Lost in Magadan: Extraterrestrials on Earth

Major Tom had not slept since the Impegi went down. He stood next to General Stone Byrd in the rear of the command center on the Moon Base. Most of the officers were looking disheveled and tired, but Stone Byrd stood amongst the chaos like a chiseled statue with not a hair out of place or a wrinkle on his shirt.

Standing next to Stone Byrd, Major Tom thoughtfully recounted, more to himself than anyone else, “Magadan: The city that Jesus traveled to after he fed the five thousand.”

Stone Byrd nodded his head, “Really?”

“Yes Sir. It was an ancient city on the Sea of Galilee. It’s mentioned in both the Books of Matthew and Mark. Some say that Mary Magdalene was from there.”

Stone Byrd was somewhat amused, “Well, aren’t you a fountain of knowledge. Are you a Christian, Major?”

“My parents took me to Sunday School when I was a kid.”

“You learn all that in Sunday School?” Byrd asked.

“Not really. I also read a lot. Some scholars believe that there may have been an ancient tower or fortress there.”

“Anything else happen there?” General Byrd asked.

“Not that I can recall,” Major Tom replied.

“Well, 2,000 years from now, they will be reading about how the events in Magadan Oblast changed the course of human history,” Stone Byrd said, confidently.

One of the officers loudly announced, “All jump shuttles and cargo planes have cleared the crash site and are heading home,”

“Have all jump shuttles finished boarding the C-17s?” Stone Byrd asked.

“No. They are still trying to board, but there are no reports of problems,” the officer reported. “Wait. No. I see one of the Russian crafts approaching a jump shuttle that has not yet boarded the C-17.”

“Dammit. Fucking Russians,” Stone Byrd muttered. “Keep me posted on that shuttle, let me know when it makes it to the cargo plane.”

“Yes Sir.”

Stone turned to another officer, “How much cargo did our boys leave at the site?”

“According to the last ground report and our sensor readings, it seems that we got about two thirds of the Element 115.”

Stone shook his head in disgust, “So, the Russians and the Grays have a third of our Element 115. Damn. Major Tom, what are my options? Can we destroy that ship and all the remaining cargo?”

Major Tom responded slowly, “Yes Sir. I have four TEPNOS missiles left. One should do it.”

Stone Byrd, sensing Major Tom’s hesitation, asked, “But?”

“Well, Sir. It has been over a day since we launched six TEPNOS missiles at Russia. I’m certain they will have been trying to figure out what hit them, and with the incursion into Siberia, it’s likely they have figured out what’s going.”

“Speak your mind, Major.”

“Sir, two problems. Yesterday, they were not expecting a missile attack; so, they weren’t looking for it, or trying to defend from it. Today, not only are they looking for it, but they may have figured out a way to defend. Second, yesterday we had the possibility of plausible deniability; today, they may be able to track these missiles right back to the Moon Base.”

“I see your point, Major.” Stone Byrd pressed his lips together so tightly that they began to turn white, then he clinched his fists. “Major, do we have any other options?”

“Not as I see it, Sir. Also, they have two off-world antigravity fighters in the area. So, it’s possible that they could shoot down our missile.”

“Have all of the jump shuttles and C-17s cleared the blast zone?”

“Yes Sir.”

Stone Byrd took a deep breath, silently said a quick prayer to a God he didn’t really believe in, and said, “Fire one TEPNOS missile at the Impegi.”

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Nox felt at home behind the controls of his fighter. Despite having his weapons systems offline, and the Impegi crew escaping with the most valuable cargo, he knew there was still a victory to be found. The battle would be over soon, and he could get a full inventory of the remaining cargo aboard the disgraced interstellar ship. He knew there was no way that those little jump shuttles could carry away but so many resources.

Manpugna announced that he had just shot down one of the shuttles.

Even more precious cargo. No doubt, whatever is in that shuttle would be priceless. Why else would they have risked so much to recover it?

Nox piloted his craft toward the debris field that was once an escaping shuttle.

I will kill the survivors, if there are any, and then personally take inventory of the cargo. I wonder if Dale Matthews was on that shuttle. Stop thinking about him, it can’t be him. He would be an old man now.

Visions of off-world technologies, equipment and gadgets that would soon be at his fingertips danced in his mind.