"Fernando told me enough to understand that the rescue of this girl has to be done as soon as you can get there to find her. That says to me that you do not have time to stay around to go through the process of a trail now. The trail can wait when you can come back, but you need to press charges and have the girl interviewed now. You cannot leave and then come back 6 months or longer and then say there was a crime occurred. So it is best to start it now, pause it and come back later to finish it. Fernando told me that you all are supposed to be leaving tonight." General Jastrey tells Jeanette
 

---

Fernando watches Hondo get the bikes ready before noticing Joanna is returning with Marvin and the sheep girls. He walks up to them.
 
"First, what did we got for them?" Fernando asks.
 
"Well, I got them something simple to use and maintain, and concealable. Each one got a boot gun for them. A small .32 for the girls and a .38 for Marvin. Leather holsters for all of them as well. And I got a couple boxes of ammo for all of them.” Joanna explains as she shows him the arms.
 



 
“Good.” Fernando says. He asks, “They got a lesson or two in using these things?”
 
“Just point and shoot, and to respect the gun. They seem to take the lesson to heart.” Joanna answers.
 
“Good. You and Ruth can teach Marvin and the girls how to shoot today. Nothing fancy, just so they understand. Also, Val, Hondo and I got an emergency to deal with right now. You, Ruth and Tonya are in charge. If we have not returned by 4pm, get the others to help in making a portable-on-the-move meals for everyone. We should move out tonight. Soup and sandwich will do nicely. And check on Karl. Get him to put something in his belly and take the bandages off his head and arms. He might still be dizzy from the blow to the head he had but he should be OK. By 5o’clock get every to meet so we can plan our next trip. I’m thinking Fight Town for some reason. That is a 12 or more hour drive for us to make. We might be late, but we should be back by 5:30. Tonya has Radio communications to us through a private channel. So relay all messages to us. And do not let Maribelle try to take control of the place. Stand your ground. Jeanette’s the leader but she’s willing to listen to ideas. And General Jastrey will want to be in the meeting. In fact she is under my invitation to do so. As for Jason and Wilma, I do not care about them. They want to follow, that is on them, but I’m not dealing with them. Consider it a personal issue between them and I, but if you can get information from them, that would be fine. And before I forget – many thanks.” Fernando tells Joanna.
 
Joanna gives him a strange look from the overload of information but she gets the message. “I’ll get that done for you. You can count on me.” She tells him.
 
“Thanks. I got to go.” Fernando tells her. He turns around and trots over to Hondo as he was starting up the bikes. He asks, “Ready to go?”
 
Hondo nods. Fernando walks over the beaten up slaver’s bike that has seen better days. Twisting the crystal on his cane, two Skull White motorcycle helmets appear on his arms. He extends one of his arms out to hand the helmet to Hondo.

 
“What’s this?” Hondo growls, though not meaning too to Fernando.
 
“Bullet Proof Transparent Aluminum Sapphire Glass Bike Helmet. It will protect your head if somebody tries to take a shot at you.” Fernando tells him. ( http://makezine.com/2012/01/17/transparent-aluminum/ )
 
Hondo looks at the helmet and then at Fernando before he nods and takes it. He then sits on Tonya’s bike and looks at the helmet. Fernando reaches into his pocket and pulls out an ear and microphone wire piece (VOX Cable), handing it to Hondo.

 
“It’s  for the tiny radio, you do not have to press to talk the button with this. Just put it on and connect it to the Yeasu and pocket the Yeasu Make sure you are on 440.125MHz on Low Power Simplex. No one should be able to listen to us.” Fernando tells him
 
Hondo nods before taking the radio. He puts the cable to the tiny Yeasu and then puts the earpiece his ear and the mic to beside his lips. The helmet comes on before he checks on the radio. With the radio on at the proper frequency and setting, he hears Fernando’s voice.
 
“If you can hear me, just nod.” Fernando says.
 
Hondo nods.
 
“Good. I’m ready. Let’s go.” Fernando tells him.
 
Hondo leads the way on Tonya’s bike, and Fernando follows on the Slaver’s Bike.

Hondo leads out as they head off down the road. It takes them no time at all on bikes to get where they found Zoey as it was just under 2 miles by road travel. Hondo pointed it out as they past.
 
Hondo(over the headset): That's where we found her. Saw motorcycle tire tracks headed north of here and Zoey confirmed Val passed her here.
 
Fernando: 10-4. slow down if you need to to follow the tracks.  
 
Hondo: 10-4.
 
They continued on, slowing every once in a while to double check the ground. Luckily no one had driven through here since. After about another mile Hondo found a small trail headed west and her tire tracks turned. The trail was rougher than the road which made it harder to see the tracks and made them slow down. The trail turned into open field about a mile out and Valentines path could be seen easier as the grass was tall and her bike had flattened it down where she had driven. They followed through the field for 2 miles until they his a road north and west of town. they followed her trail for another 5 miles, Hondo cussed quietly and blamed himself as he muttered under his breath. Fernando caught most of it but let it alone for the moment. Why she had gone that far he had no idea. IT wasn't much further that they went through a clump of trees. Hondo skidded to a stop and Fernando pulled up on his heals.
 
Fernando: See something?
 
Hondo: Something happened here. the dirt is all torn up. it looks like she wrecked the bike.
 
Fernando looked around.  
 
Fernando: Or forced to wreck her bike. look here.
 
Hondo looked at where he pointed. They both looked them over and discussed possibilities. they came to only one reasonable conclusion.
 
Fernando: She was definitely jumped and drug off.
 
Hondo: looks like . . . #$@! me!
 
Fernando: lets follow these tracks here. it looks like two, no three other bikes and a few people on foot. they didn't seem to be getting on their bikes here.
 
Hondo and Fernando walk a ways off where the bikes went and they go about 100 yards away from the trees and end. but at their end was some large, weird marks and the grass around it is laid down.
 
Fernando: dirigible. . . damn.
 
Hondo: #$@!! it's all my fault! I . . How do I return to my girls and tell them I can protect them when I can't protect the woman I love?!
 
Fernando: Save the blame for later. Right now we need to get back. We Will go find the general and see if anyone has seen this dirigible. Gossip travels fast in small communities.  
 
Hondo: yeah.
 
Fernando: you going to be alright?
 
Hondo: I have to be . . damn it all.  I should have never let her go alone. I let my worry for Zoey mess up my thinking.  
 
Hondo was really getting worried and it was evident. He tried his best to bury his feelings and just be cold, logical but anger was the best he could muster. He hadn't felt so alone in a long time. he had Valentine and Fernando, both better friends than he could ever hope for and Valentine not just a friend but the love of his life. Though in this hell hole his future had looked even brighter with the adoption of the girls. He was walking on sunshine, on top of the mountain, felt high and as free as a flying eagle. Now it was all crashing down around him. He knew Fernando wouldn't leave him but Valentine was gone, most likely wounded maybe dead and he didn't even have a clue where or why. And the girls . . . would they hate him and blame him or worse blame themselves?  
 
Fernando: We will find her.
 
Hondo nodded: yeah . . . lets circle the area a couple times then head to town.  
 
Fernando nodded.  
 
They walked back to their bikes in relative silence. they circled the area but found nothing.
 
Fernando: There is nothing else here. lets go back.
 
Hondo: ok. you can lead off ifin ya don't mind. I . .  I need to gather my thoughts.

Quote from Hondo I. Sackett on Apr 2^nd, 2017, 12:29pm:

Note: Do you really think this is necessary? I mean do you feel we really need to establish where we got our ideas and how much of a character is borrowed? I have characters ranging from borrowed, such as Chihiro (a combination of four characters), to only using the name and appearance, such as Moro.
 
Jeanette Isabelle

I made the following post in "After Chaos: Character Profiles."
 
http://www.hondosackett.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1422365224/12#12
 
I also edited the profiles of Chihiro, Danielle, Elsa and Mavis.
 
Jeanette Isabelle

I'm not saying every character needs documented. Original characters have no need as long as they are respected as per who sets them up. these characters and some lines I will be using are borrowed. I am changing their format a bit but to keep from looking like own right plagiarism or copyright violations I am stating where I got them from to give their originators credit.
 
Shit . .  wasn't trying for WWIII here.