Canadian Forces Base Petawawa (170 kilometres northwest of Ottawa), Thursday 1 April 2010, early afternoon…
"They're firing for effect now, ma'am."
A nod was the only response from the green-eyed blonde looking to be about twenty years of age, now seated in the commander's hatch of the Coyote reconnaissance vehicle. Said vehicle — along with the five other Coyotes of 12 Troop, A Squadron of the Royal Canadian Dragoons — was currently laagered in a small hollow near Tucker Lake, located in the middle of the military reservation which was the largest piece of Army training ground in central Canada. Blinking as she gazed north through her binoculars, she was quick to sense the slight change of air pressure — accompanied by a faint booming noise — from the southwest that indicated the four M777 howitzers now owned by E Battery of the 2nd Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery were currently doing some business.
"I can hear it," Captain Sasha Spencer breathed out as she tried not to grin as she recalled how much the battery captain of E Battery had talked her ears off about the new field pieces recently acquired by the Army and how much better they were than the older GIAT LG1 105 millimetre howitzer her unit had been equipped with. British-designed and manufactured in the United States by BAE Systems Global Combat Systems, the M777 was a lightweight, towed 155 millimetre howitzer that could reach out and touch someone from forty kilometres away using a special fin-stabilized shell designed by Raytheon. The howitzers had been acquired in only enough numbers to equip ONE regiment of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery per the traditional unit order of battle. The government only allocated funds to buy thirty-seven units despite there were three tactical regiments in the RCHA; that forced the active gun batteries to shrink down from two four-gun firing troops to two two-gun troops or one four-gun troop. Despite the short number of units now available to the Army, the M777 was seeing good use in Afghanistan.
"Hope they know how to shoot…"
Distant crumps! echoed far to the north of 12 Troop's position, echoed by small geysers of earth and smoke erupting from behind the treeline. "Nice," the troop warrant officer mused from the commander's hatch of his Coyote to Sasha's right.
A crackle echoed through Sasha's headphones. "Two-Six, this is Alpha-Six."
"Alpha-Six, Two-Six, go," Sasha called back over the radio.
"Execute Dieppe, over."
"Roger that. Executing Dieppe. Out."
With that, the captain made a swirling motion with her index finger…
Children of the Tensei
by Fred Herriot
A side story to Phoenix From the Ashes
Proofreading done by Rose1948, Rashaan Butler and Rorschach's Blot.
Based on Ikkitōsen, created by Shiozaki Yūji; and Urusei Yatsura, created by Takahashi Rumiko.
Including characters, concepts and situations from Mahō Sensei Negima, created by Akamatsu Ken; Due South, created by Paul Haggis; Kōtetsu Tenshi Kurumi, created by Kaishaku (Ōta Hitoshi and Shichinohe Terumasa); Sweet Valley High, created by Francine Pascal; Harry Potter, created by Joanna K. Rowling; Shadow Man, created by Melissa Scott; Battle Royale, created by Takami Kōshun (as interpreted by Taguchi Masayuki and Keith Giffen); Gossip Girl, created by Cecily von Ziegesar; Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon; and PS238, created by Aaron Williams.
Phoenix From the Ashes was derived from the fanfic The Bet: Crippled, written by Gregg Sharp. This story also contains characters and situations from the fanfic series Urusei Yatsura - The Senior Year, created by Mike Smith and Fred Herriot.
WRITER'S INTRODUCTION
This is a side story to Phoenix From the Ashes, set in the time before and during that story. This story looks on my character Major Deannette Antonia "Dean" Raeburn and her friends, the War Hawks (introduced in Parts 51, 54 and 60 of PFtA), examining the circumstances surrounding their return full-time to Earth in the summer of 2010. This story also properly introduces other characters I mentioned in A Nice Quiet Place as well as the circumstances concerning how they came together with the "Protector of All Life" (as Dean is called by mystics and magicals worldwide) in the first place.
This story also contains characters and situations from my other works, including the still-incomplete Deanna's Surprise (archived at the Legacy of Timeless Beauty Archive, Storiesonline and Literotica). However, the specific circumstances surrounding Deanna Hordye and her twin sister Helena Priella in this universe will be much different — and I believe a little more realistic given this is set in 2010 instead of the unknown future era Deanna'a first story was set in — than what was depicted there.
As always, characters and situations from other series will appear here as well; all notes about them will appear at the end of each part of the story.
Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, Thursday 1 April 2010, nightfall…
The coming of evening would see Captain Sasha Spencer at a field command post close to Highway 17, which bisected the eastern side of the training grounds. Also present were officers from the other troops of A Squadron of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, the troops of E Battery, 2nd Regiment of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, the platoons of the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment and the other elements of 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group that had been out in the field over the last week to simulate a standard infantry battalion battle group attack on a traditional enemy target. While Afghanistan was turning out to be a much different type of war than what officers and non-commissioned members of the Army were traditionally trained to deal with — as many in the brigade had learned over the last eight years and more — their formation commander, Colonel Keith Marshall, wanted to ensure "normal" soldier skills hadn't been lost.
"Alright, that was well done," Marshall, a man in his early forties who had come up the officer ranks in the Canadian Military Engineers, stated as he looked around the briefing area inside the command tent at the gathering of field officers. "I know it's not normal these days to be doing stuff that would have been necessary to know in Germany two decades ago, but I don't want people to lose knowledge of the basics even if we've been busy fighting the three block war in Afghanistan since 9/11. We don't know anything of what could be expected of the Army now that Haida's come into play, so we have to keep the basics in mind even if we've got breathing room thanks to the what the Moroboshis arranged back in February with the Noukiites, the Yehisrites and the Yizibajohei."
There were nods all around from the younger officers. Everyone remembered what had happened in February when over a hundred thousand Noukiite Imperial Marines — crack alien soldiers fighting for one of the local galactic superpowers who were, in many ways, as well trained as the members of the nearly top secret Canadian Special Operations Regiment, which was also based at Petawawa — landed on Earth to capture and remove thousands of Niphentaxian observers from the planet…to say anything of liberating several million Avalonian bioroid slave "assistant observers" who had done all the real observation work for their masters from a planet fifty light-years from the solar system. By the time elements of 2 CMBG could had been mustered to head down to any potential trouble-spot, the deed had already been done and all that was required was the clean-up.
That had been a shocker to the assembled infantry, armoured, artillery, engineer and other officers inside the tent, to say anything of the troops they commanded and all the other officers, non-commissioned members and service personnel in the Canadian Forces and elsewhere across the planet. While the Tag Race situation the previous summer had been nerve-wrecking, the fact that Moroboshi Ataru had won, even by the skin of his teeth — followed by the fact that the woman everyone believed was "Redet Lum" decided to simply settle down with her "husband" and live on Earth in the wake of the "world oil theft" incident — eventually turned people's attention away from Tomobiki to more pressing local matters. Even the military forces of the various nations of Earth had been lulled back into a sense of normalcy; after the ten nail-biting days of standing at what the Americans called DEFCON TWO while Ataru struggled to make the tag, the Canadian Forces once more focused its efforts into supporting the various operations in Afghanistan, the Arabian Gulf and elsewhere that it had been engaged with for nearly a decade.
The day after the Noukiites came to Earth, that sense of "innocent" complacency had been shattered forever when fifty large starships arrived in orbit over Earth.
One of those giant ships had been christened after the "fightingest ship in the Royal Canadian Navy," Her Majesty's Canadian Ship Haida.
Within two weeks of her arrival, Parliament announced that the starship Haida would be commissioned into the Canadian Forces, with Maritime Command — the modern incarnation of the Royal Canadian Navy — taking the lead to provide the crew of the ship itself.
The Navy wouldn't be alone in helping man the kilometre-long space battleship, though. Land Forces Command — the modern Canadian Army — was tasked to provide an infantry battalion battle group of 1,500 soldiers to provide a ground combat force to Haida when required; unlike the United States or the United Kingdom, Canada had never constituted any sort of naval infantry force to support its warships at sea.
And Air Command — the successor organization of the Royal Canadian Air Force — was ordered to provide a wing of six squadrons to help man the two hundred point defence fighters that had come along with Haida, not to mention her other small craft.
Since that announcement, the Forces' rumour mill had been running rampant in the messes, dining halls, work places and even over the Internet as service personnel from Comox to Saint John's to Alert to Kandahār began to wildly speculate on what units would be tasked or formed to augment the ship's company of Her Majesty's Canadian Starship Haida, especially given the still-standing overseas taskings to Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Thinking on that as she half-heard Marshall continued his post-exercise speech, Sasha crossed her arms. In many ways, the Navy had it the easiest of all when it came to manning Haida; the ship was already finished and ready, currently hovering five hundred kilometres over Vancouver, empty save for two hundred Terran-form Avalonians who were volunteering to man the ship until the career managers in Ottawa got around to assigning warm bodies. The Air Force also had it quite easy; there were dozens of disbanded squadrons to choose from that could be called back into service and manned up to fill out the berths for what was now being provisionally called "21 Space Wing."
The Army, however…
"Questions?" the brigade commander asked.
"Sir, when do we learn we're going aboard Haida?" one 3 RCR lieutenant playfully asked.
Laughter filled the tent as even the lieutenant colonels — the commanding officers of the regiments and battalions that fleshed out 2 CMBG into a war-fighting force of five thousand soldiers in peacetime — grinned; that question had been asked again and again by junior officers and non-commissioned members ever since Haida made orbit. Marshall chuckled as he gazed on his subordinates before holding up his hand to make everyone quiet down. He then turned to gaze on an unknown officer standing nearby. "How do you like them, Captain?"
People looked…and then gaped on noting the silver-haired man beside Marshall had the four black stripes on a plain olive green background marking him as a naval captain on his temperate woodland CADPATs, the Navy anchor beside his name GAMBLIN on the right breast of his tunic. "They're eager," he stated with the gentle, confident tones of an officer who had long learned the arcane art of commanding other men in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the military. "I'd hate to face the people in 1 CMBG and 5 CMBG when they get the bad news. Why don't you tell them the good news."
"I will," the brigade commander stated before facing the group. "I just got the message from Army HQ…and this is no April Fool's Joke, boys and girls," he stated. "As of today, 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group has been tasked as the formation supporting the planned infantry battalion battle group to be located aboard H.M.C.S. Haida."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
And then…
A wild whoop of joy escaped from the RCR officers as they cheered and howled their delight. The others nodded as they applauded the infantry leaders; the Royal Canadian Regiment was the senior regiment of the Royal Canadian Infantry Corps and — by simple virtue of the regiment's name, never mind the regiment's impressive battle record! — would represent Canada well in whatever international formation would be created to control Haida and her sisterships. Sasha applauded with them as she fought down her own delight; a squadron of the Royal Canadian Dragoons would be automatically assigned as armoured support to the infantry battalion that would soon be heading into space. Before she could make comment to a friend, though…
«Sasha. Lorrie.»
Sasha instantly tensed on hearing that soft voice echo deep inside her head. She wasn't the only person reacting to that mental hail from far to the south. Nearby, a beautiful, raven-haired captain possessing Slavic facial features — currently standing with the other officers of 2 RCHA — had also stiffened, her hazel eyes widening with both shock and a touch of annoyance. It was quite understandable, though.
Their telepathic friend needed to seriously work on her sense of timing!
What is it, Maria? Sasha mentally "asked." I'm in the middle of a…
«It's Deanna, Sasha. She's been attacked.»
THAT made Sasha's fair skin turn nearly white in shock.
Dee…?!
"Sash?"
That was Lorrie Melanko; she had just come over from the gathering of artillery officers to place a comforting hand on her former high school classmate's shoulder. As Sasha stared wide-eyed at her friend, neither of them noted the knowing looks on both Keith Marshall's and Brian Gamblin's faces. The brigade group commander exchanged a look with the visiting Navy officer, then the former loudly coughed, which made the younger officers all freeze as they stared in curiosity at the veteran combat engineer.
"Alright, I'm just as overjoyed as the rest of you because of this," Marshall then stated as he held up his hand in reassurance. He then waved to the man beside him. "Before I dismiss you to return to your units to get them back into the garrison so we can get started on the Easter weekend, let me introduce the commanding officer-designate of Her Majesty's Canadian Starship Haida, Captain Brian Gamblin. He's skippered every ship type the Navy's had, so he's obviously the best man for the job of taking command of our first starship. I expect those of you who get assigned to Haida to not give this man problems; I don't want to get messages from him concerning that. Understood?!"
"YES, SIR!" the assembled junior officers chanted as one after snapping to attention.
"Good! Now, get back to your troops and get them into the barracks!"
With a chorus of sharp salutes, the younger men and women all began to file out of the command post. Watching them go, Gamblin nodded in approval. He didn't really have any sort of idea of what the mud-eaters actually did when they were out playing in the field, but one had to be blind to not see the cool professionalism they demonstrated even when standing in front of their formation commander listening to a post-exercise pep talk. No doubt, many were Afghanistan veterans; the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment formed the core of Operation: Athena's Roto 6 from August in 2008 to the following February…and had also been the first troops to participate in that operation all the way back in 2003 when Canada committed land forces to the securing of Kābul against the Ṭālibān. The rest were probably leaning on their brother and sister officers to learn the lessons when it came to dealing with things like IEDs and suicide bombers.
Thank God the Navy doesn't have to deal with that. Pirates are much easier to handle, the just-relieved commanding officer of H.M.C.S. Preserver mused to himself as he recalled what his fellow sailors had spoken of concerning the Navy's primary tasking in the War on Terror, where warships were deployed from either Halifax or Esquimalt to work with allied forces in the Arabian Gulf and near the Horn of Africa ensuring civilian shipping traffic was not harassed, usually by pirates based out of Somalia.
Soon, the command post was emptied of all the junior officers save for the brigade's small headquarters staff and two young-looking women — if he didn't know better, Gamblin would estimate both were twenty, the right age to be sophomores in university — with army captain's stripes on their uniforms. However, as soon as he saw their family names on their tunics, the native of Peace River in Alberta nodded, his eyes widening ever so slightly as he recalled the briefing on the "Ladyhawke File" given to him by the Chief of the Maritime Staff, Vice Admiral Dean McFadden, in Ottawa a month ago concerning people who had trained directly under her that served in the military.
To believe two of them were HERE…!
«Breathe, Captain!» a voice then echoed inside his head, which made Gamblin jolt. «You don't want to faint in front of a bunch of impressionable soldiers!»
The veteran submariner — Gamblin, back when he was only a lieutenant, had been part of the last Perisher class for non-nuclear submarines the Royal Navy ran in 1995, graduating at the head of his group — jolted before he sighed. Nice to 'hear' your voice again, Commander Kennison, he thought back as Sasha Spencer and Lorrie Melanko gave him knowing looks; they had also "heard" that, as did their brigade commander.
"My office," Marshall then offered.
Gamblin nodded as he followed the colonel into the latter's "office," which was the interior of a portable field office placed on the cargo deck of an MLVW, a Bombardier-built version of an REO Motor Car Company M35 cargo truck; the brigade command post was a group of these trucks and locally-built versions of the Iveco VM90 light truck — known in the Canadian Army as the LSVW — with tenting strung up between their cargo decks to allow the space underneath to remain under cover. As soon as Sasha and Lorrie were inside, Marshall locked the door before he waved them to the cot he slept on in the field; the colonel and the visiting Navy captain took the chairs nearby.
"What's going on, Commander?" the brigade commander then asked.
«If I may, Colonel, I'll let Commander Caldwell explain,» came the reply from the Canadian Forces Joint Headquarters in Kingston…
Norman Wells, Northwest Territories (550 kilometres northwest of Yellowknife), an hour later (local time: A half-hour after supper)…
"How are they?"
A tired sigh from the beautiful raven-haired woman who was now seated beside one of the diagnostic beds in the small medical station in the town located on the east bank of the Mackenzie River first settled in the early part of the previous century when oil had been discovered. "Resolving this is beyond any of my capabilities, Sergeant," Tracey Tutcho breathed out. "I've placed portable stasis fields on both of them, but that only stops the nanites from trying to destroy the other cells in their bodies. There's simply no way or means by which we can reverse what's happened to them."
"The level of the injuries, Healer?" John Patterson, one of three nurses who worked full-time at the Norman Wells Health Clinic, asked as he gazed on the two badly-wounded women on the diagnostic beds, trying not to shake his head in mute horror.
The Avalonian-Sahtú healer took a deep breath. One of over ten thousand bioroids — half of which were genetically patterned after members of the First Nation which lived in this part of the Territories — who elected to settle in this region of Canada, she was one of nearly a hundred who had any medical training or experience. The Avalonian-Sahtú all come from Phentax Nineteen, a very rugged planet that had required a lot of energy and effort to colonize. The Niphentaxians on that world wanted hardy slaves to help tame that planet. Much to the inner disgust of tribal elders who learned the stories of their new alien-born sisters back in late February, observers on Earth recommended copying the DNA of the various aboriginal tribes of the Americas and Australia. Fortunately, the pressing needs of living on a frontier planet would eventually help evolve a shared mentality which — while not allowing any sort of true freedom for the Avalonians — made the Niphentaxians there accept their slaves more as people than machines.
"Right now, Thoughtmistress Priella has lost at least twelve percent of her body mass, mostly in the abdomen," Tracey answered. "Thoughtmistress Hordye has only lost six percent, but the right foot is effectively gone. Given she's a martial artist…"
"What would you recommend, Healer?" Benton Fraser asked.
She shrugged. "Body-swaps. Unless you have technology that would remove these nanites from their bodies, Sergeant, then help regenerate their lost body tissue."
Tracey gave him a knowing look. The former deputy liaison officer at the Canadian consulate in Chicago nodded in grim understanding. Having been posted back to his native territory after his several years of effective exile in the States, he had risen up the ranks; he was now in the running for promotion to staff sergeant, which would allow him to assume command of any of the remote local detachments of the Force's "G" Division. He was still in fantastic physical shape for a man of thirty-eight, his skills in deductive work and tracking unmatched by anyone in the Canadian North; it was said by many of his admirers that Benton's ability to hunt down criminals rivalled that of the Force's most famous man-hunter of all, the legendary Staff Sergeant Martin Larsden himself.
Currently, Benton was employed as a sort of roving troubleshooter, directly answerable to the chief superintendent of "G" Division in Yellowknife even if he lived full-time in a cabin near the old Hudson's Bay Company post at Fort Confidence, located at the northeast corner of Great Bear Lake. And while he was more comfortable moving on foot or by dog sled, Benton also had his float plane license and made use of a de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Turbo-Otter to get to the more remote areas of the territory when the weather allowed it. He had been returning to his home from Inuvik after helping settle an issue with poachers trying to kill a small group of polar bears who lived in the area when he got the call from the Norman Wells detachment concerning a strange attack on two citizens…
…by a gynoid of all things!
"Not to my knowledge," the RCMP officer stated as he looked at the still face of Deanna Hordye. "Do she and Professor Priella have any living relatives?"
"None," John answered. "If anything happens to either of them, I have a standing request from Deanna to contact a Lieutenant Commander Maria Kennison; she's currently based at Kingston. I called her as soon as Healer Tutcho got them into suspension."
"What relation is the commander to Master Hordye?"
"Former high school classmate and friend; she also knows a person who would have power of attorney in case either Deanna or Helena become incapacitated and can't make any decisions on their own." The nurse then perked on remembering something. "The commander did advise me of something that I think you need to know, Sergeant."
"And that is?"
"Commander Kennison — when I told her about that…thing…" John spat before shaking his head and carrying on, "…that attacked Deanna and Helena — advised me to tell you or any other RCMP officer of the…Artificial Persons Act of 1922?"
That made Benton perk as he seared his nearly eidetic memory concerning the law for information on that piece of legislation. He then nodded. "Ah, yes. That's the law that was passed by Parliament in the wake of the Steel Angels' creation during that period. Which means the Canadian Armed Forces will be taking possession of the gynoid in question for analysis and disposal; the Department of National Defence was tasked by that law to investigate any unsanctioned attempts at creating anything similar to Inspector French and her sisters. I will have to contact Joint Task Force…"
"That's not necessary, Sergeant."
Everyone turned…
…before blinking as four people in temperate woodland CADPATs stepped into the room, all officers. On seeing the Navy lieutenant commander's rank insignia on the slip-on worn by the obvious leader — a slender, almost petite, woman with curly brown hair and brilliant blue eyes peeking out of a well-sculptured face — of this group, Benton straightened and saluted; he had his "Stetson of Invulnerability" (as Stanley Kowalski once nicknamed it) on even if he was wearing a plaid flannel shirt, heavy work jeans and work boots. "Commander Kennison," he greeted after reading her name tag. "I assume you are…"
"The one Nurse Patterson contacted concerning Master Hordye and her sister," Maria Kennison stated after returning his salute. "You must be Sergeant Fraser. All the people in JTF North and 1 CRPG speak of you with words of awe."
She was quick to sense the emotionless mask the RCMP officer then allowed to wash over his face, noting how inwardly uncomfortable he was in the presence of such beautiful — and young-looking, no thanks to the mesonium in their bloodstream that guaranteed they would never have normal lives whatsoever — women. A "glance" into his mind revealed the image of a dark-haired woman with brown eyes in the uniform of an RCMP inspector. Meg Thatcher?! the intelligence officer now working as J2 Operations for the Canadian Forces Joint Headquarters in Kingston mentally exclaimed on recognizing Benton's old superior in Chicago, who had retired from the Force and now worked for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
Images of other women then appeared, though Maria was quick to dismiss them as she allowed her psionic probe to disperse from searching through Benton's head. Much that she was curious about the man's private life — personnel assigned to either Joint Task Force (North) or 1 Canadian Rangers Patrol Group had long commented on the RCMP officer's stiff formality whenever he was close to any woman — she had a task to do.
Especially given what had caused this whole incident in the first place.
"I simply do my duty," Benton calmly stated before he perked. "How exactly did you come here so quickly? Nurse Patterson called you only three hours ago…"
"Materialiser," the lone male military officer of Maria's group, a Navy lieutenant commander with dirty blond hair, a trimmed beard without moustache and blue-grey eyes that flashed with a level of frightful intelligence, stated.
Benton stopped before nodding. "Ah, the Haida. Understood."
"Dee…"
People turned to see Sasha Spencer standing beside the diagnostic bed holding the unmoving form of Deanna Hordye, a look that was half-worried and half-enraged on her face. "Did you know Master Hordye, Captain Spencer?" Benton gently asked.
"We were next door neighbours," the armoured officer responded. "Practically grew up together. Went to school together all the way to high school. We stayed in touch while I was going through RMC and she went through Brock and began training under Master Ch'oi. She's taught me some things." Her eyes fell on the other wounded woman in the room. "It was my older brother who helped Deanna find out about Heather after their mother died two years ago and told her they were related. It was the happiest day of her life to find new family; all Deanna had for the longest time were her mother and grandmother."
"And her father?"
"Dead," Maria spoke up. "They divorced when Deanna was a baby, shortly after Heather was given up for adoption. Deanna's never met her father. Never wanted to, either."
Another nod from the RCMP officer. "And Professor Priella?"
"Her adopted parents were killed in an automobile accident five years ago," Maria answered. "She's been on semi-permanent assignment here from Simon Fraser University in analyzing the various aftereffects of industrial progress here in the Territories; she's supported both by the university, the government and what her parents gave to her in their wills." A sigh escaped her. "Why would someone attack them…and do it with a robot of all things?! Helena's totally harmless and Deanna's affiliation to the Tensei-ryū would see potential enemies challenge her to a martial arts duel."
"Where is the gynoid now?" the male commander then asked.
"In the lockup here in town," John Patterson stated. "Healer Tutcho arranged to have another suspension bubble placed on it to make sure it didn't cause more trouble."
"Alright, then. I'll get it over to my lab. Excuse me."
With that, Stephen Caldwell walked out, Lorrie Melanko following him. Maria watched them go, and then perked on sensing a burst of realization escape Benton Fraser. Feeling the RCMP officer's blue eyes fall on her, the intelligence officer felt her cheeks heat. Along with the statements made about this man's remoteness when it came to women she hear of when chatting with friends at JTFN headquarters in Yellowknife had come comments about how even married women felt an attraction for the handsome lawman after he only spoke to them. God! I'm feeling that! Was he ever tested for empathic ability?! Maria wondered as she tried not to giggle, shielding herself with the help of the harsh discipline she was taught in high school to help her control her then out-of-control telepathy.
She then perked on hearing a ringing noise from nearby. People turned to watch as a shower of energy seemed to pour down from the ceiling near the door to the examination room. That produced a tall woman in normal civilians, one that made Maria blink as a faint flash of recognition surged up from deep within her soul. Of course, she didn't send out a telepathic probe to scan the newcomer with the shaggy, shoulder-length brown hair and almond-shaped, gold-flecked green eyes under reading glasses. Ever since she met her first Avalonian back in February, Maria had learned that the bioroid race could sniff out a sister telepath with grotesque ease. Doing something like that would fly right in the face of the standing orders the selected members of the 33rd Canadian Specialized Warfare Unit had to follow without fail: NO revelation about their metahuman abilities to those people who weren't authorized to learn about them!
Given the Avalonians' ability to communicate with each other through their dreams via this "Dreamscape" mental version of the Internet they could tap into…
"Lynne," Tracey Tutcho breathed out in relief as the newcomer embraced her.
"We've got the gestation chambers ready," the other woman stated before she gazed on the patients. Her eyes quickly locked on the bloody dressings that covered the stump of Deanna's right leg and the upper abdomen below Helena's breasts. "Lyna…!"
"Will this hurt them?"
That was Sasha, who was giving Lynne a look that was a mixture of wary distrust and grasping hope. Gazing on the armoured officer, the newcomer took a deep breath. "No. All it will do is give them bodies no different than my own, with our shared abilities. My group is more than prepared to help the thoughtmistresses endure the Awakening and help them master their new powers. Given what the healer told us about the nanites, the sooner we get them through this process, the better. The only other option…"
"Is amputating the damaged body parts," Tracey finished for her sister bioroid. "Which will spell the end of Thoughtmistress Hordye's career in the martial arts and condemn Thoughtmistress Priella to a liver machine for the rest of her life."
The visitors from Kingston and Petawawa winced. "Dee would rather die first!" Sasha hissed out as she reached down to gently stroke Deanna's short-cut dark brown hair.
"Considering that Helena loves living up here in lieu of living in Vancouver, she would choose body-swapping," John added. "She's always been a private person."
"The Sahtú elders have stated all is to be done to help them," Benton then spoke up, which made Maria and Sasha stare wide-eyed at him. "They have, in fact, DEMANDED that all is to be done to protect Master Hordye and Professor Priella. They gave no reason as to why, but given they are the regional authority here…"
Sasha sighed. "Dee and Helen made me the executrix of their wills. I'm also legally registered as their power of attorney if they ever become severely wounded."
"You don't trust tre'cha?"
The armoured officer blinked before she gazed once more on Lynne. Like Maria, Sasha felt a twitch of recognition deep in her mind concerning this woman. Where the hell did I see her before? I know I've seen her once! She looks so damned familiar! she wondered to herself before answering, "There've been some members of my regiment who've undergone body-swaps. Outside this marei'cha mating urge that hits you people whenever you meet the right sort of person, there was no real change I noted." Sasha had Maria and her twin sister Lynn — a navy lieutenant and nursing officer who was an empath — double-check those people just to make sure of it. "Save for the psionic powers and better overall physical health; they've been running the other troopers in my squadron straight into the ground whenever we go do PT. But given that Dee and Helen are close friends, I'd like a medical officer and a nursing officer I'm close friends with come and monitor this to make sure all's well."
Lynne blinked before nodding, approval flashing in her eyes. "Of course, Captain."
"I'll give my sister and Anne-Marie a call," Maria breathed out…
Canadian Space Agency Station Aurora (in geosynchronous orbit over Longueuil, Québec), thirty minutes later (Eastern time: Mid-evening)…
"Welcome to our little corner of Station Aurora," the woman with the short, dark blonde hair and the stormy grey eyes greeted the small party that had just beamed up from Norman Wells. "I'm Penny Ayala, the Elder Mother of the Kentra's Cliff Avalonians."
"Thank you, Ms. Ayala," Maria returned as she nodded politely to the other woman. "Especially when it comes to helping us get our friends back on our feet."
"Our pleasure, Major…"
"Commander," Maria quickly corrected with a polite smile. "If the stripes are black on our combat uniforms, we're Navy, not Army." After introducing Benton Fraser and Sasha Spencer to the willowy woman, she then waved to the medical officer with the curly blonde hair done in a bun at the back of the head, blue Air Force captain's stripes on her CADPATs. "This is Captain Anne-Marie McLeod, the chief of surgery at 2 Field Ambulance in Petawawa." A wave then to her twin sister, who wore her wavy brown hair a little longer than Maria did. "My twin sister, Navy Lieutenant Lynn Kennison, chief nurse at 31 Health Services Centre in Borden. She'll serve as Captain McLeod's nurse today."
"Of course," Penny said with a nod, her eyes flashing with recognition — which Maria was quick to note — as she took note of several friends helping Lynne get the anti-gravity gurneys carrying the bodies of Deanna Hordye and Helena Priella away from the materialiser room. Still, while it was good that Deanna's friends had come in her time of need, their showing up in uniform would cause questions to be asked among other groups of bioroids aboard the station, especially those now working directly for the Canadian Space Agency. The presence of an obvious RCMP officer — though not in uniform, his grave demeanour, empathic aura and the Stetson hat indicated he was a member of the famous police force — in an incident like this was understandable. Having four Canadian Forces officers come up with the victims — and in combat uniform at that! — would be seen as odd. "Captain, Lieutenant, I'll take you to the gestation chamber. Liz!"
"Yes?"
The visiting officers blinked as someone else came up to join them. Again, Maria and Sasha were touched by jolts of haunting familiarity concerning this woman. The newcomer was the same physical height as Maria, but the former's hair was sun-streaked blonde, extending past her shoulders even if she had barrettes over her ears to pull some of that mass back. Her eyes were a brilliant blue-green that sparkled in the light. Her skin had a California tan and her body was as slender as the intelligence officer's. Like Penny and the others, she was in casual civilian clothing that wouldn't be out of place anywhere in Canada. Also like Penny and the others, she wore a bracelet around her left wrist which had the Canadian flag on it, though there was no provincial or territorial flag interlaced with it. This meant that either the Kentra's Cliff group of Avalonians had yet to elect a permanent place of residence in the Dominion…or they were still waiting for the immigration authorities to grant them clearance to come down; even if Canada had more than enough room to take all the ten million Avalonian-Canadians (and Avalonian-native Canadians) within its borders, the lack of sufficient housing — though that was being worked on by Avalonians who were already in-country — meant that well over half of the bioroids who'd want to make their home there couldn't come down.
"Liz, these are the people who came up with Deanna and her sister," Penny stated, making Maria and Sasha blink in shock on realizing that these girls actually knew the Hordye twins. "I'll take Healer McLeod and Healer-Second Kennison to the gestation chamber to let them monitor the body-swaps. Why don't you escort the others to the lounge so they can relax and wait? It'll be over an hour, so give them full HyperNet access."
"Certainly," the newcomer stated with a nod and a smile.
"Captain Spencer is Deanna's legal next-of-kin," Maria stated.
"We know," Penny stated with a smile. "This way, please."
With that, three confused officers walked off with the elder mother. Maria and Benton watched them head down a hallway that lead towards the central part of Station Aurora — they had beamed into the upper habitation ring — then exchanged looks before gazing on Penny's friend. "I'm Elizabeth Wakefield," the newcomer said as she waved to herself. "My friends call me Liz. You must be Maria Kennison. Deanna's told us a lot about you."
"When did you meet Master Hordye, Miss Wakefield?" Benton asked.
Elizabeth waved them down a different hallway, one that led them along a line of picture windows that gave them a view of the Moon, the bright light of the bioroid factory hanging close to that grey mass. "A month ago, when we helped the Avalonian-Sahtú and the other bioroids and hybrids who wanted to settle in the territories head down from the factory and the other stations. Deanna and Helena were part of the committee the Sahtú Council arranged to welcome their new sisters to freedom in Norman Wells. We've been in communication ever since. Do you have someone who can analyze the gynoid that started this, Sergeant?" she then asked Benton. On noting his surprised look, a knowing smile crossed her face. "Your reputation has long preceded you, Sergeant Fraser. From what I read of the observation records of those of our former masters who kept track of members of the Force, your willingness to chase criminals across the whole of the Northwest Territories — even that part which is now Nunavut — is legendary. Almost as great as all the stories and legends surrounding Staff Sergeant Larsden."
"My late father was part of the staff sergeant's last recruit troop at 'Depot' Division in 1956," Benton affirmed with a nod, his cheeks reddening on being compared to the Force's most legendary man-hunter. "Whenever the staff sergeant returned to Earth because he didn't wish to remain on other planets with Major Raeburn, Commander Thompkins and Major Dover, he always visited Father — as well as all his other students who remained in the Force — and taught me many things about tracking in the wilderness."
"He taught you too well," Maria noted.
The blush deepened. "You're too kind, Commander Kennison." He then gave her a knowing look, which made Maria tense. You trained under the major herself at Clayhurst, didn't you? he then thought out loud enough for the intelligence officer to pick up.
She nodded as a warning look crossed her face, a finger indicating Elizabeth, who had turned away as they walked into a lounge. Nodding in understanding — being a metahuman was something that most people wished not to broadcast to the general public these days, the sergeant knew — he followed the two women over to a circle of chairs close to the bar surrounding a coffee table. There was a woman behind the bar, smiling at Elizabeth. A little taller than Maria's and Benton's guide, she had dark blonde hair that fell down straight to her shoulders and ending in an inward curl, slate grey eyes peeking out of a well-shaped face. She was dressed in more stylish clothing than Elizabeth — Her lover? Maria wondered on noting the flash of deep passion that appeared in both women's eyes on seeing the other — and had a bracelet that also did not show any provincial or territorial symbols on it. "Amy, can we have some coffee?" Elizabeth asked.
"Coming right up, Liz," Amy said with a grin before getting to work.
Hearing that name, Maria perked yet again. Elizabeth Wakefield. Penny Ayala. A girl named Lynne. Another girl named Amy. All in the same group of Avalonians. I know I've heard the names before, but I can't recall where and when! she cursed inwardly as she realized she couldn't put herself into a meditative trance to search her mind for that information — it was a variation of the magical practice of Occlumency that she had been taught when she was in high school; atop learning how to shield her mind from telepathic probes and magical Legilimency, the lessons also gave her the ability to instantaneously access all her memories, even those from earliest childhood — as doing such would be a red flag to any Avalonian; their own meditative techniques were quite similar.
Coffee was soon served, along with home baked sweets. Amy then came over to join them. "So what's this about Dee and Helen being attacked by a gynoid, Liz?" she asked as she sat down beside her friend/sister. "I thought that sort of thing was restricted."
"Not restricted, Miss…?"
"Sutton," Amy answered as she gazed in appreciation at Benton. "Amy Sutton."
Again, Maria felt a twinge of familiarity.
Amy Sutton?! I KNOW that name! Who in God's Name ARE these people…?!
Next to the medical station…
"Hey, Dee. How are you?"
A moan escaped the tall, tomboyish — almost mannish — woman on the diagnostic bed. "I feel like shit, Sash," Deanna Hordye groaned as she opened her bright blue eyes and scanned around. "Eh?!" the second-degree black belt martial artist gasped before she breathed out, "Where the hell am I?! Stephen's lab in Kingston?!"
"Deanna! I thought you liked me!" a strange woman then cutely whined.
Hearing that voice, Deanna relaxed. "Hey, Tricia," she exhaled in relief, which made Sasha blink in confusion. "What did I do to get invited up to your office?"
"You drop-kicked a gynoid that had the ability to secrete nanites that were designed to melt your body's cells," Tricia Martin answered as she walked into view. A petite woman with the build of a ballerina, she had strawberry blonde hair that was in a curly mass and went past her shoulders, brilliant blue eyes — almost the same shade of Deanna's — peeking out of a shapely face composed of creamy skin. The resident healer of the Kentra's Cliff Avalonians often reminded Deanna of a beautiful porcelain doll, which was quite apt given what had inspired her creation in the first place. "Fortunately, Healer Tutcho managed to get you under suspension in time, though the right foot's gone."
Deanna's eyes went wide on hearing that, then she lifted herself up to gaze down at her limbs. Sure enough, her right leg ended in a stump just below her knee, a small mound of bloody bandages covering it. As a gasp of horror escaped her as the idea of being forced to wear a prosthetic sank in, a hand landed on her shoulder as a surge of energy seemed to flood her from head to the toes of her remaining foot. «Relax, Dee!» a voice echoed in her head. «We got to it just in time. We have the means to help you! Relax!»
Seeing Lynne Henry — introductions had been made all around to those of her particular extended family of Avalonians when they had stepped into the gestation chamber — do as Maria Kennison often did to calm people down, Sasha Spencer blinked as she felt a surge of total surprise flood her. Dee never said a thing about making friends among the Avalonians in her e-mails! the armoured officer mused to herself before she felt a supportive squeeze on her shoulder, making her look up at Maria's twin sister, who had a sympathetic smile on her face. When was she going to tell me all this, Lynn?!
«Most likely when she figured out how she was going to accept a group of women who were modelled on characters from her favourite young adult novel series,» Lynn quietly replied as her eyes twinkled in amusement; her telepathy was a pale shadow of her twin's power given that her primary metahuman gifts were broadcast and sensory empathy, but she could mentally "speak" to people at very close range. «Don't you recognize any of the names?»
Sasha blinked. What do you mean?!
"Sweet Valley High, Sash."
That made Sasha's head snap around as she gaped in shock at Deanna. Noting the amused, knowing look on her old next door neighbour's face, she then looked at Lynne. After taking a couple of moments of wracking her mind to recall what she could of that series of young adult books which had first come out in the early 1980s when Deanna, Sasha and their friends were still children, she finally moaned out as it came back to her. "Lynne Henry! You're the girl that was in Dee's favourite novel in the whole series!"
"Well, not 'me' exactly," Lynne noted with an amused smile.
Sasha stopped before she nodded. "There were fans of those books on Phentax Two?" she asked as she crossed her arms, remembering the tales she had heard about other Avalonians who had been modelled after fictional characters in Terran literature and media.
"There were," Tricia answered for her friend as she walked over to one control panel to tap switches. Unlike gestation chambers on the bioroid factory itself, the individual units with their genetically incomplete cargoes were kept out of sight in bulkhead slots that could be drawn out with a flick of a switch. Anne-Marie McLeod was now monitoring the templation of Helena Priella's body at a nearby station; the professor of sociology — due to the severity of her wounds — was still under full-body suspension. "Our former mistress was one of them. It was her grandmother — she owned the orphanage on Phentax Twenty-one where we worked as staff — who had us created." She paused as she tried to calculate the difference between the Niphentaxian and Terran calendars. "Oh…"
"Liz and Jess first awoke in 1990," Lynne supplied. "We all came along in 1992 when Herana wanted replicas of all the girls who appeared on the book covers."
"Yeah! Thank Lyna that she stopped collecting those books when they changed the format of the whole series," the raven-haired girl with the bright blue eyes and the ivory complexion — which almost matched Tricia's — spoke up from her place close to Helena's diagnostic bed. "Especially before they introduced Margo Black."
Deanna had looked over, wincing on seeing the mass of bloody bandages on her twin sister's upper abdomen. "How bad is it, Regina?" she quietly asked.
Regina Morrow grimaced. She was templated on one of the more tragic characters in the whole Sweet Valley High series; when Deanna first read the fortieth book On The Edge where Regina died of a drug overdose in 1987, she had cried…and earned a tonne of teasing from Sasha because she had been so emotional about something in a novel of all things. "She lost her liver, half the stomach and a good portion of her small and large intestines," the assistant healer reported. "If Healer Tutcho didn't get to her in time…"
The martial artist nodded as a surge of rage flooded her. "Sash, PLEASE tell me that thing's now in Stephen's hands!" she growled as she glared at Sasha.
"That, you can take to the bank," the armoured officer assured with a nod.
Canadian Forces Base Kingston (200 kilometres southwest from Ottawa), that moment…
Stephen Caldwell considered himself a very logical man.
It was hard not to be such given he had been literally BORN with metahuman levels of intelligence that would make another man named Stephen look like an illiterate child.
"The IQ test hasn't been made for you, Steve!" a laughing Deanna Hordye once commented about the inventor's latest interesting gadget back when they were in Grade Seven.
And while he — like nearly a hundred others, all his unit-mates slated to form the 33rd Canadian Specialized Warfare Unit amongst them — had gained his abilities thanks to hidden experiments carried out by one of the more successful early students of Canada's most famous soldier, he didn't regret all the advantages that gift had given him.
It had, however, given the recruiters nightmares when they tried to find the right trade for him to enter when he — honouring the agreement he had made with her in 1991 just before he enrolled in the University of Toronto — agreed to become an officer in the military. They eventually settled on making the young native of Smithville — a small village in the township of West Lincoln northwest of Deanna's hometown of Welland — a marine systems engineering officer, the commissioned personnel in charge of and responsible for everything that kept a warship afloat and moving. While he had done a couple of tours on H.M.C. Ships Huron and Toronto after he was formally commissioned in 1995, Stephen had no illusions about what his real duties would constitute once he was "trained" in his trade.
While his "official" posting now was registered as J3 Naval Operations at Canadian Forces Joint Headquarters in Kingston, Stephen's real job — as all those who had any sort of access to the Ladyhawke File at National Defence Headquarters knew — was serving as the Technical Officer of the 33rd Canadian Specialized Warfare Unit.
The "Heroes Alliance of Canada" as the team's resident wit, Captain Russell Willis, nicknamed them…just as the 33rd Unit's famous predecessors from World War Two, the 1st Canadian Specialized Warfare Unit, were better known as the "War Hawks."
When properly mobilized by order of the Governor-in-Council — the exercise of the executive power of the Dominion by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister and Cabinet — the 33rd Unit's primary task would be to deliver a massive level of metahuman striking power which was shared between the team's thirteen current members and twelve reserve members on any enemy of the Dominion or her allies.
Though they were all prepared for such an eventuality, all the members of the 33rd Unit actually hoped that they would NOT be so mobilized.
It was with good reason.
Ever since before World War Two, Earth had been haunted with the presence of non-magical metahumans. Beings possessing a vast array of powers that defied human norms, they — in the days of the Great Depression and in the wake of the disappearance of the Steel Angels en masse during the rise of the Nazis, the Italian fascists and the Japanese militarists, such creating a prevalent sense of hopelessness on many people — gladly donned colourful costumes and engaged in incredible adventures that matched some of the more wilder stories from ancient mythology, either for self-gratification or on behalf of those who couldn't defend themselves against the more selfish of their kind. Such battles — which rivalled the simply countless "fight scenes" that was a constant factor of life on the planet Yiziba — had been relatively low-key and localized until the Übermenschen Gruppe was created at the orders of Adolf Hitler in 1941 to strike at North America and the Soviet Union well beyond the reach of either the normal Wehrmacht or the Magische Reichsarmee then under the command of Reich Minister of Magic Gellert Grindelwald.
Suddenly, war plants in America and Canada were being wrecked by teams of fanatic Nazis who couldn't be stopped by rapid-reaction squads of hit wizards and hit witches under the control of the Department of Magic in Washington and the Ministry of Magical Affairs in Ottawa. In desperation, President Franklin Roosevelt put out a call for American metahumans to band together in a "Liberty Legion" to fight the Übermenschen on an equal footing. In Canada, it had been much easier: With her help, three metahumans — a self-trained master sorceress from Québec City in the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service, a woman from Winnipeg in the Royal Canadian Air Force Women's Division whose soul was fused together with a multiple millennia old Slavic žar-ptícja, and a Royal Canadian Mounted Police staff sergeant (then mobilized in the Canadian Provost Corps) from Chatham in New Brunswick who had been blessed by a Mi'kmaq shaman to become a "hunter of hunters" after he had saved said shaman's life — were gathered together in a tight-knit unit that took the war to the Übermenschen in a way the Liberty Legion simply couldn't.
The War Hawks.
It had been the best decision the military leadership in Ottawa had ever made.
And it had been a brutal object lesson for the rest of the world to learn.
The savage combat between the War Hawks and the Übermenschen resulted in two things for Canadians when the guns went silent in the late summer of 1945: The Omega Protocol, which demanded harsh if not lethal action against those infused with ebony meson…
…and a school for metahumans founded by her after her retirement from the Canadian Army in 1954, located at her newly-acquired mansion house near the hamlet of Clayhurst, forty-five kilometres east of Fort Saint John in northeast British Columbia.
Stephen Caldwell had trained there after his graduation from university.
As had the other prospective members of the 33rd Canadian Specialized Warfare Unit.
Though in the case of people like Maria Kennison, they received extra training from their predecessors — who disguised themselves to ensure no external attention would fall their way from inside or outside Canada — while they were attending Welland Centennial High School long before any of the younger of metahumans ever considered a military career.
Even if it might have been ultimately rigged by her, none of Stephen's friends regretted what they had elected to do when they swore the oath to the Crown.
In his case, it allowed him to investigate all sorts of interesting phenomena.
Case in point…
"So this is the thing that attacked your friend?"
"Yes, it is," Stephen stated as he gazed on the commanding officer of the Joint Headquarters, Colonel Paul Richards. An infantry officer by training, affiliated with Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, he was tasked to ensure a field deployable formation headquarters could be prepared and sent overseas from Kingston when needed. And while the Army rumour mill stated that the high brass were considering transforming CFJHQ back to its pre-2000 incarnation as the Headquarters of the First Canadian Division to help preserve all the hard-won lessons of Afghanistan, the current structure of the unit ensured that the Navy and Air Force were properly represented. And while many of CFJHQ's functions had been taken away by the formation of Canadian Expeditionary Forces Command in Ottawa four years before to supervise all deployments of troops beyond Canada's borders, the core mission was still there…as well as the hidden function of masking the existence of 33 CSWU.
"Who did that?" Richards then asked as he pointed.
"That was Master Hordye," Stephen answered as he gazed on the unmoving gynoid now on a diagnostic table in the middle of his private laboratory, located in a basement level of the Joint Headquarters building in the McNaughton Barracks side of CFB Kingston north of Highway 2 and east of Highway 15. "Snap side-kick into the abdomen. Deanna was incensed at the idea of her sister being hurt like she was, so she put ki behind her strike." He then sighed. "I've just started the diagnostic of her basic systems right now; with this sort of thing, it's next to impossible to predict what sort of results will come."
The colonel nodded. "Pretty girl," he mused.
Stephen nodded in turn. The gynoid was shaped like a normal woman; save for the foot-sized ripped-open section of abdomen below her rib cage framed by burnt and jagged edges of her cardigan sweater — no doubt, caused by an electrical fire — there was simply no means to tell she was an artificial intelligence created in a laboratory similar to what Stephen Caldwell could produce for himself. Reflecting on that, the technical officer of 33 CSWU smirked. Stephen could build androids and gynoids with the same level of human-like intelligence the famous Steel Angels had possessed back in the 1920s and 1930s…and do it with next to no impact on his personal operating budget, which was funded with the help of the Ministry of Magical Affairs through Gringotts' Toronto branch; reflecting on that, Stephen often smirked at the fact that his personal operations budget rivalled that of Land Forces Command as a whole! He didn't used AIs, though; he didn't see himself as a technosexual, didn't have need of assistants and there were far more interesting things to invent.
Captain Lynda Warbis, the unit's air officer and a pilot with 425e Escadron Tactique de Chasse in Bagotville on the Rivière Saguenay a hundred and fifty kilometres almost due north of Québec City, once joked that as a die-hard Doctor Who fan, Stephen was still privately committed to making an honest-to-goodness working TARDIS.
"No thanks, Lynda," he said. "I've no interest in bringing Daleks and Cybermen to our Earth. We might as well launch our own Dawn of Power than let THAT happen."
Given how much the Dawn of Power had totally transformed Yiziba into a planet where metahuman battles happened 24/7, THAT was something to be avoided at all costs!
"Yes, she is that," the lieutenant commander mused as he pressed the pointed end of a probe into the synthetic skin on the forehead of the unmoving woman with the long black hair in a ponytail and the now-lifeless brown eyes. "Looks a little like Captain Melanko now that I think of it. I wonder if the person who created this unit knew of us."
Richards perked. "You do your security checks?"
The younger man tried not to snort at such a useless and unnecessary question; he didn't wish to antagonize the man who was his administrative commanding officer. "As frequently as I can…but I have to remind you, sir, that we're all human even if people attach the adjective prefix 'meta-' to that term when it comes to us. With the Avalonians here now, the potential of security breaches increases exponentially. I am keeping an eye on it — as are all the others — but there is the potential for mistakes."
The infantry officer from Kenora in northwest Ontario nodded in understanding. "Which means we have to get you aboard Haida as soon as possible so you can do a deep tech analysis of the ship; as a maritime engineer, it'd be expected. Can you keep your true nature secret from Mister Ki, Miss Hakaru or any of the Moroboshi siblings?"
"When it comes to Lady Negako, that would be simply impossible, sir," Stephen answered. "The woman's knowledge in the martial arts — including reading one's ki signature — rivals that of the Major herself. Still, given that she prefers to remain on Earth unless it's necessary, I doubt she'd be aboard Haida when I go up to visit. Her siblings share in that knowledge, but given their desire to have normal lives — if what I've read of them is true — I doubt they'd 'look' too intensively. As for the two youngsters, their being tōshi may give them some advantages, but they haven't had a chance to engage in the intensive combat their peers back in Japan do. Besides, given my own skills, I could 'shock and awe' them both with what I've devised to earn their silence."
Richards nodded. The fact that he was technically the effective formation commander for 33 CSWU given that two of their officers worked under him made him extra cautious when it came to dealing with his J2 Operations and J3 Naval Operations. I wonder if this is how all the unit commanders dealing with the commander's peers feel the same way, he mused yet again before sighing. "Make sure you take Commander Kennison with you."
The younger man nodded. "Aye, sir."
"And get some sleep!" the colonel added. "You pull in enough all-nighters, for God's sake. You may be a meta, Stephen, but you don't have Lorrie's energy levels!"
Stephen nodded again, trying not to grin. "Aye-aye, sir…"
Station Aurora, an hour later…
"Oh, my Lord…"
"Amazing, isn't it?"
Sasha Spencer shakily nodded as she gazed on the two unmoving, fully templated bioroids which had been pulled out of their gestation chambers by Tricia Martin and Regina Morrow. "Well, I'll say this, Regina," the armoured officer stated as she shook her head. "Whoever built that factory of yours really knew what the hell they were doing!"
"Why do they look so different?" Lynn Kennison then asked.
"What do you mean, Lynn?" Tricia asked in turn.
"Why do they look so different than what Deanna and Helena look like?"
Hearing that from 33 CSWU's resident nurse, Sasha blinked before she gazed on Deanna — now in a meditative trance, having been put there with Lynne Henry's help — and then her clone. She was quick to note the softer — even sexier! — facial features, the far more pronounced breasts and hip structure and the other minute details that would ensure that no one would even mistake Deanna Hordye as a man ever again; as she was growing up, it had been something of a running joke to use male pronouns with her…which normally earned the offending idiot a quick pounding from the budding martial artist as a result. "Damn! You're right about that, Lynn! What the hell's going on here, Anne-Marie?"
Anne-Marie McLeod shook her head. "I can't understand it, Sasha," the doctor from Kingston who secretly served as 33 CSWU's medical officer answered. "Deanna's as healthy as a thoroughbred horse. Even living with her sister hasn't stopped her…"
"Actually, Anne-Marie, we can explain it."
Eyes locked on Tricia. "What do you mean?" Sasha asked.
The healer of the Kentra's Cliff Avalonians took a deep breath. "Did you ever do a karyotype examination on either Deanna or Helena?" she then asked.
Silence.
Anne-Marie was now pale. "Oh, my God…you mean to say…?"
Tricia nodded. "If this was the planet Hustaros, we'd be addressing Deanna and Helena with the honorific 'Serray' in lieu of 'Sera,'" she announced.
More silence.
"D-d-Deanna's missing o-ovaries…?" a wide-eyed Lynn sputtered. She had seen the surgical scars on her friend's lower abdomen many times before; only after she graduated from Mohawk College with her degree did she understand what those scars represented.
"She — and Helena — were born with gonadal dysgenesis," Tricia reported. "From what I was able to model of their genetic makeup after I first scanned them when Helena caught a cold and needed some help, they were born with ovotestes; those were removed shortly after birth. They also had their clitorises remodelled; according to what I was able to note from their DNA, they were probably grossly deformed for 'normal' women. The result of that is what you got to know growing up, Sasha," she stated as she gazed on a stunned Sasha. "Deanna — and Helena when she lived with her adopted parents in Vancouver — were raised as women, but could never develop as real women normally do when puberty finally hit. Why did Deanna never get the urge to date anyone? Why did she not have the same urges any of you had? Why did people still mistake her as a boy at times even if she dressed properly? It's because her body simply couldn't develop that way. Without ovaries, her body couldn't produce the oestrogen she would need for a healthy life."
Sasha blinked as she considered that point, trying not to let her brain crash from the bomb her host just dropped on her — Dee's a hermaphrodite?! she mentally railed — before slowly nodding, calling on her own self-discipline to keep her calm and not let her lash out with her own massive FISS-type metahuman powers on the people around her. "I…God, I never asked her about that!" she hissed. "I knew she had to take some drugs constantly when we were going through school, but I never asked what they were! I've always hated drugs; never could stand being made to take them when I got sick…"
Their host nodded. "Even to now, she — and Helena — have been forced to undergo hormone replacement therapy to allow themselves to try to be women in their bodies as well as their souls. When I finally realized what was going on with them, I immediately offered body-swaps so they could get bodies that properly fit their personal viewpoint of themselves." Tricia sighed. "That was two weeks ago. Deanna and Helena wanted to think about it as they needed to consider all the other factors about becoming Avalonians." A glance down to the sleeping martial artist and her sister. "It was only proper."
"A much longer lifespan, the psionic powers, the marei'cha urge, the inner sense of the Te'a…" Anne-Marie breathed out. She knew many female members of 2 Field Ambulance had either undergone or planned to undergo body-swaps to "better serve the Crown" as members of the Canadian Forces Medical Services. "Oh, my God…"
"So what now?" Sasha asked.
Tricia smiled. "We give them their new lives. Lynne?"
Lynne — who had remained close to Deanna as her new body was being prepared and she herself had meditated to prepare her soul for the tre'cha — nodded as she slipped on ruby meson-lined gloves. With that, she picked up the clone's left hand, splaying the fingers so that the sensitive nerves there would lock in on Deanna's nervous system to commence the soul-shift. "Stand clear," she warned as she noted Regina was doing the same thing with Helena's clone. After Sasha stepped back, Lynne moved next to Deanna, shifting the clone's hand over to poise it over its template's face. "And now…"
Contact was made…just as the areas around Deanna's ruined right leg and Helena's mid-rift suddenly glowed star-bright, blinding everyone…
Somewhere, that moment…
"No, no, no, freak…you won't be allowed THAT escape…!"
Howling laughter filled the work room…
CFB Kingston…
"A-lert! Tar-get — at-temp-ting — soul-shift! Na-nites — ac-ti-va-ting!"
Hearing that — in a voice that was quite close to Lorrie Melanko's — Stephen swore under his breath as he admonished himself for not putting his current guest until a very strict form of full-body stasis. Leaping to the monitor station next to the diagnostic bed holding the damaged gynoid, his fingers then flew over the keyboard to commence a full systems diagnostic; by doing that, he hoped to cause the unit's central processors to totally overload and shut down, thus preventing whatever she was trying to do.
Hopefully, whoever started this is making a mistake, the technical officer mused to himself as an eager, almost thirsty, smile crossed his face…
Aboard the Avalon bioroid factory at Lagrange Point One, at the top level of Gestation Tower #98, that moment…
"Whoever you are, you will NOT get away with harming them!"
Forming blocking field around the nanites attempting to kill Deanna Sophia Hordye and Helena Andrea Priella now, Controller.
Hefting the seventeen millennia old weapon of mass destruction she had seized weeks before from an unworthy monster that wanted to see her and her classmates — rescued from a three day hell-on-earth called The Program — enslaved, the teenage would-be warrior-priestess of Ahura Mazdā from another dimension concentrated.
Heeding the wishes of its first proper controller in all those years, the Staff of Gihan focused its power at two helpless people within Canadian Space Agency Station Aurora, its head-sized focusing crystal glowing before invisible beams of energy lashed out…
Station Aurora…
"WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" Anne-Marie shrilled.
All the Avalonians in the room were visibly in pain as they gripped their foreheads and tried to fight off the tidal waves of power slamming into their brains. "It's some…sort of mental…blocking shield…!" Tricia gasped, blood leaking from her nose as she tried to tap controls and raise the power of the suspension fields over Deanna and Helena to the maximum level possible. "Lynne…Regina…did they…?"
"Can't…reach them…!" Lynne cried out as she curled in on herself.
Watching the bioroids suffer like that, Lynn Kennison gritted her teeth; the waves of psionic energy that were badly hurting all of their hosts were getting at her as well. Before she could decide what to do, the door to the gestation chamber flew open to reveal her twin sister. On seeing her, Lynn was quick to note that Maria — while her brow was furrowed in intensive concentration — wasn't as affected by whatever was happening to the other psychics present. Before she could call out to her twin, the commander of 33 CSWU pushed out her hands to form a psionic bubble around everyone…
…and then she cried out as something with the relentless power of a tsunami slammed into her mind, driving her to her knees as she passed out.
"MARIA!" Lynn screamed out as she lept to her sister's side…
Somewhere…
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…!"
CFB Kingston…
"A-lert. Un-known — en-er-gy — block-ing — na-nites — from — ex-e-cu-ting — di-rec-tive — to — e-lim-in-ate — tar-get. Mal-func-tion! Mal-func-tion! U-nit — de-ac-ti-va-tiiiiiiiiiiiiiing…"
As the gynoid went very still, Stephen hummed. "Interesting…"
His fingers then began to fly over the keyboard…
To Be Continued…
WRITER'S NOTES
A general note: Given that this story is set in the same universe as Phoenix From the Ashes, it would be advised to read that story — especially the writer's notes contained at the end of each part — to better comprehend some of the people, concepts and other things introduced here. If I made notes on EVERYTHING that was mentioned here which was mentioned or appeared in PFtA, the writer's notes could potentially equal the story text itself! I don't think that's necessary.
A quick note about how I handle psionic communication and other special forms of speaking in conversations appearing in my stories: If you see text written like «(speech)» (without quotes), that is an active telepathic communication sent out from someone. If the speech is just (speech) with italicized fonts, the person in question is simply thinking their answer back; the telepath would be able to "hear" it thanks to her/his own abilities. Any sentences written as "«(speech)»" (with quote marks bracketing the double arrowheads) indicates a foreign language being spoken, though I will normally note the language being spoken in the narrative. Any conversation sentences written with "(speech)" with italicized fonts between quotes can represent either a statement made in the past or any type of artificial intelligence (i.e. a gynoid) speaking; the narrative will contain the specific context.
Now, specific notes for this part:
1) Canadian military unit notes:
The Royal Canadian Dragoons (RCD) is the senior regiment of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps (RCAC). First formed as the "Cavalry School Corps" in 1883, the unit received its present title ten years later. The regiment was involved in the Northwest Rebellion of 1885, the Second Boer War of 1899-1902, both World Wars, various peacekeeping operations after the Korean War and the War on Terror in Afghanistan. Today, the regiment is mostly based at Petawawa, though C Squadron is located at Gagetown in New Brunswick close to Fredericton.
The Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (RCHA) is the oldest regular military unit in Canada, having been first established in 1870 with the formation of A and B Batteries in Kingston. As noted in Part 38 of PFtA, the Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA) — of which, the RCHA constitutes the vast majority of the full-time artillery services — considers the company-sized battery as the primary tactical unit, not the battalion-sized regiment. Thus, it is easy to shuffle batteries around between regiments according to strategic and tactical needs. Currently, the 2nd Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (2 RCHA) is composed of D, E, F and Y Batteries, plus a headquarters and combat service support battery. The 2nd Regiment was first constituted in 1950 for service in Korea; the unit has also participated in peacekeeping missions and deployed troops to Afghanistan.
Note that in the RCHA, batteries are lettered from A to Z while normal (regular and reserve) RCA batteries are numbered from 1 to 215.
The Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR) is the senior regiment of the Royal Canadian Infantry Corps (RCIC). As the Royal Canadian Dragoons were so formed, the Royal Canadian Regiment was formed in 1883 as the "Infantry School Corps"; both units were tasked to provide training to the Militia (Canada's part-time reserve army). The RCR gained its present name in 1901. The RCR participated in all wars that their armoured counterparts did, plus also saw action in Korea. Today, the regiment is split into four battalions, three regular and one reserve. All full-time battalions are parts of 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (2 CMBG), with 1st and 3rd Battalions based in Petawawa and 2nd Battalion in Gagetown. The 4th Battalion is part of 31 Canadian Brigade Group (31 CBG) — the formation covering southwest Ontario — and is based in London half-way between Toronto and Detroit.
The Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR) is Canada's answer to the 75th Ranger Regiment of the United States Army. A special operations unit under the control of Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM) in Ottawa, CSOR is a high-readiness unit that can participate in various types of operations such as direct action (short-range, high-risk operations against small targets in a potentially sensitive environment), defence diplomacy and military assistance (pursuit of foreign policy objectives through the peaceful employment of defence resources and capabilities) and special reconnaissance (deployment of personnel to scout objectives in a clandestine manner, usually behind enemy lines, while avoiding direct combat and detection by the enemy). The regiment was formed in 2006. It is considered directly descent from the famous Devil's Brigade, also known as the First Special Service Force (FSSF), a combined Canadian-American commando brigade formed for special operations that later participated in the Italian and southern France campaigns of World War Two from 1942-44; this formation is better known thanks to the historically inaccurate 1968 film starring William Holden and Cliff Robertson.
H.M.C.S. Preserver (pendant AOR-510) is one of two Protecteur-class auxiliary oiler/replenishment ships in service in the Canadian Navy. First ordered in the 1960s, she was launched in 1969 and commissioned the next year. She underwent a refit in 2005 to correct major electrical problems. Preserver was involved in both the Persian Gulf War and in recent operations supporting the War on Terror. She is currently based in Halifax and serves as the replenishment ship for the vessels of Maritime Forces Atlantic (MARLANT). Preserver and her sistership H.M.C.S. Protecteur (AOR-509) are due to be decommissioned in 2017, to be replaced by the new Queenston-class replenishment ships two years later…which will sadly deprive the Canadian Navy of needed strategic support during that period.
Joint Task Force (North) (JTFN), at the time of this story, is the element of Canada Command (Canada COM) — after 2012, the Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC) — which directs all military operations within the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut. The command element of JTFN was first established in 2006 (the same year Canada Command was formed) from the disbanded Canadian Forces Northern Region (CFNR) headquarters, which was first formed in 1970. JTFN, as noted above, is headquartered in Yellowknife.
1 Canadian Rangers Patrol Group (1 CRPG) is part of the Canadian Rangers, an element of the Canadian Forces tasked to provide a military presence in sparsely-populated regions of the country, especially up north. A volunteer force composed of Inuit, First Nations, Métis and non-aboriginal men and women, it is built on platoon-sized patrols which are administratively controlled by a patrol group covering one part of the Dominion. 1 CRPG — headquartered in Yellowknife — is the largest of the five Ranger patrol groups; currently, there are fifty-six active patrols in the group spread across the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Members of the Canadian Rangers are equipped by the government with a Lee-Enfield No. 4 .303 bolt-action rifle (so chosen because it can survive in very harsh conditions, especially in the Arctic), an astrocompass and a high frequency shortwave radio…not to mention a red sweatshirt and baseball cap with the Rangers' logo on it, CADPAT pants and safety vest, plus other things that would allow each member to identify him/herself as a part of that group. Each member of the Rangers is allocated 200 rounds of ammunition per year. Each member of the Rangers, however, must provide his/her own transportation like snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, watercraft, trailers, pack horses, sled dog teams, and a variety of tools and equipment (such as radios, chainsaws, generators, and the like)…though when used in official capacities such as sovereignty patrols, the government would reimburse the individual.
Canadian Forces Joint Headquarters (CFJHQ) is the 2000-10 incarnation of Headquarters, First Canadian Division (1 CDN DIV HQ), the top-level field formation headquarters unit of the Canadian Army. Established to provide a more "joint" field headquarters for large deployments abroad — thus allowing members of the Navy and Air Force to participate on equal footing with the Army — the operational functions of CFJHQ were mostly taken away when the headquarters unit of Canadian Expeditionary Forces Command (CEFCOM) was established in Ottawa in 2006 as noted above; the latter formation was tasked to provide all operational command, control and support over Canadian military units deployed outside national territory. It was around that time that talk of reverting CFJHQ to 1 CDN DIV HQ began.
2 Field Ambulance (2 FD AMB) is the medical unit that was once assigned to 2 CMBG, though it still works with elements of that formation whenever its services are required. Ever since the turn of the millennium, the unit has been a part of the Canadian Forces Health Services Group (CF HSvcs Gp), the formation in charge of all internal medical and dental services in the military.
31 Canadian Forces Health Services Centre (31 CFHSC) is the local element of the Health Services Group based at Borden in Ontario.
H.M.C.S. Huron (DDH-281, later DDG-281) was an Iroquois-class destroyer ordered in the late 1960s, launched in 1971 and commissioned the next year to serve as an anti-submarine warfare platform with greater capabilities than older vessels, including a limited point air defence system. The ship was refitted into an area air warfare guided missile destroyer in the mid-1990s. However, manning shortfalls forced her decommissioning in 2005; Huron would eventually be sunk two years later as a target vessel during a training exercise.
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) is the Army's second-senior infantry regiment. It is also one of the last units to be formed and initially financed at the instigation of a private citizen. The regiment was first organized in Ottawa right after the start of World War One thanks to Andrew Hamilton Gault (1882-1958), who contributed $100,000 (equal to two million dollars in 2006) to the unit's creation for service overseas. The regiment fought in both World Wars, Korea and Afghanistan, plus participated in peacekeeping operations. Currently, the Patricias are formed in three battalions, with 1st and 3rd Battalions based in Edmonton and 2nd Battalion based in Shilo west of Winnipeg; all three battalions are parts of 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (1 CMBG). The regiment also has a Militia battalion, The Loyal Edmonton Regiment (4th Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry) (LER), based in its namesake city and currently serving as part of 41 Canadian Brigade Group (41 CBG), the province-wide reserve Army formation. Unlike the 4th Battalion of the Royal Canadians, personnel of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment wear their own cap badge and maintain their own individual regimental traditions, which stem all the way from the unit's founding in 1908.
425e Escadron Tactique de Chasse (425e ETC) — literally "425 Tactical Fighter Squadron" — is one of Canada's two primary tactical fighter units. The squadron was formed as a bomber unit in 1942 to serve in the European theatre of World War Two. Disbanded in 1945, the squadron was reformed as a fighter unit in 1954, serving as such to this day. The squadron was a French-language unit from the very beginning; the squadron nickname is Alouette ("skylark") — from the folk child's song of the same name that was first published in 1879 — and the unit motto, taken from that song, is Je Te Plumerai ("I Shall Pluck You").
2) The Coyote is a modified Canadian-built version of the Swiss MOWAG Piranha 8x8 wheeled armoured vehicle; it is similar to the LAV-25 used by the United States Marine Corps (which is not surprising as both types are built by General Dynamics Land Systems of London in Ontario). The Coyote has an M242 Bushmaster 25 millimetre chain gun and can be equipped with two 7.62 millimetre general purpose machine guns (one mounted coaxial with the main gun, the other atop the turret for the crew commander to use). The vehicle comes in three types: Command, Mast and Remote. The Mast and Remote variants have sophisticated suites of electronic surveillance equipment including radar, video and infrared surveillance night vision devices. The Mast variant has the equipment on a ten-metre telescoping mast mounted behind the turret; the Remote variant uses a two hundred-metre spool of cable to deploy the surveillance equipment on two short tripods. Unlike the LAV-25, the Coyote is not amphibious.
At the time of this story, the Royal Canadian Dragoons is tasked as a reconnaissance regiment, thus uses the Coyote as its primary fighting vehicle. Proper tanks were reintroduced to the Dragoons' C Squadron in Gagetown in 2006; the regiment had not made use of such vehicles since shortly after the end of the Cold War.
3) Translations and explanations: Laager — To "laager" something is to gather a group of vehicles in a defensive circle for protection (used today for tanks and armoured vehicles, originated in the American West when it came to horse-drawn waggons to avoid attacks by natives); Roto — Short for "rotation," this is used to describe a mass deployment from Canada overseas of military personnel to help support a long-term operation such as Operation: Athena (the Canadian contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force [ISAF] in Afghanistan) for an average period of six months before being relieved by the next rotation; Three Block War — A term coined in the 1990s where military personnel were predicted to be forced in the future to fight a standard war, engage in peacekeeping and participate in a humanitarian operation…and do it all within three city blocks; DEFCON — Short for "Defence Readiness Condition", a term that identifies the alert status of American military forces, ranging from DEFCON FIVE (standard peacetime operations) to DEFCON ONE (open warfare is threatening); CADPAT — Short for "Canadian Disruptive Pattern", this is the digitally-designed camouflage pattern worn on combat uniforms by Canadian personnel, which comes in three types: Temperate Woodland (TW), Winter Arctic (WA) or Arid Regions (AR); MLVW — Medium Logistics Vehicle (Wheeled), the Canadian designation for the local version of the M35 cargo truck, which was brought into service in 1982 and phased out by 2013; LSVW — Light Support Vehicle (Wheeled), the Canadian designation for the local version of the VM 90 series of military vehicles, built by Western Star Trucks of Kelowna in British Columbia and brought into service in 1993; J2 Operations — A staff officer at a joint service headquarters unit responsible for monitoring and coordinating active intelligence operations; RMC — Short-hand for the Royal Military College of Canada, the Canadian Forces' university for officer cadets and naval cadets in Kingston; PT — Physical Training; HyperNet — Short for "Hyperspace Internet," this is the Avalonians' version of the World Wide Web, with transmission capabilities rated at Warp 15 (759,375 times the speed of light); J3 Naval Operations — A staff officer at a joint service headquarters unit responsible for monitoring and coordinating naval operations; Žar-ptícja — Literally "ember bird," this is the Slavic version of a phoenix which personifies both good and bad luck (often at the same time); Karyotype — Based on the Greek word karyon ("kernel", "seed" or "nucleus"), this is the term that defines the number and appearance of chromosomes in the nucleus of a cell (also used as the term for the complete set of chromosomes in an individual organism or species); Ovotestes — Organs which possess aspects of BOTH ovaries and testes (singular form ovotestis), which is one result of Gonadal Dysgenesis, where sexual organs are blocked from developing properly when puberty comes.
4) As I explained concerning Maria Christina Kennison (Telepath) and Lynn Annette Kennison (Psimold) in A Nice Quiet Place Part Two, Sasha Lynn Spencer (Polaris), Lorraine "Lorrie" Fëdorovna Melanko (Skyfire), Stephen William Caldwell (Warlock), Anne-Marie Elaine McLeod (Crossjack), Russell Allan Willis (Swiftsure) and Lynda Danielle Warbis (Morning Glory) were all characters I created in the 1980s for a potential Canadian version of DC Comics' Justice League of America or Marvel Comics' Avengers, the Heroes Alliance of Canada; I rarely used them in my writings until PFtA. This story will expand on their histories, individual powers…and the fact that the Canadian government has plans to mobilize them into a team of metahuman warriors to defend the Dominion in the same vein as the War Hawks did during World War Two. Their official designation is 33rd Canadian Specialized Warfare Unit (33 CSWU); note that in the universe of this story, the adjective "specialized" (with the "-ed" ending) before "warfare" or "operations" when used in the Canadian Forces indicates metahuman involvement in military operations (the base word "special" without the "-ed" describes the types of missions units like CSOR or its counterparts elsewhere would carry out).
5) The Sahtú are commonly known as the Slavey (or "Slave") people; it is from this term that the name of Great Slave Lake where the capital of the Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, is located. A sub-group of the Dené, the Sahtú's traditional range extended from around their namesake lake into northeast British Columbia and northwestern Alberta.
6) The lead character of Due South, Benton Fraser, has a different background history in the universe of this story than in the television series. In Due South, he was born in 1962 and joined the RCMP around 1980. In the universe of this story, Benton was born in 1972 (the same year Deanna Sophia Hordye, Helena Andrea Priella and their peers were born in) and joined the RCMP in 1990. The quirks of his background — being conceived in an igloo, born out in the field and having lived his whole life in the Canadian North before going to Chicago in 1994 — as described in the series remain the same…with the added element of his being "pre-trained" by retired Staff Sergeant Martin Larsden of the War Hawks in tracking and other skills he would need when he joined the Force. By 2010, Benton — atop being a sergeant and having just been awarded the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Long Service Medal (no post-nominal letters set aside for this decoration) for 20 years impeccable service in the Force — has long erased the "taint" of exposing some "dirty" members of his service in the process of investigating his father's murder sixteen years earlier.
As an aside, the "Stetson of Invulnerability" comment is a nickname Due South fans give to the hat worn by Benton in the series. As noted in various episodes, Benton wears his hat both in and out of uniform. When he has it on, it seems nothing happens to him; it's only when he has it off that he gets into trouble.
7) The de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Turbo-Otter is an upgraded version of one of the most successful models of bush plane. The Turbo-Otter differs from the standard Otter (first built in 1951) by having a turboprop engine — either the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-27 or the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34 — fitted in lieu of the original Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp radial engine; this is done by Stolairus Aviation of Kelowna in the southern interior of British Columbia 250 kilometres east-northeast of Vancouver. The Turbo-Otter began to appear in 2009.
8) The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) is Canada's civilian-run primary national intelligence service, responsible for collecting, analyzing, reporting and disseminating intelligence on threats to Canada's national security, plus conducting operations (covert and overt), within Canada and abroad.
As an aside, Margaret "Meg" Thatcher — and yes, she was named after the British prime minister — was a character from Due South who appeared frequently in the second season and became a cast regular in the third and fourth seasons. While she was a potential love interest of Benton Fraser's, the fact that he was a constable (equal to an Army private) while she was an inspector (equal to an Army major) would certainly get in the way of the development of such a relationship (as it often happens in real life despite what Hollywood shows).
9) As noted above, Lynne Henry, Penny Ayala, Elizabeth Wakefield, her twin sister Jessica Wakefield, Amy Sutton, Tricia Martin and Regina Morrow are all characters from Francine Pascal's Sweet Valley High series of young adult romance novels published from 1984-99 (in the main series); there were also a lot of side series such as Sweet Valley Twins and the like. The series often credited for reviving the young adult novel industry, SVH centred on the adventures of identical twins (yet emotionally worlds apart) Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield while they were sophomores in high school; the branch-off series looked at the Wakefield twins at different times of their lives (Sweet Valley Twins, for example, was set when they were twelve). The main series was written by ghost writers acting under the pen-name "Kate William." While each book could potentially stand out on its own — as note the several paragraphs set aside to describe the studious Elizabeth and the fun-loving Jessica that appears in every single novel! — there is continuity to the series as a whole…which, as many fans of the original series (yours truly included) were quick to note, was totally forgotten in some glaring places when Mrs. Pascal herself wrote the sequel to SVH, Sweet Valley Confidential, in 2011. I collected the early part of the main series in the 1980s due to my total LACK of experience in normal high school situations thanks to my attending a military private boy's boarding school from 1980-84.
The stories of Tricia and Regina as noted above are as they appeared in the series. As for the other members of the Kentra's Cliff Avalonians based on the SVH characters (outside Elizabeth and Jessica, of course) mentioned here:
Penny Ayala is the editor of the Sweet Valley High School student newspaper, The Oracle. She got a chance to shine in novel #39, Secret Admirer.
And Amy Sutton was one of the primary characters in Sweet Valley Twins; there, she was Elizabeth's closest friend. She moved to Connecticut after Twins, returning back in SVH novel #29, Bitter Rivals. By then, Amy had become an unrestrained boy-chaser in Jessica's mould and her friendship with Elizabeth became that of acquaintances since Elizabeth had become very close friends with Enid Rollins in the meantime. Amy finally settled down somewhat in novel #75, Amy's True Love.
As an aside, Margo Black is the infamous "Evil Twin" that — thanks to child abuse and child neglect — targeted Elizabeth to kill her so she could take her place and finally have a happy life. She first appeared in novel #95, The Morning After — this was the novel when the cover format changed from the simple pictures to more complex mosaic scenes and the series switched fully to multiple-novel storylines — and would make her move in novel #100, The Evil Twin. Supposedly killed by the end of that story, Margo would make a reappearance in the special "magna" edition story Return of the Evil Twin, which appeared between novels #119 (Jessica's Older Guy) and #120 (In Love With the Enemy).
10) The planet Hustaros (demonym Hustari) first appeared in The Senior Year story "Dakejinzō's Story." I based the Hustari on the situation depicted in the 1996 novel Shadow Man (ISBN 0-312-86206-7) by Melissa Scott. Like the humans in Shadow Man, the Hustari are split into five separate genders: Atop men and women, there are herms (hermaphrodites, beings with fully functional male AND female sexual organs), mems (people who look like men yet have female sexual organs) and fems (people who look like women yet have male sexual organs). With this situation, Ms. Scott introduced special pronouns and honorific forms of address for herms, mems and fems as follows (which I replicated with the Hustari):
Herms
Gender Pronoun: Ʒe
Subjective Pronoun: Ʒim
Possessive Pronoun: Ʒer
Objective Pronoun: Ʒimself
Honorific Title: Serray
Mems
Gender Pronoun: Þe
Subjective Pronoun: Þis
Possessive Pronoun: Þim
Objective Pronoun: Þimself
Honorific Title: Serrem
Fems
Gender Pronoun: Ðe
Subjective and Possessive Pronoun: Ðer
Objective Pronoun: Ðerself
Honorific Title: Serram
The first consonants in the above terms are, respectively, the voiced palato-alveolar fricative (as the "s" in "vision"), the voiceless dental fricative (as the "th" in "thin") and the voiced dental fricative (as the "th" in "this").
For your information, in Ms. Scott's novel and on Hustaros, normal men are given the honorific Ser and normal women are addressed with Sera. The generic honorific used for multiple people such as a married/bonded couple is Sersi.
11) The FISS (short for "Flight, Invulnerability, Speed, Strength") term was first introduced in the comic book series PS238, created by Aaron Williams. In essence, this concept describes people such as the Fawcett Comics-turned-DC Comics superhero Captain Marvel (William Joseph "Billy" Batson) without the clairvoyance powers and vast intelligence granted by the Wisdom of Solomon.
12) I trust I don't need to introduce the young lady who appears near the end of this part. If you don't know who she is, read the third Wizards and Avalonians story.