Oria stared straight into Ratface’s eyes and said “Karen means a lot to me as well. Much more than I ever imagined she would. There is no way I want any harm to come to her. We are in a difficult situation. Much more so, than you could ever know.”
The two stood and glared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. It was during that moment that the two connected and understood each other. Ratface knew deep down that Oria and he were the same. A new bond formed between the two warriors, a rare bond that sometimes happens between men of war. Ratface had shared this bond with only a few other men.
Oria broke the silence and said, “There’s nothing more I would like to do than open up and tell Karen everything. Unfortunately, there are bigger issues at stake. The timing is not right. I can’t place her in a position of divided loyalties.”
“I can respect that. However, you best not hurt her when you feel the timing is better. I still have a few contacts at the Pentagon. They tell me they have uncovered evidence that you are over 500 years old and wanted by an alien group. What’s going on here? Why are spooks tailing you? Something with you ain’t kosher.”
Oria did not understand the concept of kosher, yet he guessed from the context that Ratface thought something wasn’t quite right. “I’m not sure what you mean by kosher. However, if you are saying that things don’t seem right, I agree that they probably look that way. However, the stakes for all of us are very high. I must obtain the right audience at the Pentagon. You know how that group operates.”
“Yeah, they have some real pencil toting bozos down there.”
“Earth, and hence the United States, are in grave danger. I’m not sure
the U.S. military and the country are prepared for a real war.”
“Oria, what are you saying. The U.S.A. is the only super power on this planet!”
“Bingo, the operative word is planet! I will share some information with you. I believe you will start to understand why I can’t just come out and reveal everything to the government.”
“Ok, go on.” Ratface, sensed that what he was about to hear would forever change his life and most likely the world.
“First off, the information that I’m over 500 years old is true. I was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the 1400’s. My parents are Nanticoke with a strong Viking heritage.”
Ratface took a slow deep breath and sat down on one of the benches in the wood yard. He was speechless. Oria took a seat across from him.
“Ratface, I was abducted from Earth when I was 16 years old.”
Ratface saw pain in Oria’s face as he begun to discuss his memories. Oria told Ratface about his family’s death, his abduction, and his start in the Azortec military. Ratface was unusually quiet while Oria told his story. Finally, Oria paused and let Ratface absorb this information.
“Oria, if I hadn’t heard reports about you from the Pentagon, I wouldn’t believe you. What I don’t understand is why you are playing a game of cat and mouse with the Pentagon?”
“Time is short. I feared taking a direct approach at contacting the Pentagon. Given the way that operation works, it could take months to set up a relationship. We don’t have months. My strategy has been more indirect. My strategy is to get the military interested in me through revealing technology that doesn’t currently exist on Earth. That way they will seek me out and hopefully be more receptive at starting conversations which are more serious towards working together at building a defense against alien forces.”
“Are you saying Earth is threatened?” Ratface asked in an astonished voice.
“Correct, and I need to create an appropriate environment to talk with U.S. authorities. We don’t have much time. In a year, the Azortec Federation will trade Earth along with eleven other planets to a species known as Creytes. Creytes are a developed civilization with one major drawback to human like species. Creytes raise humans for food much like humans raise cattle.”
Ratface let out a huge sigh, amazed at what Oria was telling him. Deep down, Ratface knew that Oria was telling the truth. His sources at the Pentagon mentioned something about a group called Creytes. “Ok, what can I do to help?”
“I have been running into numerous challenges with Earth customs. This place has changed since I last spent any time here. We need to get
Earth ready to defend themselves against the Creytes and we need to accomplish that goal quickly. It’s a long story, but we need to get the leadership of the United States to buy into our strategy without scaring them and appearing threatening.”
“That’s a tall order. Those pencil-pushing bureaucrats at the Pentagon really screw things up and you certainly don’t want to tell Karen, forcing her into exposing things prematurely. Why did you choose to meet Karen anyway?”
Oria chuckled, “That was by accident. I ran into her at a book store and found out we were both headed to the same symposium.”
“Knowing Karen; that means she’s probably on some mission to find out more about you.”
“That’s right. My ship has been monitoring her associates closely. My hope is that I create enough high level interest to set up a meeting with appropriate individuals at the Pentagon.”
“Let’s return to your original question. Without going into another long story, my crew is shorthanded. We need more trained soldiers and we need them now! There are Creyte operatives already on Earth as you have heard from your friends at the Pentagon. We must stop the Creytes before the can cause any more damage. In order to get things moving, we need pilots and spec op soldiers, etc. Initially, I need to avoid using any active military personnel until I get things straight with the government.”
“I can help you gather the manpower. How many men do you need?”
“How many can you come up with on a couple days’ notice?”
“I’ll make some calls. I know of at least two pilots and maybe a half dozen former Seals and Rangers.”
At that moment, Wanda yelled for them to come for supper. Ratface jumped up grabbed some wood and asked Oria to do the same. They quickly returned to the cabin. When Ratface and Oria entered the cabin, Wanda gave Ratface a dirty glare and said, “Herb, what’s the deal? I send you guys out for a simple mission to fetch wood and you get lost!”
Ratface returned the glare and replied “Sorry, we had important business to discuss.”
Wanda shook her head and thought “Men will be men. Hope he didn’t scare Karen’s new boyfriend too badly.”
Everyone sat down at the large oak dining table, ate supper and engaged in light conversation. After supper, Ratface and Oria showered off and got ready to go to the local pub.
8:30 PM: West Virginia Pub
It was about 8:30 when the foursome walked into the pub. It was an old run-down sports bar with several pool tables, darts, and a small dance floor. Ratface led the crew to his usual table and ordered up some beer. The waitress dropped off a bucket of peanuts that Oria and Ratface quickly dug into.
They were sitting there about half an hour when the band started playing. With the first number, Karen itched to dance and tried to drag Oria out and onto the dance floor. Oria of course did not know how to dance. He studied several other couples dancing before Karen finally coaxed him to his feet. Karen told Oria not to worry how he looked and that she would show him all he needed to know.
Karen could have danced all night but allowed Oria to wimp out after only four numbers. When they got back to the table, a new pitcher of beer was waiting for them. Ratface looked at Oria and said, “Looks like she’s giving you a run for your money.”
“She sure is and she’s wearing me out.”
Karen shot back “That’ll be the day. I’ve never seen anyone with the endurance that you have.”
Oria took a sip of his beer and whispered to Karen that he needed to go to the men’s room. Oria then rose from his chair and headed towards the back of the bar. He didn’t pay any attention to the group of thugs wearing denim jackets and the words “Blood Riders” blazoned across their backs entering the bar.
The gang surveyed the bar before Keg, their leader, zeroed in on Karen seated at Ratface’s table. He began to drool over Karen’s sexy body slightly exposed from her cut-off shorts and halter-top. Keg made one of his usual impulsive decisions and headed directly towards Karen.
Ratface tensed as he watched Keg and his motley crew approach his table. He heard of this gang before, and they usually meant Trouble with a capital ‘T’. The gang’s leader was the local Sheriff’s favorite nephew. As a result, the gang generally got a free ride from the police.
Ratface was about to jump up and confront the gang when he felt a gun in his back. One of Keg’s sidekicks knew what Keg was up to and moved to neutralize Ratface before he could intervene.
Keg stared straight at Karen and said, “Come on babe, let’s dance and reached down grabbing her hand.” Karen jerked her hand free and grabbed one of the beer mugs slamming it between Keg’s legs. This just got Keg
mad.
Keg glared at Karen and said “Hey, a feisty one. I like my women to be feisty. You and I are going to have a good time later.” His sneer at Karen made her want to hurl. This mutt looked like road kill on a good day.
During this ordeal, Captain Martello was sitting at the back of the bar. He was alone and didn’t see any immediate opportunities to help. Martello used his cell phone and called the police.
Meanwhile, Oria had just finished up in the bathroom and was heading back towards the table. He spotted Keg and his gang picking on Karen and one of the thugs with a gun in Ratface’s back. Oria felt a surge of anger roar through his body. It didn’t take long for Oria react. Oria had been in far worse situations too many times before.
Oria pulled a long knife from his leg sheath. In one quick movement, he threw the knife at the man with a gun in Ratface’s back. The man dropped to the floor with a thud. The remaining Blood Riders turned and faced Oria. They were too late. Oria had already sprang into action. Ratface watched stunned as Oria decapitated Keg with his foot, spun around placing a series of kicks and blows dropping 4 more Blood Riders. It took only four seconds and all 12 Blood Riders were lying in piles of human flesh and blood on the bar’s floor. Eight of them were dead with the remaining four lying on the floor seriously injured.
Within minutes, the police arrived in response to Martello’s call. It was the local sheriff, Bob Shepard and some of his men. They started questioning the witnesses of the fight scene and decided to arrest Oria for the murder of the Blood Riders. After all, Oria was responsible for his nephew’s death.
Oria decided not to fight the crooked sheriff and raise any more commotion. He allowed the sheriff’s men to place him in handcuffs and take him to jail.
Karen broke into tears as she watched the sheriff’s men abuse Oria. Ratface put his arm around Karen and tried to comfort her. Martello even came by to see if he could be of assistance. Martello knew he had to get back in touch with Colonel Johnson and apprise him of the new development. The whole scene was going badly. General Bronson had wanted to set up an initial friendly and low profile meeting with Oria. Martello knew that there was going to be a big price to pay when Operation Laser Watch next assembled.
8 AM: The Pentagon
As expected, General Bronson flew into a rage when he heard about the latest escapades of Karen and Martello in West Virginia. A difficult situation was only getting worse. His team was not meeting its mission objectives. Bronson ordered the entire Laser Watch Task Force to assemble in hi
s conference room at 9AM sharp.
Bronson felt his blood pressure rise as he continued to pore over his team’s reports. Oria continued to display technological achievements beyond current Earth technology while his team continued in their inability to find anything more about whom and where Oria came from. The latest escapades in West Virginia were rapidly becoming his worst nightmare. How did his team allow Oria’s arrest to happen by a crooked sheriff with connections to one of the most powerful senators in Washington?
General Bronson stormed into his conference room and glared at his team who had only just arrived minutes before. He roared “WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? I thought I was sending you all out on a simple mission to find out about one man. All you have succeeded in accomplishing is getting our target arrested, almost getting the Major killed and possibly raped, and then bringing National Press attention to our operation! Can any of you explain to me what is so complicated about this mission? Major Brown, let’s start with you.”
Karen was still upset and having difficulty maintaining her composure. “General, Oria has claimed that he is from the Eastern Shore of Maryland and . . .”
“Major Brown. We all know that. It’s in the reports. Please tell us something that we don’t know. After all, you spent most of yesterday with the target.”
“Yes sir. Martello’s reports and my observations confirm that Oria is most likely telling the truth. I believe he is over 500 years old!”
“Major, again we know that! We also know that he has remarkable fighting skills, an uncanny ability to heal people, and incredible technical knowledge. But do we know where he has been for the last 500 years or what his current intentions are?”
“No sir.”
“That’s what I thought Major. Captain Martello. I believe you were responsible for maintaining surveillance of the Major and Oria’s trip yesterday. What happened?”
“General, as the report indicates, Karen was killed and revived by Oria. We kept a tight surveillance of the whole trip.”
“Yes, you did, Captain! What happened at the bar? Why were you unable to prevent Oria’s little brawl?”
“Sir, I was only one person,” begged Martello.
“My point exactly, Captain. You were only one person. Where was the rest of your team?”
“I let some of them off. The rest were within minutes of the bar. I didn’t want to attract too much attention.”
Bronson fumed at Martello’s last remark. “ATTRACT TOO MUCH ATTENTION! We only made the national news! Captain, we will discuss your tactics with Colonel Johnson later. I expect more from the people who work for me. I select all of you since I believed that you were the best of the best. Let’s start acting like the best of the best!”
Bronson turned and glared at Karen. “Major Brown, report to my office immediately after we break up here.”
The meeting lasted for almost another hour. Bronson began to cool down and started working with the team on the next steps. Karen felt less and less a part of the team as the meeting became a total blur to her.
When the meeting finally finished, Karen headed for Bronson’s office knowing that she was in trouble. Bronson was already sitting behind his desk when his aide escorted her in.
Bronson stood up as Karen entered the room. “Major Brown, stand at attention!”
“Yes Sir.”
“Major, I am very disappointed in you. I can see now it was a mistake to let you continue as the primary contact to Oria. I know that this past week has been rough with the loss of your friend. However, this is the Air Force. We must be able to continue in spite of our losses. I believe you are getting too emotionally involved with Oria. As a result, I am transferring you back to active STAR Hawk operations effective immediately. A training mission leaves later today and I want you on it as the pilot.”
Karen felt her world dropping out from under her. Up to her meeting Oria, all she wanted to do was to return to active operations. Now she felt differently. She wanted to spend more time with Oria and did not want to lose him. She wondered as she left the office what would happen to her relationship with Oria. She was further upset wondering how Oria was doing staying in a corrupt small town sheriff’s jail.
11 AM: Crystal City
Commander Retilia arrived at Helen’s office at 11AM sharp. He was very excited over the arrest of Oria in West Virginia. The arrest looked like the beginning of the demise of the Laser Watch team, and an opportunity for the Creytes.
“Hello, Helen. It’s good to see you again. I hear things are moving in our favor.”
Helen was starting to despise Retilia’s smugness. He always talked to her as if he owned her. In one sense he did.
“Yes, Commander; it appears that the latest events of Laser Watch are in your favor.”
“Yes, and I want to make sure the Senator who’s helping keep Oria behind bars continues to do so. I brought along some computer videos showing him having an affair. I think you may be able to use them to keep him in line.”
“Commander, it is bad enough that you are blackmailing me. Why are you forcing me to blackmail someone else?”
“That is something that you do not need to know.”
“Alright, what do you plan to do with the President?”
“He’s a problem -- I don’t believe simple blackmail will work with him. If I discredit him, then I lose power as well. However, some of his advisors can be bought.”
“Yes, like you bought me,” snapped Helen.
“Yes Helen, like I bought you. It’s time to stir the pot. The United Creyte Republic will not let relations between our two governments progress without the U.S. first surrendering Oria over to Creyte authorities.”
“Well, whoopee, so what do you want me to do about it?
“Why Helen, you’re President Ratherson’s trusted security advisor, with a blank check to further diplomatic relations between our two governments. Surely, you can think of something. I have all kinds of juicy information on the people you must manipulate.”
“I’m really starting to despise you, Retilia. You make my skin crawl. I’ll apply pressure to have Oria released into our custody. If that doesn’t work, I’m sure the Pentagon can work something out.”
Retilia rubbed his lizardy hands together, grinning at Helen knowing she was under his power. “That’s more like it Helen. Good. I’ll leave now and will be anxiously waiting for positive results.”
2 PM: Pentagon Spec. Mtg. with Joint Chiefs
The Pentagon gossip network was exploding with the latest developments of operation Laser Watch. The number of self-proclaimed experts on linking the latest press coverage of Oria’s arrest in West Virginia with Oria’s escapades in Ocean City was growing. Joint Chiefs participants had different opinions as to what was actually going on with the Air Force’s involvement with Oria.
General Bronson’s day was worsening. His head was pounding when his assistant informed him that the Joint Chiefs had summoned him to an emergency meeting. Bronson quickly dropped what he was working on and stormed out of his office seething mad to join the Joint Chief’s meeting already under way.
When Bronson entered the Chiefs usual briefing room, he saw several additions from OSD (Office of the Secretary of Defense). Bronson knew this meeting would turn into a real grilling session. As he approached his seat, the Chairman, General Pulte, along with the rest of the room became silent. Every eye in the room focused in on Bronson as he took his seat. Pulte glared at Bronson for 30 seconds.
“General Bronson. Are you not able to control your team? What in the world is going on? My phone lines are swamped with reporters, the White House wants to know why you messed up, and Helen Marshal wants your entire team fired!”
“Yes General. I know it looks bad.”
Pulte roared back, “Looks bad! General Bronson, need I remind you that this is a top priority set by the President. The man you are supposed to be following and getting information from now sits in jail. Your team is right at ground zero on this screw-up.”
Sitting in the hot seat, Bronson felt his head pound even harder. “General Pulte, I understand the situation. I’m also annoyed at the latest sequence of events. As a result, I have ordered bringing Oria in for questioning. As we speak, officers are working to gain custody of Oria from the Sheriff in West Virginia.”
“General Bronson, that won’t work,” replied Pulte shaking his head from side to side.
“Excuse me sir, we do have the President behind us?”
“That’s correct, General Bronson. However, the President isn’t willing to tangle with Senator Jenson of West Virginia. Sheriff Shepard is married to Jenson’s sister. It seems that he has been interrogating witnesses and
they are no longer are collaborating your team’s version of the events leading to Oria’s arrest.”
Bronson took a deep gulp. He feared that he would have to expose more of his operation to set the facts straight. That was an unacceptable option. Bronson sat there trying to figure his way out of this big mess.
“General Pulte, that places us in a bind.” At that moment, Bronson’s smart phone signaled a new message. His team texted him information that neither the local DA nor Sheriff Shepard were budging from placing first degree murder charges against Oria, let alone releasing him into their custody. Bronson sat there reading the text wishing he could disappear right about now. Great, thought Bronson, he finished reading his page, scrubbed his face with his hands thinking his retirement can’t come soon enough.
“General Bronson, I can see from the look on your face that you must have received some more bad news.”
“Yes sir. It doesn’t look like we’ll gain custody of Oria short of a court fight. We don’t have time for this!”
“I’m in agreement with you. The Chiefs and I have already discussed this issue. We were considering having General Sloan and one of his Ranger squads assigned to Laser Watch.”
“Yes sir. That will complicate our operation.”
“General Bronson, as you know Senator Jenson is chairman of the committee that determines DOD funding. As a result of your fiasco in West Virginia, Jenson is demanding the shutdown of the STAR Hawks operation.”
Bronson’s headache intensified after this last remark. No quantity of aspirin would bring him relief. “That would be a serious mistake, General.”
“I agree. However, your team has placed themselves squarely on his hit list. Setting up a joint operation between your team and the Army may be enough to dodge this political bullet, at least for now.”
“Very well general, we still need to get Oria out of jail and into the Pentagon for questioning.”
Everyone sitting around the table nodded in agreement. Bronson felt another jolt of pain rocket through his head. Of course, they all wanted Oria brought in for questioning. Once they had him secure in the hallowed halls of the Pentagon, each of them would ramp up their efforts to take over some or all of the technology that Oria could provide. It would become another internal Pentagon political fiasco.
Bronson took a deep breath; he would need some strong allies to keep the dogs off Oria. At least Pulte would support him. It didn’t hurt to have Sloan assigned to his team either. Sloan was a straight shooter with strong political connections of his own.
General Sloan was excited to join Bronson’s team. He and Bronson had
worked together successfully before and he looked forward working with him again. He interjected himself into the discussion.
“General Pulte, it appears that we will be unable to gain custody of Oria in the near future through normal channels. Should we consider other means?”
The room became silent. Everyone there knew exactly what Sloan was proposing and all had similar thoughts. Pulte broke the silence. “I agree. We will confer with the POTUS (President of the United States). In the meantime, General Sloan, use one of your teams and get them ready for the mission. I don’t believe we want to involve any of our allies for this one. There’s not enough time and there is too much at stake.”
The meeting broke up shortly after Pulte’s orders. Bronson and Sloan headed out of the briefing together and headed to Bronson’s office. There they could exchange information and start planning their mission.
5:30 PM: Oria contacts Ratface
Ratface was sitting at his boat rental shop eyeing the devices that Oria had slipped to him during his arrest. He wasn’t sure what they were and he knew better than to play with them. He had contacted several associates and asked them to meet at his house around 8PM that night. Without further directions from Oria, he was planning to use his team to break Oria out. It was a risk, but then, Ratface was use to taking risks. One of the devices started to vibrate suddenly interrupting his thoughts.