THE LAST DRAGON PRINCE

Chapter five

Nmaka was sitting in her favourite part of the house, the balcony. This time, she was not trying to imagine Nikku’s arms around her, she was just enjoying the night’s breeze. She had decided to leave the entire Hendosia, to travel out of Africa, maybe relocate to Canada or France. Her stay in East had finally come to an end, she could feel it. For five years, she had been engaged to the crown Prince of Hendosia per say, her entire life had been structured around her engagement to Nikku. She attended charities because that was what future Queens were expected to do, did not go on shopping sprees because she feared that would make the people think she was frivolous. She purposely socialized, more than she would normally have, for deep down she was just a shy quiet girl. But since she did not want the people to think her a snub, she attended parties and gatherings – only the ones befitting her status and still she remained unmarried, merely engaged, not really having Nikku yet not being free.

    The freedom that came with her new status felt strange and made her feel guilty…. It was not that she did not miss Nikku, she did, the pain of loosing him was still very raw, the thing was that she was beginning to see herself in a new light. She was twenty eight, young, free and she liked to believe, beautiful. She had a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Pryier. She tried to believe that being engaged, being in East Hendosia had not been stifling but now she suddenly felt like a bird ready to fly, and fly she would immediately after the burial.

   She felt the arms of her mother come around her. “Hi Mom.” She smiled enjoying the simple company of the only family member she knew while growing up

   “ Hi baby… You missing him?” Her mother asked

    Nmaka laughed. It sounded wonderful in her ears, the sound of her laughter. It was uninhibited, free. “It was not Nikku I came out here to think of Mommy.” She said at last. “I came out here to think about myself, about my future.

   “Good”, her mother said. Coming to stand in front of her, she continued, “Look my daughter, you must let nothing – absolutely nothing stand in your way, not even your love for Nikku.”

    The support was surprising, coming on a bit strong but Nmaka was not going to reject. “Thanks Mom. I’m not going to let anything stand in the way of – “

   “ Your being Queen.” Her mother finished enthusiastically. “Oh! You are a daughter after my heart.”

   Nmaka was thrown into confusion. “Queen? I don’t understand Mom, Queen of what, where…. How? Mom! Are you okay?” She was genuinely worried about her mother

   Nmaka’s mother told herself to calm down. She had thought she was on the same page with her daughter but it seemed they were world’s apart, it was a little deterring but she decided it was not going to stop her. She only had to start from the beginning and explain everything carefully, her daughter could be slow at times. “Listen my daughter, you were born to be Queen. The people even love you more than they love the Odoba…. Or former Odoba.” She waived her hands dismissively. “What I’m saying is the spot is yours and you shouldn’t let anything stop you from taking it.

   Nmaka was watching her mother carefully, she was beginning to think something was slightly off with her

   “I have spoken with Rota, and she is of the same opinion with me, you too are perfect for each other.

    Nmaka laughed nervously, “Mommy, perfect for each other? … We two… I’m sorry, what exactly are you talking about?

    Her mother sighed. Getting to Nmaka was going to be a little more difficult than she thought. “You and Jaachi, you –

    “What?” Nmaka screamed startling her mother. Calming down a bit, she continued. “Mommy, you did not just suggest that I should get married to Jaachi so that I can become Queen did you?

    “ Well what’s wrong with that ehn.” Her mother asked, equally annoyed. “ It’s just like that movie you were obsessed with some years, what’s the name again…. Eh ehn ! Game of thrones. This is just like a game of thrones too. Everybody is trying to play the game so they can remain on the throne…. Or get on it.

    “Wait Mother.” Nmaka interrupted. “ If I get you clearly, you said Rota is in on this?

    “Yes now,” her mother replied patiently. “ Even the army General… Ejiofor is in on it too.

    “Then shame on all of you.” Nmaka shouted loosing it. “You know what Mother, I wouldn’t even bother to have a sane conversion with you because it’s obvious you are not capable of that. Good night Mom. Enjoy the balcony.” She said, getting up to go inside. “And thanks for ruining this night for me.’’

                                                                                                                                         ***

    Jaachi decided to go jogging to clear his head, two days after the boxing match or rather, two days after he got beaten up by his Uncle. He still had a few aches and bruises here and there but most importantly, he needed to clear his head.

    It was a clear Monday morning, and summer was dressed in all her glory, bright sky, chirping birds, green trees. There was something about jogging that put one so in tune with nature. He passed a few joggers too, beautiful houses, no doubt home to Mmiri families.

    As early as six am, there was already a steady traffic in the busy Shobar oaks and Jaachi realized he loved this. He loved East Hendosia, his country. He loved the Mmiri people and they deserved a chance to live, free of suppression and marginalization. He didn’t want a surrender, he wanted a free and independent East Hendosia. On an impulse, he decided to go and see his Uncle. It was time to -- how had the General said it? ‘Man up to his responsibilities’ like a true son of Iloruku.

    Showing up unannounced to a General’s house was a bit too much, Jaachi decided. He had been interrogated at the gate, patted down for weapons and it was only when the General asked them to let him in that he was allowed to enter. Even telling them he was Prince Jaachi had not changed a thing. Jaachi smiled. Well, he guessed be was not considered a hero in this part of the world.

   “Look who finally decided to show up,” the General said taking in Jaachi’s appearance, running gear and all. He was not alone, Jaachi thought he recognized the man sitting with him.

    “ Well well, if it isn’t the Prince Jaachi himself.” The other man said standing. He was a man of about fourty, already dressed in a three piece suit so early in the morning. He extended his hand and James rushed to take it. “I’m James Albino – don’t make a joke. Director of the Cyber Military.”

    Jaachi shook his hand, remembering him from a meeting he once had with his father. “Jaachi.” He said simply.

    “All right, all right, “ Ejiofor said, “now pleasantries are over, do you want to tell me you came here for a return of the boxing match ehn?” He was smiling.

   “ Boxing match? “ The director asked, looking from Jaachi to the General then back to Jaachi. “You’re a boxer now Jaachi ?... What are your two not telling me?”

   “ Nothing,” The General chuckled. “Just that our Fly boy prince here doesn’t fight as good as he plays ball.”

    Jaachi smiled reluctantly. “The only reason you got that many punches on me was because you took me unawares.”

   It was the director’s turn to laugh. “Well boy, you’re not a boxer? Then it must have been God that saved you from Ejiofor’s fists. This man here,” he pointed at the General “was once a feather weight, plus he’s military.”

   Even the General had the grace to look sheepish. “I tried to make it a fair fight, gave you all those openings …”

    Jaachi shook his head and laughed, this men were so impossible. “Yeah well !”

 “ Yeah well… What’s this, a new slang?” The director wanted to know.

   Jaachi shrugged. “ it is what it is.”

    The director gave up on the entire conversation. “The General tells me you are a good computer engineer, the Cyber Military needs you.”

    “I kind of figured that out, that’s why I’m here. “

    “Good!” The Director said, then he turned to the General. “Can I get my hands on a system?”

    The General snapped his fingers and a young soldier came running, he whispered to the soldier and the soldier ran off, returning with a laptop in the next minute.

   Albino took the laptop, thanked the soldier then placed it on the centre table. He opened it and his fingers flew over the keyboard a bit, then he turned it to face Jaachi. “So this here is our official portal for the weapons detecting drones and here,” he put in several passwords and got redirected a few times. The screen was blinking check detector. “Now this is what happens when we do that.” He clicked check detector and was immediately redirected to a hotel booking site in Manbi.immediately is not your usual redirect virus “Jaachi said thoughtfully.

    “ Yeah, I kind of figured that out without you,” The director said, he was not being sarcastic.

    “Okay.” Jaachi blew out a breath. “ But have you tried treating it like one though?”

     “ Treating it like…. What would be the point?” The director wanted to know, getting rid of a redirect virus was very basic, even level six pupils could do that. He gave up. “Fine!”. He restarted the portal, setting it up as an admin, pasted their official website in the URL, did the same with the appearance then went back to check detector. This time he was not redirected to the Manbi hotel website but back to their home page.”

    “Well I guess that rules out redirect.” Jaachi agreed. “But is this not some advanced conficker or something?” He said, referring to a Virus that had once rocked the intelligence systems of many countries of the world.

    “Or something.” The director said. Our boys at the office have already rulled out the conficker.”

    Jaachi rolled up his sleeves and sat down with the laptop, his fingers flying all over the keyboard. “Well you lot rulled out the conficker, but you did not rule out redirect?”

   “ Come on Jaachi, give the west some credit. You don’t expect them to hit the Cyber Military with a redirect!”

    “Well one thing is obvious” Jaachi said clapping his hands. “ This is definitely not a virus, it’s a worm…. Or we are fucked.”

    “No we are fucked either way.” The director disagreed. “Well are you going to come up with something new or are you going to keep figuring out what we have all ready figured out.”

   “Well if you told me what and what it was you guys had rulled out, I would not waste my time figuring out what you already knew.”

   The Director placed his hands on Jaachi’s shoulder. “You would get a briefing, but not now. Come to the Military base tomorrow – the Cyber Military that is and you’ll get all the briefing you need. You’ll be coming as my unofficial assistant, this means everyone would answer to you and you’ll have all our resources at your disposal….. You better come up with a solution to all this.” He warned.

    “Yeah.. well. But why speak to the student when you could talk to the instructor.”

    “ I don’t understand.” The director said at the same time the General who had been quiet through out the discussion asked “what instructor?”

    “ Ms. Maopa. Electrical engineering and computer science graduate from the massachusetts institute of technology.”

   “Well, where has she been all this while?” The director cut in

   “ Yes.” Ejiofor added. “ When the Cyber Military was calling for new recruits, why didn’t she apply?”

    Jaachi frawned. “ Well, she had her reasons, as I have mine. Is this not my first time talking Cyber Military?”

   “ Well, call your teacher or whatever”. The General said. He was happy things were finally happening, Jaachi had come to his senses and for once, it looked like the Cyber military might find a solution to the issue of the virus. It just spoiled his plans a little bit that Jaachi might not be the one to save the day, he needed to redeem the boy’s image in the eyes of the people.

                                               ***

   Miss Maopa stood in front of her house, on the porch. She was addressing a group of youths in their late teens and early twenties. The ones in their teens were students from Pace Setters Academy who were of legal age and the older youths were kids from the neighborhood she had influence on.

   She had been advocating for the ‘keep hope alive’ movement and she was facing a lot of challenges at the Academy because of her extra curricular activities with the children. Now she had printed flyers and tracts on the need to fight for East Hendosia.

     At first she had been enthusiastic, had believed people could not help but love East Hendosia the way she did, but with the many protests against the Royal family, she was beginning to loose faith, especially, after Jaachi’s press conference. She kept a cheerful face though and a steady pace, knowing a lot of people looked up to her. She would do all she could for the country she loved then if it was not enough, she would have done her best.

   At the moment, it was far from over, her best was far from done. Taking a quick selfie with the handful of youths she had gathered for the sake of the ‘keep the hope alive’ hashtag, she sent the youths on their way, stepping out herself for the door to door when her phone rang. She was genuinely happy to hear from Jaachi, elated that he had finally thrown in his support for the sovereignty of East Hendosia but a bit skeptical about the reason he called her. It was not that she did not want to help, it was just that she had secrets she did not want to come to light – but not helping could also be dangerous. If East Hendosia fell, the loss of sovereignty of a country she loved would not be her only problem.

   The Cyber Military base was located in Jordan city, Pedam. For all it’s clout, it was a small building, a one storey with a very large parking lot, the joke going around was that the parking lot was used for more than just park cars but whether that was a mere joke or there was more to it, nothing had been confirmed.

   Jaachi sat with Ms.Maopa for a briefing which was done by the director himself. Occasionally, the director asked different people for specific details and stepped aside while they explained. Through it all, Ms Maopa was acting funny, Jaachi thought, though he was unsure whether she was really being fishy or she had just changed over the years since he had last seen her.

    He had met her in California, at a meet and greet hosted by a friend who was a local celebrity. He was then a student of UCB and she MIT doing another first degree after getting a first degree in – of all things history, from the University of Okah, West Hendosia which then had just been Hendosia. It hadn’t taken long for him to realize she was a computer genius and with her being so much older than him, they had cultivated a kind of student- teacher relationship, they didn’t even get on first name basis, he still called her ‘Ms.’

    “I know what the problem is” Ms. Maopa said immediately after the briefing,” and I think I can solve it but! I have a condition.”

    Jaachi frawned, this was definitely weird. “Okay?” He said even though it was not his place.

     Maopa ignored him, staring fixedly at the director until he nodded. “ No one asks me any questions –any questions.” She waited until they all nodded in agreement before she continued. “Can I see your main system?” She asked the director, making sure not to have eye contact with Jaachi.

    As soon as she was shown the computer, she went to work and in a few minutes the screen was showing the green indicator which meant all clear.

    Jaachi was stunned. “Okay Ms, are you really not going to explain what just happened?”

    “It’s the Knights ruin.” She said after a while. Computer engineers at the base had already started gathering around her. “Forget how the name came about. It’s a virus not a worm and all it does is keep redirecting you to a site you once visited.”

     “So what you’re saying Madam is that this is technically a redirect?” A young technician asked

     “ Mmh! It was created… This new redirect that is, was created in the year 2020 but I’ve not heard of any case until now.”

     “Well how come you know so much about this virus?” Another technician asked

     “No comments.” Ms Maopa said. “I just thought the Cyber Military may want to know more about the virus incase you encountered something similar in future but if you all are going to ask any personal questions, I’m afraid this is all the information you are going to get.”

     “I wouldn’t classify that as a personal question.” Jaachi said impulsively. She was still avoiding him, trying her best not to look his direction and he just couldn’t understand what was wrong with her.

    The director shrugged. “All right boys!.... and girls” he added when the women in the room gave him the eye. “Problem’s solved, everything is back in place.” He clapped his hands. “Everyone, go ahead with your day as you normally would.” He turned to Ms. Maopa, “can I have a moment alone with you please? Alone” he added when Jaachi got up to follow them.

      Jaachi was confused. Something was definitely up. He was more curious than worried and he told himself it was none of his business, she had solved a problem that threatened the Cyber Military and could change the out come of the war and yet he was here bothering about things she clearly stated to be personal. Resigned, Jaachi gave up. He wondered if he was still needed at the base with the virus gone.