"A travesty, I say," Stone said, shaking his head.
It had been a while since I could take a moment and just enjoy watching the interaction of this bunch. They reminded me of the guys in Tennessee, back at my first post. Soldiers are soldiers, wherever they come from. The ones I seem to end up with are just more full of shit than most, I guess. Or maybe not, maybe they're all full of shit.
The Moussaka was delicious and the company was awesome. What more could you ask for?
World peace? But then, what would we do for a living? We'd be out of a job.
Chapter 25
The ringing phone woke me up.
"Hello."
"It happened," Warren said, "One of the Reps has demanded reimbursement."
"The failsafe?"
"More than likely," he said, "two thousand guns malfunction at the same time."
"Get all the Reps together," I said, "I'll be there this evening. I'm bringin Marco and Polo, as well. Might as well ease their concerns on the matter."
"We'll be expecting you."
"Ok, see ya then."
I hung up the phone. I knew it would happen. I'd hoped it wouldn't, but who was I kidding. We've been fighting amongst ourselves for thousands of years. Did I really expect it to change?
It had to change, or we were going to die.
"What is it?" Lyrica asked.
"Some idiot triggered the failsafe on the guns. I have to go to Tennessee. Are ya covered up at the hospital?"
"Unfortunately, I am."
"I'll try not to blow anything up."
"Good luck with that," she said as I rolled out of our bed and headed for the bathroom.
After I talked with Marco and Polo, I was sure I could get by with using one of the planes for the trip to Nashville, since they would want to be there.
As it turned out, Paige and Gregor came, too, so I got to use the Soulguard jet.
***
"It has come to my attention, ladies and gentlemen," I said as I looked at the group of people from various nations around the world, "That one of you has an issue with my weapons."
"Very true," was the answer from the representative who had made the complaint.
His nation had been at war with its neighbor for as long as I could remember and I had figured there was a strong possibility of this very problem.
"You claim that two thousand Source weapons malfunctioned, Simultaneously."
"That is true," he said, "We demand reimbursement for your faulty product!"
"And yet you'll get nothing," I said with my rage leaking through, "You signed the contract that these weapons would not be used on other Humans. You defaulted on that contract when you tried to use them in that very manor."
"Lies! You have no proof of this!"
Do you honestly think you can lie to a telepath? I asked inside the heads of every person in the room. All eyes were riveted on me.
They had taken my guns and went straight to their neighboring country and tried to attack. I could see the memory of the reports. The reports of failed weapons. Of guns melting from the heat that erupted from the inside of the stock.
"Not only can you not lie to me," I said, "I can show everyone here the memories of said lies."
"This is what you will receive," I said, "I will send you the same amount of weapons you bought before after you have paid the price quoted for those weapons again. You will sign the same contract as you signed before. If you try to use the weapons on Humans again, they will also fail."
"Ridiculous!"
"Then you will receive nothing," I said, "Read your contracts. All of you. If the attempt to use these weapons on Humans is made, You will lose said weapons. Did you think I wouldn't enforce the contracts? These weapons are for the protection of our world from the Kresh."
"Furthermore," I said, "If a second attempt is made, you will not only lose the weapon, but there will be no support from the Soulguard in the future. You are on your own."
I had discussed this portion of the meeting with Paige and Gregor. Gregor had been the one to actually suggest it. Paige agreed, but the whole subject was worrisome. The Soulguard protects Humanity. It would be a hard choice if we truly had to make it.
I could see shock on some faces. Some still held their facial expressions in check. But I could see the turmoil in their auras. This was a hell of a big hammer to keep them in line. Everyone had seen how tough the Kresh were. They needed our support.
"Now the subject is closed," I said, "If you want the support we have to offer, you will buy the guns and use them as they are intended. Or don't buy the guns at all and the status quo stays the same. We will help wherever and whenever we can. There are limited numbers and we are spread across the globe. The Source weapons were created to help level the playing field for the Human Race. Use them as such and we'll get along fine."
"If you insist on shooting one another, it won't be with my weapons. That's all I have to say."
I walked out of the room. There would be arguments and harsh words, I was sure. But they would toe the line or be left behind. We didn't have time to be warring amongst ourselves any more.
At least, the worst they could do to each other with my guns was to use them as clubs on each other.
***
"You could have told us," Marco said, "It might not have made us worry so much and would've, definitely, made it easier for us to make our bosses feel better about it."
"In all honesty," I said, "I needed that scenario to play out so I could have this very example to use."
"But our boys wouldn't..."
"They did."
"What?!"
"There were five different countries that tried to use the Source weapons on other Humans. Only one was ballsy enough to want a refund."
There was a look of disgust on Polo's face.
"Our country tried," he said, "That bothers me more than I would like to think. I know we have enemies in our world that would see us destroyed. I expected it from them. I never expected to be the ones who fell short."
"I expected several to do it," I said, "But, honestly, I am a little disappointed with the ones who did. You make sure the bosses know my threat is real. It would break my heart to walk out of America. I was born here and I love this country. But I have this world and fourteen others depending on us to do our jobs. I will do it."
"If it's any consolation, after they tried, they left it be," I said, "Some of the others went through thousands of the weapons before they gave up. They tried to pull the guns apart with the same result. They melted down. They tried to hack the signal and the guns melted down. The failsafe is there for a reason and it took as long to develop as the rest of the technology."
"You know someone will figure it out one of these days," Polo said, "They'll keep trying."
"True," I said, "But I hope we're done with this before they do. If our world is safe from the Kresh, blow yourselves up if you want to. My job will be done by then."
"Let's hope they don't get it figured out by then," Marco said.
"Amen to that," Polo agreed.
"I wanted to put a Source weapon in the hands of every human on the planet," I said, "It would have been glorious. It's not really feasible, though."
"In a perfect world," Polo said, "it would have been glorious to see."
"If they come into China, they'll see as close to that as they could come. There are over a billion people in China and their army has grown on an even bigger scale than America's," I said, "Gregor told me they have over a million people under arms and Warren tells me they have ordered enough weapons to arm it."
"Damn, that's a lot people," Polo said, "Our forces have grown like crazy but that's insane."
"They may not be the best trained troops but there are a lot of em. And the numbers are still growing. I think they've taken this war to heart."
"Here's to the hope that the Kresh meet several hundred thousand Source weapons at their first step on the planet," Marco said.
&nb
sp; "Amen to that," Polo agreed.
Chapter 26
Kil'Sin'Deres had been fairly close in his estimate. He had said within three months. The first attack happened three months and six days after we had gotten word from the other world.
It happened on the day I made my mother a Mageguard.
"Ya finally decided to do it?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said, "The lure of being able to throw Kharl through a wall is just too much. I have to."
"I don't blame ya," I said, "Sadly, I can't throw him through a wall. We could always enlist Paige."
"Now wouldn't that be something to see," she said, "That tiny little thing shaking him like a rag doll."
"I'd pay real money to see that," I said with a laugh.
"I know this isn't a scheduled day for this," she said, "Do you want to wait until Sunday?"
"Now's fine, Mom," I said, "We told the ones on duty that we would be doin this. That should be fine."
"Maybe you would like to do two," a voice behind me said.
I turned to find Dietrich. With him were Kharl, Prada, Lyrica, Mattie, Trent, and Rostov.
"I figured with just one, I wouldn't need supports," I said.
"You probably will need support to Pull hard enough to stretch his Stream, though," Lyrica said, pointing at Dietrich.
"You're probably right," I said.
Dietrich was six hundred and fifty years old and his Soulstream was already big enough to Pull through. Age strengthens the Stream and six centuries had made his look like steel cable. What I would have to Pull through that to make it grow would be extreme.
"Ok, we'll do Mom's first then the geezer."
"Geezer?" Dietrich rumbled.
"Anyone as old as you is automatically in the geezer category," Trent said, "No way to escape that."
"What happened to the term, 'respect your elders'?"
"Oh, don't get me wrong," Trent said, "I respect anyone that reaches geezer status. But, if there's a doubt, there's one person who can't even be denied as 'Geezer'. It would have to be the father of a guy that has reached geezer status, himself. There's no way to argue the point that this father we are speaking of could be anything less than an 'Old Geezer'."
"May even be considered ancient," I said, "I mean, you're old enough to have passed any sort of regular Geezer status."
"Maybe he needs a Title," Lyrica said, "First Geezer, or something like that."
"All in capital letters," Rostov added.
"I at least expected the Russian to be on my side."
"We set great store in our ancestry," Rostov said, "We honor our eldest with Titles. FIRST GEEZER should be worn with pride."
"We can get a t-shirt for him and everything," Trent said.
"They'll have to make it out of a tent," I said.
"Probably cost a fortune," Prada said, "Lucky we got an international arms dealer who can afford it."
"You've been looking for a reason to use that term in a conversation for a week," Mattie said.
"How often do ya get to say that in regular conversation? Really?"
"True enough," I said, "And I'll gladly pay for a t-shirt for the FIRST GEEZER."
"Dear God," Dietrich said, "Can we just get this done before I have to shoot myself in the head."
"Alright, alright," I said.
"First we'll work with..."
"If you call me Geezer, I'll stab you."
"...the beautiful young lady," I continued.
Much like most of the others, Mom's ascension went just fine. She ended up with a stream about the same size as Kharl's.
Dietrich's was a different story.
He formed the tube for the power to flow from and, with several supports, I Pulled through it. After seeing that he steered it out the tube into the sky, I Pulled harder.
Fire poured through his stream into the sky, but the stream remained the same. I Pulled with more will and I felt power begin to flow from my supporters. His Stream may have grown an inch.
Lyrica stepped up beside me and our hands joined. We Pulled together and there was a massive explosion of power into the sky. As we Pulled, his stream grew little by little. I looked down into the Source. I could see something deep down inside there and I started to reach for it.
"Don't even think about it," Lyrica said, "We aren't touching that. Ever."
I stopped myself from reaching for it and we just kept Pulling until Dietrich's Soulstream had grown to about the size of mine. The amount of power it would take to swell it further would be immense. It took ten minutes of steady Pulling from both of us to do that much.
"Damnit, man!" I said when we stopped and released the residual power into the sky, "What the hell is that thing made of?"
"The despair of my enemies and the lamentations of their women," he said.
"He is your father," Kyra said to Kharl.
"We don't call him the First Geezer for nothing," Kharl answered.
I laughed and turned to see a great deal of excitement going on back toward the base. People were running all over the place.
"That doesn't look good," I said.
"Not in the least," Kharl said, "Let's go see what's goin on."
"Sorry, you two," I said, "No time to get you acclimated. I think the war may be starting."
"Go," Kyra said, "We'll be along, shortly once we get used to the power levels."
I nodded and launched myself toward the base with a crunch as the ground cracked where I had jumped from.
As I landed, Kharl passed me, "Damn grasshopper."
I stopped the first person I came across, a National Guardsman.
"What's happened?"
"They're hittin all over Europe, Sir," he said, "London, Berlin, Paris, Prague, And a bunch more. It's on the news and we're getting ready in case they come here."
I didn't think they would be comin through our Gate again any time soon but we would have to prepare for it just in case.
"Alright, get back to it, then," I said, "We need to get to Paige's office or Marco and Polo's. Kharl, get your Jaeghernauts together and ready if the Gate opens."
"Will do, I got some new guys after Daphne took off to Edinburgh, last month. She's building another squadron of Juggs over there."
"Good, we need all of em we can get."
"The rest of ya," I said, "Gather your squads. More than likely, we're airborne within the next couple of hours. We gotta get over there before they open one of those Great Gates if we can."
"Got it Boss," Prada said, "We'll be ready."
"Do you intend to leave me behind again?" Lyrica asked.
"Hell no," I said, "You guys get ready to go, too."
Mattie had what I think most would consider a feral grin on her face. She wasn't out in the middle of the last two major actions and she looked forward to this one."
"Bloodthirsty women," I muttered.
"You can say that again," Trent said before following behind the two of them.
I headed for Marco and Polo's building, it was closer than Paige's office. Turns out it was just as well. Paige and Gregor were both there too.
"They're all over Europe," Paige said, "The response is good from our Academy but the death toll is going to be enormous."
"They did one city at a time here," Gregor said, "It looks like these are on blitz runs. Regular Kresh and soldiers, mostly."
"Still, it's ugly," Polo said.
"I need to get over there," I said.
"Can we risk them not coming here and send our primary weapon over there?" Marco asked.
"They're not comin here," I said, "And if they do we have so many weapons waitin for em, it would be a slaughter. I need to be where they come out. And it's gonna be over there somewhere."
"Ok," Paige said, "How many do you want to take with you?"
"I'll take my whole squad," I said, "and two others. Should take three planes. If you wanna send some AC130s along with us, I think we could spare a few here. I know we can use em over there. Once the Gate
opens and they give us a target, we can bring more of em."
"Done and done," Marco said, "Go get em, Colin. We'll hold the Gate. Nothin will get through here."
"Alright," I said, "I'm headin out as soon as we can get our team ready."
"The Paris attack has been put down," Came a voice from the hallway.
"That's some good news. That was quick, too."
"Find out what they did to end it so quickly," I said, "Maybe we can use it in some of the others."
I strode out the door and as soon as I was clear of the office, took off at seventy miles per hour toward the Armory. I needed to suit up.
I stopped by my office to tell my staff what was happening and found a present sitting on my desk.
I looked around quickly and opened it. Inside a wooden box was a pair of swords. They were modeled after our short swords we used in the Guard. But they were of a quality that blew ours away.
Under them was a note.
I love you.
She knows me so well.
Chapter 27
The plane was loud but the video on Brighton's tablet didn't have any sound anyway. We watched a quiet day in Paris turn into a vision of Hell.
The video taker had been facing directly toward the spot where the Gate opened. Kresh poured through in a flood.
The guy turned and ran so we lost sight of the Kresh for a few minutes as he sprinted down the street.
Suddenly, something caught his eye and he faced the camera toward a restaurant where a woman had exited the door with flames rolling across her body. She wore a form fitting black dress and high heels.
"Isn't that..."
"Yep, Daphne Cavanaugh," I said.
"Oh," Prada said, "They definitely shouldn't have interrupted her date. Now they're in trouble."
She strode past the man with the camera and the camera shook as she began firing discs of Soulfire into the packed throngs of Kresh pouring down the street.
We saw her discs clear the running Humans and ripped holes in the ranks of the pursuing Kresh. I could see the intensity of the fire rolling across Daphne growing.
Bloodlord (Soulguard Book 3) Page 12
