by Ben Winston
“The transmitter is on the Hammer. I’m not sure how they get it to the transmitter, but it can only happen when the Hammer is in the sky,” Bailey replied.
“The postal service would be too slow for some of the information they would need. Do you know how they get emergency communications?” Mark asked.
Bailey sighed again. “They call us. Or, more specifically, they call Lisa.” He glanced at his wife.
“All communications into and out of any official government facility is always recorded and monitored. So they needed a private person to call in emergencies. That’s me. They gave me a device that I attach to the vidphone when they call. It records the communication, and alerts the lizards that it’s been used. I just take it to the basement, and hand it over,” Lisa explained. “There usually is a Lizard waiting for me by the time I get there.”
“I already checked the underwater base, and it’s dead and flooded. Where is the real base located?” John asked.
“I honestly don’t know its exact location. However, it has to be close by because of how quickly they respond when we have to call them, or Lisa has a message for them,” Bailey replied.
“The lizards refer to the tunnels as the maze. I was taught their language in the event I need to understand a message without the device,” Lisa replied. “I also know the base itself is in a place that cannot be scanned, wherever that could be.”
“Who else is on this?” Does anyone else suspect that I’m a Marine?” John asked.
“Most of the village elders are part of it. As to who knows you’re a Marine, I don’t know. Lisa and I were the only ones there when they gave me the orders about you,” Bailey replied. “They also gave me a toxin to put in your food tonight. I don’t know what it is.”
“It would have to be something pretty damn powerful to kill an enhanced Marine,” Chloe said. “It would have to act fast enough to make sure John didn’t kill you once he knew he was poisoned.”
Lisa nodded. “Yes, it would. I’ve been afraid to even touch the stuff.”
“Get a sample of it to Mary as quickly as possible, for analysis,” Mark replied. “As for the Saint’s, I do not see how they could have avoided the situation they now find themselves in.”
“With respect your Majesty, they could have called for help.” Chloe said.
“Really?” Mark asked. “Put yourself in their place Major. Who could they call? Who could they pass a message to that they knew was safe to tell? That transport that was captured had nine thousand other people on it. All of which were repatriated to this planet. So you tell me, who could they call that wouldn’t raise suspicion?”
Chloe was quiet as she thought it through. “All outbound comms have to go through the main comm center in Threshold. If they tried to go through official channels, those people could be spies as well.”
“There are very few tourists to this part of the lake, and even if a message was passed to one of them, it would be caught when they left the planet, unless it was verbal, in which case the tourist would most likely panic, or think you were nuts,” Carl said.
“Okay, so Bailey, Lisa and Gloria are innocent in this,” John said. “The question is, what do we do next, the Lizards are expecting Bailey to produce a body tonight, and I won’t allow anyone to harm Gloria.”
Lisa looked at him sharply. “Except you that is!”
Chapter 11
“No, Mama.” Gloria said as she stood up and removed the devices on her. “It tickled, but it wasn’t painful.”
“What? You were in on this?” Bailey asked, hurt.
“Daddy, I knew you had something to do with this and had information John and the others would need. I also knew you wouldn’t tell them willingly. Yes, I played along and tricked you out of it, but it had to be done. What you don’t know is that we are going to be destroyed anyway. The Tammerain are getting ready to invade the Kingdom again.”
Once again Bailey paled. “Is that true?” He looked at the King.
Mark nodded. “Yes, unfortunately, it is. It is also a secret. The last thing we need is for people to panic. In fact, the mission that the Guards are on is to stop that invasion. Considering their position, if they do invade, Bethel’s Anvil will be one of the first planets hit.”
“So, send our fleets out here! Show them it would be a bad idea to invade right now!” Bailey said.
“Rest assured, Constable, there is a large enough force in your sector to defend your planet. However, as soon as I sent them out there, the Tammerain shifted their position, closer to you. They knew about our fleet movements before they even dropped out of hyperspace.
“We are working to plug the leaks from this end, but we also need to shut down their network if we want to have a hope of stopping them this time,” Mark said. “Also, the existence of the Marines on your planet is also classified.”
Bailey nodded. “If John doesn’t want anyone to know he’s still a Marine, then that’s his business. I support soldier’s rights.”
“That’s good to know,” Mark said.
“...and something we appreciate,” Alice said, smiling.
“John, when we first met, at the fire, I could tell there was something special about you. I also immediately liked you. For me, that’s not something I normally do,” Bailey said. “If you can get our asses out of this, I’d be proud to call you friend, if you’d allow it.”
“Gee, I feel left out!” Chloe teased.
“Damn Chloe, what are you complaining about, everyone’s your friend!” Mark teased.
Chloe nodded. “That’s true, they are. I just haven’t met a person I didn’t like yet.”
“What about that greasy little spice trader that was smuggling contraband we mistook for a slaver?” Alice asked. “I know she sure wanted to be your friend!”
“Uhg, okay, that’s one I don’t count as a friend.” Chloe said. “So if you think she was nasty, why did you keep her number?”
Alice snorted. “Hey, you never know when you might need a contact in shady places!”
“Yeah, and we all know what shady place she wanted to go!” Carl said, getting in on the teasing.
“Enough guys, we have a problem and need a solution,” John said.
“Sometimes the simplest solution is the best,” Mark replied. “If the Lizards are expecting a body, let’s make sure they get one.” He grinned evilly. “Shut down your enhancements, and allow them to move you to their base. Chloe and the others will track you, and once you are in the base, you wake up and do what you do best.”
“You want me to take on an entire base alone and naked?” John asked.
“Well, if all goes well, you wouldn’t be alone for long. In fact, one of the others would have to reactivate your enhancements, and guard you while you came back online,” Mark explained. “Carl, Alice and Chloe could shadow you through the tunnels, and drag an extra equipment pack with them. Once you get to where you’re going, they will reactivate you, and stand guard while you come back online, and suit up.
“The rest of the Marines you brought along will make their way to the base and assist you. Then you guys shut them down with extreme prejudice,” Mark explained.
“What if they do have the ability to destroy the planet?” Chloe asked. “We would have to be pretty damn fast to shut that down before they trigger it.”
“They won’t. In all of known space, and that includes the territory of the Tammerain, there are only six planets capable of supporting the Lizards. Bethel’s Anvil is one of them. The Lizards would never knowingly destroy one of those planets, even to keep it out of our hands. They would be loath to detonate anything bigger that would damage the planet irreversibly. The Tammerain lack our ability to terraform worlds,” Mark explained. “Our analyists believe that the Lizards have a religious bias against it, even if their allies did have the tech.”
“That makes no sense, you told me this planet had to be terraformed, didn’t you?” John asked.
“I did, but in this case
, we weren’t making a lifeless planet support life, but repairing a world damaged by fighting. When you won this world from them, John, they still could have taken it. In fact, from everything we know about that battle, it is a fight you should have lost. The Lizards saw all the damage and lost the will to fight. In their eyes, the planet had been killed in the battle.” He shrugged. “I’m sure they were just as happy as we were about the restoration of the world.”
“So you’re basing this plan on your belief that they won’t destroy the planet because they believe it’s some kind of sacred relic?” Bailey asked.
“Not a relic, to them it’s a manifestation of their deity. They see humans inhabiting a world they can live on as sacrilege. They won’t hesitate to kill every human on the planet, but they won’t do it if it will harm the planet,” Mark replied. “To them, it’s better to let the humans have the planet, so they can come back and take it, than to destroy it to deny it to us.”
“So that rules out explosives, but what about chemical agents? If I remember correctly, the Lizards were pretty good at devising toxins and such,” Will said.
“That is still a possibility, but again, if the toxin would harm the planet in anyway, they won’t use it. That limits their options by quite a bit,” Mark explained.
“So what do you want us to do?” Bailey asked.
“You will have dinner tonight, just like you planned. John will go with you, and shut down after dinner. You will then move him to the basement and summon the Lizards to get the body. The team will take care of the rest,” Mark said.
“I know I’m not knowledgeable about such things, but what if they don’t take John back to their base, maybe just drag him out into the middle of the lake and drop him in the abyss?” Lisa asked.
“When a soldier dies, the enhancements immediately cremate the body. The fact that they want you to bring them the body, means that they believe that their toxin will either not actually kill him, or that it will prevent the cremation of the body, and they can analyze it to see what we did to enhance him to begin with,” Mark explained. “We should know more once Mary gets a chance to check out the toxin they gave you. Speaking of Mary, where is she?” Mark asked.
“She said she had something she wanted to take a look at, and she would be out on the barge if we needed her,” Gloria replied.
“Ahh, she must have gotten the data packet I had sent to her,” Mark replied.
“You know, Mark, I’ve been thinking about that location you asked us about. It’s going to need a lot of room, and have its own small star port for emergency patients. It’ll have to be far enough from Threshold not to interfere with that star port. After all this is over, why don’t I ‘sell’ this place to you, and retire to the barge. Then you can use the land for the project. However, I would like to maintain a small part of the property,” John said.
“That would certainly make a lot of sense, considering what’s going to be built there. Which part would you like to keep?” Mark asked.
“There is a small bay between the home lagoon and the preserve. The locals like to use it every weekend to blow off steam. I’d like to keep that, and some of the land surrounding it,” John said.
“Party Cove?” Gloria asked, looking at John.
Grinning, he nodded. “We can’t just let tradition die.”
“There’s a story here I’d like to hear sometime,” Mark said. “We’ll work out the details after this mission is over. Gloria, would you mind going home with your parents to bring that toxin back for Mary?”
Gloria nodded. “Sure, I can do that, Mark. Are you going to call me later?”
Mark was smiling when he nodded. “Of course I am! Will, would you go along to protect them?”
“Uhm Highness, Mary doesn’t carry a lab around in her pocket,” John said. “There won’t be much she can do with the stuff.”
Mark nodded. “I understand that, John. But she is the best qualified to deal with it at this point. I just hope that, even with her lack of a lab, she can tell us something about it.”
“Forgive me, Highness, but if we are still going to do dinner, I need to get home so I can start cooking,” Lisa said, wondering what the deal was with her daughter and the King.
“You’re right, I keep forgetting the time differences,” Mark said. “Good luck everyone. We’ll be here for intel support when you launch. I’ll see you then.” With a wink at Gloria, Mark faded out.
“Gloria, what’s the deal with you and the King?” Lisa asked.
“We’re friends, Mom. These people are all my friends,” the girl replied. “Come on, let’s get home, I’ll tell you all about it while we’re gone.”
Lisa nodded. “John, do you have any food allergies I should know about?”
John grinned. “No Ma’am, I’m enhanced, remember?”
“That’s going to be really hard to get used to,” Lisa said. “I just don’t see you as a Marine, you’re not all big and bulky like the holos showed you.”
“There’s a reason for it, and I’ll explain it over dinner, if that’s okay?” John replied.
Lisa brightened up at the prospect. “I’d like that, thank you.”
Bailey stood, “Well, if we’re going to pull this off, we need to get prepared.”
“Could you be at our place in about two hours, John?” Lisa asked.
John nodded. “I’ll be there, and ready. Would you like me to bring anything, a wine perhaps?”
When Lisa looked curious why John felt he needed to bring something, John replied. “It’s an old Earth custom. Before the fall, a dinner guest was expected to bring the wine for dinner.”
“That’s right, you actually remember Earth don’t you?” Lisa asked.
John nodded. “It’s too bad the planet is so far inside Tammerain space, it was a beautiful place I would like to see again someday.”
“Lisa, if you keep asking him questions, we will still be here talking until the Lizards overrun the town looking for us!” Bailey said.
Lisa looked embarrassed, but John gave her a hug. “Don’t worry, we’ll all have plenty of time to talk once this is over. You can ask me anything you want to then.”
“Just don’t get yourself killed, John,” Lisa said.
With that, Bailey led his family out of the house to his cruiser, and they left for home.
The small team, and the leader of the ‘kids’ all met in the dining area of the barge. They used the dinner table as a planning desk, and the Barge’s holographic suite was used to display the plans as they were made and modified on the fly.
One of the first things to be changed was who would actually be ‘dying’ and going to the base. One of the ‘younger’ Marines that looked a lot like John was summoned and selected for that part of the mission. John had vetoed the suggestion until Mary over-ruled him.
“John, simply put, you won’t survive the extended down time along with being under water. There have been several upgrades to the enhancement systems that require the newer controller. Gunnery Sergeant Skarsgaard has those upgrades. He’ll survive, you won’t. He’s going, you’re not.”
“She’s got you there, Boss,” Chloe said grinning at him.
“None of the Guard does. However, not only do any of you have the needed upgrades, to the Lizards, you’re infamous. They would identify any of you on sight,” Mary added. “I swear you lot are paranoid about getting upgrades.”
John didn’t have much to argue about when she told him that. Not that he minded risking his life, but if he died for real, then the mission would fail, and to John, that would be worse than death.
“Okay, so Gunny gets to take the nap, and the rest of us will shadow him to the Lizard base. We’ll use the control suite here on the Barge as our command center. Since there are so few of us, Mary will man the Command Center,” John said.
“What?” Mary said, surprised. “I don’t even know where it’s at!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll show you everything you’ll need to know
. When Gloria gets back, she can act as your pilot,” John said, grinning at her.
“I won’t be required to use any of the weapons systems will I?” Mary asked.
“You’ll have control of them, but we can give that job to Gloria. She’ll have control as well,” John replied.
Chapter 12
When John and Gunny Skarsgaard left for the Saints, Mary, Gloria and a barge loaded with armored Marines headed out onto the lake. Earlier scans had shown some of the tunnels under the town, and now the team used that information and moved to where the system of tunnels opened out into the lake, near the old, underwater Lizard base.
Both Gloria and Mary were concerned about the amount of weight the barge would be required to carry. John just chuckled, and took them below to show them the hidden parts of the boat. To say they were amazed and surprised would be an understatement. At first, Gloria wanted to know where this deck came from since the Barge didn’t draw that much water.
John explained it to her, and showed her to the cockpit. After Jon showed her all the navigation and weapons controls, he left the women in the lower part of the barge to get used to the systems. Chloe would stay with them to the jump-off point in case the two women had questions. While they were in route to the jump-off point for the Marines, Mary used the powerful computers in the barge to analyze the poison the Lizards gave Lisa. What she found was surprising, and gave her an idea to help the Temporal Guard live normal lives. However, for the time being, John and the Marine sergeant needed to know what effect the potion would have on a Marine.
“How do you want to handle this, Major?” Bailey asked.
“I’m still the John you met earlier, Bailey. You don’t have to change the way you treat me just because you know who I am now,” John said.
Bailey nodded. “I will when you’re not on duty. I have too much respect for you and your team to do otherwise.”
Lisa nodded her agreement. “It would be insulting not to address you as Major when you’re on the clock. It’ll be hard enough not to do it when you’re off duty.”