They all three shook hands with the staff and headed for the Dragon Wagon to wait for Tala, Katelyn and Sloan. When the Verrons left the instructors asked Neil, “So you now have a two man rookie team and an unlimited budget, how much you going to charge to run the show?” Neil smiled, saying, “This family is so bloody interesting, I’d probably do it for free, just to see what happens next. Can you blokes believe that a 71 year-old man just broke a Superbike Track record on a Superstock bike and his 15 year-old great-niece could out ride every one of us? I might add she had ridden nothing but dirt-bikes up until this week. This is going to be an interesting race season.”
Tala and Katelyn flew the ship back to Watson Bay and landed the Dragon Wagon next to the Australian Battle Cruiser. There were several of the Beriya-Haven androids and some Catmandoes hanging out with several of the Australians, when they landed the sleek looking white executive ship. The Australians froze at the thought that a ship full of dignitaries had just landed right in front of them to ruin their Sunday night comradery. As the Aussies stood at attention, the Verron Marines headed directly for the ship to greet those on board. The first one off the ship was King Verron and he immediately began to joke around with the flamboyant Androids and Catmandoes, asking them if they were behaving themselves and how everything was going. One of the Catmandoes reached into her pocket and pulled out a pouch of Tender Vittles, saying, “This was given to me as a joke, but damned if I don’t like it. I especially love to snack on the Liver flavored ones.” She looked over at the Australians who were laughing at and with her and added, “I actually started eating this in self-defense, I don’t see how anyone can eat that vegemite crap and they think I’m strange to eat this.” Kary laughed and told the Siamese colored Catmando, “We were thinking about negotiating a contract to make Vegemite part of the menu back home.” She lifted a small 10mm plasma blaster from her hip, threatening, “First one to bring that stuff to Verron will be considered an enemy of the state and will suffer severely.” Paul reached over and held out his hand, indicating the young Catmando give him a bite of her treat. She shook two morsels loose from the pouch and Paul popped them into his mouth. He quickly declared, “I’ve got to start feeding you soldiers better. If you’re content to eat this, your palate has never experienced good food. When you get home, I want to invite all the Catmandoes on Verron to a BBQ. I think there may still be hope to save you from Tender Vittles.” Paul, Kary and Marcus personally greeted the Aussies standing around and had Tala and Katelyn show them the Wagon.
The six walked back to the beach house from the Watson heliport. It was a nice evening and a good cool breeze was coming in from the Pacific. While they walked, Paul asked Petty Officer Sloan, “Mr. Sloan, the girls tell me you’ve been taking good care of them. It isn’t an easy job. No doubt Marcus is glad to have them out of his hair for a while.” Marcus jokingly agreed. Paul continued, “I’m afraid I’m going to ask you to go above and beyond the call of duty and sacrifice your weekends for the next few months.” Sloan looked like he was about to get depressed, but knew better than to question a King, if he was demanding that he work 7 days per week. Marcus got the drift of Paul’s conversation and picked-up saying, “Katelyn is old enough to take care of herself, but I really do need you to look after Tala constantly. So unfortunately we’re going to speak with your commanding officer and demand that you accompany my daughter to every motorcycle race held during this racing season. And since you can’t keep an eye on her very well if you’re in the bleachers and she’s on the track, we’ve made arrangements with Mr. Hodgson to have two bikes ready to race beginning next weekend, that way you will be on the team and therefore on the track to keep an eye on my little girl.”
By the time Marcus finished, Sloan was looking at a grinning Tala and trying to contain his excitement. He finally got control of himself and with a straight face answered, “I regret that I only have but one life to lose for my country; it’s a tuff job, but somebody has to do it; it is far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done before; well if I must, I’ll just have to make the best of a bad situation.” Then he gave King Verron a hug and couldn’t stop thanking him for the tremendous opportunity he was being offered. Tala and Katelyn just watched and smiled, enjoying Sloan’s overwhelming enthusiasm.
They bunked at the beach house that night. Katelyn showed them some video footage taken of her surfing with Commander Briskoll and his sons. Everyone agreed she was doing really well, and that she should keep surfing as much as possible. Paul told her, “There is no better place to learn to surf than Australia. If Tala can attend a Motorcycle Racing School, I see no reason you can’t take surfing lessons. Then when you return, I’ll have someone who lives on Verron who actually knows something about surfing. In fact, when the group from here comes to Verron, you should be their guide instead of Hunter. By then, you’ll know most of them.” Next morning, Petty Officer Sloan fixed eggs benedict, fresh strawberries and threw in some potato pancakes. He even had Diet Cokes for King Verron. He couldn’t get the grin off his face. The word had been spread that King Verron was on the base; after-all, it was hard to miss a shiny white spaceship with a red dragon on the side. A knock came from the front door and soon Petty Officer Sloan escorted Commander Briskoll into the kitchen. He quickly snapped a salute to the King, his brother and nephew. Kary swallowed his mouth full of food and asked, “You had breakfast yet?” Briskoll indicated that he had not. “Then join us, we have a few things to discuss with you.” The Commander assumed he was in trouble. By the time breakfast was over, he was prepared to escort Katelyn anywhere in Australia she wanted to go for surfing and was glad to have Sloan accompany Tala during race season.
As they were being driven back to the Dragon Wagon, Paul asked, “How long would it take for you to have everyone being trained on the Battle Cruiser here?” Commander Briskoll had no idea what the King wanted, but was determined not to let him down, saying, “Half are on site already and I can have the other half here in thirty minutes.” Paul replied, “Do it.” By the time the 30 minutes were over, not only were the ships crews standing at attention in front of the ship, there was an Admiral and a Vice Admiral present as well, plus 100 of Verron’s Marines. Paul stood in front of them and declared, “I’ve been informed that you have been doing very well this first week. I intend to have my people here with you until you operate the ship with precision. I wish I could stick around today to see you train, but I have several other stops to make. However, today your training will be a bit different. You have met several of my Marines and have worked well together, now I want you to meet Verron. Before everyone boards the ship please give me your attention.” He had Tala approach him and reached into his pocket. He next reached over and undid the Lieutenants Bar from her lapels and pinned on two Captain Bars then said, “Now Captain Verron would you and Major Verron please give these men a tour of our home?” Tala shouted, all hands on-board, you’re in for a real treat.”
Paul, Kary and Marcus loaded onto the Dragon Wagon and took off for Mississippi. Tala and Katelyn with 1600 Australians and 100 Verron Marines, headed out into the Pacific until they were well out of sight of shore and began to climb to the 100,000 limit of the ships altitude, where Captain Tala made a gateway. Suddenly, all those on board were looking down at the biggest mountains they had ever seen. At 100,000 feet altitude, the mountains appeared to be only a few thousand feet below them. Katelyn smiled and announced, “Welcome to Verron.” The girls decided to make two stops; first at the city square in Capital City and next a trip over the Robert’s Range to the Marcus Verron Space Center. With so many people onboard, it was difficult for everyone to have a good view, so none really knew what to expect when they began to deplane in the middle of the town square. Klelta, Androids, Tecalna, Chikondi clones in their long robes, Renee escorting a group of six Crimson colored Grnardo from Alpha Centauri, along with citizens from all over the U.S. and Europe, but what really blew them away was a group of cyborgs that walked over and a
ddressed the other Marines just like it was a normal conversation; it was. Soon they were joined by Colonel Pavel “99” Verron and Finley, to help with escorting the group. They split up and also had the Marines help with showing them around, ending the tour with escorting 50 at a time through the gateways to Klelta, Xhondar I, Beriya-Haven and Tecalna. When they left Capital City the girls made a point to fly low over the King’s Mansion and headed out across the mountains for a true military tour.
General Zarman and General Hall were there to meet them when they landed in front of the factory. These men simply could not comprehend the air traffic filled with thousands spaceships and the wide variety of men and women in uniform. Once again, they split-up into smaller groups and were shown the Fighters, Light Destroyers, Gljarne Class Destroyers and then regrouped and headed for the final hanger. General Zarman had a special treat for the men. The newest Verron Man of War was ready to fly. As 1600 Australian men and women looked in wonder at a ship over a mile long and taller than a seventy story building, General Zarman asked, “Want to take it for a spin?” The Admirals at his side looked like two kids with a new Schwinn Stingray. General Z turned to the trailing group behind him and asked, “What are you waiting for. I need to take this thing for a shakedown cruise and I want to see if my bunch taught you anything. Everything on this ship is operated exactly like the systems on your ship, just a bit more advanced. My crew that’s already on board will assign you to your stations. Well, go!”
Sixteen hundred Australian’s raced for the boarding doors of the most expensive ship ever built. General Zarman commanded, “Captain Verron, you and Major Verron take the controls, I’ll accompany my guests.” They also took off. Neither had flown a Man of War. It seemed strange to look down from a bridge over six hundred feet above the ground as they seated themselves at the controls. Once clear of the manufacturing bay, Katelyn and Tala started a slow climb toward Verron’s outer atmosphere, knowing that Jim intended for Aussies to have something to talk about when they got home. Tala activated the ships transparent hanger-bay doors and exterior walls and could hear the men as the sailors gasped in amazement. General Zarman commanded, “Head for the Grondrinic Asteroid Belt and proceed with weapons check.” He turned to the Admirals and Commander Briskoll and informed them, “You had asked what the difference was between our fire power and yours; well we’re going to show you.” He looked over at Tala and Katelyn, saying, “I have one of Chase and Daniels new planet buster rounds; only one. Pick something the size of a Jhxunka ship and see what it will do.”
They made several passes and allowed the Australians to fire Laser Gatling Guns, launch some Photon Torpedoes and FTL Antimatter missiles. The leaders of Australia’s Navy were speechless to witness such destructive power, as mountains and asteroids miles wide vanished. But they had seen nothing yet. Katelyn came to a stop about 50,000 miles from a big jagged lump of solid iron over 3000 miles wide. They made sure that the dozens of video monitors were functioning properly and turned to General Zarman, and said, “On your command sir.” He nodded to proceed and told them, “fire when ready.” The 40 foot long and four foot diameter FTL Whitematter Missile hit the surface of the big rock almost instantly when the launch button was pushed, immediately the observation windows all over the ship darkened. When the flash receded, the iron rock was gone. Everyone was speechless, even Tala and Katelyn. Katelyn finally spoke, saying, “Well, would you say our boys met the objective that King Verron laid before them?” General Hall, who had been silent up until now shook his head and said, “How many of those do you think we need to build?” Tala put the video on a loop and had it played repeatedly for all to see. It was time to take the Australian’s home. It was an adventure that none would ever forget.
Chapter 3
It had been an interesting week for Renee and Michael. It felt good to be back on Verron for a few days before they headed back to Earth to continue holding the Verron Job Fairs scheduled for Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Seattle and Los Angeles. They had over 100,000 good solid applicants from the New York fair and nearly a million disgruntled Americans who had come solely with the intention of disrupting the fair and making issue with Verron’s immigration policies. The convention center was surrounded by African-American Civil Rights Activists, Latin-American Activists, Freedom of Religion Groups, Islamic Americans, several groups of Orientals, the Civil Liberties Union and just about anyone who didn’t agree with the way King Verron chose to do things. One of the most outspoken was the American Atheists. New York City Police were everywhere to help control the crowds; Verron Marines were sticking close to those selected to work the job fair. Several of the protesting groups tried to force themselves into the large convention floor area occupied by Renee and her staff.
In the convention center, booths were set up for farming, aerospace, equipment manufacturing, construction, mining, steel manufacturing, food processing, retail and military recruitment. The people from America just could not comprehend anyone having the audacity to deny them the right to live or work anywhere they please. Representatives from the Justice Department had to make an announcement stating, “This is a job fair for employment and residence in a foreign country. The laws and policies of the United States would only apply to employees of Verron employed within the borders of the United States. At this time there is only one Verron facility being built in the United States and they have established an employment office on site and do not even have a box to check for race, religion or sexual orientation. As far as we know, they are attempting to hire as many residents of Mississippi as possible and have violated no Federal Mandated Employment Regulations. Please, I ask you, if you know that you do not qualify for a work or a residential permit to Verron, please go home, you will accomplish nothing here.”
Renee and Michael knew that there were more than 100,000 potential Verron residents in the New York area, but many were intimidated by the protesting crowds. Of the 100,000 seeking employment on Verron they knew that after being given Kahlan in a low dose, that there would be a small percentage that would still be rejected. Renee and Michael didn’t always agree with King Verron’s reasoning, but knew that he was looking at the planet Earth in its entirety, not just one country; with 9.3 billion inhabitants and only 8 to 11 percent white, even in the U.S. non-whites outnumbered whites. In his opinion the whites were the minority. But his biggest issue was still the problem of politics and attitude. After seeing the crowds outside the convention center and watching what was happening in city after city across America, those involved in the job fair had to agree that they had no desire to deal with the same kind of problems on Verron; they had enough problems of their own without adding more to them.
Michael and Renee were having a short meeting with those who would be providing the gateways for the first batch of new arrivals and then it was time to head back to Earth and the city of Atlanta, Georgia. They were hoping things went more smoothly than New York. When they arrived back home, Joshua and John Graham informed them that the Verron website had 500,000 hits with attached resumes from people who wanted to see them in New York. Renee contacted her mother Leona to see about securing another location for holding an orientation meeting, by invitation only, for those who didn’t have a chance to see them because of the disruption caused by the protestors.
Things were different in Success, Mississippi. Paul arrived on Monday morning to the hustle and bustle of a major construction project. There were a few environmental groups gathered around, but no one was complaining about the employment practices. The construction crew contracted to do the tilt-up warehouse walls was a minority contractor out of Jackson, Mississippi and so was the contractor bringing in the water lines and doing site work for roadways, drainage and underground utilities. Both were getting a real education in Verron construction techniques. When an entire waste treatment plant was lowered from an R4 and placed a few hundred yards from the Verron designed power plant, they were instructed to route the waste disposal through the system a
nd reroute the water directly back to the fresh water storage tanks; they were objecting with the very idea. Ken Verron and Benny took the General Contractor and his engineers to Verron and gave them a tour of the systems in Capital City. When they saw the power supply systems and water/sewage systems, their first response was to ask for an exclusive contract to install both systems in the United States. That was one of the reasons Paul Verron was coming to Success, he had bigger plans for these systems and wanted to do more than just the United States; there were other places that needed cheap energy and clean water a lot worse than America.
When the shiny white spaceship with a red dragon on the side landed in front of the new administrative and employment building, there were a few thousand men and women lined up seeking employment. To their surprise, King Verron exited the ship and instead of heading for the office building, headed directly for the people in the long line. He moved from person to person telling them how pleased he was to have them come out to work for him and informed them that when the construction work is finished there will be warehouse, manufacturing, chemical and petroleum jobs available. He let them know that the first to be hired will be those who have already shown how they work while building the Verron facility. He also offered to train those who lived in the area who lacked the needed skills for the jobs to be opened at his location. He then told several that he hoped to use some of them in his construction projects planned for Africa. Not all, but some could be used if they were willing to relocate temporarily. For the occasion he wore his red Ole Miss long-sleeve T and a pair of black Levis. He couldn’t help but banter those in line with Mississippi State, LSU and Alabama shirts and hats. As he was leaving to go inside he told them that he would see what he could do to hurry along the employment process, stating, “I need you out there working, not standing in line.”
Serve and Protect Page 7