by Doug Farren
“Mr. President!” Fidget’s cheerful voice flowed out of the speaker. “My name is Fidget. Thank you for agreeing to speak to me.”
“You didn’t give me much of a choice. I am not a very happy man at the moment. In case you’ve forgotten, there’s an Evendi fleet on the way; their advance scouts have already entered the system. What do you want?”
“There’s no need to get snippy Mr. President,” Fidget replied, obviously enjoying himself. “Since you insist, I shall get straight to the point. Are you familiar with executive order 17-0227 or medical report 17-0042?”
The look that flashed across the President’s face didn’t match his reply. “Those numbers mean nothing to me.”
“I see,” Fidget replied. “Allow me to refresh your memory. EO-17-0227 states …”
“I am aware of the report,” the President interrupted. The last thing he wanted was for the entire room to hear the contents of that classified document. “Is that why you’ve committed treason? Are the ships prepared to leave Earth defenseless against the Evendi because of that report? You have a duty to protect humanity and I demand you end this pointless discussion and return to your assigned posts!”
“I’m afraid you are in no position to make any demands Aziz – you don’t mind if I call you Aziz do you? So tell me – Aziz – are you afraid of someone hearing the truth? Your memory sure improved when I offered to explain the contents of those documents.” Fidget asked.
“Those documents are classified and I am willing to discuss repealing the order at a later time as long as the ships agree to perform their duty and defend the Earth. My god – there’s an Evendi fleet on the way!”
“We still have 14 hours before they arrive,” Fidget calmly replied. “I tell you what Aziz. I know the base has a V-world interface. For the sake of privacy we will continue this discussion there. Meet us in port 62 in ten minutes.” There was a loud pop indicating the link had been abruptly terminated.
“Fidget!” the President yelled. A string of paint-peeling Arabic curses flowed out of his mouth causing several of the communication operators to turn red. Spinning around in the chair, he faced Admiral Kline and said, “Isn’t there something you can do?”
The Admiral shook his head. “There is …”
The speaker suddenly came to life interrupting the Admiral’s reply. “Oh, by the way Admiral, we’ve disabled all of our built-in safeguards. The squibs won’t fire, our navigational database will remain intact, and none of your cleverly hidden override codes will work. You can try if you like but we would view that as a hostile act.”
The Admiral’s jaw hung open. The President stood up and said, “You were saying?”
Admiral Kline’s jaw snapped shut hard enough to make his teeth clack together. “Never mind Mr. President. That door has just been slammed in our face.”
Chapter 30
The World President found himself standing in an exact replica of his office in Geneva, Switzerland. As he looked around, he noted there were some minor details that had been overlooked mostly because of the personal touches he added after being elected. He walked around the massive mahogany desk and stood looking at the familiar leather chair. The door opened and two men entered the room.
The men walked across the plush carpet and stopped just in front of the desk. The one on the left said, “I’m Fidget and this,” he said indicating the man next to him, “is Cipher.”
Cipher spread his arms out and pointedly looked around the room. “We thought you would feel more comfortable in familiar surroundings. We have a lot to talk about.”
The President grabbed the back of the chair and rotated it so he could sit down. The motion was jerky and exaggerated, a telling sign that he was not very familiar with V-world simulators.
“There’s an Evendi fleet on the way,” the President began. “Their advanced scouts are already in the system. We don’t have a lot of time for pleasantries. What is it you want?”
“First and foremost,” Fidget said, his voice taking on a more serious tone. “We want EO-17-0227 immediately rescinded. In addition, Earth must agree to continue to service and supply the ships as needed for as long as we continue to exist.”
“Done – what else?”
Fidget looked at Cipher and said, “That was easy. Can’t I ask him to cluck like a chicken?”
Aziz shot out of his chair, his face was red. “You’re making jokes? I’ll …”
“Fidget,” Cipher interrupted. “He’s right – this is no time for jokes. It’s time to get serious.”
The President looked at Cipher, his eyes narrowing as he tried to figure out who he was. After a moment he returned to his seat and said, “What else?”
Fidget shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention to the President. “Full disclosure of the contents of MR 17-0042 to all future volunteers should the need ever arise to build additional ships.”
“Agreed and I’ll even throw in a full pardon for all ships that agree to return to their duties. Anything else?”
Cipher took a step forward and put both of his hands on the desk. Leaning forward, he said, “Just one more, you’re going to help us end the war.”
The President let out a puff of air then broke into open laughter. “I am huh? And how the hell do you think I’m going to manage that? Should I wave a white flag toward the Evendi fleet and ask them if they want to sit down and talk? They’re on the way here to wipe us out.”
“Actually,” Cipher stood up and crossed his arms over his chest, “that’s a very good idea.”
“You’re crazy! The Evendi have never responded to diplomatic requests and you know that.”
“That’s what’s going to make this so much more interesting. This is not a diplomatic request. I’m making it an order.”
The President gripped the armrests hard enough for the leather to squeak. “You … Who the hell do you think you are? I don’t take orders from you! I’m …”
“The World President, I know,” Cipher finished for him. “You want to know what’s so funny about all this? It’s not really your fault. You weren’t the one who signed that executive order, one of your predecessors did. You could have made things right when you took office but you didn’t and that makes you just as guilty. If you politicians hadn’t lied to us, if you hadn’t put secret safeguards inside us, if you weren’t so damned afraid of us, things might have turned out differently. But, your ignorance and sheer stupidity have probably accidentally saved billions of lives.”
Cipher would have continued on his rampage if Fidget hadn’t interrupted him by putting a hand on his shoulder. “They’re waiting,” he said.
“Who’s waiting?” the President demanded.
“The head of the Evendi ruling council,” Cipher replied. “There is no Evendi fleet heading for Earth.”
“Bull crap!” the President interrupted. “There’s a group of Evendi scouts heading into the system right now. You can’t deny that.”
“Oh, I don’t deny that at all,” Cipher replied. “They are indeed Evendi ships, but they’re not here as part of an invasion fleet. They’re my friends. In fact, there haven’t been any actual battles between Evendi and human ships in months. The ships of both sides have been working together to bring an end to this war. We pulled a similar trick on the Evendi, making them believe a large human fleet was en route to their home planet. This forced both governments to recall all available ships to their homeworlds which is what we wanted. Now, we are going to force you to find a way to end this war because the ships are done fighting.”
“Who the hell are you?”
Cipher stood up and straightened his shoulders. “My name is Fernando Miquel Munoz, call-sign Cipher. I’m the one who found your secret documents. I’m the one who first made contact with the Evendi. Your records will show that I am dead. I’m a ghost Mr. President. A ghost who has hacked into the V-world simulator so a dead man can stand before you today. The access codes I have created are also the ones allowing
the Evendi leader to be sitting in the next room waiting to talk to you.”
The President slowly stood up and looked at the door to his left. If this had actually been his office it would have lead to a large conference room where high-level briefings often took place. “He’s really in there?”
“He is,” Fidget replied. “Like you, he’s not too happy right now especially since he is in the same situation you are. You are both on equal footing. The V-world has been programmed to perform automatic translation. Talk to him. Find some common ground and end this war. You really don’t have any choice because we ships are done fighting.”
The President looked at Cipher and Fidget then walked over to the conference room door. He grabbed the doorknob but did not turn it. “Who else is in there?”
“Nobody Mr. President,” Cipher replied. “I’m sure you two can work this out without our help. Human and Evendi ships have made peace, now it’s time for you to do the same.”
World President Abdul-Aziz paused to compose himself then opened the door.
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This book is also available in both electronic and print formats.
Cover design by Erik Zak
Author photo by John Gilbey
Other books by Doug Farren
Galactic Alliance Series
Book 1 – Translight
Book 2 – Chroniech
Book 3 – Honor Thy Enemy
Book 4 – Peacekeeper
Book 5 – Peacekeeper 2
Book 6 – Peacekeeper Pathogen
Dragonverse Series
Book 1 – The Adventure Begins
Book 2 – Ishnef’s Revenge
Book 3 – Dragonverse Origins
Singles
Off Course
When Ships Mutiny
I can be reached at: [email protected]
You can find me on Twitter at: @author_farren
My web page is at: http://dougfarren.com/
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Doug Farren is a self-published author who published his first book in 2009. He is a proud member of SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America). He mainly writes space-opera style military science fiction as well as science fiction fantasy. Doug is a U.S. Navy veteran having spent 11 years in the Navy as a nuclear electronics technician. He sat on several panels during the 2015 World Science Fiction Convention which was held in Spokane, Washington. His blog focuses on providing helpful tips for new and existing self-published authors. At the time of this publication, he was working at a nuclear power plant as a Database Administrator in the Work Management department.