New Neighbors

Chapter 29

The teleconference took place at 7pm, Earth time. After everyone had given their own updates to Amy, she got down to the real reason for the conference.

"As it stands now we will start the offensive in two weeks. We have had less targets lately with our probe and they may be getting wise to the deception. With the help of the Reptilians we will have a surprising ground force that the Iberians will have a hard time dealing with. We do not know at this time if the Empire has much in the area of ground forces, but should have more information on that in a few days. The empire's strong point is their Psion and the Iberian's strong point is their air capability. We should be able to counteract the Iberians with our own forces and with the help of some of our new friends here we hope to be able to at least match the Empire in the Psion area. From this point in time forward we will limit communications that are not secured. Each of the AIs will receive an update from AL that will enable them to encrypt and decrypt all traffic."

"Sally, in regards to your problem with the governments of Earth, make it very plain that we will do our best to protect them despite their constant interference with our efforts. Warn them that all centers and bases will go on lock-down one week before the initial attack and any interference will be treated as hostile. We have gained information that there may be some Empire agents on Earth doing covert operations; this information is for your use only and not to be made public knowledge. You never know who is controlled or not." 

"The personnel on Mars and in the Alpha sector should not have much involvement in this unless our enemy has already sent a force to your sectors that we haven't detected. You can all expect some type of minor action once we go on the offensive. Hopefully they will be too busy with us to bother you folks there. Each of you will receive a complete update from your AIs once the updates are implemented and communications are secure. If any one has any questions at this time please ask.", Amy said.

There were no questions voiced.

T-14

The next morning Sally contacted all the world leaders and gave them the warning about the centers and the bases being locked down and the reason she gave was that they would be doing a major exercise for planet security. She did not think that they needed to know that an offensive was starting soon.

On Mars Nate and Cindy were putting the final polish on the troops and ships that would be sent to the Organo system to join with Amy's troops. On Alpha 1, the reptilians were either getting ready to fight or they were increasing their production of raw materials.

T-10

Sally, Nate, Nightwalker, and Jones received their first update on the upcoming battle. The first thing that would happen was the liberation of the home planet of the Reptilians. That would take place in three days. All three locations also noted that a timer was now displayed in the lower right corner of their displays that showed the countdown until the initial attack. Also included was an estimate of the size and type of ground forces that could be expected from the Empire, the numbers were higher than anyone had expected. The Empire had amassed almost two million troops, but the majority of them were not Psions. It had also been discovered that the Empire had plans to take out the Iberians as soon as they had finished with the problem in the Sol sector. The source of this information was not revealed.

Sally had just finished reading the update when the alert horn sounded. It appeared that the center in Russia was under attack by ground forces. Then China, followed closely by all other centers reported the same thing - they were being attacked. This appeared to be a semi-coordinated attack. Next came reports of attacks on the bases on Earth. All locations reported that they had activated external shields and had completely cut themselves off from the outside. Sally relayed this information to Nate on Mars and asked Marcie to relay it to AL, Amy and Jones to keep them up to date.

Sally had the AI to review all the recent scans for anything unusual just in case this was a distracting action in preparation for an attack on the system from space. The AI found no unusual activity in any of the scans. Sally still had the area go on full alert, this triggered an alert for the whole system. But Nate had his forces stand down one alert level so as to be prepared for an attack and not be caught with his forces going where they would not be available for defense of his area. All picket ships went completely stealthy and armed weapons.

Nate looked at the report from Sally and was pleased to see that the young girl had the forethought to be suspicious and to take the needed precautions. He wasn't too worried about the attacks on the centers and bases, it would take more than what was available on Earth to get through the shields as they were impervious to anything available except possibly a direct nuclear attack. He would help Sally anyway he could, but he wanted to see how she handled things on her own.

"Cmdr, I have noted something in the scans from Earth. I was rechecking the new personnel applications and didn't turn off the scan for Psion activity. There is a high amount of psionic activity coming from Earth. I can not tell where it is going but it isn't strong enough to very far past the Moon's orbit. A scan of the known Iberian and Empire communication channels shows that it might be being relayed to a ship just outside the system. I have jammed that signal." Marcie told Nate.

"Marcie, is there any way for us to intercept that signal, analyze it, and then resend it after altering it? We might be able to gain an insight into what is being sent and maybe by who." Nate asked.

"Cmdr, the signal is pure psionic and in code. It appears to be a boosted signal of the psionic emissions from Earth. I have no way to interrupt the data or even identify it." Marcie replied.

Nate immediately sent the information to Sally about the Psionic emissions and warned her that the troops on Earth might be in danger if they went outside the shielded areas. He also suggested that Sally have the AIs on Earth enact a Psionic shield such as was used to contain the Psionic prisoners. The last line of his message was "Find that relay point and disable it as soon as possible". He also sent the information to Jones and Amy.

Jones read the dispatches from Amy and then read the ones from Sol sector. He had just asked John to come to his office when the information from Nate on Mars came in. As soon as John was in his office Jones gave him a copy of all the information that Nate had sent.

"John, is there any way you could detect if the same thing was going on here in this sector? It would appear that the Empire's spies on Earth have been busy and are attempting to draw attention away from something else, maybe an attack." Jones asked.

"I will have Alexia recheck our scans of this system for anything similar. Even though my ability is weak, compared to Amy and the rest, I think I should be able to notice if there was Psionic activity in the area." John replied.

"Cmdr Jones and John, I have reviewed the scans of this system for the past week. I started this review as soon as I received the information from Marcie about what was discovered in the Sol system. I find no evidence of the same activity here." Alexia said.

This was welcome news for both Jones and John.

Sally read the note from Nate about the Psionic emissions and his suggestions for the shields. She had Luna send the request to all of the centers and bases on Earth to enable the shielding immediately. A few seconds later Luna reported that the shielding was being modified by all AIs on Earth and on all ships in the area. She had also reviewed the scans for the past year and had found that the signals that Marcie had detected had started about two weeks ago; and had increased since the teleconference with Amy. Luna had also dispatched a probe to the general area to see if they could detect the relay point. Also with Marcie's help they had come up with an inverse model of the Psionic shielding that would repel any Psionic attacks for any of the troops on Earth who were in combat armor or flight craft. The change would take about 12 hours to become effective planet-wide. She had also started the upgrade to the shields on the Moon.

"Luna, I know we have been scanning for signs of Progenitor DNA, if we can capture one of the Empire's spies can we adjust that scan to find that type DNA also? Or is there some way to scan the whole planet for Psionic activity?" Sally asked.

"Yes, if we can transfer that part of the induction scans done to the satellites we have in orbit around Earth, we might be able to detect where the Psionic activity is strongest. Please wait while I try this on the probe looking for the relay point. This will take a few minutes. In answer to your first question, it may be possible to scan for that type DNA if we had a sample. I will ask Alexia to transmit a scan done on one of the Psionic detainees." Luna replied.

Even with the almost instant link it took Luna about 10 minutes to get the information from Alexia and to alter the DNA scanning protocol, plus update the scan parameters for the probe looking for the relay point.

"Sally, the update to the DNA scan has been made. There is only a very slight difference between that DNA and that of the Progenitor DNA we have been scanning for before. All Earth AIs are now scanning personnel inside their shields for the DNA. I am detecting strong Psionic emissions around all centers and bases on Earth. WARNING WARNING Psionic activity detected on this base - I am sealing the base and attempting to narrow the scope of the scans to locate the source. Base sealed all psionic activity is blocked from egress. Three sources found, all sources stunned except one." Luna informed Sally.

"Luna why did you not stun the third source?" Sally asked.

"Third source may not be stunned due to protective protocols. The third source of psionic activity is YOU. Please place this headband on and go to the Med Bay for detailed scans and training. These are the protocols set forth by AL and Amy for all of the original members of her crew." Luna replied as she produced the headband for Sally.

"Luna, first make sure that the other two sources are carefully secured; in fact put them in stasis until I can finish in Med Bay and contact Amy for her input as to how to handle this outbreak of psionic activity, both here and on Earth. Second, rescan all personnel on this base and then on every base and center on Earth to determine if we have any other psionic people that may have been undetected this far." Sally instructed as she placed the headband on her head.

When Sally opened her door there stood Linda in full combat armor, except for helmet. "Sally I will be staying by your side until this mess is sorted out." Linda said

Sally didn't argue, she was getting a massive headache since opening the door to the corridor. Even with the headband on she was still experiencing many random thoughts from throughout the base, not to mention from Linda who was so close. Linda had replaced her helmet and was walking two steps in front of Sally as they went to Med Bay.

Sally, and Linda, spent three hours in Med Bay for the scans and the training that were required. When Sally finished she was exhausted, but the headaches had quit. The first thing she wanted to do was go take a nap, but that would have to wait; she needed to update Amy, and Nate, about what was going on in her area. Linda made it very clear that she would not be leaving Sally alone except in her own quarters, these orders came directly from Cmdr Thomas.

Sally was too tired to argue. The two of them went to Sally's quarters so they could be sure that all communications were kept private. Once there Sally asked Luna to send an update to Amy, which had already been done via the link between Luna and AL as soon as Sally was safely in Med Bay. Amy had replied "Welcome to the club". The next thing on Sally's list was to see to the two Psions that were in stasis and try to determine what their goal had been. Sally found out very little, their mission had been to disrupt the functioning of the base for as long as possible. It turned out they only managed to accomplish about three seconds of disruption before being stunned. They didn't know who had instructed them, it just came to them about three days ago. After having them put in a psionic proof cell, Sally went back to her quarters for that much needed nap.