U.N.R.A. Point of no Return

U.N.R.A. 

Book 1







         “Jake, Billy can't swim. Why do you think we have the jet ski?” Winter's words were met with silence from Jake. The cold ocean seemed to instantly soak through my clothes, even though I was in the cabin, away from the spay.

         “What do we do Winter, you're second-in-command.” Another pause.

         “Aryn and I are going to keep looking, maybe he still has his vest”









Adrian

         I was in my office when the call came, I had been expecting it. We'd just finished the advanced training session and North America Division had been limping along with only four members for over a month. Habit required me to tease them a little.

         “Well, if it isn't the W twins.” The two people on the video screen were far from twins. Billy, the Division Commander (Div-com for short) was French-Canadian with dark brown hair and a constant serious expression on his face, while his parter, Winter, was an Irish redhead, who clearly had a lighter personality than her partner. They acted like siblings though, so I had to to give them a hard time. As I was hoping, the looked utterly confused at my comment. “Winter and William, both start with a W, but you're not exactly twins since Billy's a year, two months, and seventeen days older unless...”

         “Adrian” Billy interrupted, “Don't you have anything better to do with your time?”

         “Not really, it only took me a minute to figure out anyways.” He shook his head, giving up.

         “Whatever, did anyone pass?”

         “Just one,” I said, dropping the smart aleck attitude. Winter said something in Irish that probably equates to “fiddlesticks!”, then continued in English.

         “Why do we always get enough graduates to start a completely different division until we actually need that many people?” It was a rhetorical question, but I answered it anyway.

         “I don't know, maybe you should ask that Murphy guy who said 'if any thing can go wrong, it will'” Billy redirected us again.

         “One's better than none, tell us about him, or her” he added, glancing at his partner, one of the first females to pass in North America.

         “Her” I pushed a button and sent them her file. “She scored close to perfect on both the academic and the physical testing.”

         “I didn't think that was possible” he somehow made it a question.

         “Well, she did, and if she hadn't been in an accident the day before, she probably could have beaten most of the records.” Winter smiled at that but Billy was in his “no nonsense” mode.

         “Accident?”

         “Her friend was driving. They got backed over by a semi, trucker's fault.” All the significant facts in less than five seconds, I am good. He nodded.

         “What is she?”

         “Police officer,” that made him pause.

         “Do you think Jacob is ready, he just got back yesterday.”

         “Not my call, remember, although she is twenty-one...”  He turned to Winter and they confided quietly for a moment, then Billy turned back to me.

         “Anything else?”

         “Her father is from Mexico, so she's bi-lingual”

         “We haven't had a Mexico rep since Jorge retired.” She said it as a passing comment, but it reminded us of how desperate they were. Billy nodded.

         “I'll send Jacob to pick her up. I'd like you to be there and let me know if you see any possible problems.”

         “Will do, and while he's at it. Aryn needs a ride back.” Billy nodded again.

         “By the way, what's this kid's name?

         “Alexis Villanueva”







Alexis



         I tossed the backpack with the last of my things on top of the two duffel bags and leaned against the wall, yanking the usual strands of my hair out of my eyes, only to have them fall back onto my face when I turned to look out the window. I still couldn’t believe it. There had been about 175 trainees in the advanced session and I’d been the only one to pass the strenuous testing that qualified a hopeful “trainee” to actually become a Ranger.

         A little over fifty years ago, huge super-disasters had wreaked havoc on every corner of the globe, changing almost everything. Each disaster left hundreds of people dead, both civilians and the rescue personnel trying to help those caught in the destruction. In a desperate attempt to reduce the number of fatalities in each disaster, United Nations created their own rescue team, United Nations Rescue Association. This elite team was given the extreme training needed to handle these disasters. Over time, the disasters slowed to a stop and the team name was shortened to U.N.R.A, then to simply The Rangers or The Team. The Ranger program was kept running. It was still up there with cowboys and astronauts as the dream job in any child’s mind. I was going to be part of the greatest rescue team in the world. This thought suddenly made me nervous. I had no idea what it was going to be like. Last minute doubts began to cloud my thoughts. Was I going to fit in at all? I’d always been a bit of an oddball so I was somewhat used to it, but I’d fit in pretty well in high school, through police academy, and the Ranger program, would the actual team be the same? The advanced session had been so rushed I virtually had no idea any of the things that had been going on with the team for the last four months. I realized this as I scrambled for something I knew about the current team. Talk about clueless, I thought ruefully.

         My thoughts were interrupted by a lady about my age coming down the hall towards me. She dumped her three bags beside mine.

         “So, you’re the new rookie?” she asked, a slight smile crossing her face. I returned the smile and shook the hand she offered.

         “So they tell me,” I responded nervously, again racking my brain to try and think of who this person was. This lady was taller than me by about an inch from where I stood at five foot, six and three-fourths of an inch. She had a medium build, slender but sturdy at the same time.

         “My name’s Aryn,” she introduced herself, she was soft-spoken, something that try as hard as I did, could never do. “Aryn Stone”

         “Alexis Villanueva” I responded quickly, not really wanting her to try and guess how to pronounce my last name. “Nice to meet you.”  Anything Aryn would have said was drowned out by the roar of a jet as it circled and landed in the field. The jet was a sleek red and sliver, with the U.N.R.A. symbol on the wings and the fuselage. The symbol was a modified version of the U.N. Symbol with in this case, North America against a world background. The jet kicked up dust from the hover technology that made vertical take-offs and landings possible. The T.C.’s grass was dry and brittle. It was nearing the end of summer, and there hadn’t been much rain here since summer started. The sprinklers were overloaded trying to keep up. As the dust settled, a ramp opened up on the underside of the jet.

         “That would be our ride” Aryn picked up her three bags again and went outside, hot air rushing in through the open door. “Come on!” I picked up my bags and, catching the closing door with my foot, forced the door back open. Someone was walking down the ramp as I jogged over. A guy jumped off the side of the ramp at about halfway down and a German Shepard followed him. “Alexis, this is Jake” Aryn introduced. Jake was African-American, with milk chocolate skin and black hair that stuck up in a kind of flat-top. He was easily six feet tall and had the build of a football player. He nodded politely “and his K-9 partner, Sheriff.” Aryn finished. The dog barked in acknowledgment. Jake studied me for a second.

         “Hi” I offered, uneasy about trying to start a conversation. He shook my hand, his grip tight and almost painful.

         “That’s it?” he asked, gesturing to my three bags, an expression something close to surprise in his face. I nodded.

“I came here with a bunch of friends, so yes, this is it.” Jake grabbed the bigger bags from both Aryn and I.

“Let’s head back, this heat is insane.” He said over his shoulder. It was probably about ninety degrees out in the sun. Aryn looked back at the doors of the T.C. and I turned also. Someone had come to the doors and was watching us. I vaguely knew she was the T.C. second in command, but didn’t know anything else. Aryn looked back at Jake, who was quickly disappearing up the ramp, and started up the ramp after him, motioning for me to follow. I followed up the ramp and from an open area into a hallway. “Do you mind if we put the stuff here?” he asked both of us, coming to a room about halfway between the beginning of the hall and a set of double doors bearing the Ranger symbol. I said I didn’t mind, and Aryn shrugged. He took the rest of our bags put them just inside the doorway. Coming out he tripped over Aryn’s bag that was barely in the doorway. He caught himself against the wall. Without a word, he sped away through the double doors at the end of the hall. Aryn smiled apologetically and motioned for me to follow her again. “I’m piloting,” he said firmly as we came in.

“Jake,” Aryn started timidly. “Billy says she has pilot certification. I have to…” Jake got up as if the seat had burned him, and all but pushed past us.

“Fine.” I kept silent. The badge on his jacket and the corresponding rank stripes on the side identified him as the senior officer. That would make him my superior and a sinking feeling started in my stomach. It didn’t look like I was going to fit in.

“Come sit co-pilot, Alexis” Aryn beckoned. I hesitantly slid into the seat next to her. A kind of divider with some of the controls and a computer separated us. She took off as I watched intently at what she did; trying to give my mind something to do so I didn’t have to think about Jake. It went silent again, and I didn’t dare try to talk.  I was the new person here and clearly Jake didn’t want to talk to anyone. He sat in the back, furthest from me, absently scratching Sheriff’s ears. What felt like about halfway through the flight Aryn pushed a couple buttons.

“Let’s see how good of a job Tim did of teaching you how to fly.” She said, standing up. I couldn’t help cracking a smile at the mention of the flight instructor’s name. The guy had been really funny, and every trainee enjoyed his class. I stood too and switched Aryn seats so I was now sitting pilot. Once I took over as pilot, I had enough to think about that Jake’s attitude didn’t bother me until we passed over Las Vegas. “You’re a speed demon like Jake.” she commented, reaching over and turning on the autopilot. We’d spent the last, fifteen minutes or so discussing various things about the jet and piloting. This brought my thoughts back to the sullen guy in the back. I nodded, and then switched Aryn seats again, as we passed into California. “There’s the command center,” Aryn pointed out after a while longer. Through a forest, there was a three story building built on the edge of a cliff. I couldn’t see much at the moment and soon we landed in a hangar beside a smaller jet, where three people were waiting to meet us. Aryn went strait down the ramp, and after it seemed like Jake was waiting for me, I followed. Aryn introduced the three people one by one. The first was Billy Drake. He was the Div-com; I’d known at least that much before, and I remembered hearing from somewhere he was from French-Canada, Quebec to be exact. Billy was even taller than Jake (I seemed to be the short one here) with a strong build, dark hair, and work worn features. He didn’t seem too much older than me, but had the look of someone who was mature beyond their age. The most surprising of all, was that his voice held no trace of accent when he spoke.

“Nice to meet you Alexis…”I braced for the usual butchering of my last name, but to my surprise, he said it correctly. “Did I mess that up?” he questioned, seeing the automatic flinch. I shook my head.

“No, you’re one of the first to get it right actually”

“That’s good to hear” the lady next to Billy interjected.

“This is Winter” Aryn introduced.

Winter Frost” Winter came forward to shake my hand. Winter was a complete and total opposite of her name. Winter was only a head shorter than her partner, with flame red hair and an impish look in her eyes. She was the daughter of the commander, Warren Frost, everyone knew that name, and that made her at least half Irish.  She had the lithe frame, and well defined face common of the Celtic race.

“And, this is Mathias.” Aryn finished, introducing the third person in the small group. Mathias wasn’t as tall or as well built as the other guys. My first guess was that he was a medic. He had dark blonde hair that was almost long enough to get in his face, and stuck up in rooster tails in various places. Black, rectangular glasses almost hid his eyes, making it hard to read any expression as he too shook my hand. Like Jake, he nodded politely but didn’t speak.

“Now that formal, introductions are over” Winter spoke up. “I think we’ll just tell you now, we all prefer our first names, so can we forget about any other formalities?” I smiled at that, at least one person was friendly. “Welcome to North America.”



I followed between Billy and Winter as I got a whirlwind tour of the command center. It was a three story building, built between a small forest and a cliff. I was taken up to the top floor first, which I quickly began to see was training. I caught a glimpse of a rock wall in one, a simulator in another, and in the third, the one they called Police training, had a target range and a second type of simulator, but these are the things I saw at first glance. The top floor also had the medical center which Billy referred to as Med Command. There were lights behind the frosted glass with the Ranger symbol etched into the glass and overlaid in red, but it was apparently empty because I wasn't led inside. Outside was something like a waiting room, with an L-shaped couch that sat facing a screen, like to a computer or T.V. The screen was dark for now. The second floor was short, the only important thing a room called monitor control. Three computers with screens that took up an entire wall occupied the far right, back, and immediate left walls. A window looked out to the ocean between the center and right computers. Skylights opened up on one end and looked up towards the window outside med command, and the blue sky beyond. From there, I was taken to the ground floor. A garage with civilian cars was on the end facing towards the forest. There were only five cars there now. The garage had two entrances. One was leading from the hangar and another lead into a kitchen. The kitchen was huge, but cut almost in half by an island with three bar stools. Through a swinging door, was a dining room, a banquet table that at one point could probably have sat twenty or more. I could see several leaves off behind a curtain, and the table had ten chairs around it. Four at the end were pulled out like they'd been used recently. Billy was talking, sometimes to me, other times just to Winter. I responded when asked questions, but when I wanted to ask one of the questions that pressed at the back of my brain, I felt the presence of Jake behind me. He'd followed us this whole time and the scowl on his face was enough that I chose to keep silent. All of them were wearing jackets and as the tour continued, I could see why. I glanced at a thermostat in a room built somewhere between a theater and a living room when I was lead there. It read 68º Fahrenheit then flipped to 20º Celsius, a feat for how hot it was outside. Goosebumps were starting up my arms and I inwardly scolded myself for not grabbing my jacket before I'd left the jet. The floor had various other things, a circuit training room, a small gym with baskets at either end, and a work room with what I could only describe as gadget parts amid carpenter tools, with a couple of car repair items thrown in. I was starting to feel the mind overload when I was finally led to a hallway with a bunch of evenly spaced doors.

“Girls only,” Winter announced, “We'll see you guys later” Winter turned Billy around and gently pushed him towards the elevator at the end of the hall.

“Come on, Jacob” Billy called, as if this was normal, “I need to discuss something with you.” Winter watched as the two guys left, then turned to me.

“Overwhelmed yet?” Winter asked. This was meant as a joke, I could see it in her expression, but I nodded and she laughed. “It's a lot for the first day, I'll agree to that.” She walked down the hall and stopped at a doorway half way down and hit a button on a keypad.

“Come on, Alexis.” She led me into a room, turning on the lights as she did. It was the size of a small apartment. “You look like you're freezing.”

“It is kind of cold in here” Winter fiddled with another keypad and warm air coursed into the room. “Thank you” I said with a sign as it got warm. Winter chuckled and shrugged off her own jacket. The room all ready had some basic things in it, a dresser, a bed and a shelf, but all were obviously empty. With Jake gone, I found it a lot easier to talk when Winter initiated a light conversation. The room had a walk-in closet, laundry room, and bathroom off to one side, a window seat looking out to the ocean on the other.

“It's empty in here” she said regretfully as we both sat down on the bed at the back of the room. “Most of these rooms only get used when we have guests, so they've been basically empty since the Ranger's heyday.

“It's okay, Winter” I insisted. Winter told me about the key pad at the door and what the default lock code was. She explained the climate control and some basic things that I'd need to know. After a while, it went quiet as I tried to wrap my brain around everything I'd learned in the last hour.



Winter



         I decided that anything else was going to have to wait. I'd had a week to take most of this in.

         “How about, you and I get your stuff out of the jet” I suggested. Alexis stood immediately.

         “Sure” Alexis still looked overwhelmed as I put my jacket back on and started with her back towards the jet. She walked, shadow-like off to my left, slightly behind. She was small for a young woman of twenty-one, looking almost fragile to a stranger. Her black, shoulder-length hair was cut ragged, like a person in a punk band, and hid her face as she looked towards the floor. Her almond skin sharply contrasted with the  white T-shirt and jeans faded almost to match her shirt. Her tennis shoes had probably once been the same color, but the laces and seams were stained with red-brown dirt, and one shoe looked like it had been splattered in red dye several months ago, the dye had faded to almost pink. Her test scores had been impressive from what I'd been allowed to see. She was extremely smart, and very high performance on the physical tests. I was actually kind of envious of her.

         I helped her take her bags to her room, but she expressed that she wanted to unpack by herself. I left, explaining I'd probably be up in monitor control, and headed for the second floor. As I got to the double doors of monitor control, I heard a high pitched whine and an angry cry from inside. I entered to find Billy trying to get the computer on left to work.

         “I hit recalibrate, not shut down!” He cried in exasperation, then began muttering under his breath in a low growl. He pounded on the keys for a second or two, then abruptly calmed down. He noticed me. “I think I killed the computer.” he said simply. I laughed and tried the power button, there was no response from the computer.

         “I think you're right. What were you doing?”

         “I was trying to get the security system ready to enter Alexis in and...” he jerked his head towards the computer. “It died.”

         “We're going to have to get that fixed”

         “I'll talk to the T.C.” he responded, as if surrendering. He headed back towards center monitor. “We'll have to see if they'll let us borrow Rocky.”