Chapter 68
Monty and Harper took several days to pull up every mention of weapons from the databases they had found. Monty checked for the weapons in clan territories and Harper checked for bases outside of them which had missiles. They knew that they couldn't really do anything about the ones outside clan grounds, but they marked them anyway. They found two places that had missiles in clan grounds, one in what was Missouri - somewhere in the Ozarks, and one down in Florida. They downloaded everything to a tablet and then closed everything down before going back to Lake Town.
Back in the village, they went straight to Adara and handed over the tablet and discussed with her what they had found. Adara thanked them and called a meeting with her hundred cabinet.
"Monty and Harper have pulled up two locations within clan lands that may contain missiles. I'll be going to Polis to talk to the Commander about finding and disarming them. Monty, I want you to go with me along with Octavia." Monty nodded, as did Octavia. "I want these things disarmed as soon as possible. I have no intention of letting ALIE get her hands on them. Harper has also located three other bases outside clan lands that show where missiles were before the war. We have no way of knowing if those missiles have been used in the war, or are still there. I'll ask the Commander about those too, she may be friendly with others outside her lands and can help there."
"Do you need to go there?" asked Atom.
"I hope not, only the Commander knows if it's possible to get friendly help with those. The ones inside her lands will need to be physically deactivated or at least damaged enough not to be usable." There were nods all around. "Raven, I'm leaving you in charge with Murphy as your backup. I can't leave Kane in charge until he's proven to me that he knows how I want the village run." Raven and Murphy nodded.
"Atom, can you bring your team along too? I want people there that I trust to behave themselves and I don't trust the Arkers yet. They have been working hard, but I have the feeling that they haven't accepted that this is their life now."
"No problem," said Atom. "You want us armed?"
"Yes. I want you to act as my warriors and maybe bodyguards if I need them. I'm still not sure how leaders are supposed to act in Polis."
"Do I have Harper back?"
"Yes. She has said she would rather be exploring above ground than stuck below ground in a bunker." Atom grinned. He had his best scout back. Harper wasn't just a natural with a bow, but she had a knack of looking at the terrain and seeing where tracks and paths were easiest to traverse. She seemed to have absorbed all the books on the flora and fauna of the eastern US quickly and anytime she didn't recognise something, she could describe it to Trikru people and they would tell her what it was. Often it was a mutated offspring of escaped zoo animals. They were warned about a huge creature called a Pauna that Harper had recognised as a gigantic gorilla. That was one animal they would keep well away from.
"Any other questions?" asked Adara, looking around. Each person shook their heads. "Okay. We'll leave tomorrow and head to Tondc first and then go on to Polis. Octavia, you and Lincoln can tell me what I need to do or say while in Polis and you can tell me about how the city is run." Octavia nodded. "Good. Meeting over." They all got up and left. Adara went up to her quarters and locked the tablet into one of the strongboxes Murphy had found and brought for her to use. She then placed the box into the secret compartment that had been built into her quarters while it was being built. Only those of the hundred that had worked on her quarters knew it was there and they knew they would not let anyone know where it was. Adara flopped down on the bed and wished she could just sleep the rest of the day, but she knew she had to get back to work. Once the harvest was in, she would make sure that people had at least one day off a week during the winter when there was less to do, and try to make sure people got at least two days off a month in the spring and summer when they were the busiest. Well, better get back to work, though Adara, levering herself up and leaving her quarters, heading to the new storerooms to see the progress.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Two days later, they trudged into Tondc early in the afternoon. They were greeted by Anya and Indra.
"Welcome back to Tondc," said Anya.
"Thank you. We'll be on our way to Polis before nightfall. We need to talk," she said, looking at both Anya and Indra. Anya nodded and led the way to her tent. Anya, Indra, Adara, Monty and Octavia entered while Atom's team stayed outside.
"What is it?" asked Indra, impatient to know.
"Monty has located two places within clan lands where there MAY be missiles. We're going to Polis to talk to the Commander about this. We need her permission and her influence on the other leaders to get their cooperation to enter their lands and locate and destroy those missiles and any other weapons we come across. We are trying to keep any missiles out of ALIE's hands. If she can't get one, she can't use one to destroy the world again. She can still send out people to chip us, but the end of the world will not happen." Indra shot to her feet.
"She must be stopped! I almost died at the hands of my friend!"
"Indra! Sit down!" ordered Anya. Indra was breathing hard and she slowly calmed and sat down.
"We know, Indra. We want to stop all that," said Adara.
"Master, we have the knowledge of what she did and we can anticipate her moves. She will be severely slowed by us destroying any missiles she could get her hands on," said Octavia. Indra looked around the hundred and saw all three nodding their heads.
"We will be talking to the Commander about that as well. We are trying to think of anything that will stop her. Several of us have written down what we know about her and what we did. We've noticed that she didn't do much until Jaha came down in the missile - the same missile she used to destroy the world. Jaha didn't come down in it this time."
"Can she use it from the Ark?" asked Anya. Adara looked at Monty.
"Can she?" Adara asked. Monty thought about it before he shook his head.
"I don't know. She would have to get the security and override codes from one of the few people on the Ark who knew them. She would have to be able to remotely control the missiles, but if she did get the codes and remote access to them, she could use them."
"Could we do the same? Take control of them from the bunker and then shoot them into space?" asked Octavia.
"Again, I don't know. I'd have to check it out."
"How long would that take, Monty?" asked Adara.
"Not sure. I could take a quick look before we go to Polis, but it may take me longer to be sure we can get remote access." Adara looked thoughtful.
"We'll go there before Polis," declared Adara.
"Good," said Anya. "Time to eat. Join us and then you can go to the bunker." Adara nodded and they left the tent to go find food.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Three days later, they made it to Polis. They disarmed themselves and entered the gates upon stating who they were. A warrior guided them to the Tower and the Commander. Gustus was on duty outside the doors leading to the throne room and got permission for them to enter. The Commander rose as they entered.
"Welcome to Polis, Heda Adara," Commander Lexa said. Adara and her team bowed in respect to her.
"Thank you, Commander."
"Heda Adara," Clarke said, with a bow to her leader. Adara suppressed a chuckle and returned the bow.
"Ambassador Clarke," Adara said.
"What brings you here?" asked the Commander, sitting back down. Adara looked around at the three other ambassadors in the room.
"A private matter, Commander. I'll wait until you've finished this meeting, Heda."
"Very well," said the Commander. "Saben," she called. "Show our guests to the waiting area." Saben bowed and gestured for them to follow him.
"This way, Heda Adara." Adara nodded and they left to wait upon a summons from the Commander.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
A short time later, they were called back to the throne room.
"Now, why have you come here instead of using the field radio?" the Commander questioned.
"We have been discussing the matter of ALIE and the missiles. Monty and Harper have been checking the bunker's databases for any mention of weapons. They have found two other places in clan lands which MAY have missiles. We don't know if they were used in the war or not. We would like your permission and the permission of the leaders on whose lands they are to go there and make sure that cannot be used by anyone. Monty needs to see if he can sabotage the computer programming and to physically cut wires or whatever he needs to do to disable them."
"Where are they?" demanded the Commander.
"One's in the old state of Missouri and one is in the old state of Florida," Adara said and took the tablet out of her backpack to show her the precise locations. "What I want to do is give Monty some people and he'll go and find them and disable them."
"You want to give me a team?" asked Monty, surprised.
"Well, you're the one who knows how to do this stuff, you should be in charge of destroying them. You up for this?"
"You bet," grinned Monty. "I'll make sure those things are never used again!"
"Good. Now on another matter, Commander. They've also found three missile bases outside of your lands. Do you know who controls those lands to the west of yours?"
"There are three warlords who control all the lands along our borders. They also know not to cross into our lands unless they are on a trading mission and are unarmed. We have the same deal with them."
"Warlords? Are they at least friendly with your clans?"
"Two are. The third is more like Azgeda than Trikru."
"Kill first, ask questions later?" asked Adara, facetiously. The commander smirked at the apt description.
"Yes."
"Well, let's hope that warlord's territory is not one we need to contact."
"Yeah," said Octavia. "We don't need them finding those missiles and using them against other territories - especially us!"
"Show me where the other missile sites are and I'll see who I need to contact - or if I need to contact anyone," said the Commander.
Adara showed her the sites and the Commander nodded her head.
"This one," said the Commander, pointing to the nearest one, "is in friendly territory, but they are worried about the territories on the other side. As far as I can remember, those far territories are raiders. Lawless bands who capture females for breeding. We have killed several of them that crossed into our lands. Any women with them that are captives are set free and they usually stay and become one of us."
"What about the others?"
"I do not know those territories, but I have heard that this far one is used. I think they may be like the mountain men and live inside the bunker. I do not think they steal people to use their blood, though. I think they hunt the grounds without suits, but they may have your technology."
"That's that base that tried to contact the white house bunker," Monty piped up.
"Well, I think we should leave that one alone," said Adara, rubbing her chin. "Do you think this near base would be easily reached if that warlord gave permission?" The Commander walked to the door.
"Gustus, have someone bring me the maps of our western clans and the lands beyond them."
"Sha, Heda," Gustus replied.
Adara snorted in laughter.
"What's funny?" asked Clarke.
"Gustus. His name is a shortened version of Augustus. Caesar Augustus had a sister called Octavia. Hey, O, seems you have another brother!" Octavia looked like thunder at Adara.
"Hell, O, now you look like Indra," said Clarke, also laughing. Octavia spun to the Commander.
"Permission to kill those two," she said, pointing her thumb over her shoulder at Adara and Clarke who were now bent double with laughter.
"That would not be a good idea. One of them is ai hodness and the other is my friend." Octavia fumed and muttered under her breath about them sleeping with one eye open.
Gustus came back with two charts. They spread them out on a table and noticed that they joined up. Putting them together, Adara saw that the territories of the warlords ran the length of the country from the Canadian border to the mouth of the Mississippi.
The Commander bent over the map with Monty as they discussed the location of the base.
"I don't think it's possible, Commander. This terrain is too rocky but it's showing as the correct area. It may have been targeted by the missiles during the war and was buried under tons of rocks." Monty was pointing to the area south of the Canadian border and almost to the other side of the territory near Wyoming.
"I agree," said the Commander. "I think it would be better not to let them know about it. We should not tell anyone about these possible sites."
"I agree," said Clarke. If she sends people north of Azgeda and on across the tops, she could chip people over there and then come back for us."
"Don't like that thought," said Octavia, wrinkling her nose.
"Me neither," said Adara. "Okay. We say nothing. We keep this between ourselves."
"Agreed," said the Commander.
"Yep."
"Uh-huh"
"Good idea."
"Now that's agreed, what do we do now?" asked Adara.
"Monty disables those missiles within my clans."
"Okay. Monty, when we get back, you pick your team. I only want you to choose the hundred for this." Monty nodded.
"If that's all sorted, how about a meal?" asked Clarke.
"That would be great. Atom's team is outside. We may need to go to the training grounds and drag them away from there. Atom was saying that Harper and Roma were looking to get some advice on their bows or something. He wasn't sure about that," said Adara.
"That will be fine. May we show you around?" asked the Commander.
"We would be honoured, Commander. Thank you." With that, they left the tower for a tour before having a meal.