Sacrifice:The Shenkar War Read online

  “My name is Alex Nalson of the FBI. I am looking for one Liam Brennan, former Manchester police officer. Is it safe to assume you are him?”

  Taken aback, Liam just stared at the man for a few moments before he realized he had been asked a question.

  “Uh . . . yeah, that’s me. What can I do for you?”

  “You are to come with us down to the armory.”

  “I can’t. I am working, and no one else is due in until 1:00 p.m.”

  “Don’t have any illusions about this . . . you don’t have a choice.” Then agent Nalson turned to Leah, looking at her for a moment. “Do you work here, ma’am?”

  “Yes . . . what is this all about?” responded Leah.

  Agent Nalson now turned back to Liam and spoke.

  “Give your keys to the young lady, sir, and then please come with us.”

  Liam unconsciously handed the keys over to Leah, then walked toward the front door. Leah’s voice called out from behind him, clearly forgetting her anger with him.

  “Liam . . . you are just going to go with them? What’s going on? Will someone answer me, goddamn it!”

  Liam walked out to the car and got in the backseat while the two agents got into the front seats. Starting the car, they pulled out of the parking lot and drove west. After a few minutes, Liam’s curiosity got the better of him. Looking at the back of Agent Nalson’s head, he spoke up.

  “So, do either of you have any idea what this is all about?”

  The only response he received was silence; most likely, they didn’t know anything, but it irked him that they just ignored him.

  “Boy, you must be fun at family functions . . . or is the silent treatment a typical thing with your family. Just sitting there at the barbecue, cooking the hot dogs and hamburgers while just staring all stony-eyed at each other--”

  “Sir,” Agent Nalson cut in, “if I knew anything, I couldn’t tell you. It is classified, and I don’t have the clearance to know any more than you at the moment. All I do know is I was told to pick you up and bring you to the armory, and that’s it.”

  “Sorry,” Liam said. “I just hate being in the dark on things, especially when they involve me.”

  “I understand, sir. In your position, I would feel the same way.”

  They rode in silence, and for the first time, Liam looked around. Now he did notice the National Guard out in force. What in god’s name is going on? For the next fifteen minutes, they drove in silence as he pondered the possibilities of what could be happening. Terrorists most likely--he couldn’t think of any other reason that would put the military out in force like this, short of natural disaster.

  Soon they pulled up to the armory gate, and Liam was shocked to see a Black Hawk helicopter sitting in the parking lot. Soldiers stood at every entrance, looking ever ready to shoot anyone who attempted to enter. The Caprice stopped at the gate for the agents to show their identification. After a few minutes, they were waved through. After they parked, Liam got out with the agents and they made their way to a door that led to the armory motor pool garage.

  Upon entering, Liam’s mouth fell open: the garage was full of people. They were all gathered in smaller groups, talking in low voices and throwing furtive glances at the soldiers stationed throughout the garage, seemingly watching all the people within. Liam was wondering what their orders were if someone tried to leave when he heard a familiar voice from behind him.

  Striding toward him was his best friend Evan Maxis, a tall man at six foot four inches, 210 pounds. They had known each other since high school. Liam could see the worn look on Evan’s face. Clearly, he hadn’t fared any better than Liam over his loss. Even now, he looked very worn and sickly. Evan had also lost his wife and entire family to the bird flu. How he had managed, Liam couldn’t understand. Liam at least had his mother and a sister, but Evan had no one to talk to except Liam. He was hardly a good argument for facing his torments and working through them.

  “Liam . . . what are you doing here? And speaking of which, why are we here?”

  “Evan, good to see you.” Liam shook Evan’s hand. “I have no idea what’s going on. All I know is that the FBI showed up and told me I had to come here.”

  Evan looked annoyed yet perplexed as he glanced around, mumbling, “Yeah, same with me.”

  After a few minutes, a look of recognition came over his face. Turning back to Liam, he spoke.

  “Have you taken a good look at some of these guys here? Look at that guy.” Evan pointed across to a man in khaki shorts and a t-shirt who stood in a group about fifteen feet away. “That guy was in our meetings we had at the center that was set up after the bird flu for those suffering from depression.”

  Looking at the man closely, Liam could see now that he was who Evan said he was. Taking the time to look around more closely, he started to recognize more faces from the center. They brought in people who were suffering from severe depression? Why would they do that?

  Liam was about to ask Evan these very questions when what looked like a high-ranking officer entered the room via an upper doorway that led to a walkway. At the end of the walkway, he stopped, looked down to the assembled people, and then spoke.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, please accept my apologies for the manner in which you have all been brought here. Secrecy is of the utmost importance in this matter. Shortly, each one of you will be individually escorted into a small room where you will be tested. If you pass the test, you will be taken to the helicopter outside where you will be transferred to Hanscom Air Force Base. Once there, you will be debriefed on the reasons for all of this. If you fail the test, then you will be free to go.” With that said, the officer turned and left.

  Before the door closed up on the walkway, a second door opened below where a man who looked like a scientist came in, holding a clipboard. Stopping, he held up the clipboard, read something off it, and then spoke a name.

  “Tom Darrens? Could you please follow me?”

  After a few seconds, a man in one of the small groups to Liam’s left slowly walked over to the scientist. The scientist motioned the man to enter, then followed him, closing the door behind him. Low murmurs began throughout the room. About ten minutes passed before the door once again opened and out walked Tom Darren, who was immediately escorted from the motor pool garage.

  After watching Tom being escorted away, Liam turned back to the doorway to the small room. The scientist stood there, reading the clipboard, then called out another name from the group. And so on this went. Men and women were called one at a time and taken back into the small room, only to be escorted back again after ten minutes and out of the building. It wasn’t until Evan was escorted in that anything different happen. After ten minutes, the door once again opened, but Evan didn’t exit. However, the scientist did. Stopping outside the door, he looked up straight at Liam.

  “Well, no point in calling out your name since you are the last one,” said the scientist.

  Liam looked around and was surprised to see that he, in fact, was the last person left. He had been so lost in thought, he hadn’t even noticed. Well, here goes nothing, Liam thought to himself and then proceeded to walk through the door into the small room.

  Except for a small table with two chairs, the room appeared to hold nothing else. Taking a second look, Liam noticed that there was what looked like a virtual reality visor sitting on the table. The device would fit over the head of the user, allowing him or her to be immersed in a virtual world.

  “Please take a seat, Mr. Brennan,” said the scientist from behind.

  Liam walked over to the table and took a seat. The scientist followed, picked up the visor, and handed it to Liam.

  “Please put this on. It will scan your brain wave patterns. We are searching for a specific pattern.”

  Liam took the visor and placed it on his head. With the visor covering his eyes, he couldn’t see what the scientist was doing, but he could hear him moving about.

  “Okay, Mr. Brennan, plea
se sit still. Try not to move about, and try to clear your mind of thoughts. This will take about ten minutes, so please be patient.”

  A low humming sound filled Liam’s ears; after only a few minutes, the low hum became a ringing. Suddenly, all noise stopped, and the visor was pulled from his head. Liam looked up at the scientist to see a look of what could only be shock mixed in with excitement across his face.

  “What?” inquired Liam.

  “Interesting . . . very, very interesting,” the man mumbled to himself. After a moment, he seemed to notice that Liam had spoken. “Uh . . . nothing,” said the scientist as his face regained composure and the shock and excitement disappeared off his face. “Please come with me.”

  Liam stood up and followed the man to the only other door in the room. The door opened, and Liam stepped out into the parking lot. A soldier motioned with his hand for Liam to head to the helicopter. Climbing up inside, he saw that Evan was the only other occupant. Securing himself in the seat across from Evan, he couldn’t help but wonder again what was going on.

  Soon, the helicopter started and lifted off, heading south. They traveled for about twenty to thirty minutes before they started descending again. Looking out a window, Liam could see Hanscom Air Force Base below. He could see other helicopters landing and taking off, other people leaving the stationary helicopters, ordinary men and women like him and Evan.

  Once their helicopter was on the ground, Liam and Evan climbed out and were instantly ushered toward a hangar by a soldier. Liam had barely any time to look around before they were inside the hangar. There a podium was set up on a stage, and in front of the stage were about fifty metal chairs. Milling about those chairs were close to equal that many people. Liam and Evan made their way to the chairs and sat down.

  “Well, this is quite the dog and pony show . . . maybe we are wanted for biological experiments,” said Evan, finishing it off with a laugh.

  Liam chuckled as he looked around, then turned to Evan. “You are just looking forward to the body cavity search.”

  “Oh, you are a laugh riot; you really should have gone into comedy instead of law enforcement . . . smart ass!” But no matter how hard Evan tried to look offended, all he succeeded in doing was breaking out in laughter loud enough to catch the attention of more than a few people around them.

  Liam’s laughter cut off as he saw new people entering the hangar from another door, heading toward the stage.

  “Holy shit! That’s the President,” Liam said as he pointed toward the advancing group.

  Evan’s head whipped around and his mouth dropped open. “I hope he didn’t find out I didn’t vote for him. Did you vote for him?”

  “Yeah, that’s it . . . all the people who didn’t vote for him have been rounded up, and we are all going to be executed,” Liam said sarcastically.

  Secret Service spaced themselves throughout the hangar, replacing the soldiers. Once all the Secret Service personnel were in place, the doors closed. At this point, President Adam Sheehan reached the podium and stood while everyone took their seats. Clearing his throat, he then spoke.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being so patient, as I know it has to be hard for you being left in the dark on this. What I am about to tell you isn’t public knowledge, and when it does become public, the chaos it will generate will be phenomenal. Recently, we the people of Earth have been contacted by an extraterrestrial sentient race, a race calling itself the Meshtrell. They have come to Earth with a warning, a warning of impending destruction . . . destruction calling themselves the Shenkar, a religious, warlike alien race who are on a mission to subjugate or destroy all sentient beings they find.”

  A disgusted snort came from Liam’s side, from Evan. “Typical religious fanatics,” muttered Evan.

  “The Meshtrell are a race that was almost destroyed by them. They fled their home planet in search of a race that could stand against the Shenkar. They believe we are that such race. With advanced technology, the Meshtrell will help us build a fleet of ships to fight back. Whether we fight back or not, the Shenkar will find us. As I see it, we have no choice . . . we fight or die!

  I am sure that, by now, several of you are wondering why you have been brought to this place. The reason is that, unimpeded, one of the Shenkar’s scout ships will find us, and a month after that, their fleet will arrive and most likely destroy us . . . the way I see it, the human race will not stand for being slaves. Unfortunately, it will take six months to train personnel and build a fleet capable of withstanding the assault. We plan to send one battlecruiser to launch guerilla-like assaults against the Shenkar as they bring in their fleet for the assault on Earth. The battlecruiser will have a complement of five hundred light and heavy fighter-class ships. These ships are a special type of craft that require special pilots to operate them, and that’s where you people come in. All of you men and women have something in common . . . to be blunt, you all want to die.”

  At that, murmurs broke out among the group, all with looks of everything from shock to puzzlement on their faces.

  “By the looks on your faces, I can see that wasn’t anything any of you expected to hear. Well, it is the plain truth . . . you see, we need people who hold no value for their lives. You will give it your best, you will give it your all, and you will give your lives to give us the precious time we need to build the Earth Defense Force.”

  The President paused to look around at the fifty men and women, working up to what he had to say next.

  “The second reason for the need for men and women of your nature is that in order to fly the fighter craft, the pilots must be enhanced. With alien nanotechnology, you will have the reaction times of twenty men, your bodies will be enhanced . . . in short, you will be superhuman. But for all the enhancements you receive, in the end, the Shenkar will destroy you. I know it is a strong thing to ask of you, but please, think of all the lives you will save by giving yours.”

  With that said, the President just looked from one face to the next, then gave a slight nod before saying, “Does anyone have any questions?”

  Nobody moved at first; they all just stared dumbfounded at the President. Then the President pointed into the crowd, saying, “Yes? You have a question?”

  Liam turned and saw that Evan had his hand raised.

  “Yes, I was just curious . . . uh, well, if we are all going to go to die, I was just wondering if we are going to get paid?”

  Liam groaned as he put a hand over his eyes. Trust Evan to think of money at the time of Earth’s bleakest hour.

  The President looked taken aback at first, but to his credit, he recovered more quickly than Liam would have if he had been in his place.

  “Well, I don’t see why we can’t work something out,” the President said, smiling.

  “Well, all right, sounds good to me! Sign me up!” Evan replied.

  June 7, 2012, 8:00 a.m. ESTHanscom Air Force Base

  Over the past few days, men and women had filtered into the base where they were given the same speech by the President and then after which they were shuttled to living quarters on base. Finally, it seemed that everyone who was coming was there--a total of 395 men and women. A general announcement had followed the last group saying that training would begin the following morning.

  Liam’s alarm blared as it shook him from his sleep. It hadn’t been a very deep sleep, as he’d been plagued by the usual dreams of the bird flu except for a new edition. He had dreamt of Leah, a dream of her crying that he had died and he had not even said good-bye. Scrubbing the night crust from his eyes, he sat up and pulled back the sheet that covered him, swinging his legs out over the floor. Here starts the beginning of the last days of my life, he thought to himself.

  Standing up, he walked into the bathroom and started the shower. Opening the closet in the bathroom, he looked at the uniform jumpsuit that hung inside the door. It was completely solid black except for a white sunburst on a pocket over the right breast with the name Brennan in wh
ite on the left breast. Military-issue black combat boots finished off the uniform. Closing the closet, he stripped off his boxer briefs and got into the shower. Thinking to himself, he couldn’t help but wonder how the alien technology was supposed to enhance them or, more to the point, how it was to be inserted into their bodies.

  After showering, Liam finished getting ready and donned his new uniform. Taking a look at himself once in the mirror, he then opened the door to his quarters and left for the building he had been told to report to. On his way, he met Evan and Crystal McKenna, another recruit. Crystal was a pretty girl, around five foot six inches, with long curly blonde hair, a fair complexion, green eyes, and a few freckles across her cheeks and nose that gave her that “bring home to Mom” look.

  “Hey, Liam,” Evan called out as Liam approached them.

  “Hi Evan, hi Crystal . . . how are you both doing?”

  “Uh . . . as good as expected, I guess. I don’t really know what to expect with all of this,” said Evan

  “My stomach is doing flip-flops over all of this. I mean, they really haven’t told us exactly what to expect,” said Crystal.

  “I know what you mean . . . all they have told us is that they are going to stick a bunch of alien technology in us, and then we are going someplace to die,” agreed Liam.

  They walked on the rest of the way in silence, thinking to themselves of the possibilities of what was coming. Their destination was a large brick building with no windows and only one door. A guard stood outside, checking the identification of each person entering. Once inside, Liam looked around and saw a simple office. Not much of a training facility, he thought. Off to the left, what Liam took for a closet door opened and a scientist stepped out.

  “Please follow me. You three are the last to arrive.”

  Stepping through the door, Liam saw stairs leading down. The group of four descended three flights of stairs to a small room where an elevator waited open. The scientist motioned to the three to enter and then stepped in after them. Looking at the keypad, Liam saw that there were only two buttons: up and down. The scientist pressed the down button. After a few minutes, the elevator stopped its descent, and the doors opened to a large room.