Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  Paul casually walked over and shook their hands and introduced himself briefly to Julian, then told them, “Your about to see exactly what I can do; are you ready?” Samantha and George both answered yes and gave Julian and little Denzel a hug and a kiss goodbye. Just before he formed the gateway to Verron, Paul told Julian, “I promise I will take good care of them, and you won’t recognize them when they return.” Nodding toward the front door, he continued “Don’t let those guys hassle you too much. Just tell them they went to visit King Verron and the entire CIA was not invited.” He made a gateway and personally pushed George’s wheelchair through as Samantha followed behind.

  Paul could have taken the two of them directly to the Medical Center, but since they were his personal guests he wanted to give them a short tour of his home and hopefully relax them a bit before stuffing them in a regeneration tank for a week or two. He stepped out of the gateway into the hanger floor and, as he had asked, the Dragon Guard was present with the exception of Hunter. Paul hoped everything was going well for him and Vlad. Amber was standing in front of a clean and pressed Dragon Guard wearing their dark-gray commando uniforms with their Dragon Caps. The expression on the two military officers from Earth was definitely a Kodak moment. Amber came forward and saluted, then extended her hand and welcomed them both to Verron. One by one she began to introduce the members of the Guard. “Admiral and Admiral, I would like you to meet the most elite group of military leaders in the Universe. I apologize that my brother Prince Hunter is not here, I understand the Admiral has already met him.” George smiled, “I’d still like to see what he looks like.” Amber, being a devoted sibling replied, “No you wouldn’t. He wears that body armor because he’s too ugly to be seen.” She turned and began introductions as each shook hands with their guests, “Of course you’ve already met Princess Katelyn, Prince Chase, Prince Daniel, Princess Tala and me, now is a good time to meet the others. First meet Prince Hon IV from Klelta, whose army just won a decisive space and land battle with invaders from Qualoc.” Prince Hon IV stepped forward looking down from his 9 foot high vantage point and shook hands with the tiny Earthlings. “Next I would like to introduce Princess Calanyo Verron from Tecalna, Katelyn and Tala’s sister and leader of the Tecalna Commandoes; we like to call ‘Catmandoes’. They are pound for pound the fiercest fighters you’ll ever meet.” Cali extended her clawed hand and gave a worm smile exposing her four canine teeth. Samantha felt the strong grip and saw the fierce facial features and replied, “I can see why; pleasure to meet you.”

  Then it was 99’s turn and Paul personally introduced his friend and Russian namesake. Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan, I would like to introduce Verron’s oldest resident, one of my closest friends and if he weren’t older than me, I’d say he was like a son to me.” Ninety-nine was about ready to do his goat/monkey dance but restrained himself. “This is Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Verron, the finest fighter pilot you’ll ever meet and flight instructor in the Verron Air Force.” He couldn’t help but smile when he got to Camil; today looking like a perfect image of Halle Berry. The expression on Samantha’s face was total shock. She had been staring at Camil throughout the introductions and had decided it was a coincidental likeness. Paul continued, “This is Lieutenant Cali Verron, another sister of Katelyn, Chase and Tala; also a Princess. She is our newest member to the Guard and is part of a unique team under her command that reports to my Director of Intelligence Brigadier General Vladimir Zhdanov, who happens to be away with Hunter right now.” The CIA Deputy Director quickly became alert and asked, “I knew of a Colonel in the KGB by that name when I was in Naval Intelligence years ago, any relation?” Paul smiled and replied briefly, “One in the same. I have a lot of ex-KGB and ex-Spetsnaz working right alongside Navy Seals, Marines, Army Special Forces and Delta Force. You should see them operate as a unit. They are incredible.” Samantha looked over Cali and asked, “What’s so unique about Cali other than she could pass for Halle Berry?” Paul turned to Cali and nodded his approval. Right before the Sullivan’s eyes she turned into the X-Man Wolverine, then back to Halle. Deputy Director Sullivan asked, “She has a team of people who can do this?” Cali answered for him, “We’re up to 14 now.” Turning to Paul she added, “We discovered four more on Beriya-Haven last week. Shaking his head, the DDIC replied, “I certainly hope you are on our side.”

  Paul had the Dragon Guard show the Captain their Speeders, the Class X Fighters and Light Destroyers in the hanger while he spent a few minutes talking to the DDIC, assuring him that he would be working with him not against him. As Paul was leaving the Guard and escorting the Sullivan’s upstairs, Amber reminded Samantha Sullivan, “I’ll be looking forward to spending some time showing you around when you finish your treatment.” Turning to Paul she added, “She needs to be able to handle more G’s.” Knowing exactly what she was requesting, he simply said, “Got it covered.” When they came off the elevator the Sullivan’s were impressed with the size and beauty of the Mansion, neither had the nerve to ask how big it was, but neither had seen a place this large before. As they headed down the hall for a brief tour, there was a rumbling sound from behind and two toddlers came running down the hall pushing identical fire-trucks across the shinning marble floors. When they got to Paul they pulled up short to see the first black people they had ever seen, or at least that was black and didn’t have stripes or some other custom color features like the Androids. They didn’t care, because Grandma had told them they couldn’t feed the “Gaggin” until Uncle Paul got home, and here he stood listening to shouts of “Feed Gaggin” and “cookies for Gaggin.” The Queen Mother soon came from the kitchen apologizing for the interruption and explaining she had no idea Paul would be home so early. After introductions were made, he had the Sullivan’s follow him downstairs to the huge kitchen. There were always a half dozen people or more hanging out eating his food and today was no exception. He introduced Tlase, Zimuel, Yadvega and Inga then turned to introduce his brother Dr. Joe Verron and Rebecca Austin who would be handling their rejuvenation treatments. Paul told his guests; “Make yourself comfortable while I take MJ and MJ2 to feed the Gaggin.” He removed a large box of Chips Ahoy cookies and was escorting the toddlers out of the kitchen when Samantha asked, “I don’t want to seem ignorant, but what’s a Gaggin?”

  Needless to say, in a few minutes she was aghast as two toddlers screamed with glee as they ran for the 100 ton Gaggin to feed it cookies.” Paul gave her a compassionate look as he told her, “I know what you’re thinking, how can I get one of these for my Grandson. Every home should have at least one. I’ll see if I can find one to send home with you.” She turned and shook her head saying, “Don’t you dare. That thing would break the National Budget in food bills alone and besides, my place is just bit smaller than yours.”

  When they finished with the Gaggin feeding, Paul had his brother escort them to the Medical Center and made certain to tell him to give them the same enhancement they give Verron pilots and crew. Samantha gave him a strange look as she asked, “enhancement?” Paul gave her a Kingly look and asked, “How many G’s can you handle, 10, maybe, before you pass out. Well, our ships accelerate a bit harder than anything you have on Earth. We have to enhance our pilots to handle high G’s. Our ships will compensate for most, our survival suits do so as well, we also have specially designed seats, but flying a fighter during a hard maneuver our pilots can handle 40 to 60 G’s. Some of our ships can hit over 200 G’s during hard acceleration. That’s when suits, seats and compensators are all used. You will be able to dazzle the boys and girls who run the NASA centrifuge when you get home. I’ll see you in about 5-6 days; your husband will be a bit longer. I know you’ll enjoy what Amber has planned for you while we wait on your husband. God bless both of you.” With that Dr. Joe escorted them downstairs to his shuttle craft and headed for Capital City.

  After a brief tour of the Mall, Transportation Center, where he let the two of them step briefly through a gateway to Tecalna, the Capital Building an
d the Medical Center, Dr. Joe took them to the Rejuvenation/Regeneration Department. King Verron had agreed to allow Dr. Verron access to enhancements up to Level 5 but he had to have permission from Paul for anything over a Level 3. This was one of those times. Anything done above Level 5 was done in the laboratory under Mountain City or at the Elder Complex on Xhondar I. With all the aviators and flight crews on Verron and with thousands of Marines that regularly flew, Level 5 had become pretty common. However, these would be the first Level 5’s who would return to Earth to live. Rebecca prepared Samantha first and she kissed her husband goodbye as she was escorted to her rejuvenation tank. Dr. Joe, who was enhanced to level five, had no problem assisting the handicapped man of over 300 pounds into his tank. Just before he was ready to close the chamber he joked, “We don’t get a lot of black men in here. I hope it won’t be a problem if we’re a little off on the color of that leg. If it turns out white, you can just wear long pants.” At this point the Admiral didn’t care if the leg was safety yellow, he was just grateful to be getting a new leg.

  Chapter 28

  Hunter was getting frustrated. He had done all he could think of to prepare his little army of 5000 to defend a castle that was going to be fighting against nearly 200,000 well-armed soldiers. His problem was not one of soldierly skills; he had never seen so many archers who literally never missed with their longbows, spears or throwing knives. Vlad had brought a few of the Marines down and they were training the Darsai in hand-to-hand, sword fighting and building booby-traps. They were also being drilled in tactics and how to do hit and run attacks, but he knew that if the enemy ever gets across the ocean, King Darsai and his kingdom would more than likely fall to the more technically advanced Niccaros. He and Vlad made a jump back to Verron for a consultation with General Zarman and General Hall. After hearing about the rescue of the spaceship, the latest on what Paul was going to attempt to do on Earth and about their two guests in the Medical Center, they had Lucy produce the hologram of the castle and surrounding area. The first suggestion made by Justin was, “I’d hurry up and harvest that wheat around the castle and then burn-off the fields to give you have a clear field of battle.” Hunter informed them that he and Vlad had discussed the same thing, but the farmers are doing it by hand and progress is slow. General Zarman took a closer look and replied, “Three of our combines and hover-trucks could do the whole thing over-night, and bale the stalks too. Why don’t you have three standing by and gateway them to Darsai when it’s night there, by morning all the farmers will have to do is haul it inside the castle. At least if there is a long siege they won’t starve and the enemy can’t burn out a crop that’s already harvested.”

  Vlad looked a little longer and commented, “What we need is few dozen 12.7 mm and 7.62 Machines guns and some nice AK’s for defending the walls.” Justin laughed and sarcastically added, “Sure and mine the whole damn grain field; that should slow them down.” Hunter replied, “The Darsai are good people and willing to try anything, but even if we had a year to prepare, they could never produce weapons more advanced than what the enemy already has; cross-bows, catapults, siege engines and towers and still could never train enough people to give them the numbers they need.” Vlad commented, “When I was KGB we supplied Afghans, Cubans, Sandinista Rebels, anyone who needed weapons, we supply. Maybe I call home and place order.” Hunter shook his head, saying, “We’d need a boatload of ammo and weapons to handle what’s coming our way.” Vlad suddenly looked like he had just received an electrical shock, then slumped down in his chair and crossed his arms as if disgusted. The other three were looking at him wondering just what he was thinking. He began to bang on his head with his palms and repeat, “Durak!, Durak!, Durak!” Hunter leaned forward and asked, “Am I missing something here?”

  Vlad didn’t answer; instead he loudly spoke, “Lucy, I need your help sweetheart.” It was only seconds before she answered, “Hello Vladimir, what can I do for you?” He immediately began, “Lucy my love, I need you to do some research for me. We all know that Russia is very much in the weapons business. Those guns, bombs, missiles and tanks used by terrorists and any army that has money to buy them, primarily come from Mother Russia, China and North Korea. I need you to look for a weapons shipment or maybe even two. Begin by intercepting and decrypting any communications inside Russia then any that come out or come in from any Middle Eastern or African country. My old friends are still moving tons of weapons out of Russia. I plan to intercept trucks or ships and steal them, after-all, who will complain about a load of illegal weapons being stolen. Lucy can that R4 handle a big boat?” Lucy answered, “Already been done, talk to Princess Amber. She and Prince Hon have already done it.” Everyone at the table looked at each other, knowing that Amber had pulled a fast one that no one knew about. The four men looked at each other and agreed it was a good idea. General Zarman commanded, “Lucy, get on it right away and contact Hunter and Vlad on Darsai if you find anything.” Lucy simply responded with, “Already on it.” Hunter and Vlad quickly returned to Darsai in anticipation of what Lucy might find. They just hoped it wasn’t too little too late. Even if they got their wish, they would still have to teach men who used nothing but a bow how to shoot 21st Century military weapons. Hunter suddenly had visions of General Custer and his last stand; he also had fewer numbers with more advanced weapons, that didn’t work out to well for him.

  The day had finally come for Captain Samantha Sullivan to come out of the rejuvenation chamber. After the usual ritual of throwing-up the fluid in her lungs and feeling shaky until she consumed some God awful tasting energy drink, she managed to get a shower and wash the slime from her hair and body. Even as she showered she noticed pretty significant changes in her body. Stepping from the shower and standing in front of a mirror, she swore she was looking at an improved version of herself when she was 28 years old and in her best shape ever. The body fat was lower than even then and these yet untried muscles looked hard. She got dressed in a dark-gray commando uniform that had been left by Amber. They were now about the same size. She took one more admiring look at herself, even looking good in a uniform. She suddenly realized there was no longer any gray in her hair either and the appendix scar, she quickly undid her pants to take a second look, yep, it was gone, unbelievable. She exited the shower and changing room to the smiling faces of Colonel Amber Hall-Verron, Paul Verron and Rebecca Austin. In a really corny imitation of Fernando Lamas, Paul said, “It is better to look good than feel good. You look marvelous!” Like a kid she twirled as she modeled her commando grays. The first words out of her mouth were, “How’s George?” Rebecca replied, “You want to take a look?” The four walked down the hall to the room containing sixty year old Admiral George Washington Sullivan. Samantha started crying when she saw the newly grown left leg. It wasn’t completely finished yet, but had all the bones and joints and the right number of toes. The rest of his body already looked 100 pounds thinner and 20 years younger. Rebecca assured her, “He’s doing fine. It takes a bit more time to repair all the internal damage to the kidneys and pancreas done by the diabetes, but the monitors are indicating everything is going as planned, I’d say at least five more days before he’s ready to come out. Samantha gave Paul a tearful hug and implored, “You have absolutely no reason to do this for us, and we’ll never be able to thank you enough or repay you for what you’ve done.” Paul gently squeezed her shoulder and replied, “You just did.”

  Amber decided to take Samantha out to eat at her favorite restaurant in the Market Place Mall. Der Pschorr was established by a transplant Master Chef from Hamburg, Germany. He specialized in seafood dishes, but Amber’s favorite was a bit more traditional. From the Maitre d’ to the beverage server, everyone knew who Princess Verron was and the service reflected it. She ordered her favorite, speaking perfect German; Jaeger schnitzel with bacon mushroom gravy, red cabbage and mashed potatoes and one and only one Jagermeister Beer. It was the only time she ever drank a beer and Jagermeister was the only beer sh
e could stand. Chef Schmidt had personally recommended the beer with this particular meal, he had not been wrong. The meal also was served with a basket of fresh baked German hard rolls and real butter. Samantha ordered a smoked salmon in a crème sauce; served with rice pilaf mixed with herbs and mushrooms, Molnar mushrooms. They both split a gigantic slice of fresh cheesecake topped with strawberries. When they finished she signed the check adding a 30% gratuity and left the restaurant. Samantha looked at her strangely and asked, “Don’t you royals pay for your meals?” Amber quickly answered, telling her, “Any member of the royal family can simply sign a check for anything on Verron. As far as I know, none of us receives a paycheck either. If we need something, we just get it. My cousin Prince Michael Verron pays all the bills out of funds set aside by my Grandfather. Ever purchase is at full retail with no discounts; King Verron never wants to be accused of taking advantage of his people. I guess that if you looked at actual paychecks we’d be a pitiful royal family, but then again Prince Charles or Prince Alwaleed don’t have spaceships that can go from galaxy to galaxy or rescue Space Shuttles. I’d imagine Prince Alwaleed’s $33 billion still couldn’t purchase one of our Class X Fighters and as second in line to the throne, I practically own a whole fleet of them. Samantha grinned and replied, “I’m pleased to see you keep it all in perspective.” She looked out over the ice skating rink and viewed the dozens of clothing shops and added, “Let’s go shopping, will they accept my Visa card?” Amber patted her on the shoulder and delivered the bad news, “No, but they will accept my signature.”