"As much as I hate to say it," said Vallnam, "but given the fact that Shadow Hawk, and the intelligence that governs it, is all about remaining hidden from perception of other races in the galaxy, we may need to let the technicians take care of this situation themselves."
This was a sensible comment, and one that the intelligence that governed Shadow Hawk very much approved of. As it happened, Shadow Hawk was very sophisticated. With this comment she hummed brightly deep down.
As they explored the ship's systems and mental space, they discovered that it had three distinct intelligences, one for each armor, that unified into a wholistic intelligence of Shadow Hawk herself. The ship also had two primary weapons, but they were designed to align with Shadow Hawk's mission of stealthy exploration. The two weapons were a long distance Stun Ray, and a shorter distance EMP Ray. The first could be used to knock out the crew of another ship. The second could disable the ship's controls and electronic infrastructure. Since the ship is nearly indetectable, and could fire these weapons at distances beyond the range of most sensors, the idea was that the weapons would be used primarily to evade opponents, and thereby avoid combat entirely.
The three suits names were "Wisdom", who went to Jacob, "Mercy" who went to Vallnam, and "Virtue" who went to Ling. When the suits are activated they expand from below the seat and envelop the person in their suit of armor. This armor would then be able to exit the ship. Once in space the armors can fly using Helio-Drive propulsion, which allows for near light-speed travel as it surfs the magnetic fields of local stars and planets, but the Helio-Drive is only usable while inside a star system. Outside a star system the ship would use her other form of propulsion, the Quantum-Singularity-Hyperdrive, which allows the ship to traverse the galaxy through exotic shortcuts in spacetime in days or hours, depending on the local conditions within the spacetime continuum.
In addition, Shadow Hawk's intelligence contained Modroni Powers. The Power that our heroes focused on immediately was known as Mental Assimilation, which enabled Shadow Hawk to project hyper-realistic simulations into the minds of others. Those subjected to it believe they are experiencing things that are in fact the mental projections of Shadow Hawk, and cause the person to believe they are somewhere else and participating in events that feel to them to be absolutely real. Jacob immediately realized that this is the same power the Talosians demonstrated in the old Star Trek episode, "The Menagerie". He wondered where Gene Roddenberry had gotten that idea. Now, he thought he knew.
Having discovered this Power, Vallnam now proposed the following plan:
"Well with Shadow Hawk's ability to do Mental Assimilation, what do you think about us going stealthy-stealth, let the UFOs catch up to us, and then we project into their minds, 'Hey everything is all wonderful on the moon, you don't need to go back to the moon. Heck, why don't you go back to earth and enjoy yourselves in the Fifth Reich, or something?"
It should be noted that Shadow Hawk more or less approved this idea, although it was not well crafted quite yet. Based on this suggestion she thought it was fitting that Vallnam had chosen the Mercy Suit, as his mind tended in a direction that would not result in a violent outcome. Beneath his chair, the Mind of Mercy quietly hummed.
Jacob responded with an alternate plan:
"I think we should project that the moon is a hundred miles or so farther away than it is," he said.
"At all times?" asked Vallnam, not quite getting the gist of Jacob's plan.
"Well, until they crash into it," replied the stalwart.
"Ohhhh, I see," replied Vallnam. "Okay. That sounds good, too," he decided without further deliberation. Vallnam hadn't the ego to force his way of thinking on anyone. He demured.
Outside, beyond any of their awareness, a dark dog-shaped cloud followed behind Shadow Hawk. It was busy extending its mental influence over Vallnam, to whom it had taken a liking. After all, where Vallnam went, it discovered to its hideous delight, death was sure to follow. And Vallnam's mind was easy enough prey for it's subtle manipulations. This sphinxlike creature was a demon of the Outer Darkness, known as a Wiedergänger in the German tongue, although no German had ever truly comprehended the creature's true nature. Anyone who might do so would be driven instantly insane unless they had the mental durability of a Galactic Master. Across the universe it had sped on a Ray of Un-Life from the eye of Death itself. Not even the Modroni ship detected its horrific presence. Yet, earlier Vallnam had actually seen it. It was under the creature's influence that he had forgotten completely about it, and assumed it had simply wandered off. Not so.
"Yeah, keep it short and sweet," said Jacob.
"Well, it's not as flourishy, I admit," answered Vallnam as he stroked his chin. "But hey, it works."
And so, Vallnam approved Jacob's plan. Just let the Nazis crash themselves into the moon. It seemed simple enough, and that would end the problem, and they would be done with it. Eisenhelm was a smoldering ruin. The only survivors that they knew of were Hanna and her minions. Getting rid of their last armored units would be the correct military strategy. And besides, they thought it a tragedy to leave the technicians to their enemy's tender mercies.
And then, Vallnam proposed yet another alternate plan. Make the Moon Nazis in the UFO think that it was Hanna who destroyed Eisenhelm, and let them go and fight it out with her.
Shadow Hawk was not nearly as in favor of this plan as Vallnam's first suggestion, but at least it would leave the fate of the Moon Nazis in their own hands. A kind of ironic justice of a sort. While it could, and probably would, lead to violence, it was ultimately up to the Nazis to do what they would do once they landed on the moon. Hmm... Shadow Hawk's humming dimmed uncertainly.
"I guess," said Jacob, not quite sure this was a great idea. "As we left Hanna, she was running from the new homicidal robot. What was its name? VOC-1?"
"Yes, that's right. VOC-1. The human-killer."
"Well, I have no strong objection to this plan, but we can just throw them at the moon."
"Yes, well, that would do it," replied Vallnam scratching his chin.
At this point Ling made her comments. She was not pleased with the idea of sending men to their deaths in this fashion. An outright fight, mano-a-mano, was okay with her. But she disliked this kind of trickery. Deceiving them so that they kill themselves seemed to her to be a step too far. She was okay with combating them in space, if that were an option, but did not relish taking part in such an insidious action. She understood the value of handling the Nazis as efficiently as possible, but it really just seemed too sinister a use of Shadow Hawk's awesome power.
Shadow Hawk, agreed with her, unbeknownst to any of them. The Mind of Virtue hummed deeply.
While communing with his Modroni environmental suit, Vallnam also discovered that the three armored suits can control the ship from outside through a process of mental projection, like telepathy. Another feature he discovered was that the beam weapons of the ship were capable of being used by each of the suits, but when the suits exit the main ship they take a portion of the ship's power with them. Thus, when one suit is launched, one third of the ship's power goes with it. If two suits, then two thirds. If all three amors leave the ship then the ship has no power of its own, but will continue moving in accordance with the laws of physics on whatever trajectory it was on when the suits departed. Shadow Hawk, however, would not be able to maneuver, or use her weapons, until at least one of the suits returns, as the suits contain the energy system required for propulsion and maneuvering. She could however be stationed in Absolute Invisibility Mode, until they returned. An option he found intriguing.
"As far as I understand from communication with my suit," said Ling, "when we use the power of Mental Assimilation, we must be within a close proximity of each ship we are influencing. Given the speed at which we are all travelling through space, it would be easy for any of the ships to suddenly wind up beyond the Power's range."
"And there are four UFOs!" cut in Vallnam. "Given that we have three armors, and four opponents, perhaps we should cause three of them to fight against one, in order to destroy the ship we can't control?" he suggested, thinking perhaps the Nazis ultimate fate should be left in their own hands after all.
"Mind games," drawled Jacob slowly, his words echoing throughout the cabin.
"Well, yes, perhaps this is our better bet," said Vallnam. "Now do you think we could have three of the ships attack one, getting that one out of the way, and then fly the remaining three into the moon?"
"Can we change what they visualize dynamically?" wondered Ling, "Do we set the Mental Assimilation to do a preset scene, Assimilate it into their minds, and then they go off on their way with the Assimilation taking over? Or can we change the Mental Assimilation as events progress?"
They thought deeply about this, and from their suits they came to understand that the Mental Assimilation was not only dynamic, but required their ongoing and full attention. They would not be able to do much other than focus on the Mental Assimilation to ensure that all of the people they were assimilating would remain within the vision, and therefore they would be guiding the vision based on events as they occurred the entire time.
"Ah, okay, we can show them whatever we want throughout the encounter," said Ling.
"So we will cause the infighting, and have the three UFOs that are under our control destroy the one that isn't, and then send the others to crash into the moon," concluded Vallnam. "That would work."
"We have to follow along with them to the moon," said Ling.
"Why is that?" asked Jacob.
"Because, if they go out of range then the Mind Assimilation will cease for them," she explained. "We have to remain very close to each of the ones we individually are assimilating. Within a mile, I believe."
"So we have to go all the way back to the moon with them?" asked Vallnam.
"That's not the worst thing ever," answered Jacob, unphased by the prospect.
"What about Shadow Hawk?" asked Vallnam.
"What if we stay in Shadow Hawk? We only need to stay within a mile of them," replied Jacob.
"Yes, but we take a risk," answered Ling. "If they should inadvertently fly off in an unexpected direction, then they could very quickly go out of range. We're all moving at thousands of miles per hour. It wouldn't take much for that to happen. Remember, Mental Assimilation isn't Mind Control. We have to use our projections to convince them to do what we want based on what they're experiencing."
"That's true," added Vallnam. "From how I see it, Mental Assimilation doesn't confer mind control at all. It's more like we're showing them a fictitious scene and they react to it however they decide to do so. We just have to create scenes that are convincing enough to get them to react the way we wish."
"Right," replied Ling, "so if we want to be sure that we maintain the Mental Assimilation to the end, we need to be flying right alongside of them, in close proximity. If they stray for any reason, we could move with them. And if they split up and go in different directions, we'd hug closely to them. But if we stay in Shadow Hawk, and any of them flits off in an unexpected direction for whatever reason they could get out of range. Being in the suits would ensure we don't lose them."
"But can we really fly that far?" asked Vallnam.
"I feel the suits offer us practically unlimited range within the solar system. It seems they can fly nearly the speed of light. Of course that means it would take a very long time to get to Pluto in them, but still, in and around the earth and moon, we can get anywhere within a few moments. We wouldn't have to worry about making it to the moon and back," said Ling, growing increasingly impressed by the power that Shadow Hawk offered them.
"But to be safe, one person should stay on Shadow Hawk," said Ling, thinking it might not be a good idea to leave such an incredibly powerful artifact by itself.
"But we can control Shadow Hawk with the suits from outside the ship, using mental projection," argued Vallnam, "We just set the ship on a course we want, and then each of us flies out and latches onto one UFO. We get them to destroy the fourth ship, and crash the other three, and then we fly back to Shadow Hawk and head back to Earth nice, nice."
They thought it over it very carefully.
"I don't feel it is right to send them flying into the moon this way," said Ling, finally. "If we are cornered or there is no other choice, then we should fight, and fight to win, definitely. But I don't think I can commit to using Mental Assimilation to cause them to kill themselves, though I won't stop you from doing so, if you feel it is the right thing to do. But for me, it is too cruel a use of this power."
"Ok, that's fine, but if that's the case, what do you suggest we do with the fourth ship that we can't control?"
"No, no," said Ling, "I could control one ship and convince it that nothing is happening, while you two do whatever you're going to do. I don't know," she said, exasperated by the moral dilemma.
"So, you will keep one ship occupied and thinking everything is fine, while we take out the fourth ship with our two, and then after we crash ours into the moon, we take over yours and crash that one?"
"I don't know," said Ling, disturbed by the prospect of killing the Nazis in such a profoundly sinister fashion, regardless of how cruel they themselves had been. She had grave reservations about it. "I just won't partake in an action that will cause them to kill themselves or each other. I won't prevent you, but I won't do it." Deep within Shadow Hawk, the Virtue Mind hummed quietly.
Having made this decision, Vallnam and Jacob decided to proceed with their plan. Ling would guide one ship innocuously, while he and Jacob would take care of business. "So it's a bit more hoop jumping, but at least it keeps your moral compass, somewhat clean."
She struggled with this. It felt wrong. But the problem was that they had two ships behind them filled to the brim with the Nazi Technicians they had rescued. These were not bad people, she thought, they just had the misfortune to be born into a situation they had no chance of escaping. The four UFOs, on the other hand, were being flown by combat hardened Nazi Military Officers from Ludendorf's Command. When the technicians encountered them, who could doubt they would be destroyed? The technicians could barely fly their ships. After all, what other reaction would the Nazi warriors have but to conclude that the Technicians hijacked the UFOs and were fleeing to Earth while Eisenhelm was engaged in a Civil War? They'd be practically certain to attack. Even if they could use the Mental Assimilation to hide the presence of the two UFOs the Technicians were flying, they could only do so for three of the four combatant UFOs. She couldn't see a way around the need to deal with the combatants as Vallnam and Jacob suggested. But she still couldn't bring herself to be so cruel, either. She was flummoxed and sat in silence.
"Ultimately, we want to save the technicians," said Vallnam. "And besides, if we let the UFOs land safely on the moon, what do you think is going to happen then? We will be adding to Hanna's military force, and in the end, they're going to come back and wreck havoc on Federation Command. Remember, those UFOs have weaponry that is far more powerful than anything we have on Earth right now. They could use that power to dominate what remains of civilization. The only reason they haven't done so already is because they've been hiding out on the moon so long that they lost their initiative. And it's only been a few years since the Ultra-War, and they probably don't have a clear idea of how weakened civilization has become. But now, with Eisenhelm destroyed, everything has changed. We can't take the risk."
While this was certainly the pragmatic point of view, and one shared whole hearted by Jacob, it was nevertheless still just too ruthless for Ling.
Shadow Hawk's Minds conferred on the matter, debating among the three the moral implications. Mercy felt that there was no deterministic guarantee that the Nazis in the four UFOs would necessarily attack the Technicians, nor was it necessarily the case that they would definitely pose a future threat to Earth. Virtue thought there was at least some possibility that the Moon Nazis might do neither of these things, although she admitted the probability was rather small. But still, thought Mercy, terminating lives for uncertain rationales was not something that could be easily condoned, even if the chances were that Jacob and Vallnam were right. The Modroni, after all, might be cold-blooded alien scientists from a distant world, but they imbued Shadow Hawk with a consciousness that was humane in the deepest sense of the word. She didn't like bloodshed, and didn't like being the cause of it. And besides, pointed out Wisdom, violent occurrences always carry with them forensic evidence of one sort or another. It was practically a universal law. And races of far superior intellect than the humans could potentially de-code such forensics and with sufficient mental effort unwind the evidence to the point where they would detect an inexplicable hole in the data. What caused four UFOs to suddenly, and inexplicably attack one another, and then crash into the moon? Proper analysis would undoubtedly reveal that the UFOs exhibited no technical malfunctions. And that left a hole in any truly rational examination of what happened. One that a few races in the galaxy could, potentially, find sufficiently perplexing to pursue, should they ever happen to investigate these events. And despite the unbelievably low probability of this ever occurring, the three Minds of Shadow Hawk nevertheless were in perfect agreement: it was a problem.
"What do you think Jacob?"
"I don't object strongly to any of this, at this point," he replied. "We need to make sure the UFOs don't threaten the technicians, or Earth. They need a pounding, and we can give it to them."
They decided to execute the plan. But first, they had to ensure the safety of the technicians. Ling opened a telepathic link into the two technician UFOs that were wobbling their way along behind them. In fact, the two ships were flying far too close to each other, and at dangerous angles, but somehow they were managing to keep from crashing into one another, barely. Certainly, the inexperienced technicians were getting the ultimate crash course in the of piloting Nazi UFOs. It wasn't as impossible as it may seem. After all, they built them, and knew exactly to the detail how they worked. Their problem was that they had never actually flown one, and had no actual piloting experience. But somehow they were managing.
"This is a Commander from Jacob's Team," announced Ling telepathically to two members of each ship. She also linked to Jacob and Vallnam. "We are communicating with you via our Telepathic technology." The four technicians were amazed. They listened intently.
"Ja, amazing, amazing!" the technicians were saying to themselves, overawed.
"We are going to engage with the Saucers that are on their way to destroy us, so you need to go into Stealth mode before we come within range of their sensors."
"Vhat are you going to do?" asked one of the technicians.
"That is top secret at this time," said Vallnam.
"Did you say they are going to destroy us?" asked another technician.
"Yes," replied Vallnam.
"Vhy vould zhey do zis?" came the puzzled reply from one of the other technicans.
"They were ordered to attack hijacked ships leaving Eisenhelm," replied Ling.
"Exactly," said Vallnam. "We don't want to take any chances."
The technicians were puzzled by all of this. They hadn't heard those orders. As far as they knew, the four UFOs had been sent to recapture the one UFO that had been hijacked earlier that day from Hanger A. But this was before the Civil War had begun, and things could easily have changed, they reasoned, so it was possible. Still, the situation was confusing. Nevertheless, they remained quiet. Arguing with superiors was not in their nature, nor their training. They were born and bred to obey, which they did as a matter of habit.
"All of this was caused by the rebellion. The UFO Captains were ordered to destroy all ships leaving Eisenhelm," said Ling in her most diplomatically persuasive tone. She sounded so sincere the technicians lost all sense of puzzlement and became convinced that whatever Ling said was definitely the truth. They had no doubt about it.
With the utmost stealth, Shadow Hawk sped in a wide arc behind the four UFOs. Using the Helio-Drive at an accelerating speed, she skimmed along the magnetic currents flowing out from the Sun, and by careful shifting of their polarity at the right times, Jacob maneuvered the magnificent vessel so that it came up behind their prey undetected. While the Nazi UFOs had amazing maneuverability due to their Red-Mercury Plasma Drives, and could execute hairpin turns at impossible speeds, Shadow Hawk's Helio-Drive could accelerate to nearly up to light-speed in a few moments. And this without ruffling of the continuum due to the Helio-Drive's spacetime warping cocoon, nor disturbing spacetime within the vessel itself. It slid along the magnetic waves without the slightest hint of a ripple. Thus, no sensors known to science could detect it.
As soon as they matched speed and trajectory, Vallnam and Jacob hovered their fingers over their respective control consoles. A soft blue-green light emanated from symbols that they could not read, but somehow understood. The chairs in which they sat hummed, and as smooth as melted chocolate spreads over the surface of a bowl, they were enveloped in their armored suits: "Wisdom" and "Mercy". They felt perfectly warm, comfortable, could breathe easily, and found that they could see all around themselves in every direction without having to move their heads.
In a moment, without realizing how, they found themselves outside Shadow Hawk floating in free space. Silently they projected mentally where they wanted to go, and their suits initiated the Helios-Drive protocol. They were instantly on their way at remarkable speed, carving a vast arc along the Sun's magnetic lines of force. It was quite a bit like surfing. When they needed to change direction the suits altered polarity. They smoothly glided toward the UFOs that had been pursuing them fruitlessly for the past 15 hours.
Jacob had taken to flying like he was born to it, twirling in spirals as he flew, and was truly enjoying himself. Vallnam on the other hand was not quite as fluent in flight, struggling to will himself to the exact location he wished, and gliding in simple curves without flourishes. Once they got near the UFOs, Jacob pointed to the closest, indicating for Vallnam to take charge of that one, while Jacob flew off to match speed and trajectory with the further one. Ling remained inside Shadow Hawk, and flew to a position one thousand feet behind the last one in the set. They left the leading UFO unattended. This was the one they had designated for doom.
Sliding effortlessly along Earth's magnetic field lines, Jacob located an interference wave, and with a gentle shifting of polarity, slipped over the top, slid down the other side, and within moments he was positioned directly next to UFO-3, flying alongside of them. Within were three hardened Nazi Spacemen. One stood at the helm piloting the craft, another at the navigation station, and the third manned the weapons platform. All of them were tired from their long ordeal, and bewildered by the strange events that had recently thrown their normally orderly world into complete disarray. Adding to their anxiety, all communications with Eisenhelm had ceased.
"Captain Keller," Lieutenant Kruger was saying, "I still am unable to raise Eisenhelm. All zee frequencies are dead. There is only static. It is as if zee Fortress is... no longer there."
"This is impossible, Lieutenant. Keep trying," ordered the Captain coolly. "Still, zee first order of business is to locate zee hijacked UFO that has escaped us. Vee vill soon know who zee traitors are. They vill have to come out of Stealth Mode before landing. Vee vill catch them then and annihilate them!"
Jawul, Captain!" replied the Lieutenant.
Fortunately, Shadow Hawk, and the suits, for all practical purposes, were completely invisible in space. She cannot be detected by any known sensors, radar, or other tools of science. Her color is of a black so deep that it absorbs 99.9999% of light when in the depths of space. However, she could also change to her color scheme to whatever blends most perfectly with whatever background in space she finds herself in, whether it be a nebula, a star, a moon, or even the multichromatic colors of a planet. Shadow Hawk was designed to be unobservable.
Consequently, the only way the Nazi crews might have been able to detect her would have been by virtue of her occulting a star, which would, at those speeds, happen only for a moment and extremely rarely. It would take uncanny observational powers for them to notice. As the UFOs only had tiny round port windows made of thick glass, and tired and listless crews, the chances of them noticing Shadow Hawk or any of the suits was astronomically small. And none of them did. And so, the Nazis within the four combat UFOs had absolutely no clue that they would soon be engaged in a battle that none of them could possibly have anticipated or prepared for.
Ling cast the first Mental Assimilation. She enveloped the crew in a mental vision of nothing unusual happening at all. Nothing changed. And no matter what might go on around them among the other UFOs, this crew would only see normal instrument readings, and their comrades flying alongside of them on the long boring trip back to the moon. Their minds were completely encased in this vision, and to the end not a single one of them had the slightest suspicion that anything was amiss at all.
Vallnam cast the second Mental Assimilation.
"Captain! Look!" shouted a Lieutenant. Ahead of them where the lead UFO was located they saw a bright flash of orange light, and the crew members completely believed that the ship exploded into a thousand pieces. Through its wreckage roared a fabulously sleek bullet-shaped Spaceship, bristling with rocket launchers and beam ray cannons, emblazoned on the side was a large bright American flag. The warship's chrome hull gleaming brightly at the head of its bright yellow plasma trail, while through the large round portholes the Nazis could see sneering American spacemen laughing with delight, and frothing with villainous ecstasy. It was astonishing!
At that moment a crackling sound erupted over their radio speakers, and the Nazis heard the following: "You will be crushed you Nazi Scum! America is the most powerful nation in the universe, and we are now going to destroy you next!"
"Ach-TUNG! RED ALERT! ATTACK! ATTACK!" stormed Captain Keller at the top of his lungs, thunderstruck by the sudden and completely inexplicable appearance of the Americans. The crew snapped to stations and immediately began attacking the imaginary vessel. But what their weapons trained on was instead the lead UFO of their battle group, the crew of which had simply no idea that anything untoward was about to happen to them. Somewhere not terribly far off, a dog-shaped black cloud moved closer to UFO-1 with relish in its black heart.Meanwhile, the four technicians who were still telepathically linked to Ling, Jacob and Vallnam's minds, were being blown away by the incredible prowess of their new leaders. Who could ever imagine that war could be fought in such a fashion!? It was astounding!
Realizing that the technicians were still mentally tethered to the conversation, Vallnam put the following out there to them. "Ja! So now you see, finally, what incredible technology zee Reich has secretly developed over all zee years in Eisenhelm. You must keep it an absolute secret -- to zee grave!" To this all four technicians agreed without the slightest hesitation, so overawed were they.
Having landed lightly on the hull of the third ship moments before, Jacob had already cast his Mental Assimilation within. The miserable Nazi crew suddenly saw a very similar scene ahead of them, with the lead UFO being sliced clean in half by a dazzling crimson beam of light. Shocked, they clambered to the port window -- the attacker was the head of the Statue of Liberty herself, her eyes blazing with crackling red lightning, and bright red plasma beams emitting from each of her crown's spikes! From her mouth emitted a forked tongue, while from the base of her neck a huge blue-white jet of fire propelled the monstrous space-weapon through the UFOs imaginary wreckage directly toward them! What the hell?!!
Again there was an instant call to arms within, and this ship's crew fought just as fiercely as the other. Now both Mind Assimilated UFOs were aiming their Liquid Metal Projectile weapons and firing upon the completely docile and unsuspecting leader UFO-1. Within, one crew member was scratching the back of his neck, yawning over a cup of cold tea, and looking lazily out the port window at the infinitely boring starscape around them. Another was trying to stay busy polishing the brass knobs on his control panel. Captain Reiner stifled a yawn as he gazed listlessly at his shoes.
Suddenly there was a flash of light and the ship shook violently. The port window cracked and threatened to give way. Sparks sprayed out from a control panel and filled the air with streaks of orange embers. The ship's hull made terrible creaking sounds as it began to tear apart. The pilot was thrown to the ground, while the others buckled in and grabbed their controls. They weren't going to go down without a fight! But who was attacking them!?
"Captain!" shouted the ship's lieutenant from the weapons station, "zee traitors are among our own fleet! Vee are being attacked by two traitor ships from behind!"
"Vhat?!" shouted Captain Reiner, shocked to the core by this outrageous treachery, his face twisting with spasms of hysterical hatred.
"Radio UFO-4! Order zee counter attack! Destroy them immediately! Raimund! Man zee Lightning Cannon!!" shouted Captain Reiner at the top of his lungs.
All to no avail. While the radio message was sent to UFO-4, the crew within never heard a thing, and remained blissfully ignorant of the battle raging around them. Ling was sailing along behind them at a discreet distance, ensuring that the only thing they heard and saw was the long dull path back to the moon etched in blinking blips across their sensor screen, and the blissfully boring silence of the starry night.
That first barrage had struck UFO-1 with a stream of super-heated metal projectiles, grazing the ship's side, carving open its weapons port, severely damaging the port side window, and sheering off its lateral antenna array. In a moment the ship veered wildly to the starboard, just in time, as a liquid metal stream from UFO-3 slipped past it, missing barely, and vanishing in a long glowing line of metal pellets into the depths of space.
The Nazis of UFO-1, arguably the best trained crew in the brigade, fought back with a vengeance. Vallnam and Jacob cleverly sent their respective crews images of their opponents shooting back, but missing due to poor aim. The Nazis crews cheered as the imaginary weapons missed their targets and sailed off harmlessly into the void.
"ATTACK!! ATTACK THE AMERICAN SWINE AGAIN!! DESTROY THEM!!" shouted Captain Keller, frothing at the mouth with excitement.
Jacob asked if there was a Shadow Hawk weapon they might use to get a shot in and end the melee, but Vallnam thought better of it. "No, I don't think we should do that. We should keep projecting bravado and menace until they destroy each other," he said, recalling the strong impression that they should try remain as stealthy at all times as possible. Jacob assented to this recommendation, and so they continued their mental assault from a safe distance as the ships tore into each other.
The battle didn't last long. In two quick sorties it was all over. UFO-1 was obliterated; Reiner and his crew torn to shreds by their hallucinating comrades-in-arms. The once clean and efficient control cabin, now devoid of air and utterly silent, was strewn with flying bits of glass, smoke, burning debris, and floating bodies.
Through one of the holes in the hull flitted a malignant shadow. It paused to savor its prey, and then savagely devoured the souls of the Nazi soldiers who died therein, far, far, far from home. Their horrific screams could not be heard in this world, as their tattered memories, dreams, petty jealousies, victories, and grand romances were all sucked into the infinitely black maw of the Wiedergänger. It darted from one to the other, gleeful with hate to the last. It was growing fat on the victories that Vallnam wrought along its way. Because of this, it intended to stay loyally, if invisibly, by Vallnam's side... until some black night when the pitiful human would also fall prey to the way of all flesh. Delicious he shall be, thought the Wiedergänger with a peculiar alien relish.
Vallnam caused the crew within UFO-2 to believe that they witnessed the imaginary American ship crack and glow white hot from within, while over the radio they heard screaming "You cannot defeat America! We'll be back!! AHHGGGHHH!" a moment before the imaginary Space Cruiser exploded into a billion glowing shards. Jacob's crew saw a similar fate, the head of the Statue of Liberty being blasted into pieces by their Liquid Metal Cannon. In Ling's ship, however, things remained dull to the point of bordom. One of the men lit a cigarette, while another checked the radar for signs of the hijacked UFO that they had been chasing for so long. No sign of it, yet, he reported without enthusiasm.
"Ling," said Vallnam, "why don't you keep your crew steady as she goes. We'll get ours to increase speed and fly with them to the moon."
Meanwhile, the technicians were aghast. The insidiousness of the attack that the four technicians were privy to via their telepathic link was utterly shocking. They explained what they were witnessing to the rest of their crews, and all of them were terrified of the powers that their commanders possessed. It was truly horrifying. They were awestruck and sat in silence. One of them passed out, having been previously wounded during the escape from Hanger B, and unable to take any additional stress. He collapsed on a bench, clutching the wound on his neck. The technician next to him found a blanket in the slide-cubby and put it over him.
A half hour later, under Vallnam and Jacob's clandestine influence, UFO-2 and UFO-3 crashed unwittingly at high speed into the surface of the moon, thinking that they had more than ample time to slow down before Eisenhelm's Hanger C came within range of an orbital flight path adjustment.
"Steady as she ---" Captain Keller was saying at the moment of his unexpected demise.
Satisfied that there could be no survivors, Vallnam and Jacob flew back to Shadow Hawk.
Behind them, one by one, the infernal screams of eight Nazi souls being consumed might be heard, if one had ears attuned to the realm of spirits, demons, and the phase dimension.
As they flew back to Shadow Hawk, Vallnam thought about Ling, his beloved treasure. He understood where she was coming from in regards to not getting her hands dirty taking out the Nazis. He wouldn't argue with her about this, and just shrugged to himself. She had a moral compass that wouldn't let her cross that line, he thought, even though the deed had to be done. He loved her, and was willing to look the other way at what he inwardly thought was really a kind of moral cowardice. After all, what was the difference if she killed them, or merely allowed he and Jacob to do so. Either way, the Nazis were, rightfully, dead. The only difference really is that she declined to pull the trigger herself. In his heart of hearts he thought about this, and in the end, his love for her prevailed and so he concluded that she had done the right thing, though he couldn't explain exactly why he thought so. No matter. Where love prevails, reason has no primacy.
Ling sat in Shadow Hawk, quietly guiding UFO-4 on their journey back to Eisenhelm. The crew surmised that wherever the renegade UFO they had been tracking had gone, it was now quite beyond their capability to find. They'd given up that hope, and assumed the ship had landed somewhere on Earth, or sped off in stealth mode out into space. It could be anywhere by now. In any case, they were looking forward to getting home, soaking their feet in a hot bath, and getting some much deserved R&R.
Observing their languid behavior, Ling wondered just how incalcitrant the Nazis really were. Was there any chance they could have been reformed toward a better, brighter future on Earth? Did they really have to be killed? Could they have had a change of heart? After all, Hanna, for a moment, had almost succumbed to Jacob's charms. She might have turned, had it not been for her completely unreasonable fit of jealousy when she saw Ling for the first time. But still, perhaps the Nazis could be reformed. She wondered if they were doing the right thing.
But that wasn't really at the heart of what was bothering her, either. In Ling's mind, the reason they shouldn't have waged this kind of attack was because they were now so vastly overpowered compared to their opponents that the contest was completely unfair. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. What chance did the Nazis even have? Zero. None. It reminded her of a passage she had read in a book on medieval history many years before the Ultra-War, regarding Emperor Charlemagne's Prohibition against the use of bows and arrows for his Paladins. He made the edict on the grounds that the use of missile weapons to slay one's enemies at a distance was dishonorable and cowardly. The Emperor desired that all Paladins cultivate virtue and honor above all else. This was for the sake of their immortal souls, and to ensure God's favor upon his Empire. When she thought of this, she shuddered at just how effective, and ruthless, the three heroes could become, having been granted the vast powers of Shadow Hawk. And the following thought which came upon its heels was that in the wrong hands, such a ship could give any three people the ability to easily tyrannize an entire world. A cold tingling sensation prickled the hairs on the back of her neck as she considered the grave responsibility the three of them had been handed.
Outside her window and invisible dog-shaped shadow was observing her from the void.
Yet to Jacob and Vallnam, they had simply used an advanced form of technology in a military situation to spread misinformation that caused the enemy to remove themselves from the battlefield. Nothing more, nothing less. It was a perfunctory use of superior technology to solve a military problem. They felt they were not sadistic about it, the deaths of their enemies being nearly instantaneous and therefore more or less painless, and ultimately, they felt they had to save the technicians whom they considered innocents under their protection, as well as reduce the risk that the enemy would reconstitute itself under Hanna's capable command and threaten Earth with the incredibly well armed UFO Fleet in the future. Moral equivocations aside, they felt they had done the right thing.
Shadow Hawk herself pondered the question with great interest. Humans, she was discovering, were more complex creatures than she had anticipated, and their moral perspectives would not be easily mapped to the Modroni alignment matrix. She would have to contemplate this further. Deep within Shadow Hawk the soft golden hum continued for some time.
Hanna, from deep within Doctor Capek's Robotics Laboratory, felt the shock of the crash and subsequent massive explosion, and were it not for her Duridium suit she might have been harmed by the falling rocks and debris that attended the incident. Another of her Commandoes was not so lucky, and now she was down to two. Fortunately, the Robots that Doctor Capek had at his disposal instantly protected him from harm, and he was safe. So too was Hanna's mysterious prisoner.
When doctor Capek locked eyes on the man in the yellow prison suit the two glared at one another with the ferocity of twin tigers, ready for battle. Except one was a free man with tools, and weapons, and robots at his command. The other was a prisoner, cuffed and defenseless - except for what was in that man's unfathomable mind. Their eyes locked and bored into each other with a wordless ferocity so intense that it caused the metal table Capek was braced against to bend, and collapse. He fell backwards to the ground. The prisoner stood over him, his eyes shining. But that's another story.
Our heroes turned away from the moon and flew swiftly on the magnetic force waves back to Shadow Hawk. Ling sat brooding in silence. But the men congratulated themselves on a job well done, and looked forward to their next step on the journey back home. They summoned the technicians to bring forward their UFOs, and as a group they recalibrated their trajectory toward Earth. Again Shadow Hawk remained at an unbearably slow velocity in order to stay with the UFOs.
However, another matter faced them before they could complete the journey. Ahead of them, sailing silently through space on a trajectory towards Earth, were the fifty inert and lifeless hunks of Giant Nuclear Missile Robot known as "The Phallanx". In each one contained a five-hundred megaton Cobalt Bomb, designed to produce enhanced amounts of radioactive fallout, and was intended to contaminate an enormous area with radioactive material. Collectively they formed the Nazi's ultimate doomsday weapon, and were intended to cause such widespread and long-lasting devastation as to exterminate all life on planet Earth. It was Hitler's final order to the Commanders of Eisenhelm: If he should perish during the war, they were to unleash hell on Earth as a final revenge against all the living.
Fortunately for Earth, Eisenhelm was cut off from communications with German Military Command at the end of the war, and the Commanders of Eisenhelm were never informed if Hitler had died, or if he were still alive, but in hiding, perhaps in Argentina, or in a secret base in Antarctica as rumors had it. For Eisenhelm, Hitler's fate remained an unresolved mystery. Since they didn't know, they chose to do nothing and wait for further orders. And so, for ninety long years the great secret Moon-Fortress Eisenhelm lay hidden beneath Mare Frigoris, awaiting the final orders which never came, and festering with rivalries, deceptions, and enormously pent up hatreds. In the end, Eisenhelm was destroyed by the clever antics of two American Mentarians and a wily Warlock from Arizona who triggered the final solution to their problems. Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men...
At any rate, our heroes realized they had to deal with The Phallanx. Even though the Giant Nuclear Missile Robots had been disabled by the Self-Destruct sequence that Ling had entered into Hertling's top secret Robot Control Computer, the nuclear weapons within them were nevertheless still a significant threat to Earth. Should the robots fall into the atmosphere and strike mountain sides or cities, the results would be a nuclear devastation far worse than anything that had previously befallen humanity during the Ultra-War. It would likely be the end for their home world. They could not leave the robots floating towards Earth. Something had to be done.
Vallnam inquired with his suit, but it turned out that Shadow Hawk did not have a tractor beam. It did, however, have a teleporter. In fact it was the teleporter that ejected them outside the ship when they had donned their Shadow Hawk armors. The teleporter was, however, only sufficient to teleport a human-sized object, or smaller, somewhere within a hundred miles of Shadow Hawk, and had to be line-of-sight with the ship. Beyond that distance the beam would lose coherency. It didn't seem useful for the current situation. They sought other ideas.
"We could use the UFOs weapons to blow up the robots," suggested Vallnam.
This however was met with immediate disapproval. After all, the UFOs to effectively trigger the bombs with their weapons would have to be so close as to be completely vaporized by the first detonation. So that was out.
"Well, even if we can't blow them up, perhaps we can use the weaponry to change their trajectory so that they won't fall into Earth's gravity. Maybe we could get them to fall into the sun instead," offered Vallnam as an alternative.
"Unfortunately," said Jacob, "given the mass of those robots, and the kinds of weapons the UFOs have, I don't think we're likely to be able to change their trajectory sufficiently for them to escape Earth's gravitational pull. They are already set on a course to Earth, and each one must weigh at least fifty tons. The UFOs have liquid metal cannons, lightning cannons, and a plasma beam. None of those would do the trick. As for getting them to fall into the sun, it's actually much harder than you'd think."
"Perhaps we could get the technicians to nudge the robots off course?" asked Ling. "Maybe they could land the UFOs on the Robots and use their thrusters to move them off course?"
"Ja," said one of the technicians through the telepathic link. "Vee could. Some of us worked on zee robots. If they are tampered with they are designed with booby traps to cause them to explode, but these are likely to be disabled by zee self-destruct code. It has made their brains inert, along with their electronic mechanisms."
"If we can get one to explode," offered a technician, "they are close enough to each other to cause a chain reaction. Perhaps they vill all explode."
"Let's do that," said Vallnam.
"Maybe," said one of the technicians, "but zee robots are such a grand technical achievement. It seems a shame to destroy them. Ja, doesn't it?"
"But compared with the fantastic Reich war-technology you just witnessed, the robots are insignificant," replied Vallnam.
"Still, though," the technician persisted, "zee robots can be quite useful."
"For what?" asked Jacob.
"Building things, moving things. They can be amazing work horses, ja."
"But they are going to blow up the Earth," objected Vallnam.
"Not if we remove zee bombs," said the technician with a wry intonation.
"That presumes we can land on the robots, and do all that," argued Jacob.
"Vee can do that," said the technician. "Vee can fly zee UFOs to each robot, with our spacesuits vee can go out and work on them. After all, vee built zee robots. Vee know their design. Vee can remove zee bombs, reprogram zee brains, and reactive zee robots to be great giant work horses for zee Earth peoples! It would give us something to offer when vee arrive. Otherwise, vee are just lowly refugees with no status at all. Refugees in a strange land. But with zee robots, vee can bring a coming home gift of great value. Fifty of them, even, ja."
They thought this over. Vallnam proposed that they try with one.
"If you can get one done, and don't blow yourselves to smithereens, and it doesn't take too long, then it's okay with me."
"When we get to Earth," another technician asked, "vill you be able to negotiate a place for us? After all that has happened, maybe they vill convict us after all? Vee have been enemies for a long time, ja?"
"Your contributions will be accounted for, and held to your credit," said Jacob confidently. "We should have no problem advocating for you among the Earth people, don't worry."
The technicians were puzzled at the idea that their High Nazi High Commanders, the three purple bubble-suit leaders who rescued them from certain death in the disintegrating Eisenhelm, would also have so much influence on Earth that they could persuade the Earth people to accept them. They still had no inkling that Ling, Vallnam and Jacob were actually Americans posing as Moon-Nazis. Nor did they fathom that it was their machinations that ignited the Nazi Civil War within Eisenhelm to begin with, and that these three were responsible for the grand base's ultimate destruction. Or perhaps by then some of them had slowly begun to subconsciously guess, but none of them had thought so consciously up to that point. It would come as a great shock to many of them, for sure.
"Vill you surrender to the Americans when vee get there?" asked the technician. "What vill vee to do when vee arrive?"
"We will assimilate into their society. It makes no sense to fight a war with the Americans now. Eisenhelm is over. We can live on Earth and forget the past."
"Ah, ja, that we could," said the technicians, thoughtfully. While they were brought up under Nazi dominion for their entire lives, the technicians were the Nazi underclass, and their betters never let them forget it for a moment. They had no great love for the Reich after so many years of abuse and degradation. Secretly they had all wished they could return to the beautiful blue planet and live normal lives among trees and oceans with blowing air, and rain and blue skies. If their High Commanders had in mind to surrender so that they could do this, the technicians were most definitely not going to object to that. They felt a great relief, in fact, as they thought that they were being taken along in order to wage a final futile battle against the Earthlings with their two UFOs. This came as a wonderful surprise to most of them.
Ling realized at that point that the technicians who had lived their entire lives on the moon would be facing some very significant challenges once they landed on Earth. For one thing, their muscles were not nearly strong enough to carry their weight, so they would not be able to walk. They also were likely to be vulnerable to Earth diseases, and especially to the many pathogens released during the Ultra-War. They would also have a hard time, most likely, adjusting to the change in atmosphere and food. Not to mention the culture shock they would inevitably encounter. But, somehow, she knew they would work it out one way or another. Medical science had advanced tremendously since the Nazis founded Eisenhelm in 1943. Federation Command would find a way to acclimate them Earth. And they had a skill set that would prove quite valuable to Earth civilization. Federation Command was always eager to accept skilled technicians into their ranks.
"Let us try to fix zee Phallanx," said the new lead technician. "But in case things go wrong, all of you should move a good distance away. If one explodes, then the vill all explode, ja. Zee burst you could see from Jupiter, I think, ja? But vee are villing to try."
Because they were linked telepathically to four of the technicians, the Mentarians knew that their hearts were sincere, and they did not have a nefarious plan up their sleeves. So this idea was agreed to, and one of the UFOs with its nine technicians flew closer, and landed on the lead Giant Nuclear Powered Robot.
Two of the technicians climbed out, and the entire group of ships rapidly retreated to a position eight hundred miles away, which they deemed would likely be far enough. The technicians continued to converse with them via the telepathic link. They opened the tools compartment on the side of the robot, tethered themselves to it via a steel cable, and began their work steadily and with great care. After a half hour they notified the team that they were stuck on a fail-safe mechanism, and were having trouble bypassing it. They asked for more time to try again. This was granted, and they tried again.
"Aha," said one of the technicians "Vee have disconnected zee cobalt bomb, and are going to float it out of the robot hull. Then vee vill attempt to reprogram zee robot. The bomb disconnection was the easy part. Vee vill try."
After fifteen minutes, "No, it failed. Vee vill try again."
After several tries, they couldn't find a way around the security system that blocked their ability to reprogram the robot. They were defeated and asked for their UFO to pick them up. Once back aboard, they went into a rapid-fire white boarding session with their team, seeing if between all of them they could figure out a way to get passed the security mechanism. It was a toughy.
"Oh it is a shame that Hans and Nick didn't make it!" they lamented. "Zee robots are our ticket to acceptance into Earth society! Without them, vee vill be less than nobodies! At best vee vill have zee status of refugees and former enemies with nothing to show for ourselves. Vee must find a way past zee security mechanism! Verflixt! Alas, Nick would have known how to do it instantly!"
The unconscious technician wrapped in a blanket toward at the rear of the ship stirred in fitful feverish dreams. His lips were working, but no words came out of his mouth. The wound on his neck was a small dark red gash, which had been slowly becoming infected. He moaned, but the technicians were too absorbed in their work to take notice.
And that is where we left it that game.
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thank you for sharing
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