The Royal Navy Seamen were now showing deferential respect to the Dragon Guard. Partly because they had beaten them so cleanly and partly because, before the game they had no idea what rank the people held. Looking at their age, it was assumed they were just enlisted blokes like the rest the rest of them. It didn’t hurt to hear their title either. They stared in awe to think that this rowdy bunch of soccer players were all royals and treated them just like regular people. Now realizing that Amber held the same rank as their ships Commodore, they began to follow her lead and made a point of having the officers they had been competing against go first in the chow line. The men really freaked out when Marcus was helping bus dirty plates from the tables and handed Tala a Mountain Dew. The Navy Petty Officer gave them a strange look when Tala said, “Thanks Dad; beating these guys made me hungry and thirsty.” The British sailors surrounding them asked, “You mean your father, a Prince, is busing tables?” Katelyn was across from them and informed them, “Our father also runs the Marcus Verron Space Center and builds ships like this one.” Pointing toward the kitchen, she continued, “That man on the serving line passing out steaks, is Daniels father, Prince Michael, the Finance Minister of Verron and the lady passing out strawberry cobbler is our great-grandmother and Paul Verron’s mother; the Queen Mother.” One of the men nearby commented, “I hope this catches on back in back in the U.K.” Amber proudly told the questioning men, “King Verron reminds us regularly that we serve the people, the people do not serve us. He feels that if he takes care of the needs of those he rules, then they will stand by him when he needs them.” The chief petty officer across from them said, “If Verron has a Navy; sign me up.” Chase heard the question and informed them, “We sort of have a Navy. Only ours patrols the Universe instead of the seven seas and our ships are much bigger.”
Paul was escorting the dignitaries through the front section of the ship showing them housing and recreational facilities, entertainment areas and supplies storage warehouses bigger than most entire container ships. He had just stepped into the control room and was about to introduce everyone who had not met him to General Zarman. Lucy actually came over the communication channel loud enough for their guests to hear, telling Paul, “King Verron, now that the triage is completed and the exposed personnel have been treated, I would suggest a thorough contamination sweep of each vessel. All ship personnel and all living things you desire to stay alive should be removed from the ships while the decontamination drones sweep the ship clean.” Paul turned to the Commodore who was following along with the rest of the British delegation and told him, “If you have any personnel that are guarding or simply choosing to stay onboard your frigate you need to have them find something else to do. I’ll open the recreation and entertainment rooms for any that would like to use them.” He turned to General Hall and asked, “Please go tell Captain Hotlzclaw that he needs to do the same to his container ship. I doubt anyone is on the French Trawler, but double check just in case.” Paul wanted to illuminate the guests and commanded Lucy, “Would you please tell our guests what you are about to do.” She immediately replied, “The same decontamination drones than cleaned up the mess in the oceans and atmosphere will now scan the ships for any radioactive contamination. Using whitematter charged fast-ramped superconducting accelerator magnets and heavy ion beams, all radioactive particles are attracted to superferric nuclotron diploes and thus removed from the ships surface. The reverse radiation process can remove certain vital electrolytes from the blood and cause quick and painful death. The radiation is then disposed of in a safe and effective manner. It’s really quite simple.” Paul smiled and replied, “Thanks Lucy, please proceed with the cleansing as soon as you see that life forms are clear.” Out of nowhere Lucy’s voice replied, “Except rats. I will be certain all life forms are clear of the ship, except rats.” Paul looked at his guests and jokingly, said, “Now that you completely understand the anti-radiation process, I’ll escort you to medical to check in with the doctors running the regeneration and the free outpatient clinic. We are treating everything else your ships doctors may not be able to deal with.”
Paul had turned to leave when General Zarman shook his head and replied, “King Verron, we have incoming. You may want to check this out yourself.” Paul walked to the com unit and listened to the incoming frequency, “This is Sikorsky Seaguard Echo-five-niner requesting permission to land your location; Passengers UN Ambassador Harold Braun and Transportation Director Werner Enser.” Paul looked at his guests and asked, “Any idea who these people are?” Prime Minister Camber quickly spoke out, saying, “Braun is German Ambassador to the United Nations, Werner Enser is the German Director of Transportation. No doubt concerned about the German registered container ship.” For the first time Transportation Secretary Cox spoke out. “Chancellor Merkel’s family owns the largest shipping line in Germany. That is probably one of their ships.” Paul looked at General Z and told him, “Tell them to come on. Have you noticed that no Russians have shown up for this little party and it was their ships that were lost? How far out are they Jim?” The General spoke a moment to the pilot and said, “Ten minutes; just enough time to discuss my next problem and for you to get downstairs to meet them.”
Paul gave Jim a look that said, “OK, let’s have it.” The General smiled and patted Paul on the shoulder and told him in a kind voice, “The one thing you have dreaded most and avoided like the plague for five years is finally about to happen.” Paul gave Jim an evil grin and asked, “And that is …?” Jim looked at the curious faces behind Paul Verron and answered, “Every leaders nightmare; reporters. There are TV reporters from CNN, BBC, France 24, and DW and just about everyone else that could find a camera and a boat or plane.” Paul turned to the others, saying, “I think we should wait until our German friends arrive, have a short briefing for everyone involved, so we all sing the same tune and allow at least those four networks onboard. Now that the soccer game in over, we have plenty of room to land their choppers if we open another hanger door.” The French and U.S. Presidents agreed quickly, followed by PM Camber. Paul turned to Jim saying, “I know Renee is on Klelta, did Joshua make it on board?” General Hall, ex-husband to Joshua’s wife Renee, spoke out, “He worked as a paramedic while in college, I saw him earlier helping the triage team.” Paul replied, “Find him; this has just become his responsibility. Tell him I said ‘he’s the man.’ Have the Dragon Guard clean-up so they can be escorts for the news teams.”
By the time Paul finished with passing out orders for the incoming reporters and his own people, and took the elevator back to the hanger floor, he heard the approaching Sikorsky HH52 approach. He thought it was a cool bird; actually capable of amphibious landings. It wasted no time landing, and before the rotors slowed, two men came out the side door. They had no escorts or body guards. The helicopter was a charter and the man flying it looked as if he had seen a few wars. He didn’t even bother to pretend he had important passengers. The two German diplomats walked quickly toward those they recognized and suddenly stopped and stood staring at a 1300 foot long, 198 foot wide and fully loaded 55,000 ton ship sitting perfectly upright with no visible means of support. There were hundreds of flying machines buzzing around the entire ship. After a brief moment they continued toward the waiting dignitaries. Ambassador Braun was first to speak. Before any introductions were made he asked, “Is the German crew being properly taken care of? When will the ship be back under way?” Paul suddenly realized he was more concerned about delivering his freight on schedule than he was about his crew.” He got a rude stare when he was the one who spoke before the leaders of three world powers had a chance. Paul informed him, “All but two of your men will be fit for duty within the next, he looked at his watch, eight hours. The two with the worst contamination will be with me for a few days. Your ship and cargo are being decontaminated as we speak.” The smug Ambassador quickly replied, “Non-sense, I will take the German patients and fly them back personally for the best medical treatment a
vailable, as soon as we’re done here.” Paul gave the condescending man a stern look and let him know, “You’re done here already if you think you’re going to remove anyone from my care until my doctors say they can be released and if you once again give me the impression that your cargo and ship are more important than the men who operate it I will personally open the retrieval doors below me and turn off the tractor restraints that hold your ship. It should be quite a sight to see a ship that size fall from 3000 feet. I’ll lay odds it will break in half; what do you think?”
It really impressed Paul when President Hollanda came to his defense, saying, “Mr. Braun, this is King Verron. He has taken personal responsibility for this entire operation and none of us here has seen any reason not to trust him to do what’s best for our citizens. We have never seen such advanced technology. The King was about to escort us to the Medical Center so we can check the status of those with the greatest exposure, the others have already been treated and released and enjoying a meal being served by the King and his family.” Paul once again took control of the situation, saying, “Let’s all go to medical for a brief look, then I think it would be an excellent idea to gather in the ships conference room to discuss what has happened and will happen in the near future.” Without another word, an increasingly frustrated Paul Verron turned and headed for the elevators to the Medical Center. Paul, the two Presidents, the Prince and the Prime Minister came off the elevator first and were greeted by Dr. Joe Verron. They spoke with him while the elevator went to bring up a second load of passengers. Dr. Ed Meese approached Paul and asked, “Did you talk to the Commodore; we found three more cases?” Prime Minister Camber asked, “Tell the Commodore what, may I ask? Paul turned to the PM and told him, “I apologize, in all the commotion of arriving dignitaries I have not had a chance to speak alone with the Commodore. I hate to tell you this, but Dr. Meese here has been running a medical outpatient service for any who needed treatment for anything from a cold to an ingrown toenail. It seems five of your Royal Navy Seamen are HIV positive. There may be more for all we know, but we can cure it if you will allow us to do so.” Prince Harry spoke out immediately, saying, “Are you telling us you can cure AIDS?” Dr. Verron jumped into the conversation, saying, “AIDS and every known virus on Earth with a 100% effective rate. Now do you want your men cured or not; it will also prevent those without it from catching it if we give it to them also. We can just announce that the injection is part of the radiation treatment and give it to every one of the crew members.” Harry once again jumped into the conversation, saying, “Good God man, do you know what this could mean to places like South Africa?” Paul turned to face the Prince and informed him, “I have enough of the Verron Antivirus available to cure every case on Earth. I can’t afford to give it all away, but I also don’t intend to price gouge either. I’d rather lose money than to have people dying unnecessarily.” PM Camber asked, “Is there enough onboard to immunize that many?” Paul looked at his brother and said, “I can send one of the Guard, just let them know how much and where it is. Desiree or Marie can go with them. I’ll have Amber escort them.” Dr. Joe answered, “Let’s make this happen. It will also be a way to prove to the world that the serum does work.”
When everyone else arrived in medical, Paul asked one of the nurses to find Desiree or Marie. He would have them get with Amber for a gateway back to Verron to retrieve the serum. Dr. Joe began to show the dignitaries around the clinic explaining how the chambers being used could function to not only heal sickness and repair damaged tissue, but could also be used to rejuvenate aged tissue back to its youthful peak. He then informed the group that Paul is over 70 and he was two years older than Paul. The French doctors who had been escorted to Medical upon their arrival could not stop jabbering about how men with severe levels of radiation poisoning and radiation burns were already producing new skin and would even be healed of any other aliments they may have. One of the Doctors escorted French President Hollanda over to the tank that held the elderly father and owner of the French fishing trawler. He pointed to the man’s left arm, saying “Five years ago that hand was bitten off by a shark, according to one of the crew. Hollander gasped in amazement as he looked at bones and tissue beginning to form where there used to be a hand. Dr. Verron smiled when he heard the gasp and in perfect French told the President, “One of the German’s had a peg leg. Boy is he going to be surprised when he comes out of treatment.” He escorted the two questioning German men to the regeneration chamber. There was bone and ligaments formed already; muscles, blood veins and skin would follow in a few days. Director Enser had actually met this man before. He had a disgusting scare where he had been in a knife fight and his face had been slit open from the bottom of his jaw to the edge of his eye. It was now gone. Skeptics had become believers by the time they left medical and headed for the conference room.
After everyone present had been served a beverage of their choice and offered the last of the pecan pie, they had been forced to make after the cobbler ran out, Paul opened the meeting and made certain everyone was properly introduced. He had Katelyn relieve the General at the controls since Amber had gone back to Verron with Desiree and Marie. He began with his sincerest condolences for what had happened. He then opened the classified briefing like he had done in the White House hours before. He had Lucy show the first document on the big screen then began, saying, “This is a ships manifest that was sent by encrypted message from Russian General Ludkowsky to his contact in Turkey, who was scheduled to receive the shipment of weapons destined for Iraq. Of course the manifest carried on board showed farm equipment, generators and heavy machinery for construction. There were of course enough of those things on board to look convincing. My operatives intercepted this information and that ship has been eliminated. However, the Kahana had been loaded with 500 missiles; we now know they were mostly short range scuds with conventional warheads. No one knew about the two cruise missiles equipped with nuclear warheads. We heard nothing in our intercepted internet messages and phone conversations. When my people encountered the Kahana they informed them that they had 20 minutes to evacuate their ship before they sank it. As you can see from the video, the Russian smugglers are racing away at almost 70 miles per hour. I would guess that at least one of those men knew about the nukes and will be able to lead us to the people who took them from the Russian arsenal. My ship commander had one 50mm plasma round fired mid-ship in order to sink it. This slow motion video shot from my ship will show you exactly what happened. You can plainly see that there is no missile being fired from the R4 unit. That is only a plasma round. The center of the ship is disintegrated from the heat of the plasma. Seconds later the nuclear warhead is detonated.”
Everyone stared once again in awe at the slow motion footage of an actual nuclear explosion. That awe turned to pure amazement as the decontamination drones began to buzz around the explosion and contain it to an ever decreasing area, then suck it all up and away into a black hole; which was promptly closed. The French nuclear specialists on board looked at each other as one stated, “Thirty-five years of experience and education in my specialty and I feel like I now know nothing. We can learn much from these people.” One of them was still wondering about the black-hole and how it had been totally controlled by the drones. Never in his wildest imagination could he have thought such a thing possible. Paul summed up with, “The press is about to come on board and ask a lot of questions. The official statement is that stolen Russian weapons and missiles were in route to the Middle East. One of the ships was smuggling stolen nuclear weapons. When one accidently detonated it destroyed both Russian smuggler ships involved. Verron cleaned-up the released contamination and is now in the process of treating those exposed to the explosion. Within the next 8 hours ships and crews will be released. The leaders of six world powers have come here to make certain that the situation is handled with the greatest of efficiency. There has been no radiation released into the atmosphere or the ocean. Both are completely
safe due to the quick response of the leaders of these six countries.” When he finished, Jim smiled and whispered to Paul, “You just became a politician with a spin like that. But I can see why you tried to make the locals look good. I’m proud you weren’t your usual self.”
Joshua was frantically trying to organize those available for the arriving news teams. It was decided that President Hensley, President Hollanda, Prime Minister Camber, Prince Harry and Paul Verron would stand together for an initial presentation and interviews. Then the representatives of Germany and Israel would be introduced. The rest of the staff members and agency representatives, visiting scientists and doctors from various nations would all be available for comment and interviews after the initial presentation. General Hall, Prince Chase, Prince Daniel, Princess Katelyn, Prince Michael, and Prince Marcus were assigned the task of playing host and tour guides to the network news people. Ninety-nine and Hon volunteered to man the bridge so that General Zarman and Katelyn were free to deal with the zoo that was about to take place. Cali and Camil, who now looked like Steven Seagal as a Navy cook in Under Siege, took Michael’s and Marcus’ place in the kitchen. Tala was assigned to Paul Verron’s new Dragon Wagon to give tours and answer questions about the spaceship that had transported the President and his staff. Commodore Colson insisted that his men at least put their shirts back on since they could not get back on board the HMS Iron Duke for new uniforms with the decontamination taking place. General Zarman, along with General Dorsey, Admiral George Sullivan and Admiral Samantha Sullivan and Commodore Colson were prepared for interviews from a military perspective.
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