David Golemon - Leviathan

It would be a long night for the president of the United States.

Jack, Everett, Ryan, and Mendenhall assisted the injured pilots, crew members and the field security team into the complex using the giant elevator inside the hangar. As the grated floor cleared the first level, they could hear alarms sounding from below.

"Whatever happened here, happened on my watch. Jack, I don't know…"

"Stow it for now, Captain. Someone opened the door for these people. Our men can't be expected to secure the complex if someone's passing out keys to the damn locks."

Everett slowly nodded, not at all appeased he had failed the Group.

The elevator hit level 3 and the men were met by security, who at first stared in shock as Jack Collins stepped from the large platform. Men and women gathered at the loading dock and stared at the man who had returned from the dead. A sergeant wearing the insignia of an army soldier stepped up and saluted the colonel, then turned and looked at Captain Everett, his immediate commander.

"Sir, we have five dead and seventeen wounded. Thirty-two tranquilized Group members, one of whom is in shock. We have damage to gate two and gate one. We have five missing personnel that we assume have left the complex with the hostile assault element."

"Thank you, Sergeant. Has all power been restored?"

"Yes, sir, Dr. Golding has all systems back online."

Jack didn't wait to hear anymore as he started for the elevator across from the loading dock.

"Carry on, Sergeant. Lockdown is to be strictly enforced. Get every available security man and shut this place down tighter than a drum."

"Yes, Captain."

As the elevator doors opened on level seven, Jack stood in the doorway for a brief moment. The hallway facing them was a tangle of wires, broken plastic, and personnel. They all turned and saw who it was standing just outside the elevator doors looking at them. All were shocked to see the colonel, and one by one, they broke their paralysis and made their way to greet him as he stepped into the hallway. He was patted on the back and heard whispers of welcome home. Then he saw a familiar face parting the crowd in an attempt to reach the elevator.

"Colonel?" Pete Golding was shocked beyond words as he stared at Jack.

"Doc, I take it we had a problem?" Collins said as he took Golding's hand in his own and shook.

"They hit hard and fast, Colonel," Pete said sadly. He escorted the four men past the Group personnel and finally entered the computer center, where Pete sat on the edge of one of the desks.

Jack saw the damage to the bulletproof glass and the blood that still streamed down the wall nearest the door.

"It was my fault. I assumed the virus planted in Europa had run its course after having delivered the message. I never considered that the virus would mutate at a chosen time and shut down all security systems and… and… well, everything, just everything."

Collins looked at Everett and shook his head. Everett had given a complete report on what was happening in the world since his trip to Valhalla, but Carl just didn't know how much of the information Jack had retained.

"Doc, is Europa online?"

"Well, her peripheral systems, such as lights and phones, yes. But until I can tear down her advanced programs and find that bug, she won't be of help to us for at least twelve hours."

Jack patted him on the back. "Get whatever help you need, even if you have to bring in the Cray people, but get her up. We need her." Jack shook Pete's shoulder until he finally looked up. "Is there anything else, Pete?"

Golding looked away and then down at the floor.

"We tried to help her, Colonel. She was right there in front of us, but we couldn't get to her."

"Who?" Everett asked,

"Sarah. She was fighting back… hell… she was the only one fighting after security was taken out. When we thought they were going to kill her, a man came out of nowhere and stopped them. They took him also." He looked into Jack's eyes. "I'm sorry, Jack."

With a pat on Golding's back, Collins looked around the computer center at the many technicians that were already tearing into Europa's peripheral systems. He knew Pete would have to head for the clean room to get into her deep-seated programming. He decided to leave Golding to his daunting task.

"By the way, Doc," Jack said, turning around and facing Pete before he reached the door. "You're in temporary command of the department — acting director. We'll meet again in a few hours, so get a replacement lined up in the comp center." Jack looked at his watch. "Until then, I'll report to the president — he'll want to speak with you, so don't get lost."

Pete watched Jack as he turned for the door. He was in shock that the chain of ascension had never once occurred to him during this entire god-awful mess. Then he remembered something.

"Colonel Collins?"

Jack stopped but didn't turn around, but Everett, Ryan, and Mendenhall did.

"I have to meet with you and the captain in private. I may have discovered who the mole and traitor is. However, I need Europa to assist me in confirming it. Also, the man that saved Lieutenant McIntire's life—"Pete bit his lower lip and acted nervous, but continued after a moment's pause. "It was the Frenchman — Henri Farbeaux."

Collins closed his eyes as his jaw muscles clenched. Then he took a deep breath and left the center.

"Jesus, this is getting better and better," Mendenhall said as he kicked at a large chunk of still smoldering wiring on the floor.

An hour later, Pete was on his back inside the Europa XP-7 clean room, where the brain of the system was housed. Pete had several clear programming rods in his mouth as he battled with a series of fiberoptic lines. Jack was watching him after showering, shaving, and getting a shortened checkup at the infirmary, only after promising he would be back for a more thorough exam.

His memory was retuning nicely, but the days leading up to his release were still fogged with more questions than answers. The doctor had the opinion that this memory loss may have been intentional because she found a substance in his blood that corresponded with induced coma. She suspected Jack was intentionally kept in a comatose state.

Everett joined him inside the clean room, which was anything but at that moment. None of the ten technicians present were dressed in electrostatic clothing or face masks.

"Jack, I placed Ryan and Mendenhall in charge of gathering everything we have on the attack. As soon as Pete hands off his duties to a replacement, I would suggest he continue on his mole hunt — that alone could answer a lot of questions for us."

"Agreed," Collins said as he watched Pete finally replace the crystal programming parts back inside the giant mainframe. Jack leaned over and turned on the microphone that would feed his voice into the programming chamber. "Doc, we have an appointment to keep in five minutes, and I don't think he likes to be kept waiting."

"We also have this, Jack." Everett held out a plastic-covered sample pack. Inside was a silvery substance. "There is no record of an accelerant such as this — highly flammable, very stable."

Jack looked it over and gave it back with no comment.

Pete was still sitting on the floor as he looked up through the thick glass. He pushed his glasses back up his sweating nose and saw it was the colonel, and instead of protesting about his time being usurped, he just nodded his understanding at the same moment another man entered.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, but you have to leave now. When I reboot Europa's systems, fun time is over and everyone goes back to playing by the clean room rules."