“How many are we talking about?” Trexler asked.
“A few hundred ground troops and maybe a thousand officers for the fleet. Is that possible?”
Trexler and the Senator stared at each other, then walked off on their own for a time. They all met up back at the house where preparations for dinner were underway. Trexler excused himself and went into the study to make a phone call. Half an hour later he returned.
“The President will be here the day after tomorrow.”
“Here!” Mike exclaimed in disagreement. “No! That’s exactly what we don’t want. We can’t attract a lot of attention to Alexis. Everything has to stay low key. I’ll meet with him at the White House.”
“You certainly will, but not yet. You can’t leave here until the place is secure, and I don’t want to waste any more time than necessary.”
“I’m not needed here,” Mike responded angrily. “And we can’t have busloads of Secret Service people showing up.”
“No busloads, Mike. This will be low key. We’re real good at setting up secret meetings like this, and you are needed here. Who’s going to protect Alexis if the Chessori show up? Your crew will be out of the picture. I’ve seen it happen, remember?”
“We just got here, Ray, and we know there are no Chessori ships in the system. We checked.”
“What if they’re already here on the ground, hiding somehow? Alexis might be at her most vulnerable this very moment. It might be stretching probability, but from what you say, only Earthmen are immune to this mind weapon of theirs. We in this room are her only defense until we get our own troops here. Got any spare weapons you can pass out to me and the Senator?”
Alexis, Mildred, and the four Great Cats moved from the ship into the ranch house, then Resolve’s crew delivered crates of weapons to one of the barns. Reba returned to Resolve and lifted into space where George’s sensors would have the best coverage possible.
Admiral Trexler slept like a log, but Mike and Senator Morrison took turns sharing guard duty just in case Admiral Trexler was right about a possible ground attack.
By mid-morning of the following day, teams of Delta Force special operations soldiers began arriving, some dressed as farmhands in civilian pickup trucks, others simply appearing from… well, to Mike they just seemed to appear from nowhere. Four teams of nine gathered around their commander, Colonel Joshua Dace, inside the barn to receive a short briefing from Admiral Trexler. Mike attached translation devices to their ears, then three teams deployed to the fields surrounding the farmhouse.
The fourth team got the full treatment, including an introduction to the Great Cats. Mike was gratified at how quickly the men accepted their situation, as was Trexler. These were good men. Two of the Great Cats assisted with the training while two remained with Alexis. The translation devices did not remain in place for long; both the cats and the soldiers disdained jewelry while on duty. They immediately set out to develop hand signals in place of verbal commands. Empire weapons were offered, but the men chose to stay with what they knew. Blasters might be better weapons, but without live fire exercises, the men would not be as effective as they would be with the weapons to which they were accustomed.
This group then rotated to the field and another team came in for the same treatment, and by nightfall, all had been through the accelerated program. More training would take place during the ensuing days, but everyone in the house slept better that night.
The President arrived the next afternoon in a beat up old pickup truck, three security men accompanying him, two riding uncomfortably in the back, all four dressed as ranch hands. Admiral Trexler assured Mike that many other resources were in place to protect the President, but they would remain invisible.
The President’s briefing began in the living room, but it ended in orbit aboard Resolve. With everyone seated in the lounge, the President leaned forward, looking at each of them in turn before speaking. Then he rose to pace.
“I appreciate the briefing and the ride aboard Resolve. At this time, we have to move into the area of diplomacy. You represent this empire of yours and I represent Earth. Whatever actions I take, I will be representing not only my constituents but the whole world. I need answers to some hard questions, and if you’re able to convince me, you’ll then have to convince others who may be even more demanding. Until then, not a single soldier will leave this planet. Understood?”
Mike took up the challenge. “It’s not a perfect world, sir. It never is. I know what your first question will be, and my answer to it will not be conclusive.”
“Very well, then, do your best. It’s obvious that any actions we take on Earth to help this Empire of yours could place us in danger, a lot of danger. Is it a risk we should take? How do I know we’d be helping the good guys?”
“Is America a ‘good guy,’ sir?” Mike asked, then held up his hand to forestall the President’s indignation. “I say again: it’s not a perfect world out there, any more than it is here on Earth. Earth has thousands of years of history behind it, most of it tainted with extreme warfare. Many people on the planet are starving while the strong indulge. That’s the reality here, and it’s probably the reality out there,” Mike stated, pointing his hand at the ceiling. “I can’t say for certain, because I haven’t seen that much of it, but the Empire has its share of crime and unfairness.
“As for government, its members have chosen to join together through a representative Imperial Senate under the Queen’s guidance and have been doing so for thousands of years, longer by far than any political entities here on Earth have survived. It seems to work. The reason it works is that the system has eliminated most of the large scale brutality. Seldom does the Queen get involved in internal conflicts. She focuses, instead, on conflicts between worlds and societies, many of which are so different, even weird, that it’s fairly amazing that anyone can succeed at the task. Yet, until now all members of the Empire have continued to support the system, in part because of the Queen’s special abilities. Worlds that have not chosen to join are simply not permitted to interact with other worlds. It’s like the United Nations wants to be, except in this case, the Empire wields the largest bat.”
“Except for these Chessori. It appears they have a larger bat.”
“I can’t say, sir. We just don’t know what they’re up to yet. But forget the Chessori for a moment. At present, they’re just a tool used by the Rebels. This tool has potentially given these Rebels the means to take down a legitimate government. It’s really no different than if your top generals and admirals decided to do away with you and the rest of the political leadership here in America. Earth has seen it untold times throughout history. The generals have the power, and your leadership endures only so long as they permit it to endure. All it would take is one or two exceptionally charismatic generals to bring down the house of cards. If they did, would they represent the true wishes of the people?”
“Can you prove to me that is what’s happened to your Empire, that your Queen does serve at the pleasure of its members?”