2288: The Skotadian Experiment Page 20

  “And what way was that?”

  “Like he was hiding something. Like he needed a . . .” Vaistll was saying.

  “Like he needed a drink?” Siviero asked her when she didn’t finished.

  “Yes.”

  “Whatever it is, they haven’t informed me of it yet.”

  “So just what was the purpose of your mission?”

  “What they haven’t informed you?”

  “No. I was only told to provide you with assistance.” She didn’t want to mentioned that Lenkov did not inform her because she was too busy arguing over rather or not her team is a bunch of losers.

  “You do know that this installation is taking over for the TIA starbase, don’t you?”

  “Yes of course.”

  “Do you know what the equipment is use for?”

  “Something to do with acting as the brains of the robots here?”

  “Are you familiar with the Skotadian process of decommissioning a TIA starbase?” He asked her. He didn’t know if her species, let alone her, knew the process.

  “I do and I don’t.” Vaistll responded. She never cared to learn given her age. Besides, if it was important a subordinate would inform her.

  “I know that your species never had starbases but with humans we don’t get rid of them and build a new one. That would be an absurd waste of resources. Especially given the limitations imposed upon space travel. No, what we do when we decommission starbases, very large ships, so on, is to swap out the old technology with the new.”

  “Oh. And the robots do all the hard work?”

  “Yes. But human engineers are still needed since the robots aren’t as smart as we are. Your species or mine that is.”

  “Okay, I’m starting to understand it more. So let me get this straight. The robots are still going to swap out the old technology with the new ones and the destruction of this place will prevent any disruption of that?”

  “Yes.” Siviero responded. He didn’t mind the chat but he had a long day ahead of him and he wanted to finished the conversation and get started on his day’s work.

  “So why is the TIA starbase so important?”

  “When it comes to information . . . a TIA starbase allows us to be Omniscient like that of God himself over any given world.” He said with a smile.

  “And Omnipotent over that information too?”

  “You got it.” Siviero responded with a chuckle. He then added, “Not only that but also Omnipresent with information as well.”

  “And how’s that?” She responded being stunned by the brazen act of spiritual rebellion against God. Or any god for that matter. She wasn’t surprised since her people probably would have created the same thing if they thought it up.

  “All TIA starbases has a communicational array. And given how important Golden Hyperion is, this one in particular has one that is powerful enough to communicate with the Earth and all other major Skotadian worlds.”

  “How is that possible?” She asked out of bewilderment.

  “Because each of the TIA starbases at those worlds has a QMCA.”

  “A what?”

  “Quantum Mechanical Communicational Array.”

  “Which means what?”

  “Based upon quantum weirdness concerning wave particles, combined with binary, it allows us to have instantaneous communications with those worlds.”

  “So what is its range?”

  “The universe.”

  “What do you mean ‘the universe’?”

  “I mean the entire universe. All galaxies and everything that is contain in what we call the universe. Look . . . it all goes back to quantum weirdness and binary.”

  “So how come I never heard about that? I mean . . . why do all of these ships and worlds use a form of communication with a serious time lag?”

  “It may be much smaller than a Dark Id facility, but it’s ten times more expensive. It’s the sole reason why there are so few of them.”

  “So what does it mean when the one over this world is fully operational again?”

  “Twenty-four hours from now this facility will be destroyed. A few days after that, the starbase will be fully operational. And perhaps a few days after that we can all go home. But it all hinges upon one thing.”

  “Which is?”

  “That you and your team complete their mission.” Siviero responded.

  “Ma’am, Jaguar 42R has returned with the Dragon Clones.” Trivelli informed her. He came in eight minutes after she finished her conversation with Siviero.

  “Okay. Thank you Enzo.” She responded.

  Since neither Mad Dawg nor Colonel McIntyre needed them, the Dragon Clones was sent there to provide further assistance to Task Force ZH-3C. Although Captain Dawson was killed, including all the VERM agents at the safe house, the LMPG could not be shut down because the only way to do so was at Main Laboratory: Ultra 3X. But at least they finally knew what was in Ishtar’s atmosphere—a EMP weapon that could either knock out the Hammer of Doom, or a fleet, leaving them dead in the water.

  (5)

  “What a great, grand, glorious day for us!” Dark Serpent stated with great pride and a almost arrogant joyfulness to the other Dark Core members.

  “Are you certain that Ms. Sanjo is not fully integrated into the TIA starbase?” Infernus had to ask out of disbelief.

  “If she was then surly there would be something to indicate it. They have gotten those robots to do an emergency reactivation of the starbase. So maybe within the next couple of days it should be fully operational again.” Medusa Pandora mentioned.

  “You know . . . if the sensors over here is correct than there may either be a Skotadian ship or a fleet coming here.” Inferno of Terror mentioned.

  “So what are we going to do then?” Dark Serpent asked them.

  “Let’s wait a few days. If Ms. Sanjo doesn’t wake up then chances are she never will. And let’s not forget that Captain Dawson activated the LMPG.” Infernus mentioned.

  “Agreed. Has anybody heard anything coming from Main Laboratory: Ultra 3X yet?” Medusa Pandora asked someone.

  “No. But we’ll know soon enough.” Inferno of Terror responded.

  “Then we should assume that the longer that it takes the more dire their situation. Wait until they find out what we have in store for them.” Medusa Pandora mentioned.

  “The tables are starting to turn on them. Their defeat draws near. For the prey has come to die.” Dark Serpent mentioned. And then the four of them discontinue the call with a modest amount of arrogant joyfulness at what is to come.

  (6)

  “I know what you are going to say. There are subtle clues that suggests that either she is trying to integrate herself into the computers or the robots perceive her as software that needs to be installed. Both me and Lieutenant Commander North strongly believe the second premise is the most probable reason why the TIA is not coming online.” Omori stated to Lenkov when he came to the server room to talk to her.

  “And the TIA? Can we still use it?”

  “No. It’s dead in the water so long as she’s unconscious. I’m sorry but there’s nothing that I can do. Not until she wakes up.”

  “What about getting her back out, sending her on her way, or . . .? You know?” Lenkov asked her. He didn’t want to say “to kill her.”

  “No on the first two. Yes on the third.”

  “You and/or North will figure it out.” Lenkov reassured her with a kiss on her head.

  (7)

  Task Force ZH-3C and a third of the Dragon Clones headed down to the garage in the installation and boarded some APCs. The rest of the Dragon Clones boarded transport helicopters in a separate garage. In order to get to the laboratory ASAP they had to take the freeway. Six miles (10 kilometers) before they got to Wolf Creek two Black Knight KC-144S, that was piloted by Fiends, made an attack run on the helicopters and destroyed two of them. As the wreckage landed on the freeway the motorists panicked and started to drive faster which cre
ated a pile up. Each of the helicopters had to take evasive action, so they basically scattered. When the airplanes came around, they strafe two of the helicopters killing and/or seriously wounded most of the crew except for the pilot and the gunners.

  “Time to clip their wings.” One of the pilots of the crippled transport helicopter said to the other pilot in the other helicopter. Each of the surviving crew in both helicopters then let out a war cry.

  Each of them knew there was only one way to destroy those Black Knights and they gladly accepted their fate. With their adrenaline running high they waited for those airplanes to return. As the Black Knights came about to finish off the two cripple helicopters the gunners fired at them, but to no avail. They then took evasive action when the Black Knights fired at them. Although they weren’t hit, both pilots made their helicopters act as if they were. A wounded crewman in both helicopters, set off a smoke grenade in the helicopter to further create the illusion that they were hit. As both airplanes came by, both pilots in the helicopters made a kamikaze run on the planes. One of the helicopters hit one of the airplanes and both were destroyed. The other helicopter missed when the Black Knight pilot took evasive action. One of the gunners then opened fire upon the Black Knight destroying it. The debris of the airplane hit the helicopter causing it to break in half. All of the Dragon Clones (including a few of the motorists) died as the helicopter hit the freeway.

  After the losses of the transport helicopters, two Black Scorpion PCJ-337s (Skotadian helicopter gunship), both piloted by Fiends, came to attack the APCs. Each of the gunners in the APCs had a hard time shooting at the helicopters. The pilots of both helicopters were skilled enough to avoid being hit at the same time shooting at the APCs. The drivers in the APCs had a difficult time in avoiding being hit. They had to swerve to avoid hitting the other motorists, off-and-on they would hit a motorist, vehicles would be hit by one of the gunships, and neither side could score a direct hit.

  When they got near the off-ramp to Wolf Creek, a Fiend in a park tanker truck detonated the explosives in the truck. The explosion was so massive that it destroyed a whole section of the freeway, including the off-ramp. The driver in the lead APC couldn’t stop fast enough, and so he went over the edge. The second APC stopped hard, swerved to the right, and caused the APC to roll over the edge. The third APC with Red Team in it came to a stop before it went over the edge with only the front wheels going over. The fourth APC with Blue Team in it, swerved to the right and came to a stop before it hit the third APC. All other APCs were able to stop without hitting anyone.

  As the two Black Scorpion helicopters passed the APC convoy the gunners in the APCs kept on firing. Caparzo was the only one who shot down the helicopter on the west side. As the lone surviving Black Scorpion came around to make an attack run, with the gunners in the APCs shooting non-stop, Caparzo shot it when the helicopter was facing him head on. The Fiend in the Black Scorpion struggled to keep the crippled helicopter on coarse while it was crashing. When he got to his target, which was both APCs that went over the edge, he crashed his helicopter into them destroying both APCs and killing himself and the crew of the APCs.

  “Goddamn it all to hell! They’re trying to wipe us out of existence!” Jaguar 42R said to a Dragon Clone standing near him.

  “Isn’t that obvious sir?” Brewster said.

  “What!?” Jaguar 42R angrily asked.

  “I mean, it’s it obvious that they are trying to kill all of us sir?” Brewster responded.

  “I didn’t mean all of us and all of you. I meant us, as in Dragon Clones.” Jaguar 42R corrected him.

  “Are you trying to say that you guys are the only Dragon Clones in existence?” Taylor asked.

  “Yes sir.” Jaguar 42R responded.

  “I thought they created Dragon Clones in the tens of thousands.” Ramirez said.

  “They do.” Jaguar 42R responded.

  “Then what happened to all of you?” Vaistll asked.

  “First, Skotadi discontinue us. I guess in favor of whatever they got here. And then they sent us off to put down a major rebellion near Tyos Prime.” Jaguar 42R responded. If Golden Hyperion is New York City then Tyos Prime is Los Angeles. Both are the biggest Skotadian (or human) space colony out there.

  “How big was the rebellion?” Ramirez asked out of curiosity.

  “Bigger than Valkyrie.” Jaguar 42R responded.

  “If it was bigger than Valkyrie, than how could you put it down when your numbers are too small?” Taylor asked.

  “Because our targets were generals, admirals, political leaders, scientists, high ranking officials, etc.” Jaguar 42R responded.

  “So why would they rebel?” Vaistll asked him.

  “You are not a Skotadian, so you wouldn’t understand. A typical Skotadian takes a great deal of pride in being the best. So you tell me what it means when a person is told that they are a part of group that is part of a bunch of losers in which their actions, proves that not only are they an idiot, but they are unprofessional?”

  “How long ago did the rebellion take place?” Ramirez asked.

  “Twenty-five years ago.” Jaguar 42R responded.

  “So how old are you?” Taylor asked.

  “Thirty.” Jaguar 42R responded.

  “So what about them?” Taylor asked about the other Dragon Clones.

  “Nineteen. Except for Viper 33X who is the same age as I am. We’re close like brothers because of that.” Jaguar 42R responded.

  “Sir this is Hawk 27J. We lost two more transport helicopters. It appears that they managed to destroy the rest of Black Knight airplanes.” Hawk 27J said over the radio.

  “Where are the rest of our transport helicopters?” Jaguar 42R asked.

  “En route sir.” Hawk 27J responded.

  “Alright. Get over here on the double.”

  “Yes sir.” Hawk 27J responded.

  Jaguar 42R then went and looked over the edge at what remained of the two APCs. He started to feel that the remaining Dragon Clones, including himself and his long time friend Viper 33X, may die on that godforsaken moon. His morale was at a all time low. While he was standing there Viper 33X came over to give him comfort.

  “We lost two more transport helicopters. Four helicopters lost with thirty-two of us killed. And now we lost another sixteen. We’re being wiped out.” Jaguar 42R said to Viper 33X.

  “Come on bro, let’s go.” Viper 33X said to him.

  When the transport helicopters got back they off-loaded the Dragon Clones in a nearby park and then they headed to the freeway to pick up the APCs to place them in the park. For safety reasons no crew could be in the APCs while they are being airlifted to the park. The ground forces had to wait until it was their turn to be airlifted. They then headed to the park and went into a nearby unoccupied building.

  “Ma’am, all the APCs is off the freeway. We’re ready to leave now.” Ramirez informed her. Vaistll only nodded her head.

  The rest of their trip to the laboratory was uneventful. When they were two miles (3.2 kilometers) from the laboratory Caparzo shot down a P109 Nighthawk (Skotadian surveillance helicopter). They then stopped a little way from the laboratory and continued the rest of the way on foot. When Jaguar 42R contacted the Hammer of Doom he was told to wait eight minutes, but it took twenty-two minutes.

  “Martinez! Front and center!” Ramirez ordered him.

  “You wanted to see me sir?” Martinez asked.

  “Get on top of that monorail and provide cover fire for the Dragon Clones. We need to secure the monorail station before we can advance.” Ramirez ordered him.

  “Yes sir.” Martinez responded and then left.

  “Hayes! Sanchez! Liebowitz! Nakada! Front and center!” Ramirez ordered them.

  “You wanted to see us sir?” Hayes asked him.

  “Captain Adnrwal and Commander Taylor need to have a word with you.” Ramirez informed them.

  “Because Jaguar 42R has both the experience and the training at infiltr
ating places like this you are going to have to take orders from him until the lab is captured. Any questions? Dismissed.” Commander Taylor ordered them.

  When all 145 Dragon Clones made it to the monorail station they expected to find at least a few enemy personnel there but there was none. Since the monorail station was also connected to a parking garage the Dragon Clones left to do a search and clear. Once the large parking garage was secured, Martinez went to the top level south side to provide cover fire for the 50 Dragon Clones who left outside to secure the area to the south of the facility. This area had a very large open field, robotic gun turrets, artillery, all of which was connected by trenches. The laboratory itself was on top of a steep embankment on top of which was a sniper tower.

  “Area secure. No enemy personnel present. Currently holding position.” The Dragon Clone mentioned to Martinez.

  “Understood.” Martinez responded. He then left to secure the north side of the parking garage. It was starting to dawn on him that they were walking into some form of a trap. No enemy personnel where there should be?

  North of the laboratory was a beach with several shore defenses. (East of the facility was a river and the parking garage was on the west side of the facility.) As before there wasn’t a single enemy personnel there. Fifty more Dragon Clones went to secure this part of laboratory. Of the 45 remaining Dragon Clones only fifteen was stationed at the office, or near it, at the monorail. The remaining thirty was taking up defensive positions while a few was on the top level of the parking garage with anti-air weapons.

  The laboratory was a series of buildings arrange in a horseshoe pattern laying on it’s side with the opening facing west. Each building, including the parking garage, was connected by an underground tunnel. Underneath the center courtyard was the main lab complex. Typical Skotadian procedures dictate that data on the facility is stored onsite and never offsite so there was no way for the Hammer of Doom (not even with the TIA starbase) to know just what was there.

  Task Force ZH-3C was given the assignment of taking each of the buildings. Jaguar 42R knew that the only way to take such a facility is to surround, penetrate, and then you eliminate the enemy in typical Skotadian ways. Although most of the Skotadian officers (and a few of the Dragon Clones) suspected that the loser team is just nothing more than cannon fodder, they knew that their skills are needed to “kick-in-the-door.”