Ultimatum: Osguards: The Genesis Legacy

ULTIMATUM

OSGUARDS: THE GENESIS LEGACY

THE OSGUARDS UNIVERSE

OSGUARDS: GUARDIANS OF THE UNIVERSE

Book 1: Homecoming

Book 2: Revelations

Book 3: Armageddon

Book 4: Revenge

OSGUARDS SHORT STORIES:

Awakening

Induction of the First Osguard

Consequences

Cancer

OSGUARDS: THE GENESIS LEGACY

Book 1: Ultimatum

ULTIMATUM

BOOK ONE

OF

OSGUARDS: THE GENESIS LEGACY

MALCOLM DYLAN PETTEWAY

Rage Books LLC

www.ragebooks.net

This book is a work of fiction, names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Ultimatum

Osguards: The Genesis Legacy

Malcolm Dylan Petteway

Copyright Malcolm Dylan Petteway 2014

Published by Rage Books LLC Publishing at Smashwords

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the written permission of the author

Edited by:

Valjeanne Jeffers

Published in the United States

Rage Books LLC

www.ragebook.net

A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don’t have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.

– Nelson Mandela

PROLOGUE

Tasman Sea

Between Australia and New Zealand

Planet Earth, Millmum Galaxy, Rojam Os Cluster

The full moon seemed to hover like a giant white balloon over the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand. Its light caressed the water’s surface like a silk sheet covering a waterbed. A cool breeze raced west over the water, chasing what was left of the lingering heat from the day’s sun wretched blaze. While the picturesque beauty of the water played out above the surface, deep within the water the seabed rumbled, destabilizing the landmass underneath the Tasman Sea known as the Norfolk Ridge.

Suddenly the rumble turned into a crack as the ridge shifted, sending ooze and dirt into the Norfolk Deep, a trough that ran more than 4000 meters below the surface of the sea. The underwater earthquake pushed and shook the ridge, dismantling it with the fury of a small nuclear weapon. The energy it created ripped to the surface like lava from a volcano.

A fifty foot wall of water bubbled from the quake, releasing one of nature’s most feared enemies to man…a tidal wave. The energy continued to burst through the water producing tidal wave after tidal wave. After a few moments, it was clear that the energy released from the underwater earthquake created a train of tidal waves that pushed out in two directions…east and west.

The disturbance in the night had given birth to a Tsunami…a Tsunami on a direct collision course with Australia to the east and New Zealand to the west.

***

Universal Security, Science and Trade Association of Planets’ (USSTAP’s) Lilly Station

Atlantis Continental Self-Atlantic Ocean

Planet Earth, Millmum Galaxy, Rojam Os Cluster

Lilly Station, the home of the Earth Forces of USSTAP, sat one thousand two hundred and fifty fathoms, on the Atlantic floor near the Ramanche Trench of the continental shelf, once known as Atlantis. The old Kulusk station was the spherical hub, housing the command section and gate portal rooms. Several wings extended from the hub like spokes of a wheel, housing different corps.

Extending at the end of the wings were concourses where the sea cruisers and the newly minted sea protectors docked when in port, and where the startram catcher was also housed. The current commander of Earth Forces USSTAP, also known as the world general, General Akbar Zandi, a British national of Iranian descent, had just finished his shift and was weaving through the maze of corridors to his quarters to begin one of his five daily prayers as called for by his Muslim faith.

He was a Sunni Muslim, a direct descendant from the Balochi Sunni minority population in Iran. He was six feet and two inches tall and slender, with dark olive skin and straight black hair salted with several beautiful lines of gray. He wore a stencil mustache that highlighted the fire that sparkled from his dark brown eyes when he let out a hearty laugh. His face, weathered with years of service to USSTAP, somehow maintained its youthful glee and wonder, which was ever so evident when he smiled; which seemed to be a constant in his demeanor.

Akbar had never visited or seen Iran. He was a second generation British-Iranian, born and raised in London. His parents had raised him with access to and appreciation of all things western, but with a firm adherence to his Muslim religion. Akbar walked a fine line between the two throughout his childhood, until he went to university. Like most young adults away from their parents overbearing watch, Akbar recklessly experimented with his freedom and strayed away from his religious upbringing; until that fateful day…the day the world learned they weren’t alone…the day that Michael David Genesis, the Chief Executive Osguard of USSTAP, the First Osguard of Rojam Os, revealed to the people of Earth USSTAP’s existence.

That was the day Akbar realized there was something bigger than him and it frightened him. This thought brought him back to his religion, and he’d prayed to Allah for guidance for hours that night. The next morning he woke up with an epiphany. Allah had answered his prayers. No matter what it took or how long it took, he knew in his heart that Allah had directed him to join USSTAP.

Since Akbar had joined USSTAP, he’d lived every second of his life to the fullest, which is why a smile was a constant to his demeanor. When he turned the last corner heading towards his quarters, the voice of the watch officer rang in his surgically implanted Artificial Intelligence (ARIT) Communication Device (CD), General Akbar, this is the Watch Officer.

Akbar tilted his head to the right and tapped the transceiver hidden behind his lower earlobe, activating his CD transmit function,

This is Akbar.

Sire, the ARIT watch indicates an underground earthquake is happening right now in the Tasman Sea. It looks like it triggered a tsunami heading to both the east coast of Australia and the west coast of New Zealand.

Alert One! Ready all available ships to gate portal into the area. I’m on my way. Akbar tilted his head to the right and tapped the hidden transceiver behind his earlobe again to deactivate the CD, turned around and sprinted back down the corridor.

Two minutes later he emerged in front of the control center. The smoked double-glass doors had a sign, Control Center (1A001) in Chaktun. Akbar stepped up to the doors and placed his hand in a device on the right side. The doors opened, sliding apart into the door frame. Akbar stepped in and signaled to the door guard not to announce him.

He took a deep breath and scanned the room. The room was circular in shape. Three chairs sat in the middle of the room facing each other. The chairs had a control ARIT attached to each of them. There were two stair steps up to get to the chairs. The Watch Officer, Centurion Richard Gray saw Akbar and automatically moved from the middle seat to his designated seat to the left. Centurion Gray was a South African, with piercing blue eyes, buzz cut blond hair and a body that looked like it survived on a diet of a daily weight lifting routine.

Akbar nodded to Gray and continued to scan the control center. On the outer walls he saw all twelve control stations with ARIT ports manned with his topnotch controllers. Gray must have recalled the day watch to handle the disturbance. Akbar made a mental note to somehow assuage the hurt feelings the night watch must be feeling for being replaced during this new crisis. As the door closed, he witnessed the professional fury of activity his day watch was performing. He took his seat in the middle of the activity, and swiped his hand over his control panel on his right armrest. A holographic depiction of the area displayed on the main board popped up in front of him.

Play back the incident, Akbar commanded.

Tiah! the chief controller, Colonel Abraham Epstein, seated in front of him responded. Colonel Epstein was a third generation Israeli American from New York City.

Epstein had a penchant for practical jokes and was well known for his spirited sense of humor. But at the moment neither characteristic was present in his deportment. Currently, he was all business and very professional. Epstein tapped his glass control console and waived his hand over it, biometrically pushing his display to Akbar’s 3-D holographic presentation.

Should we notify the Aussie and Kiwi Governments? requested a voice from behind Akbar.

Akbar turned around just in time to see his Centurion of Operations, Jessica Jansen, make her way to her seat to his right. Jessica was an American from Wisconsin with twenty-four years of service to USSTAP under her belt. She was a brunette with short curly hair. The sparkle in her eye was the opposite of the stern professional demeanor she wore like a badge.

Akbar gave her a nod of acknowledgment and then turned to Centurion Gray. How long until the Tsunami hits land?

ARIT Approximates that in two hours it will hit the Northern Island of New Zealand between Kaitara and New Plymouth; and three more hours after that it will hit Australia between Brisbane and Sydney.

Akbar raised his head in thought, then took a deep breath and exhaled. The 2029 Earth Pact amendment requires Earth governments to officially request assistance from USSTAP before we can render aid during a natural disaster, Jessica added.

Akbar could feel her eyes staring at him. He imagined them to be pagenay beams boring through his head. He also knew with the political atmosphere between USSTAP and the United Nations, the bureaucracy, such a request would have to go through, would take too much precious time to process. The delay would, unnecessarily, endanger lives and property.

There’s no time, Akbar finally responded. Besides, they know it is coming. I’m sure their meteorological equipment, satellites and ocean sensors have sprang into warning mode by now. No, don’t contact them. Besides, I plan to handle this in international water. Akbar took a breath and put his fist to his lower lip, But we should send a notification report to Millmum Capital Station. See if they can get a starship here to lend a hand.

Tiah, Gray responded as he worked on his ARIT console to send the notification report.

Jessica nodded and broke her self-employed protocol of never smiling. Akbar took that as a sign of agreement and a moment of solidarity. He quickly laid out his plan to shift the tsunami south on his ARIT tablet and let it calculate the particulars.

He reviewed the plan and with a swipe of his hand over his tablet, pushed the plan to the chief controller. Distribute these to the subs, he commanded.

Akbar moved his hand over the ARIT controller and suddenly another 3-D holographic projection appeared. This one was of the tsunami above the surface. He bit his lower lip in anticipation and pushed the execute button on his tablet.

Lilly station was equipped with a submarine fleet of forty sea cruisers and ten sea protectors. The sea cruiser was coated with a special black substance called slitanium that absorbed light and sound. Red power rods covered the seams. When in stealth mode ten, they ran with their lights out and porthole windows blackened.

The sub was one mile in length and half a mile in width, with eight decks. The engines were cylindrical and ran three quarters length of the sub on the port and starboard side. Each engine melded into the main body of the sub at three through five. The main sub was elliptical on all sides with three hexagon cabins connected by an elongated pentagon. A directional aileron sat ten feet on top. The bow was arrowhead shaped, which sat on top of a reverse pear shaped bridge. Its weaponry consisted of four pagenay blasters—two in the front and two in the back—and two coronet cannons.

The sea protector was a larger version of its sea cruiser cousin. It had fifteen decks, and was one and half miles long, and three-quarters of a mile in width. One other difference was that it carried two five-ship squadrons of waterblades: single-seat fighter submarines. These subs silently patrolled the Earth’s waterways, seas and ocean. Upon Akbar’s execution, these submarines separated by miles of oceans, activated their ship gate portal systems, projecting a white light and opening a gateway through innerspace. The white light shining like heaven’s glow illuminated the murky waters. Each submarine lumbered forward into the light, swallowed by innerspace until they completely disappeared, only to emerge out of the angelic light in a per-designated position in the Tasman Sea.

Akbar watched as Jessica called off the entry of every submarine into its spot. Sea Protector Atlantis in place; Sea Cruiser Gauntlet in place; Sea Cruiser Poseidon in place; Sea Protector Nautilus in place...

Jessica named each sub and marked their placement on the ARIT tablet which automatically projected at the Chief Controller’s position and on Akbar’s 3-D rendition. After fifteen minutes all USSTAP submarines were in place; making a perfect horseshoe formation around the tsunami with the opening pointing towards the south.

***

Tasman Sea

Between Australia and New Zealand

Planet Earth, Millmum Galaxy, Rojam Os Cluster

Situated one hundred miles outside Sidney in the Tasman Sea was the Australian commercial cruise liner, Australian Delight. On board she carried eight-hundred souls, unaware of the impending doom that lay in front of her.

One passenger, Kerri Knight, a reporter for the worldwide World Media News (WMN) walked the starboard deck soaking in the radiance and beauty of the full moon. She took this cruise to celebrate her final divorce decree between her and her now ex-husband, former companion newsman from WMN, Jerold Washington.

Washington had moved over to the more controversial news outlet Freedom News Network (FNN) two years ago. The move had added strain to an already tense marriage, due to their competitiveness and individual career goals. The addition of the third ingredient…politics, doomed their marriage for good, leaving no exit ramp but divorce.

As she gazed out onto the horizon she discerned the up-swell of the troubled seas. Immediately, her reporter instinct went into high gear. She searched her purse for her common. The common was three evolutionary steps above the smart phone of the early twenty-first century. With a common, an individual could do all the things that a smart phone could, plus high resolution 3-D holographic projection, X-ray, biological imaging similar to the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that hospitals practiced years before, as well as containing a small computer, printer, fax and copier.

She found her common, a gold-silk like cloth with Velcro strapping, slipped it around her wrist, and activated it. It produced a holographic keyboard that floated above her wrist. She pointed her arm to the horizon and selected a few keys to enlarge and project the image. A three inch by two inch holographic screen displayed above the keyboard, displaying a five hundred power zoomed image of the oncoming tidal waves.

Call headquarters, she commanded. Her common connected her to her news headquarters in Miami Florida with an electronic squeal.

WMN producer’s desk, the voice said over the common’s invisible speaker.

Manny, this is Kerri. I’m connecting you to my common. Let me know if you see what I see.

A moment of silence covered them both as the common captured, projected, and then sent the images to Manny in Miami.

What is that? Manny asked over the connection.

"My common is telling me I’m about fifteen miles from a tidal wave. Squelch that, several tidal waves…fifty foot tidal waves.

Kerri, get out of there!

Manny, where am I to go? I’m on a ship in the middle of the ocean. Not many places I can go.

Get to safety then! Warn the others!

No, if I’m going to die out here, I might as well report it.

Kerri! Manny yelled. Get your ass to safety now!

Sorry, Manny, you better tape this or, better yet, go live with it; because I’m getting ready to report this.

As if to punctuate it, the ship’s emergency call system began to wail, warning all passengers to go to their designated shelter points.

Kerri, get to safety now!

"Manny, don’t let me die for nothing! I’m sending you this! You better get it on tape!

Another moment of silence between them seemed to overtake the wailing of the emergency horn and the captain’s voice over the loudspeaker ordering all passengers to go to their designated shelter area.

Okay Kerri, I’m taping. But I’m not going out live. I will need to edit this, in the case we get to see your crazy ass drown, Manny said with despair.

Okay! Kerri yelled. We are doing this on one…two…three. Kerri moved to the railing and placed her fist towards her face to ensure the common captured her and the background in the same frame.

Her long brunette hair fluttered with the wind, accentuating her live reporting was a death defying event. Her green eyes sparkled in the common’s light as she plastered her best reporter smile onto her face. This is Kerri Knight for WMN. I’m in the middle of the Tasman Sea off the east coast of Australia on the Australian Cruise Liner Australian Delight, where I believe we are about to encounter the scourge of a sudden tsunami.

***

USSTAP Lilly Station

Atlantis Continental Self-Atlantic Ocean

Planet Earth, Millmum Galaxy, Rojam Os Cluster

All cruisers and protectors are in place as you ordered, Colonel Epstein announced.

Great, Akbar huffed. Have all controllers signal their subs: Chromerion Fields activate.

On the big board, and on Akbar’s 3-D holographic depiction, reflected the fifty USSTAP submarines in the Tasman see activating their Chromerion Fields. The fields surrounded the ship, providing them an energy shield against enemy fire and natural phenomenon that could harm the submarines or life aboard the subs. Both displays depicted in the control center presented chromerion fields as lines of energy, when in reality the fields were invisible to the naked eye.

The submarines, which lay ten fathoms under the surface of the water, distorted their fields towards the surface of the water. The fields stretched upward, still engulfing the subs, but extended the area of protection. With each fathom of stretch, the fields weakened by a factor of .034 percent.

Akbar used the ARIT to determine the optimum range the subs should be and still provide enough energy to the fields to protect the submarines, and hopefully stop the force of the tsunami waves. He could only provide an educated guess on the force of the waves, based on their speed and height. From there he had the ARIT calculate the rest.

The fields broke through the surface of the water and spirited towards the sky. They stretched in height and width, interlocking with each other like invisible hands clasped in a handshake. The fields pushed towards the sky, fifty…sixty…seventy…then finally ninety feet high, building a seawall of energy.

Barrier in place, Epstein announced. First wave…five feet…should hit the barrier in five…four…three…two…one…now.

The depiction displayed the wave hitting the horseshoe barrier on all sides. As the wave smacked the barrier, it transferred power to the barrier. Blotches of energy dispersal shot through the barrier in white sparks. After releasing its energy onto the barrier, the wave retreated in the opposite direction with less energy and much smaller. A quarter of mile in its reverse direction the next wave swallowed it. As the waves continued to smack against the barrier, they became much stronger, bigger and violent. Each time the barrier absorbed the punch and sent the wave whimpering back. Meanwhile, underneath the water surface, USSTAP sea cruisers and protectors strained to maintain position and to maintain connectivity with each other’s generated field.

I’m getting reports from all controllers, submarines’ field generators are weakening! The strain is enormous! Epstein blurted out.

All subs maintain position, Akbar commanded. In the next two minutes, I want all subs to divert remaining power to the fields…including life support.

What? Jessica huffed

Akbar turned to Jessica knowing he need not explain his orders, but still feeling obligated, The next two minutes contain the nexus of the tidal waves; the next three tidal waves are the most powerful and most violent. Now that we sent the smaller waves back into them, they should have lost some of their intensity. We only need to maintain optimum power for the next two minutes as the ripple effect tears those waves back down to size. Then the subs should be able to re-engage life support and maintain control of the smaller waves until the harmonics completely wipes them out.

Tiah, Jessica responded.

The USSTAP submarines did as requested. Inside the subs, the sound of the engines straining, the generator sputtering and the hull stretching echoed throughout the submarines as the tidal waves pounded the fields above them. The tidal waves beat on the fields in an unsettling rhythmic pattern, like the devil beating at the door to a human soul.

Each hit, bit at the nerves of USSTAP sailors and their controllers back on Lilly Station. Then the pounding began to abate. The pattern became less intense.

All submarines are cleared for regular energy pattern; energize life support at will, Akbar pushed. Maintain position and field coordinates until further notice.

Tiah, Gray responded as he stood. He marched around the room checking all controllers’ boards and individualized the order as it pertained to each submarine.

Good job, sire, Jessica said. Now what?

Now we hope no one saw that, Akbar pushed as he looked around the room. Even though we completed this mission in international waters, someone may still call this a violation of the 2029 Pact.

We just saved thousands of lives, you think someone will complain? Jessica questioned.

Look, for the last thirty years, I’ve seen the spirit of cooperation the governments of Earth are willing to give USSTAP wane and wane. Political barracudas, especially from the Earth First Freedom Party, will jump at the chance to make some anti-USSTAP movement from this.

I hope not, Jessica stated after a few seconds of silence, I pray that the governments of Earth have common sense people who understand, we just saved lives today.

You and me both, Centurion…you and me both.

***

Tasman Sea

Between Australia and New Zealand

Planet Earth, Millmum Galaxy, Rojam Os Cluster

Did you see that? Kerri screamed. Did you get that?

Yup, we got it all, Manny responded. What was that? What happened?

USSTAP, baby! I bet you it was USSTAP…and I got it all on film.

CHAPTER ONE: HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Outside Vedar City

USSTAP Compound

Planet Chaktun, Millmum Galaxy, Rojam Os Cluster

The white light of innerspace washed over his body, bathing his chromerion protective bubble with benion particles. This was his favorite part. The moment where the entrance portal shut and the exit portal had yet to open. It was his moment of solitude and inner reflection that always calmed his inner being. There was something cleansing about the white light…something godly. It was almost a spiritual moment.

Every time he used the gate portal, Michael David Genesis II, also known as Deuce, became emotionally drunk with delight. He simply loved traveling through gateportals.

As usual, before he could fully enjoy the moment the exit port opened. The light shone over the six foot-two inch, twenty-year-old like a spotlight. He stood in the light with his hands naturally cupped to the side of his pants. Even though he was part Tuit, he looked like a younger version of his grandfather: mahogany complexion, tall, broad-shouldered with a sparkle in his catlike eyes and a gleam in his smile.

In front of him sat USSTAP Rojam Os Science Academy, formally known as the Chaktun Science Academy. Deuce stepped through the portal and took in the beauty of the Academy. The Science Academy sat on the southernmost edge of the planet’s main continent. A lush rainforest and the smooth aqua blue waters of the Merrimack Ocean surrounded it.

The octagonal building was five acres of polished stone, smooth metal and lustrous glass that reached into the heavens, twenty-five stories high. White polished stone pillars that spanned the full height of the building engulfed all eight sides, dominating the exterior like gods holding open the gates to paradise. The building housed the best minds Rojam Os had to offer. Multiple laboratories sprinkled each floor and each section testing technological, medical and scientific theories.

On the east side, about two marks away, sat the rest of Vedar City. Here was where his grandfather, Michael Genesis, his grandmother, Michelle, and what was left of the original sixty Osguards had come to live out their golden years. Today was his grandfather’s birthday and he and his family were visiting to celebrate it.

Before he could catch his breath, eight more portal openings, sprang to life, illuminating the area with the angelic white light of innerspace. One by one, his family stepped out of the lights. First he saw his father, Osguard Edward Samuel Genesis, and his mother, Osguard Kalina Freeman Genesis. Ed was presently the Osguard of the Angel Galaxy in Rojam Os, and Kalina was presently the Osguard of the Plax Galaxy in Tuit. Next he saw his aunt, Osguard Sharyla Genesis, and her daughter, Cheyenna Genesis. Cheyenna was a product of ARIT DNA baby bank management.

During the Tuit reconstruction years, Cheyenna’s natural mother, a Tuit from the planet Lashall, had Cheyenna removed as a fetus with the aid of gateportal technology and placed in an ARIT baby bank chamber. There, the ARIT provided the proper environment to allow the fetus to mature. When Cheyenna’s natural mother decided she did not want a baby and put her up for adoption, the baby bank programmed the ARIT to suspend her maturation. Rumor had it that Cheyenna’s maturation was suspended for years.

Nonetheless, Sharyla, who never married but loved children, adopted Cheyenna from the Tuit baby bank. Once adopted, the ARIT introduced Sharyla’s DNA into the fetus, allowing Cheyenna to claim Sharyla’s bloodline. Cheyenna, a mixture of three parents, was a beautiful tall but slender girl, who had Sharyla’s sunflower skin coloring and auburn hair. But her eyes were distinctly Tuit, with the yellow tint and catlike pupils.

To the right of Sharyla and Cheyenna stepped out his other aunt, Osguard Kashara Genesis, and her daughter, Tynala. Like Cheyenna, Tynala was a product of a baby bank adoption. Kashara had never married either. Tynala, also the by-product of three parents, had a hint of vampire teeth from her Gigantur natural parents. But, like her cousin, she adopted her mother’s dark golden complexion and auburn hair.

To the right of them, Deuce’s maternal grandparents stepped out from the light. Retired Osguard Adam Freeman and his wife retired Osguard Jenna Freeman. They were the original Osguards in the Tuit Galactic Cluster. In fact Adam was the First Osguard of the Tuit Galactic Cluster, and the first Tuit to befriend Michael in the opening days of the Tuit War. Adam and Michael remained friends ever since, as evidenced by the union of their children, Ed and Kalina.

You’re late, came a voice from behind them.

Deuce swung around and saw his grandmother, Michelle Genesis peering at them with a scowl on her face. After all these years, she still maintained her beauty. Her face remained young without a wrinkle in sight. She had added a few pounds to her frame, but she still had the sexy shape of a model. Her hair was shorter and wavier with several streaks of gray to highlight her seniority in life, but all in all her appearance screamed she was still a force to be reckoned with as a person and leader.

You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago, she continued to lecture.

Immediately Cheyenna and Tynala ran towards her with open arms. They grabbed her, and smothered her with love and affection while screaming, Mama! at the top of their lungs.

Deuce knew this ploy would melt what anger resonated in his grandmother’s heart. She could never resist her granddaughters. He counted to three, knowing Michelle would wrap her arms around them and start to cry. As soon as he counted to three, Michelle fulfilled his expectations.

He dropped his bag and walked over to them,