Chapter 2: Implementation.

It was an early morning flight and the early start meant that Lois wasn't in the best of moods. She'd barely got her caffeine fix at the apartment after still being up well past midnight, and there was of course no coffee or refreshments being served on the flight. In addition to that, she was feeling the onset of a headache stemming from the incessant small talk of Colonel Wallace who was sat beside her. The Colonel was an old friend of her father's and they'd occasionally find time to go hunting or fishing together. He'd known Lois and Lucy from when they were babies and was generally friendly and well-meaning, not leery like many of the other armed forces personnel Lois had dealt with in the past, but he just had a habit of not shutting up and his frequent pats on the shoulder meant you couldn't tune out and pretend to be listening.

They should send him to Gitmo to talk about his fishing boats in the interrogation room. Far less controversial than waterboarding and probably far more effective in getting people to crack I'd say.

She was glad she'd done her mental checklist before going to bed. The device had been put back in its hiding place, and Lois had even found another hiding place for the flash drive and her laptop. No way was she going to travel with the evidence! Of course that meant she needed to make copious shorthand notes of all the information she felt she'd need - her shorthand being of the sort that she could easily decipher herself but which would be a meaningless jumbled scrawl to anybody else. It was better that way, nothing incriminating if she ever found herself under interrogation, although it was the main reason she'd finished so late last night.

Hold on, Colonel Wallace is STILL talking!

"Say Colonel, how is Will by the way?" Lois asked the Colonel in an attempt to control the conversation, minimise his chatter and stem her headache. William was the Colonel's son, a year or so older than Lois and a Grade A military brat in the sense that he wished for nothing more than to follow in the footsteps of his father and become a respected military figure in his own right. He would often talk about fighting for his country's freedom and she'd rib him in a Scottish accent (at least it sounded Scottish in her head) on account of him sharing his name with Mel Gibson's character in Braveheart.

"William? He's doing great! Got made First Lieutenant six months ago and married his fiancée last month. They've been together for a few years now and even have a daughter Gracie, who - let's see - must be about 2 years old now. She's a real cutie. One time she came up to me and…"

Lois felt the need to interrupt again but was saved by the pilot announcing that they were preparing to land in a few minutes. The good Colonel had to vacate the seat beside Lois and take his place further back as he resumed command mode and prepared to reel off a list of instructions for the assembled service personnel prior to their arrival at the base. She breathed a sigh of relief and looked out of the window. As they made the final approach, she could see the base and the line of vehicles beside the tarmac just waiting to be loaded up with people, cargo and equipment. She knew her father would not be out there to greet her but would send a junior officer to escort her to his barracks instead. She'd be easily recognisable as the only one not decked out in military fatigues.

As soon as she'd arrived at the building that housed the General's office, she could hear him barking at some poor unsuspecting minion and as she got closer to his office, it became apparent that it was a heated telephone conversation and that the other person on the line had either done or not done something that had been expressly ordered by the General. She reflected that this is who her father was - the guy routinely barked out orders and expected them to be carried out with no exceptions. He had a fearsome reputation, a even more fearsome physical presence and the most fearsome expression of disdain of anybody on the planet it would seem. He could make you wilt with just a stern look. While she disliked the impersonal and almost emotionless way he treated his daughters, she'd certainly taken on board the pull-no-punches attitude and expected to be using it to good effect very soon if all went according to plan.

She knocked on the solid wooden door as soon as it sounded like the conversation had ended, and entered once he'd acknowledged to whoever was standing there to come in. "Hi daddy."

"Lo!" The voice was far milder in tone and level of affection which surprised Lois a little bit considering how angry he'd sounded on the phone just moments ago. Clearly the General could flick the switch instantly depending on his audience.

They shared a brief chat and made dinner plans for the evening, and Lois had mentioned trailing a lead nearby for a story she was working on, and how it was convenient that he'd called and 'requested' for her to come to the base this weekend as it killed two birds with one stone. The General did mention that she'd been slack in not following up on Lucy's whereabouts but it lacked his usual harshness - it was more resigned than angry which helped Lois settle down a bit more. They were interrupted by a phone call requesting the General's presence elsewhere on the base, to which Lois responded that she was actually heading into the nearby town to start working on meeting with her lead. Fortunately her father regularly read the Daily Planet if and when he could find someone to get hold of a copy for him so he'd seen from the many articles she'd penned that she was adept at sourcing out a story, so he didn't ask any questions about her latest assignment. He merely said she should return to the base by 19:00 hours so they could have dinner together. He even arranged for a group of young servicemen to give her a ride into town as they were heading through there shortly.

Well this is going better than I expected!

It was a short ride into town in the company of 3 young officers who thought nothing of a little harmless flirting with Lois, all the while wary that they were dealing with the General's daughter. They knew nothing of her hard-ass reputation but they knew the General so the line was definitely not to be crossed. Lois asked to be dropped off on the main street and thanked them with a flirty smile - harmless enough. She wandered around looking for somewhere that served a decent cup of coffee. The town, such as it was, reminded her of Smallville, right down to the rather quaint coffee shop that could pass for a much smaller version of the Talon, complete with flower stall by the entrance. She ordered a black coffee along with 2 maple doughnuts to satisfy both her caffeine deficiency and the low rumbling in her stomach, and took a seat by the window. The waitress brought over her order moments later with a cheery smile.

After a much-needed sip of the hot stuff, Lois opened her bag and put her phone in her jacket pocket along with her Sadie Blodgett ID. The pair of glasses were already on a chain around her neck. She skimmed through her notes to find the sketchy map of the location - a previous Google search of which suggested it was no more than 5 or 10 minutes on foot from the centre of town, and closer to the base itself. Mind you, two minutes away from the main street appeared to put you in the middle of nowhere, so small was the town.

Reading through the information on the flash drive the previous night, she'd noted that Project 33.1 sites had regular random inspections from LuthorCorp staff, so here was her way into the premises. She knew she could flirt, cajole or force with military fervour as the situation demanded, but she needed to make doubly sure of avoiding being spotted by finding a uniform. From Lois' experience of snooping around various Lex-controlled installations, uniforms appeared to be mandatory. It would raise fewer eyebrows if she was wearing a uniform while showing up unannounced.

OK Lois, it's Showtime.