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Post by Evangeline on Sept 8, 2008 7:06:00 GMT -5
After figuring that there was no way that they could be triangulated, the subs did the equivalent of tossing a coin to see who would have the honours of speaking to them. "Ms. Donner, we're not from the same timeline at all, but we are U.S. forces. I am Capt. Joan Glendenning, and we were the ones responsible for the torpedoes. There is an exploratory and trade mission that just landed in Auckland, and you would have been informed if the city's communication links had not just been cut by a saboteur who still remains uknown. As for this latest endeavor, please consider it a public service as we're always happy to take out the trash when we can." The transmission ended at that point.
"Diazepam, lemme have it!" the doctor shouted out. "And keep the respirator going." A nurse filled a syringe and handed it to the doctor. Another nurse ducked out to explain the planned course of treatment to those waiting outside. "If we can suppress the convulsions and keep him breathing, it'll get out of his system in the next 24 hours. Those things are key."
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Post by elizar on Sept 8, 2008 9:49:27 GMT -5
"I was aware of that communication with a potentional trading partner began few days ago." Elizabeth said. "I had been afraid that the Islamic fleet had hit Auckland first, but now I know that I do not need to worry about that.
"You said you were of different timeline than this one? Since your flag is the US navy one, I guess it was without the Yellowstone eruption. Has AI technology advanced that far in fifteen years that fighterjets are replaced by drones?" She cut off there.
"What are you saying?" The commander asked.
"You told me that some of your men reported eyes and a mouth on the jets. I know that PTSS does not involve hallucination during a battle."
"Those things are not the whole key." Aron crossed his arms. "We are missing the traitor." He looked at Lazaro. "You want to carry the Weaver [9mm pistol shaped to best respond when hold in Weaver stance] or the BRHU? [Battle Rifle for Human Use] I'm going with the Weaver."
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Post by Evangeline on Sept 8, 2008 10:20:19 GMT -5
"I'll take the BR then." Lazaro said. "Looks like everyone on the docks is giving each other that "once over". I hope they find the culprit fast."
The Prime Minister's meeting was interrupted by a messenger with an envelope. "Madam, these were photos taken by a woman in one of the towers." The pictures were in grainy black and white, about the only film now available at any price. It was of an F-14 flying below rooftop level, towards the shore. The aircraft was on knife edge, with eyes rolled back towards the camera, and on its dorsal a slightly blurred message was crudely scrawled: YOU AREN'T HALLUCINATING
Some of the cars with Park Jin were so eager to get dry land beneath them that not even the poisoning and sabotage incidents could put them off coming out to stretch their springs, though they limited themselves to the docks. People were starting to get used to them, and that was one of the more hopeful signs. There were a couple of 4WD types and a Unimog among them, as they were the sorts best able to handle themselves on deteriorating roads, as well as a few National Guard types to round out the U.S. contingent. There were also a couple of the more conventional kind, scientists and a media correspondent. These were themselves Australians and New Zealanders, and familiar with the geography if not the nature of human cities.
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Post by elizar on Sept 8, 2008 11:06:57 GMT -5
Elizabeth looked over the photos, and saw that she had been wrong about the drone theory. That airplane looked alive, and not like dogs and cats, but like a human. A person. Elizabeth figured out.
"Captain Glendenning. I've recieved photographs of some of the figher jets that assisted us. I am sorry for the comment about the drones. I never imagined that this type of lifeform existed. I never meant to insult you.
"Could you relay a message to Leroy Wells in Auckland? I want a brief report, his opinion of you, what you have to offer and what you want in return. That was what I ordered him to, so he should have that report ready."
"No, because we are going to find him." Aron said as holstering his weapon. "You got something else to do at the moment?"
Some of the dock workers were slightly unnerved as the cars went down to the docks. But after a while, they warmed up on them, considerably more as they spoke with their accent and like they had been there several times before.
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Post by Evangeline on Sept 8, 2008 11:30:11 GMT -5
"Acknowledged, ma'am." Joan answered. "I'm recording and relaying the message for you."
"Not right now." Lazaro said, "But this would be best handled discreetly. It depends on who is now standing in for Wells right now."
Jessica was called from her desk to the guardhouse to see her daughter. Chandra was a bit put out that they weren't letting her onto the grounds to drop off her mother's lunch as she usually did. The condition of Wells was currently not known outside the boundaries, and they wanted to keep it that way until the Prime Minister was informed.
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Post by elizar on Sept 8, 2008 11:53:06 GMT -5
((Think you can whip up the second-in-command? I'm getting dry on the character creation thing.))
Aron grabbed two walkie-talkies, military issue with its own encryption, set them to the same channel and handed one of them to Lazaro. "Let me know when you're ready to bag that murderer. I'll be outside."
He walked out and to the dock. Some of the scientists were outside chatting with the humans. He saw Jessica get out of the office building, so he went over to her. His jacket was firmly zipped up in order to conseal his holstered weapon.
"Lazaro." The radio operator on Urqhart came over to him. "Appearently the Prime Minister is communicating with the subs, and wants some report from Wells. I thought you would want to handle that."
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Post by Evangeline on Sept 8, 2008 12:29:17 GMT -5
Seeing Aron come up, Jessica explained. "I'm going to meet my daughter at the guardhouse."
"I can pass it on." Lazaro answered. "Have you got a recording?"
In the event that the chief was incapacitated to the point of being unable to carry out his duties, command then devolved to Micheal Goddard, the acting chief of on-site operations. Right now, he was juggling the tasks of seeing to the restoration of normal communications, preserving security at the docks, and investigating the poisoning of his superior once the cause was confirmed. He had assumed command from his own office, moving in some files and shifting some staff. Occupying any part of "The old man's" space still didn't feel right to him.
Goddard, in contrast to Wells, was not a tall man, but he had that light, quick way of moving that told experienced eyes of much time and effort invested in athletic activities or martial arts skills. His face was weathered and affected with a seemingly etched-in squint, further evidence of a life outdoors. His office had several somewhat-tarnished silver cups and numerous winner's circle portraits from ten years as a jockey, until a fall with multiple fractures ended that career. Right now, he was tempted to find that scrupulously nursed bottle of The Glenlivet from behind the loose boards in the west corner of his office and have himself a healthy nip, but with the visitors around... not the time to chance giving a wrong impression.
Going up to the window, he saw Aron meeting Jessica on route to the guard house. He'd hardly had to ask to deduce some sort of history between them, regardless of the odds against them ever finding each other again. It only reinforced his general conclusion that existence in general was God's idea of a bad joke.
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Post by elizar on Sept 8, 2008 13:32:04 GMT -5
"I haven't met her yet. Would you mind if I tag along?" Aron said. He was working on calming himself down. The poisoning incident had hit bit close to home and Lazaro had been wise of not pursuing the would-be murderer. And Aron was smart enough to know better.
"Of his report? It may be in the communication room in their office building." The operator said. "But I need to get back to duty."
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Post by Evangeline on Sept 8, 2008 14:19:55 GMT -5
"OK, thanks." Lazaro departed, on his way to Goddard's office. He had met the man in passing once or twice, but with Wells' poisoning, this fellow's profile had just altered.
"Of course not." Jessica smiled. "She's been anxious to see the visitors, but this morning's made that pretty difficult." They continued walking to the guard station, where Chandra waited with a basket held before her. Close-up, she was perhaps a little taller than in the picture and her chest was just beginning to fill out. Her wavy dark brown hair was in a ponytail, loosely gathered at the nape, and stray locks fell around her face, which was high in the cheekbones and straight of nose, though her eyes were indeed the same shade as her mother's. Chandra wore a loose sweater of unbleached wool and a slightly patched calf-length skirt over leather boots and hand-knit hose, and a small locket around her neck. She smiled diffidently as her mother approached with Aron.
"Chandra, I'm sorry you had to wait today, but things are a bit different with the new situation." Jessica explained to her daughter.
"It's all right, Mum." Chandra smiled, exposing teeth that were slightly gapped in front as she held out the basket. "I've got your sandwiches."
"Thank you." Jessica accepted the basket. "Chandra, here is one of the people who came with the ships. His name is Aron Verant, and we used to know each other, before the eruption."
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Post by elizar on Sept 8, 2008 14:45:21 GMT -5
"Hi Chandra. You're even prettier than your mother told me you were." Aron smiled.
Anthony was slightly unnerved. The rumor had it that Wells had survived the poisoning, but barely. The fact that he hadn't returned told some story. The radio was dissected and Anthony pretended to be looking at it. He found the part he had replaced and took it out, then began to reassemble the radio.
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Post by Evangeline on Sept 8, 2008 15:26:24 GMT -5
Mairi passed by the closed door to the radio room, knitting her brow. Anthony was in there with the radio again. She had always figured that something was a little bit off with the man, but it was nothing she could articulate out loud. After a beat or two, she continued on down the near-deserted hall and outside, carrying some papers to the frigates. That radio outage was a bit too convenient to be coincidence.
Seeing Marisa on the dock, she smiled and waved a little as she came up. "G'afternoon."
Chandra blushed a little, and covered her mouth. "Me, pretty? With this nose and everything?"
"It's very well-proportioned." Jessica insisted. "Don't let what those other girls are saying get to you."
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Post by elizar on Sept 8, 2008 15:41:32 GMT -5
Once the radio was in two pieces, the broken down piece and the rest of the radio put together, Anthony stood up and stretched. He knew that there had been enquieries of Well's report on the new trading partners. Anthony could remember that. He looked around the desk, looking for the tape. He found it after few minutes of search, then headed to Goddart's office.
"I heard you were looking for this." He said holding the tape.
Marisa turned to face the one who had greeted her, and smiled with her mouth closed. "Hi there." She said in a chipper tone. It seemed she hadn't scared everyone away from the helos.
"Listen to your mom." Aron petted her on the head, ruffling her hair slightly. "Do I smell meat?" He asked as the scent registered. Meat was always rare in carverse, as viable breeding stock had never been really reached, and even what would have been considered a cull in this world was still treated as breeding stock in order to have some genetic diversity. Not many animals were slaughtered, and the bad thing about sheep was that while the wool had become popular product, it didn't require a slaughter of the sheep to obtain it. Even with the mule deers, meat was hard to come by.
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Post by Evangeline on Sept 8, 2008 17:04:35 GMT -5
"I brought beef and cheese sandwiches." Chandra showed the contents of the basket. "And some apple tarts. Mrs. Coakes thought she would do some baking." There was also a clay milk jug.
"Looks very good." Jessica nodded, before looking back to Aron. "There's enough for us to share here. Why don't we go sit down on the bench over there?" She pointed to one out by the street.
"So, what kind of day are you having... besides what happened, of course?" Mairi asked the helo. She didn't really know what else to say at this point.
Goddard called out at the knock. "That you, Anthony? Come in."
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Post by elizar on Sept 8, 2008 17:25:11 GMT -5
"Oh yeah sure." Aron nodded. "It's been too long since I've had ham 'n cheese sandwich. There is a real shortage of meat in carverse." He sat down on the bench and looked at Chandra for a moment. While he knew that she wasn't his, he knew she had been conceived forcefully. Just like Aron had done all those years ago. It didn't seem that Jessica had told her about that part of their relationship, if she had ever spoken about him.
Aron grabbed a sandwich. "Don't worry about popularity." He said smiling. "While boys at your age want girls with chest prominent enough to poke someone's eye out, they will not want that when they grow older."
"Still grounded." Marisa shook her head slightly. "Got to wait for the bullet holes to seal properly before I can get back in the air. But the ocean here is pretty."
"Goddard, I heard you were looking for Wells' report on our visitors." Anthony said as he walked in. He handed over the tape. "It has been in the radio room since last night."
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Post by Evangeline on Sept 8, 2008 17:43:44 GMT -5
"Thank you." Goddard accepted the tape. "Any progress on the radio situation?"
"Boys only think of the one thing." Chandra sniffed. "It takes a lot to move their eyes even an inch higher than that."
"Boys take a little longer to grow up than girls, sweetie." Jessica reminded her. "Some men get to fifty and still think like twelve-year-olds, though there's none here right now."
"Does it... hurt?" Mairi asked. "I guess I didn't introduce myself before, I'm Mairi TeKani."
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