Read Online All That We Are (The Commander Book 7) by Randall Farmer - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Randall Farmer
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about Chimeras being able to incorporate Monsters into their households, but Psychos, male Transforms who had been through withdrawal? This was completely new. “Not all, mind you. Some. New Transforms who’ve gone Monster or Psycho appear to be the most difficult to rehabilitate, and we may never be able to figure out how to properly rehabilitate them. Older Transforms who have accidents and end up as Monsters or Psychos can be much more easily rehabilitated, but even so it’s a work in progress. The other thing we can offer is help as guards. We like to fight, even more than our sisters, the Arms. If we can get some help from the Crows, learning from Master Occum how to be Crow Masters of Nobles, we might even be able to offer our services outside of the Boston area.”
Tonya smiled at the Duke’s innocence and his delight to be part of the proceedings, and thought about how her world had grown since she shucked the Patterson tag. The Transform community was starting to mature. Finally. Holding on to the progress they had made so far with the Cause, however, and keeping the inevitable frictions from splitting these new allies, would be difficult, most difficult.
Their enemies, Rogue Crow and the first Focuses, would make sure of it.
Gilgamesh: December 27, 1968
“…thus proving the person who accosted me in Philadelphia upon my graduation, Officer Canon, was indeed Rogue Crow,” Carol said. Hearing Rogue Crow defined and interpreted from Tiamat’s perspective was chilling and terrifying. Sinclair appeared ready to flee, and had taken Gilgamesh’s hand, under the table, for support.
“Our deadline is simple: there’s a Focus wedding in Detroit in May,” she continued. “We fear the wedding is too much of a target for the enemy to pass up, as at least all of the Detroit Focuses will be attending the wedding.”
“What’s the proof behind the deadline?” Focus Ackerman said. “Or is this just a guess?”
Carol turned to Lori. “Do we have anything to go on besides the fact we have a bad feeling about the wedding?”
Lori turned to Tonya, who shrugged. “I can’t say anything about that,” Lori said.
The information had come from the Dreaming, Gilgamesh knew.
“So we know this just because of some Focus mystical hand-waving?” Carol said. “That’s a little weak for proof.”
“It’s real enough,” Tonya said. “After you and I had our little conversation a while back, a person who once sent me many cryptic letters sent another, welcoming me back into the fold, and warning me about a cloud of danger surrounding the Rickenbach wedding. Lori has received similar mystical warnings. What we don’t know is why Rogue Crow and his minions are going to be attacking. That you and Arm Keaton worked out the wedding deadline by logic before you knew about what we Focuses knew I’d take as corroboration.”
Carol glowered a Tiamat-like glower and shook her head.
“Okay,” Lori said. “The deadline’s the problem. So what do we do about it? How do we fight a Major Transform with his power? We don’t know where he lives, how many Hunters he has, or how many others he’s recruited.”
Carol stood. “I have a tentative plan I’m not personally committed to,” she said. She flexed her fingers and put up one of the charts she and Ila had spent a day working on back in Houston. “What we want to do is lure him into battle thinking he’ll win, and hit him with overwhelming reserves. We do this by taking on his three chief Hunters, one at a time, with forces big enough to take out a Hunter and his pack, but not big enough to take out a massed Hunter army.”
Gilgamesh thought Carol’s plan would work. He and a Tiamat-acting Carol had thought it up after Focus Biggioni and Lori had left Houston, after the Tonya mind-scrape. Carol thought it too risky, but she didn’t have any better ideas, and Keaton had axed their other two
Tonya smiled at the Duke’s innocence and his delight to be part of the proceedings, and thought about how her world had grown since she shucked the Patterson tag. The Transform community was starting to mature. Finally. Holding on to the progress they had made so far with the Cause, however, and keeping the inevitable frictions from splitting these new allies, would be difficult, most difficult.
Their enemies, Rogue Crow and the first Focuses, would make sure of it.
Gilgamesh: December 27, 1968
“…thus proving the person who accosted me in Philadelphia upon my graduation, Officer Canon, was indeed Rogue Crow,” Carol said. Hearing Rogue Crow defined and interpreted from Tiamat’s perspective was chilling and terrifying. Sinclair appeared ready to flee, and had taken Gilgamesh’s hand, under the table, for support.
“Our deadline is simple: there’s a Focus wedding in Detroit in May,” she continued. “We fear the wedding is too much of a target for the enemy to pass up, as at least all of the Detroit Focuses will be attending the wedding.”
“What’s the proof behind the deadline?” Focus Ackerman said. “Or is this just a guess?”
Carol turned to Lori. “Do we have anything to go on besides the fact we have a bad feeling about the wedding?”
Lori turned to Tonya, who shrugged. “I can’t say anything about that,” Lori said.
The information had come from the Dreaming, Gilgamesh knew.
“So we know this just because of some Focus mystical hand-waving?” Carol said. “That’s a little weak for proof.”
“It’s real enough,” Tonya said. “After you and I had our little conversation a while back, a person who once sent me many cryptic letters sent another, welcoming me back into the fold, and warning me about a cloud of danger surrounding the Rickenbach wedding. Lori has received similar mystical warnings. What we don’t know is why Rogue Crow and his minions are going to be attacking. That you and Arm Keaton worked out the wedding deadline by logic before you knew about what we Focuses knew I’d take as corroboration.”
Carol glowered a Tiamat-like glower and shook her head.
“Okay,” Lori said. “The deadline’s the problem. So what do we do about it? How do we fight a Major Transform with his power? We don’t know where he lives, how many Hunters he has, or how many others he’s recruited.”
Carol stood. “I have a tentative plan I’m not personally committed to,” she said. She flexed her fingers and put up one of the charts she and Ila had spent a day working on back in Houston. “What we want to do is lure him into battle thinking he’ll win, and hit him with overwhelming reserves. We do this by taking on his three chief Hunters, one at a time, with forces big enough to take out a Hunter and his pack, but not big enough to take out a massed Hunter army.”
Gilgamesh thought Carol’s plan would work. He and a Tiamat-acting Carol had thought it up after Focus Biggioni and Lori had left Houston, after the Tonya mind-scrape. Carol thought it too risky, but she didn’t have any better ideas, and Keaton had axed their other two
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