Chapter 21: Consequences
Date: September 24th, 2023
Location: City of Ellington, Local Streets
Time: 11:37 PM (Local)
Sophomore Year, 1st Semester
“Alright Eve, I think we’ve stirred it up enough. Let’s lose them.”
“About time, Allen. I think we’ve kicked the hornet’s nest enough. Amy is going to have your hide!”
“I know, but I’m tired of the lies. Time to lay everything out.” Allen says aloud.
Allen leads his pursuers through multiple turns and watches as the number of police cars steadily increase. He’s aware that he needs to end this soon before someone gets hurt. The black van briefly pulls aside Allen, and the front passenger rolls her window down. Allen glances over in time to see the woman point a weapon in his direction. Allen quickly pumps his brakes and the passenger misses when she pulls the trigger. The driver again tries to match Allen’s speed to give the passenger another shot. Allen gets pissed and slows down further. Once he’s behind the van, Allen swerves behind them and the driver looses sight of him. She slows down and when Allen sees her brake lights, he swerves to the drivers side and passes the van while trailing his hand along the side.
“Heh, now to give the nanites a chance to do their work. Eve have them target the brake lines.”
“Oh, that’s just evil, Allen.”
“And what would have happened if they had hit me with that weapon at these speeds?”
“Turn about is fair play, I suppose….”
“Map me a route back to the school, scenic route.”
“Affirmative, Allen.”
A green line overlays Allen’s vision and he throttles up the bike while navigating Eve’s directions.
“We are approaching an intersection shortly. I recommend a sharp right, I believe the nanites have had enough time to disable their vehicle’s brakes.
Allen nods and watches as the turn approaches. He throttles back the bike and turns the handlebars sharply to the right while applying the brakes smoothly. As the bike begins to slide, Allen leans into the turn and rides the slide out. Once he comes out of the slide, Allen throttles back up and takes off down the street. He takes a quick look back.
“The brakes aren’t responding!” The desperate driver calls out as she frantically pumps the brakes. The passengers cry out and raise their arms to protect their heads as the van smashes into a closed storefront. The driver groggily shakes her head to clear her vision, only to stare into the barrel of a pistol pointed in her face.
“Hands on the steering wheel!” Officer Sela snarls. She REALLY hated paperwork.
“Okay Eve, update route to home.” Allen says as he glances back to see his handiwork.
“Allen! To your 12!” Too late, Allen realizes his error on focusing on the carnage he’d caused. He whips his head back around to see a late-night delivery truck back into the street. Allen slams on the brakes and the bike slides out from under him. The bike clears the undercarriage but Allen slams into a wheel. Allen hears running footsteps and sirens as he slips into unconsciousness.
Ellington Memorial Hospital, City of Ellington
*Beep Beep Beep Beep…..* Allen slowly wakes and rubs his head. Someone clears their throat from somewhere in the room. Allen focuses on the sound and finds an older woman staring at him with a smirk on her face. She somehow looks familiar to him. Brown hair highlighted with a hint of silver and intense blue eyes scrutinize Allen. The military uniform she’s wearing clues Allen in on who he may be dealing with.
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“Nice to finally meet Amy’s boss.” The woman chuckles at Allen’s words.
“How did you figure it out?”
“She’s young, obviously hasn’t been in the field long. Doesn’t know how to mask the training yet.”
“Very perceptive, Lieutenant Stryker.”
“So many people know my name tonight. So many people fail to give me theirs.”
This time, the woman let’s out a bark of laughter. She stands up and walks fully into the light. It glints off of her nameplate.
“STRYKER?!” Allen bolts upright, only to wince and grab his head.
“Steady.” Colonel Stryker says as she helps him get comfortable on the bed. She hears him mumble about how he enjoys computer coding and engineering, not quantum physics and string theory. She notes that for his file later.
“Helen Stryker. Nice to meet you.” She holds out her hand and Allen shakes it.
“So, how do we deal with this?” Allen folds his arms and chews his lower lip in thought.
“Well, Lieutenant. I beli….” Allen holds up a hand and interrupts her.
“Just Allen. We are family after all…. Somehow….” He trails off in thought again.
“Honestly, I don’t even want to do the math. You are not just from the future, but an alternate timeline too. So how about we assume that I am your aunt.”
“That works. Though, I think the Summertons will be crushed that I have family alive.”
“We will just stick with current arrangements. I’m assuming of course that the Summertons are still in. We can’t keep them in the dark about your situation any longer. Foreign powers may attempt more desperate actions to get their hands on you.”
“This is where you tell me that you are burying me in a bunker, for my own safety of course.”
Colonel Stryker smiles at Allen’s cheekiness.
“No, not planning on it. I’ve managed to hold off the top brass again. You need to help me out though and try to keep the noise you create to a minimum. You get too loud, well, I won’t be able to protect my nephew anymore.” Allen smirks at her. She mirrors it back at him.
“One more thing, my bosses want cooperation. You need to give me something to keep them off my back and yours.”
Allen rubs his chin as he ponders what to do. After he consulted Eve, Allen speaks.
“Non-military applications only. I can also give you technology up to 2 decades in advance. Best I can do.”
“Alright, that’ll have to do. It may be an issue in the future.”
“They can just deal. I will NOT be responsible for upsetting the balance in this universe. Millions could die.”
“I understand. Now, before we call your family in, I have one last item that needs to be addressed….”
A younger woman steps into his view with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her pretty face. She has shoulder length, black hair and blue eyes. Her clothes…… A familiar flight jacket over a tank top with black utility pants and boots. A name tag showed her last name….
“Captain Mercer!”
“WHAT IN THE FUCKING STARS WERE YOU THINKING, LIEUTENANT?” Allen grimaces as his Squadron Leader puts the mother of all dressing downs on him. All he can do is lay in bed as he weathers her righteous fury.
“……..REMAIN UNDER THE RADAR!” Well, she had a point.
“……...NOT DRAW ATTENTION TO THE FACT….” Another valid point.
“Ma’am, I can explain. I was fully convinced, based on evidence that rescue was imposs….” Captain Mercer interrupts.
“CLOSE THAT HATCH, LIEUTENANT! I TALK, YOU LISTEN!” And that’s exactly what Lt. Allen Stryker did, for the next 45 minutes. Colonel Stryker watched on with obvious glee.
“Now, you can talk.” Captain Mercer had finally finished her reaming. Colonel Stryker had taken notes as she learned many new ways to insult a subordinate.
“Ma’am?”
“Yes, lieutenant?”
“I’m really glad you’re here.”
“If you weren’t already in a hospital bed, I’d put you in one.” Captain Mercer scowled and then did something next that left Allen speechless, she jumped into his arms and hugged him fiercely. Her eyes watered as she began talking again.
“I thought I lost you. Not just my best pilot, but the one person I cared about in the galaxy. When your ship disappeared into the anomaly, I ran to my ship and launched. I broke so many regs, I’m sure I’m court martialed if we ever make it back.”
“I swore I heard you in the background of the comms. I thought I was going to be zeroed and was imagining things.”
“Well, I followed your dumb ass. The anomaly was barely open when I arrived at your last ping.”
Captain Mercer had suspiciously adjusted herself in Allen’s arms and made no move to get up.
“Then Captain, it looks like we are both stuck. They are too far behind to even reliably get off this mudball.”
“Alicia. While we are here, call me Alicia. Save formalities for official navy business.”
“Alright Alicia. What’s the plan now?”
“Unlike you, I didn’t crash my fighter. It’s parked in a secure hangar. Colonel Stryker’s eggheads are beyond frustrated because I won’t let them anywhere near it. Watson has failsafes in place.”
Watson was of course Alicia’s A.I.
“I’ll be moving to Ellington and enrolled in your school. Colonel Stryker will be my mother. She’s also opening up a coffee shop, it’ll be a perfect cover to protect us. I heard you were looking for a job, I happen to know someone who’s hiring.” Alicia has a twinkle in her eye as she motions to Colonel Stryker. Allen nods and then asks Alicia for her input on his earlier decision.
“You heard about my deal with the Colonel by any chance?” Alicia nods her head.
“Your thoughts? Ma’am?”
“It’ll work. We are blurring the lines on many serious Alliance regs but if that’s what it takes for survival, we should be safe. I’ll cooperate too.” She looks Colonel Stryker in the eyes.
“Absolutely NO deal on my ship! It’s too dangerous to even exist on this world. I’ll be sending it back up for standby, don’t even bother to try looking for it.”
“I understand. I can keep that promise but I will not guarantee anyone else trying anything.”
“That’s fine, they will just be causing themselves headaches.”
The door to Allen’s room opens and before he can get any words out of his mouth, a familiar voice booms out.
“Who’s the tater-thot with Allen on the bed? Wait, why’s she hugging him?”
Alicia turns her head and looks at Allen.
“Tater-thot?” Allen only shrugs in response.