Episode 56

Chapter 240

Senate Majority Leader

9:30 am, November 5th, 2006

2:20 am, November 6th, 2006 (local time)

Senator Klause stood at the podium. "Ladies and gentlemen, fellow servants of our God Given President. It is my duty to continue this lecture in the hopes that those that put this treasonous piece of..."

"Enough." Senator Clinton snapped. "Mr. Majority Leader, I believe that there was a motion for cloture first on the agenda?"

"I beg your pardon, traitor? Nothing can be more important then hearing what I have to say."

Clinton resisted the urge to tell this ass exactly what she thought of him.

Another Senator did not. "I object! How dare you?"

"I dare because she was evil enough to..."

I slammed the gavel down. "Enough of this. This is not a school shouting match. The motion of cloture previously referred to is in fact first on the agenda. It is my prerogative to decide where we start, and I say it starts now. For three days almost we have heard this drivel. Let the Senate decide by its votes. Do we go forward, or hear more propaganda?"

Senator Klause could not believe his ears. "How can you? Even a Democrat must be able to see how important the actions of our God Given President are."

"True. That is to say, I see how important you think they are. I too have my thoughts on this matter. But more importantly, I'm an American. Voting begins now."

Everybody voted within five minutes.

I waited fifteen just to make sure.

"The vote count is ayes, 79, nays 21. Debate is closed. Let us now vote on the motion of impeachment."

There was the first rush of votes. 16 to 14 for impeachment.

Then the next group of votes filtered in. The tally was now 27 to 23 against impeachment.

Then some more came in as their casters finished their deliberations.

Finally the voting time ended. There was a flurry of last minute votes.

But nowhere near the number of votes that there should have been.

The finally tally is 32 to 26 in favor of impeachment.

Chapter 241

Valerie

10:12 am, November 5th, 2006

3:12 am, November 6th, 2006 (local time)

I did not even bother trying to go back to sleep. I knew there was something more that I could do. I just was not sure if it would be accepted the way I meant it.

I stepped outside.

A couple of military policemen on patrol came up to me. "Excuse me, Miss."

Guards. Of course. I should have known. I turned and looked them in the face.

They separated in order to make it harder to get both of them in one action.

One of them undid his gun holster and left his hand on his gun.

The other subtly assumed a hand to hand combat position.

I resisted the urge to laugh. After all, I had had the highest hand to hand scores of my unit. "Can I help you?"

"Yes. You can tell us why you are out here at this time of night. This is a restricted zone."

"I know that. This area is restricted to the Density Force, right? I'm part of the Density Force."

"You're not a teenager."

"I know that."

"So what makes you think we will believe you?"

"Call it in then if you want to look foolish. Call your superiors and tell them you are speaking to Captain Valerie Dash of the Density ship Mary Celeste."

The military policeman nodded for his partner to make the call. "Do you have any identification?"

"Of course." I showed him my Maryland state driver's license.

A few moments later the other military policeman shut off his communications device. "She's telling the truth."

They relaxed. "Sorry about that."

"I understand. You're just doing your job. I was only upset because I expected you to be better briefed."

"Understandable."

The two military policemen moved off.

I was glad of that. I was the only military person that needed to be involved in what I was planning. I was not, however, the only member of the Density Force who should be involved.

First I knocked on the hull of the Flying Dutchman.

The external speaker clicked on. "Who is it knocking at this hour?"

"Valarie Dash."

"What's up that you have to come by this early in the morning?"

"I need to speak with Tiffany."

"She's asleep. Is it that important?"

"I'd like to think so."

There was a long pause. "Heaven help you if you're wrong. I'll get her."

I waited.

The hatch opened.

"You called for me?" Tiffany asked.

"Yes."

"Could you tell me what this is about? Diane did not tell me anything when she woke me except you wanted to speak with me."

"Certainly. You know that Jacob and family are going to the funeral later this morning. I want to arrange for some of us to assist with the trip."

"How?"

"That's what I wanted you to help with. You've dated him. You understand him."

"I'm not so sure about that." Tiffany muttered at that thought.

"Well, you probably know him better than the rest of us."

"That could be true. Hold on." Tiffany reentered the ship.

I looked at the other ships and wondered who else would be useful.

"What is going on? Why did you wake me up?" A male voice asked.

"I asked those questions already." Tiffany answered.

"Who is this?" I asked.

"Mr. Mason. Tiffany said I needed to help you with something for Jacob."

"If she says so. Let's get my brother."

Chapter 242

Mr. Mason

10:21 am, November 5th, 2006

3:21 am, November 6th, 2006 (local time)

And I thought the Flying Dutchman was complex.

Now I know better. The Princes of the Universe is obscenely complicated.

Fred welcomed us aboard and led us to the conference room. "We're here. Now what idea made you get us up so early?"

Valerie paused sheepishly. "I don't have the full idea. I was just struck hard by inspiration."

Fred tried to grin. "Let me guess. Inspiration struck you so hard that it woke you up."

Valerie didn't say anything.

"I thought so. I know you too well."

"That's well and good." Tiffany interjected. "But why couldn't we be discussing this later this morning? Like when we are all fully awake?"

"We might not have the time."

I intervened. "Could we just go on with it while we are all still awake?"

That silenced their somewhat sleepy squabbling.

"Good. Now Valerie, what was this inspiration?"

"That we be there for Jacob at the funeral."

"A generous thought. But will he appreciate it? Tiffany, you're the one who knows him best out of all of us. What do you think?"

Tiffany yawned. "I think he'll be a bit upset to start. This is a family affair and private as far as the high school is concerned. You know how he feels about his privacy. We at the school knew practically nothing about his family before last week."

"I did." Fred noted. "But Jacob asked me to keep his privacy."

"I know. He guards his privacy with the same dedication a miser guards his gold. That aside, I think we can do a lot of good with this."

Valerie stretched. "Then you think he will accept it in time?"

"I know he will." Fred proclaimed. "And I know exactly why. Nakhichevan is bordered by Iran. We will go to insure the safety of the event. Let the Marines conduct the funeral. Murphy! Some data on Nakhichevan, if you can?"

"Certainly." the ship's AI replied. "Azerbaijani Naxçivan is the capital of the Nakhichevan autonomous republic, in Azerbaijan. It lies along the Nakhichevan River about 170 miles (270 km) south-southeast of Tbilisi. Nakhichevan is extremely old, dated by some archaeologists to about 1500 BC. Armenian tradition ascribes the founding of the city to Noah. Until 1828 it was capital of the khanate of Nakhichevan, and it became capital of the autonomous republic in 1924. Historically a trade and handicrafts centre, it now has varied industries, in particular food processing, furniture, leather, and building materials. There is a museum of local culture and technical colleges. In 1991 the estimated population was 61,700."

Tiffany tapped the map south of their target destination. "Good call. Iran most certainly will not be happy about the event to start with. There is no way they will let the funeral go off without giving them more anguish then they started with." Tiffany paused. "Unless we show them such a force that there is no chance they can succeed. The question is how much will they be willing to lose to claim they are not intimidated?"

"That's a good question." I confirmed. "Do you mind if I ask you all a question?"

"Go ahead."

"Do you want to go to war with Iran?"

"Not if we can help it. We need to finish the war with the United States first."

"Then I suggest plotting a route to avoid their air space. Have the Density Force fly cloaked. If we are attacked, decloak and deal with it. Otherwise, we let them know we're there for protection only."

"That should work." Tiffany commented. "But then again, I'm not an expert on Iran either."

Chapter 243

Colt

11:38 am, November 5th, 2006