Hell's Hoplites - Book 1 - Thebes - 14 - Chapter 13

Chapter 13 -

Sol System - Earth

One Kilometer Down The Marianas Trench

October 17th 2535 AD - 02:14 GMT

“What the hell happened to you guys?” Patricia asked standing outside the inner airlock door and staring at her other five crew mates.

The five of them were liberally splattered with green, brown, and ochre stains and the odor that rolled out of the airlock was a fetid, muddy, dead fish, and rotting meat smell that almost caused her to vomit.

“Oh, hey babe,” Samuel said pulling his spattered helmet off and gagging slightly at the stench.

“It’s only a flesh wound,” David said pulling off his own helmet and wiping a chunk of flesh from the cover of his wrist top computer.

“Get it off, get it off,” Marie was yelling slime covered hands slipping over the catches of her helmet.

Patricia stepped forward and pulled the helmet off and saw Marie was crying, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“What the hell happened in there?” Patricia repeated helping the younger woman up and cradling her in her arms as she sobbed. Patricia didn’t pay much attention to the nastiness that got all over and ruined her clothing.

“We…,” Jack swallowed. “We found what appeared to be some sort of cloning and storage facility,” he finally husked out.

“Okay, but why are you guys covered in nastiness, and why is Marie crying?” Patricia asked stroking the back of the younger woman’s neck trying to calm her.

“The facility wasn’t empty,” Samuel said. “The cylinders were compromised and the bodies rotting and deteriorated but somehow they were still able to animate and attack us. Marie had to crush one of the female ones with the butt of her shotgun. It was a girl that looked exactly like Taki, maybe a little younger and almost perfectly intact,” he explained.

“Dear god,” Patricia said. “Come on Marie, we’ll go back to my cabin and get you out of that nasty thing,” Patricia told the younger woman and led her off to her room.

“I don’t suppose the budget has any money for new Skinsuits in it does it?” David asked plucking at the slime covered front of his Skinsuit with one gloved hand.

“I think I can make sure it does,” Jack said gagging slightly at the stench.

“Screw it,” Samuel said and started stripping out of his Skinsuit right in the airlock.

The others just shrugged and stripped down as well, no sense in dripping the nastiness through the ship. After they had finished they hung them in decontamination lockers in the airlock and wandered off to their cabins.

Sol System - Mars

Cidonia City - Cidonia City Hilton

October 17th 2535 AD - 17:27 GMT

Suzanne sat at a table in the small café off the main lobby of the Cidonia City Hilton and drank tea and munched on some cookies. For some reason she’d felt the urge for tea although in the past she’d generally preferred coffee; but she’d been able to find a decent orange peel blend at the hotel.

“Hello Miss Peldman,” a familiar voice said behind and then a figure in a white suit moved around in front of her.

“Mr. Wellington,” Suzanne said her tone dry enough to make the Sahara wince.

“So good to see you again Miss Peldman,” the white suited man said smiling brilliantly.

“I can’t say the same for you,” Suzanne told him sarcastically.

“Oh don’t be that way or things may get messy,” Wellington said still smiling but his eyes suddenly going cold.

“You’re just going to ruin my tea break aren’t you?” She asked with a sigh.

“I’m afraid so my dear,” the man told her. “You see you didn’t finish out the contract you were supposed to on Io,” he informed her nonchalantly.

“The Hermanez woman?” Suzanne asked with a sinking sensation.

“Yes, and we’d like to know why, you came highly recommended as one who finishes their jobs and cleans up quite nicely,” Avery told her still smiling. “Oh and by the way if you get any ideas about getting up and leaving I have a silenced hand gun with armor piercing rounds loaded into it pointed at your gut,” Wellington informed her.

“Well than instead of making a mess here in the café why don’t we go up to my room,” Suzanne suggested with a smile.

“Certainly I’d hate to panic the civilians and make a mess in public,” Wellington said standing up his hand dipping into his coat pocket and staying there.

“Right this way then,” Suzanne said leading him out of the café and towards the elevator bank in the lobby. During the ride up to her suite Suzanne’s brain was working furiously to come up with a plan to get her out of this situation. She still had the Para-Ordnance in her clutch purse but she’d be dead before she could bring it to battery.

The elevator finally arrived at the Suite level and Wellington motioned for her to precede him as they stepped off.

Suzanne unlocked her suite’s door and stepped through her only hope of escaping alive was wresting control of the gun from Wellington and turning it on him.

After Wellington had closed the door behind the two of them Suzanne attempted to whip around but was overcome by a wave of dizziness and blacked out.

Wellington watched for the expected attack and wasn’t disappointed as the woman started to turn towards him only to stumble and bounce off the wall and then his face changed to a look of horror.

Sol System - Mars

Cidonia City - Cidonia City Hilton

October 18th 2535 AD - 05:27 GMT

Suzanne slowly regained consciousness and found herself laying in the entryway to her suite and no sign of Wellington.

Maybe he panicked when I blacked out, Suzanne thought to herself.

“That friggin pervert,” Suzanne shouted as she looked down and found herself completely naked. “If they send someone to kill me that’s fine, but to send someone to have their way with me is just totally wrong,” Suzanne growled and got up looking for her clothes.

After half an hour of futile searching she stood with her hands on her hips in disgust. “And he even stole the clothes I was wearing,” she shouted.

Still muttering she gathered up a pair of black leather pants and a black turtleneck and shrugged into them not even bothering with underwear.

Sol System - Mars

Cidonia City - Cidonia City Hilton

October 18th 2535 AD - 18:00 GMT

Suzanne flopped back down on the couch in her suite. Kawamura had increased its security to the point where even a flea wouldn’t be able to get through it and she’d spent several fruitless hours trying just that.

She’d also seen something that must have been extremely important being offloaded at the warehouse dock at the back of the facility. Through her binoculars she’d only been able to tell that they were various parts for what appeared to be for a Carmine-Yushima Drive.

Other than that she’d wasted her entire night and day not gaining even a bit more of information but she could also tell somehow that Taki was not in the facility and if she was ever going to make things up to Jack she’d have to get the girl back safely.

To do that she had to figure out where the girl was and come up with a plan to get her free.

“Oh well one thing at a time,” she muttered grabbing a beer and chugging it down.

Sol System - Earth Orbit

Privately Registered Vessel - Hoplite II

October 18th 2535 AD - 21:35 GMT

“Alright so what’s our plan now?” Fox asked nursing a glass of whiskey as he Samuel, Jack, and David sat around the table in the mess hall.

“Oz decrypted more information,” Jack said taking a sip of his own whiskey and sighing as it burned down his throat. “He’s pinpointed two Kawamura facilities located in the asteroid belt,” he told the other three. “Unfortunately they are diametrically opposite one another,” he finished.

“So we’re going to have to pick one and cross our fingers,” Samuel said with a growl.

“Yeah, that about sums it up,” Jack said. “Oz toss up a map on the view screen please and give us the info you have,” Jack ordered the AI.

“Certainly Jack,” the AI replied and the view screen across from the mess table popped to life showing an “overhead” view or the top of the system’s plane of ecliptic.

“As you can see it will take us quite a bit of time to move between the two facilities as Jack stated they are diametrically opposite one another,” Oz told them as two red beads popped into existence on either side of the Sol System’s asteroid belt.

“This first one,” Oz said a white line lancing out from the one on the “North” side of the system and various bits of information scrolling underneath it. “Is Kawamura’s Kensington Mining Facility where they do asteroid mining as well as testing of less than safe technologies such as new Carmine-Yushima drives,” Oz told them.

“However this one over here,” Oz said another white line lancing out from the facility on the “South” side. “Is their so-called Adelaide research and development facility and is the more likely of the two where Taki will be,” Oz finished.

“How long to get there,” Jack asked.

“Pushing the ship’s C-Y drive, approximately three weeks,” Oz informed them.

“Damn,” Fox said with a whistle.

“They might have packed up and left by the time we get there,” Samuel said.

“I doubt it,” David said. “I’ve done some calculations of my own and Oz’s guess that she’ll be held there is near 100%,” he told the other three men at the table.

Sol System Kuiper Belt

Kensington Mining Facility

November 4th 2535 AD - 12:22 GMT

“It seems the prototype engine is working quite well,” Edgar Rice said to the white coated woman next to him.

“We won’t know if it actually works or not until we attempt to pierce Thebes’s barrier shield,” Dr. Eileen Coltman told him examining her E-PADD and making notations.

“Well anyway, send my congratulations to Dr. Masloff on his hard work,” Rice ordered.

The female scientist made a disgusted face at the mention of her colleague at the Adelaide Facility.

“I realize that Dr. Masloff has his peculiarities,” Rice Said. “But he has been rather useful of late,” he finished.

“It’s not just that Mr. Rice, we’ve lost contact with the Adelaide Facility about a week ago,” Coltman told him.

“Why wasn’t I informed of this?” He asked calmly.

“Masloff has a bad habit of ordering the facility’s comm system taken offline so that he won’t be disturbed while doing one of his experiments,” the woman said making a moi of distaste at the mention of Masloff’s experiments.

“Do we need anymore support from them at this time?” Rice asked.

“No Sir, we’ve got everything we need and the girl has already been transferred here for further study,” Coltman told him.

“Good carry on then,” Rice ordered and left the control room.

Sol System Kuiper Belt

Adelaide Research Facility

November 8th 2535 AD - 16:17 GMT

“I’m getting some strange readings from the research facility,” David said tapping at his console on the bridge.

“Could you possibly elaborate a little bit more for me,” Jack said dryly from his seat in the Captain’s chair.

“Well they are sending out a distress beacon but all their systems seem to be operating normally,” David told him.

“Send them a message asking them if they require assistance,” Jack ordered. “Maybe just once we can get in and out of some place without a bunch of gunfire,” he muttered.

“Sending message now,” David said.

Several minutes passed with no response and David resent it several times but there was still no reply.

“Nothing yet?” Jack asked.

“Not a damn thing,” David told him.

“Alright tell the others to get geared up,” Jack said with a sigh. “Oz you have the helm,” Jack told the AI.

“Roger I have the helm,” Oz replied.

Jack and David left the bridge and joined the others in the armory to gear up.

“Are we going to need our Skinsuits?” Marie asked with a shiver.

“No, the readings inside say that the environment is earth normal and there are no leaks that the system can detect,” David told her slotting spare magazines for his Walther P5 into a magazine pouch on his hip.

“Well we’ll skip them for now but Patricia will have them on standby in case we need them,” Jack said.

“I’m detecting another ship docked with the station,” Oz told them.

“What kind of ship Oz?” Jack asked as he jacked back the slide on one of his FN pistols.

“An old military corvette it looks like, UEF from the design of the hull,” the AI informed him.

“How old?” Samuel asked.

“At least seventy-five years old or so,” he told them.

“Pirates,” Samuel snorted.

“For cryin’ out loud not again,” Jack grumped.

“Have you tried hailing their vessel?” David asked.

“Yes, but like the station there is no reply,” Oz told them.

“Great, so something weird must be going on aboard that station,” Marie said slapping a magazine into her Beowulf.

“Nothing a judicious application of fire power can’t handle I’m sure,” Jack said slinging his M4

“You mean shoot it till it stops moving,” Fox said sliding his cut down lever action carbines into their leg mounted holsters.

“Pretty much,” Jack replied.

“Better living through superior firepower,” Samuel said wiping a rag along the barrel of his Wildey.

“Oorah,” Jack said.

The five of them felt the vessel dock with the hollowed out asteroid that served as the facilities shell and then Oz came over the comm system. “We have a good seal lady and gentlemen,” the AI informed them. “Good hunting,” he added.

The five of them crawled through the airlock docking tube in zero-g and then Fox and Samuel were the first through the air lock on the other side.

“All clear…mostly,” Samuel said over the comm.

“What do you mean mostly?” Jack asked as he stepped into the airlock and found a decapitated corpse hanging from an environmental suit peg. “Okay I guess that’s what you meant,” he muttered.

David and Marie touched down in the gravity of the air lock and looked at the hanging body.

“You know they always tell you not to lose your head in an emergency situation,” Marie said.

“I guess he forgot that,” David said opening his wrist mounted computer and tapping at it before cursing under his breath. “Everything is locked down between us and the extraneous facilities of this place,” David told them.

“Can you crack it?” Fox asked.

“No, it’s somewhere in the vicinity of quintuple encrypted,” David told them. “I could actually crack it but it would take a minimum of a couple days,” he explained.

“Just great,” Jack said. “Wait you said the extraneous facilities have been locked down, what do we have access to?” He asked.

“There appears to be a huge atrium or park right smack in the center of the station,” David told them angling the screen so he could see it better. “It looks to be about a hundred and fifty meters on a side,” he said after a second.

“Damn that’s pretty big for a station like this,” Samuel said with a low whistle.

“Well we’re either being led into a trap or someone is being polite enough to invite us in,” Jack said balancing the M4 in his fist a little better.

“I’d say a trap,” Fox muttered.

“Probably,” Marie agreed.

“Well let’s not keep our hosts waiting; we wouldn’t want to disappoint them,” Jack said moving forward.

After leaving the airlock they found themselves in a corridor that jogged back and forth quite a few times.

“Looks like someone was prepared for trouble,” Samuel said motioning at the third jog they passed through.

“And it looks like they found it,” Marie said motioning to a huge bloodstain on one wall that still had bits of skull and brain tissue stuck to it.

“Why do I like this idea less and less,” David said.

“Because you’re smart,” Jack told him.

“Obviously not smart enough or I would have turned around by now,” David muttered.

The battle plate corridor finally ended in a large bulkhead door that rotated open as they entered and they paused as their eyes adjusted to the bright light streaming from the room ahead.

Now able to see they looked around and found themselves in what looked like a forest; bright sunlight streamed down from overhead, towering trees, and undergrowth swayed in the breeze, wild flowers could be scented, and birds twittered throughout.

“Wow, it’s beautiful,” Marie breathed out.

“Yeah, just like the garden of Eden,” Jack said dryly.

“Well let’s just make sure we find the serpent before the serpent finds us,” Samuel muttered.

“And no eating of apples,” Fox shot at Marie as he swiveled with both revolvers fisted.

“Why am I not surprised you came up with that one,” Marie muttered to him hefting her Beowulf and using the scope to look into the distance.

“My views being blocked by all these trees, I can’t see the far side,” Marie told them.

“David?” Jack questioned.

“The door we need to get through to the control center and its command computers is at the far end of this room right in the middle of the wall,” David told him.

“Great, Lions, and Tigers, and Bears time folks,” Jack ordered.

“Are we the Lions, and Tigers, and Bears or are we supposed to be keeping an eye out for them,” David asked nervously.

“Hopefully we’re the LTB,” Jack said.

“When have we ever been that lucky,” Samuel quipped.

“There’s always a first time,” Jack said.

“I don’t think this is going to be it,” Marie said looking down at the breast of her hoodie and seeing a red dot a fraction of a before she rolled into the underbrush and the wind from the passing rounds ruffled her hair.

“Hunt Cover,” Samuel bellowed and dove into the underbrush himself.

David was jerked off his feet with a “Gurk” by Fox who pulled him behind a large tree.

Jack stood his ground however and watched as the rounds came closer and closer. Finally when the line of bullets were on him he danced back into the undergrowth and pulled the trigger on his M203 grenade launcher sending a shell downrange that impacted with one of the larger trees.

With an earsplitting crack the tree sheared in half and slammed against the ground with a thud and an odd crunching sound and then the teammates were able to see their assailant.

The figure was wearing skintight tan suit and combat boots, had dark hair, and eyes and currently his brain was shooting off sparks of electricity.

“Not these guys again,” Jack said.

“Yeah and it looks as if they’ve managed to get their hands on some type of chamelionish camouflage,” Samuel said.

“What are you guys talking about?” Marie asked over the comm channel.

“Something we really didn’t want to see again,” Jack said and proceeded to tell the other three about their encounter in the Martian facility.

Fox let out a slow whistle. “Damn, you had to empty a magazine of .475 rounds directly into its head to stop it,” he said wonderingly.

“Yeah, that or enough judicious application of force,” Samuel said leopard crawling out of his cover to investigate the body.

“This one is definitely down,” Samuel said examining the body; it had a large tree branch jammed through its chest and various mechanical and computer parts could be seen inside the destroyed cavity.

“Samuel get back into cover,” Jack shouted and then emptied his entire magazine into another figure just past him in the trees.

Samuel dove back into the underbrush and the group got quickly separated as they were stalked by five more of the things.

Fox and David ended up looping around the woods back to the doorway they had come through. Fox had David act as a decoy for the cyborg robot thing as he had started calling them.

“Hello, Mr. Cyborg Robot Thing,” David called out in a loud whisper as he stood in a small clearing.

Fox was in the undergrowth and had switched out his revolvers for one his carbines and had switched the standard load of .44 Magnums for armor piercing incendiary rounds. He was getting impatient as he waited for the figure that had been stalking them to show itself. Or not show itself he realized as he saw a ripple like movement along a row of trees, the movement was getting closer to David and he didn’t even realize it.

Diving and rolling across the small clearing Fox carried David into the undergrowth on the other side and then swiveled and opened fire on the movement as it sped at them and emptied all five rounds from the cut down carbine into the figure.

Fox was rewarded by the sputter and spang of the incendiary rounds as they impacted with the cyborg drilling holes into its body and setting the internals on fire.

Samuel was ready for the cyborg that was stalking him and opening fire with his Wildey in one hand and assault rifle in the other he blew a hole through it’s front armor and then jammed a grenade inside the hole kicking it over backwards to detonate.

Marie had flipped her hoodie inside out showing a camouflage pattern and hidden herself amongst the thick branches and leaves of an oak tree her Beowulf snugged into her shoulder.

With the scope of her weapon set to thermal she scanned the trees and undergrowth and was soon able to locate the Cyborg as a thermal signature slightly warmer than that of the background.

“Gotcha,” she breathed out and proceeded to take the cyborg apart joint by joint emptying the entire magazine and leaving a scattering of parts across the small clearing it had been crossing.

Jack’s first kill was taken out by the judicious use of several 40mm grenades and the second Jack was actually able to take out with a knife.

The second kill had been harder and had cost him a good knife.

Lying in some bushes unmoving Jack watched the clearing where he had dropped his first kill which had been torn apart by several 40mm Armor Piercing beehive rounds.

His breathing stilled to almost non-existence and his eyes unfocused and dilated Jack didn’t know how the nannites in his blood stream were allowing him to do these things but he’d take what he was given and ask the important questions later.

With his senses tuned to the background chatter and purr of the forest Jack was able to sense the cyborg as it entered the clearing to investigate the wreckage that had been its sibling.

Waiting for the cyborg to bend down to check its trashed compatriot Jack somehow managed to rise slightly up on the tips of his toes and fingers and then fling his whole body onto the cyborg without much added extra movement.

The cyborg started to turn as he sensed Jack’s shadow pass over him but by then it was too late as Jack drove the blade of his Phrobis CUK into the base of the cyborg’s neck and dropped his full weight on it driving it all the way through and then wrenching it sideways. The move cut through ninety percent of the Cyborg’s neck before the blade snapped but it had the desired effect of dropping it to the ground twitching and convulsing as the last few stray electrical signals processed through its body.

“Damn,” Jack breathed stretching his suddenly sore muscles and looked at the bladeless hilt in his hand.

“I’ve had that knife since boot camp asshole,” Jack said kicking the still twitching automaton.

“Quite done abusing the hardware?” David asked.

“Stupid toaster broke my knife,” Jack grumped as the rest of the team entered the clearing.

“Speaking of the toasters how did the bastards get here?” Samuel said.

“Well let’s find out shall we,” David said pulling a wire with an alligator clip attached to it and then to one of the molecular circuits in the now still cyborg’s body.

Jack and the others stood in an outward facing circle as David probed with his computer.

“Ah, here we go,” David said and they could hear the clicking of computer keys. “Hmm, they were brought here about twenty-five years ago,” the computer hacker told them.

“Now let’s see if I can…,” David stopped talking suddenly and Jack turned to look back at him and saw that a tree root had poked out of the ground and imbedded itself into his shoulder and fibrous looking root tendrils were now spreading through his veins.

“Holy fucking shit,” Fox said jumping back as he looked as well.

“David, David,” Marie shouted raising her Beowulf hesitantly.

“What the hell is going on?” Samuel shouted.

Jack just stood and stared waiting for something else to happen, for some reason he knew something else would happen.

As the group of friends watched the tentacle shot six feet into the air dragging David’s body with it. His eyes had rolled back in his head and his mouth sagged open and a voice came forth; not his own but someone or something else’s.

“Ah new play things, and puppets to work with, I needed new puppets I’ve broken all the others so easily,” a garbled liquid sounding voice came from David’s mouth the sound of it sending chills up and down everyone’s spines.

“Who or what the Fuck are you?” Fox shouted.

“Oh me, I’m the god of this little Eden, or would that be the serpent, I can’t really remember anymore, but you can call me god if you wish,” the voice told them.

“Let him go,” Marie shouted through clenched teeth and suddenly there was a Kukri in her fist chopping downwards through the root half way to where it poked out of the ground.

There was a high pitched shriek from David’s mouth and then the root sucked back into the ground. Off in the distance they heard a roar of anguish and anger.

“Just great now what,” Jack griped and ripped his medical kit loose from his gear belt and tossed it to Marie. “You stay here with David and get him patched up,” Jack didn’t add that patching him up might not be possible considering the type of attack it had been but he kept his mouth shut on that.

“Samuel, Fox, you guys are with me, we are going to go find the serpent of this little garden and chop his head off,” Jack told them dumping the spent shell from his M203 and sliding a fresh one in.

“You have any idea what we might be up against,” Fox asked as they headed away from where Marie was treating David.

“Not a damn clue, maybe some biological mutation,” Jack told him scanning the area around them as they moved cautiously. “God knows what kind of data they got from that alien installation on Mars,” Jack said only half paying attention to the conversation.

“Whoa hold up, time out,” Fox said holding his hands in a T-shape or as close as he could get with a sawed down lever action in his hands. “I’m sorry did you say alien facility on Mars? As in little green men and flying saucers,” Fox said.

“You known cyborg/android thingies we just trashed?” Jack asked.

“Yeah,” Fox said.

“Did they look like little green men to you?” Jack continued.

“Uh, no,” Fox said.

“Well those things were alien tech,” Jack explained. “This is the second time we ran into those bastards, last time they killed one of our team mates and I was severely injured,” he finished.

“Oh great, so the aliens look just like us; I bet they have infiltrators at every level of the government,” Fox said his eyes darting around the clearing as he rambled on paranoid about government conspiracies and men in black suits.

“I think we’ve found what we were looking for,” Samuel said breaking into Fox’s diatribe.

“Yeah I’d say so,” Jack said aiming his M4/M203 in the same direction he was looking in and examining the horror show that the clearing had been turned into.

The clearing had several hundred small trees, or at least you might be able to consider them trees if they weren’t in the shape of humans with branches and leaves sprouting from their bodies.

Most of the figures in the clearing had faces contorted into expressions of pain and horror as if they had been in excruciating pain as they were transformed from flesh and blood to fiber and cellulose.

However at the center of the clearing was one of the tree people that had a serene look on her face, she was extremely shapely and her arms were above her head branches spreading out from fingertips with bright green leaves sprouting from them and the hair on her head was long lush moss tumbling back down her shoulders and backs.

“Wow she’s a looker,” Fox said breaking silence that had filled the clearing when they had entered.

“Now is not exactly the time,” Jack said through gritted teeth and then threw himself to the side as several roots ripped up the ground where the three of them had been standing.

Fox was thrown back against one of the tree people and was instantly grasped in its branch like arms.

Jack opened fire blowing apart half a dozen of the tree people as they moved towards him shooting splinters across the clearing.

What ensued in the clearing was a disgusting mess of blood soaked splinters, bodily organs, leaves, branches, and clods of torn up earth.

When the dirt and smoke cleared from the open area the only tree person left standing was the beautiful girl in the middle of the clearing.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch,” Fox yelled as he pulled various sized splinters from equally various parts of his body.

“What’s your ammo count?” Jack asked in disgust as he dropped his last magazine from the well of the M4 and saw that it had a whole five rounds left in it and he was out of 40mm grenades.

“I’m out of any heavy ammo, just got the Colts and the Wildey left,” Samuel said slinging his own long arm.

“I still got a bunch of ammo for the Anacondas but the carbines are out,” Fox told him.

“Great, just great, I have a feeling we are going to need all the ammo we can come up with,” Jack said as more rootentacles exploded from the ground around the beautiful girl in the middle of the clearing.

“That is just not right,” Fox said.

“Why do I feel like I’m in a bad hentai anime,” Jack said drawing both FN’s and pointing them at the rootentacles.

“I didn’t need to hear that,” Samuel said opening fire as the rootentacles blasted along the ground towards them.

“How dare you destroy my beautiful Dryads,” the echoing male voice screamed throughout the clearing.

“Dryads? Not very original,” Fox said slow firing his revolvers.

“Stop complaining and dodge,” Jack hollered.

The rootentacles burst from the ground throughout the clearing and the mercenaries fired and dodged as much as they could but the rootentacles seemed to be infinite in number and finally all three were snared and hung suspended over the clearing where the young dryad female still stood motionless.

“Now you shall see the perfection of this Eden’s god,” the voice said tightening it’s tentacles around them.

“Awfully wordy ba…aaaggghhh,” Jack grunted in pain as his shoulder popped out of its socket from the pressure.

“Maybe he plans on talking us to death,” Samuel suggested.

“I think I’d rather be crushed,” Fox said wiggling one of his arms trapped at his side causing a throwing knife to drop into his hand.

“ENOUGH!” The voice shouted as the ground rumbled and shook and then burst apart as a shape rose from the indentation made.

“BEHOLD YOUR GOD?” The shape roared its arms rose above its head and rootentacles waving in the air around it. The tentacles holding three of them moved closer to the wooden face of the figure.

“Wow, look it’s Mono-Tiki Tia,” Jack said flippantly as he worked his shoulder joint back into place with another grunt of pain.

“Huh,” Fox said.

“Scooby Doo,” Samuel told him.

“Oh, what’s a Scooby Doo?” Fox asked.

“Later, now are you going to use that knife or just fondle it?” Jack growled.

“Oh,” Fox said using all of his remaining dexterity and strength to fling the knife right at the creature’s eye impaling it and sending an ichorous flow of green goo spraying across everything as it reeled backwards screaming in pain rootentacles waving in all directions and the three mercenaries were thrown through the air.

Jack hit the ground and rolled then pulled his last knife out as well as a hand grenade and dashed towards the towering tree like figure.

“What the hell are you doing?” Samuel shouted.

“Doing something stupid that will hopefully save our lives,” Jack shouted not turning back.

The creature recovered just enough to lash out with its various tentacles at Jack as he dodged and weaved with knife in one hand and grenade in the other.

One final root burst from the ground and Jack used it as a spring board to launch himself straight at the towering figure and landed on its chest with the combat knife held out directly in front of him. Using the weight of his body he drug it cleanly through the fibrous material of it’s body until it caught on a knot and nearly caused Jack’s grip to break.

Holding on with every ounce of his strength he jammed the grenade into the hole pulling the pin as he let go and hearing the sproing of the spoon popping free.

“Digest that,” Jack said shoving off from the chest of the creature and did a complete somersault out of range.

After landing on his feet Jack watched as the creature reeled across the clearing weaving too and fro as it tried to pull the knife free of its eye and dig the grenade from its innards.

Counting down in his head Jack heard a low krump sound and the torso of the creature exploded outwards in all directions splattering everyone liberally with more plant/human juices than they really wanted to think about.

The head of the creature blew clear across the clearing and was impaled by the tip of an evergreen tree and the rootentacles bursting from the ground finally stopped moving and melted into a green/brown sludge.

“Oh god, what was that thing made of,” Fox said taking a whiff of some of the gunk that had splattered him.

“Some kind of organic-plant matter mixture,” David told them limping into the clearing with Marie holding him up on one side.

“How’d you figure that out?” Fox asked.

“Hacked a little more into the station’s computer system,” he said panting heavily as Marie lowered him to a clean spot in the clearing.

“I thought you said you couldn’t crack their systems?” Jack asked accusingly.

“Not without doing damage,” David told them. “However with a little brute force application I was able to bust down their fire walls, although doing so trashed most of the systems memory sectors,” David explained.

“I was only able to pull a few pieces of data from the computer after that, one of which was the file for this experiment,” David said.

“Well don’t leave us in suspense,” Samuel said sarcastically.

“It seems the stations chief scientist a Dr. Masloff was dabbling in several projects, this was his pet project. He was working on a way to bio-engineer humans so that they could better survive harsh conditions, seems he focused on changing the cellular structure to that of a plant so that they could reduce the amount of food they required by using chlorophyll as a food source,” David said.

“It seems he was getting frustrated so he performed an initial experiment on himself and then the records show him mutating and running wild through the station and either killing or mutating the other members of the station into his “Dryads” as he called them,” David explained.

“So who is that?” Fox said flicking his thumb at the now collapsed last surviving Dryad that had stood at the center of the clearing.

“I think that is Masloff’s Daughter,” David told him.

“He turned his own daughter into one of these things,” Samuel said.

“Yes but rather than using her as a shock troop I think he was planning on making her his queen or goddess,” David explained.

“Oh gross,” Fox said.

“Yeah, I also managed to snag a few personnel records and Masloff’s tells of a few instances of him being arrested and spending time in prison for pedophilia,” David told them.

“Bastard, so who knows how long he’s been abusing his daughter,” Samuel said.

“What else did you find out, anything about Taki?” Jack asked.

“Yeah, but I also found something else out that might be of equal importance,” David started to say.

“No time, where do they have Taki?” Jack asked.

“She’s at their Kensington Mining Facility,” David told them. “But you really need to hear about this other thing I found,” David tried to tell them.

“Not now,” Jack said. “Samuel grab the girl we’re getting out of here and then destroying this place,” he ordered.

“Roger,” Samuel leant down and picked the girl up and grunted in surprise at the weight of the woman.

“Let’s go,” Jack ordered and grabbed David on one side with Marie supporting him on the other.

“How are we going to destroy this place?” Fox asked staring back at the globs and chunks that had once been an entire space stations worth of personnel. “Creepy damn place,” he muttered.

As they headed for the airlock back out of the station Jack pressed down on the lapel button for his comm. “Oz, get the ship ready to go and warm up the missile tubes,” he ordered.

“Certainly Jack, what exactly has happened?” The AI asked.

“I’ll tell you later Oz, but as soon as we are aboard pull out to a safe distance and blow the whole station and the ship docked with it,” Jack ordered.

“Certainly Jack,” Oz replied to the order.

“Oh yeah and get med bay ready for two patients,” Jack told him.

“Oh dear was someone injured?” Oz asked.

“Nothing major Oz, just have things ready for puncture wounds and uh,” Jack paused looking at the plant woman over Samuel’s shoulder. “The other thing is just too hard to explain until we get back to the ship,” Jack told him.

Back on the ship Marie and Samuel took their burdens to med bay.

“Oh dear looks like you’ve got a big hole in your shoulder David,” Oz said.

“Gee I really hadn’t noticed,” he said sarcastically as Marie laid him on the med bay table and then Oz’s servo arms removed the bloodied bandage.

“What do we have here,” Oz said siphoning chunks of wood and green plant goo.

“That would be what stabbed him,” Marie said.

“So you were attacked by an oak tree?” Oz asked puzzled.

“Something like that,” Samuel said laying the “Dryad” on another examining table.

“Oh and what is this most interesting female that you have laid on my examination table?” Oz asked.

“That would be what that whack job Masloff’s daughter whom he turned into what he called a “Dryad,” Samuel told him.

“Ah a Dryad, a creature of Earth mythology often said to be of great beauty and often linked with ancient forests,” Oz explained as he started running scans over the girl’s body.

“Enough with the mythology lesson Oz just tell us if she’s alright,” Samuel growled.

“Certainly, certainly, I apologize Samuel,” Oz said and more servos and scanners surrounded the girl as he continued his examination.

“Anything?” Samuel asked.

“Some most intriguing readings but a full examination will take some time, please have some patience Samuel,” Oz told him.

En-Route from Mars to Kensington Mining Facility

Cargo Hauler Feng-Shui

November 30th 2535 AD - 19:38 GMT

Suzanne stared at the boring gray bulkhead of the small cabin she was in aboard the Kawamura Industries registered cargo hauler Feng-Shui and yawned tiredly. Using one of the fake IDs in the dead assassins stash she’d used it to get a job as a crew member of the current rust bucket that she was riding on as it headed for the Kensington Mining Facility in the asteroid belt.

The journey from Mars to KMF had taken nearly a month at even the speeds of the geriatric cargo hauler and over the last week and a half Suzanne had grown an annoying itch that she couldn’t’ seem to scratch as if she were suffering from a low level anxiety attack.

Normally she would have ignored such a thing but she had suffered from anxiety attacks as a child and teenager and then later after she had split from Jack when Kawamura had sent assassins after them and their squad mates.

During the last month or so on the ship Suzanne had found out how disgusting and depraved most of Kawamura’s employees were; during a couple of layovers at several small stations the debauchery and greed of them had made her sick. Shortly before they had left a prostitute that the ship’s captain Norman Hiker had made use of during one of those stops was found strangled to death.

Suzanne found herself inching a hand towards one of the numerous guns hidden on her person but stopped her hand and stood up. Leaning over to a wall locker she pulled out a padded vest and slipped it on over her turtleneck sweater and then leaned down to retie her work boots and then smoothed the wrinkles out of her cargo pants and left the cabin to head for her duty station in engineering.

En-Route from Adelaide Research Facility to the Kensington Mining Facility

Privately Registered Vessel - Hoplite II

November 30th 2535 AD - 19:38 GMT

It had taken nearly a month for the Hoplite II to make it to the Kensington Mining Facility and hopefully where Taki was being held.

“So, what’s the plan once we get to the Kensington Mining Facility?” David asked nursing his sore shoulder as he a sat at one of the bridge stations.

“Hmm, blow our way into the docking bay shoot the place up and rescue Taki,” Jack said.

“Isn’t that the same thing we do every time?” Marie asked.

“Jack’s not exactly big on detailed plans of battle,” Samuel said dryly.

“Hey I don’t see you coming up with any big detailed plans,” Jack said sarcastically.

“I never said there was anything wrong with your plans just that you don’t go into much detail” Samuel said shrugging. “And there was that one plan you came up with when we were making that drop on Io,” Samuel started.

“Okay, so David what exactly are we looking at with the KMF station?” Jack asked quickly changing the subject.

“To keep themselves as secret as possible they’ve eschewed any orbital or built in weapon systems keeping up the appearance of just a plain old ordinary mining facility,” David explained tapping away at the console in front of him.

“Anything else?” Jack asked. “What about sensors?” Jack continued.

“Sensors out the ass; we are already getting pinged by both LIDAR and Radar. Thankfully I’m using the Daisy Mae IFF and they haven’t gotten suspicious yet,” David continued to type away.

As the crew was sitting there contemplating their next move while David continued to run sensor scans the collision warning sensors started blaring.

“Warning, warning, Yushima exit detected off starboard aft corner. Collision imminent if no evasive action is taken,” the collision warning system blared.

“Oz, give me a free stick,” Jack hollered slamming his crash frame into place as did the others.

“Stick is free,” Oz told him.

Jack grabbed the HOTAS controls that slid out of the arms of his captain’s chair and banked the ship hard to port and applied full military power to get the Hoplite II out of the way of the emerging ship.

“Brining up weapon systems,” Samuel said stabbing furiously at his console. “Fox, Marie, Patricia you’ve got guns I’ve got missiles,” he told them.

“Roger that,” they chorused and focused on their consoles.

“David, Oz get me some info here,” Jack ordered.

“Working on it,” David said.

“Data incoming,” Oz said.

Jack banked the ship back around so that the nose of the vessel was pointing towards the now emerging ship.

“She’s a cargo hauler and is squawking a Kawamura IFF the Feng-Shui,” David told him.

“Any info on the crew?” Jack asked.

“Yes, coming up now,” Oz told him.

Jack quickly scanned the data on the incoming ship’s crew. “Take them out,” Jack said coldly. “Not a single one of those bastards is worth the recycled oxygen they are using,” he told Samuel.

“Launching missiles,” Samuel said and launched half a dozen missiles that impacted on the front glacis of the other ship and detonated blowing it open to space and killing most of the crew.

“I’m getting a single escape pod launching from the aft end of the ship and heading towards the Kensington Facility,” David told them.

“Let it go, if the poor schlep aboard it gets in our way once we’re aboard the station we’ll take care of them then,” Jack ordered.

“Roger,” Samuel said and the Hoplite II moved quickly closer to the mining facility.

“Guns give us a hole,” Jack ordered as they came up on the hull of the space station.

“Firing,” Patricia said and she and Marie and Fox slewed the turrets around under their control and the 50cm bars impacted on the docking bay hull and blew it open so that the ship could ease its way through and slam to a halt against the docking gantry.

“Patricia you have the ship, Oz help her out if she needs it,” Jack ordered and slapped the releases on his crash frame and ran off the bridge followed by the others.

In the airlock the five of them stripped of their clothes and wiggled into the new Skinsuits Jack had ordered for them and slipped into their combat harnesses and gear loads.

The airlock was filled with the click and snick of weapons being armed and loaded.

“Alright, let’s not get ridiculously messy with our killings,” Jack told them as they barged through the airlock and down the gantry.

There was no real resistance until they reached the employee car storage lot and found the escape pod from the other ship and half a dozen guards were running out of a door on one side of the storage area.

“Wow a 1988 Volvo Wagon, and it’s even tan, frigging awesome,” David said crouching next to the vehicle and running his hands up and down the sides of it.

“Focus David, focus,” Jack said.

“But, but this is like my dream car,” David told him.

“That’s your dream car,” Samuel said incredulously.

“Yeah, it is the most awesome of vehicles,” David told him.

David jumped back from the vehicle as it bucked from gunfire as the half dozen security guards opened fire.

Jack dropped to a knee behind one of the other vehicles in the lot and was about to open fire when he saw movement out of one corner of his eye and the swirl of red hair caused him to turn his attention away from the guards.

Around him the team opened fire and the guards continued their own assault finding cover behind various other vehicles.

Jack finally drug his attention back to the fight but not before making a note of the doorway that the figure had gone through.

Jack’s M4 burped out a pair of three round bursts and one of the guards tumbled to the ground boneless as he was stitched from waist to neck gore flying.

Marie’s Beowulf boomed and she drilled another guard right through the engine block of an F-150 pickup sitting on the other side of the lot.

Samuel with a grenade from his M30 dropped three more hiding behind a cargo van as well as flipping the van on its side and causing it to explode.

Fox finished off the last one with a double tap from each of his revolvers sending the man stumbling out of cover and dropping dead.

“Samuel, Fox, Marie, David you head through the door that the guards came out of,” Jack ordered.

“What are you going to be doing?” Marie asked.

“I’ve got a loose end to take care of,” Jack said and dashed through the door where he had seen the figure disappear through.

En-Route from Mars to the Kensington Mining Facility

Cargo Hauler - Feng Shui

November 30th 2535 AD - 19:45 GMT

The edge of Suzanne’s hand smashed into the engineering officer’s throat crushing his wind pipe and sending him gagging and choking to the ground his face turning blue as he died from asphyxiation.

Kicking the man’s body out of the way she climbed into the escape pod and slammed the lock shut as the proximity warning alarms blared.

The pod shot away from the ship as it exploded and then raced through space until it impacted with the side of the Kensington Mining Facility and blew it straight through the hull and into the parking storage garage of the station.

Suzanne was bounced around in her pod as it rolled and tumbled across the parking lot and came to a stop against one wall of the garage.

Trying the hatch release lever she found that the lock mechanism was jammed and she was forced to hit the emergency explosive bolt release.

Stumbling out of the pod she weaved across the parking lot to an access door shortly before several figures behind her burst into the lot and opened fire on some guards who entered the parking storage area.

While gunfire raged behind her Suzanne pulled out her Glock .357 Magnums and caught her bearings as she leaned against a wall.

After a few seconds of catching her breath she started down the access corridor and found herself inside the main mining facility.

“Stop right there,” a security guard ordered his machine pistol pointed right at her head.

“You have got to be seriously kidding me,” Suzanne said and put two rounds through his chest knocking him back and down.

“I don’t have time for this shit,” she said to the dead man. “Now where’s the damn girl, maybe I can salvage something from this cluster fuck,” she muttered heading further into the facility and having to gun down several more guards.

After nearly half an hour she found Taki in a holding cell unconscious and guarded by two men.

“Okay guys this can go one of two ways,” she told them her hands hovering over the butts of the two Glocks now back in their thigh holsters.

“Way I see it there is only one way to do this,” one of the guards said. “And that would be us shooting you,” he said smirking.

“Alright if that’s the way you boys want to do it,” she said her hands dipping towards the Glocks.

Sol System - Kuiper Belt

Kensington Mining Facility Secondary Access Corridor

November 30th 2535 AD - 20:00 GMT

Jack followed the access corridor and then followed the trail of bodies until he heard someone speaking in the next room.

“Okay guys this can go one of two ways,” he heard a woman say in the next room.

“Way I see it there is only one way to do this,” a male voice replied.

“And that would be us shooting you,” the same male voice said.

“Alright if that’s the way you boys want to do it,” the woman‘s voice replied.

Jack stayed in the corridor waiting for the opportune moment and it came a few seconds later.

Jack heard the double click of a pair of guns being drawn from Kydex holsters and then four shots rang out from the room.

“Why am I not surprised to find you as the last man standing or should I say last woman standing after the smoke clears,” Jack said shoving the barrel of one FN into the back of the woman’s head and the other against her spine as he came around the corner into the cell area.

“Dump the magazines from the Glocks and then fire the remaining rounds into your two dead friends there,” Jack ordered her. “And then I want you to toss them across the room,” he finished.

“Hello Jack, sweetie,” Suzanne said holding the pistols at hip height and out to the sides.

“Just do it Suzanne,” Jack growled.

“Sure thing love,” Suzanne said depressing the magazine release buttons the two nearly full magazines thunked to the concrete floor of the cell area and the double bang of the rounds going off and impacting with the dead guard’s corpses causing them to jump.

Suzanne let the Glocks roll to hang off of her fingers by the trigger guards and then with a small flex of her arms tossed them across the cell area to land in one corner with a metallic clatter.

“Okay so now what do we do love?” Suzanne asked looking over her shoulder and smiling as Jack stepped backwards away from her.

“Now I decide whether or not I should blow out your damn brains or just beat the crap out of you and throw you in the ship’s brig,” Jack grated out hurt and anger evident in his voice as he ticked off the choices.

“Now don’t sound like that love,” Suzanne said turning all the way around.

“Sue, don’t; just don’t,” Jack said shaking his head.

“Don’t what,” she said. “Don’t love you, don’t care about you, don’t feel hurt when you run away and leave me after hurting my feelings and telling me you don’t love me,” Suzanne’s voice rose in decibels with each word.

Jack just shook his head.

“Or maybe don’t do everything I can to keep your stupid ass alive,” she practically shouted in his face.

“By what double crossing me, attacking a member of my crew, kidnapping a young innocent woman, and selling her to a sociopath madman,” Jack shouted back spittle flying with each word he yelled.

“I…,” Suzanne started to say. “I did it because I love you,” Suzanne told him her eyes becoming wet as her tone became pleading.

“You love me, you betrayed me,” he said quietly and holstered the FN pistols.

“Jack,” She said reaching out towards him.

“No, not again,” he told her grabbing her by the wrist and slapping a pair of flexi-cuffs around it then flipping her around and cuffing both hands behind her back.

“Stay here,” he told her quietly and went to pick up her Glocks form the floor and check the cells. He found Taki asleep in one of the cells halfway down the wall and then radioed to the others that he had found the girl.

“That’s great,” Samuel said. “But we’re a little bit busy right now,” was punctuated by a burst of rounds from his M30.

“Alright I’ll stay put until you get here,” he told them.

“Roger that, Samuel out.”

Sol System - Kuiper Belt

Kensington Mining Facility Employee Break Room

November 30th 2535 AD - 20:00 GMT

“There’s a single guard in the break room perusing the contents of the vending machines,” Marie told them as she slid quietly back into the utility closet they had been using as a temporary hidey hole while the young woman scouted ahead.

“How’s he armed?” Samuel asked.

“He’s got a pistol in a thigh rig but he’s overweight and balding,” Marie explained.

“So he’d be an easy target to take out,” Samuel said.

Marie was just about to reply when they all heard a double booming sound.

“What the hell was that?” David asked.

“Where’s Fox at?” Samuel asked tiredly.

“Shit,” Marie said and they rushed out of the closet with guns drawn and ran for the break room.

They found Fox in the break room standing over the body of the overweight security guard that Marie had seen perusing the vending machines with literally no head left and smoke curling up from the barrels of his revolvers.

“What the hell did you do that for?” Marie shouted in question.

“He needed to be taken out,” Fox said without emotion.

“We could have quietly subdued him,” She said getting right in his face and shouting.

“It’s taken care of,” Fox said replacing the spent rounds in his weapons.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Samuel growled.

“Uh, guys,” David said.

The three of them got into an argument about whether or not it had been necessary to take out the guard.

“GUYS!” David finally shouted.

“WHAT!!!” The three of them shouted turning on him.

“I’ve managed to tap into the thermal sensors and there is about twenty heat sources headed in this direction from that corridor,” David said pointing to a door that led out of the break room and further into the facility.

“Shit,” Samuel spat and then started flipping tables over and lining them up, hopefully thick enough to stop bullets.

“Everybody behind cover,” he ordered and hunkered down himself.

David ducked down and covered his head his P5 in one hand while he worked furiously on his computer with the other.

“Here they come,” David yelled hunkering down as far as he could behind the mess of overturned tables.

David’s shout was followed by the door to the break room busting open and then twenty guys with automatic weapons blazing charged out.

Unfortunately for a few of the inexperienced guards their team mates coming in behind them opened fire at the same time as the ones in front and half a dozen guards went down shot in the back by friendly fire.

“Okay, this might not be so hard after all,” Samuel said watching as the first rank of guards tumbled dead and bleeding to the ground.

“Wow, talk about stupid,” Marie muttered and managed to peg three guys with a single shot from the Beowulf.

Samuel worked his jaw for a second and shot a couple of the guards. “I realize you like your Beowulf and all Marie but could you switch to the shotgun that way we don’t all go deaf,” Samuel told her wryly.

“Oops, sorry,” she said and set the Beowulf on the ground next to her and pulled up the 8-Gauge that she’d been given earlier and opened fire.

Sol System - Kuiper Belt

Kensington Mining Facility Cell Area

November 30th 2535 AD - 20:37 GMT

“What took you guys so long,” Jack kidded as the others entered the cell area.

“What,” Samuel said wiggling a finger in his ear.

“Let me guess Marie was firing her rifle in a confined area again,” Jack commented.

“What’s that about filling waffles,” Marie said trying to pop her ear drums.

Jack just shook his head in disgust at the answer and then waited a few minutes until the others were no longer looking like they were trying to break their jaws.

“Look who I found,” Jack said yanking Suzanne by her now bound hands from one of the cells.

“Oh look it’s the 1st Sergeant,” Samuel said lifting his M30 menacingly towards the woman.

“Now, now, Samuel I’m sure Patricia would like to have a chat with my ex-girlfriend,” Jack said pushing the woman towards Samuel.

“I’m sure she would she’s still complaining about headaches,” Samuel said slinging his rifle and grasping both the woman’s arms.

“Fox in that cell over there you’ll find a young lady lying on the bed unconscious,” Jack said pointing. “I need you to carry her out of here for me,” he ordered.

“Not a problem,” Fox said stepping into the cell and gently picking the girl up in his brawny arms.

“David sandwich yourself between Fox and Samuel, Marie you take slack and I’ll take lead,” Jack ordered.

There were a few hairy moments as they made their way back to the ship but nothing a judicious use of buckshot and automatic weapons fire couldn’t take care of. Soon they found themselves back aboard the Hoplite II.

“Honey I’m home,” Samuel shouted over the comm.

“You found Taki I see,” Patricia said motioning for Fox to take her to the Med Bay.

“Did you find anything else out of use?” She asked and then paused as she saw who was being held by Samuel.

“Oh I guess you did,” She said and then slugged Suzanne straight up in the jaw.

“That the best you can do?” Suzanne asked spitting a glob of blood onto the decking.

“I am so going to enjoy watching you get locked up for the rest of your life,” Patricia said.

“Cat Fight! Cat Fight!” Fox shouted and got a disgusted look from Marie.

“Alright take her to the cells,” Jack ordered Samuel who shoved Suzanne down the passage way and out of sight.

“I want everyone in the conference room in three hours,” Jack told everyone as he moved towards the bridge.

“Oz get us out of here and put in a heading for Mars,” Jack ordered the AI.

“Certainly Jack. San Kapolla I assume?” The AI asked.

“Yeah, we need to figure out what we are going to do next,” Jack said.

Kensington Mining Facility and Mars

Privately Registered Vessel Hoplite II in Transit between 

November 30th 2535 AD - 00:00 GMT

“So any clues on how to find or stop Rice?” Jack asked the others as they sat around the conference table.

Suggestions ranged from sending him a mail bomb to finding him and shoving a nuclear warhead up his ass.

“I have a suggestion,” David said after everyone had stopped talking.

“What is it David?” Jack asked.

“Well I tried to tell you about it earlier,” David said.

“Just get on with it David,” Samuel growled.

“Well it seems that Rice found the coordinates for another planet,” David told them.

“What in another solar system,” Marie said.

“No right here in the Sol System,” David told them dropping the bombshell.

“There are no other planets in this system,” Patricia said adamantly.

“There was Niburu,” Fox threw in.

“Yeah but the only reason we did not know about it previously is because it was on the exact opposite side of the sun,” Patricia told them.

“Actually there are several large orbital envelopes left in the system,” Oz said over the intercom.

“So where exactly is this planet at,” Jack asked.

“It’s got an orbit between Mars and Saturn although it is a bit eccentric,” David told them.

“So why can’t we see this damn thing then,” Samuel asked.

“It’s cloaked,” David told them. “It’s magnetically and physically cloaked to be undetectable to anyone without the correct access codes and proper drive systems,” David told them.

“So how does Rice plan to get through this so called shield,” Patricia asked.

“He got plans for a super duper C-Y drive when he had Taki and had several prototypes built,” Suzanne told the room as she walked in.

Everybody looked over to the door as it slid shut behind her with expressions of surprise.