Chapter 27: Vengeance 5; Vengeance is mine

Commodore Thompson stood there issuing orders to the crew of the Oregon.

"Lieutenant I want to know what is going on. Who authorized the launching of those mech lifters?" On the screen, lifter after lifter was dropping out of the bay and heading north. "How many mechs?"

Lieutenant Commander Shawn Edwards looked at the Commodore and replied, "Sir, I don't know. All I know is that the red alert went off in the mech bay, and then three wings of mechs or thirty mechs loaded up and left the ship. At the same time an S.A.R. team was dispatched as well."

As Captain White came running onto the bridge, Lisa appeared in a sparkling mist, and said, "Commodore, I sent them. Ted's mech has been destroyed and he has been captured by the cartel."

"What? Is he ok?" ask John as he turned to face Lisa.

Lisa accessed the ships sensors and replied, "Unknown at this time, I haven't been able to raise him. His locator beacon has him moving towards Medellin. I have dispatched the mechs to secure the remains of his mech and to rescue him. Unfortunately they will be inside the town before we can get there."

Tammy listened to Lisa and Commodore Thompson talk and then she walked over to the command chair and sat down.

"Who is the communications officer, who has sensors, and who is in charge of the helm?"

Shawn looked over from where he was talking to Commodore Thompson, and saw Tammy White sitting in the Captains chair. "Ma'am, I'm Lieutenant Commander Shawn Edwards. I'm in charge of communications. Ensign Tanya MacEwen has sensors and the helm is under the command of Lieutenant Joan Greenville."

"Thank you, Commander Edwards." Gathering her thoughts Tammy started issuing the orders. "Ensign MacEwen what's the report on the rescue mission at the hospital. Lieutenant Greenville, prepare to move the ship over Medellin."

Tanya looked up from her board at her name and replied, "Ma'am, sensors have determined there are no more survivors inside the hospital. We have recovered three hundred and twelve bodies, and rescued one hundred and sixteen."

Tammy cringed at the death toll and asked, "Thank you, Ensign. Are you sure there are no more survivors?"

"Yes, Ma'am. There are no more survivors. We have scanned right to the subbasement. They last survivors pulled out were in the maternity ward. We were able to save thirteen babies out of the fifteen that were in the ward. All survivors along with the dead, is on the ship. DNA samples have been taken of every body in the morgue, so they can be matched to their families, to be buried. They are shuttling up the families now, so they can be with their loved ones."

"Thank you, Ensign MacEwen. Commodore Thompson, I think we should build a space station that will be under the control of the medical department."

John watched Tammy take charge of the situation as she had been trained to do.

"That's a good idea, Tammy. I will send the orders to my office and have it implemented."

Shawn noticed his com board flashing, and stepped over to the board.

"Oregon, here. Go." Listing to the report he said, "Wait one."

Turning to Captain White, he got her attention.

"Ma'am, I have a Priority Red for you from Flag."

Tammy looked over to Commander Edwards, and replied, "Put it on screen."

Turning back to his com unit, he activated the screen.

"Go ahead Washington."

The flag bridge of the command battleship came on the screen, Admiral Thompson was sitting in his chair, the flashing the soft red glow of the battle lights highlight Ken as he was giving orders. Some one said something to him and he looked up into the screen.

"Tammy, we have a shit load of trouble. The signal was from the T'Lari battleship that came through the gate with the Washington. It seems she got this far and crashed. The NAT teams have found human and T'Lari survivors on board the ship. We have initiated a rescue of the human survivors. I don't know how many we can get out." Distracted by someone, Ken turned his head, and said something and looked back at the screen. "The first batch of survivors are coming out now, I have summoned the hospital ships to take care of the wounded and dead. Any word on Ted, is he back on board the ship?"

Tammy went white at the question, and replied with moisture at the tips of her eyes. "Ken, Ted's been captured by the cartel, they some how blew up his mech..."

On the screen, Ken gripped his armrest of his chair so tightly his fingers went white from the pressure. "Tam, use any resources you need, but get him back."

"I will, we have dispatched three mech wings to search for him. His locator has him being taken into Medellin. I have sent the mechs an order to surround the city and get him out of there. I'm about ready to issue an ultimatum to the city that they surrender Carlos Fajardo and Ted to us. Or I will begin deploying the ships marines and take the city."

"No, you will not. Use the ship's NAT's to get him out."

"Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir, I didn't think of them." Tammy thought of the Oregon's Nat teams and their commanding officer and her mind flashed back to the trial.

Commander Jimmy Hutcheson looked up as the Judges of the trial came in and he came to attention.

Ted tapped his gavel on the pad and said, "Thank you everyone for being on time. I have received a message from Commander Hutcheson that he would like to address the court before we start. I know this is unusual for any court. However, I'm going to grant his request. Commander Hutcheson you may precede with your statement."

Jimmy looked at the court and then at the courtroom, and his eyes settle onto Doctor O'Neil as he spoke.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the court, I wish to apologize to the court for my actions and my outburst yesterday. My actions were unprofessional of a United States Navel Officer. I embarrassed my Country, my President, the Navy, and everyone under my command. The only thing I can say is I'm sorry. I will accept any punishment you wish to bestow on me. However, I ask you not to blame my men for what I did. Thank you."

Ted stood up, and walked around the table to the commander and offered his hand.

"Commander, it wasn't your fault. We know you were sick and it was affecting your behavior. There will be no blame for it."

Jimmy looked at the Commander and took his hand. "Thank you."

Ted patted the man's shoulder, and walked back to his table and stood there while Commander Hutcheson sat down.

"Now I have a statement to make. After conferring with Commander Hutcheson's boss, General Polk, it has come to our attention that this was an official mission of the United States Government to try to steal this ship. All charges against Commander Hutcheson and his men have been dropped. However, I issue this warning to every government of the planet Earth. Do not ever try to seize one of our ships again. The next time we will bring the full force of our combined might down upon you. Right now, we have three ships, but in six weeks, we will be launching our first homebuilt battlewagons, destroyers, transports and hospital ships."

"We offer to every nation's citizens that if they wish to join the Federation they can. You will be tested before you're allowed to join to see if you're sincere, when you join you will be given the oath of allegiance to the Federation and you must give up all citizenship of your home country. We will cure any disease that you or your family has. We offer the cure for Aids, Cancer, Kawasaki Disease, and any other disease that is running rampant at this time, to anyone on the planet. We offer cures for drug addiction, inoculations that will make some drugs like cocaine and marijuana inert in the addict's system. We offer all these medical cures free, with no strings attached."

"In five hundred years this planet will be destroyed by a race called the T'Lari, the T'Lari consider humans, and all life forms, as food." Reaching down he picked up a small box and pressed a button on it. A hologram appeared.

"This is a T'Lari, ladies and gentleman. They average in height at around seven feet, but up to ten is not uncommon. They particularly like our children as their primary meal," Ted said.

The hologram changed to show the T'Lari slaughtering a small colony, and eating the people.

"This was a colony that was located fifty light years away. The T'Lari destroyed the Navy ships assigned to the planet and invaded. The remote cameras caught this footage of the main square of the city where the population was herded and eaten." Turning off the remote, he continued, "The T'Lari refused to talk with us, or even negotiate a peace. Every attempt of communication was wiped out to the last man, woman and child.

"At this time, the T'Lari are at war with a race called the Tralcan, and they will be destroyed in twenty years. We refuse to allow that and we will stop it. At the same time, I know you all are wondering about the destruction of Reno Nevada. In addition to what happened to the city, some of the religious right is saying it was because of the sin of gambling. Well, I have a few words for them. It was not because of sin. It was the fault of a race called the Crytherians. This race issued an ultimatum to the United Nations in nineteen sixty-one in a closed meeting. They told the world governments that if they were not allowed to kidnap fifteen thousand humans a month from around the world, then they would destroy every city in the world from space. The people who were kidnapped have been sold into slavery. We now have set up a webpage. If someone in your family has gone missing in the years since nineteen sixty-one, go to the web page. Look for your country and then go to the year and month you think they became missing. I should warn you that the Crytherians lied to the UN, they have taken a lot more of our people since nineteen sixty-one than they agreed on. The count is over ten million men, women and children kidnapped.

"Now back to the reason of the explosion, the Crytherian slaver in charge of the Reno area kidnapped a good friend of mine. We originally thought the slaver was a serial killer called 'the Brander', but we were wrong. It seemed that 'the Brander' used cloned tissue to make a copy of the people he kidnapped, and then left it as a dead body for the police to find. We wanted to stop him because we thought he had killed a good friend of ours, Amy Lasker. When we went to stop him from taking his latest victim, he grabbed Lieutenant Commander Thompson ... Admiral Thompson's sister. We tracked them to the moon and stopped the Crytherians there. We took their base, then blew up a destroyer, captured a light cruiser and the freighter that had been sent to take another shipment of slaves."

Ted picked up his glass of water, and took a sip and then continued, "The Federation condemns these kidnappings and will use the might of our Navy, even as weak as it is now, to strike back at them. We hope in nine weeks, a task force will attack their primary mining world where hundreds of thousands of humans are being forced to mine for the Crytherians. We will free our people and bring them home to their loved ones. This I promise you, the Admiral promises you, and the Federation promises you. Good night. God Bless Terra and her people."

Tammy snapped back to the present as someone said something across the bridge.

"Get me Commander Hutcheson of the ship's NAT teams up here. Lieutenant Greenville, move us over Medellin. Launch fifty fighters to circle the ship."

"Yes, Ma'am," replied Commander Edwards as he turned to his com panel and opened a line to the NAT team room.

Joan typed in the commands to the ship, and it started moving towards the city, passing over the mountain range.

Thirty seconds later the ship came to a dead stop, and Joan said, "Ma'am I've over the city."

Commander Hutcheson was addressing his NAT teams on the latest Sims test, when the com chimed. Walking over to the wall, he pressed the com panel, and he spoke into it.

"Commander Hutcheson speaking."

"Commander Hutcheson, this is Lieutenant Greenville up on the bridge. Please report to the bridge, ASAP. Captain White wishes to speak with you in person."

"On my way. Hutcheson, out." Jimmy turned to his teams and said, "I want all teams ready for deployment. I'm not sure what the mission is. I will let you know when I know. I want you all ready for..."

Suddenly a sneeze shattered the air.

"Franklin, you're excused. Get to medical. Have that cold treated. Watts! Get his gear ready for him."

Both privates nodded their heads and Private John Franklin walked out of the bay.

"I will be back."

Jimmy turned and ran out of the bay. He stepped into the nearby transport tube.

Tammy got up, and started pacing the deck. On the screen, a blinking blip showed Ted's locator beacon entering the city. It disappeared as he was taken into a building. Around the city, mech landers start landing and deploying their mechs, while above the city, fifty fighters start circling the besieged city.

"Tap into every TV station and radio station in the city. Translate it into Spanish."

Shawn entered the commands into his console and took over the stations.

"Yes, Ma'am. Tapping into the feeds. You're on, now."

"Good day, I'm Captain White of the Federation battleship Oregon, I have a message for Carlos Fajardo and his drug cartel. Release my mech pilot now and surrender yourself and the people responsible for the bombing of Saint Mary's Hospital in Bogotá. If you don't, I will send in my marines, and we will tear the city apart. I'm initiating a blockade of the city; the only ones who will be allowed to leave will be the elderly, and the families with woman and children. Anyone else will be forced to stay until we get my pilot back. If any harm comes to him, when I catch the ones responsible, they will pay for their crimes under Federation law. That is all."

As she was finishing speaking, Commander Hutcheson came onto the bridge.

Tammy turned to Hutcheson and said, "Jimmy, get your teams ready for insertion."