The Assassination Factor (4) “You have your assignment, this base is constructed and the portal you will be using is located on level four below us out of fifteen levels. The assignment will begin as soon as possible, if you so wish. I will have the corporeal notify the next shift if you want to use the portal today. We’ll be heading to a briefing in room 2-6, for a refresher on the Star gate technology invented by Doctor Connors first. So stay alert and take notes.” “It is not necessary to leave right away Colonel, the briefing is good and maybe some chow as we listen in or afterward.” Christopher said, waving his hand, “I’d like to start the mission tomorrow though at zero-six hundred tomorrow. We also need to gather and prepare our equipment for our mission after the briefing and see to personal matters.” “Fine, Gunnery Sergeant Wells in the Armory will take care of that.” He replied, “My aide will see to the rest. Please carry on.” “Please follow me, this way.” Corporeal Ladd said, motioning to the officers and pointing to the hatchway where huge cargo-bay doors opened for them revealing the armory. Together Catherine and John walked toward the hatchway and passed through it. Around them is a large room with smaller rooms attached where rack of every type of weapon, racks of grenades of every type, claymore mines, bazookas, rocket launchers, plasma rifles, and other piece of equipment is stored. Both glanced at each other, as a Gunnery Sergeant walked toward him, and they returned the salute. “Welcome to Base, three one six’s Armory.” The sergeant said formally with a smile, noting the expressions on the officer’s faces. Usually it was always like this for visitors when they came to this base, expecting a small room of weapons, but this base was also a stockpile cache of weapons, so a dedicated room was used for the armory. “What can I do for you two?” The gunny said. Major Christopher handed him a list as did Catherine Sparks. The enlisted soldier took the list and scanned it. “Hmmm PSC-2 Silenced Sniper Rifle, four dozen fragment grenades, timed claymores, grenade launcher…” He mused and the enlisted soldier scanned her list, almost the same thing, except she asked for a MP-6 Silenced sub machine gun, both asked for a silenced pistol, extra silencers and over one hundred rounds of ammunition. She asked for a laser guided spotter scope and two sets of micro binoculars. “Jesus, what the hell are you guys going after, and starting, world war three?” “Negative, it is a classified project.” The Major said, “How long will it take to gather up the equipment?” “With help… It will take a couple of hours.” He replied, turning his head to whistle and wave his hand. Three other enlisted personnel approached and all saluted. “We have a setup, Charlie.” Gunnery Sergeant Wells instructed and both enlisted nodded as they scanned the lists. “We’ll be in the briefing room 2-6, waiting for your call.” Major Christopher said, “My thanks, Gunnery Sergeant Wells.” Together Catherine and John walked through the bay doors, and into a hallway nearby. They soon were taken to the briefing room and there they sat with the papers and notebooks preparing notes for the mission at hand. Both prepared a small strategy of their movements, deployment and ranging. Exchanging the list they discussed it, exchanging ideas with each other. They also ate a quick meal, which consisted of a fantastic menu of steak, lobster, vegetables, potato and to drink, against regulations, an ice cold beer in a large pitcher with two glasses. A couple of hours elapsed quickly and there was a whistle on the communicator before them as both the Lieutenant and Major sat drinking coffee. “Armory to Lounge.” A voice said and Major Christopher hit the button. “Major Christopher here,” He replied. “Are you all finished Sergeant Wells?” “Aye sir,” A voice replied and nodding to his spotter they both left the lounge. They gathered up the equipment and headed to a turbo-lift, heading to level four where the portal was located, preparing to leave at once for their mission. “And GOD help, us both.” Lieutenant Sparks murmured as she carried the bag, following Major Christopher who hefted the large weapon over his shoulder and bag as well. Both had a side arm and in the bag they carried as much equipment as they could hold. They knew this mission would not be an easy one, and they suspected that minions of DOOM followers would be on hand to get at their target, in which they would have to stop. Stepping into the chamber where the portal lie, The Major and Lieutenant nodded to Doctor Connors and his staff who sat behind the console. Both walked toward another hatch, quickly making their way along, as pointed by the good scientist toward the hatch where the portal lie. The Major noted the General, Colonel and his staff on hand from the observation booth. As the portal was activated, it hummed and whirred into life. An energy charge from the capacitors to make the system and unit work could be heard over the background computer noise. A moment later, there was a flash. “Stand by.” A voice said, the voice of Doctor Connors echoing on the speaker as in the control room his personnel worked, hitting switches. A technician peered through the binocular type apparatus. “We have the target Doctor.” He said, “Setting October twelfth, nineteen eighty three.” The portal flashed and a silver mirrored glass surface appeared in the arch. “Okay, here we go.” Major Christopher murmured, drawing his pistol, and walked with his spotter toward the archway. A moment later, the Major put out his arm and touched the surface with the tip of his finger. It was cold and wet as he touched it, and stepping more that he disappeared through the portal. Catherine Sparks followed suit and she too disappeared through the arch. “Good luck Major.” The Colonel murmured with a worried tone, as a ripple of gasps of surprise and comments echoed the chamber. There was the sound of crackling energy as the portal seemed to ripple and the silver surface vanished. In the year nineteen eighty three, at the same moment in time, the duo stepped through the portal that had opened on the other end. As they appeared in the darkness, their vision and disorientation cleared and they stood silently near a tree, low overhanging branches concealed a large field ahead of them on one side and there was what appeared to be three chin-up bars located here part of an exercise course. A building on the left of their position with windows could be seen, dark of course being night and no one here. Both crouched beside the tree as they dropped the bag, and quickly they setup a cloaking array in which to conceal their presence and the tent in which they would spend the night. “Alright, according to the data, we are at the destination.” Sparks said, “So long as no one steps on us, we should be in the clear. We should go high for a better shot, or move location over to the back end of this field for a clear view of everything.” “Affirmative.” He replied, “Set spotter range at three hundred meters.” “Right.” She set the device and peered through it. Scanning the area she peered at the building on the left, a playground adjacent to the building, another series of buildings with what appeared to be an open area between them behind it, and a cement wall to the right. A backstop was to their immediate right and a baseball field. Major Christopher set the scope on the silenced rifle. The next morning, he and his spotter waited beside the series of trees, a breeze whipping along the field as they stared at kids appearing on the grounds. The Major made a motion with his finger that signaled for her to be quiet. Kids played on the grounds and in the field, unaware that they were being shadowed and examined. Sparks grinned as peered through the scope. Teachers stood out on the grounds, all unaware of the trap that was now being set for their target and anyone who would try to contact him. “I have the target in sight.” Christopher whispered, “I have the solution.” A kid about eleven years of age sat on the playground alone, he is about four foot eight, with auburn brown hair, blue eyes and he wore sneakers, a colored t-shirt and jeans. The spotter remembered the picture and gasped. “It is a kid.” She gasped, “Are you sure we have the right time?” “Yes.” The Major replied, “That definitely is our target. Remember with extreme prejudice, Sparks if we cannot eliminate the threat and contact him safely.” “My god.” Sparks whispered, shaking her head, fighting back the emotion in which she said that she could control to do her task on this mission. Her orders had been to take over if John Christopher could not carry out the mission, for reasons of personal nature. She prayed that it would not come to that. They both watched in silence as the student sat alone during what appeared to be a morning recess, periodically walking from a room where he apparently was in class, moving what appeared to be a cart with a movie projector on the top of it. An older man appeared nearby, with graying hair and a goatee with dark eyes. Major Christopher recognized it from the brief as one of the operatives from DOOM, disguised as a school teacher in which he was a perfect plant to contact their target. The student followed him after he motioned to him and they disappeared into the room on the second building to the right behind the playground. The student reappeared on the hallway under the covering, talking with what appeared to be the teacher for five minutes as other students walked, ran and played on the grounds around them. “It looks like we’re too late.” Christopher said sharply, “Spot me the teacher, let’s get that bastard, but no doubt there might be more operatives than just him.” “Two hundred and fifteen… no seventeen meters.” Sparks said as she peered through the scope and Christopher set the scope on the futuristic rifle. The teacher and student kept moving. The officer’s finger brushed the trigger gently, as he inhaled. “I’ve got the shot.” He mused. “Get that son of a bitch.” Sparks replied, and he squeezed the trigger. A single shot rang out as a bullet hit the gray haired man in the head. Blood splattered the wall nearby and there was a scream as student and teachers ran toward him and scattered as Christopher targeted others and two more shots rang out. One hit the wall. “Target the student.” He ordered, “We’ve gotta eliminate him. We got three more operatives closing on him.” “He keeps moving.” Sparks complained, “Three hundred meters, maybe a little more by about two.” She replied, “I can’t get a good reading.” Teachers and students ran everywhere in chaos. “We’re going to lose him if we don’t get him now.” Christopher complained and he inhaled as he squeezed the trigger. A shot rang out nearest to him, hitting one of the supports to the covering causing a spark and ricochet. Two more shots as Christopher continued to pull the trigger. Blood covered the shoulder of their target as another operative moved in with a knife. Teachers were on him and trying to stop him. The Major held his breath as he took aim and this time he had the target in dead sight. He scored a hit in the shoulder of an operative who fell, nicking their target, the second shot hitting him in chest. “Damn.” The officer said, as pain hit his shoulder, he glanced at it as blood appeared on the cuff of his uniform. He eliminated the DOOM agents quickly felling them with shots to the head and chest. When one of his shots struck his target, there was a gasp of surprise by the Major and the Lieutenant. “What the hell?” He gasped, and he took aim again, and he pulled the trigger, and scored a hit to the mid chest of their target. He looked down at his chest, a blood stain appearing on the tunic of the uniform, a splotch as it bled outward like the tentacles of an octopus as it spread through the fabric. He felt something pulling at him and the Major realized he had dropped the weapon, the winds of time pulling at him. Christopher lifted his hands and he saw them becoming translucent, clear as if his entire existence was fading away. It was happening as the student lay on the black top, lying in a pool of his own blood. “What the hell is happening?” Catherine asked and she saw the look of astonishment on his face. She didn’t understand what was happening either. Taking up the scope she peered through it, spotting the student who remained down, a crowd near and around him, as teachers not involved with DOOM knelt beside him. As the student continued to fade out, the Major continued to fade from view and he suddenly realized they had targeted his Great Grandfather. They had eliminated him, but in doing so had also eliminated his grandfather the traitor who would join DOOM to bring down the Federation. But with his Great Grandfather’s death, his grandfather’s death, his death would also follow like a daisy chain. He realized that he had removed the entire time line of his existence, and the time that he had known before would drastically change into non-existence. He would never exist if his grandfather died, never to grow up and have children and his children’s children to live in the future. The future would be altered and all influences and kills that the major had done in his lifetime would change, never to happen, allowing them all to live. He vanished from view in front of the Lieutenant. There was another pause, as another shift in time happened, as minutes seem to elapse and time did not move. Closing her eyes, Sparks let out a long gasp of silent exasperation, as she felt herself being drawn by the same winds of time as she too faded with her equipment into the winds of history. It was several minutes before Sparks opened her eyes, realizing where she was, standing once more in the recruiting post where the Major had detached her. With the Major’s non existence, the assignment and issue never happened and the mission never was taken on. She was never detached. She once again stood in the station working as a Recruiter in Oakland Recruiting Depot Seventy Three. The only trouble the Lieutenant remembered everything that had happened in the last three days, the hell and hot water they had gone through to get to the desert. Shivering the Lieutenant turned her head to stare at the desk at the trio who watched her, and after a moment she returned their curious gazes. “Holy shit, how did I get here? Did it really happen?” The young woman asked herself, what the hell happened?” She is unsure of her surroundings. Sparks peered at the office in silence at the other recruiters and at the large window that overlooked the Bay in which her station was located. “But, what about the project, and the portal?” She asked, afraid to ask and wondered if they had succeeded in their mission. Sparks dreaded to make inquiries at the end of duty today to find out what was happening, and if she really wanted to know that answer if what had happened, really did. Something obviously had happened and had changed time and space around her. Walking toward the door, she stepped through it and outside, peering at the Bay as a tram moved across the sky, blazoned with the symbol of the Federation on its hull. “We must have succeeded at our task.” Sparks thought, and shaking her head she turned to head back toward the door of the Recruiting Depot. “If it never happened, then why am I remembering it?” Sparks asked herself, and grimacing as she let a cool breeze hit her in the face, staring out to sea for a long time before walking back inside the building to get back to work. At the same time she is thinking this, however, Sparks is unaware at this very moment that a child has been born to a proud family of four, in a nearby hospital and bearing the name John Christopher. As he lay in his cradle in the Medical Center, under the bright lights and scrutiny of the nurses around him, time now strangely was going to unfold around him. This boy, this son, born into a military family is already a hero of Earth, thirty five years before he was born, but for now would only know of his future as he would live it that was changed for the better by his hand long before he was born. The only difference with this birth, however, that is had been with a different set of parents, grandparents, and great grandparents. But he still was a hero of the Federation. WC: 12,029
Copyright © 1991 Nathaniel A Miller |