So here's chapter 38
A couple of weeks after the Harvest Festival, Taylor was preparing to go OTG by himself,
Alicia hadn't talked to him other than respectfully as addressing a superior officer,
But he had done it so that she would not be affected negatively if it went sideways,
Taylor was brought out of his thinking by Ben Shannon's stern voice,
"Sir, I still wish you'd reconsider taking a couple of guards with you at least." Ben said
"I appreciate the concern for my wellbeing Warrant Officer, but I can handle this as the less who knows about it the better and you will not have a problem taking orders from a civilian for a couple of days, after all he is your brother so I reckon it would be no problems?" Taylor said to Ben who raised an eyebrow,
"Sure, he's been bossing me around most of my life anyway, so why not now?" Ben said sarcastically
"If only you had listened to me once in a while little brother." Jim lamented jokingly, Taylor laughed at their bantering, and Ben simply raised his eyebrow even higher in indignation.
"Don't worry about the colony sir, it will be in good hands." Jim then said to Taylor.
"Since both Wash and Lao are OTG checking the second colony site, you two are the only ones I trust taking care of the colony while I'm gone." Taylor said waved and Ben saluted while Jim simply waved and Taylor drove off on his bike.
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Kono drove the rover as Alicia was looking at a plex in her hand telling them the location of the builder-drones, who were preparing the planned building site for the future coastal colony called Nova Oceanus in a deep cove near the open ocean.
Kono suddenly said "You know I hate awkward long silences Alicia. Say what's on your mind?"
Alicia said "I understand why the commander kept this quiet. But he should have at least told you and me. We are the second and third in command. We are supposed to know things like this."
Kono nodded and said "If I was Taylor I would told my senior officers and work together. I'd also put Lucas in the brig or take him down. I understand why he didn't do it, but if killing one person ensures the future of humanity. I'd do it."
Alicia asked "What if it was me you had to kill Kono would you still do it?"
Kono answered truthfully "Never. I could never kill you. Not in a billion years."
Kono stopped the rover as they arrived at the location and saw the builder drones were at work, getting the site set.
"Everything is on schedule." Kono thought to himself….except there were a lot fewer drones than what were tasked on the job he then noticed and thought of the signals going to the drones that he had monitored.
"There seem to be fewer drones." Alicia stated.
"Yeah, there was a signal that were sent to some of the drones giving them orders to apparently prepare another possible colony site." Kono revealed.
"Did you ever get a fix on the location?" Alicia asked and Kono shook his head.
"Not quite, they were last heading to towards the small mountain pass not far from the Badlands." Kono answered and showed her the area on the plex map.
"As if someone were preparing a…what, a defensive location to protect Terra Nova from the Badlands?" Alicia guessed.
"Or, a new base in the Badlands." Kono said grimly.
So many questions and every answer seemed to create yet another question.
...
….…..2149 Earth.…
Tashaya smiled as she looked at the young girl in front of her who glared at her.
Tashaya said "You're not eating. You need to eat."
The girl ignored her as Tashaya's father Henry was happily tucking into his dinner.
Tashaya turned to her father and asked "How goes our plans. Is everything on schedule?"
Henry nodded and said "All the loose ends are being tied up by our operative. Once that is done. We will have everything we need and once Lucas comes back we'll go to Terra Nova."
Tashaya said to the girl "Won't that be nice little Terra? Maybe you'll get to meet your father for the first time." Five year old Terra Radcliff glared at her mother, Tashaya was constantly pricking her daughter with needles and forced her to go through frightening and often painful examinations and also punishing her whenever she was acting weak, so Terra had learned even at such young age to hate both her mother and her grandfather, Terra had never met her father and always tried to imagine who he was and what he may be like.
"And how is our little genetic experiment doing today?" Henry asked with a casually mocking tone.
Terra didn't answer and simply picked at her food thinking of what her father was like and why he abandoned her.
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At the command centre Jim was taking stock on what he had to do during the day as temporary leader together with his equally temporary second and third in command Ben and Mark,
"So Ben, you are in charge of the last parts of the physical evaluation for Reynolds's squad today?" Jim asked and Ben nodded,
"Affirmative sir, I'll be taking them on a patrol later today." Ben confirmed.
"Okay, but I need to borrow Reynolds, also you are responsible for the guard shifts and patrols." Jim then stated.
"Affirmative sir." Ben echoed his previous answer while like Mark standing at attention.
"That must feel good being able to boss around even superior officers during these evaluations, he little brother?" Jim smirked.
"Indeed!" Ben answered raising an eyebrow and turns to Mark.
"Oh, Reynolds, I expect to see you in the practice ring by tomorrow morning." He then ordered.
"I can be there as soon as Sheriff Shannon dismisses me for the day sir." Mark replied respectfully but defiantly.
"Very well." Ben retorted almost smirking.
"Just take it easy on the poor kid Ben." Jim said with some difficulty at keeping a straight face.
Ben raised an eye yet again.
"Never thought you would say that." He then stated.
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Later Ben were walking towards the barracks he first decided to check with Elisabeth about his test results – Elisabeth had insisted on doing a lot of tests continuously for her to see the changes to his body.
As he walked into from the labs section just in time to witness Jim really enjoying being in command.
"Security trumps research for now, Malcolmus, if I let you use an unsecure frequency it might just cause the Spy to piggyback on your signal – at least until we can figure out who it is." Jim said sternly to Malcolm who turned around all red in the face with annoyance.
"This is NONSENSE!" Malcolm exclaimed loudly moving his hands around frustrated.
"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way." Jim responded.
"That's a lie big brother." Ben thought, there was no secret that Jim and Malcolm simply didn't like each other one reason was of course Elisabeth – Jim didn't trust Malcolm even though trusted Elisabeth, and the mistrust hadn't actually diminished when Malcolm though not intentionally had Jim arrested for being the spy.
"Actually I'm not." Jim added.
"This is the new protocol, are we clear?" He then asked though it wasn't really a question.
Malcolm turned around swiftly and glaringly said, "Yep." In a very feigned American accent.
Ben noticed Maddy finishing up on some schoolwork and Zoe looking lovingly at the baby ankylosaurus she had named at first Orville though Ben had heard from Maddy Zoe had renamed him almost every day.
Then they noticed Ben as the latter cleared his throat.
"Ah, Ben, I need you to report to me before your patrol later." Jim said, Ben nodded.
"Yes Sir." He replied and Jim walked out of the lab.
"I hate when he seems to just appear out of thin air sometimes." Malcolm thought, Ben Shannon's way of walking practically unnoticed unless he wanted otherwise was spooky to say the least.
"Yes Warrant Officer, what can I do for you?" He queried.
"I'm looking for Elisabeth." Ben answered.
"She's not here at the moment." Malcolm stated.
"I'll come back later then." Ben said and turned only to have Zoe looking up at him.
"Hey Giggles, how's Hank today?" He asked, Zoe smiled with her entire face behind her Maddy smiled also.
"His name is Boxer, I thought it more fitting since he looks like a box." Zoe explained and hugged him.
"Ben, is Mark going to be free this afternoon?" Maddy asked after Zoe had picked up her things and headed for the exit though reluctantly as she would rather be in the lab cuddling with Boxer.
"He's on special assignment with Command today." Ben replied and Maddy's face fell a little.
"But I think he may be free for lunch at least. Plus he will only be working inside the gates." Ben quickly added and Maddy's face lit up again.
"OH, and can we continue the training? I want to learn that meditation thing you do as well ben." Maddy asked.
"Sure. But I thought you didn't like it." Ben said surprised.
"Well, I kind of like it AND next time I don't want to be as helpless as I was." Maddy replied determined, Ben smiled and actual smile.
"Well then, bright and early on Saturday then?" Ben suggested and Maddy nodded and then walked with Zoe to school.
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After hours of driving, Kono and Alicia met up with the convoy heading to Outpost Nine led by Lieutenant Guzman and an even more than usually grouchy Sergeant Smythe.
Kono drove the rover as Alicia and he talked about the wedding plans as they came across the convoy heading to Outpost nine and saw Smythe arguing with Guzman very loudly.
Alicia asked "What's going on here?"
"Smythe is complaining about the recent evaluations that Ben made us do. He says the man was being too hard on us. I was just telling Smythe he is not used to a full day's work. We can't afford to slouch off and Ben knows that." Guzman replied
Smythe said "He's running us too hard. Treats us like we're dogs and he's the dog owner."
Before Guzman could say a word Kono said "Smythe keep your mouth shut. Look if you two can't get along on a simple convoy mission you won't in a battle with the Sixers. I don't care if you like each other, but you will work together. That's an order!"
Both men nodded and Kono said to Guzman "I appreciate you standing up for Ben like you did. Thank you."
Guzman said "You're welcome Kono, Ben's the best evaluations officer I've had the pleasure of getting my ass kicked by in the practice ring and he's even more stoic than you usually accuse me of being." He smirked.
Smythe scoffed and Alicia glared at him.
"You got anything to say Sergeant?" She said, she could almost understand why Ben didn't like the man after having worked with him since the Ninth Pilgrimage.
Smythe glared back at her but then said "Nothing Lieutenant, everything is jolly good." There was some strain in his voice but Alicia didn't care.
"Where are you heading by the way?" Guzman asked.
"To check out something close to the Badlands." Kono answered.
"Well. We've got a long drive ahead of us, so long and be careful guys." Guzman said and sat back into the rhino.
"You too Guz." Kono replied and the convoy started up again and drove off while Kono started their rover and drove off towards the last known location of the absent builder drones.
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At the colony Jim together with Mark had managed to spot mirror signals to and from the jungle somewhere in the colony and had been driving with a rover towards one of the still unfinished residential sectors.
"C'mon Reynolds, the spy is still there." Jim commanded as they could see someone running through the unfinished house.
They did a quick search of the house but the spy had managed to get away however Jim soon found a small trace of blood in a jar of paint sealant and tried to extract it.
"Sir, what did you find?" Mark asked anxiously but Jim waved him off.
"Not now Reynolds, I need to try and extract this before….Crap!" Jim exclaimed as the blood seemingly dispersed in the paint sealant, he then carefully took up the jar and they both headed to the science compound.
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Meanwhile outside the colony, Ben and Reilly's squad were chasing down whoever sent and received the signals from the colony.
"Reilly, we just caught their sent, they're heading into the jungle via the northern road, go in a half circle and we'll try and cut them off at grid gamma." Ben ordered as he himself drove ahead of the squads together with Wilder on a couple of bikes while Shackleford together with Frost drove after in a rover.
Ben raced through the jungle in high speed when he spotted the Sixer vehicle as it seemed as if he were catching up with them when all of a sudden the Sixers came to a dead stop and Ben who was right behind them had to throw himself off the bike to avoid slamming into their rhino and tumbled down a small slope, not stopping until he hit a boulder.
"Ow!"
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At the infirmary Jim had just arrived and saw Elisabeth were walking towards the exit holding Zoe's hand and there was a very sad expression on the little girls face.
"What's the matter?" Jim asked when seeing the look on his daughter's face.
"I told her that the baby ankylosaurus had to go home." Elisabeth answered while looking with sympathy at Zoe.
Zoe looked up sadly at her father with those sad doe-eyes that always made it difficult to deny her anything.
"Aw. But, Sweetie we talked about this, you know he had to leave us sooner or later." He said to his pouting daughter.
Elisabeth knew they wouldn't get much farther with the current conversation as she suspected Jim had a reason to be there.
"What's up?" She simply asked after caressing Zoe's hair.
"Elisabeth, I could use your help." He then said and showed her the sample
"What's this?" She asked curiously.
"Evidence." He replied.
Knowing that it was important she turned to her daughter.
"Ah, sweetheart, why don't you go over there and spend some time with Hank?" She suggested kindly to Zoe.
"He's name's Boxer." Zoe said angrily and turned and walked over to the glass tank where Boxer were, passing the not so large cage with the lizard that really never seemed to move much if at all on its small branch.
Elisabeth then turned to Jim again.
"Alright, what kind of evidence?" She asked
"Blood. We got close to the Sixer spy, they got away, but there's a chance there may be some DNS left in this jar of paint sealant.
"How much blood?" Elisabeth asked though she did not think it would matter much considering.
"One drop." Jim said a little embarrassed as Elisabeth chuckled as she thought he may be joking.
"You're not joking are you?" She asked getting serious again.
"There has to be SOME way to extract the blood from this." Jim said anxiously as he would be damned if he lost the one lead they had who the spy may be in months.
"I'm sorry Jim, but I'm a doctor – not a chemist." She replied.
"You should go over to Malcolm and ask him, he knows more about these things." She said with a less than happy look at not being able to help him better knowing that things between Jim and Malcolm was at an all-time low right now.
Jim groaned audibly as he turned to leave after giving Elisabeth a kiss and thanked her for directing him to his worst nemesis which made her laugh that wonderful laughter that always made his knees weak.
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Meanwhile somewhere in the jungle, the Sixer rhino had come to a full stop as the driver was trying to have that meddlesome supersoldier crash into the rhino's armoured backside.
They hadn't seen or heard anything after Shannon had gone over the slope.
The Sixer in command called on his com.
"We were interrupted with the pickup by that Shannon dude." He said after Carter answered.
"The sheriff?" Carter asked. He didn't like that dumb cop one bit.
"No, the other one." The Sixer on the other end said, and Carter felt a chill going down his spine.
"I'm guessing you gave him the slip, otherwise we wouldn't be talking?" Carter replied, he really hated that Ben Shannon even more than his dumbass brother.
"He seem to have gone over a slope here, I'm wondering if we should just cap him now while we have the chance or maybe take him prisoner." The other Sixer suggested.
"You'll do nothing of the sort, orders are to stay clear of that freak if at all possible!" Carter growled.
"C'mon, he can't be THAT tough?" The other Sixer queried puzzled over why some soldier – even an elite soldier gave his leaders such nightmares, no one had dared speak of the last time both Mira and especially Carter had met Warrant Officer Ben Shannon….at least not within earshot of either.
"Last time it took five of us to beat him down and he put four of those out of commission, get back to your position and pick up our little spy, that's an order." Carter growled.
"We already have her, she's got a small cut on the hand getting away, but she's positive she wasn't spotted." The Sixer explained.
"Then get your asses back here!" Carter snapped angrily.
"Yes sir." The Sixer said and terminated contact and ordered his small team to mount up and the rhino drove away hoping they had seen the last of Shannon.