Chapter 81

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.”