ALICE Explorer: Book 6 of the AL:ICE series, page 11
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Various ALICE Facilities
The report from Hector and the analysis team sent in to evaluate the saucer was better than expected but not without areas of concern. Jake had called a small meeting to review the findings and discuss the next steps.
“Overall, things seemed to line up with the reports we have from the crew of the Phasers ripping out the ship's power core and leaving the rest as scrap,” Hector explained to the gathering.
On earth, Jake had Linda, Sara, Patti, and Jacob either in the room or remoted in. Besides that, Hector and all the ALICEs were there with Hector’s team in the room with him.
“Much of what made an ALICE was fried in the effort to remove the Passive Nuclear Reduction Converter, the unregulated power surge turning much of the human manufactured systems into unrecognizable slag,” Alpha explained.
“That’s good, right? It means the NeHaw couldn’t have identified the components,” Sara asked optimistically.
“Yes, but it was also quite clear that the NeHaw had been poking and prodding around the entire vessel, looking for anything that might give them insight into Human technology. It is more likely they were searching for stasis shield tech, but we can’t dismiss the idea that they were accumulating data on everything they found,” Hector responded.
“There was nothing for them to find regarding the stasis shields, thank goodness, but the unanswered question regarding how the Phasers were able to snatch this ship out of FTL is still a mystery,” Jake observed.
“I have a theory about that,” Jacob replied.
“Don’t keep us waiting,” Patti quipped at her brother with a smile.
“I reread the crew reports about the events leading up to and during the incident. They reported fluctuations in the FTL drives and then the boarding of the ship itself,” he started.
“And?” Sara asked as everyone involved had done the same.
“When the Phasers boarded the saucer, they split into two groups. One of the groups headed to the ship's power unit. No one knows where the other group went. They just reappeared before the others could get the power supply out, and then every one of them exited the ship together,” Jacob finished.
“Where did they go?” Linda asked aloud.
“We don’t know for sure as most of the ship’s security logs were damaged, but they appear in a couple of surviving snippets that show them traveling the perimeter of level 1, exiting the ship at maintenance hatch L1-3.”
As Jacob was speaking, a holographic image appeared over the conference table. The image was that of the Saucer, and a red line traced a path from the boarding point to the maintenance hatch on the upper surface of the saucer.”
“Why exit the ship there?” Patti asked no one in particular.
“That’s where I think the tracer was placed,” Jacob answered.
“What?” Jake responded.
“I think a Phaser ship was hanging just outside of Wawobash and tagged this saucer as it was transitioning to FTL. That’s how they were able to track it and eventually disable it,” Jacob pronounced proudly.
“Answers a lot of questions,” Jake said slowly.
“My sisters and I concur that the actions of the alien boarding party support the conjecture. The area in question was examined, and marking there suggest something was attached to the ship’s hull in this location,” Lanai added as a small red circle appeared in the hologram.
“Also explains what we thought was a hull breach, forcing the crew to retreat to the emergency life support areas on level 1. The Phasers opened the ship to space without regard for the crew on board,” Linda
“Thank God it was before they ripped out the power source, or it would have been much worse. As it was, the automated lockouts for that part of the ship were all triggered by the breach, but no one knew why after they lost power,” Sara commented.
“Did not stop the boarding party,” Jake observed.
“They phased right through the air-tight doors,” Jacob replied.
“Why did they do it?” Sara asked.
“Our only clue is the saucer was only lightly armed and crewed, making it easy pickings. The fact that they only took the ship’s power supply, quite large by ship’s standards, suggests they are in need of artificial power,” ALICE answered.
“So, the consensus is the damage done by the Phasers was sufficient to hide the ALICE build, but we can count on the fact that the NeHaw have more information now than they did before,” Jake surmised.
“Unfortunately, yes. Also, since we think we know how the Phasers got the saucer in the first place, we need to work on some ways of preventing that from ever happening again,” Jacob confirmed.
“Agreed. I guess we are done for now then,” Jake said with a sigh as he started to rise from his seat.
“Jake, I am afraid this meeting has just begun. April is on the line from Beta, and the Magellan just returned with news,” Lanai announced.
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Alexandria, Egypt
Captain Lau Chen was not particularly excited about his new assignment, though it was an opportunity for advancement should things go well. He and his men had been transported halfway around the world to a place he was told was called North Africa. Arguably older than China, he knew that once upon a time, great battles had been fought over these desert sands. All he saw now was desolation as the desert sands worked to reclaim the land once more.
He had been placed in charge of two companies, one mechanized unit consisting of trucks and armored transports and one infantry unit.
“Captain, I am sending you to work with the English in North Africa,” Colonel Bo had explained.
“Yes, Sir,” Lau replied as he heard his commander explain his orders.
“Your mission is to support the English in their efforts to recover precious artifacts that may be lost or destroyed if not saved. They are looking for artwork and other delicate items of historical significance. This mission is not for us. It is for future generations,” Bo had explained.
“Art, Sir?”
“Egypt and the surrounding areas were ancient civilizations. Much of human existence started in the region. Like here in China, where we have already secured many of the museums and cultural centers, we need to provide the same protections to this part of the world. Earth is a place of many peoples and cultures, and we are the new custodians,” Colonel Bo had explained.
“As you command,” Lau had replied, accepting the orders without questioning the sanity of his commander.
Like many of his peers, Captain Lau had not spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about the world beyond China and his own responsibilities. Yes, the Americans had reached out to them to bring them into the effort to restore the earth to prosperity, and yes, they had traveled to alien worlds to fight in the great galactic battles to subdue the NeHaw menace.
To Lau, that was all in aid of returning China to its rightful place on earth. How recovering art in the desert helped that cause, he was having some trouble reconciling. Because of that, he reverted to the soldiers' go-to solution when conflicted. He was doing it because he was ordered to.
The two American transport craft had picked everyone up in Hong Kong with little effort and plenty of room to spare. Once airborne, they traveled the eight thousand plus kilometers in a little over three hours before putting down in a large open area that he had been told was once the Alexandria Airport. On their approach to the landing zone, he had been able to survey the surrounding area from the observation lounge on the ship.
Crystal blue seas contrasted with the sandy brown of the abandoned city. He was surprised to see so much green as he let his gaze travel inward and up the Nile valley. By the time they halted forward progress and hovered in the final descent, his portal was filled with the barren landscape of the airfield covered in sand, buildings out beyond the airfield perimeter.
Intended as the center of their operations, the location in Alexandria allowed them to go south, deeper into Egypt, and east into what was once Israel, Jordan, and beyond. To the west were Libya and Algeria, additional targets for the searchers.
Captain Lau’s orders were to provide ground transportation for the people searching the cities, secure the airport where the transport ships were to remain, and ensure everyone got home safely. He was also to protect the civilian searches as they traveled to their various destinations and to try and avoid killing off the local population as part of that duty.
It was that last part that had Lau most conflicted. If he couldn’t kill anyone trying to kill them, how was he supposed to deal with the threat? He knew nothing about these people, how they had lived and why they might want to attack him and his charges as they worked to protect their treasures.
“Imagine how you might react should someone suddenly appear and begin what you perceive to be looting Chinese national treasures,” the Colonel asked.
“I would stop it,” the Captain replied swiftly.
“Indeed. That would not make you a villain, just someone defending what you believe to be yours. Think of these people in those terms,” Bo finished.
The bump he felt as the transport settled to the ground had Lau refocus on the issues at hand. Before leaving for North Africa, a plan had been outlined for Lau and his men. While the transports would act as their home away from home, there were several duties to be completed securing the area and organizing their resources. There would be tents, art processing centers, and modular command posts to set up before they could begin their collection activities.
Exiting the observation lounge, followed by several of his junior officers, he tried not to hurry as he made his way to the main hold. By the time he exited the main ramp at the bow, his men had established a secure perimeter, and his NCOs had everything well in hand.
“This we know how to do well,” he thought to himself.
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Various Facilities
“The entire planet?” Nigel asked as the analysis of the Magellan data was presented to the leadership community.
After the initial debrief, Jake had asked the Magellan crew to stay put in Beta while they gathered the rest of the leadership team together for a more in-depth conversation. Present were all the facility and space station commanders, Brian and Isabella, and several senior analysts that had been data crunching over the last twenty-four hours. It had been decided that, for the moment, the earth would not be sharing the data with other species until the full impact could be assessed.
Panic on earth could spill out among all the worlds and races of the Alliance, and that wasn’t something anyone wanted to see. For this meeting, all the major players in the earth leadership council plus the entire ALICE community were invited, but no more.
“We believe the Phasers that attacked us hit this planet first and did their level best to strip all forms of life from its surface. That’s the where, what, and who. The how and why are still to be determined,” Captain Erisey explained.
It had been decided that the Magellan crew was the best choice to present their findings, with the detailed analysis delivered by those crunching the data since their return. Magellan herself was still tethered to Beta; her crew anxious to return to their mission once the all-clear was sounded.
“Do we know anything about this race, how they lived, what they might have possessed that attracted the Phasers?” Bonnie asked.
“Not much. We do know they knew about us, which is how the Phasers found us,” ALICE answered for the group.
“Debris in orbit suggests a significant effort to drive off the invaders, one that proved useless in the end,” James offered.
“Their technology is still being analyzed. We have identified some systems, but we really need a much greater effort if we hope to gain any real insight into the capabilities of many of the things we have found.”
“We need to send a large scientific team back to the planet,” April expressed to the larger body of participants, her analyst roots on display.
Jake had to laugh as he thought, you can take the girl out of analytics, but you can’t take the analyst out of the girl. April had run the top analysis group for years before getting her command position on Beta. He was sure she was struggling to forgo the opportunity of a lifetime with an entire planet to dissect.
“What if the Phasers come back, we can’t go unprepared, and that will require NeHaw assistance,” Colonel Bo offered calmly.
“Leave that one to me,” Jake said confidently.
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Alaska ALICE Facility
“How do you propose we get the NeHaw to cooperate without telling General KaLob what’s going on?” Sara asked as the small virtual group sat around the table in Jake’s office. Still in Alaska, Jake had convened a smaller gathering using the ALICEs ability to holograph just about anything.
After the return of the Magellan, it was decided to withhold the findings from the NeHaw for as long as possible. Once it was known that the Earth had exploration ships out into the great unknown, it would only be a matter of time before the NeHaw would follow suit. Jake had no idea how many exploration craft they had in inventory, but he was positive it was a significantly larger number than earth’s effort.
The argument that the more out there searching, the merrier didn’t hold water when it was pointed out the NeHaw would never share any discoveries that might benefit the earth over the empire. The fact that it had taken them an additional week to produce the missing saucer after the crew had been returned was amplified by those limited few in the know. Both crew and saucer had been in NeHaw hands for months.
Until the earth uncovered the secret of the NeHaw phase inhibitor or invented one of their own, they were tied at the hip to their alien partners.
“I’m thinking about sending Kola to the system there and use it as a base of operations to protect our people,” Jake said as he considered their next steps.
“We need to understand what happened there and learn what the Phasers did. Once we unravel what they were after and how they were able to strip the planet like that, we might find a way to keep them at bay if not drive them off entirely,” Patti commented to the group from London.
“Jake, you know Tim and Kathy are on Kola. You are putting them right in harm’s way,” Linda commented sharply, she and Sara still in Nevada.
Jake knew Linda meant well, but he couldn’t let things like that cloud his decisions. His love for all the people around him was a constant nag at his choices. Everyone of importance to him held a position of danger in some capacity. In the end, all he could do is a nod in Linda’s direction, acknowledging the statement.
“And once the NeHaw gets wind of where they are headed, the cat will be out of the bag as far as our clandestine exploration goes,” Nigel observed, he in London with Patti.
“That’s why it has to be Kola. We can easily get five or six NeHaw destroyers in her hangars with all our other ships, so they have protection. By the time we let them out, they will be so far away from the nearest NeHaw connection point they won’t be able to report anything back home until we are ready for them to leave,” Jake said proudly.
“They won’t like that at all. I can easily see them wanting to cut and run at the first opportunity,” Patti countered.
“Yes, but they will be exposed once they leave the protection of Kola’s shadow and her half of the phase disruption system. None will venture far beyond her influence, particularly after we provide the story of how the Phasers grabbed the saucer out of FTL. We might leave some of the details out about how it happened. Besides, they won’t have a return course to follow,” Jake explained.
“That could work. If nothing else, the devastation left by the Phasers will confirm the need for the Alliance,” Sara observed.
“In the meantime, Magellan will be back on mission, and we can make up some story of how we found the planet as part of our Phaser research project,” Jake expanded.
Chapter 11
Space Station Beta
“Sir, is it true?” Sam asked Captain Erisey as she caught him in the passageway aboard space station Beta.
“If you are referring to our orders, then yes, we are to depart within the next few hours. I was just seeing to the last of the reprovisioning, no need to leave without a full hold, as it were,” James replied with a smile.
“You should find Leftanant Jenkins aboard already supervising the loading, so I might suggest you gather the rest of our company post haste. I do hope to avoid any fanfare the locals might have in the works regarding our departure,” he added with a laugh.
“Aye, sir,” Sam replied before spinning on her heels and dashing down the passageway like a little girl.
James had to admit the enthusiasm this crew had for their mission was impressive. Docked as they were to the station core, not one of his crew had accepted the offered quarters aboard Beta, though they were far more spacious and accommodating. All continued to return to Magellan at the end of their workday to spend their off-hours on board, baring the occasional trip to the recreation lounge bar and the space station store.
He was not so happy about his orders to delay departure until a few upgrades could be provided by the station maintenance crew and Beta. The orders had come straight from the top and were considered classified for a very apparent reason. Regardless James was displeased that he had to withhold from his own crew no matter what the reason.
He also expected a measurable amount of contraband now secreted aboard, and with this crew, rum was the least of his worries.
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Alaska ALICE Facility
“General KaLob, so glad you could take my call,” Jake began as the image of the NeHaw leader appeared on his display screen.
He was actually expecting to be shuffled off to some admirative minion, so the fact that the General took his call personally told Jake he wanted something.
“In this new age of interspecies cooperation, it is important that we maintain open lines of direct communications at the top, don’t you agree,” KaLob replied as if he was reading it off a script.
