Memoirs of Kitty Siam Ch. 50

Admiral Montoya moved to another line of questioning that concerned the possibility of using my ship in concert with his fleet in defense of the Central Command, I think he already knew the answer but had to ask the question anyway. My answer just confirmed the fact that his facility was doomed and that in less than two standard Earth days it would be reduced to rubble. This led to a conversation between the Admiral and the General and for the time being they seemed to forget about us. They spoke in a soft whisper but for some reason I could hear them though Megyn could not.

They went on discussing the benefits of fight or flight and neither side of the argument was going to win out between the two flag officers. The General wanted to fight, while the Admiral was in favor of evacuating as many people as possible in an effort to live to fight another day. The downside of the fight proposal was that there was no way for the humans to defeat or survive the coming attack even with the planet killers out of the picture. The problem with the flight side of the debate was that they did not have enough ships to evacuate the facility, or the colonies on the neighboring planets. The number of people in the Central Command and supporting units would over whelm the capacity of the available ships to transport them. The massive number of people would over tax the oxygen replenishment systems as well as the food replication stations during the long voyage to a safe anchorage.

Using our private wireless connection Megyn and I discussed things amongst ourselves including her reason for brining up the use of the Mentok missiles, which she had cautioned me against. She admitted that this was the only way to shut up the General and end his inquisition. She commended me on accessing the local data network and asked how I had done that. Being that she was an intelligence officer, she was wondering if she could do the same thing using her installed interface.

While the flag officers debated, I gave her a crash course on some of the things that our advanced wireless system could do against a primitive network such as the one that the humans were using. Megyn was quick to point out that she was still quite human. Of course my reply of, "You are not as human as you think after the major repairs that Kitty had performed on Anora Prime." I watched as a concerned look formed on Megyn's face. Of course I just smiled and winked as a non-verbal gesture to let her know that being part Annunaki was not so bad.

The conversation between the two flag officers became louder as they continued their debate. As their discussion went on Megyn mentioned that Kitty had a plan to evacuate this facility but did not share it with her. I had to search Kitty's memories to find what Megyn was talking about. It was then that I approached the human officers with Megyn in tow. I politely excused my way into the conversation and asked if there was a Major Sima Kashen assigned to the Ksatria Cahaya (KC) or the Potaru Tansa Bushi (PTB) here at the Central Command. The General understood what I had just asked and being that this was a top-secret organization under the control of the army, he looked like he was mad enough to chew through six inches of solid depleted zendarium armor plating. The Admiral just gave us both a quizzical look, as he had no knowledge of these organizations or the officer that I had just mentioned.

General Maxwell did not bother to explain what I had just asked to the Admiral but immediately moved to a data terminal in the conference room and pulled up the roster of personnel assigned to the Central Command and confirmed that they had a Colonel Sima Kashen assigned. Figuring that she may have had a promotion or two since Kitty met her I identified her as the person that I was interested in and asked if she and her supervisor could join us. I elaborated that I believed that she and her department could help evacuate Central Command much faster than could be accomplished by ships alone.

It took about ten or fifteen minutes before the requested officers arrived. They both saluted briskly and the human officers including Colonel Connors exchanged military courtesies followed by a round of introductions. Sima immediately recognized me as Kitty and was a bit confused when I was introduced as Princess Maew. I knew that I had a lot of explaining to do where she was concerned and I promised her that in time we would have a very long discussion about things. She relayed the story about how we had worked together on Mars and that I took the lead in restoring Romanov Station after we discovered the destruction of Earth.

After our discussion of my resume of service to the PTB, Sima remarked about the color change of my eyes, and I could tell, as she looked me in the eye as we talked, she was a bit disturbed as others had been when seeing my eyes this way. I was just about to mention the process that I had undergone on Galora when General Patel inquired as to why he and Sima had been summoned. Admiral Montoya prompted me to give him and Sima the condensed version of the briefing that I had given them on the impending attack on the Central Command and the need to evacuate quickly through the portal system. Of course General Patel was a bit incensed that an alien such as myself knew about a transport and communication systems that was meant to be kept as one of the human's greatest secrets. I was so tempted to blurt out that it was my people that had built the portal network that they were attempting to keep secret from me.

Since I had everyone's attention I laid out Kitty's plans step by step. Kitty's plan called for the human population to be evacuated to Mars. Of course I had to ask if the Mars base was still intact as there was always the possibility that the Zetas had returned to hit it again. General Patel confirmed that Mars was still intact and could function as an evacuation point but that resources there would be stretched to their limit. I found he had a valid concern as I searched Kitty's memories of Mars. I assured the General that Mars would only be a temporary stop as I had follow on destination in mind for his people.

Sima asked me directly where the final destination would be, but I held that information back and suggested that it best to wait until we arrived on Mars. She asked a follow up question about why Mars was chosen. I was prepared for this question so from Kitty's memory I related the story of the day Kitty was to leave Mars for the human's Central Command and arrived somewhere else. I informed the group that I was taking them to the "somewhere else" and that it would be a safe place to regroup. Megyn shot me a quizzical look to which I mentioned that she had already passed through our final destination on our way here. Megyn thought for a few minutes of all the places that we had visited then assured her fellow humans that she knew where we were going but not the name or location of our final destination.

Next it was Admiral Montoya's turn to enter the conversation and ask if he should order his ships to form up and set course for Mars. I was quick to put a stop to that idea, as the Zetas would be able to track such a mass movement of vessels in the same manner as the Siegfried was doing when I came upon them. I made a few changes to Kitty's plan but before I briefed the humans. I also ran the coordinates for the Iridanis Transfer Station past Sheba to confirm that the station was still intact and able to receive the number of ships that I was about to send there. When Sheba stated that the facility was serviceable and connected to the Annunaki portal system I instructed Sheba to get a message to Neko to have her and Major Jarro use the portal system to arrive there before the fleet and see that everything was upgraded and in working order. I knew that it would take the human fleet four to six weeks to travel to Iridanis so Neko and Jarro would have plenty of time to get the maintenance bots recharged and off to work.

Once those arrangements had been completed with Sheba, I suggested that the Admiral instruct each vessel set course away from the Epsilon system on a random course then make the jump to hyperspace. After each ship made their first jump they would make seventeen short random before setting course for Iridanis. I sent the coordinates to Iridanis to Colonel Connor and had her convert them to a convention that the humans would understand. Admiral Montoya pondered all that I had told him before remarking that his people will be wandering like the Jews in the desert searching for a home. I knew enough to recognize that this was a religious reference and was nothing that I needed to make a comment on. After conferring with the two Generals the Admiral contacted his Chief of Staff and issued the order to begin evacuating the station. After that was done he opened a secure channel to the defense fleet and ordered their Captains to report to him within the hour.

I was happy to see that he was intelligent enough to not put this out over the fleet communication system. Even though it was an encrypted system, the Zetas are quite efficient at what they do and could possibly be listening in. After a brief meeting he would hand each Captain their sealed orders with instructions to make the required seventeen random jumps before opening their sealed orders. I was not invited to the meeting with the Captains, so I made my way back to the hangar to work on some last minute calculations concerning the arrival of the Zetas' fleet that I had doubts about after reviewing Megyn's charts in detail. Mostly it was the conversion between Annunaki and human measurements of time, distance, and speed. I knew that I could work things out better using the data displays on the Koloth.

Megyn was asked to remain with the flag officers while I was left in the care of Major Andropov. He offered to show me around the Flight Operations section while his superiors made plans to evacuate. His squadron would eventually be sent aboard one of the jump-capable ships for the long journey to Iridanis. As we walked the corridors he tried to pump me for information but I would not comply with his subtle requests. He told me about the history of his squadron, which is something that most military folks are proud of especially when their unit has won many citations for bravery in battle as his had. My tour included an up close inspection of his Panama class fighter. He was as proud as he could be of his ship and he allowed me sit in it to "get the feel" of her. I took note that the ship was not equipped with shields, or a cloaking device, but at least it had ablative armor though I could easily see that it was no match for a Saloof.

As I exited his ship I let him know that I needed to go by my ship to double check the math concerning the arrival time of the Zetas' carrier fleet. As we made our way to the Koloth I deactivated the security system using my internal wireless system then raised the canopy. I lowered both internal crew ladders and asked the Major to join me.

The displays were all in my ancient dialect of Annu, which was the default setting, but since I had a human Marine in the back seat on my journey here, I had the onboard data system reprogram the screens and controls to use the galactic standard language that she could easily understand with out using the universal translator (UT). Once I changed the language and pattern displays, Major Andropov remarked how similar the control systems resembled those of a Sunhawk strike fighter that he was first assigned to after he graduated from the academy.

I gave him access to some of the scanners and tactical readouts and let him play around a bit as a courtesy to a fellow pilot. Actually I was treating him as a parent would a child by giving him something to do to keep him from asking too many questions while I went about my work. From time to time he did ask a question or two but mostly I tuned him out and worked on my equations.

When I came to the end of my computations I announced to the Major that there was an error in the flight plan data that I had received from Colonel Connors and that the Zeta fleet would be arriving twelve to fourteen hours sooner than expected and that the evacuation would have to begin immediately.

I soon found out that I was talking to myself as the Major had exited the back seat while I was preoccupied. He was now standing behind a wall of six MPs commanded by a Marine Major and they all had the business end of their weapons pointed in my direction. When I made contact with the leader of the MPs she ordered me to slowly exit the Koloth and assume a prone position on the floor of the hanger with my fingers intertwined behind my head.

I was not sure what was going on until the order was repeated again but this time with a much more forceful tone. As I pondered what was happening I got a message from Colonel Connors that I should surrender immediately as I was being placed under arrest for violating the PGC's directives against the use of weapons of mass destruction. As I listened to her words I watched her emerge from behind and armored personnel carrier that had been parked between the Koloth and the hanger door. She was also flanked by armed MPs who also had their weapons pointed in my direction.

My first thought was that she had turned me in, and when I asked her by wireless she confirmed that she was duty bound to report to her superiors as to the nature of the weapons that I had used against the Zetas and that she had cautioned me against doing so.

Megyn continued to talk to me via wireless as once again the leader of the MPs ordered me to surrender. Megyn interrupted her and suggested that the Major let her deal with the situation. The Major relented and Megyn began walking toward her and her armed Marines.

As she stood with the detail of MPs, Megyn tried to convince me to surrender peacefully and stand trial before a military tribunal. While she thought my attention was focused on her, I noticed that three more armored personnel carriers and two tanks were moved into position to block any avenue of escape in case I thought of trying to fly my way out of this situation.

I dismissed her suggestion that I surrender and tried to reason with her but she would hear none of my argument. It was clear that her superiors wanted to put me on trial and being the creature of duty that she was, it was her duty to see that I surrender. Surrender was not an option for me and I explained this to her and added how I had discovered an error in the calculations used to predict the arrival of the Zetas fleet. That gave her pause but she continued her insistence that I surrender.

I used the pause and my wireless connection to the Koloth to activate the security system and activate the low level parking shields that I had used when the craft was parked and unattended. I knew that this would at least protect me from the small arms fire that was about to come my way as I started to lower the canopy and power up the sub light engine.

I was correct in my assumption in that as soon as the canopy began to close the order was given to open fire. The security system easily deflected the small arms fire, and just as the main shields were coming on line, the tanks and the armored personnel carrier joined in and opened fire. The shields of the Koloth were much too advanced to be penetrated by the archaic weapons on the human's tanks and APC's. In fact, the rounds and energy bolts that were being deflected by the Koloth's shields were doing much more damage to their ships parked near mine. Several vehicles and two fighters were quickly set on fire, and another quickly exploded when the fuel cell was hit directly.

Through the now closed canopy I looked at Megyn and gave her a disapproving look and reinforced my disappointment in her via our shared wireless system. I knew that I could not leave Megyn behind with the knowledge and internal wireless technology that she had obtained from our journey and our stops at the various Annunaki facilities. I brought the trans sonic cannon online and targeted the closest tank. Once I had a firing solution I sent one round to the center of the tank's turret, which caused it to explode into a rapidly expanding ball of fire.

The MPs and the others in the hanger were diving for cover and trying to make their way to the nearest exit, but Megyn was confident and stood her ground. She had gone silent and kept her attention focused on me as I took out the second tank. When I targeted the personnel carrier closest to her she advised me to cease-fire and surrender as there was no way out of the hangar for me even though the tanks had been destroyed. She warned me that the planetary defense forces would open fire on the Koloth should I find a way out of the hangar. As her warning was received I observed two more tanks moving at the other end of the hangar and heading my way.

I knew that it was time to end this and make my escape, but I had to take care of Megyn first. My initial thoughts were to just blast her with the swivel mounted cannon, but that may still leave the wireless and data systems in her head intact. I had to make sure that here was nothing left of it for the humans or the Zetas to find when the base fell. After a few seconds of thought I used our shared wireless connection to attach directly to her implanted system and began making changes to the electronic and neural connections. While I was going about making changes to her wireless device I kept her occupied by warning he that her and her superiors were bringing a sure doom upon their people.

When I was done I sadly informed her that I could not allow her to keep the information that she had obtained of the Annunaki throughout our journey. Before she could process what I had just told her, I sent a small plasma charge through the wireless device and into her brain stem. As the device was fried by the surge she immediately dropped to the ground and began flopping about like a fish out of water before she expired. I was confident now that the Zetas could not reverse engineer the device, nor could interrogate the Colonel to obtain information about me and the Annunaki facilities that remained available to oppose them.

The fires from the tanks and damaged fighters were beginning to spread throughout the hangar and as the individual fuel cells were breached there were secondary explosions and fireballs blooming in all directions inside the sealed hangar. The humans became more concerned with their own safety than with stopping my escape. Now that their attention was off of me I engaged the anti gravity system and retracted the landing struts, then preformed a 180 degree pivot that brought the weapons of the Koloth be bear on the nearest corrugated metal wall of the hangar. It took just one blast of the Koloth's plasma cannons to open a section of the wall large enough for me to escape through.

One advantage that I had over the human fighters that were scrambling from other hangars on the base was that I did not need a runway to get airborne. I just had to point the nose of the Koloth toward the sky and engage the sub light engines. The burning hanger grew smaller in my rear view monitor. Once I was about a half mile above the human's base their defense grid opened fire. A hail of rockets and pulse laser fire streaked past my ship, and on a few occasions the human's weapons hit but my shields were much more advanced than the weapons that they were trying to shoot me down with.

As I cleared the planet's atmosphere the Commander of a destroyer that was coming at me head on hailed me. I was in no danger of colliding with the vessel, but he did have me targeted with his heavy guns and close in defense grid. I opened a channel and returned his hail and was immediately warned to return to the planet or he would be forced to open fire. I so just wanted to respond with a yawn, but I kept my response professional. Of course I declined his offer to surrender, and then went on to warn him that a Zetas carrier fleet would be arriving shortly and that he should be planning his escape from this system before they arrived.