The shuttle was actually very quiet but with all the audio feeds and view screens it felt noisy; maybe that’s why Kamiko acknowledged with a hand signal.
The crowd was in full panic mode now. No one knew where to run to but apparently it was an ingrained reflex.
The fireball kept growing larger.
Jaki’s two bodyguards had drawn their weapons while she stood there on the steps behind the podium. All around her were in panic but Jaki stood silent, staring straight ahead obviously concentrating and focused.
“Ok Toni, hold us steady and open this door so we can get a clean shot.”
“When I do that Major, we’re going to lose our cloak.”
“That’s ok,” I yelled. “Just do it!”
The door disappeared and Captain Kamiko and I fired at the same time. We shifted to target Jaki but we were too late…
Jaki was outraged but well in control. She didn’t know how these Earthers had gotten aboard her ship or how they’d managed to overcome her crew but she’d made them pay. She’d neutralized all of them and was even now wresting control back.
She’d gotten an initial warning message out to the Noridian Dynasty before she’d lost control of communications but she was now realizing that there was no way the Earthers could have pulled this off by themselves. This smelled of Coridia and maybe the rumors of a secret Coridian enclave on Earth were true after all. All the better for her to find them and use them as proof to the galactic community that the peaceful Noridian efforts had been sabotaged.
She had just managed to slow the falling ship and was striving for a controlled crash when a shuttle suddenly appeared hovering not 50 feet in front of her. All she could focus on was a crouching figure in the doorway pointing a rifle right at her. At the very same moment that she recognized Dr. Julie Schein behind the scope her head snapped back from the force of a 5.56mm bullet passing through her brain.
Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. The ship had crashed just about a mile from the palace. There was no explosion but we could still see the dust, steam, and smoke from the re-entry heat.
After Julie shot Jaki we’d quickly landed but the two bodyguards were dead and there wasn’t a Noridian to be found. We’d easily secured the area. We had landed first and the very air had shaken with the roar of the crash landing but I think we were all beyond being startled by anything.
After a few moments or minutes I realized that Silva was trying to talk to me.
“Wait a minute Silva, I’m here. This is Reagan, go ahead.”
“Major, you and your team, are you ok?”
I noticed Captain Kamiko setting on the steps with her head down.
“No. Yes… we’re all in one piece anyway. What happened with the ship?”
“I am sorry Major, I couldn’t control it. In the end Jaki was locking me out of everything and then… she was gone from the command circuit but it was too late for me to prevent the crash.”
“Ok listen. We’re heading to the crash site now. I need you to get a shuttle down here with some emergency medical equipment—we’ve got to help the survivors and time could be critical.”
“Major, to survive a crash like that…” he said slowly.
“Listen,” I half shouted. “Those ships have inertial dampeners. It’s very possible that the people on board didn’t even feel a bump when they hit. But they may need our help. Now stop arguing with me and get over there!”
“Major, I need you to listen to me!” he said softly. There was something ominous in his voice that stopped me cold.
“Almost until the ship crashed I was still getting biometric data from the ship. You’re right, the inertial dampeners were still active but when Jaki realized she was boarded and her people were gone she… evacuated the atmosphere. I’m sorry Major but there was no one left alive on that ship even before it hit the ground.”
“But, they could have…” my voice trailed off as the implications sunk in. I felt needles of ice pierce my chest and flow up through my neck into my head.
“Major I am sending a shuttle just in case but I don’t want to give you false hope. They’re gone.”
Now I understood why Kamiko wasn’t moving; she somehow knew.
Everyone had run away from the steps of the palace. Except for a few bodies we were alone but I knew that wouldn’t last.
I grabbed everyone and in some cases I actually shoved them back into the shuttle. Captain Kamiko was following orders but otherwise not communicating. Dr. Decker seemed stunned and Dr. Cook was… well, as quiet and self-absorbed as he always was.
Julie was crying. Tears were slowly running down her face but she was alert and functional.
Toni was taking us back to the Coridian ship. I hadn’t told her to and we hadn’t planned on it, but it was obvious we had nowhere else to go.
Everything had moved so fast. We had known we would need to raid the Noridian ship the moment we reached Earth orbit but no one had prepared themselves for what we had found planetside. The United States government appeared decapitated. I had assumed that once we had removed the Noridian threat we would report to our superiors and submit ourselves to their orders but who were our superiors now?
We needed a chance to regroup. We needed a chance to mourn. We needed a chance to think. We needed a chance to process everything that had happened in the last… had it only taken 35 minutes?
I couldn’t let myself dwell; I still had a job to do…
“Major Reagan?” I heard Silva’s voice in my ear.
“Reagan here.”
“Major, it looks like you stirred up a hornet’s nest down there. Apparently a lot has changed since we’ve been gone and I’m still trying to make sense of it but it looks like Colonel Memphis has been promoted to General and is in charge of some kind of global security or military.
“Everything you guys did was caught on camera and of course he recognized you. He’s already gone on record calling you a traitor to Earth and demanding your immediate surrender.”
“Silva, I’d appreciate it if you’d set up a briefing room for us with some view screens where we can all watch the feeds and figure out our next move. Please have your people learn as much as they can about the current political and military structure on Earth so we can know where to start.”
“Consider it done major but you and your team need to clean up and get some rest.”
“We’ll get to that but first I’m going to need a preliminary assessment of the situation.”
I paused and then spoke again, “Silva, I can’t order these things from you but I would greatly appreciate your cooperation.”
After a moment he said, “Of course,” and the line went silent.
I hadn’t realized we’d returned to the landing bay until the side door slid open and we stepped out into the ship; or at least all of us except Kamiko did. She was still in her shuttle seat staring off into space with an unreadable, emotionless expression on her face.
Even after I walked back and had stood in the doorway a moment she still didn’t seem to see me.
I finally said in what I hoped wasn’t a harsh voice, “Captain Kamiko, I need you to exit the shuttle.”
Without looking at me she stood up with her rifle and walked into the bay.
When we landed at the Coridian ship we were directed to a room I’d never been in before. It was in effect a planetary command center. There were a number of Coridians manning view screens and monitoring activities on Earth and there was a large table in the middle of the room that currently displayed a holographic image of the downed Noridian ship.