THE VROL TRILOGY (143 page)

"
Jennie, I
need you and Max to secure the base at Portlandia, but slip over to
New Sydney once you have done so. If all goes well we shall have a
little chat with both houses of Congress this
afternoon
."

"
I'd think you
would have wanted to have a pow-wow with the Security
Council
," said Max, remembering how the judicial
branch had imprisoned him.

"I won't even give them the time of day,
Cuñado," boomed Bagatelle, having reached Max and Jennie's
location. "So, are you ready?"

Both Max and Jennie nodded their heads as
they looked around in awe. Only weeks before they had been
refugees, but now commanded forces that would retake their home
world.

"My children, as we prepare for the first
wave to depart, I would like to inform you of the vid displays.
Michael and Gabriel are already in New Sydney to assist with these.
They are going to make sure that every video device is coopted and
in the main plaza they shall create massive infoscreens to bring
Luigi's message of good tidings."

###

Len Johnson was lost in darkness. All
he could do was reach out with his mind and attempt to see what was
happening. Voices flowed through his mind, which was connected to
the Hive. Although blinded to his surroundings, he heard nearby
noises, like masses of structures pounding into each other. He
could feel the trembling of concussions as unseen construction
efforts were under way. He heard odd clicking sounds, and assumed
they were the audible voices of nearby insects. He had no regrets
as to his actions, but he was trying to shield his mind while he
devised a plan to save himself. He was a selfish man, and cared for
no one but his immediate family - Ryder, whom he believed to still
be alive. His wife had died from a fall some years before - a fall
he had instigated. The coroner's report had initially listed her
death as homicide, but after that poor soul was found slaughtered
in a back alley in New Sydney, the new coroner updated the death
certificate to
suicide
. Len
Johnson merely found her to be annoying, so he had pushed her off a
balcony in their estate. Two house servants saw what had happened,
but they suffered an air car accident mere minutes after the
incident - before they had been able to make a report to the
authorities.

Len Johnson was an evil man. He had sold out
Mankind in the name of personal power. As he sat in his dark prison
of nothingness, he devised a plan.

He would find a way to escape, and stall the
Vrol, so he could get to Earth - and safety.

But what he didn’t realize was that the Vrol
did not have a concept of truth. They fully intended on returning
to Earth and again decimating it.

Chapter 18 - Address

New Sydney, Oz

No one knew what was happening when all of
the vid displays in the New Sydney naval base went blank. There was
some static, followed by a white screen, and then all saw the
attractive and much younger visage of Admiral Luigi Bagatelle, who
was wearing a very serious expression. People stopped in their
tracks, no matter where they were. Men and women paused in the
cafeteria, the main plaza, the base grocery store and even the
toilets. Every single soldier and officer knew who they were
looking at, and most considered Luigi Bagatelle to be a patriot and
excellent commanding officer, not a traitor as he had been
accused.

"My good men and women of Azul naval forces.
This is Admiral Luigi Bagatelle. I have a message of utmost urgency
that requires your attention, as well as your cooperation. The
people of our worlds currently live in fear. They fear for their
families, their homes and their very lives. We have recently seen a
change in the form of government in our system. Our elected leaders
have chosen to install a tyrannical dictatorship, overturning our
beloved Constitution and fancying themselves our professional
rulers. This shall not be tolerated and is to be stopped
immediately. Councilman Leonard Johnson, now stylizing himself as
Chairman, has effectively taken control over not only all branches
of the federal government, but also our military, up to a certain
point. However, I have managed to regain the trust of the majority
of our military leaders. Johnson is a traitor to Azul and is not to
be believed. As of this moment, his whereabouts remain unknown, but
we have determined he went to rendezvous with those that have been
called the Artusians. This name in itself is a lie - the Artusians
are not beautiful, angelic beings coming to save Mankind, but are
violent insectoid invaders who destroyed Earth shortly after our
Exodus to Azul System. This alien race is called the Vrol. The Vrol
have one purpose - to kill. They murder entire planets. Our
ancestors on Earth have been nearly extinct for hundreds of years,
something we only recently discovered. I was imprisoned for
bringing the truth of the Vrol to the Security Council, after
returning from Earth with proof of their actions. Earth is
virtually devoid of humanity, and is just now starting to mend. We
should mourn for our cousins, but we haven't the time."

Vid displays showed imagery of Vrol fliers,
ground bugs and centipedes, causing many viewers to shudder in
disgust. Imagery and video continued with footage of the Vrol
invasion of Earth, displaying a decimated, yet still-recognizable
New York skyline, and of the Vrol's ship-locking encapsulation of
Earth.

"Working with the resistance movement, we
have uncovered and stopped a plot by Johnson where he was
retrofitting ancient Exodus barges with faster-than-light drives in
a base on Sienna. Johnson has been coordinating with the Vrol,
facilitating their unimpeded arrival in exchange for the promise
they would never attack Earth again. You know this to be true, as
Johnson has enacted stand-down orders to all military vessels, and
has put genetic locks requiring his personal live, active DNA on
the FTL side space drives on our best ships. Why would he do this?
What does he fear? Not the Artusians slash Vrol - they are his
allies. He fears us. He has already selected hundreds of citizens
to depart our beloved Azul system shortly before the arrival of the
Vrol, ensuring their survival - and our deaths. These select,
fortunate individuals tend to have very particular genetic markers
in common - another thing we have discovered, and something we
shall discuss after we have restored Constitutional rule. Now that
we have common knowledge of our mutual best interests I am ordering
all Azul military to join with us, and together we shall restore
freedom and dignity back to our worlds."

###

"Where the hell is this feed coming from?
This shouldn't be possible!" screamed Councilman Cristof Milonas,
recently appointed to the council without a congressional vote,
made possible under Johnson's new emergency powers. He was a
replacement for the unfortunate Councilman Robert Reed, who was one
of the few dissenting votes against Johnson's power play some
months earlier. Reed suffered a sad and unexpected death when his
air car exploded in midair, and was immediately replaced by someone
friendlier to the dictator's designs. Milonas flipped frantically
through every possible feed line, hard and wireless, but was unable
to stop Bagatelle's monologue.

"Councilman, we have also been informed that
mysterious, holographic vid displays have appeared and are also
playing Rear Admiral Bagatelle's message," said a minor tech, who
was unwittingly according Bagatelle his current, legal title.

"How dare you call him anything other
than
traitor
, you
less-than-nothing," hissed Milonas. The councilman then pulled a
stinger pistol out of his holster and shot the tech point-blank in
the forehead. Milonas then took over the tech's position, standing
over the poor fool's body as if it weren't even there, while
staring at useless displays with his steel-blue eyes.

Vera Base, Azul System

"In closing, fellow citizens, this is not a
military coup - this is the restoration of Constitutional
government - something that was stolen from us. It is our
birthright."

Bagatelle continued to glare into the camera,
not seeing the reactions of the myriad of military personnel on the
bases throughout the system.

Jennie stood off to the side of the massive
throngs of troops, worried and hoping that somehow things would be
all right. She wasn't concerned with Portlandia, but she was
preoccupied with New Sydney, where her brother was going.

"All troops, prepare to pass through the
portal. Once you go through please go to your predetermined
destination. Alpha Group, forward!" Bagatelle yelled loudly, his
voiced carrying nicely thanks to a cantus provided by Max. The
troops started going through, Alpha Group consisting mostly of
Azulians, all hoping to see some friendly faces.

Max and Jennie watched an infoscreen with
Draagh, grinning when they realized that not only was there no
resistance, the crowds were welcoming the invading troops, cheering
and throwing confetti.

"Admiral! You are being welcomed! We're
forming Buenos Aires groups now, and we'll see you in the Capitol,"
yelled Max, right before his brother-in-law walked through the
gleaming portal to another world.

New Sydney, Oz

"Sir, we have experienced sporadic small arms
fire, but the interlopers were inexplicably taken out by unseen
forces. Their heads seem to have exploded."

Admiral Luigi Bagatelle nodded his head to
the leader of Delta Group. He had a pretty good idea who had taken
that course of action, but checked in to be certain. He used a
private channel on the comm to speak with an Archangel who had a
particular knack for making heads explode.

"
Gabriel, I
assume you have taken care of our sniper fire
problem?
"

"
Yes, Luigi.
They have been neutralized.
"

"
And, who were
they?
"

"
Genetic
vampires,
Admiral.
"

"
Very well,
please continue. And try to keep one alive for
questioning.
"

Bagatelle switched over to the officers'
channel, intent on keeping his liberation forces pouring through
the portals.

"
Max, send
B.A. forces through. We have encountered some small arms fire, all
by gen-vamps. However, Gabriel kindly eliminated the bulk of
them."

"You got it, G. Krynos is heading out
now."

Buenos Aires, Nueva Argentina

If the troops arriving in New Sydney were a
surprise, then Buenos Aires Air Base had no idea what was even
going on. Despite the fact that Draagh had created infoscreens that
could not be touched or turned off by anyone, political operatives
in the Argentine location managed to shut down power to all
man-made vid displays, denying critical knowledge of the system's
liberation to a good percentage of military personnel. Added to
this was the fact that it was already nightfall in Nueva Argentina,
so the locals were working at a distinct disadvantage, compared to
the invading lycans with superb night vision.

Krynos was fortunate to be accompanied
to some of the more trusted naval officers aligned with Bagatelle,
two of them being Cpts. Stor and Stanton, who in turn were flanked
by their top aides and junior officers. Stor and Stanton carried
recessive lycan genes, but were fortunate enough to have been
enhanced to their full potential while in the Rhönen Dominion for
training. Their initial appearance in the center of the base, an
area called the
grinder
,
shocked many, but due to base restrictions, only military police
carried weapons with live ammunition - and they were smart enough
to not try to apprehend hundreds of extremely large and
heavily-armed invading soldiers. However, sniper fire started to
ring out. After a few minutes and one Rhönen lycan being hit with a
bullet (and magically healed), troops heard some screams from the
perimeter, with the live fire stopping suddenly.

"I do believe the good Gabriel has come to
our aid," said Krynos, as he looked around smiling. "Truly
impressive is this location. I believe I shall rebuild our troop
quarters upon return to my home, using this place as a model for
construction."

"Okay, that's awesome, King Krynos, but we
need to command all stations, and if you didn’t notice, there's no
power," said Capt. Stor.

"They probably cut the power to keep the
Admiral's message from disseminating much," added Stanton. "I'll
take a recon team and go restore the power grid."

Both Krynos and Stor nodded in agreement,
while Stanton silently motioned to an Azulian recon group to follow
his lead. Stor started moving various teams out to the perimeter of
the base, while Krynos maintained his position in the center of the
grinder, standing unafraid in front of his own brethren.

Vera Base, Azul System

"Max, it would be wise to go to Portlandia
ahead of your troops, under the cover of an invisibility cantus.
Nefarious forces had cut power lines in Buenos Aires in an attempt
to keep as many as possible from learning of our efforts." Draagh
was slightly concerned for Max and Jennie's efforts after having
found that there were more government-aligned agents in Buenos
Aires than had been previously imagined. His granddaughter-in-law
gave him a sideways glance, and then moved over to her husband and
started to adjust the sword strap that held his katana onto his
back.