Outpost on Ceres (Inktober, Thursday, October 15, 2020)

For Inktober, Thursday, October 15, 2020. Prompt word: "outpost." Tuckerization: Jared Loewen

A reminder that volunteering for tuckerization only means a character in the story shares the participant's name. Other than that, there are no other similar characteristics implied.

This story is adapted from a current work in progress. 

Outpost on Ceres 

by Alan Loewen 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

“Welcome to Thule Air Force Base, sir!”

Lieutenant Colonel Jared Loewen stepped down from the helicopter and returned the salute, barely able to hear the man over the shrill whine of the rotor blades. The turbulence blasted the snow-covered ground sending sharp ice crystals into his eyes.

“Major General Ashcroft wants to see you right away, sir.”

Jared nodded and followed the man to a squat bunker. Inside, warmth and feeling slowly returned to his cheeks.

“This way, sir, unless you need to use the facilities first?”

“No, thank you,” Jared responded. His promotion to Lieutenant Colonel a day earlier resulted in a slight pay raise and new orders to report to Thule Air Force Base, a relic of the Cold War located 950 miles south of the North Pole, a post so desolate that supply ships only dared the ice pack once a year.

Jared's escort led him to a prominent oak door with Major General Anthony Ashcroft inscribed on a brass nameplate. His escort held the door open and Jared stepped inside to see the General’s aide, a man the same rank as Jared, rising from the desk where he sat.

“Welcome to Thule,” the aide said. “General Ashcroft will see you now.” He turned and held open the inner office door for Jared.

Inside, Ashcroft sat behind his desk, his office a quiet testimony to austerity and focus. Jared stood at attention until the man deigned to acknowledge him.

After a few minutes, Ashcroft put the papers he was studying to the side. “At ease, Colonel. Please be seated.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Coffee?” Ashcroft asked.

“No thank you, sir.”

The General shrugged. “It can easily hit 20 degrees below zero here. If you’re not a coffee drinker now, you soon would be, but you won’t be here long enough.” Ashcroft stood and walked around his desk to sit on the edge. “Congratulations, by the bye, on your promotion.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“I pushed it through myself.”

Jared paused in surprise. “You, sir?”

“Yes. You have a Q-sensitive security clearance because of your work at Cheyenne Mountain. You’ve dealt with nuclear material, you saw action in Afghanistan and Iraq so you have combat training, and other factors as well as personal interests that make you suitable for a special assignment.”

Jared's mind raced for something to say. “Thank you, sir. I won’t disappoint you, sir.”

Ashcroft frowned. “You had better not. Too much rides on this decision.”

“Sir…” Jared paused for a moment. “May I ask what personal interests of mine you are referring to?”

Ashcroft ignored the question. He walked back around his desk and tapped the intercom. “Is Moody here yet?”

“Yes, sir,” came the response. “Shall I bring him in?”

“No. Colonel Loewen will meet him out in the office and Moody can escort him to the staging area.”

“Yes, sir,”

Ashcroft turned his attention back to Jared. “Chief Master Sergeant Moody will escort you to your new command. Good luck.”

Jared stood and saluted.

Moody was a short man with a no-nonsense air about him. “Chief Master Sergeant Bryan Moody, sir. If you’ll follow me, sir.” Jared returned the sharp salute.

Jared matched the man’s stride as they walked down the corridor. “What can you tell me about the new assignment, Sergeant?”

“My apologies, sir. General Ashcroft directly ordered me not to answer any questions until we reach the staging area.”

The first stop was at a guarded elevator that read both palm prints and retinas under the silent gaze of two armed men. The Sergeant punched the button for the fourth floor down.

The two men stood staring at the flashing numbers on the elevator screen for a few moments. The Sergeant cleared his throat. “I understand, sir,” he asked, “that you have some interest in fantasy and dark fantasy entertainment?

Jared bristled. “You’re out of place, Sergeant. My personal interests are none of your concern.”

“My apologies, sir.” The elevator door opened. Across the hallway, a large window looked down over a large well-lit room. The Sergeant stepped forward and pointed to the room below.

It was a mess hall and Jared stared down at the hustle and bustle of activity for three full minutes before he spoke.

“I don’t understand. What is this?”

“Welcome, sir, to Operation Leviathan,” the Sergeant said. “These are your troops. If you would please follow me?”

Jared ignored him, staring down at the mess hall below. “They’re real aren’t they?” he said, his voice a shocked whisper. “Are they aliens?”

The Sergeant rejoined him back at the window. “No, sir,” he said. “Back in the 1980’s the military started uplifting rabbits. They’re the species best suited for the job they have to do.”

Jared stared down at the creatures below. Standing on two legs, a little less than five feet in height, they wore identical loose-fitting regulation khaki clothes, lop ears tossed back over their shoulders. Finely furred hands worked spoons and forks as they ate.

“I need to sit down,” Jared said.

“We have a chair for you right here, sir. Your reaction is quite normal, if I may say so, sir.”

Sergeant Moody took a folding chair leaning against the wall and arranged it so Jared could sit and still observe the activity below.

“This is why you asked me about my interest in my types of entertainment,” Jared said.

“Yes, sir. You once attended a large literary conference. Do you remember the group that showed up? The one that did the surveys?”

“Yes. We were told they were psychology students from the local university. Those weren’t confidential surveys after all, were they?” Jared said.

“No, sir. The military used them specifically to sort out thousands of people to find the ones most suitable for operations of this sort. You passed muster. Only one in four thousand can.”

“So you’ve recruited civilians to this as well?”

“Within reason, sir.”

Jared shook his head in bewilderment. “I’m going to be working with anthropomorphic rabbits. I have acquaintances who would sell their souls for an opportunity like this.”

“Let me show you to your quarters, sir, and then I’ll introduce you to your team. They’ll brief you on our situation.”

*

They stood at attention when Sergeant Moody opened the door to the small conference room. Out of the five present, one was human, and the rest were the rabbit-human hybrids Jared had seen earlier.

Up close, they looked delicate, their faces a unique blend of human and lapine. All of them were covered in gray fur with white fur covering the lower jaws and the front of their necks, and though they all had long hair on the tops of their heads, only one of them had hair tumbling down around her ears.

They all wore the same loose-fitting regulation clothing, more for modesty as their fur would have served to keep them warm.

The human member of the team wore a double bar on his shoulder showing him to be a Captain.

“Please be seated,” Jared said, almost choking on his words from his conflicting emotions. Moody pulled out a chair at the head of the table for Jared and then took the empty chair to Jared's right.

“I have received no intel about this operation,” Jared said. “How do we start?”

The human spoke up first. “Captain Jay Griffin, sir. If you’ll permit me, I may as well start.”

Jared nodded.

“First, please allow me to introduce the others.” Griffin pointed to the creature on his right. “This is Lapine First Class Enoh.” His hand moved to the next one. “Lapine First Class Thane and then Lapine First Class Oath and,” he pointed at the one with the long hair, “this is Illatha. Illatha is your aide and secretary and she is very capable.”

Jared simply nodded in response.

“If I may?” the Captain asked. Without waiting for a response, he picked up a small remote and pushed a button. At the end of the room, part of the wall slid open to reveal a monitor. A star system appeared with four planets orbiting around it.

“What you’re seeing, sir,” the captain continued, “is Gliese 667, a triple-star system in the constellation of Scorpius lying at a distance of about 22 light-years from Earth. On November 1st, 1964, we detected a strong radio signal from the third planet in the system from the main star.

“The radio signal contained video instructions on how to construct a device that would allow a radio signal to cross several light-years in less than a week, what we have come to call a ‘subspace squirt.’

“That introduced us to the Chental, a friendly race of aliens who just wanted to talk to their neighbors. Lacking the technology for interstellar travel they assumed that distance protected them from any race that had warlike tendencies. They reasoned if they themselves hadn’t discovered a way to go from star to star, nobody else could either.”

“And it is from them we also learned to …” Jared paused. With what words could he even use to refer to the rabbit-like creatures that sat around the table?

The captain smiled, seemingly aware of Jared's discomfort. “The list of technologies the Chental gave us is impressive. The U.S. military made great strides in genetic engineering, robotics, artificial intelligence, nuclear fusion, exobiology, quantum physics, and others. The Chental are pacifists by nature. We never let them know that we utilized their technology for our military.”

Jared thought for a moment. “And this information is known only to us?”

The captain shook his head. “No, sir. There is a federation between our allies because there is a greater problem.” He clicked the button in his hand and the picture on the screen changed.

Staring back at Jared was a hairless, warty humanoid face with yellowish skin. Its small mouth above a receding chin would have given the creature the look of an idiot if not for the large red eyes that shouted of malice and cruelty.

The captain continued. “The Chental also made contact with another race some five years after we responded to their signal. What you’re looking at is what calls itself the Kiga and they’re just as nasty as they look. Their xenophobia is matched only by their arrogance. We estimate they have eradicated at least thirteen other sentient races before they met the Chental.”

Jared gasped. “Which means they have the tech for interstellar travel.”

The captain nodded. “Yes, sir. The Chental never stood a chance. We believe the entire race was exterminated.”

Jared sat back in his chair and let the information wash over him. “Have we made contact with the Kiga?”

The Captain shook his head. “Not knowingly, but if they don’t know of us now, they should soon. We live in a bubble of radio activity that spreads out from our planet for a distance of 110 light-years. The Kiga will discover us sooner or later and when they do, they’ll pay us a visit and it won’t be neighborly.”

“So where do I and ... ,” Jared motioned to the four lapines sitting around the table, “these others come in?”

The captain looked at the long-haired lapine. “Illatha, would you like to answer that?”

The lapine stared at Jared for a moment before answering. “My people have several gifts that make us very suitable for the task ahead of us. We are not claustrophobic, we have a strong sense of community, and you, sir, have the personality to put up with us and our environment and be our military leader. You are, after all, an orphan, single, with no real ties to anybody on Earth and nobody to question your disappearance for two or more years.”

Illatha’s voice was certainly female. Jared noticed she spoke with a slight lisp and she replaced labial consonants with their corresponding dentals, an old ventriloquist’s trick substituting d for b, n for m, and others.

“And where is this environment?” Jared asked.

Illatha looked at him, her alien face showing no emotion. “Deep inside the asteroid Ceres.”

One of the other lapines spoke up. “First Class Thane, sir. If I may? As Captain Griffin has stated, it is only a matter of time before the Kiga discover us. We are, as the Captain has said, a very noisy planet and we will be discovered soon if they have not discovered us already. Fifteen asteroids have been militarized along with our own moon, the Martian moon, Phobos, and several moons of Jupiter and Saturn. We are in the process of putting outposts on moons around Neptune and Uranus and ultimately, we will be on Pluto. We are Earth’s first defense.”

The Captain nodded in agreement. “We are making strides in developing an interstellar craft that will carry the fight directly to the Kiga, but we are at least two years away before we can even test the first prototype. Your job along with the other bases is to hold the Kiga off if they come before we are ready.”

Jared stood and the rest followed suit. “When do I leave?” he asked.

“Tomorrow, sir,” Sergeant Moody replied.