Taldrenites > Starfleet Command Fan Fiction
Fortune Favors...
Lieutenant_Q:
Sugar Land, Texas
17:42 CDT
The two of them slowly walked back out to Peter's car, Matthew was following along, and for the ninth time asked if he could go with them. Finally, when they neared the car, Peter dropped to a knee and held his son in his hands, “Matthew, I know you want to come along. But I can't let you come with us.”
The sandy-blonde haired kid looked to Sam and then back to Peter, “But, why Dad?”
Peter pulled him into a hug, “It's not safe.”
Matthew pulled back, “But we drive around Houston all the time, Dad.”
Peter shook his head, “This is a little different. We're looking for someone, that doesn't want to be found.”
He tilted his head to his side, “Then why are you looking for him?”
Peter rubbed him on his head, “Because other people are looking for him, other people that are not happy with him.”
Matthew smiled, “So you're trying to rescue him?!”
Peter nodded, “Exactly.”
Matthew jumped out of his father's arms, “Then he should want to be rescued, let's go Dad!”
Peter grabbed him again, “He doesn't know we're trying to rescue him. He thinks we're not happy with him either.”
Matthew took a step back, “Oh.” Then looked up with a big grin on his face, “Then tell him!”
Peter smiled, “If only it were that easy. We don't know who he is. It could even be a she.”
“A girl?!” Matthew backed away, “Eww..”
Peter chuckled, “Look after Mom for me. I'll be home soon enough.”
Matthew ran back towards the house, “Yes, Dad.”
Sam opened the passenger door to get into the car. “You can't blame him for wanting to be with you.”
Peter smiled at her as he walked up to the driver door and opened it, “He didn't really want to be with me, he wants to be with you.”
Sam sat down and winked at him, “But I'm a girl.”
He shook his head as he buckled himself in, “You're an astronaut, that trumps being a girl in his book.”
She grinned as she buckled herself in, “I see.”
As he backed the car out of the driveway, he waved at Becky and his two oldest children, who were waving back at them, “Where are we heading now?”
Sam looked over her notes, “Fifth Ward.”
Peter tensed, “Someplace else maybe?”
Sam put down her PDA and looked at him, “Why?”
He put the car into drive and began driving towards the freeway, “Fifty minutes to get there, and Fifth Ward is not exactly a nice place to be after dark.”
She looked back down at her PDA, “Greenspoint?”
He shrugged, “Better, but not much.”
She shook her head, “Spring?”
He smiled, “Spring's good.”
They drove off in silence, merging onto the South West Freeway and beginning their trip up US highway 59, Sam looked down at her notes, and back at Peter several times before she finally turned to him, “Look, Peter. You don't have to take me around town, I can get a rental.”
“It's all right, Sam.”
She stared right at him, “What's wrong?”
He shook his head, “Nothing.”
She turned to look out the window, “I don't want you to get hurt in this, Peter.”
He turned to face her, “I'm not letting you go around here without backup. Why your Captain sent you down here without any is beyond me.”
She turned back to him, “I chose to come down here without it. I could have taken anyone I wanted, there's several people on board who were itching to return planet-side. I chose to come down here alone.”
“Why?”
“Because...” She stopped, she couldn't think of a reason.
“Sam. Is it really because you think he'll throw you off the station, and if you do this for him, he'll keep you? Or is it something else?” She stared at him, speechless. “Is there something more, between the two of you?”
“No! I just...” Sam looked for the words, when a pair of beeps came from her pocket, she ignored them, “I...”
The beeps happened again, Peter shook his head and smiled slightly.
“What?” A third time.
Peter looked back to her, “Your phone is making a Star Trek noise.”
“Oh!” She fished her phone out of her pocket, it was making the TOS communicator beep sound. She flipped the phone open and put it to her head, “Carter.” A pause as she listened to what whoever was on the other end of the call said, “Humble?” She shook her head, “Yes. We'll head there right now, sir. Carter Out.”
He looked over at her, “Well? Where to now?”
“15023 Eddie Drive. Sam Houston Tollway and I-69.”
He frowned, “Old Humble. That's not exactly a nice place to be either.”
“Well, I'm making this one an order, Peter.” She made a note in her PDA, “The Captain got a tip off that the person responsible will be waiting for us at the Delorean Plant at 6:30.”
He scoffed, “Sam, I'm no spy, but that sounds like a trap.”
“The easiest way to beat a trap is to get there early, how fast can we get there?”
He smiled, “You willing to pay the ticket if I get one?”
She nodded, “Of course.”
He nodded and broke out into a full wolf grin, “Then hold on, we'll be there in fifteen minutes, Police Willing.”
Lieutenant_Q:
(Wow... one thing I hadn't noticed, is how far ahead I had gotten since I got my Nook... I need to start posting more... sorry ladies and gents... here's more)
L-1
22:55 Zulu
James shot through the Promenade like a man on a mission, he had just kicked himself off the wall at the end of the Lift Access Corridor with as much force as he could muster. Many people would call this reckless, and had he been looking, he would have noticed both a scowl and a look of concern on Dr. Norman as she looked out the Infirmary door while he shot by. He did a slow somersault through a quarter second burst with his belt thruster, and stopped his tumble when his feet were oriented in the direction he was heading. Then he noticed Kelly, opening the doors of the Infirmary with a medical kit in her hand, shaking her head and moving as quick as her Magnetic Boots would let her. James shook his head back and gave her a wink and a thumbs up, as he coiled for the impact. He glanced down to make sure that his feet were going to land correctly on the wall near the docking corridor that the freighter was attached to. He landed right where he expected to, although not quite as he expected. His legs bunched up and absorbed the force of the impact, but he felt a twinge in his left ankle as he hit it. He grimaced as the pain shot up his leg, but made no noise to indicate that he had been hurt. Instead he calmly stood up on the wall and glanced at Thomas Hicks, one of the Walkers assigned to installing the security systems on this corridor. Thomas had been startled by his landing, and looked at him quizzically.
James steadied his voice before he spoke to him, “Are you almost done here, Mr. Hicks?”
Thomas nodded, “About fifteen more minutes, sir.”
James nodded, but couldn't muster a smile as Kelly continued to get closer, “Good, power it up when your done, and run me through it when I come back out.”
Thomas nodded again, “Aye, sir.”
James spared a glance for Kelly as he started to coil up to shoot himself down the corridor, but couldn't help but grunt when he felt his ankle flare up at him again.
Kelly heard it and shook her head as she walked up to him, “That was an extremely stupid thing for you to do, Captain.”
He grimaced but nodded, “In a hurry. I'll stop by the Infirmary as soon as I'm done.”
She stopped next to him and grabbed him by the ankle, it elicited a yelp from him, “See that you do.” She let him go and turned back to head into the Infirmary, “If you're lucky I'll have some pain medication waiting for you.”
James gently pushed himself off the wall and up the corridor, mindful of the pain that still coursed through his leg, when he made it up the length of the corridor he used his hands to stop himself. The airlock between the docking arm and the freighter was closed, a simple press of the button opened both doors. It would probably be the last time the airlock to the freighter would be unlocked, any future attempts to board the freighter would be met with a passcode requirement. He pulled himself through the door and cursed himself for being so careless. The pain in his ankle hadn't subsided, and he was worried he may have broken it. As he pulled himself along the corridor of the freighter he wondered just what kind of punishment Kelly would administer for being so careless. Withholding Pain Meds was just one of her options. Other options, depending on how bad he hurt it, might be being confined to the Grav Deck, or even the Infirmary.
He came up to the lift access door and pressed the call button, the door opened immediately, and Micheal was waiting in the lift, with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face, “I could have met you somewhere,” he stated bluntly before reaching out to pull James into the lift.
James nodded as the lift doors closed behind him, Micheal punched the button for the Bridge, “Faster this way. How quickly can you be ready to get underway?”
Micheal tilted his head to the side as he thought of the answer, “About an hour, why?”
“I need you to get back to Earth.”
Micheal sighed, “Sam?” He ran his fingers through his brown hair as he ran through what he needed to do, “Fortunately there's nothing pressure sensitive in the Cargo Bay, we can cut it loose and let the Walkers pick it apart from there. But we'll be back two weeks ahead of schedule, and we'll be burning fuel maintaining orbit, rather than saving fuel by being docked here.”
James nodded as the door to the Bridge opened and they floated onto it, “I know, but Sam's going to be needing more support than we can give her while we're both up here. She smells a trap, I smell a trap. But I couldn't not give her the information, if its him, we need to get him before the NSA does.”
“Why are we so concerned about this guy?”
James glanced over to Nicole, who was idly listening to something through her earpiece, “Because the biggest threat to the station's survival, besides rogue asteroids and such, is a drone. We can deal with ICBMs, unless someone wants to throw fifty of them at us. What would be more difficult to deal with is a swarm of drones armed with missiles. The drones could evade our defenses and fire the missiles at us from a range close enough that our current Point-defenses couldn't shoot them down. If we can jam the drone's signals, they can't shoot us.”
Micheal settled into the command chair, “What do you expect me to be able to do? Am I going to be able to fire on an NSA target if I need to? You know what kind of trouble that's going to get both of us into. We're back to the question I asked you on the Promenade, how far are you willing to take us, and how far are our investors willing to let us go?”
“I'm hoping that the mere threat of you being able to do something will make them think twice. I can't imagine the United States wants an incident any more than we do.”
“Why should they care? Seriously, we are dependent on foodstuffs, fuel and water from Earth. We have three different facilities in Florida and Texas, we may be aloof out here because we are so far away, but we are tied to the United States far more than you would like us to be. And I think far more than you realize.”
James winced, “Yes, we are. I'd like nothing more than to be able to cut all these ties, but logistically, we can't. And we won't be able to for at least the rest of the decade, even if everything goes right. We could grow our own food out here, but water, where are we going to get that from? Engines aren't efficient enough to go out and get it from all the ice chunks drifting further out in the solar system.”
Micheal looked at the view-screen, “Soooo... I'm going there to bluff?”
James shrugged, “They still don't want to make you angry, with one order you could level every Government Building in Washington D.C., and they wouldn't be able to stop you until you were done. They couldn't get an ICBM up to you fast enough. And they have no defenses against a direct assault from orbit.” James grabbed a hold of the railing around the command pit, “But maybe more importantly, if she needs personnel backup, or even close air support, you'll be there to provide it, immediately, not six hours later.”
Micheal nodded, “Then we should get started,” He raised his voice, “Nicole, recall everyone. Make preparations for departure.” He looked back at James, “And you need to go see Kelly, you're going to regret it if you broke your ankle.”
James pushed himself back towards the lift doors, “I didn't break it, I'd know by now if I did that. Twisted it, Sprained it, Tore a ligament, maybe.”
Micheal smiled as James backed through the now open doors, “Keep telling yourself that.”
James considered those words as he rode the lift back down to the airlock. He bent over and rubbed his ankle. The Micro-gravity was making the swelling worse than it normally would be. He was probably doing more damage to it by not being in the Infirmary already, but if Kelly thought that it was irreversible damage, she wouldn't have let him on the freighter in the first place. The lift doors opened and he pushed himself out with his good foot. He was careful not to activate his boots, he knew that he'd regret putting any kind of pressure on the ankle. He settled himself to a stop just inside the station. The airlock door was open, and a pair of crewmen that he didn't immediately recognize walked by him, and tossed him a salute. James returned the salute and reached for the comm panel. Activating the direct line to the security station he spoke into the panel, “You ready down there Thomas?”
“One more minute, Sir.”
“Alright, I'm going to get myself in position, and then push off and slowly drift down the corridor” James looked down for a moment, “Please bring the results of the test to the Infirmary.”
“Aye, Sir.” A pause followed his confirmation, “If you want to start down now, the first station is already running, the last one will be running by the time you get there.”
James pushed himself down the corridor, as he drifted down the corridor he noticed George and one of his new assistants enter the corridor, George waved at him and pulled the assistant to the side of the corridor. James waved back as he passed through the Metal Detector. The least useful of the security systems, pretty much everyone coming on and off the station is going to have some kind of metal on their persons, but it does let the people staffing the security booth know to be looking for something. A gust of wind from every direction blew his uniform every possible way. The Chemical sniffers, would go through the various known explosive residues along with biological and chemical toxins, hopefully within a couple of seconds. “Sorry to cut your stay short, George.”
“It is, what it is, James.” George shrugged as James floated by, “When I get back I may have something to peak your interest.”
James smiled as he approached the last station, “Looking forward to it.” Air jets once again doused him as he waved them along. The last station was examining his body from multiple camera angles, along with laser detectors, looking for something that may be hidden in a pocket or under his uniform. He took a mental tally of everything he had on him, so that when Thomas came to him with the results he could say it worked great, or it needed to be re-calibrated.
He came to a stop at the end of the corridor by grabbing a hold of the hand railing at the airlock hatch. A quick re-orientation and a shove off pushed him across the Promenade and into the Infirmary, where a very upset Dr. Kelly Norman would be waiting for him.
Lieutenant_Q:
(Getting back to a regular posting schedule again, I'm going to shoot for updates every Monday, Kids willing... (which is why this one is Tuesday))
Houston, Texas
18:10 CDT
It was quiet at the DeLorean Motor Company facility. Not so much a factory as a repair shop, all four bays were shut, and no other vehicles were in the parking lot. Sam closed her door and continued her gaze around the facility. “You enjoyed that way too much.”
Peter smiled, “It's not every day I get permission to do 110 down the freeway. Almost felt like flying.”
She shook her head slightly as her gaze finished its sweep, “Except when you're flying in formation, you know for a fact that the people flying next to you are professionals, I thought for sure that one lady was going to panic as we blew past her.”
“She didn't.” He looked around, “It's awfully quiet here. We sure this is the place?”
She nodded, “Sure looks promising, its isolated, even if it is just off the Tollway and the Freeway.”
He looked around some more before he noticed that Sam was already heading off towards the building, “What are you going?”
She called back as she broke into a slight jog, “As I said, it's isolated, I'm going to make sure we've got a secure perimeter.”
He broke into a run after her, “Not alone, you're not.”
She stopped at the corner of the facility and peered around, checking the tree line in the distance of any thing unusual at the same time.
He looked over her shoulder, “You think that the person we're looking for is here already?”
“Most likely. The car is probably parked inside the building.”
He pointed to the house just on the other side of the fence, “Or they live there.”
She shrugged as she made her way down the 'alley' between the facility and the house. It really wasn't much of an alley because while directly to her left was the facility, the other side of the alley was a chain linked fence. A chain linked fence who's purpose became all too clear when a big Alaskan Husky ran at the two of them barking. The animal jumped up onto the fence and growled at both of them. She pushed along, with one eye on the dog.
“I think she was happy to see us.” Peter commented dryly as they moved away from the dog, trapped by the corner of her yard.
“She sure had a nice way of expressing it.” She kept her gaze fixated on the large growth of trees just ahead of them. The trees were too well groomed to actually hide anyone, the trees across the street beyond them, however, were untamed, and therefore an issue.
“At first I thought this might have just been a maintenance facility, but it's big enough to actually build them. I wonder if I could get a DeLorean.”
She looked around the corner they came upon, the clearing made her feel at ease, “Would you really want one?”
He smiled as he checked their 'six', “I wouldn't mind seeing if they had the Time Machine here.”
She chuckled, “I would be surprised if they did. I would expect it to be on display somewhere if they did.”
He shrugged, “You never know. We've had an abnormal amount of rain the last couple of months. Maybe they pulled it inside to keep it out of the rain.”
She said nothing as she kept alternating her focus on the wild growth trees across the street, and the corner they were quickly coming up on. She was so focused on her observations that she jumped when Peter put his hand on her shoulder.
“Sam. In all seriousness.” He started as she steadied herself, “Do you think we might be making him nervous? We're here early, you've got your gun drawn. Don't you think that we might need to take a step back and just go in on faith?”
“Faith is something I have little time for right now.” Sam peered around the corner, “The NSA is a dangerous organization to be up against. I don't want to be caught flat-footed.”
'Sam. Stop.” He raised his voice slightly in a hope to get his point across, “They want you both alive. They want him alive because they want to know how he did it. They want you alive because they want to know what you said. Having that gun out right now just increases the chances that someone is going to get hurt. And you're fooling yourself if you think you're going to be able to defend all three of us with that 9 Millimeter.”
She turned around and stared him down, “Do you have a better suggestion?”
He returned the stare, “Honestly? Hope they don't show up. Because if they do, it doesn't matter what you do. They're getting us. Now who gets hurt in the process is entirely up to you.” He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, “Do you seriously think that they are going to just show up with two or four people? They're going to show with six, eight, and probably HPD back up too.”
She looked away for a split second, and then nodded. “Alright.” She toggled her safety and tucked the 9mm into her waist band. “What do you suggest?”
He walked up to the service door fifteen feet in front of him, “Hope he's here now, and that we can get out of here before 6:30.” He knocked hard on the door.
The door suddenly opened and a short, young Asian woman glared at both of them. “You're early.”
Sam took a step forward to introduce her self, “Yes, I'm Captain...”
“I know who you are.” She cut her off.
Peter looked down at her, “Then you know why we're here early.”
She nodded, “I could hear you two talking.”
Sam stepped in, “Then you know that we need to go.”
A familiar voice chilled her veins, “It's a little too late for that, Samantha.”
She turned towards the parking lot, Robert was standing next to the DMC sign with two HPD officers flanking him, weapons not drawn, but clearly ready to pull them if needed. At the same time Peter noticed the two men in suits behind the young girl.
Robert shook his head as Sam began looking for options, “Please don't make this any more difficult than it has to be.” He motioned to the two HPD squad cars that swooped in behind them.
She lowered her head in dismay as she pulled her 9mm from her waist band and tossed it to the ground in front of her.
Lieutenant_Q:
L-1
23:25 Zulu
“Hold. Still.” Kelly glared sharply at Roger who had just burst into the Infirmary with the news that Sam had been captured, but he never got a chance to relay that information. “And as for you, Mr. Simmons, you are aggravating my patient. Get. Out.” She looked back at James who was about to open his mouth to countermand that order, “And not another word out of you. Doctor's orders.”
James closed his eyes and resigned himself to whatever Dr. Norman had in store for him. She stared Roger out of the Infirmary before turning back to him, “Now, it's not broken, but I'm going to need to do an MRI to see if you did anything more than roll it.”
James nodded, “Do you want to use your new toy, or do you want me to climb into the tube?”
She smiled slightly, “Actually both. That way I can compare the images and see if the Portable MRI machine is as good as advertised. I should warn you though, the PMRI has only been used on a handful of people, its typically used for geographical surveys.” She turned and walked into the other room. When she returned a moment later she was pushing a device about the size of a twin sized bed into the room. From what he knew and what he saw, the device was only that size because it was expected for the patient to lay on it while it took the image. The actual scanning device was not much bigger than a Desktop PC tower. In the case of a full body MRI, the scanning device would roll along a pair of rails underneath the bed. But in this case she only needed a scan of his ankle, she locked it in place at the foot of the bed, and motioned for him to get on it by patting her hand on the bed.
James pulled himself off the exam table and on to the bed. The advantages of the PMRI machine were purported to be numerous, first and most important, it was far cheaper than the traditional tube based machines. Second, it's not nearly as power hungry as the tube machine. Third, Claustrophobic patients had no trouble laying on the open bed. Fourth, it was not as dangerous to people with implants as there were no super-conducting magnets in the system. The drawbacks were that it couldn't get as clean of an image as the tube machine, and that some things could be missed by the portable one that the tube machine wouldn't. Kelly volunteered to field test the PMRI machine for NASA. She had a traditional MRI system in the Infirmary, but it was the only one in space, cost and weight considerations precluded having one on the freighter. Should the PMRI machine past muster, it would be standard issue on all Starships.
Kelly moved his ankle to the appropriate position on the bed, and stepped over to the control screen. A couple taps on the screen was accompanied by a whirring sound which lasted all of ten seconds. And then a hissing sound as the device vented the built up heat. “Not bad,” she started as she read the display on the screen, “Not good either. I can tell you tore your ACL cluster. I don't know if I need to surgically repair it, or just cast it and let it heal on its own.” She motioned to the other room, “Into the tube you go.”
James pushed himself off the bed, and towards the back room, “Make a decision right now.”
She looked at him, “What?”
He passed through the door with her following, “Act like you don't have the option for the tube.”
“Oh.” She shook her head, “Given that you were being stupid, I'd elect for surgery. It would teach you a lesson about being careless. You knew that it was only a matter of time before your carelessness in weightlessness would catch up to you. Yet you kept pushing it, despite all my protests.”
He shrugged as she pushed him into the tube, “I'm stubborn.”
She shook her head, “Well stop it. You're not too stubborn to die.”
James settled into place inside the tube, deciding that the last comment was probably not in his best interests to respond to.
“Hold still.” She called out to him. The tube flared to life, he could hear the mechanisms rotating the magnets around him. He even felt his hair stand on end as the machine did its task. The whole sequence was done in forty-five seconds, although it felt a lot longer. When the noise stopped and the mechanism came to a rest he saw Kelly stick her arm into the tube to offer her assistance in getting out. He took it and she pulled him out, stopping him along side her, where she already had the two images she took side by side on her screen. “Well, maybe not as bad as I originally thought. The image is cleaner than I anticipated. And your ACL tear isn't that bad either.”
James sat back down on the exam table as she continued to look over the image.
“You're not having Surgery. I'm going to wrap it.” She shook her head, “Don't think that you're getting off lightly here. No exercises for the next week. I expect to see you in here every day at 1500 hours. If you're even one minute late, I'm going to hold you in here for the rest of the day. Keep your Grav Deck time to the absolute minimum.” She pulled out an elastic bandage from a supply locker, and began to wrap his ankle, “And no pressure on the ankle at all. When you're on the Grav Deck you will be using a cane.”
He nodded his head, “I could just go back to the office space I was using for my Quarters before the Gravity Deck was constructed.”
She stopped wrapping and looked up at him, “No.” She turned her attention back to the ankle and finished the wrap, “If you're skipping the exercises, you need the Grav Deck's influence while you sleep, when I say a week, I'm only referring to no exercise at all. I'll put you back on a limited exercise regimen next week. Depending on how quickly you heal, you could be back to normal activities in four weeks to six weeks.”
“Normal, of course, being not shooting myself around the station.”
“Exactly. I'd prefer to never see you do that again.” She reached into the cabinet and pulled out a syringe and drew a blood sample from his arm. “I need some platelets for the plasma treatment.” After she had what she needed, she moved over to the centrifuge and placed the sample inside it. While it was spinning she grabbed the hypo-spray and filled it with a medication. “And this is for the swelling and the pain.”
He nodded and kept his leg extended. She placed the tip of the nozzle just above the wrap and pressed the trigger button. A compressor in the back of the room came to life and shoved the medication through his skin. He smiled as he felt the medication enter his body, “It's a shame you can't draw blood that way.”
She nodded as she placed the hypo-spray into the sterilizer tray, “Unfortunately we can't get things out without breaking the skin.”
James looked around the room, “How much longer?”
Kelly shook her head, “ A couple more minutes. You really shouldn't be in a hurry.”
He turned to look over his shoulder, “Roger wanted something, and it seemed important.”
Kelly moved to block his view, “I'm sure it was, but it can wait until I'm done with you.” She turned to look out the window, where she could see him standing, waiting patiently, “If it was something that threatened the station, I think you can be assured that he wouldn't have let me throw him out, and that Micheal would be in here already to countermand my order.”
He nodded, “So while it may be important, it's not something that needs immediate action.”
The centrifuge beeped and began to cycle down. “Exactly. And as soon as that stops spinning I'll have your plasma injection ready, and you can leave.”
Lieutenant_Q:
Houston
18:35 CDT
“I must say, I was pleasantly surprised when James sent you down here, Sam.”
Sam glared at Robert as he sat on the reversed seats inside the back of the SUV that they were seated in. Neither she, nor the young girl that was seated next to her, were restrained, but she knew that while the vehicle was running, that they weren't going to be getting out of it. “What are you doing with Peter?”
He smiled at her, “Mr. Thompson is getting a warning for excessive speeding, and being told to forget this whole thing happened, he'll be back with his family by 8:00 PM tonight if he cooperates.” He looked over to the young girl, “Unfortunately for both of us, she is not the person we were looking for.
Sam looked towards her, “What do you mean?”
He frowned as he handed Sam a folder, “Whoever did this sent her to meet with you. With the plan that she would take you to meet someone else, who would then take you to see the person we both wanted.” Sam opened the folder and looked through it, “For some reason, the individuals in question didn't trust anybody.”
Sam looked back up at him, “Are you surprised? Everything you say and do is lies and misdirection.”
He shrugged, “Such is the nature of my line of work.” He pulled out another folder, and he held it so that she could read her name on it, “Over the last couple of months, I had gone over just what I would do when it came to debriefing you.” He opened it up and began to look it over, “But then it came to my attention that I really don't need to. I have no questions for you that require an answer anymore.”
She frowned, “Then what am I here for?”
He motioned back to the young girl, who had simply been watching the exchange between them silently, “We both want the device. And you are the only way we're getting it.”
“You really think that whoever is behind her is going to cooperate?”
He shook his head and pointed to a spot in the folder that Sam still held, “No. Which is why we need to sweeten the pot a little bit. This young lady is here on immigration violations.” He turned his attention to the young lady, “If you're willing to help us Ms. Phoeng, we'll clear those from your record, and move you to the front of the line.”
Sam set the folder down and crossed her arms across her chest, “I still haven't told you I was going to help you.”
He looked back at her, “Sam, we're not rivals this time. When this is all done, we'll drop you off at James' reactor research facility here in Houston and you can go about whatever else you need to do here.”
Ms. Phoeng spoke up, “What do you want, the device or the person?”
Robert turned back to her, “The person. But we'll settle for the device, provided that the person goes with Captain Carter.”
“Why?”
Robert glanced over to Sam before responding, “If the person goes with Captain Carter, the person is on the station where they can't do anymore damage like what happened yesterday. While we would prefer to have the person working directly for us. We acknowledge that the person might not be willing to do so. The person has already expressed a willingness to work for Captain Atkinson. And we would rather have the person willingly working, than working under duress.”
Sam scoffed, “You would force someone to work for you.”
Robert didn't bat an eye, “Of course. Sam, you and I both understand the dangers we face. Your friend Khan,” Sam tried to suppress a shudder at the mention of that name, “May have ended Islamic Terrorism, but that doesn't mean that world is any more safe than it was before. Even though our country was founded on the ideals of freedom and liberty, we know that there are lengths that need to be gone to, to ensure that the vast majority of the populace can enjoy those freedoms. We operate in the shadows because we are an anathema to our founding principles.” He leaned forward and whispered into Sam's ear, “Would you be surprised to know that we predate the formation of the CIA by almost 100 years?”
He leaned back to let that sink in. “If you'd like to make a phone call, Ms. Phoeng.” He produced Sam's cell phone and handed it to her, “We'll be stopping at this gas station up here, you can make the call to your contact. Tell them that you and Captain Carter will be heading to your rendezvous point. I'll even let the two of you use one of our cars, so you can go there alone.” The vehicle stopped, Ms. Phoeng hesitated for a moment, but eventually took the offered phone. “You can step out side if you'd like.” She nodded, the doors unlocked and she opened up the door, only to find a suited man waiting there for her. “Just in case you try to run off.” He smiled.
When the door closed Sam looked back at Robert, “So you're telling me that the NSA has been around since the 1850s?”
“Well, we weren't called the NSA back then, nor do many within the organization really know who we are. Most of them only know the official history. Truth is, we've been around since the early 1800s, although our work during the War of 1812 was unofficial. It's really amusing sometimes, James' friend George Noory, attributes a lot of what we do to groups like the Illuminati.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Times are changing. The United States is falling apart under the weight of some of its elected representative's greed. Governor Romney was correct during that campaign rally that there's a percentage of the population that depend on the Government and that they will never vote for someone who wants to dismantle it. Some view it as a way to keep themselves in power. But it's also a slow death spiral. Because as more people get brought into the system, there's less people to support that system. The cracks are starting to show, we're doing what we can to hide them. But we can only hide them for so long. By the end of our lifetime, they will be exposed for the world to see. You and Captain Atkinson are a part of our contingency plan, even though neither of you know it yet.”
Sam shook her head, “What if we don't want to be a part of your plan?”
Robert smiled and shook his head, “You'll want to be a part of it when the time comes. Just remember our motto, 'In defense of the United States, by whatever means necessary.' And we do mean, by whatever means. We didn't bind ourselves by the moral code of the United States, even during the Civil War, and we're not about to start now.”
She scowled, “So, we're based on a lie?”
“Of course. No country can long stand without some sort of secret police. We just aren't as out in the open as other nations.”
“Are you trying to tell me that every nation in the world has people like you?”
He nodded, “More or less.”
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