Talosian Chronicles 6: Armageddon (2 page)

"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 and 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.

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 terrorists, 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.

"Yes it is, but it will give our kids some practice working as a team, we get to deploy some of them and get some temporary relief from the over-crowding we're starting to see." Ian snorted. "Some of our folks will be getting deployed to Earth in their primary rolls, but using a few battalions for this would also help. It'll give everyone some much needed experience with planetary operations, before we have to start fighting for real. I just don't see enough 'bad' not to do this."

"What do you see as 'bad'? Maybe we can counter it?" Luke asked.

"Well, displaced workers in depressed areas to start with. Colonel Carlson pointed out to me that there are a lot of people down there that rely on the income from the drug trade; especially in depressed areas. We could recruit a few of them, but honestly, how many of them would be willing to leave the planet?" Ian pointed out. "The unknown amount of secondary effects the removal of these assholes will cause, like destabilizing governments and such. Honestly, we have no real idea how many little fires this is going to start."

"What are we going to do with the 'evidence' collected for trial? Surrender it to the World Court as well?" Luke asked.

Ian shrugged. "Honestly, that's more your area than mine. Honestly, I'd like to see the money used to help the communities impacted the most by our actions. As for the drugs, we do have legitimate and legal agencies in the Alliance that would buy the stuff for use to actually help people. Although, I can't imagine a helpful use for Methamphetamines."

"Actually, it has a use; with only a slight modification, it is a very effective pain killer and anesthetic for Caldarians. Studies are still underway, but it looks promising," Luke replied.

Ian cocked his head at his friend. "Do I even want to know how you know that?"

Luke chuckled. "Trade requests from the Alliance; some of the stuff seemed a little questionable to the Council, so we asked for a report on them. Honestly, I was surprised to learn of it. I just wonder how they even knew about half this stuff. It seems that the rest of the Alliance are curious about us and have been doing research.

"That group of refugees from the Echelon System are already getting set up to grow Marijuana and are investigating the production of Opiates and three other medically restricted crops. It would seem the Benesian exile world is ideally suited to this kind of cultivation," Luke replied, grinning.

"Is someone going to start cooking Meth out there then?" Ian asked.

"I doubt it, there's too many volatile chemicals involved. If it pans out as a viable drug, there's a good chance the Alliance will be leaving it's production to us," Luke replied. "Yay us."

"Yeah, well, who says it has to be done on Earth?" Ian replied. "We can set up the labs for it on some isolated, barren asteroid or dwarf planet or something. Besides, if it's only beneficial to the Caldarians, we won't need to worry about supplying the entire Alliance."

"True, it just feels weird to even discuss it," Luke replied. "Anyway, I'll get to work on this mess right away, maybe we can head off a good portion of it before it happens. Good Luck with Interpol,
Admiral
." Luke grinned.

Ian stuck his tongue out at him before closing the channel.

After talking to the heads of the various training commands and working out how to handle this request, Ian asked Alex to place the call for the head of Interpol. He was connected with a Miss Olivia Shapiro, head of the International Drug Intervention task force.

"Miss Shapiro, I'm Ian Williams, Commander of the Terran Defense Forces. I understand you requested our assistance?" Ian asked.

"Admiral Williams, thank you for returning our call. Yes, we would very much like you help in this matter. Honestly, considering everything that's going on, we honestly thought you would decline the request."

"Well, to tell you the truth, we almost did. But, I spoke to my training commanders and we agreed that assisting you would be good practice for some of our troops. I wanted to make sure you understood that if we agree to do this, we'll be basically taking it over. Like we did with the terrorists, we will investigate, track, arrest and hold the accused until they're trial by the world court," Ian replied. "We do understand how many people we're talking about here. It's going to be a very busy time."

"How so? There are only a few thousand primary targets in our investigations. We estimate less people than you arrested for Terrorism," the middle-aged woman replied.

Ian nodded. "I see. Miss, we are talking about all of the cartels, everywhere, in every country. If they are involved in drug production and/or trafficking, they will be arrested, regardless of social standing or political position."

"Ah, I see," the woman replied. "That is certainly going to be a problem for my superiors. I told them how you handled the terrorists and that you would insist on full autonomy. I think they assumed you would stop when told to." She grinned. "Personally, I'm all for it. Our hands have been tied by this from the beginning. Still, they agreed to let me submit the request to the UN." She hesitated. "Admiral, I feel that there is something else going on here; something to either get your technology or to put you in a bad position with the people. I don't have any proof mind you; just a feeling.

"Shortly after I was allowed to make the request, one of my people over-heard a conversation about a strike mission involving a certain mercenary unit. Normally, this would not bother me as we try to track and prevent atrocities as well. However, the people speaking were not form the counter-terrorism unit, but from operations. My man felt they were speaking of a planned mission that was dependent on another event," she replied nervously. "I feel that the event they were speaking of is your first mission here."

"Madam Shapiro, if your office is bugged, you will be killed for telling me that," Ian replied.

She smiled sadly. "I know. I am certain I will not see another sunrise, but I felt you had to be warned. The corruption infecting the governments of this planet is not limited to just them. The head of operations is Vladimir Ivankov; a former KGB senior officer. He should never have been selected for this organization, but because of connections, he was chosen. He is supposedly former
Bratva
and made many political connection in the Russian Federation. He has been hailed as a champion of reform. Admiral, the only former members of
Bratva
are dead, and he is more likely than not one of the people you will want to arrest."

"One moment please, Miss Shapiro," Ian asked. When she nodded, he muted the channel.  "Alex, I need to see Major Dancer and have the
Damocles
prepare for departure. I'll need to speak to Cindy too, but she needs to leave right away."

"The Major is on her way, The
Damocles
is responding to the alert and preparing for take off. Colonel Williams is standing by on channel five," Alex said as she opened the door to admit Star into the office. Since Ian was on the comm, she used the door instead of just materializing in the office.

"Star, I need you to hack the Interpol databases and capture as much data as you can. They've asked us for assistance with drug intervention, but it's beginning to look like it's a set up. Please inform Operations I will be sending the
Damocles
down to retrieve Mrs. Olivia Shapiro, the Head of the Drug Task Force for Interpol. We'll need quarters for her as well," Ian finished.

Star nodded. "I'll request extra data storage from Engineering; that is a very large database."

"Thanks Star," Ian replied, smiling and dismissing her. He opened the comm to Cindy. "Hey sweetheart, I need you to go get someone. She put her life on the line to get us some information and now she needs our protection. Miss Olivia Shapiro, she's at the main Interpol compound in France."

"Understood, Lissa says she can find her in route. Is this a quiet extraction?" Cindy asked.

"She needs to be 'dead'. Stage her suicide in her office, but the priority is getting her out safely. Her office is being monitored," Ian replied. "No one can know you were involved."

"Understood Sir. Damocles is sneakin'," Cindy said. She winked at him and closed the connection.

Star nodded and left the office. Ian returned to the call while he waited for Cindy to arrive. "May apologies. Mrs. Shapiro. There was another matter I had to deal with." Ian tapped his ear to let her know he was speaking for the 'listening audience'.

"I completely understand, Admiral," the woman replied.

"Now, as for your safety; can you make it to one of our construction projects local to you? You can get shelter there until we can retrieve you," Ian said but shook he head. "I'd send a team directly for you," he was nodding now, "but, we don't have anyone available at this moment." He typed on his keyboard and brought up Cindy's official Terran Defense Force Identification so she could see it on her screen.