Chapter 5: Do unto Others as They do unto You!

“DELILAH?” She was lying face down on the floor behind the gunners. Rowland asked.

“I’m okay sir. Delilah pushed off with her hands and came to a standing position.

It seemed to take forever, but when the AI light turned green, “Heidy, what happened?”

“One moment,” Heidy said. It took a very long minute. “We have been hit with an energy weapon of unknown make,” Heidy reported.

“Onboard channel Heidy.” Rowland directed.

“Channel open.”

“Members of the Fourth Division, we have been hit by an energy weapon. Two nights ago, we fought with some spiders from the Planet Zankels from the far side of the Galaxy. I believe we are still in battle with them. Since you are pilots, I’ll leave this channel open.” Rowland turned to his pilot, “Lieutenant Jeffery, what was our flying altitude before we were hit?”

“Five miles sir,” Jeffery answered.

“What is it now?” Rowland asked.

“A little below three miles sir.” Jeffery’s eyes were about three times larger.

“How many seconds did it take to go from five miles to three miles? Heidy?”

Twenty-seven seconds sir.” Heidy responded.

“We don’t glide very well do we.” Rowland said, “Have you found our enemy?”

“Yes sir, six miles back the way we came and up three miles. Looks like the Escapee is on the outskirts of Atlanta.” Jeffery said.

“By the way Lieutenant, good Job! Now turn us around and let’s go see what hit us.”

“Paul, I need you to man our...”

“Sir, I’d like to volunteer.” Tom offered.

“Paul, there’s one go get three more.” Rowland directed, “Tom, Paul’s the captain on this one. Back him up please.”

“Yes Sir!” Tom said as the two moved quickly to the stairs down.

“Sir, we have the Escapee insight,” Jeffery said.

“What’s it doing?” Rowland asked.

“It looks like it is sucking all of the electricity out of the powerplant,” Jeffrey suggested.

Paul asked for volunteers. He got a Captain (Tom), a Major, and two Lieutenants. Paul waited the three seconds necessary for the five of them to gather at the door in the rear of the passenger compartment, “Heidy open P-5 please.” The door slide to the right. After the five had gone through, “Heidy close P-5. Thank You!” Then they were faced with door S-1. Paul turned the handle unsealing the door, “Sir move that lever as high as the ceiling.” The Major did and the four-foot door opened 36”. The five scurried through. “Major pull that lever down as far as possible.” Paul then turned the crank until it was tight.

“Jonas, open up, we are going on a ride. Major Far left seat, Lieutenant next to the Major. Tom’s far-right seat. Lieutenant next to Tom. Tom, give me a hand with the tie-downs.” Ship Jonas:

Two minutes later, “Row, we are in Jonas and the tie-downs are off. Heidy has us open to space.”

“Paul, move out cloaked with no shields. Lights off. Only your dashboard. Go out a thousand yards on the right side.”

Another one of those longest minutes of life, “We’re here. Tom is on the right rail. I have Major Boyd on the left. Lieutenant Stile on the cannon, and Lieutenant Billy on the Laser.”

“Tom, Center mass turn on the radar now. One, two, three, FIRE.” Rowland called the action.

The Escapee was twice the size and mass of a 775-D. The five-pound anti-matter round blew that ship into a million pieces.

Atlanta’s lights started coming back on.

“This is Lieutenant Sam of the third Division calling any Space Cadets. Over Atlanta.”

“Lieutenant Sam, this is Watcher One, Rowland Taylor in Ship Heidy, a 775-D.

“Sir, I’ve got a platoon of twelve 555s with me tonight. How can we help?”

“Search Atlanta for six-to-ten-foot black spiders.” We are heading south to Macon then west to LA.

“Lieutenant Sam I see one.” Came an excited voice over the airwaves.

“Fire at will! Fire at will!” Sam clicked off then back on, “Good hunting General Rowland Taylor.

“Thank you, sister. 10/4.” Rowland wondered why he had said that. Rowland looked over at Jeffery and saw that Clair had filled the empty seat left by Tom. Phillip was talking with Delilah about the rail gun.

As they flew south at three thousand feet, they saw more lights on. As they got to Macon, there were no lights, not even any streetlights, “Stop Lieutenant. Find the Substation.” It took a couple of minutes.

“There it is sir. One of the Escapee’s ships is above it.” Jeffery announced. The ship was uncloaked busy drawing power from the sub-station.

“Stay a thousand yards away and move to the right side.” Rowland directed.

“Sir, we have another ship moving in. It looks like an eagle.” 2nd Lieutenant Clair McCall reported.

“Is the Railgun, normal charge ready?” Rowland asked.

“Yes Sir,” Delilah reported.

“I’ll count to three. At one turn the radar on. At three turn the radar off and fire at center mass of that ship.” Rowland got two smiles and nodded, “One, two, THREE!” The ship exploded into hundreds of pieces. “Jeffery, move the ship fifty yards to our left.” The view of the exploding ship changed accordingly.

“Outside line Heidy please.” Rowland directed, “Paul, are you there?”

“Yes, Sir. I’m happy to report the lights are coming back on in Georgia.” Paul said.

“Let’s go see if our Cadet Center is still there.” Rowland said, “Paul can you give us cover.”

“10/4.” As the 335+ Paul was in, circled the area, they got hit by an energy weapon. They splashed into the Ocmulgee River.

“Jeffery, land at the Cadet Center.”

“Sir there are already five ships there,” Jeffery announced.

“Oh Yes, Brother, those are a sight to behold.” Rowland was gazing at two brand new standard 885s and two 995s, and a Wide Body 885-F. This 885-F had four tanks that could hold 100,000 gallons of water. Rowland, smiled. It also had guns including the standard Anti-Matter Cannon.

“Captain Delilah, get us landed at the Cadet Center. I’ll be handing out phasers to all personnel and assigning who is going to fly the new ships.” Rowland didn’t wait for an answer. He went to his cabin and picked up a big box. There were 500 phases in the box. The box only weighed 50 pounds but was a perfect cube 30” X 30” X 30”. He had a heck of a time getting it in his room. Now he damme near scrapped all the skin off the back of his left hand trying to get through the door out of his room. He took five seconds to do a quick healing then continued. Down the circular steps to the passenger area. When he was in front of his officers he set the box down, “Do I have any Majors here?”

Three men stood up.

“Do any of you have Certs for 885s or 995s?” One man raised his arm.

“What did you think?”

“Sir, I’m Fred Langston, Certified for the 995. That is one incredible machine.”

Rowland couldn’t hold back his smile, “All three of you majors come forward.”

“Sir, I’m Major Hal Redford. I’m halfway to being certified for the 885, complete on the 775 and 445. Twelve years in the Airforce.”

“Sir, I’m Major Bob Johnson. Fourteen years in the Airforce. Certified for the 775, 445, and 335.”

“Fred, I’m assigning you the heavies. There must be more than a few 885 and 995 certifications here. Grab them and if you need more personnel ask for volunteers. Gentlemen, I’d like for all three of you to take on the heavies. We need to be ready to defend Earth 24/7. I’m calling up Houston and Dallas to see if they have any more heavies.”

“How many Heavies do we have Sir?” Fred asked.

Rowland laughed, “Four in Seattle and five here. When I started in the Cadets there were three of us and two 445s. We were assigned four positions 24/7. I remember we stood there looking at each other and wondering how we were going to make that work. The next day 12 ships showed up and a nice lady brought us a hundred applications from the local high school.” Rowland thought for a second, “Gentlemen, my expectations are 100 of each model and upon seeing that 885-F I would expect to see no less than 36 up to 60 of those. I can’t imagine us being involved in a major way, but we do have coverage responsibility for 13 states.”

“Calling Watcher One, this is Watcher 14.” A young female was on the call.

“HEIDY!” Rowland screamed.

‘You’re Connected.” Heidy announced.

“Watcher 14, this is Watcher One,” Rowland answered.

“Oh, thank God. Sir, I’ve had two near misses plus 27 other sightings of the black ships we have designated as Escapees. Only they are coming in, not going out.”

“Watcher 14 try calling the Cadet Center in West Seattle.”

“Yes Sir. Calling Cadet Center of West Seattle.”

“Calling Cadet Center of West Seattle.” Watcher 14 tried again a few minutes later.

A scratchy voice from West Seattle came on, “This is West Seattle Cadet Center.”

“West Seattle, this is Watcher One, can you hear me okay,” Rowland said.

“Watcher one, where are you calling from?” West Seattle asked.

“Watcher one is in Macon Georgia.” Watcher 14 said.

“Watcher 14, where are you at?” West Seattle asked.

“Sir, my position is on the 45th Parallel at the borders of Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota.”

“West Seattle, let me talk with General Frank Taylor.” Rowland Directed. It took a minute.

“Frank Taylor here.”

“Sir it appears we are being invaded.” The Escapee ships are drawing all the power out of the Electrical substations. We were hit with an energy weapon that dropped us two miles. By the quick action of Lieutenant Jeffery Taylor, he saved the ship and all on board. We found the ship that shot at us and put a single round from the railgun into it, destroying it. We have restored all the lights in Georgia by eliminating seven of the black ships. Watcher 14, please tell the Commandant what you told me.”

“Sir, I’m at the southeast corner of Montana. On the 45th parallel. I have almost been hit twice by black ships plus have seen 27 of the black ships come down to Earth in a little over two hours.”

A cadet handed Frank a message. ‘Found reason why no power. Escapee ship is over the main sub-station for the Seattle Area drawing power out of sub-station.’

“Rowland...” Screamed Jeffrey.

“We’ve been hit again...” Rowland said.

Jeffery turned the breaker on again. He then started hitting the power buttons. He had about twenty back on when the ship hit the ground and bounced. Clair started helping him and the two of them got all 90 power plants on again. He turned Heidy the AI off. Jeffery hit the shields and cloaking and weapons along with the radio.

Rowland looked over to where Delilah should be standing. He looked down on the floor, she was face down, “Delilah?”

“I’m fine Rowland.” Delilah was now on her arms smiling, “Sir.”

Rowland winked then turned “Lieutenant Clair, where is that ship that fired at us?”

“Sir it’s heading south,” Clair reported.

“Heidy, outside line. Calling all Watchers, this is Watcher one.”

Jeffrey hit a switch on the dashboard, “Try that General.”

“Watcher one, this is Warrant Officer Jerry Taylor at the Macon Cadet Center.”

“WO Jerry Taylor, we’ll be down in a minute,” Rowland said.

“Sir, I’m seeing five big ships at the Cadet Center.”

“Jeffrey, outside line, WO Taylor are you with the five heavies?”

“Yes Sir!” Jerry was one of the original Cadets. He didn’t want to go to college, but he chose to be the Fireship Specialist. He had just delivered his 3,003rd ship of the 885 widebody Tanker. They were used by firemen to put out fires.

“Hello,” Heidy said.

“10/4” Rowland signed off. “Heidy, when we land, do not open the door until I tell you.”

“Yes, General.”

Rowland’s three brothers were quickly taking Phasers out of little boxes about the size of a deck of cards. They were handing Phasers out to all the cadets. On the three big screens was a picture of a phaser with descriptions as to what each button performed.

On the screen would show: On the power setting 1 it showed a wolf on its back with feet in the air. Setting 2 showed a tombstone with “JON DOE” on it. Setting 3 showed an elephant on its back with its feet in the air. The battery showed a clock with 30 minutes shaded at full power. Then it went to the safety issues. Then every 7.7 minutes it repeated. The kids had all seen the Phaser Vibe a dozen times that first night.

Rowland waited until the end and replaced the Vibe with a picture of one of the spiders. Settings 2 = Maybe. Settings 3 = For Sure!

Rowland’s brothers and sisters all stood ready to run out and take up a defensive position.