[Sticks]

Episode V – Proditor

Betrayer

What is betrayal?
What is treachery?

If you sell someone out for money, like Judas did when he betrayed the Son of God with a kiss that is clear cut.

If you pass secrets to a foreign power, so is that

But if an Asian girl or boy wants to find a partner out side of their faith or not one that is arranged, is that betrayal. From the number of honour killings, it seems that to some the answer is a definite yes. If one is good and marries the person chosen for them, even though they do not want to, is that betraying themselves, a hard one.

Now it seems that the troll chamberlain believes that the Clan Chiefs of the Rachtal and the Manjura are guilty of treachery, and has replied with a betrayal of his own, the murder and decapitation of the Clan Chief of the Rachtal, and the throwing in his lot with the sect of the Magnus Timor, in such a was as to join in the wiping out of the troll citadel and the slaughter of the human team sent in to investigate the sect. A sect that has procured American military hardware and has been using them to deadly effect

- - -

Heathrow Terminal Five
(International Departure Lounge)
London, England

The elderly American gentleman sat on the seat, drinking from a carton of orange juice as he looked at the display board for his flight to be called.

Suddenly someone tapped him on the left shoulder

The elderly man turned round to see a man in his thirties in a black jacket, shirt and tie. He was also wearing an earpiece, “Can I help you?” the elderly man replied
“Mr Vee” the man in the jacket replied
“I’m so sorry” the elderly man answered, “You must be confusing me with somebody else”
“I’m afraid not sir” the man pressed, “The Chairman has requested I intercept you”
“I really must insist that you are confusing me with someone else” the elderly man insisted
“Sir we don’t have time for this, we have a code Delta Orange”

The elderly man paused and then stood up, “Identification” he demanded
The man in the black suit produced a badge and showed it to the elderly man
“Well I was heading back that way” the elderly man replied, “And since we no longer have Concorde I am getting back to DC as fast as I can”
“We don’t need your presence in DC” the man in the suit countered, “We need the device in your hand luggage, the one you used diplomatic privilege to get through security”

The elderly man glowered at the man in the suit, “Did the colonel ask for this”
“No sir, he is out of touch, the Chairman ordered it personally”

The elderly man picked up his travel bag and put it on the seat, opened it and pulled out something looking like a Geiger counter and handed it to the man in the black suit. “Anything else?” the elderly man asked
“Yes”
“What”
“I hope you have a safe trip back to DC”

Suddenly from behind the man in the black suit came a smaller man, who appeared to be suffering from dwarfism, the man in the black suit handed him the device.
“Greatly appreciated” the little man said, and then vanished.
“You do realise we have just given up a capability we should have for ourselves” the elderly man said with a hint of anger
“No we haven’t sir” the man in the black suit replied, “We’re using it”

* * *

Karam Tag Chou
The Mystical Realms

The Clan Chief of the Manjura stared in disbelief at the severed head of the Clan Chief of the Rachtal, the clan chief that was responsible for the upkeep of Karam Tag Chou, since the treachery of the clan chief of original holders of that duty, the Delethon.

All around them were the sounds of automatic weapons fire as dragon riders mowed down troll guards and human soldiers and technicians alike. The burning army truck just in front seemed to provide a partial cover from the attacking dragon riders and their Earth originated missiles.

“What do you mean we were the real traitors?” the Clan Chief of the Manjura snarled, “I was ever loyal to the emperor, the Rachtal proved his loyalty several fold”
“I am not talking about loyalty to a weak pathetic human stand in” the Troll Chamberlain countered, “I tried to uphold the tradition of the trolls and you humiliated me”

“What are you talking about” the clan chief retorted

“When I made sure that that female” The troll chamberlain continued, pointing at Jenny Green, “Was properly attired to see you, you castigated me and even took the sacred sash so she could wrap herself in it instead of displaying herself as she is not pledged”
“You betrayed us, because I and the Rachtal Clan Chief told you off for stripping almost naked a human female, who was not subject to outdated troll traditions and was passing out from the cold?” The Clan Chief shouted with incredulity
“That is only part of it, you have been defying other traditions related to how we ran things. Those traditions are what made us great, and I can not bear to see you defy them and allow that human to defy them” the Troll Chamberlain screamed back, “For that you will pay”. Suddenly a flash of light darted from the staff and hit Jenny square on as she tried to get up and turn around on the back seat of the jeep she was in
“JENNY” Commander Mark Johnston screamed

The shock of the blast caused Jenny to fall over and she lay across the back seat.
Suddenly Jenny noticed all her clothes dissolving into nothing, this troll chamberlain definitely had a thing against women wearing clothes. As she lay there stunned and naked, she realised that she still had her short bow and quiver with her in the back, but first things first. Jenny grabbed an arrow and her short bow, quickly strung a bow and loosed one off at the troll chamberlain, and then ducked behind the back seat of the jeep, just in case he was wearing an amulet of protection. While she was hiding she retrieved the skirt fragment from the side pouch on the quiver and quickly pulled it on.

“Good Shot” Jenny heard the Clan Chief of the Manjura yelled.
She had hit her target, the Troll Chamberlain was down

“Clan Chief” Colonel Samuel Peters yelled, “Get in the back, Mark get us out of here”
“Where Sam” Mark shouted, “There are armed units coming up from the main gate”

“Through there” Samuel ordered as he pointed towards the palace gardens, “There’s an exit into the mountain pass”

The Clan Chief troll climbed into the back left passenger seat with Jenny on the right, “I wish I had my trusty cross bow he lamented”

Mark put the jeep into gear, and steered to the left of the burning truck, and through a delicate fence into the palace gardens.

Most of the team from Earth were now dead, killed in the initial missile attack or cut down by the dragon riders, and it seemed all that were left were the Colonel, the Commander and Jenny. The surprise airborne attack with dragons, missiles, crossbows and machine guns had proved decisive.

Jenny saw a female lab technician and a British commando running for their lives from the palace across the palace garden, yelling at them to stop and pick them up. To Jenny’s horror she then witnessed as a dragon was brought down to use it’s breath to incinerate them with a fireball.

Jenny so much wanted to put an arrow into that rider, but the dragon was pulled up, to put it between Jenny’s arrow and the rider. He had obviously seen Jenny’s first kill

The Jeep ploughed over the flower beds and headed for the fence. It seemed odd that the Citadel at the lower end had massive stone towers to defend against attack, yet this end was hardly defended at all, but then they always thought the attack would have come from the lower end, and the Karam mountains were to be the defensive barrier at the upper end.

Beyond the fence lay a road up the Karam Mountains, only just wide enough for the jeep, and it was a hard mountain pass for anyone to navigate, hence there had never been the need for fortifications at this end. Well it was until now, with tamed dragons and riders with modern weapons from Earth it was an open door to attack.

The dragon that had incinerated the couple wheeled around in order to get another attack run.

“Why are they not firing missiles at us Sam” Mark asked, “We are sitting ducks on this road”
“Most likely they are reserved for razing the citadel” Samuel suggested
“Or they need them to attack the central city” the Clan Chief of the Manjura chipped in.

The dragon was getting closer, and getting ready to blow another fireball.

Suddenly bullets started to hit the road to the side of the Jeep. The rider was choosing to use a machine gun while the dragon was forming a fireball to launch.

It was now or never, Jenny loosed an arrow at the rider, but he dodged it and it sailed passed harmlessly.

She grabbed for another arrow, if she did not score a hit, this time, they were dead

Suddenly a lightning bolt came from nowhere and hit the dragon. Jenny saw the rider suddenly scream and then fry as the electrical discharge ran through his body.

There was a flap of wings and another dragon seemed to be in play, this one was bronze in colour instead of red or black like the others
“Bronze dragon” Yelled the clan Chief of the Manjura, “sworn enemy of reds and blacks” then he added “Jenny get down, these dragons are no friend of trolls or humans either”

Jenny turned around and sat facing forward in the jeep as one is supposed to.
“Buckle up” Mark shouted
“What if we get attacked again” Jenny countered, “I’m the only defence we have”
“Do it” Samuel ordered, “they seem to be concentrating now on securing the citadel”

Jenny did her seatbelt up, which felt odd, given that the Troll Chamberlain had yet again removed her clothes, just to satisfy some misogynist tradition.
“The Troll Chamberlain, did I kill him?” Jenny asked the troll clan chief
The troll clan chief nodded. “Yes indeed, you hit him in the neck” the clan chief beamed, “Are you sure you are not Athena of the Spirit of the huntress”
“No clan chief” Jenny replied, “I told you, junior champion in 2000 Northumberland Archery finals”

As they drove up the mountain pass, Mark looked at the fuel gauge, “We only have enough fuel for ten clicks” he yelled
Samuel turned around in his front seat to speak to the troll clan chief, and spotted the way Jenny was now dressed, “I thought I said twenty first century Amazons”
“Sorry Sir” Jenny shouted back, “The troll chamberlain had other ideas, so maybe I’m supposed to just wear this” Jenny added putting her hands on the shortened skirt, the only piece of clothing she had.
“Well he’s dead and he’s not your CO, I am, and I prefer you to wear more than that when on duty”
Jenny shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t have anything else to put on sir”
Samuel realised there was not a lot Jenny could do, so he spoke to the Clan Chief of the Manjura, “Clan Chief” Samuel pressed, “Will that orb work now”

The Clan Chief of the Manjura tried again, but nothing, “Sorry Colonel, something is still blocking it”
“Mark” Samuel then ordered, “Do we have any blanket’s in the back, Modesty and decency aside, Jenny is going to be in danger of hypothermia in these mountains”

Now that the colonel had mentioned it, Jenny was feeling cold, since all she was wearing was a shortened skirt and nothing else.
“Our gear was in the lorry that was hit Sam” Mark replied
“I wish I had brought my clan chief robe” the troll chipped in, “I could have given her that to keep warm if I had”

Suddenly the bronze dragon flew over them and upwards, eyeing all those in the jeep, then it flew down to pull level with the Jeep as the vehicle drove up the mountain path by the side of a cliff. The bronze dragon had now dealt with the red dragon and was obviously pursuing them for its next meal.

Samuel pulled out his automatic to try and shoot the dragon.
“Their hide is too thick” The troll shouted, “Even an arrow from Miss Green would not penetrate”
“I’ll have to try when it opens its mouth” Samuel shouted back.

“Colonel Peters come in, over” came Sue-Lim’s voice over the colonel’s walkie-talkie

The bronze dragon over flew and whirled up into the sky, and then it flew round and landed on the road in front of them looking mean, forcing the commander to stop the jeep.

“Colonel Peters come in, over” Sue-Lim was again heard over the radio

The colonel grabbed the radio, “I thought I told you to stay on Earth” he yelled
“I have” Sue-Lim replied, “We’ve opened an artificial wormhole just outside the citadel”
“Close it” Samuel yelled, “We were ambushed there by the sect”
“OK I have your position Colonel” Sue-Lim replied, “Stand by she added” then the radio once again fell silent

They were all eyeing the bronze dragon as it glowered at the Jeep

“It is wondering how we taste” the Manjura Clan Chief whispered, “The Reds and the Bronzes normally keep each other in check”

The bronze dragon started to inch forward, it seemed hungry for humans and troll

Suddenly there was the sound of a wormhole vortex behind them, Jenny craned her neck round to see it, to her surprise this one was green, just like the one that the lab technician Timothy Zachary had vanished into after his dealings with the doppelganger assassins had been exposed some months previously.

“Is that generator outside or in a lab” Samuel yelled into the radio.
“Inside an adapted store room Colonel” Came Sue-Lim’s voice.
“Everyone out and go for the worm hole” Samuel ordered and slowly opened his door, all the time looking at the bronze dragon

The dragon lifted its head up

Suddenly it pointed with its claw at another dragon in the distance with a rider that was closing in on them.

Mark looked up at the approaching dragon, “I think they may have a missile launcher of some description” then as he looked at where the bronze dragon was, it had gone and in its place there was an elf, a healer by the look of it.
“Hadal my friend” The Clan Chief of the Manjura exclaimed with some joy, “I thought you were killed in the attack”

Suddenly from the sky, came the tell tale sound of a missile launch, and the sound of beating wings as the dragon change course away from then.

“That’s fire and forget” Mark remarked with out thinking
“RUN” Yelled the colonel

* * *

RAF Welford
Berkshire / Wiltshire Border
England, Earth

[img=600x400]http://stratojetman.googlepages.com/HQBomb.jpg/HQBomb-full.jpg[/img]

Mark and Jenny emerged through the green vortex at speed followed by the Clan Chief of the Manjura at RAF Welford, and were only just able to stop before crashing into the wall of the converted storeroom,

The Colonel and the elf were last through, seconds before the missile was due to strike the Jeep, “Shut that down” the Colonel ordered Sue-Lim, “NOW” he added

Sue-Lim immediately flicked a switch, and the green wormhole dissipated instantly
“What happened?” Pete asked
“We were betrayed by the Troll Chamberlain” The Clan Chief of the Manjura added, “I am so sorry about the loss of so many of your comrades, we have lost many good trolls this day too”

“What do you mean loss of comrades?” Sue-Lim asked “Where is everyone else? I need to open the gate to look for more survivors” she added, trying to make an adjustment on the artificial inter-dimensional wormhole generator
Samuel walked over to Sue-Lim and gently pulled her hand away from the controls “I’m sorry Sue-Lim” Samuel told her, “They’re gone, it’s just us, we were ambushed with dragons, missiles and automatic weapons, it was a massacre, the rest were just wiped out”
“What about Jason?” Pete pressed

The colonel sighed, and then spoke, “I’m sorry, he was in the truck when the first missile hit, he never stood a chance”
Sue-Lim started to shake her head, “No” she kept repeating as she turned fled from the room in tears

“I’ll go after her” Jenny volunteered
“Not like that you won’t” Mark cut in, and then removed his military jacket and held it out to Jenny so she could put it on to cover herself, she had forgotten she was almost naked.
“I better go” Pete offered, still shell shocked himself at the news, and then he turned and ran out the room

Jenny put down her bow and quiver of remaining arrows and slid one arm into the sleeve as Mark held the jacket, then the other and then closed it up and buttoned it up. In normal circumstances, she would have made a comment about liking his smell, but this was not the time or place, so she just gave out a “Thank you Mark” and continued into a shell shocked state, as what had happened began to sink in.

“Were they close?” The Clan Chief of the Manjura asked pointing at the door where Sue-Lim and Pete had left
“Sue-Lim, Pete and Jason ran our former annexe, so you could say that” Mark answered
“And Jason was her beloved?” the Clan Chief pressed
“No, he was her friend, Pete is her boyfriend” Mark replied, “But I think they all grew up together, did the same course at university and were recruited together”

Samuel found a chair and sat down, bent over and put his head in his hands, and then he straightened up.

“What the hell happened?” Samuel asked
“We were betrayed by the troll Chamberlain” The Clan Chief of the Manjura replied
“I’m not talking about that b******d, how did people from your world get hold of hand launched missiles with fire sand forget capability”

There was a cough

It was Paddy McGurty, a leprechaun in the service of the G2 special section, the Republic of Ireland’s intelligence service.
“Colonel” Paddy said softly, “I believe a certain Kathryn wants to speak to you on that MTAC thingy of yours”
“What?”
“It was she who ordered that the artificial wormhole generator thingy be obtained from Mr Vee”

“That’s an irony Sam” Mark cut in, “since it was his aide who ordered its construction and at the same time tried to kill us”

Samuel, just looked up at Mark and Jenny next to him, wearing the commander’s jacket, “That was some driving Mark, and that was some shooting Jenny, now Mark, take Jenny back to your billet so she can get dressed and equip her with new combat fatigues”

“Sure Sam” Mark replied and gently guided Jenny out of the room by the arm
As they left the room and stood in the corridor Jenny asked, “Is he ok?”
“He is always this way after a mission when we have taken casualties” Mark explained, “But we have never had it this bad”

Just then, next to exit the room were Hadal the elf and the Clan Chief of the Manjura.
The elf looked around, “So this is the Realm of Mortals?” he said in a European sounding accent.
“Is this your first time here?” Jenny enquired.
“It is for me” Hadal replied.
“The last time I was in your world, I was in your city of London, that time I worked with our emperor to defeat the Spirit of Lust” The Clan Chief of the Manjura added

“If you excuse us” Mark broke in, “Much as Jenny has a great body and looks fantastic in her Amazon warrior outfit, Sam wants her to have a bit more to wear”
“By all means” Hadel replied, “The Clan chief and I have much to discuss”
“Then I suggest we try the mess hall” the Clan Chief of the Manjura said, “Human food is so wonderful”
“Before we go” Jenny then asked the elf, “Weren’t you a bronze dragon?”
“A mere polymorph spell” Haden replied
The troll was suddenly quizzical “So magics were working on the Mystical Realms, my orb would not work so I thought all magics had been blocked”
“I had no problem” Hadal replied, “Perhaps it is magic that applies only to opening gates”

At this Mark called over a base security guard and requested that he escort the troll and the elf to the reserved mess hall, just to make sure that they were not spotted by the wider world. After all, there existence was supposed to be ultra secret.

Then Mark took Jenny back to the billet they shared, where she had some spare underwear and a few of her civilian clothes, which she put on. What she did not have were spare shoes. Next Mark took her to the base stores for new combat fatigues, and US Air Force issue boots for security guards.

The replacement of underwear and shoes, that had been disintegrated by the troll chamberlain, although not a priority, would have to be sent out for, a job that would eventually be assigned to a female member of the base staff who was Jenny’s exact size.

Mark and Jenny finished acquiring the replacement clothing and then returned to their billet, where they just sat for a while, on the bed holding each other, both still in some shock at the loss of so many comrades on such a short mission. Then they left to try and find Sue-Lim and Pete.

This sect certainly played hard ball.

* * *

An Undisclosed location
Washington DC
United States of America

Kathryn was sat her desk looking at her LCD flat screen monitor when she received the call from the secretary on the intercom.

Kathryn pressed the button to allow the secretary to connect through.

“He’s online now mam” the secretary’s voice came through the speaker
“Is Keith there?”
“Yes mam”
Kathryn closed her computer down, got up from the desk and went into the outer office, where a general in the US Marine Corps was waiting.
“How bad was it Kieth?” Kathryn asked
“It was bad Madame Chairman” the general replied, “All that returned were Colonel Peters, Commander Johnston, the British civilian and two allied IDE’s”
“The rest of them?” Kathryn asked with concern in her voice
“Slaughtered” the general replied
“What?”
“From what I have heard mam, it was a Turkey shoot, they were not expecting a surprise attack on the troll citadel”
“The moment I heard that ATF report” Kathryn began, and then paused, as her anger threatened to get the better of her, “OK let’s get to MTAC and get this over with”
“As you wish Mam” the general replied and opened the door of the outer office into the corridor and held it open for Kathryn.
“When are our agencies going to start sharing things with each other” Kathryn said in an exasperated tone as she and the general walked briskly down the corridor.
“I wish I knew Mam” the General replied
“It is because of these stupid turf wars, we have lost so many of our people today” she continued
The general kept his council
“I mean” Kathryn railed on, “We are meant to be in charge of a multi agency task force, and hardly anyone talks to us”

Together they reached the outside of the special MTAC communication room, technology recently shared by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Kathryn took a few breaths to calm down then asked the general, “How is Samuel taking this Keith?”
“Badly, we don’t usually leave anyone behind, and he was lucky to get out at all”
“My father was a marine in Vietnam” Kathryn then said, “And he was haunted to his dying day over those they left behind, so I can guess what he will be going through”

Kathryn, placed her face against the retinal scanner, which confirmed her identity. The general did the same and the two were admitted into the MTAC room.

Up on the main screen was the live feed from England, with Colonel Samuel Peters waiting to talk.

Kathryn and the general were handed a pair of headphones with a microphone, which they put on

“Can he see us?” Kathryn asked a technician
“Not yet Mam” the technician replied
“Then put him through”

Samuel blinked, then said, “It must be early morning over there Madame Chairman”
“I got back to DC pretty late, so I have been here all night” Kathryn responded
“I thought you were flying to New Hampshire”
“I was Colonel, but I had the plane turn back when I was given information we should have had a lot earlier”

Samuel looked away from the camera on him for a moment, paused then said “Madame Chairman, as I was leading the expedition to IDW01, where we lost almost all of the entire team, I feel it is my duty to tender my resignation. I believe Commander Johnston should be made the acting director of UK operations”

Kathryn cut him off, “That’s very noble of you Colonel to offer to fall on your sword, but your resignation offer is refused”
“Mam?”
“Colonel, it is easy when we mess up to walk away and let someone else clean the mess up. I believe in taking responsibility and clearing up our own mess, just like I am doing with the unnecessary assault, detention and shoddy treatment of the former minor spirits of virtue and their families. Also to be frank, the commander may be an able deputy, but I need someone of your calibre and we do not have time to search for someone else. Plus in your case I do not believe it was your mess”
“Mam, I was...”
Kathryn was still cutting the colonel off, “Colonel, this tragedy was caused by the reluctance of the ATF to be a bit more forthcoming in the sharing of intelligence.”
“What did they have?” Samuel asked
“The ATF were investigating two arms dealers who stole twenty Lockheed Martin FGM-172 Short-Range Assault Weapons and a number of automatic small arms. The bodies of these arms dealers were found dead yesterday and the autopsy performed by the local M E indicated that their windpipes had been collapsed with no sign of visible trauma on the skin”
“That sounds very much like how Darth Vader killed people in Star Wars” Samuel responded, “or telekinetic powers found in some elves in IDW01”
“Exactly, and they were asking their friends in the FBI and the CIA if they knew how it could have been done. We only picked it up when a contact of ours in the NSA picked it up when the M E’s assistant was talking to one of his friends in Jordan who was on their watch list. The ATF, the CIA or the FBI did not think to consult us”
“Hardly surprising Mam, since we are classed as Ultra secret” Samuel replied.
“But the top people in those agencies were told when the organisation was set up, if there was anything unexplained by conventional means, they were to report the matter to us, and the ATF hierarchy were aware of these unexplained deaths of a notorious gun runner and failed to pass this on”
“So why the hell did they not tell us?” Samuel asked angrily

“Two words Colonel” Kathryn replied, “Turf wars”

“So what now?” Samuel asked, “We can’t blame these losses on insurgent action in Iraq or Afghanistan to the relatives as some of them will know they were not deployed there, we don’t even have the bodies and what about those morons who kept this important detail about this group being armed to the teeth from us”
“Leave that to the Committee Colonel” Kathryn insisted, “We still have this threat from the IDW01 based Magnus Timor sect to deal with, especially if they are obtaining heavy weapons, carrying out assassinations in both worlds and detonating bombs in London. I can’t begin to express the strategic importance of having an off world bolthole should we need one”
“We also have another issue Madame Chairman” Samuel then said
“What’s that?”
“We have found evidence both on Earth and on IDW01 that in 1969 a secret manned soviet spacecraft bound for the moon was brought from our universe to theirs. That was the last time this sect made a bid to overthrow the trolls, except that time they did not have the ATF letting them have heavy weapons from Earth”
“I never heard of such a space mission”
“Neither did we until we found physical evidence from IDW01, it looks like the history of the Soviet space effort was heavily sanitised”
“Do you believe they are linked to the current situation?”
“Sure do, that was part of what we were going to do, find the area where an artefact from that space craft was found, see if there was any more of it”

“OK Colonel, see what you can find in terms of evidence, and take what ever precautions you see fit. We will send you any details on how to defend against those missiles if we can find any”

At this point the general spoke up, “Colonel, is there anyway we can send in troops to retake Karam Tag Chow for the trolls”
“No General, the only means of reaching IDW01 seems to be via the orbs controlled by the leprechauns and the one artificial wormhole generator. They do not provide a big enough wormhole to get even a jeep through. Only the troll ones could just about do that and the trolls lost most of their orbs in the attack, even the Clan Chief of the Manjura’s orb is being blocked somehow”

Kathryn briefly glowered at the general for interrupting, then turned back to the main screen, “Colonel, I know what we agreed with the trolls, but get Sue-Lim to construct more artificial generators, and see if they can be scaled up to allow heavy equipment to be transported”
“Understood Madame Chairman, although I hear the Clan Chief of the Manjura is glad we had our own inter dimensional wormhole capability”
“How is he?”
“Angry, the Clan Chief of the Rachtal was murdered by this group and he is worried about the long term stability of the troll and gnoll alliance as he is not sure how progressive the successor clan chief will be”
“Let him know Colonel, we will do everything in our power to restore the troll government to IDW01 and that the US will not stand for such outrageous armed aggression against the legitimate government”
“I’ll tell him that Madame Chairman, but I think he knows that.”
“OK Colonel, Committee Chairman signing out”

At that the screen went blank as Kathryn and the General handed back their headsets

“I need to start bashing some heads together” Kathryn told the general as they walked up to the exit.
“Good luck on that Mam” the General replied
“About those we lost?” Kathryn asked
“Ascribe the losses to training accidents or say they were working with special forces” The general replied, “We sometimes did that when some of our guys once got shot by a husband in Central America who thought they were cheating with his wife”
“Can you sort that out Keith?” Kathryn
“Already on it Madame Chairman”

The two left the MTAC room and entered the corridor and were about to go there separate ways, when there was the sound of lightning in the corridor.

Suddenly a blue spot appeared in mid air, which grew into a swirling vortex.

“Mam” said the General, “They don’t open friendly wormholes in this place and they already said the trolls have lost that capability”

Kathryn and the General started to run down the corridor as the wormhole continued to grow, Kathryn shouted at the various guard in the corridor to get clear, while the general tried to use his radio to send out a warning, but it was being jammed.

They managed to reach a bend in the corridor when they heard the sound of a large fireball approaching. Even here they would be incinerated, and at the rate it travelled there would be no way they could escape it.

“Come with me Madame Chairman” an unexpected male Irish voice sounded
“You too General” said another Irish voice.

Suddenly Kathryn and the General were outside the building in the early dawn with two leprechauns; as they witnessed a wall of the building they were in explode.

Then there was another explosion, where the MTAC was held.

“Oh My goodness me” said one of the leprechauns

Suddenly another set of leprechauns appeared with the staff from the MTAC room.

“That was a close one” one of the leprechauns said as he mopped his brow.

“What the hell just happened?” the General demanded
“Isn’t it obvious sir” the Leprechaun retorted
“What he means” Kathryn cut in, “Why were we attacked and how did they manage to find us, and how did you manage to find us”
“Well Madame Chairman” Began the leprechaun, “To answer the last part first, since the ambush at Karam Tag Chou we in G2 have been monitoring for wormholes, and we detected the one that just appeared in this fine building of yours. This sect seem to be trying a classic military tactic, they are trying to take out anyone with the remotest capability of stopping their supposed big boss the Magnus Timor, from doing what they believe he wants to do, what ever that is. All we know is that it would not be good for Earth or the Mystical Realms.”
“But how did he find us here?” pressed the General
“I suspect there may have been another survivor from the troll citadel massacre who knew of the existence of a some kind of HQ based here in America, and the elven magician involved with this sect must have read his mind, because whilst you were speaking another wormhole opened near that base in England where the Colonel is and did nothing. I suspect they were back tracing your communication to here”
“But that’s a secure com channel” the General objected
“Not to elven magic and a bit of hacking from a computer literate devotee. This cult has recruited humans as well as folk from the Mystical Realms. As soon as we detected they were coming here, instead of stopping it, as we could, we dispatched every leprechaun we had to pull you out, and so they could think their attack was successful”

“Mr Leprechaun” Kathryn said in a stern voice
“Mr McTuckle” the leprechaun corrected
“OK Mr McTuckle, who is this Magnus Timor?”
“Oh him, according to the legend he was a very powerful monster, but he did not come from the Mystical Realms, he came from this world, and he was banished to the Mystical Realms a long time ago, but nobody apart from that sect seriously believes he exists”

“I’m not so sure Mr McTuckle” Kathryn replied, then pointed to the building that was in flames, “especially if they are prepared to attack American targets on American soil in his name”

“With all due respect Madame Chairman” Mr McTuckle countered, “Does that mean you believe in the existence of Allah after nine eleven?”

* * *

CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research
The Franco – Swiss Border

Two scientists, Frank and Pierre were pouring over the latest data and images from the Large Hadron Collider

Pierre ran some computations through the computer program he had developed himself

While they were waiting for a result, Charlene came back with the coffees. “Next time get your own” she told them, “I have a PhD you know and it is not in making coffee”

“Sorry” Pierre replied, “I have been getting strange results from a little side calculation of the data, and I did not want to break my train of thought by going to the coffee machine”

Charlene handed Frank and Pierre their coffees and pulled up a chair to sit down.
“Charlene, why are you here?” Frank asked.
“Because I work here?”
“No, you are one of the best research students into string theory and M Theory and you have been assigned to our team?”
“Someone pulled the funding” Charlene replied, “I understand it was a government order, my professor never explained why, only that if I wanted to continue, then I would have to do it under government supervision. There is no way I could agree to do that, because I suspected they wanted me to work on the Quark bomb or something like that, so I switched to looking for the Higgs Boson”
“That must have upset your family?” Frank said, “Weren’t they a military family”
“Doesn’t mean I have to be” Charlene retorted, “When I told my mother I was coming to CERN to work on the LHC, she even asked if I cared that I might be bringing about the destruction of the world”
“Not that old chestnut”
“I know Frank, I tried to explain that there were more energetic particles hitting the atmosphere and the Moon, and we have not seen any strangelets or micro black holes gobbling us up. I even tried to explain Hawking Radiation, but I think it went over her head by the way her eyes glazed over”
“Some people are just stubbornly ignorant” Frank sighed

“It has finis!” Pierre exclaimed, and then sighed, “But as before, something does not add up”
“Well I can not see what you are doing wrong Pierre” Frank told him, “Maybe there is a dodgy detector somewhere”
“Mais Non!” The engineers are adamant, “There is nothing wrong with the equipment” Pierre insisted
“Can I have a look?” Charlene enquired, “I would like to try a hunch, based on my former work. If it gives out just the same duff results, we can go back to what you were trying”
“Be our guest” Pierre offered and let Charlene in at the terminal.

It took about twenty minutes before Charlene finished the amending the program to analyse the data, saved it under her name to preserve the original one and then she set it to compile.
“Your trouble guys” she enthused, “Was that you were thinking in only three dimensions and not eleven”
“String theorists” Frank muttered

After five minutes, the program reported that it had compiled ok, so Charlene ran it.

After another five minutes, it gave a read out that finally added up.

“Oh My” Pierre exclaimed, “There are decay products going off into the eleventh dimension”

Frank leaned forward to look at the display, then scrolled it down, “This is even more odd” then he invited Pierre and Charlene to look at the extra data.
“Sacra Bleu, that is impossible” Pierre uttered
“Echoes?” Charlene added then pondered “It looks like, some of your decay products were hitting something in another universe and being bounced back”
“Another Universe?” Pierre questioned
“Yes” Charlene chimed, “Another universe, did you never look at M-Theory”
“That I did Mademoiselle, but it was all theoretical, there has been no way of proving that these other membrane universes exist”
“Until now” Charlene replied.

Frank closed the program and then deleted Charlene’s revised program

“Why did you do that for?” Charlene asked him
“Maybe that is why the government wanted you off of the case of M-Theory, in case you found another membrane universe”
“But we found it anyway?” Charlene insisted, “This is Nobel prize material, the final proof of another universe”

“Charlene, I think you are a bright and intelligent research physicist, but you still have a lot to learn, sometimes we have to hold on to what we know because of the political climate”
“But..”
“The government wanted this hushed up, and we have had enough problems from doom mongers saying this project will destroy the world, and we do not want anyone pulling the plug. So we need to keep this to ourselves”

“But what do we say about how the data does not fit the three dimensional world models?” Charlene asked, indignantly
“We will just ascribe it to what we always do, experimental limits of the equipment”

* * *

RAF Welford
Berkshire / Wiltshire Border
England, Earth

[img=600x400]http://stratojetman.googlepages.com/HQBomb.jpg/HQBomb-full.jpg[/img]

Samuel came and sat at the head of the conference table in the board room for the afternoon briefing.

Around the table the humans were Jenny Green, Commander Mark Johnston, Sue-Lim Wang and Pete Smith; of entities from the Mystical Realms were Hogan O’Brian and Paddy McGurty the leprechauns from G2, Hadal the elf and the Clan Chief of the Manjura

“First of all” Samuel open with, “You may or may not know that just after I spoke with the chairman of the Committee, their building in DC was attacked by someone in the Mystical Realms and destroyed”
There were gasps and murmurings from around the table
“The sect no doubt” interrupted Paddy McGurty
“We believe so” Samuel continued, “But thanks to the intervention by our Irish partners, no lives were lost” then he paused and added, “That time thank G-d”
“The idea, I was told” Paddy interjected again, “Was that by making them think they succeeded, we prevent any further attacks on the office of the chairman of the committee”
“Well” Samuel went on, “It means it is not just us who have had to find an alternate base of operations. But we still have a problem; this sect is planning something big, and we need to find out what it is and stop them once and for all. I need not remind you, that this sect is dangerous and those in it are killers”

Pete raised his hand, “Does this mean we are abandoning the hunt for the remains of the soviet space craft. I mean the presence of the piece from the space suit, has to mean that it made a successful entry onto the planet”
“Are you referring to the legend of the two men from the sky?” Hadal cut in.
“You never told me this legend when I was growing up” The Clan Chief of the Manjura interrupted.

Samuel banged a pen on the table, “Can we have some order here please. We have a lot to get through”

The room fell silent

“Thank you” Samuel replied, “According to what we know, a previous version of this sect occurred back in 1969 when this space craft vanished, which was also the last time all the moons around the planet Mystical Realms were in alignment”
“That is not quite accurate” Hadal cut in.
Samuel briefly glowered at him.
Hadal then continued, “There was an alignment, but it was not quite the full alignment due in a few days, our nearest moon was one half of a thumb’s distance in the sky ahead from true alignment by the time the furthest moon lined up.”
“It was enough of an alignment to bring the sect out, all those years ago” Hogan countered, and then he looked at the Colonel staring at him and shut up.

“Ok Hadal” Samuel continued, “You mentioned something about legend of two men from the sky”
“Indeed Colonel” Hadal began, “It was an obscure one, and seldom believed by those who heard it”
“But what is the legend” Samuel pressed
“A metal vessel came down in the mountains over looking the central city, slowed by large sheets of cloth. In which there were two human males, who spoke in a strange language when a troll patrol found them. They were captured by a brave troll party, after they had used some kind of metal tube to spit death at them”
“That would have been a rifle” Pete interrupted, “The Voskhod 2 capsule in 1965 came down in Russia off target and the cosmonauts had to spend the night in a forest surrounded by a pack of wolves, after that it was said all soviet missions carried a rifle”
“Thank you Pete” Samuel cut in, “Do continue Hadel”
“Well the Clan Chief of the Manjura’s grandfather so it goes was given the task to interrogate the men, to find out who they were and if they had any connection with the sect, which by then had started to disband. Some from that sect were to say under torture that their leader, the Magnus Timor had not been able to fully awaken but his promise of a new world out of two was merely postponed. But as to these two men, it was believed that they were quietly executed as they were of no further use, for we never hear of them again”
“But what of the spacecraft” Samuel asked, “Did the trolls do anything with it?”
“For all I know, if this ever happened , they saw no use for it, as they found no treasure, so they left it to the wild beasts of the mountains” Hadal answered

“So what do we know of this sect’s leader, the Magnus Timor, apart from it meaning Great Fear in Latin”

Sue Lim raised her hand and Samuel invited her to speak, “Well according to an ancient obscure Roman legend, the Magnus Timor was some dragon like creature that appeared in around four hundred BC. One man claimed to have found a rock he saw fall from the sky, probably a meteorite, but he also went around saying that his grandfather had seen evidence of dead monsters and was ridiculed for believing in them, the way the legend goes, I suspect his grandfather had just seen dinosaur fossils. Well one night after telling tales of these monsters as he sat around this meteorite, the legend says, one of them arrived, in the form of a winged reptile”
“Like a dragon?” Samuel asked
“Yes sir, well this dragon was called by the people of the village the Magnus Timor, because it filled the locals with a great fear, and it seems according to the legend the creature adopted the name for itself. It then demanded the villagers pay it tribute in the form of sacrificing their children to it. The villagers were on the point of casting lots as to whose child would be first to be sacrificed, when the man who found the meteorite, decided he could not allow his own children to be sacrificed to the beast. He reasoned that somehow this meteorite may have held the dragon imprisoned, so used a bit of the meteorite to make a spear head and he also he ground a small piece of it and ate it”

“Yuck” Pete exclaimed
“Well” Continued Sue-Lim, “The legend said that he became almost like a ghost as he went up against the dragon. The other members of the village believed that there might be some power in the meteorite, so they gathered around it and prayed to the various local gods they worshipped for deliverance”
“And what happened next?” Samuel asked
“According to the legend, their gods answered them, and a giant vortex dragged away the dragon, with the man who had just speared it in it’s back, and even the meteorite was pulled away, and so the people of the village were spared, until a hundred years later when they were slaughtered by the Romans, which is probably why the legend is not well known. It only surfaced in 1937 but the Second World War meant that it was never followed up”

“Until now” Samuel commented, then looking at the non-humans asked, “This sect of the Magnus Timor, must mean he is known to your lot on the Mystical Realms

“Colonel” The Clan Chief of the Manjura opened with, “All I know, like others on our world, is that our world was shaped by something called the collective unconscious of humans in this universe. That was how we also got the major spirits of virtue who either became, or assumed the identity of gods to ancient peoples in your world. They were the embodiment of virtues or vices, in human form, and they came from near the dawn of our time”

“Sam” Mark cut in, “Maybe this meteorite somehow was responsible for the creation of the Mystical Realms universe”
“I don’t see how Mark” Samuel replied, “How can a rock create a universe”
“Thiotimoline!” Pete interjected.
“What?” Samuel asked with irritation at yet another interruption from Pete
“Thiotimoline, it was a fictitious substance invented by the late Isaac Asimov in 1948” Pete explained, “It supposedly dissolved 1.12 seconds before water was added, because it had chemical bonds going into the fourth dimension”
“What has that got to do with anything” Samuel asked
“Suppose this ancient meteorite was made out of something that existed in more than three dimensions and all this guy saw was it’s projection in to 3-D space. And suppose this meteorite was radio-active in those extra dimensions, so the guys thoughts and those of the others caused it to…”

“I think we get the picture” Sam interrupted, “Somehow the origin of the Mystical Realms universe, and this dragon legend are linked to some obscure legend, but why has a cult arisen in the Mystical Realms, around this creature twice now, and why have they been attacking both us and the troll authorities”
“And what has this got to do with that missing space ship?” Pete added.

Samuel glared at him for a second, then added, “and that too, if anything”

There was a cough

It was Hadal

“Colonel, Clan Chief” Hadal asked, “If I may, I may have an answer to some of this, since as an elven healer and magician, part of my learning was in ancient lore and ancient myths of our world”
“Yes” Beamed the troll clan chief, “And I remember you telling me some of the stories as a child”

“Not all of them my liege” Hadal replied, “Some were kept from you as a troll youngling to save you from terrors of the night”
“You mean nightmares?” Jenny asked.
“Yes Miss Green” Hadal answered, “As you say in your world, nightmares”
“I think we are all grown out of that phase” Samuel cut back in.
“My Regrets Colonel” Hadal said, and then went on to continue, “Our legend of the Magnus Timor starts when at the dawn of time when he crashed into our world, with a spear in his back, locked in combat with a mortal man. Needless to say the mortal man was defeated, although some legends say he was absorbed into the Magnus Timor, but the beast was severely wounded, and had to hide in the Karam Mountains to recover. In time as he recovered, a number of elves, dwarves, gnomes and other races came across him, and so fearsome was he, that they brought tribute and sacrifices. The Magnus Timor was a vain creature and delighted in the attention, but deep down he wanted revenge on the Realm of Mortals as he called them for not worshipping him”
“Oh great!” Pete commented, “A dragon with a chip on its shoulder”

Hadal glared at Pete and then continued, “The Magnus Timor claimed that it had the power to open a gate to the realm of Mortals and was building an army when a number of the early Major Spirits of Vice and Virtue joined forces, as they had the ability to travel to the Realm of Mortals where they delighted in playing the role of deities invented by the humans, and used magics to subdue and imprison the Magnus Timor and scatter his followers. They did try and kill him, but such was the fear exhibited by the races on Earth and in our world, that they could only detain him in the fire mountains. With his power to open up portals, they got powerful elven wizards to place an eternal sleep spell upon him, but as he was succumbing to the spell he promised vengeance against both worlds, even threatening to destroy them both and take his loyal followers to a new world he would create. In light of this threat, the trolls came in, at the request of the high elf, and those who had followed the Magnus Timor, were hunted down and killed. In return, the trolls took scales from the back of the Magnus Timor”

“What would the trolls want with a batch of dragon scales?” Hogan asked, “There are plenty of other dragons around”

“Are, my Leprechaun friend” Hadal went on, “Where do you think the dimension jump orbs came from”

At this the Clan Chief of the Manjura took out his dimension jump orb.
“Does that think work here?” Samuel asked
“Barely, as soon as a gate forms in our world, it closes down”
“The artificial one only worked” Sue Lim chipped in, “Because in this universe it’s physics which dominates rather than magic, which so far they have not found a way to block”
“Our means of travel between worlds is based on a slightly different form of magic, but is limited in what we can take through on our person” Paddy McGurty added as he took out a ring with a small gemstone on it

COUGH, COUGH

“Sorry Hadal” Samuel said, “Was there more?”
“Only that the elven spell was placed when the moons happened to be most spread apart”
“Meaning?” Samuel asked
“When the moons align, then the spell is at its weakest” Hadal explained

It was Mark this time who interrupted, “But come on, since this spell allegedly was done on this mythical Magnus Timor, how many times have your moons been in alignment?”
“A good many times commander, and although the spell was weakened at those times, it was still enough to keep the Magnus Timor asleep”

“Until 1969” Pete ventured
“What do you mean by that Pete?” Samuel asked
“This soviet space craft vanishes through some big rip in space, you heard the sound file Colonel” Pete insisted. “It was at the time of another alignment, and a previous incarnation of the Magnus Timor sect.”
“But even with a weakened spell” Hadal insisted, “He was imprisoned under the Fire Mountains, nothing could get through to stir him from his perpetual slumber”
“Something must have” Pete countered, “And maybe something else maybe waking it up right now, otherwise why would this sect bother”

“What do you want to do Sam?” Mark asked
“I’m not quite sure Mark” Sam replied then asked “If we found more wreckage, is there any way we could determine if the rip in space were some kind of wormhole generated by this Magnus Timor?”
“I might be able to detect some residue” Hadal suggested, “But we know it would have to have been him, he was the only being powerful enough to create such a crossing”
“There might be something in any onboard recording equipment” Pete suggested, “Plus in order to enter the atmosphere they would have had to have ditched the lunar module somewhere. It could either have burnt up in the atmosphere, in orbit”
“Or lost in deep space” Mark cut in.
“OK then” Samuel told the room, “Our first job is to locate the wreckage if we can with a small expeditionary force, while Sue-Lim and Pete stay here on Earth and beef up the artificial wormhole generator”
“Then we send in the cavalry?” Mark asked
“Something like that” Samuel replied, “Right we need to get on with this now”

“What can I do?” The Clan Chief of the Manjura asked
“Sit tight here on Earth” Samuel replied,
“But I have fought at your side before” the troll insisted
“That time was different, once we stop this sect, since they have killed the Clan Chief of the Rachtal there’s a power vacuum” Samuel told him, then added, “We will need you to help restore order and try and prevent another civil war”

“Jenny and I will go with Hogan and find that space craft” Mark offered
“No Mark, not this time” Samuel told him, “I want you and Jenny with me and Hadal in case we can find this Magnus Timor if it exists, so we can take it out, or at least the leadership of the Magnus Timor sect”
“So who gets to go hunting for the space craft” Pete piped up, “Since you want Sue-Lim and I to stay on Earth”
“Sir” Sue-Lim said, raising her hand, “I have passed my notes to what is left of fabrications to make more generators I”
Samuel cut her off, “I want you here, we need make a bigger wormhole generator to send in heavy weapons like Tanks, MLRS, attack choppers”
“With all due respect sir” Sue-Lim replied, standing up and leaning over the table, “I am tired of you cow-towing to my father on the Committee, Pete and I could help out in the search for the space craft. Pete here is a virtual expert in”
Samuel stood up and once again cut in, “Sue-Lim, what combat experience have you got”
Sue Lim shook her head, “Why do I need combat experience to hunt for the remains of an old Russian space ship”
“I thought not” Samuel replied, “Sue-Lim, this has nothing to do with who your father is, because of the activities of this sect, the whole of the Mystical Realms is a theatre of war, and no place for non combatants like you”
“But” Sue-Lim spluttered pointing at Jenny
“Jenny Green has proven herself in combat, here on Earth and on the Mystical Realms” Samuel countered

Pete stood up and gently took hold of Sue-Lim’s arm, “Come on Sue-Lim, the Colonel’s right, we would only be in the way, let’s go and work on the generators”
“I just wanted to, for Jason” Sue-Lim told Pete in a quieter voice that trembled as she mentioned her dead friend’s name.
“Come on Sue-Lim” Pete repeated, and put his arm around Sue-Lim’s shoulders and gently led her out of the room.

Once the two were out of the room, Mark spoke up, “He has a point, who are we getting to investigate the space craft”
“Well Hogan knows the area, and we can get the details of the craft from our Russian counterparts” Samuel explained
“The colonel is right Commander” Hogan added, “If too many enter into the Mystical Realms at one time, the sect will be onto them like a shot, just like last time”
“Except” added the troll clan chief, “You won’t have a treacherous Troll Chamberlain to betray you”

* * *

CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research
The Franco – Swiss Border

Frank walked outside in the open air and pulled out his pack of cigarettes, he approached on of the security guards. “vous avez une lumière?” he asked in French, “Je semble avoir le mien gauche à l'intérieur”
The security guard pulled out his lighter and lit the scientists cigarette for him
“Merci” Frank responded and then walked away to ostensibly smoke the cigarette.

As soon as he was out of sight he pulled out a small crystal rod and a mobile phone, and held both together in his right hand whilst he held the cigarette in his left hand.

Without dialling, the mobile connected.

Then Frank spoke into the mobile

“Hello, Zathan?”
Then he heard an acknowledgement over the mobile phone

“I thought I would let you know of progress”
A voice replied over the mobile

“Oh yes, I have scheduled more testing at such an intensity that he will most definitely be awakened”
another reply on the mobile

“Remember our deal; you take my son and his family to the new world”
another reply on the mobile

“Me, I have a terminal cancer, my doctor only gave me six months at the most”
another reply on the mobile

“No I have not told anyone else it”
another reply on the mobile

“You can? That would be great; I could be around on the new world with my grandchildren, that’s wonderful news”
another reply on the mobile

“Nobody suspects, but we had a near miss today”
another reply on the mobile

“One of the research assistants along with my colleague spotted that some of the collision decay products were leaving this universe and echoing back off of something”
another reply on the mobile

“I managed to dissuade her and my colleague from going down that avenue, by citing politics and suggesting we ascribe anomalies to equipment problems”
another reply on the mobile

“OK if they are a problem, I can arrange an accident if I need to, but I don’t think it will have to come to that”
another reply on the mobile

“No not even that research assistant or my colleague suspects anything”
another reply on the mobile

“OK will do, it’s a pleasure to do business with you Zathan”
another reply on the mobile

“By the way Zathan, last time when you almost awoke the Magnus Timor, which particle accelerator was the cause of the rousing?”
another reply on the mobile

“Oh the Bevatron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in America?”
another reply on the mobile

“Well there won’t be any slip ups like last time, Zathan, the LHC works at higher energy levels than those particle accelerators in the 1960’s. Zathan I guarantee, the LHC will be sufficient to full wake the Magnus Timor, and then he can have his revenge, and we will be living on a new world, wiped clean of all the dross we have both had to put up with”

With that, Frank put the phone and the crystal in his pocket, stubbed out the cigarette and headed back into the building.

To be continued