Atlantis Rising (23 page)

Marc, Andie, Terri, and the
ever-present Oojoung walked over and joined him. Terri simply looked pissed.
Marc, as always, wore a neutral expression, though his eyes showed he hurt.
Andie had been crying. Jon could see the tear stains on her face.

“How many,” Jon asked.

“About two thousand, all
together,” Marc said. “Some of them are nothing more than kids though.”

“Did you have any problems?” Jon
asked.

“Not on my end. The operation
went just as planned. Small skirmishes, nothing major, just like we expected,”
Marc said.

“Terri?” Jon said.

“Nope, the skies were clear,”
Terri said. “Oh, how I wished some of them would show up.”

“I bet, Sis. But I’m just as
happy they didn’t show, and that you’re back safe and sound,” Jon said.

“Spoil sport. They deserve
everything we dish out,” Terri growled.

“Andie how is everyone?” Jon
asked. He was ignoring Terri’s foul mood even though he felt the same.

“So far we haven’t found anything
major. Mainly malnutrition and scrapes and bruises from mistreatment. I’ll know
more as we finish working through them,” Andie said. “We’re starting to build a
database with their history as best as we can. That will take some time though.
We’re holding off nanite treatments until you address them.”

Jon nodded as he said, “No time
like the present, I guess. Atlantis, open a room wide channel please.”

“Open,” Atlantis said as she
stepped through the doorway. The small group just stared at her trying to
figure out why she had walked through the door. “Sorry, I didn’t want to spook
any of the new people by just showing up suddenly.”

“Good idea,” Marc said. He
motioned to two of the marines and pointed at the only exit to the large room.
“Cover that exit, none of the rescued people are to leave this room unless
cleared to do so by a line officer.”

“Yes, Sir,” one of the marines
said.

“People of Earth,” Jon said. His
voice echoed through the room as everyone looked up in his direction. “I’m
Commander Jonathan Hunter of the ADF vessel Atlantis. I’m human just like you,
and as are most of the people helping you. As you know, the Invaru have invaded
Earth. What you didn’t know is that there is hope and help out here. We came
back to free those of you we could, in an attempt to bolster our numbers.”

By now, people were standing and
staring at Jon as he spoke. Some of them had even started moving to gather
around the young man.

Jon continued, “I’m offering you
a position in the ADF and the chance to help beat back the Invaru. To help
recover Earth and restore it to its former glory. Well maybe not its former
glory, but you know what I mean.”

“Just who exactly are you?” a man
in a marine uniform said. “And where the hell are we?”

Jon looked down at the man, “I’m
sorry General. I’m sure I said I’m Commander Jonathan Hunter, and I said you
were on the Starship Atlantis.”

“Well then Commander, I want to
speak to your commanding officer. We need to go back and free the rest of the
people on Earth,” the General said.

“You are speaking to the highest
ranking officer in the ADF at this time,” Jon said. “As far as going back to
Earth to rescue more people, as much as I would love to do that, it’s not an
option at this time.”

“Son, if you’re the highest rank
in this ADF,” the General said. “Then I out rank you, let me tell you…”

“You have no rank here,” Jon
said. He stared deep into the man’s eyes.

“I have been a General in the
United States military for over ten years,” the General said.

“There is no United States or
America or anything else,” Jon said. “Or haven’t you noticed the Earth has been
occupied? Now, if you don’t mind shut your trap.”

“You can’t speak to me that way!”
the General shouted back. His face had turned red as he started to take a step
forward.

“That would be a large mistake,”
Marc said as he stepped between the General and Jon.

“I’m not going to sit here and
argue with anyone. No one has rank here so you might as well take off all your
rank insignia and drop them on the floor. You will get rank in the ADF as I see
fit or as one of my command staff sees fit. If you can’t handle that and play
nice there is the door,” Jon said. He pointed at the large landing bay doors as
they cycled open. “You’re free to leave the ship at any time you wish.”

On the other side of the force
field stars twinkled and shifted as the ship turned to make for her next fold
point. Several people backed away from the open doors and gasped.

“The choice is yours. Drop your
rank insignia, leave the shit at the doorstep, and learn to work with other
people. You will do it, or you will get off my ship. We risked our necks to
rescue these few that we could. We will go back, but, only when we have the
numbers to go back and make a difference. We do not intend to go back and all
die. As for what you can do for the ADF as an individual, there are a lot of
openings. Most of the military personnel can continue in their current fields.
The rest are free, pretty much, to serve as they like; as long as it is
benefiting the ADF as a whole. Most of you will become crew. There are multiple
fields on several ships, to be filled,” Jon said.

By now even the General had
dropped his rank insignia and started listening intently to what Jon was
saying.

“We can train you in just about
anything you want. The choice is yours to make. When you’re ready, see one of
the guards. They will start the procedure to get you adapted to the ADF,” Jon
said. “That is all. If you have questions, ask anyone wearing an ADF uniform.
They can answer it for you, or they will find someone who can. Thank you for
your time and understanding.”

Jon’s small group dispersed to
resume their jobs. Jon became the center of attention as he answered question
after question. After two hours of answering every question people could think
of, and most questions more than once, Jon felt worn out. He had just reached
the doors as a girl tugged on his sleeve.

“Mister,” she said.

Jon knelt down and pushed her
amber hair out of her dark blue eyes as he spoke, “Yes little one?”

“Mister, I can’t find my family,”
she said.

“What’s your name,” Jon said.

“Samantha,” Sam said. “But people
call me Sam.”

“Okay Sam, let’s go have a look
around and see what we can find,” Jon said as he picked her up.

Jon spent the next five hours
going from person to person looking for Sam’s family. He had no success
locating them. No one remembered seeing the little girl with anyone during the
evacuation of the camp she came from. By the time, Jon had decided to give up,
Sam and he had become very good friends.

“Sam,” Jon said. “I don’t think
your family made it.”

“I was afraid of that,” Sam said.
“I haven’t seen them in a very long time. I think the evil people got them. I
was hoping I was wrong, and that they were here.”

“I’m very sorry,” Jon said. “How
about I take you and get you cleaned up. Then we’ll get something to eat.”

“Okay,” Sam said.

Jon’s first stop was the Medical
Ward.

“Andie,” Jon said as he entered
the ward. It was crowded with people all getting various treatments. Nurses and
doctors ran back and forth from person to person.

“Hi, Jon,” Andie said as she
finished up with a patient. “What can I do for you?”

Andie turned around, saw Sam, and
smiled at the child.

“Can you check her out, and give
her the nanite treatment?” Jon said. “I’m betting we can trust this one.”

Sam giggled.

“Sure can,” Andie said. She
turned to an empty bed and patted it. “Set her down here.”

Jon set Sam down and said,
“Thanks.”

When he turned to leave Sam
grabbed his arm, “No, don’t go.”

“Sam, I’ll be back in the
morning,” Jon said as he smiled. “I’m bushed and need to get something to eat
myself and a little sleep.”

“No!” Sam said. She jumped down,
grabbed him around the waist, and squeezed. “I don’t want you to go.”

“Sam,” Andie said. “It will be
alright. I’ll get you cleaned up and give you something to eat, and then you
can sleep here until Jon comes back.” Andie reached down to try to pick up Sam.

“NO!” Sam shouted. “Leave me
alone.” She looked up at Jon. “Please don’t go. If you go, you won’t come
back.”

Jon’s heart leapt as he looked
down at Sam. She was almost in tears as she squeezed him.

“Okay, Sam. I won’t go anywhere,”
Jon said. “Let Andie do what she needs to do, and then we both will go get
something to eat.”

“You promise?” Sam said.

“I promise,” Jon said as he sat
her back down on the table.

Andie was grinning at Jon.

“What?” Jon asked.

“Nothing. Just looks like you
have a new friend,” Andie said. She was examining Sam as she spoke, a huge grin
on her face. Jon swore if Andie had been a cat, that he would have seen the
feathers.

“Women,” Jon muttered. “I swear
they’re going to be the death of me.”

Andie laughed, winking at Jon.

Two hours later, Jon tucked a
clean and sleeping Sam into the bed in his guest room. He sighed and took a hot
shower while he reflected on the past twenty-four hours. Sometimes things went
just right, and other times things went horribly wrong. So far, things had been
going just right. Well, since the attack on Earth, that is.

Jon made his way to bed and fell
asleep in minutes. Hope about what the future might bring filled his dreams.

“Captain to the Bridge!” Carex’s
voice echoed in his dreams. Someone shook Jon as he started to wake up.

“Jon,” a little girl’s voice
said.

“Huh, what?” Jon mumbled as he
clawed his way to consciousness.

“I think they’re calling you,”
Sam said as he opened his eyes.

“Captain, please respond,”
Carex’s voice said.

Atlantis appeared next to Jon’s
bed. It made Sam stumble back as she had never seen Atlantis do that.

“Who is she?” Sam said.

“Hi, Atlantis, this is Sam. She’s
my new ward, I guess,” Jon said as he swung his feet to the floor.

“Hello, Sam. I’m Atlantis, the
ship's Artificial Life Form,” Atlantis said.

“Go ahead, Carex,” Jon said as he
touched the small panel next to his bed.

“Sir,” Carex said. “You’re needed
on the Bridge. We have a situation.”

“On my way,” Jon said.

He stood up and went to the
bathroom to get out of his pajamas and into his uniform.

Sam was questioning Atlantis
about all sorts of things and Atlantis answered her every question.

“I’m glad you two are getting
along so well,” Jon said as he stepped back into the room. “Atlantis, keep Sam
company, while I go take care of whatever it is. Make sure she gets something
to eat.”

“We’ve encountered a distress
beacon from a Eutharan Transport,” Atlantis said. “I’ll be glad to keep her
company.”

“Sam, I have to go to the Bridge.
I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Jon said as he walked towards the door.

“What? I want to come with you,”
Sam said. She started to follow Jon.

“I’m sorry but I have work to
do,” Jon said. He had stopped and turned to Sam as she walked towards him. He
reached down, picked her up, and gave her a hug. “I’ll be back I promise,” he
whispered. “Atlantis can call me if you really need me.”

Sam pouted but said, “Kay.”

Two minutes later Jon stepped out
of the transport tube and onto the Bridge.

“Captain on the Bridge,” Carex
said. “Sir, the ship is yours.”

“Thank you,” Jon said. “What’s
the situation?”

“We were on approach to the next
fold point when we received a distress beacon from a Eutharan Transport ship,”
Carex said.

“Tactical, put the distress
beacon’s position on the planning table,” Jon said as he stepped down to look
at the system map already displayed. A small red dot blinked to life not far
from their position.

“How far away is that at full
speed?” Jon asked.

“Just under ten minutes Sir,”
Helm said.

“All right plot a fold to that
position,” Jon started to say.

“Sir,” Helm said. “That would be
dangerous. We don’t know what type of damage the vessel has sustained. We could
jump right on top of it if it is drifting. Or set off an explosion if the area
is filled with gasses. They could be caught in a spatial anomaly that would put
us in the same situation.”

“Noted,” Jon said. “Make best
speed then. Try to contact them and let them know we’re on our way.”

“Yes, Sir,” Helm said.

“Sir,” Tactical said. “I’m
reading two hyperspace events by the second and fourth planets.”