It was usual for the team to gather at Selena Ramirez's house during the teams off hours. Virgil and Crusader were watching the soccer game as Preston arrived late. Crusader was new to the team, but already he fit in like family. As far as she was concerned, Virgil and Preston were family.
Unlike Preston, she had won her divorce from that cheating bastard and she couldn't be happier. Worse luck for him, his wife was a pure T bitch and he had a son. The boy was golden and didn't fall too far from the tree as far as his old man went. His wife was no end of trouble and was now a member of the Church of Michael Archangel. At least she had wised up enough to not come after him directly, anymore. CT had beaten her ragged in the courts. The ex-Mrs. Preston seemed to have forgotten that she had left her husband, not the other way around.
Virgil was the quintessential Montana Farm boy. He even had those Scandinavian good looks and that “aw shucks” attitude. He was to powerhouse of the team and a DeVries Elite. He also was turning out to be one hell of a cop.
Crusader was a newbie Elite, also from DeVries. He was an English street kid with an overactive imagination and gave a whole new meaning to the term indestructible. He seemed to get the nuances that police work wasn't about stomping down the bad guy, but upholding the law and keeping the public safe.
Tom O'Neil kept arguing with Virgil, while Kathy Briest sat on the sofa with Crusader. Tom was Preston's younger cousin and had only been in the division a few weeks. Kathy had been with them since the beginning and was currently dating Crusader.
Aguilar, the last nova teammate and the third DeVries with the Nova Enforcement division was back in the city, on duty. He had come in with Crusader, but was a bit more standoffish.

She kept trading jibes with Crusader as she came out of the kitchen. Then she saw Preston walk over to the DVD player and insert a disc.

“Something is up,” he stated as he stepped back to join the rest of the team.
“Hey…”, Crusader's protest died in his mouth as Virgil waved him down.
“It has got to be something big,” said Virgil.
The disc kicked in and opened up to some sort of symposium. Preston began fast forwarding through it until some reddish energies tracked across the scene. The camera was panning back toward the audience. Now, the Terat known as Ashnod was addressing the assembled scientists. The baseline crowd was half in awe, half terrified. Ashnod was lecturing them on the nature of novas, eruption, and society. Some of what she said made sense, which scared Selena, but it didn't change the fact that they had kidnapped the whole forum. Ashnod cowed the baselines with her words and more so with her aberrant aura.
“The other one in the crowd isn't doing anything,” observed Virgil. Preston shook his head.
"She is keeping them in line. Keeping them calm."
Crusader looked taken aback by the whole thing.
“Is she supposed to being doing that,” he asked. “I mean, isn't someone going to stop her?”
“Not if they want to live,” replied Preston, grimly.
“Ya know, she kinda makes some sense,” put in Virgil.
“That is what makes her so dangerous, Virgil. She is either one fucked up Brahmin idealist who can't see what she is doing or she really wants to pull us into a war.”
“CT,” Tom asked, “is this going to be trouble for us?”
As if to answer the question, Preston picked up his phone. It was eerie how he no longer waited for it to ring. It was Charles Mathers, the mayor's right hand man.
“Yes, Charlie. I am watching it right now. Yes, I understand. Yes. I will be waiting for his call.” He hung up and kept watching.
Selena looked at Preston for some sort of confirmation.
"The mayor and govenor recieved the same thing. Otherwise, I have no idea who sent it, but I know it is real. Their is Drs. Chapman from Harvard and Kim from MIT. They are in KC right now."

Finally, the lecture/rant ended and the two novas twisted out of the conference.
The room was deadly silent. Kathy was looking at Crusader and she had worry in her eyes. Crusader patted her hand.
“Don't cha worry now, luv. I aint going to let any of those Teragen twists screw with my mind,” he added.
Everyone else turned to Preston, who seemed lost in thought and getting unhappier by the second. This time, he let the phone ring once.
“Yes, Mayor, I saw it.” Now he was being formal.
“I do believe it is authentic. I don't think we should make too much of it, though.
No, it wouldn't happen here.
That is what NE is for.
Yes sir, I understand we would have to do something about it.
Sir, she isn't a US citizen, at least not as Ashnod, and we would show her the door.
I doubt it sir. It would ruin her message to start an open fight with us.
Yes sir, she is a terrorist, but no violent actions can be linked to her.
Okay, sir. I will talk to the two Doctors when they get back.
I think this is a 'non-incident sir.
Either Project Utopia or the Directive, sir.
No sir. I have no idea why.
No sir. I still believe this is priviledged information. If we take this to the press on our own, we will lose the source.
Thank you, sir.”

There was a pause and Preston walked over to the glass door overlooking the back patio. He looked weary, like he knew that he wouldn't like what was about to happen. Finally, the mayor came back on.

“Yes sir, I hear you. I think that is playing right into the terrorist's hands.
We will risk becoming just as bad as we are accused of, sir.
Well sir, we don't know enough about any of this.
Yes sir, I know my duty and I know the law.
You know that isn't the case sir. She wants you to mistrust us. Her message isn't just about stroking our egos, sir. It is about making the general populace afraid of the novas that stand with you.
Why thank you sir. I assure you I appreciate the faith you put in our team, sir. It is the city's team, really sir. We all feel that way.
Preliminary work, sir? Yes, we can do that. You will need an okay from the assembly to go ahead with the real thing, though.
Yes sir. Give the governor my regards.
Yes sir. Soon.”

He hung up and looked over the room. Everyone's face had some worry in it.
“Tom, get back to town and get Conner and Daniel. No phones. Do it all in person.”
Tom nodded and left.
“Crusader, take Kathy back with you and see how Aguilar is doing. Kathy, prep some haz-mat for Basement level three, just in case.”
Crusader led Kathy out the glass door and onto the deck. He enfolded her in his arms and started rising up into the sky. He was gone in seconds.
Preston looked at Selena and felt her gentle presence in his mind. Through the link, he could hear Virgil's thoughts as well.

CT: It looks like the mayor wants us to dust off all of that Triton stuff we have been sitting on. Johan, too.
V: Man, you have got to be kidding me. CT, that stuff nearly killed you and Johan is nuttier than a fruitcake. We ain't never going to be able to trust him.
S: I agree with Virgil, CT. This can't be the answer.
CT: We are running out of alternatives, people. We will need to concentrate on Pulse and Black Lead first. The Triton team was farthest along in those two anyway.
S: CT, Pulse could kill one in ten novas it comes in contact with. You know that. Hell, partner. We went down that road together. Triton was no were near completing that drug.
CT: And Black Lead is even worse. It is a death sentence, but at least we know the antidote works.
V: I ain't going to back out on you two, but I gotta be honest here. This don't sit right with me.
S: Virgil, we appreciate it. I think the boys down town have lost their minds.
CT: Besides, we can always pray that someone upstairs hasn't lost their minds over this. The ones in the know are aware of how deadly this research was. Otherwise, we wouldn't be hiding Johan from Utopia.
V: Dang it, but if his own boys hadn't tried to kill him, we wouldn't be able to hang on to him either. He is slipperier than a pike.
S: Don't sweat it Virgil. I have been inside that sick little mind of his and his isn't too happy about what Triton and its Utopian masters had in store for him, either. He wants payback and he is willing to play ball with us to make it happen. Otherwise, they find out he isn't really dead.
V: Ms. Selena, you are one hard woman. My ma would be proud. Okay, I tried to rope this steer, but it ain't happenen. What exactly you propose to do, CT?
CT: Well, we need some sort of production facility, so we are going to use the Level Three basement and declare it a Hazardous Waste sight. As for the key ingredient, I don't see what we can do but let Johan go in and take some from us.
V: Oh … heck. We are going to let that quack drill holes in our heads?
CT: Virgil, the two of us regenerate. It is that simple. We need the extracts from our nodes and we cannot be seen walking around with holes in our heads.
S: And if he lobotomizes either one of you permanently?
CT: I won't have to argue with the mayor and dad anymore.
V: And I will still be smarter than my brother, Victor.
S: Thanks, you two. Seriously?
CT: We will be careful and I will be there when either Virgil or I go under the good doctor's care.
S: So how much are we making?
CT: We are going to see if we can make any, period. I am not going to go ahead with this unless the Assembly votes on it. Expediencies be damned, we are not going to break the law on this one.
S: Will Ashnod's little show of force really scare that many people?
CT: We are trying to attract novas to come and work here. If the government cannot defend the populace from a nova menace, and Ashnod is making it obvious to the average voter that we can't, the economic initiatives we have initiated here will fail and nearly the whole economy with it. What do you think the mayor and the governor will do? They have pretty much staked their careers on this. If the economy takes that kind of a hit, they are out of a job.
V: Doesn't it seem a little screwy to you that we are going to be doing something this dangerous just so a handful of folks we don't even like get re-elected. You said it yourself. No body is even going to know this happened. Right?
CT:This time, Virgil. What about next time? Sooner or later, she is going to get through again. By that time, the government is going to want to have an effective response. You know me, Virgil. I am not going to do it for any political gain. I am doing it for the people.
S: I have to agree with him there, Virgil. We are doing this so that the normal, day-to-day people can find a job. No novas = no jobs. The same goes for public security. If the citizens can't feel safe working around a bunch of novas, we will have let them down.
(the group pauses)
CT: We are going to control this project, Virgil. Without us, it just isn't going to work. Besides, Pulse is toxic to baselines. Black Lead is our equalizer. The bigger and tougher a nova is, the quicker it kills them, or so the data indicates.
S: Do you ever wonder were they got that data from, CT?
V: Yeah, it seems kinda funny that they were doing all this research on novas but they had no novas handy to test it on.
<They both look at the silent CT Preston>
CT: I &#8230; have a good idea. At this time, as much as I dislike some of Utopia's attitudes and agendas, I am not going to do anything to hurt them. None of us should. The Teragen is that dangerous and having hundreds of disaffected novas defecting to the Teragen is the last thing any of us need.
V: I hate this &#8220;better off if I didn't know&#8221; cow-patty nonsense.
CT: Bahrain, Virgil. There are a whole bunch of novas there that no one in authority is looking out for. Get it?
S: So that is why you didn't hand that Teragen member over to Project Utopia.
V: She still escaped. They always escape once we let loose of them.
S: That's why we need our own jail to hold them in.
CT: As long as civil rights still exist in this country, it is better for all concerned, even threats like Ashnod, to remain in our custody. We can treat them like a person, no matter how much that pisses them off. The alternative is pretty scary.
S: Like Argentina back in the late "60's and early "70's. People just disappeared.
CT: Now, it is happening to novas. As much as I disagree with Ashnod, I don't wish anyone, nova or baseline to be stripped of their rights as sentient beings.
V: I don't doubt ya, CT. The politicians on the other hand are just a bunch of coyotes.
S: Isn't that being hard on coyotes?
V: Yep. I guess it is.
CT: We need to go get Johan and start the ball rolling.
V: Ain't we going to wait for the governor?
<Pause>
V: Oh. He ain't going to tell us what we really want to hear, is he.
<CT Preston shakes his head>

The links breaks. Selena begins shutting down the house as Preston mutters.
&#8220;Time to make the doughnuts.&#8221;

[ 08-19-2002: Message edited by: Preston ]