David Golemon - Ancients

The elderly members of the Juliai Coalition looked away from the screen on their side of the Atlantic Ocean. Zoenfeller looked around him for support but found that even the elder membership, for the most part, had been swayed by Tomlinson's arguments and by the audacious actions of their once-junior members.

Tomlinson straightened his suit jacket and slowly sat down. He looked at the screen and smiled.

"Our long quest is finally at hand. From the time of the Caesars, through the Templar quest for the burial site of the scrolls while feigning a search for a ridiculous Grail, to our Germanic and Napoleonic attempts, we have learned the hard lesson that the world will not just fall into our hands. Now, with this adjusted plan, the world will actually beg for deliverance. No more foolish ideologies and no more patriotic zeal to stand in the way of an orderly world."

"What of the claims now circulating by that fool in North Korea?" Zoenfeller asked in a last-ditch effort to regain some control.

"There is not one entity in service to any government on this planet that can discover what it is we are attempting. There is no hard evidence to back those claims. Just follow our lead and we will soon inherit the earth much sooner than the original plan called for."

The new president was late for a briefing downstairs in the Situation Room but the last-minute restructuring of departments was of a higher priority, due to North Korea's absurd claims that country's ills had been manmade. He had to start with the very department he had visited just the day before.

"I'm sorry, Director Compton, for your losses, but I can't concern myself with this matter at the moment. Am I clear as to the staffing requirements I have outlined?"

The phone line went quiet for a moment and then Niles Compton said, "Mr. President, giving you my earth-science departments is not a problem. But if you take one hundred percent of our computer sciences, we have no way of tracking who hit my warehouse this morning in New York."

"That matter will be turned over to the FBI and local law-enforcement authority. Is that clear?"

"You're breaking apart the best chance we have at finding out what's happening here. My people are capable of multitasking beyond anything and any entity in the world. They work as a team and separating them is a mistake. It takes away their ability to think together. Something is wrong here and you are condemning my Group to facing the deaths of many of their colleagues without a chance to find out why."

"Mr. Director, I assume you are on a speakerphone?"

Niles looked around his office. Virginia and Alice were the only ones present.

"Yes, sir."

"Please pick up the phone. I wish to speak to you in private."

Niles leaned over and picked up the receiver. Niles listened, his eyes intentionally focused on the top of his desk. The conversation was one-sided as Virginia and Alice exchanged curious looks.

"Yes, sir," Niles answered, and then reached out and punched a button, placing the call back into conference mode.

"Dr. Compton, who is your assistant director?" the president asked.

"Professor Virginia Pollock, Mr. President," Niles answered as he looked at Alice and shrugged.

"Professor, are you listening?"

Niles stood and then sat on the edge of his desk and looked at Virginia and nodded. The tall woman with dark hair and sharp features stood and walked closer to the speakerphone.

"Yes, Mr. President?"

"Professor, I have ordered Dr. Compton to Washington for direct consultations with me. I am placing you in temporary command of Department 5656. I am ordering you to transfer control of your Group's science departments over to my national security Adviser. You are also ordered to utilize your agency's superior computing power to help discover if the allegations put forth by the Koreans have any validity. Is this order understood?"

"All but me reporting to your adviser Mr. President, because according to our agency charter, the national security Adviser is not a cabinet posting, therefore he cannot have knowledge of our department, and as we are--"

Niles cleared his throat, interrupting Virginia. She looked up and he shook his head.

"Excuse me, sir. All departments are standing by to assist in any way we can."

Niles nodded and then walked behind his desk and sat down.

"Very well. Dr. Compton is hereby ordered to stand down and to report to Washington for consultation with my science adviser, and to act as liaison between myself and your Group. He is to be on a plane in the next half an hour. Is this order clear?"

"Yes--"

Virginia stopped short when she realized that she was speaking into a dead phone.

The president set the phone down and looked over at the initial casualty report from the artillery exchange in Korea. Then he removed the top page and looked at the estimates of the damage suffered by the two carrier groups in the Sea of Japan because of the earthquake.

The squadrons onboard both Nimitz-class carriers were down to 53 percent on the George Washington and 68 percent on the John F. Kennedy . There had been a loss of life of more than two hundred when the last vestiges of the tsunamis struck the two groups' smaller escort vessels.

The secretary of defense opened the door and stepped in. He looked subdued as he handed the president a note.

"The North Koreans informed us through the Chinese government that any attempt to reenforce ground or air forces by NATO or any of her factions will be construed as an imminent attack on North Korean forces and they will be forced to defend themselves."

"Jesus. What are the Russians and Chinese saying?"

"Nothing other than they support the North Koreans in the defense of the border and have asked us to show good faith and recall the task force heading for the Sea of Japan."

"Dammit, that's not exactly saying nothing." The president turned away, examined the note again, then tossed it onto his desk. "We have freedom of the sea here and I am not going to allow a buildup on the border to go unchecked. I can't," he said as he turned and faced his adviser. "The task forces continue. I'm not leaving those boys without naval support. Send a message to the Koreans that it is in their hands. Get away from the border. Allow relief efforts in and then we can talk."

He watched the secretary leave and then looked out at the clouded sky through the window. He shook his head as he was beginning to wonder if there was a serious attempt by an outside or otherworldly influence out to thwart his every move toward peace. He knew that he needed help from someone he trusted beyond any other in assessing all that was happening. He hoped he had it coming from Nevada.

Niles attempted to smile but failed. He removed his thick glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"What are your immediate orders to the Group, Virginia?" he asked, finally looking up at the two women. "It's all over the news about that listening post in the Sea of Japan picking up those strange signals just before the quake hit. So that crazy bastard may have reason to believe the stuff he's spouting."

A knock sounded at the door and one of the secretaries stepped in and offered Niles a note.

"The president just sent this over, sir."

Niles took the offered note and excused the assistant.

Virginia calmly took a seat and then looked Niles straight in the eye.

"Thirty-two people, Niles--that's what we lost this morning in New York. Compared with the nation's losses in Korea and those two carrier battle groups, and all those poor souls in Korea, a very small number. I will follow orders of course and do what I'm ordered to do. But I refuse to just forget about our own people in New York."