Into the Fire
Forty Seven
Author’s note: This chapter presumes that you are familiar with Kelvin’s Choice’s story, Tamers and uses characters and situations from it with his permission. If you have not read it, you are very naughty and need to remedy the situation immediately. It is well worth the time.
Dominique laughed at Iain’s expression as he explained what was going on. “Kerrik, I didn’t turn you into a tamer. I used my equipment to make your pokedex think you’re a tamer, so other pokedexes that access it will think so too. The government databases all know you’re still Kerrik Wolf the tradesman.”
Eve scowled. “Then why did the tamer Kerrik Wolf get an email reminder that he had to attend Sadie Pokens and where is tradesman Kerrik Wolf’s mail saying that he can go if he wants to?”
The Archmage grabbed the Kerrik Wolf pokedex and accessed it. She read the message and then read it again. “What the hell?” She played with the pokedex for a moment before looking up. “Somewhere something in the system is behaving like you have tamer records. I need to get to a military or police computer in the Blue League so I can see what is going on.”
“Do I have to go to Sadie Pokens?”
Dominique shrugged. “Not if I have anything to say about it. The only reason you didn’t come back with a dozen pokegirls last time was because you turned your asshole factor up to overload. That and we got you away from the pokegirls who knew you well enough to be able to ignore it.” She frowned. “Do you want to go?”
“Not particularly, but Raquel and Sofia might want to leave us.”
Ninhursag shook her head. “Sofia thinks the sun rises and sets on your command right now, Kerrik. She’s not going anywhere.” She paused and then grimaced. “I don’t know about Raquel. I’ll talk to her and see what she might want to do.”
“Thanks.” Iain rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. “And that brings us to another problem.”
The Elfqueen’s silver eyebrows rose. “What is it?”
He grimaced. “There isn’t a nice way to say this, so I’m going to be blunt.”
Eve touched his hand. “Sometimes that’s what you have to do.”
“I hope you still feel that way in a minute. Do you remember that I fired Scheherazade as maharani because she let her priorities about controlling Dominique override her priorities for doing what was best for the family as a whole?”
Eve froze. “I do,” she said slowly. “Is this what I think it is?”
“I’m supposed to be the tactical leader and you prevented me from doing my job. I love you with all of my heart, but I can’t let you do that to me again and I can’t let you order other members of our family to do it either. We’ve also had way too many discussions about how sorry you are for doing something that you knew beforehand you shouldn’t have done in regards to either the harem or me.”
“I see.” She looked like she’d bitten into a lemon. “I’ll do my best to help April with the transition.”
“It’s not going to be April. She’s doing a fantastic job as the beta and I don’t intend to move her from that position.”
“She’s not going to like that.”
Ninhursag spoke. “She’ll understand what’s going on and she won’t resent it for long. Kerrik is right, she’s a great coordinator but she doesn’t have the assertiveness to be the maharani.”
“Who, then, Dominique?”
The Archmage started to speak but stopped herself with an effort. Iain smiled slightly. “What is it?”
“No, I want to hear what you’re going to say first.”
He inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement. “Thanks. I was actually hoping Ninhursag would take the position.”
The Elfqueen blinked as Eve suddenly looked thoughtful. “Me? What’s your reasoning?”
“You’re intelligent, we get along well and you understand how to command troops. That’ll translate over well into commanding our little band of misfits. Dominique is way too busy as my magical expert to do the job and doesn’t have the patience to put up with all of the bits of crap that rain down on the maharani in the course of her job.” The Archmage nodded unconsciously. “You’re also willing to tell Vanessa or me to get stuffed if necessary, which means you are tough enough to do what needs done.”
Ninhursag turned to Dominique. “Do you have a problem with not being the maharani?”
“Kerrik is right. I’m too busy with my real job. Will this free Eve up to act as my assistant full time?” She gave the Megami-sama an eager glance. “That would help out a lot once we get back home.”
“I think she’ll be available to help you more. What about you, Eve? Can you work past your differences with me if this change takes place?”
With a questioning look, Eve took Iain’s hand and squeezed it gently. “I don’t like this, but I can see why you feel this change needs to happen. I can even agree with it in principle, but it hurts.”
“You know I didn’t make this decision arbitrarily or in the heat of the moment. I want us all to live through this and our chances are only maximized if we all work together. I understand that I’m the weakest link, but I still have a job to do just as much as anyone else does. I can’t let you keep me from doing that.”
Eve nodded slowly. “Ninhursag, he’s right that you’ll make a good maharani and I’ll help you as much as you’ll let me. As for our differences, they’re not as severe as you might think.”
“Thank you,” Ninhursag said quietly. “With that understanding, Kerrik, I would be willing to be your maharani.”
“Thank you. I’ll update my pokedex information. Eve, will you go around with Ninhursag and let everyone know about the change?”
“I will.” She tried to smile, but it trembled around the edges with hurt. “At least now I can tell Harris to stop bugging me for stuff.” He gave her hand a squeeze which she returned before letting go and squaring her shoulders. “Ninhursag, we should start with April.”
I already know, the Duelist said in the deep reaches of Iain’s mind. And I approve of your choice. Eve will bounce back pretty quickly, but I’ll keep her busy in the meantime to make sure she can’t dwell on the change too much.
Thank you.
***
Monica Chambers knelt and poured herself a cup from the pot on the edge of the fire. “Care to explain what’s going on?”
Iain looked up from his book. “Are you done questioning Mulroney?”
“Yes. We need to move quickly, but Cammie says something has changed in the dynamic of your harem and she’s concerned because nobody will tell her what’s happened. That concerns me.”
“I made Ninhursag the alpha.”
Chambers looked surprised. “You fired your wife?”
“I did.”
“That won’t promote domestic bliss.”
“I’m not going to discuss the rationale behind my decision so you can second guess it, but I will say that Eve agrees with at least some of my reasoning.”
“You’re a cold man, Wolf.”
He put his book away. “Think what you want, Cherry. Now, do you have a plan or should I start putting one together?”
“I have a plan, but I need you to carry out the first step.”
Ninhursag, I need you here. Cherry wants to brief me on her plan. “Hold on just a second. I want Ninhursag to hear what you’ve got to say.”
The Elfqueen trotted over. “Minister.” She looked at Iain. “Is this a ‘this is the way things are going to be’ plan or are we allowed using our own initiative in carrying out what she wants?”
He smiled slightly. “No matter what Cherry might want we will always use our own initiative since nobody knows us like we do.”
Chambers flashed a grin. “Considering that’s how Blue always does things I wouldn’t expect you to act any other way.”
Ninhursag sat down next to Iain. “Then, please begin the briefing, minister. Once you’re done we’ll get together with Kerrik’s command staff and see how we’ll implement your plans.”
***
Corporal Headley looked him up and down carefully. “I need to see your identification.” Iain produced his ID card and carefully placed his thumb against the blank spot as he held it up so the guard could scan it with his reader. The reader interrogated the card, verifying that the DNA on record matched the DNA on the thumb. Since it only checked for one DNA code, the verification was almost instant. The guard blinked and straightened slightly as the reader produced Iain’s information. “Sir, is there anything I can do for you?”
“No, I’m just running an errand for Minister Mulroney.” Iain flashed a grin. “When you’re a sergeant, corporals are your errand boys and when you’re a minister, you have admirals and generals to fetch and carry for you.” He gestured to his side at the purple haired woman standing stoically behind him. “This is Pandora and she’s a new addition to my harem.”
Pandora was not happy about having to give up her armor for this visit and, while Eve was teaching her the armor technique she used, she hadn’t mastered it yet and was therefore standing uncomfortably in boots, jeans and a heavy woolen blouse.
Headley merely glanced at her. “She’ll need a visitor pass then, sir, until she gets her ID.” Headley motioned and his Jigglyslut opened the door. “Just take her to the security checkpoint and they’ll take care of it for you, sir.”
“Thank you, corporal and private.” He nodded to the Jigglyslut as he headed inside with Pandora close on his heels. The pink skinned pokegirl flashed a quick smile at him before ducking her head as he moved past her.
After they’d gotten Pandora’s pass, Iain stopped to read a map of the building. Then they took the elevator and headed up, exiting on the floor holding the offices of the Ministry of Intelligence. A Witch wearing a BLSF sergeant’s uniform was seated behind a desk in the antechamber where the elevator exited. She smiled politely at them as Iain read her nametag and discovered that her name was Katrina. “May I help you, sir?”
Iain produced his ID. “I’m Admiral Wolf and I want to speak with the duty Alaka-Wham. I know her name starts with the letter L, but I have no idea who is here today.”
“That would be Leslie, admiral.” The Witch picked up a handset. “I’ll have her summoned immediately.”
“Thank you, sergeant.”
A few minutes later an Alaka-Wham identical to Lana came down the hall and stopped. “Admiral, you wanted to see me sir?”
“Did Lana tell you about me?”
“Yes sir, she did.”
“I have news from Minister Mulroney. Let’s go someplace private so I can give you your instructions.”
The Alaka-Wham’s antenna twitched and a drop of blood appeared in the corner of her right eye. “Yes sir.” She did an about face and led him to an office, waiting until he’d entered before following him inside and locking the door. Pandora took up station next to the door while Leslie turned to face Iain as he stood in front of the desk. “This is my office and it’s completely secure, sir. We can speak freely here.”
“Did Lana finish checking you and the other Alaka-Whams?”
“Yes sir, she did. All of us are completely loyal as are our tamers.”
“I took Minister Mulroney to Minister Chambers and he’s staying there until he feels that it’s safe to bring her back.” Iain’s eyes didn’t flicker as Pandora punched the Alaka-Wham in the back of the skull with all of her enhanced strength. The impact knocked the psychic pokegirl’s eyes out her skull and they jounced on the ends of their optic nerves as she started to fall. Pandora grabbed her by the back of the neck, pressed her other hand against the already broken skull and squeezed, driving the bone fragments farther into Leslie’s brain. It was like wringing a sponge and blood and brains ran over the Fallen Angel’s hands and down Leslie’s back.
“I figured you’d hit her again,” Iain said quietly as he picked up the handset of the com on Leslie’s desk and started pressing buttons.
“I would have sprayed you with brains if I’d done that.” Pandora wiped her hands off on the Alaka-Wham’s shirt. “Canaan told me that the problem with an Alaka-Wham is she’s so damned strong psychically that if you just snap her neck she might still get off a mental warning before she finishes dying. That’s why you have to kill her instantly by destroying her brain. My first hit should have finished her off, but I wanted to make sure.”
Iain listened to the com ring on the other end. Someone picked up and he heard April’s bored sounding voice. Only someone who knew her as well did would be able to tell that it was an act. “Yes?”
“I’ve explained things to Leslie and she understands what must be done.”
“Excellent.” The line went dead as April turned to Eve, picking up a canvas bag from where she’d put it down while waiting. It was identical to one slung over the Megami-sama’s shoulder. “We’re a go. Good luck.”
“The same to you.” They both vanished.
Eve appeared in Glasgow and pulled a pokeball from the canvas bag she held. It released an Officerjenny. Eve handed her the bag and stood guard as she pulled other pokeballs from it and activated them. Soon twenty Officerjenny and five Growlie formed up and trotted down the streets of Glasgow as Eve took to the air and flew above them in aerial reconnaissance. People stared as they ran by at a quick trot, but only other authorities would dream of getting involved in whatever required twenty five police pokegirls. Every time the group encountered an Officerjenny or other police pokegirl, one of the group would drop out to talk to her. A few minutes later, both pokegirls would rejoin the group. In this way the group swelled its ranks to more than three times its original numbers by the time they reached the BLSF base. There they split up with one of the original pokegirls each taking a couple of the additions along with her. The original members each had photos of their prey and warrants signed by the Minister of Defense. They briefed their companions as they headed straight to where the suspects were supposed to be. In most cases they were spot on and the arrests went very quickly.
All over the Blue League, similar groups ferried by loyal teleport capable pokegirls repeated the process and, in a single coordinated action, quickly secured almost every one of the known Orange League agents in a process that took a little more than an hour. Because of their speed, there was little violence. In the few cases where there was fighting, the Lexington Protocol BLSF forces brought overwhelming force to bear until all resistance was completely ended.
Iain had returned to the lobby just as the door to the stairwell slammed open. A disgusted looking Cammie came out and looked around before letting Monica, Donna and Undine follow her through. Pandora grabbed the Witch and wrestled her to the ground as behind them came a dozen Officerjenny.
“What the hell are you doing here, Cherry?”
Cammie shot her mistress a look as Monica checked the Witch against a list and motioned for Pandora to release her. “I don’t like it either, Master Kerrik, but BLSF officers lead from the front and my mistress was not going to be left behind.”
Iain shrugged. “Considering my own behavior, I don’t think I can fault her as long as she doesn’t get her ass shot off doing it.”
Cammie fought a smile and lost. “Have you had yours shot off?”
“I think some of the things that have happened to me would qualify as something like that, yes.”
Pandora joined them. “The Witch is not on the list, but she’s pissed at me because I girlhandled her a little bit and mussed her hairdo.”
“Is that a real word?”
The Fallen Angel shrugged. “My old tamer used to use it before I died. He probably made it up.”
Cammie blinked and tried to make herself inconspicuous. Iain glanced at her. “Did you really think I wouldn’t remember you’re standing there?”
The Ladyien gave him a winsome smile. “A girl could hope you would. The conversation was getting very interesting. You said you died?”
Pandora’s face set. “Don’t worry, that particular discussion is currently over. That’ll leave you with an interesting mystery to never solve.”
Cammie’s face settled in a pout. “That’s not very nice.”
The Fallen Angel gave her an even look. “Good.” She turned back to Iain. “I don’t think we’re needed here anymore. Monica seems to have everything well in hand, so what should we do now?”
Cammie touched Iain’s arm. “You need to stay here, Admiral Wolf.”
“Care to explain why?”
“Recall your harem to you, sir. It’s combat ready and the next place we are going is the president’s residence to make sure he’s all right.”
“You’ve got a shitload of Officerjenny here. Why do you need us?”
“Your harem is stealthy.” The Ladien nodded towards the Growlie standing guard at the stairwell door. “They aren’t.”
Iain exchanged a look with Pandora. “We’ll be outside in the park across the street when you’re ready to go.”
By the time Monica came out with her harem and a brace of Officerjenny, Iain’s harem was assembled. As she approached, she realized that there was some kind of heated debate going on between Iain, Eve and Ninhursag. When it broke off at the sight of her, curiosity drew her to them. “All right, what’s the discussion about?”
Ninhursag eyed her coolly. “What the hell do you need us for? You’ve decapitated the Orange spies and surely you can find some heavy hitters that are actually in your pay to throw themselves on their spears for you.”
The senior Officerjenny bristled. “You will treat the minister with respect, Elf.”
Ninhursag smiled slightly. “Is that some Blue League law?”
“No, but it is customary.”
“Then suck my ass.” She returned her attention to Chambers as the Officerjenny purpled. “Well?”
Chambers had her lips pursed as she tried not to smile, but the one word question sobered her almost instantly. “I trust you,” she said simply. “You’re right, we have broken the back of the Oranges, but I intend to vet all of the Ministry of Intelligence and the Blackguards before I’ll chance trusting them with the president’s safety.” A remnant of the smile reappeared. “I’d point out that Admiral Wolf is currently in my pay, but I don’t want to have Eve need to heal my head after he bounces his ID off of it as he resigns.”
Eve chuckled. “She has a point. However, I still agree with Ninhursag. We don’t have to do this.”
Chambers shook her head. “No, you don’t. I won’t try to appeal to your patriotism since none of you love the Blue League. Instead I will ask you as my friend to help me with something that I do not trust anyone else to do without harming President Llewellyn if he is in danger. Will you help me to save an innocent man’s life?”
Iain snorted. “He’s a politician. None of them are innocent.”
Monica’s eyebrows went up. “I am a political appointee.” Donna’s eyes widened at her tone and began to sidle forward.
Iain gave her a bland look. “That doesn’t make my statement any less true, does it? Or would you care for examples in your behavior, Minister Cherry?”
She looked startled and then slightly wary, glancing at the Officerjenny standing well within earshot. “No, I don’t think that will be necessary, Kerrik.”
Iain nodded. “That is a very wise decision, minister. Ninhursag, I think we should help Cherry.”
She sighed bitterly. “Is that your final word on the matter?”
“No, it’s not,” Eve said firmly. “He’s always willing to listen to reason from his maharani, even if he disagrees with her. When he puts his foot down, trust me you’ll hear the echoes of the slam.”
“Thank you for the advice.” Ninhursag turned back to Iain. “We don’t know what the layout of the president’s house is, we don’t know what kinds of forces are normally found there and we certainly don’t know any passwords or other codes and her people do.”
Monica smiled sweetly. “He’s got a security element of ten guards drawn from best of the various units from the league military.” She hefted a handheld computer. “I’ve got the plans of the house and the current pass codes and countersigns. His household is also military and is three people, two of which are pokegirls. I’ve got all of their files here.”
Ninhursag’s eyes narrowed. “Fine, you’re thorough. That only leaves my personal reservations about this. This has the potential to be a horrendous death trap.”
Iain nodded. “And I appreciate those reservations. Cherry, this is the last job. You’ve got people you do trust across the street and they’re clearing your other people. By the time this is done, you’ll have more forces you know are loyal and won’t need us to put our necks in the noose for you.”
Ninhursag glanced at Eve. “I heard the slam that time,” she murmured, “but at least he listened to me first.”
Monica looked into Iain’s eyes and slowly nodded at the determination she found. “I agree. You do this and I should be able to finish the cleanup with the military people I know are loyal to the league.”
“Are the Jennys coming with us?”
Monica nodded. “They’re official witnesses for the league.”
He looked surprised. “Official witness? Whatever for?”
She glanced at one of the police pokegirls briefly. “When this is all over, Kerrik, I’ll have to account for how all of this happened on my watch. They are here to make sure I don’t flee and also to monitor my actions for the official records in case I can use their witnessing in order to mitigate whatever price I end up having to pay.” She waved a hand depreciatingly. “They’re also here, of course, to catalog any other screw-ups I might make.” Undine made an unhappy noise, but remained silent when Camille gave her a hard look.
Apparently they’d reached some kind of understanding about who was the alpha.
Anything can happen to anyone in the confusion of a firefight. Do you want me to make something happen to her guards? Canaan’s eyes sparkled grimly. I know you like her.
Let’s not go plotting murder just yet. “I see.” Iain’s face became as placid as a lake. “Ninhursag, Monica’s gaolers will need transport too. Does anyone know where we’re going?”
“I do.” Dominique gave Chambers an inquisitive glance. “I presume we’re not exiting right in front of the house.”
“I have already dispatched a force from the Met to quietly secure the area and set up a perimeter outside the property proper. The best place for us would be to meet with their commander at the local police substation.”
Dominique nodded. “I’m familiar with it.” She grabbed one of the Officerjenny by the elbow. “Follow me,” a grin split her face, “if you dare.” Then she vanished.
“Zareen, go with Dominique. Minister, please recall your pokegirls. Eve, you’ve got Kerrik.” Ninhursag touched the other Officerjenny on the shoulder as the Nightmare disappeared. “April has the minister. Pandora and Canaan get Sofia and Raquel.”
Seconds later they were standing outside a Metropolitan Police substation. Dominique was smiling with amusement at the sight of Zareen, in her centaur form, sitting like a dog. Protruding out from under her rump was the struggling lower half of an Officerjenny. Dimly heard obscenities in Welsh seemed to come from the Nightmare’s ass.
Iain released Eve’s hand. “What is going on?”
“The stupid bitch tried to arrest me for letting Chambers escape. Zareen helped me to immobilize her without hurting anyone until Chambers got here.”
There came a loud farting noise and Zareen giggled loudly. Beneath her the yelling broke off into coughing. Iain managed not to smile and turned a serious face to the Nightmare. “Get off of her.” Zareen changed back to her human form and quickly moved to put Iain between her and the red-faced Officerjenny as the police pokegirl scrambled to her feet. Iain spoke before she could. “Minister Chambers is here, so Dominique was obviously not helping her to escape. I suggest you drop it.”
“You don’t tell me what to do!”
“I am Admiral Kerrik Wolf and you are currently operating under the Lexington protocols. I can and am telling you to drop this. If you pursue this further, I will charge you with dereliction of duty in regards to your position as one of the minister’s official observers and have you arrested, hold a quick court martial, convict you, put a permanent black mark in your record and then have you executed.” He paused for a heartbeat as both Officerjenny went white, wondering for a second if their response was to the threat of the execution or of the possible shame involved in his threat of censure. Then he continued. “Rest assured that as soon as conditions permit, I will address the issue of what Zareen did to you.” Behind him the Nightmare’s eyes went wide and her smile vanished. “I’m afraid that will have to satisfy you. Now resume your post.” He turned to Monica. “Minister, the floor is yours.”
Chambers nodded briskly. “This way, people.” She swept up the steps and into the substation.
Iain touched Ninhursag on the shoulder and she stopped as the others headed inside. I’ve got an idea and I’m taking Zareen and Sofia with me. Keep Cherry safe.
The Elfqueen smiled slightly. Why do you I think you’ll be having more fun than I will? Can I renounce being maharani and go with you? They shared an amused look. Don’t get killed.
I’ll try not to. “Zareen, Sofia, you two come with me.” He waited until the door swung shut on his Elfqueen before heading for the street. “I’ve got an errand to run and I’d like your help.”
The Peekabu’s ears flicked and her head twisted almost sideways in puzzlement. “I can’t fight yet, sir” she replied in Spanish.
Zareen tapped her on the shoulder. “English.”
“Sorry,” Sofia said in heavily accented English.
“I know you’re not ready yet, Sofia,” Iain said gently. “I want your company, not your combat skills.” To Iain and the harem, she was starting to fill out a little, but to anyone who didn’t know her from before she still looked like the starved waif she was. “Zareen can fight if I need it.” He glanced at the door as the Nightmare visibly swelled with pride. “Speaking of which, Zareen, come here.” She quickly moved to stand in front of him. Iain cuffed her gently on the ear and she gave him a shocked looked that melted against his stern glare as he leveled a finger at her. “Don’t sit on the police and don’t fart on them.”
Zareen watched him warily as she rubbed her ear. “That’s it?”
One of his eyebrows rose. “Do you want there to be more?”
She shook her head quickly. “No.”
“Then let’s get on with my errand.” He motioned and Zareen shifted to her centaur form. “Sofia, you can ride in front of me.”
“Ride?” The Peekabu eyed the Nightmare with ill concealed apprehension. “Can I walk, sir?”
He slipped onto Zareen’s back. “If that’s what you want.” He’d been hoping for the opportunity to hold the skittish Peekabu, but if she wasn’t ready then she wasn’t ready. Of course, at this rate it might be years before she lay with him, but if she never came to him as long as it was best for her then so be it.
If nothing else, honoring her choice would help her to trust him just that tiny bit more.
“Where?”
Zareen’s question brought his mind back to the present and what he planned to do. “We’re engaging in a bit of reconnaissance, so,” he consulted his pokedex, “we need to go that way. We’re going to go by the president’s place and take a look see.”
“Why?”
“Monosyllables are so fetching, you know?” Zareen snickered loudly as she turned around and walked down the road, Sofia keeping easy pace next to Iain’s right leg. They had been working her hard in extending her endurance and the results had been remarkable. The truth was that although Sofia didn’t know it, she was much closer to being battle ready than she knew. “Monica has set up a perimeter and is preparing to send us to infiltrate the Colin’s house and it occurred to me that, as far as I know, nobody has tried to see if he’s being held prisoner.”
“What about the meeting?”
“Ninhursag and Eve will have it well in hand whether I am there or not. If Cherry decides to try something really odd with our family, someone will let me know about it and I’ll put a stop to it.” His voice hardened. “We’ve already done most of the job and, insomuch that it isn’t really in danger, saved the league. I’ll regret his death, but if Colin Llewellyn has to die so someone in my family doesn’t, I’ll pay that price whether Monica Chambers wants me to or not. The league can get a new president a lot easier than I can get a new Eve or Sofia.”
Zareen laughed so hard that it vibrated through her equine torso. “You don’t have to go through another broken delta bond if he dies, either. I heard about how bad that was for everyone.”
“That’s true enough.” He straightened. “And here is a group of police busy blocking the road up ahead. I do hope they’re far enough back that they can’t be seen by anyone at the house.” He hummed tunelessly. “Talk or ignore?”
“Sir, they block the road. How can you ignore them?”
He smiled guilelessly at Sofia. “Zareen can phase and we can walk right through them if I wish to.” He pursed his lips thoughtfully. “But I should probably talk to them. If I don’t, somehow I’m sure it’ll come back and bite me in the ass.” He pulled out his ID and slipped off of Zareen’s back, ignoring the Nightmare’s unhappy grunt. “If we need to fight or, better yet, flee, you’re in a much better position if I’m not hanging onto your back like a flea while you battle.” He smirked up at her. “And so am I.”
The police were, of course, pokegirls, but for the first time Iain saw a scattering of humans among them. “I am Admiral Wolf. I would speak with the site commander.”
One of the humans, a wide shouldered man with specks of gray in his beard, gave Iain a mildly annoyed look and moved towards him. “I’m Lieutenant Mainwaring. What can I do for you, admiral?”
“Well, lieutenant, I’m here to tell you that Minister Chambers is on scene and she’s taking command.”
Mainwaring grinned widely. “That’s good news admiral. She was one of us and she knows what it’s like on the sharp end.”
“I know, lieutenant. Unfortunately for me, the minister has sent me down to do a quick recon of the grounds.” Iain gestured at himself. “I don’t look dangerous on the back of a Ponytaur and with a scrawny Peekabu, so she figures I won’t attract too much in the way of attention.”
The lieutenant nodded. “You shouldn’t, sir. I do have to ask, what’s an admiral doing carrying out a job more suited for a corporal or the police?”
“Police send entirely the wrong kind of signal right now and, as for me, well, I’m pretty useless at the moment.” Iain gave a self deprecating shrug. “I looked everywhere I could, but I couldn’t find any ships to take command of around here. Being useless without them, I did that most terrible of things and I volunteered.”
“I take it you don’t like sitting around?”
“As a point in fact, I happen to hate waiting.” Once this had been true, but first Scheherazade had taught him the values of patience and later Nightraven had given him a postgraduate course in the subject.
“Well, then, admiral, all I ask is that you let us know what you find out. We’ve been forbidden to investigate. Normally I’d have a wider variety of pokegirls, but this damned Lexington protocol has left me with one hand tied behind my back.”
“The minister is working on that, too, lieutenant.”
“Now that is good news.” The police cordon opened enough to let Zareen stride through with Sofia pressing close behind her. “Be well, sir.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant Mainwaring. You and your men be well, too.”
The presidential manor was humble compared to the White House or the other places like it in Iain’s memory, but what he could see over the wall was impressive in its own way.
Except there was no activity he could see anywhere and all of the fucking windows on the front had their shades pulled.
As they pulled up to the wrought iron gate, Iain slid off of Zareen’s back. “Change of plans, ladies.”
The Nightmare looked over her shoulder at him. “Is this going to be something stupid?”
He waggled a hand. “I don’t think so but Eve wouldn’t agree.”
“Why does it have to be you?”
“I don’t look dangerous. It’s a pokegirl conceit that humans are intrinsically harmless if they don’t have a pokegirl, so I have to go alone, too.” Iain pulled off his tamer’s belt and handed it to Sofia. “If I get into trouble, I’ll call for help.” He glanced at Zareen. “To everyone, I promise.” She nodded calmly.
The Peekabu looked at the belt she held and shuddered, holding it out by one end with two fingers as if it were a dead rat. “Master, I can’t take this. It’s against the law.”
“Take it, sister.” Zareen was watching Iain as he examined the gate. “I can’t hold it and fight at the same time, so that leaves you to keep it safe for him.”
Iain took a tight grip on the gate and looked back at the two pokegirls. “Please get out of sight of the house, ladies.” He nodded towards a video camera set discretely away from the gate. “We’re on television, you know.” As they slipped out of the camera’s view, Iain scaled the gate and dropped down on the inside.
He made no attempt to hide or otherwise conceal his progress, instead walking boldly up the path to the house and straight to the front door. It had an electric doorbell, but he ignored it in favor of the antique knocker, which boomed hollowly when he hammered it against its baseplate.
The pokegirl who answered the door was taller than Iain and muscular, with a narrow face, cool green eyes and blonde hair that had been cut into a pixie. She wore civilian clothing cut in a comfortable style that would easily hide an array of concealed weaponry. However, considering that she was an Amazonchan according to his internal pokedex, she might not have anything other than what nature and training gave her. “Who are you and why did you climb the fence?”
“I’m Kerrik. Is Colin in?” For an instant, Iain started to ask if he could come out and play, but managed to suppress the urge before blurting out the words.
“You don’t have an appointment.”
“No, I don’t, but I’d like to be taken to him. Look, you’re free to strip me naked, pile my clothes in a closet and then dress me in dishtowels if you’d like to protect his sensibilities, but I really need to see him.”
“Why?”
“You’re with his security element, right?” When she didn’t reply he gritted his teeth for a second. “Duncan Mulroney is a traitor to the Blue League and the Minister of Defense, Monica Chambers, isn’t sure if he didn’t manage to infiltrate Llewellyn’s security detail, so she doesn’t know if the president is safe. She’s surrounded the house with police and is gearing up a heavy assault team to turn everyone in this house except Llewellyn into pudding just to make sure he’s not in danger.”
The pokegirl smiled slightly. “That makes sense. It’ll be harder to do than she thinks it will be but that’s her job. Why are you here?”
“I thought it would be easier if I came up here and asked to see him. I can report back to Monica that he’s safe and you don’t have to die today.” Something occurred to him and he managed not to smack himself in the head for not mentioning it at the beginning of their discussion. “Oh, and the president and I have met once, so he can vouch for me. My full name is Kerrik Wolf.”
“Aren’t you taking a chance that I’m not one of these traitors?”
“Yes, but aren’t you taking a chance that a sniper isn’t ready to blow your brains out as we stand here and talk?”
Her smile grew. “Come inside and strip.” He came in and began removing his clothes while she whispered into a throat mike. “Wolf.” When he paused while opening his pants and looked at her, her eyes were impenetrable balls of icy green. “What other name are you known by?”
“I don’t suppose he’s looking for the rank of admiral that he had foisted off on me?” She shook her head and he sighed mentally. “Then it’s Iain Grey.”
“Finish undressing, Mr. Grey. Someone is bringing you something better than dishtowels.”
The something turned out to be a set of BLSF fatigues that turned out to be tight across the shoulders and loose around the hips after he struggled into them. “Do I get a tailor?”
“No, the owner would like them back unaltered. She’s funny that way.” The pokegirl pointed to some stairs. “Up and turn right. It’ll be the third door on the right, the one with the Alaka-Wham on guard in front of it.”
“I should warn you that, so far, attempts to scan me have proven fatal for the scanner.”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Grey, President Llewellyn let my commander read your file and we know all about your special issues.”
Iain managed not smile at the open arrogance in that statement. “I’m glad to hear you know all about me.”
The Alaka-Wham sentry wore a slung submachine gun and a corporal’s uniform. She pointed the weapon at Iain when he appeared at the top of the stairs, only relaxing when his escort became visible.
“Wait here, Grey.” The Amazonchan opened the door and disappeared inside. She was back a moment later, holding the door open in invitation. “Come along.”
The president of the Blue League was sitting on a tall stool in front of an easel. He put down his tray of paints and looked Iain up and down. “He looks like the young man I met earlier. Tell me something about our discussion at that time, Mr. Wolf.”
“You talked about giving me a medal if capturing the Goths was unclassified and I said that the Blackguards involved in the operation deserved it much more than I ever would. You said it was their job, but that you agreed in principle.”
“It’s him, Mallory. Thank you very much.” President Llewellyn watched the door shut before turning back to his painting. “What do you think?”
It was an unfinished watercolor of a stormy beach and Iain answered honestly. “I’m not any kind of an expert, but I do know what I like. I’d hang it in my home.”
“You are too kind, Mr. Wolf.” Llewellyn began slowly working on the painting. “I hope you don’t mind my continuing, but I am painting this from memory and I want to get this done before I lose the mental image. I’ve been told something about why you are here, but I’m afraid it doesn’t make any sense.” His eyes flicked up to a mirror and looked into Iain’s. “So why don’t you start at the beginning?”
“I don’t think I have that kind of time before Monica realizes what I’ve done. She’s at the closest Met substation and has thrown a cordon around your home because she doesn’t know if you’re being held prisoner or not. While she is busy plotting your rescue, I thought it best to come and try to find out if you actually needed rescuing.”
“To her credit, Chambers would have gotten around to that herself, once she was sure she could react if I did,” Llewellyn said mildly.
“I know, but I figured I could save some time by doing it first. If you were being held by Orange agents they wouldn’t see a lone human as much of a threat and would have taken me hostage too. I’m delta bonded to a member of my harem, so she’d have known and then we could have been rescued in due course.”
The brush paused. “You have a high opinion of your pokegirls. My household is composed of the best the Blue League has to offer.”
Iain nodded. “You are probably right about my opinion of them.”
“I hope you have already told your pokegirl that I am not being held hostage.”
“I have. The short story is that Duncan Mulroney was the leader of a ring of Orange League agents who attacked Lindsey Harris and Minister Chambers because they were about to be exposed. Monica and her harem got hurt pretty badly in the attempt and, in fact, almost died. Today we purged most of those agents and, having secured our flanks, came here to see if you’d been captured, turned or controlled by Orange forces infiltrated into your household.”
“So the minister decided to attend to the league’s needs before coming to my rescue. Good for her. What is she doing now?”
“Right now Chambers is double checking the cordon before coming here to see how you are for her own self.”
I think she’s about done and will be leaving momentarily. Right now she’s not sure if she wants to thank you or bring you up on charges for insubordination. Eve’s thought was amused. I know how she feels.
Remind her that she didn’t try to give me orders of any kind. Granted that’s a good thing since I didn’t get the opportunity to tell her what I normally would when given direct orders. As for you, my love, this was for the best and I did have Ninhursag on standby with the rest of you on call if there was an emergency.
I think I’ll let you tell her yourself if she decides to try to tear a bloody strip off of you.
Iain refocused on where he was and who he was with. “I think that Monica will be along in just a few minutes.”
Less than ten minutes later the Amazonchan knocked and opened the door. “Sir, the Minister of Defense would like to speak to you.”
Llewellyn put his paints down and rose gracefully to his feet. “We will be right down, Mallory, and thank you. Admiral, would you be as kind as to accompany me to see the minister?”
Iain snorted as the Amazonchan closed the door. “You just want to see her yell at me.”
“I assure, you, admiral, that is not my only reason to have you with me. Hopefully your testimony can forestall whatever means the minister will want to use to prove that I haven’t been suborned by the Orange League.”
Iain glanced at him doubtfully. “Do you really think I can do that?”
A rueful smile was his only response. “Perhaps giving her the opportunity to yell at you will help me after all.”
Monica, Camille, Ninhursag and Eve waited in the entranceway of the house with Mallory. “Mr. President, are you well?”
“I am, Minister Chambers. I understand that there is a bit of an emergency.” His voice became firm. “Why don’t we forego the inevitable discussion about my state of mind and brief me on what has happened to my league?”
She glanced at Iain. “Mr. Wolf hasn’t explained this to you?”
“What Mr. Wolf has told me or not told me is not the issue, minister.” The slight emphasis on the last word was unmistakable. “It is your job to keep me informed. Please proceed.”
Spots of color appeared on Chambers’ cheeks, but her voice was strong. “Sir, we discovered a plot by the Orange League to infiltrate agents into certain positions within the government so they could funnel trained pokegirls back to Orange for their use. From what we can tell, this plot has been going on for decades and at this time I have no information on how many pokegirls they stole and replaced with rubbish. Today we eliminated the elements I am aware of. As far as we can tell, that is the majority of the agents involved in this operation but the final cleanup will take some time.”
“What is your suspicion as to the extent of the damage to the league?”
She met his eyes. “I suspect we’re going to find out they’ve been pilfering the storage reserves and any of the Saxony or Pict sites that they could uncover. We will have to do a survey of all of them and that will take years.”
She started to speak again and Llewellyn raised his hand. “Minister, I am sure that there will be plenty of blame to go around before this is all done, so I insist that you don’t try to claim it all for yourself.” Surprise crossed her face and he smiled without humor. “I know you, Monica, that’s how. Yes, your career with the government is drawing to a close, but you have done an exemplary job over the years and I don’t see where you won’t be allowed to retire instead of being sacked. However, that will not take place until you are done cleaning up this mess.” His voice hardened. “In the meantime I think the Orange League will need to be informed of our displeasure over their treachery. Put together some scenarios for me to look at in a few days.”
“Sir, wouldn’t that be something for diplomatic channels?”
“Don’t worry, I intend to express the league’s outrage to the ambassador from the Orange League at the proper time, but I think that something a bit sterner than simple diplomacy is in order, minister. The Orange League has rested safely in the knowledge that its isolation from the rest of the world protects it from inevitable results of bad behavior and I think it is time for them to discover that, at least where the Blue League is concerned, that safety is more illusion than reality.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll have some options on your desk tomorrow morning.”
Llewellyn shook his head. “Monica, I don’t expect you to do the impossible every day. We both know that Mulroney was funneling more than pokegirls back to Orange and therefore any plans we had involving military operations against the Orange League are almost undoubtedly compromised.”
“Yes, sir.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’ll have you something in three days.”
“That will be fine, minister.” Llewellyn turned to Iain. “What about you? What are your plans, admiral?”
“We both know that the admiral bit is honorary at best. I don’t know much about the Blue League Navy. Right now I’ve got some things I need to attend to and Minister Chambers has agreed that she no longer needs my help since the Blue League has been saved. However, I’ll be available if she still needs me for something.”
“Well, Wolf, I suspect that when Minister Chambers gets through explaining to me everything that has transpired I am going to find that the Blue League has fallen even farther into your debt and I will have to find some suitable way to express our gratitude for your service.”
“You don’t owe me anything.” Iain shrugged. “Monica asked me to do her a favor and somehow it just went a bit odd.”
“Just a bit odd? I daresay it’s more than that. Mr. Wolf, is this gift for understatement something learned?”
Eve chuckled. “No, sir, it is not. It seems to be a gift.”
“I thought as much.” Llewellyn held out his hand. “I hope you don’t have to rescue me again anytime soon.”
“Me either.” They shook and Iain turned to Eve and Ninhursag. “Let’s get out of here.”
His wife nodded. “Yes sir.” Where do you want to go?
Home.
***
“What are you doing out here?”
Iain glanced at Dominique. “When we got back I noticed we’re a bit low on firewood so I’m getting us some.” He nodded towards the equine forms standing nearby and eating some of the fruit from the omega tree. “Zareen and Raquel agreed to carry back what I cut.”
Dominique watched as he went back to examining a stand of trees. “You could have asked for help.”
“I did. Why else do you think Zareen and Raquel are out here? They’re also acting as my security detail.” He stepped forward and began cutting low hanging branches from a tree trunk, using short single strokes to do so.
“Iain?” When he looked up, she pointed at his hand. “What are you cutting with?” He held his hand out to show her a shimmering hair thin line roughly twenty centimeters long that extended from his index finger. It was hard to see in the wan sunshine. “Is that an energy blade?”
“Yes it is,” he replied as he cut another branch. When she stared at him in shock, he shrugged. “What, it’s not like I haven’t seen you and the others create enough of them.”
“When did you learn to do that?”
He blinked. “At Nightraven’s place. After the end of the first year she made me responsible for cutting all of the firewood. She’s got a fireplace fit for a king’s palace. The damned thing was huge, more than big enough to roast a whole ox in and she insisted on a roaring fire in it all the time.”
“Why did you need an energy blade for that?”
Surprise flicked across his face. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t explain that Nightraven just willed trees into firewood when she wanted some. She didn’t have any axes or saws, so I had to figure something else out since I haven’t learned how to do that myself just yet.” He snorted. “I pointed out that she could just make the fire not need any wood at all and she responded that it was a good training tool and when I could do that to the fire to go ahead and make it happen.” He rolled his eyes. “What a bitch. Anyways, I don’t have any skills to speak of as a blacksmith, so I couldn’t make an axe. There wasn’t anyone around and so I taught myself some pokegirl techniques.” He grinned. “Having to chop firewood with tools from the kitchen is a powerful incentive to find another way to do it. Kitchen utensils take bloody forever.” When he realized she was still staring at him, he dismissed the blade. “Look, I don’t know anything really powerful and I have no intention of standing in the line of battle with you and the others for another couple of centuries. While I’m sure Eve could regenerate them after they get torn off, I’m not interested in having new limbs.” He recreated the tiny energy blade and went back to trimming the tree. “I have this for chores and you for fights.”
Dominique laughed. “Don’t get those confused, mister.”
He looked at his hand and grinned at her. “Trust me when I say that I prefer the real thing to masturbation any day of the week. I won’t get them confused.”
“What else did you copy from us?”
He cut a deep notch in the trunk of the tree. “Several things, actually. Are you looking for a list?”
“That would be nice, Iain.”
Moving around to the other side of the tree from the notch, Iain put a hand on the trunk and pushed as he cut through the trunk level with the point of the notch. The tree toppled slowly away from him and crashed to the ground. “I’ll make you up a list when we get back to the house.”
The Archmage suddenly looked frustrated. “When will that be?”
He began trimming the rest of the branches from the trunk. “If you help, it’ll be a lot sooner than if you don’t.”
She scowled and then summoned her own energy blade. “Fine. I want that list as soon as possible.”
***
“Good afternoon, sir.” Monica Chambers settled into the chair Colin Llewellyn waved her towards. Never one for social niceties when there was work to be done, she eyed his desk before a second, noting the single small file that sat on his blotter. “Have you made a decision?”
The president of the Blue League council smiled warmly at her. “Good afternoon, Minister Chambers. Yes we have. At our meeting this morning we were in consensus. We want you to proceed with Operation Darwin.”
Monica looked surprised but recovered quickly. “Then I’ll start the preparations immediately.”
“When can we be ready to proceed?”
“A week at the most, sir. I’ll say we should be ready to being the operation in six days. That’s what my formal timetable in the brief said.”
Llewellyn nodded. “You will finish all of the preparations as soon as possible, minister, but you will not execute the mission until I give you specific permission to do so.”
“I understand, sir. Will that be all?”
“Thank you, minister, and yes it will.”
***
“If you make another surprised humming noise, I’m going to tempt the wrath of that Growlie and come around the counter to see what the hell you’re doing.”
Dominique looked up from the computer display and flashed white teeth at April in a grin. “She’ll arrest you.”
“Make me wait to find out what you’ve discovered about Iain much longer and what I’ll do to you will give her a legal reason to do just that.” They both laughed at the empty threat. “What’s going on with his records?”
“It turns out that there is a record of another Kerrik Wolf. I suspect it was set up for Shikarou’s father, since it lists Whisper, Raven and Misery as being in his harem. When I hacked our Kerrik’s record into looking like a tamer, at some time or another he was scanned by a police scanner. Apparently that’s when the trouble started.”
April frowned. “It was probably when Ninhursag fought Raquel.”
“That’s probably it. Anyway, for some reason I can’t figure out, the two records merged. Right now we’ve got two alphas, Ninhursag and Whisper, and Kerrik Wolf is a both a tamer and a tradesman. I tried resetting his file, but something won’t let me.”
April’s eyes narrowed as she frowned. “Wait a minute, Raven is supposed to be the maharani in the other Kerrik Wolf’s harem, not Whisper. I wonder,” she said slowly, “if this isn’t one of those things that Iain said could happen because this isn’t the prime universe.”
Dominique leaned back in her chair and regarded the Duelist on the other side of the counter. “I must have missed that discussion.”
“Yes, you did. It was one of those discussions we had when I was shaving him. The idea he had was that, on Prime, something like him coming here would be impossible because the community of authors would act as a cushion to keep any major changes in the timeline they’d envisioned from happening and an author’s physical presence would disrupt that in ways that would hard to imagine. Therefore, this couldn’t be Prime; something that he says was verified by Magdalene. According to him, because he’d originally written the story of Jamie Wolf to be canon, the farther you traveled from the prime universe the more changes you’d see in the world you were on. At first, they’d be little things, like Sukebe being left handed instead of right or having green eyes instead of whatever color they really were.”
“Hazel,” Dominique said so quietly that April didn’t hear her.
“Get far enough from Prime,” the Duelist continued, “and significant changes begin to take place. It could mean that this universe’s Kerrik Wolf had Virtue set him up as a tamer here instead of as a tradesman and he had Whisper as his maharani instead of Raven.”
Dominique tapped her fingers on the countertop. “What about the records merging?”
“It could be that Virtue put some kind of software in that did it for reasons we may never know.”
“Telling Ninhursag and Iain that it’s a mystery is not what I was hoping to be able to do, April.”
“I know, but sometimes that’s all you have unless you start inventing reasons.”
The Archmage’s eyes went wide. “I can see a reason for the records to merge.”
“Oh?”
“Something Iain said once in passing about the pride of the Wolf family. What if the records were set up to merge so the other Kerrik could track down anyone using his name so he could find out why and see if they needed smacked around or not? Once upon a time, Iain actually hoped he might show up so we could try to get his help. That’s why he took Kerrik’s name in the first place.”
April frowned and then shook her head. “If that’s the case, there’s nothing we can do about it. If he shows up, I’m sure Iain will be very apologetic and everything I’ve read or heard about the kami Kerrik Wolf says he’s willing to listen to reason.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Dominique, does that mean our Kerrik does have to go to Sadie Pokens?”
“No, he doesn’t. Whether he’s a tradesman or a tamer, thanks to Minister Chambers making him an admiral he is also active duty BLSF and we are technically civil service pokegirls, even if privately owned.” She tapped a few keys and cleared the screen of her work. “If anyone from the harem wants to go, they can, but Kerrik doesn’t have to go unless he wants to.”
April frowned. “That, of course, brings up a new question.”
Dominique didn’t look up from logging out of the system. “I know. Will he want to?”
***
Jonathon Moore perched on a rock and watched the setting sun begin to creep below surface of the bay. A soft cough sounded behind him and he turned slightly. “What is it, Marjorie?”
The Minotaura’s ears shifted as a fish leaped in the tiny bay. “We’ve swept the entire island and there’s nothing here, not even any ferals. There were some signs of them around the spring we found on the other end of the island, so we’ll be keeping away from it at night. It’s probably some seagoing breed or perhaps something that flies. I’ve put Carolyn and Teagan to setting up our camp. Tomorrow we can prepare the equipment.”
Moore rose. “Excellent. I received another communiqué from London while you were scouting. We need to have everything ready to go in three days.”
“That won’t be a problem, sir. Carolyn and I’ll stand guard and let you and Teagan work all day. If there aren’t any problems you should be done before nightfall.”
“There are always problems, Marjorie. We’ll finish the assembly sometime tomorrow most likely unless the problems turn out to be worse than I anticipate. Tuning, calibration and final checks will take another day, so three days is cutting it fine. I still think we can do it, though.”
“That’s why you and Teagan are the experts, sir. I know you’ll make the deadline.”
An hour later he and a Witch whose bald head was covered with Celtic tattoos were busy assembling several hundred kilograms of electronics that had been disgorged from a pair of pokepacks. They worked late into the evening, finally calling a halt for the night and beginning again a half hour after sunrise. It was past midday when they finally finished.
Their work had resulted in a circular framework composed of nine concentric rings, one within the next. This assemblage had been mounted on a stand connected to posts driven a dozen meters into the sand to hold the rings up vertically. The rings were connected to some equipment via a short but heavily shielded cable that could withstand the electromagnetic effects of a close range nuclear blast, making it impervious to anything short of a direct hit from a very powerful pokegirl attack.
In the meantime, Carolyn and Marjorie had taken the two now empty pokepacks and several reinforced plastic bags away. They’d filled the bags with wet sand and, one at a time, stored them in the pokepacks until they were completely full.
Once they returned, Moore had attached a pokeball sized sphere to the retrieval wand of one of the pokepacks and plugged the sphere into a connection on the equipment attached to the rings.
Change came slowly to the Blue League but it did come to the conservative league and more and more people were willing to acknowledge that pokegirls were not beasts. There were more free pokegirls than ever before and nearly a decade ago they had won the rights of suffrage and much greater freedoms under the law. Socially, pokegirl rights had also advanced a great deal. With that freedom, pokegirls had also begun to openly contribute more than their bodies to the advancement of the league.
One of the newest developments, from a research team headed by a pair of pokegirls with PhDs in physics, had come 2P2 or second generation pokepower. The first generation of pokepower had drained off the energy matrix of a pokegirl stored in a pokeball to supply electricity for various needs. Most of the energy was wasted, disappearing into a shadowy realm that physicists had dubbed hyperspace. Usually, more than ninety seven percent of the available energy leaked away during the transfer, which is why replacement pokegirls were needed on a regular basis.
2P2 replaced conventional pokepower with a system that utilized pokepacks filled with inorganic material as a power source instead of draining off the energy of a living pokegirl. Most of the design work involved extremely sophisticated changes to the software package combined with some basic modifications to the physical system that essentially only required the replacement of a handful of microchips to effect the modification to the main unit. Increasing knowledge about how hyperspace was constructed and interacted with the physical world had resulted in changes that reduced the energy wastage significantly and a pokepack filled with material could now power a small city for nearly a decade before needing refilled. An adapter had been created to allow usage of existing pokepower stations to avoid the extreme cost of refurbishment as well as to allow for the use of pokegirls in an extreme emergency as a backup, although the newest designs of pokepower primary systems did not have provision to use pokeballs at all.
The upshot of all of this was that in the last ten years no pokegirl had been killed to provide energy for any community in the whole of the Blue League. Convicted pokegirl criminals were now publicly executed by pokegirl firing squads as a deterrent to others. League confiscations had become fewer and these pokegirls were now either sold by the league elsewhere in the world or placed into long term unwanted storage against possible future need if they could not be otherwise usefully employed. Any with useful skills were manumitted by the league itself and joined the growing free pokegirl population.
Currently the 2P2 technology was restricted and unavailable outside the Blue League, although negotiations were underway with a several more liberal leagues to provide technicians and sealed chips that would self destruct if tampered with to prevent foreign corporations and governments, with their loose policies towards inter-league patent law, from attempting to steal the process. It had happened once, and BLSF Blackguard commandos had infiltrated the league and destroyed the manufacturing facility before it went online. They also killed everyone in the facility, hunted down any engineers who were absent and then executed the owner of the company that had pilfered the 2P2 technology along with his entire family. At the time, the damage done to the diplomatic relations between the two leagues had been considered a reasonable price to pay to keep the technology secure.
After the construction was complete, Moore and his harem took an hour off and then he and Teagan began tuning and rechecking the calibration of the equipment, a process that took the rest of the day. Finally they were done.
The next morning found Moore and Teagan back at work. As they progressed, from the outermost inwards, the rings began to glow softly and then brightly, one at a time. When the innermost ring finally shone brighter than the sun, there was a sudden pop and the rings appeared to shoot into the distance and creating the illusion of a tunnel extending into nothingness. That illusion was dispelled when two pokegirls trotted up the tunnel and pushed a ramp out of it that dropped to the sand. The ramp would allow people to enter or leave the tunnel without having to worry about tripping over the outer ring. One of the pokegirls headed back down the tunnel while the other stepped out and looked at Moore. “Any problems, sir?”
He shook his head. “Nothing significant. We lost sixty percent of the pack contents during the startup surge, but even if the fluctuations are extreme the remainder will hold for at least twenty four hours before we have to switch over to my backup.”
“Good.” The pokegirl stepped back into the tunnel. “We’re stable on our end and the surveyors should start coming through in about ten minutes.”
In 299AS an experiment in point to point transfer had been sabotaged by criminals and gone awry, leading to a dimensional portal that had scooped up a person and deposited him in the Indigo League. Later that same year the technology had been used to send him away again. After that it had been declared a failure and, due to the deaths of the individuals driving the project, decommissioned and forgotten.
But it hadn’t been a failure at all. The Blue League had acquired the technology by the simple process of purchasing it from the developer’s estate sale after his murder and then folding what the project had achieved into their own secret projects in transfer technology. It had taken years of work, and cost several lives, but finally point to point tunnel technology had been perfected. The technology used an incredible amount of energy to safely control. This had been known for nearly a century and, in fact, this energy requirement was the whole reason that pokepower had been developed in the first place. Its use in civilian applications was merely an offshoot designed to hide its real purpose as a military system.
The technology still required a physical anchor at both ends of the tunnel, which explained Moore and his harem’s presence on this island outside the Orange League’s territorial waters.
The Blue League was building a hidden military base right outside the Orange League’s claimed island chains and the tunnel would make an otherwise impossible supply line easy to maintain. Over the next week, tons of ultra fast drying concrete and other building materials came through the tunnel as soon as the surveyor team finished laying out the facility boundaries and departed back to the Blue League.
It was small, befitting its job as an observation post and advance base, constructed completely underground and the few entrances were heavily concealed out of respect for the reality that combat pokegirls could tear their way through any reasonable thickness of concrete or even metal armor quickly enough that defenders would have scant time in which to repulse them.
In this age of pokegirls, not being discovered had become the best defense of all.
However, there were active defenses for the facility. First and foremost, of course, were the pokegirls and human soldiers who were stationed at the base. Rings of mines composed of both pressure sensitive mines resembling the PMN-2 pancake mine and the VS-JAP bounding mine as well as command detonated mines very similar to the M18A1 Claymore mine were emplaced in the soil around the structure. All were made of a nonconductive ceramic to prevent being discovered by metal detectors as well as to stymie de-mining efforts using electric techniques.
Weapon emplacements would come later, if it were determined that the base would be occupied for a substantial amount of time.
The tunnel generator/anchor had been shut down once construction was complete and moved inside the facility where it was safer to operate.
Once the final building was done, things became very quiet on the island as, back in the Blue League, preparations for Operation Darwin were finalized and the team involved settled down to wait for the authorization to carry out the mission.
***
Iain Grey - Tradesman
Living Harem
Ninhursag - Elfqueen (maharani)
Eve - Megami-sama
Dominique - Blessed Archmage
April - Duelist
Zareen - Nightmare
Pandora - Fiendish Fallen Angel
Canaan - G-Splice (Amachamp Hunter/Alaka-Wham)
Sofia - Peekabu
Raquel - Rapitaur
Dead Harem
Eirian - Silver Dragoness
Skye - Blue Dragoness
Emerald - Green Dragoness
Aurum - Gold Dragoness
Beryl - Red Dragoness
Julia - human
Ling - Cheetit