Chapter 11: Presently Unknown

Over the next few days nothing moved above ground at Star Base Earth. Underground, however it was a different story entirely.

A new set of doors had been created at the opposite end of the Base. Now, Blazing Star could enter or leave either way. That solved the problem of trying to turn Blazing Star around or try to back her out of the base. A whole bunch of suggestions were run by Simon and he liked most of them right away and had them started. Tunnels were carved out of the rock leading away from the Base. One went over to the airfield and the cabin. This was so that supplies could move freely between the Base and the airfield. It was felt that very soon, incoming shipments may require a larger or longer runway. The Construction Droids were programmed to build a hardened surface almost perfectly flat to extend the runway long enough and wide enough to handle most any kind of aircraft. To minimize premature detection, the runway was re-painted to look like the older one. It was camouflaged so well that unless you absolutely ‘knew’ it was safe, no one would dare try to land anything big on it. In reality, Blaze could likely remotely land almost anything on it even without a pilot.

Since they were expanding the base, it was suggested that they could create a real underground base with residences, construction facilities and even build more fighters and stock them there. They could launch from the base through several other tunnels. Huge storage rooms were constructed to hold product going out and coming in. Materials were required to repair the remaining systems and weapons on Blazing Star and the materials were usually available from storage.

Fortunately for Simon and crew, all of this was 100% on and below land he owned. Keeping everything camouflaged and hidden was top priority.

Blazing Star was painted. Well, painted was not quite what happened. She was lettered. ‘Blazing Star’ was painted in bold letters on the top of her hull on both sides so it could be read coming from either direction. She received a designation number as well. SFG-001 It stood for ‘Star Force Galactic-001’. That was painted on as well.

Tonya was personally responsible for a lot of the new innovations. It was also her responsibility to help figure out all the new systems.

Nate and Simon had put their heads together on a number of occasions over the topic of the new data files Blaze was now linked to. They began to wonder just what all the additional information was doing with her.

Shauna was getting agitated. She needed to cook. There were no raw ingredients, no meats, no poultry, no fish, no vegetables, no real condiments and it was driving her crazy. She was having more difficulty eating the Food Services offerings every day.

George was doing his best to put the finishing touches on the Star Project organization, but they needed to get it operational.

Bill was going nuts running around all over Blazing Star, checking out the new areas, occasionally dragging Mark or Andy along with him. He almost had a heart attack when he and Mark walked into one of the four hangar bays that had recently been discovered. There was two different types of fighter craft there that made him weak in the knees. There was one about twice the size of the Stingers. It was equipped with bays for missiles, or bombs as well as the usual lasers and several weapons that resembled Gatling guns. It also required three to crew it. He figured that it was the equivalent of a fighter bomber. It reminded him of an old Canadian built jet that never fulfilled the dreams for it called the AVRO Arrow. He nicknamed that fighter bomber the Arrow. The other aircraft type totally confused him. He could not imagine it flying in any kind of atmosphere. It was big, twice the size of the Arrow and ugly and looked menacing. A six-seater, it was, according to the documents he had seen, a long range surveillance scout. It also had small shift engines. Recalling what he had heard about a certain Cold Lake party of three that Blaze had ‘entertained’ he decided to call it the All Purpose Explorer (APE). That worked, thought Mark, with a chuckle. That Landing Bay only had two more Stingers, eight Arrows and two APE’s. Looking around he was amazed to see that this bay could easily hold a hundred of these in here.

It was becoming more obvious that they needed a lot more personnel. Normally Blaze was pretty quick to accomplish things, when asked. Recently, Simon had noticed, she was slowing down a bit. She seemed a bit more preoccupied and didn’t take the same ‘offline’ periods when she was first started up. It was getting pretty obvious that she was busy.

James was trying his best to keep up to date on all of the new stuff that was happening. He was also convinced that the biggest issues needed to get resolved soon. He could see the frustration levels building. So could Simon.

Helen and her staff had absolutely nothing to do, so helped out exploring and making lists of things people needed or wanted. In reality that eased the load off Blaze, Simon and James.

Andy and Mark usually followed Bill and James around, helping out with whatever they could. They were the first to get fully rated on the Arrow and the APE in pilot mode and spent considerable simulator time honing their skills.

Simon was in his quarters talking to George and Nate about Star Project. He wanted to be brought up-to-date on what they intended to do and how.

George explained it. “All the corporations at the top are there only to conceal the true owners of all these corporations. The corporations at the bottom really do all the work. They order product from outside companies and accept delivery. They accept raw materials from us and produce finished goods or re-sell the raw materials. The real problems for us involve delivery. We have to deliver goods and raw materials and receive goods and raw materials. That means we need to involve this base. We also need to control all deliveries so we have a group of Shipping and Handling companies in the mix. There are Brokers, Banks and Government agencies to interact with as well. We are going to start small. The first sale will be approximately 2000 Troy Ounces of Gold at $1,725.00/Troy Ounce. Blaze informs me that there is unlikely to be any shortage of that material. For this sale, James is going to fly it to Edmonton. The client will pick it up at the airport. Grant will go along as security or at least one of his men. All he needs to do is get the delivery receipt signed and transfer the Gold to the client. All money transfers and paperwork after that will be automatic. While he is in Edmonton, he will receive some supplies from the warehouse that is being stocked as we speak. An order has been prepared of food that he can load into his plane, sign the proper documents, and bring back here. It will be offloaded on the airstrip by security personnel and brought here through the tunnel. We have had to design and build several electric vehicles to transport the materials through the tunnels. If we had more personnel, we could take it a lot further. That transaction will net us over 3.4 Million after expenses. It gives us some start-up capital and will begin to establish our corporate names in the marketplace.”

“I am impressed.”`said Simon. “What are the concerns.”

“Grant is concerned about several areas of security. Notably at the airport and in the air between here and that airport. The client will know only that they are to pick up the gold at a specific location, but they may suspect a mode of travel. The more often we do this without using our personnel exclusively, the more risky it gets. James wants to bring more food and produce back here.” explained George.

“Hmmm, can we rent a small hangar at the Airport for the transaction? That would allow us to fly ST-1 or ST-2 in there with the gold, deploy security around the hangar, accept a larger amount of goods dropped into the hangar, loaded into the shuttle, and bring it back here. All the time the shuttle would be cloaked.” suggested Simon.

“Yes, perfect!” said George. “I had forgotten that the shuttles could be cloaked. If I can get a suitable hangar, when can we go?”

“Set it up for as soon as you can. Work with Grant on that hangar though. He needs to see that it can be protected.” said Simon. “Run it by James too. The shuttle has to fit in the hangar as well.”

“I’ll get right on it! Thanks.” said George.

Later that day, George informed Simon that it was arranged. The first transaction would take place tomorrow at 11:00 AM. They would fly out in the shuttle with the gold, a small team of five plus James, earlier in the morning to secure the hangar and conceal the shuttle. The food and supplies were set to arrive at 11:30 AM. They should be able to transfer everything and be back at Star Base Earth by 12:30.

Their plans went without a hitch. Good planning, good execution and good results. Shauna was ecstatic. She went to work immediately preparing a celebration for the entire crew. Blaze analyzed all the raw materials and condiments. Everyone on board was summoned to Food Services for a celebration at 6:00 PM. No one had any complaints about the food. Even Blaze could be seen sampling some of the offerings. Simon decided to take the opportunity to discuss something with everyone.

“Have any of you got any ideas how we can get more people involved?” asked Simon.

Everyone quietly looked around at each other.

Andy mumbled, “Wish we could advertise under ‘help wanted’.”

That brought a few laughs and chuckles.

Simon stared into space for a moment then said, “You know, that may not be a bad idea! The first thing we need to decide is what kind of people we want. We do have training facilities here. We can take almost anyone even if they are in poor health. Nate, set up a secure website of some kind. We will post job opportunities on the site and see what kind of response we get. Run an ad, say, for pilots. Will train. Exceptional benefits. That kind of thing. Have them reply with a resume and expectations to a secure e-mail address and let’s see what happens. Use one of our dummy corporations to front the site. George didn’t you create a Personnel Agency as one of the corporations?”

“As a matter of fact, I did. Yes.” replied George.

“Use that then. Also, everyone make a list of all the occupations of people you think are needed here. Blaze, can you produce a typical ship roster for a ship of our size that we can compare to?” asked Simon.

“Yes Captain.” replied Blaze.

“Oh, and don’t forget Star Base Earth. We have to get people here too.” said James.

“I’m going to need a lot of help once we start getting responses.” said Nate.

“Captain,” said Dave. “I am not doing much around here at the moment. Could I give Nate a hand with this?”

“Excellent suggestion Dave. Maybe some of Medical can lend a hand as well.” said Simon. “Be creative with the job descriptions. You know what we want. Just be careful. We want to attract attention, but not the wrong kind. Just don’t advertise for politicians!”

That got a chuckle out of almost everyone there. Blaze didn’t understand the reference.

“Blaze, are the Weapons fully repaired and online?” asked Simon.

“Yes, Captain.” Blaze replied. “We are fully repaired and powered.”

“Good!” Simon said softly.

Over the next week, Star Base Earth was basically dug out and awaiting personnel and final outfitting. It was modeled somewhat on Blazing Star itself, and had two reactors built and powered up. A shield system was planned and installed to enable the base to protect itself from attack either from Earth or space. Some weapons systems had been designed, but not yet deployed. Tonya wanted to re-design everything to remain underground until required, so more tunnels and remote concealed domes were required to conceal the weapons and protect the base from external access. Raw materials were not a problem. Construction Droids were built to add to the construction capability. When they were finished on one project, they were rebuilt and reprogrammed to start on another project.

Dave was swamped. It seems the advertising was producing considerable interest. Nate was amazed. Dave, Nate, Simon and James were in Command Conference discussing that very issue.

“How many responses did we get Dave?”, asked Simon.

“Over eleven thousand so far!” replied Dave.

“How many are worth interviewing?” asked Simon.

“Well, that would depend quite a bit on the final criteria, but probably nearing one thousand. We would likely only select a few hundred from that number.” replied Dave.

“That sounds pretty good!” said Simon with a smile. “So where are the problems. There has to be problems!”

“Okay, let me summarize.” Dave began. “These are mainly non-military type positions. The responses are from all races, from all over the world. When you advertise on the Internet, you get that type of response. How in Hell are we going to interview all those people? In addition to that problem, we are going to need more military trained personnel. Canadian forces cannot be robbed that heavily since we would probably use a lot more than they can spare. Obviously, this is going to require a lot of flying around and we are going to have to be careful.”

“Okay, then, narrow the lists down.” said Simon. “See if there is any way of determining their motives for looking for these jobs.”

At that moment, Bill strode into Command Conference.

“Simon, I think we need to go into space! Don’t ask me why, but I get this real strong feeling we need to be up there.” said Bill.

“Blaze!” said Simon.

Blaze appeared and assumed her usual position.

“Blaze, recall all personnel to Blazing Star except our usual security and medical team. When we are ready, we launch. Everyone to stations.” said Simon. “If Bill feels we go, we go. At the very worst, it is good practice on being prepared. Activate all base defenses and weapons. Set Base to Black Alert status. Set Blazing Star to Red Alert status. All pilots to Ready Rooms.”

“Base defenses and weapons activated Captain. Base on Black Alert Status.” replied Blaze. “All necessary personnel recalled. Blazing Star set to Red Alert Status!”

James asked, “Do you want me in a Stinger, Simon?”

“No, I think you best stay here. Same with you Bill.” replied Simon.

“Understood.” replied Bill and James.

Simon had set up a series of alert colors in keeping with familiar alert patterns. Black was instituted as the ‘shut down and remain invisible’ code. There was security in being concealed. Everyone in Command Conference moved into Command and assumed a seat. Others arrived within minutes.

“Blazing Star is ready now Captain.” stated Blaze. “Take us out and up, Blaze. Assume high orbit over Earth. Activate long range sensors, passive mode. Find me something unusual.” said Simon. Blazing Star activated full cloak, shields, activated weapons and launched through the open Star Base Earth doors and headed up. Behind her, the base sealed up tight and shut down. There was only about twelve people down there now. The base was once again in the capable hands of Grant’s security team. On reaching a stable high orbit above any anticipated debris or satellites, Blaze began scanning for something unusual.

“Nothing unusual detected in Sol System!” replied Blaze. “Extending scan.”

“Hold it, Blaze!” said Bill. “Something on Earth!”

“Scanning Earth.” replied Blaze. “Visual on view screen.”

Bill looked at the view screen. Right in the middle of the Western Pacific was a huge Cyclone. This was now late in the summer and cyclones were becoming more frequent. The Pacific was known to spawn some pretty nasty weather. That cyclone certainly qualified for that description.

“Something to do with that storm, I think.” said Bill. “Weather reports categorized that cyclone as a category five. I would not want to be down there right about now!”

“Focus on that storm, Blaze.” said Simon. “Monitor emergency and military channels.”

“Incoming MAYDAY Captain.” said Blaze.

“Let us all hear it!” said Simon.

“I repeat, we are going down. Request any aid possible in immediate vicinity. All life boats away. This is Captain Swendon of the USS Nimitz. Can anyone respond?”

“Blaze, open a comm channel to that Captain.” said Simon.

“Channel open. Go ahead Captain” replied Blaze.

“This is Captain Simon Gordon of the Blazing Star to Captain Swendon of the USS Nimitz, may we be of assistance Captain?”

“Thank God someone is in the vicinity. We need your help, I have thousands of crew in the sea. We are sinking. We could use rescue and medical. I don’t know how much time we have. How close are you and what can you do to help, Captain?” replied Captain Swendon.

“We are about ten minutes away, Captain. We will see how many of your crew we can pick up, then we will come for you. Stay on the radio. Keep me up on your status. Just keep broadcasting. If it looks bad let me know.” said Simon.

“I’m the last one left on board. There is only minutes till I’ll be swimming.” replied Captain Swendon.

“Understood Captain. On our way.” replied Simon.

“Blaze, get us down there fast. Andy and Mark, get into the shuttles. Bigger the better. Be ready to launch. James and Bill get to shuttles.” said Simon.

“Understood.” replied Blaze.

“I want one shuttle headed for that Captain and the others can start by picking up any survivors. No cloaks. Be very careful of those winds. They are probably over one hundred and fifty miles per hour in places and we don’t want to lose you or the shuttles.” said Simon.

“I’ll get the Captain.” said James.

“Blaze, take us down to just above wave height, point us into the wind and give us ten degrees tilt.” said Simon.

“In position now!” reported Blaze. “Now holding, tilt ten degrees!”

“Open rear Launch Bay Four. Launch all shuttles.” said Simon. “Hold us steady!”

“Bay Four door open. Shuttles launching.” replied Blaze.

“Now the tricky part.” said Simon. “Blaze, scan for any life raft or people in the water, drop us down fifteen feet and slowly back into them so that they float into the open bay. Drop rear shield and illuminate the bay so that visibility is increased.”

“Understood” replied Blaze.

“Andy to Captain.” called Andy.

“Go ahead Andy”, replied Simon.

“This is no good Captain. The shuttles can’t deal with the waves and the wind. I cannot pick up anyone in this.” said Andy.

“Understood, Andy. Good try. You, Mark and Bill return to Blazing Star.” replied Simon.

“I’m sending my security team to Bay Four Captain.” reported Grant.

“Excellent! Medical to Launch Bay Four” said Simon to Helen.

“Nimitz going down. Completely submerged.” reported James.

“On our way Captain.” replied Helen.

“Did you get Captain Swendon, James?” asked Simon.

“Just got him.” replied James. “He was trying to decide whether to jump in here with me or hang on to the mast as the Nimitz went down. Good thing for him he made the right decision.”

“Bring him in to Command Shuttle Bay.” James. “Then bring him to my quarters when you are ready.”

“On our way.” replied James.

The next two hours were spent scanning the ocean, moving, hauling in the lifeboats or the swimmers and getting the survivors comfortable in the empty launch bay.

“How did we do Blaze?” asked Simon.

“Four thousand and fifty-six, counting Captain Swendon.” replied Blaze.

“Take us back to space, stable high orbit.” said Simon.

“Securing for space.” replied Blaze. “Accelerating.”

“Helen, how are you doing down there?” asked Simon.

“We have all kinds of injuries. Only a few serious. I have been using standard medical treatments so far. There are a few that may need more than that soon. How do you want us to deal with this?” replied Helen.

“Is Grant there?” asked Simon.

“Yep I’m here!” replied Grant.

“Tell both your teams, if anyone asks, they are not to be allowed out of that bay and we are just a large empty container ship that happened to be nearby. If you absolutely must, Helen, to save a life, do what you have to. Their captain is safe, let them know. We rescued him. He and I will be in my quarters with James discussing this situation.” said Simon.

“Understood” replied both Grant and Helen.

Simon headed for his quarters. He was not looking forward to his meeting with Captain Swendon. So much for staying under the radar, so to speak. Now over four thousand US Military knew of Blazing Star’s existence. On the good side, most of them had only seen the huge Launch Bay. The Captain, on the other hand, had seen a great deal. Upon walking into his quarters, James and Captain Swendon stood up to greet him. They had been sitting on one of the sofa’s in the common room.

James made the introductions. “Captain Mike Swendon, I would like you to meet Captain Simon Gordon.” said James.

“Let’s dispense with the ‘Captains’.” said Simon, walking over and shaking hands. “Just call me Simon.”

“Fair enough, just call me Mike.” replied Mike. “I’m sorry, I just have to know, how many of my people did you rescue?”

“Four thousand and fifty-six, counting you.” answered Simon.

“How are they doing and how in the hell did you manage that in less than two hours?” asked Mike.

“We just opened one of our rear bays and let the wind and water sort of swirl them in.” replied Simon with a smile. “Well, it was a bit trickier than that in reality, but I have an exceptional crew. They did a remarkable job. We are tending to your wounded and organizing food and accommodation for them.”