Edited by BobMc and Rav
Get past a hundred or so beautiful, naked, trained killers, and then simply convince the flight crew to fly a hundred or so civilians to safety. Slocum made it sound not only plausible, but downright easy. Ben wanted to ask him if it was so fucking easy, why hadn't he already done it?
Kathryn: "Sweetheart, Dr. Slocum is correct. For us, this task is easy. We simply start putting everyone on the base, loyal to Solms, asleep. The rest we stuff in the big whale and fly out of here. The tricky part is going to be doing it so nothing potentially volatile is left unattended. We need to make sure everything is shut down before putting everyone to sleep."
Ben: "When do you think would be the best time to do this, and where do we start? I don't have the foggiest idea how this place is run. Don't forget what our primary goal is here, either; we still need to find that prick."
Kathryn turned to Dr. Slocum. "Doctor, I know it may sound redundant, but do you know where Solms' private quarters are?"
Slocum turned a little white. "Ye... yes, I have a very good idea. I've had to witness the introduction of new scientists to our community for years. Solms would bring the new scientist into his audience chambers and tell the person what was expected of them. When the person refused, Solms would rape their spouse in front of them. Children were next unless the scientist agreed. As far as I know, no one lasted until the end of the first 'example'. There have been a few exceptions where the person had no family to speak of. I watched as Isaac Solms brutally tortured an old man in front of his daughter. The old man screamed at her not to give in, to fight Isaac with her last breath. The old man died, and they brought the woman's mother. The woman agreed when she saw Solms push down his pants." The older man had tears in his eyes. He wiped them away, and looked Ben in the eye. "I've never been in his quarters, but they are just off the main audience chamber. I can take you there."
"That'll do. Kathryn, can you get the families ready to go?" Ben asked. "I really want to get out of here before I get mad and just start shutting all these assholes off."
"Considering where you're going, I'd think about doing that anyway. As soon as you identify them, shut them off; don't take any chances. Remember, you're a father yourself now," Kathryn said, smiling softly at him. "I certainly don't want to be the one to tell our wives that you're not coming back."
Ben handed her his backpack of remaining explosives and double-checked his throwing stars and Glock ammo. He kissed Kathryn and nodded to Slocum, who led him out of the office.
"We'll have to pass through security again when we leave. Remember, you won't be able to use your guns until the airlock finishes cycling," Slocum said.
"We're still trying to be covert here, Doctor. I hope I don't have to use the gun at all."
When they got to security, Ben told the guard on duty that he was escorting Dr. Slocum to the physics lab on level five. Mentally he told the guard to forget either of them had ever been there as soon as they left. The guard barely noticed them and waved them through. They walked over to a lift, and Slocum pressed the button for the lowest level.
"We will have to pass through one more security checkpoint to be allowed into the audience chamber. We'll have to be careful here because Solms' chief of security as well as any number of 'Dukes' will be there," Slocum told Ben. "You'll need a code to get through here."
If Ben hadn't scanned Dr. Slocum, he would have been nervous about him. As it was, Ben was a little nervous anyway. "Thank you Doctor; you know, you don't need to go in there with me. You can wait at the checkpoint if you wish."
Slocum seem to think about it a moment; "No, I'd like to see this through with you. After the horrors I've seen in this room, I think I need to see this through."
Ben nodded acceptance as the lift doors opened on the selected floor. Ben scanned the guard as soon as he came into view, and then put him to sleep. He input the code he'd gotten from the guard's mind and the door opened into Solms' inner sanctum.
"Any word from our people?" John asked as he walked into the room. He had tried to get some sleep, but it wouldn't come. From the looks of the others he hadn't been the only one.
"No sir, but in this case, that's a good thing. Project 'Special Edition' is about to launch, and the computer section has located Solms' weapons plant. It's been marked for a strike later." The woman glanced back down at her screen before continuing. "Nothing else to report; everything is quiet."
"That's about to change. Operations, you have a 'go' for 'Special Edition'. You may launch when ready," John said.
Justine simply nodded and typed something into the keyboard at her station. "Data dump in process; it'll hit the public in ten minutes. May god and the republicans forgive us."
Susan got up from her place next to John and walked over to the girl. Justine saw her coming and smiled at her. Susan took the surprised computer specialist in her arms and kissed her tenderly on the lips. After a time, Susan felt the girl relax into the kiss, and slowly let her go. When they parted, Susan smiled down at the girl. "Are you feeling better?"
"Very much so, Ma'am, thank you," Justine replied.
Very softly, someone was heard saying they wished they could develop a case of nerves. Susan laughed and grinned at the room at large.
"Tell me about it!" John said. "Okay folks, back to business. Charlie, what's our sitrep?"
"As per your orders, Bravo and Alpha are swapping on security, and Alpha has just relieved Bravo. Charlie and Delta teams are camped out in the hangers with their planes on stand-by. At oh-eight-thirty this morning, Senator Brock called for you and was told you where currently occupied and would return his call as soon as possible.
"China filed a formal protest with the United Nations against the United States claiming that the trade embargo instituted in protest over the brutal military suppression of the labor union had wide ranging humanitarian impact. China is asking for the UN to intercede to allow food items to be traded. The United States has yet to make an official reply.
"The Mexican government has officially listed Marijuana as a trade item. It has requested permission from the American government to allow their companies to advertise the drug. Again, the US has not made a reply.
"That about covers it for world news, Sir," the older operations officer replied.
John suspected that there was something special between Susan and her second, but Susan had never said anything, nor had Charlie objected to Susan joining John. But to watch the two working together it was obvious there was more than mutual respect between them.
"Thank you, Charlie. You look beat, why don't you take a break?" John asked, but his attention was on the thermal image of the facility and The Fortress. Facial recognition software had placed Ben inside The Fortress, but that was early yesterday. Since that time, no one had seen a thing. The tension was getting too much for John; he wanted to go someplace and scream, but didn't want to leave this room in case something happened while he was gone. So, they waited.
Kathryn returned to the residence area where she had spent the night scanning and getting to know the families of the captive scientists. She found the woman that had allowed herself to be captured so she could get messages out to the remaining people. The woman had just smiled at her, and gave her a hug before moving on to the other families. Several minutes later it dawned on Kathryn that the woman would be a big help in getting the word out, and getting the families ready.
She found that woman again and told her what Ben and Dr. Slocum had discussed about the ship. The word quickly spread through the small community and shortly the troupe was ready to go. She led the group to an area near the boarding ramp of the ship, where she was supposed to meet Ben and Dr. Slocum, but they weren't there. It was dangerous, but they had to wait.
Ben sent his mind into the room first. He dimmed every mind he found in the room but one. That one he couldn't dim; it fought off the sleep command. Ben drew the Glock and quietly pulled the slide back to chamber a round. Very slowly he entered the room.
"I say! That was very well done! Please, come in! I'd like to meet the freak that can put a whole room full of men to sleep. Come in!" a jovial voice said. Ben motioned Slocum to stay put and slowly looked around the corner and saw only a somewhat portly man standing in front of a throne with his hands on his hips. This time, Ben got no reading off him at all, like he wasn't even there. Quickly casting his mind around the room again, he found the mind that resisted him sneaking around behind him. Turning quickly, Ben pumped two silenced rounds through a curtain off to one side, and heard the thump of a body hitting the floor. The mind Ben felt quickly dimmed into death. Ben turned back to the figure before the throne.
"You must be the one who calls himself the Emperor; Isaac Solms. The sick fuck that is trying to take over the planet," Ben said.
"Oh, I'm not trying anything. I've had control of this planet for the last thirty or so years. Soon I'll have control over the galaxy as well. By the way, yes, I am your Emperor, and you will bow before me," Solms said. "I will also fuck that bitch daughter of mine in the ass while I strangle her to death. Such is the price of treason."
"She hasn't committed treason against you, you stupid fuck. She was never one of your slaves," Ben replied.
"You haven't got a clue, you misguided freak. Everyone on this planet is my slave, everyone! Including you! Soon I will have the battle fleet and the whole universe will tremble at my feet! I will of course have to kill you and that hot piece of ass you call a sister; after all, I can't allow abominations such as yourselves to roam around free."
"Okay, I've had enough. Good-bye 'grandfather'," Ben said as he pulled the trigger twice aimed at Solms' head.
"Stupid boy! You can't even tell a hologram from a real person. I haven't been here for days! I left after your last pitiful attempt to kill me. I'd say you'll have to do much better next time, but there won't be a next time for you. There is no way out of this one boy! Goodbye!" Solms waggled his fingers at Ben as the image disappeared.
"Fuck!" Ben yelled and ran for the door.
Ben threw his mind forward into the anteroom and put the twenty young girls to sleep before he rounded the corner into the throne room. He tried the button for the lift, but found it wasn't working. They were trapped on the lower level.
Ben: "Kathryn, get the civilians to the ship, put down anyone in your way. I think Solms has triggered a self-destruct. I'll try to get up to you, but if I'm not there by the time you get the flight crew convinced, get the hell out of here! The good doctor and I will find our own way home."
Kathryn: "Are you sure? Maybe I can help from up here."
Ben: "No! There's no time! Get those people on that ship and get the hell out of here. Try to take as many of the girls as you can, but don't go out of your way to do it. Go!" Ben helped the doctor out from under the pile of girls that had been holding him prisoner, and pulled him back toward Solms' throne room. "If this is where Solms was staying, I'm sure he had to have a bolt hole. We need to find it fast!"
"Did you kill him?" Slocum asked. "I don't see his body here."
"No, it was a holographic decoy. Solms hasn't been here for days. Here! Follow me!" Ben said as he climbed into a low-slung car and fastened the seatbelt. Slocum followed his example, but when Ben tried to start the vehicle, nothing happened. Slapping the dash in frustration, Ben made sure the vehicle was in neutral and closed his eyes. He used his telekinesis and pushed them quickly down the long tunnel. Ben had no idea how long the tunnel was or how fast he was moving them, but he felt that time was rapidly running out.
Ben: "Kathryn, we found a way out. We're clear. You need to get moving, I have a feeling that time is running out."
Kathryn: "I feel it too, lover. I'm working on the flight crew as we speak. The families are helping with the girls, by dragging or carrying as many on board as they can. Others are placing them in the hold. We should be ready to go in a few more minutes."
Ben: "Call the people into the ship and close the doors. Launch as soon as you get the crew to wake back up. I don't think you have a few more minutes, lover."
A pause told him that she was issuing orders.
Kathryn: "Okay, we'll be out of here in two minutes. The pilot is about to start the engines and lift us out of here. I'll let you know when we're thirty miles away."
Ben: "I'll talk to you then love. I need to slow us down or we are going to be a fine red mist on the brick wall coming up. There's a cabin cruiser docked in the harbor, I'll try to get that and get as far out to sea as I can."
Kathryn: "Understood, we're lifting off now; good luck husband."
"Sir!"
The comment pulled John's head up to the satellite images as quickly as anything could. What he saw there made his blood run cold. The thermal image was all white indicating the area under observation was roughly the same temperature as the sun.
"Confirmed, there has been a thermonuclear detonation at The Fortress," Charlie's voice cracked as she said the next. "It is not a hydrogen explosion. The satellite registers it as a ten-kiloton shallow-ground detonation."
"Please tell me you tracked something leaving the area fast before that thing blew?" John asked.
Charlie only shook her head in the negative as tears slowly fell down her face.
John turned to Amanda, who was sitting with her eyes closed, in deep concentration. "I... I can't feel them. I've called but neither of them are answering me," she said as the first tears of loss formed in her eyes.
Kathryn: "Mom? Amanda? Can you hear me?"
It was weak, but Amanda heard it, and a smile blossomed across her face. She put her hand on the table and directed the audio conversation to the speakers in the room.
Amanda: "The whole room can hear you, love! I'm echoing it over the com system."
Kathryn: "Good, we need immediate evac; full medical as well as transport for two hundred. We were escaping in the ship when the shockwave took us out. We have a hell of a pilot here though, and she made a mostly controlled landing forty miles west, northwest of ground zero. I can give you the GPS readings in a minute. Have you heard from Ben yet?"
Amanda: "No, we thought he was with you. Where is he?"
Kathryn: "Solms set a trap. He had a hologram take his place and lured Ben into the throne room to kill him. Some time during that discussion, the self-destruct was activated and Solms killed the power to the lift servicing that area. Ben and Dr. Slocum were trapped until Ben found another way out. It led away from us, so he told me to launch, and he would steal a boat from the harbor and head out to sea. That was about ten minutes before the explosion."
Over in one corner some of Justine's people were running back video from the area, and moving the objective to the harbor. At the top of the screen a fast moving object was seen to simply appear from the side of a cliff, turn north, and speed away. Someone traced the small object, and zoomed in. Hunched down in the craft were Ben and an older gentleman Amanda assumed was Dr. Slocum.
Amanda: "Hang on a minute, honey, we have him leaving the area in one of those fast boats they race in Florida. It looks like he was about a quarter mile out to sea and heading north. This was before the explosion; we're waiting to see what happened after. John wants to send the search and rescue planes. Could you send the coordinates please."
Amanda barely heard Kathryn's reply since she was watching the screen intently. There was a bright flash and she saw both men duck and cover their heads, and the boat motors died. They coasted for a few more feet, but they were dead in the water. Suddenly a very fast moving wave flipped the boat, tearing it apart and throwing the occupants into the ocean. Ben must have hit his head, because Dr. Slocum swam over to him and turned him over in the water. He pulled Ben over to a piece of the boat and managed to get him up on it. The man then started pushing it toward shore.
"Ops! Get me a location on those men, and get another ESAR team heading for them," John ordered.
Amanda: "We found him, angel. He's unconscious but we know where he is. John is sending a team for him as well."
Kathryn: "Good, I'll try to get some shelters set up for us to sleep in, and I think there are enough medical types here to help most of the wounded, but it never hurts to be on the safe side. Do you have an ETA so I can pass that on to the rest?"
Amanda: "John says the fastest they can get there is about five and a half hours. If the Mexicans interfere, it might be longer."
Kathryn: "Julie says the Mexicans don't know we're even out here. No one does. The ship was designed with major stealth equipment. Supposedly not even a federal battleship could track her if one was in orbit. Obviously, we can't leave her out here for the Mexicans either. It does have advanced weapons and flight systems. If it becomes known, every nation on the planet will go to war to capture her."
John: "Does Julie know what the ship's status is?"
Kathryn: "Actually, she thinks they might be able to get her repaired enough to fly in the atmosphere by the time you guys get here. Once our rescue planes get in range of her guns, they won't have to worry about being intercepted. Julie tells me that the weapons systems on the ship can even track and shoot down missiles. She also says that the guns are still operational."
Amanda: "Well, hang in there love. Our folks are on the way. Now, if we can just get Ben to wake up, I'll be a much happier woman."
Ben: "As long as the rescue team has plenty of aspirin, I'll be a much happier man. Damn my head hurts!"
Kathryn; "So heal it already dummy!"
Ben: "I did. Unlike you, we don't have any food out here to recharge with. Dr. Slocum tells me I might have a concussion, so I need to stay awake for a bit. Anyone have any suggestions?"
Amanda: "I have one; Tabitha honey, do you think you could keep our husband awake for a while?"
Tabitha: "Lover, I could keep him up all night long."
Ben: "How did I get so lucky? How did I get so many wives?"
Amanda; "In about nine months you're going to be wondering how you got so many children lover."
Ben: "Uh, not trying to hurt anyone, but we might want to rethink our decision on that. Solms escaped. He is still a threat to this planet."
John: "So what? Are you going to let that sick puppy stop you from doing what you have planned for your life? I sure as hell am not."
Renee: "Good, because Ben isn't the only one going to be a daddy around here. Kat's preggers."
Amanda: "If Solms fights us long enough, we'll have a whole army of people like us to go after him. He doesn't stand a chance!"
Ben: "Okay, okay! I give! I'll submit to my fate!"
Lizzy: "Fate, he calls it! As if I'd let just anyone make a baby with me!"
Ben: "Not for a couple more years anyway, Lizzy."
Lizzy: "Keep thinking that, Daddy; someone other than you might actually believe it someday."