INVASION - Book One

Dobson knew military procedure, and he fully understood that he would have no option of refusal in the recall.

‘Well…this is a turn up for the books’ he said to himself, Dobson was in fact pleased to be reinstated; as the last change of government had meant a different outlook on the military budget. However, since this new Government was voted into office, they had amazingly authorized the re-opening of projects Sky Watch.

As it was, Dobson had been wondering when they were going to contact him, however what he had not expected was the nature by which it would happen. If this was an advanced Alien fighter class craft, then he knew of the possible gains to be made from such advanced technology.

These Alien crafts had been a real threat to the military, and had left our very latest, and fastest aircraft’s standing almost still by comparison. It had also worried Dobson; as he had felt the public should be made aware of the real danger that these Aliens were to the world’s security.

However, he though it better not to even give Cathy a hint of neither this latest news, nor letting her know of the current danger he was to be placed in.

Quickly Dobson put together everything he needed, he then wrote Cathy and John a letter, and informed them of his imminent departure, however he made a point of not telling them the nature of the work.

A helicopter arrived as scheduled, Dobson looked down on his home as they gained height, and he wondered when and even if he would ever see his family and home again.

Within a relatively short time, a helicopter prepared to land at RAF Rudloe Manner in Wiltshire, England. The two Fairchild A10 Tank Busters that had been escorting the craft waited until it had landed before they departed back to RAF Bentwater.

Dobson had received updated files while in transit, several referred to incidents over East Anglia, one involved a sighting near a government minister’s house and another involved two scrambled Harrier GR7 Jump-jets on Wednesday 27 February at 10.00pm, and it was reported that residents in Ballater saw unidentified crafts. In addition, they were also seen over Balmorals Castle.

The Military responded by sending up two F16s, which had engaged the crafts in pursuit but eventually, gave up after having been out maneuverer.

“I see the activity has increased.” Commented Dobson.

“Yes, the bloody things are causing quite a stir, I don’t honestly know how much longer that the world governments can keep the lid on it.”

The Canadian Military had shared its funding with the British, as the British had better facilities, this method also saved on the cost involved in this line of technology. Dobson and John Whitmore were led into one of a cluster of outhouses, where their identity was confirmed.

Dobson was given his new area passes and then briefed while on the descent to the fifth level top security storage unit, it then took another three security verification checks before Dobson and John Whitmore were given the freedom of the base.

Dobson had long been used to the sudden change of nature involved in his type of work. He also knew now that having been reinstated, that there would be no more opinions expressed on UFOs and world government.

In storage unit X1-7 were the remains of the first of the three crafts, which he had worked on previously, however, now what excited him was the chance to not only see but also actually be involved with the newly recovered craft.

Storage units X1-8 and X1-9 were extensions of X1-7, however for now it was X2-1 was where Dobson was heading, finally as he walked past the various security check points he got his first glimpse of an amazing sight.

The alien craft was damaged, because they believe a malfunction that has caused it to have crashed, one fifth of the vehicle had received extensive damage, the remaining four fifths were apparently in pristine condition.

It took John some moments to recover from the sight before him, the craft was approximately thirty meters’ in length, its front end was like nothing he had seen before, military pilots had described the brief sightings that they had, but it was never possible to fully grasp something until you had seen it yourself.

It was manufactured from a material that appeared to be rebuilding itself, something as yet unknown to our technology, for its size it should have weighed at least three times its actual weight.

As Dobson looked at it he was reminded a bit by the fighters as depicted in the old Independence Day movie. He had wondered before in amusement as to where they get many of their ideas.

It would have been interesting he thought to have seen inside, however he was due for another briefing, and he knew there were various reports, and issues that would need dealing with first.

‘If only John and Cathy could see me now,’ he thought to himself, ‘Cathy would probably still find it difficult to believe even with the evidence available’

Agent Longman wondered why it had taken so long for anyone to arrive; it was another two minutes before she fully understood what was going on, and shad received confirmation by then, that it was most probably not her client that these mercenaries were after, however, what she was unaware of, was the fact that below her was a top-secret Military establishment.

It was another four minutes before an attempt was made on the control rooms; both rooms came under sustained attack. At first, gas was pump through the air-ducts; this had taken out everyone on the ground level who was not in a room with its own air supply.

Then explosives were laid against the interior doors, fortunately they had been designed to withstand such attacks, however the terrorists were remarkably well informed, and they had removed large sections of masonry to reveal electrical wiring which itself controlled major parts of the control area.

Agent Longman realized it would not be long before they eventually had gained entry. From an observation monitor, Agent Longman heard, and then observed an explosion into the room where Pitney was being looked after.

The terrorist burst in, however, it took several minutes before agent Longman could see what was going on. To her relief, Pitney and the two nurses were still there, it was however impossible to tell if they were alive, it was then that agent Longman realized, even though, they had received inside help, it was now evident that they were actually unaware of which secure room their target was held.

As Agent Longman watched the monitors, the security controller interrupted her concentration.

“Excuse me Mam, it is evident they will have breached the control room within the next few minutes. I have just been authorized to evacuate the room.”

Agent Longman looked across to the man.

“Excuse me, I don’t mean to sound stupid, but how the hell are we going to evacuate a sealed room, and which is surrounded by terrorists?” she enquired.

“Quite simple actually, if you would not mind accompanying me as we haven’t much time left,” replied the soldier.

The controller led Agent Longman into a small-concealed room hidden behind a wall unit; Agent Longman looked in disbelief as she realized it was actually a lift.

“We will be met by armed guards once the lift stops, so, please do not be alarmed, and do exactly as they tell you, do you understand?”

Agent Longman nodded her head, and within a few seconds the doors closed, and from the outside it looked like a solid wall, the lift descended silently to the fifth level, and as the doors open, agent Longman was indeed met by armed personnel; and she also realized now that this was no longer simply a Military safe house.

“Would you mind coming this way please Mam?”

Agent Longman was taken to a different section from that of the controller.

“I don’t suppose you could tell me what the heck this place actually is?” she enquired.

The escort never answered, he showed Agent Longman into a room where she was asked to wait, the door was locked as the military officer left.

“What’s up do you think I’m going to run off with the family silver”? Shouted Longman.

Agent Longman was visibly annoyed as she paced the floor,

‘What the bloody hell is going on?’ she asked herself, once the control rooms had been vacated, and all control was then diverted to another area five floors below and making it impossible for the invading force to have gained the access that they had wanted.

“I do apologize for this inconvenience, I am sure you have realized by now this is far above anything one would expect to find in their average day.”

Agent Longman was startled by the voice; as she had not heard anyone enter, and as she turned around a small man greeted her, who was in his late fifties.

“I don’t suppose you can tell me what the hell this place is?”

“Hell, it certainly is not, however, I suppose for the poor individuals left up there, if they could…they may well describe it as hell. My name is Robson, Adrian Robson,”

Agent Longman took a long look at the man before she broke off eye contact, she felt sure she was able to judge a person by the amount of time they actually kept eye contact.

“I do believe you are testing me, I assure you I am here for your protection,” stated the man before her.

Longman walked across the room and extended her hand,

“I do apologize, everything about this case which I have been working on has caused me nothing but damn heartache, and now to top it off I’m not even sure if I have lost my prime witness.”

Adrian guided Agent Longman into an adjoining room, and as she sat down a screen appeared from the ceiling, and from which the action above could be monitored.

“Are they aware they are being watched?” inquired agent Longman.

“I very much doubt it, they were remarkably well informed, however, had they known of the additional security measures in place, then they would have come much better prepared than they are.”

Agent Longman found that statement difficult to understand.

“Could you possibly tell me what this place is?” she enquired.

“In good time, I am waiting for confirmation from Central Control,” he replied.

“Confirmation for what”

Agent Longman was cut off in mid-sentence, as the screen changed, and Adrian then spoke to a Commander Phillips, who then updated him on the events, and Phillips then asked to speak to agent Longman.

“Agent Longman, I do apologize that you have been caught up in this. We have checked your security file and have concluded that you are no direct threat to this establishment. As for your witness, we have no way in knowing if he is alive or dead, we are sure though it was not him that they were after.”

Agent Longman listened in disbelief.

“I am not authorized to give you any further direct information, however, if you have any queries I will do my best to answer them. I also need to remind you that the information you have gathered here today, is restricted and classified. I am sure from your file that you are a person of high reputation and honour and would keep it that way. I am also sure I have no real need to remind you what would happen to your career, if you decided at any time to divulge what you have learned here today.”

Agent Longman nodded, indicating that she understood.

“I would like to know one thing, if that is all right with you,” agent Longman enquired.

“Yes…please go ahead and ask” replied Commander Phillips.

“Has the family you were protecting in the West wing been captured or are they safe?”

Commander Phillips smiled,

“Your file indicates you are a woman of compassion, which is a good quality. The answer to your question is yes, they have also like you found their way into a place of safety.”

Agent Longman was pleased, as she had never seen the use of spilling innocent blood, “If that is all, I will leave you in the very capable hands of those in command of this unit.” Replied the commander.

“Oh yes…and thank you, I did not mean to be rude I was just thinking of those caught upstairs so to speak,” replied agent Longman.

The screen reverted to show various sections of the Manor house.

“I thought this establishment belonged to some Monks.” She enquired.

“That was a cover while the area was been set up, you cannot just announce to the world that the military has a secret unit here,” came the reply.

Agent Longman shook her head, she could see now the greater scale of things, and it even became clearer as to why this establishment was offered to her for the protection of her witness.

Had as she expected, Pitney were involved in military extra-terrestrial fields, then it was easier for the military to contain a situation within an environment that was in their control.

“Did not your intelligence boys have some warning of what was been planned?”

“You should know better than ask me such questions,” answered the soldier.

Agent Longman smiled, it pleased her to know the military were not as infallible as they portrayed.

John Dobson sat down with a team under the direct control of the unit’s Commander,

“John it is good to have you working back with us, I have no need to introduce you to anyone else, as you have already worked with them at different stages of your career.”

Dobson looked across the table; it was good to see the faces of so many of his old companions, as back in fieldwork he had lost touch.

“The craft we have brought in is actually one of two units recovered, they were actually brought down, the crash was simply a cover story, and we have been working also with the Russians and Americans in the building of stealth fighters, and capable of matching some of these crafts and fighters. This has been largely due John, to a lot of your earlier work, we are now capable of matching some of their Alien Crafts in speed and in their manoeuvrability.”

Dobson looked delighted.

“That must mean they are powered by similar units as those taken from the three alien crafts.”

“Yes…but they are in fact an improvement, using an advanced version of Radon technology that was developed would you believe by us, here in this very establishment.”

“I thought project Sky Watch was cancelled,” Dobson enquired.

“It was; however, we were able to keep the research running under project Earth Watch, which was jointly funded by the Canadian, Americans and the Russians, and they had the insight to see the value in this technology, and they also realized the threat to the world’s security. I would say that was more than the short-sighted government that has just been replaced.”

Dobson was amazed, as he was unaware of the continued research, he knew of the testing of certain crafts using the technology developed on actual similar lines. However, none had actually broken into improving it, that combined with the stealth technology would make these new crafts a considerable asset to the military.

“What do you think is the connection with the task force in the safe house?” inquired Dobson.

“We got wind of an arms dealer, an agent for the MI6, he was contacted by what we believed was an alien highbred, and who was wanting to purchase this new military stealth technology, and he had used his contacts to trace the whereabouts of the crafts in Britain. The alien had recruited mercenaries to recover or trace the units. The arms dealer had managed to identify their whereabouts; however, he was just able to inform his controller before he was himself eliminated.” Came the reply.

Dobson nodded his head indicating that he understood, and truly felt sorry for the loss of the life, from such a valuable and trained operative.

“So, they are not only after these two downed crafts, it is also actually our technology that they now want to destroy.” He enquired and feeling justifiably content with the knowledge that he had a considerable part in developing that technology.

“It is ironic, we steal the technology from an advanced alien civilization, by reverse engineering and then developing our own version of it, which turns out to be partly superior in design and performance than some of the crafts that they themselves are using.”

“Fortunately, we were warned in time to take preventative measures, the two levels that have been penetrated contain technology useful to terrorists from our world, but not to the Aliens, they still have other technology that is light years ahead of anything that we have,” replied his commander.

There was a moment’s pause before he continued.

“The Mercenary unit in the two levels has already been sealed in, and all personnel were removed from those two floors, that is, once the alert was given, we were forced to maintain an illusion, and to force them to play their hand. There is an element of risk in all of our work; sadly, we were unable to contain everything in time.”

Dobson picked up a file before him and browsed its contents.

“The Mercenary unit is at this very moment fully contained, and the building has been basically gassed with a substance developed by the Russians, and bloody potent it is as well. The staff will have one hell of a headache when they come around. The only way to deal with that is to inject them with an antidote, no amount of gas masks work with this stuff; it actually penetrates into the skin. And it takes only a matter of seconds to work; as the building is fully contained we knew it would be safe to use it,” stated the commander.

Dobson realized just what was involved in maintaining security,

“When do we start on the new crafts?” he enquired.

“Very soon, the Russian been held in the safe house is in fact a scientist, also his wife is a very capable assistant. It was partly through his research that we got the technology to develop ideas into improving the power units for the stealth fighters. I want you to work with them, they both speak very good English, and I am certain that you will find them more than a great assert. You are by far the senior researcher and are therefore in full command and answerable only to me from inside this unit.”

Dobson nodded; again, this was a procedure that he had worked under before, and as the meeting broke up Commander Phillips ask John to stay for a while, once the others had vacated the room, Phillips closed the door.

“John, I know you have been working on a recent case that has strong connections to a case an FBI agent named Longman is working on. I also know that at one stage it became personal with the abduction or kidnapping of your grandson.”

John breathed in deeply, as the words he was hearing were causing unwanted mental pain.

“Sadly, as a result a private investigators wife and child were brutally killed. That same investigator is now receiving care from an MI6 sub division.”

John was silent; as he was unsure exactly what his superior was coming to.

“I also realize at the time you were working under the guidance of SIB, and therefore your actions were separate to this establishment.”

There was a long pause before Phillips continued.

“I have some classified intelligence to reveal to you, I know I have no need to remind you of the official secrets act…George Nelson is in deep undercover work, he is in our employment. You are one hell of a good investigator, I do not mind telling you…and that you actually even caused us some considerable problems, as your rescue of Agent Longman was actually authenticated and assisted by us, I know it was your idea, and you were not aware of our involvement. However, we were the ones who informed Nelson that you were coming that evening.”

John interrupted,

“Excuse me Sir, but what about Winston’s Wife and child?”

Phillips bit in his lower lip and nodded his head,

“Yes, that was very regrettable, Nelson never actually left France, the two responsible for the way they were treated, were in fact part of the organization Nelson had infiltrated.”

Dobson listened in almost disbelief.

“He had given clear strict instructions to ensure they were not harmed, and it would seem these operatives had plans of their own. Nelson is not one to cross, and as such, he planned his own revenge, he used orders that he had received from those he works with to abduct your daughter’s husband. And taking advantage of the situation he left the two responsible for the death of those two ladies in charge of John, he had ensured they could not enter the floor John was on without blowing themselves up. John was actually in no danger at any time, I believe you know the rest,”

Dobson nodded his head.

“Nelson is one hell of a good operative; however, he does at times take his cover a bit too literal. I know it must put tremendous pressure on him to conform but it does cause us considerable trouble at times” explained Phillips.

Again, Phillips bit his lower lip,

“Oh…there is just one other thing, your daughters husband is actually in on the operation, he is an agent working for us, the deception was maintained during his abduction to ensure they were not overheard, otherwise it could have blown both of their covers and endangered their lives.”

Dobson truly could not at first believe what he had just heard, Phillips continued speaking,

“He was in fact a field agent working undercover when he met your daughter, and at first we feared it might cause some complications if he was to marry into the family of John Dobson, but he was determined, and he truly does love your daughter. I can honestly say I can see why, she is a lovely person. However, it was while on active duty that he was actually injured so badly. The drunk in the car was a cover story; it was in fact a deliberate attempt on his life. The organization he infiltrated were in fact dealing in the shipment of counterfeit industrial software, drugs and arms shipments, the shop was a front”

Dobson found it difficult to take everything in.

“It was they who were being rounded up; and someone from our organization broke protocol and accidentally revealed John’s identity. Fortunately, John realized what was happening, and when he saw the car his reflexes were such that he saved the life of a fellow agent, but sustained injuries of his own. The person who tried to kill him was actually killed, and thus containing the security breach. At no time could we reveal his true identity to you, as again we had to keep the illusion in place.”

Dobson truly thought he was able to spot another agent, and in his entire career he had taken pride in his judgment; as such he was almost speechless.

“Is he still in our employment?”

“Yes, the counselling is actually a cover, we use it for field agents to report in, the actual County Counselling group is for real, however, they were unaware of John’s true identity. His supervisor had sat in on some of John’s interviews, it was necessary to keep the pretence going, Nelson was in fact due to be moving on, so it was engineered to have his supervisor stop John from continuing the counselling. We had in fact wondered if you would have twigged, as to why Nelson was apparently using counsellors.”

Dobson was stilled stunned.

“The little bugger, and there’s me been worrying about his future, when all his time he has pulled one over me.”

“It’s not a case of pulling one over you”

Dobson cut in.

“I did not mean that in any way vindictively, I am well amused, in fact I’m damn proud of him. I always thought he was one hell of a good character.”

Tears were trickling down Dobson eyes,

“How about Cathy, you’re not going to tell me now my own daughter is working here as well?”

Phillips smiled,

“No…no as it happens Cathy is fully unaware of her husband’s occupation, she always has been, at least we believe that to be the case. As far as she is concerned John was injured while saving the life of a police officer, the work he does now with counselling, is in her eyes innocent, the computer work he does for agencies, is an extra income.”

“I have just gone and brought him a bloody Two-thousand-pound lap top, the cheeky little sod, do you know, I actually thought he needed it,”

Phillips smiled.

“In one way he did, if he had turned up with such an item when you yourself knew of the reasonably strict budget they keep, you would have been suspicious,”

Dobson took a deep breath in, held it and then breathed out.

“Well I guess that has put an entirely different light on things, I am sorry if my investigations caused your man so much trouble,”

“He is not my man, yes he was trained here with other navy seals, however he now works for another section of Military intelligence which is no longer under my control, the information I have given you was authorized by divisional control. As for your involving Winston, it was not a wise choice and blots another wise perfect copy book, the incident has been overlooked, as in truth, not one of us could say we would not have reacted any differently had it been us in that position.”

Dobson realized he had just been reprimanded but in a most pleasant way.

“Well if I may say Sir, this has been one incredible day; I have not only been reinstated into the one area of my work that I truly enjoy. I have the opportunity of actually working on a new alien craft, and I am I guess, to be working with Victor Smallnoff, the Russian scientist. I also, have actually admired his work for years. I also now discover that a man I have been pursuing and trying to kill is actually an agent for MI6. And to top it all off I discover my Son-in-law is also in our employment. I would say that tops as the most unusual day in my life yet.”

Phillips looked a little concerned,

“One question before you go, I never informed you the Russian was Victor Smallnoff,”

“I know Sir, it was just an educated guess, I knew him to be one of the top in his field, the other scientists in the same area of work are to my knowledge from intelligence, either too old to have children of that age, or not married.”

Phillips nodded his head.

“A fare assumption I would say, right, I had better allow you to get back to your work.”

Dobson picked up his folders,

“Oh Sir…just one other thing I would like to ask,”

Phillips turned to look back at Dobson,

“Yes” enquired the commander.

“I take it I am to be upgraded with my old rank and pay structure, and with no loss of pension, and back pay for rank.,” replied Dobson.

Phillips knew it was a considerable sore spot for the military. MI6 in the Earth Watch project was jointly funded. It had been agreed that any operative leaving the project, especially those like Dobson who went to work for SIB would have to take a reduction in rank, it would have been unheard of if they were of higher rank and pay than those in their charge. Phillips smiled,

“I had wondered if you were going to get that one in, I’m sure you know the answer to that without my having to confirm it.”

Dobson was pleased, it meant from the moment he signed the acceptance order he was automatically back to be a Colonel with the full recognition and salary that goes with such a position.

It was also a matter of principal, as he had worked hard, making the military his chosen career, and he had specialized in his field of work and developed many new areas of military hardware; so, he felt he deserved recognition for his work.

During the 2nd Falkland war, he had been responsible for field operations of stealth bombers, they were his baby’s, and the war actually gave the British RAF an opportunity of trying them out in full combat mode. He knew much had developed since then, and the new technology was even an improvement on his own work, this he looked forward to seeing, he also knew beneath the skin of the captured alien craft was the potential for vast improvements; and enabling them to possibly jump light years ahead with military research.

“There is just one other point worth mentioning, those files you down loaded from Nelson Note Book, have you tried to access them yet?” enquired the commander.

Dobson looked a little concerned,

“Yes Sir, but I have been unable to gain the access code, why is there a problem?”

“Yes, they are automatically protected by a virus, and the moment they are down loaded without first entering a sequence code. Have your Note Book handed over to section four; and they will put everything back in order for you.”

Dobson realized how fortunate he was, the information contained in his files, although backed up were of immense importance to him.

“Thank you, Sir, thank you.”

As Dobson walked to a cheque in point an officer stood before him, “Soldier, who the bloody hell do you think you are, that you can just walk into here unauthorised and dressed out of uniform?” He was a bombastic and much hated officer who unnecessarily gave the already efficient guards sheer hell, just because he could.

Dobson looked at the man standing before him and decided to see just how far this officer would go. “What the fuck,” he replied. The officer went red in the face withdrew his side firearm and went to aim it at Dobson.

Before he could even raise the gun, two fully armed escorting soldiers dematerialised beside Dobson. “Arrest him” ordered Dobson, “and have him brought into my office.” The bewildered officers jaw dropped, he was intelligent enough to realise that he was in deep shit.