“Kelly, how long for the scouts to get here, exact as you can get, please?”
Kelly punched a few keys on his console and answered, “Sir, they will be here in two minutes and 28 seconds.”
The captain keyed his mike again, “LT Chen, set your timers for two minutes 30 seconds from now. Let’s get moving. We’ve got company coming. Sensors, is there any movement from the FTL ship back there?”
“Not a bit, Captain. They are just sitting there. Their comms are active though.”
LT Chen came up on the intercom, “Captain, all charges set. We’re all back in the collar. We’re closed up and ready to separate on your command, sir. All personnel accounted for with no casualties.”
“LT Chen, separate now. Get your Marines and our guests back inside.”
“Helm, get us back across the frontier, full speed ahead. Close up the weapons bay hatch. Let’s go home. Kelly, go check on our guests.”
Kelly went aft to the makeshift brig in the port stores locker. Three Marines each carried the two unconscious and bound K’Rang into the cells. They didn’t know which was the courier, so they put one in the big cell and one in the smaller cell, for sorting out later. They stripped the two down to their fur and scanned them for any hidden or internal devices.
Each K’Rang had a small blade in a surgically emplaced pouch on their hips. The corpsmen removed these with ease. One K’Rang had a small electronic device in his ear. This was also removed and sent to Sensors for analysis. Small pins were found bound into their fur. A small pair of scissors removed these. Their clothes were searched and two weapons were found, along with a small data crystal and a small electronic device. All the devices were scanned for explosives, found to be clear, and sent to Sensors. When the search was completed, the K’Rang were dressed in extra large hospital pajamas, untied, and left guarded in their cells.
The two K’Rang scout ships arrived simultaneously at the site of the tumbling, lifeless shuttle craft. Five seconds later it exploded in a large fireball, consuming all three ships. The courier ship’s debris intermingled with that of the scouts ships.
Kelly rejoined the bridge crew and reported that their guests were in their quarters and resting. Chief B came up behind him with a small electronic device in her hand.
“Captain, this should make it easier for us to cross the frontier.”
“What is it, Chief B?”
“Captain, this is what the K’Rang used to cross through the frontier unmolested. I think it turns off the mines. Want to try it?”
“Well, we’re almost there and going through anyway. It can’t hurt. Sound collision. Here we go. Punch it, Chief.”
“Chief B punched the white button on the device as the Vigilant passed through the frontier. One mine that had activated and oriented on the Vigilant returned to its normal position. They were through.
The captain said, “That wasn’t so bad. Put us on course for Antares. Maintain full speed. Chief B, would you link into comms through Refugio and send the success code?”
“Aye aye, sir.”
The Manchu Warrior continued on, showing no reaction to the activity across the frontier.
Ten days later they were back at Antares Station. Surprisingly, their passengers had survived the journey. It required restraints and occasional intervention by the three corpsmen, but they made it.
The Vigilant was directed to a remote docking station in the back corner of the station. The Marines, heavily armed and in full body armor, escorted the K’Rang Shadow Warriors to the station’s special holding facility. Their interrogations would begin shortly.
1LT Chen was packing when Kelly came into his quarters.
She looked up at Kelly as he came in, smiled and said, “Sir, I know this may be out of line, but I really enjoyed working with you and sharing your cabin. You were always a complete gentleman. I only hope that there may come a time when we could meet under less formal circumstances. Perhaps I could buy you a drink someday.”
Kelly smiled, “I’d like that too, Mary. You know we are actually the same rank. Why don’t you call me Kelly from now on.”
“All right, Kelly, I’ll do that in private for now, but wait until I’m no longer attached to the Vigilant before I do that in public. We must observe the protocols. Here is something else I’ll do in private.”
She moved up against him and gave him a slow, soft kiss.
“Sorry, Kelly, but I’ve wanted to do that since I first saw you at the Marine Special Ops Academy.
Kelly straightened his uniform, although it wasn’t wrinkled, and said, “Thank you, Mary, it was my pleasure. If you're all packed, let me help you with your gear.”
Captain Hasselrode came onboard to escort Kelly and Timmons to the admiral in his station office. They were told to bring all the items taken from the K’Rang. They made their way to the familiar cypher door, went through Admiral Craddock’s outer office, knocked, and were told to enter. The admiral was at his terminal sending a message.
When he sent the message, he looked up and a broad smile came on his face. “Ed, Kelly, I’m glad you made it back safely. I just sent the identifying data on our guests to Fleet Intel. We might know who they are by morning.”
“Sit down, sit down. Make yourselves comfortable. I'm so proud of you two. You're making quite a name for yourselves and the Vigilant. Ed, I’ll need any recommendations for awards from you by the morning.”
“I’ll send them as soon as I get back, sir. 1LT Chen did a great job. She and her platoon deserve all the praise. The boarding was done superbly, under great time pressure, and was 100 % successful. She accomplished her mission in the finest tradition of the Corps.”
“Well, get me your recommendation and I’ll see what I can do. Now why don’t you get back to your ship and down to Antares Base? We’ll talk again tomorrow. Captain Hasselrode will contact you when we have the debriefings set up. 1LT Chen is released back to her command when you reach planet-side and the debriefings are done. The orders will be on your terminal when you get back to the Vigilant. Have a good trip. Oh yes, I’ll probably be sending you back out shortly. So you’d better undo all the modifications to your ship.”
Kelly and Timmons stood up, saluted, and left to return to the Vigilant and planet-side.
Chapter Twelve
Shadow Leader M’Trang was back before the Elders again.
“Esteemed Elders, although we are missing one information installment, we have all the information that we need to take out the Human settlement on G’Dranu, what they call New Alexandria. The final installment of information that was lost to Human treachery was only additional updated information that is superfluous to our requirements to wipe out the Humans.”
The senior elder with gray whiskers protruding from his face replied, “But Shadow Leader, would it not be prudent to wait until we have the latest information before launching our strike?”
“Excellence, we have a window here. The Human’s 15th Fleet has returned to Tau Ceti and disbanded. Many of the ships are due to enter the shipyard for repair and refitting. There is no force that can be brought to reinforce the Humans at New Alexandria before we have wiped them out and put our own defenses in place. When a Human force arrives in three to four weeks time, it will be too late to do anything but realize it is a situation that they cannot change. We might lose some forces to their attempts at revenge, but they will be unable to change the situation. We will have extended the frontier and provided a defensive buffer for our major systems G’Sren and K’Nol. It will remove that vulnerability. We also gain a listening post into Human space.”
Another Elder said, “Understand our concerns, Shadow Leader. The 27th Battle Group you propose to employ is our only main force in that region. Reinforcements are enroute from other regions, but will not be available to go in with them at the time you propose. They won’t arrive until several hours or days after the initial assault takes place. The assault force will be on its own. There is always a danger of our forces being destroyed in detail if we have miscalculated and the Humans are stronger than we have assumed.”