Chapter 15

Scott looked round the Operations Room at the staff who were celebrating wildly. Somebody had found a bottle of whisky and it was being passed from hand to hand with cries of slàinte mhòr going up as each person took a swig. He couldn't blame them, it had been a room full of tension, nerves, anxiety even for the last few days, as the various iLOX attacks had been launched and the US defences were tested. There had been moments when they had all cheered and whooped - like when Mac and his men had turned back the invasion of Russia - but mostly it had been a case of trying to keep hope alive in the face of overwhelming odds.

As the video feeds were now showing, the iLOX ground forces had been completely routed by Mac and his Special Forces, ably assisted by the fighters from USS Atholl and USS Buchan. This in itself would be cause for a celebration. Fourteen hundred troopers against seven hundred thousand aliens and they had pulled it off. They had succeeded due to the tactics that Mac and Scott had used against the enemy, always catching them by surprise, putting them on the back foot and always trying to maintain the initiative.

Mac had used his videophone to alert Scott to the fact that they had almost two hundred thousand iLOX who had surrendered. The number of detainees or POWs still vastly outnumbered Mac's forces and he had sought Scott's advice on what to do. The whole situation could yet be reversed if these prisoners decided to begin fighting again.

Scott had ordered Mac to load the iLOX into their own transporters and let them head out into space. Mac had protested, not wanting to simply allow them to go, but Scott insisted that enough iLOX had died for now. He hoped these survivors would not return in the future, but if they did, so be it. Mac had pointed out that they had been responsible for the murder of the entire Chinese State and as such could be classed as war criminals, but Scott stuck to his decision.

Mac muttered to himself as he set about organising teams to begin loading the iLOX onto the transporters. On Scott's orders, each ship had been seeded with smart-dust without the iLOX knowing - another forlorn attempt at pinpointing where the iLOX base was. As Mac watched the lines of aliens trudge forward to board a transporter, he once again realised just how outnumbered his troopers still were. He began to think that Scott had the rights of it here. Better to get these iLOX off of the planet than have to guard so many of them.

A single flight of US fighters burst overhead and Mac looked up to see a single parachute begin to descend towards the ground. Several of his men ran to collect the box that was on the end of the parachute and they dragged it over in front of him. The top of the wooden crate was jemmied off and Mac looked inside to see it was full of some form of packaging - polystyrene perhaps. He brushed the packaging aside with his hand to uncover a case of Lagavulin, a twelve year old malt whisky. Mac guessed the clan leader had just delivered on his promise to supply the uisge beatha.

He looked up as the fighters swept past one more, their wings dipping in salute and he waved his thanks up at them. Mac opened the case of whisky and handed bottles out to those around him, saving one for himself. He walked over and sat with his back against a tree, opening the bottle and taking a delicate sip.

"Aren't you supposed to take a huge swig of the stuff to show how much of a hard man and hard drinker you are," asked Helfe, sitting down beside him.

"Only a fool swigs malt whisky, it's made to sip, to enjoy the subtle flavours of the highland spring water it's made with, water that has run through the peat and heather," he replied, a note of genuine contentment in his voice.

Mac handed the bottle to Helfe and she followed his example, taking a delicate sip of the smoky whisky and letting it run over her tongue and around her mouth.

"I think you might be due a few days leave Trooper mac Fergus," Mac said, "I know a certain Ard Righ who would probably be delighted to see you again."

The AI appeared at Scott's side amidst the revelry in the Operations Room. At the same time the door to the room opened and William entered. It seemed both had the same message. Prime Minister Schein was trying to get in touch with him. Scott opted to speak to her in the calm of his study rather than try to make himself heard in the Ops Room. As he passed the Admiral he cautioned him that there were still iLOX out there somewhere and he shouldn't allow things to get too out of hand in terms of the celebration.

Scott hugged Fiona and Eilean when he entered the house and sat on the floor to say hello to Tina and James, playing with them for a few minutes before standing and making his way over to the study.

He poured himself a single malt and sat at the table.

"Shaygan, I'll speak to the Prime Minister now.

The beautiful AI shimmered as she appeared in the room and confirmed that she was connecting the call. A second or so later the face of Marlene Schein appeared on one of the video screens and she spoke to Scott.

"Your Grace, may I be the first to congratulate you on a quite stunning victory against the aliens. Our history books tell us of some of your deeds back in the ninth century, but to be honest, most of us have always thought they were grossly exaggerated accounts. Now we have seen with our own eyes what a warrior you are! Scotland's colonisation of the Earth now makes much more sense to me, if it was your strategy that started it all off, it could hardly fail I think," she said.

"Well met Prime Minister, and thank you for your very gracious words. This victory was not down to me however, but rather it was the work of the troopers who took on overwhelming odds and succeeded, there are your warriors!" Scott responded.

"We both know who was behind this victory, your Grace. Your response however, marks you down as the truly inspirational leader you are. But, to business I'm afraid. A meeting has been called of all the Prime Ministers, your Grace and I have been asked to invite you to come and speak to us about the current situation and where we go from here. The meeting is set for the conference room of the presidential residence at New Inveraray this afternoon. Will you be able to attend?" she asked.

"Of course, Prime Minister. I'll see you there."

"Thank you, your Grace."

The screen went blank as the Prime Minister ended the call. Scott stared at it as he sipped his whisky, wondering why the Prime Ministers felt the need to have a situation report at this moment in time? Politicians! He would never understand them he knew.

Captain MacFergus looked at Tara and thought about her words. Was it possible that fate had sent them back in time so they could be the cause of Gabrain's disappearance? Surely that was highly unlikely. What did Tara have in mind, he wondered?

"Cadet, what good would it do the world for us to pick up a small band of Scots from the ninth century? They would in all likelihood be overcome by the way of life in 2012 AD if we ever do manage to return. There numbers will hardly swell the ranks of available fighting men by much?" he enquired.

"No, Captain. You misunderstand me. I'm suggesting we do something altogether grander than simply take Gabrain back with us to 2012. He has specialists with him in his party. What if we were to transport them to the planet we have just left and set them up as a new colony there. Not a colony in South America, but a colony on another planet. That way they can make use of the technology that's already on the planet and do so without interfering with history on Earth," Tara ended.

"Sweet Jesu!" exclaimed MacFergus, "Set up a colony to develop and grow, so that they can come to the Earth's aid in 2012? It's brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Will this Gabrain go for it?" he asked.

"Captain, 'this Gabrain' as you refer to him is currently Ard Righ nan Albannach, schooled by Scott in his duties and responsibilities. I think he will know what he has to do," Tara responded.

"I say we do it. Even if we can't get back to 2012, setting up on another planet and developing a capability to help in the future would still be a huge contribution to our world's safety. The way I see it, it's a no lose situation. Can you find him?"

"AI, scan the planet please for a DNA match to the last known of the mac Boanta line," Tara ordered.

"Scanning now sir. I have found a number of matches, sir. According to the sensors, two are children - currently located in Inveraray, Scotland. The third is an adult male - currently located on the Isthmus of Panama," the AI advised.

Tara looked triumphantly at the Captain, as she had just demonstrated how easy it was to track Gabrain down.

"How do we go about it?" the Captain asked.

"I think it would probably be best if I went down to the surface. He knows me and I can try and explain the situation we're in and what the Earth is facing in the future," Tara suggested.

MacFergus agreed. They planned to use a cloaked shuttle to drop down to the planet's surface and allow Tara to size up the situation there before she approached Gabrain. It would be important not to create a huge stir that would draw attention to the fact that the USS Dalriada was orbiting above the planet. That would upset history, something they were determined to avoid.

Tara decided there was little point in delaying the trip and within hours she was ready to head off. She had put together the same team of people she had taken down to the surface of the previous planet, thinking that she might need medical and security in particular.

Bruce MacFergus made his way down to the shuttle bay on a hover-trolley to see them off and he wished Tara good luck. The shuttle's computer was receiving a feed from the ship so that Gabrain's exact location was constantly known. Tara let Mr Sigurdson pilot the shuttle and she sat in the co-pilot's seat, watching the Earth grow ever larger on the plasma screen in front of them.

Their entry into the atmosphere momentarily blanked out their video feed, but within minutes they could once more see the surface rushing towards them. As they got closer, Tara could see the tropical vegetation and some vile looking cloud hanging over the water of an inland lake. It certainly didn't look wholesome.

They slowed as they neared the Panama coast and followed the path of a river that headed inland; the computer indicating this was the right direction to take. As they swept round a bend in the river, they saw a settlement on its banks. The camp was heavily fortified and they could see armed guards patrolling along the top of the walls. Tara ordered Sigurdson to halt the shuttle so that they could observe the comings and goings.

She spotted Gabrain perhaps an hour later, as he walked out of the camp, a large wolf at his heels. A number of guards attempted to follow him, but Gabrain waved them off as he took the path that ran along the riverbank. Tara asked the navigator to follow the man and wolf as closely as they could.