Chapter 24: Party Day 1

PARTY DAY 1

Simon strode up to the podium amidst an increasing murmur from his guests.

“Ladies and Gentlemen.” Simon addressed the increasingly agitated crowd. “Please, those of you who may be aware of the significance of the changing light colors, do not become alarmed. We have become aware of the possibility of a disturbing scenario, so we have taken the precaution of increasing our security level. This is for the protection of all of us. At this point, it is purely precautionary! Now, it is time we all relaxed, found our dinner table locations and sat down to partake of the bounty our staff has prepared for your eating pleasure. After dinner, we will have the Awards and Recognition Ceremony in Honour of the crew of the International Space Station. Please enjoy, thank you.”

Simon moved over to a side table where Dawn, George, Marlyn, Gerlyn, Blaze and he were to be seated. The Head Table hosted the six country leaders.

“Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike politics?” muttered Simon to his five tablemates.

Dinner was served and Shawna had outdone herself. There were several main courses offered with a choice of Beef, Fish or Fowl. The guests could choose whichever one they would prefer. Each item was prepared to their personal preference and was met with various sounds of eating contentment. Finally, the guests had relaxed enough to enjoy their meals.

Various wines, beers and other beverages were offered along with the meals and many guests complimented the staff on the quality of the beverages as well as the quality of the attentive service. The staff did not mention that a significant portion of the consumed food and drink was prepared by the food services equipment on demand. They had been well trained and prepared.

After dinner desserts were made available to those with room remaining in their satisfied bellies. Most of the guests were smiling again by the end of the meal. Anxiety levels had dropped considerably.

The after dinner ceremonies consisted of each President or Prime Minister, in turn, speaking to the crowd about their ISS representatives and summarily awarding Medals for Bravery and for the dangerous life threatening risks taken recently because of the unfortunate incident aboard the ISS. Each country had their own versions of the Medals awarded. Each crew member of the ISS was introduced, invited to the podium to receive the awards and or medals, gave a brief acceptance speech and then returned to his or her family at their table.

The final award, however, was going to be a problem. The President of the USA, the Prime Minister of Canada and The Prime Minister of The United Kingdom wanted to give Simon and his crew Medals for the rescue. Simon objected strongly enough that they changed the award to one of recognition only so that Simon could expand on that by enlightening the others about Star Force Galactic.

The Prime Minister of Canada, Josh Alden, was the last of the six to present Awards and Medals, so was the one to introduce the final recipients.

Simon had cued up on the huge display screen at the front of the ballroom, a video produced by Blaze from data archives, of the rescue of the crew from the failing ISS. This was activated upon a pre-arranged nod from Josh. It was only a few minutes long, but explained in detail exactly the event that had transpired on that fateful occasion and exactly who had done what and how. Marlyn and Gerlyn gasped in surprise. Many others throughout the room all started to talk at once. It was bedlam.

Josh Alden, still at the podium, continued. “And now for further explanations, we would all like to introduce and thank Simon Gordon and Blaze.”

Simon and Blaze approached the Podium and thanked Josh for the introduction.

Simon then spoke, as the crowd gradually silenced. “My friends, I hope I can call all of you that, what you have just seen on the screen behind me was not science fiction or created out of someone’s imagination, it was fact! It was real. Blazing Star is called an Aurora Class Battle Cruiser, and for very good reason. Her capabilities are incredible. Blaze is her Artificial Intelligence (AI) and I am her Captain. Blazing Star is the first ship of our space travelling fleet, not the only one and certainly not the last. We are all humans, currently from the USA, Canada and The British Isles, and are known as ‘Star Force Galactic’. We are the only space based defence for Earth.”

Simon continued. “Our primary concern is defence of the Sol System, and by virtue of that, the people of Earth. We know that there are races out there in our galaxy that are threats to our existence. We have already met one such threat. Secondarily, we may find ourselves in a position to assist on Earth or assist with an Earth based endeavour, such as the incident with the ISS. That was not the first assistance rendered and it will likely not be the last. Thirdly, we believe it is our destiny to travel and explore beyond this solar system to seek out the mysteries of the Universe. We have travelled among several solar systems hundreds of light years away and seen many mysteries already. Finally, we have accepted the responsibility of assisting and supporting alien allies, some of whom we have already met and begun formal relations.”

“We have not been around long, less than 2 years, but we have grown considerably. We need the support and understanding of each one of you and as many of the people of Earth as we can get to understand who we are and what we represent. Star Force Galactic is the first and only means of effecting those aims and goals.” said Simon.

“Now I am sure that most of you have a great number of questions, concerns and desires that need to be expressed, so we have prepared several additional video presentations for those interested in learning more about us. We are simply asking all of you to join us, support us, not be strangers and certainly not enemies. You have nothing to fear from us. We are not aggressive, unless you are threatening us or our allies. Then look out! Remember, I mentioned some of the capabilities of Blazing Star. You will see a small demonstration of some of those abilities in the video called ‘First Enemy Encounter.’ said Simon. “Other videos are available through your suite ‘Video Archive’ function. These are all real. Remember that well.”

After a pause, Simon got their attention once again.

“Now, that concludes the basic awards ceremony. You and I owe a great deal to the efforts of George Langdon and Dawn, who are directly responsible for creating this location and its facilities. Many of my staff and I will remain here to ‘informally’ respond to questions and concerns for the next hour or so, as long as everyone remains friendly!” said a smiling Simon.

Simon headed over to the table where Dawn, Blaze, Marlyn, Gerlyn and George were gathered.

Marlyn was the first to speak. “I think I am beginning to see the reality in this situation. We need to know a lot more!”

Conversation was interrupted by the arrival of three Prime Ministers and three Presidents.

“Do you honestly expect me to believe all that nonsense?” spouted President Viktor. “Travelling hundreds of light years, meeting Aliens, and forming an alliance? Preposterous!”

“I was there for some of that!” said Prime Minister Eddie Baines calmly.

It was at that point that Blaze alerted Simon to a problem.

“Captain,” said Blaze. “We have to respond to a developing situation.”

“Explain Blaze.” said Simon. “One of our remote sensors, LRL-42, picked up an incoming ‘event’. The craft exiting that event is unknown to our present database. Additionally, Commodore Slaughty reports a strange behaviour! That ship, smaller than a Destroyer, proceeded directly to the nearest asteroid belt and appears to be hiding from something. She speculated that it was probably not us, since we were already under a Black alert. She is awaiting further developments or instructions.”

“That doesn’t sound good!” exclaimed Simon. “Go to Red alert. Bases maintain Black. We better get Blazing Star out there! Are all Command Officers on board? We launch as soon as we are all on board.”

At that moment Grant and Vladislav approached the table. “If you are going anywhere with Blazing Star and Anya aboard, I am going with you.” stated Vladislav loudly.

“And I am going with him also!” stated Viktor. “To see what else you can fake.”

Simon began, “You all should remain here for your own safety. We do not know what we may face out there!”

Marlyn then added her two cents to the pot. “You are not going anywhere without Gerlyn and I also. Besides, I want to see a smug look on a certain Presidents face disappear!”

“Ha! I like her, she has guts!” exclaimed Viktor. “It is decided, lead on Captain Simon Gordon.”

Prime Minister Hiroshige Shintani of Japan said, “Much as I would like to go with you, I think I will take your suggestion to review those videos you mentioned.”

Simon, slowly shaking his head, led the way out of the hotel to the personnel tunnel and into Blazing Star. Blaze had the tunnel seperated from Blazing Star as soon as they were all aboard. At the very least, maybe he could show them the reality of the situation, he thought.

Heading to Command, Simon said. “Grant, you and your security staff are responsible for these four. Bring along another couple of your men and make sure they remain seated at the back of Command and out of my hair!”

“Understood, Captain!” replied Grant, smiling.

Entering Command, Simon stated. “Ship status?”

Mike began a summary. “All boards fully green. Cloak 100%. Lifting off. Base doors open. Launching! Activating Shields.”

“Encounter status, Blaze?” said Simon.

“No change since the last update, Captain. The alien ship appears not to have any cloak or stealth capability. It obvously has some sort of FTL or jump capability and efficient sub-light drives. Class unknown but may be a Scout class or larger, origin unknown, race unknown, weapons or defensive measures unknown. There have been no communications that we know of. That ship is just tightly hugging a small depression in a large asteroid, presumeably hiding from something.” stated Blaze.

While this update had been happening, the four seated guests had observed the launch from an underground facility, travelled vertically through the clouds to the blackness of space, then treated to the sight of millions of stars, free of Earths atmosphere. They were finally realizing that maybe what they were told was the truth.

“Hold station above Earth, Mike, and get me Commodore Slaughty onboard Tallus, Blaze.” said Simon calmly.

“Commodore Slaughty here.” came over the communication speakers.

“This is Simon, Commodore. What has been happening?” said Simon.

“Captain, the ship is not visible to me at this point. It is, surprisingly, fairly well hidden. The captain of that ship seems to have some experience. I only wish we knew what it was hiding from.” replied the Commodore.

“I suspect the answer to that question will be forthcoming.” stated Simon.

At that moment, Blaze reported. “LRL-44 reports multiple shift events detected! Three events detected, large, probable Destroyer or larger. Attempting to identify now.”

“Display tactical map on side screen.” stated Simon.

On the left side screen, a three dimensional display of the Sol system opened up centered on the bright orange Sun, showing all the planets in blue, unknown alien ships in red, Blazing Star and Tallus in green, with asteroids and meteors in various shades of white and grey. Everyone focused on the display, noticing the incredible amount of detail. Even the known objects were labeled for everyones benefit.

Simon stared at the screen for over a minute before commenting.

“All ships appear stationary. It’s as if we are all waiting for something else to happen. I don’t like these odds.” stated Simon.

“SheGuard confirms the three ships are two Urellian Destroyers and an Urellian Battleship.” stated Blaze. “They are scanning the system.”

“Probably looking for that other ship and they are not going to be friendly. They will very soon discover that Earth is inhabited.” commented Simon. “Now I really don’t like these odds.”

Simon was envisioning his worst fears becoming reality. The sharks of the local Galaxy will now discover Earth. They cannot be allowed to carry that information to others of their kind. Remembering the previous encounter with Urellians, Simon decided it was going to be a battle to the finish. As for the other unknown ship, he hoped that the saying ‘The enemy of my enemy, is my friend!’ would prove to be true in this case. He was going to ignore it for the time being. He needed a distraction of a sort to seperate the Destroyers from the Battleship. Simon felt he had a chance against the Battleship alone given his shielding and cloak, but to take on all three at once was likely a form of suicide.

He needed information.

“Blaze,” began Simon. “Calculate the time at max sub-light for the Urellians to get to Earth and us. Also calculate the time for them to get to Tallus. Let’s see how much time and what options we have.”

Blaze reported. “At max Sub-light the Urellians could reach us and Earth in thirty-two minutes. We are approximately the same distance from Commodore Sloughty as they are and that time would be about twenty-three minutes. They could still shift, Captain. That would reduce those times to less than a minute each.”

“Any idea on their re-cycle times between shifts, Blaze?” asked Simon as a plan began to form in his mind.

“It could be anywhere from a few minutes to an hour, depending on the efficiency of their energy capacity and the previous shift distance.” replied Blaze.

“Ok, they are waiting, scanning and recharging. We may have a half an hour or so to entice them into a mistake. Commodore Sloughty, are you still there?” asked Simon.

“Your orders, Captain Gordon?” asked the Commodore from her ship.

“I want you to be ‘bait’ Commodore. Can you handle that?” asked Simon.

“I don’t understand, Captain. Please explain the concept to me.” stated the Commodore.

Simon began. “I want you to move in a direction away from both the Urellians and Earth, sub-light and still in the asteroid field as much as possible. At the same time I want you to briefly toggle your cloak off a few times while you move.”

“Captain, they will detect my ship, but be unable to determine much about it. I see what you mean now! You want them to react to me as if I was that other alien vessel.” replied Commodore Sloughty.

“Precisely! When they react, we will determine the best attack options and proceed based on their actions. Their current inactivity is in their best interest, not ours!” replied Simon. “Commence now, Commodore.”

“Commencing!” said Commodore Sloughty.

Commodore Irena Sloughty was finally engaging in real combat and she was ‘bait’! This did not sound to her to be a winning approach to battle, but she was conditioned to follow orders and she was good at that. She instructed her crew to set course in a direction away from Earth and away from the Urellians at a tenth sub-light, dodging asteroids and flicking her cloak off and on again at random intervals. This was supposed to attract the attention of the Urellians.

As the Tallus moved away from her stationary position, several minutes passed before any reaction was noted among the Urellians. The two Urellian Destroyers finally moved to follow the intermittant blip on their sensors at near light speed while the Urellian Battleship headed quickly toward Earth.

“Perfect!” thought Simon. “Whoever was in command of that mini-fleet, must have decided that two Destroyers could handle one small ship, and the just discovered habitable world would be an easy and lucrative plunder target for a Battleship!”

“Mike, plot an intercept course with the Urellian Destroyers based on their position in fifteen minutes. Wait until they have passed that location then shift there. Before the shift, full battle conditions. Prepare a spread of torpedoes and lasers, targetting their engines. They must not be allowed to escape.” ordered Simon.

“Blaze, Inform Commodore Sloughty of our intentions and have her perform a calculated shift to arrive at the same time, close to the Destroyers as well, but not directly in their path. We don’t need any friendly fire damage. Tell her to open fire immediately upon aquisition of targets. We will be doing likewise.” ordered Simon. “With better odds and factoring in the time required for the Battleship to arrive on that scene, we should be ok for a few minutes! We will deal with them next.”