THE VROL TRILOGY (120 page)

Bagatelle gazed at the partially disassembled
fleshsack on the floor of the small room. He was horrified for a
moment, but gathered his senses and realized that there was going
to be a lot of death in the near future.

"Gabe, I have to trust you, don't I?"

"Yes, lest you die."

"Ok. Get rid of the body. Let's go to the
next ship."

###

Max and his father Michael were standing in
front of the empty Mira Flores Yacht Club in Lima, Peru, looking
out over the ocean, as the younger of the two wondered which
housing they were going to use to house the unfortunate families
from the Exodus ships. Analyzing the area, Max started to realize
it wouldn't be prudent to house the families in that location, so
he put his hand on his father's shoulder, bringing him to a small
coastal town in the north of the former country - the town of
Pimentel.

"Where are we, Max?"

"A little surf town. It's sufficiently far
enough away from any decent highways, so we can be assured that the
inhabitants won't try to take off anytime soon."

"And what of the vampire family? Do you still
want to transport them to Siberia?"

"Max looked out over the rising tide of the
Pacific Ocean, watching as the waves started to break closer and
closer to shore.

"No. They die. No more messing around."

Chapter 36 - Prep

"You will stay here and live your lives with
the supplies we have provided. If you attempt to escape, your
brains will melt," Max cautioned, while lying to the former
occupants of refurbished Exodus barges.

"How can you be so cruel, traitor?" asked
Jonas Marks, a former science division tech who was very familiar
with the government's version of Max Gunnarsson.

"He is no traitor, ye of inferior flesh,"
Michael barked out.

"Hey, Mike, it's ok. Really - they have no
idea otherwise. Look, Mr. umm….. Marks - everything you have been
told is a lie, and - "

"Deceit! You're attempting to take over our
world! We've been warned by Chairman Johnson! He's a good and
decent man!"

Max looked at his biological father and
sighed.

"Siberia?"

The Taxiarch nodded his head. Mere
nanoseconds later, Jonas Marks and his wife found themselves in an
abandoned, rickety shack in a very cold place. Max Gunnarsson had
finally learned to stop putting up with people's crap.

Michael quickly looked at the Marks' two
young children, one a boy and the other an adolescent girl, and
caused them to lose consciousness before they burst out in tears.
They were innocents in the grand scheme of things, and he couldn't
banish them to the Siberian wastelands due to their parents'
ignorance.

"Michael, how should I deal with the kids?
Leave them her in the care of a family, or take them to the closest
village to Krynos' castle?"

"That all depends, my son. Do you plan on
returning these families once your objectives have been
accomplished?"

"Um, yeah. I guess so. Honestly I never
thought about it, but it would be kind of a crappy move to leave
them here forever."

"Then I would keep the children here in the
care of a family. As we are providing for their every need it will
not be a burden upon them, and they will build a sense of community
anyway."

"Ok, but they're going to freak out now that
their parents are gone."

"I can implant suggestive memories into the
minds of everyone. They will believe the Marks had recently died.
They shall be sad, but it will give them a sense of finality."

"If you can do that, then why don't I get the
parents and bring them here? You could suggest that Johnson is a
bad guy and that they don't like him, couldn't you?"

"Yes, but the adult mind is already developed
and harder to implant into. It is easy to eliminate the current day
from memory, but years, months or even mere weeks are much more
difficult and sometimes the memories come back. Worse, it can cause
psychosis," responded Max's biological father.

Thinking back, when he had first met
Draagh, Bagatelle and Jennie, the old mage had the other two
hypnotized, and Max had asked if Draagh could
make Jennie nice
(because she only wished to
kill him at the time). Draagh claimed he could not, and what
Michael just told him further corroborated the Primulus'
story.

"Ok, Mike. Give everyone a memory and we'll
work the kids into the group."

###

"
Hello, is
anyone out there? Can anyone hear me? I think we have a
problem
," Alicia Vasquez thought out while holding her
finger down on her comm device. To her surprise, her mind was
flooded with responses from near-everyone with a comm.

"
I don't know
if this is a good thing or bad. But Johnson has disappeared off the
map. There's an incredible buzz on all government channels, and a
lot of confusion, but no one - and I mean no one, knows where he
went
."

"
That could be
a very good thing, or it could be a very bad thing. Right now it's
good, because we're porting the families out of the barges and over
to Old-Earth,"
responded Max.

"
Where are you
taking them? Lima, Peru
?" she asked.

"
No, but close
- just under 800 kilometers north. The town was called Pimentel.
It's on the beach, clean, and far enough away from the Pan
Americana Highway that they'll stay put until we retrieve them
later. Now that we're all on the comm, G, how are you and Gabriel
doing? Have you got all of the ship captains on board with
us?"

Everyone waited for Bagatelle to
respond, with the silence seeming like a mini-eternity. Then, after
roughly thirty seconds he finally blurted out, "
We have two cooperative captains, but will have four ships.
I'll take the Revolution and I'm assigning the command of the
Ronald Reagan to someone trusted.
"

"
So you were
unable to successfully convince two of the captains to join
us?"
asked Jennie.

"
One was a
vampire and the other was a Johnson sympathizer. Even after
revealing the truth to the normal he attempted to deceive
us
," answered Gabriel.

"
Hey, we can
send them to Siberia
," said Max.

"
That will not
be possible
," responded Gabriel

"
Gabe killed
them
," said Bagatelle.

"
Oh great. So,
G, who are you thinking of putting on the
Reagan
?"

"
You, Max -
who else?
"

"
Are we
getting promotions? I want a promotion
!" Jennie called
out, only half-joking.

###

That evening, the entire team was to gather
in the main dining hall, as Krynos had called for a dinner
celebration. Being a lycan king, he needed no excuse to call for a
party, but liked to have a reason at the very least. His reason
this time - to bestow promotions, and to call for all troops to
assist in the defense of Azul System. Even though Krynos had no
authority over Azul military, he was an excellent figurehead for
handing out medals and such. In most cases, a small group would
join him in the high table, but there were way too many people
involved to sit at his personal table.

Alfie, the castle's master carpenter, was
commissioned to expand the space of the stage, and, along with his
now journeyman assistant, created a secondary level, where most
would sit - still above the rest of the lycans of the Rhönen
Dominion. In all, it was an impressive addition and would
facilitate many of the great crowd who would assist in the upcoming
battles. As the hour of the festivities neared, Max saw his
Hollywood friends in a hallway, both heading for the main dining
hall.

"Girls, I know Krynos is going to ask me to
sit up at his table, but I want you two to be up there. I can stay
at the mid table with Jen and Liliana," said Max

"Um, yeah, it's ok Maxie. No worries. I'm not
into being up that high ‘n stuff," Jessica responded comically.

"Oh, it's not for the reasons you think.
You've never been to one of Krynos' parties. It's totally unsafe
down near the floor. Can be downright deadly, actually. I can keep
a shield around my family, and you'll be much safer up above. Plus,
it's really cool sitting up there. Trust me."

"Totally… unsafe? What do you mean, Max?"
asked Pandy, with a touch of fear in her voice.

"Let's just say that things start to fly
around. Well, and people too. It's a load of fun, though."

Liliana approached her father and his two
friends, skipping along without a care in the world. She wasn't
wearing a party dress, as she so often would wear to official
functions, but this time was dressed down in an attractive battle
suit of scaly, emerald green leather.

"Pandy! We are to attend a party now! I am so
excited! Shall we sit together?"

"Um, hey sweety. Nice outfit! Actually, Max
said I have to sit up with King Krynos. Apparently it can get
dangerous down below. What kind of leather is that?"

"Oh, it can become quite dangerous! Yes, I
must agree with my father. Plus, the king's table offers an
excellent view of the proceedings. But no worries - we can join in
the dancing while behind a protective shield. And this is dragon
hide," she casually added with great pride.

"Um, seriously? There are dragons?"

"Not anymore, silly. But grandfather
Draagh took me dr
agon watching
in the past once. They were quite impressive in their
time."

"Gotta love that magic," quipped Jessica.

The main dining hall was packed to capacity,
with many on foot, holding their plates in their hands as they
enjoyed the evening meal. Krynos sat at the high table, accompanied
by Donus, Michael, Gabriel, Jessica and Pandy. The two girls hadn't
thought of sitting at Krynos' table as an honor - that is, until
they were actually there. Everyone who entered would first approach
the high table and then bow. Pandy thought it was incredibly cool.
Jessica was totally uncomfortable. Neither Michael nor Gabriel
really cared.

At the secondary tier, Max sat with his
mother, Janice, Jennie, Liliana, Draagh and Bagatelle. As everyone
plowed through their multicourse meal, the soothing tunes of the
Beatles played in the background. Krynos had recently come to enjoy
music of the 20
^th
century,
especially that of the so-called
British
Invasion
.

"This music is annoying," said Jennie.

"I rather like it," Michael countered from
the high table, as he tapped his toes. "It reminds me of my home of
so many years."

"Friends! Rhönenians! Countrymen! I welcome
all to this festival. Now that we have consumed our evening meal,
let us begin to imbibe in our most excellent reserves of honey
mead. I have been informed that Commander Max Gunnarsson shall
provide a sampling of the famous Malbec fruit drink in the near
future. But until that moment arrives our honey mead shall
suffice."

The king paused momentarily and then
continued, "I have some announcements to make. First of all, we
have had a tremendous amount of my soldiers volunteer to travel to
past-future and fight for Commander Gunnarsson's home world's right
to exist. I now say we make a drive to offer lycanhood to any
able-bodied normal who wishes to join in our efforts. Aside from
this, he who volunteers shall also be joined by his family in our
bloodline. Now gone are the days of only allowing a single male
from a normal family to join our ranks. Our numbers diminish, and
it is our solemn duty to repopulate these lands with our kind."

Cheers erupted from the hall, as soldiers
stomped their feet in appreciation, and clapped while throwing
things, a few of which flew over Krynos' table, nearly hitting the
girls in the head.

"Lili! You were right!" Pandy called out to
her little friend in the table below. Liliana looked up,
bright-eyed, and smiled as she nodded sincerely.

"Enough!" Krynos called out. "We are not yet
ready to destroy Alfie's good works. I have yet to make more
announcements."

The hall fell silent while everyone waited
for Krynos' next speech.

"We have fought many battles together, and we
have survived. And although our brothers and sisters from Azul, and
an alternate Earth of the past, have rank in this world, they
require promotions. In their world, as in ours, rank gives order,
and this order needs to be addressed. So, as I have been kindly
asked to confer the first promotion in rank to the highest of their
world, I ask Rear Admiral Luigi Bagatelle to approach the high
table."

As everyone cheered and applauded, Bagatelle
sat stunned. It wasn't that he was surprised about the fact that
Krynos was going to confer a higher rank upon him (which he already
knew), but that the lycan king actually got his last name right for
the very first time. He stood and got up in front of Krynos.

"My king. I thank you for many things.
However, I thank you most for your manner in addressing me,"
Bagatelle stated.

Krynos merely looked at him and gave the
Azulian a kind wink.

"Luigi Bagatelle, you came here as a
refugee. Shunned by your own world, betrayed by your leadership,
you took a low position and strove to be the best you could be.
Dear Luigi, I see you now as a peer - as a brother, and I wish to
fight by your side to protect your worlds. In this land your rank
was that of ensign. On your world it was nearly as high as one
could get in what is called a
navy
. We have no navy here, as we have no ships
that neither float upon water, nor soar through the skies, but we
do honor those of like mind and ability. Rear Admiral Luigi
Bagatelle, in the absence of a superior officer of your military, I
hereby assume the responsibility - and the pleasure of bestowing
upon you the commission of the rank of Admiral of the Navy, Azul
Military."