“Today the Polish people celebrate their victory in the Battle of Warsaw, 1920. After World War I the newly created Soviet Union invaded Poland to annex it into its domain. The victory established Polish identity which helped the country and people go through World War II and the Cold War, which maintains a sense of pride for the country to this day.” - SNCR
***
--- Earth, Philadelphia, Sharpe Condo ---
March 20th, 2026
Selina Mir Sharpe is on the couch, leaning against the backrest. She sees Rory, Yao, and Tuka standing there in their new clothes.
“They look really good on you,” she said, feeling jealous of their new outfit.
The three girls are wearing different types of dancing clothes. Short and shiny shorts, sleeves shirts that reveal a lot.
“I still don’t like this,” Sharpe said.
“And that is how we know we look good,” Rory says with pride.
“I am completely confused,” Yao said as she looks at her clothing. “Before you all got mad at me for dressing this revealing but now it is a good thing?”
“They’re Humans Yao,” Tuka said. “They change their logic when they want to. Besides, I like how I look!”
“Let me explain it again,” Rory said, annoyed. “The whole point of wearing these is to look sexy. At the club all the guys will be looking at us.”
“Yes,” Tuka said and pointed to Sharpe in a silly way. “The only reason he disapproves is because he thinks we're hot in these clothes and doesn’t want other guys checking us out.”
She giggles hearing that and looks to her father. “Is that true father? You think they're hot?”
“Isn’t that a little inappropriate Colonel Sharpe?” Noriko says as she giggles through the laptop. “You remind me of my dad when me and my sister cosplay.”
“What is cosplay?” Lelei asks.
“It is when you dress up into a custom of a character you like,” Noriko said. “It usually relates to anime but other shows too. You usually dress up as someone very attractive that you like, and it is usually in a revealing uniform. It is all for fun”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” Rory asks, taking interest into the idea.
Lelei looks over at Rory. “Didn’t you once say that you refuse to wear other clothes because it would be disrespectful towards Emroy or something?”
Rory glares at Lelei. “Shut up.”
Sharpe looks at the laptop and sees Noriko on the screen. “And you were my second favorite Noriko.”
She sees Noriko giggle hearing that and she giggles too. She then thinks of what her father said and looks at him. “What did you mean by second favorite?”
“I caught those two,” Tuke said.
“Everyone wait!” Rory yells and then jumps onto the top of the sofa backrest. She balances herself and points at her. “He has a favorite list for us. I demand that you tell us who is your-!”
“Lelei, Noriko, Selina, Tuka, a reserved space,” Sharpe says as he counts with his hand. He glances at Rory and smirks evilly. “Yao, and then you Rory.”
Rory falls onto the floor in disbelief and then jumps back up. “How is the new girl higher ranked than me!”
“I do like to know how you came to this order,” Lelei says, in a cheerful tone.
“You just want to know why you’re first,” Tuka says, crossing her arms.
“Shouldn’t I be top?” she asks, confused. “Or ahead of Noriko? I thought I was your daughter.”
Sharpe leans against the sofa back and chuckles. “It is based on how much of a headache I get from your actions.”
Tuka then looks to Rory. “You're screwed then Rory.”
“What?” Rory yells.
“Noriko and the little brat keep me up at night for being at base and still find ways for getting in trouble,” Sharpe says, jokingly calling Tenchi a brat. He then rubs Selina on the head. “Selina, you have Wood Elves hunting you, being kidnapped and being a princess. Tuka, the drama at Italica, had to save you and your people and had to fight the enemy General to do it. And there is your father. A lot of it has to do with your father.”
“What did my father do?” Tuka asked.
Sharpe looks at her. “He wanted me to put love collars on you all.”
Tuka raised her index figure but then slowly lowered it. “I understand. It was silly of me to even ask.”
“Then I must leave a space for late entries, just in case with my luck,” he continues. “Then there is Yao. Only reason you're not ahead is what happened at the bar.”
“So why am I at the bottom!?” Rory asks. “What could I have possibly done to give you a headache to be in last place?”
Right after Rory asks that question, she sees the room go quiet and everyone looks at Rory. She knows Sharpe and Rory are best friends, but she even knows Rory can be a handful.
“What?” Rory asks as she looks at everyone.
“What about Lelei?” she asks, wanting to know.
Sharpe looks at Lelei and winks at her. “In all of our time together, name one time she has been kidnapped, ran off, did something stupid, got in trouble or got me angry, push me to my limits, or have people hunting her for revenge or some other cliché drama like that? She never got in trouble, I never had to raise my voice, put my foot down, or anything else. She has been a perfect sidekick.”
Lelei looks at everyone blushing brightly. “What?”
She looks back at Lelei and sees her smiling. “That isn’t fair.”
“For once I agree with the little Princess,” Rory said. “And Jackson when you were knocked out after rescuing Tuka people Lelei was eyeing up at your naked chest. So there, she isn’t perfect.”
Sharpe looks at Lelei, seeing her embarrassed. He then looks back at Rory. “As Harper always said, you can look at the menu, just can’t order from it.”
Rory crosses her arms. “This needs to be corrected.”
“How haven’t you gotten into trouble yet?” she asks. “After everything we've been through?”
“Have been through Selina,” Noriko corrects.
Lelei stands there blushing but smiling proudly. “I just listen, and I do what I am told to do. I don’t really know what I could do to anger him.”
Rory then snaps her fingers. “We will have to change this.”
“I think we need to get Lelei into trouble,” Tuka said.
“Later,” Sarah said as she walked downstairs. “We have to go. Alicia isn’t going to hold our place in line forever.”
She then sees Sarah walk out of the master bedroom in more conservative dancing clothes. When they first got home, she was pissed at Rory but now she seems to calm down.
Both Alicia and Scott offered to take them all to a dance club, to experience the American nightlife. After some much cuteness and begging the Girls were able to convince Sharpe to let them go. She knows how protective her father is, so he is going to, relenting of course.
“Can I come?” she asks.
“I told you already, no,” Sharpe said. “You are not old enough Selina. And sorry Lelei, there's no way I could get you into the club.”
“That is fine Sharpe,” Lelei replies. “I don’t like that kind of stuff anyway. I think Selina and I can enjoy some sister time.”
“Besides, you need to do your homework,” Sarah says as she fixes her earring. “Because you are on Earth doesn’t mean you can’t skip out on your studies.”
She takes an annoying breath after hearing that. She knows her father doesn’t like school that much, so she looks back at him. “Do I have to, dad?”
“Of course,” Sharpe replies. “If you don’t then I get yelled at.”
Sarah then glares at him.
“What?” Sharpe asks and then shrugs. “It’s true. Fine. Doing your homework is important. I know it sucks but you don’t want to be taken advantage of by someone because they know more than you.”
“Bye Miss Rose,” Noriko said. “I will send you the update of tomorrow tests scores.”
“Thank you, Noriko,” Sarah said. “I hope the boys in the class are being good.”
“Well,” Noriko said. “They are. Mentiv has threatened to suck their blood out. That scared Nassico so he quit. But I have to admit he gets on my nerves sometimes.(1)”
“Don’t think too much into it, Noriko,” Sarah said. “I think he is just acting out because of what happened to his mother.”
“What happened to his mother?” Yao asks.
She looks up at Yao. “Goblins took his mother.”
There is a short silence before Sharpe speaks up. “Alright ladies. Let’s go. Everyone out the door.”
As everyone leaves Sharpe then looks at her. “Selina. Do your schoolwork. Otherwise, no special movie night.”
She gives him an annoying look. “Ok.”
Sharpe then looks towards Lelei. “Thanks for babysitting Lelei. I owe you one.”
“It is ok Sharpe,” Lelei said. “I will enjoy it.”
“And don’t call me that!” Sharpe said. “If there is an attack there is a Secret Service post down the hall, room G109.”
“That grandma?” Selina asks.
“She isn’t a grandma,” Sharpe replies. He then hears the girls. “Call me if there are any issues.”
She watches her father leave and she laughs.
“He is so sweet,” Noriko said. “Now let’s begin Selina.”
She looks back to the laptop and begins the lesson.
---
Lelei is currently in the kitchen cooking a broth.
She looks to her side as Selina cuts some vegetables for it. “How is it coming?”
Selina finishes cutting carrots. “I think it's good. How is this?”
She looks over and sees these thick bricks of carrots. She looks at Selina and sighs. “Those are too thick.”
“Oh,” Selina responds. “Sorry.”
She grabs the knife and starts cutting, showing her how to properly cut. “There you go.”
“We need to teach you how to cook,” she said as she watches Selina try again.
Seeing Selina cutting better and smiles. “One day you will be a wife, so you need to learn to cook.”
“If dad let’s me,” Selina said. “Besides, no one likes me anyway.”
She goes back to the pot and adds some ingredients. “I understand Selina. In Rondel I wasn’t the most popular student. Many didn't like that I was passing my classes with high marks.”
“That is because you are smart,” Selina replies. She then stops and looks at her. “Do you think I will find a good boy? One that wont hurt me?”
She understands what Selina means by that. Seeing her parents murdered and being sold off to become a sex-slave for the Imperial Royal family has to be hard on her.
Only reason Selina has recovered is because Sharpe adopted her and gave her a safe home. To everyone's surprise, including him, he turned out to be a good dad. Fun and protective. Being a role model on matters of life like a father should.
While Sharpe is not known to be on the sensitive side if things but one who can be relied on. That is why Rory and she have gotten so close to Selina, almost being like sisters. Now Tuka seems to be accepting the role and she wonders about Yao.
But that father-like figure is what attracted her to Sharpe, so she feels like her and Selina have something in common. While she is not attracted in a romantic way, she wishes her biological father was more like Sharpe.
Originally, she just planned on learning everything she could from the Other Worlders and go back to Rondel. But during her time with Vanguard-7 she decided she could abandon them, having too much fun and feels like it would be a betrayal. This is her new tribe.
“I think so,” she replies, not thinking about boys. “I am not the best when it comes to boys. But what I did know is that if you feel them, that is half the battle.”
“I see,” Selina said. “Done with the orange sticks.:
“Ok, now cut those things up,” she asks and then tries the broth. “Tasty. By the way, how was your studies?”
“I was nothing,” Selina replies. “I am just catching up because I missed two days. Noriko is helping me.”
“I know Selina,” she replies. “But it is good you are still doing your schoolwork. You never know when that knowledge will come in handy.”
“Easy for you to say,” Selina said. “You are blessed by La while I am blessed by no one.”
She understands what Selina means by that. Selina has struggled to find the balance between Sharpe will protect what is left of her purity and her goddess Miritta. Selina thinks that because she obeys her father, she will not give herself to be blessed by Miritta she will not be an official worshiper of Miritta.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“You will be blessed one day Selina,” she said. “I wasn’t born with my enhanced learning ability. I think I gained it because I studied all the time. But from what you said about Miritta she seems like a kind and gentle goddess. I don’t think she will be like Hardy and think less of you.”
“And besides,” she continues. “You spend a lot of time with that other Miritta worshiper. My point is when the time comes the time comes.”
“I guess you are right,” Selina mumbles.
She smiles, glad Selina is feeling better. She sometimes wonders if this is how her older sister Arpeggio El Lalena felt. Always helping her younger sister through struggles. Let us sit down and eat. Then we can go to bed and watch a movie.”
Selina shakes her head. “I rather stay out here waiting for daddy.”
She can see the disturbing look on Selina's face. Her sweet and happy look quickly went away to this worried and scared look. “Selina? What is wrong?” She places her hand on Selina's shoulder. “You can tell me.”
Selina waits for a moment and then looks up at her. “When I was a slave and being taken to Sadera, the slavers who were transported me thought they could have more money. Since I was too young to have kids and bring royalty, they thought they could charge a perium….”
“Premium?” she corrects.
Selina nods at the correction. “They thought Prince Zorzal would never know that his property was tainted. So, they sold me many times at each town we stopped at. But when we stopped by this town on the Row Stream, I think it was Daze, but I do not remember. We were there for a while because this Noble Knight took special interest in me.”
As Selina continues, she figures out where the story is going. While she has mostly recovered from her experience, whatever this Knight did still has traumatized her and the only time she feels safe is when around her father.
She places her arm around Selina and holds her. “Let me guess. You see this Knight in your dreams? Is that why you sleep with him at night?”
Selina nods. “I feel safe.”
“I understand,” she replies. “When I go fight, I like being around Sharpe too. I feel safe even though we fight powerful enemies. So, I understand.”
“Thank you,” Selina said. “Promise not to tell father?”
“For now, yes,” she said, wanting to maintain trust with her. She also knows that Sharpe will get overprotective and try to fix the problem even though there is nothing to be fixed. She will never understand the need for men to fix everything. “Sister secret.”
Selina smiles and looks at her. “Is that why you turn red and run away every time?”
She turns bright red as she hears that. All she can think about now is Sharpe naked chest. The masculine body and all the scares. She doesn’t understand why she likes it, all she knows that she does. It is one reason why she avoids the gym.
Selina giggles. “Can’t wait until I am old enough to get like that.”
“How about this,” she said, wanting to change the subject. “Why don’t I go get us some snacks at the store across the street and you pick us a movie.
“Ok,” Selina said.
She leaves the condo and locks it digitally with her phone. She is not worried, only being gone for twenty minutes max.
She takes the elevator and gets off at the first floor. She sees some people there talking. She also sees some soldiers who got the same idea as Sharpe, living at this condo.
She walks outside and crosses the street to go to the 7/11 store. As she walks around, she grabs mainly different kinds of junk food like chips, candy, and some drinks.
When she walked up to the cash register, she pulled out her wallet from her purse. For a moment she thought about using the Sharpe credit card but decided to use her debit card.
When Rory and she became official employees of Vanguard-7 they started getting monetary compensation for their works.
“Thank you,” she said. She grabs her bag and heads out the door.
As she walks out of the shop, an old woman with strange baggy clothes and jewelry comes at her.
“What a fine young lady you are! It is good to see my kind around here and beyond the gate!” the old woman said.
As she ends her sentence, she is totally stunned at the sight by this woman. Besides the strange clothing the woman is wearing, what she senses should be impossible. For some reasons she is sensing a mana signature from this mysterious woman.
Sharpe told her that Earth has no magic, and, in her research, she has confirmed that. She has read stories of people thinking some they seen mages but nothing that proves it. If there was magic on Earth, she could not find it.
Sharpe has hidden some information from her, saying that when she is ready, she will be able to see it. She considered that this might be one of those secrets and based on her time with them they are convinced magic is not on Earth. And she would not expect the US government to be hiding information about magic based on the huge interest in it. She then wonders if this woman is from Uros and maybe working with the US government. She knows the government has been opening up the Gate to more civilians but a mage?
“Who, who are you?! she replies.
“I am just a gypsy, that's all!!” the woman says in a strange tone.
Hearing someone else leave the 7/11 the woman then leaves.
She stands there confused on what just happened. “A gypsy? What is a gypsy?”
She then hears her phone ring and notices Selina is calling. Selina is getting worried or scared, being alone for this long.
She answers the phone. “I am sorry Selina. I am on my way.”
***
--- Earth, Philadelphia, Night Club ---
March 20th, 2026
Rory and the rest get out of the car. “So, you people just use this app, and a car drives up?”
“Yes,” Sarah said. “It is Uber. Very convenient in quickly getting around town.”
“Very interesting,” Tuka said. “I can get used to this high-class stuff.”
She places her hand on her upper chest. “For a woman like me I am used to the royal treatment like this.”
“And yet you still can’t figure out how to get your clothes into the hamper,” Sharpe points out.
She points to Sharpe. “Hey!”
Sarah gets between them, trying to escalate. “If you two cannot be civil you are both grounded.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she responds.
She decides to be nice to Sarah, feeling bad for ditching her before.
“Hey guys,” Alicia said, walking up.
She looks at Alicia and smirks. Both of them do a fancy handshake and then hug. “Glad to see you. Thank you for the invitation.”
“Anytime,” Alicia said. “But shockingly most of the credit goes to Sofia who knows the owner. However, it does feel strange going out with both of my bosses.”
“How did you get tickets?” Sarah asks.
“It is a soldier special,” Alicia replies. “The dance owner wanted to show his support with the troops and today is all about that. Well see if it lives up to it though.”
“It will be a fine,” Tuka said. “Both of them need to loosen up.”
Sharpe looks at Tuka confused. “What do you mean loosen up? I bench press three hundred and sixty pounds every other day.”
“Oh yeah,” Alicia says, brushing off that statement. “You totally don’t need to loosen up.”
Hearing that she and everyone else laugh at that. Only Shape looks around confused, not understanding what the context is.
She then sees everyone walk inside but then she stops Sharpe. She looks up at him smirking. “You were bragging weren’t you.”
“Maybe,” Sharpe replies.
“Still stronger than you,” she replies and turns around.
“I like to see you open a pickle jar,” Sharpe responds and walks inside.
She scratches her head confused by that comment. She then shrugs her shoulders and walks inside.
Once inside she sees the main lights dim, flashes of red, white, and blue flashing everywhere. She sees flags all around and servers dressed like those regular soldiers from the American Revolutionary War, like the ones she saw at the museum(2). The long blue jacket with white belts and shits.
She walks through the crowd of people, some locals, some soldiers. Her heels making a loud noise on the hardwood floor, just the way she wanted it.
She sees many eyes on her. Some are probably wondering why someone her size is here while the ones who recognize her start cheering.
She then hears someone speaking very loudly through the speakers. She looks up and sees this man talking to a microphone. She has been at many parties and bowls on Falmart but nothing like this, and she is loving this already. The energy the room provides is exciting her so much she feels like she can run a hundred leagues.
“Hello everyone,” the DJ says. “I like to thank our troops again for everything they are doing. They saved our city, and I like to remind you all, all donations go to helping our troops who are wounded on the alien world so please be generous.”
“Also, I just got word that our special guests have arrived,” the DJ said.
She looks around and sees the lights hit her, Tuka and Yao. She is confused at what is going on, but Alicia grabs her hand.
“It is ok Rory,” Alicia said. “Look up there.”
She looks at the big screen on the wall and sees her from the park. She is doing her combat moves, showing off her skill to the crowd. She then sees the other Girls doing their thing.
“You are all over the Internet Rory,” Alicia said. “All of you. A lot of people like you guys.”
“That is cool,” she said. “But I didn’t do it for fame. I just liked the attention and wanted to be a good representative.”
“I know,” Alicia said. “That’s why we love you. Now let’s dance.”
“Yeah!” she yells as she raises her hand into the air. She then starts dancing around, going with the beat.
She can see Alicia dancing alongside her. Both moving their arms and swinging their hips, enjoying themselves. All the times of them fighting side by side has allowed them to know each other's movements making them good dance partners.
She looks out and sees Tuka with two guys. To her annoyance she is jealous that Tuka is dancing better than her and that she is getting attention because of those ears.
She sees Yao standing there trying to get into the mood. She looks confused as she tries to understand how to dance. She feels better knowing that she is doing better.
“Hey Alicia, are there any beers?” she asks.
“Bee no,” Alicia responds. “But they have a tone of alcoholic drinks here. I recommend a Sex on the Beach or a Pina Co Lada cocktail. A margarita, or a Cosmopolitan. You can get them at the bar over there. Just request the drink you want.”
She gets excited and looks at the bar. She sees a handsome man standing behind the bar cleaning a fancy glass. She quickly rushes over to the bar and leans over the counter. “Hey fancy guy. I want a Sex on the Beach! A Pina, a margarita… just give me one of everything.” She then looks over and sees how small the glasses are. “Make it three.”
“Are you old enough?” the bartender asks.
“Yes,” she replies, glaring at him. “You're no longer cute.”
“Sorry lady but you look like your twelve,” the bartender said. “I cannot serve you. In fact you should be in here.”
She gets angry and looks over. “Jackson!”
She then sees Sharpe and Sarah walking over to her. “What is it Rory?”
She then points to the bartender. “He called me short and refused to give me Sex on the Beach!”
She sees both Sharpe and Sarah staring at her confused. She then realizes how she said the drink name.
She places her hand on her face and sighs. “Just give him my ID.”
She watches Sharpe grab her ID out of her red and black purse. Before coming into the club Sharpe was promoted to purse duty, having to carry them all for the Girls.
“Well fine Rory,” Sharpe said as he showed the bartender her ID. “I was going to take you up on your offer Rory but if all you want is the drink then ok.”
Hearing that Sarah slaps Sharpe in the arm. “God you two sometimes.”
She glares at Sharpe, not having the fantasy stuck in her mind. “For that you are paying for the drinks. I am going to get Tuka and Yao some drinks. On you!”
She grabs drinks she leaves.
---
Sharpe leans back at the bar booth watching the dance floor.
He can see his three Rangers having fun, Alicia, Scott, and Frost. He also sees the Girls, Rory, Tuka, Yao, and Sarah on the dance floor.
Originally, he was worried that this would be too much for the Girls, being too much of a culture shock but they seemed to adopt far better than he expected.
Tuka seems to be the most popular of the night. Being a great dancer and singing a song earlier. He does not know if that is thanks to her god Lunaryur or just her talent.
Rory has been showing off greatly, using her superhuman abilities to do fancy tricks. She had drawn a large crowd. She also is spending a lot of time with Alicia.
And there is Yao talking to some people. While not dancing a lot, she has been socializing a lot, telling stories of what it is like to be three hundred and fifteen years old.
They all seem to be having fun.
“What are you doing over here alone?” Sarah asks as she walks over.
He looks at Sarah, able to hear her heels on the wood floor. “Just watching. Everyone is having fun.”
“I know but why are you over here and not out there enjoying yourself?” Sarah asks. “You look depressing over here alone.”
He takes a drink. “I am fine. Just staying with them so they can enjoy themselves.”
“And that is the problem,” Sarah said as she ordered a margarita. “Yes, they are enjoying themselves, but you don’t want their memories of tonight or any other night of you in the back watching. They want to see you out there enjoying the time to.”
He could find an argument against what Sarah said. The more he thinks about it the more he agrees. He takes another drink. “Look. I just don’t want to embarrass anyone.”
“Embarrass?” Sarah asks, confused. “How on earth could you-.”
“I can’t dance,” he states, forcing himself to say it.
Sarah looks at him and laughs. “Same with everyone else here.” She then grabs his arm and pulls him towards the dance floor.
He stops and sees himself surrounded by dancers. “Look. I don’t know about this.”
“Forget everyone else and just focus on me,” Sarah says, trying to relax him with her tone.
“Yeah, well life easier when bullets are zipping past you,” he mumbles. He watches Sarah and slowly starts dancing.
“There you go,” Sarah says. “Just have fun.”
The fun part he is struggling with. He never realized how bad he is with social life. “This is silly.”
Sarah stops and turns around. She grabs him by the shoulders. “Look. We all love the tough soldier side of you. It keeps everyone alive when traveling around Falmart. But this war will end at some point and you cannot live like this forever. The Girls will need you to be more than a soldier at some point.”
He takes another annoyed breath. “Your right. I am going to try.”
“Isn’t ‘try’ one of your curse words?” Sarah said, chuckles.
She tries to mellow out and keeps dancing.
As he finally gets relaxed as he dances with Sarah, he feels a tug on his shirt. He turns around and sees Rory standing there, holding her stomach. “You ok Rory?”
“Jackson, I feel sick,” Rory replies.
“I keep telling you not to over drink,” he said. “You might be an Apostle, but you still have limits.”
“No Jackson,” Rory said, pulling on his shirt more. “I drank too much before, but this is different.”
“I think she is really sick?” Sarah says behind him.
He places his hand under Rory chin so he can get a better look at her. That is when he sees that Rory is actually sick.
“Hey Colonel,” Frost said as he walked over.
He looks over and sees Alicia, Frost, and Scott, all helping Tuka and Yao. All of them looked sick too.
“Alicia, call 911,” he ordered.
Alicia nods and pulls out her phone and calls 911.
--- hours later ---
Sharpe is sitting in the hospital lounge. It is close to one in the morning, and he has been here for hours.
He had Sarah go back to the condo to check on Lelei and Selina. Both Frost and Scott offered to escort her back as Alicia stayed.
“The party was fun while it lasted,” Alicia said.
He looks over to her and stands up. He wants to respond but could not find the right words.
He then sees the doctor walk up.
“Hello there…, Lieutenant Colonel Sharpe is it?” Doctor Aman Sabanis said.
He walks over to the doctor. “That is correct, doctor. What is the situation.”
When he told the first responders that Rory, Tuka, and Yao are from Falmart they headed to Saint-Lee Specialized Hospital. A hospital that has been specializing in alien medicine and physiology.
As the United States starts building trade relations with their Falmart allies and Philadelphia is the ground zero for alien interaction, this hospital was chosen to deal with that new reality. However, it is still more theory than reality as only a few natives from Falmart have been allowed through.
“Well, this is the first time we looked at an Elf and an Apostle,” Doctor Sabanis said as he looks at his clipboard. “Thanks to the government research on the bodies of the invaders so we weren’t going blind.”
“Get to the point,” he said, not in the mood for the fluff stuff. “Are they ok or not?”
“They will be fine,” Doctor Sabanis replies, a little intimidated by his protectiveness. “They just got alcohol poisoning from drinking too much.”
Some of that did not make sense to him. Tuka and Yao did drink a lot but not enough to get alcohol poisoning. Rory on the other hand he was getting worried that she was drinking too much again, but she gets drunk all the time but still, alcohol poisoning?
“I don’t get it,” he said. “Rory has superhuman abilities. She gets drunk all the time. This is the first time she ever got sick from it.”
“Well Sharpe,” Doctor Sabanis said. “That is an easy misunderstanding. Their bodies are not used to our type of drinks, especially the fancy ones like at the nightclub. Their bodies are used to their alcohol which I must be honest, isn’t the best of quality.”
Doctor Sabanis lowers his clipboard. “The fact is they drank too much of our drinks.”
“So, you are saying I should have spaced it out more,” he mumbles, feeling bad on how irresponsible. “Are they going to be ok?”
“As I said yes,” Doctor Sabanis says again. “As you said Rory is an Apostle so she will be fine. It was more like a punch in the gut. And with the two elves, their bodies are impressive, but they did need some treatment. In thirty minutes, they can go home with you, but I recommend you give them medicine and a few days of rest.”
He is glad to hear that. He takes a deep relaxing breath; glad they will be ok. “Thank you, doctor.”
He turns around and looks at Alicia. “Thank you, Specialist. I will be taking them home.”
“All good,” Alicia mumbles, showing how tired she is. “She always had my back, so I got hers.”
---
Ivashina Yaryna Yurievna is in the parking lot waiting for her contact. “God, I hate the states. Where the damn hell is he?”
So far everything is going to plan. When she met Lieutenant Colonel Jackson Sharpe at the park, she knew he would never accept her offer. She knows he will report what she said to his superiors and they will take all of it seriously coming from him.
Her motive was to confuse the Americans, make them understand that they do not control everything. The other motive was to warn the Americans that the Chinese have agents in Alnus. What she said before was true, while her country opposes American rule China is the real threat to Russian sovereignty.
China has a long history of stealing American and Russian technology and ideas and the idea that if China steals whatever secrets Uros has will be devastating for Central Asia. The Russian Federation refuses to allow its traditional backyard to be annexed by another power.
She sees this car pull up and Doctor Aman Sabanis gets out of the car. He is wearing a hoodie, pretending to be undercover. “Amateur. He has seen too many movies.”
She gets out and walks over to him. “Doctor. Do you have the goods?”
Doctor Sabanis looks around, scared. “Ye… yes. But it is very hard to get this material.”
Doctor Sabanis then pulls out three tubes of red liquid in them. “The three DNA you requested. Rory, Tuka, and Yao.”
She stands there looking at the man, not giving him a hint of emotion. At the nightclub she had one of her agents be the bartender. She was able to play Sharpe perfectly, using his protective side and his softness for the Girls against him at once.
She had her agent poison their drinks. Not enough to kill them but enough to make them sick so they go to the hospital. This was possible thanks to all the physiology information about all the alien races on record Doctor Sabanis has been secretly sending her.
One of her agents walks up and takes the tubes from Doctor Sabanis. He then walks back into the vehicle.
She knows the West is researching alien biology to learn its secrets. With the elves, life extension, finding a way to have a Human be one hundred years old but have a body of a twenty-year-old. The Apostle, blessed by the gods of her worlds and with super-human abilities, she can only wonder what secrets there are, if any.
“Thank you very much Doctor Sabanis,” she said.
“Ok,” Doctor Sabanis responds, still worried. “So, will I get my money? You promised triple for this job.”
“You will be paid as usual,” she responds. “Now go.”
As she watches Doctor Sabanis go back to his car she pulls out her silenced pistol and shoots him three times in the back and one in the head.
She lowers her pistol and single for her agents to load up the body and clean up the mess. As planned one of her agents will drive his car and hid it somewhere out of town while her other agents get rid of the body. The goal is to leave no clues, no trail. Sabanis will just disappear.
This job opened to many doors that could lead back to her and her country. As promised, as long as her people get something from the Gate to help counterbalance the rising China and the resurgence of Americans, they are happy, for now.
She heads back to her vehicle. While she is upset that she was not able to get Lelei’s DNA, she is happy about getting the other three. Having the magic user and seeing how she can use, and control magic would have been a major help for her country. She finds it funny that the only reason she was not able to get her DNA was because she is old enough to go fight for the Americans not but old enough to go to a nightclub.
Lelei was the highest priority after seeing all those Chinese soldiers die by her during the raid at the resort last year(3). She just hopes her government will accept the rest for now, at least until a new opportunity appears to get Lelei’s DNA.