Snafu: Update the Second
Jan. 18th, 2006 05:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
onemuseleftNot a big update, but consider it proof I haven't forgotten about the story entirely.
Title: SNAFU: Situation Normal: All Fucked Up
Fandom: Animorphs
Pairings: Jake/Marco and Rachel/Tobias
Rating: There's going to be violence and swearing and possibly the sexxors. Fair warning.
Earlier parts are available here.
For Kat, because she... went on vacation. Wait a minute. Shouldn't she be writing me something?
The cab pulled up to the curb outside the governor's mansion and the cabbie tapped the bulletproof glass to signal their arrival.
Rachel stared out the window through half-closed eyes for a moment, before leaning forward and pushing a hundred dollar bill toward the driver. "If you're still here when I come out, there's another hundred in addition to the fare."
The driver grabbed the bill and grinned at her over his shoulder. "You'd have had me for fifty, you know."
She smiled back as she slid out of the car. "Why pay discount for first rate service?" she shot back.
The cabbie tossed her a brief salute, and reached forward to flip on the hazard lights.
The governor's mansion was brand new, like most of the state and local government buildings. The mansion had been taken over by the Yeerk in the early days of the second invasion, and it hadn't survived the fighting. It had been rebuilt with the kind of speed rarely seen from government contracted jobs, exactly as it had been before the war, but it was too shiny, too white, too new.
Like a lot of things, in the wake of the war.
Rachel pulled her sunglasses out of her purse and slid them on.
The security checkpoint at the front gates of the property was also something new since the war. Two uniformed guards – National Guard troops, usually – manned the gates with a walk-through metal detector, a guard dog trained specifically to sniff out the fluid of the Yeerk pools, and a portable retinal scanner. There was a booth inside which there would be a satellite uplink so they could check IDs and confirm that any visitors were welcome ones.
Both guards, Rachel couldn't help but notice, paused briefly when they saw her coming.
The dog didn't stir as she approached, boots clicking on the concrete sidewalk. She had her ID out as she approached, handing it to the first guard before he could ask. He vanished inside to confirm it was valid, while the second guard approached with the retinal scanner. She glanced at him over the top of her glasses, raising a brow.
"Procedure, ma'am," the guard held the device steady for her. "If you could lean forward, and look directly at the red dot, please."
She slid the sunglasses down her nose and leaned forward. Retinal scanners were minimalistic security, really. They didn't warn of Yeerk possession, they didn't detect someone in morph, and nowadays those were the two things people in power actually needed to be warned about.
Although, Rachel mused as she focused on the scanner, with all the militant anti-alien groups cropping up across the planet, maybe the normal humans were just as much a threat as the rest.
"Thank you, ma'am." The guard checked the readout on the scanner and hit a few keys, transferring the result of the scan to his partner inside the booth. If her ID and retinal scans didn't match up, an alarm would be raised and she'd be placed under arrest for falsifying identity documents. And just in case she tried to resist arrest, more than two dozen armed guards would appear on the scene within moments of the alert.
Rachel wasn't really expecting problems; Crawford didn't know they were planning anything, and it was too early for anyone else to have become involved. That didn't stop her from planning exactly how to take these two out before reinforcements arrived.
"Ms. Berenson-Hawke?" The first guard, a younger guy, about Rachel's age with bright blond hair, jogged out of the booth and handed her ID back. "The governor wants to know if there's anything the problem, ma'am?"
"No, not at all." Rachel laid it on as thick as she dared, flashing bright white teeth and flipping her hair over her shoulder. "I'm just hoping to drop in on an old friend. You know, catch up on old times."
Blondie presented her with a visitor's day pass on a beaded chain that she could slip over her head. The word "Executive" was printed across the top in big blue letters. "Well, ma'am, is there anything we could do for you?"
"Well." Rachel slid her glasses down and crinkled her eyes at him. "Would it be too terribly much to ask if you could call ahead and ask Cassandra Wilkinson if she has time to join me for lunch?"
***
Title: SNAFU: Situation Normal: All Fucked Up
Fandom: Animorphs
Pairings: Jake/Marco and Rachel/Tobias
Rating: There's going to be violence and swearing and possibly the sexxors. Fair warning.
Earlier parts are available here.
For Kat, because she... went on vacation. Wait a minute. Shouldn't she be writing me something?
The cab pulled up to the curb outside the governor's mansion and the cabbie tapped the bulletproof glass to signal their arrival.
Rachel stared out the window through half-closed eyes for a moment, before leaning forward and pushing a hundred dollar bill toward the driver. "If you're still here when I come out, there's another hundred in addition to the fare."
The driver grabbed the bill and grinned at her over his shoulder. "You'd have had me for fifty, you know."
She smiled back as she slid out of the car. "Why pay discount for first rate service?" she shot back.
The cabbie tossed her a brief salute, and reached forward to flip on the hazard lights.
The governor's mansion was brand new, like most of the state and local government buildings. The mansion had been taken over by the Yeerk in the early days of the second invasion, and it hadn't survived the fighting. It had been rebuilt with the kind of speed rarely seen from government contracted jobs, exactly as it had been before the war, but it was too shiny, too white, too new.
Like a lot of things, in the wake of the war.
Rachel pulled her sunglasses out of her purse and slid them on.
The security checkpoint at the front gates of the property was also something new since the war. Two uniformed guards – National Guard troops, usually – manned the gates with a walk-through metal detector, a guard dog trained specifically to sniff out the fluid of the Yeerk pools, and a portable retinal scanner. There was a booth inside which there would be a satellite uplink so they could check IDs and confirm that any visitors were welcome ones.
Both guards, Rachel couldn't help but notice, paused briefly when they saw her coming.
The dog didn't stir as she approached, boots clicking on the concrete sidewalk. She had her ID out as she approached, handing it to the first guard before he could ask. He vanished inside to confirm it was valid, while the second guard approached with the retinal scanner. She glanced at him over the top of her glasses, raising a brow.
"Procedure, ma'am," the guard held the device steady for her. "If you could lean forward, and look directly at the red dot, please."
She slid the sunglasses down her nose and leaned forward. Retinal scanners were minimalistic security, really. They didn't warn of Yeerk possession, they didn't detect someone in morph, and nowadays those were the two things people in power actually needed to be warned about.
Although, Rachel mused as she focused on the scanner, with all the militant anti-alien groups cropping up across the planet, maybe the normal humans were just as much a threat as the rest.
"Thank you, ma'am." The guard checked the readout on the scanner and hit a few keys, transferring the result of the scan to his partner inside the booth. If her ID and retinal scans didn't match up, an alarm would be raised and she'd be placed under arrest for falsifying identity documents. And just in case she tried to resist arrest, more than two dozen armed guards would appear on the scene within moments of the alert.
Rachel wasn't really expecting problems; Crawford didn't know they were planning anything, and it was too early for anyone else to have become involved. That didn't stop her from planning exactly how to take these two out before reinforcements arrived.
"Ms. Berenson-Hawke?" The first guard, a younger guy, about Rachel's age with bright blond hair, jogged out of the booth and handed her ID back. "The governor wants to know if there's anything the problem, ma'am?"
"No, not at all." Rachel laid it on as thick as she dared, flashing bright white teeth and flipping her hair over her shoulder. "I'm just hoping to drop in on an old friend. You know, catch up on old times."
Blondie presented her with a visitor's day pass on a beaded chain that she could slip over her head. The word "Executive" was printed across the top in big blue letters. "Well, ma'am, is there anything we could do for you?"
"Well." Rachel slid her glasses down and crinkled her eyes at him. "Would it be too terribly much to ask if you could call ahead and ask Cassandra Wilkinson if she has time to join me for lunch?"
***
