Starcross

Chapter Five - Part V

Presidential Bunker Underneath White House

Washington DC

Late 5 March 2020 – 10 Minutes after the Battle of China Lake

            With every throb, his heart felt like it was going to jump out as it pounded in his chest. Blood surged in his head and gave him an incredibly powerful migraine. Every now and then his heartbeats would synch up with the sharp beeps coming from the display screen as it updated the position of the nuclear missiles and Druidth warships. Yet, at the same time Richard knew that however bad he felt Wheeler must have felt worse.

            In the corner, sounding like a rapid-fire machinegun, a telex machine printed out a seemingly endless stream of paper covered in the information streaming in from the battlefield out in California. So far, this war looked to be almost over; a fact that Burbank was more than happy to know, yet he still felt horrible about the events of the past week. Whenever he closed his eyes at night he swore he could hear the screams of the colonists that were massacred, and when he was awake the ghosts of all the soldiers across the world haunted him. It seemed like they accused him of their deaths even though he had no hand in it.

            “Sir,” An Aide said as he tore the pages off the printer and handed them to the President. Typically, the young intelligence agent would have given it to Wheeler, him being the Secretary of Defense, but since Garrett was the senior most person in the room he got the report first. The already quiet room fell all the more silent as they waited for his to tell them what the paper said.

            “Clair,” He started slowly. “That research you did into Druidth weapon capabilities, would you mind running it by me again?”

            Sitting up with a smug look on her face, one that said: He’s asking me because he knows just how right I am. “Well, without going into all the details, we essentially found out that due to the shear impossibility of the power usages for energy based weapons the Druidth ground forces must rely on kinetic rounds. Bullets.”

            “Strange, because this report from the commanding officer of China Lake, a military research facility, states that they were using handheld, plasma based weaponry.”

            “Th-that’s not possible!” Laughlin protested.

            “Well apparently it is!” Garrett had lost his patience with the self-serving Secretary. “We know their ships do, based on reports coming in from the destroyed bases. But you told me that their infantry would use bullets of some nature or another. What I want to know is if this is bad luck or if you really are that incompetent?”

            Laughlin, now physically perturbed, tried smoothing her pants suit to calm herself before she answered. Everyone else in the room watched nervously, except Wheeler who just watched the screen seemingly oblivious to the events occurring around him. “At the time,” She finally started after a moment of uncomfortable silence. “We didn’t trust anything Druidth. How could we know what was a recording device or a locator? So we used Human computers and calculated-“

            “Calculated?! You just calculated!?” Garrett screamed at the top of his lungs, causing ripples to form in Burbank’s, who was thoroughly enjoying the public spectacle of seeing his boss get chewed out for her failings, coffee. “You really are that fucking incompetent, aren’t you?”

            “No I’m not!” She screamed back. “We used the brightest minds available and the most sophisticated computers and information-“

            “Which was only based on current Human technological levels,” Lovett cut in calmly. “When you carried out the investigation, you used what you had available. But where you really screwed up was that you didn’t update you studies.”

            To Lovett, Garrett calmly said: “Thank You. I have to really on a spy to get accurate information. No offense.” Then he turned back to Laughlin and the hatred he felt for her flashed back across his face. “You lied to me.”

            “I didn’t think it would matter…” Now, facing her own demise she seemed quieter, more fragile, which Burbank knew was a ruse.

            “You tell that to the Marines who were having their body armor melt off their chests. It’s not that you lied to me but the fact that you did so with the intent to further your own selfish goals.”

            “Mr. President,” Wheeler said calmly. “It’s time.” Looking up at the screen, Burbank saw the missiles get closer and closer to the dotted line that represented where they would detonate.

            “Right. Ames,” The President said, addressing the head of security within the bunker. “Get her out of here.”

            “You don’t need to escort me out, I know the way,” Clair demanded as she stood. “Richard, let’s go. It seems this administration is determined to cut loose its best and brightest.”

            “I didn’t say anything about him. Just you.” Thomas said. “After all, I think the new Secretary of the Interior should stay to see this.”

            Laughlin gasped and looked like she was about to say something before Ames, flanked by another Secret Service member, grabbed her arm and drug her from the room. As for Richard, he sat there wide eyed and staring at the President who just nodded and spun around in his chair to watch the screen.

            “Thirty seconds.” The Druidth ships had spread out quite a bit, but thanks to the MIRV missiles that separated it looked as if they were boxed in. The line that was just under the ships flashed and disappeared. In an instant, almost 90% of the ships onscreen disappeared as well.

            On the monitor that depicted the live feed from one of the spy satellites that the NSA sent up to monitor incoming Druidth ships, black shapes moved around with little silvery lines the was reflected sunlight from the hulls. All at once flashes so bright they dimmed the lens in space and the TV appeared on either side and flashes of equal brightness appear two-by two and ascended toward the center. Dozens of secondary flashes popped here and there as the ships broke up and detonated. When it was all over, a shimmer hung over the sky.

            “And just like that, this little war is over,” President Thomas Garrett said triumphantly. “Now begins the long road of cleanup and recovery.”

            “Well,” Lovett spoke up. “We could use our extreame superiority to re-establish ourselves as a, no, the, world’s greatest Superpower.”

            “That’s not bad,” Garrett said. He turned to Wheeler. “Work with the spook, get a report on my desk by Monday.”

            As for Richard, he knew he had a long way to go to repair Human-Druidth relations. But now that he had far more power and authority than he had before, he knew it was going to be a lot easier.