Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  The two officers got the room numbers for Candice, Omotu and Du Juan and excused themselves. Just before he left, Lt. Flannery looked at Hunter and asked, “You look familiar. Were you two in the subway last night during all the action?” Once again Ursula spoke out, “It was awful; we were almost trampled. If Hunter hadn’t rushed me out of there we would have been run over in the stampede.” He looked them both over and informed them, “We’ll go talk to Miss Bissong. If what you say is true, Mr. Fuller may suffer from more than a broken hand.”

  Hunter went back and got a shower and cleaned-up. About the time he finished, Ursula was knocking at his door. Hunter invited her in and they took a couple of sodas and had Zoryana bring them some Chicken Salad on Whole Wheat Sandwiches to the terrace. Ursula looked at Hunter and said, “These have been the most interesting four days of my life. You are more than I could imagine any man capable of being, but my mind just can’t get around the fact that you are something way beyond normal. I have a few days off and plan to leave in the morning for Augsburg to see my family for a few days. I promise to keep your secrets and tell no one. I don’t really want to be certified insane, so I’ll keep this to myself. Will you look me up next time you’re in New York?” Hunter knew that the chances of any meaningful relationship was slim for him with anyone at this point in his life, he kissed her on the cheek and said, “You can count on it. Not sure when that will be, but when King Verron decides to go totally public with Verron you’ll be the first one I come see. Then no one will think you’re crazy and you won’t have to keep the secret anymore. I’ll probably leave later today for Verron. I’ll explain more next time I see you.” Ursula shook her head, saying, “I’m not so sure I want to know. The whole place is just too much to comprehend.” Hunter quickly replied, “That’s exactly why my grandfather is taking his time to completely expose our world. The people of Earth just aren’t ready for it yet. There are several government investigations into disappearing people around the world, and all kinds of speculation about just where Verron is. Will you come to visit when we finally open up to visitors?” Ursula gave him a big hug and a kiss and told him, “You can count on it; will you take me for another spaceship ride?” He smiled as he said, “Maybe I’ll take you to meet the Mole People.”

  Over the next few weeks there were announcements of Gregorovich Romenov donating $5,000,000 to the New York Coalition for the Homeless. The gossip pages were talking about the blond male model that did an extremely successful ad campaign and simply disappeared. Prince Hunter was the most sought after model in New York, his pictures were everywhere. Ursula and Leona became fast friends. Hunter, with his grandmother’s permission, took Zoryana, her husband, and two children from New York to Verron. He also went to her small village in Ukraine and escorted 40 more family and friends to their new world. Hunter will always have fond memories of New York, and decided to keep his New York clothes at Leona and Donald’s for his return trips, but it was great to be home.

  Chapter 25

  For the next few weeks the Dragon Guard was together again. They managed to train together, freestyle run and climb together and even fly together. Hunter enjoyed his time in New York, but Verron was really the only place he felt like he could always be himself, whether he was with friends, family or even the people of Verron. There was some more information on the New York subway bombing attempt from the CIA, NSA, FBI and Homeland Security intranet that Lucy reported to Paul, Hunter and Vlad. They also had some encrypted messages from terrorists that revealed a back-up plan if the subway bombs didn’t work out. Lucy managed to leak the information directly to the CIA Director and signed it JUSTICE. The information helped the FBI and Homeland Security apprehend six more cell members who planned to attend a Knicks game in an attempt to deliver the failed message in the subway attack.

  With the Verron Military growing, Paul and General Zarman decided they needed to promote several men and women to make use of their leadership ability and better organize the command structure of the Verron Air Force and Marine Corp. They first promoted Colonel Hall and Colonel Zhdanov to Brigadier General. With Dalhia spending half her time on Xhondar I recruiting and organizing their new military, Amber was spending more and more time in a command situation, and Hunter was placed in charge of the Verron Intelligence Field Services, reporting to Vlad, who was responsible for training and recruiting of those connected to Verron Intelligence. Both Hunter and Amber were promoted to Colonel. There were numerous other promotions to Colonel and Lt. Colonel and even more from Captain to Major. Almost all the Russian, German and American pilots recruited over the years were at least one grade above where they were when they flew on Earth. The Verron Special Forces, under the command of Brigadier General Hall, was without a doubt the best there was, composed of U.S. Navy Seals, Army Special Forces, Marine Recon, Delta Force and Russian Spetsnaz, along with a dozen Tecalna Catmandoes. They were split into four divisions and a newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel was in command over each group.

  The Verron economy was continuing to improve. They were drastically increasing food production, steel production and spaceship production, all now operating two 12 hour shifts, soon to add a third. The housing plant had tripled in size and single family homes were beginning to dot the countryside around every population area. The Molnarians had shipped their first batch of mushrooms to Verron. They were soon discovered by the chefs of Verron and Xhondar I and now sold for 150.00 cronz for a 3 pound pack. Tala had made a trip back with some volunteers who were going to set up schools and medical facilities and two platoons of Marines who would be stationed there for defense and training. While there, a group of children gave Tala a large tote sack, much too heavy to be centipedes, and she was pleasantly surprised when the bag of shiny rocks given by the smiling youngsters was filled with the finest emeralds and rubies she had ever seen. The small Molnarians were thrilled when Tala gave them each a hug and a kiss on top of their heads. She really didn’t know what to do with the precious stones, so she tucked them away to later discuss with King Verron.

  Before she left, she was given two large bags that were moving. She cringed at the thought of what might be in them. There was no surprise when she discovered one filled with foot long centipedes and the other filled with the largest and fattest worms she had ever seen. She smiled as she took them and tried to figure out what to do with them. When she arrived back on Verron Yadvega took the two squirming bags to a local chef and a new craze soon spread all over Verron and Xhondar I. No one realized that the little Molemen would soon be getting 200 cronz a pound for Centipedes and Worms. They were easily cut into the size of a large salmon steak or a filet; Vladimir swore that when cooked up in garlic butter, the centipedes tasted like Escargot. Tala decided she would just have to take his word for it. She handed the bag of jewels to her Uncle Paul and asked, “What am I supposed to do with this?” He then poured the bag of jewels out on the kitchen table. Danyel and Katelyn were sitting at the table and gasped in surprise at all the stones. Paul picked one up and replied, “Take them to Robert and have him size and grade them and estimate the value. Then find a safe place to keep them. I would imagine there will be more where these came from once they know you like them. If you need a place to store them I can make room in my vault.” Tala shook her head and smiled at her Mom, took an emerald the size of a baseball and handed it to her, then took one about the same size and handed it to Katelyn, saying, “Don’t say I never gave you anything, the rest goes in the Molnar Royal Treasury.” She scooped the jewels back in the bag, slung it over her shoulder and immediately asked Lucy to let Robert know she was stopping by.

  Chase had made several trips to Molnar since he had been named Protector. He was also in command of the troops stationed there and the soon to be constructed early warning satellite system to be installed. He and Tala actually had to set up an office in the Verron Capital Building, with two accountants and an import/export manager to help keep track of the revenue being generated by mushrooms, centipe
des and worms. The first bag of jewels was valued at 10,000,000 cronz. It seemed like every trip there either she or Chase came back with a bag of shiny rocks. Tala couldn’t believe she had to set up a bank account with Michael to keep track of huge amounts of money being generated from these industrious little people. On one trip, Ninety-nine flew in with them simply in curiosity to see these new citizens of Verron. Tala knew that if he had been there first, he would be King instead of her being Queen. When they saw a strange little alien no taller than them flying a Spaceship and commanding troops and wearing the insignia of the Dragon Guard, the younger Molnar teens and children immediately decided that they could do it too. He clenched the deal when he began to speak to them in Cronari and helped teach them the language. Tala knew they would be putty in his hands when he dove right into a serving of centipedes and worms and washed it down with that vile liquid they enjoy so much. He then took as many children as he could fit in a Light Destroyer for flights around the planet; 99 was the best naturally born public relations man she had ever seen. She wouldn’t be surprised if they dethroned her. He realized that they liked him a little too much and gave them a short lecture on how much Tala loved them and all she was doing for them. He may have left Molnar with two bags of shiny rocks, and Tala with none, but she left to chants of “Tala, Tala, Tala …” She decided on her next trip she would take one of the remote controlled trainers they use in the school systems of Verron.

  Paul couldn’t stop thinking about the terrorist attack on New York City. If Hunter hadn’t been there, the Slovakian made ceramic ball-bearings and high explosive Russian manufactured PVV-5A Plastic Explosive would have killed hundreds and injured many times that number. What was really sticking in his mind was the fact that the two most important ingredients and the technology to put together the bombs were right out of a Russian KGB handbook. Vladimir recognized it right away; these terrorists were being supplied and trained by corrupt Russian military officers or the Russian Mob, probably both. For the next several days Vladimir, Paul, Hunter and Lucy spent hours digging up everything they could while they tracked down the source of the materials supplied to al Qaeda. They narrowed it down to a group of smugglers in Yerevan, Armenia that regularly smuggled anything of value across the narrow border between Armenia and Iraq. It was an easy trip to Tabriz, Iraq where al Qaeda operatives of ISIS would take over, distributing weapons smuggled in to their people all over Iraq. It seems, however, that this time the actual materials for the five vests found in America were built completely by former Russians that ran the smuggling operation in Yerevan. They used an elaborate smuggling path through four countries before coming to America by way of Canada. Paul decided that this particular smuggling operation was about to go out of business.

  Once again he teamed with Hunter for the operation, as Vlad handled the intelligence work. It was nothing elaborate and didn’t require a great deal of planning. Hunter and Paul would make a gateway into the warehouse district on the outskirts of Yerevan. Hunter was responsible for apprehending the leader and administering the Kahlan injection, then transporting him directly to CIA Headquarters. Paul was getting to do the fun part, blow the entire compound to ashes.

  The warehouse on the edge of town didn’t appear very well guarded until the two switched on their enhanced night-vision control built into the body armor. There were IR sensors all over the place. A rat couldn’t crawl through without being detected. They were going to try something new that Daniel had created in the research lab; a combination plasma bomb and forcefield. He had explained very carefully how to operate the system and Paul was going to use it tonight for the first time. After checking out the situation, Hunter did a jump into the heart of the warehouse offices, while Paul moved to the warehouse roof. He knew there would be sensors on the roof, but he didn’t plan to be there long enough to expect any company. The roof alarms going off would distract the people inside from what Hunter planned to do. As expected, alarms began to blast as soon as Paul hit the roof as he quickly placed a small black box about the size of a Smart-Phone on each of the four corners, then ran to the center of the building and placed a remote controlled plasma grenade on the roof deck. He was just finishing when the first of the security force arrived. He did a quick cloaking to his body armor and casually watched as the four men looked around to see what had triggered the alarms. Once they were satisfied it was indeed a false alarm they went back downstairs to the warehouse.

  While the security personnel were racing to check the roof and the perimeter of the warehouse, Alex Aliyev, former KGB Major and friend of Vladimir, was in the office checking the monitors and shouting orders to the others running around searching for an intruder. He suddenly turned in horror when he sensed someone behind him. The appearance of a man in dark gray body armor chilled him to the bone, but not enough to prevent him pulling his .50 Beowulf and getting off five armor piercing rounds before Hunter slapped him unconscious. He immediately injected the Kahlan and took a gateway to Deputy Director of the CIA, former Navy Admiral, George Washington Sullivan, retired director of Naval Intelligence. The big man was sitting behind his desk as Hunter appeared carrying the still unconscious Aliyev. He had not been present when the last men in gray body armor appeared, but had seen enough video footage to know who was now suddenly in his office.

  At 6 foot 8 inches, Admiral Sullivan looked huge as he rounded the desk, favoring his left leg, and approached Hunter. He looked at Hunter and his package and reached over and effortlessly removed Aliyev from Hunters shoulder and placed him on the nearby chair. Hunter nodded and said, “Care package from JUSTICE. This gentleman supplied the explosives for the recent attacks on New York.” The Admiral looked at the Russian and asked, “You have anything to do with three dead terrorists in a New York subway?” He doubted he could see the smile behind the tinted face-shield of his armor, but replied, “Did that myself. Sorry I couldn’t capture them alive, it happened to quick.” Sullivan simply said, “Good work. You saved a lot of lives. I won’t bother to ask how you exploded three hearts at the same time.” Hunter looked to the Russian now regaining his senses, and said, “He should be very talkative. I hope he helps. See ya round” and stepped through a gateway back to Verron. Admiral Sullivan looked at the man on the chair and spoke in Russian, “Welcome to America Alex, we’ve been looking for you for a long time.”

  Paul waited until he knew Hunter was clear and made a jump across the street to the top of another building. He hoped this thing worked as well as Daniel said it would, or a lot of buildings that didn’t need to be destroyed were going to disappear. He hit the detonator switch and made sure his overhead drone and his body armor cameras were working. He couldn’t see the forcefield activate seconds before the grenade exploded, but knew exactly where it was when the blinding light of a plasma grenade flashed in a perfectly contained area the size of the warehouse. Daniel called it a Containment Bomb, based on the principle that if a forcefield can keep an exploding bomb out, then it should be able to keep and exploding bomb in. He couldn’t believe his eyes after the initial flash dissipated. There was a perfectly rectangular hole 20 feet deep and filled with molten metal where the warehouse once stood. He made certain that he saw four small after-explosions of the forcefield control boxes at each corner of the building. They couldn’t afford to have them fall into the wrong hands, so Daniel built a time delayed detonator into the control box, they did exactly what Daniel had told Paul to expect. Not a single thing surrounding the building appeared to be damaged. Even the trees and grass 10 feet away was unharmed. Daniel had managed to eliminate collateral damage from a plasma bomb. He couldn’t wait to see what the intelligence organizations had to say about this. Being able to destroy a target with absolutely no damage to anyone else would change the nature of demolition and espionage forever.

  Paul, being a constant thinker of ways to make money, immediately thought of the thousands of buildings demolished each year and how much more efficient this would be. He took one last look
at the people gathering to observe the building that vanished in a flash of light then made his gateway home. When he entered the command center, Daniel was being given pats on the back and congratulations from General Z, Vlad, Hunter, Chase and Chases Grandpa and part-time employer Kary Verron. They had the explosion on a slow-motion loop and were watching it over and over. Paul thought it was one of the most impressive explosions he had ever seen. He figured that at least one world power had a satellite overhead and were in for a surprise when they saw this.