~Ten human miles... ((image of a flying vehicle of indeterminate origin moving forward))~ Amara called to the CH-53 pilot and copilot ~I see a small number of improvised combat vehicles at the site of interest... two of which are larger trucks. They look to have large fixed weapons, there are no armed personnel on board... but I do not know if those weapons will hinder your objective of retrieving the General~
~((muddled image of a telescope pointing at a truck))~ came to Amara from the pilot ~See - truck/guns/people ((wary interest))~
Amara, once she had taken the time to clear up the pilot's muddled thoughts, showed both him and the copilot a few momens of video - she also saw his attention focus on the back of the two trucks, and felt the sense of danger he projected as well.
~Those weapons are dangerous to your flying vehicle?~ Amara asked.
~((image of truck-mounted automatic weapons firing on helicopters, muddled with static))~ the pilot replied, the helicopter wobbling briefly before he brought it under control again.
~Your pilot thinks the vehicle-mounted weapons are dangerous to his vehicle~ Amara told Garakk and Alphak ~I do not know what their lethal range would be. His response, unclear though it was, suggests he will need to land some distance away and you will need to continue on foot~
~((image of Alphak and Garakk running across desert ground, blurred image of human-sized soldiers fading into the distance behind them))~ Alphak replied, before he focussed his thoughts more clearly (though not without a lot of effort, Amara noticed) and added ~Garakk and I will do it. We have run greater distances than that before - and we were carrying heavy cargo at those times, too. Even if we have to carry the General out, we can still run the entire distance between our current location and the target location without stopping and at speed~
~((approval, satisfaction))~ Amara replied, after which she linked in the Red Hand's captain, who added ~Good! Your airborne vehicle should land well out of lethal range of those mobile guns - proceed the rest of the way on foot! Special support will guide you to the General, and you will retrieve him using any means necessary~
"People talkin' in my head like that's makin' it go 'round in circles" the CH-53's pilot moaned, before shaking his head a bit and adding "There's two trucks... that we can see, anyway... with big AA guns on, you two. Can't really get you much closer than this before they can see us".
"Get us as close as you can before we're seen" Garakk replied "Alphak and I can easily run the whole way without stopping even if you land here! Once we're off this vehicle, find a good spot to hide and wait for us".
"Sounds good to me" the pilot replied, wondering how much of what Garakk said was true and how much was proud boasting "Not a lot of terrain to mask our presence... but unless those trucks come outside the village we're good".
Garakk grinned back at him, then rumbled a bit before saying "Let's do this...".
Feltano nodded when his father, General Lazarus, and Harrigan came to debrief him - and he told them every last tiny detail about how the supply mission he was on was attacked as well as every detail he remembered about the people who took part.
"Mercs?" Harrigan asked "Even if they aren't at our level?".
"The usually call them 'contractors' on Earth, Harrigan..." Lazarus reminded him "But yeah, I doubt they got real soldiers seconded from any service for this one".
"You think this was done under orders of a government official?" Trannak asked "Furthermore, you believe that trained private individuals were used to muddle the link between this operation and the one who gave the orders?"
"Yeah, I do" Lazarus replied "Pretty sure it's our old pal Beasely - but we can't take this to the President without more evidence than my gut instinct".
"On top of that, we still don't know if a date's been set for that UN address" Harrigan added "Someone find Jack and ask him. Hopefully it's fairly soon, so we can get it out of the way and get back to other things".
When Anton regained consciousness, he soon decided he'd been moved to another vehicle - and he was inside a bag of some kind.
My head still aches he decided next It feels like I'll have a big bruise there until my change heals it. Once I feel better again I'll find out who did that and kick seven shades of plok out of them.
After a very uncomfortable arn or two, the vehicle came to a halt and Anton felt his bag get lifted up and carried somewhere.
I'm inside a building he decided I can't tell a lot about the outside from here, but it feels cooler - which suggests a climate-controlled building. While I could break out of this bag and kill everyone before escaping... General Trannak would most likely request I examine whatever facility I'm in and interrogate people for useful information about who gave the orders that brought me here.
"I have just been told, Mrs Franklin..." Altur announced "that our forces have just been dropped off a short way from your husband's location. Others aboard our ship will guide them to his location, after which they will free him and bring him back to safety. Once any medical care he needs has been provided, he will be brought back here".
Mrs Franklin smiled briefly and thanked Altur for the regular updates she had been given.
"I stilll fear for his safety" she told him "but hearing how your soldiers are coming closer to getting him back gives me hope".
Altur nodded and smiled, after which he opened a can of hot rations and began to eat.
It was pitch-black when Garakk and Alphak reached the village where Altur's divinatory mentalism said General Franklin was being held.
~Can't find him ((frustration))~ Garakk told Amara very early the following morning, the sky barely beginning to brighten.
Amara scanned the village again, then nodded and told Garakk ~I believe the major part of the enemy facilities here are below ground, Garakk. I have found... two, I believe... two possible entry points close to your current position~ before showing target markers in his vision and Alphak's where Amara thought good entry points were.
Alphak nodded when his brother explained about the entry points, then made a few hand signals showing what he thought would be a good approach to his preferred one. Garakk grinned and nodded, so Alphak immediately headed off on the route he'd suggested - and less than two momens later cloaked himself without warning. Garakk did the same, though he did wonder what his brother had found - but soon heard and then saw three improvised combat vehicles go past at high speed.
~Now!~ Alphak signalled, so the two of them ran across the street and down around a number of buildings until Alphak raised his hand to call a halt.
~Correct ((approval))~ Talannah called through the link via Amara ~As far as I can tell, somewhere in that building across the street from where you are is a good prospect for an entryway into hidden facilities below ground level~
~((memories of Harek telling them about the tunnels on Tal IV))~ Garakk replied.
~I doubt they'll be that well constructed~ Talannah replied ~and they'll be made to human scale, too - so you won't have as much room to move as you'd like~
~((image of a human patrol going past, with Garakk and Alphak joining it un-noticed))~ Alphak replied, a little too proud of himself - Talannah warned him about that, but approved of his idea to stay on a low-impact mission profile.
Garakk had to silence two fighters before they found that a vehicle in the centre of the workshop was in fact on a lifting platform. Both of them liked this method of entry but neither of them wanted to stay on it for long, so they got off at the first possible opportunity.
By now the news of the rescue mission had spread around the airbase, with people not at combat positions regularly dropping in to see if anything new had happened.
"Goin' good" Troll told a large group of soldiers "Just got a call, our guys found there's a big hidey-hole under that village we found earlier. They snuck in now, killed two guards on the way, and are just having a look around to see what's there".
"Hope the General's there..." one said, which all the rest voiced agreement with.
"Special support's good at finding people" Troll promised them "If they say he's there, he's there. We just gotta wait for them to guide our guys in".
"Well, it didn't go entirely as planned..." Beasely murmured into his phone, trying not to be heard by his wife "but you got one. I'll get my car and head your way... it'll take a while, can't use a chopper to go there, there's no spot to set down. You boys get your bonus once I see what we have".
"Hearin' ya, man" another contractor replied "Not all your guys got here yet, we bin told there's a couple more inbound - but this place is good to go when they get 'ere".
"Work, work, work..." Beasely called to his wife on the way to his car "Just got called in, some kinda no-notice classified crap again". She just nodded - Beasely's wife was well aware he still had connections in more than one intelligence agency - before getting back to reading.
"Good" President Diesel said once Jack had passed the news on "The fact that there's a hidden supply dump under the villlage is, on its own, something I hadn't been told before. Get the soldiers to call here if they find weapons or other supplies, SecDef can pass it on to CENTCOM for action".
"Just call if you want us to do that for you, Mr President" Harrigan called when he was told "We got a scale of fees for all sorts of stuff, I'm sure we can work something out - for now we're doing you a favour since we like the General".
President Diesel groaned and shook his head when the conversation turned to money, but the Secretary of State said "It may be inconvenient, Mr President... but it'd likely be at least a bit cheaper than authorising a full-scale military deployment, even if the forces we need are already over there".
"Unless anyone has any better ideas..." Harrigan asked his Generals "I'm gonna drop a few people, just a few, to keep an eye on things around them - and be ready once we get Anton junior out of his present predicament".
"TV opinion polls seem to be becoming more positive" Lazarus replied "now that people have seen we pay for our stuff and we're nice to people. Looks like a few states who didn't get in on the first round of flights have asked if we can send some of the money their way, too".
Harrigan grinned, nodding before he said "We can do that, sure. As for people dropped for green jobs... we just need people who can keep cool and got a good eye for things going on. Doesn't have to be General T's skulkers".
Deciding who would drop alongside the supply landings to observe and assist special-ops took longer than anyone had counted on, but eventually several of the best English-speakers among all species were selected.
Harek was on the hammond flight deck when several more assault landers were being prepared for a supply mission - and realised he'd left his revolver in the locker in his quarters!
"Plok!" he snapped, growling - one of the pilots heard, sending their copilot over.
"I haven't seen those before" he said when Harek described his revolver "But we do have heavy slugpistols as well as service pulse pistols - you'd better get properly equipped before launch authorisation is given, mister!"
"Mister Harek!" the Kalish on armoury duty called in surprise when he saw him "You are needing small arms? It is commonly known that you keep and maintain some of that human Troll's experimental prototypes for your personal weapons! Why are you here?"
"They're in quarters..." Harek explained, shrugging a little guiltily "...up near the bridge! Even at awesome changed speed I can't run quick enough to go there, get my stuff, and get back here in time".
"Come, come..." he was encouraged "I do not know if you are authorised to take rifles or other weapons with you... but I hear this change you have can help you do so many things, perhaps you will not need other weapons at all...".
"One slugpistol..." Harek decided, grinning a bit "...one pulse pistol. Can't take combat knives or shortswords, I keep breaking them no matter how hard I try not to".
"We are authorised to issue the thicker and broader pattern blades to heavily-changed personnel" the Kalish replied, getting another grin from Harek "The archives show General Tareg as being the first to have these. He is listed in the archives as being a stonewalker...I have never seen a Scarran of that type before...".
"Get me those swords..." Harek decided "yes, two of them... and I'll have a quick word with the General later. Just send a note to my PDA so I don't forget".
Drop time had to be postponed four momens while Harek's boots were adjusted to hold the new swords, and five more while Sturk briefed him on another matter, but eventually the landers took off - with Harek singing for the whole flight down to the surface.
Beasely reached the black site where Anton was being held about an hour behind schedule, which pleased him even less than his contractors, but it did mean he was admitted along with the doctor and two medical research assistants he'd called for.
"Anything to report?" he asked the first contractor he saw.
"Naw, not a thing" the man replied "Dude's been pokin' around in his cell... doin' a bit of PT... and he's done somethin' that disabled two of the cameras coverin' his cell. Audio works...in theory... but we can't get a signal clear enough to understand even one word in ten".
Beasely groaned before saying "You did, I hope, put anything he had with him in secure storage? We will need to examine his equipment in detail at a later date".
"We taken care of that, yeah" the contractor replied "Dude's got hands big as saucers - none of us have hands big enough to hold his fuckin' gun properly 'cept Westmore, an' even he can barely manage! None of us dared touch that thing he had strapped to his wrist, don't want it blowin' us to bits if we press the wrong buttons".
Once Beasely and the others had made it as far as the interrogation room, he saw one contractor sitting at a table, eating - and clearly badly injured.
From what little I was told Beasely decided he's the only one left of the team that brought the prisoner in. He clearly doesn't like me very much, but as long as he does what he's paid to do I don't much care about that.
No one offered to take Beasely to the door of Anton's cell to see him for himself, a precaution which Beasely understood even if he didn't like it.
No point in giving our prisoner enough information to decide it's worth risking an escape attempt Beasely knew Even if he gets past all the contractors, the less they know about who authorised their capture, the better.
"Show him" the contractors' CO ordered when he came forward "He's payin' the fee, he gets to see what we got. Just the monitors... assuming there's still one that works".
"The prisoner disabled the surveillance in their cell?" Beasely asked in surprise.
"Most of it, still don't know how" the man replied, grumbling "Can't bring up two of the cameras in there... guy on night watch said audio's complete dogshit in there. We took all his gear off him, he can't do stuff with tools he hasn't got... but for some reason or other, all we can do is put guys walking past his cell to make sure he hasn't tried some weird alien trick an' walked through the damn wall or some shit like that".
I'll have to authorise an expedited examination and dissection, then Beasely decided If site twenty keeps experiencing this level of equipment failure, it won't be long before the prisoner can just walk out of the front door - and for an operation this sensitive I can't use a more secure site outside the US, either!
~Anton?! ((surprise))~ Amara called when she detected the change in his deadlock field that showed he was conscious.
~((anger, mental images of Anton laying demolition charges and blowing up a generic building))~ Anton replied, once he lowered his deadlock field and focussed properly.
~((happiness))~ Amara replied, then linked Lazarus into the call.
~Son? ((hope, mild fear, desire for vengeance on Anton's captors))~ Lazarus asked.
~Father! ((happiness))~ Anton called happily ~The supply landings go well? Most of the humans here are not like the crusty fekkiks who put me here?~
~A bunch tried going for your buddy Feltano~ Lazarus told his son ~He nullified every last one of them, mister. No one else reported any attacks. Not everyone seems to like non-humans among them, but even they don't care much once they realise we have cash and are willing to share~
Lazarus questioned his son in detail and at length about the facility he was being held in - he laughed when he heard about Anton using his electrical projection to short the surveillance gear in his cell, but warned him about other things and suggested he do his best to escape as soon as possible.
~Noted~ Anton replied ~Sound insulation here is good but not perfect... there are soldiers here and there are a small number of other personnel~
~Get out of there, son ((insistence))~ Lazarus replied.
~((agreement))~ Anton replied ~I will escape from this cell, I will retrieve all my equipment, and I will nullify all who oppose me. If I find explosives, I will use them to demolish this facility~
Anton smiled when he was told others had been dropped with the supply expeditions with the sole purpose of retrieving him.
~There are still two cameras, father~ Anton said ~and a small number of barely-functional audio monitors. I will destroy these tonight. I remember you teaching me that standard humans like those here are at their least effective in the night arns~
~They may be slower... ((caution))~ Lazarus warned his son ~and more susceptible to fatigue... but don't think for so much as a half-microt that they won't put two and two together and fight. Your auntie Jane's a standard human, son - you don't think she's incompetent, do you?!~
~No, father~ Anton replied ~Auntie Jane has helped teach me a number of useful and interesting things, father, both with uncle Lirak and on her own~
News of Harek's drop, and those of the few other special personnel, was only forwarded to the White House after their landers had left the Havoc's hammond side flight deck, so by the time the news reached senior staff where Harek was going his lander was barely ten minutes from arrival.
"One of these ...visitors... is apparently coming here to WVU" Vice-President Weese told two other men "I was not given an official reason for his arrival by the White House... but from what little I was told, they treat Americans well, so the possibility of hostility, from our visitor at least, is low to nil. So the White House spokesperson assures me".
"Why am I and Captain Chedester here?" another man, dressed in a police uniform, asked.
"The visitor coming here has law enforcement skills and rank" Vice-President Weese replied "in addition to military skills... though I was not told the fine detail of what these actually are".
"So the idea is..." the senior of the two police officers replied "this guy will react more positively if he sees fellow law enforcement officers".
"Yes, Chief Roberts" Vice-President Weese replied "That and if he's with you and your officers we know where he is".
The phone on the desk then started ringing.
"Chief Roberts..." he answered, then added "Ah, the White House... yes... yes... oh?... no problem..." waving for the Vice-President and the Captain to accompany him outside.
"White House says this visitor's coming in by air..." Chief Roberts explained "... and obviously doesn't know anything about the university, Morgantown, or the US in general. Apparently they can use GPS, because I was asked to pass on co-ordinates for a good landing spot".
"Elmer Prince Drive" Captain Chedester suggested "As long as the aircraft's not too big it won't cause property damage landing there... or disrupt traffic beyond tolerable levels".
The small group walked down the road from the university police building to Elmer Prince Drive. Once Chief Roberts found what he thought was a good spot, he called in the coordinates - and was surprised to hear a clearly non-human voice speaking English reply "Coordinates received! ETA maybe three or four of your minutes!"
"Well, apparently we have less than five minutes before the visitor gets here" Vice-President Weese said when the chief passed that news on - the chief nearly had his hat blown off his head when an assault lander dropped out of the sky and made a smooth landing in the middle of the road.
The three of them all watched while Harek turned in a slow circle, sniffing and watching a small device on his wrist for a minute or so - when he turned back to face the assault lander and gave a thumbs-up, Chief Roberts smiled briefly before saying "He's had some contact with humans before, then... hopefully that means he can speak English as well...".
"Welcome to..." Vice-President Weese announced a little unsteadily "well, Earth... and West Virginia University. I'm Vice-President Weese... these two men are Bob Roberts, chief of the university police, and William Chedester, police operations Captain".
Harek grinned, before looking at the chief and his Captain and nodding before saying "It's good to see the world Dad grew up on. The air is fresh and clear... atmosphere doesn't register even close to the level of contaminants mandating even a level nine atmospheric quality or toxic weather alert... life appears to be good here".
"You are partly human?!" Vice-President Weese asked in surprise.
"Yep" Harek replied in Scarran-acccented English "That's Dad's fault, since he's from this sec- sorry, country".
"When the White House spoke to me before..." Vice-President Weese added, getting back on track "they told me your leader would send you with both proper identification and a letter of introduction from both him and our own President. Might we see these now, please?"
"Dad said it took a while to convince the President to write that" Harek replied "and even more convincing his senior law enforcement official... ah yes, Attorney General... not to have a meltdown in the Oval Office due to giving our people even conditional and temporary authority to enforce law in your nation".
Harek drew a thickish wallet from one of his coat pockets before unfolding it and showing the men each panel in turn.
"My Law Command ident" he explained first, showing a brass-plated badge with black inserts "This shows I am a Justicar, our most elite of law enforcement - this strip underneath shows I am under final assessment, so while I have the full authority of my position all my decisions can be reviewed by any non-probationary Justicar, the Justicar-Marshal, or the War Commander at any time".
"My military ident" Harek explained next, showing the next panel "Our ranking system does not entirely match your own, but I hold a moderate enlisted rank if not the most senior one. The colour of the star shows my branch of service".
"My diplomatic ident" Harek explained, watching their faces closely "Oh, so you can understand that one without explanation. Yes, I have been given the diplomatic immunity people probably expected but don't much like. My conduct here can be reviewed by the Justicar-Marshal, the War Commander, or our officer in charge of diplomatic services".
All three men read the letter of introduction twice, after which Vice-President Weese called the White House phone number he was given before to verify it.
"It's real" a voice on the other end replied "I wish it wasn't... but it's real. POTUS, SecState, and SecDef think they're trustworthy enough to make it worth the risk - thankfully those letters only got passed out to six people, so the authority issue has been tolerably contained".
~Contact!~ Alphak signalled.
Garakk came forward to see for himself, then the two of them crept up behind the small number of enemy fighters as they walked into a threadbare room with a number of crates around the walls and an electric heater and hotplate in the middle, around which sat a number of other fighters. All had rifles and other weapons close by if not in their hands or slung across their backs.
Garakk didn't wait for more than two microts before punching one fighter in the back of his head hard enough to crush his skull and kill him.
Brother thinks these crates may contain explosives Alphak decided when he saw Garakk wasn't shooting A sensible precaution. We should examine the crates afterwards, if we have time.
Since there was only one exit and Alphak was standing right in front of it, none of the fighters could escape - they weren't slow, several raised AK-47s and fired on either Garakk or Alphak, but none of the weapons they had with them could penetrate the carapace Garakk and Alphak had so all of the small group of fighters were eventually killed.
"It looks like this facility has three levels, Alphak" Garakk whispered, looking at the crates around the room "but each level is big and has a lot of rooms in it. Do you think it spreads under the entire village?"
"Possibly, yes..." Alphak whispered back "but not likely" before sending a message to the Red Hand and the Cry Havoc, telling them what they had found.
TR Holt was still in the White House and asked for video.
"Russian-language markings..." Holt explained "but in the Middle East that means nothing, the Russians do a lot of business there. If they didn't buy directly from Russia, then there's any number of factories in other countries licensed to produce small arms and other military equipment for them".
Alphak looked more closely at the nearest crate, and particularly around the markings, before he said "Original crate markings. Crate not painted over before new markings applied. Paint dry for some time, crates smell old".
"Any sign of the General yet?" President Diesel asked "Any other prisoners there?"
"No sign so far" Alphak replied "No word yet from special support. We will advise you of any change in this situation promptly".
After almost two hours, Beasely nodded and showed the contractors' CO the screen on his phone for a minute or so.
"Yeah..." he said with a smile "Pleasure doin' business with you".
"You're cleared for access to this site while the doctor does their part" Beasely replied "Once the doctor and his orderlies leave, you do the same and head back to wherever it is you go when you're not working".
"Copy that" he replied, nodding a couple of times - after which Beasely left the facility and returned home.
"We've not got long" the doctor said to everyone "The absence of our ...involuntary guest... from wherever he lives won't go unnoticed forever. We need to learn as much from him while he lives and after he dies... so we don't have very long, just a few hours".
"We startin' tonight, then?" the contractors' CO asked.
"My orderlies and I will do this part of the work" the doctor corrected him "Once we have what we need, we will sanitise the site and leave".
"Westmore, you got night watch on the cells" the contractors' CO ordered "Everyone else... I want people watching the armoury, the exits, the computers...hell, you know all this as well as I do, so just do it".
A number of doctors, plus Nrakal and Moratha as well as Amara, were gathered around Karl Torvald's special tank again.
"The subject does well" one Charrid decided after checking both the tank monitor readouts and Nrakal's archive notes "I don't know enough to even guess at an emergence time... but since we were told this subject is genetically Scarran then what I do know says he does well and should emerge from the tank according to schedule".
"Confirmed" Amara decided, nodding briefly toward the Charrid doctor "Both previous subjects for stage 3 changes emerged a little behind schedule... but I do not think this subject will do so. His genes do indeed scan as mostly Scarran... but since the rest of his genetic make-up is human I would think he will emerge at least slightly ahead of schedule".
That got a few grins from the doctors around her, and a few questions directed at Nrakal and Moratha concerning the adaptability to and acceptance of the change by humans. Nrakal checked the monitors himself via his PDA, nodded with wary satisfaction before adjusting five separate controls and watching... then increasing the nutrient flow once more.
"His energy intake is very high" he told the doctors, especially the Kalish closest to him watching most eagerly "He is the first to have a number of these changes... and he is at least partly human... both of those things together should cover all possible reasons for him requiring more energy".
"Will he not require as much to eat after emergence if we feed him more this way in the tank?" one Kalish asked "All archive data I have been permitted to view up until this point suggests high energy food needs to be made available in large quantities for subjects of any species upon emergence from their tank".
"We don't know" Nrakal told the Kalish doctor who asked the question "But he may well need more energy to ensure a successful assimilation of the change program... not all subjects' needs are the same, regardless of species or any other matter... so he will have what he requires".
"Mr President..." Jack Crichton called uneasily as he strode into the Oval Office "The War Commander of our visitors has just revealed information to me... two of his landing parties have apparently come under attack... and one of his people has been kidnapped. From American soil".
"Oh SHIT..." President Diesel replied "Do we have even the slightest clue who might have the motive for this? Has the War Commander given you even a partial list of suspects?"
"He says he thinks he knows who it would be, Mr President" Jack replied "but declined to reveal a name. He told me that we will know shortly after he does. He says he has people investigating and trying to confirm or deny his initial guess as to who is responsible".
"I see..." TR Holt mused aloud once he was called in and had the situation explained to him "We can have the FBI investigate who did this... any number of nationalist or racist groups might also be against the presence of non-humans... but I should also talk to the War Commander and hear what he and his officers have to say".
~Contact!~ Alphak signalled again.
"Where?" Garakk whispered, coming up behind him.
Alphak pointed out three separate places, adding that one smelled like it had something cooking in it - Garakk thought for a few microts, then nodded and pointed away from the cookroom toward the corridor on the hammond side of their current location.
"There are more enemy soldiers in this sector" Garakk whispered "I'd say that means something important's around. Prisoners, maybe?"
"Even if the General is not in this precise location" Alphak replied, nodding "any prisoners here may have friends prepared to pay well for their release. Even if they don't... the Irregulars and our Kingdom will gain favourable publicity for our people and our cause when it becomes known it is our personnel who released anyone imprisoned here".
The two boys snuck down their corridor of choice. They had to be more careful than before, there were more fighters walking back and forth - and Alphak even found one room with communication equipment in it - but they managed to move very slowly onward even if they had to do so cloaked much of the time.
"Prisoner..." Garakk hissed, before using the camera on his headband and linked to his PDA to take a number of pictures "Sending this to uncle Commander and mister Jack".
"Can you get me video?" President Diesel asked when Jack showed him the pictures - since the line was still open, Garakk panned his camera enough to see the cell and hear whispers of pain from inside.
"Not the General" SecDef replied "He's definitely a target of interest, you lot... if you can extract him as well as the General then you'll be paid for your efforts".
"Copy that" Garakk replied, grinning a bit at the prospect of earning a fee of his own "One of us will stay here while the other one checks further down the corridor. Think there's a few more cells here", after which he discommed.
Alphak nodded and smiled, then moved slowly down the corridor - he smiled again when he felt the edge of thoughts from Amara showing more interest, though that turned to a soft and brief growl when he heard a human scream, followed by human speech in a language he couldn't understand.
~That is Arabic speech confirmation~ Amara told him ~Auntie Jane says so. Try to see if you can see the face of the one who screamed - even if it is not the General, we may yet be paid for their safe retrieval~
Just as Alphak tried to peek past the edge of the wall, two fighters dragged another human out of the room while two more followed on guard. Alphak had barely a couple of microts, but he managed to get a look at their prisoner's face.
~THAT'S GENERAL FRANKLIN!~ Harrigan's loud and angry thoughts announced ~Get him out, you two...and kill anyone who gets in your way!~
~We have one other to retrieve also~ Garakk added over the link ~Our priority will be to retrieve the General, but someone in authority with the leader of your home sector said we may earn currency if this other one is retrieved as well~
~Do that, boys~ Troll's voice added ~I'll talk to you about going off the reservation later... for now, remember what you've been taught by your big friends and get the General out! That is the ONLY thing you should worry about, boys~
That idiot Beasely's thinking with his ego again... TR Holt thought as he headed for the tunnels under the White House I don't have hard evidence linking him to the abduction... I'll have to make the usual enquiries with the FBI... but I'd lay real money on Beasely being involved even if he hasn't given the orders himself~
Once he found a place he could establish a secure connection, he called both the FBI in Washington as well as a number of contacts he had in both the Department of State and several intelligence agencies.
I'd like few things better than seeing Beasely twist in the wind over this he knew but giving him up to either the President or to these aliens now might just reveal sensitive information about American activities at home and overseas to people who have no business knowing it.
Anton rubbed the spot on the back of his head where he'd been hit earlier, and nodded with satisfaction when he decided that it had mostly healed.
I have not had a lot to eat Anton decided or that bruise would likely be gone altogether by know. Bruised or not, I should prepare to escape... the patrol past this cell has changed, so I should escape from this cell while only the one man on patrol can see me.
Anton clearly didn't think much of the contractors for putting only one man patrolling the area around his cell, but he decided after Feltano and I nullifed a number of those who attacked us they may not have more personnel to spare.
Anton exercised again for the benefit of those watching the two remaining cameras - when he saw one man walking away from his cell who wasn't the man on patrol, Anton took a deep breath before unleashing as big a burst of electrical energy as he could manage.
Anton grinned when all the lights in his cell and the corridor outside went out.
My change gives me a vast advantage in low-light and night vision he knew Even if my captors have night vision equipment, it will be inferior to my changed vision. I should attempt to force the cell doors open now, and see if they popped open or locked closed when power failed.
Anton tried to simply kick the plastic windows first, but they proved too strong for simple force - so Anton nodded and tried the doors.
I can barely move them he decided Their mechanisms hold them shut but do not keep them closed and locked... so my change should give me enough strength to open them, if not quickly.
Anton put all his strength into opening the doors, grinning happily when his fingers got a good hold on each door. His skin turned even more bluish-purple than usual - the doors proved to be hard to open even for someone with Anton's strength, but he slipped through as soon as there was enough room, letting them slam shut behind him.
Anton stayed low and crept forward, heading in the direction he thought would be toward where the contractors would be. He reached the end of the corridor before seeing a staircase going down - so he came back and headed the other way.
The first room he found was not the central room where the contractors on night watch were, but the examination and interrogation rooms.
Medical personnel Anton decided Instruments that I can see suggest they want to dissect me and find out things about me, about hybrid personnel, and about the change they have no business knowing without clearance from uncle Commander. I will nullify them now for simply trying to hurt me, but I will capture images of their faces in case uncle Commander or father can identify them. Anton grumbled about needing to do that and not simply kill in whatever way seemed good at the time, but realised others were depending on him to find out who authorised his abduction.
"OK, looks like the UN wants us to address a full assembly..." Harrigan told everyone on the bridge "but thankfully not right away. We should be able to get Anton back before they give us a call... Jack's acting as our intermediary again, so we should get a few arns, at least, before they want us to turn up".
"How's the retrievals going?" Lazarus asked "Both General Franklin's and my son's".
"Looks like my boys have found the General" Troll called, linked in via the Red Hand from Iraq "Dunno how close they are to grabbin' him an' leaving, but I'd say it's pretty close".
"Amara's told us everything she knows..." Talannah added "but she also tells us you were linked in at those times as well. Anton will call us as soon as he feels it's safe to do so, or after he's escaped".
"We should watch... and perhaps advise if required..." Rulok added next "but not do the work for him unless his life would be in serious danger. Captain Lirak and myself will evaluate his actions and decisions, and see if they suggest further openings for training".
One of the fighters unlocked the door to General Franklin's cell before dropping him on the floor and cuffing one ankle to the wall. Once outside the cell, they locked the door again - one headed toward the communications equipment the two boys had passed on their way there, while the other three headed to a bunkroom.
Alphak and Garakk waited until they couldn't hear those men clearly - after which Garakk started cutting through the thick metal door with the weapons of his change and Alphak stood guard. Garakk caught the door before it hit the ground, after which he stepped inside the cell.
"Who... are you?" General Franklin asked hoarsely "I'm not going to tell you scum anything".
"We're not with them" Garakk replied in Scarran-accented English "Big man uncle Harrigan sent us. We're going to get you out of here".
"Don't waste any more time, then!" General Franklin hissed "They usually patrol here quite frequently but not that regularly... might be an hour before we get sprung, might only be a few minutes!"
"Good, you are alive if not unharmed" Alphak told General Franklin when he and Garakk reached his position "I placed the door my brother burned through to retrieve you in such a way as to block one approach to our position... but neither of us know this place and its layout, so we should leave".
Time was lost retrieving the other prisoner, who Garakk eventually just slung across his shoulders. Movement among the corridors was slow, but thankfully Alphak's memory of their route was generally good.
The four of them stopped inside one dark room to catch their breath.
"Is there..." the other prisoner asked "...water? Even rations or bread?"
Alphak started rummaging through boxes and crates, of which the room seemed to have a lot, for almost ten momens before Garakk called "Looks like there's a small string hanging from the ceiling... for lights? Cover your eyes".
It did turn out to be for lights, though none of the bulbs were good and barely three of the five bulbs actually worked.
"Weapons..." General Franklin whispered "Some rations, but it looks like Russian MREs rather than ours".
Garakk started looking in the crates then as well, calling "Human-made rifle called AK-47... shoulder-fired rockets called... RPG, I think. Lots. Some explosives. Grenades, too".
"I can't move too fast..." General Franklin replied, hissing in pain "but so far I think I can still shoot! Get me an AK and a few magazines!"
Since Alphak was examining the explosives and didn't respond, Garakk brought General Franklin the rifle he asked for.
"Feeling at least a bit better, mister" he said when Garakk asked "I'd rather fight my way out than stay in there waiting for a diplomatic solution, that's for sure. What's your brother doing?"
"I can't understand the markings on the explosives" Alphak replied, turning to face the General "I am calling for an alternative. Retribution must be given for the abduction of a friend of uncle Commander and a senior official of his home sector".
Back in one of the loading docks used less frequently, the lights on a number of devices started blinking. That set off a warning on Hellbolt's PDA, and he told Harrigan about it.
"Some of those things you been using to test that weird doohickey we got off the Showlon going mental?" Harrigan asked "Still not sure we got that thing working right...".
"It works well enough..." Hellbolt replied "just not with food products or people".
"So which one's trying to tell us something?" Harrigan asked "And why?"
Hellbolt tapped out a query before calling "BALLS!" in English, much to everyone's surprise - and tapping out a number of commands very fast indeed.
"Uncle Hellbolt has deduced what I am doing" Alphak called to his brother "I must link to a location whose ident number I know and not simply use the one best suited for our situation".
Alphak's big fingers worked against him but his exceptional stage 2 speed more than made up for it - soon his PDA started scanning the room (Garakk only now noticed it was a non-standard model with additional features) and shortly after that a loud bang only marginally quieter than a flashbang grenade sounded and a large object appeared in the middle of the room.
"They'll hear... that..." the other prisoner croaked, between eating the rations he'd been given "Do.. what you need to... then we should leave... Fast".
"What you got, little brother..." Garakk asked his brother.
"ADM, Garakk..." Alphak whispered "I could not get a small one, for a measured and careful but still effective measure of retribution... so I called for one whose location I had memorised. It is bigger than the one I preferred to use".
"Ten thousand megaunits, no kidding..." Garakk whispered, before ordering his brother "Prox, anti-tamper, command det... and then let's block the entry way and run"
"Of course... " Hellbolt grumbled and cursed in his own language "Alphak... his PDA probably still has the testing codes we used for the last experiments...".
After Harrigan made him explain again in English, he ordered "Find out what went missing... then I'll decide what we tell the White House. Whatever else happens, at least this can be made to prove we don't take plok from anyone and consider the use of any force available to us worth the risk to retrieve people important to us".
It took twenty momens before Hellbolt called "Mid-sized ADM for unconventional warfare, demolition of sensitve facilities, or mounting on a missile... yield rated at ten thousand megaunits. Ten human megatons".
Anton crept up to the nearest of the two medical orderlies and snapped his neck before lowering the body to the ground. Unfortunately that made enough noise to alert the one remaining orderly and the doctor - both drew pistols and fired on Anton, but Anton made his superior strength work for him and leapt over the operating table before kicking the doctor hard just above the stomach, followed by electrocuting the orderly with his electrical projection.
~I hear you~ Amara called when Anton linked in again ~I have recorded this person's face and will send it to General Jack Crichton for identification. He is allied with our enemies here?~
~((confirmation))~ Anton replied ~Here to cut me up and attempt to learn things about us he has no business knowing. Should we transport him to the cells for interrogation by Mister Altur? ~
Amara paused, which Anton knew meant this news was being communicated to the senior officers.
After a few momens, Amara called ~The senior officers decided it is too dangerous leaving this one alive at the present time. Nullify them quickly, cleanly, but thoroughly~
Anton did just that before leaving the medical facilities and moving on.
Westmore was wandering along his patrol route, half-asleep, back toward the cells - when he saw Anton come out of the medical facility.
He moved fast, but not fast enough - within three seconds Anton had one huge hand around his throat and was holding him up against the wall, his feet dangling almost a foot from the floor.
"All I need to decide..." Anton whispered, not relaxing his grip "is if you are useful or dangerous. The only criteria for you being useful is if you will help me retrieve my equipment and uniform and leave this facility. If you will not, then you are dangerous and I will nullify you" - after which he loosened his grip just enough for Westmore to draw breath and speak.
"P...pp...please..." Westmore gasped "I got ... family... wife...children...".
"Which helps me be free how?" Anton asked.
"Please!" he pleaded again "They... need me! Boss... takes slip-ups personal. I'd... handle it if he just... took it outta me... but he won't".
This new situation made Anton think.
I do not know what skills this man has he thought quickly nor whether he might commit himself to us in return for the safety of his mate and his narls as well as himself.
~Didn't expect that, mister~ Harrigan told him ~Look at him, then Amara can link me in~
~((surprise, fear))~ Westmore called when he felt mindspeech in his own head.
~You are in communication contact with the leader of the soldier who found you~ Trannak explained ~Normally that soldier would simply nullify you and proceed with his mission, but for some reason he thinks you might be worth saving. Explain to me why this is the case, and don't bother trying to lie - I may not know how to tell if humans lie well, but our communications officer does and they will authorise the soldier beside you to nullify you should they think you are not being completely truthful~
Amara cleared up the muddled thoughts Westmore had of his family, separating them from the thoughts of his fellow contractors - she saw the thoughts he had of his financial situation, and though she could see he was not in a critical debt situation she could tell he needed all the money he earned as a contractor to finance his family's current lifestyle.
~Confirmed/yes/YES~ Westmore replied when Amara asked him about those thoughts, after which she saw a brief image of one man with thoughts of distrust and emotions that suggested to her that he wouldn't mind if that man was nullified extremely thoroughly and as soon as possible.
~There's only one way we do that for you, mister~ Harrigan told Westmore ~One way we get you, your wife, an' your kids out to safety while making that one special problem go away. You come to US. You come and work and live with US. It'll be weird at first, no getting around that... but suffice to say that there's something in this for everyone~.
Trannak explained more clearly what this would mean.
~Claim asylum? ((confirm/deny, fear))~ Westmore asked.
~Yep~ Harrigan asked ~Like I said before... it'll take some adjusting to for you an' your family, but you'll settle in. There's other humans here, though you'll have to wait an' see who they are. You can keep your US citizenship, if that's what's worrying you... only people who can take that away are Stateside, but if you hold up your end of this bargain we'll sort that out for you~
Westmore sent a brief and very muddled series of mental images showing his family reaching safety coupled with someone above his CO in authority being dragged out of a government office wrapped in steel chain from the neck down and then thrown off the roof of a multi-storey building, which made all the officers on the link laugh.
~Very well...~ Lazarus decided ~This is the deal. You assist our soldier in leaving that facility and reaching safety, and in return we retrieve your own family and bring them and you to be with us. That is the entire deal. 'Safety' is defined as being inside the facility I myself am now in, for both our soldier and for you and your family. Yes or no?~
Once Amara decided Westmore had indeed agreed to the asylum deal, she told him ~I can find you and our soldier at any time, Mr Westmore. Orders for you are as follows - assist our soldier to escape from that facility and reach an extraction point yet to be determined by any means necessary~.
"Can ...you put me down...now?" Westmore gasped "Dunno that I like this deal... but there's more than just my own safety riding on this so let's just make the best of it and leave, yes?"
"We will do this" Anton confirmed "First we will find my equipment. Then we will find equipment for you. Then we will see if there are explosives, and if there are I will use them to destroy this facility completely".
Garakk and Alphak blocked entry to the storage room with crates before setting off a small charge and dropping a section of ceiling in front of it.
That did alert a number of fighters, which General Franklin was amazed to see Garakk annihilate with heavy pulse fire from his arm cannon while still carrying the other prisoner on his shoulders.
It wasn't easy finding a surface exit. The group came under fire a number of times from Islamic State fighters at the stronghold, but all of these were killed even though both Garakk and Alphak sustained a number of hits across their carapace. Alphak threw a number of grenades down side passages, adding larger charges less frequently - while they still heard signs of pursuit, they were some distance behind them.
So this is a study facility Harek decided as he was shown around a large building named 'Stansbury Hall'. These people tell me that at this time people study a kind of... lifestyle thinking (the word for 'philosophy' not translating well into Scarran) ... as well as studies for reserve officers in several branches of service! The law enforcement leaders with me have decided I should attend these classes if Dad doesn't have other things for me to do.
"Looks like we have a... guest" a voice called from inside one of the rooms, after Captain Chedester had emerged from it "He'll be in here to learn, just like you... but the Captain says he's got some skills as well as combat experience... so we'll see what you can learn from that".
"Not the same way we came in by, then" Garakk decided once the group left the underground stronghold and returned to the surface "We need a vehicle, preferably a big one that can carry us all - if therre aren't any big ones, Alphak and the General head out to our pick-up point while I will carry our other friend and come behind them on foot".
It took half an hour before a truck was found.
"Looks like they're gonna put triple-A on the back" General Franklin decided, looking at the back of the truck "but we found it before they could finish the job. I might not be in a condition to run... but I can still drive this. If one of you big ones can fit inside with me, do that... save the rest of the space for our fellow escapee. The big one not in here with me better go on the back - since you got a lot of special tricks hidden up your sleeves, you can watch our rear".
It was clear to everyone General Franklin was still in a lot of pain - a more welcome turn of events was the truck still having fuel in its tank. It did not have a good exhaust muffler, but they did get just outside the village before someone raised the alarm.
The CH-53's flight crew were listening in case Amara sent them any news updates, though the pilot was still surprised when he heard Garakk's voice call ~We got him! Not everyone was very pleased about that, so we got a few unwelcome guests following us out - none of that big stuff we saw on the way in, it can't keep up~ over Amara's link.
~We got it~ the pilot replied, feeling only a little disoriented by now ~Just getting everything powered up again, won't take long... hopefully you'll not be at the front door by then, though~
~Terrain's shit around here~ General Franklin told them ~This truck's not doing too bad, but we ain't going quick, that's for sure. Big man here with me looks to have a good memory for directions, so I don't think I'll get us lost~
The flight crew were all pleased General Franklin was alive, if not too healthy.
It took several tries to get the engines started, but start they did - so the pilot took off and started heading carefully toward the village at low enough altitude to find vehicles but hopefully enough to avoid heavy machine gun fire.
"Eight improvised combat vehicles with rapid-fire heavy slug weapons!" Garakk shouted to his brother, inside the truck's cab and taking up most of the room there.
"Light 'em up!" General Franklin ordered immediately, an order Garakk was only too pleased to heed.
The Red Hand was following the combat as well.
"Vehicle containing the prisoners and Irregulars" one console operator announced "under attack by forces identified as 'Islamic State' in improvised combat vehicles. Garakk appears to have destroyed three vehicles, one appears to have crashed into a wreck... four still remain. Retrieval vehicle from American humans is approaching at speed and at low altitude".
"Do we have clear space to destroy these remaining improvised combat vehicles?" the Captain asked, and another console operator replied "two momens or less".
"Closing in!" Garakk replied "Both sides!" - and less than ten microts later he saw blastgun fire from the Red Hand rip right through three of the vehicles and the ground beneath them.
Garakk promptly focussed on the remaining one before it left and he had to call the Red Hand to nullify it, after which he grinned up at sky and called "Thanks, Red Hand! The American rotorcraft should be able to land and retrieve us now... unless the War Commander has given you other orders, my father will probably need to to stay close to our human allies' military facility"
General Franklin smiled when he saw the CH-53 come to a hover in a cloud of dust a short way ahead of them and brought the truck to a halt before the injures to his feet made their presence felt again and he cried out. Alphak cut the roof off the truck with the weapons of his change, after which he picked up General Franklin before running to the helicopter while Garakk did the same with the other prisoner.
"Yeah, I've been worked over some" General Franklin told the medics once Alphak laid him on the floor of the CH-53 "Get me to a proper operating room, preferably one with Americans in it, and make sure I don't die on on the way - and preferably quick!"
"Right on it, sir..." the pilot assured him, after which he climbed to higher altitude and returned to the airbase.
"Mrs Franklin..." Altur called a little later, startling Mrs Franklin awake as she slept on the lounge "I have just received word... your husband has been successfully retrieved. Your military doctors still need to make sure he is well... but he is safe".
Mrs Franklin smiled and thanked Koronna and Altur at length.
"We will make sure Irregulars forces on the ground advise us when he is medically fit to communicate with us here" Koronna told her "For now, we should all sleep".
"Yeah... real good..." Harek called, from the student accomodation he had been billeted at "Wake me up if we get a call from Anton... but till then I'm gonna sleep".
While that was going on half way across the world, Anton and Westmore had arrived at the armoury.
Anton promptly retrieved his clothing.
"Much better" he decided "This is premium quality street clothing designed to hide smaller weapons, I don't want to lose it".
"Think your gun's in here" Westmore told him "I'll try the code I been told, but if that doesn't work we'll have to try something more creative".
It took several more attempts than either of them liked, but the door to one of the secure storage areas was eventually opened.
"I tested that a bit" Westmore admitted a little fearfully, nodding towards Anton's pistol "Damn thing weighs a ton an' recoil hurts like a son of a bitch too - easily as bad as my Eagle at home with hot loads".
"It is a pistol designed for Scarrans" Anton explained, connecting what Westmore was saying to being several rounds of ammunition below what he expected "I'm surprised even your hands could hold it properly. Be thankful you did not set the safety catch to allow full-automatic fire".
"Geezu-" Westmore hissed in surprise, before scooping a small pistol off a table and firing twice.
"Think there's one more on patrol round here" Westmore told Anton, not looking at the contractor's corpse "Thankfully a Glock 26 with the can on don't make too much noise".
"We have suppressed weapons" Anton replied, looking closely "But I have not seen subcompact ones like this. Bring it with you. It should be examined".
We got stuff that surprises these aliens he decided with approval That's good, they won't just stamp the whole planet flat or ignore us. Humans are interesting to them, we're useful.
Anton took a few momens to look around the armoury.
"Human made rifle identifed as 'M4' " he said, pointing.
"Not quite, those are civilian-model AR-15s" Westmore corrected "You use 'em pretty much the same way though... so if you know military M4s, you should get a handle on those easy".
"Get one for yourself and one for me" Anton told him "Loaded magazines as well. If you require body armour, get yourself some - I don't need it, mine is built-in".
A little later, after ducking patrols several times, Anton called "Explosives! C-4! Not a large quantity, though..." before retrieving his comm from another shelf and running its diagnostics.
Once Anton's comm came back online, it alerted the Cry Havoc since the trouble alarm was still active. Night shift alerted General Tareg, who called "Good, you are well! Are you free?"
"Not yet, uncle-General" Anton replied "But I have made a new friend, and this new friend has agreed to help free me in return for safety for himself and his family".
"Interesting..." Tareg replied "Perhaps he will be a useful friend... perhaps his family will be useful friends as well. The other recruits are being led on a night run around the cold zone in the PTR by arctic-world Scarrans from Bloodstar command at this time...".
"Good, good" Anton replied "I will join them at a later date, once my new friend's family have been safely retrieved" before telling Tareg about the C-4.
"I know where your father put the C-4 he brought with him" Tareg replied "I don't know how useful it will be after this many cycles... but we have no use for it, we have plenty of our own explosives of several kinds" , after which a large loadout bag appeared about a couple of fenches in front of Anton, right up against the wall.
Westmore was surprised, but nodded once he'd looked inside.
"Better to use that instead of any special stuff you got" he said "Dunno how good you are with that, but I don't have a demo rating... ".
"I do" Anton replied proudly "My father and my mother do and they taught me. We will take what we need, wire up the entire room, and after we gain the information I need then we will destroy this facility after we leave".
He's wiring everything to everything else Westmore decided Even if he hadn't decided to blow this place up it'd take hours to pull all this apart again without it taking us with it - and that's assuming there's no time fuse or other nasty toys somewhere in all this!
Anton wired one more charge to the door, after which he shut it - just in time to see Westmore bring up his treblin hand.
"I know that signal" Anton said before Westmore opened his mouth to speak "I smell four humans and see their body heat patterns as well".
"Should be all of them here" Westmore replied "Our CO's somewhere around here but I dunno if you'd find him right now".
"We clear each room" Anton replied "We nullify all inside. We take items of interest. Then we move on".
"Keepin' it simple, good" Westmore replied, then added "We got suppressors on these... but indoors the sound's still gonna carry some, so we're gonna have to move quick".
Anton took three hits across his brow and temples.
"Just bruised" Anton told a surprised Westmore "Light pistol fire. That man was skilled, a pity we could not bring him with us".
"He'd not come, I know him" Westmore replied "Bad and good, I 'spose. He liked it here, loved his job, and he'd not care what he got told to do as long as he got paid. Least this way it's clean an' professional - a few of our guys got worked over bad when stuff went south before".
The injured contractor who'd hit Anton with a sledgehammer saw Anton coming in - and instead of reaching for a weapon, raised the alarm. Anton put two rounds from his rifle through his chest, but nodded at him as he passed by.
"Shit!" the contractor's CO hissed, elsewhere in the small complex, when the alarm woke him up - he got on his troops' comms and got them all hunting down Anton with whatever they could get hold of. They managed to catch up with Anton and Westmore at the small kitchen and dining hall, which saw rifle fire flying back and forth until Anton finally managed to nullify the last of them.
"Just a crease" Westmore hissed in pain "Get the medkit from behind the counter, I'll get this sorted out in no time".
Anton watched him do that, then nodded as he swallowed a painkiller before getting to his feet again.
"Keep that with you" Anton told him, pointing to the medkit "I won't need it, but you may do if we need to fight our way to safety". Into Westmore's small pack it went.
~Up~ Westmore signalled, nodding to some stairs.
Anton laid two more charges before doing just that, coming to a halt at the top and whispering "I smell three... I think. I can't quite tell where they are in relation to us".
"CO probably called in a couple of extras after stuff in your cell kept crapping out" Westmore suggested aloud, after which Anton signalled for him to take point. Every so often one of them would destroy a monitor camera with rifle fire - and barely a few momens later Westmore signalled a halt, then pointed to a room.
Anton slung his rifle and drew his pistol, activating the target-link and running a diagnostic. Good, everything works! he decided If this is the commander's office, and if he has other soldiers with him, then I will nullify them and leave him for interrogation.
Once the crosshairs appeared in Anton's vision, he stepped around the corner of the door and put two rounds in each of the two additional contractors' heads.
"So you got out" the contractors' CO said "An' you got Westmore with you. Never sure quite what motivated him... d'you offer him time with some alien chick or somethin' ? That all it took, Westmore?"
Anton used his electrical projection, applying enough power to knock him out of the chair he was sitting in.
"That was me being mildly annoyed" Anton said "I require certain information. Should you provide it willingly, I'll leave you outside this facility when I leave, unconscious but very much alive. Resist and I just get more annoyed and then I have to hurt you more".
Almost an hour later, Anton said "This man has been well trained in resisting interrogation. He is an instructor in that field? Perhaps he was with a special warfare group or intelligence organisation?"
"Dunno where he's been" Westmore replied "Not exactly. He's been a whole buncha places an' done some real nasty shit though, at least if the stories are true".
After another half-arn, Anton decided "He will not help us, not without it taking more time to apply more pressure than we can do here" - and the senior contractor then lunged for the keyboard. Anton crushed his hand before he managed that, then noticed "Look... he is still logged into the system! We will see if anyone has left notes in the system they shouldn't have, or if any clue to who activated it for this task can be traced in any way from here".
"What you want to do with him?" Westmore asked, though he wasn't surprised when Anton put a bullet in his head.
Westmore started hunting through the system for any clues about who authorised the activation of the facility for the purpose of Anton's dissection. While the site was connected to others over a network, it took another hour and a half before he found something.
"Just an authorisation code..." Westmore admitted "but it might help you. Dunno if you got contacts of your own, but now's the time to use them if you want to find out where that leads".
Anton saved the code to his PDA, then planted the last of his charges as he left.
The two of them returned to the surface in a utility cupboard outside a large shopping centre - Anton paused long enough to detonate the charges, which made the ground shake for some time before he said "The ground is shifting. I think part of the area may collapse over the top of where that facility was. We should find a vehicle, put some distance between us and this location, then rest. We can decide what to do next after that".
The CH-53 got back just as the sun came up, though one of its engines had sucked in something on the way and wasn't working too well.
"We got him, Dad!" Garakk called happily over the comm, waking him up "He's here with us in this rotorcraft! People hurt him a lot, Dad, but we found doctors and brought them with us!"
"I'll go get Ned, Garakk!" Troll replied happily if tiredly "and your momma! Don't go anywhere!"
Ned woke up only when Troll barged into the base sick bay and kicked the couch Ned was sleeping on hard enough to break it.
"Up, up, up!" Troll told him "General's back here, mister!"
Ned muttered and mumbled as he put coffee on, after which he called a medical alert. As soon as other medical personnel had stumbled in, Ned waved Troll after him - and both of them saw the small crowd gathered around the helicopter, though they soon noticed a lot were technical staff trying to get repair work started.
"Bring the General with us!" Urana barked in accented English, striding over "I will accompany my husband and Ned and we will go to your medical facility! Others will return to their work!"
None of the medical staff in Ned's operating theatre liked Urana ordering them out of the way but no one argued with her as she quizzed the combat medics who'd seen to General Franklin's injuries on the flight back.
"He should get the use of his hands back" one of them said "as long as we can get him to Walter Reed or Bethesda quick. Not sure the General will keep his flight rating, though".
"You got anything special we can use?" Ned asked Urana "He's not gonna die, not even if we fix him up here... but the General likes being able to fly without someone else doing the hard work for him".
"If he is certified fit to travel..." Urana decided "then I will see to it he is taken to a better equipped facility. We have the staff and equipment to see the General fully recovered there".
"Oh yeah..." Garakk called "Forgot something..., General, if you'd care to press the big red button on the screen of my PDA here, please...".
"What's it do?" General Franklin asked - Garakk whispered in his ear for a few seconds, after which the General tapped it twice.
It didn't take long for the G-3 to come out of their office, asking about nuclear explosions.
"It wasn't ours" he said "We've not got any here an' I didn't think either the Iraqi government or Islamic State had even one!"
"It was ours, of course" Troll said, doing his best to make it seem that was the plan the whole time "Can't let any of these nutbags think they can get away with bagging one of our friends any time they please, can we? Retribution was definitely called for.." before turning to Garakk and asking "How much retribution did they get?"
"Ten megatons of retribution" Garakk replied, nodding "Was that OK? I'm sure we can find more if we look hard enough".
While the G-3 looked on in surprise, Troll told his sons "You'll both be getting a commendation, probably at any rate, for pulling this off... but I expect the big man's gonna have to punish you at least a little bit for doing so without orders. Plok like this is why we don't give young people full rank even if they got skills, you two".
"We know, Dad" Garakk replied, nodding "We got the General back, that's what matters".
"Perhaps two more troopers would have been useful..." Alphak added softly "Helped us complete the mission more easily... in less time... more options for unexpected events...".
"You'll give a microt-by-microt briefing to your uncle Commander when we go back topside, the pair of you" Troll told his sons "Probably all the other senior officers as well. Before you get food and sleep, too".
The sight of the Red Hand landing almost drew a halt to all operations across the base.
"Get back to it, all of you..." General Franklin ordered everyone standing around watching "before I have to get up and make you...".
People nodded but also laughed, glad to see their General was alive if not whole - Ned followed them in long enough to see the General's stretcher carried aboard, after which he raised a hand and waved everyone back to their duties again.
"Cry Havoc, Red Hand" the Red Hand's copilot called over short range comm "Inbound medical flight with the human of interest! The human Troll and his family are aboard also!"
"On my way" Moratha replied "Your medical staff will see to the General's transportation to the main sick bay. Troll and his family should accompany you".
Troll and his family, along with the General's stretcher and the medical staff, took the service transport tunnels to the rear entry point of the main sick bay - where Troll stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly.
"In here, you!" Moratha hissed at him "Get inside, you and the rest of your family, so the medical staff can bring the General!"
As soon as Troll, his sons, and Urana had entered the sick bay, the Red Hand's medical officer and an orderly carried the General's stretcher inside as well.
"Damage suffered under primitive interrogation methods?" Moratha asked.
"Yes, Grandma" Alphak replied "Hands, feet, other places".
"Find out if Amara is awake" Moratha ordered "We could fully rehabilitate the General with conventional surgery, it's true... but I doubt we'll be insystem for the length of time required".
"I am here... " Amara called over the comm when one of the Red Hand's medical staff called her "It is not my eating time today... nor do I have other work other than medical study to do... why am I needed? Are there complications with subject Karl Torvald?"
"No, Amara" Moratha assured her "But the human General is here, and it will be more effective and quicker if you heal him even part of the way with your mentalism".
"I will come, Grandma" Amara replied "I have barely finished my early morning Kalish art exercises... but I have done so, and will come".
Amara strode right over to where she saw Moratha as soon as she arrived.
"He is not a young human" Amara replied "I do not know how well he would accept the extensive surgical procedures required for full rehabilitation, humans do not age as Scarrans or Charrid or even Kalish people age...".
"I am the medical specialist who will be seeing to your rehabilitation, General Franklin" Amara explained, looking at the older human man "To see you healed with speed, I must use some of my less conventional medical skills... they are unusual, and some cultures either do not permit such things or are afraid of them" before explaining about medical mentalism briefly.
"Do what you need to do" he decided "I'm sure it'll feel weird... medical stuff being what it is it'll probably hurt... but the sooner we get it over with, the better".
Amara nodded, then added "Before we start, I can use other unconventional skills to let you communicate with your wife and advise her you live and are well. Two of our personnel are currently with her and have advised her on the mission to retrieve you - her assistance was essential in finding you as quickly as we did, but we will explain that part of things to you later".
"Do it" General Franklin decided, nodding once "Just try not to hurt me any more".
~See?~ Amara told him in his head ~It does not hurt in any way. Since I am here I can even let her see you as well as hear you... since another like me is with your wife, you will be able to see her and hear her also~
~((agreement, acceptance, mild uncertainty))~ General Franklin replied, before his thoughts steadied enough to call ~Do it~
~I am... Altur~ Altur told General Franklin over Amara's mindlink ~I and one other have stayed with your wife while you have been retrieved. Since you can hear me on this link, I assume you are in a medical facility under our control?~
~He is, Altur~ Amara replied ~Main sick bay, with Grandma Moratha, myself, and other medical staff~
General Franklin smiled when he heard his wife's hopeful thoughts asking if he was well and safe.
~I am~ he assured her ~This kind of talking feels weird, like my head itches inside my skull... are you getting video there? Woman here tells me you should be~
Both of them smiled when small inset pictures appeared in their vision.
~Bit like a Skype call with the kids ((laughter))~ General Franklin told his wife ~Good to see you again... even if I'm not right there with you just yet~
~((agreement))~ Mrs Franklin replied ~These people who are with me are some of Harrigan's soldiers - are others under his command with you? Is Harrigan himself close by?~
~If he is around, he's not close by~ General Franklin replied ~If he's in the neighbourhood, I'm sure he'll come and grin at me and be... well, typically Harrigan, really~
~We will advise our Commander when your husband is fully healed~ Amara explained ~Due to certain classified events that may occur when a person like our Commander is present, I must heal your husband first and bring the Commander here afterwards. We will contact you again when your husband is healed, Mrs Franklin~
"I do not know if you prefer to be anaesthetised while medical procedures are performed on you, General..." Amara asked "but say so if you prefer this option. It is not required, you will be healed and healthy either way... but some prefer such things and some do not".
"Could use some food, to be honest..." General Franklin replied "Would be even better if my wife was here to eat beside me... but get me fixed up first, we can sort that out later".
"Copy that, mister!" Harrigan called when Anton called in "Nice to hear you made a new friend, we'll talk to him later... we got a few people dirtside for when this happened, so get me GPS coordinates or let me lock on your PDA, whichever you like".
Westmore got those from the car's GPS, and once Harrigan had put them into the Havoc's system, a map came up with points plotted where rescue personnel had been dropped.
"It's gonna take a few arns drive, mister..." Harrigan told Anton "but your buddy Harek's over the state line in West Virginia! Reckon your new friend can get you to Morgantown?"
"Should be able to, mister" Westmore said, close enough to Anton's PDA "I know that town, got family near there. Where's our pickup?"
Harrigan spliced Harek into the call, who called out very loudly and happily when he heard his friend.
"We will be in a vehicle heading in your direction" Anton explained "We have paused for a short rest only, but my new friend has bought food and bought drink. He says his car may be tracked but if we move fast this will not matter".
"I'm at a local institution for advanced study" Harek told them "I am accomodated elsewhere in this town, but my deployment site is a building named 'Stansbury Hall' "
"I know that place!" Westmore called with relief "Don't you worry, we'll get there! We're across state lines some place in Ohio right now - just make sure we got friends waiting for us, there's some very angry well-armed people somewhere behind us!"
"Move each of your fingers, General..." Amara urged, some time later "Good, good... on each hand, yes... stand up and move your legs one at a time... then walk around... try and touch your toes on each foot...".
"Never been able to do that, miss" General Franklin said when he got to that part, which made everyone present laugh "But I can move without my joints feeling like they'll explode, which means you fixed my knees ... surprised you managed that without reassembling a few things in my legs, to be honest...".
Amara bowed slightly in thanks, explaining as briefly and simply as she could how she used medical mentalism to heal his arm and leg joints.
"I'll take your word for it" General Franklin replied, a little sheepishly "I'm not a doctor, I can barely understand most of what you're saying. As long as I can do my job and keep my flight certification, that's fine by me - I'll leave the fine details of how that happpened to you".
Harrigan came as soon as Amara had advised him General Franklin was walking around without pain.
"General!" Harrigan called happily, lifting him off the ground briefly "Good to see you're up an' about... the guys who helped you check out of your no-star motel are asleep after their debrief, or they'd likely be here too. Don't worry about that, you'll see them at dinner time-".
"At least you've put me down before I had to shout at you, mister" the General grumbled "As far as food goes... I need to see my wife first, I can eat after we're back together and she knows I'm up and about again. When can you get me back groundside?"
"Gonna get my guys with your wife to bring her back here" Harrigan replied "You can eat with us, see a few of the crew... got four different species here, you know. Not including humans, of course".
"One thing at a time, Harrigan..." General Franklin replied "If my wife and I are going to eat here, let's get her and those two you got with her back up here".
Amara nodded, smiled, and after a few microts said "Our two soldiers will escort your wife, General Franklin, to their small craft - after which they will all return here. You can wait somewhere more relaxing than this sick bay until then, and even be escorted to our main flight deck to meet your wife when she lands should you wish to".
Once General Franklin had insisted on being present when his wife arrived, Harrigan grinned and said "Might as well do a bit of a meet an' greet, then... we'll head to the bridge and meet my wife, I'm sure you remember her from the last time we were here. My son's on the ground doing stuff right now, but you'll get to see him when he gets back".
"You have a son?" General Franklin replied with considerable surprise.
"Yeah..." Harrigan replied happily and proudly "Just one kid for now, though Harek's a young adult. He's like me in a few ways, so you'll know who he is once you see him".
General Franklin laughed at that, after which Harrigan led him to the transit car platform.
"This place is pretty big" Harrigan told him "Can't walk anywhere useful unless you're prepared to take all day doing it, so we only make people do that on training"
"At least these ones have seats" General Franklin replied "Ones I got brought in on didn't"
"Service transports" Harrigan explained "Usually used by techs transporting cargo... but the route on that network's shorter from flight deck to main sick bay".
"OK, here we are..." Harrigan said as the car came to a halt "We're at the bridge, General... I'll head up first, you come up a bit behind me. Once the bridge officers see me, I'll call you forward".
"WAR COMMANDER ON DECK!" the Scarran on the security console called, though Harrigan followed that with a swift "As you were!" before calling General Franklin forward and introducing him as well.
"Your name, sir..." the duty security officer, an arctic-world high-caste Scarran, said "is listed in our archives as that of our War Commander's former commanding officer".
"Haven't needed my translator microbes for anything more than a bit of Spanish in years" General Franklin muttered, before replying "That's right, mister... I'm not up to speed with all this stuff, no one here's got any. Apart from that big chair, which I assume is for the watch officer or Harrigan, I don't really know what I'm looking at".
When Harrigan nodded, the duty security officer pointed out what each bridge console was for and named the officers sitting at them.
"Master Kamara's description of you is in the archives, General" the Kalish on comm duty said, coming closer to look at him "Are those your badges of rank on your shoulders? The pattern of your uniform suggests combat fatigues - our personnel collected you from a field posting? Your facial skin is a little wrinkled as well, what does that mean?"
"Just means the General's getting on a bit for a human" Harrigan explained, grinning a bit "He's still good at what he does, though - however old he is".
The Kalish nodded and bowed briefly, after which he urged "Come, General, come and see. Here is the communcation console, where I am posted for this watch shift - we can call the craft which your wife and our soldiers are aboard from here, did you know that?"
Once General Franklin urged him to do exactly that, he did so - and General Franklin smiled when he saw his wife on the large overhead screen, though he also saw smaller inset video of Altur and Koronna as well.
"I'm glad to see you are well enough to stand and walk" Mrs Franklin said with both happiness and relief "You are still on Harrigan's ship? Where on it are you now?"
"Up on the bridge" General Franklin explained "Very Star Trek, I think. Harrigan, his wife, and the current shift of bridge officers are here".
"Koronna says we will reach you in only a few minutes" Mrs Franklin added "If an officer is listening to us, she has requested landing clearance".
"Containment field is on... flight deck doors are opening..." Talannah called from the command chair, tapping a few buttons on the virtual HUD "and you're cleared to proceed. The War Commander and General Franklin will come to meet you, so stay beside your Stryker once you've landed".
Harrigan showed off a little by directing the transit car using voice commands, but General Franklin just sat back in his seat, smiling a little at the showing off from an officer formerly under his command.
~That information is in our archives~ Amara told him, startling him a little ~We know you were his commanding officer before he became the War Commander. Until now, only a small number of our personnel have actually seen you themselves~
"Yeah, Amara can do a bunch of stuff" Harrigan explained, once General Franklin told him about being contacted by mentalism "Not just medical things. She can tell you about that stuff if she wants to".
"OK, here we are..." Harrigan announced, once the car came to a halt "You didn't get brought in this way, we don't let smaller warships land here these days now they got their own parking spots... but smaller everyday stuff comes and goes through here".
General Franklin looked around, taking in the sights of so many different kinds of small craft - he pointed out where he saw techs working, and Harrigan nodded before saying "They're probably busy, we'll leave them be for now".
Koronna's Stryker flew in just a momen or two later, and General Franklin watched it manoevre slowly before landing in its usual landing spot.
"No defects..." Altur told one of the techs that rushed over to them "But if you are conducting maintenance inspections on other craft, you should do one on this one as well should you reach it during your shift"
"We will, Commander Altur" the Kalish tech replied "if we have time. Other craft must be inspected before this one" before returning to the others.
General Franklin strode over to his wife as soon as he could see her, hugging her and murmuring softly to her - Harrigan could hear every word thanks to his change, but just stood back and watched and smiled.
"Nothing to report" Koronna told Harrigan when they reached him "The sight of our Stryker caused the uncertainty you told us to expect, but no hostility was directed against us".
"Didn't think there would be" Harrigan replied "Good to hear it confirmed, though".
"Has progress been made retrieving Anton?" Koronna asked.
"Cap'n Rulok says it's better to get him doing as much of that as possible himself" Harrigan told her "We'll certainly watch, but not help unless he looks like he's got himself into really serious trouble".
Koronna thought about that, then nodded.
"He is my son..." she said "but my son must learn without his father or I looking over his shoulder every microt. He should, I hope, have managed to escape from confinement by now".
"Yeah, that's all taken care of" Harrigan replied "He's even made a new friend on the way, so it looks like we'll have a few extra helpers around once we get them all safely stowed away".
"Good" Koronna decided "My son is thinking beyond his desire for retribution... he is clever, War Commander, but is much like his father in his personality - so he may take a few cycles to calm down and settle himself enough for us to see if he will make a good officer".
"Don't worry about that" Harrigan assured her "Plenty for him to do right here an' now. I got Harek on the case, he's closest to where your son is... once Anton and his helper cross state lines I'll get Harek stirring things up where he is".
Once General Franklin and his wife came over to them, Harrigan said "We could put you in the main galley with me... but I think the people in one of the others would like to get local celebrities. We'll take you to one where there's people of every species, you'll get to see a lot that way - you get the same kinds of food in all of them, though".
General Franklin laughed at being described as a local celebrity, while Harrigan grinned at how excitable the Kalish would be at getting to see important humans before everyone else.
"Information from all available sources..." TR Holt told the President and all his advisors "confirms what we already learned from the intelligence officer at the base General Franklin was operating out of. A large nuclear device was detonated, underground from what we could find out, at the location this War Commander told us General Franklin was being held captive".
"Fallout?" one of the advisors asked.
"It was a ten megaton explosion" TR Holt replied "though from what information I was able to get out of the War Commander so far, it was detonated maybe twenty metres underground in an Islamic State stronghold".
"So there's a real chance of three-headed camels or four-armed hajji down there?" the same advisor asked.
TR Holt have them his best What planet are you on right now? look, after which he added "To he honest... I don't know. I had DIA run it through their simulators, and while they're sure there'll be a huge crater they don't know for certain how big it'll be - we've never tested warheads this large underground, and we know absolutely nothing about the capabilities of the War Commander and those he serves in regards to nuclear weapons".
"I'd say it's safe to assume..." SecDef replied, turning to face TR Holt "That they've conducted an extensive test program... and most likely used a number of warheads as well. My gut instinct says that village over the top of that Islamic State bunker's been pulverised and vapourised, with whatever tiny bits that are still left either sitting at the bottom of a highly-radioactive hole in the Iraqi desert, or drifting with the wind as fallout".
"I expect so" TR Holt confirmed, nodding "We've already made contact with people in local governments on both sides of the border... unofficially, of course. We've implied the source of our collective problem is a device stolen or bought from the former Soviet Union - there's enough nuclear scientists or former missile brigade commanders over there short of cash that the Iraqi government should believe us".
SecState thought about what TR Holt had said before cringing.
"Yes..." TR Holt replied when asked "If the winds don't change, some of the fallout will end up on the Iranian side of the border as well. Underground explosions being what they are, the immediate area around ground zero will be a no-go zone for at least a few years. Without knowing what design the War Commander's people used for that device I won't make a guess at how far the fallout might spread. Possibly as far as Basrah, if the winds are against us".
