by Mel Todd
He cleared this throat, and McKenna saw stress around his eyes and wondered when he'd last remembered to eat. His hands wrapped around the podium, and she heard whispers alluding to the fact that he didn't have a prepared speech.
"The ability to shift that has affected a percent of all our citizens is caused by alien nanobots." A stunned silence fell. He kept talking before anyone could react. "And the aliens that sent them are on their way here. Your scientists should be able to see their ships in the next day or so. Information of where they are and how to locate them is being sent to your governments as we speak. The information we have is that the aliens, called the Elentrin, are coming here to collect the people who can now shift. Their intent is to use them as ground soldiers in their war. The United States is not okay with handing over a percent of our population and we will be resisting. Strongly." He fell silent and after a moment the room exploded into sound.
"Are you serious? Is this a joke? Aliens? Aliens caused this wave of abominations and now they are coming here?" A tall dark man, his head wrapped in a turban stood, shouting. "This is a ploy. What are you playing at, American?"
The president sighed and turned to look at JD and McKenna. "You two ready?"
A deep breath, McKenna rose and moved to the podium. She didn't know if it was a good or bad sign that the Secret Service hustled the president off the floor and out of the room before she reached the correct spot.
"Everyone, please settle down." Nothing happened, people were checking phones and starting to shout. ~Oh well, at least my training has some uses with all this craziness.~ Letting her voice come from the diaphragm, McKenna bellowed into the microphone, infusing both her commander voice and her police training.
"Sit down, shut up, and listen. We don't have much time." The amplification of her voice hurt her ears it was so loud, and everyone looked at her, shocked. She didn't give them time to recover. "My name is McKenna Largo. I am part of the proof that aliens are what has caused this. And to make it perfectly clear on what is about to drop down on us, my partner JD here is going to show you exactly what you will be facing."
JD had moved over to the center of the stage area while she got their attention. Two people had moved in a half curtain that hit him about belly button level. He started to strip, which she figured grabbed more attention than anything else.
"Everyone knows of the random incidents where people have turned into animals and their behaviors were similar to animals with rabies, attacking everyone and everything." She saw a few nods in the crowd, and people were locked on JD, horrified fascination on their faces. "That was the intent of these nanobots. For them to lock us all into that form. That is what the Elentrin are coming to rescue us from." McKenna laid on the sarcasm on that word. She gave a brief overview while JD finished stripping and stood behind the screen, his modesty technically preserved. She knew he had a kilt waiting for him, so they could show the second part of the example. And it was why the president was now watching this from a video screen.
"And this is why they want us."
~Go for it. Make it slow if you can, let them see it.~
Of the five of them, JD and Cass were visually the most impressive, but seeing a naked man's chest didn't cause as much angst as a female chest. So JD had volunteered to go, to show them the warrior form.
~Not an issue.~
She didn't watch him, she watched the people. Seeing if it would dawn on them exactly what they would be facing. People's eyes went wide, and some shrieked a bit as she felt him change his form. McKenna couldn't explain it, but after making the other Kaylid change, she could feel what form they were in, and if they were well or not. More things about the command module she needed to learn.
When he had shifted, she did glance back to check, he reached down and pulled on the kilt, covering his genitals. He strode out a minute later, huge, impressive, and the form seemed right for him.
Maybe my life is getting too weird if this warrior form is starting to feel normal.
"This is what you will be facing. And note, they won't all be Earth animals the form is based off of. Some will have scales, some will make JD look small. Their weapons are energy-based, and I've been told that adapting for projectile weapons won't take long. They're coming with the intent of taking us away and treating us worse than slaves." She saw a few people start to protest and cut them off. "Yes, worse. Because they aren't even allowed to think of anything that is not approved of by the Elentrin. Their thoughts are monitored, and they will be eliminated if they show any signs of being disloyal."
That cut off most of the protests, but McKenna continued. "That isn't all. This form is more powerful than our human forms. JD is strong for a human, but he's never been able to do this." She nodded at him. The room with stadium seating had a catwalk up above for observers, at least she assumed that was its purpose. It sat about thirty feet off the ground. JD started to move, a huge brown form that even under fur rippled with muscle, and he covered the twenty feet to the edge of the stage faster than she thought possible and leapt.
His form flew through the air, and he grabbed the railing as he vaulted over it, standing up there looking back down at them, a gaping smile on his bearlike face.
"That is what we will be facing, people. They aren't going to be easy to defeat and frankly normal soldiers are only going to be able to help so much. It isn't much of a plan. The president said he'll negotiate if they come to DC. But if they don't, we don't have any control over what your governments decide. But know this. In the next few days I am going live with a press conference to share all this. I will be advising people to arm themselves and prepare for war. A war that may cover the globe. You need to decide now."
As she finished speaking, JD jumped down from the walk, landing with the same grace as she did in cat form. It creeped her out, but Wefor had explained all of it. The warrior form of the Kaylid had shorter muscle strands and better fine muscle neuron control, just like primates, allowing them to be four to five times stronger in this form.
He walked over to her, and she turned, looking at the shocked looks on the ambassadors' faces.
"I don't know what you will decide. I can't control that. But I can guarantee you, if we cannot convince the Elentrin to leave without the Kaylid, there will be a war. A global war. It will boil down to a simple statement. Will you give up your people or will you help them fight?"
McKenna turned and walked out, the rest of the team following her.
Chapter 17 - Wrenches
Food shortages in some areas of the world are being reported and fingers are being pointed at shifters. As the majority of shifters are predators, the demand for protein is going up. Chicken prices are going up at a rate not seen for years, while sugar stocks have plummeted. More requests for high calorie bars have those companies' stocks spiking. What other changes are we going to see as a commodity shift with this change? Is it going to crash anything? Experts say that is unlikely, as the numbers remain at two percent, but it is having a solid shift on futures trading. ~TNN Business News
Raymond Kennedy sat and stared at this computer. Flashing canceled meeting invites filled his inbox. With his door open, he could hear the strange silence outside his hall office. This time of year people should be bustling by, trying to make last-minute deals before the break. While as a director of a department whose budget hid under undecipherable lines, he rarely did more than pull strings, and this still struck him as odd.
Flying under the radar, making things go his way, manipulating people to do what he wanted were things he excelled at. But the entire government had paused. Well, that wasn't quite true. Everyone below a certain level was still running around as if nothing had changed. But the movers and shakers, the people who mattered, had all gone silent.
His fingers tightened on his pen, a cheap ballpoint, he never gave away information. Everything about him had been carefully designed to imply what he wanted. And it worked. He played with people, using their weaknesses as a way to c
ontrol them, and he could get answers to anything. Even if his project to create his own private force for the government to use disenfranchised shifters had been delayed a little, it would work.
Frowning, he picked up the phone. When he didn't have information, he went and got more information.
"Yeah, what to do you want?"
Raymond arched an eyebrow at the harried voice. "Michael, is something wrong? Can I help?"
"Kennedy, I don't have time for you, not today. There's a special session being called at the UN in five hours, and I need to get up there so I can find out what's happening. The president called it, and no one knows a damn thing."
Raymond pulled his head back as if slapped. "Our president? Simons?"
"Yes. That one. People are scrambling to get up there. The next train leaves in thirty and if I'm not on it, I won't make it. So go away, Kennedy, I don't have time for you." The disconnect barely registered as Raymond looked at the phone.
What is in the world is going on? My contacts are rarely stupid enough to hang up on me.
His eyes narrowed as he stood, grabbed a small to-go bag, he always made sure he had an overnight bag ready to go. He never knew when it might be needed, and he strode out the door, his mind working furiously. His office was in one of the many unlabeled government buildings that sat four blocks from the train.
This why you plan everything. You never know what might be important.
The entire walk there and the ride to New York, he hit contacts, looked at the news, and his mind spun. Either no one knew anything, or they weren't saying. He only had two people at the very high levels, one of which had told him about the meeting. And no one in the UN. Normally, it was a collection of self-important idiots who argued and never accomplished anything. Most of their resolutions were PR gambits and nothing ever changed. The real deals were made in the back rooms and in quiet voices. And he made sure he helped control those voices. This lack of knowledge churned at his gut.
The added factor of that cop and football player had disappeared, too. Plus, a bit of probing revealed the problematic researcher had quit. He'd been a bit surprised the shifters hadn't killed her. When she didn't get captured by the drone, he assumed she was dead. And then the interesting forms those things had worn. No news had slipped out about that, he'd been watching carefully. He had the video ready to be used at an appropriate time. The image of her holding the dripping head, looking like a monster, would be very useful in the near future. Controlling people through fear amused him.
With a sigh he dismissed it. They were probably hiding, he knew they hadn't returned to work, and other than the annoyance factor, if they never were seen again it would be the same effect. They wouldn't be bugging him or people he owed favors too. Pulling out his phone again, he activated a project management program and worked on setting up contingencies. Whatever this was, he would be ready for any option.
The last hour of the trip he spent trying to find out anything else that was going on, but other than the stuff about the telescopes and normal social media whining about the government, he couldn't find anything. At least not anything concrete or worth making plans on.
That worried him. The government didn't do secrets, ever. Even stuff classified at the highest levels leaked to those who knew who to ask. And nothing was leaking. People didn't talk when they were terrified. The idea that someone had managed to terrify people he had his hooks into, and he didn't know about it, chaffed.
Nothing had clarified, and he couldn't come up with any logical reason for the president to call an emergency session. His badge got him clearance. Long ago he'd set up access to just about any place, and the foresight paid off today.
He slipped up into the observation balcony, not stupid enough to try to get a seat. That would get him noticed, the observers were never regarded as important. Moving through the crowd of people, exchanging polite smiles with enemies and allies alike, he found a good vantage point and waited. The number of ambassadors that were moving in surprised him.
"You know what's going on?" he asked a man standing near him. Mid-level flunky, but liked to hear himself talk.
"Not a clue. But I can tell you the secretary general is pissed. They wouldn't tell him why."
"They?"
"President and the secretary of defense. They called it."
"Huh, didn't know they could do that."
"They can, even quoted the rule that said they could. But I'm telling you, I can't think of anything important enough that the secretary general is going to forgive them for this power play. I hope he hands them their heads." The smirk of glee was typical. Politics made hyenas look friendly. Might be why he loved politics.
Various options went through his head, but none of them seemed plausible. Raymond used the time to listen to people talk. The tidbits he could pick up when people were stressed never ceased to amaze him. All attention to the surrounding voices ceased as he caught sight of the figures walk into the room and sit at the table.
The cop, the football player, and the damn biologist. What the fuck are they doing here?
He sat stunned, looking at them, his mind locked on them as the secretary general all but stalked to the podium. Raymond dismissed the other woman, a nobody from her body language, and focused on what was going on.
His attention never moved from people on the stage recording all of it in his mind, with no reaction, not examining anything that was said, simply filing it in his mind. When they left, the room exploded in discussion. Raymond rose and walked out, ignoring everyone and everything. He had a train to catch.
The chores of picking up his bag and getting to the train station registered at a distance as he absorbed the information. Still doing nothing but accepting and filing. He sat down in his seat, slipping on noise-canceling headphones and closed his eyes as all his plans crumbled into dust.
Shifters the saviors of us and the reason we might die. Aliens.
Raymond turned that idea around and around.
Aliens are coming. They're planning on taking these shifters. They're coming because of these animals.
That caught his mind, and he played with that concept. Monsters, aliens, their fault. He might be able to use this. If he could get on with the contact teams. The ones that would be discussing this with whatever aliens landed.
A smile slid across his face as he started to tug on the strings he'd planted.
Chapter 18 - Weapons Practice
TNN has just received word that all troops have been recalled and all national guard have been activated. No one is saying why. Even more odd, most police departments have gone on alert and have recalled all active duty personnel. The last time this happened - actually we don't know that this has ever happened. The state and federal version of the National Guard was created in 1933, but even during World War II not all units were activated. What is going on? Is there a war? - TNN News
She hadn't noticed George or the SecDef leaving, but they waited for them at the end of the hall with grave looks on their faces.
"You think that will work?" George asked.
"No idea. But I think I got past their arrogance. Their own people will tell them about the ships soon. And the president is holding a press conference for the day before the ships will be visible by the naked eye." McKenna shrugged, trying to hide her discomfort. The idea of riots in the streets terrified her.
"What about yours?"
"Mine will be after president's press conference. We're hoping it will give people time to practice. Become familiar with the new forms. My big worry is people won't have time to get weapons. The military can only provide so much, and too many people don't know how to use them. They're going to be worse than slaves." Her voice caught on that last part, but she kept walking.
The two men had fallen in with them. "What now?" George asked.
"That I can answer," Doug Burby said. "We've arranged for a firing range and weapons for them to practice shooting in their warrior form. They need to be flexi
ble, and we have some local military who also shift who are going to meet us there. It's our intent to use them as the primary group for the meetings with the Elentrin. See if a show of force will help impress them not to dismiss us." He cast a look at McKenna. "But we'd like to have you at the meetings as a secretary or something."
She shot him a look as they reached the vehicles. McKenna and Perc climbed into the first one with George and the SecDef, the rest into the other. She opened up the link so they could hear the discussion.
"Why?"
"You can understand if they talk in another language, and we can't. It might give us a bit more leverage."
She shrugged, in the long run she didn't think it would matter. "That's fine. Has anymore thought been given to JD's ideas?"
"Oh, lots. But we're fighting with timing. We don't want to panic people or create rushes on gun stores. But at the same time, we cut it too close and we won't have time to get people armed. We're all curious to see how fast you can learn to aim guns in your warrior forms. That might help with preparation. Instructions have already gone out to most suppliers and we're ordering tens of thousands of weapons, but in less than ten days? All we can do is clean out their stockpiles, and that's creating rumors and stock market fluctuations as it is."
"Are you saying we're going to lose because we can't prepare fast enough?"
Doug heaved a sigh. "I'm saying no matter what we do it's going to backfire. We tell them now, we'll panic people, and have gun stores looted and people freaking out. We tell them when the Elentrin say ‘or else' and not enough of the right people will have weapons. We don't know how fast they can deploy or adjust to our refusals."
[Very fast. Average deployment is under three hours. They will have Kaylid standing by.]
McKenna passed on that bit of information, and the man threw his pen down. "So yes, JD is right, we need to arm citizens, but how do we do that without causing panics? It needs to be almost at the last second. Though - " The SecDef stopped talking, looking at them oddly. "McKenna, if needed, would you be willing to do a press conference?"