The Quantum Leap - Part 26

The doctor scanned Aaen again with a handheld device from head to toe and then looked at the data on the medical monitor near the foot of Aaen's biobed. Aaen noted three nods accompanying a slight grin, and a subtle deep breath followed by a gasp. “I was able to heal the bruising on your face. Looks like they weren’t interested in doing any . . . immediate permanent damage,” the doctor omitted what damage was inflicted gave clear hints that they could easily have done much, much worse if they wanted to, “The blade they put on your face didn’t even come close to breaking the skin . . . No broken bones or severe damage to the soft tissue or any internal organs—I think you’re okay to get back to your bridge, Captain,” this report was accompanied by eye contact and a notable grin. The doctor silently opined the first officer was doing as good of a job as could be anticipated under the circumstances—not entirely surprising, but it was still good to have the captain back where he was needed.

Aaen leaned upright, turned, and then stood at the side of the bed and looked around at the other security biobeds. For a moment, he wondered why there were multiple aliens—albeit unconscious—on his ship, then asked, “What about our . . ‘guests’?” The doctor looked around the room. Their expression straightened, “They’re under a high-yield stasis security barrier. I’ll let Commander Smith know when they wake up.”

Aaen nodded, accepting this assurance, brushed his hands over the front of his jacket to get rid of a few of the wrinkles and then proceeded back to his bridge . . . right where he left it, he grinned, appreciating the crew’s being so busy completing their duties, and the subtle sound of beeping computers circuitry. His ship was alive and doing well, as well as he would expect it to be. Aaen grinned slightly as he looked right, then left, eyeing his seat. His aches and pains suddenly seemed a lot fainter now than they had a minute ago. The thought immediately pushed to the back of his mind.

Connors saw her captain enter, smiled, then loudly announced, “Captain on the bridge!” The crew sharply turned and stood to show the proper military respect for their commanding officer and captain of this ship.

Aaen nodded acknowledgment as he sat in his chair, “At ease—you may be seated.” With that, Aaen turned to his viewscreen. Hayes promptly handed Aaen a holographic print. He scanned it while Jones watched the large spherical blanket around the planet shifting—the blockade was suddenly performing a tactical search pattern maneuver. She wondered ‘Why?’ as she entered search and scan commands into her computer.

Aaen processed the print as fast as he could, quickly realizing in it were new orders for Odyssey—a thought that took seemingly a fraction of a second to process. He felt a burning sensation in his chest as his thoughts seemed to burn against the membrane surrounding his brain. Anxiety coupled with a slight, silent sensation of panic made his blood feel like it was beginning to boil with anticipation. He reached to the computer to his right and activated a new captain’s mission log entry. Aaen’s first officer had done an excellent job of keeping the ship’s mission records up to date. The log entry would be immediately transcribed from speech-to-text in real-time.

“Captain’s log: supplemental. I have finally been returned to my ship. My command and authorization codes have been reactivated. Ship and crew are functioning very well. Odyssey has received new orders from New Horizon. The main computer has verified the flag-level codes on the new orders as authentic. I have opted to recognize the new mission orders as authentic. As of twenty-two-hundred-hours, Zulu, Odyssey has been ordered to pursue and capture—or kill, if necessary—the alien leader of the installation illegally established on this planet to prevent them from using a large and illegally-obtained supply of Olyphium, which we have been successful in determining is going to be used as a weapon against the people of The Union, provided action is not taken to the contrary. Further to follow.”

The air in the bridge felt electrified as Aaen tapped the screen command to end the entry. Several crew members took a deep breath, in part from fatigue, and anxiety. A blinking label confirmed the recording had been paused. Aaen locked the computer log with a thumb scan then faced forward.

Hayes turned to Aaen with a concerned look, covering her right ear. Aaen looked at her as she declared, “Captain, New Horizon reports they have lost the thermal—and infra-red signal of the subject.”

What? Aaen thought silently, looking over his right shoulder, “What about the ship where that bozo’s keeping the Olyphium?”

“It’s still there, along with the Olyphium,” Jones reported. “WOAH!—” she leaned into her computer screen with a shocked look, “That ship’s security systems just kicked-in. . .” she scanned the data filling the right-hand-side of her screen, “It’s completely locked down—What-the-heck! That ship’s life support systems have been completely deactivated. There’s no atmosphere, ANYWHERE in that ship, anymore.”

“Was that done remotely?” Smith asked.

Jones shook her head and then choked on her first thought as she replied, “No idea. There aren’t any life signs over there. Nobody’s over there, so I reason the command was most likely given by some type of remote means. Instrumentation is so-far unable to trace the signal to its source.” That shouldn’t be possible! she exclaimed in silence. “The thermal signatures inside the complex are increasing in activity.”

“They know something’s up,” Smith calmly, sharply said to Aaen.

Aaen nodded. “Alright, let’s maintain stealth mode. Helm: take us into the troposphere at full sublight, and then hold position. Jones: maintain passive and active sensor scans of the area. Let’s see if we can’t find that sonofa . . .” he paused for a breath, then continued, “Lieutenant-Commander Sandburg, activate the defensive matrix and standby all weapons,”

Each officer emphatically acknowledged their orders in turn—Aaen detected a little anxiety from the rest of the bridge crew, except for Smith, who seemed calm enough. Aaen told himself in the back of his mind it was going to be okay.

Odyssey rose out of the water with gradual ease—water smoothly rained off the outer hull—then the ship turned and accelerated as it began its ascent. Its exterior appeared as a faint distortion amid the dense rainfall.

“Holding position in planet’s troposphere,” Wilson declared.

An alert swept through the bridge—Hayes’ screen flashed; she was fixed on whatever message appeared.

“Lieutenant?” Smith asked directly, standing behind her seat and looking at her screen. She turned her head confusingly.

“We just got a long-range-message from New Horizon,” she declared with a squint, “they’re reporting ship-wide power failures . . . They don’t know what’s causing them . . . They want us to dock with them immediately—and they’re warning us about a likely, imminent loss of communication with them!”

“Dimitri, do you have any idea what might be causing New Horizon’s power failures?” Aaen asked loudly.

“It doesn’t make sense to me, Keptin! It would be wery helpful to get up there so we can find out, sir!”

“Very well. Commander Wilson: take us up.”

“Aye!—” Aaen welcomed the sound of the engines’ hum and subtle groan. The bridge crew subtly cleared their throats and held onto their computer stations to try to distract them from the feeling of the planet’s gravity competing with the artificial gravity—they felt like a vacuum was pulling them backward and toward the deck as they accelerated into the darkness.

In less than a minute, their destination became visible in the view screen.

“Commander, the armada of fighters and cruisers are changing position,” Jones declared.

“Keep an eye on them!”

“Yes, sir!” What-in-the-world are they doing?—And why? She wondered . . .

*****

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The Quantum Leap - Part 25

Daniel’s voice flooded through the bridge.

“Roger that!” a male voice declared over the comm-link as he eyed the viewscreens with a steely look on his face.

“Acquire targets!” the Admiral commanded.

He entered a series of commands into his console, “Roger! Acquiring targets!” the response echoed on the comm-link. The trio of tactical viewscreens was virtually alive with targeting reticules and blurs of target tactical data. In seconds, each airborne target had layered blinking red circular reticules around them. 10, 20mm rectangular batteries protruded from the ventral-starboard hull, angled at their targets.

“Targets acquired!” he snapped, then hovering his pointer finger over the button lit red and directly declared, “X-Ray-One-Five-Seven-Lightning missiles are standing by for launch order, sir,”

The Admiral looked at the squadron of hostiles approaching the compound and then barked, “—FIRE!”

“Launch order confirmed!” he declared, pressing the fire button, watching circular indicators on his console light up simultaneously, “Missiles away, missile’s away!—Fox-Ten!”

The missiles shot from their rectangular housings in a blinding flash of white light and distorted the space immediately surrounding the mouth of each battery. The ship’s tactical sensors tracked the missiles as they soared at Mach 50 toward their targets and gave an accurate ETA for the missiles’ impact.

It began to rain in the surrounding area.

In a seeming blink, Daniel watched as Odyssey’s tactical sensors showed a crisply straight bright blast of lightning tear through the aircrafts’ fuselage, instantly violently exploding each aircraft into scattering metallic, flaming debris.

“Confirm targets are down,” Daniel commanded.

“Confirmed! All hostile aircraft are down . . . Showing ejection seats falling from the hostile aircraft!”

“Roger that,” Daniel acknowledged dismissively as he turned his attention to group two’s phasing toward Captain Winter.

In a seeming blur in time, group two passed through the layers of rock and then they were less than five feet from Winter, swiftly sweeping the room with their rifles as group two’s lead snapped to aim at a hostile alien’s back and fired three shots. The alien crumbled forward onto the right shoulder of the chair and then rolled onto the floor nearly motionless. Aaen closed his eyes and recoiled away from the action, cringing. Several other pops negligibly echoed from around the corner to lead’s right.

Group two’s lead thumbed a signal to disengage the phase. Each Shadow quickly appeared as a magnified distortion and then became visible.

“Kill the lights,” lead commanded accompanied by a hand gesture. The rest of group two snapped and precisely shot out any visible light sources in the room with a single shot each.

Lead lowered his weapon as he turned to Captain Winter, “I am Lieutenant Alexander, Union Shadow Forces Corps,” Aaen noted the Lieutenant’s voice was deep, and he had a slightly southern accent, “Are you okay?”

Aaen didn’t answer, only looking at Alexander with a confused look.

“Are you okay?” Alexander asked again, this time more directly as he knelt down, activating his tactical helmet light, shining it on Aaen’s face and holding Aaen’s chin to check for injuries, then Alexander activated his comm-link, “Two-lead to Alpha Lead. Confirming hostage is in-hand. Repeat: confirming hostage is in-hand.” The announcement echoed through Odyssey’s bridge and New Horizon’s.

New Horizon’s bridge and Odyssey’s was abuzz with celebration.

Daniel looked at Odyssey’s viewscreen and commanded, “Group-Two: RTS with downed hostiles. November-Hotel will coordinate local friendlies on Oscar with prosecute hostile Charlie-Oscar. Departure in five mikes, over.”

“Copy that.” Alexander acknowledged. Two other members of group two lifted Aaen from the chair. Alexander turned to the rest of group two and signaled to move out to gather the downed hostile aliens.

The Shadow behind Daniel read the new tactical data on his computer screen then turned to face him, “Sir, group two reports hostage is secured, hostiles are in-hand. Receiving signal to RTS,” the Shadow in front of Daniel began disconnecting the extra computer equipment.

“Execute,” Daniel commanded, watching the tactical readouts on the viewscreen blacked out, then read “Systems Restarting. Returning to Flight Operational Mode.”

Daniel turned around and faced the first officer. The ship’s doctor rushed to deck two through the internal phase pad.

“Group-two: you are clear to RTS,” the Shadow behind Daniel declared, watching the indicators on his screen seemingly blink from one area to another. There was chatter over the Shadow’s headset, “Roger that,” he acknowledged turning around, “Group two is safely back on-board, sir. CMO is securing hostile aliens in stasis and attending to Captain Winter,”

“Very well. Secure station. We’re Mike-Oscar,” Daniel acknowledged, gesturing to move out.

“Aye, sir,”

Daniel looked at Odyssey’s first officer, “I relinquish command to you, sir,” he said, shaking his hand. “Computer,”

The computer chimed acknowledgment.

“Return full starship command privileges to the first officer,”   

The first officer nodded, watching as Daniel led the other Shadows on the bridge to deck two.

The first officer took the center seat, noting the main viewscreen’s principle functions had been restored and the bridge computer stations looked like they had been returned to their normal functions. He faced forward.

“New Horizon, this is Odyssey X-Ray-Oscar, requesting new orders.”

*****

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The Quantum Leap - Part 24

“Does Captain Winter still have his transponder?” Daniel asked the Shadow behind him.

The Shadow checked his monitor, “Affirmative! It’s still functioning!”

“How are his vitals looking?”

“He’s alive, but his heart rate’s inconsistent,”

Aaen slowly lifted his head. He felt tired and a little disoriented and tried squinting to try to see more clearly.

The Shadow behind Daniel handed him over his right shoulder a dimly-glowing fiber optic print. He scanned the document with a steely straight face. New Horizon was getting ready to rain fire all over the area surrounding the base to neutralize hostile inbound air support; the ‘go-ahead’, however, had to come from him; group two was in position and standing by to phase to Captain Winter on his command to mount the rescue.

Textbook, he thought, complimenting group two’s efficiency. If he had to give that order, he would . . . but he hoped it wouldn’t have to come to that. And there was some new Intelligence about Captain Winter’s captors; their names had also been translated: Alka-Noon-Haifen, a Heiksakien and the one in command of this installation which is operating under the Heiksakien Empire’s flag.

Dang. He quickly and methodically set the print down on the top of the first officer’s computer and faced forward.

Alka looked at the taller dark figure and drew a six-inch blade from a holster on its left arm. A sharp, throbbing pain shot from where the object touched his face (though Aaen didn't feel his skin break); he couldn’t help but pull his head back to relieve the pain (this reduced the pain significantly.)

“Your  health will fail if your people try anything,”

Daniel took a breath as he watched the thermal and infrared images on the viewscreen intently, watching for signs of the situation’s continuing to escalate.

“You look like you have a high rank in The Union military,” Alka said darkly. “Your people will undoubtedly learn of your being captured. They will want to get you back. I still have something I am going to do with the Olyphium. They will want to ensure your safety. You’re coming with us.” With that, Aaen heard metallic clicking sounds and the pressures on his arms and legs released. “Prepare to evacuate the base. Get our troops in position at every access point between this room and my ship. We’ll do this without Quake if we have to,”

“Sir,” The other dark figure acknowledged and began walking out. 

Aaen looked up at the dark figure to try to see its face . . .

The Shadow behind Daniel handed him another print. The Olyphium hadn’t been moved, and the latest scans indicated it was weaponizable. New Horizon reported the weather was deteriorating; a severe storm was on its way into the area from the North, and there was a high chance of rain and lightning . . . SHOOT! Daniel silently exclaimed. If that material was struck by lightning, given how much there was . . . that stuff would leave a crater four times the size of the meteor crater in Arizona.

They were getting ready to take Captain Winter somewhere. Not today, Daniel decided. “Group two! MOVE-IN! New Horizon: attack pattern ‘Bravo’! Fire-at-will!”

*****

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The Quantum Leap - Part 23

“Do we have a 20 on where that hostile air come from?” Daniel asked, making a few more notes on his handheld. His voice was getting deeper.

The Shadow behind him pointed out several technical details on their monitor and then replied, “It appeared approximately 1-5-0 miles below the planet’s stratosphere.” The planet was surrounded by a blanket of friendly spacecraft. There was no way in heck anything was gonna get through a perimeter like that—not with the Shadows in tactical command.

Tactical data from New Horizon was still coming in about the orbiting Union ships. A meteorite the size of a tennis ball didn’t have a chance. The other Union ships were helping to form an extended perimeter—Britain, Russia, Peru, and Brazil were right on time. And according to the long-range sensors, more ships were coming. The Shadow at comms was going to have more to relay to Major Storm before long.

Daniel’s eyebrows dropped as he turned to look over his right shoulder, confused at what he had just heard. “How did they get through the orbital perimeter?”

But did they? The Shadow asked himself. More tactical data had just come in. He scanned the new tactical data in three seconds and then looked at Storm, “Negative! They didn’t! They used some kind of inter-dimensional transit system that is not on record.” What he had to report next didn’t make any sense to him, “They’re heading for a landing pattern about ten clicks south-south-west of our position.”

“Have we been detected?” Daniel asked directly.

The Shadow turned his head, “Negative. Hostile air is continuing on their original course. They’ll pass over us at about two-hundred-meters out. They appear to be armed for bear,”

Daniel faced forward. “Comms, let’s get the contact on New Horizon’s radar. Advise possible shoot-down needed.” What the heck are enemy aircraft doing here, now? Daniel asked himself, eyeing the contacts in a corner of the viewscreen.

“Sir, group two has stopped. Bio scans are indicating numerous hostiles directly ahead of their location,”

Daniel was fixed on the viewscreen.

The leading soldier of group two led group two to the right, and then a sharp left, hugging the wall as three aliens walked by in a hurry. The aliens seemed completely oblivious to them. Good.

Group two’s lead’s I.R. scanner attachment scanned the corridor ahead. The results appeared on his headgear—there was what appeared to be some kind of a utility management room to their right. He gestured to phase through the wall. Breaching it would draw unwanted attention and could put the hostage at risk. Not an option.

Group two reached for their phase unit on their left shoulders. Group two’s lead entered a brief numerical sequence and then nodded. Lead noticed another group of aliens was rushing down the corridor. Group two activated their phase units—seemingly moving through the wall’s inner mechanical workings, and then stopped inside the room. Thank goodness for infrared and thermal vision. Another I.R. scan revealed the facility infrastructure led throughout the bowels of this place, including where Captain Winter’s bio-signs were coming from.

“I need eyes on the hostage!” Daniel commanded over the encrypted radio. “Deploy microdrone!”

Group two’s lead gestured for the rest of the group to take up defensive positions in the room. Two soldiers aimed at the doorway, the rest formed a rectangular formation, enabling the rest of the squad to monitor any other potential entrance into the room. Group two’s lead reached for a small gum stick-sized gadget on the back of his waist utility belt then placed it on the top of one of the pipes leading into the brick face. The gadget’s magnetic base quietly attached to the pipe in an instant. It maintained its phase. He tapped a few buttons on the back of the device to activate it and then activated an uplink relay to Odyssey.

“Activate electro-mag propulsion on the drone,” Daniel commanded to the Shadow sitting behind him.

“Roger that. E-M propulsion is enabled at this time,”

The drone instantly hovered one-half-inch over the pipe.

The microscopic ultra-high-definition infrared camera on the front of the device sent a secure video feed to Odyssey’s main viewscreen. “Alright, let’s move out the drone. Get the drone to Captain Winter’s location as quick as possible,”

“Aye, sir!”

After rapidly navigating miles of the base’s infrastructure, the Shadow behind Daniel ordered the drone to stop, then rotated the drone left by 60 degrees. The Shadow changed the camera’s vision mode to X-Ray. The video and audio feed was clear. Captain Winter was strapped down to a chair and appeared to have been mistreated with some bruising on his face and a few small cuts on his chin.

A dark figure entered the room and approached the dark figure that was standing in front of Aaen, handing it a small device that the first dark figure proceeded to hold to its head.

“Yes, sir?” The alien said darkly, then paused. “WHAT?—WHY? We have the goods, plus a hostage, now!. . . There is NO evidence The Union is involved, or that they have any idea we are holding one of their officers’ hostage!. . . We can still pull this off! If you just give us the time we—!. . . You’re really going to do that? WE HAD A DEAL, QUAKE! . . . WELL, I’M THE ONE WITH THE OLYPHIUM! AND I CAN STILL WEAPONIZE IT and deliver it to where we DISCUSSED!. . . WHAT DO YOU MEAN?. . . .You-wouldn’t-DARE! You’re not the only one with access to your own fleet and the resources to hunt people down! I can find you just as easily!”

“Get me a trace on that wireless signal,” Daniel commanded. “Record the conversation when ready,”

“Aye, sir!” the work was already going swiftly.

The alien lowered the mobile as the line visibly disconnected on the mobile’s display.

“What happened?” the other dark figure asked, looking at the first dark figure.

“Quake just cut us off,” the figure paused, “We’re on our own. He said he will get the Olyphium from somewhere else,” it replied darkly.

The second dark figure turned to Aaen and then darkly asked, “What do we do with the hostage?. . . Should we kill it?”

The first dark figure turned its head and raised its right hand as though to casually gesture to stop, then looked at Aaen, noting he was breathing hard and slowly as though from near-exhaustion; Aaen could feel the throbbing and the sharp soreness of the bruising on his face.

The dark figure said in a grizzly voice, “No. . . I have a different plan in mind.”

*****

Steve H. told Jordan Foutin, "You are the next Tom Clancy. You really are a gifted writer."

Another reader told Jordan Foutin about his novel, "Absolutely life changing. God bless you for this piece of art."

Jordan Foutin's novel Daniel Storm is being given a new title and cover! The novel's new title is STORM TEAM, and will be published on Amazon.com soon as a Kindle eBook, audiobook, and softcover! 

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