Legacy of the Guardians
by AJ Marks
Part 9
Ahmed thought back to the day he finally made it to the USA, and to the address on the now tattered card that the stranger had given him a year earlier. Hard work finally paid off, and now he stood in front of an ordinary building, which the cab driver insisted was the address, after demanding payment for the ride.
Unsure of what else to do, he thought about turning around, but had nothing else to go to. Gathering some courage he stepped into the building, unsure what to do, and looking completely lost.
“Can I help you?” a young woman asked, approaching him.
“Ah,” he said, trying to understand the words she said. He had taken some English, but not enough to converse well. He made out the word help, but knew too little of the language and instead handed her the card. He hoped it meant something to her, and the guy had not lied to her. She took the card and looked at it for a second, then back at him before scratching her ear.
“Follow me,” she whispered in his ear, and in his language. Ahmed realized she also wore a transmitter very much like the stranger who gave her the cared.
He followed her as they walked past the guards, which she said something to he did not catch, they merely nodded. Entering an elevator she pushed a button and he found himself higher in a building then he ever had been. He tried not to show any discomfort in front of the woman.
Exiting the elevator they walked towards a desk, with another woman sitting there. He watched as the card was shown again, and the woman behind the desk looked over at him. She nodded and the woman who brought him up left, heading back into the elevator.
“How did you get this card?” the woman asked, and Ahmed realized he was hearing it in his language, and coming from a small speaker on the desk.
“A man gave it to me, he said I should say the shadow is our nature,” Ahmed replied, relaying the expression he had given, something he remembered ever since the man spoke it to him. He watched as her face went from guarded to welcoming in a second.
“Welcome, go through the doors, the man on the other side will take you to where you need to go, and explain things a bit more to you,” the woman said. He looked at her, then the door and making up his mind, walked through the door.
The other side of the doors appeared a normal business. He saw people sitting at desks, one looked up and motioned for him to follow him. He followed him along until reaching a room, and was led inside. Inside stood another man who waved Ahmed to sit down.
“Greetings, my name is Gary,” the man said in Ahmed’s own language surprising Ahmed a bit as he sat down.
He wondered what type of group this way. He had no idea how this group might be connected with space, only that he needed a job to stay in America.
“So, you’re interested in space?” Gary asked.
“Yeah, have been since I was a kid and learned about the Apollo missions,” Ahmed said. “But, I’ll probably never make it there.”
“Perhaps, but anything is possible,” Gary replied, working on the computer a second. “Now, what’s your home country?”
“Afghanistan,” Ahmed replied.
“Okay, here we go,” he said, as the printer started up, and several pages were printed off. Here you go, fill this out, I hope its in the right language.”
Ahmed looked down nodding that it was. Gary handed him a pen and he set about to fill out the paperwork. The questions ranged from his family to ‘what if’ questions about space. He really had no idea about many, and answered as honestly as possible.
After the paperwork he was led to a physical evaluation before getting something to eat. After what seemed like a long time, Gary returned looking over everything.
“Well, welcome to the company,” Gary told him, the best news he had all day.
“Great, when do I start, and where can I arrange a place to stay?” Ahmed asked, pleased he had a job, but now had other worries.
“Don’t worry about it, and you can start now if you wish,” Gary replied back to him.
Ahmed looked back at Gary unsure about everything.
“You are part of a secret organization that is worldwide,” Gary replied. “Come with me.”
Ahmed walked with Gary down the hallway to the last door, and he was not expecting to see another elevator, and a couple of armed guards.
“Stand here,” Gary said, as Ahmed moved automatically to a spot wondering what exactly he got himself into.
A light went from the top of his head to his feet. The process was repeated on Gary he noticed. Gary produced a car and went through an eye scam. Ahmed was told to do the same, and reluctantly did so, feeling uncomfortable with the scan before they got on the elevator. Only second later the doors opened again and the room was very different, and they went through the scanning process once more. The guards nearby were even more heavily armed.
“Welcome to the Earth Defense Force, or EDF,” Gary said. “It was created to fight the Skartians.”
“Skartians?” Ahmed asked, as they walked along the corridor and down a flight of stairs.
“Yep, we look for people all over, from the nice looking young women you met to a common soldier,” Gary said.
“So, what do you want of me?” Ahmed asked, unsure about getting involved in a war.
“Well, that will be up to you. We’ll train you first, and then, well you can be anything from a soldier in the fleet, a fighter pilot, working on a space ship or someone who works as part of the company to camouflage what we do,” Gary said.
Ahmed remained silent, with so many paths laid out before him.
“But first, we’ll fit you with some translators, then you’ll learn intergalac, the written language we all use,” Gary said. “That’s what the training is mostly for, while you learn what is going on, then after that, well, it can be up to you.”
Ahmed nodded.
“Remember, you’ll be fighting for everyone you ever knew, every soul on the planet,” Gary told him.
It seemed incredible, but he would learn how much more it would be in the coming days.
Ahmed had learned so much, and now, as he say someplace in Afghanistan, tied up, that knowledge of the bigger universe comforted him. He wondered what his captures would think if they knew the real truth.
He knew, with a push of a button, he could be out of this prison they had him in. but as his life was not in danger yet, he would wait and see what occurred next.
*****
Jack drummed his fingers on the desk. It had been several days now since the operatives had gone forth in Afghanistan and so far, no results. To make matters worse, nothing new came from the Skartians either. The fact everything seemed to peaceful and calm worried him even more.
“So, what do you think?” Steve said, bringing Jack back into the conversation.
“Sorry, what were you saying, wasn’t paying attention,” Jack replied, looking over at Steve.
“I know, I was asking about Ahmed’s parents?” Steve asked.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, got a report that he was worried about them before he left the base,” Jack said.
“I would be to, if they put the two together, might be able to use them against him,” Steve said.
“There’s a team ready to go, all that’s required is the go ahead,” Jack said. “If he find this Osama bin Laden, then they might be in trouble.”
“What about the others?” Steve asked.
“Probably should get a fix on them as well, just in case,” Jack answered. The last thing he wanted was family threatened during a mission.
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Steve answered, making a note.
“Wish this waiting was over,” Jack said finally. “It’s making me nervous.”
“I don’t know, I’ll take it for now,” Steve replied. “Anyways, I’m off for lunch.”
Jack watched him go and then went over the latest intel reports from the border with the Skartians Empire, looking for anything.
*****
Ahmed began to wonder what happened to everyone. He had seen no one in a couple of hours. The room itself was completely ordinary, four walls, no window, a door, a mattress and small drain and nothing else. Overall it appeared in good condition, and probably what they normally used for prisoners or hostages.
He thought about the mission, and how long he should wait before considering it a failure. Once he determined that he would have to contact the base for pick-up. However he did not want to admit defeat yet. He would wait a couple of more days for that to happen.
The sound of the door opening caused him to turn, seeing his brother and another man walk into the room.
“I hear you have a message for our leader,” the man said. The darkness of the room prevented Ahmed from gaining a good look at the man.
“Yes, and it’s for him alone, not lackeys,” Ahmed said, getting slapped by the man.
“I am one of his right hands of justice, I report directly to him, you will tell me,” the man replied.
“And why should I trust what you said?” Ahmed asked, knowing he would have to be careful. Men like this could easily decide to kill him.
“Because, you unintelligent commoner, I could have you and your parents killed with a command,” the man said. Ahmed looked over at his brother at the statement, who did not even flinch. So his brother was so far brainwashed by this group he did not care for his parents. “I’ll give you five minutes to decide.”
Ahmed watched the man leave and noticed at last in the light what he looked for. The man was Skartian.
“Well brother, looks like I was right,” his brother said simple. “I always told our parents that you would end up killing them because of your stubborn thinking.”
“Not true,” Ahmed said, pressing a sequence on his nail. It would evacuate his parents from their house. “You see, you’re not the only one who has powerful friends, my friends are very powerful.”
“We’ll see, when your parents are brought here, and then they’ll see the traitor you are to our people, just like I always told them,” he said, his smugness creeping back into his voice.
Ahmed watched him walk out without saying anything else. He had some news, there were Skartians involved. If there was one, he knew there would be more. He had to get in closer, and only hoped that they got to his parents in time.
End Part 9
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