
“Good luck to you,’ the man said, then disappeared into the night.
Aziz looked down at the address one last time, realizing it would take him most of the night to get there. He quickly moved glad the moon wasn’t full. He pushed quickly not wanting to remain in the country any longer than possible.
*****
Karen had made a few reports back and forth to Admiral Cave already as the situation developed in Pakistan. A few times she passed Greg, and they only had enough time to say hi to each other. The last time she entered the admiral’s office she overheard them talking about using several strike teams to take out the groups.
The operation sounded risky and the chance of human casualties was high. She never understood why the people planet-side fought for such dumb ideas.
An urgent message interrupted Karen’s thoughts. She watched listening in as the message came from the base in the Middle East. The operator who read the message seemed sat shocked causing the commander to walk over. She watched the ongoing situation barely able to contain herself from going over to read the message herself. The commander hit the print button and waited impatiently beside the printer.
“Get this to the admiral now,” he told her, handing her the papers.
She took off down the hallway running by Greg who merely stepped aside for her, as did a few others. People in the hallways understood who were running messages and to where. Taking the stairs a couple at a time she passed a couple of others going the other direction also holding papers. She reached the admiral’s office going straight into the room slightly breathless.
She watched catching her breath as the admiral read the report before activating his communicator for someone. She looked over as the general appeared slightly confused by what was going on.
“Ambassador’s office, the ambassador is unavailable,” a woman’s voice said.
“Then disturb the ambassador, tell him its Admiral Cave now,” Jack growled
“What’s up Jack, you’re calling Randall yourself,” Steve said. Jack thrust the papers into Steve’s hands and quickly read the report.
Karen really wished she had read that paper on the way
End part 23
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