Incoming: Chapter Fourteen (standard:science fiction, 3979 words) [5/6] show all parts
Author: James J Martin	Added: Jan 17 2005	Views/Reads: 2437/1927	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Continuing the Incoming saga. Military coup and several more plot twists with more to come. Constructive feedback is always welcome.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

briefing room. 

Denninger strode purposely through the passageways of the Archangel.  He
pushed his way past aides and other support personnel until he stood 
outside Carson's suite.  The door buzzed open and he entered the 
semi-darkened room.  He could barely make out Carson's form as the 
senator stood looking out the viewport. 

"Senator?" he asked tentatively.  Carson slowly turned and looked at
him.  Denninger swallowed quickly before continuing. 

"Sir, our source reports that a thorough investigation into Admirals
Greerson's death has been requested.  Some special adjutant 
investigator is being sent in."  A strange, wicked smile formed on 
Carson's face. 

"Excellent. Truly excellent." The senator said as he walked across the
room and poured himself a glass of ambrosia. "Wonderful news 
Denninger." He said before sipping. 

"It is?" a very confused Denninger asked.  Carson nodded and quietly
sipped more ambrosia, as he thought out the turn of events. 

"Yes, my friend.  This is what we've been waiting for.  This will be
Harrington's downfall.  Here we are engaged in combat with an enemy of 
unknown strength and size and he authorizes an investigation into what 
is clearly an unfortunate incident." Carson paused and smiled broadly. 
"That's it.  We send a media release stating that combat operations are 
being suspended while Harrington conducts his investigation into the 
death of his dear, close, friend.  Even though we have the enemy on the 
defensive" He turned away and walked back to the viewport.  "Marvelous. 
Simply marvelous."   Denninger was frantically taking notes. "Add that 
Harrington refused to send in Sirius which would have prevented his 
friend's death and allowed us to control this sector with minimal loss 
of life."  He turned and faced Denninger again.  "Make sure that the 
source is referred to as an unnamed senior officer who is unhappy with 
the current situation."  He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture.  "I 
trust you Denninger, make it good. Now leave me." Carson turned back to 
the viewport as Denninger hastily made his exit. 

Deakins mind raced through a series of possibilities as he made his way
through the underground passages retracing his course to the damaged 
scout vehicle. Where was Crowe and Roberts? For that matter, Wood? He 
asked himself.  He absently scratched his left shoulder as he walked. 
How was the Cammie simulation able to be generated?  She obviously 
wasn't here.  In fact when they last parted, they were barely on 
speaking terms.  Where was all the gear that they had carried in?  The 
darkened passages were now dimly lit as if guiding him. The corridors 
seemed to continue on into infinity.  Finally reaching the lift, 
although not remembering having walked for that period of time on the 
way down, Deakins entered and it began to ascend.  He rubbed his 
shoulder again and thought that maybe he had bruised it during his 
capture.  The lift moved very slowly and gave Deakins plenty of time to 
think over what he had witnessed. When the lift finally reached its 
destination, the doors whooshed open and revealed the interior of a 
building.  He wasn't at the scout wreckage, but the surface.  He 
stepped out and immediately the doors closed.  Deakins spun and saw 
only a blank wall.  He turned back around and walked cautiously towards 
the doorway and into the rain. 

Major Hunter inspected Scout 21's wreckage.  His men formed a tight
perimeter around the vehicle and had set up floodlights and a full 
sensor package to investigate the cavern. 

"Major! There is a faint trail leading off in that direction." The
senior tech reported. Hunter jogged over and viewed the readout. 
Shaking his head grimly, his eyes slightly squinting. 

"Sergeant!" 

"Sir?" 

"Move the men out. Five meter spread, full scans.  Blue team has the
point, Gold team provides cover. Swift and silent. You know the drill." 
 Sergeant Hazard motioned to the troopers in the area who formed up and 
moved out in precise motions.  He lingered behind and fell into step 
with Hunter. 

"Sir, what's the Op? Should we notify command and request support?"
Hunter unslung his rifle, checked the plasma setting, slapped the 
bottom of the magazine to ensure a proper seating, before turning to 
Hazard with cold lifeless eyes. 

"We get my men back." He said simply as he adjusted his rifle sling to
tactical carry. 

Deakins stepped out of the building and into the rain.  He reached down
and pulled his soft cap out of a thigh pocket and put it on to provide 
some protection.  Pulling out a small compass, he took a reading, fixed 
a landmark and began the hike back to Alpha Base. 

Hunter's men moved quietly through the labyrinth like passages.  There
was no scuffling of feet or noticeable crunch of gravel.  Each man 
covering a sector as they moved, weapons tracking on unseen threats.  
Between the two sections, a ten-meter gap remained constant.  Blue team 
stopped at a strange hatchway and signaled Hunter.  The major moved 
forward and squatted next to the team leader.  Through a series of hand 
gestures and silent nods, information was transmitted.  The team leader 
stood, motioned to his men.  Hunter returned to Gold team and quietly 
briefed them on the situation.  Blue team would breech, bang and clear, 
while they would provide close support.  The heavy weapons men of Gold 
team took up position as the entry techs of Blue team readied their 
equipment.  The team leader looked back at the shadows that hid Hunter 
and Gold team and flashed a thumbs up sign. 

"Go." Was all Hunter said over the secure inter-team comm.-net. 

A thunderous explosion rocked the cavern as the hatch was blown. 
Immediately several troopers rushed the opening not waiting for the 
debris to stop falling or the smoke to clear.  Hunter rushed in with 
Gold team as Blue team swept forward and cleared the first of several 
antechambers. 

Deakins stopped on a small ridge and took another compass reading.  He
looked around at the small valleys and rolling hills and thought back 
his childhood growing up on Broder Prime. 

Blue team swept forward and cleared the first level as Gold team broke
into two smaller units and secured the entryway.  Hunter called for the 
rest of his men on the surface to secure the above ground operations 
and move into the scout cavern.  Sensor techs set up a scan grid to 
gather more information.  There was little to no spoken words as the 
teams pushed inward and cleared each level after a thorough search and 
sensor sweep. 

Deakins was about ready to make camp for the night when he heard an
approaching vehicle.  Running up a small hill, he dropped flat at the 
top and looked down the opposite slope.  A Broderian APC was moving 
cautiously through a muddy draw, its overhead scan dish slowly 
rotating.  It stopped, several floodlights snapped on and caught him in 
their beams. 

"STAND UP AND RAISE YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD!" a disembodied voice
echoed. 

Deakins stood and raised his hands.  Several troopers converged on him
immediately, pushing him to his knees, rifle muzzle to the back of his 
head while he was expertly searched.  Pulled to his feet, spun around 
and confronted by a semi-circle of armored, faceless soldiers, he stood 
still and stared at the figure making its way towards him. 

"Sergeant Deakins.  We've been looking for you." The voice said from
behind the faceless visor.  The troopers noticeably relaxed and let 
their weapons return to tactical carry as the officer strode up to 
Deakins.  He put his arms down and was mildly shocked when the visor 
cleared to reveal a female face.   He was escorted back to the idling 
vehicle and found an empty seat.  The female trooper, obviously the 
OIC, moved to the monitoring station and slid her seat next to his 
before locking it down and swiveling towards him.  She flipped up her 
helmet face shield and fixed her stare on him. 

"Sergeant Deakins.  You've got a lot of the high command wondering what
happened to your team."  She leaned back and watched his reaction.  
Deakins stared back impassively.  Her eyes narrowed slightly and she 
leaned forward. 

"Scuttlebutt is that you screwed up and it cost the lives your team." 
Deakins remained staring at a fixed spot on the bulkhead.  The 
lieutenant scowled, leaned back and spun her chair back to the unit 
monitors. 

"Sergeant Childs! Assign two troopers to the prisoner until we can turn
him over at Alpha Base."   From the back of the APC a voice responded. 

"Aye Aye sir!" two large troopers made their way forward and took seats
alongside Deakins, who remained staring at that same fixed spot on the 
bulkhead. 

Below the surface, Blue and Gold teams moved with inhuman efficiency
through the semi-darkened tunnels.  The point team would clear a 
section and Gold team would move in and secure it for the oncoming 
ground reinforcements.  Major Hunter stalked through the secured 
sections with Gunny Hazard in tow.  Hazard was giving a sitrep as they 
walked. 

"Major. All teams report that the first four levels are secured.  Tech
teams are still scanning the lower levels." 

Four dropships escorted by a flight of Talons raced low over the muddy
ground before landing at 7th Division Headquarters.  The Talons moved 
off to the refueling area as the dropships opened their ramps and 
supply technicians began inventorying the contents.  A lone soldier in 
full armor walked off the landing pad and towards the main building. 
Once inside, he flipped up his face shield and approached the OOD desk. 


"Commander Bauer reporting." He said as his eyes flitted around the room
noting the security cameras and ingress/egress points.  The OOD looked 
up the name on his roster. 

"Yes sir.  You're in D Wing.  That's to your left and down the hall." 

"Thank you sergeant." The officer said curtly before turning smartly and
walking down the hall.  Once inside his room, Bauer removed a small 
comp and booted up the security matrix for the complex.  Entering the 
correct password and user prefix, he accessed the video of the Admiral 
Greerson's planetside ceremony.  Sitting down and removing his helmet, 
he watched as the video moved frame by frame focusing on the faces of 
the officers present.  Which one of you had Admiral Greerson killed? He 
thought as he matched each face and rank to the files on his comp. 

Major Hunter was looking at a large set of blast doors while Blue team
was placing breaching charges around the opening. 

"Sir, this is one tough set of doors."  The Lieutenant of Blue team was
saying.  Small scorch marks were present in numerous places, as 
previous attempts had been made with cutting torches.  The sensor techs 
were making another sweep of the chamber and the results were the same. 
Scout 21's recon team was located behind these doors. 

Deakins rode in silence as his mind replayed the events leading to his
'rescue'.  Where were Crowe and Roberts? He asked himself for the 
hundredth time.  How had the troopers been able to get to him so fast 
when the APC troop doors hadn't opened?  Why did the female OIC look a 
little too much like Cammie?  The troopers kept their face shields down 
and polarized which was unusual while inside the APC. 

The military spacedock between Broder Prime and Broder Gamma was a
heavily secured facility. The Sirius vessel slowly edged out of its 
support shelter aided by small tugs.  A dull black coating covered its 
entire surface.  The dock work lights almost seemed to be absorbed by 
the coating.  As it cleared the shelter, several light cruisers moved 
into a protective formation around it.  Inside Sirius, a small, highly 
trained crew sat quietly at their duty stations.  Although a large 
vessel, most of its primary functions were controlled by the massive 
shielded computers several decks below.  The 'captain' sat in a 
slightly elevated command chair overlooking the bridge crew.  With 
basically nothing to do but sit and watch as the computer made course 
adjustments and ran system checks; amused himself by playing a game on 
his command console while the checks ran in the background of the split 
screen. 

The cavern echoed with an incredible roar as the blast doors were blown
in.  If the troopers hadn't had their armor on with its sound dampening 
effect, they would have lost all hearing.  Waiting this time for the 
smoke to clear, Blue team entered the shredded opening.  Gold team 
moved forward and took up holding positions at the entryway.  Several 
overhead light fixtures were blown out and hanging down, some still 
sparking.  The hallway beyond seemed unnaturally quiet as the troopers 
moved into it. 

Deakins slowly allowed his eyes to move over the interior of the APC. 
He started noticing little items out of place.  First it was the female 
lieutenant, the troopers polarized face shields, the lack of talking 
among themselves, now it was the little details about the interior that 
he started noticing.  The area where the explosive bolts were mounted 
was missing, the opening to the driver's compartment didn't have a 
bulkhead door, the troopers seemed to be exactly the same height.  And 
then there was Sergeant Childs, who bore a striking resemblance to one 
of Deakins academy sergeants.  It wasn't adding up.  He subtlety looked 
down and to the left at the trooper seated there.  He was holding a 
MA8000, but the cocking handle was locked back indicating an empty 
chamber.  Deakins glanced to his right, Childs was holding the same but 
the magazine appeared to be in backwards, and the charging handle was 
locked forward in the safe position.  Deakins continued looking around 
at the troopers and saw more of the same.  Sure they were in Broder 
armor, but their weapons were not secured per Force's regulations.  He 
started working out the angles of attack and the movements he would 
have to go through to get to the troop door, when a crack appeared in 
the overhead and bright light shined through.  He glanced around him 
and none of the troopers seemed to notice.  The crack got brighter 
until the entire overhead of the APC was gone and nothing remained but 
this intense white bright light.  Squinting up into it, Deakins thought 
that he heard voices.  Quickly looking around again he noticed none of 
the troopers had responded to this occurrence. 

"Sergeant Deakins?" A disembodied voice asked.  He thought he recognized
the voice but wasn't sure.  The voice called his name again.  He 
reached up with great effort towards the light and a hand reached out 
and grabbed his. 

"Sergeant Deakins! Can you hear me?" the hand grabbed his and seemed to
pull him out of the APC and into the bright light.  Abruptly Deakins 
felt a pulling sensation in his shoulder and began gasping for air.  He 
closed his eyes tightly against the burning pain in his shoulder and 
eyes. 

"Sergeant Deakins!" the voice called again.  He opened his eyes and
looked around.  He was in a room surrounded by several large machines 
it appeared to be a surgical suite of some kind.  Deakins looked to his 
right and saw Major Hunter grasping his arm and holding him up as a med 
tech was running a scan over him. 

Another med tech was closing up an opening on Deakins left shoulder
after removing a small connector.  He could see other troopers in the 
hallway and several in the room around him.  Major Hunter had his face 
shield up and a slight grin on his face. 

Helmut Grunther strode quickly through the marble hallway leading to the
chancellor's office.  Throwing open the doors to the outer office, his 
quick stride took him to the inner door, which he threw open.  
Harrington looked up at the intrusion with a frown but before he could 
voice an objection Grunther spoke. 

"Sir, I have just received word that the Sirius vessel has left its dock
and is enroute to UNL-465." 

"What? That's not possible. I didn't authorize that deployment."
Harrington said incredulously. 

"Yes sir, I know that.  It appears that Admiral Kirby authorized that
movement." 

"Kirby? That ass! I'll have him removed from command for this!"
Harrington said vehemently as he came from around his desk. 

"Sir, that's not all." Grunther pulled out a printout from his pocket
and gave it to Harrington. 

"What's this?" 

"Media release stating how you are incompetent and have halted all
military operations until an investigation into Admiral Greerson's 
accident is concluded." 

"Accident? That was a deliberate shoot down!" Harrington crumpled the
printout in his fist.  "Damn him!"  Moving back to his desk he punched 
in a number on the Comm unit.  There was no response. 

"What's wrong with this damn machine?" he tried another number, same
response.  Grunther put his hand to the earpiece of wireless headset he 
wore. 

"Sir. I'm getting a report of a security alert in the building."   
Harrington looked up puzzled. 

"What?" he looked towards the outer office and for the first time
noticed that the staff was not present at their workstations.  "Where 
are my personnel?" 

Grunther turned and noticed the absence as hollow footsteps echoed in
the hall.  A squad of IS troops entered the outer office led by a 
captain.  The captain and two troopers entered the inner office 
stopping before the chancellor's desk. 

"Chancellor Harrington, by order of the Chairman of the Joint Services
Commission, I hereby take you and your staff into protective custody 
until the crisis has passed." 

"What?  What crisis? Captain explain yourself." 

The IS captain ignored Harrington's questions and motioned for the two
troopers to escort Harrington out of the office.  The troopers took the 
chancellor by the arms and dragged him out of the office amidst his 
protests.  The captain turned to Grunther and motioned with his hand to 
precede him. Stunned, Grunther left the office and was escorted by two 
more troopers. 

Inside Broder Prime Ops Command, General Beckett sat at his desk and
reviewed the readiness reports that Captain Biehn had left.  A knock on 
his door caused him to look up. 

"Yes?" he asked the captain from IS and noticed a squad of IS troops
outside the office and in the hallway. 

"General Beckett, by order of Admiral Kirby, I'm to take you into
protective custody." 

Beckett sat there and looked at the officer.  He slowly placed the
report back into the folder, closed the file and left it on his desk. 

"Why of course you are captain." Beckett said as he stood and
straightened his uniform. 

"Lets get this over with shall we?" he said as he left the office and
was flanked by the IS troops. 

On the main floor of Ops Command, silence was only broken by the muted
footfalls as the entire staff watched Beckett escorted away.  General 
Dietz came out of his office. 

"The drama is over folks. Return to your duty stations." He commanded
and stood there while everyone returned to their work amid hushed tones 
and furtive looks. 

Major Hunter was debriefing Deakins in the alcove just outside the
strange surgical suite. 

"So you see Sergeant, you never left this underground complex.  This
computer was sucking intel out of you as some sort of automated 
security response.  The techies have shut it down for now.  Hell, 
they're having so much fun down there that we may not see them for 
years." 

Deakins nodded slowly, still recovering from his experience.  Across the
hall, two med techs were working on Sergeants Crowe and Roberts. 

"Sir, any sign of Wood?" Deakins asked.  Hunter shook his head slowly. 

"Nothing. No beacon, no signal, nothing.  The search teams are still
looking." 

"I understand sir."  Hunter put his hand on Deakins shoulder. 

"Let's get you topside and shove some chow into you.  We'll continue the
debrief later." 

Gunnery Sergeant Hazard walked up to Hunter and handed him a printout. 

"Flash traffic from fleet sir."  Hunter walked a few steps away to read
it as Hazard shook Deakins hand. 

"Good to have you back sergeant."  Hunter walked back over to them. 

"Guns gather the boys, we're all heading topside."  Hazard got on his
inter-team comm and called for the teams to regroup on this level. 

"Top, what's the op?" Deakins asked when Hazard finished. 

"The major will brief us all in a few." Hazard said cryptically. 

Onboard Archangel, Captain Winslow was reading the eyes only report he
had just received. 

"Mr. Powell, recall all fighters and make ready to get under way." 

"Aye aye sir." Powell turned and started notifying department heads and
bridge crew. 


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