Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  After an hour of after-dinner conversations, Paul excused himself and headed back to the Mansion so he would be well-rested for the next day’s meetings, leaving those staying at the Klelta Palace behind. The leaders of Earth and the leaders of Xhondar, Klelta, Molnar, Beriya-Haven, Tecalna and Darsai lingered into the evening discussing Verron and their relationship with King Verron and his planet. Every one of them with a larger population than Verron, were totally committed in their loyalty with the King, his Dragon Guard and his leaders. When it was suggested to Mahala by some of those from Earth that he should be heading this conference instead of Paul Verron, after all, Paul Verron was the smallest Nation represented at the meeting, Mahala told them, “Everyone here at this meeting has a political agenda for being here, you are looking to gain from what King Verron and his allies have to offer. The only leader present that could care less about political positioning is King Verron. He is a man on a mission, to unite as many Nations as possible to prepare for a future invasion of those who would enslave or kill all of us. He could care less about what you call political correctness. You’ll find in your meetings tomorrow that he is direct, firm and usually unwavering in what he decides to do. He may compromise occasionally, but he will do things his way or he won’t do it at all, and the scary part is, he’s usually right, or at least he has been so far. That’s why we seek him to lead us, although all of our Nations are greater in number. It will be up to you to decide for your country. My concern is that as I visited Earth over the past 20,000 years, you people never seem to change. Uniting you will be King Verron’s greatest challenge.” When Mahala retired for the evening, the six top leaders from Earth met briefly in President Hollanda’s suite. These six men compared conversations and observations and came to one unanimous conclusion, “Paul Verron was a scary man.”

  At 5:00 AM the next morning the double-court sized gym underneath the Klelta Palace was swarming with no less than 50 security agents of six different Nations, along with General Dorsey, George Sullivan and Samantha Sullivan, strictly as observers. Unseen by the others was a very well hidden Chief Tu of Molnar, watching from under a chair in one corner of the room. To everyone’s surprise there was a very attractive woman who had been introduced the night before as a representative of Xhondar I standing in front of the Dragon Guard. She addressed the group, “My name in Xhing Li and this is my husband Gljarne. We have been practicing and teaching the art of Jxansa Gha for longer than civilization has exited on Earth.” All the men looked at each other as if this attractive young woman was insane, but let her continue. “Jxansa Gha is the oldest form of martial arts in the known Universe and incorporates many of the fighting styles of Earth and many other Nations throughout the Universe. My Father was the founder of the system. King Verron and the Dragon Guard have been studying and training in Jxansa Gha for many years now. I can think of none of them that could not be considered a Master of the Art; this is also the fighting technique being taught to the Verron Marines. I will first have a demonstration of hand-to-hand techniques and next I’ll have two of the Guard do a weapons demonstration.”

  Amber and Chase stepped forward. They had on their forcefields and held nothing back as they did what they do almost daily. In a whirlwind of kicks, punches, elbows, knees and head butts they dazzled the spectators for the next five minutes, at a pace that would have worn-out the best trained professional fighter. When they finished, they weren’t even breathing hard. One of the big Mossad agents spoke out, saying, “I’m impressed with what they just did, but any Hollywood stuntman can choreograph a fight scene and make it look good. That doesn’t mean it will work in a real confrontation with an enemy that knows what they’re doing.” Gljarne smiled and asked, “Are you volunteering to be a part of our demonstration, sir?” The big Mossad slowly sauntered toward the front of the gym. Everyone knew that Mossad were known as the world’s most efficient killing machines. This man, Joseph Solomon, spent most of his career as an instructor of Krav Maga, Israel’s deadliest form of hand-to-hand, to the Mossad. Chase fell back into the line with the others, leaving Amber to face the 6 foot 2 inch 230 pound Mossad. She smiled as he stepped in front her and said, “I promise, I’ll do my best not to hurt you.” Solomon gave her a spiteful glare and replied, “And I promise I’ll do my best to hurt you.” Her only comment was, “Give it your best shot.” Amber did not want to have a long drawn out conflict with her opponent’s blood messing up the gym floor. When he attacked, in two lightning fast moves, she threw him to the ground and struck a pressure point that rendered him totally helpless, unable to move anything but his eyes. It happened so fast that the onlookers almost missed it. None could see exactly what she did, only that the big man was lying helpless on the ground. Amber picked-up a pair of daggers from a rack nearby and asked, “What should I cut off first?” She then reached down and massaged a spot on Solomon’s back and he regained control of himself. He looked at Amber confused and humbled and said softly, “I guess you never get too good to learn something new.”

  Next Tala and Hunter stepped up to demonstrate weapons techniques. Hunter was armed with two 3 ½ foot long swords. Tala had her two favorite daggers. No one could believe the speed, skill and agility of these two. Every man there had seen knife fights and several had taken fencing lessons or studied weapons as a part of their martial arts style, these two were incredible. When they were about to finish their demonstration, King Verron entered the workout area and approached the two combatants and stood a moment to watch. He then stepped into the fray and disarmed both of them in a fraction of a second. Holding their weapons in his hands he said, “You two are very good, but you have been fighting each other too long, you both need to learn how to adjust your styles so you keep your opponent off balance.” He turned to Tala and said, “I have never seen anyone as good with a dagger as you, but the object is not to block all his strikes, the object is to kill your opponent.” He handed Hunter back his two swords and took one of Tala’s daggers. Tala stepped aside to observe. Hunter went at King Verron with everything he had; Paul was always in the right position to avoid his blows. With more speed than a striking snake, Paul was suddenly under a sword swing and striking Hunter in his kidneys with the dagger. The blow didn’t penetrate the shield, but he knew he had been beaten. The Dragon Guard and the onlookers applauded his move. Hunter bowed in submission to his defeat and whispered, “We need to practice together more often; we would all like to learn more.” Paul gave his Grandson a squeeze on the shoulder and replied, “I’ll try to do more when we get this politics behind us.” The Dragon Guard and King Verron spent the next hour and a half working with the agents teaching the fundamentals of Jxansa Gha. As they were finishing their instructions Paul asked, “Would you gentlemen like to go to our firing range tomorrow morning and play with some of our weapons?” He got unanimous smiles from everyone in the room.

  After their workout, about half of the agents went for a five mile run along the cliffs above the bay, most struggled with the slightly heavier gravity, but Paul and the Dragon Guard kept the speed and the chosen terrain to a more civilized level. After a shower and change of clothes they returned to the Klelta Palace to begin the day’s activities. Paul and his staff agreed that spending the first day with a tour of Verron and a look at the Weapons Factory and Marcus Verron Space Center would be more beneficial than simply sitting around a table and talking. They also knew that seeing these things firsthand would make the job much easier when he began to lay out his plans to the National leaders from Earth. Michael had arranged for military transports to pick-up everyone but the key people, who continued to ride in King Verron’s personal ship. The accommodations were not as plush, but their size made it much easier to land at the weapons plant and space center. Before the Guard rounded up their designated agents, Tala went to make certain Chief Tu was ready to go and understood what the plans were for the day. She gently knocked on the door to his suite and found that it was not latched. She felt a wave of concern and stepped i
nto the room calling his name. She froze in total amusement as the little man was imitating the moves he had seen performed by Hunter, using his gold nugget tipped cane as a sword. What surprised her most was the fact that he moved so fast and was very well-balanced and he seemed to remember most of what he had seen. When he saw her he stopped what he was doing and said, “I see’ded fight.” She answered back, saying, “You see’ded very good.” He smiled with his pointed little teeth and asked, “You teach, OK.” She realized that this little man and his people wanted to learn more about how to protect themselves. She replied, “I’ll have my Marines on Molnar teach you. Are ready to go see Verron?” He grabbed his little snakeskin hat and headed for the door. She realized; it was the only outfit he had.

  As soon as everyone was loaded aboard their transportation, they made the very short trip across the river to the industrial park where the Weapons Plant was located. As soon as they landed Prince Kary Verron and Brigadier Hall greeted them along with two men in body armor. Kary made certain everyone knew who Brigadier Hall was and introduced the two Sergeants in body armor as voluntary targets. He escorted the visitors through the plant to see how and where the weapons were made. It was too big to show them every production line, so he limited his tour to more conventional weapons of Verron, the 5mm Shoulder Mounted Laser Gatling gun, 20mm Plasma Cannon and the Verron Marines 10mm Automatic Laser Rifle. When he knew they had walked far enough, he took the large elevator down to the lower level and the underground firing range. As he entered he turned to the group and said, “General Dorsey, DIC Sullivan and Admiral Sullivan have each had the opportunity to see this demonstration. In fact, the General has had a chance to test a few of the shells we plan to sell your military. How did they work General?”

  The Commander of the Joint Chiefs of Staff liked being the center of attention, and proudly answered, “King Verron gave me a few samples of 5.56, 7.62 and 9mm rounds that could be fired from conventional weapons. The results were remarkable and my people are still trying to figure out how Verron did it.” When they turned on the range lights they revealed a Russian made A.P.C., two 2 ½ Ton trucks and an Abrams tank. The General gave Prince Kary a questioning look. Kary smiled and informed him, “It was broken down in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert awaiting a tow, if I hadn’t taken it, who knows where it would have ended up.” He looked to his audience and told them, “My grandsons and I have tweaked the performance just a bit since our original batch of ammo. I’m sure you will be pleased with the results.

  One of the Marines in Verron Body Armor pushed a heavy steel plate out onto the range. It measured 4 foot by 8 foot and was four inches thick. Earplugs were passed out to everyone present and two of the Secret Service agents were selected to fire the weapons. While the two agents were lining up to fire their .40 Glocks, the other Marine carried a whole side of beef out and hung it just in front of the steel plate. The two Marines remained beside the target. Kary informed the two agents, “Take as many shots as you like at any target in front of you.” They both emptied their clips into the side of beef and the body armor. There was little effect on either. Prince Kary then handed them a NATO HK416 5.56x54mm with one round each of white-tipped whitematter rounds. He had one fire at the side of beef hanging in front of the steel plate; the other was to fire at one of the Marines. In a flash of light and brief explosion of the small NATO round, the entire side of beef was gone and all but the lower corners of the 4 inch steel plate. There was no effect to the man in body armor. Kary then had the two marines walk to the APC and one of the trucks. He handed one man a five round clip of 7.62 rounds in an HK417, the other was handed a 9mm Berretta. With a Marine leaning against the side of each target, Kary had one HK-417 fire at the APC and the 9mm at the Truck, both disappeared in one shot. He then had them aim at the Abrams 75 yards away, this time with only the HK-417. Every bit of the tank, except six feet of the long barrel, vanished in a flash. Kary told both agents to empty their clips into the Marines; their armor wasn’t even dented. Kary turned and told those present, saying, “We’ve now made the .50 caliber or 12.7mm capable of a 150 foot kill radius. If we had shot our targets on dirt or paved surfaces instead of Verron Steel reinforced concrete, there would be a hole as deep as the killing zone was wide. Under the tanks you would have a hole 25 feet deep, if we had used a 12.7mm round, the hole would be 150 feet deep.”

  The crowd thought the demonstration was over until Kary said, “One last thing before we leave. Although these rounds can be fired from your existing weapons, we would highly recommend that you buy ours.” He handed to two H&K Assault rifles to his Marines and had them go down range. From a small weapons locker behind him he removed an AK-47 Assault rifle and opened up on the two Marines. The rifles they were holding were torn to pieces by the rifle fire. He then removed a Verron version of a SAKO TRG M10 Tactical Rifle. He held it up and said, “I could have made any weapons with Verron Steel but I happen to love this weapon.” He walked down range and handed it to one of the Marines and reloaded the AK-47; this time when he fired there was no damage to the weapon being held by the Marine. He retrieved his rifle and handed it to the General saying, “I’d suggest that whatever choice of weapon you make, you allow us to make it.”

  As they were leaving for their transportation, one of the Military Advisors from Australia asked, “Why were we not shown the Laser Rifles or Plasma Cannons?” Michael Verron quickly answered, “At this point in time, King Verron has no intentions of allowing his more advanced weapons on Earth. Besides, you would find the costs prohibitive and the change in effectiveness minimal. You see, your weapons only need to work in an atmosphere with a proper balance of hydrogen and oxygen, ours need to work in places with no oxygen and often, no gravity.”

  When the Troop carriers departed the Industrial Park and headed northeast toward the Space Center, NATO Ambassador Braun and German Chancellor Merkel ask Paul Verron, “Why are you holding back the most high tech weapons from us?” Paul for some reason was not in a particularly good mood and this being nice and politically correct was wearing thin. He answered almost abruptly, “Sir, there are a couple of reasons. First I don’t trust the people of Earth, even those on this ship, not to use the technology for their own benefit. I refuse to start another arms race and I will not allow my weapons to be used to bully weaker countries. What I intend to sell Earth, I will also closely monitor and control how it’s used, or I won’t sell it to you. My intentions are to target specific enemies that are common to all of you and use my technology to defeat them with no casualties to the allied forces. If I unleash my technology without controls, in no time your enemies will have the same technology as you, just like they do now and I would also cause multiple problems in your economic sectors. When we sit down tomorrow I and my team will put on the table just what we are willing to do. If you can agree with what we offer, then we both will benefit. If you and your various governments cannot agree with what I offer … Well, I guess I’ll just concentrate my efforts on the other 20,000 or so solar systems and do business with them … I do love my native planet, but I will not play the games played by the politicians. I know what I can and will do. If you don’t agree, then at least you’ll all know who we are and where we are.” Everyone sat silently and looked at the view out the windows after that. Paul saw a slight smile appear on President Hensley and Israeli Defense Minister Barak. The other leaders did not like being spoken to like this.

  Everyone loved the scenic beauty of the Robert’s Range and the beauty of the valley approaching the space center. Those with window seats stared in awe as they viewed thousands of aircraft flying in and out of the Air Force Base and looked upon miles and miles of parked spaceships. The ten ship convoy of dignitaries landed in front of the Marcus Verron Space Center, greeted by Prince Marcus Verron, Dalhia, Amber and Pavel Verron. With Marcus Verron leading and Paul right behind, they first entered the assembly line for the Class X Fighters. Even Paul was impressed with the changes over the past years. There were
100 Fighters lined-up in various stages of assembly. Marcus was proud to say, “The 100 ships you see here today will be finished and replaced by the end of the week. My goal is to produce 20,000 Fighters this year.” Paul commented, “Now all we need are more pilots to fly them.” They moved next to the Light Destroyer production line. There were 50 of these magnificent ships being assembled. The guests took their time and closely inspected the ships and had plenty of questions about their weapons capabilities. Marcus finally got them organized again and headed to the Gljarne Class Destroyer. With the response from those staring at the 10 massive ships being manufactured, Marcus feared they may have heart attacks when he took them to the Verron Man of War production bay. They spent a good half hour browsing through the 750 foot long and 300 foot wide ship. Those who had been on the R4 were more impressed with the weapons systems than the size, but even they were amazed that such a ship could exist.

  When Paul, Marcus and the other tour guides finally got control of the 345 spectators, they headed for the last bay. Marcus stood proudly as he opened the small companionway through the much larger freight door and stood aside to reveal three Verron Man of War end-to-end and almost completed; over three miles to house three ships. At 6000 feet long, 1800 feet wide and 800 feet high, no one could comprehend anything this big ever being moved, much less flying. Standing inside a building that housed three ships taller than a 70-story building and over a mile long was simply unimaginable. NASA Director William Eichelman asked Paul, “King Verron, can you build something like this for NASA?” Paul replied, “I doubt you could afford it. I’ll show you the plans for what I propose for NASA at tomorrow’s meeting.” The Director shook his head and commented, “I can’t imagine anything so huge actually flying.” Paul smiled and said, “Let me tell you something a bit scary; there are folks out there building them much bigger. I know where an abandoned ship is that is two miles long and orbiting this planet is a man-made planet as big as Mars; three billion people live inside it. That will be included in your tour later in the week.”