Chapter 74 It was probably not all agreed after all

He stared at the monitors as if he had a clue, he found a modern display, with things he understood, he pressed off there and the display showed him that the power release mechanism was disabled. 

He looked around the room, there were maps on the table with markings he couldn't decipher. He looked at the radio, it was one of the new models. He pressed the power button and it started up. He reset the frequency and entered the electronic code. Wait, it clicked.

"Apollo? " came the voice of the guy from last time.

"Yes. The car battery was dead. "

"We just measured an EMP blast in their coordinates."

He heard frantic running in the background.

"Give me the radio!" he heard John say. He sighed and lit a cigarette, taking it from the body.

"Apollo, rank, name and unit!" 

"1st EXO Division, 3rd EXO Operations Company." he took a drag on the cigarette.

" What the hell are you doing!!!"

"The captain told me to shut up, he always cleared everything up. He said it was a simple mission, well now I've got a burnt radio on my neck..."

"Birron bring me that asshole right now."

"John, were you still able to evade?"

"Yeah, only got a couple of drones, then we reduced the swarm with arterial and orbital bombardment. Luke, you saved a lot of people's asses."

"Yeah. Lost one of mine, got tortured. " He coughed, spitting up blood.

"Fine. " 

"Luke, we can't send anything until tomorrow morning. "

" It's fine, by the way, I have a woman here who should be immune to the current infection, of course. I saw the bite wound. " 

" I'll pass it on, what about you?"

" I have another injured man, he was tortured and beaten up, I don't know about me. "

" What should I do with the cards here?"

" What does it say?" 

"As far as I can tell at first glance, it says ... Troop movements... but there's a lot scribbled and scribbled on it. Ah so uncleanly written..."

" Paks in, anything you can find. "

" How did my grandfather ..."

" Well, he was swearing to himself. He knew it was you. No one has ever sent anything via the Ai before. Tell me, are your missions actually registered?"

"The col said they won't come until I finish school. "

" Shit, Alex! I'll go get him, okay. "

" No, I'll get him. I told that asshat what I let happen. You show me Luke's file now."

Luke heard nothing, then the sound came back.

"John, you get him or I'll kill him. These are all war zones and death zones..."

Luke took a drag on the fag.

" Luke, six o'clock tomorrow morning at the nuclear power plant. "

"Got it."

He, hurried back. And made them pack up their things and head to the power plant. Where he locked the gate, just to be safe. Collected the weapons. Benny fell asleep, Luke gathered documents, still staring at the map. The old man joined him.

"That's the front zone," he pointed to a line of writing. 

Luke looked at him.

" I grew up with this language, I'm old, but I can help you with this. "

So he translated the map and the documents for him, which he translated, wrote down neatly and stapled to it. In the morning, Luke packed everything into a sports bag. He also used crowbars to pry the box off the roof and put it in a separate bag. The old man switched off the power station and entered a password. 

At 6 o'clock, helicopters arrived, one landed in the backyard and soldiers jumped out. Luke waited with Benny and the two old men. A soldier came running up to him.

"They want us to take them away from here." Luke nodded, dragged the bag to the helicopter, the old men were taken into the helicopter and Benny got in alone. 

What surprised Luke was that, unlike Benny and the old men, he was brought before an investigation committee after landing at the base.

He had to explain the mission.

He did so, then he was questioned about the colonel and the captain. Again, he did not mince his words or defend himself. He was released and taken to the military hospital, where he was examined. The cut on his head and the burnt plastic on his throat were obvious. The plastic was removed and the throat treated, but he was told that the damage would remain. 

He asked why he was spitting up blood and they blamed him for several tears in his throat. He was then put on a train and taken home. He was allowed to wash and shave, given a fresh BDU, coffee and sandwiches. He got off the train alone in Hawaii. Only his grandfather welcomed him. He hugged Luke.

" It's my fault, I should have been more careful and you asked too..."

" It's okay, I followed your instructions anyway. "

"Your voice?"

 Luke lifted his chin and pointed to the scars on his neck.

" The EMP fried my radio. " He tousled his hair.

"John's people took the map, documents and EMP box from me when I arrived." 

" He's playing it safe, the two old ones were taken into custody too, so good custody. "

"They have a granddaughter around here somewhere."

"John will find her. Come on, I'll take you home."

"What about the captain and the colonel?"

"The investigation committee is looking into them. They're checking to see if there are any more casualties. "

"Well, Benny was sent to a lot of places too, until he ended up with me. He and the deceased Sammy were freshly vaccinated, maybe 2 months old. But I told the committee that too." 

"Did you have nightmares, disturbances?" 

"No. I mean, I had Ansgt during the deployment, but I have no sequelae. Talked to grandma too much as a kid. "

Alex laughed. They went upstairs and an SUV was waiting. They got in and drove off, Alex looked at his watch. 

"Oh, I have to go to the store later, get a new watch. It's all burnt down."

Alex took a watch out of a box like the one he wore on his wrist.

"Take this, it can withstand EMP ignitions." 

"Cool, thanks." He put it on, the watch beeped and the display loaded, first showing the body readings, calibrating and then becoming a watch on the display.

"Why were you looking at your watch?"

" Your file has now been officially adjusted to include your call name, and the matter in the sector has been forwarded. "

" My file?" 

The screen projected his file in a roughly A4 size format. It was the first time he had seen it. It was a photo taken in the military hospital. 

" Wait, why does it say I'm a captain?" He looked at Alex.

" Explained the committee, also that they give you badges. Your info saved a lot of soldiers' asses and if the natural immunity thing is true. We could finally give the population something."

The file disappeared automatically. Luke dug out a cigarette and lit it. 

"Even if it sounds strange now ... I don't regret joining the armed forces, Grandpa. When the splinters started flying around my ears, I decided to rent a bungalow on the compound when I finished school. Even if mom doesn't show it since I'm back and then there's Saskia, she has less time for herself."

"She loves you, she sacrifices a lot for Luke. So you're looking for a house?"

" Nothing big, an apartment is enough for me. "

Alex looked at him.

" What do you think of the house in Hopkins, he's moved into a smaller place, told me he needs something different. The house reminds him too much of his wife. It's just been renovated."

"Good. I'll take it, at least I can go over to your place."

Alex grinned. 

"Ai?"

Ai appeared on Alex's watch. " Assigned the house in the system to Luke, the cost is on the army personnel's per diem. "

" Thanks, now I just need to brief mom and Saskia."

Alex cell phone buzzed, he looked at it. He picked it up.

"Hello darling, how's the public relations work for the district conquest going?"

"Very good honey, great material, frontline army rescued, infected swarm with EMP bombs, scouting party scattered. But there's one thing I don't understand."

"Yes?"

"When I searched for the name this morning, the system gave me an error message, when I typed the name again four minutes ago, the system no longer gave me a message."

Luke fumed to himself, glad he had his cell phone at home.

"Jannet the system must have done a synchronization."

"A synchronization, Alex... I thought I had a stroke when I pulled up the file."

" The review board is on it right now. "

"You're not?"

" No I wanted to, but oh well. It was my fault for letting Luke learn something on the missions. Just not something like this, I should have let John do..."

"Alex... you can't be everywhere" Luke heard her sigh.

"What am I supposed to do now? Use names or not?"

"Use his name Jannet, Luke wants to stay in the forces anyway."

"Okay. Saskia doesn't know yet. But the others do."

"She'll know when she films you Jannet."

"Okay. See you later."

He hung up, put the phone away and took out the captain's tapes.

" I have to replace you Luke." 

Luke changed rank.

" I was thinking Luke, when you're done with school and you're fully there. John still wants you."

" I've gotten used to the BDU..."

Alex laughed.

" You join the military, you keep the BDU, but the missions are dirtier. "

" I beheaded two guys there out of anger, just because they tortured Sammy. "

" I know, John sent in several teams, they recovered Sammy's body and found two decapitated and only shot one at the power plant. That's why I'm asking."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Well, I'm only at EXO to fly some and if John gives me one for a mission, I'll be happy to operate it."

Alex dialed John's number.

"Jo?" came from John.

"He wants to work for you when he's done with school John."

Luke was sure he heard a laugh. 

"Good, I'll get the papers ready. Thanks, Oh yeah, just got the info that the translation Luke gave is better than the one Jung gave here. We have new targets and the research department has confirmed that the woman is immune. She's agreed to contribute to the vaccine. We're in the process of bringing her granddaughter here."

"Very good."

"You said it, call me back later," he hung up.

They pulled up outside Sue's house. They both got out, Sue was already waiting and hugged Luke tightly.

" Mom, I'm fine."

She looked at him worriedly.

He smiled. "You said yourself I was going to have a guy when I grew up."

" But not a sweetheart like that... can't it be operated on?"

"No. The doctors said it's better this way than not at all."

She hugged him.

" Luke, I have to tell you something too, your father wants to move back in with me."

"I'm going to move into the house behind Aunt Liz, Mom. Why don't you stay close?"

She looked at her father.

"That's right, he was worried about you, honey. "

Sue gave Luke one more hug and then let go of him. 

"I need to make a phone call, honey," she called. 

"I need to talk to you, you're on sick leave for your neck until school's over, but I'm sure John will give you a few hours."

"Okay, thanks. Can I go and have a look at the house?"

"It's yours, Finger Id." He got back into the SUV and it drove off. Luke shuffled through Liz's garden to the Hopkins' house, which was now his. He put his finger on the patio door and it opened easily. The houses were built the same. The layout was the same as Liz's, except it had a garden and no pool. 

The house had a wooden floor, freshly painted walls and standard LED lights on the ceiling. The basement was a normal basement, the garage was clean. He had no idea what to put in there, he sighed. Closed the patio door behind him and walked back. 

He went into the house, where Sue was still on the phone, went upstairs, sat on the bed. He would buy a new bed, a big one. His cell phone flashed, he reached for it. He had 180 missed calls and just as many messages. 90 percent were from Saskia. 

Almost all the messages were experiences that made him smile. He put on something comfortable and switched on the TV, commercials, talk shows, cooking programs, etc. He clicked on. Found the PR channel. It said in the corner that it was a rerun. It proudly announced the progress of the offensive and the catastrophe that had just been averted. Drone images of the huge swarm were shown. It was significantly larger than he had seen it in the EXO. His team deserved the honor, at least Benny got something. 

The door opened and Saskia stood inside, breathing heavily, her eyes on the verge of tears. 

"Come on," he said. 

" Your voice ..." 

Tears were flowing.

He pulled her close. 

" Better than none."

" Jannet said they have you ..."

He laid his head against her.

"I found your experience more exciting than mine. Hard to say. The other day I threw a hand grenade into a house, body parts flying in all directions."

She stroked his head.

"And what are you doing now?" 

"Moving in with you. My mother needs some time to herself and I want to spend some time with you."

"Aren't you going to wait for my answer?"

Luke looked at her. "So you're coming with me then? I have no taste in furniture and the house is empty. "

She smiled. "I'm coming with you. "

" Then we should go ahead and order a bed. "

"We can take this one. "

" Or get us a big one, then you won't fly down at night. "

She thought about it.

" Good idea, but if we do, then at a furniture store. "

" We can do that, but then you'd have to change."

She stood up and put on comfortable clothes as well.

" Then at least we'll both be in lazy mode. "

Luke grinned. He grabbed his cell phone and ID and they headed downstairs.

"Mum, we're going furniture shopping, see you later."

Sue nodded and continued on the phone.

They drove off, Luke had to refuel, they drove to Honolulu and checked out a few stores. In the end, they had everything they needed for the start, the basic equipment. Then they stopped at a wholesale market to buy everyday necessities. 

The furniture was to be delivered the next day and assembled on site by craftsmen. Luke didn't feel like it and Saskia had no talent for assembling furniture. They stopped for dinner, came back late and went straight to bed.