Chapter 13: Advertising Works

Dan Blake and his four visitors were dropped off at the White House by Blaze and TS-1 at precisely 10:00 PM. Simon had taken Blazing Star once again into USA air space in order to get close enough to Washington so that the shuttle flight would be brief. Simon also continued to keep the location of Star Base Earth a secret. It could have been anywhere. Dan felt it was probably in North America and most likely Canada, but could not confirm that. He had seen enough to realize that Simon was not to be played. He had already decided that the best thing he could do was help Simon in any way possible, and business as usual in all other concerns. As Commander and Chief of the entire US Military, Dan still had to push a few buttons to get people to come around to his way of thinking. One of the things he wanted to know was more about this Simon Gordon.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was tasked with finding out everything they could about Simon. They found it a lot more difficult than expected. Simon was well aware that curiosity, being what it was, would force the United States Military into trying to find out as much as possible about Simon and his crew.

Blaze was tasked with researching any critical records they could find electronically and archiving them on Blazing Star, then destroying them at their source. She was only one AI, but managed to stay ahead of the CIA in tracking down information in most areas. One area she missed was the physical communication methods. The CIA was able to contact people who knew Simon and James as well as asking around about their associates, so that they had a small list of names, but very few details.

All this CIA curiosity got Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) interested. When they got the list of names from the CIA, out of curiosity, they started their own investigations, with similar results.

Using some new ideas, Star Force Galactic tied the advertising campaign with the veterans campaign and came up with a plan. Sorting through all the applications was time consuming, but allowed Dave to sort prospective crew members into cities, starting with Canada and the USA. A schedule was created where they would fly the larger Transport Shuttle TS-2 to a location in a city, along with TS-1 and use it to do the interviews. Blaze piloted that shuttle and acted as the ‘lie detector’ for all interviews.

After some discussion, Engineering, had come up with some major changes to the exterior of TS-2 for these events. They basically built a shell over TS-2 that looked like a small portable building with a couple of large doors. Inside, the front half was all ‘original military decor’ with a few extra seats for passengers. The rear half was separated by a small secure door from the front half and had been made to appear like a recruitment center. It was decorated with posters and brochures describing some of the ‘benefits’ and requirements. These brochures, made no bones about explaining in no uncertain terms the kind of people who were NOT to apply and would NOT be considered.

TS-2 traveled with a crew of six. Blaze, Dave, Thomas, Dr. Don Connors and two security personnel. A small, portable scanner, was available for Don’s use. The two security guards stationed themselves on either side of the main doorway in, one on the outside, the other on the inside. They rotated at irregular intervals for a change of scenery. They wore full combat suits and operated under Blaze’s direct control. Blaze herself was stationed just inside the door on a comfortable chair and behind a desk. Only people with an invitation were allowed to enter the ‘building’. It was the exterior guard’s responsibility to ask to see the invitation. Blaze was to scrutinize the applicant as they entered the door. If she felt anything was amiss, they were politely asked to leave. If they passed all the checks, they were asked if they could leave immediately, or later that day. If they could, they were given a pass card with their DNA encoded on it and told to return at a precise time for pickup.

The sites chosen for the recruitment campaigns were usually large unused parking lots out of the way of serious traffic, but handy to public transit and private transit access. They had already been told that they were to be interviewed at that site, and try to be as close as possible to their allotted times. Interviews were handled primarily by Dave and Thomas. They tried to interview fifty people or so in a day and felt that five to ten would prove to be acceptable. They felt that they should not have any problems with simply dropping down first thing in the morning, dropping the cloak to reveal the ‘building’, doing their business for the day, then leaving in the early evening.

TS-1 had usually accompanied TS-2 to the same city and it was piloted by James, with Mike, Helen and a nurse on board as well. Their job was to land close to, or on the roof of, various Veterans Hospitals in the same area. Certain candidates were to be approached and offered the benefits of joining Star Force Galactic. In a lot of cases, the candidates were known to one of them. The President of the United States had sent Simon a small list of several hundred possible candidates from the US Military Hospitals and these were also checked out. The procedure here was somewhat different. If the patient consented, then they were airlifted directly up to Blazing Star, station holding above the city or recruitment center. The only major concerns with this method was in determining the ‘loyalty’ of the patient, since Blaze was not there. Once on board Blazing Star, however, Blaze, the hologram, using Blazing Star resources could perform the function admirably. James also discovered that air traffic was a lot busier around some cities and had to be extremely cautious flying around as he was cloaked and they could not see him. When you get right down to it, it was simply a matter of time and place. Over time, and in the right place, the staffing and crew issues slowly resolved. Not that the process was without aggravation or difficulty, but it was resolved.

The initial estimates about candidate suitability had proven to be a bit on the low side. It appeared that when people had really understood what they were being offered they were more than willing to join up. Star Force Galactic had underestimated the loyalty and honesty of the candidates. Considerable loyalty was gained when each candidate was accepted and became suddenly very healthy after the scanning and Biote treatments. The training processes allowed people who had been accepted to learn a skill, perhaps even different than their original training. A lot of the new crew, almost half in fact, were ex US Military. Simon was pleased. Blaze appeared to actually be ‘happier’ if that could be said of an android.

Over the next two months, amazing things happened. Star Base Earth was not only completed, but they were fully staffed and had started constructing fighters and other aircraft types. They were now turning out over five craft per day. The bays were starting to fill up with Stingers, Arrows, APEs and the two Transport Shuttle types. Pilots had been one of the heavier applicant areas, especially those from the Nimitz, so a flight training school had been set up by James and he dove in with both feet. Bill was happy keeping them flying, while Mark and Andy assisted James in getting the pilots rated on all aircraft. Missions to near space were flown and a certain NASA technician was now kept busy reporting all the debris that was apparently ‘disappearing’ from orbit. James felt it was good practice and was helping to clean up all that junk out there.

George had been busy with ‘Corporate’ business and had managed to stock the holds with all the necessary foodstuffs and other necessities the crew on Blazing Star as well as Star Base Earth might need. Not too surprisingly, he and Nate had managed to create a corporate structure worth billions and growing fast. It seems that Simon had really bought a property on top of a gold-mine.

Additionally, several new technologies were developed by Nate, Tonya and their new teams, that were now sold through the Star Force Galactic Corporations. Security was beefed up and a new group started of ‘special ops’. Grant headed that one up as well. He and Helen had managed to find a lot of talented types languishing in hospitals. They took their searches even wider, making some pick-ups in out of the way places, always keeping a low profile and choosing people with the least chance of being missed or causing any problems.

The military type positions were filling up quickly. Over five hundred alone had come from the ex-Nimitz crew. They were invaluable.

On the non-military front, professionals from all walks of life signed up and were accepted. There were some very highly respected scientists and theorists to add to the swelling ranks. The average age of all the crew worked out to be just slightly over fifty years of age. The male to female crew ratio was running about eighty-two percent male. Not one of them was a politician or a lawyer. All the members of the crew were required to sign an oath of allegiance to Star Force Galactic. Everyone understood that was Simon and Blaze. Nate had suggested that it would help cement the crew together and give them more purpose. It certainly didn’t hurt. Every single one of them knew that when they signed up and offered their allegiance to Star Force Galactic, it was for life. They were also told, that if any of them ever wished to leave, they would not be stopped, however, their Biotes would then cease to function. They would be on their own. It was a non-issue. No one was unhappy. They wore their new uniforms with pride.

“Incoming call for you, Captain.” said Blaze, appearing at his right shoulder.

Simon was in his quarters watching the stars on his private view screen. Blazing Star was located and holding station over North America. The almost one hundred Stingers were flying simulated missions led by James, Andy and Mark. They were helping clean up the debris again.

“Put it through, Blaze, thank you. Simon here.” he responded.

“Simon, Dan here.” said the President of the United States.

“Good to hear from you again, Dan. I hope you and your family are well. What can I do for you?” asked Simon.

“Yes, we are all well. Thank you for asking. This time, maybe I am doing something for you. I have a pretty good idea that right now you are somewhere up in space and you have got some of your fighters out there taking pot-shots at almost anything moving, am I correct?” said Dan, chuckling.

“That would be an affirmative, Dan. Our new pilots need the practice.” said Simon. “I hope I am not causing too much trouble with NASA tracking.”

“Heh heh, not so much the tracking. It is just one guy who keeps track of all the missing debris and he is getting overworked. He is asking for an increase in pay. I was thinking of sending you the bill!” chuckled Dan.

“Good one! Or maybe I’ll just pick him up and save both of us the aggravation.” laughed Simon. “Seriously, though, is it causing you a problem?”

“No, not really. We have had a little talk with him and he understands that there is now new technology out there that will randomly help us clean up the mess. He was told it was ‘very classified’ and he should not speak of it, just keep on doing the job.” replied Dan. “Co-incidentally, several corporations on earth have released information that they are working on differing types of satellite recovery systems, so it is an acceptable explanation. I do see that you must be getting quite a few new pilots based on the rate of destruction in your practicing. How is the recruitment business going?”

“Very well indeed. I thank you for the leads. We have selected almost all of them so far. We are still getting a few people that are trying to infiltrate, but I don’t think it is possible at the moment. Apologize to the CIA for me, we have made their searches difficult. I realize it is the ‘nature of the beast’ so I am not ‘too’ upset with them, yet.” said Simon.

Dan sighed, “I am sorry. I will pass that on. I had to request they do that or the joint chiefs would have anyway.”

“I understand.” replied Simon.

“Wait just a minute Dan, I’ll be right back.”

“Incoming message from Star Base Earth, Captain.” said Blaze.

“Put that through, Blaze.” said Simon. “Go ahead SBE!”

“Captain, we are monitoring several significant events from here. A satellite has taken up a position above Alberta and appears to be monitoring or surveying our location. Several flights from CFB Cold Lake have just taken off and are headed straight here. There are two pairs of CF-18 Hornets on the way here. Lastly, a surveillance Hercules is now flying in from the East and due over us in five minutes.” replied SBE.

“Go black. Send security to the perimeters. Full passive surveillance mode. We will return to base.” replied Simon.

“Black status enabled. Security dispatched. Understood Captain. Out.” replied SBE.

“Blaze, recall all ships. When docked set course for that satellite over SBE.” said Simon. “Put Dan back on.”

“Understood Captain. Recalling now. Plotting course. Here’s Dan” replied Blaze.

“Sorry about that Dan. It seems we have a small ‘situation’ to deal with. I am guessing that your CIA triggered CSIS’s curiosity.” said Simon.

“That might make sense. I was about to tell you that it seems we may have tracked a certain land purchase in central Alberta to a Simon Gordon. Perhaps they are interested in that. I’ll let you go. Give me a call another time, my friend.” said Dan.

“I will do that.” said Simon. “Goodbye for now.”

“All ships now docked. Setting course. Activating.” replied Blaze.

“Monitor the satellite and all communications of the pilots of those five aircraft. I want to know why they are there.” said Simon.

“The satellite is doing a land scan. I don’t think it will detect anything out of the ordinary. We still have two aircraft on the ground there, though.” said Blaze. “No communications yet from the pilots.”

“Blaze, when we arrive at the satellite, launch a cloaked APE. Have it tow that satellite into an orbit overflying Ottawa. That should throw a bit of confusion into their operation.” said Simon.

“Hercules aircraft overflying SBE now, Captain.” said Blaze. “Hornets one minute out. Hercules has passed over SBE and is proceeding north towards CFB Cold Lake. Hornets circling, one appears to be considering landing. He aborted, Captain.”

“I guess he figured the runway was not safe. We did a good job of camouflaging it!” said Simon.

“They are returning to CFB Cold Lake now.” said Blaze.

“It looks like our defensive camouflage paid off. I doubt they found anything out of the ordinary. They will be curious for a while. We may have to make ourselves known to Canadian Forces soon, however. See if you can pick up any transmissions as a result of this operation, Blaze.” said Simon. “When that APE gets back, take us home to SBE.”

About an hour later, nestled safely in SBE, Blazing Star began picking up some related transmissions. It seems someone in CSIS, in Ottawa, had requested a flyover from a Leutenant-Colonel Mabrey in CFB Cold Lake. He turned it into a silent exercise. All orders had been handed out prior to flight and radio silence was mandatory. All information was collected, analyzed, sealed and sent to CSIS for final evaluation. The satellite was diverted from an existing mapping scan by CSIS directly, simply to get updated information on that area. It was a huge surprise when the satellite moved, apparently of its own accord, to a position over Ottawa and continued scanning as if nothing was wrong. That had a few scientists mystified. Simon mulled over that decision, but smiled when he realized that it just might cause a few people to think twice about repeating the effort. Surely the scientists would require several months at least to try to figure out what went wrong with their programming on that attempt. It should all work out. The end result was that everyone was none the wiser, except Simon.

He realized that Dan now had a pretty good idea where his base was. That, in itself, would not be a big problem as long as Dan was working with them. It did point out that as long as the base was in any country on Earth, the potential for attack or aggression towards it, no matter how foolhardy, was always going to be there. With that thought in mind, he called a meeting of all Command staff and a few others in Command Conference.

After everyone was comfortably seated, he began. “I just thought it was time to bring everyone in on everything that’s been happening and my thoughts for the immediate future.”

Simon went on to explain that SBE and Blazing Star now had a sufficient complement of personnel each. There was a few more than one thousand on SBE and a few under two thousand on Blazing Star. As a result of this, Blaze’s time monitoring all the sophisticated systems was reduced dramatically so that she could finally move on to other tasks. He explained that Blazing Star now carried half of the ships she was designed for and there were now sufficient pilots available to fly most of them. Personnel training had progressed to the point where he was confident that every crew member knew their jobs and performed them well. It seemed that the voluntary approach, rather than the conscripted one worked. Every member of his crew was to be commended on bringing them along so fast and efficiently. He asked that each section chief please pass that on! Then he got serious.

“We still have some problems remaining and I can see a few more looming on the horizon. We still need to continue our recruiting somehow. We are a bit short of pilots still and several of the sciences could use some help. Those problems will never go away because of the other problem.” he began.

“Star Base Earth is too vulnerable to be our only construction facility. Our resources are limited here and we will always need to be vigilant against threats from Earth itself. Now a lot of you have put forward some excellent suggestions on improvements and new developments and those are great and well thought through. Some of those designs can not be built on Earth. We need a new Base, one with virtually unlimited resources where we can operate in relative safety. That new Base should be capable of building anything and everything, up to and including another Aurora Class Battle Cruiser. That new Base will be called Star Base Moon (SBM). We have learned a lot about concealment and I wish to continue that for SBM. It has to be completely below the surface. Preferably quite a ways below. It has to be huge. I am thinking somewhere between five and ten times the size of SBE. It also has to be adequately defended. I still do not know what we are facing out there, but Blazing Star was built for a reason. It was needed. It has still never fulfilled its intended mission. It has been over two thousand years since it was constructed and their technology or their enemies’ technology must have evolved as well. We need technological improvements and we are probably going to need them sooner rather than later. It is almost time for Blazing Star to seek out her destiny, out there, among the stars.”

He continued, “We can still use SBE as our major recruitment and training facility as much as possible, as well as a supplier of any resources we may need. Construction has to move. We also cannot leave any technology in SBE that could be utilized against us or the Earth. I need plans for all this and I would like to see us start on this project as soon as possible. Give it some thought. If you get ideas, talk them over and when we have a working concept, we will begin.”

Somewhat less than a week later, all the command staff got together and presented their plan to Simon. Everyone had worked hard on their part and seemed to have thought things through. Simon listened intently, looking for a flaw. He could find none. The base on the moon would be built.

The location was still to be determined but was now based on finding the best concentrations of certain elements. Blazing Star was once again circling around the moon, this time only on the side away from Earth’s view. This location also gave them an improved ability to scan outward across the Sol system since there would be no Earth ‘shadow’. It was now just a matter of analyzing all the probes and scans done of the far side to pick the location.

Once the results were displayed, a site was chosen very close to the center of the far side. To maintain communication with Star Base Earth, communication satellites were built and deployed to act as ‘moons’ around the moon. They would circle around the moon at the edge of the portion of the moon visible from earth. That way, one side of the satellite would be facing the Earth, while the other would be facing outward. Communication could therefore be maintained ‘behind’ the moon.

The next phase of the plan involved depositing about one hundred Mining and Construction Droids on the surface of the moon. These were very similar to the ones used to build the hardened dome on SBE. Their job was to start the project from the outside in. A suitable crater had been found and using materials within that crater, a hardened inverse dome was created to fit snugly within the crater but about three hundred feet above it’s current surface. Tonya had a brainstorm and suggested that the inverse shape could also be used as a deep space listening device and incorporated the shape and concept in the plans. It was also the main roof for the first of multiple construction bays. Construction areas were designated, maintenance areas were laid out, storage areas built to be convenient to both and quarters for crew and visiting personnel incorporated in the design.