Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  Instead of the usual master suite closet to get dressed in his commando gray, Hunter and Paul took the elevator down to the secret armory to suite up in the Verron Steel Body Armor. After they finished getting suited up and retrieved the 5mm Shoulder Mount Gatling guns and one extra container of ammo, Paul thought about the fact that they both needed knives or swords for the stealth required at the beginning of the operation, neither of them had any desire to go back to their rooms in full body armor to retrieve their favorite cutlery. Paul smiled at Hunter as he said, “You’re not going to believe this, but I have another surprise for you. I have no doubt that as soon as I give this to you the rest of the Guard will expect to get one too.” He walked over to the secret panel behind the weapons locker and slid it aside to reveal the high security door behind. After the usual scans, he escorted Hunter into the vaults and opened one of the drawers holding a set that consisted of a Light Sabre, Light Dagger and a more powerful whitematter force-field. He opened the box and Hunter did like Paul did first time he saw it; he held it up and looked at it like it was some kind of flashlight. Paul then opened his and activated the Sabre saying, “Once you activate it, the Sabre, Dagger and force-field will work for no one but you. Hunter, this Sabre will actually cut through Verron Steel Body Armor, even with a forcefield, like its butter. It will not cut through the new forcefield I have just given you. There is nothing it will not cut, even our strongest and thickest steel.” Hunter activated his Sabre and loved the almost weightless feeling of it. He hung it and the dagger on his utility belt and switched out forcefields; Paul did the same. Hunter looked at Paul and told him, “Are you ready to hear the ‘that’s not fair’ from Tala and Katelyn?” Paul grinned as he answered, “It will be short lived. I plan to issue a set to each member of the Dragon Guard when we return from Africa.” Hunter shook his head, saying, “God, there will be no living with Chase and Daniel. Those two will start thinking they’re Jedi Knights.” Paul patted Hunter on the shoulder and said, “Come pedawan learner. Much to do we have.”

  By the time Paul and Hunter returned to the command center in the executive offices, General Zarman, Colonel Hall, Vladimir and Zimuel were present. Zimuel immediately noticed the Light Sabre hanging from each of the utility belts. No one else even knew what they were. He smiled at Paul and said, “I was wondering when you would pass those out.” Colonel Hall heard the comment and asked, “Pass what out?” Hunter removed his Sabre from his utility belt and activated it. Justice stepped back, saying, “You’ve got to be kidding me. You guys have been watching too much Sci-Fi.” Hunter looked at his father seriously, and told him, “Be that as it may, you should show respect to a Jedi Knight.” Justice smiled at his son and replied, “Yes, Obi Wan Kenobi; lose that thing and your grounded.” Vlad and General Jim were standing to one side shaking their heads, as Jim said to Vlad, “You had no idea what you were getting into, did you?” Vlad laughed and replied, “More fun than Mother Russia.” Paul looked at the holograph once more and asked Hunter, “Are you ready to test your skills and change a few lives forever?” Hunter shook his proud fathers hand and saluted General Z. “Let’s do it.” Paul asked, “Lucy, how many drones do we have in place?” She answered, “Three; one over each target. Each is armed with 5mm Lasers should they be required.” Paul nodded and replied, “Guess we’re ready then. If you have any trouble just speak out, we’re connected through Lucy and will know each other’s location at all times, don’t concern yourself with firing your Laser in my direction. Crossfire is not a problem. Let’s go.” And they both disappeared, only to be tracked by General Z, Justice, Vlad and Zimuel as they watched on the wall monitor and holograph.

  Just before they stepped through the gateway, both switched on the stealth mode; no point being seen if they didn’t want to be. Hunter stepped into the dimly lit hanger. It was 11:20 PM in Nigeria and a cloudy drizzly night made for total darkness outside the building. He immediately set to work, jumping to the catwalk and quickly using his Sabre Dagger to quietly eliminate the four guards looking down from above. He was hoping to use the sword, but the dramatic effect of heads or bodies dropping from the catwalks above would have caused too much attention for the guards below. He switched to his sword after jumping to the ground below and lopped off the heads of the eight guards inside. It happened so quickly that none of the guards had a chance to react. There were a few screams from the terrified girls as headless bodies began to drop along the edges of the building. Hunter quickly switched off the stealth mode and revealed his dark-gray body armor and a Laser Gatling on his shoulder. In the dark, Hunter could see the frightened bright eyes of over 300 young black girls. He immediately began to speak to them in English. With over 500 dialects in Nigeria, English was the only common tongue. He yelled for them to follow him and headed for the rear door of the building. Some rushed to follow, others were more hesitant. Suddenly, a group of 20 soldiers who had heard the girls screams, and had radioed the inside sentries and received no reply, raced through the door. They were cut down in seconds by a blast from the Gatling. The girls then quickly followed him to the rear of the structure. He immediately opened a gateway large enough to handle the mass of terrified girls. In minutes they were in the U.S. Embassy compound in Lagos, Nigeria.

  Hunter was preparing to set a thermal grenade when another group of sentries came pouring in from two different directions. Through Lucy’s video link, she quickly identified Abubakar Shehan leading the attack. He decided to save his ammo and drew his Sabre as he charged directly into the automatic weapons fire from the invading force. He quickly sliced the opposition into pieces and grabbed Abubakar by the arm; making a jump directly to the command center on Verron to the surprised looks of his father and General Z, then he was gone. The unarmed terrorist leader made a futile attempt to fight off his captures, but it was a wasted effort. Justice knocked him cold with one good left-hook to the head. Hunter returned with no hesitation to the hanger, armed and ready to go. The outside was swarming with hundreds of soldiers looking for their missing hostages and missing leader.

  Paul dropped into the corridor of the prison in stealth mode and was immediately facing one guard on each door of the six Navy Seals. He activated his Sabre and began to clear the hall. The first rolling head that moved across the floor got a reaction of panicked screams from those next to him. All that was visible was a flash of light and a decapitated body hitting the floor as the head rolled down the hall. Paul didn’t have to hurry. It was a small room and there was no place for the men to run. One raced for the door to try and get out, but was to slow in opening the many locks. Paul quickly took care of the four guards manning the gun ports and the quiet that fell in the room was eerie. The heavy metal doors were quickly removed with a few swipes of the Sabre. Paul was appalled by the conditions of the captured Seals. Each of them had wounds of some kind and one looked like half his leg was missing, the only thing that was keeping him alive was the tourniquet on his gangrene infested thigh. Paul easily picked up the big Seal and carried him as he gathered the others, helping each other in their beaten, wounded and weakened state. The two odd men were captured village leaders and thrilled to be on their way out. He formed a gateway to the Aircraft Carrier George W.H. Bush and deposited the men on the flight deck, with the exception of the man who would no doubt soon lose his leg, if not his life. He immediately made a gateway back to the emergency room at the Verron medical center and handed the man off to Dr. Ed Meese, saying, “Let’s send him home whole.” Then he was gone.

  Paul activated his thermal and stepped from the prison and cleared his way through the remaining sentries just as it went off. No one would ever be held in that prison again. Within seconds of his thermal’s explosion, he heard and saw Hunter on the opposite side of the camp. Hundreds of armed soldiers were headed in both directions to ward off the attack to their compound. They knew it was an effort at hostage rescue and wanted to kill as many Americans as possible and halt the rescue attempt. That just didn’t work out to w
ell for them. Paul deactivated his stealth shield and made a point to be seen, just as he knew Hunter was doing on the other side of the camp. He began clearing the way and drawing as many as possible away from the tent city that housed the young captured boys. When he knew he had drawn as many away as possible, he tossed two thermal grenades into their midst and jumped to the gate of the enclosure housing 500 terrified boys ranging in age from 9 to 14. He simply snapped the chain holding the gate and yelled, “Any who want to go home and be free, follow me. Immediately the frightened youngsters raced out the gate, while he opened a gateway to the U.S. Embassy in Lagos. He couldn’t help but laugh to himself as the puzzled embassy workers, already wondering how these hysterical girls got there, were suddenly flooded with a swarm of running adolescent boys. He gave a friendly wave to the overwhelmed workers and closed the gate. Once clear, he spoke to Hunter and both instantly dropped a plasma grenade right where they stood and quickly headed back to Verron.

  As they stepped back into the command center they were greeted by the cheers of their fellow soldiers. Paul had to do a double take to be sure he wasn’t imagining their guest who sat bound and gagged in one of the conference room chairs. Hunter looked at him and said, “I had to improvise, hope you don’t mind.” Paul gave him a reaffirming hug and assured him, “You did good! I’d work with you anytime.” Paul walked over to the captured terrorist, saying, “Lucy, how much is this guy worth. Should I just kill him and be done with it?” Lucy came back in a few seconds responding, “$7 million dollar U.S., offered by the U.S. Department of Justice.” Paul looked around the room and asked, “Does anyone have any Kahlan?” Zimuel reached into his coat pocket and smiled, “When I heard where you were going, I thought you might need this. It’s actually from your utility belt in your closet.” Paul looked at his friend, saying, “Between you and Lucy I have no secrets. Thanks!” Paul gave the syringe to Hunter, saying, “You captured him, you do the honor; full dose, please.” Hunter stabbed the terrorist in the right upper arm and squeezed the plunger. Abubakar’s eyes flew wide open as the powerful serum rushed into his system. His demeanor instantly changed from hostile to overly eager to please. Paul looked at General Z and asked, “What’s the CIA Directors name?” Before he could answer, Vlad replied, “James Brannon, born June 10, 1961 in Manchester, CT. Want his shoe size?” Paul looked at Hunter and asked, “Want to meet Mr. Brannon?”

  The look on CIA Director James T. Brannon’s face, shoe size 11½, when two soldiers in dark gray alien looking body armor stepped into his office, was one of sheer panic. He immediately hit the silent alarm on his desk. Hunter shoved Abubakar Shehan forward as he said, “This man will be very cooperative from now on. No doubt Boko Haram will soon be in need of a new leader and a new compound in Nigeria. Just as he and Paul were turning to go, the doors burst open and a dozen members of a heavily armed CIA Assault Team cashed through waving their weapons at Paul and Hunter shouting, “On the floor! On the floor!” Hunter looked at Paul and mumbled over their com link, “They can’t be serious.” Paul turned to the Director and told him, “Tell your men to put those toys away before one of them gets hurt.” He then waved a hand and the armed men were frozen in place. He continued, “If you like I’ll take this guy back with me and drop him out of my plane over the Atlantic. Otherwise, donate the $7 million reward to take care of the 350 homeless hostages now at your Nigerian Embassy along with 500 homeless boys.” He turned to leave and quickly added, “Oh, by the way, I returned your captured Seals to the George Bush, except one. He was in immediate need of medical attention. I’ll have him home as soon as he can travel. Tell his family he’s in good hands.” With that he unfroze the security detail and disappeared. The now loose lipped terrorist leader began to talk and wouldn’t shut up for months. The security detail left the Directors office wondering just what they would write in their incident report. CIA Director Brannon got on the phone and asked, “What’s the latest on the situation in Nigeria?” He spent the rest of the evening reviewing satellite and drone footage shot of the rescue, and talking with the only living witnesses, the girls, the young boys and the rescued Seals. As light dawned on Nigeria, it was plain to see there was nothing left of the terrorist camp but melted steel and ground that had turned to glass. The jungle was barren for a one mile radius. If anyone survived, they were long gone now.

  The next day, there was a briefing of the Dragon Guard along with General Zarman, Colonel Hall and Colonel Vladimir Zhdanov and Paul. Paul pointed out that in the future any one of them or all of them could be called upon to participate in an operation like the one in Nigeria. When they got to the footage of Paul with his Light Sabre, Chase raised his hand and asked, “Excuse me, I thought I was seeing things when Hunter was silently eliminating the sentries, but now there is no doubt about it, you have a Light Sabre. How come we don’t have a Light Sabre and you two do?” Immediately Tala, Cali and Katelyn protested, “That’s not fair!” and Daniel, who rarely complained about anything declared, “If he’s got one, I want one.” Paul knew it was coming and decided to let them squirm a little longer. He replied, “This was a special mission and required special equipment. I just felt that we would both need any advantage we could get. I’m sure you all understand. When the rest of you need a Light Sabre you’ll be issued one.” The rest of the Guard kept quiet, with looks of despair on their faces. Finally Tala spoke out, “Uncle Paul, King Verron, I need one really bad.” The others remained quiet to see how Paul would respond to Tala’s request. He acted as if he was angry, saying in a huffy voice, “Fine; just fine. We can’t go around having you suffer through life with no Light Sabre.” He reached over and took Hunter’s from his utility belt and handed it to Tala, saying, “I doubt Hunter will need his, take this one.” Tala looked timid as she hesitantly took the Sabre and then realized it would not respond to anything she did. Paul and Hunter began to laugh as Paul opened a nearby closet and rolled out a cart with nine more Sabre sets stacked on top of it. He smiled, telling the Guard, “A Light Sabre is an extremely personal weapon. They will only respond to the person who activates it. No one can use mine or Hunters but us. That way if it should fall into the hands of your enemy, it will do him no good and you no harm.

  He and Hunter escorted them to the Jxansa Gha training room and instructed them on activating the Sabre, Dagger and Forcefield. Paul then brought in what everyone knew was an indestructible piece of Verron Steel four feet long. Hunter held it up and Paul swung his Sabre at it with little effort given. The big chunk of steel fell to the floor with a loud thud. He then took one of the fighting droids and attached his forcefield to it. He was then able to practice attacks on the droid with no damage. The Guard looked at Paul with questioning attitudes as he told them to practice their sword fighting techniques, he said, “And don’t worry, if you lose an arm or leg, we can always grow you a new one.” It was only after Paul and Hunter demonstrated that the forcefield could in fact keep them safe that they began to practice in earnest. Chase and Katelyn, the two Comic-Con Light Sword Champions had looks of elation on their faces that were priceless. Before they finished, Paul reminded them, “These are only to be drawn in self-defense, defense of someone else and in this room when you practice. They are not for impressing your friends. This is the deadliest weapon in our arsenal. As far as I know there is no protection against it except for the shield you’re wearing.” He turned to leave, “Work I must do; much time needed. Jedi you are not.” The Dragon Guard stood staring at their new weapons still in total disbelief.

  Chief Petty Officer Tom McKinney was walking around the Capital City town square getting used to his new leg and recovering from two weeks in the regeneration tanks. He knew he was going to die and had even seen before and after pictures shown to him by the staff at the Medical Center. What really amazed him was the fact that several battle scars were no longer there where he received two other purple hearts. He missed his fellow Seals and wanted to go see his Mom, Dad and baby sister back in Oklahoma, but this p
lace was so unusual and interesting he couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if he simply stayed. Two men in uniform approached him as he was crossing the square, one a four star general, the other a full-bird colonel. He was going to salute but realized he was in shorts and a T-Shirt. The general extended his hand and introduced himself as General Zarman, commander of the Verron Air Force and Marine Corp then added, formerly Major General U.S. Marine Corp retired. He introduced Justice as former Delta Force and Second in command on Verron. General Z then asked, “What do you think of this place?”

  Looking around at people that had the variety of colors in the rainbow, 7 foot tall stick people in robes, 9 foot tall gray/green giants and cat-people, he answered, “Sort of reminds me of L.A.” The two men in uniform smiled and nodded in agreement. Then Justice told him, “I would never ask anyone to desert or abandon their commitment to the United States, though we are citizens of Verron we have done neither. Our goal is to protect and aid the U.S. and her allies in any way we can. If you should decide you like it here and would like to become a part of our rather unique military, we’d love to have you.” He handed him a card with nothing but his name and an e-mail address. “Just let me know. Now I think it’s time to get you home. Your uniform was a bit ragged, if you would allow me, I’ll replace it with one of our gray commando uniforms. They are actually pretty similar. Oh, yeah, one more thing. Would you like a tour before you leave? At least a military tour. I have a feeling you will recognize several of your old comrades from the Seals.” McKinney looked puzzled then was distracted by a Spaceship landing only a few yards away. “There’s our ride, want to join us?” McKinney left a few days later and returned in six months when he officially retired. He recruited more people than any other single soldier had previously. It was probably the photos of blue and yellow and pink women in summer halter dresses that did it. But no doubt, the spaceship ride to a solid steel planet with 3 billion people living in it had a lot to do with it.