Alien Mine Ch. 12a

******

Sarge and the four others got their questions answered the next day. They certainly had their suspicions, but none of them were prepared for the rest of the base, the shuttle, and a trip to the asteroid belt and back. Nor had they been prepared to meet the other women or watch one of them control an alien spaceship. However, there was one person that Sarge recognized, the woman from the CIA. Some of his assignments had come from her, and he had worked with other teams she had controlled.

When they didn't think anything else could surprise them, they were handed something that resembled virtual reality headsets. Dave put his on and gasped in disbelief as they were all suddenly standing in the desert watching the assault on Nazir's compound. Everything was so real, the heat, wind blowing in his face, even the sand he felt in his fingers. Rhys gave them a few minutes to get used to it, watching them as they looked around at each other, then at him. "This is the first overlay; I am going to add everyone else and then start the fight. It will seem real, but you are not part of the battle, but this will give you a good idea of what you will be facing.

Suddenly they were surrounded by others, and Dave flinched as bullets seemed to whip past, men shouted and died. He stared at the others, seeing them react the same except for Rhys. The real Rhys began talking, describing the situation. and taking them through the battle. First, they saw men die, then the snipers taken out by Rhys and Amancia with what seemed like impossible shots. Then the Trangrods appearing from beneath the sand and immediately taking out part of the assault team; it was so realistic a couple of them fell to the ground to cover. Rhys paused the projection, walking calmly through the sand, describing the action. Those that had dropped to the ground got up, looking a little embarrassed, but no one said anything. The action was too real. Dave narrowed his eyes as he watched Rhys and Amancia fight off the Trangrods. No humans moved like that, no matter what gear they had.

Next, they were in space again fighting the Om ships, then back to earth, but this time assaulting men in a warehouse. They didn't flinch this time when the Om appeared. They saw Kiania in action for the first time; saw her fighting, the beam weapon injuring her, and the massive firepower that chased the beast away but did not kill it. Finally, they stood with Leslie inside her house, looking at the torn and eaten bodies of the family. It was so vivid a couple of them gagged.

Then suddenly, they were back in the base with the headsets on. As they took off the gear, they all looked at each other and at Rhys. Rhys could see the questions in their eyes as they digested what they had seen. "This is what you have been hired for, to fight these aliens. Our mission is to find these monsters and eliminate them from the earth," Rhys said.

"Why us?" William asked, "surely you could get whatever men you needed from the pentagon."

The others nodded. "Eventually, we will, but we need to learn to fight them, develop the right equipment, and locate their home base. You are the tip of the spear for now. If this works, we will start expanding; but it is in everyone's interest to keep this as secret as possible for now. Everything is being run through the CIA," Rhys said, which was partially true.

"What about you, the way you and the others move and fight? You are too fast, almost as fast as the robots we saw. Are you the Rhys I knew, or are you something else?" Dave said with suspicion in his voice.

Rhys could see the others felt the same way as they stood there waiting for his answer. "I am human, but the women you have met and I have been modified by the Aliens supporting us. The Drans. They are gone, and I cannot reproduce it in you," he said, looking each man in the eye. "The Drans are gone," he repeated and described how he had met them and what had happened. "We have to do the best we can without them. As I said, you are the first strike team; you will be the ones who will develop the tactics to fight these monsters."

"These things move so fast, especially that big black monster," Slippery said. I am good but not that good; it will be almost impossible to hit something like that."

"It's difficult but not impossible. You are getting an upgrade today, weapons with a built-in arms computer. It will directly interface with your heads-up display. Once you become familiar with it, you will find targeting the aliens much easier. The training scenarios the next two weeks will get more realistic and challenging from here on, so learn how to use them. In these new scenarios, Kiania will assign targets to each of you. Fire at whatever she designates, even if you can't see it. Remember, the range on the combat rifles is twice what you are used to."

There were many questions Rhys didn't answer, but it was good enough for Sarge and the rest of the team for now. Besides, Rhys had promised even better weapons and armor. There was a noticeable difference in training now that the men knew what exactly they were up against. Kiania had told them two weeks before their first mission.

Mei lay in bed that night with her arms wrapped around Rhys, her body still alive with pleasure. She couldn't believe how much her life had changed in the last three weeks. The alien technology was so unbelievably advanced Mei wasn't sure it would ever be possible to understand it. Why Rhys and the others thought she could unravel the mysteries of the Drans weapons was beyond her. Even with the AI, Mei struggled to understand even the basics. Sandy and Thea had assured her that it would get easier when her symbiont matured and Mei could interact with it and the AI without any interface. Perhaps if she became as intelligent as Thea, she could make some progress. Supposedly the symbiont would increase her intellect, but she had not noticed anything yet.

Mei was ecstatic over the energy beam weapons, but she was equally intrigued by the AI that had come from the Drans ship and the nanobits that surrounded it. She had been warned by Rhys and Thea not to go near it but felt drawn to the mystery. She would stand and stare at the faint silvery cloud that seemed to move randomly around the AI. How did the nanobits work? Did the swarm have its own intelligence, or did the AI control it? And what about the ones that were in Rhys? Why were they in him, and what were they doing? Sometimes Mei wished she had studied medicine, so she could understand the physiological changes her body would undergo.

Rhys had lived up to his promise about Bao, at least so far. Kiania's tiny drones had taken care of that tonight, and Mei felt no remorse over his death, only relief. The drones had been a surprise, though. One the size and shape of a bird had carried a much smaller one to the apartment's window. First, it had cut a small hole in the window, then the much smaller drone, about the size of a mosquito, had flown in and delivered a small bite that was fatal. The drone was so tiny, yet it possessed enough programming to use facial recognition and analyze the target's DNA before poisoning him. Mei thought Thea a genius.

Bao would be protected until they could rescue her. Mei knew it was the right thing to do in her heart, but she wondered if Bao would ever forgive her. Bao was young, brilliant, but still innocent in many ways, and then there was the other problem that worried her, the intimacy Bao would soon be part of. Mei had realized from the beginning that Bao would be in bed with them and have sex with Rhys and the other girls, and probably her as well. She blushed at the thought; there had never been any physical attraction between them, and neither had been the least interested in other girls. But, that had quickly changed for Mei, and presumably, it would change for Bao as well.

Speaking of girls, there were two more in bed tonight. She had met them after she had been abducted, but now she knew them much more intimately. Their relationship with Rhys was a little confusing. Mei was not wholly inexperienced, but this was the first time she had experienced a BDSM scene, as Rhys had told her it was called. It was exciting, she had to admit, and the way Amancia seemed to want it so badly made it even more so. The CIA woman Leslie also, but different.

Mei wasn't sure how she felt about it, though. She wondered if Rhys or Sandy would want to do that to her? Well, she would worry about that another day; some sleep and then back to the AI.

Other things noticed the death at the university; the increases in surveillance. Plans were made. The new Trangrods began moving into place. This time the Drans spacecraft was the target. Destroy that, and they could hunt down the Drans Symbionts at their leisure.

***

"Rhys, the drones had picked up sightings of Trangrods at two of the twenty people we have been watching," Sandy reported. "Nothing serious so far, but the one in China and Africa both have had Trangrods present in the vicinity. We are catching glimpses of something else as well, but we are not sure what," she added, her concern evident.

Rhys was with the team going through a complicated exercise with them. Over the past weeks, they had quickly gelled into a deadly combat team. He watched Kiania giving directions to the men while looking at the video that had concerned Sandy. He could see the brief images of the Trangrods Kiania's small drones had picked up. One was in Mwanza, a medium-sized city on the south shore of Lake Victoria, the other in Harbin at the university in northeast China. The latter had the most activity. "I wonder how the Om chose those two from all the rest of them?" It had been Leslie's idea to randomly select people, research them, and put them under surveillance like they had done with the others. She wanted to see if the Om would always pick up on it, see if there was any pattern?

"Leslie will analyze it, but what do you think about this other thing we are seeing, rather, just getting brief glimpses of it," she said, pointing a mental finger to a slightly blurred image?

"I don't know, is there any indication of the jamming of our sensors we saw when they went after Leslie?"

"No, not at all. This just looks different; something lower to the ground and moves really fast. Our sound sensors pick it up as just a rustle through the bushes or faint vibrations on the asphalt," Sandy said.

Rhys watched Kiania's team as they assaulted a building. They were good, he thought; Kiania had them working together like a fine tuned watch. The new weapons hit much harder, and the heavier automatic weapon was impressive, to say the least. It was an absolute beast. William (don't call me Bill) now had a weapon that suited him; an automatic cannon. Thea had designed supports into his armor and a backpack that held the ammunition. The projectiles were small but were filled with explosives. It was impressive watching him lay down support fire or take a building apart.

"Any idea how many," he asked, referring to the newest Om Horror.

"Bob thinks as many as three, but we don't see much of it to make a guess."

Let's go after the ones in Mwanza," he told Sandy; we will shift the training to focus on that area, but keep the surveillance precisely the same."

After a brief conversation with the AI, he had a hologram displayed of the university in Mwanza. Despite being on the shores of Lake Victoria, Mwanza was known as the City of Rocks. It was built on a series of hills that had been eroded over time, leaving behind huge bus-sized rocks. Buildings were erected around and between them haphazardly, the main streets running between the hills. There was still a significant fishing industry, with thousands of small boats leaving to set their nets on the shallow banks every night. Traffic was heavy during rush hour, primarily busses, vans, and motorcycles; only a few private cars.

"There are reports of people missing in the area," Leslie said, "more so than usual."

"That's the first time we have seen that; perhaps our friend from DC is there waiting for us," Kiania said.

"Perhaps," Rhys thought as he looked at the terrain and the location of the buildings. The sightings of Trangrods had been brief glimpses at night, whatever they were doing, they were staying hidden. He didn't like the idea that an Om might be there, they had been lucky to escape the last time without anyone dying. Even then, it had been a close thing, if there was an Om, it would be ready this time. They were not prepared to take on a fully armored and armed creature, but it would be possible with the shuttle, he thought. That would be like having heavy artillery close at hand, and they would need it.

The subject that had been targeted was at the university in the south of the city. Leslie had selected people at random from all over the world. He hoped they had not made them a target of the Om, but they needed to understand how the Om were tracking them.

Mei had not been targeted, but Leslie and Thea had. Now two more were being tracked by the Om. "Kiania, I think it's time to grab Bao," he said, thinking about it. Set up some training scenarios for the university there and Mwanza. I want to get her next week. I know it's sooner than we wanted, but the response to our bait is much stronger in China. We will hit Mawanza first as a distraction, then grab Bao the same night. "Get with Sarge and go over the terrain. Trangrods and something else are there; I think it's time to let our team see some real action."

Amancia had been listening to the conversation but had not been taking part in the discussion. She left those kinds of decisions to the others. Right now, she was focused on the Israeli project, as she called it. It was a delicate balance she was attempting. Amancia didn't want to overheat the economy, but she wanted it poised to take off as soon as they got someone in charge, some woman, she thought with a smile. Shifting funds from other sovereign states was simple, but the trick was to spread it out amongst numerous governments and financial institutions. She was currently siphoning funds from state-run businesses from around the middle east and Southeast Asia. These funds would soon be used for new start-ups and manufacturing advanced technology. But there was also substantial investment across the board. She was watching the model projections and noted with satisfaction that inflation was under control.

Bob monitored all the sensors they had deployed in DC, watching for Om activity so Amancia could concentrate on the economy for a while. At the same time, she was going through the routine Kiania had developed to train her new body. Amancia was determined to hone her combat skills, and while she needed to be able to fight as part of a combat team, other abilities had to be developed. Bob had provided a crash course in personal protection, and Leslie was helping with situation awareness skills.

While deciding how to invest in critical industries, she went through an arduous simulated close combat progression that ended with throwing a knife and three exploding darts while spinning in the air. These skills would be useful against humans but not Trangrods. That was harder to simulate away from the base. She would train again later after she got Leslie home. Leslie's body was progressing fast, and it was impressive how fast her skills were improving, both in bed and out. The next group of humans that attacked her would regret it.

Satisfied for now with the results, she headed toward the shower. Not bad, she thought, but I can do better. The physical part is coming easy, but I need to learn to control the drones better and integrate them into the combat routine, she thought to herself. Amancia turned the water on hot and stepped into the shower. Moving so the water sprayed on her nipples, Amancia let herself enjoy the feeling. Her nipples were so sensitive since the Bob change, as she called it, and the water felt good hitting them, making them harden. The nipple rings glistened in the water as she began to soap herself. Showering alone wasn't nearly as much fun; she preferred to shower with Rhys or one of the girls. Well, soon, she would pick up Leslie, and they would draw cards to see who had to play dominant first. Honestly, neither were very good at it, but it would have to do until they were back at the base.

That afternoon, Leslie was sitting in a meeting with the CIA and National Security members reviewing current and ongoing threats. About fifteen people were seated around a table with more sitting in chairs behind them. This was more of an information exchange; Leslie did not expect any decisions to be made here. She recognized most of the faces here, people she had worked with over the years as she climbed the corporate ladder. Some of them hated her, especially those she had climbed over, others were intimidated or distrustful. They had good reason to be in the past, but now Leslie had more important things to worry about. The Om had definitely broadened her horizons, to say the least.

Part of her mind was listening, while another part was focused on how to take advantage of the flood of intelligence information Bob and the AI delivered. The problem was she could not come up with anything that wouldn't leak all over the place. Once people realized what they had at their fingertips, they would brag, talk, something, then word would be out.

For the time being, she was just funneling small bits of information to the agency and also to NSA, and DOD, disguising the sources. But there was no way she could keep up with the flood of data available to her. Using the AI, Leslie had invented credible sources that had fooled even the most suspicious intelligence agents so far. These 'sources' provided information, but there was only so much she could do. After much trial and error, the AI was filtering much of it now, focusing on critical elements. In addition, they had erected barriers around essential areas to stop cyber penetration. But still, the amount of data was overwhelming.

Another problem for Leslie was that something was changing in her mind; Amancia had told her it was the symbiont becoming more active. Now it was apparently feeding her information before she even had time to think about it. For instance, when her colleague in the meeting began talking about a new threat from rising guerilla activity in Columbia, information flashed into her brain. Suddenly she knew everything there was to know, the raw data from intelligence collection, her colleague's own notes and reports, even information from the security police in Columbia they had not shared. Faces of people she had never seen before with their biographies were suddenly available to her. It seemed the symbiont was anticipating her needs and grabbing and collating information from multiple sources. Smiling, Leslie could have given a much more in-depth presentation than her colleague.

He didn't know about several essential items, and she made a note to herself to find a way to feed the information to him that wouldn't raise suspicions. Someone asked her a question as the subject had switched to China. It seemed they were discussing China non-stop these days. The trade war and heightened tensions everywhere, and the head of the China section was an ass, with a capital A. He had wanted to be in charge of Clandestine Operations, but Leslie had got it instead. He never forgave her, but Leslie didn't care. She had been observing China and had information that was going to piss him off even more.

"What is the latest on the dead or missing Chinese scientist," her boss had asked. We have been getting quiet inquiries; I think the Chinese suspect we are responsible, or worse, that she has defected.