Episode 41

Chapter 165

General Smith

12:10 am, November 4th, 2006

6:10 pm November 4th, 2006 (local time)

I was just thinking how I was so lucky it was Jacob's father who was assigned to run things. He was a Marine who had been under my command. He knew me and I knew him. Furthermore he respected me. All that and he was a Marine too.

Then my luck changed. I saw a woman walk in. She started whispering to Major Stone.

Then Major Stone handed her the school jacket he was wearing.

She put it on.

Another student offered him his jacket.

Oh dear.

Over forty years of living on this planet has taught me that there is something worse than a woman scorned. And I'm not taking about a woman with PMS. I'm talking about a mother whose child was hurt on purpose.

I'm not sure why, but suddenly I'm thinking it would have been safer to deal with Jacob at his worst.

Major Stone raised his voice. "Ladies and gentleman, may I please have your attention?"

The room slowly fell silent.

"Thank you. I have an announcement. This is Captain Amy Stone, United States Navy. She is my wife and will take the next shift. As far as the Density Force is concerned, she also speaks on behalf of Jacob." The Major then turned to the kid in charge of communications. "Send a notice to all ships and areas under our command. Captain Amy Stone's orders are to be followed as if they were mine, or in the case of the teens, as if they were Jacob's."

I watched as the kid at the communications console complied.

Major Daniel Stone turned to me. "General Smith, this is Captain Amy Stone and my wife. She will be acting for me while I check on Jacob."

This could be trouble.

"Does she know about our agreement?"

"Yes, I told her about how the Marines surrendered to the Density Force and the agreement we made that allowed you to save face. She has agreed to send all commands to the Marines through you."

"Thank you.

The Major nodded to his wife and then he left the room.

Now came the time for me to ask the dangerous question. "Pardon me, Captain Stone?"

She turned to face me directly. She looked haggard and worn out. "Yes, General?"

What I saw worried me. I thought I could see evidence of crying on her face. Maybe. But I was not going to mention it. One thing I have learned about the Stone family during this mess is that you don't mention something that would invoke their pride. With all that she went through recently, I would not put it past her to have me taken out and shot.

I took a deep breath and asked. "How is Jacob doing?"

Her face paled then blanked over. Her breathing became a little less regular. "Jacob is out of initial surgery. The medics think that he will recover back to the condition he was when he first arrived here."

"Thank god."

"Yes, thank him. Jacob lives, and so we are not forced to make an example of those involved."

I'm not sure I liked the sound of that. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that the Stone family can only be pushed so far. Would you honestly like to find out what happens when the gloves come off? And believe me, during everything so far, the gloves were still on."

"What do you mean? The base was pretty messed up. Lots of my Marines are in the hospital!"

"I mean that if they wanted to make an example of this place, nothing, and I mean nothing would be standing. Anybody not related to a member of the Density Force would be exterminated like so many bugs. There is a reason the Stone temper is kept in check."

I had to protest. "But Jacob was not in command!"

"No. His friends were. Ones chosen because they did not mind being violent when they needed to. Think about that."

I did not want to think about that. I knew the pictures such thoughts conjured up would make sleep impossible.

"May I ask what Jacob's mood is now? How did he react when he learned what happened yesterday?"

"We don't know. He has not awoken yet. As for the rest, we haven't told him and we've ordered nobody else tell him. We want him calm and coherent before we have him getting involved."

"I'm confused. I thought we needed him back quickly."

"No." she corrected me. "We need him back ready to handle things according to the correct way of handling things. We don't want him back quickly if it means he's going to just go off on the first person to upset him."

Chapter 166

Amy Stone

12:27 am, November 4th, 2006

6:27 pm November 4th, 2006 (local time)

I know that was not the best answer I could have given the General. The truth was that I was trying to figure out my next move. On one hand, I had a force of near unstoppable power. On the other hand I was engaged in a limited war with the United States. The question was how to keep things from getting worse without making things worse for those that helped Jacob?

"Incoming call." one of the students announced.

And so it begins. As my son has been known to say, let the games commence. "Who is it?"

"General Hambright, of NORAD."

I don't know that name. That means he's likely an enemy. Nobody told me they had more allies besides who came with the ships. "Has the Density Force dealt with him yet during this crisis?"

"No, not yet."

"Very well. Put him through."

The high school student hit a few buttons.

The screen in front of me lit up. I took a deep breath and tried to radiate the inherent power that Jacob tended too when he tried. "This is Amy Stone, Acting Supreme Commander of the Density Force. How can I be of assistance?"

"This is General Hambright of NORAD. And it's more along the lines of how can I help you."

Presumptuous. How does he know I haven't decided to raise Cheyenne mountain to its subbasements just to make a point to the Pentagon? "Please explain."

"First, I need to know if the Density Force plans to prosecute this war to the fullest."

Now that is a good question. Maybe a bit of honesty. I'll just put enough into my tone to make him understand that if I must, the order will be given. "We hope we don't have to. I doubt my son wants to wake up to a full scale war with our home country."

"How's he doing?"

"He's been better."

"First, I want to apologize. Abusing a teenager is not the way I thought we operated."

I managed to hold in my parental rage at the situation. Reminding me of what happened was not the wisest move he could have made. Even if it was an unintended result of his apology. The fact he apologized was a good move. Whether he meant it or not, the fact he at least tried to seem regretful did help his case. "I understand. We intend to try to hold Jacob from overreacting."

"I'm grateful for that."

"As well you should be. I'm still not sure how we are going to contain Jacob's temper if he learns even one third of what we did about the last two days. However, I must caution you that what may seem like an overreaction now may only be a common sense defense later. It all depends on what the Pentagon chooses to do."

"The Pentagon is trying to contain the war in preparation for disengaging forces. The President on the other hand, is not cooperating. He is fully behind Colt."

Now that was a surprise. Not the part about Colt, but the part about disengaging the forces. Based on precedent, I figured war was all but assured. I'm going to have to think on this. "Do you know what his plan is?"

"No, I have no idea what Colt is up to now. But I do know that the President tried to order a nuclear strike on the base you are at."

Oh dear. That would be bad. Very, excessively, gee I'd rather be in hell than witness the probable reaction bad. "Remember about the definition of an 'overreaction' changing? There is a perfect example. As long as the war stays conventional, we can contain things. But the moment the first nuke goes off, I doubt we'll be able to stop Jacob's temper."

Nor will we want to.

"We stopped the President. This time. I felt you should be warned just in case."

"Thank you."

"That favor wasn't free though. I do need something from you."

I should have known.

"What?"

"I need you to start limiting the war from your end."

"Acceptable enough request. The question is where certain people truly stand."

"That's a fair request. But I also do not know if the Pentagon is neutral, against the orders that started this, or are they just waiting to go public supporting the President. So I can make no guarantees until they choose a side publicly. I can however promise not to bring the war to the continental United States."

"That's enough for now."

Then I remembered something. There was a group based in America that my son would seriously want exterminated. Even with both Dan and I working on him, I don't think he was going to let them be. I just hope this doesn't bring back the certainty of war.

"I'm sorry. I forgot that the Association is based there. Let me rephrase it. I will not attack any base that does not attack or provide physical support of any attack on the Density Force. Those bases that stay out of it, we will not go after. We'll give any bases that do so a chance to surrender to our control first. I promise absolutely that the Density Force will not start shooting indiscriminately at anything in uniform."

"Understandable. Meanwhile, I will talk to the Pentagon. Hopefully, you will have no targets."

"Trust me, I would be glad of that." Capt. Stone thought for a moment. "Okay. As of this point, you are declared the recognized go-between. You will check with the Pentagon as much as possible. Initially, we will work for an agreement concerning non-belligerents in the continental United States. Later, we can expand that."

"I'd be glad to. But I cannot stop higher ranked people there from interfering."

"We'll face that if we must." My tone left those listening in no doubt who I felt sorry for more if that eventuality came to pass.

General Hambright's last response did not exactly build up my confidence for an optimum solution.

"It may come down to the teenagers and the Pentagon. I'm not sure which is more unpredictable."

Chapter 167

Valerie Dash, Captain of the Mary Celeste

12:38 am, November 4th, 2006

6:38 pm November 4th, 2006 (local time)

"Arriving at the rescue point." Bob announced.

"Red alert. Maintain cloak. Descend to one thousand feet."

"Descending."

I watched the holographic scanners as we descended. Something seemed wrong somehow.

"Sean, what is the current situation?"

Sean looked at the various scanners. "I see an overturned jeep. Several human readings in the hills to the west of the crash site. No bodies visible."

"Hmm. First things first. Scotty?"

"Yes?"

"Drop cloak, raise shields, arm weapons."

"Done."

"Bob, prepare to move behind the largest group. Megan, as soon as you can tell if they are Americans or not, you are cleared to fire. We are now at battle-stations."

"Excuse me." Lt. Frost spoke up. "What about me and my group?"

"I hope to have picked off some of the enemy before we drop you down."

"Uh, Valerie? We have a problem here." Megan said.

"Explain."

"Everybody down there is wearing an American uniform."

Valerie looked at Megan. "Everybody? And they are still shooting at each other?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Oh dear. This is either a tragic case of friendly fire, or big trouble, as we can't tell who in this mess the real Americans are."

"But we can." Frost announced.

"Oh you can, can you? We have the most advanced scanners this part of the globe has ever seen and we're having trouble. How can you do it?"

"Simple. The American military has started putting little signaling devices in our dog tags. Sort of like an IFF for ground troops."

"Impressive. What's the frequency code?"

"I'm sorry. That's classified."

"You know, we probably could scan for it."

"Possibly. But do you need to? We are allies in this. You have to trust us."

Bob turned around and gave the Marine a look. "We do??"

"Let me put it this way. It would help keep the peace."

I sighed. I hated the idea of limiting attention when I was in the Army before. I still hated it. "Can you guarantee that you can find them?"

"Yes."

I stared him down, looking for the slightest sign of weakness.

He returned the look without flinching.

Flashes started appearing in the holographic projections. There were a couple bright bursts before the ship's holograms started compensating. "We are under attack." Bob informed us.

I looked at the mess of shooting people beneath us.

Lt. Frost moved in front of my chair. I think he could see that I was about to order the ship's computer to break the IFF code. "Set us down first. We won't come back without them."

I took a deep breath. "As you wish. I just hope I'm not signing your death warrants. You may have your try. But if you fail, I'm loosing the full capability of the Mary Celeste upon this battle."

"You won't need too. We will not fail."

I leaned back into my chair as I dismissed him with a wave. I waited until he was gone before speaking again. "Please do not let those be famous last words."

Chapter 168

View of Lance Corporal Fuentes

12:43 am, November 4th, 2006

6:43 pm November 4th, 2006 (local time)

I adjusted my night vision gear. The world went green. Fitting. The Marines loved green. I adjusted my gun to a more comfortable position and moved deeper into the forest.

The forward scout's voice squawked in my ear. "Fuentes, move 10 feet to your left. You'll find some of the OpFor there. After them, the way should be clear to Stone's position."

I shifted to the recommended position.

There were three of them. They looked alert, but were concentrating on another target.

That was perfectly okay with me. It made them easier to shoot. I picked off the first one with the ease of a shot on the practice range. The second was a little harder as the enemy started to move. The third target took a little time. He had turned towards me and was shooting carefully back in my direction.

Just my luck. All the people shooting at Americans and I had to get the intelligent one.

We traded shots for a few minutes until he got curious. He stuck his head up to try and find out where I was.

That was the last thing he ever found out.

After I sent him off to the afterlife his kind claim to so willingly die for, I moved into a more secure spot. It wouldn't help the mission plan for me to get killed in the next five minutes.

Chapter 169

Sgt. Adam Stone

12:49 am, November 4th, 2006

6:49 pm November 4th, 2006 (local time)

I am not a happy camper at this point.

First, my driver managed to hit the only large rock in the road. This plus the horrible condition of the road resulted in a spin and the jeep ending up on its side. That didn't bother me as much since I was thrown free. The nearby mud and turf cushioned my landing. All this only resulted in me getting annoyed.

Then a whole bunch or people showed up. As they were all wearing American uniforms, I thought I was safe.

Or at least I thought that I was safe until they started shooting at me. That was when I got pissed off. I bought some time by shooting the gas tank of the jeep. That set off the explosives. I managed to slip off into a small crevice. As the enemy approached, I tried to shoot at them in such a way as to make them think I was on a different hill. It was not easy.

Then something appeared in the sky over the battle. I was probably the only person in the area that recognized it. But that was only because Jacob had shown me some of his plans for his project.

The craft landed. When a detachment of Marines came out, I thought there was hope.

The Marines never leave anybody behind. That was a sacred tradition. However, I was wondering if in fact they knew I was here. The General who sent me on this mission seemed to be acting somewhat fishy.

The Marines who jumped out were slowly whittling away at the imposters.

This started driving them closer to me.

I stopped my shooting to misdirect. I no longer had the luxury. They were going to reach me too quickly for that. I started shooting now at those who were closest to me. It was a fair bet that my rescuers were not that close to me yet.

Chapter 170

View of Major General Edwards

12:54 am, November 4th, 2006

6:54 pm November 4th, 2006 (local time)

I looked around one of the lesser war rooms. The Committee had taken it over to run the current war with the Density Force.

More like try to keep it manageable.

On the map there were five ships. Two of them were in central Asia. One of them was over western Jerusalem. One was on an inbound course back to Camp Carter. The last one was headed out over the Indian Ocean.

"Any statements from the Density Force?"

"Two, Sir."

"What were they?"

"The first occurred at 7:30 pm last night. Then the Density Force announced that they were assuming the United States' treaty obligations to protect the free state of Palestine until such time as our forces return to honor those obligations. Roughly ten minutes later their ship invaded Israel in order to act as a deterrent."

"Those teenagers have nerve. I will give them that." an Air Force General commented.

"They struck an American Marine base. How much more nerve can anybody have?"

"Good point. What was Israel's response?"

"Their Ambassador went to the White House to threaten outright war if the President did not do something. The President disowned them. In fact, the President offered to pay the costs of any suffering that results from anything that the Israelis did to the Density Force. The Israelis promptly attacked. They had lost several aircraft already. Since then the Israelis tried an assault into Palestinian territory. It was beaten back by a combined response of the Density Force and the Palestinian national army. The United Nations promptly condemned the violence on both sides. The State Department expects them to pass a resolution condemning us and requiring us to honor our commitments in the Middle East."

"I see. What is the second announcement?"

"Hold on, Sir. You'll want to see this for yourself. Lieutenant, could you cue up the lead item on CNN from our data intercepts?"

"Yes Ma'am." The officer worked the machine for a few minutes. Then he used the remote control to switch the channel feed to the main projection screen.

For some strange reason, everybody stopped what they were doing to pay attention.

I was just about to say something when the broadcast feed started playing. The time at the bottom of the recorded screen said 10:40 pm

"Breaking news!! The day American's have been waiting for since nine eleven has come at last. Osama bin Laden was killed just a few minutes ago. Details are sketchy beyond a transmission from the Flying Dutchman, a density class vessel in the service of the Density Force. Watch closely."

The network camera switched to the picture screen behind the news anchor.

We watched something which I would have expected more from the Sci-Fi channel.

The scene expanded to show another Dutchman class craft over Iranian space.

The crew of the ship was looking at that blip. "Is that the Hades?"

"Identification confirmed. It is the Hades." A computerized voice responded.

Suddenly it went into a dive run.

"Idiots." The girl who looked to be in charge muttered. "The Iranian aircraft only have standard weapons. All they had to do was..." she paused. Urgently she continued. "Red alert. Raise primary shields. Arm primary weapons. Joe. Plot an intercept course. Maximum safe speed."

Then the only adult on the ship spoke up. "Can I give the order to fire? My cousin died on 9-11 in the World Trade Center."

"Sure."

The adult stood up and moved next to the girl giving orders.

"Joe?"

"Yes?"

"The moment we leave Iranian air space, decloak and target the area previously entered into the databanks."

"Done. Decloaking now."

"Fire! Then keep firing till nothing human is still living in the target zone."

"Done."

The ship started firing.

Everybody watched as the crew of the ship watched their projection screens. Then the adult smiled. "Burn in the same hell you wished for my cousins."

"Okay." The girl said. "You've had your moment. Now I expect we've got another problem." She pointed at the Hades.

"Incoming call." A computerized voice said helpfully.

"On screen."

The adult reached over and flipped a switch.

"This is Tiffany French in command of the Flying Dutchman. Come in Hades."

A voice responded. "What the fuck do you think you are doing interfering with a Presidential mission?"

Tiffany, on the other hand, just got calmer. "I repeat, this is Captain French of the Flying Dutchman. Which of the thieves that stole the Hades is this?"

"The Hades is no more. You are addressing the Captain of the Montezuma's Revenge, a ship in the service of God and the President of the United States."

Tiffany yawned. "I'm talking to a thief. bin Laden is dead, and you and your friends in the Association didn't do it. Your plan to save the President's political ass from his just punishment has failed."

"How the hell do you know that?"

"Simple. We teens like to talk. The second one of us back at the base heard it, it spread like wildfire. I expect by noon tomorrow it will be all over the high school."

"Never mind. I order you to stand down and follow us. You are all under arrest for high treason for interfering with the President's orders."

"The President's orders are illegal, and so are yours. Stand down, and I guarantee a fair trail in the States. Resist us, and..."

The views the ship was showing rocked on the screen.

"What the fuck was that?"

"Our answer." the Association Agent said before he cut the communication channel.

Simultaneously Joe answered, "The Hades fired upon us."

"Shields holding." Diane added.

"What the hell are you guys waiting for, the winning lottery numbers?? Return fire!!!"

The view switched back to the CNN news desk. "There it is. Proof that bin Laden is dead. There have been several leads in Washington DC concerning some of the things heard on that tape. There has not yet, as of this point been any response from the White House..." somebody slid a paper to the anchor. The news anchor picked it up and read it. "The White House just issued a written statement. It was the Holy Behavior of Our God Given President that raised the nations above the liberal failings and sinful shortcomings of the past to the point where God has rewarded us by telling Our Most Righteous President where to find Osama bin Laden. That alone is reason enough to stop questioning his enlightened policies for our country. There you have it. The White House is still claming credit. What reaction this will cause..." another paper slid across the desk. "... and now for the Democratic reaction. This was delivered by Senator Dabunski of Pennsylvania. The Senator announced that The White House's statement shows his tragic lack of respect for those who truly did the work in chasing down Osama bin Laden. We are grateful to our Armed Forces for the work they put into this moment. We also embrace the Density Force and thank them for finalizing the end of bin Laden."