Talosian Chronicles 1: Olympus Read online

  “Allison? This is Ty Anders from Talos.”

  “Thank the goddess! I was starting to panic; he’s moved up, and is right on my rear bumper.” The scared woman replied. “I’ve been afraid I’d get another vision of what he’s going to do to me.”

  “We’re getting our armor on, and will be airborne in a few minutes. I’ll make sure our comms stay connected. You’re not alone, Ally,” Ty said hoping to calm her down.

  “Only my father called me that. He passed away a few years ago. It’s good to hear that name again,” Allison replied, sounding calmer.

  Ty was already at his locker and pulling his body armor on. Three others were putting their armor on, and Tabitha had taken Ty’s place in the security office on the surface.

  He’d directed his team with hand signals while he talked to Allison, although he was the only one talking to her, the whole team was listening in.

  “He must have been a good man. Why don’t you tell me about him?” Ty asked.

  As Allison began speaking, Ty and the team headed for their armory. He grabbed a pulse rifle, and pointed to two specially modified Rhino ATVs. He activated one of the security drones, and had it secure itself to one of the Rhino’s. Within ten minutes of receiving the call from Ian, the team was armed, loaded, and in the air.

  When Allison paused to take a breath, Ty interrupted her. “Ally, we’re in the air. We’ll be there in about fifteen minutes. Is he still right on your ass?”

  “No, he’s backed off a little bit. He’s still damn close, but he isn’t tailgating me anymore,” Allison replied.

  “Okay, as long as he isn’t doing anything but following, you should be okay until we get there,” Ty told her. “The Commander would like to have a chat with this guy so we’re going to try to take him alive. Ally, the rest of my team is also listening, so I’ll be giving orders to them over this channel as well. Once we get set up, I’ll want the drone to do a full spectrum scan on him and his vehicle.

  “I want us to set the trap on a side road that Ally can turn onto and lure this creep right to us. Joel, Sam, I want you to take the Rhino’s and shadow them as soon as she turns off the main road. We’ll park the shuttle so all Ally has to do is drive up the ramp into the hold. Lee and I will set up a containment field to trap the prick before he can turn around and get out of there. Any questions?”

  “Sir, what do we do if he won’t let us capture him?” Sam asked.

  “We know this man is a killer that has been stalking Ally. Our orders in the event we can’t capture him, are to terminate with extreme prejudice. No trace of him should be left behind,” Ty said grimly.

  Ian was already giving the tour when he received the report from Ty; they were about to intercept Allison and her pursuer. Although he very much wanted to monitor the team’s progress, Ian simply didn’t have the time. He had a few minutes to finish the tour, then the ceremony would be starting.

  He excused himself just long enough to acknowledge the message, and got back to the tour.

  Ian was thankful that the ship actually got the attention of the community leaders, so they gave the relationship questions a rest. How many times was he going to have to answer the question; ‘Was he really in love, and married to, with three women?’

  When he’d finally finished the tour, he gladly handed off the small group to Beth, Cindy and Talena. Although Luke and Lara tried to deflect as many of the relationship questions as they could, there had still been enough that it had been driving Ian nuts.

  Ian watched in amusement as Talena smoothly fielded the relationship questions. She answered them like she was giving a lecture on the societal structure of the Talosian people. The group of ‘busy-bodies’, as Ian had privately called them, didn’t know how to take such knowledge from such a young looking woman. The questions slowed down, but became more thoughtful, and were real requests for knowledge instead of shocked reactions to the multiple, and same-sex bondings.

  Soon, however, it was time for the ceremony to begin, and Jenny and he headed for the stage, and podium where the rest of the senior officers had gathered. As they approached, Jenny made a swirling motion in the air with a finger, and John Harris stepped up to the podium.

  “Excuse me Ladies and Gentleman, if you’d please take your seats we’d like to get the ceremony underway,” John said to the crowd.

  The loud murmuring of the crowd stopped as people ended conversations, excused themselves and found seats. It only took a couple of minutes for the assembled Guests to get ready. Once again, Major Harris spoke to the crowd.

  “Thank you. Normally, this ceremony would take place in the observation lounge of a large dry dock facility and an Admiral would be the one to perform it. However, we don’t have a dry dock yet, and there hasn’t been an Admiral in over four thousand years. Yet, this Change of Command is significant for more than what it lacks. It’s significant because of what it stands for.

  “Four thousand of our years ago, the Talosian people were destroyed but for a few. Those few escaped to our planet to mix their blood with ours in order to save something of their race. This Ceremony signifies that their desperate gamble paid off. Not all of us have one of those people as an ancestor, but we’re all working for the same goal; the preservation and defense of our planet from the same evil that destroyed those people four millennia ago.

  “Although Commander Williams is the guest of honor tonight, this Ceremony is about all of us, not just him. It’s about the restoration of this great ship, and what her rebirth means for us. It’s about what a community, most of which didn’t even know of the ship, can do if we are united as one people.

  “It is my great honor to introduce to you, Commander Williams’ very beautiful wife, as well as the Executive Officer of the ship; Colonel Jennifer Williams,” John stepped away from the podium, clapping with the guests as Jenny waddled up to it.

  “Suck-up!” Jenny said grinning at John. She turned back to the cameras and politely chuckling guests. “Major Harris is correct that this ceremony will not be like a typical Talosian ceremony, however, we will try to stick as close to the ceremony as we can. With that in mind, I translated most of this from Talosian, so it may sound odd in spots.”

  She took a deep breath, came to attention, and began reading the orders in front of her. “To all those here gathered; as witness to these words pay heed. Let it be known that acting Commander Ian Williams has successfully passed such requirements that, from this day forward, he be known as Commander Ian Williams and that he be given the responsibility of Command of CAV dash zero-zero-one-seven. To those here gathered say ‘Aye’ as witness to these words.”

  After a moment, the crowd stumbled through saying ‘aye’.

  Jenny grinned at the people in front of her. “As so witnessed it is done. Ladies and Gentleman, I give you the ship's new commanding officer, Commander Ian Williams.”

  Ian stepped up to the podium as Jenny stepped back to the applause of the gathering. “It was a tradition in the Talosian Defense Force that a new commander of a vessel recommission it, and give it a new name; a symbolic gesture to denote the new command,” Ian said once the applause died down. “During these recommissions it is also tradition to change the outward appearance of the ship’s AI.

  “I know a good portion of you had never met Olympus before I took him off line. He was a good friend to all of us that did know him, and it is my hope that friendship will continue in the new form as well. However, before that new form can appear, I need to give this great ship a new name.”

  Ian paused for a second. “I think the suspense has been getting to a few of my command staff. So without further aggravation on the part of my staff, I give you all, the Federated Starship, Star Dancer!”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The applause was loud and long. From the looks on the faces of some of his crew, he’d taken them all by surprise. He’d known they’d a type of lottery going on what the new name would be. From the looks on their faces, it appeare
d like no one had anticipated his choice.

  While the crowd was still loudly applauding, Ian, via his communicator, reactivated the AI. He asked to delay holographic display until Ian could make the introduction. When Ian held up his hand to get the crowd to quiet, they did so quickly. “Since we had to almost completely rebuild the ship, I thought it only fitting we have a completely new looking AI as well. It’s my pleasure to introduce to you, the new ship’s AI, Star!”

  A young woman, roughly eighteen years old in appearance, and wearing a dress uniform with the rank tabs of Major, took form on the stage next to Ian. She had a dark, Mediterranean complexion, with long, flowing brown hair. She was very beautiful, and except for the uniform, looked more like a Persian Princess than a ship’s avatar.

  “Thank you, Commander. Full AI access has been restored, resuming all suspended processes. I am, once again, ready to assist my crew-mates,” Star said, in a feminine voice and smiling happily.

  Both Ian and Star had to wait for the end of the loud applause. Star smiled brightly and blushed at a few ‘wolf-whistles” and ‘cat-calls’ given over her new appearance. Ian would have jumped on whomever had insulted his friend like that, but since Star seemed to enjoy it, he didn’t do anything but join in with the applause for the ‘young woman’.

  “Great! Now I’ve got the hots for the ship’s AI! I swear Ian is trying to drive me crazy sometimes,” Cindy said to Beth who was sitting next to her.

  “I don’t know; she had the whole ‘daddy thing’ going for her when she was Oly,” Beth teased.

  “Eww!” Cindy said in mock horror as the two women continued to clap.

  Ian smiled at the crowd as the applause started dying down. “Members of the crew will notice that Star is wearing the rank of ‘major’. That rank is official, she has it to match her new job as Electronic Warfare and Counter-Measures Specialist. Now, these naval ceremonies where never intended to be long, drawn-out affairs; they liked the party afterward too much. So now that we got the important stuff taken care of, let’s get to the good part!”

  Once again the crowd stood and applauded as Ian, with Star on his arm, led her off the stage, and over to where his and Jenny’s wives were sitting. Jenny had followed them smiling like it was Christmas.

  Once they reached a sufficient altitude for the shuttle’s sensors to be affective, Ty had the computer create a hologram of the situation on the table in the lounge for his team.

  The scan showed Allison’s car traveling down Nevada route 376, just north of Kingston, Nevada. Ty had the computer tag her with a blue aura. Less than five hundred feet behind her was another vehicle Ty tagged with a red aura.

  “Okay, we can see you now, Ally. The prick is that car directly behind you?” Ty asked.

  The relief in her voice was clear in her response. “Yeah, as far as I can see, we’re the only two cars out here.”

  “There are other cars, but they’re still a ways away from you. We’ll be coming up on you from the south, but we’re cloaked so you shouldn’t see us,” Ty told the scared woman.

  “Thank you Ty, and everyone. Just knowing you’re close makes me feel a whole lot better,” Allison said.

  “You can thank us in person in a few minutes. In a quarter mile, there will be a dirt road on the right. I want you to try to wait until the last minute to make the turn. Once he figures out that you’re on to him, he’ll do his best to get you to pull over, or run you off the road. Do you think you can do that, Ally?” Ty asked.

  “Probably, but that’s not the way it’s going to happen, Ty,” Allison said as Sam pointed to the red car.

  “He’s accelerating; he’s making his move on her!”

  “Get set-up, Ty we’ll be there! Soon!” Allison said quickly.

  “Go-go-go!” Ty ordered as his team ran for their jobs.

  Sam and Joel were out the back door with the rhino’s and into the night as the two battling cars careened onto the dirt road. Lee and Ty were standing at the open rear cargo door as the shuttle settled to the ground several hundred feet up the road.

  “The drone’s attached to the bad guy’s car, and it’s starting its scans,” Sam reported. “ETA to ship fifteen seconds.”

  “We’re ready here. Ally, you should be able to see the ship with your contacts; just drive right into the hold.” Ty replied.

  “I see it, here I come!” Allison replied. Seconds later she flew past Ty and Lee, and Lee activated the front of the containment field.

  Just as the car entered the containment zone, the security drone started an explosion alarm, and detached itself from the car. It made it out just before the last wall of the field snapped on.

  “Get back!” Ty yelled as both he and Lee jumped away from the containment zone.

  Looking back, Ty saw the man’s head explode just before the car followed suit. They must have used something like white phosphorus because the flash was very bright. The field reported the heat to be over two thousand degrees for a few moments before slowly beginning to cool off. When it also reported extremely high radiation levels, Ty paled.

  The maintenance drone from the ship came out and slowly entered the field. It dematerialized everything inside the field. It slowly began the job of replacing everything it had just destroyed, but without the highly lethal radiation.

  Ty and his crew had been extremely lucky that they’d used a containment field in the attempt to capture the creep. If they’d used only a tangle field, they would all be dead, and a good portion of the surrounding area would be radioactive.

  While the drone was working, Ty, his team, and Allison sat in the lounge having a snack and winding down from the close call. Ty composed a report for Ian with the help of Allison and the team, with the data from all the sensors, they got a good picture of what had happened.

  The drone finished the small clean up job about the same time Ty sent the report to the ship, so they took off for Talos.

  Ian led Beth over to George Myers, and introduced them. “Mr. Myers, Beth is also the ship’s doctor. She can help you with that shrapnel in your leg, and even perform a little magic to make you younger.”

  George kissed the pretty, young woman’s hand while Ian had been talking. “You’re a doctor? You look like you’re barely out of high school!”

  “Before she leads you off to the medbay, George. If you were physically able, would you be willing to take charge of my gun and missile crews?” Ian interjected.

  “I’d love to, Commander. This is a beautiful ship. Of course I’d have to talk to my wife, and make arrangements for my retirement checks,” George said.

  “Your wife didn’t come with you?” Beth asked.

  “No, she wanted to stay for the Barbeque. Don’t get me wrong, she was as excited as everyone else, but since she’s never been in the military, she didn’t think she’d have understood most of what she’d seen,” George explained.

  Ian smiled at the man. “George how about I give her a call, and personally ask her to join you up here? The job offer is real. Our doctrine allows sailors and pilots to have their families on board with them.”

  “That might be a little overwhelming for her, sir. I think I should go down on tonight’s shuttle and bring her up on the return flight. I can explain some more during the flight,” George said. “If it’s okay with you sir, I’ll try to get some rest, then report to medbay in the morning.”

  “Actually, you can rest in the guest quarters when you get back, considering it’ll be very early morning when the shuttle makes it back here, take your time, and when you come to medbay tomorrow afternoon, you can bring your wife too,” Beth suggested. Even if you decide not to take the job, we can still make sure you are both healthy and have extended life spans.”

  “Okay, I’m starting to melt down here. Let me go get Tawny, then you can explain that to both of us at the same time,” George replied.

  Ian smiled and nodded. “I’ll see you later, George.”

  Ian had already implanted two of the
three security risks when he found Zeb Gabriel closely examining a hornet.

  “Do you know how fighter craft are built, Mr. Gabriel?” Ian asked as he approached.

  “Not really, no. But that doesn’t stop the curiosity. You know I’m going to call the authorities as soon as I get back don’t you?” he said.

  “No, you won’t. *You will not share this secret with anyone not of our community, nor will you through inaction or inversion allow anyone not of our group to know of any of this.*” Ian said, implanting the prohibition. “If you were to actually get someone to listen to you, and take you seriously, I would have everyone that wanted to, off the planet, and safely away from any government ‘investigators’ before you could blink twice. I would still do what I have sworn to do, and you would be branded as a liar and fool. No one would ever take you seriously again.”

  “How do you know I’m not a government spy, snuck into your compound to find out what you were really up to?” Gabriel asked.

  “If you actually were, you’d find yourself outside of Albuquerque with a dizzy head, and wondering how you got there, and who exactly you were,” Ian replied. “Mr. Gabriel, there are some seriously horrible weapons that can be manufactured from this technology. I cannot, and will not, allow it to fall into the hands of any terran authority.”

  “I don’t believe that an eighteen year old pagan boy is qualified to make that decision. I mean no offence to you, Mr. Williams, I just don’t believe your old enough to make these kinds of decisions without God’s guidance. Besides, you already told me that you would never use force to stop someone from revealing this secret. I honestly believe that you spoke the truth, and that you believe you are doing the right thing. But like you said, there are some horrible weapons here. I would feel much better if someone more qualified was handling them,” Gabriel said. “You really should repent, son. I’m truly afraid for you.”

  Ian smirked. “Mr. Gabriel, I already warned you about the religion thing. I’ll let it slide for now, but I have no interest in your God. I’m very satisfied with my own beliefs, and feel no need to change at this time. Please enjoy the rest of the party. When you return to Earth, if you no longer wish to be a part of our community, then you are free to leave. However if you decide to stay, you must agree to live by our laws. I also spoke to Elias about your request for a church. We’ll be happy to build one for you, but since there are only three families in the community that would like a church, I’m afraid it’ll have to wait for a bit. You should be able to meet in your home until we can get it built for you, but if more Christians join us, please feel free to request the use of the community center. Good evening.” Ian bowed slightly as he left the man standing alone looking thoughtful.