Vengeance: Book 3 of The Shadow War Chronicles

By Raymond Bayly

The Crew of the Revenant must save Earth from the coming threat, a new leader has emerged in the aftermath of Jamestown, Vengeance has set his sights on humanity, and nothing will stop him from Subjugating the planet.
The Empire is forming an army to take over the galaxy,
Seafu must race to build a coalition to stop them.
There will be new enemies and unlikely allies and
Earth will finally discover it is not alone in the universe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raymond Bayly
• Release date: Apr 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463853030

Raymond Bayly

Raymond Bayly was born in suburban Maryland, as a teenager he spent many hours reading books from the likes of Dean R. Koontz, Stephen King, J. R. R. Tolkien and Robert Ludlum, spending his early years feeding his love of horror and science fiction. At the age of 16, he moved to the Boston area and began writing short stories and playing guitar in a few local bands. He joined the army and served his tour, upon returning home to a new wife and daughter with the pressures of a new child and a new marriage he hung up his pen and for many years concentrated on raising his children and building a career in computers.After moving to South Carolina, he took up writing again, starting with short stories and soon publishing his first full-length novel Revenant.Today Raymond still lives in South Carolina where he enjoys spending time with his five children or working on his turn of the century Victorian home. When he is not doing that you can find him riding his Harley Davidson through the mountains of Asheville NC or answering fire calls.His passions include writing, playing guitar, flying and embarrassing his children.Raymonds Current Book Projects includeJamestown (Sequel to Revenant)Sleep (A Futuristic Earth Novel)The Pack (A Werewolf Novel)

Book preview

VENGEANCE

THE SHADOW WAR CHRONICLES

BOOK 3

III

Raymond Bayly

Trouble Maker Media Group 


6 Liberty Square Suite 324 Boston, MA, 02109


800.916.8502


www.troublemakermedia.org


www.raybayly.com




To my best friend Shane, who has always been a staunch supporter and my biggest cheerleader,

I love you man.

CHAPTER

ONE

ONE

Going Home





Crimson light washed over the void of space as a hole ripped apart the fabric of reality. An Obsidian Battleship exploded into the Oort cloud on the outer limits of the sol system. The ship expertly altered course as the engines growled into life and pointed itself towards the yellow spec that was the sun and the center of the system.

The large vessel accelerated quickly. Ancient shards of ice that had been undisturbed since the creation of the galaxy bounced loudly off the dark hull as if in protest to being disturbed from there eons of slumber and sent careening away on a new course.

The sensors drifted out from the ship as the electronic pulses caressed anything in its range returning it for the central computer to analyze, categorize and finally display on the threat board of the massive vessel. The Junior sensor officer on duty marked the jump as complete and the threat level as green, standing down the ship and crew from battle stations.

The young officer moved his finger away from the alert button that would have recalled all of the Officers now gathered in the meeting room. Where they now sat listening intently to a very upset Chancellor Seafu, current sole leader of the Rangers. His hologram stood center stage of the gathering, his haunted eyes digitally roving over the gathered soldiers.

We are currently down to twelve active vessels. We have engineers working around the clock to get some of the damaged ship's spaceworthy, but after our last battle. Captain, I don’t have to tell you we are at a very fragile point right now. There will be no ship to aid your cause, you are on your own. Seafu said in a grave almost pleading tone, trying to get the Captain of the Revenant to see reason.

They had spent the better part of a week arguing Blake Campbell's course of action, but one universal truth about the human turned Ranger Captain held true now as it did during his first introduction to the group known as the Rangers. Once his mind was made up there was little anyone could do to change it.

Blake wasn’t surprised at the numbers, though the audible gasp through the room told him his crew was. The Rangers had taken a hell of a beating at the hands of the Empire and their Shadow masters and were only now starting to slowly recover.

In the months following the offensive that had reduced both the Empires forces and the Rangers defender ships to a scant shadow of their former glories. The Rangers had been forced to move back their patrols, giving way to the Empire which had been eagerly retaking planets and systems that the Rangers had fought hard to free.

Seafu felt helpless, with the liquidation of the council at his hands and the death of Councilor Churila on his conscience. The councilor had been hunted down by Vengeance and tortured for information until he had died. Seafu himself had sent him on the mission that ended his life. Now the old man looked beaten. Over the last few weeks, he had begun to pull back the ships, opting to play it safe, and return to a defensive posture as if his drive and aggression for a better universe had been hampered due to recent events.

There were rumors Seafu would dissolve the Rangers completely giving up the mission started not that long ago, but Blake knew better. The old man just needed to get his mind together, he hoped anyway. The rumors did nothing to moral. That was unavoidable, one could no more stop the rumor mill then move a planet with their bare hands. Just one more thing to deal with he thought to himself watching the beaten and haunted figure of his leader standing in front of them in the high-resolution holo-imager.

The Ships that had been destroyed were lost, but there was hope. With the help of the newly acquired ancient building techniques, their engineers were working to replace the losses. It was a slow process and a steep learning curve. As of yet, they still weren’t able to even replace one ship. Leaving them without the initial ability to replenish their losses which to Blake's thought process was a hell of a short-sighted plan for an ancient species that so far had left little to chance in their long plan to bring balance to a chaotic universe.

That left the Rangers with twelve active ships and another eighteen still in dry dock for repair. The rest were missing or destroyed. Blake shook his head and sighed. Even with all the vessels working they would still not have enough to combat the growing threat especially with that damn cube ship the Shadows could bring to bear, and there was no telling how many more they had like that. If one of those ships could decimate their ranks, what would two or three of them do? He feared. Not for the first time.

Blake directed his attention back to the hologram and spoke, more to the room then to Seafu. The Empire and, the others, Shadows, boxes, whatever we decide to call them are going to find Earth. I don’t know when, but we need to prepare what defenses we can. Blake said giving Seafu a level stare, daring him to object. Seafu didn’t take the bait, however.

I understand. We will send what support we can when we can. However, we are still scattered, and ships are still missing. We do have something in the works, it should help. Just don’t start a war before we get there. Seafu said only half-joking.

They ended the conversation, and Blake turned to his crew. Motioning for quiet, he looked over the officers on his team, his friends, hell his family. Everyone saw what happened on Croatoan He began, watching the eyes of his crew as they focused on him. Now we are going to Earth my planet, my home. We are going to try and help them stand against the same people who would slaughter the innocent. These beings are old and powerful, hell one of them almost killed me at the pirate's bar. I won’t ask you to go because chances are if we face them some of us won’t live through it. I will give you a choice. I won’t hold it against you if want to sit this one out. He finished, continuing to look at his crew.

If you wish to leave and head back to base, head out of here and gather at the shuttle bay now. Blake finished and held his breath, waiting, looking around the room as all eyes stared back at him. Everyone was silent for a long time. Then Rom stood up and looked over the group of gathered officers.

We are all with you. We all witnessed what they will do if they get to Earth unchecked, and there isn’t a person in this room who would allow that to happen. Let’s go kick their ass! He finished, and the room exploded into applause.

Blake didn’t know what to say. He stood their mouth agape and eyes welling up. He had never been so proud of his crew.

Thank you! He whispered huskily and wiped at his eyes. We have five weeks to prepare to meet the citizens of my planet, and remember, they have no idea any of you exist. He finished, blinking back the tears now blurring his vision, hoping no one would notice.

He dismissed the room. Catching Davi and Shira before they left. He motioned them to the door of his private quarters. As soon as they were both in, he let the door close behind him. Blake turned to his friends.

I know coming home is going to be hard. We all have people we left behind. This trip is not going to be easy, and we are not to let our guard down. Blake started leveling a stern gaze at them.

Why Cap, what do you mean? Davi asked confused. There are people I would like to see. Um, how long do restraining orders last? He queried his friends. Shira rolled her eyes and Blake had to laugh.

I don’t know man, but you might want to respect those boundaries anyway. He held up his hands and stalled the questions he could see coming. "We have spent the last year away from home but remember we have been out there. We know the dangers, they do not. We are about to come down with advanced tech and tell them they are not alone.

The governments will scramble to get ahold of this ship, and what’s in it. When they can’t take it by political means, they will try force. If that doesn’t work, they will use whatever leverage they can. Shira, your mother, my daughter, Davi, your mother. Some people will only see them as leverage to be used to gain our cooperation.

I am going to have Kree scrub any associations that can connect them to us. When we hit Earth, they might know or suspect we are human, but there will be no electronic trace of our families or people they can use as leverage against us. I am just hoping they don’t start a paper record search, then we could have some issues. Understand that also means we cannot contact them, everyone got that?" Blake said as gently as possible.

He knew what it meant to have not seen his daughter and now to be so close and still have to stay as far as possible from her was going to emotionally tear him apart. This was not going to be easy on any one of them. They both nodded somberly, understanding the implications should they ignore the request. Blake began to pace the room and blew out a frustrated breath.

There is no manual on how to do this, we are about to give the earth a rude awakening. Honestly, there is no way to tell how they are going to deal. He said thoughtfully. Shira walked over to the front of the room and stared at the holo-viewer. Punching a couple of keys, the Earth appeared and then flattened over the wall giving everyone a look at all of the continents.

The problem is our planet has a stigma of working for their own government or country and not really working together. We are going to need to find a way to get them to come together under a single entity that will allow them to manage, dictate and deal with the universe at large. She stated dispassionately as if addressing a class of students on world politics,

her eyes roving over the continents.

Blake closed his eyes as he felt the voice of Morgan, his symbiotic ancient alien artificial intelligence that he shared his mind with. Shira and Davi both paused, watching as their captain took a deep breath and closed his eyes. They both had seen this on numerous occasions to the point where it was no longer weird to watch. Blake's eyes shot open a second later, and he stood up suddenly excitedly and looked at his two companions.

She was informing me that Kree had started the information sterilization. He said and then nodded back to the screen. Blake looked thoughtfully for a moment and then snapped his finger as an idea presented itself.

The United Nations! We need to spur the countries into giving the UN the power to deal as the unified authority to the other races. It will also need to be able to field a fighting force that will be able to defend sol and its planets. He said excitedly, but then his face fell. His tone turned helpless but hell, how do we do that?

Shira looked at him blankly, still processing the UN idea, but a chuckle came from behind her as both of them turned to look at the smiling Davi. That’s the easy part. The Two sets of eyes now focusing on the nutty Russian.

Huh? Shira said pretty much taking the words out of Blake's mouth. Davi stood and came to stand next to the two of them. Technology, ships, these are the incentives we have and the very thing every government and company on Earth will want. He said with a smile, pushing the map of the continents off the wall. He brought up a metal structure and slowly began to spin it. When we were with Kerles, she brought a few things aboard for the base, but we can definitely use them here as well, as incentives. He said to two sets of blank eyes.

What the hell are you talking about? Blake blurted out. Davi rolled his eyes and took a breath. Builder nanites. We can build a shipyard for the Earth. It won’t have to be nearly as complex as the one we would need for our destroyers so I should be able to construct one. If they play ball, we can share technology that would help them not only get into space but also to advance computers, medicine, and energy. He said.

We have these builder nanites on the ship? Blake asked feeling like a bit of an idiot at this point. Why am I only hearing about this now dammit? He continued irritated that something was brought on the ship without his consent. Davi shook his head.

I told you, in the report I gave you when we departed. Did you read it? He asked innocently. Blake realized he hadn’t and quickly tried to change the subject.

So, what you’re saying is that we can offer this to the UN and by doing that force the other governments on Earth to get in line with this. Either they join the bandwagon or get left out. Blake said, liking the possibilities here. They went over possible game plans on how they could accomplish this until morning watch.

Alright we aren’t going to get any further with this, let's reconvene later after we have each had some sleep, Blake said rubbing his eyes his brain felt like it was half stuck in the mud. His attitude had definitely improved as he stared at the holo viewer and the makings of a real plan looked back at him.

This covers one of the issues, but remember when we reveal ourselves, we still have no idea how humanity is going to take finding out the greatest revelation in their known history, Aliens exist. And they are coming to enslave the planet. Blake finished looking at his companions for any help, but all he received was bleary stares from them.

Images of places like Jamestown and the Mayan ruins went through his head. Some people would see this as an opportunity to gain power, at any cost. Shira put a gentle hand on his shoulders seeming to understand what he was thinking.

I think people as a whole will surprise you, Blake. She said gently. Blake nodded his head, though not really believing it. From within his mind came the whisper of Morgan again, prodding him with advice.

Be careful Blake, I studied your planet for four decades and had access to systems that no government would want seen by the light of day. They are capable of deprave acts if it’s in their best interest. She finished. Blake mentally agreed. He knew he was playing a dangerous game, but what choice did he have really.

The group left to go about their duties, promising to meet again to hash out a more robust plan. Blake settled down looking over the notes he had taken for the past twelve hours. He was at a total loss, he was a soldier, not a politician. He didn’t have the knowledge to go toe to toe with every political power on Earth and hope to win. He placed a call to the only person he thought could help.

Hello, Captain, Seafu said with a smile. I have been expecting this call. Blake shook his head and grinned. Of course, you were, you are using that creepy Kung Fu mojo again, Blake asked his friend and boss, Seafu laughed.

Nothing spooky, just knew you would think you were in over your head, that’s all Seafu finished. Blake sighed and motioned towards the heavens. I have no idea how we are going to keep these governments on track sir. I mean they have spent so long competing, and now we are going to show up and tell them that not only are they not alone. That they need to band together because the maddest mother fuckers we have ever had the bad luck to come across has this planet in their sights. Throwing up his hands.

Blake looked at his Command Officer with a helpless expression on his face. Seafu was silent and just when Blake thought he wouldn’t speak, a small smile spread across his face.

Blake, you need to dictate the terms. They will want to keep it quiet. They will give you excuses and tell you that no one can know, don’t let them. Make your entrance public so the whole world will know. By exposing yourself to the population it will disrupt things, but you will also force the governments into compliance. Let the people of the world know what’s going to happen, and they will keep their governments inline, or at least help. Seafu said.

Blake nodded. It made sense at least in his country. Tell the people, and they would tear up the politicians if they dragged their feet. I am going to need you on this sir. I don’t have the experience for this. He almost pleaded to Seafu Who just smiled.

I will be available my friend, but you can do this, I have faith. And with that, he terminated the connection leaving Blake in a dark meeting room with his thoughts and worries.

The crew kept busy as the small blue planet grew in size. A week before they would make earth orbit, Blake had ensured the ships defenses were working correctly. He also tasked Kree with breaking into the government black sites, he needed to know what kind of weapons they could bring to bear on them should this go south.

Blake called a ship meeting. As the crew filed in, they were greeted by a serene and smiling Captain. That went a long way to calming the crew’s nerves.

Alright listen up team, we are going to be doing this a little unorthodox like. Blake bellowed at the still talking team they quickly took their seats and most of the voices quieted. At the sound of his voice, the remaining went silent as well, and all eyes were forward.

We are seven days from landing on my home planet. I know we are pressed for time, and everyone still has a lot to do, I can see it on your faces. I will make this quick, my people have never seen an alien, and the general consensus is we are alone in the universe. We need to balance our need to get things done with their ability to adapt to what we are dropping on them. We are playing with fire, but I really fear if we just pop into the outer atmosphere. We will send the Earth into a tailspin. So, we are going to going to give them a heads up and try to manage the situation as best we can. He stated to the gathered group. There were mixed responses, he knew there would be, but this was ultimately his call for good or bad.

We are about to send a message and announce ourselves. The reason for this is simple. The Earth is divided into multiple governments, there is no central authority. If we are going to get them to work together, we need everyone to know who we are and make this thing as public as possible. Now because of this, we have a real possibility that some of the governments on the planet might try to coerce us, board us, hell they might even declare war on us. We don’t know and if not for the fact that the Empire is on its way. I would not even remotely want to introduce Earth to the rest of the galaxy. Literally getting kicked in the nuts would be more fun. Blake said, and the crew chuckled. Rom raised his hand, and The Captain nodded to him.

How well are they going to take aliens on their planet because we have watched the movies you brought and what we were able to download via the probe and fuck man. I don’t want some hopped up marine hunting me for sport. Rom said.

Hell yeah, I really don’t want to get autopsied, because that would suck. Kree sounded off from the back which elicited a general grumble of agreement from the mostly alien crew. Blake made a calming gesture with his hands.

Easy guys, we aren’t going to let anyone get taken, and I hope that the governments will be kept in line by the public pressure of the people. Not optimal but I can’t think of a better way to handle this. Blake answered. Shira nodded.

He is right if we try and give one government preferential treatment; it has a real potential for causing war. The crew looked worried, and Blake couldn’t blame them this was a screwed-up situation. He adjourned the meeting and asked Rom and Shira to stay behind. Blake walked over and sat on one of the ready room tables.

This has the real potential to go south. I mean our announcement will have ramifications for religious, political and even scientific groups. I fear we might cause worldwide panic. He said looking towards the screen at the front of the room which showed the growing Earth. He was scared, but he would never tell any of his crew that.

We have your back on this boss, Rom said, and Shira nodded.

CHAPTER

TWO

TWO

Welcome to Earth





Michael Hanscom sighed heavily as he looked around the sparse office for what was the millionth time. This was where he would end his storied career as a government employee he thought.

Michael was a middle age portly man with a receding hairline made to stand out more by its mostly salt, and pepper raven coloring. This is it he thought this is the highlight of my career sitting here wasting my time playing solitaire day after fucking day Shaking his head in disgust. He pushed the bifocals back up the bridge of his nose with a pudgy digit and then went back to reviewing another report. If you could call it that of alien abduction in Idaho according to this report, the aliens had looked like deceased presidents when they visited a Mrs. Rubina Jackson and forcibly robbed her of corn starch and flour before returning to their ship. Michael put the report down with a disgusted snort.

He had come to the NSA twenty years ago full of promise and enthusiasm and almost had a brilliant career, but his inability to play politics and more importantly to filter his opinions had landed him here heading up the department of Alien affairs. Of course, it was labeled top secret. He could never tell anyone that, but mostly he thought because any other agency or person would laugh at the fact that Roosevelt had started a department for such a thing.

Michael had a staff of one, a twenty-something idealist who when recruited had been more than happy to join the dead-end department. Michaels command was quite literally the embarrassment of the entire agency.

So here Michael sat wallowing away his days until retirement. Guiding his mouse deftly, He placed the 2 over the 3 and realized he was out of moves. For as many times as I have played this damn game, you would figure I would be a fucking expert he thought shaking his head and shutting down the game on the ancient computer that adorned his scratched and beaten cherry wood desk.

He opened his email and perused the general departmental spam that went out on Thursdays. Of course, there were no messages or meetings that were directly to him. He did see an ice-cream social for the floor. That sounded like fun and would probably kill about an hour out of his day.

Nathaniel, his only employee, burst into the closet that was his office stammering and stuttering. Michael looked on. Holy shit the kid finally snapped he surmised and then made a calming gesture with his hands trying to bring the poor boy's breathing back under control. The lad’s white business shirt was stained around the neck and arms where he had been sweating profusely. That was odd the basement where they resided was always cold Michael thought randomly. Nathaniel finally got himself under a modicum of control.

Boss, we got a message. He said and waited for the other man to respond. Michael sat there dumbfounded. Before the silence could become uncomfortable, not that anything could be more uncomfortable right now, he thought. He nodded towards his employee.

What a phone message, a text message, what the hell are you talking about? He asked his humor at the situation fading fast.

No, A MESSAGE! He stated pronouncing the words like his manager didn’t understand English and then he held up a sheet This just came in from pretty much every space telescope, radio system or network we have access to. Now at first, I thought it was a local origin as it seems to have originated near the moon, so prank, right? The kid laughed, but he could see the lack of humor on his boss's face, so he quickly sobered and expound upon his interruption.

So, I checked again, the message was initially a single audio file complete with a very large data packet. Now checking out the data packet I found it was plans, science theory, star charts pretty much the encyclopedia Galactica boss. Michael looked at his young colleague like he had lost his mind.

What the hell are you talking about Nate? he simply said. Drugs, I should get him tested thought Michael now truly worried about his protégé. The young man took a beat and collected himself. When he looked up, he caught his boss's eyes, who could now see were deadly serious. His blue eyes looked, and the snarky comment that had been about to escape him died stillborn in his throat. Michael motioned for the young man to continue.

We have received and confirmed a message from outer space that was not derived or sent by anyone on this planet, Nate said officially reading from the header file. He then placed it gingerly on his boss's desk as if it were the holy grail itself and might break if he was too rough.

Michael scanned the lengthy memo picking up phrases that caused him to stop and carefully reread it. The one phrase that stood out was ‘Science not of this planet….’. It took him thirty minutes to thoroughly read through the entire memo, and then he reread again sure he was missing some byline that labeled it as a prank. Michael looked at the time of the origin and the source of the message.

This came in an hour ago. First holy shit, aliens… second holy fucking shit aliens… this has to be a joke, right? His eyes pleaded with the young man to make it so, but Nate shook his head.

No sir, this went out worldwide. Everyone got it, sir, you should see the data. The scientists I had look it over are geeking out. It’s nothing like they have ever encountered before. And you are going to love this, the origin of the message, nothing is there, at least nothing we can see. I mean something is there. It's broadcasting a message right, but when we point anything at it, it sees nothing, sir. Nate finished and waited expectantly for his boss to catch up.

Suddenly Michael's email began to ping and ping and ping, and then both phones in the department began to ring simultaneously. Michael picked up his phone, and the calm female voice said simply.

Please hold for the Director. and then he heard wait music. Alien affairs, Michael realized was about to get a whole lot busier. Two frantic hours later both he and Nate sat outside the Director of the NSA’s office waiting. They had spent the last two hours on the phone with every scientist, expert, analyst or crackpot in their Rolodex.

Though the situation aside from being incredibly surreal was freaking him out. Sure, the whole we just got contacted by aliens was already freak worthy he thought, but now he was about to get shoved center stage. That was worse than any alien contact ever.

Michael was sweating now thinking of having to head a meeting with every Sr. Executive at the NSA. God, he thought, I am going to throw up. Just then an older woman appeared. One who exuded the power of her boss’s office and who exemplified every characteristic of the executive assistant to a powerful position was expected to have. Motioned for the two of them to enter.

Michael walked into the most spacious office he had ever seen. Of course, neither he nor Nate had ever had a need to be in the Director's office prior to this but man oh man Michael thought randomly, this was a hell of an office. Looking over at the table to the left of the large mahogany desk was a group of the most serious faces Michael had ever seen.

Swallowing hard and saying a small prayer he slowly walked over to the table as if at any moment the gathering would stand up and descend upon him for daring to impersonate a professional. After a few agonizing seconds, he laid the bundle of papers down on the table in front of the group, motioning to Nate who began to quickly hand out packets to everyone present. Michael caught his breath and waited until everyone had a packet in front of them. The stern face of the grandfatherly Director Kaufman stared daggers at Michael waiting impatiently for him to start.

Good evening gentlemen. Michael greeted, grabbing a packet and glancing over his notes. As you know at 11:48 AM this morning we received a broadcast. This broadcast was sent to every radio antenna powerful enough to receive a long-range signal. It contained an audio message and a large data broadcast apparently of gif and rich text files. At first, because of the fact, the audio broadcast was in perfect English, and the file attachments were native Earth formats it was dismissed as a hoax. However, upon a closer look by scientists in the community, it was discovered that the data was actually science theory and construction plans. We have been on the phone with every engineering expert we could contact. The plans are real, the science is not of this world and gentlemen in thirty days’ time a ship is going to land in front of the United Nations building in New York City. Michael paused, and he could see the sheet white faces looking back at him. Jesus, he thought, someone is going to have a damn heart attack, and then he heard the thudding of his own heart and realized at that moment, the person might very well be him.

The Director cleared his throat and leaned forward. The grave look still evident on his weather-worn features. Mr. Hanscom, we know this. In fact, we have checked, and double checked with our own experts, had we even an inkling that this was a hoax you wouldn’t be here. Now what I need to hear is how do we plan to respond to this.

Michael nodded to the Director and began to shuffle through the papers clumsily. Dropping most of them on the floor, causing glares and shaking of heads from the members present. Finally, he fished out what he was looking for.

Sirs, as you know every ten years or so we send out a request to the leading experts in various fields and have them draft a report for the best procedures for dealing with a first contact situation, and lucky enough we have a plan for this exact scenario. Michael spent the next hour briefing the Director and his executives on the plan for first contact. By the time he left the office, he had a staff of fifty and a budget of whatever the hell he needed.

However, it was made clear he needed to ensure this plan was carried out flawlessly in just thirty days in New York. Michael was silent the entire ride back as Nate navigated DC traffic back to the unassuming CIA building just outside of DC In thirty minutes. When they got back to their department, his young assistant turned to him with a questioning look on his face. Michael studied the young man’s features. Through this whole morning, he had not once scoffed or questioned his boss's actions despite the historically monumental incident that was occurring.

Michael appreciated that more than the young man knew and had no real way of expressing it into words. Michael did the only thing that came to mind. You did good work today. He said to Nate and clapped him on the back, realizing how incredibly understated the comment was.

When he saw that the troubled look on the young man’s face had not gone away, he stopped in the doorway to their office.

What’s bothering you, Nate? He asked concerned. He had never seen the young man this way, not in the entire time he had worked for him. For a long moment Nate didn’t say anything, just stared into space as he organized his thoughts.

I don’t want to speak ill of our government, but don’t you think it is a little odd they just accepted the plan and told you to land a ship in the middle of New York? He asked Michael. Nate was still young and not schooled in the way of clandestine operations. He really did hate to burst his enthusiasm and idealism, but Nate should know what they were getting into. With a heavy sigh, Michael leaned back against the wall.

We are the public face of this, which means if this goes south, we get thrown to the wolves. Don’t think for a moment there isn’t sixty other plans, less, honorable than our own that the CIA and NSA are hatching right now regarding that ship. Letting it land in the middle of New York and allowing the UN to deal with it is an absolute last resort. He said and studied his friend as the realization dawned on him.

They are going to try and capture it. He finally said. Michael looked around and ensured no one was paying attention to them and simply nodded his head. With that he clapped Nate on the back again and told him to call his girlfriend and tell her he wasn’t coming home for a while and the kid nodded heading towards his desk.

Of course, Michael didn’t have anyone to call, except for his cat he thought with a depressed sigh. He returned to his office to find a small army of technicians setting up a brand-new computer and printer and a newly updated phone system for him. While they did that, he went over to Nates desk. He was out of the office using his cell phone.

No one ever got a signal down here, and he picked up the receiver and began to dial every name of every expert they had ever worked with to get them here immediately.

He made the bevy of calls, and by the time he had concluded his twentieth, the army of technicians were walking out the door.

Michael returned to his office and sat behind the brand new, state of the art computer. He opened outlook to find he had 1500 new emails. He whistled at the screen, he was going to need a secretary now. Nate entered the office.

Hey, boss, what the hell do we do now? He said sheepishly, Of course, Michael thought, they had never had to come up with an action plan or hell any plan for themselves. He rifled through his stack of papers and handed a pile to Nate.

"Get ahold of every person listed on that paper and get them in here I don’t care what they say. By order of the NSA hell even the damn president, they are required to be here no later than tomorrow. This is a federal emergency.

He turned on the brand-new TV that now sat in the corner of his bleak basement office and listened as the talking heads on every channel excitedly announced the receipt of the message by aliens. He settled in and began to go over the reports that had come in while he had been in the meeting. One caught his eye. Voice analysis had come up with a result on the alien message according to the experts it was a United States Mid Atlantic dialect.

He leaned back in his chair and thought about it, humans? Either humans are running around space with some awesome science or these guys have access to our Communications. How else could he explain the message coming to them in perfect English.

He put the paper back in the pile and dismissed it and just as he was about to pick up the phone to start requisitioning the things he would need, Nate again burst in his office.

The President would like to speak to you, line 1, He said with a dumbfounded look on his face. Michael drew a blank for a moment.

President of what? He asked the agitated young man. Nate huffed and slapped his hand against his forehead.

THE PRESIDENT! he said loudly, and all the color drained out of Michaels' face with a shaking hand he picked up the phone H-Hello.

CHAPTER

THREE

THREE

Objects in the Rear View

Rachart allowed the steady breathing of the two females to calm him as he reviewed the pile of reports on the small skirmishes that were occurring planet-wide, descriptions, and notes of the Empire and loyal resistance troops as they began the task of taking back the planet.

Since signing the agreement with the Rangers after some hard-fought political victories, Rachart had taken the resistance to a new level. Organizing and leading raids against most of the local secret police and government targets on the planet, breaking the Empire’s hold over most of the continents and sending them scrambling for cover.

With the Decimation of the Rangers fleet and subsequently of the Empire ships that were also involved in the battle. The planet of Creaton was fortunate in that the political shifting of the Empire diverted the small armada of ships out of the system giving the resistance the much-needed window to take back their planet from the Empire, at least for the most part.

The Empire still regained control of a few large facilities and some orbital monitoring stations and until those were taken out the planet would never be theirs, even taking back what he had was temporary and a gamble at best. Soon those Empire ships would return and reign down hell on the surface for their insolence. They would need the protection of the Rangers or vessels