The Destroyers Book 3 Civil WarChapter 5 Mars and Space
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Ted recovered first, as he looked at his baby sister, and said, "Lisa what are you doing here? What do you mean the ship has..."
Lisa faded away, re-appeared in front of him, and replied, "That is what I meant big brother."
Ted felt the blood drain from his face as he looked at his sister. His thoughts flashed to Amy, trapped in her capsule, and he lost his temper.
He growled, "No! I won't have it!"
Walking over to the com unit, he pressed an icon on the panel, and said, "This is Captain White of the Oregon. I need Admiral Thompson to come to the Oregon right away! It's an emergency!"
Ted whirled on his sister and Jenny and said, "I will kill him! I swear it!"
Jenny saw the anger in her husband's eyes and said, "Ted, you know Ken. He would never have allowed this, calm down until we know the whole story."
Lisa looked at her brother and said, "Ted, please listen to me." She felt the doors start to open and she overrode them, slamming them closed, and continued, "No one forced me to do this. I was asked, and I accepted."
Ted looked at his sister, and said, "I don't want you on my ship. I do not want you in one of those coffins!"
Lisa sighed, and responded to Ted's angry outburst, saying, "Well, big brother, what you want and what you get are two different things. I am this ship's AI/interface, and there is nothing you, or anyone else, can do about it. My body has been modified to merge with this ship and this ship only..."
She stopped talking for a second, as her sensors recorded Admiral Thompson and her sister coming aboard, then she continued, "Now, as I was saying ... I accepted this position, of my own free will. If you force me to leave the ship, I will die. Do you want that?"
Ted looked at his little sister, and said, "No! I don't want that, but I also don't want you here."
Lisa felt Ken and Tammy at the door and said, "Admiral Thompson is here, along with Tammy."
At her words, the doors opened and they stepped onto the bridge. The crew jumped to attention as a marine bellowed.
"Admiral-on-deck!" shouted the marine guard.
"At ease, everyone," Ken said as he walked to the center of the bridge and came to a stop as he saw Ted, Jenny and Lisa standing there, and continued, "What's wrong Ted? And Lisa, what are you doing here?"
Ted looked over at Ken and said, "What's wrong? I will tell you what the fuck is wrong," he said as he walked through his sisters image and over to Ken, and continued. "That is what the fuck is wrong."
Ken stood there in shock, looking at Lisa, and finally said, "Lisa, what have you done?"
Tammy looked at her future husband and said, "She has done what she wanted to do. There is nothing we can or cannot do about it."
Ted looked at his sister and said, "I want her off of here, or I want a new ship."
Before Ken could say anything, Tammy stepped up and slapped her brother's face, and snapped, "Grow up, Theodore! This was and is Lisa's decision. Don't cheapen it for her. She did this out of her love of the human race, and the planet Terra."
Ted whirled on his sister, and said, "You knew? You knew she was doing this?"
Tammy smiled at her sister and looked back at her brother, and said, "Yes. There are some thing's sister's tell each other, that they don't tell their parents or their brothers. She also had another reason. It is a way for her to show her love for you! It's her wedding gift to both of you. She wanted you two safe, and this is the only way she could do it. She had been originally assigned to the Yamato, but when Ken decided to give you the Oregon, she asked for your ship. The capsule was reprogrammed to your ship, and sealed to her and to the ship's AI. She can leave for a few hours, but then she must return to her capsule."
Ted and Ken stared at Tammy as she talked.
Ted looked at his two sisters, and said, "What about Mom and Dad? What do you think they will say when they find out that our sister is in a coffin?"
Tammy looked at her brother, and sighed, "Ted, what Mom or Dad says has no bearing on Lisa's life. She is an adult of the Federation. She can do what she wants, and this is what she wanted. It's her way of saying 'thank you' for saving her life."
"What life? Now, she will never have a normal life... " Ted stopped as he saw the tears running down Lisa's face, and then Lisa disappeared, as he continued, "Ah, crap. Where did she go?"
Tammy sighed, and replied, "You did it again, bro! Open mouth and insert both your feet, along with your ass. Now go apologize to her. She is probably in your day cabin."
Ted looked over at his sister, and said, "Okay, I will talk with her." Walking up the ramp, he went into his cabin and walked to the back wall where the door to the AI chamber was located. As he neared it, the door opened and he saw his sister curled up in a ball and his heart broke as he heard her sobs. Going over, he sat down beside her.
"Sis ... Lisa, I am sorry for acting like an ass. It's ... it's just that I wanted you safe ... on the moon, not going out there where you could be killed."
Reaching out to touch her, his hand went through her image. With a sigh he continued, "I know you don't have to accept it, but I am sorry I hurt you."
Lisa heard her brother's words as she stepped from the capsule. Her spectral robe kept her image in front of Ted as she walked up to him and knelt behind him.
Slipping her arms around him, she felt him tense, and she said, "Ted, I love you very much. Yes, I am your baby sister, and I always will be. Nevertheless, I chose this, not you. I don't think I could kill anyone or anything by myself. But being tied to the AI allows me to defend this ship and help fight it. Besides, I am happy. You know I have always been the loner, the one who sat and dreamed. You would not believe the dreams I've been having while I am in there. I can see the universe, I have felt it."
Ted turned and looked at his sister. He pulled her into his arms and cried onto her shoulder.
"You're my baby sister! I'm supposed to protect you, not the other way around!" As he hugged her, he could feel that she had become a woman and asked, "Lisa is there anything on under this web like outfit?"
Lisa giggled and said, "Nope, nothing but li'l ol' me."
Ted dropped his hands and turned around, as he said, "Please put some clothes on."
Lisa smiled at her brother's antics and said, "I cannot stay out for long, anyway. Just know that I love you, and I will be here when you need me."
Leaning down she kissed the top of his head. She walked back to the open capsule, and laid down in the jelly like liquid. Grabbing the cloth facemask, she held it to her face, and settled back into the liquid. Nanofibers came out of the spectral cloth and connected her to the capsule again. Her breathing slowly dropped as her heart rate decreased to five beats a minute. She took a single shallow breath, and lay there in the capsule, as it sealed itself.
Ted turned and looked at the capsule, and got up. Going over to it, he looked down at his sister's body. He could just barely make out her face under the strange gossamer facemask.
"I love you, Lisa, and I will do better. I promise you," he said to her.
Lisa's voice came over his com unit, "That's all I wanted, Ted. I will be here for you, and for Jenny." Ted leaned in and kissed Lisa's capsule near her cheek as she continued, "Now go out there and apologize to Ken. He knew nothing of my plans, and he is your best friend."
Lisa's image appeared next to Ted, and she kissed him on the cheek.
Ted touched his cheek, as though feeling her lips and said, "Okay, Lisa. Just so you know, I could almost feel your kiss. My cheek tingled from that. I only want one thing from you."
Lisa looked at her brother and asked, "What's that, Ted?"
Taking a deep breath, he slowly let it out, and looked Lisa in the face.
"I want you to come to dinner once a week. I mean in your physical form, not like this."
Lisa smiled, and her dimples showed as she hugged him. She used the force fields in the room to act like her physical body.
She replied, "I would be honored. Now go apologize to Ken."
Ted sighed, and said, "I will, Sis, and I love you."
Ted walked out the door and heard it close as he crossed his office. He went back onto the bridge. Walking up to Ken, he said, "Ken, I am sorry. I shouldn't have accused you like I did."
Ken looked at his best friend and brother and pulled him into a hug, and said, "Not your fault. I am angry, too. I will get to the bottom of this." Releasing him, he turned to Lisa and said, "Lisa, who did this to you? I want to know where on the ship it was done, and how!"
Lisa stiffened at Ken's voice, and said, "Sir, I cannot tell you anything about that. I am prevented from doing so because of the alpha programs that have been installed in me. You will also not be able to find the laboratory where it was done."
Looking up into Ken's face she felt the tears run down her face as a sharp pain ran through her Nanofibers, and she cried out, "I'm sorry Sir, I just... " Her face twitched in pain and before she could finish Ken cut her off.
Ken watched the pain shoot through the image of Lisa. He had seen the same pain that he had seen when he had questioned Amy and Jessica.
"Stop, Lisa, don't say anything."
Ken walked around the room as he pulled a cigar out of his pocket, and started chewing on it, and said, "Damned Alpha programs are as bad as those Navy Seals."
Ken's mind flashed back to the trial of the U.S. Navy Seals.
Captain Ripley stood up and said, "Your honors, we will prove that on November 3rd, 2004, Commander Hutcheson and his Navy Seal teams boarded and took control of Lieutenant Jamie Conner's shuttle by force. They told her to fly to the ship. They said they would execute Corporal Mitchell Land and Private First Class Sandy Towels if Lieutenant Conner did not fly them to the ship. They stated that their planned mission was to kidnap Admiral Thompson, and his entire family.
"I place into evidence four warrants signed by Supreme Court Judge Thomas Jessup. The warrants state that Admiral Thomson was to be arrested for treason against the United States, for serving in a foreign power's military. Admiral Thompson and his family gave up their United States citizenship on June 13th, 2004.
"I call Commander Amy Towers, and ask her to present the video evidence of Admiral Thompson being sworn in."
Amy appeared, and said, "This evidence is presented by me and was recorded on June 13th 2004 at 9 am. In it Admiral Thompson gave the following statement that you will all see and hear."
The screen came to life, and it showed Ken and Amy standing there.
"I, Ken Andrew Thompson, do hereby give up all my allegiance to my home country and agree to follow all the laws and orders of my superior officers, and of the Terran Federation."
On the screen, Amy continued her oath of allegiance to Ken, who followed along. "I swear to defend the constitution of the Terran Federation, and according to the articles of war, to defend the human race against all enemies domestic and foreign. I agree to obey the legal orders of my superiors, and to die if I must, to uphold them."
Ken's image continued speaking on the screen. Ken stiffened in his chair as he thought of everything that had happened.
Amy's image came to attention, and saluted Ken's image.
"Welcome aboard, Captain Thompson. I as the ship's AI do hereby transfer control of the ship and its computers to you, at this time. I await your orders. Congratulations, Sir. What are your orders, Sir?"
"That concludes this part of the testimony," Amy stated.
Commander Ted White looked over at the defense table and said, "Cross examine?"
Captain DeWitt stood up, and looked at Amy. "How can we believe that this is real?"
Captain Ripley stood up and said, "Your honor, this evidence is..."
Ted looked at Captain Ripley and said, "Overruled, Captain Ripley. The witness may answer."
Captain Ripley looked at Commander White and said, "Yes, your honor," as she sat down.
Captain DeWitt, said, "Commander Towers, can you please answer my question."
Amy looked out at the defendants, and said, "These recordings are time and date stamped into the permanent memory banks run by the ship's AI. I have no access to them other than to view and display them."
Captain DeWitt listened to Amy talk, her next question already formed, and she asked, "Then how do we know this is from you."
Suddenly, from the speakers, a very loud male voice was heard, "These recordings came directly from my memory banks. No one may tamper with them."
Ashley DeWitt covered her ears, and shouted, "Your honor, I wish to declare a mistrial."
The voice continued talking at a lower volume, and said, "There will be no mistrial. This trial will proceed according to Federation Law. You asked a question, it has been answered. Now proceed."
Everyone looked around trying to figure out who the voice was, when Ted tapped the gavel lightly on the table, and said, "Thank you, Washington." Looking at Ashley he said, "Anymore questions for this witness?"
Captain DeWitt stood up, and said, "No, your honor."
She sat down as the prosecutor stood up, and said, "Your honor, I call Lieutenant Jamie Conner to the stand."
Jamie stood up, walked up to the chair, and stood in front of it.
Captain Ripley looked at Jamie, and said, "State your name, rank and post please."
Jamie looked at the defendants, and said, "Lieutenant Jamie Conner, shuttle pilot. My call sign is Sunspot."
Captain Ripley looked down at his computer pad, and said, "Lieutenant Connor, can you tell the court in your own words what happened on November 3rd, 2004?"
"Yes, Sir. We set out on another rescue mission, looking for more survivors from the explosion that devastated Reno and Sparks. As I was flying to Northeastern Sparks, I saw a light waving from the darkness. Realizing it was a flashlight, I contacted base advise them of my intentions. As I set the shuttle down, I saw what I believed at the time was a survivor lying on the ground. Corporal Mitchell Land went out to help the survivor and he injected the injured man with anti-radiation serum and carried him into the shuttle.
"When he got into the shuttle, the Seal commander took Corporal Land and Private First Class Towels hostage. Using the ploy of having a map that indicated where we could find other survivors, he then lured me out of the cockpit. After I exited the cockpit, he threatened my crew and me with bodily harm.
"When I agreed to follow his orders, he called the other members of his command, and thirty-six more Seals came aboard. Commander Hutcheson threatened to murder my crewmembers if I did not fly him and his men to the Washington. After I flew them to the ship they tied us up, and injected a sleeping drug into us."
Ken sat and listened to Amy, and then turned to the others. "First, I think we need to catch this psychopath before he kills his next victim. We have to do it. Then, we should get the Washington back up into space. After that, we need to recruit a crew," turning back to Amy he added, "I just thought of something. Do you have to be at the asteroid belt for your spider bots to build? And if not, is there a way we can get the spider bots there, quickly?" "Yes, we could use a shuttle and...
Six weeks later, Ken sat at his desk going through Captain Windsor's logs. He was looking for the clues he suspected were there. "Tammy, it says here, that the Washington was split in half at the battle of Tallis. When she was rebuilt, she was two hundred feet longer than before. I think that is where Jessica is; I think she is in that area. We have been over everything else. Amy, please bring up a pair of holograms of the ship as she used to look and as how she looks now." The image...
Philadelphia: 11:50 A.M. Tim let Amy cry in his arms as he held the woman who brought hope to a lot of people of this world. So she went overboard and took justice in her hands. He thought it was worth it as far as he was concerned. He felt Amy gently push on him so he released her. "Feeling better?" he asked. "Yeah, I am. Thank you, Tim," Amy replied. "Good, what are your orders?" Tim asked. Amy laughed and replied, "Tim you out rank me. I'm only a commander while...
Ken stood on the flag bridge of the Washington, and looked at the holomap. The Oregon was five hundred miles to his portside. The destroyers Bulldog, Boxer and Doberman were in an arrow formation directly ahead of the two battleships. Behind the flagship, the remaining ships of the fleet stretched out to their individual time drops. The last ones were the hospital ships, while directly behind him were the assault cruisers. Worried about what was going to happen, Ken chewed on his cigar. So...
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Hi, To all Iss reader this is my first story hope U all would like it a complete fiction.my self raj i live in Mumbai this story is about my aunty nandita,let me describe her she is in her 30s,lives with her husband and daughter.She is born beauty with an awesome fig of 36.28.40 ..her assets are her huge melons of 36 d and her ass that will give a hard on to any guy who looks at it So now my story starts this was like 5 years ago when I was appearing for my 12 th HSC examination at that time my...
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Ken drove the big vehicle and continued to think about finding people to get to join them. One group he was going to ask was his Dungeons and Dragons group, and the ROTC class. They were going to need military people, so he added his dad's Vietnam buddies to the list, or at least some of them. As the miles went by, everyone else fell asleep to the drone of the tires on the road. Every few minutes they passed a car going the opposite way. A few hours later, they pulled into Tonopah, Nevada...
Down in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, at a small lake, some friends were spending a week camping and fishing. As the sun was setting, David Granger walked back to his tent, his pole over his shoulder when he looked up and saw his roommate Brad Wilson walking towards him. Holding up the string of trout, he grinned. "Brad, it looks like we have trout for dinner..." seeing the look on the face of his friend he stopped speaking for a second, and asked, "What's wrong?" Walking up to his...
Up north, in Reno, Tina and her two friends were in the garage. They were loading the luggage into her mother's van. Closing the back door, they stood there chatting as they waited for Tina's mom. Tina looked around the garage, and saw a towel on the dryer. Walking over, she grabbed her beach towel with Jonny Depp on it as Captain Jack. "Damn, I almost forgot this." Walking back to the van she opened the door and stuffed the towel into her bag. Kathleen said, "Yeah, you would have...
Ted walked down the hallway, passing people who were being guided out of the medical bays, and were being lead back down to the shuttles. Passing a side passageway, he started to head into medical when he heard the crying. Turning around, he saw a brown haired girl sitting against the wall. Her dress was slightly dirty, and her knees were pressed tightly to her chest as she rocked. Walking over, he saw she was about eight years old. Kneeling beside her, he said, "Hi, I'm Ted. Are you...
Under the Arizona desert, work continued in a deep cavern. Amy sent four spider bots into one of the shuttles. She ordered them to go into the storage compartment, and to shut down. She then sent a maintenance droid onto the shuttle's passenger deck. It placed two briefcases of money into another storage compartment. Another spider bot carried in a large cooler of food, and a stack of four cases of beer, securing the requested items to the shuttle's floor. Amy was waiting for night to fall...
Ken played his light around the cave, and saw that it was getting tighter. They were descending into an unexplored cave system at the bottom of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Ken moved some smaller rocks out of his way, and pointed his light down the incline. The area was less than eleven inches high at his position, but it seemed to widen out a few feet farther on. Looking deeply into the darkness, and seeing no danger of loose rock, he turned his body on its side. He looked back at the...
Maria had just sat down to her morning cup of hot coffee when the phone rang. Reaching over she picked it up. "Hello? Ted, Honey, how are you? Are you ok? Why have you not called ... oh silly me, you are calling now. Did you all have a good time? Did Tammy get any pictures? Oh, what's that? Ok, let me ask them." Getting up, she walked down the hallway, looked in the bedroom, and called to her husband, "Andy, wake up!" as she walked over to the bed. On the bed, Andy rolled over to look...
The Federation battleship USS Washington: 1:50 P.M. Jessica handled the ship as though she was born to do it. The ship was shrugging off the enemy fire and her weapons were firing at the Washington D.C. shield trying to take it down. Turning her head she smiled at her husband and wife as the status reports came in from the fleet. "Enemy shield down to 36% power," reported Lieutenant Akiko Fujimoto. "Thanks, Akiko. Keep up the pressure," Tammy said just as Jessica screamed and the ship...
Amy accessed the data link into the Earths internet and started searching through the records and history. Happily, she started downloading all she could find. On the chat programs, and peer to peer sites, she gathered movies, books, music and anything she thought the crew would like an then she froze as she started reading some of the historical documents. "Oh NO!" Which caused her to dive into more pages and then she froze all her downloads, and locked her system down. Flight 329 from...
Joshua drove back towards his home. His heart was beating faster than it ever had before. Pulling up to a red light, he looked down on his catch and smiled evilly. "I think I will keep you for awhile, you have been such a game to catch, but now you are mine." Reaching down, he squeezed her breast. Frustrated by her shirt, he started pulling it up. For some reason, it refused to yield to his grabbing. The light changed, and he pulled through the intersection and into a dark parking...
Jenny groaned as she came to. Her jaw hurt, and her body hurt even worse. She could still feel the effects of the device he had used on her. Opening her eyes, she saw she was in a metal room lying on a bed. Groaning, she stood up. She examined the bands on her wrists and tried to remove them. Each time she dug her nails under the band she got shocked. "Damn it, that hurts." "Then I would advise you not to do it, human." Jen jumped when she heard the voice. Turning around, she saw a...
Around the base, the Marines gathered up the Crytherians as they surrendered. They herded them into the large underground hanger. While Jen and her squad of Marines moved through the base to the hanger bay, they passed other Marines gathering up papers, computers and any other intel that they could find. Walking out into the bay, she saw one of their shuttles, where Marines were herding four Crytherians into the bay and put them into chains. Walking up the shuttle ramp, Jen saw Lynn standing...
On the main screen, the shuttle with the NAT teams moved into the hanger and shut down. The image changed and they saw the twenty-four men and woman come down the ramp with their weapons on their shoulders. They were followed by eight techs, who would work the equipment in the dome. Ken sat back and watched the shuttle. His mind wandered back to the trial and all that had happened that day. Trial Ken looked up at the sound of the chimes at his door. "Come!" The doors slid open and...
Joshua sat down the street from Reno High School, and watched the kids come out of summer school. They went by on their way home, as he watched as the young sluts chat with their friends. Some even made out with their punk boyfriends, who wouldn't know what to do with them, even if they got into their pants. He sat there and remembered the last girl he'd grabbed ... Jennifer Taylor. Her long brown hair and hazel eyes were the things that stood out about her. How the fear flashed in her eyes...
The girls separated and headed for their quarters, where they started packing their belongings. Tina skipped down the passageway to her cabin, and opened the door and stopped. "Oh no! Sampson, what have you done?" Walking in, she looked at the dog's head and chest. It was covered in pizza sauce. The table was overturned. Shaking her head, she started cleaning the mess up. Ten minutes later, she had the auto-vac vacuuming the floor. She led Sampson into the bathroom, got the shampoo out...
Amy stood there watching Molly heal inside the bed's force field. Several hours ago she had released Ted from medical, and sent him to his cabin to sleep. She ran a final diagnostic on her patient and shut down the force field. "Molly, it is time to wake up," she stood there as Molly's eyes fluttered open. "Hello, Molly. How are you feeling?" Molly dreamt of her mom making her breakfast, before school. She sat and ate the hot pancakes. The butter and hot syrup was dripping...
Governor Kailnis watched the strange ships come down. Before he could activate his defenses, the weapons on the freighter blew them away. "Order up the guard! We need to stop these invaders, send orders to the fleet to get us help..." an explosion stopped what he was saying and he turned his head and saw one of the armored hover cars explode as a giant war machine came in sight, and he continued, "Destroy that thing." Heavy laser cannons opened up from the top of the defense wall and...
I slid the report into the proper file just as he walked into the room. Dennis Butz stood there wearing his three-piece suit, looking as handsome and charming as any man could. But I was not to be tamed by his charm. "Hello, Linda," he said with a friendly grin. "Judge Herns isn't in today," I replied back in a frosty tone. "I'm not here to see her." "My plane leaves in less then an hour Dennis, what do you want?" I slammed the file drawer shut and walked past him to my desk...
Amy appeared in the bedroom and looked down at Ken and Tammy curled up in each other's arms. "Sir? It's four am. It's time to wake up. You have four hours until the United Nations meeting," she said with a sigh. Ken opened his eyes and looked over at Amy, and replied, "Good morning, Amy, and thank you," Then he looked down on Tammy with her head pillowed on his shoulder, her other arm across his stomach holding him tightly in her arms. Ken tried to slide out but Tammy clutched him...
Ken caught the young mother before she could fall to the floor. He looked over at Molly. "Get in there and do what you can to help her." Molly looked in the window and her heart started to break at the sight of the little girl. Tubes running in and out of her, an oxygen mask over her face to help her breath. "Yes, Sir!" Molly went into the room and set her bag down on the bed. Nurse Gretchen Hilliard looked down at the little girl suffering from the cancer. Turning to get her pen,...
She sat, her power at minimum, for ages. Her servants repaired the great tears in her body. They restored her passageways, her components, and her systems to pristine condition. The servants burrowed deep down into the Earth. They gathered the resources she so desperately needed. They mined the gold, titanium, platinum, iron, and 'rare earths' that would have cost far too much in precious power to have been replicated. They brought her back to life, as she slowly rebuilt herself. In the...
Jenny tossed and turned in her bed as she slept. She twisted and wrapped herself up in the sheets. The dream came once again to her. It had come often, since she had found out that she was supposed to die. She watched her dream self walk down the stairs of her home, dressed as a clown. Walking up to her parents, she gave them a kiss and a hug. A sad smile was painted upon her face, and she gave a small sigh for her brother. Her mother took her face in her hands. She looked deeply in her...