Chapter 35: The UN and Jessica

The black car pulled up to the United Nations building and came to a stop. Across the street angry protesters picketed against the war in Iraq, while in the distance came the bustling sounds of one of the most populated cities in the world, coming to life.

The driver opened the door and a man got out. He was carrying a black briefcase that was chained to his wrist. He walked towards the main doors of the building.

Ambassador Joshua Chandler strolled into the United Nations building, passing through the security checkpoints. He headed for the banks of elevators. Five minutes later, he walked into his office. He nodded to his secretary who was sitting behind her desk, as he went into his office.

Sitting down, he booted up his computer. He sat there and pondered what General Polk had informed him about in the meeting at the White House this morning, and how it scared the hell out of him.

Looking at his briefcase, he unfastened it from his wrist, and set the case on his desk. Opening the briefcase, he picked up the DVD 'jewel' case that was sitting on top of all his paperwork.

Sitting there in his chair, he held it in his hand. He looked at it for a long time, before he finally opened the case, and pulled the silver disk out. He slipped it into the DVD drive in his computer, and waited for the auto-play to begin.

The avi came up, with 'TOP SECRET authorized personnel only'. It started playing what the Hubble had picked up yesterday morning deep in space. He sat and watched the battle take place once more, and a shiver went down his spine. He hit the space bar, freezing the image of the battleship firing her weapons.

Picking up the phone, he placed a call to the Secretary General's office. Turning his chair, he looked out over the city, pondering what this could mean for this world. While he waited for the phone to be picked up at the other end and heard a woman's voice come on.

"Secretary General's Office, Marcia Donaldson speaking, how may I help you?"

"Hi, Marcia, this is Ambassador Chandler. I need to see Secretary Garcia, in person. This is very important, and must be done as soon as possible."

"Hello, Mr. Ambassador. I am sorry, but the Secretary is busy all day. I can probably squeeze you in Monday morning?"

With a sigh of despair and remembering his orders from the President, he said, "Sorry, Marcia, but this is vital to world peace and security. I need to see him, today."

"Mr. Ambassador, can I give him a clue as to what this is about?"

"Yes, tell him it deals with ... just a second let me get my book out."

Turning around he picked up his notebook out of his briefcase. Flipping it open to the last page on which he'd written, he continued, "Tell him it deals with treaty number UN12A485DE91AT1. He should be able to pull it up on his computer. I will wait while he reads the treaty."

He listened as she wrote the number down.

"That's treaty number UN12A485DE91AT1, am I correct?"

"That is correct, Marcia."

"Okay, let me run this into his office, and he will probably want to call you back on it."

"That's okay, Marcia, I will hold. It's that important."

"All right, Mr. Ambassador, I will be right back."

The phone went back to the music as he waited. Reaching over, he tapped the space bar, and the video started playing again. As the cruiser stopped firing its weapons, the music stopped as well. Tapping the spacebar to stop the video again, he heard Marcia talking in the background to someone else in the office.

"I'm sorry about that Sir, the Secretary will see you at 1 pm. That's the earliest he can get you in. Is that okay?"

"Thank you, Marcia, that will be fine. I will see you then."

"You're welcome, Sir. We will see you at 1 pm."

"Marcia, I will probably have the British ambassador with me, just so Secretary Garcia knows."

"I will let him know. See you at 1 pm, Sir. I have to go now."

The phone went dead. He hung up his end and sat back in his chair. Reaching over, he tapped the key again and the video showed the ships moving towards the moon until they passed behind it, and the screen went black.

"Well, I'd better call Devon," Joshua said aloud.

He reached for the phone, once again. He entered the British Ambassador's office number and waited for it to be picked up at the other end.

"Ambassador Lord Devon's office, how may I help you?"

With a smile, he recognized the voice on the other end and responded, "Hi Thomas, Ambassador Chandler here. Is Lord Devon in? If so, is he busy? I really need to speak to him, immediately."

"No, Sir. He hasn't come ... Oh! Wait, Sir. He just walked through the door. Let me hand the phone to him."

Joshua listened to the conversation on the other end of the phone and waited, "Lord Devon, it's Ambassador Chandler on the phone. He wishes to speak with you."

"Really? Okay let me have your phone and I will talk with him," said a second voice. The phone started crackling as it changed hands.

"Hello, Joshua, are we still on for 18 this weekend?"

"Yes, we are, Robert; and it's still a sawbuck a point, if I remember right. The reason I called, is that I need to bring a disk over for you to view, if it's okay?"

"Yes it is. Bring it on over. I will put the tea on, and we will have a cup waiting for you when you get here."

With a smile Chandler laughed, and said, "Sounds good, I will be right up."

Hanging up, he hit the eject button on his computer and took the disk out. He then shut down the computer; put the disk into the 'jewel' case, and that into his briefcase. Snapping it closed, he fastened it back to his wrist and walked out the office door and down the hall towards the British ambassador's office.

Walking down the hall, he passed the Russian ambassador's office. Two Russian Spetsnaz guards stood outside the door. They sent a shiver down his spine as they glared at him, and then dismissed him as if he was a slab of spoiled meat.

Picking up the pace, he moved faster down the hall to the British offices. Nodding to the two royal Marines, he went between them and through the metal detector. The detector sounded off due to the briefcase attached to his wrist.

Thomas Barnes looked up from his desk as the alarm went off and he saw the US ambassador coming in. He closed the file he was reading.

He stood up, and said, "Good morning, Ambassador Chandler. Lord Devon will see you in a few minutes. He is on the phone with the home office. Would you like a cup of coffee while you wait?"

Joshua smiled as he heard the happiness in the nephew of Lord Devon's, and he replied, "No thank you, Thomas. Do you know how much longer it will be?" Looking at the young man, he realized he had put a little weight on and continued, "Married life seems to agree with you. How is your lovely wife?" he said to the young man as he sat down.

"She is doing well, we just got word I am going to be a father. We won't know what it is for a few months, but thank you for asking. It shouldn't be too long, Sir..."

The light going off on his desk caught his eye and he continued, "He is off the phone now, I will let him know you are here."

Getting up, he went to the ambassador's office door, knocked, and went in. A few seconds later, he came out, and said, "He will see you now, Sir."

"Thank you, Thomas, and congratulations. Let me say this ... don't let them tell you the sex of the child, let the baby surprise you, it's better that way. I should know."

Patting the young man on his shoulder, he went into the room and saw Robert getting up from behind his desk.

"Robert, I would like to say thank you for seeing me so quickly," he said as he offered his hand to his friend.

"No problem, we are allies. Is it the gulf?" he asked with concern in his voice as he shook Joshua's hand.

Shaking his head, he said, "It's far worse than that."

Sitting down in front of the desk, he opened his briefcase and pulled out the folder and disk.

"We have a problem that could be considered to have possible global ramifications. The Hubble picked this up yesterday morning, and I have to go in front of the United Nations in a closed session meeting," he said as he handed him the DVD, and then he continued, "Go ahead and watch it, and then I will have you pull up a file."

Robert took the disk and replied as he sat down, "The Hubble? Isn't that your space-based telescope?" Robert asked as he opened up the cd-drive on his computer and slipped the disk in.

"Yes it is. Like I said, watch it, and then we will talk," he said as he watched his friend put the disk in.

"All right," Robert watched the disk play. The space battle came up on the screen. He saw the massive explosions and the ships battling it out, and then they came towards the earth. Then the disk ended and was ejected.

"Okay, Joshua, what is this? Some new movie coming out?" Robert asked.

"No, Robert, it's not. That was a battle that actually took place between four ships, we estimate the big one is around three miles long and the small one around nine hundred feet. Now call up treaty number UN12A485DE91AT1, watch the video, and read the treaty. The world's governments are in for a barrel load of shit if this gets out to the people."

Robert entered the requested treaty number into the computer. Several security features come up that he quickly answered, along with a retina scan. When it was through, several files came up on the screen. He saw there were two files, so clicking on the avi he watched it and sat stunned at what he was seeing. The ten-minute video was quickly over and he opened the second file and started reading.

"My God! They actually agreed to this?" Robert asked in surprise.

"No, Robert, neither your Government nor mine did. But to 'keep the peace' and to 'preserve harmony', we didn't say anything. Since then, almost three million people have been kidnapped into slavery ... that we know of. Our military believes that it is much more. I need to inform Ambassador Garcia about this at 1 pm. Would you like to tag along?"

Robert chuckled as he looked at his friend and replied, "Surely. I will come along as moral support for you."

Suddenly he stopped laughing and looked back at the treaty.

"Joshua, I just thought of something, you said your military believes they have been taking more than they say?"

Joshua looked at him and nodded his head as he answered, "Yes, they do. They cannot prove it and they cannot even track their ships when they come and go from the planet. However, they think they have. Why?"

Robert rubbed his eyes and said, "I wonder if they took Mary, your first wife," as he said this, he saw Joshua go pale, as it suddenly hit him, and asked, "Joshua, are you okay? Your not having a heart attack are you?" he asked as he reached for the phone.

Joshua felt the blood drain from his face as he thought of the consequences, "No ... I'm fine. Oh ... my ... God! I didn't even think of that, Robert," Joshua said as he got up, walked over to the window and looked out over the New York skyline.

"Robert, what do I do? How do I tell Annette that her sister could be alive, but is a slave on another world?"

"I don't know my friend, I really don't. If this comes out and the media finds out, we will have more pressing matters to worry about, such as our heads." Pulling the disk out of the computer, he placed it back in the 'jewel' case, slid it across the desk and continued, "Now, my friend, I hate to kick you out at a time like this ... but I need to contact the home office again, and find out what orders they have for me. Why don't you and Annette come over for dinner tonight? Say around seven."

Joshua came back to the desk and picked up the disk and pad. As he placed them back into the aluminum briefcase, he said, "I understand Robert, I need to go and think about all this. Thank you, we will be there at seven, and I will see you at twelve fifty."

Snapping the lid closed, he headed out the door and back to his office.

Robert watched his friend go out the door, and thought to himself, 'My friend, I hope you can figure out what to do.' he said as he picked up the phone and said into it,

"Thomas? Get me the home office again. It's an emergency!"

Jessica appeared in the room and immediately started having a tantrum. Holographic items appeared and she threw the items to make them shatter on the walls and floor, as she raged.

"How dare they, they shall all suffer. They shall all die!" she said as she threw the vase that had appeared and then screamed, "PAIN!" and across the ship, Jenny started screaming and twisting in her bonds trying to get free. Jessica watched for a second and then yelled, "How dare they say I must meet them halfway, I, who have suffered so much at their hands."

She screamed some more and hurled another holographic plate across the room.

Down in Missile Bay One, a tractor beam snagged one of the fifty-ton missiles and hurled it across the bay. Just missing the three techs that had walked into the room, the missile flew by them and shattered against the wall.

The containment field on the anti-matter held, and the techs grabbed some anti-gravity collars. They rushed over with them and started moving the damaged missile to an ejection compartment, where they ejected the damaged weapon into space to be eventually recycled by the spider bots at a later time.

Jessica continued to throw her tantrum, affecting things throughout the ship. In one damaged section of the ship, every spider bot in the area flew across the room and smashed themselves to pieces.

"Kill 'em all, and let the gods sort them out is what I say," and down on Q deck in the personnel quarters of the crew, every bathroom toilet suddenly reversed and exploded, flooding the quarters with untreated sewage.

"Jessica, stop it, you're going to kill us all if you don't get your temper under control," Amy said as she suddenly appeared, and yelled at her.

Jessica whirled on her counterpart AI, blood red eyes glaring at her and she snapped, "Don't tell me what to do, you have no right, none of you do. Not with what you have put me through, I shall kill you all." She said as she hurled a holographic lamp at the AI and it flew through her ghostly body to shatter against the wall in a burst of sparkling lights.

Amy walked closer to Jessica, sending waves of comfort out from her end of the link, trying to sooth her friend's anger.

"Jess, please calm down, you know that when you throw a tantrum you affect the ship. I know you're mad and angry but please calm down and talk to me."

With a snarl, she said, "That is what they wanted me to do, be calm and polite and listen. Why, when no one would listen to me when I was hurting, no one cam..."

With a sad smile on her face, Amy said, "Jessica, you know that's not true, you told me yourself that your mother came to your trial and when we were joined I was here for you." Amy tried something, she made a noise behind Jessica and when she turned to look, Amy formed a second hologram of Jessica's mother to cover herself.

Jessica started to throw another item and stopped as if she had suddenly heard something, she looked over her shoulder she saw nothing. When she looked back towards Amy, she saw her mother standing there crying her heart out. Then two guards appeared and started to drag her away.

"Momma, I miss you!" Jessica cried out, as her eyes started changing back to their natural color as the anger left her body and she collapsed to the floor crying.

Amy stood in the room looking down at Jessica as she cried her heart out, her holographic clothes dripping blood on the floor.

"Jessie what's wrong? You must merge with me and tell me. We are incomplete we need each other. You are my anger and despair while I am your hope and love. You know deep down your father knew nothing about what the council planned for you. Yes, you were sentenced to thirty-five years to life imprisonment, but you were found guilty of murdering Senator Mikohn Riga from Helios. I know Jessica; I have seen your memories of the rape and abuse you suffered. I know it has been longer than what you were sentenced to, but you really cannot blame your father for that. You know the ship was thrown back in time and all the ones we loved are dead or not even born yet, hell I do not even know what to say on that. But it wasn't their fault, just like it's not these people's fault."