6:00 AM: White House
Oria joined Wilson and Ratherson in time to watch the early morning news. It contained several interviews with people rescued from the Creyte ship. Tyrone Hamilton’s story horrified and angered Ratherson. The news commentators and analysts shared his horror and anger. They demanded an immediate response from the United States Government for the military to work with Oria and the Azortec Federation. Ratherson continued to watch and was furthered sickened from the barrage of reports and the horror of the people rescued from the Creyte Battle Cruiser. The only good news was that the news destroyed any resistance raised the night before against supporting Azortec.
It wasn’t long before phone calls from each of the leaders present the night before interrupted Ratherson. They were enraged and ready to declare war. Even Jenson called and agreed to declare war against the Creytes. His only qualification was trying to make Oria out as some sort of war-mongering killer. Ratherson had heard enough from Jenson and his complaints. Even though Jenson was in the same party, Ratherson decided that he would work to defeat Jenson in the next election.
Ratherson’s team worked hard to prepare for the 10AM Special Meeting of Congress. Ratherson personally made phone calls to all of the major allies including the Russians, the Chinese, and other world leaders. State Department Representatives called those that he did not have time to call directly. It did not take much convincing to get unanimous agreement to unite all of the nations on Earth in working together to build a military capable of defeating the Creytes. They scheduled a meeting at the United Nations to discuss a global alliance and to appoint representatives to work with Oria and the crew of the Hercules.
10:00 AM: Special Meeting of Congress
The House chamber was full of Senators and Representatives eager to declare war against the Creytes and put emergency powers into the hands of Ratherson and the military. When Ratherson entered the chamber with Secretary of Defense John Wilson and Admiral Oria, they received a standing ovation. After the usual formalities, President Ratherson started his address.
“Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress,
Unfortunate circumstances have led me to request this joint meeting today and I want to thank you for coming out here on such short notice. If not for the gravity of the situation that confronts us, this meeting would be unnecessary. We are now at a turning point in the history of our nation and the history of our world. What we must decide here today is a course of action that will permanently change our nation, our world, and the future of human life on Earth and perhaps the universe. We must cast aside our differences that now appear petty, to confront a force that is attacking our basic rights to live as people on our home planet Earth!
This morning we all had to listen to newscasts of horrible stories. When we first met the local Creyte commander, we thought that we would receive incredible medical technology and life as we know, would greatly improve. It turns out that this was a lie. The Creyte’s primary goal all along was to capture Earth and turn it into a farm planet. They wanted to raise our people, our loved ones, for their own consumption. Indeed, with the recent news reports we now know that the Creytes have already eaten some of our fellow humans. Particular repulsive to us, these creatures see eating our live babies as a delicacy. Now, is the time for a call to arms! Now is the time we rise up as in a single voice as a planet to prevent these atrocities from happening to any more of our loved ones!
We have several decisions to make this morning. First, I am going to ask you to declare war against the United Creyte Republic and empower me to do whatever is necessary to build a military capable of launching an attack and destroying the Creytes ability to take Earth. In doing this, we will need to agree to work with the Azortec Federation representative, Admiral Oria, and to form an alliance with them. Next, we will require the power to make alliances with other nations on Earth and to work together in building this defense.
Finally, we must make several organizational changes to the Department of Defense. I am asking you to create a new military department, The Department of Space Defense. We will refer to it as the Space Command. In doing this, I am asking you to recognize Admiral Oria as a U.S. Citizen. He was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland over 500 years ago prior to the founding of the United States. Since then, he has led the Azortec Federation in many successful battles against the Creytes. I want you to approve my nomination of Admiral Oria to command the Department of Space Defense and to run our newly formed Space Command. This Command will be required to obtain resources from our other military units and from the population at large.
We have a limited time to prepare our defense. Admiral Oria informed me yesterday that we have less than a year to build a defense and train crews to fly starships. At that time, the Azortec Federation will prove unable to protect Earth, and any case, they will not defend us from the Creytes. It is up to us with the help of Admiral Oria and the crew of the Hercules to build this important defense.
Every one of you should have an information packet outlining my requests, an analysis, and plan of our next steps. Please review these materials and give me the power to move forward and defend the United States and work with other nations in defending our world.
Thank you and May God bless the United States and the entire world.”
It took Congress less than 30 minutes to discuss Ratherson’s requests and issue a Declaration of War. Congress charged President Ratherson and Admiral Oria to work together in building a defense to terminate the Creytes.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Campbell was born in our nation’s capital, Washington, DC in 1956. He grew up in Maryland, went to high school there and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Maryland and a Master’s degree from the American University.
During most of his career, he has worked as either a management consultant or in the information management business. He loves to write and looks forward to writing more books. James’s hope is that his readers enjoy reading his books as he as he enjoyed writing them.
Legend of Oria 1: Initial Contact Page 36
