Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 19:53:09 BST
From: AD . <trekster2@hotmail.com>
Subject: 'The Project' Chapter Five

Chapter five

Hi all.  Sorry this chapter took so long, I finished it at the same time I
posted chapter four, but just didn't get round to posting it!  Thanks for
all your comments from last chapter, and thanks to the people who gave my
chapter a proof.  Usual thanks to everyone, Tom for proofing it yet again!
Legal: don't read if you are under the legal age to do so in your country.
This story is fictional and implies nothing about any of the characters
involved, nor the events which occur.  This story is copyrighted to the
author, and no reproduction can occur without the express permission of the
author.
Now, on with the show!  Email me at trekster2@hotmail.com or
trekkiead@yahoo.com btw!

Last time on 'The Project':

"We should get you back to your room.  I had another great chat with you
tonight.  I'll be around in England, but I doubt you'll see me there.
Justin?  Justin?" Owen glanced down, to see Justin fast asleep, his head
having slipped down to his lap no, as he cuddled up against him.  Owen
slowly pulled himself out, supporting Justin on his hands as he reached for
a pillow to put it under his head.  He pulled a blanket off his bed and laid
it over Justin's shirtless figure, rubbing his finger across his face before
quickly withdrawing his hand and changing out his pants before slipping on a
dressing down and laying down on his bed.

And now the continuation:

	"The time is 6am eastern standard time." The voice of the computer
sitting on the desk sounded across the room, causing Justin to wake with a
start.  Owen was already sitting up, fully dressed, looking over at his
sleeping guest.
	"Wha.. what am I doing here?" Justin said in initial confusion as
he quickly recalled the previous nights events.
	"Sleeping last time I checked.  You fell to sleep on my shoulder
last night, I didn't have the heart to wake you up, you were too cute, so I
let you sleep there." Owen said with a slight smile
	"You've got me up early!  Me need more sleep!"
	"That's fine, but may I suggest going back to your own room?  The
others would wonder what you were doing walking back to you room in last
night's clothes if they saw you."
	"Oh yeah.  We're leaving early this morning as well.  I suppose I
better go back to my room." Justin said, picking up his shirt and slipping
it on.
	"And Lance's little PI won't turn anything up anywhere, at least
not under Owen Coombs."
	"Why not, and how do you know?"
	"I appear on the lists of one country under my birth name, which is
completely unrelated to me.  The only people who know it are my father and
me, my Dad changed my name when I was only a month old or so.  My mother
died about a week after I was born, but had already decided on my name.  My
Dad changed it almost immediately.  I know because someone told me someone
was snooping around, and traced it back to a PI who was hired by Lance."
	"Why was your name changed?"
	"To disassociate me with him I presume, not too many people know
I'm his son.  He had nothing to do with my upbringing, he just handed me
off onto others."
	"What was it?"
	"That's classified."
	"You're serious?"
	"I am I'm afraid, I'm not allowed to share it with anyone, it
doesn't exist apart from on a computer record somewhere or other, which is
more than Owen Coombs has I suppose.  He doesn't exist outside of the
agency he works for."
	"Now you're talking about yourself in the third person, that's
bad."
	"I do that sometimes.  Anyway, go go go."
	"Ha, was that supposed to be a pun?"
	"I never thought of that.  Bye Justin, have a good flight."
	"Bye," Justin said pausing slightly, "Owen."

	'Knock knock' came the sound that echoed around Justin's generously
sized hotel room.  He looked up from the bed, having changed out of his
previous clothes, and stepped to the door.
	"Good morning sleepy head, sleep well?" Lance said, looking fully
awake.
	"Yeah, you?" Justin replied, a small smile crossing his face as he
though about the previous nights, well, the mornings, events.
	"Yeah, slept right through to 7:30.  On wake up rounds now.
Breakfast is down the hall, be ready by 8:30 and we're down straight off to
the airport.  The flight is at 9:55."
	"Me need breakfast now." Justin said, walking out his room down the
corridor, arms outstretched like a zombie, causing Lance to burst out
laughing.
	"I'd recommend getting dressed first!" Lance said between laughs,
walking further down the hallway to wake up the others.  Justin ran back to
his room to get ready before going down for breakfast.
	"You better not have a camera in my shower, or you're in for it!"
Justin said as he walked into the bathroom, stripping down and stepping
into the hot streams of cascading water streaming out from the ceiling.

************************

	"Good morning Gentlemen, thank you for your punctuality." The ISC
director said as he walked into the briefing room.  A large conference
table was set up in the centre, along with several monitors around the
room, with a 3d holographic projector in the centre.  He took his seat and
glanced around the other men at the table, 9 country representatives, the
senior military commander second to himself, and the head of R&D.  His
co-director never attended, there was no need.  The monthly gathering of
some of the most powerful men in the world was one of the most boring
aspects as far as the director was concerned.
	"To start off the day, I'll hand you over to Mr Start, sorry,
General Start, to give you a short briefing on events.  You all have the
booklets for further information if required."
	"Thank you sir.  As most of you are aware, the first fleet was
heavily damaged in a surprise attack three weeks ago.  Four Kulmari attack
ships surprised the fleet and inflicted heavy damage before defensive
manoeuvres could even be taken.  Fortunately casualty reports were minimal.
The lack of detection was blamed on the closeness to which the ships
dropped out of slipstream, only a few miles from the fleet with weapons
fully charged and operational.  Repairs have almost been completed, and the
fleet will be back to full operational status in 2 days.  Full details on
the attack can be found by looking through you information screens if
required, along with the full sensor readings and logs of the attack from
all ships.  The only other action of the month is the incursion a few days
ago.  I'm sure you are all aware of this, and it clearly proved our new
defence system.  The commander will be informing you on that situation
later however.  If you require any further information, as I've said, it's
all available on the computer mainframe."
	"Thank you General.  I'm sure you all want to move to the matter
more urgently at hand, the incursion as previously mentioned.  You were all
informed of the events which transpired, and you are all aware of the
action which I have taken.  No further progress has been made on how to
recover the data stored, and no data was successfully retrieved from the
few fragments of the computer core which were not destroyed in the
explosion, other than the message confirming our theories.  We gathered
some new intelligence from sensor scans on the slightly modified ship,
clearly a new design which we had not previously encountered.  Our best
guess is that the ship is a new long range scout ship, since it had an
apparent lack of heavy weaponry, and lower than average defensive
capabilities." The director said, pointing over to the holographic display
showing the ship design.  "However, it does not hold any major
repercussions, as it is only a modification of the old scout, with a
slightly improved range, similar to our own new design.  You will be
updated as soon as any further information becomes available however."
	"What about you putting Owen Coombs in charge?  He as very little
field experience, especially on something of this magnitude and importance.
He is a potential liability!" Lu shouted out, the Chinese liaison, and not
one of the director's supporters.
	"Who would you rather have in charge Mr. Lu?  He is a respected
member of the organisation, he's got more civilian experience than a lot of
people who work in this organisation, he's a person who may be able to earn
their respect and trust more so than most of our people.  This isn't just
about protecting these people, there are a lot more people out there who
are doing that, this is about having someone to deal with these people in
person.  When we finally figure out how to extract the data, then we will
quite probably have to tell them what they are involved in.  I think if
they know and trust someone, then it will be easier for them to take
everything in.  As much as an annoyance it is, we can't completely defile
these people's rights Mr. Lu, we respect people's rights unlike some
countries.  Abducting these people and performing a procedure that could be
potentially life threatening is not something I would like to put the order
on.  If they would be willing to go through it however, there are little
problems."
	"You order people to their death's daily."
	"Those people know what they signed up for.  These are civilians.
We do not involve civilians in our running, unfortunately these people got
trapped into a situation that is not very pleasant for anyone involved."
	"I think an agent with far more experience would have been better
suited than your son!"
	"Are you implying anything Mr. Lu?"
	"Yes I am, sir."
	"Very well, your opinions are duly noted.  This organisation is not
a democracy however, I am the soul commander in all issues.  I do not
ignore others opinions however, but at this time, I see no reason to
reconsider my decision."
	"What if he reveals information about the agency before due time?
Meeting with them, being friendly with them!  He's a security risk!"
	"That is enough, if you wish to discuss this matter any more
arrange a meeting with me at a time convenient for both of us.  This is a
lecture to you gentlemen regarding current affairs, not a discussion.  I'm
sure there are plenty of people who would like to replace your position Mr
Lu.  Now, Doctor, would you like to inform us of the latest R&D
developments?"
	"Thank you sir.  As informed, progress on the data retrieval has
been virtually none existent over the past few days.  Hopefully something
will turn up in the next couple of weeks, and we've sent out orders to the
fleet to try and recover a Kulmari vessel.  We are not that hopeful however
on getting an intact vessel.  It's enough of a job to destroy the ships."
	"On that front however, progress has been made on adapting the new
orbital weapons for usage on the ships, and over the next two months we're
scheduled to refit the fleet with the new style weaponry.  As you are
aware, we've always had problems penetrating the Kulmari's defence
shielding, but the new quantum based design allows us to target anti matter
charges directly into the insides of the ship, through usage of a quantum
slipstream.  This brings us almost level, approaching equal almost in terms
of weapons capabilities, delivering a precisely aimed precision blow to key
areas of the enemy ships.
  Although no where near as powerful as the Kulmari weapons, they should
inflict high levels of damage.  The only concerns is how effective the new
targeting system will work from a fast moving platform."
	"Point to point quantum teleporting is also progressing.  The
problem that has been plaguing us is the fact that if we materialise an
object to a position in space without a receiving platform, large amounts
of atomic degradation occur.  This degradation occurs on the new style
weapons, but it's unimportant.  When transporting living, or even inanimate
material, it is very important however.  We've now managed to reduce
degradation down to less then 2%, from an original 20% when we first
started experimenting, and at current progress, the technology should be
ready for testing with living beings in about two months."
	"How do the ones work which are throughout our facilities?"
	"Ok, they have a receiving end and a sending end.  We use the
receiving end to correctly restructure the person on the other end.  This
isn't possible when there is no receiving unit.  That's why when we first
started sending ships out, we had to send maybe 15 or 20 receiving craft
through slipstream before one arrived through capable of acting as a
receiving unit, so we could then send the ships."
	"Also on that front we have increased the range of our slipstream
device, it's now up to about fifteen light years.  This means the trip from
the front line can now be done in under a day in 3 hops.  That's it from
the R&D front."
	"Thank you doctor.  Any further comments from anyone?" The
commander said, pausing a few seconds.  "I will see you all in a month's
time. Good day gentlemen." He finished, the other people standing up as he
left the room.

	Owen had a slight problem, how to get to England.  He considered
the option of just teleporting there and awaiting the guys' arrival, or fly
out beforehand, or by far the most risky, fly out on the same flight.  The
other option, the tricky one, would be to follow them.  That however was
pretty pointless.  Ideally he'd have liked to be on the plane, but that
posed a lot of risk of being noticed by one of he guys if they went a
stroll round the plane.  He could see if he could stay in the cockpit, but
Concorde's cockpit doesn't have a lot of space available.  By far the
easiest option would be to just teleport there, but what if another ship
came along while they were on the plane?  What he'd yet to figure out from
reading the information reports is why the original ship seemed to be
heading directly for them from the start, they had a perfect trajectory for
interception.  Maybe it was coincidence however, something to aim for if
they were intercepted, and not the primary goal for their original target.
It's something no one had put a lot of thought on yet apparently.  On that
course it did represent a good entry angle though, the fact the plane was
there could have been lucky coincidence even.  Maybe they were expecting to
get shot down, in which case it would represent the easiest target by a
long way in that case.  Anyway, that's off the topic, Owen was more
concerned with the problem of the moment, how to go to London.
	It seemed like a simple decision at first, Owen had not put much
thought into it, but the more he studied it, the more reasons he thought of
for being on the plane.  He couldn't fly it, so replacing a co-pilot was
out of the question, sitting in the cabin posed an unacceptable risk.  He
should have paid more attention of this earlier.  Perhaps following it? But
then he wouldn't have much chance if any problems arose directly on the
plane.  The guys were at the front, he could take up a seat on the back
row.  He doubted any of the guys would wonder round the plane too much, in
case of any troublesome fans.  He could always bring a paper up to his
face, or bury his head in a pillow.  That seemed to be the only way to go
in the situation.  He picked up the phone and quickly dialled to the local
ISC office.
	"Yes, confirm that seat, as far back as possible on the Concorde
flight departing this morning."
	"That's not a problem, we had one on hold for you, second to back
row on the plane, it's a window seat if you were interested sir."
	"And what's the weather like in London while I'm at it?"
	"Cold!  6 degrees Celsius, overcast.  No rain at least though sir."
	"Couldn't you have lied to give me more reason to get on the plane?
Thank you for your help." Owen said replacing the phone with a slight
smile.  Shame they weren't all that friendly.  He glanced at his watch, the
time now approaching 8:15am.  He walked over and pulled a tie out from his
cupboard to go with his medium blue shirt and dark grey pinstripe suit.  At
the same time, he took the jacket off the hanger and quickly looked over
for and marks, before slipping it on, and debating whether to fasten the
buttons or not.  In the end he left it open, at least for the time being,
as it was more comfortable for him to sit down.  He looked over to his
small travel back, containing a not very standard laptop computer, two
changes of clothes, including a more casual set than suits, and last but
not least, a non-obtrusive weapon, which they informed him wouldn't show up
on x ray machines.  As an afterthought, he picked up the mobile phone off
his desk and pushed it into the bag, again, it wasn't completely standard
equipment.

	Owen was already sitting in his car when he saw the five NSync guys
leave the hotel into the parking lot, accompanied by two of their
bodyguards and one member of management who finally managed to turn up that
morning.  He let them get a little ahead of him in the small convoy of the
two minivans before he pulled out and followed them to the airport.  He
should be boarding the plane before anyone else, being at the back, and N
Sync would be in the executive lounge until boarding, so there were no
worries about being seen that way.  According to the plans he'd managed to
get hold off, they were supposed to be boarding the plane last and taking
the seats at the front of the plane.  Otherwise he'd be in some slightly
serious trouble on getting on the plane.  Fortunately that didn't prove the
case however.  At about 9:30 they started boarding from the back row and
Owen quickly disappeared into the plane.


	"Ladies and Gents, we've begun our decent into London Heathrow
Airport.  We'll be landing in about half an hour or so.  Current conditions
are quite windy, 25mph crosswinds, 8 Celsius, quite cloudy and light patchy
rain.  We're in for a bumpy landing, so please make sure you have your seat
belts fastened when I turn on the sign.  Currently we're at 40 thousand
feet, and our speed is down to 800mph."
	"Oh great!  I hate bumpy landings!  Hell, I hate landings!" Chris
said miserably, sinking into his seat, pulling his belt a little tighter.
"Excuse me, can I have a rum and coke please?" Chris asked to a passing
flight attendant, who nodded, quickly walking back to the galley to get his
drink.

	The plane shook slightly from side to side, it's rear wheels
approaching the ground, with a heavty bump as the plane touched down in the
ground, before thrust reversers were deployed and the plane brought to a
steady halt, taxing off the runway to the gate.
	"Thank God for that!  I think I left my stomach about 5000 ft up
there!"  Chris said, pointing upwards, causing a slight laugh from the
others.  They were quickly taken off the plane and through the terminal,
their bags being collected by airport staff and taken to the cars for them.
There were a couple of airport photographers to take the odd snap and try
and get the odd quote as they came down from the gate, and a couple more
after arrivals, along with the odd fan who managed to get the info on when
they were arriving.
	Owen had no bags to retrieve and quickly managed to make his way
through the airport terminal, having a British passport allowed him to
actually proceed out of the airport before the NSync guys who got off the
plane 6 minutes before him.  He looked around and saw what appeared to be
his car parked at the far end of the loading area, a V reg (2000) Jaguar
XJR, with a man in a suit standing next to the door.
	"Mr Coombs sir?"
	"One and only.  My car I presume?"
	"Yes sir, how was the flight?"
	"Oh, quite adorable.  The keys please?"
	"Here you go sir.  You've got a full tank of petrol and a city map
if you need it.  We have trackers on the two rented MPVs, and a display
unit is fitted in the centre console." The MI5 agent said, handing over a
set of keys and walking off, allowing Owen to climb into the black car,
with quite strongly tinted windows so no one outside the car could
recognise him.  It wasn't quite as well equipped as a James Bond car
unfortunately, it was pretty much standard apart from the computer display
in the centre console, and the bullet proof glass.  Still a nice car
though.  (for those who don't know, the Jag XJR is the world's fastest
saloon car).
	He watched as the five guys along with there entourage of 3 people
left the airport about a minute later and climbed into the two waiting cars
before they pulled off, Owen taking up pursuit after a few seconds, heading
out onto the M4 into London.  They were doing the National Lottery on TV
before staying at some hotel or other, he wasn't completely certain what
had been scheduled without looking at his notes.
	Owen's attention was fully returned to his driving when he heard
the police siren.  Any look of cheerfulness disappeared off his face when
he saw the police car right behind him, indicating him to pull over.  A
quick glance at the speedo indicated why, 90mph.  He indicated and pulled
from the outside lane into the hardshoulder, and waited for the copper to
attempt to give him a ticket.  This was all he needed though.  He opened
the window and watched the police walk towards him, while his partner was
sitting in the car, talking into the radio.
	"In a hurry sir?"
	"As a matter of fact I am officer."
	"Do you happen to have your license on you?"
	"I think it's in the boot officer, I just arrived in London.  May
I?"
	"Of course sir."  Owen got out the drivers side and pulled his case
out the suit, removing his documentation from the outer compartment.
Hopefully he'd just try to give Owen a ticket, but otherwise he'd just have
to pull some rank on the situation."
	"Just back from a business trip sir?"
	"Actually just on one.  I'm working in New York right now, and I
had to come to London for business.  Flew in on Concorde just now, and I'm
flying out tomorrow morning." Owen said, handing over his driving license
as the officer radioed back the number to the man in the car.  He waited a
second while the information came back.
	"The number plate is registered to MI5, and the driving license is
coming back as MI6." The voice crackled through the radio, the officers
face turning a bit paler.
	"Now, as I was saying officer, I'm in a bit of a rush if I could
get along?"
	"It doesn't matter who you are working for sir, you can't just get
away with speeding like that."
	"As I said, my sincerest apologies, but I really am in a hurry."
	"Just get on your way sir, it's pointless doing anything. "
	"Thank you officer.  Have a good day." Owen said pleasantly,
climbing back into the car, and quickly pulling out as soon as a gap
emerged, rapidly accelerating away.  ~That was too close really, thank God
someone went to the thought of putting down something on this license and
number plate.~ Owen thought to himself, just glancing down towards the GPS
system, showing where the NSync car was.  It had headed straight for the
BBC building, as did Owen, although keeping a more careful eye on his
speed.  The delay had already cost him over 15 minutes.  He had been
informed there were some plain clothed police keeping an eye on them, who
he was assured were competent.  These days, the more major threat to them
are lunatic fans, or plain lunatics.  It probably wasn't quite as bigger
problem in England as some other countries, but that was the major factor.

	"Hi guys.  My name's John, I'm the floor manager.  Basically
what'll be happening is we're running through a rehearsal in about ten
minutes.  You're on towards the end of the show, just after the first
lottery draw.  You'll perform your song, and then make your way over to the
sofa.  Lulu will have a little chat with you, you've seen the questions.
Any questions?"  He asked, getting a furry of nos from them.  "We'll come
in to tell you to get on for rehearsal in about half an hour.  Until then,
you can get changed into whatever you're wearing for the performance, take
a little rest."
	"One thing, where are the toilets?" Justin asked.
	"Out the door, turn right fourth door on the left.  If you need any
more help, drinks or anything, there's a phone over there, just give 432 a
ring, it's on the phone.  I've got to get off now I'm afraid." He said,
quickly walking out the room as a slight chuckle from some of the guys.

	Owen was just pulling the car into the car park of the BBC
building.  He was planning on being in the audience, just keeping an eye on
them.  One thing was playing on his mind, something Justin said, that he
might be slightly overdressed.  Oh well, he'd just have to blend into the
crowd somehow.  He'd had a room booked in the same hotel as the guys were
staying, slightly further away than 2 floors this time however.  He had no
surveillance in the rooms though, but he had a very sound sensitive bug in
the corridor.  Now though he just relaxed a little in the car as he quickly
caught up on the hotel they were staying at for the night.  He was still a
little early, the audience wasn't supposed to arrive for another hour, so
he just settled back down in the car, picking up the issue of 'The
Telegraph' left by the MI5 agent on the passenger seat.  He was interrupted
after a few seconds by the ringing of the incar phone.
	"Hello, Coombs."
	"Good day Mr Coombs, it looks like we might have a slight problem."

Several minutes earlier:

	"Sir, long range sensors are picking up a ship coming out of
quantum slipstream, it's right on the perimeter grid."
	"Set condition 3, call the commander."
	"I'm already here thank you Mr. Paton.  Status?"
	"It's a Kulmari long range cruiser, it's weapons and shields are
raised."
	"Hail them.  Lock on all weapons.  All hands to general quarters!"
	"Sir, they're answering our hails."
	"On screen."  Suddenly the image on the main viewscreen changed to
that of a large command bridge, and the image which has been burned into
many peoples' minds as the classic alien, the 'grey'.  "Kulmari vessel,
state your nature in violating restricted space."
	"We are here on a mission of peace commander.  Our aim is to
determine what happened to our ship which suffered a navigational error and
strayed into your system."
	"Would this be the same ship you managed to destroy sir?"
	"We thought it would be a good show of faith if we destroyed the
ship, as we could not contact them.  The ship suffered a major system
failure, and in order to avoid an incident between us, we thought it would
be best for us to attempt to destroy it.  However, you took aggressive
action, which of course you were well in your right to do so."
	"I'm afraid to inform you of the bad news that the ship was too
heavily damaged in the attack, and could not make an entry angle.  It
unfortunately burned up in our atmosphere.  There were no survivors of the
crash."
	"That is indeed unfortunate.  At least now we know what happened to
our ship."
	"Indeed you do.  Do you have any further business in our space?"
	"No commander, we will be sure to depart immediately."
	"You do that.  Also, possibly the cloaked ship you launched into
the system would like to do the same?"
	"Cloaked ship, I'm afraid I don't understand?"
	"Oh, that would be the one which crossed the detection grid and
currently has weapons locked on it."
	"I have just been informed, it was an unoccupied probe that was
accidentally launched.  I'll have it return immediately, my apologies."
	"Accidents do happen.  Our weapon platforms have been known to fire
without command before as well.  Good bye sir, have a safe journey back to
neutral space.  End comm.  God, I hate those people."
	"Sir, the sensor net detected no cloaked ships."
	"No, it didn't.  I made a guess.  I would have launched them in
his, it was a he wasn't it?, position."
	"Do they have sexes even?"
	"I think so...  We don't have that much intelligence from them
really, but I think they have sexes.  There's going to be another cloaked
ship left I think.  I want high intensity scanning of the whole system, if
you see anything off fire at it.  Get me Owen Coombs on the phone in my
room." The director said walking out.

	"Good day Mr Coombs, it looks like me might have a slight problem."
	"How so sir?"
	"I think there might be a cloaked Kulmari ship left in the system.
They just came along and 'enquired' about their lost ship.  Be on the watch
out.  I doubt they have any idea if they managed to defect, or do whatever
they've done, but just be watchful.  We're scanning now, if there's any
ship which tries to land, or transport someone down we'll tell you."
	"Ok, thank you for the information.  I'll keep a watchful eye out."
Owen said, placing the phone back in it's receiver.  As he said, they had
no idea what they were looking for, if there was even a ship in the first
place.  Now more than ever he had to be vigilant though, he couldn't afford
to let them out of his site much now.  He picked up a pair of glasses from
the glovebox which he'd requested be made available.  This was probably one
of the most advanced pieces of technology he'd ever seen.  They basically
acted as a magnification scope, up to 40x, but only had a simple lens in
appearance.  It's main use was to act as a targeting scope for a gun.  The
image was picked up by a sensor on the outside of the lens, and then
replayed on a screen on the inside of the lens.  They weren't limited to
one light spectrum either, very nifty little gadget, God knows how they
work though.


	"Sir, the inner sensor gird has just detected a disturbance,
82000km, sector 4F.  We've not got a sensor or weapons lock.  It's
disappeared after crossing the sensor net."
	"Intensify scanning of the area, and fire blanket coverage.  If
it's there, it'll leave some signs.  Scan for any disturbance of particles
in the region, like a ships wake, and any emissions from the drive.  It's
most likely ion based.  At this range we should be able to detect an ion
wake after the ship.  Power up the short range weapons, have them fire if
you detect anything.  Only fire if something is detected.  Lets not fire
aimlessly, or they'll realise we're onto them.  They won't think about the
weapons powering up."


	Owen was at the back of the audience, glancing down at his lottery
ticket as the first draw numbers were being drawn.  As a usual show of his
luck, he didn't have a single damned number in 3 lines.  NSync were due on
next, they were already standing on the stage area to the left.  Sure
enough, the music started up in the background and they started singing
'Bye Bye Bye' to a few girlish 'screams' from the crowd.  Once they'd
finished performing, they stepped down, as told, and took a seat on a pink
sofa, and had a little talk with the presenter, Lulu (she's an old pop star
from before my day if you don't know:) Owen's mobile phone started
vibrating discretely in his pocket however, the call automatically being
answered and sent through his eyepiece, and to his surprised, a video image
popped up about 3ft in front of him.
	"We can't find the ship, but we have reason to believe it's in
orbit.  We've gone over the sensor logs, and one of the original ships sent
off a signal we didn't notice before, they know where the original craft
was going to end up.  We think they also launched something, a small probe
possibly.  Scans haven't revealed anything there, but there appears to be a
discharge from one of the ships just before it's destroyed.  Sensors didn't
pick an object up at the time, this was only after detailed analysis.
We've been aware that they may have some advanced sensor technology for a
while.  They might know exactly what they're looking for already, at least
that this involves passengers on that plane. We're keeping an eye on all
computer databases so they won't easily come up with a passenger list, so
we'll know if they start looking for people."
	"Thanks for the info." Owen said quietly.  "Inform me if they find
anything."
	"We will.  Are you still able to handle this ok?"
	"Yes thank you sir.  End comm." Owen said, causing the video image
to disappear.  NSync had just finished and were walking off stage, so Owen
discreetly made an exit from the audience.  He was debating on how much
risk to take.  He could take them into protective custody, he could wait
until a ship in orbit set people on the ground in front of them to
ascertain the threat and kill them, he could wait till the fired an orbit
weapon and just wiped out a square mile area.  That would probably do the
trick.  By now he was sitting back in his car, the NSync guys were getting
changed right now, he had about five minutes.  Pulling out his mobile, he
quickly dialled a number, he was going to speak to someone about the
expected action.
	"Yes Mr. Coombs?" The commander spoke.
	"What are the going to do?  You've dealt with them half your life,
will they just blow them up from orbit, what?"
	"No, I doubt that.  If my experience is anything to go by, they'll
send people down, they'll ascertain face to face who they are against, and
they will try and kill them face to face.  If they powered their weapons in
orbit they wouldn't reach 1% before they were blown out the sky.  You can
deal with this situation, you'll know if you see one of them, trust me on
that.  Only bring them in as a last resort."
	"Thanks, anyway, time for me to go.  They're just coming out the
study.  Bye.  End comm." Owen started the car, feeling slightly more
reassured now that someone had confirmed his thoughts.  He put the car in
gear, and slowly drove off.  Now he did have a reason to follow them
everywhere, they could attack them at any time.


End of chapter five: Well, there's chapter five.  In case you haven't
guessed there might be a little bit of action in chapter six, i'm not
decided yet. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it.  Comments good or bad to
trekster2@hotmail.com or trekkiead@yahoo.com Thanks for reading.  Ad.