by Don Koch
Gomez responded,
# Day Nine at Turner Lake #
# Sunday, June 19 #
The next morning they were all back together. Andy said, The four left and went to El Presidente's office, in the invisible mode, where he was working alone.
Pat said, and she disappeared only to reappear with General Gomez in hand.
The Presidente said,
Andy said,
Andy, Pat and Jim used the same approach they had for the President of Mexico. The commanding admiral was receptive and indicated that he was more than happy to have his ships participate in such an operation if the President would approve and gave his word that they would withdraw as soon as the Solarans completed their work. He also expressed the desire to have some real joint operations and felt that this venture might be the key for more cooperative ventures. Next the three Solarans used the same tactic with the President of the United States who was willing to listen to what was proposed. With that El Presidente, the General and the commanding admiral of the US 4th Fleet were transported to the Oval Office.
Jim noted speaking verbally, "Mr. President, you may wish to have your National Security Advisor here for this meeting and your secret service is not going to be happy to know this is going on without their knowledge."
The President laughed, "You have that right, I am looking forward to seeing the look on Agent Johnson's face when he sees this mob scene."
When the National Security Advisor walked in, escorted by Agent Johnson, the expression on the agent’s face was indeed priceless. He started to reach for his firearm but the President stopped him saying, "Belay that." Would one of you be willing to show him how you did this so he won't be having reservations about his security?"
Andy accommodated the request by disappearing and then reappearing beside the agent. Andy handed the agent his own firearm and teleported back to the position he had started from.
The agent was shocked, re-holstered his weapon and said, "So the stories we have been hearing are true. Sorry Mr. President but I really was caught off guard this time."
"And the point Agent Johnson is, there is absolutely nothing you could have done about it. Gentlemen, ladies, welcome to the White House. I have a million questions for you but I do not believe that is why you are here. El Presidente, I am most honored and pleased to have the opportunity to meet with you. The Company you are in speaks volumes. Our security people have been bringing us incredible tales from your country for days and those are hard to believe. What can we do for you?"
El Presidente responded, "The Solarans you see here and their compatriots have done something for Mexico in three days that we have not been able to accomplish in the many years we have been trying. They dismantled seven crime cartels. All of the Capos and their Lieutenants are in Federal custody. In addition a great number of their hit-men, enforcers, assassins, kidnappers and soldiers are also in Federal custody. All of their drug supplies have been destroyed. Their equipment, their arms and ammunition have all been captured and will either be provided to our military or destro
yed. An astounding number of corrupt officials and police have been arrested with more than sufficient evidence to convict them all."
"These criminals will all be tried and I am relatively certain they will receive harsh penalties now that our judges no longer fear reprisals. We know that our inability to deal with this problem has been a thorn in your side and I am sure has contributed to our current somewhat frosty relationship. Hopefully this will now change. The compounds of these cartels have been destroyed rather convincingly. They, in most cases, have literally been melted. We believe that we are going to be able to further reduce the criminal population on our own. The Solarans have put the fear into them and did so in a way that will be unforgettable. If we succeed in our efforts we hope to improve life for our citizens and give them less reason for seeking to illegally emigrate to your country. We would also appreciate the return of as many of our criminals as you can see your way to return. Many of these are wanted for murder in Mexico. We have an appropriate place for them and I can assure you they will not like it. We do not have the death penalty in our country, but our prisons are not pleasant places to be. Mr. President, we are trying to improve and will continue this effort. Please be patient with us."
"Having said that, we have a problem and are asking for your help in resolving it. This was discovered by the Solarans when they helped Mexico rid itself of these criminals. It turns out that the cartels were not only criminals but they were also traitors and will face a life sentence at hard labor for their actions. In six days, two 8,000 TEU capacity containerships will arrive at our Port of Altamira. Each of these vessels can carry up to 4,000 of the 40 foot containers but on this trip are scheduled to carry 2,000 of the 40 foot containers. 500 of those containers on each ship carry terrorists. They are living inside the damnable things. Each such container has been fitted out to house 20 combatants. That is an army of 20,000 persons. The remaining containers all carry illicit goods including armored personnel carriers, tanks, artillery, machine guns, rockets and so forth. This is a very surreptitious means of introducing an attacking force into a sovereign country and but for the Solarans, they would have had the element of surprise on their side. The evidence we have shows that it is not aimed at Mexico but rather at your Southwest. It is not hard to imagine how crippling such an attack could be if say it were initially aimed at San Diego. This would be devastating for not only for your country but ours as well, since our citizens facilitated the effort. In addition, transit to your country would be through Mexico, a fact you would not be able to ignore."
"Happily the Solarans have a plan to deal with this, but they need help from both of our countries. There are a limited number of Solarans who can transport something the size of a loaded 40-foot container. They estimate they will need up to two hours to move the containers containing combatants. Since it will take that long, they clearly prefer, as do we, that the ships be restrained off shore but in our waters, probably about 6 miles off shore. Their plan is to transport the containers with personnel to an isolated desert location. The site we are currently considering is in the Sonoran Desert using one of the cinder cones in the volcanic Pinacate Range about 25 miles South of the Mexico/US border. It is a perfect place to isolate and deal with the threat. There would be no place for them to hide and our forces would have the high ground, literally since the containers would be at the bottom of a volcanic cinder cone. Those Solarans not able to transport containers will help us to disarm each container. I have to say that they extraordinarily adept at such activity after seeing what they did to the cartels. Both of our countries have an opportunity here to make some solid good will and press from this. It will also allow the Solarans to help us both in the most efficient manner possible. Our laws are a good deal more stringent than yours when it comes to such persons as these so it makes some sense for this to occur on Mexican soil."
"This is what we would like to ask of you. Mexico is somewhat under-gunned when it comes to the navy we have available to us for stopping these ships in our waters. We believe that our patrol boats are not going to be sufficiently intimidating in stopping these ships. The Solarans have indicated that they could assure that the ships could be stopped when we are ready. I believe the ships would respond by firing on our ships with their RPGs and they could successfully thwart our efforts to contain them. However, if several of your cruisers and destroyers were sitting there in range and possibly that wonderful new stealth destroyer were there, they would not be likely to fire on such a group. Your vessels are truly intimidating. We could do this under the guise of a joint exercise without raising suspicions in the rest of the world. I would like to formally make that request and your Admiral has told me that your ships would withdraw to international waters once the containers are transferred. He also noted that an action of this sort is clearly within their stated mission. The next part of the invitation would be to invite a battalion of your Marines to join us in the desert to greet these unwelcome visitors as they deserve. They should wear some tough outerwear and heavy gloves since the cinder cone is most unkind to skin and clothing. This will also give the public the idea that this was a planned joint intercept from which we will both garner for our respective countries some needed good will. What do you think Mr. President."
"El Presidente, I am just happy that I am not running against you for this office, I would certainly be in trouble. My immediate reaction is that I like what I am hearing but I want some thoughts from my National Security Advisor, Sam Jeffers. What do you think Sam?"
Sam said, "I think given the short time to react, this is as good a plan as we are going to get and it sounds like there is minimal hazard for our people and our troops. My only question concerns the Solarans. Things like capability, who are they, what is their motivation, things like that."
Aston said to Andy,
"Mr. President, Mr. Jeffers, the first thing you need to know is that we have no intention of telling you who we are or where we are from. You do not need to know that. What I will tell you is not for publication or to be shared outside of this room. I would ask that you agree to that on the condition that if you honestly believe we are a threat to your national security, then you are free to talk, and we will go away." He paused and they all nodded agreement.
"First, you should know that our ship is not on Earth, it is in orbit around the Earth. You cannot see it because it is cloaked with application of a science that the Earth will not develop for at least another thousand years. The second thing you should know is that for the last six days the Solarans have been training to utilize the talents with which we have been provided. Yes, training. The reason for this is that we are preparing to defend this planet from an interstellar invasion that will arrive here in seven years although we intend to meet it sooner. The technology available on this planet cannot hope to cope with those invaders. A civilization considerably more advanced than yours could not withstand them and is now gone, destroyed. They were able to send us to you in hopes that you might avoid their fate."
"Since we are in training we felt that it would be particularly useful to restrain the truly negative humans, the criminals, the terrorists, etc., that appear to be happiest when preying on their fellow man. Since governments seem to have been ineffective at this, we have decided to give you a hand. We pick our own fights as you are no doubt aware. We particularly dislike those that attempt to influence people through acts of terrorism. So we took a few out when we started training and there will be many more. We realized the effect that crime was having on the people of Mexico and in the United States and decided that this would be a good oppor
tunity to train the talents we need to develop and help people at the same time. We can be invisible, we can teleport, we are bulletproof, can laugh at an RPG round. All of us can lift upward of 5 tons and teleport it. Some of us can do considerably more than that. We can run faster than a race car. Some of us can teleport a loaded container from a containership. Those that can do that, can also absorb immense amounts of power from any energy source and reapply it as we wish. We in a sense are weapons when that occurs. No weapons on the planet can touch us, not even nuclear because we would merely absorb the energy. We choose to use these talents in a way to benefit mankind. All of the Solarans are the same way. We have all been carefully vetted for personality, attitude and anything that would pose a threat to mankind. In fact identifying us would inadvertently pose a threat to those around us, therefor we are careful to avoid identification. If you persist in trying to identify and attempt to use us for your own purposes, we will have to disappear and if that happens we may not be adequately prepared to defend you when the time comes. Rather than worry about what we might do with what we have, ask yourselves, what do we do with these talents or if you prefer, powers. We are something you need to have here because not only will you absolutely need us in less than seven years, but you really need what we can do now. We could have burned out those crime families with all the people still inside but that would make us but the worst kind of vigilantes. The decision about what to do with the criminals we send you, is not ours, it's yours. Of course, if bad guys respond to us in a way that endangers others, we can be quite lethal. Our hope is that you choose wisely. There is one more thing to consider here. The evidence that has been compiled indicates that there are at least 4 dirty bombs coming in those containers. These are non-fusion nuclear devices that can render large areas unlivable. As soon as those are found, we intend to transport them to Mercury. That stuff has no place on this planet."