“I want to conclude by saying thank you to the Supreme Justices, Senators, Officials, Vice-Chancellor Bacon, and to you all, the people that really matter. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to succeed and to make a difference, and thank you for your trust, faith and belief in me and my actions. God bless.” With that, he waved, smiled and took a solemn bow, to which the crowd became rapturous, shouting and applauding loudly.
The Rebels contemplated the situation coming in the next ten hours as the light of the sun glimmered into Nikolas’s living room through the large glass balcony window.
“There’s no way we’ll be able to get these off!” Liam said, feeling the cold metallic restraint belt around his neck. It beeped and whirred when he touched it. Like all the others’ restraint belts, this one had three sensors: one that monitored the temperature of the one wearing it, another that monitored the heartbeat and blood pressure and a third to make sure no foreign tampering could unlock it.
“Well, we can, but we would be electrocuted,” Gavin said, resting his head on the sofa. Nikolas stood outside the balcony window, observing the sea.
“There’s only one thing we can do,” Quentin said, thoughtfully sipping some migra-based coffee. “We’ll have to find the main generator room to unlock them.”
“Not necessarily,” Nikolas said. He turned to look at them. “We need to be very cautious until John comes here. We have to act like we hate him now. One of us will have to communicate with him telepathically.”
“How do we even know we’ll be there for the negotiations?” Joqetu asked, sitting on the sofa and browsing through the daily news headlines. They were full of stories about the Falsifier or the Rebels turning sides.
“I’ll be there...hopefully,” Nikolas said. He shook his head, “With any luck that meditation will work for him.”
Davik asked, “You mean you’re presiding over his meditation?”
“Not at this point.” Nikolas grabbed a wooden chair from the dining table adjacent to the hallway and dragged it over to sit by them.
“But you can’t do that,” Davik said, “It’s dangerous.”
“We’re talking about Alex here. He’s much more powerful than anything.”
“But aren’t you defying many laws?” asked Efarius.
“Alex will be able to handle it,” Nikolas said
“Remember the stories of the old ones, the Ancients,” Efarius said, looking deep into Nikolas’s eyes. “Even the Ancients who involved themselves or gave energy during meditation were very cautious, after one of them had his soul dissolved.”
“That was different,” said Nikolas, shaking his head. He sighed, “Look. All I want to know is if you are all with me.” He tried to read their faces. There was a long moment of silence and they nodded slowly. “Good. Let’s begin.”
The Council Room, located on the fourth floor of the Regnum Central Headquarters had now become the War Room. In appearance it was like an oversized boardroom. Its spacious windows covered up an entire wall of the room and let in a lot of sunlight. The light shone on the forty-five foot long oak table that stood in the center of the room. There were ten chairs on each side of the table and another one on each end. The five generals waited for the Supreme Leader and the Vice-Chancellor.
“So what do you think?” said Ranjit Singh, a Sikh general standing by the panoramic window and looking out. He stood six feet five inches tall, towering over the others who stood in his shadow. He walked to the coffeemaker and pressed a button. He scratched his beard and sighed. “I don’t like the look of it.”
“The look of what, Ranjit?” a Chinese man asked, sitting and rocking on the chair.
“You know, Lao,” Ranjit said, taking his cup and walking towards the table, “This whole scheme.”
“Oh?” Lao said, his thin frame overshadowed by the black leather back of the chair. He crossed his arms and looked at all of them.
“What’s there to worry about?” General Romsky said, laughing and sitting back, relaxed. His carefree and arrogant demeanor irritated Ranjit. He had been an adviser to the King of Russia and maybe this had gone to his head. All that mattered very little to Ranjit. He smirked at Romsky. The Russian general went on. “We have the people right where we want them.”
“How can you say that?” Ranjit asked.
“Yeah,” Hopkinson said, supporting Ranjit. “We work for the people.” His thick skinned face seemed sickened and tired.
“Really?” said Romsky. “You think so?” He glanced at the others and at the Japanese man sitting silently, his eyes closed and shoulders slack. “What about you?” He snapped his fingers. “Hey Nakashima.”
Michio remained still, breathing in and out. George Hopkinson got up and walked to the window. He saw John’s limo parked across the street. “He’s here.” He turned around and went back to sit. “They’re on their way.”
They straightened themselves up and Michio opened his eyes. Romsky sighed, looking at Ranjit and George across the table. Michio and Lao sat respectively left and right of Sergei. “Well,” Michio who had been listening all the while to their conversations said, “None of it matters.” His voice remained soft. “We’re here to discuss the coming war, so politics is of no concern to us.”
“How can it not be?” Ranjit said, finishing his last sip of coffee. “We’re now following a fascist—”
“Gentlemen,” said John, as the large double doors opened and he entered with Richard by his side. The Generals stood up and John smiled. “It’s good to see all of you, my friends. Please,” he sat down and Richard went to sit at the other end of the table, “sit down.” One of the guards outside went to the coffee machine and prepared seven cups. As he left the room and tightly shut the doors, John continued. “Now, I want to make this quick and simple. We have roughly eight hours to get things in order. I’m going split us into two groups. I have already told Kurt about my plans for the air strikes, and he should have already briefed his boys about it. The first priority will be to rescue Alex and get the Rebels. This mission will be led by Richard and me. Now, I also want you and you,” he pointed to Hopkinson and Romsky, “to lead a ground attack in England.” John pressed a button near the right corner of his side of the table. The wood opened up and revealed a large keyboard. He pressed a button and a thick white curtain closed the window in front of him, throwing the room into darkness. Behind him, above the entrance, a robotic levitating projector dispersed a large ray of light onto the curtain. The coordinates Daniel had sent John shone on it. It showed a map and the coordinates lay near the west coast of England. All eyes were on it. “As you can see, whatever is there isn’t on the mainland of Europe, but it’s close to the British coastline. So I want you two to go down there and hold off any reinforcements.”
“How many will we have?” Romsky asked, studying the map.
“About two thousand units each. Is that enough?”
“More than enough for me,” said George.
“Wait till I call for you, which won’t take more than five minutes after I am on the Earth. The transport tankers will keep you near the atmosphere and you’ll be taken down within minutes.”
The two Generals nodded.
“Now, like I said,” John said, “Richard will be with me commanding an aggregate of five hundred men, if needed.”
“I doubt it,” Richard said, turning around in his chair to look at John. “Our main objective will be to get Alex and the Rebels out of there safely first.”