Washington D.C.
Leaning back in his new, far more comfortable, office chair and gazing out the window that overlooked Capitol Hill, Richard Burbank relaxed in his office like he did every morning. The fact that he was now Secretary of the Interior would have been completely irrelevant had it not made the view change. Sometimes he enjoyed watching all the hustle and bustle of people out on the streets below; but more often than not he missed the green forests that surrounded his old office.
As far as his new title went, he found himself mainly dealing with the environmental damage of the Druidth attack and assigning teams of government agents to the abandoned colonies to see what they could find and use. Mostly though, it was working with the Department of Defense to clean up and rebuild the destroyed military bases and trying to get major companies to start using the Hydrogen power plants that the Druidth left behind in an effort to stop CO2 emissions. One good thing that did come from his promotion was that he had become very close friends with Secretary of Defense John Wheeler and William Lovett, the Director of Central Intelligence.
“Sir,” Christopher Bena interrupted his thoughts by sticking his head in the door. Unlike his last position, there was never enough time to sit and just relax. “Your first appointment for the day is here.”
“Amanda Cohen, right?” Burbank replied.
“Yes Sir. The representative for ANDR.”
“Send her in.” The ANDR, or Americans for Naturalizing Druidth Refugees, was a group that sprung up in the three months after what was being called the Five-Day War where American submarine launched nuclear missiles destroyed roughly ninety-percent of the Druidth armada in orbit. Not a name he would have chosen but history would pick a better one someday. Mainly it was a group of people who, by one way or another, found themselves romantically involved with members of the alien race.
The mahogany door opened and in stepped a young woman with curly brown hair wearing a formal version of the Druidth tunic. Clothes, toys, books, tools, et cetera were all left behind when the colonists piled onto their shuttles and evacuated the planet, boarding the fleeing warships before they accelerated and left for Vasghyrr. Few remained behind, really only those who were conducting business or on vacation in foreign cities.
“Thank you for seeing me, Mr. Burbank,” She said with a smile and sat in one of the plush chairs.
“Of course,” He replied, matching her smile. “All matters Druidth fall under my authority and I feel it’s a good thing you’re doing. It’s a well-known fact, at least among those of us on the Beltway, that I was very close with the Druidth ambassador.”
“Yes, so my father says. This is why I came to you first.”
“Well, what can I help you with today?”
Amanda shifted in her seat. “Many Druidth refugees are being discriminated against. People are refusing to serve them, whenever an incident occurs with a Human and a Druidth the police always side with the Human, they are so afraid of being raped or assaulted that most of them don’t leave their homes. Those that still have homes that is.” It was clear to Burbank that she had spent many hours preparing and memorizing what she was saying. “Landlords have raised the rent ten times or more, and it’s like the law doesn’t apply to the Druidth at all. It’s like killing a slave before the Emancipation; the only problem is to get rid of the body and not the death of a sentient being.”
“That’s because the law doesn’t apply to them, Ms. Cohen.” Richard said calmly. “As far as Congress and the Senate are concerned, there simply aren’t enough of them left in the United States to bother with proposing laws to protect them.”
“This I know.” She looked down and smoothed the pleats out of her dress. “But if they were citizens, then they would have to be protected, right?”
Burbank sat back in his chair and thought about that for a quiet moment. “Technically yes. The Constitution is designed to protect American citizens. It doesn’t say anything about what race or species they have to be.”
“My thoughts exactly,” She agreed with enthusiasm.
“The thing is, you would have to convince the Senate to allow them to take the tests, which I don’t think would be very hard since it would be much easier that ratifying the Constitution.” He thought for another moment. “Of course, it would be even easier for them not to do anything at all…”
Frowning, Amanda nodded thoughtfully. “That’s what I was afraid of…”
“You know, I bet if I had the backing of the CIA, the DOD, and the President, maybe the Senate would just wave it through. Let me make a few calls and get back to you.”
Smiling sweetly Amanda stood and bowed slightly, a Druidth custom. “Thank you so much.”
The door clicked closed solidly as she left and he could the muffled voices of Chris and Amanda Cohen as they spoke about something. Deciding to start with the easiest, SecDef Wheeler who always answered or returned his calls, Burbank reached into his desk and pulled out his Filofax, a relic from the previous century but one he preferred to keep around.
He flipped to the page with John’s direct number and dialed it; waiting only a few seconds before the gruff voice that had seen too many battlefields, with guns and without, picked up and said, “Wheeler.”
“John, Richard,” Together they spent the next few minutes discussing their respected businesses, Burbank filling John in on what was happening with the technology left behind by the Druidth and what was recovered from the battle of China Lake and Wheeler telling him what was happening with what they had already researched. After they had moved onto personal matters and discussed their families; Wheelers son had chosen not to enter the family business of war and take graphic design instead.
“John, I called today wondering if there was any way you could do me a favor.” Burbank asked after a moment’s pause.
“Depends on the favor...”
“Well, I need your support in convincing Garrett to introduce a bill to the Senate about allowing, and granting, the remaining Druidth refugees to take a citizenship test.”
Coughing erupted from the earpiece as whatever Wheeler was drinking went down the wrong way. “What?” He asked incredulously. “You’re serious?”
“Yes, John, I am one-hundred percent serious. Hate crimes are being committed in every corner of the U.S. against the remaining refugees. We need to show that we aren’t the monsters the Druidth media made us out to be after the Colonial Massacre.”
“What for?” John asked. “In case they come back? Rick, they abandoned those that were left behind. They’re not coming back, and if they do we might just shoot first this time and not bother with questions.”
“But that doesn’t mean we can sit by and let intelligent beings be raped, assaulted, and murdered like it was nothing.” Burbank protested. He knew that they were responsible for the worst attack in the history of the world but he also saw the individuals who had no hand in any of it.
“The military has been devastated. Eighty percent of all U.S. air and ground forces have been turned to ash and we’re trying very hard to rebuild those numbers before someone gets wise and sends an army to invade us. We’re relying heavily on the Navy to keep everyone at bay for now and due to cutbacks back in 2015, when we all decided that drones were better, there’s not many of them left either.”
Silence filled the line for a moment, filled only by the sound of Burbank breathing into the receiver. “And Garrett doesn’t want to call up a draft, does he?”
“That would be the worst thing he could do, what with our guests still in house and all,” John said, trying to be subtle. It was no secret that there were sleeper agents from every country wealthy enough to have an intelligence agency and, despite the FBI’s best efforts, who ran domestic counter-intelligence and not the CIA, the only ones who were caught were sloppy.
What Wheeler meant was that if the President called up a draft then someone would notice and other countries might see it as the United States’ opening moves for an invasion on their severely weakened opponents. And weak did not mean helpless.
Sighing, Burbank admitted defeat. “You’re right. We need to help ourselves before we can help anyone else.”
“Glad you see it my way, not too many people in this town do. And don’t think I’m not grateful for all the resources you’re giving us for recruiting.” He meant that the Department of the Interior spent a portion of their own funds on ads and incentives to draw in new recruits and also using their vast amount of internal power to help clean-up, and rebuild, the majority of the military bases. “Which is why I’m going to return the favor try and get citizenship status for the Druidth who willingly enlist. Kind of like they did to immigrants back in the First World War.”
Sighing heavily again, Burbank accepted that that was as good as he was going to get. “As long as they’re protected by the law, and the discrimination ends, I’ll take it. For now.”