Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  Tala headed for the river gorge at Mach 2 and never slowed as she snaked through the narrow opening between the mountains. Captain Lewis did a good job of following her, but did have to reduce speed to Mach 1.5 as the gorge narrowed. Tala was hovering over the level plateau on the other side when he exited and took off again as soon as he caught up. The high plains, mountain valleys and plateau between the gorge and the pass that led to the needle were not only fun to fly but beautiful as well. When Tala headed south through the wide end of the Needle Pass Captain Lewis was doing a very good job of negotiating the winding and twisting openings between the 20,000 feet of mountains on either side. He was beginning to feel confident of his ability to keep up with the little wild-child until he looked ahead at what looked like a dead end canyon with a solid 20,000 foot wall of rock at the end. Dalhia said nothing as the Captain began to scream pull-up, pull-up, as if the Fighter in front of him could hear, but Tala never slowed down and continued at Mac 2 headed toward the wall. Then he saw it. At this distance it just looked like a sliver of light shining between the tall rock walls. He saw Tala tilt her ship perpendicular to the ground and scoot though the opening and disappear. He immediately kicked-in his reverse thrusters to reduce his speed and had it down to Mach .6 just as he reached the opening and tilted his ship so it would squeeze through. Once again Tala was on the other side pretending to muff a yawn while she waiting in boredom. This time the Captain smiled at the insolent child.

  Tala immediately took off skimming the top of a glacier along the way at what seemed only feet from the surface. As she reached the end of the glacier she pointed her Fighter directly at Mt. Alene, rising 80,000 feet above. The Captain realized at her current angle of ascent she was headed dead center of the mountain. Once again, he wondered if she was going to pull up or bank away, she did neither. He was not about to back off now, and continued after her. Suddenly, where she should have impacted the side of the mammoth rock, she disappeared. Just before he was about to pull up for a last minute save, he saw the dark spot where she had gone. He shook his head and said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Dalhia answered, “I’d suggest you turn on your approach lights, it can get extremely dark in there.” Captain Lewis once again lowered his speed and all but hovered through the dark cave. His nerves were already fried from the rest of the flight and he saw no need to make a fool of himself by banging into cavern walls in the dark. As the cave widened and he saw light at the other end he picked up his speed once again. When he exited, Tala was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly she dropped down from above where she had been waiting for him to exit; the wash of her ship was so close his Fighter wobbled. By this time the Captain was feeling a bit less than confident.

  As Tala set a course for Big Red she settled down and simply made a clean ascent directly toward the moon above. Big Red was large enough and near enough to Verron that you didn’t have to chart a course for it. It was easy enough to just fly there VFR. Tala allowed the ship computer to determine the angle of trajectory and pushed her ship to an escape velocity of 64,000 mph. The g-force was tremendous, but the suites and g-seats made the almost 120-g acceleration bearable. In minutes they broke through the stratosphere at 30 miles altitude and were screaming toward the Exosphere 300 miles above Verron. The red moon was brilliant as they broke through the atmospheric distortion and Tala accelerated in a direct path for the big red rock at a speed that would make the 250,000 mile trip in under an hour. She could have gone faster, but she didn’t want to overshoot her destination. She only got to exceed light-speed one time when she was flying with Uncle Paul. It was a thrill she would not soon forget, but he had shown her that just because you could reach those kinds of speeds, does not mean you always should, and they were rarely needed when flying within a star system; only between them. Captain Lewis and Dalhia were flying just off her left weapons-strut and following the exact same course and speed.

  As they neared the moon Dalhia down-loaded the targeting information to Tala’s Fighter and she entered them manually into her weapons system. Verron Fighters were not as sophisticated as a Light Destroyer when it came to weapons and controls and still allowed a certain amount of pilot control when requested. Dalhia had selected a target for a high speed strafing run using the 10mm Laser machine-guns for both pilots and one target for a 100 mm Plasma Cannon assault. The targeting system would not allow you to miss once a target was acquired. Tala was going to go first and began her approach, just as she was fixed on her position, Dalhia had Lucy shut down the computer controlled targeting system. Tala didn’t even seem to notice and remained focused on the target ahead. To Dalhia’s surprise Tala hit both of her targets perfectly without using the computer to acquire them. Tala was ecstatic, Captain Lewis was feeling his stomach turn into knots as he was required to do the same. His strafing run was textbook perfect. He was off just a hair, but managed to only clip the edge of his 100mm cannon run. He was suddenly feeling like a failure, having allowed a 10 year-old girl to outfly him and outshoot him. They did a couple of practice take-offs and landings on the moon surface, orbited it once and headed home; this time it was Captain Lewis’ turn to find his way back to the base located at the spaceship factory.

  While Dalhia was briefing Captain Lewis on his performance during the flight back, Tala was introducing Calanyo to Blue Grass music. She swore to her friend that she could play most of the mandolin parts and that her Grandpa Kary had been teaching her since she was about 6 years-old. While they listened to Cotton Eyed Joe by Mac Martin and the Dixie Travelers, Captain Lewis was being briefed on the Dragon Guard and who they were and how well each of them could fly. She then added, “Every one of the Guard can do what Tala did today, but none do it quite so easily and without even thinking about it. She just does it naturally. Prince Hunter is just as smooth, but he has to think about it. I’ve been flying for a very, very long time and I’ve never seen anyone who was so gifted. Just remember Captain Lewis that you are no doubt one of the best pilots currently approved as a Fighter Pilot. No one else has been in a position of trying to keep up with Tala before, and none have ever flown the Guards obstacle course. No doubt many of them wouldn’t have even attempted to follow her through her little maze and none of the other pilots were as accurate as you on an unassisted target run. You did very well. Just remember there is always someone better, don’t ever become over confident.

  By the time they landed back at the Ship Factory, Calanyo was a Blue Grass fan and was even more determined to be a Spaceship pilot one day. Dalhia and Captain Lewis were waiting on them when they landed with big smiles on their faces. He looked at the two little girls and spoke to Calanyo, “Commander Dalhia says you want to be a pilot. Well if you keep hanging around with her, nodding toward Tala, and survive, you should learn a lot.” He turned to Tala and asked, “Are you the one in the pink Speeder that is always harassing the other pilots when they’re flying?” Tala looked like she was preparing for a scolding. He continued, “I’m going to go back and challenge the other pilots that none of them can keep up with you. I should make a lot of money on the bets I win, do you want to split it?” Tala grinned, but answered, “I’m too young to make bets or gamble, but you can be sure I’m not about to let anyone beat me.” Captain Lewis shook her hand and said, “I doubt very seriously if anyone will.” Tala then said, “Uncle Paul can beat me, he’s the best.” She and Calanyo headed into the hanger to find her Dad to get permission to let Calanyo use the Simulators. As they ran off laughing, just enjoying being 10 years-old, Captain Lewis turned to Dalhia and asked, “Is she talking about her Uncle Paul Verron? Can he really fly better than her?” She patted him on the shoulder and replied, “Who do you think has been teaching the Dragon Guard. Let’s just say that King Verron will never send you into a battle that he is not willing to fight himself. I have no doubt that he will be leading the formation.”

  Calanyo had been on the planet for four days when Tlase and Desiree went back to Tecalna with an answer to their parasite problem.
The parasite was in the water. Every man woman and child had been exposed to it. It could not be killed by boiling the water and it was too small to filter. They tested atomic filters like the ones they use on Verron to purify their water and on space ships used for long flights. The results were conclusive. The water passed through the atomic filters was 100% free of contamination. There was no way to purify all the water on the planet. The earthquake had evidently released some long dormant strand of parasite and by now there was no water source on Tecalna that was clean. Paul Verron offered to provide the technology for how to build the filtering units and provide the whitematter energy source required to keep them running and a prototype unit for them to use and study. They would then manufacture the atomic filters themselves, providing jobs for thousands of people. Desiree formulated, from a blood sample of Calanyo’s uninfected blood, an injection that would increase the production of white blood cells and restore their ability to fight off disease, restoring their immune system. General Zarman sent only 1500 Marines to Tecalna, but he had 25 of his pilots flying very intimidating Fighters and Light Destroyers on regular patrols. They also were running out of crude oil and were willing to buy from Verron. They got permission from Xhondar I to transfer several of their shipments of wheat to Tecalna for humanitarian purposes. To Paul’s surprise, the Elders were going to pay for those shipments anyway as their contribution to aid a neighboring planet.

  Paul left Michael and his daughter Renee in charge of coordinating their aide to Tecalna. He had to head back to Klelta with his transports and hopefully some assistance with his construction projects. Before he left Tecalna he told the temporary governor that he had Calanyo and would like to offer her a home on Verron if it would be alright with them. The governor told him that if he’d like a few million more orphans he could have them all. The quote from the governor that Paul passed on the Marcus was, “I could care less about some 10 year-old orphan. There will be a million of them die from starvation within a year, so at least your orphan will be able to eat.” Calanyo Joz was now a citizen of Verron.

  Chapter 19

  Paul departed Tecalna with Hunter, Justice and his 24 Marines onboard the Light Destroyer. He had Amber and Katelyn team up to form a gateway back to Verron. The rest of the Dragon Guard, Tlase, Desiree and Yadvega returned with them. Tecalna had a lot of problems to deal with. Paul had every intention of helping, but could not at this point bail-out a Nation of 2 billion citizens. Getting them healthy and productive was his first priority. He did intend to train some of their scientists on ways to protect their already strained environment. It would take years to clean up the mess. They had been a lot like China and other parts of Earth that pushed for high production numbers and paid little attention to the fact that they were destroying their planet. Paul knew he could get them going in the right direction and intended to slowly introduce clean energy technology to them as soon as possible. He knew he’d lose most of his oil business with them, but he could not deny them access to clean whitematter reactors, and atomic disposal units, along with other environmentally friendly technology. They had been dumping waste into the water and atmosphere for centuries. The newly appointed Governor was planning to introduce a reeducation plan focused on training people in the skills needed to get the industry back on track. Paul did plan to offer some of his education specialists as advisors as soon as he had a chance to return to Verron and discuss it with his people. He thought as he was departing Tecalna, “For a man who hates politics and was determined to stay out of politics, I am up to my eyebrows in politics and as soon as I arrive at Klelta it is about to get worse.”

  Paul looked at Hunter and asked, “Hey, Kid, would you like to be King for a few weeks?” Hunter shook his head and answered, “No offense, but you’re crazy if you think I want the job. I’m having way to much fun being a Prince. From what I’ve seen, you never do anything fun. Make sure you live a long time. I really don’t want the job.” Paul smiled pleasantly at Hunter’s honesty and couldn’t blame a boy about to turn 19 for not wanting to get bogged down in heavy responsibility, but it bothered him when he realized, “I really don’t do anything fun anymore, except play my guitar once in a while by myself or with the family.” He then decided, “I need to get with Bhlani about his motorcycle idea. I always have fun if I’m on two wheels.”

  Paul rendezvoused with the four Verron transports that were waiting for him in the Klelta orbit. He had no idea how many humans would need to be vacated and he didn’t want them to be forced to leave everything behind. He also didn’t know how many of the giant-sized Klelta would consent to going back to Verron with him. At this point, he couldn’t be certain exactly what the situation was on the planet’s surface. If Hon was still in control, Paul felt confident things would work out, but with the hostility towards humans at its peak just before he left the planet, anything could have happened. He decided to leave the transports orbiting and headed for the surface with the Light Destroyer and his Marines. Paul circled the palace compound a few times to make certain he was seen and slowed to observe the landing spot where he had landed inside the palace walls on his last trip. I was swarming with humans. It looked like a refugee tent city, inside the palace grounds. It was obvious he would not be landing there. He realized that the next largest clearing was the quarry two miles from the city walls. It was also large enough to land at least two of the Transports at a time in addition to the Destroyer. He had Hunter land the Light Destroyer in the center of the quarry. He didn’t want to be surprised by a wall of falling rock burying his ship if he parked too close the quarry walls. Once on the ground, they waited. He and Justice wanted to see who the welcoming committee would be. Justice said, “If they show up with axes and pitchforks, we’re out of here.”

  After about 45 minutes, a crowd began to gather along the road leading back to the city. At the head of the crowd was a smiling Hon, accompanied by his family and a few other familiar faces. Deciding that it was safe to exit his ship, Paul, Hunter and Justice opened the passenger doors and stepped out to greet King Hon. He looked briefly over his shoulder to see Captain Stevens and his Marines forming up in a defensive formation behind him. They were an intimidating sight to see. King Hon reached out to shake Paul’s hand and commented “Now when you don’t need them, you travel like a King. Things have calmed down. Hopefully my people now realize that not all humans are our enemy. At least most of them do.” He looked at the Marines closely and told Justice, “Colonel, your men look as if they are disappointed they have no one to fight. Perhaps instead they can teach us how to fight. I don’t intend to ever be invaded again. I need your help in building an army that everyone will be too afraid to face.” Justice smiled, now that the tension was dissipating, and replied, “We had a chance to talk with King Verron’s brother, Prince Kary Verron; he is responsible for weapons development and manufacturing. Our A.I.s have already begun redesigning our weapons, which you see my men carrying, into Klelta sized weapons. We will build prototypes and then adjust the weapons accordingly in order to meet any specific requirements you may have. If some of your men decide to return to Verron to help with our construction needs, we will use a few of them to help create the prototypes of not only weapons, but also body armor.” Paul then added, “Once that’s done, Klelta will be responsible for manufacturing your weapons using your own metal working skills.”

  Hunter stepped forward and introduced himself, which surprised both Paul and Justice, “I’m Prince Hunter; I have been instructed by Commander Dalhia to inform you that she has already begun to design a flight simulator large enough to accommodate Klelta sized pilots in training. Once enough of them are trained on Verron they can then train your pilots on Klelta. King Hon took a close look at Hunter and asked, “You are King Verron’s son?” Hunter and Justice smiled to see how Paul struggled to explain, “I have no sons; Prince Hunter is my Grandson and happens to be the son of Colonel Hall.” The resemblance suddenly made it obvious to Hon, since Hunter looked like a cross betw
een his father and King Verron’s daughter. He looked at Hunter and stated, “So you are a soldier like your father?” This time it was Justice’s turn to explain. He looked over his shoulder and realized that almost all his men had witnessed the incident in the mountains when they were climbing. He spoke as a proud father about his son, “Hunter is a member of an elite fighting group called the Dragon Guard. They are hand-picked and trained by King Verron. He is the leader of this very select force. They are trained in the fighting methods you saw King Verron use against Ares, as well as flying all Verron ships, and using our weapons, in addition, they are trained in leadership and diplomacy; King Verron is training the future leaders of both our government and our military. My daughter is also in the Dragon Guard.” Hon reached out his huge hand and shook Hunter’s hand as he said, “An entire fighting force like your king, why do you need Marines?” Hunter quickly jumped in with an answer, “There are only seven of us at this time. We can’t possibly be everywhere that military action is required. We are connected to the military, but we aren’t soldiers. The Marines and Air Force are the backbone of Verron’s strength.”