Chapter 7
Joanne had to chuckle when she saw that the building they were being led to actually had a sign upfront proclaiming, 'manager's office.' "Someone around here has a sense of humor."
Seeing the guards look at her with confusion, she realized that they probably had never gotten the little joke and waved them off with a 'never mind'.
When they entered the office they saw three people that were clearly deep in discussion. One was sitting behind the desk while two were sitting in chairs in front of it, and all three were looking at a piece of paper on the desk. Apparently they hadn't even noticed that someone had entered because the female guard had to clear her throat to get their attention.
All three looked at them but it was the man sitting behind the desk that drew the attention. He frowned for a moment before standing up and asking Joanne, "Do I know you somehow?"
Joanne looked up at the man that had to be at least six and a half feet tall. The T-shirt and jeans that he was wearing did nothing to hide the fact that he had a build like a modern day Hercules.
"Well, a moment ago I also wasn't sure where we met before, but now I remember. You once visited the local bar where I like to hang out; you offered me a ride to the garage where my car was. Tell me, did you already know Victor back then, or did he join the Resistance after that day?"
The man's eyebrows lifted in what looked a lot like genuine confusion. "Victor? Resistance? What are you talking about?"
"You know, that could really work... if you taught your guards that trick," Pam noted. "When we informed them earlier on that we had a message from Victor and that we needed to talk to their leaders, they happily informed us that they didn't have leaders but commanders, and that if Victor had sent us, that we would know that."
"I see," the man said as he sat back down in his chair, sending the guards an 'I'll deal with you later' look. "In that case, what's the message?"
"Actually, we don't have a message from Victor, but he did tell us where to find you," Joanne said. "Allow me to explain a few things to you."
As Joanne started to explain, the other people in the room started to get nervous. At one point the two guards started to realize that it might actually be better if they had their weapons drawn. They started to do so, but both Pam and Terry had been expecting that move and before the guns had even cleared their holsters, both the guards were treated to a hit in the neck; rendering them unconscious. Terry and Pam winked at each other; pleased by the unplanned, but well orchestrated, teamwork.
"Please, allow me to continue and tell you the whole story," Joanne said as one of the other men checked on the guards.
"Don't worry, they're just sleeping," Pam assured.
"You could have killed them," the man accused as he looked up from kneeling beside the guards.
"If I was you I would really stop trying to get one of those guns without me seeing it," Pam suggested. "And believe me, if I wanted to kill them they'd be dead now. They'll wake up in a few minutes, don't worry."
"Please continue your story," the man behind the desk urged. He knew that if what they were told until now was true, the only thing they could hope for was that the rest of the story would be more positive. Joanne had just told them about the confrontation where Pam and Jeff were sent to kill them, yet the redhead was here with them now. Clearly there had been a twist in the story somewhere and he hoped that it was a good twist, because he knew that otherwise they were all dead now.
He knew about the training the off-worlders got, and he knew just how good the A1 was at killing. There wasn't a person in the room that stood a chance against her, not even if they ganged up on her. That meant that no alarm would have been sounded, which meant that she could simply move around from building to building and kill everyone in the camp. But, if that was the plan, then why only knock out the guards?
"You must be joking," he said some time later. "You really want me to believe that you want to join the Resistance? You as the go-between, and especially the A1?"
"Former A1," Pam corrected.
"So you say," the man merely said.
"True, so I say, and you really only have two options. Either you don't believe me and try to get rid of me, or you do believe me and thank your god for the gift he just gave you in this fight."
The man looked at the redhead for a moment before bursting out laughing. "You're damn sure of yourself."
Pam shrugged her shoulders. "I have to be; I was trained to be. I'm the best there is, and I'll beat everyone that tries to prevent me from doing what I want to do. I can't afford to think that maybe I won't win this or that fight or struggle."
"One more thing," Joanne said. "I promised Victor that his wife would be taken care of..."
"We'll take care of it," the man assured even before Joanne was finished talking. "Now, as for you. You're right; we aren't the kind of Resistance you find in history books. If we were, I sure would have recognized you because we would have a file on you a foot thick. In fact, in the beginning we didn't even call ourselves 'the Resistance'. It's just a name that grew because we weren't about to simply do all that the government or your department suggested. In fact, you're coming at an interesting time. The Bundar did come, proving that part of the story true. There has also never been something truly negative we needed to fight against brought by the off-worlders. Only four days ago we had a meeting where someone did ask 'the' question. Should we actually disband the Resistance?"
He gave a sour smile before continuing. "We were thinking of dissolving, and now you come and tell us that we are needed after all. Apparently we need to rethink a few things now. But despite the situation, I don't hold it against you that you acted as the go-between for them. You managed to stay out of the public life to the point that we know little about you, but we still know some. You used some lower level resistance people to send us some messages; we repaid the favor by using those people to get an impression about you. You truly did what you did because you wanted the best for Earth. Even I have to admit that I did agree with a lot of things you did, and could see the good in a lot of situations."
"But you just wanted to be prepared," Joanne said, meaning the 'you' as the Resistance in general. "You wanted to be ready just in case people turned out to be different than they looked. Well, unfortunately you're the one that was right all along."
"Hmm," the man agreed. "I also feel that I can give the person that has been at your side for five years a chance. After all, if she hadn't told you what she heard to begin with, you would still think that the Council has nothing but good in mind, and we wouldn't know about the real plan now. That only leaves the gift I should thank god for, or so I'm told. This could all be a plan. Have Terry 'accidentally' hear the plan, then you help them escape and come along with them to the Resistance, so that you can infect them from the inside out."
"There's only one flaw with that," Terry spoke up. "We had to convince Pam to come along. She wanted to stay on the ship and face her punishment. Granted, you could suggest that she put up some reluctance to sound more believable; but that would have been the wrong moment to do so. All that would have been needed to destroy the plan you think might exist, was for Joanne and me to simply thank her for helping us and then leave without her."
As she had been talking her tone of voice had become more irritated; annoyed by the fact that they wouldn't trust the person that already had done so much for them.
"Hey, easy there," Pam said as she put a hand on Terry's shoulder. "He's right to question me and my motives. In fact, if he didn't I would be questioning his sincerity in trying to run a true Resistance."
"He is not right, and he shouldn't treat you like that."
"Says the woman that hated my guts less than a day ago," Pam reminded, amused.
Terry looked at her bewildered for a moment. Was it really less than 24 hours? Yes, it actually was.
"Well, there is that," she finally relented with a smile.
"To further prove that the story that sounds good when you say it, would never work for real," Joanne continued, "they would never be stupid enough to pick the A1 to do an infiltration like that. First of all; they need the A1 to lead the black troops, not to be playing Resistance member, but there are even more reasons than that. True, you didn't know that she was the A1 because she used my idea of not appearing in public. The few times that she did go out, there was nothing to indicate to Resistance members that they should try to get some info on her. After all, they don't wear rank insignias. But, as A1, there isn't a single one of the off-worlders that wouldn't recognize Pam in a face to face meeting. Frankly, she's the worst of the off-worlders that could possibly be chosen to go under cover. Even the lowest member of the off-worlders could blow her cover by addressing her as A1 when some Resistance member, or someone that just sympathizes with the Resistance, is around and can hear it."
"Which would be the reason as to why to come up with this story about the A1 switching sides," the man said, coming back to the beginning of the 'what if'.
Joanne shook her head a little in disagreement. "Again, they wouldn't use her for that. They would use someone with a lower rank, or even better yet, someone from Earth. As they proved with me, they're more than happy to use someone from Earth if it suits their needs. Forget about finding someone that believes their story, like I did. Instead how about, 'here, I'll give you ten million dollars to infiltrate the Resistance'. What do you think, would they find someone from Earth to do it?"
"Without a problem," the man was forced to admit. "Alright, you have some valid points, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt as well."
He sighed. "I really don't have much of a choice but to trust you. You're here; if nothing else that already proved that they know where to find at least some of us. And, if that plan of the Council is true, which I most definitely think it is, then we need some people from their side for info, and to show to other off-worlders that we have nothing against them as a group, but a lot against plans for our planet. We might as well start with you. At least we'll have that covered from the beginning, or it's all over before it starts. Now is as good a time as any to find out."
He looked at Pam he added, "As I said, that means that you're welcome to stay as well. Time will tell if I'll be thanking god for the gift of you."
Pam grinned. "Why do I get the feeling that I'll be hearing that line for a long time to come? But let me point a few things out to you before Joanne or Terry need to do it. Apparently you don't really see the bigger picture here. You just see the A1 standing in front of you; that's it."
"Alright, I'm intrigued; sell yourself to me."
"Sell? You can never even hope to get enough money together for a down payment on me. First of all, I'm the only one on this world that can give you some insight into the Council. The only one that can say 'I think they'll do this because' and might actually be right. Besides that, as Joanne so rightfully pointed out when she asked me to come along, even though the Council will hide what really happened, rumors will spread. We'll have to make sure the rumors spread of course... and people as high as the black troops are going to wonder, 'if even the A1 didn't agree with the Council, maybe our displeasure isn't as baseless as it seems'. Lastly, for now, it is a fact; I'm the most lethal person you can find on this world. Sure, anyone can shoot someone; I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the kind of lethality where I know 43 different ways of killing someone and how long each method takes. More importantly, I know literally hundreds of ways to take someone out of a fight without killing them. I'm willing to bet right now that you can choose any twenty people you find in this camp of yours and put them against me, that I'll win. They can even have weapons, as long as they're non-projectile."
The redhead pointed her finger at the man and smiled. "And you know what? I'm willing to teach. Unless you want the coming conflict to be a bloody mess, you need people that can fight without guns. You need people that can take out guards without killing them. That can disarm someone that thinks that they're superior just because they have a gun. Just like these guards here thought that they could handle us simple because they had a hand on their gun."
With the last Pam had pointed at the guards that had long since regained their consciousness and were now standing at the door. "There's only one thing I ask in return."
"Which is?" the man wondered.
"Fairness. We off-worlders aren't bad people, not all of us. It's just that for our entire lives we've been trained to follow orders. All I ask for, is that we'll be treated equally to someone from Earth. If one of us joins the conflict on Earth's side then they'll be treated exactly the same as a human from Earth would."
"That's something that's easy to promise," the man assured. "For us, the Resistance as a whole, we never had a problem as such with you as a people, which is why we held back. As long as you didn't do anything to threaten Earth you were welcome here. Hell, we would have to be blind not to see all the benefits you brought. I myself was diagnosed with a brain tumor two years ago. If it hadn't been for the medical knowledge you people had brought I would have been long dead now, but all it took was the swallowing of a pill per day for 14 days in a row. Our fight will be with the people that want to destroy Earth, and we don't care whether those people are born on Earth, or in outer space."
"Then I'm yours," Pam assured.
The man chuckled. "Ah, yes. The gift I would thank god for; I remember. Well, since you're staying here for the moment, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Max Weinberg. In a moment we'll show you to one of the buildings where you can get some sleep; from what you told me you must have been on the go for 20 hours now, and probably awake for quite some time before that since you were on the ship bringing your report instead of being home. But before we do that, one more question. Those three tracking devices, do you happen to know the numbers of the busses they're on?"
"Sure, lines 7, 9, and 25," Joanne said. "But, um, why?"
Max grinned. "Because we're going to kill you, of course. At the moment the Council might still be tracking them, trying to find you. And if that doesn't work, eventually they'll start an all-out manhunt for you. We need to make sure that they think you're dead, and we need to do it in such a way that they're even glad that the Resistance is still around. So what we're going to do is get those tracking devices, get three bodies, implant the devices, and then put them in a car and burn them. It will look like we didn't believe your story, killed you, put your bodies in a car and set it on fire to hide the evidence; of course not knowing that you're bugged."
"The council would more than likely believe that," Pam assured. "They think that the Resistance is just a bunch of paranoid people that joined the Resistance mainly because the entire world knew we were real and not just the next conspiracy theory and therefore they actually have something to point at and say, 'I don't trust that'."
Joanne couldn't help but laugh. "Did Eric tell you that?"
"Yes, not in those words, but yes. Why?"
"Because I told him that; also not in those words of course. I told him that there had always been, and would always be, people that believe in conspiracies and that there is a bigger plan forced upon us. And that now those people turned to the Resistance because finally they could point at the news on TV and say 'there is my evidence,' instead of having to say, 'well, I don't have any real evidence, but what I'm saying is true anyway'. It's part of the reasoning I used to convince Eric that it was best to leave the Resistance alone. I told him, don't go after nutcases that aren't hurting anyone, or else people might want to protect the nutcases... simplified of course. But, um, Max, if you're going to kill us, where do you get the bodies?"
"The morgue in the next city; people that died of natural causes. I know it's not really a nice thing to do, but we're trying to save Earth. If the Council is satisfied with finding some burned bodies, thinking that the tracking devices are enough evidence to prove it's you... hey, our luck. And if they don't buy it, well nothing lost really. All they'll know is that we're trying to hide that we have you. That still wouldn't mean that you actually joined us."
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning Max knocked on the door and a moment later entered the hut in which Joanne, Terry, and Pam, had been housed for the night. Inside he found Pam lying on the couch. From the way she looked, Max guessed that his knock had actually woken her. He frowned before asking, "Something wrong with the beds upstairs? There are two queen size beds there; more than enough room for three."
Pam smirked before winking. "It all depends on what you're doing. Terry practically bribed me last night into giving them one hour of alone time. I came down here and tried the couch, and since I liked it I decided to spend the night here. I'm sure, or at least I hope, that they put the extra alone time to good use."
Max grinned as he fully understood what the smiling woman meant. The grin slowly disappeared as he realized that he thought that the redhead had a beautiful smile.
'Woah, don't even go there,' he thought. 'She's one of the off-worlders, and on top of that a trained killer that could kill me faster than I could reach the door again.'
"What are you thinking?" Pam asked as she sat up. She had seen how his expression had changed from charming to troubled in just a few seconds.
She looked on as he first placed the bag he had with him on the floor and then slowly sat down on the corner of the coffee table. Max, Pam decided, was a very good looking man. Not handsome, but definitely good looking. She realized that he had the wrong body-build to look handsome anyway. The guy was over six feet tall and broad shouldered. In fact, the proportions of his body were such, that if you saw him from a little distance he didn't look tall at all. It was only when he was standing close to you, or you saw him standing beside someone else, that you realized just how big he was.
He also had a lot of muscles. Pam, who normally trained several hours every day just to keep her skills fresh, knew for sure that the guy had to train several hours every day just to keep the muscle tone he had. No, someone with such a body shouldn't look handsome; it just wouldn't fit. What he needed, and what Max definitely had, was rugged good looks. He had dark brown, almost black, short hair with just enough grey at the temples to add to his charm. While hazel brown eyes, and a broad jaw fit his overall body very well.
"You want the honest answer?" Max asked, totally missing the scrutiny he had been under.
"Sure, should be interesting."
"I was just thinking that I should be scared shitless of you." He indicated his own body. "I'm, what, half a foot taller than you? I'm strong enough to bench-press a car, speaking proverbially of course, while you just have a lean muscled body. From looks alone it shouldn't be a contest, and yet, I wouldn't last five seconds against you."
"That depends on how nice I want to be," Pam said with a smirk. "But to put your mind at ease, you don't have to worry. Yeah, I'm trained to the extreme, but just like you with the weight training I assume you do, 90 percent of it is all about control. Take those guards yesterday. They were more dangerous than I, in the matter of something happening that is. They just think they're good, they just thought they were in control because they had guns. Were something to happen, you don't know if their shot would hit, where it would hit, whether you would survive. I know all that. Before I do a single thing, I know. I know if a hit is going to kill, or just disable. I know if a hit will hurt, or just prevent you from doing something. I, know. They, assume."
"You sound damn proud of your achievements."
"Why shouldn't I?" Pam asked. "My body is a tool, trained to perfection. I'm proud of that, and I'm proud of the fact that I can do things hardly anyone else can, even my trainers. They were good. They trained me, and because of that they'll always be better than me in the aspect that they trained me in. But I'm better overall because they know that one aspect better than me, but I know all the aspects. I'm damn proud of my training, and if I had to make the choice again, I would do it all exactly the same."
"If that's the case, then why are you here? Why turn your back on the people who taught you all you know?"
Pam gave a sad smile at the irony of it. "Because, as I said, my body is a tool. Unfortunately for them, the Council made me do something that messed with the mind of their perfect tool."
"What do you mean?" Max asked confused.
For a long moment Pam thought about whether she should tell him, or tell him that it was none of his business. But then she realized that right there, that moment, was that magical moment. The moment where you could fess up, or shut up. Later there would never again come that right moment to tell, and if it then was found out at a later time, if would damage all that was built since then. No, better to tell and see if something could be built at all.
"I have the death of some people on my conscience."
"That's it?" Max asked confused. "To tell you the truth; I hadn't expected anything else. We all did things we aren't proud of. Pam, I'm the leader of the Resistance, do you really think that I could get into that position and not do some things I rather not tell people about?"
Pam smiled weakly. "No, I'm not talking about the normal stuff. I was the A1. The person that took care of problems; one way or another. I'm sure that even Terry and Joanne understand only too well what that means, remember what we told you; they even saw me kill. No, what I'm talking about is much worse than that. What I'm talking about is that I... I killed a family; all of them. It's a little over five years ago now. I was an A3 back then; it was around the time that Joanne was brought to our ship the first time. There was a worker onboard the ship who thought that it was time that the Leader's Council loosened up a little bit on the control and give the people a little more self-control. He had been warned several times that he should shut up and stop spreading such nonsense ideas. But he wouldn't listen. One day the Council had enough of it and told me to take care of the problem. Eric told me literally; 'It's time that his actions, and his life, came to an end, take care of it'."
"And how does the entire family fit into that?" Max wondered.
"Because I made his death look like an accident which really did look like an accident, as I was ordered, his family didn't get the hint and continued his actions. Eric was not amused, to put it very mildly. He decided that firmer action was needed. The worker's family, his wife, their two children, his brother and his sister in law and their child... they were told that they would be relocated to a different ship because of housing issues. Since that's not uncommon they didn't expect a thing. Eric gave me a list as I entered the scout ship that was going to transport the family. It was a list of who had to be killed in what way. The scout ship didn't move to another mother ship obviously. Instead it went into space. Once the scout ship was in space, I stepped into the cargo room where the family was."
Pam shook her head slightly and gave a small, somewhat helpless smile. Clearly thinking back to that time and seeing it all again. "The brother understood only too well why I was there and rushed at me, a useless act obviously. Because he had never given support to the actions of his brother, but support to the brother himself, if you understand the difference, I was allowed to kill him quickly. He was dead within seconds. The others weren't as lucky though. The sister in law was next. Her, I broke her neck. I overpowered her and then very slowly twisted her neck until she was screaming in agony. Finally the neck broke and her suffering was over. Then came the wife of the dead worker. Because it was mainly her that had continued her husband's actions, the Council had decided on a very cruel death for her."
Pam heard a sound behind her and looked over her shoulder to see that Terry and Joanne stood at the end on the stairs. Pam closed her eyes for a moment in resignation, knowing that in just a few moments that developing friendship she had with the two women might just be over. But she also knew that that 'magical moment' applied for them as well, so she invited them closer with a little head gesture before looking back at Max and continuing her story.
"I paralyzed her so that she could move nothing from her neck down. Then I placed her in a seat so that she could see what was going to come next. Her son was next. He was sixteen and his mother could do nothing but look on as I slowly slit his throat and let him bleed to death. After that she had to watch how I did the same to her fifteen year old daughter. Once the daughter was dead as well I did the same once again to the paralyzed mother. After all, I just killed her children in front of her eyes, anything else I could have done to her next would have paled in comparison."
Pam closed her eyes, picturing the scene again, just like she had done so often since that day. She actually shuddered as she continued with a shaky voice. "It was gruesome; the blood of three people everywhere. I was walking in it with every step, my uniform was wet down my front from all the blood. I was covered in it. Everywhere. Blood, I..."
Pam stopped when she actually started to heave. With difficulty she managed to keep the contents of her stomach where it belonged and after a shake of her head to dislodge the memory she continued. "It wasn't the first time I killed, nor was it the last. Blood never bothered me, death never bothered me. It never has, and I doubt it ever will. But that day... I don't know why I can't get it out of my head. When I think of the other times it's... nothing. But that day."
"If I remember correctly there was one person left," Max said, even though he had a feeling that he wasn't going to like what he was going to hear next.
Pam's eyes shot up to look at him for a moment before they lowered again.
"Yes," she started reluctantly. "Why wasn't I allowed to just kill her? Just a clean breaking of the neck, or implode her heart. She was just a girl. An innocent little girl."
"What happened?" Terry asked as she sat down on the couch beside Pam. She noticed that the redhead's whole body was shaking slightly and she took one of the woman's hands in her own in an effort to bring some comfort.
As Pam continued it wasn't long before tears started to roll down her face. "I was ordered to strangle her with my bare hands. I had to make it last, as it said on the list. I had to strangle her until she started to lose consciousness and then let her breath again; prolonging her agony. I had to do that five times, and only after that was I allowed to let her die. During all that time I had to look her straight in the eyes. She had a very pale complexion, had such white skin. I can see my red hands around her neck now; red with the blood of her family... strangling the life out of her... leaving red marks all over her white skin. I..."
"Pam," Terry interrupted softly as she squeezed the hand a little. She had the distinct feeling that if she let Pam dwell too long on that particular thought, that she would not be able to keep her stomach contents down this time.
Pam folded her second hand around Terry's, pulling strength from the fact that the brunette was trying to comfort her despite what she was hearing. "She was so young. She didn't really know what was going on. I just killed her whole family in front of her eyes, and she didn't understand. When I turned to her to... start... she just looked at me with tears in her eyes and asked me 'why?' You should have heard her soft voice. Those eyes. They just kept looking into mine. Even when I was strangling her, they never left mine. Even in her death, when her lifeless body was lying on the floor, those eyes looked at me, asking me that question; why? I stayed there amongst that carnage for over an hour. I couldn't leave; those eyes wouldn't let me go. I'll never forget those eyes. Last night too, I saw them again last night. What did she do that was so bad? Why did she have to die? Why, why?"
Suddenly she let go of Terry's hands and leaned forward, resting her head on her arms, folded across her knees. "Why, why, why?"
Max had no idea how to react to this breakdown and looked at Terry and Joanne in turn, but they too seemed at a loss. Suddenly Terry spoke up. "I know why."
Pam sat back up as quickly as she had leaned forward and looked at Terry with red shot eyes. Terry looked at the redhead before looking at Joanne and then Max in turn. "It was a test."
"A test?" Pam asked, trying to get herself under control again.
"Yeah. I remember one time when Joanne and I were on the ship for our weekly report. Thanks to Joanne's intervention my punishment had ended rather quickly so I was allowed to talk to people again, and all the talk was about you. They were talking about how the former A1 had died in his sleep, and how you were now the new A1. A few of the lower level leaders were talking when I walked past and one of them said that it was the first time any one of them could remember or even heard of an A3 being promoted to A1 instead of an A2. I can still clearly remember thinking, 'great, now the bitch has even more power'."
Pam managed a weak smile at the little joke.
"My guess is that the Council thought that you were perfect for the job they had to fulfill 'now' at that time, but since you hadn't spent any time yet as an A2 they weren't sure yet if you could truly be ruthless enough for the job. So, they tested you."
"If having me kill them, kill that girl, was a test then I can tell you that the Council messed up massively."
"Why?" Terry wondered.
"Because I'm still young, only 26, so I don't want it right now, but I want to have a child or two at some point. Not just have them like it is mandatory, but also raise them. Remember that I told you that I dreamed of a home on a planet such as this one? Well, what I didn't tell you is that my dreams are a little more detailed than that. I see myself walking through a meadow with my partner. He and I are just strolling, not having a care in the world. We laugh when our child comes running towards us with a few flowers in her hand. That child is that little girl. I told you that I see her eyes almost every night. I do, but it's not in horror. I see those eyes happy, and I know that I put that happiness there."
Tears started to fall again, but despite it, Pam smiled. "Not long after I killed her, she came to me in my dreams. Though I didn't know why I had to kill her, then, I begged her for forgiveness; and she did. She said that she would forgive me if I made her happy. I manage to do exactly that every time I see her. And every time she's happy, it makes me happy. But you see, that's where the Council's mistake comes in. If I hadn't been forced to kill her, I would never have known her. I would never have dreamed about her, I would never have dreamed of bringing her happiness on this planet, and it's more than likely I would still be that totally loyal A1 that the Council thought they were creating."
"The mistake they made was to think that a cruel deed would show if you're heartless enough for the job, and not realizing that a cruel deed might make you realize that you have a heart to begin with," Terry said softly as she pulled Pam against her in a one-armed hug.
"You, you still want to touch me after knowing that? You still want to be my friend?" The insecurity was clear to hear in Pam's voice.
Terry placed a soft kiss on Pam's head and pulled the redhead a little closer against her. "Don't you worry about that; ever. For me Pam Scott only started to live the moment we stepped off that ship. There's nothing, nothing at all, that you could tell me about what you did before that time that would make me turn my back on you. But from now on you better be careful with what you do or I'll kick your ass."
"Yeah," Joanne said as she set down on Pam's other side. "She's good at that, you know. She also excels at hitting you over the back of your head if you mess up; I speak from experience there. I think that everyone deserves a second chance. Terry once gave me a second chance and I still thank god for it every single day. As Terry pointed out, you started a new life when you left the ship. The Pam Scott I know hasn't done a single thing that I could ever hold against her."
"As I said," Max started when he saw how glad Pam was to find out that she hadn't lost her friends. "We've all done things we aren't proud of. As much as we all may hope that what's coming will involve little violence, we're only deluding ourselves if we really think that it will be that easy. We need people in charge that are willing, and able, to go all the way. That especially includes the person in charge of our commandoes."
"What are you talking about?" Pam asked.
"The Council was right in one thing; we aren't experts," Max explained. "Most people that are in the Resistance are people that go through life doing normal daily things. Going to work, going back home, going to movies with friends. It's just that they're ready to fight if needed. While we can count on them when we need them, we need troops that are trained to do more. You said that you were willing to teach; we're taking you up on that offer. We know it will take time to train people, but we're in luck. Even if they would start their plundering right now, it will take time to do the plundering. Besides that, we also will need some time to prepare. All in all we'll have that time to train people. Especially since, as you say, the Council wants to take some time to prepare and put everything in order so that they can control Earth while they destroy it."
"Eric was talking about a year to prepare," Terry reminded. "I think that if they really want to prepare to the point they were talking about, they really will need that year."
"As will we," Max said. "Hopefully not that full year since we need to be ready before they are, but we need months as well if we want to have success."
"And you don't just want me to train these commandoes; you actually want me to lead them? You want to give me that much power?"
Max shrugged. "As, former, A1 you're well used to being in charge, and to having that power as well. The fact is, we've never had commandoes since we were never the kind of Resistance to have trained fighters. Now we need them, and we need someone very experienced to lead them. Now, we could take someone from the Resistance, or pull in a former army trainer of special forces, but neither would be as highly trained as you. Besides, as I told you yesterday, we will make a difference between our side and their side, but not between where the people of our side were born. I need something to prove that those aren't just words."
"And what better than having the former A1 be in command of your special forces?" Pam asked in understanding.
"Right. I contacted some people last night and we knew we had to make a choice. As I said on a different subject yesterday, the choice we made was that everyone that wants to help save the world is welcome. This has now become the official way of thinking for the Resistance. We hope that we'll actually get a good number of off-worlders to join is, or at least help by sitting back and doing nothing."
"Well, rest assured, I'm your girl." Pam smirked before adding, "Though if I have to train them in a couple of months, the people I'm going to train are going to curse me every minute of the day..."
"But in the end they'll be proud of what they've become, and even prouder of the person that got them there," Max interrupted. "It's normally only at the end of training that you understand why things were done in a certain way, and that now, because of that training, you're capable of doing things you thought impossible. It is at that moment that one develops the utmost respect for one's trainer."
Looking at Joanne, he continued. "Joanne, I was hoping that you would do me the honor of being my assistant. The last five years have shown that you have an extraordinary ability to organize things and make them happen. I'm the leader of the Resistance, and I'm the one that says 'this is what we are going to do' but I really need someone at my side that can take that order and work out the logistics of it."
"I'll be there," Joanne assured right away, glad that she was getting this chance to do what she had been doing for years, only to save the world... for real this time.
"Good. That only leaves you Terry. When we work together with your people that want to join us, we'll need someone that acts as a buffer, so to speak. Someone that's been on those ships long enough to understand how people feel and think there. You sure meet that criteria since you were born there and lived there all your life with the exception of the last few years. At the same time this person needs to understand us, what drives us. You fulfill that criteria as well, since you've been living on Earth for five years now. That's more than anyone else on those ships. Therefore we were hoping that you're willing to take the position of our mediator."
"You're offering me that position on nothing more than the fact that I happen to have lived on Earth a little longer than other of us off-worlders?"
"I know that it seems a little sudden," Max admitted. "But we, and now I'm talking about me and those two regional commanders that were with me yesterday, just somehow had the feeling that this was the perfect place for you. Frankly, the reasons that I just gave you as to why we think you would be good in that position, are things we thought of more to explain to ourselves why we would offer it to you. I mean, if you think about it, it would make more sense to offer the position to Joanne, who's been negotiating and playing intermediary for years now, but... you just seem a better choice. No offence Joanne."
"None taken," Joanne assured. "I think it's an excellent choice. In fact, only Terry and I know this, but she's been advising me for years, almost from the first minute. I guess you could say that half of my work was her decisions based on her initiative, and the other half were my decisions based on the needs and limitations of logistics, common Earth sense, and our law. Come to think of it, it's kinda like you're doing now anyway. Have me being the advisor on those things and Terry being the intermediary. Just that before I would be doing the talking and asking her for her opinion in private."
"Guess that now I'll be asking you for your opinion in private then," Terry said before addressing Max. "Alright, I'll do it."
Max took the bag off the floor that he had placed there when entering and took out a uniform. "With a new army you need new uniforms. We're working on that at the moment, but this one was finished this morning. I brought it along to let you have a look. Later today you can give your measurements and we can create some for you."
As Max had been talking he had put the pile of clothes on the table beside him. "As you can see, they're basically the standard Army Combat Uniform that have been used by the Army, since 2004... when we still had an army that is. The Combat Uniforms will also come in those three colors; the green for woodland, grey for urban environments, and sand brown for desert."
Max put aside the trousers and moisture wicking t-shirt and held up the jacket. "Really the only big difference is that we added an extra piece of Velcro on the lower arms. As the uniform is designed, the insignia for the army is worn on the chest, also attached with Velcro, so we thought that it would be a good idea and a clear gesture to show that we don't have anything against off-worlders or their beliefs, if strips of color could be added to the arms. With them the colors are so important; green, red, yellow, or black, we'll have strips in that color that can be attached to the lower arms."
"Nice detail, I like," Terry said as she watched how Max fixed two red strips to the arms.
"We decided to only go with the Combat Uniform. People can wear that, or their normal clothing if the situation calls for something other than a Combat Uniform. Since the Council and Earth government leaders disbanded all the armies all over the world under the 'we are a united world now' credo, we decided that it was only fitting if we took that position. The uniforms, the ranks... you know. When the armies were disbanded I was amazed that the off-worlders could make it happen. But on the other side, they had managed to end wars all over the world, so I could see why governments went along with it. Now I finally understand the bigger picture. If you get rid of the army today, you don't have to fight it tomorrow."
"They didn't get rid of the entire army," Joanne reminded.
Max snorted. "In all but name they did. World governments agreed to get rid of the armies because they weren't needed anymore, or so they thought. They figured that they could send the soldiers home since they would still be alive and could simply be drafted again if they were ever needed. They got rid of all but the core that's needed to maintain the equipment. The whole U.S. army is now nothing more than mechanics and cleaning people because they thought that they could just recall old soldiers if needed, but you couldn't recall a scrapped fighter plane or a scrapped ship."
"True," Joanne agreed. "But my point is, that army is still there. Those trained soldiers were only kicked out of the army a few years ago. They still know how to do their stuff. We literally have a whole army of people that have been trained to fight to defend their country, and guess what?"
"It's time to defend the country," Max said in understanding. "But not now. You missed breakfast, but in one hour our restaurant starts serving the early lunch. Are you willing to wait until then, or would you prefer to go see if anything is left from the breakfast?"
Both Joanne and Terry cringed slightly at the idea of going to see what kind of old food had survived not being eaten by the morning crowd.
"You have a restaurant here?" Pam asked surprised.
Max lifted his hand to indicate the place around him in general. "Sure. It fits with what is supposed to be a vacation resort. Besides, we need to feed our people anyway. Why not have them sit down at a restaurant table when they're eating?"
"Guess you got a point," Pam agreed before Terry spoke up.
"Well, since Pam decided to sleep down here, thank you very much by the way; I owe you, Joanne and I will go up now and change out of our PJs."
"Change into normal clothes, you mean," Max corrected.
"Um... nope, change out of it is what I had in mind. You fill in the blanks, big guy," Terry said as she took Joanne's hand, pulled her off the couch and then they both headed up the stairs.
"Are they always that open?" Max asked amazed.
"I wouldn't know. But I can tell you that when Terry asked me last night for some alone time with Joanne, she left no doubt what that alone time would be used for."
Pam smiled before adding, "Frankly, I like it. I appreciate that a lot more than them coming up with some crappy lie as to why they would like to be alone for some time. It also makes it a lot more understandable. Compare what you just saw with, 'Joanne and I need to talk some, do you mind leaving us alone for a while?' A stupid statement like that would immediately make you think; great, they want to talk about me behind my back."
"You have a point," Max agreed. "Well, I have an hour to kill, and the weather is great outside. I think I'll take a stroll along the lake."
"Hey, unless it's one of those 'it helps me think' things that people have, would you mind some company? I think we still have quite a few details to discuss."
"Actually, it really is one of those 'it helps me think' things," Max said amused. "I love this place and a nice stroll really does help me think. But no, I wouldn't mind some company at all."
Pam reached for her bag with clothes that she had never bothered to bring up the night before, since Terry had asked her for the alone favor, and took out a set of clothes existing out of a pair of blue jeans and a black T-shirt. "Great, let me change for a moment."
"You really do have a thing for black, don't you?" Max asked with a smile while he pointed at the T-shirt.
"It's actually my favorite color, would you believe it. I was lucky; I really loved my black uniform."
"Well, I'll go outside while you change. See you in a moment."
Pam waved him off when he started to move. "Don't worry about it; I'm not shy."
Max's eyes got a little wider when the redhead started to slip out of her PJs right in front of him, proving within seconds that she apparently didn't believe in wearing underwear under a set of PJs.
"Damn woman," Max exclaimed when he averted his eyes, after a moment.
"Too late to pretend; you looked," Pam laughed. "Well, don't sit there cranking your neck like that. You can look all you want. Believe me, by the time you've reached my level of training you aren't shy anymore about someone seeing you in the buff. I mean, what am I going to do, stop fighting because someone might see my boobs through a wet t-shirt? I don't think so. Some of our training was actually done nude to get people over the temptation to look at other things than what they should be looking at."
Max turned around and was caught in an interesting battle of pretending that he was still not looking at the redhead, yet trying to take in her form from his peripheral vision; he was only a man after all. And one of the things that he couldn't help but notice was the evidence of the fact that Pam was a natural red-haired woman. The red curls only added to the beauty of a wonderful body. A body that appealed to Max especially because of the beautiful and well-muscled lines. As far as he could remember, he had never seen a woman in real life where you could actually see her abs without her holding in her breath.
'God what a woman,' Max thought. 'She is wild, yet playful. Has a full and deep character, and on top of it she's drop-dead gorgeous.'
Those last words reminded him of another fact. 'And she kills more easily than I change my shoes; and while feeling even less about it.' His mind went back to the woman he had seen not so long ago, the woman that had totally broken down when reliving some of her memories. 'Well, almost never feeling something about it that is.'
As much as Max was studying Pam from his peripheral vision, the redhead was doing the same with him. It was just that she was trained to the point where her peripheral vision was almost as good as her normal vision was. She chuckled when she stood back up again after picking some underwear out of her bag. 'Poor guy,' she thought, before realizing, 'And damn, I feel flattered. Should I? Sure why not, I love the way he's looking at me anyway.'
Pam snapped her fingers so that he would focus his direct vision on her. "Well, seeing that there might be situations again where you see me naked; let's just get this over with."
She spread her arms and slowly turned around until she was facing him again. "There, seen it?"
Max's first reaction was to apologize, but then he saw that ghost of a smile and realized, 'Good god, the woman is playing with me.' He cleared his throat before affirming, "Um, yes. Thank you."
"No problem," Pam assured, this time showing her full smile. She stepped into her panties and sat back down as she put on her bra. When she saw that Max was still looking at her body more than her face and eyes, she asked, "Disappointed that I'm covering it up?"
Hazel eyes shot up to look into the eyes of the redhead. For the first time, Max noticed the true color. 'Violet? That color actually exists for real in eyes? I thought that was just a myth.'
Then he saw the mischievous sparkle and was sure beyond a doubt that he really was being played with. Shrugging his shoulders mentally he replied, "Actually, no. I'm one of those guys that enjoys a good packaging to look at as much as good contents to look at. Mind you, nude is very nice, but there's just something about a set of sexy lingerie that can make things a lot more interesting. And I have to admit that that's a very sexy piece you have there. But to be honest with you, I would never have expected the, now former, A1 to be walking around in lace underwear."
"And you would have assumed right," Pam agreed as she stood up again to put the rest of her clothes on, deciding that she had done enough playing; for now.
"Actually, Terry is to blame for this. As the A1 I wore very practical and boring underwear. But when we fled I had nothing but the clothes on my body, which was a black uniform I might add, with me. So when we were at Terry and Joanne's house..."
Max wondered why Pam had stopped talking, but before he could ask what the problem was, she continued with a smile.
"We changed clothes and since I'm mostly Joanne's size I got some of her clothes. Well, mostly her size, except in one area; my 34-B doesn't really come close to that mountain range that she carries around and calls a chest. Terry is bigger there too, but it did in a pinch. She gave me a new set of something like this; including a thong like this one."
Pam couldn't help but laugh at the memory. "For the first couple of hours I was mentally cursing her for giving me this string up my ass that she called underwear, but then I got used to it and liked it. So, when we stopped along the road to get me something that fit... guess what I bought."
She stomped her boots once to settle them. "Alright, I'm ready. Let's go take a stroll." As they walked out of the building, Pam asked. "So those people that I'll be training..."
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
Continued...