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A faction of Gua generals, working with Joshua, seek Foster's help in a plot to assasinate Mabus.
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The prophet Nostradamus has foretold the arrival of an alien antichrist who will bring about the apocalypse. He calls himself Mabus, and he's out there right now ... somewhere. The prophecies of Nostradamus guide us and help us fight the Gua, but we have yet to get close to Mabus, we have yet to strike a blow that will stop the impending invasion. Until then, we prepare.
Call it a crisis of faith. Eddie was desperately searching the quatrains, trying to get us closer to Mabus but we were running out of angles. Jordan tried to bolster my spirits - told me our plan was working. We would continue to take the Gua down one by one, each step bringing us closer to finding the Guahead. Jordan believed we were gonna get him and win the war.
While sifting through quatrains, Eddie received an encrypted message from Joshua requesting a meeting to discuss Mabus. He wanted me to come alone. Eddie seemed to think the message was genuine, Joshua had used the encryption code before. Jordan thought I was nuts, the Gua were onto me, to take a risk like this was suicidal. Figured this could've been the break we were looking for. No matter how strained things had become between Joshua and I, this was an opportunity I wasn't gonna turn down.
Joshua said he'd be alone, but when we rendezvoused in the desert he had two Gua snipers pinned on me, didn't matter, 'cause Jordan had my back. Joshua said I was vital to a plan the Gua snipers, Allegra and Steven, had proposed to him - a plan to assassinate Mabus.
Jordan rigged me with a Raven Nation satellite tracking device - shot the sucker right into my shoulder - hurt like hell. Eddie was freaking out - he didn't like the risk, wanted me to take backup. We didn't have a choice - Mabus had been our focus for months and the Gua assassins had insisted that I join them alone -- this was do or die.
Allegra took me into the camp. The Gua had a hundred thousand acres of desert to use as training ground - they got it from the government. They were training to take us down right under our noses - and Uncle Sam was helping.
In our first official meeting Steven made his feelings clear - we had a common goal to kill Mabus, we weren't there for any reconciliation - as far as he was concerned humans were scum. Told him I felt the same way about aliens.
Moved into a briefing where I was told the Gua still hadn't developed a husk strong enough to hold Mabus' consciousness for more than a few weeks, their leader had to spend the bulk of his time in an incubation unit to slow down the accelerated decomposition of his human body - we were gonna use that to our advantage. Each of us had skills suited to the mission -- as Adjunct General, Steven had free passage into the bunker, he would arrive early to occupy the Guahead and disable his last line of defense. Allegra had thorough knowledge of the bunker's defenses. Joshua was a weapons specialist and skilled Acolyte assassin - he would provide cover as we blitzed the corridor leading to Mabus' chamber. And then there was me, "one-one-seven," I'd provide a decoy as they approached the unit - and I'd get to fire the first, and hopefully last, shot.
They wanted me to kill Mabus.
Gave me a special gun, developed in a Gua lab. It used a charge that should destroy husk and consciousness - but they couldn't be sure and couldn't risk his surviving the attack. Joshua said no one truly knew how strong Mabus was - and he wasn't any ordinary Gua.
Something didn't fit. These guys were all Gua soldiers, all had access to Mabus - so why the hell did they need me? Steven's answer seemed to make sense. If Mabus were killed by a Gua it could start a civil war at home, but if he were killed by a human it would raise questions about the viability of the Gua's invasion of earth. Steven didn't like the situation but said we needed each other. I disagreed - we were using each other.
Cornered Joshua, asked some questions about Steven. Joshua said Steven spills blood like water and had led the Gua to victory before -- his ambition was boundless. Allegra collected state secrets like jewelry, she'd seduced several American and international officials. I didn't trust any of them. Not even Joshua, though he assured me that I could count on him. After what went down since I got him out of that quantum-pocket prison I couldn't be sure. Used to believe Joshua had some regard for human life, now I questioned that belief.
The Gua team had a high-tech simulator just like the one Harley and I ran into last year. We ran the plan and we failed -- the entire assassination team was killed in a hail of gunfire from a Gua guard.
Steven was pissed. No way was this gonna work if we couldn't act as a team. And in the real world there would be no second chances. Tensions were on the rise and Allegra had a real jones to take me out. She talked about a Gua prophecy, said she didn't believe I was the one it spoke of. Joshua explained that the Gua had prophets like Nostradamus, they called them Harbingers - with powers far beyond that of the normal species. The first was Medak, a philosopher the Gua once revered. The last was Mabus.
The prophecy said that if Mabus was killed by the "chosen human hand" this invasion would end. Both Joshua and Steven believed I could be the "chosen one" their prophecy spoke of. Now they worried that my prior knowledge of that same prophecy could invalidate it.
I told them not to worry. I was gonna kill Mabus ... whether he knew I was coming or not.
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