Serve and Protect

by Douglas Varnell

  This show was going to be like no other. The displays and booths set up for the Job Fair were still at the Georgia World Congress Center. There simply was no time to get the other set of displays, already shipped to Chicago, there in time for them to conduct business as usual. After the opening remarks and a video presentation about Verron, that would make the movies at Epcot envious, they established work stations for the Verron staff and did manage to put a sign up to indicate which type of employment opportunity was being discussed at each location. As Paul looked on, he realized the staff was doing the best they could, but without their displays and audio-video support, a lot was being lost in the translation. Paul had Lucy summon every available Dragon Guard to report to his location immediately. Within a half hour, Katelyn and Tala arrived from Australia, Hunter from Virginia and Amber from Colorado, Chase and Daniel soon arrived from Israel, followed by Cali, Camil, 99 and Hon IV. He was pleased to see the quick response when called by their King. Those in the convention center weren’t too shocked by the appearance of his Grandchildren and nieces and nephews, but looked terrified at the appearance of Hon, Cali, Camil, who came as herself, a Chikoni, and 99; at least until the four of them began to walk around greeting the Earth people. Paul soon had one of the Dragon Guard assigned to each recruiting station. In groups of 20 to 30 people at a time, they made a gateway and escorted the prospective Verronians to the designated areas of potential employment; Space Ship Factory, Vehicle Manufacturing, Steel Mill, Farm Belt … then took a quick jump to Capital City before returning to their post back in Atlanta. They had never made so many gateways in their life, and were having a blast practicing their skills. Needless to say, those attending the Job Fair were more than a little impressed. They continued until 9:30 PM and by the end of the day over 200,000 people had visited Verron. The visitation groups, by necessity, became larger and larger. Soon King Verron and the Xhondarians were assisting with the tours as well. Marcus took a note that quite a few were from Lockheed and were experienced aircraft assemblers. It was a good job fair, like no other they would conduct. Over the next few months, 500,000 people from all over the Southeast would move to Verron as a result of this one day event.

  Before the Dragon Guard left Atlanta to go their separate ways, Paul, General Zarman, Vlad and General Hall met with them to make certain they were prepared at a moment’s notice to act against those who had killed one of their own and personally attacked Verron. That evening when Paul returned to his office at Mountain City, he met immediately with his three Generals and got an update from Lucy. She had intercepted the messages buzzing around between Homeland Security, the FBI and Atlanta Police. The food server and kitchen employee, who had taken the order from Denise, were now persons of interest and had vanished from their declared residence. There was an APB for Ibib Mohamed and Harun Ishmael, both listed as Saudi Arabian citizens and students at Georgia Tech. Their off campus apartment was empty. No one knew where they had disappeared, except Lucy. Her unbelievable ability to screen text messages, phone calls and e-mail was beyond understanding. She had located the two men, now traveling separately, and even dispersed stealth drones to their location to keep an eye on them. Ibid was already in Orlando, Florida and Harun was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Paul watched closely as the drone over both locations showed simultaneously on opposite screens. The Orlando al-Qaeda cell was located just off campus of the University of Central Florida and appeared to be a townhouse primarily for rental to students. The Philadelphia cell was located in a row house a few miles from Philadelphia University. Paul decided to waste no time. He, Vlad and General Hall were taking the entire incident very personal. Jesserrica Zhdanov and General Hall’s wife and his ex-wife, would have been killed if not for a late dinner.

  The three didn’t bother with body armor, but did make certain that they had on their forcefields. They intended to grab the men and quickly return to Verron, administer Kahlan and then execute all those guilty of the bombing. The first stop was a small townhouse in Oviedo, Florida. It was 11:00 at night and the four al-Qaeda cell members were playing a game of cards in front of a big screen broadcasting MTV. Each had a cigar and a short glass of Bourbon. Paul stepped into the living room, immediately followed by Justice and Vlad. In seconds the four men had been stunned and carried back through the gateway. As soon as their guests were secured and injected by a large dose of Kahlan, the three repeated the maneuver in Philadelphia. This time they were in separate rooms watching TV or surfing the web on their computer. One of the men was holding a 9mm while watching TV. He was killed before he could discharge his weapon and warn the others. The survivors were abducted and transported to join their friends. Those already given the Kahlan were talking to General Zarman and Camil when they arrived. They left the one already dead in the row house. Soon all seven men were spilling their guts about everything they knew, which unfortunately was not a lot.

  The kitchen attendant and the server were quickly identified and their cell phones were handed over to Lucy to find anyone they had spoken with or texted in the past 48 hours. The complete confession of the seven students from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan was recorded and videoed to be given to the FBI. There were a few good leads on other cells in Chicago and Miami. Beyond that, the cells were very well segregated from each other. Paul knew for certain that the attack was done at the order of ISIS top leaders in Aleppo, Syria. He immediately had Lucy place drones over any suspected locations and to monitor every communication made in or out of the city of 2.3 million people; an unreasonable request for any security agency in the world, a piece of cake for Lucy.

  Paul didn’t want to have his Generals and his friends responsible for the death of the seven captured terrorist and was going to handle their execution himself. Vlad and Justice quickly claimed the honor for themselves and handed each of the seven men a 9mm Berretta. Paul opened a gateway back to their cell locations. Vlad and Justice then ordered the men to kill each other. Without a pause or a question, they raised their guns and fired directly into the forehead of their fellow al-Qaeda member. Paul knew that the deafening sound of gunfire would draw the police to their location. He left behind enough evidence that a blind man could find it and headed back to Verron to plan their next assault against Verron’s new enemy. It didn’t take long for the FBI, Homeland Security and local law enforcement to determine just who those bodies were. It was all over the secured communications for two days before it made it to the public. At that time it was announced that they had also uncovered two more terrorist cells and were holding six people for questioning. The positive identification was made for the two employees of the Omni and the world was told that it was a suicide pack among the terrorists; those involved in the Atlanta bombing were dead.

  Paul got a phone call from DIC Sullivan who said, “Good work, I wish you had saved some for me.” Paul laughed and replied, “By the time Vlad got through with the men who tried to kill his wife and I got through with the people who attempted to kill my daughter, there was just nothing left to save.” George Sullivan knew Paul was not going to stop with what he had already done and only commented, “I’m glad to see you doing what we would like to do ourselves. God bless you and I won’t ask what’s next. By the way Homeland, and the FBI are already discussing the fact that they think you were behind the death of the bombers.” Paul smiled an unseen smile and informed the Admiral, “We’re just getting started. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

  At Vlad’s recommendation, Paul informed his staff, “You will definitely conduct the Verron Job Fair in the rest of the planned cities, but from now own, a set-up team will go in advance to have everything organized and secure, the rest of you will leave directly from Verron with Marine security and arrive just before time for the planned event; no more motels. You will all be able to sleep in your own bed at night and be escorted to the shows. I hate to spoil all those meals out and seeing the sights, but your safety is more important than your entertainment.” No one disagreed. When the Dragon Wago
n and ten Troop Transports landed on the large parking lot off Moe Drive, there were already 300,000 people waiting at Chicago’s McCormick Place. This place was one of the biggest convention centers in America and spread out for thousands of yards. General Hall personally led the 200 Marines he had assigned to secure the location. It was already well covered by Chicago’s finest, and some resented the intrusion of the Marines in body armor and carrying plasma rifles, and a few with shoulder mounted Gatling guns. However, once the two organizations got to know each other and the police were assured that the Marines were there to reinforce the already good job they were doing, they soon began to patrol together.

  The police were envious of the advanced technology and amazed that King Verron intended to offer the armor to any police force or SWAT team that wanted it. The AFL-CIO Police Union would soon be putting pressure on local leadership to equip their people with Verron body armor. Paul didn’t realize just what a sales tool his 200 Marines had become. When several were gathered around talking to each other, Vlad invited the Union Leadership to come to Verron to get a demonstration of the latest in weapons and armor. He quickly became the most popular man in Chicago, at least with among local law enforcement.

  Since the abandonment of dozens of steel mills in Gary, Indiana, there were numerous men forced into retirement when they shut down. Most were older and would require rejuvenation, but offered a wealth of experience for the Verron steel mills. Farmers from Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota made up a large portion of the guests at the Fair. By 10:00 PM that evening, they had 200,000 firm commitments and another 300,000 to screen. Renee knew the planets priorities. Eventually most of the applicants would end up on Verron, but priority positions would be filled first. She did a quick estimate and realized that, at this rate, Verron would more than triple its population in five more years. She made a note to push hard for more construction workers. They left Chicago at nearly midnight. She was glad that she was going to be sleeping in her own bed; three down and four to go; actually only three, but they were going back to New York to finish their business there.

  It was almost February and the Denver Job Fair was behind them. Renee got a surprise visit at the show from Amber and a handsome young Air Force Colonel name Lawson. They had driven up that morning in one of the rare snow storms for this area. Her motherly intuition told her that there was some real chemistry between the two. Attendance was down because of the weather but they still had over 280,000 people, some traveling from as far away as Montana, Nebraska and Idaho. Renee was pleased to greet two families of farmers from South Dakota; several of their friends were already on Verron and told them how prosperous the farming was on the very fruitful planet.

  General Hall was running the security detail for Denver and couldn’t help but harass his daughter and the Colonel that looked like a model for a recruiting poster. He then smiled, as he thought, “So does my daughter.” The couple got plenty of stares as they walked through the convention center. Amber introduced Robert M. Lawson to everyone from Verron. She was almost as good at remembering names as her mother. Jesserrica was there and invited the couple to come visit her and Vlad on Verron. Colonel Lawson was not accustomed to the laid-back informal manor of not only the Nation’s leaders but the military as well. There were several officers in body armor who greeted her by first name and one that asked, “Can I take my armor off and take pictures of their reaction?” Colonel Lawson didn’t get it, until the person inside the armor lowered her headgear to reveal a pink woman with blue hair and large gold eyes. Amber quickly introduced Lieutenant Ulnin of Beriya-Haven. Who saluted the Colonel and commented, “They just don’t build them like me anymore.” Amber had to explain that the Lieutenant was an Android and manufactured in a combination assembly plant and biological tank. Robert just shook his head and extended his hand to the Pink officer and said, “I’m pleased to meet you. It seems your world is full of surprises.” It was Wednesday night after a late dinner with General Hall before the couple returned to the Air Force Academy.

  It was a Friday afternoon on Earth when the call went out to the Dragon Guard to return to Verron. Within an hour, they were gathered in the briefing room along with General Zarman, Brigadier Zhdanov, Brigadier Hall, King Verron, Kary Verron, Marcus Verron and several Marines hand selected by General Hall. Once everyone was in the room, Paul declared, “We move tonight. It is my intention to hit ISIS so hard that they will be months or even years rebuilding. Here’s what we have.” He had Lucy produce a holographic map of Northern Iraq and Syria. He began by pointing out, “As you can all see, this map is color coded. The cities in red are occupied by ISIS. The highlighted areas are ISIS controlled or areas of operation. Notice the orange highlighted highways. These are major supply routes. ISIS already has numerous cities under its control and many of them are no longer being contested. The cities with green borders indicate ISIS controlled cities surrounded by Kurdish or Iraqi military. The green cities surrounded by red are the opposite. These are cities under attack from ISIS and still managing to hold on to control. Every major transportation route leading from Syria into Iraq are controlled by ISIS almost all the way to Baghdad. I know we can’t get all of ISIS in a one day operation, but I intend to clear a path along the supply routes extending 20 miles to either side of these two main highways, here and here. I also intend to kill anything with a weapon inside the red zones. I have worked with General Zarman, General Hall and Lucy using the enemy identification targeting system designed by Chase and Daniel. The weapons being used by ISIS have been loaded into the target acquisition program. Anyone using a weapon of any kind within the red zone will be killed.”

  “I plan to only use ground troops in one city in order to reduce collateral damage, here, in Aleppo, the city is too large and ISIS is to well dug-in to do it any other way. There is also a group of hostages being held right in the heart of the city. We will land our ground assault team here on the edge of the city. The support ships will clear the borders and destroy any vehicles entering or leaving Aleppo. The assault team will proceed directly through this section of ISIS defenses and free the hostages. I also plan to destroy these five buildings highlighted in red and white stripes. These are known operation buildings for ISIS and we assume everything of importance is deep underground below these sites. We will use bombs designed by Chase and Daniel called Containment Bombs in order to destroy the buildings without collateral damage and leave a hole several hundred feet deep, to make certain everything below ground is destroyed. There will be twenty-four of us on the ground, that will include me, Zarman, Hall, Vlad, Hunter, Chase, Daniel, Kary, Marcus, Hon, and Cali leading thirteen Marines selected by General Hall.” Turning to Amber, he continued, “You will lead the air assault. I want you and Katelyn to fly Light Destroyers, which will also transport the ground forces. Tala, you and Camil will fly the new Class XI Fighter with a much larger ammunition bay. Cali has become so good on the ground I’m taking her with me.

  We will approach our targets coming in from South of Baghdad and working our way North and East, clearing out as many targets as possible, ending here at Aleppo. Hit, Ramadi, Falluga, Palmyra, Tikrit, Kobani, Baiji, Mosul and Raqqa and everything else in red will be cleared of ISIS. We will be using the exact same weapons and ammunition that I plan to supply the Terrorist Elimination Unit. I can think of no better way to test it, besides I would never expect someone to put their life on the line using a piece of equipment I would not use myself.” He then looked around and finished by saying, “I know that Kary, Marcus, General Hall, Vlad and General Zarman do not usually lead ground assault teams. I just want you to know that for them this is more than a military action, it’s personal. Are there any questions?” He looked around the room and saw some anxious faces, he then added, “The targeting system is pretty incredible. It doesn’t simply shower a target with hundreds of rounds and allow the odds of hitting something. The reason we will be able to destroy so many targets without reloading is because it will onl
y use one round for one target and select what size round to use for 100% destruction and the least damage to the surroundings. With whitematter rounds, we will not leave a path of bodies from Baghdad to Aleppo, but we will leave a lot of holes.” As his team was leaving the room, he told them, “Make sure you get plenty to eat and make your last minute pit stop, when we leave in one hour, there won’t be time to take a break.”

  Everyone was gone except Amber and King Verron. It was pretty obvious that she wanted to speak with him about something important. She was never one to procrastinate or take time to get to the point, she said, “Grandpa, Robert came home with me this weekend before I knew what was going on. We were invited to the Zhdanov’s for dinner and he’s staying at the Hacienda to meet Joshua.” Paul smiled and knew that it must be serious; he couldn’t even recall her ever dating, much less bringing a man home to meet Mom and Dad. He gave her a questioning look and asked, “It is his responsibility to look after you at the Academy, so I guess it’s your responsibility to look after him on Verron. He’s a pilot isn’t he?” She quickly replied, “One of the best in the Air Force.” Paul turned to leave and said, “Well, you can’t keep an eye on him if you’re in Syria and he’s here, bring him with you. He might learn something.” Amber didn’t hesitate; she made a jump back to the ranch and found Joshua and Robert shooting skeet off the back terrace, doing a little male bonding. She gave Robert a hug and asked, “Feel like doing something a little more exciting than shooting clay pigeons?” He gave her his sexiest look and asked, “What do you have in mind?” She gave him a hug and responded, “The key to every girl’s heart, a night assault on ISIS starting north of Baghdad and going all the way to Aleppo. Can you think of any way to get a girl more excited?” Josh just shook his head and walked away, saying, “For a second there I almost thought you were going to act normal. Nothing about this family is ever normal. I suppose Hunter is going with you?” She smiled and answered, “Yeah, he gets to have all the fun. I only get to shoot stuff from the air; Hunter gets to do it up close and personal. Tell Mom its payback time for Denise.” She turned to Robert and added, “You better change; you don’t want to keep a girl waiting.”