Sholan Alliance - AU Bk 04 Ch. 01

When that bastard of a guard rattled his stun stick against the bars of his cell Percival snarled. When he went to stand he almost fell over. He was tired, worn, and wearing down. There was a diabolical process in place to run all the remaining pirates into the ground. They were awakened at odd hours, given extensive interviews and interrogation, and hard physical exercise. They were well fed but it was boring and bland food. All they had to drink was water which was usually lukewarm and tepid.

He had tried to resist taking his medications but that had lasted only a day. When he refused, they pinned him down and jabbed a needle in his ass. That wasn't fun either since they had chosen to keep giving him the meds that way. To make it even worse they kept using the same spot and he knew he had a bruise from hell there.

With the physical work, he had tried to avoid that as well but after getting nailed by the stun sticks many times he grudgingly started. One thing he had come to realize was that short of killing or disabling them, the guards and staff had free reign. Percival didn't know it, though he should have suspected, the officer in charge was working with a panel of experts. They had carefully worked out the quickest way to break the prisoners without causing the prisoners or guards permanent mental issues.

The prisoners they didn't care about, it was the guards they were being careful with and rotating often. They were being seen routinely to ensure they were mentally handling it. They needed the information but not at the expense of the troops health.

Once Percival rolled off the bed he received his usual morning bath via firehose. After dressing he staggered towards the door. The guard cuffed him and put the ankle chains on as well. Just for added effect was that damn dog collar. If Percival ever got the chance, he was going to choke the fucker with it.

"Move it dog. I have people to do and places to see. Make me late and I will ensure an extra ration of making big stones into small stones. Oh, the highway department was complaining. It seems you aren't making the stones the proper size so we picked up and extra batch for you." His voice was cool and even though he had a slight smirk on his face.

Percival tried to strike the guard out of habit only to get stunned. He had to hang on the bars until the shock wore off, "I will get free and I will fucking destroy you. Your family or unit will get you back one quivering piece at a time. I will start with your balls and go from there!" He grated that out even as he staggered out of the cell.

The guard didn't say anything though he did laugh. As they walked down the hallway it was time for the next push on Percival. One of the previously filled cells was empty. It was the one Sing had been in. The guard casually glanced at it, "At least one of you was smart enough to talk. He is getting a nice cushy cell in another high security prison. He is even going to have his wife with him. It seems he despised her so much he requested she join him in the prison." With that he shut up and kept going.

Percival lost it. He started screaming and ranting even as he was trying to get to the guards again. How dare one of his crew turn on him. It took several more guards to get him pinned so they could stab him in the ass with a sedative. When he woke, he was strapped down to a bed in the medical ward and he was feeling calm and relaxed. He could tell they were drugs in his system but he didn't care since he felt good.

~~~

Investigation into the Organization starts

Inspector Montgomery had talked to Vice Admiral Drake. What he told her piqued her curiosity. Based on what he had to say an old carrier had been sent to the breakers. They had full documentation it had been destroyed and parted out. Based on the records some of the systems had been sold piece meal to salvagers. They would ensure the systems were properly de-milled and then sold. When sold many of the tramp freighters or small fleets of cargo ships would pay well for the equipment. Even if it was outdated it was probably more modern than what they had.

After spending a good two days very carefully digging through the records she had an idea what had happened. It was going to take time to prove since she, or some of her agents, was going to need to go to the colonies. She called in her best agents and settled down to talk with them. The Inspector talked to each agent one at a time. She made sure that the orders were individual and the agent wouldn't know if another was going to the same planet.

With the shock of discovering a massive previously unrecognized criminal organization she wasn't taking a chance. It was very possible one or more of her agents could belong to the organization exposed. If that was the case she wanted a way to possibly isolate those turned agents based on their orders. Each one had a separate list of companies which needed investigation.

To add some extra security each agent had a different method of getting reports to her. They were all going on separate passenger ships to ensure they didn't identify each other. Once on planet it was possible they would recognize each other. That she couldn't do anything about. As of now they were starting to leave and she wiped them from her mind.

Her job now was to start investigating the command structure responsible for mothballing old ships. That was going to take a while but she had time. It was also a case of when she found one string to tug on more should appear. The first job was to review the financial records for all the senior officers and contractors. If they were spending more than they should have it would give her a starting point. For that work she passed it over to the financial investigation branch. She knew the Inspector and trusted him.

~~~

Nelson considers the attack

The Organization was reeling from the attack much as the rest of the world was. Though they had seen the size of the Sholan vessel they simply didn't have a concept of the power it had. Just based on the size it was far more powerful than any human ship. Knowing that they simply didn't know just how advanced it was. Every human who went to the ship was rigorously screen and checked. It didn't matter what their clearance level was, they were screened again.

When the other alien vessel had come into the system it had been destroyed. It wasn't destroyed until after it had killed millions of people. It had damaged or destroyed several Terran ships and some of the Sholan fighter craft. The missiles it carried were large, fast, and powerful. They also had a range which was unbelievable. How they accomplished that was simply not known currently.

If the Sholan's knew they weren't telling or not telling very many. When the Sholan vessel started launching the fighter craft that had been horribly shocking as well. The damn things were virtually undetectable at any reasonable range. They were significantly faster than anything except that one Terran ship. The mother ship had moved faster than anything of an equivalent size in any of the Terran fleets.

As far as that damn Terran ship they still hadn't managed to get much information on it. The investors had been allowed to invest in the company but then the military stepped in. You could invest but all the processes were classified so high the president probably couldn't see them. The records in the patent office had been removed and classified. The only process which had been given out, so to speak, was to recrystallize the tubes. That was a handy ability and would help but damn it they needed the frigging engines.

Under-Secretary Nelson was sitting in his office at home sipping on an iced down glass of some nasty crap. It had been given to him by some official from another country. Normally he would have tossed it after the first sip but the man was high up in the Organization as well. He had considered pouring it out but again god only knew what all monitoring was being done on him. Nelson knew the others were monitoring him even as he was monitoring them. It was part of the game. Every one of the top six planned on being 'the man' or 'woman' if they ever succeeded.

After a short meeting, shortly after the battle they had sent orders to the remaining bases. The orders were to ensure all ships were at the highest readiness level possible. If the enemy found another base they wanted to eliminate them before they reported back. The orders were to take out a ship and try to avoid destroying it. They had tech they could use even if it took some time to figure it out. If they could get that tech they wouldn't need the designs for that damn engine.

Nelson really hoped that this didn't go on to long or their hold on the pirates would slip. If there wasn't pillaging, raping, and all the other fun stuff ships would start leaving their service. They would go back to being individual units or small group of three or four ships. He didn't care if they left except it would weaken the Organization and distract the fleet. The last thing he wanted was to lose Terra due to a pirate captain turning to the aliens. If that happened it could be beyond disastrous. Because of the levels the senior staff occupied they had access to almost anything they wanted. They had patrol plans, near and far space defenses, security codes, and more.

It wasn't given to all the captains but if one turned and sold the information to the aliens Earth or a colony could be screwed. If several of the captains turned it was guaranteed to be a fuck up. It was one reason they had considered activating the mines on some of the vessels. It would serve as a message not to get froggy and stupid. As he was thinking his wife knocked on the door and he called her in.

"Come on Eddy, I know you have been busy and stressed but you need your sleep as well. Come to bed and try and get some sleep." She was sure that most of the world was on sleeping pills at the moment. She was and so was he even if he didn't take them very often.

He sighed and tossed back the last of the drink with a shudder, "That is a good idea. I know I have been working long hours and I will try and cut back some. I miss you and the kids." He gave her a peck and grinned at her expression. That drink truly was vile, "I will make sure and brush my teeth as well."

~~~

Asarl decides to look for a job elsewhere

Asarl had received the message from that flat faced alien. He snarled when he listened before deleting in from his communication address. That thing wasn't worth dealing with and he wasn't going to deign to respond. If his family couldn't accept this as wrong, then he would let the few months left on the bonding contract lapse and go elsewhere. There was no way in hell he was going to deal with that being. Because he had a feeling his boss knew something about this he had started looking for work in a different city. He felt there was a good chance he might lose his job after that initial call. He wasn't going to take a chance. When he received, a good enough job offer he was going to take it, give his two weeks' notice and move.

Thanks to that bastard he had already been forced to leave his family. He wasn't happy about that and even worse he knew his bondmate and children had visited with Satasha and it. They hadn't said anything about it but he knew they had and he wasn't happy. They should have waited for him to say something but no, they hadn't. They had gone ahead and slipped behind his back to see them. That was another reason he was going to let the mating lapse. If they weren't going respect his wishes, then why remain? With a slight snarl, he went back to work.

~~~

Nelson thinks even more about attack

Under Secretary Nelson was pleased with the way the Sholan's had reacted to the battle. The recovery efforts showed they were an honorable species which was good. That was from his point of view as a member of the government. His other side was less pleased. The combat abilities they had shown had put a huge hole in their plans. Being a part of the State Department they had seen portions of the footage of the attack which the civilians hadn't.

The sheer number of ships that damn thing carried was shocking. Even worse was once the small craft had been launched, the various Terran systems could only hold lock for a short time before they vanished from the screens. The next time they really saw them, and that was just based on the battle, was when they started attacking the alien vessel. When a number of the small craft had gone after the missiles launched at the various civilian installations again he had been impressed. They hadn't held back and if all else failed they chose to become the targets for the missiles.

He couldn't help but want to scream out to protect themselves but they were military. It was their job and he couldn't help but respect their willingness to lose their lives for an alien race they didn't even have a treaty with. With the others who had been allowed to see the footage he had lowered his head in respect for what they had done. If they hadn't the loss of life would be even worse.

Nelson's other side was angry that they were showing to be so honorable. It was going to draw the earth even closer to the Sholans and encourage the treaties they were working on. It frustrated him that their plans had been so fucked over thanks to this. If it hadn't been for the Sholan's and the other aliens their organization would be reasonably close to consolidating the earth into one polity. Damn them for showing what they could do and willingly dying to protect the humans in danger.

There simply wasn't anyway they could compete with what the world was doing now. They were on a war footing and that damn woman was starting to roll out engine modifications for the military. He had done his best to get his hands-on copies of the modifications. Even though they had several operatives inside her company they were getting very little information out. Much of the production was what one called black box upgrades. It was a plug and play system. Take this component out, install the new one, and after testing get a large upgrade in speed.

He did smirk when their vehicle crashed and burned. Someone else would need to take over the company. With that they might be able to get more information out on the actual hardware. Even if it took time to upgrade the engines on the pirate fleet they would be back in business. They could slowly pick back up as long as they were careful.

Nelson, as One, had issued additional commands to shift bases as well as to look for new ones. It would take some time but better to move than be discovered. If a base was discovered, he had no idea what sort of information the various militaries might get out of them. Not all central bases had been fitted with the gravitonic bomb. Those that were he wasn't worried about. The simple fact the bomb was the size of a small ship was the problem. Trying to install that in a base or even connecting to a base was difficult. Another problem was the bombs had to be built from the ground up. They couldn't simply take a small ship and retrofit it. It simply wouldn't work. If they had time they might figure out how to do it but not now.

He had also passed commands to the other Numbers to gather as much information on what their militaries were doing. If any of the Numbers even had a hint of orders to investigate one of the systems they controlled or were moving to something had to be done. After one last shot of what he was drinking he stumbled out of his office and up to bed. His days were long and sleep short. Thanks to a sleeping pill he didn't need to worry about talking in his sleep. After stripping down, he crawled in next to his wife and passed out.

~~~

Sue Anne and Bo informed of crash

The report on the crashed vehicle didn't make much news at first. Not until the police had ran the plates and Vin. As soon as they did that an alert was triggered and almost before the local PD knew what was happening the FBI had arrived and took over the investigation. Reports were made to several different agencies including the military. That report caused a great deal of concern since the American's and Swiss knew that Sue Anne and Bo were in Switzerland. Who was in the vehicle which had crashed?

Ike had requested Sue Anne and Bo come to Teo's office since he needed to talk to them. When they came in he waved them to a couch, "I need to talk to you about something. One of your vehicles was in a wreck and there were two people in it. The wreck was bad and I am sorry to say the two died. Do you know who they were and how they came to have your vehicle?"

Sue Anne gasped and her husband pulled her close even as he looked stricken as well, "Oh god, we asked our friend to take the car to the shuttle port. We were supposed to fly out this morning and left on the sly. Do you know what is happening with the rest of their family?" They had several children even if they were adults this was going to be horrible.

Ike had a feeling it had been something like that, "They will be notified. We needed to identify who might be in your vehicle first. I am sorry for what happened and we have people working on this. The vehicle was completely destroyed so there is no evidence there. They are going through your house with a fine-tooth comb. I won't apologize for the invasion of your privacy. If we can find out who arranged the attempted murder of the two of you it might lead us somewhere. If you had died it would have opened up the company to a potential takeover by the wrong people."

Bo tensed before he considered what Ike was saying, "Give us some room Admiral. I need to talk to my wife about this." If someone was planning on trying to take over the company, they needed to talk about this. They definitely needed to discuss the security of their children. That was paramount but it was important to keep the data on the engines from the ones who had tried to kill them and Billy.

~~~

Sue Anne and Bo classified as dead

When they finally came out of the room they found Ike waiting, "We have discussed this and for the moment classify us as dead. We need to talk to the children of our friends. Find the bastards who did this and hang them as was done with the pirates. We want protection for our children as well." Bo was not happy at all currently. He wanted to know who had killed their friends and wanted them to fry for what they had done.

Ike nodded, "We were hoping you would say that but couldn't ask. I'll let Billy know that as of now you are dead. Well in theory dead that is. We'll see how he wants to handle this. I know this is a horrible shock but we are doing everything we can to identify who might have arranged this. We are pretty sure it wasn't an accident and we are treating it as a homicide. For now, you are going to need to remain aboard the Barque but will have access to the communicator. We do ask that you don't tell anyone you are alive unless you run it past us."

The Ambassador's assistant came in, "If you come with me, I'll show you to a suite you can use. We have robes for you and other clothing you will need." He escorted them out of the conference room they were in. The room he showed them to was a very nice suite though nothing like the Ambassador's, "If you need anything contact me and I will do what I can to take care of it." He excused himself before leaving the room.

Ike gave them a good nod, "I will keep an eye on your children. We already have security in place for them. I will keep you updated on what is going on. I will leave you to settle in and the small amount of luggage is in the bedroom." He left as well and nodded at the warrior outside the door. He was there to help them and not to keep them from escaping.