by Ben Winston
Carl chuckled and nodded. "I understand now! You think that Greg and the team are untrained civilians because they didn't attend and graduate from one of your military institutions. Madam President, you concern is a valid one, but it is very far from the truth.
"Rangers, by definition are not civilians. In fact, on all the planets that have them, they are treated as the most elite military. After the initial team is discovered on a planet, a search begins to find others; the younger the better, in order to begin Ranger training. Potential Rangers usually begin training around the age of sixteen. They are not allowed to participate in a mission until they have met certain critical requirements.
"Now, I will grant you that our current team started training late, however, they have met every single requirement. In most cases, they have surpassed them. Wilma, you have seen my record, I'm sure. Believe me when I tell you that not one of your current pilots, that includes the astronauts, could pass this training.
"There is also one other small matter that I'm sure Mr. Whiteshield forgot to tell you about; there are genetic requirements to becoming a Ranger. The potential pilot has to have a certain genetic make-up in order for the hypersled to even work for them. If a normal human attempted it, it is almost certain the attempt would destroy their mind as well as their body. You would also lose the ship. So before your ghouls out in Nevada start trying to reproduce this, keep that in mind.
"If you believe that Commander Albright and his team are not trained, you are very much mistaken," Carl replied.
"Carl, we still don't believe three small ships, no matter how well trained the pilots are, can defend us. We need to be mass producing them and finding the pilots we'll need! You simply can't do that, not in the time we have left," Wilma said. "You need us to control and regulate what goes on up there. We will also not allow you to leave us at the mercy of these other, supposedly 'friendly' races you're allying yourselves with. What happens if they turn on you?"
He couldn't help it, he actually laughed. "I'm sorry, you have no way of knowing. But what you just said is so far out of the realm of possibility that it is hilarious! Madam President, none of the other races even have a military! Their sole defense is their Ranger teams! Those same individual beings that are sworn to protect the lives entrusted to them. Which by the way has always included us, even before we had a team!"
"What do you mean by that? How can they not have militaries? How do they defend themselves from each other?" Wilma asked.
"They don't!" Carl said. "No has any interest in attacking anyone else; there is simply no reason for them to want to!"
"What about resources? Commander Albright mentioned he needed food for a trade agreement…" she asked.
"Unknown to us, the Greynus, that's the race that needs the food, had already prepared their people to assist us as well as the rest of the races. Even getting some of their people off world would have helped not only ease the food problems, but helped the rest of us prepare for what's coming. No agreement was ever reached with them, they called all the other races, through the Rangers, and offered their assistance without even asking for anything themselves. Incidentally, the first shipment of Soybeans along with our hydroponics team left for their homeworld yesterday.
"Madam President, not one of the other races of our Alliance has hostile intent toward anyone. In point of fact, they will go out of their way to assist the others in time of need with no thought to repayment or any form of restitution. All of those societies are more agrarian than militaristic. They have far more to fear from us, because they know how violent a species we are, than we do of them." Carl replied.
"You have certainly given me a lot to think about, General," Wilma replied.
"Madam President. Please call off your attacks, we really don't want to hurt anyone," Carl asked.
"Attacks? We had only the one planned," Wilma admitted.
"You might not be aware of the other, Madam President. Four Special Operations teams are currently in New Mexico commandeering one of Virgin Galactic's ships. Since we granted them landing privileges, we wouldn't have fired on that ship. However, we do know every person that is supposed to get aboard," Carl replied.
"Ahh, No, I was unaware of that attack. I'll see what I can do about it. However, that leads me to another bone of contention; you gave Virgin Galactic technological assistance in the building of their new fleet. Why? You professed that you would not share any of your technology with the planet. Was that a lie?" the President asked.
"No, it wasn't. We did not give them any technology that wasn't already developed by Earth scientists. I am afraid that your version of the technology, as it is with the other nations of the planet, is still classified, however, so I would not like to discuss this any further as this conversation is also being broadcast to the world. I hope that is acceptable, Madam President," Carl replied.
She chuckled. "I'm sure I don't have any idea what you’re talking about, Hollister. You are a crafty old bastard, I'll give you that. I see that you have given permission for several world news agencies to station correspondents there. Is that correct?"
Carl nodded. "It is, as long as they follow our laws, I could see no reason for not allowing it. This is a civilian colony after all."
"But aren't you going to have military there as well?" she asked.
"They will have separate facilities from this one. The reporters won't be allowed over there without special permission just like any other civilian," Carl explained. "Just so you know, we do plan on releasing other technologies as well, but we plan to do so slowly, so as not to overwhelm anyone's economy. But I imagine the oil industry is in for a bumpy ride."
"That's a lot of people to be putting out of work, Hollister. What do you expect them to do; join you?" the President asked.
"They will be free to apply, just like everyone else, but no, what we release should create enough new jobs for them to be okay. Like I said, we're going to do it with care, we don't plan on dumping it all on you at once," Carl replied. "With respect, Madam President, I need to cut this call short, I have a meeting with the Harclerian Trade Ambassador soon and need to prepare for it."
The president nodded. "Would you let me send a diplomatic mission up there so I can see for myself exactly what's going on?"
"If I did that, I would have to allow all the other nations to do that same thing. I would triple the size of the base while reducing its efficiency by an order of magnitude. I would consider a U.N. Mission, but remember, we will not give control to anyone. We will work with you, but not for you," Carl replied.
"Not unexpected. I'll speak to our U.N. Ambassador and get the ball rolling. I'll have them call you to work out the details. Good Day, Governor."
Carl nodded. "And to you, Madam President." After which the call ended. Carl turned to his two guests. "Well, it looks like at least the U.S. is starting to figure out the real picture. What are your thoughts?"
Jarad nodded. "On the surface, it would seem so, but I still wouldn't put it past them to try to get spies up here at least. Force of arms has failed them so far, now we're going to see the clandestine stuff. Let's just hope the other countries follow suit. There are still four other nations getting ready to launch assault missions up here."
"I don't think anything will stop China's mission. They are still saying that we are on their 'land' and are demanding our immediate surrender," Lionel replied. "However, the Russian Federation is saying that they never relinquished their claim and that this base is theirs. They’re like children throwing a fit!"
"Well, let's hope we can still keep them all pacified so no one gets killed up here. I don’t like the idea of firing those weapons on manned ships from Earth, but if we have to…" Carl let the rest hang.
"Let's just hope that never happens, Governor," Jarad replied.
About the Author
Ben Winston (1965 - ?) was born in Iowa and grew up in Minnesota on the family dairy farm. Upon reaching adulthood, he joined the United States
Army as a communications technician. Before getting out of the military, he decided to go to school for computer electronics.
Shortly after getting out of the military, and after getting a new job with an over-seas company, he was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. A month after beginning the new job, he was laid off due to budget over-runs on the project he was hired for. Upon returning to the United States, he had difficulty maintaining employment because of the chronic illness.
He began writing as a form of stress release, from being home bound and not being able to work, and found he liked writing erotica. Ben wrote a trilogy called the Talosian Chronicles (Currently in rewrite to remove the graphic sex and finalized his vision of the story). The first book, Star Dancer, won awards and was nominated for many others by the online communities where it was posted.
Ben Winston returned to school for literature, after completion, he began writing professionally. Being an avid fan of science fiction he focused on this genre. He was, and still is, influenced and inspired by Gene Roddenberry, Anne McCaffery, David Weber, Isaac Asimov, and Ray Bradbury. Some of his favorite movies and TV shows are; Battlestar Galactica (both versions), Andromeda, Star Trek, Firefly, Star Wars, and many of the B-rated movies that were actually box-office bombs.
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Books Published by Blue Space Publications, LLC.
by Ben Winston
Pollux Paradox
Tides of Mars
Tides of Mars (Omnibus)
Ascension
Conflict
Talosian Chronicles
Olympus
Star Dancer
Talosian Alliance
*Neptune’s Massif (Dec 2015, on presale now!)
*Raptor Squadron (First Quarter of 2016)
Novellas
Abraxis Complex
Origin of Prometheus
Sword of Damocles
Abraxis Code
Book of the Guardian
Home – Part One
Pest Control – Part Two
The Last Mission – Part Three
Resolution – Part Four
Bedouin’s Travels
Twilight Earth
A Long, Dark Night
*Terra Dawning (Pre-Sale now Dec 2015)
*New Day (First Quarter of 2016)
Series
Temple of S.A.R.A.H.
Prototype – Episode I
Subroutines – Episode II
Base Functions – Episode III
Hard Wired – Episode IV
Debug Mode – Episode V
*Beta Test – Episode VI (Pre-Sale now First Quarter of 2016)
by Michael McClain
Chronicles of Atlantis Series
Chronicles of Atlantis (Omnibus)
Atlantis Rising – Book I
Euthara – Book II