Chapter 10

The following new character appears in this chapter:

Loammi Henshaw

Cultural attache, 5’-10’’ tall, 225 pounds, 42 years of age, brown hair, hazel eyes

It was actually five weeks before the Caribbean arrived, and it needed four days to resupply itself before we could begin loading.

Major Roanoke, he said to call him Greg, continued to receive updates on the situation on Owen’s World during this time from Marine sources on the planet. Meanwhile, we heard nothing more from our Headquarters about it. During this time, we continued with field training for the entire unit and also cross training with the Partners. However, our emphasis had changed more to single Team training with members from other Teams participating as replacements for those on a Team who had been injured. The results had been reasonably satisfactory for most of the Teams.

It was just as well that the Caribbean was so long in arriving as we had been slowly receiving the additional personnel and equipment that we had requested and were working them into the exercises. It was a big job and revealed certain shortcomings in our operations that required correction.

When we were finally cleared, it required seven days to get all of our equipment, supplies and personnel loaded along with all of the Partners, who were the last ones loaded. We had more equipment and other things this time due to the need for the Teams to operate separately.

Again, Tiger Team was the very last one to load on the ship. There was no one there from our Headquarters to see us off, but then we hadn’t expected anyone. Still it would have been a nice gesture.

When we boarded the ship, we were met by the Captain of the Caribbean. It was near the Partner’s Hold, and he had a terse message for us.

“Keep your Partners under control ... They will NOT be allowed out of their hold area. We tried that before. It did NOT work well,” he informed us before a Chief Petty Officer led us to our quarters after we had seen our Partners settled in their mobile homes in the Partner’s Hold.

We had worked out the schedule for the Partners’ exercise periods while waiting to move. We had also worked out the plan for where each of their mobile homes would be located. Fortunately, all of the Partner Holds were laid out the same on the three ships that Special Operations has.

Again there were mandatory classes and briefings during the voyage which lasted five weeks. There was also the continued training for our personnel, especially the new people. We didn’t receive any new updates on the situation on Owen’s World while in transit.

We arrived in the Owen’s World star system at about half a light minute from the planet and proceeded to the space station above the planet, arriving there in two days. We were surprised by the size of the space station, though perhaps we shouldn’t have been. Our briefing hadn’t even indicated that there was a space station, let alone its size. However, considering the amount of rice and other agricultural and marine products shipped from the planet, it wasn’t surprising that there was a station, or that the station was so large.

We were met on the station by a representative of the Unity government’s presence on the planet. He was the Cultural Attache from the mission. We had our now normal landing crew with us to meet him. It consisted of Tiger Team, less our Partners, Major Roanoke, Captain Rodeo, and Captain Hue.

“Why have you been so long in arriving?” the representative demanded in a haughty voice without so much as a hello for a greeting. I could see that the Colonel was not pleased or impressed by this.

“Who are you to question our arrival?” the Colonel demanded in just as haughty a voice.

“I am Loammi Henshaw, the Cultural Attache to the Unity mission here,” he informed us with an overblown sense of importance.

“Well Mr. Henshaw, I’m Colonel Freguson, Commander of Special Operations First Mobile Headquarters Team. We left Ainalhai III as soon as transportation became available. WE are not in charge of transportation. You can take up their timing with them,” she told him in a very sarcastic voice.

“Oh dear, how many of you are there?” he asked next in a slightly more friendly voice.

“We have 63 personnel and 13 Partners plus our equipment and supplies. Do you have a facility for us to stay in while we unload and set up operations?” she asked.

“We weren’t expecting that many people. We were only told that there would be four Teams,” he told us.

“We have four Teams. There are 13 Partners and 16 Human Team members. The rest are the support staff. We will have a large area to cover here, and each Team will require support when located away from our headquarters,” the Colonel told him to a bemused look from him.

“If you are ready, we can go down to the capital. The locals call it Mai Krung Thep, which translates as New Bangkok. Some of the other major cities are New Vientiane, and New Phnom Penh. They basically represent areas where the majority of settlers are Thai, Lao, or Khmer. There are only a few cities in the mountain areas, and their names are from the local language spoken in their area,” Mr Henshaw told us, appearing anxious to be rid of us.

“We’ll be ready in a few minutes,” the Colonel told him before signaling me.

“All right, Bob. You can come out now,” I sent to our waiting Partners and those with them.

Our Partners quickly joined us. They were accompanied by Sergeant Dixon and several people from the S-3 who were pushing a small cart with our weapons, armor, helmets, and backpacks plus Sergeant Paco’s radio. Samson and Sara also rode on it on perches. Henshaw looked at this and us in shock.

“What ... what is all of this?” he demanded.

“We don’t go into dangerous situations on unknown planets without adequate preparations,” the Colonel told him, as we all donned our equipment and picked up our weapons. Henshaw was even more shocked on seeing our weapons.

“You’re going to take those with you?” he demanded in an upset voice. “Weapons aren’t allowed on Owen’s World”

“Special Operations personnel are authorized to go armed at all times because of our missions. The latest situation reports that Major Roanoke received before we departed Ainalhai III indicated that there was considerable fighting all across the major continent. We will therefore go prepared for the worst,” the Colonel told him.

“But that’s not happening in New Bangkok,” Henshaw protested.

“You mean, it’s not happening there – yet,” the Colonel told him to a sputter from him.

As if it had been planned, and it may have been, that was when the two guerrillas opened fire on us from a different station corridor. We were in no danger as we, that is Tiger Team, had wards around us. Susie pushed Henshaw down on the deck, and our other people also hit the deck, as they knew what bullets sounded like coming in their direction. Miranda intently expanded the ward she had around her to cover the others. Bob charged right at the two men who were so frightened by this that they couldn’t hit him with their weapons. Bob literately mowed them down and then sat on both of them. They were both unconscious. The rest of us quickly recovered.

“You were saying?” the Colonel asked, looking down at Henshaw, who still lay on the deck. He wasn’t hurt, it was just his pride that was wounded.

“But ... but how did they get on the station? The security is very tight to make sure that things like this don’t happen,” he blustered, as he got up off the floor. The security guards arrived then and were startled to see all of us with weapons and our Partners all ready for a fight. Lucy expanded her wards even further to keep all of us safe from this new threat.

“What is going on here?” a short stocky man with a Lieutenant’s insignia on his duty uniform demanded after taking everything in.

“We were attacked!” Henshaw screamed at him in a terrified voice, but the Colonel interrupted him.

“I’m Colonel Ferguson, Commander of Special Operations First Mobile Headquarters Team. We were met by Mr. Henshaw here and were on our way down to the planet when we were fired on by the two men that our Partner Bob subdued and is sitting on,” the Colonel told the Security Lieutenant to a shocked look from him as he looked over at Bob.

“We will take charge of the assailants once you remove your Partner to a safe distance,” the Lieutenant told us after swallowing from the fright that Bob had given him.

“OK Bob, you can get off of them now,” I sent to him. Bob rose, and I swear, swaggered back over to us. Susie sniffed him to ensure that he wasn’t hurt. The men from the security team began securing the two guerrillas as soon as he was well away from them.

“Major Roanoke will want to know what you learn from those men. He is our Liaison with the Space Marines,” the Colonel was informing the Security Lieutenant during this.

“Yes sir, he can contact our headquarters in Mai Krung Thep in a few hours for the report,” the Lieutenant assured her.

“Well Mr. Henshaw, shall we proceed to the shuttle, now that all of that is taken care of?” she asked the Unity representative.

“Yes ... yes, you people are too dangerous to spend time around,” he said and hurried off toward the shuttle bay. The rest of our people returned to the Caribbean, while we followed Henshaw. The Security people were still dealing with the guerrillas.

The shuttle that took us down to the planet was a fairly new one. However, it wasn’t outfitted to accommodate Partners. Fortunately, there was an area for passengers’ carry on luggage behind the seats on one side of the shuttle, and Bob and Susie rode down there. Samson and Sara rode on the backs of the two seats next to Trish and Joel. Lucy, Roanoke, and I rode in the seats just in front of my Partners. Captains Rodeo and Hue along with Sergeant Paco sat in seats on the other side of the ship from Trish and Joel.

Mr. Henshaw had moved all of the way to the front of the shuttle, as far as he could get from us. The remainder of the seats on the shuttle were empty.

We arrived at the space port outside of New Bangkok a bit over an hour after leaving the space station. It was just a bit after local noontime on the clock that we could see outside the terminal on landing. Our shuttle taxied to an arrival bay, and a flexible unloading tube extended out to the shuttle’s boarding hatch. Walking through it, we entered the main terminal. It was as large and well lit as any we had been to, but they were not prepared for people with Partners or carrying weapons, and we set off several alarms and scared a number of people as we entered it. Security personnel appeared quickly, and Henshaw needed to explain our presence and who we were. The security detail eyed us with suspicion all of the way out of the terminal.

There was a large modern bus waiting for us. Again, it wasn’t outfitted for the transportation of Partners, or us in our gear and with our weapons. Since it was a large bus, there were sufficient seats for each of us to have one to ourselves. Bob and Susie took up the rear of the bus. Henshaw didn’t ride with us. He had an official car and rode in it. The bus followed his car. Here they drove on the left side of the road.