Guardian Stone 2: Stone and the T-Raptors Read online

  Curt said, "You know that you and Aber are also telepathic, do you not?"

  "I did not and I am not sure about what the extent of our talent might be. We have not been tested."

  "Well, we can take care of that tomorrow. My suspicion is that you both are going to test out as pretty strong. Lets get back to the party and enjoy our amazing kids. Meanwhile I am asking Kazia to send a full report to Hank Stone along with anything Kazia might wish to add. The kids have a talent comparable to one that Hank Stone has that gives him an early warning on things that have broader implications. These children are very special in spite of the fact that they are ours. I really got a tickle out of the announcement of Jane's about their identification of their soul mates. It is said that Hank Stone found his at age 7 and did not rediscover her until age 41. It's a funny universe we live in."

  They rejoined the party and had fun until about 5 o’clock. Eleanor went home with the kids and the Orpan family to theirs. Curt went to work after alerting two standby T-Raptor teams. Curt met with the teams and decided to call in a third. He said, "The third team is to form a protective shield around the first two teams who were going to do a joint rapport to conduct the interview. Kazia, would you please transport Gox to an interview room and placed under restraints. We will let him stew for ten minutes before we go in."

  Five minutes into the wait, Kazia said,

  "Can you remove the device without killing him."

 

  Curt said, "You have that right. Put it in a stasis field in the vacant lab in quadrant D. We can look at that later. Please do a scan of the rest of the facility for this life form. Remove any similar devices and install each individual you find in a maximum security cell. Also keep a running situation report going to Barana."

 

  "OK team, it is time to go talk. I will be the only one visible. Lets go see what this turkey or should I say snake, has to say." Kazia advised Curt that Hank would be observing invisibly until needed along with Team Harvey. With that Curt projected to the interview room in invulnerable mode. The room was fairly large and was originally intended for use as a sports venue. It was a 40 foot cube. Curt felt that the size of the room might help intimidate Gox. Curt was no sooner seated across the table from Gox when Gox broke his restraints and came across the table toward Curt. Curt waited until he was inches away and gestured, freezing Gox in place. Curt smiled and hurled him back into his chair and restrained him there. "OK Gox, suppose you tell me who and what you are and what you are doing here along with your 8 buddies."

  The look of shock on Gox face told Curt he had clearly surprised Gox. Gox whispered, "How is this possible. Humans are weak."

  "If you think that was something, wait until you see what our Snarfs can do."

  At that comment, Hank appeared with a T-Raptor team in the form of a 20 foot T-Rex on a chain leash, Team Harvey. The T-Rex glared at Gox and said licking its chops, "Can me eat this one boss?"

  "Not yet Harvey, not yet. Gox, I believe that General Walters has asked you a question. Answer him or you are Snarf food." At this the T-Rex roared and stamped its feet saying "YES, YES, YES."

  Gox visibly wilted and said, "I am Goxar Parth from the planet Saba. I am here to foment unrest for the takeover by my people. I made a mistake and ended up here."

  "When is this takeover to take place?

  "I do not know when but it should be very soon. Our infiltration should be about complete now. When that is ready, the signal will be sent and the fleet will come."

  Curt asked, "How is the signal to be sent?" The T-Rex continued its performance adding to the discomfort of Gox.

  "Our communications devices have the ability to apply the necessary code phrase, but mine has apparently failed because I can not use it as I normally can."

  "What is the code phrase."

  "The code phrase is, Dinner is Ready."

  Curt looked to Hank who signaled no more questions so Curt asked Kazia to return Gox to his cell and to tag him should he try to escape. He also asked that the cell be reinforced. After Gox was gone, Curt said to Hank "Thanks for the help. Your team Harvey should get an Oscar for that performance. Looks like we have a real situation developing here. Anything else you want me to do at this point?"

  Hank said, "Shoot, you have been doing just fine without any guidance from me. I would suggest you listen to those kids but don't burn them out. My sense is that they are too resilient for that eventuality anyway. I would like very much to meet them. They have given us a real heads up on what is coming. Now we have to get ready. I will stop by tomorrow morning if that is OK, to meet the kids, to meet Rian Orpan and to update you on what we know by then. I have reviewed your request to bump him to Lt Colonel and I am approving that. I will bring his rank tabs and pin him myself if that is OK."

  Curt had a huge grin, saying, "Boss that is more than OK, it is well deserved. See you tomorrow." With that all teams exited rapport.

  ### On Station 161 in Petra Orbit –

  December 9 – C Day 466 ###

  Emil Bikel commander of Station 161 asked his AI Nkiruka to see if General Fran Gomar and President Jame Marti were available to an immediate conference aboard the station. Both were available and were transported to the conference lodge. Emil said, "Gentlemen, thanks for coming on such short notice. Please have a seat. I have some news that will be of interest to you. My first question will seem strange, but here goes. Do you have a maximum security prison facility that has some really solid solitary confinement cells?"

  General Gomar noted that they did with a puzzled look.

  Emil said, "I said it was an unusual question. First I want to play a report that we have received from Station 141 a station in my Division that is currently stationed at Felix. This will explain a lot." After the report had run he continued, "We have run the suggested scans and you have 30 individual Sabans on your planet, all in disguise. Some shuttles are being prepared to transport them to Felix. Once we remove those devices from them they will revert to their original form. We wish to take them alive. If you have those cells available we can teleport them there and remove those communicators there. If we do that in public, it may cause a panic. Presently, they do not know that we are on to them but they will soon and we are trying to coordinate the arrests so it will appear that they all dropped off the grid at near the same time."

  President Marti agreed and General Gomar asked if he could be connected with prison at Puta. After a short discussion with the warden, Gomar indicated that the cells were ready and waiting. Emil said, "Good timing, OK Nkiruka, arrest the lot and put all of those communication/ disguise devices in cold storage in a shielded container not on but near the station where we can find it. Now Mr. President, General, let us see who we have netted. The surveillance vids d
one by Nkiruka will show us what they looked like at the time of capture and what they looked like immediately after removal of the device. Can you identify anyone from these pictures." Both men gasped and stated that they could. Emil went on, "OK, that is a good thing. Now lets figure out where they were working and what they were doing. This we need to do quickly so we can offset any damage they might have done. Do you have some trusted people that can do that kind of forensics and would you like Nkiruka to help?"

  Both men readily agreed and the review began. The very first thing found was that the ground to space defense network had been taken off line two days previously. The next was that the communications network had been destabilized but the work was not complete, so repairs could readily be made. All of the sabotage found was repairable but would have been fatal in a crisis. This information was shared with the other planets in the hegemony as a guide to things to look for and repair.

  Chapter 32: Hank Meets the Kids

  On Station 141 in Felix Orbit – December 9 – C Day 466

  Curt asked the Orpan family along with his wife and kids to meet him at the same location as the previous day. He said he would join them there in a few minutes with a guest. He then met the shuttle from Yannar with Hank and Sam aboard. Curt explained the set up and asked Kazia to transport them to the site. Curt's kids recognized Hank and Sam and Jane said "Oh Wow." Curt did the introductions after which Hank went up to Rian and shook his hand saying "Welcome aboard but you are wearing the wrong rank tabs." As he said this he pulled the Lt Colonel tabs from his pocket and proceeded to replace the Majors tabs. Hank said, "Colonel, I have rarely had such a high recommendation from one of my officers to promote someone in their command. This gives me particular pleasure because I was convinced that there would be people like you in the ranks of former polits. You will find General Walters to be a fair man and a tough taskmaster. This rank is at his recommendation and I heartily approve. Now I would like to meet these amazing children. Let's see you would be Jane and you are Gust. Next we have Anya and Christopher. Come let's sit and chat." After they were all seated around the table Hank continued, "Yesterday, you four saved millions of lives with an early warning so it is fair that you should know what you really have found or at least as much as we know at this point in time. There is a system with at least one habitable planet about 955 light years from here. That is the Saba system. The species of the people that live there are reptillian and appear to be very aggressive with expansion intent in mind. It also appears that they view humans as a food source. This is not good for multi-species relations." All chuckled. "Your warning yesterday allowed us to find the individual named Gox and arrest him. While waiting to prepare an interview team led by Curt here, Kazia discovered that the Gox was not human. Further she found that the voice you heard was not telepathic but rather was through an implanted communication device. Curt had Kazia removed the device without killing Gox. In the meantime he passed the word on to all stations and we all scanned for this life form on all stations, bases, planets and ships in space. A total of 821 of these beings were found throughout the hegemony, all involved in acts of sabotage. All were captured, imprisoned and all had their communication devices removed."

  Gust said, "Wow, sudden and total communications blackout. Saba must be going ballistic not knowing."

  Hank was impressed and said, "Precisely. That is our read on how they must be reacting. Anyway, all of these Sabans appeared to be as human as you or I until the devices were removed. The devices had a second function and that was to disguise their true appearance. We are now trying to determine if there were any additional functions. We should know later today. At that point all of these devices will be destroyed. We do know that the range on these things must be somewhat limited so we are looking for the booster station. We also know that they had a code signal to be sent when the saboteurs were done their dirty work to signal Saba to invade. As far as we know, you four are the first telepaths able to detect and hear an artificial signal so what we would like to do is to teach you how to determine on what frequency a signal is being transmitted. It may be that this is a talent that all four of you are needed to trigger. Kazia also noticed something else unusual about your form of rapport. It appears that you maintain awareness of your bodies while in rapport. You have awareness of both your projection and of your actual bodies. You may have something additional to teach us there. It would probably be a good idea to not share that you have this talent with others your age. Certainly it is ok with our T-Raptors and telepaths. Does that sound reasonable?" They all nodded vigorous agreement. "Any way, your records will all reflect what you accomplished yesterday and I am pleased to know each of you. You also have a fast track through Kazia to me or any station when you become aware of something to which we should be alerted. I feel bad that part of your childhood is interrupted this way. Yours will be an interesting mix of childhood and adult concerns. If you ever feel a need to talk to me or to Sam, ask Kazia to make contact and we will chat. OK?" They all nodded ok. "I also understand that each of you has identified his and her soul-mate and recognize what that means. My heartiest congratulations. I have one favor to ask."

  Gust inquired, "What is that, General Stone?"

  Hank grinned at the four, "Please invite Sam and me to the weddings." All grinned back nodding yes.

  Barana interrupted,

  "Great, I have been itching for that."

 

  Hank said, "OK, here is what I want done, I want each of those devices set in a 100 mile orbit around whatever planet they are on or near with an interval of about 100 yards. Then send the self destruct code to each one of those beasties at about one second interval. Then collect the debris and fry it again. Leave nothing but a molten blob. Each location should start their destruction sequence at the same time so all but Yannar will be done in less than a minute. This should give them something to think about." At this point Hank noticed that the kids were in rapport and were focused on something external.

  Jane spoke for the group, essary. We will not further intrude unless you need our particular talents.>

  "Kazia and Curt, do you have team on board who can do a good Snarf, if so I need them here ten minutes ago. I brought my normal team with me on this trip, I also need them here pronto." A few seconds later the team arrived along with others.

  "This team has seen all the tapes of 'Harvey' and have been practicing. They will do well. I have another team coming who will provide a protection for all groups and the rest of us will join that group. Good hunting Hank."

  Within a minute all were ready to go. Hank told Kazia to send the start destruct order in 15 seconds. Meanwhile, Hank briefed the rest of the team what he wanted to do. Only he and Harvey would be visible. He wanted the rest of the team to gather intel. He told team Harvey that they would be advised which equipment would be ok to destroy after they had gathered the information they wanted. He asked that team Harvey follow his lead but to put on a good show. Hank waited until the destruct sequence was underway for 60 seconds and then said, "OK, its time to act." They entered rapport and Hank projected them to the Saban vessel where things were already in a state of turmoil. Hank and Harvey were standing in the bridge room and Hank had Harvey give a loud roar. This was immediately met with energy weapons fire. It stopped when they realized that the weapons were doing no good. Several tried to leave the bridge but Hank gestured and the doors were locked. Hank noted that a camera was recording the event and he allowed it to continue. He said an a very loud voice, "What are you people doing in my area? You did not ask my permission. Explain yourselves. Who will speak for you? Who is in command?"

  Finally, an older Saban spoke up and said, "That would be me. Who and what are you? How did you get on board? "

  Before anything more could be said, Hank telepathically noted which stations could be destroyed. He left the navigation controls alone but indicated some of the weapons controls that could be destroyed. Team Harvey immediately smashed one underfoot and many of the bridge crew cringed back into spaces to avoid proximity to Harvey. Harvey said, "Can me eat some now boss, they look like good snacks."