Mark appeared with Ton and Alexi on the bridge of the livestock transport, "Good morning Victor." Smiling at the grinning ship's commander Mark handed over a chip. "Our itinerary for the morning, we have five major farms to visit this morning, with another four this afternoon. All total if the herds are acceptable, there will be at least a thousand animals to transport up to the buffers, I think the decontamination set we came up with should be more than adequate." Seeing the pleased look on Victor's face, Mark wondered something, "Did you get the notification of the new ship classes, the ones replacing this class." Getting an excited nod back he had to ask, "So, which did you chose?"
Beaming in delight, Victor leaned forward, "I chose to stay with scouts. I am told I will get my new command in two week's time, until then I will go on patrol of the other systems of the empire. Checking on the defense systems," puffing up in pride, "Vasily will be taking over livestock hauling duties starting tomorrow."
"Congratulations then, Victor, if you are going on system check duty, that means you're going to get the first ship off the line WSS001, you'll have to come up with an appropriate name for him, one that has meaning." Mark grinned at being able to send the Russian into a thoughtful mood, "Well, we need to start, I'm sure our security team is already down there waiting for us, I just wanted to stop up and give you the itinerary." Waving one last time, Mark held out a hand for Ton and Alexi to grab hold of and ported, once he felt both of them grab his arm firmly.
Arriving by the hummer, Mark smiled as he waved at Rod and opened the door for the other two to climb in first, once in, he laughed as they stood in the aisle in shock, "You guys need to sit down, don't mind the terminals or screens." Nudging both of them he pulled the farm data up on the screen, the first farm was only about five miles away.
Pulling open the drawer, Mark pulled out a bank draft and waited, they had stopped and security was checking the area out, "You know I am never going to demand Aaron take security more seriously, this being babysat is really getting on my nerves."
"Do you not normally have a security detail?" Ton asked, as he looked out the window while the guards moved through the barns with the farmer.
"If we were unlucky, we got stuck with a single guard going around with us," pointing to his get up he was wearing he sighed," now though, after Aaron getting shot and all of us throwing a fit, Security is across the board, everyone gets a team and when we have to go into the outside world, we have to wear all this shit."
Alexi grinned, "Did not his Majesty address this with all of you last night, when asked how he handles it, he told you he told his team to keep up, not to tell him when he could do what he needed."
Mark stared at Alexi for a minute before grinning, "You're right.let's go we have a timetable to keep," getting up, he opened the door and stepped out, looking around the farm before making his way over to where the farmer was staring at the guards. Halfway there, one of the security team rushed over, "Young Lord, we did not give the all clear, it might not be safe."
Mark glared at the guard who stepped back, "You have no more than one minute after we stop, to check out the property, if you are forgetting to use your gifts to check the place out.Well, I'm sure Otto and Friedrich can come up with a marvelous refresher course to put all of you through." Holding up a hand as the guard started to protest, "I know there are exactly two people within three miles of this place, and let's not forget about those fancy scanners in the chase vehicles, I would hope they had been used before we even entered the property." Sensing the guards embarrassment, Mark nodded, yep he thought, they never once used any of the technology at their disposal."
Stepping around the shocked guard, Mark smiled as he approached the farmer, "Sorry about all that, but I just realized they were not using our equipment. Mark Stranton, I believe Allan from Gene Corp made arrangements to sell your herd to us."
Staring at the youngster in front of him, the farmer sighed; they weren't with the bank then, "Alan called yesterday and made the arrangements, he told me you would pay top dollar for my herd." The farmer looked wistful as he looked at the herd in the side lot, he had placed them there after morning milking in case the call was genuine, it might be enough to hold off foreclosure.
Mark had been skimming the man's mind, very glad he had done what he had when he figured out a fair price, "I'm truly sorry that you had to sell the herd, but I had this drawn up on the state bank. One of the bigger ones, so you could call to make sure it is valid, I think you will find it is fair," Mark handed over the check and watched as the man's face dropped in shock.
"But.But, this is more than." the farmer stuttered out in shock, gazing from the check to Mark's face.
"A fair price, including on year's worth of milk payments," Mark looked over at the herd. "I checked on you, and if it were not for the simple fact of the one bank calling your loan, well, you would not be in this predicament. So this will pay off all your big loans, and if you are careful and manage your harvest payments right, this time next year, you can start to build your herd up again, this time though, try to not take any long term loans out."
As the stunned man thanked him, finally Mark tapped his communicator, "Victor, this herd is ready to be transported out." Gazing on the shimmering the herd was doing as the transporters took effect, Mark watched Ton and Alexi out of the corner of his eye. Ten minutes later after the herd was gone, he turned and smiled, "I am sorry you had to sell like this, but I am happy I could set you on the road to getting back on your feet." Motioning to his two tag along's Mark shook the farmer's hand before starting for the hummer.
Stopping by the door after the other two climbed in, Mark looked at the head of his security team who looked sheepish, "If it does not happen again we won't mention it. You have sixty seconds from now on, after this hummer comes to a stop before I climb out," waiting for the nod, Mark climbed in and waved at Rod, it would be a good half hour trip to their next stop.
"Is it normal when you buy a milk cow to give the owner the cost of milk for one year?" Ton was trying to understand what just happened.
"No," Mark looked thoughtful, "All except one of the farmers we will be visiting today.well the selling off of their herds and way of life are not their fault or the fault of bad weather or anything like that. It is because those they trusted to borrow money from, in a sense, broke the contract, they called the loan early because they were the ones to make bad decisions on other loans. So they stood to lose everything because of things outside their control. I decided I would give them a hand if I could." Pulling up the file for the next farm they were going to visit, he sighed. "The little bit extra I am giving them is a way to let them keep their dream. After today any herds I buy will just have a price attached and that will be the end of it. My manager at Gene Corp gave me these names after explaining everything involved, normally these are the farmers who more than make a go at their life, so I am helping them out just that little bit."Staring out the window, Mark left out that if Friedrich was right, in about a month's time at least several families would be able to have a safe place to live, though chances are it would be rough for them. It was his way of reaching out to some communities, when it finally went sour they knew he could be contacted for help, they would remember.
This was depressing he thought, as he got out of the hummer for the fourth time that day, this farm was different, while successful and without debt, the young family living here was selling everything off, herd, machinery and everything, even the farm was for sale. This was one family he wondered about, but Alan told him it was one of the best herds around, and close to three hundred head. Opening his mind, he felt the sorrow and pain emanating from the house and glanced at his detail and saw they were jumpier than normal, even the farmer was more closed and distrustful.
Catching movement in an upper window, Mark saw a young teen gazing down at them, the pain and sorrow were coming from him, skimming the man's mind he found a lot of hatred building there, the only question was who or where was it directed. Finally, several feet from the man, Mark stopped not bothering to smile with the oppressive hate coming from the man, "Hello, I think you are expecting me, Alan from Gene Corp made the arrangements for me to buy your herd." The change in the man's emotional output was jarring; he went from hate to relief so quickly it was uncomfortable.
Wanting to know what was going on but knowing coming out and asking would not get any answers, Mark handed over the check, "You're the only one I am visiting today that wanted the bank draft on an out of state bank," tilting his head as he picked up from the farmer that as soon as possible his family was gone, he found it strange activating his communicator he told Victor to start transporting the herd out.
Feeling shock and longing from the house, Mark looked back up at the window to see the wide eyed stare from the teen, still wondering what was going on, Mark looked at the farmer one more time before jerking upward as a sudden stab of intense fear came from the teen in the window, turning around he saw a trail of dust from a dozen or more vehicles racing down the road "What the hell."
Aaron looked up, hearing a knock at his door, glancing through the open door; he smiled at the shy teen on the other side, "Come on in, for the future, if the door is open feel free to walk in." Once the teen sat down Aaron remembered who he was, "What can I help you with, Victor?"
Slightly surprised and secretly pleased, Victor smiled, he knew his name, and after only one meeting, grinning, he got around to telling Aaron what was on his mind. "I find myself in an embarrassing situation," seeing the confused look on the King's face he tried to explain. "I find myself wanting to become like you, to be Alteran, yet I find that I am attracted to two not much older than I am, and desire to find out if the mutual attraction will lead to something much more satisfying." Rushing to get the rest out, Victor sat forward eagerly, "It has not come up yet, but I wish to know if they belong to a clan, I was invited to have supper with them tonight and it was mentioned it was dinner and whatever would come up."
Aaron smiled to put the teen at ease, "What are their names, I can tell you if they belong to a clan or not, what if they don't belong to a clan, would you still be interested in finding out if the three of you are compatible?"
"Yes, it feels right when I am with them, they run the kitchens, Scott, and John," Victor was excited that he was not being rejected outright.
Hiding his surprise, Aaron pathed John, "John are you and Scott serious about Victor?"
Tilting his head up as he felt Aaron call him, John motioned for one of the other cooks to take over stirring the pot he was working on, "Aaron.What?" John sent his confusion back.
Amused, Aaron slowed down, "Victor, you know, the guy both you and Scott invited for supper tonight, and to see where things go from there, well, he is in my office asking my advise on a couple of things, are the two of you serious about him?"
John looked at his brother and lover with a funny expression on his face, "Yes we are, we hit it off when we found him sneaking into the kitchens to cook a snack.Why?" then it came to him, the prospectives and the comment from hell.
"I'm happy for you, if the three of you hit it off tonight we can get Victor into one of the bio-tubes right away then," Aaron sent reassurance along with the answer. "Relax John, as far as I am concerned, the more of the prospectives that find someone else, the better for me. Just let me know if you hit it off, I'll pop him in a bio-tube first thing in the morning then, well maybe I will give the two of you a chance to fill him up one more time," Aaron broke the link with a little bit of evil laughter and glanced at the nervous and hopeful teen.
"I was talking to John, he and Scott are both very serious about seeing if the three of you feel right." Aaron grinned, "So if you would decide to get physical tonight, you have my blessing, and to answer your question, no they do not belong to a clan. Don't let that worry you, though, I already have two of your group volunteering to donate genes." laughing after picking up Victor's excitement, he told him, "Victor, if you truly feel a connection, I want you to go for it, John will let me know and if you three connect we can get you started on being altered and on with your new life, I am happy for you."
"Thank you," Victor was beaming as he bounced up and looked at Aaron, "may I kiss you goodbye, for luck?"
Chuckling, Aaron went around his desk and hugged the eager teen, looking at him as he started to release him from the hug, Aaron gave him a chaste kiss, well for him anyway, after all he did not want to influence Victor's decision. Watching Victor bounce out of the room full of energy, Aaron went back to his desk to finish reading through the reports on how well the new engine was being accepted in Britain.
Closing the report with satisfaction Aaron looked up and noticed Andrew smiling at him from the doorway, his fingers playing with the limiter on his right wrist, "Hello Love." He looked at Andrew's naked form and the clan medallion resting in the center of his chest, "Why don't you close the door after you come in, that way we won't be disturbed." Aaron told him, his voice husky as he stood and let his shorts slip down so he was also naked, the freedom allowed his growing hardness the room needed to rise towards the ceiling.
Shivering with desire from the simple words Aaron greeted him with before standing; Andrew stepped through the door and hit the close button as requested, body reacting to Aaron's words that promised love and physical joining, 'sex', his mind was screaming to him, as he moved closer and was drawn into the strong arms before melting into the kiss. Feeling Aaron brush up against his mind, he welcomed him in and they linked as Aaron's hands roamed his body as their tongues danced between their mouths.
An hour later, Andrew collapsed on top of Aaron totally spent for the moment, he had finished Cumming for the third time and slipped out of Aaron before crawling up his lover's body, feeling hands lift his legs and part them gently he groaned out in pleasure as he felt Aaron slip inside him and start to thrust, brushing past the wonderful spot deep inside him.
Tightening the linkage between their minds, Aaron felt his body go into overdrive with the need to cum. Pushing faster and deeper he realized at the moment of firing his load that this was the way the transfer of knowledge of using Clan specific gifts occurred as a ghosted image surrounded Andrew briefly, and his dragon was gold and red. Burying himself deeper as he planted his seed deep inside his lover, Aaron wondered if the color was indicative of something as Andrew shuddered as his own body climaxed again.
Kissing Andrew while staying inside him, Aaron smiled, "Now what can I do for you, Love," thrusting several times to punctuate his words, "Besides drive you wild, that is."
"Gods above, Edward's right, you have Satyr DNA in you," Andrew told him as he felt the slow movement in and out of his bum from Aaron's very hard willie. "I came over to ask several questions, things about the gifts I don't fully understand," he groaned out as what Aaron was doing felt real good.
Smiling wickedly, Aaron decided he was good for at least one more load before he would help Andrew understand the gifts fully. Shifting slightly and raising Andrew up just a bit, and he was rewarded with the very loud groan of delight from his lover, "Gods above, don't stop."
Thrusting at a good pace, Aaron put a cushion between his body and Andrews hips before pulling Andrew closer to his body, causing his hardness to hit Andrew's prostate before pushing past it, not only was he brushing by it with every thrust or the outward pull brushing it again he was actively assaulting it with the tip of his hard cock. Capturing Andrews's lips as his lover was screaming in pleasure, Aaron picked his pace up until he was slamming in and out of Andrew's butt while swallowing his lovers scream of pure pleasure. All too soon, Andrew started to clamp down on his hard shaft as his body went over the edge and he hit his orgasm and moving just that little bit faster, Aaron felt his own climax approach and as Andrew threw back his head and let out a half scream half groan, he buried himself one more time as he fired off a larger load deep inside his lover.
Chuckling softly as Andrew slumped down onto his chest, all but unconscious from the pleasure, he pulled the pillow carefully from between them, making sure he stayed inside his limp and highly satisfied lover; he kissed him gently as he waited for Andrew came back to the land of the living.
Half an hour later, Aaron smiled as he opened his eyes at Andrew's stirring and the last little bit of his now soft penis slipped out as Andrew lifted his head and looked down at him, "Dear God.At least this time you broke a sweat," Andrew muttered, before dropping his head back onto Aaron's chest.
Chuckling softly, mouth mere centimeters from Aaron's nipple, Andrew gave it a thought about licking the taut nub before tossing it aside, he did not know if he could take another round, instead he asked, "Can you please explain why when we port, we break the laws of time?"
Grinning as Aaron kissed the top of Andrew's sweat soaked head, "Well, let's start with a simple one first." Aaron pulled power from the multiple gestalt links he installed in his office and ported them down to the island topside hot springs before kinetically lowering them gently into the warm water. Settled into the warm water amidst Andrew's sighs of comfort, "The first thing you have to take into account is that our gift of teleportation is the ability of being able to enter and cross through hyperspace, in effect, we are folding space and stepping from one section onto another."
Chuckling at Andrew's glare, Aaron tried another way, "Think of folding space like this, take a long piece of rope and if you walked across it; it would take time , but if you are at one end and bring the other end to the end you are at and step over, no time passes, no distance was traveled. When our mind folds space and we travel, to a degree, we are entering a hyperspace plane, a place time does not and cannot hold sway."
Scrunching his face up in thought, Andrew finally said, "Okay, I understand how we port, if your piece of rope analogy represented kilometers it still bypasses the length by folding it, but what about time?"
"That is the wonder of Hyperspace, the place where time does not have a hold, you arrive where you want to be and the time you wish to be there at, because of hyperspace and your mind saying you are arriving in the time it takes to blink," Aaron listened in as Andrew rolled that over in his mind.
"So if I ported and knew I was going to arrive at my destination at a certain time, I would arrive then, but why aren't we traveling back in time every time we port?" Andrew looked confused, "This stuff hurts to think about it."
"Exactly," Aaron chuckled, "But understanding this is what led to the discovery of time travel. The problem is, without an artificial device to hold you in hyperspace long enough to clearly think about when you want to arrive, you won't have to worry about traveling in time any time soon."
Andrew thought about it for several moments before sliding off of Aaron's chest and moving over to the waterfall, "I understand the folding space part and will take your word for it on the time travel hyperspace stuff."
Moving to the other side of the waterfall, Aaron smiled as the warm water hit his neck, "Good, because I have no idea on how to explain the rest of it, last time I tried studying it I gave myself a headache, I know it works and that is good enough for me, right now the Core is the only thing that truly understands time travel."
Tommy's image stood on the shore of the Sea of Ruhn with Ivan and Igor next to him, with his pad out as he directed the MRB's in building the new aquaculture facility. Or at least the image being sent from the actual building site, "Alright, let's see if the hatchery works as you envisioned." Smiling as he turned the pickup around and followed the new river trench back towards the processing center and Hatchery on the other side of the building.
"This looks like home, like the Caspian sea.How is this possible?" Ivan looked in awe at the inland sea and noticed the fins of large Sturgeon in the distance.
"This planet was Terra-formed to be exactly like Earth," Tommy smiled at the secret that was the truth about the planet's origin. "Then it's had a good almost three hundred years for the sea life that was brought over to take hold and prosper. Besides the caviar that we can export, the biggest benefit is in fingerling stock that we can export to Earth to repopulate extinct or near extinct species." Directing the SE110 into the door, Tommy looked up near the roofline of the greenhouse and the fluid filled tubes that carried nutrient rich water for the development of plankton like algae and critters, he had gotten the idea from the UV short course in the Virgin Islands he attended.
Igor's eyes followed Tommy as he looked around in wonder towards the sheltered area near the wall, hundreds of large hatching jars lined the wall with overflow pipes leading to small tanks near the end of the shade and the clear roof, he was amazed as Tommy touched the clear wall, one of those many terminals and the water started to flow into the system, filling the hatching jars and then flowing through into the small rectangular tubs. "This is amazing; it works just like the drawings we made yesterday."
Grinning as the plasma changed as if they were walking out of the hatchery section and walking through the different tanks, each section getting larger than the last, "It works quite well, I can go ahead and build the other hatcheries then, I think." Tommy looked around as the MRB's finished the tanks and moved on to the next section, "I think we will come back next week and herd some of the smaller Sturgeon into the capture trench, so we can stock these tanks." Tapping some instructions into his P.A.D.D. water started to fill the tanks, "Come on, let's check out the egg harvest side, if you like this, you'll love the new tools that can remove the eggs from a sturgeon surgically without hurting it, and seamlessly repair the incision.how many pounds of roe can you get from an adult Sturgeon anyways?"
"One hundred and Sixty to Three hundred and fifty pounds per fish, depending on size of the female," Igor got out as he looked around at the complicated looking set up.
Taking a look around, Tommy was satisfied, "Alright everything looks like it is supposed to, how about we move over to the cold water facilities and work with the others in checking those systems for stocking the trout."
Still confused but hoping to learn more later, Igor moved over along with Ivan as the plasma went dark and they found themselves back in the underwater city.
Tommy stopped and looked back at Igor surprised, "Wait a minute, a couple of hundred pounds on average per fish, and then to add to it about a thousand dollars an ounce for the caviar.incredible, that's a fortune, no wonder there are so many poachers."
Moving over to the desk, Tommy sat down and looked at each of them, "Okay, truth time, you both have fishing in your blood, it looks like." Snorting, Tommy pointed to the small hologram of the design they had worked on before creating the system in real life on Middle Earth. "The question is if you could gain our gifts, to become part of our race, would you like to have a career in the fisheries or something else?" Pointing at the other chairs, "Sit down guys it's time to talk things out."
Ivan gingerly sat down as his friend stood next to him still looking as if he was still lost in the image of Middle Earth, pulling Igor down he laid his hand on his friend's leg and gave it a gentle squeeze, "What do you wish to know?"
Tommy gathered his thoughts, "I watched both of you when we designed the facility and when Pete came over to help design the fishing vessel, and I saw how your eyes lit up Ivan, at the mention of the energy nets and how they could be set so they only captured and herded the species we wanted. And right now Igor looks lost, as if he would rather be on Middle Earth touching and working with what he saw on the screens just now. So I guess the question I want answered is, is that your dream, and if it is, do you want to chase it by our sides or outside the Clan?"
Picking up on Igor thinking they were being put on the spot Tommy leaned forward, "I am NOT putting you on the spot, what I am trying to do, and when you interact with the others, is to make sure you do what you want to do, this in no way is us asking for a decision by any of you. Think of this as a break and a time to let us know what you are feeling and what you think." Thinking about it as he picked up one their thoughts Tommy smiled, "This is in no way my way of discouraging you, our areas we cover overlap as you found out at the meeting. There is no reason that areas can't be split up like when Xon took part of Tim's area of the security forces, which included all military not just the Marines like he does now."
Ivan looked at his childhood friend, he had hoped to at least find out if they were compatible and he secretly hoped they would get together. Now he had pushed to the back of his mind the fact only one of them could be chosen, and he did not know how to deal with that, maybe Igor and he needed to have a long talk he thought.
Tommy sat back and thought about what he just learned, "I'm going to leave the two of you to talk for the rest of the day, as both of you are thinking loudly, about the same thing, to tell the truth." Grinning at the blushes, Tommy stood, "Remember something, if you want to be Alteran and be part of what we do, you can do that even if you chose to be together." Smirking as he ported out of the room, Tommy decided to go to Middle Earth in person, that way he could get his hands on the work that had been done.
The teen Mark had spied in the upper window came running out of the house just as the famer muttered, "Damn.I thought we had more time, at least my wife and the younger one is out of the way." Looking back at Mark he sighed, "If something happens to me, can you see my wife gets this check," he asked as he held the check out so Mark could take it back.
Staring for a moment, Mark shook his head, "Keep it, nothing is going to happen to either one of you, get in the Hummer, it's armored." Staring at the lead trucks as they came down the lane he noticed the people in the back had guns. Glancing back at the pasture, he noticed half the herd was gone so he needed to delay those people. Seeing the two had yet to move he shoved them towards the Hummer along with Ton and Alexi, "Get them in the hummer where all of you will be protected.NOW!!!"
Concentrating on the lead vehicle, Mark kinetically blew the tires out and quickly afterwards he had the next three vehicles suffer the same fate, seeing the vehicles slow to a stop he narrowed his eyes as he destroyed the front end of the lead vehicle as the people in the back jumped out.
Moving over to the open side door to the hummer Mark asked the two, "Who are these people and what do they want?"
"They want my son, they want to cleanse him of the evil, or so they say," the farmer spat out in anger as he turned to look out the window behind him, "they are the reason we sold the place and are moving."
Mark's eyes went to the field and saw he only needed another three minutes at most, "Earl, I hope you have your shield on."
"Shield?" Ton asked as he looked out the open door.
"That is why I am standing here instead of being shoed inside there with all of you, we are wearing shields that will stop all projectiles," Mark replied, as Earl walked over.
"Your orders, Dragon Lord," Earl asked quietly as his men moved into position.
"Ask their spokesman to come over, just keep him on the other side of the Hummer so he doesn't see our guests," Mark noticed there was a good thirty men standing by the trucks looking around, all armed and wearing camouflage clothing, almost like an army, he was starting to get uncomfortable with what he was witnessing.
Picking up on the hatred for others different than them, Mark narrowed his eyes as one of the mob strutted towards him, with the rest of them not far behind, weapons at the ready, once the man was about ten feet from the hummer he gave it a curious glance before looking back at him.
"Who are you and what are you doing here, this is private property," the leader sneered and demanded.
"Well, I am the person who bought the dairy herd and the last of them are being moved right now. And I was invited in to buy up the herd, so I do have permission to be here," Mark insinuated that they did not, which did not go well with the group.
"Well then, I guess I need to take this up with Ned and his family then," the man sneered at Mark as he started to move to the front of the Hummer.
Mark shrugged, "Fine with me, I'm only here after the herd, but if you think he is in the house you would be mistaken." Mark told the sneering man as he moved past the front bumper of the hummer, "He left along with his son right after I gave him the bank draft." Smiling as the last of the herd was gone, "And now that the herd is moved, we are ready to leave."
Whirling around to see the strangers words were true, "Fuck." he muttered angrily, as he stared at the barn, getting his anger under some semblance of control, he looked at the boy again, "When did they leave and which way did they go, boy?"
Mark stared at the man while noticing that several of his mob had raised their rifles, pointing them at him and his guards, "Not long before you arrived, and I was too busy to tell you which way they went." Mark shrugged as he skimmed the man's mind, which he found disturbing. Gazing at the lane, Mark saw they would have to cut through the field to get out and sighed, it was either that or wait for the mob to take off and get rid of the damaged vehicles after they left.
"I think I need a better answer than that, I demand you tell us," the man sneered as he tried to look imposing.
"Excuse me," Mark glared at the man. "I don't have to do anything of the like, you said yourself, this is private property and I am legally here to remove my purchased property by the invite of the owner, you have no right to demand anything, in fact you have no legal standing it looks like."
The man laughed at Mark, "Listen up, pretty boy, I have all the authority I need, I have God's authority backing me and my platoon is between you and the road, the only way out."
Angry, Mark let his eyes scan the mob and saw most of them had their rifles aimed at them, "And who the hell do you think you are to demand things and order me around."
Laughing before grinning with madness in his eyes, he stood tall, "I.you want to know who I am, well I'll tell you. I'm Reverend Carlson, first platoon leader of the Army of God."
Ton had been following along with the conversation, now though, after the man identified himself along with his fellow he noticed every Alteran stiffen and their posture went from angry to rage.
"ALIVE.I WANT THEM ALL ALIVE," Mark roared out in rage as he embraced the energy he was calling up from the air, with a wave of his arm, he threw the reverend into the Hummer's hood and snapped his arms as he turned the rage on the mob who had opened fire. The problem was their targets were no longer there and they were falling fast as their bodies were lifted from the ground and limbs broken.
Ton watched in awe as electric arcs skipped along the power lines and it looked like lightening arced to hit the enraged Dragon Lord, or come close he realized as he saw for the first time they did not actually hit.
Seeing all the mob on the ground screaming in pain, Mark let the rage he was building out. And the plasma that had taken the form of a Dragon flew from his body and obliterated the cars, leaving a clear path to the road.
Eyes flashing with rage still, but holding control, just barely, Mark stalked over to the fallen man glaring at him the whole time. Tapping his communicator he snarled, "Otto, I need your best spook squad to my location right now." A minute later he felt a polite brush against his mind and gave the visualization necessary so the spooks could port in.
Major Hicks gazed around the area and noticed all the screaming people on the ground, looking closer he noticed each of them had both arms broken and some of them a leg also, spotting the young lord he noticed he was still angry and he could feel the energy in the air. "Young Lord, you have need of my squad?"
"Drain those things dry," Mark spat out in anger, "I want every lead tracked down and their minds drained, I want to know where every piece of filth lives and works, if you have to bring in every spook squad to accomplish this, then do it."
Major Hicks stared at the people on the ground wondering what the hell went on here.
Mark looked in the Hummer, "Ton, Alexi both of you come on out, we will be leaving from here.Rod, take these two wherever they need to go." Porting the rest of the bank drafts out of the drawer Mark went over to Earl and handed them to him, "Spilt up if you need to, I don't care get the rest of the herds and get out of this forsaken cesspool of a state." Slapping the directions and bank drafts into Earl's chest he stalked over to the Major.
"Major Hicks, at this moment consider your teams at war, the Kingdom of Altare and these pieces of trash." Mark kicked the screaming man. "We are at war with the Army of God.these cretins."
Aaron looked up at the sound of someone clearing their throat, glancing at the clock, Aaron smiled, "Good Afternoon Emperor Yamamoto, please come in."
"Thank you, please call me Morimoto," the emperor smiled as he came in and sat in one of the chairs in front of Aaron's desk.
"And please call me Aaron," Aaron smiled as he skimmed the man's thoughts.
"I thank you, I asked your guards to collect me early so I could have a chance to talk to you," Morimoto took a moment to look out the window, "Your words repeated themselves in my mind since I heard them.will you share with me how Edward will be able to keep his kingdom separate from yours."
Aaron considered his words carefully, "Edward, when the time is right, will join my clan, as one of our mates. His area of responsibility will be in leading his country, the thing is, when his first son is born, he will actually step aside for his son so that on his son's twenty first birthday, he will be king. A king who because of his birth, will be the new clan leader of the newly created clan."
"So Edward will be regent for his son, thus ensuring that while your lines join, the two governments stay separate later on by the creation of a new clan, tasked with governing a part of Earth," Morimoto repeated it slowly as Aaron nodded in agreement. Looking out at the Earth, Morimoto thought for a moment, and knowing Aaron was a busy man, stood up and bowed, "Is there a place I may sit and consider your words until the meeting.
Aaron smiled, "Once you go through my door, go to your right and all the way down the hall, it ends in a lounge area where you can sit and either watch the universe or the Earth as you think."
"I thank you for your wisdom," Morimoto bowed and slowly left Aaron's office in deep thought.
Knowing the meeting was soon, Aaron brought up the information on the plasma screens around the room so he could see what was needed to be covered by from his lists, he also brought up the floor plans and designs the youngsters had come up with so far. Chuckling as he separated out the designs that would be more apt to fit in on Middle Earth. Some of them were very good, and he made the time to send each of the youngsters an email thanking them for their design. He also made sure to comment on what he really liked about the design, encouraging them. In the end, he ended up with four categories of designs.
Mind automatically reaching out as he heard footsteps, Aaron with his back to the door grinned, "Hello Victoria, James and." tilting his head to the side, "Edward, I take it school is out for the morning then."
Looking at the back of Aaron's head Victoria told him, "You know, I find that little gift of yours annoying, useful, but annoying." She hid her smile as she looked around the room at all the screens with the information for colonization on them.
"Make yourself comfortable, I'll be with you in a moment, as soon as I figure out." Aaron trailed off as he got lost in his thoughts once more; he turned slightly and stared at the new Replicator ship being built and digging out of his memory what he knew about the ship. "Pete, Xon, do you have a free moment so I can get some answers, I'm in my office on Sol Station."
Turning around so he was facing his visitors, Aaron smiled as Victoria asked him, "Did you come to a conclusion?"
Aaron laughed, "Not yet, but I at least know where to get the answers, and Xon and Pete will be here in a few minutes, and they have those answers.So another group comes up early, or are you escaping the phones again."
"Oh no, Mother took the phone off the hook soon after arriving home the other day, no, this time we are hiding from all the members of the House of Lords and Parliament that are showing up in droves, somehow they are even sneaking into the family section of the palace, setting off all those nice booby traps and what not your spooks installed," James grinned at Aaron and his mother, he was having the time of his life, laughing at the shocked expressions on certain politicians' faces.
Aaron laughed at James' smirk, "Sounds like some of you are having fun then," Spotting Pete and Xon port in, he sent his lovers a mental caress along with a smile, "Hello Loves, just in time to answer a few things if you can."Kissing Pete and then Xon as they made it around his desk, Aaron pointed out the window towards the replicator ship, "I need to know the capabilities of that ship. I've been trying to plan the main towns and teleportation points of the new cities on the colony worlds, but I have no clue how long it will take to do things. I know we will be building a small hospital on each colony, they will treat around five hundred patients, and I have the design picked out to match the building used in Hawaii." Putting a picture up on the plasma Aaron told them, "This is the one I chose, well minus the apartment building in the background that is. So the question is how long will it take to build something like that and how many of the MRB's will it take?"
Xon looked at Victoria and her family before raising an eyebrow at Aaron, who smiled, "Feel free to discuss this subject in front of Victoria and James, this subject alone and only them."
Nodding in understanding, Xon brought up the schematics of the replication ship, placing them on the desk top screen for Aaron to follow along as he explained, "Using standard Alteran designation this ship is the RS003, being the third design. A full twenty replication suites on board, for seventy six sets of MRB's, I was able to redesign the MCA's so they are twice the size and capabilities as the previous version, RS003 carries two hundred on board, the other difference is that the RS003 carried four hundred and fifty six molecular bonders, each assigned to an MRB, it increases efficiency and construction by a factor of ten." Glancing at the schematics of the main town, Xon considered for a moment, "This layout you have provided here," Xon tapped the wall with the map on it, "This should take ten point four hours with the RS003, if you build up a surplus of mass for the MRB's to feed off of that is."
Aaron stared at the schematics of the new ship, it was powered by twenty five type one reactors, the question was did he keep this ship in orbit to be used if the US fell apart or did he build another and then send it off, further information was needed, he thought as he stared at the ship, "I need both of you to sit in on the meeting I'm having in a few moments and then we need to discuss the fleets you both are building and what this ship is capable of, if I sent it out to the asteroid field to collect mass, how long would it take to create another exactly like it? Right now, I am leaning towards the Iraq solution to the US problem when it fractures and dissolves, I think we need to have all the Clan at this planning meeting, then afterwards I will inform the military on what we will do.In fact, why don't you use my conference room to get the meeting started, Pete you can path everyone and get them here, give them enough time to finish what they are doing and drop their tag along off first. I'll rush the meeting with the world leaders so I can join you."
Victoria was aware of another mental conversation taking place as they stared at each other, as it broke up with nods from Pete and Xon before they started out of the room, only Pete stopped and looked back at Aaron.
Starting for the hall so they could open the conference room up and get it prepped, Pete spotted Edward sitting there, knowing he would be Clan soon he looked back at Aaron, "What about Edward?"
As everyone stared at Aaron waiting to see what he would say, Aaron thought about it and looked at James, "What are the feelings of your people are they still positive?"
Slightly off track, mainly because he was intrigued by what he was hearing and then trying to fit the pieces together it took James a moment to come up with a response, "That reporter, Hilde, she has switched campaign tactics, using the press release of being allowed colonization rights as proof that you are open to the marriage of the two kingdoms. I've even fed her little tidbits that she was smart enough to run with, speculating on how that instead of being absorbed into your kingdom, there are several different ways to stay separate. They've even started a voting campaign at the local constabularies, by next week, the tabloids are speculating that an unprecedented ninety percent of the population will have voted."
"Let me know when it reaches ninety percent, and if the majority is in favor and we will address it then," Aaron told him as he looked at Victoria, "And your feeling on the matter Victoria, after all, you already in a sense lost two grandsons to me."
"I personally have no problem with it, Edward would have the best of both worlds, duty to his people and love, love that is not contrary to his nature," Victoria smiled, "After your explanation and revised clan charter, I would not have a problem with it as the line of succession will not be broken and we are not truly absorbed into your line." Frowning as a thought came to her, "I would ask though, Edward, that you do not undertake the ordeal until your son is born if at all possible, from what I have been told once that happens, you become a Stranton. we need to ensure an England sits on the throne at all times, I would also like to add in a new section to the clan charter so a similar function of an ordeal is required of all future members, they must pass this to be considered adults in the new clan."
Aaron stared out his office door and smiled as Kenny and Doug walked by chatting about something, with the usual Kenny energy he was waving his arms around in enthusiasm to explain his point, resting his eyes on Edward who looked excited and frightened, he would allow it he thought, "This meeting will touch on racial secrets and more than that, it will touch on Clan secrets, Edward," starring at him intently with a serious expression on his face Aaron held the sigh back, "I will leave it up to you, if you wish to sit in on this meeting, for the simple reason you will be Clan soon, just take this to heart Edward, as much as I do love and cherish you, the law is very clear on this, it is a death sentence to divulge these secrets to outsiders." Seeing the horror and shock on their faces, he smiled slightly, "This is important, and full disclosure needs to be made to you Edward, anything else would be criminal on our parts, and I already know you will hold our secrets, but it had to be said."
Reacting to the intense stare directed his way from Edward, Aaron brushed his mind against Edward's and read the intent and simply told him, "We prepare for war, Edward."
Victoria noticed something, Edward was included in one of those telepathic conversations and he was not showing any sign of pain, it left her wondering, so much so that she asked, "Why is Edward not in pain from the contact, everyone else you touch their minds show obvious discomfort or pain, yet he acts like it is nothing."
Edward came to a decision, standing, he nodded at Aaron, "I need to be at this meeting, I think."
After Edward had left Aaron looked at Victoria, "The simple answer is that by accident, we found a way to link with outsiders minds without pain, the only way this can happen is first by linking with them during intense physical and emotional activities.like sex. With each successive contact it becomes easier to link outside the first enjoyable activity."
Victoria was very good at reading between the lines and nodded, leaving off further conversation as the other world leaders started to arrive.
Chuckling at the frazzled looks on most of their faces, Aaron moved both of the couches over so they could start, "I have more information for you, including dwelling designs and the main town maps for each of the colony worlds," Aaron passed out the chips, actually he passed them to James to hand out. "So I take it by some of you being frazzled like you look that the response was more than you expected?"
Morimoto chuckled, "I know my people too well, so I planned to be inundated with requests and we were prepared, just barely, but that is only because we had time to prepare extensive web sites that went online with hundreds of mirrors so they did not crash from their enormous load."
"Even my people are excited about the prospects," Chairman Woo replied, "we prepared for half the population to contact us with requests, so we kept up with the requests."
"Well, I for one never expected the mass of requests coming in from the other countries, like Germany and their neighbors," Jens groaned, running his hand through his hair.
Laughing, the Russian president nodded in agreement, "Nor I with all the states that spilt off after the fall of the union, I never expected to see the day when they would be clamoring for strong ties once again."
Aaron grinned as he looked at Victoria, and she primly told them, "Don't look at me, I followed your instructions, I unplugged all the phone lines into my section of the palace, I just had to avoid the politicians as much as possible."
Aaron broke down laughing, shaking his head in amusement, "Well, let's start be recapping briefly then move onto what is on those chips and finally when we can start moving the first of the colonists over."
Pete looked up towards the rage he felt as Mark ported into the room with Ton and Alexi, he was barely keeping it together it seemed, Pat being closest reached over and grabbed Mark's hand and pulled some of the energy that was practically visible from Mark as if he was a gestalt point, just like Aaron had shown him that morning in his last lesson. Draining the excess energy and leaking it into the environment Pat frowned, "What the bloody hell has you so worked up?"
Sighing and with a smile of thanks, as with the energy gone he was able to control his rage, turning it into simple anger, Mark plopped down on the couch next to Pat, "I just had a run in with some bigots, well bigots is putting it mildly, they called themselves the Army of God."
Glass full of juice halfway to his face Kevin did not notice it shatter in his hand, or the fact that he was now bleeding.
Aaron jerked his head up so fast the rest of the leaders heard it crack and snap in protest, staring at the door to his bathroom for a moment and the rage and anger actually increasing he rushed over to the door and was through into the conference room before anyone had a chance to ask what was wrong. Spotting Kevin's bleeding hand he grabbed the first aid kit and examined the faces in the room, only three had clueless looks on their faces, the rest looked well and truly pissed, kinetically removing the glass from Kevin's palm Aaron sent out calming thoughts to all his lovers as he temporarily bandaged Kevin's hand, "Someone want to tell me what the hell is going on? Like before you all collectively blow a hole in the side of the station killing everyone in this section," Aaron glared telling them to control themselves.
"Mark had a run in with a bunch of bigots in Wisconsin called the Army of God," Pat winced as he drew some more of the static energy out of the room and used it to give the others a good jolt to startle them out of their growing anger.
"CONTROL yourselves, right NOW," Aaron hissed out as his glare intensified. After shocking his lovers with his scream, he sighed and slid down the couch sending love their way to counteract their hurt feelings after his harsh words. Forehead on his knees Aaron thought at a furious pace before linking to the minds of his lovers, "Xon, if you accelerate the building of the replication suites and fusion generators in the RS003, how soon can you complete it, maybe having the ships replication suites help with the building of the rest of the ship?"
"Six hours, another six to finish the Confederation equipment, but totally Alteran so it can be used for what your mind calls the Iraqi solution six hours," Xon replied as he thought about it "And to answer your thought, if we would only build the next two ships to Alteran standard, leaving most of the finishing work to afterwards, I can have two more of the RS class vessels ready for you by fourteen hundred hours tomorrow, they would not do much beyond the stone age solution you envision."
Standing up, Aaron walked over to the wall and kinetically pushed against a spot near the door unlocking a secret panel, waiting for the scanner to verify his DNA he moved his hand through the now opened vault and pressed the button bringing hidden systems and weapons to life all over the station. Alarms started to blare as the room was plunged into the deep blue of battle stations.
--
Stiffly, he entered the Guild Council chambers and knelt on one knee, "As you have summoned so have I answered."
"Stand Tidov, this information you have sent to us is troubling," the lead of the ruling council Amidi pointed to the monitor as it came to life with his data on it, "Please explain to us your findings."
"As you wish Nest Mother," Tidov stood and faced the monitor, "this world has been watched for some time, but recently we have detected energy pulses that are intriguing yet clearly not of warp origin. The energy signatures match the speculation of the failed fusion generators of ages past, this clearly is illogical, yet the data no matter how it is collected does not change."
"There is a constant energy wave coming and going from several installations on the planet, those in orbit at times disappear and appear in another location 137 light years from this system in ten point seven deciseconds, upon arrival at the new system a larger energy generation signature powers up, after a period of one point three deciseconds those energy signatures power down to an almost insignificant level," Tidov finished his report.
Amidi looked around the table, "Speculation on the phenomenon?"
"No logical conclusion can be arrived at without further data," the oldest, Rorab told the council, "On the other hand the data, no matter how illogical, points to a race with active fusion engines and the ability to travel at unknown speeds in the time it takes to blink. We should approach this system and observe the race for possible first contact."
Tenef stood and gazed around the tables, "This is foolhardy, those energy spikes if the data is to believed, leads to one conclusion, a challenge response system, to approach this system would be foolhardy and likely the death of any we sent there. If you wish to approach and observe this system," he pointed a long slender finger at the first system, "with all the activity is risky but does not have the challenge system in place, as this more heavily fortified system."
Amidi looked at the scientist, "Is there any other systems you have observed with this energy signature"
"Yes Nest Mother, I have collected data that this specific signature is active in twelve systems," Tidov pointed to the energy blossom at the Lagrange point between the primary life bearing planet and its single moon. We have also detected this unique energy signature at a lower scale in a total of seventy eight more systems."
"I vote for caution, we should send the TiMur to the edge of one of the systems that has a lower power signature first, they may observe and collect data, from there we can make a determination on what proper action is warranted," Tenef told the council and was pleased that he had a majority.
"So Voted," Amidi rose from her center chair and let her gaze fall on Tidov, "report to the TiMur for deployment, you leave in the hour."
Editors' ramblings
RadioRanchers note: Hmmmmmmm, can you say Vulcan? I thought you could. Let's see, Vulcan's in the TEEP universe, what will this mean?
Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher
A/N : HMMM.Can we say maybe, but not really LOL I would not want to infringe on a copyright after all J