SERAPH-43: UFOs

ANDERSON
 I looked up from my computer screen as Saris walked into my office.  His armour was scuffed in places, scorched and riddled with ricochet marks; he hadn’t had time to make repairs since the battle, and it was only cosmetic damage, he’d insisted.
 “Anderson, we have a problem,” was his opening line.  He’d never been one to mince words.
 “What is it?” I asked, putting the computer to sleep.  Saris stepped back, letting a panel of my desk light up.  A puff of blue digital smoke gushed from the screen, which briefly coalesced into a hologram of Ben before changing to an image of the Earth.
 “Last week, shortly after I was integrated into Sanctuary, Saris asked me to hijack a few radio telescope installations and scan for abnormal radar signatures.  Well, I found two.”
 The image of Earth shrank, and two blips appeared beyond the moon.  They were both bisected by silver lines, which were pointed directly at Earth.
 “When did you get this information?” I asked.
 “Ten minutes ago,” Ben replied.
 “How soon until they land?”
 “Three hours.”  Now I turned to Saris.
 “Reinforcements?”  Saris shook his head.
 “Our forces were stretched thin enough securing and destroying any stores of Infinity Stones that didn’t make it off their planet of origin.  Plus those ships are travelling at FTL - sorry, faster-than-light - speeds; there is no organised military group inside the Alliance that uses it, it’s too expensive.”
 “So, most likely, we can expect hostiles?” I asked.  Saris nodded; I dialled the hangar control room.
 “Yes, Assistant-Director?” a gruff voice asked after a few rings.
 “I want an SA-005 prepped for take-off as soon as possible,” I ordered.
 “We can have one on the deck in thirty minutes,” he replied.
 “I’m giving you twenty.  Load it with air-to-air missiles only; remove non-essential armaments.  Get it done.”
 “Yes Assistant-Director,” the ensign responded, then severed the connection.
 “I’ll leave it to you to pick a team for the plane.  Establish whether they are friend or foe; if the latter is the case, deadly force is authorized.”
 “I was going to use it anyway,” Saris responded, turning around and striding out of my office.  Ben’s hologram watched him go, then turned to me.
 “I have gained access to the Internet through SERAPH’s radio transmitters.  I’ve begun searching all possible databases for records of GaiaTech’s CEO and his location, but without a direct link to the closed GaiaTech network it could take me months.”
 “We don’t have months,” I responded, lacing my fingers together tightly.
 “I know.  But those are the facts, Miss Anderson.  Unless you can provide me with a direct link to GaiaTech’s network, it will be nigh-on impossible for me to locate their CEO.”
 I looked at him with a wry smile.
 “I have an idea on how we can get you that; look at my last opened file,” I replied.
 “That’s data from your personal term--”
 “Don’t be modest Ben; I know you would’ve gone into my files sooner or later,” I cut him off.  His hologram stepped back, assuming a hurt expression.
 “How could you?  I would nevvv...”
 His voice trailed off at the sight of my raised eyebrow.
 “Alright, alright...” he grumbled.  His hologram flickered briefly as he burrowed into SERAPH’s database, past the firewalls surrounding my private server; he smiled.
 “Mt Erebus?  That place is a veritable fortress!  It could withstand a siege for weeks, during which Taurus would have ample time to dispose of any useful data.”
 “Which is why I need Cat,” I responded.  Ben’s hologram flickered again, and his expression became somewhat more morose.
 “With the amount of damage he’s sustained, I don’t know if he--”
 “Whatever it takes, Ben.  His job’s not done yet.  GaiaTech is still standing, and I’ll be damned before I let him miss out on hammering the last nail into their leader’s coffin!” I snapped, then relaxed my tone somewhat.  “Are the Australians in the mess hall like I asked?”
 “I passed on your message, they’ll be assembled in a couple of minutes,” he replied.
 “Great.  Thank you, Ben,” I replied.  Ben’s hologram nodded after a pause, before dissolving into a cloud of holographic particles that sank back into the desk.  I took a moment to compose myself, before standing up and exiting my office, heading for the mess hall on Deck B.
 Men and women all saluted me as I walked by, and I responded with curt nods.  My concerns were on matters other than propriety of rank.  Namely, how I could convince the Australian rebels to join our cause.
 Australians have a reputation, one that has been universally known since the First World War.  Self-assured.  Arrogant.  They come from a drinking culture that rivals the customs of Ireland.  But, above all, they are patriotic.  Australians have come to love their country as dearly as their own lives, and in wars across the centuries have laid them down to protect their homeland.  Asking the rebels to abandon their fight against the Coalition of the Rising Sun to fight their secret backer, the enigmatic leader of GaiaTech, would be almost synonymous with asking them to shoot themselves in the head.
 But it was a question I had to ask, even if I didn’t want to.  I needed them; their experience, their abilities, not to mention their moral centre.  It was people like that, people with the moral compass that was so utterly broken in Hellfire and his compatriots, that I so desperately needed.
 By this point I’d arrived outside the mess hall, where I could hear them talking quietly to each other.  I sighed, then walked inside.
 Ellen sat a bit apart from the others; she wore a bloodstained surgical smock, having passed the time since her arrival on Sanctuary by putting her powers to work in the infirmary, which contained no shortage of patients since the battle aboard Sanctuary.  Unfortunately, there’d been one patient in particular she’d been unable to heal...
 The taller of the two black-haired girls, Jackie, was talking quietly with the shorter one, Maddy.  Seeing me enter, she watched me warily, like a nervous cat watching a stranger approach.  Jackie was not an easy person to get to know.  Maddy watched me with the same level of apprehension.
 Titan’s expression was inscrutable behind his mask, though I doubt it would be any different without it.  He stood at attention; arms crossed behind his back, legs spread and back straight.
 I walked to the front of the group, stood there for a moment and then spread my arms.
 “I think you all know what I’m going to ask you,” I began.  Ellen scoffed.
 “Yep.  You’re going to ask us to abandon our friends and family to help you,” she said, glaring.
 “GaiaTech is just as much your enemy as ours.  Their CEO orchestrated the formation of the Coalition and the invasion of Australia; it was a distraction, so that he could infiltrate the Lake Facility and capture Ben...”
 “Which we prevented.  So we can all congratulate ourselves on spitting in this guy’s face and get back to doing what we were doing.  That is, saving our bloody country!” Ellen interjected again.  I looked at her for a moment, then addressed the group again.
 “If the leader of GaiaTech succeeds in his endeavour, the sacrifices you make in your country will be for nought.  He plans to dominate the world through threat of force, and will do so with an arsenal of Black Matter weapons like the ones that would’ve destroyed your cities if not for our intervention.  Bigger weapons, more powerful weapons; they’ll rule the world, and nobody will be able to stand up to them.  Unless we stop them now.  But I can’t do it without your help.  Please, help me destroy GaiaTech.”
 Titan stepped forward and cracked his knuckles, nodding.  I smiled and nodded my thanks, then looked at Ellen.  She shook her head.
 “There are too many people suffering back in Melbourne; I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t help them.  No,” she replied.
 “I understand,” I said, then looked at Jackie.  The dark-haired girl shook her head.
 “I’m with Ellen,” was all the excuse she offered.  I turned to Maddy next, who looked from Titan to Jackie, then to me.
 “What’s your plan?” she asked.  I saw Titan nod his approval, and I smiled; I was about to speak when Ben’s hologram appeared next to me.  The others jumped.
 “Assistant-Director Anderson; the SA-005 you requested is on deck.  Saris is onboard along with Miss Stevenson; he is requesting two more hands onboard, Titan and Agent Omega,” he reported.  I looked at Titan who nodded, charging out the door; his thundering footsteps echoing up and down the corridor.
 “Where is Nyx?” I asked.  Ben consulted a holographic clipboard, then looked back at me knowingly.
 “Her usual place,” he responded.
 “His room?”
 “His room.”
 I sighed.
 “Contact the flight crew; delay take-off by ten minutes,” I conceded.
 “As you say,” Ben replied, disappearing again.
 There was a pause.
 “...I don’t know how any of you are ever going to get used to that,” Ellen shrugged, standing up and walking out of the mess hall.  In the doorway, she paused, then looked back at me.
 “I do hope you’re not planning on sending me and Jackie back in a rowing boat?” she asked.  I looked at the ceiling.
 “Ben, have another SA-005 prepared for Ellen and Jackie to be returned to Melbourne; I want it loaded with medical supplies, food and any arms and ammunition we can spare,” I said loudly.
 “As you say; I estimate the transport will be loaded and ready for departure in an hour,” Ben’s voice replied through the announcement speakers.  Ellen nodded.
 “I’ll be in the infirmary, patching up the idiots on this ship who don’t know how to duck,” she said wryly, walking out.  Jackie stood up, holding Maddy’s hand tightly.
 “Look after yourself,” she said to Maddy.
 “You too.  Don’t feel like you have to hold off on winning the war because I’m not there,” Maddy replied.  Jackie smiled, it faltered, then she let go of Maddy’s hand and rushed out.
 Maddy looked from the doorway back to me.
 “So.  How’s Cat doing?”  I sighed.
 “If only I knew...”