THE VROL TRILOGY (162 page)

"Oh my god, what has she done now?" gasped
Jennie.

"Do you remember that the club in Hollywood
has a device that repels the Vrol?"

"Holy crap! Yes! I was gonna look into that,
but we got attacked and it slipped off my lidar!" exclaimed
Max.

"I have determined that white noise, sent at
the frequency of 1,927 megahertz is painful to the bugs. Prepare
some devices that transmit on this frequency band and we shall set
them in populated areas, keeping the insects away from innocents,
and to also corral them into more convenient locations for their
slaughter."

"1,927? That's never been used on Azul - I'll
get Josh's team on it now," said Max.

I wonder what effects it has on them, other
than giving them a major headache.

###

Josh Mannheim had set up an assembly line in
the Military Scientific Research HQ, with dozens of techs hastily
building football-sized boxes that would transmit white noise on a
signal on the 1,927 MHz frequency band. No one aside from the LTJG
knew what the devices were for, nor did they need to know. They
were simply under orders to make them.

After roughly 18 hours they had enough boxes
to distribute around New Sydney, protecting the most densely
populated areas. Citizens were instructed to stay in their homes,
unless Vrol attacked them, of course. Then they were instructed to
run like hell.

###

"Chairman Johnson will rescue us. Of that I
am certain," said Joshua Vann, for President of the Senate. He was
in a spacious Buenos Aires jail cell, surrounded by dozens of
fellow gen-vamps whom had been removed from the House of
Representatives just days prior.

"I have no idea where my family is. We were
to emigrate to Earth with the Chairman, and now, thanks to that
dick, Bagatelle, we can't even protect our own," claimed a junior
senator, seated toward the back.

"Don't worry, Robert. We'll escape, and when
we do we'll go to the Chairman's side and fight these scum."

"That's what we need! Order!" claimed another
prisoner.

"Yes, order indeed, my friends," said a
cavernous voice, attached to an unseen individual.

Everyone looked around, unable to see where
the voice had come from.

"I bring you a gift. A gift of freedom, and
of renewal."

"Who are you? What do you bring?" demanded
Vann.

"Your birthright," said the voice, as the
lock to the jail cell released on its own.

Moments later, dozens of activated, UV
light-resistant vampires streaked from the cell, hell bent on
retribution. And they were hungry.

###

"One of the Grigori went land-side. He popped
in and out within seconds," Jennie cried out, while looking at the
infoscreen Draagh had installed on the bridge of the Reagan.

"Where did he show up?" asked Max.

"It could have been a
she
, Captain," Jennie corrected her
husband.

"Yeah, true, but where was
it
?"

Jennie zoomed into the location on the
infoscreen and gasped out loud.

"Main holding cell - Buenos Aires jail. We
have to inform Chief Jake."

"There's no enemy aerial activity at the
moment. Jennie, you're with me. We're going hunting."

The gorgeous dega jumped up from her seat,
only to be replaced by a young lieutenant. She followed Max off the
bridge and out of sight, where he slipped them to a broom closet in
the BA police station.

"Max, you aren't thinking of…"

He gave his wife a curious glance, and then
thought for a moment. "Oh!" he laughed. "No, love. I just wanted to
arrive out of the sight of mortal eyes."

Jennie wiggled her brow and burst out of the
broom closet, nearly giving a janitor a heart attack as she did so.
Max followed, smiling at the worker and giving him a wink.

"Women! I mean, really. They like it in odd
places," he snickered, leaving the sanitation engineer in the
hallway.

The Gunnarssons went directly to Chief
Williams' office, finding the Haida chief seated at his chair,
watching a vid display, which showed carnage on a level he had
never witnessed his entire life.

"Max! Where have you been? The streets are
flowing with blood!" he cried out.

"Chief, I know. We've been up in my ship.
Vera is contained, for now. But we have a problem."

"What is it?"

"There's been a jailbreak. All of the
gen-vamp senators and reps from Congress have escaped."

"But… how could they? Unless they had help
from the inside."

"No - they had help from the outside. There
are some bad eggs on the level of my dad and grandfather. They're
behind this whole invasion."

"Shit."

"You can say that again," said Jennie.

"Ermm… shit?"

"I didn't mean literally, Chief."

"Oh, sorry. Well, most of my officers are out
assisting with the wounded and trying to protect any strays. What
can I do to help?"

"Just keep me informed. And… whoah. Look at
this."

The three looked at a view screen and
saw a small group of escaped congressmen attacking people in the
streets. This alone would have been disconcerting, except for the
fact that they were biting their victims' jugulars. Sprays of
crimson blood shot out from people's necks, as the activated
vampire politicians delighted in murdering their former
subjects
.

"Sharga. They're activated. Jen, it's katana
time."

Max and Jennie streaked out of the police
headquarters, and as soon as they were out of sight Max slipped
them into the middle of bloody chaos. Ghouls were feeding, never
having fed before, a genetic reflex causing them to gorge
themselves on human blood. Max pulled his and Jennie's katanas out
of his sub-dimensional pocket, handing his wife her enhanced blade
while he gripped his own - a new sword, which was a gift from the
Rhönen's ally, Isamu.

The two started to hack and slash their
way through the congressmen on the massively-wide
Avenida 9 de Julio
, not taking care
in incapacitating them - rather, they were wantonly slaughtering
the vampires, not willing to leave a single one alive, until Max
thought for a moment.

"Jen, wait here," he said, as slipped out
with four of the putrid creatures. In a matter of seconds he was
back, where Jennie had already eliminated three more.

"Where did you go?" she asked.

"I stuck them in the cages next to the moat.
Lili needs more subjects for her experiments," he laughed.

"Max. Don't encourage her, please," she
groaned.

He looked at his levels meter, which he
really didn't need to monitor anymore, as he had a ghanlo that did
most of his heavy lifting. But he did need some nutrition, and
figured his wife did too, being she had already gone phase 2.
Quickly conjuring two high-calorie, nutritional shakes, he slipped
them to a safe location, where they downed the delicious liquid and
then went back to hunting congressmen.

"
Hey everyone,
the Grigs came down and activated a bunch of pols. We're trying to
nail them all, but could use a hand,"
Max said over
the comm.

"Wow, this really does give new life to
the term
Blood Sucking
Lawyers
, doesn't it?" Jennie morbidly joked, knowing
that most politicians had legal backgrounds.

It wasn't but a moment later that Michael and
Gabriel were flying around, lopping the heads off escaped
prisoners.

"
Pops, did you
hear us on the comm? Your buddies made some new light-resistant
vamps down here
," said Max.

"
Yes, Max. I
indeed heard the unsettling news. How fare you with their
capture
?" asked Draagh.

"
Um… well, I
slipped four over to the cages for Liliana, and as for the rest.
Um, no captures yet.
"

"
You have not
been able to capture any? Have they been improved
somehow
?"

"
No, Father.
We are killing them
," said Gabriel, interjecting
himself into the conversation.

"
I have a
question
," said Max. "
The one
you nabbed was light-resistant, but what about his lifespan? Was
that somehow also modified
?"

"
Yes, it was,
in fact
."

"
Bummer
.
Do you want any
kept alive?
"

"
I do not
believe that will be necessary, my boy
."

Max determined Jennie was a safe distance
away from any ghouls, so he decided he would join his father and
uncle in a hunt for the escapees.

"Jen, why don't you head back to the police
station and help Jake out. I'll be back in a bit."

"Why? Where are you going, Max?"

The hybrid smiled as obsidian wings unfolded
from his back, with him then going invisible. Jennie felt a
tremendous rush of air as he took off into the sky.

Wish I had wings. So cool. Be safe,
love.

Jennie took off down the street, heading
directly to the police station, which was a scant five kilometers
away. Still in her phase 2 form, she easily leaped over cars and
major obstacles, even using her enhanced claws to climb up the side
of a building. Reaching the top, she got an aerial view of the
city, while she checked her levels meter. She would need to consume
some calories before she did much else. She could see clusters of
Vrol blasting anything in their paths, and against her better
judgment, took off in their direction. She was nearly at their
location when a bomb dropped onto a rather large group of bugs,
obliterating them where they stood. She looked up and saw a heavy
weapons aerial tank, called a Pig, dropping charged cluster bombs
onto anything Vrol. But she became immediately upset when she saw a
number of civilians injured by the powerful explosives. With a
snarl, she jumped from building to building, chasing the craft, and
nearing where it was hovering, leaped through the air, barely
grabbing the landing gear. Jennie quickly climbed up and inside,
scaring the life out of the two airmen inside.

"What the hell are you doing? Those are
civilians down there!" she screamed. Her voice had taken on an
alternate tonality, due to her enhanced state, and her appearance
was enough to frighten any normal person.

"Who… who are you?" the pilot cried out,
right before he noticed the commander stripes on her shoulders.

"Commander Jennifer Gunnarsson, you moron!
Stop bombing women and children and fight those bugs like humans.
Get over to that clearing. I'll draw them away from the people, and
then you can nail them. Do you have a handheld comm?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Here you go," said the pilot,
handing her a small device.

"When I say to, you drop everything you have
on them, whether you can see me or not."

The pilot turned again to confirm her orders
but she was no longer in the ship. He flew out west to the clearing
Jennie had pointed out and watched below, as a single person hacked
and slashed away, in an attempt to move the bugs to a more
convenient location. After five minutes it seemed to be working,
and she had managed to get nearly all Vrol to the top of a parking
garage.

"Pilot, drop your ordinance, now!" she
demanded.

"Ma'am, I can't get a fix on your
location."

"Now!"

The pilot took a deep breath and nodded to
his weapons officer, who pushed a button, releasing their payload
on the parking structure.

The entire area disintegrated in a massive
explosion.

"Holy shit! I don't think she got out,"
exclaimed the pilot.

"Oh, we're fine, sweetie," said Jennie, now
back to her day form and looking fabulous as always. To her side
was Max, sitting in a jump seat with a wide grin on his face.

"But…but, how did you do that? We're fifty
meters in the air?" stammered the weapons officer.

"Personal levitation device. I got to my wife
just in time," said Max, lying through his teeth.

"
Thanks for
snagging me out of there, honey. I don't wanna hear you were
babysitting me
."

"
Naw, I just
happened to notice a phase 2 lycan leaping over buildings and
luring stupid bugs to their impending
doom
."

"
So, how did
you know it was me
?"

"
Sorry, let me
rephrase that - I saw a super-hot phase 2 lycan leaping over
buildings
.
And you need some
food, pronto. I can see your levels and they're about
tanked."

"Lieutenant, go back to base and reload. We
have more bugs to kill," ordered Max.

"Sir, yes sir!" responded the pilot, who then
turned back around and asked, "Sir, are you Captain Max Gunnarsson?
The one who was on the vid?"

"Yes, that's correct, Lieutenant. Why do you
ask?"

"I just wanted to thank you, sir. After
Admiral Bagatelle was detained we had no idea what was going on.
There were rumors about the Artusians, and he was right all along.
May I ask where you were for an entire year? Were you running the
resistance?"

"Um, no. I was on Earth, planning our return.
Look out!"