Atlantis Rising (9 page)

{
Thank you, Anders out.
}

Oojoung paced while he thought
about what he was going to say. Things weren’t going the way they should. The
hoomans had brought more people and supplies to the base. He moaned as he
thought about what Prasuh would do. The fleet would be here in less than two
hours. He absently tapped the control circuit that was still in his pouch.

He stopped pacing and sat down in
front of the communication screen. He tapped several buttons and called Prasuh.

“Report,” Prasuh said.

“Great Master,” Oojoung took a
deep breath as he spoke.

“Well, what? Out with it, you
sniveling little thing!” Prasuh growled.

“The hoomans bring more hoomans,”
Oojoung said quickly.

Prasuh’s face reddened, “WHAT!
How many?”

Oojoung sighed as he spoke, “Many
hoomans. A hundred, more maybe.” Oojoung stopped calling him Great Master, he
was tired of his slavery, and if he got out of this, he was going to disappear.

“Have they got the shields or
weapons online?” Prasuh asked.

Oojoung nodded, “Hoomans fix
shield things, but Oojoung outsmart hoomans and make many breakings to
weapons.”

“Well, at least there is that. We
were going to demand their surrender. However, this changes that plan. We will
just have to crush them as fast as possible. You are sure they haven’t gotten
the weapons online?” Prasuh said.

Oojoung nodded, “Yes, Oojoung
sure.”

“Make sure they don’t. We’re
going to need something to home onto. I want you to turn your stealth beacon
on,” Prasuh said.

Oojoung nodded, he knew what that
meant, death.

“Don’t fail me,” Prasuh said as
he faded out.

Oojoung sighed as he reached up
and flipped the beacon on his small ship, and then sat back to await the hand
that the fates had dealt him.

“Oojoung no want die,” Oojoung
said to himself.

He pulled the circuit out of his
pouch, and turned it over in his hand.

“Oojoung no die,” Oojoung said.

He stood up with a look of
determination on his face.

Oojoung stepped up into the
cockpit of his ship and tapped on some buttons. He then turned, grabbed a few
things and stepped back through the hole. He set his few belongings down on the
deck, and turned back. He hit two buttons on the door panel, and quickly
exited.

The pressure door on the portable
docking ring closed, as he stepped back into the base.

‘Autopilot engaged, undocking.
Detaching from docking ring,’ a computer voice said through the watch on his
wrist.

A dull thump issued through the
wall, as his ship detached.

‘Warning, hull breech… Warning
hu…’ the computer suddenly became silent.

“No, no, no! Oojoung stupid! No
close door on ship! Now ship dead,” Oojoung moaned.

He was right. His ship was laying
ten feet from where it had detached from the side of the base. Inside of it,
the beacon continued to put out a steady pulse.

“Oojoung must fix breakings. So
Oojoung can live,” Oojoung said.

He engaged his cloak and headed
towards engineering. Oojoung just hoped he would be in time. The trip was very
slow, even with all the shortcuts, because he couldn’t take a chance of someone
catching him.

Two hours later, Jon and everyone
in Command observed the massive ships settle into orbit. Jon watched as one of
the battleships settled right over the base. He looked up at Atlanta and she
shook her head.

By the time, the Earth responded
to the ships coming in, it was too late. They tried communicating, and the
battleship sitting above the eastern seaboard of America shot a single gun
decimating Washington D.C. The response was automatic. America launched its
missiles along with China and Russia. The nuclear warheads detonated harmlessly
against the shields of the massive ships.

The ships started to rain terror
down on the countries responsible for launching the missiles. In seconds,
Moscow, Hong Kong, New York and countless other cities ceased to exist. No one
else launched any missiles, or attempted any communication of any sort.

“Commander,” Communications said.

“Yes, Ensign,” Jon said. He
looked over at the young female sitting at the console.

“I have an incoming communication
from one of the ships,” she said.

Jon looked at Carla, Terri and
Bill. Brad and Mike were in Engineering, Andie in Medical and Marc was
preparing for war.

“Can’t hurt,” Carla said.

Terri and Bill nodded.

Jon looked at Atlanta, “What do
you think?”

“I think either way, were going
to be attacked. I think they’re going to demand you surrender the base, which
you can’t do. They will offer to cease firing on Earth if you do, and then they
will go back on their word, and enslave your race,” Atlanta said. “Right now,
they’re guessing where we are. You open that communication, and they will know
where we are.”

“Ignore it, Ensign,” Jon said.
“Engineering what is the status of the weapons batteries?”

“No change, Sir. We still haven’t
been able to figure out where the problem is located,” the Ensign said.

“Keep on it, we need those
batteries,” Jon said.

Another beam came from one of the
ships and vaporized Dallas as another beam hit Paris, France.

Suddenly the base shook as a beam
hit a hundred yards from them. The lights in Command dimmed and took on a
reddish glow as the base went into alert status.

“Point of impact, one hundred
yards east,” Engineering reported.

“I think they know where we are,”
Jon said.

The base shook again.

“Direct hit, shields holding at
80%,” Engineering reported.

“Sir, they are still requesting
to speak to you,” Communications said.

“We don’t have anything to lose,
now. Put them through, Lieutenant,” Jon said.

Prasuh’s face sprung up on the
main screen at the front of the room. The display showed him seated on the
bridge of his ship dressed in reddish-brown armor. He had his lower hands
resting on the arms of his chair and his upper hands fingers interlaced above
his chest.

When he saw Jon, he spoke,
“Commander Hunter.”

“I’m sorry do I know you?” Jon
said. He kept tight control of his surprise about the Invaru knowing him. He
would think later about how this being had known his name and rank.

“Cease fire on the base,” Prasuh
said. He turned his attention back to Jon, “No, I would assume you didn’t. But,
I know who you are. I know many things about you, and how you gathered your
small crew.”

“Yes, it seems you do. But, I
have no idea who you are,” Jon said. “Where I come from, it’s not polite not to
introduce yourself. So, that being said, I will speak to you once you learn
some manners. Kill the transm…”

“That Commander would be a bad
idea,” Prasuh said. He narrowed his eyes as he took in Jon and evaluated him.
It was clear he was not dealing with an ordinary person. “I’m First Consec
Prasuh Cahuc, Captain of the Marudas.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Commander
Jonathan Hunter, Commander of Atlanta Base. My friends call me Jon. You can
call me Commander or Jonathan. Now what can I do for you Consec Cahuc?”
Jonathan said.

“You have a smart mouth on you
Human,” Prasuh said.

“Which human would that be? There
are several standing here, and I can’t be sure who you’re talking too,” Jon
said.

Prasuh motioned with his left
lower arm to someone off screen, and then the base shook violently.

“Direct hit, shields holding,”
Engineering reported.

{
70% sir
} the Ensign said.

{
Roger, try to divert power to
them.
} Jon replied.

{
Already on it sir, Chief
Anspach reports he has diverted as much power as is possible.
}

“Do that again, and this discussion
is over,” Jon said. “You’re not going to take pot shots at me while I’m
speaking to you.”

“Then I suggest you curb that
smart mouth of yours. I have nothing to lose here and you have everything to
lose,” Prasuh said.

“You’re wrong,” Jon said.

“Oh?” Prasuh said.

“Yes, you have this base to lose.
I’m sure you didn’t come half way across the galaxy to destroy this base. Or,
you would have done so already,” Jon said.

“I get the base and you can walk
away or I destroy the base and enslave your people. Either way I come away with
something,” Prasuh said.

“You mean, if you get the base or
not, you enslave my people,” Jon said.

“No, I mean walk away give us the
base and you can walk away and I will leave your people in peace,” Prasuh said.

“What are you just going to rip
the base out of the ground and leave?” Jon asked.

“Something like that,” Prasuh
said.

“Why is this base so important to
you?” Jon asked. “I mean we got it, and it was run into the ground. We have
managed to get some of the systems up and running. However, we haven’t found
anything here that you shouldn’t have already.”

“We’re not interested in the base
itself, we’re more interested what it contains,” Prasuh said.

Jon glanced back at Atlanta who
just shrugged.

“No not the AI. They’re more of a
pain than a pleasure. Besides we already have those,” Prasuh said. “Once we’re
done you can even have the base back, including the AI.”

“I can just transmit you the
entire database and that will solve everything. You’ll be happy and we will be
happy you have left,” Jon said.

“Not interested in that,” Prasuh
said.

What was so important about the
base? Jon couldn’t put his finger on it, but he knew something was up.

“Somehow, I don’t think anything
I do will please you. I think even if I give you everything you want, you will
still enslave us or destroy us. I have read the Invaru history and have a
pretty good grasp on how you work. Besides, I don’t think the AI will let me do
it, even if I wanted to. I have a soft spot in my heart for beautiful women, and
just before you got here Atlanta said ‘Help me Jon you’re my only hope.’” Jon
said. “Kill the transmission.”

Just before the screen went
blank, Prasuh’s face twisted in rage.

“Do you think it was smart to
upset him?” Bill asked.

“I think there’s something he’s
not telling me. I don’t think it would have mattered. He would have taken the
base and killed us all. Then he would have enslaved Earth,” Jon said. “I need
to know what he is keeping from us.” Jon looked at Atlanta.

“Only thing on this base they
could possibly want would be the information,” Atlanta said.

The base shook as the assault
started again.

“They are targeting us with
everything they have,” Tactical reported.

“How long do we have until the
shields fail?” Jon asked.

“At this rate minutes,” Engineering
said.

“OK, order an evacu…” Jon started

‘Shield breech imminent.
Secondary protocols online,’ a bland computer voice said.

“What are secondary protocols?”
Jon asked. But Atlanta was gone. “Where did she go?”

“I don’t know! She just
disappeared,” Terri said.

Outside, the hull of the base
shuddered, and started to move. Three millennia’s worth of dust and debris slid
off the top of the base as it moved. Slowly at first, then gaining speed,
sections of the top pulled into the ground. Revealed, was a gleaming miniature
replica of the base. Slowly, the base tilted up, and slid back towards the
ground. The ground to the left and right of the standing base slid away from
each other.

Back inside, Jon felt a shift in
gravity, as he was trying to get answers to what was going on. A loud clang and
a brief shudder stopped everyone in their tracks.

‘Magnetic Coils online… Weapons
systems online… Shields online…Inertial stabilizers to maximum power…Gravity
Drives online…’ the voice said.

“Did it say weapons?” Jon asked.

“Yes, Sir! I have a green board!”
Tactical said. Then he absently muttered to himself, “A bit too many green
lights, what the hell is all this?”

‘Con stations deployed…’ the
voice said again.

The floor slid open in front of
the planning table, as two new stations rose into position. Another section of
the floor slid back on the opposite side of the planning table, and another
chair rose into position.

“Carla, Terri, man those
stations, whatever they are,” Jon said.

‘Launch sequence initiated… Plotting
exit vector…’ the voice said.

“What sequence? Atlanta where the
hell are you? Get your ass back here,” Jon yelled.