(Three)

20 April 2065

The Pentagon

Washington, DC,

USA

1853

The briefing on Brass Ring had lasted the better part of the day. General Becca Green was pretty well impressed with the whole thing. There were still several points that worried her a bit, but the mission team had done its best to minimize the risks. There were a number of innovative solutions, and Green thought that she could see Tyrus McQueen's hand in a few of them. Her suspicions were confirmed when, several times during the briefing, Wierek looked very pointedly at her as if to say: "That's why I wanted him."

"I'm amazed at how Tyrus McQueen can use the patterns of military history and still come up with the unexpected - the unconventional. It is exceptional - a gift, pure and simple," she thought. "But damn it, McQueen should be here - involved in this presentation. His input should be recognized. Tyrus should be allowed to take credit - even if he would never try to do so. This is the arena where he needs practice. This is the place he needs to see and be seen. I want all these officers to get used to him. I want his career moves not to seem pushed or forced, but inevitable."

Speaking of career moves and being seen in the right company, General Green had seen Kylen several times during the day - in the hallways and waiting around on the sidelines. Green had watched Kylen 'minioning' at two of the sessions - handling the briefcases and audiovisuals for Radford and his crew. General Oliver Radford moved through the Pentagon with little fanfare. It was both his nature and his job to remain low key, but he did have four stars. There was no way he could go unnoticed - people knew him by sight. But Radford kept his entourage small - and his staff rotating, so they weren't readily noticed and didn't become too well known. There had been no one here today that Green could remember having seen before, and it would probably be months before she saw any one of them again. Even that Major that had been in charge of Kylen -

"Major Howard," she remembered, rather proudly - had been missing. Becca Green had always felt that, low key or not, Radford took great pleasure in his work, loving the gamesmanship as much as the game itself. Yes, there was a bit of Peter Pan in Ollie Radford. Already years ago, when he was still an 'up and comer,' Becca had termed his disappearing and reappearing team "The Lost Boys."

General Radford had taken a different tack with Kylen, however. He had put her out front in an extremely public forum. " A few weeks ago he wanted her seen and he wanted her known to everyone that matters. He has plans for Kylen. I wonder - all things considered - if I really want to know what they are?"

But General Green noted that Kylen had NOT been at all the sessions. Kylen did know an awful lot, but she didn't know all there was to know - not by a long shot. "Yes, Ollie is going to use her for something."

Tyrus McQueen had assured Becca that Kylen would do well, and apparently she had. And today she had given Green something else to think about. Kylen had almost been TOO invisible. Green doubted that many people today recognized her as the charming young woman who had created a minor sensation a few months ago by dancing the tango with the Commandant and the Finnish Ambassador. "Huh. Well, it seems that Kylen CAN blend in if called upon to do so. I wonder if Radford was testing her today? It would follow: It's his style."

"So, Kylen isn't to be one of The Lost Boys. Closer to Tinkerbelle than Wendy in temperament, but - at least today - not a good match for either of those characters." Today Kylen had reminded General Green of the little shadow that Ollie had stitched to his feet. "Peter Pan's Shadow. My shadow. My very own shadow.'" But McQueen had also told General Green that Kylen was an independent thinker. "I wonder how long before one of 'The Boys' loses her?" If not Peter himself." Green turned to her aide. "Track down Kylen Celina. If I'm still here, I'll bet that she is too."

"Excuse me, General. Ms. Celina, Ma'am?" Green's aide could only picture a young woman in a blue silk gown - not anyone that had been at the Pentagon today.

"Right again," thought Green. "Clever, Ollie, very clever." Kylen had been invisible out in plain sight. "Radford's little blonde aide. Find her for me."

The anonymous little blonde aide was indeed still in the Pentagon. Kylen was essentially done for the day. She just had to pack up some of the presentation materials - the materials she was cleared to see. But Kylen wasn't doing her work. She was sitting alone in the conference room, leaning back with her feet on the chair in front of her. A shocking and distinctly civilian posture. Kylen's attention was focused on the holographic map projected at the far end of the room. It was the Kappa Reticuli. The map was "empty," meaning that there were no indicators of the military units or ships involved in the operation - just the pristine stars and the lustrous planets. There was Kazbek, smack in the middle of it all. There was something about the projection that Kylen found deeply disturbing.

General Green entered the room, and Kylen attempted to scramble to her feet.

"As you were." Green spoke automatically, but she flashed a winning smile. Kylen sat down again - with her feet on the floor. Green stood behind her and placed one hand on Kylen's shoulder - an almost affectionate gesture. The two contemplated the map in silence - almost silence for Kylen occasionally shifted in her chair and sighed heavily. After some time, Green asked: "What bothers you?"

The General was feeling slightly motherly toward Kylen, The Little Shadow. The young woman looked tired and alone. Green expected to hear Kylen say how lonely she felt being in DC. She expected Kylen to say something about her imprisonment, or the mines, or how she had survived, or what she had lost - unresolved personal issues. But General Green was in for a surprise.

Kylen crossed to the map and circled it, sizing it up as one would size up an opponent. She suddenly reached out and stuck her hand into the projection, disrupting part of the image.

"This," she spat accusingly. "This is garbage. It's BS!" The broken image slowly coalesced. Kylen gave it another swat just for good measure, and the nebula's image dissolved again.

The weak link in Operation Brass Ring had always been the Butterfly Nebula. Months earlier, when the Fifty-eighth had been held captive, West had been able to lie successfully to Kylen's clone - or double, or whatever it had been. He had said that the Fleet was coming in through the back door - from behind the nebula. His ruse had worked, and the Chig fleet had moved out to engage an enemy that didn't exist. It had worked because it was plausible and because it was possible. The nebula would present a problem for any force on either side of it. It had certainly worried minds with more military expertise than Kylen's. It gave Becca Green heartburn. It was a blind side as big as all outdoors.

"Colonel McQueen told me that you were very bright," Becca admitted.

"General, you don't have to be bright to see that piece of crap." Kylen, in a fit of pique, again disrupted the offending projection. "That isn't a serpent slithering under the door, General. That is Godzilla banging on it."

Becca Green couldn't have said it better herself. She was openly amused. "Yes, certainly more Tinkerbelle than Wendy is our Little Kylen. Tinks not only had quite a temper, but the ability to anticipate danger that the Wendys of the world would walk right into." "Colonel McQueen also told me that you have a temper," she chuckled.

"Yeah? Well, so does he - and I'll bet this gave the Big Bird fits," Kylen muttered to herself, smacking the nebula one last time.

"Big Bird?" thought Green. Did she just refer to our gifted Tyrus McQueen as Big Bird? Now that's a story that I have got to hear."

"Join me for dinner," Green said, making it just this shy of an order. "Or did The Boys' make plans for you?"

"I'm on five day's leave starting as soon as I get this stuff secured," Kylen said. "I'm going home tomorrow afternoon."

"A reward for a job well done, Kylen," Green said easily, but the information jarred her. "Why is someone with her knowledge being allowed to travel at the start of this operation? It seems dangerous - and certainly a potential security breach Radford is a detail man. He is nothing if not subtle It's sleight of hand. It has to be If Kylen is allowed to travel, then of course nothing can be going on, right? If anyone has been watching her they will think that the operation isn't ready to go. Does Kylen have any idea that she is being used? How she is being used?" ""Well, it's up to you. The invitation is still open."

"Thank you, Ma'am. I think I'd like that. Let me just check in with General Radford. I probably should get his OK before I change any plans."

The young woman's logic was flawless. Green reached for the phone on the table, and dialed a number from memory without comment. " Yes, Miss Celina for General Radford," she said, and then handed Kylen the phone.

End Chapter Three

AlRai M. Wheels