New Neighbors

Chapter 31

T-6 Days

Sally waited until she had a few hours sleep before going to the brig to interview both of the new prisoners. She interviewed the janitor first but there was nothing in his mind that gave any new information; he had no idea as to why he was detained and couldn't remember doing anything other than his janitorial duties. When Sally interviewed the alien she found out that even with the anti-Psionic shield in place she could still access his mind, but this wasn't the "voice" she had "heard" sending information to the relay on the moon. The "voice" that she detected was semi-familiar and she finally remembered where she had heard that one before, it was the same as some of the recordings from the first SuLak found in AL's original database. She could feel this being trying with all his might to gain control of her mind, but the shielding prevented that.

"What is your name?" Sally asked; but got no reply, at least not a verbal one. His mind responded with 'SuLak-115', but also responded with 'Jack Renolds'. "Why are you here on Earth and how long have you been here?" Sally continued. This time there wasn't even a mental response.

Somewhere in a dark cave on Earth the following was sent to the relay on the moon

Automated system activated. Operator not present or out of range. Self destruct will commence 10 solar cycles.

MARS BASE

Nate Thomas had just received the report from Luna, via Marcie, about what had happened at the center in Chile. His first response was "What the Hell. How did she do that?". Then he read the rest of the report which explained that Luna could only interpret that the action by Sally was purely defensive in nature. It was several hours later when he got the follow-up report that said there must be other agents on Earth still unaccounted for since all the attacks on the centers had not ceased yet.

ORGANO SYSTEM

Amy read the report of the actions at the center in Chile with interest, especially the part where Sally cleared out 2 miles of timber and buildings with a single thought - not to mention all the people, including her security force. This could be very useful if it could be controlled; but Luna's assessment that it was purely defensive would cause a problem. That was something to think about later as it didn't look like that skill would be useable, or available, in the upcoming battle.

LUNAR BASE CHARLIE

Sally read the reports from the centers on Earth, there were still a few that were being assaulted; but with the centers on lock-down they weren't taking damage. In fact the only center in the US under attack reported that federal troops were in the process of removing the attackers and had setup a perimeter around the center and anyone entering that area was being detained. The centers in China were safe but the government wasn't trying to control the situation at all. None of the centers reported any Psionic type attacks since lock-down.

The next thing to do was find the hidden communication site that 'SuLak-115' had been using. Sally thought that the implied fact that the site had been breached before might be of interest. Someone had found the site, but where and what happened?  Sally decided to interview the prisoner again, but this time to use only mental techniques. At first Sally wasn't getting anything new from her "guest" by being passive; she then tried probing actively and found some memories that showed a cave, a hidden touch pad, and a series of symbols, but nothing that indicated the exact location of the site.

T-5 (120 hours)

Sally had just read the report from the attack on the reptilian home world and the results of the conference between Amy and the "Ralph" and the recommendation that all systems go on full alert two days before the invasion of the Empire's system. The data that had been gained on that system was included in the report. The most unusual thing that Sally saw was that there were two planets in the same orbit around the sun; the two planets were equal distance apart and appeared to mirror each other. This system was larger than the Sol system in that it contained 15 planets instead of the nine found in Sol. After looking over the reports from Earth in regards to the attacks on the centers it appeared that the attacks were not anywhere as organized as before, maybe with the Imperial agent out of contact they weren't getting as much encouragement as before.

ALPHA SYSTEM

Commander Jones had just finished reading the same report when an alert sounded. The alert wasn't an attack from outside the system but from inside the system. One of the smaller planets about half-way between Alpha 1 and the sun had exploded and now there appeared to be a ship approaching Alpha 1 and Alpha 2 at high speed. The telemetry on that ship was confusing, it wasn't a known configuration. The whole system was on full alert and two of the picket ships were making a high speed run towards the unknown ship; the ships of the planetary defense force were launching and taking up their positions. If the unknown ship didn't alter course or wasn't destroyed it would impact Alpha 1 in 3 hours. Computer analysis showed that the ship would hit in the area of the newest processing plant in what used to be the reptilian detention sector. That site was working with highly radioactive ore and that could be a problem. The ore they were processing was more unstable than anything on Earth. It had been found to radiate the same type radiation as was used to convert silicon to the power crystals that John and Jake had first found on the lunar surface and was now used to power the equipment used by Amy's forces.

The picket ships would reach the unknown ship only an hour before it hit Alpha 1 and that wouldn't leave much time for a battle. Alexia still couldn't identify the ship, not even the composition of its hull or what type weapons were onboard. The alert had been relayed to Sol and Organo systems as well so they would know that Alpha was in trouble. Then Jones remembered that he hadn't told Amy yet about the ore and the radiation it emitted; he had been more concerned about the upcoming attack on the Empire.

The ship was slowing and was changing course, it would now miss Alpha 1 and the rest of the planets in the system, but just barely. The first picket ship neared the unknown ship but got no response to hails, the second picket ship arrived behind the unknown ship. Since the ship wasn't making any type of aggressive moves both pickets were not sure whether or not to fire on the other ship.

Alpha control, both PS-147 and PS-139 have arrived at unknown ship; no response to hails and no hostile action observed. Request instructions.

Jones thought about the situation for a few seconds before telling the two pickets to cloak and shadow the unknown ship but to do a full sensor scan as soon as possible. They were to take no action unless the ship made a hostile move, if that happened then the ship was to be destroyed without warning. Both ships acknowledged these orders. The unknown ship increased speed as it approached the system boundary and just as it exited the system a jump point formed and the ship disappeared. When Jones reviewed the sensor reports he saw very strange readings. The reports showed that it was a ship of unknown construction and composition. The power output was off the scale. Jones thought that maybe the sensors were malfunctioning but Alexia had noted that the sensors passed all diagnostics and that her own sensors had recorded the same data. The ship had not appeared to be constructed of any known type of metal. The whole situation had Jones very concerned. First, scans had not seen the ship until after the small planet exploded and now the sensors couldn't even identify the construction,  composition, or power source. Second, the ship had changed course only at the last minute, but had made no attempt at communicating with them and had made no hostile actions. He would of course forward all the information he had to Amy, and the other systems, but didn't know what to make of this incident. Jones also had Alexia forward the information about the ore to Amy. Now he wondered if there were any more of these strange ships hiding somewhere in the system. Jones had the system stay on full alert, but canceled the alerts to the other systems.

SOL SYSTEM

Nate Thomas was just getting in bed when he received the alert from Alpha system and got very concerned since Cindy was one of the patrols assigned to the system that night. Nate had his command staff called in for the emergency and sent the alert notice to Sally; then he got dressed and headed for the command building. Nate had the Mars area forces go to full alert and started planning a mission to the Alpha system if needed. Sally responded that her forces were at full alert and she was prepared to send some to Nate if he thought he might need them; but Nate told her to keep her forces and be prepared to defend Earth if worse came to worse.

It was several hours later when Nate and Sally both received the follow-up report from Alpha system detailing the strange situation from Jones. Sally and Nate had their forces stand down two alert levels and resume normal patrols and activities. Everything seemed to have settle down to normal when Nate got an alert from the perimeter drones and one of the picket ships. There was a jump point forming just inside sensor range, but outside the system. The next report Nate got was of a strange ship approaching the system and it didn't conform to any known design.

When the strange ship approached the very edge of the system it slowed down but despite the warnings being broadcast it continued into the system. The drones reported that they could not lock on to the ship and therefore could not fire weapons. The picket ship closest to the entry point reported that sensors could "see" the ship but weapons wouldn't lock-on. Suddenly one of the drones disappeared from the network, one second it was there the next it wasn't, just as the ship passed very close to it. There were now four picket ships around the intruder and the visual reports said that the ship didn't look to be made of metal, one of the captains reported that his sensors were showing the ship to be organic for a few seconds and then registered the ship as before. Then the missing drone reappeared in the exact spot it had occupied before and did not report any change in function, except the timing was off by five minutes.

When the intruder got close to Mars it slowed even more and as the fighters from the planet approached one of them just vanished, just like the drone on the perimeter. It was at this time that Marcie reported that she had detected a very weak psionic pulse from the area of the ship. Five minutes later the fighter reappeared but the pilot was not in the cockpit, or at least he didn't respond to attempts to contact him. After several attempts at contact the fighter itself did respond with an automated message that it was returning to the planet per emergency protocol. The intruder picked up speed and headed towards the center of the system, when Nate ordered the picket ships to open fire none of the weapons would hit.

It took a couple of hours but the strange ship approached the moon, slowed for a few minutes then headed for the Earth. Luna reported that she had tried every sensor she had but could gain no new information on the ship. Sensors showed the ship there but could not determine the composition or recognize the type construction. Sally got a surprise when the pilot from the Mars fighter just appeared inside the base. He seemed okay except a little dazed and asked where he was and how he had gotten there. The ship caused a real panic when it went into orbit around the Earth as it was plainly visible with the naked eye. The ship made five orbits then resumed its course towards the sun. It went as far as Mercury then just disappeared. The ships following the strange craft reported that one second it was there and the next it wasn't. When Sally and Nate compared notes and the reports from the different crews they saw that the craft had slowed as it approached each planet in the system, but only seemed to take notice of Mars, the Moon, and Earth - the planets, or bodies, that were occupied by human life forms. All of this information was forwarded to Jones and Amy for their feedback.

T - 4 (96 hours)

Long range sensors detected the ship as it reappeared near Venus and started back out of the system. The ship maintained a slow rate of travel through the system until it passed beyond the edge then once again a jump point was seen and the ship disappeared. The ship did not seem to take notice of any of the ships that approached it and seemed to ignore the planets on its outward passage; this too was relayed to Jones and Amy. The fighter pilot from Mars had spent the night in Med Bay on the lunar base and now was being interviewed by Sally.

"Lt. Chambers, what do you remember about the ship that you approached" Sally asked.

"It wasn't like any ship I've seen before. My flight and I approached to within ½ KM of the ship and I was preparing to open fire when the next thing I know I was here on the moon" was the reply.

"Can you tell me what the ship looked like? What color was it? Could you see any thing that looked like a window or view port" Sally asked.

"That's the strange part it seemed to keep changing shapes. As to the color there wasn't any, it wasn't metallic and it didn't seemed to be painted. I didn't see anything that resembled a view port or window" was the reply.

Sally had the pilot sent back to Mars on the next shuttle; all tests had been normal. Sally started receiving reports that several people had been seen to disappear on Earth while the ship was in orbit but they all reappeared before it left orbit, except one. There was a report from Arkansas that a man had been in church and just vanished from the choir and had not been seen since; his name had been Jack Renolds and he was from a small town not fifty miles from where Sally, Amy, and Jake grew up. Sally decided that she wanted everyone of those that disappeared to be examined immedeatly to see if they remembered anything or had been changed in any way. But since they were scattered all over the planet it would take a few days to gather them up and examine them.