Verron_Serve and Protect

by Douglas Varnell

When Hunter entered the restricted area designated for the TEU, there were several concerned faces among his men. They had never seen Hunter as angry. As a rule, he was easy going and good natured and had a smile on his face. None of that was there today. He gathered his commanding officers and made an announcement, “At 2401 we will be making the largest assault on Somalia that they have ever experienced. We will not be doing a surgical strike tonight. If we must take out a building, they can build another. If the terrorists decide to hide behind innocent civilians, then the responsibility for their death is on them, not on us. I have already commanded that all available surveillance resources be repositioned over Somalia and the CIA is re-tasking their available satellites. King Verron will be joining us in the air with a dozen Verron Fighters. Our weapons recognition targeting system will be used. If it has a weapon, it will cease to exist.” He pulled open a map of Somalia, saying, “We will have half the unit begin to the north in Caluula and the other half will enter from the south in Kismaayo. King Verron’s troops will come in from the border of Kenya and Ethiopia; they will also patrol the shore for any Somali pirates. When we reach Mogadishu I intend to destroy every stronghold, arsenal, military vehicle and weapon in the city and I don’t care if that weapon is a pocket knife. A lot of people are going to die tonight and the men need to know it. You’re dismissed. Have your men bring double their usual ammo load.”

  Everyone left the room except Major Bentley. He stood there silent for a while then asked, “What set you off? We owe it to the men to tell them.” Hunter had watery eyes as he looked up and told him, “The bastards almost killed my Aunt Marie, my mother’s sister. She has spent her entire life helping people. She was in the refugee camp when al-Shabaab managed to get an assassin inside. He stabbed her three time before a Marine killed him. She almost died and would have had King Paul not insisted on them having a regeneration unit onboard their ship. This madness has got to stop, beginning tonight.” Bentley quietly saluted and left Hunter to himself. Soon, one hundred angry soldiers were preparing to purge Somalia of the cancer that was killing their country. They had all met Marie while on Verron; her dimpled smile and kind words were remembered by each of them.

  At 2401, the sky surrounding Somalia boomed with sonic explosions of a dozen Class X Fighters and a dozen Light Destroyers from Verron, along with two troop transports from the USS Carl Vinson. King Verron led the Verron assault and decided there was no need for stealth; he wanted them to know who came to visit. Every member of the Dragon Guard, even the four new members, was in the air. Ilna was in a Light Destroyer with Pavel, Metsis in one with Chase, Lydia was with Amber and Ibrihim was with Daniel; Somalia was about to be sterilized. Nearly a dozen boats were quickly targeted and left no debris to pollute the ocean when they vanished in a flash of light, the Fighters then headed for a sweep of the coast. Coming in from Kenya and Ethiopia, the Verron spaceships were guided by targeting drones that had been sweeping the country since early the previous evening. The assault team took their time and systematically targeted even individuals in the middle of the desert, trucks, jeeps, APC, tanks, aircraft, training camps and storage facilities disappeared one after another as the Verron assault force worked its way across the barren land and thick forests that were between them and Mogadishu. Any al-Shabaab leader identified was on the hit list, armed or unarmed. It took over six hours of continuous targeting to work their way to the final destination. They timed it perfectly. Hunter’s two teams of commandoes entered from the North and the South of the city. Half of King Verron’s aircraft surrounded the city to eliminate anything that tried to leave. The other half literally flew the streets and by-ways of the Mogadishu, taking out one target after another. The Terrorist Elimination Team took heavy fire, but this was not 1993 and though they were definitely outnumbered, they were not running in fear for their lives, they were taking the fight directly to the heaviest concentration of enemy weapons, eliminating them one by one from the roof-tops, balconies and doorways of the city and killing dozens at a time if they were foolish enough to try and dig-in and hold their position like they did at their headquarters and several armories. The sun was high in the morning sky when the gunfire ceased and Mogadishu fell quiet. The commandoes boarded their transports and headed back out to the Vinson. The assault team from Verron thundered through a gateway in one last sonic boom as they departed for home. Just before he left the Earth’s atmosphere, Paul Verron called his old acquaintance, U.N. Ambassador Harold Braun and told him, “You need to send in a U.N. Peace Keeping Team to Somalia. It should be very safe for them now, there is some major restructuring needed. I doubt you’ll encounter much resistance.”

  Paul offered to have Desiree and her team brought home, but she was as stubborn as her father and refused to be kept from what she came there to do. He did however send in an additional 100 Marines and four Fighters to patrol Kenya and the surrounding borders. There was very little activity. Most of the terrorists encountered inside Kenya were headed out of the country, seeking safety in Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda or Tanzania. Little did they know that those countries were next on the list of Colonel Hunter Hall and his TEU. Somalia and Kenya were like a new world. The citizens of Somalia walked streets no longer filled with machinegun bearing trucks or armed gangs pushing their way through the streets. There was a great deal of mourning for the thousands who had disappeared in the day long attack. Crowds gathered to look into the deep holes left behind where the al-Shabaab had once housed its headquarters. The residents of the cities across Somalia were puzzled that with all the people obviously dead and gone, there was very little property damage and no bodies littered the streets. Of course there was an outcry from other Islamic Nations and King Verron was accused of singling out Muslims and Blacks. Others got on the bandwagon, and by the day after the cleansing of Somalia there were protests against his brutality and dozens of political groups demanded sanctions and retribution. A request was made by the U.N. for King Verron to appear before the U.N. Security Council for an Inquiry. He politely turned them down and suggested that they simply replay his speech made at the U.N., his position had not changed, nor would it. His only quoted statement came from the only reporter he bothered to speak with, Robin Meade. In a very brief phone interview he told her of the attack of al-Shabaab on his daughter giving medical aid in Kenya, and that she almost died. Then he stated, “What happened in Somalia will happen to any country or organization that attacks Verron or her allies. There will be no compromise or negotiation.” That statement was played over the world in fifty different languages. Everyone knew exactly what his position was.

  Kenya was protesting the fact that Verron had invaded their country by sending in so many heavily armed troops. Paul didn’t even bother to discuss the issue with the Kenyan government. He had Desiree tell the local political leaders, who were no longer getting their payoffs and kick-backs from selling food and medicine donated by charitable organizations, “If the soldiers leave, our entire medical team, food supplies, construction workers and every form of aid from Verron leaves with them.” About a week later, the existing government was overthrown in both Kenya and Somalia and new democratic governments established.

  The U.N. now had Peacekeepers in both Kenya and Somalia to assure a peaceful transition from the old socialist government to the newly formed democratic one. The healthiest of the refugees were beginning to return home from Kenya to Somalia. This time they did not have to walk. The Verron Marines used their troop transports to shuttle families and their belongings home to their abandoned farms and villages. None went home empty handed, but had enough food supplied them to last for at least a month. When a few rebel groups began to pop-up around Kenya and Somalia and fundamental Islamist began to bully people in the smaller villages, King Verron decided to make a show of support to the U.N. Ten thousand Verron Marines spread out across the two Nations to shadow the U.N. teams. Their presence was so intimidating that the Peacekeepers soon found their job to be much easier. The citizens were
puzzled by the fact that these scary men in body armor brought food, water and medical aide to every place they visited and even helped several families rebuild their homes or provided temporary shelter for them. The biggest shock of all came when Princess Marie Parks came out of the regeneration chamber. To the protests of her husband, mother, King Verron and her sisters, she split the aide team in half. Another freighter arrived with enough serum and medical supplies to set-up a center on the outskirts of Mogadishu. Needless to say, it was surrounded by both United Nations Peacekeepers and Verron Marines. Both Marie and Desiree were constantly accompanied by a bodyguard and neither ever ignored wearing their forcefield again.

  As soon as King Verron decided that both countries were stable enough to begin developing simple economic growth, he increased the presence of the construction crews installing water and energy systems, hiring the locals for the work. Unknown to anyone except Paul’s closest confidant, primarily Zimuel and Dalhia, he had been scouting out technology used on other planets that could be easily incorporated into his aide to Earth. The three Xhondars, Tecalna and Klelta had offered to supply technology to Earth in the form of aide when Verron began to make it more stable. Exactly one month from the Verron Invasion, as it was being called, an R-4 hovered off the coast of both Mogadishu Somalia and Mombasa Kenya. Both were greeted by construction and engineering crews from their own Nation. The R-4s delivered the most advanced desalinization plants ever seen on Earth, an item of common use for thousands of years on Xhondar II, which had no source of fresh water except salty oceans. Each of these desalinization water pumping and purification facilities was capable of pumping 3 billion gallons per day into the water poor nations of Kenya and Somalia, making possible more agriculture than could have been imagined in their past. In one of the most ambitious projects in the history of both countries, workers began the project to build waterways and pipelines to connect the plants to those in dire need of water. Both projects received financial aid from dozens of countries around the world, knowing that their success would mean more food for millions of starving people around the world. Two countries previously torn by disease and internal strife now were looking forward to the future. Over 20 corporations had already sent in teams to research the possibility of establishing investments in plants and equipment for future development. For some reason King Verron was being proclaimed a hero instead of a villain and his plan to reclaim Africa was just getting started.

  Hunter and his Terrorist Elimination Unit once again divided their efforts. He wanted to continue the momentum begun in Kenya and Somalia and began to systematically hit targets in Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania. He had the Gorilla Armies and terrorist running scared and in confusion as he continued to target their leaders and secret hideaways. Hunter however had not forgotten his promise to his friend Omotu Bissong. Her family was now safely out of Nigeria but Boko Haram was still terrorizing the people of Nigeria every chance they got; entering towns and pulling people from their homes and massacring entire families they called traitors. Hunter rotated assaults between the border countries of Kenya and Somalia and hitting Boko Haram, beginning in the Borno area of Nigeria. He came in from the borders of Chad and Cameroon so Boko Haram had no place to run and started his sweep toward Kukawa. He would press hard for one day, then disappear for a few, then return, never attacking the same way or the same place. Young men and girls who had been captives of the terrorist group were found wondering in the jungles looking for home when the compound where they were being held was suddenly emptied of everyone one with a weapon. There were tales of bright blinding lights and screams of terror as the TEU swept a camp clean. Then a sudden silence as they disappeared to strike somewhere else. The activities and attacks on innocent villagers had been drastically reduced. Boko Haram was too busy trying to survive to bother people who were just trying to live a normal life.

  The other half of the TEU was jumping between Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and Iraq. With only fifty men in each assault group, they could jump into a town in the middle of the Afghan mountains and even penetrate deep into their hidden underground fortresses, eliminate everyone there and vanish, often leaving a large hole in the ground where a weapons stash or armory had been located. Terrorist across Africa and the Middle East were confused and disorganized and attempting to regroup after leader upon leader was eliminated from their ranks. In Saudi Arabia there was a disappearance of a member of the Royal family, in Great Britain a financier was found dead, French and German Industrialist were also assassinated when financial aid was traced back to them from captured files and interrogations. The Swiss reported that billions of dollars had disappeared from numerous secret bank accounts; leaving supporters of terrorism too broke to continue their help. Every penny of the illegal money confiscated by Lucy was used for the economic and medical aid in Africa. Many of the financial supporters were killed by the very people they had been supporting when they refused to give them promised money. Little by little terrorist activities began to slow a bit, but they were a stubborn and determined bunch and as King Paul had predicted, the only way to stop them was to completely eliminate them from the face of the Earth.

  Major Bentley was leading the Team 2 assault team on an identified target in the mountains around Gupis, Pakistan. There had been satellite observation of training camps used by the Taliban and other groups. The well-hidden valley was difficult to see and they knew exactly when any U.S. or allied satellites overflew the area and went underground. Verron cloaked drones didn’t have that problem. They got in low enough to identify missile emplacements and heavy artillery dug deep into the rough terrain. When Major Bentley and his cloaked ship landed in the middle of the camp during their training session, he ruined their whole day. There were far more people in the well-hidden compound than he realized. The Major decided to drive them to where they thought they were safely underground; he then boarded the transports and released two 100mm whitematter rounds into the 15,000 foot mountain. There was now a much wider and deeper valley between the surrounding peaks, the mountain and everyone and everything in it was gone. The Taliban would soon figure out that they are not safe even when hiding behind the borders of an alleged U.S. Ally.

  It was the middle of September and Verron had been actively involved on almost every continent on Earth except South America and Antarctica. Paul’s people realized that terrorist had been establishing footholds in South America and Mexico for a while. With the TEU so active in the Middle East and Africa, their presence in other parts of the world was on the rise. Paul, Hunter and General Zarman agreed with King Verron’s favorite saying, “Plan your work and work your plan.” He knew he couldn’t spread his resources over the entire planet. He still had way more responsibilities to the rest of his allies. He was so grateful for the support from those who had been with him from the beginning. Xhondar I had provided the power generating facilities now on Earth, Xhondar II had donated the first two desalinization pumping stations to Kenya and Somalia, it had generated such a demand from islands and coastal countries all over the planet Earth that they had tripled their production and jobs and revenues were at an all-time high. The state of California was first to negotiate the purchase of four desalinization units for their drought stricken state. The sanitation and waste water reactors were being made on Verron but using technology that had already existed when the Xhondarians inhabited the planet. Lockheed, Boeing and Air Bus were about to put their first prototypes into the air using technology bought from Verron. They all three built 150 foot passenger airliners that could land in a space smaller than a football-field, needed refueling every 50 years, and traveled at Mach 3 over the oceans. The initial costs were higher than a standard jet-fuel burning aircraft, but the operating costs were drastically reduced, no long landing strip was required and there was zero air-pollution.

  The Space Shuttle training and delivery team from Verron had spent three months at the cape and were about to depart. It was a media frenzy when the ne
w shuttle arrived. With Chase and Daniel now off on a planet exploration run and trying to train new Dragon Guard members, as well as continue to improve weapons designs, Hunter with the TEU, Tala and Katelyn in Area 51, and Amber at the Air Force Academy, Paul broke his tradition of only deploying humans to do the training on Earth. Colonel Pavel “99” Verron, Lieutenant Ilna Verron, Colonel Cali Verron, Lieutenant Colonel Camil Verron and Prince Hon IV delivered the shuttle to the cape and settled into a house Paul had leased on the Banana River in Coca Beach. It came complete with a 70 foot Hatteras Sport Fisherman, a 35 foot Cigarette, and two 16 foot Hobie Cats. With 8,000 square feet and 7 bedrooms, there was plenty of room to spread-out; the Space Coast would never recover from the impact made by this group of fun loving aliens.

  Upon arrival, they were greeted by Admiral Samantha Sullivan and the shuttle team that had visited Verron. The half dozen astronauts had grown used to the faces of this crew while on Verron and knew the quality of the team sent by King Verron was first rate. When NASA Director Eichelman and the Washington politicians arrived the next day, it was a different story. They could not seem to get comfortable with a Colonel that looked like a Sci-Fi character from Star Trek or Star Wars, and were completely intimidated by Hon and Cali. They never could figure-out Camil. This training crew was not a-political and were focused only on one task; getting the Earth astronauts prepared to operate the new shuttle on their own. Things quickly changed when President Charles Hensley and French President Francois Hollanda arrived for an official state visit. The French were to be partners with the U.S. in the new shuttle and the French President couldn’t wait to see what he had spent his countries money on.

  The Verron staff was awaiting Air Force I as it taxied toward the new shuttle. As space center observers and hundreds of reporters crowded the edge of the aircraft ramp, it suddenly became apparent just how big the new shuttle was. The Presidents 747 looked like a Piper Cub next to the massive ship built for the future of space travel for years to come. You could easily put five of the 747s inside the 1000 foot by 400 foot cargo bay. With the ship standing ten stories high and bearing NASA lettering 50 feet high, it was definitely the most impressive spacecraft ever owned and soon to be operated by any space agency. The NASA Director quickly realized how he had misjudged the President and his relationship to this bunch when he heard him say something about how much fun his son and daughter had had on their visit to the Verron family. A smiling Colonel anxiously introduced his new wife and received a smiling congratulation. Ninety-Nine then handed him a bag that was still moving and secret service agents looked alarmed. The President smiled as he took the bag, thanked him for his gift and handed it to the closest secret service agent and asked him to give the bag to the cook, saying, “Tell him to prepare half of these as if he were making escargot and the other half like calamari. The hesitant agent held the squirming bag at arms-length and headed for the President’s plane.