Book of the Guardian 3: The Last Mission Read Online Free Page B

Thanks for the assist, rest well." John replied, grinning.
    "I'll try, see ya in a few hours," Mark replied and closed the channel.
    John noticed that the ATC was still on line. "Controller Howe, is there something else?"
    "Yes My Lord, you said there were a couple of things I could help you with, may I ask what the other was?" the now much less stressed woman asked.
    "Oh! I did say that, didn't I? I was going to ask what's up with all this 'My Lord' and 'My Lady' crap. You've dealt with us before, it was always Major Aster, not all this super-formal crap. What's up?" John asked.
    "Since His Majesty declared that all of you are knights that makes you Lords and Ladies. That means a change in title, My Lord. The paperwork has already made the rounds," She explained.
    "Uhg! Just when I was starting to get used to being called Major, they go and change it!" John said. "Thank you, Controller Howe. I'd like to add my compliments to that of His Majesty on the good work you and your people are doing. Thank you."
    "It's all part of the service, Sir. Now, with your permission, I'll get to work getting this mess straightened out," the woman replied.
    "Certainly! Thank you for the assistance, Main ATC. TG Flyer is out," John replied and closed the channel.
    Chloe snorted. "Just further proof human idiocy is still alive and well."
    "That man should be placed under a mandatory procreation restriction!" Lieutenant Carmichael said.
    "He's pushing retirement anyway, so I imagine if he were to have children, he already has. Mark will probably just quietly retire the man to some meaningless desk job where he can't actually hurt anyone," John replied.

Chapter 25
    ––––––––
    "I think I'm going to make a new law that if I get woken in the middle of the night, the person responsible will be shot!" Mark yawned. His aide, Ford, was still on duty, and sat a steaming cup down next to the King.
    "Will that be all, Sire? Hanna is about to come on duty," Ford asked.
    Mark shook his head after taking a sip of the hot beverage. "No, thanks a ton, Ford. Go get some rest."
    "I have weapons recertification later this morning, Majesty," Ford replied smiling. "Somehow, I don't think the Weapons Master would accept a Royal Order to get some rest as an excuse."
    "That’s the truth!" Mark replied, "That man is worse than the drill instructors I had before I was enhanced!"
    "Don't forget, Sire, you have recertification coming due yourself. I left a note for Hanna to schedule it for you," Ford replied.
    "Oh, that should be fun!" Mark replied sarcastically. "Even though I'm his King, that man still makes me re-qualify on every one of the weapons I've been trained for!"
    "Good!" John said, and nodded thanks to Ford for the drink. "You may be our King, Marcus, but you're also still a soldier. You need to maintain your certifications just like the rest of us."
    "I don't know; if I remember correctly, you weren't all that good of a shot, Mark!" Chloe added. "Have you improved yet?"
    Mark snorted. "After three thousand years, you'd think I could score better than eight-hundred on the range!"
    "You did once right after we were trained on the Breckett Mark Twenty sniper rifle, remember?" John said.
    "Yeah, but that was because the Mark Twenty had an independent targeting system. All anyone has to do with that rifle is point it in the general direction of the target and pull the trigger!" Mark replied.
    "Don't the standard issue assault rifles have the same system now?" Chloe asked.
    Mark nodded. "The point of qualification is to evaluate the soldier, not the weapon. So, the system is disabled during qualifications. It was deemed that it gave the soldier too much of an advantage during qualification. The way things are going, very soon all a soldiers will have to do is push a button, or just hold the weapon and try to not get hit in return."
    "Yeah, Mary was yelling at us for not staying upgraded," Chloe replied. "She does have a point, but some of that new