Disclaimer: This story is for enjoyment purposes only. None of what you are about to read takes place in any known universe, multiverse, omniverse, or subdivision thereof, and should be treated as such.
Through my efforts, this story became possible. Working with E to get him to the states and then getting X to visit. Various difficulties arose in getting this accomplished, but continued effort on everyone's part made it finally happen. The origin of this story was a G-E-X group discussion on the first Saturday the three of us were all in one physical location at the same time. A tornado sprung up and consumed old ideas and gave violent birth to new ones. Two weeks later, when we met again, and were calmer(?) we enlarged on the ideas that had been born and went totally crazy. LOL.
This story will be a rude awakening for some and excellent mind stretching for others. In either case, we hope you enjoy our 'child of violence'.
Grossclout, editor extraordinaire for many authors and proud member of the G.E.X. group.
Early on we decided that this story would not, and indeed COULD not, take place in any of our storylines. With that pressure no longer keeping us back, we were able to bring everything to the limits of the allowed rules. We were able to keep on stressing but just not breaking them.
And even if I do say so myself, this has become one HELL of a story, sucking the reader into a vortex of alternate possibilities and lines he/she would never have imagined.
Now, enough talking. Let us get on with Phalanx - GEX, and allow us all to wish you much enjoyment.
Enterprise1701_d, author-creator Phalanx omniverse, and proud member of the G.E.X. group.
It's time for that crossover story that Enterprise1701_d and I have been telling you about. There are a few problems that we encountered that made the story both more difficult and more interesting at the same time. I know that there are ways around some of them, but if you've been reading my story in the past, you know that I can't ethically do them all. As Deana Johns and I sometimes say: "Fucking Ethics!"
That being said, I'll give you a little background first.
MasterPC: The Eclectic's edition started around May of 2000. Since then, its timeline ran forward for about three years before it was "Complete." As you can tell, that already gets us into a little bit of trouble, depending on when the crossover occurs.
To add to that difficulty, I've decided to expand slightly upon an earlier reference to another author's works, and that author isn't Deana Johns or a member of the GEX group. <Grin!>
In order to ease the difficulty that Enterprise had with the results of that reference, (Yes, I know I'm being vague... It's intentional...) we've added another nine years to the story since "The Wedding." That puts the year in the MasterPC universe at 2012, though the Phalanx omniverse’s timeline is left alone. That being the case, we're going to try to limit talking about technology since it's hard to guess where it will be in another 11 years from now!
The aging effects that my character instated on his family are still active, so it looks like everyone is only three years older than they were at the beginning of The Eclectic's Edition... unless you include four of the more recent members, but you'll find out more about that later.
If you haven't already done so, please read at least some of both our stories so you will have some reference as to the characters and their characteristics.
http://www.asstr.org/~Xanthos
https://members.tripod.com/~Enterprise1701_d
MasterPC: The Eclectic's Edition, complete, is around 283 pages long. As far as "The Phalanx," well... Let's just say that Enterprise has been involved with that story for a lot longer than I have mine. <Grin>
Also, due to differing writing styles, there are a couple of parts in the story that are done in first-person (obviously written by me) while the extreme bulk of the rest will be in third-person. I apologize for this, but it seemed much easier as I was writing those parts by myself. <Grin>
One final comment before we get started, and I need to make this perfectly clear: THIS story happens in a parallel version of both Enterprise's "Phalanx" universe, and my "MasterPC" universe. In other words, don't expect ANY of what you read here to be tied into "The Eclectic's Edition" if I should decide to add more to that story down the road. Likewise, the same goes for Enterprise's "Phalanx" universe.
Thank you all again for your support.
Xanthos Pendragon of GEX Group.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MasterPC: The Phalanx Edition
In a small, run-down house, somewhere on Earth...
<Bestow upon user Deitric Holstead the abilities of the character known as Frederic Fromthefield, from the Phalanx series, as he appeared at the end of the second movie.> <send>
--Error 463: Out of power. Order will take three months to complete.
[GEX note: Computer equipment from 2012]
"On the news tonight, Belgium has overthrown its monarchy, and elected a president. Deitric Holstead easily beat his opponents in a landslide victory. The front-runner had this to say: 'I'm surprised that Deitric received that many votes, but I support him fully.' <<Translated from Dutch.>>"
Damn. I can't say for sure, but that looked and sounded like another MasterPC user. No matter how much I try, I can't seem to get rid of them all...
"...wrong?" Laura asked, pulling me from my thoughts.
"What?" I asked in response.
"Something's wrong. What is it?"
"That news item... I think that new president is another MasterPC user," I replied, not exactly happy about the discovery.
"So, you're going to Belgium to take him out too?" Kat asked, stepping into the conversation.
"You saw what happened when I let that one user keep his too long. He ended up killing hundreds and mutilating thousands more before I could get there and stop him. They were just lucky that I was able to restore those that hadn't been killed."
Kat nodded, remembering that event. It had only been a few years ago... just before my crusade became serious about eliminating all of the extra copies of the program.
"I'll go ahead and schedule the flight for you. You just remember to be more careful this time. That last one almost got you," Laura commented, giving me a hug and a tender kiss.
Kat quickly followed with her own hug and kiss.
During dinner that night, Laura caught my attention, then nodded once,
letting me know that she had acquired the round-trip ticket. I could tell by
the look in her eyes that she wasn't happy about my going, but, then again, she
never is. I'm just grateful that I have her and the others in my life... I still
get a shiver whenever I think about the loneliness of the old days...
“Hey, Kitten. What’s up?” I asked her.
“I’m just worried about you for some reason,” she replied.
I gave her a hug, kissing her on her forehead. I could tell that that wasn’t the only thing on her mind, so I asked her about it.
Kat looked up from our embrace, making eye contact for a moment, before she replied, “I want another baby... Yours.”
Understanding the need she was showing, I set aside the packing for the night, and carried her to my bed where we spent the rest of the evening together.
“Good morning, kitten,” I told her.
“Good morning. Thank you,” she replied tenderly, kissing me.
After we got up and dressed, I packed a casual outfit (slacks and black dress-shirt) and some jogging clothes into a backpack for the trip later today. Downstairs, I grabbed my 56GHz pen-book. I usually prefer the modern (faster and more compact) computers, but that one still had the best interface for the old Master Control software.
Fortunately, Belgium isn’t that large of a country. As long as this... Deitric... is in the country, I can get him, I thought to myself.
I flew into Frankfurt, Germany, about 150 miles east of Belgium. Knowing the software’s (fortunate) limitations, my flight plan actually went around Belgium so I wouldn’t have to worry about Deitric’s software being on an automatic pulse like mine at the castle was.
When I landed, I got out my pen-book, and verified that Deitric wasn’t in range. He wasn’t, so I switched to my jogging clothes and set off towards Bastogne in southeast Belgium at a light (human) jog. I chose that town because it was almost exactly 100 miles away from Belgium’s capital, Brussels, where Deitric was supposed to be located. Every 20 miles or so, I’d check with my pen book to see if Master Control could acquire him yet.
When I got outside of Frankfurt, I turned up the speed a bit, covering the countryside, where no one would spot me, at a calm 120 miles-per-hour. I had to slow down some when I got to the rugged mountains in the Ardennes forest, but I was still able to make good time.
Finally, just outside Bastogne, the software locked on him.
I sat down for a quick breather, and then started writing on the computer.
* Subject: Deitric Holstead
* Command: Remove all modifications done to this person by other copies of Master Control <Send>
Master control quickly responded with an “Insufficient Power” error...
“Insufficient Power?!? What’s that supposed to mean?!?” I exclaimed, completely shocked because I’d never encountered a message like that before.
Suddenly, something else I was completely unprepared for happened.
All seven people were having a normal time on the Ortega bridge. Nothing special was happening, and as such, everyone was free to do as they pleased. Linda and Borlan had retreated to their computer world to give their minds a rest. Being in full holographic form took their toll on the AI’s.
The others were monitoring the construction of SpaCECoB, with Rei, intrigued by the space-city, asking tons of questions about it. Generally, everyone was enjoying him or herself. The only ones missing from the conversation were David and Jessie, who were playing one of their games on the holodeck. Then, things changed.
The Wise One appeared.
“Young Phalanx,” he greeted immediately.
“Wise One,” Frederic said respectfully, bowing to the divine being.
“I bring grave tidings, Young Phalanx. A being, living in a remote universe, has achieved powers and abilities that he could not possibly have achieved. We need you to investigate, and eliminate, this being.”
“What are you talking about, Wise One? What abilities?” Frederic asked.
“This person has tremendous power. Our investigation shows that he has the power of a triple Phalanx, which is totally impossible. Only you can be Phalanx of the Human race, yet he is definitely not you.”
“And why eliminate him?” Jennifer asked. “I mean...just because he has these powers, we should kill him? Isn’t that a little drastic?”
“This person shares neither your stability nor your morals. He misuses his powers, and we are afraid of the possibilities when he masters them. They are still young, and therefore, not fully developed. Please, Young Phalanx. Investigate. You will agree with our request once you do.”
“Very well, Wise One,” Frederic said, bowing once again, signaling that the conversation was over. The Wise One nodded, and disappeared.
“Set course for the Wise One’s coordinates, and register universe as number 812,” Frederic ordered. The Ortega crossed over. It didn’t take more than ten seconds for Frederic, Jennifer, Daphnix, and in minor intensity, Ami, to detect the power reading. David and Jessie stormed up on the bridge, also having felt the power.
“He’s like Dad,” David grunted. “Before balancing with Shadow. Before going Senshi, even.”
“He’s definitely not as strong as Fred,” Jennifer agreed. “You should have no problem, Love.”
Frederic nodded in agreement, and asked, “D? Situation planet-side?”
Daphnix looked up from his console. “Belgium just overthrew the monarchy, and elected a president. The election was a sham... three candidates, two of which were fronts for the third. I think he’s our guy. Mental sensors indicate the Belgian people has been programmed.”
Suddenly, a flash of magical energy permeated the warriors’ perception. “Magic?” Frederic asked. “D! Locate!”
“One hundred American miles west of Target’s location,” Daphnix reported.
“D, Jenny, you’re with me. Linda, get us to the location of the attack!”
They appeared directly next to a man, bent over a computer, looking shocked at the screen. "What do you think you're doing, pal? You're attacking a guy that's a million times stronger than you could ever be!" Frederic demanded.
After Xanthos recomposed himself, he explained that he was trying to neutralize the guy, and that he had detected a strong likelihood that the man had reprogrammed most of the people in this country, making them his slaves essentially.
"Don't worry about it anymore. We're here to take care of it," Frederic assured him confidently, already turning to look towards the location of the capital.
“We can’t leave him here, Love,” Jennifer said, nodding in Xanthos’s direction. Frederic nodded.
“You’re right, Love. D, could you take care of him?”
“No problem, Fred,” Daphnix replied.
Frederic turned to Xanthos. “Keep quiet, and keep out of trouble, and we will have no problems.”
Xanthos, shocked, just stared. The next moment, he found himself in a transporter beam, which deposited him and the others directly in front of the palace.
Xanthos looked back and forth between the three of them, and muttered, "what the fuck?!"
"Simple transport. Now keep quiet," Jennifer ordered.
Frederic closed his eyes for a brief moment, then Xanthos noticed the crowd around the palace leaving as if in a hurry. He also noted that a lot of people came out of the palace itself, also leaving in a hurry.
The next moment, Xanthos got a new scare as Frederic generated a MASSIVE volume while shouting, "Whoever you are, we know about you! Come out, with your hands up, and your shields down! You have FIVE seconds!"
Xanthos just stared at Frederic. The guy inside the building didn't listen.
"Oh, goody. Some exercise!" Frederic grinned evilly as he rubbed his palms together.
Xanthos stared harder, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Jennifer, Daphnix, take care of our guest. I'm going in."
"Try to keep the building intact. It's an antique," Jennifer told him.
"Always spoil my fun," Frederic muttered before erupting in bright red ki flames, and calmly walked towards the building.
Xanthos had no clue as to what's going on. "Who does this guy think he is? God?"
"Nope. Just works for him, that's all," Jennifer muttered.
"Yeah. Nice guy. Odd hours, but basically a nice guy," Daphnix added.
Xanthos looked from one to the other, and shook his head in disbelief -- again. By now, he noticed Frederic has disappeared.
One second later, the evil guy was blasted through a third-floor wall. Frederic landed right next to Jennifer, who remarked without looking at him, "You damaged the wall."
"I'll pay for the damn building, okay?"
"Okay," Jennifer replied, turning to the place where the other guy was just getting his wits back.
"Who are you?" the guy asked.
Frederic took a haughty breath, and said, " I am Phalanx Frederic Fromthefield of the Human, Oech-anya and Ketari races, commander of the ESMF, Master Slayer, Jedi Knight, personal champion to the Gods of the Universe, Universal Savior, inheritor of Hiten Mitsurugi and conqueror of the internal Force."
Xanthos stared in total disbelief at Frederic. The guy looked at Frederic as well, before running towards him, clasping Frederic's hand firmly, and said, "You're my hero, and my inspiration!"
Frederic stared at the guy, at a loss for words. "I have heard a lot of speeches from guys who are about to die, but that takes it all!"
"Die? You would kill me? Come on! I'm your biggest fan! You don't kill fans! Do you?" he added the latter in a small voice.
"I would," Frederic answers, his eyes flashing green. Then red. The guy stares at Frederic as the sun eclipses. "Now. Tell me who the fuck you are."
Xanthos’s jaw hit the ground as he muttered, "Oh, shit."
"Deitric. Holstead. I can do that too, you know," Deitric shouted, jumped backwards and upwards, and he landed about a hundred meters away from the group, his eyes now red.
"Okay, a showing-off contest. I'll play," Frederic said. "Can you do this?" Frederic asked, while turning Super.
Deitric matched Frederic's move, yet he turned into his own Shadow-mode at the same time. The small female dark-haired form of the guy stared defiantly at Frederic. "I have every ability you have," Deitric-Shadow said.
Xanthos looked at his companions, and asked, "What the fuck is going on here?"
"Just a skirmish. That guy may THINK he has Frederic's abilities, but his power level doesn't come even NEAR him," Jennifer explained. "That's why Frederic is enjoying himself."
Frederic turned into Shadow to match his opponent, and turned Super-2. Xanthos, Jennifer, and Daphnix took a few steps back as a gust of ki blasted over them. The red-black-purple hair of Shadow burned itself into Xanthos’s retina.
Xanthos was feeling a lot of mixed emotions at that point, most of which were confusion and shock.
Deitric-Shadow matched with his own Super-2 mode.
Shadow materialized the transformation rod, swung it around, and shouted, "Earth Star Power! Make-Up!"
Her opponent stared. Xanthos and the other said at the exact same time, "You have GOT to be kidding me." Then, as they stared at Sailor Earth, Deitric-Shadow said, "Can that skirt get any shorter?"
Xanthos just gulped and noticed a tight sensation down below.
"You do NOT want to insult the outfit," Jennifer shouted at the opponent. She shut up immediately. A scene from the second movie popped into Deitric-Shadow’s mind: Shadow and Thor... after she found out that he kept her fire.
"Oh, Shadow..." Jennifer sweetly said. "There is something else you should be aware of. You see... Ami has found this new transformation sequence."
Shadow looked over her shoulder, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "What kind of sequence?"
Jennifer sent a burst of data. Xanthos, expecting a verbal reply, looked at Jennifer in an 'aren't you going to answer' type of way. Jennifer, noticing him staring, nodded towards Shadow, who was swinging her rod again. The opponent stared some more.
"Earth Phalanx Power! Make-Up!" In a burst of green-purple flames, Sailor Earth became Phalanx Sailor Earth, her gold tunic matched to a black skirt, boots, gloves, and bow.
Xanthos noticed the sensation changing from tight to rock solid.
The opponent finally regained some composure. "You are a fucking Sailor Scout?" she gasped out.
"That's Senshi," Phalanx Sailor Earth corrected him, her tone venomous. Ki welled up along Shadow’s body, making her hair float on the force of it.
"Big deal," Deitric-Shadow responded, powering up as well.
Jennifer, noticing Xanthos’s uncomfortable pose, shouted to Shadow, "You might want to end this now! Our guest isn't feeling too well!"
"Great! Fucking Normals! Always spoil my fun!" Shadow whined as she turned to the opponent, shrugged at her, and said, "Sorry. I can't play any more." Shadow squatted, and balled her fists. She turned Super-3. Screaming at the top of her lungs, Shadow quickly followed up by turning Super-4. She briefly thought about Kao Ken, and decided not to use it.
Shadow stared angrily at Deitric-Shadow and crouched again. Pushing her palms forward, she blasts him with an enhanced Super Bolt. Deitric-Shadow’s shields were only held for one second before they collapse, and she vaporized.
Xanthos’s reaction: a shocked "Fuck."
Phalanx Sailor Earth deactivated her armor along with her Super-mode, and walked up to Xanthos. She placed a fingertip on his chest, and said icily, "We need to talk." Right thereafter, she shifted into Frederic.
"And so do we," Frederic told him. The bulge fell away.
Xanthos just stood there silently, staring at the three warriors.
"Stop scaring him. Shadow can't blame him. In that outfit..." Jennifer let the remark trail.
It was Shadow's voice that answered her; "I will put YOU in that damn outfit, and make you parade the streets. Let's see how much you like it THEN."
Jennifer gulped, and shut up.
Xanthos muttered silently, "I’ve heard of split personalities before, but THIS is ridiculous!"
"No, it's not," Daphnix said. Xanthos just stared.
"Now, let's deprogram all those people," Frederic said, distancing himself a little. "You know the drill. Keep the shields at maximum." He closed his eyes, and concentrated.
"Whoa! Hold it! What shields?" Xanthos got out.
"Mental shields. Pulsing requires a lot of energy, and us Mentals are very susceptible to it," Daphnix responded.
"Let me take care of it, then," Xanthos suggested.
"Like you can do a better job than Frederic," Daphnix snapped.
"I don't know about better, but certainly more easily. Besides, what's his range?"
Daphnix shrugged. "I don't know, a couple thousand kilometers? We never really tested how far he could reach. We never had a need for him to go flat-out."
"Pulse -- ready," Frederic announced in a monotone voice. "Pulsing." His face twisted in a visage of exertion, and a small grunt accompanied the release of the pulse of mental energy. A simple program, one he had developed after clearing Sonya's mind from his Slave Orders. It wiped all non-natural programs from a person's mind.
"Done?" Jennifer asked.
"Yep. Wiped 'em all clean. Not a trace of this guy's tampering is left."
"There. Think you could do it that easily?" Daphnix asked sarcastically.
"Would have taken a couple of minutes, but yes."
"It took Frederic five seconds."
"And noticeable effort," Xanthos retorted.
"Pal, one piece of advice. That was not an effort. You haven't seen Frederic make an effort. What you saw was him just tensing a muscle. That was all there was to it," Daphnix explained slowly, as if talking to a child.
Xanthos looked at Daphnix, and raised an eyebrow.
"Anyway, things have been cleaned up here," Frederic said. He turned to Xanthos, and said, "You do understand that nothing of this can ever be made public?"
"As if anyone would believe it anyway. Did you erase the memories of all the people in vicinity?"
"Why?"
"You yourself said it. Nothing of this can ever be made public."
"No one knows they were programmed. They just loved this guy, now he's dead, and they don't like him anymore. They may think it's strange, but will think nothing of it. As long as certain people who know the whole truth keep their mouths shut. Believe me, we have experience in these matters."
"Besides, how would you have done it?" Daphnix asked.
"The same way the other guy programmed them in the first place, with Master Control."
The three look at him incredulously.
Frederic said, "Pal, I have no idea what Master Control is, but that guy programmed these people the same way I deprogrammed them: with a mental program on a burst of mental power. He slammed the same program into everyone's mind, and that's the way I removed them, by using a similar mental program to wipe all non-natural programs. And believe me, you don't have any mental abilities to carry that out. Now, would you mind telling me what this Master Control is?"
Jennifer stepped in, and told Frederic, “Love, control yourself. You’re taking things out on him.”
Frederic closed his eyes, and took a few deep breaths. He apologized to Xanthos for snapping at him, and told him that turning into a Sailor Senshi always pissed him off, and then he told Jennifer that she'd better take care of it; that he didn't feel like handling Normals right now.
"Could you explain that magic attack we felt against this guy?" Jennifer asked Xanthos.
"Magic?" Xanthos asked in reply.
"The attack we sensed right before we dropped in on you," Jennifer supplied.
"And does it have something to do with that Master Control you mentioned?" Daphnix added.
After composing himself a bit, and taking a deep breath, Xanthos gently asked, "Do you mind if I ask who you are first?"
"I'm Jennifer. That's Frederic, and Daphnix. We were sent here to take care of this guy, and to find out how he got his powers. Now, I believe you were going to tell us about this attack?"
"You said you sensed it as a magical attack?" Xanthos asked curiously.
"Yes," Jennifer replied.
"That explains some questions I had," Xanthos responded. After a brief pause to compose his answer, "I guess you could say that Master Control is a 'techno-magic' computer program."
All three stared wide-eyed at Xanthos. "You are telling me that a fucking computer program did this?" Frederic interjected.
"Oh, fuck," Jennifer added.
"Agreed," Xanthos said.
"I second that," Daphnix finishes.
"That is bad news," Frederic grunted. He slapped his mental amp, and said with a barely controlled voice, "Linda, search and destroy. Master Control PC program."
Oo-kaay... Willing to shed some light on that?
"We have a computer program that fucks with the magical world. Get rid of it!!!"
Already on it!
"Thanks," Frederic let out his breath audibly. "I hate these situations. Magic and technology can be disastrous just by themselves. Combining them is not something I want to think about."
Xanthos nodded, and said, "Agreed," very strongly. "I've always wondered how in the hell this program ever even came into being -- never mind how it worked."
"And how did you come by it?" Frederic asked.
"In the absolute worst way possible... I downloaded it from a public news group on the internet."
The three companions went pale at this revelation. Three sets of thoughts homed in on the same thought, and it was not pretty.
"As it is, I've spent a fair amount of effort trying to get rid of other copies of it," Xanthos finished.
"I want to know EXACTLY what this program can do. NOW!" Frederic ordered in a low growl.
"It allows its user to alter anyone, including themselves, within a 100-mile radius," Xanthos explained.
"Alter how?" Jennifer asked.
"Mind and body alterations. Speed, age, strength... you name it."
"Mind? As in mind control?" Frederic asked warningly.
"That too," Xanthos nodded, a little fearful at Frederic’s furious posture. "You can see why I want to get rid of the other copies so much. 'Power Corrupts,' but this program is ridiculous!"
Frederic, as if in a state of shock, reached out, slapped the mental amp on his left arm, and calmly asked, "Linda, could you get me Borlan?" The eerie calmness in Frederic’s voice sent shivers down Xanthos’s spine.
Sure. Hang on. Linda's voice testified to the surprise she felt at the request.
Borlan beamed down within seconds. Frederic turned to the AI, and said, "I want the 'Net trashed."
"You want what?" Borlan asked, looking over his shades at Frederic. He couldn’t believe what he just heard.
"You heard me. Trash the Internet. There is a killer program out there, allowing anyone to do anything to anyone within a 100-mile radius. I want that thing gone."
Borlan removed his sunglasses, his dark-blue eyes piercing into his father's. "Get me a copy, and I'll write the worm-virus. It'll get rid of the program without trashing the net."
Linda's voice came on over the comlink.
Already found a copy for you, bro.
"Thanks, Sis," Borlan replied.
Frederic sighed, and asked, "Time to completion?"
"24 hours, tops," Borlan replied instantaneously.
A sharp nod, and Frederic said, "Do it." Borlan gave a nod in response, and disappeared back into the transporter beam.
"That won't get all of the copies," Xanthos mentioned. "Certainly not any copies that aren't on networked computers or are on backups."
Frederic just grinned and said, "You don't know Borlan." When Xanthos raised an eyebrow, Frederic continued, "Borlan is a battle-oriented logic-analyzing sentient artificial intelligence program."
Xanthos stared dumbly at Frederic for a moment, thinking "Battle-Oriented AI?!?" Then he glanced towards the battlefield for a moment, turned back, and said, "Fuck! You guys aren't from this world, are you?"
"Actually, we are," Daphnix said with a small grin, "just a few dimensions over."
"Yeah!" Xanthos muttered to himself. Suddenly, it dawned on him what had just happened... “Hold on a sec...” he started, emphasizing each word. “A battle-oriented AI... has access to Master Control?!? ARE YOU NUTS?!?”
Frederic looked at Xanthos for a moment before a smug, evil grin worked its way onto his face. “We want the program gone. He will make it gone.”
Xanthos stared hard at the trio, still concerned about Borlan, but not wanting to take it much further considering what he had seen moments before.
“Don’t worry too much. Rei keeps him in check,” Jennifer supplied, noting Xanthos’s concerned look.
Rei? Who -- or what – is Rei? Xanthos asked himself. Never
mind. I don’t think I want to know.
After another moment, Xanthos shook off his concern, then noticed people returning to the area. "I don't think this is a good place for these kinds of discussions anymore," he suggested.
"Where would you suggest?" Frederic asked.
After thinking about it for a second, Xanthos said, "I have a place back in the US that is private enough, but if we go there, you might want to give me a few minutes before you show up so I can turn off my security system. Assuming your Linda and Borlan haven't gotten around to that system yet."
"Why?" Frederic asked.
"I have an automated defense system to protect my family and myself," Xanthos explained.
"I take it that your defense system uses that Master Control program?" Frederic asked.
Xanthos nodded. "I wouldn't want you to get pissed because of something that might be misconstrued as an attack."
"Good point," Frederic said. A telepathic message was sent to his two companions.
<<This wouldn't be a good time to tell him we're practically immune to that thing, would it?>> Frederic asked.
<<I don't know. Are we?>> Jennifer asked.
<<As long as we are donning our anti-magic gear, we're just fine,>> Frederic answered back. <<This is the kind of sneaky thing the anti-magic gear was made for.>>
<<Good point,>> Daphnix answered.
"So, where do you want to go?" Frederic asked.
"What's the easiest way to describe it to you?" Xanthos asked, knowing that these people aren't from his world ... or at least his dimension.
"Just an address is fine," Frederic responded. "We can extrapolate any address from the world map."
Xanthos gave his address. Linda's voice came out of the mental amplifier on Frederic's arm.
Extrapolating United States. Extrapolating North Carolina. Extrapolating Charlotte. Castle Pendragon. Location found. Nice place. Big, too. Where do you want me to put you down?
"Front door's fine, thank you."
I take it you want to be outside the door, right? Linda's voice had a smile in it.
Xanthos smiled, and said, "Yes. Thank you."
The next moment, he found himself facing his own front door. A voice in his head, sounding suspiciously like Frederic, told him: We'll be there in about ten minutes, if that's okay with you.
Xanthos concentrated on 'We will be expecting you,' not knowing if Frederic could hear his reply.
Thank you. And right now, I need to have something done about the ringing in my head. Thank you for thinking so loud. Xanthos can hear the chuckle in Frederic's voice.
Xanthos chuckled as he unlocked his front door, shaking his head in disbelief at the recent events.
"Honeys, I'm HOME!" Xanthos called out.
<<Honeys? What the fuck?>> Frederic asked telepathically after he closed down the connection to Xanthos.
"How is the mission?" Frederic asked the assorted people.
"We’ve eliminated 35 copies so far," Linda reported.
"This thing is bad, Daddy. Look at this, it is capable of doing all kinds of weird stuff," Jessie told her father.
Frederic shook his head. "Whoever made this should be tried on 001 for crimes against humanity," he said. "If anyone happens to find him, her, it, or miscellaneous, arrest him. Immediately."
"No problem," Borlan said. "I wouldn't mind having a little chat with that person myself."
Jessie looked at the combat-AI, and asked sweetly, "Have you been talking to Vicky again?"
Borlan just shrugged and further ignored her question, effectively answering it.
Frederic, after a brief pause, asked, "You are looking for other variants of the program as well, I take it?"
"Do you doubt us?" Borlan asked.
"Just checking," Frederic assured the AI.
"So, when do you go back down to meet this Xanthos guy?" David asked.
"In about seven minutes," Frederic told him.
"Found another one," Jessie said. "Some guy in Afghanistan."
"Did you undo his programming?" Jennifer asked.
"Standard procedure,” Jessie responded.
"I was not aware that there was a procedure for this kind of thing," Frederic replied.
"There is now, Daddy," Jessie told him with a grin.
"And just what is standard procedure?" Daphnix asked.
"We check the guy's logs, and undo anything that's malicious. I mean, this thing can cure any disease, heal any injury, etc. We don't undo those."
"And how did you define malicious?" Frederic asked.
"Violation of Instructions," David answered promptly. "Any unwanted mental alteration is removed. Most of the copies are used solely for that purpose anyway. Any unwanted bodily alteration, rare as it might be, is removed as well. For the rest, we decide on a case-by-case basis."
"Good thinking. And Xanthos?" Jennifer asked.
"He seems to have done some weird shit, but he hasn't done anything against Instructions. Well, actually, he did, but he removed the stuff on his own. The only other thing is the fact that he has this pulse going off every four hours, basically telling people not to harm him or his family, and to obey explicitly phrased commands by him. This sounds more like a safety measure rather than malicious intent. He also seems to have done some weird physical experiments. All in total agreement with the subjects, with surprises me even more. And then there's the time he used the thing to get plural marriages legalized, and accepted," Jessie finished.
"Now we know why he said 'honeys' when he came home," Frederic said, chuckling. "How do you know about the willingness of the subjects? And what kind of weird shit are we talking about?"
"There is this flag in the Master Control's logs. It notes the acceptance of the subject to each command that's logged. As long as the flag is under a value of 7 on a hexadecimal scale, it's considered 'willing'. And the weird stuff would be transgender experiments. He gave a couple of women male reproductive organs. It was temporary, only for a couple of weeks, and then he reversed it. Guess he wasn't really 'into' it," Jessie said, chuckling.
Frederic wrinkled his nose, yet said, "I think I'll let it go for the moment. We'll see what happens later on. What a weirdo," he added as an afterthought.
Jennifer nodded in agreement, as did most of the others. Time passed quickly as the three warriors tested their anti-magic equipment and shields. Soon, they beamed down directly in front of Xanthos’s front door.
Frederic rang the doorbell.
"Honeys, I'm HOME!"
The first thing I need to do is shut down Master Control.
Laura walked up, looking spectacular, as always, more than a little bit surprised to see me home so soon. "I thought you weren't going to be back for another day or two?"
"I wasn't. That user that I was worried about got taken out by someone else..." I replied.
"Someone else? Is it someone we need to worry about?" Laura asked, concerned.
"Maybe... but I don't think so for some reason... At least we're essentially in agreement about Master Control's existence."
"Essentially?"
"I don't trust it in anyone's hands but my own, and even then only barely. They don't trust it in anyone's hands period. He and his friends are working on erasing all of the copies right now."
Laura nodded saying, "Not a bad idea."
"In the meantime, you and the others need to get dressed. Frederic -- the guy I was talking about -- and his friends will be here for a visit in a few minutes."
"WHAT?!?"
"They're coming for a visit in a few minutes. Tell everyone to get dressed while I go shut down the security system. Also make sure that the kids stay out of the way." Laura nodded, but before she could rush off, I added, "By the way, warn everyone that their normal teasing is off-limits while our guests are here. I don't want ANYTHING to happen that might piss ANY of these people off!"
Laura stared at me for a moment, then nodded, rushing off.
Checking my watch, I quickly went to the vault to disable the security system. Once that was done, I turned on the laptop I'd carried with me to Belgium and started a wipe-disk to clean off the Master Control program and everything else from the hard disk.
Looking at my watch again, I closed the vault behind me and headed for the front door.
Just before I got there, the doorbell rang.
"Greetings again, all, and welcome to Castle Pendragon. By the way, my name is Xanthos."
[Ed: Back to Third-Person again.]
<<About time he mentioned his name,>> Frederic sent to his two companions. He suppressed the smile at the returning agreements.
"I am Frederic Fromthefield, this is my wife Jennifer, and my best friend Daphnix Smith."
Xanthos was different, possibly because he was now on familiar territory. Frederic kept his eyes open, certain that Jennifer and Daphnix were doing the same thing. Their standard search pattern went into effect: Frederic kept up appearances talking to their host, while Jennifer and Daphnix were scanning the hallways and rooms they passed, and relayed all that info to each other.
All these observations took less then a couple of seconds. They hadn’t gone far before Frederic handed a CD to Xanthos.
"Here. Use this. It'll make sure that laptop of yours is harmless. It's much more effective than that wipe-disk you're running. No, that's not an order, and yes, Borlan will check it anyway, regardless whether you use this program or not. I'm sure you understand the necessity for excess security measures," Frederic said amicably, and shrugged. "Borlan can be very... excessive in his measures, but I found that it's better to agree because he happens to be right more than I like," Frederic grunted, adding a smile.
"O..kay..." Xanthos replied, taking the CD. "He might have fun trying to get at all of my copies anyway."
"Nothing on this planet is a match for Borlan," Frederic replied.
Xanthos, thinking about the triple-encrypted CD in his vault, grinned to himself. "We might as well take care of that right now," he said.
Frederic couldn't help but notice how Xanthos walked as he led them to the vault. He walked more confidently than in Belgium, but not the walk of a trained person. He may be well toned, but muscles are useless unless you know how to use them, Frederic thought.
When they got there, Xanthos opened a concealed compartment on the large vault door and inserted his hand.
<<Impressive for a 20th century technology. The
door is solid Tungsten-steel.>>
<<The bio-ID technology is impressive as well. A long key-code in addition to it. Nice,>> Jennifer answered.
Daphnix nodded. <<What? Three seconds, instead of just one? Don't be so easily impressed, guys.>>
Frederic shook his head. <<Not everyone has quantum-pistols, D. Sure, it would take us two shots instead of just one, but can you imagine the 20th century firepower needed to breach this thing?>>
Daphnix shrugged. <<Hello? MAGIC? Remember? Techno-magic program? How long would it have taken that fake Fred to reach out and crush the door?>>
Frederic and Jennifer locked eyes. <<About... one-and-a-half seconds, I guess,>> Frederic answered. <<Now, let's focus on the rest, ok? Maybe we can pick up on what to improve.>>
Daphnix grinned, and shook his head. <<Solid Quadranium room, with a mental scanner as lock. Problem solved.>>
<<Sure. And let's add phasers and torpedoes as well. Can you imagine the surprise of any would-be burglar?>> Jennifer shot in.
<<Yeah. None. He'd be dead before he realized he was under fire,>> Frederic thought back, smiling. Finally, the vault door had opened. The mental conversation had taken less than five seconds.
Inside, they saw three computers, connected to flat panels. Xanthos turned to the laptop, and loaded the CD.
"TotalWipe?" he asked.
"We needed a name," Frederic said, shrugging. Xanthos shook his head, and ran the program. Immediately, the laptop's hard drive started spinning.
Xanthos noticed by the sound that the hard drive is spinning faster than usual. Before he could ask anything, the fan died and the screen turned black.
"TotalWipe complete," Frederic said. "By the way, I do hope you weren't planning on using that hard drive again?"
Xanthos shrugged. "Guess not."
Frederic tapped his communicator. "Borlan, do a scan of the remains of Xanthos’s laptop."
Scan complete. No traces found, Borlan replied half a second later.
Xanthos’s eyes widened as he looked at the walls of his vault. "You can get a signal through all this?"
"Of course," Frederic replied. "Why wouldn't we be able to?"
"Double Faraday Cage for one," Xanthos replied, still shocked.
Frederic nodded in understanding of Xanthos’s surprise. "Subspace communicator. Goes through almost anything," he replied, holding up the arm with the mental amp on it.
Xanthos stared at Frederic for a moment, then shook his head again.
Xanthos put away the ruined laptop, and led everyone back out. The vault closed behind them.
After a very brief tour of the ground floor of the castle, Xanthos led everyone out to the "back yard" where they could continue their conversation from Belgium.
"So...um... You said something about an alternate dimension?" Xanthos asked.
"It's a long story," Frederic said. "Basically, we're capable of traveling between alternate quantum realities. We help out every now and then, you know, against supernatural stuff, like vampires, demons, wizards, and the occasional runaway techno-magic computer program."
Xanthos stood there, shaking his head. He had a very hard time swallowing everything he was hearing. "So what brought you to this dimension?"
Frederic shrugged. "We were told that there was this guy here who had abilities he shouldn't, and couldn't, have. So, we came down to take him out. Then, of course, one thing led to another, and here we are, having this conversation," Frederic replied with a grin.
"Xanthos, would you mind if I asked you a question? A personal question?" Jennifer asked suddenly.
Xanthos replied automatically, "Shoot. Uh... not in that context!!"
The three chuckled, and Jennifer continued, "That's just what I'm talking about. Ever since you met us, you look ... well, 'uptight' comes to mind. You look scared. Why? We won't hurt you."
Xanthos glanced over his shoulder to the east, and back at his guests. "After the displays I've seen so far, you ask me why I'm concerned?"
"Unless you have something to hide, there is no reason to be afraid of us," Frederic replied. "You see... we have this strict code of conduct. We don't kill just anyone."
"What Fred is trying to say is that, unless you're endangering innocent lives, you have nothing to fear from us," Jennifer interpreted, shooting her husband a grin.
"Good to know, but that doesn't really help. As one man wrote many years ago, 'Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.' I've been fortunate that I've only slipped a little bit at times... That's one of the reasons for my little crusade to get rid of all the Master Control copies I can find. I got concerned enough when I encountered that guy earlier today... never mind you three... or is it four... showing up and doing things that aren't possible on this planet yet..."
Frederic sighed, and sat down on a nearby bench. Jennifer and Daphnix sat down as well. "That credo you just spoke - 'Power corrupts, etc', has been our guideline since the very start. One of the first things I did was institute this mental file. Basically, it evens our tempers, and makes sure that we have a very hard time abusing our powers. We need a damned good reason to act against anybody. It's something like a command given by Master Control. We cannot go against it... unless the situation is truly dire. And even then, it takes a lot of power to override."
"Maybe we should tell you everything," Jennifer said, "But, since it is getting rather late, maybe we should do it over dinner?"
Frederic nodded in agreement. "As I said, it IS a long story. We need at least a couple of hours to explain most of it."
Xanthos nodded. "I just need to let Steph know that we're having guests, then I'll introduce you to the family. ... I don't know what marriages are like in your universe, but I should mention that they are a bit different here... now..."
"What do you mean?" Jennifer asked, suspecting they already know from their earlier discussion on the ship.
"I've got nine wives, and they are married to each other as well..." Xanthos explained.
Frederic stood up, and put a hand on Xanthos’s shoulder. With a sad face, he said, "I feel for you, you poor guy."
Xanthos, dumbstruck, managed, "What?"
"I'm just thinking... NINE mothers-in-law?"
Xanthos chuckled in understanding. "Actually, it's only six. I'm married to one, and the other two are dead... But they're all wonderful anyway. We get along quite well."
Frederic opened his mouth to reply, closed it, opened it a second time, and said, "I don't want to know, do I?"
Jennifer and Daphnix were having a very good laugh at Frederic's expense.
As soon as he noticed, he turned around, and said, "Good to know I still have family to count on to back me up."
"Nice to know someone else can surprise you every now and then..." Jennifer replied, unable to control herself.
"It was ... unexpected. This is the first time I have heard of a guy with six mothers-in-law, and actually ending up marrying one of them."
"Well, there is Sheikh Ben Alma-Adar, back in universe 421," Daphnix offered.
"That's a harem. Different thing. Besides, he's lucky he isn't married in our sense of the word. Can you imagine having five hundred mothers-in-law?" Frederic replied. "Anyway, we were discussing dinner?" Frederic brought the conversation back to 'normal' regions.
Xanthos shook his head at their conversation, then, smiled and said, "Well, let's go tell Steph that you'll be joining us... unless there are more of you..."
The three warriors stared at Xanthos for a few seconds. Frederic finally said, "There are more of us."
"How many more?" Xanthos wanted to know, almost dreading the answer.
"There are nine of us, in total," Frederic told him.
"Nine of you?" Xanthos shook his head, clearing his thoughts and returning to the previous subject, frowning a bit. "Dinner for 21? I don't think Steph's up to that -- at least without enough warning..."
"We could always do this on the Ortega. By the way, the Ortega is our ship. And yes, there are nine of us: our two children, D's girlfriend, our two AI's, and Borlan's girlfriend."
Xanthos finally chokes. Having let it go in Belgium, he couldn’t ignore it now. "A Battle-AI with a girlfriend?!? ... Never mind... I don't want to know," Xanthos replied, once again shaking his head.
"You'll meet Rei later tonight. She's a perfect match for him," Frederic said, grinning. "Now, I know it's unfamiliar territory, but the Ortega is more than able to provide dinner accommodations."
"Yeah. Besides, we're used to throwing impromptu parties. We have these friends who like to invite themselves over..." Jennifer added in.
"Or, we could just beam down the stuff from the Ortega, and have dinner here," Daphnix suggested. "Familiar territory for Xanthos and his family."
Xanthos nodded at that suggestion. "Yeah, no telling what would happen with our four kids loose on your ship," Xanthos replied. "Let's find out what Steph is planning on for dinner first."
Frederic shrugged. "Can't be worse than ours. Now, who is this 'Steph' you keep mentioning? One of your wives, the one in charge of cooking or something?"
Xanthos smiled slightly and replied, "Stephanie is a chef that I hired more than a decade ago, though most of the time, she's pretty much family."
Jennifer smiled, and places a hand on Frederic's shoulder. "I know what you mean," she replied.
"HEY!" Frederic shouted. "Is that all I am? The cook?"
Everyone chuckled, Frederic included.
Jennifer leaned in and gave Frederic a kiss on the lips. "And what a cook you are, Love."
"For you, I'd give up everything else, Love," Frederic replied.
Daphnix was laughing so hard he was holding his sides. "Stop it! You're killing me!"
"Stop complaining, you," Jennifer told him. "You enjoy his food as much as I do!"
Daphnix shut up almost immediately.
"Where did that come from?" Steph asked, after recovering from her surprise.
It was Xanthos who replied, "Don't ask."
"Anyway, we have to get ready. How does half an hour sound to you?" Frederic asked Xanthos.
Xanthos looked at Stephanie, who nodded. "Sounds good. See you then."
"Okay," Frederic replied, and tapped his amp. The trio disappeared.
Before being completely gone, they heard Xanthos’s voice, "You see, Steph, it’s like this..."
"Where are the kids?" Daphnix asked. David and Jessica were the only ones missing.
"Getting ready," Frederic said. "They're having trouble looking inconspicuous." Looking at Ami, he asked, "Ami? Shouldn't you be wearing your hair-camouflage?"
"We already did a scan... There are a few people who dye their hair like this. Although not common, it does happen," Ami responded.
"Well, we're not going for total blend-in anyway," Frederic said thoughtfully. "Okay, then. Now, the kids really are getting late..."
At that moment, David and Jessie materialized on the bridge. David was wearing jeans with a black T-shirt and sweater, and a pair of sneakers on his feet.
Jessie, on the other hand, had settled for a summer dress, reaching down to her knees. It was broken white in color, and sported flowers. She was also wearing a pair of sandals.
"Jess?" David asked when he saw his sister. "What in hell did you do to yourself?"
Jessie shrugged. "Sure, Bro. Rub it in. Daddy wants us to look normal, remember? This is about as normal as I could get it."
"Don't worry, Jessie. You look nice," Jennifer assured her daughter.
"You have got to be kidding, Mom! There is no place to hide a weapon!" David interjected. He raised his sweater, showing a small, sheathed knife hidden under it. "And then there are the knife-tips on these shoes."
Jessie laughed. "Really, now? I am not stupid, Bro. I didn't make chief-designer of personal weaponry without a reason, you know." She drew a transparent strand out of her long chestnut hair. "Choke string," she said. She patted her belly, and said, "As well as a collapsible energy blade-handle."
David shook his head. "Those things are unstable."
"An unstable weapon is still a weapon," Jessie retorted. "Anyway, I'm ready, and I can't wait to be out of this thing. It's a disgrace that people actually make their children wear monstrosities like this." Jessie lifted up the sides of the dress; as if there was any doubt as to what she was talking about.
Frederic shrugged. "You could have gone for clothing similar to David’s, Honey. When I said normal, I meant no uniforms, martial arts, ESMF, combat, or otherwise."
Jessie threw her arms up into the air. "GREAT! Why didn't anybody tell me? Computer, clothing beam! Exchange my clothing for David's, my size!"
Needless to say, Jessie was very happy a couple seconds later. David wasn't. The non-sentient computer had switched his clothing with his sister’s. He looked flabbergasted at the broken-white dress he was now wearing. Everyone was laughing at the poor boy’s expense, but the problem was corrected soon after.
After they rang the doorbell, Laura opened the door.
"Welcome. You must be Frederic and friends... I'm Laura. Please come in."
<<Must be one of Xanthos’s wives,>> Frederic sent to his party.
As they stepped inside, Frederic introduced his friends to Laura. Laura raised an eyebrow at Ami's blue hair color, but didn't mention it.
Laura quickly guided the nine people to the living room, were Xanthos greeted them.
"Everyone, these are the people I told you about. That's Frederic, his wife Jennifer, and their friend Daphnix." Xanthos turned to Frederic with a questioning expression in his eyes.
Tawni replied, "Yeah, but it couldn't be!"
Wanting to more or less fit in, Borlan calmly took off his shades, and put them away. A pair of metallic blue eyes stared out into the crowd.
Angie nodded, agreeing. “The scary thing is... Rei couldn’t be older than fifteen, but she looks like she’d beat Kira without too much problems.”
Kat nodded solemnly.
"A pleasure," Frederic responded to each, dipping his head. Daphnix and Jennifer just nodded, as did everyone else.
"And these are our children," Xanthos continued, indicating the three eight-year-old girls and the eight-year-old boy sitting together on the couch. For some reason, two of the girls were staring wide-eyed at Rei and Ami. "Tina -- Kat and Angie's daughter, Tawni -- Mei and Amy's daughter, Miko -- Anna and my daughter, and Rick -- Laura and my son."
[Author’s Note: The children in Xanthos’s family are all eight-years-old at this point. All of the girls ended up being heart breakers, but none more than Tina. As you can well imagine, they all have Xanthos pretty much wrapped around their fingers. As far as Rick: fortunately, he got most of his looks and genes from his mother. <Grin>]
<<Male reproductive organs?>> Jessie whispered mentally.
<<Sure looks like it,>> Frederic sent back.
<<Beats gene-splicing, like the Federation does to have two women conceive a child...>> David sent.
Jessie sent a mental shrug. <<I wouldn't know. No experience in either technique.>>
<<And I hope it stays that way for some time!>> Jennifer butted in.
<<Whatever. It was just a thought,>> Jessie sent, ending the conversation.
Very carefully, Tawni and Miko shuffle closer to Ami and Rei.
"Uh...excuse me, but uh...are you Ami... Mizuno? And Rei... Hino?" Tawni asked, her best ‘innocent girl’ face on.
Ami and Rei looked at each other. Turning back to the two girls, Ami asked, "Yes, we are. How do you know that?"
“You are Sailor Scouts?" Miko barges in.
“Well, the term is 'Senshi', which translates to 'Soldier' rather than 'Scout'. But, again, how do you know that?" Ami asked, still friendly.
“I! We! You! TV!” Miko gets out.
Tawni bumped her sister, and said, "What she's trying to say is that you're on TV." Looking at her watch, the girl added excitedly, "You're on now! Come on, I'll show you!"
Ami and Rei look at each other in total confusion. Dragged by the two girls, the two Senshi followed to the kids' TV room, upstairs.
<<Just going to check on something! We'll be right back! I hope...>> Ami sent to Daphnix, sure of the fact that he would relay her message.
While Tawni dumped the two Senshi in a couch, Miko fidgeted with the TV's remote. Moments later, Ami and Rei looked on in shock as anime-versions of themselves were battling an anime-monster that was all-too-familiar.
"At least we know who won," Rei muttered calmly.
On the screen, Sailor Moon was her usual, klutzy self.
"Here's where she falls," Rei commented, just before the TV-Usagi fell down on her butt.
"Here's where she barely dodges the attack," Rei continued, mere moments before her predictions come true.
The two girls stare as Rei goes on, to be finally stopped by Ami.
"It's weird seeing myself like this... cartoon-style," Ami commented.
"At least they're true to reality," Rei added.
"You mean that stuff really happens?" Tawni asked in total shock.
Ami and Rei stared at the two girls. "It does where we're from," Ami told them.
Tina and Rick open the door. "Stephanie sent us. Dinner's ready," Tina told the group. Rick glanced from the screen to the Senshi, and shook his head. "No... is it?" he asked.
"It is. They are," Tawni responded.
"Cool! Hey, can you transform?" Rick asked.
"Maybe after dinner," Ami told him.
As the four kids led them downstairs, Rei couldn't help but say to Rick, "You're lucky Usagi wasn't here. You would've been run over in a heartbeat after saying the word 'dinner'."
"As bad as in the show?" Tawni asked.
"Worse," both Senshi responded at the same time, rolling their eyes.
Everyone was gathering in the dining room. For the first time in memory, the huge table was almost filled to capacity. After everyone managed to secure a place, Stephanie served dinner, which took her a while, considering that there were 21 people that needed to be served.
Dinner conversations erupted among the different people. Topic of choice among Xanthos’s kids: the Senshi. Ami and Rei directed a loose comment here and there toward that conversation.
Suddenly, for no apparent reason, Borlan's head jerked to glare directly at Xanthos. When it did, all conversation stopped.
Just as Frederic was about to ask Borlan what was wrong, Borlan's face went back to its normal, dark, expression as he turned back to resume his previous conversation.
Frederic, still concerned, sent to Borlan through the link, <<What's wrong?>>
Nothing... now, Borlan replied.
After another moment, Frederic waved it off and resumed his dinner.
A few minutes later, Linda's holographic form shimmered for a few seconds. Borlan's did as well.
All conversations halted as Linda reported with a stern face, "Search complete."
"Great!" Frederic exclaimed. "How many did we get?"
"Five hundred, thirty-one copies," she replied.
Xanthos coughed, choking a little bit before muttering, "Could have been worse..."
"But that's not the bad news," she continued with a glint of resentment in her eyes. For a moment, Frederic thought about how human his AI had become.
"What is the bad news?" he asked, as everyone held their collective breaths.
"We found one triple-encrypted copy on a CD, in a protected vault. It was a grave encryption. Took Borlan five seconds to break it."
"FIVE seconds? Damn," Frederic muttered. "Did you get it?"
Linda shook her head. "It's in this house. I didn't want to upset them by just beaming it out. After all, they are friends."
Frederic raised an eyebrow, and turned to Xanthos. The man shrugged, and gave a small chuckle in relief, thinking to himself that he should have updated the encryption on the CD if it only took Borlan five seconds to break it. Frederic shook his head in amusement. "Now, the really bad news."
Linda took a deep breath, and seemed to steel herself against something. "We identified the core programming of Master Control on a data crystal, 26th century equivalent. The crystal is protected by a low-power subspace-bending shield. It would take considerable resources to break it, namely, destruction of the site."
Frederic turned ashen-white. He raised one hand to keep everyone seated, and took deep breaths. He felt faint. He had realized immediately who had a copy of the program. He knew of no one worse to have it. The coffee cup in his hand shattered as he erected himself, shaking.
Pressing his mental amplifier, he said, "This is Frederic, calling Sorcerer. Come in, Sorcerer."
A few seconds passed, during which the Phalanx Team could almost hear Sorcerer cursing. Then, finally, a voice came through the amplifier. The voice was so much like Frederic's that it startled the normal people.
This is Sorcerer. What can I do for you? Sorcerer’s voice was friendly.
"Sorcerer, tell me you have nothing to do with Master Control."
The five-second silence spoke volumes. I don't know what you're talking about. Now, his voice was shaking, an underlying fear very clearly audible.
"Sorc, don't be an ass. Hand over the data crystal, and we'll forget this ever happened."
A sigh came through the link, and a data crystal appeared in front of Frederic, on the table. There. Take the cursed thing. I made some mods, but I never used it. I swear!
"We'll see, Sorc. For now, I will keep my promise. Good night. Fred out." Frederic closed the link without giving Sorcerer a chance to reply. After sitting down, Frederic picked up the crystal.
"Linda, get all the info you need out of this thing," Frederic said in a weary voice. Linda looked at the crystal, and her form shimmered.
"I broke the code. Here we go ... the logs are empty. The flags are unused. Sorcerer was telling the truth, this program was never used. I have downloaded the upgrades, though. They seem fascinating."
"Whatever," Frederic muttered. As Linda stopped shimmering, she nodded that she had all she needed. With a flick of his wrist, the crystal was thrown up in the air... and disintegrated as Frederic attacked it with a telekinetic blast.
Stunned silence descended over the normal side of the table, while the Phalanx side went on as if nothing happened.
"Maybe this would be a good time for me to tell you all about myself, wouldn't it?" Frederic offered.
"I don't think any of the others would be believe the tale... I'm not even sure *I* will believe it," Xanthos replied.
Jennifer smiled as she said, "Don't worry. We've persuaded scientists of the truth of our story. If we can convince them, we can convince anybody."
Frederic nodded in agreement.
Xanthos thought to himself about the fact that there were scientists and other fanatics that still believed in global warming -- even though that had long since been proven a lie...
"So, how about it? Anyone up for the story of who and what I am?"
"Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours," Jennifer dryly commented.
"Well, it is not boring, I can testify to that," Ami added in. "I was one of those who needed convincing," she added for the benefit of the other people present.
Xanthos’s group looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.
"Might as well..." Xanthos replied.
Frederic leaned back in his chair and started, "When I was fifteen..."
When Ami and Rei chose to transform into Sailor Senshi, with Rei testing out the 'Phalanx' transformation for the first time, most started doubting their disbeliefs.
"A new transformation?" Tawni asked Miko.
"Did you hear what she said? Mercury Phalanx Power...?" Miko replied.
"Looks like they're REAL superheroes," Rick shot, braving the looks his three sisters threw him.
"So, how about it?" Frederic asked. "Does this prove my story, or what?" he added with a laugh. Some muttering rose up from the crowd.
Frederic sighed. "Looks like a testosterone moment, then." Without giving any warning whatsoever, his form became engulfed in a bright red ki-aura. A breeze, generated by Frederic turning Super, washed over the crowd.
"Cool! Just like Dragonball Z!" Rick shouted.
Super-Frederic shot the boy a smile. "They taught me the trick, son. So, how about it? Did I pass the test?" Frederic asked with a grin.
Since all the people present now nodded, Frederic powered down.
After Xanthos’s kids were ushered to bed, because of the school day they had tomorrow, the party boiled down.
“Beautiful,” Jennifer muttered. “It reminds me of the forest near the Amazon village...I used to sleep near a small waterfall just like this one.”
Frederic and Daphnix looked at each other, and then to Xanthos who nodded and said, "Go ahead if you like. We have room inside for a few people, but not that many."
"Thanks. You won't even know we're here," Frederic promised. Daphnix nodded, and glanced over to where Ami approached the group.
Throwing a look at the waterfall, Ami nodded appreciatively. "Nice. Shall I ask for a sleeping bag?"
"Better might," Daphnix said. "Xanthos graciously opened up his waterfall for us."
"Thank you," Ami said to Xanthos, before ordering a sleeping bag from the Ortega.
Xanthos looked at the four people. Only one sleeping bag? he thought.
Frederic, catching the look, answered his thought, "Ami's not been one of us for very long. She's not used to living outdoors yet."
"Not without added protection," Ami defended herself. "I can't just turn up my internal furnace, like some other people I know," she added, throwing a look in the three warriors' direction.
"Sorry," the kids said simultaneously.
"No problem. So, what are you kids doing here?"
"Exploring," Jessie responded casually.
David nodded. "Looks like a nice place, so we decided we'd have to get to know it better."
With a smile, Jessie added, "And topographical maps are so boring after a while. Nothing beats the real thing," David nodded strongly in agreement.
"Oh." Laura was put off-guard for a moment. After all, David and Jessie appeared to be six years old. "Well, we have a game room if you get tired of exploring."
"Great," Jessie responded.
After a few seconds of staring, David added, "Where?"
Laura showed them to the game room. She looked on in curiosity as the two children walked up to the old 'Robotron' arcade game. After reading the instructions, David started a game, noting how easy the game appeared to be. Wave after wave, he moved around with the minimum motion and effort necessary, clearing each level with the maximum score possible.
Xanthos walked in and noticed how David was doing. "Hmm... Looks like you're a natural at that game."
"Not really. Look at all of the mistakes he's making," Jessie responded.
Xanthos looked at the screen again and noticed that David was up over 800,000 points. "I don't know about him making mistakes, but that is an impressive score no matter what the difficulty level is set at."
"I noticed the score starts over at ten million points," David commented.
Xanthos stared at David a moment, then thought to himself, it must be on an easy setting.
"I can make the game more difficult, if you'd like," Xanthos offered.
David stepped back so Xanthos can do so.
Opening the coin-door, Xanthos went into the game's setup... where he learned that the game was ALREADY at its maximum difficulty.
As Xanthos recovered, he overheard some of the conversation between the two children. Jessie was telling her brother a more efficient tactic she had devised from watching him play.
So that's the 'mistake' she saw. His tactics, Xanthos thought to himself.
The large screen simulated a space-view, with the smaller readouts and consoles configured to simulate control of a Federation Runabout-class shuttlecraft.
David and Jessie were simulating pilot and tactical officer, seated at the left and right, respectively.
"Too bad Dad still won't let us fly. I hate Federation tech. This thing handles like a brick with engines," David muttered as he steered the small vessel through the obstacle course. Twin beams of energy lashed out at targets scattered around the course.
"Well, we did take the Daedalus... and I know about the tech. That’s the challenge," Jessie said back. A Federation computer voice noted different stresses the kids put on the system, notifying them of the fact that different systems were being taken off- and on-line at different times.
"Coming up to final stage of level 13," David noted. "Hang on, Sis."
"Oh, yeah, Bro. Yi-ha!" Jessie shouted, a wide smile on her face.
David steered the small ship through the first waypoint, than made a turn that took him 160 degrees to the left, as well as 15 degrees down relative to the vector they approached the first waypoint in. David took the second waypoint while straightening the craft, and immediately pitched the ship straight up to take the third waypoint.
You have ten seconds remaining to finish this stage of the course, the Federation computer noted.
"Keep quiet, rust-bucket," David grunted as the small ship took the third waypoint.
David pulled the ship further, effectively tilting it on its back relative to their original course. However, since there was no up or down in space, this didn't matter. Designed especially to create as much confusion as possible, the Federation pilot course incorporated all kinds of crazy maneuvers.
David dove through the fourth waypoint, kicked the engines to full impulse, which was 25% light-speed, and reversed them immediately after to take a tight turn to the fifth waypoint.
There are 7 seconds remaining for this stage.
"Quiet!" David shouted, totally engrossed in the course. Again, David floored the engines. This time, he was determined to make it. Two failures in a row were unacceptable to him.
His brain noted the course that had been stored there earlier. 90 degrees left... now! The ship veered to its left, the simulated inertial dampers groaned audibly. Up and full about! At full impulse, the ship made the craziest of bumps. Finally, David crossed the finish line.
Course finished. You have 4 seconds remaining.
David wiped the sweat of his forehead, and took a couple of breaths to calm himself.
"You did it, Bro!" Jessie exclaimed happily.
"Oh, yeah. That was fun! Now, your turn."
"Nah, not now. I don't feel up to it. After all, we have been awake for over 24 hours," Jessie answered.
David shrugged. "What do you say we call our sponsors?" David asked after a second. The happy tingle of his skin was dying down, indicating that the adrenaline was disappearing from his system.
"Great idea! I'm sure they will enjoy this when we tell them!" Jessie exclaimed happily. "Computer, note time in universe002, starships Enterprise and Voyager?"
Time is 0800 hours on both ships.
David tapped a few commands into the Federation console. "Establish three-way communication with Jean-Luc Picard, Captain of the USS Enterprise, and Kathryn Janeway, Captain, USS Voyager."
The huge holographic screen split in half, the left half inhabited by Captain Picard and his bridge, while the right was Janeway's, with her bridge. Both captains nodded at each other in greeting, and then looked at the twins.
"David? Why are you calling this early?" Picard asked the male twin.
"Jessie? Is something wrong?" Janeway asked the female twin in turn, keeping in mind Picard's seniority.
"I am honored to tell you we finished the pilot's course for the Starfleet exam," David said. Jessie nodded in agreement, displaying a smile.
"Really? That is good news. So, you finished the third level, did you? I was beginning to wonder," Picard said.
"Yes, I would have to agree. Good work," Janeway added in turn. David and Jessie looked at each other.
"We didn't say that," David ventured.
At the astonished look of the two captains, Jessie went on. "David finished level 13 post-advanced. I finished level 12."
"Those levels are suicide!" They heard Tom Paris yell from the Voyager bridge. "I know, I tried level 10."
"They were... challenging. Especially with that Runabout you told us to use," David said.
"Excuse me, captain," Tom Paris said. Janeway allowed him to speak further. She was intrigued. To her knowledge, no one ever finished level 10. "A Runabout? You weren't told that level 6 requires a special high-maneuverability shuttle?" Tom asked, addressing the twins.
David's stare turned surprised. "We were not," he answered.
"Anyway, that doesn't matter," Jessie said. "We are transmitting our records now. I hope you will continue to sponsor us for home-study at Starfleet Academy, Captain?" David nodded in agreement, looking at Picard while Jessie looked at Janeway.
Both Captains nodded in agreement, both very shaken.
"Of course," both replied. “Excellent work,” Picard added, with Janeway nodding her agreement.
Xanthos, having awoken his children for their school day, now entered the dining room with his four children in tow.
"Thank you, Sir, Captain," the two children answered the images on the screen, keeping very much in mind the Starfleet protocol.
The image winked out of existence, leaving the two children smiling at one another about their accomplishments.
"Interesting equipment... and friends..." Xanthos commented.
"Well, they're Daddy's friends. They're our sponsors for Starfleet Academy," Jessie supplied.
"As well as good friends of ours," David added in with a grin. Jessie smiled ruefully, and shook her head in amusement.
Xanthos nodded at them thinking to himself that he needed to quit being surprised about these people...
Frederic replied, "What do you mean?"
"I noticed your kids talking to a couple of Captains from a TV series a little while ago," Xanthos said.
"Oh, you must mean Picard and Janeway. Interesting people, even if they do get into some strange trouble from time to time," Frederic replied, casually. "Besides, they're nothing compared to some of our more interesting friends..."
Xanthos looked at Frederic a moment, then nodded his head a couple of times. "I've already told myself that I need to quit being surprised about you and your family."
Frederic broke out in a hearty laugh and slapped Xanthos on the back. "Good luck," Frederic told him heartily, chuckling to himself as he sat down to eat breakfast. Xanthos joined him. Within minutes, Jennifer, Daphnix, Ami, Rei, Borlan, Linda, and the twins arrived for breakfast as well.
A little uncertain at first, conversation picked up.
“So, anything interesting planned for the day?” Frederic asked, sipping his coffee.
“Well, we’ve been working on new processor designs with Linda,” Jessie responded. “After Borlan scanned that laptop, we found out it sports some...advanced technology. We’re going to use it as a template for F2 processors. We are still running at only 15 GHz.”
“Sounds like fun,” Jennifer responded. “Just don’t let Starfleet hear about it... their temporal prime directive would eat you alive,” she said with a grin.
“They can’t complain. We gave them the technology for dimensional travel,” David grunted in reply. “Besides, we’re planning on a training session with Al too. I’m sure he’d like that.”
The Phalanx team nodded in agreement. Xanthos raised an eyebrow, but didn’t bother asking who Al was.
“Just make sure no one sees you,” Frederic told the twins. At Xanthos’s strange expression, he added, “Al looks...well, weird. Let’s just say he’s not of the human race.”
“Al’s an alien?” Xanthos asked.
“No, Alakazam is a pokémon,” Jessie replied, as if that explained everything.
Xanthos closed his eyes, and replied, “A cartoon character?”
David and Jessie shrugged simultaneously. “You accepted Ami and Rei,” Jessie said.
Xanthos looked at the two girls, thinking for a moment. “Let me guess... Sailor Scouts, right?”
“That’s Senshi!! Why don’t you people learn!?” Rei shouted.
Xanthos, taken aback for a moment, replied, “Sorry. They...you...are called Scouts in the English translation of the cartoon.”
Rei huffed. “That cartoon’s not realistic anyway. Usagi’s a bigger klutz than the cartoon shows.”
“Rei-chan...” Ami warned.
“What? It’s the truth, and you know it!” Rei shouted. Xanthos sat back, chuckling over the scene.
Ami sighed. “Good thing I’m not Usagi, or we would have had a fight on our hands,” she muttered.
“Calm down, Love, calm down,” Borlan muttered in Rei’s ear. Xanthos half-grinned to himself. No comment, he thought.
“Anyway, we’re going to train,” Daphnix told the group, indicating himself and Ami.
“Sounds like a good idea,” Frederic said. After exchanging a mental note with Jennifer through the link, he offered, “Mind if we join you?”
“Not at all,” Ami replied.
“And we’re going exploring,” Rei said, grabbing Borlan’s arm.
“We are?” he asked dumbly. Looking confusedly at Rei, he added, “Oh. Right. We are.” Looks like I just got volunteered, Borlan thought to himself.
“Well, there are plenty of sights to see,” Frederic said. “Maybe you cold take the APV, and see something along the way.”
“Sounds good to me,” Borlan agreed. The rest of breakfast was just one big suggestion on what to see.
“Nice bike,” Rei said, indicating a large Harley.
Borlan nodded. “Very nice,” he agreed.
Looking sideways, Rei’s lips curled into a grin. “Did you bring the credit card?”
Borlan’s hand materialized a card. “No limit,” he replied. Looking at Rei, he grinned evilly, and pulled the APV over to the curb. Rei was out before the engine shut down. Borlan got out as well. Together, they walked in.
Half an hour later, Rei, dressed in an all-black motorcycle outfit complete with shades, was sitting on the backseat of the big Harley 1200 as Borlan gunned the engine to take them out of the town. The APV was already beamed back on board.
An hour later, on the interstate, Borlan noticed a police car in his mirrors. The car flashed its lights, and Borlan obediently pulled over.
“License and registration, please,” the cop asked. He was suspicious of the big man in front. In fact, he pulled them over because the girl on the backseat was very obviously a minor, and dressed like that…
Borlan’s evil grin turned even more evil as he materialized a wallet, opened it, nodded at the ID inside, and handed it over to the cop.
The cop looked at the ID card. He raised an eyebrow. “Diplomatic immunity, huh? Excuse me if I don’t believe you. Step off the bike, please.”
Borlan kicked out the stand, and got off. “Listen, pal. Maybe you could call it in, and check on it?”
The cop stared at Borlan for a second. “A biker with diplomatic immunity? Ri-ight. Alright, I’ll call your bluff. I will call it in. But God help you if you’re lying.”
Which God? I know all six, Borlan thought to himself. “Just do the check,” he said, his tone colder now.
The cop returned to his vehicle, grabbed his microphone, and called in the information. As he listened to the report, his face turned paler and paler. Borlan, on the other hand, just grinned wider and wider. The cop gasped at the sight of the young lady on the back of the bike, grinning just as evilly as her biker.
“Can you describe him?” the cop asked the dispatcher. As he received the information, his jaw hit the ground. The description matched. Perfectly. I KNEW I should have stayed in bed, the cop thought as he returned to the grinning couple.
“I am very sorry for disturbing you, sir, ma’am,” he said as he returned the wallet. Shaking, he walked back to his car, collapsed into the driver’s seat, and grabbed his microphone.
“This is twenty-seven baker, HQ. Put out an immediate alert to everyone. And I mean everyone. An evil looking biker and his girlfriend are going north on 77. They have diplomatic immunity. Leave them alone.”
Daphnix jumped up, made a backwards summersault, and landed behind her. Ami put her hands on the grass, and flipped over. Small beads of sweat ran along her face. Her breathing was deeper than normal, but not yet labored.
Xanthos walked up, and came to a halt right next to Frederic.
“Feeling ok?” Frederic asked Xanthos, noticing him there.
“A little heavy, but yeah,” Xanthos replied.
“Been tinkering with Master Control, huh?” Frederic asked, after shooting a look at the little black device that was standing on the ground right next to him. A read-out said ‘20’. Twenty G’s. Nothing wrong here.
“It’s an old mod,” Xanthos replied, turning his attention back to Ami, along with Frederic.
“Okay, Ami. Enough warm-up. We’re going to 100 gravs now. Try to execute the kata we showed you as flawlessly as possible. Don’t think about speed or strength. Technique’s more important right now.”
“Ok,” Ami replied, crouching a little. Frederic reached for the control.
Xanthos shot a look at the device, and got the point. “I’ll leave you guys, then,” he said, turned, and walked off a little stiffly. Everyone looked strangely at him.
<<Guess his old mod wasn’t such a good mod after all,>> Frederic sent, chuckling. He reached for the dial on the device, and turned. The readout climbed to 100. <<Only 20 G’s, and he’s already walking funny. But then again, that’s not bad for a normal.>>
Ami’s thoughts shifted to the kata.
Inside, Kat was making ready to go out and watch. Xanthos walked in, and said, “I wouldn’t go out there right now.”
“Why not?” Kat asked.
“They’re running some sort of gravity amplifier. It’s a bit heavy out there at the moment. Last I heard, they were going to 100 G’s.”
“You’re joking, right?” Kat asked Xanthos. As he just looked at her, she added, “You’re not joking.”
Xanthos just shook his head lightly, once. Kat walked off, no longer interested in going out to watch.
“Xanthos,” Frederic began as soon as he found the man. “Jenny and I have an idea to repay you for your hospitality, if you will let us.”
“It’s nothing, really,” Xanthos replied honestly.
Frederic held up a hand. “It’s not nothing. You opened your home to us, who you barely knew. Let us cook dinner for you and your family, as an exchange for your hospitality.”
“Really, that’s not necessary,” Xanthos replied. “Really. You slept outside, so I wouldn’t be much of a host if I accepted anything.”
Frederic nodded. “I understand. In that case, accept it as a gift from one friend to another.”
“You’re not going to back down, are you?” Xanthos asked. Frederic’s grin was all the answer he needed. “Alright. I’ll go tell Steph that she has a day off.”
Half an hour later, Xanthos saw Frederic and Jennifer fly off. Shaking his head, he returned to the house. This is going to be an interesting dinner. I can just feel it.
For the rest of the afternoon, the couple was doing things in Xanthos’s kitchen that made his mouth water from the smell alone.
“No kidding, Sis,” David replied. “Let’s see. It’s 3.15 local time now. We’ve been working since ten this morning. I think we earned our little stretch.”
“Five hours?” Jessie asked. “Time really does fly when having fun.’
David just smiled. Jessie threw her pokéball. “Go, Al!” she girl shouted. The pokémon appeared in its red flash of energy. Jessie started tying her long hair into a ponytail as David and Al sparred a little to warm up.
After tying her ponytail tight, Jessie joined in. She and David worked Al gently through the training exercises, soon reaching mind-boggling levels of speed, strength, and accuracy.
“Is that what I think it is?” she asked. The three others turned, looked, and stared.
“I have no idea what it is, but it sure ain’t from this planet,” Rick replied.
“That...that is an Alakazam,” Miko supplied. “A pokémon,” she added.
“Another cartoon character?” Rick asked.
“Looks like it... they met ‘Sailor Moon’, so why not ‘Pokémon’?” Tawni asked. Neither one of the others had an answer to that.
“Let’s go outside,” Tina suggested, already opening the sliding door. The others agreed instantly. Four kids bolted across the lawn to the three sparring figures.
The moment the four normal children arrived, the action stopped.
“Hello there,” David said. Jessie dipped her head in acknowledgement, while Alakazam looked his normal impassive self.
“We must have lost track of time,” Jessie muttered quietly. Turning to the normal children, she said, “If you want to watch, feel free to do so.”
“Is that an Alakazam?” Miko asked.
Jessie nodded. “Al used to be Dad’s... but during the Sorc War, he transferred to us. He’s been with us ever since.”
“And now we’re training him to fight,” David added. “The martial arts greatly compliment his vast array of mental attacks and defenses. They turned out to be useful during the last battles, so we decided to augment on it.”
“Could you teach us, too?” Rick asked. As his sisters looked strangely at him, he added, “Well, me, anyway.”
“Hey! No way are you leaving me out of this!” Tawni shouted. Tina and Miko both shouted similar things.
David looked at Jessie, who shrugged in response. “I can handle the rest of Al’s training for today. You teach our new friends some moves,” she said. David dipped his head in acknowledgement.
“This way,” David said, leading them not far away, still reasonably close to where Jessie had now materialized two bos. She and Al went after one another, the staves hitting in ever-faster moves.
“Alright,” David began. “How much do you know of the martial arts?” When he received no response, he sighed. “Basics, then. Alright. Rick, hit me.”
Rick’s mouth opened slightly. “What?”
“Hit me,” David said, slowly. Rick shrugged, pulled back his fist, and flung it in David’s direction. David dodged, so he was facing the fist.
“Alright. First thing you do in case of a straight-on attack like this is the following:” David said, placing his hands on specific points along Rick’s arm. “Then, you move like this.” Rick suddenly found himself on his back.
Half an hour later, the four normal children were practicing on throwing David. As soon as he noticed they got it down, he started making small alterations, showing them different counters to the move, and the counters to the counters.
By the time Jessie joined them, Xanthos’s children could move a little. Because of the straightforwardness, omitting katas and spiritual lessons normally associated with martial arts, David and Jessie managed to teach Xanthos’s children quite a few useful moves in a short time. They were nowhere near any kind of level, but they were able to do something.
Angie and Tiffany stared at the girl, not-comprehending what she was talking about.
“You know, the Sailor Scouts! We met Sailor Mars and Mercury!” Miko exclaimed.
“That’s nice, Miko,” Angie replied, putting her hand on the girl’s hair.
Miko, misunderstanding the gesture, went on, “and David and Jessie have their own pokémon!”
The two women stared at each other, strangely. Miko finally understood the posture, and pulled the two women out towards the back. Emerging outside, she shouted, “Jessie! Could you show Al to our mothers?”
Jessie looked at David. David looked back. <<They are seriously messed up. One mom, one dad. That’s how it works,>> David sent to his sister. <<And we thought our family was messed up.>>
<<Whatever. I do NOT want to know.>> Jessie’s final reply was. She reached to the back of her belt, drew the miniature pokéball, enlarged it, and threw it. Alakazam emerged. Angie and Tiffany gasped, in total shock.
David and Jessie walked up to the two women. “I am David Fromthefield,” David introduced himself. “This is my sister, Jessica.”
“Uh...Angie and Tiffany,” Angie said, pointing first to herself and then to Tiffany.
“I think you should talk to Xanthos,” Jessie suggested. “He will explain everything.”
“I...I think that would be... best,” Tiffany agreed, reluctantly pulling her gaze away from the pokémon. She took Angie by the arm, and pulled her inside.
“Did they miss an interesting evening, or what?” Rick asked, grinning, as the little training session continued.
“Wait until they meet Ami and Rei,” Tawni replied.
Borlan and Rei reappeared just before dinner. “Hello, everyone. We’re back!” Borlan shouted as he walked into the dining room, where everyone had gathered in anticipation of Frederic’s mystery dish.
Twenty pairs of eyes locked on Rei; dressed in black leather pants, vest, riding boots, and a pair of dark sunglasses matching Borlan’s.
“Rei-chan! What did you do to yourself?” Ami’s cry came.
“Borlan! What did you do to the girl?” Jennifer shouted right after.
Borlan’s face looked almost scared, even with the shades, pointed at Rei, and said, “She talked me into it!”
“Well, we bought a bike, and I thought I’d better get dressed properly,” Rei announced.
“You bought what?” Jennifer growled.
“A Harley?” Borlan replied, hesitantly.
“You bought a Harley? As in Harley Davidson, the bike?” Daphnix asked.
“The one and only,” Rei said. “Besides, I like these clothes.”
Jennifer sighed. “Fine. Whatever. I’m not responsible for you. You do whatever you want. But you get to explain things to your grandfather,” she said to Rei. “Neither of us are taking the heat for this. You wanted the clothing, you got the clothing.”
“Of course. Thank you, Jennifer-sama,” Rei replied, bowing.
“You’re a free woman, Rei. You make your own choices. I just thought Borlan...” Jennifer didn’t finish.
“He didn’t. My choice, Jennifer-sama.”
“Please, stop calling me that. I hate titles,” Jennifer growled amicably as Borlan and Rei sat down. Normal eyes still drifted to her more than to the others, but soon, she was accepted. The novelty had worn off, just like it had with Ami’s blue hair.
Cheering erupted along the Phalanx people when Frederic finally emerged, sporting his dishes in a telekinetic grasp. Small gasps arose from most of the normal people, interrupted by a cool from some of the children, but generally, this feat was accepted for what it was.
Dinner itself went very smoothly, helped not in the least by Frederic’s cooking, which left most of the people speechless. He had made his special mélange, using all the ingredients he and Jennifer had managed to find.
Because of the lateness of the hour, everyone decided it would be better just to spend another night at Xanthos’s castle. Everyone was getting along; there were no alerts, nor any pressing matters to take care of. So, there really was no reason why the Phalanx team should leave.
The next morning, Xanthos more or less knew what to expect at breakfast, and he wasn’t disappointed. Plans were thrown around even more today then they had yesterday. Somewhere, in the middle of this, a call came in.
Incoming call, Picard, Jean-Luc, Captain, USS Enterprise.
All conversation stopped immediately, surprising Xanthos with its discipline. Frederic shrugged, and took the call. Picard’s face appeared, hovering above the mental amplifier Frederic was wearing.
“Jean-Luc. Please, tell me this is a social call,” Frederic asked.
“Actually, I was hoping to speak with David and Jessica. I have news for them,” the captain replied.
“We’re right here, Captain,” David and Jessie replied, tapping their mental amps at the exact same time. Frederic pressed his after saying good-bye, closing the connection on his part.
“I am honored to notify you that you have been accepted to Starfleet Academy,” Picard told the two children.
“Thank you, Captain,” David and Jessie replied.
“Congratulations, Cadets. I know you will do Starfleet proud,” Picard said.
“Thank you, Captain. We will do our best,” David replied for the both of them. Jessie nodded in agreement.
Captain Picard smiled and said, “That is all I ask. Picard out.”
“Congratulations, Dears,” Frederic said. As the Phalanx team went around, congratulating the two children, the normal people at the table stared. Xanthos, having already seen the twins talk to Picard and Janeway, wasn’t as stunned as the rest.
Slowly, conversations resumed after it was explained what Picard’s role was.
“This is a small fighting game we thought up,” David explained to the children, who were watching every move David and Jessie made. “The first stack is hand-to-hand. The second is armed combat, and the third is...well, the best explanation would be hyper martial arts.”
On the table were three stacks of cards, lying facedown. One deck had two hands on the back, while the second deck had two crossed swords as motif. The last deck, the smallest one, featured something resembling a burst of energy. All the cards sported black backgrounds, while the symbols themselves were gold.
“The game itself is simple,” Jessie continued. “The two competitors take one card each. The card depicts a specific weapon, or fighting-style. Each combatant must then try to win using nothing but what the card has given him or her.”
David stretched out one hand, and the three decks lifted off the table. Jessie raised one hand as well. Under the influence of two telekinetic minds, the cards started shuffling in mid-air. After ten seconds of frenzied activity, too fast for the normal children to follow, the three decks positioned themselves once more facedown on the table.
David drew the top card of the larger deck, the one with the two hands on the back. Jessie drew the second card of the same stack.
"Ninjitsu," David said, throwing his card on the table, face-up. Jessie dipped her head, and threw her card.
"Jung Fu," she replied. After David dipped his head the table and cards disappeared in a transporter beam. The twins' faces grew colder, a determined look forming on their six-year-old features. Calmly, they walked away from one another, and dropped into combat stances.
With the four normal children looking on, David and Jessie launched at each other. Punches and kicks alternated, while the determined gleam in the children's eyes remained.
"Damn, they're fast," Rick muttered.
"Strong, too," Tawni remarked.
David appeared to be getting the upper hand, as he pressed Jessie closer to the house. Jessie, stressing the Jung Fu defense to its very limits, made sure that none of the blows connected. Hers was a well-proven tactic: wear your enemy down, and let him make a mistake.
David, on the other hand, used another well-known credo: the best defense is a strong and fast offense. His kicks and punches were so fast that Jessie was simply unable to do anything but block or dodge.
As Jessie gave way, she was aware of the four normal kids moving out of the way of the two fighters as they approached the house. Jessie's mind told her that a wall was near. She ducked under one of David's blows, expecting to be able to finally mount attack of her own.
No luck, as David jumped over her high-kick. He came spiraling down, both legs extended, obviously intending her seriously bodily harm if she didn't defend herself properly.
Jessie could have blocked him. But that would mean forfeiting the game by using advanced mental abilities to boost her body. Jung Fu had no other defense than retreat. So, Jessie gave way, and felt the wall against her back. Corner! her mind warned, and Jessie ducked, to roll for more leeway.
David charged his sister, and threw a vicious punch. He had not counted on her ducking to roll for the corner. His fist connected with the wall. It went right through it, punching a grave-looking hole in the corner of the building.
The four normal children gasped. David and Jessie didn't bother to look, their fight encompassing every thought. Jessie finally saw her opening, and went for it.
As David threw a high-kick, Jessie did a full split, and went right for David's groin. Her two-handed punch was right on target. David avoided it at the last possible moment, by turning the high-kick into a dropkick, and forcing Jessie to roll out of the way.
She rolled, and swept David's legs out form under him in one continuous motion. David landed on his shoulders, and pushed himself back to his feet. Jessie had used the momentum of the roll and sweep to bring herself back to her feet. Both twins were in their designated combat stances; David's, an aggressive one; Jessie's, a defensive one.
"You broke the wall!" one of the kids said.
David and Jessie continued to stare. Finally, their stances relaxed. Both looked at the hole in the wall.
"Ortega, program nanoprobes. Fix the wall," David told his communicator.
Acknowledged, the metallic computer voice responded. Within seconds the wall started healing. The normal children watched in shock as the wall sealed itself, before another transporter beam took the probes away once more.
‘There,” David said, patting the new section of corner. “Better than new.”
“How did you do that?” Miko asked. “Those walls are so thick!”
“Gravity training,” David explained. “When you’re used to dealing with lots of gravity, a normal wall tends not be a challenge anymore.”
The normal children just stared at the section of wall David’s hand was still resting on.
“Hi, Little Brother. Just us,” Barbara’s voice came through the comlink.
“Barbs? Come on down!” Frederic said. “The back yard’s the ideal place. David and Jessie are there.”
“Will do, Little Brother. See you in a second!” the link broke, and Frederic and Jennifer shrugged at each other. They ran. Full speed.
They beat the transportation beam. Before the three forms had materialized, Frederic was already calling the rest of the group to tell them that Barbara, Sonya, and Michelle had arrived.
The Phalanx team was there within seconds, either by running or by beaming to the location. The reunion was happy.
“We just came down to congratulate our favorite niece and nephew on their acceptance at Starfleet Academy,” Barbara said, hugging them.
“Thanks,” Jessie answered, smiling broadly. “But we’re your only niece and nephew.”
“Making you all the more special to us,” Sonya replied, in turn hugging the kids.
“Yeah,” Michelle confirmed, hugging the children as well.
Xanthos walked up to the group. “Xanthos!” Frederic said. “Xanthos, these are Barbara, Michelle, and Sonya, my sisters.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Xanthos replied, nodding at the three women. “Sisters?” he asked Frederic, seeing Michelle’s dark skin.
“Well, I adopted Michelle and Sonya as my sisters,” Frederic said, smiling. Turning back to the three newcomers, he asked, “So, how long can you stay? Or is this just a lightning visit?”
“We can stay as long as we want, Little Brother,” Barbara replied. “F2 can survive without us for a day.”
Xanthos didn’t react to the ‘Little Brother’ remark. By now, he was no longer surprised by anything. Since Xanthos had some more business-related stuff to talk to Tiffany about, he excused himself, and went back inside.
Incoming fighter craft, the Ortega announced at the exact moment seven forms appeared in the back yard of Xanthos’s mansion.
“Buffy?” Frederic asked as he looked at her and her six companions.
“Just here to congratulate David and Jessie,” the Slayer replied. By now, Frederic began to suspect something. He held his mouth shut. Soon, lots of visitors graced Xanthos’s mansion with their presence.
Some of them were even brought in by thoughtful Slayers. People like the Senshi, and Xena, who didn’t have access to dimensional technology.
And Xanthos... Xanthos saw them come, and shook his head.
When Daphnix joined them, he threw a curious look at the others, but didn't say anything at first. Then, he asked the girls, in Japanese,
"What happened? I thought you guys didn't speak English?"
"Minako-chan does, and so does Rei-chan,” Ami answered. "But I'm translating for the others."
"You are?" Daphnix asked. "How? We can't get through to them with any kind of mental ability."
"I don't know," Ami said, shrugging. "I just reached out, and did it."
Daphnix' eyes went wide. "This is incredible! This means that the shields aren't blocking you out! Hang on. Let me get Fred. Maybe we can help you guys out after all!"
The girls were definitely excited now, and even more so after Fred showed up. After deciding that English was as far as they wanted to go for now, Frederic, using Ami as a guide, was soon in the mind of Minako. He gave her the English language, expanding the knowledge she already had, and pulled out. He went on to Makoto, then Rei, and finally, Usagi.
It was with Usagi that he ran into kind of a snag. Instead of just materializing in the hall of cabinets, he found himself in a small, dimly lit room. It contained one red cabinet, one gray cabinet, and one black cabinet.
"This is all she has?" Frederic wondered to himself. "I knew she wasn't a bright light, but this..." Shaking his head, Frederic pushed open the door to her mind-computer. Here the light was totally out. He walked in, and stumbled over something. Cursing, he searched for the light switch. Flipping the switch, a small bulb lit up, casting the room in a gloomy twilight.
“An abacus? What the fuck is an abacus doing in here? Oh, shit... it’s broken,” Frederic muttered, kneeling next to the ancient counting machine. A sigh of relief crossed his lips as he said, “Well, I didn’t break it... the dust on this thing is years old.”
Shaking his head, he sat down at the terminal. At least it's a computer and not a typewriter, he thought to himself. Chuckling the thought away, he focused on the totally black screen. The screen didn’t light up when he sat down. It didn’t light up when he pressed a key on the keyboard, either.
"Huh? What gives?" Frederic said out loud. He reached around, found a switch, and flipped it. The computer started humming, and the screen lit up. A light blue border and a dark blue center greeted him.
“Commodore 64? What the fuck is going on here?” Frederic cursed to himself. “List,” he ordered. A drive started rattling. Here we go! Frederic thought to himself as he saw the name of the program. He ordered it loaded. Text-based, the interface reminded him of Sonya’s mind.
He went through the options available.
Impressive. She has 97% of her resources available. Normal people use between 10 and 12%... She uses 3. Frederic shook his head once again. Poor girl. I have to help her.
Using his powers, Frederic integrated the English language, finding it difficult to do with someone whose computer hadn't even been on five minutes ago. Too bad she didn't want me to change anything but give her English. She could use a makeover in here. His finger slid over the screen, removing a lot of dust in the process.
A really BIG makeover, Frederic concluded. He pulled out.
"Everyone all right?" he asked. Only after everyone had responded in the positive did they notice that he had asked the question in English, and they had responded in kind.
His gaze went over the crowd. Even though he never watched much of the respective TV shows, he knew enough to be impressed by the fact that Buffy was talking to a couple of Power Rangers, with Rei, who was doing her very best not to get noticed by the warriors, standing close by.
Suddenly, Xanthos realized that the place is getting fuller all the time. A man walked up to him. Xanthos didn't know him, and had never seen him on TV. He also didn't match anything Xanthos had read about. The man appeared to be young and old at the same time, a curious contradiction.
"So, how long have you know Fred?" Xanthos asked curiously, hoping to catch a glint to the man's identity.
"I've known him for 22 years," the man responded casually, leaning against the wall as well.
Xanthos’s eyes rose a bit. "You're his father or something?"
The man seemed to mull that over. "In a way. So, what do you think of Fred?"
Xanthos shrugged. "Hard to figure out, I think." He was about to ask another question, when Frederic noticed the man. As he started walking towards the duo, Xanthos was relieved that he might finally know the identity of his talk partner. The man detached himself from the wall, obviously preparing himself for when Frederic would reach them.
To Xanthos’s surprise, Frederic bowed, and whispered, "Wise One."
Xanthos, confused, interrupted, "Why are you bowing? I didn’t think you answered to anybody..." A very, VERY, creepy feeling made its way up Xanthos’s spine. He didn’t like this.
"Xanthos, that is GOD!" Frederic replied.
Xanthos’s eyes widened a bit, and he looked at the man. The man shrugged, and nodded.
"What? Zeus?" Xanthos asked. I knew I wasn't going to like this!
"No. God. You know, Yahweh. Allah. God," Frederic replied.
Jennifer, who had come over as well, told Xanthos, "I told you he was a nice guy."
Xanthos, stunned, replied, "Yeah."
The kids walked up with a serious look on their young faces, and Xanthos asked himself what they would do. They bowed as well.
"Wise One," Jessie began, "we owe you an apology for the Destroyer fiasco. We should have known..."
The Wise One raised his hands. "An honest mistake. At least you were on your toes enough to figure out that something was wrong."
It was David who answered. "Thank you, Wise One."
"Now go play," the Wise One said playfully. The kids scooted away.
“You really are God?” Xanthos asked, voice failing in shock. The Wise One nodded.
“I am part of a council known as the Gods of the Universe,” the Wise One explained. “There are six of us, and I am the one who makes sure the decisions get carried out. And I already know what you’re going to ask. No, we don’t interfere on a personal level. We don’t do miracles. We are strictly here to ensure the universe survives.”
Xanthos just fell silent, struck speechless.
"Yeah, Xander?" Frederic asked as he turned around.
"I've been meaning to talk to you. You know, since the Sorc war, technology has been tremendous, and because you gave us all an APV... so, I've been meaning to ask your opinion on something."
Frederic looked curious, and a little apprehensive. He did not like this. "About what?"
"Well, we changed the look of the Interceptor."
Frederic let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. "Into what? The Interceptor is about as good as we could get it."
By now, various other Master Slayers had gathered around. They all looked uncomfortable for some reason.
"Well, Linda was a big help by getting the conversion grid and the nanoprobes altered..."
"Xander, get on with it!!" Frederic grunted.
"A Ferrari F50," Xander half-whispered.
"A Ferrari?" Frederic asked, eyes wide.
"Bright Ferrari-red," Buffy confirmed. "It's a two-seater, just like the Interceptor, and we left the engine, suspension and everything else alone. Just the bodywork."
"Why are you all looking so uncomfortable?" Frederic asked, as he glanced around the others.
"Dodge Viper, pitch-black," Jonny whispered.
"BMW Z9, silver gray," Rocky grunted in turn.
"Uh...Lamborghini Diablo II? Black?" Freda offered meekly.
Frederic looked around with his mouth right open. It snapped shut. "Damn," he whispered. "Am I the only one with the old model?"
"Looks like it, Love," Jennifer whispered in his ear. Frederic just shook his head in resignation.
Borlan shrugged, and walked over. “Isn’t that Darien?” Xanthos asked, pointing at the figure he noticed.
“That is Mamoru,” Borlan replied coolly. “Tuxedo Kamen.”
“Well, I only knew his English name,” Xanthos defended. “Anyway, you and I need to have a talk with him.”
Borlan raised an eyebrow, and said, “Why?”
“Trust me,” Xanthos told Borlan. “Hey, Mamoru! Come here a sec,” Xanthos said, turning to the figure. Mamoru walked over, intrigued.
“What’s with the roses, man? We can get you a couple dozen stilettos, way better than those roses,” Xanthos offered.
“You’re the tenth guy to ask me about my roses! What do you people have against my roses!?” Mamoru shouted.
“Take the stilettos,” Borlan said. “Trust me.”
Mamoru sighed, and turned. Pointing at a certain pig-tailed girl, he said, “See that blonde over there? She likes the roses.”
“Fine. Give her roses. But quit throwing them at your enemy. And aim a little better. No monster is going to run off because you’re throwing a rose in front of it,” Xanthos replied.
“Listen, guys, I appreciate the concern. But really, she likes me throwing roses. And if she wants roses, she gets roses. Got it?” Mamoru grunted, and walked off.
A couple of minutes later, Xanthos walked up to Frederic, shaking his head.
“Something wrong?” Frederic asked nicely.
“Your friends... some of them... no offense, but they’re weird,” Xanthos replied.
“Well, we all act a little weird at times,” Frederic told him in a joking tone. “Seriously, who are you talking about?”
“Tuxedo Mask and his roses,” Xanthos replied.
Frederic laughed loudly. “Yeah. I know. I’ve had a talk with him about it. So did a couple of the Master Slayers. I take it you didn’t fare any better than we did?”
“I even had Borlan for backup,” Xanthos answered, “and it didn’t help!”
Frederic laughed quietly. “Anything short of a rewrite wouldn’t do it,” he told Xanthos.
Xanthos, looking over the very diverse group, suddenly caught side of Usagi. “Hey, did you notice that she’s not as klutzy as she used to be?”
“Well, I activated her mind,” Frederic muttered. “She wanted English. I had to turn it on before I could give it to her. Thing is governed by a Commodore 64,” Frederic finished. “Surprised the hell out of me.”
“Her mind is governed by a C-64?” Xanthos asked, shocked.
Frederic shrugged and nodded. “You don’t want to know,” he said. “At least it’s better than the broken abacus I found in there. Gods know how it got in there in the first place.”
“You’re right. I don’t want to know,” Xanthos replied.
Xanthos and his family had never seen people react so fast. One moment, they were having a party, and the next moment, most were in pure war-mode, each member training two guns on the newcomers.
"Sorcerer," Frederic grunted angrily. Sorcerer, having decided on making a big entrance, was clad in a black armored outfit, with a black cape hanging from his shoulders. His Jennifer was hiding behind his back, as he had shoved her there.
"Is this how you treat an old friend?" Sorcerer asked, spreading his arms disarmingly. No one there was fooled. For a mage, spread arms meant little or nothing.
"We fought against the Destroyer together," Frederic said. "That does not make us friends."
Sorcerer's eyes locked with Frederic's. "We shed blood together. We fought together. We died together, and we lived together. We exchanged training. In my book, that makes us brothers. And it does the same in every book I ever came across, and you know it!"
Frederic sighed, and decided that this was not the way he wanted things to go. "What do you want, Sorc?"
"I just dropped by to see how you were. After all, you were hunting that program."
"It's gone," Linda answered coolly. "All copies. Gone."
Sorcerer dipped his head. "Thanks, gorgeous. Now, what does a guy have to do to get an invitation to this party?"
"You are not invited," Frederic answered.
"Come on, Freddy boy! We're amigos! Pals! Brothers!"
Frederic's eyes shot full of fire. "You killed thousands of ESMF people. You killed ME! I should have ripped your guts out, and let you bleed to death!"
"Is that supposed to be a threat?" Sorcerer asked, with a raised eyebrow. "Here's a threat. I will rip out your guts, and hang you by them. Then I'll feed your corpse to the dogs, shoot them, and burn them."
"I said you could live, Sorc. Get back to your house, and lay low. As long as you do that, we will have no problems."
"What do I have to do to convince you that I've changed?" Sorcerer pleaded. "That was then. This is now."
"Because I know for sure that you will plant a knife in my back as soon as I lower my guard. And before you complain, I know it because it's the same thing I would do," Frederic grunted.
"You wound me," Sorcerer said theatrically.
"Do you want me to throw you out?" Frederic threatened.
"You know we're about as much alike as we can be," Sorcerer warned Frederic. "And I wouldn't give your friends a high chance of survival. Collateral damage, you know? Of course you do, because you taught me the ki techniques I'm talking about! I won't be using ki-containment to keep my blasts centered on you! When I go, I will make damn sure I go flat-out!"
Frederic was seething. He also knew Sorcerer was right. His thoughts raced over the options. "Fine, then. How about a match in the tournament style? Pick a card, and fight in the designated style."
"You have got to be kidding," Sorcerer grunted. "No way will I limit myself like that."
"I may not like fighting you all-out..." Frederic grunted warningly. His person suddenly shifted into Shadow. "...but I have no problems with it." Shadow crossed her arms over her chest. A single arm jabbed out to her right, an extended finger pointing at Xanthos. "And we still need to have that talk."
Xanthos’s jaw hit the floor. He had no idea how Shadow knew exactly where he was, without looking for him.
Sorcerer, meanwhile, had an almost-fearful look in his eyes. Oh, shit. The crazy warrior-bitch. I'm in so much trouble. Too late did he notice that they were standing alone, facing each other, in some desolate wasteland. And it just got worse, Sorcerer's mind concluded.
“Looks like Sorcerer didn’t like what Shadow did to him,” Daphnix whispered. Jennifer snickered.
Shadow ignored everyone, and walked straight at Xanthos. She was determined to finally have that talk with him.
“Pendragon,” she said coldly as she approached him.
“Hi,” Xanthos said, unsure.
“So, you like the Senshi uniform, huh?” Shadow asked coldly.
“Who said it had anything to do with the uniform? You are a rather attractive woman, you know...”
Shadow was stunned for a moment, but she recovered quickly. After 250 years, she could take almost anything. “Flattery is of no consequence to you. My powers of observation are 100%.” Shadow’s finger pointed at his crotch. “Little Xanthos spoke for itself. Now, I require an apology for embarrassing me. The uniform by itself is bad enough. I do not need some normal adding to the embarrassment.”
Xanthos took a really good look at Shadow, and saw that she really was embarrassed by the whole situation. After thinking about it for a moment, he calmly said, “Shadow, I’m sorry if I embarrassed you. If I did, it certainly wasn’t intended.”
Shadow nodded, finally relaxed, and said, “Accepted. Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Xanthos formed a friendly smile, and gently shook his head. After a final nod, Shadow moved off, shifting into Frederic within half a minute after finishing her talk with Xanthos.
<<Smart of him to back down. She was about ready to strike,>> Jennifer thought to Frederic.
<<It’s hazardous to your health not to be controlled around Shadow. Good thing for her she knew what to do in the normal world for 250 years. I’m afraid this Sailor uniform is just too much.>>
<<Can you blame her?>> Jennifer asked.
Frederic shook his mental head. <<I can’t.>> he replied.
This is Admiral Charles Decker, commanding officer of the SpaCECoB construction site.
Frederic looked at the amp, and grew pale. His voice remained composed, somehow. “You’re not on the station, Admiral. What’s wrong?” Please, Gods...
Sir, the station... it is under attack. They are hurling meteorites. I regret to inform you that we’ve lost the PSS Eternity, Fast Explorer class. Only 50 out of 250 men and women could be saved before the ship exploded.
By now, Frederic was the only one of his group still on Earth. He closed the link. “We have to go, Xanthos.” Frederic said, disappearing in a transport beam. The Ortega crossed over, leaving a very stunned Xanthos with an even more stunned family behind.