Chapter 6: A Base for CH
Nikita leaned back in the chair that had just been brought into the base. She, James, and Bobby made up the High Command of the Clan Hunters— though she was personally worried about whether or not there would be a clan left to be High Command of, if the situation did not improve soon.
"Alright," she said. "What do we know then?"
Across the table from where the three High Command members sat, a Vice Admiral, who called himself Cano, was standing with a hologram of the Ring floating over a small console. Cano was of Asian complexion and wore glasses as he peered down into his notes. His voice rarely wavered. "We know that approximately one standard hour ago, another force entered the Ring area. Not by space, though, or the Pride would have picked up the scopes. That means that they have discovered the address for the Stargate system that Mr. Call installed in DreamLand."
Nikita would have given a pretty penny to find out how these guys — whoever they were — had come up with that. The Stargates were extremely convenient at moving supplies and forces around the galaxies, if you knew how to operate them.
Before she had come here after receiving Ben's message, she had seen a Stargate on John Call's representation of Earth. It looked exactly like the Halo that CH's base was now sitting on, except that it spun around and had some weird looking symbols on it. Supposedly, if you dialed the symbols in the right sequence, it would create a wormhole between two of the gates. This wormhole allowed anyone or anything who traveled through it to travel light-years instantly.
And someone had found a way to get to their new discovery.
"Who are they?" asked Bobby, head of CH's Intelligence Division.
"I do not know, exactly, but they do have a name. They call themselves SeeD. Apparently, according to the reference books, they are a mercenary organization known as the elite of any other breed of soldier on their home planet. They have used some space travel and will take contracts for just about anyone."
"So, who hired them?" James asked.
"I imagine we should ask them."
"You're one hell of an Intelligence Chief, you know that?" said James, lighting a cigar.
"I wish you wouldn't smoke that. Makes me feel disgusted in real life, much less in DreamLand," said Nikita from her chair.
"Thank you, Rear Admiral Cano, you are dismissed. Commander Ginge, how is our weapons supply right now?"
A tall, ginger-haired man with a British accent stepped forward. "Well, Ma'am, it seems that we have a large amount of personal weaponry, ranging from lightsabers to shotguns to blasters, but nothing that really will give us a definite edge over these SeeDs …except for the Pride and the other top cover we have from the shuttles and cargo ships.
"As soon as this is resolved, we will be able to appropriate funds to gain heavier weapons; but, for now, all we can do is wait."
Suddenly, Captain Whitestar came running into the conference room. "Sirs. Ma'am. A UH-60 Blackhawk is inbound. They are requesting permission to land using Captain Assim's clearance code. Problem is, they are bringing vital intelligence with them as well. The pilot, one Petty Officer Second Class Biffy, is about to be ejected from the system. He's almost up on his five hours."
Everyone was immediately on their feet. They quickly ran out to the newly-installed Clan Hanger to await the landing of the UH-60 Blackhawk.
"I can't stay in any longer!" Biffy shouted, as his PDA screen showed a downward running number from ten seconds.
"You'd better land us, Biffy! Or else I'll demote you back down to Crewman!" shouted Assim.
"Fat lot of good that'll do us, if we're all dead!" Turkey shouted at the Captain.
Below them waves churned, as the island that sat on the coordinates came ever closer in the window. Larry did not want to think about what would happen if the thing hit the cliffs. Pain here appeared to be real, which explained why Biffy and the other injured members in the compartment were moving so stiffly after their crash landing.
Larry began to take deep breaths. He could feel the anger and fear that was rampant in the cabin. He began to reach with his mind into the area around him. Sound and time seemed to slow and fade to nothing. He could feel the chopper shudder with each pass of the rotor overhead. He could feel the waves and the wind below him. Now, he became the chopper, the wind, and the waves. He was in everyone in the cabin; they were in him. He could feel their anxiousness and trepidation and desire to leave. He reassured their minds and they each relaxed.
Larry inhaled deeply and all semblance of his trance left him. What had he just done? Had he just reached out through the Force? Or, was this something about being Ta'veren?
"Five seconds!" Biffy shouted.
As the ground was coming up to meet him, Larry grabbed at a handhold to steady himself against the impact. The UH-60 hit once, bounced hard, and rested, its rotor spinning wildly.
Biffy had landed on top of the island in a concrete section that appeared to be unused as of yet, though a large crowd of people filed out of the ground surrounding the helicopter with guns drawn. With her arms waving in the air, Tex was the first person out of the helicopter.
"It's alright," a voice came from within the mob of armed men and women, "it's Lt. Commander Tex."
The guns dropped and they began filing out of the helicopter. Larry was helping Turkey carry down the still injured Dabby. Assim and Fox were carrying the unconscious Biffy down from the cockpit.
"It's good to see you," a concerned, sleek-looking man said as he seemed to simply appear next to Tex. "I was worried."
Tex smiled up at him, but then punched his shoulder, "Where were you, Fury? I wanted to go out with you, but instead I found a wiseass Captain and discovered just how bad a shot Fox is!"
"Hey! I resent that!" Fox said, straightening.
"Who you callin' a 'wiseass'?" Assim scowled.
"Enough!" a thin, white man with a furrowed brow said with a loud voice. "We did not rush out of here to hear a shouting match! You have information the Clan can use?"
Everyone who had been in the slightly battered Blackhawk turned to Larry, who snapped to attention. He had just noticed the rank insignias on the shoulders and collars of all those present: a lot of admirals and one that had a large insignia on the collar which appeared to be a ribbon twisted into the shape of a "CH" with flowing cursive letters. Also, those three must be the High Command members.
"This is Crewman Harrod the Barbarian," Tex introduced.
"Who coincidentally happens to be a Force- sensitive person," Capt. Assim said, frowning slightly at the lightsaber dangling at Larry's belt. His comment drew a gasp from all of those standing around.
"Well, I see that we should get inside the base to take care of this debriefing," said the tall, blonde woman with the "CH" insignia of the High Command on the collar of her black jacket. "We do not want to give away the location of the base of operations."
Inside of the briefing room, Assim reported of scouting the Ring and being captured by the freelancer "Outlaw." He also told of the crash. Afterwards, Larry stood at ease as he explained his very basic control of the Force, his being Ta'veren and, of course, John Call's warnings.
"So, we know this much," said Bobby, one of the High Command members — the woman, Nikita, stood beside him, with an impatient-looking guy named James on her other side — "we have mercenaries pouring through the Stargate, a clan that knows this location and is coming this way, and a final warning to get the Index. This means, some clan hired mercenaries to come through the Stargate to pave the way for an invasion of the Ring so they can use it as their own base."
"You mean to say that we are just going to take the word of a Crewman!" shrieked James. "For all we know about him, he could be a spy!"
"I hardly make friends with those who would try to kill me," Larry said coldly.
"I reckon that if he was a spy, then he'd a' tried to kill us when we were all conked off out cold," drawled Fox.
James scowled, "Yes. Thank you, Petty Officer Fox."
A large, placid looking man scowled at the High Command. He had the rank of an Admiral and had several medals strapped to his chest, "I think that we should believe him. We need to secure this Index."
"My thoughts, exactly, Ben. I see something much more sinister here. Look at the facts: First, we have a single freelancer with an ego. This means he likes to work alone or rarely in a small group. Now look at the group. It's an organization called SeeD who works together like an army. I think these two attacks are completely unrelated. Now, we know that Outlaw works for another clan, so who do these guys work for?" Nikita pondered, trailing off.
Larry had an idea. "Maybe John Call gave me the hint about the Index because these SeeDs have been hired to go through the Library and activate this Halo."
Everyone stopped. "Well," agreed Bobby. "That could be it."
"Why would anyone try to destroy themselves?" James asked.
"John said some people are opposed to the entire DreamLand system, and would be willing to wipe everyone out just to shut down the system," Larry pointed out. "I am sure these SeeDs don't know that they are about to kill their own programming."
An Asian, wearing the pins of a Rear Admiral came up, along with a large man who was wearing a pair of glasses, and was tapping the keyboard on the laptop in his hands. The Asian Admiral said, "It seems that Alpha Two, here, just intercepted transmissions between SeeD forces…"
"Yes," said Alpha Two, cutting off the Admiral. "It seems that the Pride intercepted a transmission in which a group of SeeDs claim that they have located the entrance to the Library, where you said John Call said the Index was."
A murmur ran through the crowd of officers and enlisted men as voices began to speak up on both sides of the High Command bench.
"They're going to destroy DreamLand!"
"We should try to stop them, I don't…"
"What do you think, Fury…?"
"I just spent a lot of money on this thing; I am not going to see it turned into a useless piece of slag!"
"HEY!" shouted James. "It seems that our contact is right, the Library has been found." He turned to where the Asian Admiral was standing, "Cano, can you and your branch locate the Library?"
Admiral Cano opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Alpha Two's quick response, "Sure. I have the entrance to the underground system right here. Though I would hurry if I were you, the Pride just intercepted another message stating that reinforcements were en-route."
"Well, now we know what to do with the other recon squadrons," Bobby said, looking slightly pale."
Alright! How much time do each of you have?" Nikita shouted. "If you have more than one and a half hours left on your max time in DreamLand, you can go. If not, you must remain here."
A rustle sounded as everyone began to produce their PDAs. To Larry's immense relief, he saw he had two and a half hours left. Several of the CH members present began to moan loudly.
"You shouldn't be so bummed," said an Admiral who had a beard and broad shoulders. "SeeDs are incredibly dangerous. I arrived near Galbadia Garden on their home world. They managed to rescue me from a swarm of monsters before questioning me quite roughly."
"Well then, Ownage, since you have experience with these SeeDs, you will lead the expedition to recover the Index. You and our little Jedi will be going along."
A Lt. Commander rushed forward to where Capt. Assim was. He had ginger-colored hair and spoke with a crisp British accent, "I'm sorry to hear about your last mini-gun. Seems that freelancer took it off you, eh? Not to worry, friend. I managed to scrounge another one up from the CH stockpiles…"
Assim lightened considerably as he hefted the multi-barreled weapon. He began checking the weapon thoroughly, giving the barrels a test spin and what not.
Fox was about to say something to Larry, when he toppled over, unconscious.
"Someone get him to…" Tex began before she, too, toppled over, her head hitting the ground of the briefing room.
James looked over from where the three High Command members were conferring to scowl at the two downed members before the three broke and began issuing orders.
"You! Get some extra ammunition…"
"You ten, you will be staying here for defense of our base…"
"Here's the deal, we will be rerouting the remaining forces that engaged SeeD just out of the Stargate. That means that Lt. Commander Recon, Lt. Commander Fate and his armor group, and what is left of Lt. Jr. Grade Justice's squad will meet you near the Library and provide back up," Nikita explained, as people began pulling PDAs out and imputing names of the different squads for instant communication. There was a feature that allowed for instant messaging as well as limited vocal messages.
"Seems you are down a sniper," a very straight voice came from behind Larry. "Mind if I join?"
Turning, Larry noticed that the man who spoke had a leather jacket on and a headband over his forehead that read "Rouge." In his hands, he carried a black rifle with a scope on the top. Larry recognized it as a SR-25 rifle, which was a more current rifle and easily used when moving around and breaking down.
"It would seem we do not have much choice…Rouge?" the last part of Turkey's statement was a question, as his eye fell on the headband.
"That's right," Rouge said coolly.
"Enough chit-chatting," Assim said, flipping a pair of sunglasses over his eyes. "It seems you have been promoted to Petty Officer First Class. Though for what, I can't say."
"It is because he saved all of you from Outlaw," responded the bold, thunderous voice of the Admiral leading the attack, Ownage.
"How many do we have going with us, Sir?" Assim asked of the bigger man.
"Roughly twenty, at present, though whatever is left of Justice's, Fate's, and Recon's squadrons will join us shortly at the rendezvous point. Appears that they just managed to report in to the Pride."
A taller man who shared a striking resemblance to John Call came over to where everyone was standing. He had a long, thin blade over his back that appeared to have some trigger worked into it somehow…
"I'm coming too," said the man. He wore a tan pair of shorts and a long shirt of an identical tan color.
Ownage frowned and muttered something under his breath about uniforms, "Very well, Allied. Just get into the hanger." He turned and left. The young man followed, fingering the hilt of the very odd sword that was over his shoulder.
"Everyone!" Nikita shouted. "This is our first test as a Clan, and as people in DreamLand. Do not waste it, or else everything we have done to this point is worthless, and a waste of money at that. The SeeDs must not be allowed to get the Index! Good Luck! And may the Force be with you!" she said, peering with a smile on her lips at Larry.
Larry felt that he was going to get a lot of that in the coming days…
