Return

By Craig A. Nelson

The new Company hasn't forgotten about planet LV-426, the derelict spacecraft or the alien creatures in it. But, the original and ongoing cover up won't stop the truth about the last alien disaster on the planet: there were survivors

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 7, 2012
• ISBN: 9780985804329

Book preview

9780985804329

Chapter I

Archive

We need to make a record of what happened here. I don’t trust The Company or the military to reveal the truth about what happened. She was trying to get her pain- and now drug-dazed partner to acknowledge what she was saying. He had been injured severely in their escape and needed medication to dull the physical pain. Although the medication helped, it also severely diminished the man’s capacity to string coherent thoughts together. I haven’t got any contacts left that can help after all these years, she continued, do you have someone you can count on; someone you would trust with your life?

His eyes were unfocused and glassy as he responded weakly, My cousin… has…

Has what? She thought, but didn’t try to rush him. She waited for thirty seconds and realized that he was drifting back into sleep before she gently nudged him saying, Stay with me now. I know it is difficult, but we have to somehow get word back in a secure way so the company can’t filter or cover up what has happened here.

She’d experienced firsthand how The Company had controlled the story of the first Event. They manipulated and covered up the truth to suit their corporate agenda. She knew The Company would never change, protecting their corporate profits and the security of their own executives - at any expense. They had no moral issues with bending the truth to limit their stockholder’s financial pain and suffering; choosing to couch their bastardized spin as altruistic corporate policies. It was impossible for them to believe that their shareholders and the public would benefit from transparency. Her argument was that truth is truth; period. The story of what had just happened on the planet needed to be evaluated by people without profit motivated thinking. If not, the truth would be compromised once again, the same way as it had before - at her expense.

Are you saying you trust your cousin? He nodded, but without enthusiasm. She knew this was going to be difficult in his current state, but it was imperative that she - they - get word back to someone trustworthy so that their story could be documented and archived properly. Over one hundred and fifty people had just died and the last thing she was willing to give into was The Company controlling the story about the last survivors of a mission gone terribly wrong and the company’s complicity in the deaths of all those people.

Granted, there was a part of her that wanted to stick it to The Company and the corporate executives who had initially tried to make her the scapegoat in the previous disaster. Then, she became the victim of their corporate cover up and she suffered personal attack without the benefit of documentation or witnesses. Only after The Company had lost control of the previous situation was she offered feeble vindication when portions of her story were grudgingly accepted.

Unfortunately, any real exoneration was hollow as now the first Event story had been largely superseded by the series of horrible events that had occurred over the past few days. The story had just expanded in an exponential way and unless it was recorded independently, the truth would again be buried; becoming the exclusive property of The Company and the government and no one outside of the survivors currently on board her ship would know what had just transpired. No, her goal was to make sure that the truth was properly archived so that it could someday, if needed, become public and a real solution to the problem could be discussed outside of the agendas of those who had sent them to face the horrors of the mission.

She knew she also had to help her injured partner, even if he couldn’t help her deliver the story. But she knew what must now be done, even if it was dangerous; her partner needed a stimulant to compel lucid thinking from him, but doing so may damage his frail condition even more. However she had to take the chance. If he couldn’t help her archive the real truth, their story would certainly be compromised by The Company, the government, or others who would tailor it to cover up their massive mistakes.

She administered the stimulant.

In a few minutes, her partner was able to start speaking in full sentences. Except for the cuts, bruises and bandages on his body, his mental activity seemed to become almost normal. She knew they didn’t have much time before the effects from the stimulant diminished so after making sure he was rational, she coaxed him into recalling the trauma that caused his bodily and mental injuries. Together they reviewed the story that had unfolded over the past few days, partially to see if he remembered what had happened and also as practice to efficiently tell the story should a secure transmission be possible. Her partner seemed to have a good memory of the events so she started at the beginning.

You know, we have to get our story back? she began.

What do you mean? he responded as though this was an entirely new question.

You’ve seen firsthand how The Company manipulated the rescue mission and now you know what their real agenda was all along. Now that their objective is out of reach, they will do everything in their power to skew the story in their favor. She continued, We all were played as pawns in their little game. Because of their deceit, over one hundred people are dead now, including your entire team.

Yes, I agree.

You’ve been around long enough to know that this situation and the information we have is too important to simply put back into their hands and let them do with it what they want, her voice taking on a soft tone.

You got that right, he puffed.

And what do you think would happen if this information fell into the hands of the government or, pardon me for saying, even your military employers? she speculated.

I don’t know, but I can’t think of anything good that would come of it, he admitted and continued, one thing for sure they’d make us the fall-guys.

That’s right. We were almost killed, just like the rest of our people, she went on, and no one outside of you, me and this little girl, she thumbed over her shoulder pointing at the third survivor, are going to get a fair hearing unless we can get the truth about what happened back to someone who gives a shit.

I’m with you all the way, he replied, but how are we supposed to do that?

Look, I have no one around who is reliable any more, all my trusted friends, except for you, are gone. But that doesn’t mean getting the information back can’t be done, she said firmly. What we’ve seen is just too important, so we have to find a way to get our story back to someone who will guard it.

Thanks for considering me a trusted friend. Yes, go on, his interest in what she was suggesting rising.

Before, while you were still half out, you started saying something about a cousin that you trust. Do you have a cousin that may be able to help us out?

So that wasn’t a dream he’d had regarding his cousin and the possibility of his help. Well… I really don’t know, he hesitantly offered, but there is an outside possibility that my cousin could help us.

Anything, everything is a possibility at this point! she said with conviction.

OK, here is the deal. When I joined the military, my cousin, Michael, contacted me and gave me what I thought at the time was a kind of bizarre offer, he said in stilted speech as though the story was all coming back to him in pieces.

And what did he offer? she questioned.

Um, well, I think I may have to give you some background on this, she waited without interrupting. Mikey, is my age and we grew up in very close families. We were almost like brothers. I was never a good student, but Mikey was a primo student. He was into technology, especially computers. When we got older, I joined up, but Mikey was so bright he got a ride to several universities and when he graduated he was recruited by, get this, our favorite Company! She groaned because she knew it was the same Company that had shafted her and sent them all on this deadly mission. He continued, Don’t think less of him, he went into it just like we all do when we are young, expecting to change the world, he was collecting his thoughts more quickly now. "Mikey soon realized he would have very little opportunity to immediately change things, as much as he wanted to admit otherwise. The Company would do what they would do and there was very little he could actually change, other than be the best at what he did. So he did a couple of things; One, he kept documentation about any kind of what he deemed questionable Company decisions on a personal server that was off the grid so that no one could access the information he was storing. I don’t have a clue how it is done, but Mikey is so good at network security he probably could have left it on the grid and no one would have been able to hack through his security systems and firewalls and whatever else propeller-heads do to have fun."

She wondered if he was starting to babble or if this was just a circuitous route to a complete story.

Well, he continued, "when I was on leave one time, Mikey came to me at a family gathering and told me that if I ever got into trouble, he wanted to know about it. Mikey never trusted authority much – especially the military. Anyway, he told me that he’d just implemented a secure communications and data storage system and that I should contact him using his system should I ever need help - or even just a big favor. He asked me for a password that I would never forget and gave me the frequency of his communications system. He said he also set the system up so that he would get any message I sent 24-7, meaning he would respond to it whatever time or day.

I know he wasn’t kidding because by this time Mikey had developed a deadly-serious idea of who he was and what his life’s calling was. He’d become some sort of a standard-bearer for his idea of righteous cause, which was not held in the same regard as those in his authority. Believe me, Mikey is not a kook. He’s probably the most intelligent and stable person I know. Anyway, the point is, I’d trust Mikey with my life as well as I’d trust him to do the right thing.

She was amazed that she was hearing this story. She didn’t know Mikey from a hole-in-the-head and he worked for the Company that had almost killed her, but what options did she have?

What she did know was that the man telling her this story had just shared the most evil, horrifying and bizarre experience imaginable with her. Because they had survived a sort of ultimate intimacy, she had to trust his story because of what they had experienced together. Could she trust him with her life? Yes, because he’d saved hers already – at least once. And she’d reciprocated by saving him and was now caring for his injuries.

After a few moments, she responded, This could be the answer. Maybe we can give your cousin an opportunity to demonstrate his sense of social conscience. OK, what do we do?

Without delay, he gave her the frequency and they transmitted the password previously known only by two people. There would be a delay due to the long distance the signal had to travel she knew, but she was amazed that in less time than expected the response came, Hey, Tom-tom, what’s your situation?

‘Tom-tom?’ she asked.

Never mind, he responded. Answer, ‘Billy-Bob, I have trusted guests with me and the situation is critical.’

Doing as she was told, she entered the cryptic message by keyboard. Again the response was quicker than expected, Thanks for the verification. I’m all yours.

Apparently Billy-Bob’s system of using coded names and password verification worked. Hopefully, Mikey was trustworthy and the encryption of the communications system was as good as her partner claimed. They all understood that using the system should only be for real emergencies and not as a means to simply say, Hello, and this was an emergency.

The stimulant was starting to wear off and she could see that her partner’s pain level was increasing. She suggested that she take over communicating with Mikey if he trusted her to do it on her own. Of course he did, reiterating an earlier statement that he trusted her completely, but just because he did, it doesn’t mean we’re married! With that, she couldn’t help but return the smile he beamed at her through his increasing pain. Another shared intimacy. The comment further confirmed the increasing bond they were building with each other and suggested that he trusted her as much he trusted his cousin.

Collecting herself, she sent a message to Mikey, Give us a moment, then she gave her partner a bit more pain medication and helped him lie down to promote his recovery. As the pillow caressed his aching head, he quickly drifted off to sleep.

Mikey waited patiently for her return. When she did, she began by explaining his cousin’s condition and how he came to be in that condition. She didn’t fill in all the details of their story because she knew it would take some time to document it completely. She hadn’t used a keyboard for a while so she asked Mikey if she could compose the whole story and then contact him again when it was completed. Mikey responded that he’d be available and they signed off. She knew she’d be up for a while to make sure she included all the facts in her transmission.

#

Chapter II

The Financier

The wealthy Financier had organized, funded and recruited a band of corporate ‘IT specialists’ who had been approached individually to do specially commissioned projects. Most of his specialists had day jobs working as regular employees for legitimate companies. As is general practice, they had all signed non-compete contracts with their respective employers pledging that they would not take outside employment in the network security industry. If they were caught doing so, they would be instantly fired and likely blackballed from working at another legitimate company in the industry; effectively ending their careers. However, the financier paid well – almost extraordinarily so – therefore justifying their decision to moonlight for him which was a lot easier than thinking about being caught.

Each of the Financier’s specialists was assigned to corporate network hacking jobs. The Financier’s business model was fairly straight forward: his specialists would break into a company’s network, steal data, develop a solution to improve the company’s network security and then present their solution to the attacked company.

The Financier never asked his employees to hack the companies that regularly employed them, nor did he ask them to hack the companies of the other moonlighting specialists he’d hired. Further, the Financier was always careful to not use the hackers who did the actual hacking to be involved in developing a customer solution for the security breach their co-conspirators created. The hackers would turn the hacked data over to a team of fixers, as the financier called them, to develop a security solution. In this way, the fixers would be isolated from the original hacking crime while at the same time have the benefit of access to all the documentation regarding the techniques used by the hackers to penetrate the targeted network. The fixers also had access to most of the stolen data. The Financier selectively chose to filter some of the stolen data, keeping it from his fixer team for future personal use.

The Financier’s hackers would steal only bits and pieces of critical information from the attacked company, usually over the course of several weeks or even months, so as not to set off the network intrusion alarms of the hacked company.

After enough information was taken, usually after many seemingly minor intrusions, the Financier’s specialists would intentionally trigger the victimized company’s network security systems. When the security breech was discovered, it was normal that faith in the attacked company’s own IT staff greatly diminished. Of course, networking security was a cloudy area of smoke-and-mirrors for most corporate executives under the gun to quickly find answers to and fixes for any problem that came across their desk. When a security breach happened, many times outside security firms were sought to augment their own company’s dubious IT department.

It was uncanny how the Financier’s network security consulting company somehow always bid on security upgrade projects of recently attacked businesses. In some cases the Financier’s company had not received a formal invitation to bid on the stricken company’s security breech, yet his company submitted a bid to correct the problem anyway. When asked how his company knew about the breech, the Financier’s representatives always brushed off the question by claiming their company was well connected and made it their business to know about any network security violations in the industry. Insisting it was not only their business to stay abreast of all security problems in industry, the company line stated confidence in their expertise as they were the best in the industry. This answer was never challenged further and the proposals they submitted were so comprehensive and precise that most of the time their proposals were accepted in the rush to plug the hole in the dike of the hacked company’s precious, but seemingly flawed network.

The Financier’s company continued to win many contracts and accumulated a prestigious client list. His company’s success wasn’t surprising because his IT specialists knew where the network holes were, how the system was breeched and what information had been stolen. The Financier had many a chuckle at the expense of executive idiot’s who accepted his company’s seemingly clairvoyant proposals to solve their network problems. Of course, their alternative was to face exposing more of their own executive blundering.

The Financier was always careful to maintain complete ownership of all the original data that was stolen as well as how the original hacking had been done. This was critical to his plan. The man made sure his employees understood that he was the ultimate owner of all the information collected by paying each specialist handsomely for their work. Of course it never hurt to imply that all employees were being watched by at least one other employee.

The Financier didn’t want his employees having personal financial problems either – doing so was a formula for potential disaster. Employees allowed to have financial problems were an invitation to trouble which could threaten his entire organization. So the Financier implemented several effective policies designed to improve employee loyalty. First, he understood that just because each of his hackers had certain technical competencies, was no guarantee that they knew the first thing about finances. Therefore he offered each of his them first-rate financial counseling to give them the necessary tools to manage their personal financial affairs.

Second, the Financier implemented another not-so-magnanimous policy. Each of his hackers had to investigate the financial stability of two of their counterparts. The Financier would collect the financial data from one employee and crosscheck its validity against the information from a second. Although each of his hackers knew the identities of the co-workers he was investigating, no one was sure who was investigating them. If one suspected a close acquaintance was one of his investigators, he couldn’t be sure who the other investigator was. Therefore, even if the acquaintance did provide a glowing report or tried to cover up a problem on their friend’s behalf, their report would not match the information provided by the second investigator. If that happened both hackers were suspect until the truth was found. The investigator providing the accurate report would be exonerated and life went on. The other was cut loose from his high-paying moonlighting position and threatened with exposure to their legitimate employer should an unfounded claim be lodged about the Financier’s operation.

It was never verbalized per se, but it was compellingly implied that should any of his employees stray from the Financier’s ironclad terms of employment, the Financier would have no conscience about informing the exposed hacker’s regular employer about the extracurricular activities of one of their IT staff. If this were to happen, the IT professional would be seeking a new profession for violating their non-compete agreement - or worse. Hence, there existed a mutual understanding among the all hackers in the Financier’s escapade. The system worked and it insured employee compliance to his rules - no questions asked.

The Financier’s network of isolated, independent IT specialist teams exposed the security flaws of many large and influential clients and then proposed ‘miraculous’ fixes - many times recovering all or most of the original stolen data. The solutions provided to the grateful companies helped the Financier’s company grow to be the largest, most respected consulting firm in the network security business, and the Financier became even wealthier.

#

Chapter III

The Company

Derwent Maxwell had worked his way up through, the new company, BioWave’s, ranks and after forty years of slugging it out to make a name and place for himself, things had finally fallen into place in the past few years. He had made careful plans for his career, but even so, it would not have been possible to rise to the pinnacle of the new venture if it hadn’t been for his guide; his Mentor.

BioWave had been formed from the ashes of the previous company, the bio-weapons division of Weyland-Yutani Corporation. That company had become a behemoth that had become too unwieldy and arrogant in its aspirations. Years previously, Weyland-Yutani had made too many mistakes and accumulated too many enemies - enemies in very high places. Two of those high-placed enemies were a government industrial oversight committee and the justice department that had ruled that Weyland-Yutani had overreached the boundaries of their corporate charter and the business license they’d been granted. After word had leaked about an upcoming investigation, the company’s inside benefactors scattered before the final ruling that the company had breached the public trust and action was being taken by a more-than-pissed-off government.

Forty years previous, nearly everyone on the planet – to at least some degree - had been aware of the events that had caused the downfall of one of the world’s most prestigious technology companies. News leaked to the press surrounded speculation that the government had been investigating problems at a Weyland-Yutani terraform outpost after communications with it were lost. Speculation mounted that known armed raiders, aka pirates, who were known to operate in outer rim areas, were involved and central to the cause of the investigation. Since the terraform operation was a major installation of one of the world’s largest companies, the story gained even more momentum when disgruntled former employees discovered that a rescue mission under the authority of the military had been organized to intervene; and the story went viral.

Even more sensational was speculation that a nuclear blast had destroyed the company’s high-profile facility and killed all of the workers living in it - including their families. The ongoing rumors continued by postulating that the military craft sent to rescue the colony had crashed on a nearly deserted planet during its return voyage with all hands lost due to contact with whatever it was that caused the colony’s mysterious ruin.

In reality, investigative hearings revealed that Weyland-Yutani had not shared critical information with the government about all the elements of the original mission and the company was rightly blamed for the colony disaster as well as the demise of the follow-up rescue mission. This had been the final straw for Weyland-Yutani. Because of their enormity and the inordinate power they held within the very fabric of the global economy, the government

Reviews for Return

[jamespurcell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The saga continues as Isaac Biddlecomb comes to grips with being a rebel and the captain of a warship. Ships are taken and retaken, villains get their just desserts and traitors are ruthlessly dispatched in this lively tale of the very early United Colonies Navy.