“Be careful came the response from Six and we are each arming ourselves with blasters now. Someone is going to check out the other topside staircase and we will blast some uv glow paint on that staircase so that any cloaked intruders highlighted against that background will be easier to see,” Said Jessi.
“Good one,” I said.
“Send someone to check out and paint the basement corridor. They could have swum in too.” Jongi said.
“Done already.” Matt thought said, “I’m here. No water on the floor and no signature.”
Meanwhile, Dillion suggested we go invisible. We concentrated and then teleported out that door turned around and saw the Badjan barely silhouetted against the opening cautiously peering in just as a flash of light likely from a flash bang grenade went off. He started to turn around when I gave him one short blast. Dillion grabbed the pack he had thrown a few feet down the hill. He was dead meat and we teleported back inside the landing, closing back the hatch. “Two down up here team.” We had not felt anymore life signatures at that entrance. They had obviously defeated the defensive guns and booby traps though. Dillion sprayed the inside of the hatch and the stairs leading downward in uv paint and he was now carrying the blaster from the invader at the top of the stair. We decided that I would join Mader in checking out the other topside staircase and Dillion would go to the basement escape to help Matt. I teleported to the top landing to save time.
I arrived at the landing to see Mader in hand to hand combat with two Outlaws. One had his knife lifting up to skewer Mader in the shoulder and he suddenly lost interest since I’d removed his head from his shoulders with a short burst of my blaster. The other Badjan was momentarily distracted by seeing his colleague’s fate and Mader slammed the pointy end of his blaster into his liver. The shock of the impact was enough to stun him and the blaster did the rest as it was triggered. His eyes were totally glazed over as he crumpled to the ground. Mader said, “Thank you. They ambushed me, I only saw one. But I sucked up their energies as they were struggling and I was able to weaken them a bit. Very intriguing their energy profile. They seem drug fueled.”
Matt suddenly called for help. I jumped into action and Dillion and I both teleported into the basement anteroom almost at the same time.
I thought spoke to Mader, “ Be careful there may be more up there Mader. We had not finished securing the hatch to his Stairway no. 2 yet. This could be a diversion. Jessi can you leave the control room and guard the bottom entrance to the Stairway no. 1 too.”
She said, “Yup, done.”
Cherese said, “There are about twelve headed to our front door. Jongi and Beecher are there with Lister and six of his men. There are six headed for the Infirmary with eight of our men there, none injured so far. The outer buildings have Badjans closing in too. Oh dear, the last set of explosions seem to have come from above and all the signals seem to show the five Outlaws who were headed to the outlying buildings are unmoving. I clicked to the soldiers over there to carefully check them out and they’re aware of possible cloaked and booby trapped Outlaws.”
Jongi said, “Great job coordinating Cherese. I had signaled to Choka to help us with the circling assets above the clouds. There will be more fireworks shortly.”
Almost immediately there was a ripping braying sound like a ginormous long winded fart and Cherese said, “Oh dear there are only four now moving toward our building and two still moving I toward the Infirmary.”
Jongi said, “Use your sensors, purge all attackers inside the control room center. We are going out to mop up the rest.”
There was a staccato burst of fire from the front of our building and a few thumps from exploding grenades. We later learned that Beecher simply teleported while cloaked over the remaining four crawling our way, lit them up with laser beams and Lister’s men picked them off in seconds like shooting fish in a barrel. The two remaining ones got stopped at the door of the Infirmary with blasters set on stun so we could get intel out of them. One of them seemed to be a senior member of the attackers based on Jongi’s prior probing, thus the decision to save him and his fellow attacker.
In the basement, we crouched by Matt’s side. He had heard a commotion using his sound and vibration sensing and his left hand was on the floor feeling for more. We were still calming our noisy breathing and so Dillion and I could not sense what he was picking up yet.
He explained, “I’m sure I heard the grating being removed and then water sounds, sloshing. They must be removing wetsuits. There are two, likely three of them.”
Realizing that any blaster type weapon fired in the confines of the narrow concrete cavelike corridor would be not kind to either them or us, we retreated to where it was wider and I told them to hold. I scooted back upstairs, grabbed onto two of the laser cannons and teleported back down there where they waited with their blasters. I stuck one of the portable cameras onto the back end of the room and silently set-up the two laser cannons with rubber bands on their triggers.
We retreated out of their range and waited, watching on the little hand held remote screen that amazingly still worked despite having had EMPs go off earlier. Simple hardened electronics sometimes survive if they’re underground. In the dim light three hapless figures weapons at the ready, came around the bend crouched, trying to be silent and careful. Unfortunately for them, they were loud to our ears, water still squishing out of their shoes.
Dillion teleported his blaster around the corner and Matt and I lifted the laser cannons off the floor. There were three deadly weapons less than ten feet away pointed at them floating in free air, no person attached. What’s a guy to do? Their weapons clattered out of their hands onto the floor as their arms carefully lifted above their heads. We motioned with our floating weapons for them to move forward as we slowly backed up our teleported rifles. Dillion retrieved his blaster back into his hand and went to get cuffs. He returned with two soldiers who did their trick of slinging two cuffs onto each of the three prisoners, one set each on the arm and ankles, from their dispenser. Going too close to or touching prisoners physically could be life threatening so that was no longer recommended.
Now secured, we probed the area to see if there were any extra hidden attackers. The three of them were searched, stripped almost naked out of their cold wet clothes, then marched separately to a secure holding room and given warm blankets. They said nothing, just grabbed the blankets and sat down on the wooden benches. I could feel their relief. There was one door in only and there were no hidden weapons on their person as all three of us scanned them.
We reported in, Matt saying, “Three captured from the basement entrance via the pond.”
Breecher said, “I went to all of the outer buildings and all soldiers there are safe, only three injured, mostly flesh wounds and burns from blasters plus hearing loss that hopefully will be temporary. The Infirmary with Gooch is safe. We are getting reinforcements and fresh soldiers flown in with new electronic equipment to replace those fried by EMP bursts. Despite hardening them, not everything survived. So technical crews are coming. We had them staged just in case. So everyone remain alert as myself, Jongi and Lister gather up the bodies and verify that no one else is lurking around to pick us off.”
We finished the battle at 0155am but no one got to rest until power was fully restored and the whole valley was lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree of old human culture. A few still practiced that old custom actually. With six highly armed Securinet gunships patrolling and armored drones all over the village of Bahoe plus more snaking through the various mine shafts, we felt secure enough to retire to our common room to sleep. Jongi told us to please sleep in until 0900am. We did that, just as heavily as logs!
10. Maturation
8:15 in the morning my eyes popped open. I had programmed my Vidcom to alarm. That was about the only way that I would wake up on time I had felt since I had been so tired. It still took quite an effort for me to slowly ease out of bed though. When I did, it was to realize th
at I was the only one up. So I had the unfortunate duty of having to wake up some other grumpy teenagers. After teeth brushing, we went to have a shower.
We had to take turns sharing the shower. I waited by Jessi in her boy shorts and exercise bra and as I walked by stooped to give her a little peck on her forehead. She grabbed my neck and pulled me down into a bear hug. Lord Meneer did she smell good. We locked lips and she pressed her chest into me as she stood up. “Gosh Jonah, I’m so glad you’re ok, we’re all ok. I tried so hard to shield you from my worry, not just for you but for all of us. It would have been inappropriate to be distracting and with Jongi and Breecher in on our thought speak too.”
I could feel the intensity of her emotion. There was a slight tremble in her hug.
Cherese came out of one of the showers, looked at us, “ You two look like you need to go get a private room Lordy.”
I turned my back to Cherese as she walked by, so that my rising parts wouldn’t be visible. Jessi certainly had two prominent raisins on her chest. She pulled away as I said, “Baby, I love you.”
She said, “Me too.”
We were getting to know each other. Maybe danger was an aphrodisiac to us both. We sure were in a position to find out with all that had happened at the Fenway Control center.
Saying hello to everyone on the way out, I walked down the long corridor to have a good look out at the carnage brought on by the nighttime warfare. It was total devastation. Even the yellow armored heavy troop carrier through which we had entered the control center the evening before was a mangled mess. Those Badjans had been able to lay their hands on some tremendous firepower. I made my way back into the building and scoured both escape staircases and peeped out both sets of hatches, only to be met by stern looking guards who pointed their weapons at me until they realized that I was friend, not foe. Same thing in the basement where several divers emerged after presumably reattaching the grating to get to the pond. The thing is that it couldn’t be welded shut, because it had to stay available for the occupants of the Control center to use as an exit if in dire straits.
I supposed that the explosive charges and other auto- cannon deterrents were being reset. I was back from my reconnoitering to find everyone ready, if still slightly bleary eyed. I benefited from having to be up early to help Dad on the farm, before going to school. Yay to farm work I say.
Mader grabbed my arm as I walked alongside him, “That was some good combat last night my boy. We busted some chops didn’t we?”
Dillion heard the conversation, “Everyone performed so well. I am amazed that we didn’t have more casualties really.”
Matt, not to be outdone said, “Seeing people die isn’t something I’d ever experienced and maybe we are still numb about it, so that I’m not freaking out yet. Or maybe because it was truly us versus them. Do you think the Immersion hardened us to things like that?”
Cherese and Jessi were whispering to each other as they walked, and only Lord Meneer only knows about what! I did wonder though whether it had anything to do with me, but I recognized that my earlier interaction had left me a little bit sensitive.
We came to the gathering room and Matt opened the door to see Mr. Breecher pouring some tea while standing close to Jongi, almost whispering in her ear. It was buffet style breakfast featuring all the usual suspects. The eggs were yellow and fluffed, bread in multiple different forms, cheese and meat in many forms made to look like it came from real animals but was probably from Ruston’s farm. Ruston’s meat grew in large vats from cultures, with people in masks and hats brewing it. My Dad grew the real deal on hooves.
There was a nice rotund lady briskly walking around making sure that things needing to be heated reached the correct temperature. It looks like she must have come in on a transport. I had not seen her before nor heard any reference to her being in the compound. There was nobody home when I checked for brain activity just the buzz of electricity and electronics. I must be still tired I’d realized then. She was a top notch robot with super real skin tones and a voice that was finessed with over and undertones. It took me too long to catch on! So she must have been plugged in charging all night and her batteries were concentrated in her chest and behind, oh dear tomfoolery!
Jongi came across the room toward the bunch of us now lined up, trays in hand and she looked at me directly, “Don’t feel bad. She fooled me too initially. She seemed the most bright, normal human person I had met in a while. Join Breecher and I over at those two tables when your trays are full. Eat up everyone, around here you never know when you next meal will come.”
We were all gathered around two tables wolfing down our ample breakfast. The ladies all somehow got shunted to the front of the line and ended up sitting with Jongi and Breecher on their big table. We young men sat on a smaller table designed for four. Other than the clink of utensils, there was the sounds of slurping and chewing which seemed inordinately loud now to our ears. Jongi suddenly tilted her head strangely and honestly I noticed because I heard the loud popping of her neck bones as she moved. It’s amazing how loud things could sound in a quiet room and since our hearing has increasingly become enhanced...
Jongi suddenly pulled out the chair next to her on her left and I felt a tap on my shoulder. Everyone of us had a heads up surprised expression on our faces. We all felt an energy surge in the room but couldn’t pin it down to any particular source. Suddenly Choka materialized in the chair beside Jongi. I guess we were all a tuned enough to recognize his energy but not as much as we would have liked. “Amazing, just amazing the tricks of those old ones. So he can move himself just as fast and invisibly as he can teleport others. Wow!”
Jongi’s left arm dropped off the tablecloth and Choka’s right arm was not to be seen. I assumed that they were giving each other an arm squeeze.
“Was it only me who got a tap on the shoulder?” I thought spoke and I saw almost imperceptible nods. Those two life partners certainly have a close friendship.
Choka had a slight smile on his face. He said, “Good day folks. Yes I did touch each of you and you will need to be able to detect my energy from afar. We will practice and hone your skills starting today.”
Jessi and I caught each other’s eyes. I was hoping that one day I would have that kinship with my life partner. It felt like she approved of that thought. We did not say it out to each other.
Along that long central corridor there were several doors. One of them was a brig to hold the wayward - prisoners. Those Badjans who had been captured had occupied it but the fresh reinforcements had already extricated them out of the valley on transports along with other live and dead comrades. As a group, we went door to door checking every nook and cranny in the control center.
Heavy construction equipment had started to roll into the valley as well as troop carriers to allow better rotation of security. There were troops scouring the surrounding hills and valleys. The underground chambers and previously lightly monitored mines were getting a thorough search. The trap along the trail was fixed but Jongi said the mechanism was intact so that we could use it to test new groups coming for their ‘quest’.
New intense monitoring of these underground passageways was being instituted. Previously this was deliberately not done to create the impression to the Outlaws that security was light. Now that their efforts at ambush had failed twice, it made sense to drop the pretense. They would certainly realize that it was a set up if there was no change. The long and the short of all this, Jongi assured us, is that we could relax our guard a little and focus on training over the next nine days. Phew...
It started with classroom work close to noon. Choka, Jongi and Breecher shared some of their experiences both in Toigan and off. Once Choka said, while on Baclet, one of our nearby planets he and his group were ambushed by a group of thieves. He was able to teleport himself some distance away and ‘lift’ all their weapons off them when they relaxed. It was a shock to them, to find their captives suddenly hands untied and now armed with their ow
n arms pointed right back at them. High speed teleporting and telekinesis can be invaluable. Breecher had demonstrated that just last night.
Believe me, we needed no persuading. We all sopped up up their stories like bread and gravy. We wanted to absorb their skills and to go on to have our own adventures. Our tutors were careful to point out though, that sometimes your adversaries will be other humans with similar or even greater powers. Even some of the wild nonhuman creatures may be quite a handful. We needed to hear that.
We were about to get up for the practice session, but suddenly we seemed powerless to do so. A glance to my left and right showed furrowed brows on my colleagues. Breecher, Jongi and Choka all got up and started to walk out of the room. Breecher had that quizzical impatient look on his face.
He said, “Come on folks, let’s go,” with an imperious wave of his hands.
He turned to his partners, “I think they’ve had enough of our company, these kids. Well ok then. See you next door. My advice to you all is to really want to come and you will. Burst any strings holding you back.”
Outlaw Badjans (Six of Toigan) Page 8