WARNING, I will be using the events of 09/11/01 as a part of this story. If this could possibly offend you, don't read this story. This story will contain little sex. Some may be necessary for the plot of the story.

Relic is an avenger. A crime fighter.This story approaches 9/11 in that context.

Leslie Josette Gill

RELIC

Started 9/22/01 By LJG

Chapter 8
It Looks Like the End of the World is Coming

I stayed with the monks for another month.  I was watching the news server and several of the more conservative news services.  I was getting tired of Chicken Noodle News.  I was beginning to like their competition.  I was camping out on Fox, and was getting more information like what I wanted.

The world was settling down.  Yes, things never changed.  Humanity always had their problems.  But normality was returning.  Crime was down. 

I decided that I didn’t need to be around unless something really big happened.  Yes, I was bored.  But I had my ways of spending my time.  The monks continued to learn from me and even asked about a computer….

I continued to look at the prophecies.  I didn’t understand much of it.  I continued to ask the monks about the writings in that darn confusing book.  It came down to this.  There would be a cataclysm of proportions never known before.  The world would suffer much destruction.  There was only one force that could stop it, and my success was not assured.  That if I failed, all life on earth would end. 

I pressed several monks to express an opinion. 

“When will this happen?”

“It has been our experience that predicting what will happen is impossible.  But, we do have basic ideas of time from experience.  I personally think that this particular prophecy will occur in the next 2 years, or less.”

So I had a big mission coming up soon.  I had to prepare.  But, how do you fight the end of the world?

I again went to the monks.  “Can you offer me any incite as to what I can do to prepare for this cataclysm?”

The monks were just as cryptic.  I decided to treat this like any other thing that damn book had to say.  I had to get really ready.  I had no idea what to do, so I punted.  I started looking for caves.  I started looking for really high altitude caves.  Hell, I was sitting on what was possibly the highest ground in the world.  So I decided to make my camp in a cave close by.  I started using my special powers and materialized back and forth until I got all my equipment and home moved to the caves.  I found what was a really good place.  The walls of the cave were deep, and the roof had much rock content.  I did a few tests and found that I could not have done much better. 

I unpacked and started setting up a high and dry spot and went out of the cave to set up my little uplink dish.  At this altitude, I had a very strong signal to the satellite.  I think I had one of the strongest signals in the world.  The satellite uplink diagnostics were telling me I was really hot.

I then went back to America by instant teleporting and picked up some solar-electric collectors and backup batteries.  I set up a basic solar collector system and put it on automatic.  When the sun came up the next day, I had a very strong signal.

Now, I had to figure out what I could do about a radar or surveillance device.  I had to do some more research, as I didn’t want to telegraph my location.  I had enough trouble with the Chinese government. 

I decided to set up my ham gear and a computer to monitor the frequencies, which I knew were special.  I couldn’t monitor everything, but by keeping a computer monitoring the Internet and the RF monitoring, I had a little early warning.  My Email system was humming.  I was getting reports back of just minor little things going on.  I had a tendency to monitor military frequencies too.

I began to collect emergency supplies.  I had no need for food or water, but if I could help the local villagers, I would try.  I knew that Rice and dried beans were easy to keep.  I knew water would be the lifeblood, so I started a water collection system.  I got a bunch of 100-gallon plastic collapsible storage drums.  I started taking snow and natural water off the mountain and filling the portable drums.  I had about 50 scattered around in the cave.  I also found some dried meat and some basic comforts for me.  I had to have my coffee.  I had to have some basic comfort food.  I had a microwave and because this place was always around freezing, I had no problem with cold storage. 

I had no idea where this attack was going to come from.  But I started talking to the TG list.  I started asking some hard questions.  The questions were like:

If an attack were going to occur, where would it come from?  Who could destroy the planet? 

If they wanted to kill everyone on earth, how could they do it?  The prophecy was for all life on earth to end.  So that might be fire or radiation or something like an organism.  What was the most likely? 

The only plausible answer came from the fringe.  The Art Bird community came up with the only possible answer.  Alien attack.  I took a big gamble.  I contacted a couple of SETI monitor stations and made some inquiries.  The monitor stations were reporting some unknown signals and much more frequent hits on frequencies that they monitor. 

I did a couple of instantaneous transports to these monitor stations and quietly explained what I was looking for.  OF course, they were very skeptical.  I didn’t blame them.  But I was Relic.  I had been responsible for fending off a demon.  They were in more of a mode to listen to me than any time before. 

I was nervous.  I didn’t know when this was going to happen.  I didn’t know what the hell to expect.  So I just had to start looking for anything. 

I decided that I needed some real help.  It was time to establish a monitoring agency.  I did a quick look at my finances and I decided to spend some real money.  Where in the world could I get the best surveillance?  I made another call to the TG community.  I asked this question.  Who in your community would like to work for a TG friendly boss, doing nothing but monitoring computer networks, Radio and TV broadcasts, Police frequencies, Military frequencies and in general, being a big snoop?

The floodgate opened.  I had resumes from 25 girls right off the bat.  I asked the next question.  Would you girls want to work for me secretly?  And the assignment would be as long as I could front the money for the services? 

IF I could put the service together, it could be a service that could resell its data collection to customers in need of special information.  I was going to set up an agency like the CIA or MI5, in the private sector.  This was the only way I could figure out how to do what I really needed to do. 

I put out the call again.  I started interviewing Girls all over the world.  I needed multilingual operators.  I didn’t care what or who they were.  I needed a high level skill in computers, and electronics.  A ham operator was my first choice; a broadcast engineer was my second choice and anyone who had good computer skills. 

When I had a prospective applicant, I arranged a time and place.  I told them to expect Relic.  That meant that I would appear in my full glory.  I found that most of them appeared to me in their TG persona and that was just fine by me.  They all wanted to know why I was setting up such an organization.  I told them the shocking news.  We had approximately 2 years to prepare for the end of the world.  We might be able to prevent it if we could get ready in time.  You can imagine how everyone reacted. 

I wanted to do this in a way where we could get paid for our services and do our main job of looking out for problems. 

My first hire was Fred or like she liked to be known as was Noel.  Noel was a very skinny and tall TG.  As most TG, she didn’t want reassignment.  Just to live like they were.  They loved the clothing and wanted to appear like women.  That was enough for me.  Noel was a computer and broadcast engineer.  She was a COM manager and had the organization skills to put such a team together. 

My second hire was Mary, who was a computer programmer who had Unix and NT scripting experience.  She was way ahead of me on programming.  She too was a TG.  She was underground and was a little more sensitive about coming out.  I didn’t care how they wanted to appear.  I needed their skills. 

These two would begin the setup and construction of my networks.  I even gave Mr. Art Bird a quick call (OFF LINE) and talked to him about what I was doing.  He of course, thought I was crazy.  But, then he wanted to help.  So he was buying in.  After all, this was good press for him. 

I set up budgets and locations where the best monitoring could be done.  Most were mountain locations or places close to mountain ranges where remote control could be established. 

I gave Mary and Noel the money and control to hire as necessary.  I wanted this system up and quick. 

Of course, the news media was getting hints and I told everyone to clam.  Only hire TG people.  I knew the geeks out there would love to work for a TG friendly employer.  I knew the hours would be long and boring.  But I figured if I could get the surveillance up, I could start computer collection of information. 

My company would be Sword communications.  This company would monitor everything.  We set out to get government contracts to do specialized monitoring.  I spend Millions and Millions on special equipment.  Lets say that a ham would be in hog heaven.  A computer person would be just as happy.  My start up costs were like 150 million.  It was going to be much more before I was done.

In the TG community, I was becoming more and more of a hero.  I wasn’t looking for the acclaim.  I was looking for the best people and I think I had found them.  Who cares if society demonized them?  If you worked for me, you could come to work any way you wanted, except nude.  There were basic codes.  You had to be presentable to the outside world.  That meant dressed. 

I had 50 key people.  Each was assigned special jobs and specific monitoring tasks. 

I had a small group monitoring military frequencies and satellites. 

I had a small group monitoring the FAA and ATC frequencies.  I had also teams monitoring General Aviation. 

I had teams monitoring Internet traffic.  I was especially interested in packet traffic.  IF the traffic went above certain marks, we started intercepting the packets and looked at the traffic.  (Yes, you can do that.) 

My data collection was immense.  I had to buy a couple of super computers, just to crunch the numbers.  I was looking for unusual activity.  What I ended up finding was links to organized crime and drug traffic.  My data collection services were turning up information on just about all-criminal activity in the world.

My decision to not give it to anyone was the hardest decision I had to make.  What I did though was to pay a visit to the meanest of the criminals.  I had to have a reputable business, but I had to prevent attacks and threats against my people.  So when activity was so high that I noticed it, I paid a visit myself to the offenders. 

Once I did that, they went down below the watermark.  The same thing happened to several military organizations.  I paid a visit to several black bag outfits, who were shocked as hell when I turned up at their operations centers.

I just materialized by their op centers and asked for the man in charge.  Most of them spotted me and knew whom they were dealing with right away.  I never got a gun in my face or anything.  They wanted to know how I had found them.  That was the biggest question I was asked.  I didn’t answer.  I just told them that they were on my radarscope and to back off.  That was usually enough.

Sword communications started making money 6 months after setup.  I was paying the salaries of now 65 good people.  They were very happy and making money.  They were also preparing to save the world.  Who would think that a group of Transvestites and Transsexuals could?

I even had a few Subs and Doms running around.  But I didn’t allow games while working.  I wanted no distractions.  IF they were into that, I didn’t stop them outside. 

My information gathering service was beginning to scare the feds and the US military.  Once I started selling info, the lawsuits and the subpoenas started flying.  I quietly contacted the group of attorneys (All TG’s, of course) and did a “sickem”.  I was operating in the Freedom of information act.  I was only selling stats.  I was not selling sensitive info.  I needed income, but I also needed surveillance for what other organizations were finding out about what was going on in the world. 

Finally, after several legal battles, I was made an offer.

Continued in Part 9 of Relic