Talosian Chronicles 5: Raptor Squadron (40 page)

Ian, at Cindy's request, was wearing his armor, but was unarmed. The Raptor team carried stunners in accordance with the treaty agreements, and the whole group went into the building like normal. To Ian's surprise, the United States Ambassador was waiting for them outside the council chamber. When he saw the group, he gave Ian a half smile and stepped forward.

"Admiral, I have been asked by the president to apologize, which I will do formally once the meeting starts, for the events of last week. I wanted to speak to you personally before the meeting to let you know that it is a real apology and not what normally passes as such. Those troops were not acting on the orders of the government, but of a rogue agency within the intelligence community. I was instructed to tell you that it is the same agency that perpetrated the events at the spaceport as well. The agency in question would have been discontinued already, except that it's rather difficult to do. You see, the Agency is DARPA, or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. However, at present, the leadership of that organization are answering some very difficult questions asked by some rather insistent men."

The man waved it off. "Anyway, we wanted you to know that was actually a mistake. We would also like to thank you for the care you gave the wounded man."

"It was not a problem, Mister Ambassador. Our concern was how quickly he would be sent to a special lab to be dissected," Ian replied.

"He won't be. The steps you took ensured that. I would personally like to thank you for that. Of course we can't officially hint at such a thing even happening, but we both know better. I do love my country, Admiral; even if I don't always agree with it," the Ambassador replied.

Ian cocked his head at the man. "I can understand that, Sir. Could you do me a favor?"

"If I am able, of course," the Ambassador replied.

"You love your Country. That's admirable and nothing I will ever criticize. But during our official discussions, could you keep in mind that I feel the same way, only about the entire planet? Everything I do, every action or move I make, are for the defense of this world and everyone on it. All those that work with me feel the same way as well. We don't have a hidden agenda; we don't need one. All we are doing is trying to make sure you, all of you, remain alive so you can disagree with us. There really is nothing more and nothing less," Ian said. "Thank you for the apology, please tell the President as well."

The Ambassador nodded. "I will try to remember that, Admiral." He paused and looked at Ian closer. "Something has changed, you're acting differently."

Ian nodded. "It's why I'm here today, Sir. I can pretty much promise you are not going to like what I have to tell you."

"That sounds pretty dire. I take it your fears of our destruction are coming closer to fruition?" the Ambassador asked.

"Pretty much, Sir. I'm afraid playtime is over. We're going to have to get serious about this from now on," Ian replied.

"Well, thanks for telling me before the meeting. We have a few minutes. If you'll excuse me, I'll see if I can get hold of the President and warn him," the man said.

"You might want to have him with you over the phone during the meeting. I'll recommend the same to the other delegates as well," Ian said. The man nodded and hurried off.

"Was that smart? Giving him advanced warning?" Cindy asked quietly.

"At this point, it can't hurt anything. If they believe us, they're going to panic and demand we share military technology with them again," Ian replied.

"How are you going to handle it?" Cindy asked.

"I won't give them what they want, obviously, but I will suggest they begin preparing for this in their own ways. They can use their military to help get the civilians to safety and control panic. I'll let them provide security to keep the curious away from our installations, while denying them access at the same time," Ian said. "They will have a choice, they can help us, or they can get the hell out of our way. It won't matter which they choose, this needs to happen, and it will."

Cindy left Ian alone to think about how to handle this meeting while they waited. About twenty minutes later, a page called them into the security council room. As he stepped up to the testimony podium, the Secretary General introduced him to the assembled delegates.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow citizens of Earth. I come before you today not to argue or debate, but to inform you of a real impending threat to all life in this sector. The force that will arrive here will be coming to destroy us utterly. There will be no negotiation and no quarter given. Before you ask, we don't know why, as this is not the normal way they fight. From the beginning, this has always been a war of conquest for the Empire, and not one of annihilation or genocide. If we cannot stop them, every living object in this sector will be reduced to dust; even the planets are to be destroyed," Ian said sadly.

"Forgive me, Admiral. How do you know this?" the Russian Ambassador asked.

Ian sighed. "Last week I was visited by the Matriarch of Benesia. As you all know, she is the supreme leader of her people, as well as the highest ranking member of their religion. It is also a well-documented fact the Benesian race have special abilities in the form of what we would call mental abilities." Ian held up his hand to forestall the outburst he knew was coming. "Ambassadors, I know how most of you feel about such things; I doubted, too, until it was proven to me. These abilities exist. They are real, and so are the visions. The Benesian precognitives have a one-hundred percent accuracy rate. They have
never
been wrong.

"After Matriarch T'gan arrived, I was given the news about the visions. This attack is going to happen. It will happen here, to us," Ian replied.

"Admiral, it's obvious that you believe the truth of this… vision. So it would be pointless to argue with you about it. However, I would ask, if they are so accurate, and they have seen our destruction, how will we stop it?" the American Ambassador asked. The look on his face told Ian it was the President that asked that question.

"They are accurate about the events, the outcome is based on a worst case scenario, and I am led to understand the vision will change, adjusting to events and actions taken prior to the arrival of the event. I will admit I do not understand how it works, but this ability is very well documented and proven. Even the Alliance is taking this threat seriously, and they have a lot more experience with this than any of us," Ian explained. "Ambassadors, I would recommend we take a few moments for you to contact your respective leaders in order to include them in this meeting. There is a person that would also like to address you before I get into the preparations that will be required before this attack happens." They were grumbling and it was obvious they believed Ian was wasting their time. He spoke again. "Look, I know you probably don't believe me. You feel I am wasting your time for some reason. All of you believe that mental powers are just more fantasy and those that study this phenomenon practice pseudo-science. UFO's and aliens don't exist either, right?"

The Secretary General called a five-minute recess so the delegates could contact their leaders. Some actually refused to call based on the fact that Ian was using precognitive visions as proof. During the break, the SecGen approached Ian.

"Admiral, may I have a word with you?" the man asked.

"Certainly, Mister Secretary, what can I do for you?" Ian replied.

"I know you have come to us with many things that none of us believed in. Even after your first address to us, there were some that refused to believe the truth. They felt it was some plot by the United States to deceive them. However, since that time, you have proven many times that you were telling the truth, and the aliens you spoke of were real. But I have to admit, this time even I am having a hard time believing you. Is there any way you can prove this to us?"

Ian shook his head. "I don't know how I could in such a way as to allow the delegates to believe me."

Unseen by Ian, Shannon had approached him and the Secretary General. "Admiral, perhaps I can be of assistance?"

Ian sighed. He thought Shannon might come forward, but Ian hadn't wanted the delegates to know that some humans also had measurable abilities.

"I know you didn't want it known, but Admiral, this is important. These men and women need to believe us," the girl replied.

Ian sighed. "Mister Secretary, this is Officer Shannon. She is a member of the special operations team assign as my guards. She is a registered telepath."

Before he could speak his reply, she answered him. "Yes Sir, I am. No Sir, I am actually twenty-two years old." She paused and blushed slightly. "Thank you, Sir. No, please do not be embarrassed, I am used to such thoughts being directed at me. I take no offense at them. No Sir, in addition to being able to read thoughts, I can send my thoughts to others as well. I am not precognitive only telepathic. I do have a set of ethics that prohibit me from reading anything deeper than what's in your 'public' mind; that is, what you are thinking at this very moment. Unless it is an emergency or I have your permission I will not invade your privacy."

"Mister Secretary, Officer Shannon is not the only telepath we have, nor is that the only ability we have found our people to have. There are enough of them that they police themselves in the set of ethics they have set for themselves. Officer Shannon is volunteering to demonstrate her ability in order to convince the Ambassadors we are telling the truth," Ian replied. "Although we've never lied to any of them, we are still always met with disbelief and distrust. We may not tell all of the information we have, but we have never purposefully lied."

The Secretary General nodded his head. "That is true, you have never lied to us. I think it is more that what you tell us is so fantastic, it is hard for us to believe. I'm afraid that even with Officer Shannon's demonstration, many will still not believe you. May I ask who the person is you will be asking to testify?"

"The Alliance Chief of Staff and head of Alliance military operations, Admiral H'joles. He is Grellian; not human or even human-like in appearance. He cannot testify in his capacity as the head of the Alliance Military, but he asked if he could assist me in speaking to you today. Honestly, I don't know what he wants to tell all of you, but he did wish to speak," Ian explained.

"The head of… Is not the Alliance the largest galactic organization?" the SecGen asked.

Ian nodded. "Admiral H'joles commands fifty-seven fleets of warships and twenty or so divisions of ground troops. He can call for about a hundred more fleets and seventy or so divisions if they are needed or there is an emergency. He is also a non-voting member of the Alliance Council."

"Do you think it is wise to expose a non-human to us? Especially one as important as this one is?" the SecGen asked. "Some of the Ambassadors are still having trouble with this aspect of what you have spoken to us about."

"What the Ambassadors and leaders have problems with is discovering we are not alone, but they can't have the advanced technology so they can kill each other easier," Shannon said quietly then blushed. "I'm sorry Mister Secretary, that's only my opinion."

He smiled at the girl. "It may well be you are correct, young woman, and we are all entitled to our opinions." He turned to Ian. "As tempting as it is, I don't believe Officer Shannon should give a demonstration. If we do manage to convince the Ambassadors, then they would become paranoid that she read their minds and stole all their secrets. No, I feel we should simply proceed as you had originally planned, Admiral. I will try to assist you as much as possible. Now, I think we should probably get back to work."

Ian nodded his agreement and dismissed Shannon. She bowed to the SecGen before returning to her post near the door of the chamber. The SecGen returned to his place and recalled the meeting to order.

"Follow delegates, please retake your seats so we can continue our discussions. Before I yield the floor back to Admiral Williams, I would like to tell all of you that I spoke to him during the break. I believe my thoughts and opinions on the issues of extraterrestrials, UFO's, mental abilities, and the like have been well documented and are well known. Without solid evidence to substantiate such a claim, I find such things to be very difficult to accept. There have been too many scams and other shenanigans in the past using these issues to believe otherwise.

"Before the break, I felt the same way as many of you; that we could not credit the visions of our doom offered by an alien race. To me, it sounded like an idea for one of the movies created for entertainment. As I said, I spoke to the Admiral during the break. Because of security, I cannot tell you what he offered to me as proof, but I can tell you that I have no doubt he is telling us the absolute truth in regards to this matter. No doubt at all. I urge all of you to set aside your personal feeling on the method this information was gleaned and instead focus on what we can do about it.

"Admiral Williams, please continue," the Secretary General finished.

Ian bowed to him. "Thank you, Sir." He faced the still suspicious faces of the Ambassadors and began to introduce Admiral H'joles. "First of all, I would like to thank those leaders that did join us. I am aware of how all of this sounds to you. I assure you I have never knowingly lied to any of you and I'm not about to start now; none of us can afford it.

"As I mentioned before the break, there is a being that has been standing by to speak to you on this issue. Before I have him connected, I would warn all of you that he is not human. To many of you, I would imagine he will put you in mind of the reports of Big Foot or the Yeti. He is neither of these; he is a member of the Grellian race. They occupy a sector of space over two hundred light years away. While this being has asked that I do not introduce him by title, as he wishes to speak to you only as a knowledgeable citizen of the Alliance, I can tell you that he is a being of importance within the Alliance. I do not know what he wishes to say, I am simply honoring his request." He nodded to Lissa who would make the connection with H'joles.