by Jan Stryvant
"Nonessential stuff can start going as soon as we pick a new place. The rest of it?" Sean gave a small shrug. "We'll pull out when it becomes too risky to stay."
"Not going to put it all in Reno?"
Sean shook his head. "Not anymore. We can stage out of Reno temporarily, but I'm thinking something down around Carson City. Either in town or out by Lyon Peak."
"Don't the dwarves have an exit up there?" she asked as they headed for the armory.
Sean nodded. "I want to be close to them, so if we're taken by surprise, we have someplace safe for our people to retreat to. Plus it'll shorten our supply lines, now that a lot of our parts are coming from them."
"It still seems a bit unreal to be talking about Reno and all the rest falling to the djevels."
"I'm so numb to it, I don't care anymore." Sean sighed. "I remember when we bought this place I thought we'd never have to move again. But here it is not even two years later, and we're doing exactly that."
They stopped by the planning room on the way there so Sean could request his helicopter, then they geared up and went outside. Not surprisingly, Travis was there, along with a half dozen of his security team.
"Sometimes I think you have me bugged," Sean said to Travis as they boarded.
"Huh, hadn't thought about that. Jordan! Make a note; we need to bug Sean in the future."
"You got it, Boss!"
Shaking his head, Sean moved into the copilot's seat across from Trey and put on a headset.
"Where to?" Trey asked.
"I want to check out how the fight's going. After that, fly down to Carson City and check the outskirts."
"What are we looking for?"
"A new base."
"We moving?"
"Eventually. Now, let's go."
Sean looked around a lot as they got airborne and headed off to the current battle. Things really hadn't changed all that much from up here, if you discounted the occasional convoy. It wasn't until they got closer to the battle that he saw the scars left by all the previous battles at the previous gateways. There'd been about a hundred of them by now, and there were going to be a couple hundred more before all this was over.
Trey started to fly lower as he got closer, until eventually he was maybe fifty feet above the ground and skirting around the hills instead of flying over them.
"I'm gonna set you down here, Sean. I can't get any closer without coming into their sights."
"Okay. Don't go too far away. We're not going to be here long. Which way is the command post?"
"Due north of us. You can't miss it."
"Thanks!" Sean looked around the back. "Let's go!"
Trey moved off as soon as they were out of the helicopter. Trudging up the side of the small hill, they dropped low and looked over it.
The command post was maybe a hundred yards away, just below the top of another rise. Getting up, they double-timed their way over there, being quickly passed through by the sentries. He found Roloff, the dwarf general Chad had put in charge, up by the crest of the hill, watching the battle below.
"How are we doing, Roloff?" Sean asked.
Roloff looked at him, gave him a nod, then went back to watching the battle.
"Not too bad. Those boys in their armor sure do seem to know their jobs right well. But the devils down there, they're starting to figure out how to deal with 'em. They're pushin' real hard, too. Real hard. About has hard as they did with the last large gate."
"I'm looking for a place down around Carson City to set up for when we get pushed off our hill. Something close to your hall. Any suggestions?"
"Yah. Take over Minden-Tahoe Airport. It's already got everything you need, it's close to town, and we have an old tunnel that runs out by there we can fix up easily enough."
Sean snorted. "I don't know if I can afford to buy an airport."
"I didn't say to buy it, Sean. I said to take it over. You already declared martial law in Reno. Might as well grab that, too."
"How'd you hear about that? I only did it a half hour ago!"
Roloff looked at him and grinned. "What, you don't think I got my own spies in city hall? Plus, Bill called and told me. If yer worried about it, call the governor and tell him you're going to take it. Not everyone is ignoring the coming battle. Besides, if you call the governor and talk to him, he'll feel like he's still got some say in what's going on."
"Ugh, politics."
"It's the ugly part of the war, don't I know!"
Sean had to agree with that. He spent another few minutes watching the battle and listening to Roloff as he directed the fight. They'd only lost three tanks so far, but the fight was still young. But he saw enough to know tank combat wasn't something he knew anything about. Grabbing Roxy and the others, he called Trey back and went to the pick up point.
"Where to?" Trey asked.
"Minden Airport." Sean cast a silence spell on the helicopter and looked around at the others. "Anybody got a cellphone I can borrow?"
"I do," Roxy said. "Who do you need to call?"
"The governor. I figure he'd probably like to hear what I've been doing."
"Ya' think?" Roxy said with a laugh. "Just a minute and I'll get him on the phone for you."
§
Sean padded over to where the First was holding court and flopped down onto the ground nearby.
"Rough day?"
"Yeah, I had to pretend to be you." Sean sighed as the others chuckled.
The First laughed. "I heard. Estrella was quite impressed with you reading them the riot act and putting your foot down."
"Oh yeah, I put it down alright. On their necks," Sean said with a snort.
"You gave them every chance, Son. Honestly, I think you gave them too many, but you're still learning."
"I know, I know. I'm going around in either my hybrid or full lion form from now on. I don't think I'll be doing 'human Sean' for a long, long time."
"They do need a constant reminder. Still, I'm sure they'll get over it."
"They'll never look at me the same again. I killed one of their friends, then I rubbed their noses in it. People don't care much for that, Dad."
"You didn't kill him, one of your wives did," the First pointed out.
Sean laughed. "Yeah, like they're going to make that distinction. Then I had to talk to the governor and tell him I was taking over Reno, and 'oh, if you don't mind, I'm taking over an airport, too.'"
"I'm surprised you bothered to call him," Keairra said.
"Like it or not, I still need his help. I don't want to run everything myself. I just want them to do what I tell them to and not play stupid games."
"What's the airport for?" the First asked.
"We need someplace to go when we get pushed off our hill. Originally I thought we'd use Reno, but Chad is pretty certain we won't be able to hold it."
"Raban is holding Munich."
"Raban is fighting what? Hundreds? Maybe a thousand? You heard what Estrella saw. We're going to be fighting millions. We've got lords and their magic users, and who knows? A prince or two may decide to join the fight."
"So what did the governor say?" Keairra asked.
"He understood what I was doing, even if he wasn't happy about it. He even believed me when I told him I had no idea who killed that asshole or why, but that I was going to milk it for all it was worth to get everyone off their asses and working on survival."
"Well, it's a start at least."
"Yeah, it's a start, but it's probably too little, too late. We've got, what? Six days until the main gateway opens? I'm still pushing for more artillery pieces, more soldiers, more bullets, more rifles, more bombs, more of everything. There's always some asshole somewhere who decides we don't need what we asked for, screwing everything up and causing a shortage or a delay."
Sean shook his head. "There are times when I'm tempted to call up Cali's relatives and have them kill a whole bunch of worthless paper-pushers."
"Well, maybe you should," the First
said with a serious look.
"You can't be serious," Sean said with a groan.
"Son, I hate to do this to you, but you're going to have to do some very nasty things here in the next few years. The kinds of things I'm sure you're going to have a long time reconciling with your conscience."
Sean sighed heavily, dropping his head. "Now what?"
"You're going to have to cut off their food supply."
"Isn't that the whole reason we're doing this?" Sean grumbled.
"I don't mean like that. I mean if they take a town and it's full of people. You're going to have to kill all those people before the demons can eat them."
Sean blinked. "Wait, what?"
"You'll have to kill them. When you pull out of Reno, you're either going to have to nuke it, or build one of your bombs and set it off."
"I can't do that!"
"Sorry, you can, and you will."
"But I'll be murdering thousands! Tens of thousands! Maybe more!"
The First walked over to him and placed a paw on his shoulders. "What do the demons do to humans?"
"They eat them. But that doesn't mean we should just kill them all; we might save a few!"
"No, Son," the First said, shaking his head, "they don't eat them, they eat their souls. They destroy everything there is. They take away the afterlife; they take away whatever it is that humans fundamentally are; they take away their chance at going on to the next stage in their existence.
"What they do is far worse than killing them. You're doing them a huge favor by killing any human before they can be eaten. Remember, they're all going to die one day. But if they die by your hand, at least their soul moves on."
"You're a bastard, you know that?" Sean growled. "And just how am I to explain that away when I do it?"
"Lying works," Keairra said with a shrug.
"Also, if you wait until the city or town has been overrun, you can claim you were attacking the demons," the First said, continuing. "No one is going to know there were any humans left alive unless you tell them. You can claim they were all dead, you can claim you got them out. I'll tell you right now, your president, your senior military leaders? They're all going to understand exactly what you did, because I'm going to have Tisha remind them.
"But I'm sorry, this isn't going to win you any popularity contests. Once we've won, everyone will be happy. They'll get over it."
"Yeah, right," Sean said, sighing as he rolled over onto his back. "It's been seventy years since World War Two ended, and people are still going after the people who won it for the way they did it."
"Seventy years from now, you may be living here with the rest of us waiting for your turn in the queue," Keairra pointed out.
"Maybe sooner than that if I lose this war," Sean grumbled. "Having to be so positive all the time, so gung-ho, so certain, and doing everything I can to inspire the others, that really wears me down. I have no idea how you all make it look so easy."
Keairra laughed. "Adam says the same thing about you, you know. He wants to know how you make it all look so easy, and at your age, too! You've actually made him jealous."
"Adam? Jealous of me?" Sean shook his head thinking about that.
"It's the best thing that's happened to him in a very long time. He's finally trying to do all those things his father and I tried for centuries to get him to do. We're very happy someone finally got through to him."
"Huh, what did that?"
Keairra gave him a very toothy grin. "They told him, in graphic detail no less, about all those people you killed and how you did it. Adam thought he had a temper! Learning you have one that trumps his was quite a shock."
"Learning they all love you for it was an even bigger one," Sampson said, coming over from the edge of the group. Sean hadn't even noticed him lying over there.
Rolling to his feet, Sean shifted into his hybrid form and gave Sampson a hug.
"Look, Sean. I know it's tough going, but the First is right. These are things that have to be done, and sadly, it's going to be up to you to do them. It's your duty, whether you like it or not."
"I know, I know. It's just, this is the only place I can actually bitch about it," Sean said with a wry grin.
"How's your mother doing?"
"Quite well, actually. For a while, I think she was seeing Arthur over at Sapientia, but I don't think she is anymore. She's stopped hiding her age."
"Her age?"
"She's part faerie, so she was hiding the fact that she looks a lot younger than she actually is…and well, Arthur is old, and he looks it."
"Well, maybe when this is all over, she can return to Ireland to look for someone new," Sampson said a little heavily. "After all, I think she'll admit that you don't need watching over anymore."
"I have kids now, Sampson. She's got grandkids. I don't think she's going to move that far away.
"That reminds me. I'm supposed to be watching a movie with the wives and the kids. I'm honestly surprised they haven't woken me up yet."
"Well, say hi to your mother and everyone else for me."
"What, not Roberta?" Sean teased.
"She's your wife now, Sean. I don't think you'd appreciate me talking with her, even from the grave," Sampson said with a small smile.
Sean nodded. If Sampson were to suddenly come back to life, he'd be pretty antsy about it if he came around Roberta, even though he still saw him as a father figure.
Closing his eyes, Sean woke himself up on the couch.
"Have a nice nap?" Jolene asked, leaning against him.
Sean nodded and noticed that the movie was almost done.
"Good, because have we got plans for you."
Boss Meetings
"Steven! I'm so glad to see you're okay!" the president said, shaking hands with him. "And Tisha, it's always a pleasure to see you." He turned and shook hands with her next.
"I thought it wasn't a big deal for a lycan to get shot?" said Linda Welsh, the newly appointed CIA director.
"Yeah, that's what I thought, right up until I got shot," Steve said with a shake of his head. "It might not kill you, but damn did it hurt!"
"At least you're protected from silver now," Director Kensington of the Secret Service said.
"I'd heard they used silver bullets," the president said, waving them over to a couple of seats. "Sit! Take a load off. How's your man doing?"
"Oh, he's fine," Steve said, sitting down by Carl Mince, who was the Secret Service's head of their new lycan division. "But I've been warning everyone for a while now that sooner or later, these ALS people would try to kill me again."
The president nodded. "I had a talk with the Department of Justice. I've asked them to look into using the RICO Act to put an end to these people."
The head of Homeland Security spoke up as well. "I've also directed the FBI to start a full investigation of this 'Anti-Lycan Society'. The two truck bombs the police found with those fanatics in Reno? There's no way they could have gotten those on their own, and we know they worked with the ALS in the past, especially since it was ALS lawyers who got their people out of jail."
Steve smiled. "Thank you for that, I'll be sure to let Sean know. We had no idea where those bombs came from, and I know they've been very worried about a repeat."
"Yes, well, unfortunately the agent in charge of the group that discovered the whole plot sat on the original reports. He tried to fire the two who leaked them to your governor."
"He did?"
"Don't worry," Kensington said, smiling, "they work for me now. With the things they're able to do with statistics, I figure we're going to need them after those gateways go away."
"So, Steven," the president said. "What does bring you here today?"
"Well, the first was those ALS idiots; we came to file a formal complaint with the government and ask for your help in putting an end to them. As that appears to be well in hand now, there's a special request from Sean."
"Oh? What does he want?"
"Tactic
al nuclear warheads," Steve said with a serious expression.
Everyone looked at each other, then back at Steve.
"Why?" the president asked.
"Because there are times ahead when he's going to need to deny those demons certain 'things'…"
"Like food," Tisha said, interrupting them. "He's going to have to destroy any large concentrations of food they gather to keep them from gaining strength and reproducing."
"Food?" Carl said, looking around, "but I thought they ate…"
"People," Steve said with a heavy sigh that wasn't at all faked.
"People's souls, to be specific," Tisha added. "Understand, if a devil eats your soul, that's it. You don't go to the afterlife or whatever it is you humans move on to after you die."
"So it's not just a matter of denying them food, it's also a matter of saving souls. Human souls."
Steve and Tisha watched as they all digested that.
"What about your 'godly wrath'?" Kensington asked after a few moments.
"Using that is a bit involved," Tisha said. "It's also something the djevels aren't familiar with, so we're saving it for specific acts."
"You know I can't just hand over nuclear weapons," the president said.
"We know," Steve replied, nodding. "That's why Sean asked me to bring it up now, before they're needed. So you can figure out what needs to be done. Sean doesn't actually need them personally. But a military group under his command? They could control and set off any devices that were used. This would allow you to still control them via those failsafe codes you use."
"Please understand, we want those devices to require those codes to be used," Tisha said, "so if the unthinkable happens and one ends up in the wrong hands, they can't set it off."
"So you're saying we'd still have final approval before any weapon was detonated?" General Baker asked, speaking up for the first time.
"Yes," Steve and Tisha both said at the same time.
"Mr. President, we have groups that are approved to handle and deploy with warheads. As long as we don't give them the codes to detonate the bombs, they can't be used."
"So you're saying we should do this, General?" the president asked.