Theogony 1: Janissaries
Page 33
Calvin sighed as people patted him on the back, high above the ramp in the airfield’s control tower. Having flown F-18s at NAS Oceana for several years before the war, he was familiar with the field and knew where the best place would be to watch the ceremony. He had volunteered to coordinate the timing of the Vella Gulf’s entry, which was best done at the tower. The president had told Calvin that he was going to mention Calvin’s name, as it was important for the American public to have people they could look up to in these trying times. The president had used the term ‘hero,” but Calvin really didn’t see himself as a hero. He was just someone at the wrong place at the wrong time, who made the best of a bad situation. Hell, he had gotten into that position by being shot down, which was hardly heroic.
“As you can probably guess,” President Jacobs continued, “there are many things that need to be worked on simultaneously, and we need to get back to planning how we’re going to do all of these things. Before we do, though, the leader of the Psiclopes delegation, Arges, would like to say a few words.”
Calvin knew that they were a few very carefully coordinated words, to say the least.
As Arges stepped forward to the podium, Night reached behind the podium and pulled out a stool that had been hidden under it. Bob Davies nodded, impressed. They hadn’t missed it. Arges stepped onto the stool and addressed the reporters. “Thank you for the nice welcome, President Jacobs, and for the efforts of all of the civilian leadership assembled here. Although we didn’t make it back to my world, we did learn many things about the state of political affairs that currently exists in the galaxy. As President Jacobs indicated, it isn’t good.”
“I do, however, believe that there is hope for your civilization, if you all come together and work toward the common goal. There cannot be any room for division among you. You must put aside all of the things that previously divided you and begin working immediately to defend yourselves. Although there are only three of us, we pledge to give the Terran government all of the help and support we can. Our future is now aligned with yours. As the American statesman Ben Franklin said at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, ‘We must all hang together, or assuredly, we shall all hang separately.’ Thank you.”
Arges moved back to the side of the podium, and Night slid the stool back in so that the president could address the crowd again. “Ladies and Gentlemen, today is a monumental day, one that you will remember for the rest of your lives. It is the day where all of the people of this planet began to come together to ensure the safety of our race. Those of us here encourage all of the other nations to join us at the United Nations building in one week, where we can begin hammering out the details for how this will work. Details of the treaty are being sent to every head of state in the world.”
“While we invite every nation in the world to come, we understand that not every nation may want to participate. Please understand that while all are welcome, no nation or group will be allowed to stand in the way. If you are a nation or organization that means harm to one of the participants, be aware that you will incur the wrath of all, and it will fall upon you swiftly. If you are in the business of terror, you will either get out of it now, or we will find you and put you out of business ourselves. We do not have time to waste on distractions; they will be put down ruthlessly. I look forward to seeing all nations at the conference. Thank you.”
With that, all of the Terran leaders boarded the bus, along with the Psiclopes and the Terran Space Force soldiers. The bus drove back to the spaceship, where the entire group got off the bus and boarded the spaceship. The ramp went up after everyone was aboard. As it shut, the spaceship lifted and soared into the sky, rapidly becoming a tiny silver dot which was just as quickly lost to sight.
The Channel 13 cameraman brought his camera back down to Bob Davies, who said simply, “And there you have it, we have made contact with extraterrestrials and have begun preparations to form a new, world government that will deal with the hostile aliens that are roaming the galaxy. Our lives have forever changed...and I can only hope that it will be a change for the better.” Bob Davies had always been a master of understatement.
Deep Underground Command Center, Washington, DC, June 23, 2019
“No Mr. President, we aren’t going to be able to defend this system with what we brought back on our first mission,” said Calvin. “It will help, but if the Drakuls come through the stargate in force, we aren’t going to be able to stop them. We’re going to have to go back out and look for additional aid.”
“What about going through the other stargate?” asked the president. “Maybe there is help in that direction.”
“There may be,” replied Calvin, “but if we go through it and find the Drakuls, they are going to come find Earth. I don’t think we can risk it. There are still other areas we haven’t explored through the stargate we went through; I would suggest we continue to look there.”
“I agree Mr. President,” said the secretary of defense. The president looked up to see all of his advisors nodding.
The president nodded as well. “Well, let’s get to fixing the Vella Gulf and replacing the people and equipment lost in the first mission. We need to get you back out there before the Drakuls show up at our door.”
“Yes sir,” said Calvin. “We’re already working on it.”
Epilogue
KGB Headquarters, Moscow, Russia, June 25, 2019
“The bottom line,” said Irina Rozhkov, finishing her report, “is that this is real. The Americans were contacted by aliens. The Americans did go to space with them and did engage in combat with several groups of aliens. I was with them and fought alongside them. The Americans now have two replicators that will allow them to make weapons and defensive systems beyond anything that we could field in the next hundred years. The one platoon that the aliens upgraded, even with the losses it incurred on its mission, could probably wipe out all of our armies combined; that’s how good they are. Everything they’ve said is the truth, as near as I can tell.”
“Are you sure that you have not been in contact with them so much that you have lost your objectivity?” asked the KGB Chairman. “I have never had an agent come into my office and say so many positive things about the Americans. I think you may have been converted by their capitalistic rhetoric after being exposed to it for so long.”
“No sir,” replied Rozhkov, “I remain a proud daughter of Mother Russia. I cannot tell you if all of the underlying reasons that the Americans have given for what they’re doing are true, but I can tell you that our world is in serious danger. There are many races in the galaxy that would consider us nothing more than a light snack. We have to protect our planet from them if we are going to protect Mother Russia. We must join them.”
“Make no mistake,” said the KGB Chairman, “we will join this new polity. The Americans now have long-range, hand-held weapons that hit at the speed of light with little regard to distance or weather conditions. They are able to shoot our missiles out of the sky with their spaceship without any conscious effort. And...even if you take all of that away, they now hold the planet’s orbitals. All they have to do is drop rocks on our heads, and they could kill us at their leisure. If it came to a contest between our two nations right now, we would lose. Badly. We couldn’t even use our nuclear weapons on them.” He blew out his cheeks in a sigh. “The only realistic option is for us to join them. If we do that, we have the ability to get in on the ground floor of this new world government. That gives us the opportunity to affect policy from the inside and to infiltrate the new organization thoroughly.”
He looked up and smiled. “The Americans have a saying, ‘if you can’t beat them, join them.’ Based on what you’ve told me, we’re going to have to join them to beat them.”
# # # # #
The following is an
Excerpt from Book 2 of the Theogony:
When the Gods Aren’t Gods
___________________
Chris Kennedy
April, 2014
eBook and Paperback
Excerpt from “When the Gods Aren’t Gods:”
Seacon Towers Apartments, London, January 12, 2020
Master Chief O’Leary kicked in the door of the East End apartment and was greeted by a hail of bullets that hit him in the chest, despite his invisibility. “Damn it!” he grunted, as the impact of 12 bullets drove him back into the opposite wall. While the terrorists focused on O’Leary, other members of the platoon crashed through the back windows of the 4th floor apartment, taking the terrorists by surprise. The fight was over in less than a minute, the terrorists dead and Ryan with an expanding bruise on his chest. Although the suit stopped the bullets, as advertised, it did nothing to absorb the impact. Someone else gets to kick in the door next time, he vowed.
Ryan surveyed the dead. No prisoners were taken, but then again, the terrorists hadn’t given them the chance...and the soldiers hadn’t really wanted to take any in the first place. The terrorists had nothing they needed, and to have to go through the motions of a trial was just...inconvenient. Besides, the terrorists shot first, and to come back to London when they were already wanted there was just stupid. Ryan shrugged. Just another example of Darwin’s rule of natural selection; they were obviously too stupid to live.
Scattered among the remains of the bomb making materials, he found the jihadi bomb maker Samantha Lewthwaite, the notorious ‘White Widow’ that terror agencies in the U.S., U.K. and Kenya had been looking for since the Nairobi shopping mall terror attack in 2013 that killed more than 70 people. A key member of Somalia’s al-Shabaab militants, her career as a terrorist was over, courtesy of three laser blasts to her chest. Good riddance, he thought.
Sirens wailed as the local police made their appearance. Ryan looked at his watch. If the shuttle wasn’t late coming down, they could still make it back to Moon Base Alpha in time for Happy Hour at the new bar that had just opened.
Life was good.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Kennedy is a former aviator with over 3,000 hours flying attack and reconnaissance aircraft for the United States Navy, including many missions supporting U.S. Special Forces. He has also been an elementary school principal and has enjoyed 18 seasons as a softball coach. He is currently working as an Instructional Systems Designer for the Navy.
Titles by Chris Kennedy:
“Red Storm: The Chinese Invasion of Seattle” – Available Now
“Occupied Seattle” – Available Now
“Janissaries: Book One of the Theogony” – Available Now
“When the Gods Aren’t Gods: Book Two of the Theogony” – Available Soon
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