by Marcus Sloss
“Boss was just saying we get to create our own names. Needs a Citizen title in front, though.”
“What did my son pick?” Andrew asked right away.
“He… Soldier Droneanator, well he said Citizen. Hence why I am here.” Andrew fidgeted and Norm caught on, going back to work with a friendly wave. “I can put him on night shifts but… it would put us behind a whole day and I need someone today. He will be at my side in the RV.”
“The bear-proof, plasma resistant RV?” He asked and I nodded. “Oh, he will be fine then. Take him before you tell my wife though. If she catches you -”
“Not how I operate, Mr. Wang. Please take me to your wife.”
We went into the mansion, through the crowds, up the stairs, and into the second floor suite. It was a replica of mine in size. There were more curtains drawn open and fresh air flowed in. I saw between the gaps of the curtains that this was our elderly ward. Andrew led me onto the balcony where a much older Wang sat beside what had to be Andrew’s wife. I explained the situation a few times. Finally, I received the approval I needed. I glanced at my wrist and I had seventeen messages. None were desperate alerts. I found a rope and used it to escape the mansion.
Messages one through twelve were Perci and Willow snapping photos of each other getting dressed. Nothing R rated, but they were teasingly great. Douglas said the Xgate was clear and he was checking bases now. Nancy had the Delta team ready. Mclain had Alpha team ready. Mitchell had swapped out the night guards. Slister was not yet ready with the Bravo team. Eddy said Charlie team was ready to go. I pulled my officers into a video chat.
“Hey guys. We finally sorted the loot of the local building. I want to get more pumps, additional housing teardown, and general item hunting. However, I want to first go check out the puroon planet. I got eyes in the air with backup drones. I need your teams to bring out the heavy weaponry. I know the fifty cal machine gun won’t mount, but the missiles will fire off the tops of the RVs just fine. Mclain you are taking RV1 Nancy in RV2 and Eddy is taking RV3. Slister will be our fast flexing unit. Dedric I want us in that order for the convoy. Everyone needs to bring extra ammo and hook up trailers. We're going alien raiding. Stronghold Mansion viking style. Pass the word. King Eric out.”
I walked into the mansion and found Perci with Willow in the foyer. Bed mats in this space were being removed and a table was dragged in while screeching across the floor. I motioned them both to me.
“Get in RV2,” I said to Willow. She gave an arm pump, Perci a kiss, and then was gone. I bounced my eyebrows. That was so hot to see. “I lost my train of thought.”
“Well maybe when we finally have a private room you can get distracted less and satisfied more, I think I know what you want. Unique names. I have had a dozen requests randomly. Let me guess, ‘take care of it Perci. You are the most fantastic forever girl a man could hope for’,” Perci said in a mock tone mimicking me. I smiled as she sauntered to me to send me off.
We were kissing goodbye when I felt a tap on my leg. The little girl again was slapping my thigh. “Mary was it,” I said kneeling to her level. “I am going off to war. Can I have a kiss on the cheek goodbye?”
She got on her tippy toes and pecked my cheek. I ruffled her hair, which caused her to fume. Her mom mouthed ‘sorry’ again. Perci hoisted her to sit at the table with the Mother Hens holding court. I went to Mary’s mom who was very tense at my approach.
“Her dad was on a business trip to Australia. I am Jill. I was an accountant before Mary then took a break. She had just gone into daycare and I was looking for work when this… Sorry, I am rambling,” Jill said tensely with tight shoulders and uneasy eyes.
I placed a calming hand on her shoulder except she flinched. I retracted my hand. “Are you okay? Did someone hurt you here?”
“Ah, no. Nothing like that. I am… Jarod was… is a germophobe. Without work, my interactions were limited and workplace contact between non-couples was strictly forbidden. So I tensed. She placed a hand on my shoulder and I tapped my hand to hers. She smiled and I saw her wanting to unload her emotions. “You handle Mary very well.”
I dialed Jacky. I heard her Gpad ringing behind me. She glanced down seeing it was me calling and declined to answer. Jacky diverted to join us with her hands folded in front of her.
“Jacky this is Jill, Jill, this is Jacky. You are working together," I said. They shook hands with warm smiles.
"Perfect, already feeling overloaded with my tasks. I sure can use the help," Jacky said. "If you will excuse me Perci is calling me over."
We watched her slip away. I put a hand on Jill's shoulder ever so gently and said, "Jill, you need to decide if you want Uncle Eric in Mary’s life. I can help her transition with little things. If not then you please let these ladies know. I hope she has a good day with Jasmine. Bye ladies. We shall return… With chickens!” “Chickens! That is my boy,” Mrs. Moore said, embracing me in a goodbye hug. Jacky joined in and we had a light-hearted laugh.
“It was nice to meet you, Jill. I rarely have time, but if I do, I am a great listener,” I said and left before she could reply.
I saw Jasmine playing with Clive’s kids in the sand park. I gave out some awesome high fives and waves. RV2 had Nancy waiting outside. I looked her over for an inspection. She saw my stern gaze and closed her mouth. I realized I had not cleaned my weapon last night while glancing at hers.
“Before I chastise you for not cleaning your weapon, neither did I. I really wish Lt. Becker persisted through the storm. She was a pain in the ass about gear checks,” I said. She went to talk but I held a single finger up. I dialed into the command channel. “Great job on organizing, loading, and preparing to roll out on such short notice. The Captain… as you were. The raid leader is not ready to go. He did not clean his weapon. Everyone needs to clean weapons and have them inspected. Send runners for extra rags. Raid leader out.”
“You really hate calling yourself king, don’t you?” Nancy said before heading into the RV.
Willow came out first in her full battle rattle. She ran for the mansion to get rags with a few pouches clanking, nothing hard to fix. Willow even halted herself to correct the issue on the spot. I tried to find a good location to tear my weapon apart. Everything was occupied, so I plopped in the grass below me. The green blades of grass were trampled but still alive, causing me to frown. I added more paths with river stones to the tasks that had not been started yet. Defined paths meant more bunny food and less mud.
Happy to add more work to the growing list, I stripped the weapon in a neat pile. Torrez came by with a small bottle of CLP and a cleaning kit. I think the man had the foresight to stash some in the RV. I was lost in thought when he brought over a charger with a custom plug.
Cleaning a weapon with one hand was awful. I had been stuck trying to do it for a while in Saudi. I assembled the weapon after a quick clean and inserted the custom plug into my arm. I still had plenty of power, but the RV batteries should be full and Torrez was wise to have me fully charge my cybernetic.
“Hey, pretty boy, you going to answer me? Ditch me in bed, and then stop answering my questions,” Nancy said in a sassy teasing tone.
I walked by here for my command seat. The glorious passenger bucket melted around me. I plopped my feet up while tapping on my Gpad. Nancy did not let up as she rested against the console, eyeing me.
“No, actually. My goal was to establish we were no longer American citizens. That there were new rules, laws, and ways a small community like this operated. Well, I love being called Cap. Part of the glory of getting out was I avoided being called major,” I said, checking on status updates as soldiers piled back into vehicles. “Dedric, you have the discretion to roll us out when the convoy is ready. Nancy, something interesting happened. People started picking their own societal titles. I think if they are reasonable, fun, and harmless then we should do that.”
“What would be unreasonable?” Willow asked from behind my chair.
“Bonnet naming herself the Queen Bitch for example. Two reasons, she is not a queen in hierarchy, and the title needs to be age-appropriate across the board. Soldier Heartremover could maybe work, but let S1… ugh. Mother Hens decide. Now, both of you go pester my new droneanator. I want to go over these reports and past footage.”
The ladies grumbled while shifting to the back of the RV. Dedric had the driver perform a ready check. The drone footage I was watching showed the trooper station. They had blocked the road. It was not in my path but this irked me. I checked out the Gpads in that building. Twenty two. Hmm… I dialed Perci.
“Miss me already?” Perci asked, sitting at the table.
“I need Gpad numbers of these other outposts monitored. This one on the command feed right now. Twenty two. That seems lower than it was. Also, they are blocking the road.”
“Okay, I have the perfect chartist for that,” Perci paused mulling over the word. “Err… person who creates charts works too. We even have a whiteboard now. I will have the information put on the outside of the barn. The meeting room in the barn is a home now. I did not have the spirit to eject people.”
“Thanks Perci, Cap out.”
The RV bounded forward in the middle of the convoy. I was thinking over what to do with the outpost when Dedric cleared his throat for my attention. I ignored him to search for the pile of dead flapions, only to find it was gone. The backhoe and dozer were expanding the tree line back further. My Gpad locator said the other machine was almost done charging. Progress from twenty four hours created results. I still needed to see the finished road to the cave. Hopefully, later today.
“Sorry Dedric, I am in a moral dilemma on this outpost. I am not a man who memorizes things. I do recall there were significantly more Gpads at the trooper station,” I said, watching the trees zoom by. I glanced into the forest floor and spotted another bunny bounding in the early morning sunlight. I hoped the bunnies tasted good. I sighed at the thought of telling little kids bunnies were protein. “Most of our guests who left went in that direction. Yet, I am short Gpads in total. Either they left our area or they were killed. With cars blocking the road I am not sure what happened.”
“As a man of faith, I like to hope for the best outcome. That is rare, and faith teaches me that the worst can and will happen. Even the ex-crew are still crew. Want me to divert on the country road?”
“Yes, do so Dedric. Douglas!” I said, raising my voice for the drone operator to hear me.
“Yeah,” he replied.
“That station. I want full details. If they killed people, they would have buried them in a mass grave, or at the very least burned them. I doubt they would have tossed them in the garbage bin to rot. Thorough recon of the area please,” I said and got an okay back.
Dedric cleared his throat again. “So Cap. Captain King works. Not what I wanted to mention though. First, I love the self-naming idea. Give people a sense of invested involvement. I know, I never expected to be so excited about something so trivial. I want to be a Righteous Soldier Driver,” the older black man said with a wide grin. He smacked the steering wheel in a joyful way. I could see his exuberance. “Really good twist that you should roll with. The next part, I have some problems with. Now, I do believe you will get pushback from different sides of the equation a lot.”
“Okay hold onto that one. I dialed the people in the trooper station and they answered. Give me a moment,” I told Dedric, connecting the call to the trooper people to my command channel.
“Hello, this should be working.”
“Hello, we sent some people your way. What happened to them?”
The man scoffed and I saw his Gpad had his name registered as Desmond Hann. His frustration was evident. “They stole half our cars at gunpoint. Then flattened the other to prevent us from following. The trucks with those new never-flat tires were the ones stolen, so it has left us screwed. That woman with the autistic kid was leading the group, right bitch. Something about entitled rights or some nonsense. We let them in, offered them places to sleep, and then we got the stickup.”
“One moment,” I said, and paused our end.
“Verified. All their tires are flat,” Nancy said, inspecting the video.
“Slow us for now, Dedric. Your faith won out it seems, a simple robbery over murder mystery,” I said to the driver. I un-paused the video. “Hey Desmond, how come you never wanted to come to Stronghold Mansion?”
“Pirates tend to scare people off. Converted to pagan vikings last I heard. That group said they would never take orders from a criminal with fake military awards. For us, I do not think we have a choice though. The world has changed. You would be the delusional ones before the aliens showed up. Now they are. Decisive strong communities with proper planning obviously will prevail. I called Bradley at the fire station to trade. They are only on a week’s worth of food. A guard of theirs on the roof died last night to some winged monsters and it shocked everyone. They are packing up the firetrucks to head to the mansion. I think you should be getting a call soon for permission,” the man said. A young boy kept appearing to wave in the background. The place was a mess from what I could see. Desmond looked exhausted, with heavy dark pools under his eyes. “If your offer still stands. That deluxe duke of yours sent us a video of the firefight you had last night. We simply cannot defend against that. Also, we all want a flushing toilet and power. We lost power here, no gas for the generator, no well pump, and no water. So...”
“You got no working vehicles?”
“We can drive to the stronghold on rims unless you want to help us load. We probably will have issues -”
“Desmond. We are on our way. Do not raise a weapon. If you are armed, ensure the safeties are on. We will do the same. We obviously never intended for those leaving to hamper your situation, and we can help. Pull your valuables outside and do not down the drone providing recon. And look at that. I have a call from Bradley Simpson. See you soon, Desmond.”
“We got no room,” Nancy complained over my shoulder.
“And?”
She grumbled but said nothing more. I answered Bradley’s ring. “Hello, this is Bradley, the fire chief. Was hoping to speak to Eddy Valance.”
Eddy was on the command line. When I stayed quiet, he answered, “This is Eddy, go.”
“We lost one man last night. They flew away with him. Our generator is almost out of gas, our water stopped working and the septic here is back flowing. Please tell the wives listening that Stronghold Mansion is not a bunch of savages.”
I chuckled. Apparently my reputation had prohibited others from initially joining us.
“Well, I can’t. There is no voting yet. Criminals are punished harshly, and there are a god awful lot of rules that would have never been allowed in old America. However. People are happy. For some, happier than before, even with the cramped living. We have ducks as of this morning. Running water, hot showers, TV shows for the kids -”
“Sold! A mom shouted in the background.”
“Bradley, it’s not perfect. As with everything in the world before or after the aliens. If you work to make it better, it normally is. We are going to grab Desmond and his hold outs right now. I watched the drone video from the fire station to the trooper station. You are clear if you leave now.”
“What should we bring versus leaving behind?” Bradley asked, and I cut the feed off from my end.
I would let them discuss the finer details. I dialed Perci and tied in my gate officer Mitchell.
“Go for G-Team,” Mitchell said. I saw the man’s legs swinging off a hesco barrier while guarding the wall.
“Perci here also,” Perci said from her table.
“Trooper station, inbound seeking refuge. We are deviating to get the folks at the trooper station. When they arrive, try to get some onto night shifts. At worst they can get some sleep today if they need it,” I said. I glanced down at my Gpad to see there was only one stronghold holdout remaining. “That leaves the group at the corner
complex left. Showing two hundred and ninety-one there. They should be able to hold out longer than the others. For the new arrivals; solid pat down, get a good accounting, and ensure they know the rules.”
They both confirmed my orders and closed the connections. I had Eddy pinging me.
“Go.”
“Bradly wants Earl Fireannihilator.”
“Approved.”
“Awesome, they should arrive around the same time we will after loading up Desmond and his crew.”
“Thanks Eddy. Cap out.”
The fire station was not a small number of people. I think some of the communities had fled there. Eighty-one Gpads active in that small space. No wonder they tapped out. In a couple of days, things would have grown desperate. Which left me wondering how many humans who had relatively easy Xgates were turning on each other as packaged food ran out. I was shocked we had not seen more Gpads arriving from Denver. The situation down there must be really bad.
“Torrez,” I said over my shoulder.
“Yeah boss,” Torrez replied.
“I do not like how dark Denver is with refugees and communication. I expected a lot of people to flood up here. If those locust type bugs are spreading and defeating Denver, I am concerned.”
“I agree. Is there a reason you are bringing this up?”
“Get Felix on ammo crafting. We spent a few hundred rounds last night. If we end up in a long firefight, I want the backup ready.”
Torrez knocked on the table twice and said, “Done. Want me to stay back when we return with the civvies?”
“No, if we are going onto another planet, I need all the people I can trust. I am excited to see what lives on the puroon planet. I am hoping we find -”
“Chickens. We all know!” The RV said, mocking me, in unison. I merely smirked letting them have their fun. Moments like these made the whole struggle worth it.
