Chapter 18: Let’s Have a Party II

Aircraft hanger #4, McCord AFB Tacoma, Washington:

Rick asked to use the mic again, “The Captain was sitting in the right gunner’s seat. After he gave orders to position the ships, he fired the laser. He hit a hundred ships in less than two and a half minutes. The last ones Bell our AI tilted our ship up at an angle. He bought us the seconds we needed to get all the ships in place. It was easy to see when the other ships started cutting off pieces of the Alien Ships with their Lasers.”

Rick took a breath, “He showed me how to drive a 445 when we were getting back to Lord Taylor below the Van Allen Belt, we must have hit 20,000 or 30,000 miles per hour. He tells Bell our AI that he wants to flip the ship around 180 degrees so he can use the forward thrust to help bring the ship to a stop. Bell gives him a countdown and with her help flips the ship around then he moves the throttle to full. We came out of the Van Allen Belt backwards coming to a stop within ten to twenty seconds. Even that took almost ten miles.”

The room was dead silent. It didn’t even seem like anybody was breathing.

Johnny held his hand out and Rick gave him the mic, “Rick, do you think you could do that?” Johnny held onto the mic but made it so Rick could be heard.

“Yes ... Yes Sir.” Rick held the mic with Johnny, “Before the Captain, I was flying our 445 at under 60 miles per hour. I didn’t know what it could do. I certainly didn’t want to hurt it.” Everyone in the audience stood and applauded.

The General looked to President Tripp, “TRAINING!” The President had seen and heard training many times. He smiled and nodded. President Pusin was also laughing.

“The Space Force is no longer a toy General; you have shown you can do the job, better tools and training are soon.” President Tripp smiled again, “I need you to be my bulldog. bark loud and clear. Expect to be in front of Congress soon. Be ready!”

“Yes, Sir.” General Franks also smiled. He knew they had won more than a war in space.

Tina had the video from the Bell playing. It did a pretty good job showing the action. The enemy ships would come out of the Van Allen Belt, disappear then as they got hit with Radar would reappear again. Then without power, they would float down getting hit on three sides with lasers. No big explosions. Air and stuff would come flying out of them. If you ever have seen a rock sink in water, that’s what they looked like sinking in our atmosphere glowing red as they fell toward earth. The Little Grays that came to harm would be without air then get cooked as they fell. Puget Sound received the most of them and 157 actually hit the Seattle area, 37 hit Lake Washington and one landed on one of Bellevue’s secondary streets.

The people of Bellevue blocked off the street to parking and put up a plaque. The official leader of the Bellevue Cadets was a Pediatrician who had two deliveries today. It helped that Rick and his brother Ron were the sons of the Doctor. When the board for the St. John Church of West Seattle met to decide what to do with the piece of junk in their parking lot, John brought out the newspaper article regarding Bellevue and their trophy, “Let’s call it a trophy.”

John said to Frank, “Major Frank have your men and women stand up and be recognized.”

Johnny handed Frank the mic, “Men and women that were in that last battle with me. Stand so we can recognize you.” Frank continued, “We all need to be proud of what we did today. There may have been millions of people killed. Among them may have been our families and friends. This part of the US and Canada may have been so damaged it may have required a hundred years to restore to what we have and enjoy today. I thank you for following me. Many of you did not know who or what I am. Now that you do, would you follow me, a nine-year-old again?”

The General stiffened when Frank asked that question.

The roar of screaming and clapping with thousands of tennis shoes stomping showed the love Frank had earned. He started laughing with tears rolling down his face. The four men and Rick picked up Frank and put him on their shoulders carrying him out toward his followers.

Later John said quietly to Jenny, “God had a special plan concerning Frank. Father dies when he’s five. His mom becomes an alcoholic. The state tries to put him in 6 different foster homes all in failure. He comes to the shelter at seven; I come on the scene when he’s nine and he has grown four inches in four months and gained 20 pounds.”

“Sounds like another Moses,” Jenny said.

General Franks took the stage, “I have some questions and I believe you have the answers. Shall we see?” The consensus was yes. “Help yourselves to more food men and women. Question number one. Do we keep the 335 as part of our arsenal?”

“Great ship to learn in.” Was said by Billy with many agreeing.

“It cuts a nice hole as good as any of the other ships.” Was another comment.

“The original plan is to have one hundred 335’s, one hundred 445’s, one hundred 555’s one hundred 665’s along with a hundred of each of the 775’s 885’s, 995’s, and possibly 1055’s for each of four countries. They are the USA, Russia, India, and China. The emperor also wants a hundred of each.” The General’s courage had been raised with Frank’s display, “What do you think?”

“How many people Sir?”

“With grounds crews, administration and outposts twenty thousand per country.” The General answered.

John stepped up, “There is a question that needs to be answered first.”

“What is the “RISK” to Planet Earth?” Frank asked.

“At the training that all of you will be getting this summer will be a bit of history we have never heard. Planet Earth was a major participant in the Milky Way along with Mars, and another sister planet that makes up the Asteroid Belt. Three planets and all that is left is Earth, known in the galaxy as Aurora. Like I said you will hear more about our ancient history this summer.”

One of the boys stood, “Sir, what happened?”

“There was a battle and we and our sister planets lost. The Galactic Capital was on Funston, and it too was blown to smithereens. Our Friend Lord Heat is going to build it again. It has taken us tens of thousands of years to get back to where we were. As far as space is concerned, we are just taking our first steps again.”

“Are we on the side for good?” Another boy asked.

“I believe we are.” John asked, “Director Bible?”

Director Bible moved to the stage and talked with John for a few minutes, “I and The Emperor invite all of you to our Galactic Capital this summer. We will also take you to Funston to where the ancient capital was and where the future capital will be again. We will present our side of it and allow you to decide if we are for good or not.” Director Bible asked, “Is this going to the planet?”

“Yes Sir!”

“Lord Heat picked up plans today written in English. We would like the people from Earth to be the workers on Funston. The capital will need to be big enough to seat one million representatives like your Lord Johnny Taylor. We will also need at least half that many accommodations for housing. We will also need a city big enough to support that many.” Director Bible smiled.

President Tripp turned to his wife, son, and Lucy, “They will need hotels with 500,000 rooms.”

In Bellevue, a man was sitting with his wife and kids watching the TV. He had never remembered a time before maybe 911. But that was a horror show compared to this. This had all his family captured. His wife had made popcorn twice as they had watched. Both times she had asked when she had a new big bowl of popcorn, “Did I miss anything?” She made her husband back up the TV to where she had left. No one complained about seeing anything twice.

When it was over, all the man could say was “Wow! No one on the Privy council saw this coming. We destroyed their secret Space Force. Who would have believed the boys and girls could have done that. I wish I could have been there.”

“When is your next day with them?”

“Tomorrow.”

The next day. The man came in shaking his head in disbelief.

“I’ve dreamed of going to the moon.” Judy the man’s wife laughed.

Ron their little eight-year-old asked, “I want to go to the moon. My mommy and daddy came from the moon?”

Before the parents could answer the four-year-old daughter said, “Me too!”

Back at Fort Lewis

Tina asked Johnny if he had anything more. Then the General. Major Frank said he had something.

Tina handed him the mic, “Cadets and shoulders at Fort Lewis, “Any ship that went through the Van Allan Belt needs to be washed ASAP. I would suggest tomorrow after church. The shields on our space vehicles repels 90% of the radiation of the Van Allen Belt. That leaves 10% that’s on the outside skin. That can make any of us sick in the short run and give us cancer in the long run. By washing the outside of our ships with a sudsy detergent like dish soap or liquid dial soap will speed up the half-life of radiation three times. So, we start with 10% times half gives us 5% times half gives us 2.5% times half gives us 1.25%. That’s close to the earth’s natural level of radiation. Let’s be safe, I hope to see you tomorrow, we’ll have a cleaning party after church.”

The General grabbed the mic, “One last thing, we did well today. Everyone is going to see a check for at least $500. Think of it as a thank you from the powers above.”

The kids had one more good scream, clapped, and stomped their feet.

“Officers if you would join me for a minute.” The general had all of them put their arms on the other’s shoulders. It looked more like a huddle you would see on a football field. “Major Frank, Captains Wisner, Lloyd, and Major Byrd you all will be retaining your rank. Major Swanson, you won’t need your captain bars anymore. Lieutenant Tillerson, find some Captain Bars. Captains Willa Taylor, Tony Taylor, Peter Adams, Patty Adams. You’ll also need to find some Captain Bars.”

“Thank you, sir was heard many times with big smiles.”

You will not get a $500 bonus. Captains will see $3,000.” The general held up three fingers. “Majors.” The general looked into the eyes of Major Taylor, Byrd, and Swanson holding up four fingers. “I’ll need you to fill out tax info before you’ll see checks.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Was heard from all including handshakes.

Back at the Emperor’s table.

“Where did the floating spaceships over Seattle Go?” Lord Johnny asked.

“Boeing is handling all that. They are doing it simply for the salvage rights of the metal. Seattle area, Lake Washington, Green Lake, and even Puget Sound, also. That metal is reusable, tens of times tougher and lighter than anything we have on Earth.” General Franks said.

“That was incredible about Frank.” Jenny smiled.

Many have left and the upper leadership was still talking. “He is the best at any video game in the shelter.” General Franks stated, “I bet he realized he had to give that up to do something to solve the problem.”

“That formation he had his ships in was fantastic.” Lord Johnny said, Plus I remember hearing him tell the local officer to make changes if they saw a way to improve their fields of fire.

“How often in video games is the bad guy behind something?” John asked.

“So, he positioned his ships, so they had clear fields of fire.” General Franks had a smirk on his face.

“Maximizing all his ships,” Johnny stated.

“Director Bible, are we on “The Map” yet?” John asked.

Director Bible reached into his bag and brought out an ornate wooden box, setting it in front of John and Jenny, “Yes my Emperor you and Planet Aurora have passed the final step to take its place once again in our Galaxy. No one died, did they?”

“No sir, none that we know of Director Bible. John, you’ve seen this box before.” Jenny slid the lid off, “You wrote about it in “Gaia”.”