| The Captain leaned back in his chair, staring at the holographic people
who flickered before him. The request for secure channels at the HIGHEST
level had been bad enough. The senior officer had spent an inordinate amount
of time getting the channel set up and setting up the "bug stompers." From
the massive download-highlighting the recent that had happened down below
to him and…..Inquirer--he'd gotten via his neural implant, the Captain
saw now just WHY Probe had been so nervous about this whole deal!
Captain Sterndeck wasn't amused, and was suffering from a massive headache
from the massive jolt of data the Inuit units had sent him. He hadn't been
amused when he'd gotten hysterical reports of what had happened to the
planet's ozone layer (the Officer of the Deck had been one of the few who
still hadn't....quiet accepted the presence of magic in this universe....and
was still sedated). He hadn't been amused when the robot ship that had
housed Probe's base unit had done a fair imitation of a meteor burning
up in the atmosphere. And he SURE as Hell wasn't amused with the idea of
the Phantoms (who's presence had been unwanted anyway) were actually in
bed with the Enemy!
"I see," Sterndeck murmurs, composing himself. "It seems we have a bit
of…..housecleaning to do."
"Yessir!" the Inuits, Probe and Inquirer said together. "Good hunting,
sir!"
"And our ship is secure where it is?" the Captain asks Inquirer.
"Yes sir, it is." The female AI (AI/golem. Sterndeck corrected
himself, grudgingly). "Though the ghostly Dr. Vincent may have gotten a
view of the cavern, Alicia 2 has no real idea where the Grande Canyon is
in this world's version of America. Even if she did, considering the fact
that there are still areas in our Grande Canyon that man has never set
foot in even to this day. Our ghost will have a fun time finding the shuttlecraft,
sir."
"I see…..Carry on, out." Sterndeck says, cutting transmission.
He then reached over and made a Captain's All Call to the Fleet…….
The capture of the Phantom ship had been…..touch and go, but the Military
had been successful.
The files containing information had been corrupted, and most of the
operatives had sold their lives dearly. The Head of operations had been
captured before he'd succeeded in killing himself. Sterndeck watched impassively
as Alex, the Inuit's third in command, went about extracting information
from the man.
Sterndeck shook his head as Alex's Avatar delivered a series of kicks
to the begging man as Alex sang "Singing in the Rain." The captain would
have protested the brutality of it all, but frankly….had no sympathy for
traitors.
Sterndeck was more concerned about how he was going to get his people,
Probe and Inquirer, back from the surface of the planet. The Military NEVER
left behind it's own, but…..the Phage made recovery look impossible.
And frankly, the…..odd development that had happened to Inquirer made
the Captain doubt that she would ever be able to leave this universe. See,
she was now a creature of magic…..and scientist had been able to isolate
(not explain the inner workings) the eldritch energy in THIS universe.
There was no such energy back Home……
-
 As the Captain quietly
contemplated on his next move as the beating continued, the adventurers
down below are making plans…….
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