TIM’S NEWS STUNNED THE ROOM into silence. The A-Cs were normally quiet when they were thinking, but a quick glance showed that they were probably not thinking all that much, because to a one, they all looked shocked out of their minds.
White recovered fastest. “Ah, are you certain they want to join Centaurion Division?”
“Positive,” Tim said as his grin got wider. “And they’re not just from the U.S. We have requests coming in worldwide.”
“Why?” Jeff asked flatly.
Tim shot Jeff the “really?” look. “Because they want to fight evil aliens and they want to go into space to do it.”
“Oh, wow, it’s Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, isn’t it? Only we’re fighting dino-birds instead of bugs.”
“I have no idea what you mean, baby,” Jeff said. It was obvious that most of the other A-Cs weren’t getting this one, either—they weren’t really up on any science fiction books, movies, or TV shows, presumably because they didn’t think those were works of fiction so much as historical documents about their lives. The other aliens in the room looked equally confused, but several of the humans all started to come around.
“This could be wonderful news,” Hochberg said. He was a former four-star Army general, so he’d definitely be one who’d know.
We had other former and current military personnel in the LSR with us, and they all started to look kind of excited. “Something like this, combined with the religious leaders being in agreement, could really bring worldwide cohesiveness,” Senator Donald McMillan said. He was a former war hero, the senior senator from Arizona, one of the few honest politicians we knew, and, by now, a good friend.
Hochberg nodded. “And this allows America and American Centaurion to lead the way. A win-win.”
“Or a lose-lose when things go wrong.” Chuckie said.
“Charles, is right now the time to be negative?” Hochberg asked.
“He’s right and it is.” I’d spent most of our lives defending Chuckie, and even though we were in top-level positions now, I still ended up doing it far more often than not. “Things are going to go wrong. They always do. We need to be prepared for that and plan for that. And before anyone tries to give the optimistic arguments I can see forming, I’d like to go on record that I told you all that the flag thing was going to be an issue. I was ignored and overruled. Note that the American Centaurion flag is now an issue. Meaning, don’t ignore me, or the smartest guy in the room, when we tell you that we’d better be prepared for anything and everything to backfire right into our faces.”
Okay, so, so much for the mindset of not saying “told you so.” Apparently, some in the room needed the reminder.
“Charles and Kitty are both right,” Elaine said. “And I, for one, feel that while we want to work for the best, we’d damn well better be prepared for the worst.”
“I agree with the naysayers,” Jeff said. “And not just because my wife told me to.” This earned a laugh that definitely reduced the tension in the room. Jeff was just so good at leading. “In my experience, we never get to have things go the easy way. However, I’m definitely of the opinion that we’d better work for what we want. And I think world peace, if it’s possible, would be in our best interests. And I still have no idea what you mean about Starship Troopers.”
“In its simplest form, humanity joins together to fight alien bugs.”
Jeff shook his head. “We don’t want to start a galactic war.”
Heard a snort behind me. “You’re already in one.” This was from Malcolm Buchanan. He was built a lot like Jeff—big, broad, and handsome, though he had straight brown hair and blue eyes. Despite being a human, he also had Dr. Strange powers—if he didn’t want you to see him, you didn’t see him. As always, I’d forgotten he was in the room until he’d spoken.
“But we don’t want to be,” Elaine said.
“What we want and what we get are two very different things,” Buchanan said. Rightly.
“Well, we’ve got a lot of people who want to be prepared for it,” Tim said. “And we need to determine how they’re going to enlist and how we’re going to organize that division.”
“Keeping in mind that by our telling the world that the latest attack on us was instigated by the Z’porrah pretty much means that we’re saying they’re our enemies and we need to be prepared. Which, in case the rest of you have forgotten Operation Destruction, they are and we do. I’m not willing to let them come back to destroy our world or steal my children or anyone else’s.”
Serene nodded. “Frankly, this enthusiasm is what we want. If we can get enlistments from all the countries in the world, then every one of them has a reason to care.”
“Having skin in the game helps,” Chuckie said. “However, losing someone in battle means that all that goodwill and cohesiveness can turn around in an instant.”
“We’re going to lose against the Z’porrah if we’re not prepared,” Raj said. “And by ‘we’ I mean our solar system and the Alpha Centauri system.” Heads around the room nodded, particularly those from the Planetary Council.
“Is arming for war really what we want to show the world and the greater galactic community?” Jeff asked.
“That depends on what you expect to find outside of your solar systems.” This comment came from Rudolph “John” Wruck, aka an Ancient and the only survivor from LaRue’s attack on her own crew decades prior. During Operation Epidemic I’d discovered that Wruck wasn’t actually a Yates progeny, as we’d first suspected, but rather someone going deep undercover on his own to try to stop LaRue and her allies. I’d turned Wruck to our side, and even though he hadn’t been with us all that long, there wasn’t a minute where we weren’t glad to have him.
“What do you mean, John?” Jeff asked.
Wruck shook his head. “I mean that here, on Earth, the goal of a cohesive human community is a good one. To have humans and any aliens living on Earth be cohesive is also something to work for. However, you need to understand that part of why all of these,” he nodded toward the Planetary Council, “want your help isn’t because they want to lead you toward peace. They aren’t giving you interstellar flight to be friendly. They’re doing it because they want you to lead them into war.”
The room went still, and now all heads turned toward the Planetary Council. Specifically, toward Alexander, titular emperor of Alpha Centauri, definite king of Alpha Four, and Jeff and Christopher’s cousin.