Chapter 12
"Good morning everyone. As you all know, the transporter gate at Wally's house was destroyed, prior to an attack by an Antioch agent. As predicted, the explosion triggered the nearby gas lines to rupture and ignite. According to news reports, the house was totally destroyed along with anyone inside, though no bodies have yet been reported. The fire inspector is doubtful any will be found considering the heat involved."
Carl paused to let that news sink in. "We also have a new ally in our fight against the Antioch on this planet. Ambassador Ramral of the Antioch joined us last evening." Carl briefly went around the table introducing everyone present. "As a test for our shielding, I asked him to attempt to scan each of you to tell me who in this room was actively using their powers. Ambassador, can you tell me who is active and who isn't?"
Ramral stood and bowed to the room. "Commander, as with you last evening, I can only detect a room full of normal humans, none of which are using any power of any kind."
"As I promised, I'll tell you that everyone in this room is active. In fact, everyone on this base is active or soon will be," Carl said.
Carl felt the shock and excitement from Ramral. "You know how to awaken the essence in your people? If the Sub-Inquisitor knew of this he would turn this planet to char. He must never find out about that."
"By the time he finds out about it, we hope to have even more surprises for him, enough to ruin his day completely. However, before we get into that, we'd like you to share your observations of the Sub-Inquisitor and his operations on this planet," Carl said.
Ramral lowered his head slightly in concentration and began to push the memories of his time at the Groom Lake Complex to the assembled. He included the messages from his brethren and the Pontiff. It took a few minutes, but when he finished, everyone knew why he had been sent to them.
"So there you have it. The Pontiff needs a reason to oppose these renegade Inquisitors, but can't pull it off without our help. We were correct in our analysis of the Antioch religion that stated we should be left alone as a sentient life form. I don't know if you all got it from Ramral's information, but the Pontiff that started the war against the Illuminati was deposed because of his actions. Unfortunately, it was too late for the Illuminati, but at least the Antioch, as a race, have recovered from the madness of that Pontiff," Carl said.
"Not all of us, my friend. These Inquisitors still have a large power base, though the Pontiff is of the opinion that even they would be repulsed by what is being done here. Earth is not widely known of among my people. In fact, very few actually know it exists at all. Those that do know of it think it is an uninhabited supply depot. The Sub-Inquisitor is shipping most of those successfully retrained off planet somewhere. We are still looking for the destination. But you should know that those retrained are fiercely loyal to the Sub-Inquisitor and his minions. This Agent Stark is a good example. He didn't even think twice about destroying the house just to satisfy his own curiosity. I have little doubt he would have killed everyone just to be sure," Ramral said.
"Ramral is here to offer aid in preparing to take back control of our planet. Both Rose and I have been able to scan him completely, and he really is here to help. I feel that I can trust him, and he has agreed that, for security reasons, he won't attempt to leave or pass any information on to the enemy. In exchange, I will not force him to be a part of anything he finds repulsive or offensive. I ask that you all try to be as considerate of his beliefs," Carl said.
"I have a question," Mike said.
"I will answer to the best of my ability, Mr. Jackson," Ramral said.
"Why does the Pontiff need our help to defeat the renegade fleet? Does it compromise the bulk of the Antioch fleet?"
"There is no good way to answer that question. The Pontiff has more than enough ships to overwhelm the renegades. The problem is that if she orders any Antioch craft to attack another, she will lose all power and authority. One of our strongest commandments is that we cannot kill another of the Antioch. We believe to do so is to attack God itself. Which is also the reason the renegades are taking your people. No one would think twice about an alien race attacking the Antioch. But when the renegades arrive to defeat these supposed barbarians they will gain enough support for defending the chosen that their leader will become the next Pontiff. The Pontiff knows she is asking you to be the pawns in this struggle, but it beats the alternative," Ramral said.
"Which is?" Mike asked.
"Galeb is retraining your people as slaves. Once the renegades are in power, your world will become nothing more then a large slave breeding camp." Ramral shuddered. "They will have a ready supply of 'barbarians' if their authority is ever challenged again."
"What of the other races that the Illuminati traded with? We know they had more than just the Antioch as allies," Father asked.
"Most of them have severed ties with my people, and still won't allow us near their space. Some of the others fell to the same Pontiff that committed genocide against the Illuminati. But there are still a few that are trade partners with us, though they have maintained a large, well-armed fleet," Ramral explained. "No one fully trusts the Antioch anymore."
"Did any of the Illuminati survive?" Anne Marie asked.
"There are rumors of small groups that managed to escape, so their offspring may still be alive. However, no one has reported seeing, or even hearing of the existence of, any Illuminati." Ramral bowed his head in shame. "Any honor we had as a people was destroyed by that act. Now we can only work towards redemption. That is something we are not going to get if we betray those we pledge to help. You have that pledge from the Pontiff."
There was silence in the room. "Thank you, Ramral. I think you can count on us doing our part. Though we won't be able to build any ships, we can build just about anything else," Mike said.
"The ships of the renegade fleet use reflective armor; most any planet based energy weapons will simply be deflected away. We must find a way to get weapons into orbit around the planet," Ramral said. "The weapons will need the power dissipated in the atmosphere by ground based weapons to even hope to breach that armor."
"The strongest energy weapon we've developed so far has to be mounted on an aircraft carrier and can only fire once every three-point-two minutes," Mike said. "But we do have a man-portable — if only barely — rail gun. If it were larger and more powerful, what do you think that would do against the ships?"
"I do not know, what is a 'rail gun'?" Ramral asked.
Carl chuckled, "Okay this sounds like it's going to get technical real fast. Mike, why don't you and Father introduce Ramral to Renee down on level three?"
As Mike, Father and Ramral left, Carl turned to Anne Marie. "So, any word on recruits? I've seen some new faces, but not a lot. How are you guys doing?"
"Carl, I've got a problem," Renee said she caught him in the 'mess hall'.
"What's up, squirt?" he asked.
She stuck her tongue out at him, as she sat down. "I've been talking to Mike, Father and Ramral, and I think I've got some pretty good ideas to work on, but I need some help. First, I need a prototype built, then I'd need someplace safe to test it. Some of this stuff, hell most of it, can only be tested in the computer because it would absolutely tell the Antioch we're here. The big rail cannons for example. They work great in the computer, but we have no way to actually test those big fuckers. I have one theory that I'm almost afraid to test."
"Can you explain it to me without getting into the technical stuff? I can handle basics, but not much more," Carl teased her.
"Okay smart-ass, I'll use small words. How would you like to be able to multiply the power of your abilities? I don't mean just a little, either. I'm talking three, maybe four hundred times? I was studying the characteristics of the cobalt reactor Father told me about when I noticed something I thought was unusual. The waveforms of the energy created in the reaction looked very similar to the ones I saw in the medlab during a physical. That monitor was reading my active metasynth ability. Carl, it was almost the same energy pattern! Granted it is a different type of energy, but the frequencies are such a close match, I'm sure I could use a cobalt reactor to amplify our metasynth abilities!"
"So, why are you afraid of testing that out?" Carl asked.
"Well, according to computer simulation, if the frequency is off the slightest bit, it sets up a resonance in the reactor, and poof! Instant crater," the girl explained. "I thought the Illuminati might have been aware of that since the shielding was much the same as we use to shield our quarters, or this base, but Father said that wasn't the case. He said it was the only type of shielding that seemed to work masking the output of the reactor."
"What about a computer controlled, frequency control unit for the reactor? It could tune the reactor to the person in gestalt with it," Carl suggested.
"That wouldn't work without a load controller and feedback inhibitor, which would only work against..." She stopped in thought. She felt her lab coat for a pen, then finding none, got up and walked from the room, muttering to herself about cross-connecting resonance compensators and biofeedback monitors. Carl guessed she really did need a lab assistant, or three, and made a mental note to ask Marsha about it.
A couple of days later, he met with Rose in the lift; he was heading for research and she was going to the training level. "By the way, what ever happened with that Admiral Marsha was concerned about?" Carl asked.
"Oh him. We're going to waylay him while he's on leave with his family. His wife has a sister that lives in Omaha, and they drive to visit her every year. Mike is going to do his Delta Force impression to get him to the warehouse in Kansas City. If he has been altered, we'll suppress it and fill him and his family in on what's really going on. I figure they'll be here by dinner time on Thursday," Rose answered.
"Delta Force impression?" Carl asked.
"Yeah, the 'Excuse me, sir, but you've been targeted by terrorists, would you please come with me to a safe location' spiel. We call it the Delta Force impression."
"This guy will fall for it?"
Rose chuckled. "Unless he has his fleet surrounding him, he is seriously paranoid of terrorists. He'll fall for it. Hell, I figure he'll demand to be taken to a safe location."
"You just want to get his cute son in here so you can flirt with the poor kid," Carl teased.
"Well, I might flirt, but there is no way he could take me away from, or take the place of, the father of my baby," Rose smiled radiantly.
"Really? You're pregnant? That's awesome! When did you find out?"
"Well, the morning sickness kinda clued me in. But Doc Butler confirmed it this morning. The scary thing is, either you got Anne Marie knocked at the same time, or she is feeling my sickness. She's seeing the Doctor right now. I think if she is, then we'd better be extra special to Wanda tonight; she'll be feeling left out."
"Your wish, Beautiful Lady, is my command," Carl said as he hugged the girl tightly. "I love you."
"I love you too, now get out of here, you've got work to do," Rose said as she smacked him on the ass.
Carl happily walked to the viewing room where a demonstration was awaiting his arrival. When he finally arrived, he greeted Mike and Ramral and was introduced to another man Mike called Roger. He nodded to Renee and her busy looking assistant.
"Now that the boss is here, let's get the show on the road. Roger, will you put the gear on while I explain its use?" Renee asked.
"Roger is putting on the portable power pack for the rail gun rifle. The rifle is based on the MX-21 that Mike supplied courtesy of the boys at White Sands. This model has been scaled down slightly, and a smaller, more powerful power supply added. The backpack unit contains a small cobalt reaction generator capable of producing two hundred percent more power then the original one designed by White Sands. The helmet is also specially designed to filter out the noise made by the weapon. A round fired by the rail gun has a hypersonic velocity. The gun itself is almost totally silent; however, the round creates a massive sonic disturbance as it passes through the atmosphere." As Renee explained, Roger had finished putting on the backpack, and was connecting a cable from it to the rifle. Once completed, he pulled on the helmet, and waited so the observers could examine him.
"Gentlemen, lets go to the observation booth," Renee said, smiling.
As the observers filed into the booth, the far wall of the room slid sideways to reveal a long tunnel pointing away from the complex. The booth was on the opposite wall so the observers could see down it.
"Roger's helmet is much more then just a noise filter. It contains a built in squad radio and computer assisted vision enhancements. There are a few more gadgets I'm thinking about adding, but this is the basic unit." She keyed her radio, "Roger, power up and stand by."
Out in the firing room, Roger gave the observers the thumbs up sign. "Before anyone freaks out, the targets we are using are nothing more than dummies animated by the computer using force fields. They are composed of ballistic gel in various consistencies to simulate a body. No living creature will be intentionally harmed today."
"Understood Doctor, proceed" Carl said.
"The first target will be close range. One shot to the head, and one to the torso. I warn you the effect is very graphic." Renee said, then asked Roger to proceed.
The first target moved out to the front of the tunnel, just inside the big door. The way it moved reminded Carl of a marionette.
"Target one; twenty-five meters," Renee said.
Despite the noise dampening, they still heard the shots. Of the target, there simply wasn't that much left of it. It had begun as a human looking mannequin, but the head was mostly gone, and there was a hole large enough to pass a bowling ball through in its chest. Carl realized with a start that the target had been wearing standard military issue body armor.
"Target two; one hundred meters," Renee said unemotionally.
This target also had a large hole in its chest. If it had been human, there is no way it would have survived, even if it had landed on the operating table in an emergency room from the impact.
The results were almost identical out to five hundred meters. Renee once again asked Roger to stand by. "As you can see, the weapon has a far greater range then any standard firearm carried by today's military. The effective range is far longer, but Roger's ability to hit the targets suffers after the five hundred meter mark. It's not that the weapon can't hit them, but he can't hold still enough to accurately place the shot. I believe that someone with sniper training could conceivably hit a target in excess of two thousand meters."
Mike asked, "Is the round still hypersonic after traveling two thousand meters in the atmosphere?"
"No, it has also lost seventy-five percent of its mass, but is still lethal if it hits a vital organ," Renee said.
"What are the drawbacks? Besides the amount of damage these things can do," Carl asked.
Renee smiled slightly at him. "Weight. The backpack weighs sixty-five pounds, and the rifle another three and a half. With the helmet the whole package is a load of sixty-nine pounds. I've tried every thing I can think of to reduce that weight, but it simply isn't going to happen. The other drawback is ammunition. Firing fully automatic, the weapon can exhaust its three hundred round capacity in about ten seconds. So I've built in a five shot burst instead of full out auto. The magazine is easily replaceable, but I didn't think the troops would really like to carry more than a couple of spares. The backpack does have a little extra room, so this model Roger has is equipped with a water tank with a line into the helmet."
"What happens if the pack takes a hit?" Carl asked.
"The soldier wearing it learns about the enemy behind him. The pack is bullet and blast proof. But even if something did breach the reactor, it would shut down before going critical," Renee said.
"What about the Metasynth enhancement you spoke to me about a few weeks ago?" Carl asked.
"I've almost gotten it working, I think, at least in the computer simulations. I've gotten it so the reactor shuts down before going boom. However, the equipment required is far too delicate for field deployment," Renee said.
Ramral, who had been silent during the weapon demonstration spoke, "Essence enhancement? I am almost afraid to ask."
"I don't think it violates your beliefs, Ambassador. You link with others to accomplish certain tasks, correct?" Renee asked.
"That is correct," Ramral verified.
"This is really nothing more then that, except you link with the power of the reactor. Dependent on the size and output of the reactor, it will multiply, by amplification not alteration, the metasynth abilities of the being," Renee explained.
"Your people already possess the strongest abilities I've ever encountered; what purpose could be served by doing such a thing?" Ramral asked.
"You can erect a shield against physical threats, correct? Imagine doing that for an entire planet, or fleet of ships. You could teleport greater mass much farther, possibly between the stars themselves," Renee explained.
Ramral was clearly thinking about the prospect. "That would be truly amazing. It would be much faster than current methods of travel, and would not be a perversion of the essence. Unfortunately, it could also be used as a very devastating weapon. But that is often the case with new discoveries. Good luck, Doctor. I hope you can get it working. The peaceful uses for such a thing would be a great benefit to all races."
Renee looked greatly relieved hearing Ramral's evaluation of her work. The fact that he seemed to approve went a long way to dispel the horror of creating the rail gun and a potentially worse weapon of mass destruction. Carl noticed that Renee would have problems developing weapons. She would do it, but the lives of those lost because of her work would always haunt her.
Mike had reported an increase of security at Groom Lake after Ramral's disappearance and subsequent arrival at the Taylor household. Each of the guards had been rescanned, unobtrusively, by Galeb or one of his underlings. Once no breach had been discovered, business returned to normal. With the exception of the increased security, which remained on alert.
The Antioch received a monthly supply ship to replenish their food, and rotate the staff occupying the facility. 'Retrained' humans were also shipped out when the supply vessel departed. Mike had a crew of people stationed nearby monitoring the arriving ships and trying to detect the weekly outbound transmissions. By the time of the weapons demonstration, Mike had a firm schedule of the activities of the Groom Lake complex.
"Ambassador, what would Galeb's reaction be to the loss of his capture teams?" Mike asked in a meeting one day.
"He would most likely recall some of those sent off world. However, when one of the teams is out on a recovery, surveillance is very thorough. Since the incident with Cal Taylor, a satellite is always assigned to monitor the area. Anyone attacking the team would be tracked and attacked by another team," Ramral replied.
"How many teams does Galeb have?" Carl asked.
"One fourteen-man team in North America, a seven-man team in South America, a twenty-man team working in Europe and the old Soviet Union, another fourteen-man team in Asia, a twenty-eight man team in Africa and the Middle East, and a seven-man team in Australia. If an awakening takes place outside of those areas, it is assigned to whichever team is the closest at the time." Ramral said.
"Carl, Ramral has let me study his memories of Galeb and the others. Galeb sees humans as inferior beings, fit only for slavery. Galeb believes that Earth is his own private fiefdom. I don't believe he will call in the renegade fleet unless or until he feels that the planet is lost to them. Galeb's superiors need humans to act as a stalking horse for them to gain power. They won't destroy the planet without making damn sure they can't retake it first. As long as we let Galeb or his bosses believe all is not lost, the fleet will not attack. The down side of that is there is nothing to stop them from calling it here as a precaution," Mike explained.
"How about we let Galeb believe I'm still alive?" Carl suggested. "Here I am, a rogue telepath seeking revenge on the bastards that killed my family. I've taken control of a few ex-military commandos and set a trap for the 'secret government agency'. When the 'special agents' show up to take me into custody for my own safety, my team of mind controlled ex-commando's takes them out."
"You will still be tracked by the satellites and a larger force will be sent to take you. If that fails, Galeb will use the military against you. All they have to do is label you a terrorist, and even your own people will be against you," Ramral said.
Mike grinned evilly; "Escape and evade school can be taken to extremes when you have mental powers. The team can simply fade into the crowd. However, I don't think we should use you as the bait, sir. Someone else can use your old face, since we know that Galeb's folks know what you looked like. I think we can pull it off, with the right combination of people and careful planning."
"Work up some potential strikes for us to look over. Our current goal is to deplete enemy resources on planet. I'd like to present a workable plan to the full council by this time next week," Carl said.
Mike stood and saluted, "We'll get right on it, sir."
Carl thought Mike was teasing him for giving an order, but realized
the man was very serious. Awkwardly, Carl returned the salute and Mike
left, with Ramral following along.