Author's Note: Sorry it took so long. Just a word to the wise for this chapter: there are a lot of terms that are not in the average person's knowledge base. As you will see, that is in no way an insult. If you are at any time confused, click that 'New Tab' button up there, and type in 'Wikipedia'. That site will most likely have the answer you are looking for. (If that doesn't work, Google it!)

This chapter is intended to be a sort of exposition for the next few chapters, which will have many less weird terms in them. So if you don't like the prevalence of jargon, fear not! It is only for this chapter, however, you will be very lost if you do not try to read it.

Happy reading, Godspeed, and good hunting! :-)

The sisters were quickly ushered from the helipad towards the entrance to the Hex building. From the outside, the Hex looked quite foreboding. Constructed only a few years ago to replace the extremely old Defense Ministry building, it had no windows. Instead, there were cameras mounted to the outside of the building to allow the servicemen and -women who worked within to see the outside through the incredibly armored walls. The cameras also let the building's security department watch what was happening outside. The Hex was, quite possibly, the safest building in Arendelle.

That fact was a great comfort to the contingent of spec-ops troops that ushered the terrified royal sisters inside. As soon as they made it through the helipad entrance checkpoint that was guarded with spec-ops carrying light machine guns, they visibly relaxed. "Detail to Base, authentication code Delta-Oscar-three-Foxtrot. WHITEOUT is secure inside Fortress," the lead commando, a major, growled into his radio headset in his deep voice.

At this point, even more so than before, Elsa was overwhelmed. Anna, however, was absolutely clueless. Her mouth kept opening and closing like a fish with absolutely no sound coming out.

Elsa was only a tad bit less confused than Anna as they were swiftly moved through the sprawling corridors of the Hex past hundreds of non-descript wooden doors by the security detail. Every person on the detail was dressed in winter combat fatigues and was carrying an assault rifle and a sidearm, along with various other pieces of equipment that even the Minister of Defense barely knew about. Spiraling into their right ears were radio earpieces with boom mikes stretching towards their mouths, and their eyes were now hidden behind sunglasses, even though it was four in the morning and they were inside. To top it all off, they all had close military haircuts, and none were shorter than 6'2" or lighter than 200 pounds. As Elsa walked surrounded by the men on all sides, and had to tilt her head back to look at their faces, she considered all fifteen of the commandos as quite possibly the most intimidating group of people she had ever seen, and as a head of state in historical Viking home turf, that was saying something.

The Minister of Defense walked along on her right, just beside her. He had been quiet ever since they had gone through the outer doors. Suddenly, he decided to speak. "Your Majesty, we are currently taking you to the AMCC, or the Arendelle Military Command Center. Once there, you will receive a briefing about our current military state from the service branch commander-in-chiefs and their aides. No one expects you to completely understand what they will tell you, but do try to listen. And also, remember that the only bad question is one that was never asked."

"Here's a question for you," Elsa replied. "Is security always like this?"

The minister chuckled. "No, ma'am, it most certainly is not. Security was stepped up shortly after the Castle assault, when the threat level was formally raised. Normally it's just guys with pistols manning the checkpoints."

"Huh."

It was then that they reached another checkpoint. The major in charge walked ahead of the group and without stopping addressed the lieutenant in charge of the checkpoint. The guards here looked like they could take on an army, with their body armor, guns hanging across their chests, and pistols strapped to each leg. "This is the WHITEOUT detail for AMCC, ident code Gulf-Niner-Bravo."

"You are cleared through Charlie checkpoint," the lieutenant stiffly answered as the detail shot through the checkpoint without a break in stride.

Seconds afterwards, two sets of reinforced bulletproof glass doors swished open and the procession entered the Arendelle Military Command Center. It was a huge multi-level room, with floor-to-ceiling computer displays lining the far wall, cubicles for communications techs on the main floor, and terraces of offices. Echoing through the large room was the sound of tapping keys and people talking on the phone. Along the back wall amidst the assorted offices were multiple large conference rooms with walls lined with flat screen TVs and seats around a polished mahogany table for twenty. It was to one of these conference rooms that the stunned sisters were led, where the overall force commanders were already waiting for them. Upon their entrance, the officers all stood, and the guard by the doorway blew a whistle and declared, "Attention on Deck! National Command Authority, arriving!" Elsa waved them down before taking a seat at the head of the table.

An older, distinguished looking man in a uniform looked at her from the head position at the opposite side of the table from her. "Welcome to the Hex, ma'am. My name is Fleet Admiral Patterson, and I am the current Commander of all Arendellian forces. To my right is…" He continued to introduce everyone around the table. Anna was totally lost, and even Elsa knew that she had a snowball's chance in… Wait, she realized, I can't really use that expression, can I? I could just freeze it again. The thought brought a small smirk to her tired face as Admiral Patterson finished up. "Well, Your Majesty," Patterson continued, "do you have any questions before we begin?"

Elsa thought for a moment about which question to ask first. I have so many, she thought to herself. "Well, to start out, what is that room for?" She gestured to the AMCC.

The Admiral nodded. "Good, question. That is the room where all major orders for any military unit, whether it be one ship in the navy or a task force, or a squad of soldiers up through an entire army, are sent out. In that room, we have the capability to direct our service people nearly instantaneously, no matter where they may be in the world through satellite communications."

Elsa's mouth dropped open. "Instantaneously, anywhere in the world, you said?"

He nodded. "Yes. As an example, we currently have a carrier battle group stationed off of the coast of China, on behalf of NATO to act as a deterrent against Chinese aggression against Taiwan. If we so choose, we can, for example, direct them to attack, move, retreat, or put up more aircraft, all instantaneously."

Elsa was still amazed. "Back when we're from, it sometimes took months to get word out to a ship a hundred miles away!"

"I understand completely, Your Majesty, but those days are long over." Elsa warily nodded her agreement. "Any other questions?"

"How goes the investigation into the attempts on our lives earlier?" Elsa replied, stifling a yawn. She had been up for nearly twenty hours, anyway.

Another man in a business suit leaned forward to answer. "Your Majesty, earlier today we began interrogating the attackers from the Castle assault. They confirmed that they were acting for the American NSA, but that they only interacted with two agents regarding the assault. We don't have the names of these two agents, but this may give the Americans plausible deniability."

"Huh?"

"They can say they did not do it, and that the perpetrators are lying. We only have their word – no documents or other papers – so whether or not they actually did it is up for debate and could never be acted upon. Now, in regards to the surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile launch against your helicopter earlier, we believe that we have located two suspects."

"How did you do that?" Elsa wondered.

"We located them using an infrared camera mounted onboard a drone overflying the launch area. Since it is so cold outside, the two suspects easily stand out on the camera. We have a squad of military police moving in to surround and arrest them now."

Infrared? Drone? Camera? What is all of this stuff? Elsa mentally yelled. Outwardly, she remained calm. "Very good. How stands the military overall?"

Patterson nodded to another subordinate. She stood up and began gesturing to a map on the wall as she spoke. "General Blakely, Your Majesty. I am the AMCC executive officer. I will first speak about our defensive situation and the actions that we are taking. As we speak, in order to repel any possible invasion, Army formations are forming up and are at DEFCON 2. This means that they are warming up engines, recalling reservists, and the like. They will be nearly 100% ready to repel an invasion by this afternoon."

"Wait," Anna interjected, "how many people are you talking about?"

"Around 200,000, Your Highness." The two royal jaws hit the floor.

"What? That's not that much!" The woman, a Navy commander, protested.

Elsa turned to the commander and exclaimed, "Young lady, in 1813 I saw numbers that placed my entire army at an enlistment level of 20,000 people, and my advisors said that was too large. Arendelle isn't that large of a country. Why, then, do we have an army of 200,000?"

"Your Majesty, it is all left over from the Cold War. Our whole economy revolves around people serving in the military, so we of course have to have a disproportionately large one. By the way, the Americans have over a million soldiers, and I saw numbers that put the Chinese at over two million."

Elsa and Anna suddenly felt even more tired. "Oh, my. Well, please continue, General," she asked sadly.

"Very well. The Air Force is preparing to repel air incursions by hostile bombers and fighters, utilizing our F-16 interceptor fleet and surface-to-air Patriot missile batteries. Judging by the American playbook in Iraq a few years ago, an air incursion will probably be the first thing they try in any possible war, utilizing total shock and awe."

"Hold on," Elsa commanded. "What are bombs?"

"Ma'am," the air force commander replied, "do you remember what cannonballs are in your time?"

Anna replied, "Yes, even I know about cannonballs, and I'm about as militarily illiterate as you can be!"

"Good, that makes this easier. Now, imagine that a cannonball is thirty times bigger and filled with explosives. Now imagine that it is dropped by an aircraft seven miles over the surface. That cannonball would be accurate enough to hit a specific pane of glass, and would be powerful enough to level the entire building." The sisters' jaws, only now being lifted from the floor, fell back down.

That's unbelievable, Elsa thought with a shiver, but said, "Understood."

"On the naval front, we have our ships that are currently in port spooling up to put out to sea. This force will comprise thirty ships, and will be a formidable formation.

We also have the Kristoff task force, designated Task Force One, on a NATO deployment off the coast of China, near Taiwan. This formation is a standard carrier battle group, consisting of an aircraft carrier with a full air wing, two Aegis destroyers and two anti-submarine frigates in close support, with a nuclear attack sub patrolling further out. This formation however will not be of any use in any confrontation in the Northern European theatre."

"Hang on. NATO?"

"NATO, or North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a military alliance that is built to counter Russia. Its main members are the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada, and us."

"Okay. Carry on."

"Moving closer to home, we also have Task Force Two, led by the HRAMS Blizzard, on patrol just west of the Faroe Islands, which is about eight hundred miles away from us between Iceland and the United Kingdom."

"Hold on. Back in the early 1800's, our navy used the prefix ANV, for Arendellian Naval Vessel. What does, what did you say, HRAMS, stand for?"

"It stands for Her Royal Arendellian Majesty's Ship."

Elsa and Anna raised their eyebrows, and Elsa suddenly felt very embarrassed. "Huh. Please continue."

"As I was saying, the Blizzard formation. This formation is on a national security deployment, and consists of a combined formation of a carrier battle group, which is what Task Force One is, a Marine Expeditionary Unit-Embarked, and a submerged deterrence unit. The MEU-E consists of 6,000 Arendellian Marines aboard 3 ships, and can assault nearly any coastal area in the world. Also in the formation, the submerged deterrence unit is a nuclear armed submarine with the capacity to hit anything within 5,000 miles with its 24 missiles."

"Hold on," Elsa interrupted. "A ship can hit anything within 5,000 miles? How the heck can you hit something that far away?"

An air force colonel in charge of land based nuclear weapons chose to answer. "Your Majesty, the submarine is equipped with 24 long range Trident ballistic missiles, armed with twelve warheads each. These warheads can strike any location within that 5,000 mile range. Plus," the colonel contracted a mischievous smirk on his face, "we aren't limited by the START – that's StraTegic Arms Reduction Talks – treaty. The Russians and Americans can only have 3 MIRVs per missile. We have twelve. By the way, MIRV stands for Multiple Independently targeted Reentry Vehicle." The colonel had a steely eyed determination about him.

"Forgive me, but what exactly do these warheads do?"

Everyone at the table looked at her and blinked. "That's right, you wouldn't know about these. Ma'am, to put it in perspective, one of these warheads could flatten the city of Arendelle."

The sisters' jaws dropped. "And we have how many of them?!"

A navy captain's response came back: "288 on each boat, 1,152 fleet-wide, and just over 5,000 in total, including the land-based systems. All of them are American made."

"General, do we have anything that is not American made?"

He thought about it for a second. "Nope, I don't think we do. We basically get all of their old stuff and modify it, or they give us their new stuff. We modify that, too. So, Your Majesty, I guess the best answer is that it was all made in the United States, but we made it many times better than it was, so that even the old stuff is on the same level as their new."

A sudden thought struck Elsa and made the blood rush from her head. Elsa turned in her leather seat and asked the Minister of Defense very quietly, almost fearfully, "You did say I was in command of the military, correct?"

He knew what she was getting at. "Correct, ma'am."

"So, I have the ability to…to destroy the world?"

A cough. "Correct."

Elsa shivered in her seat as she remembered a Bible verse she had read long ago when she was a child, when it looked like her father would have to wage total war. She had been sitting in her room, and had opened to Matthew when this verse had popped out at her, and it had stayed in her mind ever since.

And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

It always, for some reason, made her feel better.

Not this time.

Elsa shook her head: this was a lot to take in. "Well, Gentlemen, this has indeed been a long day after flying around, being shot at, and then being told that I can bring about the end of the world. Is there anything more to cover at this point, or can we go get some sleep?" Looking to Anna, she could see that her eyelids were drooping.

"That would be all, ma'am. Do you have any orders?"

Elsa looked him in the eye. "Just one. Get us home." She gracefully stood up, and the assorted generals, admirals, colonels, and captains stood up and snapped to attention. Anna and Elsa walked towards the door, handing the time crystal off to the armed guard there who was waiting for it. Elsa then turned back to her officers. "I want a plan to that end by six o'clock tomorrow morning."

She walked out the door, and the guard declared, "National Command Authority, departing!"

She and Anna walked out of the room and motioned to the guard outside the door to follow. He ran to catch up. "Yes, ma'am!"

"We need a place to sleep."

"Yes, ma'am! May I suggest the bunker, ma'am?"

"Sounds good. Let's go."

The young soldier had to run to keep ahead of Elsa. When they finally reached the bunker, he showed them to a room with four beds. On the door was written, "Command Bunkroom". When he saw that the room was ready to go, he saluted. "Door to the bathroom is in the corner there, ma'am, and there will be two guards outside your door on duty all night."

"Thank you, Sergeant. Wake us up at 5:30."

"O five thirty, yes ma'am!" He moved to close the door, but stopped himself and looked in their eyes. "Good night."

"Good night," the two sisters replied in unison before the door closed, launching Anna and Elsa into the first smile of the night. "Well, we need to get to sleep, Anna."

"Aww, do I have to?"

"Seriously, you're going to give me that today?"

Anna rolled her eyes. "Fine." A few minutes later, they were in bed.

Elsa stared up at the concrete ceiling. She was beyond being amazed with every newfangled thing she found in this world. She was to the point where it just didn't surprise her. If someone walked through a wall, if there were people living on the moon, or even if airplanes landed on boats, she would not be surprised.

She was tired of having everyone yes, ma'am and yes, Your Majesty, too. Her name was Elsa for Pete's sake. It needed to be said by someone other than Anna and little kids at Disney World.

More than anything, she wanted to be somewhere normal.

She wanted to be home.

As she stared up at the ceiling, she thought of another verse from Matthew.

And remember, I am with ye always, to the end of the age.

That verse had been especially powerful for her during her self-imposed exile. She never had been alone.

But now, a different part of that verse was making her worry.

Will I cause the end of the age?

Author's Note: I hope everyone survived the jargon! This is mainly the end, I promise!

And now, a word on reviews. When actors do a good job, they make money and get an Oscar. When authors do a good job, they sign there books and start speaking everywhere. When politicians do a good job, they get elected and have special interests take them to dinner every night. When an author of fan fiction does a good job (or, for that matter, a bad job) he/she gets reviews. Other than that... (crickets chirp)

Please, I WANT your review. I NEED your review. Please...review? Tell me what's good, tell me what's bad, and tell me what's mediocre.

There. I've wanted to write that for a year, and now I am happy.

As always, review, follow, review, favorite, and review! Did I mention review?

-thecelloguy