Legacy Ch6

Legacy of the Guardians

AJ Marks

Chapter 6

Ahmed slowly awoke to and became aware of his surroundings. The last thing he remembered was walking toward the bed. He still had on the clothes he had on before he went to bed. He looked around and noticed that he had a message waiting for him.

"Bridge, this is Captain Ahmed." He said as he reached out and hit the intercom button next to his bed.

"Bridge here, yes captain, Admiral Cave wants to see you the moment you are awake in his office." The officer on the bridge replied.

"Did he say why?" Ahmed asked wondering why he was being summoned to the Admirals office.

"No sir, just to report as soon as you got up. I told them it might be a while and I even offered to wake you but they wanted to see you rested and told me not to wake you and sooner than possible."

"Ok, thanks. Captain out." Ahmed said. So what they wanted was not too time important, it could be about his message he sent off last night. He decided to shower, and eat before going over there. He did not want to smell or be hungry when he arrived.

Forty minutes later Ahmed walked up to Admiral Cave's secretary, who told him to have a seat and that the admiral would be right with him. Ahmed sat down but did not have to wait long before the secretary called him to go on in to the office.

Ahmed had heard of Admiral Jack 'Red Beard' Cave, but he really was not expecting to see someone with a red beard sitting behind the desk with another man sitting down across from the desk.

"Have a seat captain." The admiral said gesturing to one of the empty chairs.

"Thank you sir." Ahmed replied sitting down.

"This is Admiral Steve Terial." Jack said nodding to Steve who said hello. "Now you're probably wondering what we've called you here for. Well first off it's to extend our congratulations and thanks to you and your crew at the battle."

"Thank you sir, but it was the captain's decision to remain at the neutral zone border." Ahmed said.

"But the real reason we brought you here is that we think you can help us capture bin Laden." Steve said.

"I lived in Afghanistan, I wasn't sure but I thought that this is why you called me here." Ahmed said.

"What type of relations do you still have there?" Steve asked.

"It might be easier than we think, last I heard my brother was being swayed by a militant group in that region, but that was a couple of years ago." Ahmed said. "We haven't talk in about a year, so I'm not sure if he'll trust me." Ahmed told them honestly.

"Well, that's better than nothing." Steve said.

"You don't have to capture him, we just need an accurate location of where he is, and we can take care of the rest." Jack said.

"I see, are the Americans going to do it?" Ahmed asked.

"No, they are going to provide the distraction." Jack said.

"We believe that there is someone else who is above bin Laden, who might be a Skartian." Steve said indication the now real dangerous part of the mission. "That is the one we are concerned about."

"A left over from the war?" Ahmed asked.

"Quite possible, we never were sure we captured all of them after the war, so the possibility is very real." Steve said. "I, personally, am hoping that there is one controlling that militant group, otherwise, I'd rather not think about it."

"I understand sir, I'll be ready whenever you need me." Ahmed said.

"Good, you'll be with us when we see President Bush on Friday." Jack said.

"Yes sir!" Ahmed said knowing that he was now dismissed and walked left the room. He was a bit nervous about meeting the President of the United States of America. Even though no ranking military officer in the defense force reported any political figure on earth, it did not mean that the president was not an important man. Ahmed also knew that he would have to begin working on his story on where he had been for the last year.

As he walked out of the area on his way he saw in passing the man who was responsible for his being here. The recruiter who talked him into coming with him to fight an unknown fight. Ahmed could still remember that day fifteen years ago.

Ahmed was looking at the sky in wonder. They had been fighting the Russians to get them out of their country, but to Ahmed, he really wanted out of the country. Perhaps he could go to the United States, they were open and accepting. If he went maybe he could reach his dream of going into space, instead of fighting this war.

"How's your day been Ahmed?" His brother asked him as he approached.

"I really wish that this war was over, then perhaps I could peruse my dreams again."

"You were never one to remain in one place for to long brother. Where would you go?"

"Perhaps America."

"Still thinking about space, forget about it, they would never hire anyone like you."

"Perhaps not but a man can dream." Ahmed said looking at his brother noticing the man next to his brother for the first time. "Who's he?" Ahmed said to his brother.

"Ah, he's an American observer, and he doesn't speak our language yet." His brother replied.

"So, you're his translator."

"Yep, look, would you look after him for a few minutes, I need to go see someone."

"Yeah, go on ahead." Ahmed replied and watched as his brother spoke to the man in English. The man nodded his head and the two of them watched as Ahmed's brother took off and they sat in silence for a couple of minutes. The man then looked around to see if anyone was in sight then turned back to Ahmed.

"So you want to see space, eh?" The man said startling Ahmed.

"I thought you couldn't speak our language?" Ahmed asked him a bit surprised.

"I don't." The man said to a now really confused Ahmed. "I'm speaking English, but I am wearing a translator that can allow me to talk in whatever language I need to talk in."

"A translator?"

"Yeah." The man said noticing that someone was coming so he spoke quickly. "Look, if you were serous about going to space take this card, go to the address and tell them 'the shadow is our nature.' That is if you can make it to America."

Before Ahmed could reply his brother came back and he and the 'observer' left leaving Ahmed to staring at the card the man had given him, and wondered what he meant. Ahmed also knew that this was his destiny and from that point on he devoted himself to getting to that address.

"Well that went well." Stave said to Jack after Ahmed left the room.

"I would say so." Jack replied. "He should do real well, especially if his brother ca help lead us to bin Laden."

"Yep, so should I go with you down to the planet to you?" Steve asked.

"No, I need you to stay here in case anything else should happen while I'm gone." Jack replied.

"That's what I thought." Steve said. "So I should prepare a shuttle for two then."

"Yes, Captain Ahmed and myself will be going down and there we will meet with General Ginal.

"Do you think that this bin Laden is really just a person fooled by a Skartian, or is he a Skartian?" Steve asked him.

"I don't know, he could be just a dumb Skartian." Jack replied. "They do have some stupid operatives."

"That's true, hey remember that Skartian towards the end of the war that tried to pass himself off as Marilyn Monroe." Steve said laughing.

"Oh yeah, let's see, she had been dead for at least twenty years and she hadn't aged one bit. The guy who stopped him was trying not to laugh so that he could do his job."

"I just want to grab this guy as soon as possible so we can figure out where to go from here."

"I know what you mean Steve." Jack said getting up from his chair and walking to the window that looked out into space. Right now he could see the lights of the warships of the Third Battle Fleet assembling nearby. The first and second fleets were already assembled and on route to their stations. The Eighth and tenth battlecruiser fleets were already on patrol around earth for security purposes, and they had strict orders to block anything that was not scheduled going to or from the planet's surface.

"So what's your plan when you talk with the president?" Steve asked Jack after watching him for a minute.

"I'm going to tell him the truth." Jack said looking at Steve. "All of it!"

"That's what I thought, you know the last president..." Steve said trailing off, both men's thoughts going along the same lines.

"I know Steve, I know." Jack replied. "But this time we're telling him, that's a slight difference."

"Do you think it will help?" Steve asked.

"We'll definitely need his support again, especially if we are headed back toward war again." Jack said. "We'll need his help to raise money for the military again."

"So the people can complain about $200 hammers again." Steve replied with a bit of a chuckle. "You know, it won't be too much longer and the people will need to know about this war."

"I know, but the experts still agree that most humans are not ready, emotionally or spiritually for this kind of news." Jack said turning back to the window. "Although they are getting closer and there are certain small groups that would welcome the news."

"That's true, but the majority of religions are not ready, they are starting to change, but this kind of change is slow."

"Well are you ready to meet with Vice Admiral Dinen?" Jack asked picking up his cap and putting it on.

"Yep, it's been a while since I've talked to the old warhorse." Steve said grabbing his hat as they walked out the door. "It should be interesting to hear what he has to say."

General Joseph Ginal made his way out of the town of Anchorage in Alaska to pick up Admiral Jack Cave and a Captain Ahmed. They had used Alaska because the northern lights usually provided a great cover for the landing shuttle craft, and even if the lights were not dominate there were few people up north that could see the craft approach the underground base. The only building on top was a medium sized building that housed several companies, including the entrance to the base. The people who worked in the building never knew about the secret military base underneath their work place.

He pulled his car into the parking lot, which was full as usual and found an empty spot and quickly pulled into it. The wind was blowing cold air all around and made Joseph cold, he was not used to it seeing he was located in Florida. He had not been able to leave Alaska since the terrorist attack because the airports were still closed. He pulled his jacket closer to him and quickly walked towards the entrance to the building.

He pulled the door open and quickly walked to the elevator and went to the top floor of the building. Once off the elevator the floor seemed normal, just like any other office. Walking through the doors that simply said 'Office of the PDE'. The company was a front company that had no specific operations, but anyone who answered simply said that what they were working on was top secret for the US military and could not comment on anything.

He approached the secretary who was discreetly watching him. Only the people who knew about what the company really did knew that whoever walked into the office was carefully watched by several security personal in the next room. They were in disguise as businessmen who were running the corporation.

"Good morning, how may I help you today sir?" The secretary asked. She was trained to ask that question regardless who entered the room.

"Yes, I'm Mr. Ginal and I'm here to see Mr. Cave." Joseph answered. "Is he in yet?"

"Just a moment." She answered and picked up the phone and relayed the message to the base commander who would have a list of who was arriving or leaving. "Mr. Ginal, last door on your right after going through the door.

Joseph walked through the door and there was another desk with a man sitting at it looking like he was working, but Joseph knew that he was watching the camera's in the front office. He walked down the hall and opened the door. In this room were two armed guards, and a scanning machine.

"Identification Card and step into the machine." One guard said holding his weapon at the ready.

Joseph handed the guard who did not say anything his card and stepped into the scanner.

"General Ginal, Captain Harold is waiting for you sir." The guard who took his card said after confirming the scan with the identification card handing the card back to Joseph.

"Thank you corporal." Joseph replied returning the salute that the guards gave him.

Joseph walked into the elevator and waited as he went down into the first floor of the underground base. The top floor of the base was for transportation across the large base. The base stretched from the tip of northern Alaska to the lab based in Vancouver.

Joseph got out of the elevator as it came to a stop on the upper floor of the base. Right out of the elevator there was another guard post that he still had to go through. He had to resubmit his ID card and another scan. There were more heavily armed guards at this guard post than the one Joseph had just gone through. There were two main reasons for such high security. The first reason was to keep unwanted civilians or reporters from discovering the base and activities going on. The other main reason was to keep any Skartian spies from infiltrating the base.

Joseph walked over to the tram going to the shuttle landing area and waited for the next tram. The trams are very fast based on technology that was decades advanced from anything else on the planet. The tram's tubes were also vacuum-sealed to achieve maximum speed for the trams.

He got in the tram when it arrived and reached his destination in ten minutes. Walking out of the tram he was met by Captain Harold.

"Sir!" The captain said giving the general a salute. "How are you doing?"

"Doing fine captain." Joseph said returning the salute. "How are things down here?"

"Well, things have been tense since the terrorist attacks, and the invasion of the Skartian fleet." The captain replied looking for the shuttle. "There is an increase in recruitment, not as much as it was during the war, but more than anytime since then."

"I figured that would happen." Joseph said and went silent watching the landing area for the shuttle. Both men were deep in thought. The captain was thinking about how this latest news would effect his retirement that he was going to do at the beginning of the next year. Joseph, meanwhile, was wondering if Jack Cave had come up with anything that would help with the hunt of those responsible for the attacks.

They both watched as the small shuttle touched down and they watched as the door opened to allow the two passengers out. Joseph recognized Jack Cave but did not recognize the other man, who appeared to be of Middle East descent.

"Hey Jack, how are you?" Joseph said.

"Doing fine Joseph." Jack replied. "This is Captain Ahmed, Captain Ahmed, this is General Ginal, an old friend of mine." Jack said introducing Ahmed to the general.

"It is nice to meet you sir!" Ahmed said saluting.

"I've heard some good things about you Captain, keep up the good work." Joseph said.

"How is Kaytlin doing?" Jack asked.

"She's doing fine." Joseph replied. "She's worried about everything, with the Skartian war scare going on she's concerned about Karen."

"Say, when are Karen and Greg going to set a date for their wedding?" Jack asked.

"What? How?" Joseph asked a bit perplex. "Oh yeah, that's right, Greg is one of your aides."

"Yep, does a real fine job, but he hasn't told me anything about a date for the wedding and I thought that Karen might have mentioned something to you or Kaytlin."

"No, there going to wait for a while, probably until some of this excitement dies down." Joseph said as the four men got onto the tram.

"I hope that you two don't mind sleeping in a hotel room tonight after we get to Washington DC." Joseph asked them.

"That's what I figured we'd do. So when do we need to be at the airport?"

"Well, we need to be at the Vancouver airport in a about an hour." Joseph replied.

"Vancouver? Why not Anchorage?" Jack asked a bit surprised.

"All US flights are still pretty much grounded, and those flights that are running, well, it's just quicker to go from Vancouver." Joseph replied.

"That's right, I forgot about that. I get so used to how things are up at Independence Station that I forget that the people on Earth still don't know anything about the war with the Skartians." Jack said. "The last time I was down here was for my wife's funeral three years ago."

"I remember." Joseph said, remembering the call he had to make to his friend. Their wives had been close friends ad although Kaytlin knew about the war, Jack's wife didn't know.

Both men were silent for a while and Ahmed picked this time to asked a question that was on his mind.

"Sir, given my ethnic background, is it wise for me to be seen in public just yet?" Ahmed asked a bit concerned about some possibility of a deranged American going after him.

"Our limit to public view will be quite limited, so I wouldn't be to concerned about it captain, but I understand your concern." Joseph said, but he knew that only a few people would be seeing Jack and the captain at all besides the president.

The tram stopped and the four men got out.

"Well, this is where I leave you gentlemen, good luck with your meeting Admiral Cave." Captain Harold said as he saluted the two men and went on his way back to his office to get the new recruits settled in.

End Chapter 6

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