Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  Paul had been putting off a trip to Tecalna for some reason. Poor Yadvega and Gail had been there working for over six months and Justice had increased the military presence to help train their new army. Two dozen Tecalna had even been sent to Verron for pilot training. The astronauts who were rescued by Paul insisted on being part of the training and brought the best candidates Tecalna had to offer to train in spacecraft that they could only dream of. Yadvega and Gail had actually established trade with the struggling planet. They were exceptional in producing affordable clothing. Yadvega contacted Uzhela Cronznick on Xhondar I and had her come to Tecalna. She stayed several weeks and left with three contracts for Tecalna to manufacture clothing for a store that served 70 billion people. She also found that they produced some of the finest jewelry she had seen. Two of their factories were gearing up for an increased demand from Xhondar. Before Uzhela left, Gail and Yadvega got the gears in motion for small electronics devices to be manufactured by these industrious people.

  The people of Tecalna took a unique approach to their orphan problem. Instead of having millions of orphans roaming the streets getting in trouble or being used and abused by predators, they re-arranged their population and emptied one entire city. It was easy to do with so many towns only partially populated anyway. They then moved the orphans from everywhere on the planet into that city and hundreds of thousands of caretakers to live there with them. Street crimes where virtually eliminated and by separating children by age, bullying of younger children was also drastically reduced. They were being cared for, fed and educated. They even established technical training centers where the older kids could learn a skill and earn an income for products they manufactured. It wasn’t child labor; it was a structured way to prepare them for future employment. Older teens, that did well, would be released to accept careers in outside industry. It was far from a perfect plan, but it worked better than having millions of children starving and dying in the streets of the cities.

  The day Paul showed up, he was welcomed as the hero who had saved their country. He was pleased to see that they had finally held elections and had an operational government in place. There were factories operating, their farms were again producing food and the military was becoming much more professional under Verron supervision and training. Gail had actually balanced their almost non-existent budget and been teaching others how to manage the government funds like a business instead of arbitrarily spending money they didn’t have. The Governor couldn’t wait to show Paul his new army. They boarded Yadvega’s transport and flew the short distance to the training center. What Paul witnessed made him realize that he definitely wanted these men and women as allies. They had been trained with Verron weapons from the old Xhondarian storage facility. They were displaying their skills on an obstacle course for his review. These cat-people were amazing; blasting through a Navy Seal level obstacle course with the speed and agility of a Tiger; leaping where humans had to climb, walking loose hanging rope bridges like a tight-wire and firing weapons as they ran across and not missing their target. Twenty foot tall walls were like minor obstacles. They looked like a house cat leaping to the top of a refrigerator. These were some of the most deadly commandos he had ever seen. The Marine Major who had been there for six months training the Tecalna had a satisfied look on his face that told just how he felt about his new army. Paul decided right then to step up the military aid to these people and possibly place a weapons plant there. He definitely was going to need more ships to meet the needs of his allies on Klelta and Tecalna. He would have Gail and Yadvega offer a proposal for sending some of their people to work for Marcus at the Ship plant.

  Paul didn’t spent much time on Tecalna, but had seen all he needed to see. He would do everything he could to boost their economy and make them the allies he needed. As he was boarding his executive starship to head back to Verron, a truck pulled up beside the ship and heavily armed guards opened the rear door to load the content into the cargo hold of Paul’s transportation. There were six boxes over six feet long, four feet wide and three feet tall with handles on the side, being carried by four soldiers each. They were already on board and Paul asked what was in them. The Governor shook his hand and said, “Just our way of thanking you for what you’ve done.” They were already in the air when Paul’s curiosity got the better of him. He went to the cargo area and opened one of the boxes. He stepped back with a swallow and a tear. He never asked for or expected anything from these people. He opened the others; everyone was filled with Emeralds, Rubies, Amber, Sapphire, Topaz, Zircon, Onyx and Black Diamonds. There were other precious stones he did not recognize. This was tribute worthy of a King. He felt ashamed that these people had in essence paid tribute to him. He smiled briefly and thought, “Michael and Robert are sure going to enjoy counting all these.” He decided he would use as much of it as he could to fund the programs he intended to put in place to aid the Tecalna.

  When he arrived back at Verron one more piece of his plan had come together. The deals he had been working on with John Deere and Peterbilt Trucks had been finalized. He was proud of his uncles and Michael for patiently putting the deal together. He had not had the time or patience to deal with people who tried to manipulate him. Michael finally took a page out of the Paul Verron handbook. When John Deere was trying to claim a bigger piece of the pie by demanding 60% ownership of the Verron John Deere Plant instead of the 45% offered, Michael packed his briefcase and headed for the door stating, “Massey Ferguson is for sale. I think I’ll buy it and then I won’t need to deal with you at all.” It was amazing how quickly the deal was finalized. Peterbilt was a little easier to deal with, when Michael brought their Manufacturing Manager and CEO to Verron and gave them rides in existing equipment, and explained he could operate one of his freight hover trucks for 20-30 years without recharging the fuel supply.

  Leona and Donald had finalized the deal on H&M Retailers and increased his acquisitions of food manufacturers and construction materials manufacturers. Last but not least they had set up PVHC LLC, Paul Verron Holding Company. Paul’s friend of over 30 years, Keith Graham, and the only practicing attorney on Verron, drew up the paperwork and handled the contracts for buying up companies. At first Leona and Donald thought Paul had gone crazy buying the companies he had purchased. They soon found that with a little reorganizing, they were turning a very nice profit, making Paul a substantial return on his investments very quickly. PVHC was a very well-kept secret. Since Paul was the sole owner and no stock was traded, it managed to remain extremely discrete in everything they did. From Paul’s perspective, things couldn’t happen soon enough. He desperately needed additional farm equipment and workers and even though he had come a long way in the construction projects, they still had several cities that Paul intended to be the size of his hometown in the next two years, at least 300,000 each, minimum. He envisioned the Capital City as being a major metropolitan area with 4 to 5 million people. It had the potential to easily be a Sydney or San Francisco. He felt like he may as well dream big. It was all God’s anyway and he served a big God.

  Paul had put it off long enough and decided to take the entire Dragon Guard to Klelta to meet with King Hon III and his wife. He planned to persuade him to allow Prince Hon IV to become a part of the Guard. When they landed in the now empty palace courtyard, they were greeted by the King and Queen and a very professional looking military guard, carrying the biggest weapons Paul had ever seen. Evidently his brother Kary and Colonel Hall had worked with them to help design Klelta sized weapons that they could manufacture in their own manufacturing facilities. He was so distracted trying to figure out what weapons they were carrying he almost didn’t realize the King was speaking; “My friend, welcome back to Klelta. It is always a pleasure to see you again.” The King gave Paul and the Guard warm welcomes then embraced his son. Held him at arms-length and admired how much he had grown since he had been gone. Then Mom got into the picture and had to give her only son a typical mother-hug. Paul could
stand it no longer and had to acknowledge the Kings fine looking soldiers. They had adopted the same style of commando gray worn by the Verron Marines and the Guard, but Paul had never seen anything like the rifles and hand guns each man wore. The rifles looked very much like the style of an AR-15 Assault Rifle, but they had to be at least 6 feet long or longer and the barrel was as big around as a small baseball bat. The handguns looked like a Glock .40, only much larger. The King could tell Paul was dying to see them up close. He had one of the men come forward and present arms to the King.

  Paul took the rifle that had to weigh almost 100 pounds. He looked at the bore and removed the clip. The Verron Marine responsible for training the Klelta spoke out, “If you will allow me King Verron, I’ll explain what you you’re looking at. Your brother and Prince Hunter’s father both have been exposed to all kinds of weapons. The biggest rifle on Earth is the .905. It’s a single shot rifle with a 2500 grain bullet and 2,777 foot pounds of recoil; not exactly a user friendly weapon, but for these guys it was perfect. What you’re looking at is the Verron-Hall 1.00 Assault Rifle. It carries a clip with 40 1.00-3200 Grain shells and a laser sighted scope accurate up to two miles away. The shells are available in regular loads, armor piercing, and antimatter rounds. It weighs almost 100 pounds, but that is no problem and these guys fire them like they are a .22 Long Rifle. The hand gun is a Glock design, but carries a clip with 40 .60 Magnum rounds, available in the same loads. Their knife is a Klelta 2 foot commando knife. I’ve trained these men personally and they do not miss with any of their weapons. They are now manufacturing 20 rifles and 20 handguns per day, but plan to increase that significantly very soon.”

  Paul smiled and asked, “Would I be completely insane if I asked to shoot one sometime?” Lt. Colonel Baxter shook his head and replied, “Only if you’re as crazy as your brother. He almost broke his shoulder and fired it from a support stand braced with sandbags. It makes a Barrett look like a BB-Gun.” Paul handed the weapon back to the 9 foot tall Klelta. It looked small in his hands. After a few pleasantries were exchanged, the soldiers were dismissed and Paul and the Guard were escorted into one of the palace sitting areas. They discussed business for a short while and when there was lull in the conversation Tala blurted out, “Uncle Paul, are you going to ask him about Hon or not?” Paul realized that the Guard had already read his mind and decided for themselves that Hon should be in the Dragon Guard. King and Queen Hon looked at Paul waiting for an explanation. Paul decided now was as good a time as any. He explained, “You have an exceptional son. Ever since he came to Verron he has exhibited extraordinary leadership skills with your people and an incredible desire to be the best at everything he is capable of doing. My Dragon Guard has been spending a lot of time with him and we would like to make him an official member of the Dragon Guard. Before you answer, let me explain. This may look to you like a group of young kids who want to play soldier. They are actually the most dangerous people on Verron. I personally oversee their training. Everyone here except Calanyo is capable of doing the very things you saw me do against Ares and his soldiers. These youngsters will be the future leaders of Verron and any allies we acquire, not only capable of leading soldiers, but entire Nations. Even little Tala here can outfight, outshoot, and outfly anyone in the Verron Air Force and Marine Corp. As strong and as smart as your song is, he would be required to go through an enhancement process to help control the powers that will be available to him. He will be the only one from your world capable of these things, but should another Ares show up, he’ll be more than capable of handling him personally. It would require for Hon to live on Verron for at least the next couple of years to complete his training. When he returns, he will be able to lead your country by example and give his father the support he will need in the years to come.” Hon was looking at his mother and father with pleading eyes and wringing his hands in anticipation of the answer. The King looked at his son and then looked at his mother, and being a man who obviously made the decisions, gave his son a hug and said, “Make me proud, son.” The Dragon Guard was slapping him on the back and shaking his hand, 99 did that stupid dance. Paul told them that Hon and Calanyo would go through the enhancement as soon as they returned to Verron. And now there were nine.

  Chapter 20

  Paul was sitting on a low stone wall that bordered the almost completed Klelta Palace, early in the morning as he looked out at the capital of Verron, playing over in his mind the events of the past 24 months. The year had ended for the 10,000 Klelta who had agreed to come to Verron. He was pleased that only half of them chose to return to Klelta. He had them build an entire complex that was Klelta sized so they could get out of the open vehicle storage facility. They were some of the finest people he had ever known and deserved to live a life that met their needs and wants. Everyone wanted to name the city after Paul, but he refused to allow it, he already had his last name on an entire planet, why a city. He finally decided to simply call it Capital City. The focal points of the city were complete; the capitol building was now occupied and slowly filling up, the medical center was complete and fully functional with over 100 regeneration/rejuvenation tanks ready for use. The maternity ward was one of the busiest wings of the hospital. Women who had been long past child birth years were now having a second family after going through rejuvenation. Paul was thrilled that Verron was a family friendly environment. The first new baby born on Verron had been Marcus Verron Jr. and was closely followed by Michael Verron Jr. Both parents wanted to call their sons MJ for short, they settled for MJ and MJ2 (pronounced MJ square).

  The National Bank of Verron was completely functional and their mortgage department and transport finance division were doing a booming business and surprisingly people were actually saving money. The Verron Chemical and Pharmaceutical Company was now in full production and shipping needed drugs to Klelta, Tecalna and supplying the needs of Verron. He was proud of Dr. Desiree Verron and Marie Verron for doing such a fine job. Paul knew that once he opened the door to sell their products on Earth they would need all the products he could supply. They were intentionally building up inventories of Antivirus, Antibacterial, Antipoison as well as cures for diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s, Sickle Cell and Autism. He knew there would be a huge demand for each of these products.

  He was especially proud of his idea for the transportation center. Sitting between the Market Place Mall and the Bank, it was perfectly located for those who desired a quick trip into Capital City to shop or tend to their business. He had erected gateways in each population area of Verron. If someone in Farmington, the agricultural center of the planet, wanted to shop or just have a night out, all they had to do was go to the local transport center and step through the gateway to Capital City. From there they could choose another gateway to any community on Verron, including the almost completed Barry Ski Resort. His engineers were about to complete a gateway between Klelta and Tecalna as soon as proper security measures could be established.

  The focal point of the city was the new Market Place Mall; with J.C. Penny’s at one end and Zirtouni’s, pronounced Sirtoni, at the other end. The mall was quickly filling up with specialty shops, jewelry stores, restaurants and a 12 Screen Cinema. In the center was an ice skating rink. With four forty-story apartment buildings rising above, it was constantly busy. The complex had grocery stores, schools, a recreation center, a tennis complex and spaces for offices of every kind. It was not as massive as Mall of America, but it was large enough to meet the needs for now. Church Street had expanded and added two more churches; one for Baptists and one for Methodists, with space established for a Catholic Church and an Orthodox Church in the future. What really pleased Paul was the fact that both John Deere and Peterbilt had built very nice offices on Verron and that other businesses were beginning to be established.

  Paul’s oldest daughter Renee loved country music and dancing. She put together some investors and built one of the nicest country music clubs he had ever seen. It had live bands nightly,
served food and beer, was very well managed and always busy. They were building an amphitheater in the park by the river. When finished, it would have a force-field that could be activated in case of rain, keeping everyone dry in the hardest of downpours. Benny liked the idea so well, that he was in the process of incorporating the same type force-field in all the smaller downtown shopping areas, so people could go from store to store and not need to dodge the frequent rain showers that occurred in the farming and mountain areas.