Ancients

he started to gather his thoughts.

'Carr, are you there?'

At first, he didn't answer as he waited for his strength to return.

'Carr, this is--'

'I'm here, my dear. What are we to do?'

'Listen, you relax. I have our contacts in Boston sending me a few things from the crime scene. One of our informants absconded with evidence before his superiors found it. I do not need you collapsing on me because we have a lot to talk about in a very short time frame.'

'I knew it wasn't a coincidence--the Wave is activated--I should have known right away--you should have also--what were we thinking?'

'Whoever the Coalition used was very good. Who would have believed they could track the Keeler line after all these years. Listen, Carr, we don't know for sure that whoever did this has gained any knowledge as to where the map is hidden. We just can't be sure.'

Carmichael Rothman sat up and waved his housekeeper out of the room. Alert, he watched her leave and then watched as the two cherry-paneled doors closed behind her.

'We overlooked three coincidences when Korea, Iran, and now the Russian naval base were struck with no apparent aftershocks. Now this gruesome act in Boston that wiped out the last fertile line is just too much! They have the location of the map and probably our locations as well!'

There was silence on the other end of the phone as his point became clear.

'Martha, this is no time for secrets to be kept. We need help!'

'Yes, but whom--the new American administration? They will think we are insane when we tell them. Our assets in Washington cannot even begin to approach them. From my understanding, the new president has his hands overly full and he's not listening to a lot of reason right now.'

The old man grew silent.

'We both have enough security around us to fend off an army. The Juliai would be foolish to come after us. We must assume they have the information they sought.'

'So we do nothing as usual? We wait for our darker brothers and sisters to take control?'

'Our influence has waned, Carr. Our time has passed.'

'That has always been our failing, Martha. Let others do the dying. We were always content to allow governments to stop the Juliai. Never once did our ancestors or we place ourselves in danger, or take even a stand. The Coalition has always been ruthless far beyond our understanding, yet we spring from the same fathers and mothers. I find this hard. I am old as you are. We are the last. Can we not just this one time assist with no thought to our own safety?'

The other end of the line fell silent. Carmichael Rothman sat and listened, but even as he did so, he felt his brave words starting to crumble in his memory. He and the Ancients had always been afraid of their far more aggressive brothers and sisters who had followed Julius Caesar down a path of separation and ruthless domination. Now, he sat there in his magnificent house and felt his desire for action failing.

'Carr, in the beginning, our side was no better than theirs. We were mirror images of one another. We were just as hateful as our ancestors were and that is our crime. Just because we are the last, does not mean anything. We will be hated for our pacifist leanings of the past by the entire world. I am just not brave enough for that. I'm sorry.'

Rothman heard the phone line go dead. He felt the shame of their non-action throughout history flood into his memory. He slowly placed the phone down and lowered his head.

So, the last two free-thinking Ancients would stand by and let the world come apart, only to have the Coalition pick up the pieces and put it back together again in their image.

Carmichael Rothman placed his head in his hands and sobbed, more ashamed than he had ever been. For the grandson of the man who had risked his life to thwart the Coalition over a hundred years before, this was too much to bear.

TASK FORCE 7789.9

USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT

Steaming at twenty-six knots, the Roosevelt was making good headway against the high seas, which were still a reminder of the massive underground quake of the day before. The Nimitz-class carrier and her escorts had been dispatched two days prior for deployment as a rear guard for the George Washington and John F. Kennedy groups, now in the Sea of Japan. Her latest flash message had ordered her directly into the hot waterway directly between Korea and China at flank speed. She was now cruising five hundred miles off the coast of Sakhalin Island.

Her captain was a man known for thinking outside the box. He was going to take a large risk, and a lot depended on the actions of the U.S. State Department. They were seeking permission from the Russian government to enter the Strait of La Perouse, a slim breadth of water between the Russian-controlled Sakhalin and the Japanese island of Hokkaido, and thus far the State Department had been thwarted at the United Nations Security Council by both the Russians and the Chinese--the two nations struck the hardest by the recent earthquakes. If the captain of the Roosevelt did not receive confirmation soon, he would have to alter course and head for the Sea of Japan through route farther south.

The skies were dark as the great ship plowed through the rough seas. Her smaller escorts were having a far harder time with the swells than the giant carrier was, but they were still keeping pace with the rapid pace of the Teddy.

As the captain sat in the large chair inside the command bridge, a signal-man approached and gave him a contact report. He glanced at it and then looked at the sailor.

'Intermittent?'

'Yes, sir. The contact is low, possibly hidden by the rough seas.'

The captain thought about bringing the ship to General Quarters but instead picked up the phone and contacted the ships CIC.

'Yes, Captain, this is Commander Houghington. Our contact could be just a glitch because I don't suspect anyone would brave the seas at that low altitude.'

'Conclusions?' he asked.

'Any action at this time is not supported by what we have, Captain. The Champlain is monitoring the contact and will advise on any aspect changes.'

'Very well. Inform everyone this could turn serious real quick.'

'Aye, Captain.'

The captain hung up the phone and bit his lower lip in thought. It was a bad habit and that knowledge had spread to his crew rather quickly. When he was like that, he was deep in thought.

'To hell with it. Officer of the Deck, bring the task force to General Quarters.'

In the rough seas, the twelve ships of the large force came to life and men started running about, getting to their action stations. Word quickly spread that the group might be under surveillance at the least, or tracked by someone meaning them harm; at sea, both scenarios got the men's attention.

USS LAKE CHAMPLAIN (CG-57)

TICONDEROGA-CLASS AEGIS MISSILE CRUISER

The heavy cruiser had joined the task force as a last-minute substitution and had arrived from her home port of San Diego just in time to meet up with the Roosevelt before they came in striking distance of Sakhalin.

In the combat direction center of the Aegis missile cruiser, the ratings were quietly watching their monitors. The deck officer was watching closely both the BQQ sonar and air-search radars. His eyes went from the subsurface search to the air search but were drawn more frequently to the air aspect.

'There it is again, sir,' the air-search tech called out.

As the lieutenant commander leaned closer to the screen, the large blip disappeared.

'Dammit! If that's an aircraft, he's braver than me. Those seas are at sixteen feet.'

'Last contact showed two hundred and thirty klicks and closing. sir, this could be just ground swell and clutter.'

'Well, the Teddy isn't taking any chances. They just launched her Alert One