Chapter 5 Victory !

A Chapter by CaptainBill

After big Time Travel is beaten, local enemy is found. Time Travel ally in future helps.

Victory!

by Captain Bill

The President says, “I believe we can talk on the phone now, Mr. Director. I got the latest from Marianne. Connie will get the highest medal I can give, posthumous. Russel, you, and May, too. Don’t give me any crap on it. I’m the President. The Big Red One gets another Presidential Unit Citation.”

“You should know that Senator Graves started a speech in the Senate the same minute that the attack started. ‘That the Director of TTA was an unelected dictator for life, and TT friends from the future were going to prevent your abuses. He had communications from them, and they consider him a friend. You excluded him from his legitimate senatorial appointment, and denied him access to a communication from the future, which he was entitled to review.’ Diane had the sergeant at arms arrest him at that point. He was still screaming ‘a Senator’s privilege’, ‘I have the floor’, ‘An outrage’. It’s all over the Internet and the News. The Senator pro temps has designated the Oversight Committee to have his trial, with Diane as Presiding Judge. I’ve got to go on TV in an hour. I want to tell the whole thing. What do you say?”

Jim says, “Boss, we won big, but...”

The President, “I hate it when you say that.”

Jim says, “I hope Stu is listening in. And turn off your recorder.”

Mutter, Mutter. The President says, “Done. Can’t even relax until the victory parade, and with ally status??”

Jim says, “Russel and I were going over a few things that don’t add up. First, the energy to transport 5000 Time Travel soldiers through the centuries is astronomical. Second, one of our team speaks French. He thinks the prisoners are speaking European French of this time. Language changes over time. But there is no ‘Future Accent’. We need some help with this. French speakers to interview the prisoners. The prisoners might be from this time. Transported in this time to the attack. I’d guess from this time and from French territory.

The President says, “I’ll start the whole fleet to Europe. I’ll ask Germany and Britain to mobilize. They’re our NATO allies now. France is not. The Premier will deny everything and talk about the sovereignty of the glorious French nation. Peaceful Nuclear Program, my eye.”

Jim says, “Mr. President, can you hold your speech for a while? We’ve got an Ally now. I pushed the TTA for the knowledge that could help us. I kept an eye for hostiles, but knew they would have us beat from the first minute, if there were any. We were very lucky with this one. A big future ally, and the enemy underestimated us badly. Who knew? I asked them for things we could produce and make on our own. But this was a war, and we are allies. I want to ask them from prototype transporters, prototype TT machines, and TT surveillance units. All of them with operating instructions. I’ll ask for models that we could make ourselves.” Future TTA has won their campaign, and we won our little battle. I think they can send this stuff right away. We know when the attack started. We could send the surveillance units to France. Starting with the reactor areas. If we could know and show that, it would make things crystal clear.”

“Our Code has this in it. We start with Non Interference with other times and Non Disclosure. An exception is made for hostilities. But our Code also says that these shall still be applied as much as possible, consistent with the safety of our people and our country. The enemy reading our mail was one reason they didn’t talk to us. I wonder if this was another. But if we asked a specific question, they answered it. So we ask as allies. Maybe we prevent this whole thing. Maybe the future French TT power plants our Allies captured are the ones they are building right now, in our time.”

The President says, “Write up what goes to our allies in the future. Fax it over. I want to approve it before you send it. I can hold the speech until 7PM Eastern. The West Coast can stay up a while. Damn, the whole world will be watching. Get me what you can. If we have proof, I will declare war on France tonight. The fastest war in history. Hot damn!”

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The President stands at the podium in front of the jointly assembled House of Representatives and Senate, with a number of TV cameras transmitting the event.

“Fellow Americans, friendly nations of Earth and all friends of humanity, our world has changed, almost overnight. An enemy has launched a massive attack on the territory of the United States. And we have destroyed it. There was an attacking force of hi-tech warriors, with numbers estimated at 5000. I will show you some video tonight of the battle. We have 400 prisoners in custody. The others were destroyed. The orders to attack us came from a hostile Time Travel Power in the future. “

“There is a friendly TTA in the future. We have been in communication with them for some months. I have powers as Commander in Chief in war time. I have offered an alliance to the friendly TTA, and it has been accepted by them. We do not know everything about this future. I will share with you what I do know. It appears that two giant hostile powers were arrayed against each other, and in a stalemate situation, much like the US and Russia in our recent history. We were a small pawn in their game. The friendly TTA has answered many of the questions that we have asked. We have asked about medical problems that currently have no solution. The friendly TTA has provided answers for 17 of them. The cure for Lou Gehrig’s disease is currently in production and being distributed. The others are in process right now. I see this, and see the action of a friend. Our communication with them concerned peaceful things and building things. We saw today what the other TTA agency had to offer.”

“A key player for our side has been Director Jim Harris, at our TTA. We have seen his courage and intelligence twice already on the big stage, in Seattle and in San Francisco. Now we see it again in the area of Washington, DC. I wanted him to head our TTA. He agreed to take a look, and be phased in after perhaps a year to become familiar with the operation. One day he took his first tour of the facility. He took over that day, and send me more than 200 security people to find other Federal jobs. Character was the highest consideration at his TTA. Top researchers were released if they didn’t meet that standard. In his first week, he asked for a number of Executive Orders, placing TTA firmly under civilian control. At the beginning of the second week, he met with an Oversight Committee that never saw the previous rogue director. He asked for an initial budget of $4 Billion. Some laughed. But that budget was approved by the next week. Some would say that has been his highest achievement yet.”

“The Director and a man from his staff asked to meet with me, a few weeks ago. The man, named Russell, said he had some speculation that might explain the massive goodwill we had received from this friendly future TTA. They needed us as allies in this period of time. But why? Couldn’ t figure it. We’re like the Hawaiians in outriggers looking up at Captain Cook’s flagship. What do we have to offer? One thought was that there was another Hitler in the period between them and us, and we might be able to help. Another was that they might need willing allies that owed them, for what we didn’t know.”

“The next day, I moved the Army to provide perimeter security for the TTA. I saw Director Jim and Russel that day, along with the army commander. Russel said he had figured out a possible explanation. He gave the general a hypothetical situation. What if two giants were matched against each other in a stalemate. One giant finds a small backward client state that could help a little. Both could read our mail. How would each play their game, starting with the hostile TTA. The general said, ‘They could squash the client anytime before it was operational. The time for max morale impact on the client and the other enemy would be just before they were operational.’ Russel asked, ‘And the good giant?’ The general said, ‘They want a small but strong ally that might add enough to make a difference in the big game. They would train them up as fast as possible. And they would watch for the hostile TTA to launch the attack on the client. Then watch for a weakness, and attack the hostile TTA in their time. Russel asked, ‘And the client state?’ The general: ‘Build up as fast as possible. Take the attack, last as long as possible so the big guy can win. Then just survive.’ Then those three just grinned at each other. I asked them, “Can you three Cheshire cats explain those grins? I and my chief of staff are your civilian leadership, after all?” The general explained, ‘We can mislead them about our readiness. Then reveal it at a time of our choosing. We can set up the time and position of their attack, and give them a bloody nose. Can’t guarantee to win, but it’s the best we can do.’ And friends, that is what we did! They asked me to prepare the Message. I asked the friendly TTA about their enemies, and offered an alliance. We sent it when we were ready, and the attack started 15 minutes later.”

“I’m going to show two minutes of video, so you see how this attack happened. More tape will be made available.”

Scene: a huge tower falls over, with big power lines sparking all over.

Scene: soldiers pointing funny looking weapons at shimmers and shadows, other soldiers with regular weapons shoot at figures in silver suits and clear helmets.

Scene: TTA security in sandbagged positions shooting at silver suits. The silver suits are taking multiple hits and shooting with weapons that look like ray guns. The silver suits finally go down.

Scene: Director Jim is watching screens, and changing switches, while May and 2 TTA security have his back. They are pointing those funny weapons at shadows and pulling the trigger.

Scene: some of the silver suits have their hands raised, with their ray guns on the ground in front of them.

“The attack lasted 45 minutes. We had casualties. But we won. Then we got a message from the future TTA. They had attacked the bad guys in that time and won. The exact message was this. ‘Alliance accepted. All French TTA power plants captured or destroyed. Unconditional surrender expected soon.’ ”

“I talked to Director Jim to offer congratulations. He said, ‘Boss, Yes, but… ’ He said that 5000 people attacking across centuries would take a boatload of power. It didn’t make sense. But if they simply transported soldiers from a different place in this time, it’s a lot cheaper energy wise.”

“He asked two things, ‘Since we were proven allies and they already won, he wanted to request working prototype TTA machines, and TT surveillance items and transporters. He wanted them with the operating instructions, and models we could produce ourselves.’ I approved that message.”

“He said some of the prisoners spoke modern day French and he wanted them interrogated right now. You will hear some them later, both in French and English.”

“He asked me to delay this speech so he could go back in time to before the attack with the TT surveillance machines. This is today’s France. Notice the Eiffel Tower in the distance of some of these scenes.”

Scene: French soldiers marching to a large building next to a nuclear power plant, with the Eiffel Tower in the background, entering, changing into silver suits and clear helmets, marching to marked positions on the gym floor, then disappearing.

Scene: the French premier sits with some generals and some civilians around a table.

Scene: the same group and the Premier watch as the silver suits disappear and another group takes up their positions on those same spots.

“We own this TT technology now. These are our pictures. Together with admissions by the captured soldiers, they prove the complicity of modern day France in this attack. I am declaring war on France, effective immediately. The fleet in on its way to European waters. I have asked our NATO allies Germany and Britain to mobilize. But they will not invade, yet. Any attacks on our citizens or those of our allies will be treated as war crimes. And we have the capability to know.”

“We ask the French people to surrender to us the leaders who cooperated with this attack. We will start with the Premier and Defense Secretary, and will have a longer list shortly. They will be removed from power and tried in international courts that we will set up with our allies. They will deny everything and accuse us of fabrication. We will not accept that. There are 10 nuclear power plants that will be surrendered to international control, including the US. These are the same ones our future allies attacked and captured, after a long period of stalemate. The power will be available to France and Europe for peaceful purposes. We could simply take the people we want. We are at war, and they have shown themselves as our enemy. But we want the French people involved in the process of choosing a different way. We want the French nation to be part of this new world.”

“But what we know of warfare now is obsolete. Think of the possibilities with time travel. At this time, time travel is legal in the US only with the authorization of our TTA. I am extending that law, and declaring that time travel anywhere in this time and on this planet must have TTA authorization. We will enforce it. We call for volunteers from all the countries of Earth to join this agency. My director swore his own oath not to the US, but to the TTA Code. So it shall be with all volunteers from all lands.”

“A note: I cannot explain some things now. We are at war. I will explain much more when this war is over.”

“I am submitting this declaration of war to Congress at this time. And I am submitting the alliance with future TTA for ratification by the Senate.”

(Applause) The President leaves.

On each media outlet, the talking heads start: ‘So many revelations.’ ‘Could this be fabricated?’ ‘Future TTA an ally? Who are they?’ ‘Impressive ambush of superior forces!’ ‘How could anyone figure this out with such limited information?’

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Jim and May sit at the small table inside the White House living quarters.

Amanda says, “May, you were so brave! I saw you in the videos.”

May says, “Sergeant Phil talked to me at our range. He calls it ‘servicing targets’. You don’t think about who or what. You aim. You fire. Then the next. He cut my new gun down so it wasn’t so heavy. He was very nice.”

Amanda says, “The Secret Service is afraid that I will shoot George or them by mistake. I don’t care what they think. I feel safer with my own stuff.”

The President turns to Jim and says, “Two peas in a pod.”

May says, “I would have been afraid in the shelter. I thought I could help and protect Jim. I did. Those were very bad men.”

The President turns to May and says, “Jim promised you he would be with the family full time when he finished this. This is the third time he’s done something important on the big stage. May, I need him there. The country and world does too. I will order him to go home after he’s done his day job. Is that good enough?”

May considers, and says, “I’ll call Mandy if I need to. You will listen to her.”