by James Rosone
President Stein was also reading his opponent; he saw a man who was determined to fight to the death if he was not able to save face and end the war as close to his terms as possible. He thought, “Well, that’s too bad for him. I will wipe China and its people from the face of the Earth if I must.” Aloud, he politely responded, “Likewise, Mr. President, thank you for agreeing to meet to discuss how we can end this terrible war. Shall we begin?” As he finished speaking, he opened the folder in front of him.
The two men talked for nearly thirty minutes about the fate of Taiwan, the Philippines and Southeast Asia. President Stein said he would withdraw his forces from mainland China but the PLA would have to withdraw from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and the Philippines. The US would cede Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. President Jinping immediately objected to the terms, insisting that they wanted Taiwan returned to China as well as control of Thailand and Malaysia.
President Stein ceded, “We would agree to giving up control of Taiwan if the Chinese agreed to withdraw from Cambodia and divided Vietnam into north and south, with the US retaining control of south Vietnam, and China keeping the north.”
After nearly two hours of horse trading back and forth, President Jinping agreed to the terms President Stein put forth. President Stein then placed one more demand on the table—complete restriction of future space exploration and the militarization of space for a period of time to be determined through negotiations. Jinping knew President Stein might do this; he had heard from sources in Russia that this had been a major sticking point with the Americans. However, unlike the Russians, China was not willing to have a restriction on their opportunity to explore the stars now that the technology for continuous thrust engines had been made.
President Jinping insisted, “China will not give up its ambitions on space, or the ability to mine and establish our own settlements on the lunar surface or elsewhere.”
Stein knew he ultimately could not get the Chinese to walk away from the new frontier now that it had been opened wide up to exploration: mining, settlements, and EmDrive and advanced Ion engine technology was too strong of a draw. His goal was to slow them down, just long enough for America to become a dominant force in space before it had any serious competition from either Russia or China.
Stein proposed, “The Chinese could accept an observation force of your space activities for the next 15 years, or you would have to agree to a full 15-year moratorium on all space activities outside of reestablishing satellite activities.”
Unlike the Russians, China had no intentions of allowing monitors into their space program. The Chinese were much further along in their own developments of the Ion engines and spacecraft design; Although, until the war ended, they could not get their program off the ground.
After nearly four more hours of arguing and going around and around the issue, President Jinping capitulated, and agreed to a fifteen-year moratorium on space activities. He justified that decision by telling himself that he would use that time to rebuild his empire.
President Stein made it clear, “I am more than willing to continue the war. We can always employ space-based weapons to systematically destroy China if you decide not to agree to our terms.” After nearly seven hours of direct talks, the two leaders had agreed to terms that would bring the bloodiest war in world history to an end. The following day, the two leaders and their aides worked out the formal details of the new borders of the countries, reparations to be paid and the process to implement the peace agreement.
*******
Once Air Force One had reached its cruising altitude, the President got up from his seat and began to walk towards the conference room. The rest of his senior staff quickly followed him into the room and took their respective seats. An aide brought in some fresh coffee and snacks for everyone and then quietly left the room and shut the door.
Secretary of State Jim Wise was the first to speak, “Mr. President, I believe some congratulations are in order. The peace talks were a success…this war is finally coming to an end,” he said with a broad smile on his face.
The others in the room smiled and congratulated each other. President Stein just smiled and nodded, lost in thought. “Could it really be over? After nearly five years, and over a billion-people killed, is the end really here?”
Clearing his throat to get everyone’s attention, the President stood up while signaling everyone else to stay seated.
The President began, “Gentlemen, I cannot thank you enough for your steadfast strength and perseverance in guiding me and our great nation through this war. America has lost so much, nearly twelve million people killed and nearly the twice that number injured. Our brave men and women of the Armed Forces, and our civilians as well, have suffered so much in the defense of this great nation and the free world.”
“We are now about to embark upon the next great challenge, winning the peace. We have won the war, no one will dispute that, but we must truly work to achieve peace. We are on the cusp of a new world order, a world that I am determined must be led by America. Over the next several months, Chinese forces will be withdrawing from most of Southeast Asia while our forces begin the withdrawal from mainland China and Taiwan. Not everyone is going to be happy with our ceding Taiwan to the Chinese, especially after having fought so hard to secure it. I hate to use the term bargaining chip, but that is ultimately what Taiwan became. In ceding Taiwan, we liberated the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and what will now become South Vietnam.”
“As Chinese forces leave these countries, our forces will move in. We will provide security and stability to them while we rebuild a new civilian government and security force. I want the Pentagon to begin identifying where we should establish permanent military bases in these countries. We are not going withdraw from these countries and leave an empty void like what was done in the Middle East in the 2010s. We must continue to win the peace if we are to avoid another war in the future.”
The President had been pacing as he was speaking; now he stopped and turned back to his staff, who had been paying rapt attention. “One of the problems we have faced in the past after a war, is that our nation has historically begun a massive demobilization and moved immediately back to civilian life. While this has ultimately been the goal of our forces in the past, it is not going to be my goal. America, and the world, need to have a shared vision for the future.”
One of the advisors in the room asked what everyone was thinking, “What do you have in mind Mr. President?”
Stein believed in his gut that America would eventually win, so he had spent many hours in the quiet thinking about what to do after a victory was achieved. Just as President Truman had established the Marshal Plan at the end of World War II, President Stein needed to establish his own post-world war plan to bring the people of the world back together, this time for a greater cause than nationalism.
He explained, “We are going to lead the world in the colonization of space. It is time for man to begin his next great adventure and expand our presence beyond our own solar system. We have the tools and technologies to make this happen. Now we need to make it a priority. Over the next several weeks, I am going to work with Dr. Gorka, Professor Rickenbacker, and Dr. Bergstrom to develop plans to construct a space elevator, orbital space station and spacecraft construction yard. We will also look for ways to expand our presence on the Moon and plan to start a new colony on Mars, as well as on Europa and other moons in our solar system. It is time mankind moves beyond the earthly squabbles that have led to countless wars across human history. Our future is in the stars, not here on Earth. That is the vision I want to project to the world as we usher in a time of peace, and hopefully, tranquility.”
The room erupted in spontaneous clapping. A global project and vision would not only give the survivors of this great war a chance to move on, it would inspire people to dream big again.
They all broke out into chatter, discussing various aspects of the President�
�s vision, Eventually, everyone started to leave the briefing room, until it was just Monty and the President sitting there. Monty looked at his long-time friend and smiled. “That was one world-class speech you gave. You really think we can make it happen?” he asked, raising one eyebrow slightly.
The President smiled, then replied, “I think so. We need to at least try. We need to find a way to heal not just our country, but the rest of the world if we are to sow the seeds of long-term peace and not animosity.” Stein was confident for the first time in the future of humanity.
Note from the Authors
Miranda and I truly hope you have enjoyed this series. If you appreciated our books, we entreat you to please take a few minutes to write up a great review for us on Amazon. Miranda and I would like to make writing a full-time career one day, and these reviews greatly aid us in making that dream a reality. You can also connect with us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/JamesRosone/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel and Twitter https://twitter.com/jamesrosone and https://twitter.com/AuthorMirandaW. We would love to hear your comments and suggestions for how to make our next book series better. We have strived to incorporate many of our readers’ comments into this series and will look to do so with our subsequent books. Thank you again for your purchase and I hope you will continue to follow our work as we keep writing.
Preview of Upcoming Novel, “Enemies from Within”
March 2013
Incirlik Air Base, Turkey
It was hot and dusty as Michael Stone stood in the smoke break shack and took a deep drag from his cigarette. He dropped it to the ground, putting it out with his boot. “Man, I needed that fix,” he thought, and then he sighed. “I really should quit smoking one of these days.” As Mike exited the shanty, he looked off into the horizon. He could see that a storm was brewing. They needed to accomplish their mission soon if they were going to get the Predator back before the nasty weather arrived.
Agent Stone was the CIA operative in charge of this drone mission. For the last four months, he had been tracking a man they had identified as one of the primary financiers of ISIS, a man who was acquiring large quantities of explosives for ISIS and selling ISIS-controlled oil and natural gas on the black market to foreign buyers. This arrangement had made his target extremely wealthy and well-connected in certain circles in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. After Stone learned that his target would be getting married and hosting a large gathering at his home, he had worked aggressively to gain the approval needed to conduct this drone strike. He had eventually convinced his superiors to act, but because the house was in Turkey, it had to appear as if the attack was a car bomb and not a drone strike.
Since the formation of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the CIA had created a counter-ISIS group code named Task Force Torch. TF Torch’s initial purpose was simply to monitor and identify ISIS leaders and as many of their members are possible. Once the parallel CIA mission to train and equip an opposition force to the Syrian government and ISIS had failed, TF Torch’s mission changed; they became more of a direct-action unit, focused on eradicating ISIS. The task force had been given access to SEAL Team 6 and the Army’s Delta Force to help them eliminate senior leaders in the organization.
Agent Michael Stone had been a part of TF Torch from the very beginning. He had started out as a case officer, developing sources within the numerous refugee camps and then assisting those sources as they infiltrated ISIS directly. He quickly made a name for himself as someone who could get things done. His ability to operate and think outside the conventional norms had separated himself from his peers. Soon, he was promoted to take charge of the task force. Through expanded use of drones and access to the CIA’s “Special Activities Group,” they were starting to turn the tide on the war with ISIS.
Stone attributed most of their success to the close collaboration with the Kurdish Peshmerga, who were providing the brunt of the forces combating ISIS. Today’s mission had been a multi-month collaborative effort between the CIA and the Peshmerga. It had taken years for one of Stone’s sources to infiltrate the ISIS leadership, now that effort was about to pay off.
*******
The target for today’s mission was Walid Sattar al Sayed. Prior to the Syrian civil war, he had worked as a Deputy Minister in the Syrian Oil Ministry so he had numerous contacts in that sector. In the fall of 2010, shortly after protests had broken out in Homs and Damascus, he had suggested to his boss that perhaps President Assad should try to work something out with the Syrian opposition group and end the bloodshed before it got out of control.
Several days went by, and then he was suddenly fired and quietly told he should leave Damascus immediately. Believing he had done nothing wrong, he had chosen to stay in his home in the capital city. Two days later, in the dark of night, government soldiers had busted down the door to his apartment and arrested him for treason.
While in prison, Walid was tortured and interrogated for nearly a week. After several days, he managed to find a way to befriend one of the guards, and he bribed the man into letting him escape. Walid quickly fled to the Turkish border and was taken in as a refugee.
He had a brother who was a chemistry professor at the University of Aleppo. In normal times, he would have sought his brother out for help, but he did not want to entangle his brother into whatever web he had become trapped in. He sent word to his brother of what happened and warned him not to make the same mistake. He told his brother where he was going to be, in case he too, had to flee. His brother had a wife and two kids, who he felt obligated to help, should they need it.
During his time at the refugee camp, someone discovered that Walid had worked in the Syrian oil ministry. A professional-looking man with a Saudi accent approached him.
“Asalaam alaikum.”
“Alaikum asalaam,” he replied, cautiously.
After a minimal amount of chit chat, the man came right to the point. “Walid, I have heard that you used to work in the Syrian oil ministry. Those connections are so valuable. I am wondering if you would be interested in selling oil on the behalf of ISIS. That money would help us to acquire high explosives for our work.”
Walid scratched his beard. “Well, my own government discarded and tortured me; there is no love lost between us. I would not mind the opportunity to get revenge on them for what they have done to me. However, I am not the most religious man in the world, and I can’t say that I agree with your brand of Islam.”
“That doesn’t matter. ISIS is becoming like any other government. We are starting to identify the people who can help run the important political positions, even if we are still operating a shadow government. All we really need is someone who can help us discreetly sell our captured oil.”
Within a couple of months, Walid had become an instrumental part of funding ISIS and acquiring large quantities of explosives for the organization. He knew wholesale brokers who did not have a problem buying oil and natural gas on the black market. These groups also had the skilled engineers who could work the oil and gas fields, and the equipment to transport the oil and natural gas.
Because the transactions had to be done in cash or Bitcoins, all through multiple offshore accounts and front companies, it was easy for Walid to skim off the top without his masters knowing. After several years, Walid had become a very wealthy man, and held some influence within the organization. As ISIS tried to form a more formal government, he became an indispensable figurehead behind the scenes. He started to envision himself as one day potentially being the Finance Minister of this new government.
Walid was smart and cunning; he had used his wealth to buy anonymity within Turkey. He paid off the right Turkish intelligence officers and military officers to keep his identity and location a secret. Through his contacts in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, he was able to secure a steady supply of explosives and other essential tools that his ISIS masters requested.
The Saudis and Qataris all had the same goal as ISIS, the destruction of the Shia government
of Syria and Iraq, Iran’s new proxy. The fact that Walid was not a religious zealot also played to his favor, as this put him more on par with these key allies’ way of thinking. Though his ISIS bosses did not condone his worldly behavior, he was too valuable of a resource for them to make an example out of him.
*******
After swiping his access card and entering his six-digit code, the locked door clicked, letting Mike back into the building. A wave of cold air pounded his face as he walked into the hallway. He quickly walked back to a dimly lit room with numerous banks of monitors and two rows of analysts working behind them. This was TF Torch’s nerve center, located in a non-descript looking building at the edge of the flight line on Incirlik Air Base. The CIA ran multiple drones out of this location, continually monitoring the situation with ISIS and from time to time, carrying out a drone strike when the right opportunity presented itself.
An Air Force Major signaled for Stone to come to his station. “Sir, the drone is on station. As you can see, the wedding reception is well underway. We estimate at least a hundred people at the compound.” As he spoke, he was zooming in and out of the compound from a couple of different angles to give Stone a better picture of the area.
After examining the footage for a couple of minutes in silence, Stone looked at the major and asked, “Have you confirmed the target is there?”
“Yes. Here is the image of the target.” The major pulled up a separate video file and clicked on it. It showed a few minutes of footage, following the target and his bride as they were eating at a table. From the angle of the drone, they could clearly identify the target. Facial recognition placed it at a 97% match to the pictures they had on file.
Out of the corner of his eye, Stone saw a male get into a vehicle and leave the compound. “Who is that exiting the compound?” he asked, wanting to make sure the target was still there.