Legend of Oria 1: Initial Contact (42 page)

“Admiral, you’re here just in the nick of time.  They were pushing us back.”

Oria chuckled and slapped Frank on the back.  “I can see that Chief.  Maybe now you can lead your group to the shuttle bay.  I have a transport there waiting to take you and the freed prisoners back to the Hercules.  I think Ratface needs some help.”

Oria disappeared down the hall almost as quickly as he appeared.  Frank saw light flashes and heard the sound of explosions as Oria disappeared in front of him firing weapons from each hand.  The hallway to the shuttles was clear, just as Oria promised.

Meanwhile, the Creytes had one of Ratface’s units pinned down in the small corridor leading to the bridge.  He heard distant explosions and felt the ship shudder as the Creytes continued their efforts to retake the bridge.  Ratface and his teammates fought fiercely.  So far, they were keeping the more numerous Creytes at bay.  Ratface knew that without help, his small group could only last a few more minutes in this intense battle.  The gap between his unit and the Creytes was in a constant ball of fire with the thunder of explosions.  If not for the special suits and personal shields, the Creytes long ago would have vaporized them.   Ratface watched the power meters on his suits continually decrease.  They would not last long at this rate.

Ratface was close to signaling a retreat back into the bridge when a loud explosion occurred in the Creyte position.  The frequency of intense white light flashes suddenly increased.  Clouds of smoke with occasional glimpses of the red-hot walls lining the corridors soon replaced the light.  Ratface saw the familiar image of Oria slowly appear where the Creytes had been before.  Oria single handedly attacked the Creyte position and cleared the corridor.

Ratface remained with Oria until Frank managed to get all of the rescued humans back to the Hercules.  He assisted Oria and several technicians from the Hercules to turn off the self-destruct program on the Creyte battle cruiser.  It looked like they would be successful in bringing the captured ship back to Earth.  Ratface had his teams round up the remaining Creytes and forced them into the galley cages.  There would be time to debrief them later.

2:00 AM: Hercules Arrives Back on Earth

The Hercules finally made it back to Earth with the captured Creyte battle cruiser.  It had been a long several hours and everyone felt drained from helping the rescued humans.  Each victim received medical attention, clothing, food and counseling.  Ratface and his men were hearing for the first time some of the horror stories of living in a Creyte galley direc
tly from fellow U.S. citizens.

Oria called Bronson to arrange for the transport of the rescued civilians to Andrews Air Force base.  Temporary medical and debriefing facilities were setup.  Bronson arranged for several reporters to talk with some of the recently freed people.  He knew that without this information, Ratherson’s attempt to get a Declaration of War would fail.

Reporters from the local newspapers and television stations descended on the Andrews Air Force Base by the hundreds.  They were horrified at the stories and living conditions forced upon the humans held onboard the Creyte ship.

Sara Roberts and her video crew managed to get one of the freed men for an interview.  “Sir, would you state your name for the camera?”

“Yes, I’m Tyrone Hamilton.”

“Tyrone, how did you manage to end up on a Creyte Battle Cruiser?”

“I was on a camping vacation in West Virginia with my family and several friends almost 6 months ago.  The aliens captured and transported us to their ship.  From there, they forced us into cages near the ships galley.”

“Once you were onboard the ship, how were you treated?”

Tyrone was having a hard time keeping himself together.  The memories were too harsh and too recent.  “We were forced into small cages without any clothes.  Inside the cages, they used constraints on us to keep us from moving.  They ran some sort of energy pulses through our bodies.  I think it was in place of exercise.  We were forced to eat some sort of slime and were hosed down on a daily basis.”

Sara couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  How could an advanced civilization treat people so horribly?  “Tyrone, I hate to ask you this.  We’ve heard that the Creytes eat people.  Is that true?”

Tyrone shuddered for a moment.  He slowly pulled himself together.  “It’s worse than anything you can imagine.  They ate my babies while they were still alive!  They think live babies are some sort of delicacy!”

Sara’s jaw dropped.  “They what, they ate your babies alive?”

“That’s right.  I also saw them grab my wife and several of my friends.  They took them into their dining hall.  They accidentally left the door open.  I saw them rip my wife and friends into parts and eat them alive.  They fought and screamed as long as they could.  It was horrible!”  Tyrone then burst into uncontrollable sobs and tears.  Several counselors finally caught up with Sara and Tyrone and rescued him from any further questions.  The interview played live on national television.

6:00 AM:  White House

Oria joined Wilson and Ratherson in time to watch the early morning news.  It contained several interviews with people rescued from the Creyte ship.  Tyrone Hamilton’s story horrified and angered Ratherson.  The news commentators and analysts shared his horror and anger.  They demanded an immediate response from the United States Government for the military to work with Oria and the Azortec Federation.  Ratherson continued to watch and was furthered sickened from the barrage of reports and the horror of the people rescued from the Creyte Battle Cruiser.  The only good news was that the news destroyed any resistance raised the night before against supporting Azortec.

It wasn’t long before phone calls from each of the leaders present the night before interrupted Ratherson.  They were enraged and ready to declare war.  Even Jenson called and agreed to declare war against the Creytes.  His only qualification was trying to make Oria out as some sort of war-mongering killer.  Ratherson had heard enough from Jenson and his complaints.  Even though Jenson was in the same party, Ratherson decided that he would work to defeat Jenson in the next election.

Ratherson’s team worked hard to prepare for the 10AM Special Meeting of Congress.  Ratherson personally made phone calls to all of the major allies including the Russians, the Chinese, and other world leaders.  State Department Representatives called those that he did not have time to call directly.  It did not take much convincing to get unanimous agreement to unite all of the nations on Earth in working together to build a military capable of defeating the Creytes.  They scheduled a meeting at the United Nations to discuss a global alliance and to appoint representatives to work with Oria and the crew of the Hercules.

10:00 AM: Special Meeting of Congress

The House chamber was full of Senators and Representatives eager to declare war against the Creytes and put emergency powers into the hands of Ratherson and the military.  When Ratherson entered the chamber with Secretary of Defense John Wilson and Admiral Oria, they received a standing ovation.  After the usual formalities, President Ratherson started his address.

“Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress,

Unfortunate circumstances have led me to request this joint meeting today and I want to thank you for coming out here on such short notice.  If not for the gravity of the situation that confronts us, this meeting would be unnecessary.  We are now at a turning point in the history of our nation and the history of our world.  What we must decide here today is a course of action that will permanently change our nation, our world, and the future of human life on Earth and perhaps the universe.  We must cast aside our differences that now appear petty, to confront a force that is attacking our basic rights to live as people on our home planet Earth!

This morning we all had to listen to newscasts of horrible stories.  When we first met the local Creyte commander, we thought that we would receive incredible medical technology and life as we know, would greatly improve.  It turns out that this was a lie.  The Creyte’s primary goal all along was to capture Earth and turn it into a farm planet.  They wanted to raise our people, our loved ones, for their own consumption.  Indeed, with the recent news reports we now know that the Creytes have already eaten some of our fellow humans.  Particular repulsive to us, these creatures see eating our live babies as a delicacy.  Now, is the time for a call to arms!   Now is the time we rise up as in a single voice as a planet to prevent these atrocities from happening to any more of our loved ones!

We have several decisions to make this morning.  First, I am going to ask you to declare war against the United Creyte Republic and empower me to do whatever is necessary to build a military capable of launching an attack and destroying the Creytes ability to take Earth.  In doing this, we will need to agree to work with the Azortec Federation representative, Admiral Oria, and to form an alliance with them.  Next, we will require the power to make alliances with other nations on Earth and to work together in building this defense. 

Finally, we must make several organizational changes to the Department of Defense.  I am asking you to create a new military department, The Department of Space Defense.  We will refer to it as the Space Command.  In doing this, I am asking you to recognize Admiral Oria as a U.S. Citizen.  He was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland over 500 years ago prior to the founding of the United States.  Since then, he has led the Azortec Federation in many successful battles against the Creytes.  I want you to approve my nomination of Admiral Oria to command the Department of Space Defense and to run our newly formed Space Command.  This Command will be required to obtain resources from our other military units and from the population at large. 

We have a limited time to prepare our defense.  Admiral Oria informed me yesterday that we have less than a year to build a defense and train crews to fly starships.  At that time, the Azortec Federation will prove unable to protect Earth, and any case, they will not defend us from the Creytes.  It is up to us with the help of Admiral Oria and the crew of the Hercules to build this important defense.

Every one of you should have an information packet outlining my requests, an analysis, and plan of our next steps.  Please review these materials and give me the power to move forward and defend the United States and work with other nations in defending our world.

Thank you and May God bless the United States and the entire world.”

It took Congress less than 30 minutes to discuss Ratherson’s requests and issue a Declaration of War.  Congress charged President Ratherson and Admiral Oria to work together in building a defense to terminate the Creytes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James Campbell was born in our nation’s capital, Washington, DC in 1956.  He grew up in Maryland, went to high school there and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Maryland and a Master’s degree from the American University.

During most of his career, he has worked as either a management consultant or in the information management business.   He loves to write and looks forward to writing more books. 
James’s hope is that his readers enjoy reading his books as he as he enjoyed writing them.