Episode 34

Chapter 131

Tiffany

Personal log (voice), Captain French of the Flying Dutchman,

2:19 pm, November 3^rd, 2006

8:19 am November 4^th, 2006 (local time)

The Flying Dutchman flew on through the stratosphere.

Nobody knew they were there.

That was of no concern to the occupants. With all the systems smarter than the people inside of it, they had a bigger problem. It was finally sinking in to them exactly what they were about to do.

Debbie for one was looking back and forth between the holographic projections and the shield status.

The shields were all down.

"Tell me again why we can't raise the shields now?" she asked.

"I can't explain the science behind it. But all I know is that the ship's engines are not powerful enough to run both the cloak and shields. And before you ask, we can't fire our weapons while cloaked either."

Karen didn't sound like she liked it either. "So we're an easy target?"

"Yes and no."

"What do you mean?" Mr. Mason asked.

"Simple. How hard is it to hit something that you can't see? Not only that, but if they can't see us, can you explain why they would shoot at us in the first place?"

"Good point." Karen acknowledged.

"I still don't like it." Mr. Mason persisted.

And I started to wonder if it would screw up the master attack plan that much if I opened up the hatch now and kicked Mr. Mason out. I know adults are supposed to get on teenagers nerves; it's just the way of things. But he is just too good at it. "You don't?" I asked in my most 'I've got enough problems, do you really want to add more?' tone.

Of course he didn't pick up on it.

Of course Diane did. Then again, she's friends with Jacob. She went through this last week. "Oh, now what's bothering you?"

"Young lady..."

"Don't you young lady me. And save your 'I'm an adult, I must be superior tone' while you're at it. Up here we're equals. Although I must say that your behavior makes the average teenager look almost saintly. So now, what is so fucking important??"

Mr. Mason fumed in his chair for a few moments. "I'll tell you. We're about to attack an American base. Not a foreign base, not even a bunch of misguided fools who attacked us first. Yes, I admit that anybody thinking they can hurt us in this ship is a fool. I'll grant you guys that. That's not my problem. We're about to fire the first shot in a war neither side can win."

Four hours. I just ask the universe for four hours in which there are no major problems. Ah, well. I might as well ask for chickens to sing the national anthem. It's just not going to happen. In that emotionless voice that they might as well get used to, I told him, "This isn't my first war that neither side can win. If you'll remember I helped get that one to the point where both sides ended up better off."

"This isn't some high school squabble."

"No, it's not. But it sure smells of one. Or didn't you hear what was going on?"

"That doesn't matter. Let's say you're wrong. Five ships vs. the entire United States military? Would even your ex be that stupid? Once you fire on that base of Marines, you will be at war with the United States. I didn't agree to that. I expected a quick rescue."

"The briefings said the base was under the command of a renegade. A quick rescue would still involve a fight. There'd just be more chances for one of us to get hurt."

"So what if it's commanded by a renegade? Surely you don't think the entire base is loyal to him? And even if it is, they are still Americans. You can't just kill Americans."

"So it's okay to kill anybody else if we don't like them? 'Hey, we're Americans. We can do what we please.' I learned about that kind of foreign policy in history class. It caused a lot of wars and most of the bad feelings Americans encounter in this world. And that's exactly the mentality that has Jacob so wary about our military using his work."

"That's not what I meant. But I just can't see firing upon the Marines as the best option, even if you're right."

"Even if we're right." I repeated his phrase. I was also rapidly losing what respect I had for him to start with.

He stood his ground. "Even if we're right. There has to be another way."

"What do you suggest???"

"That you call them. They have to have an idea what these things are capable of by now. Warn them to free Jacob and those with him."

"Or what?"

"Or else."

"Else what?"

"You destroy everything that can fight back, their infrastructure..."

"Exactly. There will be a fight. They'll just have more time to get ready."

"They might even scatter the prisoners to make the rescue harder." Karen added.

Debbie nodded. "Valerie thinks they've probably done that already. Remember, just because we're in these ships doesn't mean they are fools."

"There's another reason for the attack on the whole base." Diane said. "Jacob's father is assigned to that base. So that means until we hear different, Major Stone is the highest ranked officer that's not been tainted."

Karen jumped in on that. "So you see, we're not just attacking the base because it amuses us. We're conducting a rescue, restoring the base to proper command, and probably several other things that we'll find out we need to do."

"That's why we're doing all this. This isn't some game. And if it's possible after the events of last week, I'd be deeply hurt by the thought you think us so irresponsible."

Mr. Mason didn't like being put in his place by a teenager. "But..."

I turned the command chair away from him and held up my hand. "You're right. You didn't sign up for this. You offered to help me with the AIDs research. For that I'll not leave you at the first safe spot I find. But this isn't a research trip. You've authority is zero. Your influence is about zero after you misjudged us so. You're dismissed. I'm sure you can find some game to play in the living quarters. Or maybe you'll think about the fact that maybe, just maybe, we have some idea exactly what we're doing."

Chapter 132

Mr. Mason

Personal log (voice), Captain French of the Flying Dutchman,

2:31 pm November 3^rd, 2006

8:31 am November 4^th, 2006 (local time)

Tiffany turned the command chair away from me and held up her hand. "You're right. You didn't sign up for this. You offered to help me with the AIDs research. For that I'll not leave you at the first safe spot I find. But this isn't a research trip. You've authority is zero. Your influence is about zero after you misjudged us so. You're dismissed. I'm sure you can find some game to play in the living quarters. Or maybe you'll think about the fact that maybe, just maybe, we have some idea exactly what we're doing."

I'm dismissed am I?

Did she just tell me to run along and play???

Only one thing kept me on that bridge. The fact that they needed adult supervision. Sooner or later they were going to get into a mess that the ship's technology or a big attitude won't get them out of. I just hoped I would be able to.

"I'm staying." I told her. "Sooner or later you're going to need an adult to get you out the mess you caused."

Tiffany didn't even act like she heard me. "Joe."

"Yes?"

"Pull out targeting parameters for the attack and feed them to the weapons systems."

"Done."

"I've got them." Karen called out. She paused. "Are you sure about this list?"

"Why?"

"Most of them look like wasted shots."

"Oh, that's right. Valerie's hoping that the Marine commanders down there have as low of an opinion of us as Mason does. The idea is to make it look like blind luck that we hit anything good."

I ignored the jab.

"Okay. Just making sure."

"Debbie, for the first stage of the plan, we need you to keep alert. Remember that we're supposed to let them play target practice with us. Please let us know if the shields get down to only sixty five percent on the primary generator."

Target practice?? That I can permit. I don't think I've heard of any conventional weapons hurting one of these things.

"I will." Debbie replied.

Tiffany looked at the projection. We were crossing into Palestine. "Okay. Lets get this going. Joe?"

"Yes?"

"Activate secondary, tertiary and quaternary engines. Activate all shield engines. Target primary target sites."

"Done."

"Go to red alert."

The red lights flashed at the bottom and top of the walls around the bridge.

"Let me know when we reach a half mile out from the base."

"Coming up on that point... now."

"Very well. Drop cloak, raise shields."

"Done."
"Very well. This ship is at battle stations. Begin the attack run."

We watched as the projection showed pulses to show the shots of the percussion weaponry.

Craters started to appear.

Chapter 133

Corp. Grunt

2:40 pm November 3^rd, 2006

8:40 am November 4^th, 2006 (local time)

I was racing for my post so fast that I tripped and fell.

That was a good thing because the ground in front of me looked like the Hulk punched it. The odd thing was there was no explosion. I tried to see what caused it. As I got to my feet I saw something I thought was impossible.

The attacking craft seemed to appear out of thin air.

I climbed to my feet and moved around the crater. I arrived at the Patriot battery a few minutes later.

Captain Howe was on the radio. "I'm sorry Sir, the missiles had a malfunction in the triggering mechanism. It's been fixed now... Understood Sir, I'll blow that thing to hell the moment it shows up."

"Look over there!" we heard a voice shout. "Over the motor pool."

We all looked. All we could see is the building's roof and a murky sky. The blowing sands and smoke from previous damage wasn't helping any either.

The craft faded in and out of view as the smoke in the sky increased. The air around it seemed to pulse every so often.

We watched a Marine fire his shoulder carried Surface to Air missile.

The missile must have been confused by something, because it curved back and forth before it went after the craft.

The explosion was loud and bright.

We all subconsciously stood down. There was no way that it could stay in the air after being hit by that. The ground patrols would collect the survivors.

Then the Marine called out, "Oh no. That's impossible."

We all watched as the craft moved out of the smoke. It wasn't even scratched.

We all quickly went back to finishing readying the battery.

I double checked all the readings. "All's ready, Sir."

"Let's see it shake off what we're firing. Grunt, fire one."

The Patriot missile launched and sped towards the craft.

It hit it square in the middle. I blinked my eyes to clear out the sand.

"Grunt, fire two. Let's bring that thing down."

I fired.

What a minute. What's that bluish field around the craft?

The second missile hit as well.

Now I see. It hit the field. It never touched the craft. Then most likely the other missile didn't hit either.