by Jaime Mera
“I haven’t yet, and I’ve been trying.” Sharon replied and frowned having trained a million people and looking into men’s lives before she was recruited many years ago.
“Well, I’ll tell you what. I know what you like in a man, so I will show you a list of men I know who might still be eligible, if that’s okay with you?” Estabon kept his hands crossed in front of him.
Sharon didn’t know what to say or think, he had never offered the option for the years she had been under his command. Estabon smiled. “It’s okay Sharon, I’m not trying to get you to forget about me. I know the pain very well, but I also know there are men out there who would love to share their lives with you. I finally figured that if I can make countries around the world unite, I can be a matchmaker database for you.”
“Have you done this before?” Sharon asked with peering eyes.
“You’re my genuine pig.”
“And when did you come up with this bright idea?” She crossed her arms.
“A minute ago when you asked me what I was thinking.” He firmly grabbed her arm. “You shouldn’t put your life on hold because of me. Go ahead, read my mind.” Estabon said and let her see the thousands of men she might like down to their true personalities and defining memories in their past.
Sharon’s mouth opened and eyes widen in a dumbfounded moment of awe. She fixed her gaze on his eyes. “Why didn’t you show me this earlier?”
“Eduardo didn’t want me to. And he still doesn’t want me to, but don’t worry he doesn’t know about this conversation.”
“Wait, what? Why?” Her stare went to the ground for a second and then back up to him.
“If I have to tell you, then I’m not sure you can handle so many men to pick from.” Estabon turned to the truck and walked around, getting into the front passenger seat.
Sharon stood on the sand looking at her team in the vehicle in deep thought.
“Come on Captain, it's time to go.” Estabon yelled out of a crack from the lowered window.
She ran to the passenger side door, jumping on the step. “Why didn't he say anything to me!” Her glowering insubordination was very unexpected.
Estabon calmly lowered the window all the way down. Rick in the driver’s seat widely opened his eyes looking away from the two. “I am sure you would rather hear him say it from his mouth, but he wanted to wait until we were completely done with uniting the planet. And because he saw you loved me, but I don’t buy that. I think you love Eduardo more than me so why fight it?” Estabon looked at her with interest.
“I blocked those thoughts, what else do you know?”
“I know to respect your privacy... Things change when you realize someone loves you. Now you know enough to make an educated decision. But, it would be nice to get back home and use this time to mull it over.”
Sharon straight mouth changed to a wide smile as the back passenger door opened up. “Maybe she wants to stay?” Lieutenant Vila, the other telepath said, his voice coming from the back seat.
“The fish wasn’t that good.” Sergeant Rey said while everyone else laughed.
Sharon put her face down in shame as she hurried into the back seat.
“Oh, I’m so glad you brought me along.” Rick said showing a dazzling grin of perfect teeth at Estabon.
Sharon’s face went white realizing she would need to talk to Eduardo about their potential relationship before Rick or any other person in the team came close to him.
“Don’t worry Sharon, we will tell if you don’t.” Estabon smirked as the truck stormed the waves and sped off a mile out to be picked up from the extraction craft.
Chapter 13
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The Eternal Champions
Complex San Francisco, 2011
Overlays of the last cities remaining to be completed were displayed along the fourteen screens and framed windows across the front bridge wall in the UFS Andromeda, flagship of the space fleet. The upgrades to the communication systems and power grids were the finishing touches before Estabon could concentrate on the space fleet issues. His attention diverted to one of his intelligence analyst before he could run down the list on the remaining things to do for the day.
“Sir, Captain Hernandez, of the Doris, is reporting contact with a superhero group lead by a superhuman named Creator.”
“Get me Hernandez and anyone on the ground.” Estabon said, knowing Eduardo was already monitoring the situation with the rescue mission into Complex San Francisco.
“Lieutenant Alejandro here, Sir.” Alejandro’s voice was heard along with what he saw through his helmet visor.
“How are you Roberto?” Estabon addressed him as if he saw him just yesterday.
“I’m not sure Sir, it’s highly irregular for a you to be talking to me, but so is this superhuman.”
“Yes, it is. I want you to examine the group carefully. Tell the telepaths to see if they can get anything. I assume you told him we would use whatever means necessary to get the two women?”
“Yes, Sir, but it seems they have a telepath with them, so we will try to be as subtle as possible.” Roberto said as he watched Creator walk down the dark street with Mindseye next to him.
Everyone hearing the conversation stayed quiet as the lieutenant gave his two telepaths instructions. The helmets transmitted directly to specific Soldiers which were monitored through the operations center in Brazil. A top view of the entire scene was displayed on the main screen, complements of several surveillance and communication satellites. “Okay, Lieutenant, help them out as best you can. We will be monitoring.” Estabon said with relief as the team located the second group of survivors confirming that many people were alive.
Thirty minutes into the operation, the action was tense for a moment as Creator, Mindseye, Night and one of the prisoner female, Katherine Fletcher, fought against the superhuman, Sargon.
“Should we fire on the prisoners?” Captain Hernandez asked seeing that everyone in the battle was down, except for Creator who was getting his butt kicked, yet he was way stronger than their armored personnel carriers, probably their cruiser out at sea as well.
“No, let’s see what the other superhuman is going to do.” Estabon said seeing Linda watching from a rooftop.
“How do you know she will do anything?” Captain Hernandez asked, but knew they had a little bit of leeway before firing artillery or particle weapons at Sargon.
“Anyone who can’t do anything won’t be watching from less than a building away.”
Without fail, Linda flew down next to Creator as Sargon fell on his face. “I really hate not hearing what’s going on.” Estabon said, but no more than a few seconds later, they heard what the Soldiers heard outside of their helmets when Linda woke them up.
The team and superheroes took Sargon into custody and moved to the linkup point on the west shore of the city. They heard and saw all of the conversations with the Soldiers unfold. “I want the entire team, survivors, Captain Hernandez and the 1st Officer to get on a teleconference once they board the Doris.” Eduardo instructed.
All of the Soldiers looked at each other or at the three female survivors once they loaded into the extraction crafts. “This is Captain Hernandez, all personnel in the craft, you are to say nothing about what happened. Your debriefing will start immediately upon arrival to the Doris. Hernandez, out.” He announced over the intercom.
Twenty minutes later, many puzzled faces looked at the large debriefing conference room, usually used for high level officer meetings. All of the Councilmembers on the screens and twenty small windows of the admirals and legion commanders was somewhat unsettling and unusual. “Ladies and gentlemen, the Eternal Champions are of great concern to us. I have a feeling they will have a major impact in the future. Sandra, you and Patricia were the first to meet them. Please tell us your impression or observations of these superhumans.” Eduardo guided the debriefing. Telepaths were present, but they only guaranteed the witnesses weren’t fooled into seeing so
mething differently.
“Creator seems very experienced as if he had people under his command before. The other two are young and follow him without question. Creator is highly focused, and can see through objects; that’s how he found the survivors when he was close enough maybe a block away. All of them can fly, and they, for a lack of better words, act like they’re university students from some frat house.” Sandra stated being an experienced observer and now ex-spy.
“The superhuman, Mindseye doesn’t talk very much, but he might have telepathic abilities.” Patricia added.
“Anyone else?” Eduardo opened it up to the rest since all of them had some exposure to the group after Sandra and Patricia met them.
“I do Sir. Night is extremely fast, maybe even as fast as Quatris and Hellfire.” Master Sergeant Rivera said having witnessed Night move from a rooftop, snatching a Soldier on the street level and flying away with him out of view in less than a second.
“Sir, the two women that helped the group have telepathic abilities, much stronger than us two.” Sergeant Lopez spoke for himself and the other telepath.
“Yes, the woman Linda, seems to have exceptional abilities. Okay, for now Lt. Alejandro will walk us through what happened and if anyone has anything to add or correct, please feel free to interrupt. We monitored from above so we can fill in some of the information on what happened with Sargon.” Eduardo motioned the Beta-team leader to run through the entire event as he experienced it.
The meeting ended with a good note, as everyone was able to attend to their personal needs. Sandra was able to contact her husband, Admiral Clayborn, as detailed information was sent to the starship databases.
‘What do you think?’ Estabon asked Eduardo later that morning.
‘I don’t know. They’re new. Hopefully they will turn the balance and fight these super villains without becoming another statistic.’
‘When do we plan on talking with Quatris about the aliens?’
‘Not sure… if they can help us, that will be nice, but for now we can’t afford to trust people or aliens to do what’s right for everyone.’
‘I’ll get William to see what he can find out more about the Eternal Champions.’ Estabon said as he ate an early breakfast.
‘I guess we should have expected something like this with superhumans coming out of the woodwork since the CEA and SIA dismantled the Founders.’ Eduardo commented.
‘I’m sure William would disagree with that assessment. And if we were sure of the future, many things wouldn’t have happened.’ Estabon thought about Brenda.
Eduardo said nothing; feeling guilty that he and Sharon were now happily married with a daughter, and Estabon was still unable to hold the woman he loved.
‘It’s okay brother, you and Sharon deserve to be happy. I have your back.’ Estabon said with conviction.
‘We will end this soon brother.’ Eduardo assured him.
Chapter 14
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Operation Pegasus
West of Cali, Colombia, 2016
Droplets of refreshing light rain hit Estabon’s face and exposed hands. The permeable suit he wore allowed him to sweat and kept him cool, but it didn’t matter because he liked the colder water coming off the mountain clouds. He ran in a steady stride over a paved silicon rubber pathway. Three Soldiers ran with him, but weren’t wearing the heavier armored suits in order to stay up with their leader. All three carried sniper rifles on their backs, a side arm, and two sabers. Additional security was monitoring and following from a distance with jump ships and a platoon of Soldiers scattered throughout the route.
His exercising playlist sounded into an ear piece with the other ear exposed to the elements so he could hear around him. He breathed steady hitting his four mile mark, and then turned up a rough mountain trail. Two guards smiled as they took to the challenge. The third grunted as it would expose Estabon’s security net by deviating from the programmed exercise route. The four raced up the steep slope on rocky and partly grassy terrain. Two klicks up the mountain landed them on an observation deck overlooking the city of Cali on the east and Pacific Ocean to the west. The deck was twenty meters wide, used by hikers, photographers and surveyors.
One of the guards walked up to a trash receptacle and looked inside. It was empty, but had been used in the past and recently cleaned. His chest was pounding as he caught his breath and looked to the south and west. “All clear.”
“Clear.”
“All Clear.” Replied the third guard with several huffs of air.
Estabon bent over breathing easy as he rested with his hands on his knees. “Boy you guys are getting better. You almost made me breathe hard.” He smiled as he stood straight, walked over and sat on the cold fiberglass bench facing the ocean. The cold wind gushed upward and over them, white mist of cloud escorting the wind to the other side of the ridge.
“You ran all the way up here to see if we could keep up?” Captain Dante Ruiz asked in disbelief.
“Oh, No, I know you can keep up most of the time. But now that you’re up here, what does it matter? Enjoy the view Captain.” Estabon un-slung his backpack and withdrew a thermo-bottle. “Here, catch.”
Captain Ruiz caught the eight inch long bottle and stared at it while Estabon gave other bottles to the other guards. “What’s this Sir?”
“Hot chocolate, but if you don’t want some, I’m sure Gabriela will take it.”
Lieutenant Gabriela Bega looked at the men from the ledge of the platform with a smile and drank her hot beverage enjoying the view.
“Sir, I have heard many stories about your unorthodox methods, but we can’t be lacking in security.” Captain Ruiz objected.
“Dante, I have been fired at by snipers seventy-four times, and by all sort of people countless of times, most of them were in Vietnam, but there is one thing I know that security can’t provide.”
“What’s that Sir?” Ruiz calmed down, sensing he was being given a lesson.
“You might think that you will get in the way of a bullet for me, but the truth is I will take that bullet for you, all you have to do is eliminate the attacker. Unless they throw a nuke at us, chances are we will be okay up here.”
“Understood, Sir.” Ruiz opened his bottle, now feeling the cold air on his exposed face not covered by the lightweight helmet.
“You’ll be fine Sir.” Lieutenant Porros said as he handed the captain a warm arepa wrapped in aluminum foil.
Ruiz looked at the Lieutenants, both telepaths, wondering why he was picked for this guard duty, even though he wanted to guard the Councilmember, he felt so ill-equipped not being able to telepathically communicate with his Soldiers.
“You know Sir, it would be a lot easier if you understand that all you have to do is think your commands and we will hear and follow. We will also alert you to dangers if we sense any.” Gabriela said as she walked towards the men.
“Well that’s partially true. You have a high resistance to mental attacks and you’re skilled, but most importantly, you’re here because your men and women vouched for you as a man of honor and integrity.” Estabon added as he watched the ocean and clouds along the west horizon.
The tall muscular captain, ate the arepa, sipping the chocolate and stared out across the vast lowlands and ocean beyond. His relaxed demeanor also relaxed the lieutenants and Estabon. ‘Next time we should just fly up here to have a picnic.’ He thought.
The lieutenants and Estabon laughed as they enjoyed the scenery.
They talked about what they would do after the war which left Estabon saying he wasn’t sure. As they stowed the bottles and trash back in Estabon’s backpack, a communiqué came over their ear pieces. Estabon let Gabriela take the pack placing it on her back and moving her sniper rifle to her front. Estabon spoke into his helmet mic. “What happened?”
“Sir, a terrorist bomb has gone off in Chicago Airport. The camera footage indicates Tantalumized androids were involved.”
“Understood, s
end a jump ship to pick us up.”
“What does it mean Sir?” Captain Ruiz asked having knowledge as everyone else in the security details about the android assassins.
“It means war has made the corner.” Estabon replied with a concerned look on his face, as he talked with Eduardo about the situation and their timeline.
The jump ship hovered above the four as they were picked up by rope with attached rings for a person to hookup to and not worry about holding on with brute strength. The four propellers surrounding the diamond shape craft resembled a large scale version of a camera drone used by Californians to spy on their neighbors. “Take me to the Andromeda!” Estabon commanded as he boarded, taking his security team back with him to Bogota. The security company along the mountain escorted them in their separate crafts.
The day turned into two weeks, as intel directly feed to the Andromeda and key players in monitoring superhumans and Australian activity.
Captain Adriana Soto, from the UFS Pegasus directed the collected intelligence effort. Multiple windows on many screens showed intelligence officers and enlisted, along with commanders from all branches and disciplines of the South American military. “Attention: Mister Vasquez has made contact with the superhumans calling themselves the Five Ghosts. Other sources have confirmed their involvement with SIA and the Eternal Champions. Captain Tirse and Admiral Zerpa, I need all your personnel to be allocated to completion of the UFS Kyron within 72 hours. Councilmember Eduardo is speaking to the Legion commanders as Operation Pegasus will commence in 72 hours 39 minutes and counting. I will be expecting hourly updates; Soto Out.” Adriana’s long fingernails swept over her captain’s chair console. A full spectrum video imagery of seven men and a teenager flying out of the Sheraton hotel’s penthouse showed on the main screen. The initial group disappeared, but the trailing group of three men stayed visible all the way to SIA headquarters.
