The proud grandfather smiled and told Paul and the others, “My grandkids may have something of interest. Klelta wanted a more powerful punch from those cannon sized rifles they carry. It was nice during the battle they fought to be able to put a bullet through a ship or tank, but they want to make really, really big holes. Daniel and Chase have always been gun nuts, and I starting teaching them how to load ammo when they were 10 years old, so when they were reloading some 5.56 rounds for their AR-15 assault rifles, Daniel was talking about explosive rounds used as far back a WWII. He found out that terrorist have been using 7.62x39 HEI, High Explosive Incendiary rounds, where the lead was filled with a tiny detonator or firing pin and a small amount of explosive. So he took a 5.56 round and designed a round with a pinhead sized amount of whitematter that will explode on impact. I was with Chase and Daniel when they tested it. It won’t penetrate Verron Steel Body Armor but will blow a hole with a four foot diameter in a piece of 4 inch steel plate. In fact, everything within that four foot diameter ceases to exist. I shot a Kzki from 100 yards, it disappeared. Now the boys have made samples of 7.62 mm, 9mm, 12.7 mm, and are just finishing 25 mm for those big guns used by the Klelta. A 7.62 has a total destruction radius of 16 feet, a 9mm will eliminate a 20 foot radius, the 12.7mm will totally eliminate an entire Abrams Tank, with a kill radius of 50 feet. Hon IV is planning to test the 25mm on his planet, but based on what we’ve seen, it should have one hell-of-a kill radius, maybe greater than a 100 feet. Everything can be loaded and regulated by Verron but used in conventional Earth made weapons. However, my boy genius pointed out that we need to make the weapons out of Verron steel. If they are wearing body armor, they will not be harmed in a gun fight, but their weapons, if made of that junk used on Earth, will be destroyed by weapons fire, leaving the soldier weaponless. Make them out of Verron Steel and even a direct hit from a missile won’t hurt their rifle.” Paul was pleased when he said, “Have the boys load up as many round as they can. We need to go play with some of this stuff, wouldn’t you agree Generals?” Both Jim and Justice were as excited as a teenage boy on prom night as they nodded their heads yes.
General Zarman took the floor saying, “I believe we’re in agreement that we will sell them body armor of some as yet determined technology level?” Paul and the others agreed. Justice added, “It will amaze the people back home how much more effective a small group can be if they are not concerned about being killed or wounded by enemy fire. We will be totally changing the way war is fought and planned. I for one am sick of seeing good American boys come home in body bags or 100% disabled, I never want to see it again, especially when we can prevent even a broken nail.” Kary laughed as he added, “In today’s Army, that broken nail thing could be a bigger issue than you think.” Just as Paul was about to change the subject to helping the military build faster, lighter and better armed military vehicles, Lucy broke in, “I may not have nails but I have seen how much time some of the women spend on making them look good for you men, I’m certain the body armor will be especially appreciated by them. However, while you were talking about Chase and Daniel’s whitematter rounds, I reviewed what they have been doing and believe if I show them how to make a change in the detonator efficiency and size, then we should be able to slightly increase the destruction radius and overall performance of each round.” Paul smiled, saying, “Nails or no nails, Lucy, you are my favorite woman in the universe, and I might add you look stunning today.” Dalhia quickly declared, “I know that for a large army, costs of body armor with a full technology array would be prohibitive. I think we should make three available; first, the Xhondarian body armor may not be as good as Verron Steel armor and doesn’t have as much new technology, but I can think of no Earth weapon short of a missile that can damage that armor. Since you seem determined to put all of your soldiers in your new armor, maybe selling the older armor will be a good alternative, second, for the common infantry soldier, we offer armor with full protective gear, along with IR, Night-Vision and telecommunications, the third offering would include the enhanced exoskeleton, life-form sensors, telescopic sight, auto-target acquisition, the works. But these would be used only by an elite force under Verron command. A man patrolling a street and worried about sniper fire or a roadside bomb will be perfectly safe in conventional body armor, Xhondarian or Verron made, but commandoes attacking an enemy that is entrenched and defending his turf, needs all the extras.”
Dalhia asked, “Now what about aircraft?” Paul quickly spoke out, saying, “If we send Verron ships, they will be flown and commanded by Verron military personnel. I will support U.S. efforts to protect themselves from potential missile attacks from China or North Korea and God only knows who else may have an itchy missile finger. I want them to be able to shoot them down before they reach their destination and then retaliate on the point of origin, not a massive strike on a major city, but eliminating the place where it was launched from, whether it was land or submarine based. I also want to provide America with a new Spaceship to replace their damaged one. I plan to sell it to them, but I have no doubt that I will save them a lot of money in the long run, however there will most likely be people who lose their jobs when and if they buy one from us. Some of those people hopefully will come to Verron and help us build ours. But I have no intention of offering our ships to someone who may or may not remain stable or use them against us.” Tlase asked, “No one has mentioned regeneration or rejuvenation. Where do we stand on that? Paul was quick to comment, “They are for Verron citizens; at least for them it is free. I guess we should make the treatment available for a price, but then only the very wealthy would be able to afford it. I would like to start out offering regeneration to disabled U.S. Veterans.” Kary began to cry, he used to be 100% disabled himself and so did a lot of the men now serving in the Verron Military. “I can’t afford to just open the flood gates and do them all, so we will start off with say maybe ten of the worst ones each month; I will also offer to lease a regeneration machine and an operator to the main VA Medical Centers. That should increase our contribution. Hopefully in the future, there will be no more disabled veterans, at least not from gun or bomb wounds, that should help considerably with PTSD and other stress disorders.” Once again, Kary was nodding his agreement.
Paul continued, “Michael now it’s your turn. I want you to get with Marcus on pricing the Interceptors and Spaceship then work with your Dad on pricing body armor; Xhondarian, and both loaded and basic versions of Verron body armor. Price the whitematter battery system for automobiles with Les, and last but not least, get with your son and nephew to work up pricing and production schedules for those new rounds and weapons that can fire them. Keep me posted on the progress and I would like to test some of these rounds. I’m estimating two weeks till I go see the President. I’m a salesman and I can’t sell from an empty warehouse, give me something to sell.” With that he rose and left the room.
The meetings had lasted well past the lunch hour and Paul felt like an ogre for keeping his people so long and not feeding them. He decided that after this turmoil was all behind them, he would have a big cookout for of them and their families. Then he almost got depressed, thinking, “This turmoil will never be behind me.” As he stepped off the elevator into the mansion he smelled a delightful smell from the kitchen. Before he could determine exactly what the smell was he heard a blood curdling scream of a toddler, quickly joined by a second toddler. As he raced toward the sound he knew it had to be MJ and MJ2. The terrified screams continued and it was coming from the terrace; Zeus. What had happened to make them scream? It got louder as he exited to the open terrace. His mother had just beaten him to the scene and was handling the situation with diplomacy, as MJ screamed, “Doggie ate cookie!” in conjunction with MJ2 declaring, “Doggie bad!” Paul could hear Zeus saying to him, “Make them stop that awful noise.” The Queen Mother quickly ascertained the traumatic situation, with Zeus’ help. She was comforting the two toddlers while Paul took her orders and went to the
kitchen to get a platter of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Poor Zeus didn’t understand. People were always offering him cookies and burgers and just about anything eaten by humans and many that were not. When the toddlers walked out and held their arms out with cookies in their hands, saying, “Cookie, Cookie.” he assumed they were offering them to him. Not so with toddlers, they were simply showing him with pride their cookies. They were totally surprised when his tongue came forward and relieved their tiny little hands of the cookies. When Paul returned with the platter, you’d think he had saved the day. The tears stopped, the screams at Zeus stopped and there was tranquility on the terrace once again. Paul and the Queen mother showed the MJs that Zeus just liked cookies too and wanted them to share the cookies with him. He tried to explain that Zeus was not a Doggie, but a Dragon. They both said, “Gaggin.” And that was close enough, at least for their Great Grandmother, who still thought Doggie was cute. By the time the MJs had fed an entire tray of cookies to the “Gaggin” and gave the “Gaggin” a big hug and said they loved him, there was once again peace in the Nation of Verron.
That evening, after a good meal with his Mother and Michael, Grandma apologized to him that there was no desert and told him the whole story about the “Gaggin.” Paul went downstairs for a swim, but it was crowded with so many residents of Mountain City, he just decided to go to the gym and lift some weights. Dalhia and her husband Bhlani were just finishing a workout and were both wearing new T-Shirts. Dalhia had on one with a Ducati logo and Bhlani was sporting one from Triumph. Paul couldn’t wait to get away for a few days on Xhondar or Earth and just ride a motorcycle through the mountains. Bhlani was opening a second dealership a few thousand miles from their original location about a block from the tower where the Elders lived. His biggest problem was getting enough motorcycles to sell. Paul decided that in a few weeks he and Bhlani would need to make a trip to their motorcycle suppliers and see what they could do to increase the volume of cycles available to them. No doubt a problem Triumph, Ducati and BMW would like to help solve. Before the couple left to go home, Paul mentioned, “Have you considered selling dirt-bikes, four-wheelers and snowmobiles on Verron; possible personal watercraft. I think they would sell very well. I know I’d probably buy one of each.” He knew he had planted the seed and it would grow until Verron had a nice new recreational vehicle store. After they left the gym, it felt great to work-out a while. He was almost enjoying the peace and quiet as much as the work-out. It was late by the time he made it to his room, but after his shower he forced himself to lie in bed and watch the Earth news then get a security update from Lucy.
“Well, has anyone besides me been monitoring the sensation we’ve created back on Earth?” Paul asked Inga and Zimuel as he walked into his office the next morning. They both grinned and Inga replied, “You’re not the only one that Lucy gives updates.” I doubt you even watch the two local TV stations set up by your son-in-law Joshua, probably too busy watching Robin Meade. He’s been broadcasting World news in Russian, English and German for several months now. Usually it’s just about local politics and all the terrorist activity on Earth. For some reason he gave a lot of coverage to the hostage rescues by a vigilante named JUSTICE and to the recent New York subway attempted terrorist attack. But for now there is almost nothing else on the Earth network news or the internet but pictures, interviews, political commentaries and even military analyst. The big news on Earth is Verron, more precisely King Verron and his spaceship. Do you know that the New York Stock Exchange is even acting strangely since the Mars rescue incident; it is fairly inactive, as if it’s waiting to see what’s going to happen next. One analyst said, “When America lost confidence in our space program, and was looking at pictures of this spaceship the size of a small town hovering over the cape, it began to question everything it believed in.” For now, in America you’re a hero and there is already talk about awarding you a Congressional Gold Medal, in France, President Francois Hollanda has already awarded you the National Order of the Legion of Honor – Grand Croix, their highest honor, Japan has nominated you for Order of the Sacred Treasure – Grand Cordon and Vladimir Putin claims you only did it to make Russia look bad and though he is glad his cosmonauts are safe, he resents your interference in Russia’s space program.” She smiled, and asked, “Why does Mr. Putin not like you?” Paul put on his most devious little grin, and only said, “Just say we’ve had a small misunderstanding in the past.” Zimuel asked, “Did you see the other stuff being said?”
Paul shrugged, saying, “As hard as it is to believe, there are actually people out there who don’t like me, even after I have done nothing but good for them.” Zimuel asked, “Can you believe that the FBI and Homeland Security want to charge you with entering the country illegally, resisting arrest, failure to submit to a search, operating an aircraft without a permit and violating restricted airspace. They say the President, and especially his Chief of Staff, are upset because you did not obey a Presidential Order. I wouldn’t worry though. The press has interviewed everyone on board the ship that you rescued. All of them, even the two Russians, praised your courage and were awestruck by the capabilities you possessed. Digiorno Pizza is doing an entire add campaign with aliens serving their pizza to stranded astronauts; not very original, but I bet it’ll boost pizza sales. Oh, yea, Coca Cola is trying to find out if you will do a commercial for Diet Coke and Heineken will no doubt follow suit. Jesse Jackson of course has been on TV calling you a racist and a few preachers have not been kind with their opinion either.
From a security standpoint, the Pentagon has really got their panties in a wad after debriefing Captain Sullivan. They couldn’t comprehend the fire power you had on board the ship that they threatened. The Navy Admiral that interviewed her claimed she actually laughed at him for being involved with Homeland Security and demanding you land and be boarded. Her quote to the Admiral and the Homeland Security people was, “King Verron had enough firepower on that one ship to destroy every city on Earth and kill every living thing on this planet and has almost 100,000 more ships of different sizes to go with it, and you fools try to intimidate him. Be glad he is on our side. Whatever you do, don’t piss him off!” Zimuel added, “By the way she is going to be promoted to Rear Admiral Lower Half. I guess the man she called a fool had nothing to do with her being promotable.” “Speaking of the Admiral,” Paul replied, “I need you to contact her and inform her that I will be in their living room at precisely 8:00 AM Annapolis, MD time on, he looked at his old Ironman, Friday, and e-mail her as well. No doubt it is a private line and being monitored for security reasons, so let Lucy scramble the phone and internet taps so you aren’t interfered with. Tell her to make certain she and her husband are ready to go and travel light. I need her for at least two weeks, or at least I need her husband that long. If they want to leave a note for their CIA security detail that is going to find them missing, it’s up to them. Personally, I would let them wonder how the two of them disappeared on their watch.”
It was a beautiful spring morning in Annapolis, Maryland. Samantha got in an early 5 mile run, followed by two members of the ever present CIA security detail. Since her dramatic return and the rescue by aliens, the press would not leave her alone. This morning, the security team had already intercepted one man lurking in the trees of Truxtun Park for a photo-op. She normally ran on the campus of the academy and guessed that there were even more reporters along her usual route. This was a great place to run, but her detail didn’t like it since they had to actually run with her on the narrow trails through the park and the wooden bridge across the creek, instead of simply following in their car; Monticello Ave to Spa Road then left on Hilltop Lane, through the park and out Spa Drive, then making her way back to Spa Road and home to her house on Monticello. Samantha was still in great shape for a 46 year-old and ran occasionally in local 10K races. Her detail was sucking wind by the time they approached the two-story brick Georgian Style home of the Sullivan’s. Her daughter Julian wa
s in the kitchen nursing her grandson Denzel, named for her daughter’s favorite actor, while feeding herself a cup of coffee and a bagel with crème cheese. Samantha drank an orange juice and ate a bagel, without the crème cheese. She once again gave her daughter instructions on what to do after she and her husband disappeared. The pantry was full of food and so was the fridge. There was a credit card for emergencies and $1,500.00 cash in an envelope. Julian had her own car and was to leave her mother’s Lexus alone. George was sitting in the living room finishing up a few things for his work on his laptop. He was dressed and sitting in his wheelchair, ready to do whatever came next. Samantha grabbed a shower, put on her favorite jeans and a Nike Naval Academy long-sleeve T-shirt, pulled her hair back in a short pony-tail, slipped on her Adidas sandals and she was ready to travel. At 7:45 she sat down by her husband and they prayed together, leaving whatever was going to happen next in God’s hands.
Julian gasped in fright when Paul suddenly appeared in the middle of the living room. George had already warned Samantha about how these people could come and go in strange ways. He stood there with a big smile wearing his most un-Kingly garb; Black Wranglers, a Triumph T-shirt Bhlani had recently given him and his favorite black Nike Air Max Cross-Trainers. Samantha couldn’t imagine any king or president on Earth going anywhere so casually dressed then she took a look at her and realized they had the same taste in casual wear. DDIC Sullivan asked, “Does everyone travel like that where you come from?” Paul smiled as he replied, “Few can do what I or my grandson, whom I believe you met already, can do, but we do have a transportation terminal in our Capital City where you can travel across Verron or even light-years away to other planets by simply stepping through a gateway.” Samantha quickly asked, “So is that how you got to us so fast that day. You can do it, even without a spaceship?”
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