Junction Pt. 02

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The Minister of Defense contacted the First Assistant. She smiled, "Minister, you have an issue for the King?"

He nodded, "In this case, I need to speak to him directly."

She nodded and 20 minutes later the King was on comms with him, "Is there an important issue? One of our borders heating up?"

The Minister of Defense sent him the recon images from the military, "Avalon wilds from our military. Jace did not trust the information. He has the financial assets and bought, through our shared holding company I might add, a drone survey company. He had them install some additional cameras into fuel cells and ran them out to do real estate development on the islands further north for summer homes and 'vacation getaway homes' for the entitled. That is the cover. These are the images he sent back, look at the last 6 first. He had me do that, Your Majesty."

The King sighed, "Jace is still 5 months out?"

The Minister of Defense looked at him, "Officially through the Marshal Service he is just over 4 months out. He is hoping to run ops in there within the next 60 days, Your Majesty." He filled him in on Jace's concerns, what it could mean and not just for the San Angeles Royal Family.

The King was getting furious, "He makes some sound tactical observations. His concern inside our military bothers me even more. I want to see these next set of images with him on the call when they come in. Once he is in the field, I will make the call on the caves and then the other Royal families. Not before."

---

Jace was up late and had the 3 recon drones flying back after getting the first set of disturbing images. He had 2 flying side by side and a third 20 minutes back. He downloaded the outgoing images to his local server already. The 2 passed over the coast without seeing anything from the caves. The one 20 minutes back caught 8 dragons leaving from all 6 caves.

He slowed it down and 4 more exited seconds later. One of the dragons flew toward the drone. It went to breathe on the drone and he dove the drone straight down and back up. He had another coming at it and it was the gold dragon. He pulled up.

He saw the foot extend to grapple it out of the sky from the underbelly cameras. He flipped the switch and exploded the four fuel cells. One of the drones that still moved away picked up the explosion and he watched one Dragon rear-foot fall into the ocean as the dragon struggled and then took off to loop toward San Angeles.

He watched the other 2 as they passed outside the valley to the outskirts of town before he got Richard. He called in the Minister of Defense. He had woken him up as he had already gone to sleep it appeared, yet again. He did not look happy, "You know what time it is?"

Jace sent him the last 3 minutes of footage from the third drone. Then the images from the one ahead of it. "You have a gold dragon out there right now that left those caves and is missing a rear left foot from those images. I thought that was worth waking you up for. I have all of the other images on my server.

I just got an alert, someone attempted to hack into one of the honey pot servers at the site and it has shutdown automatically. I sent a message back to the administrator, 'disconnect the hard connection. Put the honey pot only server back online for bird 3.'

I have it copied to mine which you can see has everything. I am moving a copy to my home server with the earlier images. I have hours of images to go through to show you everything on the ground, armored personnel carriers, a few tanks, 3 fighter aircraft under camo. 3 attack helicopters, An Alion-2 craft in their possession.

That last one is a Spec-Ops class aircraft from our own military for a reason and they have one! 30 passenger capacity stealth craft with vertical take-off and landing capability. Designed to drop an entire Mastro unit behind the lines with cargo. 24 anti-air units, 12 heat-seeking, and 12 laser-guided units. Not counting any handheld units in the area. 8 of those face out over the coast. After the explosion 2 of them were uncovered and then covered back up. All from different City-states and not ours!

Combined with the efforts to hack that server. The only images they will get is from the main array of that one bird as it attempted to dodge dragons. They will believe they got those; not from the hidden cameras that showed the claw coming to let me time destroying the fuel cells.

The administrator sent back a message, 'Was contacted by General Carl Bricker of Air Defenses wanting to know about UAV activity out over the valley. Asking for advice.'

I sent him a message to tell him the truth, 'We lost contact with a drone out that way, a server reboot was done to see if we could reestablish contact with it or if it was down. The drones have an avoidance collision protocol and he does not have access to any footage as it is on the server for the Real-Estate developer.

Plan to get with the owner in the morning about the lost asset to find out what he wishes to do. They were sent to Oslon Island to do nighttime imaging of wildlife for vacation and hunting homes. According to his log.'

He just sent back, 'He is asking about the other 2 drones.' I sent a text message back, 'Both landed safely no issues noted; once down the information from those drones is archived off-site and purged from the system because of the amount of storage it takes to hold it. The third drone did not land so it is in the server for them to look at in the morning.

That only the owner knows the location of the archive site.' Copying those 2 files into another honey pot. Sending message, 'Tell him you contacted the owner and offsite location is in the owner's old penthouse in the city. He has not sold it yet and that is all that is left behind. He will look at it in the morning and see if anything is relevant or not. Giving him and you an address.'

The penthouse is empty except for a small server. Tons of surveillance equipment on its own power source and well hidden. Friends in the Marshal service. I set that up last week before running any flights over the area. The penthouse is rented to a fictitious person in another City-State.

If you wish to send an asset to that location to find out who arrives that would be great. Else I will pull up the surveillance system and see who arrives."

The Minister of Defense put him on hold. He had seen the screen before.

---

The Minister sent a text message to the King letting him know things were heating up but it could wait until morning. Jace had more information and people within the military were making inquiries. He would investigate as he was already awake.

The King looked at the message and sent back, "First thing in the morning. I want a full debrief of what you find. This is troubling."

---

The Minister of Defense came back, "Watch your surveillance. Contact me in the morning with the images you want to go over."

Jace sighed, "Minister of Defense, one of your jets just fired on the penthouse. You now have a fire on top of that building. Sending an anonymous message to the fire department that a penthouse explosion at the address occurred. Source unknown. I can get you the tail number in the morning."

He shook his head, "First thing, 7 hours from now."

Jace looked up, "I downloaded the archives for this evening to a local server with me. Damn it! The drone company building appears to have been struck as well. I got a text from the administrator and my connection to the server was still active but idle when it went off-line. He went next door to get something to eat from a restaurant when the building went up.

I told him to go to the San Angeles Marshals Building and get with an on-duty officer. Tell him he does not know if it is safe to go home at this point. He is moving. One from the detail here is headed to the building to see if the kid makes it and get him placed under protection. To keep him isolated.

Here is the tail number for that jet! SA-439A. The drones are in a hanger and surveillance there shows the hanger was hit as well. Same jet firing on civilian targets in the city! A message just popped up on the Weave, claiming responsibility for blowing up the drones and business.

A group calling themselves 'Environmental Activists against Oslon Expansionism for the Entitled. Any real-estate developer tries to build there and their business will be targeted.' They neglected to ask for the name of the real-estate company earlier. That is why they are being vague."

The Minister of Defense groaned out, "Suggestions?"

Jace smiled, "Call Air Defense. Find out about this UAV company and if they had any birds in the air this evening, be sure to talk with General Bricker. If so, how many and if they all returned."

The Minister of Defense sighed, "Alright, that is a reasonable request after getting a call concerning this new terrorist group."

Jace was on hold again.

---

The Minister of defense pulled up a roster of all Defense Forces Personnel, active and retired, and looked for a General Bricker. No such General was listed in his system. He contacted the Air Defense. The corporal on duty looked at the Minister of Defense as he spoke, "I need to speak with whoever is in charge there this evening."

The corporal nodded, "That would be General Bright sir. Connecting you."

General Bright saw the face of the gold Dragon Defense Minister staring back at him. "I just got an alert on some environmental terrorist group. Has there been any activity over the Avalon wilds? Any drone activity, public, or private to the Oslon Islands."

The general acted as though he was checking the logs and looked back over, "Sorry Defense Minister. There have been no drone flights over the valley this evening. Another is scheduled from our military for around midday tomorrow.

According to planned reconnaissance routes already sent to you in the monthly briefing. I have been here all night long and no activity over that area has been reported or logged, Sir."

The Defense Minister disconnected. He now knew he had at least one rogue General to deal with. He pulled up the tail number and had Captain Freeman who piloted that plane and it was scheduled to be in the air this evening. That gave him two to interrogate.

The Minister of Defense came back a few seconds later, "I checked service records before calling. There is no General Bricker in our Army, active or retired. Contacting Air Defense and asked the UAV question. I got General David Bright on duty.

Said no UAV activity by civilians over the valley this evening. He was standing in operations and had not left it this evening. He knows nothing about this terrorist group or what they are talking about. I pulled the tail number and have the officer who is assigned to that plane's name. Get your information together."

Jace sent a message to the manager of the drone company letting him know the building exploded and the hanger was destroyed by terrorists. To contact all employees at home and to report back any he could not get a hold of.

He went through all of the images and laid them out over a map compiled an hours' worth of video highlights pointing to different images on the map. He got a message that Adam Vonda was in protective custody, the admin from the company.

The manager reported back that, 'Adam Vonda was on duty and missing. He did not own a vehicle. Working next of kin information but found none.'

Jace sent an acknowledgment message back to him. Jace had the business and assets insured for 10 times its assessed value. He sent everyone on the list 8 weeks of severance pay, He stated, 'The company was going out of business after this terrorist attack.' In the text message, he sent back.

The report on the penthouse fire showed 2 were injured in the apartment below and the penthouse was totally destroyed. Still under investigation. He shook his head as he got called instead.

He had the King with the Minister of Defense. Jace bowed to them, "Your Majesty. The first file is a map of the valley with 94 points of interest. The number of air defense systems, we can add 8 more, 4 of each type and they are along the Avalon border area. The infrared picked them up on the last return flight.

Bringing 32 air defense systems; again, an even split and not counting handheld units. These new ones are San Angeles systems built by our own companies. We know there is at least a ground force of 10,000 including giants and trolls, as of our last recon they were located at points 6 and 7 on the map.

This is as of yesterday. You have 3 landing strips with 3 fighter craft and another location with 3 attack helicopters with the troll cages and the Alion-2 craft. The last one at number 37. One at each at the moment for the fighters, or should I say last night. Location 24, 31, and 75. Location 37 has the attack helicopters, Alion-2, and trolls.

Richard is here because he is an active Commander in the Marshal Service and if we need to pull those 8 marshals and evacuate that town, he can make that call. I will let you look over the rest of that map before showing you any video, Your Majesty."

The King sighed, "You are not ready to go back into the valley yet?"

Jace sighed, "When is the next military recon flight scheduled for? I am showing this will occur in 3 hours. Is that still the case, Your Majesty?"

The King nodded, "Yes."

Jace sighed, "I am barely walking. I have the secondary on my sidearm, I can use the primary if prone at the moment. My bow is ready. I have teleportation now. I do what I am willing to do, you will need to order the Marshals to start evacuation of that town now. This will likely have to have a military response aftward to do a clean-up of the valley of what is left behind.

1. I will hit the forward staging area. Area 19.

2. Then the air defenses along the northern shore. Areas 55-66.

3. Get high enough, Teleport to the giants' location at the silos. If you noticed those slabs have rockets on them to open them. I can ignite those and get to the giants. Areas 90-93.

4. I can teleport out to a spot I marked on the map with a blue dot. That is a rallying point I used before. Again, fly up. Teleport over to the troll cages, and strike that facility. Area 37.

5. Go back to the base in the southwest that the elven scout sent me, number 17 on your map. I will set an inverse tornado to have it collapse in on itself.

6. Then teleport up to the entrance area of Avalon and fly up and teleport out for those 8 air defense units along the Avalon Valley. Assets 81-89 on your map. I will have to stay to shut down the fire for those 8 to protect their woods.

7. Then head to the town and send a wall of fire straight north toward any advancing units. I cannot deal with the caves or the dragons. That is point 4 on your map.

That glove I gave you. I had Rayne build one for me into my armor to recharge units I take with me. The ones we use. I will have burned through 10 of those by then. My satellite communications are built into my 950 processor, I had it upgraded while out and did the same for Marshal Cooper. When in the field I have a tech crystal for that now as does he if I ever have to reach him. You gave me money and I have been spending some of it to get the job done. They just blew up my drone service.

You can give me grid coordinates to those assets you want next or what I need to hit again. You got one general and one pilot whose nuts should be in a vise as well as one gold dragon missing a leg. I gave you 3 targets to look at from my assets, Your Majesty.

Those are the things I can do on one leg at the moment, 2 really but barely walking, Your Majesty. I encounter other mages that could be a pitched battle if they can find me."

The Minister of Defense looked at the King. The King nodded, "Hit those locations. Contact us if you have a problem. We will let you know what we see. I have 2 of my Bodyguards headed to the Air Defense to monitor the UAV footage from there. Having it sent to us."

Jace nodded, "Leaving in 10 minutes, anything to the Marshals, Your Majesty?"

The King looked over, "Get them evacuating that town now."

Richard nodded, "Will get that started, Your Majesty."

Jace looked over, "This is actually the best time to try and hit them because they do not want to be caught on UAV footage. If they are doing early training, they will be pulling them inside and trying to stop the UAV flights, you will find other actors, Your Majesty."

He nodded, "Noted Jace."

Richard came back in, "Rayne is fit to be tied but the Marshals are working to evacuate the town. They said they do not have enough vehicles to do an evacuation. I told them to get the people walking south toward the Valley entrance."

Jace nodded and went to his room and packed up his gear. He kissed an angry Rayne, "This is something I can do barely walking. Your glove modification and the teleportation saw to that. I can always teleport out to safety."

She sighed and hugged him, "You come back missing another leg then you can enchant your next set of armor."

He smiled and then laughed at her, "Alright. That will keep me out of a job for a year or more."

Jace stepped out front as the house was shielded but he was in stealth when he did so. He teleported off to that rock and used a wall to take him higher; he did not have a 'fly spell' in his arsenal so he used what he had. He had to find the first staging ground.

He spotted it and teleported above it. Jace got another wall below him and brought it down He decided to invert this one as well start big and brought it to the middle, bringing it from a large circle to a small one, but he went with three of them. He got the first one going and headed toward him, then the second and then a third.

He teleported to the mouth of that one cave and looked out. No dragons in the air. He went up and found the first battery and sent one flaming tornado straight down the edge across the top of the cliff wall.

He teleported to the other end and repeated the process of it going in the other direction. He got height going and he heard flapping. He saw the dragon closing and teleported off as far and as he could and then repeated it to get over the giant silos. He launched the first one to fire off the rockets and moved it out. He centered the second over the open silos.

Then did another one slightly wider. He left those 2 and went to his rock outcropping. He could see the dragon-headed for the giants, a dark blue one. He went higher again and spotted the hanger for the trolls. He teleported over and then lowered himself down. This one he put sideways and into the hanger to stay stationary.

Then teleported to the entrance area of Avalon. He went up on a wall as arrows came in at him from the elves. He flew for a bit away and teleported off and looked at his health. He got the first cylinder loaded and flew down. He started with walls of fire from the forest side toward the wilds instead of toward the Avalon Valley elves. Then another.

He heard the flapping of wings and saw that dragon inbound. He started the third and teleported out just as he got hit by a lightning bolt. That sent him on his ass but was back in that northern cave. He rose up and teleported above the first staging area and hit it again going outward.

He swapped in another unit into his hand Vamp unit. He flew higher looking for that fucking blue dragon. He saw jets getting into the sky. He teleported to the back edge of the town and sent a wall of flame headed toward the encampment and away from the town.

Then Jace went back to the walls of fire he set for the elves. He threw up ice storms to put out any residual fires from there. He switched containers again. He saw the jets headed for the town as was the dragon. He teleported back and flew up on that wall he levitated. The dragon spotted him.