Josie guided the quinjet deeper into the Shemmarian air space. She felt like her face

had decided to frown more since she had come to this place. And part of that was

Jack being crazy.

Maybe the Army had not been as good for him as he had said it had.

“What is nuking?,” said Fass. He rode in the co-pilot’s seat. His face still wore his

expression of amazement at the rise of the Enterprise from the ground after

assimilating the town they had been fighting in.

“I thought you would ask about the Enterprise,” said Josie. “Are you sure you want

to know about nuclear warfare?”

“I think I have seen something so amazing that to anyone other than my group

who had not seen it, it would be considered the biggest lie ever,” said Fass. “I

heard the warning in your voice. You are fine with this Enterprise, but not nukes.

Why?”

“These are two different things and are history where I am from,” said Josie. “The

Enterprise is a story, nukes aren’t.”

Fass gestured at the small metal building they were leaving behind in their wake.

“I know,” said Josie. “I’ll talk to Jack about this. This magic stuff is going to his

head. I think he got sidetracked from his real thoughts and built that to handle the rest

of the operation instead of doing what he wanted to do.”

“And using a nuke would have been something he wanted to do?,” said Fass.

“I don’t know,” said Josie. “And I am not going to ask. It’s good enough that he isn’t

reducing a whole country to radioactive dirt in my opinion.”

“Radioactive?,” said Fass. “I don’t think I have ever heard that before.”

“I would be surprised if you had,” said Josie. “Let’s start with something that’s not

really that bad on the face of it. Let’s talk about the Enterprise. And then we can talk

about nuclear weapons if you want.”

“How afraid should I be about this?,” said Fass.

“Anyone can do a nuclear weapon if they can find the material and can build the

igniter,” said Josie. “No one can normally build the Enterprise, and Jack’s Enterprise

is still smaller than the real thing in my opinion, but I am not sure. The D is supposed

to be able to carry a thousand people comfortably with a cargo hold for tons of

material, and miniature ballistas to shoot with from the disk. The nacelles are the

engines and they aren’t used for any housing. I don’t think Jack is quite at the

thousand person minimum yet, but if he takes those other towns, he might be.”

“He’s using the same thing he used to tear that camp down,” said Fass. “I saw the ring

he created to work his magic.”

“He did the same thing for the quinjet,” said Josie. “This used to be a mansion.”

“A mansion?,” said Fass.

“The old Duke didn’t need it anymore,” said Josie. “But yes, this used to be a house

that Jack turned into a flying machine to help Emily because I asked for a solution

to the problem.”

“He’s prone to that,” said Fass. “He was talking about building teleportation stations

before I talked him out of it.”

“Teleportation is also something you guys shouldn’t have right now,” said Josie.

“We’re going to have to hash this out when we’re done with this Goblin Tree mess.

He needs to do a little more thinking about things other than what he wants to build.”

“Why?,” said Fass.

“Teleport stations from place to place where you have to hit a designated spot might

speed up transport of people and goods,” said Josie. “If someone found out how

to use those stations to attack people like I use my scrying, it would be perfect for

assassins and others to bypass defenses and kill anyone they wanted at any time.”

“It would change the face of warfare, but not for the better,” said Fass.

“I don’t think the Army was as good for Jack as he thought it was,” said Josie. “But

that is also a conversation for another day.”

“All right,” said Fass. “Let us talk about the Enterprise. I think that will be better

for my peace of mind than everything else.”

Josie smiled quietly.

“All right,” said Josie. She saw the ping for one of the Goblin Tree labs vanish off

the navigation screen. Jack was still working on solving the rest of the problem

while they looked for the source. “Let’s start at the beginning and work our way

along. This all started with Gene Roddenberry. He wanted to put on a show for the

public about the future being a brighter place and solving imaginary problems and

talk about current social problems in an allegorical way. So he created a society that

depended on a fleet of ships to deal with problems and negotiate from force.

“Only no one wanted to put his show on for him.”

“But he did otherwise we wouldn’t be talking about this,” said Fass.

“A lady named Lucille Ball ran a production company,” said Josie. “I don’t know

what he said to sell his show to her, but she went with it. He was able to put on his

show for three years. It didn’t last because the production company didn’t want to

spend the money for it so you would think that would be the end of it. But it wasn’t.”

“Why not?,” said Fass.

“Back home, the reach of a show can extend over more than one city,” said Josie.

“Hawk Ridge might be the end of a show here, but hundreds of Hawk Ridges can

watch the same thing at the same time. So a ton of people saw Roddenberry’s show

about Captain James Kirk, and the crew of the Enn Enn Cee Seventeen Oh One

Enterprise and loved it. Even three years was enough to grow a spark in what would

be called a fandom that is still going on almost sixty years later.

“Now Roddenberry wanted to get his show back on the air. He had limited success

with a children’s show, and had grown some side industries to keep the idea alive.

Ten years after the original show went off the air, he created a bigger show that he

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

turned into a string of events for some years. It kept his idea going, but it wasn’t

really what he wanted. There was a huge outlay in those bigger shows at the start,

and you had to sell tickets to get that money back. So Roddenberry wanted to get his

primary idea back on the smaller stage, there was money putting it on, but you got

the cost back faster if the production companies and so forth liked it.”

“Jack’s Enterprise,” said Fass.

“Exactly,” said Josie. “While he was making the bigger shows, he sold the setting as

a hundred years in the future with an older captain, and different crew, to what would

be called a syndicate. They put on shows as a partnership to the companies involved.

They sold the show and put it on the air until no one liked it.

“The Enterprise D was the designated ship of the show,” said Josie. “It was set up like

a floating town where the crew could bring their families with them. So they had

schools, small hospitals, research areas, and smaller boats to send on smaller

missions.”

“That is bigger than what Jack showed us,” said Fass. “Governments would give

their mothers for something like the Enterprise. It would be a great warship for them.”

“It depends,” said Josie. “How is he fueling it?”

“You’re saying the thing could crash into the ground,” said Fass.

“Maybe not crash, but it’s a possibility,” said Josie. “I’m not going to worry about

that now. I have a part of the job I have to do. We have to make sure that everything

about the Goblin Trees are pulled up and destroyed. And we have to make sure the

Shemmarians don’t try this again.”

“So the trees are more dangerous than Jack’s flying castle, or these nukes?,” said

Fass.

“They present an ongoing problem that has to be stamped out before it gets out of the

lab,” said Josie. She took a moment to organize her thoughts. “Jack’s ship won’t do

anything without him. It’s only as much of a threat as Jack is.”

“Which is a dragon bigger than the one on his shoulder,” said a voice from the back.

“All right,” said Josie. She looked over her shoulder. “He’s dangerous but not more

than any of you in the same position. A nuke is a one time attack that will do a lot of

damage and cause sickness to people living in the area which will slowly fade away.

What the Shemmarians are doing is trying to create a weapon that self-propagates

itself.

“Imagine one of those Queens bites one person and infects that person. Then those

two bite two, then four, then eight, then sixteen, then thirty two, so on and so on. In

a small town that might be enough to wipe the town out, and anyone traveling

through until someone burns the town down if they can.

“Imagine something like that loose in a city like Hawk Ridge.”

“We could lose the city if they found a way to sneak one of those things inside the

wall and turn it loose,” said Fass.

“Maybe,” said Josie. “A lot depends on how fast a person turns with those seeds

inside them. Do they grow superfast? Do they take with one bite? Do dead people

start getting up and walking? So I am willing to let Jack separate the subjects out and

make sure they can’t hurt anyone so they can’t be used while I look for the guy we

need to find. If they did it once, they’ll do it again unless they can’t.”

“They had five of those things,” said Budd from the back.

“That’s what Jack said,” said Josie. “They probably planned to grow more if these

five did what they wanted. Like a sword making assembly line.”

“They could destroy the country,” said Budd.

“They could destroy every country,” said Josie. “I’m not the defender of just Hawk

Ridge. Anything handed down to me from the Society is a defense for a large number

of people. They just wanted the Lich Queen stopped. If a new one showed up, they

would send a warning for us to track it down whenever. I am making sure they don’t

have to send that warning before it happens.”

“It’s a personal quest,” said Fass.

“And I will pay you for your help,” said Josie. “The main problem is none of us can

tell the King about this unless we want total war between him and Shemmaria. I doubt

he will laugh off someone turning his citizens into mulch for a new breed of monster

that replicates itself and may continue to do so until humanity as we know it is pushed

off the continent.”

“I hesitate to say that our country is landlocked,” said Budd.

“I am aware,” said Josie. “You are working on standing behind Jack for a black eye,

buddy. And you are a lot closer.”

“I doubt you can do anything like that while you are sailing us along,” said Budd.

“Take the wheel, Eric,” said Josie. “I have someone I want to punch in the face.”

“No,” said Eric. “You can punch Budd in the face when we’ve landed.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Josie.

“I’m not,” said Budd.

“Let’s get back on topic,” said Fass. “How do we find the person we are looking for

to make sure this doesn’t happen together?”

“The plan is to try to send a bird out for this guy,” said Josie. “You know what, I

should have made sure he wasn’t back at the lab. Everything looked automated, I

didn’t think he would be in charge there.”

“So we’re going to turn around?,” said Fass.

“I was in too much of a hurry,” said Josie. “And I guess seeing the Enterprise spring

up out of nowhere was kind of crazy. I need to tighten things down. Take the wheel

and hold us steady for a second, Eric.”

She didn’t give him a chance to make excuses. She let go of the wheel. She dialed up

Zatanna. She needed a mechanic to work on the quinjet when she needed. The watch

was draining faster than she liked. She had to do the spell and let the watch recharge

while they were in flight.

She cast a spell to send a group of birds out to make sure that they were heading in

the right direction.

“Some of them curved back,” said Emily. “A majority are heading to the northeast.”

Josie let her persona go. She took back the wheel. Fass breathed a sigh of relief.

“Good job,” said Josie. She touched the Deadpool symbol on her com band. “Jack?

Can you hear me?”

“This Captain Jack,” said Jack.

“Do you see the birds and where they are?,” said Josie.

“Enterprise, ping birds if you can see them,” said Jack.

“Visual only,” said the Enterprise.

“I got them, Jo,” said Jack. “What do you need?”

“Shoot them,” said Josie.

“What?,” said Jack. She thought she heard Aviras saying the same thing.

“I want you to put a photon torpedo in all those sites,” said Josie. “I want you to

do it now.”

“All right,” said Jack. “I’ll have to take the rest of the towns down around the pings.

Enterprise, make sure to keep the markers on the marked subjects. Ready torpedoes

to fire. Targets are marked subjects.”

“Torpedoes are being readied, course corrections are in,” said Enterprise. “Targets are

moving. Ready to fire.”

“How close are you to moving the combatants out of the way?,” asked Jack. “Do not

fire until you have cleared the area.”

“I can move the combatants without absorbing the buildings, then fire,” said

Enterprise.

“Do that,” said Jack. “We want to save lives, but we don’t want to let these targets

go.”

“Understood,” said Enterprise.

Josie turned the quinjet to watch the Enterprise in action. She hit the hover jets to

hold the plane in place. The thing stopped growing in front of her. She waited.

“All noncombatants in range of attack are aboard,” said Enterprise. “Firing

torpedoes.”

Josie watched as six specks of light erupted from the bow of the giant machine. They

hit the ground in explosions of light. She felt the birds wink out in the back of

her mind.

“There are two more pings fleeing from the towns,” said Jack. “Do I shoot at them?”

“They are part of the brains behind this,” said Josie.

“Enterprise,” said Jack. His usual laughing voice was cold and flat. “Shoot them.”

“Shooting,” said the machine.

More specks erupted from the Enterprise. Explosions marked impacts. If they

survived that, then they were as invulnerable as Captain Marvel.

“I’m going to get the rest of the test subjects,” said Jack. “Then I am going to call

Jane and the Duke and try to get some assistance with this.”

“I’m going to follow the rest of the birds to where they go,” said Josie.

“I don’t think you should curse them, Jo,” said Jack.

“I know,” said Josie. “I am going to take care of things. You do the same.”

“This is a heck of first date between you and your beloved,” said Jack. He cut the

signal before she could say some things to him.

“What does that mean?,” said Fass.

“Jack wants me to court you,” said Josie. “I’m not interested in that right now. Just

because he’s got Elaine, he’s trying to play Cupid.”

“And he thinks we’re a good match?,” said Fass. “That’s flattering.”

“I thought you would say something else,” said Josie.

“I’m married,” said Fass. “My wife runs our logistics while we’re in the field.”

“That’s good to know,” said Josie. She felt her face flush but let it.