Serve and Protect

by Douglas Varnell

  Robin Meade and the CNN team were worn-out. They had been in a space battle, a gruesome land battle, the massive humanitarian effort and hadn’t slept in four days. The five of them didn’t even know where to begin when they got back to the states. There was way more material than they could ever use. Robin was determined to push for at least a four-part special on Verron. There was enough material for a year-long weekly series. After sleeping for almost a full 36 hour day, she was sitting alone in the kitchen enjoying some of the Queen Mother’s French Roast Coffee and a fresh bagel with cream cheese, when Paul Verron wondered into the kitchen to make a BBQ Omelet and potato cakes. While he was cooking his own breakfast, he asked, “Robin, I want your permission to get personal with you for a moment.” She smiled and replied, “After my week and a half here I feel like personal is OK.” He turned from his omelet and asked, “Robin, you’re in a dog-eat-dog business and there are no doubt newer and younger faces waiting in the wings at CNN to take your place. I know that you’re close to 50 now and must be looking at your options. If you and Tim can stick around for one more week, I will give you both another option, that’s about how long it takes to go through the rejuvenation treatment. You would return to Earth with the knowledge and experience of a fifty year-old and the face and body of a 20 year-old Miss America.” He smiled and added, “Another perk to the treatment is that you can eat stuff like this instead of stuff like that and never gain an ounce, as long as you remain active.”

  Robin wanted to explode, she was so excited, but managed to contain herself, but only for a few seconds. Finally she broke, saying, “Oh, God, I was wondering if there was a way to do the rejuvenation. After being around you and your 98 year-old Mother; who looks better than me by the way, I want it so bad I could bust. Tim and I were going to sell everything we have and move to Verron just to be able to qualify for the treatment. You mean your offering it to us for free?” Paul smiled and replied, “Well, you are Verron’s very first War Correspondent. I would like for you to get with my son-in-law, who manages the Verron Broadcasting Company and do an extended series on what you’ve found. I think the people of Verron, Xhondar, Tecalna, Klelta, Tramlaw and others need to know just what I am all about and what Verron means to the people of the Universe. It will also extend your viewing audience to almost 100 billion viewers. I just figured you’d be in better shape to do the report and look much better to the audience and all that, if you weren’t so old.” A cream cheese covered bagel flew across the room and hit King Verron squarely in the side of the head as he turned to flip his omelet. He just smiled, after that comment he probably deserved it.

  The CNN crew had to rush in order the see the remaining planets in the Allied Nations. Darsai wasn’t even one of the planned stops and they had spent 3 ½ days there. Metsis and Lydia once again escorted them to the Kings personal Destroyer for trips to Klelta, Tecalna, Grnardo and last but not least, a special stop at Molnar. It was amazing, when Robin and Tim arrived at all the planets there was always someone there who recognized them from the battle on Darsai. Catmandoes and Klelta Commandoes were extremely courteous and told everyone how the brave reporter had actually been there during the war, not just someone who reported after the fact. Robin realized that she already had a following on Verron, Tecalna and Klelta, but what took her by surprise was the people of Grnardo who had been monitoring her newscasts from Alpha Centauri. They actually showed her tapes of broadcasts she had made when she was still in her early thirties. One of the younger men actually asked for her autograph. They hit three planets in one day before returning to Verron to be greeted by Mahala waiting for the news team at the Mansion with his sister Yadvega. The two of them invited her to Xhondar I to do a special on the planets of the Alliance. Mahala wanted the sheltered people of the three Xhondars to understand just what was going on in the unification efforts being conducted by King Verron. He offered Robin 14 million cronz for the two one hour specials. He also wanted to pay her for the special she was doing on King Paul and the Nation of Verron when she finished editing the hours of film. He offered her double the about for the rights to broadcast it, when finished, to Xhondar I, II and III. Robin did a little match and then asked, “I don’t want to show my ignorance, but exactly how much is 42 million cronz?” Paul answered for Mahala, saying, “Right now the exchange rate is about two to one. One cronz is worth two dollars or 1.8 Euros. Our currency is pretty strong right now.”

  The next morning Robin and Tim were greeted in the kitchen by a cute little redhead. It was Saturday at Area 51 and Tala made a trip back to Verron in order to accompany Robin and the CNN crew to Molnar. It was going to be a special day. King Verron and Queen Tala were going to perform the promotion and medal ceremony for the eight Lyncardi heroes in front of the population of Molnar, or at least the population that could be notified about the ceremony; communications was still a bit behind other planets since most the inhabitants lived underground. Tala was telling Robin and Tim about how she had become Queen when she and Chase had visited Molnar for the first time. Robin was laughing uproariously at Tala’s animated way of telling a story. Paul came into the room dressed in his usual commando gray and wearing his normal smile. He looked at Tala and asked, “Did you get it?” She smiled as she replied, “Chase and Brad went together to Cleveland, Tennessee to pick up the special order. They are meeting us on Molnar. Evidently 40,000 pounds of peanut M&Ms bagged in clear five pound bags is a bit of a special order. You don’t even want to know how much it cost you.” Paul grinned and responded, “No I don’t, that’s Michael’s job. I just wanted to do something special for the Lyncardi. Are the new flight suites ready?” From behind Paul, Renee answered, “They’re so cute. I just don’t see how they will ever strike fear into the hearts of an enemy.” Paul quickly informed her, “No doubt the Volvs were thinking the same thing as they were cute to pieces by Gatling guns and mini-missiles.” Renee held up one of the finished uniforms. It was exactly like the flight-suit worn by the Verron Air Force, except there was an embroidered distinguished flying cross over the left pocket. Normally soldiers only wore them on their dress uniforms, Paul wanted everyone to recognize these little heroes for what they are.

  When the Dragon Wagon touched down on Molnar, an exit shaft extended from the forcefield enclosed city and allowed the passengers to exit without being exposed to the severe heat of Molnar. Paul had not been there in a while and couldn’t believe the hundreds terraform areas he saw as they approached the small city that was now populated with over 80,000 humans and 20,000 Lyncardi. Inside the massive domed environment the temperature remained at a constant 80 degrees. The Lyncardi wore light jackets to stay warm while the humans looked like they were dressed for a South Florida vacation. On this day, there had to be well over 100,000 Lyncardi crowded in the dome. The cheers that went up, when Paul and Tala exited the ship followed by 8 Lyncardi in Aviation Flight Suites, was a high pitch screech. Robin’s film crew was behind the dignitaries filming the entire time. King Paul and Queen Tala both made speeches about the incredible bravery of the Lyncardi and how they had turned the tide of the fiercest battle in Verron history. He once again handed the little pilots their medals, which they proudly held up for the crowd to see, each receiving cheers from both their fellow Lyncardi and the humans who now called Molnar home. Chief Tu presented a decree declaring that from now own there would be a holiday in recognition of Molnar’s first war heroes and unveiled a small gold statue of a Speeder that would be placed in the foyer of the new Molnar Administrative Building. Once again there were screeches of joy. Then Chase arrived. As Molnar’s Protector, he was recognized by everyone. In fact there was a gold statue of both he and Tala in the town square of Lyncardi City. Tala got the pleasure of announcing, “In special recognition of this day, I want the people of Lyncardi to be rewarded for their valiant efforts and determination to achieve greater things than anyone had ever expected of you. Please form a line to my left and Prince Chase has something special for you. The five pound sp
ecial order bags were clear, so the Lyncardi could see what was in them. They were more excited about their prize than the medals being awarded. As expected, one Lyncardi would take a bag and share its content with five or six others. None were greedy about getting a bag for themselves. While those getting bags of M&Ms were in line, their friends waited patiently for them to return with their mutual reward.

  Robin filmed the entire reward presentation and distribution of the M&Ms, she had spent a lot of time around the eight heroes since their monumental flight and soon one of them brought Robin a bag of M&Ms to be shared among her and the eight pilots. The young Lyncardi were intrigued by the new arrivals and became fascinated when she would film them and play it back for the youngsters to see. The little hams were having a ball doing pretend swordfights and mock Jxansa Gha battles while the film crew videoed the charade. The youngest of the Lyncardi crawled up in Robin’s lap while they watched the hilarious antics of their friends on film. When it was finally time to leave, several of the children arrived with two bags that were moving and two more that were not. Robin had been warned about the contents of each and gave hugs of gratitude to the delighted youngsters. Back on board the Dragon Wagon, the centipedes and grubs were handed to Tim; Robin spent the flight back to Verron looking at the shiny rocks. In frustration, she sighed and handed them to Queen Tala, saying, “I just can’t accept them. Better put them in the treasury with the others before I change my mind.” Tala looked at her Uncle Paul and knew that Robin would not leave Verron empty handed.

  The day had come for the film crew to return to Earth. One of the Marines in charge of the computers and surveillance drones arrived just before they departed for the travel center and handed the head cameraman a case, saying, “A gift from Prince Chase. He told me to tell you he never breaks a promise and that complete operational instructions are on the red flash-drive. Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you, the case is made of Verron Steel. You could drop it out of a plane at 50,000 feet and not hurt the equipment.” With that he was gone. The crew gave Robin and Tim hugs and hand-shakes and she gave them last minute instructions for editing the hours and hours of footage. Her last instructions were, “None of this is to go on the air until I return and OK it; I don’t care what the producers say. This is my material and I have journalistic control over it. I don’t want anyone taking anything out of context or showing anything that could hurt Verron in any way.”

  As the three crew members stepped through the gateway back to Mississippi and their awaiting transportation to Atlanta, Georgia, an excited Robin and Tim were following King Verron for the short walk across the City Square to the J. Verron Medical Center. This time they were greeted by Dr. Verron, King Paul’s older brother, who looked like he should still be in medical school. Paul handed the anxious couple over to Dr. Joe and told them he would see them in a week. Within a half hour both Robin and Tim were sound asleep in the rejuvenation chambers.

  Paul had been so busy that he had not had time to get his security updates from Lucy for a couple of days. Tala had told him about the reaction of Major General Johnson and Brigadier General Lawson when she returned to Earth with the two Interceptors and his four pilot’s in training. He had to notify the Pentagon about the missing multi-billion dollar aircraft and needless to say General Dorsey was not happy. When Johnson began to reprimand Tala and Katelyn for recklessly endangering the property of the United States, Tala looked him in the face and said, “You need to take a chill-pill General. Those two ships cost peanuts compared to any one of the hundred thousand ships that were being flown into that war and if they got damaged I’d give you a new one to replace it. Besides, you now have four of the most highly trained Interceptor pilots on Earth. Three men and one woman, who have actually used the ship to its full capacity in a war against an alien military more powerful than all the forces on Earth combined. These four should be decorated heroes. How many other U.S. Military fliers have experience or intelligence reports like them?” Brad handed the two General’s a flash-drive with the data loop from the two Interceptors. About two hours later the four pilots were put on a plane to Washington DC to brief the Joint Chiefs.

  When Hunter arrived back on the USS Carl Vinson, the Admiral in command of the aircraft carrier was at first relieved that his top secret crew were safe, then went ballistic when he found out where they had been. He chastised Hunter for engaging the special unit in an unauthorized combat without even bothering to get approval from his superiors. Hunter listened quietly and when the Admiral finished his tirade, he calmly informed the Admiral, “When it comes to those Transports and the members of the Terrorist Elimination Unit, I am the superior. If you have any doubt about my complete authority, perhaps you should call President Hensley. I have him on my speed-dial if you’d like to talk to him. Besides, my unit onboard this ship and the other stationed in the U.S. were in point of fact fighting terrorists.” Hunter turned his com-unit around to face the Admiral. On the visual screen was a picture of an angry Volvs with blood dripping from his mouth and a severed human limb in his hand with a big bite taken out of it. The Admiral almost threw-up. Hunter smiled and said, “Wouldn’t you consider this a terrorist?” The Admiral turned and exited quickly to keep from getting sick. Within hours of their return, the members of the unit were debriefed by secure conference call by the CIA and Defense Department. Director Sullivan was considering developing a special award for recognition of these men and their fight against terror no matter where it occurred.

  NASA Director William Eichelman held his tongue while Admiral Samantha Sullivan and her crew filled him in on where they had been for the past three days instead of on Mars. The crew from Verron was present for the meeting and although the Director wanted to fire the lot of them, he knew that Admiral Sullivan had already passed along flash-drives filled with intelligence reports to both her husband and President Hensley. He was calm on the outside but steaming with anger at the priceless Space Shuttle being taken into a war zone with a crew of astronauts and scientists. Then when Samantha showed him how the ship had been used for humanitarian relief of a planet that had just lost millions of people, he saw a P.R. bonanza in the making. In hours he had his publicity department cut and paste a commercial using the footage of the devastated Darsai being unloaded on their war torn planet. With a statement that NASA isn’t just about science, it’s about people. There was a separate ad for people from Earth who wanted to offer humanitarian aid to the war torn Darsai. Within a couple of days millions of dollars had been donated to the Disaster on Darsai. NASA suddenly had a new public image and parlayed that good will for additional funding for the space program. Next on the agenda was a commercial showing the Space Shuttle being loaded with thousands of pallets of food and clothing to be transported to the war torn planet 80,000 light-years away. The Director intended to make the trip himself. The Verron crew knew that all the extra attention for NASA was also benefiting Darsai, so 99 agreed to form a gateway for the Shuttle to deliver the aid package. Crews from four news agencies were on hand to film the entire humanitarian effort.

  Seeing the NASA humanitarian aid package being delivered inspired Paul to do something to help Darsai. He sent out notification to his allies and within a couple of days the response was far above anything he expected. Klelta sent construction crews to help rebuild the damaged cities and to expand the housing to accommodate what was about to become a population explosion on Darsai. Mahala and Dalhia discussed the plight of the Nation of Darsai and since it was now a wholly owned protectorate of Verron, scheduled a meeting with King Verron and General Zarman. By the time their discussion was over it was agreed that Xhondar I would solicit volunteers from their drastically overpopulated planet to colonize Darsai. There was tremendous agricultural potential for producing food that could be sold to all three Xhondars. Modernization was imperative and entire cities would be constructed using local and Xhondarian labor. Dalhia and General Zarman agreed to establish two joint military bases on Darsai, with Verron and Xhondar
military in a much greater number and much better equipped. Mahala had no issue with King Verron being the owner and ruler of the planet. The two had been working so well together for the past several years, they both knew the plan was a winner for everyone involved. The two rulers estimated that within two years the population of Darsai would easily double. There were plenty of Xhondarians seeking the call of adventure, especially since Paul Verron had turned the status quo of Xhondar upside down.

  Duke Boris Abarnikov sat mostly silent during the meeting, allowing the leaders of the two most powerful Nations in the Universe to decide his fate. Finally, he began to cry, saying, “If only all this could have been done earlier, my Tiffanis and my little Vicktor would still be alive. I pray nothing like this will ever happen again. I will give all my support to make your plans successful. My people need something positive in their lives and this is it.”