“My Ba’al, you sent for me?”
The reptilian commander entered the chamber where his overlord was standing on the dais staring down at him. He bowed as low as his ponderous form would allow.
“Indeed,” she said as her eyes bored into him. The Other remained silent for a moment as she scrutinized her scale-encrusted underling. “You assured me of success. Yet you failed to capture the human female called Vickers. The pilot you sent to destroy the Bird Frightener has been defeated, and now my agents inform me that the human’s Solar Warden fleet and ground forces have decimated your assault force at Mars.” Her eyes narrowed. A black malevolence filled the chamber as she morphed into a hideous demonic form while inky darkness hissed and swirled around her.
“My Ba’al,” the reptilian commander could barely speak for the terror that coursed through his entire being. “… I … I explained why we could not acquire the oo-mannn fee-male, but our tests with the implant and the transporter were successful. My pilot was close to destroying the Bird Frightener when others came to his aid. And our assault force at Mars may have been defeated, but our operative is setting his trap as we speak.” He knew his explanation was thin, but he hoped it would be enough to spare him an agonizing death.
The Other remained silent as she loomed over her subordinate, struggling to keep her fury in check.
“… I will defer your punishment until later.”
The reptilian commander held his breath. He knew he wasn’t safe yet.
“I will countenance no more failure!” the Other’s voice rumbled off the walls of the large chamber as she roared her displeasure. “The humans are nothing more than pests! Vermin! You will take the command ship. You will decimate Solar Warden. All of it. Then you will move on Earth. But before you occupy Earth, you will bring me the head of the Bird Frightener.”
“But my Ba’al, if we destroy Solar Warden, then how am I to find the Bird-Fr–”
“If you fail to do so, I will take your head in its place!”
Her hideous form rose up to its full height, her twisted horns almost scraping the overhead, her taloned hands reaching towards the reptilian commander as he fell to the floor in obeisance. An unseen force emanating from her hand tightened around the reptilian commander’s throat. He squirmed and struggled to breathe as the other snarled in anger.
“I will accept no more failures or delays!”
She released him and he fell, sprawling on the deck coughing as his breathing resumed.
“My Ba’al. I obey,” the big reptilian said through his hacking and wheezing. “I will not fail you …”
“We shall see. Have you dispatched the orb?”
“Yes, my Ba’al. It was destroyed, but not before it tagged the oo-mann.”
“Very well. Now leave me, before I have a change of heart and take your head now!”
She relaxed, her dark form melting back to the beautiful blue Nordic while the inky darkness retreated. The reptilian commander struggled to his feet, turned and lumbered out of the chamber. He didn’t dare to relax.
Two days later, the doctor released Cooper. As she and Scarecrow left sick bay, a Marine corporal approached them and saluted.
“Excuse me Major, I’m glad I caught you before you left. General Patrick wishes to see you, Ma’am. I’ve been ordered to escort you to his office.”
“What’s this about, Corporal?” Scarecrow asked as his brow knit.
“Sir, the General wishes to de-brief Major Cooper before she returns to Nautilus.”
“It’s okay,” Sandy said as she smiled. “I’ll be along as soon as I’m finished.”
At that moment, Scarecrow’s comm clicked.
“Nautilus Flight Control to Commander Richardson. Come in, Scarecrow, over.”
“Just a second, Major,” Scarecrow interrupted her as he touched his comm tattoo. “This is Commander Richardson. Go ahead Flight, over.”
“Commander, you’re ordered to return to Nautilus immediately. Admiral Reynolds requests you meet with him ASAP. If Major Cooper is with you, inform her that the admiral wishes to speak to her as well, over.”
“Roger that, Flight. The Major has been ordered to de-brief with General Patrick. She’ll return to Nautilus as soon as she’s finished. I’m on my way now, out.” He tapped his comm again, closing the transmission as he looked back at Cooper.
“Sorry, Sweeting,” he said. “The admiral wants us both aboard Nautilus, pronto. I’ll see you when you’re done here.”
“Hey, if we get a chance, we need to get the admiral to give us another date for our wedding,” Cooper said. “And we need to make sure it’s sooner rather than later. I want to hurry up and get married before we get interrupted by another invasion.”
Scarecrow entered the rear admiral’s office, stood to attention and saluted. “Reporting as ordered, Sir,” Scarecrow said.
“As you were,” Reynolds replied without returning his salute. He sat behind his desk staring at the ghostly monitor of his tablet, while Hutch was seated on the rear admiral’s leather sofa.
“So Admiral, what’s up?” Hutch questioned as he turned to face Reynolds. “You wanted to see both of us? It sounded urgent.”
The rear admiral’s face morphed from jubilation to concern. He stared at his pilots, hesitating before he began.
“The White Whale is back,” he said as he broke the heavy silence. Scarecrow and Hutch turned and stared at each other with shock and concern.
“Wow, Sir,” Hutch said. “Two sightings in two weeks. That’s got to be a record.”
“There’s more.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Scarecrow said with an ominous tone. “What happened, Admiral?”
Reynolds paused once more, trying to soften the blow that was about to land like a bomb on his pilots. “Deep Space Platform Five is gone. Completely destroyed.”
Hutch leaned back onto the sofa, his face betraying his disbelief. “When?” He looked up at Reynolds.
“Yesterday. Command didn’t want to say anything until now, because we had to confirm the White Whale hadn’t simply snatched it away. It’s certainly big enough to do so. Platform Five sent a flash traffic message, declaring that they were under attack and identifying the White Whale as the aggressor. Destrier responded, but when she arrived, all she found was debris. Not very much, but the Platform was definitely destroyed.
“How many souls lost?” Scarecrow had to know.
“The Platform can house 10,000.”
Scarecrow let out a whistle at the number.
“It was only manned by 6,000 personnel. Also, the Marine Company stationed there hadn’t returned yet, so only 5,500. Either abducted or killed.”
“Let’s hope the latter,” Scarecrow said. “I shudder to think what they would suffer, based on how messed up Lieutenant Vickers was when I found her on that BCMS.
“What are we going to do about this White Whale? A giant mother ship that’s 14 miles across? That’s a whole new level of threat. That’s way out of our league.”
“I agree. We certainly can’t go toe to toe with it. And your telemetry from the Wolf system didn’t provide us with enough intel to assess its full capabilities. I’m at a loss to suggest how we engage it. That’s why I called both of you. We need to put our heads together and come up with a plan.”
“We could use it, Admiral,” Hutch said, his voice hesitant.
“I really don’t think I could sell that to Command, Al,” Reynolds replied with a shake his head.
“Use what?” Scarecrow asked, looking back and forth at his fellow officers. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Reynolds hesitated, casting a mild glare at his CAG. It was almost as if he didn’t want to reveal the nature of what Hutch was referring to, for fear that it might form a vortex in their midst and swallow them up.
“What the CAG is alluding to,” Reynolds said, “is a forbidden subject in the Solar Warden Program, and for very good reasons. You shouldn’t have mentioned it, Al.”
“I still don’t know what we’re talking about, and why it’s so taboo.” Scarecrow was impatient for an answer. “Gentlemen, please. You know how much I hate secrets.” He stared at Reynolds, concerned at the expression on the rear admiral’s face. “Sir, I’ve never seen you like this before. You’re usually the even keel. We all look to you to maintain our moorings, if you’ll pardon the navy parlance. What is it that has you so visibly shaken?”
“Might as well tell him,” Hutch said. “He’ll find out sooner or later.”
“Yes, please. Tell me.” Scarecrow replied.
Reynolds released a heavy sigh. “Steve … we’ve conquered time travel.”
Scarecrow stared back and forth at his two friends with an incredulous gaze for a moment, then he broke into a broad smile, followed by a slight, disbelieving chuckle, which grew before he finally responded, “This is a joke, right? You guys are joking. You–you’re just yanking my chain. Tell me this is a joke. A really bad joke.”
“It’s no joke, Commander.”
“Okay, wait a second. I can buy that you’ve got anti-gravity and ray guns, and transporters, and there’s aliens and everything, but now you’re telling me that you can actually travel through time? Sorry, gentlemen, but I’ve got to draw the line somewhere.”
“It’s actually an extension of the transporter. The wormhole technology we use in the transporter systems not only allows us to traverse vast distances across space in an instant, it also allows us to transport through time. Both future and past.”
“Tell me, is there anything you can’t do?” Scarecrow frowned in disbelief. “Permission to sit down, Admiral.”
“Granted.” Reynolds smiled at Scarecrow’s request. Scarecrow flopped back onto the sofa beside Hutch, then leaned forward and dropped his head into his hands as Reynolds continued.
“However, while we may have broken the time barrier, we’ve adhered to the old axiom, ‘just because we can do a thing, it doesn’t mean that we should do it.’ With the exception of those who train on the transporter systems, only senior officers are made aware of this technology.
“Early in our research and testing, we realized the awful consequences of tinkering with such potentially volatile technology. So, even though we still retain the means to travel through time, it was decided that we would never utilize it. It’s one of our most fundamental laws. The very fact that Hutch brought it up could be grounds for disciplinary action.”
“But Sir, it’s a win-win,” Hutch said as he pressed his point. “Thanks to Steve’s telemetry, we have a position. We know exactly where the White Whale is going to be, and exactly when it will be there. Their shields were down at the time, and we could transport an explosive device right into the center of Moby Dick’s black heart and take him out with one fell-swoop, just like we did with the enemy fleet over Mars. And the icing on the cake is, we could prevent the loss of 5,500 souls, not to mention an entire deep space platform.”
“Hutch, you know as well as I do, Command would never countermand their own directive. And we have that directive for a very good reason.”
“Is it a better reason than losing almost 6,000 lives? Just this once–”
“It’s a Pandora’s Box, Al and you know it. We say ‘just this once,’ and ‘never again,’ until the next time. And the next time, and the next, and the next, and so on, and so on, ad infinitum, ad nauseam. There will always be a good enough reason in someone’s mind to justify using it. Pretty soon we’re messing around with our own past and future until something happens accidentally, and we all cease to exist. Once we open that door, there’s no closing it. We can’t do it.”
“Can’t you at least propose it?” Scarecrow asked.
“And risk losing my command? No thank you,” Reynolds said as he eyed his pilots with a severe bearing. “I’m sorry gentlemen, but I’m afraid this discussion is over.”
“If we really can travel through time, then it sounds like it may be worth the risks. We could prevent the loss of so many lives, and rid ourselves of a mortal threat once and for all. Isn’t that worth a little risk?”
“But that’s the point. It’s not just a little risk. In the early days of the Program, our greatest minds were testing the technology, and they inadvertently created a problem that could have caused catastrophic results. Thankfully, they were able to correct their problem and avert a major disaster, but barely. Hutch is aware of all this, so I’m surprised he’s even brought the subject up,” Reynolds stared at his CAG as he spoke. “The answer is ‘no.’ It’s just too great a risk.”