Volcania

Weeks later

Report after report...

Attack after attack...

Disaster after disaster...

Dread catalogued and classified all the incoming alerts, prioritized them, double-checked which ones had an impact on the continuing functioning of the Empire and those that were involved with his own personal pursuits.

There was only one answer to his continuing and growing losses. The Resistance was getting intel from someone that had direct access to Volcania. Perhaps he could use that as a ruse in some way...

Regardless of a traitor working within his own fortress, there were more immediate concerns. He'd come to one uncompromising decision - the Resistance had to be stopped, but in order to do that, Power and his team had to be destroyed first. First. Without them, the rest of the Resistance groups were nothing more than mere annoyances that could be more easily dealt with. They didn't have Jon's technology or access to the Power Team's capabilities. They also weren't the symbols that the Power Team represented. Other Resistance forces didn't inspire the move-to-action found so often in Wastelanders. No, without the Power Team, the Resistance would crumble and fall even if they had inside information of Dread's plans.

It would have to be a trap, that much was certain. No straight-forward plan would work since someone was leaking the details.

Timing could be an issue. So would location. Dread would have to make certain Power would be in a uniquely advantageous site, but how?

Wait... .location... maybe the location didn't have to be anywhere in particular. Taking geography into account wasn't always necessary when devising plans to deal with Power since he was able to move over the continent with remarkable speed to any location... and Dread was back to that problem again. He'd wracked his brain time and again, and he'd come up with one possible if not plausible theory - it had to be teleportation. The fact that Dread had discounted all his other theories by process of elimination was one path of discovery, but his research into the teleportation technology had him more convinced than ever that that was what Jon was using since that ship of his wasn't capable of producing those rates of speed. Figuring out Jon's capabilities was secondary in getting rid of Jon but perhaps a trap could be planned that answered the question of how Jon traveled? Satisfy Dread's curiosity?

How many missions did he have underway to bring down Power? Seven? Eight? Were any of them making any progress? He needed a more focused plan. Something Jon wouldn't be expecting.

There were some plans that he had used against Resistance teams before with a great deal of success. Perhaps he could use a variation of an old plan -

Dread saw a small blinking light on the communications console. Blue light. That meant a tightbeam communication from Overunit Larabee. Maybe progress was at hand?

"Overunit, report."

"My lord, I have good news. I believe the time to strike has arrived."

"Indeed?" Dread asked. "How so?"

"I've made personal contact with the major Resistance leaders countrywide over the last two months. I've discussed a unification of their forces, and I was able to hint that Captain Power's status and his unique leadership skills would be instrumental in the success of such a group. He and his team are folk heroes, and the populace would rally to them and support them without question if they were to vote Power as overall Resistance leader. A week ago, I took the opportunity to trick our Biomech forces to capture me, and sent an emergency request for help to Cypher. It cost him one of his satellite bases and one of his team members, but they relocated me to a new area. On the way, I saw a site I think would be perfect to trap the major Resistance leaders and Captain Power. I've communicated a few times with the captain. My lord, time, place, opportunity... it is time to put the trap in place."

She sounded excited, so sure of herself, completely unlike the overunit who had stood before him months earlier thinking herself unworthy of transference.

"How far would the Resistance leaders have to travel?"

"Varying distances, my lord. Cypher hasn't gone back to Angel City yet but I do not believe he is on the East Coast any longer. Recent intel indicates that Sands is in some mid-Atlantic region. The others will not reveal their locations until it's time for the meet but their transmissions are on long-range frequencies. I believe setting the trap now would be perfect." There was a pause, then she asked, "Is there a problem, my lord?"

Problem? No. Opportunity? Yes. Perhaps the answer to one of the problems was forthcoming. "It has come to my attention that Power can travel very quickly in a very short amount of time."

"I've heard the same from my sources, my lord. There is a great deal of speculation in the Wasteland about that."

So Dread wasn't the only one who was curious. "What have you heard?"

"Some theorize a new type of engine. Others consider teleportation. There are some theories that are somewhat imaginative but laughable."

So he wasn't alone in considering teleportation? "If that is his technology, then having the Power Team transport the leaders through whatever technological device would alert us to its location. Our resources in that area are somewhat limited. It would take time to send in the necessary equipment to track them."

"I see. Would you like to postpone the trap until we have more surveillance equipment set up?"

That was the question. Delay destruction of the major Resistance leaders on the mere hope of finding intel on a supposed bit of technology? Dread pondered the question for a moment, then made a quick decision. "No, Overunit, set the trap. I will move troops and what equipment I can to the coordinates you send in the time we have. I'll also monitor transmissions and gather any Intel that may prove useful in this undertaking. See if you can learn if there is any truth to the idea of a teleportation device."

"I will, my lord. Thank you. Your plan has proven successful."

His plan. Yes, one obstacle would be removed from the realization of his New Order once Power was out of the way, but ... "Overunit, since your last report, have you kept a strict accounting of all communications?"

"Those were your orders, my lord. I can transmit the latest data to you if you wish."

"Send it with your next datastream. However, have you been contacted by anyone other than members of the Resistance or individual Wastelanders?" He almost said 'fans of your show' but he knew she wouldn't understand that particular phrase.

There was a moment of silence, as if she were remembering her conversations. "No, my lord. I have also avoided all members of the Dread Youth as per your orders, so I have not had any conversations or contact with our own."

"Information that has been relayed to you by the Resistance... was any of it classified data pertaining to Project New Order accessible only to overunits or commanders?"

"No, none. Why?"

No information had reached her that would cause alarm. "I believe the Resistance is using multiple means of communications to transmit secret plans as well as relaying information stolen from our databases to each other. You are trusted by the organics. It would be a logical action for one of them to include you in the communication link. Since that has not happened, one assumption may be that they are not using the radios to communicate such data privately."

Again, there was a silence. "I have heard nothing that would indicate the radios are being used in that manner, my lord."

So Dread could rule out one method. That was more than he had before. "Continue with the plan, Overunit. Send me the details, and let's remove Power and his allies."

"Yes, my lord. Long live the Machine."

Yes. Long live the Machine. But every day, the threat to the Machine loomed larger thanks to the Resistance. Thanks to Power...

Another thought crossed his mind. He already had Larabee in position to attract Power. He had spies gathering intel and reporting to him. He needed a more focused agent to do his bidding.

There were five leaders coming to the meeting.

For a contingency plan, he needed five agents programmed for a specific purpose, not just one focused agent.

Determined, he left his throne room and walked to his private lab. It was one of the few places he could retreat to and indulge in a nearly-unneeded hobby - tinkering. As a child, he loved to tear mechanical items apart and see how they worked. He enjoyed putting them back together again. His current profession of world domination and destroying the Resistance didn't leave him much time to indulge in the hobby, so it was a rare occasion to take time to retreat to the private sanctuary. It was also a lab where he could experiment with computer programs designed to perform functions unimaginable even to Overmind, and sometimes, he wanted to work in privacy and not have Overmind proverbially looking over his shoulder, especially when he was 'redesigning' the devices designed by Overmind himself.

He sat down behind the console and quickly connected to the observation drone database. Overmind's control of the drones wasn't absolute. Dread could still find ways to hack into their systems and upload his own programs secretly. His plans of finding the enemy bases with tracking files using a security infiltration subcode had been subverted when the Power Team had discovered that's what he had done when he attacked Cypher's base and placed a hallucinogenic substance in their water. Once they knew what had happened, the information was sent out to every other Resistance group - or so Dread learned from his spies later on. Since that moment, no one had read a disc found at any untrusted site so no information of base locations had been learned. Dread would have to find another way to use that method given that it had been successful once.

Still, he had other resources.

The first few programs were rather involved. The observation drones were to monitor all transmissions and report back any information pertaining to the five major Resistance teams and their leaders to him and him alone by bypassing Overmind's monitored frequencies. He needed specific intel, and he needed it fast.

If only he could use the drones for other reasons. How he would truly enjoy hurting Power personally. If only... Wait...

Dread mentally kicked himself. Another opportunity was staring him in the face, and he'd ignored it!

The observation drones were programmed to find anyone Dread deemed to be an enemy. Catch them if they can, kill them if they have to. All live prisoners were taken immediately to the nearest interrogation facility. The personal information and likenesses of all of Power's Team had been uploaded to the facial recognition database years earlier. All drones were already on the lookout for them.

But why kill them all in a trap when individual captures within a trap could be an accessible option? Catch one, the others would come running to the rescue. It could work as a contingency plan should something happen with Larabee's machinations, especially if the one he focused on was one team member in particular. What was the line in that old poem? 'Welcome to my parlor,' said the spider to the fly.

Within moments, he had written a program with a few simple commands to add to the ones already uploaded. The program read, 'Find and observe the leaders of the five major Resistance groups. Members of Power's team will transport the team leaders. Following Power's team is a priority. When Youth Leader Jennifer Chase is present, follow the traitor until leader is delivered and bring to Ground. No other Machine entity to intercept transmission.' With the Resistance capable of learning his secrets and transmitting them to other Resistance groups, he'd started using code words. Ground was currently another codeword for Volcania. Also, if Larabee failed to gain Power's attention, then perhaps a drone could provide the successful contingency plan. Either way, capturing the team, or more so, capturing the traitor, would hurt Power and that would hurt the Resistance.

And since the trap was meant to destroy all the major Resistance leaders, Power included, dealing with the traitor would be a self-satisfying bonus.

Mentally patting himself on the back while scolding himself for the lateness of the idea, Dread walked away from the console and left his private lab.

Power Base

Late Shift

Jon walked into the control room as Jennifer listened to the radio through an earpiece. "Anything new?"

Jennifer shook her head. "Nothing new since this morning's report. Seems to be a quiet day."

"We need more of those," Jon agreed readily.

"Did you get a chance to read through the intel we were sent yesterday?"

"It was the location for a new munitions manufacturing plant Dread established near the Grand Canyon. I sent it to McAllister and Sundry. Their teams wiped them out."

"Another win for our side," Jennifer smiled at him.

"I wonder where the intel is coming from," Jon mused. "It's 100% no matter what we've been getting, and that's been going on for months."

"Someone wanting to remain anonymous?" Jennifer suggested. "Look at the ways we've gotten the intel. It's always different. No method is used twice. If Dread ever found out how the information was getting to us, he'd make sure that source didn't exist any longer."

"Very true," he glanced at the morning's report. Time, location, numbers... one segment of news mentioned a Resistance team in Arkansas stopping several platoons of Dread's troops. Word was that the mission had been an absolute success. "So what else are you listening for?"

She sighed. "I was waiting for Hank to call, but he's late."

Ah, Hank. Jon couldn't help but feel a little jealous. He'd never met the man, but there was a close bond between him and Jennifer. Maybe it had to do with both being pilots for the UTO for a while and the camaraderie that existed in that small community, but Jennifer and Hank had a special connection. Whenever she spoke with him over the comm, a happy smile would appear on her face. He was the first friend she made on her own outside of the team, but no one on the team had ever met him. One of the few things Jon knew about him was that he had been injured in a crash after an aerial battle with Soaron. His muscles could no longer withstand the incredible g-forces inflicted on a body during a dogfight so he had become an 'independent operator' with his own patched-together transport that he used as a cargo carrier. Hank was considered to be a 'cowboy' of sorts when it came to flying. He took risks and ignored the laws of avionics. It was the reputation he had of being a bit of a rogue and scoundrel around the ladies that Jon didn't care for, especially when it came to Jennifer. She seemed completely unfazed by it.

"He might be busy or involved in a mission?" Jon asked as he sat down next to her.

"Or maybe I've already missed the call," she said, a sad tinge to her voice.

She looked forward to talking to Hank when she could, and given the fact that fun was a rare commodity, Jon had always encouraged the conversations. Still, given the changes in their relationship, he felt secure enough to tease her a little.

"He may have found someone else to talk to over a tight-beam commlink?"

"I don't think so." Jennifer glanced at him and grinned. "Jealous?"

He had to smile back. "Should I be?"

"Oh, I think you'd find Hank a very interesting person. He can tell some great stories. He's done just about everything."

Interesting? "Military?"

"Former lieutenant in the Air Force," she told him.

He leaned over, gave her a quick kiss and whispered, "Then there's no need to be jealous. I seem to recall you have a fondness for captains."

She gave him a quick kiss back. "Maybe certain ones."

Then, a voice came over her earpiece. It sounded close, clear and over a secure encrypted frequency reserved for private pilot communications.

"Breaker, breaker, this is Hank, the high-flying aviator. Anybody got your ears on?"

"It's Hank," she said with a smile, indicating that Jon should listen in. "Hank and his CB jargon," Jennifer shook her head. "He loves using that antiquated language with the other pilots. He taught it to me when we were flying with the UTO." She pressed the encryption button on the communicator and said with a smile, "That's a big 10-4, good buddy."

"Jenny! I was hoping you was listening," Hank's happy voice almost shouted in her ear. "What's new?"

Jon looked over at Jennifer and silently mouthed the word Jenny? Jennifer didn't allow anyone to call her Jenny, but somehow, Hank had that rare privilege.

"Nothing much," she answered. "Where are you?"

"East Coast for a little while. Heading over toward Massachusetts pretty soon. Remember how Gundar said he was heading out that way? He gave me some good gossip. Says some interesting things are going on over there. More eye-bot activity lately. Especially today. Might be a good idea to put some eyes in the sky from our side on them, if you know what I mean."

"That I do. I have Jon listening in."

"How do, Captain Power! Pleased to meet you."

Jon smiled at the relaxed, happy greeting. "Hello, Hank. Good to meet you too."

Jennifer jumped back in to the conversation. "Anything new happening at the UTO?"

"Yes!" his voice got very animated. "They're wanting to really pester Dread and set up an elite force of the best pilots available to do scrambles and hit and runs. I put your name in the pot for consideration. And they want to do more than that. Put on air shows, sort of pump up morale in the world, that sort of thing. Jenny, you're gonna love this - they're bringing back the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds!"

"Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds?" Jon whispered. Even after all those years, those groups of flyers were still well-known. "Air shows? In the middle of a war?"

"Absolutely, Captain," Hank's voice sounded so excited. "Bring some fun back into people's lives. I'm going to be in charge, my son's flying and I want the other best pilot around on his right wing. Jenny, that's you, darlin'. And between the three of us, we might be able to really bring back the glory days of the Thunderbirds. I gotta tell you, they were something to see."

"You saw them?"

"Once. It was the 2102 World's Fair when I was a kid," Hank argued. "My mom was a pilot too, and the only reason she talked my dad into going was to see the Thunderbirds fly. He wasn't much interested in air shows. Car shows? Yeah. He liked those, but he didn't give a flying flit for an airplane. I think I was about ten years old."

Jennifer leaned over and whispered to Jon, "Here's some fun." Then, to Hank, "Wrong fair," Jennifer calmly disagreed. "The Thunderbirds quit flying in 2097 because they lost a legal case. They lost the rights to the name and became the Phoenix Squad that year."

Jon could almost hear Hank frown.

"You sure?"

Jennifer laughed. "Yes, I'm sure. The Thunderbirds flew the XF9 jets until 2096, then they flew one year with the XF10s. After that, they were grounded because an industrialist thought his son was a good enough pilot to fly with them. They disagreed so the industrialist leveled some trumped up charges at them, got them reassigned and brought in new pilots. They sued and lost the case, but the judge did retire the name. The industrialist renamed the new crew the Phoenix Squad."

"With his son as the leader, I'd bet," Hank growled. "That's how it works, Jenny. It's not what you know. It's who you know. And since I know you, I want you on the team."

Jennifer laughed. "But I already have a job," she countered quickly. "What am I supposed to do with that?"

There was a brief pause before Hank answered, "Take a vacation? Moonlight?"

Jon found a sudden respect for Hank's straightforwardness. It was jovial and honest and good-natured, and Jennifer seemed to enjoy it. Maybe that was just Hank's personality? Maybe it went along with working hard and playing hard? Or maybe it was part and parcel for someone who could be considered a 'damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead and we'll grab a drink on the other side' type of person? "I'll think about it," she answered noncommittally, winking at Jon.

"Well, in the words from a famous movie, do it for the money, for the glory, for the fun..."

Jennifer laughed. A real laugh. "We don't have real money anymore. Not exactly," she reminded him.

"Then do it for the glory, but mostly for the fun. Betcha the captain wouldn't mind you taking some time off. Would you, Captain?"

Before Jon could comment, another incoming communication signaled that they needed to cut the conversation short. "Hank, we're getting busy. I've got to go. I'll think about it, okay?"

"I'll be waiting to hear from you, darlin'," he said as he signed off.

With a sigh, Jennifer pressed the console switch that let them hear the incoming communication. It was Dread troop updates. She began to take notes, noticing that most of the reports were about the East Coast…

"So…. Jenny?" he asked her.

Jennifer smiled at him. "Don't get any ideas. Hank's the only one who gets away with calling me Jenny."

There was a story there, that was certain. That was one of those many tales from her past that she hadn't told them about yet, but Jon had a feeling it could be somewhat amusing, whatever it was.

"Anything valuable?" Jon asked.

"The usual East Coast reports," she answered. "Nothing unexpected."

There was a pause, then he asked, "Anything from Freedom One in particular?"

Jennifer shook her head. "No, and she missed her last broadcast."

That was never a good sign. "I could try contacting her. I've got her commlink frequency." Jon looked over and saw Jennifer's wry grin. "What?" he asked.

"So you've talked to Freedom One over a tight-beamed commlink?" she teased back.

Ah, so two could play at that game. "Jealous?"

"Should I be?" she almost laughingly asked him.

"She's not really into telling stories like you say Hank is, but she's very... uh... focused and serious. In a way, a little like you were when we first met."

Jennifer shook her head. "I'm not sure I liked myself then."

The comm alarm beeped for Jon's attention. "Mentor's decrypted some transmissions I need to read through." He stood, then leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss. "For the record, I liked you then." Then, he kissed her firmly on the lips. With a strong whisper, he said, "I like you more now."