Gemini Ecliptic : : Chapter 5
The Water Wars of Asia in the final century of Terran history sadly and powerfully demonstrate the lack of vision of our species. In less than 200 years, humanity had so violated their home, so completely disrupted Terra’s natural ecosystems, that ninety percent of the population, all of which were living in coastal cities, lost more than their homes when the seas rose and consumed the largest metropolitan areas. The planet’s glaciers shrank, and the most significant source of potable water literally disappeared. Year by year, the oceans grew higher, the temperature climbed, the ice melted away permanently. Overpopulation, air pollution and a myriad other crimes drove billions inland. When the fresh water ran out, war followed. The last act of Tsang Lao either makes him a desperate hero or the worst villain in our history. In truth, he was both.
- Diary excerpt from Justicar Conservator Mishuhara Ito as entrusted to Pontifex Gaius Johannsen in 2570 AT.
“So this is the Orion Chamber,” Chad Lindberg said with no small amount of awe.
“The what?” Jared and Jensen asked, immediately followed by Dick’s annoyed “How do you know that?”
“How do I know what? That the most advanced research facility in the worlds is called ‘the Orion Chamber?’ Or how I know that it’s the most advanced research facility and it’s buried a mile underneath the Academy and only 10 people know it exists? Or how I know that you designed and built it and there’s a teleporter in the corner coded to your DNA that lets you pop in and out whenever you want?”
The three men just stared at the strange man with their jaws hanging open.
Dick recovered first. “Yes.”
Chad laughed loudly, the sound echoing around the massive, white room. “I’m a technopath, dude. There isn’t much that I don’t know about. Unusual patterns emerge in communications between people, patterns of words form, it all starts to weave together into an interconnected matrix of information and I just figure it out.”
“That’s awesome,” Jared and Jensen said, sounding like star-struck five year olds.
“You two are really adorable,” Dick said, without as much sarcasm as his tone usually conveyed.
“I had no idea that the two most super-charged human being in history would be so cute,” Chad added. It was about that time that the cadets realized they were being teased.
“We are, truly, adorable,” Jensen said dryly.
“Cuddly, too,” Jared added. They both ran toward the two older men with arms open carrying on about hug time. Chad and Dick both took the opportunity to flee and shout about the important business at hand. Which led them to the giant piece of machinery in the center of the room.
“So this is the psionic field detector,” Chad said, slightly out of breath.
Dick rolled his eyes. “It’s seven years and several hundred kilos of wasted effort.”
“What makes you so sure?” Chad asked.
“I know McNally. He’s not the sanest man you’ll ever meet.”
“Frank McNally,” Chad breathed out. “There’s a story.”
The cadets pressed the older men for details. Chad explained that Frank McNally had been one of the sharpest and most promising minds to emerge in the scientific scene in a decade. He published extensive findings on molecular harmonics and sub-space fields, revolutionizing quantum physics. At the height of his career, the war broke out. His son, a very recent graduate of the Academy Psionica was among the first wave of Adepts to be sent to the front. He never came home.
His death fractured McNally’s mind. He became irrational, pursuing wild theories of weaponizing psionic fields to prevent any more young men and women dying due to the silicates. The military paid attention to him, too much attention. The Adepts had been the only effective counter-measure against the invaders, and finding a way to reproduce their abilities mechanically, and weaponize them would dramatically change the tide of the war. Unfortunately, McNally’s theories never panned out.
“Which leaves us with one inoperative psionic field detector,” Jared said sadly.
“Well, like Dick said, a whole lot of research and resources have been used to make the damned thing. Let’s fire it up and see what it does,” Chad answered cheerfully.
He tapped on the metallic cuff he wore around his left wrist, and the whole thing lit up, displaying a wide array of information that Jensen and Jared could make no sense of. A large workstation rose up from the floor, covered in touch screens and holodisplays. He began to interact rapidly with the chamber’s computer, his hands a blur of motion and activity as the holointerface changed with each gesture at a rate so fast; the cadets could not hope to follow it. The detector activated and a new flood of information poured out across the displays.
“You can scan me if you want,” Chad said to the two younger men, never stopping or slowing his movements. “I’m curious as to what you two will see.”
Unable to resist the invitation, Chad’s body faded and a brilliant amalgam of colors and swirls of energy the cadets had never seen erupted in its place. Clearly, the basis of his ability was a type of empathy, but so wildly different from anything they had ever encountered before. In a few moments of study, they realized he wasn’t reading the information from the computer, he was feeling it. The energies put out by the machine’s holointerface weaved around his own, and the responses between the two were intricate, blindingly fast, and increasingly indistinguishable.
“Hmmm,” Chad hummed. “This is very strange. I don’t think this is a detector at all. It’s a kind of advanced tactical positioning system. This thing could track a million or more soldiers and send precise feedback to each one. Course corrections, repositioning, all done in real time.”
“So it had nothing whatsoever to do with psionics?” Dick asked.
“No, it’s specifically designed for Adepts,” Chad answered. “The thing knows every Adept’s skill rank, military rank and can dynamically deploy and constantly adjust an entire army. What I can’t figure out is the scale. There aren’t a million Adepts in the worlds.”
“Not yet,” Jensen answered. “But the number is increasing logarithmically. We will be at over a million Adepts in a few years.”
“If we can hold out that long,” Dick said, all of his usual humor gone.
The displays ceased to blur with information, and Chad turned to face Jensen and Jared. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at them appraisingly.
“So what did you do?” he asked.
“We didn’t do anything,” Jared answered.
“Nope, you did something. During that scan thing you were doing, I definitely felt something.”
“Like what?” Jensen asked.
“Like a boost. Like everything was sharper, clearer than normal. I could do more faster and better. So what did you do?”
The two cadets shared a look before Jared answered him. “We didn’t do anything. I mean in the past we have been able to sort of amplify other Adepts’ abilities, but all we did was watch this time.”
“Hmmm, you may think all you did was watch, but something was definitely different.”
“So you two are psionic amplifiers?” Dick asked incredulously.
“We’ve done it in the past,” Jensen shrugged. “We haven’t done it much, but a couple of times, it’s come in handy.”
“I would keep that between yourselves,” Chad said darkly.
“Only a few people know,” Jared said. “Some of our friends…”
“You don’t understand,” Dick interrupted him. “You need to keep it a secret like this room is a secret. Do you have any idea what would happen to the two of you if word got out that you could jack up the abilities of the front line?”
Cold seized their hearts as the implications of what the two older men were saying sank in.
“You have to remember,” Chad said soothingly, “when an entire race is faced with extinction, people choose to do things they would never do otherwise.”
Jensen and Jared expected to be dismissed as Chad and Dick went to report their findings to the Justicar. Instead, they had been dragged along. If anything, Morgan appeared more disturbed by the true nature of the detector than they were. Something was up, but he wasn’t sharing the information. He also shared Chad’s and Dick’s assessment on the need to keep Gemini’s amplification abilities tightly under wraps. Less than ten minutes into the meeting and the cadets had a powerful suspicion that things were going less than spectacularly in the capital.
“I need them, Jeff,” Chad said gravely. Clearly he was referring to Jared and Jensen. They had never seen him so earnest. Apparently, the Justicar hadn’t either.
“For what?” he asked gruffly.
“You know what. I have to crack it. It’s not an option anymore, and they are the only ones who can make that happen.”
“You can crack it,” Morgan countered.
“Yes, I can. In probably ten to fifteen years, which doesn’t do anyone any damned good. With them, I can do it in days.”
“You don’t know that,” Morgan retorted.
“Honestly, Jeff, with their help, I think I can do it in a matter of hours.”
“You want me to smuggle two of the most high-profile people in the Republic into a top-secret facility in Celestus?”
“If anyone can pull it off, it’s you.”
“Spare me your flattery, but you might have lucked out on this one. ConEx has asked for Gemini to make an official appearance in the capital. His annual banquet is in two weeks. Normally, I would have declined on your behalves due to classes, but given your present schedules, I am leaving the choice to you.”
Jensen asked, “If we say yes, would we be able to help Chad?”
“I think it could be arranged,” Jeff answered.
“Our schedules aren’t the only reason you are considering this,” Jared stated.
Jeff paused, considering the two young men before him. “No,” he answered softly, “but at the moment, I don’t want to divulge any further information.”
“Then please inform ConEx that Gemini would be honored to accept his gracious invitation,” Jensen answered formally.
Tom sat up straight in his bed, his skin cold and clammy with sweat and his breathing coming in rapid gasps. His heart beat so violently he felt it against his ribcage. Never had he experienced such pure, black, impenetrable terror in his life. That he had no clue as to the cause only made it worse.
This horror was not his.
Before he got his breathing back under control, the door chimed, and he had no sooner voiced the “come” command, than Erica was across his quarters and crawling into his arms. He could hear her softly sobbing against his shoulder. Thankfully, he could focus on her and let go of his own troubled condition. When she finally calmed, her breath only soft, regular puffs of air against his naked chest, he said “That’s the third time in a month.”
Erica just nodded, squeezing him tighter. He knew that the coming morning would spill the members of their little clique out into the cold with dark circles under their eyes. The nightmare, the only thing Tom could think of that would produce that kind of terror in the middle of the night, apparently bled over from Jared and Jensen and onto each of their friends. Raidon had subtly checked around to see if anyone else suffered from their same nocturnal problems, but it seemed confined to them. Tom theorized that Jensen’s and Jared’s shields, logically weaker when asleep, couldn’t prevent the overflow of emotion. They stopped most of the campus from suffering, but they apparently could not protect their friends.
Given the extraordinary pressures on the two young men, no one in the group brought it up. No one mentioned anything about it in their company. Alona suggested that the fact that neither of them had put together the exhausted faces around the mess table only after the nights the nightmare hit them proved they were overtaxed, overtired and overstressed. The rest of the group would endure silently, unwilling to add more to the burden.
Everyone felt powerless. They could see, hell they could feel, the impact this had on their two friends, but they could do nothing to help. That evening, they agreed to meet, briefly, in the Uncommon Room, before they sought their own beds and hopefully an uninterrupted night’s sleep. What they didn’t expect was to walk in on Misha, Jager and Sasha sporting equally bruised eyes and haggard appearances.
“You, too, huh?” Misha said, half a smile seeming to be all he could muster.
Everyone filed in and dropped into their accustomed seats, most letting their heads loll back on the cushions. Before anyone could even speak, Misha said “I have no idea.”
A few puzzled expressions greeted his proclamation. He explained, “I have no idea what to do to help them get rid of the nightmares. I have no idea how to block out the feelings, and I have no intention of telling either one of them and make them feel guiltier than they already do.”
“Guilty?” Alona exclaimed. A quelling look from MIsha forced her to pause and consider her friends. “Guilty,” she quietly said.
“Do you at least know what the hell the dreams are about?” Chris grumbled.
“I do, and you know I can’t betray their confidence,” piercing blue eyes shot back at him.
“All I can tell you is that they have talked about it, which might help. Or, if this is oracular, the frequency will decline precipitously as we get closer to the event, but the severity of each will get much worse,” Misha rattled off with a calmness he didn’t feel.
“Like the battle,” Nazomi whispered.
“What can we do?” Eric asked.
“Distract them.” Jager’s gruff reply startled them all. “They stay in their own damned heads too much as it is. Do whatever the hell it is you all do for fun. Go foam old Dr. Edlund’s office. Anything to take their minds off all the crap they have to deal with.”
Sasha snorted. “You realize you just gave cadets permission to deface PsiMin property? Are you tired or drunk?”
Jager growled in response. “I didn’t give any of you brats permission. It was merely a suggestion of what I imagine reprobates such as yourselves would do.”
“You really think we don’t know everything you got up to while you trained here?” Mike smirked.
“He has a shrine to you in the back of his wardrobe,” Chris chuckled. “You’re like his demented hero.”
That earned one of Jager’s few smiles. “You’re a good kid, Mike. And by good, I mean you’ll probably be on KP duty for most of your adult life.”
Mike seized Chris’ hand and held it to his chest. “He spoke to me, Chrissy! He spoke to me.” The hand proceeded to smack Mike. “He doesn’t like to be called ‘Chrissy’ in front of you all,” Mike whispered precisely loud enough for everyone to hear him. Another smack echoed in the room, and Mike furiously rubbed his abused chest while mouthing “OW” over and over.
A comfortable quiet settled over them all, the tensions and worries of the day and previous night broken. Raidon’s soft snores earned sharp laughter from everyone, jolting him awake.
“Go crawl to your quarters,” Misha ordered weakly. “All of you.”
No one argued, but it took several minutes before Alona managed to pry herself out of her seat and haul Raidon up from his. The others followed suit, until only Tom remained, standing over Misha.
“We can’t call ‘em on this stuff,” he began quietly. “They worry about us too much as it is. We are counting on you to do what we can’t.”
Bright blue eyes pinned him in place. “I know, Tom. I’m doing everything I can. I know you guys are, too, but Jager’s right. We need all of you to draw them out. Have some fun. They desperately need that balance.”
Jager looked around blearily. “Did he say I was ‘right?’ Sasha? Did you hear that?”
“I heard nothing,” she mumbled. “Now, shutup and go to sleep.”
Tom smiled, and for the first time that day, it shown in his eyes.
The next meeting of the tactics class drove home the point to both Jensen and Jared that this simply wasn’t working. They began to fear that they would never manage to get any empath to see phenomenoptically. Dispirited and quiet, they walked down the empty corridors, staring at the floor as they went. It was this pathetic sight that met Misha Collins as he took over watching the boys from a concerned looking Sasha. They said nothing, but the exchanged looks were enough. He led them through the Core, blessedly quiet as the rest of the cadet body was tucked away in their classes. When they reached the Spire, teleporting up to the room Misha used for meditation training, he watched them settle into their poses and close their eyes.
Recalling vividly his earlier discussion with Tom, he had no intention of letting this pass undiscussed.
“Start talking,” he said quietly. Jared and Jensen sat motionless, not opening their eyes.
“ExTac is failing miserably,” Jensen finally answered voice heavy with defeat. They were both looking at their mentor now.
“The empaths aren’t getting it,” Misha stated flatly.
He listened as the cadets explained the seemingly insurmountable obstacle facing them. Misha could understand the difficulty. He had made up the word to explain the strange “sight” the two young men had. Getting other Adepts to see this, in any form, would be a challenge unlike any other he’d faced. When they had finished, he watched their expressions closely, noted the defeat etched all over them, and paused to consider their options.
“First,” he began, “it looks to me as though you have already given up. I will personally kick both of your asses for that if you don’t snap out of it. When faced with a task you think is impossible, you have always found a way. Always. And that isn’t going to change this time.
“Second, there’s an important lesson here for both of you. You have extraordinary abilities, far beyond anything anyone has ever seen, but power alone won’t solve the problems you will face. You have people all around you who have the one power you lack: experience. None of us are as strong as you are, but we have lived with our gifts much longer than you have. What you have in raw power, we counter with nuance. You both need to realize that you are never alone. The obstacles you will face in your lives, someone has faced them before. You two have got to learn to turn to those around you to help. You would never have told me what was going on with you if I hadn’t asked point blank. Don’t make that mistake again. You hear me?”
“Yes, sir,” they both replied sheepishly. Given that this was the sternest talking to he had ever given the pair, he let the reflexive “sir” pass without comment.
“Now, you are going to walk me through what you are doing, how you are doing it, and we are going to figure this out. Your idea is the single best strategy we’ve ever stumbled across since the war began. Which is saying a lot considering it’s completely untested. We will figure this out.”
Jensen and Jared sat up straighter, looking less dejected, if not a bit more determined. Misha grinned, and braced himself for a long afternoon.
“Holy shit!”
Tom and Alona stood dumbstruck, their jaws agape.
“You see this every time you use your abilities?” Tom asked, voice hushed in awe.
Jared smiled softly and answered, “Not every time, but most of the time anyway. It helps us figure out what to do and how to do it.”
“It’s beautiful,” Alona whispered.
Jensen’s and Jared’s smiles looked as though they would split their faces in two. This was the breakthrough they had desperately needed. Misha stood in the midst of the group, the kinetics watching them all with curiosity, and maybe a touch of jealousy.
“Now you know why I call it phenomenoptics,” Misha smiled.
“You couldn’t have invented an easier word to say?” Mike griped.
“Nope, but I figure that before the term’s out, all of you will have shortened it to phenoptics.”
“Yeah, that works better,” Chris said. “So the feelers clearly go there with the whole phenoptics thing. What the hell are we supposed to do?”
Three relatively heavy objects rose up from the other side of the training room, flew across the massive space, and settle gently in front of the kinetics.
“Kinetics, you need to try and move those objects. Nazomi, you need to try and either electrify the object or draw electricity from it,” Jensen instructed. “Erica, I need you to phase. Chris it’s going to be a little trickier for you. If you can find away to exert some power from your ability, do that. If not, Jared and I may need to work with you one on one to help figure out how to do that if you don’t have anyone in front of you that needs to be healed.”
“Mike has chapped lips,” Chris smirked. “I’ll heal those.”
“They wouldn’t be chapped if you didn’t slobber all over them,” Mike shot back.
It threw Jensen and Jared for a moment. They didn’t think Chris and Mike were romantically involved. Apparently, there were more secrets they needed to discover amongst the group. The snickering around the room lasted a few seconds until Misha cleared his throat.
Jensen smacked Chris on the shoulder and said “You heal those lips, and if you’ve got a trick to cure crazy, try that one too.”
The laughter echoed around the room, and Jensen and Jared marveled at how much better the entire atmosphere in the room was compared to the first three sessions.
“Tom, Alona, you still got it?” Jared asked.
Two nods of affirmation let them know it was time to proceed.
“Everyone else, don’t go crazy,” Jensen said. “We just need enough power to see what you are doing. Save your strength for a little later.”
They had worked with Misha for nearly twelve hours trying to find a way to get him to see the strange world of energy that they took for granted. The breakthrough came when they realized the subtle differences in the waves and motes of power surrounding their mentor when he used his gift. The harder he tried to sense the impulses Jensen and Jared were broadcasting, the clearer the pattern became. They first tried to align their own sensing pattern to his; with the shocking and frightening effect of they actually began to “see” through Misha. Unbidden, the images of how he visualized his power flooded their minds. After a prolonged discussion about this strange turn of events, Misha suggested they use it to help modify his pattern to match theirs when they used phenoptics.
When it worked, Misha almost passed out. One moment, everything was as he had always sensed it, and the next, the world was an explosion of vibrant sparks of energy swarming around everything like nebulae. For hours, he explored this strange vision of reality, the wild and vivid interplay of energies. From that first time to the present class, he had slipped into the phenoptic four more times. Each time, he still needed guidance from Jensen and Jared to get there, but each time it was also easier. Now, they had successfully helped Tom and Alona make the transition, and their friends seemed every bit as gobsmacked as Misha had been.
The next major challenge, one they had no clear idea how to overcome would be incorporating the others into this web. With three powerful empaths, and Misha’s extraordinary skill, they hoped it would be enough to weave it all together.
“On the count of three,” Jared said. “One, two, three.”
Tom and Alona gasped, seeing a flood of new and varied colored energies join the mix. The kinetics’ streams were focused too narrowly on the objects in front of them.
“Erica,” Jensen said. “Can you broaden your field? It doesn’t need to be strong, just cover as much area as possible. Kinetics, instead of focusing on your single object, can you spread to try and move all of them? Again, we’re not looking for strength, but width.”
The glow surrounding Erica widened and dimmed; the once concentrated sparks now swimming in a wide field. The kinetics had slowly adapted to the change in orders, until all of their powers were mingling, spread from one end of the room to the other.
They had their web.
“Tom, Alona,” Jared said. “Do you see it?”
“We see it,” Tom gasped. “It’s astounding!”
“Is it enough?” Misha asked the pair.
“Yes,” Jensen answered. “It’s more than enough. A field of several hundred magnitudes less than this would be enough. The challenge will be spreading the net wider and higher.”
“Congratulations,” the older man said. “You’ve just given mankind the best hope of winning this war we’ve ever had.”
That evening, in the Uncommon Room, the nine Adepts cheerfully exchanged their individual perspectives on the events from earlier in the day. The energy level remained high. Happy voices mixed with bright laughter buoyed Jared and Jensen, sitting wedged between Tom and Alona on the large sofa. They remained rather quiet, at least quieter, more subdued than their friends, but they shared the joy.
More than anything, they felt profound relief, like a massive weight had been lifted from their shoulders. This, they thought, accounted for their tiredness. Today represented, for them, an extraordinary leap forward. They knew they had much farther to go, but now, the journey ahead seemed for the first time possible.
Chris was in the midst of recounting his heroic effort to restore Mike’s lips to supple softness, evoking groans and laughter from the group, when the door opened. Misha walked through, his smile as bright as the cadets, followed by Jager and Sasha. Cheers greeted them, drawing them into the warm embrace of the party. No sooner had the three newcomers selected seats then the door opened again. This time, the Justicar and Optia walked in. Jeffrey smirked at the frantic struggle of the young people to regain their official decorum and spring to their feet to salute their superiors. It was with some effort he didn’t laugh out loud.
“As you were,” he said. He and Samantha located to chairs across from Jared and Jensen. “I understand there is much reason to celebrate.”
“Yes, sir,” the duo replied.
“My congratulations to all of you,” the Justicar said warmly. “This is an extraordinary achievement.”
“We couldn’t have done it at all without Misha,” Jared interrupted. “We were completely stuck until he worked with us.”
“Yes, he has given me a full report. I suppose we will have to keep him around then,” Morgan teased.
The presence of their VIP guests brought down the jubilance of the group, but before long, they had settled into a happy, relaxed reverie that extended into the night. Cadets began to excuse themselves, leaving the room two by two. Nazumi excused herself, and as she left, Jensen and Jared realized of their friends, she was the only one who had not found someone. They made a note to talk with her privately, check on her and make certain she was alright.
Finally, all that remained were the duo and the ranking officers.
“Do you have your next steps planned,” Morgan asked them.
“Yes, sir,” Jared answered. “Now we begin to spread them further apart. Each time they successfully recreate the psionic field, we will put more space between each of them.”
“How wide are you trying to make the field?” Sasha questioned.
“As far as we can,” Jensen answered. “Hopefully, in time, we can take the ten of us, 12 if Jager and Sasha join in, and spread all the way across the Academy campus.”
“That would allow sufficient room for fighters to maneuver safely,” Jager commented.
“Yes,” Jared replied. “Also, hopefully at that point, we can try it out in fighters, and see how far we can stretch the field.”
“You’ll be using coms to communicate amongst the group?” Jager asked.
“Yes, hopefully we get to the point that each person will be separated by building and distance where we can’t hear each other,” Jensen observed.
“I will set up a secure channel for all of you,” the older man offered.
“We hadn’t thought of that,” Jared commented. “That would be a great solution.”
“Do you plan to start introducing other Adepts into the ExTac class?” Samantha asked.
“Not until we can get the current group to generate a field sufficiently wide to accommodate a lot of movement for fighters. We need to not only have room for our ships, but space between for silicate fighters to pass through,” said Jensen.
“There is plenty of time to worry about that,” Jeffrey assured them. “The front has been completely silent since the battle here, and we have fought this war for 20 years without this tactic. We can manage a few months more.”
The idea that humans could die as they worked out their strategy, without ever even testing it on actual silicate ships, settled heavily on the young men.
“Don’t!” Misha barked. “Don’t take that on yourselves. You both have got to find the balance. If you try to assume responsibility for every life lost in this war, it will kill you. Yes, there is a sense of urgency to test this strategy, but not one moment before its ready.”
Jeffrey watched the duo in front of him, caught wise to what Misha had seen. “This is the sorry, horrible, nature of war,” he began, softly. “Every battle is an attempt to buy more time, and we have to pay for that time in blood. It’s sickening and painful, but we didn’t choose this. Running blindly into field testing would only add to the cost. We move forward only when all of you are ready, and before you protest, your mentors will be determining when you are ready.”
“Yes, sir,” they answered quietly.
“You both look exhausted,” Samantha intoned.
“We get to relax a bit for the first time since the start of the term,” Jensen answered. “We didn’t realize how stressed we were until the breakthrough came. Now, we feel very relieved but also very tired.”
“Misha,” Jeffrey addressed the empath. “I’m leaving it to you to make damned certain these two are getting enough rest.” Jared and Jensen scowled at being talked about instead of to while they sat there.
“Don’t even start,” Samantha rebuked them. “You want to be involved in discussions about your well-being, then start taking care of yourselves. Since last term, we have had to constantly intervene to keep you both healthy. You show us that you are capable of doing that without us forcing you to, and then we will talk.
“Yes, ma’am,” they replied quietly. “Could we start by asking to be excused to go get some sleep?” Jensen questioned.
Jeffrey smirked at them and barked out “Dismissed!”
The door slid silently closed behind them. The fire crackled and poured out warm, flickery light into the room.
“They have no idea,” Samantha stated quietly.
“No, none,” Misha replied. “If they did, I think they would abandon this altogether.”
“You are certain of what happened?” Jeffrey questioned.
“Yes. I could sense them, fully, inside my mind. It would have taken no effort whatsoever on their part to take over.”
“So, you are saying, they can brainwash anyone, including our best Adepts?” Jager asked.
“Yes, they could. And that’s the real problem. If they knew the technique they discovered had that effect, they would stop immediately.”
“And put an end to the Gemini Defense,” Sasha added.
Before Jager could respond, Jeffrey interrupted angrily “I don’t want to hear a single word uttered about euthanizing them.”
“I would not suggest that,” the kinetic rejoined, watching the incredulous looks on his colleagues’ faces. “I was wrong to ever suggest it. Yes, I still think we are riding the whirlwind with them, but Misha is absolutely right. If they knew the potential this new ability of theirs had, they would stop immediately. They would sacrifice themselves to make this plan work, and get themselves killed in the process. I won’t let that happen.”
Jeffrey paused to consider what the Legionnaire had said, sifting through all of the things that went unsaid. “For now, we leave this. It’s not time to address this head on, but that time will come. And we all have to be prepared. Unfortunately Misha, training them in this task is going to fall on you. You have our full support and we will give you everything you need, but working through this with them needs to happen sooner rather than later.”
“Yes, sir,” he said. “I think our immediate course of action is to introduce Jager and Sasha into the ExTac program. We might as well start looking for solutions to get the team into fighters for drills. I think it’s very clear that step will happen well before the term is out. I want to take the first steps toward training this new ability by intensifying their empathic training. They have power beyond my comprehension, but they lack skill in using it. Might as well start there.”
“Proceed with that plan,” Morgan ordered. “I will be taking them to Celestus in slightly more than a week. It sure as hell isn’t my ideal choice, but it’s unfortunately necessary.”
“I really wish you would reconsider letting us come with you,” Sasha suggested.
“I wish I could,” Morgan answered. “Since Gemini emerged on the scene, you three have become instantly recognizable.”
“And it would be the impolitic choice,” Misha stated darkly.
Jeffrey nodded, suddenly looking tired and worn.
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