The Quantum Leap - Part 27

The ship-to-ship comm-link channels with New Horizon were dead-silent—there was nothing coming in, or going out—to anyone. This made the landing somewhat easier this time than lifting off—though there was an awkwardness about that part of the flying process with so many otherwise routine steps skipped, Wilson mused. This made him more antsy about flying so close to a flying giant whose shadow and hull hilariously blanketed Odyssey. The forward-facing bridge crew members noted in variable silence that every one of New Horizon’s running lights were dark, and its hull’s angle constantly subtly slightly shifted as though the officer at the helm had fallen asleep at the proverbial wheel and no one else on the bridge was stepping in to take control of the spacecraft to avoid a collision with the flying giant’s surroundings. Worse—there was barely enough sunlight coming through to tell that nearly all of the external docking port doors were variably open. . .

Wilson was having a tough time adjusting Odyssey’s approach angle because of this. New Horizon’s behavior didn’t make sense, Aaen silently decided, watching the docking port ahead shift as Wilson angled the hull to match its destination—the docking bay floor drew closer to the middle of the viewscreen—and then he listened to the slightly muffled THUDs from Odyssey’s landing gear magnetically attaching to the docking port’s floor.

“Okay, people—docking clamps are secure. We’re down and locked-in,” Wilson declared.

Hayes kept her right hand over her right ear and turning her head, “There’s still nothing from New Horizon—though there’s tons of comm chatter from the rest of the Armada. They’re all trying to contact them, Captain,” What-the-heck? There are over 100,000 military personnel and civilians on board that thing!

Jones turning her head, “Still no measurable power readings from New Horizon—anywhere,” Jones reported doubtfully. “Based on their current orbit, speed and trajectory, New Horizon’s going to hit the planet’s atmosphere in three hours,” she gasped.

That would be like Mount Kilimanjaro hitting the planet’s atmosphere, to say nothing about their orbital speed. The two-trillion-dollar interstellar spacecraft carrier had enough mass to easily take out a small continent if it were to crash land. . . Aaen, Smith, and Connors’ guts sank to their ankles. Aaen and Smith silently shared the curiosity that was subconsciously reverberating through the bridge—too many things weren’t adding up for either of their command comforts. . . Every crew member could hear the attempts to get more answers about why this giant wasn’t moving on its own and under its own power. Each crew member looked around and turned their heads in disappointment. The next thought and then questions to cross their minds was about what their Captain was going to do next—

Aaen wanted answers. No. He needed them,  he candidly decided in the back of his mind, and neither he nor the rest of the crew were going to get them in here. He turned around, “Jones, are you reading atmosphere out there?”

She nodded, “Yeah, just enough to sustain human life. Artificial gravity’s stable for now, though I wouldn’t recommend going for a long stroll.” She turned in her chair, “Sir?”

Aaen looked around his bridge, “Lieutenant Connors, Lieutenant-Commander Sandburg, Lieutenant-Commander Jorgensen: prepare to go aboard New Horizon. We’re going to get some answers,” Aaen commanded. “Jones, monitor our position while we’re out. See if you can find anything else out of the ordinary over there. Commander: you are to maintain an open comm link with the away team. Be prepare to phase us back if there’s a problem”

Both officers acknowledged their orders.

“Captain?” Smith curiously looked at Aaen. “What do you think we’re going to find?” Aaen read the look on his face and replied with a serious look. Smith took this as an indicator and nodded as he closed the hatch behind the away team.

Aaen retrieved his mobile and then began transmitting to Odyssey’s bridge, “Smith, open the ramp.” He holstered the mobile, “Away team: be ready for anything,” his voice echoed slightly through the cargo deck. He wasn’t sure what was out there—this eerie uncertainty made him a little more than slightly anxious about whether or not there might be something or someone out there who might have less-than-friendly intentions. Get a hold of yourself, and stay focused, Aaen kicked himself mentally as his eyes traced right and left while he listened to air hissing from the corners of the hatchway, listening to the subtle, sharp metallic clicks of the ramp’s multiple clamp-like locks disengaging, followed by the mechanical groan of the ramp’s motors inching the ramp to the docking bay floor. The away team quickly marched out, panning their lights—and especially in Sandberg’s case—raising and panning their pistol particle weapon.

The bay was dark except for Odyssey’s running lights, which provided enough light to see for about twenty feet in any direction, and the away team’s flashlights, which were comparably bright—but more focused—which meant the light would reveal more of the bay. The away team were immediately in awe at the size of the docking bay. They each thought the place was, in variable wording—HUGE! And extremely spacious. Their flashlights couldn’t reach the ceiling. They felt like they were in a virtually empty, open-ended cave in almost every direction. For the most part, this bay was made of some kind of highly-refined metal. . .steel, maybe? He wondered. The bay was full of cargo crates and unpowered fighter craft that looked as though they were at some point in the process of being prepared for launch. His curiosity nearly overwhelmingly piqued, Aaen shined his light on one of the closer fighters and noted the cockpit was open but dark like the rest of the bay outside of the visible area. Aaen half-wondered if they should check to see if there was anyone inside the cockpit. . .? But held back. A decade of spooky movies crept into the back of his mind, and as much as he recognized cinema was cinema—the thought of walking into an eerie dark space made the bay seem more forbidding. Besides, this place was getting a tad chilly for some reason. . .and the darkness was very thick. He put his hand on his pistol weapon, then took a deep breath and turned to Connors.

“Alright. Where’s the door?”

She tapped a few of her scanning device’s controls, turning a few times as though navigating with a compass (not really), then turned left and pointed with her left hand, “There’s a large armored door straight that way. Watch your step for a bunch of crates and other light and heavy equipment that’s lying around.” This struck her as being highly militarily unorthodox. At this moment, she and Aaen shared the same thought in silence.

Aaen heard stuttered breathing behind him a few paces.

“You alright, Mr. Jorgensen?” Aaen asked directly, adjusting his tone to indicate he had noticed the sound and was asking himself if he needed to send a crew member back to the ship. He doubted this very much.

“Y-Yessir,” he nearly croaked.

“Don’t worry,” Connors assured him as the away team navigated a pile of mechanical equipment, “We’re almost there, just have another two hundred yards and then there’s a door.”

Jorgensen gasped, “Great,”

“Don’t like the dark?” Aaen asked with a moderate smile. If not, you picked a heck of a career! All-things-considered. . .you are in space, after all.

Connors paused for a step, eying a green dot on her handheld scanner, which abruptly turned red, then white, then blinked out. Only another 50 meters to go—

Aaen noticed her pause and put his light on her, “Lieutenant?”

She looked up, turned her head as though embarrassed and confused, and then kept walking at-pace with the rest of the away team, “Sorry, sir. Coming”

“Anything we need to know about?” Aaen asked.

“What?” Sandburg asked intently from the lead.

“Nothing! Nothing.” Connors replied. I sure-as-heck hope it was ‘nothing’. She told herself, glancing at the handheld’s screen more frequently, but was careful to be subtle about the fact she was anticipating another ‘blip’. The fact the scanner couldn’t discern what the ‘blip’ was was a little nerve-wracking for her; worse, it couldn’t tell if whatever it detected was Union or not. The fact the ‘blip’ changed color coding so many times made her a little more than nervous.

The scanner read the twin doors to the docking bay as being six inches thick, and a combined fifty feet wide from the center. They were made of a highly advanced form of steel, and the doors’ armor added another three inches and was even denser than the doors. They were motion-activated, but the sensors lining the doorway were offline.

An eerie, seemingly mechanical, scream-like echo flooded through the bay. The away team snapped into a fan formation, feeling a brisk chill run up their spines, and raised their flashlights and their pistol particle weapons outward.

“WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?” Jorgensen shouted in a near-panic, Aaen detected.

“New Horizon’s on a decent course, Mr. Jorgensen. That sound might have been nothing,” he had a few doubts about that much. “Connors, are you detecting any movement other than us in here?”

Connors did another scan and turned her head as she read the results, “Negative! According to these scans, aside from the rest of our crew, there’s no one else in here,” she felt doubt in her gut about the de-facto integrity of that response.

“Let’s get these doors open. Find out what the heck happened here,” Aaen commanded. Jorgensen was quick to begin working to open the doors. A manual override was going to take a minute—to him, that felt like it might as well be an eternity.

The away team noted another eerie echo swept through the bay—this one was a little louder. The away team suddenly felt a little more uncomfortable at their position in the bay. With that uneasy feeling seemingly chilling the air, Aaen held up his handheld and transmitted, “Odyssey, we’re at the docking bay’s entrance—and we’re hearing some strange sounds coming from all around us. Commander Smith. . .can you confirm we’re the only people in here?”

“Weird. Uh, yeah, that’s affirmative, Cap. All-the-same, we’ll re-double our scans. I’ll have Dimitri try to interface with New Horizon’s computer mainframe to see if we can find some more answers for you,”

“Roger. Keep us informed.”

“The override isn’t working!” Jorgensen reported. “There’s a break in the panel interface and New Horizon’s main computer. We might have to—”

A flurry of violent sparks shot from between the two doors for five seconds—then metallic clangs filled the air, then the doors gradually parted by two feet.

“I thought you said the manual override didn’t work?” Aaen asked Jorgensen.

Jorgensen looked at Aaen wide-eyed and paused. “It didn’t.”

*****

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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! 

Make sure to like and follow the official StormTeam Simulations Facebook page for the latest! Keep reading!

The Quantum Leap - Part 22

The tactical diagrams were superior to X-Rays, and the tactical satellite in orbit some 150,000 miles nearly straight up was feeding him plenty of those, but they couldn't penetrate beyond the outer perimeter. What Odyssey’s sensors could tell him at this distance, even though the deepest depth of the water as they were in, proved slightly more useful. This meant that they wouldn’t be useful to find out where Captain Winter was being held inside that compound, and so he couldn’t rely on them. Snipers could tell him what was going on on the outside, and could make sure the remaining tangos in the surrounding area (yeah, there were still a bunch of the armed and variably identically uniformed bozos still around pulling the graveyard shift—more literally if they tried to make a move) didn’t blow the proverbial whistle on the fact that the most elite of special operators known to any intelligent in the know bi-pedal humanoid were present on this planet, and had no compunction about carrying out their mission by any means necessary and as was permitted by the rules of engagement, on which Daniel and the rest of this detachment were experts. The mission objective was clear: get our man back. If only it was as simple as the statement of four simple words. And it would be, so long as the stealth systems in their suits remained functional. And it was designed to be unless one of them deliberately shut it off. That wouldn’t happen unless Daniel, as their field team leader, gave the order, or all communication was severed and the tactical status quo had changed so radically that stealth was no longer needed, or proved to be more a hindrance to the mission than a tactical advantage. As hard as it was to believe, and it was to Daniel and the rest of this detachment, there were times (at least from a strategic projection’s ‘guess’ standpoint in rare mission instances) where that could be the case. Given the Shadow’s MOS—very rarely.

The passive and active sensor relays embedded into group two’s combat gear penetrated the compounds every minute detail, even the slightest imperfections in the air conditioning and circulation system were briefly highlighted. The inner compounds tactical and strategic ‘weaknesses’ became obvious in a question of about ten seconds. The scans were like sonar, but dozens of times more clear and precise, and the map didn’t fade away. There was a vast network of tunnels, corridors, and utility access points, rooms of various size, and armed alien personnel virtually everywhere. The deeper the compound, the more cramped things were going to get between navigating through the presence of hostile personnel, and the sheer number of variably tactically sound areas where things might get dicey if a firefight were to break out were infiltration be the primary goal by which to find Captain Winter. Daniel reasoned this had to be some kind of terrorist ‘forward-operating-base’ if terrorists had such a thing. These terrorists didn’t strike him as the run-of-the-mill bad guys. Their planning, their organizational infrastructure, their weapons, and outfitting all told him whatever snake was at the head of this madness had to be dealt with directly. Negotiation was probably going to be unlikely to be an effective resolve. But that planning would be for another day, and it might not be him that will spearhead that op, should it get green-lit by the CIC. As many times as he had trained for such situations, he would be ok with that.

There was a dense concentration of activity a dozen stories down, and more west, this information that was also visible to group two via their HUDs. Daniel highlighted the route he wanted them to take to their next destination on his handheld, and then signaled them to move out. The route appeared on their HUDs as they faced deeper into the tunnel, stood up, formed a single-file line, raised their rifles and started marching while continuing to pan around them, just in case. They were still running on night vision, and they could smell the downed targets. The tangos weren’t dead, but their combat armor and uniforms were burned from being shot. If they were to regain consciousness before they could reach their destination. . . And then there was the question of how busy they were going to be if an alarm would be raised, and what might happen to the hostage. . .? That much was clear: nothing. They would make sure of that. It wouldn’t be long before they could phase again.

Group two was approaching the door to the way ahead. Daniel looked at his handheld and read how his next most recent order was ‘weapons-free’, and the time that he gave that order. They were still cloaked, which means that if the hostiles didn’t have the outfitting to permeate the cloaking technology, they wouldn’t know what hit ‘em.

There were multiple hostiles in the adjoining corridors ahead, and the door was locked.

Group two stacked up on both sides of the doorway. 3D scans revealed the door was secured by twin pin barrel hinges—and that lock! Picking the lock would take too long.

“Breach and clear!” Daniel commanded, watching the night vision video feed.

One Shadow stepped forward, took a device resembling a tongue depressor out of a small storage compartment hanging from their right hip, sharply extended the device like pulling tape out of a tape depressor and then pressed the device around the edge of the doorway. The device lit up in the Shadows’ HUDs. In two seconds, the doorway disappeared and the Shadows marched inside as a two-by-two formation like a flood.

A tango walked around the corner and looked in the Shadows’ direction. There was a breeze where there had not been a breeze before, and where there shouldn’t be one.

It quickly made a low growling noise as it raised its rifle hanging from its shoulder.

As group two marched the two Shadows in front snapped and fired two shots each. Plumes of a dark matter shot from the tango’s upper torso as it sharply collapsed backward into a wall and crumbled onto the ground.

The indicators on the viewscreen said the targets were down. For now, at least, Daniel thought.

Group two got ready to take a sharp right, tucking their rifles under their arms as they turned the corner and then aimed normally continuing to quickly march as the last two around the corner faced the opposite direction for several seconds. The corridor way behind them was clear. They quickly rejoined the group.

Daniel watched the indicators revealing group two’s real-time location in the compound in relation to their destination and their objective. They were getting closer by the second—more tangos were ahead, and on every level between group two’s location and their destination. There were several levels to go before group two could attempt an action on the objective.

The behavior of the indicators representing the rest of the tangos in the compound indicated they didn’t know group two was there. What appeared to be Captain Winter’s indicator appeared stationary, and he wasn’t alone. The compound must have been some kind of forward operating base, Daniel reasoned. Even with group two completely cloaked, with so many tangos so close together in that place, a direct assault could blow group two’s cover. The cloaking system is effective, but if the tangos knew or figured out how to see through it, things would get messy. Fast. Especially considering these aliens’ reputation.

They haven’t yet. That was the good news. Daniel wanted it to stay that way.

Daniel pulled up info about the aliens on his handheld—a longer paragraph detailing The Union’s history with dealing with them appeared. He read it in seconds, then queried information about the aliens on the compound that Odyssey had sensor stills of from their descent earlier. . . Shoot. Who the tangos were working for was confirmed by Intelligence.

He fingered back to his operational notes and made another entry.

Aaen’s eyes were adjusting to the lighting. He wasn’t comfortable and figured he wasn’t going to be. Those dark figures were still tall, and still dark, but the angle they were standing at gave him a vague glimpse of their faces—

This rescue op was gonna be tricky, Daniel thought, looking over his shoulder for an instant at the Shadow behind him. “Distance?” he asked directly.

The Shadow looked at the data on his computer monitor, quickly wrote down a few digital notes on the monitor and then turned to the front of the bridge, “Group two is about a hundred meters from the destination. Multiple tangos ahead!” he eyed several new sensor contacts on a 3D map of the geographical area surrounding the base. “We’ve also got hostile aircraft approaching from our four o’clock! ETA: two minutes!”

“Roger that.” Daniel acknowledged. “Keep tracking the aircraft,”

“We’re picking up inbound comm traffic. Attempting to trace to the source!”

“Roger that!” Daniel acknowledged. “Let’s tap the signal and record and interpret when able,”

“Aye, sir!” the work began immediately.

“Group two is eight meters from destination!”

“Check!” Daniel acknowledged, fingering more data into his handheld. He looked up and saw there were too many hostiles nearby. “Group two, weapons-reserved!” he commanded. Group two would only fire when fired upon. For now.

The number of red indicators near group two were increasing by the second. They didn’t look like they were looking for them, maybe they were headed for Captain Winter?

They needed to find out what Captain Winter’s status is, and what the tactical situation was in his immediate vicinity. Group two was fifty meters away from their destination. 

It wouldn’t be long now. 

*****

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, DANIEL STORM, "Absolutely life changing. God bless you for this piece of art."

DANIEL STORM, a Jordan Foutin eBook, is available for $8.99 at any of these fine online retailers: 

Make sure to like the official StormTeam Simulations Facebook page for the latest, including when DANIEL STORM will be available on Amazon.com for Kindle eBook and softcover! Coming soon!

The Quantum Leap - Part 21

Daniel observed and noted the front entrance to the base was actually a vehicle entrance, judging by the tactical 3D diagrams. With the rain, wind, and scarce lighting, and the enemy doesn’t have any gear that would enable them to see group two while they’re cloaked—that should make getting in relatively easy. . . The only thing that bothered him was the electromagnetic (E.M.) fields that looked like a digital blanket over that mountain base.

Except the mountain was just a cover. The real action was going on underground. The base’s layout reminded him of a secret American military compound he had heard about years ago—

“Group two is two thousand meters from destination, sir!” A Shadow declared from behind. 

“EXECUTE!”

The command was relayed with professional timing. This was a moment of truth as group two switched to night vision. The corridors lit up with a subtle bright white hue.

Group two’s video feeds appeared distorted as the video feeds appeared to stretch for what seemed like a second. The outer perimeter fencing seemed like a hallucination for a moment, and then the feed stabilized. Group two and Daniel observed digital lines tracing the tunnel’s contours, then along the adjoining infrastructure in every direction.

“Phase complete?” Daniel asked sharply to the Shadow behind him.

“Good phase!” the Shadow behind Daniel declared. Group two kept their rifles on stun for the moment as they got their bearings, and then immediately raised their weapons and formed a “+” formation, panning high and low quickly and precisely, their infrared sights glaring against the tunnel’s rock surfaces.

“Multiple heavily armed tangos approaching! Multiple directions at level!” the Shadow behind Daniel declared.

There’s no way they know group two’s there—still, we are going to get our man back, no matter what. The tangos are armed, uniformed, and in a hurry to get somewhere—Captain Winter’s coming back alive and in one piece.

“All units, acquire targets!” Daniel commanded. We are going to get our man back—the tangos have no idea who they’re messing with, he thought as he watched eight armed and uniformed tangos rushing toward group two’s general direction, “Weapons free!”

The tangos appeared on the viewscreen as bright silhouette’s running through the base’ corridors—drawing closer to group two by the second. Group two might have ten more seconds before they would be surrounded. The big doors at the mouth of the tunnel behind group two

Tango’s mistake! Daniel decided sharply, looking at the viewscreen with a steely look, noting the ‘Ready’ signals on the viewscreen.

The Tangos appeared from the right and left. In a near-instant, their shapes were highlighted instantly as their faces were scanned and their pictures, names, and brief, detailed biographical information (taken from Union Intelligence reports) appeared above where they were standing.

They’re Feud operatives! No, ‘operative’ isn’t the term—they are‘insurgents’!

Group two snapped, took aim and fired.

Multiple muffled shots popped for several seconds. In what seemed like an instant, every tango crumbled where they stood, from and crumbled backward into a horseshoe; four of them crumbled jaggedly onto the ground. Their identities appeared on the viewscreen for several seconds as Daniel fingered more data into his handheld.

“Disarm and detain the tangos!” Daniel commanded. The immediate problem had been “Increase weapons power to level six!” At that power output, targets start flying backward. . .

*****

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, DANIEL STORM, "Absolutely life changing. God bless you for this piece of art."

DANIEL STORM, a Jordan Foutin eBook, is available for $8.99 at any of these fine online retailers: 

Make sure to like the official StormTeam Simulations Facebook page for the latest, including when DANIEL STORM will be available on Amazon.com for Kindle eBook and softcover! Coming soon!

The Quantum Leap - Part 20

“Tangos down,” For at least 48 hours, unless they’re brought out of it by a doctor. With all this shrub and ‘jungle’, nobody’s gonna see them.

Group two took a knee with their rifles up as they scanned the area through their one-way holographic sights. The vegetation, even the air, itself, had a brilliantly dark, crisp and subtly reverberating distortion about it. Even the tiniest (and the ugliest) critters were visible and had a subtle thermal glow in the pitch black of night. Multiple hostiles appeared from the West. Armed, wearing light armor and fatigues that didn’t match and walking casually with both hands on their rifles. They were completely oblivious to the fact that group two was there.

Good.

He thumbed a control on the pad to signal the rest of the group and eyed as they sharply centered the subject in their sights. Their coded infrared laser sights followed the targets as they walked. There were five—no, six new tangos that were walking in group two’s general direction, and they were all doing the same thing. One stopped to check their rifle’s magazine, and then kept walking. A few of them changed course toward the entrance where they took Captain Winter.

Major Storm was still eyeing the view screen and fingering data into his handheld, then folded his arms and watched the tactical data still flooding onto the viewscreen. The passive environmental sonar sensors attached to group two’s rifles showed a crisp technical diagram of the inner perimeter of the mountain complex. The tunneling technique used must have been the same as what the Federal government and the 1940s American military used to create the classified underground bases in the central mid-west. Group two would have to get inside to execute a hostage rescue. The mountain complex was freakin’ locked-down! He eyed the security protocol data and processed it. They would have to breach the complex by phasing—but there was so much electromagnetic interference coming from the outer perimeter energy fences the risk of phasing into solid rock double on that much alone. That was before the consideration of any possible traps that may have been set by the aliens.

Daniel took a deep breath and continued reverse-engineering the security measures in his mind. . . Unless—!

Daniel picked up the handset at Hayes’ station and activated it as he held it to his ear. “Two! Move-in on the target area. Maintain stealth.”

The order was sequentially acknowledged.

Group two moved cautiously like a firing line through the brush, rifles up.

“Sir!” A Shadow called from the center of the bridge.

Daniel turned with a steely look.

“Tac satellite shows a high-output thermal radar fixture on one of the higher mountain elevations.”

Shoot! Daniel thought. Group two’s gear should protect them from being detected, but if the situation escalates and they’re forced to open fire on any hostiles. . . There was no telling how many more of those bozos were waiting inside that mountain, or if they have any ‘friends’ that are coming to this site. As far as could be seen, or detected by sensors, it was quieter than not out there. For now. They needed to get eyes and ears inside that mountain. Phasing inside would be relatively simple, but the new tactical data on the view screen showed there were also dozens of thermal signatures inside the mountain that were moving. 3D imaging scan showed they were all humanoid, and armed. ‘Stun’ probably wasn’t going to work once group two’s inside. 

*****

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, DANIEL STORM, "Absolutely life changing. God bless you for this piece of art."

DANIEL STORM, a Jordan Foutin eBook, is available for $8.99 at any of these fine online retailers: 

Make sure to like the official StormTeam Simulations Facebook page for the latest, including when DANIEL STORM will be available on Amazon.com for Kindle eBook and softcover! Coming soon!