Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  “We realized God does not look at the man, but the heart. Paul Verron had a heart for God and an overwhelming desire to make a difference. God chose Paul Verron because of his heart, he chose the Council of Elders to prepare him for the mission He had for him. The Council of Elders is not obedient to Paul Verron, we are obedient to God. As long as he seeks God’s will in everything that he does; we will continue to follow him. Only a fool would refuse to follow God’s chosen leader destined to save mankind from annihilation. He is a man on a mission and never seems to lose his focus, he will not be swayed and he will not compromise; power, money and prestige mean absolutely nothing to him and he will not cower to anyone or anything. If you ask yourself what qualities do I look for in a leader, I have no doubt you will find that Paul Verron possess those qualities. He did not mature into that person until he had experienced 65 years of a diverse and at times difficult life and came to realize that he needed to place his faith in God, not in himself. You’d be a fool not to follow a man like that. And besides, he is always full of surprises and never does what one would expect. It keeps life interesting.”

  When Mahala finished some of the people crossed themselves, some prayed, some thought the old man was crazy and others absorbed what he had said and would think about it a while, but none disagreed that Paul was a unique individual and a powerful and dynamic leader. They spent almost four hours roaming the streets of Xhondar I. Chase and Daniel pointed out the things introduced to Xhondar by Verron; music players, Diet Coke, beef, fresh produce, wheat, oil, motorcycles and much more. Several of the Brit’s were pleased to see the streets being traveled by Triumph motorcycles; the Germans were equally pleased with all the BMWs. When they returned from two hours of sightseeing, massaging their sore necks from constantly looking up at the tall building and flying vehicles, Katelyn asked the door attendant to contact Mahala and ask if they could go up to the flight deck on top of the building. He looked at her like she was crazy, but one of the other attendants informed him that the leader of Xhondar had been in the buildings atrium speaking with this group. Soon they were on the elevator to the 500th floor. It was only then that they could get the true perspective of just how immense this one part of Xhondar I was. It made New York City look like Tupelo, Mississippi. Even looking at it, those from Earth had a hard time comprehending 40 billion people on one planet. They went to the ground level and took the gateway back to Verron just in time for supper. Chase, Katelyn and Daniel left them at the mall and headed to the Mansion to see who was there. They wanted to show Zeus to those still there and wanted to get permission from either the Queen Mother or King Verron. They were glad that their great-grandmother was there. She never said no to her great-grandchildren. Over cookies and milk, a grandma special, the next day was planned; an early trip to Beriya and then back to the Marine training facility for some target practice; finishing the day at the Mansion and Zeus. Just as they were about to leave, their Aunt Renee arrived, heard what they were doing and decided to add one more thing to the agenda, country western night.

  While Paul and General Zarman were making their rounds on Verron then continuing on to the other Allied planets and three of the Dragon Guard were playing tour guide, Tala was escorting Chief Tu back to Molnar. She decided to just make a gateway from home instead of trying to fly there. This would be Tu’s first exposure to a gateway without being inside a ship. Tala had taken Tu home with her for the evening and was leaving from there. He was terrified when Tigger was lying in the middle of the kitchen floor. After 20 minutes of convincing him that the big cat would not eat him, he decided to pet the big cat and got licked for his efforts. He was actually getting comfortable with the situation when Ben showed up in the back yard bellowing for coconuts or pineapples. The Tree Bear had found Chase and Daniels home and decided to live as close as possible to his favorite people; right in Daniel’s backyard. He had to be at least twice the size of an elephant. Tu actually hid behind the 2000 pound cat until Ben got his treats and left. The next day they stepped out of a gateway in the middle of the Lyncardi underground village with two one gallon jugs of sweet tea, four bushels of bananas, 40 pounds of Peanut M&Ms and Tu’s other new craving; two of Danyel Verron’s home made pecan pies. He immediately gathered everyone around and divided up what he had with as many as it would feed. He then began to give them a play-by-play of his week on Verron. Those on the planet’s surface never even knew what had been headed their way. There were looks of absolute terror when he told them what had happened up in the stars and how Queen Tala and her friends had once again killed the giant bug-men.

  Tala had a short visit with her people and left with four bags of shiny rocks. She made her gateway directly to her Uncle Michael’s office, laid the four bags of precious stones and one bag of squirming centipedes on his desk, kissed him on the check and whispered, “Count the Money – Honey” then made a jump back home. Michael handed the bag of jewels to Gail Morton, gave the centipedes to his secretary and left the office for the day, MJ and MJ2 had a soccer game. He missed the last one and he was determined not to miss another one.

  When Hunter and Amber returned to Earth it was agreed that there was no need trying to drop everyone off at Camp David. By now the word was out about where the National leaders were so each leader and his entourage was delivered to their home country. Washington D.C. went wild with excitement when two Verron spaceships landed on the White House lawn and unloaded President Hensley, his cabinet members and dozens of Secret Service agents. Goodbyes were brief as the two ships immediately departed for Great Britain to deliver Prime Minister William Camber and his crew. The P.M. had chosen London’s Heathrow Airport for a landing spot since several of those with him had to travel to other locations throughout Great Britain and his helicopter was also there awaiting his arrival. Hunter and Amber couldn’t believe the photographers and news camera crews waiting for them when they landed. Those on board expressed their gratitude for their time on Verron and headed out to get things going on King Verron’s proposals.

  French President Francois Hollanda loved the attention his arrival stirred-up. When the two ships landed on the large green lawn in front of Elysee Palace, there were a dozen television and newspaper reporters awaiting his arrival, he obviously called ahead. His wife and children were there to greet him and of course wanted a tour of the spaceships. They were on the ground for almost an hour playing tour guide to news people and family members. Among those greeting the Verron ships was a smiling trawler owner Pierre Halies with his new left arm around his wife. It was a real photo-op when he greeted Prince Hunter and Princess Amber to express his gratitude. They finally got away when Chancellor Merkel let it be known he had to get back to Germany.

  The Federal Chancery Building is home to the Chancellor of Germany. Located along the Spree in Berlin, the 12,000 square meter complex is one of Germany’s largest government buildings. The large grassy lawn along the Spree made a good landing zone for the two ships and with minimal attention from the press, who evidently had not been informed of the arrival. Chancellor Merkel, NATO Ambassador Harold Braun and Director of Transportation Inser said their goodbyes and hurried off to hold meetings with their staff. Hunter and Amber agreed that since their passenger numbers were getting low they would put everyone on the Dragon Wagon and she would return home, with Hunter transporting the officials from Israel and Australia. There was just enough room for both since they had several of their people still on Verron. Israel was closest and was a short trip. Israel’s Minister of Defense confirmed his commitment to allow Hunter to come to the Mossad Training Camp and escorted his boss off the ship. The smaller ship had easily landed in front of the Jerusalem Residence of the Prime Minister. The Aussies on board were dumbfounded at the speed Hunter was blasting directly across the Middle East headed for Australia. The flight that usually took a day was being done in just over an hour. Hunter really liked The Lodge and easily landed on the lush green lawn surrounded by trees. For a world leader it was a modest
dwelling and reflected the sensibility of the Australian people. He was invited in for a drink, but declined. He was really anxious to get back home.

  Amber had just exited Earth’s atmosphere when she remembered her conversation with Hunter about having Lucy send out scout drones to the Alpha Centauri system because there had been a positive reading on the life-form censors when he flew by with a load of politicians headed for Verron. She checked with Lucy immediately and was pleasantly surprised by the report, as Lucy reported, “The drones have identified a small planet six planets out from Alpha Centauri B. There are definite signs of intelligent life. In fact they have a very powerful radio wave receiver system and most likely have already detected your ship leaving the Earth’s atmosphere. They appear to be monitoring everything that comes from their nearest neighbor.” Amber began to program the ships navigational system for Alpha Centauri B and asked, “What kind of atmosphere readings did you get?” Lucy quickly responded, “Not perfect, but good enough to sustain human life. It is obviously sustaining life now.” As she sped in that direction she asked, “Will you please have the drones scan for cities or populated areas and get a closer look of what exactly is down there?” Her reply was, “Doing it now.” Amber began to get excited; was there really intelligent life only 4.3 light years from Earth? If her Grandfather sold Earth the new space exploration ship it could make the flight to Alpha Centauri a few months.

  She made the gateway to within 200,000 miles of the planet in question. By then Lucy’s drones were broadcasting images of a city that looked to be as big as Chicago; spread out along the edge of a large lake. The buildings appeared to vary in height, but some were clearly high-rise structures. There were millions of surface vehicles buzzing around the thoroughfares below and aircraft flying about that resembled Harrier Style Jets, but much larger. She sat in the orbit for a while trying to decide just what to do. She knew she was not supposed to land on a planet without Marine backup. Then she received a radio transmission from the surface.

  The residents of Alpha Centauri had evidently been monitoring Earth radio waves for many years. Their transmission was first done in Chinese and then in English. Amber decided to respond in English. By the sound of their voice, it was obvious they were not thrilled to know she was orbiting their planet. The transmission from below was, “Earth ship orbiting Grnardo, you are not welcome here. If you attempt to land on this planet you will be destroyed.” Amber thought, “Nothing like a warm reception.” Then she thought about the message and replied, “This is not an Earth ship. It will be years before they can fly to your planet. This is Colonel Amber Hall-Verron on a Verron ship that flew a mission to Earth. I do not like being threatened.” A puzzled voice came back a few minutes later, asking, “What are your intentions with Grnardo?” She decided to play goodwill ambassador for Verron and answered, “The King of Verron desires to become allies with all free Nations of the Universe. We do not seek to harm anyone, only to become allies and trading partners.” It was a good 20 minutes later she got a response, “Follow the transmitter signal being broadcast and remember our weapons are aimed at you. You may land.” Amber doubted they had much that could penetrate her shields and immediately activated them and had Lucy direct her to the transponder from the surface of Grnardo.

  Once inside their atmosphere she was pleased with what she saw. It was a very nice planet. More land mass than water mass and a bit smaller than Mars. It had plenty of green trees and grasslands but not much in the way of forests. The mountain ranges she observed were no taller than 10,000 feet. The location she was directed to was away from populated areas. She soon noticed dozens of strange looking aircraft surrounding her approaching ship. She located the large airfield ahead of her and gently landed in the very center. She was soon surrounded by thousands of soldiers and military vehicles. At closer observation, she could see that only a few actually wore uniforms and the equipment looked in ill repair. This was not a professional army, but even an unprofessional army with enough fire-power could do a lot of damage.

  Amber sat in the pilot’s seat for while observing the activities of those outside her ship. Two vehicles pulled away from the perimeter and drove to within fifty yards of her craft. The outer perimeter of soldiers pulled in to tighten the circle around her. Looking more closely at the weapons aiming at her she realized that they were not much more than copies of weapons used as far back a WWII; bazookas, jeep mounted recoilless rifles, howitzer sized artillery and machineguns and rifles that looked strange and outdated. She knew there was nothing she needed to fear from these weapons as long as she wore her forcefield; she knew body armor would only scare them. She headed for the side passenger door and lowered the ramp, slowly exiting unarmed from the ship. Her first observation was that these looked like very human inhabitants. At closer inspection she realized a glaring difference; they were a very deep shade of red. It was beyond a bad sunburn red, it was almost crimson. She suddenly thought of the University of Alabama, and knew it was indeed crimson. She next noticed the clothing. It was all pretty much the same cut or style and looked like a factory workers uniform at a Japanese Auto Plant. Those wearing the clothes were a variety of sizes. They had no hair on their heads, a few had dark mustaches and all of them were covered with elaborately designed tattoos. Those that were actually smiling had bright white teeth and everyone near enough to see, had baby-blue eyes. She couldn’t tell the difference between the men and the women. The vehicles being driven reminded Amber of pictures her grandmother had of herself when she was a child; the two approaching vehicles looked like 1956 Buicks and some of the ones surrounding her looked like Studebakers and Edsels.

  Her greeting party walked closer and met her halfway between the ship and their cars. She greeted them with a warm smile and said, “You have a very beautiful planet. It’s a pleasure to know there are others living in this area.” A person stepped out in front of the group and replied, “I am Supreme Commander Gonathin of Grnardo. I would like to know exactly who you are and why you’re here. People from Earth are not welcome on Grnardo.” Amber paused a moment and explained, “I am Princess Amber Hall-Verron, a Colonel in the Verron Air Force and pilot of a this ship that just returned the leaders of Earth back to their planet after a visit with King Verron. My ships monitors detected advanced lifeforms on this planet and I came to determine if they are potential threats or allies. It seems by the way your acting that you are not interested in being allies, so I’ll just leave you to yourself and return home. Maybe some of the less friendly people in the Universe will drop in on you later. Good luck trying to defend yourself with that stuff.” She laughed as she pointed at their surrounding arsenal of weapons. Feeling frustrated with her own lack of diplomacy and the rudeness of her greeters she turned to leave. The rude Supreme Leader barked an order, “Don’t let that ship leave the ground.” The surrounding soldiers did a lock and load. Amber smiled as she turned back around, saying, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” She then said loud enough for everyone to hear, “Lucy, activate weapons systems and stand-bye for orders to fire.” She stood staring at the Supreme Commander to see the expression on his face. The Executive Transport designed by Illinasos Xhondar looked harmless enough, but no Verron ships left the planet unarmed. In seconds it began to look like a Swiss Army Knife, with missiles, plasma cannons and laser machineguns springing from concealed side and upper panels. All of it was aimed at the Supreme Leader and his convoy. She stepped closer to the obviously terrified man and said, “I came in peace, I will also leave in peace; that is unless you want to test my abilities to kill every one of you in seconds.”

  She was mad now and turned to board her ship. A different voice came from behind the Supreme Commander shouting, “Wait! Wait! If this woman wanted to harm us it is quite obvious she could have done so very easily. Listen to what she has to say.” Amber turned back around again to see who was talking in a feminine voice. The woman didn’t look much different than the man she approached to stand beside. She continued, �
��Please forgive my husband. We have been monitoring and watching the activities of Earth for hundreds of years. There has never been a place so violent. In all the time we have observed them there has always been wars and murder. Our greatest fear was that they would one day find out we were here and possibly gain the technology to visit. As you can see, we are not well equipped for war. We have been on edge even more lately because of the traffic from outer-space that has been coming and going from Earth. We knew it would just be a matter of time until those wars and the killing would reach our home.”

  Amber considered this planets position. She knew there were some good people on Earth, but also knew that if the wrong country reached Grnardo first, they probably would try to take over. She also knew that King Verron had the same opinion of Earth and their conflicting governments and never ending excessive violence. She chose her words carefully, “My King, King Verron, has the same opinion of Earth. We have been meeting with their leaders in an attempt to bring peace and stabilization to that planet. That is where I just came from, taking those leaders back to Earth after their visit with King Verron on his home planet. But let me tell you something that you should know; there are much more dangerous civilizations in this Universe than Earth. Verron is dedicated to protecting those who can’t protect themselves. I have fought in these battles myself. Earth would swiftly fall to any of these alien forces and so would you.”