Junction Pt. 02

He contacted the Minister of Defense and he looked up bleary-eyed, "Do you know what time it is?"

Jace nodded, "Time for a 6-man assault team to strike the home of 2 Marshals. We got 5. Things I cannot talk about over this line but my secure one is upstairs and it will take me some time to get to it as I kind of destroyed the stairs and landing.

We did find those new comm crystals on all of the ones we pulled. None of the others. The sixth attempted to flee. Thought you might want to get a technician or two on him. I am sure he has warrants but other cops or marshals captured that one."

The Minister of Defense chuckled, "I figured you would have gotten them all."

Jace nodded, "We got 5, I had 3 on the stairs and I firing from one knee, with my Judge while holding the door frame for additional support. It worked; hard to chase one who runs and was the get-away driver when you're missing a leg."

The Minister of Defense chuckled and nodded as a call came in from the Director. He looked at Jace, "I heard you gunned a captured suspect down." Jace sent the list of warrants on the one including the death warrant.

Director Younger shook his head, "Alright, what about carving them up?"

Jace smiled, "Get on Comms with the Minister of Defense and see what he is permitted to share but there were reasons. You will be happy to note I am splitting the bounties with Marshal Cooper. It is his home in need of repair now. I will leave you 2 to talk about what you want to do concerning these hit squads. That was the first one. The next one might take down the neighborhood."

The Director looked over, "I will be in touch with Marshal Cooper as the senior on this case after I talk with the Minister of Defense."

Jace disconnected them, "Well Helen I am up. Anyone else hungry?"

She chuckled and he heard it from Rayne upstairs. "I am."

Richard walked off as he got a call. They restored power to the house from an outside junction box.

---

The director asked Richard, "Your family in need of protective custody?"

Coop looked upstairs, "It would probably be a good idea. Getting my daughter out of here might be a challenge. Wait, Jace can do walls and float her over the debris of what was the staircase that goes to my daughter's room. Jace kept us all from being killed.

I swear he has the ears of a hawk. He heard them in the house. He set off that Judge and it gave me time to get my armor on and my wife into a hiding position. She snapped the neck of the one who fired on me with the machine gun. I put 2 rounds into the other's lungs from the side. I lost over a hundred Ki but he kept enough back that we can all recharge if needed. What did the Minister of Defense say?"

The Director sighed, "He would call me back as he might have to read me into some stuff you 2 are apparently already aware of."

Richard nodded, "Good."

---

Jace made it back to the room on his own and Rayne looked up from what she was working on his backup bio-monitor, "I only got that comm crystal into this one. You get the new one and I will put them all in for that one. Then you won't have to have my mother check from bloody parts."

Jace nodded, "Thank you. These comm crystals I believe are different."

Rayne looked over and was a little annoyed, "You did not warn me." She looked over the crystal, "No mind control. This will still pick them up as the base crystal is what it searches for."

Jace sighed, "I did not want you injuring yourself or getting in the line of fire. I held them at the door and then at the stairs."

He put those new crystals into a separate pocket in case he ever needed it for a contingency.

Rayne nodded and looked at him, "Take that armor off and store your new set." Jace smiled, "That foot will just dangle and drag for a while."

She nodded, "I know but I want you keeping that necklace on. Also, the new armor."

He looked into the closet and the armor had scaled links to it in black and dark purple, his unit colors. Jace nodded, "Will blend in well out there."

He changed armor and got the new set up and started putting his clothes and gear in the bag and then started doing it for her. She pointed, "The bottom of the closet is my go-bag for the pregnancy. We leaving?"

Jace nodded, "Your father and the Director just talked. We will be escorted out of here. I will get us down the steps. You will just have to stand and help be my leg for a few minutes."

Rayne laughed, "Alright."

He got her in the hall and floated them both down. He looked at Helen, "If you have anything here for enchanting you want to get your hands on immediately then grab it. If you have the stuff to teach me to teleport then bring that as well. I will be needing it as I cannot pull her out to the wilds until it is much safer. We are packed to go after we all eat."

---

3 hours later and they were all taken to Marshal Head Quarter, to begin with. He walked through with his bag and armor on setting off the detector.

He set his hand in the scanner, "I have titanium in my body; I will always set that damned thing off. I always carry an arsenal and extra power cells because I keep getting fools sent after me to die. We need a Gurney and to go to medical. For Rayne, she is on bed rest and we are being put into protective custody to give me time to heal."

Several hours later and the Marshal Doctor removed over 100 pieces of shrapnel from Jace's body. Dr. Bowman came and Jace doubled up the numbers on him; had Richard upgraded as well while they were there. He traded in the 930 processor he had cut out of the one man. Dr. Bowman had the other supplies sent over. Richard had a far older processor and the upgrade with the functions was something Jace feared they would need. The surgery on him took longer to install the additional skeletal structure to make it more modular.

---

Seven weeks later and Rayne gave birth to 3 boys and 3 girls. He saw a familiar face in the hospital and looked across as Sylvia, "Do you have a reason for being here other than Rayne, myself, and my children being here?"

Jace stood with the aid of a cane. Sylvia sighed, "I was just."

Jace cut her off, "Wanting to get the genetic make-up from our children. You wanted to know their percentages on everything. Else you wanted to try and swap some of them out. Leave the hospital or I will start making phone calls and calling in favors, like one to pick up your dead body."

He had his hand hovering over his gun the entire time. She did not know he could only use the laser, but he would likely put 100 shots into her with it if she had known. Sylvia sighed and left. She had access to the hospital's records she could access from her office if needed. She could not ask for any additional testing or to have blood samples sent to her which is what she wanted.

---

Jace went back to the room and looked at the doctors, "No blood is to be drawn from the children here. We will obtain a private doctor and nurse to see to their care. I just saw someone in the hospital that I was 10 seconds away from shooting and she wants the genetic information on my children. She is not getting it."

The doctor looked over, "We are required by law to get samples to check the genetics of every new child. It helps them to determine which ones will remain."

Jace looked over and pulled up the file from the King, "They all remain. Do not do it yet."

Jace pulled up the Minister of Defense. He smiled, "Hello Jace. I take it by the look that something has pissed you off?"

Jace glared and nodded, "Sylvia was here to get genetic information on my children. The hospital said they are required to collect it. I wondered if you could remind her, she is to stay away from my children and their genetic make-up is not going into her research.

It is a part of them and they are not her test subjects. She does not get to benefit in any way from my relationship with Rayne. Given her sister's 'tragic accidental death.' Along with our arranged meeting. I know you will not confirm she was her sister or the facts around our meeting but I am not a fool.

The King did not attempt to deny or deflect my suspicions on the matter when I spoke with him. I showed Cooper an image of her from my memory core that I kept of her the first time I saw her. Richard said the face was the spitting image of his sister. I trust Richard, he is a decent man."

The Minister of Defense sighed, "I will contact her personally. She should not have been there. Let the hospital do their job."

Jace nodded, "Proceed, Doctor."

Jace let the call end.

---

The Minister of Defense got Sylvia on comms in her vehicle. "I heard you were at the hospital trying to get to genetic information on Jace's children."

Sylvia sighed, "I simply wanted to know if it would help the research I have been mandated to do."

The Minister of Defense nodded, "I am sending someone to do oversight on your Special Enhanced Projects program. You have pushed it too far, yet again. She will examine your research and methods. Her name is Tamera Granger. You might remember it."

She looked at him, "She was a test subject of mine 30 years ago!"

The Minister of Defense nodded, "Yes, came from your science division line of testing. Now she will get access to all of your research notes and processes you have been doing for the last century.

Starting with some of her own. It might set the tone of where things go. Feel free to contact the King if you wish. I have not spoken to The King yet about this change in the project. If you wish to file a complaint on the matter you are free to do so."

She disconnected and connected to the First Assistant, "I have an issue. The Minister of Defense is looking to send in a former test subject to do oversight on my project! Which means she will know all of our tests and methods. This is a major security risk."

The First Assistant looked at her, "Why is the Minister of Defense doing this?"

Sylvia sighed, "I saw Jace Rivers at the hospital, his children were born today. He feared I would try and steal one or swap one out. He wanted me nowhere near them or their genetic code. Which would be in the hospital records as soon as they processed the blood.

I might have had one or two other tests run from those samples or requested others to get a better image of things they would not normally run at the hospital. This is nothing I have not done before with other subjects who moved on.

It was just the first time with this former subject. I was not there to see him, he just spotted me and squared off while his hand hovered over his gun. Trying to decide if he wanted to shoot me.

The conversation was brief and before any blood had been taken or shed by him. He was very confrontational while I tried to be civil and he just cut me off from speaking at all. I left immediately."

The First Assistant looked over, "You were told to stay away from them. I will pass your concern onto the King."

An hour later she got a message back, "I have stopped the overseer from being able to access your records directly. Instead all outside records you request have to be funneled through her with the justification.

If Jace, Cooper, or Rivers are in those requests you will lose your genetic exemption and have to have your genetics modified to be at least 53% human. We will get your colleagues to make recommendations on which traits to change out.

I would insist that all of your children, going forward and spawned by you, be carried to term as a part of that arranged genetic modification. No more incubation efforts of only carrying 4 months. You have been placed on a travel restricted list from leaving this state until further notice. You ignored my previous order and that has a cost."

Signed and sealed by the King

She growled out, "I am being thwarted at every turn and under a fucking microscope now by a former subject. Arranged by another subject. Now barred from leaving because they don't want me doing this research out of state. I bet all my communications going out will be monitored by this bitch."

She got a message a few minutes later, "All of your communication will be monitored by this bitch. Yes, I heard your rant, you should not talk to yourself it is a sign of a deranged mind. I expected that to be the case. No more blanket requests to a hospital.

You must list the patients with justification to receive the records. All prior subjects should be informed if their offspring still live. If so, what their new names are. If they died the dates of death. Attached you will find a directive from the King.

This does not go into your likely barbaric methods of how you do things. It just gives these mothers and fathers closure on the children that have entered your program over the years. I expect that in 3 days. Going back to my own children and going forward, you Ice Queen Bitch."

Signed Subject 1974403, Tamera Granger, Special Enhanced Projects (SEP) Initiative Overseer for the King

Sylvia hung her head having pulled into her spot at the research center. She pulled up the list she asked for and looked at the numbers. 90% of all of them were all dead. 35% of them died on the day they were born. She looked over Tamera's records.

None of her children lived and none made it into the service. They had been deemed unfit for service by the council. The 4 that lived and then the 3 that went straight to her lab.

She added that column, to all of those terminated later in the program, every time the council ruled the subjects were not viable. The decision was theirs and not hers. At least that they could not prove if she happened to manipulate the sitting council in some fashion.

Not easily anyway as many were dead. She compiled the list in 3 hours. She sent it to her and the King over encrypted communication. She went to her lawyer's office and ensured her will was up to date, he had a private courier standing by. She sent an off-the-book message to her sister Regina. She got back to the office.

She received a response an hour later from the Royal Family, "Another doctor will be assigned to deal with all deliveries going forward. Your medical license is now restricted from performing this procedure in the future. We will reduce the number of those dying on the same day they are born by 99%. Doctor Anton Reese, another graduate of the program."

Signed and Sealed by the King

She looked at his records and all of his children died on the day they delivered. He was a well-respected doctor and she had nothing to hold over him. She sent a telepathic message to her sister after taking her walk. She found her hidden radio was gone. She got no response from the other end. She thought out to her sister a more complete message. 'Trapped. Look for a courier.'

---

Jace had transferred 6 Million DC's into a holding company he knew about. He bought a Drone services company, a small one, for 400,000 DC's. He had the acting manager modify fuel cells with cameras and set up a secure server that was hard-lined into another server. He set up the main server to shut down if an intrusion attempt was detected and succeeded.

He had him load up the latest security software from the top software manufacturers across the planet. To make it that much harder including several honey pots or virtual servers for them to attempt to search through that had copies of data but not for the new cameras; just the main camera. He spent another 124,000 DC's in this effort.

If any of those were breached and the server would shut down until manually restarted. It would cut off access to his hard-lined server. If they tried to bring that server back online, they had to get authorization and remove the hardline first until the systems were checked to find out why the server went down.

If it went down again then the comms chip would be pulled and the investigation started again, with the new comms chips put into place. The hard-lined server was set up with a secure sat-phone that could be dialed into from only one comms ID. From that Jace could access the data and download it into a server at his location.

He then started looking at different properties in normal housing areas, as well as some of the single gated 'entitled' communities. He had his recon units watching as he submitted unencrypted low-ball offers on different properties that were rejected, but it did not stop infiltrations units from casing the establishments.

He stopped after 3 of the owners reported home break-ins. They did not appear to take anything but they left surveillance equipment behind. He tracked their movement and knew where they were based out of in the city as well as where all of the comms going from the surveillance equipment went.

3 separate locations, 3 separate groups after 6 homes. He still looked at listings through public sites and marked some he liked but did not put in any more offers at that point. He did this every few days. Meanwhile, he had the land, plans with safe rooms, and construction began on 2 homes in a fairly new double gated community.

Along with the other 6 lots at the end of that Cul de sac. He watched over his children while their mother slept during this break. He had them all asleep except for Abby who he rocked. Rachel and Helen slept, the last-named after his mother-in-law and Rachel was the name Helen had given her deceased daughter.

She was the eldest of the group. The 3 boys were still fighting sleep but were losing. He had them in little sleeper chairs designed to lull them to sleep with a slow melodic bounce to them. Rich, named after his grandfather, Rainer, named after his mother, and Michael J.

The J being Jace. He was the youngest of the 6 based upon birth order. All of them had name bracelets as Jace refused to have numbers or anything else used to identify the children. In case of an accident, he had all of them fingerprinted and could get the name bracelets back onto the right child.

He kept that information in his private files. Of course, the hospital kept ID numbers but Jace refused to have them used on his children. The nurses complied. The hospital was told to give him leeway.

Jace had worked for nearly 2 months through a secure link with anonymous messaging to get the rings he wanted, all done after his return. He sent in his preliminary designs, they sent him back a general figure, and then he started naming types of gemstones, weights, how he wanted them cut, and grades for each.

He sent it with a 100,000DC deposit on the rings through the holding company. They jumped into action and went over some design changes they recommended with him. He sent back some alternatives until they found a design that worked for him. It took forever to find exactly what he was looking for; especially the diamonds.

They were still in the hospital at the moment but he got word it would be ready the next day. They sent him images of her ring as they finished laying in the pattern for the stones from 3 days before. All the stones had been numbered to go into a specific order as they had differing sizes in some cases.

He liked the work they had already done but it was painstaking and time-consuming. The ring was ready on time for the enchanters to get an enchanted sealant over it to keep them looking sparkling and ensured no stones would ever be lost. He had a Marshal Weber go with him from an adjoining room; the Marshal did the teleportation.

Weber was an older Marshal who lost his wife a few years back due to a vehicle accident and was winding down his life. He and his wife had gone through 3 life extensions each. Weber was a good friend of Cooper and a commander himself. Jace played it close to the vest that he knew that spell now. The fact they were armed caused the shop owner to be apprehensive to open the door until they saw the badges.