GESB: Operation Time-Cops

[Terenia]

Zorish maneuvered his ship into the atmosphere, turning the shields up to maximum to resist the friction that was created. The ship was quite good at balancing the thrusters, and there was barely a jerk as it lowered itself over the North American continent.

Once Zorish was at about twenty-thousand feet or so, average human airplane height, he slowed the ship to a lazy drift, circling down towards the point Hadrin had entered into the computer. So far, all he could see in any direction was desert.

"Who would choose to live in such a place?" Zorish said with a bit of a sneer, "there is nothing of worth here."

[Myitt]

"Humans are so numerous they drive themselves to live in such extremes," Hadrin says, shaking his head.  "Such a terribly dry place."  He references his navigational holoscreens.  "There is a wooden shack at Gerald's address.  At this early hour he could be asleep, but I suggest we stay on our guard, sir.  As you may already know, humans often arm themselves with projectile weapons in this part of the country."

---

A county away, Matthew Mulcahey is sipping a Mountain Dew from a 24-hour McDonald's, speeding along the dark desert highways that lead from Albuquerque to Roswell.

He wipes his sweaty hands on his jeans, glancing at his silver Cherokee's green digital clock.  3 AM.  Matthew had received an urgent communication from Myitt alerting him that the people he was supposed to be meeting would be in Roswell early.  Much too early. 

At this rate he still wouldn't be there for at least three hours.  What would he do if he got there before Myitt could give him the stupid cube?  What if Myitt got there before he could?  All she had said was to trust her.

"Stupid, this is insane," he mutters, pushing up his dark glasses.  He cranks the air conditioning and pushes back his greasy mop of black hair.  "Matthew, cool it, man.  You're not going to die.  So not going to die.  Mom would be so pissed."  Nervously, he takes another sip of the Mountain Dew, but it sits badly in his tossing stomach.

---

Myitt takes out the Jurassic Park DVD and puts it back into her backpack.  "I know we can't speed up our arrival time, not like this," she says, turning to Ossanlin and Alic, "but we're going to need to be quick about things.  Matthew will arrive after Zorish and Hadrin get to the rendezvous point outside of Roswell, but we need to get the cube to Matthew, first." 

She sighs, shaking her head.  "It's going to be very close, but if we can push the engines to maximum burn once we emerge into real space, we might be able to intercept Matt's car before he arrives.  You see, he has a holocube.  It's a long story, but we trust him, and he's very closely monitored.  I can track his computer's position from my own database, but if he shows up empty-handed to face a Sub-visser and the undercover rebel who instigated this whole thing...yeah.  It won't end well."

[Chad32]

<Coming out of Z-Space and going to maximum burn in the same orbit as major Yeerk ships. Not exactly the stealthy approach, but if we don't get there in time people will die and we'll lose Tamora. Sukohn may have even informed Visser three that we're coming, and he'll be expecting us. We just don't know.> Claxter said while pawing the ground in irritation.

[Myitt]

"My people will die.  What if they're captured?"  Myitt sighs in frustration, tossing the backpack aside.  "I'm not risking the entire rebel operation for a human girl.  As for Sukohn...well.  We'll have to deal with him when we find his ugly mug.  We can make it through the barrier quickly.  We'll just have to take a roundabout approach." She looks over at Ossanlin.  "There shouldn't be many orbit patrols at the poles of the planet.  Especially the north pole."

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin takes the cube back and sets it safely on the ground.  He smiles a bit to himself.  <Unless you've passed on some of your tech to the Empire Myitt, there will be no problem getting planetside.>  He grins at Claxter.  <Normally you would be correct Claxter, but this ship is a bit more advanced than most technology we have.  You see, this ship has a camoflage generator...one that disguises not only visual data, but all energy signals.  Meaning they can't see us, they can't hear us, and above all, they can't scan us.  For all intents and purposes, we won't be there, we won't even put out so much as a temperature signal.  As long as we don't ram them, we'll be fine.>

Ossanlin looks back at Myitt.  <You're right about the speed though.  We will need to be very quick.  I would've liked the opportunity to scout the terrain beforehand, we'll just have to hope the stun mine is enough.  Oh, and to answer your previous question, I removed the proximity trigger from the mine and replaced it with a remote trigger.>  He pulls a small handheld controller.  <I can arm and detonate the device with this as long as I'm in range.  Active range is several human miles.>

Ossanlin looks at the displays.  <Perhaps fifteen standard minutes before we exit z-space.  We got rather lucky, usually it takes far longer to get to Earth from the bar.  This is rather a mess...I would be angry with Terenia, except that's what she'd want from me.>  He chuckles to himself.  <Nothing like flying by your stalk-eyes.>

[Chad32]

<That's very nice.> Claxter said in awe of the ship. He knew some Princes and higher ups had their own personal custom craft, and apparently his new Prince was no exception. Maybe when Claxter became a Prince he would get something very nice too.

<I suppose if we do capture Zorish we'll just put him in a room here, run off to stop Sukohn, and tend to him later. Maybe put him under biostasis.> He said, just as casual chat. Not much else to talk about until they got there and went over a game plan.

[Terenia]

"Hm, yes," Zorish says, squinting at the viewfinding. They are spiraling down towards the location in question, and the shack is coming into view. It is in quite a state of dilapidation thanks to the searing desert sun, but more or less still standing, although it is hardly anything one would consider 'homey'.

"Scan for life forms," Zorish orders, checking to make sure that both shields and cloaking are on full power, "I don't want to put her down until we have verification that the area is clear."

[Myitt]

"We're making excellent time," Myitt muses, looking around the ship's cabin with admiration.  "We've managed to modify our technology to render our ships invisible to most forms of detection, but we're not immune to scans and there is always the risk of our energy wake giving off an unusual reading that a skilled tech may know to pursue.  I don't suppose the Andalite electorate would cut the rebellion a little slack and allow us to use such technology?"  The expression on her face is the epitome of 'when pigs fly'.

---

"Scanning," Hadrin replies tersely, going over the readouts as soon as they appear.  "No human life within the structure, only a few native pests.  No human life within a one standard mile radius.  Human life forms appear within a two mile radius, only a few isolated dwellings.  This area is quite out of the way from the human city of Roswell."  He puts on his best anticipatory grin as he eyes the scans.  "Looks like our human friend isn't available."  The grin falters a bit.  "But sir, I'm not detecting any alien technology readouts, either.  Would this human really take the device with him, wherever he is, in the middle of the night?"

[Chad32]

<Very doubtful.> Claxter said simply. Soon the ship reached the end of Z-Space, and was about to enter normal space.

<Boost compensators. Prepare for maximum burn to orbit.> Claxter said after reentering normal space. The main engines revved up. <Shift power to atmospheric shields to reduce the burn. Set waypoint to the southern pole of the planet. Scan for enemy ships.> Like Myitt said, there were no patrols at the poles, and it would make a good entry point. He didn't know Australia was actually closer to the south pole of the planet, but there was a fifty/fifty chance of him choosing the south pole. The ship shot forward, though there wasn't much lurch for the occupants. Claxter kept an eye on the shields upon entering atmosphere, just in case the shield energy depleted too quickly. <What are the exact planetary coordinates, Myitt?>

********************************************

Sukohn and Cody waited until Marco was alone in the house with his father gone. "Okay. I'll go inside to stun and infest Marco. You stay out here in case he makes it outside. We can't let him escape."

"Fine."

Sukohn went to the back door, and used the dracon on the knob with the setting low. It didn't make much sound, and Marco wouldn't hear it over the TV. Once he was able to open the door, he made his way through the rooms. Marco was on the couch, but he noticed Sukohn enter the room with dracon beam in hand. He stood up, but tried to play it cool.

"Hey man. Take all the money you want, but just don't shoot me with the funny looking gun."

"I'm not here for money, my little bandit."

Marco's eyes widened with the realization that Sukoh n knew who he was. Sukohn aimed and fired the weapon on stun, but Marco kicked the coffee table up to block the shot. He ducked down and ran to another room with Sukohn hot on his heals. He slammed the door, and wedged something under it to block Sukohn, but he began shooting the bottom of the door to get rid of it. By the time he was inside, marco was mostly out the nearby window. Sukohn stuck his head out to aim and fire, but Marco threw dirt in his eyes and ran. Cody saw him and ran after while Sukohn recovered and began running out of the house.

[Terenia]

"A normal human?" Zorish says skeptically, "no. The only human that would leave and make sure that the Escafil Device left with him is a human that is not a human at all. One of ours, perhaps. Or..." Zorish hesitates, not willing to commit to his suspicions out loud yet. Instead, he maneuvers the ship to a spot about a hundred yards from the ship.

"This is Andalite technology we are dealing with, Hadrin," Zorish says seriously as he checks his Dracon's to ensure that the fuel cells are all present and accounted for, "they could very well have cloaked the energy signals somehow. Now, give me your Dracon Beams."

[Alic]

((Posting tonight))

[Myitt]

Hadrin taps at his holoscreens to complete his part of the landing and stands as the ship touches the ground, turning to Zorish. 

"Sir?" he asks skeptically, taking out his Dracon. 

---

Myitt sends Claxter the coordinates for the county road outside of Roswell through the computer. 

"Why are we heading for the south pole?" she says irritably.  "The north is a much safer bet, there is an Imperial outpost in Antarctica."  She eyes Ossanlin briefly.  "Let's hope your ship's technology really is top notch."

[Chad32]

(If you're talking about the book where they morph polar bears, that's the arctic.)

<I just picked one, really. If we're going to be spotted, we will have already been seen. Besides, this is closer to the location we need to be, and time is of the essence.> Claxter said as they neared the continent. He begins to slow his decent as they near the spot while keeping an eye on cloaking mechanisms and the radar.

[Myitt]

((Let's just say there's one in Antarctica, too....xD))

[Terenia]

Zorish takes the Dracon and opens it, pulling out the fuel cells before returning the weapon to Hadrin. He places the unused fuel cells in one of the pouches of his holster.

"As I said," Zorish says calmly, "this is Andalite technology. Very sophisticated, possibly dangerous, and most certainly worth a hefty prize with the Council. I wouldn't want you going rogue on me and picking up the little morphing cube yourself after shooting me in the back."

Zorish opens the hatch and pulls his own, fully charged Dracon, gesturing with it towards the door as he turns up the setting to kill, "you first, lieutenant. I'll be right behind you. And don't worry, I trust you to listen to me, so you're safe." He chuckles a bit, "so long as I don't change my mind, at least."