Junction Pt. 04

I had 6 separate activities going inside of one model of what his back should look like. One of those kept your people from interfering and the levitation via force walls with the rotation of both halves of his body. When I was in Spec-ops I worked to cause that kind of damage to our enemies. I could picture how it occurred."

Doctor Vaden asked, "Who is your boss in the Marshal Service?"

Jace pointed at Coop, "Director Cooper, the patient's father. Coop is my father-in-law. The Captain is my brother-in-law."

Doctor Vaden nodded and went to his office. He recorded the conversation and the display. He brought up a colleague and his sister who was a magical practitioner. "Good morning to both of you. I have something I want you both to see."

He sent him just the displayed images. The colleague, Doctor Veil looked at it, "Someone built a model of the damage using two x-ray images with a CT overlay into the model and then manipulated it into realigning the body and the bones."

His sister Nadia looked over, "I did not see any tools."

Doctor Vaden smiled, "Because the one who insisted, that the family insisted do the realignment is not a doctor but an evoker! The wife signed a waiver over my objections. He is Commander Jace Rivers with the Marshal's Service.

He used telekinesis on bones inside of him and levitating force walls to hold him steady as they wrapped his upper and lower body to do the rotations needed. All before we cut him open to try and save his ability to walk, which was extremely remote before that. He had the one X-ray image and the CT scan image, he had cybernetics with X-ray vision and ran it through a modeling tool. He picked up the additional bone with his eye, the missing piece, and did that on the fly."

Nadia shook her head, "An elf or a dragon possibly. But a human Marshal doing that? How much Ki did he spend doing that?"

Doctor Vaden sighed, "1,824 Ki according to my 900 series processor. I don't have a crystal for X-ray vision but I am sure as hell going to add one after seeing this!"

His sister asked, "No other mages involved?"

Doctor Vaden shook his head, "He stood in the scrub area. He did it from there without entering the operating room."

Nadia sighed, "The man has fucking talent. Serious talent. How much dragon and elven genetics?"

Doctor Vaden sighed, "10% of each, Bronze on the dragon, and Species 874 some frost and some troll. 60% human. He is the man from the Avalon Wilds vid."

Doctor Veil nodded, "Damned good genetics. Nice mix and to be able to do that as a non-doctor. You should send a message to the Minister of Health."

Doctor Vaden nodded, "I will. He would want to see that technique."

---

The Minister of Defense waited for the King to be done with his call to RECD. The Gold Dragon King looked very happy, "We moved up to 16th after what I forced them to pay us for the attacks. We have to repair the bases quickly. They fell to 42nd because of their action."

The Minister of Defense sighed, "Jace recommends 3-4 in each province instead of one large base in each. More emergency airstrips in case of a repeated attack in the other wilds. I would add setting up tremor sensors to detect any other tunneling. The human miners are working to sign onto a new mining company called DEEM, Your Majesty."

He pulled up the information, the 2 new town locations, and the 4 new mining sites. The Gold Dragon King nodded, "Cleaver idea. Should be a good investment."

The Minister of Defense nodded, "Also Jace. He owns it all. He is investing that bounty money. He wants to put 40% of it over to employee ownership. Wants to compete with the dwarves and have us stop sending them humans to be quasi-slave labor.

Nothing in our laws says the humans have to go to the dwarves to do the mining. He also mentioned conscripting dwarves into our military as they enjoyed our enemy's weapons so much. They might like to start serving in our military."

The King shook his head and chuckled, "The dates on the companies. This was set up when he agreed to stay on with the Marshals Service and deal with those areas. His tactical senses told him something was wrong with the dwarves. He had an exit strategy that would keep those resources active for us and save us in the long run. Damned if he does not watch my back constantly."

The Minister nodded, "Yes, Your Majesty. They kept driving away or killing Marshals in those tunnels. Director Cooper did not have Jace's skills to escape or handle crowd control. He got in to see the leaders once.

He knew he was outmatched without bringing in hundreds of Marshals. Director Younger and I agreed it was not a fight we wanted to take on yet and sending the military into dwarven tunnels was seen as a suicide mission. Mastro97A type missions.

Jace sent us the files on all of them. That stupid Sherrif had an isolated server of mutual self-destruction. Dealing with the 3 big players he wanted an insurance policy to keep him in the game. Jace hacked it and transferred it to his server and then to us.

To show us the corruption the idiot kept in case he needed it in the future against those mega-businesses. It did not include the military alliance, likely coming from the 3 in custody here in the palace now. He said to be sure to search for hidden assets.

He also said that their children should be the first conscripted into the military. If they want to handle weapons and someday become entitled they should fucking earn it. Just as the Elves have done. His words, Your Majesty."

The King pointed, "Be sure that road crews are in place, carpenters, plumbers, electrical, and water services to get those towns operational starting tomorrow. He gave a town map for both of them, growing in size to 100,000 in each.

It includes solar power generators with residual magical absorption generators we use in the city's infrastructure. With the sizes of them being capable to provide additional power to other towns in those Wilds and to the mines, even if the town exceeds that capacity.

He will get Marshals out there and a local Sheriff with deputies among them, as part of his job. Let him work the business angles for a change. We can aid from the back. We will need those miners back to work.

Fast track his permits for the mining equipment when they come in. He is giving us the means to recover faster and apply a penalty to our dwarven population. He does not need another favor directly but some expedited service for this plan of his will work, as it helps us to recover faster.

I am sending favors to the elven General and Mastro team leader commander in charge who worked the coordination with him. Jace is showing us our elves are not a total loss. I will hold off on adding another race. That will please Brandialshane, Kindra, and Levaransin especially.

I wanted it worded to send a message. To let them know it was for working in a spirit of cooperation with local law enforcement to deal with this underlying threat that I am awarding them these favors. To bring a potential war into the realm of a devastating skirmish. One in the job just a day, half of one. But he is learning to work with Jace is better than fighting him.

---

She looked over the monitoring data on Jace, she could not access his internal comms. She did not have the Id and they appeared to be 100% dragon to make them damned near impossible to trace. She did listen in from others, including the Doctor and Nurse who worked on this Captain Cooper.

Jace's explanation she had from the Doctor's processor and she recorded it all, including his explanation. She smiled to herself, "Take what I recorded earlier with the Sheriff and the talk he had with her. She was impressed by him and what he had to say about protecting humans.

Then the efforts he took with the miners, to look after their health and give them a choice to plot a new future. Lastly, what he did for his Brother-in-law to save his ability to walk. I think he has the right moral character you were hoping for in this one."

They sent her a message, "He is stable, talented, and caring. Getting to him might prove to be a challenge. We want to monitor a while longer first, but he is very impressive. He seems to have the mix we are looking for."

---

Both the General and the Commander reported to Levaransin that they had been awarded favors from the Gold Dragon King. The General sent it along with the exact text.

She responded to both of them. "They were awarded for working with Commander Jace Rivers in a spirit of cooperation. To bring this to a close quickly because you took the right action. You did exactly as I wanted you to do General.

Commander, you did well in getting it cleared and following his advice in the field. My Brother, Commander Triviliana was his trainer and commander. He respects our people and our ways. He is extremely talented and dangerous to cross. He hates corruption and will seek to bring it down."

She ended the message to see she had visitors. She turned to see Brandialshane and gave him a smirk and shook her head, "You were right about that one, father. Jace did us a huge favor and likely knows it. I have heard the Dwarves are no longer in the running to obtain an entitled race status.

The King is backing off on the search for now. The giants are not as involved as we have been. Jace worked with our military commanders. When they would work with him, one killed himself. That was not a good start. Also, their human General who oversees that base now.

Jace got the King to back off of that search with his actions, by exposing the corruption in the dwarven community. He is not trying to elevate humans into that position. Not directly at least. I think he knows the futility of trying to approach that. He is simply trying to get them to lead better lives and not be seen as complete slaves."

Brandialshane nodded, "Yes, my daughter. You are beginning to see the surface of what your brother saw in Jace. He is the polar opposite of Sylvia, she helped to shape him to survive, but he wanted to be far less like her in the long run. He thought she was a female she-devil. Then she proved it to her own demise."

---

Jace went home and called out the next day citing his brother in the hospital and the border skirmish. He slept for 12 hours and recharged his Ki unit. He ordered the supplies for the 2 towns and conducted a remote interview with some of the miners.

He ordered up the mining equipment they requested, 4 sets of it, and saw he had them all signed on to work for him. He worked to divide them into 2 towns based upon specialties and mineral surveys. He had gained a following of supports for what he did for them.

He began paying them immediately and paid for the services of the Humanitarian aid that came in through his company going forward until he could move them. Then Jace spent several hours making love to both wives before getting rest again.

---

The Minister of Health watched the images and the information provided. He took it into a Dragon Cabinet Meeting. He presented the images of what was done with the patient providing no information at first. The King nodded, "Evoker doctor?"

The Minister of Health shook his head, "The patient was an Army Captain Cooper. The one to do it was an evoker in the Marshal's service. Jace Rivers."

The Gold Dragon King nodded, "Commander Jace Rivers and his brother-in-law."

The Minister of Defense nodded, "I told him he was injured at the base. He saw that he got moved to that hospital to get the best care possible. They saw that damage and gave him next to no chance to be able to walk again. Jace has a habit of beating the odds. How is the patient?"

The Minister of Health nodded, "Last reports were he was undergoing physical therapy. They paid for a cleric to be safe to ensure the damage was healed and the swelling went down quickly to reduce long term damage, they expect him to be back on modified duty in 5 days.

Full duty within 6 months. Jace paid for cybernetics to get him a titanium mesh over his bones and capped out his Ki. Darla, his wife, ensured he had a 1,000Ki unit installed with money Jace left her for the home and the family. He had a 500Ki unit but it was used in the collapse to keep him alive.

She had a bigger one installed. Jace gave the unit to her and she had one installed into her as well, her husband's older unit as his annual cost went to 2 Ki a year. Captain Cooper plans to stay with the Army. Jace and Darla wanted him better protected and the Captain readily agreed.

Captain Cooper is very loyal to our Army like his father was. The Captain's wife, Darla, was who signed the waiver. She and his extended family were all grateful for what Jace did for the Captain. The Captain was awarded a medal for being injured in that border skirmish. Jace paid for the medical care for Captain Cooper. Including clerical care to get him back on his feet sooner."

The Gold Dragon King asked, "When is Captain Cooper due for his next promotion?"

The Minister of Defense looked things over, "His records are great, good reviews. Due in 16 months with no issues noted."

The Gold Dragon King nodded, "6 days when he is scheduled to return on light duty. He is a walking miracle and a testament to loyalty to our service. A step promotion to Major.

We lost a lot of good people and some who stepped away after that attack, some due to severe injury. We have vacancies. I want to know how many doctors we have who could have done that?"

The Minister of Health laughed, "A dragon doctor might have been able to pull that off if he had those skills and that kind of cybernetic eye. Doing it for a human would not be very likely.

An elven Doctor, possible but less likely to succeed and likely only for an elf or Dragon if pressed. I would never have guessed a human doing that with no medical training. He spent over 1,800 Ki doing the procedure."

The Minister of Defense looked at him, "He has two forms of medical training. Field medic and combat training. In how to cause that kind of damage if needed. Necks mostly but spine in general in humans. He could reverse engineer the damage. Pictured how it occurred to help build that model. Still, very remarkable work to witness."

The Minister of Defense sent a copy of the images to Levaransin with the title of, "Look at what Jace is up to now."

---

Levaransin pulled it and watched what he did. She had not expected to see a surgical procedure with no tools while he used x-ray images with an active CT image. She showed it to both Brandialshane and Kindra.

Kindra looked at them, "Last reports were his Ki maxed out at 500 and his genetics were still stable. As to his control of magic. I would say he is still improving."

Levaransin showed it to her 2 top doctors without telling them who did it. They both commented on it being a master of the magical craft. Then they were told it was a human who did the work with little medical training.

They were both dumbfounded by that fact. Levaransin refused to discuss who the human was but challenged the doctors to look to master that technique and teach it if needed. She wanted her people to keep pace with modern medicine.

The more she looked at Jace the more she saw what her youngest brother saw in Jace. He could be so much more than even Jace knew about. Her messages from her brother on Jace made more sense now. He could be the future of humanity if the dragons did not kill him for some reason.

---

Jace woke up and got reports of road construction crews, water, power, and carpenters taking off-road routes to get to the new townsites while the road crews worked. In both the Holly Wilds and Cordon Wilds. His mining equipment was on the road and would be behind the road crews to both locations as going off-road with that would not work well. He knew the Gold Dragon King was behind the rapid response to this.

The Army was in play in Dwarven lands. The Minister of Defense, keeping the Marshals active. He had sent in some standard army units as the dwarves were under martial law but required to get back to work now.

All 3 companies were seized by the Gold Dragon King for the mutiny of the clan leaders. Some were still being rounded up. As it dealt with treason the Marshals dealt with the civil unrest that was rising. Coop sent in a manning request to add another 300 Marshals to assist in taming these wilds after this last attack.

It was quickly approved by the Royal Family and would expedite assets coming out of the Marshal's Academy early. Jace went to Claremont Wilds first today. The other half of the Southern border. Jace arrived at the edge of the province to find another roadblock.

He again stopped returning vehicles and put his lights on. He walked up to the roadblock and looked at the Elven Captain on duty. "Who signed off on the martial law for this area?"

The Captain saw the gun and his badge and showed him a pad. Jace nodded, "Went straight to the Minister of Defense and bypassed the Marshal Service completely. That is all well and good, but not proper. Get your base commander on the line!"

The Captain put him in touch with General Carnolaus Who looked across. "Commander Jace Rivers from the images I have seen of you."

Jace nodded, "You have problems with this roadblock. You are cutting off those who actually live in these wilds, your civilian police force, and all of the vehicles that are trying to bring in your relief supplies.

Something you would not have encountered if you worked with me directly to ensure only those authorized to cross the border came across the border. Your base is not going to repair itself with concrete trucks being turned back."

The General sighed, "All right. Captain, work with the Marshal to get those who need to get in into the area. I want military escorts on these conveys."

Jace sighed, "That includes your units in town who might be hampering local law enforcement from doing what needs to be done to aid you, General."

The General nodded, "I will contact them to clear your Marshals and the local Sheriffs but they have to take direction from my military."

Jace nodded, "As long as it does not violate civilian law. We all have our rules to play by. We don't need the military raping the local population and that has been a problem in the past. You have standing orders on that fact already."

The General nodded and left the call.

Jace contacted Captain Vashmiresia, "Get some marshals to the border and ensure any leaving or coming into the area are authorized. Marshal law likely got put into effect without consulting me."

The Captain nodded, "We got those directions from Director Cooper yesterday. He was looped in and we have men in place. We will check those leaving as well now."

Jace smiled, "Good, I am at the entrance to the Claremont Wilds today and they did not loop in the Marshal Service and I am getting that corrected."

Jace contacted the local Captain, "Captain Paterson, I need 10 marshals with at least 2 who have high-end processor capability to get to the roadblock to work on identifying locals. Those who have a legitimate reason for being here to be allowed entry into these wilds.

Work with the Army they should get with their General if any questions surface on your participation. Also local sheriff's involvement. Civilian law still applies, but work with them and elevate any issues to me.

I know of the damage to the base. Marshal law is in effect, but we need to get relief supplies and the people who reside here into their homes and not stranded on the side of the road out here. Work taking them home in groups by village or town."

Captain Paterson nodded, "Understood. Will have them there within the hour."

Jace stayed and helped out. Jace arrested 12 people, all journalists with camera crews. One of them spoke with him, A woman named Xandra with San Angles's Hot News, across between news and a tabloid, "You cannot arrest journalists doing their job."