KEYES, OKLAHOMA
181021SJUL31:
Even though what she held against her right now made her skin crawl, Penelope tried to relax. She braced the frame against her right shoulder, looking down the scope, trying to recall what she remembered from the last time she did it.
“You’ll be fine, hon,” she could hear James say behind her. “It’s mostly muscle memory.”
“It’s more than just that,” she snapped at him, a little harder than intended. “I’m a healer, not a killer.”
“You know I don’t like doing that unless there’s no other alternative,” he said to her gently.
Penelope sighed, then set down her rifle before looking at him. “I’m sorry I snapped at you,” she told him. “I …you know I don’t like guns.”
“I know you don’t; certainly, there’s enough justification when it comes to people like us,” he replied. “And if I had my way, you would never have to touch one. But that choice was taken out of my hands – both of ours.” He embraced her from behind. “I’ve always wanted to make sure you were safe, love, but I can’t do that all the time.”
She smiled; if it wasn’t for the shooting range regulations, she would have likely turned and kissed him, she knew. “And I appreciate that, more than words can say.”
“Then let’s try this again, okay?”
Penelope nodded, returning to the fireline and rehefting the weapon. Normally, given their assignment far from the battlefield, she would be training with the standard backup weapon, the P-90 USG, but given that the situation was urgent, the authorization to issue XM7A1s, the newest version of the Army’s storied SIG Sauer Spear XM7. There were rumors that several nations, corporations and transnational interests had recently gotten together to try to come up with a common weapons platform in order to make it easy for all nations to be able to use the same weapons, but right now that was just that – rumors – and until then, they would do with what they had.
Aiming carefully, she pulled the trigger and the weapon bucked. A small lick of flame tore away from the muzzle as the round cleared. However, the bullet missed the target, instead embedding itself into the concrete wall at the back of the firing range, far from her intended mark.
She frowned as she set the weapon down. “I’m not that bad of a shot!” she groused, ignoring her husband while he unsuccessfully waged a personal war to prevent himself from laughing out loud – and failing shortly thereafter.
“That was,” he gasped between gales of laughter, “the worst shot I’ve ever seen!”
“Be glad I love you or you’d be the next thing I’d shoot at,” she said in a hurt tone.
“Yes, but I’d be perfectly safe – the surroundings would be the only things in danger,” he replied with a wide grin. He finally forced himself to calm down, giving her a sympathetic look. “It can’t be that hard to shoot a gun, can it? I mean, you’ve been exposed to them before. I took you to the range a couple of times myself after I joined the MVPD.”
“I remember that. To be honest, I never felt comfortable around them even then, but I figured as the wife of a police officer, I should at least be familiar with having them around the house. Plus, I think it was some sort of guilt hanging over me with what Tyler had done back then, as well as...well, you know.”
“Yeah. You’re not the only one who’s had to come to grips with that. I don’t know what happened to him that made him snap, and whatever happened in the world that changed everything...I sound like a lunatic just for saying that. In any case, I wish I could have done more, but in the end, there’s only so much a person can do, even if they would like to do as much as they can.” The two were silent for the longest time, reminiscing over a past both had never really moved beyond.
After a few more awkward seconds, he said, “Okay, let’s try this again.” He walked over and grabbed a sidearm, setting that and the magazine on the table. “Make the shots and dinner’s on me, okay?”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then dinner’s on you – which it should be anyway, since you get paid more than I do,” he reminded her.
“But you’re my husband. You’re supposed to spoil me rotten because you love me,” she said with her patented disarming smile, the one she’d used on him time and time again. In the interim, though, she picked up the sidearm and magazine from the table in front of her, sliding the magazine into the gunwell.
Thoughts came to her mind, recollections of her friends and her long-abandoned duty as an elf-friend. Just because they were gone, she didn’t think that freed her from her vow, and she intended to keep it when she could. As she thought that, her benison began to glow softly.
From where he stood, James looked at his wife as she started to glow with a soft aura. “Pengo?”
She turned back to him and the glow stopped. “Yes?”
He wondered if he’d just imagined what he saw. He blinked his eyes briefly in case he’d been hallucinating the whole thing. “Everything alright?”
“I was just…reminiscing,” she admitted. “But I guess I should focus on what I need to do.” She set the gun down momentarily to slide on her safety glasses and ear protectors, then picked up, aimed, and fired. The pistol barked its tinny report as the woman fired, the weapon briefly bucking as each spent cartridge ejected away from the weapon.
When she put the gun down, she looked at her husband with a smile. “Let’s not go to the pizza place tonight, okay? Getting a little tired of that.” She then moved past him to return the weapons to the gun rack, so that the rangemaster could take care of them.
Meanwhile, James jogged out to where the target was and looked on with surprise. Perfect bullseye for the whole magazine. How the hell’d she do that? He headed back to ask her, but then noticed one of his own men standing there, waiting for him.
“Captain? Col. Karnstein is looking for you and the Major,” the sergeant told him. “Said it’s urgent and for you to drop everything. I brought a car so we can get there soonest.”
James and Penelope looked at each other; whatever other weapons familiarization planned was now on hold. “Okay, Sergeant,” he said. “Let’s get going.”
=+=
“Thanks for coming, you two,” Karnstein said as they entered his office. “We just got an updated brief from the Mountain and if you think things were serious before, they just got all that much more so. For this mission, we’re being sent some of the heaviest hitters the military has available: we’re not only getting operators from SEALs from Team SIX, but we’re getting one of their top platoons as well: The Amazons.”
“The Amazons, sir?” Penelope asked.
“Naval Special Warfare Development Group Detachment One, codenamed ‘the Amazons’,” Karnstein clarified. “The Amazons are their lone all-female team and one of the most effective squads in all of Special Warfare, not to mention the entire military. As I understand it, they’ve been in the worst of the fighting out there in the suck, most recently the situation in Rome. These gals apparently know their shit far more than anyone else, which is why they’re taking the combat lead on this. I tried to get more information on them, but for the moment, information is highly restricted, so we won’t be given anything until just before they get here.”
He then handed them two folders. “But I can provide some information, as they’re not the only ones coming along for the ride. The President is worried about another Boston, so he’s authorized the use of a CIA Special Activities Group. The SEALs are there in case the Octos act up.” Karnstein shook his head. “The CIA’s going to be there in case the locals act up.”
“What?” Penelope gasped.
“You heard me, Major,” the colonel stated. “Although personally, I’m not a fan of this either. Quite frankly, the more I hear about this mission the less I like it. This is starting to feel very much like the last thing we’re worried about are the people of Mesa Verde, and more like they’re just a convenient excuse to go there anyway.”
“I’m not a fan of it either,” James admitted. “I had the, quote, ‘pleasure’, of working with the Agency during the Battle of Paris. By the time we were pulled out, I didn’t know who was worse: the Octos or the CIA.”
“So noted,” Karnstein said. “I suppose I can bring that up with the overall person in command, Col. Keith Richardson. I know Col. Richardson; he’s a good man. But if he’s coming, either he means that he either has a leash for them…or he’s their fall guy. I can only hope it’s the former and not the latter.”
“I’m going to agree with James – I don’t like this,” Penelope told him. “I don’t know much about the CIA, but even I know they’re not supposed to operate within US borders—”
“Those are the old rules,” Karnstein said. “With the Octos now trying to kill everyone, those rules went out the window. Nowadays, the only difference between the FBI’s intelligence group and the CIA’s is that the FBI are generally considered the nice folks.” He leaned forward on the desk. “In any case, that’s not important to the here and now. Right now, I’m more concerned about whether your folks are ready to go.”
She looked at James. “Your call on that one, Captain.”
“Yeah, sure, make your husband do all the hard work,” he grumbled.
“Knock it off, you two,” Karnstein told them. “As it is, I’m already pushing several regs by sending you both on this mission, and while I know that a lot of those regs are just window dressing at this point, I tend to take them seriously. And while I know you two are just joking, the fact is, many people won’t, and they’re not going to care that it’s just husband and wife banter. You’re a major, Penny. Cpt. Kraft reports to you as that, and the moment this whole thing starts, I expect it to be only that.”
“Understood, sir,” she said, taking the hint. “In any case, from what I can tell, my people are good to go. We’ve been working with James’ company and although we’re not fighters, we’ll do our best not to be a burden.”
“And your assessment, James?”
“My senior cadre has been working with hers and they’re as good as we can make them. While they won’t be dyed-in-the-wool light fighters, they should be able to deal with the situation at hand.”
“Under the circumstances, I suppose that’s as good as we’re going to get. Regardless, we’ve been informed that the Amazons and their support unit will be ETA tomorrow. Afterwards, we’ll work things out with Col. Richardson and figure out where to go from there. I think it’s fair to say at this point, it’s go time, you two.”
Penelope finally decided to put the elephant in the room on notice. “Request permission to speak freely, sir.”
“Granted, Major, though I already know what you’re going to say.”
“You don’t want to do this, do you? Send us, I mean.”
“No, and not just because of regulations, even though like I said, those are pretty much a paper tiger nowadays. You two….” He removed his glasses and pinched his nose bridge in frustration before continuing. “You two remind me a lot of my wife and I way back when. Happy as clams, living a peaceful life and not having to worry about aliens or anything of the like. You two were dragged into this because you’re both from Mesa Verde, and if what little we know so far is true, I may be sending you two – a pair who deserve much better than this – to your deaths. So, no, this isn’t easy at all, Penny, and I don’t like this one Goddamn bit. Only solace I can take is that you’re going in protected by the best the government has.”
James looked at him, then his wife uneasily, not comfortable with the fact that as an accomplished soldier – and a police officer before that –he was still having to rely on someone else to do what needed to be done.
She then made her next request. “Sir, I’d also like to have Lt. Bollard come along with us. She’s worked hard and been an immense help in getting my group up to snuff and she can serve as a company XO for me. Moreover, she’s a promising young officer and I think it would serve as a great chance for her to grow.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“I think I can arrange that,” he told her, “just as long as you’re sure about it. Lt. Bollard is a communications officer, not infantry.”
“Then it’s more important that we have one of those along for the ride,” she told him. “If we’re going to succeed at this, sir, we’re going to need every chance at success.”
Karnstein looked at her and for a second, he wondered if he saw a mouse about to roar. “Then it’s best to make sure that I do so,” he said, templing his fingers upon the desk. “I guess we’ll find out tomorrow once it all starts. Dismissed, you two.”
As James and Penelope departed the colonel’s office, she commented, “We should probably look for quarters for the incoming SEALs. We can probably commandeer one of the abandoned apartment buildings that the town hasn’t used yet.”
“I’ll talk to my first sergeant and see if he can have the quartermasters get involved. As it is, we’re probably going to need some for their noncoms and enlisted troops.”
“A platoon, though? That’s smaller than your company. Will that be enough? Even for Special Warfare?”
“The President seems to think so. Plus, I once had the chance to train with some Green Berets. If the SEALs are anything like them, a platoon of them should be more than enough – hell, they’ll probably be more effective than my own people, and that’s saying a lot.”
She crossed her arms. “Also, there’s another thing we should consider.”
“Which is?”
She playfully jabbed a finger in his chest. “You promised me you were going to take me somewhere else tonight, right? I made the shots, so you owe me dinner at a decent restaurant, got that?”
He laughed. “What happened to the sweet, gentle girl I married?”
“You married her – that was the problem.”.
“Okay, get a room you two.” Cassidy rushed over to meet them, briefly saluting both. “Penny, are you sure about this?”
“I need someone I can trust,” Penelope replied, “and I know I can trust you.”
“Thanks. I’ll try not to blow it.”
“Well, you can start by doing our work for us,” James suggested, looking slyly at his wife, who caught it immediately.
So did Cassidy. “I just showed up at the worst time, didn’t I?”
“Yes you did, XO,” Penelope said in a serious voice. “Now the Captain here is going to give you an assignment, and he and I are going to go work on procuring weapons for our company in the meanwhile.”
Bolt’s eyes narrowed. “Since when did ‘procuring weapons’ become a euphemism for ‘going back to the apartment to fool around’?”
“It didn’t – we really are going to go check on weapons and armor,” James told her.
“Yes, we use different euphemisms for sex,” Penelope said, leaning briefly against James.
=+=
WINCHESTER ARMY AIRFIELD, VIRGINIA
181837RJUL31:
Once upon a time, Winchester Regional Airport had been nothing more than a small municipal airfield, a place where cargo and hobbyist aircraft flitted in and out of on their way to destinations elsewhere. But since the destruction of Washington DC and most of the aviation bases on the Eastern Seaboard, several airports had been repurposed into military facilities in order to accommodate the war. The Air Force took over the Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport, turning it into Martinsburg Air Force Base; the former Dulles International Airport was now busily being expanded as Naval Air Station Ashburn. The Space Force had taken Leesburg Executive Airport, and while Leesburg Space Force Base was somewhat superfluous, it still served a vital need for the military. Winchester Regional, with its proximity to the Mountain, had been no different; as a result, it had become Winchester Army Airfield.
Currently, the majority of the “FAR Group” was meeting in a conference room inside the terminal building. Jessica had already introduced Sarah and her other chiefs and petty officers to them; and in turn Sarah had arrived with new information: due to them now being semi-independent of DEVGRU, two aircraft from Fleet Multi-Mission Support Squadron SIX ONE were now assigned to them, flying two of the new HV-22C “Super Osprey” aircraft specifically designed for special warfare use. While the Amazons were still technically a part of SEAL Team SIX, for all intents and purposes they were practically their own mini-SEAL team.
“Look, all I’m saying is that we’re not going to be able to fit everyone into our craft,” Lt. Spinelli, the OIC of the aircraft detachment, stated. “They’re configured to carry the girls and their toys, so we can probably squeeze in a couple of others, such as my aircrew, Ms. Narcis and the Colonel here, since we’re just doing a straight flight to Oklahoma. However, once we get ready for the hot zone, we’re not going to be able to carry a company of ground pounders and medics as well. And if we’re talking medical supplies and all that? Sorry, I’m flying a plane, not a destroyer.” He turned to his counterpart, who was flying the other Super Osprey. “Any thoughts, Dusty?”
Ens. Springfield, the other pilot, shook her head. “Don’t think so, Spins. I agree completely.” She turned to Keith. “Lt. Spinelli knows his stuff, sir. I’m going to have to agree with his assessment. We’re going to need some extra hardware.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Keith assured him. “I think I can wrangle up a second unit to work with you, but it’s going to be Air Force, so you’ll have to work with them to figure out the operations balance. Think you can do that?”
“Hey, if you can get me an extra pair of wings to work with, I’ll get it done, Colonel,” Spinelli responded.
“Then I’ll get right on that as soon as I can. As it is, I suspect that we’re going to be looking at a situation where we might need global reach at a moment’s notice.” He looked at Jessica, adding, “You said you weren’t the only one who knew this elf girl, right?”
“That’s correct; I wasn’t the only one. But I have no idea where the others that knew her secret are or even if they’re still alive,” Jessica answered. “And quite frankly, I don’t care. They were my friends once – but after everything happened, words were said, the kind you can’t take back. Some things are meant to stay buried, and some things are just best left behind, and I’d really like to follow that personal call.” The look in her eyes was a mixture of unfathomable anger and pain, the kind that preceded a thousand-yard stare. It looked surprising to the others, but not to Sarah, who had been there for many of Jessica’s angst-filled nights.
Keith considered pulling Jessica aside to ask about it, but then saw the subtle shake of Sarah’s head and decided he’d inquire with her later. It probably had a lot to do with the personal info she divulged during her session with the President, and if that was the case, it was understandable why she was upset. Regardless, he didn’t know Jessica as well as her subordinate did, and mission or not, Mesa Verde native or not, he figured it was best left between friends. Besides, being from Mesa Verde himself, he’d always known the place was a little strange. Maybe not California-level strange, but still, Mesa Verde was often considered the “odd town” out of all the places in Colorado. It was, in a sense, a badge of pride amongst those who came from there, but he never really thought about why.
But now…now he knew that magic – magic?! – had been behind some of that, and that Jessica may have been a part of that mess. And now, without any understanding of what it really was or the ramifications of what it could do, much less the concerns regarding the previously-thought-dead branch of humanity that was also thought to be mythology at the same time, well…they were going to need to rely on all of that to save the human race. His father, a hobbyist astronomer, had once told him it that stars were a one in a billion chance to exist, because their existence depended on all those gasses coming together, then all that gravity holding them together and then its own mass squeezing it tight enough to emit enough heat and energy to become a flaming ball of light. That was essentially what was going on here.
But there was one critical difference between stars and what was going on: Jessica, despite being at the center of it, apparently had no interest in re-involving herself with whatever affairs it was that she had in the past. It made him wonder exactly what she’d done as a teenager, and if there were far more stories and information that she hadn’t shared with the President and his cabinet, or him and his own team, for that matter. Regardless of the truth, whatever it was had been enough to make her shun it like no tomorrow, even now.
Somehow, he wondered how much of the seventeen-year-old girl was still there in the twenty-nine-year-old woman, hating whatever it was that had happened a dozen years ago.
=+=
KEYES, OKLAHOMA
181937SJUL31:
“I like this place,” Penelope said, looking at the décor of the restaurant. They were at a restaurant deep within the Southside part of town, and while it wasn’t unheard of for military personnel to be here, they certainly looked out of place in the more family-oriented location, with bars and other venues catering to the Army at a minimum and mostly replaced with shops and other venues of a fading American life at war.
“Glad you do,” he said smugly.
“How’d you find it? I know you couldn’t have done this on your own,” she teased back.
“Cassidy said if I didn’t take you here, she’d frag me,” James said blandly. “She was the one that found this place and recommended it to me. Apparently, a bunch of restaurants in this part of town are trying to find a way to stay afloat, because even with the population growth in town, there’s still not enough business in Southside to keep them afloat. They want to keep on going and build roots here, so naturally they’re reaching out to the Army to make sure that they get that extra clientele. In fact, when I scoped out the place earlier today, I ran into the owner of the place, and she insisted that we come by. She also enticed us with some extras if we put the good word out for her.”
“So…you did it because she’s throwing free food at us and not because you actually searched.”
“Well, if you put it that way,” he said, shrugging.
She giggled and took a bite out of her burger, savoring the taste before setting it back down. “Hey, so long as the mission gets done, no one cares about what shortcuts are taken, right? That’s the Army way.”
“I’m so glad you approve, Major. I can die happy now.”
She took another bite and looked around. “You know, this reminds me of that old place we used to hang out at after school – The Tupelo Diner.”
“I remember,” he told her. “You were there so often it’s like you all had one of the seats reserved just for your group.”
“You were there, too, often with Tessa.”
“My memories are still fuzzy from that time, truth be told,” he admitted, “and I had to do a lot of thinking about it to sift through all the stuff that was in my mind. One day I was with Tessa, and the next…I was suddenly dating Lina Perez, and I barely remember anything about her – and nothing about Tessa.” He popped a fry in his mouth before adding, “And then I wondered why Tessa, who I supposedly loved and she loved me, would do that. My relationship with Lina felt so fake, that when we broke up after graduation, I really didn’t feel anything about it. But I don’t know if she felt the same way, and maybe it was all real to her.”
Hearing her husband’s words, Penelope couldn’t help but reach out and squeeze his hand in sympathy. Her memories were put into doubt for the longest time, but in the end, she was pretty sure they were left intact. But his had been actively changed, and she wondered if he’d forgive Tessa for that, if they ever met.
“Well, I can assure you that you were there,” she told him. “And yes, we pretty much had a booth that was all but ours. But then came the Rampage and everything afterward, and I retreated into myself. Didn’t come back out of my shell until you ran into me in college.”
“Now that I remember: You seemed so happy to see someone from Mesa Verde, even if I was someone with baggage from a past you wanted to forget. Plus, don’t forget that you weren’t the only one that was scarred by what happened, both the actual events and the ones that others wouldn’t ever know.” He finished off a fry and added, “You know, what? Forget it – it’s in the past.”
“Is it really?”
“How long have we been married now? It’s in the past, and I’m far surer of our marriage than I ever was of my relationship with Tessa. For years now, it’s been just you and me and that’s how it’s gonna stay.” He reached over and took her hands in his. “We’re going to make it out of here, we’re going to end this war, and then we’re going to start a family like you wanted.”
She smiled, falling practically in love with him once again. “You promise?”
“Yeah,” he said. “It’s a promise.”
=+=
BOYCE, VIRGINIA
182256RJUL31:
Even though she was still trying to familiarize herself with the area, Sarah knew it wouldn’t take long to find her old friend. And sure enough, the woman was laying on the hood of the JLTV she’d been issued, holding an apple as if studying it.
As she hopped out of her loaner JLTV, Sarah drawled, “Figures. All I had to do was to find the fruit trees in the area, and I knew you’d be there,” she said aloud.
“This is an Akero apple,” she said to no one in particular. “It’s a cultivar that’s fairly hard to find outside of Northern Europe, and it’s the standard variety in Sweden and Estonia, if I recall correctly.”
“And you know that how?”
She sat up, then took a bite. “Remember I told you about my uncle’s ranch down in Ute Mountain? While most of the land was used for cattle farming, they did have a small orchard where they grew fruit, mainly apples. I learned a few things from him, though I’m not exactly what you’d call an expert.” She looked back at the abandoned house, surprisingly still in good condition. “Found this place one afternoon after just deciding to look around. Since we’ve been assigned to the Group until further notice, I decided I’m going to ask the Reclamation Authority if I can take ownership, since it doesn’t look like the original owners ever came back.”
Sarah looked around appreciatively. “Looks nice. The original folks must’ve really liked this place.”
“I just like that it’s in between the Mountain and the Airfield. Close enough that I can access anything if needed, but far enough away that I can try to live my own life.” She took a brief glance back at the house. “I took a peek in the windows and apparently, the person that lived here was an artist. Makes me wonder if I still have any of my old talent left? Maybe I should try at making my own civvies; I haven’t done that since high school.”
Sarah then plopped onto the hood next to her friend. “And what made you decide to get all domestic? And before you answer that, Jess, remember that I have a great bullshit detector when it comes to you. I know when you’re avoiding shit, always have. So, want to cut the crap and tell me what’s wrong?”
Jessica was quiet for what seemed like the longest time while she gathered her thoughts. “I left the MV because I destroyed everything I had there, and when I left, I thought I was going away for good and would never look back. Yes, I went through a lot of hell, and a lot of people contributed to that. But I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit that a lot of it was my own hangups and fuckups, too. And now here I am, a dozen years later and heading back to where everything got dogfucked. I had a normal life, we were all friends, and then it all went away thanks to a tragedy that would have already made it bad.
“And I’ll be the first to admit: I didn’t really handle it well, but no one really does when you’re that age. And now that the scars of a decade-plus have finally scabbed over, I’m asked to rip off the bandaid. Or, if you want to get technical, I was ordered to.”
“Are you worried you’re not going to find her?”
“I’m more worried that I will – and I won’t know what to say. Did I tell you I had a dream the other night about her?” Jessica then went over her dream and how she seemed to have had a conversation with her missing friend. “She told me to forgive myself…but I don’t know if that was really her, or me just trying to convince my own guilty conscience and mentally unfinished business.”
“Twelve years is a long time to be a martyr, Jess. I’ve known you for years and I’ve never known you to be this down on yourself. You’ve always bounced back before. Why not this time?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s the kid in me that wants things the way they were, fighting against the adult in me knowing that’s never going to happen or would even be a good idea. Maybe I just want someone else to tell them that they fucked me up and I’m the person I am because of it.” She laughed bitterly, adding, “Or maybe I’m just fucked in the head.”
“Did it ever occur to you that maybe you just need to hear it from her in person? Either way, that’s not going to happen until you step up and start pushing the dominos.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t have the luxury of that choice anymore,” Jessica reminded her. “I stepped into this, now I gotta step forward.”
Sarah gave her friend a grin. “Fuck Six, Jess.”
Despite her mood, Jessica laughed. “Yeah, Fuck Six it is.”