Legend of Oria 1: Initial Contact (41 page)

Once the leaders took their seats, Ratherson entered the room.  Instantly, the cabinet room fell silent.  The tension was thick.  Ratherson wasted no time, took the seat at the center of the long table, and sat down.  The others in his party sat in the chairs lining the sides of the room.

Ratherson finally broke the silence.  “I want to thank each of you for
coming out here at this late hour.  As you undoubtedly have heard in the news, we have had our first conflict with an alien race.  Our forces were unable to defeat these aliens until yet another alien force intervened on our behalf. I fear that we have not heard the last of our alien enemies and our new friends do not have the ability to defeat a full-scale attack from our enemies without our help.  At first, we thought the Creytes were going to be friendly to us, as evidenced by their gifts of medicines and other technologies.  Last week we discovered how untrue this façade was as we discovered their true nature.  The Creyte strategy is to try to peaceably take over planets like ours and then farm the inhabitants for food.   Last week, we discovered several half-eaten people.  All attempts by local police and SWAT teams to deal with the Creytes failed.  In the end, all they accomplished was the further loss of human life.  Our military attempted to intervene and would have failed as well except for the intervention of a newly outfitted STAR Hawks shuttle.  The Azortec Federation Starship Hercules rebuilt our shuttle.  Admiral Oria and Captain Borella of the Azortec Federation command the AFS Hercules. 

At this point, I would like to introduce Admiral Oria to you.  Admiral Oria is the equivalent of a five star admiral.  He is originally from Earth and in fact was born over 500 years ago on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  Let me first begin by providing you some background on customs and the organization of the Azortec Federation.  The Azortec Federation is comprised of member planets and their respective governments.  They have broken the galaxy into quadrants, each governed by a three star admiral and each with representation on the Azortec council.  The military head of a quadrant provides for the protection of interplanetary trade and the enforcement of the laws of the Azortec Federation.  They have no executive authority over local planetary governments.  As a result, anyone with a three star rank or higher, receives the respect of a visiting head of state.  With that I would like to invite Oria to speak and together we will attempt to answer some of your questions.”

Oria was sitting in one of the chairs against the wall of the cabinet room.  He stood up and approached the long table feeling quite awkward.  Unlike most of his peers, he hated the governing and diplomatic aspects of his position.  Oria was a man of action, a true warrior.  Those characteristics led him to both conflict with his peers and empowered him against the Creytes in battle.  Diplomacy and intergovernmental meetings always made him feel awkward. 

“Thank you, Mr. President, for your introduction.  I stand before you with mixed emotions.  I am happy to be home again and with my people, the people of Earth.  It saddens me that the only reason this opportunity has presented itself is the result of imminent danger facing Earth.  Normally Azortec law would forbid me from meeting with you, even though, I too,
am from Earth.   The Azortec Federation promotes the natural development of civilizations and cultures of planets not yet capable of interstellar travel by prohibiting contact between its members and the less developed planets.  So why am I here?  Azortec itself is going through trying times and is in danger of falling to the Creytes.  If Earth and other planets like Earth fall to the Creytes, it is only a matter of time before the Creytes will want to expand into the member planets of the Azortec Federation itself.  A good portion of the Azortec Council would not approve of my being here today.  In fact, many of them are in favor of surrendering Earth to the Creytes in exchange for money and maybe enough time to live out their own lives before their planets fall to the Creytes.  Azortec lacks the will and desire to protect itself.  That is why I am here today.  Unlike my friends in Azortec, I want to save my home planet.  Second, I believe that by giving the people of Earth, Azortec technology, we will use our will power in combination with Azortec technology to do what’s necessary to save Earth from becoming a Creyte farm planet.  We have slightly less than a year to accomplish this task.  In one year, the Azortec Federation will vote to turn Earth over to the Creytes.  President Shalat has enabled me to take my ship back a year in time to Earth with the hope of building a force that can first save Earth, and then defeat the Creytes before they can start farming any more human inhabited planets.  Are there any questions?”

One of the Senators was about to speak when Oria’s communicator sounded an alarm.  Oria looked at it and read the message.  Borella, on board the Hercules, had signaled him that a Creyte battle cruiser was heading directly towards the Hercules and would be within firing range in an hour.   Since the Hercules was already shorthanded, Oria needed to return and take his place on the combat bridge.  Oria leaned next to Ratherson and quietly told Ratherson the new problem confronting them.  He then addressed the room.  “I must apologize.  A Creyte battle cruiser will soon be close enough to engage the Hercules.  Therefore, I must join my ship and defend it and Earth from this attack.  President Ratherson will have to answer any of your questions.”

Everyone watched in awe as Oria took several steps back to a small open area in the room and signaled Borella to transport him back to the Hercules.  They watched Oria as he vanished!  Everyone in the room was expecting him to fade gradually as they had seen people transported on Star Trek.  In this case, the fiction of Star Trek was not an accurate preparation for the reality of an Azortec transporter.

At first, the questions by the congressional leaders were for information.  The questions grew more confrontational as the evening wore on.  A general feeling of distrust was growing for Oria and Azortec.  Several members felt the timing of the latest Creyte attack was more than
coincidental.  Towards the end of the meeting, Senator Jenson who already had a grudge against Oria for killing one of his wife’s relations in West Virginia summarized their feelings.

“Mr. President, I think I speak for most of my fellow Senators in saying that we believe we should put on hold any action for Declaration of War, etc.  We should start a committee to investigate Azortec and the long fairy tale that we’ve been hearing.  I’m ready to go home.  We can discuss scheduling the formation of this committee late next week.  I don’t believe anything else is called for.  The immediate Creyte threat no longer exists.  Oria, a suspected murderer, has conveniently departed us -- this tells me that our meeting is not that important to him.  In fact, he may be using this stunt as a further attempt to manipulate our thinking.”

Ratherson felt anger swell up inside of him.  It took everything he had to control his burning rage at Jenson.  After spending several hours with Oria and some of his advisors, Ratherson knew that Oria clearly was not the cold-blooded killer that Jenson alleged that he was.  Every source he heard confirmed Oria’s account of the bar incident and that a corrupt sheriff influenced Jenson through his wife.  “Senator Jenson, I hear your viewpoint.  Tomorrow I will be requesting a joint session of Congress to discuss the Creyte situation and ask for a Declaration of War.  Under no circumstances do I agree with your assessment of events in West Virginia.  You may want to warn your brother in-law that I will be requesting the Attorney General to investigate the existence of corruption in his Sheriff’s Office.  This meeting is over and I will see you tomorrow morning.”

Ratherson immediately stood up and exited the room.  His staff was only steps behind him.  The remaining senators and congressional representatives got up and started multiple arguments amongst themselves.  It was clear that Ratherson had an uphill battle to get a Declaration of War.

11:30 PM: Hercules

The moment Oria arrived on the transport deck the Hercules burst into full light speed heading for the Creyte Battle Cruiser.  Borella wanted to put as much distance as possible between the inevitable battle and Earth.  Ratface was already assembling his team and preparing to board the Creyte ship.

When Oria came on board the bridge, Borella informed him they would have the Creyte ship in firing range in less than five minutes and that Lieutenant Agustonson was already sitting in the second position.  Oria then turned towards the short stairs leading up and into the combat bridge.  He quickly ascended the stairs and took the first position.

After what only seemed like minutes, Oria heard Borella’s voice.  “Enemy coming within range, ship control is now transferred to the combat bridge.”

Agustonson replied “Aye sir, first seat in control, second seat on standby.”

The imminent combat energized Oria.  The Hercules became an extension of his thoughts as he started firing the ship’s laser at the Creyte cruiser.  He wanted to weaken its shields without destroying it.  Frequently Creyte cruisers were loaded with humans and used for food.  Oria always attempted a rescue before destroying an enemy ship. 

The Creytes had received a warning about the presence of the Hercules near Earth.  Their plan was to use new anti-gravity photon torpedoes to destroy it.  Azortec had no defense against this new weapon.  They did not realize that the Hercules they were engaging was from the future.  It had defenses against the new torpedoes. 

Oria saw the Creytes launch a spread of photon torpedoes.  He knew these missiles of death were likely to contain anti-gravity explosives.  He adjusted the Hercules’s shields to handle the explosion.  When they hit, the entire ship shuddered.  It held together with minimal power loss to the shields.  Oria was grateful that the Azortec Council had given in and permitted the Hercules to have this new defense system.  The Creyte shields were starting to deteriorate with the continued laser and particle energy beam blasts coming from the Hercules.  Oria signaled Borella to have him relieved in the bridge.  He was going to join Ratface’s team after they boarded the enemy ship.

Ratface and his team were waiting in the attack transporter room.  As soon as the Creyte shields weakened sufficiently to a permit transport, they planned to transport one team into the ship’s galleys and a second team to into the ship’s bridge.  Ratface felt the anticipation of battle burn through his veins.  In a strange way, this is what he lived for.  The signal light went green and the next thing Ratface knew he was standing on the bridge of the Creyte ship.  Automatically his team swept the room with laser fire.  They had transported onto the enemies’ bridge already in attack formation.  The Creytes were ill prepared for the viciousness of the attack from the veteran Special Force combatants.  The humans that they were accustomed to fighting were much weaker and less focused in their attack.  Ratface’s strategy was always to deliver maximum killing force in the shortest amount of time.  In only seconds, Ratface had the bridge cleared.

Frank Wright led the second team’s attack in the galley.  They swept through the kitchen raining a wall of destruction at anything Creyte.  Frank felt the taste of stomach bile rise to his throat when he saw several butchered humans and body parts lying on the Creyte kitchen counters.  There wasn’t much he could do for these people, other than kill their tormentors.  Several of his men stayed behind while Frank took Larry Logan with him into one of the doors leading down a hallway.  The hallway was line with cages containing live and naked people.

Frank started at the first door and used a small explosive to blow it open.  He was shocked when a young man stood there and spoke to him in English.  “You’re American?”

Frank replied, “Yes, you are now free courtesy of United States Special Forces, retired.”

The man was shocked to see an American rescue team and he began to stammer.  “You’re American?  I didn’t know we had a space force.  Everyone here is American.  Most of us are from the same vacation tour.  Some vacation, it’s been horrible!”

Frank couldn’t believe the ship was full of fellow Americans.  It was all he could do to reply, “You’ll soon be safe.  We need to free everyone else and secure this ship.  Our ship is only a short distance away.”

Frank and his crew continued freeing the caged humans.  There were almost two hundred of them.  He led them out into the galley and towards the Creyte ship’s shuttle bays.  They were only a short distance from the shuttle bay when a contingent of Creyte soldiers pinned them down near a turn in the corridor.  The Creytes were slowly gaining ground on Frank’s team.  Frank decided to start pulling his group back to the galleys, but first, he hailed Ratface on his COM unit.  “Ratface, are you clear?”

“We’ve cleared the bridge but are encountering heavy fire from somewhere beyond the bridge area.  These tangos are good.  What’s your situation?”

“We’re up to our eyeballs in tangos.  We found a whole bunch of humans.  On our way to the shuttle bay, we encountered some heavily armed tangos.  They’re forcing us back.  I was sort of hoping we’d get some help from you?”

“Sorry Frank, no can do.   Hopefully we get reinforcements from the Hercules.  Oria said he would join us.  Don’t know what one man can do though.”

“Aye, once we get more secure and some of these folks better protected, I’ll call you back.  Out”

“Rodger that - Ratface out”

Almost at the precise moment Frank signed off, he heard a large clank and explosion from the shuttle bay.  He feared the Creytes were blowing it up preventing their mass escape.  The plan called for a shuttle from the Hercules to enter the bay once Frank and his team controlled it.  Now that Frank was preparing to retreat, it did not look likely that he would be able to take the bay.  Frank was about to give the retreat signal when a massive burst of light lit up the hall from where the Creytes were firing at him.  It looked like a large team had boarded through the shuttle bay and were attacking the Creytes in front of him.  The hall filled with smoke, light bursts and the screams of dying Creyte soldiers.  In moments, Oria stood in front of him, alone!