Chapter 5 - Covert Operations
Hearing the blast, Hank rushed outside as debris rained down from the sky. His eyes quickly found the burning ruins of what used to be their motel room. "Jack, Mei... oh, god."
He ran toward the site of the blast. "Jack! Mei!" he cried out. He rushed past the half-remaining doorway. "Jack!"
"Over here!" came Jack's muffled voice from under a pile of wood and drywall.
Hank tore through the hill of debris, giving no heed for where he let the pieces fall. "Hang on, Jack!" After nearly a full minute of digging, he reached the dust and grime covered faces of Jack and Mei-Wan.
"What the hell happened?" Jack asked, coughing.
A blast of energy struck the rear section of the building, sending more material into the air.
"That's no twenty-first century weapon!" Hank shouted as Jack and Mei-Wan made it to their feet.
"Let's get the hell out of here!" Jack yelled as yet another blast struck what little remained of the motel. Mei-Wan grabbed her bag out of the rubble as Jack and Hank made their way to the Pontiac parked not ten feet away.
"Mei, come on!" Jack called out to her.
"Scan the area!" the commander ordered, standing on the roof of a nearby ten story building. "Did we get them?"
The subordinate peered at the scene of destruction using a black visor which allowed her to search for heat signatures. "Three figures, humans, have climbed into a vehicle and are moving toward a major transport corridor."
"Can you target them from here?"
"Negative. Their path is erratic."
The commander spread her wings. "Then we fly after them."
The two female figures stepped off the edge of the building and soared through the air after their prey.
Inside the Pontiac, Hank did his best to keep the vehicle from hitting anything as they barrel-assed down the interstate at better than ninety miles an hour.
"Who the hell can that be?" Hank demanded as he turned the wheel sharply to avoid slamming into the back of a slow moving minivan.
Jack looked at Mei-Wan. "My guess is we've found what we were sent here for."
"Or rather it found us," Mei-Wan replied. "Jack, we have to keep away from the people of this time. We can't risk letting any of them getting killed."
Jack gave a quick nod. "Find us a less populated area," Jack told Hank.
"It's not like I know this city all that well!" Hank insisted.
Mei-Wan pulled the map out of her bag. After a few moments of looking it over, she turned to Hank. "There should be an exit a few miles ahead. Take that and head north."
Hank frowned as he dodged traffic. "And exactly how is that going to help us?"
Mei-Wan opened her bag and pulled out the G'voda weapon. "It'll give us an opportunity to use this."
"Who's solving problems with a gun?" Jack asked with a wide smile.
***
More than forty miles north at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, fifteen men clad in black special ops uniforms, bristling with weapons, dashed to three waiting Blackhawk helicopters. Following them, a lone man with dark hair and dark complexion wearing an expensive three piece suit, spoke into his cell phone.
"We have acquired targets moving west. We should have them within ten minutes." He stopped before getting into one of the helicopters. "It'll be good to finish this."
***
The Pontiac drove down an alley between several large warehouses, coming to a stop beside one. The doors to the car flew open.
"This look good?" Jack asked as the three of them got out of the car.
Mei-Wan glanced around the area. "It's certainly better than where we were."
"Tactically, this is insane," Hank said. "We're boxed in here."
"Which hopefully will draw in whoever's taking shots at us," Jack said as Mei-Wan handed him the G'voda weapon. "If we can't convince them to stop, I'll use this to persuade them."
"Can we at least get out of this alley?" Hank insisted. "There's no use in making it easy for them."
The trio left the vehicle behind as they hurried down the alley.
A short distance away, the two female aliens landed and folded their wings behind their backs.
"Location?" the commander demanded.
"Directly ahead," the subordinate answered, reading from her scanning device. "Three figures have just entered one of the structures." She made an adjustment. "I am getting an unusual energy signature."
"No doubt a weapon of some sort." The commander quickly looked about the area. "McCall intends to lead us into a trap by making us think we have the advantage. How typical of him."
"In the past it has served him well."
"Not this time."
***
Jack, Mei-Wan, and Hank walked into the spacious building with a twenty foot high ceiling toward a collection of large crates stacked one upon the other.
"I don't like this," Hank said.
"Neither do I, but it will have to do," Jack replied. He looked about seeking whatever advantages the interior of the warehouse might afford them.
"But where they hell are they?"
"Let them take their time," Jack said as he was about to adjust the G'voda weapon. He turned to Mei-Wan. "You sure this is set right?"
"That's how it was when I used it," she stated.
Jack took a deep breath. "Let's hope..."
The far wall of the building exploded inward, sending small chunks of wood and metal flying through the air.
"Get behind these crates!" Hank called out to Jack and Mei-Wan.
But as Jack made his way toward the crates, an eight foot tall, blue skinned, winged figure rushed toward him, swinging her arm into his chest.
Jack sailed into the air, slamming hard onto the cold concrete floor on his way down. The G'voda weapon flew out of his hand on impact.
"Jack McCall!" the figure howled with delight. "How wonderful of you to give me the chance the Universe has so often denied me in the past!"
Hank turned to face the tall female. "A Zeparan? What the hell are you doing here?"
She swung at Hank, but he moved just quickly enough to avoid Jack's fate.
"I would suggest you leave this place while you still can, human," the Zeparan commander told Hank. "Otherwise you will die with McCall."
Hank threw several punches at the Zeparan, but they had little effect on the creature. She was more entertained by Hank's efforts, than anything else.
Mei-Wan ran to Jack's side as he rolled over, holding his chest and moaning.
"Jack, we have to get out of here!"
He tried to speak, but found it difficult to catch his breath. "Mei... run..."
Another figure caught her eye. The second Zeparan strode through what was left of the destroyed wall of the warehouse toward her and Jack. She looked back and saw Hank duck behind several large crates to avoid the first of the creatures.
Mei-Wan turned again to Jack, knowing both of their attackers would soon focus their attention on him if she didn't do something. She looked about for the one thing that might make a difference and after a moment, she found it.
Mei-Wan reached for the G'voda weapon and took aim at the approaching tall female just as she raised her own weapon toward Jack. Mei-Wan pulled the weapon's trigger and just as it had with the mechanical version of Duncan Zachary, it found its mark.
The blast struck the Zeparan in the chest, tossing her backward fifteen feet where she came to rest on the floor, unmoving.
Mei-Wan spun around to face the other one, but the creature leaped, closing the distance between them. It's arm swung and grabbed the weapon, pushing Mei-Wan backward with such force her ankle twisted. Mei-Wan cried out in pain.
"A G'voda weapon!" the Zeparan commander shouted, drawing her wings in. "You never fail to surprise me, Mei-Wan." The tall creature wrapped its free hand around Mei-Wan's neck. "Let's start with how you were cured of the virus. You should be dying about now."
"Virus?" Mei-Wan barely got out as the pressure on her windpipe increased enough to almost make her forget the pain in her ankle.
The creature tilted its head. It looked at a series of readouts on the back of its hand. "There's no trace of it in your system." Its eyes turned to Mei-Wan. "But there is something else!" She smiled. "Oh, how delightful! Two death to enjoy!" She tightened her grip around Mei-Wan's neck. "Though your death won't even begin to pay for what has been done to my people, I will enjoy watching your eyes beg for a mercy that will never come!"
A metal pipe swung into the creature, knocking her away from Mei-Wan.
"You'd better start worrying about the mercy you're going to need, bitch!" Hank shouted as he swung the pipe again. But she was prepared this time and caught the metal in her hands as it came at her.
"Who are you?" she asked as Hank tried to wrestle the pipe free.
"The man who's going to kill you."
She smiled. "I don't think so." She gave the pipe a strong pull.
"Hey!" He hung onto the long piece of metal as his feet dangled over the floor.
She swung the pipe until Hank lost his grip. He sailed through the air and crashed into a stack of small boxes.
The creature turned its gaze toward Jack as Mei-Wan tried helping him to his feet. "I begged Forcas to let me kill you a year ago, McCall. For some reason he never understood the necessity of it as I did. You have always blocked everything I tried to achieve for my people. And for what? Some silly collection of ideals? For your Federation?" She dropped the pipe and pointed the G'voda weapon at Jack and Mei-Wan. "Before you die, tell me: was it really worth it?"
Finally standing on his own, Jack looked at the Zeparan. "Lady, I don't have any idea what the hell you're talking about, but considering your attitude, standing in your way sounds like the right thing to do."
She laughed. "After all your plans, after all your strategies, all you have left is some pathetic attempt to deny what you've done?" She took aim. "If this is how you wish to die, then so be it."
"Jack..." Mei-Wan whispered as he put his arm around her. But her thoughts were elsewhere, consumed with regret for not having stayed with the man her heart longed for: Todd Nakano. I wish we could have...
In a flash, Jack pulled out the pistol he'd taken off the young man, Tommy, earlier in the evening. He pulled the trigger and a lead slug struck the tall alien female in the shoulder, knocking her to the ground.
Jack sprang to her and kicked the G'voda weapon several feet away as the creature writhed in agony.
"No, not again McCall! You won't escape me again!" she screamed.
The next moment, the warehouse doors burst open and twelve men in black outfits, each sporting an automatic rifle, charged forward in tight formation.
"Drop all weapons!" one of the men called out.
"That certainly doesn't sound like a request," Jack said.
The men surrounded them and Jack dropped his gun.
"Hands on top of your heads!"
The tall female wrestled herself off the ground with a howl. The black clad men turned their weapons her direction.
"Hands on top of your head, now!"
She reached for the G'voda weapon and as her hand closed around it, several high caliber shells struck her in the chest.
The leader of the assault team raised a hand. "Hold your fire!" He stepped over to the Zeparan on the ground.
Jack and Mei-Wan stood, frozen in place with their hands atop their heads as they'd been ordered.
The team leader walked up to Jack. "Are you okay?" he asked.
Jack gave a slow nod, uncertain what to make of these men. "A little beaten, but otherwise I think we're okay."
The team leader touched a control on the headset he wore. "Alpha leader, the area is secure." He paused a moment, listening to the reply. He glanced back to Jack. "There was another man with you?"
A cardboard box fell over and Hank stumbled toward them. "What the hell is going on?"
"That's him," Jack said.
The team leader smiled. "You can put your hands down."
"Hello, Captain McCall."
Everyone turned to the source of the voice and saw the dark haired man stroll into the warehouse, clothed in the finest of three piece suits.
The team leader walked up to the new arrival. "The target has been neutralized, Mr. Dasari."
Jack and Mei-Wan's eyes met.
"Dasari?" Mei-Wan whispered to Jack, a look of surprise on her face.
Jack let Mei-Wan lean on him to let her take what relief she could for her injured ankle. "But Ahwi's father is supposed to be dead."
"That's in the twenty-fourth century," Mei-Wan replied as they watched Dasari discussing something with members of the assault team. "Unless the timeline has changed again."
Hank shuffled up to them. "Where's the big blue bitch?"
Jack motioned to the ground twenty feet away.
Hank glanced over at the motionless form of the creature and smiled. "Too damn bad."
The team leader turned to his men. "Alpha team, let's move out!"
The dozen men were gone as quickly as they'd entered the warehouse.
"I do apologize," Dasari said, turning to Jack, Mei-Wan, and Hank. "But it was necessary to bring you here to deal with that creature." He pointed over to the still blue female not far from them.
"You've been using us," Mei-Wan nearly spat.
"We certainly couldn't leave the Zeparans to cause havoc in the twenty-first century," He touched his forearm and the same type of display unit Mei-Wan and Hank had seen on Ahwi Dasari's arm appeared.
"You're Khalid Dasari?" Jack asked. From his dark skin and facial structure, Jack concluded the middle aged Dasari was a human originating from somewhere in Asia. From the man's accent, he guessed India.
Dasari looked up at Jack. "Do I wear my hair differently in the twenty-fourth century?" he asked, confused that Jack didn't know for sure who he was.
Hank chuckled. "Wouldn't you know?"
"One of the more interesting aspects of being an Engineer is that you often get to meet people who have already met you in another time." Dasari thought a moment. "I suppose it's best we not discuss what lies in my future and your past. Suffice it to say that whatever you considered odd behavior on my part when we met, or will meet from my point of view, on Ninaz is a result of the discussion we're having right now."
Mei-Wan shook her head. "But it wasn't you that..."
Jack gently touched her arm. "You heard the man, Mei. It's best we not go into that right now."
Mei-Wan gave Jack a stern look. It had been Ahwi, not Khalid, who had met them down on the devastated world of Ninaz more than a year ago. She couldn't understand why Jack wanted her to be quiet about it, but she decided to follow his lead for the time being.
"And exactly how did you get the people of this time period to follow your orders?" Jack asked, changing the subject.
"Infiltration is a necessity in my line of work, Captain," Dasari said with a grin which indicated pride, not humor. "We are trained to do it well."
"Infiltrating Janus Osmand's organization must have been quite a task," Jack said with a sneer.
"Since from my point of view, I haven't done it yet, I couldn't say, but the next time we meet, I will let you know."
Jack smiled at Mei-Wan. She could tell he was enjoying this. She just wished she knew why. There were a thousand questions she wanted to ask Dasari, but one in particular could not be avoided.
"You brought us here and to 1874 to change history," Mei-Wan stated. "To what end?"
Dasari turned to Mei-Wan, his eyes betrayed the concern he attempted to hide. "Not to change, but to repair history."
"Then why is James Butler Hickok dead?"
Khalid Dasari turned his attention to the display on his forearm. "As it turns out, Hickok's death will eventually result in a necessary event in the year 3019. His death at the hands of the young man named Jack McCall will serve a greater good of galactic scale."
"But Hickok's death was what brought about the timeline where Jack was never born," Mei-Wan stated, her frustration growing.
"Was it?" Dasari asked with more than a little condescension.
"How about you tell us," Hank said.
"Without the intensive training in the applicable mathematical disciplines, it would be pointless to try," Dasari stated. "Rest assured, the world you remember will be waiting for you when you return."
"That's not possible," Mei-Wan replied. "History has been changed. In the world we knew, James Butler Hickok lived into the early twentieth century."
"Aside for that fact, and a few other extremely minor changes, you will find the timeline is essentially the one in which you were born."
A realization hit Jack. "You used me to set off a chain of events so that Hickok would die. Does John Prange figure into all of this too?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that," Dasari told him.
"Why not just go back in time and put a bullet in this Hickok yourself?" Hank asked.
Dasari touched a control on his forearm display. "Because having some strange figure appear out of thin air and kill Hickok, a man who was such a public figure, would have introduced a mysterious event into the timeline with results we would never have been able to predict. A lone, disturbed young man killing him, while odd, has predictable consequences. We have had experience with this sort of thing before. We always avoid intervening directly if at all possible."
A mass of swirling energy appeared ten feet away from them.
"Step through," the voice of the Guardian boomed and echoed throughout the warehouse.
Hank shook his head. "No thanks. You can count me out this time. I'm done with being your errand boy."
"We won't do this again, Dasari," Mei-Wan stated flatly.
Khalid Dasari smiled. "You have little choice. Through that portal is the only version of the twenty-fourth century you can ever return to. I suggest you go while you can."
Dasari pointed to a box a few feet behind him. "I had your things from the automobile brought here. Aside from the G'voda weapon you may take what you wish."
While Hank went to the box to collect their things, Jack looked at the dark skinned man with a stern gaze. "There will be moment when you'll realize I made a choice today, Dasari. Understand, if you had been more forthcoming with us, I might have been more so with you. Remember that."
Dasari shook off Jack's words with a smirk. "Don't make the mistake of thinking you're in control of anything, Captain McCall. Trust me, you aren't."
Jack's only response was to smile and nod as Hank rejoined him and Mei-Wan to stand in front of the swirling portal of energy. The three of them stepped through and were gone. A moment later, the region of energy vanished.
Dasari touched a control on his forearm. "Renee, McCall and the other two have returned to the twenty-fourth century. I've got a few loose ends to take care of, but after that, I should be ready for pickup."
A female voice spoke from his arm unit. "How did it go?"
"Well," he said with a smile. "I will be glad to get back home."
"We've received new orders."
He shook his head and whispered to himself, "Please, not another extended mission like this one." He touched the control. "What is it this time?"
"We have to go up to 2396 and deal with a causality node."
He thought for a moment. "Is it the 2364 project?"
"Yes."
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised we're being sent," he said with a sigh. "I just hope it goes better than the last one."
"I've started going over the files," Renee stated. "It will be a messy one."
"Wonderful," Khalid said, rolling his eyes. "I will contact you when I'm ready down here."
Khalid Dasari started to deactivate the display on his arm, but stopped when he heard a soft moan behind him.
Another moan came from the direction of the body on the floor. He walked up to her and withdrew a small unit from his coat pocket about the size of a cigarette lighter.
"So, you're still alive, Xaphon?" he asked the Zeparan on the ground.
"My kind do not easily surrender to death," she said through spasms of pain.
Dasari pointed the device at her. "No, for some reason the Zeparan mind finds it difficult to accept reality."
"Which is why we will one day rule this Galaxy."
Dasari touched a control on the device. Two needle-like extensions slid out from the casing. "I know the future of your kind. The Zeparans will never again be a major force on the galactic stage. And now like your species, your time has come to an end."
"Never!" she shouted past several coughs. "How could..." She stopped as her eyes focused on the man standing above her. "Did I hear someone call you Dasari? Khalid Dasari?"
His only reply was a slight grin.
A laugh began softly in the Zeparan's throat and after several seconds became almost a roar. "Go ahead, Dasari! Kill me!" She continued laughing. "I wonder how well you can know the future of my people when you are so blind to your own!" She closed her eyes. "I will embrace the hope that gives me as I go to my end."
Dasari hesitated a moment, wondering what it might be that the Zeparan was babbling about. "Your madness has consumed you."
"And your arrogance has consumed you," Xaphon whispered.
Dasari sighed and pointed the device at her head. "Enjoy oblivion." He touched the control.
A brilliant flash of energy leaped from the small unit in Dasari's hand and struck the Zeparan as if it were a lightening bolt thrown by Zeus himself. A moment later, not a single molecule of her body remained.
Dasari returned the device to its place in his coat pocket. He stared at the place on the floor where his victim had been less than a minute before. "Madness," he whispered.
