Omega Force: Savage Homecoming (28 page)

“You sure this is a good idea?” Crusher asked Jason as Lucky walked up to join them in the cargo bay. “You saw they have a lot of weaponry hidden out of sight.”

“I did,” Jason said. “But I don’t think they’d be so dumb to try and use it.” Crusher looked unconvinced as Jason lowered the ramp and opened the pressure doors. The acrid desert air assaulted them as the trio strode down the ramp and onto the hard-packed dirt. The rear guns on each side of the cargo bay opening deployed as they moved out and away from the ship. The
Phoenix
hadn’t extended her landing gear and instead was hovering fifteen feet in the air, using the grav-drive.

Jason stopped and waited as a pair of humans climbed out of a tan Humvee and approached them.

“I see you got our message,” an Air Force colonel with the name “Jackson” on his name tag said as he approached.

“And I see you got our answer,” Jason said, “since here you are in the beautiful Mohave
desert. So what can I do for you, Colonel?”

“The President thought it might be good for us to have a face-to-face, to get a dialogue started, as it were,” Colonel Jackson began. His first lieutenant stood silently behind him. “We’d like to come to terms.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” Jason said. “Terms for what?”

“Terms for you relinquishing control of this vessel to the United States government, Sergeant Burke.”

“Oh, I thought this was a serious meeting,” Jason laughed in the colonel’s face. “And it’s Captain Burke, by the way.”

“I wasn’t aware you’d gotten a commission,” the lieutenant spoke up.

“Field commission,” Jason said blandly.
“CIA? NSA? You sure as hell aren’t a lieutenant, speaking out of turn in front of a full bird. Let me make this easy for you gentlemen … you’re not getting my ship. After this waste of time I’m climbing back into it and we’re flying out of here, and chances are I’ll never return.”

“Son, you seriously think you have the right to just leave with a piece of hardware like that? What about your country? Would you really turn your back on the millions of Americans that ship could protect?” the colonel asked, trying a different tactic.

“I’m not your son, Jackson,” Jason said, dropping all pretenses at humoring the officer. “By what right do you think you can take it from me? What would you do with it, Colonel? Strip her down to her base components and use the technology to usher in a utopia for all the world? Or would you use it as a bludgeon to keep all the other nations in line while not sharing any of her secrets? I’ll be perfectly clear about this: you are never getting your hands on this ship. Got it?”

“You think we can’t take it by force?” the lieutenant” asked. Jason laughed while Crusher snarled, making both officers jump back a step.

“Are you seriously so stupid?” Jason asked, still laughing. “After all you’ve seen the last few months, you think a few up-armored Humvees and a buried M1 Abrams are enough to capture this ship? Yes … we know about all your toys you hid in the dirt out there. Well, this has been about as useful as I thought it would be. Tell the President I said good luck reverse-engineering the ship I left him in the Potomac.” With that, he turned and walked back up into the ship with the crew in tow. Once the ramp closed, the
Phoenix
lifted into the air and accelerated into the night sky.

“That was a spectacular waste of time,” Colonel Jackson said sourly.

“It’s what we expected from Burke,” the “lieutenant” answered. “He’s never been a team player, according to his enlisted performance reports, and waving the flag in his face or threatening him wasn’t going to do anything but piss him off.”

“So that’s it? You’re just going to wave as he flies off into the distance doing God knows what?”

“It’s above your pay grade, Colonel. But don’t worry, we may be able to lure the sergeant back soon enough.”

T
hank you for reading
Omega Force: Savage Homecoming.

If you enjoyed the story Captain Burke and the guys will be back in:

Omega Force: The Enemy Within

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