Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  Shortly after the second hanger door was opened, two well-trained Royal Navy signalmen directed the incoming helicopters. Joshua looked at Paul Verron and smiled, jokingly saying, “I knew there was a reason I didn’t like you. You’re doing this on purpose for all the bad things I said about you, aren’t you?” Paul patted him on the back and told him, “If I doubted you could handle it, I would have never given you the job. Today you’re officially playing with the big boys.” The first helicopter to land was from France 24. He had been on site longer than the others and was getting low on fuel, right on his tail arrived the BBC helicopter, followed by Germany’s DW news team and Spanish Antena 3. A helicopter that sounded like it was about to sling a rotor hovered in trailing smoke and unloaded a crew from FOX. The best was not intentionally saved for last, but it did happen to work out that way. Robin Meade and her husband Tim Yeager were taking a short vacation in Paris, France when the story of the year broke. She was not about to miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime. She immediately convinced the CNN news people to allow her to cover the Nuclear Explosion and Spaceship Rescue. The shiny blue Airbus Helicopter with CNN on the side was the last to hover into the hanger. Robin Meade, with her long brown hair blowing in the wind, was the first out, followed closely by her husband Tim Yeager. Deciding she looked better on TV, but was still a living doll for a woman of 45, Paul made a point of telling Joshua that if anyone got an exclusive, it would be Robin Meade. Joshua smiled, knowing that Paul rarely missed a Robin Meade news broadcast. Each of the helicopters was greeted by one of the tour guides and assisted in unloading and preparing for their time on the ship. At first they thought about having a podium set up for the beginning but decided to have the reporters come to the large briefing room used earlier. Not wanting to blindside Russia by exposing the details on TV, Paul briefed Joshua and the tour guides on the agreed upon information to be revealed to the press. He also told the guides that they were free to use their discretion on answering questions about the ship or about Verron. The only place off-limits would be the floor none of them could access anyway; the top floor weapons room.

  Paul was the shortest of the leaders present. Standing five feet nine inches among those over six feet, he did not make as impressive of an image when viewed by the media representatives. Quite naturally each news agency tended to cater to leaders from their own country and seek their perspective on the situation. Once they were set with the cameras rolling there was a puzzled look on their faces when the shorter, well-built man in a dark gray suit and no tie stepped forward to address them. It was obvious the leaders of three of the world’s greatest Nations were deferring to this man. He opened, saying, “Hello, my name is Paul Verron. I am King of the Nation bearing my name, Verron. We are a complete unknown to most of you and even to those who have heard of us, we’re not much more than a rumor. Verron is approximately 30,000 light years from Earth, but is primarily populated by men and women who have moved there from Earth over the past five years. Some of you may have family there already. We are a small group of a bit over 2,000,000 people on a planet three times the size of Earth, but we now represent a combined allied strength of over 76 billion, encompassing 8 different star systems, and not all are human, but we still all share a common goal, protecting and defending the existence of free men and women of every race, both human and non-human. It is my hope to include Earth as one of our allies. I had planned to approach this planet in another year or two, but by rescuing the Mars space exploration team, it has become difficult to keep our existence low key. I was in a meeting with the President of the United States and his cabinet members discussing the possibilities of becoming allies and trading partners with them, when the call came in about this disaster. Some members of my military were on the spot at the time of the nuclear detonation and were able to use Verron technology to neutralize the explosion. We are now on sight treating the victims of radiation exposure. It looks as if there will only be one casualty from the explosion. Unfortunately he was deceased before we arrived. My ship and crew are open to you and we are prepared to answer any questions you may have and to give you a tour of the R4 Ship you are now standing in. I know I speak for each of the great National leaders beside me when I say we are working together to minimize the impact of the nuclear incident and have intentions of working together with each other in the future to better the lives of every man, woman and child on Earth. Thank You!”

  Paul stepped aside and French President Hollanda addressed the reporters, saying, “Before I left the Capital to come here this morning I gathered together a team of national security advisors and the finest nuclear and medical specialists France has to offer. I was determined to provide French citizens with the care and protection they deserve. To be honest, when I met King Verron, I was determined to take command of this incident and show the world how to get things done. I was wrong. The technological advancement of King Verron and his rescue operation is so far beyond anything available on Earth that his people were soon teaching the greatest minds in France medical and nuclear techniques. I for one would like to commit France to be allies to Verron. They have much to offer and are capable of making life better for everyone on Earth, healing diseases and offering solutions to problems for years into the future. This is twice that King Verron and his soldiers have saved the lives of French citizens in trouble. I believe that speaks for his character and the integrity of his intentions.”

  Prime Minister Camber followed President Hollanda and was brief and concise in his speech, saying, “When I heard from HMS Iron Duke that there was a spaceship hovering above their ship and had requested them to turn off their engines and prepare to be brought aboard, I honestly thought the Commodore had lost his mind. I then realized that it was in fact the same ship that had rescued the Mars and advised the Commodore to do as asked. Nearly 250 Royal Navy seamen were only miles from the detonation and witnessed this ship containing the explosion and then decontaminating the entire area before any radiation could spread. Several of the ship’s crew were topside and were exposed to hazardous levels of radiation. I can tell you now that those burned by radiation will bear no signs of ever being overexposed, the two seamen blinded by the flash of the fireball will be able to see within 12 hours and as you can see, the HMS Iron Duke is now being completely decontaminated of any trace of radiation. My only complaint about this man and his soldiers is that they beat the Iron Duke’s Football team 13-2 while their shipmates were undergoing radiation treatments.” This got several reactions from the sailors listening to the speech; all demanding a rematch.

  President Hensley stepped forward to speak and shook the hands of the P.M. and President as he did. He began, “We have been dealing with Paul Verron for some time and didn’t know it. He is right about rumors abounding concerning Verron. He is responsible for hostage rescues and terrorists being removed from leadership positions. Germany, Great Britain, Nigeria and the United States have all benefited from his good work. He promised to meet with me and my staff shortly after the Mars rescue. We were in that meeting when we were notified of this disaster. He showed us some remarkable things, things that can change the lives of billions of people on Earth. While I was trying to determine how I could get here to offer support, King Verron volunteered to bring myself and my staff here in his personal aircraft. A trip that would have taken 10 hours using Air Force 1, then switching to a helicopter in Europe, took Mr. Verron 36 minutes. If you can’t marvel at that, think of this; the spaceship you’re now in was on Verron when King Verron commanded that it fly here. We have no idea how it was done, but the ship was on sight and loaded with three seagoing vessels by the time we finished our meeting and arrived here. Earth cannot afford to ignore that kind of capability. It looks as if King Verron came to Earth to acquire one new ally, he will return to Verron with three.” Without being asked to speak and before he was introduced, Ambassador Braun of Germany stepped forward saying, “I know that I speak for the Chancellor of Germany; you can make that four all
ies.” Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Barak leaned forward and spoke only three words, “Make that five.”

  Paul signaled General Zarman that it was his turn. He looked very commanding in his commando grays with four stars on his collar and a red dragon on his cap. He was never one to like long speeches. As he spoke he made certain he was closely surrounded by the other military leaders. He began, “I have known Paul Verron for over 40 years. When I retired from the U.S. Marine Corp I was fishing and playing golf and wasting over 35 years of military experience housed in an aging body. King Verron has now taken me and thousands like me and formed the best trained and experienced Air Force and Marines in existence. Think of having jet pilots, Navy Seals, Green Berets, Marines and even Russian Spetsnaz, many with as much or more combat experience than anyone on Earth; now imagine them no longer in a 60 or 70 year old body, but a 25 or 30 year old body and using weaponry that is the most advanced in the Universe. That, my friends is Verron. Behind me stand Admiral George Sullivan and his wife Admiral Samantha Sullivan. They are two people who have been to Verron and actually seen what we are all about. Feel free to ask any of us questions.” Joshua came up next and introduced himself as Director of Communications for Verron and introduced the escorts who would be responsible for showing them around and answering their questions. Their eyes lit up when they realized that everyone but General Hall had a royal title. He closed with, “All the staff and administration members from the nations represented here today will be in the Dining Hall, this Conference Room and on the Hanger Floor, feel free to interview anyone you desire, we’re in this together.

  One of the first questions asked was, “Prince Harry, why haven’t you made a statement?” A very pleasant Prince Harry stepped forward and replied, “On this ship there is one King and a good dozen Princes and Princess’. I didn’t feel as though one more prince would matter. I’ll be walking around hoping to get some pointers from those with titles on this ship. I must admit, this kind of Royal family is not what I’m accustomed too. I look forward to getting familiar with them.” As soon as the meeting was over and introductions were made, Joshua had the news teams, except one, leave the conference room to be guided around the ship by their royal escort. He had drawn names to determine which agency met with the Presidents, P.M. and King first. The BBC had won the draw. Chris Rogers and his team of photographic journalists and movie crew remained behind and were surprised when Prince Harry didn’t bother to stick around, saying, “Prime Minister Camber is the elected leader of Great Britain, he speaks for the people of our country. I am going to go see what I can learn.” The other news agencies were getting to know their young royal guides and soon found out all of them were Fighter pilots. One of the CNN reporters with Robin Meade commented; “It’s one thing to put on a uniform and fly around. Lots of royals do that, it’s something else to actually face an enemy that’s shooting back.” General Hall heard the comment and got a little irritated by the condescending question. He responded with, “Before we get off on the wrong foot here, maybe you should receive a short indoctrination video about just who is acting as your tour guides. I myself am a former member of Delta Force and have over 20 years of combat experience in Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa. There is not a single one of these young officers that cannot outperform me.”

  He escorted all but the BBC people to the entertainment and recreation center and had Lucy show the footage of the space battle between Qualoc, Verron and Klelta. Most thought it was a Hollywood special effects clip until they switched to the ground battle on the surface of Klelta and saw the massive destruction. When the video finished, General Hall informed the journalists that every one of the Dragon Guard were awarded Flying Ace medals. Most all of them shot down over 10 enemy ships. The youngest of them, Princess Tala, led the group with, I think 16; you’ll have to ask her. By the way the knives, swords and daggers are not decoration; they know how to use them very well.” The correspondent from Germany’s DW asked, “King Verron said you would answer any questions and try to help us all you could. Would that include you giving us a copy of what we’ve just seen?” Brigadier Hall thought a moment and replied, “If you will use this footage to let the world know that there are other military forces in the Universe besides Verron and that very few of them are friendly. I would like to point out that the Qualoc are powerful enough to enslave an entire planet of the giant size Klelta. King Verron helped overthrow a king who called himself a god. The battle you witnessed was an attempt by the Qualoc to regain that lost territory. We don’t feel like they will be willing to stop their aggressive behavior after one lost battle. They will be back. Let me add; if these people decided to take over Earth there would be very little you could do about.”

  The next several hours aboard the R4 were a media feeding frenzy. None of the television news people was out of line in any way but there were few questions they didn’t ask and almost no one that wasn’t interviewed. They were amazed that they received so many honest and complete answers from politicians who generally avoid giving direct answers. The Sullivan’s were of particular interest, especially Samantha, who had actually visited alien worlds and flown their aircraft. They found it hard to believe that George Sullivan had grown a new leg. The American correspondents who had met the Sullivan’s prior to their trip to Verron quickly assured the foreign counterparts that it was in fact true. They managed to keep time in the conference room with the Presidents, PM and King to 30 minutes per news group. By the time they left they knew far more about the capabilities of Verron and the Kings intentions than they believed they would. The news teams were constantly quizzing their escorts and enjoying the honesty of the young royals. When Princess Amber returned with Princess Desiree and Princess Marie, the frenzy started all over again. It actually became hard for them to work while they had the Commodore line up his entire ship’s crew for one final dose of anti-radiation treatment. While the sailors were lined up the news people interviewed many of them to get details of the soccer game and what they thought of the Verron military. Since sailors are well known for taking pictures of their world travels, there were hundreds of digital camera and cell phone pictures taken during the game. Most popular seemed to be the fiery red-head that kept darting about like a ferret scoring points against anyone who tried to guard her, and the eight foot tall goalie that wouldn’t let anything get by. Also popular were the pictures of Chase and Daniel with their shirts off and Cali scoring a goal with a back flip kick high above the heads of the British players. News people were emptying their pockets of cash to buy the pictures. Little did they know that within a few days the internet would be covered with pictures taken by these men and the Germans from the container ship; one of them had used a telephoto lens from the ship’s deck and had some great photos of not only the game but the arrivals of the national leaders. He actually had an invoice book and offered a 10% discount if paid within 15 days.

  In the dining room, where people were talking to many of the Presidential aids, it was soon discovered that the servers and kitchen help consisted of the Queen Mother and her two grandsons, Verron’s Director of Finance, Prince Michael Verron, who his younger brother jokingly referred to as Count the Money, and Prince Marcus Verron, who managed the Space Ship factory bearing his name. Even the dignitaries were wrapped-up in the family’s candid approach of telling them about King Verron, his pet Dragon, his runs in the mountains, his addiction to Diet Coke and his love for motorcycles, Classic Rock and the Blues. The Kings brother, Kary Verron, hated being in the public eye, but did tell them about the body armor that is going to be offered to the U.S. in hopes of preventing deaths and injuries of young men and women. When they discovered that he was in fact a disabled U.S. Army veteran himself they ended up doing an entire sideline story on him. When it finally became time for CNN’s rotation in the conference room, Paul had been set up, probably by Brigadier Hall. Some unknown person had informed Robin Meade that Paul had a thing for her and never missed her morning broadcast. When she enter
ed the room, a good natured Tim Yeager jokingly said, “King Verron, what’s this I hear about you having a thing for my wife?” Paul actually blushed, a little, and replied, “I think Brigadier Hall is soon to be a corporal. However, I will admit that I have been enjoying your wife every morning ever since she went on the air. If it weren’t for the millions of men like me, she would be just a former beauty queen.” Robin knew it was true. He continued, by telling him, “What I love about her is that as beautiful as she is, she doesn’t sell sex, she sells the girl next door image and it works. If I were going to allow any Earth news to be shown on Verron it would probably be your wife’s.” Robin Meade smiled and asked, “If that’s an offer you’ll have to negotiate with CNN, but something could probably be worked out.” Paul didn’t want to digress from the agenda too much and brought the conversation to an end by stating, “I know now that your vacation to Paris was interrupted by this incident. Find a time in the next few weeks when you and your husband can get away and take a vacation on Verron. I am making this offer to no one else, but you and your husband would be able to see things far beyond your imagination. I’ll have my Director of Communications and my daughter, Princess Renee, his wife, contact you to set up a time, if CNN will allow you a week off to get the biggest story of your career.”

  One of the most popular tourist attractions was the Dragon Wagon and the 15 year-old redhead who was doing a technical briefing about it. The first to be drawn to the luxurious ship were the helicopter pilots. With nine helicopters on board, she had an impressive initial crowd, every one of them an experienced veteran with thousands of hours in the air. They had a difficult time believing that this child was actually a qualified pilot, even if she did have a lot of knowledge on the aircraft. One man in particular began to give her a hard time. The 48 year-old pilot of the chartered Sikorsky that flew Ambassador Braun was a retired Wing Commander from the RAF. He had flown RAF Puma’s over the Falkland’s, Belize, Venezuela, Africa, Yugoslavia and Iraq. As a decorated combat veteran of many wars he resented seeing a little girl boldly wearing knives, a 1st Lieutenants bar and acting like she knew more than anyone else. Calvin McCoy soon put her on the spot and told her, “I can tell you’ve read a lot about spaceships. But I think it’s a god awful shame to dress up little girls in a uniform, carrying combat knives and give them the name Blade. Get real; all of us men have thousands of hours flying and you act like you know more than we do.”