Chapter 3

Sarah guided their shuttle down onto the surface of Mars in the area known as Terra Cimmeria. After closing their tactical suits, Sarah's Clan stepped out of the shuttle and looked around.

"Sally, this is a good choice," said Rusty after his inspection.

"This is the first time we have used this area."

"Siobhan's shuttle is approaching," said Tara.

"What?" exclaimed Tara as her suit AI picked up two low flying objects that had just cleared the horizon. "Shields up and interlock!" They had hardly gotten their shields up when their suits indicated that weapons were locked onto them.

"Focus on the weapon ports," commanded Sarah. "Now!"

Within moments of Sarah's command they released four small blue balls of intense energy that streaked toward the approaching objects. A small flash of light flared when the balls hit the sides of the objects. The response from Sarah's Clan was faster than the Star Fighters' weapons systems could launch their simulated attack. As soon as the Star Fighters were struck they veered away from them.

"What the hell was that," exclaimed Alena breathlessly.

"A test," replied Sally, "play back your memory and you will see what we did."

After a few moments Alena said, "Okay, I see what we did. Why didn't it disable the fighters?"

"Because Sarah told us to focus on the weapons ports. They were preparing to fire special dummy weapons. The flares of light indicated that we hit the correct boxes. A similar thing is done on Earth in war games. If it had been a true attack then we would not have focused on the weapons ports but on the fighters' flight systems or some other critical system. One choice would have been to have caused the weapons they were carrying to explode."

"So, how did we do that?"

"Sarah and Rusty directed energy balls toward the two targets. We provided the support and energy for the balls."

"So it is like we were doing last time when we were making dust out of rocks?"

"Very much."

"I am so embarrassed," replied Alena as she blushed.

"Why?" replied Sarah.

"Well, we have been practicing using these abilities, so it's not new to me. My comments certainly made it sound as if I just walked in the door."

"Alena," replied Judy, "you responded perfectly during the threat. I think the confusion afterward is due to the fact that your mind is still integrating peripheral information from us, even though you have been with us for over a year." Alena had a worried look on her face. "It is nothing to worry about, especially since you were fully engaged with us when we responded." Judy put her arm around Alena and gave her a reassuring hug.

Just as the conversation finished, both Siobhan and Keriann's shuttles began approaching them.

Tara said, "Flight control just told me that the two pilots are happy we didn't hit them with more energetic balls. Seems they have a bit more damage than was expected, even though we only hit the weapons ports."

"Probably bleed over," added Claudette. Everyone nodded their agreement.

"Some demonstration," said Keriann as her clan joined Sarah's on the ground.

"You got that right," added Eileen of Siobhan's Clan as Siobhan's Clan joined the group.

"We wanted to see how quickly we could respond," said Sarah. "Once we had our skill pretty well honed with rocks, we told Flight Operations what we had in mind for a test and let them work out the details."

"What would have happened if you hadn't responded in time, or missed?"

"We would have received a mild shock by a red low energy ball. The shock would have caused a small disturbance in our shield."

"We presume you had something else in mind when you invited us to join you," said Chester.

"Yes. We really didn't expect the test today. Basically, today we wanted to exercise our abilities with you here, so that you could tell us what you see. This should give us some insight into improving the application of our abilities. It should also give each of you insight into how to handle yours. Our idea was to take turns exercising so we could help each other."

"We like that," said Siobhan. "Let's watch you first then we will take the next turn in the barrel."

The three clans spent the next several hours exercising their abilities. First they worked individually by throwing energy balls of varying energy levels at different rock outcroppings and observing the results. They then turned their attention to telekinesis by turning small rocks into projectiles. In both cases they sought to improve their accuracy and range while minimizing secondary effects.

After finishing their individual exercises, they switched to working as a clan. As a clan they could function in two different ways. One was to act as a group by throwing the energy balls as they had done in the test with the fighters. The other was to function as a clan but with each person acting individually, in this way they drew from their combined resources resulting in each of them having more power available. Their last series of exercises had one clan throwing a rock at something while the other two clans tried to disintegrate it before it reached its target.

When they finished, Sarah said, "Let's have dinner together at An Clochán."

"Good idea," replied Tiff, "I am starved."

"We think that is a great idea," added Keriann with the rest of her clan nodding affirmatively.

"At dinner, let's talk about what we did this afternoon," said Alena. "There are aspects of our exercises that we should talk about."

"What aspects?" asked Oriel of Keriann's Clan.

"Each of us executes our psionic activity slightly differently. The question in my mind is, 'is this a physical attribute or a technique'. If it is a difference in technique, then what are the strengths and weakness of each, presuming there are any?"

"We need to come back here with the other Command Staffs," said Chester. "Actually, if we can manage it we should make sure we work with each of the others like we did today. Groups of three, like we did today, seems to work very well."

"I think that is a good idea," said Conan of Siobhan's Clan, "as it is not often we get to work so closely with each other."

"Precisely my reasoning, but it is a little more than that. When we begin our move we will be seven ships operating as a group, but to a large degree our actions will be independent. I think that when we look back at today's exercises we will find we learned a lot about each other that we didn't know before. This experience will make it easier for us to act together instinctively."

"Good point," added Rusty. "Working together like this will give us a better feel for what each of us would do, without needing detailed communication."

"I am not sure I am following this," said Alena. "Won't we have our command mind-link?"

"Maybe and maybe not," replied Chester causing Alena and several others to frown. "We have no idea of the situations we will face in the future. Others out there may be able to block our intergroup mind-link. There is a definite time lag associated with sharing when we reach beyond our clan mind-link. Yes it is short, but short delays can be deadly."

"So you want to be able to respond without thinking about it," added Alena with a smile.

"I thought you didn't get it."

"As you were talking, I saw your logic and their references. Those fit with some experiences Rusty and Scott have shared with me."

"Scott?"

"Yes. After his training exercises, he would sometimes talk about the others in his group and how well they worked together. So your comments and visions gave me the additional information that allowed me to relate to what I knew. Thanks. I would give you a hug and a kiss but a kiss doesn't work well when we are in these suits."

"I'll take a rain check."

"You got it." Alena looked thoughtful for a moment. "The pilots for the Star Fighters, and the Badb Cruiser crews, have simulators to practice their skills. Couldn't something be set up for us?"

"Yes," replied Star. "However, the downside is the effect on other operations, because to be effective they would use a lot of resources."

"That is true if we used simulators," replied Kelly. "However, if we did it as a strategy exercise it wouldn't draw a lot of resources."

"Star, let's consider using an historical battle from the archives, where we are on one side and an AI is on the other using the parameters of the original battle," said Maeve.

"You should discuss this with the mentors," replied Star.

"Good idea. I will look for Aine after dinner."

They had just boarded their shuttles for the trip to An Clochán, when Shannon said, "Command Staffs, we have several inquiries from Earth regarding the activity in the Terra Cimmeria area. We told them that we were doing weapons training and that it would continue over the next several weeks."

"So they're implying that their new Mars surveillance satellites don't have the resolution to see what we are doing?" said Chester. "I don't believe it."

"Well, it could be true in a sense," said Rusty. "We don't know if they can see the telekinesis energy balls. In all our exercises, we pointed with our minds through our vision, so from above it may appear as if we were just standing there watching rocks turn to dust."

"Rusty's explanation kind of fits with the conversations we had with one of their intelligence groups. We didn't tell them what the weapons were."

"Let's have some fun," said Sarah as she sat down in the pilot's seat on Alpha1. "Keriann. Siobhan. Let's play follow the leader on our way back to An Clochán, but on the deck. Alpha1 AI, we want to fly as close to the surface as we can, say three meters above it, and the only limit to speed is being able to control our altitude."

"If you and Rusty will maintain the altitude and direction, I can focus more resources on looking ahead," replied Alpha1 AI. "Do we want to link with the other shuttles?"

"Yes, we need to link. We will link with you so we have a direct feed which will improve our response time."

"That is even better."

"Keriann, Siobhan, Did you hear that exchange?"

"Yes," came the reply from both with a little bit of hesitation from Siobhan.

"Set your altitude at a level you are comfortable with and are still able to keep up," added Rusty. "Don't reach beyond your ability."

"Aye, aye," replied both Command Staffs.

"Sarah's Clan, buckle up."

Once Sarah knew everyone was strapped in, she initiated Alpha1's (DSTA01) liftoff to hover some 3 meters above the surface. She looked out the window and saw that both Phoenix Alpha1 (PSTA01) and Iarracht Alpha1 (ISTA01) were also hovering. She looked at Rusty and then said, "We're off." With that DSTA01 quickly accelerated across the plain toward the ridge around Terra Cimmeria.

The ride was like a roller coaster with periodic screams from those in the cabin watching the monitor. As they approached an obstacle, Sarah would shift their direction to pass it by without changing altitude. She soon had their velocity up to 900 m/sec. Both PSTA01 and ISTA01 slightly increased their altitude to five meters to avoid the dust column DSTA01 was creating. As the three shuttles moved over the surface of Mars, each clan's mind-link tightened. Once this was accomplished for Sarah's Clan, she pushed their speed to 2000 m/sec. Their rooster tail of dust changed only slightly. When the terrain rose sharply, DSTA01 rolled left and climbed the rise at an angle, as it made maintaining the altitude easier. After they had covered about 4000 km, Sarah led the group to a higher altitude and increased their speed. With the increased altitude, everyone began to relax.

"That was fun," said Siobhan, "but I don't think I want a steady diet of it."

"I agree," replied Tara. "I wasn't at the controls and I still thought it was intense. You certainly don't see much going that fast."

Kelly said, "You know, I think I might send a note to our old wing commander, telling him that we finally got to fly at more than 1800 m/sec and at an altitude of just 5 meters."

"Think he will figure it out?" replied Keriann.

"Oh, he will figure it out," said Chester. "It will likely shock him until he realizes you were doing it on Mars. If you could do Mach 5 at 5 meters above the ocean on Earth, it would create quite a rooster tail."

"Any place else it would do a lot of damage to anything nearby," added Kelly. "I am also pretty sure that you would need a special aircraft because of the temperature rise of the leading edges of the wings. It would be neat to see though, and even neater to do."

Just then An Clochán appeared on the horizon and DSTA01 contacted Approach Control. Sarah shifted flight control back to the AI. As they entered the approach to An Clochán's air lock, she held hands with Rusty.

"You liked that didn't you," said Rusty.

"Yes. I liked all of it. I liked that we could work directly with the AI to handle the shuttle. I liked the way we all came together during the flight. We didn't need the extra resources this time, but now we know they will be there when we do need them. I wonder if Keriann and Siobhan's Clan did the same thing."

"Yes, we did," replied both Brigid of Keriann's Clan and Tiff of Siobhan's Clan.

"We would have stayed down," continued Tiff, "but the dust you kicked up interfered with our sensors at that speed. We were a little reluctant to rely solely on your shuttle's sensors."

"Probably a good idea, with our speed and altitude calculating the time space shift for our different positions would have sucked a lot of AI resources."

"Let's get cleaned up and eat," said Joyce.

"We need to walk through the cleaning station with our suits on to get rid of the dust," replied Eileen. "They are much easier to clean that way and we can put them right back in the shuttles."

When Sarah's, Keriann's and Siobhan's Clans entered the dining area, they found the other five Command Staffs waiting for them.

"What's up?" said Sarah with a slightly concerned expression.

"Nothing," replied Molly, "we just wanted to hear about your adventures this afternoon. You guys stirred up quite a buzz with your activity."

"Shannon told us about the inquiries from Earth."

"Well your dust trails across Terra Cimmeria, created even more inquiries."

"Really. We wouldn't have expected that."

"The dust column you kicked up behind you rose pretty high. A JPL engineer was apparently watching the feed from their satellite when you started back. They thought it was a big environmental event and contacted Dóchas Intelligence. Shannon checked with Star before telling them that it was caused by three shuttles returning to An Clochán. That answer caused even more questions, until someone realized how fast you were traveling, at an altitude of just 3 meters."

"What speed did Shannon tell them we were going?"

"2000 m/sec. It didn't sound like much until one of them realized that that was over Mach 5 on Earth."

"So has everything calmed down?"

"Seems to have. We came because we would like to sit in on your review of today's exercises."

"Great. Let's get our food and relax while we eat. After that we can share, as I think all of us would like to unwind a bit."

"Works for us," replied everyone as they headed toward the food line.

"Molly, Jackie," said Sarah, "it seems like ages since we have had a chance to really chat with you."

"It was only about a month ago," replied Jackie with Molly nodding.

"Oh, you're right."

"It wasn't long after that that Siobhan's Clan dropped the bombshell on us."

"I can't imagine Siobhan doing anything like that. I didn't hear of anyone being hurt, what did they do?" asked Sarah with a smile.

"You are being so coy," said Molly and stuck her tongue out. "The bombshell was Siobhan's Clan just popping in and asking us to handle the check-out of Marthanóir. Once we calmed down, they did the same thing to Jackie's Clan who were with us at the time."

As the group continued to eat, Sarah, Siobhan and Keriann's Clan took turns in sharing the techniques they had learned. Surprisingly, this was the first time as a group that they were actively sharing what they had learned about using their psionic abilities. Previously each clan had worked by themselves to sort out how to use their psionic abilities, with some coaching from their mentors.

"Wow, look at the time," said Maureen. "No wonder I am tired."

"I agree," added Jackie. "Can we continue this at breakfast in the morning?"

"Sure, we can do that," replied Keriann with the others nodding in agreement.

"What if we shared through our Command Staff link while we sleep?" asked Tiff.

"We can, if each clan becomes one just as they go to sleep and then connects to the other clans," said Aoife. "This will allow us to share our hows and whys of using our abilities. How we execute them, as an individual and a clan. Seeing how others execute their abilities should help everyone improve their skills. Hmm ... in a way that is what we have been doing for the last four hours. Our children will think we have forgotten them."

"Not likely," came the quick reply from Jackie, "I know your children and they would never think you forgot them. I am looking forward to getting settled on A-Celia so we can begin having our own children."

"Jackie," said Siobhan, "three of us intend to time our pregnancies so that the babies are born shortly after we arrive in Celia. We don't plan to have more than three of us pregnant at a time. We think this should give us time to adjust to each new group of babies and still contribute."

"I like your plan, and we will do something similar. The other reason we were waiting until arriving on A-Celia, was so that our sister clan can spend more time with us."

"I've heard Molly's and your clans referred to as sister clans, but I am not sure of the context. We can see in our Command Staff link that sometimes your two clans appear almost as one."

"Molly," said Jackie, "do you want to try to explain our clan link?"

"I can try." Molly paused for a moment before adding, "The connection between our clans is almost like what we know as 'our clan mind-link'. All of you know that Jackie, Mairia, Ron, Alan, Kathleen and I have known each other a long time. We went to high school together where we knew Adam and Joyce. Fortunately, we met Sarah, Rusty, Sally and Terry at our high school prom as they steered us away from doing something stupid. They befriended us and helped us grow up. Thanks to Nancy's and Sarah's Clans assistance, we went to college together. As we were getting close to graduating from college, we were recruited for some summer employment that turned out to be completely different from what we were told. Sarah's Clan, among others here, helped us avoid entering the life of sex toys. After spending all those years together we were very close when we arrived here, well actually Comrie was our first stop.

"We worked for GISS for a while before moving to An Clochán. Our group of eight grew until it was a little over 20 people. During this growth, we began to open up to each other with our telepathy." Molly saw a couple of smiles. "I can see the smiles. Yes, it was like a clan's mind-link, but we didn't know that. Needless to say, our growing connection drew us closer together. We played together. We shared our love. We really shared everything. We had three suites that we essentially shared, which is easy to do when you don't need clothes most of the time.