Shades of Gray - Season THREE

[BolianAuthor]

Shades of Gray

- Season THREE -

Created, Developed, and Written By:
BolianAdmiral

​

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ATLANTIC OCEAN - EARTH

U.S.S. LASSEN - STEALTH MISSILE DESTROYER

The sleek trimaran destroyer sailed through the choppy waters of the cold Atlantic, as it began to angle about, to face another ship in the distance.

BRIDGE

The reflection of the raging sea filled the view of the forward Bridge windows, as the ship's Captain walked forward, to gaze out at the other ship in front of his own... a mere gray speck, on the ocean horizon.

"Sir... the Zyuganov has now established a weapons lock on us, Sir... she's coming about to an intercept vector." one of the RADAR officers reported, as the Captain turned to face him.

"We can't wait any longer... bring our forward guns to bear on the Zyuganov... ready GM interception fire." he ordered, as he turned to his XO, who was standing at the command table. "Signal the Betsy Ross... tell her we'll need help." he stated, as the XO nodded, and picked up the phone, to send the call out.

The Captain looked around at his crew, as the XO placed the phone down, and looked to him, a look of worry on his face.

"Captain... the Ross's CO reports that the soonest a fighter wing can arrive is fifteen minutes... she's still to far away, Sir." the XO stated.

Suddenly, alarms began to blare, on the Bridge, as the Captain faced his RADAR officer.

"Missile inbound!" the young man called out.

"Hell..." the Captain began, as he began to snap into action. "GMI, NOW!" he shouted, as he looked up to face out the window, to see the Russian missile sailing towards his ship, a long contrail of white smoke behind it.

SAN FRANCISCO - EARTH

STARBUCK'S COFFEE

The patrons of the establishment all looked up to the twin LCD displays, that hung on the walls, as the news report broke...

"Good evening." a female anchor began. "Tensions escalated today, in the Atlantic, when a U.S. missile destroyer was forced to defend itself, from a Russian gunship. This is only the latest skirmish, in the war of words between nations. Both sides continue to accuse the other of withholding advanced Orvani technology from the other, violating the Shared Technology Pact. The U.S. has vehemently denied such allegations, but the Russian Duma is demanding proof, and demanding that Vice-President Richards allow a team of Russian inspectors to gain access to all relevant information." she added, handing over the report to her male co-anchor.

"That's right." the man led on. "So what does this mean for our immediate future? Is it possible for tensions to erupt into war? With pressure mounting from the Russian Union, The United Arab Emirates, and the Chinese Republic, the eyes of the world are on Vice-President Mallory Richards, and what he will do next. And then, there are the Orvani themselves. Many people have expressed frustration, and even anger, at the apparent lack of activity, on the part of the Orvani. Are they merely watching us, or are they standing by... waiting for something in particular? Will they get involved at all?" he asked, turning back to the female.

"Indeed." she began. "Which brings us to our nightly "man on the street" segment. It has been a month, since President Bensen left Earth, for the Orvani's home planet. According to the Orvani, it will be another month, until he arrives. We wanted to take a poll, of public opinion, to see what people think of the trip, and what they expect the President might be able to accomplish, during his time on Orvan." she led, as one of the customers now got out of his seat, and began to walk out of the Starbuck's.

As the young man swung the glass door open, and walked out, he was greeted by the sight of the nearby Golden Gate Bridge, as it majestically paved a rust-red trail from one side of San Francisco, to Marin County, on the other side.

But the bridge was not alone...

The man followed a small flight of seagulls, as they flew into the sky, their flight path intersecting the view of the bridge... and a duo of Orvani saucers, that hovered in silence, right beside the bridge, unmoving and ominous.

--- TO BE CONTINUED ---

 

[BolianAuthor]

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - EARTH

Alongside the busy city street, the people of the city were stopping, pausing to look up at the sky, and point at something they had not seen, for a very long time...

Holding perfectly still, hovering over the entire city, was a massive black triangle, with a bright light on each point, on the bottom. It was some form of ship, for it made not the slightest of sounds, and was as jet-black as space itself. It was massive, appearing to almost cover the entire area of downtown Phoenix.

The people of the city looked up, pointed, and murmured amongst themselves. What was it? Obviously, it was some form of star ship... but was it Orvani? It was nothing like any other Orvani ship they had ever seen. Orvani saucers did indeed look ominous, at times, but not in a way such as this ship... this dark triangle had a dark energy to it... as if the people could somehow sense a sinister vibe from it. People of Earth KNEW by now, that Orvani ships meant them no harm.

This ship was different. People were afraid of it. The last time a set of lights like this had been seen in Phoenix, it was only for a few long seconds. This time, the craft was making absolutely no effort to hide itself. It merely hovered in place, totally silent, like some sort of dark angel, watching over everyone.

Suddenly, off in the very far distance, a set of rapid-fire gunshots was heard... someone had fired at the dark triangle. Not a second later, the people of the city watched with horror, as the dark triangle fired ONE thin blue beam, at the location of the gunshot sounds, which resulted in a large explosion, which sent a plume of fire and smoke sailing up into the skyline.

The people who were watching from a distance suddenly erupted into panic, crying out and shouting that the triangle had just fired on a house. Many people began to run in fear, as suddenly,a man pointed up to the sky, and began to shout, drawing the attention of the others...

"LOOK! IT'S THE ORVANI!!! THEY'RE HERE!" he shouted, as many others turned to again look up, as three Orvani saucers came to a streaking stop, in front of the triangle, as if facing off with it.

For a full five seconds, the two forces... the Orvani, and this dark triangle, merely faced each other. Finally, the dark triangle fired ONE shot, at the center Orvani ship, the force of the impact pushing the center saucer back, and spinning it out of place for a moment.

With that, the Orvani saucers opened fire on the triangle, their beams of brilliant blue energy lancing out into the sky, as the massive triangle began to angle off, until in the blink of an eye, it sped away, streaking out of view, as two of the Orvani saucers gave chase, streaking away after it.

The crowd watching looked on, as the third Orvani saucer tried to make a smooth landing, in the middle of a nearby street. The saucer's systems had been damaged by whatever weapon the triangle had used, and it was shaky, as it lowered itself onto the ground.

At the location where the saucer landed, people who were watching rushed up to the saucer, as the entry opened up, and the ramp extended, allowing a few Orvani out, one of whom was being supported by two others, as it had trouble walking.

The humans all began calling out at once, asking what happened, and if the Orvani needed any help.

The two guiding Orvani held their arms out, as if to keep the humans away.

"PLEASE!" one of the Orvani shouted. "We appreciate your concern, but all of you... get back into your homes, NOW! It is not safe in the open!" he called out.

--- TO BE CONTINUED ---

 

[Mistral]

a new player in teh mix

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Uh-oh...could these be the Nords? If so, this is NOT a good thing, considering what happened last time one of them got involved in the story.

 

[BolianAuthor]

Hehe... I'm not giving anything away with this one. But I will say that you should remember the tan Orvani criminal's warning/prophecy... that by the end of the year, Earth would be consumed by fire.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Hehe... I'm not giving anything away with this one. But I will say that you should remember the tan Orvani criminal's warning/prophecy... that by the end of the year, Earth would be consumed by fire.

Oh great...now I have two competing theories.

 

[BolianAuthor]

JULY 9, 1947 - GROOM LAKE ("AREA 51")

The image of a scientist in a pure white lab coat, with a face mask and surgical gloves walked into the frame of the camera lens, and looked into it, centering himself for filming.

"Are... are we go?" he asked, as a man's voice said yes, behind the camera.

The scientist nodded, and with a deep sigh, moved away, revealing a stainless steel examination table, with a white sheet, that was covering a small body. The scientist moved around to the other side of the table, again looking to the camera.

"Okay... we're here with the first specimen that was recovered from the crash site, and have been able to make the determination that the specimen is indeed deceased. We are now going to proceed with biological examination, which will basically be an autopsy, not so much to determine cause of death, but to become educated as to the biology of these beings." he began.

With that, the scientist began to pull the sheet away, revealing the body of an Orvani. The once-clear light gray skin was now sporting many blotches of dirty white, as the decomposition process was beginning to take hold over the body. Even in death, the large black almond-shaped eyes of the Orvani seemed to drill into the soul of the scientist.

"We, uh, still don't know where they came from... our astronomical division is still trying to find some way of reading their writing, to find out if they had any sort of map or something on board. But they are clearly, not from Earth." the man continued, as he picked up a scalpel from the table. "I'm going to start by examining the brain, and its structure." he said, as he began to slice an incision on the top of the Orvani's head.

Behind the camera, the government worker who was filming cringed and grimaced, as a sickening squishing/crackling sound could be heard, and the scientist could be seen removing a portion of the Orvani's skull, through the camera lens.

The scientist placed the piece of skull at the end of the table, and then leaned over, to look inside the cranial cavity of the dead Orvani. As he peered inside, looking at the Orvani brain, his eyes grew wide, and he looked up, gesturing for an assistant to bring him a flashlight.

The assistant arrived, and turned the light on, aiming it at the brain, as the scientist looked at it, beside himself with wonder and curiosity.

"What... are these?" he asked, as he pointed to what he was talking about.

Encompassing the Orvani brain, were millions of tiny black strings, as thin as a human hair, that seemed to literally intertwine with the brain itself. Nobody knew it yet, but these were the neuronic fibers... the technology that allowed the Orvani race to leap ahead of nature, and advance their race a hundredfold, in half the time it would have taken nature to do it for them.

The scientist gazed upon the Orvani brain with amazement, at a loss for words.

"My god... they're so fine... like hairs. Finer, even." he exclaimed. "They're like, intertwined with the brain structure itself, as if it were some form of... neural network. Their science must have such an understanding of the brain..." he went on. "Okay... I want to try and extract these fibers... see if we can isolate them. This will be extremely delicate work, so we're gonna take our time, and get it right... make sure it's clean." he said, now looking back to the camera.

The government worker watched from behind the camera, as the reflection in the lens showed the scientist and his assistant continuing to work on the body, as the high-pitched buzz of a hand surgical saw could be heard.

--- TO BE CONTINUED ---

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Uh-oh...if they've had almost 60 years to study this technology, there could be bad things coming...

 

[BolianAuthor]

JULY 10, 1947 - GROOM LAKE ("AREA 51")

The Marine guard stepped aside, and opened the door to a science lab, allowing a man in a suit enter the room, along with two other men, who flanked him.

Upon entry into the room, the lead scientist acknowledged the man, as he removed his hat, handing it to one of the other two men behind him.

"Mister President, welcome." the scientist greeted.

President Harry S. Truman took the scientist's hand, shaking it, as the scientist led the President around the lab, where many of the Orvani artifacts from the Roswell saucer crash were laid out upon tables.

"What is about? What've we got?" Truman asked, as they paused in front of a group of shiny metal panels, on the table.

"It's definitely alien, Sir." the scientist began, allowing Truman to inspect the debris. "Thin as tin foil, and just as durable, yet, if you crumple it up, it'll instantly revert back to its original form." he said, as Truman did just that, crumpling the metal like tin foil, placing it back on the table. Instantly, the metal uncrumpled itself, and reformed itself into its previous form, as smooth as it was before it was crumpled.

"What the... that's astounding!" Truman exclaimed.

"That's the least of what the stuff can do." the scientist added. "We're still studying it. But that's not really what I wanted to show you." he said, leading Truman and his men to the other table, where a large glass container held a large concentration of thin black threads, suspended in some sort of biofluid. It was like looking at a nervous system of some sort.

"What's that?" Truman asked, as he was led to the container, and began to look into it, examining the neuronic fibers.

"From what we can tell, Sir... those are part of their brains. They're some sort of electrochemical fibers, that were attached to the brains of the two dead we found... it's like some sort of neural network, only artificial. We don't know anymore than that." the scientist said.

"You said you found one of them alive... what about that one?" Truman asked, looking to the scientist.

"Indeed, we did, Sir." the scientist began. "We had a hell of a time stabilizing its condition. Again, I will emphasize that they are definitely not human... when you see it, you'll understand." he added.

"So, I can see it, then? It's awake? Can it talk?" Truman inquired.

"Indeed, you may, Sir. But so far, we have been unable to communicate with it. We have been trying to make sense of some of the markings we found in their ship, but so far, we have nothing. For all we know, they are telepathic, but even if that's the case... it may simply be that it is too weak to communicate yet." the scientist replied, indicating for Truman to follow him.

The scientist led the men to a door, which he unlocked with a key, opening for the President.

"Mister President, I present to you, the being we call EBEN-1. Try not to be afraid." the scientist declared, as Truman began to enter the small room, that held a lone hospital bed, with connected appropriate equipment.

As Truman moved into the room, he noticed the bed was empty, and there was a small figure standing beside the bed, looking at him, with interest.

The alien was about 4 feet tall, and had light gray skin, on a very thin and small body, which supported a very large head, with two very large black eyes, which were almond shaped.

Truman raised both his arms up, to show his peaceful intent. The alien in return, nodded. Just then, Truman began to feel lightheaded, and began to go limp, as his two aides rushed to catch him, holding him up.

As they propped Truman up, Truman began to mumble to his men not to take any action, and that it was okay. He then began to mumble as if he were recalling very distant memories, as he began to recite the "A-B-C's" that he had been taught in school, as a young boy.

"Amazing." the scientist began. "It's connected with his mind... searching his audiovisual memory... learning our language that way." he said, excited.

"But is it hurting him?" one of Truman's men asked. "Tell me I shouldn't blast it full of holes right now... if it has control of the President's mind." he added.

"No...don't...it's done." Truman said, regaining his composure, as his features softened, and he was again able to stand upright on his own. "Remarkable... it learned through my own memories... it was as if I was right there, in Mrs. White's grammar class. It only wanted to learn our language." he added.

"That is correct. I apologize for the intrusion." the alien spoke, as all eyes focused on it, astonished.

DOUGLAS DC-6 "THE INDEPENDENCE" - PRESIDENTIAL AIRCRAFT

The proud Presidential plane rose above the clouds, en route back to Washington, D.C.

"The Orvani. They're called the Orvani. The first visitors from another world beyond the Earth to visit us. I find myself utterly amazed at what I have witnessed today. I cannot begin to imagine what American science can ultimately learn from their technology. Those neural fibers are especially impressive. Hopefully, in the time to come, we will learn more and more, as the Orvani survivor has shown us how to contact its home planet."

"It spoke with its own people for quite some time, at which point an agreement was made... his government would allow him to remain on Earth, so he can learn from us, and we can learn from him. In exchange, we will be allowed to keep the wreckage and technology we have so far, and must volunteer a small selection of humans, for transport to their home world... an exchange."

"I must admit, however, that I am dismayed at the Orvani's orders to me, to keep this knowledge and exchange a secret from the American people. But they are adamant that nothing of this ever reach the public, fearing a global panic. But, I must reluctantly agree, for the benefits of this exchange will make all our efforts worthwhile."

Inside the cabin, President truman looked at the words he just wrote, on the paper, and sighed. He looked to his aide beside him, holding his hand out, as the aide handed Truman his lighter and an ashtray.

Truman held the paper up, and lit it from the bottom, the two men watching, as it became consumed by the flames, until it was small enough to drop into the ashtray, where the rest of it was devoured by the flame.

Truman then turned, looking out his window, gazing at the sky, and the clouds, as they flew by the plane.

In the sky, The Independence continued on course for Washington, as two P-51 Mustangs angled up into position on either side, escorting it on its way.

--- TO BE CONTINUED ---

 

[BolianAuthor]

The massive black triangle-ship burst free from Earth's atmosphere, and began to sail into open space, as the Orvani saucers maintained pursuit, right behind it.

LEAD ORVANI SAUCER

The image of the aft section of the massive triangle filled the panoramic holodisplay, in the command center, as one of the Orvani alerted the Commander to some new data.

"Commander... reading an increase in plasma charge, on that ship... it's infusing its Element 115... preparing for chronospatial displacement." the officer reported.

"Stop them." the Commander ordered.

In the background, the officer called for all ships to open fire, as the Commander shot an angry squint at the mystery ship before him.

In space, the Orvani ships opened fire, their bright blue energy beams lancing out into space, many of them impacting with the massive triangle.

The mammoth triangle came about, and made a run between the two Orvani ships, which had to veer away, to avoid being hit, as the Triangle sailed back down towards the Earth.

The Orvani ships maintained close pursuit, firing all the way, until finally, their weapons caused the two rear lights on the bottom of the triangle to begin to flicker, before going out.

LEAD ORVANI SAUCER

As the officers began to relay to one another incoming data, the weapons officer turned to the Commander.

"Sir, their engine core is offline... the ship is going to impact with the surface in ten seconds." the officer relayed.

"As soon as that ship is secure, assemble a boarding party... we're going to find out who these people are." the Commander ordered.



The massive black triangle-ship grew ever closer to the desert floor, until the forward tip of the ship slammed into the ground, and began to plow a vast swath, until the ship came to a shuddering stop, as a massive cloud of dust swept over the ship, while the twin Orvani saucers hovered above.



TRIANGLE-SHIP COMMAND CENTER

The room was extremely dark, and the only light came from the many amounts of computer monitors that lined the room, as suddenly, a dozen washes of blue light signaled the arrival of the Orvani boarding party.

The Orvani produced a few small hand lights, and scanning devices, and the Commander walked over to a chair, where one of the ship's operators was sitting. As he turned the chair to face him, he gasped, and with him, his men, as they too, saw what he saw. The Commander's look very quickly turned to one of utter anger.



THE WHITE HOUSE - WASHINGTON, D.C.

The people of the city casually walked on the streets in front of the home of the President, as suddenly, without any warning, Orvani saucers began to streak into position above the White House, seeimingly surrounding it... three saucers, then a dozen, then two dozen, until it seemed as if the whole Orvani fleet had amassed above the White House, as the citizens looked up at the sight, stunned.

--- TO BE CONTINUED ---

 

[Mistral]

WTF? It was a human in the chair-wasn't it?

 

[BolianAuthor]

THE OVAL OFFICE

Vice-President Mallory Richards sat at the desk, signing off paperwork, as a brilliant wash of blue light momentarily filled the room, prompting him to look up.

He was greeted by the sight of an entire room filled with Orvani, from wall to wall, and standing right before him, on the other side of the desk, the Orvani Commander, who wore a look of some seriousness, and a tinge of anger.

"Gentlemen..." Richard began, as the Commander spoke up, cutting him off.

"Save it!" the Orvani began. "How could you... how dare you? What were you thinking?" the Commander spat.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about." Richards began, not budging.

"We found your triangle... and shot it down. And we know what was inside. After all we've learned, about the inherent dangers of neuronic technology... how could you use it on your own people?" the Commander shot.

Richards now rose from his seat, as if to face off with the Commander.

"You deny us the technology we seek. I chose to use what we have so far, to show you that you cannot intimidate us. We've had sixty-plus years to study the neuronics we found on the two dead Roswell Orvani. And we used what we could from what was left of the ship, to reverse-engineer what we could, and build our own ships... we are not as defensless and stupid as you think we are." Richards spat back.

The Commander merely stared at Richards, beside himself with shock, at what this human was telling him.

"Oh, on the contrary, Mister Vice-President... if you have been experimenting with your own neuronic technology... you are more stupid than we ever could have imagined." the Orvani replied. "That technology is the undoing of my people, and we will NOT allow it to become the same, for your people." he added, as he then came to a grim realization. "Wait... you said ships... you have more than one of those things, don't you?" he asked.

For a second Richards just smiled, as he faced the Orvani.

"We built two. We now have the one, since you took out the first one. And we will use the one we have left, to ensure our interests... unless you become more cooperative, and just give us what we ask for." Richards stated.

"I urge you, Mister Vice-President... choose your next words very carefully... stop what you are doing, and come to reason, before your actions throw your entire planet into the abyss of apocalypse, because one way or the other, we WILL end this." the Commander said.

"We will fight you." Richards shot back.

The Commander was silent for a long moment, before he broke a sly smile, and walked closer to Richards, looking up to face him right in the eyes.

"By all means, Mister Richards... try. Every weapon you have on this entire planet... every molecule of military might that you think you have... would do nothing. It would be like trying to stop a falling atom bomb, by throwing a grain of sand at it." the Orvani emphasized.

The look on Richards's face grew angrier.

"This is OUR world you're on!" he shouted. "You are guests here, and we have the right make these requests! We have the right to protect our planet! Who are you, to dictate to us, how we are to progress, as a species? Who are you, to set the terms for when we can break free from our world, you, who are not even from this world? You come here, asking for refuge, and we grant you every hospitality, yet you will not even grant us the dignity of seeing us as equals!" he spat.

"You are not equals. You still have much to learn. We can set those conditions, because we have the experience. And we both know now, the evils of advancement through neuronics. It is about to wipe our species out, and we'll be damned, if we're going to let it wipe yours out, as well. We won't bear that burden." the Commander shot back. "You have two days to deliver a formal response to us. We'll be waiting." he added, still staring at Richards.

--- TO BE CONTINUED ---

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

WHOA. I didn't see THAT coming! But damn...the more I see, the more I despise Richards!

Now what about Bensen? Did he not know about this? Or was it like in Independence Day, where the knowledge was kept from him for plausible deniability?

 

[USS Fardell]

Interesting.

(In the Chinese sense of course...)

 

[BolianAuthor]

^

Thanks, guys. I'm REALLY glad people are still at least reading the story, lol.

There will be a few plot twists to come. President Bensen's involvement will be addressed when he returns to Earth, but aye, you would be safe assuming he had no knowledge of the triangles. Don't worry, I'm not giving anything away by saying that.

There is a very specific reason that I have focused on the events on Earth, from the beginning, and a reason for the flashbacks to days of yore. There will be more, some from Earth's past, others from Orvan's past. All relevant to what's going on now. We will very soon be back on Orvan, following what Bensen is up to, as well as Miss Tyler.

 

[Mistral]

Excellent-I did guess it to some extent but didn't see the neuronic field usage coming. And, yeah, still reading!

 

[BolianAuthor]

ORVAN

The main hatch opened up, and the plank was lowered, allowing President Bensen and Anne Tyler their first glimpses of the world outside... their first looks at an alien world, and its inhabitants, in their native environ.

Outside, rows of Orvani stood, looking up to the two humans in silent curiosity, as the "General" Orvani stepped into view, and initiated a gesture that Bensen assumed was a salute.

Bensen returned the gesture, at which point the Orvani Commander indicated for the humans to proceed down the plank.

Bensen and Anne Tyler began walking down, until the President stopped, just shy of clearing the metal plank, and realized what he was about to do, as he looked to his feet, and regarded the sight that was just an inch from his feet... the soil of an alien world, light-years from his own. Looking back up, he took a deep breath, and proudly, but respectfully, stepped forward, extending his hand to the Orvani General before him.

"Mister President, Miss Tyler... we were informed you were coming. On behalf of the Orvani people, welcome to Orvan." the General stated, accepting Bensen's hand.

"Thank you, Sir." Bensen began. "I am both honored and thrilled, to be here, and thank you, for your gracious welcome."

"I trust you found the voyage enjoyable?" the General said, leading Bensen away from the landing area, as the Commander joined the two men, and some Orvani attendants escorted Miss Tyler to her accommodations, in the background.

"Indeed." Bensen replied. "For one of my species... a once in a lifetime experience. Never before, have I seen... truly SEEN, the stars... the sheer scope, and vastness of creation. It was a very exciting and humbling experience."

At this point, the Commander interjected.

"General, during our approach to Orvan, we noticed that there is almost no neuronic activity here... what's going on?" he asked.

"That is on purpose. We did that." the General began, nodding. "When the population recieved your neuronic broadcast, about the cover-up, and how the technology was killing our species, mass panic erupted all over the globe. People began to go mad... literally snapping, on-sight, and erupting into insanity. There was global anarchy... people attacked medical offices, and doctors. Violence began to consume the people, and those who were not violent, simply gave up, and shut themselves down, withdrawing from society, and retreating deep into their own minds. That was even more devastating, because when the waves of violence began to pass, it was the calm before the storm. The entire planet was then held in the grip of a shared global depression. Region by region, our entire society began to shut down, and become inactive. We felt it was in the interest of global safety, to induce a full neuronic shutdown, until we could figure out what was wrong, and how to fix it. This way, people can function as individuals, without affecting the rest of the populous." he stated.

"How long?" the Commander asked.

"The neuronic server was put on dormant mode about two months ago." the General replied. "It helped end the mass disturbances, but by no means is our population well... by no means, at all. You might not like what you see, when you get back into the cities." he added.

"The Guild of Elders... the Brights? Where are they?" the Commander prodded.

"They must have left Orvan. Either that, or they're in hiding. Nobody has been able to find them." the General answered.

"We'll find them." the Commander shot. "We have to find them. They have to answer for what they've done. They created this mess, and they have to find a way to fix it." he said, as the men kept walking.

--- TO BE CONTINUED ---

 

[BolianAuthor]

EARTH

The American fighter wing rose up above the clouds, to see a line of Orvani saucers, hovering in place, about five miles in the distance, ahead of them.

The lead pilot activated his radio.

THE WHITE HOUSE

In the Oval Office, Vice-President Mallory Richards sat behind the President's desk, as he listened to the pilot's radio call to him.

"This is Tango Leader... we are in position. I repeat... we are in position. Awaiting final authorization order." the pilot called.

The Vice-President's hand picked up the desk phone, and he brought the mouthpiece to his face, as he replied.

"This is the Vice-President... authorization is granted... you are go. Commence operation." Richards answered, setting the phone back down.

In the sky, the American fighters broke formation, expanding outward, in a fan pattern, to create more distance between the planes.

In the cockpit of the lead fighter, the target lock indicator sounded, as the pilot attained a full missile lock on the central Orvani saucer.

"All units, I have missile lock. Commence with first wave." the pilot ordered.

With the push of a button, a loud whoosh was heard, as a bright white missile contrail raced from the fighter, streaking towards the Orvani ship.

A second later, the first missile was joined by a dozen others, as all the contrails drew a course for the line of Orvani saucers.

The missiles slid through the air, modern-day arrows of destruction. Suddenly, however, the missiles began to change...

The outer casing of the missile itself began to corrode, until it began to crumble away, into dust, exposing the inner components. The minuscule screws and nuts that held together the various guidance and warhead components now also began to corrode, and dissolve, which caused the internal components to literally physically separate from one another, as all the various parts expanded outwards, into the sky, unrestrained by screws or any form of adhesive.

This process was occurring with each and every missile, as each of the once-deadly projectiles now fell from the sky, down towards the vast Atlantic Ocean below, while the line of Orvani saucers remained, untouched, a mere mile away.

In the lead fighter, the pilot's eyes grew wide with astonishment, as he watched the dozens of missile contrails gradually vanish, one by one, in midair.

"Oh, God..." the pilot uttered, scared now. "All units, break off, and switch to guns... repeat... missiles are useless... come around for second strike." he instructed.

In the sky, the planes all angled off, and came about, getting into position for another strike, when they got an unexpected surprise...

Behind the American formation, another group of fighters appeared, and began opening fire on the American planes.

In the cockpit of the lead American fighter, the pilot heard the plank-plank of bullets hitting his plane, as he looked at his RADAR, while signaling his fighter wing.

"Evasive! we've got MIG's! Break, break, break!" he called out.

DUMA OF THE PEOPLE'S UNION OF RUSSIA

The panel of government representatives sat on either side of the Premier, as a messenger walked behind them, and over to the Premier, whispering something into his ear, while handing his a paper document.

The Russian Premier unfolded the document, looking at it, and grew a look of both anger and frustration, as he then looked to his fellow government officials.

"The Americans... their forces are attempting to fire upon Orvani ships." he began, in a thick and heavy Russian accent. "A group of MIG's from the Andropov is engaging them, over Atlantic Ocean." he stated, while the group reacted with looks of shock, and some gasps.

THE WHITE HOUSE

In the Oval Office the phone line buzzed, and the Vice-President pushed the speakerphone button.

"Yes, good morning, Mister Premier." Richards began. "How are you?" he asked.

"Do not "good morning" me, Mister Vice-President." the Premier's voice boomed, through the phone speaker. "We know what you are doing, and our forces are engaging yours. You will not be allowed to take military action against Orvani ships." he added.

"Oh?" Richards asked.

"You have 20 seconds to stand down, Mister Vice-President. If you do not, we shall consider it a formal declaration of war, against the People's Union of Russia, and we will use deadly force." the Premier stated.

Over the Atlantic, the American fighters wove about in the sky, when all of a sudden, the stopped firing, and began to break off, as the Russian planes flew through the formation of American planes.

OVAL OFFICE

Vice-President Richards pressed the speaker button on the phone once again.

"Very well, Premier... we have ceased fire." he said, releasing his hand from the phone, as he looked directly ahead of him. "I'm glad you decided to see things my way." he began, to the unknown source in front of him. "I knew you'd eventually see reason." he added, smiling, as a lone Orvani looked to Richards, from the middle of the room.

--- TO BE CONTINUED ---

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Whoa...I NEVER thought I'd be "happy" to see Russian aircraft sided against American ones...very tense indeed! Let's just hope it doesn't end in a nuclear war that the Orvani don't decide to say "to hell with these humans," sit back, and watch!

 

[BolianAuthor]

Hehe... thanks. Glad you liked it.

In regards to a war, just remember... we know now that at least sociologically, the Orvani are not that different from us. And as we know from our own history of warfare, there are always varying mindsets... you have warmongers, patriots, neutrals, collaborators, pacifists, and supremacists... a spectrum of mindsets and values, that reflect the diversity of humanity itself.