THE VROL TRILOGY (112 page)

"
I agree. We
will be able to house the families in the base on
Vera.
"

"
Max, I
believe Vera should not be our first stop with them. The base's
integrity is critical.
"

"
What do you
mean
?"

"
Come on, son.
You are a scientist. They probably have tracking devices implanted
in their bodies
."

"
Oh yeah,
you're right.
"

The two walked inside a random barge and
approached a family dwelling. Unseen, they entered into the living
quarters of a family and did numerous scans on the residents.
Michael was correct.

"
Ok, they have
tracking devices. We'll have to do everything at once. So where do
we take them
?"

"
To the only
place that makes sense, my son. The Rhönen
Dominion
."

Max did a deeper scan, checking genomes, and
found that 98% were normals and 2% were carrying recessive vampire
genes. If they took the families to Rhönen they would have to be
quarantined from each other. The last thing they wanted was to see
some newly minted vampires eating their fellow travelers.

Michael and Max took ample quantities of
imagery and created three-dimensional mappings of the graveyard.
They needed to know exactly what was where, so they could
effectively destroy the area in one shot. They didn't want to
unnecessarily kill military personnel, but they couldn't be sure
who was a Johnson follower, or who was a rebel. In any case, anyone
who was blindly following orders was not doing his or her
Constitutional duty to protect the citizens of Azul System - they
were traitors, and therefore not deserving of any protection.

The two then went out into an open area and
Max initiated a 4d slip home.

Max and Michael appeared in the grassy field
outside Krynos' castle and immediately made their way inside. They
hadn't bothered with the comms, as everyone had their own tasks
they were completing. Going directly to Draagh's quarters, Michael
summoned the old mage, along with Gabriel, with the two appearing
in seconds. Max brought up a large infoscreen and displayed their
imagery and maps as a semitransparent hologram, and started to
explain their recon efforts as Bagatelle and Jennie arrived.

"Out of all the Exodus barges on Luna, only
one is partially retrofitted with SSCC technology, and they are
still having difficulties. There is no way they are going to ready
the fleet in time to flee before the Vrol arrive. G, how many naval
starships have been fitted with a hook drive?"

"Only the Revolution as far as I know, but I
am certain that more have been by now. We should ask Alicia," said
Bagatelle.

"
Alicia -
yoohoooooo! Helloooooo Lt. Commander, are you there
?"
Max called out over the comm, causing most to snicker, despite the
gravity of the situation.

"
I am here,
Commander. How may I be of assistance
?"

"
Ali, we need
some recon. Find out which navy vessels have been set up with SSCC
hook drives and report back ASAP, got it
?" ordered
Bagatelle.

"
Yes, Admiral.
I have a good idea, but I can give solid details in ten
minutes
."

"Ok, now once we have determined which ships
have FTL capability, we contact their captains and have a little
talk with them," Bagatelle continued locally.

"But that's dicey, G. What if they're in
Johnson's pocket?" asked Max.

"I have a great idea for interviewing them,"
responded the former rear admiral.

As promised, roughly ten minutes later,
Alicia Vasquez came back on the comm with the requested data.

"
Sir, aside
from the Revolution, the Constellation, the George Washington and
the Ronald Reagan also have FTL
capabilities
."

"
Excellent. I
will expect a crew manifest for each ship by morning
,"
responded Bagatelle.

"
Shall I
deliver it in person, sir
?"

Michael looked at Bagatelle and winked,
nodding his head.

"
Yes, Lt.
Commander. We can make that happen
," said Michael.
"
Copy us on the comm when you are feeling
intestinal distress.
"

"
Um,
sir
?"

"
Ali, hit us
on the comm when you are in a toilet stall. We'll drop everything
and get you
," Bagatelle blurted out, slightly
embarrassed that Michael was using the human waste evacuation
system in order to hide their ground agent's comings and
goings.

Looking over, Bagatelle nearly started
laughing when he saw both Max and Draagh on the ground, choking
with laughter, while Jennie just stood there, giving them a noxious
glare.

As most of the day had gone, everyone went to
the main dining hall, where Liliana had just arrived, completely
covered in mud, but wearing a huge smile.

"Lili! Oh… my… god! What have you done? What
class did you have last?" Jennie cried out.

"Hello Mami. It was actually after my last
class, which was metallurgy. I happened upon the training grounds
and saw Kyle. He was having a bit of difficulty with the obstacle
course, so I decided to show him the proper way to navigate it,
from beginning to end."

Liliana was an excellent physical specimen,
and could easily defeat most boys within four years of her age in
many of the training activities, as long as they weren't
hand-to-hand combat-oriented. If that were the case, she would
cheat a bit and use magic, which usually ended up with her opponent
in the infirmary.

"Well, at least she isn't thinking about
kissing him - yet," Jennie whispered into Max's ear, low enough
that not even their daughter could tell what they were saying.

"Ok, but sweetie, you can't come to the
dining hall that dirty. Please go clean up and come back for your
dinner," she told the young girl. But Liliana didn't even need to
go anyway. She waved her hand around her head, index finger pointed
downward, and all of the mud was suddenly gone. She wasn't
sparkling clean, but clean enough for a lycan dinner in the Rhönen
Dominion.

"All clean! So, Papi, how was your day? Did
you do anything exciting?" the little girl asked.

"Yeah honey, in fact, I went and flew around
with your Abuelito Michael, and then we checked out the old Exodus
barges. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you both! I can breathe in
space now too."

"Huh? You can breathe in a vacuum? Max,
seriously?"

"Yup. Actually, it's my ghanlo that makes it
possible. But Michael said I shouldn't want to fly between planets
- it's not meant for that. In any case, I can do it. It's really
super peaceful."

"Yeah, I'll bet. Like no sound at all, eh?"
said Jennie.

Sound does not travel in the vacuum of space
because there is no atmosphere, liquid or solid molecules to carry
the sound waves, am I not right, Papi?"

"Yes, Lili. That's pretty much the idea. And
Michael and I were out there using our familial connection to
communicate, not the comm. So that's why you didn't hear us."

"Oh, ok, and so… hey! Just a minute!
How did you happen to
discover
that you could withstand the vacuum of space anyway, Mr.
Gunnarsson?" Jennie demanded angrily, but only because she loved
him more than life itself.

"Aw baby, don't worry. My dad was with me.
Right by my side, ready to yank me over to Vera Base in case
anything went wrong. You know ebullism and hypoxia aren't quite
instantaneous, so we were ok. It will be useful later on, trust
me."

Max wrapped his arms around his wife and
nuzzled her as she softened up a bit. Jennie then gave him a sweet
smile and, without warning, punched him in the arm while yelling,
"No more stupid shit, Max! Ok?"

"Ok, sweetie," he promised while smiling.

"Yeah Papi, no more stupid
mierda
. We need you to be safe,"
Liliana said, attempting to disguise her swearing within the
confines of another language.

"Lili! It doesn't matter if it's in
Castellano! Don't swear!"

"Sorry, Mami," she said sheepishly, as she
dug into her dinner and Max plopped down and kissed his daughter on
the cheek.

"So Max, what do you have in mind for an
overall strategy?" asked Bagatelle.

"Well, we get the military on our side, then
we go in and quickly slip the families out of the Exodus barges.
Then we destroy the barges. Once we have done that, and we've made
sure that Johnson can't flee out of the system we do the whole
revolution thingy, restore Constitutional rule of law, and then
prepare to vaporize those cockroaches before they even hit the
system border."

"Ok Max, good overall plan, but completely
without any sort of details. How do you get the military on our
side?"

"I don't, G. That's your job," he said with a
cool smile.

"I believe that we need an outing tomorrow. A
day of rest," Gabriel interjected.

"I agree," said Max.

"A day of rest? Like, where do you want to
go?" asked Jennie.

Machu Picchu

Liliana howled in delight as she flew
out of the makeshift tire swing at the apex of its curve, soaring
through the air and finally landing with a splash in the icy
Urubamba River. Coming up for air, she gasped from the cold water,
while still wearing a huge smile. Jennie, Jessica, Pandy, Clarisa
and Janice were all lying out in the sun, as women typically did on
sunny days at the river or the beach. Max was next in the tire
swing, landing in the water with a tremendous cannonball. Even
Michael and Gabriel tried the swing, which they found amusing.
While most were relaxing and enjoying themselves, Bagatelle and
Draagh were reading the instructions for assembling a BBQ so they
could cook the elk chorizo sausages they brought along. Draagh
wanted to simply conjure a grill, but Bagatelle insisted on doing
it
old-school
. After roughly
an hour they were all eating delicious sausages on sourdough rolls,
traditionally referred to as
choripan
(a portmanteau of chorizo and pan) in
Buenos Aires.

They weren't even finished with their
sandwiches when Alicia called out on the comm.

"
G, I have the
manifests. I am currently waiting in a toilet stall, as
ordered
- "

Alicia didn't even realize she had been
slipped over, and was finishing her sentence while standing in
front of everyone, the scents wafting through the air
subconsciously changing her words.

"
and I'm
waiting for… some… del…
icious… chorizo? Oh,
hello!"

Everyone waved and mumbled greetings with
full mouths, as Draagh handed Alicia a choripan.

"Um, so, where are we? It kinda looks like
Sienna, but there's no… oh wow. Are we on Earth?" gasped
Alicia.

"Yeah, hun. We're in Peru, near where this
whole thing started. Max's makeshift FTL craft is about half a
kilometer upstream," Bagatelle informed his girlfriend and best
confidant. "The river has a slow current here, so we can use the
tire swing. Would you like to see Max's craft that gave us so much
trouble?"

"Gave you so much trouble? How
about
brought us all together to save the
galaxy
, G?" chided Max.

Bagatelle gave Max a deservedly awkward look
and nodded in his direction, where Max merely smiled.

Alicia gave Bagatelle a thumbs-up, having a
mouthful of choripan, while Max threw his key fob to his
brother-in-law, allowing the rear admiral to open the small
transport. The two took off, hand in hand, with the lt. commander
happily munching on her sandwich.

"I hope they don't forget the ship
manifests," Michael commented.

"I hope they don't trash the ship," said Max
laughingly.

The five ladies sat on a large, flat rock,
quietly munching away on their lunches, with Liliana finishing hers
quickly and going for seconds, her great grandfather providing her
with the delicious sandwich. They were all wearing two-piece
swimwear of different colors, while the men were in board shorts -
except for Draagh, who insisted on wearing his traditional
undergarment, which most thought resembled a diaper.

Max went for another sandwich, and then
turned and looked at the girls. His wife was the most striking out
of them all, and could have easily walked the runway at a swimwear
show, as she filled out her suit so perfectly (rather, the suit
barely covered her perfect curves). Jessica and Pandy were also
quite cute, but were built slimmer, most probably because they grew
up scrounging for food, while Jennie had a modern, nutritious diet
near every day of her life (plus, she was simply smoking hot).
Liliana was still a little girl and hadn't yet started to grow a
more feminine shape, but what was truly disconcerting to Max was
seeing his mother and Janice Wong. He had always viewed the two
as
old women
, with wrinkles
in their skin, slightly misshapen from age and hair that was either
colored over or had gone completely gray. This was no longer the
case, as Janice was no longer disguised and Max's mom had
completely regenerated and appeared to be a dega of around thirty
years of age. She was a truly gorgeous woman, with a Mediterranean
complexion, dark, near-black hair and striking green eyes. Max had
gained handsomely from both of his parents, being no slouch
himself. Looking over the group again, Max found it funny that
Jessica was the oldest of the five women.