Engineers of Fear 2004-12-01T07:31:11Z From the "Stranded Travelers" saga tag:www.hawaiistories.com,2006:/fiction/helen3//36 Movable Type Copyright (c) 2004, Helen Forward to the HawaiiStories edition of Engineers of Fear 2004-12-01T07:16:55Z 2004-11-30T21:16:55-10:00 tag:www.hawaiistories.com,2004:/fiction/helen3//36.6040 2004-12-01T07:16:55Z Another NaNoWriMo has come and gone and my entry for 2004 is entitled “Engineers of Fear” which is a prequel... Helen http://www.lava.net/~hrapozo hrapozo@lava.net Another NaNoWriMo has come and gone and my entry for 2004 is entitled “Engineers of Fear” which is a prequel but not the very first one of the Stranded Travelers Saga.

While I managed to make the 50,000 word mark this year (I didn’t last year) I didn’t finish the novel yet at this time but I will try to do it with in December.

For this edition, I am just going to post the events of Day Ten.

]]> Day Ten – United Nations Building 2004-12-01T07:19:20Z 2004-11-30T21:19:20-10:00 tag:www.hawaiistories.com,2004:/fiction/helen3//36.6041 2004-12-01T07:19:20Z Karen Carvalho ran down the incline of the auditorium, it was sort of dim in the audience section but she... Helen http://www.lava.net/~hrapozo hrapozo@lava.net Karen Carvalho ran down the incline of the auditorium, it was sort of dim in the audience section but she realized that she could traverse the down sloped incline with out tripping on the path even though she was wearing knee high black leather boots with two inch heels. When she got down to where the a group of people had gathered close to the stage, that group of people pointed their weapons at her.

]]> “Woe, don’t shoot it’s me!” said Karen with both of her hands pointed up like she was surrendering.

“It’s only Carvalho,” said one of the men in the group who was holding a hand gun “she’s cool.” with that the various people with guns pointed at Karen lowered their weapons which Karen happen to notice to be a mix of hand guns and rifles. The hand guns which seemed to be the A P twenty one model she could under stand being here but why the rifles which seem to be either the A R two fifty model or the A R three seventy five model, either of which would be over kill in the enclosed space of the auditorium.

“Has any one seen Admiral Dunham?” asked Karen “I was trying to relay a message to him, then all hell broke lose and I lost contact with him?”

“He is injured, I do not know how bad he is,” said the man who was holding the hand gun “but we are waiting for the medics to arrive.”

“A message from where?” said some one from behind Karen. She then turned around to see it was Admiral McCallister who had asked the question. Karen and the man who was holding the hand gun came to attention at the sight of Admiral McCallister who had his jacket wrapped around his right hand secured by his left hand, the jacket had blood stains on it, it seemed that his right hand was bleeding.

“Sir, are you all right?” asked Karen

“Never mind about me Lieutenant.” replied Admiral McCallister “What was the message about and from who?”

“Sir, it was from Captain Crane aboard the Dole.” replied Karen

“Well it’s about bloody well time,” said Admiral McCallister as he lifted his make shift bandaged right hand “he said some thing, if you pardon the pun.” It seemed that while the elderly Admiral McCallister was injured by what ever happed to him, it did not seem that injury was life threaten to him and he was in good sprits. “The man has been out of contact for what three days and he finally contacts us, I suppose he called collect too.”

Karen just looked at Admiral McCallister holding back the desire to laugh at this moment, had it been a less serious circumstance she would have laugh at his joke, no doubt he was trying to lessen the effect of his injury with humor but the events of the last five to ten minutes were nothing to laugh about.

A few seconds of no response from Karen, hinted to Admiral McCallister that humor was not called for so he continued by saying “I take it he is at the destination and has some thing interesting to report.”

“Well no” said Karen “the Dole is not at the destination, in fact both the Triskewura and the Dole just arrived here and the Dole is currently making it’s way home, hopefully they can join in the action with the Dillingham and the Raptor strike.”

“I know we are going to need every thing we have available but they should not wait for the Dole to join in.” said Admiral McCallister

“There are not going to wait for the Dole,” said Karen “the attack is going to happen as scheduled unless” just then a scream could be heard from an opening at the back of the stage.

“Who was that?” asked another man who was holding a rifle

“What happen to the contact team?” asked Admiral McCallister

“Last I heard there where back stage before the speech started.” said a third man who was holding a hand gun.

“Wasn’t there some one back there too guarding the back stage?” asked Karen

“Yeah, Bourdin and Emery” replied a fourth man who was holding a hand gun.

Karen was reaching for her left ear when a fifth man came by with a radio and said “Bourdin or Emery, this is Peck come in please.”

No answer.

Then another scream from the opening at the back of the stage.

“This doesn’t sound good.” said Karen as she checked her blazer’s pockets for what ever items she brought with her. In all the excitement she left her purse at the Press Box and the only items on her person was the radio controller on the inside breast left pocket and a cheap digital camera on the outside hip right pocket. She then said “I suppose I can’t trouble you guys for the loan of a flashlight while I go check out the source of that scream.”

“Are you nuts?” asked the third man who was holding a hand gun “Two of those are still uncounted for.”

“And what happen to them?” asked Karen

“They ducked into the opening.” said the second man who had the rifle while pointing his finger at the opening at the back of the stage “during the exchange of fire, they managed to fire first but we just had more to shoot back at them. One of them hasn’t moved from the stage, I take it he is dead, the other two just ran into the back stage. Some of us went after them, others went to the exits to make sure they don’t leave the building.”

“Damm” said Karen “Did anyone went to secure Press Box?”

“I don’t think so” said the first man with the pistol.

“Sir” said Karen to Admiral McCallister “I suggest you get back to Press Box, get yourself looked after and take some people with you to secure Press Box. I have a funny feeling that the new guys may want to force themselves in to Press Box.”

“And you?” asked Admiral McCallister

“I am going to check out those screams.” replied Karen who then turned walked toward the stage.

“Lieutenant wait” said the second man with the rifle “you might need this.” He then unholster his side arm weapon and gave it to Karen. He then said “I take it you know how to use a”

“An A P twenty one” added Karen “Yeah, I know how to use the weapon. Could I trouble you for any extra clips for it?”

“Yeah sure” said the second man with the rifle. As he gathered three more clips to give to her, Karen was checking the weapon, removing the current clip, which she noticed had a full load to it. She then placed that clip back in to the hand gun. Karen took the three extra clips from the second man with the rifle and placed it in her outside left hip pocket of her blazer. She then moved a lever on the hand gun which the second man with the rifle noticed and said “You are taking it to the lowest level?”

“Yeah, that’s the plan, why?” said Karen

“Didn’t you hear what they said what they had planned for us and what they did three days ago?” asked the second man with the rifle.

“I did.” replied Karen “They wanted to scare the hell out of us and they did, however they did not expect us to react the way we just did here and I have a feeling they are not expecting the attack we are going to launch in a few minutes on their ultimate weapon. It’s my intention to capture the remaining two new guys here. You got a problem with that?”

“No madam” said the second man with the rifle as he sets his rifle level down to the lowest level who then said “Two of them, two of us, laser weapons from outer space versus two locals with high tech air guns, garins ball bearings we can take them.”

“Garins ball bearings” said Karen “What island are you from?”

“Maui” said the second man with the rifle “and you?”

“Originally from Kauai, but my home is on Oahu” replied Karen

“I should have known with you putzing around in a purple dress” said the second man with the rifle “what year you grad?”

“Let’s worry about that later, ahh” said Karen

“Lopez, Kenny Lopez” said the second man with the rifle as he stretched his right hand to Karen, he then cocked his head toward the first man with the hand gun and said “Commander Benson, called you Carvalho, you not that Karen Carvalho from the Puhi incident a couple of years back?”

“I’m afraid I am, is that a problem?” asked Karen

“Well this is not like Puhi.” said Lopez

“The young man is correct” said Admiral McCallister “this situation is not like that incident two years ago, I do not see the need to capture these two new guys, they caused enough trouble as it is.”

“Sir with all due respect, the remaining two new guys may hold the key to this entire affair, will kill them now, we will never know the true reason why.” said Karen

Admiral McCallister looked at Karen, then looked at the first man with the hand gun who Lopez identified as Commander Benson and said “Commander, assign more people to Lieutenant Carvalho’s detail.” Admiral McCallister then pointed to Peck and said “You there, let me borrow your radio for a second.”

“Yes sir Admiral” replied Peck who then handed his radio to Admiral McCallister.

“Press Box, this is McCallister, over” said Admiral McCallister

“Press Box, go ahead sir” said the voice over the radio

“Status on the security cameras?” asked Admiral McCallister

“Checking” said the voice over the radio, after a brief pause, the voice on the radio said “camera are out on the back stage, conference room three C and the vending machines on the second floor.”

“Stand by Press Box.” said Admiral McCallister, he then turned to Commander Benson and said “Commander Benson, form four teams, one goes to the back stage, one goes to conference room three C, the third goes to the vending machines on the second floor, the fourth goes with me to secure Press Box, the rest stays here with the injured until the medic arrives.” Admiral McCallister then returns the radio to Peck.

“Aye sir” said Commander Benson, he then yelled, “All right people listen up, here are the assignments. Lieutenant Johnson, you take Harper, Ross and Goldstein and escort the Admiral to the communications room on the third floor.”

A chorus of “aye sirs” came from Johnson, Harper, Ross and Goldstein who then moved close to Admiral McCallister.

“Lieutenant Chang, you take Philips, Packard and McAfee to the conference room, on, on” said Commander Benson.

“Conference room three C” said Karen “on the second floor, take the stairs and then turn right to the end of the hall, you get to the vending machines by turning left instead, it’s other side of the hall.”

“Why there?” asked Chang who did not speak up before.

“It’s where the contact team and the new guys were meeting all this time” replied Karen “as far as the vending machines, it was the closest place to get stuff to eat when the contact team was on break, the new guys saw the contact team there at times.”

“Thanks” said Chang

“Ensign Winters” said Commander Benson

“Yes sir” said the fourth man with the hand gun

“You take Norton, Bell and.” said Commander Benson who then pointed to the third man with the hand gun.

“Frost” said the third man with the hand gun

“and Frost” said Commander Benson “and check out the vending machines on the second floor”

“Yes sir” said Ensign Winters. “Sir what’s the rules of engagement in this situation?”

“For those set on low velocity settings, if you see the new guys shoot first and shoot to stun” replied Karen

“Do you mind Lieutenant?” said Commander Benson

“No she is right Commander” said Admiral McCallister “and I am beginning to see why.” He then turned his attention to Peck and said “Son, could I borrow your radio one more time.”
“Yes sir” said Peck as he gave his radio to Admiral McCallister.

“Press Box” said Admiral McCallister to the radio “this is McCallister come in please.”

“Press Box, go ahead sir” said the voice on the radio.

“Can you patch this call to the building’s public address system?” asked Admiral McCallister

“I can sir, it will take me about thirty to forty five seconds to do so through.” said the voice on the radio

“Go ahead and do so and let me know when it is ready.” said Admiral McCallister

“While we wait” said Commander Benson “Peck you with me as Lopez and Carvalho join us to check out the back stage.”

“Oh joy sir.” said Peck as he removes his side arm which looked like another A P twenty one hand gun that Benson and Carvalho were currently using from his holster and starts to check on the readiness of his hand gun.

“Carvalho, let me make this clear, I am in charge here in case you did not notice that my Commander’s strips outranks your sorry ass what passes for psuedo Lieutenant strips from the pansy ansy science fleet.” said Commander Benson.

“You know could order me to stay behind” said Karen

“I could,” said Commander Benson “but I suspect you would make such a fuss and besides you want to go in with only a flash light, so either you are brave or you are whack job, either way I don’t trust you but that’s due to me not knowing you, Lopez on the other hand seems to take a liken to you and I am doing this so I don’t lose the young Lopez to your mis judgements in your command style.”

Before Karen could respond Peck’s radio came on and said “Admiral McCallister, this is Press Box the patch in to the building’s P A system is ready, you can address it now sir.”

“Thank you” said Admiral McCallister to the radio “Let’s do it now.”

A couple of seconds later the sounds of the room’s speakers started to whine from the feedback.

Admiral McCallister then talked to the radio and said “To all U N S F personnel in this building and to our two way ward guest from the Imporium. This is Admiral Niles McCallister, supreme commander of the United Nations Space Fleet, I am offering the opportunity to surrender peacefully to us. If you do, no harm will come to you despite your earlier claim of hostility towards us. Please be advised that even though you seem to possess superior weapons, we do have the superior number of people here and the building is sealed such that escape for you is impossible. Please consider my offer of surrender, you will be treated well.” With that Admiral McCallister let go of the radio’s talk button. He waited for a while and it seemed that room’s speakers no longer made any sound. He then pressed the radio’s talk button and said “Press Box, this is McCallister, come in please?”

“Press Box go ahead Admiral, the P A system is off right now.” said the voice on the radio

“I wanted to know about that.” said Admiral McCallister “if I wanted to do another announcement again how long will it take to get it ready again?”

“Now that I got the cables ready, a second or two tops” said the voice on the radio.

“Okay I will be there soon.” said Admiral McCallister, he then turned to Peck and said “Hey you go son, thanks for the use of the radio.”

“Your welcome sir” said Peck.

“Alright” said Commander Benson, “let’s move out! Breckenridge”

“Yes sir” said another voice in the group “You are in charge the group now, get a team together to cover the main entrance and another to cover us at the stage.”

“Yes sir” said Breckenridge who then pointed to four people and said, “you, you, you and you go cover the entrance to this auditorium.”

“Yes sir” in a chorus of four voices then the four people chosen went up the same incline path that Karen came down earlier.

Breckenridge then pointed to four more people and said, “you, you, you and you go cover the commander’s six.”

“Yes sir” in another chorus of four voices then the four chosen people went to gathered group of Lopez, Benson, Carvalho and Peck.

“The rest of you” said Breckenridge “look alive and be on your toes.”

“All right” said Commander Benson “Let’s move out, Lopez, take point, Carvalho you behind me, Peck cover the rear. And what ever you do Carvalho be careful with that gun, you can poke an eye out with that or worse.”

“I get the message sir” said Karen

And with that the group of Admiral McCallister, Lieutenant Johnson, Harper, Ross and Goldstein went up the inclined path. Followed by the group of Ensign Winters, Norton, Bell and Frost. The group of Lieutenant Chang, Philips, Packard and McAfee took up the rear. Then all seventeen people left the auditorium to go to their assigned places.

Lopez with this rifle at the ready was first, then followed by Commander Benson, Karen Carvalho and Peck went carefully toward the stage. Then followed by the second group assigned by Breckenridge.

The rest of group had their weapons at the ready.

The trip to the stage took around twenty five seconds, in that time there was no further screaming from the opening of the back stage which was on the left hand side of the stage nor any other movement from that opening or the stage which was more lit than the audience section of the auditorium. Karen noticed that the podium that was on the right hand side of the stage had sported many bullet holes, even a section of the wooded podium was missing and left a big gap in the podium. Pretty impressive damage considering that it was caused by advanced air guns with variable velocity shooting bronze pellets. Those weapons must have been set at the highest velocity setting to do the damage that it did. She did notice a body lying down behind the podium, she then was about to inform Commander Benson about this but he too noticed the body and using hand signs told the second group to check out the body on the stage while Benson’s group would be the backup on this operation.

The four people in the backup group quietly and cautiously went up a section of small stairs on the right hand side of the stage. They got to the body on the floor with no incident, the second member of the group kicked away an object which the third member picked up and showed it up to Commander Benson’s group.

Lopez silently mentioned it was one of the laser weapons the new guys from the Imporium was using a few minutes ago against the people in this auditorium. The second member then gently tapped with his foot the body on the floor, after he tapped it the fallen body’s right arm moved, the four members then trained their weapons on the body. Commander Benson saw this, he then saw that Breckenridge noticed the events on the stage and quietly sent four more people to Commander Benson’s area.

Commander Benson thought this second group of four should back up his group and leave the original group of four on stage. Again using hand motions he told the first group to stay and hold the body and sure enough Breckenridge sent another group of four to help that first group.

The third group of four took up position at the stage just in front of the podium.

Commander Benson using hand motions informed the second group of four that they would back up his group. They nodded back in acknowledgment and then Commander Benson motioned to Lopez to go.

Hunched down Lopez, Commander Benson, Karen and Peck quietly went to the left side of the stage where another set of stairs where there. The second group of four followed them. Just before Lopez would step on the stairs the second group of four pointed their weapons at the opening at the back of the stage. Karen noticed that group had rifles trained at the door, none of them had the hand guns, unless they were in holsters similar to what Lopez had.

Karen thought no doubt the new guys did not anticipate the amount of weapons the U N S F wielded here. She would wonder what they reaction would be when the saw Raptor strike against their orbiting weapon platform that was causing concern in the last three days.

Lopez then started to climb the stairs, when he got to the top Commander Benson started to climb the stairs, Karen decided to wait until Commander Benson got to the top, when he did, she started to climb the stairs and it made a big squeak. Every one looked at her but did not say a thing. She could tell Commander Benson was not to happy with her on that, no doubt he was going to ball her out after this was all over. The next seven steps on the stairs did not make any further sound. Peck then started to climb up the stairs, he avoided the section where Karen stepped on that made the squeak that made her the bane of commandos every where.

When Peck got to the top of the stairs, Commander Benson motioned to Lopez to see if he was ready, he nodded okay, he then looked at Karen, she nodded okay as she held her breath for a while, he then looked at Peck, he too nodded okay. Commander Benson then motioned to the backup group that they were going in.

Then finally Commander Benson motioned to Lopez to go on ahead into the opening. Lopez with his rifle ready quietly went into the opening, Commander Benson then followed with his hand gun in his right hand, holding a flash light with his left hand and with his left wrist supported his right hand. Karen then followed in to the opening with Lopez’s A P twenty one hand gun in her left hand with her right hand supporting the weapon. Peck then followed Karen in to the opening, he too like Commander Benson had a hand gun in his right hand, a flash light in his left hand and using his left wrist to support his right hand.

]]> Day Ten – Back Stage in the United Nations Building 2004-12-01T07:20:28Z 2004-11-30T21:20:28-10:00 tag:www.hawaiistories.com,2004:/fiction/helen3//36.6042 2004-12-01T07:20:28Z Lopez’s rifle had a flash light built in to his rifle and he used it to scan the much dimmer... Helen http://www.lava.net/~hrapozo hrapozo@lava.net Lopez’s rifle had a flash light built in to his rifle and he used it to scan the much dimmer back stage area, Karen noted the feature and concluded the Lopez’s rifle was the A R two fifty model, the original version that was submitted by the vendor to the United Nations Space Fleet as an all purpose weapon for ground combat operations for the fledging para military organization. While it was roughly the size of a United States M sixteen rifle, it was lighter and it had sported many features to it, like the built in flash light, laser sighting, variable muzzle velocity settings, variable ammunition storage clips to name a few of it’s features. The United Nations Space Fleet then asked the vendor if they removed all the features to the A R two fifty what kind of range increase would they get from space savings and thus borne the A R three seventy five model. Assuming all the air rifles used in the current situation were the A R two fifty models, it was impressive those weapons broke apart the podium on the stage.

]]> Karen also noticed that she was the only one not holding a flash light. No one in that huge group of people offered her anything, other than Lopez’s loan of the A P twenty one hand gun to check out the screams that came from this area.

Commander Benson motion to the group to stop and tapped Lopez’s shoulder to stop and they did. He then pointed his flash light on the floor and there on the floor many small pieces of glass. Lopez shrugged his shoulders, he didn’t know where these pieces came from. Karen looked up and pointed to some one to shine the light on the ceiling. Commander Benson did and sure enough the lights above them where destroyed. Karen pointed to the burn marks on the ceiling panels and then between Commander Benson and Peck shined their lights on the floor. Karen noticed that it was only glass on the floor and there were none of the bronze pellets that the U N S F air guns used as ammunition. Karen then used her right hand to point to the ceiling lights and then to the A P twenty one hand gun and used the negative motion to hint to them it was not a U N S F air gun weapon that took out the lights. It seemed that Lopez, Commander Benson and Peck understood Karen was trying to say that it was one of the new guys’ laser weapon that did this. But why shoot out the lights?

Commander Benson then motioned to Lopez to press on and to avoid the glass on the floor, granted with their shoes and boots on, they would not be effect by the glass fragments on the floor but it would make a noise if they stepped on it. Lopez tried to get close to the left hand side of the wall, that seemed to be free of the glass on the floor and there was no branching out the corridor they were currently in.

Commander Benson carefully went to the right wall with out stepping on the glass on the floor, Peck followed Commander Benson on the right side of the wall, while Karen followed Lopez on the left side of the wall.

As they continued down the corridor with every so often with Peck and Karen looking behind they did not encounter anything for about twenty five feet, then Commander Benson’s light showed a body on the floor.

As they cautiously moved towards the body it started to look like a human male in a suit and tie that was lying on the floor and he was not moving, his right pants leg was up towards his calf. There was a puddle of red liquid next to the head, which could have been blood but it seemed that this body was not the source of this liquid. Just a few feet away there was an A P twenty one hand gun.

When they inspected the body further it was dead and it seemed the Peck knew this person. Karen thought that this might be either Emory or Bourdin that Peck was trying to contact earlier. They were no sign of the radio. Who ever this was, the body had multiple blood marks on the skin and pieces of glass on the clothing. No doubt he was caught in the explosions of lights from above.

As Commander Benson inspected the body with out touching it Karen noticed that this body had a laser burn on his chest, no doubt from the laser weapon. Just a foot away what appeared to be a trail of blood. Commander Benson then motion to Lopez to continue on the path where this trail of blood lead.

Another twenty five feet and the corridor made a left turn, before they could reach it another scream came from that turn. Commander Benson and Peck came to the left side of the wall where Lopez and Karen were, this time Commander Benson took the lead position, he then motion to the team to turn off their flash lights.

Commander Benson gently reached into his pocket and produced a mini periscope and looked at what was there. What he saw he could not motion with hand signals to the rest of the team. Instead he gave the periscope to Lopez, then he quietly moved behind Lopez and motioned to Peck that he and Peck should go to the opposite wall. He then waited for Lopez to finish looking around the corner and he motioned to Lopez and Karen that he and Peck would go to the opposite wall and have Lopez and Karen stay on this wall.

Peck, Lopez and Karen nodded okay to Commander Benson’s plan. Commander Benson then showed three fingers to them. He then showed two fingers and after a second had passed he showed one finger, then after another second had passed no fingers where shown and then at the same time Commander Benson and Peck quietly moved to the other side of the wall while Lopez readied his rifle to the edge of the corner while Karen moved in the space behind Lopez that Commander Benson vacated.

Even through Karen, Lopez, Peck and Commander Benson made no sound as they moved a voice from the opening said “Who is there? Show your self. I know you are there. Show your self or these people will die.”

No body moved or said any thing.

The voice then said “I know that you are there, hiding in the shadows like the cowards that you are. Show your self or this one will die.”

A woman then screamed and yelled “You out there do some thing before that monster kills him.”
Commander Benson came out of the shadows and said “You surrender!”

“No” said the voice “You surrender, other wise this one will die.”

“You shoot him, I shoot you, it is simple as that.” said Commander Benson

]]> Day Ten – Stand off in the Back Stage 2004-12-01T07:22:14Z 2004-11-30T21:22:14-10:00 tag:www.hawaiistories.com,2004:/fiction/helen3//36.6043 2004-12-01T07:22:14Z Chief Petty Officer Kenny Lopez was on his knees hunched down on the floor, while Commander Benson was in front... Helen http://www.lava.net/~hrapozo hrapozo@lava.net Chief Petty Officer Kenny Lopez was on his knees hunched down on the floor, while Commander Benson was in front of him using a mini periscope to check what was around the corner. After about ten seconds or so, Commander Benson moved out a little bit, gave him his periscope and motioned to him to check out what was around the corner.

]]> Kenny moved closer to the edge, using the periscope he saw one the aliens that the people in this building called “new guys”. He could not figure out why they were called that, when this is over he could ask Karen Carvalho about it. Karen Carvalho was behind of Commander Benson but she was not able to see this situation. The new guy was facing away from them, so he assuming it was a he, did not know that the four of them were here. A side from Karen Carvalho stepping on that step back on the stage the four of them did not make any noise to alert the new guy that they were here.

Kenny also notice that the new guy who was about ten feet away from him, had a man in front of him using the man as a sort of shield, while a woman holding a boy in back of her was about six feet away from the man serving as a shield for the new guy, the woman was facing the man. Further in the back ground behind the new guy was a pair of legs. Considering the pair of legs had on a pair of black shoes that had heels on and nylons. Kenny assumed that it was a woman who was faced down on the floor. The pair of legs did not move.

Kenny did not know who the man, woman and boy were or even knowing why they were here in the first place. They could not be visitors since the building was closed to the public due to the speech given by the new guys.

Kenny then withdrew from the corner. Commander Benson noticed this and he then motioned to him and Karen Carvalho that Peck and Commander Benson would go to the opposite wall while Karen Carvalho and he would stay here. When Peck, Karen Carvalho and he nodded okay that they understood Commander Benson’s plan, the Commander then put up three fingers, a second had passed and Commander Benson showed two fingers. A second later Commander Benson showed one finger and then a second later no fingers where shown. At that point Commander Benson and Peck quietly moved to the opposite wall, while Karen Carvalho moved in the space vacated by Commander Benson while Kenny moved closer to the edge with his rifle at the ready.

Kenny did not hear a thing when they moved but it seemed that some one did because a voice said “Who is there? Show your self. I know you are there. Show your self or these people will die.”

Kenny could not see Commander Benson or Peck, he looked at Karen Carvalho and she only shrugged her shoulders while holding the A P twenty one hand gun that he loaned her with both of her hands.

The voice then said “I know that you are there, hiding in the shadows like the cowards that you are. Show your self or this one will die.”
A woman then screamed and yelled “You out there do some thing before that monster kills him.”

Kenny looked at Karen Carvalho, by her reaction it seemed that she recognized the woman’s voice.

Commander Benson slowly moved toward the opening, Kenny was able to see him but not Peck and the Commander had his weapon which was also an A P twenty one hand gun pointed forward. Commander Benson then said “You surrender!”

The voice replied with “No! You surrender, other wise this one will die.”

“You shoot him, I shoot you, it is simple as that.” said Commander Benson. Commander Benson then continued to say “Surrender now and no harm will come to you.”

“You are lying” said the voice “Your treachery shows, you are not to be trusted, you mis used your weapons, killing one another, why should I should I believe you.”

Then another voice that could have been the man held by the new guy said “Hey Ass hole listen to what the man says, you surrender nothing happens to you.”

Kenny looked at Karen Carvalho, she reacted by shaking her head left to right a few times, it seemed that she recognized this man’s voice.

“I do not believe you” said the first voice “What you did to us is unforgivable, you are not to be trusted.”

“Ohh I see” said the other voice “And what you did on the moon, that don’t qualify as unforgivable. You started it first.”

“No” said the first voice “You started it by building those weapons. Weapons to cause fear, panic and concern. You are the ones not to be trusted.”

Kenny moved down to the floor in the prone position, Karen Carvalho moved out of the way and still not be seen. He managed to see the front of the man, behind him was the new guy. The new guy’s attention was focused on Commander Benson and he didn’t seem to be aware of him close to the floor.

The man then said “And that thing you have orbiting above us was supposed to make us feel safe.”

Kenny noticed that the new guy had his left arm wrapped over the man front section, while he held a weapon with his right hand and had it pointed to the man’s right side of the head. Kenny could not recognize the weapon that the new guy was holding but he did notice the new guy’s right hand had three fingers. The new guy’s left hand had three fingers and what appeared to be a thumb.

Kenny tried to aim for the new guy’s head, at this moment he did not have a clear shot and he wondered that with his A R two fifty rifle set to low velocity would the shot do more damage to the hostage.

“Silence” said the new guy “Surrender, I will give you to the count of ten or I swear to god I will kill lover boy here.”

“One!” said the new guy

Kenny tried to squeeze the trigger on his A R two fifty rifle.

]]> Day Ten – The One Count 2004-12-01T07:23:33Z 2004-11-30T21:23:33-10:00 tag:www.hawaiistories.com,2004:/fiction/helen3//36.6044 2004-12-01T07:23:33Z Commander Benson looked at the alien that the U N S F types called the new guy, he was not... Helen http://www.lava.net/~hrapozo hrapozo@lava.net Commander Benson looked at the alien that the U N S F types called the new guy, he was not sure which of the two surviving aliens this was or the man that the alien was holding hostage, or who was that woman with the kid off to the alien’s left side were. Too many unknowns at this time and time seemed to be running out. He could feel that Peck was still behind him, he didn’t turn to face Lopez but from the corner of his left eye he could see Lopez was slowly hitting the deck and was attempting to fire from a prone position. Carvalho on the other hand was still in the shadows and out of the way.

]]> He was noticing that the alien was holding a weapon with his right hand, he could see that alien’s right hand had three fingers and the alien’s left arm was draped across the man’s waist, and he did notice that the alien’s left hand had three fingers and a thumb.

Commander Benson quickly scanned the room, and noticed that the blood trails that lead the team here was coming from the alien’s right leg. It wasn’t gushing blood but it was slowly oozing blood from the calf. He had no idea how that happen. Equally as strange was the weapon the alien it was holding up against the man’s right temple. It was not the laser hand guns that they was using against them a few minutes ago, but rather this seemed to be an U N S F issued A P one hand gun. How did this alien managed to get one of those he did not know. At point blank range, the A P one could kill the man the alien was holding hostage.

He wasn’t paying attention to what the man was saying but he did when the alien said “Silence! Surrender, I will give you to the count of ten or I swear to god I will kill lover boy here. One!”

“Sir are you all right?” asked Commander Benson to the man

“Who me?” replied the man “Peachy keen, it’s not every day I get taken hostage by an alien from outer space who wants to take over the world, while my ex-wife over there” as he points to the woman to the left holding a boy away from the two, she then attempted to move away but could not “wants sole custody of our son. Yep, today is not my day and things couldn’t get any worse than this.”

“We will try to resolve this situation peacefully sir, just hang on.” said Commander Benson

“You hear that Ashlo” said the man “The marines are here, so you might as well give up while you still can.”

“We are Navy Seals” said Commander Benson “and I am Lieutenant Commander Ben Benson.”

“Sorry about that” said the man “I can’t tell the difference myself.”

“Silence!” said the alien

Commander Benson noticed from the corner of his left eye, Carvalho was coming out of the shadows and coming forward into the light.

“Howzit Jack” said Carvalho with her pointing the A P twenty one hand gun at the alien and the man using both her hands. “Long time no see! Who is your friend there?”

“Karen!” said the man who Commander Benson noticed was not trilled to see Carvalho.

“So today is not your day huh” said Carvalho

“Yeah, go figure” said the man “Say Commander Benson, I take it that back, my day just got even worse.”

“Enough of this nonsense, all of you” said the alien “Two!”

]]> Day Ten – The Two Count 2004-12-01T07:26:00Z 2004-11-30T21:26:00-10:00 tag:www.hawaiistories.com,2004:/fiction/helen3//36.6045 2004-12-01T07:26:00Z Karen was in the shadows when Commander Benson admitted he was a Navy Seal. The fact that he said we... Helen http://www.lava.net/~hrapozo hrapozo@lava.net Karen was in the shadows when Commander Benson admitted he was a Navy Seal. The fact that he said we also suggested that Lopez and Peck were Seals as well. She thought this changes things. She wasn’t threaten by Commander Benson style or his team, in fact she was glad that they were here. If things failed here and the pellets started flying having the Navy Seals here would be a good thing, but why were the Navy Seals using the U N S F’s A P hand guns and A R rifles here?

]]> What’s more who ever the new guy was, he was holding what appeared to be an A P one hand gun, but why? And then she remembered the body they found. Who ever he was he may have had the A P one hand gun as a back up weapon and had it hidden on his leg. The hand gun was small enough to fit there. But why take that and not the more powerful A P twenty one that was left behind. Then it hit Karen when she saw the new guy’s right hand holding the A P one hand gun. His three fingers were so bulky he couldn’t have possibility fit his finger thru the trigger hole. But since the A P one was designed to be used in space and with the possibility of using the weapon with a space suit’s bulky glove fingers the weapon would useful to this new guy and she did notice the yellow safety level was down meaning that the weapon was active.

Karen recognized Jack Baxter’s voice while he was conversing with Commander Benson and when he made reference to the woman being his ex-wife with their son would mean the woman in question would been Jack’s third wife Janice and their son Gordon, but why were Janice and Gordon here?

Too many unknowns and not enough time, on one hand Karen need to capture alive this new guy. The fact that he was using an A P one hand gun and the fact that she, Commander Benson, Lopez and Peck where ten to fourteen feet away way beyond the A P one’s effective range. They would get hurt if fired upon at this range from the weapon but not seriously hurt. However the fact the hand gun was pointed directly to Jack’s temple, if discharged it would kill Jack.

Karen needed to get involved, she just hope that Commander Benson wouldn’t interfere with her.

She then touched her left ear and then her left wrist to turn on the radio she had on. Hopefully the people in Press Box would pick up her signal now. Then she heard on her left ear “Tac channel seven active. No other units are using this channel.” She just hope Peck wasn’t on Tac channel seven as well. If so things could get dicey.

Karen then used both her hands on the A P twenty one hand gun and stepped out from the shadow and greeted Jack. She also noticed that the trail of blood that they was following came from the new guy’s right calf. She could see blood coming down from the leg.

“So today is not your day” said Karen

“Yeah, go figure” said Jack “Say Commander Benson, I take it that back, my day just got even worse.”

“Enough of this nonsense, all of you.“ said the new guy “Two!”

“Carvalho, what the hell you are doing, I said I was in charge of this.” said Commander Benson

“I thought you were part of the U N S F, but you just said you are a Navy Seal.” said Karen “I hate to break it to you but this is a U N building and I am the ranking U N officer here, never mind the fact that I belong to the pansy ansy science fleet.”

“So what?” asked Commander Benson

“Please stay Commander” said Karen “I need your help. But please let me say a few things here.”

Karen turned her attention to Jack and said “Jack who is holding you?”

“It is Ashlo” said Jack

“Enough of this nonsense, you are wasting time and time is what you do not have” said the new guy

“Wait, Ashlo, isn’t it” said Karen “What do you want?”

“Carvalho are you crazy.” said Commander Benson “You don’t deal with terrorist.”

“Commander please bear with me for a while.” said Karen, she then turned her attention to Ashlo and said “So Ashlo what do you want?”

“You know what I want.” said Ashlo

“No I don’t” said Karen “Why don’t you say what you want. I was not there in the auditorium during the speech so I have no idea what you want.”

Ashlo didn’t say anything, he paused then Karen said “Come on Ashlo, here is your chance, what do you want?”

Ashlo then said “To enforce the will of the Imporium upon this world.”

“Why?” asked Karen

“It is necessary” said Ashlo

“Why is it necessary to enforce the will of the Imporium upon this world?” asked Karen

Ashlo paused for a while and then he said “You threaten the security of the Imporium with your weapons.”

“Which weapons?” asked Karen

“You know which weapons.” said Ashlo

“Enlighten me Ashlo, which weapons threaten the Imporium and why?” asked Karen

“You waste my time.” said Ashlo “You know why.”

“Honestly Ashlo, I don’t know why, really I don’t know why.” said Karen “How can we threaten the Imporium. We don’t have the technology to get there. So how can we threaten you?”

“You will one day” said Ashlo “And your fear of us will threaten the Imporum for all time to come.”

Commander Benson was shaking his head at what Ashlo was saying. This did not make sense.

“So Ashlo” said Karen “How will you enforce the will of the Imporum upon this world?”

“You have seen what the weapon can do” said Ashlo

“That is only one weapon.” said Karen “You can not expect to rule this world with just one weapon.”

“More will follow from the Imporum.” said Ashlo “And when they do your time on this world will end and the Imporum will rule this world as one of it’s own. It is your fate and our destiny to do this.”

“Not if we can help it.” said Commander Benson

“Oh great” said the woman “That’s all we need is the men to be making war around here. Which one of you bozos is in charge around here?”

“Listen Janice.” said Karen guessing that the woman was Janice “This may not be the right time, but hows about you and Gordon, move from there and get in back of us.”

“Who are you?” asked Janice “How do you know me and my son?”

“Janice” said Jack “Listen to her, just take Gordon out of here.”

“Enough of this!” said Ashlo “Surrender your weapons, it is now the count of three!”

]]> Day Ten – The Three Count 2004-12-01T07:26:57Z 2004-11-30T21:26:57-10:00 tag:www.hawaiistories.com,2004:/fiction/helen3//36.6046 2004-12-01T07:26:57Z Janice Baxter did not know who the strange woman in the purple in what seemed to be a turtle neck... Helen http://www.lava.net/~hrapozo hrapozo@lava.net Janice Baxter did not know who the strange woman in the purple in what seemed to be a turtle neck sweater dress, black boots and black jacket was she as came out of the shadows. She had a hand gun pointed toward the alien and her ex husband Jack. Said alien also had Jack in it’s clutches, using Jack as a shield. She had heard voices coming from the dark corridor but only the woman in the purple dress is the only one she saw.

]]> Her son Gordon was behind her, protecting him from this alien who ever this alien was. Why was Jack involved here, what little she knew about what he did, the topic of life from another planet was not his field of astronomy, he was mostly a comet and asteroid guy, was this reason why Jack didn’t take Gordon last weekend when it was his turn to do so. She was not to happy when he failed to do so.

Janice wasn’t paying much attention to who was saying what until the alien said “More will follow from the Imporium. And when they do your time on this world will end and the Imporum will rule this world as one of it’s own. It is your fate and our destiny to do this.”

Who or what is the Imporium Janice wondered. She looked behind her Gordon was still there, behind her safe for the time being.

Another voice said “Not if we can help it.”

Janice then said “Oh great! That’s all we need is the men to be making war around here. Which one of you bozos is in charge around here?”

The woman in the purple dress looked at her and said “Listen Janice, this may not be the right time but hows about you and Gordon, move from there and get in back of us.”

“Who are you?” asked Janice “How do you know me and my son?”

Jack then said to her “Janice listen to her, just take Gordon out of here.”

The alien then spoke “Enough of this! Surrender your weapons, it is now the count of three!”

“Why is he counting?” asked Janice “Why?”

“Janice” said the woman in the purple dress “please bring Gordon here.”

“Why?” asked Janice “Why should I listen to you?”

“Janice” said Jack “Listen to her, she knows what she is doing. You and Gordon get to safety.”

“Jack’s what’s going on here?” asked Janice

“It is a long story Janice, but I will tell it to you after this is over.” said Jack

“Brave words, but I will doubt it you will tell them.” said the alien “Enough of this.”

“Wait Ashlo.” said the woman in the purple dress “Have you done this before?”

“Killed the enemies of the Imporium, many times.” said the alien “And I will do it to you too.”

“Wait.” said the woman in the purple dress “I thought you said you are here to enforce the will of the Imporium upon us, you did not mention any thing about killing any body to do it.”

“And I will kill, starting with him.” said the alien who reposition Jack in his grasp.

“Not yet.” said the woman in the purple dress “You said we have until the count of ten to surrender and it’s only the count of three.”

“Then I will kill those two.” said alien as he motion to her and Gordon.

“No don’t!” yelled Janice

“Don’t do it.” said Jack

“I would advise against that course of action Ashlo” said the woman in the purple dress “Let them go, you need not demonstrate any further on your resolve in killing for the Imporium.”

“You fear me.” said the alien “You are weak. You will fall before the might of the Imporium.”

“That may be but you still have yet answered my question.” said the woman in the purple dress

“I did.” said the alien

“I didn’t ask if you killed before.” said the woman in the purple dress “My question is have you ruled a planet in the name of the Imporium before?”

“What?” said the alien

“Well” said the woman in the purple dress “Have you experience in ruling a world before?”

“Me?” asked Ashlo

“Yeah you?” said the woman in the purple dress, “Until the rest of the Imporium shows up, you are going to be the leader of this world, unless of course Jomed is a better leader than you and assuming he doesn’t get killed by the other people in this building. Let’s face it Hizen is no position to give any orders, so that leaves you unless who ever is up there is a better leader than you. So I ask you Ashlo have you any experience in a ruling a world before?”

“What the hell kind of question is that?” said Janice

A voice from the darkness said “Carvalho are you crazy?”

Jack said “Karen what are you doing?”

The woman in the purple dress said “Let’s face it gang, if are going to submit to the will of this Imporium, what kind of leader is Ashlo is going to be to us?”

“Well Ashlo?” asked the woman in the purple dress “What kind of leader are going to be to us?”

“Enough of this.” said the alien “Four!”

]]> Day Ten – The Four Count 2004-12-01T07:27:57Z 2004-11-30T21:27:57-10:00 tag:www.hawaiistories.com,2004:/fiction/helen3//36.6047 2004-12-01T07:27:57Z Gordon Baxter was hurt and confused, he was holding his front tooth that just came off, and he missed his... Helen http://www.lava.net/~hrapozo hrapozo@lava.net Gordon Baxter was hurt and confused, he was holding his front tooth that just came off, and he missed his R C truck that was some where around here, he did not know where it was or where the remote control that he had dropped when all the noise started.

]]> He wished he wasn’t here so he could see his dad who was working here and not at other school. His mom was trying to protect him from the scary monster who had his dad in it’s arms. The scary monster also had shot one woman and hit another woman that was here in this room with him, his mom, his dad, the scary monster and another woman. He could also hear another voice coming from the place where the scary monster came from but he could not see it.

He already heard his name call out by one of the women who was standing and was holding a gun toward his dad and the scary monster, he didn’t know who she was and the more she talked, the more she sounded like a man than a woman. She seemed to know his mom but Mom didn’t know who she was and she knew dad but Dad at first was not to happy to see her but it seems that he knew her well enough to say to his mom “Listen to her, she knows what she is doing, you and Gordon get to safety.”

And the scary monster was counting, it had already said “Four.”

“Mommy it hurts.” said Gordon as he held his hand to his mom and showed her his front tooth.

“There, there” said his mom, as she tries to hide him from the scary monster but she did turn toward him to see him and his hand holding the tooth. “Oh no Gordon” she said.

“What happen?” said his dad

“His tooth came off.” said his mom

“How bad is it?’ asked his dad

“It was lose for the last couple of days, it must have come out when he fell.” said his mom “There is a little blood around his mouth.”

“Look” said his dad “let them go, he his hurt, let his mom take care of him,you you have me.”

“You are nothing” said the scary monster.

“Yes I am” said his dad “I make a better shield than my son could have and as long as I am here, she is not going to shoot me, right?

“Do you take me to be a fool?” said the scary monster.

“Let the two of them go” said the woman with the gun pointed toward his dad and the scary monster.

“Why should I?” said the scary monster

“What do you want?” said the woman with the gun

“Want?” asked the scary monster

“Yes, what do you want such that you will let these two go.” said the woman with the gun.

“What can you do?” asked the scary monster

“You be surprised.” said the woman with the gun “You want to be in charge of this world, I can help make that happen”

“You?” asked the scary monster

“Yes, you want off this world?” said the woman with the gun “I can arrange transportation back to your home world.”

“You lie, you do not have the technology to reach the stars.” said the scary monster

“And I can stop the attack on your orbital weapon.” said the woman with the gun

“How dare you, there is no way for you to do that.” said the scary monster as it tighten it’s grip around his dad

“No don’t hurt my dad” yelled Gordon

“Listen to her, she can do things.” said his dad “You shoot me now and what ever you had in mind is not going to happen.”

“What is it going to be?” said the woman with the gun

“You are lying to me.” said the scary monster

“No I am not” said the woman with the gun

The scary monster looks around the room, waits for a few seconds and then says “Five!”

]]> Day Ten – The Five Count 2004-12-01T07:31:11Z 2004-11-30T21:31:11-10:00 tag:www.hawaiistories.com,2004:/fiction/helen3//36.6048 2004-12-01T07:31:11Z Ensign Clifford Peck was wondering what was going on there. All he was hearing was the one of the aliens... Helen http://www.lava.net/~hrapozo hrapozo@lava.net Ensign Clifford Peck was wondering what was going on there. All he was hearing was the one of the aliens who attempted to take over the earth, Lieutenant Commander Benson, then a man’s voice, then Carvalho’s voice, a woman’s voice. From what he heard there was a reference to a boy, who was the son of the man who was being held hostage by the alien.

]]> He couldn’t see that what was going on, all he saw was Lopez on the deck ready to fire, Carvalho what ever possessed her to go out in the open was blocking his view of the situation. Lieutenant Commander Benson on the other hand had his body to the wall and in the darkness, Lieutenant Commander Benson should be able to see the alien and the hostage but the alien unless he was able to see in the dark should not be able to see Lieutenant Commander Benson. However because Lieutenant Commander Benson had his body to the wall it blocked his view of the situation so all he can do was to hear what was going on.

He then heard Carvalho say “What do you want?”

“Want?” asked the alien

“Yes, what do you want such that you will let these two go” said Carvalho

“What can you do?” asked the alien

“You be surprised. You want to be in charge of this world, I can help make that happen” said Carvalho

Cliff then thought what could Carvalho do about that?

“You?” asked the alien

“Yes, you want off this world? I can arrange transportation back to your home world.” said Carvalho

Could she Cliff thought, it could be possible.

“You lie, you do not have the technology to reach the stars.” said the alien

“And I can stop the attack on your orbital weapon” said Carvalho

Yeah, he thought, one call and Carvalho could stop the attack but would she given to what these aliens had plan for Earth.

“How dare you, there is no way for you to do that.” said the alien

Then Cliff heard the boy yell “No don’t hurt my dad!”

“Listen to her, she can do things. You shoot me now and what ever you had in mind is not going to happen.” said the man being held hostage

“What is it going to be?” said Carvalho

“You are lying to me.” said the alien

“No I am not.” said Carvalho

There was a pause of about five to six seconds and then the alien says “Five!”

“So what’s it going to be Ashlo?” asked Carvalho “Do we go down to the personnel office and fill out the forms so that you become the ruler of this world?”

“Carvalho, what the hell do you think you are doing?” asked Commander Benson

“I am trying to resolve this situation peacefully Commander.” said Carvalho

“Come on Ashlo” said the man being held hostage “She knows what she is doing. Right Karen, you do know what you are doing right?”

“Yeah I am” said Carvalho

“You are lying to me.” said the alien

“Why should she lie to you Ashlo” said the man being held hostage “You are not lying are you Karen?”

“Jack would I lie to you?” asked Carvalho

“No, you have been real honest to me in the past Karen.” said the man being held hostage

“And I will continue to do so now.” said Carvalho

Cliff then noticed some thing on the floor just a few feet away.

“So I take it you know the way to the personnel office?” said the man being held hostage

“Yeah I do, been there myself earlier this week, I had to clear up a misunderstanding.” said Carvalho

“Oh how come you in trouble?” said the man being held hostage

“Me, no” said Carvalho

“What happen?” asked the man being held hostage

Cliff then tapped on Commander Benson’s shoulder, the commander turned around to look at him and Cliff made some hand gestures to indicate that he needed to check some thing that he saw out.

“My room mate in Honolulu.” said Carvalho

“You have a room mate? Who? Any one I know?” said the man being held hostage

“I don’t think so, this room mate is a gynecologist, obstetrician too I might add too.” said Carvalho

“How long?” asked the man being held hostage

Commander Benson then replied to him, it was okay to check the thing out. And Cliff silently left to check the thing out.

“Gee I don’t know how long Dale has been a doctor.” said Carvalho

“No I meant how long have the two of you been room mates.” said the man being held hostage

“Oh, about a year and half now.” said Carvalho

“So how did you two meet?” asked the man being held hostage

“Two years ago, you know.” said Carvalho

“Really? How?” said the man being held hostage

“Was my sisters’ O B G Y N.” said Carvalho

“You don’t say, which one, Jean, Joan or Jane?” asked the man being held hostage

“Would you believe all three of them.” replied Carvalho

“I bet that doctor had a time with the three of them?” asked the man being held hostage

“The doctor didn’t see all three of them at the same time but after a while came to know them” said Carvalho

“I bet that doctor was real curious about you when you showed up at the wedding?” asked the man being held hostage

“Not really.” said Carvalho “Got invited to the reception though.”

“You had the reception?” asked the man being held hostage

“Yeah, as my mom used to say, never let good food go to waste.” said Carvalho “I mean it had already been paid for.”

“Sorry about that.” said the man being held hostage

“That’s okay Jack.” said Carvalho “I have no problem with what happen that day.”

“You don’t?” said the man being held hostage

Cliff then just heard silence for a five to ten seconds and then the alien said “Enough of this! Six!”

]]>