Talosian Chronicles 5: Raptor Squadron Page 3

  "Let's just hope they can avoid the corruption that seems to be effecting the nations currently," Chloe Brighton replied. "For their part, the Alliance Intelligence Branch seems to be already set up that way. Of course, it would almost have to be, in order to handle the massive and diverse reports they receive and analyze. The Pit, as they call it, is always busy. It's the main situation room for the Intel Branch. It's built like a huge NASA control center and in some cases, functions the same way. ““However, it can split apart to handle multiple situations at one time. Which is how it had been working until the Empire changed tactics." She chuckled. "They already have a request in for one of our AI. They've long dreamed of an AI that can make the needed leaps of logic that shadow ops requires."

  "I didn't know they made the request. What race did they ask it be designed for?" Ian asked.

  "Surprisingly enough, they asked for human. Admiral Djolet told me it really didn't matter what appearance it had, that its function is what is important. She is one scary, smart Ferran. Even the Croanians don't argue with her," Chloe finished.

  "Will Raptor Command be transferred to the Intel Branch then?" Ty Anders asked.

  Ian shook his head. "No, H'joles was very clear on that. Over-all command of all Raptor teams will remain with us. Even the ones assigned to fleets. Once a soldier is assigned to a Raptor, they become ours. Granted, the teams will be assigned out to fleets most of the time, but we retain final authority over them. We can develop special units for the Intel Branch that have the sole purpose of gathering intelligence, giving them special equipment and the like; but I don't see them as being combat units, more like spy ships."

  "So, what's going to happen when we return to Sol Sector?" Belirus asked.

  "We prepare for a mission. We still have a date with Hyperion," Ian said simply.

  Belirus cocked his head to one side. "Won't that prompt the Empire to send their fleets there to stop you?"

  Ian grinned evilly. "Let's hope so."

  American Airspace

  Spaceport America

  Upham, New Mexico

  Earth, Sol Sector

  "Spaceport America, this is Terran flight three-four-niner. Request landing clearance, over."

  "Terran flight three-four-niner, you are ordered to alter course and land at Holloman Air Force Base for inspection. Your landing clearances have been revoked," the controller replied.

  "Yeah, that's not going to happen. Why have you revoked our clearance?" the pilot asked.

  "Your clearance has been revoked by the Transportation Safety Administration and the Office of Homeland Security," another, more official and pompous voice was heard.

  "On what grounds? We were given clearance by the FAA by order of the President of the United States," the pilot replied.

  "We have it on good authority that you have been providing transportation to individuals in foreign countries that are on the terror watch list. Therefore, your clearance is now suspended, pending a full investigation by the Office of Homeland Security. You are hereby ordered to land at Holloman Air Force Base or you will be forced there," the pompous official replied.

  "First off, I am presently empty. There is no one on this flight but the flight crew. Secondly, this ship is not used in other countries. Thirdly, no one on the terror watch list would be gaining passage to any of our facilities on any of our craft. Finally, you can't force us to do anything. We have complied with every one of your dumb-assed, inane rules. I have a load of passengers waiting for transportation up to the moon. Do you really want to turn this into an incident?" the pilot replied.

  "I take it you intend not to comply with this order then? Fine, we are launching fighters to escort you to this base immediately. If you resist, they have orders to blow you out of the sky. Do you understand that, Flight three-four-nine?" the jerk replied.

  "You idiots from Intelligence certainly didn't earn your names did you?" the pilot replied. "Spaceport America control, flight three-four-niner is reversing course and leaving the atmosphere until someone clears this mess up. Sorry you got put in this position, Jerry," the pilot replied to the controller.

  "They cleared the area of all traffic already, three-four-niner. You have a clear path back to the black." The transmission was cut off abruptly by someone yelling at the controller. A moment later, another voice resumed the contact. "Negative, flight three-four-niner. You are not clear to return to orbit. You must comply with the order to land at Holloman immediately."

  "I understand, Spaceport control. Notifying Terran Defense Command of this hostile action. I can see you are lying about traffic above me, or did you forget our scanners are much better than your radar?" the pilot altered course and increased speed. He could see the military fighters running full out to catch him, but they would be far too slow. He increased speed to mach thirty and shot back up and out of the atmosphere.

  "Phoenix Control, this is Terran flight three-four-niner," the pilot called. "There is another problem down here and I think our folks might be in trouble."

  "Three-four-niner, what happened? I still have comms with the ground crew down there. Nothing strange is happening yet," the controller on the moon replied.

  While the shuttle pilot told his controller on the moon what happened, the controller, in turn, sent an alert to the military garrison. Within minutes, the passenger shuttle was joined in orbit by a Raptor and two Shadow fighters.

  "Before we go back down, there is one other thing we are waiting for," Major Hiro of the Raptor Samurai called. "One of the Councilors is calling the President to see what can be done before we have to hurt anyone."

  It took a few minutes, but the Councilor did call them. "Major Hiro, I have the President on the line. Captain Shaunassy, did you get the name of the man that ordered you to land at Holloman Air Force Base?"

  "No, Madam Councilor, I did not. That's not normal protocol, but I can certainly ask when we go back down there," the Pilot replied.

  Another voice came over the comm then. "If you go back down there, I'm afraid those idiots will fire on you. I have a feeling this is another of those intelligence agency projects that no one will take responsibility for unless if actually works. They were ordered to keep their hands off you folks and to allow you to do your thing as long as it was restricted to that spaceport. I've already got a call into the Director of the NSA and the Director of the OHS."

  "Well, Mister President, I do have a load of passengers sitting down there waiting for me, how do you want us to handle this?" the pilot asked.

  "I would ask you to wait until I can get this under control, but that could take hours. Go back down and try to land again, if you have to, force your landing as long as it's safe to do so. Try to get me as many names as you can so I can have their asses fired, please," the President replied. "The one thing that bothers me is they know we don’t have any conventional weapons that can hurt you. Since White Sands is less than fifty miles away, I'd be a little worried that they plan on using you for a weapons test of some kind. Those fighters might be equipped with one of their 'special weapons'. I don't know if they would or even could hurt you, but you should be careful none the less."

  "They'd fire on a civilian ship?" the pilot asked.

  "I'm sorry Son, but in their eyes, you're not civilians; you’re someone that has something they want. Once they get it, they can make up whatever story they want to cover their actions," the President replied sadly.

  "Phoenix Control to three-four-niner, I just checked with the Federal Aviation Administration down there and no one has revoked your landing clearance. You can legally land at Spaceport America. In fact, that's the only place you can land. Landing at Holloman would get our clearance revoked," the moon base controller replied.

  "Understood, and thanks, Neil. We'll take it from here," the pilot replied. "Major, with your permission, let's go see if these idiots are really going to fire on an unarmed civilian ship."

  "Agreed, Captain Shaunassy. I suggest you maintain your shields
until you are on the ground," Major Hiro replied. "Mr. President, although I do hope it does not come to it, I will defend the ship from hostile fire, especially with civilians in the area."

  "I understand, Major. Good luck, to all of you," the President replied. "I'll continue to listen in so I can try to do something about this."

  "We appreciate that, Sir. We apologize for interrupting your schedule," Major Hiro replied.

  "It's not your fault, Major. That's why I want to fire those idiots; you said it yourself - they are endangering civilian lives with this stunt," the President answered.

  "Okay, beginning decent; kids, don't try this at home," Shaunassy said and plotted a course to put him back at Spaceport America.

  CHAPTER TWO

  "Spaceport America, flight three-four-niner on return vector, over," Shaunassy called.

  "Figured out you didn't have enough fuel to return to the moon and will have to land at Holloman after all did you?" the smug asshole replied.

  Shaunassy snorted. "Hardly. I've enough fuel for at least four more trips before even getting into the reserve. No, I have passengers down there that need a ride. By the way, who are you? I need your name for my report."

  The man chuckled. "You can list me as 'John Smith'. That's all you need to know. You will be landing at Holloman. I've already sent a unit to the spaceport to arrest the terrorists waiting there for you to arrive."

  "You're a real piece of work, Agent. You know as well as I do that those are just normal citizens and not terrorists. Well, let me tell you a little secret, we anticipated your reaction. We will be landing at the Spaceport. If you try to stop us, we cannot be held responsible for what happens to your equipment or personnel. This is your last warning; recall your fighters and troops now, before someone gets hurt," Shaunassy replied. "I do have armed fighter escorts with me for protection. This action has been authorized by the President of the United States under executive order bravo-sierra-four-four-niner-three-golf-November. Because of the threat to civilian personnel and facilities, your actions have been deemed illegal."

  The man actually laughed. "Right, like you actually called the President of the United States in the short time you've had. Nice try traitor, but it won't work," Smith replied.

  "Agent Smith, this is President John Hatton of the United States, your boss. I suggest you call up that order before you get our pilots killed doing something stupid."

  "Uh-huh, not going to happen. We know you have an AI capable of falsifying both the President's voice as well as that order. "Land at Holloman now, or die. That is your final order. We are finished talking now," the Agent replied.

  "Okay, so if you're so certain I'm a dead man, why not tell me who you really are? Don't you think I have the right to know who killed me? By the way asshole, I'm Canadian, not American; you can't call me a traitor to your country no matter how badly you twist it!" Shaunassy replied.

  "Fine, if you really want to know; my name is Craig Fergus. Does that make you feel any better?" Agent Fergus replied. "Now you gonna land or what?"

  Shaunassy chuckled. "Yeah, I'm gonna land. I'm landing at Spaceport America to pick-up my passengers. Look Agent Fergus, don't do this; we really don't want to hurt your men."

  "We're not the ones doing this, pilot, you are, by not complying with our orders. You should have simply surrendered yourselves and your equipment when you first arrived here and saved all this trouble," the agent replied.

  "There is no trouble. We're not the ones pushing this, you are. Your current actions are not sanctioned by your own government, and you are calling us traitors?" Shaunassy said. "Spaceport America, this is flight three-four-niner. We are approaching from the north and will be landing to retrieve our passengers. Do you understand?"

  "Flight three-four-niner, you do not have clearance to land at this facility. A forced landing at this time will result in the permanent loss of landing privileges at this facility. I will also issue a report to the FAA on your illegal and dangerous actions," the controller said.

  "I understand, Spaceport America, may I have your name for my logs?" Shaunassy asked.

  "Fredrick Danes, I am the director of operations here," the voice replied.

  "Thank you, Sir, I will note it in my logs. Would you be so kind as to make sure everyone there is under some type of cover? That way, if Agent Fergus continues his illegal attack, fewer people would get hurt?" Shaunassy asked.

  "It's already taken care of, three-four-niner," the Director replied.

  "Alright, we're coming in," Shaunassy said. "Agent Fergus, one last time, please call off your planes. I am being escorted by two of our most advanced fighter craft. If you attempt to fire on us, they will defend us." He saw the rapidly approaching fighters on his scanners and made sure his shields were up. Over the intercom he said, "Sorry for the ride folks, someone on Earth decided they wanted to capture us, and we're resisting it. We might be coming under fire soon, but we are being protected by two fighters from Phoenix Base. Please make sure you’re all strapped in and ready for a rough landing."

  "Flight three-four-niner, that was nice of you to bring us two fighters as well. They can land at Holloman with you," Fergus said.

  "Three-four-niner, this is Phantom flight. Scanners show the approaching craft as being equipped with crude rail guns and low powered lasers. Threat level is minimal. However, a miss with that weapon would do considerable damage if it impacts the ground or a structure. How do you want this handled?" The flight leader of the fighters asked.

  "I'd like to avoid killing them if we could, Phantom. Think you can give them a reason to go away?" Shaunassy asked.

  "Those idiots!" the President said. "That's supposed to be for meteor defense! Those systems are prototypes, so if you can avoid destroying them I would appreciate it."

  "I understand, Sir, but I can't make any promises. At these speeds anything can happen, and usually does. We'll do our best, for the pilots and for your equipment," the fighter pilot replied. "Three-four-niner, hostiles approaching. We're dropping back to protect you."

  "Thanks Phantom," Shaunassy replied.

  At two miles out, the first American fighter fired its rail gun at the shuttle. The recoil from the weapon almost stopped the fighter in mid-flight and severely injured the pilot when the G-forces all but crushed him. One of the Shadow fighters 'caught' the plane as it fell from the sky and 'carried' it to the spaceport where the pilot could get emergency medical treatment.

  Meanwhile, the other American fighter tried to attack the shuttle with its lasers and missiles. Neither of which did any damage at all. The plane firing the lasers had issues with the lasers overheating the plane, so it only fired twice. However, it continued to fly around, trying to buzz the shuttle by getting as close as it could.

  Captain Shaunassy ignored it and landed safely at the spaceport then taxied up to the terminal. The Samurai had gone ahead to the spaceport to make certain the people there were safe and would be able to continue their work unmolested. As a surprise, the original controller that Captain Shaunassy had been working with was waiting nervously in the terminal gate and asked to speak to Shaunassy.

  Shaunassy came out to see him once he knew the man was there. "What's up Jerry? I know that mess in the tower couldn't have been any fun for you."

  "It wasn't. Fred's always been an ass to work for, but this was a pretty good job. He fired me and ordered security to hold me for questioning by the Gestapo at Homeland Security. I told them I needed to go to the bathroom and came down here. Do you think I can get a job with you guys? If I stay here, I'll be on the next flight to Cuba and I'll never see my family again," Jerry asked.

  Shaunassy looked around the gate area until he saw who he was looking for. Then looked at his friend, he winked and said, "follow me."

  Jerry was introduced to the resident recruiter, who wasted no time in approving his recruitment. She put in a call to Major Hiro to ask if he had the time for a possible fast extraction of the man's family.

&n
bsp; "I'm afraid I do not have the time at this moment. This Agent Fergus did in fact send troops over here. They have not yet arrived, but their helicopters will be landing in a few minutes. "Perhaps the man can simply call and have his family come here? If they act quickly, they should be able to arrive before the United States can react," Hiro suggested.

  Letting him use one of their 'phones', Jerry called his wife and told her what happened. She was a little reluctant to leave at first, but once he told her that OHS had gotten involved, she said she would get the kids out of school and be there as quickly as she could. When she asked about all their personal effects Jerry told her not to worry about it yet, as they needed to make sure they were safe first.

  Jerry's wife, Monica arrived with their three children, the oldest of which was sixteen and resented this forced relocation. Although she was excited about going to the moon, she didn't want to leave her friends.

  "I know it's not the same, Hon, but you'll still be able to keep in touch with them once we get to the moon. Hell, even if you eventually move to Atlas, you will still be able to keep in touch with your friends. Besides, I'm sure as pretty as you are, you'll have no trouble making a ton of new friends in no time," the recruiter told the girl. "There is a ton of new stuff to do and learn!"

  "I heard you guys brainwash people into fighting for you and kidnap entire families," the girl asked.

  "We do use a form of brainwashing but not in the way you might think; it's used for learning. If you use it, you'll probably graduate from high school in less than a year. As for the kidnapping, that we don't do. However, we do help folks out when they want to join us. In some cases, like yours, extreme measures are required to get the family away safely before something bad happens to them."