THE VROL TRILOGY (117 page)

"He's a coward for sure, so it's the first
thing he would do. Damned vamps - even when they're inactive
they're dicks," Max added, secretly wanting to be the one to remove
Johnson from power. "G, you need to make sure that none of these
ship captains are in Johnson's pocket. They have to be 100% against
him."

"I can't read minds, Max. All I can do is
trust."

"There is something we can do," said Gabriel.
"Although we do not have the time to sit around and spy on personal
thoughts, we can determine individual subspecies."

"Such as?" asked Bagatelle.

"It is rather easy to see if one is normal,
lycan or vampire. If vampire then you simply do not trust, as they
have a genetic propensity to band together and subconsciously
protect the interests of their own."

"Yes, then we simply eliminate them with
extreme prejudice," added Michael.

"What? Kill them? Just like that?"

"They will ally with each other in order to
murder entire worlds, G," said Max.

"Ok, I understand, but what about the
families on the barges? They have trackers and removing the devices
will throw off alarms. So Gabriel said we'll take them here instead
of Vera Base."

"That's the idea. However, we'll need to go
and analyze the families also. Any vampire-potentials will need to
go elsewhere. Probably Old-Earth."

"Why would they need to go there?"

"If we take them here they will turn to their
natural state, Luigi," said Draagh.

"And they would be enemies of mankind,"
Michael stated emotionlessly.

"But can't we take them here just for a bit,
and then put them back on Azul when we're done? There's no magic or
anything on Azul, so they'll go back to the way they were,
right?"

"Well, yes and no, my dear boy. Yes and
no. You see, once they have been activated, their bodies shall
enter into their natural state of being in a permanent battle
against rot and decomposition. The only things that keep vampires
alive are what Max lovingly refer to as
salubots
- or health particles. After this
change has been made, to take them back to Azul would in essence be
a death sentence. As the salubots are not attuned to their
particular frequency, there would be nothing to hold their rotting
bodies together. They would die in a matter of days," Draagh stated
quite eloquently.

"They would decompose, then?" Bagatelle
queried.

"Precisely," Gabriel affirmed, completely
emotionless.

"We should have eliminated that subspecies
millennia ago," Michael said menacingly. He was starting to get
back into the swing of being the Taxiarch.

"After seeing what Len Johnson is capable of,
I would have to agree with Michael," said Bagatelle.

"I disagree. Look at Hollywood where I was
stranded. The vampires there are actually nice, and the lycans are
the assholes. Why the paradox? There is a difference," said
Max.

"An aberration - an alternate timeline where
things merely worked out that way," said Gabriel.

"I have an idea," Max said excitedly. "Let's
take them to Lima, Peru. There's a lot of housing and no one to
bother them. They won't be able to get back or make any trouble. No
magic particles, and we can give them plenty of supplies. It's
humane. And man, they have kids. I can't kill kids."

Draagh looked around and all seemed to be in
agreement.

"Very well then, as soon as we determine
which of Luigi's friends are lovers of death, if any indeed are, we
shall export them, along with the families occupying the barges to
Lima, Peru."

"First, we scan the ship captains."

###

"Luigi Bagatelle felt odd, standing on the
command deck of the ADF (Azul Defense Forces) Ronald Reagan. The
starship was the second largest in the fleet, after the Revolution,
and it was commanded by Captain Lars Jorgensen. Knowing no one
could detect his presence, he looked at Max, who was his escort,
providing camouflage cover, and asked, via comm, if his friend was
a vampire.

"
So, is he a
blood-sucker? I'd hate to see that
."

"
Nope. He's
completely normal. Not even mage-potential
," stated
Max.

Moving on to the next craft, the ADF George
Washington, the two started on the flight deck, examining the
Draeders. Max got in close and examined one of the craft, noting
familiar-looking retrofitted machinery.

"
G, I think we
have a problem here
."

"
What's
that
?"

"
These
Draeders have been retrofitted with hook
drives
."

"
Well, if any
Johnson loyalists get ahold of any of these it could mean big
trouble
."

"
I'll fix it.
Hang on a sec
."

Max was serious when he said he would fix it.
He invented the hook drive, and consequently knew how to
temporarily disable it too. He merely reversed a critical component
inside one of the hook stanchions. It wouldn't result in anything
fatal - it would simply make the hook drive non-functional. That
is, until Max fixed it. He then went and examined every Draeder in
the ship, and finding twelve more with hook drives, did the same
thing for each one. Then, slipping up to the command deck with
Bagatelle, they invisibly spied on Captain Nigel St. Amand.

"
Normal.
Plain-old white bread human
," said Max, much to
Bagatelle's relief. "
Let's go back to the
Reagan and check the Draeders
."

Slipping back to the first craft, they went
straight to the flight deck and looked over the craft. Fortunately,
none of them had hook drives, so the two shot over to the
Constellation. First checking the flight deck, they again found no
Draeders with hook drives, and then, analyzing the captain, found
he was also simply a normal, just like the others.

"
You know, G,
something is odd. Why does only the George Washington have Draeders
with hook drives? Who would install them there? It just seems
wrong
."

Bagatelle thought for a second, going over
the crew manifests in his mind. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers
and grabbed Max's arm.

"
Max, take me
to the Washington. We need to check something
out.
"

The two found themselves back on the command
deck, where Cpt. St. Amand was going over standard checklists with
his first officer.

"
Max, scan the
first officer for extra-genetics.
"

"
Yup. He's
recessive vampire,
" said Max. "
Good call, G
."

"
Let's check
out all of the officers
," suggested
Bagatelle.

Finding that nearly every single officer on
the George Washington had recessive vampire genes, they figured it
was a sure bet that the entire ship was in Johnson's pocket.

"
How the hell
do these guys know who they are? It can't be that much of a
coincidence. Johnson obviously placed them all on this ship. This
is odd
," said Max.

"
Those of like
genetics find each other. It is an innate ability
,"
said Gabriel, totally shocking the two, as he had slipped to their
side without first notifying them.

"R
eally
?" responded Max.

"
Yes, of
course. When you went seeking a mate, did you look for a
chimpanzee, or an attractive female? Despite the fact that your
wife is a spectacular physical specimen, you were actually even
more attracted to her due to the fact that she was dega and lycan.
It is nature, my nephew
.
If
she were vampire, no matter her beauty, you would have been
revolted by her presence.
"

"
Well then,
how do you explain the fact that Jennie was dating Ryder Johnson,
an inactive vampire?
" Max asked.

"
Did you not
earlier state that she was rather shallow, and very much wanted to
marry for status? That could have been enough of a factor to
override her revulsion. Plus, did she not kill the fiend in
hand-to-hand combat?"

"
Ok, Gabe, yes
she was pretty into herself, and I follow what you mean, but every
officer aside from the captain on this ship is vamp. What do we do?
We can't kidnap them, but they'll most certainly cause all sorts of
chaos when the proverbial ka-ka hits the fan
," said
Max.

"
They must
die, son
," said Michael, who had also just slipped
in.

"
Oh hey, Mike.
Um, that's kinda harsh, isn't it
?"

"
My son, let
me ask you this. When you first encountered the hybrid experimental
human in Los Angeles, what happened
?"

"
That Kylen
thing? Well, I killed him
."

"
Yes, but what
happened before you killed him? You hesitated and a child lost her
life. Am I not correct
?"

"…
yes
…" Max thought softly, remembering the poor
child. He hesitated, and someone's life was snuffed out in a most
disgusting and perverse manner. "
They must
die so that others will live
."

"
Yeah Max, I
have to agree. But how do we do it without being
obvious
?" Bagatelle wondered.

"
We shall
suggest to the captain that his officers need to go on a retreat
for training on new systems. As the ship is on stand-down, there
would be no issue with him sending them all out in a
shuttle
," Michael surmised.

"
And then?
What do we do
?"

"
Destroy the
shuttle
," said Gabriel.

"
Hey! Why
can't we just appear in front of Johnson and tell him everything,
tell everyone in the system. Reveal our presence and rally everyone
to fight the Vrol? I can't believe I'm following along with this
super-secret angel stuff
," Max complained.

"
We cannot,
Max. It would cause society to unravel. Mankind is comfortable in
its ignorance. Plus, Jah forbade it. We must forever be invisible
to normals. Even interacting with the enhanced was always frowned
upon,
" said Michael.

"
Is that why
you left Mom? You really did love her, didn't
you
?"

Michael became completely silent, and looked
over at his brother who was shaking his head lightly.

"
That, my son,
is something I do not wish to discuss at this
time.
"

Max stared his father down, giving him a
less-than-kind expression.

"
But perhaps I
will confide in you one day, my son
," said Michael,
leaving the door open to more information down the line.

"
Let's get
over to the Revolution
," said Max, slipping himself
and Bagatelle over, where Michael and Gabriel joined
them.

"
Max, we have
a problem. A big problem
," said Michael.

"
Um, what's
that
?"

"
The captain
of this vessel is an active vampire. He's been
modified.
"

"
How can that
be? Who could have done that
?" asked
Bagatelle.

"
One of many.
It could have been my uncle, Marnn - he enjoyed tinkering. It could
have been one of the Grigori, rebellious ones of our kind. There
was never such a thing as a demon - just bad angels. I personally
awoke Janice Wong, so that she could be your caretaker right after
you were born
," Michael informed the young
lycan/archangel.

"
Ok, so we
stick him on the same shuttle as the officers from the
Washington
," said Max.

"
No, much too
obvious. He will need to suffer from a malady
," said
Gabriel.

"
Like
what
?" asked Max.

Before he could speak further, alarms sounded
on the ship. A medic team was called to the command deck over the
intercom, and the group of four merely slipped to the command deck
where all the commotion originated.

Medics were pouring over the ship's captain,
a particularly malignant individual named Herman Smith, whom
Bagatelle never cared for in the least.

"It appears he had an aneurism, sir. He's
dead," the corpsman informed the second in command, who was
fortunately a normal. The ship would be under the command of a
non-vampire, at least for the time being.

"
Wow, Gabe,
really? An aneurism? Just like that?
"

"
Well, you
don't believe Stalin naturally died of a cerebral hemorrhage, so
you
?"