Chapter 1

Negev Desert – Base Resh-Aleph 34

Ben walked into the canteen dressed in his desert camouflage uniform. He joined a pair of young people a few years older than him dressed in similar uniforms. He introduced himself and was surprised to find they were both from Australia, one from Melbourne the other from Perth.

“Ben, I haven’t noticed you here before, what are you doing here?” Zahava from Melbourne asked him looking at his name tag.

“My father is here doing some consulting work for the Israeli government on behalf of the future leader of Earth,” said Ben.

“What exactly are you doing?” Samuel from Perth asked him.

“I am helping my father do whatever he’s doing and what he is doing is classified, therefore what I am doing is classified. What I am eating is not classified. I suspect it would defy any classification.”

They both laughed.

“I am delighted you are here, it means our future leader is aware all hell is going to break loose in the Middle East when the changeover of government happens. The religious leaders are not going to surrender power to anyone unless forced to do so. The terrorists will go berserk. They are all going to try and make a big grab for land here while the going is good. I dread this signing and the consequences.

“What kind of consulting does your father do?”

“My father is a very unusual kind of consultant. He consults to banks about banking, he consults to industry about productivity, and consults about cybercrime and its prevention to experts in the area, but mostly consults to the military about a wide-ranging group of things. You know how most people can only be an expert in one area; my father proves you can be an expert of experts in many areas.”

“How old are you Ben?” Zahava asked.

“Seventeen two weeks ago.”

“What about University and other studies?” She asked.

“My father suggests I wait a few months before I continue my studies. He says I don’t need to bother to learn stuff that is redundant. I wouldn’t mind studying elsewhere, somewhere less chaotic than Earth is going to be in the next few years,” Ben replied.

“What do you think is going to happen to Israel?” Samuel asked.

“The whole of Earth is going to be considered to be one unified place,” said Ben. “I don’t think people realize how much is going to change. It is all going to change quickly. You will get your first inklings of how different it is going to be when Iran, the Arab states and terrorists do their thing.

“You will be part of the army of the Empire, speaking Empire standard within weeks. Most people won’t even serve on Earth.

“There will be no specific earth Army that belongs to any one state or nation. Tomorrow will be a huge day. The Russians are also going to attempt a land grab. North Korea could also misbehave,” Ben said.

“What will happen to Judaism?” Samuel asked.

“Like most religions it won’t survive. One anthropologist and his students created every single religion that is on Earth. We saw a program recently on our television where they interviewed the original anthropologist from the Empire who is responsible for the diversity of religious beliefs on this planet. Several of his students reported him to the University. He was declared a criminal and faced empire justice. He was recently freed after he was rehabilitated.

“He explained he gave the diverse religions to different groups at different times as he wanted to see what happened. He knew it was unethical, but he believed Earth was sufficiently far away he could get away with it. On planets where they gave them one set of beliefs the planet had less fighting and unified early.

“The next big confidence trick was the idea of ascension. We saw a program on it just before we came here. Now we know from much more advanced species ascension doesn’t exist either. It was another manipulative act by advanced species to exploit others.

“The Empire doesn’t mind if people hang onto their religious beliefs, but they are increasingly hard to believe in, now that we know about the Empire, the Collective and other advanced peoples. Even the Parzool; the dinosaurs are doubting their religion which is related to Hinduism and Buddhism since their encounter with the Archduke Jason Kargo,” said Ben.

Zahava shook her head and turned to Ben.

“All of this change has been very disturbing. My parents have always been believers. I spoke with my father last night, and he said he has never been so confused in his life. He also saw that same program as you did. He was angry for days after he watched the program my mother told me. She said he demonstrated using holograms how they gave Moses the Ten Commandments.

“My father was shocked by the attack on Nigeria; where the ancients stole a lot of people. He said he realized then that we were not the center of the universe,” said Zahava.

“I am looking forward to the opportunities, but I must admit I am concerned about the next couple of days. Never before have so many enemies assembled to attack us at once,” said Samuel.

“I know the Countess of Earth, intends to move quickly,” said Ben. “You guys should make your way to bed. I suspect you will have a long day of waiting, hoping for nothing bad to happen.”

“Yes, I know it is going to be an early start tomorrow morning,” said Zahava. “We remain on red alert.”

***

Ben woke from his restless sleep his alarm blaring at 3:30. He dressed quickly and walked to the control room where he met up with his father and the Israeli team all of whom were frowning and watching maps of enemy activity on screens.

Stan handed Ben a hot cup of strong coffee and a plate of muesli with banana. His father always took his food with him on his trips for at least one if not two meals a day. He alternated muesli with oats porridge for breakfast and had done so for years.

Father and son moved to look at the large hologram as it formed.

Stan looked at the holograms and began to comment as the Israelis gathered around him.

“They are getting ready to move on Israel from Lebanon and Syria. The Egyptians and Jordanians have mobilized but are not taking offensive positions. The Iranian armies are moving through Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. There are battles in northern Iraq as we speak.

“Terrorists are active in the moderate Arab states, Iraq and Afghanistan. Nothing is happening in Jordan other than some fanatics preparing demonstrations. These will be slowly evolving demonstrations, instigated by extremists.”

“Dad, what is happening in Russia?”

Stan started a second hologram and peered at it.

“The Russians are moving on several fronts. They are also attempting a significant cyber-attack on the West to cover their actions. North Korea is quiet,” said Stan.

Stan moved on to look at China.

“The Chinese are ready if attacked but are not moving, as some predicted, on Taiwan.”

“Let’s look at Europe,” said Stan.

“The agreement was signed in New York half an hour ago. Several capitals had demonstrations after the agreement was signed. There is a riot which is getting out of control in Paris. I don’t know what we are going to do there, since it is not my theatre of operations.”

The Israeli General looked at Stan worriedly.

“General we are ready, and watching,” said Stan. “I am not going to ask you to relax as in your position I couldn’t either.”

Ben watched three holograms fire up.

He watched as tanks begin to move towards the Israeli border. Thousands of them supported by tracked armored carriers and artillery followed as did row after row of trucks on nearby roads. Fighters screamed through the air.

Tanks were obliterated by orbital fire. Space based fighter craft shot down as many as twenty jet fighters in seconds. The Israeli jet fighters were recalled to base. The orbital bombardment continued obliterating the waiting armies until only craters remained.

“I have never seen such carnage,” said one of the generals.

“The Empire is ruthless in dealing with situations like this,” said Stan shaking his head. “I would never have believed how ruthless they are. Those armies ceased to exist”

The holograms moved to the Syrian then Iranian parliaments where marines were landing in assault frigates supported by tanks.

Fighter craft from the ships obliterated a second wave of enemy fighter craft heading for the front.

Orbital weapons obiterated the army and and airforce bases of origin of the offensive forces. The holograms shifted to the supporting armies which were systematically destroyed from space or by gunships tanks and fighters from above.

Marines dropped on command and control vehicles and buildings scattered in civilian areas near the battlefront to capture the general officers.

Ben watched several Syrian warships struck and sunk.

“General we have captured the general staff of the Syrians and the Iranians and we are moving to capture terrorist groups. We are moving on the parliaments. They will all be taken for interrogation and tried in the next two days. You may not need to keep your level of alertness as high as it was, though I can see the Palestinians are getting ready to riot. We are sending troops to capture them and find the leaders. The Jordanians and Egyptians have stood down as have the Iraqis. We have moved on the rioters in Jordan. They are going on holiday to the sun. The Emperor Cassius no longer incarcerates hardened criminals and terrorists.

Stan accepted a cup of coffee and several small pastries. They continued to watch the holograms.

“We have the politicians of Syrian Parliament in custody and soon we will have the Iranians. We are installing transitional governments until the Earth AI completes the integration process in six months. We are hunting down the terrorists using telepaths. We will have some mopping up to do.

“What is done with the terrorists?” A colonel asked.

“They are captured and interrogated. Then they, their families, friends and associates are all terminated.”

The general moved over to look more closely at the hologram – “Stan could we see what is happening in Russia?”

Stan shifted over to the Russian theatre. “The senior Russian leadership is hiding in a bunker deep beneath the Parliament. We are starting to drill, and will have them out in two hours. It’s not deep by Ancient standards. A third of the general officers and their Naval counterparts are already in our hands. We sank a few of their big ships, hit most of their bases before they gave up. We halted their armies as we did here,” he said. “The nuclear submarines and those with nuclear warheads have nearly all been captured.”

“What are you going to do with the politicians?” the General asked.

“After they are interrogated, they will go to Porquenta. Many can be reformed by Porquenta. If he can reform and control them, he will keep them and the hard cases will be terminated. They used to put them on isolated planets. The ancients didn’t believe in prisons. They used to keep the worst ones in stasis, now, the worst ones will be incinerated.

“We will be leaving soon. After we have gone I suggest you watch your TV or listen to the radio. One channel on each will broadcast continuously what is going to happen as the planet moves into house Kargo. The Countess wants people fully informed,” Stan explained. “Big changes will follow soon. Many will enter service in the Empire and many from the Empire will come here to help restructure the planet.”

They turned their attention back to the hologram. You could see Marines and Marine AIs in action in Paris. Disheveled protestors were being carted off in shuttles. A young man was paralyzed as he prepared to throw a Molotov cocktail. It exploded in his hand and he screamed. The fire was extinguished when he was placed in stasis.

Stan shifted the holographic feed to look at Mogadishu where terrorists began an attack on the parliament. A second later scattered wrecked vehicles, light tanks and bodies were seen lying in craters in the ground. Landing craft arrived from the ships above. The area was soon patrolled by Marine AIs who were telepathically searching the population for dissidents. Within minutes unwilling captives were dragged into shuttles and carted off.

“The terrorists decided they wanted to capture the UAE parliament. We hit the terrorist bases as they started to move. They got nowhere fast.

“Have a look at the armies of India and Pakistan. They massed at the borders, each waiting for the other to attack. We sent fighters above them and told them to move back to barracks. Neither side was motivated to attack the other and they moved back.

“In North Korea, nothing is happening. South Korea is relaxing. We did not need more than a tiny fraction of our available ground forces,” said Stan.