Serve and Protect

by Douglas Varnell

  Paul decided to fly the President of Russia back to the Putin Palace personally. He escorted him down to the hanger bay and they climbed into the Light Destroyer. He headed out in the general direction of Beriya-Haven to allow the President to see the largest man-made planet in the Universe. He then made a gateway back to the Milky Way Galaxy and a fly-over of Grnardo. As he looked on in awe, Putin couldn’t believe these people lived so close to Earth all these years and no one ever knew it. Paul then made a quick stop at the Mars Space Center where President Putin was warmly greeted by Russian astronauts and scientists from Verron and given a brief tour of their research projects. Then it was back to his home and family.

  It was nearly two in the morning when Paul landed on the helicopter pad behind the palace. A dozen security officers raced to the ship to escort their president back inside and out of the heavy rain. Paul lifted off and in a flash was on his way back to Verron. A few days later President Putin was invited to send some of his Spetsnaz to Verron to undergo the same commando training that was given to the Terrorist Elimination Unit and an offer to purchase body armor for his troops in the training program. If Mr. Putin was going to be sending his men into terrorist camps in the countries surrounding Russia, Paul did not want there to be any casualties among those committed to the same cause as he was getting injured. Little-by-little imports and exports began to take place between the countries and Renee even began offering Verron flights once a month out of Moscow. Soon it became once a week flights. With a large portion of the Verron population being Russian born, there was a great deal of interest from those back in Russia to see just what Verron was all about. Just over 10% of the Russian visitors were rejected and their money refunded because of subversive motives in their trip to Verron; no one could comprehend how the customs people at Verron could so clearly determine those with wrong intentions for traveling there.

  Everything was not perfect between the two countries. Russian tourists hated the fact that there was no hard liquor sold on Verron and many of the men were disturbed that there were no strip clubs or pornography on the planet. Tourists who were looking for drinking, gambling or prostitution were quickly bored on Verron. On the up side, many men with drinking problems came to Verron and took the cure, returning home sober and healthy. Soon the anti-addiction injections were offered in Russia as they were in most of Europe. The Vodka industry was taking a beating, never in the history of the country had there been so many sober Russians. As a gesture of peace, President Putin asked King Verron to help him dispose of hundreds of nuclear weapons stored in various locations across the continent. No one wanted the weapons in the hands of terrorists or radical dictators, and disposing of nuclear waste was virtually impossible, until Verron came along. Warheads were separated from missiles and used for target practice with 9mm whitematter rounds. One-by-one the Russian nuclear arsenal dwindled down to an acceptable level with no residual radiation or long term contamination to the destruction area. Missiles that were outdated and could longer serve any useful purpose were scrapped and the materials recycled for more peaceful uses.

  The number of Russian’s now on Mars had increased to 500. Other than on Earth, it was Russia’s largest outpost. Total population of Mars had reached 6,000 and the domed cities could be seen from Earth if the telescope was powerful enough. While Russia was prospering from their new relationship with Verron those countries that were not were getting more and more concerned. China and her allies were the most concerned from a political and military point of view and the Islamic countries were concerned because of their religious expansion being curtailed. The rest of the Earth was still trying to address the economic disadvantages of not being allied with Verron.

  President Hensley and his chief of staff and life-long friend Clarence Malone were going to be very busy working as diplomats for King Verron. They had agreed upon the arrangement right after the November election of Luka “the Bazooka” O’Neal as President of the United States of America. As soon as the key to the kingdom was passed on to the new President, both men were planning to take-up residence on Verron. They were looking forward to them and their wives going through rejuvenation. Paul assured them, jokingly, saying, “No old man would be able to keep up the pace of what I’m going to expect from you two.” Then he let them know, “We have very long days on Verron and long weeks. There is plenty of time for rest and relaxation and we have some of the best fishing and golf available.” President Hensley laughed and told Paul, “Golf, fishing – phooey, I want to try out one of those flying suites your Dragon Guard had my kids flying around in.” Paul knew he was going to enjoy working with this man. He then wondered what other changes were going to take place in Washington with a new President and a very liberal Senate and House. There was something to be said about the Russians having a lifetime appointment of President Putin. At least there was stability in the government instead of the free-for-all that took place every four years in the states. President Hollanda had intended to come to Verron, but he died of a massive stroke. Paul regretted that he had not offered the man rejuvenation sooner, he would have been able to prevent it, but he knew he couldn’t fix dead. That was still God’s job, not his.

  Chapter 30

  Luka “the Bazooka” O’Neal looked impressive at his inaugural ceremony in front of the Western face of the United States Capital. He wanted to follow the tradition of Barak Obama and used the Western front instead of the Eastern front of the Capital building for the big event. Luka would now officially take the record for the tallest U.S. President away from Abraham Lincoln at 6 feet 4 inches, with his 6 foot 6 inch height. With his height and 270 pounds of well-proportioned muscle, the 53 year-old President stood out among those around him. Even his wife of 30 years, and former Penn State women’s basketball and volleyball star, stood taller than everyone else at 6 foot 1 inches and wearing three inch heels. Luka was sworn in on the Koran. He was the first in history to do so, but the United States had been indoctrinated for the past 40 years about religious tolerance and no one seemed to have a problem with it. The people of the United States assumed that any man in the White House was sworn to look out of the best interest of the people of the United States, without regard to race, religion, national origin or sexual orientation. Everyone was shocked that the Muslim President had a gay running-mate for Vice-President. She had also been married in 2015 when the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages. With a Black man that was more popular than Denzel Washington and a lesbian Hispanic woman on the Democratic ticket, it was a sure thing to win the votes of those who used to be the minority. Only, now, with so many people moving to Verron, there were a lot fewer white voters than ever before. As a whole, they were still the largest single race in the U.S., but represented only 40% of the overall population, with Hispanic, Black, and Orientals now dominating the overall population. After hearing Luka’s inaugural speech, Paul believed there would soon be even more whites who decided to call Verron home.

  Within his first month in office, the new President cleaned house. Every single appointed position in Washington was soon replaced by Luka appointees, even the minority members appointed by Hensley; they just didn’t work well with Luka’s way of doing things. Some of the Joint Chiefs had already retired and now a few more resigned to enjoy their retirement without the headaches of politics. CIA Director George Sullivan was replaced because of his position on fighting terrorism instead of leaving it to the political negotiators to find peaceful solutions. Paul offered him a job as his security chief in Success, Mississippi but he chose to remain at Annapolis and become a member of the Naval Academy teaching staff. Admiral Samantha Sullivan resigned from NASA when Luka appointed his new choice for Director. She did accept a job from Paul to coordinate the release of technology to the aerospace and aviation industries. The Transportation Secretary, Director of Homeland Security, FDA Director and the U.S. Attorney General were next to leave town.

  The U.S. National Security Advisor actually believed she was
safe; she was after-all a black woman and went to Penn State with Luka. But her conservative views were very well known. She did accept Paul’s offer as security director at his Success facility and wasted no time vacating her apartment in the prestigious Watergate Apartments and taking up residence in her much nicer apartment in the Verron Tower. She and her husband spent their first week of her employment on Verron undergoing rejuvenation. The 60 year-old Mr. Brice and his 54 year-old wife Susan, looked great together and were ready to take on the world. Mr. Brice was a Chemical Engineer from MIT and began working at Verron Chemical and Refinery. Not wanting to lose the expertise of one of his most trusted friends, Paul kept George Sullivan on a retainer as a consultant. No one knew the operation of the CIA like George Sullivan.

  On the U.S. domestic front, it only took a few months for things to begin affecting Verron. A bill was introduced to levy heavier taxes on everything imported to and exported from Verron. Proposals were also in place to eliminate the corporate and property tax break incentives being given by various state governments for factories and warehouses being built in their states. The new Transportation Secretary was looking for loopholes in the regulations governing the operation of the new trucks hauling freight across North America and even across the Gulf of Mexico to South America. He was initially going to try and put a moratorium on the number of trucks allowed and had already put the proposal for cross-Atlantic freight hauling on hold. The new Attorney General was asked to see if the deal made by President Hensley allowing Verron to hold sovereign properties inside the United States was within the rights of the previous President and Congress. Luka wanted more than anything to nationalize everything Verron. The FDA, under pressure from the Pharmaceutical industry, was considering a ban on Verron medicine and medical treatments and the Department of Immigration was taking a serious look at restricting travel and immigration to Verron.

  Although every industry established by Paul in the United States maintained a ratio of diversity reflective of the National population mix, there were still those who claimed racial bias and filed suits against many of his companies. His Park Avenue Condominium was now daily surrounded by protestors and the other residents in his building and surrounding buildings were beginning to complain. After discussing it with Leona and Donald, Paul gave the Mansion to the Gang Prevention and Intervention Foundation to be auctioned off and the funds used to support the foundation. He had spent exactly three nights in the mansion. Leona and Donald returned to their smaller condo overlooking Central Park and built a house on Verron to be close to their children and grandchildren. Even Paul’s philanthropy was criticized by those who felt he could have put the money for the mansion to better uses.

  It took most of a year before the new President began to get involved in international policies and in particular the U.S. position on fighting terrorism no matter where it was throughout the world. Every single mission planed by Major General Hunter Verron-Hall had to be approved by the new CIA Director and the President. Instead of quick response missions being executed several times per week, they found themselves sitting around the ship for days at a time with nothing to do. The new President was attempting to mend broken relations with the Arab countries and only allowed strikes in places where it was blatantly obvious there were terrorist activities and even then he often wanted the problem to be contained instead of eliminated. The President was no fool, he had to appear tuff on terrorism, so he made use of every press release he could get covering the defeat of terrorist cells and training camps, but he no longer allowed the hit squads to target terrorist leaders on a moment’s notice when their location was revealed and confiscation of properties had to be handled through the Justice Department and the local governments where finances were being seized. It was a slow and inefficient process and funds were usually transferred before they could be taken.

  Many of the Arab leaders petitioned the courts to have their funds returned and President O’Neal usually did a quick review of the request submitted without consulting his terrorist team and returned the funds. Qatar and Saudi Arabia were back in the black financially. Before long, half of those inside the CIA assigned to assist the Terrorist Elimination Unit were given other assignments. Hunter soon realized that the fight was now his to manage for as long as he was still allowed to do so. Not to be undone, Paul had Vlad increase his staff in Success to fill the void of the lower CIA participation. Vlad felt like he could produce just as good of intelligence reports as the CIA had been doing. Elizabeth Hudson resigned from the CIA and took a job with Susan Brice in Success; they both reported to Vlad and now had one of the best intelligence organizations on Earth.

  The situation wasn’t much better in France. Even though President Francois Hollanda was considered a Socialist President, he did more for France and her industrial and financial infrastructure than anyone had ever imagined. The new President Claude Robert was also from the Socialist party, but seemed to be diametrically opposed to everything Francois had done simply because Francois had done it. So far his proposals did not have any great effect on Verron activities, except everything Verron would now cost more, but with the increased taxes he proposed, everything in France would now cost more. Ursula was concerned that the French would tax her out of business. Luxury taxes were doubled and almost everything she manufactured or marketed was considered a luxury item. Her new husband was a real financial wizard and was finding all sorts of loopholes to keep them profitable, but most of France had the philosophy of taking from the rich and giving to the poor. The poor were primarily the Islamic immigrants who had relocated to France after fleeing war torn countries in the Middle East and Africa. The majority of these residents were simply people like those all over the World that were looking for a safe place to live and raise their families, but terrorist cells were once again beginning to flourish across France and terrorist activities were once again on the rise. The members of the French Foreign Legion on the Terrorist Elimination Unit had been ordered home and reassigned; most simply retired out of frustration, while half of them relocated to Verron.

  Of all places, Russia was the bright-spot now, as far as Verron activities were concerned. In a joint venture between Zil and Volga, Renee had organized a deal to build electric powered cars in Russia. In what will be the most modern production facility inside Russia, new private vehicles will be produced using Verron provided electric motors and power-supplies. The first vehicle off the line was a complete hand-built custom that looked exactly like the Volga V-12, which looked a lot like a 1955 Studebaker. With a 250 HP electric motor powering each wheel, it had 1000 HP to the ground and ran on a whitematter charged battery that would hold a charge for over 20 years. Paul had it built for President Putin who had one of the original Volga V-12. After seeing the unique vehicle, orders poured in from all over the world for one like it; for now the plant would be producing reasonable single motored cars with 120 to 200 HP and capable of operating for 10 years on a charge. The ultimate goal was to reduce pollution in Russia’s major cities. With vehicles like these, it would make a big step toward achieving that goal. Paul agreed to keep the pricing such that people could actually afford one and even set up a finance company to make it possible.

  President Putin’s real pride and joy was his BMW designed flying transport. It was exactly like the one used by Mr. Lawson in New York. He would fly it himself most of the time, but retained his Zil pilot to fly it when he had to work while riding. Besides, the Zil was armed, the BMW was not. The streets of Moscow were cleaner and safer than the streets of Paris or London. In fact crime was down by 40%. There was now a forcefield available over the concert venue in Gorky Central Park; now rain, snow or inclement weather would not curtail the people of Moscow from enjoying their outdoor activities. The weekly shuttle from Moscow to Verron was always full, not just of Russians, but also with other Europeans who decided it was easier to travel from Moscow than Mississippi to catch a flight.

  Hunter decided to assign one of his cloake
d Troop Transports to Russia for use of the Spetsnaz team that had been trained on Verron. At first the big tough commandoes were questioning a Major as youthful looking as Ibrihim being in charge of the unit, but soon realized he knew more about terrorist activities and how they thought and lived and operated than anyone they had ever met. They also quickly found that he was physically capable of outperforming any of them. Almost daily, the group was tasked for an assault somewhere in the countries bordering Russia.

  Paul was getting frustrated with seeing the progress he had been making in the United States eroded by the negativity of their new President. He was sitting in his office doing his dreaded paperwork when Inga entered his office and told him that a representative from the U.S. Attorney General’s office was there to see him. Paul wondered what kind of political posturing was about to take place. He thought, “Anytime you send out a lawyer to do a man’s job it can’t be anything good.” The attorney was a she. Juanita Gonzales Alverez was an attractive woman with dark black hair and big brown eyes, and Paul knew he could never compliment her for her good looks or it would be construed as a sexist remark. The woman had attitude written all over her face. Evidently having those Attorney General credentials had given her a tremendous superiority complex. When she entered Paul’s office, he rose to greet her and received a firm handshake and a neatly printed calling card with her name on it. She then removed her credentials from her inside coat pocket, complete with photo I.D. and a nice shiny badge. Paul was amused instead of impressed.