Legend of Oria 1: Initial Contact (33 page)

Ratface picked it up and examined it.  A voice came over it.  “Who’s there?”

Ratface thought it was a communications device and said into it, “This is Ratface, who’s this?”

“The device you are holding belongs to a friend of mine.”

Ratface stared at the device and said “and who might that be?”

The voice in the device said, “This device belongs to Oria.”

Ratface replied, “Yes, I know Oria, he has run into some trouble.  Is this Borella?”

“Affirmative, what do you know about my friend.”

“He has been arrested by a local sheriff on some trumped up charges of murder.”

“I see, Mr. Ratface.  After I retrieve Oria from jail, we’ll be back in touch.  You must be the person the Admiral trusted.”

Ratface said in a surprised voice “Admiral?” as he thought, “here I’m
nothing but a retired navy chief and now I’m a key friend of an Admiral.”

“That’s right.  Oria is one of the most famous Admirals in all of Azortec.”

“I see”, replied Ratface, “uh, Borella, do you need any help springing Oria?”

Borella laughed at Ratface’s question.  Sometimes these Earthlings can be quite dense.  “No, Mr. Ratface, I don’t need your help.  Either Oria or myself will contact you later.”  

Captain Borella had the ships sensors locate Oria.  They had been making limited use of the sensors to reduce the risk of the Creytes locating the Hercules.  When Borella finally located Oria, he waited until Oria was alone to beam him back on board the Hercules. 

Captain Borella quickly filled in Oria on his conversations with Ratface and the latest developments with Retilia and the Pentagon. The Creyte situation greatly complicated matters.  The Creytes looked like the good-guys while they set Oria up as nothing more than a lunatic and a common criminal. 

Oria used the ship’s CON to contact Ratface.  He had his communications officer text Ratface and waited for a returned call.

Ratface was just climbing into his hummer when the communicator vibrated again.  Ratface answered, “Hello is this Borella again.”

Oria replied “No my friend, sorry to disappoint you.”

Ratface immediately recognized Oria’s voice and replied, “It’s good to hear your voice again sir.”  Ratface felt compelled to respect Oria’s rank even though he wasn’t technically in the service anymore.

“It’s good to speak with you too Ratface.  Did you assemble a team?”

“Yes sir, there’re supposed to meet at my place tonight around 8PM.”

“Excellent, prepare them to beam aboard the Hercules around 8:30.  Explain to them that their trip will be like taking a ride on a Star Trek transporter.”

“Ok, this sounds like we are going for a wild ride.  This should be an interesting adventure.”

“More than you know Ratface.  In addition, I want to initiate you into the first Earth contingent of the Azortec Federation.  Eventually, I hope to have the U.S. military set up as a member.  Is that acceptable to you?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good.  Then Lieutenant, prepare your team for transport at 8:30PM sharp.”

“Yes sir” Ratface was sitting in his truck speechless.  He had been swearing at officers most of his military career.  Now he was one of them and he hoped that would translate to being an officer in the U.S. Military.

 
7:30 PM:  Karen starts Space Station Mission

Karen sat in the pilot seat of her space shuttle as the crew of the 7
97 transporting her ship at 50,000 ft. prepared to release the shuttle.  Normally, Karen always felt a rush at this moment.  This time was different.  She knew the General had detailed her on this mission to get her away from Oria.  She was worried about Oria and feared she might not get the opportunity to be with him again.  In addition, she was afraid the events of the last few days had hurt her career.

The 797 took a sharp dive releasing the shuttle.  At that precise moment, Karen ignited the shuttle’s engines and immediately the shuttle shot forward with the slower 797 quickly disappearing from view.   Karen gently pulled back on the stick placing the vehicle at a 10% climb rate.  It took about 10 minutes for the shuttle to reach an initial orbit at an altitude of 300 kilometers and an orbit velocity of 29,000 kilometers per hour.  The next step was to continue accelerating around Earth using Earth’s gravitational force to catapult the shuttle into a higher orbit.  It took approximately 90 minutes to make one orbit at the current speed and altitude.

The first trip around the earth seemed to take forever to Karen.  In earlier trips, the time always went fast.  Now she had a lot on her mind.  Karen was considering calling her younger brother Henry.  Henry was a very successful business attorney.  If anyone knew who to recommend helping Oria and anything implicating him, it was Henry.  Henry and Karen had always been close.  When they were kids, Karen was always looking out for Henry.  The other kids liked to pick on him directly because of his academic success and nerd-like appearance.  As Henry grew older and picked up a few years of law under his belt, he became more and more of an advisor to Karen.

Karen’s current objective was to reach the space station and bring them supplies.  The station was in an orbit at an altitude of 5,000 kilometers.  Once there, she would dock her ship to the station and spend the night.  In the morning, their plan was to unload the supplies and refuel the space station.  On her current mission plan, Karen should reach the space station at 11PM.

8:00 PM:  Ratface’s team meets at his house

Ratface’s house looked like a party was getting started as his band of warriors showed up.  The assembled team included a retired Air Force fighter pilot, a retired Navy fighter pilot, four former Seals, three retired Rangers, and two retired Marines.  Every single member of the team was a combat veteran.  It was an old bunch, and they all looked like their
physiques had seen better days.

Ratface was not releasing any information to his team.  Everyone owed Ratface in some way and trusted him implicitly with their lives.  They knew that Ratface would fill them in when the time was right.

Once everyone arrived, Ratface asked everyone to join him in his living room.

“Alright, you bunch of no-goods; it’s about time to start our party.  There’s no simple way to tell you bunch of thugs what’s in store for you.  Now, I know some of you have heard of Star Trek.”

“Oh, come on Ratface, we didn’t come here for some stupid trekie party.  What’s the real scoop?”

“I should have guessed that some of you ladies have no imagination.  I invited you guys for the ultimate Star Trek party.”

“Yeah, right, Ratface, or should we call you Sissy Face now?”

“That depends, if I told you guys what’s about to happen, you’d all faint from fear.”

“Give us a break, what are we really here for?”

“You asked for it.  Hey Mad, what time you got?”

“I got almost 8:30”

“Great, the fun soon begins.  This
little gizmo is going to vibrate and someone on the other end is going to ask if we are ready to go.  Then voila, if you bozos know anything about Star Trek, you will recognize that you’ve been beamed up onto a starship.”  As Ratface finished speaking, his communicator vibrated and Ratface spoke into it “What’s up, doc?”

Captain Borella on the other end said “What?  Is that you, Ratface?”

Ratface replied, “Who else you expecting?  I’m here with my crew, and they think I’m full of it.”

“Ok, I’m not quite sure what you mean, but, if you’re ready to be transport
ed, say so”.

“Look team, seriously, when we get to the other side, don’t freak on me.  Ok Captain, 12 to beam up”.

Captain Borella transported Ratface and his crew on board the Hercules.  When they arrived in the transport room, they froze, dumbfounded. Oria was standing nearby and walked up to Ratface, shook him, and said “Ratface.  It’s ok, it’s me, Oria.”

Ratface managed to get a few words out.  “Wow, man, this is far out.  You weren’t lying.” The recent change in events was just starting to sink into him.”

Ratface’s crew hardly even moved during the exchange between Oria and Ratface.  Ratface was able to pull his composure together, turned to his team, and said, “Ok, you bunch of bozos, snap to it, I told you that we were going on the ultimate Star Trek party.  It’s time for you men to act like men.  We got work to do!  This is Admiral Oria, chief honcho on this ship.  Are you all cool with that?”

Mat Pauly was the first one to respond, “Sure Chief, this is just a bit overwhelming.”

Oria spoke and said, “Welcome aboard, even though your trip was short, it has been disorienting.  Sorry about that, there’s no good way to put all the introductions together on a short time frame.  I’ve scheduled all of us to meet in one of our briefing rooms.  We’ll answer questions and give you some background on where you are.  Lt. Ratface will brief you with some of the activities on Earth.  That’s all. Commander Zariello, please lead these men to the briefing room.”  Oria with a nod to Ratface turned and left the transport room.

Commander Zariello while he studied the 12 men in perfect English said, “Men please follow me.”  They looked at each other, shrugged, and followed the Commander out of the transport room and down a long corridor.  After walking about 100 feet down the corridor, they stopped and waited for an elevator.  The elevator arrived and transported them to another level where the group exited.  The briefing room was only a few short feet from the elevator door.  Commander Zariello walked towards the briefing room with the doors automatically opening at his approach.  Ratface’s team quickly followed the Commander into the room and took up seats around the conference room table.

Commander Zariello started speaking once the group settled in their seats.

“Welcome aboard the Starship Hercules.  I would imagine you men have a few questions for me at this time.  Let me get started by giving you some background before answering them.  First off, only Admiral Oria is originally from Earth.  He joined the Azortec Federation over 500 years ago.  We’re here today because of him.  President Shalat of the Azortec Federation has managed to provide the Admiral with a year’s time to help Earth build a defense against a Creyte attack.  We have a video that provides you some history and a briefing on the players in our galaxy.  In a moment, I’ll provide you background on our ship, its facilities, and then run a video on the basics of living aboard a Starship such as eating, restroom facilities, etc.  Ok, are there any questions that you need answered now before we go on?”

Ratface’s team was starting to settle down and accept their current situation.  They were putting a lot of faith in Ratface and his leading them in the right direction.  Everyone listened intently as Commander Zariello spoke.  When he asked for questions, Frank Wright, one of the retired Seals, spoke first breaking the tension in their traditional way.

“Yes Commander, on the eating and drinking part, can we get some beer and chips to go with the video?”  Laughter erupted around the table.

Wright’s question stunned Zariello.  He was not expecting such a boisterous response.  Ratface seeing the shocked look on Zariello’s face responded, “Commander, please don’t let the cavalier appearance of my men fool you into think they are anything but serious.  My men typically plan missions this way.  It breaks the tension.”

Zariello replied, “Thanks, Lieutenant, it will take some getting used to for me.  So where were we, your men want food and beverages?  You can use one of those devices in the refreshment station at the back of the room.  Its programming should create most of the foods and drinks that you enjoy on Earth.  Anything else?”

The Mad Bomber chimed in at this point “Yeah boss; got any nice young ladies to attend to our needs?”  Again, boisterous laughter erupted with some of the men elbowing each other.

“The Admiral warned me about you.  I guess you can say this ship’s not full service.  You’ll just have to figure out how to attend to your own needs.”

Larry Logan, a retired Marine joined in on the fun “That’s right Mad!  Please spare us and deal with yourself somewhere else.”

There were a few more comments between Ratface’s team as they passed food and drinks around.  Once everyone finished their say, they gave the Commander their attention.

“Now that everyone is comfortable, and before you all get too drunk, let me show you the history video.  I believe you’ll find our video technology different from your own.”  Commander Zariello turned on the video system.  Instantly, a 3-D real display appeared on the table.  Everyone had the same view of the video regardless of the position around the table.  Once the history video completed, Zariello started the video on basic Starship living.

 
6:00 PM: Spec Ops Mission to Extract Oria Starts

Captain Jacobson, U.S. Army, was finishing a barbecue with his family when his beeper went off.  His wife, Shelly said, “Henry, not again, it seems like every time we get the family together, your electronic leash goes off and you’re on the way to some mission. I don’t know how much more of this I can handle.”

Henry responded “Honey, you knew when you married me what you were signing on for.  It’s not as if I have a lot of choice.  This is my job, and I have committed myself.  If I don’t respond, the Army can put me in jail!  I have to get to the phone.”