Shadow Force 1: the Garden Planet (5 page)

Max and Izzy returned to the suite after Sara and I were asleep. As Izzy snuggled down against Max’s shoulder she whispered in his ear, recorded by Shadow. “How long must we keep up this charade?”

“I don’t know love, but for the time being it is necessary.”

“Even from Jon and Sara?”

“Especially from them, you know what this role has and probably will continue to cost you. I’m not sure Jon and Sara are ready for that kind of thing. We will know when the time is right.”

“Ok, I trust your judgment, yet I am sick and tired of hiding the fact that you’re my husband and have been for the past five years. I just want a normal life.”

“So do I my love, but I doubt our lives will ever be normal, besides normal is boring.”

“You know what I mean, no more roles like this one. Never, ever again, promise.”

“I promise, baby, after this mission is complete.” And with that they made love like it was their first time and then drifted off into a contented sleep.

The next morning we were all up early enjoying a cup of coffee. To say that Sara and I were a little surprised to find Izzy goes without saying, but we figured Max’s business was his own. It was Max that offered the first bit of information on that.

“For now let’s leave this as a fact, Izzy is a double agent whom I placed here five months ago to gain us the inside track on this group, and I would say she has done a great job.”

“Ok, but sooner or later you’ll explain all this right?” I asked.

“Sooner or later.”

“And she has done a great job!” Sara added and I concurred.

We spent the rest of the morning just lounging around until it was time to get ready to head back to Shadow and then off to the power station.

On the ride out to the ship Sara was a little fidgety. When I pressed her she admitted that these guys gave her the creeps. “I just know that these bastards are part of the slave ring that I’m going after and the conflict of missions is driving me crazy.”

“Sara there is no conflict. I too am on the same mission as you. Yet if we don’t find and disable this device there’s not going to be any slaves to worry about, nor anyone else for that matter.”

“I know. It’s just I want to take a phase pistol and just start shooting.”

God did I understand that feeling well. “Our time will come, of that I promise!”

“It had better Mr. Ryder or you’ll get to see me really pissed off, not a pleasant sight, I assure you.”

That was a fact I was sure of, considering my first interactions with this remarkable woman.

We arrived back at Shadow. There we found agents of Rashid poking and prodding at the exterior, when I decided to have a little fun. I ordered Shadow to power up the exterior defensive using the bare minimum setting. The next agent who tried to touch the ship got knocked on his ass from the electricity now flowing through the hull. As dimwitted as these guys were they tried a second time, achieving the same results.

“May I help you gentleman?” I innocently asked.

“That ship attacked us!”

“No, I’d say you were attacking it, and you’re lucky I came along when I did or Shadow here might have killed you. What exactly are you doing here messing with my ship anyhow?”

“We were ordered to investigate it. But we can’t find a way inside.” The chagrined man who had been knocked on his ass replied.

At this point I thought the order for Shadow to open the main hatch as well as the cargo bay hatches; instantly three sections of the hull vanished as they slid into the area between the pressure hulls.
 

“Come on board and we’ll give you the grand tour.” I invited our unexpected guests on board. Their tour, of course, only took in the luxury parts of the ship. The engine room, computer room and weapons were left out.

After escorting our guests off the ship I had Shadow reconfigure herself as the destroyer she was and we quickly and quietly lifted off, destination the power station. We cruised along the shore line of the lake until we reached our destination. The station was enormous with large stacks venting the geothermal heated steam that turned the turbines that in turn generated the electricity. There was also a military like compound on the northwest corner, inside of which were many armed guards as well as an office building and numerous fighters and gunships. “Shadow are there any threats to us here?” I asked as we were directed to a landing pad inside of the complex.

“None at all boss. We could easily fight our way out of here if necessary.”

“Let’s hope it won’t be.” I replied, eyeing the obviously well maintained and apparently well trained troops and equipment.

“Shadow, stay on yellow alert and monitor our vital signs at all times. If something goes wrong and I give the command, come get us, all guns blazing.”

“You got it boss.”

“Ok, my motley little crew. Let’s go introduce ourselves.” We exited through the main airlock and were met by a small band of soldiers at the foot of the steps. They respectfully gestured us to follow them and we headed towards the office building. Izzy stayed behind as her current role of sexual companion to Max would hardly give her access to a high level conference that we hoped was just minutes away.

As we entered the building I was shocked to see what looked like the operations center at Macdill although on a smaller scale. There was a command post run by a well-seasoned officer in his fatigues. He was strutting back and forth, talking to a man that I recognized as one of the companions from last night's supper, it was Mohammed and he was definitely acting like the man in charge. Rashid quickly came over and led us to a windowless conference room and then, begging our forgiveness, said he would return shortly.

“Wow, what was that all about? That operations room is operating a lot more than just this base.” I said.

“Yeah, it looks as though it’s a command center for an entire sector. Just who are these people? They must be much higher on the food chain than we first thought.” Sara interjected.

“That was Izzy’s impression also, although she has never been out here.”

There was no more time for conversation as Rashid, Mohammed, and the previously pacing officer walked into the room. There was no sign of Jamal.

“So, you’ve asked for a little action in your lives, we’re here to supply that need.”

Rashid and Mohammed you’ve met, but this gentleman, and I use that term loosely, is named Dhu al-Fiqar. His name literally means the Sword of Ali and he takes that role quite seriously. He is in command of all military actions within our sphere of influence, and he’s not too happy at the prospect of sending unarmed civilians on this mission. Still, we have prevailed, he will now lay out your course of action.”

“Of course, that will be fine.” I replied.

“We shall return momentarily.” Mohammed said as he led the small group out of the room.

“I have asked for a fast attack ship to make this mission succeed.” The Profits Sword said. “And what am I given?” He continued, “A few socialites with a luxury yacht. You people are losing your minds. You have hired me to take control of the military arm of this organization. Yet my advice goes unheeded, you expect a luxury yacht to slip in under the cover of darkness and steal three two ton canisters of Carliteume, one of the most unstable but powerful explosives to be had. What are they going to do, invite the guards in for lunch? If it wasn’t so comical it would be criminal. And when they fail, and they will fail, it will make my job twice as hard as it should be.”

“Fair enough, our plan is to switch the canisters with a low grade product and the guards have already been bought and paid for. So it would seem easier to slip in a yacht than a fully armed attack ship and if caught they are expendable, so we will do this my way. Is that understood General?” Mohammed said. Finally confirming what I had suspected all along, he was the man calling the shots and probably our main target in the greater mission we were on.

Thank God I had Shadow to eavesdrop for me. I now had some really good Intel I could use.

“Now if we can get to the specifics of this operation I would appreciate it.” Mohammed went on as they reentered the room.

“Yes Sir.” the general replied with a hint of sarcasm that brought an evil look into the eyes of Mohammed

“Ok, you are to land at the spaceport and then file a flight plan for sightseeing. They will watch you, but not very closely. Barlow’s world has many geographical wonders that tourists always want to see. They may try to sell you a tour but you must insist on the use of your own ship. Not far from one of these wonders is the base where the Carliteume is stored - you must be quick about it. Because if you are off the grid long that will attract attention that you don’t want. So make the exchanges very quickly, but for Allah’s sake don’t screw up and reload the wrong ones.”

I recoiled at the suggestion that we were that incompetent but had to realize it was what we had made ourselves out to be; inexperienced thrill seekers, not many of whom live long. “We won’t make that mistake.”

“Then execute your flight plan right to the point where you approach the space base. Once there, use some kind of emergency as a decoy. Then file a new plan that brings you back to Arab space. We will have cruisers there to escort you back. Do you understand?”

I understood all too well. We would be met, the cargo transferred, and then blown out of space, leaving nothing for the Slavic contingent to chase other than space debris. Well, I had a different ending in mind, one that didn’t leave us as space junk.

“I think we’re done here. You need us to highjack six tons of Carliteume, replace it with dummies, and return it here to you, correct?”

“Essentially correct, yes.” Mohammed replied.

“We accept the mission. Now for the payment we want ownership of the female slave you have assigned to my friend Max here. They have grown quite fond of one another. The second part is one million credits; half now, half when we deliver your cargo safe on this base, no questions asked as to how we accomplish this mission other than not traceable to your organization, and no interference from GI Joe over here. Have we got a deal?”

“You dare to dictate terms to us?!” Rashid said angrily.

“Your terms are satisfactory,” Mohammed interrupted what had appeared to be the start of a tirade by Rashid. GI Joe had his hand on his side arm. For Mohammed’s part he just laughed, “It is good to find someone with courage around here.”

“Good. Then we are finished here. We will return to our ship and make preparations; I assume the dummy cargo is ready to load?”

“Yes, it is as you say.”

“Well, then off we go. Next time we see each other I expect your goons to show a little more respect, we will have earned it!”

“Nice speech.” Max said as we walked back to Shadow, to whom I had already given the word to load and stow the containers. “Now what?” He asked upon entering the ship.

“Now we turn some heads around here. We’re going in heavy, no Sherlock Holmes on this one. They are expecting a failure. What they will get is spectacular success, although the Irish Sector is going to be sore since that’s the hull markings we will be using. I mean how many more problems can we cause as both the Irish and the Russian mobs are already at war, we’re just going to step it up a notch so to speak.”

“Do I really want to hear this?” Sara spoke up for the first time.

“We’re just going to have some fun.”

“Whatever you’re the boss on this one.”

Izzy didn’t need to be filled in on much as the whole scenario had played out on the view screen as seen by my eyes.

“Shadow, how soon can we depart? All these guns are making me nervous.” I joked.

“One hour.”

“Good, cause I need a drink. Anyone care to join me?” There were no dissenters.

We cleared New Libyan airspace just over one hour later with the first jump scheduled in about ninety minutes. We were not at this point showing off our speed capabilities. The four of us were sitting on the bridge contemplating our next move. We could try to follow the plan laid out for us, or invent our own. It was decided that we would play it by ear, going along until the inevitable showdown.

The trip to Barlow’s world was uneventful; a series of five jumps with minimal down time. Max and Izzy had gone to the cabin they now shared leaving just Sara and me on the bridge.

“How do you really plan on handling this?” Sara asked.

“Well, that depends on GI Joe back there. I got the distinct impression that he fully intends our mission to fail. Yet I have no intention on failing, so I believe we will go in hot. He's probably already tipped them off to our arrival, so as soon as we drop out of hyperspace we go to red alert fully shielded and ready for anything.”

“What if it’s not a trick and we show up ready for battle?”

“Well, we will have let the cat out of the bag. Something I fully intended to do so at this point anyhow. We need the important assignments if we’re to make any headway on infiltrating this conspiracy, and we’re not going to get anything but messenger and courier assignments if we don’t prove we can take on the hard stuff. So I say to GI Joe bring it on.”

“Well if that’s how we’re going to play it, don’t you think we ought to let Max and Izzy in on the plan?”

“I will. But let's give them their last few hours of peace before the shit starts hitting the fan. Don’t you agree?”

“Yeah, I suppose so, and I guess I’ll go to my cabin and get some myself if you don’t mind.”

“No, I don’t mind.” I said as Sara left the bridge which suddenly felt so empty. Even though I’d spent countless hours here alone before, it had never felt like this. I had this hollow feeling after last night when I’d met the real Sara. She hadn’t been out of my thoughts for more than a minute, and had I known it, I’d have known that I hadn’t been out of her thoughts for any longer. She had shown real sympathy without the pity when I told her my story. Unbeknownst to me, her feelings on pity mirrored my own. Bad shit happens to good people, but at least for me and apparently for Sara we find our own way of dealing with it.

Eventually I returned to my own cabin, only to find Sara curled up in my bed. She was fully clothed with her face buried in my pillow sound asleep. I ordered Shadow to bring up the mountain scene on full surround with the volume down so as not to disturb Sara. I let the scene play out all the way up to the point where I lifted carrot top out of the playpen and swung her around, both of us silently giggling. It was at this point that I heard the sob from Sara. I immediately ordered Shadow to stop the holo but Sara asked between sniffles to let it play to the end. She said “I need to know you Jon Ryder, who you were, and who you’ve become. I have nothing but terror to hold onto, I never knew real life, please sit with me and let's watch the rest together. We did, she held me when I cried, no words, just that reassuring feeling that someone cares that you are in pain.