Address criticisms to [xazqrten@cox.net]
******************************
Friday, 14 September 2266:
“How could he be tired? He slept for the last third of the flight,”
commented General Ames.
“All I know, General Ames, is that he said he was tired and that he would
get himself a room at the BOQ. I believe him and I’m sure he’ll be here when we
return this afternoon.”
As they walked back toward President Luchenko, they were intercepted by some
of the reporters anxious to get some kind of statement out of Susan.
Susan called the whitestar and before Alyt Donivar could respond, Susan
said, #In Minbari only, Alyt Donivar.#
Egan, the generals and the reporters looked puzzled.
Susan listened to the Minbari response and replied, #The shuttle pilot will
call you when we lift off, Alyt Donivar.#
Then in English she asked, “What can I do for you gents?”
“Your comments when you were on stage, General Wayne. Exactly what did you
mean by them?” asked a male reporter who looked to be about forty years old.
“You are?” she asked.
“Dave Ball,” responded the surprised reporter.
“At any time during my remarks, Dave, did I use any foreign languages – such
as Russian, Italian, Spanish, or any other languages other than English? I mean
I didn’t drop into Minbari, Drazi, Centauri or any alien language, did I?”
asked Susan.
“Not that I heard.”
“Then, since I used only English, I have another question. Is English your
native language?”
“Yes.”
“Then, I meant exactly what I said. You should be able to understand that,
unless you have a problem with the English language. Do you have a problem with
the English language, Dave?” Susan asked with exaggerated phony sweetness
dripping from her voice.
Ball looked irritated at being baited by Susan. “I asked a legitimate
question, General Wayne.”
“I gave you a legitimate answer. I meant exactly what I said. If you want
something else you’ll have to ask for it. I mean you should be specific. If you
want me to say something you can use to further your agenda, all you have to do
is ask. Let me give you an example, Dave - General Wayne, would you make a
statement that I can edit and misquote in such a fashion as to make you look
like a complete idiot. If you want that, ask for it; otherwise, get out of my
face with your camera.”
Ball stepped aside, only to be replaced by a female reporter. “I read your
proposal for reorganizing your new command. Do you have any idea when we might
be able to get concrete statements concerning any base closures?”
Susan thought for a moment. “Decent question. At present, I don’t even know
if that will come to pass during the reorganizing of my command. There are so
many variables at this point; we can’t really see the forest because of the
trees. When we get our act together, I may be able to give you a more
definitive answer in two or three months at the earliest. Looking at the bigger
picture – if and when the reorganization of the whole of Earthforce happens,
you can be sure that there will be base closures. I don’t honestly see how it
can be avoided. In blue-collar terms, that’ll be when the work gets to be ball-
buster difficult. You can’t simply close a base down. You have to deal with the
fallout before you close it, not after. If you want to talk about that process,
I’ll be happy to set aside time to do so, but it’s too complicated to do here
and now – not to mention that it’ll be an all day affair.”
As Susan continued to walk; behind her, a second lieutenant made sure to get
a business card from the reporter who had asked the base closure question.
Without her being consciously aware of it, Susan’s importance was being
established.
Her comrades watched the second lieutenant and looked at one another. "Her
whitestar, indeed," said Egan. The other two men looked amused at his comment.
Susan ignored the remainder of the reporters present as she made her way
back to where the President was talking with General Zaleski and his wife.
******************************
Senator Mathers and several of his colleagues were holding a small press
conference with several reporters.
“Senator Mathers. How do you see this ‘war’ General Wayne mentioned playing
out? Isn’t that a rather strong statement?”
“Why don’t you ask General Wayne?” he responded as Susan approached him and
the reporters.
The reporter turned and addressed Susan. “How about it, General Wayne. What
did you mean by a ‘war’?”
Susan didn’t smile as she asked, “Do you actually read and write English?”
“Of course,” replied the reporter.
“You people have me completely fooled. You’re at least the second reporter
within the last fifteen minutes who has asked me a question that has already
been answered. I suggest you carry and use a standard dictionary. But to answer
your question – ‘war’, a single syllable word with several meanings amongst
which you will find the following two definitions: a conflict; antagonism. I’m
sure you’ve heard the term ‘a war of words’. As I said, it’s self-explanatory.”
Mathers was fighting to keep from laughing out loud. He had wholeheartedly
supported Susan’s advancements and her present assignment. It was becoming very
obvious that she didn’t suffer fools lightly; which meant, of course, that
virtually every time she and the press came within spitting distance of one
another, she would inevitably shred at least one of them for saying or asking
something stupid – something they did with great regularity.
After blowing off the reporters, Susan approached President Luchenko. “Madam
President, are you ready to begin our trip to the whitestar?”
Less than ten minutes later, the Minbari shuttle with President Luchenko,
her party, and Susan and her husband were well on their way to the whitestar.
******************************
Susan sat back in her seat and looked at General Leftcourt. “Colonel Stout
has asked me to fly against the students of the ‘Top Gun’ school, general. I
start working in the A-328 simulator tomorrow morning.”
“Why does he want you to fly against the students, Susan?” asked Secretary
Egan.
“They are supposed to be the best of the best, sir,” replied Susan.
“Do you really think you can compete with them, General Wayne?” asked
President Luchenko.
“I don’t see why not, Madam President. I have much more flying time than any
five of them combined,” answered Susan.
“How will your flying with them occur, Susan?” asked Leftcourt.
“After I get myself back up to speed on the A-328, I’ll fly down to the
flight training area and be the intruder. In an area that is two hundred
kilometers square and altitude limits extending from zero to thirty-two
kilometers, the student class flying F-450s will try to find and destroy me
before I can take all of them out. If any of them successfully kills me, he or
she gets advanced one step in rank and they all pass the course of instruction.
If I kill all of them, they fail the course of instruction. Colonel Stout
thinks that’s fair. I wanted to up the stakes so that any of them that I kill
would be relegated to flying transports. Colonel Stout thought that was too
steep a price for them losing to me.”
“You seem rather sure of yourself, General Wayne,” said President Luchenko.
“Madam President; there are several hundred dead pilots who would dispute
your statement, if they were in any position to do so,” replied Susan.
“Oh!” she replied.
“Will they know who they’re up against?” asked General Ames.
“No sir; they won’t. If I were a real enemy, they would only know what their
intelligence could tell them. In most cases that wouldn’t be much,” replied
Susan.
Leftcourt smiled and observed, “Colonel Stout is going to run a ringer in on
them. Sneaky, but effective.”
“You did a pretty good rip job on those two reporters, General Wayne. Things
like that won’t endear you to the news media,” said Defense Secretary Walter
Egan.
“You err in thinking that I really care about the news media, Secretary
Egan. After the butcher job they did on us before and during the civil war, and
what they tried to do to me during the board of inquiry on Babylon 5, I
consider them a worse enemy than the Drakh. At least with the Drakh, you know
the rules of the game,” replied Susan.
“He has a good point, General Wayne,” added President Luchenko.
“I don’t deny that, Madam President. I just don’t have any use for them, and
I don’t have to like them.”
******************************
Alyt Donivar met Susan and her guests in his ship’s hangar bay and began the
tour of the ship. Susan excused herself to help Charley settle in. It was an
hour later when she met them on the ship’s bridge.
Susan spoke to Delenn before President Luchenko and her entourage arrived on
the bridge. She explained why she was sending Charles to Minbar and promised to
take him back as soon as she could solve her problems with General Sanchez’s
people.
“How do you plan to handle these people, Susan. I don’t think they will just
quit.”
“I plan to have them take care of themselves, Delenn. I won’t actually do
anything to any of them. I might suggest a course of action, but it’ll be up to
them to act on the suggestions.”
Delenn was very well aware of Susan’s growing telepathic abilities and the
fact that Susan’s husband Charles had spent their entire honeymoon teaching her
how to use those abilities to their maximum advantage.
President Luchenko and her group walked onto the bridge just as Susan was
finishing her conversation with Delenn. That Susan addressed the vice-president
of the Interstellar Alliance the way one addresses an old and trusted friend
was not lost on the President of the Earth Alliance.
Susan looked at President Luchenko and said, “We, Delenn and I, were
discussing a personal problem, Madam President. I was telling her of my
proposed solution to the problem.”
“What problem is that, General Wayne?”
“It’s purely a personal problem, Madam President,” replied Susan.
Luchenko was smart enough to know that she had just been told it was none of
her business and let it drop.
General’s Leftcourt and Ames, and Secretary Egan were wondering what was
going on. Charles Wayne was no longer accompanying Susan.
******************************
Thirty minutes later, Susan’s shuttle settled onto it’s assigned landing
spot at the Stockton Naval Station airport. Her husband, Charles, had not
returned with them. President Luchenko asked about it and was told that it was
part of the personal problem Susan had discussed with Delenn.
President Luchenko was met by her security team. Saying that the little
excursion to the whitestar had put her behind schedule, she and her husband
bade the generals, Egan and Susan goodbye. Susan and her guests took the staff
car to the reception.
******************************
In the staff car, Susan found herself riding in a jump seat facing Egan and
the generals.
“You haven’t yet explained what happened in the car with General Sanchez,”
said Leftcourt.
“He and I had a short discussion and he said he was feeling tired and
sleepy. I recommended that he get a room at the BOQ and get some rest. He
agreed, sir.”
“I find that hard to believe,” said Egan.
“We’re going to be seeing General Sanchez later today Mr. Egan. At that
time, everything about the relationship between him, my husband and me will
become crystal clear. At this very moment, he is giving the utmost
consideration to supplying a complete explanation of that and a number of other
matters to all of us. I will, of course, record his complete statements for
future consideration.”
The three men looked at Susan; she returned their looks; the stony
expression on her face told them that further questions on the matter would be
a complete waste of effort on their part.
******************************
Susan had been introduced to at least a dozen congressmen and women,
senators and state and city officials. They had all been very smooth in their
statements to her. Her well-honed political instincts were in full operation.
She smiled appropriately at the proper times and said absolutely nothing that
could return later to bite her in her ass. She wondered if they knew that she
was a telepath. In spite of all that been in the news about her over the course
of the last few months and in President Luchenko’s speech, most people simply
missed the part about her being a telepath. She supposed it had to do with her
being a high-ranking officer. Everyone knew that allowing telepaths to actually
serve in the military was a very new thing and that there were very few that
were accepted; none of them had been in service long enough to rise above the
pay grade of 0-3, a navy lieutenant or an army, marine or air force captain. It
could also mean that most people just didn’t pay attention to what was being
said and done around them.
Susan was standing alone for the first time since she arrived at the
reception. She became aware of someone standing next to her as a male voice
said, “A credit for your thoughts, General Wayne.”
Turning her head she replied, “Mark, I thought you’d be tied up with General
Zaleski.”
“I was, sir, until after the little ceremony we had here before the
reception got started. He and his wife left about an hour ago. He said that
since he was now retired, he didn’t have to suffer through to the end of this
thing.”
Susan chuckled. “I know the feeling, colonel. Thankfully, I have an out when
I choose to exploit it. What do you think of the politicians who’re here?”
“With all due respect, sir, I’ll answer that at a later date to be
determined in the near future.”
“Excellent response, colonel. It answers my question without saying anything
you might regret later.”
******************************
Making her way to where Leftcourt and Ames were talking to a woman who had
introduced herself as the Stockton area representative to the Earth Alliance
House of Representatives, Susan said, “General Leftcourt, if you, General Ames
and Secretary Egan are ready, we can have the meeting we discussed earlier.”
Ames excused himself and went to get Secretary Egan.
“I have an a/v recorder, General Leftcourt. I want an audio-video record of
this meeting.”
“Good idea, Susan,” he replied. “Congresswoman Bates, I hate to cut our
conversation short, but there is a previous engagement I must keep.”
A few more pleasantries were exchanged and Susan walked toward the exit of
the club with the generals and Secretary of Defense following close behind.
Their departure was noticed and noted by a great many of those attending the
reception.
******************************
In the car on the way to the bachelor officers’ quarters, Susan was trying
to explain how she wanted the three men to behave.
“I’m asking the three of you to trust me on this. Please don’t ask General
Sanchez any questions vocally. When all is said and done, no one will even
remember ever seeing us go into the building.”
“I’m beginning to worry about this, Susan,” said Egan.
“When we go into General Sanchez’s room, the only person he’ll see is me.
After we leave, he won’t remember that we were there.”
Leftcourt looked confused. “How do you propose to keep the surveillance
cameras and recorders from ‘seeing’ us?”
Susan smiled. “I can not only detect electronic devices, but I can screw up
cameras, radios and recording devices from a short distance. The surveillance
system recorders will only see and record random noise from cameras that will
experience intermittent problems.”
“This doesn’t sound exactly legal,” said Egan.
“Mr. Secretary, I’d watch what I say, sir. I don’t care to have the driver
hear this conversation.”
“Don’t worry, General Ames, he can’t,” replied Susan.
“Like I said. This doesn’t sound exactly legal,” repeated Egan.
With fury in her eyes, Susan replied quietly, “Neither is planning and
authorizing the murders of me and my husband.”
Egan looked at the two generals. “Jesus Christ. Is this what you were
badgering Sanchez about on the aircraft, Tom.”
“Apparently, but I didn’t know it was this, honestly,” replied Leftcourt.
Egan looked at Susan. “Just tell us what you want us to do.”
******************************
Susan and the three men entered General Sanchez’s room. The general was
sitting at a table that had been moved to the center of the room. Ames,
Leftcourt, and Egan took seats on the couch, which was set against the wall
just to the left of the entranceway. Susan put the recorder on the table two-
thirds of a meter in front of Sanchez.
Sanchez apparently wasn’t aware of the three men who had entered the room
accompanying Susan. Susan sat down at one end of the table so she could observe
her accomplices and Sanchez.
“General Sanchez...please carefully tell me about the plans you, Major Brown
and any other of your subordinates made concerning my husband Charles, and me.
Please explain the thoughts and other processes that led up to the conclusions
you reached and how these conclusions are to be dealt with.”
After fifteen minutes of describing how Charles Wayne was able to get inside
the Drakh minds when the P-12s that worked for Earthforce intelligence
couldn’t, Sanchez addressed the worries set forth by his underlings concerning
Charles Wayne’s abilities that could not be monitored by the Earthforce
telepaths. “We couldn’t tell if he was getting information from others in our
group; so, the decision was made to eliminate him as soon as he finished his
work on the Drakh.”
“Why did you let him come home when I was in Georgia?”
“We knew he would be back to finish the job, and only me, Major Brown and
Jim Fallon, my civilian contemporary in the command, knew about our plan at
that time. We didn’t worry about him finding out until much later. By then, we
had him back and had several contingency plans to handle the situation.”
“Is that why you kept him drugged?”
“With his abilities, he was too dangerous to have running around in complete
control of his psi faculties.”
“When did you decide to kill me?”
“After the meeting with you that Saturday. It was obvious that you were now
a full-blown telepath and quite likely even stronger than your husband. What
sealed it was your promise to take us down if your husband turned up dead,
regardless of the apparent cause of his death. Your little demonstration for
Major Brown was the capstone for the decision. You’re just too damned dangerous
to remain alive from our perspective.”
“So you will better understand the situation, General Sanchez, I think you
should know that I’ve already made an audio/video recording explaining why you
and your command are responsible for the death of me and my husband.”
“We can counter that, General Wayne. We have some very good people working
in that area.”
“What do you do if any of the more senior people such as General Leftcourt,
any of the JCS members or even the Secretary of Defense insists on a complete
and thorough investigation. Won’t that present a problem?”
“Not at all. They can be dealt with too. People have accidents all the time.
We have a group who are very good in the arranged accident section.”
Secretary Egan tried to speak and found that he couldn’t; he also discovered
he couldn’t move either. Neither could Generals Leftcourt and Ames. Susan had
complete control of their movement and speech – just like Lyta had in the
Zocalo almost five years before.
{Shut up and quit trying to move. Pay attention to what this asshole is
saying. He doesn’t even know you’re here. He really doesn’t realize what is
transpiring here. He thinks he’s talking to me in a situation he controls. He
won’t remember what he’s saying here after we leave.}
The three men were furious at Susan’s high handedness, but they also
realized that what they were hearing could keep them from ending up dead in the
near future.
“As you can see, General Wayne, your recording will be useless with you
dead.”
“I thought of that General Sanchez. That’s why I sent a copy to Lyta
Alexander. I don’t think your spin-doctors will have much luck with her. If I’m
right, she’ll kill all of you as an example to anyone else who might have plans
to screw with her telepaths. I just won’t be around to see it; but I know I’m
looking at a man who for practical purposes is already dead.” Susan smiled a
genuine smile when she finished her statement.
“You’re bluffing. You wouldn’t do that.”
“If you don’t believe me, General Sanchez, put in a call to the Glenthorian
embassy. I’ll authorize them to tell you when and to whom my last message
through them was sent. They have been instructed to ensure that Lyta receives
notification when my husband and/or I die – regardless of how we die. I notice
that you don’t seem quite so happy now. Is there a problem?”
“She gave me and General Marsh a very small taste of the least of her
abilities. I don’t relish her coming after my and my people, but she has to get
to us first.”
Susan laughed outright.
“What’s so funny?”
“She has been in your mind, general. She doesn’t even have to come to Earth.
She can find your mind from anywhere in the solar system. She can see through
your eyes then enter the mind of anyone you look at. Hell, she can enter
someone’s mind even if you aren’t looking at them. She only has to be aware
through you that they’re present nearby. Just to make you feel even better, she
doesn’t need a ship to come to Earth. She can change to a pure energy state and
come here like you walk around the block. You can’t stop her and you surely
can’t kill her.” Susan laughed again for almost a minute before she could
regain control of herself. “You’re dead, General Sanchez, and all your good
little people are dead too. They just don’t know it yet. The real joke is that
they won’t know it even as they die.”
“What makes you think I won’t tell them?”
“You won’t be able to tell them. I guarantee that. Now be a good general and
tell me about what you and your organization really did during Clarke’s regime?”
Sanchez began telling everything he knew about the intelligence service and
what its various sections did in support of President Clark. The three men and
Susan were stunned at what Sanchez admitted had happened during those dark days.
Forty-five minutes later Susan, the generals, and Secretary of Defense Egan
departed Sanchez’s suite. General Sanchez lay back down on the bed and fell
fast asleep. Susan had made the necessary adjustments for Sanchez to not
remember what had transpired. He would awaken in the morning believing he had
slept the entire time; he would be aware that Susan had sent Lyta Alexander a
message implicating him and his department in hers and her husband’s deaths. He
would not be able to remember why he knew this. He would also believe that his
contemporaries had decided to offer him up in order that they might save their
own skins when the conspiracy concerning the deaths of Susan, her husband and a
number of others came to light. His normal paranoia would dictate his actions
from the point when he would awaken the next morning.
The monitor system in the BOQ would have glitches in the recordings that
would correspond to the times when Susan and her associates had been within
range of the monitor pick-ups, but there was no one to be aware of that fact.
She even made adjustments to their driver so that he would remember taking them
to her quarters and then apparently dozing off to sleep while he awaited orders
for the remainder of the night.
******************************
Inside Susan’s quarters, the three men all started at once. Susan held up
her hand and shouted, “Shut up and sit down!”
Her move caused the three of them to stop trying to talk and stare at her.
Secretary Egan started to say, “I’ve had about enough of your crap. You can go
to hell. I’m going to have your ass before a court martial.”
Susan smiled at Egan and the generals. Quietly she said, “You just came from
hearing my husband’s and my death sentences pronounced. What do you think a
court martial can do to me to top that? I’m waiting gentlemen, just jump in
there - and if you didn’t notice, the son of a bitch pronounced yours too, if
you get too concerned. I don’t give a damn what you think of me, and I
certainly don’t care about any threats you care to make. You keep pissing me
off and I promise you that none of you will remember anything that happened
during the last two hours. Believe me, gentlemen; I can carry through on that
promise. You have an intelligence agency that’s completely out of control. I’m
going to do you a favor. I’m going to bring General Sanchez and his
organization down and he and his people are going to help me do it.”
Egan looked at the generals and then at Susan. “I’m not used to dealing with
someone like you, General Wayne. Apparently, Generals Leftcourt and Ames are.
It occurs to me that there isn’t anyone else in Earthforce quite like you.
Hell, there probably isn’t anyone else on the planet quite like you. How do you
intend to bring Sanchez and his organization down?”
“I let him remember that I told him that I sent Lyta Alexander an
audio/video message detailing his and his organization’s involvement in
Charley’s and my deaths. I also gave him a mental push in the direction of
suspecting his contemporaries of selling him out for their own protection. Now
that I know the names of his associates, I’m going to see to it that I get face
time with each and every one of them. After that, I’m going to feed this
information to them, edited for content of course, in a manner that will have
them killing each other if I’m lucky. Their natural paranoia, with a little
push from what and me my people can do with this data, should do the trick.
When they finish with one another, all you’ll have to do is waltz in and pick
up the pieces. You can expect a number of ‘accidents’ and other deaths of
people amongst Earthforce intelligence personnel and their contract workers in
the coming weeks and months. Think of it as a ‘silver bullet’ approach to
killing a cancer.”
“When did you send Lyta this message, Susan?” asked Leftcourt.
Susan was making a copy of the data crystal that she had recorded containing
Sanchez’s confessions. “I haven’t yet, sir. I’m going to add a few items to a
copy of this data crystal and encrypt the entire thing using a special crystal
Lyta provided to me for things exactly like this. I’ll send it to the
Glenthorian embassy and they’ll take it from there.” Susan finished making a
second copy of the crystal. She handed one to Egan and one to Leftcourt.
“Gentlemen, if Sanchez or any of his people discovers that you have these in
your possession, your lives won’t be worth tickets last weeks mud wrestling
competition.”
“Why don’t I get one of those?” asked General Ames.
“You’re retiring, sir. There’s no reason to put you in danger.”
“What do you expect us to do with these things, Susan?” asked Leftcourt.
“That’s entirely up to you two gentlemen, general. I’m betting you have a
few honest men working for the two of you that would really like to use the
information to the detriment of General Sanchez and his associates.”
“I’ve worked with and trusted Manuel for a very long time,” commented
Ames. “It does seem that I never knew him at all.”
“You’re not alone. I trusted him too,” added Leftcourt. “Susan. This could
put you into a lot of danger if anyone connected with it gets antsy. The fact
that after being alone with you, General Sanchez checks into the BOQ and spends
the rest of the day and night there may cause people like Major Brown to get
very nervous, and nervous people have been know to do some very stupid things.”
“You mean something stupid like putting a contract out on me?”
“Yes, something like that,” replied Leftcourt.
“This is sounding very serious, Tom,” said Ames.
“This is just the beginning. It’s going to get a lot more dangerous before
it’s over and done with,” replied Leftcourt.
“Gentlemen, if you don’t mind, I’m going to have Mary fix us some soup,
salad and sandwiches. I’m getting hungry again,” commented Susan. “Don’t feel
left out, Mr. Egan. Before we get finished, even you may be on someone’s hit
list.”
Susan’s steward served soup, salad and sandwiches to the four of them. After
a bit more small talk and Susan’s offer to have her shuttle return them to
Earthdome, the three men took their leave.
******************************
In Susan’s shuttle on the way to Earthdome:
“I tell you what, gents. I think Susan has inadvertently placed herself in
great danger,” said Leftcourt.
“Explain that statement, please,” requested Egan.
“People like Major Brown are basically cowards. They like to operate from
the shadows, a place they feel safe. They never come straight at you – always a
knife in your back, preferably stuck there by someone else. He’s been working
his way up the ladder in the intelligence community for a good number of years.
He isn’t about to let anybody tear down his house of cards if he can prevent
it. He justifies everything he does by seeing it as protecting the Earth
Alliance. He’ll see today as Susan having a free shot at General Sanchez. From
what Manuel said this evening, Major Brown is only too aware of Susan’s
capabilities. He’s going to take it upon himself to remove her as a problem. If
he can, he’ll also try and find some way of getting to her husband; although, I
think that may be well nigh impossible. Those Rangers aren’t likely to let
anyone but other Rangers near him until Susan gives the all clear signal.”
“What can we do about it, Tom?” asked Egan.
“Susan can handle any attack that comes at her from close range. If she
can’t handle an assailant in hand-to-hand combat, she can mentally reduce him
to a vegetable. To get at her with any reasonable hope of success is probably
going to require an attack from long range – a sniper, or something along those
lines. I may just be able to do something about that.”
“What do you have in mind, Tom?” asked Ames.
“Sorry fellows, but I’m keeping this one very close to the vest. You can’t
accidentally reveal something that you don’t know.”
After thinking it over, the other two men agreed with Leftcourt.
******************************
Leftcourt had sent a message from the shuttle and there was a nondescript,
well kept man of indeterminate age waiting for him when he entered his office
upon returning from Stockton, California.
“Good morning, Neil. I’m glad you could respond so quickly,” said Leftcourt.
“Tell me what you need, General Leftcourt. Somehow, I just know it’s going
to be a nut-breaker,” said Neil Hammond, leader of the most clandestine group
of Earthforce marines in the Earth Alliance.
Hammond and his group were cut from the same cloth as Captain John Sheridan
and Commander Susan Ivanova. They were totally dedicated to upholding the EA
constitution and had been one of the few uniformed groups that had fought
against Clark’s regime from the very start of the civil war. Because of their
clandestine nature, they had made life miserable for Clark’s supporters both on
and off Earth. Some of them had been caught and summarily executed. Leftcourt
had a strong feeling that Neil would only be too anxious to carry out his,
Leftcourt’s, plans. Hammond and his people all but worshipped Sheridan and
Ivanova and would happily terminate anyone endangering Susan with the most
extreme prejudice.
“I have a touchy assignment for you, Neil. I want you to guard someone, but
they have to be completely unaware that you’re doing it.”
“Sounds like fun. Who am I babysitting?”
“General Susan Wayne.”
Hammond’s jaw dropped. “You are kidding?”
“No. I’m not. I’m going to show you some data, Neil. I know how you feel
about Susan. That’s the only reason I trust you enough to show you what’s on
this data crystal. Some of this information is going to make you absolutely
livid. Just accept it and listen to me after the data finishes playing.”
“You have my word, general.”
Leftcourt played the data on the crystal. He had been correct, Hammond was
absolutely livid by the time the crystal was through playing.
The two men talked and went over plans for more than two hours. Leftcourt
had insisted that Hammond use a second team of operatives to try and spot the
team of operatives actually working at protecting Susan. He believed that if
the second team couldn’t spot the activities of the first that the agents from
EA intelligence wouldn’t spot them either. They discussed the interest that the
lunatic fringe group “Good Telepath is a Dead Telepath’ (DTGT) might have in
Susan considering that she was the highest profile telepath in the Earth
Alliance.
“I’ll have my people on it before Sunday morning, general. We’ll cover her
in Atlanta, Georgia on Monday too.”
******************************
It was 0300 local when General Sanchez finally awoke from Susan’s suggested
sleep. He remembered arguing with her in the back seat of a car, and he
remembered telling her that he was very fatigued and didn’t feel like airing
their differences until he had a good night’s sleep. The last thing he
remembered was checking into the BOQ then he woke up. He thought that he must
have been more tired than even he had believed yesterday.
He thought about the decision he had made to have Susan and her husband
killed and a chill ran through him like ice water through his veins. He knew
that she had sent her friend Lyta Alexander a message about him and his people,
but he couldn’t remember how he knew or when he had become aware of the
information. On the other hand, he knew that he and his people were in for a
world of hurt and that Lyta Alexander would be what the Centauri
euphemistically called a ‘Pain Technician’.
******************************
Fort Benning, Georgia:
Colonel Neil Hammond took a sip of his coffee and looked at the half-dozen
men arrayed around the meeting table.
“This better be good, boss. I was supposed to meet a couple of friends for a
quiet game of golf about ten minutes ago,” said his second in command,
Lieutenant Colonel Fred Massey.
“What kind of assignment is it?” asked Lieutenant Lonny Ward, his operations
officer.
Hammond put a data crystal in a player and pointed to a thin-line display
unit on the wall. “She’s the assignment.”
On the screen were images from Susan’s solo performance recorder in the
sound room of Eckland’s Music Emporium.
“For Christ’s sake, Colonel. You called us in today to tell us we’re going
to have to baby-sit some half-baked female singer?” queried Ward.
“Not exactly. True enough, she is entertaining, but she’s not an entertainer
per se. It’s going to be a hell of a lot more difficult this time than it has
been in your past assignments – much more difficult.”
“How’s that, sir?” asked Master Gunnery Sergeant Edward Higgins, the only
enlisted man in the room.
“In the first place, Ed, she’s not to know that we’re acting as her
bodyguards. She’s not to know that we’re even there.”
Silence followed Hammond’s statement.
“Whoa, boss. We have to baby-sit her without her even being aware of it?”
queried his XO.
“Yes, and it gets even better.”
“How?” asked Massey.
“She isn’t allowed to know we’re guarding her because the CJCS has ordered
it.”
The men looked at him with confused expressions on their faces. “You have to
be kidding, colonel,” said Higgins.
“I wish I was, but it gets worse. You can’t be detected guarding her by
anyone else either. I’m going to have two teams guarding her – one close in and
one farther out. There is going to be a third team trying to spot the first two
teams. If they can detect you, you will be replaced.”
“Jesus H. Christ and his disciples, colonel!” spat Lieutenant Herbert Goens,
one of Hammond’s division officers. “Why don’t you just ask us to do the
impossible, sir?”
“That comes next,” smiled Hammond.
Hammond put another crystal into the player. This time the images weren’t of
a woman singing, rather they showed Susan killing the robbers in the restroom
in Georgia, her fight with the Minbari at the Minbari embassy, her match with
the young Minbari on the Valen’s Path, her destroying Lieutenant Arkland on the
Ares, and some of her workouts with the marines on the Ares, and with Grand
Master Macel.
Turning off the player, Hammond asked, “Any questions?”
“What in hell does she need a bodyguard for, colonel?” asked Higgins. “It
looks like she can most likely take most if not all of our people in a one-on-
one match without breaking a sweat. Hell, she can probably take out any two or
three of us at the same time.”
“True enough, Ed. After I tell you who’s gunning for her, you may change
your mind.”
“Who’s gunning for her, boss?” asked Massey.
“For sure, Earth Alliance Intelligence – that’s Lieutenant General Manuel
Sanchez and his minions. General Leftcourt believes that the lunatic fringe
group, ‘Dead Telepath is a Good Telepath’ (DTGT) will be going after her too.
In case you haven’t recognized her, she is Lieutenant General Susan Ivanova-
Wayne. I figured some of you might remember her from the civil war. She was
Captain Sheridan’s second in command, the one that destroyed Clarke’s elite
destroyer group.”
“This is going to call for an entirely different approach, Colonel Hammond,”
said Higgins. “May I suggest that you assign a team to plan the most effective
ways to kill her, and have the rest of us plan how to best protect her. You can
review the plans and see if we’re on the right track. Personally, if it were
me, I think I’d use a sniper rifle and hit her from a thousand meters or so. I
don’t think the close-up and personal approach would have a snowball’s chance
in hell of succeeding since she’s a telepath.”
“Ed’s right, boss. How powerful is she?”
“General Leftcourt tells me that she would be completely off Psi Corps’
scale if we had anyone to test her. She was able to maintain contact with a
Minbari ship captain’s mind from more than a thousand kilometers.”
“Then I want to reconsider what I just said, sir,” said Higgins. Maybe a
thousand meters wouldn’t be far enough away to be sure she didn’t sense your
intentions.”
“I’m going to divide you up into teams. I want proposals no later than 1400
hours. We begin tomorrow and our first outing is in Atlanta, Georgia gentlemen.
She has a court appearance there Monday morning,” said Hammond.
******************************
Susan spent Saturday morning working in the A-328B simulator. By the time
noon rolled around she was out on the flight line with her instructor doing a
preliminary flight walk-around inspection of one of the aircraft. She was
pleased that it felt as if it had been only yesterday that she had actually
last flown one of them. Because of her progress with the simulator and the
preflight inspection, the instructor allowed Susan to taxi one of the aircraft.
He told her that in one morning she had done more than the other students in
her class would to do in the next three weeks.
Susan treated her instructor to lunch. He asked if she would be free the
next day, Sunday, to go up for actual flight training. He said that if she was,
he’d file the flight plans that afternoon. Susan said she would make time.
******************************
Fort Benning Georgia:
Colonel Hammond was sitting at the conference room table contemplating the
very large taco salad with the extra jalapeno peppers. It had been delicious.
It might be said that it was his one major vice because he loved Mexican
cuisine. His stomach was giving him a very warm feeling, reminding him that his
digestive system didn’t tolerate spicy foods very well. It was also a prelude
to the reminder he would receive in a dozen hours or so confirming the
effectiveness of the spicy peppers. He looked up as the door opened.
“Welcome back, Fred. How is the assassination planning coming along?”
“I have two two-men teams working on it. One is considering close-in and
personal approaches; the second is working the long-range angle. I had a
thought of my own I want to run by you.”
“I’m listening.”
“Do you think it would be possible to convince General Leftcourt to actually
have some secret personnel assigned to protect her?”
Hammond considered this question for a full minute. “How do you think that
could help with our efforts? We’re already going to have two separate teams
working to guard her and a separate team working quality control for lack of a
better term.”
“Since General Wayne is wise to General Sanchez’s and Major Brown’s
intention of killing her and her husband, and she has him removed from their
area of influence, it only makes sense that she’ll believe that they’ll want to
take her out. So it’s not unusual if someone in that situation is given
protection.”
“Okay, but where does that leave us?”
“The people trying to take her out will be cognizant of her bodyguards and
will be looking for ways to circumvent them. Our people watch her and her
guards and look for anyone showing any extra interest in her and/or them. I
figure it will be easier to spot someone trying to work around her visible
guards than it will to be able to try and anticipate all possibilities. With
whatever ideas our people come up with for assassinating her as a working base
for our efforts, I think we can more easily cover the situation more
effectively.”
“Circles within circles, boxes inside boxes, it’s going to get complicated,
Fred. But, I think you may have a very good idea. Let’s see what the others
have up their sleeves.”
Fifteen minutes later, the rest of Hammond’s strategy group had returned
from a late lunch.
“I have the answer to killing her without risk to the assassin, colonel,”
said Higgins.
“Enlighten us, Ed.”
“Multi-part poison that can be absorbed through the skin or through the
digestive tract is the perfect answer. You watch her steward shop for
groceries. When you get an idea of what kinds of green vegetables she buys, you
trail her on a shopping trip and spray the kinds that she buys. If you get one
of the poisons that the body retains you are all set. For the coupe de grace,
we simply walk into her office after she leaves from work and spray the second
or third part of the poison on her keyboard, telephone or whatever – just so
it’s something that she touches routinely.”
Hammond said without hesitation, “Spray the inside and outside of her coffee
mug. You are very scary, Ed, but I like it; fairly simple, and there is
relatively little personal danger – unless you stub your toe. Okay gents; let’s
see what else we have. Fred has an idea to increase our effectiveness.”
******************************
Leftcourt was watching the nightly news when he received the call from
Colonel Hammond. Is short order, he contacted his aide. He would like to see
Susan’s response to the security detail.
******************************
Sunday morning, Stockton, CA. Airport:
In her earphone she heard, “Ice Queen. You are cleared to taxi and hold for
take-off clearance. Over?”
“Roger, tower control,” replied Susan taxiing the aircraft out to the end of
the runway in preparation for takeoff. Holding just short of the runway proper,
she ran up the engines to 100% and backed off to 50%.
Susan then taxied onto the end of the runway and pointed the aircraft down
the long concrete strip. She applied the brakes and held at a white line that
ran from one side of the runway to the other. Holding the brakes with all her
strength, she began another run-up of the engines. This time she ran them up to
120% nominal and then held them at 100%. In her earphone the voice said, “Ice
Queen. You are cleared for takeoff. Over?”
“Roger, tower control. Beginning rollout.”
Susan dumped the brakes and felt herself being pushed back into her seat as
the powerful engines thrust the aircraft down the runway at almost three
gravities acceleration. Her instructor was impressed with the smoothness that
seemed to characterize Susan’s handling of the aircraft on the ground. The
aircraft accelerated down the runway and then smoothly lifted off as Susan
rotated to flight configuration. She lifted the wheels as soon as they left the
ground and executed a smooth climb-out to five thousand meters.
At this point her instructor, marine pilot Captain Jerry Heigl, was thinking
that she handled the craft like a veteran pilot. He found it hard to believe
that it had been at least sixteen years since the woman had flown an A-328.
He was startled when he heard her voice in his headphone. “Tell me, Captain
Heigl, have you ever flown one of these birds with the flight control computer
in an offline status?”
Without hesitation, he replied, “You can’t fly one of these birds without
the computer being online, General.”
“Are you a betting man, captain?”
“Sir?”
“I asked if you’re a betting man.”
“Sometimes, sir. But, I’ve never heard of anyone flying an A-328 without the
flight control computer being online.”
“Then you don’t know how to exploit all of this aircraft’s more subtle
features. You can tear the wings off it if you fly it without the computer. It
disables all the safety limits features.”
Captain Heigl thought about what Susan had just said. Either she was pulling
his leg – and she didn’t seem like the type – or there was a lot he didn’t know
about this aircraft, in spite of his flight experiences in it. “How do you fly
it without the computer, general? Better yet, why would you want to?”
“When the factory test pilots fly these things for certification, they
disable the flight control computer.”
Captain Heigl thought about it for a minute. It did make sense that the test
pilots would have to fly the aircraft to its absolute limits, whatever they
might be. “I believe you, general. I just never heard of anyone doing it.”
“After I get some hours under my belt, captain, I’ll be happy to show you
how it’s done, and what advantages it can give you over your opponent. With
this aircraft, I can shred an F-450.”
***************************
END PART 31
Part 32
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