Metafire

He turned to Janet, "Janet, establish contact with the NSP. Explain our intentions. Tell them we will do no harm if allowed to proceed. They have to agree to nothing other than continued provisioning, but they must leave us alone!"

Janet pulled herself into Metafire One. George and Andrei now discussed breaking into the two groups. The groups would be mixed with Americans and Ukrainians. George, Andrei, Janet and Isolova would go up in the Metafire One colony. Michael, Platon, Marie, Reba, and Kennedy would stay aboard Discovery with six of the Discovery crew. The hostages going in the colony would be the repair and the communications people.

Back in the FBI office in Sante Fe, Major Henderson had joined Ferguson. The first report that the FBI capsule was going unanswered by Metafire had caused the Major to drive down from Los Alamos where he was gathering some information for the National Security Council. After a phone call to the President and the NSP command and control center, Ferguson and the Major had established operational control over the entire Metafire situation. Less than thirty minutes after the FBI's initial contact with Metafire Two, Metafire One had seized the Shuttle Discovery. They had not expected the events to evolve so quickly.

It was one more mistake. They had underestimated the Metafire people.