Unstable Sernenity - Chapter 13, A Broken Bond
Max's POV
Washington DC, United States
"Please take your seats everyone" the judge asked of us.
Sitting in the courtroom I thought about what I have to have done to get here. I must have been framed! I cannot simply be charged with wearing a Russian military uniform and escaping from the Cevenda organization. I sat uncomfortably in my chair, twiddling with my paws and gazing around the room, just waiting for the judge to tell me I'm guilty of war crimes and treason.
The judge rose from his chair and spoke "today we open the case of possible treason and disloyalty. Lieutenant Maximus Woodland versus the United States."
Major Ritterkson was my attorney for the ride, if there was anything that I needed to get out of this mess, he would be the one to help me out. Commander Rick Johnston, a buff blue dragon, was the judge of the trial. I was being court marshalled by the United States Navy, however I was able to have an Army attorney as Ritterkson managed to pull some strings.
The only evidence that they were able to present was the Russian military uniform that I wore, and it only made the judge inquire about me leaving the US Navy to join the Russian Army. They were not able to find anything related to the Cevenda organization other than the fact that I was taken hostage by them.
Major Ritterkson was able to defend me by stating that the Russian government was against the Cevenda movement, and so that narrowed my 'treason' down from joining the Cevenda and the Russians to just joining the Russians. He then went on to explaining that there was no evidence to transferring over to the Russian Army. Prior to the trial, Ritterkson did some digging into the Russian military database, and to his surprize, the Russians co-operated completely and told him that there was no records of me enlisting in the Russian armed forces.
"Yes major it appears that he hasn't enlisted on official records but don't you find it a little strange that they've fully co-operated with us?" The judge spoke.
"You see your honor, they are after the same thing we're after, the Cevenda, and if we work together, then we can catch them faster" Ritterkson spoke in my defense.
"The Russians have never been this co-operative since World War Two, but why now? You see major, they've hidden a lot of things from us, and they could be covering up his enlistment. I do not have enough evidence to charge him, but I can temporarily discharge his naval status until we understand who he is actually working for. I hereby declare Lieutenant Maximus Woodland temporarily dishonorably discharged from the United States Navy" the judge spoke.
He then slammed his gavel on the table and the court was dismissed. I felt my heart sink, what I've worked for all my life has disappeared before my eyes. My career vanished before me, and I feel empty because of it.
"How long will I be temporarily discharged for?" I asked my attorney.
"Six months at most, if you don't have any evidence proving that you are not a traitor, then it sticks to your record" he replied.
Six months I thought to myself. I have six months to prove that I am not a traitor to this country. But how? Ask Viktor to come on over an tell my government that I'm not the newest member of the Russian Army? I need to prove myself somehow; and prove that I am not disloyal to my country.
We got up and headed for the exit, and I asked "what about Steven?"
I could hear sigh of stress from Ritterkson as he said to me "you took an illegal immigrant into our nation without any processing, Max. Immigration is going to have to return him to the Russian Federation."
"But! There must be someth-" I was cut off.
"Even if you were on an active operation against the Cevenda you still aren't at liberty to bring back hostages to the United States unless they are already American in the first place... And Max" he stopped and turned to me. "You were not on an operation involving counter-terrorism efforts against the organization. Your job was simply to overlook the operation that the Chinese MSS was handling."
"Then how the hell did I end up in Russia!? And in what world does the United States help the Chinese out in domestic Chinese airspace?" I pondered.
"That's above your pay grade, Max. Now listen - you are going to go home, and let the rest of us do our jobs. You can't interrupt anything! You don't want to put a bad word on yourself" he explained.
"But sir! The Cevenda, surely there's something I can do to help stop them" I requested.
"Max," he cupped my shoulder "you need to go home and relax, you've been discharged, you can't do anything else."
After a stressful chat with the major, I felt helpless. All I wanted to do was good for this world... And I thought the answer laid in the US Navy for me. Apparently not.
I returned to my home in Queensbury. I unlocked the door to my home and walked right in. I had no family, so there was no one to greet me at the door. I moved out, so I no longer live with my parents. There's not much I can say about them, only that my father works for the air force and my mother is ex-British SAS. She now works for the treasury department, and is responsible for making sure no valuables are stolen from the government. I had no siblings, but I guess that my parents were too busy with their jobs to have any more.
I removed my shoes and slowly walked around the bungalow that I used to inhabit shortly after I finished my officer training in Annapolis, and was promoted to Ensign. I didn't live here for long, and the most amount of time that I spent at home was no longer that four weeks. Working in the military furs don't get much time to themselves, as they're constantly being posted or shipped out. But I guess it's only the case for me because I'm young and on the lower end of the ranks. Although I was an officer I was still a young feller, and I didn't like the idea of becoming middle-aged in a few decades, although I wouldn't mind carrying stars over my shoulders by then.
The thought made me grin, but I immediately snapped back to reality. The reality that I was not longer living the career that I had planned for my whole life. The Cevenda ruined my career, and I'm not going to stand here and let 'them' do all the work. I signed up to be one of 'them' and assist in doing all the work. I sat down on the couch and pondered for a few moments. I'm not going to let them get the best of my career. I am going to do something about this, even if I go alone.
Viktor's POV
Moscow, Russia
[Russian dialogue]
"Have you found the ship yet?" I asked.
"No sir, but we may have an idea as of to where they hid its essential components" replied Kliment, one of my counter-insurgency officers.
"...And where do you propose that might be?" I questioned.
Kliment sat down on the couch across from me and replied, "we believe the formula is hidden in Kabul."
"Afghanistan?" I asked.
"Yes" Kliment replied as he sipped his tea.
There was a moment of silence as I thought really hard about why it would be in Afghanistan.
"Just the formula, right?" I asked.
"Yes, just the formula, the ship itself cannot possibly be in Kabul" he replied.
I then rose from my seat to go tell my commanding officer, Evvi the information. We took a couple of hours trying to figure out a plan to get the formula without causing an alarm.
"Do we have any diplomatic status in Afghanistan?" I asked.
"We do, however with the recent terror threats we had to close the embassy down. Maybe we can ask our American friends if they could help us" Evvi replied.
"I'll see what I can do" I acknowledged.
I swiftly left the command room and asked one of our intelligence officers to track down Max. Only hours later he came knocking on my office door telling me that he had been dishonorably discharged from the navy and that he is currently in his home in Queensbury.
I thanked the officer for their time and headed out the door. Using FSB technology I made myself an alias. I traveled to the United States under the name of Alexander Sickhart, who was a software engineer. I knew nothing about software engineering, but I needed a job status with good payments, so I didn't look suspicious.
Zarith's POV
Damascus, Syria
[English dialogue]
"Everything's almost in order, sir" William spoke.
"Very good" I replied.
"We managed to steal some Russian military computers, but the passwords are encrypted" William said.
"I know of someone who can hack into computers very well" I smiled.
I called down for one of my best computer hackers, Pierre Quince. He was a short grey wolf, not well built but very smart. He did not even wear glasses. I was simply amazed at how well he could hack into programs. He could pretty much hack into anything if he wanted to.
I was still very angry that my son had just died, and now I was more determined than ever to seek out revenge. It was Max's fault. He was the reason that my son died! He was supposed to be the one to give his heart to Charlie so he could live! Ohh, when I get my paws on Max... It'll be the end of him!
"Ahh yes! I'm in! Now, let's see here..." Pierre said. He continued to rummage through files until he found something regarding the formula. "It's in Kabul, in Afghanistan!"
"Do you know where exactly in Kabul it is?" I asked.
"Here," he pointed to a map. There was a small building in downtown Kabul that we looked at. "This is the place, in a few hours I can get you some security passes if there is security requirements, it'll only take a few hours."
"You're the man!" I patted him on the shoulder. "Suit up now William... And you too Pierre! We're going to Kabul!"