Legacy Ch8

Legacy of the Guardians

AJ Marks

Chapter 8

Randall walked back into a busy council room wondering what was going to happen today. So far the last couple of day had been quiet, and the Skartian ambassador had not shown up. Randall was sure that that would change at any minute. The last time he had seen the Skartian ambassador he did not seem to be a good mood, which suited Randall just fine.

He noticed that Kinser was already at his seat and reading some reports.

"Hey Kinser, what's going on?" Randall asked his friend.

"Huh?" Kinser replied as he was dragged away from what he was reading by Randall's voice. "Oh, Ran Dall, I didn't hear you come up." Kinser said and Randall laughed a bit. "I was just going over the reports from our warships we sent to the neutral zone. We lost seven ships and over a thousand soldiers." Kinser said in a sad voice.

"Sorry my friend." Randall replied feeling the sorrow, he had been through it before.

"It not your fault, its the Skartians fault." Kinser replied. "How do you deal with the losses of war?"

"Its not easy, but we just do." Randall said trying to put his feelings into words.

"I heard about what happened on your world. How many died in the attack?" Kinser said referring to the World Trade Center collapse.

"Reports have estimated the loss of life to be around five thousand, plus the thousand we lost in the battle, it could have been worse." Randall said with a shake of his head. They both noticed that the council president had now approached the podium and was ready to talk.

"Fellow council members, we have a problem brewing. The Skartian ambassador has not responded to any of our messages and we have not been able to contact him at all. Does anyone have any information they could share?" The president said. No came forward as there was no information.

"May I make a suggestion?" Randall asked after a few minutes of silence and waited for the president's approval. "I suggest that we go to his room and see about getting in it."

"Hmm." The president said stroking his chin. "I believe that at this time that measure is a bit drastic, but we will keep it in mind."

"Do you have anything else to say ambassador?" The president said to Randall.

"Well, I was just going to submit this formal declaration of war against the Skartian Empire, but their ambassador is not here. However, I can give everyone here that we intend to use level three warfare against the Skartian Empire." Randall could feel some tension in the air, but level three meant that the human race would wage a defensive war, and still allow trade, but each ship would be subject to search, no exception would be made. Randall thought that some races might object, but to his surprise none did. In fact most ambassadors seemed to be more relaxed at the declaration.

"The council acknowledges the Human Race's Declaration of War against the Skartian Empire and war level three." The president said then went on to other business.

Ahmed walked down the street of what had once been the beautiful part of the city. Now there was just rubble and run down buildings. He wondered at how his people could live like this. The Talibon clearly did not care about the people and were using the religion to keep the people subdued. He wondered if his mom and dad were still at their old residence, or if the Talibon had made them move yet.

As he walked further down the street he received some glances but he did not recognize anyone. As he made the turn he noticed that his parent's house still stood and appeared to be lived in. That could be a good sign. He watched as an older man walked out of the door and Ahmed recognized him.

"Father." Ahmed said standing a few feet from his father.

"Ahmed?" The older man said looking up at his son not quiet believing what he was seeing. "Ahmed, my son, you've come home." He said grasping his son's arm.

Ahmed was about to ask about his mother when he noticed her looking out of the window to wee what was going on. And he could tell that she was smiling from the look in her eyes.

"Come, let's go inside." His father said, leaving unspoken that the streets were not safe to talk.

"Ahmed!" His mother said giving her son a hug once they were inside.

"Hello mother." Ahmed said giving his mother a return hug. "How have you been?"

"We live in fear, those blasted Talibon baboons think they know how to run a country, BAH." His father said. Ahmed remembered that his father was always outspoken, but also smart and knew when to keep his mouth shut. "They've run this country into the ground." Ahmed could hear the sadness in his father's voice.

"Do you hear anything about world news at all?" Ahmed asked wondering if they knew about the attack in the US.

"No, they keep a tight control over the press and information. Usually when we hear of big news events from Europe of America it's already a couple of months old." His mother replied.

"Then you haven't heard of the terrorist attack on the US." Ahmed said and knew by the look in his parent's eyes that they had not. "Two one hundred and ten story building collapsed because of a terrorist attack, they believe that bin Laden was behind it."

"They have buildings that tall?" His mother asked. The concept seem impossible to her.

"They had, they were both attacked by suicidal pilots who crashed planes into them and both buildings collapsed, the death toll is around five thousand people." Ahmed said seeing the anger in both his parents.

"The Americans will want revenge, and they'll probably take it out on us seeing how we are harboring bin Laden." His father said.

"I don't think so, the Americans are smart enough to know that most citizens over here are innocent, both they will want bin Laden." Ahmed said.

"Is that why you are here?" His father asked.

"No, I knew that the Americans will eventually start to attack bin Laden and I wanted to make sure that people knew why they were here." Ahmed replied.

"Well, at least one of our boys came out right." His mother replied.

Ahmed knew that she was talking about his brother. "So is he still involved in that one group he was talking about last time I was here?"

"Yes he is, and there are still filling his mind with useless garbage." His father replied. "Perhaps you can help set him straight."

"I wasn't able to last time I was here, I don't think anything I'll say will change his mind now." Ahmed said sitting down n a rickety old chair that was in need of repairs. "I really came to see about getting you tow out of here, maybe you can move to Canada with me?" Ahmed said posing a question he had in his mind. He knew that it would not be long before the Americans started to attack the country and that would put his parents at risk.

"If you had asked us ten years ago we would have said no." His father said and Ahmed nodded in agreement ad his father continued. "But now, it sounds nice."

"Would it be possible to move?" His mother asked.

"Well, I've got friends in high places, so it's possible." Ahmed replied.

"Yeah, because you socialize with those pigs." A voice said from the doorway. All three of them looked and Ahmed noticed that his brother was standing there. "I knew that you would show up, trying to poison our country with you great America."

"Canada!" Ahmed said. "There is a difference."

"Oh please!" His brother said dismissively. "And as for your friends in high places, they'll never find you after my friends get through with you." With that he stepped aside and allow several other men into the house.

"Father, don't." Ahmed said, as his father was about to protest. "It will only bring more trouble."

"So you do have some sense in you." His brother sneered.

"Let me ask, why do you think I'm here?" Ahmed asked him.

"Its obvious, you're here for the great one." His brother said.

"What if I said I had important information that could be useful to him?" Ahmed said watching his brother's reaction closely.

"Then I'd say you were lying." His brother replied, but there was a bit of hesitancy in his voice that only Ahmed picked up on.

"I just want to say one thing to bin Laden personally, then I'll leave and you'll never see me again brother." Ahmed told him, even though it was only a partial truth.

"Doesn't matter!" His brother said motioning to the others to grab his brother.

"One second, please." Ahmed said to the group and walked over to his mother and father. "Don't worry about me, just be ready to leave when my friends show up." He whispered in his mother's ear while he was hugging her. Then without any warning one of the men hit Ahmed in the head and he dropped into unconsciousness.

'Man, finally some time to relax.' Thought Greg as he reclined in the chair in the rec room. He had been doing nothing but deliver messages and running up and down the hallways all morning long without any break and his legs were beginning to feel the strain.

He felt hand on his shoulders and the beginning of a massage that he allowed. He sat for a few minutes just enjoying the feeling before turning his head to see Karen.

"You looked a bit tense." She told him.

"Yeah, I was." He replied to her. "Things are really moving. So are you on break?"

"Lunch break, what about you?" She asked.

"Yep, although I don't know what I want to eat." Greg replied. "Any leads on that bin Laden guy?"

"Not yet, we a few operatives in the area that we are tracking." She said.

"That must be what I'm transferring around." Greg said.

"Yeah, intelligence wants to grab this guy real quick. So if you see a code alpha 1, get to us right away." Karen said.

"I guess that means someone found him." He said and Karen nodded.

"You know, my mom talked to me last night and she was wondering if we had put a date on our wedding yet." She said looking into his eyes.

"Did you tell her we haven't thought of one yet?" He replied seeing her shake her head. "Its funny, but I think that Admiral Cave also wants to know, he's been hinting that no one has said anything to him and he was wondering if he had missed it."

"I guess we should think about it." She said laughing. Her stomach chose that moment to make its presence with a low growl. "Guess I'm a bit hungry." She said blushing a little bit.

"Well then, let feed that monster." He said helping her up and they walked to the cafeteria.

"Well, so far there's been nothing." Jack Cave said to his friend Steve, who was sitting across from him.

"It's only been a day Jack, give them some time." Steve said knowing that Jack was becoming impatient at the wait.

"I know, I know." Jack said waving his hand. "But the report from Randall disturbs me."

Steve did not say anything but just shook his head in agreement. If the truth was known, it scared Steve. There had been no reports or answers from the Skartian ambassador. It seemed that he had just disappeared, not that it was unusual, but with all the charges that he had been throwing around it would have been logical to see him more often.

"Its just one we can capture this bin Laden several questions can finally be answered, hopefully." Jack said rapping his knuckles on the wood desk. "Knock on wood."

"I thought you weren't superstitious?" Steve asked with a laugh.

"I'm not, but it can't hurt." Jack replied with a grin.

"Come on, let's grab a bit to eat while we can." Steve said standing up and grabbing his hat.

"Ok, sounds good." Jack said also standing up and grabbing his hat also. "What do you think, the cafeteria is serving chicken fried steak today?"

"Sounds good." Steve said and they left the room.

Ten minutes later they were in the cafeteria with a tray in their hand looking for a spot to sit down when Jack noticed Greg and Karen.

"Mind if we join you?" Jack asked.

"No sir, please have a seat." Greg said as they both gave a salute on instinct, even though the cafeteria was one of the few places where they did not have to salute a senior officer.

"Relax." Steve said. "We just heard that they were serving Chicken fried Steak and just had to come."

"They do serve good chicken fried steak." Karen said taking a bit.

"I saw you father a couple of days ago Karen." Jack said.

"Yeah, mom told me, she also said you asked about if we had set a wedding date, well not yet." Karen replied after swallowing her food.

"Do you have any dates in mind yet?" Steve asked the two.

"Well, we were going to try and get our thoughts together tonight over supper." Greg replied.

"Sounds good." Steve replied.

"So were are you from Greg?" Steve asked.

"I'm from Alaska, was born in Anchorage actually, its kind of strange when I go back home knowing I'm so close to the main base." Greg replied back.

Over the rest of lunch they talked about where they were from before Steve and Jack had to return to the office, Greg still had about ten minutes left and Karen had to pick up lunch for her boss.

"They make a nice couple." Steve said as they walked back into the office, but there were no new reports.

Ahmed slowly became aware of his surroundings. The first thing he became aware of was the headache that was pounding in his head. It felt like a couple of jackhammers had taken up residency in his head. He kept his eyes close ad concentrated on lessening the pounding in his head before doing anything else. It took a little bit of effort, but he managed to ease the pain enough to concentrate on what his situation was.

His arms felt bound and there was a bandage over his head. His feet were also securely tied. He extended his senses to see if he could tell who else was with him. He heard two different sets of breathing. 'So there are at least two of them, I'm not moving so I was probably out for trip, which probably meant that they hadn't taken him too far.

"Is he awake yet?" Ahmed heard his brother say. He heard some more rustling and the bandage over his head was yanked off and Ahmed blinked in the bright light.

"So, you've woken up dear brother." He said sarcastically. "Since when did you start to carry a gun with you." He said bringing Ahmed's gun out and making a point of pointing it right at Ahmed. "Maybe, I'll just kill you with your own gun."

"Then you'll lose the information." Ahmed said not worried about being shot by his own gun. If anyone tried to fire the weapon it would not work.

"I doubt you have any information that could be useful, you see we've struck a great blow to the evil that is America. They are materialistic and caught up with themselves they don't see the rest of the world." His brother said.

"No, all you've done is made them angry at you, now you'll have their attention all right." Ahmed said to his brother. "But you have no idea what you're up against."

"No brother, its you who has no idea what you've come up against." His brother replied to him and watched as Ahmed only stared at him. The stare bothered the brother, this was not how he was suppose to act. Ahmed did not act the slightest bit scared, he almost seemed amused.

"Brother let me go and lets talk to Bin Laden, I do have some information for him." Ahmed said sticking to his story.

Ahmed watched as he brother looked at him then quickly left the room. The other two men did not seem to even notice the conversation between the two brothers. Ahmed could only hope that his wearing on his brother would lead him to bin Laden, and then he would be able to tell if he was a Skartian or not, and that was his entire mission. It had become clear that his brother had been brainwashed by whoever was the leader of the local group, not that it surprised him. His brother was always one who was impressionable, and it was only a matter of time before something like this would happen. He was grateful that their parents were still alive.

Ahmed felt under his fingernail on his left hand and was relieved when he felt the tiny transmitter that was still attached. His watch and other personal items had probably been searched and taken like he, and the intelligence group thought that it would be, at least the items were not his.

End Chapter 8

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