Quaranteam - Book Two (Ch. 01)

Chapter One

December 10 ^th, 2020

Whatever Andy expected his first visit to the military base at the heart of New Eden was going to be like, being brought in with his hands cuffed together wasn't it. To some extent, he understood the reasoning behind it, but he still felt like the entire thing was an overreaction.

"You okay, hon?" Niko asked him, having not left his side the entire time. Lexi hadn't been allowed on the base, but as a member of the Air Force, they couldn't justify denying Niko the rights to escort her fiancée onto the base for what they were calling his 'executive review.'

"It's fine," he told her, as they were shuffled down a hall, two women Security Forces officers in front of them, one on either side of them, and three of them in the back, none of them part of Linda's Girls, which didn't make Andy feel any better.

"It's ridiculous is what it is," Niko growled. "They're treating you like you're Hannibal Lecter or something..."

"Cannibalism's not really my taste," Andy joked, trying to keep his spirits up. He couldn't really get much of a look at the base itself, what with the sea of bodies all swamped around them. "But yes, the handcuffs do seem a bit much."

"You're getting the same level of scrutiny as every other man involved in this mess," the woman in charge, a gruff Captain with the last name of Nash. "We're being thorough and we're not letting any of you fuck it up. This whole thing has been fubar in spectacular fashion, and while this didn't use to be my circus or my monkey, but I've been put in charge of security for the complex until Captain Hayes has either been permanently removed or exonerated and reinstated to the position."

"She'll be cleared and put back in charge," Andy said confidently. "Say what you like about Linda, her loyalties have never been in question."

"It's not a question of if she's loyal," one of the guards said, "but who she's more loyal to, this country or her soon-to-be husband."

"Stow it, Reynolds," Nash said to her. "Ours is not to question why and all that..."

It had been over half a year since the start of the plague, and just three weeks since the Covington household had taken their patriarch, Arthur Covington the 4^th, hostage. Andy had expected the situation to be solved quickly, but instead it had been a tense three weeks, with supplies being delivered, demands being negotiated and solutions being worked out. Andy had thought it impossible that Covington himself wouldn't be released by now, but apparently the situation was far more complex than anyone had anticipated, and had only been complicated by the additional scrutiny Andy had brought down onto the base.

When he'd been interviewed by Katie Couric for 60 Minutes, she'd thought she'd captured him in a gotcha moment when it came to talking about the infamous poker games that Covington had been holding, one of which Andy had attended, purely as part of a rescue effort for some of Niko's friends. When Andy had been completely candid about the game, his role in it and how there were some people at the base who'd manipulated the pairing system, a top-to-bottom investigation of the entire base was put into place by the female senators who'd heard all about it, instead of Ms. Couric airing Andy's allegations publicly.

Considering how slowly the government moved involving most things, he'd been incredibly surprised by how fast they'd moved regarding this one particular thing. He supposed that the hostage situation with Covington had figured into it, as had Covington's sizable fortune, and that both Congress and the President wanted to get everything under control quickly and quietly, especially before any of it leaked to the press, something it seemed like the women who'd taken Covington hostage were more than happy to acquiesce to, as long as they felt like progress was being made.

The investigation of the base itself had just started a few days ago, but Andy's good friend Phil had gone mostly dark since then, with Linda assuring them it was part of the whole process and that things would work themselves out in the end. Many of the women in Andy's house had been interviewed by members of the investigating team, generally at Rook Manor, which had put Andy somewhat at ease.

All of that had been before someone had come to Rook Manor to drag Andy away in handcuffs, naturally.

He hadn't even had warnings that it was coming - just a large military transport truck driving up and onto his property with several women armed to the teeth came to take him away. They hadn't even phoned ahead and had opened the gate to his estate without anyone in Team Rook opening it, which made Andy wonder if the Air Force had some sort of override access to all the gate systems within New Eden. He wasn't entirely certain of the legality of that, but as of late, legality had been a pretty flexible concept in the walled colony.

The squad of female soldiers brought him into an elevator, several floors downward, then back out again, taking him down a singular hallway before bringing him into a large room he felt fitting for the sort of tribunal he was expecting. He was actually dressed up for the occasion, having been getting ready for a date when the soldiers had taken him away.

At one end of the room behind an elevated desk were three women, one in military attire behind a plaque which read "3-star Lt. General Bonner" in the center," and then one in a business suit behind a plaque which read "Engle" to the General's left, and one in much more casual attire behind a plaque which read "Giancola" on the General's right. All three looked to be in their early to mid 50s, and each of them looked incredibly tired.

"Remember baby," Niko whispered to him. "Just be honest and you, and this should all be fine."

"Lieutenant Redwolf," the General said, a scolding tone to her voice. "We have allowed you to be here to ensure the safety of your household's male figure, but do not think that give you the option to address this council."

"Ma'am," Niko responded, moving to sit in a chair behind where Andy was sat at.

He was placed at one of two tables, an empty chair to the left of him, glancing over to the right, where a pair of women in business suits were dressed, briefcases in front of them. The soldiers did, however, remove the handcuffs from him, although they were only stationed a few feet away and they were very much still armed.

"Don't I get an attorney?" Andy asked.

"This isn't a trial, Mr. Rook," the General said. "It's a military review of sorts, and we're currently holding it to determine who is and is not an enemy combatant. To determine if you are functioning as a rogue operator working to establish interests counter to those of the United States of America or not. We're going to review your actions of the last six months and see if you've engaged in behavior that violates the law of war. Assuming you are who you say you are, and that you only did the things you have previously said that you did, no further escalation should be necessary. But if it comes out that you were engaged in manipulation or disruption of the system, or the laws of the land, then we will determine if you are going to be considered an enemy combatant, or just a civilian in violation of unlawful behavior. Should we determine the latter, you will be detained by local law enforcement until such time as you are able to be given legal counsel and then tried before a jury of your peers."

"General, I know you wanted me to remain silent, but is this being conducted under Article 31 and should Mr. Rook have the proceeding explained to him?" Niko asked.

"It's an informal process, Lieutenant, and if we get to anything that has immediate repercussions, we will, of course, assign Mr. Rook counsel, be that a civilian attorney or someone from trial defense services," the General responded.

"I know this all seems rather frightening, Mr. Rook," the woman named Giancola said to him. "But I assure you, it's all on the up and up, and we're just as eager as you are to be past all of this."

"Assuming you are who you say you are, Mr. Rook," the other woman, Engle, said to him. "I'm not entirely convinced you aren't somehow tied to a foreign interest that is attempting to manipulate our response to the DuoHalo Virus."

"Jesus, Maddy, don't start in with this again..."

"And you are?" Andy asked.

"Representative Madeline Engle, from the great state of Idaho," she replied proudly.

"Well then, Representative Engle," Andy chuckled, shaking his head a little. "Let me be the first to say that I'm not entirely convinced of your intentions either, and we can move on from there."

From the moment they'd relocated Andy from the tiny little condo owned by his friend to the new mansion he'd been given in New Eden, Andy had entirely been prepared for some kind of reckoning and accountability. It felt like maybe that moment had come.

After the other woman introduced herself - she was Senator Caroline Giancola from Kansas - they moved into having Andy relate his version of the last six months or so to the tribunal. It was a long and winding story, but Andy did his best to relay all the information he had now, even at points in the story before he might have had it, starting with his friend Phil Marcos getting a few strings pulled to get Andy high in the priority list, as well as redirecting him to live within the walls of New Eden.

Andy knew Phil hadn't technically done anything wrong, but that the tribunal might have found concerns with the spirit of Phil's actions. Andy did, however, make a point to call out how as far as he knew, Phil had never stepped outside of the things he was allowed to do at any point, and that in many ways, Phil was acting similarly to thousands of others in the system - trying to take care of his family and friends. Was it abusing his position and privilege? Perhaps, but he hadn't set down any of the rules he'd used to keep Andy and his family safe.

Surprisingly, he encountered very little push back from the tribunal regarding Phil's actions, or how he'd been paired with his first few partners - Aisling, Laurel and Niko - and the tribunal kept things moving along quickly, even glossing over his relocation from the condo in San Jose to the mansion up in New Eden, although there were a number of repeated questions about how much he knew about the DuoHalo virus, when he knew it and who had told him, focusing on what both Phil (who was one the lead medical personnel responding to the DuoHalo epidemic) and his former flatmate Eric (who was a contractor working for a research and development arm of the CIA) had told him.

Andy knew that both Phil and Eric were trusting him with information that maybe he wasn't cleared to know, so Andy stuck to his guns and presented a fairly blank picture of how much information he'd picked up along the way. He relayed that while his understanding of how big the epidemic was grew a little faster and bit more in-depth than others, he'd trusted in Phil and Eric not to tell him anything he wasn't cleared to know, or, more accurately, to only tell him things that weren't prohibited from knowing, since the amount of information was changing so fast, that it was nearly impossible to keep up with what was going on in all fronts.

There were a few times over the course of the first few hours that he felt like maybe Phil had told Andy more than he should've, but each time he'd seen the tribunal's faces scrunch up in annoyance, Andy had asked if what Phil had told him was classified, and each time he was told that it wasn't, although that they'd been urging more discretion when it came to dissemination of such information. Each time Andy had responded that he hadn't told anyone outside of his Team (the term being used to describe the new family unit that had resulted from the DuoHalo virus and the Quaranteam serum used to counter it) and that he did not believe Phil was being careless with the knowledge. Eventually, he figured out that was why they were getting annoyed with him - there was nothing illegal about what Phil had done, nor what Andy had done; it just wasn't how they wanted it done.

Once Andy's story moved past talking about his arrival in the new manor, as soon as Covington entered his story, a whole new tension filled the air, with each of the three suddenly paying much more attention to their notes, asking far more questions than they had been previously.

Despite their constant barrage of interruptions, Andy did his best to relay the tale of how Niko had informed him that some women were being assigned to men in a method that did not fall in accordance with the protocols they were supposed to be. Basically, Covington and some of his friends had gone out of their way to buy the ability to circumvent the systems designed to pair up women with men they would find acceptable, putting the man's demand up as 'nonnegotiable,' and just giving a woman to a man who requested them, something Niko had told him she found reprehensible, something which he'd agreed with.

At that point in the story, Niko had offered to fill in some gaps, only to be scolded by the General, being told that she would get a chance to tell her version of the story privately, and for the time being she should remain quiet. Niko had fallen silent in response.

Andy then detailed how Niko had worked to get Andy an invitation to the private poker game that Arthur Covington had been holding for a month or two, where men were urged to put up women assigned to them that had not been imprinted yet as stakes for the game, with the winner being able to choose whatever women he wanted from the stakes and then allowing the rest to be chosen by those further down in order of elimination from the poker game.

"Didn't you feel any shame at all, Mr. Rook," Rep. Engle asked him, "in using these women like they were property instead of people?"

"Absolutely, Representative Engle. In fact, if you interview the women who were already my partners at that time, you will find that they will all detail for you how much guilt I had about my actions, how uncomfortable I was with them, but that I made a decision to do what I needed to for the greater good, and to protect the friends of my partner, 2^nd Lieutenant Redwolf," Andy sighed. "I had seen first hand what kind of a cruel man Covington was to his partners, going so far as to refuse to let them even speak to other people in public. And even then, I didn't truly understand how deep the man's depravity went. It wasn't until after the game itself I would learn how dark that hole is."

"And the women you had to enter as stakes, Mr. Rook?" the General asked him.

"One of them, Sheridan Smith, I didn't know at the time, and I made a point to choose to bring her back into the house, especially since she'd selected me during the process legitimately."

"And the other?"

Andy shook his head with a dark little chuckle. "The other I would've sent back to the base to be paired with someone else had I not entered the game. Her name is Erin Donegal, and she and I had a relationship about a decade ago that ended... badly. I was not interested in rekindling the relationship in any way, shape or form, and to do so would've actively been detrimental to not only my mental health, but the mental health of everyone in my Team."

"And where did Miss Donegal end up?"

"She was chosen by Mister Watkins, which I will admit relieved me somewhat."

"Why is that?" Senator Giancola asked.

"Of the other people who were at the poker game, I found Mister Watkins to be the most reasonable and scrupulous, although I suppose I should append that by stating that the most reasonable of pit vipers remains a snake," he chuckled. "Nathaniel seemed like the best worst option, although I have come to find that he was engaged in the poker game for similar reasons to my own."

"And that was?"

"He was mostly trying to keep tabs on what Covington was up to, although I don't know that that fully excuses his behavior. Mister Watkins has repeatedly informed me that he would have preferred to have less partners than he did, but that the government insisted he get up to a number that would reasonably guarantee his immunity to DuoHalo, a situation I could empathize with."

"Based on others we've interviewed before you, you did quite well for yourself at that poker game, Mister Rook," the General said.

Andy shrugged a little. "What can I say? Despite their astute powers of business, it turns out they're all pretty shitty poker players. And I suspect Covington kept holding the game at his home because he was using an unscrupulous dealer, guaranteeing he would generally end up on top."

"And that would be the late Veronica DeLaCruz?" Representative Engle asked.

"Yes." Andy paused, as did the others, and since no one else wanted to voice the speculation, he decided to give it air. "There's been some talk that Covington had her killed because of how poorly the game night went for him, but I can't speak to that personally. I'm certain I know less on that front than you do. That is what the New Daughters of the Revolution are claiming, however."

"Please list the women that you added to your Team as a result of that night's poker game."

"I went in to rescue Dr. Charlotte Varma and her daughter Asha, both of whom left the Covington mansion with me, but I agreed with Charlotte that no person should be forced to share a sexual partner with their parent. Charlotte said that she would have chosen Dr. Marcos, given the opportunity, and Phil was open to the option, so she was paired with him, and Asha remained with me. I was also paired with Piper Brown before leaving Covington Manor, something I was extremely apprehensive about, considering her mental state at that particular moment, but it has seemed to work out well enough for us in the long run."

"How would you describe her mental state when you first encountered Miss Brown?"

Andy frowned, his fingers curling uncomfortably at the memory of it. "Feral? Out of her mind? Covington had kept her in the in-between state of getting the Quaranteam serum and being imprinted for nearly a week, and Piper had regressed to something bestial and primitive. When she finally came to her senses a few days after being imprinted, I told her that if she wanted to leave, as soon as we could find a medical way for her to do that, I would aid her in taking that path. She has, since then, insisted she very much wants to remain a part of the family, and we are engaged to be married."

"Is that a bit of Stockholm Syndrome there I detect, Mister Rook?" Rep. Engle asked.

"I don't think so, but you're more than welcome to interview Piper, so that you can ascertain her motives for yourselves. I'm certainly not a medical professional capable of making that sort of judgment call."

"Who else joined your family as a result of that poker game, Mister Rook?"

"Sarah Washington, Emily Stevens and Hannah Nakamura."

"And how would you describe their opinions on joining your family?" the General asked him.

"Enthusiastic? Eager? Sarah had a bit of a crush on me before the pandemic. I think that's relatively easily verified. Also, Emily and Sarah were in a relationship prior to all of this, so joining the family made Sarah happy, which made Emily happy. Hannah just wanted safety but wasn't particularly enthusiastic about whom she'd been assigned to initially, as it had been under false pretenses."

"Oh?" Senator Giancola asked. "Elaborate, please."

"She'd been invited to join the Watkins family, but had assumed that the invitation had come from Nathaniel, which it had, but it turned out that the invitation was on behalf of Nathaniel's 18-year-old son Benjamin. Hannah would not have accepted had she known that, and when presented with the option of being paired with Benny Watkins or myself, she chose to be paired with me instead."