DemiGodChapter 16 Betrayal
- 2 years ago
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Day 265/266:
John slowly rose to his feet. “That’s how you want to play it, huh?”
The conversation was starting to sound weird, as they argued in two different languages.
Nunez copied him. “You give me no choice, Sergeant. You’ve gone native, and I need you back in uniform.”
Ben jumped up and put himself between them. “Now hold on, both of you! John, just relax for a second. Okay?”
John smiled. “I’m relaxed. It ain’t me you gotta worry about, but it’s cool. Have a minute; talk amongst yourselves. Discuss why this is such a bad idea, that bad ideas are gonna say it gives them a bad name.”
Ben turned his head to Nunez. “Colonel, this is not the right way to treat someone who’s been nothing but cooperative. He had no reason to sign back up, for anything. But he did. I’d have to pull out my copy, which I don’t have handy, but I’m pretty damn sure regs don’t let you recall a fully-medically-disabled retiree without all sorts of medical exams and waivers and red tape. To think that what you just did was the legal way to go about it, well, that isn’t so. You going to recall me too?”
“I can, if necessary.” Nunez warned harshly. “The situation is that critical.”
Ben rotated his whole body to face the Colonel. “Sir, respectfully, you do not have the authority. I seem to remember somebody saying you were next up for command. Please tell me you don’t want to alienate the entire enlisted portion of the unit. If it’s important, sit down and explain it to us. But don’t pull any high-and-mighty moral superiority. You don’t have the juice. Not with the th—two of us. Not here; not now.”
Nunez thought for a bit. “Fine, I’ll tell you what I know. But I’m not putting up with any more disrespect. I put my life on the line to come here.”
John laughed harshly. “What you know? You came here ready—prepared to assume command. An assumption, I might add that ain’t happening. What did you know that made you get that all lined up? I know you didn’t come up with it just now.”
“I knew you were here, with Colonel Mason, Ellis and probably Hull.” Nunez admitted. “That was before I learned of his passing; and I’m sorry. I had to have the necessary authority over all of you, but only as a contingency. The SecDef* signed off on it himself, though he thought it absurd. Quote: ‘in any hostile territory outside the Earth’s Solar System’. I—we had only limited, possibly inaccurate reports on the situation here.”
“Wait, a little while ago you said that Delta was being frozen out.” Ben reminded him. “That everything seemed like it was being done behind your back. Why did they let you have that power here? Why not that SEAL, Conley was it? Why let you come here at all?”
“I don’t know.” Nunez professed. “I made a big stink about it. They ran it up the chain, and here I am.”
“Ran it up the chain, to who?” John demanded.
“The CG, of course.” Nunez said.
John felt disgusted. “The JSOC Commanding General knows you’re in charge here? The same one who put this whole thing under an intelligence gathering Tier One unit, not under DARPA** or somebody else who knows how to investigate new tech? The same one who’s fine with security that kills each other? The same one that’s fine with you being stabbed apparently? Why would you depend on that authority over us? Why should we depend on any of us being welcomed back with open arms?”
“If you help the project out,” Nunez soothed, “I can ensure nothing happens, to any of us. I just need you to trust me.”
“Okay, I’ll bite,” John spat, “what makes you think you can get that deal?”
“I have an ... arrangement with General McKnight and the CG.” Nunez informed them, reluctantly. “I promise, it’ll be fine. Please, trust me.”
“You stupid fuck!” John accused. “You have an ‘arrangement’? They literally stabbed you! Was it in the back? I’ll bet it actually was!”
“It was in the stomach.” Ben tossed over his shoulder.
“The point stands,” John snarled. “Anyone who thinks they can still broker a deal after being treated like that is either an idiot, or a weasel! Which one is it? Should I call you stupid? Or snake?”
“John,” Nunez sighed, “you’ve been out of the Army for a while now. It isn’t like it used to be. The political shifts are so severe whenever a different party gets the White House. The country is busy tearing itself apart, and both sides see the military as a great way to prove their point of view is correct. These days, almost everyone at the Pentagon down to three-stars, and even a lot of two- gets ‘retired for the good of the service’ when the Oval*** gets a new occupant. Do you have any idea what that does to military readiness? To the careers of even field-grade officers****? To the relationship between civilian authority and the full-time military? Nobody trusts either side, and everyone’s convinced that they’re being plotted against. Those of us who served know why we use the term: ‘to serve’. It’s because we’re dedicating our very lives to the idea that we stand between the barbarians and our civilization. These days it feels like the other way around. We need to stick together, if we’re going to make it through these hard times.”
John leaned over Ben’s shoulder. “Bullshit officer games.”
Nunez shrugged. “Maybe, but we’re doing what we have to. Keeping the machine running so soldiers like the two of you don’t get whacked the first time they hit enemy territory. You claim I’m all ‘high and mighty’? What about you, sneering at me now for doing everything in my power to protect your fellow operators? You’ve got no idea what it takes to keep an organization like Delta running. And to keep from being turned into a political tool for Washington.”
“Sygraid,” John said, turning his head, “grab him.”
Nunez’s eyes bulged. “Don’t you dare, you giant—hey, let go of me!”
Sygraid didn’t waste a moment. Two steps around the outside of the circle and she had one of his upper arms clenched in each fist. Nunez glared daggers at John.
“Either of you want to go with him?” John asked Adam and Ben while the Colonel raged.
“This is assault on a superior officer!” Nunez threatened. “I’ll have you court-martialed! Release me, now!”
“You sending him home?” Ben asked, like it was idle curiosity.
“Yeah,” John confirmed, “and hopefully he won’t be able to come back.”
“He hasn’t had time to do a Challenge.” Ben mused. “But if that SEAL does, he could bring this clown back.”
John shrugged, very carefully not looking at Spooky who had also stood and faded back away from the firelight. “I’m not killing him. Not here, in cold blood. But I’m not doing you any favors, Colonel! You hear me? If the other officers are half as slimy as you are, I think coming back empty-handed will do wonders for your precious career.”
He motioned with his head, and led Sygraid as she held the struggling Nunez while they walked to the portal stone. Adam and Ben followed, but neither stepped onto the platform when John dragged the Colonel up.
“Conley was right!” Nunez raged. “You don’t know what kind of mistake you’re making!”
“Oh, shut up.” John snapped, after the Network’s darkness appeared around them.
Welcome back Traveler, please note that your Traveler status still contains a restriction against it. If you desire to have the restriction removed, you must appeal to a Network Administrator. You have a total of six previously-encountered portals that you normally may choose to exit using. A seventh remains on your authorized list, but is unusable at this time. You may no longer travel to World number 6,626,070,041,034. You have met the prerequisites for access to two additional worlds. Would you like to hear options? If not, please indicate which destination you desire.
Welcome back Visitor. As you have not completed any prerequisites, you may not save any of your avatar’s progress, nor travel independently to other portals. You may only return to your origin portal. Please indicate if that is your desire.
“Send me back! Send me back, I don’t want to be here!” Nunez demanded.
“Oh, shut up.” John repeated, glaring.
The Colonel was now wearing an obviously dragon-rewarded cuirass over his lightweight outdoor shirt.
“I will not,” Nunez retorted, “I am here under duress; send me back!”
The only portal you may travel to on your own is your origin. Please indicate if that is your desire.
“Yes, send me back to my origin point!” Nunez shouted.
Before John could say anything else, the Colonel vanished.
“Crap,” John muttered, “uh, can you tell me which portal you call his origin? Do you mean the one we entered, a minute ago?”
The Visitor who you brought here had an origin portal on the world you term ‘Earth’. As that one is not available for you to choose from, no other information is available.
“One more question, please.” John said. “Can he use that ‘origin’ portal to return here on his own?”
Information about specific Visitors is not available without the proper authorization. Limited information about the Visitor category is available at this time. Please rephrase your question if you desire general information.
“Can a Visitor who hasn’t—wait, I’ll be right back. Return me to the portal I entered with.”
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World number 6,626,070,041,034 Day 140: Welcome back Traveler, please note that your Visitor status remains defunct. You and your companion have met the Traveler criteria for World number 6,626,070,041,034. You both will now be transported to that destination. Sygraid’s massive form disappearing from the platform was the only indicator that he’d arrived. He looked around at the uniform, unfathomable darkness for a clue, and noticed that the flames on the portal arch were now a complete...
Day 236: John and Adam brought up the rear of their little procession as they began the second day of their trek into the Endless Sands, the morning after leaving Southern Oasis. Vorigan and Dulgan were in the lead, with the Vamp interrogating the Dwimar about his newfound enchanting abilities, as well as the subject generally. On John’s advice, the day before when purchasing supplies for the trek, they’d gotten several serviceable daggers for each person, which Dulgan agreed to enchant...
Day???: John dug a divot into the sand with his heel, then climbed back up onto the square stone platform. As a test, he walked through the ‘doorway,’ facing away from the Pyramid. Instantly he was turned around, and a glance at the hole in the ground showed he hadn’t moved to another spot. Okay, what do you think? He thought at Duin. And got no response. So he hopped down onto the sand. What do you think I should do? He asked again. Stand on the dust-cloud side of the platform and walk...
Day??? Adam was leaning in the open doorway when John walked up. “You solve it already?” John asked hopefully. Adam snorted. “I wish!” “Oh? What happened?” John wanted to know. Adam’s headshake was rueful. “You were right; it wasn’t that easy. After I pushed the octagon, there was a sound of lots of feet stomping around, and rock grinding like bricks rubbing together. While I was feeling my way over to the last button, I ran into a column that wasn’t there before. It was about a yard and...
Day??? “Well, that was ... interesting.” John said to Adam as he approached from the floor’s entry spot. The SEAL was leaning against the opposite side of the corridor by the now blank door that had borne Dulgan’s name. “Can you ... talk about it?” Adam asked. John shook his head. “I got a headache last time, so let’s go do yours.” “I wonder.” Adam mused. “Do you think all three of the hidden doors are on this level?” “Let’s keep an eye out.” John suggested. Back in the SEAL’s...
Day??? John stepped through the portal and found himself in a place very similar to the Labyrinth entry, where he’d written his name in the sand, and accepted the Rules. Same doorway with walls extending into the distance, like the first and third base lines on a baseball diamond. Unlike the other however, his stone platform this time was only as big as the ones out in the desert, that he’d looped through three times to enter. Beyond its small, square boundary was an endless sea of sand...
Day 251: As Adam and Master Chief Chatman walked out of the planning meeting for Adam’s upcoming trip to the portal stone in South America, Adam signaled the older man with his chin. “Want to grab a quick bite before we split?” He asked, overly casually. “ ... Yes, let’s.” Chatman replied, after figuring out what Adam really wanted. Chatman put the sound dampener between them while they ate. “Is it just me,” Adam inquired, “or is there definitely something going on that I’m not privy...
Day 258/259: John and company were most of the way to the double-peak Ariel indicated as their navigation landmark when a massive wind and rain storm rolled in from the north. Within minutes, visibility in the air dropped to a yard or two, and the gusts were so rough that they decided to land and continue on foot. The group spent that night miserably trying to camp on the best rocky hill they could find. The rain stopped before dawn, but if anything the wind picked up with the sun’s rise....
Day 259/260: “Ho there, we see you!” The voice floated down from the darkness above. The sound carried an echoing quality indicating that the speaker was using a megaphone, or something like it. None of the four were surprised, given how high the walls of Gluboskal were. After separating from the Wardens: Ililyan and Sygraid, plus Rhys the other four companions flew up and around the double-peaked mountain, Gananora Heralis which Dulgan informed them was the backbone of the city’s...
Day 261: Right before the group departed Dadem’s house, Veronyka took a minute to leave Hal a message before bringing up the rear. A very young Dvergyr, Hotric Oakfall worked as the house doorman slash receptionist slash butler. He promised to pass along Veronyka’s words when Hal returned, and to keep an eye out for any unusual interest in their group. That Dulgan and Thedus had a longstanding relationship was apparent to all, as the two chatted continuously during their hike out of the...
Day 261: With herculean effort, John staggered upright, and brushed off the debris coating his arms and helmet. He searched frantically through the too-slowly-dissipating dust cloud for his friends. After tripping twice on the churned-up slope, he stumbled onto both, crumpled into a pile and covered with a thick layer of earth. Heart in his throat, he pulled the pair apart and laid them side by side on a slightly less-torn patch of ground. Uncapping his canteen, he splashed water over...
Day 262/263: “What the hell’s an Arcane Magi?” John wondered. Duin’s unmissable mixture of excitement and trepidation was palpable. “As I said, tha’s tween you’n th’ other one.” Dulgan insisted. “Then why doesn’t he want me to let you leave?” John wondered. Dulgan blinked in surprise. “He doesn’o’? I dunno. Le’s ask.” Repeat my words, so the Magi can hear them as well. Duin instructed. “Before the Arrival, there was a powerful, and secretive organization of Dwarves called the Dark...
Day 263: “See ‘em how?” Dulgan pressed. John’s hands motioned aimlessly. “Like they’re really here. In this room with us right now. There. There, and there.” He pointed. Dulgan walked over to one spot he’d indicated. Vafthundryr shifted, so they wouldn’t ‘collide’. “Here?” The Dwimar asked. “He moved.” John’s finger indicated. Dulgan peered in the direction curiously. “I see nothin’. Wha’ do they loo’ like?” John kept his finger indicating Vafthundryr. “A Frost Giant, Vafthundryr is...