Be Careful What You Wish For...

[Sargon]

Repost of an award winning story I'm still working on that got wiped out by a previous board crash. New updates will also be posted in this thread.


Sargon

[Sargon]

Be Careful What You Wish For...

Part I: "What plaything can you offer me today?"


Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 20:37 hours local time, 17th March.

Vincent Navalez was bored. As he absent mindedly flicked another fly away from his neck with his fingers he reflected upon his time here thus far. As a soldier and part of the small garrison on the island, he didn't have much choice over his assignment, but he knew one thing: he couldn't wait for it to end. Although there was a small town on the island, there was precious little in entertainment on what he thought was nothing better than a desolate rock. True, it had an airstrip and there were a couple of commercial flights each week that brought new visitors to the island - most of them tourists - but apart from that, life was pretty quiet. A good place to retire to, he thought.

Still, it was important to maintain a garrison here as the Philippine claim on the island was contested by other nations, and that claim had to be protected - as well as the local people living there. Efforts were being made to increase the population within those habitable islands under Philippine control in order to develop them more and strengthen the hand of the government when it came to talks about the islands. There was also an effort to balance tourism and local residency with the environmental and wildlife aspects of the islands. After all, those elements brought the tourists here and boosted the local economy.

That didn't concern Navalez much though. He wanted to return to Davao City and see his family. Pacing the airstrip at night as part of the security detail may be good exercise, but was not much fun. He kicked the dust at his feet, and his thoughts turned to a drink in a good bar and perhaps a bit of karaoke. He prayed just for once something exciting would happen around here...


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


High above, three saucer-shaped vessels descended rapidly. They were invisible to radar of course. They could be invisible to eyes as well - if they so desired - but their commander wasn't bothered about that. Creating a bit of mystery suited the plan that had been made. Big plans in fact - and ones he could have scarcely dreamed of shortly before. But here he was, and he had the opportunity of a lifetime, and he wasn't about to miss it. He needed a base of operations and the Spratly Islands seemed like a good choice. It seemed to him that since no one could agree who owned it all that it'd be a good place to take over, and whilst those disputed it argued with each other about it all, he could get on with his plans.

"Descent continuing as ordered. Landing zone confirmed as sea off Thitu Island." The metallic-like voice echoed across the control chamber to where the commander was seated.

"Good. Prepare for soft landing and engage environmental damage reduction and protection procedures. After landing, deploy perimeter defences, make preparations for underwater base construction and prepare the thought-scan and transmat beam for use.". The commander thought that sounded like a line out of a bad science fiction movie, but it seemed appropriate considering his interest in those after all.

"Understood. Preparations will start immediately upon landing. Guard units and construction units will deploy as ordered. Thought-scan and transmat beam calibration will commence.". Activity increased on all three ships as they flew straight across the airstrip and slid gently into the sea.


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


Their landing did not go unnoticed by Navalez. he was after all on patrol. What he didn't know was that the commander of the saucers didn't care if he was noticed, and in fact saw it as a bonus if he was as it would create all sorts of hard-to-believe stories that would stir the pot somewhat.

Navalez' hand reached for his radio as he called the base. He couldn't quite believe what he had seen, but he was certain it has been three flying saucers! My commander is never going to believe this, he thought.

"Are you so bored you're making up stories now Navalez?". came the sarcastic reply from the base's radio operator Morales.

"Just reporting what I saw, nothing more. And I'm not drunk either, before you make any accusations. How can anyone get drunk with the amount of alcohol on this rock?". Navalez knew Morales was the type to wind people up a bit if he saw a chance.

"Alright Navalez, calm down. I'll inform the Commander. Get back to base and submit a full report. You'd better be right about this. Out."

Navalez raised his eyes to the heavens in supplication. God, I pray for something exciting to happen around here, and when it does it something that no-one is likely to believe. Thanks a bundle. Now help me out with this.

He trudged off back to the base.


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


Sargon

[Sargon]

Be careful what you wish for...

Part II "Strange object imaged..."


One week earlier...Berne, Switzerland

He chucked the Darth Vader voice changer back into the box of assorted Sci-Fi items he had a habit of collecting. Damn thing needs new batteries, mused Jean. Ah, but there's a battery charger in that drawer over there....I think...oh, but I need rechargeable batteries...just a mo...should have some AAs here somewhere.... He rummaged about in yet another box and found three.

"Bugger! It needs FOUR of 'em! Bloody typical...why can't something go right for a change??". He kicked the box across the room making the contents fly everywhere. Dammit, I'll have to tidy that up later, he thought sourly.

Jean's day was not going well. And he was not in the best of moods. First of all, his morning had kicked off with a knock on the door back in England. He'd been expecting a new Babylon 5 model kit to arrive that morning, and it turned out to be some salesman at the door trying to get him to change utility company. He hated that, but worse still, his new kit had not arrived, and when he'd phoned up the company who were supposed to be sending it to him had discovered there was a postal strike on. He really wanted to have it before he left for the airport later in the day to return to Switzerland. Bloody Post Office, why couldn't they strike another time and save him the trouble? He actually thought they had valid reasons to strike, but NOT TODAY! And he'd forgot there was one too.

It seemed that England had a habit of doing things to him at the worse possible time. Still, being a student there was good fun. However, he needed to collect a few things from his apartment in Berne and as it was a Friday and thus no lectures on his timetable, he'd decided to go back. Besides, there was a fancy dress party back at his university in England later in the week and he wanted to go as Darth Vader thus remembering he had a mask here. Not that he was obsessed by SF or something...he just...well...had a passion for these things. And those discount flight tickets he had got hold of were too good to pass up on. Anyway, he wanted to get back in time to watch Doctor Who, the new series of which was due to kick off soon. Those Brits certainly knew how to make good SF!

Although his mother was in fact British, he didn't mention it much. He found it more useful to use his Swiss side at times...made him a bit more exotic to the locals he thought. Or maybe he was just kidding himself since being an SF geek tended to put some people off and he needed to have something different about himself to focus on. His parents couldn't agree on his name at first...they had finally come up with Jean, his mother because it sounded just like a British name, and his father since it sounded like a French one. It meant 'John' anyway, whichever way one looked at it, and thus would cause little confusion. People in the UK still emailed him as 'John' though, which he didn't mind too much.

He was studying in Manchester, and the airport was not too far away from his digs seeing as it only took about 15-20 minutes to get there from Manchester Piccadilly by train if he hopped on the Transpennine Express. Local trains took longer as they stopped at every station along the route, and so he preferred to take the hourly Express arriving from Cleethorpes. They'd recently upgraded the trains and they were better to travel in than the local ones being cleaner and more modern looking to his eyes. Was that his futuristic SF preference kicking in? Probably. He couldn't wait until they had maglev.

Oh well, I'll just have to buy some batteries before I go back. Can't be cheap ones either, as they'd just conk out after ten minutes of use, and that'd be embarrassing if all the mask makes is a squeak. The rechargeables would have been fine, but WHERE is that missing one? What's the point buying the damn things to save money in the long term when they go missing and I have to buy new ones each time?

Actually, he was pretty disorganised sometimes, so it was not surprising.

Fridge. Food.

He decided the best way to 'enhance his calm' (he loved that line, being from Demolition Man after all) was to get some food inside him. His mother had obviously been shopping and there were some goodies in the fridge. He piled up a plate, grabbed the TV remote and switched the telly on.

"...and Robert Mugabe says that criticism of his regime is merely rhetoric from western nations who still practice their own forms of imperialism these days. Despite this the Foreign Office has made it clear that...".

Oh God, not him again, despaired Jean. Just when is someone going to deal with him? All those people suffering there and no one is lifting a finger to help - it's disgraceful.

Jean had quite an interest in current affairs, Actually, he was interested in many things, and liked to be well read on various topics, although it could be said he had more of a general knowledge of certain topics than a deep one. Still, he did have various deep interests and he'd often be surrounded by books that were not SF ones. He liked books a lot, but found that he never had time to read all the ones he bought. He probably spent too much time on the net, playing computer games, and building model kits to keep up with reading everything.

Jean was pretty upset, "Jeez, I wish someone would sort him out and get that country back in order and help those people.", he said to himself. He thought about all the other places where people were suffering due to nasty regimes...North Korea and Burma sprang to mind. He sighed and changed channel...it was too depressing.

In Manchester, something fell through a hole in a pocket...


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


One week later, Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 20:57 hours local time, 17th March.

"Navalez, do you expect me to believe THAT?? Yellow flying saucers??", screamed his CO as he stood in the base's office.

Why didn't I just say I saw planes, thought Navalez as the glares continued in his specific direction. On the bright side, they might think I'm crazy and send me home. He brightened up a bit at that.

"Sir, I'm just telling you what I witnessed. They had lights in them and seemed yellow, but could be darker.". How many times have I said that since I saw the damn things? He could imagine the size of the smirk on Morales' face right now. He must be listening in to all this next door...the walls aren't that thick after all.

"OK Navalez. We're duty bound to check it out, but if you're trying to pull some prank, I'll have you counting sea shells for the rest of your assignment. Get back to your patrol. Dismissed.", rumbled the CO dangerously. Navalez was all too happy to leave the office. Quite rapidly in fact.

The CO picked up the phone and gave orders for a search party to set off in a launch to survey the area of sea where Navalez had said he'd seen the objects descend into. He'd have a plane up at first light as well to overfly it too. After that he was planning to have Navalez for breakfast.


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


Saucer Landing Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 21:40 hours local time, 17th March

"Diiiiiiiiiiiveeeeeee!". He always loved this one. The commander of the squadron looked up from his personal holoscreen as one of his bridge crew approached.

"Soft landing successful. Environmental damage slight, and restoration underway. Perimeter established and base construction commencing.".

"Excellent. Estimated time until construction complete?", the commander knew it would take a while, but couldn't remember exactly how long.

The reply came back rapidly, precisely and metallicly, "With current deployments, undersea base will be completed and fully operational in 3 weeks, 4 days, and 7 hours.".

The commander thought about that. He'd like it to be quicker, but he knew impatience was not a good thing. He somehow remembered he had made a promise to try and be less so. Besides he had one third of his crews fitted out and assigned to that particular task. And he needed other things done too.

"Assign priority to the shipyard part of the base. I want more ships built as soon as possible. One the shipyard is complete, allocate another two-thousand to work on two more ships. We must have numbers. Also, increase output in the production facilities so that we can replace those who are working on the base and the ships. It might be necessary to carry out other actions before the base is fully complete and I wish to have that option available to me. I think that.....".

He was interrupted before he could finish that off.

"Alert! Guards have notified command that an object has been imaged matching the description of a naval launch and is approaching the landing zone. Instructions?".

The commander couldn't help a grin. So someone was awake up there. "No direct action. Raise the shield to prevent them getting too close underwater. However, they can still see us, and that's fine. Let them puzzle about us. It'll give them some good stories to tell. After they've seen us and if they cause too much trouble, we always have the option to use the mind-scan and transmat to gain an advantage later. As a matter of fact, let's have some fun. Illuminate a Ch'ing Dynasty flag for China on the upper hull. Heh, that'll cause some confusion. Carry on with my orders regarding the base.".

With the acknowledgement of his orders echoing in his ear, he turned his attention back to the holoscreen.... "Charge the lightning field!". He really liked the acoustics in this ship.


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


Sargon

[Sargon]

Be Careful What You Wish For

Part III: "No one would have believed...".


Philippine Local Garrison Search Party, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 21:42 hours local time, 17th March.

A small launch made its way out of the harbour and skilfully negotiated the scatted bits of coral near the entrance before making its way out into relatively deeper water. Moonlight reflected off the calm sea, making visibility quite good on what was a clear night. Inside the launch were nine men, two of whom were kitting up in diving gear. Navalez, having resumed his thankless patrol on the airstrip observed them as they left, praying to God they found something. He'd read somewhere that there'd been some mad Roman Emperor who had supposedly made his troops collect seashells or something. That figures, he lamented to himself, the damn CO must have read the same book and is going further down the road of Barking Mad Street by threatening to make me count the bastards. Navalez had little doubt that his CO was actually crazy enough to implement that order too.

It took sometime for the launch to make the area where Navalez' flying saucers were supposed to be underwater, the distance from land being a good few miles. Nothing was to be seen until the launch made its way close to spot where a faint glow could be made out. Once there, it swung in the gentle swell, the crew illuminated against the skyline as a line of figures leaning over the side scanning the ocean below.

The leader of the group, Second Lieutenant Amor Bancain peered into the sea, his long, serious looking face looking thoughtful. "Could be the emergency lights from a downed aircraft.", he commented dryly. "Looks like Navalez was right about something for once.", a remark which was met with smirks from some of the others.

"Could be a jellyfish sir.", chimed in the larger-than-life Private Matunog from just behind him, which upped the response from the group by receiving chuckles from most in the boat this time.

"Well, that's a possibility, but how many yellowly-green jellyfish have you seen around here that glow that much Private?", shot back Bancain. "Get over the side Gabat, and see what's down there if you can.".

One of the divers gave a brief wave with one hand, his other grabbing a powerful flashlight as he slipped over backwards into the water with something of a flourish. "Bloody show off.", quipped Matunog.

The Lieutenant turned to the other diver, "As for you, swim above him and survey the area. If there's a plane down there, or a wreckage field, I want some idea of how large it is in either case. Maybe Navalez saw three bits of a plane crashing down as it disintegrated or something.".

The diver quickly obliged and there was another splash of water as he plunged in leaving a trail of light, ripples and bubbles in his wake.


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


Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 21:57 hours local time, 17th March

Inside the saucer, the commander continued to watch the holoscreen, light from it glowing off his face. One part of it was tuned into events happening up above as some diver bumped into an invisible force that shook him around a bit and the look of surprise was quite evident even on his masked face. "There must be a way of deactivating the lightning field.".

"Not on your Nelly in this case.", chuckled the commander to himself.


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


Philippine Local Garrison Search Party, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 22:03 hours local time, 17th March.

It wasn't long before the luckless Gabat bobbed back up to the surface, quickly followed by his team-mate, and both made their way back to the launch to make somewhat breathless reports to the expectant Bancain.

Gabat just managed to kick off first, "That's no jellyfish, that's a vessel!". before the other diver's words followed immediately afterwards.

"That thing is over 1000 feet across, and that was just the part I could make out!". he stammered.

Bancain looked incredulous, "What? Are you kidding me? That's too big to be a vessel.". He peered down again, his lined face now showing some concern as one hand rubbed the back of his neck.

"And another thing, I got caught up in some sort of turbulence down there. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get closer. I think I approached from the wrong angle to get a good look at the source of that glow and there was a shoal of fish in the way blocking it. Took me a while to re-orientate myself, but even after that I still couldn't move in any closer.", added Gabat, his dark eyes rather wide at this point.

"Closer?? Why would we want to go closer?? I've got a bad feeling about this.". Matunog's huge face had lost its previous grin and betrayed the idea that he didn't like to stay around here much longer if he could help it.


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


Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 22:05 hours local time, 17th March

The commander suddenly raised an eyebrow and paid more attention to what the party were saying with a look of mild surprise on his face. Some of those could be lines straight out of a certain movie, he observed to himself. Sometimes truth imitates fiction...well, I have to say these guys are fairly entertaining at the very least.

A delicate porcelain cup supported by the fingers of his right hand made its way up to his mouth. The taste of Assam filtered its way through his system. He had tried Earl Grey, but it just wasn't his cup of tea. He viewed this as rather a shame as he would've liked to be a starship captain who enjoyed one.

Putting the cup back down, he turned his attention back to the screen. No matter, the taste is beautiful enough and adds to the enjoyment anyway.


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


Philippine Local Garrison Search Party, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 22:07 hours local time, 17th March.

"Get back down there and take some shots with the underwater camera.", ordered Bancain to the obviously reluctant divers. "I want to know what that glow is.".

"I really hate you sir.", muttered Gabat as he and the other diver grabbed underwater cameras being held out by one of the other men in the boat and dived back down.

Not as much as I hate Navalez, thought Bancain grimly. The amount of damn paperwork this is going to cause...


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


Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 22:14 hours local time, 17th March

The commander watched as the divers managed to get into position outside of the shield in order to take underwater photos as clearly as they could. "lt's a little too quiet around here for me.". Music by Queen echoed out in the control room. Several heads swivelled in the huge space as members of the crew looked towards the source of the unique electronic based melody.

I bet that's what they were thinking before we came, but not now. See? I've just livened up your assignments here. You should all be thanking me, he thought with amusement. And just wait until those photos are developed. Now, time for a book.

He'd been half tempted to put the Imperial logo from Star Wars on the hull, but the Ch'ing flag would cause far more of an interesting ruckus he was sure - and he needed to restrain himself somewhat, remembering that patience would be an advantage in all this.

Instead of showing flatscreen images, his holoscreen now projected a three-dimensional globe of the world. Significant areas on it were marked in red and the commander contemplated it for a while, his brow creasing as he observed the rotating orb. The commander thought it looked a bit like the one in that PC version of the game called Risk - the second version of the game of course.

"With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter.".

He soon intended to be the skunk at the garden party and shake things up somewhat on this globe.


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


Sargon

[Sargon]

Be Careful What You Wish For

Part IV: "All alone in the night...".


Previous week, Manchester, UK, 02:48 local time, 14th March

Jeez, that was one hell of a party, enthused Jean's mind as he weaved unsteadily back home, co-ordination somewhat impaired by by the generous amounts of alcohol he'd imbibed, and the restrictions imposed by the Darth Vader costume he was wearing. The lightsaber clipped to his belt clattered against his plastic armour as he lurched whilst lifting a kebab up to his face and then realised he still had his mask on.

"DAMN, BLOODY FORGOT ABOUT THAT!", he boomed. The batteries had lasted well, and even now made his voice scarily impressive. He'd already managed to frighten the life out of a group of girls earlier when he'd shot out of an alleyway that served as a good shortcut to the kebab shop, especially as he'd gone "AARRRGGGGHHHH!" after putting his foot down in an awkward position that had tweaked his ankle when rapidly stopping before crashing into them. Luckily the guys in the kebab shop had not been so fazed by his appearance, after all, they saw all sorts in there once the pubs and clubs disgorged their clientele for the night. Besides, there were a lot of SF characters that had left the same party and had headed for various eating places or bars afterwards. A group of Starfleet officers, Romulans and Klingons were even now making their way through nearby Chinatown.

Clumsily putting the kebab back into the plastic bag he'd been given to carry it, he made his way down another alleyway, this time as a means of cutting the distance to his digs. He decided he'd get home first before eating it, but was finding out just how awkward it was to move about in a suit of amour with a long cloak and a mask that did not offer the best of views. He promptly bumped into a dumpster and crashed to the ground with a Vaderish wheeze.

Now I know how Scorpius' implant 'Harvey' in Crichton's head felt, he thought painfully to himself as he glared at the dumpster. Of course, the human character from Farscape often threatened to chuck Harvey in with the rubbish, so at least he'd missed it. He started to haul himself up, and glanced around for where his kebab bag had fallen, and after awkwardly moving his head for a while located it behind the dumpster. Crawling over to it, he was about to grab it when he saw something out of the side of his eye - which was about as far as his vision went, the helmet not allowing him to see out of the corner. It looked like a leaflet.

His gloved hand picked it up and found it was wrapped around an object that clattered to the ground. It resembled a rock. That didn't immediately take his attention, as he was too busy looking at the leaflet which was about the Doctor Who props exhibition being held at Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry. Heh, that was damn cool, already been there, he remembered. They had actually extended the exhibition due to popular demand, and had released new leaflets for it recently, but Jean had not seen this particular one before, so he opened it up for a quick glance. No new exhibits were there, which disappointed him a little, but the artwork was cool. He decided to put it with the others he already had, as he had a habit of collecting every bit of SF stuff he could lay his hands on - much to his family's and housemates' chagrin. He stuck the leaflet in his belt, picked up the kebab bag with his right hand and started to get up properly. However, he felt compelled for some reason to pick up the little rock. It was like it was whispering something in his mind...

The Dark Lord made his way gingerly back to his digs, clutching the rock in his left hand.


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


Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 00:17 hours local time, 18th March

The CO listened to Second Lieutenant Bancain's report, the twinges of fatigue pulling on his eyes.

It was late, and he had not had the best of days what with someone screwing up the manifest for base supplies that had arrived at the islands in the morning. And his wife was giving him problems. Or maybe he was giving her some. It was complicated. Anyhow, the last thing he needed was what Bancain was telling him now. Even worse was that Navalez had actually been right about seeing something. That meant he couldn't bawl him out the next morning, which the CO thought was a bit of a disappointment.

"How big?", he demanded, his foot tapping impatiently under the desk.

"Over 1000 feet across. And it appears to be in one piece and extends out in all directions. It was definitely not a debris field. All we can ascertain is that it is a vessel or construction of some sort. There was a lot of weird turbulence down there, making it impossible for our divers to get close enough to physically examine it.", Bancain related in his usual professional manner, standing ramrod straight with one hand by his side, the other holding a folder.

Rubbing his chin the CO replied, "Well, it can't be a vessel then. Perhaps it is an underwater construct of some kind. But that does not explain what Navalez saw. Unless they were some kind of amphibious aircraft that were taken underwater or something, and that just seems stretching the bounds of reality.". He pointed to Bancain's hand. "What's that you have there?".

Bancain opened the folder and placed it on the CO's desk. "It's the printouts of the digital photos the divers managed to take. There were a lot of fish swimming about...probably disturbed by the turbulence, and it was difficult to get any reasonable shots at first, but these are the clearest we have. It appears to be the casing of whatever is down there. It looks like it is made of metal.".

Leafing slowly through the photos the CO noticed the colour of the metal. It looked to be bronze in nature, although it was difficult to be precise because of the effect of the water. Suddenly he came to a photo that had some sort of design on it, and paused. "Now, just what is that? It looks like a marking of some kind. Doesn't look like anything I recognise. What's that long U shape in the middle?".

Bancain coughed and replied matter-of-factly, "I'm afraid that's the diver's finger. It's much clearer in the next one.". He thought he'd removed all the unclear ones.

If the CO felt embarrassed by his gaffe, he did not show it much, and turned to the next image. "Ah, that's much clearer...it looks like markings of some sort on the metal....hmmmm....it's a blue dragon on what seems to be a yellow background...or could be light green...difficult to tell.". Scratching his head the CO glanced up at Bancain. "What do you make of it Lieutenant?".

"Well, I'm not sure sir, but this was the cause of the glow we saw under the water. It was shining out quite brightly, almost as if it was supposed to draw attention to it. From the shape of it, it appears to be some sort of flag, but I've never seen a flag like that before. It's certainly no national flag I know of for example.". Bancain was just as puzzled as his CO appeared to be.

"My thoughts exactly. Well, we'll have a plane up at first light to overfly the site. Until then, I 'm going to alert the commands on the other islands and call out extra guards here to join Navalez on his night patrol. Then I'm going to send this image attached to an e-mail to Headquarters. Maybe they can make something of it. In the meantime, write up your report before going to sleep Lieutenant, and have it on my desk by the morning. Dismissed.".

Inwardly, Bancain groaned. "Yes sir.". I'm going to kick Navalez' butt around the damn airfield tomorrow, he fumed to himself. That was if he had enough energy after staying up to write the report.


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


Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 00:30 hours local time, 18th March

On and below the three saucers in the dead of night, construction of the base continued. It was to be a vast space under the seabed, housing repair, maintenance, accommodation, and production facilities amongst other things. The excavations were extremely efficient, extracted material being immediately sucked into mobile conversion plants, the atomic structure of it being re-arranged and then being ejected at the other end as various components, panels, flooring, infrastructure and whatnot for fitting out the base. At the moment the converters were producing items suitable for setting up and fitting out the shipyard, and the cavernous space it would be located in was becoming ever larger every second.

The saucers themselves had burrowed deeper into the seabed, so that less of their considerable size was exposed above it. To restrict damage to the local environment, all sea life that had been below the saucers had been transmatted above the vessels, or to other parts of the seabed where there was sufficient space for them. The Commander was very concerned that the local ecology did not suffer too much, and was making strenuous efforts to make sure such damage was limited. He was even now watching the holoscreen which relayed three dimensional representations of the sea creatures presently swimming around outside.

"A strange twilight world opened up before me, and I felt as the first man to set foot on another planet, an intruder in this mystic garden of the deep.", came the words from another part of the holoscreen, this time in two dimensions where another scene similar to the one floating before the Commander was being shown. He liked this one too, being very appropriate for his current location after all, but decided as it was becoming late, he needed some rest and would continue with it later. The holoscreen's images faded and he rose from his chair and made his way to the nearby chamber that housed his well-appointed bunk.

He left the bridge crew with words echoing around the massive area, "If any human activity of note occurs please inform me. Otherwise, leave me to sleep until dawn arrives. That is all.".


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


Sargon

[Sargon]

Be Careful What You Wish For

Part V: "Something special planned for them...".


Republic of the Phillipines, Quezon City, Camp Aguinaldo, Armed Forces of the Philippines: General Headquarters and Headquarters Service Command, Intelligence Division (GHQ & HSC), 00:45 local time, 18th March

Lieutenant Benigno Fernandez yawned as he put the papers down on his desk. Routine reports most of them, and consequently of little interest. Desk jobs were not the most stimulating of tasks to be employed in especially if one was working late in the communications office. He turned to his computer and brought up his e-mail inbox. Not much there at all, he'd already gone through most of the mails, only a couple of non-urgent ones were left to deal with. Sighing, he was about to return to his paperwork when a new mail arrived.

He was quite surprised to see one marked as urgent from the Commander of the usually sleepy base on Thitu Island. His interest grew as he opened the mail and read the description of the image attached. He then opened the image and saw that it did indeed appear to be a dragon of some sort with what appeared to be a red disk above its nose. And he didn't recognise it either. Still, it was his job to investigate these things, so he headed off to the bookshelf where there was a study on international flags. This being a publication useful for intelligence purposes of course included all military flags, banners and insignia.

Hmmm, that dragon sure looks like it is Chinese, he reasoned to himself as he flicked through the pages. A quick scan through the reference work failed to yield any results. The book was not a slim one and he had the feeling this was going to take a while, so ambling back to his desk, he started working his way through the book in a methodical fashion.


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


National Capital Region, Manila, Embassy Building, Counter-Intelligence Service, 00:47 local time, 18th March

The same image was displayed on the monitor in front of a foreign country's intelligence operative. Like his counterpart in Quezon city, he started reaching for some reference manuals...


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


Republic of the Phillipines, Quezon City, Camp Aguinaldo, Armed Forces of the Philippines: General Headquarters and Headquarters Service Command, Intelligence Division (GHQ & HSC), 01:23 local time, 18th March

Fernandez was yawning once more and reached to scratch the back of his neck. He'd been through all his reference works pretty thoroughly and had drawn a blank. The thought had crossed his mind of course that the symbol was obscure or secret enough only to be recognised by certain people, but that did not square with it being so obviously displayed. He was pretty certain it had been designed to draw attention to itself, or why bother illuminating it in such a fashion?

He turned to another computer in his room. This one had a secure connection to the internet and the security on it was implemented with that in mind. He felt rather reluctant admitting this, but from time to time he found that the net could be a useful source of information in his line of work. Oh well, it's worth a try, let's see what flag and insignia websites there are, he decided.

He typed in the words 'dragon flag' and 'blue' in the advanced search page, and pressed 'search'.

The mouse pointer hovered over the first result, "Chinese Customs: ...of the dragon flag (similar to the flag at 1890 Imperial Dragon flag). .... the present national flag - red ground with a blue jack in the upper canton...", but paused a moment as Fernandez' eyes scanned the second entry which was indented and obviously a sub-category of the first. It read, "Lay-Osborne Flotilla (China)... Son of the Sky was the blue eastern dragon, the image of returning strength, ... On 10 November 1872, the Imperial dragon flag was officially adopted as ...". The words 'blue eastern dragon' caught his eye and he clicked on the cached version...


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


National Capital Region, Manila, Embassy Building, Counter-Intelligence Service, 01:24 local time, 18th March

Another hand rubbing a neck. The operative had failed to find the flag using his authorised references as well, however there was a mass marketed flag book on the shelf nearby and he reached for it. Before long he had come to the section on China's historical flags...


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


Republic of the Phillipines, Quezon City, Camp Aguinaldo, Armed Forces of the Philippines: General Headquarters and Headquarters Service Command, Intelligence Division (GHQ & HSC), 01:25 local time, 18th March

Fernandez had struck gold, or rather yellow, as that was the colour of the flag's background. The CO of Thitu Island's garrison had not been sure about the background colour, stating it was either a light green or a yellow field. Now it was confirmed as yellow, and the dragon and his little red disk matched pretty well, apart from the fact that it was superimposed upon a larger green and yellow flag. He noticed an entry for 'Imperial Dragon Flag' and followed the link, being presented with a page of text detailing the history of the flag. Scrolling down the page somewhat he found an exact match.

Well, that's it for sure, but why the hell is that being used? Rough stubble grazed his fingers as he rubbed his chin. An old flag of the Chinese Empire? Somehow, he couldn't see the Communists using that one, unless they had some sort of agenda to restore the Emperor which seemed ridiculous to him. The Taiwanese seemed to be the better choice, but they were a republic too. Hmmm, they of course have that pretty unrealistic dream of taking back all of China someday...perhaps there's a link there, he surmised. He did consider the possibility of it being someone else...Singapore crossed his mind, but they didn't fit into the picture, not pursuing any claims in the Spratlys. It seemed logical that it was either China or Taiwan that was at work here, with the stronger possibility being the people in Taipei.

Collating his findings together, he sent a reply back to the CO, with the recommendation that he be aware of and on the alert for either Chinese or Taiwanese incursions just to be sure. Then he prepared a report for his own commander and heading out of the door, decided he deserved a coffee after all that hard research.


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


National Capital Region, Manila, Embassy Building, Counter-Intelligence Service, 01:27 local time, 18th March

Fingers danced across a keyboard as the operative typed up a report for his superiors. He was no less surprised, intrigued and puzzled about the image he had found rather easily in a commercially available publication. And since he knew the Filipinos appeared to have no idea what it was, unless his superiors were keeping him in the dark too, he was even more sure it meant trouble for his country as well as Manila. What on earth have these blue dragon guys got planned, he wondered, special forces perhaps?


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


Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 01:32 hours local time, 18th March

Returning from the washroom, the CO found a new e-mail in his inbox. His eyes widened as he read the explanation of the flag and the possible elements involved.

Well, if it's either the Chinese or the Taiwanese trying to muscle in on our claim, there's going to be hell to pay, he thought with not a little amount of worry.


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


Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 01:36 hours local time, 18th March

Below the sea, the crews of the saucers continued their efforts. The caverns for the base were becoming larger by the second, and infrastructure being fitted very rapidly. On the bridge a silent and intimidating figure eyed the construction impassively, and knew the Commander would appreciate the news that the shipyard would be completed within the next two days. Then the construction of additional ships could begin...and...well, all were aware the Commander had something very special in mind for these humans...


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



Sargon

[Sargon]

Bumping up as there's five chapters here that people may never have seen and can have a go at reading if so desired. ;)


Sargon

[archangel]

Bumping to bring more readers and to bring an update.:)

[Alex]

Bumping to bring more readers and to bring an update.:)

Ditto :)

[general_tiu]

Yes, it returned!

[Sargon]

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


Be careful what you wish for...


Part VI: "So say we all...".


Previous week, Manchester, UK, 07:32 local time, 14th March.

"Ooooooh, my head!", moaned Jean as he struggled with dragging himself out of his bed. He needed a toilet stop, the effects of the alcohol causing trouble in more than one area of his body. He gasped as his toe made an unwelcome appointment with the frigid floor, and muttered various curses as he gingerly made his way to the bathroom, negotiating bits of his Vader costume as well as various other items in his path. Underfloor heating would be nice, came his wistful thought as he closed the door behind him and gratefully planted his feet on the bathroom rug.

As he went about his business with some relief, images entered his mind of some rather strange dreams he had during the night. He recalled a sensation of something slipping into his mind, and wandering about inside as if it was in some sort of archive full of shelves of books. It had been saying things too, but he could not quite recall what. It had seemed gently persuasive and insistent though, the voice of it like a a smooth caress, tempting and compulsive.

Rubbing his head, Jean made his way back to his bed, as he had no intention of getting up for a while. He flicked the TV on to the news channel, watched it for a while, and then fell back into the land of nod...


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


Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, Sunrise, 06:24 hours precisely local time, 18th March.

The plane had been prepped some time earlier, but now made its way along the airstrip. Dawn had arrived, and as planned, the CO's reconnaissance flight was underway. The CO himself stood in the small tower that served as the operations centre for the small airbase. He had not slept that well, and presented a rather haggard figure. Nevertheless, he was overseeing the operation rather than leaving it to his second-in-command. It wasn't just duty that motivated him, it was genuine curiosity as well, mixed with a smattering of apprehension. Conditions were clear enough, and the sea-state was calm. He wondered what the pilot would be able to observe.


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


Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 06:24 hours local time, 18th March.

A console blinked on one part of the bridge of the main saucer.

"Alert. Human aviation detected. Wake the Commander.", the metallic voice echoed across the bridge as the leader of the crew there looked towards a subordinate.


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


Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 06:33 hours local time, 18th March.

The pilot looked down onto the surface of the sea as the plane approached the area where Navalez' saucers had been seen to land. The water was pretty clear and he was able to make out a fair amount of detail at this height over a large area. Very soon his diligence was rewarded as he spotted a rough circular shape under the surface. Angling his plane to the left, he circled over the region of the sea that held his interest. Unlike the reports that the reconnaissance boat crew had brought back, the object did not appear to be a thousand feet across. To the pilot's reckoning, it seemed like it was no more than 150 feet in diameter at most, and he came to the conclusion that the divers must have become confused in the darkness. Squinting a little, the pilot tried to make out the colour of the object, which was not as easy as one might think given that the water had an effect on judging it. However, to his eyes, it appeared to be a copper type of colour...perhaps lighter than that if the blueness of the water was allowed for. Satisfied that there really was something unnatural on the seabed, although not the three objects Navalez had claimed he had seen, the pilot radioed descriptions back to the tower...


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


Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 06:35 hours local time, 18th March.

The Commander watched from his chair, rubbing his eyes somewhat due to the fact that he was still a little groggy from being woken up. He could have done with a little more sleep, but the activity was important enough for him to take an interest in the events on his holoscreen. Studying the plane circling overhead he listened to the radio report being sent back by the pilot to his CO. It went without saying that he had instructed a member of his crew to monitor any broadcasts, encrypted or otherwise.

"....resting on the ocean bed. Appears to be about 150 feet across and not 1000. Shape appears to be an uneven circle. Copper coloured, although could be lighter in shade as sea darkens it. Unable to make out any large scale illumination from the object. Faint light green glow from small area near the centre of the object. No outstanding features apparent on the surface.....".

The Commander sipped another cup of tea as he listened to the report. He fancied some breakfast and beckoned over a crew member. "Four slices of thick toast, buttered. And a raspberry flapjack.".


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


Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 07:47 hours local time, 18th March

The CO reviewed the images taken by the camera on the plane and the pilot's report. Whilst not appearing to be a vessel of any kind, it certainly looked like an underwater construction of some sort. As for the objects Navalez had seen, the CO reasoned they were probably supply drops of some kind. In his mind it was more than likely a base built by one of the states competing for islands in the area. His money was on the Taiwanese given that they had resisted an invasion attempt on one of their islands by the Philippines years ago, and this was some sort of in-your-face revenge on their part. He couldn't figure how they'd so sneakily built a base under his nose, but it was embarrassing, and he wasn't relishing the grilling he was undoubtedly going to get when all this was sorted out.

The material already having been sent electronically to Intelligence, he reached for the phone. It was time to call Headquarters directly.


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


Previous week, Manchester, UK, 08:51 local time, 14th March.

Jean awoke from his slumber and looked at the clock. Still far too early to wake up in his opinion. He was about to turn over when a news item on the TV caught his attention.

"....attacked by pirates off Somalia. This area is notorious for such activity with a number of ships being taken over and their crews threatened with violence. Despite international efforts little concrete action has been taken to deal with the pirates in this area other than small patrols by various local governments, and the deployment by the US of a ship in the area. A spokesman from Lloyds of London says these efforts are not nearly enough to deal with the attacks, and remarks that governments need to do much more to address the issue....".

Oh great, thought Jean, seems governments never take this seriously enough...why don't they deploy Q ships or something? That'll sort the bastards out. It was an item of news that had been appearing with increasing frequency as modern-day pirates took to hijacking freighters with their valuable cargoes hoping to flog off the contents of the ships and make a profit. And if there were no cargo ships available, they were known to stop cruise liners and rob the passengers and crew. Sometimes even kidnapping people to hold for ransom. He shook his head as much as the confines of his pillow allowed as the next news item came up.

"....and despite recent efforts that have seen relations improve between the two countries, the North Korean government has criticised the South for "recklessly aiding Japan and their warmongering masters the US" in the stop and search policy of vessels heading for North Korean ports that could be carrying restricted items the import of which was banned by UN resolution. Yesterday's skirmish between naval vessels of both countries when a North Korean freighter was intercepted by a South Korean warship has raised tensions in the region. A spokesman for Kim Jong Il's regime has denounced the South's actions as those of "a lackey of the imperialists intent upon infringing the territorial and trading rights of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and an insult to our citizens who will continue to struggle against these blatantly aggressive acts.". The South has responded by...".

Jean despaired about all this. Is there no end to the craziness of that regime? I just wish something could be done about them. Throw in the pirates too whilst we're at it. Jeez.

Fed up, he turned over and went back to sleep. At least he could get away from the troubles of the world for a while with a nice slumber. Or so he thought.

The stone seemed to shimmer slightly and slipped its way into his sleeping mind...


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


Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 08:39 hours local time, 18th March.

Second Lieutenant Bancain had slept rather better than the CO, but he still wasn't in the best of moods as he stood once more in front of the CO's desk. He took some satisfaction from the CO's tired appearance though as that meant he wasn't the only one being screwed over by Navalez.

"Headquarters are now involved. They are sending three vessels from the mainland, one of which is embarking equipment to make an underwater search easier to carry out. The other two are warships in case there's any trouble. In the meantime, our orders are to observe the area closely and wait for the ships to arrive before carrying out any further underwater surveys ourselves as we do not have the means to infiltrate the construct anyway. We'll find out what this thing is soon enough. Things are going to be a bit busier around here for both us and the men. And that means more bureaucracy too, so be prepared to write more reports. In the meantime, have your men ready in your boats for regular patrols of the area. That is all. Dismissed.". At this point the CO rolled his eyes upward in resignation. Judging from the expression on Bancain's face, he was just as depressed about the thought of more bureaucracy as well.

Bancain exited the office and sourly made his way down the corridor to his own. The only good thing to come out of this for him was that some activity might help his chances of promotion and reassignment off this rock to somewhere more prestigious. Lost in his thoughts, he did not see Navalez hurriedly duck into a doorway in an effort to hide from his bad-tempered superior.


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


Previous week, Manchester, UK, 11:11 local time, 14th March.

The banging on the door woke him up yet again. "Get up you lazy geek!", yelled Jean's housemate Reuben, "We've got a lecture at 12, or have you forgotten already?".

Jean was feeling for want of a better word somewhat....weird. He'd had all sorts of strange dreams and felt like his mind was somewhere else. Like it was not on this earth. He could hear voices in his mind, or was that merely his imagination? Asking him for...he still wasn't quite sure, it was eluding him, just out of reach of his conscious thought and hovering in the realms of his inner self.

Gingerly shaking his head, he struggled out of his warm bed. "All right, give me a chance, I haven't even had a shower yet. Be with you in ten.". Reuben was a pretty good housemate all things considered, and an even better alarm clock. If it wasn't for him and his reminders the university would probably think Jean had vanished off the face of the earth. Reuben was far more organised than him.

Reuben sighed and went back down stairs to the kitchen and downed some coffee. It wasn't great, for some reason the people in the house always managed to get some cheap crap the British thought passed for the stuff. Not having that much money, and due to the fact that everything was about four times more expensive in Britain than the US due to the terrible exchange rate and the high cost of items here anyway, he couldn't afford the premium coffee on offer in the supermarket himself anyway. At least the chain that trades here, Caffè Nero, is better than this, he mused unhappily as he gulped down the rest of the mug.

Jean wobbled in the shower as is mind struggled to cope both with being awake and the weirdness inside it.


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


National Capital Region, Manila, Embassy Building, Counter-Intelligence Service, 11:56 local time, 18th March.

Another operative had replaced the previous one who had gone to sleep after his marathon night of analysis. This one, like his colleague had also intercepted messages between Thitu and Philippines Intelligence and was fully up to date with this morning's traffic. News had just reached him that his own government had also despatched a naval force to the region post-haste consisting of a number of vessels. What he and his superiors didn't know was that yet another nation had found out what his government had discovered plus their plans of dispatching ships, and had done the same.


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


Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 12:05 hours local time, 18th March.

The Commander knew all about these moves having eavesdropped on the lot. In a few days he could look forward to the vessels of various nations dropping anchor above his ship. The more the merrier, he thought with satisfaction. All sorts of potential opportunities may arise then. The prospect of various nations united in arriving to the area due to a purpose common to each of them made him think of a certain line from Battlestar Galactica. He switched the holoscreen back on and decided to watch an episode...


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


Sargon

[archangel]

Keep it up, Sargon!:)

[Sargon]

Keep it up, Sargon!:)

Thankee old chap. :)

Bumping up for more comments. C'mon, you know you want to. :p


Sargon

[Sargon]

Be Careful What You Wish For...


Part VII: "Explain it to them...".


Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 09:13 hours local time, 24th March


The Commander gazed at the tactical display. It was becoming crowded up there. Naval vessels from four countries had appeared in the area. It seemed that each had discovered what the other was up to and an international incident was brewing. It hadn't taken long before the movements of Philippine forces had been noticed by other nations' intelligence networks. Some might say that those countries had a leaky ship where their security was concerned if the pun could be taken in jest. They certainly weren't taking it in jest though as warships and support vessels faced off against each other across the shimmering blue waters.

The Filipino vessels had arrived first and their research ship had attempted to more closely survey the saucer. Unfortunately for them, all their efforts had failed due to the shield erected around it. Listening in to the radio chatter, it seemed they were convinced the base was generating some sort of water turbulence that was far too strong to enable anything, even the mini-sub they had brought with them to approach the hull near enough to examine it in any detail.

Taiwanese, Vietnamese and Chinese squadrons had then appeared on the scene a couple of days later, and a tense stand-off had developed when each of their forces had attempted to survey the saucer. Of all those contesting the islands, only the Malaysians had not turned up as the area in dispute was outside their declared claim, but the others were adopting increasingly aggressive postures. The Filipinos had stood their ground and not allowed anyone to get too close on the surface so far at least and had sent additional ships. Squads of divers from the various nations has run into each other beneath the waves and some pushing and shoving had taken place, with no serious injuries for anyone so far, and the turbulence throwing them all off. However, the Taiwanese were even now deploying a mini-submarine, closely followed by the Chinese who were busy at work on the clear space of the aft flight deck of their lead vessel, the Jinan, and there was not much anyone else could do to stop them underwater, but they could at least make life difficult by keeping the ships as far way as possible. Both wanted the national glory of revealing the secrets of the object first before the other, and if there was anything valuable to be found, both were sure as hell that the other was not going to get their hands on it first.

Enough had been seen by both the Chinese and Taiwanese to claim the object as their own, perhaps an ancient artefact of both their heritages and they weren't about to be fobbed off by the Filipinos and Vietnamese trying to muscle in on the area. This had led to quite a puzzle for everyone else, since whilst both of the Chinas were ready enough to claim the object as theirs, they hadn't explained what it was, and if both were disputing each other over it, then THAT didn't prove current ownership, and the idea that it was a base of one of those powers seemed to be not so plausible anymore. Which raised more questions that everyone was too busy to seriously look at being distracted in their quest to examine the thing itself. The Vietnamese were sure that it was a plot by someone of some kind that could harm their interests, and wanted to make sure the threat was dealt with, and any potential benefits were theirs.

The Commander settled down to a late breakfast as he surveyed the scene, and tucked into his bowl of Rice Krispies.


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


BRP Destroyer Rajah Humabon, Thitu Island Oceanspace: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 09:29 hours local time, 24th March


Captain Manuel Tiu of the BRP Rajah Humabon eyed with concern the activities of the Chinese and Taiwanese vessels through his binoculars. He had orders to prevent any incursion into the area. It was bad enough that these ships had turned up in what were regarded as Philippine waters, worse still that they attempt to infiltrate the area that his little squadron was now guarding. He had already ordered the mini-sub on loan from the US to be lowered over the side of the survey ship that was in the group so that it could monitor the opposing subs and disrupt if at all possible their attempts at a survey. However, if he could stop the vessels from launching their subs in the first place...

His ship may be old, an American relic of the Second World War, but she was reasonably well equipped and he had confidence in his crew. And he was not alone: in his flotilla were the 3 most capable vessels in the entire navy, former British corvettes of the Peacock Class that had been built especially for Hong Kong service in the 1980s, and sold to the Philippines in 1997 when the British had left their old colony. They were enough of a force to be reckoned with, but of course Captain Tiu hoped that it wouldn't come to fighting if necessary.

It had been difficult to monitor movements below the surface due to the fact the turbulence from the object was making the acoustic detection systems very hard to use. In short, it was noisy down there, and the Captain was wary of this too. He might not be able to identify any potential underwater threats to his vessels as a result. Hence the fact that he had a significant number of divers over the side. Not great, but better than nothing, he mused. He could comfort himself that at least the situation should be the same for the other countries' commanders here.

As he watched, the Chinese vessel tried to make its way past the Taiwanese destroyer, but was intercepted. The ships were dangerously close, and it looked like they were going to collide. Instead water hoses blasted from the Chinese Luda II class destroyer to try and disrupt the preparations on the sub taking part on the deck of the Taiwanese vessel. Equipment was scattered all over the place, several sailors were knocked over, and one fell overboard, thrown over by the high pressure of the water. Some cables were also washed over the stern. The Chinese destroyer had managed to slip past whilst the crew of the Taiwanese ship set about cleaning up the disruption caused by the pressure hoses and made moves to recover their shipmate from the sea. The deck-mounted torpedo tubes had been affected by some equipment being thrown against them and needed to be cleared. Sailors scrambled around the launchers to remove the debris, whilst their opponents on the Chinese ships observed them with some measure of amusement. Captain Tiu thought he could almost hear the epithets and curses being thrown at the Chinese vessel by the Taiwanese - but of course it was just his imagination as he was far too distant to hear any such sounds. Still, he made sure to have his observers who were recording everything zoom their military grade surveillance cameras in to monitor everything that was going on aboard the two ships.

He was pretty sure that if they didn't catch everything, then the embedded film crews the Navy had allowed in from the media would. There were some on Thitu Island itself, and there was a team on board this ship as well. He craned his head to look aft. Sure enough, there was the news crew from the Filipino TV station, GMA News and Public Affairs. Their camera crew were busy filming a shot of the activity between the Chinese and Taiwanese ships whilst their correspondent prepared to record another slot for their large number of viewers. The military liaison was trying to keep a close eye on them, but seemed more concerned that they may trip over some equipment and land themselves in the sea. Tiu recognised Anthony Billogu as the news correspondent leading the group. They'd been introduced earlier, but most people already knew the correspondent owing to his ubiquitousness on TV news slots.

The Captain raised his binoculars again, and gazed back in the direction of the seaborne scuffle. The Chinese warship had drawn well clear of the Taiwanese destroyer which was hampered by having to recover its sailor from the drink, as well as untangling the cables that dangled over the stern. For quite some time, Tiu studied the scene as the Chinese ship came closer to him, leaving the Taiwanese ship seemingly behind on the horizon.


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


VPN Patrol Frigate Truong Chinh, Thitu Island Oceanspace: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 10:03 hours local time, 24th March


There was a lot of activity on the Vietnamese People's Navy ship. Unknown to any of the other participants in the area, the Vietnamese crew were preparing a naval torpedo for use against the shield...


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


Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 10:22 hours local time, 24th March


"Alert! Cavitations detected! Incoming object identified as 533mm UGST Russian anti-submarine torpedo launched from the Vietnamese patrol frigate Truong Chinh of the Petya II Class. Approach speed of 50 knots.". Heads swivelled on the bridge of the main saucer as the metallic voice announced the warning. The Commander's ship had no trouble hearing AND identifying the object, unlike the vessels above - and the Vietnamese no doubt knew the other navies would not hear it either.

Until it exploded.

Which it didn't do.

The Commander chuckled as the torpedo was simply thrown off course by the cushioning and unpredictable turbulence of the shield and back out into the ocean following another direction.

Unfortunately, it wasn't heading towards empty ocean.

The Chinese ship had edged closer to claim a better spot for launching its mini-sub. The Taiwanese vessel had been left far behind, apparently unable to move because the cables that had been washed overboard had fouled her steering gear. Unluckily the Jinan chose a spot that wasn't better. The redirected torpedo found its home in the bow of the ship...

The Commander had been taken a little by surprise by this as it has all happened rather quickly - even though his announcer on the bridge had just enough time to blare out, "Torpedo deflected and will impact bow section of Luda II class destroyer Jinan!".

There was a very large explosion and even through the shielding, the Commander imagined he could feel the shock wave buffet his vessel.

"Report on condition of the Jinan!", he barked looking up at the tactical display and shifting his holoscreen to give himself a three-dimensional view of the situation outside. This new development might mean that he wouldn't have to interfere too much with the ships above after all, and depending on what happened to the Chinese vessel, well things could become very interesting - in the Chinese sense of course, he thought sardonically.

"Vessel has lost her bow section...", The Commander hardly needed telling as he watched the severed part of the hull drifting down as displayed in the holoscreen, "Forward armament has either been destroyed, lost with the bow section, or rendered inoperable. Ship is maintaining buoyancy. Scans indicate structural integrity of the hull is strained yet intact. Medium to severe fires have engulfed the remaining forward section of the hull ahead of the bridge.".

"Well, that's something....", murmured the Commander as the surface view showed the ship listing to port and down by the head, sailors turned fire-fighters desperately trying to battle the flames there. He was impressed at how fast the crew had reacted to deal with this fire danger. "Those Russian torpedoes usually blow everything apart, so they're lucky to....". Before he could finish, he was interrupted yet again.

"Update: Jinan is preparing to fire YJ-83 anti-ship missile upon the Taiwanese Kidd class destroyer Su Ao.".


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


PLAN Destroyer Jinan, Thitu Island Oceanspace: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 10:27 hours local time, 24th March


Captain Wang Ruisong had barely managed to get off his feet before the damage reports had come in. He was in doubt what had happened to his ship and who was responsible.

"They will pay for this. Explain it to them. Fire the missile!".


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


Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 10:28 hours local time, 24th March


"What? Why are they doing that?", queried the Commander with a hint of surprise in his voice. He shifted in his chair as he examined the holoscreen carefully. Sure enough, the anti-ship missile had somehow just been launched from the an undamaged part of the Jinan.

"Scan of internal communications of the Jinan indicates they believe the Su Ao fired a torpedo at them. They report observing crew members of the Taiwanese vessel clustered around the torpedo launcher.". There was a very slight pause. "Su Ao is firing countermeasures.". Another very slight pause. "The countermeasures have been unsuccessful: missile strike on Su Ao imminent.".

There was a roar that echoed around the bridge as a brilliant flare of incandescent orange and yellow light as the Chinese missile hit the Su Ao dead centre.

"Su Ao has been heavily damaged. There are many casualties. Fires have broken out all over the ship. The Combat Information Centre has been destroyed, and the ship has lost all power.". The Commander stared in morbid fascination at the holoscreen as he watched the conflagration consume what had been the proud flagship of the Taiwanese force in the area. "Other Taiwanese and Chinese vessels are manoeuvring to engage each other.". The sound of further missiles being fired as well as the bark of large calibre gunfire illustrated that point, if it needed to be told.

On the holoscreen, the battle started to play itself out...


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


VPN Patrol Frigate Truong Chinh, Thitu Island Oceanspace: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 10:31 hours local time, 24th March


Captain Ngo Van Linh was astonished. And very worried. The Chinese ship had exploded not long after his torpedo had been fired, and his crew had reported the torpedo had not impacted the object below water. They hadn't even been able to get a proper reading of the object, so they had been forced to fire the torpedo dumb as its target acquisition couldn't see it. However, it seemed the commander of the Chinese vessel was pretty certain the Taiwanese were at fault or he wouldn't be firing on them. Perhaps then it was just a coincidence and it had not been any result of his torpedo, but a genuine Taiwanese attack?

Ngo hoped so. The alternative was that he was responsible for starting a war.


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


BRP Destroyer Rajah Humabon, Thitu Island Oceanspace: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 10:32 hours local time, 24th March


"Tell me we got THAT!", said Billogu incredulously as his team stared in similar disbelief at the bedlam playing out before them and crew members starting rushing about on deck.

Captain Tiu stared aghast at what was unfolding before his eyes.

"Sound General Quarters throughout the flotilla. Move closer to protect the area. I don't want to get caught up in their personal fire-fight, but no one is going to take advantage of the situation regarding the object. My orders are to secure the area, and that is what we are going to do.".

The Filipino ships started to move...


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


Comments completely necessary if more is to be posted. :p


Sargon

[Alex]

It sounds like all hell is about to break loose. I would love to read more!

[American God]

Wow. Looks like a lot of people are about to get killed here. :(

[archangel]

I would love to read more!
Seconded!:)

[Sargon]

It sounds like all hell is about to break loose. I would love to read more!

Things are going to get interesting almost literally in the Chinese sense, aye!

Wow. Looks like a lot of people are about to get killed here. :(

Unfortunately that's the nature of war, but yep a sea battle usually involves a depressingly high number of casualties.

Seconded!:)

Thanks for the comment! :)

More on the way soon.


Sargon

[Sargon]

Be Careful What You Wish For

Part VIII: "It's fantastic...".


Two weeks previously, Manchester, UK, 17:19 local time, 15th March

Down a wet central Manchester street trudged a troubled figure. Jean wasn't in the best of moods. His professor had recently been on his case, and had been making life difficult for him. Added to that his day had been rather boring and he couldn't shake the weird dizzy-sort-of-feeling in his head that had been with him for a couple of days now. His mood was a little more irritable and less tolerant somehow, yet he found if he thought of certain fantastic things he felt somewhat better. That's why SF is a good thing for me, he mused with some measure of satisfaction. Turning a corner, he saw he'd come to the The Old Nag's Head, a traditional pub located in the city centre. Jean's face brightened somewhat. Hmmm, I fancy a good drink, I think I'll prop up the bar for a while.

Heading to the impressive old wooden bar, Jean ordered a big cold Guinness and perched himself on a barstool, gratefully taking a large swig as he did so pulling out his wallet to pay for it. His hand fumbled on the stone whilst doing so. Don't remember putting that in there, he thought as he handed over his cash to the barkeep. The bar wasn't too busy at this time of day, so he could easily hear the TV. As with most pub TVs in Britain when the bar wasn't too busy, this one was tuned into SKY news. Why can't it be tuned in to the SciFi Channel, wondered Jean.

"...minister has said he will not be resigning over the accusations and the Prime Minister has said he has his full confidence. The opposition have called for a full public enquiry into the allegations, and have demanded his immediate resignation for his part in the Saudi Arabia arms scandal. In other news..."

Jean couldn't say he was totally shocked, this scandal had been going for a couple of days now, and it involved the usual stuff, backhand deals where certain people would get payoffs in return for lucrative contracts and so on. Still it didn't improve his impression of the government of this country much. If I had my way, I'd make those people more honest and be accountable for their actions, he thought grimly.

The stone in his pocket shimmered slightly absorbing more information and delving deeper into his mind. Jean was day-dreaming about just HOW he'd make the politicians accountable. And he felt better as he did so.


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


Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 11:29 hours local time, 25th March

Fire raged across the sea and a great geyser of water and mangled upperworks whooshed into the air as the shattered wreckage of a Taiwanese ship took its final plunge into the depths after a catastrophic secondary explosion. A scattering of blasted debris marked the grave of a PLAN warship which had also got caught up in the battle and had taken a Taiwanese RGM-84 Harpoon missile into her guts. By all rights, the Rajah Humabon should have been blown out of the water, but the opposing Chinese ships had been too busy to concentrate on the Filipino vessel that had moved forward to assert a bolder position above the underwater artefact. Captain Tiu had fully expected to become embroiled in a very serious fight but to his relief, not only had his ship suffered only token gunfire, but his warning shots had driven off a couple of the other vessels too intent on surviving the assaults being hurled at them by more determined enemies. However, one of his Peacock class escorts, BRP Apolinario Mabini, had suffered more moderate damage after it had moved forward as it had been closer to the apposing fleets than his command. Despite this, she had given as good as she had got and landed some useful hits with her 76 mm Oto Melara Compact DP gun on a PLAN escort which had targeted her.

The battle had petered out after frantic orders had been received to try and reign things in, but it seemed enough damage had been done to create something of a diplomatic firestorm. Some time later the various navies had withdrawn somewhat from the area to lick their wounds and by default it seemed as if the Filipinos had come out a victor of sorts as their ships were the one closest to the artefact. However it would appear to only be a matter of time before reinforcements were sent by everyone given the circumstances Tiu considered as he shook his head sadly at all the lives already lost and the others that it seemed yet to come. Hope my squadron makes it out of all this if it can, he thought with a sigh.


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


Command Saucer, Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 13:27 hours local time, 25th March

The Commander was watching the news. From a multitude of TV stations in the region of course. All of them were showing yesterday's naval battle, and most of the footage was from GMA News and Public Affairs, seeing as they'd had news-crews in prime spots during the chaos. And chaos was what had developed with each side's government blaming the other for the battle and subsequent sunken ships and casualties. The Chinese had of course laid the blame on the Taiwanese for starting it by nearly sinking their first ship hit and had accused them of trying to take what was rightfully theirs. An accusation that had incidentally been laid at everyone else's door too. For their part, the Taiwanese were adamant that the Chinese had fired upon them first and they had nothing to do with the attack on the Jinan. Their flagship had nearly burnt out as a result of the battle, and was being towed back to Itu Aba, the largest Spratly Island, and one that was under their control. For their part the Chinese had had managed to take the Jinan out of the area under her own power and at vastly reduced speed after her bow had been hastily shored up and the huge hole where it had been temporarily patched. However, all sides, except the Vietnamese had suffered casualties and damage in the ensuing firefight, with the Chinese and Taiwanese coming off worst as they had each lost a couple of smaller vessels each. The Filipinos had tried to maintain their protection over the object and had suffered their fair share of potshots from both sides, incurring some damage to their ships. However, they'd come off comparatively lightly, and were still in control of the area hours later, their ships now forming a cordon around the site.

The TV news was currently showing demonstrations taking place in China and Taiwan, and to a lesser extent in the Philippines as well. Not much from Vietnam though - they seemed strangely silent on the matter for the most part, merely deploring the action that had taken place and urging all sides to exercise some restraint. Tensions had risen greatly in Taiwan and China, with huge numbers of people out on the streets in Taiwan incensed by China's action and openly calling for independence. Whilst in China there had even been anti-Taiwanese riots against Taiwanese owned businesses, and huge crowds had come out to protest at the temerity of what they saw was a renegade province's actions. There had even been shouts in the crowd calling for an invasion to deal with the separatist elements that had been raising their voice across the Straits as well. The Commander idly wondered how much money each economy was losing per hour with all these people seemingly having enough time to be out for all this.

Anthony Billogu was fronting the report and he spoke clearly with some measure of urgency as he relayed the most recent events in Taiwan. "The Legislative Yuan has condemned China's actions calling them 'unprovoked and reckless'. China for its part has blamed the 'separatists who will stop at nothing to launch aggression at China', and have spoken of 'grave consequences'. Whether these may be economic in nature, or something else, has not been elaborated on. However, with our footage that was previously shown very recently on this channel, it has been shown that it appears the Chinese warship did in fact fire first.".

The scene cut from Billogu's face to footage taken by his team aboard the BRP Rajah Humabon. " As you can see, we had several film crews present on board a couple of vessels of the Philippine Navy, and here you can see the Taiwanese vessel Su Ao and you can definitely see crewmembers around the torpedo launcher - here circled to make it easier to see - but they appear to be clearing wreckage that has jammed into it from the earlier Chinese water hose attack. You will note that none of the tubes is trained outwards over the side, and thus it is unlikely they could be fired, especially as the missile from the Jinan hit them just a minute or so after this footage was taken.". The scene changed to the Jinan. "You can clearly see here the front part of the ship exploding. The origins of this explosion are at this point unknown. Some have speculated that it could have been an ammunition explosion of some sort, or perhaps even sabotage by a disgruntled crewmember. However, it is plain enough from our footage that the Taiwanese ship is most likely not responsible for this. Why then, did the Chinese fire on the Su Ao? Was it because there WAS a saboteur on board their ship and he was found to be Taiwanese? It is difficult to know what went on during that very short time before the Jinan's bow section exploded and her launching of an anti-ship missile that severely crippled the Su Ao. As far as we can tell the Chinese government is not allowing this footage to be shown on their TV networks, and have in fact internationally condemned it as being taken out of perspective or even faked.".

Billogu continued his overview and analysis of the battle and the likely fallout from it all. The Commander had seen enough for now. He desired a change of scenery after being stuck in this saucer for a while. Not that he wasn't intrigued by the result of yesterday's battle: on the contrary it made things more interesting and had saved him some work. However, he wanted a nice night-time view, and he knew where he could get one. He picked up a bracelet from near his chair and snapped it onto his wrist. I'm going to do it this way, he thought, will feel more like the part.

He turned to a nearby crewmember whose head turned in his direction. "I'm leaving for a while. If anything important happens, let know. You know where I'll be.".

After the acknowledgement from the crewmember in question echoed into his ear, he spoke into the bracelet. "One to bring up.".

The reply came in over the bracelet's small intercom, terse and tetchy accompanied by a weird humming sound, "I do have better things to do than waste my time on your trivial matters.".

"Just do it!", snapped the Commander.

"Oh, very well.", came back the resigned yet irritable reply.

The Commander shimmered out of existence.


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


Two weeks previously, Manchester, UK, 17:42 local time, 16th March

Jean was downing another pint, this time of Bishop's Finger when the door to the pub opened and he saw the face of his larger than life Irish coursemate Thomas Brownlee.

"Hi Jean, how's things? Feeling any better today?". Tom knew that Jean had been feeling rather off since he had seen him in lectures yesterday. The Irishman moved over to the bar and pulled up a stool on which he placed himself. "Make mine a Strongbow please. I fancy a change from Guinness or Murphy's. Also, I don't want to be mistaken for a stereotype.", he fired off in the general direction of the barkeeper with a wink.

"Well, I've been feeling a bit faint headed lately. Sitting down and putting away a few beers seems to be helping though!", chuckled Jean as he returned to his pint. The alcohol seemed to be making his thoughts clearer, or so he imagined.

"Yeah, just like you to get some booze in when you're ill. Say, are you feeling well enough for that night over at Karla's later? It's her birthday and we're going to have a small party there. She doesn't want to go out on the town, prefers having everyone around to bring a bottle and some food.". Tom took his pint of cider from the barman and handed over some money. "It should be fun enough, you can bet there'll be some nice girls there.".

Jean sighed. He liked parties, the only problem was that he didn't like the aftermath of them when hangovers kicked in. "Well.....", was all he could manage to say.

"Aw come on, it'll be cool, and she's got that new huge flatscreen at last. Everyone collected some money for her to add to her own and now she's bought it. Can you imagine seeing some cool movies on that? I bet we'll be able to watch some. A Star Trek movie or two would be nice!", he couldn't help laughing at the thought of that, seeing as Karla wasn't into Trek too much. Still, if he took a nice present, then maybe....

"Hmmm, well, OK then. I do like a party and a big screen. And it'll be nice to see Karla too. It's been a while. I guess we'd better take some nice prezzies and stuff some good movies into a CD case so maybe we can watch some. Better make at least one of them a comedy though - she likes those.". He downed the rest of his pint and beckoned the barkeep over.

"Hey, that's more like it. I think I'll join you in another drink to celebrate our potential victory of watching something cool tonight.". Before Jean could even speak to the landlord, Tom had downed his pint in one and ordered another one.

Yep, he thought, this is going to be one hell of a night. Or it will be if I can get to watch some Doctor Who, Stargate or Battlestar Galactica at some point there.

The rock continued shimmering in his pocket.


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


Above Canada, Upper Earth Orbit, 00:57 hours local time, 24th March

The Commander rummaged around in the massive starship's galley. He found some food that he liked and piled up a plate for himself. Funny, they never showed this at all, he thought as he left the galley and made his way through the room he had come up in.

"Oh, what is it now?", came the bad tempered voice he had spoken to earlier on through the bracelet intercom, obviously noticing his presence there.

"Nothing you flashing pile of junk. You can go back to solving the problems of the universe. I'm off to sit somewhere more comfortable.". With that he passed through another entrance and headed off down some brightly lit corridors before he arrived on the bridge of the vessel. Someone had once described it as looking 'conceptually alien'. He tended to agree. It was fantastic - also other words someone else had said in awe having just arrived on board. It was a nice baroque place to have a late lunch, even though the time in the country below him was night. He didn't need to worry about anyone below noticing the ship, after all the Detector Shield was in place and it was as good as invisible.

He made his way pass a tier of empty control positions to near the front of the large space and gratefully sunk into the comfortable white seating area that was there. "Put North America on visual. I'd like to see the night view of all those dots of lights across the continent. And lower the lights. Thanks.".

An aloof yet somehow reassuring voice answered him, "Confirmed. Flight deck light level reduced. The location is on visual as requested.".

An idle yet curious thought crept into the Commander's mind. He wanted to find out what was real and what wasn't. "Did this vessel have a crew before I came along?".

"That information is not available.", came the reply. Not unlike that of an almost disinterested civil servant. The Commander wasn't entirely surprised though as sometimes this was the stock reply when a question wasn't really welcome, plus there was the question of prior reality or not affecting things too.

"Hmm, well maybe you'll come up with something soon. Or feel like saying something. Keep the comm channel open to my command saucer below.".

"Confirmed.".

The Commander sighed. This one wasn't much for conversation. However at least his seat was very comfortable, the food delicious, and the view amazing. He tucked in and savoured everything in combination, this time with a blissful sigh.


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


Taipei, Taiwan, 14:33 hours local time, 25th March

The street demonstrations were becoming bigger as the footage that the Philippine TV crew had taken became known to more and more people. Anger was high and the pro-independence lobby were making full use of it all, even causing some politicians to become concerned. Tensions amongst the crowd were starting to go through the roof...


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


Sargon

[archangel]

Keep it up, Sargon!:)

[Alex]

Great stuff as always!

[Sargon]

Keep it up, Sargon!:)

Will do. :)

Great stuff as always!

Thankee Alex, glad ye are liking it! :tup:


Sargon

[Sargon]

Be Careful What You Wish For


Part IX: "Fun, fun, fun. In the sun, sun, sun"


National Maritime Intelligence Center, Suitland, Maryland, United States of America, 17:36 hours local time, 30th March

Commander David Bar Elias scratched his neck and yawned widely. It had been another long day, and things were looking even worse in East Asia. There were riots and demonstrations in several cities now, and the rhetoric of both governments had become much more strident and heated. Ever since he'd started investigating this case, the Office of Naval Intelligence had been assigning more resources to monitoring it. From what information they had gathered so far from radio intercepts, satellite observations and naval units discreetly lurking in the area, it seemed that the unidentified object belonged to none of the countries arguing over it. And this was worrying, since the US certainly wasn't responsible for it either, and that left the question of just who or what was down there. Of course, the Russians had been high on the list of suspects, but they had seemed more or less indifferent about the situation, viewing it as a regional issue between the various Asian countries involved. It almost seemed as if they where observing it with something of an air of detached amusement. Bar Elias wondered if they had suspected the Americans to have anything to do with it. He mused that they probably had, but like the US, had ditched that notion. Seeing as their relationship with Britain was not as good these days, they were more likely to be suspecting them than anyone else. Now, that was one possibility that hadn't been examined, but it seemed too far-fetched that THEY had anything to do with it. Still, the information about what was apparently a Ch'ing flag on whatever was down there was very puzzling. He wondered if it was some stunt that had been pulled by somewhere such as Singapore. His job was to investigate all possibilities and find an answer. Shuffling some papers together in a vain attempt to make his desk appear more orderly, he stood up and made his way to the canteen. He was hungry after all.


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


Deep Space, Alpha Centauri Star System, 07:42 hours Spratly Islands relative time, 31st March

The view of the triple star system was breathtakingly beautiful. The Commander could of course have travelled much further away, but he liked this particular system and it was within a short distance in terms of travel time from Earth with the vessel he had. Lounging in the white seating area of the flight deck, he could fully savour the view - as well as some nice snacks and drinks of course. He sipped on his soma, and sighed in contentment. This stuff is every bit as good as Vila always said it was, he thought happily to himself as he recalled the words of the former thief and very reluctant revolutionary who was a crewmember of this ship. It still felt odd to be on this fictional vessel that had only existed in a television series, books, models, toys and a host of online writings however. Still, he was getting used to that feeling now considering everything that had happened.

"Information. A communication is being received from the command saucer.". His thoughts were interrupted by the aloof voice that reverberated slightly around the flight deck accompanied by a sequence of flashing lights on a huge hexagonal yet somewhat rounded mottled brown display off to his right.

"Put it on audio Zen.", replied the Commander, sitting up slightly and taking another brief swig of his soma.

The capacity-charged brain that was Zen replied, "Confirmed. Audio feed now relayed.".

The voice of the Commander's bridge control officer filled the chamber, "Commander, construction of the shipyard is fully complete and we have commenced construction on the first new vessels.".

The Commander sat up even straighter, he was pleased with this news, "Excellent work. I will return to inspect it. I take it the underwater entrance is fully operational as well?".

"Affirmative. Vessels may arrive and leave at any time.", the metallic voice replied matter-of-factly.

A big smile materialised across the Commander's face. "In that case, I intend to test it. I will not be returning by teleport. I shall use the planet-hopper to arrive in. Expect my return shortly.".

"Understood.", the voice said succinctly just before cutting the transmission.

The Commander turned to the curved panel on the wall of the flight deck. "Zen, set a course for Earth, Standard by Five. No need for us to rush. And provide me with the co-ordinates for my command saucer once we get there.".

A big oblong light flashed in the centre of the display amongst smaller squarish ones, indicating Zen was speaking. "Course and speed confirmed. Liberator is now departing the Alpha Centauri system. You will be advised of arrival at our destination. The requested co-ordinates will be provided at that time.".

Downing the last of his soma, the Commander started to make his way down to one of the ship's cargo holds that also served as docking bays. He couldn't wait to fly in the ship that was stored down there to his base.

Passing the teleport area, he threw a comment at the clear flashing box of lights that was there. "Well, Orac, you won't have to operate the teleport this time. That should please you for a change.".

The tetchy voice shot back, "That is unlikely. Your petty affairs have already taken up far too much of my time.".

Chuckling to himself, the Commander made his way out of that particular chamber and headed further down into the lower part of the ship. Sometimes I can't believe that bad tempered crappy plastic box with coloured lights winking about inside it is the the most powerful computer about, at least in this particular universe, he thought sardonically as he strode along another brightly lit hexagonal shaped corridor.


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


Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China, 09:22 hours local time, 31st March

Sean Bryan zoomed in on the demonstration with his camera from his elevated position on the hotel balcony. It almost seemed like a fist that was currently punching the air just where he was focused was directly aimed at him. Good footage, that's what he wanted and he wanted to get more shots in on what promised to be a volatile and bad-tempered day. He was sure the editor would like what he was filming. Of course, ninety percent of it would end up not being used, but the choicest parts would be shown again, and again, and again on the rolling news channel that he worked for. And he would be satisfied with that.

Down below on the street another man struggled to move as the crowd milled around him. The Italian tourist Mateo Messiniano had come to enjoy a vacation in what he hoped was a more unusual part of the world. Well, this is certainly NOT what I expected, he thought with resignation as he tried to shove his way out of the crowd. Last thing I want is to end up in a riot and arrested or something. He almost tripped and fell as someone's leg appeared at a very inconvenient moment and hooked itself around his ankle. Lurching forward, it was the density of the crowd that saved him from landing flat on his face. As it happened, he wasn't too upset as it was a Taiwanese girl who broke his fall, who initially looked surprised, but rather quickly helped to steady him. Messiniano didn't speak much Taiwanese apart from the basics that most visitors learnt when going for a trip, but he still managed to say 'Thank you', to which the girl beamed, obviously hardly expecting him to utter any words in the local language.

"You're welcome.", she said in English. That was better for Messiniano as at least he was more than reasonably conversant in that language. "Let me help you get to the sidewalk.", she offered, taking his arm and guiding him through the sea of bodies that to him appeared to be endless in all directions. He wasn't sure how she managed it, but within a minute they were on the pavement and the crowd had thinned out somewhat.

"Thanks once again. I'm glad to be out of there.", he smiled with relief.

"No problem. There's a coffee shop over there, why don't you go and rest there for a while until everyone has gone by?". She gestured with her hand and Messiniano's eyes followed her pointed finger to where he could see an ubiquitous Starbucks.

Turning back to her he said thoughtfully, "You know, I think that's a good idea, I could do with a drink, even if the coffee isn't that great there.". Rubbing his hands together in anticipation of a drink and a sit-down, he was about to move off, when an idea struck him, "Would you like to join me? I'd like to buy you something - as thanks for getting me out of there I mean.". He wondered if she was part of the demonstration and would turn him down and continue off down the street. Ah well, if that's the case, never mind, he mused matter-of-factly.

The girl's face brightened up, "Sure! I'd like that, and it gives me a chance to use my English some more. Let's go!.".

Messiniano suddenly found that he was being pulled along to the place by her rather than him leading, making him wonder who was inviting who. Still, he didn't mind too much as he saw a nice comfortable seat inside just waiting for him to sink into. Ah, that looks great. This'll be worth it.

Leaving the crowd behind, he entered the shop with his new-found friend.

Up above, Bryan focused another shot as his TV camera sought new subjects for broadcast and the forward edge of the crowd approached a line of police.


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


Battlecruiser Liberator (Deep Space Vehicle 2), Geostationary Position above the Western Pacific Ocean, Upper Earth Orbit, 11:17 hours local time, 31st March

In one of the the giant spacecraft's docking bays rested a much smaller, yet fast looking rust-brown coloured ship. A little battered, it had obviously seen its fair share of action, yet it had been heavily modified over the years with a series of improvements. This was the planet hopper Scorpio, a ship that had been used by the same bunch of galactic revolutionaries who had also used the Liberator. The Commander liked this ship for different reasons, and gazed around its flight deck. Two rows of consoles with seating behind them were in front of him, the first row with three positions, and the second row with two. Unlike the Liberator, these were not elevated one over the other and were all at the same level. Turning around to face the front of the ship, he could see the teleport chamber and to the left of that the obsequious ship's computer and operations monitor, Slave, in his green-tinged alcove.

"Good morning Master, and if I may humbly say it is very good to see you. How may I be of service?", it said in a cringing and servile voice.

The Commander almost burst out laughing, this piece of AI had been programmed to be as humble as possible, and also had the habit of constantly apologising. However, in emergencies and when things were going badly for the ship, it could end up reduced to a state of panic - which in its own way was very amusing as well, but probably not so much fun if it actually happened if one was not safely watching it all on a TV screen.

The Commander managed to stifle his mirth and cleared his throat, "Morning Slave. Get the engines fired up, we're leaving soon.".

"Of course Master, I shall carry out your order immediately with pleasure. Might I enquire the destination you require? Er, so that I can instruct the navigation computers to entrain us there safely of course. I DO hope that doesn't come across as presumptuous in any way Master. I sincerely apologise if it has.".

"Don't worry Slave, you've done the right thing. The destination is here.". The Commander punched in some co-ordinates that Zen had kindly provided for him and sat down in the central chair of the first row of flight positions.

The computer's voice betrayed a strong sense of relief, "My deep thanks for your understanding Master. The co-ordinates have been entered and I can inform you that the engines are online.".

Opening the communications channel, the Commander spoke to the Liberator's master computer, "Zen, we're all ready down here and cleared for departure. You may open the outer doors. Remain in geostationary orbit. I will be in contact.".

The reply came back, calm and somewhat detached, "Confirmed. The outer doors are now opening. Liberator will remain in the specified position until further instructions are received.".

Switching the comm channel off, The Commander turned back to Slave. "Take us out of here Slave as soon as the doors are fully open. And put the Detector Shield up".

"With pleasure Master. I do hope you are strapped in. Atmospheric entry can be rather turbulent if I may be permitted to say so.". The submissive computer now sounded rather nervous.

"I'll be fine Slave.", answered back the Commander as he gripped the sides of the flight chair and Zen confirmed the docking bay doors were fully open.

From the lower pylon of the Liberator, the Scorpio could be seen emerging from the docking bay. Once clear, with a few deft maneuvers, it orientated itself Earthwards, and its engines blasted the hopper off in that direction.


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


Comments welcome.


Sargon

[Alex]

Is it Blake's 7 reference? I love the story! :)

[stevep]

Is it Blake's 7 reference? I love the story! :)

Alex

Definitely Blake's 7. So that's where whatever is infiltrating Jean's mind has got a couple of ships from. There's some sort of detection shield being used which will presumably hide the ship but will it hide the fact that something has come down from space and entered the ocean in the vicinity of the mysterious base. It could cause even more panic to everybody that they can't see what's landed. At this point as well the US will be getting really worried that someone or something has some very powerful tech.

Steve

[stevep]

Sargon

You're definitely on a roll. Four of you're stories being worked on and this one is one I haven't read before.

Intriguing about what is going on. Something is taking ideas/desires from Jean's mind and also it appears some type of projection of him. Possibly it is actually him but adjusting very rapidly/being controlled to handle the great power that's somehow been made available to him.

So far he doesn't seem to have done anything about the assorted injustices that Jean was unhappy with, although it sounds like quite a military potential is being built up, including robots/androids such there was a comment in an earlier post to replace the workers building the base.

As it is he has trigged a small conflict, which could well get a lot bigger and is probably also causing major economic and financial chaos, not just in east Asia.

Wonder what people's reaction will be when they find out the new master power is that old nemisis of humanity, Switzerland!:eek::D:chuckle:

Steve

[archangel]

Nice update, Sargon!:)

[Sargon]

Is it Blake's 7 reference? I love the story! :)

Aye, it certainly is. Well spotted! Glad ye are liking it. :)

Alex

Definitely Blake's 7. So that's where whatever is infiltrating Jean's mind has got a couple of ships from. There's some sort of detection shield being used which will presumably hide the ship but will it hide the fact that something has come down from space and entered the ocean in the vicinity of the mysterious base. It could cause even more panic to everybody that they can't see what's landed. At this point as well the US will be getting really worried that someone or something has some very powerful tech.

Steve

Ah, I have this soft spot for Blake's 7 y'see. I think it needs more exposure. And elements of it just happen to fit nicely and are fun in this story along with other elements of various SF media.

Jean's mind is an interesting but possibly problematic place. ;)

Aye, the detector shield that was used in the series was a type of cloak that rendered the ship effectively invisible such that only a very close visual scan would actually see anything. In the series they memorably used it to mount a hit and run raid on Supreme Commander Servalan's heavily defended Space Command HQ causing all sorts of mayhem.

Sargon

You're definitely on a roll. Four of you're stories being worked on and this one is one I haven't read before.

I've been making an effort to try and update 4 stories a month. That's not too hard in one way given Justinian and this are a few chapters ahead of what I've posted and I'm doing re-edits and adding extra bits to them. Howver, The Changeling is completely new material and Fleet of the Mentor is mostly new stuff now that I'm down to skeleton chapters that I'm adding a lot to that were planned out ages ago (remember it was a story I'd forgotten about rescued from an old hard drive).

Glad you found and commented on this one Steve old chap. If you poke around in the CF.net Library (http://www.counter-factual.net/upload/showthread.php?t=2149) there's a few others listed there too. Some are one-shots, but others are ones I intend to continue at some point, but not working on right now as I've got these to occupy me for now. But there's not just my stuff there - a whole listing of a lot of brilliant stuff by other people on this site that's worth checking out too if so inclined.

Intriguing about what is going on. Something is taking ideas/desires from Jean's mind and also it appears some type of projection of him. Possibly it is actually him but adjusting very rapidly/being controlled to handle the great power that's somehow been made available to him.

So far he doesn't seem to have done anything about the assorted injustices that Jean was unhappy with, although it sounds like quite a military potential is being built up, including robots/androids such there was a comment in an earlier post to replace the workers building the base.

Think of the stone as a sort of sponge. But of course, there's a bit more to it than all that. ;)

Building up the base takes a bit of time, but then the Commander is likely to have a bit of twisted fun given what we've seen of him so far. Well, he's already started being mischievous after all by illuminating a big Ch'ing flag on the hull of his main ship. But one person's fun could be another person's idea of anything but.

As it is he has trigged a small conflict, which could well get a lot bigger and is probably also causing major economic and financial chaos, not just in east Asia.

Wonder what people's reaction will be when they find out the new master power is that old nemisis of humanity, Switzerland!:eek::D:chuckle:

Steve

Let's just say things are going to spread a bit. ;)

Ah Switzerland, I couldn't resist, and knew that'd raise a laugh or two. Yet actually, there might even be a little bit of reason amongst my insanity. :D

Thanks for the comments and happy to know it's intriguing ye. :)

Nice update, Sargon!:)

Glad you liked it old chap. Thanks as always for your support! :)


Sargon

[Sargon]

Keep it up, Sargon!:)

Aye, will do.

In the meantime, comments from other good readers help the author feel appreciated and motivated to post more :p


Sargon

[Sargon]

Be Careful What You Wish For


Part X: "It can only be attributable to human error."


Two weeks previously, Manchester, UK, 01:34 local time, 16th March

The party was going well and Karla was enjoying herself. She even liked Jean's presents of rather nice floral covers for the sofa and matching chairs. Most other people had brought her other items that were not nearly as useful, but she still very much appreciated their thoughtfulness anyway. She looked over to her giant new plasma TV and smiled as she saw Jean, Tom and Reuben enjoying some science fiction show on it. I have plenty of opportunity to watch whatever I want later, she thought happily as she glanced at the pile of DVDs that she had accumulated from friends over the last few hours. Besides, they're happy and Jean deserves it for his nice gift.

"I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.", the words spoken in a gentle voice emanated from the speakers of the surround sound system.

"This is a good one. Always liked this movie.", enthused Tom. Jean and Reuben nodded in agreement. They'd made their way through some Star Trek, Babylon 5 and Star Wars already, and now they were on this one. It went well with the alcohol they were drinking too.

"The cinematography really rocks on this cool screen.", added Reuben as he took a swig of some Limey alcohol he found he quite liked the taste of and reached for some Doritos.

Jean also helped himself to a generous handful of the snack, and pried open another bottle of Grolsch. He couldn't wait for the pyschadelic transfer sequence near the end which still held its own after all these years. He felt rather light headed as a matter of fact so he reckoned he would enjoy it even more.

Resting comfortably in his pocket, the stone had been quietly absorbing all that he'd been watching and the thoughts he had been having.


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


East Chang'an Avenue, Beijing, People's Republic of China, 11.21 hours local time, 31st March

The sun shone down on the streets of the great capital, and the famous avenue was crammed with people. The government had allowed a protest against Taiwan to occur on this very busy thoroughfare that went from east to west across the city. As processions and parades also went in this direction, that was more than appropriate, and there was almost a festive atmosphere in the crowd, albeit tinged with very noticeable anger. Luo Wenkang adjusted his small backpack as he walked along the street with the crowd, many of whom were chanting patriotic slogans supporting the government's criticism of what almost everyone regarded was a renegade province with criminal leaders who advocated separatism from the motherland.

Luo was angry at what had happened in the Spratlys, and was also very upset with Taiwan's actions. How could fellow Chinese fire on our forces, he thought sadly and with a degree of sullenness to himself. The TV stations had shown little else over the past few days, along with the bullish and arrogant remarks the Taiwanese government had been making. They blamed China for it, but most people knew that could not be true as China would have nothing to gain by firing on a ship that was essentially from one of their own provinces, albeit manned by separatists. So, here he was on the protest march, and it felt good to walk along this road - a rare opportunity to do so since it was usually so busy it was only closed off for special occasions such as military parades or cultural processions. He wanted to be part of the protest since he knew it was wrong that Taiwan was doing what it had done, and he wanted to show his support for his fellow citizens here and be part of the great movement to condemn the aggression of certain elements in that province. Of course, he hoped that things could be resolved peacefully, after all, they were Chinese people, the same as him and he didn't wish for there to be any violence. However, equally, he knew that if the renegade government there did not back down, then China may well have to teach them a much needed lesson and restore the proper order of things once and for all. Although he hoped that would not happen, he was sure he would support his government if they saw that as the last resort. It was part of China after all, and the separatist elements had no business at all causing such trouble for all Chinese people.

Still, some of the shouts in the crowd disturbed him somewhat,as they were calling for pacification of the island by military force. He felt that all other options and negotiation should be tried first before it came to that, so whilst he viewed calls denouncing the separatists as welcome, he was not sure he wanted to call for invasion just yet. More needed to be done, and also to show the world that China was a patient yet firm country who showed toleration despite the gravest of insults and injury thrown at her. If that didn't suffice, then he would support the People's Liberation Army and other forces in whatever they saw fit to deal with the crisis. After all, the world would have been shown China's generosity and willingness to sort things out peacefully first, and it would not be their fault if they were forced into taking more severe action.

Despite the bright sun, Luo shivered somewhat. It's really cold today, but I don't care, he thought to himself. March was always a cold month in the Chinese capital, but that had in no way stopped people from coming out and joining the organised protest. I'll have a nice hot cup of cha later. With the thought of that small yet worthwhile event serving to warm him up somewhat, he continued with a mixture of happiness and anger on the march.


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


Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China, 11:24 hours local time, 31st March

Mateo had been enjoying his time with the Taiwanese girl. Turned out she wasn't too interested in the political stuff that had been going on outside and had now moved to the centre of the city. "My only worry is that some bad things might happen out of all this for both sides.", she had said with some sadness and apprehension. "And I don't want to see that, we are all neighbours after all.".

The Italian decided not to say much, he had some of his own views on the situation, but didn't want to rock the boat as they'd been getting on pretty well. He was very happy actually as he was not only enjoying a good sit-down with some drinks and snacks, having some conversation with a lovely lady, but also had been learning a few more words of Taiwanese as a result. The language exchange had worked out to be useful for both of them, although truth be told, she was getting the better deal out of it as her English was already pretty good and she was doing more of the talking. For his part though, he'd managed to teach her some Italian words and phrases which she also seemed eager to learn and had picked them up pretty fast. She was a pretty cunning linguist alright. And that of course inadvertently caused another thought to pop up in his mind, which he had some difficulty suppressing. Marone! Naughty Mateo, he thought to himself chidingly as he reached for some coffee to help sweep away the thought.

In the centre of the city, the police line had been pushed back after some hours of people building up and moving forward. A much smaller counter-demonstration had also arrived, tensions were high and it wasn't long before items were being thrown alongside the insults that were already being flung. Byran was busily shooting away as usual. He figured he'd get some really meaty footage now.


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


GMA News and Public Affairs Building, Manila, Republic of the Philippines, 11.27 hours local time, 31st March

News items were piling up on his desk, information was filling up his email inbox, and a reporter was yelling down his phone. Anthony Billogu had rarely been so busy. Except for when there were the odd attempted coups going on in the Philippines of course. It seemed the heat had really gone through the roof in China and Taiwan with reports of massive street demonstrations everywhere and even of both countries' militaries being elevated to higher levels of alert. The Philippines' involvement in the Spratlys had become less of a prominent issue, although of course it had its fair share of coverage on the domestic networks and people were angry here too with street protests having taking place in a number of cities against BOTH the Chinese and Taiwanese. Most people seemed to have forgotten about the Vietnamese who seemed to be staying out of the fray for the most part, even though they still had a few vessels near Thitu Island.

But that wasn't the only news item in TV. The recent problems in Korea had also reared their head, and there had been government sponsored marches and protests on the streets in North Korea as the blockade against the country continued to be enforced with stop and search tactics. Tensions were growing there too, and it seemed grandson Kim was supporting China in its condemnation of the Taiwanese. He'd thrown the Americans in for good measure, but that was par for the course. Still, he'd also seen fit to issue a statement condemning the government of the Philippines as well for its part in everything. Billogu got the feeling that somehow Kim didn't like a whole lot of places very much.

For their part the South Koreans had also had their usual street protests divided into the predictable camps of those against the North and those protesting against the treatment of the North with the actions carried out by enforcing the blockade. Things were pretty volatile, as unlike the stage-managed protests in North Korea, the ones in the South tended to become pretty violent at times, especially when the marchers confronted the police who were well used to being pelted with rocks, bottles and other assorted items by both sides. Billogu knew Koreans were a proud and passionate people, but he was beginning to think that their idea of a peaceful protest was where a riot was a requirement and the rule was that no-one ended up killed. A violent protest on the other hand, he reflected, involved petrol bombs, overturning vehicles and general destruction of the local area whilst beating up any police they could find and lay their hands on, with the cops of course responding in kind.

He looked at the clock, the late morning sun reflecting off it. Not long to get my stuff ready for the lunchtime bulletin, he thought urgently as he wrote down the information the person on the phone was telling him, and typing a response to an email on the computer with the other. And it's only going to get busier...


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


Two weeks previously, Manchester, UK, 01:58 local time, 16th March

The movie had been paused for a collective toilet stop, as each of the group took their turns to avail themselves of the facilities and make a call. As a consequence, the TV had been left on SKY News, and Jean, having already taken the opportunity to ease his discomfort was now back loafing on the settee and watching all the various stories whilst he waited for Reuben to come back from the kitchen with more grub and Tom to come back down from the bathroom. Karla was chatting with other party guests in the dining room. He'd been in to talk to her just a short while before, after all, he felt it was bad form not to chat to the birthday girl at her own party, but she seemed happy enough that everyone was enjoying themselves and she was having a nice time talking with all the others to be found in various rooms of the house. This had perplexed some of the overseas guests, not used to the British way of having parties - especially the booze and cheap snack elements.

"...issues in Kashmir have flared up again causing the Indian and Pakistani governments to accuse each other of exacerbating the situation. Islamabad is furious at the Indians' suggestion that it was elements supporting them that are to blame in this latest crisis. In other news, protests in Russia against the President's decision to...."

Jean sighed and wondered what he'd do about all these things. Some of them are too complicated even for me to think of a solution, he thought with growing frustration. Lately these news reports had been bothering him more and more. There hardly ever seems to be good news to listen to apart from some item in the '...and finally,' section of ITV's Ten O'Clock News which usually involves such guff as items about Mrs. Miggins' poodle displaying some astonishing and cute ability or something that used to be introduced by Sir Trevor, he mused dejectedly.

Reuben pushed the door open with his back and entered the room, his hands holding two piled-up plates of snacks, a box of beer under one arm and yet another plate balanced on his forearm filled to the brim with more goodies. "Food's up!" he called jovially as he made his way towards the coffee table so that he could plonk the stuff down there. "Hey, mind giving me a hand?".

Jean was shaken out of his reverie, "Ummm, yeah, sure, I'll take that plate and beer off you.". Reaching for the items his mind was still buzzing with various thoughts and ideas, which of course did not go unnoticed even as Tom joined them again, punched the remote and the movie continued at a certain point.


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


Scorpio, Above Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 11:33 hours local time, 31st March

Scorpio burst out of the scattered clouds on the otherwise sunny day and raced towards the ocean at great speed. A very nervous Slave couldn't help speaking up, the edge of panic in his voice. "Er, the surface is becoming awfully close Master. If I may humbly suggest you restore flight control to myself, we could avoid the possibly of any unforseen accidents.".

The Commander was having great fun flying the ship himself under manual control. "Aw c'mon Slave, this is FUN. Live a little!", he yelled with an insane grin on his face.

Slave wasn't convinced and fear was added to the servility in his voice. "Begging your pardon Master and I [i]do apologise profusely for saying this, but I'm very much afraid we'll die in a little if I may say so.".

Scorpio lurched around as the Commander tried some aerobatics. "Ooooops, she's not that great in an atmosphere, maybe I ought to do something to rectify that later.", he mused aloud as he set himself up for the final run-in to the base and opened up the comms. Maybe next time I could use a Klingon Bird of Prey or an X-Wing starfighter: they're bound to be more manoeverable in an atmosphere than this bucket of bolts from what I've seen, he idly thought before contacting his base and pushing the vessel into a final set of stomach churning acrobatics.

The green panels around Slave and the insets on him appeared to go even greener.


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


Command Saucer, Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 11:37 hours local time, 31st March

The bridge control officer observed the planet-hopper screaming in on final approach to the base's new hangar and shipyard. The Commander's voice, a little more excited than usual echoed around the vast multi-level chamber. "Open the pod bay doors HAL!", he paused for a moment as the officer remained silent, "Or rather, I'm coming in, prepare the hangar to receive me.".

"Understood. Hangar bay is open for your arrival.", the officer responded impassively. One could only wonder what thoughts were going through its forbidding mind.

Observers on Thitu Island were surprised to hear a noise like an express train roaring by them overhead and a huge splash in the sea caused by an invisible object. Looking out on the scene, Navalez swore he'd let someone else report THIS one.


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


Comments welcome.


Sargon

[archangel]

Piloting a ship must be awesome!:cool:

Keep it up, Sargon!:)

[stevep]

Sargon

Interesting. Humanity continues to blunder along and growing more confused about the events in the Spatleys.

Hope you had a good holiday.:)

Steve

[Sargon]

Piloting a ship must be awesome!:cool:

Keep it up, Sargon!:)

Aye, I'd certainly like to have a go!

Thankee for the comment.:)

Sargon

Interesting. Humanity continues to blunder along and growing more confused about the events in the Spatleys.

Hope you had a good holiday.:)

Steve

Well, we like a bit of confusion to stir up things for politicians, don't we? ;)

Very good holiday. Fantastic trip overseas as well to add to that that I'm just back from. Will post more in due course.


Sargon

[stevep]

Aye, I'd certainly like to have a go!

Very good holiday. Fantastic trip overseas as well to add to that that I'm just back from. Will post more in due course.


Sargon

Sargon

Good to hear. Been away for the 12 days so just catching up myself and very interesting in the comment about new chapters soon in one of you're other threads - [Non]subtle hint;) - so hope the holiday has charged up the batteries for some good updates. :)

Steve

[Sargon]

Sargon

Good to hear. Been away for the 12 days so just catching up myself and very interesting in the comment about new chapters soon in one of you're other threads - [Non]subtle hint;) - so hope the holiday has charged up the batteries for some good updates. :)

Steve

Actually all the immigration issues we're currently embroiled in have drained me rather a lot. Mad rushing about for months now and legal stuff very tiring. Though hectic in itself both apart from and related to all this, the trip (some photos on the latest page of this thread (http://www.counter-factual.net/upload/showthread.php?p=174992#post174992)) was fantastic for other especially happy reasons though. ;)


Sargon

[Sargon]

Be Careful What You Wish For

Part XI: "And so it begins..."


Command Saucer, Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 10:33 hours local time, 8th April

The Commander looked at the readouts and felt satisfied. Since the production of new units had continued apace, these had been added to work on the Base's construction plus ship production and even more units had been produced. The Base would be complete ahead of schedule - in a matter of hours in fact. Down in the unimaginably vast hangar bay, four saucers were complete with another two virtually complete and two more under construction. It only remained to crew them up and then his plans could begin. As he observed the progress on the construction of the two saucers, he spied the Scorpio in one corner of the hangar, tiny against the massive ships, yet there was an even smaller ship just next to the Scorpio, a certain type of starfighter that a lot of people around the world if they saw it would instantly recognise. And would have a geekgasm for. He'd seen to that though, as he watched two units working on it adding the device he had requested to be installed. He intended to take a trip soon, and didn't wish to be seen flying about.

He changed his holoscreen to display news reports. There had been a number of developments in the war of words between Taiwan and China resulting in mass calls for an independence vote across the island. The government was under heavy pressure to try and strike a balance between appeasing their people and not angering the Chinese too much. They had failed on both counts and the Legislative Yuan was in pandemonium as yet another fistfight broke out between pro-independence MPs and those who supported the status quo. Even the US had called for calm in Taiwan, as well as in China of course. And then there was Korea. Things had seriously deteriorated there too. Ripe for someone to take advantage of, thought the Commander with a measure of anticipation.


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


Three weeks previously, Manchester, UK, 11:24 hours local time, 17th March

The clatter of the letter box flap signaled to Jean that the post had arrived, and Reuben set off to grab it. Tucking into his very late breakfast of Rice Krispies, Jean reflected upon the party they had all enjoyed. Staying up all night and most of the next day watching films and shows on the superb new TV that Karla now possessed had been great fun. The small circle of friends had watched an example of just about every major science fiction show or film that represented the genre, as well as lesser known ones...2001, Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Babylon 5, Farscape, Blake's 7, Stargate, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Red Dwarf, Terminator, Dune, Flash Gordon, Battlestar Galactica, the list went on and on. And as he had watched and thought about them, the stone had been happily absorbing everything. Even now, being completely melded with him, it was absorbing his enjoyment of the Rice Krispies.

Reuben tossed the post onto the kitchen table, "Some stuff there for you I think amongst all the junk mail. I've got mine.". He waved an airmail envelope in the air with his hand, "Looks like it's from my grandparents, they haven't got the hang of email yet.". Pulling out a chair he sat down and helped himself to some toasted bagels.

Shuffling through the small pile, Jean saw that indeed most of it was junk mail. 'You have been pre-approved!' screamed the large red type on one envelope with his name on it, indicating yet another credit card offer. He was quite sure he wouldn't be fully approved once they found out he was a student, or if he was, he'd end up with some crappy deal with a miniscule credit limit they usually gave to them. Still, it wasn't a huge issue as his mother had given him a card on her account on the proviso that he didn't go mad with it. And he hadn't. Well, not too much, he thought sheepishly.

Near the bottom of all the junk was a brown envelope with 'On Her Majesty's Service' on it. He knew that had to be from a government department. He suddenly remembered that it might be about the tax rebate he had been trying to claim back for months from Revenue & Customs. They were quick enough to take his earnings, but as a student they weren't supposed to take his tax, only his National Insurance contributions, and he'd made sure to fill in the proper forms before doing his summer work. They had still taken tax from him anyway, and getting it repaid was like asking the Pope to convert to Orthodoxy. He hoped they had finally sent him his long awaited cheque and decided to open it just as soon as he'd finished his bowl of cereal. He reached for some bagels. And those too, he chuckled to himself.


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


Seoul, Republic of Korea, 10:47 hours local time, 8th April

As the situation with North Korea became ever more intense and talks seemed to be breaking down into extreme animosity, news crews from around the world had arrived in the South Korean capital eager to cover the story. Thomas Anderson led his small band of BBC staff into the refectory that had been set up as an extra space for the benefit of all the journalists and news crews. Bloody hell, it's crowded in here, he thought with exasperation, as he tried to find a table to sit down at. He didn't need to wait long as a friendly hand grabbed his arm and guided him over to what seemed to be a partition.

"Don't worry mate, we've got a good place over here. Nice to see ya again.", came the Australian accent just off to his side. Turning, he saw the source of the voice.

"Well, I never! When did you get here Matt?.", he said with genuine affection in his voice.

Matt Driver smiled, "Long enough to bag a good spot. You'll recognise a few others too in our little menagerie.". Chuckling, he continued to guide Anderson around the partition, revealing several tables with mostly people from western news teams lounging around them. In the corner, an angry voice could clearly be heard above the hubbub.

"Damn thing, it's eaten my money!". Kicking the machine, Bruno Lombardi of the CBC news team in the area snorted with disgust. "I want some coffee before I become very upset.". The Canadian turned around and his face immediately brightened when he saw Anderson. "Hey, glad to see you've made it here too. With the ways things are going I'd have thought it would've been likely some us ended up in China or Taiwan. So, good you're here and not there.", he said as he tried to negotiate his way through a number of outstretched legs and piled-up equipment. Patting Anderson on the back he added, "Er, do any of you guys have any coffee with you?".

Anderson laughed, and pointed to one of his colleague's bulging bags. "I'm sure Phil has some. He can't travel anywhere without the stuff. He's probably brought a kettle too. And an adaptor. And some long life milk. He doesn't take sugar though, so you'll have to rustle some of that up for yourself, or ask one of the other chaps. Nice to see you again by the way, it's been a while.". Dumping his bags down near the area where most of the Australians seemed to be clustered around, he stretched his back with relief emitting a sigh as he did so. Lombardi started to eagerly badger Phil for supplies as Anderson turned to Driver, "So what's happening then?", he enquired matter-of-factly.

The Network 10 telejournalist shook his head, "It's looking even worse, the Norks have walked out of the talks and there are even rumours of them having some show of force on their side of the DMZ. We're thinking of heading up there soon. There's only so many street protests, demonstrations and riots we can cover before our editors want something new.".

Anderson nodded his head in agreement. He could certainly understand that from his own experiences. He often had trouble with his editors as he was one of those who didn't want to dumb down his reports and wished to make them as informative as possible in the limited broadcast time they were allocated. For their part, the editors thought that it would confuse and turn off the general public if things were not done in simple soundbites. The Yorkshireman grumbled with derision at that and refused to be intimidated. It sometimes seemed like a losing battle, but he had won some victories for common sense and accuracy, and he fully intended continuing to do so. He was well known enough on TV screens that he knew the BBC could ill afford to lose him, so he sometimes ended up getting his way. Only sometimes though.

"Hmmm, that seems like a good idea actually. We've also covered enough of events here. A trip to the DMZ would be interesting if nothing else. I can't remember the last time I was there.". Swinging a chair around he sat himself gratefully down in it. Lombardi had managed to extract various items from Phil in exchange for some of his cookies and had overheard the little exchange between Driver and Anderson.

"Sounds like all our editors must be related. Count us in too. We could do with some fresh air anyway, it's far too cramped around here.", he muttered whilst at the same time tripping over yet another leg and looking for an electrical socket as Phil set about finding a tap so that he could fill up the little plastic kettle in anticipation of a drink.

"Hey, anyone have any tea?", yelled Driver at the assembled Brits.

Anderson sighed, "I'm afraid this is where we live up to our stereotypes and clichés I suppose.", predictably fishing out his box of Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate's Yorkshire Tea out of his bag, just as several others of his team started rummaging and bringing out a variety of brands from Twinings to Tetley.

"Well, at least there's a selection.", quipped Driver as he came closer and agonised over which he should pick.

"They actually grow this near Harrogate now, so it's the real deal.". Anderson winked with an undisguised air of pride as the acquaintances and part-time friends gathered around the table to enjoy some hot drinks.


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


Three weeks previously, Manchester, UK, 11:49 hours local time, 17th March

Flinging himself down in front of the TV in the lounge, which was inevitably showing a news channel, this time BBC News 24, and having finished his breakfast, Jean opened the letter and read it expectantly. His face soon turned to dismay and then outright anger as he scanned the contents.

"Fill in ANOTHER form???", he screamed at no one in particular, as his rage consumed him. He now had more than enough of the stupid jobsworths at the Tax Office, having filled in all the correct forms, not once, but twice already. And they were STILL causing him hassle. Thoughts burned through his mind of what he'd ever do to their offices if he had the chance.

The stone shimmered.

Electrical pathways in Jean's brain fully transmitted his thoughts and emotions to the stone. Rage, upset, plans, wishes. Invisibly they swirled across the ether being processed and analysed in detail. The colour of the stone started to change as new things started to happen.

Jean glanced up at the TV, his fury only made worse by the story that had caught his attention despite his anger over the tax letter. The face of Thomas Anderson was on the screen in his studio describing problems between the Koreas.

I hate that too! The thoughts seared through his mind as he covered of all the other things in the world he considered unfair, from pirates off Somalia, Taiwan and China, Mexican drug cartels, corrupt politicians, pork barrel US politics, arguments over the Spratlys, Mugabe, Kashmir, tax offices in general, lying British government ministers, terrorists, the list went on and on. His typical student mind was in no mood to be rational or even handed about any of these things at this point, he just despaired and simmered at all the usual student targets of complaint in the world with a few of his own thrown in for good measure. His anger and frustration sparked by the letter now covered all these things and was going through the roof.

He threw the letter at the TV.

The stone changed to a deep purple and began to hum quietly. Too wrapped up in his anger, Jean didn't notice.

I REALLY WISH something could be done about all these bloody idiots!

The stone started to vibrate.

...there was someone like me to deal with 'em and...

Rapid changes in colour swept across the surface of the stone as it absorbed all of Jean's thoughts.

...they'd fight against all damn the corruption and unfairness I think something should be done about...yeah

Inside his pocket the stone glowed brighter and brighter.

...dealing with those fucking politicians and their smarm...ah, those wankers

Almost bright white now, if Jean had looked down he would have seen the brilliant glow shining forth even through the material of his sports leggings.

...yeah, that's a good dea, I'd use Liberator and Orac and Scorpio, and stuff from Star Wars and Star Trek and...

Jean's thoughts of all the aspects of science fiction he could imagine throbbed through the stone being combined with all the other thoughts he'd had about that genre, and everything else that has gone through his mind too since he'd picked it up.

...and could bloody well wish for other things too when needed...man, that'd be COOL

A disturbance occurred in space, ripples spreading out from the stone. A small object started to be made manifest in the disturbance. It looked like another stone.

...fuck yeah, and most of all I'd wish for forces of...

The disturbance grew larger and larger and objects started to materialise.

...under direct control and with the usual vulnerabilities removed...

The disturbance convulsed and the objects started to become more solid.

....unknown until revealed, that'll teach 'em all for sure! Bastards. The expressions on their faces - ha - take THAT you cunts! Oh yeah, I WISH!

The stone stopped humming, vibrating and shimmering. It had done what was asked of it.

Jean lay back on the sofa. He felt somewhat better and, content, somehow.

His mind drifted away...


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


Lunar Orbit, Dark side of the Moon, 12:07 hours GMT relative time, 17th March


The ripples in space subsided as the objects became more solid and slowly their forms became apparent. Resting in space, free of the disturbance which had now completely gone, another stone drifted, then slowly and surely gathering speed as it did so, made its way inside one of the objects...


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


Comments, as always, are most welcome. :)


Sargon

[archangel]

This means Jean's stone caused the appearance of the saucer ship.

Keep it up, Sargon!:)

[stevep]

Sargon

Well, sounds like things are about to kick off and we also have a clearer idea of how Jean triggers events. Given his rage leaves his desires rather undefined it could be messy and wouldn't like to be in any of the groups he's angry at.

Could there be any link between Jean's problems with the IR and you're own fun and games with another branch of the [un]civil service?;) Hope that's going better.

Steve

[Sargon]

This means Jean's stone caused the appearance of the saucer ship.

Keep it up, Sargon!:)

Aye, it did indeed. :p

Thankee for the support and comment. :)

Sargon

Well, sounds like things are about to kick off and we also have a clearer idea of how Jean triggers events. Given his rage leaves his desires rather undefined it could be messy and wouldn't like to be in any of the groups he's angry at.

Could there be any link between Jean's problems with the IR and you're own fun and games with another branch of the [un]civil service?;) Hope that's going better.

Steve

That's why people should be careful what they wish for. It's not always a good thing and in this case can have massive consequences good and bad. We've already seen the bad aspect when that torpedo was redirected off the shield and hit a ship and then a fire-fight broke out leaving many dead and injured. There may be good things, but at what cost?

The Commander does have Jean's sense of humour though. Whether that is an advantage or disadvantage you'll have to see. ;)

Heh, I could understand that people may think there's a link between this and my current issues, but actually this story was started some years ago and posted at other places and at the time this chapter was originally posted I didn't have any such worries. However, like most people we've all had our frustrations with bureaucracy I guess. Part of the original idea of this story was to examine how wishing for things can cause trouble you didn't really intend and throw a bit of (sometimes dark and twisted) humour in as well.

I would say that Jean's opinions on many things don't really reflect what I think about today since on most topics I simply don't have the energy to have an opinion or think it's pointless to do so as it only causes hassle and arguments. I also see it as a way of trying to avoid my depression becoming worse if I avoid thinking or considering the issues in the world. It's one reason why I increasingly tend to avoid watching the news on telly. It's just too depressing most of the time. There's no point on a personal level as far as I'm concerned as it won't help me in recovering my health to spend time worrying about such things.

People often maybe can't understand why I don't have an opinion of many things. Perhaps if one is a person with strong opinions it's almost incomprehensible that someone just can't motivate themselves to have a view on something. And vice versa maybe. Well, if you are clinically depressed and have all sorts of problems in your life to deal with, real world issues that mean something to people just don't register as much anymore. You can't afford to have them register if have your own issues taking up your energy and time and you're struggling to get through life and try to improve things for yourself as it is.

When it comes to the UKBA though, I do have despair and frustration with them, but even that's mellowing out now as I simply don't have the energy for it and know that whatever I feel it doesn't actually change much. I'm not that much of a combative person and I usually seek to avoid confrontation or controversy and just want a quiet life. That usually means on the contrary I often bend over backwards to accommodate people, not stir the pot and avoid any sensitive issues in conversation. I just feel more comfortable with things being easy going and mellow after all the chaos life has thrown at me.

I know that means people think I'm wishy washy, a waste of time as a person or just silly, but I don't really have the energy to worry about what they think either! They're perfectly entitled and of course welcome to think what they think, and at the same time I can be myself. Everyone's happy. :p

However, like anyone, I do have my moments though. :D

Thankee for the comments and support! :)


Sargon

[Sargon]

Be Careful What You Wish For


Part XII: "The circle must be broken!".


Command Saucer, Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 12:29 hours local time, 9th April.

The Commander strode down into the depths of his new base, making his way to the massive hangar bay there. The modifications he had ordered to be made on the small starfighter there were complete, and now he wished to leave the base and travel elsewhere unnoticed. Now that the base was finished and the next two saucers completed, he felt he had better carry out some research before he made any moves. As he entered the hangar bay, he gestured to a member of his crew who glided over and awaited his instructions.

"Give me the changeling net. It'll be most useful for changing my eternal appearance and'll mean I don't have to change into any flightsuit.". The crewmember barked some orders at another group nearby and soon the small device was brought to the Commander who placed it around his neck, and switched it on, tuning his thoughts to the equipment as it requested what features he wanted. Suddenly the flightsuit of a Rebel Alliance pilot covered him, just like a real one, which to all intents and purposes it was. Good, now I can get in that ship and fly out of here, thought the Commander with enthusiasm, as he rapidly made his way over to the ship sitting in the corner of the bay.

"Keep me informed of any developments. I'll return in a few hours.". With these instructions to the crew echoing around the cavernous space, he climbed up into the craft and settled into the cockpit. Crew moved away as he closed the canopy and fired up the engines. Moments later, the distinctive ship rose off the deck and headed out of the base.


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


38th Parallel Demilitarised Zone, Republic of Korea, 12:34 hours local time, 9th April.

Bruno Lombardi gazed out across the curiously empty, yet entirely deadly space of land that made up the border between the two Koreas. He had arrived with all the other various news teams that had left Seoul in the hopes of finding further news stories to report on. The rumours that the North Koreans had decided to ramp up their propaganda efforts with a show of force had proven to be true, and he was currently observing a number of armoured vehicles lined up on the northern side of the zone, torrents of shrill propaganda being funnelled out of huge loudspeakers that towered over the units.

For his part Anderson had directed his crew's camera onto the scene which he thought reminded him of the Chinese propaganda towers and units in the PC game, Command and Conquer: Generals. As he spoke into the microphone making his report, he dryly imagined that if the Arab faction from that game fancied turning up, then it would pretty much resemble a three sided stand-off from it, what with the US presence on his side of the border. He almost couldn't keep a straight face with that thought running around his mind, but being the professional that he was, decided to save that joke for later with the other crews here, and concentrated on presenting his report for the BBC.

The Australian Network 10 crew had set up their shot a little further down and Matt Driver was animatedly speaking into the camera, obviously trying to outdo anyone else from the other teams, with which he was succeeding.

The Japanese news crew from NHK just down from him was far more measured, which was frustrating their cameraman somewhat. Being a Japanese-American, Masao Yokota had wondered if he had joined the wrong news service, as their staid yet thoroughly professional presentation standards rather cramped his style. He couldn't help stealing a furtive glance at the Australian crew just down from his, and felt that was more of the sort of thing he would be preferring to film. He sighed and turned his attention back to his own team's correspondent, who continued his sober coverage of the scene across the zone. Better than being him I suppose, he thought sourly as he adjusted the shot to zoom in on some tanks outside the model village that had been built for show and that didn't actually have any real inhabitants inside it.

Yokota had wanted to join the NHK since experience in it was seen as very valuable in terms of career development, the station having a high reputation for quality, and using some contacts had managed to do so. Quality didn't necessarily mean excitement though, and he had resolved to do his stint in the NHK long enough to give him a more high powered position elsewhere, especially since he'd been working upon his editing and production skills, and that would mean he could be more than just a cameraman later on.

Another column of armoured vehicles drew up near the others and it seemed the propaganda towers had increased their efforts in notching up the tension as well. Various cameras panned in on the event. It looked liked being a busy day for the various news teams.


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


Airspace, Xinjiang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, 12:37 hours local time, 9th April.

The X-Wing starfighter descended through the clouds as the Commander adjusted the flight path of the small craft. He had entered Chinese airspace, but he didn't have to worry about being spotted as he had engaged the small cloaking device his crew had attached to the fighter the previous day. It was an efficient one, being from the Star Trek universe's 27th Century, and thus fit snugly just below his flight console. His ship was thus completely invisible to any means of detection as he approached Ürümqi, the capital of the Autonomous Region.

Heading down, he located People's Park and a quiet area of it generously screened by trees and bushes. Within moments, the X-Wing had soft landed without being noticed by anyone behind some useful foliage.

Better and less trouble than the landing on Dagobah, mused the Commander as he adjusted his Babylon 5 universe acquired changeling net and got rid of the orange Rebel flight suit in favour of the sort of clothes a western tourist would wear. It also changed his features from his usual appearance to that of an average tourist. Making sure no one was indeed around in the area using the ultra compact tricorder he had with him, he raised the canopy and climbed out of the cockpit and landed on the ground next to the ship. He was still within the cloaking field, and so walked forwards until he phased into real view and made his way beyond the screen of bushes, leaving the X-Wing concealed by the cloaking field behind him. Unlike the Klingon Bird of Prey in Star trek IV: The Voyage Home which had left visible indentations on the ground when it had landed in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, this left no trace at all. Captain Kirk would have been well pleased with this cloak, thought the Commander as he made his way further away from his little vessel.


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


Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China, 12:54 hours local time, 9th April.

Messiniano rushed along the street like a man late for an appointment. Probably because he almost was. He wasn't sure if he would meet the Taiwanese girl on time for their usual lunchtime meeting where they had their language exchange. He rather liked Jenny, she was friendly and helpful, and had shown him around many places he would probably have never seen if he'd been left to himself. The Starbucks where they had enjoyed their first drinks and snacks had become their regular meeting place, seeing as it was not far from the centre of the capital. Today, it was planned that they might take in one of the city's museums after they had finished their language practice. He still felt somewhat embarrassed though that he couldn't for the life of him remember her Chinese name. Luckily, it seemed she preferred to be called Jenny, the English name she had chosen for herself, and he had no problem with that. He sincerely hoped she would never ask him if he remembered her Chinese name. He'd have to figure out a way to squirm out of the fix that would get him in somehow.

The protests were still going on, but they were now a daily event outside the Legislative Yuan and the Presidential residence, and so this part of the city was not as crowded with people as it had been before. It was still filled with more people than in the average western city street though. And Messiniano still had to weave his way through what seemed to him to be endless streams of people coming in and out of various shops and eateries along his route. Jenny of course, was unlikely to be late since she was used to all of this, and the Italian had never quite been able to allow for the slowing up of his progress all these manoeuvres were costing him.

Overlooking the scene outside the Legislative Yuan, Sean Bryan was having a rather predictable day adjusting his camera once more, capturing yet more footage for Fox. It was starting to become a little boring for him. Sure, there had been some juicy fights for him to relay and even some vandalism to street furniture, but he was still waiting for a really big grudge match to break out between the police and the opposing sides. A nice huge one with cops in the middle and the pro and anti factions having a real heavy go at 'em and each other would be damn good, he wished with passion. Still, until that transpired, he sipped his coffee and leaned further over the balcony, seeking out anything of interest in the colourful sea of banners and people.


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


Near People's Park, Ürümqi, Xinjiang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, 13:12 hours local time, 9th April.

Relaxing as he sat down to his lunch on the table set out in the street, Yang Runnan raised the cup of cha to his lips as he scanned the street scene. It wasn't long before he spied what seemed to be a western tourist ambling into view who seemed to be looking all around him, taking in the same scene. Yang was curious about these foreigners, and liked to take the opportunity to talk with them when he could. This one looked like he was looking for someone to have a conversation with too, yet seemed not to be having much luck as the people around him seemed too busy to give time to do so, although a few had just enough time to look over at him with some curiosity themselves. Foreign tourists, whilst not widespread here, were still a reasonably well known enough sight that most paid him little heed. Yang stood up, and beckoned the westerner over.

The Commander had wanted to talk with some locals, and seeing Yang stand up obviously taking an interest in him, lost no time in making his way over to the man's table. He was greeted in English which did not really surprise him too much, although the accent was a little heavy. He was more surprised though when the fellow insisted upon buying him lunch. Well, I am hungry, he thought as he sat down and accepted the gentleman's offer.

Yang was very happy that the stranger had agreed to have some lunch with him, and ordered him the same dish as he was having. It wasn't long before a steaming bowl of food arrived with some rice and side dishes which the foreigner seemed to tuck into with some measure of enthusiasm. As he did so, the two engaged in conversation, the usual pleasantries already done, Yang enquired what brought the westerner to his city.

Before long, a deep conversation was taking place. Yang had discovered that the stranger wished to know about the local culture here, and how the Han Chinese and Uighurs got along. Yang, was Han himself, but he replied that he got along rather well with them for the most part. He had been born here after all, although he had travelled a bit around China, and had a reasonable command of English too, not just due to his schooling, but to his own study as well. Yang wondered if the guy was a journalist, trying to find a story, but his relaxed manner told him that he probably wasn't. Journalists were usually far more intense and pushy in his opinion. Besides, for some puzzling reason, he couldn't help wanting to be open with the man.

The Commander wanted to get to the root of the issue he had come here to find out more about. He asked Yang directly about any trouble that had occurred between the ethnic groups. Yang was hesitant to reply about his at first. "How about we take a walk, and I'll tell you more after we finish lunch?", he said. He preferred to talk about such things in a less crowded place.

"That seems like a good idea. By the way, this food is delicious. I'm almost sorry I've just about finished it all.", the Commander replied sincerely as he picked up the last few morsels with his chopsticks and patted his stomach appreciatively. "Is there anything I can buy for you? Only seems fair after all.".

"Oh no, English conversation is what you've been giving me, so you don't need to do anything more than talk with me. That's enough and is worth the lunch I have provided here. Just wait for me a moment.". Yang moved off and settled the bill before rejoining the Commander. "Now, let's take a walk and talk more.", he said as he moved off back in the direction of the park. It'll be quieter there, he calculated to himself, as the Commander stood up and fell in by his side.

It was not long before they were walking in the park and Yang told of some of the tensions that did exist in Xinjiang as a whole. "Of course, there have been terrorist attacks by extreme groups against the government and Han Chinese.", he told the Commander, his voice betraying a hint of sadness, yet some bitterness too. "They blew up a bus just last week outside of the this city. Many were killed, including Uighurs too. They are pretty indiscriminate.".

The Commander took this all in and nodded. "They must really be angry with the policies of the Government if they are even willing to risk killing their own people it seems. What do you think the government should do?". He studied Yang's face carefully as he asked the question.

"The Government needs to do all it can to stop such attacks of course.", Yang licked his lips as if he was nervous about something. "I guess they could do more to address some of the concerns that such groups have - if it helps lessen the attacks, that is something, but truth be told, some of them won't be happy until every last Han leaves here, or is dead.". He looked around him at the peaceful scene the park presented. "That's the simple truth. They are terrorists who have been blinded by their hatred and fanaticism just like other such groups elsewhere in the world. Of course, many Uighurs here would like to see the Government ease up and be less discriminatory, but the Government would lose face by doing that. Most people, Han, Uighur or whatever don't care as long as they have jobs, enough money and are left in peace. Yet, some of the separatist groups would stop doing the things they do if the Government listened a bit more to them, ruled a bit more lightly and that would mean more peace and less deaths.".

He turned his attention to the Commander. "Yes, the Government has done some bad things too, but can you imagine them admitting it? Of course they won't. It'll take a miracle before things really change much about here. It is true that there are real problems, but things could be better for both sides. And no matter what the Government does, for some it will never be enough. And that's not completely the Government's fault even if they do everything better. They will still kill, and the Government will have to react with all the resentment that brings. It is a never ending circle.". His expression was somewhat dejected now. "We just want to live without trouble here. I, like many others was born here. This is my home too, just like for many other Han, yet some extremists want us out or dead. How is that fair? I have no other home than here, and have just as much right to live here.". He sighed. "I have so many good friends here, Han, Uighur, and others. It's heartbreaking there are such divisions between some people. It's not much to ask just to live together peacefully and air grievances in a peaceful way. If only the government would listen and the violent types stopped hurting people as well. Things could be better for everyone.".

The Commander patted Yang on the back. "Of course you have a right to live here.". He paused a moment, then said, "I understand the problems that exist here and why change is difficult. You've helped me form an insight into them which I think is applicable to other places apart from here. Cheer up, you can be happy that at least one person sees it and agrees with you.".

Yang smiled wanly at that. "Yes, that's something I suppose, but you are just one person, if only it was more people that felt that way. And even then I'm not sure it would be easy to change things.". Sighing, he fumbled in his pocket and drew out his wallet, which he opened and plucked something out of. "This is my family. I hope they can see a good future. I work hard to give them one each day. But at the end of the day, the bigger picture is something I can only have a limited effect upon, such as providing the means of a good education for them.". He passed the somewhat worn photo to the Commander who carefully held it and looked at Yang standing with other family members in it.

"That is something to aim for. A better future.". He turned and looked Yang in the eye, "Your family will never be harmed by the troubles that happen here. They can look forward to better things I am sure.".

"I hope so, I really do.", mumbled Yang as he took back the photo and put it back into his wallet. "Well, I have to get back to work now. It has been really interesting to talk with you. I hope you enjoy the rest of your time here. There are lots of things to see. Don't forget to check out the Silk Road Museum, that has some wonderful stuff in it, and is great for knowing more about the history of the area. And the Bazaar is an excellent place to pick up some souvenirs. Be careful of some of the sellers there though, they can be quite pushy, so bargain a good price!".

The Commander shook Yang's hand. "My sincere thanks. It has been a pleasure, and thanks for the lunch too, that was very kind of you. I won't forget your kindness.". Waving to Yang as he made his way out of the park, the Commander made his way back to the X-Wing. He had a few things to think about, and he still needed to stop off elsewhere.


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


GMA News and Public Affairs Building, Manila, Republic of the Philippines, 13.57 hours local time, 9th April.

Anthony Billogu went over the reports again. Now it seemed some sort of erupting splash had been observed at the site in the Spratlys earlier in the day. Looking at the footage it almost looking liked something coming out of the sea, yet the object was either too fast or invisible since he could make nothing out. He wondered what the hell was going on there. Perhaps I should take another trip out there, he mulled to himself as he got ready for the next hourly bulletin.


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


Yodŏk Concentration Camp, South Hamgyŏng Province, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, 16:26 hours local time, 9th April.

From a position overlooking the massive complex of buildings divided into zones, the Commander looked back down on the camp he had just infiltrated. He was full of shock, sadness and truth be told, bald anger. His usually easy-going demeanour and happy-go-lucky sense of humour overwhelmed by what he had seen. He had seen executions of people carried out in his brief sojourn there, some merely for trying to get more food since they were desperate with hunger. Most of the inmates looked to be suffering from malnutrition, and also seemed to suffer regular beatings from the guards. The entire place was surrounded by ten feet high razor wire fences that were about twelve feet deep. Watchtowers regularly studded the perimeter and guards heavily armed with automatic rifles, grenades and often accompanied by large dogs patrolled the area. There was no getting out for those unfortunate enough to have been condemned to this place. Unbelievably, there were close on 50,000 inmates in the place. The Kuŭp-ri labour area had been enough to cause him to feel angry and sick, the inmates being forced into the quarry and mine there doing backbreaking work, several falling down due to exhaustion and beaten until they got up again to continue their tasks or hauled off to the local execution area, but it was the sight of another area that had really done even more to work the Commander into a fury.

The Kouek execution compound was located somewhat away from the other zones and was more secluded. This had proved to be no problem for the Commander with his advanced technology to infiltrate and he had been sickened by what he had seen there. The execution of people was done with ruthless efficiency via a number of methods including hanging and firing squad which went on in public areas in the other zones too, but here in this zone they were particularly brutal with some of the guards seemingly taking sadistic pleasure in carrying out the task. Worse still, had been the experimentation chambers where inmates were gassed, injected, tortured and had all manner of unspeakably terrible things done to them. He had seen children in there. Helpless little forms on racks, tables and strapped into chairs being experimented on and killed, just because they were the offspring of another condemned inmate.

The Commander had wanted to stop it, right then and now. But he had to hold himself back and leave the camp post haste for his base. He had seen enough, and now he was going to take action. He fully intended to punish all those involved in this nightmare that he had seen with his own eyes. I will break this circle of madness, he thought grimly. Here and everywhere else. And I will break other circles in things other than this too.

Strapping himself back into the X-Wing, the Commander called ahead to his base and curtly relayed his orders.

"Make the fleet ready. Order all crews to their posts. We have work to do.".

He paused for a moment. Up until now things had been fairly light hearted. Today was a day where that wasn't appropriate. No doubt his lighter side would reassert itself, but his more serious side was dominant right now.

Emerging from his brief reverie, he flicked some controls and quietly lifted off.

As the X-Wing screamed back to the Spratlys, his obedient crews set to work, and the small fleet of powerful saucers carrying their formidable units prepared for action...


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


Sargon

[archangel]

I hope the Commander can really stop these atrocities.
Keep it up, Sargon!:)

[stevep]

Sargon

Well he's got an insight into the complexities of some of the problems, although a little surprised that Yang Runnan was willing to be so open with a total stranger.

I think things are going to get rather nasty for the guards of the concentration camp and also probably a good bit of the N Korean leadership. The problem is that I fear a lot of other people are likely to suffer as well, as I suspect the 'commander' hasn't fully thought through his actions and their consequences. Hopefully we're not going to see a new Korean war triggered.

Excellent to see another update. Just wondering will Jean ever realise his role in events?;)

Steve

[Sargon]

I hope the Commander can really stop these atrocities.
Keep it up, Sargon!:)

Maybe he can try and do something at least. ;)

Sargon

Well he's got an insight into the complexities of some of the problems, although a little surprised that Yang Runnan was willing to be so open with a total stranger.

I think things are going to get rather nasty for the guards of the concentration camp and also probably a good bit of the N Korean leadership. The problem is that I fear a lot of other people are likely to suffer as well, as I suspect the 'commander' hasn't fully thought through his actions and their consequences. Hopefully we're not going to see a new Korean war triggered.

Excellent to see another update. Just wondering will Jean ever realise his role in events?;)

Steve

Funnily enough during my travels in China I found people who were remarkably frank at times. Sometimes the eagerness to talk with people from outside China and to have a go at some English, and even talk a bit of politics can be quite something. Of course you get mixed reactions but many of my experiences were quite memorable.

However, the above has been edited to make things a bit clearer as your point is well received and a good one. ;)

Ah, well, we have to remember how the Commander was created. Remember to be careful what you wish for! ;)

More about Jean will appear in due course. Let's say his background is going to be relevant at some point.

Thanks for the support and comments!


Sargon

[Sargon]

Right then readers, any more comments on this before the next chapter arrives? You know you want to reward my hard work. :D


Sargon

[stevep]

Right then readers, any more comments on this before the next chapter arrives? You know you want to reward my hard work. :D


Sargon

Sargon

Just read the last chapter again and like the re-write of the chat with Yang Runnan. Forgotten how bad the situation was in N Korea and am expecting and hoping that something is going to happen to change that. Just hope the commander has enough forces and doesn't end up triggering a new Korean War. [Since I suspect anything that doesn't dismantle the regime is likely to result in it lashing out at all and sundry].

Steve

[Sargon]

Sargon

Just read the last chapter again and like the re-write of the chat with Yang Runnan. Forgotten how bad the situation was in N Korea and am expecting and hoping that something is going to happen to change that. Just hope the commander has enough forces and doesn't end up triggering a new Korean War. [Since I suspect anything that doesn't dismantle the regime is likely to result in it lashing out at all and sundry].

Steve

Aye, changes are needed. And maybe not just limited to there. And yes, the regime is likely to lash out should it feel threatened. Interesting times coming up.

Thanks for the comment and support!


Sargon

[Roisterer]

This rings a bell.

I believe I read this some time ago on the other forum, and thought that it was dead, but it was only sleeping.

The action is about to heat up, I suspect.

Regards

R

[Sargon]

This rings a bell.

I believe I read this some time ago on the other forum, and thought that it was dead, but it was only sleeping.

The action is about to heat up, I suspect.

Regards

R

Thankee for the support, :)

Aye, this was posted at the other place but hasn't been continued there for ages given I haven't posted there for a long time. Still, being posted with some modifications here so should be going places in the meantime. I may manage to get around to posting stuff back at AH.com too one day!

Action is heating up now in fact. Next part coming soon.


Sargon

[Sargon]

Be Careful What You Wish For


Part XIII: "That’s it man, game over man, game over!"


Manchester, UK, 11:47 hours local time, 9th April

Heading back from doing his morning shopping, Jean felt indifferent to most things, although his interest and enthusiasm for SF still remained. In fact, he had been feeling this way for a few weeks now, ever since the morning the tax letter had arrived. It was almost as if all his anger, opinions and angst had escaped from him somehow and gone somewhere else. Surprisingly perhaps, the matter of the tax issue wasn't bothering him too much, and he had taken his time before going to sort it out in person. It looked likely he'd have to wait sometime for any developments, but his reaction was just "Meh.". News items on TV didn't seem to upset him much either. The changes in his behaviour had not gone unnoticed however.

Karla glanced at him. They'd met in Tesco, and she'd decided to go back with him to his home since partly since he'd offered to share some of the rather tasty looking strawberry cheesecake he'd just bought with her, but also partly since she was concerned about him. He seemed less opinionated about news and politics recently, and she wondered what had caused the indifference he was now showing. She knew he had a thing about all the injustices he perceived in the world, yet when she had recently mentioned Zimbabwe and Darfur amongst other things to him, he'd just shrugged his shoulders and replied, "So what?".

That's not like him at all, she puzzled to herself at that time.

She thought it might be best to spend a little bit more time with him and see if there was anything that could be affecting him.

Perhaps he's suffering from depression or something, I know how that can affect people and make them feel listless..., she mused as she continued to cast him another sidewise look.

Jean didn't notice the mild look of concern that was on her face. He seemed to be not just indifferent, but somewhat oblivious to things too.


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


Command Saucer, Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 18:32 hours local time, 9th April

The Commander accessed status reports from his holoscreen as the fleet made preparations to engage in whatever plan he had in mind. He'd ordered a new set of units, and he wanted to see if they were as he expected them to be. Sending off a request for an example to be sent up to him, he continued looking at the reports. Amongst them were news items as well, and several live news feeds were being displayed around him in the vastness of the bridge area. Anthony Biollogu's voice could be heard amongst the various channels...


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


BRP Rajah Humabon, Thitu Island Oceanspace: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 18:33 hours local time, 9th April

"...and as I stand here once more reporting from the deck of the Rajah Humabon, it is still no clearer what has caused the seeming eruption from the sea in this tense area. The navy has been silent on the issue, either wishing to keep whatever it is they have found out secret for the time being, or merely because they have no idea themselves. Yet, they have been kind enough to allow us onboard to observe the area and make our report.".

Billogu had indeed rushed from his studio after his last bulletin and onto the nearest air transport he could find in order to get out here once more. It was all helping the ratings - and his reputation too, but he loved the adrenaline rush such activities gave him, and it was one reason why he so passionately liked his job.

The camera crew panned across the horizon, where vessels from various nations still stood station. The area had become even more important to the various nations despite the sea battle that had occurred. None of them were going to give up on the area easily.


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


Command Saucer, Base Construction Zone, Off Thitu Island: Philippine Occupied Spratly Island, 18:35 hours local time, 9th April

Billogu's words amused the Commander somewhat. Stick around mate, you are going to see all sorts of things soon.

Grinning, he turned his attention to another report, and his face hardened once more. This one was about Darfur and the ceaseless civil war going on there despite peace negotiations and re-organisation of the area into various federal states. The had over the years UN seemed powerless to do much, and China in particular wasn't making it easy for anyone to get anything past the Security Council probably because of the resource interests it had there.

The Commander steepled his fingers as he considered the situation.

Hmmm, maybe a visit will be required there too sometime.

A figure walked smoothly up to him and halted, different from all the other figures on the bridge who continued to glide about in a different manner entirely. Turning his attention to the new arrival, the Commander appraised the form in front of him whilst giving it some brief instructions which were duly followed. Once these had been completed, the Commander looked on in satisfaction.

"Excellent, precisely as I expected. I like the uniform by the way. Now, to business.".

The figure showed little emotion on its face, and merely replied, "What are your orders?".

"You are to take a small team in the Colonial Raptor, accompanied by your pilots in a squadron of Vipers and proceed to the disputed islands of Liancourt Rocks in the Sea of Japan. You are to evict the Korean police garrison, administrative staff, the lighthouse keeper and any tourist groups there and prevent anyone from attempting to reoccupy the place. They will be directed to make for the Korean island of Ulleung.”.

The Commander paused briefly as he recalled the next part of his plan in his mind before continuing.

“The two local permanent residents will be allowed to stay - after all, it is their home. However, they are to be kept out of any sensitive areas, their communications watched, and the police Chief is to be told they are to be taken into your custody for unspecified reasons. If they cause trouble, make it clear to them they can be evicted just as easily.”.

The figure in front of him nodded impassively.

“Should any Japanese vessels see their chance to try and take what they think belongs to their nation, you are to give them one warning only. You will then disable any vessels that approach. The same orders apply to any Korean vessels that attempt to do the same. This island will no longer be disputed in such a childish manner and will be denied to both of them in punishment.".

An intense look spread across the Commander’s face at this point, and his words came out with just a measure of deeper determination now.

“It will belong to us, and absolutely no one will stop us from taking and keeping it. We won't be bargained with. We won't be reasoned with. Once there, establish a perimeter and a saucer will complete its own preparations and shortly arrive to start work on a forward base useful for our operations in Korea.”.

A data chip was produced and the Commander extended his hand. The figure in front of him carefully took it.

“Here is some information gathered by the Mind Probe in a recent sweep of the area. It can be used to impersonate various officials down to their exact thoughts and mannerisms if necessary. Dismissed.".

The figure acknowledged the orders, turned and left with almost catlike movements. Another voice took the Commander's attention. The BBC's Thomas Anderson was presenting his slot on BBC World from the DMZ.

Don't worry, you'll get a big enough story within a few hours, thought the Commander grimly to himself. I'm coming for the whole damn Leadership.

Once the fleet's preparations were complete, he intended to be the next big news item in Anderson's locale.


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


West Islet, Liancourt Rocks, Sea of Japan, Presently Occupied by The Republic of South Korea: Ownership Disputed by The State of Japan, 18:51 hours, 9th April


Kim Seong-do was one of the two permanent residents of the islands: his wife was the other. They had moved there in 1991, motivated by a patriotic desire to solidify Korea's claim to the islands. Little could they guess that as they engaged in conversation with one of the thirty-seven local police officers, today was the last day of Korean occupation of the islands.

Their conversation was interrupted by a roar overhead as a strange craft rapidly approached and landed on the western island. Several smaller dart-shaped craft circled the area above the islands. The Kims didn't recognise them as being either Korean or Japanese. In fact, they had never seen such craft before. As the police officer hurried off to alert his companions, the craft that had landed opened up and several figures disembarked and headed for the main buildings. As their slim figures moved closer, it was obvious that they were heavily armed and moving with purpose. They appeared to be wearing some sort of military uniforms, and their faces were obscured by helmets that featured a full facial mask. They moved at incredible speed, such that they arrived in the police chief's office before the police officer who had been talking to the Kims had a chance to even get close.

Stunned by their entrance, the Police Chief sprang to his feet behind his desk and confronted the sinister and unexpected new arrivals. The lead figure stepped forward and spoke in a monotone of perfect Korean.

"Your entire force, the lighthouse keeper and all administrative staff will leave these islands immediately. You will depart in your launches and the tourist vessel that is currently anchored here for Ulleungdo . The permanent residents will come with us.".

The Police Chief was not too stunned to speak.

"On who's authority do you give these orders? Have you been sent by the Ministry? Is there some threat to this place?".

He had not fully grasped the situation and felt that only Korean special forces could arrive here and give such orders. However, in his mind he felt very uneasy - they could be North Koreans after all.

The leader slapped down a document in front of the Chief.

"There is an order signed by the President of the Republic of Korea himself. A military assault is expected upon these islands shortly, and loss of life is to be avoided. That is all.".

Picking up the document, the Chief scanned the contents. It certainly looked like a genuine Presidential Order. However, he was not yet convinced.

"Who is going to assault these islands?" he demanded looking sharply at the squad leader, who definitely seemed to be wearing the uniform of someone in the South Korean Special Forces.

The leader took his helmet off, revealing what was as far as the Chief could tell, a Korean face.

"That information is restricted. What is important is that you follow these orders now.".

The Chief studied the man carefully. He noticed that he was showing no emotions at all. He'd expect that of a professional soldier of this calibre, but still, he wanted to be sure.

"You will of course not mind if I contact the mainland and verify these orders through my own secure channel to the government?".

No change could be discerned in the leader's expression. "Go right ahead if it makes things easier. But make it quick.".

The Chief picked up his phone that had a direct link to the government back in Seoul, all the time keeping his eyes warily on the squad in his office as a number of his officers gathered outside.


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


Colonial Raptor, West Islet, Liancourt Rocks, Sea of Japan, Present Occupation in Transition, 18:59 hours, 9th April

Inside the Raptor, another member of the eviction squad adjusted some controls and intercepted the call to the mainland. It was simplicity itself to adopt the voice of the official that the Chief was accustomed to speaking to. The mind probe's information and abilities meant that even the thought patterns and responses would seem natural and indistinguishable from the real individual that was being impersonated.


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


Police Chief's Office, West Islet, Liancourt Rocks, Sea of Japan, Present Occupation in Transition, 19:07 hours, 9th April


The Chief had demanded, and got through to the office of the President. Or so he thought. The Order had been confirmed by people he was familiar with. There was nothing left to do but comply with it.

He still wondered why the permanent residents where to be taken care of by the squad. That settled uneasily with him. Perhaps because they were the permanent residents, and thus of special symbolic status in terms of his country's sovereignty over the islands, they needed special protection or something. Whatever it was, he was not arguing with a Presidential Order. Before long, his entire force, the administrative staff and the handful of tourists and the single lighthouse keeper on the island were embarking onto various vessels and departing for the larger Island of Ulleung.

Kim and his wife, looking somewhat confused by it all had been approached by the Chief who had explained what he could. He had then left, and they had been escorted back to their home by one of the squad. The rest of the squad deployed itself around the island at strategic points. Once the flotilla of vessels had disappeared over the horizon on their way to Ulleungdo, a saucer appeared above the islands, and dived beneath the waves. Construction of the forward base soon began, and fixed defences were deployed from the saucer to secure the island from any possible incursion. The base did not need to be large, and thus construction was expected to be finished by the following day.

It wasn't long before the Police Chief found out he'd been duped and the South Korean government was in fits of rage. The Police Chief wasn't quite sure if the rage was directed at North Korea, Japan, or both of them. He only knew there'd be hell to pay.


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


Colonial Raptor, West Islet, Liancourt Rocks, Sea of Japan, Occupation by Commander's Forces Complete, 21.17 hours local time, 9th April

The figure in the Raptor reported directly back to the Commander.

"The islands have been secured and are ours. Construction of forward base underway. Completion of requested infrastructure expected to be complete by 12:30 local time tomorrow. We will be ready for your arrival.".


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


Comments, as always, are appreciated.


Sargon

[stevep]

Sargon

Great to see an update and the commander is on the move. Likely to cause another storm with the occupation especially since the two governments [S Korea and Japan] will probably blame each other despite what the current occupiers say.

On the other hand it sounds like there will be far more significant events occurring in N Korea shortly and their likely to make this seem a real storm in a teacup.

I fear that is going to end badly as I don't know if the commander has a deep enough understanding of the complexities of the problem. Just hope he doesn't trigger a new war and possibly the devastation of much of Seoul. :(

Interesting that the effect is not duplicating Jean's thoughts and emotions but draining them in some way. Can understand Karla and his other friends being worried but they, and he, has no way of understanding what's going on. I wonder how he will start reacting, if at all, when this alter ego has a drastically higher profile?

Steve

[archangel]

Good update, Sargon!:)

[Sargon]

Sargon

Great to see an update and the commander is on the move. Likely to cause another storm with the occupation especially since the two governments [S Korea and Japan] will probably blame each other despite what the current occupiers say.

Yes, there will certainly be upset about it all. However, they don't really know what sort of thing they are dealing with even if they think it's the other side. Sooner or later they may figure out something is amiss on that front.

On the other hand it sounds like there will be far more significant events occurring in N Korea shortly and their likely to make this seem a real storm in a teacup.

Couldn't happen to a nicer government. ;)

I fear that is going to end badly as I don't know if the commander has a deep enough understanding of the complexities of the problem. Just hope he doesn't trigger a new war and possibly the devastation of much of Seoul. :(

That's the thing. Being born out of frustration and such passion is hardly going to be good news for those on the end of such. And it is indeed something to consider that perhaps such things could cause certain issues in the Commander's mind.

As for Seoul, ah well, wait and see. ;)

Interesting that the effect is not duplicating Jean's thoughts and emotions but draining them in some way. Can understand Karla and his other friends being worried but they, and he, has no way of understanding what's going on. I wonder how he will start reacting, if at all, when this alter ego has a drastically higher profile?

Steve

It's more as if Jean is a drained cup with the things he was so passionate about much lessened to the point where things don't matter much right now. It's like when you've had a good argument with someone and been left tired afterwards. You've little energy for considering the points which mattered to you at the time, and yet you may also have the feeling of getting something off your chest as well, so you can wind up feeling more laid back too.

Thanks for the comments!

Good update, Sargon!:)

Thankee for the support archangel! :)


I noticed other people have been reading this, so please don't stay silent, and go ahead and post a comment. Doesn't cost you much time, and motivates me too. You would like comments for your efforts after all. Otherwise, well, just see what might happen if you spot the warning regarding one of my other stories in my sig below. ;)


Sargon

[Roisterer]

“It will belong to us, and absolutely no one will stop us from taking and keeping it. We won't be bargained with. We won't be reasoned with.

...and we absolutely will not stop until...

oh wait a minute, wrong story. Or was Jean watching that one as well?

Regards

R

[Sargon]

...and we absolutely will not stop until...

oh wait a minute, wrong story. Or was Jean watching that one as well?

Regards

R


Aye, you can assume if it's SF, he's probably seen it, and thus the Commander will have absorbed it. Just be glad he hasn't just decided to recall Robby the Robot's whisky production shenanigans yet. :D

Carry on spotting the SF references within the dialogue as well as the titles. :)

Thankee for the comment. Appreciated!


Sargon