Serve and Protect

by Douglas Varnell

  During the next hour, the Pentagon, the Secretary of Defense and the Chinese Ambassador to Washington were in meetings trying to neutralize the incident. It was obvious from the video and communications that the United States Air Force had been fired on over International water and had only retaliated after numerous warnings to the Chinese ship and aircraft. It was also obvious that the Chinese Polit Bureau decision to allow the Chief of the General Staff to have control of their nuclear arsenal had been a bad mistake, along with their decision to give command of the 7th Fleet to Admiral Zheng. Soon the Chinese Ambassador was in a heated discussion with the Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. President Dorsey, in a rare phone conversation with the leader of the Chinese government, instructed the Chairman that he had two ships off his coast capable of leveling Beijing and Shang Hi in minutes. If he didn’t stand-down and issue an official apology for his renegade Chief of Staff’s decision or if he attempted to fire a single missile from the Chinese mainland, he would allow his two Interceptors to open fire. He also made a demand that all Chinese ships be pulled back to the internationally recognized territorial waters until the issue could be debated by the U.N. General Dorsey and the Chinese ambassador could tell by the look on his face that he was not bluffing. Katelyn and Tala hovered off the coast for almost two hours in anticipation of further action. As they sat there they observed dozens of Chinese Navy ships heading back to port and not one single aircraft was in the air from one end of the northern coast all the way to the southern tip of the mainland. President Hensley himself gave them the order to return to base, ending his command with, “Good job. You just saved the lives of millions of American. I doubt that anyone will ever know.”

  Over the next few days Katelyn and Tala did not do much flying. Called to Washington along with their crew members, they were interrogated over and over by the Joint Chiefs, Secretary of Defense and Senate Armed Forces Committee. Many were calling Katelyn a hothead and the one who started the entire incident, but General Dorsey pointed out that she did not violate the United States military rules of engagement and proved beyond a doubt that the new Interceptors worked as advertised. President Hensley wanted to give them both medals. For the first time in years the Chinese weren’t rattling their sabre and the U.S. was again considered the supreme world power. When it was finally over, both girls agreed to discontinue their affiliation with the Interceptor program. They were scheduled to complete the training in one more month anyway, so it seemed like a minor consolation for the Senators who were trying to act tuff. While Katelyn was glad to move on to her drug and gang taskforce, Tala was relieved to be able to be free to just race her motorcycle for a season without other conflicts. She was however depressed that she would no longer be at Area 51 with Brad.

  Paul Verron had a secret meeting with President Hensley and his staff. They acknowledged the girls as heroes and the aircraft supplied by Verron a great success. Two more ships were ordered by the U.S. Air Force. The fact that the ICBMs got so close was enough to decide to place one Interceptor on each border. Brad was assigned as a trainer for the additional flight crews. Paul left Washington to make overdue visits to France, Germany, England, Israel and Australia. Each country placed orders for Interceptors of their own. No one doubted the validity of the Interceptor program, especially not the Chinese.

  Chapter 23

  Brad’s parents did not make the trip to Infineon Raceway to meet Tala. They had a doubles tennis tournament at the club that weekend and simply could not get away. They did however swear they would attend the race at Leguna Seca/Mazda Raceway two weeks later. Brad figured they had run out of excuses with the track only ten miles from the house. Tala made a short trip back to Verron before returning to the race at Infineon. She and Elena once again acquired the pole positions on the grid and Tala just barely edged Elena on the hole-shot. This time the race was not quite as close between the girls and Tala crossed the line a full two bike lengths ahead of her teammate. Third place was a good 100 yards farther behind. Now the two women were tied at 75 points apiece, in two weeks Laguna Seca. Tala was more worried about meeting Brad’s parents than she was the race. Katelyn was relieved to be on Verron property instead of Area 51. She really did hate the desert and the South Mississippi location was lush and fertile, but then she realized how much she missed the mountains. From her 8th floor apartment she could see for miles, it was so flat. She and Bart were spending a lot of time together planning raids on drug cartel compounds and drug manufacturing facilities. For now, their activities were going to be outside the continental United States. While she was still in Area 51, Bart was given access to Lucy. Between her computing power and an illegal computer hacker Bart had made a deal with, they had managed to hack into several of the cartel bank accounts and move their funds to a slush fund to be used to help finance the operation. Katelyn was in awe of this fat-man with long greasy hair and bad-breath. “Zack the Hack” was a legend in the world of hacking and Bart had busted him. On a plea deal he had agreed to assist Bart in his off the books operation. There was already $942,000,000 that would no longer be used by the drug cartels and that someone would be blamed for taking. Bart and Katelyn were waiting to see who would be blamed for the loss. It made their job much easier when the cartels were killing-off their own people.

  It was time for summer break at the Air Force Academy and Princess Amber Verron-Hall was a nervous wreck. On this break, instead of Robert going home with her to Verron, she was going home with Robert to meet his parents. He had already asked her to marry him while snow skiing on Verron, but he planned to make the official announcement at his mother’s annual spring garden party at their estate on Long Island. Robert’s father was the 8th richest man in the United States and owned a 40,000 square foot mansion that had been in his family for five generations. Looking a lot like the majestic Oheka Mansion, the French Chateaux estate home was built in 1918 on 74 acres of prime property on Long Island. Robert Lawson Senior had completely renovated the home when he acquired it from his father and spent millions to modernize every aspect of the home. He and his wife moved to their winter home in West Palm Beach during the two year renovation. This party was a combined celebration of his mother’s birthday, the beginning of spring and an open house for those who wanted to see their newly renovated home. In addition, his mother had always used her birthday as a fund raising event. Instead of gifts, people made charitable donations to her favorite charity. This year’s charity was the Gang Prevention and Intervention Foundation. Now here was Amber about to be presented in public at the biggest social event of the year on Long Island. She really just wanted to go home and ride her horse or go flying with the Dragon Guard. She loved Robert more than life itself, but she was not too thrilled about being put on display. The big event was in 3 days and Amber decided to go home to get her Mother’s help in preparing for it. Renee was the ultimate social butterfly and as Director of Commerce for the Nation of Verron, she had plenty of experience in tense political situations with powerful and rich people.

  When Amber stepped into the kitchen of the Hacienda, Renee was spreading the cream cheese on her bagel and drinking a Diet Coke, a habit she picked-up from her Dad. She had not been expecting Amber, but had grown used to her kids just popping in and out of the house. Amber walked to the table and helped herself to the other half of her Mom’s cinnamon and raisin bagel. As she spread cream cheese on her half of bagel, she began, “Mom, I need your help. I’m scared to death about meeting Bobbie’s parents and especially about this big social event of the season he plans to use to announce our engagement. These people are rich high society types and I know we’re rich and all, but not like his family. Did you know Mr. Lawson is the 8th richest man in America? He owns banks and brokerage houses and technology companies and who knows what else. I feel like I’m gonna stick out like a sore thumb and embarrass Robert.” Amber stood up. She was wearing a pair of Faded Glory jeans, a sleeveless denim top and some Justin Boots with turqu
oise trim, her hair was in a ponytail pulled through the back of her favorite Air Force Academy cap and she didn’t have on a bit of make-up. She was beautiful. She asked, “Look at me Mom, do I look high society to you. This is who I am. How do I blend into a crowd of bankers, doctors, lawyers and Long Island rich?” Renee finished her bagel and thought a minute as she looked at her daughter who had never really been exposed to the sort of crowd she was about to walk into and used her Motherly wisdom and years of experience to solve the child’s dilemma, she smiled and said, “First things first. I believe the best place to begin is to go shopping.”

  Amber was a blue jeans and T-shirt kind of girl. Even when she dressed-up for church on Sabbath, she often wore dress pants or an occasional skirt and blouse. Since joining the Dragon Guard, most of the time she and the others were in their commando gray uniforms and boots. Renee made a call to Zirtouni Schmidt and by the time she and Amber arrived at his department store there were four ladies awaiting their arrival, a seamstress, a fashion consultant, a make-up consultant and a manicurist. Amber was measured and re-measured and tried on dozens of formal and semi-formal dresses. With each one, Renee would nod her head yes or no and rarely waited for Amber’s opinion. The seamstress folded, tucked and pinned to make each outfit fit to perfection. Then while being consulted by the make-up specialist, she was given a manicure and pedicure. Thankfully the licensed cosmetologist only offered advice on how to accent Amber’s already beautiful natural features, eye liner, lip gloss and a bit of blush was all that was required to give her a complete transformation. The German cosmetologist continued to mumble, “I wish everyone was this easy. I usually don’t have a base this good to work with.” A hair dresser arrived soon after and looked at Amber’s thick auburn hair and only made recommendations on ways to wear it. He was not about to start cutting on such a nice head of hair. By the time Amber and Renee left Zirtouni, she was beginning to realize that all that separated her from those folks on Long Island was a few hundred thousand dollars-worth of clothes and a lot of attitude.

  They stopped by to visit Amber’s Father and Grandfather before going home. Amber had traded her jeans and sleeveless shirt for a flower-print sundress and a pair of sandals. Instead of her usual ponytail, she wore her hair up and the slight amount of make-up made her green eyes shine like beacons. Inga didn’t recognize her when she and Renee entered. In fact if she hadn’t been standing next to a woman that looked just like her, she would not have known her. Inga opened Paul’s office door and didn’t care if she interrupted his meeting with General Hall and Vlad. She simply said, “Someone here to see General Hall.” Amber walked in first and all three men rose from their chairs in amazement. General Hall swallowed hard at seeing his little girl all grown-up and wearing a dress and everything. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen her not in pants and boots or running shorts and sneakers. Amber twirled and asked, “What do you think. Will Robert’s family approve?” In his usual serious manner, Justice replied, “If they don’t, I’ll nuke ‘em.” Amber gave her Dad and Grandfather a hug and began talking, admitting, “I really want to make a good impression on Robert’s family. He has invited me home with him for summer break and plans to announce our engagement at the biggest social event on Long Island. Grandpa, I know your rich, but you never act like it and even if your house is bigger than the Lawson hundred year-old mansion it never felt like anyplace but home. Robert’s Dad is super rich and one of the most well-known and powerful men in New York, probably even in all the United States. I’d rather be riding my horse or going for a run with the Dragon Guard than attending this thing. How is a girl from a middle-class family born to a soldier stationed in Germany ever going to convince these people I’m something I’m not?”

  Paul smiled and looked at his friend of over 30 years, Justice Hall. He and Justice were both born and raised Southern boys and knew it was a little intimidating to socialize with people whose entire life revolved around whom their friends were, what parties they were invited too and how much money they had. Amber really had no idea how to pretend she was something she was not, even when she had far more than all those people she was trying to impress. Paul looked at his Granddaughter and began with one word, “Attitude. You have to go into that place knowing you are smarter, richer and have more on the ball than anyone in the room. Don’t ever let others make you feel inferior. Stand-up and be proud of who you are.” Justice added, “And be confident of the fact that if they give you a hard time you can always vaporize them.” Amber shook her head and smiled at her Dad’s way of encouraging. Paul continued, saying, “First off, I think we need to make sure you know just who you are and that those rich and famous people who will attend this party have nothing on you. First of all, none of them have your ability to command an Air Force of over 200,000 ships, and for certain none of them can match your other skills. You’re smarter, stronger and better looking than any of them and although we don’t flaunt it around here, you are very rich. Come let me show you something.”

  Paul broke-up his meeting and decided to escort Renee, Justice and Amber to a part of Mountain City they had never seen before. They took the elevator to the hanger level and walked to the large freight elevator that continued to the lower levels. After going through the security procedures, the elevator door opened and they headed down almost another mile under Mountain City. Exiting into the large corridor, Paul escorted them to the huge steel door on his right and went through the entire security procedure again. He opened the door, but had Amber walk through ahead of himself and the others. She immediately gasped and put her hands over her mouth. Then lowered them to her side and turned saying, “You’ve got to be kidding me! How rich are you Grandpa?” Paul smiled and replied, “When this one got full, we had to start storing stuff under the mountain where we store the whitematter and nukes. There’s just about as much there now as we have here. I’m not totally certain how rich I am, but I wouldn’t let Bill Gates or any world government make me feel inferior. Now here’s the part you need to know, but please don’t let this go to your head, this is all mine and I use it for the betterment of the people of Verron and her allies. I could flaunt it like those folks back on Earth, but I see no need to flaunt, I’m perfectly satisfied just watching others do that while I know that its peanuts compared to what I have. As third in line as heir to the throne this is partly yours, or at least any of it that you want. I trust your wisdom to never waste any of it, but I never expect you to do without anything you need. So when you go to that party, I want you to walk in knowing you could buy that Long Island Mansion and never even miss the money. Just let them strut and brag and smile as you listen.”

  Amber gave Paul a hug and walked towards the side of the warehouse with the cabinets filled with drawers, as she opened one, asking, “What’s in these?” She stepped back as she looked in on a drawer full of thousands of beautiful green emeralds. Saying, “I should have known.” Renee patted her Dad on the back, saying, “You’ve been holding out on me.” Justice commented, “I want a raise.” Paul smiled and told them, “You would just spend it shopping and you are already paid more than your worth.” Both knew he was only half joking and made no comment. Paul removed a large emerald and handed it to Amber, then paused and tossed two more, one to Renee and one to Justice, saying, “Let’s get out of here.”

  Two days later Amber was back for her final fitting on the dresses and other outfits being adjusted by the seamstress and dress designer. She was standing in front of a mirror in an off-the-shoulder cream colored mid-thigh dress while wearing her Air Force Academy ball cap with her ponytail stuck through the back, when Hunter entered the fitting room. The first words out of his mouth were, “If Ursula could see that outfit she may start a whole new line in the Paris Spring Fashion Show. The caps a nice touch, it brings out the real you.” Amber had not seen Hunter for a while and hurried to give him a hug, informing him, “I’m a nervous wreck about this engagement announcement thing and this stupid party. I see now w
hy Mom and Dad eloped to Arkansas. Don’t I look stupid in this stuff?” Hunter laughed, “Maybe it will look better if you lose the Air Force cap and accessorize a bit. Have you been to see Robert yet? His jewelry could even make you look good. People will be staring at the gems around your neck and ignore your ugly face.” Amber threw a shoe at him, saying, “If you haven’t noticed, I look like a prettier version of you.” Hunter grinned and replied, “You wish, but I think that with the right dress and accessories you may do just fine, just be careful not to speak to anyone. They’ll discover immediately what an egg-head you are. Try to talk about senseless stuff, like fashion, politics or golf or something. I doubt the people there will have a clue what you’re talking about if you start talking about the physics of a warp-drive or teleportation. It might be a bit over their head. Keep it simple.” Amber paused a minute and asked, “Come with me. There will no doubt be plenty of gorgeous single women there. Please! You can kill a few extra terrorist when you get back to make up for a couple of days off.” Hunter shook his head at her comment and informed her, “I gave the entire team a week off. They have been working hard and heavy on two continents and needed a break. Chase, Daniel and Ibrihim are home as well. Maybe I will come and watch you try to walk in those six inch heels. I bet they picked the short dress so you wouldn’t step all over a long one. Remember when you fell down the steps before the school dance when you tripped on the hymn of your dress?” As he laughed, Amber pushed him out the door, saying, “I need to change into the other outfits. Get lost. I’ll see you at home.”