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Reunion: Chapter 16

“Remember who you are." The chairman said, his back turned to Andrew, the back of his ridiculously large chair obscuring all view of him. “Remember where you come from and why you are here now."

“I remember." Andrew said, bowing his head slightly and the chairman flickers as the ship shook slightly, causing distortions in the video feed.

He had left his facility above Venus as soon as he was told at the meeting less than an hour prior. He didn't tell anyone where he was going. His staff would be looking for him and when they wouldn't be able to find him, a missing person report would be sent out. Authorities would perform search sweeps of the entire planet and then move to the rest of the system. They wouldn't find him.

It didn't matter, he was told by the chairman himself to take care of the dog on Earth and he was going to do just that.

“This is what you have been waiting for your entire life." The chairman's voice, no longer distorted, was that of an old man, raspy and dry. It was barely audible over the slight hum of the ship's engine. He instead had a direct audio feed going to his ear piece.

“You father before you trained, his mother, her mother and so on, generations upon generations have gone before." The chair turned a little, letting Andrew see the man's hands, old, wrinkly and covered in liver spots.

No matter the chairman didn't want people to see him, he was not the kind of figure one would want to see leading the party. Andrew didn't think about it. This was a great man who led the party from a small, shunned group to what it was now. Appearance and age did not matter, respect and experience did.

“After so long with nothing, all this time waiting for your last foe to show his face…" Andrew finished up the thought. “It is my turn to finish the job."

“Yes." The chairman folded his hands across his lap and the chair moved back to block all view of him. “Do not underestimate him or the fact that he is an inferior Canis. He is dangerous and will not hesitate to kill you."

“He won't get the opportunity." Andrew drew his weapon, a custom made slug thrower. It was an older model, but it was devastating.

“Confidence is what got your predecessors killed." The chairman sighed. “I have tried so hard to work that out, this confidence that has plagued your line for so long. Do not go in blind or you will die and he will escape." The history was there. Each person who went out with absolute certainty that they would come out victorious never did return or barely with their lives. Andrew's great uncle followed a lead once to the edge of the solar system. He was so confident in his ability, something that went down their family line, a resistance to the psionic abilities of Canis, that he went alone without telling anyone and he was never seen again.

Andrew had no intention of making that mistake. While the government didn't know where he was and most of the Dominion along with it, there were always contingencies.

“I won't make the same mistakes as those that came before me." Andrew put the gun away. “I once read that the last time we were here, the target was as well, looking for something."

“Yes." The chairman confirmed. “We, along with the Canis and their supporters picked up a signal. It was weak, but the message that it contained was interesting enough."

“Charlie protocol."

“Indeed. Whatever it was, or really is, it drew them right into our clutches. But, while all the others were disposed of, the target escaped."

“And you left this Charlie Protocol with the hope of drawing him back in."

“Yes."

“I'll need to make use of the garrison that I'm sure you left close by."

The coordinates were sent to Andrew shortly after the call ended. There was a small garrison on one of the old ship wreckages. There wasn't a large space station since the kind of weapons the garrison had were illegal to own. The same laws that kept these weapons out of the hands of potential rebel Canis, kept the weapons out of the hands of any private citizen regardless of species.

The Dominion controlled the government, but it wasn't the government so the wreckage of an dead dreadnaught, split in half where its keel had shattered, made for a perfect place to hide such weapons.

Andrew received landing orders, the garrison having already received his automatic transponder. He landed the ship in one of it's hangars which was wide open for him. It slowly closed shut once his ship was inside and landed.

“Never thought I'd see the day when this place would actually be used for its intended purposes." The deck sergeant said, tapping at a pad as Andrew stepped out of his ship. “Never thought I'd see someone from the family either in my life." He held out his hand, it's a pleasure sir. Sergeant Buxley at your disposal."

Andrew took the man's hand. He had a solid, powerful grip that could have crushed Andrew's own easily. Instead he applied just the right amount of pressure for a satisfying hand shake. “I'm sure that you know fully well why I'm here if you recognize me already."

Buxley nodded. “Chairman is really picky about who he sends out here. Only people that can keep secrets. I know about you, your family and who we're going after. No brief necessary." He pointed behind him at three black shuttles. “Everyone is actually set to go. I'm just here to meet and greet." The man, who had a five-o-clock shadow and unkempt hair gave a quick smile and led Andrew to the ships while filling him in on everything he needed to know.

“You're the only person who is capable of going up against a psionic." He said while Andrew followed closely behind, gazing around the inside of what once would have been a two kilometer long war ship.

Nothing in the current fleet was that large anymore. The closest they had was the seven hundred and fifty meter long Victory class cruisers and even then there were only three of those for each of the three fleets.

“Then why send a team down with me at all?" Andrew asked, curious since it didn't seem logical to send down so many people and risk their lives.

The small smile faded from Buxley's face. “Need a body to bury if you fail." The smile quickly came though. “Not that you're going to fail, though. You have enough gene therapy and selective breeding in your line that you were born qualified for this kind of thing."

“How much do you know about my family?" He asked as they stopped by the bottom of the ramp to one of the shuttles. It seemed disturbing that this man was casual talking about many secrets. “This isn't public knowledge."

“Like I said." He tapped the side of his nose. “Chairman doesn't just let anyone come here."

That was all he was going to get for the time being. They were on a time schedule that needed them to get to the surface of the planet before the Canis got to Charlie Protocol. The last thing they needed was for them to get what they needed and disappear.

There were seven others in the shuttle other than Andrew and Buxley. They all wore matching, skin tight combat suits that also acted as biohazard suits. They sat in their harnesses, guns latched to small loops on the walls next to them. There was nothing fancy, no explosives other than their grenades or massive machine guns. They carried small, rapid firing SMG's and the reason was simple. The more bullets in the air, the less likely a psionic was going to be able to stop them all. It made Andrew feel silly for bringing his high caliber slug thrower.

There was a suit ready for Andrew, folded up on his seat with a single, full faced visor. He slipped into it before sitting down in his seat next to Buxley who was pulling down the straps across his chest and hooking them to the buckles on either side of him. Andrew did the same.

The pilot closed the ramp and the shuttle rattled as it lifted off. There were no windows and the cockpit hatch was closed robbing him a view out of front of the ship.

The lights overhead dimmed out to be replaced by a red glow that came from spray on luminescent paint overhead.

“So." Buxley leaned over. He was the only one who spoke, every one else on the ship held onto their helmets if they hadn't already donned them. They were mostly ex military, disciplined and if they were nervous at all, they didn't show it.

Andrew on the other hand was starting to get butterflies in his stomach. His gloved hand rubbed the sides of the helmet. “So." He said back.

“We know where the Canis landed." He pulled out his data pad from a pouch on his belt and brought up a display of New York. “He landed here and is heading towards the park where the original Charlie Protocol signal came from." The blue hue from the data pad clashed with the red glow of the cabin, making Andrew squint. “To avoid getting pulled out of the air…"

Pulled out the air. That was a scary thought, that a sufficiently powerful Canis could pluck ships out of the air. He never heard of it, but there had never been a Canis like that before, until now. Andrew had read the initial reports a few weeks prior about how this Canis had torn units apart. He gave a slight shudder.

“We're going to land just outside of the park and meet him in the middle. In the open, we're vulnerable, but so is he. My men will give you cover and prevent escape, but I can't afford to have him tear us to shreds, so we're just support. It's up too you to do what you need to do."

Andrew nodded. It was all on him to do the job.

As the ship began hitting atmosphere and the inside of the ship jarred left to right and became deafening. Andrew grew more nervous. He was raised to do one thing, all his life he had been tutored on how to fight psionics, how to resist their abilities. He could take a full psionic blast that would normally Send others flying. He could push them out of his mind. His blood allowed him to do this and while that took away the advantage that this Canis had, he still knew that there was a good chance that he wouldn't survive.

“Remember who you are." The words of the Chairman came to mind. “Remember where you come from and why you are here." He was here to avenge his family, to retake what had been given, taken and to remove the blight that this Canis represented.

His predecessors have failed, but he wouldn't. He couldn't fail.

Andrew took deep breaths the entire time the ship shook. He looked over at the others. They wore stone faces and Andrew wondered how he looked.

These men had killed before, killed people for a living. Andrew had killed before, but in entirely different circumstance.

Goaded, prodded, half starved Canis were forced into using their diminished powers against him for training. They would do their best to push him over and he would resist. In the end, he would kill them. Sometimes with a weapon, a gun, sometimes with his hand. That had been different, his life had never been in danger. Now he was going right into the fire.

He was supposed to train for several more years, but now he was going to his baptism by fire.

“Remember who I am." Andrew said to himself, closing his eyes, feeling the movement of the ship change as the slowed down for landing.

“I am Andrew." He took a lungful of air.

Buxley said something and he put his helmet on. The straps on his body slid free and he stood up, weapon ready. The others got up as well and lined up by the ramp.

“Descendent of the Luke Anderson of direct line of Jay Anderson." He said spoke to himself, the radio off so that only he heard himself. “I will cleanse the family line."

The ship shuddered and the ramp opened. Light flooded into the ships and everyone rushed out into the dead city.

“I am Andrew. Son of a long legacy from Earth. Direct descendent of Jay Anderson and the old family Josten. I will both cleanse the family line and avenge it all at once."

“I am Andrew Josten Anderson."