Talosian Chronicles 3: Talosian Alliance (12 page)

“I know it’s not the popular thing to say, but I agree with the Commander, and his actions, Madam President,” Admiral Collins said. "In this instance, I believe he acted in good faith, and in a manner appropriate to the situation. After all, it’s nothing more or less than our own SEALS do in similar situations, and usually with far less evidence.”

“So you are saying we should just classify this whole mess, and forget about it?” The President asked. “I think it’s a little too late for that to happen, Admiral, half the United States was affected by this morning’s activities.”

“What? By that terrorism readiness exercise? Of course they were, but we did learn what area’s we need to work on in order to assure we are better prepared for a ‘real' terrorist threat. As long as the Commander’s people can keep that ship hidden when they move it, no one will know any differently, Admiral Collins explained. “Can you do that, son? Keep a ship that size hidden when you move it to Norfolk?”

“Yes we can, Admiral. That shouldn’t be a problem,” Ian replied.

“There you have it, Ma’am. We don’t release any of our other covert operations to the general public, why should this be any different?" Admiral Collins said.

The President was quiet a moment while she thought through the implications of classifying the event. Of course the Senate oversight committee would know of it, but other than that, there really was no reason that this episode had to become common knowledge.

“Madam President, I’m afraid I have to disagree with the Admiral over this. I feel the cat is too far out of the bag to pull it pack in at this point. Too many agencies were involve in this operation,” Director Stansfield said. “The Minnesota Air National Guard, the Coast Guard, the FAA, FEMA, the Duluth Port Authority, Michigan Department of Transportation, just to name the major players in this. This operation did not follow the normal protocols for an exercise of this type, those people will know we are trying to cover something up."

“With respect, Mister Stansfield, I disagree,” Ian replied. “Obviously, what the President and the rest of you decide is entirely up to you. However, when you use the routine protocols for an exercise of this type, you never get an accurate picture of how responses will be since everyone is on stand-by, and ready for it. If you simply explain that this was a more accurate method for evaluating responses, I feel you would be safe in classifying the remainder of the operation. But, as I said, this is only my opinion, for what it’s worth.

“I do need to make a report to the UN Security Council, however, I do need to know what to consider classified. This was an internal matter for the United States, All I really need to tell them was that we assisted you in a classified internal operation. I do not need to tell them details as long as it was an internal matter. The grey area here is that it did deal with non-American personnel, but since they were there illegally, I don’t see a reason I need to report that if you do not want me too.”

The President nodded to him. “We appreciate your discretion in this matter, Commander.” She turned to the assemble group in her office. “Okay, Admiral, classify the mission. Director Stansfield, put out the story that this was a ‘real life’ test of our readiness get a few of your people to write up reports on how the different agencies responded and where they can improve. Once all that is finished, we will release a public announcement about the test and explain, in detail, why we did it the way we did.” She turned back to look at Ian. “Commander, we never discussed how much this was going to cost us. What are you going to charge us for your assistance?”

As soon as decision was made by the President, Chloe passed along the information to Cindy and the crew of the Damocles, so they knew how to proceed. Cindy grinned, shook her head, and said they’d take care of it, although, they still needed to know where to put the damn ship.

Ian was momentarily taken aback by her request. He had no need for compensation for this, but there had to be something, or they would start turning to him for everything. Then, he had an idea.

“Madam President, we have no current need for money, however, there is something you can do for us,” Ian said.

“Oh?” the President asked.

“The land in New Mexico we originally occupied. Since we bought it, legally, I would like for it to be considered foreign soil. There might be a time in the future that we’ll need that land, and I would like to be able to use it without having to worry about arguing with you over it."

“I think we might be able to reach an agreement about that. However, it would depend on exactly what you would be using the land for. Considering your stated opinions on the environment, I can’t see you doing anything out there that could be dangerous like that," she replied.

“Actually, I was thinking about possibly making it a fighter base if the need arises. Civilian traffic can be handled at either the Mojave facility or the new facility in southern New Mexico built by Virgin Galactic. Of course we would agree to pay the standard landing fees and the like. And possibly even assist some of the other companies to compete with us.

“The New Mexico land we bought would be used as a military fighter base for the protection of your hemisphere. We had planned to approach a few of the other nations for the same purposes, but just haven’t gotten that far yet,” Ian explained.

“You want to place a military base on American soil?” the President asked.

“Actually, I would like you to consider it, Ma’am. Please try to keep in mind it would in fact be more of a United Nations facility than a strictly Terran Defense installation, even though we would have complete control of it. This is all still in the planning stages though, and we haven’t actually decided to build it there. I’m just trying to make sure there will be less problems if that decision is indeed made,” Ian explained.

“Excuse me for interrupting, Admiral Collins, exactly where do you want the
Damocles
to put your ship?” Chloe asked.

“Ah, yes, thank you for asking, Major. In light of the decision to classify the mission, we would like to meet your team outside the harbor, and take it under tow. That would raise far less questions,” The Admiral replied.

“That would be fine, Sir. I just need the coordinates, and we’ll set it there for you,” Chloe said.

The Admiral nodded his head, and gave her the coordinates for a place a few miles off-shore. “In addition to the tugs, there will be two destroyers as an escort. Will that be alright?”

“Not a problem Admiral, just be sure to tell them not to fire on the
Damocles
, your weapons can’t hurt it, but if you piss them off, they might decide to teach you a lesson. In that case, you’ll need more tugs,” Chloe said chuckling.

The Admiral chuckled. “No, I don’t think that would be a good idea. Please pass along our thanks for the assist to the crew of your ship.”

“Will do Admiral. Major Swift said to expect delivery at the mentioned location at zero-one-hundred local. As per our own doctrine, all radioactive material will be removed from the bomb before delivery, but nothing else will be changed,” Chloe replied.

“I expected nothing else, Major. Thank you,” Admiral Collins replied.

“Madam President, do you think we can reach an agreement over that land?” Ian asked.

“It would be the first time the United States has allowed a foreign power to station forces on our soil. That’s pretty major. I’m afraid I won’t be able to answer you on the issue without the input of Congress. I’m pretty sure we could agree to consider the land autonomous, but the military base will have to be discussed. Sorry, Commander,” the President replied.

“That’s fine, Ma’am. As long as you know what we have planned for the land, you can start the process for us. As I said, there are several other areas we are considering as well,” Ian said. “Now, since this mess has been flushed, so to speak. I will withdraw, and let you all get back to work.”

“Of course, Commander. On behalf of the citizens of the United States of America, we would like to thank you for your assistance with this ‘training exercise’," The President said smiling.

“You’re very welcome, Madam President. Ladies and Gentlemen, I bid you a good evening,” Ian said, and closed the channel.

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I
n the time since the Caldarian attack, the Terrans had been thinking up ideas for new ways to defend themselves. One of those ideas had been a ring of remote, automated, missile platforms. It would take years to complete, but once finished, it would provide any intruder with a very warm welcome. Each platform held special sensors that could track ships in hyperspace, and as such, was equipped with hyperspace capable missiles.

Eventually, the ring of satellites would encompass the entire system, and be controlled from a manned station that will be built in Earth or Martian orbit. The station, once completed will have control of all the system defenses.

Vague plans had been mentioned about building a station in deep space roughly midway between the Centauri and Sol Systems to handle the sector defenses, as well as sector entry control and customs, but from a planning standpoint, it was still a long way out. The Pleiades Stations, as well as the civilian station near Mars, would have to be finished first, as well as the construction of ships for defense, but before most of that could happen, there would have to be a lot more people included in the Terran population in order to man all the planned facilities.

What that meant was that the Terran Council would have to allow open immigration. In itself, allowing open immigration from the Earth would be fraught with problems. Every country would try to place spies and agents in order to steal technology and information. A system would have to be set up in order to expose the false immigrants from the real ones. Yes, they had telepaths that could easily handle the screening, but that would reveal one of the Terrans most closely guarded secrets.

In order to handle this issue, the ruling Council decided to place the system defense control station on the schedule for construction. However, it would include a ‘port of entry’ for immigrants to pass through. Almost exclusively Janet Laskar's recruiters would man the port; with the addition of several marines until a proper security force could be trained and put in place.

The telepaths would screen potential immigrants using their telepathy, but the immigrants would believe a machine was scanning them. In the interim, scan centers would be built in the two existing civilian spaceports in the United States. A European Space Port had been in the planning stages for years, but had never been built for economic reasons. The Council planned on using that angle to help convince the European Governments to build one by offering to help them do so. The Middle and Far Eastern nations had no plans at all for a civilian space facility, but again, the Council would try to convince them to allow it. Not only would it help foster a sense of equality between the various nations, it would help the Terrans develop a more diverse population, which is something they very much want.

Since Ian was a member of the ruling Council as an advisory member, he was aware of the messages sent to and received from the UN. It had finally dawned on Ian just how large ‘his group’ of people had become when he realized he didn't know the man that had been posted as the Ambassador. While he was proud of the growth that had been accomplished, he felt slightly chagrinned at the realization.

Ian did get a short break from the excitement of military emergencies. Since the stopping of the Pakistan-Indian war by his forces, the rest of the world seemed to have backed off to reconsider how the new kid on the block was going to affect their long term plans. A personal note sent to Luke by the Secretary General of the UN thanked him and his people for all the work they had done so far in the cause of world peace. He stated that he hoped that now, with the threat of the destruction of their military forces, countries would try harder to seek diplomatic resolutions to issues.

The SecGen also passed along the gratitude of the Indian government for the Terrans intercession on their behalf. It took a while, but they had finally realized that if the bomb had been allowed to detonate, New Delhi would have been utterly destroyed, and the surrounding areas rendered uninhabitable for centuries. Although the President of India had survived the ordeal, he was left horribly disfigured, and paralyzed. Beth had argued with Ian over the level of care allowed to the Indian officials, but Ian had been adamant. Nothing beyond emergency care was to be allowed, his reasoning was that if they had let it be known that Talosian medical science could all but cure every affliction on Earth, the small Terran medical institution that had been set up would be quickly and completely overwhelmed. Later, when they had more of the infrastructure to handle the load, he would reconsider it, but for now, that was all that could be allowed.

As a counter to help ease her ire towards him, he suggested that she develop a group of people composed of civilian pilots and workers that could replicate emergency foodstuffs, and other supplies that might be of use to those in need. For example, the starving masses of Ethiopia, she could replicate as much food as she wanted, including any medical supplies that were currently available on Earth, and have them delivered to the most needy areas. However, she must have each and every supply drop filed and approved with the operations center before the mission will be allowed to depart. Marines, and or fighter escorts would be assigned on an as needed basis.

She immediately got to work, setting up several humanitarian missions to the destroyed areas of India and Pakistan, as well as a few to other areas that were in need of assistance. In very short order, Beth had two aides, and several other helpers, mostly off-duty personnel and their spouses, to replicate, pack and load the three civilian shuttlecraft she was able to convince to haul the supplies. Chloe told Ian in an aside that even Flight Operations was happy with the situation, as it gave the pilots and Marines something else to do other than just patrols and simulator training.