Saturday. 09:00 Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Tailgate lot

John was leaning on someone’s car and eating the best damn BBQ sandwich known to mankind. The sandwich contained smoked gouda cheese, brisket, pulled pork, and chicken in a ciabatta bun. Alice was disgusted and how much John was enjoying it. In fact, it wasn’t just John, all of the boys in their group were in love with that sandwich.

“I love you John, but there are times I just don’t understand you.” Alice smiled and shook her head.

“This sandwich is almost as good as sex. Almost.” Kevin shouted.

Theresa and Alice both rolled their eyes.

“I mean, he’s basically right.” John smiled. “This tailgate crew is the fuckin’ best.”

The crowd around them got raucous and agreed with the cadets. The conversation about the food continued with the girls simply not understanding how good the sandwich really was. The boys justified eating it at every game by hitting the gym a little harder to burn off those calories.

“Where are we heading next?” Nathan asked.

“Enemy territory.” John shouted.

“Why?” Kristin looked confused.

“Midwesterners are awesome. Remember those guys from NDSU last year. All the food and drink you could want. Plus, I saw a few cornhole games going on over there.” John said walking toward the enemy fans.

The friends wandered around the tailgating area and came upon where several South Dakota State groups were setup. True to form not a single one jeered or said anything negative to the cadets. Food, drink and camaraderie were offered in droves. John found a game of cornhole going on and challenged someone there to a game.

The cadets wouldn’t leave that area until the game was nearly ready to start. There really was no need to meander anymore. Anything they wanted to eat, or drink was there. Just about all of the SDSU groups were practically throwing food and alcohol at them. They thanked the people for their hospitality, took a lot of pictures with them and then headed toward the stadium gates.

“Oh, my good god, all of that food was so fucking delicious.” Andern said as he slapped his belly.

“They drove here in that bus and brought all of that. They do that every year.” Jessica could hardly believe the fans.

“Yeah, same passion as the NDSU fans from last year, little fewer of them but the food was every bit as good.” Nathan added as they got in line.

“Alright folks, bets on the game today?” John said as his ID was scanned at the gate.

“Don’t fucking jinx us this year jackass.” Kevin yelled from the back.

The rest of the group refused to estimate the score after last year’s debacle. They walked around the concourse towards the student section and entered it. They found some empty seats and sat down. Part of the platoon that got upset with John using his power armor during a wargame was sitting in the row below them. Before the game started a few of them asked some probing questions about the wargame.

“Look, y’all turtled. We have two options at that point, we do a suicide attack or keep you boxed in. I’m not ordering a suicide charge unless it’d actually accomplish something.” John shook his head.

“Yeah, but that suit decimated us.” The cadet complained.

“You guys took out my shields when I peeked out the second time. Had you kept the focus on me I’d been taken out. But the biggest mistake y’all made was to stop focusing fire on me.”

“Still bullshit that they let you do that.” Another one whined.

John just shrugged. The rest of the group added their opinions to the mix. Nathan ended the argument by calling them “whiney little bitches.” John laughed at the reaction the other cadets had when they were called out like that.

The first half of the game wasn’t great, but it was mercifully better than last year. Navy was only down three points but got the kickoff in the second half. John had a hankering for nachos, so he went down to the concession area. He was gone for about fifteen minutes but came back with not only nachos but also but also a giant pretzel.

“I think I speak on behalf of most members of our class and say we hate certain parts about you John.” Alice said.

John smiled as he sat down. “This pretzel isn’t hard as shit, it’s so damn good.”

John dipped the pretzel in some cheese sauce and finished it. He then focused on eating his nachos. The group continued to talk about what to do for lunch on Sunday. They also began talking about fall break, Alice brought up a cruise, but most weren’t keen on that plan. John was adamant about avoiding New Orleans, there was an awkward laugh and agreed to skip that. Kristin still hadn’t found out why John felt as strongly as he did.

Eventually they thought of going to the Florida Keys. John was given strict instructions to avoid any shenanigans when it came to booking the flight. Kristin was less confused at that comment, Andern told her he’d fully explain that one later. Just as the third quarter started John figured he may have found a pretty swanky pad for them to hang out. It was right next to the ocean too, which mean spear fishing could be a thing.

“Holy shit, it’s available too.” John said. He looked up and missed Navy running the kickoff back in for a touchdown. “Fuck me I missed most of that.”

Alice started laughing and the rest of them joined suit. John finished the reservation on the house before the extra point attempt. He made a mental note to take care of booking their flights after the game.

The second half of the game was a close affair. Both teams had critical defensive stops or scored when each other did. Navy won in the end, but it wasn’t a dominant win. They only did because of a last second defensive stand. The game was far too close for the group’s liking. At the end of the day though, a win is a win. The group remained in their seats and weren’t in any rush to leave the stadium.

“Oof, Clemson’s gonna be pissed.” Nathan said.

“They lost?” Kevin asked.

“Yeah, NDSU got them by seventeen. So glad we weren’t playing them again this year.” Nathan stood up to stretch.

“Anyone up to going to the Drunken Cadet?” Andern asked.

“Alice and I are going to dinner so we’re out.” John said as he stood up, he took Alice’s hand as she stood up. “We were going to go out tomorrow but changed that this morning.”

“Yeah, we’re game.” Kevin said.

“Well, y’all have fun. Cya tomorrow at chow. Thomas, where are we going for lunch tomorrow?” John asked as they were walking down steps.

“Brewdogs Burger’s and Beer. Heard good things. 11:00.”

“Roger that.” John waived at them as the couple took the exit that was closest to their dorm.

The couple was looking forward to some time together. If the first week was any indication, they were going to get precious little time of that. During the week they usually only had under an hour a day before it was time to go to bed.

17:00 The Italian House

“I gotta admit Alice, this place is absolutely spectacular.” John held her outstretch hand at the table.

“I have been wanting to come here for a year. So happy that we’re finally here.” Alice was smiling.

“So, what’s good here?” John was skimming the menu.

“The pasta tasting menu. It is the best thing by far.” Alice was looking very excited.

“Well then, that sounds good to me.”

Their waitress showed up shortly after that. They ordered the pasta tasting menu and asked them to pair an excellent wine for the occasion. The waitress recommended a vintage wine from forty years ago from a winemaker in the south of France. John hadn’t heard of it before. But it paired well with all of the dishes they had that night.

“John, I know we were going to talk about the wedding more over thanksgiving.”

“No time like the present, eh?” John smiled.

“So, the way I see besides next summer, the only time we’d have it in the next couple of years would be fall or spring break, Christmas and Thanksgiving.”

“I was thinking the same thing. The break weeks don’t make much sense though since there’s not enough time to get everything prepared. Which means next summer is the best time to do it.” John smiled.

Alice was smiling from ear to ear. “I am totally calling my mom about this when we get home.”

John started to laugh. “Well, probably won’t hurt to get started on the planning this weekend.”

“I think we need to figure out how many people we want in our wedding party.”

The couple paid for the meal, then decided to walk back to their dorm room. The big debate was how many bridesmaids and groomsmen. John was thinking five, but Alice was set on six. A final decision didn’t need to be made that night, they had plenty of time to figure out the specific details.

18:30 Co-ed Dorm

Alice was talking to her mom about the wedding plans. Kate agreed with the couple and thought the summer was the best time to have the wedding. There was no guarantee that her brothers besides Paul could attend the service, but it worked the best for her schedule.

John laid down on their bed and was going to take a short nap. When John fell asleep, he felt another presence probing his mind. Someone was searching for something. They wouldn’t find anything as his mind had numerous layers that not even the strongest telepaths could break through.

John drifted into his subconscious and was trying to track down the unknown presence that had invaded. It was darting in and out and not staying long enough for John to lock the presence down. All he could do is hope the person made a mistake. Then John thought, instead of trying to wait on them to make a mistake but let’s entice the presence by going a bit deeper than before. John laid out some bait for the presence to go towards.

Sure, enough that worked. The presence saw a weakness in his barrier and investigated it. That was all it took for John to activate his trap. The appearance within his mind changed from a dark black and green hallway with octagonal panels on the floor and a very geometric appearance to a bright room with a pair of chairs, an elevated throne surrounded by a horizon that appeared to go towards infinity.

‘Commander Lewis Steinhart. Member of the 3rd fleet, Psi-Corps division. Were they truly this stupid to send you after me?’ John was sitting on the throne casually with a leg over one of the arm rests. ‘Try as you might, you’re neither leaving here nor contacting the others until I permit you to do so. Their attempts in extracting you and themselves from the trap I’ve laid will not succeed.’

Lewis had a terrified look on his face. All telepaths were taught early on to never force their way too deep into the mind of others. A sufficiently powerful and trained mind could trap the roving telepath within which would lead to brain death for the trespasser.

‘I’m waiting for your answer commander. If you try to delay any longer, you’ll only upset me.’ John’s expression changed; he was sizing up the commander.

‘Level 3 telepaths cannot craft a mental labyrinth like this. It’s impossible.’

John gave off a predator’s smile. ‘Clearly, I can, now answer the fucking question. I’m beginning to lose patience with you.’

‘You stole trillions from us. We will find how you did this.’

John placed all his mental focus onto the commander. Within John’s mind it appeared that John began shining as brightly as a thousand suns to Lewis. In the room where the commander was located, he fell out of his chair and landed on the floor writhing in pain. John was forcibly prying into the commander’s mind, shredding any sort of defenses he may have placed. Then he stopped.

‘As you can see I can either rip the information from you, permanently damaging you in the process, or you can cooperate and retain your mind. Either way I don’t care. This op of yours is not sanctioned. The other three that are with you will be my next victims. Now you will give me the information I’m seeking one way or the other.’

The commander was desperately lashing out at John trying to fight back against his unexpected captor.

‘Go to hell!’

John started to laugh which was an unsettling sight and feeling for the commander. ‘Give my regards to the devil.’

John tore through the commander’s mind. He was annihilating the defenses that were thrown in front of John. No regard for any collateral damage was given as he probed the mind the other’s mind. It took less than a minute to find the information John sought. John took the nuclear approach when searching for the information he was seeking and as a result the commander’s mind was destroyed. Lewis would be dead within the hour.

John forced the remnants of the commander out of his mind which let him track the remnant back to where they were staying. Three other individuals were in the room. A pair of level four telepaths and a level five. He attacked all three at once, with his primary attacks focusing on the stronger telepath. He was able to knock out the three without too much difficulty.

‘Good evening. Captain Aaron Olson. Another Third Fleet psi-corpsman. Surely you weren’t given orders to psychically attack a cadet in the naval academy?’

The sheer terror that the captain expressed on his face could be felt by John. The appearance of the psychic room they resided in reverted to the bright room John was projecting to the commander. He sat down once more on the elevated throne. Level five telepaths would never believe a single telepath could possess the ability to bypass their own mental blocks. Aaron was having difficulty in understanding how John had broken through blocks he had set up in place.

‘I will never talk.’

John laughed like an evil mastermind. ‘Surely you of all people are aware how we can rip certain memories from people’s minds. You think I’m not capable of that?’

‘I will fight you every step of the way.’ Aaron sneered back at John.

‘Seriously? Are you actually prepared to throw your life away for those assholes?’ John peered into his mind; he found the connection; he married the daughter of a well-connected industrialist. ‘Ahh, there we are. You’re basically the flesh and blood of this whole fucking group.’

‘WE WILL DEFEAT YOU!’ Aaron was unleashing an impotent attack to lash out at John, it was unsuccessful.

‘Well, can’t say I didn’t try to be merciful. They’ll find your husks tomorrow, when Intelligence locates it ahead of your conspirators within the fleet. Wonderful thing about telepathic murders is that you can’t tie it back to a person.’

John ended his conversation and brutally searched and ripped through the mind of the captain for the information he was looking for. He found it without too much difficulty but continued his rampage around his mind. When he was done, the captain was also effectively brain dead. He pulled out of the captain’s mind and entered one of the remaining two telepaths.

‘Lieutenant Commander Brian Martin. Let’s have a chat.’ John appeared in front the commander in his mind.

‘Whatever you want, it’s yours.’ The panicked look on his face led John to believe this was his first operation against another telepath.

‘Well, the first one with any sense.’ John was wary for any possible traps but the overwhelming amount of fear the commander was feeling was palpable. ‘First time an op went pear shaped for you. Well thanks for the information.’

John grabbed the operational details that Brian had read. He didn’t think the other agent would produce anything substantial. Unlike the others the information was freely given, the commander’s mind was intact.

‘I wonder when Petrov is going to stop sending people to their deaths. I was very clear that no action was to be taken against me. Yet he very clearly ignored this sage advice.’ John was shaking his head in front of Brian.

He dropped to his knees. ‘No no no no, not like this.’

‘Goodbye commander, for what it’s worth I apologize for your superiors effectively ordered your death. But this is your fault for running along with this organization.’

John repeated the process for destroying the commander’s brain like he had twice before. He felt a moderate amount of guilt here. The commander was in over his head and was effectively forced into this group and compelled to join the strike squad against John. But when an attacker lashes out at John, he had to react in kind. Their little attack group was trying to fry his brain just meant he’d have to do that to his would-be attackers. He exited the now destroyed mind and was looking at the last attacker.

John repeated the process a final time. He was always curious that mentally destroying someone’s mind didn’t feel that difficult to do but forcing someone to do something they didn’t want to do was brutally taxiing on oneself. Each attack only took a handful of minutes to resolve. In all John was asleep for about forty-five minutes.

John walked out to the living room to see Alice and her mother still talking about the wedding plans. He walked over and securely logged into the terminal. He set the message to be sent to intelligence in two hours. Ensuring enough time for all four telepaths to die.

Four psi-corp agents from the Third Fleet attempted to attack me when I took a nap. They were looking for the accounts or physical location of the remaining money. They were obviously unsuccessful. Their corpses can be found in on the third floor, room 2A of the Marcus Warehouse building facing the academy.

Uriel Petrov orchestrated the attack. Suggest we move to eliminate him as a fleet admiral. Attaching several incriminating details, the admiral is involved in. Also suggest leaking this information to the other fleets.

I also have the VI’s ready to do another pass of Third Fleets assets should the need arise.

He signed out afterwards and joined Alice and her mother in the conversation. They agreed on the wedding party would have no more than six members on each side. They also agreed to have a weekly conversation to work on some of the details. John was excited to get married but working on the specifics wasn’t exactly something he was overly thrilled at.

Later that evening the couple went down to the lounger and hung out with their friends. They were playing cornhole, watching the evening college football game and generally relaxing. John was subbed out of the game and noticed a message came in from LeCroix just before midnight.

‘Bodies have been recovered, assessing next steps. Take no action. That VI is NOT TO BE ACTIVATED. Will be in contact.’

John laughed. “What a funsucker.”