Shep said, "Seems to me that's a good reason to head in there."
Hoth told them, "I have operators who could lead this investigation without putting such high value personnel at risk."
"General Hoth, it wasn't so long ago that I was taking a risk every morning I got out of bed. Shep and me here, well, we were doing this back when you could count the number of people in our army with two hands. This isn't anything new for me."
"It is new, Sir, in the sense that this is a risk you don't have to take."
"Actually, it's a risk I feel I must take. I can't really explain it, not in a way you'd understand. So let's move beyond the 'why' and get to the 'how', we leave tomorrow night."
---
Trevor dismissed the five soldiers selected to accompany him in the search. He then walked out of General Hoth's headquarters en route to the mess hall. Jerry Shepherd joined him as they moved between tents, around burning barrels where men gathered for warmth, and between the parked vehicles—most leaking something—in the ad hoc motor pool assembled on the farmer's field.
"Sleep well?" Shep asked. "You should have stayed in the house."
Trevor answered, "No, I wanted to be out in one of the tents. It was cold as Hell and I kept getting woken up by some sentry yelling '2 a.m. and all's well' and all that, but you know what? I needed this. Last night, I spent half an hour listening to guys singing old songs while someone played a guitar and then I got in on a late night poker game. I'm not sure half the guys recognized me. In fact, if I weren't wearing clean BDUs I would've blended in completely."
"Like old times, huh?"
"This is what it's about, Shep. The shit going on back in D.C., that's a bunch of BS. Out here, this is the heart of the fight. I have to keep reminding myself that most of the guys and girls here never held a weapon before six years ago or so. Now they're an army. Not exactly parade-ground ready, but there's a spirit here…I don't know, just makes me think I know how George Washington felt at Valley Forge or maybe Monty before El Alamein."
"POP!" A young girl ran to Shepherd and threw her arms around him. To Trevor's surprise, Shepherd knelt and returned the hug with equal vigor.
"Denise? Now what in the name are you doing here?"
"Where’s my mom, Mr. Shepherd? What happened to her?"
Shepherd's mouth worked but said nothing, no doubt searching for a comforting lie but Denise cut him off at the pass: "I know she's missing. What happened to her, Pop?"
"How the heck did you get here?"
"By train and hitchhiked on convoys the rest of the way. Is it true? Is my mom missing?"
Trevor did not exist in the world where the conversation took place yet he managed to intrude as he gasped, "Your mother?"
Denise did not appreciate the distraction from this stranger. She glared at Trevor with sharp eyes and shot, "Yeah, my mother. Is that a problem?"
"Um," Shep coughed. "Denise, let's head somewhere a heap warmer and talk it over."
Trevor trailed along in a zombie-like state absorbing the thought of Nina having a daughter as Jerry led them to the mess tent where they met Reverend Johnny.
With breakfast long over, the mess felt deserted. Nonetheless, Reverend Johnny found a cup of hot chocolate—from very old mix--for Denise and pseudo-coffee for the three men.
Between the drinks and a coal-burning stove the room offered just enough heat to allow them to strip off one layer of outerwear.
As soon as their butts hit the wooden bench of a picnic table Denise blurted, "Where is my mother, Pop? What happened to her? Is she…is she dead?"
"The truth is we don’t know what happened to your mom. Hell, she’s probably camped out roasting marshmallows with a broken radio, for all we know."
Trevor and the Reverend remained outside the loop; Denise only had eyes for Shepherd.
"But you haven’t heard from her. What was she doing? Where did she go?"
Johnny tried to help. "I fear we cannot go into detail about the nature of her mission."
"Hey, it’s my mom. I know she’s, like, Ms. Bigshot ‘round here. You don’t need to tell me that, Mister."
Shep coughed. "Denise, this is Reverend Johnny, he’s on the Imperial Council."
Despite her self-confidence, Denise’s face drooped into an ‘oh shit’ look.
"Um…oh…hi."
"Hello, Ms. Denise."
The girl grew more guarded. She turned to the other man and asked the obvious, "Are you a member of the council, too?"
Trevor could not resist a smug smile as he shook his head ‘no’.
"Oh that’s good," Denise sounded relieved as she tried to act nonchalant with a casual sip from her mug. "I’d hate to make an ass out of myself twice."
"Denise, this is Trevor Stone," Shepherd introduced. "The Emperor."
She paused mid-sip. Her eyes widened but remained locked on the hot chocolate.
"Hello, Denise. It’s nice to make your acquaintance."
Slowly…oh so very slowly…the young girl turned her head to the man sitting next to her.
"You…you are…I mean….you’re Mr. Stone?"
"Call me Trevor."
Denise put her mug down and hid her eyes in her hands. "I am such an idiot."
"Actually," Trevor said, "I’m very impressed. You came all the way here to find out what happened to Nina? Of course, I never knew she had a daughter." Stone threw his eyes at Shepherd, eyes saying why didn’t you tell me about this?
"Yes," Shep stumbled. "Captain Forest met Denise when she cleared Wilmington the summer before last. Denise here was an orphan and they hit it off. Isn’t that right, Denise?"
The girl kept her eyes hidden, mumbling only, "Oh brother."
"That’s great. I’m sure Nina is a great mother."
That grabbed Denise’s attention. She finally pulled her eyes from her hands.
"Mister Stone, sir, um, do you know where my mother is? Is she…is she alive, still?"
Trevor placed his hands on Denise’s shoulders. "I want you to listen carefully now, okay? I promise you, your mother is coming home."
Denise wanted to believe. "How…how can you promise that?"
"Because I’m going to bring her back."
---
The black-painted Eagle airship flew low over rolling fields, the glint of brilliant moonlight lost in its dark surface.
Trevor sat in the pilot's seat gripping the control sticks sprouting from the arms of the chair. He wore bulky navigation goggles that generated a view and a sensation of actually being the craft; as if his eyes watched from the nose cone and his body traveled through the air.
Despite his concern for Nina, for the anxiety in facing unknown danger, and for the risk to the stability of The Empire in his being here, Trevor enjoyed himself. It felt good to fly an Eagle again.
His view included a heads-up display providing altimeter and radar readings that allowed him to hug—but not crash into—those rolling fields. Furthermore, when Omar Nehru humanized these captured alien shuttles he added 'Starlight' night vision for improved night flying.
Reverend Johnny could not fly an Eagle but he played the roll of navigator from the co-pilot's seat. Using a pen light in the darkened cockpit, he listened to Trevor call out landmarks and computed their course.
"I believe we are nearing the area of concern."
"You mean to say we’re reaching the L-Z? Can't sit in the big-boy chair, Rev if you're not going to use military-speak."
"I’m glad to see you are enjoying yourself," Johnny then punched the intercom button and announced to the passenger compartment, "We are approaching the…we are approaching the L-Z. Prepare for touchdown."
The Eagle rose and then descended like a rollercoaster as Trevor steered the ship into position above a half-mud, half-ice field. At that point he used floor pedals to slow forward motion, hovered, and then eased the vehicle to the ground where the landing struts bobbed once.
"Perfect," Stone complimented himself. "We've got about
an hour until dawn."
"I hope the rest of our mission is as perfect," Johnny commented as the two men unbuckled their safety harnesses. "I assume we'll begin by snooping around?"
"No," Trevor removed the navigation goggles. "If I know Nina, she did the snoop and sneaky approach and ended up vanishing. I plan to be more direct."
---
Trevor stayed true to his word. At first light, his eight-man, three-K9 team rushed the farm securing the disheveled and starving people living there without any resistance. He then sent three of the five Army Group North soldiers to search the outer perimeter while he remained at the farmhouse to interrogate the pitiful-looking prisoners.
After binding their hands with plastic ties, his team moved the twenty detainees into the living room where they sat in groups packed together on two sofas and the floor. Before Trevor asked his first question, he knew these people could not be responsible for the Dark Wolves' disappearance.
Based on the collection of ages—from elderly to teen agers with several in between—Trevor guessed them to be the leftovers of a couple of old-world families. Parents, grand parents, and children probably banded together when the invasion came and managed to eek out an existence on this farm. He had seen it enough times before.
"Okay, um, you stand up," Trevor pointed to a man with a white beard dressed in a torn green sweater and wearing a Cincinnati Bengals cap. Trevor guessed him to be mid fifties but his scrawny frame and hungry, sunken eyes might hide a younger man. "What is your name?"
"My name is Willis," came the answer but he would not look Trevor in the eye.
"We’re not your enemies, Willis. We’re human, just like you."
Reverend Johnny jumped in, "We are searching for some of our friends. They were supposed to come here a few days ago. Do you know of whom we speak?"
Willis glanced at his brethren nervously but anyone he looked to averted their eyes.
"Go ahead," Stone encouraged and made a conscious effort to ensure his M4 carbine pointed down. "One of them would have been a blonde woman."
Willis’ nerves did not dissipate.
"Listen here," Shepherd gave it a shot "They would've been like us. They would've come on foot. There were four of them."
This time Willis understood. He spoke through a mouth holding maybe six teeth, "Yes I know who you mean. They came here a few days ago. The others were waiting for them."
Trevor glanced to Shep and Johnny and then asked, "What others? Do you mean aliens? Look, if you're honest with me I can help you. Food, illness won’t be problems any more."
The detainees murmured in approval.
Willis answered, "Last week a group of people came here. They were soldiers, I think. They had guns. They were not pleasant, not at all. They hit Charles here for speaking his mind to them." Willis nodded toward a teenager who bore the remains of a nasty bruise on his cheek. "They changed their clothes to look like us. Then your friends came and they captured them; took them away."
"Took them away? Where?"
"To the north. Yes, to the forest to the north. They came from there; they took your friends that way when they left."
---
Trevor left two of Hoth’s soldiers and two K9s at the farm as protection and to arrange the evacuation of the settlers. The balance of his team boarded the Eagle and flew to the north. After thirty-minutes of flight they found a hardwood forest looking withered from the harsh winter but an imposing sea of trees nonetheless. Trevor would find no landing space in its midst. He circled above looking for something…anything.
"Dear Lord, what is that?"
Trevor saw what Johnny saw: a twisted cone-like structure rising from the forest. It could have been a building, but its texture more resembled tree bark. On its black surface he spotted a few scattered twinkles as if from glitter.
"I can't land in that forest, it's too thick. We'll set down at the rim and hike in on foot."
Johnny did not like that idea. "A hike? I dare say you are pushing the practical limits of safety in this matter. We should retreat and summon reinforcements."
Trevor heard what Johnny said but the logic of his suggestion could not match the image of Nina covered in Bore Bugs or in the maw of a Torture-Spider.
"I came here to find out what happened to the Dark Wolves, Reverend. I’m not waiting." When Johnny glared at him like a disapproving father Trevor unconvincingly added, "This is recon, not engagement. We’ll call in the troops once we see what we’re up against."
Stone landed the Eagle at the rim of the forest…
…Trevor left two more of Hoth’s commandos at the ship, including one trained to fly Eagles, with instructions to radio for back up should Trevor’s team not return within two hours.
Reverend Johnny vehemently protested, but in the end put on his gear and marched off with Trevor, Shepherd, Tyr the Elkhound, and a tall soldier from Hoth's group.
They pushed through the lifeless forest of crooked trees, climbed over rocky ridges, and crossed a pair of half-frozen streams. Along the way, morning turned into early afternoon but despite sharp sunbeams slicing through the canopy of jagged branches, the temperature remained below freezing.
Thanks to an early warning from Tyr, the group avoided the prowl of a massive StumpHide as the gargantuan creature crashed through the forest. Fortunately, the monster moved off in pursuit of a white tail doe that happened across its path.
After a twenty-minute hike, they arrived at the strange, cone-shaped structure. It stood nearly eight stories tall on a wide base hundreds of feet around and constructed of tightly-wound cords seemingly made of some kind of metal and another kind of wood.
Surrounding the building-sized object was a ring of pulverized trees apparently burned and stamped leaving no piece larger than a fist and piles of sawdust.
"Please correct me if I am mistaken," Johnny whispered to Trevor as they observed the thing from the woods. "But I do not recollect any image such as this in our Hostiles Database."
Trevor agreed, "This is new."
"I am not one who appreciates surprises."
"Okay, let’s check this out," Trevor told the others. "Shep, you two move around the west side. Me and the Rev will go the other way with Tyr. Look for an entrance."
Shep nodded and the two groups separated, both using the tree line for cover.
Trevor and Johnny completed half their sweep when they spotted a huge archway leading to blackness.
"Well, there we go," Stone said.
"Very well then," Johnny placed a hand on Trevor's shoulder. "We've found the entrance. We have completed our reconnaissance. Time to call for assistance."
Tyr whined. Just a little.
Trevor translated the message sent to him by the K9: "He’s caught Nina’s scent."
He leaned forward but Johnny's grip held firm.
"You must not proceed alone, Trevor. We have been reckless enough today."
"I didn't come all this way to wait. She could be in there."
"I do not doubt it. But what good would it do Miss Forest for you to share her fate? I suggest we roust Mr. Shepherd, retrieve additional support from General Hoth's headquarters, and strike with a heavier fist."
For a second, Trevor considered ignoring his advice and charging inside. Instead, he looked to Tyr and said, "Go find Shepherd. Lead him back here."
The Elkhound ran off around the side of the structure, barely making a sound as its body pushed through the dry brush.
Reverend Johnny relaxed and peered toward the entrance. It stood tall, maybe twenty feet high, and led into a wide hall.
"What manner of beast dwells here, I wonder?"
Trevor shook his head as he answered, "I don't know. Too small an entrance for a Goat-Walker, big enough for a Troll but they don't build nests. Besides, this looks less like an animal's nest and more like a building. Perhaps someone—"
He heard the twig snap but still moved too slow.
Trevor swiveled around into the face of a g
un barrel held by a dark-haired woman with green eyes. On her flanks stood four body-armor-wearing men with unrecognizable bullpup style assault weapons affixed with nasty bayonets.
"Drop your weapons. We do not want to hurt you," the woman insisted.
Indeed, Trevor detected something like pleading in her voice.
Stone and the Reverend kept their M-4 rifles aimed at their attackers.
"Please, drop your weapons," she repeated. "Your people—Nina—they’re okay. They’re inside. I’ll take you to them but you have to put down your weapons."
Trevor looked at his friend then dropped his gun. Johnny followed suit.
The armor-clad soldiers moved in and secured the carbines and side arms from Trevor and Johnny.
"Let's get inside before your pet comes back with help, I don't want to have to shoot any of your people," the woman said in a tone that sounded one part cocky but another part sincere.
The soldiers ushered Trevor and Johnny inside the large opening. An instant later a thick bulkhead—some kind of dark stone maybe—slid shut over the entrance.
"You’ll want to take your coats off," the woman suggested as they started along the hall. "It's hot in here."
Trevor realized that, yes, despite the frigid temperatures outside, the interior of the structure felt quite warm. That meant a heat source. That meant power.
Like Johnny, he removed his heavy jacket.
"Come with me," the woman instructed. "My boss will want to meet you."
"Wait. What about my men? What about Nina?"
The woman smiled and told him, "Yeah, her, too."
They ascended a ramp that spiraled upwards. Their boots clicked on the hard floor and gear jingled sending echoes along the massive passage. Moving through the wide, tall corridor made Trevor think about Dorothy and crew walking the oppressively oversized palace on their way to face the great and all-powerful Oz.
Tiny lights—crystal like—embedded in the black walls provided illumination along the way. Not bright, just enough to see. The floor felt smooth and hard, as if made of rock.
Along the way, Trevor noticed scattered soldiers at guard positions. They—himself included—looked small and insignificant inside those massive corridors.
Beyond Armageddon: Book 03 - Parallels Page 7
