Chapter 9: Battle Stations

Josh stood in the front room of the old shack with his fists clenched in rage as he stared at the three apprentices who knelt before him. He took a step closer to the three and growled “Eleric, stand up and walk with me.”

The young man rose from his knees and followed Josh as he walked towards the front door. “Master I...” Eleric Started to say.

Josh silenced him with a single look as he opened the door. Whatever Eleric was about to say was drowned out by the fury of the storm raging outside. The wind pulled the door handle from Josh’s hand and tore through the room. The other two apprentices kneeling on the floor, and the four masters that circled them were untouched by the chaos that circled the room, as the two figures walked out into the storm and the door slammed shut behind them cutting off the force of the wind and rain.

The two walked side by side into the heart of the storm, the wind and rain being deflected around them. As they walked the larger of the two moved his fingers in a rhythmic fashion and with a flick of his wrist the two vanished, leaving the storm to rage around the small cabin.

...

David looked out the view screen and stared at the continent of Australia as it rose over the horizon. “Who were they Riu? They were not Morgalon’s, they appeared to be human. What the hell happened? And how the hell did they do it?” He asked as he continued to watch the planet below.

Riu walked up behind David and rested her hand on his shoulder. “Sir, I have no idea who they were, the Excalibur and Lt. Dale are still reviewing the tapes. As for what happened and how it happened, that I can answer. Experience sir, the crew does not have experience in tactical situations. Nor do you have complete knowledge or experience operating our equipment. Time will fix that however...”

“Time...” David interrupted as he turned to face Riu. “Time is a luxury we do not have. I have one ship out of commission, one almost out of commission, and my crew is so inexperienced they can not handle a single away mission.” David growled.

“That is true sir. Time is a luxury we do not have a lot of,” Riu said patiently as she turned away from David and sat at one of the consoles. “However we need to maximize the time we do have. I finished the program you requested while you were traveling to the surface and started it. It’s been running for about three hours now and we have already started receiving potential recruits.”

David took a deep breath and walked up to look at the console Riu was manipulating. “Any good candidates yet?”

“Yes sir, the Excalibur rescued the crew of a Royal Air Force helicopter that crashed in Afghanistan, I believe you call it a Chinook. There were thirty six passengers and crew on board. I am running their records now.”

“Thirty six?” David asked “I thought the Excalibur was only able to teleport thirty people at once?”

“Yes sir, thirty at once is it’s current limitation using the automated systems, however I was able to program a script into the main program that utilized the transporters on the Querithon’s on board the Excalibur to increase its capability. While running this program the Excalibur can transport fifty individuals at one time to the stasis chambers.”

“Very good. Besides the thirty six people from the helicopter, how many others have we been able to rescue?”

“Sir, since I started the program, we have rescued almost two hundred people. Of that two hundred, one hundred and sixty three will be trainable, the rest are family members who are too young or too old,” Riu replied as she brought the information on the passengers and crew of the helicopter.

“Two hundred?” David stated in shock. “How did we find so many so fast?”

“Sir, there are over seven billion people on your planet, and on average one hundred and fifty five thousand people die on your planet a day. So two hundred of them in three hours is not very many in comparison. The people we rescued were from the helicopter crash and two small engine airplane crashes, one in Russia and one in Spain. A mud slide in east Africa and a tornado that took out an entire neighborhood in southern Texas also provided people.”

“Understood, good work Captain. So about the passengers and crew of the helicopter?” David asked leaning over Rui’s shoulder to look at the display.

“Yes sir, I took the information we were able to derive from the equipment on the personnel and their DNA and was able to pull up their records. We have the Pilot; Flight Lieutenant Alan Carter, His Co-Pilot; Flying Officer Neville Casey, and their flight Engineer; Sergeant Stuart Childs...”

“In our Space Force ranks that would be?”

“Captain Alan Carter, Lieutenant Neville Casey and Staff Sergeant Stuart Childs.” Riu Replied. “We also have two six man US Navy Seal team members, six members of the Afghanistan Security forces, three civilian interpreters, ten US Army Rangers, and four imbedded reporters and their cameramen.”

David stood up and stared at the screen. “Imbedded reporters. What the hell were civilian reporters doing on board an RAF Helicopter?”

“I do not have that information sir you will have to ask them.” Riu replied.

“Very well, can the training programs be piped into the stasis chambers?”

“No sir, that would not be possible, the metabolism of the people in the chamber is slowed to such a degree that the nanites used in the training would not be able to function properly.”

David stepped away form the console and passed across the room, once again staring out into the spacescape. “Ok, do we know the dialect that the interpreters used?” He asked

“Yes sir, why do you ask?”

“I want you to make a program to teach me that dialect of Arabic perfectly.” David said as he turned to face Riu. “We will use this group as our first recruits and see how they react.”

“Yes sir. The program will take a few hours to upload and compile, do you still wish us to monitor and transport others to the ship in the meantime?”

“Yes, as long as we can keep it up, the more lives we can save the more possible recruits we will have and we all know we can use all the help we can get right now.”

...

Eleric and Josh appeared on a cliff face along a remote stretch of road along the Australian coast. The storm was not as strong here as it was at the cabin but the wind still howled ferociously along the cliffs. The two stood at the edge of the cliffs looking out towards the water for some time before Josh spoke. “Eleric, you need to think before you act. You and your sister are still young in your magic and Yuri is barely an apprentice. Her father trusted me with her care and it is a responsibility I take very seriously. What were you thinking taking them there?”

“Master, I was not thinking, I only wanted to prove myself to you and Zoe. You both treat me as if I had not earned my journeyman’s robes, as if I was still an apprentice...”

“Act like an apprentice and I shall treat you like one.” Josh interrupted. “Yes you have earned your Journeyman’s robes but that does not give you the right to go to a dangerous location with two apprentices and investigate things on your own. I am a master in the arts and even I hesitated before going alone...”

Josh’s words were interrupted by a loud screeching sound and a crash of metal against metal. Josh and Eleric turned towards the noise and saw a compact car crashed into the guardrail. The occupants appeared to be unconscious and the vehicle was balanced precariously over the edge. The two mages did not hesitate, immediately the two appeared next to the car floating over the cliff. Josh opened the driver’s door as Eleric attempted to get the passenger door open. The two men were still partway inside the vehicle when it slipped a little further off the cliff and then plummeted towards the ocean. With a flash of bright light the two mages and all the people in the car vanished, seconds before it hit the water and sank from sight.

...

Elise looked up suddenly from the floor, all motion stopped. Yuri looked at her friend with concern. “Elise, why have you stopped if Zoe sees us not scrubbing the floors...” She said before being interrupted by as a panicked Zoe burst into the meditation room.

Elise looked towards her mentor with tears in her eyes “Zoe, he’s gone.”

Zoe knelt next to the crying teen, “I know, Elise, I felt it too. I have already contacted the others, and they are on their way. We will find them, I promise you we will find them.”

...

David sat in his quarters on the Excalibur looking at the electronic pad in front of him, going over the list of names of the people the Excalibur has rescued in the past day and a half. There were too many, he could not believe how many people the ship had gathered and were now sitting in stasis. As he sat there staring at the pad a chime sounded indicating someone wished entrance into his quarters. David put the pad down and approached the door. With a wave of his hand over the sensor he activated the door’s manual controls.