The young children screamed as the two Creyte Officers divided the children evenly between them and devoured them. When they finished, Retilia ordered Durinea to have the lackeys execute the kids’ parents. That way there would be no trail back to them.
When Retilia and Durinea returned to their offices, they began to analyze the captured data. Retilia discovered that the President was having an affair with his Security Advisor, Helen Marshal. She frequently visited him on Sundays for a little “advisory” business. Next, Retilia dug into the data to get leverage on Marshal. The database contained information on birthdays, parents’ names, religion, etc. Nothing juicy yet, in a coded part of the file was a large blob of information encrypted with a 256-bit key, impossible for anyone on Earth to decrypt. Retilia didn’t give the primitive encryption methodology any thought and ran it through his quantum entanglement decoder. In seconds, the message was decoded and he found a complete FBI background investigation on Marshal.
Retilia soon discovered that the database contained incriminating information on many power brokers within the U.S. Government. Retilia was quite pleased with this goldmine. It would be much easier to coerce important people into cooperating with his plans. They would know of the White House break in and know that someone compromised the White House database. It was now time to get on with his initial objective, Helen Marshal.
Retilia called Helen Marshal on her private residence line. A number she gave out to only a select few people, like the President.
Helen was extremely upset when she answered her private line with a simple hello; only moments earlier she learned from the TV that the White House Home Page had been hacked and the engineers responsible for security and the database were murdered.
“Hello, I’m Commander Retilia, I . . .”
“How did you get my private number?” hissed Helen.
“That’s not all I have. I understand you did some drugs back in college?”
“So what, you didn’t answer my question!” Helen didn’t have time to play these games.
“That’s right! You could lose your security clearance if that information got out”, cackled Retilia. He was drooling at the prospect of Helen’s demise.
“Listen Commander whoever you are, I don’t have to speak to you. My security clearance has been approved at the highest levels.”
“I’m sure it has. It doesn’t hurt that you’re also sleeping with the President.”
“How do you know that? What do you want?” Helen demanded. Meanwhile, Helen was racking her brains on where she had heard of this Retilia character.
“Not much really. I want you to introduce me to President Ratherson tomorrow.”
“And why should I do that?”
“It wouldn’t look good if a story broke that Ratherson forced an approval of your security clearance in spite of your record of drug use, and all because he liked making love to you. There may even be some other things that I could add from your FBI file.”
Helen felt trapped. She knew that Ratherson would immediately deny any knowledge of an affair with her and the approval of her security clearance. Ratherson would fire her and that the DOJ would pursue her as a criminal. She had no choice but to go along with Retilia’s request even though she was almost certain that Retilia was involved in the White House murders.
6:00 PM Ocean City
Detective Damico dropped off Oria, Bob, and Karen about two blocks from the DOD safe house provided by an undisclosed source of General Bronson’s. Everyone involved thought it would be safer to keep their location secret, even from the Ocean City Police Department. Bronson ordered them to stay put at the house and not to venture out. Late Sunday, Martello would pick them up with an armed escort and have a helicopter transport them back to the Pentagon.
When they finally reached the house, Karen and Bob scanned the room and prepared to settle in. There was already a fresh stock of food and beverages in the refrigerator with the notable exception of beer. Karen mumbled to Bob “I guess the General wants to keep us sober, at least for a few days.”
“It looks that way. I can’t believe we’re in Ocean City, only blocks from the beach, and we are stuck inside.”
“I know Bob. After today, I could sure use a beer. I can’t believe Jack’s gone!”
“Me neither. STAR Hawks won’t be the same without him.”
“You got that right! We better check on Oria in the other room.”
“Right. Sorry, I’ll be more careful. I almost forgot that Oria’s not part of our team.”
Bob followed Karen into the small living room looking for Oria. He was gone! They saw a note sitting in the center of the coffee table. It had Oria’s handwriting scribbled on it. All it said was that he was sorry he had to leave so suddenly and he would be back in touch. Karen felt a huge emptiness fill her heart. Jack, her best friend was dead and her new love had just left without even saying good-bye. Their trip to Ocean City had been a disaster. She knew only minimally more about Oria, his purpose, and his true-identity, remained a mystery. Immediately prior to Jack’s death, he hinted that he had found something out. Unfortunately, he died before being able to pass any information on.
Karen collapsed into the sofa facing a small TV. She turned the set on and was in the middle of an emergency broadcast. Apparently, several White House computer system people had been murdered and the White House Home Page hacked by what appeared to be a neo-Nazi group. President Ratherson had ordered the FBI to start an investigation and use whatever resources are necessary to determine who murdered the White House employees and hacked their Web Site. Ratherson also assured the public that the thieves took nothing of importance and that they were unable to compromise any of the White House computer systems. Ratherson further assured the public that Justice would investigate the crimes and apply all applicable hate crime laws to the perpetrators. He and America would not allow hate groups to intimidate the White House.
“Bob, can you believe that! How would Ratherson know if anything’s been compromised?”
“I don’t know Karen, after all that’s happened to us, it can’t be some neo-Nazi thing.”
“Interesting theory, we know Oria wasn’t directly involved since he’s been with us the entire day!”
“I know. Something big is going down. The science that dropped on us is more than anything known on Earth!”
“You might be onto something Bob. There are a lot of things that don’t add up about Oria; the science, his fighting ability, and his impressive ability with that flight simulator!”
“That’s what Jack said. The two of them reached level 10. I think Jack wanted to tell us something related to the flight simulators”.
“Bob I think you’re right. Jack told me he wanted to talk.” Karen took a deep breath and continued, “It’s still hard believing he’s gone.”
“Karen, I know. Jack was a good friend of mine as well. I can’t believe those foreign intelligence groups; aren’t they supposed to be our allies? They were shooting up our people right here in Ocean City.”
“Bob where is Oria? How can he leave at a time like this?”
“I don’t know. You like him, a lot, right?”
“It shows that much?”
“Afraid so, Karen, you better be careful. I’m not sure where all of this is going to end.”
“I know. Me neither. I guess Oria had good reason to leave. I just miss him.”
“You’ll get over it. Let’s get down to some dinner.”
“Oh alright” Karen wearily responded. She was exhausted from the day’s events.
8:00 PM AFS Hercules
Oria contacted Peter and Hoss several hours after leaving Karen and Bob in Ocean City. He requested them to watch the safe house from across the street. Oria was confident that between Peter, Hoss and the Hercules monitoring all communications in Ocean City, they could eliminate any threats before they caused more damage.
Upon boarding the Hercules, Oria walked to his quarters and started to catch up on news and other communications. He checked in on Jack’s status and was happy to discover that his crew beamed him into sickbay where he was recovering nicely. The doctors informed him that Jack should soon regain consciousness. Once Oria completed his news update, he headed to sickbay where he could check in on Jack.
When Oria entered sickbay, he saw Jack was regaining consciousness and was still in one of the intensive care beds. He headed directly to Jack’s bedside.
As Jack slowly regained his consciousness, he opened his eyes. He could see the familiar figure of Oria hovering over him. He looked up at Oria and felt a cold shudder of fear. Oria sensed Jack’s fear and observed Jack’s apparent bewilderment at his new environment.
“Hi Jack, it looks like you’re going to make it.”
“Oria? Is that really you?”
“Yes Jack. You are on board the Hercules.”
“Oh man! You were telling the truth.”
“Of course, I think your Earth EMS system would have declared you dead at the scene. Your heart was riddled with over 10 bullet holes and your lungs had been punctured multiple times as well.”
“How am I now?”
“You’re going to be fine. I’m not a doctor, but my guess is that you should be up and able to walk around in less than an hour.”
“That fast!”
“Yes, you only had your heart and lungs shot up. Your brain was fine. We were able to get you on board our ship before there was time to receive irreversible brain damage. You’ll be fine.”
“Amazing! Bullets tore up my heart and lungs and I should be up walking around with no problems in only a matter of hours! Incredible!”
“Essentially, our medical capabilities are somewhat more advanced than what you have on Earth.”
“When do I get to go home?”
“That’s a good question. They think you’re dead. Your funeral is Friday.”
“What! I need to let them know that I’m still alive!”
“Jack, I’m sorry. It’s not quite that simple.”
“What do you mean it’s not that simple?”
“Karen and Bob are hiding in a safe house. After the Massad shot you, a French group attacked us back at the condo. Furthermore, the real enemy, the Creytes, they are attempting to set up a meeting with your President.”
“What? Who are the Creytes and why should I believe you over them?”
Commander Turrani, the ship’s Chief Medical Officer walked over to Oria and Jack as they were talking.
“Hello Admiral. It’s good to see you sir.”
“Yes Commander, it’s good to be back on board. I see Jack is recovering nicely.”
“Aye sir, Major Peterson is good to go.”
“Great, thanks Commander. Jack, why don’t you join me in one of our briefing rooms? I believe it will be easier to explain things there.”
The exchange of protocol between Commander Turrani and Oria was an eye opener for Jack. It was slowly dawning on him that the man he had been hanging out with the past few days was a high-level officer. The flight simulator had called him Admiral as well. Jack respectfully agreed to follow Oria to one of the briefing rooms.
Jack silently followed Oria out of sickbay and down a long corridor to what remotely resembled an elevator lobby. The walls were mostly plain and metallic in appearance with occasional communication stations dotting the walls. Once they reached the lobby area, a door opened and Jack followed Oria inside. In seconds, the doors opened up into a new hall with walls made of wood paneling and decorated with artwork.
“Welcome Jack, this floor contains the senior officers’ quarters. My quarters are at the end. We can use one of my briefing rooms.”
“Oria, or should I call you Admiral? This is incredible.”
“I’m glad you’re impressed. In quarters, you can call me Oria. In more formal settings protocol dictates the use of titles.”
“Alright, I can work with that.”
Jack followed Oria through the door at the end of the hall into a central lobby complete with chairs, workstations, and other gadgets that were unfamiliar to him.
“Before we get started, do you need anything? We have food and beverages in the briefing room.”
“Yes, where is the restroom?”
“Thought you might need one, we do things somewhat differently up here. Follow me; I will pull up a short instruction program on the restrooms aboard the Hercules. It should cover the basics.”
“Alright”
Jack followed Oria over to one of the small terminals in the lobby and watched the program. When it finished, Oria pointed him in the direction of one of the doors connected to the lobby. As Jack approached the door, it automatically opened. Jack walked in and saw the facilities just as described in the program. Once by himself, he took a deep breath. None of his training had quite prepared him for what he was now going through. There had been some training videos addressing procedures to follow if he encountered alien life forms on one of their STAR Hawk missions. However, nothing in those videos prepared him for his current situation.
When Jack completed his business, he left the restroom and joined Oria in the lobby. Oria led him to another door of the main lobby that automatically opened for them. Inside was a long conference table with computer terminals located at each seat. The front of the room contained a large display screen. Seated at one side of the table was a man in what appeared to be a full dress uniform.