The Navigator 2: We the People (10 page)

Cassie shook her head. "No, Jared was driven insane by his personality and his own mind trying to define what we are calling hyperspace." She sighed. "As far as the other stuff you asked about, there are already manifestations of those abilities; the precognitives have been helping us locate others that are in danger, but there are so many variables in the future it's hard to be accurate past the initial event. There are also other manifestations that are certainly different, like pyrokinesis, hydrokinesis, true empaths and healers, I've met people that can make things grow or make themselves able to pass through walls. One very bright young lady can interface directly with computer systems. These gifts are as varied and individualistic as the people that have them."

"That is certainly a lot to think about." Oday replied. "One of the issues that disturbs me is that our history is full of examples of what happens to lesser advanced peoples when a more advanced one is introduced into their society. Are we facing that possibility in this? How do we peacefully prevent it if we are?"

"Oday, I don't think it'll have time to escalate that far. With every generation, more and more of our people are becoming gifted," Joe said, “That is one of the main reasons I argued for advocacy and study; so we can learn how to educate our people and prepare them for the coming changes. Yes, for now the gifted are an extreme but powerful minority. In twenty to fifty years there will be too many gifted to hide. Eventually, we will be in the majority and have to protect and hide the non-gifted from our society. At some time in the future it'll become a non-issue. That's the deal with evolution; it's how it works."

Cassie smiled at him. "I'm afraid it's not eventually, Joe. The first stage has already happened. As far as I can tell, every person on the planet has some form of mental ability. It might not be very strong or even very obvious, but it's there. Most people simply write these off as instances of inspiration, intuition, or deja vu. They're not; what they are is the manifestations of abilities or gifts. The only differences are in strength and control of the gift. This also makes it much harder to detect, because we can't just look for the manifestation of ability, we have to look for its strength."

"So, you're ready to take me home then?" Cassie asked when Joe came out of the bedroom dressed in black and white ACU fatigues. He had his gun strapped to his leg and his beret in one hand. He walked over to the two women that had been sitting in the living area of the suite talking.

"Yeah, we should probably get going. The longer you’re gone, the more nervous those folks are going to get," Joe replied.

Becka shook her head. "I'm not completely thrilled with you going into a potentially hostile situation with no way out."

"I'll have a way out, Becka, I can jump away from them at any time," Joe replied. "Besides, I'm not exactly going in unarmed."

"Still, after what happened at The Citadel I'm nervous about it." She sighed. "This isn't your normal mission."

"Sweetheart, this is a whole new game. If I can achieve the objective without killing anyone, I'm all for trying!" Joe said, sitting next to her. "I'll be back, Becka; with luck, I'll have some new friends when I do."

"I know, it just makes me nervous," she said again.

Joe smiled at her. "You just don't like me going off without you!"

"Damn right I don't! Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I'm broken, you know!" Becky replied. "I could be helping you!"

"Yes, you could. But you did say that this mission is somewhat dangerous. You are carrying our child. Would you be willing to risk that?" Joe asked. 

"Anderson! You can't have this both ways! You tell me it isn't that dangerous, then you use that very argument to run off with your new girlfriend!" Becka replied with a smirk. "Which is it?" She shifted to a grinning Cassie. "You better watch out; he'll get you knocked up and then side-line you while he runs out and finds another girl!" Becka teased.

"God, I hope so! I could use the break!" Cassie replied, bursting into laughter.

Joe sighed and rolled his eyes. He was grinning at the tease as well. "Besides, I do have something I need you to do, Becka."

When she finished giggling, she asked him what that would be.

"I would like you to make sure the ball gets rolling on the new community. If this works, we're going to need homes and services for five hundred plus people in pretty short order. Since I can't be here to kick people in the ass, can you do it for me?" Joe asked.

"It's closer to a thousand people, dummy! You said you wanted to include the kids and their foster families. I don't think you realize how much we're actually going to need out there, and I'm probably even forgetting something!" Becka replied when she finished laughing.

Joe looked a little embarrassed. "Yeah, well, this isn't really something I know a lot about. That's why I was going to ask you to help; you have a better idea of the kind of community we're going to need, and you know who else you can get to help us."

Becka sighed. "Yes, I'll handle that. I'm still not happy with you going on this mission without me, but I do understand. I'm just Irish enough to need to blow off some steam."

Joe kissed her softly. "Come on, Cassie and I need to get going. The Admiral wanted to see us off, so we're going to leave from his office."

"I just wish I could be there when you tell your wife about me and the other women. The look on her face is going to be priceless!" Becka replied.

Joe again, sighed. "You just had to ruin my day, didn't you?"

When Joe and the women arrived at Admiral Hawkling's office, they were surprised to find Councilor Young and Councilor Orelov also there.

"Good Morning Councilors, Admiral. Thank you for coming to see us off," Joe said in greeting.

Orelov replied first. "Colonel, there is something we wished to speak to you about before you depart; something we touched on briefly in our discussions yesterday."

"Sir?" Joe asked.

"The militant faction you are leaving to speak to. You suggested training them and using their anger in a more productive way. Navigator Lane has said that her rescue operations have as yet been limited to the North American Continent. As part of a much larger campaign we are considering, we would like you to give thought to training these individuals with the rescue of gifted from all over the world in mind.

"There simply is not time to go over the details of the entire plan we are considering right now, and it will take time to set up anyway. While we work to get the new community set up, we would like to speak with you and perhaps General Sorenson in more detail about it and perhaps work out any flaws," Orelov finished.

Joe nodded. "I will consider the suggestion, Councilor. Thank you." He turned to Hawklings. "Admiral, I asked Becka to stay here and get the ball rolling on the new community for me. She can get with some of the other Navigator's and they can get to work on building the community."

"Good idea," Hawklings replied. "She might seem meek and mild, but she can kick ass when the need arises."

"She's not afraid to stand up to someone either!" Joe replied grinning at his lover.

Trying to imitate an Irish accent, Becka replied, "Aye, if ye be insistin' on bein' an ass, you'll be sure to find my boot in it!"

The comment made even the Councilors laugh. Hawklings gave Cassie a hug. "Don't be a stranger, okay?"

"All that's behind me, Uncle. I'm back now, even if the community doesn't agree to join you, I have. I'll be coming back," Cassie replied. "I believe our best chance at having a future is here."

The Admiral nodded as he released his niece. She stepped over to Joe and took his hand with a wink at Becka, who smiled back at her.

"Ready?" Joe asked.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Let's do this. I just called ahead to let the Elders know we're coming."

Joe nodded and formed the portal. Then he and Cassie stepped though and were gone.

"What an extraordinary man," Councilor Young replied.

Councilor Orelov nodded agreement. "Just before the fall of the iron curtain, the KGB and the GRU had an alert about a new agency that had highly skilled, specially trained snipers to use as assassins. It was rumored that they were all but invisible and could kill from impossible distances. They could never confirm the existence of this agency until after the Berlin Wall came down. Then they scrambled to try to kill as many of those people as possible. To my knowledge, they never found any, but their work was very evident.

"It is indeed good that we have the goals and agenda he agrees with; if he were our enemy, there would be little we could do to stop him," Orelov said.

"Councilor, I have spent a lot of time with him over the last few weeks. He truly does admire what we are doing here, and more importantly, how we are going about it. I can honestly say that I believe every action he makes will be for the benefit of this project and our people," Becka replied. "Yes, there is a very powerful and frightening demon inside him capable of horrendous acts of violence. But he has firm control of it, and worries that he could become a worse problem than Jared was. Laura is one of his more important grounding rods. Allowing her recruitment was a wise decision simply because it gives him piece of mind. You know she actually does have something to contribute to us, right?"

"In what way?" Councilor Young asked, but the sparkle in his eye told her he already knew.

"She has been going to school to become a Psychologist and has already reached the Masters level. She could be a great help with adjustment issues people may have at the new community," Becka replied. "But, I'm sure you already knew that."

Young nodded. "We knew of her education and training. The situation of the displaced Navigators and the gifted community is a new thing, and her value in this endeavor was not lost on us."

Joe and Cassie dropped out in the warm spring morning air of southwestern Colorado. They were in the well-kept back yard of a ranch style home. Near the privacy fence that surrounded the yard, three people were waiting for them. All three of them were older in appearance and looked a little nervous.

Cassie smiled up at Joe. "Welcome to my home, Joe."

Joe returned her smile as they stepped forward to meet the waiting people. Cassie spoke. "My friends, this is Colonel Joseph Anderson of the Terran Marines. Colonel, this is Mister Charles Carrol, Misses Hayden Davis, and Mister Michael French. Along with myself, these are the elders of our community."

The three shook hands and tentatively smiled at Joe during the introductions. Joe felt the need to say something to help them to relax.

"It' s real pleasure to meet you folks, but please; I'm not here to hurt anyone, and I definitely am not your enemy. I am here to talk with you, and offer you some options that you maybe haven't considered," Joe explained. "You have nothing to fear from me or the people I represent."

"We don't believe you are the threat here, Colonel, please forgive our seeming anxiousness. Cassie, while you were gone, something happened," Mrs. Davis began. "Carlos and his team went out on a rescue mission last night and captured the Government team; they brought them back here."

"Oh shit!" Cassie said. "What was he thinking? Where are they?"

"The prisoners are being held in the community center. Carlos is strutting around like he made a major victory." Mr. Carrol replied. "The rest of the youngsters are all cheering and celebrating."

Joe shook his head. "I'm sorry, but you might want to tell everyone to get ready to run; although it might be too late for that."

"That's what we're afraid of. Come, we'll take you there," Mr. French replied and opened the gate out of the yard.

The group hadn't walked very far before they could hear the cheering and clapping of the crowd.

When the armed people saw Joe with their Elders they surrounded him and pointed their guns at him. "Stop right fucking there, pendajo!" a young Latino man yelled at him and pointed a pistol at his face sideways, like a gang-banger.

Joe activated his internal shield and looked at the young man. "Let me guess, you're Carlos, right?"

"What you care? We got the boss himself here Amigo's! El numaro uno came to get his men back!" Carlos crowed.

Joe just shook his head. "And you call me an idiot! Don't tell me; your ex-gang… probably the Latin Kings, southern California, right?"

"So what? You can read me, everyone here can. But no one can read you; and that's not gonna fly here, homes!" Carlos replied.

"So shoot me. But I would recommend shooting those prisoners first, because as we fuck around out here, there is a serious strike team on their way here right now being lead in by those men. I can pretty much promise that none of you are going to get out of that!" Joe said and stepped forward to enter the community center.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Carlos shot at Joe three times. The bullets dropped to the dirt in front of him. Joe reached out and took the weapon out of Carlos' hand, dropped the magazine and removed the slide before dropping the whole thing to the ground in front of the gang-banger. "You got balls, I'll give you that, kid, but you're not very bright. Come on, let me show you."

Joe led the group into the community center. There, in the center of the big room, were four men and two women bound hand and foot. They were not blindfolded and had not been gagged. Joe walked up to one of the men, drew his forty-five, and shot him in the head.

The move shocked everyone that had followed him into the room. They were even more shocked when the bullet was deflected by a metal plate. Carlos was beside Joe. "What the fuck?"

"They’re cyborgs. They let you capture them," Joe replied. He ejected a round from his weapon and handed it to Carlos. "Recognize this?"

"Yeah, armor piercing, this'll go right through an engine block!" Carlos replied. "You tellin' me this is some kind of robot?"

"No, half robot, half human. Hard as hell to kill, and impossible to capture," Joe replied and shot the man twice in the stomach. The man fell over, and the rest of the 'captured' prisoners broke the hand cuffs holding them, broke the ties on their ankles, and tried to stand.

Joe quickly backed up and shot two more of the inhuman machines in the stomach. One of the prisoners walked up to one of the firing people and spun her head around on her shoulders, killing her instantly.

Screaming people tried to get out of the community center as quickly as they could, while the armed fighters of the community tried, in vain, to stop the killing machines in their midst.

Joe and the rest of the fighters had been retreating while trying to kill the prisoners, finally, Joe got a good angle on the last one and shot it in the stomach, dropping it to the floor.

"Fuck! Those are hard to kill!" Carlos said.

Joe shook his head. "They aren't dead, only deactivated. "I'll tell you all about it later, but for now we got bigger problems."

"Bigger'n that?" Carlos asked, pointing back into the community center.

Joe nodded. "Yeah, I give it about ten minutes before at least a hundred more of them are all over us. We need to get the hell out of here, fast."

"We need to get our guns…" Carlos began and started back toward the community center; Joe stopped him.

"Leave them, I can get you better ones anyway. We need to get the people to safety!" Joe was aware that Cassie was trying to get people safely away as quickly as she could without scattering them. She had taken as many as she could find back to her place and was organizing the escape. "Carlos send your people out and tell as many as they can find to drop what they're doing and get to Cassie's place as fast as they can! They do not have time to pack!"