Guardian Stone 1: Stone Genesis (8 page)

Station 1 in Earth Orbit –

September 12 – C Day 13

"Hank, do you remember asking me to marry you in second grade?"

"What, you're kidding, no you are not, are you?".

Then she sent him a mental image of that event and it all came back to him. "That was you!" he went on. "That is amazing. I remember that the other kids were picking on you for something dumb and I did not like what they were saying and doing, so I went to your defense. I suspect it was probably the result of your telepathic talent, but I was confortable with you and it seems you with me. I am happy it has come to this."

"Since that day we have had a link. It was there but weak. After Kajaki it faded a bit but would occasionally strengthen a bit and then go very toned down again. It was frustrating. I was truly surprised the day I opened the door at Dad's and there you were. It was like suddenly someone turned on all the lights and you were clear as a bell. I was stunned that you just suddenly appeared to all my senses. I hope you stay there."

"I intend to, that was when Barana removed all the blocks. I had been frustrated because I did not know how to begin to find you and you had me well and firmly hooked and then suddenly you were there. That has to be one of my all-time best moments. Barana was trying to assure that my telepathic talent matured properly and was surreptitiously training it."

"Sam, how would you like to see the rings of Saturn and be back in time for dinner?"

"I would love to but how are we going to do that?"

"Well it seems that the training Barana has crammed into my head includes piloting the shuttles and warships of this station. It turns out that Saturn is on this side of the Sun and that means a fairly uncomplicated trip out and back. Beside the handling of the shuttle is pretty much automated and Barana will be accessible if we have any challenges. I have not been out to see them yet but I hear they are spectacular. Most of all, I can't think of anyone I would want to see them with except you. The shuttles are fairly roomy and the view plate is transparent Herculenium. It is a real sightseers dream. There are more than a few of them available for use. There is a decent supply of food on board and even a shower." He said with a big grin.

"I am beginning to think you have a one-track mind, but I'm not complaining. What are we waiting for."

The trip was as advertised, spectacular.

Near Quantico, Virginia –

September 21 - C Day 22

The honeymoon was completed and both thought it was too short. Every one of his advisors was in some stage of the enhancement process and he was missing Sam already. Unfortunately the first stage of the permanent enhancement process required a full, uninterrupted week in the medical/learning machine and Sam had 3 days to go. Bill Wall, Joann Wall, Josh Adams and Rose Adams had finished the installation phase and were continuing nightly with the training regimen that had been suggested to them. Josh was already working on an organizational structure that looked very good. Completion was expected in another two weeks. They were also spending time in the training area to get acclimated with their enhancements. George and Miriam still had another day to go because they had to delay their start. Hank decided to start working the list provided to him by Barana of others who had been considered candidates for the position he now held. The one person he most admired on the list was General Joseph Carson, USMC Retired. The General was 68 years old but had the respect of all that knew of him and his career. He lived in a fairly nice brick colonial style house not far from Quantico, Virginia where he was known to have a cup of coffee with old friends and chat about the old days. General Carson had not met with his friends for some months because his wife of some 43 years, June, had terminal cancer and only had a few months to live. Hank knew the Station could help her but he had to convince the General before he could balk. Hank decided to wear his new dress blues under a civilian trench coat. He asked Barana to transport him to the General's door when no one was observing. He rang the doorbell and waited. The general answered the door and said, "Yes, can I help you?"

"Sir, I wonder if I might have a few minutes of your time."

"I'm sorry son, but,… wait a minute, don't I know you?"

"We have not met previously but my name is Henry P. Stone and…"

"Jumpin' Jehosephat, get in here, come in, come in. I wanted to come to your award ceremony, but had a problem with the base in Okinawa that I had to attend to. I wanted so to shake your hand but could not and now you are here and I can. I am rambling like an old fart. Can't believe you are here but by God you are. What can I do for you lad. Excuse me for being this excited. Feel like someone just threw a bucket of cold water in my face. This is a genuine pleasure. Take your coat off and sit for a spell. By heaven this is wonderful."

"General, I have come to ask for some help but first there is something I wish to do for you, but believing will be difficult. So I am going to demonstrate something and I assure you that this is no trick. Would you humor me for a minute? Do you remember Colonel Josh Adams?"

"Certainly I do. Been trying to get hold of him. Dang fool was up for his star and he ups and retires. He would have gone the whole way too. Would like to know what got into him." said Carson.

"I'm afraid, I am the guilty party," said Hank as he took off his coat and continued, "Barana, please transport Josh here." With that Josh appeared in his dress blues with ribbons. Hank said, "This is as good a time as any for him to tell you himself, but first do you recall Master Gunnery Sergeant William Wall?"

Carson did not appear to be unduly fazed by Josh's sudden appearance, replied, "of course I do, best damn Gunny in the Corps and he ups and retires too. I suppose you are going to pull him out of your hat as well."

Hank chuckled and said, "Yes sir, I am, Barana, please." And with that Billy also appeared and came to attention. Hank said, "at ease Sergeant."

The General looked hard at the uniforms and said, "I do not know those uniforms, would you please tell me what they are. It looks like a Marine Corps emblem but that is not a globe I am seeing. What gives? What is this all about?"

"Good question sir, we are now Antoran Fleet Space Marines. Josh and I are the senior officers of the Fleet and Bill is Command Sergeant Major. We are here to ask for your help.  But first we have a gift for you that I hope you will accept it because there are no strings attached to it other than to hear us out."

Carson said, "I was going to do that anyway because the little appearing act these two just pulled got my attention and I am not quite senile yet. I know of no technology that can accomplish what I just saw demonstrated and I admit to strong curiosity. Unfortunately, my wife is pretty ill and I can't leave her just now."

"Excuse me sir, but that is the gift we would like to give you. The station we are on has a technology base thousands of years ahead of that of Earth and that cancer can be cured, in a week your wife will be up exercising and in two she will again be beating your butt at golf. We can transport the both of you to the station in the same manner as Josh and Billy used to come here.  After she is well and you both have had a chance to discuss our offer you can decide together if you would like to take on what we have in mind. She is a great lady sir, do you think she would like another shot at living? We can fix this Sir."

The General walked to a curtain in back of them and pulled it aside to see his wife resting in a hospital bed but alert and attentive. Hank had sensed that she was there at the start of the conversation. The General said, "Lets ask her. Dear, these men appear a bit unusual literally and figuratively but I know them and their reputations, they are not known as liars. Do you want to give this a shot, more importantly, do you think you can stand some more time with me?" 

"Of course I can you old reprobate, I was worried about who was going to look after you when I skipped town. How soon can we get started?"

The General turned to face Hank with tears in his eyes and said "Thank you lad, we are ready when you are."

Hank said to the General's wife, "be assured ma'am that there is no discomfort in this mode of travel. The treatment is not intrusive, no needles, no wires and attachments, no pain, no ill effects. Likely you won't know you are even being treated. I am told you will sleep through most of this and when you wake up, you will feel refreshed. Are you ready to go?" She nodded agreement. "Oh, one more thing, the device that will be treating you also has a teaching function, is there anything you would like to learn during that time."

"Always did want to learn to play the piano."

"Barana, five to transport to the station, one in a hospital bed in need of treatment who also wants to learn to play the piano. Can we also put a baby Grand in the apartment for when she wakes up."

<
I like this lady, chief, and will take special care of her.
>

In the blink of an eye, they were on the station. The location was the apartment they were to occupy while on station. Hank said, "General," but was interrupted by the General who said, "Lad, you have just given me all the Christmas presents I have ever had rolled into one package, and are now my friend for life. My friends call me Joe."

"Joe, it looks like I have another gift for you, Barana tells me that on the transfer here she detected anomalies with your heart that can be resolved in a few days with equipment similar to that your wife is now using if you are willing. Is there anything you would like to learn while the repairs are underway."

"Well," said Joe, "She is set on learning the piano so it might be fun to learn the guitar so I can accompany her."

"When you wake up we will explain everything."

"OK, I will hold you to that and I have a feeling that it is on the order of 'something nasty comes this way,' am I correct."

Hank replied, "got it in one, sir."

"With you wearing five stars, I should be the one saying sir to you."

"Age before beauty Joe, age before beauty" Hank replied with a big grin. "I think there will be others here that you know but we will wait until you are clanking along on all treads before we get into that. I will check in with you tomorrow to make sure all is going well. Meanwhile there will be a nurse here to get things started and help as needed."

Joe said, "I think I am really going to enjoy this relationship."

Near Cherry Point, North Carolina –

September 21 – C Day 22

Hank went back to his list feeling very good about the outcome of their visit to the Quantico area. He made a mental note to himself to check and see if Joe had latent telepathic abilities. His reaction to some of the things that had transpired this day suggested he might. In any event, he felt certain that they would come on board and that would be a great addition.

He knew several of the persons on the list, and many of them would be fairly direct. One caught his eye immediately because he knew him from after his brevetting to Lieutenant. He was a Marine flyboy, Lt. Colonel Albert "Hardrock" Williams, who was flying Tomcats but was about to be moved up to the latest in the USMC inventory, the F35. If it had wings, Hardrock had probably flown it. He knew from Barana that Hardrock was currently stationed at Cherry Point as part of a program to train third year midshipmen from the Naval Academy and that he enjoyed going to a little Japanese restaurant once or twice a week that was located a few miles from the base. He arranged with Barana to arrive at the restaurant at the same time and have an "accidental" reunion with him.  They reached the door simultaneously with Hardrock reaching to open the door. In doing so he looked up and recognized Hank and said, "Gunny Hank?"

Hank feigned surprise and said, "Hardrock, is that you, I'll be hanged. Man it is good to see you, are you here by yourself?" Hardrock nodded affirmative. Hank went on, "well we can't have you sitting by yourself, come join me, dinner is on me, besides as I recall I owe you one."

Hardrock grinned and said, "you are on, but be warned, in spite of this trim torso you see before you, I eat like a platoon of recruits." "Cool," said Hank. 

The restaurant was pretty much empty due to the fact that there was an event nearby that was drawing off the usual Saturday night crowd. After they were seated and they had ordered their food, Hank said, "well man, what is new with you." Hardrock responded by showing him his ring finger with a wedding band showing and said "tied the knot with Sharon. Tried to get in touch with you to give you an invite but couldn't reach you. And here you show up in the last place I would have expected."

"Wow, its about time, when did this happen?"

Hardrock said, "two weeks ago on the 6
th
." Hank was stunned and sent a thought to Barana, <
Barana, watch over this lady, can you locate her?
>

<
Yes and I am on it.
>

Hank went on and said to Hardrock while displaying his own wedding ring, "Care to guess why you couldn't reach me?"

Hardrock's jaw dropped, "you are smokin' me. You're not kidding?"

"Nope."

"You rarely gave the ladies a second look unless they were blondes with short hair in ringlets. Who is she?" Hank told him about her, that she was a blonde lady with short hair in ringlets and that he went to her father’s house to discuss some business and there she was. So they continued their dinner discussing their wives.

After they finished dinner and were leaving the restaurant, Hank asked Hardrock, "Could I bum a ride back to civilization with you."

"Sure."

When they were in the car and Hardrock was fiddling with the keys, Barana thought to Hank, <
we have a problem, Sharon's plane just took a missile from a terrorist. The plane went up in a ball of flame but I transported her out unharmed. She is with Josh and Billy right now and they are explaining what is going on. The Navy is concluding that she was killed in the incident and is not finding much debris. You need to get up here pretty soon.
>

Hank held up an index finger to signal for Hardrock to wait one. Hardrock said "are you ok, you look like you have seen a ghost."

"Dang, Hardrock do not start the car. I just received a message and it sure as the devil complicates things."

"A message, how?"

"Barana, can anyone see this car?"

<
No, and there are no security cameras.
>

"Ok, Hardrock hold onto your hat and don't be too overwhelmed by what you see next, Barana, transport us and the car to the ready warship flight deck with lights full up."

<
Roger that.
>

On arrival Hank opened his door and said to Hardrock, "Come on Hardrock, snap out of the daze, its real, let me show you a few things."

"Good Lord, what are those things? What is going on? Where the starch are we anyway? Uh, OK, I'll shut up and let you fill me in."

Hank grinned and said, "Smart man. Those are Antoran Warships. There are 144 of them in this bay and 20,000 on board. Each ship is 300' in diameter and 900' long."

"Are we being invaded?"

"Not by these. These ships are here for the protection of Earth and a few other places."

"OK, the $64 question is where are we, how did we get here and why am I here?"

"Good questions all. You are on Antoran Starship/Station One that is currently in orbit about 1,000 miles over Juneau, Alaska. We were teleported here at my request. We are here to see your wife."

"Say what?"

"You knew she was on duty today. She was flying a patrol just off the coast of Virginia when a terrorist with a missile blew her bird out of the air. The missile was overkill and blew the plane into a kazillion pieces. Fortunately, I had her plane under watch and Barana extracted her before any injury could occur and did not have any options to consider other than immediate extraction. We know where the terrorist who fired the weapon is located and have him under surveillance. When we have what we need on this turkey, the Feds will nail him through an anonymous tip. We want to know how big that iceberg is before we break it up. We did not have a lot of choice about the extraction but it is a major complication."

"We are on the way to see her now. She is with some friends that you know. They are briefing her as we take the slow route. Lets move over to the express walkway while we are talking. This bay is ten miles long. At the end of the bay we will transfer to a four-person carrier for the next 145 miles and then the carrier will take us down to the base of the Habitat area."

"Oh, don't worry about your car, sometime tonight when all your neighbors are asleep, Barana will transport it down and put it in your driveway. When we get to the Habitat area, we will use the teleport system to take us to your wife. You were on my list to attempt to recruit but this attempt on your wife was totally unexpected. Our meeting this evening was a deliberate act on my part. Sorry for being devious but I really am glad to see you. I was trying to figure how to introduce this idea to you. You blew me out of the water with the news of your marriage. I sent a message to Barana to watch over Sharon, thank God." Hank then filled Hardrock in on the Glarin and what was going on and what they felt would be a good role for him. He explained the attitude about keeping families together. With that they arrived at the base of the habitat and they transported to Sharon's location.

Hardrock and Sharon went out on the balcony for a few minutes of semi-privacy. Inside the Great Room, Hank, Alex and Mary Stone, Josh and Rosie Adams, and Bill and Joann Wall were discussing the event. Josh said, "Hank, that attempt at recruiting was one of the most fortuitous events it has been my pleasure to observe. How do these things keep happening to you."

"I do not know Josh, but I heartily hope and pray that they continue to do so. I would very much like to have these two as wing commanders. They are both hot pilots, are good commanders and mentally sharp. They both are quick to learn. I hope we can entice them aboard. You should have seen Hardrock's face when he saw the Warship Bay. I think he was hooked then and there. How is Sharon adjusting to the close call?"

Josh said, "Really well, a little shook because that thing came out of nowhere. Barana had little time to react. She was going to do a forced ejection but the missile was too close and so big it would likely have killed her anyway. What prompted you to post that alert anyway, I'm curious."

"I have known these two since shortly after Kajaki. When Hardrock told me he had finally tied the knot and on the same day as Sam and I, I had a queasy feeling so I acted on it and asked Barana to watch over her. That was truly serendipity." About that time, Hardrock and Sharon walked into the Great Room from the balcony.

Sharon immediately went to Hank and gave him a big hug saying, "Thank you for saving my life. That was one very strange experience. I thought I was a goner. But this is amazing. I never dreamed I would see anything like this. Josh has explained what is going on and the both of us want to be part of it. Is that possible."

The others looked at each other with surprised looks on their faces and then almost in unison started laughing. When that subsided, Joann explained the outburst. Then Hank stood and addressed the two of them, "I can only say, welcome aboard, sincerely, I am happy you are both here. We have some work to do transitioning Hardrock to the station, but these quarters we are in will be yours. For now, until we get this straight, Barana will transport you back and forth between here and your house. Hardrock, you are going to have a difficult bit of acting to do for a while. The training will start right away. When you have seven days that you can be away we can get you started on your enhancement package. Sgt. Major, do you mind doing the briefing. Hardrock, you don't have to report back to base until Monday morning so we should be able to give you a pretty complete picture by then. I want you two to learn those warships backwards and forwards. My goal is to have you each commanding a Wing by the end of November. This Station has two wings. A Wing is 10,000 warships and each has a minimum crew of 24."

"We need to recruit more wing commanders and group commanders, there are 4 groups in a wing, so if you know of a decent candidate, let us know and that means any nationality. We have a candidate on board who is likely to be your CO if he agrees to the job, and I think he will. I'll let you know as soon as he agrees. Initially your crews will be all Antoran. They do not man the guns and that will be explained. Your pilot, navigator, engineer, medic and non-combatant positions will likely be Antoran. The commander, exec, targeting, gunnery positions will not be. The latter are the positions we need to fill and soon. I want two Wings operational by the end of next year. We do have a few suitable persons on station for ship commander and some for Bay commanders. We are recruiting now and at some point it will go more public."

Hardrock said, "Man, you command this whole station, that is something."

Hank smiled and said, "Technically that is not quite correct. You see, there are 19 more stations that are slightly smaller than this one and 80 more that are a slightly smaller yet version and I command the lot."