Life as a New Hire Ch. 30

"Really?" it was Javiera's turn. My nod. "Mr. Jonas Baker, you are under arrest for battery and the unlawful detention of a member of the diplomatic corps by an on-duty government employee acting in an official capacity pursuant to Article 29 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961."

"Yumm cam dunn dat," Baker insisted as Virginia pulled him to his feet.

"She can and I am," Virginia confirmed by putting on the steel bracelets.

"Her Majesty's government will testify to this outrageous behavior on the part of Mr. Baker as well as filing our own complaint with your State Department and the United Nations General Assembly Sixth Committee," Mr. MI-6 Section Chief added.

"Ms. Love and Mr. Nyilas, can we have a 'do-over'?" Riki pleaded. I looked to Katrina. She gifted me with a sliver of a smile and a nod. Damn it! That was how Deidre knew where I was and what I was doing. Katrina had sold me out...kinda/sorta.

"Sure thing," I sighed. "I need to talk to my Aunt first."

In hindsight, the two back up squads (one for Katrina/ one for me) working with the Illuminati should have alerted me to Katrina's deviousness. Those eight women were vacating the premises after Elsa signaled them to fall back. It was my job to deal with Deidre and her "super-security" force.

"Come with me, Cáel," she purred as she swept into my arms. She was tilting my head down for a deep, tonsil-tinging French Kiss before I could grapple with the internal conflict of sexy, hot red-head versus 'she's my kin, dang it!'.

"That's his aunt?" Riki muttered.

"It is complicated," Katrina answered. "Very complicated."

"There are nine more, just like her," Javiera compounded the confusion. "I mean that - exactly like her."

"They seem rather...close," Virginia groused. Ah, jealousy from someone I had yet to take to bed.

"Is his entire family like that?" Riki asked.

"Oh no," Buffy grumbled. "A month ago, they didn't know each other existed. Now those genetic freakazoids think they own him. That's not going to happen."

"Yes, he does present himself as a very strong-willed, free-thinking individual," Nikita noted.

"No," Buffy corrected her. "I mean they can't have him because he's mine. I own him."

"For love of the Goddess, cut me some slack," I griped after breaking Deidre's lip lock. "I can hear everything you ladies are saying."

"You were supposed to," Katrina smirked. "We have work to do."

After a brief plea on my part, Deidre accepted my invitation to join the round table. My first order of business was having Buffy cough up a copy of the data Iskender had sent. Next came the reveal about the Chinese poisoned vaccines which sent Captain Moe and Riki into deep, hushed and desperate conversations with their associate apparatuses.

The really, really hard part was trying to sell the Earth & Sky as a non-terrorist organization. I went with the old philosophical argument of 'what is it to kill a person?' Basically, from the mid-18th century, the Han Chinese had been culturally marginalizing and exterminating the cultures of the Turkish and Mongolian Peoples living within in their borders - genocide had been institutionalized as part of the struggle.

The process was called sinicization, and it encouraged the assimilation of Han Chinese ways and the migration of Han Chinese into the historically Turkish and Mongolian areas. Worse, the economic opportunities the PRC created in the course of exploiting the various regions' natural resources had benefited the Han colonists far more than the native populations.

The ugly truth was the Khanate could not trust the Han populations in the areas they wanted to seize and they couldn't simply push them out. Starting in the 1930's, various Chinese regimes had declared the 'age of the barbarian' was over. The 'barbarians' were proving them wrong. CIA officer Cresky was now making his own furtive phone calls. The NSA was also getting involved.

By herculean efforts, the Earth & Sky had managed to assemble 80% of their forces when Zero Hour came. Circumstances had forced Temujin to push the attack forward by 24 hours. Still, he was confident. In the halls of power in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, coups were taking place. Khanate propaganda efforts were rolling into high gear.

Temujin was graduating from an Osama bin Laden-level terrorist chief to the Master of a fragile, yet massive, Asian belligerent state. Without knowing the precise time table of events, that was the angle I was spinning. The Earth & Sky wasn't Al Qaeda, or a terrorist state like Iran, Libya, or Syria. It was more akin to the old Soviet Union. Oh yeah, and some of the largest fields of oil, natural gas and shale lay beneath his feet.

At 2:50 a.m. Almaty Time (Eastern Kazakhstan), the United Central Asian Khanate declared war on the People's Republic of China. At 3:00 am, coordinated attacks against China began with medium-range missile and drone strikes that devastated PLA air bases and supply facilities in Xinjiang and Nei Mongol. The Chinese news brown-out that Beijing had implemented in order to control information about the Anthrax outbreak now came back to haunt them.

If a network was on the air, it was governmental and the E&S pounded it, or jammed it. Next came small scale actions along the border. A few strategic frontier outposts were overwhelmed. The majority held out, yet were in serious trouble. They were screaming for help over the already over-taxed communication web that remained.

As my Amazons were trying to score points with the United Kingdom and United States, Pakistan was asking for a UN commission to discuss the Aksai Chin situation. That measure was heading to the UN Security Council where the PRC, as a permanent member with 'veto power', was going to squash it.

Against their case was the posting of the video of the PLA 'relief' column to Aksai Chin being cut to pieces. Mid-afternoon yesterday, a brigade-sized force belonging to the 6th Motorized Division, backed with significant air assets, assaulted their former stronghold that now was in 'rebel' hands. The defenders used European-built MILAN anti-tank missiles and RPG's to beat off the first Chinese rush.

The Chinese deployed, blasted away at the fixed fortification and then closed in to finish off the few holdouts. That was when the 'rebels' launched their counter-attack. The Chinese anti-air defenses disappeared first. When the PLAAF swarmed back in, the 'rebel' anti-air defenses revealed themselves. Of the eighteen engaged aircraft, fourteen crashed and burned, two limped away and the last two fled.

The Chinese helicopter support assets suffered the same fate. When the 'rebels' produced their own Russian-built combat helicopters, the Chinese brigade fell apart. The 'rebel's blocked the northern, mountainous retreat route so the armored assets were forced to race across the barren Aksai Chin valley where dozens of 'rebel' groups ambushed the dazed Chinese survivors.

As the Sun set, the video showed hundreds of Chinese troops surrendering. No one on planet Earth still believed Aksai Chin was in the hands of a rag-tag group of Turkish separatists, or jihadists. China was ready and willing to blame Pakistan for this blatant act of aggression. Pakistan's statement at the UN certainly didn't dissuade that belief.

That tripled the effectiveness and importance of FD Javiera Castello, Riki Martin at State, Cresky with the CIA and Captain Moe Mistriano. I doubted this was hurting the career of Delilah either. Much to my disgust, Katrina's prediction had been right. We gave the US government this crucial information and their superiors decided to...analyze it.

The Department of Defense, over the objections of the USAMRIID, didn't want the Anthrax data to go over the internet, or any wireless service. A military courier was coming to retrieve the flash drive then a jet on standby would whisk the data to Maryland and Ft. Detrick. The Justice Department...Javiera was bounced around between Homeland Security, the FBI (separately from HS) and the State Department.

The CIA and NSA were doing a threat assessment, even as they watched seven armored Tumens crossing the PRC's borders from Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia. How bad was it? Khanate Tu-95 and Tu-22M bombers, both relics of the Cold War, were penetrating deep into Chinese airspace, plastering supply depots, railroad marshalling centers and key bridges.

Temujin's 'Falcons' had temporarily established air superiority over the Lanzhou and Beijing Military Districts - that's western and northern China. Not only had the surprise attack by the Earth & Sky devastated a huge portion of the PLAAF on the ground, small teams were taking out anti-air assets. As a final indignity, the Chinese pilots and crews were starting to get sick - really sick.

Captain Moe enlightened the room with a fact I already knew, but hadn't referenced. How do you prioritize what people you vaccinate when you have an outbreak? Answer: Your First Responders. In the PRC, that meant the military, militia, police and the staff of medical centers. That's right. The people designated to battle this terrible affliction were succumbing to this sickness before the attack's full force engulfed the populace.

The Chinese transportation network was in shambled. Civilian aircraft did not dare fly supplies into contaminated zones because the Khanate contested those skies. As this act of genocide took shape, I found watching the three disparate groups with morbid fascination.

The Amazons were acting like nothing was wrong. Our people were already prepared for the Earth & Sky to send us their vaccines. Earth & Sky were our allies - the Seven Pillars were our enemies - end of discussion. Every dead Chinaman was a good thing in their book. How they died was irrelevant and yes, they had killed and would kill women and children. Non-combatant wasn't a word in common usage for Amazons.

The British contingent were grim, yet calm. What else could they do? All three had some level of military service, though murder on this scale was not in their catalog of previously experienced woes.

Finally, the Americans were in varying degrees of panic. They were not running around like chickens with their heads cut off. This flavor of panic was different and far more insidious. It was the creeping realization that they worked for political masters who placed a greater premium on how this would play out with the American public than on the death toll in another country.

Due to Javiera's pleas for cooperation, the British were being quiet for now, but eventually someone higher up at MI-6 in London inevitably would pass this on to a political appointee. Then all bets were off.

I was the bringer of bad tiding and the herald of the upcoming apocalypse. Perversely, the people I was causing anguish to were the people I wanted to help. I was deeply depressed, yet I had one more duty to perform - paying it forward.

"Deidre, can I talk to you in private?" I walked over to my Aunt and took her hand.

Her security detail had shrunk down to two. The rest were waiting in the lobby.

"Of course," she gave me a barracuda smile. I was angling for the closest bathroom. She was dragging me toward the nearest bedroom. We both had what the other wanted. Her drive was the stronger - we ended up in the bedroom.

I was thankful she didn't throw me down on the floor, or the bed. She slipped her hands around my waist, pushing her lower stomach against my crotch then tilted back so we could make eye contact. She inhaled deeply of my scent, trembled, and then addressed me.

"You want to know about the 'All Hallows' shootout," she turned serious, yet comforting.

"Are you in danger?" I asked. Of course I wanted to know about the firefight. My question did manage to make her happy. She brought up a hand to stroke my jaw from ear to chin.

"We really do care about you, Cáel," she insisted passionately. "With Father back, things will get worse, not better. In time, he will come for you and you need to be ready."

"You have no idea," I held her gaze. "He's been several steps ahead of you the entire time. He planned his death, succeeded in the purpose of dying and even engineered your murder of your brother - at your hands."

Deidre was torn between being older and wiser than me and the deep, ingrained suspicion of her creator's fearsome intellect.

"What do you think he's doing right now?" she hedged her bets.

"Reasserting his control over the Illuminati," I went with my gut instinct..."Shit!"

Buffy tumbled into the room, pistol out and pointed down, with two Illuminati goons piling up behind her.

"Cáel?" Buffy shot hate Deidre's way.

"Give me a sec," I kept my eyes on Deidre. I waited for the door to shut.

"Who were the people attacked in London?" I questioned her intently.

"If I tell you, you must agree to come with us," she proposed. "We can't keep you safe if you keep wandering about and I don't think you came back from wherever the Amazons took you because the weather was foul. Let us protect you."

"No...and that's because it wouldn't do either of us any good Deidre," I reasoned. "Assume he knows what has been going on the past thirty years and has taken the appropriate measures. The worst thing for you and my other aunts' survival is for me to seek shelter."

"Why? He's not going to kill us...he's going to enslave us again," she persisted.

"Nope. I think the Old Bastard may have found a way to procreate. And that means he doesn't need you around anymore, because you are a reminder of his failings," I lied.

It was a lie built on the foundation that this possibility was precisely what they feared worse than enslavement - obsolescence. Grandpa Cáel was a 'user'. He used people up, then moved on, alone in his immortality. "What happened in London?"

"It was a meeting between a Factor of the Illuminati Council and several key second-tier members. It was in complete secrecy. None of us were informed of the meeting, so we are still piecing details together even now," Deidre finally broke down and informed me. She also unintentionally informed me of something else: I was starting to look more and more like Grandpa in her eyes ... and not in a good, 'sex me up' way.

"It sounds like Grandpa had them killed, or more correctly, had the Condotteiri kill them for him," I guessed. How would he...Mom? Mom sent Delilah to me. Was she her Father's agent?

"I'll work with you because you are my Mother's sisters, Deidre," I asserted. "Like it or not, we are family and my betraying you at this juncture makes me more like your father and less like mine. So that ain't happening. Exactly how I'm going to stop Grandpa...I don't know yet," I sighed. "I hope you accept my reasoning that none of us are safe in the Illuminati."

"We won't give up our hold," Deidre grew fierce.

"Don't," I kissed her on her forehead. "Stay and fight for the O'Shea position. Keep your power and wait."

"Are we waiting on you?" she seemed less than thrilled.

"No. You are waiting for your father to come back and then you are going to make yourselves damn useful to him," I stated. "If you are useful to him, he'll let you live. Staying alive is priority one."

"What's to stop him from destroying you when he wishes?" she questioned.

"Let me deal with him when the time comes," I grinned. We both knew that was a near-hopeless struggle. "Don't look so despondent," I chuckled. "I'm going to bring a freaking army for that final showdown - a big...no, a huge, massive freaking army. That way I'll actually stand a chance."

"You seem surprising optimistic," she noted with a reluctant grin. "Do we have time?" she looked to the bed then back to me.

"Not at this moment. Maybe on the plane. Right now I've got to get ready to eat dinner with my fiancée," I dropped my own little bomb.

"Really?" Deidre regarded me, looking for the joke.

"Not joking," I confounded her. "This is the real deal. We are going to become Magyarorszag es Erdely Herceg es Hercegnoje." Deidre exposed a hint of confusion. She didn't know Magyar - woot...

"What is that?" she grudgingly inquired.

"Proof that I'm an idiot, Deidre," I sighed. "Let's go embrace the crowd. Still a lot of work to do."

We did have a lot of work to do and it wasn't finished when I had to leave. Buffy was distracted. Having spent years admiring Katrina, she was now in a position similar to her mentor's. She had heavy responsibilities that interfered with her strong desire to spend some personal time with me. She was also the right Amazon for the job.

The Golden Mare had finally gotten in touch with Katrina. Together with Buffy, they wrangled a forty woman combat team of SD plus fighters from Houses Ishara and Durga (from Indonesia) together to send as aid to the ninja. It sounded like a tear-drop in the ocean. Katrina insisted it wasn't. The ninja wanted to keep their war as secret as possible.

The Amazons were trained killers and their loyalty was assured - they were loyal to the Amazons. They could be relied on to kill the people they were told to kill. That kind of 'direct action' wasn't the normal operating procedure for ninja. Unfortunately, the corruption of one of the seven families and a severe disruption of the Yakuza meant people had to die and die quickly to reset the balance.

Captain Moe had torn reluctant permission from his direct superior at Fr. Detrick to contact the World Health Organization about the vaccine scam. They would have to contact the PRC. It was late Thursday afternoon and the UN was about to call it a weekend. The UN was only in session currently because of another crisis.

[World News]

It was the happenstance of another conflict that encouraged Turkish solidarity and Khanate action - the Crimea. Russia had opened a serious door to the Abyss by annexing the Crimea from the Ukraine by force. Technically, Russia had violated Ukrainian sovereignty by seizing that region.

The Russians (with tacit support from China) put forth the political notion of 'lost territory'. Thus Vladimir Putin had unwittingly 'green lighted' the greatest consumption of 'lost territory' in the history of mankind. Following Putin's reasoning, all Temujin was doing was reuniting the widely separated pieces of the Great Khanate. His invasion of Xinjiang and Nei Mongol were also part of that policy.

The 'Carolina Reaper' spice in this chili was a group called the Crimean Tartars. It didn't get too much press in the West, but in the spring of 2014, the Crimean Tartars - a Turkish ethnic minority - attempted to do to Russia and the new Republic of Crimea what those two had done to the Ukraine. They declared their own autonomous state within the Crimea.

Russian security forces quickly squashed that movement, and in doing so, managed to incite the Turkish Republics and the minority Turkish populations living inside the Russian Federation. It was a low grade irritant to the Turkish people that would, in time, have dwindled into being yet another indignity, much like the Uyghur struggles for independence. By the dictates of Fate alone, it was the right irritant at the magic time for the Khanate.

The Turkish people were being reacquainted with the clarion call of Pan-Turkish Nationalism. It was an idea that was over 100 years old and rather discredited in most circles...treated as an anthropological discipline - but not as a political ambition. But there were now three igniters for the Khanate Phoenix.

The dismissive treatment of the Crimean Tartars was the smallest spark, yet also the most crucial in that it reminded your average Turk that for 100 years, they had been the victims of secular, oppressive regimes - the Soviets (Russian) and the Communist Chinese. That oppression was still living its fifteen minutes of fame.