Sometime later Jayse leaves a now resting Kadance, "Camp Commander is calling and Alpha Company is here. Commander Alem wants to meet with you and Camp Commander. And to top it all off General Rueton wants to talk to you as well." Rackem says leaving no time for Jayse to recover from the emotional upheaval his talk with Kadance had been. Rackem winces at the red mark on Jayse's face even as Borden silently hands Jayse the ice pack.
Jayse sighs both in resignation and in relief. Resignation for the tumult of prebattle counsels and in relief for the ice pack. He nods his thanks to Borden for the foresight.
"Request politely to have the commanders meet here. Tommy won't be free for hours yet and Kadance is resting." Rackem nods and does as Jayse directed but his fascinated gaze returns over and over to the red mark now turning other colors on Jayse's face.
Jayse ignores him and continues giving instructions, "Contact General Rueton. No time like the present." His voice is heavy with sarcasm.
"Patching through," Rackem says.
Jayse takes a deep breath, "General, my man tells me you wanted to talk to me?"
The general stares unashamedly at the hand print on Jayse's face. "What in all the hells did you do to deserve that?" His tones are of complete disbelief.
Jayse touches the mark gingerly, and replies ruefully "I suggested that she might want to abort her babies. She didn't much care for the suggestion."
"You've married a very volatile woman Lt." The general says in horrified tones.
"Only when it's merited sir. Had it been a woman born and raised in the society I think I'd be bleeding to death with internal injuries. I'd rather take her little love tap over that any day." Jayse replies jovially, not mentioning that the subject would never have come up if Kadance had been born into the warrior society.
General Rueton shudders, "Well it's your life. Why'd you suggest she abort?"
"Long story sir." Jayse has no intention of talking about this with Rueton. "What did you want to talk about?" Jayse asks changing the subject.
"Your cheek must be sore," Rueton refuses to change the subject.
"Yes, sir. Had it been her fist I have no doubt that I'd be sporting a broken jaw right now." Jayse is visibly losing patience as he continues, "Now sir, can we get back on track?" Jayse is very thankful Kadance didn't use her fist.
"I was just going to say that I'll stay with Kadance while you meet with Alpha and Camp Commanders." Rueton finally gets to the point. "But maybe that's not a good idea."
"Kadance actually likes you General. It upsets her that you are afraid of her you know. Kadance is a wonderful person." Jayse says in a slightly chiding tone.
This surprises Rueton and he's visibly taken aback. "She likes me?"
"Yes, sir. She doesn't know what she's done to terrify you. She had no idea that you were afraid of her and when she found out she cried. It took Tommy and me quite some time to calm her down. So although she wouldn't mind you staying here with her, she's having a really hard time right now, the council will be meeting here. You are of course welcome to come and join us, but Kadance is resting right now so she most likely won't be joining us." Jayse rejoins graciously, glad that plans had already been made for the council to meet here.
That takes Rueton aback a bit and he thinks about it before replying. "Thank you Lt. I think I will."
Jayse replies pained, "Sir, please don't keep calling me Lt. I'm no longer active duty."
Rueton smiles an enigmatic smile, and Jayse immediately tenses. "You could be. I've been thinking of reactivating the lot of you and making you a company." The general watches Jayse's reaction carefully.
Jayse and the others in the room still and turn towards the general's image. Jayse wishes Kadance were here for this one as he carefully picks his words. "Sir, no thank you sir. We're no longer active, yet we are happy. We are small and intend to stay that way. Besides, there are those that outrank me that are lower in our group here. It would cause all kinds of problems, not to mention what Kadance would say, she wouldn't like it at all." Jayse says it all with patience but he wants to scream at the idiocy of Rueton at that moment.
The general is a little taken aback by the response he thought they'd jump at the chance. "You sure? I'd make you whatever rank you wanted. We could adjust everyone else's rank as well." The general pushes.
Jayse gets a little gleam in his eye, "Tommy is my second in command general. If I asked for Commander that would make Tommy an LC. Wouldn't that be perfect?" Rueton turns a sickly green at that thought.
Jayse turns serious once more, "That could cause many problems as well. Besides I'd have to have Kadance's okay first. We are directly under her. I could ask the men if they want to be reactivated, but those I can see only show horror on their faces at the idea.
"You see Kadance is very generous. She lets us have some very nice toys, the best. We'd have to give up some of them if we became active. Some like Tommy, have modified their toys and won't welcome the idea of giving them up. And wouldn't be able to return them anyway."Jayse explains, he hopes in a manner that will squelch that idea completely without offending the general.
"I see. Are you going rogue then?" When the general asks that Jayse knows that he failed.
Jayse is shocked that the general could possibly think that. He turns white then red with anger. "NO, SIR! we are not going rogue. We'd never go rogue. We are here defending our people, defending our race. We do so working under orders to protect Kadance. You are the one that put us on that protection duty." Jayse is shouting he's so angry.
The general on the other hand is calm and replies, "Yes, but protecting her would mean taking her away from danger. Not bringing her into the heart of the biggest invasion we've yet faced." The general pushes.
"We had information that we couldn't send over communications and her only family is here, she wouldn't stay away. She'd never forgive me or any of us, that includes you, general, if I had even tried to keep her away. They need us, without Tommy's classes and help there is no chance, not even with the help you brought with you. Even Tommy isn't sure that it will be enough and if anyone would know it would be him. The others on this team are the best in each of our fields, you need us here, they need us here. Without us there is no chance you damn well know it." Jayse is beyond angry and well into furious by now. His voice has gone soft and cold.
"How dare you say we've gone rogue? Tommy is doing something he swore he'd never do again, why? To give us the chance at survival. Kadance is worried sick, why? Because her nephews are in Tommy's class. We are here to save our people willing to sacrifice everything to do so. How dare you say we've gone rogue?"
Kadance comes up and touches his arm. "Peace Jayse. The general would never be so stupid as to say that. Would you general?" Kadance is watching Rueton rather like a cat watches a mouse. She is angry. "He'd never say that to any of my security team. Not my team which has saved my life time and time again. Not my team which intercepted and decrypted the attack plans, while saving my life. And definitely not my husbands whose babies I'm carrying."
The general backs down quickly. "No, I'd never be that foolish."
Jayse breathes in deeply trying to control his temper and realizes that Kadance has come out before she'd showered. Kadance notices the change in Jayse, "We're done here general. Just remember when you choose to insult my team to not do it on such short timing, right before an imminent attack." She cuts the link leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that she's furious with Rueton. Jayse scoops her up and races into the other room.
Borden is staring after them. "I've never seen Jayse so angry before." He swallows and takes a deep breath, the first since the general dared to accuse them of going rogue. "He was about to hunt down the general."
Maren wide eyed says seriously, "It might have been better if he had. He came so close to losing it. The general won't forgive or forget what just happened and he'll hold it against Jayse, and us."
Rackem nods agreement with her assessment, they all do but he adds, "Did you see how quickly Kadance brought him back? She just touched his arm. That's all. It wasn't her voice, although that helped, it was her touch and he cooled down."
Borden replies nodding, "She's had that effect on me as well, from the first. Voice or touch and it's the same with Tommy. And nobody better tell Tommy what happened or Rueton will be dead."
There is general agreement from the others. If Tommy killed Rueton then they would be considered rogue.
Candlen says through gritted teeth, "Thank goodness he got her out of here. He must have been very close to losing it to bring Kadance out here like that."
To that no one has a reply. Kadance would never set her team on edge like that if it hadn't been an emergency.
Rackem takes the com and signs to Maren to take Candlen out of there. "Borden what the hell was the general doing anyway? Why'd he push our boss like that?"
Borden rubs his chin as he thinks about what Rueton was just doing. "I'm not sure, unless it was to test us and see how well Kadance is able to take out the suicidal tendencies. If that's what he was doing he could have done irreparable damage, not just to Jayse, but to us all. Not just our team either, but our people.
"Tommy would die to stop Jayse. Tommy is good, but Jayse is better. He'd kill Tommy and then he'd kill us all. I know of at least five ways to take out this whole planet. I've no doubt that Jayse knows those five and possibly others," Borden says woodenly.
Rackem and Borden look at each other before their duties pulled them away from their bleak thoughts.