Monday. 08:30 Mansion Kitchen

The group of friends was sitting in the kitchen at the countertop and table. The TV was playing the local news channel. John didn’t turn it on and was sitting too far from the remote to change the channel.

“Broderick Richards, a twenty-eight-year-old male from Toronto, was captured after a brief search after escaping from police custody. Broderick was categorized as an L4 telepath but was recently discovered to have telekinetic abilities. Tests confirmed he was an L2 telekinetic. Broderick is awaiting transfer to Wolf Prime Psychic academy.”

John shook his head, “Poor bastard.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Kevin asked innocently.

“Would you like your life to effectively end, be taken somewhere you don’t want to go, and then be told you’re going to do what we tell you or else we’ll lobotomize you?” John did not look happy, “Then become an agent of the state until your death.”

“That doesn’t seriously happen, does it?” Alice asked.

“If you happen to luck out with your genes that’s your reward. That’s why virtually all telekinetically gifted individuals hide their abilities. They didn’t say what outed this guy though,” John was still shaking his head.

“Isn’t that mostly the same as a telepath?” Kristin asked.

“In practice no. L1 and 2 telepaths basically are required to attend additional classes at a local university when their abilities appear for a few years. L3 through 5 basically get you free school at a specialized institution. And that usually sets you up for life since your talents are highly desired in both the private and government sectors.”

“Let’s get off this depressing subject. What are we doing today?” Nathan asked as the conversation was making him feel uncomfortable.

“Spearfishing. I am told lionfish are here and if that’s the case I’m going to spear a fuckton of them,” John was smiling ear to ear.

“Are those the poisonous spikey fish?” Kristin asked.

“Yup, but they taste so good. Just don’t hit a spine, it’ll burn like hell for thirty minutes or so,” Alice said excitedly, she was looking forward to getting a bunch of the fish too.

“Well, I’m heading out now,” John got up and was heading toward the equipment shed on the other side of the pool, near the beach the mansion was next to.

“I may as well go with,” Kevin said.

“Same,” Andern followed suit.

The rest stayed behind and found things to occupy their time around the house. Thomas and Brian went for a walk. Nathan decided to get a workout in. The girls hung out around the pool to gossip.

09:00 Atlantic Ocean

The boys were only fifty feet from the beach, but the ocean floor was already fifteen feet below them. John just surfaced for some air.

“I got two more,” Andern said.

“I only have hit four so far, but they were all huge,” Kevin said.

John dived under the surface and swam down near the reef. He could see two huge lionfishes in front of him. He pointed the spear and let it fly. It struck the fish in its head. John smiled. He pulled on the cord to bring the spear back to him. He deposited the fish in the PVC tube he was holding.

That process repeated itself several times more until they decided to call it quits. The guys swam to shore. John told them to be very careful and cognizant of the spins. When they got to the beach they walked over to the dock. There was a fish fileting station there. Kevin ran into the house to get a knife. Andern got a small fire going in the fire pit.

Thirty minutes later the forty-five fish had been fileted and prepared. The spines were tossed in the fire. The guts and body were thrown into the ocean at the end of the dock. Hundreds of colorful small fish came up to clean up the inedible or unrecoverable parts of the fish.

John walked back to the house with the spoils in a pan. He was smiling from ear to ear.

“Lionfish tacos for lunch. Gonna be fucking great. Been craving these for damn near a year.”

Alice cheered and threw her hands up, “YES!”

The girls looked at her like she was crazy.

“No seriously, this is going to be the best lunch you have. I guarantee you that you’ll want them diving every day till we leave,” Alice was absolutely certain of that.

“Girl, tacos cannot be that good,” Theresa was shaking her head.

“John, if you’re lying about those tacos, we’re putting you in the pool,” Thomas yelled at him from the far side of the bar.

John proceeded to go into the kitchen and make some fresh guacamole. Twenty minutes later he went over to the outdoor shower to shower off the sand then he headed into the pool and swam some laps for a mild workout.

The girls continued to talk amongst themselves. The main topic was the upcoming nuptials. They wanted every last detail that they could get. They were disappointed that they were basically still on the ground floor and didn’t have much to share. Alice just shrugged and said by the time they get back from Thanksgiving break they’d likely have way more to discuss.

12:30 Kitchen Table

“OK, ok, ok,” Thomas was smiling, “These tacos are every bit as good as marketed.”

Jessica grabbed Thomas’ arm, “You three are going diving tomorrow too. We need more.”

Theresa began pointing at the rest of the boys, “You really should help.”

Kevin had to chime in, “Look to be fair, John nabbed most of the little buggers.”

“I’m going back out in an hour. Can do surf and turf tonight,” John finished his last taco.

“I’ll help when you go out. It was fun when we did that over New Year’s,” Alice was smiling.

The group continued to talk about the tacos and just how damn good they were. Brian, Thomas, and Alice joined the original three that afternoon to go spearfishing. John pointed out a couple of other big fish to spear and get to. Couldn’t hurt to have some variety just in case they didn’t get enough fish.

That wasn’t really a problem. The lionfish were very active and as they didn’t have any natural predators, they didn’t seem to care that the group was swimming around. They called the hunt off after they got around eighty of the fish. There were no limits on the fish either.

A longer repeat of the morning happened when they got back to the shore. Except John wanted a pair of coolers. One to store the fish to be fileted and another to store the filets. Andern started a fire and was the happy helper taking the spines and throwing them on the fire. John was just flinging the guts and carcass in the water for the little fish to feast on.

Dinner that night was fantastic. Lionfish filets, New York strip steaks, veggies, and potatoes. Everyone was stuffed and enjoying the hell out of their vacation.

21:30 Campfire

Alice and John were sitting on the beach around a small campfire. Alice had a glass of wine and John had a giant can of Foster's beer.

“That can is absolutely ridiculous, you know that right?”

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“Yeah, but it’s Australian for beer,” John said in a horrible Australian accent.

Alice couldn’t help but laugh at her fiancé, “You are such a lovable idiot.”

“So, what all were the girls asking you about the wedding?”

“Plans, wedding party size, who was going to be in what role.”

“Who’s going to be your maid of honor?”

“My cousin and best friend Alexa.”

“Cool. Andern will be my best man. I haven’t asked the rest of that rowdy crew but most of them will be either ushers or groomsmen.”

“I was going to be shocked if he wasn’t in that role.”

John grunted, “Are we going to make a bet to see if we can get the wedding planned in its entirety over Thanksgiving break?”

“That’s a bit of a sucker bet. But I bet everything is wrapped up by Christmas though.”

John smiled, “By the way, nice work yesterday. You did well. Real good.”

“Well, I suppose it was time for us to rescue you for a change,” Alice smirked.

“I hope I’m wrong but that was likely only the start of the storm we’re wandering into,” John wasn’t exactly reassuring in his words.

“Well then, we’ll have to rise to the occasion,” Alice said confidently.

“I just hope we can do that without getting burned. Well, at least there’ll be a short break until the next time,” John smiled, “I hope anyways.”

“Hey, about what you said this morning. Is that really true?”

John nodded his head, “Even if your only power is to flip a penny, you basically lose your life.”

“That’s so hard to believe.”

“And that’s why I never cooperated when they tested me. Score too high on the psychic test and you can get fucked too,” John took a swig of his beer, “I saw some of the kinetics once on Titan. There was no life in their eyes.”

“How can they allow it?”

“Sixty years ago, an L3 telekinetic pinched an artery and caused a popular senator to stroke out and die. The government doesn’t take kindly to potential threats.”

“Jesus, but that’s just cruel to do that to them.”

“That it is,” John finished his beer, “They presume all those with telekinetic abilities to be threats. The easiest way to solve that problem. The smart ones hide those gifts.”

“Does refusing the tests really work?”

“It can, but if you don’t refuse it the smart way it can backfire on you. I was able to shut down the exam the proctors gave me because I was stronger than them, but I was able to hide that from them. It confirmed my abilities were at the high end of L3, but they couldn’t dial in my scores because I fought back perfectly. I was able to play that off because of my age.”

“And they didn’t bother to test you again?” Alice was looking confused.

“Typically, your abilities are locked in place when you’re fourteen or fifteen. It’s kind of hard to explain but an experienced telepath can look into someone and see their ceiling. That’s what their level is,” John leaned back in the chair, “But there’s a very specific way of fighting against a proctor to limit the ceiling they see. Luckily, I was able to fool mine.”

“So how did you not take the other test?”

“They gave me that test when I was sixteen. By that point, I was basically an expert at avoiding their compelling actions and basically created an infinite loop for them to exert their influence into. That’s one of a great number of ways to avoid it. Another way is practicing your capabilities so they trigger a specific way, a way that no proctor can compel you to expose to them.”

Alice cocked her head, “So, you fooled the proctors into exerting their influence into a psychic black hole and made it look like you had no talent for it.”

John nodded, “You got it.”

“And if they ever tried to force you to take the test again, they would fail to compel that action.”

John shook his head, “Far from it, they can send me all the compel orders at me they want, it wouldn’t have any effect on me now.”

“I don’t understand.” Alice shrugged her shoulders.

“I’m stronger than any of the proctors. Generally, you cannot force someone that is stronger than you mentally to do anything. They can get a whole lot of proctors and they wouldn’t be able to convince me to show my powers,” John smirked, “They would obviously know something’s up if they tried something like that. Plus, unlike most of the others, my abilities haven’t peaked yet.”

“And you’re not worried about them coming after you?”

“Not really, I’d have to do something colossally stupid to make them try that.”

Alice started laughing, “Don’t be that guy please.”

John smirked and the couple changed the topic to their wedding. They decided that their wedding ceremony would be a smaller and more intimate affair. The wedding party would be four per side. Kevin, Thomas, and Nathan would be asked to be groomsmen. Jessica, Theresa, and Kristin would round out her side.

The couple eventually retired for the evening and went to bed. It had been a long and relaxing day. John was eager to get back into the water in the morning and spear more of that delicious fish. But for now, he wanted to rest.

Wednesday. 10:00 Pool Bar

“So let me get this straight. You knew they were surveilling us,” Thomas and Brian both looked at John with some concern.

“Yup. They were sitting on the left side of the plane in Economy Plus,” John took a drink.

“Yeah, but how did you know they were agents?” Jessica joined in on the conversation.

John opened his tablet and pulled up a program, “I designed this VI to intercept and read any communications sent to or from the plane we were on.”

“So, you were creeping on everyone,” Kevin shook his head.

“I mean when you put it that way it makes me look and sound like a degenerate asshole,” John attempted to play the wounded friend card to no avail.

“Yeah, that’s creepy,” Theresa let out a light chuckle at the end of that.

“Well, whatever you judgmental jackasses. That clued me in on their op. So, I could either drag it out and then get y'all to get roped into it or I dictate the terms of engagement.”

“That doesn’t explain the gun case at all,” Alice was glaring at John.

“Sure, it does.”

Kristin started laughing, “No, it doesn’t. It really doesn’t explain it at all.”

“Oh, well that was just a precaution. Truth be told I didn’t think they would step up and try anything. Figured it was First Fleet again.”

“So why the stun rounds?” Nathan asked.

“Didn’t want to turn y’all into murderers, even if it was justified. Trust me when I tell y’all that there is a difference between killing and murdering someone. Because this operation wasn’t strictly authorized, and technically they were the aggressors, so we’d fall into the former category,” John shrugged again, “Mainly though, I didn’t want to deal with any local police forces. Bodies don’t always stay hidden.”

“No other reasons?” Andern smirked.

“Well getting intelligence is helpful. It feels like there are at least four power blocs within the Navy. The core fleet admiralty, the general officer corps, this new one whatever the hell they're called, and Naval Intelligence,” John sniffed the scotch that was in his glass and took a sip, “I got two and a half more years to piss off people to figure out the rest of the groups. For damn sure there’s going to be more.”

“That is not a smart plan,” Jessica laughed as she walked away, “Well, I need a workout, who’s game?”

Jessica, Kristin, Alice, and Theresa decided to head to the workout room. The boys stayed behind and sat at the poolside bar. They stayed there and bantered with one another until it was time for lunch. They took a break from fish tacos the previous day, but today's lunch was going to be fish tacos.

The remaining day and a half of vacation came and went without incident. John received some information from Naval Intelligence about the new group he had encountered. Their connections with the industrialists outside of the Navy should not be disregarded but they didn’t believe they commanded the sway that the shadow group did. Nor were they willing to go to the lengths that group did.

Saturday. 14:40 Annapolis International Airport

“Why does this happen every fucking time I travel? Why? I paid for a first-class ticket. But yet my shit shows up last,” John and Alice were still at the airport, the others headed back to campus ahead of them.

Alice pointed at his bag as it was coming down the carousel at long last, “It really is amazing. Maybe this is karmic revenge of some sort.”

“That’s not funny,” John sighed as the couple was heading to the exit so they could hail a cab.

“Yeah, it is,” Alice was smiling as she was bouncing toward the door.

John flagged a cab down. He put his and Alice’s bags in the back. Alice was inside telling the driver to head back to the Naval academy.

John interrupted Alice, “Belay that, Warehouse district, thirty-fifth, and Industry.”

Alice looked confused as did the cabbie.

“I’ll explain when we get there.”

Twenty minutes later the couple exited and walked into a dingy-looking warehouse. John directed her over to some clean-looking containers. He paid the cabbie an extra hundred credits to wait for them there while they took care of business inside.

“Place your hand on the scanner,” John was pointing at it.

Alice did and jumped back when the side of the container began to open. She looked back at John. He was walking towards the door, “What is this?”

“Come on in,” John walked into the container.

Alice walked in slowly behind him, she saw him heave the case with the guns up onto a crate. He was taking the guns and magazines out of it and replacing them with their storage places on the walls.

“What the hell?” Alice was shocked at what she was seeing, “Seriously John. What the fuck is all of this?”

“My hidey hole,” John smiled, “I have a few others off-world. Just in case shit hits the fan.”

Alice was looking over at everything. There were at least forty guns in here along with ammo for each one. There was a loose container full of credit chits. So reached in and grabbed a handful. She looked at the labels on them. She was holding over three hundred thousand in unmarked credit chits. Alice shook her head as she dropped them back into the container.

“That’s what, three million credits worth?” Alice was pointing at the bin holding all the chits.

John looked over and nodded, “Can you put them in the top drawer over there?”

Alice complied and was shocked when she opened the top drawer. There were seven more containers plum full of credit chits.

“Ok, this is ridiculous. What the fuck?”

“I have used this place more times than I’d care to admit,” he finished putting away the DMR and faced her, “You’re going to need this place too. Probably this year if I’m not wrong.”

“This is too much. I love you but how do you explain this to someone if they find out about it?”

John smiled, “Easy, throw me under the bus. But unless that happens what’s mine is yours. Use it as you see fit.”

“Except the armor behind me?”

“Well, the power armor and stealth suit won’t fit you. Probably would work for the guys though,” John sat down on a crate, “I am a target now. I’m confident as hell in my abilities, but I am not going to fight off everything. That’s where you guys can come in.”

Alice was shaking her head, “This is still so damn heavy.”

“I trust everyone in our group with my life. You more so than the rest. You’ll know when to use this.”

Alice nodded. The couple headed outside. True to the cabbie’s word, he was still there. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. No one was really ready to go back to school, but it was time to get back into the swing of things. It had been an eventful, fun, and slightly annoying vacation. John was hoping the latest surprise to his fiancé wouldn’t be needed but he knew better. It wasn’t a question of if she’d need it, he was wondering when it would become necessary.