by Chogan Swan
He turned to Una. “So, Una, your call for taking the offense was well-timed. The opportunity to influence the direction a new society takes in North America is in front of us now.”
“Though the opportunity will be contested,” Ambrosia said. Her words came out clear and firm.
Jonah froze for a moment—a startle reflex.
“I didn't mean to interrupt.” Ambrosia said with a smile, yet no trace of apology colored her words.
“It's just strange for me Ambrosia,” Jonah said. “Your mother and I always knew that you and your sisters were connected in a special way, and we tried to protect you from a society that wouldn’t understand. But neither of us understood just how deep that connection was. It's still tough for me to realize how much I failed to understand what you were all going through. Now that you aren't hiding your abilities and development anymore … I'm not adjusting quickly. I feel like I should have been more helpful to you. After all, you did get whatever gene turned this ability on through me. I should have understood better what was in front of my eyes for seven years.”
“Thank you, Jonah, but we didn't need more help. We had each other and the rest of you—our extended family—accepted us and supported us enough for our needs. Oh yes, and we also had Bandit.” She finished with a lighter tone.
Jonah smiled. “Well, I'm glad we at least contributed by bringing him into the family then.”
“Jonah,” Ambrosia said, leaning forward earnestly. “You did fine by us. We honor you for it.”
Jonah's lips twitched upward. Una sensed his tension dropping a notch.
“We will be going on Una's mission,” Ambrosia said, voice firm.
Jonah froze again.
That's it, Ambrosia. Time the bomb for maximum shock effect.
Tiana picked that moment to open the door and come in. “Did I hear you correctly? Ambrosia, what are you thinking? You want to risk your lives on the most dangerous continent in the world?” Her voice came out terse and clipped. “How am I supposed to explain that to your mother when she gets back?”
“The short answer is that we will explain it, not you,” Ambrosia answered calmly.
Tiana spun to face Una. “Say something,” she demanded.
Una smiled. “What? Me? I was born less than a month ago. Do you expect me to make decisions for people older than I am? I thought you already acknowledged their emancipation yesterday.”
“Hey!” Ambrosia interrupted. “We’re right here.” She leaned back on her heels and rested her hands on her chair's armrests in a regal pose. “Don't get your tail in a knot, Auntie Tiana. We aren't ALL going, anyway—just four of us.”
CHAPTER 24 – HOBBLING
Una stood and stretched, keeping her eyes on the tabletop screen that was displaying the map of the Arizona and New Mexico areas of what had been the southern United States. What it would be called in the future was, of course, up for grabs.
Assegai, the largest and strongest of the four sisters on Una’s field operations team was still at the table flipping through the screens in front of her, immersed in the maps and intelligence reports.
The main task of the entire last week had been to compare all the latest intelligence reports detailing the current tangles of alliances and conflicts within the power struggles of the different groups in the area.
Una had discarded hundreds of plans that focused on building a power base in groups likely to be sympathetic to XYMBI's society models. She'd decided, instead, to focus on toppling the biggest problem areas by infiltrating and taking down the most virulent leaders and putting cooperative people in place.
The hardest part would probably be finding someone they could work with, but until she was in the field it was hard to say. After all, there was no data on how people smelled in the reports.
The only thing they were waiting for now was the completion of Una's transformation to an appearance that would pass for human.
Una had made progress on her facial structure. By tomorrow, as long as she could keep her tail concealed, she should pass—with facial makeup. It should be easy enough; most humans in the US still hadn't heard that aliens had landed. She was even experimenting with growing head hair, something none of her branch-sisters had attempted as far as she knew.
The door opened, and Daniels entered the room, taking a seat across from her. “Any updates on your plans?” he said.
“Since you asked an hour ago?” Una tried to put a teasing note in her voice, but she hadn't had much practice with that and wasn't sure if it was working. Daniels had been lobbying her to have more backup for their first mission. His efforts didn't annoy her. Having a concern for your commanding officer's health was not the worst characteristic to find in an XO. ShwydH had seen plenty of evidence for that among the niiaH.
Daniels pressed on. “I've been able to negotiate with ops support for a bigger, faster chopper with more firepower for your mission. That means you could bring me as well as Jacksie and Austin along in case you need to bug out fast. Your team hasn't had a chance to work together in the field yet. You can't know how they'll function under fire.”
“Thanks, Daniels. You're right. We'll do as you suggest.”
A moment later, Daniels closed his mouth. Evidently, he hadn't thought he would win so easily on this one since Una had shot down most of his suggestions this week. She'd always thanked him for bringing them to her though, asking him to keep it up.
ShwydH had followed human studies on leadership. To Una, it just made sense that information on humans from studies actually done by humans had a stronger basis in common experience—though sometimes their science was suspect.
Though the theories clashed with niiaH methods for dealing with subordinates, that had never invalidated them in ShwydH's mind. He’d never been comfortable as a subordinate, or anything else, in niaaH society. And Una found that many of the human ideas and approaches based on the concept of the servant as a leader were useful, even if most humans only gave them lip service.
Where you find leaders, there will also be politicians.
Una tapped the table to get Assegai's attention. “Come get something to eat and some rest. You may have a mature mind, but your brain and body still need rest and nutrition just like any eight-year-old human. Since we're leaving tonight, I want all of you rested.”
∆ ∆ ∆
The XYMBI combat model of the Leonardo AW189 chopper whispered with an urgent rhythm as it settled into the lower side of the top of the hill Una had chosen for the mission base and landing zone. Charles let the motor idle in 'quiet mode' as Jacksie, Austin, Daniels and Razor jumped from the side doors and spread out. Assegai, Aryana, Abedebun and Adalwolfa—silent, small shadows—followed Rogue to the north where their objective lay.
“Be careful, Una,” Charles said as she swung her legs out and jumped to the ground.
Una winked and blew him a kiss. Then, she shrugged into her pack and followed the girls.
When they reached the overlook to the north, she took a deep breath through her nose. She’d picked the landing area for its position downwind of the new settlement, which had recently sprung up where the Gillespie Dam had once held back the waters of the Gila River.
She’d positioned her approach so she could smell anything ahead of them on their way to the recent settlement, but now she almost wished they'd come from the north. The smell of open-air human excrement made her eyes water, even a kilometer away. It hadn't been nearly this bad when she'd passed the spot on her way to Yuma just a few weeks before.
“Phew!” muttered Assegai under her breath. “We've changed our minds and want to go home now.”
Una chuckled. “Come on girls. Let's get set up here then take a nap. We'll head out at first light.”
∆ ∆ ∆
First light had peeked above the mountains to the east thirty minutes ago. Una's boots whispered against the curly mesquite grass still hanging on since the last rain as she stepped from stone to stone. Assegai and Abedabun tra
iled behind her, their steps almost as quiet. Rogue and Austin followed. Their job was scanning the path to the sides and the rear, though Una still glanced around too, checking behind herself without letting them know.
Una spotted the sentry a few seconds before Assegai relayed a report of him from Aryana, who was stationed at the LZ, scanning ahead of them with one of the high-altitude drones.
Una nodded to Assegai who pointed to the knoll on the left. “Aryana says they have another sentry there.” With quick motions, Una signaled everyone to stay low and come to her.
When they had formed up, Una held out her stone-paper notepad, facing up toward the drone’s camera. “Aryana, can you see this paper clearly enough so that I can use it to signal you to tell Assegai when to follow me? I will flash it twice for her to go and once for her to freeze.”
“She can see it clearly,” Assegai answered. “Also, she doesn't need to tell me, I can just use her eyes.
Una nodded. She had known that, but hadn't wanted to inform everyone else on the team without permission from the sisters. “Okay. You'll have to pay close attention to where I go so you can follow where I find cover.”
“Here's a thought,” Assegai said. “As we do that, keep me close enough as you go, and I can signal you with a tongue tick the moment he looks in our direction.” She made a soft noise with her tongue tapping the roof of her mouth to illustrate.
“That's good,” Una said. “We'll do that too. It sounds like a woodpecker far away, so that shouldn't be a problem. Make two ticks when he's looking our direction and one when he looks away again. If you think he’s spotted us, do a string of them.”
Assegai nodded.
Una ran her eyes around the group. “Everyone remember. All information about the unique abilities of your team members is never to be mentioned outside the group or where it can be overheard.”
Austin and Rogue nodded.
“Any questions?” said Una.
“Yeah,” said Rogue. “How long did it take you to get used to talking to people who aren't around.”
Una smiled. “I’ve always done that. It’s finally started to pay off though.”
Rogue laughed. “I guess that’s another unique ability then.”
Una winked at her then flicked her eyes to Austin. “Austin? Anything?”
Austin scanned the ground ahead. “They aren't too bright about picking their sentry locations.”
“Good observation. They probably aren't setting decoys, but we should keep it in mind.”
She frowned to herself.
If it didn't smell so horrible upwind, I’d already know where they were. It's like chemical warfare.
Still, she couldn't afford to hold her nose.
She nodded to Assegai. “Let's go.”
Together—as though connected by a string—the two of them drifted, scurried and crawled toward the lookout post.
When they were halfway there, Una heard Assegai whisper from about 20 meters back. “He's asleep.”
Since the sentry on the knoll was blocked by a rise in the terrain between them, Una rose and flitted forward. When she reached the sentry post, she leaned over where the sentry sat leaning on rock.
He's just a boy.
The hair sticking out below the rag protecting his head from the sun was close cut, and his face had downy fuzz rather than a beard. He was dressed in military fatigues but, beneath the unwashed veneer, his smell said he was undernourished. Una released pheromones as she made sure the safety of his AK-47 was engaged. Then, she gently wrapped her hand around the trigger guard as she sat on his lap to immobilize him. With her hand hovering over his mouth, she put her lips to his ear. “Wake up, sleeping beauty,” she said, pulling the rifle from his hand and letting it fall to the ground.
The boy jerked awake, trying to shout past her hand as she clamped it against his mouth..
“Easy, easy, tiger. I was just trying to make sure you didn't get in trouble for falling asleep at your post.” She kept her legs locked tight as he bucked uselessly against her hold. “Lucky for you I came along when I did. What happens when your relief finds you asleep?”
He wasn't listening.
Plan B.
“Listen, sweetness. If you keep pushing yourself into my sexy bits like that, I'm liable to get all excited. And if that happens, I can't be held responsible for what comes after.”
The boy froze as his eyes flicked to a spot behind Una. His face turned crimson.
“You don't want to be responsible for me being scarred for life, do you?” Assegai said from behind Una in a mournful tone. “Daddy will be jealous. My home life will be shattered. Besides, we just want you to take us to your town. We have food to trade. See?” Assegai pushed a Snickers jumbo candy bar in front of his face.
The boy's eyes widened again, fixed on the chocolate bar.
“Give him a taste, sweetheart,” Una said, pulling her hand away from his mouth. “Would you like a candy bar, handsome?”
The kid swallowed, his mouth watering as his hunger confronted the chocolate.
Una moved her hand to a looser hold behind his arm and above his triceps as Assegai slid the half-unwrapped candy bar into his hand.
Swallowing again, the kid moved the chocolate bar to his nose and sniffed it.
“If we'd meant to harm you, we would have done it already,” Una said with a smile.
The boy's eyes teared up as he took a tiny bite of the bar and chewed it frantically, teeth crunching on the peanuts. He closed his eyes as tears ran down his cheeks.
Una loosed his other hand and patted him on the shoulder. “It's ok, I know how you feel,” she said.
Memories of periods of severe hunger from all her personalities rose to her mind, and her words—that had started as a sales pitch—tilted to sincerity. “Take your time. Chew it well, so it all sticks to your ribs.” She moved her hand to his shoulder and sent a tracer of filaments into his neck, monitoring the calming compounds she'd injected when she'd first touched him.
“What's your name?” said Assegai. She'd timed the question to fall between his bites of the layered chocolate, peanuts, nougat and caramel.
“Rusty,” he said, pausing for a deep breath.
Assegai handed him her water bottle.
He took a sip, then a swallow. “Thanks.”
“My name is Una, and this is my daughter, Assegai. Do you mind me sitting on your lap like this? I know I'm enjoying it.” She moved her hips slightly to let his penis now swelling below his lightweight khaki trousers shift to the center of her mons.
He shook his head—a nervous gesture—as he glanced at Assegai.
Assegai shrugged and wandered away to look at the view below the sentry post.
“When does your relief get here, Rusty?” Una pulled in her filaments and rubbed his shoulders with both hands. “Will they let us come in to talk to your town council?”
“We just have General Marston,” Rusty said, a worried expression touched his eyes. “He's the leader. Everyone does what he and his officers say.”
“A general? From the US military?” Una said, though she already knew the truth.
Marston was one of the militia leaders who had lost a few skirmishes with what was left of a US regular army unit in Colorado and then again with organized Mormon forces in Utah before fleeing further south where territory wasn't so hotly contested.
So far, the groups upstream of him, in the areas around Phoenix, hadn't had much reason to do anything about him yet. The groups downstream had only started to understand the problems he was creating—like dysentery and maybe worse from a polluted water supply.
“I haven't been with them long, but I don't think so,” Rusty said, shaking his head.
“Momma, I'm going over there a little ways to watch for trouble while we wait,” said Assegai, picking up Rusy’s AK and knocking the sand out of the barrel.
“Okay, sweetheart. Thank you.” She turned back to Rusty. “It's ok, Rusty. She's a good lookout and olde
r than she looks.”
Rusty's face twisted in a doubtful expression. But the calming compound was in full force now, and after a few seconds he relaxed again.
Una shifted her hips in a slow circle, keeping her mons glued where it was. “Rusty, you seem like a really nice guy. Is General Marston someone we can trust?”
Rusty's face looked doubtful, even worried.
