Chapter 3:
Watchers

In roughly two days, the small underwater base had blossomed. Their radar and communications arrays were set up. They created some decent quarters for themselves, as well as a supply storage area and some defenses. They also created a hanger and a robotics lab so they could start manufacturing defensive units. However, something still wasn't right.
"Sara," Vu asked as he leaned back in his seat in the control center. "What's the status of our base construction?"
"The mining facility is 67% complete," Sara responded. "Supply depots two and three are near completion and torpedo defense is having it's finishing touch-ups completed now."
He nodded. "Are the scanners up yet?"
"Affirmative."
"What's our range?"
"The globe."
"Can ya give a scan?"
The scanners went to work. "I'm detecting nothing, Vu."
He quirked a brow. "Okay."
"May I ask what's the matter?"
He chuckled. "An AI with a curiosity? Well, I wasn't expecting."
"I know. I was just trying to make things a lot more alive around here." He chuckled again. "Now, what's wrong?"
"I don't know. Something's not right." He thought for a second. "Give me a scan of the interior of the base."
The computer beeped. "Shivana and Mallory are in the main living quarters, taking a break and chatting. Terry's in the robotics lab overseeing the construction of some defensive bots."
"Is that all?"
"One of my message drones is idling."
"Okay." He shook his head.
"And I'm also detecting that you guys are all hungry."
His stomach rumbled it's agreement. "Yeah. We haven't had anything to eat in two days. We've been surviving on fluids."
"I thought so. You should head back to your quarters. A meal will be brought to you soon enough."
"But what about everything here?"
"I can handle it. You need to eat or I'm going to be flying solo, so to speak."
He laughed. "Tobias programmed his humor into you. How cute. Okay, you win. I'll go." He got up. "But you had better let me back here if something comes up."
"I will. Now, go eat." Vu smiled and left for his quarters.

Terry was busy watching over the automated robots as they quickly put together another cybernetic warrior. He remained silent as the computer hooked into it's simple memory bank and programmed in it's protocols. The new warrior got up off the table where it lay and "stretched", a set of movement meant to get the kinks out of it's joints. It turned to Terry, saluted, and went to go wait in the hanger for a mission.

Terry was not happy with this operation. The facility could only produce one unit every five minutes. What they produced was nothing but bare structure and wires. Any well aimed shot from anything could snap a wire and put the bot out of commission. "Sara," he finally said when the second robot of the hour was halfway done. "Isn't there some sort of armor plating we could put on these things?"
"Yes. But since Isthus' forces have not been detected, there is no reason to."
He nodded and continued watching.
"Terry, there is a meal waiting for you back at your quarters."
"I'm not hungry."
Sara seemed to chuckle. "Doubtful. You barely have the energy to maintain your illusion."
He spun around sharply. "What do you know about my illusion?" he shouted defensively.
"Tobias programmed me with all of the relevant details concerning you four. And I know that you won't be able to keep that illusion up without enough energy. And believe me-"
"What do you know?"
"I know that you don't want Vu and Shivana to find out any time soon." He didn't answer. "Go and eat. There is no reason to watch over the units."
He sighed. "I guess you're right." He started out. "I just wish it weren't so boring around here. I need something to keep my skills honed just in case I have to fight with Isthus."
Sara chuckled. "I'll see if Vu will build a recreation facility for you."
"Funny Sara." He stepped out of the lab, the door sliding shut behind him.

*******

The scouts were very agile fightercraft. These boomerang shaped ships were big enough to fit in one person comfortably, but could easily accommodate two. Because initial scans of the surface of the planet revealed that there were primitive, though very effective, radar stations dotting the different sections, a stealth field generator was also being included with it.
"We're almost finished, Miss Julia," one of the techies told her. "We just need to confirm the generator works." Suddenly, the entire ship disappeared, stayed out of sight for five seconds, and then reappeared. "I guess that's a yes."
She smiled, her orange and black striped tail flicking playfully. "Thank you," she told him. "I'll prep for launch now."
He shook his head. "Not just yet. Allen asked me to tell you something."
"What's on his mind?"
"Well, he told me to say, first off, that the ship you're driving has been retrofitted with some new equipment." He handed her some schematics. "Your dealing with a new scanner set that can pick up any and all details of anything you scan, as well as a new type of defensive weapon just in case you're faced with enemy fire."
"Me? Enemy fire? Nah!"
"Regardless, the new point defense cannons are mounted in the front and back of your ship. They'll take out any missiles that come your way."
"Okay. Is that all?"
"He also told me to tell you that he misses you dearly and would like to see you again."
She smiled, playing with the necklace he gave her. "Well, if you see him, tell him to drop me a message."
"Okay." He checked his clipboard. "You're ready to prep for launch."
"Good." She started down to the flight deck to get ready.

Flying the fighters was one of the few, simple joys in her life. On her home world, she would skim the dirty gray clouds with similar fighters, just for the pure thrill of it. Earth's atmosphere was dotted with clean, white clouds. That really made her day. She spent the first five minutes of her flight skimming the surface of the clouds, squealing with pure, unadulterated enjoyment. After having her moment of inner peace, she started down towards the surface. All she needed to do was to gather some recon. But she wasn't expecting to see what she did.

Her radar lit up. She was approaching a surface city, the sensors indicating it was known only as "Washington D.C." It sounded like a good place to start to her, so she hit the cloak and started to descend a little. When she cleared the cloud cover, she saw the skyline. Her stomach turned moments after.

The sky was all but blotted out by tall, obelisk-like buildings, crammed close together. She watched the monitors that connected to the external cameras and saw the droves of humans struggling across the streets, almost rubbing against one another at each step they took. Huge, hulking piles of metal on wheels only complicated the problem, taking up the majority of the pathways, forcing the populous to the sides. She sped around a little more, scanning each individual building.
The scans were even worse.
The buildings seemed to be for office and clerical work. Herds of the people were separated into tiny sections of floor space by simple walls, where they slaved at primitive computers to please their fat, egotistical bosses who had huge offices. She clenched her fists for a few seconds. Her fingers danced around the controls to the laser batteries for a few seconds before she stopped herself. "Now is not the time," she muttered as she pushed onward.

She soon came to a much clearer stretch of land. There wasn't much urban development to it, just a few odd buildings and the occasional monument. But there were still hordes of people crowding everything. She pressed on wearily, wishing to be back in the clouds, skimming them again. Finally, however, she came to one fenced of section. A single, white building stood there. A group of people were positioned out front, watching another man as he spoke. "Computer," Julia said. "Can we listen in on the group down there?"
"Negative," the computer responded tonelessly.
She sighed. "Fine. Scan the one who is speaking. He seems to be important." The computer worked for a few seconds before spitting out the report on her monitor. She read it over boredly, only to realize that this man was a lot more than just another face. She turned on the communications relay. "This is Scout ship Zenia calling Command Ship Plague," she said.
"Yes?" Isthus' voice answered.
"Ah...Lord Isthus..." She sounded nervous.
"What is it ensign?"
"I need you to patch into my ship's computer. I've obtained some information on one of the apparent leaders of these people."
"One moment," he said, a bit excitedly. The computer beeped and whirred as data was transferred. She waited patiently for a response. "Good job ensign," he finally said. "You will be rewarded."
"Thank you sir."
"I've checked the rest of the data you've obtained during your flights. We need you to find out how many different nations there are. See if you can access their information systems."
"All right. Zenia out." The relay shut off. She looked at the white building ahead of her. "Might as well give that a shot."

*******

Tobias was the first to stir that morning. He was met with the sight of Samantha curled up in his arms. She looked peaceful, a soft expression on her face. He smiled and stroked her cheek gently with his finger. "Time to wake up, beautiful..."
She began to stir. "Hmm?" She opened her eyes and smiled. "How'd you sleep?" He gave her a kiss. "That well?"
"Yep." He yawned and stretched. "I say it's time to get up, don't you?"
She sat up and stretched, her nude figure tantalizing him. "Yeah." He slipped behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She giggled . "What's with the affection?"
"Oh, no reason." He nuzzled her neck. "Just remembering the first time I ever got to touch your beautiful body."
She sighed. "Back at the sci quarters." She ran her fingers over his. "We were young. We were innocent." She shut her eyes. "I would gladly give my life to live that for one week again."
"Oh, don't talk like that." He took the hand that was massaging his.
"Don't you miss it sometimes?"
"All the time."
"But you handle it so well."
"I think of it this way. We may have had the perfect life when it was all innocent, but I wouldn't give up our marriage for anything."
She smiled. "I guess you're right."
"Right." He let go of her and slid off the bed. "Now, let's get dressed. Don't forget, I've got the responsibility of making sure these ships get to Earth in one piece."

He sat down in his chair on the bridge. "Status report," he asked. Everybody suddenly buzzed to life, tapping away at controls.
"Shields at optimal," one of the stations reported.
"Engine at 86% efficiency," a second added.
"Nothing on the sensors. We're clear." He nodded silently and leaned back in his seat. One of the helmsmen, a young kitsune turned to him. "Is something amiss?" she asked.
"Hmm?" He looked at her. "Oh, it's nothing major. I just thought Isthus would anticipate this and, well, try to stop us.
"Point taken. But aren't you worrying a little too much about it?"
"You haven't had to fight Isthus face to face. You've never had to bring your claws across his face." He smiled. "But you do raise a point. Thank you...um..."
"Stephanie."
"Steph. Gotcha." He leaned back in his seat. Almost immediately, the ship began to shake. "The hell is that?"
"Meteor storm," Steph said.
He chuckled. "Well, guys, here's our chance to see how well you can shoot. I want all laser banks to take out incoming meteors."

*******

Sara broke their afternoon meal with the ringing of emergency alarms. The four put their meals down and raced to the control room. "What's the deal Sara?" Terry asked.
"We have an unidentified ion engine signature in the Washington DC area," she reported. "Patching into local broadcast."
They watched the screen as it went from static to a clear picture. "In national news," the human face that appeared on it said. "Radar stations in the Washington DC area picked up an unidentified object flying over the White House today." The screen flicked into a view of the Presidential mansion. They watched silently as the President's speech was interrupted by a shadow that streaked across. "Sources say the UFO was shaped like a giant 'V'. The FBI and the CIA are not releasing any information at this time." The view went to static once again.
"Well," Mallory said. "Guess what."
"Looks like Isthus is here," Vu said. "Why hasn't he attacked yet?"
"Simple," Shivana said. "He's gotta establish himself somewhere before he does any attacks. I bet that aircraft was only a recon jet."
"You may be right," Terry said. "The only aircraft the Raiders own that's shaped like a 'V' are their Psion class scouts. Sara, do you have any information on the area over the last four or five hours?"
"Affirmative."
"Please display it for us." The screens lit up. They watched as an ion trail was traced out on a map of the city. "It was a scout. Take a look."
"They could have attacked any position at any time," Vu said. "But they didn't. They were gathering intelligence." He sat down at the controls. "Sara, can you run a spectral analysis of the areas from this data."
"Negative."
"How fresh is that trail?"
"It's starting to decay."
"Can you run a spectral analysis right now?"
"I can try."
"Then do so."
The computers worked for a few minutes. "Vu, I am picking up an unfamiliar signature. It's not even in standard Pack databases."
"Display it on the map and display the analysis for it." Different color streams appeared on the map, branching off from the main path. The one that set both Vu and Shivana off was the one that branched off to where the president was standing while making his speech. "Shit. Sara, how saturated is the area in grid 0x025?"
"The particles are in decay, but it's pretty contaminated."
"Fuck!" He pushed himself away from the control panel. "Sara, can you locate the approaching Pack fleet?"
"I'll give it a shot."
"Vu," Terry said. "What's wrong?"
"If my assumptions are correct, then that UFO was indeed a Raider scout. The signature appears to be that of a scanner. And if where the President of the United States was standing has been saturated with the particles, then we may just lose the biggest political wheel on Earth."

*******

After debriefing from the flight, Julia decided it was best to grab a quick meal and some sleep before she was called into action once again. She found herself in the mess hall, at the same table she and Allen had sat at only a few days before. She was quickly eating her meal, aching for the few hours of sleep she was going to get.
"This seat taken?" Allen asked, interrupting her concentration.
She looked up at him. "Allen!" She got up and gave him a hug. "How ya been?"
"Busy. Very, very busy." He put his meal down next to her. "How are things with you? Heard you got to go down and visit the planet."
She sighed. "It's not a pretty sight down there Allen. The people are worse off without our intervention."
"Oh?"
"They've cramped themselves in too tightly. They have an apparently rigid hierarchy, with lords subjugating minions."
He laughed. "Kinda like Isthus."
She smiled. "The similarities are too eerie." She polished off the rest of her meal. "So how's the space station coming along?"
"We've managed to bang out the first two decks. It's all coming together nicely."
"That's good." She sighed. "Well, I better go get some sleep. Don't know when Isthus will want me to make another fly-by." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and took her stuff. "See ya later, Sparky."
He winced. "Haven't I told you to stop calling me that?!"

*******

"Hey guys," Crash said, entering the Elite Guard's barracks. "Tobias sent us something."
The other four, whom were perched around a table playing cards, looked towards him. "What'd we get?" Bomber asked. Crash came over and put a disk on the table. "A disk. Wow."
"It's what's on the disk that's what we want to see."
"Well, let's see what's on it," Hack said. "You know what's on it?"
"Probably some background information on what we're doing," Wrench said. "Maybe even some designs for a vehicle I'm gonna get to work on." He chuckled. "That I would like to see."
"Nah," Psycho said. "It's probably for all of us."
"Okay, whatever." Hack moved over to a monitor. "Let's see what this puppy has to offer." He popped it into the little slot that was there.

Swift sat down in her chair to watch. She, too, had received a disk from Tobias. And she was also very curious to what was on it. She watched the monitor patiently as the computer started to read it. Tobias' face appeared on the screen. "If you've received this disk," he started. "Then that means I have recognized you as a member of my inner circle of friends and comrades. It also means that I know that the information on this disk will be crucial to you, seeing as how this trip will affect you more than you would think.
"Enclosed on this disk are what few memories of Earth I have left. I haven't seen the planet in six of it's months, that's about three months our time. I don't even know if it'll be like this when we get back." He sighed. "You won't like what you'll see." The screen flashed and a parade of images started to scroll across the screen.

Kaitlyn leaned closer, perhaps to get a better look. She was on her bed, watching the disk on a nearby monitor. The message itself had her worried enough. She watched the images, studying them as carefully as she could. They portrayed a disturbed, broken civilization. There were burnt out buildings, seas of pavement and asphalt, and industrial smoke stacks that spewed foul smoke into the air. Every so often, an image of a serene lake or forest would appear, but it was usually surrounded on either side by some sort of urban development. She shrank back with each disturbing image.
Tobias' face appeared once again. "I'm sorry you had to endure that. But it was necessary. All I can say is this: this may or may not be what we will encounter. It all depends on what Isthus decides to do." He sighed. "I hope that this didn't disturb you enough to prevent a good night's sleep. Try to get some rest. Good night."
Kaitlyn shook her head. She got up and pulled the disk from it's slot as it popped out.

Samantha looked at the disk. "So that's Earth?" she asked.
"Unfortunately," Tobias responded. "I wish I could say that it was an exaggeration." He sighed. "I'm sorry you had to see that."
"No need to be." She sat down with him on their couch. "We needed to see that." She smiled. "It's going to help us a lot." She kissed his cheek. "Thank you." He smiled and hugged her. "So, it's getting late. We should head off to bed."
"What? Right now?" He pouted. "But I still want to play some more." He nuzzled her neck. "We ARE supposed to be on our honeymoon, right?"
She giggled. "Stop it you!" She pushed him away. "We can play another time. Right now, we need our shut eye."
"Oh no. I want to play." He started to pull himself closer. She giggled and leaned farther and farther away from him, until she was on her back on the couch. He hovered over her and started to give her the loving kisses he'd been giving her since they fell in love. "I love you, Samantha."
She hugged him, shutting her eyes. "I love you too, Lone Wolf." She smiled, knowing that would get some sort of reaction out of him.
"Oh, I'm not a Lone Wolf anymore. I have my friends. And I have you, my love."
There was a knock at the door.
"Speaking of which." He got up and went to answer it. "Who's there?"
"Kaitlyn." He smiled and opened the door. She looked solemnly at him. "Am I disturbing you two?"
"No, you're not. Please, come in." She walked by him quietly, not saying a word. "Are you okay?"
"No."
"What's up, Kaity?"
"Well, first off, that disk you gave me didn't do any better for me. But that's not why I feel so horrible."
"What's the reason?" Samantha asked, sitting up.
"I can't say. It'd hurt your marriage."
"Try us," Tobias said.
She sighed. "You made a promise to me, Tobias. Remember?" She lifted her shirt up a little bit, exposing her belly - and the stripes that ran across her sides. "You promised me you'd help me figure these things out."
"I did," he said. "And I am going to keep that promise."
"You can't. They reacted only when you and I were last intimate. True, it was while Samantha was involved as well, but I don't think she'd allow it."
Samantha sighed. "You're right. I wouldn't."
"I knew it." She sat down on their bed and lowered her head. "I'm sorry for coming in here and disturbing you two."
Tobias looked at Samantha before sitting down next to her. "Kaitlyn, I don't know what to say. I want to help, but..."
"No, I'm being foolish," Samantha said, standing up. "I trust you enough, Tobias." She smiled. "Besides, who knows what that will bring into our relationship." She sat down on the bed. "I shouldn't be selfish."
Kaitlyn smiled. "Thank you two. I have one favor I want to ask of you, however."
"Ask away, " Tobias said.
"Those images...well...they scared the shit out of me, quite frankly."
He chuckled. "Well, it's not cold, and we're not in a tent, but I think we can work something out. Right Samantha?"
"Of course." She smiled. "For a friend, anything." Kaitlyn smiled and gently wrapped her arms around her stomach. She could feel it on her sides, the stripes were reacting.

There was a knock at the Elite Guard's door. Everyone but Crash had passed out for the evening, so he was left to get the door. "What is it?" he whispered bluntly as he opened the door. He blinked when he saw Swift standing there. "Oh, hey Swift. What's up?"
She smiled. "Nothing much," she answered. "Just wondering if you guys got Tobias''s disk."
He nodded. "The images scared you a little?"
"Enough to bring me here to ask if you've got a spare bunk."
He shook his head. "Sorry. We're full."
She sighed. "Thanks." She started to walk away.
"Swift." She looked at him. He took a deep breath. "The best I can do for you is sharing my bunk with you. I promise that I won't try to cop a feel or anything."
She stepped up to him, caressing his cheek. "Sounds good." She smiled. "And you're my best friend. I don't think I'd kill you too badly if you grabbed my ass or something of the sort." She gave him a peck on the cheek. "Thanks."
He smiled. "Believe me, it's my pleasure." She smiled and stepped into the bunks, Crash shutting the door behind them.