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 9

I got another invitation to Washington.  They had tried to contact Joe, and got me directly.  They wanted a meet.  Sword Communications, after one year, had become a giant.  We were everywhere.  I ballooned from the original 50 employees to over 1000 very quickly. 

I soon found out that the government had files on everyone that worked for Sword.  I was the one they couldn’t figure out.  They knew that Joe’s money was the source of the operation.  They wanted to talk to Joe.  After all, that was impossible.  So, Relic went.  You could say the Government folk were shocked when I materialized in the meeting place.

I decided to bring in Mary and Noel and had them outside waiting.  Both were afraid to show in TG mode, but came as their male selves.  I would have supported them, but the intimidation factor of the government was too much.   

Here was their offer.  They would contract us to help them.  They would actually buy our services if we would shut down the public side of our business.  I wanted numbers and contracts.  I also wanted a hands-off policy for my people.  I wasn’t going to make any decisions until I got something signed from the top.  That meant the president.

I absolutely wanted my people to control personnel and that the military would stay out of who I hired and who I had working on material.  My reason why, was because most of my people were TG and had lots to hide.  If I found one who had a legal problem, I didn’t hire them.  IF they were some kind of security risk, like drugs or being a drunk, I made them go clean before I could hire them.  After all, I needed clear thinking people if I was going to save the world. 

I never had to come completely clean before, but very soon, I would have to tell someone the whole story.  I found that the day was very quickly approaching.  I made the decision after too many questions were being asked by the MI5 group. 

I can still remember the day.  I appeared at the Pentagon, with my key people in tow.  I remained Relic in all her glory.  After all, I had a reputation. 

We showed up at the Pentagon and waited.  They knew that I was dangerous.  But that I was no threat to any law biding concerns.  They were very nervous about all this.  My group decided to go dressed.  We figured that most of the intel on us had already identified our key players.

When the president entered the briefing room and saw who was waiting for him, he gasped, got his composure and came in.

We were a tight group of 15 people in the room.  I had my 6 and me, and he had himself and 7.  I stood and made the introductions.

Hello Mr. President.  Let me start with my little group of folk.  Noel and Mary here are my Vice-presidents of operations.  Noel is technical ops and Mary is Software ops.  The rest of the people here are group leaders from my different locations.  You see I tapped into a rich resource, which the federal government seemed to not want anything to do with.  I support the TG community and that is my central base of employment. 

 

Most of these people are the best there are, and the government ran them off or had issues with them.  I took those people and made one of the best surveillance and information companies in the world.  I know more about what goes on in this country than you do.

“OK, I am impressed.  But you said you had a story to tell me.”

“Yes I did.  I want to show you something.”

Relic appeared in my hands.  That caught them off guard, but no one moved.

I drew Relic.  I made no sudden moves and held the sword in such a way as to be non-threatening. 

“Mr. President, this sword is over 13,000 years old.  I am this sword and this sword is me.  I possess its soul and it possesses mine.  We are so intertwined that I am no longer the person your intelligence knows as Joe.  Yes, I was Joe.  I was given the power of this sword and used it to defeat and kill Angelique.  Unfortunately, Joe's body died in that confrontation.  The person you knew as Joe became intertwined with the soul of this sword and I am now what you see in front of you.

Before you say anything, I must tell you the end of the world is at hand.  No, I am not a nut.  I know that there is an advanced race of aliens, preparing to attack our world and kill it, for what ever reason, and we will be unable to stop it unless we know when and how its coming. 

I set up my tight-nit group of people for the expressed purpose of finding everything I can about any hint of alien infiltration and early warning of their approach.  I started Sword communications specifically to be ready for any such approach.  I must then go and battle this group.  I am secretly preparing anti-grav devices for transport for my people and underground bunkers for the equipment I posses.  I am your friend.  I have absolutely no wish to compete with the government.  I am only interested in the detection of those invasion forces that are to come sometime in the next year.”

“There is so much that we need to talk about.  Aliens?  The end of the world?  Why are you selling information?  This is just too much.”

Again, I am not selling information, which would be damaging to the government.  I am only selling little snippets.  I am just selling enough to keep me in business and do my primary task of gathering my information.  That is the way I want to keep it.  IF you interfere with that, I can’t do my job.  You can’t mess with what I got going here. 

“We perceive your operation as a threat.  It's one hell of a security risk.  I can’t allow any information that you have to leak out or be sold to foreign governments.  I haven’t caught you yet, but we have been watching you closely.”

“I know, and have been monitoring your monitors.  We know how and where you are and what you are collecting.  I have known for months.  I even know about the devices you are using in this room and where they are being monitored.  I am about to disrupt them now.”

One minute later, a phone rang.  “Is the president ok?”

An aid answered the phone, “Yes, All clear.”

“How in the hell did you do that?”

“Mr. President, I have a reach which you cannot imagine.  I have people in your government and information recourses, which you suspect, but have no idea how far reaching it is.  I know what you eat for breakfast and where you go everyday on the Internet.  I can watch all your packet traffic and actually read your email.  But I have no interest in your affairs.”

That word, Affairs, made the president look suddenly at me.  I had hit a nerve.

“I am not giving away any secrets.  My purpose is to specifically search for any sign of alien invasion or intelligence.  That is my goal.  I sell bits and pieces of info just to pay my salaries and utilities.  That’s all.  I am now going to make you a hell of an offer.”

“That is what I am here for.  Go head.”

“I will allow your people to participate in the operations of my company, if you will leave my people alone.  I get to run my company the way I see fit and you get the benefit of having access to my information.  I get to continue running my information services in a public manner and you get to code any information, which you don’t want public.  But my people get access to everything for the purposes, which I have already stated.  In so many words, I am willing to let you in.”

“What makes you think we are not already in?”

I handed the president two folders.  “These were your attempts to get in.  I knew about both.  And, I didn’t stop them.  I have nothing to hide from the government.  I did however; restrict their access to the personal database.  My peoples privacy is very important to me.”

A couple of the aids went to the folders and looked.  I had nailed them and they knew it. 

“I want to be left alone and I will give you access if you promise to do just that.”

“We could just shut you down.”

“If you do, I will move the operation out of the country.  And there is nothing you can do to stop it.  In fact, I have backup systems already in place.  And you have no intel on it.  I know because I have been monitoring the CIA and they haven’t got a clue.”

I was disturbing the president.  He left the room several times.  I was hitting nerves.  I wanted to see what he would do.  IF he agreed to leave us alone, then I could guarantee the safety of my people and do the job at hand.

The president came back in. 

“I will say that you have impressed me.  I don’t know that I can have a rogue agency doing what your doing.  But, I will give this consideration.  I see you are very protective of your people.  Let me say that for now, I will do nothing.  I will call you back in a day.”

I looked at the president, square in the eyes.  He was without a clue how to deal with me.  He had to have intel and guidance.  I read his mind.  I pulled the rug out from under him. 

“Your security advisor doesn’t know how to deal with me either.  I know what his reaction will be.  HE will want to shut us down.  Let me tell you that you should do a bit more checking before you do anything rash.”

“You seem to know just as much as you’re saying.  We will be in touch.”

HE walked out of the room and I made a decision to transport my group out myself.

We just huddled and disappeared. 

The Presidents response was quick.  I was right on so many things.  He had no control over us.  We had knowledge and that was power.  He was in the dark about all of us and that was a serious shift in his power.  So, after looking at our machine and his options, he decided to give the deal a try.  I got a 6-month contract on an experimental basis. 

I didn’t like some of the rules.  We would have to negotiate again, but I think a compromise could be worked. 

He wanted to run us like a military organization.  I refused. 

He wanted to have control over my personnel.  I refused.

I did give him the decision making over what was to be classified and what wasn’t.  But all the people in my organization had to be granted access to information we collected.  IF we found it, it was ours to look at.  Any attempt to sabotage my database would be met with a complete pull out of the company from the United States.  I told him that personally.  If he tried to mess with us, I would simply shut it down and move it.

I did not tell him about the orbiting station I had started construction of.  I was building it myself.  It was going up as a satellite.  I would go up every couple of days and add a piece to the station.  My station was bigger than anything the military or NASA had up there.  I even thought about putting something on the moon.  But that had to wait as the costs of that venture were beyond my abilities at this point.  I had to wait for some more profits.

My people had finally heard the full story of who I really was.  I had shocked them with the revelation.  The only comment out of any of them was “So that is the reason you’re so friendly to the TG community!”

Not another word was said.

I had to have a cell phone.  I hated that more than most would think.  I loved the freedom to move around, but finally, I had to give in and allow contact. 

I was a dynamo.  I was working around the clock on projects far and wide. 

I had been building the station in space.  I had my people integrating with the military and the different security agencies.  I was sharing my databases with them.  The only database off limits was the personnel files.  I knew the information was obtainable in other places, but I wanted to prove to the feds that I could keep things from them if I wished. 

In all this time, I had never reveled the location of the Monks or my secret base in the mountains.  That was my world.  I made no reference to anyone about it. 

I was busy getting ready when my cell phone rang.  It was the secret number from my little cave retreat.  “We need to see you quickly!”

He had not even hung up the phone when I appeared to him.  “Is this quick enough?”

“The evil is coming and it is much worse than we feared.”

“Who, where?  Can you give me anything?”

“We found some references in our ancient texts which tell us that the enemy is not easily identified.  It is indeed very powerful and you will not be able to manage it yourself.  You will need help.”

“You must know of my activities.  I have been building information systems for over a year.  I am even building a space defense platform, the governments of the world don’t even know about.  Its so secret that I have only just now told you.”

The little monk looked at me with understanding, which I could not fathom.  “We know everything.  You are indeed doing everything you can.  But you do have other recourses which you have not tapped yet.”

“Please tell me.”

“Look into my mind.”

I could not believe what I had just been shown.  I had never thought about it.  It was so obvious that no one would have. 

“Yes, I agree.  Thank you for giving me this gift.”

I immediately appeared in my central database room and quietly contacted Noel and Mary.

“I need your help, quietly.”

I laid my plan out to both of them.  They looked at me in amazement.  “We have the recourses.  Go looking.”

It didn’t take long.

In the meantime, dark things were happening in “other places”.

Continued in Part 10 " Other Recourses" of Relic