Neptune's Massif (2 page)

"Raptor team members are hard to find. Currently, the only candidates available are from the Prometheus; so if you take them, I have no idea if you'll be allowed to keep them. They have only started the psych profile stage, so we don't know how many of them will pass. Sorry, but that's all you have for the time being as far as personnel.

"There are several special projects going on right there on the moon. Most of them are classified of course, but they will work so well for this mission that you might want to see if you can get them on board for you to use. The first project that comes to mind is a type of underwater attack craft called, ironically enough, a Shark. These craft have never been in the ocean, although I have been told that at least one of them has been built and tested in a tank there on the base. To the best of my knowledge, they are also currently unarmed.

"Part of the team that was working on the Shark split off to develop the combat systems for it. I am told it has been a real challenge for the scientists because of the properties of water. They had no issues developing a very accurate and long range sensor system for it, but the weapons have given them fits.

"The one weapon so far developed is called a Lamprey. It is basically a multi-functional, programmable, self-guided torpedo. With a variety of payloads available from sensor pods to small, anti-matter charges that would sink any surface vessel currently on the planet. The torpedoes would be deployed from a small internal bay in the belly of the shark. Reloads are available via a specialized replicator.

"The Shark is not detectable by current Earth technology. Substantial research has been conducted to mask the unit from advanced sensors, such as the ones used by the Caldarians. The current belief is that stealth can be maintained unless at extreme close range or at very high velocities.

“I'm really sorry to drop all of this in your lap, Alan. But the truth of the matter is, there is no one else to handle this at this time. We are trying to get the Alliance of Races to at least have their Caldarian Ambassador make contact with us, but currently, there has been no reply from them. My advice to you is this, and it is only advice, Alan. Build your team, get those Sharks built, tested, and get trained on them. Basically, do what you need to get done in order to take out that base. In the meantime, the Council will continue to try to get ARC assistance. I do know that at some point, you will be given orders about this regardless of what ARC does." Alan knew that 'ARC' was the acronym for Alliance of Races Council.

"Good luck, Alan. If you have questions or need advice, call me or send a message. I'll try to answer you as quickly as I can." The message ended there but was signed by the new Commander of
Star Dancer
.

Alan looked at his new best friend, Andreya. "Well, it looks like we have a mission. We need to build our own team with the focus being the ability to take out that Caldarian base. Apparently, I've been given all the authority I'll need."

"Oh, this should be fun!" Andreya replied sarcastically.

––––––––

P
hoenix Base

Transient Officer’s Quarters

Selene, Earth's Moon

Sol System

Sol Sector

––––––––

B
ecause of his advanced security level, Alan was granted access to the Shark and Lamprey project notes. He had to admit both of these projects seemed to be custom designed for what he needed. He even asked Andreya to use his clearance to see if there might be other projects that could be of help to them. Although she didn't find anything, she did inform him that the 'FROG' project that he had been a part of had been completed, and the units had been approved for production.

Alan remembered the FROG project with amusement. FROG stood for Forward Roving Offensive Guard. Basically, it was a remote controlled combat drone that had the firepower of a tank platoon that could engage the enemy without risking the life of its operator. Drone technology had been available from Star Dancer's original database, but the interface with the human had been the truly groundbreaking part of that project. The FROGs used a neural feedback system that had been originally developed for the Shadow fighter. Although there had been problems getting it to work with the fighter, it looked like they had gotten the bugs worked out of it for the large drone.

"Okay, so I guess the next step is to introduce ourselves to the researchers working on these projects. Have you gotten any word on the psych profiles for the Raptor applicants?" Alan asked.

"Yes and no, some of them are finished and have been accepted for training. Currently, there are six new candidates that we could choose from. There are eight more still pending," Andreya replied.

Alan nodded. "I think I should call Ty and let him know we're in the market for a team. That way he can keep an eye out for us."

"We could call him now. It's the beginning of his day currently," Andreya said.

Alan nodded. "Might as well, the sooner he is aware of our needs, the sooner we'll have a team."

"Contacting Colonel Anders, Raptor Command. One moment," Andreya said. "Call connected, transferring to your comm device."

"Hey Alan! What can I do for you?" Ty asked.

"Actually, I'm calling to ask you a favor, Ty."

"Uh oh!" Ty teased. "You never ask for favors, what's up?"

"Well, I've been assigned a Raptor and given the mission of getting everything I need ready for an assault on the Caldarian base on Earth..." Alan began explaining.

"Ah, I see now, you want me to steer any likely recruits your way?" Ty asked.

"Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what I was going to ask you. I've got a ton of other shit to deal with too, but I need to get the people together so we can get trained and used to each other," Alan replied.

Ty chuckled. "Jenny warned me before they left. I have four trainees already working hard to get up to a level I would feel safe sending them to you. All four are Talosian, so other than the English language, they don't really know much about Earth."

"Wow, I appreciate it! I kinda expected them to be Talosian, since those were the only active applicants we had at the moment. If you are already working on it, that will make things go a lot smoother for me. Do you have an idea when they should be ready? I won't hold you to it if one of them screws up," Alan replied chuckling.

"Actually, I don't think they will, at least not in this phase of training. You might have some issues during the team integration phase, but that's pretty much normal as the different personalities shake out. I will have a few others available if you think you might need them, but be aware that there isn't a lot of them, and all of them are Talosian," Ty replied.

"I'm sure I can get them to behave. I was thinking about finding Sensei Nokisuno to assist us." Alan replied.

"Your martial arts instructor from your time with the Agency?" Ty asked.

"Yeah, he’s one of the wisest people I know and I've been considering putting his name in for recruiting anyway," Alan said. "I do know he resigned from the Agency once he understood exactly what they were using us for."

"Well, that speaks well of him if nothing else does. I didn't think they would have let him 'resign' once he knew what was going on?" Ty asked.

"He wasn't at that level, his duties were to simply train us in hand to hand combat. He was also a great help in keeping our sanity, but technically, he wasn’t supposed to interact with us like that. I think he bailed out before they figured out he was talking to us," Alan replied. "Anyway, I'll give recruitment a call and see if someone can't pay him a visit."

"Knowing them, they probably already have!" Ty said, jokingly. "These knuckle-draggers (slang term for Marines) should be done in a week or so; I'll give you a call when they're ready for pick up."

"Great! I'll need at least that much time to find some place to train and get the other stuff lined up for us. Thanks a ton for your help, Ty," Alan replied.

"Hey, what are friends for?" Ty replied. "Take care, Alan."

"You to, Ty. Later." Alan said and disconnected the call.

––––––––

P
hoenix Base

Shark Project R & D lab

Selene, Earth's Moon

Sol System

Sol Sector

––––––––

A
lan asked for and was granted an interview with the lead researcher of the Shark project. The scientist, Dr. Juno, seemed a bit confused as to why Alan would want to talk to him until Alan explained the mission to him. Then the man got excited.

"I've been hoping something would come up that would give us the opportunity to contribute on a more active level! Please don't get me wrong, Commander, I don't mean to be happy about the need for underwater combat, but I am simply pleased that our expertise can be of use!" The small Polynesian man replied. "We have been feeling like we have been letting our comrades down by not working on something more directly related to the war effort and protecting the planet."

"I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean, Doctor? The craft you have been developing are as important to the protection of the planet as a trans-atmospheric fighter is. After all, two-thirds of the planet is water. Those fancy fighter craft and even our most powerful ships would be useless if an enemy got into the oceans. Your research may not be getting the attention of the other programs, but believe me, it’s very much needed," Alan replied.

"You are being kind, Commander. In all actuality, our goal was to develop the science that would be needed if and when we established underwater colonies for farming as well as mineral extraction. We have come a long way in understanding our world's oceans and what would be needed to allow human beings to live and work in the depths of our own planet. We have even developed a submerged plant that will help to remove the pollution that has been dumped in the world's oceans as well."

"I think that would be something we need to get built and going as soon as possible. It seems I'm always reading something somewhere about how there is all this garbage in the oceans. It would be good to do something about that, too. However, for the time being, I have to focus on the mission at hand; that is getting the Caldarians out of their base and off our planet. Now here is the data file we have on the base. Will your equipment be able to operate at this depth?" Alan asked.

"Yes it will. The real question you want to ask is will the Sharks function at this depth without shields giving them away; from the looks of this, the answer is yes. The Shark is designed to operate at depths of up to fifteen thousand feet without the need for external shields to help regulate the pressure. They can go much deeper, but to do so would require the use of shields that could be easily detected by energy sensors.

You should also understand that as they are now, the armor they are equipped with is a variant of the enigma armor Doctor Benson developed for the Shadow fighter project. This variant uses pressure to generate power to keep the pilot warm as well as to supply power to the engines as a secondary power unit. With enough pressure, the primary reactor could be set to standby, removing the risk of detection completely. However, you might not wish to do that in a combat situation," Dr. Juno explained.

"I understand that, Doctor. Do you think you could have eight of them built and ready for open water testing in a couple of weeks?" Alan asked.

"Open water testing? As in the Ocean?" Dr. Juno asked.

Alan nodded and winked at the doctor. "I would like to take your babies down and drop them in the water to see if we can break them."

"That would be wonderful, Commander! Will you allow us to come along to record the data? If there is a problem or something you would like changed we could most likely do it on the fly. Where do you have in mind for testing them?" Dr. Juno asked.

"Well, I don't actually have a place located yet, but I was hoping I'd be able to find a place that wouldn't draw too much attention..." Alan began.

"My family has an old resort in Hawaii. It's far from most civilization, so we should be able to use it undisturbed. I was considering using it anyway for when we decided to do our tests," Juno replied.

"That sounds like it would be perfect. However, I also need a place for my team to train together and get ready for the assault on the base. Any place we took over would probably become more of an asset to all of us than anything else," Alan replied.

Dr. Juno shrugged, "I don't have a problem with that, as long as it doesn't get destroyed. I'm the only surviving member of my family. I have no use for it, but it holds a lot of sentimental value to me. I'd hate to just sell it off to some developer that would turn it into a playground for rich 'haoles' from the mainland."

"That might be the way to go then. I'll have to speak to a few people since we might need to build a few things, but if you don't mind, I'll get working on getting the place ready for us to use," Alan replied.

Doctor Juno nodded. "Like I said, I just don't want to see the place destroyed. If you can work with that, then we should be able to do this there."

"I'll tell you what, let me take a look at the place, I'll see what we need and what we might need to build. I'll get a design hammered out and send it to you for approval before we actually start building it, deal?" Alan suggested.

"That'll work just fine, Commander. I'll have the Sharks ready for testing in two weeks," Juno replied.

"I'll be speaking to the guys developing the combat systems as well," Alan said. "I'd like to make sure that they’re on board with this too."

Dr. Juno chuckled. "I don't think you'll have to worry too much about them; it's my son's team. We simply outgrew this one lab, and so we split off the research. He's in the lab next to us, and we still do all of our reports and meetings together. I'll talk to him about this. He's actually ready for the testing, so I might need him to help get the Sharks built and ready!"

––––––––

P
hoenix Base

Transient Officer’s Quarters