REALITĀTĒ

Mara Mercury

James Walters

Rebecca Walters

## Chapter 1

He lay
in the underbrush, senses not too keen.
That feeling of - what had that seventy-something year old guy with the mannerisms
of a drill sergeant, who was actually a drill sergeant, called it?  *Transporting*?  Yeah, transporting, that was it.  Transporting still left his nerves feeling
all tingly, even days after the fact.  Or
it was psychosomatic.  Or his arms were
just numb from being pinned between his chest and his rifle.  Yeah, he had a rifle.  It was a device as rudimentary as it was
ancient, possibly a musket, with a shank on the end that technically made it a
bayonet.  The gunpowder had to be ignited
with a fuse lit from a match.  Very
rudimentary.  It had to be, to work on
this godforsaken planet.  Some sort of
curse or crap “impeded the proper function of post-industrial revolution
technology,” as Marion Allison, the aforementioned drill sergeant, so
eloquently stated.  Marion also dyed his
hair black, to pretend to be young, but he fooled no one with his old face all shriveled
like a craisin and his lack of political correctness.

The
young man in the brush sighed himself out of his listless reverie.  He needed to maintain awareness of his
surroundings, not just of himself.  He
wiped the sweat off his brow, slid the butt of the rifle-musket-bayonet out
from under his ribs, and slid the chamber open.
Then he shut it.  Then he opened
it.

He was
still listless, restless, and bored.  He glanced
to his left and saw about twenty feet up the roadside the glint of a coin flipping
through the air, going up and falling down.
He heard the rustle of a page turning in a book being read about thirty
feet above him.

The crew
was bored.

He took
out his logbook and a ballpoint point to scribble on the first page.

*Aiden Talmid*

*September 17*

*3038 AF*

*Now 1100 hours of Day 5.  At 748 a mule passed, one traveler, trashy dude,*
no contact.  At 1033 I saw a blue bird,
no contact.  No royal activity.  Having dirt for lunch in 100, can’t freaking wait.

Aiden
Talmid sighed again and wiped his brow again.
The temperature was warm presently, not summer hot, but not autumn cold,
so his coat was cooking him.  He longed
to get up and stretch, but it would undo his precariously prepared hiding
place.

The coin
was glinting an awful long time.  Then he
realized it wasn’t the coin, but a mirror – the *signal*, and Aiden’s inner voice shut the hell up.  He gave the tree to his right a thump, then
he trained his rifle up the road and set his eye behind the rear sight.

He heard
the squeaking of wagon wheels, heard the clops of the horses, and saw the
horses pulling a tall carriage before sighting the eight-pointed king’s crown emblazoned
on its doors.

That
meant it was a Morcian carriage.

That
meant it carried soldiers of thedude, present dictator of Morcia… and the entire
planet, but his main base was in Morcia.
The capital city of Orlan, specifically, just outside of the forests in
which Aiden and his merry band of idiots were camped.  In Orlan was thedude’s castle and also thedude’s
dungeons, and in those dungeons was a man the mission objectives called Private
Lego.

That was
a code name of course.  The man’s real
name was Killian Talmid.  They were
saving Killian Talmid.

No doubt
his squadmates had sighted the carriage by now.
When the carriage was forty feet away Aiden clicked the rifle’s safety off
and aimed at the third rider’s head.  At
twenty feet he held his breath.  At
fifteen feet he lit the fuse.

Cracks
from gunpowder exploding at various points around him sent birds flying out of
the trees and the horses went wild.
Aiden’s target slipped out of view so he turned to the rider’s horse
instead.  His gunpowder ignited, the bullet
fired, the rider fell with his horse, and he didn’t see what happened next
because the carriage exploded in a burst of expanding orange flames.  The heat hit Aiden’s face before his eyes had
time to tear.

When the
ash stopped falling and the injured horses stopped neighing, Aiden looked up at
the... remains of the carriage.  Splintered
wood was scattered across and along the path, along with armor and weapons from
the aforementioned thedude’s soldiers, now very smashed.  And a man stepped out from behind a tree, a thing
held in each arm.  A rocket propelled
grenade launcher in his right, and a bundle of cloth in the crook of his left
elbow.  A vest with many buckles, light
chainmail, and a brown hooded cloak adorned his figure.  Visible on his belt was a black pistol of
modern times, and Aiden groaned.

The man
wasn’t part of their squad.

And he’d
just blown up their way into thedude’s castle.

Aiden scrambled
to his feet, and around him so did his squad.
Twenty feet up the roadside the coin tosser, a blond haired man in a
bomber jacket named Luke Mercury, was on his feet as well, except at the sight
of the man he’d exchanged his slow firing bayonet for a Nexus Force-spec revolver.

They’d
been told modern weapons didn’t work, but this guy had an RPG and a pistol on him,
and Aiden agreed with his blond teammate’s choice.  Judging by the fresh carnage, they worked
well enough, and a revolver helped even the odds.  Keeping his eyes on the man, who hadn’t made
another move, Aiden reloaded his rifle.
The rest of his squad were slowly making themselves visible from their
various hiding spots: various points around the road, atop the branches in the trees,
all around the rocketeer man.

And the man knew it.  He kept his RPG pointed nonthreateningly at
the ground, not that it mattered since it wasn’t loaded anymore, and his other
hand cradling his cargo as he looked around at the Nexus Forcers around him.  He made eye contact with some of the men and
women.  For a moment his met Aiden’s, and
he looked about to speak

Then the
bundle of cloth began to cry.

“You’ve
gotta be kidding me.” Aiden muttered, and he called out.  “You’re with child?!”

The man
laughed.  “That means something different
around these parts!”

“We
know,” a woman’s voice behind Aiden retorted.
It belonged to Mara Mercury, who had come down from her tree.  She placed herself next to Aiden and whispered,
“What do we do with this guy?”

“Enemy
of my enemy is my friend?” Aiden responded.

“Let’s
be friends!” Mara shouted at the man.

“Hard to
say yes when you’ve got guns pointed at my back, and my front, and everywhere
else!” the man snapped.

“Right.”  Aiden lowered his bayonet and the rest of the
squad copied with their bayonets or other Nexus Force weapons, pistols, rifles,
submachine guns.  One woman dressed in
combat fatigues with her dark blond hair tied back in a ponytail even carried a
sword.  Some people just couldn’t get stop
using the retro gear, even though guns were better at smashing Maelstrom, and
people, so long as there was ammo.

Aiden
and Mara together, Luke from the side, and the swordswoman from behind all
approached the man, except the swordswoman kept walking past him and motioned for
Aiden to follow.  He shook his head.  She pointed harder.  Aiden set his jaw and sidestepped away.

He and
the woman joined at a distance down the road from the gathering of Nexus
Forcers, a man holding a baby, and dead knights.  They walked a few yards and stopped when they
were discreet.  The woman turned to Aiden.  They were close in height.  She barely edged over him now, since she was
wearing boots, and for a few moments they just shared each other’s gaze.

“That
explosion scared the bricks out of me,” the woman admitted.

“Yeah.”
Aiden related.  “Me too.  Wasn’t expecting it at all”

“I
thought we were *dead*,” she groaned,
and she sheathed her sword.

Aiden sighed.  “Yeah… it wasn’t that bad-“

He had
to stop talking when she slung her arms over his shoulders and pulled themselves
into a kiss.  Her bangs brushed the debris
from his forehead, and he let the bayonet drop to wipe the dirt from her face,
then grip her firmly back.

She
leaned back and whispered, “I thought *you*
*were dead.”*

“I love
you too, Bridget.” Aiden told her.

## Chapter 2

The man’s
name was James Walters, and he had no qualms turning his back to the Nexus
Force to attend to the needs of the child he held.  He laid out a blanket, set the child on it,
and gave it a milk bottle, seemingly ignoring the Nexus Forcers while watching
the young human.

He knew
they were Nexus Force from the little colorful accents on their clothes, blue
for Sentinels, green for Venture, and so on; their weapons, adorned with little
Nexus Force badges; their speech and mannerisms; but also since he’d seen them
land on the planet, five days ago.  Well,
more like materialize.  He knew what transporter
tech was, but was just surprised to see it in action here.  It was crude.
It was effective.  That made it
smart.  He liked smart.

They
were also idiots.

Monitoring their communications was easy.  They didn’t use radios.  They just talked loud.

They
were a group of Nexus Force conscripts here to save a Knight of the Old Speech.  That made them allies.

The only
question was for how long?

“Sorry
about that carriage.” James apologized to the blond guy approaching him from
behind.

He came
to a stop, and James could practically hear the guy’s brows furrowing.  “You’ve been listening?” he asked after a few
seconds.

“No
rasch, buddy.” James said.  “You don’t
need me to answer that for you.  Use your
brain.”

He sensed
the guy nod.  “Suppose anyone else knows
what we’re up to?”

“I don’t
suppose.  I know.  And thedude doesn’t know you’re planning to
take Sir Talmid.” James told him.  “I’d help
you, if I thought you had a chance.  The
name’s James, by the way.”

“Luke
Mercury,” the blond responded.  “Unless
you already know that.”

“You’re
catching on.” James acknowledged.

“So why’d
you blow up the carriage?” Luke asked.

“They
were getting close to home.” James stated.
Or atleast, that’s what they
were supposed to think.  “Now, the
explosion was large enough to be noticed by other dudites.  You won’t want to be here when they show up.  These guys had swords,” he gestured behind
his back at the smashed bodies, “but the guys on their way will have guns.”  He considered.  “And sorcery.”

He
turned around to face Luke.  “I can take
you to my safehouse- what the harch are you doing?!”

Luke
turned so they both faced the road, where the rest of the Nexus Forcers were
picking up smashed parts and throwing them into a bag.  “What’s wrong?” Luke asked.

“I need
those body parts for the scene!” James groaned.

“We need
them to interrogate them.” Luke countered.

James
whirled on him.  “And how are you going
to do that?  There’s not enough
Imagination here to rebuild them.”

Luke
pointed at the sky.  “We have a spaceship
in orbit,” the blond said, “we’ll rebuild them there and see what we can learn.”

“I hope they’re
cloaked.” James warned.  “If the Barney
Bots and Red Mythrans spot them, your ship is going kaboom.”

As they
watched, two of the Nexus Forcers set the bag of pieces on the ground and the
rest began taking positions around it.
From down the road, two of the conscripts, a dark haired man and a
blonde woman, approached, and Luke took a step forward but James grabbed his
arm.

“Are you
all going?” James asked.

“Yeah,
our work here’s done for now.” Luke said. "We were going to use that carriage, but it's kinda useless now."

“I think
we can help each other if we work together.” James insisted.  “Some of you should stay with me.  I’ve got intel I think you’d find important.”

Luke
turned to him.  “Why not come with us,
then?”

James picked
up the child.  “Are you a married man, Luke
Mercury?”

Luke
smiled.  “Engaged.”

“Wives,”
James whispered.  “This kid’s getting home
tonight, and we need days to come up with a good plan.”

“I’ll see
who else is willing to stay,” Luke nodded, and he walked backwards towards the
others.  “We’re lucky to meet you, James.”

“James
Walters.”

He watched
as Luke conferred with the dark haired man, his blonde companion, and a woman
with dark red hair and sunglasses.  Then
the four of them left the group surrounding the parts bag and returned to
James.  As they approached, the men and
women they left behind were suddenly enveloped in a bright blue glow and a
whistling sound filled the air.  It
increased in pitch, while decreasing in volume, as the Nexus Forcers and their
bag of smashed people began to fade away.
In no less than five seconds, they were gone without a trace.

Transporters
spooked James.  He preferred portals.

“This is
my sister, Mara Mercury.” Luke introduced the remaining Nexus Forcers.  “Bridget Marcotte.”  The blond woman made a peace sign.  “And Aiden Talmid.”

"Wait...like
Killian?" James had made eye contact, or at least tried to with Mara, with
each person as Luke introduced them, but at the dark haired man James grew
exuberant.  “You’re a Talmid?” he repeated.

“Yeah,”
Aiden said, regarding James. "What do you know about Killian?"

James pursed
his lips and narrowed his eyes in thought as he scrutinized the man.  From the pictures he’d seen… yes.  There were resembling features between this
man and the infamous Sir Talmid, leader of the Knights of the Olde Speech,
presently imprisoned in thedude’s castle.
It made sense now why these Nexus Forcers were so resolute on rescuing
the knight.

“Backup
at last!” James shouted, and he picked up the child and spun around into the
forest.  “Let’s get out of here.”

## ...

*"...And how would you describe me?"*

*"That's tough to say. Everyone's complex, but you're.. sort of... complex complex. And that's not good for you. You're determined, that's for sure, but you need to ease up. Let things go."*

*"I can't."*

*"If there's two words I never want to hear from you, it's 'I can't'."*

*"Some things you're stuck with forever."*

*"Yeah. Like me and you."*

*"That's why I love you."*

## Chapter 3

The wind
picked up while James led the Nexus Forcers to his safe house.  All the way there, dried and dead brown
leaves shimmied down through the air to join their felled brethren to crackle
and crinkle underfoot as the five travelers, not including the infant, tramped
through the forest.

As much
as he strived for competence, Aiden long realized that tracking their course of
travel was hopeless.  James made countless
left turns, right turns, U-turns, and J-turns.
At one point he made them walk backwards while reciting Fibonacci.  But James knew more about the situation on
Militiregnum than any of them, and that made him a valuable accomplice.

He
suspected James saw value in their presence, as well.  His RPG slung on his back and his child asleep
in a Baby Bjorn on his chest, James led the procession.  Luke and Mara stuck close, followed by
Bridget, and Aiden took the rear with a pistol.
They were all armed with appropriate weapons now that they knew they
worked.  He wondered how Marion would
react to that intel once the squad briefed him.
He was probably giving them grief over letting Aiden and others stay downstairs.  It was a miracle they hadn’t been beamed up
yet.

“What
took you astronauts so long to come down anyway?” James shot them at one point.  He was referring to the Nexus Force’s
blockade around Militiregnum that kept thedude’s influence from leaving Militiregnum,
or so they had thought until events earlier that year…

Conversation was a double edged sword here.  It served to exchange information while
distracting them at the same time.

“Marion Allison.”
Mara muttered, and Luke took a deep breath.

“*General* Allison,” he began, “is the embouchure
in charge of the blockade, and the blockade is one of the Nexus Force’s dirty
secrets.  Militiregnum is, too.  This planet aint on the maps.  So you can imagine, getting here while
staying on the right side of the law has taken awhile.  Make it ten years.”

James
stopped, turned clockwise fifteen degrees, and then kept walking.  Rock walls began to rise on either side that looked
a bit tight at spots, but James just slipped through them.  “You poor people,” he empathized.  “Bureaucracy stinks, doesn’t it?  You’d benefit from a Janra.”

“What’s
a Janra?” Luke asked.

“A magical
device great for bypassing bureaucrats and doing whatever the hell you want,
but with great power comes great responsibility.  It creates a link between dimensions.”

Luke
glanced over his shoulder, around Mara, and around Bridget, to see if Aiden caught
that bit.  The dark haired man was
already walking at a faster pace.  “Say
that again?” he asked James.  “Did you
say dimensions?”

“Dimensions,”
James explained, “are pockets of reality floating in a purgatory known as
Unverse-“

Aiden
felt a tap on his shoulder and his head, with his attention, did a 180 to make
eye contact with Bridget.

“A Janra
creates a link between dimensions,” she repeated James’ words.

“…if it’s
a Janra you wanted to know about, you should have said that, instead of ‘dimensions’.”
James chastised, and Aiden turned back to their guide.

“We’re
familiar with Unverse,” he told him.  “We’ve…
traversed it.”

Now James
turned around.  “Ever heard of a Chanora?”
he asked, a funny look on his face.

Aiden
shook his head.

“Then you
haven’t traversed anything.”

“Actually,”
Luke spoke up, “we’ve gone to *three*
Maelstrom Dimensions.“

“Pssh,”
James waved his hand dismissively.

“Excuse
me,” Bridget cut in, “but there’s no need to downplay what these three have
been through.  You don’t know everything
about us.”

“I can’t
say I do, to the latter.” James agreed.  “To
the former, just ignore it.  I’m an idiot
sometimes.  But I can say you’re grossly inexperienced
and greatly uninformed of the situation here, and downright unprepared for your
rescue mission.  But I’m trying to help you,
and I don’t care if you trust me, but you can just follow my lead and that’ll
be great.  And we’re here.”

The rocky
crevasse suddenly opened into a small clearing, so small that the treetops and
their web of crisscrossed branches still completely covered it.  At its center was an old stone structure, its
surfaces covered in fallen leaves, vines, and moss; a natural camouflage against
distant viewers.  Rocky heights popped up
at various spots, and a slow, clear stream wound through the terrain.  For some reason neither the sun was visible
in the sky nor the shadows cast by it on the ground.

“Where
is this place?” Aiden asked.  James continued
towards the structure, but the Nexus Forcers stopped to admire the sights, and
get their bearings.

“My
sense of direction and I parted ways half an hour ago.” Bridget said.

“We’re a
mile east and twelve hundred feet north from our landing position.” Mara
reported, pocketing her compass.

“Nice.”
Aiden said.  “You counted that?”

Mara
nodded.  “If one piece of tech had to prove
Marion right, it was the GPSes.  They’re
still useless.”  Her hand came back
holding a small gray device.  She pressed
its power button, to no effect.  They had
been like that since they landed.  They
were quick to attribute the so-called ‘technology curse’ for the death of that,
and their other electronics, but now they wondered if the transporter had
killed them.

“You’re
not useless, though.” Aiden told her.

“Aw,
thanks pretty boy.” Mara turned to flash Aiden a wide grin, when a red dot
appeared on her temple.

## Chapter 4

A door burst open into
the outpost’s antechamber, before the main chamber, and James stepped in.  It was a stone room with walls and floors as
unfinished as the outpost’s exterior design, or so it was meant to appear.  Everything looked in order, James observed; the
traps were in place, the hiding places were still hidden, and a woman had a sniper
pointed out the western arrowslit.  James
could infer where it was pointed.

“I’d like it if you
don’t shoot those people.” he said, and Rebecca turned to face him.

“*You* brought them here?”  She said it like a question, but the real
question was unstated.  It was an
implicit *why?*  James answered with a shrug, and Rebecca removed
the rifle from the window, stood up, and brushed the dust off her knees.  “You’re a korchring idiot.”

“Hey, they’re on our
side at least.” James said.

“*At least*?” Rebecca repeated.

“They’re Nexus Force,
not that that means much.” James admitted.
“I made contact when they started shooting at that carriage, the one we
were tracking.  Oh, and they have this guy
who’s related to Sir Talmid, like a son or nephew or something.”

Rebecca folded her
arms.  “Interesting.  Why is the Nexus Force stepping in *now*?”

“They seem like a
splinter group.” James said.  “I don’t
fully know their motive yet, though.”

“And you still
brought them here.” Rebecca chastised, and James held up a hand.

“They want to rescue
Killian, I know that at least.” James said.

“Don’t we all,”
Rebecca muttered.  “That doesn’t
mean their goal is consistent with the resistance’s.”

“I know,” James
nodded.  “They want Killian out of
Orlan.  We want thedude out of Orlan.”

“There’s a lot in
between the two.” Rebecca said.

“Aye.  And, that’s not the end of it.” James
reminded.

“So, how much can they help us with that?”

“We’ll have to ask
them,” James said.

“Let me remind you,
you’re supposed to find these things out *before*
bringing them here.”

“Like they even know
where here is.”

“I wouldn’t put it
beyond anyone.” Rebecca warned, “certainly not an offshoot of the Nexus
Force.  Look at the Rogues, for instance.  They’re as lucky as they’re stupid.”  She picked up the rifle and headed for the
door, and James followed his wife.  He
let her lead.  It was better to let her
do the talking concerning the info they were about to share with the Nexus
Forcers.

They needed an army.

## .--

*“I’m sorry.”*

*“Don’t be.  It’s not your fault what happened.  It’s not your fault at all.”*

*“So?  Fault makes no difference if you’re upset or*
not.  Saying ‘I’m sorry,’ it means someone cares about you.”

*“That’s good to know.”*

*"It means I care."*

## Chapter 5

They sat around a
firepit, the six of them; Aiden, Luke, Mara, Bridget, James, and Rebecca; seven
counting the infant, cradled in Rebecca’s left arm.  Dinner was served inside the kitchen/dining
room/dinette of the Walters’ compound.  Warming
in a wok suspended over the glowing embers was a mix of vegetables homegrown by
the Walters, and some game also hunted by the Walters, to be prepared by
Rebecca, the stewardess of the compound.
Those who were religious said grace, and those who weren’t waited in
silent respect to their hosts.  In the
interim they thought of their families, friends, and other things close to
their hearts.

Aiden thought about
Sir Talmid, of course.  Killian was, in
more ways than one, his lifelong hero.
Killian was his inspiration for joining the Nexus Force.  But the man had defied his parents to join the
Nexus Force.  In a way, Aiden had too,
but it was post defacto…

Eleven years passed
since Aiden saw Killian last.  His uncle
hadn’t looked good.  Now, Aiden could
only imagine.

A lot could change
in eleven years.

A lot had changed.

They ate a few
minutes, then James wiped dessert off his mouth and spoke.  “The situation requires a plan, and as
adults, we’re going to make that plan.”

“The situation
being,” Aiden noted, “rescuing Sir Killian Talmid.”

James nodded.  “We have to look at this like making a deal, playing
chess, and playing cards.  Think of it
like this, if we want to get Killian from thedude, we have to give something to
thedude in return.”

“So, like a trade?”
Mara said.

Rebecca rolled her
eyes.  “Yes, like a trade.  It’s a safe, nonviolent alternative to going
in guns blazing.  Rescuing Sir Talmid, as
great as it’d be for Morcia, isn’t so great for us if we’re dead.  Sorry, Aiden,” she turned to him.

“Don’t be,” Aiden fixed
her with a nod.  “You’re right.”

Mara made a
face.  “Are you seriously talking about
trading with *thedude*?  I don’t think he can comprehend such concepts
of ‘safe’ and ‘nonviolent,’ with all we’ve heard about him.”

“You said you wanted
an army.” Luke reminded.

“Which implies guns
blazing.” Bridget added.

“Back on track,
guys.” James urged.  “Let’s move on to
the chess part.  We could use an army,
and yes, that does mean shooting guns.
Or at least, threatening to shoot them.”
He stood up and went to a drawer in the room’s corner.  He opened it to take our an item and returned
to the firepit with a map.  The others
learned over to see where he pointed to, a point between the towns of Somna and
Leer.  “There’s a cloning facility right
here, belonging to thedude.  It’s the
last one in existence.”

There were a number
of responses to that.  Mara and Bridget
chuckled.  Aiden snorted.  “Of course there’s another one,” Luke
muttered.  Rebecca rolled her eyes again,
but she proceeded to say:

“It’s truly the last
one.  Thedude only had two others, which
have since been destroyed.  The first one
was in Orlan and it was destroyed seven years ago; we have to reason to believe
Sir Talmid destroyed it, actually.  The
second was in another dimension, on a planet called Macabross, and it was
destroyed by allies of the Nexus Force from another dimension.”

Aiden raised his
eyebrows and stared a silent question at James and Rebecca.  “That’s classified Nexus Force intel,” he said
of the info on Macabross.  There was no
way the Walters should have known it, but he couldn’t blame them, considering
Aiden and co. hadn’t come across it totally legally either.  Luke and Mara were still hackers, that hadn’t
changed in eleven years.

“Let’s just say,”
James said, “if your Nexus Force knew it, the C.O.D knew it.  That’s our organization, mine and Rebecca’s.  But we didn’t just know your Nexus Force.  Any Nexus Force - any *government* you name, the Federation, FROST, Minotaur Space
Imperium, America, yadda yadda yadda - it aint classified, as far as C.O.D was concerned;
it never was.  The only things truly classified
here are what Becca and I don’t tell you.”

“But we’re allies
here,” Rebecca reminded, “so we’re not going to keep much.”

“Hopefully this
makes it easier to talk.” James said.

Eventually their
guests nodded.

“So… under threat of
destroying thedude’s last cloning facility, you think he’ll give us Killian.” Aiden
surmised.

“That’s one
possibility.” James said.  “Show of
hands.  Who thinks it’ll work?”

No one raised their
hands.

“Yeah, me neither,”
James confessed, “which is why we’re planning.”

“Then instead of
threatening to destroy it, we could just destroy it.” Mara said.  “We can use our ship.”

“Not so fast.”
Rebecca interjected.  “Your ship is
currently a secret to thedude.  You’d
best keep it that way.  Once thedude
knows it’s there, he’ll know what to look for.
He’s got Barney Fighters and Red Mythrans-“

“We know.” Aiden said.

“And then you don’t
have a ship.” James said.  “So, that
takes us back to an army.”

Luke’s chair scraped
back loudly as he rose, arms folded, eyes aimed at James.  “You’ve had this planned out all along,
haven’t you?” he accused, and he glared a second at Rebecca, as well.

Catching on, the
others slowly got up as well.  “Do you think
we’re idiots?” Mara demanded.

“No,” James told her,
“and no,” he told Luke, “we haven’t had this planned out.  Not in a group discussion, not even between
me and Rebecca.  It’s all ideas, mine,
hers, yours; the idea here is to peer review them.  You people plan, right?”

“They’re Nexus
Force,” Rebecca muttered, “of course they don’t.”

“That’s a rude thing
to say.” Bridget said.

“We improvise.”
Aiden retorted.

“That’s what we’re doing
here,” Rebecca stated.

“So if you don’t
have a better idea,” James said, “sit back down.”

The two parties
glared at each other a bit more, before Aiden obliged first, as he was cool
headed, followed by Bridget who was also calm for at this time her outgoing
demeanor was well overshadowed by Mara’s.
Eventually the Mercurys followed suit.

“Alright.” James began,
resuming conversation.  “To recap, we’ve
ruled out just threatening the cloning facility - which we need a name for, by
the way - and we’ve ruled out orbital bombardment, for now.  We still want to destroy the cloning facility
to gain leverage against thedude.”

“Let’s take a moment
to find a name.” Aiden suggested.

“Sure.” James
agreed.

“’Bazooka’.” Mara
said.

“Too explosive.”
Rebecca objected.  “Even if we’re blowing
it up, we don’t want to make it obvious.”

“’Mine turtle’.”
Luke said.

“Again,” Rebecca facepalmed,
“that implies explosives.”

“’Nuke’.” Mara
said.  “All In favor?”

Luke raised a hand,
so did James, but Rebecca slapped his down.

“Guys, Rebecca’s
right.” Aiden said.  “Think of something
neutral.  Like construction.”

Mara: “Rocks.”

Luke: “Bricks.”

James: “Concrete.”

Bridget: “Bamboo.”

Aiden: “Wood.“

“Enough.” Rebecca
interjected.  “We’re wasting too much
time.  I’m thinking of a number between 1
and 20, the closest guess gets their name chosen.”

Mara: “0.”

Luke: “20.”

James: “7.”

Bridget: “12.”

Aiden: “3.”

Rebecca: “15,” and
she pointed at Bridget.  “Bamboo it is.  So what’s the best way to destroy Bamboo?”

“Bombs.” Mara said.

“Guns.” Luke said.

“I mean like
infiltration?  All-out assault?” Rebecca
waved her free arm impatiently.  “Ideas,
people?”

“Infiltration puts
less of us at risk,” Aiden said, “and if we showed up with a Nexus Force army,
thedude would wonder where it came from, which leads back to our ship.”

“We can disguise an
army as one of the local resistance groups.” James said.

“No, I’m with
Aiden,” Rebecca said, “we don’t need an army.”

“What’s the security
like down here?” Aiden asked.

“In general,
incompetent.” Rebecca said.  “Specifically
around Bamboo, a platoon of Elite Rogues and two Red Mythrans.  Elite Rogues aren’t so much less incompetent,
they’re just better shots and more brutal.
Their commanders have to be smart, though.  Bamboo’s is charged by a Commander Pavel
Sancho.”

James reached around
to a terminal behind him and the monitor lit up with a picture of a smooth-skinned,
bearded fellow with dark gray hair, a tall face, a thin nose, and thin
eyes.  “Pavel Sancho, thirty-one years
old, served in His Ungrammerness’s Army for the last twelve years, and born in
Aquila.”

“A local boy.” Luke quipped.

“Thedude’s been
recruiting local boys.  And girls.” James
muttered.  “The locals are smarter than Faction
War vets.  Sorry, Nexus Forcers, but
being kids in a war and all, you didn’t get the education.”

“You saying we don’t
got creds?” Luke’s jaw dropped.  “That’s
low.”

“You’re comparing us
- experienced soldiers, strategists, special operatives – with, ah, medieval peasants.”
Aiden said.

“There’s
universities down here.” James said.
“Sancho here graduated at the top of his class in Aquilone military
strategy.”

Luke clenched and
unclenched his fists.  “Show us Bamboo,”
he said.

James brought up an exterior image of a
concrete building with a paved road leading out of the frame.  A parking lot was visible, containing ten horsedrawn
carriages and some cars.  Surrounding the
building were trees indicating its location in the Morcian forest between Somna
and Leer.

“I took this picture
a week ago,” James said.  He then showed
some interior layout schematics, which he obviously didn’t take with a camera.  “These ones I hacked.  Now, the building receives power from a
geothermal reactor protected by a Covarient Maelstrom shield; standard Paradox
tech.  The Maelstrom is of course
volatile, but we don’t want that stuff floating around if we can help it.  The shield is stabilized by a block of ‘Alberts,’
Imagination reactors connected to the planet’s Imagination mining grid.  There’s a lot of energy running through the
Alberts so blowing them up will yield an amplified explosion.  They’re installed at key points around Bamboo
so all we need to do is detonate a few Alberts to bring down the whole
building.”

Aiden nodded.  “Sounds like a plan; like one you’ve had or thought
about for a while, eh?”

James shrugged.  “Taking out the cloning facility- I mean Bamboo,
*has* been on my bucket list for a while.  Except now, we can use it to rescue Killian,
which makes it even better.”

“We’re going to need
to do more, I think,” Bridget spoke up, “since the eventual trade deal is
supposed to be, as Rebecca said, nonviolent.
I don’t think the threat of *more*
violence will work in our favor.  Maybe
for the leverage part, we could salvage some of the cloning tech, and offer
that too in exchange for Killian?”

James snapped his
fingers.  “Actually, young lady, I’ve
already got that covered.  I’ve got something
better, actually.  Here, in this
compound, Rebecca and I have an actual clone of thedude.”

“You’re kidding.”
Aiden said.

James shook his
head.  “Problem is, it aint worth
anything to him so long as Bamboo stands, since he can just clone a
replacement.  But if we take it out…”

Luke nodded
earnestly.  “Yeah, we know economics;
supply and demand; we’re not dumb.”

“Where is the clone?”
Bridget asked the important question.

James glanced at his
wife.

Their eyes fell on
Rebecca first, and then on the child cradled in her arms.

“Yeah,” James said,
and that all but confirmed it.  “That’s the
clone.”

## Chapter 6

Through supplementary discussion the team found shared the sentiment that acting sooner rather than later was preferred. After a brief meteorological survey the Mercuries reported a moonless sky, ideal for a stealth op while James's intel on Bamboo remained fresh. With the Walters' entire arsenal at their disposal, Aiden took the task of selecting light weaponry. Landing party assault rifles wouldn't do in a tight situation. He rifled through drawers and chests collecting little pistols, tasers, lockpicks and the like.

Footsteps crossed the armoury threshold. "We're close to 500 since our last report," Bridget apprised. Whilst getting the feel for a handgun Aiden turned and faced her new outfit, matte black and tight, soundless. Appropriate.

He waved his open hand and made a face dismissively. "It's not like Marion can see it. It'd be too long to get back to the drop zone to transmit it."

Bridget gave him a concerned stare. "It's not something we should make a habit of skipping."

"Good point. A'ight." From where he'd set it down on a chest, Aiden picked up a white with blue buttons tape recorder and pressed record. "10:23 PM, local time, Aiden and Bridget present, all movements accounted for. About to embark on a mission of sabotage a target... a cloning facility eight miles north-west from our current location... coordinates Lat 1279.29, Long 1667.45. Signing off." He clicked the blue stop and smiled at Bridget. She nodded back with notable coolness.

He faced her head on. "You don't look enthusiastic," he observed.

Bridget offered a small smile. "That's because I'm not."

"Talk to me," he said.

"This is all so spontaneous and I don't feel we're in control," she confided.

Aiden nodded. "James and Rebecca."

Bridget nodded back.

"They're giving us an opportunity I don't want to miss," Aiden said, "and I get what you mean, but in a way we're also, for once, in charge of ourselves. No Marion Allison driving our movements."

"You've been so calculated until now," Bridget interposed. "And patient. What changed?"

Truthfully, Aiden hadn't an answer in the moment. "I don't know," he expressed. "Maybe because we're finally down here. After all this time..." He seemed calm, to himself. He seemed to be thinking rationally, reasonably. "Am I calm?" he asked.

"You sound so," she told him. She sidled up and picked the handgun from him, while speaking she inspected it. "And I'll follow you on this plan, I don't doubt our ability to pull it off, it's just that your decision is... surprising. That's all."

Aiden took a breath of the air around them and glanced sidelong at his companion. "*Is* that all?" he repeated.

She stared back, betraying the hint of a more genuine, perhaps flirtatious smile. "Until we return from this mission."

"I look forward to that, then."

"I appreciate your appreciating that."

"That being..."

"That you should know."

"Stop it, the two of you," Luke Mercury cut in, standing in the doorway.

Aiden let his hands drop from Bridget's arms which had wound up around his shoulders, and she kept them there they both turned their attention to Luke's interruption.

"You interface with Crateris all the time," Bridget challenged.

"In its time and place, neither of which would be now, were she not on the ship," Luke sniffed. He had also changed into a stealthy attire. "James is ready to go. He's with Mara outside. We have transportation."

"Transportation?" Aiden repeated.

"The latest in traveling innovation."

Upon exiting the compound, the vehicle in question was seen to be a horsedrawn carriage with a village man and village woman at the reins, or at least that is what their appearances meant to convey. His farmer's coveralls topped in a feather cap, James Walters looked quite blue collar. Mara had Sunday breeches and a white button down, finished with a navy vest. The perfect disguise.

"It's an hour's travel to Bamboo." James said. "You're all set, it looks like," he took in their stealth suits. Aiden, Luke, and Bridget had finished their infiltration attire with belts for the various small tools and munitions harnessed tight to their bodies.

"We need an operation name," Mara said.

"Operation Bamboo." Luke said.

"Too obvious." Mara snorted.

*Too easy*. Aiden got in the carriage, after Luke and Bridget, and they were off.