Mahala was thrilled to see how immaculate the whitematter enrichment facility was. He did suggest to Paul that the plant immediately resume production and focus on weapons. There were already plenty of power supply units and if there is enough raw-material from the previous refining of trununcian, that they begin manufacturing on two shifts. Paul suddenly felt rather grim thinking that this wise old man believed that there would one day be a need for enough firepower to destroy every planet in his home solar system a million times over. He couldn’t imagine any enemy that powerful.
They didn’t spend much time in the underground storage facility. Paul did however find a huge armory filled with hundreds of thousands of conventional Xhondar weapons. He estimated that he could equip at least a 500,000 man army with just what’s in this armory. They returned to Mountain City early enough to get in a workout, but Paul felt like he would be on exhibit and decided to take Mahala to the executive offices and show him at least his preliminary plans for building up Verron. They got off the elevator across from Zimuel’s office and entered a conference room with Zimuel pouring over estimations for requirements for food, medical supplies, building materials, housing, a concrete plant, agricultural projections, manufacturing needs for transportation, space ships, communications, a fishing fleet, schools, recreation facilities; essentially everything that would be needed to establish a functioning and productive civilization. As he entered the conference room, Zimuel began to stand-up. Before Paul could tell him to sit back down, Mahala spoke out saying, “No need to get up Ambassador” Both Paul and Zimuel gave him a strange look as he finished, “After seeing this place and everything you and Tlase are involved in, there is no doubt that we need to maintain a presence here even after Verron is functioning on its own.” Both Paul and Zimuel expressed their thanks.
Just as they finished Paul said, “Lucy, is the hologram ready?” Without an answer, a hologram of one of the most beautiful cities any of them had ever seen appeared in the middle of the conference table. Paul smiled like a proud father showing off his new baby, “This, as yet to be named city, is going to be the capital of Verron. I couldn’t imagine a better location. When we visited the research lab that first time I knew this was the place.” With the Crystal River along one side, surrounded by mountains and the Sabrina Bay visible across the 2 mile wide mouth of the river as its meets the bay; the scenery reminded Paul a little bit of San Francisco. Full of lush vegetation, giant trees and several smaller rivers and creeks that flowed through the valley to meet the river; there was natural beauty at every turn. Paul intended to maintain that natural beauty right beside his ultramodern city.
At the heart of the city was a city square at least as large as St. Peters Square at the Vatican. At the southern end of the square would be built the Capitol building for Verron; a five story, one hundred foot tall building, designed in a unique style with a large dome on all four corners and a 200 foot tall atrium in the center. It looked to be as large as the United States Capital, but of a completely different design than the typical capital building. To the west of the capital and the capital square was Church Street. There was initially one church on the hologram. It was domed with a large center dome and looked large enough to easily seat 3000 people for a church service. The rest of the street was reserved for future churches. The entire west side of the square contained three structures; a gigantic shopping mall as large as an entire city block, with offices and individual businesses on the ten floors above the mall, complete with a recreation center, schools, doctor’s offices and other services needed by the residents that would occupy the four forty-story domed apartment towers that rose above the mall. Next to the mall would be the transportation center where residents of the city could take a gateway to other cities on Verron and one day in the future, to other planets, like Xhondar and Earth. The 60 story domed-building next to it would be the home to the Bank of Verron and the heart of commerce and trade for that new nation. Across the square to the east, on the same location as the existing research and development center, would be built the corporate offices for Verron Chemical and Pharmaceutical. Also on the east side of the square would be a gigantic medical center. Paul told them he planned to have free medical for Verron’s residents and that included regeneration and rejuvenation for any who needed it. The rest of the capacity would be used to offer the service to others who could afford it from other worlds.
High on a 3000 foot mountain overlooking Sabrina Bay and Alicia Falls on one side and the Capital City and the Crystal River on the other would be built a five star quality resort hotel, large enough to hold state functions and serve visitors to Verron. The northern end of the square opened to a large park that ran along the bluffs of the Crystal River, complete with an amphitheater and jogging/bicycle paths. There were miles of open spaces to expand. Zimuel had even laid out an industrial complex to be built across the river from the city and an ocean-going ship building yard on a wide river that flowed beside the industrial center. It was an ambitious plan, but for some reason Mahala felt that one day he would walk the streets of that very city. Paul informed him, “We have begun layouts for a city in the farm belt, one in the foothills near the steel mills and mines, one in the opposite end of the valley from the Space Ship Factory and a small town close to the oil refinery. We have room for about 350,000 people right now. I’d like to make it a million in 18 months. I could never accomplish it working alone, you have no idea how much I appreciate your people helping me make this happen.” Mahala walked around the table taking a discerning look at the future of Verron and said, “I like it, but why are there domes on top of every building? Is this some kind of design trend?” Paul grinned and looked at Zimuel, and asked, “Lucy is the automation for the hologram ready?” Just as he finished asking his question, Mahala stepped back in surprise as the domes on top of each building opened up to reveal missiles and anti-aircraft weapons inside each dome. The hologram even launched a few as he looked on. Paul smiled, “I never want to leave my people unprotected.” Mahala patted him on the shoulder and commented, “Son you are full of surprises; so what do you do in your spare time?” Paul thought of his two missions to Earth and wondered if he knew, but answered, “Practice guitar.”
One thing Paul did do in his spare time while the others were back on Xhondar, with the help of 99, was build a large open BBQ pit just off the terrace about 50 feet from the kitchen. He had visited a Dude Ranch once while at a sales meeting for 3M and experienced a Texas BBQ that included the cooking of an entire 900 pound steer. Even though Paul preferred pork-BBQ, the concept stuck. He and 99 built a pit from cut stone and formed it to be about an 8 foot square. With the use of the machine shop under Mountain City, Paul fabricated a rack to firmly hold at least one large steer, or one large pig, but today it held to Kzki. They didn’t take as long as a whole cow, so he had put them on early, before leaving with Mahala, and left 99 and Tlase in charge of flipping the switch to rotate them at the proper intervals and basting them with his secret recipe BBQ sauce. This was Mahala’s last night and Paul decided he’d show him what he hoped would be a tradition of Verron hospitality. Tlase was by now getting pretty good at making potato salad, and surprisingly really impressive coleslaw. Paul made his special skillet style baked beans. Ninety-nine insisted on making garlic toast and, for this occasion, Paul almost thought that he would offer them cold beer, but decided, why get a bad habit started. So he had 99 make his special sweet tea and then he put out a cooler of assorted sodas. The weather was perfect for a cookout so they ate outside on the terrace and shared food and company with Zeus. Paul got brave and made his mother’s recipe for banana pudding for desert. He had never made it before and it wasn’t as good as Mom’s but it was pretty respectable. Since none of them had ever had banana pudding before, they thought it was great. A great time was being had by all. Mahala was in rare spirits and ate more than any of them had ever seen him eat. Paul promised he’d make him a “doggie bag” to take with him when he left in the mo
rning. Mahala couldn’t understand why Paul would put a dog in a bag for him to take back to Xhondar. After Paul and those who knew what a “doggie bag” was stopped laughing, he explained what it was. He was grateful and said, “My wife will love this.” Paul never even knew he was married.
They were talking and sharing stories from their varied pasts and Paul was really enjoying himself. Someone who had lived since the days of Noah had a lot of stories to tell. It was getting late and things were winding down when Lucy spoke to Paul through his neurological implant, “They just beheaded one of the German hostages and I know where the other three are located.” Paul sat there a moment longer hoping no one could read the concern on his face, then yawned a little and said, “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m beat. Would you consider me a terrible host if I excused myself for the evening? What time do you plan to leave Mahala?” He informed him that it would be right after breakfast. “I’ll see you in the morning then.” He said his good nights and casually walked back to his suite.
When he entered his suite Lucy already had a hologram of the town and surrounding countryside ready for his review. While he looked it over Lucy gave him a briefing. He was a bit upset that he had not been able to get there in time to prevent the brutal execution of an innocent man. Lucy informed him, “Mansel Holzclaw was beheaded just two hours ago. I only found their hiding place because I picked up on some increased activity that made no sense. They are right on the southern edge of Kharbut, Iraq. The town is approximately 50 miles east of Baghdad. The compound where they are being held is surrounded by an 8 foot block wall, has one large front gate and a 20 room house. I positioned a drone overhead and picked-up three very stationary figures in the basement of the villa. There are two moving armed men in the room with them, two outside the door in the hall, there are a total of twenty six that I counted inside the compound, but they are constantly moving around, so there is no fixed location for where they may be when you arrive.” He looked at the layout and the moving red figures of the men inside, asking, “I didn’t know you could see inside a building.” She did not surprise him with her reply; in fact he expected it, “It was never necessary before.” He looked everything over as he planned the best way to pull this off as Lucy continued her briefing, “They have demanded that four of their captured leaders be released or the next one will die tomorrow, then one each day till their release. Lucy continued, “I was not the only one who noticed the activity in Kharbut. It seems the CIA drones have surveillance as well and they are organizing the Marine ‘Crisis-Response-Unit’ out of Baghdad as we speak. There’s one more thing Paul.” Lucy expanded the hologram to include a 5 mile surrounding area. It was swarming with ISIS troops, APCs, tanks, trucks and missile launchers. There had to be at least a thousand soldiers located in the small area, covering virtually every approach. “The Marines plan to come in from the south and clear a path through the middle of the ISIS troops protecting that area. Blast a whole in the wall of the compound and extract the hostages.
Lucy explained, “I’m not certain that even if you hurry you can beat them there, but I know a lot of Marines will die if you don’t.” He headed for the closet to get dressed. He thought about taking his Light Sabre with him, but decided that the people on Earth were already freaking out about his bombs and his disappearing act; they would really get crazy if they saw his Light Sabre. He opened the case containing the sword and dagger given to him by Xhing Li and Gljarne and attached them to his utility belt. He carried his usual Randall knives in the boots, but for what he had in mind, the sword would be required. He was strapping on this backpack full of thermal grenades as he left the closest headed for one last look at the hologram. He wasn’t shocked, though he was more than a little ticked-off, when a knock came on his door. He thought, at least they knocked. He opened the door and there stood Mahala with everyone else but Zeus standing behind him. Mahala spoke, “I could tell that everyone was upset when you left and that they knew you were up to something. They are horrible liars and wear their worries all over their faces. Now I know what you really do in your spare time.” Paul did not respond to Mahala’s forced humor, he simply began walking toward the study and his hologram and said, “No time to explain, ask Lucy.” By the time they entered the study, Paul was gone.
He stepped out of his gateway directly into the basement room where the hostages were being held with his sword already in hand. He instantly beheaded the two guards in the room before they had a chance to warn anyone. He couldn’t help but notice how effortlessly the blade went through skin and bones. He untied the three remaining hostages speaking to them in German to ease their fear and realized one had been tortured severely with deep cuts across his chest and abdomen. He was still losing blood, so it must have just happened. He reached into his bomb-bag and removed the Rapid-Repair Wand and slowly moved it across the wounds. Luckily there were only five of them and in minutes they were gone. The eyes of the hostages showed both fear and surprise. He told them to follow him and led them to what he said was a secret tunnel he had used to get in. He reached over and opened a closet door in the back of the room and pretty much pushed them through. The three stepped through a gateway Paul had created and out into the international concourse of the Frankfurt Airport. It was the only place Paul could think of on short notice and he had been there several times. Imagine the shock for the three battered, bloody, half-dressed men as they stumbled into the path of four German Federal Police pointing Heckler & Koch G36 Assault Rifles at them. At least they were home.
Paul had no time to think about it, he had work to do. He exited the room and immediately decapitated the two guards by the door. He knew the next part would be a little trickier. He had no idea where the rest of the guards were, so he decided to draw them out. He stepped out into the courtyard and yelled in Arabic, “Your mother’s a whore.” In seconds he located over a dozen with more on their way. Several did manage to get off some shots but Paul was no longer where they fired. One-by-one heads began to liter the courtyard. He moved around the compound at lightning speed looking for the armed soldiers, the last one had a radio to his mouth when the blade sliced through the radio and his neck.
Paul knew he needed to move fast. Between the rifle fire and the radio call, there would be others coming soon. He began to pick-up the heads and one by one line them up along the eight foot wall, each one levitated into perfect position. He was just placing the last two on the wall when an explosion from behind him made him quickly turn around. He was in dark gray, almost black, and he did have on a mask. The two dozen Marines racing through the hole had no way of identifying him as a friendly. They opened fire on full automatic, confused by the fact that he was still standing there when the smoke cleared. At that moment Lucy showed him the aerial view of the approaching APCs and troop trucks no less than a ¼ mile away and coming fast. Paul spoke to the Marines in his best Southern accent, “If you boys don’t get out of here you’re gonna need all that ammo for the bad guys that are ‘bout here.” The commander of the group stepped forward and demanded, “Who the hell are you? I command you to remove that mask!” Paul stood his ground and answered, “Who the hell are you? I take orders from no one.” The man walked closer to Paul and said, “I’m Captain Jack Bentley, you must be that ‘JUSTICE’ guy they’ve been talking about.” At that moment Lucy let Paul know that the troops had slowed but were still coming and that several hundred more ISIS soldiers were headed toward the Ospreys waiting for the Marines. Paul bowed then told him, “You need to tell your birds to get out of here now, your mission has been compromised and ISIS is headed toward your extraction unit. I can get you out the same way I came in and get you a good long ways from here. But first we need to slow down those guys just outside this compound.”
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