Chapter 12: The Gunfight

The strange man drew his weapon, but before he could fire, five 115-grain 9mm regular rounds and one 150-grain hollow point made a nice circle on the man’s belly. His eyes stayed open, his knees buckled, and he ended on his back with his legs bent under him in a most uncomfortable position.

Two more approached and fired. John’s shield stopped 90% of the blasts.

People around them took several steps back to widen the circle. Reverend Jacobs yelled, “SHIELDS UP.”

The Secret Service was shooting the assassins as they approached John and the Presidents. The bullets didn’t seem to do any good until finally, one hit the brain of one of the cyborgs and down he went, “SHOOT FOR THE STOMACH.” One of the SS guys yelled.

Xmon recognized his son Lord Tersely and Director Bible. He worked his way in behind them and protected their backs taking out six assassins all by himself. He bumped into John trying to get out of the way of a falling cyborg.

“Xmon?” John asked. Xmon was exactly as John had visualized him. Hair a dirty blond pointing up. A couple of inches shorter than John. John looked at the cyborg at their feet, “Thank you.”

“At your service Lord John.”

Vid and Demetri were getting hit hard by the energy weapons. Dar had his shield up. Demetri had dropped his guns and Vid was on his knees. John’s shield had been hit twenty times, more or less. Each time he was hit John would experience a feeling like he had been hit by 110 volts. It made his eyes water and weakened his muscles little by little. One of his revolvers was empty. He dropped it near Jenny. Jenny reached to John’s belt and pulled out a full clip of eight rounds, opened the receiver, dropped the empty moon clip and dropped in the full one. John reached for his bag. He pulled out the barrel of his Ruger PC9 Carbine. Next came the receiver and two 33 round magazines.

Three of those bastards left. John thought. He put the carbine together. Slammed home a magazine chambered a round, checked the safety was off and fired three rounds into the one on the right. He moved to the center one and fired three more rounds to the stomach of that one. John got hit hard. John in his fog couldn’t remember why he was shooting the stomachs. In the third one, John fired at the sternum then fired three more times. The last shot came out as the barrel was dropping hitting and shorting out the cyborg’s brain in its stomach. It fell hard to the ground. John dropped the carbine.

There were two more cyborgs that had been shot in the knees. Demetri picked up the carbine putting three rounds into each of them. Putting the end to those two. One more cyborg came through the crowds, pushing people out of the way. Demetri, Lord Tersely and Xmon all fired. The body was thrown back landing not to move again.

Agent Ross was by John’s side as Jenny was pulling the energy off. Sir, what do you want us to do with them?”

“Throw them into the sun.” John got out with clenched teeth, “Ross, don’t turn your back. They may have a self-healing program.”

Ross turned white, “Thank you, sir.”

John’s double vision started to come back together. His head still felt like someone had dropped a bowling ball on it along with a rack of pins. He opened his eyes again looking up at the star cruiser, “Think we could check out the bed?”

Jenny giggled. Dar was getting healing from his wife with Carol teaching her step by step. He turned his head and realized why Jenny was giggling. John was excited. Dar closed his eyes and tried not to laugh.

“What are you laughing about?” Inga asked Dar.

Dar whispered, “John wanted Jenny to help test the bed in the Emperor’s Yacht.”

Inga glanced then shut her eyes tight. She thought, MEN, they kill 20 or 30 of the meanest assassins in the Galaxy and all they can think about is sex. Inga laughed; these guys must be alright if that’s what they are thinking about.

Sally was giving Vid healing. Willa and Patty came up and told her to take care of her man. They would take over for her with President Pusin.

Demetri was trying to reload magazines. His head hurt something awful. His eyes were also seeing double. Twice now he caught himself putting a 9mm into a magazine backward.

The Chief had made his way towards John and the group. He got within 5 feet of Lord Tersely when he saw movement. One of the assassins had healed his knees and was coming towards them.

“JENNY PISTOL!” Willa screamed.

Jenny grabbed the pistol she had loaded with a fresh moon clip by the barrel and handed it to Willa. She picked up the other one. The chief reached into one of the pockets of his cargo pants extracting a fifty-year-old S&W Model 29, a monster revolver 44 Magnum. (Dirty Harry’s gun, something you’d want on your hip if bear hunting.)

“SHIELDS UP.” The Chief screamed.

Three guns fired. The cyborg hit the dirt face down. Not moving. The Chief and daughter made eye contact, and both smiled.

The SS made double time removing the cyborg bodies. Ross asked for help getting over a hundred volunteers and Earth was once again clear of the assassins. They laid the cyborgs on the walkway and rolled them off the scaffolding. Computers, machines or not they still went into the sun.

“Mr. Emperor you look like a cowboy,” Vid remarked.

“I was five when my dad brought into the house that new thing called a TV. I grew up watching the cowboys bring the rule of law and justice to the new lands in the west.” John glanced at Dar, “I think being in a gun fight can now be crossed off the bucket list.” Everyone around them laughed.

“Can I see one of those six-shooters?” Dar Tripp asked.

John checked to make sure the hammer was on an empty shell, then passed it to Dar, “Sir it’s an eight shooter, 9-millimeter.”

“So, you have 16 between the two guns. You switched to a carbine?” Dar asked.

“I knew we had to end it. The carbine also shoots 9-millimeter with 33 in each magazine.” John said.

Dar handed the revolver to Demetri. He opened the cylinder and dropped the 8 empty cartridges. Jenny handed him a moon clip with eight fresh cartridges. Demetri doped them into the cylinder, “That’s as easy as the best magazines.”

“John, what’s your plan?” Dar asked.

“Go home, get the cleanup started and make sure everyone is okay,” John said.

“John, could you introduce me to Tony and Willa please?” Vid asked.

Tony was on his knees helping to reload magazines and moon clips.

Willa was giving her father healing. He had gotten hit hard, “Daddy, we need to get you on the table to do proper healing.”

“Daddy?” The chief almost choked on his word, “You stopped calling me daddy when I forbid you going with Tony. What is it you want?” The chief said full of anger at his daughter.

“We need you to live another twenty years daddy.” Willa said, “Your grandson is on the way. God says he will be the greatest chief of the Nisqually People after his grandfather. He will need your wisdom and teachings.” Willa was crying as she shared this.

The Chief looked at his daughter then hugged her hard. Willa’s mother had had several miscarriages prior to Willa’s birth and died bringing her into this world. The Chief had beat on the drum crying for three days. He mourned the loss of his wife and no male to take his place. His tribe sat with him in his agony of pain.

His sister took and cared for Willa letting the Chief know. He made visits every month or so. When Willa was a year old, her first word was “Da-Da” said as she ran to him at breakneck speed. He scooped her up falling in love with her. In that moment of time, Willa reminded the Chief of her mother. His heart was full of joy and he laughed for the first time since before Willa was born as she patted his shoulder saying again and again, “Da-Da. Da-Da. Da-Da.”

When the Chief went to leave, Willa sat down and whaled with heartbreaking sounds. The Chief looked at his sister with this what do I do look.

Off to the side came a solution, “Uncle she’s my baby. You take her, I’m coming too.” Judy, the chief’s 13-year-old niece spoke.

The chief looked at Judy then he looked at his sister.

“Can you afford $200 a week chief?” His sister asked, “She wants to go to college and become a teacher. She’ll be your babysitter for as long as you need her. It will take her 9 or 10 years for her to get her masters. That two hundred will help her pay for college.”

Tony knew how much Willa had hurt due to the break with her dad. To see the two of them hugging and crying felt like a gift from God.

“Tony,” John called.

Tony tore himself away from watching his wife and her father, “Yes Sir.”

“The President of Russia wants to meet with you and your wife.” John informed, “President Pusin, this is Tony Taylor.”

Vid Pusin got up from his sitting on the ground, “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Taylor. Any relation to Lord John here?”

“Yes, Sir. He is my father’s 2nd cousin. I am very pleased to meet you too, Sir.”

“Do you think we could accomplish what A Carpenter’s Son wrote?” Vid Pusin asked.

John was standing, helping Dar Tripp to his feet, “Sir can we get some help for the people and the church in West Seattle to rebuild again?”

“Let’s look when we go back. We didn’t have anybody die in West Seattle, but we did have our pilots and secret space program personnel lose their lives. The church might be a problem. I’ll have to check.”

“Sir I have over 100 million in Vietnamese Dong. When is the financial reset going to happen?” John asked.

Dar didn’t answer. He simply stared at John. Finally, “Will you talk with congress?”

“Do you have a plan Sir when 80% of our Senators, Representatives and their support staff disappear when I take them to God?”

Several around all looked at the President of the United States including Tony, Willa and Vid Pusin.

“We’ve already put 6% of them in Jail.” Dar started with a smile then a chuckle then all-out laughter. He looked at a nodding Vid Pusin, “Who is controlling them?” Dar knew he had taken out many of the corrupt world leaders. But our congress both Democrats and Republicans were blocking him at every turn. Things that seemed like a no brainer became huge fights in the news media. What Vid said next gave Dar a bigger shock than one of those energy weapons that each of the assassins carried.

“Were you going to tell me?” Dar asked Vid.

“If you are not asking questions then I have to assume you are not ready to learn the truth.” Vid said, “My friend, why do you think I want Tony and Willa Taylor to come to visit and teach 400 of my men John’s training?” Vid watched Dar closely. Dar finally smiled and nodded. Vid continued, “I only have about 30% who are corrupt in my government. But that number is growing, and someday in the future, I will have the same problem as you have now.”

John heard a noise, looking to the sky to see what, and reached for his carbine. He stopped and smiled. A Light Destroyer was coming in for a landing.

Lord Heat and Lady Ada had found John and the heads of states, “It’s a newer model than mine.” Heat said. At a hundred and seventy-eight feet in length and three hundred tons, it was a magnificent ship of space.

The ship landed in front of the large doors to the Lockheed facility.

Lord Tersely asked, “Would you be willing to trade one of your ships for one of mine? And how much do you charge for the paper on the rolls?”

John with the boys and girls took everyone to God. The men from Brentox all brought back a six-gallon bucket with food in it. They also carried a large square bucket with thirty-six rolls of toilet paper. Thirty-nine ships took off for Brentox. Ten volunteers from Brentox were given the task of keeping the Empress safe while learning to transport, heal others and learn to create a mental block. When they saw Lord Tersely next, he raved about being able to fly around the Galaxy almost instantly with the God boxes. Lockheed got a Brentox ship to make better and copy for the promise of one of the first twenty new Patricia class (775) ships.

All the one hundred and forty-three model 335’s, twenty-three Model 445’s and the one 555 made their way to West Seattle. John with both Presidents surveyed the damage done on the church and 53 homes from the 555. Tina was with them filming the destruction.

The kids got busy cleaning streets for up to 2 miles in all directions to allow the Space Force to settle into a parking space. Until that was done the sky was filled with floating spaceships.

The kitchen crew started on a large burrito, salsa with chips and a Spanish Salad for an option. Someone made more coffee and things started to return to normal.

Around the four tables were chairs for twenty. John and Jenny were at one end. Next to John was Director Bible. Dar and his wife were on one side. Vid and Demetri with Sally were on the other. Carol, the Chief, General Frank, Virginia Casey and Captain Swanson were opposite John and Jenny. John’s cadets filled in the empty spaces. The inside area was 6’ by 6’ and ten of the kids moved chairs into that space so they could also be included making room for Reverend Jacob and Nancy. Perry White and his wife also sat down along with Tina and Scott.

“Is this a meeting of the Planetary Space Force?” General Frank asked.

“What’s on your mind General?” John asked.

“Thinking this would be a great place for twenty to thirty ships. Put a Captain in charge of protecting this part of our world. Set up a similar size facility in Portland, another in Spokane with a Lieutenant in charge there subordinate to this Captain here. Be open to the public Saturdays and Sundays. Have a cadet program going on in each city with a population of 500,000 or more.” General Frank looked about the table, “Rebuild the church, buy the destroyed homes. Get in front of the public who we are. Let them touch the machines and have them come back after church on Sunday and take a thousand around the moon and back.

To be part of the Space Force qualifications require two years in the military and or Cadet Program with one hundred hours of training and a million miles of spaceflight. Have a special lottery for a hundred individuals every week to go around Pluto or Mars or one of the other planets in our system.”

Everyone started talking. Dar looked to Vid, they both smiled. Get the public behind them and they could do anything.

“John did you get to see the model 665 that Lockheed had on display. It’s just as you described in your books, it is a flying saucer that will hold 40 comfortably with a top speed of one million miles per hour. Each one has thirty-eight 6” lasers. As you described it with a properly trained crew or a good leader on board could take out 50 to 100 of an enemy very quickly.” Dar asked.