CHAPTER TWO – Close To The Edge

It didn't matter what common sense dictated.

It didn't matter that they knew better.

That jumpship was alive and didn't like it when she had to pretend to be in trouble. She had a style and more than a bit of pride – she had out-flown everything Dread had thrown at them, knocked Soaron out of the sky more than once and moved refugees and survivors to safe locations for years. Pretending to be less than 100% seemed to make her fly less smoothly, less proudly. She seemed… annoyed. The ship had an attitude, and that's all there was to it. Jennifer was the only one who could coax a bit of subterfuge out of her willingly.

"Now don't you worry one bit," they heard Jennifer say to the console from the pilot's seat, "This is just to get us into New Chicago without any trouble. We might have a bad guy there. All I did was loosen those two bolts to redirect the smoke and raise the temperature a little bit. Their sensors will read an overheating engine. I can make fake repairs last a day or two if I need to. Besides, you know we'll need you in top condition to get out of there if we need a very fast escape. If they think you're not in top condition, then that could give us an edge in an escape. Besides, this is just to keep any of the locals from asking too many questions. And there's not another ship anywhere that can do something like this as well as you can, okay?"

The 'annoyed' ship, if it had really been alive, would have appeared to consider Jennifer's words because it suddenly flew… well, proudly.

"How does she do that?" Hawk asked Jon in a low voice. "This ship won't do that for any of us."

"Just be glad the ship does it for her," Jon whispered back.

"You know, given the way Jennifer feels about this ship, you might need to worry," Hawk joked.

Jon smiled. "Yeah, she loves it and she's possessive about it, but she married me. I don't think I have too much to worry about."

~*~*~*~*~

"Chicago Base, this is the Power Team jumpship. Do you read?"

"Affirmative, Power Team jumpship, this is New Chicago Base."

Jennifer keyed the mike. "Request permission to set down and affect repairs."

There was a moment of silence. "Maybe it's time you guys traded up. That ship's got some age on her," there was the slight sound of laughing in the background.

The ship shuddered slightly. Jennifer reached out and patted the console. "Just ignore them," she whispered. Immediately, the ship flew without a single shudder.

"Permission to land on the Dobbinsville south platform granted. Anything we can do to help?"

"Negative. We have the tools we need, but thank you for the offer," Jennifer told him.

Hearing the Chicago Base shut down their communicator, Hawk said, "That was a little too easy, wasn't it?"

"Not anymore," Scout told him. "We're the big heroes right now. We can fly just about anywhere and be allowed to land. As long as they think we're doing repairs on the ship, no one's gonna raise an eyebrow at us. They may want a few autographs…"

"Autographs," Tank scoffed. "We go some place, they treat us like celebrities. We're just soldiers."

"Enjoy it while you can, big guy," Scout told him. "All too soon, we'll just be names in a history book that no one will remember."

Hawk laughed. "And be just regular folk again? That'd be a change. Ever wonder what you'll do with all that time on your hands?"

"Sleep!" was the unanimous answer.

~*~*~*~*~

Mayor Ibold rushed to the platform the moment he heard that Captain Power and his team were there. This would be a huge boon to his new administration and hopefully something more useful to his own survival. It wasn't every day the heroes of the war just happened to stop by.

He hurried through the landing port to the south platform. There, he saw them. He'd never met them in person, but he had seen their likenesses many times since the end of the war. Power, Ellis, Chase, Baker and Masterson. All five were present and accounted for. It was no surprise that they were dressed in simple uniforms. With the war over, who needed armor anymore?

He quickly walked over to the jumpship. "Ah, Captain Power," he extended his hand in greeting. "Mayor Ibold of Dobbinsville. It is an honor to finally meet you."

Power shook the mayor's hand. "You, too, sir. Thank you for letting us land for repairs."

"Tut. Think nothing of it. We're here to help. It's been a very long time since we've had the facilities or the resources to help anyone other than ourselves. It feels good to share in our abundances after such meager times. What can we do for you today?"

Jon shook his head. "Nothing, thank you, Mayor. The ship needs a few simple repairs but we couldn't do them in the air."

"Ah," the mayor felt opportunity tapping on his shoulder. "Then, if you and your team aren't on a tight schedule, I'd like to invite all of you to a feast we're having in Dobbinsville this evening. We can give each of you accommodations for the night."

"Feast?" Tank asked.

The mayor laughed. "Yes. The last few months have given us a great deal to be thankful for. We've got a working communications system, working farms, some new industries – we thought we could use an official night off."

Hawk walked up beside the captain. "We've been working every day for months, Jon. A night off could be just what we need."

The captain then looked at Chase. She said, "The repairs look easy enough. I can do them tomorrow."

The captain glanced over his shoulder. Scout added "I like the idea too."

Tank's comment of "I don't turn down a good meal" made Ibold laugh out loud.

Power turned back to the mayor. "We'd love to come."

"Good, good," the Ibold was ecstatic. "All the mayors of the neighboring towns are invited. So is the provincial governor."

That statement seemed to get his guests' attention. "Excuse me," Chase asked, "but you have a provincial governor? I didn't think any area had progressed to that point yet."

"Yes. Major Jason Rogers. He's in charge of the New Chicago prison. He has been a great help coordinating resources for all the towns and getting us the raw materials we need to rebuild. He has been a very effective liaison between the new governments and us. He'll be at the feast as well. Like Lieutenant Ellis, he doesn't turn down a good meal either."

"That's understandable," Captain Power replied. "You miss a lot of meals with jobs like ours. I'm sure he's working long hours like the rest of us."

"Interminably long," Ibold explained as he led the way away from the platform. "I once asked him if he ever slept. Know what his answer was? Sleep is overrated."

"We know that feeling," Hawk told him. "How long has he been the governor?"

"The last few months. It cut down on a lot of red tape and bureaucracy when he got the job. You know, dinner isn't until tonight. Why not pay a visit to the governor? I'm sure he'd be glad to meet you."

Power considered the idea. "We won't be bothering him or interfering with his work?"

Again, Ibold laughed. "Sir, you're Captain Power. You and your team are heroes. I'm sure he'd love to meet you."

~*~*~*~*~

The mayor offered to provide them with transportation, but the team opted to walk to the prison. It was a beautiful day and the prison was an easy distance away.

"I don't like this, Jon," Matt said.

"We came here to do recon on this guy. We were worried about how to get to him without raising any suspicion, and we're being told to go right up to his door and knock," Jon explained.

Tank shook his head. "Too easy."

Hawk kept on. "You did hear what Ibold said? Rogers has helped them out with the new governments? Rogers is military."

"I heard. A military warden is answerable to Command. We'll have to find out how he's connected to the Council as well."

"Are we being paranoid?" Scout asked them.

Jennifer shrugged. "Not if there's something here to be paranoid about."

"Just keep your eyes and ears open. Let's see what we can find out," Jon ordered.

~*~*~*~*~

Corporal Peterson walked quickly into the office. "Major, Captain Power and his team have arrived."

More diplomatic duties. At least it was with another resistance group. "Finally. It took them a while to get here from the south platform."

"They walked here, sir."

"They walked?" Rogers asked. Seeing the corporal nod his head, he said, "They walked. Unbelievable. Show them in." Best to get it over with.

Peterson moved back to the door and motioned for the team to enter. Rogers had never met the Power Team, but he had seen them in battle once. They were an impressive group, attacking from air and sky simultaneously in total concert with each other. What he saw walk through the door wasn't quite what he expected. Sans armor, they looked like regular folk.

It was Power who undoubtedly entered first. He had the bearing of command -- that much was obvious. The rest of the team was the surprise.

"Major Rogers," Captain Power saluted him.

"Captain Power," Major Rogers returned the salute, his eyes glancing at all five of them. He didn't correct the captain on not calling him 'governor.' It might be a better idea to not push the indelicacies until he knew more about why the team was there and what they wanted. "I'm honored."

"The honor's ours," Power told him. "It's not often we get to meet a fellow soldier with your record."

Ah. Diplomacy. Rogers could do that. Power was speaking with him as a fellow soldier, not as a visitor and a governor. "Thank you. I must say that your reputation precedes you as well, Captain."

"A good one, I hope."

Rogers almost laughed. "The team that attacked Volcania several times and defeated Lord Dread himself? I'd say that is good indeed. May I ask as to the reason for your visit today?"

"Completely accidental. We were flying back to the West Coast when we experienced engine trouble and had to set down. The Mayor of Dobbinsville invited us to a feast they're having tonight, and that was when we were told you've taken the job as the provincial governor of the area. The mayor thought it would be a good idea for us to initiate introductions."

Protocols – everyone was learning them, Rogers as well. He took another quick glance at the Power Team. The older man had a military bearing. Probably in a unit before the war. The second man, tall and muscular, was a warrior rather than a soldier. Perhaps bred to the job? The third man seemed as if he were trying not to smile. A bit of a joker perhaps? Then there was the woman. The eyes, the hair… if Rogers didn't know better, he would have thought she was a Dread Youth soldier, but that was impossible. She was in the Resistance, and no Dread Youth had ever broken the training.

"Indeed, so the protocols go. I've been invited to the feast myself. I have no doubt I'll meet you there again. And your team?"

Again, protocol dictated form. Power introduced the others by rank, not gender. "Major Matt Masterson, Lieutenant Michael Ellis, Sergeant Robert Baker and Corporal Jennifer Chase."

Jennifer Chase? That name sounded surprisingly familiar.

He nodded his head in greeting. "Welcome to New Chicago. If there is anything you need while you're here, I'm certain that we can accommodate you."

Power stepped back, the others did as well. They were preparing to leave. "A good meal and a night of company other than our own is a vacation for us."

Rogers nodded his head and saluted. "That, I understand all too well."

~*~*~*~*~

Once alone, Rogers entered the name Jennifer Chase into the database. Within moments, he received a response.

Jennifer Chase, taken by Dread Youth forces at age 3 in first harvesting of children for Dread Youth training.
Ranked first in every class in Dread Youth studies.
Youngest person promoted to Youth Leader.
Scheduled to be promoted to Overunit after Sand Town cleansing.
Declared killed in action one week later during cleansing of Two Ridges in Sector 3.
Reported to be a member of Power's team six months later…

A Dread Youth in the Resistance? How was that possible? No Dread Youth had ever defected. None had ever broken the training. It wasn't possible.

Reported to have self-destructed the Power Base when attacked by biomechs, destroying Blastarr and sacrificing her own life.

That report moved her name from the living Dread Youth database to the dead Dread Youth database. Some clerk hadn't thought to alert anyone reading the file that a Dread soldier had been in the Resistance?

Determined at a later date that she was digitized, reintegrated and held prisoner in Volcania until rescued by the Power Team.

Then, there was an addendum that had been added just weeks prior to his taking command of the Chicago prison. With all the rebuilding, was it any wonder the paperwork backed up?

Led Resistance forces on the raid of the southern gate of Volcania during final attack.
Is reported to have destroyed Volcania's security system and cannon array to allow other Resistance forces to attack the fortress from the air.

So that was what happened. There had been rumors about that battle, but each was more fantastic than the one before. That did not change the fact that she was a Dread Youth. Rogers went back over the file. Sand Town? He had the computer search every reference about that raid.

If the information was there in front of him, then someone on the Committee had to know that Jennifer Chase was former Dread Youth. Why had no alarm been sounded? Why had she not been arrested or detained? Why had she not surrendered per orders? Why hadn't the Committee done anything?

Rogers hated politics.

~*~*~*~

Oh, it was a feast, all right.

Food of all sorts, some almost forgotten because of their non-existence during the war, was placed on all the tables. Root vegetables, fruits, fresh meats… it was a culinary delight that few had seen in years! The hydroponic scientists must have worked overtime to get genetically altered foods to grow in the near-dead soil to produce such a quantity.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Mayor Ibold tapped his fork on the side of his metal cup to get everyone's attention. Once, years ago, a speaker would tap a wine glass gently with a fork to indicate a speech was about to be made, but there were no such luxury items like wine glasses. Yet. "On behalf of myself, Mayor Tompkins of Landisburg, Mayor Redding of Dunstan, Mayor Turnbull of Bandings and Mayor Benson of Worley, I wish to welcome all of you to tonight's celebration." He waited as the guests clapped their hands in response. "I'm going to make this speech very short –" That brought another round of applause, much more enthusiastic than the first. "I thought that would make you happy," Ibold said.

He looked out at the assembly. There were old friends, new friends, family and guests. He smiled. "Eight months ago, Captain Power," he pointed toward the captain sitting at the end of the table, "and his team," he indicated other areas of the room where the team was scattered, "infiltrated Volcania and with the help of other Resistance forces, destroyed the fortress, Overmind and Lord Dread, effectively ending hostilities if not the war itself. For the last eight months, we have tried to re-establish ourselves as… well, as civilized human beings. Surviving has been a difficult road for many of us over these years; we have all lost a great deal to the Machine. Yet today, we sit here, alive, well, our plates about to filled with food." There was a slight ripple of laughter. "Tonight's gathering is one of thanksgiving and rest. For so long, we've worked and fought, and tonight, not only do we celebrate all the hard work we've done, we are also here to celebrate the fact that we now have lines of communication established between all major towns and cities within 1000 kilometers!" There was a great round of applause to that news. "It's also meant to give us a night off from all the work we've been doing, and frankly, given all the work we've been doing, I think we deserve a night off!" There were cheers; glasses raised in agreement, good-natured laughter as the mayor said one final thing. "And on that note, ladies and gentlemen, I say let's eat!"

"Have to love short speeches," the man to Jon's right said as he reached over for some bread. "Mayor Ibold's famous for them."

Small talk. Okay, Jon could do that. And bread? Who was growing wheat? "I guess he doesn't like to mince words."

"No, sir. That he doesn't. I've got to say, Captain, we were all a little surprised when you accepted the invitation to come. Glad, but, uh, surprised."

Surprised? "Why?" he asked.

The man looked genuinely confused, then he cleared his throat. "Uh, maybe you should forget I said anything."

"But –"

"Look, Captain, I don't want to get into any trouble, but, see that man sitting at the other end of the table? The one who looks like he'd rather be cleaning out a pig pen rather than sitting here?"

Jon casually glanced at the other end of the long table. There sat Rogers, his gaze firmly set on Jennifer who was sitting across the banquet hall talking to their friend Angela, a technician visiting from the Passages. The gaze looked almost murderous, and that put Jon's over-protective instincts on alert. What had happened since they met earlier that day? "Major Rogers?"

"Yeah. You do know that he's head of the New Chicago prison, right? The one where overunits and youth leaders are incarcerated? Word is that he's a bit of a fanatic."

The woman on the left of Jon who had heard the entire exchange quietly whispered, "He rages against anything to do with Dread and wants it all destroyed. He's taking a rather personal interest in seeing that it is."

Jon's over-protective instincts went up another notch. "Most of everything Dread tried to do is being destroyed. His fortresses, his computers, his laboratories are now in the hands of the Resistance –"

"That's not the point, Captain," the man told him. "Notice what he's doing?"

"He's staring at a member of my team," Jon answered. Not everyone knew that he and Jennifer were married, so there was no reason to give anyone any added information.

"There are lots of stories about all of you, Captain," the woman told him. "One is that she used to be a youth leader."

Since when was that a secret? "She left the Dread Youth as soon as she found out what they were," Jon protested. No way was anyone going to accuse Jennifer of something wrong.

"Doesn't matter to him. He looks over at her and sees a former youth leader, not one of the leaders of the Resistance. He and the mayor got into a huge argument before the feast. He was pretty vocal against any of you coming, especially her, but he was outvoted by the other mayors. It's the first time I've ever seen them stand up to him like that on anything."

Given what Elzer had told them, what they suspected, and now what these two said, Jon was more than ready to fight. The last thing Jon wanted to do was start an incident at a celebration though. He needed more information. They needed to find out exactly what was happening to the prisoners. He glanced over at his wife again. Jennifer was sitting in profile listening to whatever Angela was telling her, but he saw her surreptitiously glance at Rogers. She was aware she was being scrutinized. She glanced back at Jon, and he gave her the signal that he was aware of the situation. Hawk was sitting almost across from him, trading a few war stories with a few of the other older partygoers. Hawk realized he was being watched, took a quick look toward Jon who casually indicated Rogers. The message was received.

Hawk leaned back toward Scout who was telling jokes. A casual move of a hand and an almost undetectable motion of a finger, and Scout got the message loud and clear as well. In a nearly covert move, Scout sent the message on to Tank with a mere nod of a head during a rather animated telling of a joke.

The Power Team was on alert within seconds of Jon being warned of Rogers.

"As long as he behaves himself and keeps his distance from Jennifer, I don't think we'll have a problem," Jon said to himself in a very low voice.