Oria was near total exhaustion. He took several deep breaths and started a standard checkout of the Hercules and its’ critical systems. Everything appeared intact. He noted that the Hercules’s heading at sub-light speed was away from the sun and towards Earth. Oria further noted that the ships’ clocks read Friday May
19, 2017. It was exactly one year earlier.
Sitting in the combat bridge, it took Oria about 15 minutes to pilot the Hercules into geo-stationary orbit above Maryland at an altitude of 23,000 kilometers. Once the Hercules had established orbit, Oria turned on the autopilots.
Oria was now ready to care for himself. He had sweated profusely during his trip through the continuum. Oria looked at his clothes and his seat. They were a sweaty bloody mess. The pressure and stress on Oria had been so intense that blood had mixed in with his sweat. Oria’s first priority was to get himself cleaned up and start the process of reviving his crew. He had to leave the cleaning of his mess for one of his crewmembers to clean up later.
Oria climbed down from the combat bridge and headed to his quarters. His muscles were quite sore from the recent trip. As Oria approached the door to his quarters, they automatically opened. Oria walked into his quarters and towards his sleeping room. Once there, he stripped off his clothes and threw them into the cleaning receptacle. From there, Oria sauntered into the master bath and slowly turned the shower’s valve until a
strong stream of steaming hot water came out. As an Admiral, he was one of the few crewmembers allowed the luxury of hot running water. The usual fare was cleaning beams. Oria stepped into the shower and let the steaming hot water strike his back. The warmth and massage of the shower was quite invigorating.
When Oria finished his shower, he walked back into the sleeping room and put on fresh clean clothes. From there, Oria left his quarters and headed to the sedation deck.
Oria felt apprehensive about what he would find once he reached the sedation deck. The vivid memory of Exsquisadar and the loss of his crew were foremost in his thoughts. As Oria approached the doors to the sedation deck, they automatically opened in front of him. Oria could see the rows of sedation chambers containing his crewmembers looking just, as he had left them prior to the voyage through the continuum.
The first chamber contained Captain Borella. Oria stood in front of the chamber's console and started the five-minute process to revive Borella. As he waited for Borella to awaken, Oria started to waken the rest of the medical team. The medical team was responsible for waking the crew.
Borella woke up and smiled when he saw Oria. Even though sedated, Borella still experienced confused memories and images during the trip. He climbed out of the opened chamber and walked over to Oria. Dispensing with the usual military protocol, the two close friends embraced. They made it! They survived one more ordeal together.
“Hello Admiral, we made it!”
“Yes, we made it. Let's hope the rest of our mission is as successful. We have succeeded in traveling exactly one year back into time and are in orbit around Earth.”
“Wow, we have already accomplished that which has never been done before. Let’s make our mission successful and Earth shall become a new member of the Azortec Federation.”
“Aye Borella; that is our goal!”
The six members of the medical team finally woke up and climbed out of their sedation chambers. They quickly assembled and conferred with Oria.
“Admiral Oria, Commander Turrani reporting for duty.”
“At ease Commander, our mission so far is successful. We have arrived exactly one year back in time and are in orbit around Earth. You are free to proceed in reviving the rest of the crew per our original plan. Please have the initial bridge crew report to the bridge ASAP. Also remind the crew that we will be using English from here on out. Once everyone has been revived, furnish me a status report on the crew’s health”
“Aye sir!” The Commander turned and directed the rest of his medical team to start reviving the rest of the crew.
Oria and Borella left the sedation room and headed for the briefing room located next to the bridge. They had much to discuss, plan, and research.
Arriving in the briefing room, Oria ordered the computer to begin monitoring activities on Earth. He knew that in the near future, he would have to beam down to the surface and start the difficult task of establishing communications with Earth’s governments.
Oria and Borella were working on a source of funds for Oria's time on Earth. The few coins that Oria had kept from his father and ancestors would be difficult to convert to modern currency without attracting attention. Oria had several coins from early Europe and England that his ancestors stole during various Viking raids. They only had value as collectors' items today. Oria would have to sell them to get modern day currency. Since Oria’s coins were in excellent condition, they would most certainly attract more attention than Oria wanted. He would have to find another source of funds.
Commander Turrani interrupted Oria using the intercom. They had just completed reviving the entire crew.
“Admiral Oria, this is Commander Turrani, are you ready for the crew's medical report?”
“Go ahead Commander.”
“All crew members who survived our trip are fully awake. I'm sad to report that five of our crew did not make it.”
“Go on.”
“Five of the sedation chambers at the far end of the room were damaged. It looks like battle damage. Yet there is no other damage around them. We lost Lt. Hicolalo, Chief Sabohato, and crewmen Johison, Lukoproto, and Fulato.”
“We will certainly miss them. Hicolalo and Sabohato were working on Earth background and cultural information. They aren't replaceable.”
“Sorry sir, the rest of the crew is exhausted. I've ordered about 20 of them to remain in sickbay until they mentally recover. It seems everyone went through each of their own worst nightmares.”
“Very well Commander. Thanks for your report.” Oria hung up the intercom and turned to Borella.
“Borella. Hicolalo was supposed to continue his research on Earth and brief me on modern day Earth customs. I don't believe we have another historian.”
“No sir. I can reassign someone there, but I wouldn't count on them doing as accurate a job. I think you’re going to be largely on your own.”
“Very well. Let's get back to obtaining some currency. I would prefer not to just print money or play with Earth computer systems.”
Dispensing with the normal protocol, Borella begin to address Oria by name.
“I agree with you Oria. It looks like we may be able to extract some lost cash from the ocean.”
The ocean, Borella, what are you talking about?”
“Yes Oria, the ocean. Just off the coast of Florida near the United States, drug runners sometimes throw cash overboard to prevent the U.S. Coast Guard from intercepting them and using the cash as evidence.”
“We have to find some pretty fresh cash for that to work. I'm sure it would not last long in the salt water.”
“That's right. One of our sensors just picked up a speedboat headed out of Florida with several million dollars on it. The Coast Guard is close enough to intercept them if we tip them off.”
“Sounds like a plan. Borella, you have command of the Hercules. Go ahead and notify the Coast Guard. I will take one of the starfighters and head to intercept the ship.” Oria rose and headed for one of the fighter bays.
It felt good to be in the cockpit of a starfighter. It seemed as Oria had risen through the ranks, he spent less and less time in a starfighter's cockpit. Mostly Oria only received time flying in the combat bridge of a starship. The much smaller starfighters were more fun to fly
; particularly when you could fly them near a planet’s surface.
Oria performed the normal pre-flight check out. All systems appeared normal. He fired up the ship’s engines and radioed the control center. Oria requested permission to depart the ship.
Oria engaged the starfighter’s engines and placed the starfighter into a hover position over the bay's platform. He gently increased power to move the starfighter closer to the ship’s bay doors. The control center opened the doors and cleared Oria for flight. Oria guided the starfighter outside of the Hercules and headed towards Earth and the coast of Florida. As Oria departed the Hercules, he immediately turned on the fighter’s stealth systems.
Oria approached Earth and could make out the outline of Florida’s coast through his cockpit window. His HUD, (Head-Up Display which appears in the front center of the cockpit and combines information from the navigational system and fire control into an integrated display), contained a series of steer point markers that would direct him towards the drug boat. One of his displays contained a horizontal map highlighting each steer point and a bull’s eye indicating the current location of the drug boat. The starfighter's computer was in constant contact with the Hercules and continuously updated on changes in the drug boat's location.
Oria flew through each of the steer points and soon had the drug boat in sight. He flew the starfighter approximately 20’ above the ocean at about 600 knots. At this speed, a slight twitch in Oria's hand controlling the flight controls could easily drive the starfighter into the ocean leaving a clear splash easily seen by anyone above the ocean's surface. The starfighter closed in on the drug boat and matched its speed.
Meanwhile, Borella sent out an anonymous tip to the Coast Guard cutter patrolling the general area of the drug boat. He informed them that a speedboat had been seen coming from a larger merchant ship further out in the ocean. The Coast Guard immediately changed course and set a course to intercept the drug boat.
Oria watched as the Coast Guard cutter came into view of the drug boat. The speedboat switched course slightly hoping to out run the cutter. The change in course prompted the cutter to launch one of its helicopters. When the helicopter started to close in on the boat, both Oria and the helicopter pilot observed a man on the drug boat tossing a small package overboard.
After about 30 minutes, the Coast Guard cutter caught up with the drug boat and ordered them to stop. The drug boat allowed the cutter to pull up alongside and several men boarded the drug boat. Oria saw several heated exchanges between the two parties and listened in on the conversations using sonic sensors on board the starfighter. In the end, the cutter took the drug boat undertow and the men on the drug boat handcuffed and transferred to the cutter.
Once the two boats had cleared the area, Oria used the starfighter’s sensors to locate the package and beam it onboard his ship. Oria chuckled when he saw the package. It would have been easy to retrieve even without the starfighter’s advanced technology. The package was a briefcase with a passive sonar device that could activate flotation devices and a radio beacon. When the drug dealers returned, they would be out of luck this time.
Oria enjoyed his flight back to the Hercules. He watched the Florida shoreline disappear quickly behind him. As the starfighter approached the Hercules, the ship’s large bay doors opened in front of him. Oria slowly steered the starfighter into the bay and turned on the auto docking system. Once docked, Oria executed the normal shut down procedures and turned all the starfighter's systems offline. With a quick glance around the ship, he grabbed the briefcase and exited the ship.
Oria headed towards the conference room adjacent his quarters where he planned to meet with Captain Borella and the new Earth advisory team. Oria requested a review of all the information collected during their trip from Azortec to Earth. They needed to formulate their next steps and continue the process of collecting and analyzing data. They expected first results by noon, Washington time.
The morning passed quickly as Oria reflected on his return home. When the noon hour struck, Oria wasted no time and joined his hard-
working team in the conference room. Lt. Agustonson, the investigation team lead, was waiting as expected and kicked off the team report.
“Admiral Oria, we have completed our initial investigation of Earth and are ready to report.”
Oria replied “Very well Lieutenant, continue on.”
“We have determined that Earth is divided into many sovereign states. Many of these countries are part of an international organization known as the United Nations. We don’t believe this organization has sufficient clout to meet our goals over the next year. It is comprised of representatives from member countries with an executive arm that can veto any decisions reached by the larger council. However, this organization has no real power over its member states.”
“We believe that the best strategy is to work with one of the planet’s more democratic super-powers, the United States. However, a word of caution, this country is more violent than any Azortec member country and quite willing to use force to enforce its will. They have demonstrated the capability to organize and accomplish seemingly impossible tasks. For example, the United States initiated and completed a project to extract one of their enemies’ underwater vehicles from the ocean floor. At the outset of this project, they did not possess the necessary technology to successfully complete their goal.”
Oria interrupted. “Lieutenant, I believe the English term is submarine. Where you can, please use Earth's terminology. I don't want to be overly picky about semantics; however, I believe a significant contributing factor to our mission’s success will be clear communication with people from Earth.”