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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 5290735" data-attributes="member: 143">Two missions left. I've published my novel Of Spells and Demons as an e-book at Smashwords.com. The novel is in the same setting as my earlier novella, The Labyrinth. The novel is two dollars, and you can read up to 50% of it as a free sample. The book is available at <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/22151" target="_blank">https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/22151</a>. * * * * * Session 27 (November 3, 2008)Chapter 118The Alphas arrived at Briefing Room 1 as a group, and once again found the department heads waiting for them.  James Allen was the last to arrive; he’d only just been released from sick bay that morning, and he still looked a bit tired, his shoulder still in a protective sheath in the aftermath of his surgery.  Stan White had cleared him for duty, however, and he nodded at Garret as he came in and closed the door behind him.  Agent Drake sat with her jaw clenched, looking down at her lap. “We have a mission for you,” Garret said, as the team members took their seats.  “Doctor Wagner?”The German scientist brought up a schematic on the big screen that was already familiar to them.  “The Avenger craft has passed flight tests and is en route.  It should be here within a few hours.”“Man, I can’t wait to get my hands on that baby,” Ken Yushi said, smiling. “That is good news,” Catalina said. Wagner pursed her lips.  “However, we have a serious problem.  Our Elerium-115 supplies have dropped to a dangerously low amount.”Grace looked down at the datapad on the table in front of her. “We have enough to power our reactor, and maintain basic operations, but not even close to enough to get to Mars and back.”“So we need to go on a smash and grab?” Catalina asked. “The problem,” Garret interjected, “Is that alien activity on Earth has dropped to almost nil in recent weeks.  No ships, not even the little scouts.”“Makes you wonder what they are waiting for,” Catalina said. “It would appear that they’ve drawn back in anticipation of that big new ship they’re building,” Joan Beauvais suggested.“Maybe they just starving us on purpose,” Vasily said. “Based on the information gleaned from the alien base commander,” Garret told them, “Our best estimate is that the aliens will have their new battle fleet ready in a matter of weeks.”“So where do we get the Elerium?” James asked. “So glad you asked,” Wagner said.  She tapped keys on her console, and an image popped up, a little grainy.  It showed a pair of mutons and two humans in armor and masks, in front of a stone wall.  The edge of the picture showed some sort of conveyance, apparently floating over the ground.  They could just make out a pair of glowing blue crystals mounted on the bed of the lift-truck.Wagner said, “This image was taken a few days ago, in southern France.”“This is some sort of storage facility?” Catalina asked. “Bank and Trust of Elerium Deposits of Alien Express?” Jane added.“It’s at the site of an old castle in the Alps,” Wagner continued.  “Apparently it’s been… refurbished.”“We know that the aliens have been working with their human clients, mostly in France and China,” Garret said. “Gotta feed the allies,” Hadrian noted.“Cheese-eating surrender monkeys,” James said.  Joan turned a bit crimson, and looked away, while Vasily shook his head. “Our best guess is that the aliens are establishing a stockpile of fuel for use once their fleet arrives,” Grace said.  “The stuff is hard to transport, and larger quantities become unstable, require progressively greater shielding.  I imagine that they wouldn’t want to load up their big ships with too much of it.”Mary raised her hand.  “Yes, Mary?” Garret asked.“How do we know this isn’t a trap, like Australia?”“That’s a good question,” Garret said. “The Alps are beautiful this time of year, so we’d lose nothing for paying a visit,” Catalina said.Wagner glanced at Drake for a moment.  “We have reason to believe that this source is a good one.”  Drake looked up, and for a moment seemed about to speak, but then tightened her jaw and looked back down at the table. “The source is someone… with whom you’ve had dealings in the past,” Garret said. “Your sister?” Jane said, looking across at Drake. Drake looked up at her in surprise.  “You knew about this?”“I guessed.”“Wonderful,” Hadrian said. “We all remember her,” Catalina said. “Look,” Garret said.  “Just because she’s not with a government doesn’t mean that she’s not trustworthy.  Her… organization has given us good data in the past.”“Who is this woman?” Mary asked. Drake abruptly stood up.  “If you’ll excuse me, Director Garret,” she said, and turned and walked out of the room before anyone could react.  Garret looked after her and shook his head before turning back to the Alphas.  “Vala knight works for a consortium of business interests that initially formed to exploit the new opportunities presented by the alien contact.  Once it became clear that the aliens’ interests were more… comprehensive, they shifted their efforts to learning more about the alien threat.”“And now are good guys?” Catalina asked, rolling her eyes.“What’s the name of the organization?” Jane asked.  “We have a right to know that, at least.”“Let me guess,” James said.  “CHAOS?”“Nothing so prosaic,” Garret replied.  “Their official name is Global Earth Enterprises.”“Some have suggested they are even older,” Joan added. “Augh, not this business again, doctor Beauvais,” Wagner said.Catalina glanced between the two women.  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”“Older?” James asked.  “Like the Freemasons, that kind of older?”“Can we focus on the matter at hand?” Garret said, cutting them all off.  “Grace?  The new unit?”Reaching under the table, Grace hefted a bulky cylindrical contraption and put it on the table, straining to do so.  “This is one of our latest creations,” she said, as the others leaned forward to get a better look.  “We call it the Portable Elerium Containment Unit.  It’s heavy, but the Elerium itself is virtually weightless.”“Oh, so you got that to work?” Catalina said.  “Neat.”“Kind of… small,” Vasily said.  “How many of those crystals we going to fit in one?”“One for sure,” Grace said.  “Maybe two.  We’re still working on some of the software for the containment matrix.”  She dragged the thing back; by the effort she put into it, it looked to weigh about fifty pounds.“There are three of them in the secure lab,” Wagner said.  “Right, this is just the prototype,” Grace added. “Okay,” Garret said.  “The mission.  Kim?”Wagner brought up a new set of schematics.  “The castle itself dates back to the early Renaissance, but it’s been rebuilt twice, and expanded.  We have determined a landing spot in the nearby mountains.  If our research is correct, Ken can bring the Lightning in from Switzerland undetected.”“Flying in mountains is easy,” Ken said.  “If you’re as good as me.”“Take it up the Mont Blanc Tunnel,” Catalina said, with a grin at Ken. “There is a major military installation about sixty kilometers away.  This will be a stealth mission.  Get in, grab the Elerium, get out.”“As stealth as we get, anyway,” Vasily said. “How is the site defended?” James asked.  Wagner brought the surveillance photo back up.  “Looks like armored commandos and mutons, at least,” she said. “Great, mutons again,” James replied. “Expect the human forces to be using alien tech,” Grace said.  “We’ve got the mission set up for an early morning insertion,” Garret said.  “You have four hours until takeoff; I’d recommend using that time to get ready.  Any more questions?”  After meeting the eyes of each of them in turn, he said, “All right.  Good luck, Alpha.”</blockquote>

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