Talosian Chronicles 6: Armageddon Read online

  "North Korea and Vietnam still believe all of this is nothing more than a ruse by the United States to over-throw them. The Muslim countries are upset with you over the handling of the terrorist issue. They are demanding the return of their people 'illegally' captured and detained by you and your forces," the Secretary General replied. "None of them seem to care that only about half of those you arrested were actually Muslim."

  "Would it help if we sent someone to speak with them about the matter?" Ian asked.

  "Actually, you're already doing pretty well on that part of the issue. You've stopped the fighting in the middle east. Not just the Arabic people, but the Jewish people as well. The issue of restoring Palestine still exists, but they are back to talking about it instead of shooting at each other. Your troops are maintaining the peace and ensuring everyone is treated fairly. Of course, that irritates the hell out of the Israelis and Palestinians, but no one is accusing you of being unfair. No, the work your people are doing in the Middle East will solve the issue there. The problem is Korea and Vietnam; no one can tell them anything."

  Ian nodded. "I'm afraid it's a little worse than that, Sir. I'm told our recruiters are having difficulties in China and the Russian Federation as well. The 'liaison' officers we're required to have with us are intimidating people into refusing. While trying to make us accept the people they want us to take. We'd take them, but the problem is they are all spies or have questionable histories." Ian chuckled. "I'm actually surprised the US isn't doing it as well."

  The Secretary nodded in understanding. "I was afraid that would happen when they made that condition. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot we can do about it."

  "Yeah, I thought as much. We're actually getting more people from those nations as walk-ups at our installations, and those folks have to get past our 'protectors' to get to us!" Ian replied.

  "No one has mentioned to me, but you've had to have spoken to the Vatican as well as several of the other world religious leaders. How'd that go?" The Secretary asked.

  Ian kind of blushed. "Well sir, we kind of pulled a fast one there. You see, we have people up here from almost every religion. We reached an agreement with the Vatican and a few other major religious organizations shortly after the Caldarian attack. We have since expanded that program to include the religions of our allies as well."

  "I'd have thought they would have fought you on the freedom of religion thing. They've been all over the news down here since this whole mess went public," the Secretary replied.

  "I know, I've been watching. I'm sure that's one of the reasons for the law; most of those folks are not helping keep people calm; their just trying to get people riled up and make names for themselves. At least none of them are blaming us!" Ian replied.

  The Secretary nodded agreement. "That's true, from what I've seen, they are supporting you at least for now. Let's just hope they never figure out you don't allow religions a public forum and that they have no place in your government. They'd turn on you in a hot minute."

  "Well like I said, the leaders of the churches know and understand our laws and have agreed to abide by them; at least up here. They also know we are doing everything we can to keep the people safe," Ian replied.

  "That you are most definitely are. I was going to call you later; we've been informed that several countries, including the United States will allow you to open your clinics under terms of that agreement. Your Council should have gotten that message first thing this morning, but I knew you would like to know as well."

  Ian grinned. "Thank you, Sir. That is good news indeed. Just so you know; there were a couple of reasons I was pushing for it. First, it would help a great many people. We can cure AIDS and every type of cancer as well as replace lost limbs. It's been really hard on our medical personnel to know they could help, but simply weren't allowed. Now our fear will be that those we treat will be whisked away to some secret lab somewhere and dissected to see what we did to cure them."

  Again the Secretary could only agree. "That is, unfortunately, a fear I share. However, as per the agreement, members of the World Health Organization will be there as well. I would think that would serve to limit the number of people who disappear."

  "I hope so, we really don't have the resources to keep track of everyone. I'm actually surprised the United States allowed this. The Pharmaceutical Corporations have to be screaming at the potential loss of income," Ian replied.

  "I have little doubt they are upset, but they also know that your clinics are to be temporary. Eventually, you will be required to remove them and they will be able to get back to making money. Personally, I think there is some secret deals happening there, so you might want to warn your people to keep on their toes," The Secretary replied. "What are the other reasons you wanted these clinics?"

  "Aide Stations. When the fighting starts, we are going to have a lot of wounded people; civilians and soldiers alike. We're going to need the help on the surface; a place we can take the wounded for treatment. Even if we had twenty years to prepare for this battle, we could not build enough shelters for the entire population. Add to that the fact that there will be folks that will refuse to go to the shelters, and we'll still have a lot of people getting hurt." Ian replied sadly. "We'll do what we can up here as well, but frankly, we can't count on the hospitals on the ships since they will be in the fight."

  "How are the rest of the preparations going up there?" The Secretary asked.

  "Militarily speaking, we're really only suffering from a lack of personnel. The Benesian ladies that joined us have helped a lot, and so have those the Alliance has sent, but we still need more able bodies up here. That's why I was concerned about the recruitment in those nations. Would it help if I spoke directly to the leaders of Pakistan and Iran, perhaps I can help put their concerns over their people to rest," Ian asked.

  "It couldn't hurt, they do respect you, personally, for stopping the fighting. They might not like you, and they may not agree with you, but they will at least listen to you, I'm sure. Would you like me to see if I can make the arrangements?" The Secretary asked.

  "That would be appreciated, Sir. I'll inform the Council of my intentions; in addition to my normal guard, I imagine I will be bringing one of their representatives," Ian replied.

  "Does your offer of free transportation for world leaders still hold?" The Secretary asked.

  "Of course, Sir. It was for situations just like this that the offer was made," Ian replied.

  The Secretary nodded. "While I have you on the line, I have been asked to forward a request for assistance from Interpol. They would like your assistance in bringing down several drug cartels in various nations." The Secretary smiled. "I think you success in stopping terrorism has impressed them."

  "As much as I would love to help them with this, I simply don't have the resources to spare at the moment…" Ian paused in thought. "Then again, maybe I do." He grinned. "Thank you for passing the request along, Sir. I'll give them a call as soon as I can."

  "Why do I get the feeling the Cartels are in for a surprise?" The Secretary replied.

  "Do you still want to speak to Colonel Carlson, Admiral?" Alex asked.

  "Yeah, I need to get an idea about the fighter base construction before Mars has to start parking the fighters out on the surface," Ian replied.

  Alex grinned and nodded. She knew that Ian was aware of the fact that Mars had been parking fighters on the surface for months. "Colonel Carlson, Sir."

  Ian smiled at the man on his monitor. "Alan, before I give you a new headache to worry about, how are you doing down there?"

  "Better than I imagined, Sir," Alan replied. "We're actually only a couple of weeks behind schedule. We should be able to get caught back up as soon as those new people get here though. What's the new headache?"

  Ian winced. "I was hoping you'd be further along than that. I'm afraid I'm only going to make matters worse for you."

  Alan snorted. "It can't be much worse than having to go back an
d replace equipment in completed bunkers or the damn hurricane bearing down on us."

  "Why do you have to replace equipment in the completed shelters?" Ian asked.

  Alan shook his head. "No matter what we've told them, they still try to steal our tech. I've put in a request to seal the bunkers until they are needed as soon as they pass final inspection."

  "I'm confused. You're not doing that already?" Ian asked.

  "No sir, we were told to leave the shelters in the hands of the civil organizations that will be responsible for them. I will admit, I honestly thought we'd have more problems than this," Alan replied.

  "Of all the stupid, political…" Ian sighed. "Alan, you have permission to seal the shelters after inspection. If anyone bitches about it, send them to me."

  Alan grinned. "Will do, Sir. Thanks for that, it'll help. Now, what about this headache you promised?"

  "I need you to start on the fighter bases ASAP. Mars base is over-flowing with finished fighters and very soon, we'll have hundreds of unassigned pilots waiting to head to Earth. We need to get them down to the planet," Ian explained.

  "I was afraid of that. I'll see what I can do, Sir." Alan replied.

  "Would more drones help?" Ian asked.

  "Yeah they would, but Andreya's already over her limit. If I could temporarily borrow another AI that would work too," Alan replied.

  Ian nodded and made a note to himself. "I'll get a freighter full of drones sent down to you and have Raptor Samurai reassigned as well. You're supposed to get two more Raptor teams, but they are still in training."

  "Major Ito would be good, I could use his help in Asia," Alan replied. "Sir, we're gonna be under that storm for few days. I might just have you drop those drones 'on-location'. I'll get with Andreya and get it worked out." He typed something on his terminal. "Our platform is almost finished, the hanger areas are finished, so you can send those along as soon as the storm clears and the platform returns to the surface. With luck, I'll have the US base far enough along that you'll be able to send them as well."

  "Just so you're aware, I'm about to ask Training Command if they want to assist Interpol in dealing with some drug dealers. I thought it would at least give the kids something to do," Ian replied grinning.

  Alan raised an eyebrow. "Sir, as noble as that is, getting rid of those drug cartels is gonna cause a problem. Don't get me wrong, they are mostly a pack of animals that need to be removed from the gene pool, but on the same token, there are hundreds, sometimes thousands, of locals that rely on them for an income. In Asia, the Tong and Triad are so entrenched that even without our resources it would be difficult to root them all out." Alan shrugged and shook his head. "Just my opinion, Sir; for what it's worth."

  "Actually, it does give me something to think about," Ian snorted. "Maybe we should just recruit the displaced workers! Bob knows we're not getting the help from some of the other countries."

  "That actually might be a good idea in some places. I doubt that the folks growing and processing the junk down in Columbia can even imagine going into space though; it would probably frighten them a great deal," Alan replied. "Still, it might be worth making sure the offer gets extended after the bad guys are gone."

  "Yeah, well, you're gonna love this one; four Alliance Ambassadors would like to add marijuana to the list of trade items. It seems that it has medicinal value to three of the races, and acceptable recreational value to the other. So now we get to figure out how to make something a legal trade item after we help bust a bunch of folks for growing it," Ian replied. "You know, I'm just glad I'm not the guy that has to deal with this shit."

  "Oh I think you're gonna get your share of it, Sir. During the Vietnam war, who do you think was one of the larges opium growers in the area? A lot of folks believed that the entire war was over growing territory. Uncle Sam lost a lot of opium fields in that war," Alan replied. "I'd guess that at least half of the illegal drug trade in North America is controlled by the intelligence agency."

  "Really?" Ian asked surprised. "I wonder… you don't suppose it could have anything to do with the Caldarian influence do you? If you think about it, it would be a good way to generate slaves."

  Alan shrugged. "It's an angle I hadn't thought of, but should be looked into. The question then becomes, now that the Caldarians are no longer here, who's running the show and what are they doing with the people?"

  Ian nodded. "I'll pass it along to our intel folks. I have no idea how or when they'll be able to check it out, but at least they'll be aware of it. If the United States intelligence agencies are involved this could get messy, but I will not stand for political bullshit protecting criminals. If they are guilty of the crime, they will do the time."

  Alan grinned. "You better tell the intel guys to make this a priority then, 'cause I can promise you that Interpol knows all about it, and will refuse to touch them."

  Ian smiled sarcastically. "If they really want our help they will. I'll let Luke know about the shit I'm about to kick up; that way our folks will be covered."

  "Just don't forget about the help you promised me!" Alan teased. "Get me the resources and I'll get your bases built."

  "Hah! Like Alex will let me forget anything!" Ian replied. Across the room, Alex stuck her tongue out at him.

  Chapter Two

  TDF Star Dancer

  Equatorial Orbit

  Earth, Sol Sector

  After getting off the comm Ian called Phoenix base and ordered the drones for Alan's team. He sent a request for the temporary reassignment of the Samurai to Neptune's Massif to assist in the construction efforts until such time as another AI equipped vessel could be sent. He made a few other arrangements to help the construction along. Finally, he was able to call Luke Belden, the Chairman of the Ruling Council and his direct 'superior'.

  "Ian! It's good to hear from you, but you have me worried, is there something going on that couldn't wait for our regular call on Monday?" Luke said by way of greeting.

  Ian smiled at his friend. "Yeah, some stuff has come up that might create a political nightmare for you, so I figured I should call and tell you about it."

  "Worse than it already is?" Luke chuckled. "The world leaders are still insisting they have control of our facilities on planet, but now they're demanding we teach them how to use them too!"

  "Interpol has requested assistance with apprehending and shutting down drug cartels," Ian replied.

  Luke looked confused, but thoughtful for a few moments. As he thought it through, he began frowning. Finally, he closed his eyes and shook his head. "That's a nightmare waiting to happen. Could we simply refuse the request?"

  Ian shook his head. "The request was passed through the Secretary General of the UN. We can't really refuse without the whole planet knowing about it, but we can't ignore half of the drug dealers just because of political connections either."

  "Do we have the resources to devote to this? We are trying to get defenses built after all," Luke asked, obviously grasping at straws.

  "We do if we use some of the training cadre's. With our Marines and a few fighters, they would be able to pretty much end the cartels once and for all. I have a feeling we will have to provide a secure holding facility to house the number of people we are going to be arresting; we're talking thousands of criminals here; some of them will be very politically connected.

  "When I call and talk to Interpol, I'll make sure to tell them that our assistance will have to be on our terms. That's at least consistent with how we handled the terrorists," Ian finished.

  "Will you insist we try them as well?" Luke asked.

  Ian shook his head. "No, we can't. Like with the terrorists, the crimes committed were on Earth, it has to be Earth that judges them."

  "They'll pardon the more politically sensitive prisoners and release them," Luke replied.

  Ian shrugged. "If they do, then that is their decision. You know as well as I do it has to work that way."

  "So, just like with the terroris
ts, if you're ordered to release certain prisoners before their trial you will refuse?" Luke asked.

  Ian nodded. "Yes, They will remain in our custody until their court date. If that court date takes longer than six months, then the prisoner will be remanded over to the Alliance Judicial system to be tried by an Alliance Court using the rules and laws of the planet of the crime." Ian shrugged. "It certainly seemed to make sure the trials happened in a timely manner for the terrorists."

  "What about the holding cells? Do you plan on reusing the drone cells you built for the terrorists?" Luke asked.

  "Makes sense to use them doesn't it? We already have them, they're pretty much escape proof, and they are easily handled. I think we're going to need more of them built, but we can handle that as we need them," Ian explained. "Most importantly, none of the world nations can reach them."

  "What if the attack happens before they get emptied? Will we be able to protect them?" Luke asked.

  "Honestly, we shouldn't need to. They are built to be undetectable and their locations are secret. We can continue on with their trials after the battle, and if we lose, it won't matter anyway," Ian replied.

  "If we do this the right way, we are talking about millions of prisoners, Ian. Every organized crime family, gang, triad and tong the world over will have to be captured," Luke replied.

  Ian nodded. "Well, it would have to be done sooner or later Luke. We're so involved with the planet now, they might as well join the Alliance. If they do, then we'd be ordered to track them down anyway." Ian sighed and shook his head. "That's a matter for after the battle. For now though, we need to focus on our duty."

  "Not that I don't agree with you Ian, but isn't this a distraction we really don't need right now?" Luke asked.