Chapter 13: Discovery

On the main screen, the shuttle with the NAT teams moved into the hanger and shut down. The image changed and they saw the twenty-four men and woman come down the ramp with their weapons on their shoulders. They were followed by eight techs, who would work the equipment in the dome.

Ken sat back and watched the shuttle. His mind wandered back to the trial and all that had happened that day.

Trial

Ken looked up at the sound of the chimes at his door. "Come!"

The doors slid open and Ensign Wayne stepped in.

"Sir, General Polk and party."

"Thank you, Ensign."

Ken got up and walked over to the group, as the filed in.

Turning to them, he said, "Hello, General, I'm Admiral Thompson."

Ken offered his hand to the general who quickly took it. Richard looked at the young man and studied him, as he shook the offered hand.

"Admiral, it's my pleasure to introduce my aid Corporal Michelle Lewis, my daughter Nancy Collins, and my granddaughter Lesley."

"It's very nice to meet you all. That will be all for now, Tina. Go get something to drink and come back in an hour, why don't you take Lesley on a tour of the ship. There are things going to be said that she should not hear as yet. That is if it's okay with her mother?"

"Yes, that's fine with me, just watch out for her ... and no sugar, she's in training."

Coming to attention, Tina saluted Ken and then General Polk. "Of course Ma'am," turning to Lesley, she said, "do you like pizza?"

"I love pizza. Can I have some Mom?"

"Yes, just don't eat too much. I don't want you getting sick."

Ken watched the two girls go out of the room talking, and he turned back to General Polk.

"General, Ma'am, Miss, why don't you all take a seat? Can I get any of you something to drink?"

Ken guided them over to his couches and watched as they sat down.

Richard sat, and said, "Coffee for me."

Michelle sat down across from General Polk. "Water will be fine."

Nancy sat down next to her father, and said, "I will have water, too."

Walking over to the replicator Ken quickly entered the requested items. They materialized on a tray, and he carried them back. He handed the waters to Nancy and Michelle. He placed an empty cup on the end table beside the general, and sat a carafe down along with sugar and cream, next to it. Walking back to the replicator he set the tray down, ordered his drink, and came back to the group. He sat in a chair that faced them. Taking a sip of his soda, he sat it down.

"So, General, what can I do for you?"

"Well, for one, my name is Richard. As for two, how can I get the trial stopped?" Reaching over, he poured some coffee and added small amounts of sugar and cream.

"Okay, Richard. My name is Ken. As for the trial, I am afraid that is out of my hands. We can only see it through to the end. Personally, I would rather work with the Federal Government than against it. However, they need to recognize what we are. We are the future of this world. We will not bow down to any single government. The Terran Federation lasted for more then two hundred years before the T'Lari attacked them and Terra was destroyed. I plan on stopping the T'Lari and the Crytherians, securing our people from slavery and then preventing the human race from winding up on the dinner table."

Ken looked at the adults in the room.

Richard finished mixing his coffee and said, "Ken, in 1961 I was a young 2^nd lieutenant assigned to the United Nations as a security officer. I remember that day when the Crytherians came and forced that treaty on us. They killed my brother that day. I have worked for over forty years to find a way to stop them. I had hoped you were it. I want to offer my services to you, if you will have me. And even though I agree that you have the right to hold the government responsible for what happened with the Seal's, I believe that this trial must be stop. Otherwise, it is going to tear the country apart. Especially after the whole world saw a member of your ship's crew abusing United States Naval personal on national TV."

Ken shook his head as he looked at Richard and said, "Jessica has been reprimanded, and will make a public apology to Commander Hutcheson before the trial resumes tomorrow. At that time, the people of Earth will see that he has been completely healed. Jessica will also apologize to the audience for her actions. However; in her defense, when she took those actions, she fully believed that she was defending me from yet another attack on my life. She did not know I had already taken the safety precaution in the form of only allowing the guards to carry unloaded plasma weapons. As for your help, Sir, I would love to have you but what about your commitment to the United States and the Army?"

"If he is healed then maybe the backlash wont be so bad, especially when this Jessica apologies to everyone. As for my commitment, I tendered my resignation to the President before I flew out here. Admiral Michael Kingman is now the new head of the Joint Chiefs. We are old friends and have set up a special email drop if we need to keep in touch, he would like a tour of your ship, when he can. For now, he will work with us as long as it's in the best interest of the United States, and he can get around the president."

Nancy looked at her father in shock. "Father, you quit the Army? You never said anything about this. Do you really want to do this?"

Richard took Nancy's hand in his and looked in her face.

"Sweetie, you and your daughter are my pride and joy, and I will do anything for you two. I know how bad the Crytherians are, I have watched for forty years as people disappeared, and we could not do anything about it. Now we can. As to this other race, I do not know anything about them. However, I am sure I will be learning about them.

"My brother, Jared, was murdered on that day back in 1961. The government lied to my parents telling them he was burned alive in a car accident. The Crytherians could have disarmed him easily, but used him as an example to scare the world. Well they have had us scared for forty years and its time we now scared them."

Richard looked at Michelle and said, "Michelle, I hope you will stay with me as my aid, but as to a relationship, well you need a younger man, not some old man like me."

Ken burst out laughing at the general's comment. Wiping his eyes he said, "General, when we get done with you, you will look like you did at twenty-five, and you'll feel like it, too."

He got up and walked over to the replicator. Standing in front of it, so his guests cannot see, he spoke very quietly.

"Replicator, I need Federation System General Insignias."

The replicator came on and a box materializes on the pad. Picking up the box that had formed on the pad, Ken looked at it for a second. He then turned, and walked back to the general.

"General Polk, I am putting you in charge of our mechanized army. Our mechanized army is a lot different than one you are used to. I want you to build up a defensive and offensive force using the battlemechs."

Handing the surprised General the small case he continued, "I am promoting you to the rank of Federation System General. This rank is equivalent to a five star general in the United States Army. That's if you want the job."

Richard looked at the young man in surprise, unable to say anything. He then felt an elbow in his side from his daughter.

"I'm honored, Sir. I won't fail you."

"No, Sir. I am honored to have someone of your caliber on our side. As soon as you are trained in our tactics and equipment, I want you to head up our training facility. I am setting it up on Mars. You will be in charge of all army assets in the system."

"Then, Sir, you have a deal. What do you want me to do first?"

Ken thought for a minute and say, "Well, first you should meet the only survivors of the original crew. Jessica, Amy, can you come to my quarters please?"

Jessica and Amy appeared in their usual sparkling mist form.

"Jess, Amy, I want to introduce you to our new Federation System General. General Polk has joined us, and has agreed to head up our Army units. He will be taking over Mars base, and the Mechs on the planet. I want enough landers for all his Mechs, and a way he can deploy them. Can we modify a transport as a Mech carrier?"

Amy stepped forward and said, "Welcome, General, and yes we can Admiral. Do you wish the ship under Army control or Navy?"

Jessica stepped beside Ken and looked at the General. "Hello, General, I am Jessica. We can use a Riverine class transport and modify it to carry the Mechs. It is a basic assault transport. They have the lift capacity to carry twenty thousand troops. I estimate that if we redesign the ship, we could carry about five thousand Mech of various configurations. We gut the crew's quarters, change the cargo bays into Mech bays with landers. Lander space would be limited. I estimate one hundred landers per ship, to drop three hundred Mechs per drop. I would suggest about fifty fighters and bombers for lander protection, and for saturation bombing."

Ken listened to Jessica's report. "Sounds good to me, Jessica. Since you thought it up, I want you to design the plans for it. Control of the ships will come under the Navy."

Richard looked at the two holograms as they talk, they were certainly beautiful images, but hardly alive. "Hello ... ladies ... I am sorry. I just don't know what to call you except by your names. So let me start over ... Hello, Amy and Jessica, you may call me Richard."

Ken smiled at the general's confusion and said, "General, Amy and Jessica are alive."

Richard looked at Ken in confusion. "What? How can a hologram be alive?"

"Easy. They're actually humans hooked up to computers that supply more intelligence and a human side to the original AI. This connection allows them both to handle the stress, and the problems, of running a huge ship like this, in any situation that may arise. Each of their bodies, are in special capsules on the ship. Both are protected by the ship's defenses and each other."

Richard looked at the two women, and said, "Do you mean to say you're actually from the future?"

Jessica nodded her head. "Yes, my father was the Captain of this ship. He was killed the day we came back in time. Amy is like a sister to me, because we have been linked for so long."