by SK Benton
Chapter 35 - Plans
"Something very odd is going on, and I want to know what it is - immediately," growled Chairman Johnson, "and why my hand-picked captain of the Revolution, who was, by the way, in his physical prime, suddenly dies of an aneurism on the command bridge of his ship. To top it all off, suddenly none of the Draeders that had been retrofitted with hook drives can fly FTL. I want answers - now."
"Sir, it may be an aberration. All four starships maintain FTL capabilities," said Chief of Staff Coby Worthington. "Besides that, we have poured over surveillance of the flight decks and there is absolutely no sign of tampering with the fighter craft.
"Coby, you have a family, right?"
"Yes sir. A wife and two children - a boy and a girl."
"Do you love them?"
"Yes, of course sir."
"Find out what is happening or I will delete them and let you live, so you can suffer in agony for the rest of your life."
"Yes sir. We'll find out what is happening."
Johnson waved his subordinate off and turned his chair around, looking out of the plaza de armas. Worthington left the office, a feeling of dread eating away at his stomach.
Crap, he's serious. Why did I get involved with this maniac?
Coby Worthington wasn't a bad person. In fact, he didn't even have recessive vampire genes, like most of those with whom Johnson surrounded himself. Coby was actually a lycan-potential, but he worked extremely hard, mostly so he could provide the best absolute life for his wife and children. Lycans were usually driven by love, even in Pandy and Jessica's Los Angeles. The lycans there may have been jerks, but they were highly protective of their own.
What am I going to do? Johnson snuffs out life without a thought. He's a total sociopath.
"Heya, Coby. How's life?"
Coby turned around, startled, and then, upon seeing who was addressing him, almost froze from shock. There, in front of him, were Rear Admiral Luigi Bagatelle and Commander Maximilianus Gunnarsson, dressed like they had been riding motorcycles, or at the very least, auditioning for a biker movie.
"Bagatelle! You should be in prison! I have a good mind to - "
"Coby, if you say a freakin word you'll have no mind to think with. You like what happened to Cpt. Smith? That's what happens to bad people. Fortunately, we know you're not a bad guy. Also, we know that Johnson just threatened your family. So… wanna talk?"
Bagatelle was so completely carefree and nonchalant that Worthington just nodded his head, but then panicked, looking at the surveillance cameras which lined the halls.
"Oh man, don't even worry about those. They see you looking at your personal console, as if you were trying to access some data," said Max. "Now we need you to go to the toilet."
"The what? The toilet?"
"Yeah, like you need to take a dump. Go now. Trust us. We're on your side, Coby," said Bagatelle.
"Using toilet stalls is such a great idea! No one wants to see anything in a stall, ergo, no surveillance."
"Yeah I know, such a great idea. I guess Mikey isn't such a slouch after all."
Coby entered a restroom, and, looking around first, entered a stall, pulled his pants down and took a seat. He sat for a moment, and then saw letters mysteriously form in front of his face, as if they were made of smoke.
"Put your pants back on, fool. We're getting you out of here."
Pulling his pants back up, he had no sooner drawn his zipper than he found himself standing next to a massive wooden table, where he saw a large, older, Viking-like man staring at him.
"Coby Worthington, I presume?" Draagh asked.
"Y-y-yes?"
"Let me ask you this one time, and one time only. Do you want to live, and do you want your family to also survive?"
"Yes, of course. Oh gawd. You want money. Oh man, I really don't have any money. I'm so totally screwed, oh man," he cried, as he started to freak out.
Jennie Gunnarsson walked up to him, wearing a sour expression, and punched him in the face, shocking him into silence.
"Shut up, fool! We're here to save your pathetic ass, not hold you for ransom!"
Holding his sore jaw, he looked at the super-attractive dega, not understanding where he was, or how he got out of the toilet stall.
"Who…who are you?" he asked.
"Jennifer Escalante de Gunnarsson. But that's Lt. Commander Gunnarsson to you, chump. You've been feeding at the ass-trough of Len Johnson and that makes me ill. But it also provides us with an excellent opportunity."
"You - you're rebels! You want to overthrow the Chairman!"
"Duh!" they all musically chimed out in unison - even Draagh, who had become quite adept at colloquial phrases and taunts, thanks especially to his time spent with Liliana.
"There are things you need to learn, Coby," said Max, in a much more kindly tone than his wife had been using. "We brought you here so you can make a choice, but in order to properly choose you need to know the whole story."
"What whole story? Like how you stole the faster-than-light invention of the Chairman's son and went to Earth in order to foment a rebellion and enslave Azul System?"
Everyone - Draagh, Bagatelle, Jennie, Michael and Gabriel - all gave the young man a blank stare, and then started laughing out loud - almost maniacally.
"Ryder Johnson? HE invented the hook drive?" asked Jennie.
"Yes, of course. Just look it up on your console."
"Oh right," quipped Max, "if it's on the data net it has to be true."
"Max discovered side space carrier currents AND invented the SSCC hook drive, Coby. Johnson's son had absolutely nothing to do with it," Jennie informed the confused chief of staff.
"But how can that be? Chairman Johnson frequently speaks of his son, and fondly reminisces the good times, when he would spend hours with his son in his laboratory."
"Johnson is a sociopath who believes his own lies. He has unraveled the Constitution, perverted our form of government, and has opened the entire system up to invasion by an alien race that brings only death," Max informed the young man. "How can we show him? Old-Earth?"
"Yeah, that sounds good. Let's take him there," said Bagatelle
Before Coby could say another word he was standing on the promenade of Larco Mar, on the Peruvian coastline. Seeing the desolation, he panicked slightly, but Gabriel put a hand firmly on the man's shoulder and held him in place.
"Coby, this is the first place I came to when I came here with my invention that I invented in my lab. In fact, Rear Admiral Bagatelle here, and Lt. Commander Escalante de Gunnarsson were charged with bringing me back dead or alive. This is a shopping mall in what was Lima, Peru. Notice how there is no life. Not even bones."
"So what? People could have fled and abandoned the area. Did you ever think of that?"
"It was the first thing that came to my mind. But then I found that mankind had been wiped out by a virulent amoebic plague brought on by an alien race."
"Alien race?"
"Yup. The travelers you call the Artusians are actually called the Vrol, and they did this. Oh, and they don't look like awesome, beautiful glowing beings."
"I don't believe you."
"They look like this!"
Max created a hologram around himself to appear to resemble a Vrol ground fighter. Eight feet tall, and towering over the terrified man, he snapped his mantis-like claws and stared with massive compound eyes. He then changed back to his normal self by dissipating the hologram.
"How did you do that? Are you a demon? Oh my god. You're a demon!"
"Coby, are you a religious man?" asked Bagatelle.
Hesitating for a moment, he nodded his head.
"Yeah. My family was secretly Catholic. You know how religious types are frowned upon in government service."
"And so I assume you are familiar with certain famous individuals from the Bible, such as St. Michael and Gabriel, both archangels?"
"Of course, but that was …myth? Oh crap…"
Coby Worthington found himself staring at two men with beautiful, obsidian-colored wings, their arms crossed and wearing smirks upon their faces.
"Greeting, monk…Coby. I am Gabriel."
"Hello, Coby. My name is Michael. I am also the father of Commander Gunnarsson."
Worthington looked over at Max, with whom he was completely familiar - except for the beautiful spread of his own wings. Max looked at Coby with a kind smile on his face.
"Coby. We're friends, we're here to save the human race, and you're going to help."
###
"Sir, are you ok? You have been in the toilet for quite a while," asked Worthington's assistant, Johnny Hernandez.
"Urrrrrrrrhhh, pain. Diarrhea. Leave me be," a groaning voice answered back from the stall.
That was all that was needed, for the moment, to throw any suspicion off Coby's scent, which was magically created and quite disagreeable.
###
After having watched a vid of the Vrol invasion centuries prior, Coby sat, stunned, balancing precariously on a stool in the old Hard Rock Café. Max had found another bottle of old scotch, and was drinking it with his father, uncle, grandfather, wife, and new ally Coby Worthington.
"There is much more to the universe than anyone knows," said Max.
"But this is impossible. We can't be on Earth. It defies all known laws of physics!"
"Known laws, Coby - you just said it. Think about it. Four years ago there was no such thing as faster-than-light travel. It was always there. It wasn't invented. I just found the way to access it. And by the way, it totally pisses me off that Johnson is telling everyone that his piece of garbage son invented the hook drive."
"So what you are saying is that everything we learned in science and physics classes is a bunch of junk?"
"No, not everything, just … a bunch of things," said Max, prompting everyone to laugh.
"Ok, I have a question - where is Ryder? Johnson constantly frets about him and - "
"Dead," interrupted Jennie.
"Dead? But how?"
"I killed him," she said, as if she were describing a recipe for cooking rice.
"B-b-but how? I don't understand."
"Oh, it was pretty easy. I ripped his ribcage open and tore out his still-beating heart. And I was wearing a metal gauntlet, so I started beating him in the face. His skull started to collapse and then - "
"Jen, love. Save the awesome details for later please. Coby, Ryder turned into a vampire and became super evil. Then he - "
"Vampire?!?" Coby interrupted. "What? Hahahaha - Do you actually expect me to believe that?"
"Well, sure - of course. There are vampires. Len Johnson is one. That's why he's so frikin pale and mean," said Jennie.
"Vampires. Ok, I'll bite. And where are the faeries and the trolls and werewolves? Hmmmm?"
"In ancient times, my good man, there were faeries and trolls, but lycans still exist! Yes, they exist at this very moment," added Draagh, who had been watching the conversation with great amusement.
"And I'm sure YOU are a lycan, right?" Coby said, looking at Draagh.
"No, no, my son Oh no. I'm much too old for that. However, Jennie, Luigi and Max are."
Worthington looked away from Draagh, and saw three phase 2.5 assassin form werewolves staring at him.
"I can't believe I actually pulled it off," Jennie said over the comm.
"Damn, you look so sexy like that. Makes me wanna-"
"Please, I can hear you two. Not here, ok?" complained Bagatelle.
Coby screamed and passed out, falling backwards off his bar stool. Draagh saw it as an excellent opportunity to get the confused (and very unconscious) man out of Lima and over to Machu Picchu.
Regaining consciousness, Coby saw a ceiling of plants straight above his head. Looking up and around, he saw that everyone was seated on fallen logs around a campfire. Turning his head to the right, he saw Max's ship.
"Holy crap! That's Gunnarsson's ship!"
"Hey fella, I'm right here. And yes, that's my ship."
"Oh, sorry about that - what should I call you? Max? Um, I'm confused."
"You can call me Commander, as that is my rank."
"Not anymore it's not. You were stripped of rank by - "
"An illegal usurper of our Constitutional process, you fool. And I am Rear Admiral Bagatelle to you. Use the word former and I'll shift back into what you just saw and eat your pancreas. Got it?"
Coby nodded his head quickly and nervously.
"So, before we send you back, there's something else you need to know," said Max.
"What's that?"
"You're also lycan."
"Oh god, did you bite me when I was passed out? Is that how it works?"
"Um, no. You carry recessive lycan genes. Less than one percent of Azul System's population has it. It's just not active on our worlds."
"How does that work?"
"It's a long story, but the funny thing is that you were working for Johnson, who carries vampire recessive genes. You two should have been repelled from each other like oil and water. You must have a super-high tolerance for bullshit and an extreme desire for power, friend."
"So, what do we do from here?"
"Well, we take you to Azul and you go back to business as usual. And you become our spy, of course."
"But I have been required to provide evidence of your tampering with cameras and the Draeders. Johnson threatened to delete my wife and children if I don't - "
"Coby, don't worry. We'll give you foolproof, fudged up stuff to throw the scent off our tracks, and make you look like a superstar. You're lycan, so we won't let you down. If you avoid being totally lame and you help us we guarantee that you will survive up until the Vrol arrive - from there on out it's like playing roulette - anything can happen in war."
"Ok, so what do I do?"
"Nothing, really," responded Max.
"Nope, nada!" said Jennie.
Bagatelle shook his head.
"Worry not, young man. We shall care for you, and the information that your superior requires shall easily enter into your possession. In fact, you shall look like the brightest individual in all of your planet's government," said Draagh.
"I don't understand. What if Johnson has me scanned? Intelligence services can see imagery in your memories, and-"
###
Coby Worthington found himself sitting on his toilet, his gastrointestinal pain having subsided substantially. Feeling as if a fog were lifted from his head, he cleaned up and went to accomplish the goals earlier set forth by his boss.
###
"I kinda feel bad doing it this way," said Max.
"I don't! The dude pulled a total dick move working for Johnson," Jennie complained. "He's lucky to be alive."
The group watched Draagh's infoscreen as it displayed a first-person view from Coby's perspective. He washed his hands, and then he went to his desk and started a data net search.
"Good move installing organic cameras in his eyeballs, Pops," said Max.
"The poor bastard doesn't even know about Exodus II. Johnson is probably only bringing vamps and subservient normals with him," Jennie commented.
"Hey, one thing I don't understand," Bagatelle blurted out. "If we can stick some camera in that kid's eyeballs, why don't you simply do the same to Johnson?"
"It causes a partial activation of the enhanced genome. Coby will not know why, but he will experience mildly enhanced senses," said Michael.
"Ok, so we don't want Johnson to have a better sense of smell?"
"Oh, we could care less about that. It's just that vampires have a completely different reaction to the partial introduction of particles," said Draagh.
"Really? And that is?"
"They start to rot, but they cannot avail themselves of healing particles. He would be dead in weeks."
"And that's a bad thing?"
"Only if we want a bloodless restoration of Constitutional rule, G," Max added. "Johnson has way too mu
ch support in the general population. One of the first things he did after taking over was to start giving free things out - expanded housing, grav sleds, gift credits for fancy dinners, property. He is quite the populist. He has legions of the lazy and listless who would be more than willing to rise up in the streets if their goodies were taken from them - so he needs to be exposed. We get control of the military, then we show the world what the Vrol really look like and what Johnson is planning."
"But Max, I don't understand - if Johnson has control over the system, why would he want to go back to Earth? Why not just stay here where society has been fully-developed? Why start over again?"
"It is precisely because he is a coward. He knows his rule here is temporary at best. On Earth he could rule unopposed," Gabriel informed the rear admiral.
"Apparently he has been working at global conquest for years, even before he was elected to the Security Council," said Max.
"Ok, enough about Johnson. We need to make a plan of action regarding the FTL-capable ships. G, you need to contact your fellow commanding officers. Take Gabriel with you. He'll not only be protection, but he can whip out his wings if things get dicey. I'll go to Lima and secure housing for the families on the barges."
"And what of the vampire family? What will happen to them?" asked Bagatelle.
"They're going to Siberia, where they can do no harm to anyone."
"We should kill them, son. They will eventually end up trying to kill others. They are not called Lovers of Death for nothing, you know," Michael cautioned.
"Why not take them to Jessica's Los Angeles? Vampires are mellow there."
"G, that wouldn't work. If they were to interbreed they could pollute the vamp genome and turn what are currently nice, mellow, mildly stinky pale people into homicidal maniacs within two generations," said Max.